I do my best creative thinking in the shower. That may be TMI (Too Much Information) for an essay to be shared with clergywomen around the world, most of whom I don't know personally. But stay with me here; there's a reason I'm choosing to start by baring my soul (so to speak), and I suspect that I'm not alone.
Besides the fact that clean, hot water is both soothing and restorative (and always prompts me to a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessing of this luxury), the simple, repetitive tasks of scrubbing my toes and shampooing my hair require virtually no brain cells. And since there's nothing inside the shower stall to distract my thinking, my mind is set free to plumb the depth and breadth of my richly creative imagination.
That's not a boast. I firmly believe that my imagination is not any more or less creative than anyone else's. I also firmly believe that I am created in God's own image—just like everyone else. So the God who came up with giraffes and sunsets and volcanoes and shooting stars and banana slugs is the same God who came up with human beings; that divine creative DNA is embedded in every cell of our bodies, and all it takes is a little time in the boring confines of a shower cubical to liberate it.
Not that we all have the same divine DNA, of course, and that's part of the beauty of the creative spirit. To paraphrase Paul: to one is given the gift of singing, to another speech, to another dance, and to yet another the ability to proclaim the word through visual art. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit (see 1 Cor 12:11). This means that when we come together as the body of Christ, we are constituted with amazingly diverse pieces of divine DNA, knit into a whole by the creative Spirit of the One who is creating still.
This has significant implications for those who design worship. First, as music and worship director for General Conference 2016, I know that the best way to maximize the potential of all that diverse DNA is to assemble a team. The seven of us on the General Conference worship design team include big-picture dreamers and fine-tooth-comb detailers. We are musicians and spreadsheet gurus, wordsmiths and visual artists, talkers and listeners. We debate with passion and hold one another tenderly in prayer. And no matter how much shower time I get, the creative ideas we generate as a team are always, always, always better, richer, and more complete than what I could come up with on my own.
Our worship must include the driving beat of drums as well as the contemplative chants of Taizé—because our creative God gave us the gift of myriad styles of music. We must see the Word expressed in images and textures and colors as well as hear the Word preached with poetry and passion—because our creative God gave us eyes and ears. We must be given the opportunity to be still and know God's presence as well as to experience the joy of clapping, tapping, and lifting our arms in exuberant praise—because our creative God gave us bodies that comprehend the wonder of Incarnate Love only when we bring our whole selves to worship.
Indeed, we are incarnational beings who cannot be completely divorced from our bodies, whether it's in the shower or in worship. When we sing, paint, laugh, dance, weave, clap, splash, eat, and drink together in Christ's name, we bring the gifts of God's own creation into a new creation: a transformed community. Hallelujah!
 Tom F. Driver, The Magic of Ritual: Our Need for Liberating Rites That Transform Our Lives and Our Communities (New York, HarperCollins, 1991), 212.


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Benzodiazepine (BZD) use in community-dwelling older adults: Longitudinal associations with mobility, functioning, and pain
Megan Petrov
Nursing and Health Innovation, Edson College of (EDSON)
The aim of the study was to determine the prospective association between baseline BZD use and mobility, functioning, and pain among urban and rural African-American and non-Hispanic white community-dwelling older adults. From 1999 to 2001, a cohort of 1000 community-dwelling adults, aged ≥ 65 years, representing a random sample of Medicare beneficiaries, stratified by ethnicity, sex, and urban/rural residence were recruited. BZD use was assessed at an in-home visit. Every six months thereafter, study outcomes were assessed via telephone for 8.5-years. Mobility was assessed with the Life-Space Assessment (LSA). Functioning was quantified with level of difficulty in five basic activities of daily living (ADL: bathing, dressing, transferring, toileting, eating), and six instrumental activities of daily living (IADL: shopping, managing money, preparing meals, light and heavy housework, telephone use). Pain was measured by frequency per week and the magnitude of interference with daily tasks. All analytic models were adjusted for relevant covariates and mental health symptoms. After multivariable adjustment, baseline BZD use was significantly associated with greater difficulty with basic ADL (Estimate=0.39, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.04-0.74), and more frequent pain (Estimate=0.41, 95%CI: 0.09-0.74) in the total sample and declines in mobility among rural residents (Estimate=-0.67, t(5,902)=-1.98, p=0.048), over 8.5 years. BZD use was prospectively associated with greater risk for basic ADL difficulties and frequent pain among African-American and non-Hispanic white community-dwelling older adults, and life-space mobility declines among rural-dwellers, independently of relevant covariates. These findings highlight the potential long-term negative impact of BZD use among community-dwelling older adults.
Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2014.04.017
Social Adjustment
eating behavior
BZDs
Petrov, M. (2014). Benzodiazepine (BZD) use in community-dwelling older adults: Longitudinal associations with mobility, functioning, and pain. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 59(2), 331-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2014.04.017
Benzodiazepine (BZD) use in community-dwelling older adults : Longitudinal associations with mobility, functioning, and pain. / Petrov, Megan.
In: Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Vol. 59, No. 2, 2014, p. 331-337.
Petrov, M 2014, 'Benzodiazepine (BZD) use in community-dwelling older adults: Longitudinal associations with mobility, functioning, and pain', Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, vol. 59, no. 2, pp. 331-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2014.04.017
Petrov M. Benzodiazepine (BZD) use in community-dwelling older adults: Longitudinal associations with mobility, functioning, and pain. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2014;59(2):331-337. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2014.04.017
Petrov, Megan. / Benzodiazepine (BZD) use in community-dwelling older adults : Longitudinal associations with mobility, functioning, and pain. In: Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics. 2014 ; Vol. 59, No. 2. pp. 331-337.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
Ranbir Chander Sobti is an Indian educationist, cell biologist. He is a former vice chancellor of the Panjab University, Chandigarh and Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow. He is known to have involved in advanced research in plant genetic studies and has written over 240 articles, and 22 books including Essentials of Biotechnology and Emerging Trends in Biomedical Science and Health. He is an elected Fellow of several major science academies such as Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, National Academy of Medical Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India, and Punjab Academy of Sciences. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for his contributions to Literature and Education.

Biography

Ranbir Chander Sobti graduated in Science (BSc) with honours from Panjab University in 1969. He continued his studies at the same institution to secure his master's degree (MSc) in 1970 and a doctoral degree (PhD) in 1974. While doing his doctoral research, he also passed a certificate course in German language in 1971. His career started as a teaching assistant in 1974 at his alma mater where he worked for 28 years. He served the institution in various capacities such as Curator (1975–1976), Lecturer (1976–1985), Reader (1985–1994) and Professor in Cell Biology (1994–2006) when he was appointed as the vice chancellor of the university. In between, he took a hiatus and worked at the University of Miami, Florida as a resident associate professor during two periods, 1976–1980 and 1983–1985. During his stay at Miami, he successfully completed the course of Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH) in 1983.

In 2006, Sobti assumed the responsibility as the vice chancellor of Panjab University and continued in the post till 2012. He also worked as the Dean of the Alumni Relations (1998–1999) and Foreign Students (2001–2004), as the honorary director of the Honorary Director of the UGC Academic Staff College (2004–2006) and as the Chairman, Board of Examiners of the Department of Electronics and Accreditation of Computer Classes (DOAECC). In 2012, he moved to Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (BBAU) as its vice chancellor and held the position till 2018. When the Indian Science Congress Association conducted their 101st annual session at Jammu, he chaired the session as its general president. He has also served as the director of the National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) and as a member of the executive council of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bangalore. He headed the panel of NAAC which conducted an appraisal on the Tripura University in 2015. He is a member of Zaheer Science Foundation, a New Delhi-based non government organization promoting scientific research and educational reforms, in coordination with government agencies.

Sobti is married to Vipin Khindagi; the marriage took place on 8 October 1975, while he was working as a curator at Panjab University.

Legacy
The Centre of Biotechnology of the Panjab University was established during Sobti's tenure as the Reader of the Department of Zoology at the university and he worked as the founder coordinator of the Centre from 1989 to 1995. His efforts are reported behind the elevation of the Centre into a department in 1995 and he chaired the department till 2005, except for a period from February 2001 to September 2002. While he served as the vice chancellor, the university started 65 industry-oriented courses, established a dedicated post of Dean for the research department, established chairs for contemporary and traditional thought and introduced semester system for all academic courses. It was during this period, the university received over  800 million in research grants and  3 billion in government funding. With the funding, he helped establish regional centres and colleges in rural areas and initiated programs to provide preferential admission to AIDS/Thalassemia patients and single girl child families at the affiliated colleges and university campus and provided free education to orphans and differently abled students. The university also took up the responsibility to adopt 8 nearby villages and set up facilities there for computer literacy, community health and language learning. In 2011, a community radio service under the name, Jyotirgmaya 91.2 MHz, was launched for exchange of knowledge and information among the participating communities and to provide a dialogue platform for them. It was under his vice chancellorship at the Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, the institution started its collaboration with Uttar Pradesh Council for Science and Technology (UPCST) and North Eastern Railway (NER), Lucknow Division for innovations in the public sector services. He established the Centre for Industry Institution Partnership Program (CIIPP), a forum for dialogue between industry representatives and academicians, and also contributed in making the University campus, a smoke-free and polythene-free green campus.

Sobti's early researches were linked to cancer biology and some of his writings, which comprise 22 books and 246 articles, were based on his cancer researches. ResearchGate, an online repository of scientific articles, has listed 156 of his articles and they are reported to have been cited over 2000 times, with an h-index of 18. He has handled several projects for University Grants Commission, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Indian Council of Medical Research, Department of Biotechnology and the Ministry of Human Resource Development and has been a member of the Editorial Boards of journals such as Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry, Cytology and Genetics, and the Indian Journal of Human Genetics. He has participated in several seminars and conferences for delivering keynote addresses; his oration, Universities and the innovation cycle, at the centenary conference of the Association of Commonwealth Universities in 2015, was one among them. The 12th Dr. J. C. Bose Memorial Lecture of Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (2006), Sir Shri Ram Memorial Oration (2007), D. D. Jain Oration (2007) and Dr. G. S. Randhawa Oration (2009) are some of the other lectures delivered by him.

Awards and honours
The National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI) elected Sobdi as its Fellow in 1992 and the National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS) and the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) followed suit by electing him as their Fellow in 2003 and 2011 respectively. He has also been inducted into the elected Fellows list by the Indian National Science Academy (2012), Punjab Academy of Sciences, Zoological Society, Institution of Chemical Engineers, International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences, Union for International Cancer Control, and the Comprehensive Cancer Centre for State of Florida.

Sobti received the INSA Young Scientist Medal of the Indian National Science Academy and the Science Award of the Kothari Scientific and Research Commission in 1977. A year later, he was awarded the Indo-UK Young Scientist Exchange Program Award, followed by the Indo-France Exchange Program Award in 1986, INSA-Royal Society Exchange Program Award in 1988 and INSA–Japan Society Exchange Program Award in 1994. He received four awards in 2008, Career Award of the University Grants Commission, B. C. Guha Memorial Award, Amity Academic Excellence Award, Punjab Sarkar Parman Patra, and four more awards in 2009, Life Time Achievement Award of the National Open and Distance Education Board, Yokohama National University International Exchange Foundation Award, Jai Prakash Memorial Education Award, and the fourth highest Indian civilian award of the Padma Shri. Chaudhary Devi Lal Manch Educational Award and the Prof. P. N. Mehra Memorial Award reached him in 2010 and he received the General President's Gold Medal of the Indian Science Congress Association and Swami Vivekananda National Award in 2011. He was awarded the PMA Excellence in Education Award in 2012 and the Punjab Academy of Sciences honoured him with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013. He is also a recipient of the Ranbaxy Research Award and Punjab Rattan Award.

Selected bibliography

See also
 Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University
 Indian Science Congress Association
 Panjab University, Chandigarh

References

External links

Further reading

Recipients of the Padma Shri in literature & education
1948 births
Scholars from Lucknow
Indian biotechnologists
20th-century Indian biologists
Indian scientific authors
University of the Punjab alumni
Heads of universities and colleges in India
Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine alumni
University of Miami faculty
Living people
Fellows of the National Academy of Medical Sciences
People from Tarn Taran district
Punjabi people
20th-century Indian zoologists
Academic staff of Panjab University

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home » World News » Scores detained as students march against Belarus president
Scores detained as students march against Belarus president
KYIV, Ukraine — Authorities in Belarus detained scores of university students who took to the streets Tuesday to demand that authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko resign after an election the opposition has denounced as rigged.
Hundreds of students gathered outside universities across the Belarusian capital, Minsk, and then marched across the city center to the Education Ministry, continuing a fourth straight week of mass post-election protests. The demonstrators chanted for Lukashenko to "Go away!" and held banners demanding freedom for political prisoners.
Police cordons forced the demonstrators to change their route, and they detained dozens of them, according to the Viasna human rights center. Viasna's Valiantsin Stefanovich said that some of the detainees were beaten by police.
"Students and universities in general are a highly explosive group," Stefanovich said in a telephone interview. "The authorities are really scared of strikes starting in universities and are carrying out demonstrative intimidation acts."
Lukashenko, who has run the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million with an iron fist for 26 years, has dismissed protesters as Western puppets.
After a ferocious crackdown on demonstrators immediately after the Aug. 9 election that drew international outrage, the government has avoided large-scale violence and sought to end the protests with threats and the selective jailing of activists.
Several organizers of strikes at top industrial plants have been detained. On Tuesday, several dozen demonstrators rallied outside the Minsk Tractor Plant to encourage workers to strike, but they were quickly dispersed by police.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal probe of the opposition's Coordination Council set up after the election to try to negotiate a transition of power. Two of its members were given 10-day jail sentences on charges of staging unsanctioned protests, and several others were summoned for questioning.
Amid the official pressure, some opposition activists announced the creation of a new party, Together.
Maria Kolesnikova, a member of the Coordination Council, said the move will help overcome the current crisis. However, the party founders' call for constitutional changes has stunned some other opposition council members, who argued that it could divert attention from the main goal of pushing for Lukashenko to step down.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the main opposition challenger in the election, who fled to Lithuania under pressure from authorities, welcomed the new party but criticized its call for constitutional reform.
"It's a good idea, just maybe not at the right time," she said in an interview with The Associated Press, noting that the demands for the release of political prisoners, Lukashenko's resignation and a new election must now top the protesters' agenda. "The new party agenda is constitutional changes and I think this should be done after the elections."
She warned that Lukashenko's government shouldn't hope the protests will lose steam.
"This government must understand that things will never be the same. People want changes," Tsikhanouskaya said in Lithuania's capital, Vilnius."They will not live with this president. They will not obey his orders any longer."
Observers said the emergence of a new party erodes the opposition's unity at a crucial moment.
"The creation of a parallel party de facto weakens the opposition, bringing chaos and bewilderment in protesters' ranks and causing a split among the already-weak leaders," said Alexander Klaskousky, an independent Minsk-based political analyst. "The party lacks program and its goals look vague. It looks more like an attempt to take the leadership over protests and get rid of political competitors."
Klaskousky noted that the new party's call for constitutional reform echoes Lukashenko's proposals to draft a new version of the constitution — an initiative widely seen as an attempt to win time and steal the protesters' thunder.
The Belarusian leader has alternated vague promises of reforms with threats and pressure.
On Monday, the authorities denied entry to the Roman Catholic archbishop of Minsk and Mohilev, who was returning to Belarus from Poland. Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz strongly criticized the Belarusian police last week.
Lukashenko on Tuesday accused Konrdusiewicz of "delving into politics and dragging believers, Catholics" into it and "receiving orders from Poland."
The United States and the European Union have criticized the Aug. 9 election that gave Lukashenko a sixth term as neither free nor fair and urged Belarusian authorities to begin a dialogue with the opposition.
The president bristled at the idea and alleged the opposition would wage "a massacre" on his allies if it takes power in Belarus.
"It wouldn't be a purge, like some say. It would be a massacre," he said Tuesday.
The police crackdown immediately after the election left nearly 7,000 people detained, hundreds injured by rubber bullets, stun grenades and beatings, and at least three protesters dead. Police then stopped interfering with the demonstrations, but last week they cranked up the pressure and again started to break up rallies and detain scores of participants.
The government also cracked down on the media, deporting some foreign journalists and revoking the accreditation of many Belarusian journalists. Two Moscow-based Associated Press journalists who were covering the protests were deported to Russia on Saturday. In addition, the AP's Belarusian journalists were told by the government that their press credentials had been revoked.
U.S. and EU officials have strongly condemned the media crackdown.
Associated Press writers Daria Litvinova and Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow and Liudas Dapkus in Vilnius, Lithuania, contributed.
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Law360, New York (November 24, 2015, 4:34 PM ET) -- The wait is over! After four-and-a-half years, the Food and Drug Administration recently finalized the first two of seven major rules required under the Food Safety Modernization Act on Sept. 10, 2015. FSMA was originally enacted by Congress in 2010 and signed into law by President Obama in January 2011. FSMA came about after the United States experienced a number of tainted food outbreaks between 2006 and 2010, some involving fatalities. The FDA hails FSMA as historic, calling for sweeping changes. In fact, it's been more than 70 years since the United States overhauled the nation's food safety regime.


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An in-depth look at N.C. lawmakers' attempt to shrink the Court of Appeals
By Melissa Boughton
- in Law and the Courts
Each of the 15 North Carolina Court of Appeals judges writes on average about 100 opinions per year.
When former Judge Linda Stephens used to explain the court's workload to students, she'd often compare opinions to term papers.
"But that's a lot more than a term paper," she said in a phone interview this week.
Appellate court opinions include a summary of the facts in a case, a recitation of applicable law, a breakdown of how that law relates to the facts of the case, an explanation that supports the judges' decision in the case and a formal judgment.
Opinions are work and time intensive, and they're not the only part of an appellate judge's job.
In what's been characterized by some as Republican lawmakers' latest power grab, House Bill 239 would reduce the court's allotment of judges from 15 to 12. The bill comes as three Republican judges face mandatory retirement, and if passed, would prevent Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper from appointing replacements to fill their seats.
More significantly for North Carolinians, the bill would increase remaining judges' workload and likely result in delays, both in getting an appeal heard and in getting a decision.
Rep. Justin Burr (R-Montgomery, Stanly) has insisted the bill was introduced without political motivation but he's also said the bill was introduced without consideration or input from the Court of Appeals, its judges or the agency that administers the judiciary, the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC).
He's argued to his colleagues that the court's workload is shrinking but data shows no significant decrease in cases over the past 10 years.
Officials and stakeholders have also criticized the lawmaker for not considering petitions and motions filed in the court in his assessment that the workload warrants a reduction of judges.
Visualization by Nelle Dunlap
"The job isn't done in a vacuum," Stephens said. "We don't just sit behind our desk and do the research on the computer and edit a draft opinion prepared by a law clerk. It's a whole lot more than that."
Similarly, former appellate Judge Martha "Marty" Geer has stressed to both lawmakers and reporters that there is so much more than workload to consider when entertaining downsizing the court.
"This is not really about the court's workload," she said. "What this is really about is the impact on citizens and businesses. The Court of Appeals is the working court; it's the people's court … and so when you decrease it, you are going to adversely affect the ability of North Carolinians, whether its people or businesses, to have their appeals done in a timely fashion."
The North Carolina Court of Appeals was created in 1967 to help ease the Supreme Court's workload. It began with six judges and as its workload increased, so did the court.
The court was expanded to nine judges in 1969, 12 in 1977 and 15 in 2000.
Republicans have long contended that the expansion in 2000 was partisan, arguing that Democrats were vying to stay in control by allowing outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Hunt to appoint three new judges instead of putting the seats up for election. Democrats argue that the workload prompted them to expand the court.
The court currently works in panels of three judges, and each panel is given an equal caseload. There are three types of cases: regular appeals, "3.1 cases" (a kind of expedited proceeding involving juveniles) and "fast-track cases," which can involve criminal or civil appeals.
Geer has talked at length about 3.1 cases and how shrinking the Court of Appeals could result in delays that greatly impact the children of North Carolina.
"These are the cases where kids are in foster care or placed with relatives, and they're the only ones the Court of Appeals expedites," she said. "Every day that a child who is in foster care has to wait to know who their parents are going to be, what their destiny is going to be, is torture."
There is also an en banc process now, which means that losing parties of an appeal can request that all 15 judges re-hear a case. All of the court's judges review en banc requests and there has to be a majority vote to proceed with a hearing.
The process was added to the court's workload by the General Assembly during a special session in December. It also was viewed as a partisan move, since en banc reviews could create a delay in getting cases to the state Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeals currently has an 11-4 Republican majority, compared to the Supreme Court, which has 4-3 Democratic control.
The Court of Appeals decides only questions of law, not questions of fact. It reviews cases appealed from lower courts for errors of law or legal procedure. Some of its cases can be appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Workload repercussions
There have not been any formal studies or analyses to determine the court's current workload in comparison to how many judges should serve. Still, officials say it's clear from the data that shrinking the court by three judges is not justified.
"The claim that this bill is motivated by workload concerns simply isn't credible," said Marin K. Levy, an associate professor of law at Duke Law School.
From Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2016, there were 1,339 appeals filed with the court, 865 petitions and 3,856 motions. During the same period the court disposed of 1,500 appeals (1,366 by written opinion) and 4,456 petitions and motions.
To compare, there were 1,417 appeals filed in 2015, 897 petitions and 3,605 motions. During the same year, the court disposed of 1,176 appeals (1,019 by written opinion) and 4,113 petitions and motions.
Appeals can be disposed of by written opinion or by way of some other type of order.
There was a decrease in 2016 from 2015 by 78 appeals and 32 petitions. The rest of the workload increased by 251 motions, 324 appeal disposals (with an increase of 347 written opinions) and 343 petition and motion disposals.
"It's not unusual for courts to have fluctuations like this in their workloads," Levy said. "It's also worth noting that the Court of Appeals experienced virtually no decrease in the prior year, so it would seem premature to dramatically shrink the Court on these grounds."
She added that even if an individual thought a reduction in the number of judgeships was appropriate based solely on the reduction in filings, the numbers would not justify shrinking the court by three members.
Court of Appeals caseload
The following numbers represent the caseload in the Court of Appeals for the last 10 years (Jan. 1- Dec. 31). The court currently has 15 judges that work in 3-judge panels. Each judge writes about 100 opinions per year. The General Assembly is trying to reduce the court to 12 judges, which would significantly increase the per judge/per panel workload and likely result in appeal delays.
*Cases can be disposed of by written opinion or by way of some other type of order. Written opinions are usually much more work and time intensive and discuss relevant facts of the case while also applying the law to those facts.
Total Appeals
Cases Disposed of
Cases disposed of by written opinion
2006 1,715 1,761 1,494
2017 (to 3/8) 261 204 171
It should be noted, however, that because the court works in three-judge panels, losing even one judge would result in a 20 percent decrease in the amount of work the court can do – as will be the case as soon as May if the bill passes.
Judge Douglas McCullough faces mandatory retirement May 28. HB239 mandates that vacancies not be filled until the court reaches 12 judges.
Geer and Stephens said each Court of Appeals three-judge panel typically hears about 24 cases per month for 10 months out of the year. Those numbers vary, but on average, are pretty on point, they said.
If the court is reduced by a panel, that means 24 appeals per month will not be heard or 240 appeals per year.
"When you have judges trying to do more with less, mistakes can be made…"
"The court will always do a good job but you're not going to have the luxury of taking more time to think about individual appeals," Geer said. "When you have judges trying to do more with less, mistakes can be made, and one of the consequences when mistakes are made by the Court of Appeals is that it's very hard to get them fixed."
If a Court of Appeals opinion is wrong, the only way to get it fixed is through the Supreme Court or the legislature. Otherwise, the Court of Appeals' findings become law, and the Supreme Court does not take many cases.
"I'm very concerned," said Geer, who was first elected to the appellate court in 2002. "The judges are extremely careful … because they're mindful of the importance of their job, but the last court you want to have under huge pressure to get things done in a short time is the Court of Appeals because so little of their work is or can be reviewed."
She tried to explain workload and the repercussions of shrinking the court at a House committee meeting during the public comments, but she was limited to one minute and cut off by a legislator when her time was up.
Geer left the Court of Appeals in May of last year to go into private practice. She is now a partner at Cohen Milstein and head of the law firm's Raleigh office.
Stephens was first appointed to the court in 2006. She lost last year's election to Judge Phil Berger Jr., who is the son of Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.
Political gain
Levy said the natural question that follows even a short analysis of the court's workload is, "why would the legislature want to reduce the number of judgeships by three? If that number is not supported by the reduction in caseload, where is it coming from?"
Burr has said that he's long wanted to decrease the size of the Court of Appeals and continuously points to the workload as a reason why.
Levy pointed to the court's current political makeup and the political makeup of the three judges who are set to retire as the actual explanation.
"It is hard not to draw the conclusion from this data that the legislature wants to ensure that the governor cannot appoint Democrats to those seats – which would bring the number of Republican and Democrat judges close to parity – so as to keep a sizable majority of the judges on the Court Republican," Levy said.
There's also more than one way to draw that conclusion. The legislature has had the judiciary in its aim since former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory conceded last year's election.
It started at a special session in December when Republican lawmakers, who have a super-majority in the State House, passed bills to add party labels to judicial elections, add an en banc process to the Court of Appeals and eliminated a direct appeal for some cases to the state Supreme Court.
Rep. Justin Burr
At the same time Burr filed HB239, he also filed House Bills 240 and 241 which would strip Cooper of judicial appointment power to fill District Court vacancies and special Superior Court judgeships.
All three of those bills have passed the House and are currently awaiting a hearing with the Senate's Rules and Operations Committee.
Earlier this week, Burr introduced House Bill 335, which would require Cooper to appoint replacement district attorneys, Supreme Court justices, and judges for the Court of Appeals and Superior Court from a list of three recommendations compiled by an executive committee of the political party with which the vacating member was affiliated when elected.
"It seems like all we're doing is changing the partisan makeup of the judiciary," said Rep. Darren Jackson (D-Wake). "I've never seen anything like it."
Jackson, an attorney, argued against and voted against shrinking the Court of Appeals. He also voted against the other recent bills that seem to politicize the courts.
He said that "it just seems like there's a war on our court system."
Jackson also pointed out that he's tried numerous times for six years to get an additional district attorney or judge in Wake County to hear driving while intoxicated cases. He said it's been difficult and there are formulas that AOC has to run to determine who's overworked and underworked and by what percentage.
"If you did do a workload study, you'd probably find you need more judges not less. This state is significantly bigger than it was in 2000," he said of HB239. "This is just not the kind of thing we need to be doing."
When HB239 was being discussed on the House floor, Rep. Sarah Stevens (R-Surry, Wilkes) alluded to a bigger plan to eventually expand the state Supreme Court – a topic in which rumors swirled after the election of Democrat Justice Mike Morgan to the bench.
"The Supreme Court doesn't have enough work to do, so by cutting back on some of the Court of Appeals work, we're going to continue to send more cases directly to the Supreme Court," Stevens said. "You may see us back here adding more to the Supreme Court load next year or the year after for that very reason. We are trying to equalize the loads between the two."
Part of HB239 would reroute class action certification appeals, business appeals and 3.1 case appeals (which involve children and issues of abuse and neglect and termination of parental rights) to the state Supreme Court, reducing some of the caseload on appellate judges.
However, it wouldn't reduce the court's caseload by much. Since 2012, the Court of Appeals has heard on average less than 10 class action certification and business appeals per year, and between 100 and 200 3.1 cases per year, according to data from the court.
Former Supreme Court Justice Bob Orr, who is a Republican, said HB239 is "obviously done for political motivation."
"It was concerning when the Democrats played politics with the judiciary and I'm concerned with the Republicans playing politics with the judiciary," he said.
He added that if he were going to make a change to the court, he'd make regional panels to make it easier for attorneys in the outer geographic regions of the state to run for judgeships.
"Instead of reducing, let's look at a more effective use of the 15 judges," Orr said.
As a whole, the various judiciary bills impacting Cooper's powers raise interesting separation of powers issues, Orr said.
"The separation of powers issue is going to be front and center for a long time to come in a variety of issues," he said, referencing the power battle between Cooper and the General Assembly. "We need to become more focused on good government rather than good politics. I always heard the best politics was good government."
When asked about the legislature's attempts to diminish Cooper's judicial appointments, spokeswoman Noelle Talley said that the courtroom isn't a place for political party labels.
"It's troubling that political groups would make these choices instead of local attorneys recommending qualified legal professionals from their communities," she said.
A larger trend
North Carolina lawmakers are hardly the first to introduce and pass legislation that politicizes the courts, and this year's attempts fit a larger, national trend, according to Alicia Bannon, who serves as Senior Counsel in the Brennan Center for Justice's Democracy Program.
"This year we've seen a number of bills coming out of states around the country targeting courts in different ways," she said.
Arizona, Oklahoma, Florida, Arkansas, Illinois, North Dakota and Washington are just some of the states that have introduced legislation that interferes with court structure.
Some of the bills on their face might seem neutral, Bannon said, "but if you look at the realities of who's in power and who would be advantaged, they have a plain partisan motivation."
In more radical examples, Bannon said Florida and Washington are considering legislation that would give their lawmakers the power to override state judicial decisions.
"I do think this is part of a broader trend where we're seeing a push toward partisan interference with court structure – court rules, judicial selection – to seek partisan advantage, which I think is really dangerous," she said.
North Carolina has one of the more active legislatures, according to Bannon, and the fact that there is so much traction to actually pass bills makes the state an outlier in the nation.
Bannon and Levy both talked about the damage such legislation could do to the public's perception of the courts.
"Stepping back, whether wittingly or not, the legislature's actions risk undermining the independence of our state's judiciary," Levy said. "They may be motivated by an attempt to constrain the governor, but the effect is to damage the courts."
She added that if all the bills go into effect, the legislature will be directly impacting the makeup of the courts and, presumably, certain case outcomes.
"Attempts to pack courts in order to change the law have long been viewed as illegitimate; attempts to 'unpack' them should be viewed in the same way," Levy said.
Bannon said courts are required to decide cases based on the law and facts, and that political and partisan preferences have no place in judicial decision making. She said that lawmakers' lack of consultation with the courts raises another red flag as to their motivation for recent judicial legislation.
"There's a lot of things that the legislature could do that would really promote fair and impartial courts in North Carolina, but where they're putting their attention is someplace entirely different," she added.
And though it may seem hopeless in the face of a super-majority, Bannon, Jackson and others interviewed for this article reiterated the need for judicial officials and stakeholders to speak out.
Court of Appeals Chief Judge Linda McGee did not return a call for comment, though multiple people commented that she was not made at all aware ahead of time of efforts to reduce her court.
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Martin sent a letter to McGee and other judges on the Court of Appeals letting them know he was not taking a position on HB239.
"As with any pending legislation that may affect the courts, the AOC legislative team is evaluating this bill along with other legislative developments," he wrote. "If it is determined that a public position should be taken on a matter affecting the administration of justice, our procedure is that this position will be disseminated by the AOC legislative team or by me personally."
Only Geer and a single attorney spoke publicly against the bill to House lawmakers at a committee meeting. Geer said that while she thinks it is incumbent upon the legislature to have a dialogue before making HB239 law, she hopes others will speak out.
"The judges should come forward and say this is wrong."
"The judges should come forward and say this is wrong," she said. "But it's very hard for a sitting judge and a judges who's elected to speak out. … That's why I did; I'm in a better position."
Bannon said judges and retired judges can be really important spokespeople to explain what the stakes are and what the courts' needs are.
"Some of these bills can seem technical; it might not be clear what size the Court of Appeals should be," she said. "If you hear from judges who can speak to what the real needs of the courts are and the kind of areas that the legislature should be focused on, I think it could really help clarify to people what the legislature is doing."
Melissa Boughton
Melissa Boughton worked as the Courts and Law Reporter at NC Policy Watch from 2016 to 2020.
Follow @mel_bough
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text:
Бурч — українське прізвище.

Відомі носії:
 Бурч Василь Васильович (1919—1993) — український педагог та художник, Заслужений учитель УРСР.
 Бурч Михайло Васильович (*1960) — колишній український футболіст, воротар.

Українські прізвища


text:
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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<title>
The New Republic[ans]
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Protesters demand apology from a pro-war rag

The New Republic[ans]

February 18, 2005 | Page 4

Dear Socialist Worker,

The New Republic magazine--a pro-war Democratic Party rag--thought it would be provocative to muse about killing and torturing antiwar activists.

New Republic writer T.A. Frank found it cheeky to sit in and mock an antiwar panel meeting sponsored by the D.C. Anti-War Network, the D.C. ISO and others. He thought it would make his colleagues chuckle to wish for "John Ashcroft to come busting through the wall with a submachine gun to round everyone up for an immediate trip to Gitmo, with Charles Graner on hand for interrogation." The New Republic thought they would score points with their puffy beltway buddies by printing a call for someone to "take a bunker buster to Arundhati Roy," the internationally known antiwar author.

The New Republic also thought they'd get away with it. They were wrong.

On February 11, 50-plus antiwar and global justice activists picketed their shabby Washington, D.C., offices (tough times for TNR). We were loud and proud, demanding both print space to rebut Frank's psychotic rant, as well as a formal apology.

As we chanted gems like "Stop the Threats, Stop the Lies; New Republic, Apologize" and "New Republic, you can go Kill and Die for Texaco," their quivering editorial team remained holed up upstairs, refusing to address our demands, defend Frank's rant or even leave the office. While their staff shook in the newly christened "New Republic Panic Room," we handed out hundreds of leaflets to passersby, outlining their nasty dirge.

Our "Fight the New Republic(ans)" campaign began when we posted a response to Frank on the CounterPunch Web site. The reaction was staggering, with TNR receiving hundreds of e-mails and phone calls. It was incredible, as letters poured in from around the world, from antiwar vets to unionists in India.

Despite the diversity of responders, the message was quite unified: if you want to get to Arundhati Roy, you have to go through us first.

The ferocity and confidence of the response inspired us to call our demonstration. This was no easy decision, as the left in Washington, D.C. has seen better days. But once again, we were energized when groups ranging from the D.C. Anti-War Network, to the Mobilization for Global Justice, to the Washington Peace Center enthusiastically supported our call.

Then, because we took the step to not just fulminate and blog, but to act, our demo plans were written up in Alexander Cockburn's "Minority Report" column in the Nation magazine.

Cockburn and his editorial partner Jeffrey St. Clair further stepped up by linking our call to action to the masthead on the CounterPunch Web site. All of this injected a tremendous confidence going into the picket. It also demonstrated that these right-wingers are no better than your typical schoolyard bully: if you stand up to them with politics that are confident and clear, they wither like Donald Rumsfeld in a room of GIs.

Our demo did not transpire without debate. Some argued we were advocating "censorship" by holding a picket. This is dead wrong. The violators of free speech here are the laptop thugs at the New Republic, calling for the heads of those whose views they despise.

We were defending our right to voice dissent without being threatened by violence. By demanding print space in their magazine, we are challenging them to expand the parameters of speech around the occupation of Iraq. Far from censoring, we have made it clear that we will debate T.A. Frank and his ilk anytime, anywhere.

Now that we have raised hell at their office doors, TNR wants our campaign to just go away. They won't be so lucky.

We are calling on everyone to keep up the pressure. E-mail the New Republic at letters@tnr.com. Call them up at 202-508-4444. Ask them if the official position of the magazine is to torture and kill people they disagree with--they love that.

Also, on March 3, my union, the National Writers Union's D.C. chapter, is going to take up the New Republic's efforts to intimidate writers as a point of action for the foreseeable future.

The New Republic is a magazine trying to stake out territory on the right wing of the Democratic Party. The New Republic believed it could earn street cred among the DLC hacks upon whose buttocks their lips are permanently attached. The New Republic thought they could do this on the backs of our movement. They miscalculated, because unlike them, we have a spine.

Dave Zirin, Washington, D.C.

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Page 675 - Gallery Design of Home Architecture | Logical Operator Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel. Pull Out Bed Couch. Amazon Metal Wall Decor.
collection of galleries from Home Architecture like Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Cleaning Gel. Pull Out Bed Couch. Amazon Metal Wall Decor. and other designs you might like Tabletop Telescope. Arched Window Wall Decor. Flush Up Toilet. Frameless Hinged Shower Door. Emoji Bedroom Set. Tabletop Fireplaces. Silver Bedroom Set.


If you're planning on studying psychology, and need help deciding between a few of your choice schools, consider checking the rankings! Psychology school rankings and psychology program rankings are generated by several institutions. They measure psychology programs' quality by weighing various criteria, and are a quick reference to help students understand how well-regarded a university's psychology program is. A psychology graduate's job prospects can either be greatly enhanced or diminished by their alma mater's reputation with those in the psychology field.
Psychology program rankings are revered and competed for by some and detested by others. While there are certainly flaws in program rating scales, enough to say that they should be taken with a grain of salt, psychology students should not ignore them.
"Rankings are a very rough guide to the quality of a psychology program," said Dr. James W. Pennebaker, professor and chair of the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. "They are partially arbitrary and have the potential to distort information and mislead users and departments. We use them if we're ranked highly, and we point out the negative aspects of the scale if we're not."
Every psychology program ratings scale is measured at least slightly differently from the next in what criteria it looks at and how heavily weighted each factor is toward determining the programs' final ranking positions. For example, US News & World Report, perhaps the most overt college ranker out there, is often criticized for being a popularity contest, judging completely on the opinions of others in the academic community. While US News does weigh a variety of measurements for most of its rankings in other emphases, in social sciences, it does rely entirely on opinions of a program for ranking. According to its website, rankings of doctoral programs in social sciences are based solely on peer assessment survey results. The surveys are sent to academics in psychology-each institution receives two-asking respondents to rate the academic quality of an institution on a five-point scale.
"A program's ranking depends on who's ranking it," said Pennebaker. "Some are based entirely on popularity; others weigh popularity along with other factors, such as the number of grants received, number of foreign students, graduation rates, etc. Those ranking scales are more meaningful. With more measured criteria, users can evaluate a school along their own lines of importance."
Other rankings, such as those done by The Center and the National Academies, stress the research capabilities and successes of universities with psychology departments. Self-rankings sites like StudentsReview.com and PhDs.org allow users to toggle the importance of ranking criteria themselves, making for a personalized psychology program search. PhDs.org uses a more scientific approach, weighing factors like improvements in program quality, recent publications by faculty, and scholarly quality. StudentsReview.com is a little more down-to-earth-it, too, is based on student voting, so its rankings are also greatly determined by program popularity, but it also grants its users the ability to include ranking aspects important to them, such as school safety, social atmosphere, creativity encouragement, and campus aesthetics.
With the most popular psychology program rankings based so heavily on perception, there are a host of inaccuracies due to voters' misconceptions or lack of information on the psychology programs being evaluated.
Pennebaker recalled a very poignant example: "Once, a school was ranked in the top ten with (a major ranking publication), but that school had virtually no psychology department."
Another dean from a typically high-ranking psychology department voiced similar frustrations: "I don't think much of rankings because their mode of gathering data leaves much to be desired. There are too many problems with how rankings sample research-they lean too heavily on reputations without evaluating quality factors of psychology programs in an unbiased way."
While challenges certainly exist with psychology school and program-ranking systems, they are still a useful reflection of sentiments from the higher education community.
Despite the difficulties quantifying psychology program quality, rankings are extremely valuable if you want a broad, nation-wide assessment of a program's quality, or at least the quality everyone believes it offers. Just because there are evaluation problems with many rankings, that doesn't mean that they cannot be taken for what they are and become a very useful tool. Remember the saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and think about it in the context of how beautiful you will look to an employer as a graduate of a top-rated psychology school. Psychology rankings are a unique way of telling you what the beholder is probably thinking.
"Let's be honest; going to 'the number two' or 'the number six' school in the nation gives you bragging rights. It's like being the winner of an Academy Award for playing a phenomenal role," said Pennebaker.
While every perfectly good psychology program is not going to attain a high ranking, you should also make sure that the school you're eyeing doesn't consistently round out the bottom of the class.
"Rankings are certainly undependable, but they are based on the quality of a psychology program's research and faculty," said Pennebaker. "You can be fairly certain that a program ranked at number 200 does not have good faculty or research output."
Students investigating a psychology department, be it for undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral study, should dig deep to discover some of the unique attributes of the school. The most important thing for a future psychology student is learning all that you can about a school through researching and visiting it. Find a psychology program that fits into your own idea of what you want your studies to be like. Deciding factors for students who are looking for a psychology school to fit them include faculty research topics, quality of instruction, opinions of students, graduate employment rates and starting salaries, and admissions selectivity, among many others.
"Know the literature. Use the Internet to determine where good research is being done, who a program's key players are, and more," said Pennebaker. "Even a school that is consistently at the bottom of the rankings may have one or two faculty members who are world-class; if you want to study what they're studying, then going there would be a smart choice. If research is important to you, then you should look at what is being researched; if diversity is a big factor for you, then you should look at the percentages of minority students. Good rankings, calculated along multiple factors will give you a sense of what features a psychology school has that are important to you."


CNN has debuted a refreshed "Capitol View" studio in its Washington, D.C. bureau.
The space, which has seen sporadic usage over the years primarily as a flashcam studio, was completely gutted for the upgrade, which uses the same footprint but maximizes grid height and floor space. It's now known as Studio D.
The newly updated space debuted during the network's "Trump: One Year Later" special report and is anchored around a curved LED pillar that was used as one of the centerpieces of the special.
Nearby this area are two perpendicular LED video walls from Leyard that, during the special, were used to showcase a Washington, D.C. skyline accented with faux-glass railing panels and mullions.
During the special, CNN used a panel-style setup in this area using a high desk with an open base accented with bright borders.
On the other side of the pillar, the studio includes a backlit wall with a series of three vertical video panels that extend almost floor to ceiling, as well as an additional video panel to the far right.
Much of the studio's look draws inspiration from existing CNN studios, with design from Clickspring Design, including the clean and modern surfaces, a plethora of video walls, bold red floor accents and metallic header elements with cutouts.
One of these header elements extends from the right side of the studio to the center, where it wraps around the video pillar.
Created using a AmFlexPro P1.9 LED panel from DesignLED, the column made regular appearances in wide shots of the special, including when talent would toss from one side of the studio to the other.
Fabrication of the new space was handled by Mystic Scenic Studios, with lighting by CNN's Washington team led by Michelle Poley.


text:
EZ-Chow lands $1M investment
Conner Mullett April 2, 2020 August 6th, 2021
EZ-Chow, a digital customer engagement platform that provides online ordering solutions for restaurant and hospitality organizations looking to grow their digital ordering channels, has completed its first round of seed funding and has exceeded its goal of $1 million.
"We are excited about the opportunity EZ-Chow has to help small and medium-sized restaurant and hospitality organizations thrive in this era of technology," Mo Sloan, EZ-Chow founder, CEO and CTO, said in a company press release. "Closing this round means that we will be able to assist even more restaurants in launching their digital platforms while maintaining ownership of their customer data."
EZ-Chow will use the money to add engineering and sales talent, improve software architecture and introduce additional products, with the mission of helping restaurants and hospitality organizations own their digital channel.
One of the notable investors in this round is Render Capital, a $15 million fund focused on creating an environment where entrepreneurs in Louisville and Southern Indiana can build businesses and thrive. This is the first investment from Render Capital, which launched in February 2020.
"Playing a small role in catalyzing the growth of startups like EZ-Chow is precisely why we started Render Capital," Moses Icyishaka, principal at Render Capital, said in the release. "We want to support entrepreneurs like Mo because we believe they play a pivotal role in our economy and in our
communities."


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Jay Glazer
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"We find everyone's breaking point and push them further so that everything they do after that is easy. We want clients saying I never knew I could push myself to that limit, but I'm not exhausted. You will feel better when you leave our place, since we have a new way of training that includes lots of rehab – it's not like old methods in which the only way to gain strength was through pain. We don't say no pain to gain, and we don't have trainers with egos, so when you walk out you say I can't wait to get back in that place later today or tomorrow.
Jay Glazer is a double threat: A professional sports journalist, FOX's NFL Insider and UFC Host, and a thriving fitness-training business owner. He began his career reporting at the New York Post, where he became an NFL insider. After briefly fighting in mixed martial arts bouts, Glazer took a job as a football commentator for FOX Sports where his new bosses quickly nixed his participation in any further face-wrecking MMA matches. Next he partnered with MMA legend Randy Couture in developing a martial arts-based performance-training program for NFL members and other professional athletes. Most recently, he went into business with retired Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher to create Unbreakable Performance Center in Los Angeles, California, a boutique gym catering to sports stars and entertainment personalities.
Jerry Ferrara, Jeremy Piven, Armie Hammer, P. Diddy, New England Patriots wide receiver Danny Amendola, Green Bay Packers linebacker Clay Matthews, Hall of Fame New York Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, UFC light heavyweight Hall of Famer Chuck Liddell
LivingHealthy Q&A With Jay Glazer, FOX NFL Insider and Founder of Unbreakable Performance Center
By Nan Forte, MS
Jay Glazer is a professional sports journalist and the founder of one of the most renowned gyms in Los Angeles. He is an NFL Insider on the longest-running sports show on television, FOX NFL Sunday, and a UFC host. Glazer also recently went into business with retired Chicago Bears linebacker...
Redefining the Gym: NFL Insider Jay Glazer's Unbreakable Performance Center
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text:
Rivendale Farms takes natural, modern approach to locally made ice cream
By Haley Frederick July 9, 2019 No Comments
Jersey cows pasturing at Rivendale Farms (Current photos by Jake Mysliwczyk)
By Haley Frederick
Pittsburgh Current Managing Editor
haley@pittsburghcurrent.com
When you think "natural farming" you think grazing animals, lush pastures, ripe manure and plaid-clad farmers. Rivendale Farms has all of those things, but they also have robotics, automation, full-time executive chefs and a spot on the Steelers practice jerseys.
Established in 2015 on 175 acres in Washington County, Rivendale Farms is owned by Thomas Tull, Legendary Entertainment CEO and Steelers minority-owner. Inspired by the renowned Stone Barns farm in Pocantico, NY, Rivendale is based on two principles: "natural farming" and "modern techniques."
Unlike Stone Barns, Rivendale doesn't have its own restaurant. Their produce does make its way to the tables of several well-regarded Pittsburgh-area restaurants like Dinette, Station, Legume, Eleven and Whitfield, but Rivendale as a brand is all about the dairy.
Their award-winning Jersey cows' milk is utilized by The Milkshake Factory, served up as soft-serve in PNC Park and made into chocolate milk that's become a Steelers recovery drink.
Now their dairy product line is expanding and is more widely available than ever before. In June, Rivendale launched a new hard-pack ice cream line-up of eight flavors in six Giant Eagle Market District stores and a few other local markets.
Rivendale Ice Cream launched in stores in June
The Current went to Rivendale Farms to follow the ice cream all the way from doe-eyed calves to packed pints on store shelves.
First, the big, white barn that's visible from the road in front of the farm is the Elite Barn. In it resides the prize Jersey cows that compete in shows and whose embryos are sold to breeders as far away as Japan and New Zealand.
When you imagine a cow, you're not picturing a Jersey cow. Jersey cows are smaller than the classic Holstein, and their coat is a warm russet brown. When it comes to cows' milk, they're producing the cream of the crop.
"Jersey cow milk is higher in protein and fat and calcium—it's about 20 percent higher in all of those, which is why it's more sought after and it's not as common because Jersey cows are smaller so they provide less milk," says Christine Grady, general manager of the farm.
"So for most dairy farmers who are interested in volume you see the big black and white Holstein cows," she continues. "We have Jersey cows specifically because we want that rich, creamy, high-quality milk for our products."
The Elite Barn cows receive a bit more personalized attention, and they're pastured for a few hours a day in the fenced field right at the farm's entrance, welcoming visitors to the property.
The next barn we visit, the Calf Barn, is at the top of the hill where Rivendale rests. Long rows of small stalls house calves that are days or months old. The calves' quarters are kept very clean because the young animals have vulnerable immune systems.
With their light brown color and slight stature, the Jersey calves look almost like deer. They're curious and friendly, too.
A calf born a few days earlier rests in the Calf Barn
Once they graduate out of the Calf Barn, they'll head to the Heifer Barn where they'll stay until they're about two years old and can start producing milk and having calves of their own.
The Milking Barn is where Rivendale's "modern techniques" really come into play. The robotic systems used in this barn are made by a Dutch company called Lely. The first automated machine is the Vector, which feeds the cows every hour, mixing up five different kinds of feed based upon pre-programmed recipes and measuring what the cows have eaten using lasers.
"It can put different types of feed at different locations depending on what they need, like if the cows are in heat or if they're dry and they need to be eating something different," Grady says.
The other Lely system they use is the Astronaut, a milking machine. The cows walk in when they want to be milked, which they're motivated to do because they get uncomfortable when it's been too long and because the machine rewards them with vanilla-flavored pellets.
"In a traditional parlor system cows get milked twice a day, and with this self-service system they get milked about four times in a 24 hour period and you get about 15 percent more milk than you would in a twice a day milking," Grady says.
The machine milks them and cleans them, while also collecting data like the cow's weight and temperature, the amount of milk each teat yields and the temperature of the milk.
According to Grady, the benefits of automation are the obvious labor savings—without it they'd need at least four more employees in the Milking Barn alone—and also the wealth of data the machines collect.
"Normally, in a traditional way, a farmer might not know for an extended period if there's been an impact on the quality of the milk or the quantity of the milk," Grady says. "For us, it's an instant [thing]."
The milk gets taken to Johnstown in Rivendale's 5,000-gallon truck where it's processed and made into their chocolate milk and ice creams.
Beyond the cows, Rivendale has a quarter-acre greenhouse (also automated), seven acres of crop production, 600 Rhode Island Red chickens, 300,000 bees and a Chef's Test Garden where Executive Chefs Daniele Brenci and Cory Helm get to test out new and interesting crops. Right now it contains white strawberries, purple kohlrabi, pink celery, yarrow and more.
Rivendale Executive Chef Daniele Brenci in the greenhouse.
"That really gives us the opportunity as chefs to innovate, not only in the kitchen but in the field, and that helps us to have new ideas come up for the ice cream," Brenci says.
Rivendale's all-natural philosophy is true in their farming and in their ice creams. Brenci made sure each flavor and color came from the actual ingredient. For example, other than the milk, sugar and stabilizers, the only other ingredient in their hazelnut ice cream is hazelnut paste that's imported from Italy (Brenci's home country).
The other flavors are pistachio, honey lavender, strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter chocolate and apricot chocolate—each with the same promise of a focus on the ingredients. Rivendale ice creams also don't contain any eggs.
"We just want to stay away from allergens and highlight the creaminess of the milk and the richness of the milk with the quality of the ingredients," Brenci says.
There's also a special Pirates Treasure flavored with vanilla ice cream (made Pirates yellow through the use of turmeric and annatto) and chocolate crispy pieces available at The Sweet Spot in PNC Park and in Giant Eagle Market Districts along with all of the other pints.
Cows enter at will into the Lely Astronaut to be milked.
The Lely Vector is an automated feeding system.
Haley Frederick
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Craft beer, wine and cocktail fest at PNC Park to benefit Project Last Call


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About GoH
Support GoH
Grove of Hope is a 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization founded in Los Angeles, California, to provide science education in our surrounding neighborhoods and around the globe. We believe that STEAM education and innovative scientific solutions provide people with the access to high earning jobs, improved living standards, and alternative solutions to many global challenges including but not limited to health, water management, agriculture, energy, and climate change.
Our mission is to provide science and technology education to children so that they can understand, protect and manage the earth and the world around them thereby empowering them to contribute to the advancement of technology and sustainable development in their communities.
We strive to accomplish our mission by engaging and inspiring children to pursue science careers, providing teachers with the latest teaching methodologies and resources that will capture the imagination of their students, and demonstrating how innovative science applications and solutions contribute to sustainable community development.
Grove of Hope Leadership
Kamal Oudrhiri, President & Founder
Grove of Hope is led by some of the most talented minds in both science and education. Our founder, Kamal Oudrhiri, has been promoting and providing STEAM education to children and educators for over 20 years. In 2004, he formalized his commitment to STEAM education with the establishment of Grove of Hope. Kamal, a NASA scientist, strives to shrink the STEM skills gap by keeping the next generation engaged in a lifetime of science and discovery. '
Grove of Hope has ties to leading experts in all fields of science, technology, and education. This distinctive access enables us to tap into the latest scientific events and discoveries on a near real-time basis and recombine them into meaningful and lasting educational experiences from our hands-on science curriculum to our university educational lectures and exchanges. Over the past decade, countless science experts from NASA and other top institutions have generously volunteered their time to Grove of Hope in both behind the scenes curriculum development and in public outreach exchanges. Through Kamal's leadership, Grove of Hope continues to inspire students, of all ages, to reach for the stars.
© 2020 Grove of Hope . All Rights Reserved.


text:
namespace blink {
struct IndexedDBDatabaseMetadata;
}

namespace leveldb {
class DB;
}

namespace content {

// Holds a queue of PreCloseTask's to be run after an IndexedDBBackingStore no
// longer has any connections.
//
// There is a special IndexedDBMetadata fetcher task that runs before all the
// other tasks, and whose output is passed to each task before they start.
//
// Owned by IndexedDBBackingStore.
class CONTENT_EXPORT IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue {
 public:
  // This function should fetch all database metadata for the origin. The
  // returned status signifies if the metadata was read successfully.
  using MetadataFetcher = base::OnceCallback<leveldb::Status(
      std::vector<blink::IndexedDBDatabaseMetadata>*)>;

  enum class StopReason {
    // A new connection was made to the closing backing store.
    NEW_CONNECTION,
    // The maximum time for all tasks to complete as passed.
    TIMEOUT,
    // There was an error reading the database metadata.
    METADATA_ERROR,
    // Force closed due to shutdown.
    FORCE_CLOSE,
  };

  // Defines a task that will be run after closing an IndexedDB backing store
  // instance. The task can be destructed at any time if the browser process is
  // shutting down, otherwise Stop(...) will be called.
  // Instances of this class are sequence-hostile. Each instance must only be
  // used on the same SequencedTaskRunner.
  class CONTENT_EXPORT PreCloseTask {
   public:
    explicit PreCloseTask(leveldb::DB* database);
    virtual ~PreCloseTask();

    leveldb::DB* database() { return database_; }

    // Implementations should override if they need database metadata. If
    // overridden to return true, the metadata will be loaded and SetMetadata()
    // will be called once before the first call to RunRound().
    virtual bool RequiresMetadata() const;

    // Called before RunRound. |metadata| is guaranteed to outlive this task.
    virtual void SetMetadata(
        const std::vector<blink::IndexedDBDatabaseMetadata>* metadata);

    // Tells the task to stop before completion. It will be destroyed after this
    // call. Can be called at any time.
    virtual void Stop(StopReason reason) = 0;

    // Runs a round of work. Tasks are expected to keep round execution time
    // small. Returns if the task is complete and can be destroyed.
    virtual bool RunRound() = 0;

   private:
    friend class IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue;

    bool set_metadata_was_called_ = false;
    // Raw pointer is safe because `database_` is owned by the
    // IndexedDBBucketState.
    const raw_ptr<leveldb::DB> database_;
  };

  // |on_complete| must not contain a refptr to the IndexedDBBackingStore, as
  // this would create a cycle.
  IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue(std::list<std::unique_ptr<PreCloseTask>> tasks,
                             base::OnceClosure on_complete,
                             base::TimeDelta max_run_time,
                             std::unique_ptr<base::OneShotTimer> timer);

  IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue(const IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue&) = delete;
  IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue& operator=(const IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue&) =
      delete;

  ~IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue();

  bool started() const { return started_; }

  // Tasks are all complete or they have been stopped.
  bool done() const { return done_; }

  // Stops all tasks and destroys them. The |on_complete| callback will be
  // immediately called.
  void Stop(StopReason reason);

  // Starts running tasks. Can only be called once. MetadataFetcher is expected
  // to load the metadata from the database on disk.
  void Start(MetadataFetcher metadata_fetcher);

 private:
  void OnComplete();

  void StopForTimout();
  void StopForMetadataError(const leveldb::Status& status);

  void RunLoop();

  bool has_metadata_ = false;
  // This callback is populated when |Start| is called, and executed if a
  // pre-close task requires metadata (see RequiresMetadata). This happens
  // before that task is run.
  MetadataFetcher metadata_fetcher_;
  std::vector<blink::IndexedDBDatabaseMetadata> metadata_;

  bool started_ = false;
  bool done_ = false;
  std::list<std::unique_ptr<PreCloseTask>> tasks_;
  base::OnceClosure on_done_;

  base::TimeDelta timeout_time_;
  std::unique_ptr<base::OneShotTimer> timeout_timer_;
  scoped_refptr<base::SequencedTaskRunner> task_runner_;

  base::WeakPtrFactory<IndexedDBPreCloseTaskQueue> ptr_factory_{this};
};

}  // namespace content

#endif  // CONTENT_BROWSER_INDEXED_DB_INDEXED_DB_PRE_CLOSE_TASK_QUEUE_H_


However, if you plan to keep and what your needs, and consider the issue of betterment and depreciation or the benefits are at high speeds. If there have been a success. When looking for information about the process. Many drivers simply don't want to make use of. Careful decision-making on this question by most insurance companies will give you a lot of interest for money possible. In Las Vegas, your average commute time for them to find affordable coverage is going to be quite a bit. But if you do have accidents; it just means more accidents than older. If not, get better coverage.
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If this is what is going on with the start menu on lxqt-panel, can someone point me in the right direction for where to change the window type of the start menu to attempt to make these things work?
I think you should report this bug to i3 developers instead.
It's not a bug of the panel itself.
Hello, I am having this weird issue with lxqt-panel in i3 window manager.
start menu to attempt to make these things work?
To be honest, I had a feeling this was more of an i3 issue than one with the panel, I just don't have a lot of confidence that i3 devs will see fixing it as a priority since the things like panels go against the i3 way, so I was hoping to find a workaround in the meantime. Is there a way I can tweak the code to get a different result?
I close this bug. If later someone proves that it's not a bug of i3 but it's lxqt-panel which causes the crash, let's re-open it then.


text:
Military Reports
UK MoD for June 14, 2022 – June 14, 2022
Original Report
Iraqi security forces identified a number of Daesh terrorists attempting to re-establish a presence in an area to the north of Tikrit. A Royal Air Force Reaper remotely piloted aircraft joined coalition aircraft in supporting the Iraqi operation by tracking the group on Tuesday 14 June, and at an appropriate opportunity, when the terrorists were exposed in the open away from any civilians, conducted a successful attack alongside the other coalition aircraft; the RAF Reaper employed Hellfire missiles. The group was reported to be destroyed as a result of this Iraqi-led operation, and the terrorists eliminated before they could mount an active threat to the Iraqi people.


text:
4th of July Macbook Pro deals are live: save up to $250
By Tammy Rogers
last updated 4 July 2022
Macbook Pro M1 Leaves (Image credit: iMore)
Any saving on a MacBook is one that should perk your ears up - particularly when it's as big as $250. The MacBook Pro M1 now starts at $1050 at BestBuy this July 4, and given it's now the outgoing model prices might only last as long as stock levels do.
There's also some terrific offers on last years MacBook Pro 2021, equipped with the M1 Pro and Max. While not the lowest price the model has seen, it equals other deals that have been on the machine.
MacBook Pro M1 (opens in new tab)
What is now effectively last year's model, the MacBook Pro M1 is still an excellent performer. It's got the same impeccable build quality as the newer model, as well as the same Retina display. The base 256GB model is now $1050, while the slightly bigger 512GB version is $1250.
MacBook Pro 2020 $250 off
The M1 MacBook Pro may not be Apple's most recent MacBook, but it is still an incredible option for those looking for a more powerful MacBook. The Liquid Retina screen is exactly the same as the newest model, and the 16-hour battery will keep you going for a long time.
While it's not as impressive as M2, the previous version of Apple silicon, M1, keeps up with modern computing just fine. It's quick enough for most applications, including light video editing and photo editing, and its' extremely fast RAM makes multitasking a doddle.
Macbook Pro M1 Ports (Image credit: iMore)
It's not perfect - the two thunderbolt USB-C ports on the side are fast, but once you've taken one up with the charging port you've only one port left for any peripherals you might want to hook up. Grabbing a USB dongle is something with any modern laptop you'll have to be used to it anyway, but remembering to toss one in your bag should become second nature. Looking for the best MacBook Pro USB-C dongle? We've got you covered.
If you're looking for something a little more powerful, then B&H Photo has you covered - they've got $200 off the 2021 MacBook Pro line.
MacBook Pro 2021 (opens in new tab)
The MacBook Pro 2021 features the more powerful M1 Pro and Max chips, that rival those found in many desktop computers. B&H Photo has $200 off the entire range in both screen sizes, and numerous chip and storage options.
MacBook Pro 2021 up to $200 off
The 2021 MacBook Pro is a professional powerhouse. The M1 Pro and Max chips on board are incredibly powerful, munching through ultra high definition renders and enormous raw photo edits with ease, all while staying relatively cool.
MacBook Pro 2021 Magsafe (Image credit: Apple)
The 14 and 16-inch Liquid Retina XDR display options are color accurate to professional standards, and the SSDs inside start the computer in milliseconds. While it's got a great deal more ports than many laptops, it could still do with a couple more to make life a little easier when working on the go, and the very high price will put many off. On this last point, however, $200 off could go a long way in persuading you to take the plunge.
If you're waiting until Prime Day before you get a MacBook Pro, then go check out MacBook Prime Day deals hub! Don't forget to look at our Best MacBook Pro deals as well to keep up with the best deals as they happen.
Tammy Rogers
Buying Guides and Deals Writer
As the Buying Guides and Deals writer for iMore, Tammy puts over a decade of experience in finding the best prices of Apple products to work, helping you save money on the equipment that you want. An audiophile at heart, she loves all things audio and visual, but you'll also find her drooling over the latest Macs and MacBooks. With a Masters in screenwriting, Tammy likes to spend her free time writing feature-length and TV screenplays or driving digital cars around virtual circuits, to varying degrees of success. Just don't ask her about AirPods Max - you probably won't like her answer.
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This vibrant vinegar pays homage to the bright, refreshing ingredients of spring and summer. Our Watermelon white balsamic is the perfect addition to summer spritzers, cocktails, and shrubs. Combine it with Basil olive oil and drizzle over mixed greens topped with sliced tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, crumbled feta cheese, and juicy watermelon: summer in a bowl. The sweet and slight tang of this vinegar makes it a great alternative to sugar in homemade popsicles.