Mimaki has announced that its production-class Tiger-1800B digital textile printer family has been enhanced with new features and capabilities as the company continues to drive higher quality in digital textile printing. The Tiger-1800B MkII, which debuted at FESPA offers an additional high-quality mode at 1,200dpi and several enhancements to improve quality, including reduction of banding and other printing defects.
Distributed in the UK and Ireland by Hybrid Services Ltd, for those not visiting FESPA, a direct-to-textile Mimaki Tiger-1800B commissioned with reactive dyes for printing to natural fabrics, can be exclusively viewed at the company's headquarters.
Mimaki showed a wide range of solutions at FESPA and the Tiger-1800B MkII was definitely one of the high points.
• The Mimaki Tiger-1800B MkII prints at up to 385 square metres per hour and can cover a wide production range, from sample making, to short to medium print runs. An additional 1,200dpi print mode is available for enhanced print quality.
• A set of Mimaki's unique Core Technologies has also been added to the machine. Mimaki Advanced Pass System (MAPS) minimises banding and colour shifting by spreading the edge of the pass, making the boundary area a gradation, resulting in a smoother printed image. Mimaki's proven Nozzle Checking Unit (NCU) and Nozzle Recovery System (NRS) are also incorporated in these new printers, enabling continuous high-quality printing even if nozzle errors occur.
• Mimaki is also making available an extensive line-up of optional devices to meet just about every fabric and transfer paper printing need. This includes a feeding unit for roll media equipped with a centering device and tension bar; a jumbo roll unit to enable printing of long-length roll fabric or heat transfer paper; and drying and winding or pleating options for printed fabrics.
The Tiger-1800B MkII was shown in combination with the jumbo roll of Mimaki Vision Jet-X sublimation transfer paper. Available in 1,620 and 1,830mm widths, the Mimaki Vision Jet-X is lightweight (57g/sq m), but suitable for producing almost everything from sports apparel, flags and banners requiring a high density of ink deposition to fashion and home fabrics with less ink coverage. It yields stable paper feeding and printing, preventing shrinkage and mis-registration of paper.


I believe in one God. I believe that God rewards the good and punishes the wicked.
I believe that in God there are three Divine Persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
I believe that God the Son became Man, without ceasing to be God. I believe that he is my Lord and Saviour, the Redeemer of the human race, that He died on the Cross for the salvation of all men, that He died also for me.
I believe, on God's authority, everything that He has taught and revealed.
O my God, give me strong faith. O my God, help me to believe with lively faith.
O my God, who are all-good and all-merciful, I sincerely hope to be saved. Help me to do all that necessary for my salvation.
I have committed many sins in my life, but now I turn away from them, and hate them. I am sorry, truly sorry for all of them, because I have offended You, my God, who are all-good, all-perfect, all-holy, all-merciful and kind, and who died on the Cross for me.
I promise, O God, that with Your help I will never offend You again.


text:
Erdoğan offers condolences to Saudi King Salman over brother's death
by Compiled from Wire Services
ISTANBUL Diplomacy
Jul 31, 2019 11:21 pm GMT+3
President Tayyip Erdou011fan (R) and Saudi King Salman shake hands during a welcoming ceremony in Ankara, Turkey, April 12, 2016. (Reuters Photo)
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Saudi Arabia's King Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud held a phone call on Wednesday evening, according to Turkey's Presidential Directorate of Communications.
Erdoğan offered condolences to the Saudi King, whose brother Bandar bin Abdulaziz al-Saud recently died at the age of 96.
In addition, the two discussed regional developments and bilateral ties.
The phone call comes amid tense ties between Ankara and Riyadh after the murder last year of journalist Jamal Khashoggi at Riyadh's consulate in Istanbul.
Khashoggi was a vocal critic of the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Erdoğan had earlier called on King Salman for cooperation to help bring to justice "all those responsible" behind Khashoggi's murder.
Last Update: Aug 01, 2019 10:10 am

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Drinkers will also purportedly be able to build their own creations with Legos inside.
Themed pop-up bars have been an ongoing trend in London. In recent memory, we've reported on a pop-up prison-themed bar wittily named "Alcotraz," a Breaking Bad pop-up bar, and a Kronenbourg-sponsored pop-up where the beer was served by dogs. Now, here's the latest concept making the rounds, supposedly slated for a spring opening: a Lego-themed pop-up bar that is literally built from tons of Legos.
One Million Bricks, as the bar will be called, says, "We're building a pop up bar made of one million building blocks," according to its website. Ostensibly, those "building blocks" will more specifically be Lego bricks; however, the pop-up also states, "We are not associated with Lego®" – so apparently a bit of ambiguity is deemed necessary to keep any potential legal hassles at bay.
Though the pop-up has been mentioned by a few British outlets – including London on the Inside, Design My Night, and The Drinks Business – actual details are extremely scarce, with all of these sites pretty much just rehashing the One Million Bricks website. Though that site offers a chance to sign up for future info and pre-release tickets, it doesn't provide any information about who is putting on this intriguing event or how to contact them. Even the date and location are completely up in the air.
Even if for some reason this whole thing never materializes, someone else should certainly jump on this concept. Maybe even Lego itself could get involved? The over-18 crowd is definitely a market the brand could do a better job of appealing to.


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text:
ASU Basketball: A long and winding road for Torian Graham
It's been a long time coming on the road to success for Arizona State's leading scorer.
By Connor Pelton@ConnorPelton28 Jan 11, 2017, 12:01pm MST
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It may be early, but things are already tense inside Wells Fargo Arena on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Tempe.
Utah, looking to spoil the home team's hot start to Pac-12 play, has quickly jumped out to a 6-0 lead against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Bobby Hurley's team isn't communicating on one end of the floor and is missing shots on the other, so the choice is an easy one.
It's time for the best sixth man in the country to check in to the game.
Torian Graham was born on March 26, 1993 in Durham, North Carolina. 2,000 miles from Tempe and seemingly a million miles away from being the second-leading scorer in the Pac-12, he remained in the Tar Heel State for the duration of his childhood.
That was about the only sense of normalcy Graham would experience early in life.
"Growing up, I lived a tough lifestyle and didn't have a lot of structure," says Graham. "I just listened to the wrong people."
There were nights spent sleeping in cars. There were days spent moving things from apartment, to house, to motel room.
There was no end in sight, and nothing waiting in the future but time and basketball.
Graham first gave Arizona State fans a sense of what might be in store back in October of 2015, ahead of a season in which he was required to sit out after transferring from Buffalo. It was then, at the team's annual preseason dunk contest, where the 6-foot-5 guard jumped over teammate Shannon Evans II and completed a 270-degree slam to take home the title.
He then accomplished the same feat one year later, impressing a buzzing Mill Avenue audience with a host of rim-rocking dunks that was enough to secure the championship.
.@Torian_Graham won tonight's dunk contest with this baby. pic.twitter.com/btsWfoUaH1
— Connor Pelton (@ConnorPelton28) October 15, 2016
While those back-to-back titles made it clear he was the best dunker on the team, it soon became evident that Graham's skill set was plenty diverse. With an ability to score from both behind the arc and at the rim, the transfer quickly became the team's top offensive weapon in his first season of eligibility.
His coming out party was a game-high 25-point performance in an exhibition win against UC Santa Cruz, and the guard followed that by sparking the Sun Devils off the bench with 23 points in their regular season opener against Portland State.
That contest against the Vikings was special in more ways than one for Graham, as it was his first meaningful game since playing for Chipola College in the 2014 NJCAA National Championship quarterfinals.
"It was tough," says Graham when asked about the long layoff. "Some people didn't think I was going to make it through, since I didn't play in a competitive game in over 900 days. I just had a vision and I stayed focused and stayed with it."
The perseverance has payed off.
In 17 games this season, Graham has scored in double figures in all but one outing. He is Arizona State's leading scorer at 18.1 points per game, and ranks second in the conference behind the likely No. 1 pick in June's NBA Draft - Washington point guard Markelle Fultz.
This kind of success is what Graham envisioned throughout his AAU and high school career.
Playing for three high-profile AAU teams (D-One Sports, Team CP3, and D.C. Assault), Graham quickly garnered national attention. He played with guys like T.J. Warren and Rodney Purvis and became friends with John Wall.
"I'm still close with John," Graham says. "We talk almost every week. I actually went to one of his games when we were in New York (for the Jimmy V Classic), so that was cool getting to catch up with him there."
Graham isn't the only member of his family to find success on the hardwood.
His brother, Tyree, was recruited to Texas Tech by the legendary Bob Knight. He honored his letter of intent with the Red Raiders after Knight resigned, but ultimately bounced around three more colleges. That journey included a stop at Rutgers, where he played for Mike Rice, Jr. prior to the coach being fired when videos were released showing Rice verbally and physically abusing players.
While Tyree was criss-crossing the country, Torian was bouncing around different high school stops.
Graham would attend five schools in four years, finding the most success at traditional powerhouse Word of God Academy in Raleigh. That was his second stop, but it wouldn't last. A dispute with a teammate led Graham to transfer to Pace Academy (NC), and before getting his diploma there would be stints at Arlington Country Day (FL) and Christian Faith Center Academy (NC).
"There were just a lot of different living situations," explains Graham. "I was trying to make the best decision as far as being successful with basketball goes. Every choice I made was trying to get me to the right spot to be successful with that, but some of the spots weren't the right decision."
Complicating matters was the loss of Graham's mother, Crystal Green-Graham, who passed away in August of 2011 after years of battling heart problems.
"It didn't really hit me at first," Graham says. "I couldn't believe it because I grew up a mama's boy. But it just made me more determined to be successful, and now I always have both an angel and a chip on my shoulder."
While the loss served as an even bigger motivator for Graham, his ultimate goal of Division I basketball would have to wait. The multiple transfers has left his transcript in a chaotic state, meaning his collegiate career would have to start through the JUCO route.
With a logjam in the Sun Devil backcourt and so much time having passed without playing in a competitive game, which role Graham would play with the Maroon and Gold was murky heading into the year.
That was soon remedied.
Graham was the first player off the bench in that exhibition against UC Santa Cruz, and that sixth man position has been a natural fit for both him and the rest of the Sun Devils. While still playing usual starter minutes, he has began over half of this season's games on the bench, ever-ready to head to the scorer's table as soon as he gets the go-ahead from Hurley.
He may not always be on the court to start the game, but you can bet he'll be there in the contest's final minutes.
"He's embraced the role for right now," said Hurley early in non-conference play. "We will see how that goes throughout the year."
According to Graham, it's still going.
"I'm cool with it," says the senior guard. "I just want to be part of a winning team and I don't really care about the points, or the steals, or the assists, or the rebounds. Wherever coach feels like gives us a chance to win, I'm fine with. If that's being the sixth man, then so be it."
The team-first mindset isn't one you always see out of a transfer with only one year of eligibility remaining, but Hurley and assistant coach Levi Watkins have worked hard to instill it. Both Hurley (Duke) and Watkins (NC State) played their college ball in North Carolina, so there is a natural connection there.
But Graham's relationship with Watkins is even deeper, dating all the way back to his childhood.
"I have known coach Levi since I was seven-years-old," Graham says. "So he has been more like a family member than a coach. I trust him and coach Hurley a lot, so I was willing to open up to them and hear what they have to say because I know they can make me successful."
The pair recruited Graham to Buffalo after he sought a transfer from Houston, and their efforts were rewarded when he committed to the Bulls on Christmas Eve in 2014. Hurley would soon be off to greener and sunnier pastures, however, hired by Arizona State four months later to replace Herb Sendek.
When Graham received the invitation to join him, Watkins, and Evans (another Buffalo transfer) in Tempe, it was one that he couldn't pass up, even if it would mean having to sit out yet another year.
"It was a leap of faith," says Graham when asked about the decision. "Without basketball I feel like my life is pretty much put on hold, but I just stuck to the process. It was tough on me but I made it through and it's working out."
That year of riding the bench for the Sun Devils was a challenging one as Graham struggled to always see eye-to-eye with the coaching staff, a byproduct of the frustration that comes with not being able to see the court for two whole seasons.
Eventually, temperatures reached a boiling point and Graham was suspended for two weeks last January.
"I kept calling Hurley, trying to get some kind of reinstatement because we just come from such an unstable situation," Graham's brother Tyree says. "At the end of the day we had to raise ourselves, so I was thankful for coach Hurley and coach Watkins getting him back on the team eventually."
While that suspension wasn't related to any legal issues, Graham did run into some problems with the law at his first collegiate stop.
As a sophomore at Chipola College - one of the top junior college programs in the country - Graham and two of his teammates were arrested on felony drug charges. The police report from that incident stated that he had eaten marijuana in an attempt to conceal it from officers who pulled over a car Graham was in for speeding, leading to a suspension from the Indians basketball team.
Charges were eventually dropped a week later, however, and Graham was soon back on the court, playing a pivotal role in Chipola's postseason run.
After averaging 12.4 points per game in that second and final season with Chipola, Graham signed on with Houston, a team coached by UNC Pembroke product Kelvin Sampson. The 2014-15 season marked the first for Sampson after receiving a five-year show cause penalty stemming from some NCAA violations during his tenure at Indiana, and a disagreement regarding playing time hurt his relationship with Graham from the outset.
"I just didn't feel like it was the right situation for me," says Graham when asked about his time at Houston. "I went there looking forward to playing heavy minutes and it just didn't happen for me right away like they said it would."
He scored two points in eight minutes of action in an exhibition game against North Alabama and announced he was leaving the program one week later.
While he didn't receive much of any game experience as a Cougar, one positive did arise from his time there: a forged friendship with former Arizona State star and current Houston Rocket James Harden.
The two met in Houston and have stayed close ever since, with Harden serving as a friend, brother, and mentor for Graham.
"He talks about staying focused and how winning is the key to everything," Graham says. "He tells me to stay in the gym, stay out of trouble, stay focused, and everything else will take care of itself."
The plan is working.
Graham is taking full advantage of what is likely his final year of college basketball. He is one of the top players in the Pac-12, quite possibly the most crucial piece to this Sun Devil team, and is staying out of trouble off the court.
"I know my mother is proud," says Tyree. "We're coming from a situation that a lot of people don't make it out of. So for Torian to be on this level every night, playing how he's playing and contributing to this team's success, it's very humbling. I just try to keep him focused and make him cherish every shot, every practice, and every minute, just because we've been through so much."
It's possible that there will be more minutes, more practices, and more shots in the future for Graham as a member of the Maroon of Gold.
With a seemingly good case to qualify for a hardship waiver, the NCAA may grant Graham an extra year of eligibility if he chooses to take it. That option will be explored further by the program at the end of the season.
"I'm looking forward to that, but who knows what could happen," Graham says when asked about the possibility of playing another year in Tempe. "I'm just worried about this season right now."
Yes, the future may be unclear at the moment, but that is nothing new for someone who has attended four colleges and five schools.
Not many things have been guaranteed for Graham in this life, but for him, there is no alternative to his ultimate goal of playing professional basketball.
"I come from nothing, and I know one day I want to have things," he says. "I'm not scared of failure because failure isn't really an option."
Graham's life has been filled with challenges on top of challenges, a never-ending series of roadblocks and misfortunes.
There is finally light at the end of the tunnel, and now it's his turn to shine.


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World Premiere: CITIZENFOUR
Econintersect: The world premiere of the Laura Poitras film, CITIZENFOUR, was held at 6 pm 10 October 2014 at the New York Film Festival in Lincoln Center, New York City. The film will open in theaters 24 October. The film is purported to be a detailed study of Edward Snowden the person and the revelation he has made about U.S. NSA (National Security Agency) activities.
From the New York Film Festival web page:
In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was in the process of constructing a film about abuses of national security in post-9/11 America when she started receiving encrypted e-mails from someone identifying himself as "citizen four," who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert surveillance programs run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. In June 2013, she and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with the man who turned out to be Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her. The film that resulted from this series of tense encounters is absolutely sui generis in the history of cinema: a 100% real-life thriller unfolding minute by minute before our eyes. Poitras is a great and brave filmmaker, but she is also a masterful storyteller: she compresses the many days of questioning, waiting, confirming, watching the world's reaction and agonizing over the next move, into both a great character study of Snowden and a narrative that will leave you on the edge of your seat as it inexorably moves toward its conclusion. CITIZENFOUR is a major work on multiple levels, and a deeply unsettling experience.
Here is the short trailer for the film:
Early reviews of the film following the premiere at Lincoln Center are glowing but also critical, sometimes in the same review. Michale B. Kelley at Business Insider says the film is "utterly fascinating" in its detailed documentation of the process of Snowden making the revelations to the journalists who broke the story in the summer of 2012. But Kelley also says the film is "critically flawed" because it fails to address questions about "the former NSA systems administrator's alleged theft of more than a million NSA documents".
The review in The Guardian, the paper that broke the Snowden story, is largely positive, even glowing. The lead indicates the film is "victorious" and Snowden is "utterly vindicated". Yet the praise is also more subdued, as in:
Given the passions that the NSA disclosures have generated, it's remarkable how tempered Citizenfour comes across. Reflecting a style Poitras seems to share with Snowden, it's a quiet movie, its soundtrack a sinister digital throb, packed tight with questions about how we live freely in an unseen dragnet.
Eric Kohn's IndieWire review is also very positive, commending filmaker Poiras for moving "things along at a brisk pace" while "chronicling the moments leading up to" the initial interviews. Kohn remarks on the character that Snowden reveals in the film while all the while insisting he is not the story. It appears that in Kohn's view he is at least a significant part. Kohn points out that the film does not leave the impression that it is wrapping up a story, but rather only starting it. He cites the reference that there is information starting to come out from at least one additional whistleblower. When that is revealed to Snowden Kohn writes: '"Holy shit" is all that Snowden can muster.'
The Variety review leads with: "Information is a weapon that cuts both ways in Laura Poitras' extraordinary portrait of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden." This review points out how the film story reveals the distraction that Snowden himself feels he is to the story on which he seeks focus: The spying activities of the NSA (National Security Agency).
It seems that this film (opens in theaters 24 October) is one not to be missed. And it also seems that, like the Lord of the Rings – Hobbits series, this may go on for quite a while longer.
John Lounsbury
CITIZENFOUR (The 52nd New York Film Festival web page)
New York Film Fest Will World Premiere Laura Poitras' Edward Snowden Docu 'CITIZENFOUR' (Jeremy Gerard, Deadline Hollywood, 16 September 2014)
The New Snowden Documentary Is Utterly Fascinating — And Critically Flawed (Michael Kelley, Business Insider, 11 October 2014)
Citizenfour review – Poitras' victorious film shows Snowden vindicated (Spencer Ackerman, The Guardian, 11 October 2014)
Review: Edward Snowden Doc 'CITIZENFOUR' is a Bracing Look at NSA Whistleblower's Impact (Eric Kohn, IndieWire, 11 October 2014)
Film Review: 'Citizenfour' (Ronnie Scheib, Variety, 11 october 2014)
Framing L. Randall Wray
The Week Ahead: A Thirsty Market Looks for Some Earnings Juice


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Michael Jordan Does More for Community than it Appears
Home → Sports → Basketball → National Basketball Association → Michael Jordan Does More for Community than it Appears
Michael Jordan has broken barriers in basketball and business throughout his career.
During Michael Jordan's tenure with the Chicago Bulls in the 1980s and 1990s, the legendary basketball player made one quote that has stuck with him for a lifetime.
When asked to support a Democratic politician, Jordan infamously declined saying that "Republicans buy sneakers too."
Although Jordan has usually refrained from overt political action and shunned the spotlight when it comes to giving, that does not mean he has not donated generously to causes that he supports, even causes that benefit the African-American community specifically.
Recently, Jordan who owns the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, donated $2 million for Hurricane Florence relief to his home state.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist made a total of two $1 million donations, one to the American Red Cross and one to the Foundation For The Carolinas' Hurricane Florence Response Fund.
"Our organization, the Hornets organization, we take a lot of pride in giving back to our community and our efforts are truly led by our own and Michael Jordan," said Fred Whitfield, president of the Charlotte Hornets.
"We feel like we have an obligation to bring people together because we do have fans on both sides of the aisle and we enjoy bringing our fans together to try and give back to our community and try to help those in need that support us day in and day out on the court," Whitfield continued.
Additionally, the Charlotte Hornets teamed up with the Second Harvest Food Bank to help pack and give out 5,00 food boxes, which included meals for those impacted by Hurricane Florence.
Jordan said that you have to take care of home.
Jordan starred at Laney High School in Wilmington, N.C., a town that suffered significant damage due to Florence, before taking his talents to the University of North Carolina for three seasons, playing under legendary Tar Heels coach, Dean Smith.
Although he has faced criticism for decades from leaders in the African-American community, Jordan has given generously to the advancement of African-Americans.
Not just with philanthropic gifts, people recognize Jordan in the NBA and the sneaker business for having one of the most racially diverse staffs in those businesses.
As of 2014, the Hornets had the most racially diverse staff in all of professional sports.
"Michael's willingness to hire, support and promote minority leaders throughout his business ventures has been remarkable," said Larry Miller, president of the Jordan Brand shoe company, a division of Nike. "He has always been focused on creating successful and sustainable businesses and has empowered minority leaders, including myself, with the opportunity to grow and advance those businesses."
Throughout the years, Jordan has helped advance causes in numerous ways, sometimes accepting the spotlight and sometimes avoiding the spotlight.
Along with other celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Jordan helped fund filmmaker Spike Lee's 1992 epic film "Malcolm X," when the director went over budget.
Jordan gave money as a gift to Lee and not as an investment in the film.
The six-time NBA champion also donated millions to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C.
Many people with knowledge of the African-American plight in North Carolina believe that the state's history on racial issues has shaped Jordan in many important ways.
Back in the day, African-Americans in North Carolina did not have a voice in their day-to-day political activity because of Jim Crow laws.
However, many of them saw equality more through economic rights as opposed to protesting for civil rights.
Economic freedom would lead to actual freedom and an opportunity to move the African-American community forward despite the racism and the oppression that they had to endure.
"After Jim Crow laws went into effect [in North Carolina], African-Americans there had no political rights," said Roland Lazenby, author of the book "Michael Jordan: The Life." "They had to focus on economic rights. That's the only way they got ahead.
"Nobody, Black or White, made any money sharecropping. It was a disastrous economic system. But [Jordan's] mother's father was a bada** as a sharecropper. He kicked a**, came to own his own land, determined his own fate. His mother, although she didn't get along with her father, was just like him, locked in on economic success."
Nevertheless, Jordan has sometimes remained silent on political issues affecting African-American.
When President Donald Trump criticized Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James by questioning his intelligence, many in the African-American community criticized Jordan for not responding in a harsh way to President Trump's criticism, which some said had racial undertones.
However, Jordan remaining silent while breaking barriers for African-Americans might speak louder than actual words.
"It is hard to believe that in 2014 there [was] only one African-American majority owner in all the major men's pro leagues," said Richard Lapchick, director at The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. "The importance of Michael Jordan as a player is matched by him being the only owner.
"It is critical for minority youth to see that there are options to battling the long odds to become a pro athlete and that there are many opportunities to work in the world of sport as team presidents, general managers, COOs, and yes as owners.
"In the era of the Donald Sterling nightmare, the NBA and our society need Michael Jordan now more than ever and need other people of color to become owners in the near future."
That reality is even more evident in 2018 than in 2014 because of the Colin Kaepernick blackballing by the National Football League (NFL).
However, there are reports that Kaepernick might soon sign with the Oakland Raiders or New England Patriots.
If the NFL had a majority team owner like the NBA has with Jordan, would Kaepernick have a job with the NFL by now?
No one knows, but it seems more likely that Kaepernick would have a job as a quarterback in the NFL if some of their majority owners came from the African-American community.
The good ole boy network that exists in the NFL would have some boys from the hood to contend with.
That might make it a little easier for players to be themselves and speak on issues that are important to them without risking their careers in the process.
Although Jordan might never live down his apolitical comments during his playing heyday, actions speak louder words.
With his donations, the Basketball Hall of Famer has spoken very loudly for decades.
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Manchester City to demand £30m deal for Eric García as Barcelona eye move
Defender shocks Guardiola by turning down new contract
Manager believes City ready to win Champions League
Pep Guardiola will consider selecting Eric García for Friday's Champions League game against Real Madrid. Photograph: Getty Images
Jamie Jackson
@JamieJackson___
Thu 6 Aug 2020 12.32 EDT
Last modified on Thu 6 Aug 2020 14.31 EDT
Manchester City will not sell Eric García for less than £20m plus £10m in add-ons, with Barcelona wanting to re-sign the 19-year-old, who has signalled his desire to leave after refusing a new deal.
The centre-back is out of contract next summer yet City are intent they will not allow his sale other than for a package similar to the £24.5m fee before add-ons that took Ferran Torres from Valencia to the club this week. This is because the 20-year-old forward is similar in age and profile to García.
Premier League clubs reject chance to continue with five substitutions
García's decision is understood to have taken Guardiola by surprise, the manager learning of it in the past 48 hours. Garcia was in strong contention to start City's Champions League last-16 second leg at home to Real Madrid on Friday but it now seems unlikely he will do. Guardiola became reluctant to choose Leroy Sané when the German refused a new contract.
Fernandinho could fill in again at centre-back, the midfielder having operated there for most of the season. Guardiola remains hopeful that García, whom he rates highly, could change his mind and stay, though he recognises the pull of Barcelona is strong.
"He [García] told us that he doesn't want to extend his contract with Manchester City, so he has one more year," Guardiola said. "We wanted it but he doesn't want to extend. I imagine he wants to play in another place."
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Guardiola was bullish about knocking out Madrid, whom they lead 2-1, and seizing the chance to claim City's first European Cup but he warned his team against the defensive frailties that have cost them dear in previous years. He has previously questioned City's readiness to win the competition, so his mood signalled a significant shift.
"I have the feeling we are ready to play the game tomorrow and do a good performance and win the game," he said. Speaking more generally about City's ability to go all the way, he added: "I have that feeling. We are ready."
Rodri struck an equally positive note when claiming City have better players than the La Liga winners. "I know we have a better team but we have to show it with good [play] and equalising their personality," the Spanish midfielder said. "We have a better squad and if we do things well I think everything will be good for us."
Jérôme Boateng: 'I would not say no to the Premier League. I loved it there'
In City's past three campaigns under Guardiola they have faltered because of a shaky defence. In 2017 a 5-3 lead over Monaco from the first leg was ceded as City lost 3-1 in France to be eliminated on away goals. At Anfield the following year three goals in 19 minutes gave Liverpool an unassailable lead and City were knocked out 5-1 on aggregate. Last season two goals from Son Heung-min in three minutes presaged Tottenham's progression on away goals.
Guardiola acknowledged this had to end. "More than conceding, it's the way we concede them," he said. "If they are brilliant we accept them but mostly these are goals we could avoid. Mistakes in this competition punish you a lot. We've spoken about it in important games: if we want to make a step forward and win this competition we have to be better in this area."
Lazio are in negotiations with David Silva regarding a free transfer at the end of the season on a two- or three-year deal.
European club football


Take a look at our country's highlights with this interactive map of New Zealand.
Are you looking for the official Middle‑earth map or our #getNZonthemap video? You can find them both here.
Download and print the New Zealand Touring Map to see information on each of the regions in New Zealand and 16 themed highways.


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Is Your Country Involved in Open Source?
Red Hat, an open source leader best known for their Linux distribution, maps open source activity around the world. If you're not a developer or involved with Web-ish things, open source might seem like a foreign concept. Give away your code, your work, and your data. And succeed? I don't know how it works, but somehow, it does. Open source not only helps an application flourish, but also helps ideas develop further than they ever would with a single group. Plus – it makes my life, and many others' lives much easier.
US Census Bureau open source
How Open Should Open Source Data Visualization Be?
Open-source Data Science Toolkit
est — April 30, 2009 at 5:11 am
raw data here:
http://www.reddit.com/r/opensource/comments/8e6um/the_red_hat_open_source_index_compares_and/c090tvp
Ankit — April 30, 2009 at 10:42 am
I am surprised India doesn't lie in the 'High' category. Open source is pretty huge in India.
Benajnim — April 30, 2009 at 10:57 am
Funny, no data on Cuba. I've read they have their own distro…
Jon Peltier — April 30, 2009 at 11:13 am
Could they have picked a more distorted map projection for their chloropleth?
Nathan Yau — April 30, 2009 at 11:21 am
It's a google mashup. What do you expect?
Paul — April 30, 2009 at 11:41 am
What happened to poor old New Zealand on your map?
Jon — April 30, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Well said Jon P. In another mapping visualisation, somebody revealed they believe Africa and Greenland to be of similar size because that is how google map shows them. Africa is 15 times the size of Greenland if anyone is interested.
Hon Wei — May 1, 2009 at 4:15 am
Flat projections distort the size of real geography, in particular near the poles. News at 11.
I don't know where RH gets its data from, but some of it is highly suspect. Israel is one of the largest per-capita OS contributors, for instance, not the white wasteland depicted here. Other odd instances are New Zealand and Alaska.
Overall, though, you could probably use this map as an overlay for economic development (no Africa) and civilizational development (no Moslem world). Interesting.
AbdulAziz — May 2, 2009 at 2:02 am
Hon Wei,
Please come and teach us Muslims how to be civilized. As a Saudi I'm lost without out your guidance. Luckily for me a civilized person is translating my uncivilized rant into coherent sentences. Well, time to go back to being uncivilized with my fellow countrymen…
Thanks for generalizing and interpreting this map to your biases; it really helps to build bridges of understanding. :)
Pingback: Red Hat's open source map | The Evolving Newsroom
Pingback: España, el 2º país del mundo en desarrollo de software "open source" | Comunidad en la Red
Bill Olsen — April 18, 2010 at 8:59 am
Newfoundland should be changed to the same color as the rest of Canada.
Where Americans Live
Everyone gets a dot. You get a dot. And you get a dot. And you.
Percentage of Households in Each Income Level
What percentage of households fall into lower-, middle-, and upper-income levels when you adjust for household size?
Saving for Retirement and Age
People tend to have more money saved up over time, but range and variation also grow, and often it's not enough.
Career Timelines for Every Basketball Player Who Has Played an NBA Game
I was curious who played for a single team over their entire career, who skipped around, and how the patterns changed over the decades.


The 4 South Yorkshire Councils are in the process of completing and submitting the latest Progress Reports to the Government. These reports show the latest monitoring from last year and an update of the progress on the actions taking place to improve air quality.
Once approved these reports will be available on the care4air website for you to view. In the meantime the previous years reports are available on the 'In my Area' pages.
In Doncaster the report has been submitted and if the conclusions are excepted then there are no new areas identified as suffering poor air quality, however the existing Air Quality Management Areas remain.


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Phoenix Rapper Bag Of Tricks Cat Battles Car Dealership Over Album Cover Art
The Nine Best Concerts in Phoenix This Weekend
Arizona Diamondbacks Walk-Up Music: What 2013's D-Backs Say With Their Songs
David Holden
David Holden | July 9, 2013 | 7:00am
Baseball and music have a storied history together, from the ballpark organs and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" sing-alongs of yesteryear to today's increasing reliance on various components of the Cha Cha Slide. Not all music is for the fans, though: The Arizona Diamondbacks' walk-up music is for and by the players themselves.
Sometimes it helps get them focused, sometimes it's a joke, sometimes it's just a song they like. But how do these songs -- played before each at-bat, as the player's announced -- reflect the players?
Let's take a look.
See also: Is There Any Way in Hell Yasiel Puig Deserves to Be an All-Star More Than Gerardo Parra?
We've arranged this post for the benefit of all our fellow scorecard-users out there -- click a player's positional number (2 for catcher, 3 for first baseman, etc.) to navigate to him directly, or click forward to page two to go from Montero to Parra in order. (If it helps, pretend you're doing it with a really flimsy golf pencil.)
C: Miguel Montero 1B: Paul Goldschmidt 2B: Aaron Hill 3B: Martin Prado SS: Didi Gregorious LF: Cody Ross CF: A.J. Pollock RF: Gerardo Parra
Miguel Montero - C Walk-up song: El Mundo, "Chaccaron Maccaron"
Why'd he pick it? We have no idea.
Even still, this is our favorite song choice from any of the D-backs' players. Maybe Montero is just trying to play some head games with the opposing pitcher, or maybe he legitimately gets pumped listening to this song.
Either way, "Chaccaron Maccaron" should put a smile on the face of anyone listening, which is why it's the perfect song for Montero. Miggy is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy; whether he's crushing the ball at the plate or sunflower seeds on the bench, he's constantly joking around.
Paul Goldschmidt - 1B Walk-up song: Chris Cagle, "Got My Country On"
Newly minted All-Star Paul Goldschmidt is no show-off, so it's not surprising his song is a little mellow and eccentric for a league-leading slugger. Goldschmidt grew up just outside Houston, and that's probably where he found his love for country music.
The way Goldschmidt has swung the bat should really warrant more of a badass song, as we see it. Still, as long as America's first baseman continues to belt home runs, he could walk up to the plate to "Barbie Girl," for all we care.
Aaron Hill - 2B Walk-up song: AC/DC, "Back in Black"
Aaron Hill is the prototypical hard-nosed ballplayer -- he won't make many flashy plays, but he'll get the job done and then some.
"Back in Black," a classic choice, is the prototypical hard-nosed, gritty walk-up song.
Martin Prado - 3B Walk-up song: Alvaro, "Make the Crowd Go"
Martin Prado, in his first season with the club after coming over in the Justin Upton trade, goes with the first dubstep song on the list.
Off-hand, Prado doesn't seem like the type to gyrate to EDM, but we do know he loves to celebrate; he started the blow-dart celebration that's currently sweeping through the D-backs clubhouse.
Didi Gregorius - SS Walk-up song: Notorious B.I.G., "Notorious"
This rookie is one of the few players who actually has his name written into a song, kinda. With the music blaring from Chase Field's surround sound and Gregorius' name flashing on the Jumbo-Tron, its hard not imagine Biggie Smalls singing "Gregorius" instead of "notorious."
Before he steps into the batters box, the Dutch shortstop must get a rush of confidence from knowing Biggie is chanting his name from beyond the grave.
Cody Ross - LF Walk-up song: Lil' Wayne, "No Worries"
Although Cody Ross' favorite artist is Lil' Wayne, he likes to mix up his walk-up song. Where most players are slaves to ritual, Ross just loves too many songs; so along with Weezy, Chase Field has also been known to boom Rick Ross'
Push It
Vava Voom
by Bassnectar.
We didn't peg Ross as the hip-hop type, given his usual mellow manner. But his mix-tape must get him pumped up. A.J. Pollock - CF Walk-up song: Norman Greenbaum, "Spirit in the Sky"
For a rook, Pollock has some old-school taste in music. Much like the rest of the D-backs, Pollock's grit-and-grind style is demonstrated through his walk-up song.
Maybe his Notre Dame background has a little to do with Pollock's choice of music, but Norman Greenbaum's fuzz guitar probably had a little more influence on his decision. Gerardo Parra - RF Walk-up song: Daddy Yankee, "Limbo"
Born in Santa Barbara del Zulia in Venezuela, Parra starts each plate appearance with a little bit of a Latin twist. And since Parra is constantly running and diving all over the diamond, Limbo's up-tempo, dance-ready sound perfectly embodies his playing style.
Top 40 Songs with Arizona in the Title 9 Tips for Using A Fake ID To Get Into A Show Here's How Not to Approach a Journalist on Facebook The Ten Most Metal Deaths of Metal Musicians
Like Up on the Sun on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest local music news and conversation.
California Band Wand's Laughing Matter Is a Psych-Rock...
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The Eight Best Concerts in Phoenix This Weekend


衰事一籮筐唉! 人在不如意的時候 通常衰事都不會只發生一件...昨天回到花蓮之後 先是與毅吵系統傢俱架 今天來學校的時候 天天都要來一杯的飲料竟也欺負我我還想說我的飲料怎麼喝這麼快? 原來倒酒店兼職了一半在我的包包裡啦! 嗚~我的皮包浸了水 還沒關係! 新台幣用吹風機吹一吹就好而我的手機本來還好澎湖民宿好的 沒想到...進水之後 我馬上重開機還可以的 可是稍晚之後就沒有螢幕了也開不了機...(自己結婚西裝上網查後才發現原來進水後不能馬上開機~哇! 好想哭...)剛剛回到家又發現租屋處鐵捲門的遙控鎖也進水個人信貸不受我控制了 哇!本想出去走走散散心的 但又怕被鎖在外面而作罷唉! 衰呀~連出去散心的權利都被剝奪票貼了...看來 現在的我暫時孤立無援 與世隔絕了~平常都用手機的鬧鐘叫醒我的 現在"全攏去了了啊租辦公室"...還好回家的路上還有一間"家樂福" 趕緊買了一個臨時用鬧鐘不然上班遲到還得了! 週三開烤肉始一直到周日又因為"四技二專考試 "暫時要上白班 沒有鬧鐘我就死定囉!
越南2011年鯰魚產量恐跌四成越南水產出口暨生產業者協會(VASEP)憂心,越南重要出口之一的鯰魚(tra fish)在價格巨幅波動及生產成本攀升壓力下引發漁民棄養潮,預估今年產量節能燈具恐暴跌四成。漁民將僅有能力生產90萬公噸的鯰魚,相當於36-38萬公噸的魚片。時價不斷飆漲的鯰魚,貨源短缺的情況恐將延續至5月初。相對湄公河三角洲的水產公司每公斤需付出史上酒店打工最高的1.18美元,漁民每公斤利潤卻僅有0.25-0.30美元。VASEP鯰魚委員會指出,過去兩年鯰魚漁民借貸無門,價格再持續飆漲可能迫使鯰魚漁民轉行。(摘譯自INFOFISH Trade News, seoNo. 5/2011,15 Mar. 2011)TRA FISH SUPPLY EXPECTED TO FALL 40% THIS YEARThe Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Processors (VASEP) reported that Vietnam'好房網s tra fishoutput may drop 40% this year as farmers continue to turn away from the business. Farmers will only beable to produce 900,000 MT of tra fish, equivalent 買屋網to about 360,000-380,000 MT of fillets. The shortage isexpected to last until early May and it has already driven prices up sharply.Seafood companies in the Mekong 西裝Delta are paying up to VND24,000 (US$1.18) per kilogram, the highestprice on record. Farmers now earn a profit of VND5,000-6,000 (US$0.25-0.30) per kilogram.An 酒店經紀official in charge of the tra fish committee at VASEP, said higher prices could encourage tra fishfarmers who have quit to resume their business.Tra fish is one of 小額信貸Vietnam's key export products though the fish has discouraged some farmers due tofluctuation in prices and rising production costs. Many banks have refused to 買屋offer loans to tra fish farmersfor the past two years.


In 1971, a hundred hired-gun photographers fanned out across the country as part of the EPA's Project Documerica to capture America's sometimes fabled, sometimes fraught relationship to its land. In Documerica, the adventurous string quartet ETHEL lends rich new dimension to the images from that project, with help from projection artist Deborah Johnson (Planetarium, 2013 Winter/Spring Season) and eight wildly disparate composers.
New music by acclaimed contemporary composer Mary Ellen Childs, Grammy Award-winning jazz drummer Ulysses Owens Jr. (Christian McBride Big Band), Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate from the Chickasaw Nation, blues maven James Kimo Williams, and members of ETHEL complements those transfigured images from the EPA archive in this moving meditation on America's big skies, ghost towns, purple mountain majesties, and pulses of the urban environment.
The pioneering post-classical string quartet ETHEL was founded in 1998.


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Kentucky Sings!
Let every thing that has breath Praise the Lord!
Partners in Ministry
Taking their songs to the state
April 5, 2019 April 5, 2019 John Herndon
Rayna Warford (left) and her sister, Ramsey Nicholson, will be performing at the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame on April 13. (Photo furnished)
Sisters to make first visit to Hall of Fame
By John Herndon, KentuckySings.com
There aren't many people who can say their first visit to the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame is a performance gig.
Meet Rayna Warford and Ramsey Nicholson, sisters who will be making their Hall of Fame debut on Saturday, April 13 as the regular Saturday afternoon performance by Kentucky artists.
"Initially, when (Hall of Fame director Avery Bradshaw) invited us, we thought we would be singing off in some corner or something like that," says Warford. Little did R&R, as the duo is called, realize they would be on the main stage as the main attraction for a ticketed event. The concert starts at 3 p.m.
"We haven't done a lot of shows where people have to pay," Warford chuckles.
For 15 years, however, the sisters have been well known through parts of central Kentucky as they appear in festivals, private events and churches bring a blend of country, bluegrass and gospel music. The set list usually depends on who is in the crowd and they say their style might be somewhat like The Secret Sisters.
The variety has been there since their solo performances as preschoolers. "When I was five years old, I sang 'God Bless the USA,'" Rayna says.
Ramsey, however went a different direction as a four-year-old singing at the Anderson County Burgoo Festival. "I sang, (Loretta Lynn's) 'You Ain't Woman Enough to Take My Man,'" she smiles, "then the next one I sang was "Blue' by Lee Ann Rimes."
Ramsey Nicholson and Rayna Warford appear at a Lawrenceburg restaurant last year.
Today the mix is from many different directions.
"We try to please the audience," says Ramsey, who plays the mandolin.
They do so with a series of covers and a few original songs. The covers are what is familiar to the audience, but during a recent interview, the sisters showed just how in tune they are with each other.
"We try not to do," Rayna says before Ramsey finishes the sentence, "anything that is popular at that moment."
Rayna, the guitarist, says it is strategic to avoid comparisons with the big name current artists.
But they also have a few original works, such as "Lawrenceburg," written as a tribute to their hometown. It became a locally-popular video.
"A lot of people thought we just came in here and saw a cute little town and wrote a song," Ramsey says with an expression that is clear that the perception is well off the mark.
But the video has also made R&R celebrities of a sort in their hometown. Ramsey laughs as the recalls something that happened while she was shopping. "One day, a girl in Walmart kept staring at me," she says. "Finally, she came up to me and said, 'You are the girl in the Lawrenceburg video!"
But their local celebrity status also led to a touching moment last summer. A local funeral home contacted the sisters about a family wanting to have "Your Last Day," a song Rayna penned, sung at a loved one's funeral. "It's a 'Live Like You Were Dying' type song," she says.
"I was mowing my yard when my phone buzzed," Ramsey says of that call. "We gave them a CD to use."
While the sisters have sung at many venues in central Kentucky — "We travel anywhere people invite us," Rayna says — the appearance at the Hall of Fame is an opportunity for Rayna and Ramsey to introduce themselves and their music to a wider audience.
The date materialized last August when Rayna and Ramsey were performing in the Anderson County booth in the Pride of the Counties section at the Kentucky State Fair. "Jessica (Bray, of Kentucky Country Music) said, 'You should go visit the Rockcastle County booth.'"
The intent was to make a contact with Bradshaw for a possible future booking.
Rayna continues, "During a break, we went over to the Rockcastle booth. It was a few rows over from the Anderson booth, but Avery was working that day. After some introductions, Bradshaw made his way to the Anderson booth where the sisters were playing amid everything going on at the fair.
"There was no P.A. and it was all acoustic," Rayna says. "For our harmonies, we have to hear each other."
Was it difficult?
"Oh my goodness!" Rayna laughs.
But Bradshaw heard enough to invite the sisters to the Hall of Fame. They hope it leads to a more bookings.
"We have been off for a while," says Rayna, who sometimes travels in her job with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, making scheduling tricky at times. However, Ramsey says working around her job as a Certified Pharmacy Technician is not difficult.
The music is crisp with tight harmonies and can reach a variety of audiences.
"We just really enjoy it," Ramsey says of the performing.
And those who hear R&R are likely to say the same thing.
For ticket information, see the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame Facebook page or visit http://www.kentuckymusichalloffame.com.
For bookings, contact Rayna and Ramsey on their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ALittleRandRinKY/
← Finding more than a song
Making a difference with a heart of faith →


As the rainy season rolls in early and with full force, the likelihood of getting trapped in a particular neighbourhood around mealtime increases significantly. On the Riverside, there are stalwarts like Metro and Rahu, but fortune favours the brave and it's necessary to branch out from time to time. With so many options across the board, however, the road is fraught with peril and it is becoming increasingly difficult to spot the few gems amid a sea of tourist traps.
La Croisette has been around for a while, in most areas this should be a good sign but on the Riverside all bets are off. The first sign of trouble, or at least curiosity, comes with the name. The nod to the Cannes waterfront stretch implies a French or at least Provençale twist, but the menu is decidedly Italian. Located on the corner, it's a decent-sized space with high ceilings and an interesting if eclectic collection of pop art. A fairly ample outdoor seating area is mostly protected from the goings on of Sisowath Quay by a collection of moderately effective shrubs.
The menu is extensive featuring many in-house items and specials are written on chalkboards all around; it has all the makings of a restaurant that could rise above mediocrity, but that thought ends soon.
Upon closer inspection the "specials" are actually just items from the menu re-written on a blackboard and have not changed for a month. Quality ingredients for an antipasto platter should not be difficult to source in Phnom Penh, yet ours consists of a few pieces of rubbery parmesan cheese, what passes for parma ham and mortadella and salami that are non-descript to a point of frustration. At US$12.50 this is a poor showing. The "fresh pizza bread" is more like sliced white bread from a package and is even served unimpressively: with a couple of packets of anchor butter.
Homemade Papparadelle alla Senese ($8.50) is an improvement, the wide noodles are tossed with parma ham in an artichoke sauce, but it still has us requesting fresh chili to spice it up a bit. There is no saving the gnocchi in lamb ragout ($9.50). The gnocchi are massive and have the consistency of stale marshmallows; the "ragout" is a watery tomato sauce with a few bits of stringy meat – it certainly has no discernible lamb flavor. Pleas for cheese, fresh pepper, anything to add a hint of taste go largely unanswered. Finally, a standard salt and pepper shaker arrive but do little to help. With some of the best pepper in the world a mere three hours away there is no excuse for a restaurant to not have access to a grinder. Lamb chops "provencale" are juicy with a nice char but at $16.50 do little to salvage the rest of the meal.
Promises of homemade desserts offer one last chance for La Croisette to redeem itself and provide a reason for a return visit, but profiteroles ($4.50) come out stale and chalky and filled with a tasteless chocolate cream. Is that Hershey's sauce covering the plate? Who cares, nobody has any interest in a second taste.
It's unfortunate that such a prominent Phnom Penh area features so many restaurants that seem to make no effort. Skip La Croisette and head a bit further down to Pop Café where they take some pride in their food and don't gouge you with tourist prices.


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Fiat Panda Cross revealed ahead of Geneva motor show
The Fiat Panda Cross adds an even more hardcore off-road 4x4 to the model range. Pictures and details here.
by: Sam Sheehan
Fiat has announced it will debut its four-wheel drive Panda Cross at the Geneva Motor Show. Based on the Panda 4x4, the Cross is an even more extreme off-road version with increased ground clearance and departure angles. Fiat says the all-terrain hatch back is 'as happy in city traffic as it is taking on the toughest off-road conditions,' using all-season tyres developed specifically to excel in low-traction scenarios as well as on road conditions.
Available with uprated versions of either the 1.3 MultiJet II or 900cc TwinAir Turbo engines, the Panda Cross uses a 'Torque-on-Demand' transmission system to enable its ELD (Electronic Locking Differential) and ESC (Electronically Stability Control) to manage torque delivery in low-grip circumstances. This system is fully automated and controlled by the Terrain Control selector, which offers drivers three modes.
Auto allows the system to judge for itself what level of torque should be sent to the wheels, whilst Lock brings all four-wheels into play at all times, with varying torque levels controlled by the automatic application of individual brakes. The final mode, Hill Descent, is specifically designed to maximise control down steep descents or bumpy lanes. With this technology, the Panda Cross can drive up a climbable gradient as steep as 70 per cent.
Performance for the Cross' TwinAir engine is upped to 90bhp, with 57.6mpg achievable and just 114g/km of CO2 produced. The larger 1.3 MultiJet diesel produces 80bhp and 140g/km of CO2, but can achieve 60.1mpg. Both engines are available with a six-speed manual gearbox, which also features a shortened first gear tailored for off-road use.
The Panda Cross styling gives it a more rough and ready look than its city focused siblings, the 160mm MultiJet and 150mm TwinAir ride heights providing it with far more presence. Plastic wheel arches and light surrounds are joined by silver skid plates and roof bars, giving the Panda a rugged exterior that looks good to challenge any terrain.
The interior features fabric/eco-leather unique to the Cross, as well as a raft of standard equipment including a leather steering wheel and gear knob, automatic climate control and Bluetooth connectivity. City Brake Control, Fiat's award winning system that automatically brakes should an obstacle present itself in front, is available as an option.
The Panda Cross goes on sale in autumn, with pricing, final equipment specifications and technical details being announced closer the car's launch date.


text:
Find sources: "Knife sharpening" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (March 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
This article contains instructions, advice, or how-to content. The purpose of Wikipedia is to present facts, not to train. Please help improve this article either by rewriting the how-to content or by moving it to Wikiversity, Wikibooks or Wikivoyage. (January 2017)
Not to be confused with The Knifegrinder or The Knifegrinder (Goya).
The Knife Grinder by Massimiliano Soldani (c.1700), Albertinum, Dresden
A railway camp cook sharpens a knife blade on a stone wheel, 1927
Knife sharpening is the process of making a knife or similar tool sharp by grinding against a hard, rough surface, typically a stone, or a flexible surface with hard particles, such as sandpaper. Additionally, a leather razor strop, or strop, is often used to straighten and polish an edge.
2 Method
2.1 Blade damage
2.2 Inspection
3 Grinding
4 Steeling
5 Stropping
Overview[edit]
Electric knife sharpener
The smaller the angle between the blade and stone, the sharper the knife will be, but the less side force is needed to bend the edge over or chip it off. The angle between the blade and the stone is the edge angle – the angle from the vertical to one of the knife edges, and equals the angle at which the blade is held. The total angle from one side to the other is called the included angle – on a symmetric double-ground edge (a wedge shape), the angle from one edge to the other is thus twice the edge angle. Typical edge angles are about 20° (making the included angle 40° on a double-ground edge).[1] The edge angle for very sharp knives can be as little as 10 degrees (for a 20° included angle). Knives that require a tough edge (such as those that chop) may sharpen at 25° or more.
Different knives are sharpened differently according to grind (edge geometry) and application. For example, surgical scalpels are extremely sharp but fragile, and are generally disposed of, rather than sharpened, after use. Straight razors used for shaving must cut with minimal pressure, and thus must be very sharp with a small angle and often a hollow grind. Typically these are stropped daily or more often. Kitchen knives are less sharp, and generally cut by slicing rather than just pressing, and are steeled daily. At the other extreme, an axe for chopping wood will be less sharp still, and is primarily used to split wood by chopping, not by slicing, and may be reground but will not be sharpened daily. In general, but not always, the harder the material to be cut, the higher (duller) the angle of the edge.
The composition of the stone affects the sharpness of the blade (a finer grain, usually, though not always, produces sharper blades), as does the composition of the blade (some metals take and keep an edge better than others). For example, Western kitchen knives are usually made of softer steel and take an edge angle of 20–22°, while East Asian kitchen knives are traditionally of harder steel and take an edge angle of 15–18°. The Western-style kitchen knives are generally in the range of 52–58 on the Rockwell scale, which denotes the relative hardness of a material.
Method[edit]
Two professional knife sharpeners in streets of Kathmandu
Knife sharpening with 14th century methods.
Knife sharpening proceeds in several stages, in order from coarsest (most destructive) to finest (most delicate). These may be referred to either by the effect or by the tool. Naming by effect, the stages are:
sharpening: removing metal to form a new edge
rough sharpening (using either water stones, oil stones, or medium grits of sandpaper in the scary sharp method of sharpening)
fine sharpening (using the same tools as above, but in finer grits)
straightening: straightening the existing metal on the blade, but not removing significant quantities of metal
polishing (also called stropping): giving a mirror finish, but not significantly altering the edge.
polishing may also be achieved by buffing a blade: instead of moving the knife against a flat leather strop loaded with fine abrasive, the knife is held still and a powered circular cloth wheel is moved against the knife.
Named by tools, the same three stages are:
grinding (on a grinding wheel) or whetting (on a whetstone)
steeling, using a honing steel
stropping, on a razor strop or buffing on a wheel
The word "honing" is ambiguous, and may refer to either fine sharpening (step 1.2) or straightening (step 2).
The finest level of sharpening is done most frequently, while the coarser levels are done progressively more rarely, and sharpening methods differ between blades and applications.
For example, a straight razor used for shaving is stropped before each use, and may be stropped part-way through use, while it will be fine sharpened on a stone a few times per year, and re-ground on a rough stone after several years.
By contrast, a kitchen knife is steeled before or after each use (and may be steeled during heavy use, as by butchers), and sharpened on a stone a few times per year.
Blade damage[edit]
Blades are damaged primarily by buckling – compressive force, from being pressed into a hard object, such as bone, ice, or a hard cutting board – and by bending, from sideways pressure. Both of these tend to roll the edge of a blade, due to metal's ductile nature.
Blades may also be damaged by being corroded by acid (as when cutting lemons or tomatoes) or by high temperatures and corrosive chemicals in a dishwasher.
If a knife is used as a scraper, a pry-bar, or encounters hard particles in softer materials, there may be a sideways load at the tip, causing bending damage.[2]
Blade damage is avoided by:
using an appropriate blade for the task – a thinner blade for more delicate work, and a thicker blade whenever a thinner blade is not required (e.g. a thinner blade might be used to cut fillets, butterfly steak or roast for stuffing, or perform Mukimono, while a thicker one might be used to slice or chop repeatedly, separate primal cuts of poultry or small game, or scrape and trim fat from meat or hide, as these actions would be more likely to cause unnecessary wear on a thinner blade.)
using a soft cutting surface,
straight cutting, with no side-to-side movement,
immediate cleaning.
oiling (with food grade oil if appropriate)
Inspection[edit]
Blade sharpness can be checked in multiple ways.
Visually, a very sharp knife has an edge that is too small to see with the eye; it may even be hard or impossible to focus in a microscope. The shape near the edge can be highlighted by rotating the knife and watching changes in reflection. Nicks and rolled edges can also be seen, as the rolled edge provides a reflective surface, while a properly straightened edge will be invisible when viewed head-on.
Edge of a Leatherman Crater pocket knife after sharpening and stropping. Although this edge is sharp enough to bite a thumbnail, cut paper smoothly, or shave arm hair, the hobby digital microscope plainly shows an approximately 0.01 mm wide edge, which reflects light back into the lens. A truly sharp edge is too thin to reflect significant light.
By touch, a blade can be checked by running a thumb across the blade (perpendicular to the edge – not along, which will cut it). A sharp blade will have a distinct edge, like a corner, and may sing slightly from vibration, while a dull blade will have a round edge and the thumb will slip over it.
A blade's sharpness may be tested by checking if it "bites"—begins to cut by being drawn across an object without pressure. Specialized sticks exist to check bite, though one can also use a soft ballpoint pen, such as the common white Bic Stic. A thumbnail may be used[3] at the risk of a cut, or the edge of a sheet of paper. For kitchen knives, various vegetables may be used to check bite, notably carrots, tomatoes, or cucumbers. In testing in this way, any nicks are felt as obstacles.
"Biting" sharpness is considered ideal for kitchen knives, but sharper blades are desired for shaving and surgical scalpels, which must cut without side-to-side slicing of the blade, and duller but tougher blades are more suitable for chiseling and chopping wood.
Grinding[edit]
Victorinox knifesharpener for sharpening plain and serrated edges on (Swiss Army) knives and multi-tools between two V-shaped inserts.
For sharpening, the sharpener has to be pulled two to four times over the cutting edge with pressure. After that, the sharpener has to be pulled four to six times over the cutting edge with light pressure to smooth the edge.
Grinding is generally done with some type of sharpening stone. Sharpening stones come in coarse and fine grits and can be described as hard or soft based on whether the grit comes free of the stone with use. Many sources of naturally occurring stones exist around the world; some types known to the ancient world are no longer used, due to exhaustion of former resources or the ready availability of superior alternatives. Arkansas, USA is one source for honing stones, which are traditionally used with water or honing oil. India is another traditional source for stones. Ceramic hones are also common, especially for fine grit size. Japanese water stones (both artificial and natural) come in very fine grits. Before use, they are soaked in water, then flushed with water occasionally to expose new stone material to the knife blade. The mixture of water and abraded stone and knife material is known as slurry, which can assist with the polishing of the knife edge and help sharpen the blade. Generally, these are more costly than oilstones. Coated hones, which have an abrasive, sometimes diamonds, on a base of plastic or metal, are also available.
Diamond stones can be useful in the sharpening process. Diamond is the hardest naturally occurring substance known and as such can be used to sharpen almost any material.[4] (Coarse diamond sharpening stones can be used for flattening waterstones.[4][5]) Alternatively, tungsten carbide blades can be used in knife sharpening.
A clamp-on knife sharpener. The rod guides the sharpening stone to maintain a consistent angle. The angle can be adjusted by moving the guide posts up or down. This sharpener uses a diamond dust coated stone to remove metal from the knife blade.
Clamp-style sharpening tools use a clamp with several holes with predefined angles. The stone is mounted on a rod and is pulled through these holes, so that the angle remains consistent. Another system is the crock stick setup, where two sticks are put into a plastic or wooden base to form a V shape. When the knife is pulled up the V, the angle is held so long as the blade is held perpendicular to the base. Several cutlery manufacturers now offer electric knife sharpeners with multiple stages with at least one grinding stage. These electric sharpeners are typically used in the kitchen but have the ability to sharpen blades such as pocket or tactical knives. The main benefit of using an electric sharpener is speed with many models that can complete the sharpening process in one to two minutes. The disadvantage is that the sharpening angle is fixed so some specialized knives, like a Japanese style Santoku, may need additional attention to sharpen to the ideal angle.
Steeling[edit]
Further information: Steeling
Steeling helps maintain sharpness. This process realigns the edge, correcting for dulling causes such as a rolled edge. A sharpening steel is a type of hardened cylindrical rod used similarly to honing stones. For example, a butcher steel is a round file with the teeth running the long way, while a packer steel (used in the meat packer's industry) is a smooth, polished steel rod designed for straightening the turned edge of a knife,[6] and is also useful for burnishing a newly finished edge. Because steels have a small diameter they exert high local pressure, and therefore affect the knife metal when used with very little force. They are intended for mild steel knives that are steeled several times a day, but are not well suited for today's tougher and harder blade steels. Diamond steels are now available that have an industrial diamond coating and can remove blade metal as well as straighten, therefore used correctly they can re-profile a knife instead of just honing.
Stropping[edit]
Further information: Stropping (blade)
Stropping a knife is a finishing step. This is often done with a leather strap, either clean or impregnated with abrasive compounds (e.g. chromium(III) oxide or diamond), but can be done on paper, cardstock, cloth, or even bare skin in a pinch. It removes little or no metal material, but produces a very sharp edge by either straightening or very slightly reshaping the edge. Stropping may bring a somewhat sharp blade to "like new" condition.
A leather strop on a wooden handle, top. The leather is coated with green chromium oxide polishing compound. Bottom, one pattern of butcher's steel for knife edge maintenance.
^ "Knife Edges". eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
^ "Heimwerken". www.derschwarzemann24.de. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
^ Razor Sharpening And Using Tips
^ a b Woodworkers' Guide to Sharpening. English, Fox Chapel, OL 4331188W pp. 27, 29.
^ Sharpening. Lie-Nielsen, Taunton Press, pp. 23, 24.
^ "Sharpening knives with different types of knife steels". www.wuesthof.com. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Knife sharpening.
Scienceofsharp, True effects of various blade sharpening techniques, mostly on straight razors, shown by electron microscope.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/downloads/pdf/knifeshexps.pdf Electron microscope analysis of various sharpening techniques. By John D. Verhoeven
Knife Maintenance and Sharpening, by Chad Ward, eGullet Culinary Institute
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Knife_sharpening&oldid=984678589"
Grinding and lapping
Articles with Open Library links
Articles needing additional references from March 2010
Articles needing cleanup from January 2017
All pages needing cleanup
Articles containing how-to sections
Articles with multiple maintenance issues
This page was last edited on 21 October 2020, at 13:13 (UTC).


text:
CubeSat Challenge Gives Satellites a Cost-Effective 3D Printed Makeover
Kayla Matthews | @productibytes
The CubeSat Challenge drew in more than 200 engineers from all around the world, competing to see who would create the next leap forward in satellite design. After a month of entries and deliberation, a winner has now been selected. Paolo Minetola of Italy took first place with an innovative design called FoldSat that can only be created through the unique capabilities of 3-D printing.
The CubeSat challenge was created by Stratasys, a 3-D printing and additive manufacturing company. It was meant to discover ways in which 3-D printing can improve the production process for satellite structures. The contest was held on GrabCAD, a collaboration platform for mechanical engineers. Participants were tasked with creating a new structural design for a CubeSat. Each CubeSat is a 10-centemeter cube created to be a standardized, low-cost satellite frame.
Originally intended to allow universities to send projects to space for research purposes, the concept has since been adopted for commercial use. With low cost as a key component of CubeSat design, 3-D printing could provide a means to reduce costs even further without compromising build quality.
Winning Designs
FoldSat gained an edge over the competition in two ways. First, it was designed from the ground up using additive manufacturing in mind, taking advantage of the unique features of 3-D printing and avoiding the technology's weak points. The design also preserves the features of current CubeSats, including PCB mounting slots. These rails, located on the interior of the cube, make it easy to mount electronic components on the frame. Minetola even added features to make maintenance easier. After being assembled, one side of the structure can swing open to allow access to the interior. In total, his design received 45 out of a possible 50 points.
In second place was David Franklin's STRATASATT - FDM ONE, who created a concept focused on customization. He even demonstrated the capabilities of his design by incorporating it with a number of real CubeSat components. Third place went to Chris Esser, who focused more on the manufacturing process. His design was intended to streamline production even further, and included cost and materials analysis.
The CubeSat Challenge featured an impressive panel of judges. Among them were Dr. Jordi Puig-Suari, co-inventor of the CubeSat, and Jonathan Cook, Spaceflight Industries mission manager.
Better and Cheaper
At the moment, each CubeSat's structure can use up to 50 different parts. This makes for a complicated and lengthy manufacturing process. In contrast, Minetola's FoldSat uses only two parts, reducing production time by an estimated 40 percent. Each part features three hinged panels, and the two halves snap together through a simple interlocking mechanism.
Manufacturing satellite components is tricky business. Boeing satellite systems have even used air compressors to inflate balloons used to transport components while absorbing vibrations. If even one of the 50 different parts in a traditional CubeSat structure fails, it could cause damage to these fragile components. Reducing the number of parts using 3-D printing reduces the number of potential failure points.
Part of the push for improving CubeSat technology comes from their use in NASA's upcoming Insight mission, scheduled for March 2016. Two CubeSats, dubbed MarCO A and B, will communicate with Insight during atmospheric entry and landing. Those communications will be relayed to NASA, providing valuable information about the most treacherous part of the mission. The mission also serves as a demonstration of small satellites as communication relays, a concept which could become more valuable as we continue to explore other planets in our solar system. MarCO A and B will be the first CubeSats to operate beyond Earth's orbit.
If 3-D printing CubeSat frames proves to be as effective in reality as it seems to be on paper, the cost of putting a satellite into orbit could reach a new low. This would make it easier than ever for scientists and educators to perform research in the unique environment of outer space.
Filed under technology
Read more about: 3D Printing CubeSat Satellites Space
'Outernet' concept is to create free global internet using cubesats
'Space Fence' helping satellites avoid the millions of space debris floating in orbit could be shutdown in October
Autonomous nanosatellites make first orbital maneuver ever
Bitcoin headed to space as developer plans to launch node using cubesats


text:
Q: Is there any Node js or REST API to create new users in office 365. I have purchased office 365 essentials plan. I have got an admin account. Office provides user interface to add new users under this main admin account.
What I need is I want a Node js or REST API to create users on this account. I have googled well, can't met anything like this. Anyone can provide any samples on this. Any help would be appreciable.

A: Office 365 Users are hosted in the background by Azure Active Directory. I believe you should be able to create new accounts for your Office 365 programmatically using the Azure Active Directory Graph API, or probably even better, using the Microsoft Graph API.
Check out the documentation here:
https://graph.microsoft.io/en-us/docs/api-reference/v1.0/api/user_post_users
You should be able to get a jump-start using our public samples located here:
https://graph.microsoft.io/en-us/code-samples-and-sdks
I hope this helps!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Mr. Elevator and The Brain Hotel
Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel (Los Angeles)
It would be easy to pin the retro dayglo tail on Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel's paisley donkey given its swirling organ-driven sound and trippy swing and sway. So let's go ahead and call an acid-fried spade an acid-fried spade. With lava lamps set to stun, Mr. Elevator & the Brain Hotel don't just reference a specific time in musical history, they weave strains of specific songs ("Telstar," "Incense and Peppermints," "The Crystal Ship") into the tie-dyed fabric of its original but fabulously familiar music. The Brain Hotel's debut full-length, Nico & Her Psychedelic Subconscious, is a tab on the tongue and a literal time machine trip back to the not so-late '60s, man.
YDIIYD: Waking up The Doors at The Three O'Clock with The Strawberry Alarm Clock. (BB)


text:
Q: "RuntimeError: dictionary changed size during iteration" but it's not changed in the loop I'm solving this LeetCode problem and here's my code:
class Solution:
    def alienOrder(self, words: List[str]) -> str:
        adjacent = defaultdict(set)

        for i in range(1, len(words)):
            w1, w2 = words[i - 1], words[i]
            min_len = min(len(w1), len(w2))
            if len(w1) > len(w2) and w1[:min_len] == w2[:min_len]:
                return ""
            for j in range(min_len):
                if w1[j] != w2[j]:
                    adjacent[w1[j]].add(w2[j])  # modify, not in the loop causing error
                    break

        visited = dict()
        res = []

        def dfs(c):
            if c in visited:
                return visited[c]

            visited[c] = True
            for neighbor in adjacent[c]:  # read only
                if dfs(neighbor):
                    return True
            visited[c] = False
            res.append(c)
            return False

        for c in adjacent:  # RuntimeError: dictionary changed size during iteration
            if dfs(c):
                return ''
        return ''.join(reversed(res))

The line for c in adjacent throws "RuntimeError: dictionary changed size during iteration", which I don't understand. I'm not modifying adjacent in dfs(), am I?

A: The main Problem is when dfs method is called it uses this line
for neighbor in adjacent[c]:

This just returns the associated value if it exists in defaultdict, if it doesn't exist in it, it creates and adds a key if you try to access key that doesn't exist.
Potential line that triggers accessing adjacent defaultdict without knowing whether it exist or not is
if dfs(neighbor):

neighbor might be or might not be in adjacent defaultdict this causes defaultdict to change. You might check if it exists if not u might want to skip.

A: @gilf0yle points out the problem is with defaultdict potentially inserting new keys. The solution is to "freeze" it before iteration by casting to a normal dict
adjacent = dict(adjacent)  # No more default key insertion from here on
for c in adjacent:
    if dfs(c):
        return ''
return ''.join(reversed(res))


text:
Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks
Filippos Balasis, Sugang Xu, Yoshiaki Tanaka
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) promises to provide the necessary boost in the core networks' capacity along with the required flexibility in order to cope with the Internet's growing heterogeneous traffic. At the same time, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology remains a cost-effective and reliable solution especially for long-haul transmission. Due to the higher implementation cost of optical OFDM transmission technology, it is expected that OFDM-based bandwidth variable transponders (BVT) will co-exist with conventional WDM ones. In this paper, we provide an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation that minimizes the cost and power consumption of such hybrid architecture and then a comparison is made with a pure OFDM-based elastic optical network (EON) and a mixed line rate (MLR) WDM optical network in order to evaluate their cost and energy efficiency. key words: hybrid optical network, elastic optical network, WDM, bandwidth variable transponder, ILP.
Published - 2018 May 1
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Wavelength division multiplexing Engineering & Materials Science
Fiber optic networks Engineering & Materials Science
Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing Engineering & Materials Science
Energy efficiency Engineering & Materials Science
Transponders Engineering & Materials Science
Linear programming Engineering & Materials Science
Balasis, F., Xu, S., & Tanaka, Y. (2018). Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks. IEICE Transactions on Communications, E101B(5), 1222-1232. https://doi.org/10.1587/transcom.2017EBP3222
Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks. / Balasis, Filippos; Xu, Sugang; Tanaka, Yoshiaki.
In: IEICE Transactions on Communications, Vol. E101B, No. 5, 01.05.2018, p. 1222-1232.
Balasis, F, Xu, S & Tanaka, Y 2018, 'Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks', IEICE Transactions on Communications, vol. E101B, no. 5, pp. 1222-1232. https://doi.org/10.1587/transcom.2017EBP3222
Balasis F, Xu S, Tanaka Y. Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks. IEICE Transactions on Communications. 2018 May 1;E101B(5):1222-1232. https://doi.org/10.1587/transcom.2017EBP3222
Balasis, Filippos ; Xu, Sugang ; Tanaka, Yoshiaki. / Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks. In: IEICE Transactions on Communications. 2018 ; Vol. E101B, No. 5. pp. 1222-1232.
@article{9eeb0c880a954f0e918aa864c28551d2,
title = "Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks",
abstract = "Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) promises to provide the necessary boost in the core networks' capacity along with the required flexibility in order to cope with the Internet's growing heterogeneous traffic. At the same time, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology remains a cost-effective and reliable solution especially for long-haul transmission. Due to the higher implementation cost of optical OFDM transmission technology, it is expected that OFDM-based bandwidth variable transponders (BVT) will co-exist with conventional WDM ones. In this paper, we provide an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation that minimizes the cost and power consumption of such hybrid architecture and then a comparison is made with a pure OFDM-based elastic optical network (EON) and a mixed line rate (MLR) WDM optical network in order to evaluate their cost and energy efficiency. key words: hybrid optical network, elastic optical network, WDM, bandwidth variable transponder, ILP.",
author = "Filippos Balasis and Sugang Xu and Yoshiaki Tanaka",
T1 - Analysis of the cost and energy efficiency of future hybrid and heterogeneous optical networks
AU - Balasis, Filippos
AU - Xu, Sugang
AU - Tanaka, Yoshiaki
N2 - Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) promises to provide the necessary boost in the core networks' capacity along with the required flexibility in order to cope with the Internet's growing heterogeneous traffic. At the same time, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology remains a cost-effective and reliable solution especially for long-haul transmission. Due to the higher implementation cost of optical OFDM transmission technology, it is expected that OFDM-based bandwidth variable transponders (BVT) will co-exist with conventional WDM ones. In this paper, we provide an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation that minimizes the cost and power consumption of such hybrid architecture and then a comparison is made with a pure OFDM-based elastic optical network (EON) and a mixed line rate (MLR) WDM optical network in order to evaluate their cost and energy efficiency. key words: hybrid optical network, elastic optical network, WDM, bandwidth variable transponder, ILP.
AB - Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) promises to provide the necessary boost in the core networks' capacity along with the required flexibility in order to cope with the Internet's growing heterogeneous traffic. At the same time, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology remains a cost-effective and reliable solution especially for long-haul transmission. Due to the higher implementation cost of optical OFDM transmission technology, it is expected that OFDM-based bandwidth variable transponders (BVT) will co-exist with conventional WDM ones. In this paper, we provide an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation that minimizes the cost and power consumption of such hybrid architecture and then a comparison is made with a pure OFDM-based elastic optical network (EON) and a mixed line rate (MLR) WDM optical network in order to evaluate their cost and energy efficiency. key words: hybrid optical network, elastic optical network, WDM, bandwidth variable transponder, ILP.


You are here: Home / Money / Business / The Best Investments to Kick Start Your Portfolio.
The Best Investments to Kick Start Your Portfolio.
(ThyBlackMan.com) You are ready to work on your investment portfolio, but you may be scared that you don't know enough about "investing" to begin. Working on your retirement income now is always the right choice.
In fact, time is on your side when you are looking at creating long-term and sustainable income to help see you through retirement.
Picking the right advisor is a crucial component to the level of success you will have with your own portfolio.
Remember, investment strategies will be a work in progress, and you can change your approach over the years to meet your needs. But where do you begin? Here are a few ways that you can give your portfolio a kick start and start on the road towards building wealth for your future.
Many people overlook these accounts when thinking about investing. This is the first area you should look at when working on your investment plans. You may utilize funds from work (bonus if your employer makes any contribution to your account) or individual retirement accounts that you set up individually.
If you are using a work fund, make sure that you are taking advantage of all in investment opportunities that they have to offer. Because your contributions are before tax, you can accumulate a more significant amount to invest. Also, withdrawals made after age 65 are subject to a lower income tax rate. This is the perfect beginning to your investment future.
One of the best ways to accrue wealth is by owning your own home. Even though purchasing a house to live in, isn't considered part of your investment portfolio, it is important to note the tax deductions that are available to you. You can deduct insurance, interest and other costs associated with owning your home.
Not to mention the home pricing increases that you will realize after your mortgage is paid off. You may also choose to purchase an investment property to rent out to cover the mortgage. This is another excellent way to set yourself up for income in your retirement years. A realtor in NJ can help you find your first home or investment properties for rentals.
Make sure that you are real with yourself about your financial goals. Have a plan in place and stick with it so you will be able to realize your goals when retirement age comes around. Remember, the earlier you begin your investments, the less money per month it takes to make it to your goal. But if you are a late bloomer with investments, don't worry!
There is no better time than today to begin building your portfolio. Check out this retirement calculator to help you to see what you need to save and invest to meet your goals. Make sure before you start aggressively investing, that you have your emergency fund set up. Your emergency fund should be at least six months of reserve to cover any expenses that you may encounter should your income be reduced or cut off.


text:
package redis.clients.jedis.util;

import java.io.Closeable;
import java.util.NoSuchElementException;

import org.apache.commons.pool2.PooledObjectFactory;
import org.apache.commons.pool2.impl.GenericObjectPool;
import org.apache.commons.pool2.impl.GenericObjectPoolConfig;

import redis.clients.jedis.exceptions.JedisConnectionException;
import redis.clients.jedis.exceptions.JedisDataException;
import redis.clients.jedis.exceptions.JedisException;
import redis.clients.jedis.exceptions.JedisExhaustedPoolException;

public class Pool<T> extends GenericObjectPool<T> implements Closeable {

  public Pool(final GenericObjectPoolConfig<T> poolConfig, PooledObjectFactory<T> factory) {
    super(factory, poolConfig);
  }

  @Override
  public void close() {
    destroy();
  }

  public T getResource() {
    try {
      return super.borrowObject();
    } catch (JedisDataException jde) {
      throw jde;
    } catch (NoSuchElementException nse) {
      if (null == nse.getCause()) { // The exception was caused by an exhausted pool
        throw new JedisExhaustedPoolException(
            "Could not get a resource since the pool is exhausted", nse);
      }
      // Otherwise, the exception was caused by the implemented activateObject() or ValidateObject()
      throw new JedisException("Could not get a resource from the pool", nse);
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new JedisConnectionException("Could not get a resource from the pool", e);
    }
  }

  public void returnResource(final T resource) {
    if (resource == null) {
      return;
    }
    try {
      super.returnObject(resource);
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new JedisException("Could not return the resource to the pool", e);
    }
  }

  public void returnBrokenResource(final T resource) {
    if (resource == null) {
      return;
    }
    try {
      super.invalidateObject(resource);
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new JedisException("Could not return the broken resource to the pool", e);
    }
  }

  public void destroy() {
    try {
      super.close();
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new JedisException("Could not destroy the pool", e);
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void addObjects(int count) {
    try {
      for (int i = 0; i < count; i++) {
        addObject();
      }
    } catch (Exception e) {
      throw new JedisException("Error trying to add idle objects", e);
    }
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
By Anya Ulinich
Category: Literary Fiction
Mar 25, 2008 | ISBN 9780143113010
Buy the Ebook:
About Petropolis
In her stunning debut novel, Anya Ulinich delivers a funny and unforgettable story of a Russian mail-order bride trying to find her place in America. After losing her father, her boyfriend, and her baby, Sasha Goldberg decides that getting herself to the United States is the surest path to deliverance. But she finds that life in Phoenix with her Red Lobster-loving fiancé isn't much better than life in Siberia, and so she treks across America on a misadventure-filled search for her long- lost father. Petropolis is a deeply moving story about the unexpected connections that create a family and the faraway places that we end up calling home.
Also by Anya Ulinich
See all books by Anya Ulinich
About Anya Ulinich
Anya Ulinich was seventeen when her family left Moscow and immigrated to the United States. She attended the Art Institute of Chicago and received an MFA in painting from the University of California. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Mar 25, 2008 | 336 Pages | 5-5/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780143113010
Ebook | $12.99
Mar 25, 2008 | 336 Pages | ISBN 9781440634147
People Who Read Petropolis Also Read
"Audacious, clever, and lively . . . a nervy social satire in the spirit of Tom Wolfe, Aleksandar Hemon, Gish Jen, Gary Shteyngart, and Lara Vapnyar."
"Ulinich has a knack for the tragicomic. . . . Petropolis is engaging, funny, and genuinely moving in all the right places."
–Los Angeles Times Book Review
"A moving account of a perpetual outsider's desire to belong, both to her family and to the wide, weird world she encounters with a sometimes weary heart and plenty of chutzpah."
"A beautiful far-ranging voice equally at home on both sides of the Atlantic . . . Anya Ulinich's satiric romp gives new meaning to the word 'bittersweet.'"
-Gary Shteyngart, author of Absurdistan and The Russian Debutante's Handbook
Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers WINNER


Ptosis is the medical term for eyelid drooping. It can affect one eye or both eyes simultaneously. In the mildest cases, ptosis is problematic in a strictly cosmetic sense. In serious cases, the eyelid drooping can obstruct normal field of vision, and those that suffer from it may need to arch their eyebrows or manually lift their eyelids to see clearly.
In this blog post, the team at Eyesthetica discusses the causes of droopy eyelids and explains what our doctors can do to treat it.
Ptosis is a common effect of the aging process. The levator is the muscle responsible for lifting the eyelid. With age, this muscle can become stretched out and lose the ability to properly elevate the eyelid. Also, the body's supply of collagen and elastin — two proteins necessary for tight, smooth skin — dwindles with age. As a result, the skin on the upper eyelids can become loose and saggy.
In some cases, the levator muscle is naturally weak. Though it is rare, some babies are born with ptosis and are unable to open and close their eyelids normally. Children can also acquire ptosis because of trauma to the eyelids or a neurological condition.
The eyes may droop due to an acute condition, such as a sty (typically harmless swelling and inflammation of the eyelid). Other medical conditions, such as diabetes, stroke, a tumor around or behind the eye and abnormal growths can lead to eyelid drooping.
Laser vision correction with LASIK or cataract removal surgery can sometimes stretch the eyelid muscle or tendons.
The first step to treating droopy eyelids is to determine the cause of the problem. During our evaluation of a patient, we take down a full health history and inquire about medical conditions, previous surgeries and other related facts. We may perform some testing, too. Once we have the information we need, we confirm the root cause of the ptosis. Then, we recommend a suitable treatment. If a disease is found, it can be treated. However, our doctors most often see patients that have age-related ptosis from excess skin. The suitable solution in these cases is blepharoplasty, which is designed to restore a full field of vision and to tighten and smooth the eyelids. During the procedure, excess skin and tissue is removed and the eyelid muscles are tightened. Other patients have ptosis from weakening of the levator muscle that raises the eyelid up, and will usually have an internal ptosis repair without any external incision, to strengthen this muscle and raise the eyelid's resting position. The result is unobstructed vision and more youthful and awake looking eyelids.
For more information about eyelid surgery, please contact the team at Eyesthetica by calling (213) 234-1000 today.