text:
Tuesday, August 31, 2010 ... / /
Units of evidence
We often encounter the question whether a proposition, P, is true or false. The probability that it is true is "p". Various arguments - logical inference - may exist to determine our subjective value of "p". In particular, Bayesian inference multiples the probabilities "p" and "1-p" by the probability that the respective hypotheses give the result that agrees with the newest observation.
Some of the arguments may be K-sigma deviations of the measurements from the prediction of a null hypothesis. The value of "K" may be translated to "p" through the conventional error function: for example, a 3-sigma deviation translates to the 0.3% probability that P is true (99.7% that it is false).
It could be helpful to define another function of "p" or "K", called "AE", that kind of interpolates between "p" and "K". The letters "AE" stand for "amount of evidence". It is a dimensionless quantity but you may still use the term "unit of evidence" or "UE" for the unit. "AE" is defined as
AE = ln(p/(1-p))
AE = ln(1/(1-p)-1)
p = 1/(1+exp(-AE))
For your convenience, I have also written down the formula for "AE=AE(p)" where "p" only appears once, as well as the inverse relationship where "AE" appears once. If "AE" is positive, the evidence supporting the proposition P is stronger than the evidence going in the opposite direction.
I constructed "AE" as a simple function of the odds - the ratio of probabilities of "P" and "non P", i.e. as a simple function of "p/(1-p)". The precise definition of "AE" has the obvious property that if you negate P i.e. if you exchange "p" and "1-p", the value of "AE" simply switches the sign.
Other texts on similar topics: mathematics, philosophy of science
Why complex numbers are fundamental in physics
I have written about similar issues in articles such as Wick rotation, The unbreakable postulates of quantum mechanics, and Zeta-function regularization, among others.
But now I would like to promote the complex numbers themselves to the central players of the story.
History of complex numbers in mathematics
Around 1545, Girolamo Cardano (see the picture) was able to find his solution to the cubic equation. He already noticed the quadratic equation "x^2+1=0" as well. But even negative numbers were demonized at that time ;-) so it was impossible to seriously investigate complex numbers.
Monday, August 30, 2010 ... / /
IAC verdict on IPCC: leadership shouldn't work on 2nd report
During the press conference at 10 a.m. New York Summer Time, the IAC panel has recommended all 8 top IPCC leaders to work on 1 report only, among other things to increase transparency and impartiality. The IAC reviewers have also recommended a new external board of overseers to supervise the IPCC. The IPCC has been successful but fundamental changes are needed, they say. Shapiro said that the GlacierGate and others have unequivocally dented the trust of the IPCC. Trust is something one has to earn again and again.
BBC: IPCC needs reforms, IAC review recommends
RTT News: Review recommends major overhaul of UN climate body
Irish Times: Report criticises climate change body
Reason: IPCC processes critiqued
Earth Times: Probe urges deep reforms in the IPCC
Daily Mail: Body needs overhaul
Fox News: Independent audit slaps U.N. climate panel
Others at Google News
Rajendra Pachauri was elected in 2002 and re-elected for his second term in 2008. However, when asked whether the one-term IAC recommendation also implies that Pachauri should resign, Princeton's ex-president Prof Shapiro answered that it was too difficult a logical problem for him to solve so he has to leave the "interpretation" to others.
Well, that's how the Tuesday son puzzle would end up if I allowed the solution to be open to "interpretations" instead of logic, too.
When Shapiro discussed the IPCC errors such as GlacierGate that are dedicated some chapters in the IAC review, a lady from Al Jazeera asked whether he was not afraid that it could be interpreted as that he thinks that the IPCC has made some errors. Her eyes hinted that her Islamist and leftist friends could perform a terrorist attack against the IAC. But Shapiro didn't quite collapse although he clearly tried to appease the PC lady a bit.
In the IAC panel's opinion, the errors occurred because the IPCC did not obey its own guidelines - so the guidelines might be enough in their opinion.
Completely different words sounded an hour later
At 11 a.m. New York Summer Time, Pachauri has glorified himself, making catastrophic climate science look more worshiped than ever. He has read some comment from a jerk or two who has worship him. When Pachauri was asked whether he would respect the IAC recommendation and resign, he said that his interpretation was that it was forward-looking and for Pachauri personally, it's a mission he can't leave so "we will see". ;-)
Another IPCC apparatchik said that the IAC review - that has previously claimed that the scandals have dented the credibility of the IPCC has - shown that the IPCC's credibility is stronger than ever. :-) That's the "interpretation" by the IPCC logic.
Key fresh links (explanation below):
► U.N. webcast (with Dijkgraaf, Shapiro, and others): LIVE; began at 10 a.m. New York Summer Time; continues from 11 a.m. (with Pachauri et al.)
► IAC report website
► IAC: web page about & before the release
► IAC: web page about & after the release
Older text written before the press conference
Other texts on similar topics: climate, science and society
Gauge theory in 12 dimensions?
The highest dimensionality in which a non-gravitational supersymmetric effective field theory is understood is 10 - or 9+1 - dimensions. And the theory is nothing else than the 9+1-dimensional Yang-Mills theory.
It is non-renormalizable but it may emerge either as the effective description of non-gravitational parts of the 10-dimensional N=1 supersymmetric string vacua or it can be compactified to 3+1 dimensions or lower to produce extremely important (not only for Matrix theory and AdS/CFT) renormalizable supersymmetric gauge theories.
The reason why 9+1 dimensions is the maximum dimensionality for supersymmetry is rather simple.
Particles may be invariant at most under 1/2 of the supersymmetry. Because the remaining broken supercharges act as ladder operators within the supermultiplet and because we want the spin to be at most 1 (3/2 is already too much because the only consistent spin-3/2 massless fields are gravitinos), there can be at most 4 raising and 4 lowering generators "broken" by a particle - to get us from -1 to +1 by the 1/2-steps that supercharges offer.
However, that means that there can be at most 8 supercharges broken by a particle that preserves 1/2 of supercharges - and at most 16 supercharges in total. The maximum dimensionality where spinor representations with 16 real components exist is 9+1 dimensions. The corresponding theory has a spin-1/2 field with 16 real components (a Majorana-Weyl spinor) all of which turn out to be physical - which is inevitable for the Dirac spinors and their reductions. These 16 fields may be Fourier-transformed into 8 creation and 8 annihilation operators for fermions in the momentum space. That's great because the 8 fermionic polarizations match the 10-2 physical bosonic polarizations of a gauge field in 10 dimensions.
Two times and higher dimensions
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Sunday, August 29, 2010 ... / /
Will the 2013 solar flare return us to the Stone Age?
Fox Business News Channel brought the "top physicist" (right after Al Gore, Lee Smolin, and Joe Romm) Michio Kaku who explained that we're doomed in 3 years:
Every 11 years the [Sun's] north pole and the south pole flip, releasing a burst of radiation. But, every 100 years or so, a monster Tsunami from the Sun emerges which could literally cause trillions in property damage. […]
It could paralyze the economy of the planet Earth. In 1859 we had a gigantic solar storm which knocked out telegraph wires back then, 150 years ago. If that had happened today it would knock out almost all our satellites, knock out power stations, there would be food riots around the country because refrigeration would stop, airplanes would probably crash without radar. […]
And again, this is a once in a century, once in two centuries storm…
We do have them and we have to worry about them. […]
We'd be thrown back 100 years.
Every 100 years, we're thrown back 100 years just by the solar storms, we're told. Because there are dozens of types of similar catastrophes, it is clear that every 100 years, we're thrown back several millennia. ;-)
It sounds scary, doesn't it? One year after the Earth collapses because of the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012 and after another doomsday prescribed by Nostradamus, we will face yet another Armageddon. Fine. You may buy insurance from me. What is going on?
Other texts on similar topics: astronomy, climate, heliophysics, science and society
Saturday, August 28, 2010 ... / /
Temperature variations are not increasing
The increase of the global mean temperature - and most local temperatures - in the last 30 or 100 or 200 years is unspectacular, noisy, and somewhat questionable, but it is arguably based on the actual empirical data.
However, you may also often hear that the climate variations and extremes are increasing. Unlike the case of the global mean temperature, this statement directly contradicts the available thermometer records.
It is actually very straightforward to see that there is no such increase. Here is the self-explaining Mathematica notebook, based on the WeatherData function, and its PDF preview (25 pages) with the 48 municipal graphs:
Temperature variations.nb (Mathematica notebook)
PDF preview of the notebook (25 pages, HTML)
Typical month-on-month jumps of the temperature anomaly in °C in Boston between 1943 and 2009. The details will be explained later.
I somewhat randomly took 48 of the world's large cities. For each of them, I looked how many years into the past I can go to see uninterrupted monthly average temperature data. For many cities, it was 37 years - since the beginning of 1973. For some cities and their weather station, it was longer. Boston had 67 years.
Friday, August 27, 2010 ... / /
One son on Tuesday: a probabilistic puzzle
John Baez, a savior of the Earth, discusses an interesting puzzle that was sent to him by Greg Egan:
A few months ago I read about a very simple but fun probability puzzle. Someone tells you:
"I have two children. At least one is a boy born on a Tuesday. [And if it were not the case, I would have told you.] What is the probability I have two boys?"
Try to solve it yourself. John Baez mentions that you would think or he would think that the information about Tuesday is irrelevant because the days of the week are independent of the sex and we only care about the latter.
So you would think that there are 4 equally represented groups of 2-kid families, namely boy-boy, boy-girl, girl-boy, and girl-girl families where the two hyphenated words refer to the younger and older kid, respectively. Only the girl-girl families are eliminated, and 1 of the remaining 3 groups is a two-boy family, so the conditional probability is 1/3.
However, that's a wrong result. The information about the Tuesday actually does matter. Here's why:
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Thursday, August 26, 2010 ... / /
Honolulu lawsuit: LHC beats Wagner
After laborious proceedings, the judge in Hawaii ruled that Walter Wagner (picture)
had no standing;
failed to show a "credible threat of harm";
and misjudged whom he should sue because the U.S. government doesn't happen to own CERN or the LHC ;-):
Symmetry Magazine: LHC lawsuit dismissed by US court (click)
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Obama and AEP v. Connecticut
As a Senator, Barack Obama had the most leftist voting record among all of his colleagues. Nevertheless, I have always had significant doubts about his genuinely "progressive" thinking.
In fact, I have always believed that his emotions are "moderate" if not "conservative" when it comes to many issues. He had just found it more convenient to march to the political Olymp as a candidate building upon the extreme left wing of the Democrat Party.
It's always hard to decide whether he has his own opinions or whether he's just adjusting them to achieve something else - namely his election and re-election - but assuming that he's considering arguments that go beyond his personal interests, Obama has just shown his conservative face. He and his administration may have helped to save America from an explosion of insane lawsuits against CO2 producers.
Yesterday, the New York Times reported that
Obama Admin Urges Supreme Court to Vacate Greenhouse Gas 'Nuisance' Ruling (click).
Other texts on similar topics: climate, Kyoto, politics
The particle physics song, by CERN choir
Other texts on similar topics: experiments, LHC, music, string vacua and phenomenology
Wednesday, August 25, 2010 ... / /
Putin encounters a tiger and an environmentalist
Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin is known to his countrymates as a tough guy, or a genuine moloděc. This self-described wild animal lover has also recently encountered a polar bear, a tiger, and a leopard during his journeys throughout the regions of Russia.
But that's nothing compared to his experience on Monday when he met a wild German environmentalist:
AFP: German scientist hands Putin frosty climate rebuke (click)
In the fast Eastern region of Yakutia, he dared to mention his opinion that
10,000 years ago, the mammoths started to die out. This was linked to a warming of the climate, a rise in sea levels, a reduction of pastures. All this happened without human influence.
He primarily meant that no industrial CO2 emissions were involved in the decline of mammoths. But that was too courageous a thing for him to say. Ms Inken Preuss, a wild German environmentalist (second from the left), immediately reacted:
Other texts on similar topics: climate, politics, Russia
The unbreakable postulates of quantum mechanics
Many people try to use every opportunity to diminish the importance of the principles of quantum mechanics and to cover them by fog and shadows - even though they're the most important and most robustly established insights of the 20th century science.
Any quantum mechanical theory is composed out of two layers:
Postulates and interpretation of quantum mechanics
The choice of the Hilbert space and the Hamiltonian (or action or whatever plays its role of determining the evolution in time)
These two layers are largely isolated from one another. The first layer is universal for all quantum mechanical theories and one only needs to understand it once; the second layer has to be refreshed for each new physical system we want to study and for each description of such a system that is more accurate than the previous one.
Pretty much all the advanced mathematics of every modern physical theory is hiding in the second layer while the philosophy and all the "controversies" of quantum mechanics are concentrated in the first layer.
You may read a lecture of mine about the interpretation of quantum mechanics. However, in this text, I want to focus on more mathematical and less philosophical issues of the postulates of quantum mechanics.
Other texts on similar topics: philosophy of science, science and society
Prof Jiří Niederle died
The Czech media brought us some very sad news. After a long disease, Prof Jiří Niederle died at the age of 71. Some time ago, he was still the chief of the theory section of the HEP department of the Physical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences.
As an undergrad, I attended a great course on group theory that he taught. He would sometimes tell us some stories from his scientific life, too.
Clearly, he has traveled a lot and he was one of the few people who imagined institutionalized science in the old Western way and who were considered genuine peers by some Western colleagues. By the way, the exam took place in a very fancy office of the Academy of Sciences across the National Theater in Prague: at that time, Niederle presided over the international section of the Academy.
Other texts on similar topics: Czechoslovakia, science and society
Marc Morano's alarmist audience of wild animals
Yesterday, Marc Morano of climatedepot.com was invited to give a talk at the AREDAY conference of climate alarmists in Aspen.
James Cameron, the king of hypocrites, canceled his promised debate with Marc Morano; you can't believe a word that these people ever say. The remainder of Morano's talk went as expected: the alarmist participants of the conference - and the moderator - behaved like wild animals.
New Scientist attacks quantum physics
Well, I can't hide that I really hate the magazine called New Scientist.
Ninety-five percent of their articles about the disciplines I care about - and about science per se - are emotional attacks by breathtakingly deluded pompous imbeciles against the scientific principles and scientific achievements that I hold dear - that I consider the pillars of the human knowledge and progress.
Nude Socialist has already dedicated a whole issue to attacks on "climate deniers". It systematically promotes crackpots in high-energy physics (and their dumb speculations and misconceptions) and tries to put them on the same level - if not a higher level - with the world's top physicists (and the key findings of physics).
Attacks against string theory haven't been revolutionary enough for these new "scientists" so they picked all of quantum physics as their new target today. Two minutes ago, they released the following article:
Is quantum theory weird enough for the real world?
It's a classic article by anti-quantum zealots who simply refuse to accept, on purely dogmatic grounds, that the postulates of quantum mechanics could be a fundamental part of the reality.
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Chernobyl: a DNA discovery on substitution rates
On Friday, BBC has brought us news about an interesting paper on evolution:
Chernobyl species decline linked to DNA
Victoria Gill writes about the following paper:
Historical mutation rates predict susceptibility to radiation in Chernobyl birds (full text PDF)
written by A.P. Moller, J. Erritzoe, F. Karadas, and T.A. Mousseau affiliated with French, Norwegian, Danish, Turkish, and American institutions. They wanted to figure out which species are going to be affected by events of the Chernobyl type - that clearly increase the mutation rates etc. Which of them will see their abundance decline quickly?
Other texts on similar topics: biology, experiments, Russia
Dvořák Cello Concerto with Rostropovich
As Wikipedia says, fourty-two years ago, Mstislav Rostropovich, a giant Russian cello soloist, played at the London Proms on the night of August 21, 1968.
He played with the Soviet State Symphony Orchestra and it was the orchestra's debut performance at the Proms. The programme featured Czech composer Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto and was the same day that Russians invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to Alexander Dubček's Prague Spring; see TRF 2007, TRF 2008.
It was reported that he was crying as he performed: BBC 2007.
A great piece, right?
This particular recording, however, was made with the conductor Carlo Maria Giulini and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The 1968 video with the Soviet orchestra doesn't seem to be available but BBC calls it one of the greatest ever recordings of the piece by the Czech composer.
Other texts on similar topics: Czechoslovakia, music, politics, Russia
Latma TV: The Iranian Bomb
The Iranian Bomb, by Latma TV
[original: Sex Bomb, by Tom Jones]
Spy on me baby, use a satellite
Infrared to see me move through the night
I listen with a smile, as you say this won't be
But you won't dare stand up to me.
Other texts on similar topics: Middle East, missile, music, politics, video
Posted from iPod touch
This is not the most spectacular text on The Reference Frame but it was written on and sent from iPod touch.
OK, one paragraph was enough so let me edit it with a bigger keyboard which is still a bit faster. ;-)
Click here for a readable mobile version of this blog and this post...
I am amazed by the technological progress that has taken place. This 3rd generation iPod touch device boasts 64 GB of flash memory - which is one million times more than what we used to have on the beloved box we called Commodore 64 when we were kids. :-)
Since the frequency of the processor is about 1,000 times bigger as well, it shouldn't be shocking that Apple could produce quite an exciting user interface and others could offer 200,000 sometimes great apps.
On-shell N=4 SYM: recursively solved to all orders à la BCFW
N=4 maximally supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory is quite an important theory. It is arguably the most important four-dimensional local field theory in the Universe. First, notice that it is uniquely determined by the assumption of the maximum of 16 supercharges for a non-gravitational field theory (plus 16 additional superconformal generators that add up to 32 Grassmann-odd generators which invisibly make the gauge theory gravitational, as discussed from the next sentence on).
The theory is also equivalent to the superselection sector of type IIB string theory on the AdS5 x S5 background with an RR flux; that makes it the most studied example of the AdS/CFT correspondence. The N=4 SYM has been used to describe heavy ion physics, hydrodynamics, superconductivity, and other things because the AdS/CFT duality is most controllable in this case.
Alpinekat on sneutrino inflation
Nude Socialist has finally published an article that may be imperfect and the model it promotes is probably untrue: but it made me smile in approval. The smile began with the title and the name of the author. ;-)
Kate McAlpine wrote an article called
Closing in on the inflaton, mother of the universe.
As you should know, McAlpine is the author of the renowned LHC rap video which has attracted 6 million visitors to YouTube:
If you need a version with a singer you're familiar with, here it is. ;-) Well, I admit that I have recorded it at a lower speed (by a factor of nearly two) and sped it up artificially later: rap is too fast a genre for me, and not only in English. :-)
She highlights two papers on inflation in supersymmetric models:
Other texts on similar topics: astronomy, experiments, LHC, string vacua and phenomenology
Can a rare heat wave in a big city occur by chance?
The short answer is Yes. What about the long answer?
Roger Pielke Jr wrote a text about rare weather events that I completely agree with:
Why rare events are a certainty
July 2010 was unusually warm in Western Russia - and Moscow. It actually turns out that a bigger portion of Russia was below the normal temperature than the portion of Russia above it. But that can't change the fact that Moscow et al. was really warm.
I picked Mathematica and used the WeatherData function to find out that the average July 2010 temperature in Moscow was 3.5 standard deviations above the mean temperatures for July 2010 - that can be extracted from the record available via Wolfram's software. By a standard deviation, I mean the root mean square of the differences of July temperatures in the past from their overall average.
Israel should and probably will strike Iran
George Will has joined those who find it sensible for Israel to strike Iran:
Israel's Netanyahu poised to take out Iran's nuclear sites
I completely agree with his analysis. Israel is threatened from many more directions than it used to be some time ago. But it also has the capacity, knowledge, experience, and wisdom to defend itself. The ability of the Jews to defend themselves - in similar ways as other nations - was the very reason why many of our ancestors helped to create Israel six decades ago.
I am proud that in 1947-1949, Czechoslovakia has peacefully sent a military aid to Israel including 25 Avia S-199 fighters (aircrafts), 61 supermarine spitfire MK IX fighters (aircraft), 34,500 P18 rifles, 5,515 MG34 machine guns, 10,000 bayonets vz.24, 900 vz. 37 heavy machine guns, 500 vz. 27 pistols, 12 ZK-383 submachine guns, 10 ZK 420 semi-automatic rifles, 500 vz. 26 light machine guns, 90 million 7.92 x 57 mm cartridges, 15 million Parabellum cartridges, and 900,000 cartridges of three more types.
That's what I call a meaningful and lasting contribution to peace in the Middle East - and not just hypocritical words. ;-)
Prime minister Netanyahu should attack the Iranian nuclear sites to defend itself not only from the future nuclear attacks but also from the growing military and "blackmailing" power of Iran that can increase the pressures to delegitimize the very existence of Israel and its right for self-defense.
Other texts on similar topics: Middle East, missile, politics
Can quantum gravity be directly measured?
The short answer is No. But what is the long answer?
In recent years, it has become fashionable in some corners to demand that the scientific research helps to solve real-world problems. For example, it should enhance some men's intimate organs or prevent the weather from changing.
These barbarian expectations have even affected disciplines that are as "pure" i.e. "not applied" as you can get such as physics of quantum gravity. All "simple" features of quantum gravity are carefully hidden at inaccessible energy scales. But you know, the demand also creates its supply so there exists a whole class of "physicists" participating at conferences with absurd titles such as Experimental Search for Quantum Gravity 2010.
In this article, I will discuss why the typical scale of quantum gravity is almost certainly inaccessibly far; I will mention a conceivable counterexample and the indirect ways how quantum gravity manifests itself in the real world; and I will review several topics from that conference.
Other texts on similar topics: philosophy of science, stringy quantum gravity
Paper: Fake random data are better predictors than Mann proxies
One of the examples showing that the existing composition of the climate science community makes it impossible to achieve "collective" progress even in the elementary scientific questions is the hockey stick controversy.
It was almost a decade ago when it was understood - mostly by Ross McKitrick and Steve McIntyre - that the MBH (Mann-Bradley-Hughes) methodology is flawed because it assigns a higher weight to proxies and their time series that do exhibit a greater overall change (warming) in the instrumental period (20th century) than in the previous centuries.
In a big enough ensemble, a fraction of the proxies (e.g. tree ring widths) inevitably possesses this property (having a bigger 1900-2000 change than e.g. 1700-1800 change) by chance, even though they're not correlated with the temperature. Because of this property, their voices are being "amplified" and they contribute to the "reconstructed temperature" according to the MBH methodology (because, according to Mann, this methodology "calculates" that such proxies are better because they are "more correlated with the thermometer readings"). And their average may be seen to look like a hockey stick.
It means that the hockey stick graph is generated even from the random data, as long as they are continuous, e.g. as in red (Brownian, i.e. random walk) noise.
Czech speaker of the House against AGW panic
Cool reason. No commanding of the wind and rain, Ms Němcová recommends concerning warming
Translated from Parliamentary Letters: LM
Friday, August 13th, 9:43 pm - The speaker of the Czech House of Representatives (our conservative Nancy Pelosi) and the first deputy chairperson of the (right-wing) Civic Democratic Party (ODS), Ms Miroslava Němcová, doesn't believe in the man-made global warming theory. She informed the parlamentnilisty.cz (Parliamentary Letters, or Czech "The Hill").
"I don't believe in the theory of man-made global warming. Under the ice sheets that exist today, houses used by humans have been found which makes it clear that the contemporary man is not to be blamed for the oscillating temperatures. Nature undergoes certain cycles that can't be attributed in as short a time frame as 10 or 20 years. Moreover, it has been leaked that the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change has been fabricating its reports. Even this finding should open our eyes a little bit and we should keep our cool," Němcová told our editors.
Other texts on similar topics: climate, Czechoslovakia, politics
Revkin: greenhouse effect is at best a tertiary wild card
I just finished writing a text on the floods in China in Pakistan and the wildfires in Russia (in Czech) when Tom Nelson focused my attention on Andrew Revkin's article on the same issue:
Building Resilience on a Turbulent Planet (Dot Earth)
It's a generic interview with an environmentalist, Robert Verchick, but what's remarkable in my and Tom Nelson's eyes is Revkin's comment #5:
Why and how energy is not conserved in cosmology
Phil Gibbs is convinced that all relativists are wrong when they say that the energy conservation law is weakened, trivialized, corrected, or violated in general relativity in any way.
But they are right. ;-) Let me explain.
What is energy?
In different physical situations, we use different formulae for "energy" but we always want the "same convertible currency" that may be summarized as follows:
Energy is the scalar quantity that is conserved as a result of the time-translational invariance of the laws of physics.
This deep relationship between symmetries of the laws of Nature - in this case the invariance under the translations in time - and the conservation laws was discovered by Fraulein Emmy Amalie Noether - who is worshiped by young mathematicians such as the Gentleman on the picture.
Mafia II demo released
Mafia II (Wiki) is the best shooting game as of Summer 2010. It will be released in the U.S. on August 24th and three days later in the rest of the world. It works on Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox360, and is available in many languages including US, CZ, RU, DE, ES, FR, and IT.
Today, its 2KCzech creators have released the demo for all three platforms. The PC demo is 1.2 GB big and is available via Steam (click). If you don't have Steam, you will be urged to download it. Before you download Mafia II demo, check whether your PC satisfies the system requirements.
In the demo, you - Vito Scaletta (with friends) - will have to kill a guy called Tommaso Dorigo, nicknamed Fat Man. ;-) The actual city, called the Empire Bay, will be a lot bigger in the full game.
The linear game with super-realistic graphics is using a physics engine, namely NVIDIA's PhysX, which assigns your graphics card with the job to calculate some physics. The creators considered the five-loop MSSM corrections to the interference patterns of the bullets, when they break the glass to lots of pieces, to be the biggest challenge.
Other texts on similar topics: computers, Czechoslovakia, games
HP Labs researcher: P ≠ NP
The P versus NP problem is usually considered to be the most important open problem in computer science.
It is also one of the Millennium problems whose solver would receive USD 1 million from the Clay Institute (and who could reject it just like Grisha Perelman).
In essence, the problem is:
If "Yes" answers to a "Yes or No" question can be verified in polynomial time (NP), can the answers themselves also be computed in polynomial time (P)? Is P, which is known to be a subset of NP, a proper subset?
Vinay Deolalikar who also works in the HP Labs now claims to have solved the problem. His answer is that the two classes do not coincide: P is a proper subset of NP.
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Ed Markey wants an icy concentration camp for 4 billion people
The Nazis have at least dedicated villages and built new buildings to collect the people they didn't like. For environmentalists, this is too much of a luxury. A left-wing political representative of Massachusetts, Mr Ed Markey, proposed a cheaper solution.
Markey: Deniers of global warming should 'start their own country' (The Hill)
MA pol: warming skeptics should move to ice island (The Boston Globe)
Where should the new country for 4 billion people be located? Well, he has an answer:
"An iceberg four times the size of Manhattan has broken off Greenland, creating plenty of room for global warming deniers to start their own country," Markey said in a statement.
Is 100 square miles really a lot of room for 4 billion people? He justifies his plans by his own, idiosyncratic temperature record
Hiroshima: 65 years
Yesterday, we commemorated 65 years that separate us from the nuclear blast above Hiroshima.
This building was designed by Czech architect Jan Letzel and completed in April 1915. It served as their industrial palace - more precisely, as the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition - and its skeleton, nowadays known as the A-Dome, was the only structure that resisted the blast because the construction was masterminded by a member of the nation of golden little hands ;-) (at least that's how our ancestors would call themselves haha) and because it stood exactly at the ground zero.
The message is that if your city is nuked, you may want to stand exactly beneath the explosion if you want to have a chance that parts of your skeleton will be found.
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Yau, Nadis: The Shape of Inner Space
I just received a copy of Steve Nadis' and Shing-Tung Yau's new and excellent book,
The Shape of Inner Space: String theory and the geometry of the Universe's hidden dimensions.
Pre-order it via amazon.com (see the button on the left) to lock the 30% discount; you will receive it in one month. Steve Nadis who writes for Astronomy magazine gives the book his experienced writing style while Shing-Tung Yau, one of the greatest living mathematicians, shares the story of his mathematical discoveries that would eventually become a cornerstone of state-of-the-art theoretical physics.
Study: Arctic cooler in 1989 than in 1870
Off-topic: In The Guardian, John Cook claims that "Our Climate" iPhone app shows that deniers are evil deniers and devils. Do you agree with him? Create a Guardian account and tell him.
The Czech media just informed the nation about another study that rules out the industrial activity as the cause of the bulk of the 20th century climate change.
Warming is not related to the mankind's industrial activity, a study shows (novinky.cz)
That's a pretty clear title, isn't it? ;-)
You may find it even more remarkable if I tell you that novinky.cz is a top left-wing news server on the Czech Internet - with loose institutional links to Právo, the newspapers that used to belong to the Communist Party - and that the story above is the "story of the day" on the server's main page.
Half a day later, the Public Czech TV channel, ČT24, printed an article on the same topic:
German-Russian study: global warming is not a people's fault
I will discuss it at the very end (maybe: later) but let's return to the first article.
Hawking: To boldly go: my life in physics
Stephen Hawking - who just returned to England from a short-term tenure in Waterloo - wrote an extensive, wise, and amusing review of his past thinking and intellectual achievements for the Cosmos, the "magazine of the year":
To boldly go: my life in physics (8 web pages)
There's absolutely no reason to think about it now - but Hawking has already proposed a formula for his tombstone. It's the black hole entropy, "S = k A c^3 / 4 G hbar".
Other texts on similar topics: astronomy, science and society, stringy quantum gravity
Fights over the Nobel prize for Higgs
Nature focuses on a political controversy over a future theoretical physics Nobel prize for the Higgs boson:
Physicists get political over Higgs
I have shared an office with Peter Higgs in Santa Barbara's KITP, a nice guy. And I do think that it's OK for the particle to be called after him - even though it obviously makes his name somewhat overexposed, especially given the relatively exceptional importance that the single paper about the God particle plays among his other papers. ;-)
The six people who published the same ideas as Higgs were, chronologically,
Robert Brout + François Englert in Belgium; Peter Higgs in Scotland; and finally Tom Kibble in London, along with his colleagues in the United States, Gerald Guralnik (at the time in London) and Carl R. Hagen.
All of these papers were published in 1964. The last one cited the first ones, visibly reducing the claims of a complete independence.
An Orsay, France conference last week was used to promote the meme that the first three authors should be ready for the Nobel prize - which, as you probably know, can be awarded at most to 3 people. Some people protested. Unless you are a Don of a PayPal or another mafia :-), you may be able to understand that some of the poor physicists may get upset about 1/3 of a million of dollars. :-)
Other texts on similar topics: science and society, string vacua and phenomenology
Actors, actresses, physics teachers, and biases
Some media have reported the results of a "research" by Amy Bug. Phys Org, Scientific American, and - sadly - even Physics World have equipped their articles with dramatic and suggestive headlines:
Gender-bias impacts women physicists (Phys Org)
Physics students reveal bias for male lecturers (SciAm)
Swimming against the unseen tide (Physics World)
What has actually happened? Actors and actresses were asked to become physics teachers for a while. The men got much higher ratings from the male students; the women have received just slightly higher ratings from the female students.
The conclusion of Ms Bug and her journalistic collaborators is that the male students are sexist pigs who should be vaginized.
It's remarkable that she doesn't even dare to consider the correct explanation - namely one that the data she has collected are actually real rather than sequences of errors of measurements or results of a world-wide conspiracy. Men are statistically better physicists, better physics teachers, better actors, and - yes - better judges of the quality of their teachers, too - and her research is just another way to see that it is so.
Other texts on similar topics: education, freedom vs PC, science and society
Stephen Hsu's confusion about white holes
The physics arXiv blog promotes a preprint by Stephen Hsu,
White holes and eternal black holes.
Much like John Wiley Price, Hsu tries to claim that the white holes are being discriminated against and that they do exist in isolation where they do differ from black holes. In his opinion, their main special property is that they like to spontaneously explode. ;-)
All these views are completely nonsensical and reveal Hsu's misunderstanding of elementary thermodynamics. I am surprised how difficult it is for the people - many of whom even have physics PhDs, e.g. Stephen Hsu and Sean Carroll - to understand some of the most rudimentary principles of statistical physics, e.g. the fact that the entropy never decreases.
Other texts on similar topics: astronomy, stringy quantum gravity
RSS AMSU: July 2010 as warm as July 1998
The new RSS AMSU data reveal that the global temperature anomaly in July 2010 was +0.608 °C which is 0.002 °C warmer than those +0.606 °C experienced in July 1998. ;-)
Clearly, a statistical tie.
The first 7 months of 2010 were about 0.07 °C cooler than the first seven months of 1998 (RSS AMSU). Repeating the statistical exercises I did a month ago (with UAH AMSU), we conclude that given the knowledge of the first 7 months, the probability that 2010 will end up being the hottest year on the RSS AMSU satellite record is still close to 10 percent.
Victoria Electricity rebrands as Lumo Energy
Imagine that your humble correspondent buys Infratil as well as Victoria Electricity, the largest of the second tier Australian electricity retailers.
How would you recommend me to rename the latter company?
Yes, I chose the name Lumo Energy, too. (Twitter, Facebook.) It sounds good and you can always claim that LUMO stands for the Lowest Unoccupied Molecule Orbital rather than Luboš Motl.
I wanted an ad that would make it clear that the company wants to serve its consumers instead of judging them. We don't judge Gavin Schmidt, either. We just couldn't use his image because he could sue us just like his ImaginaryClimate friend Michael Mann. So the compromise can be seen above. ;-)
Other texts on similar topics: games, markets
2010 Lindau Meeting
The 2010 Lindau meeting took place in the Bavarian town from June 27th through July 2nd. See the
fourty-one 30-minute talks
by the Nobel prize winners including David Gross (talking about the supersymmetry!), Gerardus 't Hooft (general talk about science and wheels), Roy Glauber (about quantum optics), George Smoot (about CMB), and others.
John Timmer just wrote an article for Ars Technica - which I actually consider the best semi-mainstream source of science news on this planet - about SUSY and Gross's talk.
Guardian: Devil is driving climate deniers
The Observer has printed a rather incredible piece that makes most of the propaganda pieces of Nazism and communism look like friendly fairy-tales for children:
A dark ideology is driving those who deny climate change
The deniers are wrong because 2,000 mostly drunk people around Moscow drowned in the rivers and lakes and because it was a warm weather in Moscow. Why were they drunk? Because you're deniers, dear TRF readers!
The author of the piece, Robin McKie, uses an amusing collection of irrational and downright bizarre sources to sling mud on the climate skeptics. One of them is a book called Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway.
Click the link for a review of the book.
These two "pundits" have raised one of the most serious accusations ever invented against the climate skeptics: some of the oldest or dead climate skeptics have actually dared to oppose the Soviet communism! Wow.
The most radical ones even didn't want to allow the Soviet Union to exterminate the evil U.S. capitalists by nukes which would be fair - and the real fringe has even supported the Star Wars that helped the Devil named Reagan to beat the best social system in the world.
This is quite an explosive accusation! ;-) Imagine Naomi Oreskes who is having sex with an inflatable Stalin 16 hours a day as she manages to discover this genuine bombshell that must surely put the final nail in the deniers' coffin. ;-)
Reagan, the denier-in-chief, was caught as speading jokes about the USSR.
More seriously, I find it kind of amazing what kind of arguments these folks are using these days. The legitimate concern is that those panicked people are fanatical defenders of the extreme forms of the "updated" communism - and what their arguments are actually doing is to provide us with a more robust proof of this observation than anything that could actually be made up.
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Ideal for baby massage, Johnson's® Baby oil locks in more than double the moisture compared to baby lotion. Hypoallergenic and dermatologically tested, Johnson's® Baby oil creates a light, protective barrier on the skin to leave it feeling soft and smooth.
WARNING: Keep from children to avoid drinking or inhalation which can cause serious injury. If breathing problems occur, call doctor immediately.
Package contains small parts which could cause a choking hazard. External use only.


text:
About Audrey Sheppard
Audrey Sheppard founded and leads a boutique firm which advises companies as they address unmet needs in women's health. Based in Washington, DC, the firm commands the attention of national advocacy, Congressional and other key opinion leaders to recognize overlooked health conditions and diseases, and the innovative drugs and medical devices designed to diagnose and treat them.
The latest example is her involvement on behalf of Sprout Pharmaceuticals of Raleigh, NC, where she began advising Cindy and Bob Whitehead on national advocacy for Sprout's Flibanserin/Addyi, in early 2013. After the company's FDA turndown that fall, she was instrumental in forming and recruiting Even The Score participants; this coalition raised awareness of the huge divide between the agency's approval of male drugs for sexual dysfunction (26) and such drugs for women (0). That effort, combined with outreach to Members of Congress and other influencers, plus additional scientific studies, resulted in the drug's approval last month.
Ms. Sheppard joined the newly created FDA Office of Women's Health as Deputy Director in Fall, 1994 as a Presidential appointee, and headed it from 1996 - 1999. There she created an award-winning national campaign called 'Women's Health: Take Time to Care,' in which FDA partnered with more than 80 health professional and advocacy groups, as well as chain drugstores, to raise awareness about using medicines safely. In the 20 years since its origin, the program has expanded to provide health and disease information to tens of millions of women and their families, winning numerous awards.
In addition, she participated in the agency's deliberations on significant approvals affecting women, oversaw an annual intramural scientific research program and was a frequent public speaker to consumer and industry groups.
Upon leaving FDA, she founded her firm. Products on which she has worked include: the second generation female condom; a low dose contraceptive patch; an IUD; a morning after pill; a device, after breast cancer surgery, to make breast tissue expand in weeks rather than several months; an investigational device to reduce costs and expand use of a diagnostic substitute for the pelvic exam; a marker for Coronary Artery Disease, and more.
In 2007, Sheppard formed and co-chaired national Women's Health Leaders for Hillary; in June 2008 when Hillary Clinton endorsed Barack Obama for President, she converted the hundreds of participants to the Obama campaign. She was an active member of national Women for Clinton-Gore in 1992 and 1996, and all subsequent Democratic women's efforts. In 2004, she was Senior Advisor to the National Chair of Women for Kerry-Edwards. She is currently a member of Executives for Hillary. "
Earlier in her career, Ms. Sheppard worked in the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a Political and Communications Consultant. She was the Political Director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 1981, soon after Democrats lost the U.S. Senate majority, through 1986, when they recaptured it.
Early in the Clinton Administration, as a Presidential appointee, she was Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Protocol and Public Engagement, which involved selecting and supervising ambassadors to the Secretary's 10 vital constituency groups, such as active military, veterans and the defense establishment. She also oversaw the Secretary's duties hosting foreign defense ministers and their delegations, and entertaining them at The Pentagon, Blair House and other special venues. Next, she became a Special Assistant in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, recommending individuals to the President for full time positions, Boards and Commissions.
Currently, Ms. Sheppard serves on the Advisory Board of the Women in Public Service project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center. Previously, Ms. Sheppard was two-term voluntary Board President of Sewall-Belmont House and Museum on Capitol Hill, the nation's leading women's history museum, where she fostered closer relationships with Congress, and spearheaded a $2 million Appropriation to restore the House and its priceless suffrage collection. She served on the Board of the Older Women's League, facilitated a cross section of national women leaders to become knowledgeable of and engaged with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, and advised Tostan, an humanitarian organization responsible for helping facilitate the women of thousands of African villages to abolish female genital cutting and child marriage.
Sheppard is a stepmother, grandmother and widow who resides in Northwest Washington.
If you're interested in learning more about the Women in Public Service Project please visit: http://www.50x50movement.org/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Japan Karate Assn is located at 3906 Howard Ave, Western Springs, IL-60558-1212. An interactive map of it's location is shown below.
You can get step by step driving directions to Japan Karate Assn.
Please call 708-246-1947 during business hours to contact Japan Karate Assn.
This Chart shows the Martial Arts Styles offered most in Western Springs, Illinois area. View a list of Dojo in Western Springs, or enter your address below to find schools closest to you.


Use this free BMI calculator on what is obesity to determine your body mass index. A bmi calculator may not be totally accurate but it is an easy way to get a good idea on where your bmi is at.
It is important to note that a BMI of 25 to 30 is overweight. If your BMI is over 30 you are considered to be obese and are at severe risk for complications from obesity. Now is a great time to lose weight and reduce those numbers on the bmi calculator.


Leicestershire is taking part in the national awareness week, and Harborough District will be hosting some local events. Keep an eye on our social media pages for more information and also, have a read of the Leicestershire Police Knife Crime page.
No Knives Better Lives have a good page of advice for parents.
County Lines refers to gangs and organised crime involved in exporting illegal drugs into other areas of the country, often small towns. They are likely to exploit children or vulnerable adults to move and store the drugs and money and they will often use coercion, intimidation, violence (including sexual violence) and weapons. We have had incident in Market Harborough District, and would encourage you to #knowthesigns to look out for, and where you can report suspicious activity. Have a look at the Leicestershire Police website for more information.
There have been an increase in the number of Police Ops to reduce retail theft within Harborough District, and the Community Safety Partnership have purchased three 'bodycams' for retailers to use to deter shop theft and also to record incidents where personal safety may have been an issue. So far, they have been used by Palmers in Ullesthorpe and Sainsburys and Mountain Warehouse in Market Harborough.
If you are interested in using one of the cameras within your retail unit, please contact the community safety team.
We're very pleased to announce, that following a County wide campaign, one of the three winners of the poetry competition was Amelia from Fleckney C of E school. Well done Amelia! You can read Amelia's poem here.
Have you heard of 'Neighbourhood link'? This is a community messaging system for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The aim of the system is to keep residents informed and up to date with news on appeals, events, crime prevention advice as well as information on local policing matters. Have a look at their website to find out more.
The Community Safety Partnership publish a quarterly e-newsletter to keep Parish Councillors and parishioners informed about local community safety matters. This quarterly newsletter contains local crime information and advice, and also some more national issues like Counter Terrorism and County Lines. Download the February 2019 Newsletter here.
The Parish Consultation is now closed, thank you to all who responded. The results will be published shortly.


These gorgeous enamel traditional French signs are irresistible - perfect for areas or places where you really wish to discourage someone trying to have a crafty Gauloises/Gitane.
Handmade with care in Northern France by a long established family company.
So you might not be surprised to know we will not be displaying these at the front door in case anyone should think we've gone soft.


Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who penned Civil War and the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War, on their new movie's real world parallels.
In Captain America: Civil War, the 13th film in Marvel's connected superhero franchise, Earth's Mightiest Heroes trigger a fatal international tragedy and then face off in their most existential battle to date: an internal war over how, why, and when the Avengers should use their superhero powers to protect humanity.
As they did in Captain America: Winter Soldier, screenwriters Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely load Civil War with pointed real world themes, further advancing the character's ongoing struggle to reckon with his place in a government institution fueled by post-9/11 paranoia.
This time it's not drones, the Patriot Act, and the president's kill list that hammer Cap's story home, but broader questions of American military might and accountability on foreign soil—a parallel that explodes in an inciting incident in Lagos, Nigeria, when an Avengers field operation turns deadly, incurs civilian casualties, and turns the world on Tony Stark and his superheroes.
As the leaders of the world pressure Stark and the Avengers to submit to government oversight, the rift between #TeamStark and #TeamCap rips a tear right down the middle of the team as they pick sides between two noble leaders—one who places the priority on accountability, and another who worries about giving weaponized peacekeeping decision power to the fickle politicians of the world.
The repercussions of Civil War's central divide will carry through to the back nine of Marvel's Cinematic Universe. Markus and McFeely call it "the most mature Marvel movie" yet.
McFeely and Markus have now scripted all three Captain America films as well as Thor: The Dark World. They're also writing the two-part Marvel Cinematic Universe capper Avengers: Infinity War, and have by extension become two of Marvel's key architects, steering the franchise's most significant world-building installments.
Civil War, they explain, flips the script on the typical superhero movie formula we've seen in countless blockbusters across the genre. For starters, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Co. get a new kind of villain to tangle with, when they're not trading blows with one another—not an evil superbaddie pulling strings from the outer cosmos, but Zemo, a shadowy earthbound antagonist (Daniel Bruhl) with a secret agenda.
The studio tinkered with the film until test audiences fell right down the middle, their allegiances torn between Captain America and Iron Man.
It's a bold deviation from the bombastic stakes of your average superhero flick to kick off Marvel's Phase 3, the third and final arc of connected films to unfold since the comic-based studios launched their cinematic universe in 2008 with Iron Man. And while it takes its name from the Marvel Comics' series in which the Superhero Registration Act divided the entire superhero community, the writers didn't borrow entirely from the comics.
According to McFeely, Marvel's brain trust made a deliberate decision to go in newer directions in Civil War, a trend that will continue in the next Phase 3 films.
"We're paying for the sins of the movies, right? When the first act is about, 'You people all need to be controlled,' it's because we as a collective filmmaking group had looked at the third acts of the Marvel universe and said 'Wow, they're similar,' he said. "And when we say 'they,' a lot of things fell down and undoubtedly innocent people got hurt.
Did the success of an outside-the-box studio superhero movie like Fox's cheeky, R-rated Marvel risk Deadpool have any sort of ripple effect into the greater landscape of superhero cinema?
Markus and McFeely applaud the success of Deadpool over at rival studio 20th Century Fox—because it proved to suits everywhere that creative gambles can pay off.
Our current climate of abrasive, invasive personal politics and increased xenophobia—particularly the violent outbursts that mar Republican hopeful Donald Trump's rallies—only makes a hero like Captain America resonate more, says Markus.
As shepherds of Captain America and the future of the MCU, I asked, do the pair feel greater than usual responsibility knowing they're writing a character that is also, in his very essence, representing an entire country to the outside world?


An initial reconnaissance of the damage from the Sept. 19 Puebla-Morelos earthquake that killed over 300 people and toppled over 40 buildings in Mexico City found that seismic building codes—adopted after a deadly quake in 1985—were effective, according to a Stanford University professor.
Eduardo Miranda, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford, and a student team flew to the city the day of the magnitude-7.1 quake. "We were able to create a database of 46 structures" that had totally or partially collapsed, he notes. Only three built with the post-1985 codes were on the list. "Of those, I'd say only one was very problematic," he says.


POLAND The General Directorate for National Roads and Motorways (GDDKiA) has announced that it is planning to complete almost 500 km of new motorways and expressways by the end of 2019.
This year the GDDKiA is planning to carry out 37 road projects.
All 37 new road projects with a total length of almost 490 km should be completed by December 31st, 2019, assuming that the present winter will be over by March 15th and that no circumstances arise to extend the construction processes.
At the end of last year, 1,638 km of motorways and 2,092 km of expressways has been built in Poland.


A customer registered on our website in the afternoon of the 22nd of November 2011. With mere days to go before the 12th of December deadline, we were able to assist her to compare prices and products from various solar installers, find an appropriate local option that could do the work and register the system in time for the deadline.
These are her exact words, reproduced with kind permission.
Thanks for your note and yes, in the end, we received out MCS certificate on Saturday evening (10th December 2011) so we could make the application before the Sunday mid night deadline!
As the Companies concerned were rushed off their feet I think they did a great job and we are delighted that it could be done in the timeframe, so thanks to everyone in the chain.
Get this passed on to the government then! Maybe they can see what REAL people are doing with solar power!


Most real estate agents focus on three distinct types of property, as they are the major kinds of property ownership deals. Some brokers specialize in one specific area, while others are capable of and eager to work with all three. Locate the best agent for your specific real estate needs to view the most appropriate properties for sale in Marysville for your needs.
One type of property that you might be looking for is vacant land. This may be to utilize as farmland or a ranch, building homes or multi-family units or even business tracts. These may be located out from the center of the metropolitan area or within city limits, depending upon the size of the property and its purpose.
Residential property is extremely popular and is sought after more and more each day in every possible geographic area. This category includes single-family homes, duplexes, condominiums, vacation properties, townhomes, multi-family dwellings and more. Niche markets in this area include luxury models, entry-level homes and waterfront property.
Commercial property may be an existing business or empty land ready for development. It can include multi-family residences, shopping malls, gas stations, office buildings or industrial properties.
Whatever type of properties for sale in Marysville that you require, call the experienced agents at New House Match at (425)268-0347. We will schedule a personal consultation to discuss your specific requirements for property, your budget, location and all other details pertinent to your situation. Phone us today and get started on your search with a qualified real estate agent.


text:
William Worth Belknap, né le  à Hudson (New York) et mort le  à Washington D.C., est un officier et homme politique américain. Membre du Parti démocrate puis du Parti républicain, il est général de l'United States Army durant la guerre de Sécession puis secrétaire à la Guerre des États-Unis entre 1869 et 1876 dans l'administration du président Ulysses S. Grant.

Il est l'unique membre du cabinet des États-Unis à avoir été destitué par la Chambre des représentants des États-Unis. Il recevait des pots-de-vin d'agents aux Affaires indiennes et vendait les nominations aux postes lucratifs dans l'armée.

Biographie

Fils d'un militaire de carrière, , il est diplômé de l'université de Princeton en 1848 puis étudie le droit à l'université de Georgetown. Il est admis au barreau en 1851, s'installe à Keokuk (Iowa), où il exerce le droit et sert pour une seule mandature à la Chambre des représentants de l'Iowa, de 1857 à 1858.

Pendant la guerre de Sécession, il est nommé major dans le  d'infanterie de l'Iowa en 1861 et participe à la bataille de Shiloh, à la première bataille de Corinth et au siège de Vicksburg. Il est promu au grade de brigadier général en 1864 et nommé commandant de la  division, XVII Corps. Il prend part aux opérations du général William Tecumseh Sherman en Géorgie, en Caroline du Sud et en Caroline du Nord. Il quitte le service avec le grade de major général en 1865.

Il se marie, perd ses deux premières femmes, Cora LeRoy et Carrie Tomlinson, puis épouse  John Bower, sœur de sa première femme. De 1865 à 1869, il est collecteur des recettes internes de l'Iowa.

Carrière politique

Du  au , William Belknap est secrétaire à la Guerre dans le cabinet d'Ulysses S. Grant.

Il recommande que le Congrès fixe au premier mai le début de l'exercice fiscal, met en place les préparatifs des rapports annuels des commandants de poste et propose des mesures pour protéger le parc national de Yellowstone. En  il visite fort Ellis, dans le territoire du Montana et entreprend un voyage de deux semaines dans le parc de Yellowstone, parcourant le trajet de l'expédition Washburn de 1870. Son guide pour ce voyage est le lieutenant Gustavus Cheyney Doane, qui avait été en garnison à fort Ellis et avait été le chef de l'escorte militaire de l'expédition Washburn.

Il est destitué par un vote unanime de la Chambre des représentants des États-Unis peu après avoir démissionné sur une accusation de corruption. Le président de la Chambre des représentants des États-Unis, , écrit au Sénat des États-Unis pour indiquer cette démission avait été réalisée dans l'intention d'échapper à la procédure de destitution engagée contre lui. William Belknap est jugé par le Sénat, qui se déclare compétent à se saisir de cette affaire par un vote de 37-29, même si William W. Belknap avait déjà démissionné. Le vote sur sa condamnation échoue de loin à réunir les deux tiers des voix requis, avec 35 voix contre 37 pour chaque article et 25 voix contre chacun. Deux parmi ceux qui votèrent sa condamnation, 22 de ceux qui votèrent pour son acquittement et une abstention, estiment que le Sénat est incompétent, du fait de la démission.

Il se rend ensuite à Philadelphie puis revient à Washington pour reprendre l'exercice du droit. Il meurt d'un infarctus du myocarde à Washington, D.C. le . Il est enterré dans la  section du cimetière national d'Arlington le .

Il est le père de , représentant de l'Illinois.

Notes et références

Major général de l'Union Army
Étudiant de l'université de Princeton
Étudiant de l'université de Georgetown
Naissance en septembre 1829
Naissance à Hudson (New York)
Décès en octobre 1890
Décès à 61 ans
Décès à Washington (district de Columbia)
Personnalité inhumée au cimetière national d'Arlington
Personnalité liée à l'Iowa durant la guerre de Sécession
Membre du cabinet du président Ulysses S. Grant
Secrétaire à la Guerre des États-Unis
Personnalité du Parti démocrate (États-Unis)
Personnalité du Parti républicain (États-Unis)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


When you empower someone, you turn a disability into ability. You transform doubt into confidence.
You allow the impossible to become possible.
That's what we're all about. Through sports and fitness activities, we aim to develop social skills, self-esteem and physical well-being in individuals with special needs.
©2019 Empower Sports / SportsEngine. All Rights Reserved.


Sadie Navarro is facing all the typical growing up challenges that a twelve-year-old girl finds at school and home. But Sadie has a secret -- one so personal she's afraid to share it with anyone. Increasingly Sadie finds herself lost and alone. Then, at a local stable, Sadie meets and bonds with her horse Lucky. Their growing relationship becomes the healing foundation that gives Sadie the strength and courage she needs to overcome the anxiety and self-esteem demons plaguing her. BELIEVING IN HORSES, TOO is a wonderful, touching, and heartwarming coming-of-age story.
Father Ron Carmada's Review - Believing In Horses might just rescue you, too!
Valerie Ormond encourages the reader to take a soulful ride with rescued horses that have survived a certain early death. Believing in Horses, Too might just rescue you too! Ormond allows her 13 year old heroine to realistically grow up with the help of honest parents, teachers, mentors and bullies. Yes, bullies and antagonists can offer great opportunities for growth.
Being a rescued horse turns out to be a way to walk, trot or cantor into the souls of human beings; especially veterans, differently-abled, and children of parents deployed in a war zone.
The book is very spiritual. It is informative about horses and human behavior. "And those guys have a way of connecting with the soul like no other animals." Sadie found facing her fears enriched the soul. She isn't the only family member who needs the horse therapeutic approach to face her fears.
Believing in Horses, Too is very spiritual and a fun read. Ormond's book could be used as part of a holistic approach to veteran family therapy and coping skills. And let's not forget grandparents! Valerie's long and distinguished Navy career and love of horses is just the training needed for a blue ribbon finish.
A country whose children are engaged has a future. Sadie, the main character is the poster child for engaged.
Thirteen going on 30! Wise beyond her years, focused, goal oriented, she will become a hero to all who read about her.
In a time where children are dismissed as unimportant, lazy or simply overly attached to their electronic world, Sadie demonstrates page after page what hard work and relentless effort can attain.
Parents, if your child's school does not have this in their library, does not make it required reading you need to be "Sadie" at the next school board meeting.
I like this book because it has adventure and horses. They are two of my favorite book topics. The author wrote this book in a friendly, easy tone. If she wrote it any other way, I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much. I hope that whoever reads this book likes it as much as I did. I recommend it for anyone 10+.
LitPick - "The latest in preteen and teen literature reviewed by a global community of students."
There is good reason this book has won so many awards. It is a really lovely tale that is carefully threaded with life lessons and perfect for the 9 year olds and up, regardless of whether they are a horse crazy kid or not. This book is well written and the plot carries the reader effortlessly along while quietly educating at the same time. The main character Sadie Navarro inspires empathy and her development throughout the tale as she takes on bigger responsibilities, has to overcome fears and learns to trust herself, is a well rounded and highly likable personality. Overall an intelligently written, non preachy, highly entertaining read that leaves the reader feeling happy and inspired.
...a charming, fast-paced, intriguing first novel that provides a blessed break from stories centered around grim problems of destructive behavior and dysfunctional families.
..."Believing in Horses" is a strong addition to young adult fiction collections, not to be missed.
"This is a great book about a young girl, her bonds with her horse and family, and the real difference that one determined, persistent, passionate person can make in the world."
AND FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM!
AMAZON - FIVE STARS FOR BOTH BOOKS!!!!!
Valerie Ormond's second book about her plucky heroine, Sadie Navarro, teaches as well as entertains. Although this is sequel, the story can stand alone without having read the previous book. We are introduced to Sadie who is somewhat of a local hero for having saved slaughter bound horses. Despite her previous displays of courage, she is haunted with the fear that something awful might happen to her dad who is stationed in Afghanistan. Confronting her fears, Sadie takes on a mission to help others through "horse therapy"--including some wounded veterans. This theme of helping "damaged" horses and "damaged" people runs through the story, as Sadie encounters bullies at school who are acting out of their own personal fears. As readers, we are uplifted to see how a horse, like a person, considered by many to be a "throw away" turns out to have the most to teach us. The book has a lot to tell us about the value of various therapeutic riding programs. The story imparts an uplifting message to young/middle grade readers with clear, role model characters. It is also refreshing to read a story featuring a military family and one which explores all the challenges required from a life of such service for both the service member and extended family. Definitely a "feel good" book.
Looking for an excellent book for middle schoolers and YA readers? Believing in Horses is just that! Sadie, the main character faces struggles when she has to move and her father deploys to Afghanistan. Sadie is a twelve-year-old who proves that kids can accomplish great things, that it is okay to struggle, and things don't always go right, but struggling for what you believe in can be worth it all in the end. Life isn't easy, and this book is realistic in sharing that fact. People who love horses or other animals will especially enjoy this book, but it should not just be read for that reason. This book shares how a young person can set goals and what it takes to achieve something very special. Author Valerie Ormond added tension and suspense to Believing in Horses, which opens up the book to many more readers. This is an uplifting book, which I highly recommend.
As a teacher/parent, I want people to know that Valerie Ormond's brother, Edward Ormond (who has an educational background) has created Teacher's Tack, a teacher's resource to accompany Believing in Horses. I can see Mr. Ormond's teacher's heart come through this guide. It is packed with high-level thinking activities. As a teacher of 36 years, who truly believes in challenging our students, I was thrilled to see the inclusion of activities based on Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences. Teacher's Tack is a superb resource for home schoolers and/or public schools. If I was still in the classroom, this would be one book I would share with my students, and we'd enjoy learning through the experiences provided in this resource.
I just finished reading "Believing In Horses"; I thoroughly enjoyed reading this very well written book. This is must read for all ages; whether you have a horse or had a horse, you will be captivated with this wonderful journey of one little girl, Sadie, who has a heart of gold, believes in second chances, inspiring those that enter her life. After reading, you will most certainly believe, anything is possible with a team, good friends, and family by your side. With the holiday season approaching, if you have someone in your life that loves to read,this book makes a great gift.
Wow! If you're looking for a book you can't put down, this is your book. You don't have to be a horselover to be sucked into the emotional rollercoaster that Sadie's life has become. If you are a horselover, you won't be disappointed, for we horselovers know a good horse can help you overcome anything life dishes out. A must read for all horse loving gals!
This book is not only entertaining and suspenseful, it is instructional for both children and adults! I really enjoyed reading the story and learning about issues related to horses. This story artfully weaves in some important skills for students: researching a topic, communicating with adults, e-mailing, and showing respect for others even though you may not agree with them. It is a great story about not dwelling on loneliness, becoming passionate about something, becoming an advocate, reaching out to others, making new friends, and helping animals - all things young readers will love! Young readers are very altruistic at heart and will really relate to the main character's persistence and this story's ultimate lesson in finding out that when you help others, you are helping yourself!
I bought this book for my daughter because she missed her home on the East Coast when we moved to California. She loved it, and even now it sits prominently on her bookshelf among her favorites. My only problem now is that she wants to ride horses more than ever....!
This is a beautifully told story of a young girl who embarks on an adventure to save unwanted horses. I thoroughly enjoyed every page and look forward to a sequel. I loved the photographs at the beginning of each chapter and I felt like I was right there with Sadie at every turn. I would definitely recommend this book for people of all ages who love horses, are from military families, have teenagers, have an interest in politics or just plain love a good story. And on top of being an emotionally beautiful story, it is educational too! Get yourself a copy...you won't be disappointed!
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believing in horses, too wins the gold medal in the military writers society of america book awards!
Believing In Horses is a YA reader concerning horse rescue and the determined twelve year old who vows to save them.
BLAZE Magazine Good Reads Selection!
"An emotional story, writer Valerie Ormond takes Sadie and her tri-colored Pinto horse, Lucky, through a tale of heartbreak, suspense, determination, and love."


Fabolous performed after video footage of fight with Emily B. surfaced.
Just days after his arrest for domestic abuse, Fabolous took the stage in his hometown to thank fans for staying by his side. "I came out tonight for y'all," the Brooklyn rapper said over the weekend during a Lil Kim concert, according to XXL. "I made sure I had to be here tonight for y'all. I love y'all New York City. Thank y'all for the love and support, much love."
Just hours before the show, TMZ released surveillance video footage of Fabolous and the victim of his alleged domestic abuse, longtime girlfriend Emily Bustamante, in a heated argument. In the video, which was shot at the couple's home in Englewood, New Jersey, the rapper appears to be holding a sharp object and threating Bustamante's father with physical violence. At one point he yells at Bustamante, asking why her father is present at the home. Her dad yells back, "That's my motherf***ing daughter." The rapper then threatens to have the father shot.
TMZ reports that this incident was followed by authorities visiting the home. However, Fabolous' attorney told the outlet that this was nothing but an argument.
"This is only an argument. There certainly is no crime being committed, "said Alberto Ebanks. "If what you see in the video were a crime, we'd have to build more jails."
Fabolous was arrested Wednesday night for aggravated assault and making terroristic threats. He turned himself in to authorities and was released with a ticket for a future court date. Following his arrest, Fabolous' attorney told Billboard that he was shocked by the allegations.
"I've known Fab close to 20 years and believe he is incapable of engaging in the alleged conduct, "said Ebanks.
Court documents obtained by North Jersey.com state the alleged incident was caused by an interaction between the on-again, off-again couple on March 7. Fabolous (real name John Jackson) was in Los Angeles on a business trip and "became enraged" when he found out (through Instagram) that Bustamante (a stylist known as Emily B.) was in the same city. According to an affidavit of probable cause, he texted Emily that he wanted to hit her in the head with a baseball bat and that he would kill her. However, he "did not want to go out like that."
The court document accused Fabolous of punching the mother of his two children seven times in the face. The incident allegedly caused her severe injury and the loss of two front teeth.


Professor Anthony Schapira, director of the UCL Royal Free Campus, has been awarded a £1 million grant by the Medical Research Council (MRC) to advance studies on a possible new treatment for Parkinson's disease. This is one of only three large MRC experimental medicine grants awarded across the UK.
It is hoped the research will lead to preliminary trials by 2016 for a treatment, which earlier work has indicated could slow down the progress of the disease. Research carried out at the Royal Free Hospital shows promising results using human cells.
It is known that around 10% of Parkinson's sufferers have a gene mutation that significantly increases the risk of developing the disease. It causes an enzyme called GBA to reduce its activity in the human body. This promotes the accumulation of the protein synuclein which clogs the brain cells affected in Parkinson's disease and stops them functioning properly. The new treatment is based on the work of Professor Schapira's group on the GBA enzyme and it is hoped that it will be particularly suitable for Parkinson's sufferers with this gene mutation, but also for those without.
The research on this development was helped by a £175,000 grant from the Javon Trust,awarded to Professor Schapira's research team by the Royal Free Charity. This earlier work enabled research to progress enough to secure large-scale funding to take it to the next stage. The MRC grant will enable the continuation of this research leading to preliminary trials involving patients to see how the signs and symptoms of Parkinson's may be delayed.


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Q: How to identify a user type and redirect them each to a different page when they log in? I currently have a pretty standard login function inside my UsersController, and it currently just redirects anyone to my products page when they log in. How do I do something like if($this->$user = 'consumer') //redirect to consumer products
Here's my current login function
public function login(){

        if($this->request->is('post')) {

            if ($this->Auth->login()){
                return $this->redirect($this->Auth->redirect(
                    array('controller' => 'Products', 'action' => 'index')));
            }

            $this->Session->setFlash(__('Incorrect username or password.'));
        }
}

A: By using cakephp AuthComponent, it will allow you to access to the different user fields using
$this->Auth->user('User.fieldname');

Let's say that i have the field 'type' where the type of the user will be saved !
switch ($this->Auth->user('User.type')){
  case 'customer':
    $this->redirect(array('controller'=>'products','action'=>'index'));
  break;
  case 'super_admin':
    $this->redirect(array('controller'=>'administration','action'=>'index'));
  break;
  default:
    $this->Auth->logout();
  break;
}

hope it helped you.

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