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Texas | Columns | "Charley Eckhardt's Texas"
The National Dish of Texas
by C. F. Eckhardt
Chili con carne is the national dish of Texas. It was invented in Texas by Texas natives-literally-and it's made right only in Texas.
Chili was born in San Antonio in the mid-18th Century. Christianized Indians at the missions and private soldiers at Presidio San Antonio de Bej�r didn't get the best cuts of meat. Those went to the presidial officers and the priests and 'puros espa�oles' in the hamlet of San Fernando de Bej�r that was growing up around the presidio and closer missions. What the 'po' folks' got was, mostly, poor doe and old goat. Poor doe is an old, tough deer-female-and her meat is tough as a boot. Meat from old goats is not only tough, but it tastes terrible. Something had to be done both to tenderize the meat and to kill the taste.
The solution was to stew the meat with spices until it was tenderized and tasted only of the spices, their taste completely masking any taste the meat itself might have. Oregano, garlic, the native chiles that grew wild in the area, cumin, and perhaps a dozen other spices were used to kill the taste of meat from an old goat. Stewing the meat for hours on end tenderized it.
Chili, as it is called today is properly chiles con carne-peppers with meat. Notice there is no mention of frijoles-beans here, nor of spaghetti, nor of macaroni, nor of any of the many things outsiders have added to chili. A proper bowl of chili is meat and the spices necessary to turn it into chili, nothing more.
Chili stands in front of San Antonio's old post office building3
Postcard courtesy rootsweb.com/ %7Etxpstcrd/
The first commercial bowls of chili ever sold were sold on the streets of downtown San Antonio, beginning in the early 1880s. San Antonio's Chili Queens were a fixture in downtown until 1943, when health concerns-mainly on the part of Army medical personnel-shut them down.
A Chili Queen was a young, attractive Hispanic girl who served as the draw. There was a cast-iron pot of chili on a bed of coals and sand in the back of a mule drawn wagon or later Model T truck, and a supply of bowls and spoons. For a nickel or later a dime, you could buy a bowl of chili, which would be ladled out of the open-top pot into a crockery bowl and handed to you by the Chili Queen. There was, admittedly, little in the way of sanitation in Chili Queen chili. Other towns, most notably Austin and Athens, had tamale vendors, but only San Antonio seems to have had the Chili Queens.
There is very little similarity between the chili made by the mission Indians and Chili Queens and what is served as 'chili con carne' by restaurants that serve true chili. The best chili, however, is home made. This is how to make it.
First, start with good meat. Forget hamburger, ground round, or even 'chili grind.' Buy a couple of pounds of beef stew meat. Trim the fat and sinew off the stew meat and cut it into chunks about the size of the end of a large man's thumb. This is the carne-the meat. From here on you turn it into chiles con carne-peppers with meat.
Put just enough olive oil-or lard if you choose-into a heavy skillet so that you'll coat the bottom of the skillet. Tear up an ancho pepper-the big, dry, dark red one-and add the skin but not the seeds to the pan. Then take about half a tablespoon of whole comino-cumin seeds-not ground cumin, and crush them by rubbing them between your hands over the skillet, letting the broken and crushed seeds fall into the skillet. Turn on medium heat beneath the skillet and add the meat, stirring and turning it to get all parts of it into the oil you've seasoned with ancho pepper skin and crushed comino.
Into a large cast iron pot-or a slow cooker, they work too-put about 4 ounces of prepared chili powder-Bolner's, of San Antonio, is best, Gebhardt's a close second, and brand-name chili powders go downhill from there. Add another torn-up ancho-skin only-and another tablespoon or so of crushed comino. Chop a medium onion and put it in the pot. You can add a couple of cloves of crushed garlic if you choose, an extra teaspoon or so of oregano. The beauty of chili is it's an individual's dish, and as long as the very basics are adhered to, it's possible to add spices to individual tastes.
Last comes the liquid. Some people use a can of tomato sauce, some a couple of small cans of tomato paste and additional liquid, some diced tomatoes. My personal preference is for RoTel diced tomatoes with green chiles, but not the kind with added cilantro and lime juice. One of the 10oz cans is perfect, though more liquid will be needed.
Now you decide how hot your chili's going to be. The RoTel tomatoes will give it a base of chemical heat, and that may be enough for some people. The idea is to make the chili hot enough that you feel the heat about halfway down your esophagus, but it doesn't burn your mouth. If it burns your mouth, you've overdone it. In my chili, I add-sparingly-dried chiles peque�os or chilipitines, as they are often called. A half-dozen or so, broken and added to the ingredients, is about right. If you don't have chilipitines growing in your yard and you can't find the dried ones on the grocery shelf, about half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper will be enough.
Once the meat is brown on all sides, add it to the pot or cooker. Check to see how thick the mix is once you've stirred it. A large spoon should stand at first, then slowly topple if it's thick enough. If it's too thick and the spoon doesn't topple, add about half a tomato can of either water or beer. Cover the pot or slow cooker and put the on a back burner with a very low heat under it or turn the slow cooker to low. You'll have to watch the pot fairly closely over the next four or five hours, but if you're using a slow cooker just forget about it for about 12 hours. The slow cooker's not going to burn the stuff, but if enough liquid escapes the cast-iron pot over a fire or electric element, the stuff inside will burn. If, after you remove the chili from the fire, it seems a little thin, there's a right way and a wrong way to thicken it. The right way is to take masa-either corn or harina (wheat), though masa de maize works best-add enough water to it to make a thick but flowable mixture, and add that to the chili, stirring it in thoroughly. Then put the chili back on the heat for another half hour or so.
OK. It's twelve hours later and you've turned off the slow cooker. Now it's time to eat the chili, right? WRONG! This is where all chili-cookoff chili and 99 out of every hundred pots of home-made chili are not exactly ruined, but are denied the opportunity to taste as good as they can taste. Don't eat that chili yet! Let the iron pot or slow-cooker liner cool, then put it in the refrigerator for about 24 hours. This sets the spices and allows the full flavor of the chili to develop. Then reheat it and serve it. The only additions to the chili are the traditional one-saltine crackers, crumbled and stirred in-and a non-traditional but popular one. That's Fritos corn chips, crumbled and stirred in.
Now-where did the idea of putting beans in chili get started? Probably during the First World War. There were 'meatless' days-usually Tuesdays-during WW I, and somehow the fact that people at home weren't eating meat was supposed to help the war effort. Beans are, sometimes, a mediocre substitute for meat. It's entirely possible that, even in San Antonio, when meat was in short supply, pinto beans were substituted for meat in a chili-seasoned dish, or even that the meat supply for the chili was stretched by adding beans. However, this was only a temporary, stopgap measure until meat was again available. It is possible that some servicemen from the North got hold of chili that had its meat supply 'stretched' with beans and thought that was the way chili was supposed to be made. This would certainly have taken the idea of chili with beans in it to the North, from which it would return to Texas many years later.
What about the other 'additives'-in particular macaroni and spaghetti? These seem to be strictly a Yankee invention. It's pretty much certain that the inventors of chili, the mission Indians and poor soldiers of the presidio, had no idea what either was. During the Chili Queen period macaroni was mostly 'macaroni and cheese,' served in homes. Spaghetti was found only in Italian restaurants, of which there weren't a lot in Texas in the period. Northern-born soldiers, having served in San Antonio and at other South Texas bases often fell in love with chili. It's by no means impossible that they took ingredients for chili back home, gave them to Mama Italiana, and said "Can you make stuff with this?" Mama Italiana, being Mama Italiana, is going to add either spaghetti or macaroni to the concoction, both to stretch the meat supply and because spaghetti and macaroni were and are staples in Italian homes. It wouldn't be a far step from that for the same stuff to show up in Papa Italiano's corner caf�, at which point Northerners are going to get the idea that chili is supposed to have macaroni or spaghetti in it.
� C. F. Eckhardt
"Charley Eckhardt's Texas" June 7, 2006 column


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Author: Tony Kent
Published by: Elliot & Thompson
Format: Paperback (Proof Copy)
My Rating ★★★★★
The breakthrough thriller from the most exciting new name in crime fiction.
When controversial US presidential candidate Dale Victor is killed in a plane explosion along with hundreds of passengers, it appears to be a clear-cut case of terrorism. But as criminal barrister Michael Devlin and agent Joe Dempsey investigate, all the evidence starts to point to the very top of the US government. And now someone is determined to stop Dempsey and Devlin from discovering the truth. At any cost. Together they must find a way to prove who's pulling the strings, and free the White House from the deadly grip that has taken hold of power.
This is a fast-paced political conspiracy thriller that grips from beginning to end. It all begins with an explosion on a plane flying across the Atlantic, killing all 534 passengers on board, including the popular presidential candidate, the charismatic Dale Victor.
The characters felt very real and were mostly really likeable. Perhaps the two most central characters are Devlin, the gritty high -lying lawyer, and Dempsey, the complete powerhouse agent who stops at nothing to do what is right. I found Dempsey really intriguing and impressive in the way he handles himself. He is obviously a remarkably intelligent guy, which combined with his many physical strengths and sheer determination, immediately puts him at a great advantage to be the hero of the story.
Power Play follows several characters, each of them as interesting as the other, but what I really fell in love with was the plot. It is a perfect combination of political drama and lethal action. Alongside the thrilling action scenes, I also really enjoyed reading about the court case and police interviews in London. The book travels back and forth between New York, London and Afghanistan, and I really loved the level of detail the author uses for each of these locations. It's clear he has done his research, and his writing is just so readable and engrossing.
There are echoes of Michael Dobbs's House of Cards but there is also more of a James Bond action feel to it. The plot is fast-moving, exciting and full of twists and turns that'll quickly grab your attention and have you up reading into the late hours of the night.
Kent weaves an outstanding political thriller here with many twists and turns. This fast-moving and exciting plot will keep you guessing right up to the final moments. The kind of rapid action thriller that keeps you hooked until the very end. I loved it.
Power Play has just been released in paperback and is also available on Kindle. I can't recommend it enough! Thanks again to Elliot & Thompson and Bloomsbury Publishing for sending me out an advanced copy of the book.


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Q: Why does the uid of files created in a docker bind mount differ based on the host OS? Running the following command creates a file foo in the current directory.
docker run --rm -v `pwd`:/workspace -w /workspace alpine:3.10.2 touch foo

On my Mac (macOS 10.14.6 (18G95), Docker version 19.03.2, build 6a30dfc), the created file is owned by "me" as confirmed by the output ls -l foo.
-rw-r--r--  1 till  staff  0 11 Sep 14:08 foo

However, on a workstation (Ubuntu 16.04.1, Docker version 19.03.2, build 6a30dfc), the created file is owned by root.
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 0 Sep 11 13:32 foo

Do you know why the same command produces different results?

A: I'm not a Mac user, but I believe that I know what happens: what you see is probably the consequence of the fact that Docker for Mac actually runs Docker inside the virtual machine.
When you run Docker in Linux, which is the native environment for Docker, everything works as expected: the containerized process is the ordinary process running on the host kernel; it has some UID and GID (in your case — 0:0, i.e. root:root), and when this process creates any file, this file is owned by these UID and GID. Docker volumes in Linux are just bind mounts, so nothing special happens here when the write propagates from the container to the host system.
When you do the same in Mac, things are more complicated: Docker does not run directly on the Mac host, instead, it uses a Linux virtual machine under the hood, which, in turn, runs Docker. In this case, volume is not just a bind mount — the work with directories mounted to the VM is governed by the hypervisor.
I'm not familiar with the specific hypervisor which is used by Docker in Mac, but, for example, in VirtualBox, when you share some host directory with the VM, the actual mountpoint inside the VM has a special filesystem type (vboxsf), and the driver for this filesystem is a part of VBox's guest additions, which assist the host-VM interaction.
The result of writes to this directory from within the VM is exactly what you observe: the owner is translated by VBox to the appropriate UID/GID.
Say, I have a directory /test inside a VM which is synced with the host:
# mount | grep test
test on /test type vboxsf (rw,nodev,relatime,iocharset=utf8,uid=1000,gid=1000)

And I write something to this directory while being root:
# cd /test
# echo abcd > testfile
# ls -ln
...
-rw-r--r-- 1 1000 1000 5 Sep 11 14:57 testfile

As you see, the owner of this file is not root — it is translated to 1000:1000. The same file from the host is:
$ ls -ln test
...
-rw-r--r-- 1 1000 1000 5 Sep 11 17:57 testfile

So, it's highly likely that you observe the same behavior: the hypervisor used by Docker (whatever it is in your system) performs the same translation when Docker in Linux VM performs a write to the volume, and you see the file with the altered owner (your user:group instead of root:root).

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esiegel
Ask Ethan #49: Do the cosmic unknowns cast doubt on the Big Bang? (Synopsis)
By esiegel on August 9, 2014.
"Whenever you have infinities in a theory, that's where the theory fails as a description of nature. And if space was born in the Big Bang, yet is infinite now, we are forced to believe that it's instantaneously, infinitely big. It seems absurd." -Janna Levin
Of course, we don't believe space was born in the Big Bang, but this wasn't intuitive for a long time! Indeed, given the cosmic unknowns of inflation, dark matter and dark energy, and the fact that what we consider to be "normal matter" only makes up around 5% of the total amount of energy in the cosmos, isn't it time to revisit the Big Bang?
Image credit: ESA and the Planck collaboration (main), NASA / wikimedia commons user 老陳 (inset).
This week's Ask Ethan forces us to ask some very tough questions: in particular, if these new discoveries don't cast doubt on the Big Bang itself! In particular (excerpted):
How is it possible to extrapolate back to the big bang, when so little of the matter and force in the universe is understood?
Image credit: NASA / WMAP science team.
Come and get the answers here.
ask Ethan
New physics , new think , new cosmology .
www.scribd.com/doc/157259980
By normand régis (not verified) on 10 Aug 2014 #permalink
There is a classical theory that covers everything - these pdfs cover Atomic Physics, Molecular Physics, and Cosmological Physics respectively. The last is the most relevant to this post:
http://www.blacklightpower.com/wp-content/uploads/theory/TheoryPresenta…
By Dave Nixon (not verified) on 10 Aug 2014 #permalink
The NASA image puts the first stars forming about 400 million years after the Big Bang, but the heavily modified Brock et al. image puts the first formations at 200 million years.
By Dean Peters (not verified) on 10 Aug 2014 #permalink
They are purporting this idea of Big Bang as fact! And they also say that they cannot see and do not know what most of the universe is made. And yet, they think they can explain all the way back to the very origin of it all. I can remember being taught that since hot things expand and colder things contract, and the earth was getting cooler and therefore getting smaller that the earth was getting smaller and the crust was buckling and that is how mountains occurred. And also there was a medium for the conveyance of waves and water so therefore there was a medium for conveyance of light. They called that conveyance of light was ether. Now they are beginning to say the red shift in stellar light is Doppler shift and therefore assuming an expanding universe.
Also, they say, that you can look at the farthest galaxies and see back in time because the light is taken so long to get here and see the universe as it was 13 or 14 billion years ago. But if the universe was not spread out as it is now, then how come we don't see this compacted universe (and in every direction we look). I mean what they're saying is you look outside our world in every direction and see our universe when it was very small. It just does not make any sense to me!
By Dusty (not verified) on 10 Aug 2014 #permalink
Ethan, your continue with this weird eccentric syntax in which you say that the Big Bang occurred after cosmic inflation. That is contrary to the statements of the vast majority of cosmologists, who say the Big Bang is the very beginning, and inflation something that is part of the Big Bang (or after the Big Bang). For example, here is a definition of the Big Bang:
"The rapid expansion of matter from a state of extremely high density and temperature that according to current cosmological theories marked the origin of the universe."
As far as I can see from studying this matter for decades, your "Big Bang after inflation" syntax is one that only you are following. What's with that? The "Big Bang" is the very beginning, not something after the very beginning. Do you have some agenda of trying to explain the Big Bang by trying to redefine it as something after Time Zero?
Big Bang = Time Zero, thus spake almost all cosmologists.
By Mark Mahin (not verified) on 11 Aug 2014 #permalink
@ Mark Mahin
"from a state of extremely high density and temperature"
that state is inflation field. Thus matter came after inflation. And if Big Bang is rapid expansion of matter (incorrect btw) then it came after inflation...
By Sinisa Lazarek (not verified) on 11 Aug 2014 #permalink
Assuming the Big Bang actually took place, and I think it did, it would have been only the most recent such event. In other words it would have been the most recent in an unending series of such events. In addition, what we think of as the Big Bang likely only involved our galaxy the Milky Way. When we talk of explosions.we need to understand that there must be something to explode. Empty vacuums do not explode. Therefore, what would have exploded was a vast area of explosive debris resulting from the collapse of a galaxy that once stood in its place. The major difficulty here is human comprehension of the concept of infinity.
By Larry Kueneman (not verified) on 11 Aug 2014 #permalink
@ Larry
we are not talking about explosions. Period. All the incorrect mental pictures associated with explosion are what causes the misunderstanding in BB. Plus all the science shows that compete to render the bigger and better BOOM when talking about BB, are not helping.
Our Universe is a larger version ofa black hole polar jet.
It's not the big bang; it's the big ongoing.
By liquidspacetime (not verified) on 11 Aug 2014 #permalink
"When we talk of explosions.we need to understand that there must be something to explode. ""
No, we must realise that we're using the word "explode" for something that doesn't have to have been an explosion.
There no more needs to have been something to explode than we need to understand the role of the Heffalump Excrement cleaner's job.
PS your claims require that you know what space and time are in detail. If you do, please write a paper for everyone to read. Otherwise realise that your claims are based off assumptions you've brought up and have not shown to be true.
By Wow (not verified) on 11 Aug 2014 #permalink
The big bang theory assumes that the observed apparent redshift is entirely due to Doppler effect. The current paradigm stipulates that space isn't as empty as previously expected. There is a lot of dark matter out there. How does it affect photons? What proportion of redshift is due to re-radiation of absorbed photons at longer wavelengths? The answer will profoundly affect our calculations on the age of the universe and may possibly upset the big bang apple cart.
By Andy (not verified) on 15 Aug 2014 #permalink
@Andy #11: I'd strongly recommend doing some research (use scholar.google.com to get actual journal articles, rather than random Internet woo) on these subjects. They've all been investigated in detail, and you would serve yourself better by reviewing the actual science, rather than taking someone's word for it. However, I can summarize the situation for you.
1) The cosmological redshift is _not_ "due to Doppler effect." It is entirely distinct, and is due to the variation of the cosmological metric (i.e., the scale factor a(t)) while light is traversing cosmological distances. Because the changing scale factor corresponds to an apparent motion between distant points in the cosmos, the cosmological redshift may be used to compute that apparent velocity.
2) Dark matter doesn't interact with photons, which is why it has the label "dark". If it did, then we would be able to see the absorption/interaction effects, which we don't. The current best limit on the DM/gamma-gamma cross section is something like 10^-50 cm^2 (for comparison, the cross-section for gamma-gamma scattering is roughly a picobarn, or 10^-36 cm^2).
3) The idea of "grey dust" emulating a cosmological redshift has been around for 50+ years. Such a model fails because it cannot reproduce the clear and distictive structure of absorption and emission lines seen at all redshifts. Essentially, such rescattering would wash out distinct lines and leave a smooth continuous spectrum.
We _do_ see the effects of dust absorption, both in our own galaxy and in other galaxies. You may look up "interstellar column density" to find useful information about it. These effects do not mimic redshifts, but do cause a clear decrease in intensity as a function of distance, and have their own distinctive absorption windows (wavelength bands). In other galaxies, those windows are themselves redshifted in the same way that individual atomic and molecular lines are.
By Michael Kelsey (not verified) on 15 Aug 2014 #permalink
So, the beginning of the universe exists as the most distant and therefore most ancient thing we can possibly observe, that being the scope of the entire observational horizon, and yet this represents at that same time both the largest thing and the smallest thing imaginable... truly amazing!
Presuming that all electromagnetic emissions continue to degrade over time and distance through a potentially infinite amount of various interferences, at what observed time/distance is it expected that only IR survives to be observed regardless of anything which might actually exist beyond that horizon?
Are extremely narrow windows of observation as necessary for high end powers prone to capture increasing levels of radiometric interference originating from sources tangent to such window?
Considering that we actually observe incident waves as opposed to actual "rays" of light, does not relative positional movements of the observed sources versus observing terminus positions over billions of years become rather onerous at some point?
By Lloyd Hargrove (not verified) on 15 Aug 2014 #permalink
CMB is the furthest or earliest point that can be probed with EM. Anything beyond that is not. Regardless of frequency or range.
To get beyond that wfirewall is maybe with neutrinos or gravity waves, but that is for now only theory.
@Lloyd Hargrove #13: I'm not sure "degrade" is the right word. The cosmological redshift causes the spectrum from some object to _shift_, depending on how far away (i.e., how old) it is, but the structure of that spectrum doesn't change substantially. Indeed, that's how we discovered the cosmological redshift in the first place -- Hubble and others identified patterns of spectral lines which were all shifted systematically.
We do observe absorption and scattering of light, from sources within our galaxy. Those effects do _not_ shift spectral lines systematically (and hence do not look anything like redshift). Rather, they reduce intensity and add additional absorption lines to the spectrum, due to the intervening gas and dust. These effects are well understood and quantifiable in observation.
The cosmological density is so low, and the scattering cross-sections so small, that light propagates essentially in straight lines, even from distant galaxies. Where it is deflected, for example due to gravitational lensing, the effect is local and quantifiable. Random scattering (e.g., off of dust) does not preserve pointing.
What better way to say farewell than with a slew of costume pictures from this year's (coming) Halloween? Happy Halloween 2017! From Ethan Siegel and Starts With A Bang. Keep looking to the Universe. And we'll have a lifetime of wonderful things to still explore. Goodbye, Scienceblogs,…
Ask Ethan: Why Did Light Arrive 1.7 Seconds After Gravitational Waves In The Neutron Star Merger?
"Delay is the deadliest form of denial." -C. Northcote Parkinson Every massless particle and wave travels at the speed of light when it moves through a vacuum. Over a distance of 130 million light years, the gamma rays and gravitational waves emitted by merging neutron stars arrived offset by a…
Five Discoveries In Fundamental Physics That Came As Total Surprises
"On what can we now place our hopes of solving the many riddles which still exist as to the origin and composition of cosmic rays?" –Victor Francis Hess It's often said that advanced in physics aren't met with "eureka!" but rather with "that's funny," but the truth is even stranger sometimes.…
Even while the world suffers, investing in science is non-negotiable
"I am looking at the future with concern, but with good hope." –Albert Schweitzer Every so often, the argument comes up that science is expendable. That we're simply investing too much of our resources — too much public money — into an endeavor with no short-term benefits. Meanwhile, there's…
Merging Neutron Stars Deliver Deathblow To Dark Matter And Dark Energy Alternatives
"Dark matter is interesting. Basically, the Universe is heavier than it should be. There's whole swathes of stuff we can't account for." -Talulah Riley One of the most puzzling facts about the Universe is that 95% of the energy in it, in the forms of dark matter and dark energy, are completely…


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Renting in Cyprus
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Most Anticipated Game of 2010
January 16, 2010 by Costas 3 Comments
What a year 2010 promises to be for the games industry. The first quarter sees the release of many, high profile AAA titles. There is also the launch of the Sony and Microsoft motion controls in their effort to battle the Wii juggernaut. This is not going to a quiet year, that's for sure.
But what excites you the most out of all these? Which game or hardware would you request to have RIGHT NOW if you had the choice?
To be honest i am not that excited about the hardware launches. So mine is The Last Guardian (PS3) from the creators of Ico (amazing game!) and Shadow of the Colossus. However, because I have my doubts on whether this will actually be released this year I also have an alternative title which is Splinter Cell: Conviction (360).
Come on let's hear yours!
Professional Gamer
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Costas Taliadoros is an accountant by profession but a gamer at heart. He was born in Nicosia in 1977 and was raised by Donkey Kong. At a very young age he started piloting F-15 Strike Eagles over the Iraqi and Libyan deserts and has also seen action in an M1 Ambraams tank somewhere in Eastern Europe fighting against the Soviets. As the years went by, he was integrated into Civilization until he finally conquered the world and sent the first human mission to Alpha Centauri. He graduated from the International Superstar Soccer academy and moved back to Cyprus to start his career. In this dark period of his life he fought and swore against 3 more Master Chiefs on a 4-way split-screen all day and night. It was around this period that he also started traveling to Live in many places around the world but mostly the USA. There, he met a lot of young American teenagers who were willing to discuss topics like his mother and the colour of his skin in great detail. It only strengthened his belief that he still has a lot to learn in this life. Nowadays Costas can be found on a couch playing games with friends and foes, with beer in close proximity. He is just a non-professional "writer" who loves games, books, comics, football, and running. He is also writing in the video-game site he co-founded, www.forevergamers.com, and on his personal blog, www.lostingames.net.
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Drones for Humanity: Forum Initiative Aims Unlock Societal Benefits of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Drones can deliver medical supplies, make dangerous jobs safer and protect endangered species. However, regulations in many countries prevent drones from fulfilling their potential by blocking their access to airspace. Governments are struggling to develop regulations that harness the benefits of drones while minimizing the risks.
To address these challenges, the World Economic Forum, the international organization for public-private cooperation, has created the Drone Innovators Network as a platform to bring together pioneering aviation authorities to share research, best practices and innovative new policies. The mission of the network, the first of its kind, is to inspire and accelerate the responsible use of drones across society.
Supported by aviation and aerospace industry leaders, the Drone Innovators Network will spotlight countries, like Rwanda and Switzerland, which have found new ways to regulate airspace alongside new technology that could advance the management of drones.
"Drones and autonomous flying vehicles, key parts of the fourth industrial revolution, provide an opportunity to revolutionize mobility networks. The Drone Innovators Network launch event at ETH Zurich brings together government, industry, academia, and civil society to co-design the principles and protocols which will maximize the benefits to society and mitigate the risks of drone technology," said Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman at the World Economic Forum.
"It's all about access to airspace," said Timothy Reuter, Head of Drones at the World Economic Forum Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. "Drones are playing an increasingly important role in saving lives, promoting food security and enabling economic growth. But the kind of regulations needed to scale up this technology is not there yet. We created the Drone Innovators Network to bring together a community of government pioneers to inspire and show what is possible."
"There are challenges ahead for businesses and regulators," said Jana Rosenmann, Head of the Unmanned Aerial Systems at Airbus Defence & Space. "We need a place for both to share learnings and best practices. The Drone Innovators Network will help further the conversation to accelerate the use of drones around the world."
"It is not by chance that the first international Drone Innovators Network meeting is taking place in Switzerland; Switzerland is a leader in drone technology," said Doris Leuthard, Federal Councillor, Switzerland. "The close collaboration between institutes of technology, industry and the authorities makes Switzerland an attractive location for start-ups, companies and academic research. Switzerland is, therefore, playing a pioneering role in this area today."
Spotlighting new technology is a key component of the new network. The first nationwide demonstration of an Unmanned Traffic Management system took place today. For the first time in Europe, a user can track in real-time, on one screen, all registered drones in flight. It is the equivalent of putting digital "stop signs" in the sky. It lowers the barrier to entry for new pilots and improves overall safety.
The system can alert registered drone users when they are about to enter a no-fly zone or when to avoid certain areas where emergency responders are working. For the first time, a system will be able to see if a drone has permission to access airspace, bringing much-needed accountability and trust to the industry.
The test was carried out by the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation, which worked alongside drone manufacturers Matternet, Parrot and senseFly and air-navigation service providers AirMap and Skyguide.
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Rustom-2 drone
Iranian drones have wreaked havoc in war-stricken Ukraine. When it comes to drones until a few years back it was the USA Vs China, but now all countries have realized the potential of these flying machines.
Bill Gates had predicted that drones, overall, will be more impactful than one can ever imagine or think to help society in a positive way, but sadly, today they are being used in warfare at a very large scale. Where does India stand in the Drone Making Spectre?
Today, India uses drones for a variety of causes. It has BVLOS (Beyond-visual-line-of-sight) flights, mosquito eradication drones, drones used for agricultural needs – like spraying pesticides etc., then there are seed-copters used for aforestation (planting seedballs). During the pandemic Indian drones supplied vaccines to far out regions, as estimates suggest that more than 24 lakh Indians die of treatable conditions every year simply because medicines don't reach them on time. Drones are bridging the gap when it comes to inaccessibility of roads and other means of transport.
In India, drones can be seen everywhere, in weddings events and agricultural fields. There is a huge demand for drones and the Government is encouraging the industry to grow further. How is this emergence happening? Smit Shah, President of the Drone Federation of India is filled with ideas of zestful entrepreneurship and innovation for the Indian drone industry. He shares his views about how things in India's Drone industry are shaping up.
"Since 2018, we have had multiple regulations and lot of work is happening on that front. Finally, in August 2021 we had our regulations liberalised. So, after multiple policy attempts and iterations we were able to crack the right policy. This is the policy of liberalisation and incentive towards the industry. Since mid 2021, we have had a boost in the ecosystem. We have multiple start-ups now, over 200 working in the drone manufacturing and technology space in the country." says Shah.
The idea to ease the regulations has worked wonders for the industry and start-ups getting involved means a lot of innovation and experimentation is ongoing in the Indian drone industry. So, how are drones being used in governance and management? There is a lot of talk of drones being used for surveillance at borders. In what ways does the Indian Government use drones? Shah says that multiple State Governments, the Union Government, various departments and private sector corporations are now adapting to drone usage at a very large scale. The Government has launched the 'Swamitwa Scheme' where 6.5 lakh villages are being mapped across the entire country through drones. The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has mandated monthly monitoring of all highways via drones. The armed forces are looking for buying drones for security surveillance on all borders using drones. Also they are being used in tracking logistics.
India is using drones in almost all important departments, especially in defence the country is trying to procure and develop the best possible technology for which many private corporations like the Adani Group have forged Joint Ventures with major International drone component manufacturing companies.
For the purpose of warfare India is using drones on the borders to keep an eye on the enemy. It endeavours to make more advancement in the domain. How are things shaping up on that front?
"During warfare you need round the clock monitoring and intelligence and capacity building. So, surveillance capability on the borders and logistic capability on the border means transporting various kinds of resources to the border outposts, including the high altitude regions is what is being looked at now. In India, Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle (UAF), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) are technological terms but are interchangeably used. All these are being used in our border security," informs Shah.
India is rapidly scaling up its drone industry and is investing a lot on research and development. Not just for domestic use, it plans to use drones intensively for border security by the armed forces. Does India manufacture raw materials and components used in drones? What plans does it have to reduce dependence on other countries and boost its own home-built production capability? What is the road ahead?
"A majority of the components are imported from different countries. Now we have Indian start-ups and corporations who are engaged in building local supply chains and local design on drone components. The PLI incentive is encouraging for manufacturing drones and their related components in India. If we see the overall drone ecosystem of drones in India, it envisioned success lies on 4 key pillars. First is ease of doing business, under which policy was liberalised and much of the licence fees was reduced. Second is the financial incentive, like the Production Linked Incentive(PLI) under which domestic manufacturing has a 20% incentive with almost zero upfront commitment. One is not needed to do any plant or machinery investment or any minimum employment. It is a straight investment based on one's capacity, so if you produce goods worth INR 100, you get 20% of your value addition. This is a sunrise sector, so rather than complicating incentives by tying them up with employment or revenue or upfront capital investment – it's all straight in the face. The third part is protectionism or favouring the local industry via an import ban. At present, import of drones as a whole are banned but the import of components is not. Fourth is enhancing our own skilling, R&D, trying to becoming Athmnirbhar (Self Dependant) in every possible way and benefit our own industries. Though, a lot of technology for the smaller drones comes from across the world including China, US and Europe, for the bigger drones, like the ones used to patrol the borders or for offensive ops, it is specialized so that is coming from our partners or the domestic manufacturers," elaborates Shah.
Many reforms by the Government have been introduced to encourage domestic production. It is confident that its own ecosystem will battle all odds and will be able to emerge as a frontrunner in drone making. The Government and industry are working in tandem to achieve this goal. In January, 2022, the Indian Government has offered a 100% subsidy or 10 lakhs, whichever is less, up to March 2023 to promote the use of drones for agricultural purposes and reduce the labour burden on the farmers. Also a contingency fund of INR 6000 per acre has been set up for hiring Drones from the Custom Hiring Centres (CHC). Together, the subsidy and contingency funds shall help farmers access latest drone technology at a very reasonable price.
Does India export drones to any other countries. If NO, by when does it intend to do so? What are its plans to become a recognized name in the drone export segment?
"Slowly and steadily India is looking at exporting. We are looking at certain initiatives to scale up our export segment and expect good results very soon. Our first goal has to be design independence. In terms of supply chains it is difficult to become 100% India made as many raw materials are imported. For that we need to have our own designs and supply chain reliability. In supply chain reliability there are 3 things, first we have domestic supply chains, second we have primary supply chains and third is we have secondary alternate supply chains. If we build good supply chains then we do not have be dependant by the traditional definition because then we have backup & balance of the supply chain. In today's global civilization we can't become completely independent. The right approach is to be dependant but also balanced. Some aspects of our drones may be better than others and vice versa. We are not yet ripened in this as our Information Technology (IT) sector is. India is trying to have its own electronic manufacturing fabs, so things are gaining momentum. In five years the game will totally change," asserts Shah confidently.
The industry and Drone Federation of India is optimistic that in a few years to come India will be a champion drone manufacturer and may export to other countries as well. Be it the procurement of raw materials or other critical components it seems to be progressing fast for self-reliance in the drone industry.
Is tech industry still a boys' club?
Ash Narain Roy
Young women participate in Kazakhstan's first nanosatellite development programme aimed at women. © UNICEF/Zhanara Karimova
Authors: Ash Narain Roy and Jisha Jacob*
The Nobel Prize, says the 2022 literature laureate Annie Ernaux, is an institution "for men." She further says that "speech has almost always been monopolised by men." If even the hallowed Nobel Prize is still "bound to traditions" and "is perhaps more masculine," as the French writer contends, what about the world of science and big tech?
The tech industry remains a male bastion. Citing the abysmally low percentage of female employees, the New York Times says, that the doors to the technology field "remain virtually closed to women." The Los Angeles Times has similar observations about sexism in Silicon Valley. It says, the tech industry "lags decades behind other industries in its treatment of women."
The big tech is far worse. Elon Musk, the new Twitter boss, often mocks advocates of the LGBT+ community. It is anybody's guess where women will find themselves in his scheme of things. He would perhaps expect women to "follow the white rabbit." (It is assumed if you follow the white rabbit, it will ultimately lead you to the truth). Or you may enter an alternate world. Musk isn't playing "four-dimensional chess," he is defending "the future of civilisation"!
Emily Chang in her book, Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley, says that the big tech industry "has self-selected for men: first, anti-social nerds, then, self-confident and risk-taking bros." No wonder therefore, "deep-rooted sexism prevails" in their universe and their meetings in hot tubs and at strip clubs are considered small 'pecados'.
That women are under-represented and hold far fewer organisational positions in big tech companies like Meta, Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft is an open secret. As Francine Bermen and Jeniffer Lundquist say, a large number of high-profile whistleblowers are women. "Frances Haugen exposed personal data exploitation at Meta, Timnit Gebru and Rebecca Rivers challenged Google on ethics and AI issues, and Janneke Parrish raised concerns about a discriminatory work culture at Apple, among others." (Bermen, Francine and Jeniffer Lundquist, 2022)
"Why can't a woman be like a man" has been a grumbling refrain in most walks of life. Literature, science, films, politics have all perpetuated such perceptions. In the footnote of his famous lecture, "The two cultures and the scientific revolution," eminent British scientist C.P. Snow said that since childhood women are given training to be a "good wife" and a "good mother." He further said that women lack training to become a good scientist or a physicist. But he ended up saying "whatever we say, we don't regard women as suitable for scientific careers" for which he would have been heavily trolled today. (Snow 1959) Technology is widely considered a male- dominated industry. Psychologist Janet Morahan-Martin of Bryant University explains that men are more comfortable using a computer since childhood than women. This exposure to technology in the early stage of their lives has led to the masculinization of computer culture.
Big tech and masculinity
What is masculinity? Does it really have to do anything with technology? In a larger sense, masculinity refers to how men perceive themselves. It is a manner of thinking and being that is socially formed. Victor J. Seidler of University of London offers an interesting explanation positing that men have assumed rationality as masculine based on a "rationality appropriated from and denied to others." Men have made it a basis of male power "affecting what men see, hear and regard as important." Brian Easlea, in his book Fathering the Unthinkable: Masculinity, Scientists, and the Nuclear Arms Race, argues that men's propensity for science was mostly a "compensatory mechanism" for their inability to procreate and their vulnerability on the sexual level. (Easlea 1983)
Power and masculinity go hand in hand. The idea of masculinity is often associated with gaining increasingly greater power. Men now stand at the top of the technological pyramid thanks to this power. It appears that using power is fundamentally unbalanced. Men unquestionably make the important decisions. Whenever scientists are mentioned, "men" is always used as the pronoun. For instance, C.P. Snow referred to members of scientific communities as "men of science." Men are thus at the top of the tech pyramid.
Lucie Greene, author of Silicon States: The Power of Politics of Big Tech and What It Means for our Future, cites the examples of Siri, Alexa, and all the verbal subservient assistants which normalize sexism. Twitter has an atrocious record of failing to address misogyny. Amnesty International has found women's experience on Twitter as "toxic." Women continue to be the victims of "digital violence."
According to one source, women roughly represent about 25 % of technology workforce. When it comes to senior corporate leadership positions, the less said, the better. Only 8.8% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women and less than 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.
The Google UK: Gender Pay Report 2018 says that there are more males than women working at Google in top leadership positions and technical occupations, Due to the underrepresentation of women in senior leadership, technical and engineering roles, and roles with a lengthy tenure, the percentage gaps persist in the majority of the leading tech businesses. Men are more likely than women to fill senior positions. Only four women appear on a random Google search of the top 48 or so tech companies.
Stereotypically gendered technology
The masculinization has produced what is known as stereotypically gendered technology. It is crucial that women work in an industry that is predominately male. Who designs a product and who stands to gain from it should be taken into consideration when it is designed. Men may design a product that is primarily used by women, which could result in subpar design. It might not fit the specifications set forth for technology that women can use. An average-height woman, for instance, cannot reach the bottom of a washing machine tub to pull the items out. Another dated example is the fact that since the 1970s, the crash test dummies used to test car safety have been modelled on men for an average male weight and height. It has only now been rectified. This digital world needs more female designers because it is mostly created by men for men.
Ironically, the early programmers were not men, but women. The 1940s saw computer operation and programming as women's space. By the 1960s when computing gained prominence, men displaced women who were experts and as Marie Hicks states in her book, Programmed Inequality, the space was altered from a "feminized field of endeavour" to a "distinctly masculine image". (Hicks 2018)
As per the data provided by Planet Money: NPR, women's presence in various fields clearly shows that, while medicine, law, and physical sciences saw a significant rise in the number of female students enrolling after 1984, science and technology have seen a sharp decline in the number of female students. There was a perceptible increase between 1975 and 1984, but the trend did not last long as women were ejected from cyberspace.
Women had to learn how to utilise the room-sized supercomputers that the US employed to decipher codes during World War II. A person who programmed the first general-purpose electronic computer during the Second World War was known as a "computer." Women were portrayed as confident, attractive, and ready to do their part to win the war. They were encouraged to join the workforce by glorifying and glamorizing the role of the working women.
Women made up a significant portion of the tech workforce throughout the World War Two and up until the 1960s. They made important contributions to science and technology.
STEM education's impact
Women make up approximately 43% of all STEM (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics) graduates in India, one of the highest percentages in the world, but just 14% of scientists, engineers, and technicians in universities and research-development organisations. (Economic Times 2022) The underrepresentation of women in STEM fields is a problem around the world but India's case is a curious one, despite an increase in the number of female STEM students each year, these higher education levels have not led to greater employment opportunities.
Lack of job opportunities has prompted them to turn to other avenues. Clinical psychologist Joy Harris describes such a phenomenon as "learned technological helplessness". (Harris 2008)
Studies have shown that young girls would decide if they were good at math or science by the age of 8 – 10 years of age. It is critical to provide them the right opportunities at that young age.
The data further shows that disparity becomes acute at the undergraduate level. They prefer psychology, biological and social sciences over engineering (22%), computer science (20%), and physics (21%). Similarly in the STEM workforce, women show not much interest as compared to men. They have a very low share in the computer and mathematical sciences (26%), and engineering (16%).
Post- COVID era
Even in normal times, women bear what sociologist Arlie Hochschild calls "the double burden." While they work for a living, they do significant amount of unpaid household work. According to a survey made in 2022, as many as 58% of Indian women lost their employment mostly due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Women were driven away from the corporate sector thanks to the rise in home duties. (Sethi 2022) This was also the time where people showed a greater dependence on technology than ever. Most jobs demanded workers to be tech-savvy. The gender gap in the economy also worsened because of the pandemic.
Rising domestic violence further accentuated the disparity. According to one source, 1 in 3 women worldwide experienced physical or sexual abuse at the hands of an intimate relationship. As a result, women were experiencing assault and looking for employment options. (UN Women: Gender equality matters in COVID -19 response)
During the worst phase of Covid and after, some people began to use social media to share their daily emotions, which allowed them to connect with others who share their perspectives. According to Statista portal, as of January 2022, Snapchat had more female users, while platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter had more male users than female. According to another source, men use LinkedIn more often as compared to women which are 54% and 44% respectively.
The active presence of women on the social media platforms have made them vulnerable to abuses and threats of various kinds.
Online gender-based violence (OGBV) is perpetrated by using technology or a digital interface -specifically the internet or smart devices. Cyber stalking, zoom bombing, identity theft, online threats, blackmailing and cyber flashing are familiar forms of online gender-based violence. According to the toolkit, 85% of women globally face online gender – based violence. 88% of women in Asia and the Pacific have experienced OGBV. (Toolkit: 30 for 2030 UN Women 2022)
A survey on online violence against women by the Amnesty International suggests that 70% of the women who experienced some forms of online harassment have altered how they use social media, and a third of them claim they no longer express their thoughts on certain topics.
Nordic exceptionalism?
Nordic countries score higher than others on gender equality parameters. While Sweden gets top score in perceptions of gender equality, Norway tops all other nations in terms of income equality. This has been possible as the Nordic nations have established a higher degree of political consensus around issues like social equality and social solidarity. They pay women in technology more than others. As the 2018 OECD report, "Is the last mile the longest? Economic gains from gender equality in Nordic countries" notes, it is this region's past improvements in gender equality in employment that have "contributed to economic growth." The Nordic nations' global reputation notwithstanding, they continue to have gender gaps in technology. Anneli Häyren, a researcher at the Centre for Gender Research at Uppsala University, Sweden, points out that there exists an idea of being gender equal, but "we have a long way to go before we are gender equal."
The Nordic Gender Effect at Work, a report from the Nordic Council of Ministers, an advisory group, further notes that there has been "a disturbing pattern" in businesses: "the higher up the hierarchy you look, the more men you notice." This report raises serious concerns about the gender gap. It is thus apparent that even in societies where gender equality is the norm, women and other different gender groupings may not necessarily be equally represented in all sectors, specially technology.
Some academics contend that women are less likely to pursue degrees in STEM even in countries where there is already a culture of gender equality. This behavioural pattern involves teaching topics to girls when they are still very young. It has come to surprise many like University of Essex professor Gijsbert Stoet who says, "It is a paradox…. nobody would have expected this to be the reality of our time".
Maddy Savage's write-up for the BBCwebsite, "the paradox of working for the world's most equal countries," appears puzzling. Even in Denmark, the most inclusive country in the world, "mainly white males sit at the top of many of the best-known corporations." One explanation is that women prefer to work in public sector which limits the pool available for top private sector roles.
Engineers and IT specialists are already in short supply in the Nordic labour market. According to a study, it will soon be necessary to solve the problem because new technology will be created practically entirely by men. In the Nordic labour market, women have established themselves in the service industry. According to a survey, women have benefited most from the region's service industry, which accounts for 80% of all employment.
Women in the tech sector continue to face toxic and gendered environment. The so-called male technical prowess as an organising principle marks the work culture. As the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific points out, the existing under-representation of women in the technology industry is reinforcing social inequalities. "It is meaningless to talk about technological advancements if half of the population is being left behind."
It is ironic that such gender inequalities should exist while the world embarks on the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Another worrying trend is that the Covid -19 pandemic impacted men and women differently "exacerbating current asymmetries and risking a reversal of progress made towards closing the gender gap." Gender stereotypes have led to a gendered division of labour in the tech industry.
In 2021, the percentage of women in CEO positions globally was a mere 5.5 % and in STEM fields, it was only around 3 %. A way forward would be women's larger presence in the STEM careers. That will not only lower the untenable existing disparities, it will embolden other women to follow suit.
Nalini Malani, a contemporary Indian artist whose creative works reflect pressing feminist issues, says that though science and technology have given us so much allowing us to talk to each other over oceans, "the human psyche hasn't kept abreast." However, Malani is confident that "the future is female' and the world needs the instinctual knowledge of the female side of our brains, "otherwise we are doomed."
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced that from February 2023 teenagers will only receive ads based on their age and location. It has also announced that it will be "removing gender as a targeting option." It is perhaps too late, too little but it is a welcome move. If the big tech companies don't mend their ways, they will be blamed for what Churchill chastised the Balkans: "they produce more history than they can consume." They will be judged by the new generation for showing their own shame.
*Jisha Jacob has done Masters in Political Science from University of Delhi
Big Data is watching you, and Big brother is controlling you
Md. Sohrab Hossen
Authors: Md. Sohrab Hossen and Md. Obaidullah
Big brother is watching you" is a repeated phrase used throughout the whole novel 1984 by George Orwell to characterise the ruler of Oceania, a totalitarian society in which the governing party, Ingsoc, has complete control over the public "for its own sake." Every inhabitant in the society Orwell depicts is always being watched by the government, mostly through telescreens. It was the imagination of Orwell of the future London of 1984, as the book was published in 1949.
What can we say now? Should we change the phrase, or is it still valid? I would say "No"! We would rather say, "Big Brother is controlling you". How is it so? Moreover, even if it is, why should you care?
In recent years, with the tremendous advances in every field of science and technology, some issues of personal freedom, choice of expression etc., have emerged. Big data is likely watching you, or the algorithm knows your google search history. Not only modern technologies such as 5G, AI, machine learning, big data, IoT, blockchain, cloud computing, virtual reality, and cybersecurity have been transporting significant advances in the quality of life and experience of homo sapiens, but also these sophisticated techs have brought many ominous complications.
These technologies may pose a threat to liberal democracy, and the government can use technologies to control and monitor people all the time. Dictators may use IT to exercise their illegitimate power or to violate citizens' rights.
While the traditional dictatorship system was characterised by a single leader or group of leaders who used military power to dominate mass people, there was no scope for political pluralism and freedom of voice; big data and the advancement of AI enable the processing of massive amounts of data, which might make a centralised system. Thus, the fascinating inventions of science, such as AI and robotics, might be used to help tyrants achieve their goals by just writing a line of code. Robots do not hesitate to carry out commands. If it were the robot's action, the Military coup attempted in Turkey against the Erdoğan government on 15 July 2016 could be successful.
Furthermore, robust surveillance algorithms can be the worst thing ever to happen to humanity if used by an authoritarian ruler. For example, in Palestine, already today, Palestinians are likely to be monitored by Israeli microphones, cameras, drones, or spy software Pegasus anytime they make a phone call, post anything on Facebook, or travel between cities.
While the Palestinian Authority administers several cities and villages in the West Bank, Israel controls the skies, radios, and the Internet. As a result, it takes a relatively tiny number of Israeli troops to successfully oversee the West Bank's 2.5 million Palestinians. The same thing is happening in Kashmir, where even during performing Friday prayers at the local mosque, multiple police surveillance drones are seen hovering above them. Furthermore, the children's unsuccessful attempt to bring down the drones by hurling stones high into the air took place on 23 August 2019. Followingly, it would be an injustice if we did not mention the Chinese IT-backed authoritarianism over the Uyghurs.
The Chinese government uses technology to perfect its censorship mechanisms. An AI system can filter and prevent unfavourable content from the regime. During the Hong Kong protests, the Chinese regime tightened its "Great Firewall," eliminating subversive content from mainland China's Internet almost promptly. To prevent opposition members from communicating, organising, or publicising their messages, digital autocracies can limit all citizens' access to the Internet (or significant portions of it). The government successfully turned off the Internet nationwide during widespread protests in Iran.
Besides, biotechnology advancement is also seen as anti-democratic. Can you imagine a situation when you had a minor operation and someone, maybe the authoritarian ruler, has placed a micro cheap inside you that directly connects your brain and controls your ideology? What if, in this way, you become an active player of a tyrant ruler from a threat to his regime?
Therefore, we have to be careful and aware of our data. We must first be conscious and then careful so that none becomes able to misuse our personal or financial data. We should not disseminate our very personal information on the Internet or social media, yet, night and day, that is what we, homo sapiens, are doing with great enthusiasm. So, halt; otherwise, you lose the war before even you meet your enemy.


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Rolling Stones earn Grammy nomination for blues covers album
The Rolling Stones have earned a Grammy Awards nomination in the Best Traditional Blues Album category for their 2016 covers record, "Blue & Lonesome."
Recorded over three days in December 2015 at British Grove Studios in West London, the band's first studio album in over a decade features a pair of guest appearances by Eric Clapton and updated versions of tunes originally recorded by blues legends Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter and Magic Sam, among others.
The group played live in the studio without overdubs and were joined on two tunes by Clapton, who happened to be in the next studio making his own record.
"Blue & Lonesome" debuted at No. 1 in both the UK and Australia while snagging a No. 4 entry on the US Billboard 200.
The 60th annual Grammy Awards will be broadcast live from Madison Square Garden in New York City on Sunday, January 28 via the CBS Television Network.
Earlier this year, Mick Jagger confirmed that The Rolling Stones are working on new music, which would represent their first project of new songs since 2005's "A Bigger Bang."
On December 1, the band will release "On Air", a collection of live recordings of the group between 1963 to 1965 from a variety of BBC shows from the era.
Best Traditional Blues Album
• "Migration Blues" - Eric Bibb
• "Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio" - Elvin Bishop's Big Fun Trio
• "Roll And Tumble" - R.L. Boyce
• "Sonny & Brownie's Last Train" - Guy Davis & Fabrizio Poggi
• "Blue & Lonesome" - The Rolling Stones
AUDIO: Rolling Stones stream 1963 BBC performance of Roll Over Beethoven
AUDIO: Rolling Stones stream 1965 BBC performance of Satisfaction
AUDIO: Rolling Stones preview 1960s BBC live package On Air
VIDEO: The Rolling Stones stream Wild Horses from Sticky Fingers Live
Search Rolling Stones at hennemusic
Labels: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, The Rolling Stones


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Tag: Psycho Holiday
DOWN Premiere's New Track 'Witchtripper'; 6-Track EP to Be Released Sept. 18
Former Pantera frontman Phil Anselmo's band Down will release a six-song EP, now titled Down IV Part 1 The Purple EP, on September 18th. You can check out, "Witchtripper," premiered exclusively here. Anselmo tells Rolling Stone that like the well-known Pantera songs "Fucking Hostile" and "Psycho Holiday," "Witchtripper" was a song title he had to be goaded into. …
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PANTERA: "Cowboys From Hell" Ultimate Boxset Giveaway
It's our very own edition of Black Friday — we're giving away a free PANTERA "Cowboys From Hell" (Ultimate Boxset Edition). The entry deadline is December 10, 2010. Head to our Contests Page to enter. It's, um, free. Cowboys From Hell (20th Anniversary Edition) Listening Party (for posting): Cowboys From Hell (Disc 1) Psycho Holiday …
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PANTERA: "Cowboys From Hell (20th Anniversary Edition)" Ultimate Edition Stream
We have an amazing PANTERA 'Ultimate Box Set' stream of Cowboys From Hell (20th Anniversary Edition) for you to listen to. Enjoy. Cowboys From Hell (20th Anniversary Edition) Listening Party (for posting): Cowboys From Hell (Disc 1) Psycho Holiday (Disc 1) The Art Of Shredding (Disc 1) Cemetery Gates (Live) [Disc 2] Primal Concrete Sledge …
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Tags: 20th Anniversary, Anniversary Edition, Anniversary Party, Blood Demo, Cemetery Gates, Concrete, Cowboys From Hell, Demo Disc, Disc 1, Domination, Heresy, Listening Party, Message In Blood, Pantera, Pantera Cowboys From Hell, Psycho Holiday, Quicktime Windows, Windows Media
PANTERA: Chat Live on Ustream with Philip Anselmo at 7pm EST
Philip Anselmo will be chatting with fans live today, September 14, to celebrate PANTERA's "Cowboys From Hell" 20th Anniversary Edition release. PANTERA's "Cowboys from Hell" 20th Anniversary Edition is streaming in full today as well. Head to http://www.ustream.tv/pantera at 4pm PST / 7pm EST in order to speak to Philip Anselmo. The 20th anniversary reissue …
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Tags: 20th Anniversary, 4pm, Album Features, Anniversary Edition, Cemetery Gates, Clash With Reality, Cowboys From Hell, Edition 1, Foundations Forum, Heresy, Medicine Man, Message In Blood, Pantera, Philip Anselmo, Primal Concrete Sledge, Psycho Holiday, Studio Rarities, Ustream Tv, Vinnie Paul, Well Head
PANTERA: "Cowboys from Hell" 20th Anniversary Edition Streaming in Full
SMNnews has brought you a special PANTERA "Cowboys From Hell" 20th Anniversary Edition Listening Party, now PANTERA are streaming their entire Cowboys From Hell 20th Anniversary Edition in full over at AOL. The stream, however, just covers the album's first twelve tracks…as if you've not heard "Cowboys From Hell" or "Cemetery Gates" before. It will …
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Tags: 20th Anniversary, Album Features, Anniversary Edition, Cemetery Gates, Clash With Reality, Cowboys From Hell, Deluxe Edition, Edition 1, Foundations Forum, Heresy, Listening Party, Medicine Man, Message In Blood, Pantera, Pantera Cowboys From Hell, Primal Concrete Sledge, Psycho Holiday, Smnnews, Studio Rarities, Vinnie Paul
PANTERA: "Cowboys From Hell" 20th Anniversary Edition Listening Party
PANTERA are hosting a custom listening party in celebration of their Cowboys From Hell 20th Anniversary Edition release. In case you missed it, PANTERA were streaming new music a few weeks ago. Songs being streamed… Cowboys From Hell (Disc 1) Psycho Holiday (Disc 1) The Art Of Shredding (Disc 1) Cemetery Gates (Live) [Disc 2] Primal …
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Tags: 20th Anniversary, Anniversary Edition, Anniversary Party, Blood Demo, Celebration, Cemetery Gates, Concrete, Cowboys From Hell, Demo Disc, Disc 1, Domination, Heresy, Listening Party, Message In Blood, New Music, Pantera, Pantera Cowboys From Hell, Psycho Holiday, Streams, Windows Media
PANTERA: Streaming New Music from "Cowboys From Hell" Anniversary Album
PANTERA are still making headlines, and releasing music. Catch a demo cut of "Cemetary Gates" and a live version of "Psycho Holiday" from PANTERA's Cowboys from Hell 20th Anniversary Edition over on their Facebook page. Go to SMNnews
Tags: 20th Anniversary, Anniversary Album, Anniversary Edition, Cemetary Gates, Cowboys From Hell, Headlines, Music Album, Music Demo, New Music, Pantera, Pantera Music, Psycho Holiday, Releasing Music, Streaming Music
PANTERA: "Cowboys From Hell" 20th Anniversary Edition
To celebrate the 20 year anniversary of the epic PANTERA breakthrough album Cowboys from Hell, Rhino Records rounds up a three-disc Ultimate Edition, a three-disc Deluxe Edition, and a two-disc Expanded Edition release. All three editions include a newly remastered version of the original album along with unreleased and rare live performances from the "Cowboys …
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Tags: 20th Anniversary, Anniversary Edition, Breakthrough Album, Cemetery Gates Pantera, Clash With Reality, Concrete Sledge, Cowboys From Hell, Deluxe Editions, Foundations Forum, Hell Tour, Medicine Man, Message In Blood, Original Album, Pantera, Pantera Cowboys From Hell, Psycho Holiday, Remastered Version, Rhino Records, Unreleased Demos, Unreleased Song
PanterA's "Greatest Hits" Tracklisting and Information, Available Only at Wal-Mart
PANTERA will release a greatest hits album 1990-2000: A Decade Of Domination on March 30. It will only be available at Wal-mart. It's nothing you've not heard before. Tracklisting: 1. Cowboys From Hell 2. Psycho Holiday 3. Cemetery Gates 4. Mouth For War 5. Walk 6. This Love 7. 5 Minutes Alone 8. I'm Broken …
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Tags: Cemetery Gates, Cowboys From Hell, Decade, Domination, Drag The Waters, Greatest Hits, Love, Pantera, Psycho Holiday, Revolution Is My Name, Wal Mart


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Heart attacks pose greater threat to women than men, study finds
MUNICH — When it comes to heart attack prevention tips, you might think that such campaigns are geared towards men. A new study finds, however, that heart attacks pose an even greater threat to women, with female patients far more likely to die within a year of suffering an attack.
Researchers from the Technical University of Munich examined data collected in two previous studies from 4,100 heart attack patients from 1996 through 2005, and found about 3,850 of those patients survived the event. Seventy-four percent of those patients were men, while just 26 percent were women.
(Photo by Hush Naidoo on Unsplash)
While those numbers fall in line with overall heart attack trends — men account for two-thirds of reported heart attack patients — the researchers were "surprised" to find that women were about 1.5 times more likely to die less than a year after the event.
The authors believe gender roles could potentially be a factor in the finding.
"In everyday life, women often face different expectations after a heart attack than men. They are expected to start 'functioning' again sooner, which means that they are subject to bigger stresses," says cardiologist Georg Schmidt, a co-author of the study, in a university news release.
Still, general health likely played a role too. The researchers noted that the female heart attack patients were typically about 10 years older than their male counterparts and more likely to have suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes. Mental health strain, particularly symptoms of depression, were also considered a factor, though the study did not examine explicitly for such risks.
The authors also say that women suffer "different" heart attacks than men. Female patients were less likely to have had myocardial infarctions because of narrowing blood vessels, but rather because they suffer from coronary artery disease.
Schmidt says the findings show the need for physicians to pay extra attention to female patients in those first 365 days after an attack. He believes the psycho-social factors present a clear danger to a woman's chances of survival, and clinicians must act the moment symptoms of depression or other conditions crop up.
"Family doctors have to be keenly aware of the social situation of these women and try to provide support. Particularly when there are signs of depression, family doctors need to be especially alert," he says. "If such indications are observed, it is important to refer the patients quickly to specialists so that they can start working with a therapist as soon as possible if needed."
The study's findings were published last month in the journal PLOS One.
Tags: cardiovascular, depression, heart attack, heart attacks, heart disease, high blood pressure, women's health
Signs point to world blowing past 1.5 degrees global warming limitNovember 22, 2022
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Q: Using ack, how do you display one page at a time? I would like to use ack and have the results shown one page at a time.
I've already tried to pipe it to |more, but this removes the color formatting. I would like to keep the colors intact.

A: if you read man page of ack, you will see there is an option --pager for your needs. for example:
ack --color --pager=more ....

A: Add --color to your call to ack.


Buffleheads are the smallest diving ducks in North America. They are around thirty-five centimeters long and weigh approximately one pound. Their small size allows them to nest in the abandoned holes in trees from the Northern Flicker. These holes are too small for most other ducks to use. The Buffleheads' small body mass also allows them to be able to take flight out of water with barely a starting run, while most other ducks need a fairly far run. Their bones, like other birds', are hollow, which enables them to weigh less while still having a strong support structure. This lower weight helps them with flying because there is less mass to carry.
The legs of buffleheads are placed farther back on their body. This gives them the ability to dive and swim extremely well, but it makes it quite difficult to walk on land; therefore, buffleheads spend the majority of their time in the water and barely any on land. When they dive, they tuck their plumage tight to their bodies and leap upward and then powerfully thrust their body into the water. When they are swimming, they tuck their wings to their body and use their feet to propel them forward. Their feet are webbed and, unlike other diving ducks, have a lobe hind toe. These characteristics aid buffleheads in their great swimming abilities. Like other ducks, buffleheads produce an oil over their feathers to keep them waterproof.
*To see a female bufflehead awkwardly walk on land, swim, and preen click here.
Buffleheads prepare for migration by consuming more than a quarter of their body weight as fat reserves to be used as energy later. Their rapid wing beats make the buffleheads one of the fastest ducks. They travel primarily at night and fly high over land and low over water.


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A Halloween Playlist
By: Ashlyn Kafer
For those that celebrate Halloween, a solid Halloween soundtrack is essential for the spookiest time of year. With much deliberation and careful consideration, I curated a Halloween playlist with all the classics for this season! The 30 song playlist is best played shuffled for thrill factor and variety!
Made with the intention of being played in the solidarity of your home, the background of a costume party, or drumming through your earbuds; this playlist is perfect for any festive occasion this Halloween season. Hits such as "Thriller" by Michael Jackson, "Monster Mash" by Bobby "Boris" Pickett, and "Calling All the Monsters" by modern pop icon China Anne McClain allow for many sing-along opportunities! These songs are fairly directed towards the Halloween season, but some are simply based on the overall "vibe" of the song. "Somebody's Watching Me" by Rockwell and "Them Changes" by Thundercat have grown increasingly popular in mainstream media and have lyrics and harmonies that allude to a chill, but creepy atmosphere that add depth to the music selection. Other songs based on vibes are "Sweetest Perfection" and "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode, "Be My Druidess" by Type O Negative, and "People are Strange" by The Doors which all incorporate either fright inducing lyrics or chilling background tracks despite the lyrics.
Looking past vibes and popularity, many songs which make a great themed playlist are (as the name suggests) theme songs from various applicable TV shows and movies. "Ghostbusters" from Ghostbusters, "This Is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas, "Goosebumps Theme" from Goosebumps, and "Cry Little Sister" from The Lost Boys have somewhat characterized this thrilling time of year and have been prominent throughout the majority of the 21st century. "Goosebumps Theme" and "Cry Little Sister" are less to do with their relevance to the Halloween season but their significance in two highly consumed media pieces that are most often geared towards the spooky theme. "This Is Halloween" and "Ghostbusters" are not only classics, but easy to sing-along to and to dance to! They add a nostalgic and upbeat feel to some of the more general songs.
Many of the songs were not made for Halloween either. "Zombie" by The Cranberries, "Psycho Killer" by The Talking Heads, and "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Oyster Cult are all songs not created for the purpose of being put in an all encompassing Halloween playlist, but they fit the genre as they incorporate many aspects of the season. "Zombie" has the title and the chilling vocals of lead singer Dolores O'Riordan to give it the essence of Halloween. "Psycho Killer" incorporates one of many popular Halloween activities, which is the viewing of horror movies. The title and strange lyrics make you feel like a star in Scream or Nightmare on Elm Street. "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" is a classic in everyday terms, but also creates imagery of The Grim Reaper and a spooky chain of events.
A Halloween playlist is crucial to having a rocking Halloween season, characterizing your daily adventures. Will you be "Spellbound" with Siouxsie and the Banshees? Or taking "Love Potion No. 9" with The Clovers? The choice is yours! Enjoy this Halloween and stay safe.


For fifty years the tuberculosis death rate has shown a striking and fairly steady decrease, so that in the United States it is now about one-sixth of its height in the eighties. Moreover, this remarkable phenomenon has been observed to a greater or lesser extent in most of the European nations. On the other hand a world survey indicates that there are still countries, such as Puerto Rico and the Philippines, in which the mortality from tuberculosis not only stands at a very high level but appears to be actually rising.
Published: Ann Intern Med. 1936;9(8):1154-1157.


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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare has been received primarily positive by fans so far. One aspect of Modern Warfare that many fans have been loving are the guns.
Infinity Ward has taken a more realistic approach to the weapons, with actual kickback and recoil with most of the guns plus other aspects that separate Modern Warfare from any other Call of Duty. No Call of Duty is complete without an ample amount of guns, and this one is no exception.
Here are the best guns to use in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare:
1. M4A1 Assault Rifle
This classic weapon has been featured in pretty much every Call of Duty, so it comes as no surprise that it's presence yet again. The weapon is unlocked later than usual, as in the previous Call of Duty games, it's typically one of the first weapons we unlock. The M4A1 is widely seen as one of the best guns in the game, with its high fire rate, low recoil, and high damage rate.
Along with its incredible stats, the M4A1 also has the ability to be massively tweaked due to the new Gunsmith feature in Modern Warfare. Some professional players have found some deadly combinations of attachments that have turned their M4A1 into the best gun in the game. Without a doubt, the M4A1 is the best AR in the game, and everyone should be using it in Modern Warfare.
2. Kilo 141 Assault Rifle
One of the first ARs players are able to use in Modern Warfare is also seen as one of the most consistent weapons. The Kilo 141 is a lot like the M4A1, as it also bolsters a respectable damage rate but has slightly more recoils.
The biggest positive about Kilo 141, especially for game modes such as Ground War, is one of the attachments you unlock as you progress the weapon level. The 50 or 60 round magazine is seen as essential in some of these larger game modes. Players can fire the weapon all they want and never have to worry about running out of ammo.
3. MP7 Submachine Gun (SMG)
Another classic weapon that has seen its fair share of Call of Duty games, the MP7 is the last SMG you unlock during Modern Warfare's multiplayer. The compact SMG was typically seen as one of the weaker guns in previous titles, as it was known for its high fire rate and high recoil.
This time around, Infinity Ward has tweaked the MP7 to be the best SMG in the game. Although the MP7 does not do as much damage as its counterpart, the MP7, it has a much larger magazine size and much better iron sights. Which in turn, allow players to equip more attachments instead of taking a slot up with the reticle.
4. AX-50 Sniper Rifle
The only Sniper Rifle to make our list also happens to be the best out of the three sniper rifles in Modern Warfare. Unlocked at level 37, the AX-50 has the best one-shot kill potential out of all the snipers and has the best natural sniper scope.
The snipers in Modern Warfare have been receiving some criticism due to the lack of quick scoping in the game, and the only game mode they've been relevant in is Ground War. One of the Ground War maps features towering skyscrapers that look over the entire map, and in every game that's where all of the snipers are positioned.
5. PKM Light Machine Gun (LMG)
LMGs are usually not the first weapon of choice when it comes to Call of Duty games. Most LMGs are known for their large magazines and the slow mobility with them. However, the way Modern Warfare has been playing out so far has allowed a space for these LMGs to work perfectly for some players.
Specifically, on Ground War maps, you can find anywhere from 3-5 players using the PKM on top of some building or mounted in a window. The PKM can be compared to the RPD from Modern Warfare 2. They both possess high damage rates and high fire rates, which go hand in hand.
6. 725 Shotgun
This gun has been making waves all over social media since the game's release. Compared to the Model 1887s from Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2, the 725 holds only two bullets. But these two bullets can one-hit kill you from virtually any distance.
Noted as one of the most overpowered weapons in the entire game, you will always find players using this weapon in close-quarter maps. This gun is surely going to get a substantial nerf in the future, so players should enjoy its carnage now before its too late.
Which gun is the best?
Much like our list of best Call of Duty: Modern Warfare maps, your weapon of choice all comes down to personal preference. But there is one weapon that stands out amongst the rest: the M4A1. It's been the undisputed best weapon in Modern Warfare to date. Almost everyone is using the weapon at the moment and trying to craft the perfect loadout.
Do you agree with our list?
Let us know what your favorite guns are in the comments below!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Beta Community Reactions
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What is Data mining 0?
Data mining 0 is a Indie, Casual, Difficult PC game, developed by , available on Steam and published by .
According to Steam user reviews, 0% of the 0 user reviews in the last 30 days are positive. For all time, 0% of the 0 user reviews for Data mining 0 are positive.


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Q: What is the difference between locking and atom/reset!/swap! in Clojure I was reading some source code and came across locking usage in Clojure. It made me thinking about the atom version. So what are the differences between 2 code snippets, I think that they do the same thing?
(def lock (Object.))

(locking lock
  ...some operation)

(def state (atom true))

(when @state
  (reset! state false)
  ...some operation
  (reset! state true))

A: Locking (aka synchronization) is only ever needed when multiple threads are changing a piece of mutable state.
The locking macro is a low-level feature that one almost never needs to use in Clojure.  It is similar in some ways to a synchronized block in Java.
In clojure, one normally just uses an atom for this purpose. On rare occasions an agent or ref is called for.  In even rarer situations, you can use a dynamic Var to get thread-local mutable state.
Internally, a Clojure atom delegates all currency operations to the class java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference.

Your code snippet shows a misunderstanding of an atom's purpose and operation.  Two concurrent threads could process your atom code snipped at the same time, so the attempt does not provide thread safety and would result in bugs and corrupted data.

If you want to explore the really primitive (i.e. Java 1.2) synchronization primitives, see:

*

*The Oracle docs

*The book Effective Java (1st edition shows most details, 3rd Ed. defers to higher-level classes)

*The book Java Concurrency in Practice  This book is so scary it'll turn your hair white. After reading this one, you'll be so afraid of roll-your-own concurrency that you'll never even think about doing it again.

*Double-Checked Locking is Broken: A excellent example of how hard it is to get locking right (also here).


"I am an incredibly conscientious and target-driven individual who always meets deadlines, consistently producing A* translations. Having been brought up in a bilingual area, I have always had a keen interest in languages, which has carried me through my entire academic career."
Since graduating from University in July 2015 with a 2:1 degree in Translation & Interpreting, I have been working as a freelance translator, focusing mainly on medical and legal documentation. As well as this, I spent 11 months working as an in-house medical translator for an insurance company, leaving the job to travel the world and enhance my language abilities. Throughout my degree, I extensively studied the fundamentals of translation as well as individual modules focusing on specific subject areas such as business, law and medical. More recently I have branched out into the world of transcription, regularly working on the Spanish to English transcription of police interviews for a US Police Department.


Prismacolor on Strathmore gray archival paper 9"x 4"
We're featuring an artist who offers some great artwork for the guy into motorsports and racing history. This would fall under the category of cool and vintage racing stuff for Dads. The artist is Paul Chenard.
His professional background is that of a graphic designer with more than 25 years experience, but his passion is for the history of racing. He started collecting vintage toy race cars at the end of the 1980's, which led to his interest in items, books and reference materials on racing history. After a few years of studying all this, he decided to transfer his knowledge to paper in the form of illustrations and stories. In 2007, he set up a company Automobiliart.com to market his creations. Paul lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia with his wife, two sons and a cat.


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Q: Check for a duplicate within powerpivot on the fly In my organization various sales personnel could be part of many sales transactions, and I have a table below that shows for each sales personnel the amount revenue they were part of. However, depending on how a user is using the table, the pivot may double/triple count revenue data.
As an example when a user filter on SalesManager1, there will be a duplicate as both SalesPersonnel 1 and 3 have sold ProductA. However, When a filter on just SalesPersonnel1, there's no double count. similarly, when a user selects SalesManager4 although he has 2 Sales personnel reporting to him/her they were part of distinct sales transactions thus there's no duplicate.
I want to create a measure which flags when there's a potential duplicate in the view users are looking at. However, I cannot go back and change how the data model was built. Is there a way to do this all within the data model? I know  I can probably create a pivot table share the filter/slicer, and then count # of sales personnel for the accounts and products, but I'm hoping for more of sophisticated solution...
would appreciate any help/support you can provide!
thank you
SalesManager  SalesPersonnel   Acccount   Product  Revenue
SalesManager1 SalesPersonnel1 Acccount_A Product_A 100000
SalesManager1 SalesPersonnel1 Acccount_B Product_C 100000
SalesManager1 SalesPersonnel3 Acccount_A Product_A 100000
SalesManager2 SalesPersonnel3 Acccount_B Product_C 100000
SalesManager1 SalesPersonnel2 Acccount_B Product_C 100000
SalesManager1 SalesPersonnel2 Acccount_B Product_C 100000
SalesManager4 SalesPersonnel4 Acccount_B Product_A 100000
SalesManager4 SalesPersonnel4 Acccount_A Product_D 100000
SalesManager4 SalesPersonnel5 Acccount_A Product_B 100000
SalesManager4 SalesPersonnel5 Acccount_A Product_A 100000

A: You could create a simple measure to count salespersons
  CountSalesPersonnel:=IF( COUNTA( Table1[SalesPerson] ) > 1, "Oops, "")

A: Sorry to answer my own question, but here is what I did. I've taken the hint from the above poster, and arranged it to my own need.
here is what I did:
I added a new column that would combine Account, Product, and Revenue
ConsldforDupeCheck:=Acccount&Product&Revenue

and then created a measure
DoubleCountCheck = if(CALCULATE(DISTINCTCOUNT([ConsldforDupeCheck]))=COUNTROWS(Table),"","*PossibleDoubleCountError*")

this allowed to have a measure that checks the duplicate on the fly.
Thanks Bob for the hint!!