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Just another Freethought Blogs site
I am a theoretical physicist and retired Director of UCITE (University Center for Innovation in Teaching and Education) at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. My next book THE GREAT PARADOX OF SCIENCE: Why its conclusions can be relied upon even though they cannot be proven will be published by Oxford University Press on November 20, 2019. I am the author of three other books: God vs. Darwin: The War Between Evolution and Creationism in the Classroom (2009), The Achievement Gap in US Education: Canaries in the Mine (2005), and Quest for Truth: Scientific Progress and Religious Beliefs (2000).
You can email me at mano'"dot'"singham"'at"'case'"dot'"edu.
The puzzling appeal of mementos
Against the mindless use of metrics in the workplace
Samantha Bee on the debate
The status of the Equal Rights Amendment
Matt Taibbi excoriates CNN for its debate performance
Things that will never happen – until they do
Last night's Democratic debate
How private equity firms operate
Royal family feud
The hydration myth that will not die and the bottled water menace
flex on Against the mindless use of metrics in the workplace
Roj Blake on Against the mindless use of metrics in the workplace
Ridana on The puzzling appeal of mementos
machintelligence on The puzzling appeal of mementos
Lofty on The puzzling appeal of mementos
machintelligence on Against the mindless use of metrics in the workplace
Deepak Shetty on Against the mindless use of metrics in the workplace
Jazzlet on The puzzling appeal of mementos
Marcus Ranum on Against the mindless use of metrics in the workplace
Bruce on Against the mindless use of metrics in the workplace
The struggle against stereotypes and prejudices – part 3
(For earlier installments in this series, see part 1 and part 2)
The problem with fighting prejudice is that we think that conceding that we have any prejudices at all is in itself shameful. So to avoid being thought badly of, we deny that we have them or avoid conversations that run any risk that we might unwittingly reveal our prejudices. This is why it is so hard to have an honest discussion about race in America (or most places for that matter). Any discussion that does take place either ends up with people holding hands and singing "We shall overcome" or "Kumbaya" or uttering platitudes about everyone being the same or being guarded and defensive.
It always amazes me, for example, when I hear people say that they do not see the 'color' of people. For example, I have done a lot of work with the public education system in urban areas in and around Cleveland. There are immediate color issues that arise in schools because the majority of teachers are white and many of the students are black. This imbalance carries with the ever-present danger that any teacher-student conflict will be interpreted in race terms. Teachers often try to preempt this by saying that they do not 'see' their students in terms of their color. But I often wonder if that is really possible or if they are just trying to fool themselves.
I think that they say this to imply that they are not prejudiced. But I find it hard to accept that people literally do not see color, when people's skin color is such an important factor in our lives. I remember someone once trying to help me identify someone else who had attended a meeting by describing that person. I was given various pieces of information but at one point I asked "Was she black?" And the person said "yes." If I had been given that piece of obviously useful information right at the beginning, I could have identified the person much earlier. I think the reason that my friend had not volunteered this important identifying marker right up front was due to the fear that if he had said so, that meant that the person's color had been noted by him and thus he was prejudiced.
But this is raising the bar for evidence of lack of prejudice to an absurd and unreachable level. Of course we register the color of the people we meet. How can we not when skin color is such a major part of our political and social dialogue? When I go into a roomful of people, I immediately register people on the basis of their skin color and gender and age and size (height/weight) because these are the major identifying categories that I use. Interestingly, I find that I do not register hair or eye color, although many other people do. When someone asks me if so-and-so has blue eyes or brown hair, I find that I cannot recall this kind of detail at all. This may be because in Sri Lanka, everyone has black hair and dark brown eyes so we never use hair and eye color as identifying markers, and I have not acquired that habit. But although we are all brown skinned, there was a wide range of shades and skin color is an important feature.
If we really want to have honest discussions about race we need to start by acknowledging that it is natural to believe in stereotypes and to have prejudices. By natural, I do not mean that it is admirable (it is not) or that we can do nothing about it (we can). We can and should strive to eliminate such thinking. But at this stage of our social development, both individually and as a society, we have stereotypes and prejudices and it is not use denying them. It may be more helpful to simply concede that we have them and think about how we can prevent ourselves from taking actions based on them.
Fortunately in my own case, I have been lucky to have worked with people with whom I can discuss issues of race honestly, and am able to ask them questions about customs, practices, and behavior that increase my awareness of the culture of other communities. This has enabled me to increase my personal store of information about others that I hope will slowly eat away at the false knowledge structures that were built on inadequate data. But it is foolish to think that this has enabled me to eliminate all my prejudices. At best, it has helped me to remove some of my major misapprehensions.
To be continued tomorrow…
As I get older and more introspective, it is becoming increasingly clear that I have deep within me all kinds of stereotypes about other groups of people based on their religion and ethnicity and nationality and class. So I am sure that, if I go deep into my psyche, I will discover beliefs about Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Norwegians, Chinese, Ugandans, working class people, rich people, in fact every group that I myself am not a member of, that would be seen as laughable, absurd or even offensive by members of those groups. The reason is that basically I know very little about any of these groups.
Because of this I have learned that I cannot trust my instincts, because they have been acquired using inadequate and erroneous data. In order to combat my stereotypical thinking, I have to fall back on my intellectual understanding of politics and race and class. In my intellectual/analytical mode, I know that stereotypes are unreliable guides to predicting the behavior of people, that race has no validity as a biological construct, and hence no inferences can be drawn about what various ethnic groups are 'really' like, as if there is some innate and unchangeable quality that characterizes groups of people. We are the products of our upbringing and while there is variation due to genetics and heredity, these qualities do not correlate with 'race, ' because the concept of race is not a biological one.
But to say that intellectually I understand that my stereotypes have little basis in science and reality is not to imply that the prejudices the stereotypes generate have no power over me. It is that when it comes to issues of race (and class), my intellectual knowledge is in a constant struggle with my 'gut' feelings, and I have to constantly guard against making snap judgments. While I trust my intuition in many areas of life (say in applying laws of physics to situations), I know that it is unreliable in making judgments involving race, and so I have got into the habit of being on my guard whenever issues of race comes up. This is why I was so skeptical of the initial reports of people of color behaving badly after Katrina. It was not because I am not prejudiced. It was because I am consciously aware of the existence of my prejudices and so realize the need to be alert whenever I encounter news reports that have racial implications. I needed to see harder evidence about the events of Katrina to convince myself that I was not believing things because I was succumbing to my prejudices. And that hard evidence never materialized.
I think that we all have such stereotypes. We cannot help it. It seems to be an instinctive trait that we make generalizations and create theories (often unconsciously) about everything in life that we encounter. It is well known in the educational literature that even very young children develop quite intricate models of how the world works, prior to, and even in the face of, formal instruction. The less actual data that we have about any thing, the more likely that our theories will be faulty, and thus are stereotypes and prejudices born, often at a very young age.
Stereotypes are not necessarily completely false. They usually have kernels of truth. In my own case, there exist stereotypes about each of the categories of the community of people that I grew up in, which consisted of middle class Protestant Christian Tamil Sri Lankans. They are not completely untrue. The difference is that since I know that community very well, I am well aware that the common features that give rise to stereotypes are dwarfed by the huge diversity and variation that exists within that group. And because of that variation, I know that it is foolish to judge any individual in that group based on the stereotype, because any given person in that group might come nowhere close to it. So while elements of the stereotype may be true, it would be a mistake to judge any individual person based on that stereotype.
To take a trivial example, Sri Lankans in general have the stereotype about being somewhat casual about punctuality, especially in attending social events. This has an element of truth and I recognize it. So when one is invited to dinner at a Sri Lankan home, one should not be surprised to see people arrive at a range of times spanning a couple of hours.
But recently I was invited to a surprise party in the US where a sizeable number of Sri Lankan Americans had been invited. These kinds of parties depend on all the guests arriving by the scheduled time in order for the surprise to be effective. I discovered that all the Sri Lankan invitees had been given a starting time that was an hour earlier than that given to other guests, on the assumption that then they would arrive by the scheduled time. When I discovered this little ruse after arrival, I found it mildly offensive, even though it would have been too petty to complain. I resented being put in a box, when the hosts had no idea whether I was a punctual person or not. From my personal experience I knew that, despite the stereotype, there are many Sri Lankans who are punctual and they should not have to be treated based on the stereotype.
This is where I think the problem lies. While it is perhaps inevitable that each of us harbors prejudices about other groups of people based on stereotypes, we should not base any specific actions on them. It is not what we believe that is the problem, it is what we do with those beliefs.
POST SCRIPT: Real Time with Bill Maher discussion on religion
Bill Maher, Salman Rushdie, Ben Affleck, and Andrew Sullivan discuss religion on the TV program Real Time.
The struggle against stereotypes and prejudices
Growing up in Sri Lanka, I never met any African Americans. As far as I could tell, none ever lived there. Looking back at that time, the only African American in Sri Lanka that I can recall was the US Ambassador to that country, whose picture occasionally appeared in the paper giving a speech at some formal function or attending some cocktail party. Given that my only contact with African Americans (if you can call it contact since, not being a member of high society, I never actually met him) was based on a single very important and distinguished-looking black man, you might expect that growing up I would have been spared the acquisition of negative stereotypes of black people that we saw surfacing during the post-Katrina coverage.
Using Katrina to beat up on poor people
There is no question that people of color lag behind whites in almost all the indicators of social and economic well-being. One can respond to this realization by seeing it as a consequence of institutional structures that perpetuate long standing injustices, try to identify the causes of this situation, and urge the adoption of measures that provide the promise of ameliorating those injustices.
Or one can adopt the much easier course and either blame such people for their condition by saying that they willfully engage in behaviors that are self-destructive (which I call the socio-pathological model of inequality) or argue that this condition is due to largely unchangeable (and presumably genetic) qualities.
One reason that the immediate (and false) characterization of people in New Orleans as primarily antisocial beings who used the breakdown of civil society to engage in widespread and rampant looting, thuggery, raping, and murdering was so easily believed is that this is how poor people are often portrayed. And Katrina enabled a lot of pundits to dust off their well-worn sermons on what is wrong with poor people.
George Will uses the occasion to point the finger of blame at unmarried African American women with children.
Given that most African Americans are middle class and almost half live outside central cities, and that 76 percent of all births to Louisiana African Americans were to unmarried women, it is a safe surmise that more than 80 percent of African American births in inner-city New Orleans — as in some other inner cities — were to women without husbands. That translates into a large and constantly renewed cohort of lightly parented adolescent males, and that translates into chaos in neighborhoods and schools, come rain or come shine.
And you can always rely on Charles Murray (of The Bell Curve fame) to surface again and recycle his thesis that America has a permanent "underclass" that is beyond improvement, due to largely hereditarian factors. It does not matter that his book (co-authored by Richard Herrnstein) has been shown to be really shoddy scholarship. As Nicholas Lehman asserts: "The Bell Curve, it turns out, is full of mistakes ranging from sloppy reasoning to mis-citations of sources to outright mathematical errors. Unsurprisingly, all the mistakes are in the direction of supporting the authors' thesis."
But people like Murray, however much their work is shot down (See The Bell Curve Wars: Race, Intelligence, and the Future of America, Steve Fraser (Ed.), Basic Books, 1995) are always given access to mainstream media to repeat their tired charges of the hopelessness of trying to improve the "underclass". For people like him, the supposed bad behavior is merely 'The hallmark of the underclass,' which is the title of his piece in the latest platform he has been given, the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal where he says:
Other images show us the face of the hard problem: those of the looters and thugs, and those of inert women doing nothing to help themselves or their children. They are the underclass.
The lack of home ownership is not caused by the inability to save money from meager earnings, but because the concept of thrift is alien. You name it, we've tried it. It doesn't work with the underclass.
Despite the exceptions that get the newspaper ink, the statistical reality is that people who get into the American job market and stay there seldom remain poor unless they do something self-destructive. And behaving self-destructively is the hallmark of the underclass.
Hurricane Katrina temporarily blew away the screens that we have erected to keep the underclass out of sight and out of mind. We are now to be treated to a flurry of government efforts from politicians who are shocked, shocked, by what they saw.
Ezra Klein writing in The American Prospect gives Murray his deserved comeuppance
Which brings us to today's Wall Street Journal atrocity. Penned by Charles Murray, he of The Bell Curve fame, it argues that what we're seeing post-Katrina isn't poverty but a once-again visible "underclass," a sort of shadow society of unsocialized black men with no appetite for work, no capacity to hold jobs, and no ability to be helped through conventional methods. They are, quite literally, savages, unable to function in the world the rest of us inhabit. They are, as he puts it, the "looters and the thugs," not to mention the "inert women doing nothing to help themselves or their children." And government attempts to craft helpful policy will fail because, after all, it doesn't matter if you give a gorilla a college loan, it's still a gorilla.
I've no idea where Murray got the idea that the New Orleans evacuees lacked jobs rather than cars and social skills rather than transportation – from deep within his own prejudices, I'd guess. And where he got the concept that these men and women are somehow incapable of holding jobs and unwilling to send their children to school – that's all similarly obscure. The absence of autos affects the social and the unsocialized alike; the folks you see on buses are often en route to jobs they hold, contra Murray, perfectly well.
But if his argument is flawed, its aim is clear. All those stories of urban anarchy were, to Murray, accurate, everyday manifestations of the Black people we'd hidden from sight. The normal explanation, that their assumed bad behavior was a reaction to extraordinary circumstance – that was the wrong part. This had nothing to do with Katrina; it was part and parcel of an inferior race, an incorrigible culture.
It is too much to hope that Murray will disappear from the opinion pages of major newspapers. People like him will surface to repeat the same tired and discredited message whenever there is another social upheaval. But there is no reason that we should let their ideas go unchallenged. And the way we do that is be very wary of initial news reports that are unsubstantiated but appeal to popular prejudices. Because otherwise rumors become 'facts' and then the 'facts' are used to create policies that are more punitive than helpful.
In the final analysis, events like Katrina and our response may reveal more about us and our deeply held prejudices than it does about the nature of the people directly affected by the disaster.
POST SCRIPT: An Atheist's Manifesto
Sam Harris comes out with another strong essay titled There is No God (And You Know It). Check it out. It is well worth reading.
Why were the New Orleans stories believed?
The degree to which the stories of mayhem in the Superdome and Convention Center were overblown is captured in this story in the Seattle Times:
After five days managing near riots, medical horrors and unspeakable living conditions inside the Superdome, Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas Beron prepared to hand over the dead to representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Following days of internationally reported murders, rapes and gang violence inside the stadium, the doctor from FEMA – Beron doesn't remember his name – came prepared for a grisly scene: He brought a refrigerated 18-wheeler and three doctors to process bodies.
"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," Beron recalled the doctor saying.
The real total?
Six, Beron said.
Treating Katrina evacuees as the enemy
Because of the widely believed rumors of anarchy that followed the hurricane, the emphasis shifted almost overnight from rescue and assistance to control. This resulted in delays in providing relief to people who were living in appalling conditions inside the Superdome and Convention Center and desperately in need of assistance.
When rumors kill
In a series of previous posts (see here and here), I suggested that we should all be very skeptical of news reports that immediately follow any major news event because those early versions can turn out to be very wrong on the facts but succeed in leaving a highly misleading imprint on the minds of people.
In particular, I pointed out that governments and official sources often lie to reporters so that they can initially get favorable reactions and support for their actions, knowing that people tend to be reluctant to change their views later, even if the facts change. I gave as examples of such lies Reagan's comments on the aftermath of the shooting of the Iranian Airbus airliner, Clinton's justification for the bombing of the Sudanese pharmaceutical factory, and the British authorities' initial version of the killing of the innocent Brazilian in the wake of the London bombings in July. And of course, we have the whole series of lies about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, which turns out to be one of the biggest and most reprehensible causes of the invasion of Iraq and the consequent debacle that is currently occurring in that country.
Paley's watch, Mount Rushmore, and other stories of intelligent design – 2
In the previous posting I described a popular IDC argument that things like watches and Mount Rushmore are obviously 'designed' objects and thus imply the existence of a designer. By analogy, it is asserted that certain biological systems are also supposed to bear the hallmarks of design and thus must require a designer (aka god) too.
This argument seems to be persuasive to many people because I repeatedly hear it various forms. The usual response to it by scientists is to argue that the appearance of biological design is only an illusion and that random mutation and natural selection are perfectly capable of producing the seemingly complex biological forms that seem to stymie the IDC people.
But there is a philosophical issue here as well and that is what I want to address. First of all, while we all supposedly can agree that a watch and Mount Rushmore could not have simply appeared without human action, how is it that we are so sure that this is the case that we can accede to it without argument? How is it that in these cases we can definitely identify them as designed objects and say that other things (like rocks) are not designed?
Atheism and philosophy, Religion
Paley's watch, Mount Rushmore, and other stories of intelligent design
One does not have to spend much time reading about intelligent design creationism (IDC) to come across the "Mount Rushmore" argument. IDC advocate William Dembski even begins an article with it as follows:
Intelligent design begins with a seemingly innocuous question: Can objects, even if nothing is known about how they arose, exhibit features that reliably signal the action of an intelligent cause? To see what's at stake, consider Mount Rushmore. The evidence for Mount Rushmore's design is direct—eyewitnesses saw the sculptor Gutzon Borglum spend the better part of his life designing and building this structure. But what if there were no direct evidence for Mount Rushmore's design? What if humans went extinct and aliens, visiting the earth, discovered Mount Rushmore in substantially the same condition as it is now?
It's the Rael thing – 3
In two previous posts (here and here), I discussed how the Raelian theory of how life was far more comprehensive than that of intelligent design creationist theory. So all the arguments used by IDC (intelligent design creationist) advocates for inclusion of their theory in science curricula apply even more strongly to Raelian theory. Furthermore, while some might be able to dismiss the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster as a Johnny-come-lately competitor to IDC doctrine, that charge cannot be leveled against the Raelian model which has been around since the early 1970s and claims over 35,000 believers in over eighty five countries (according to Robert T. Pennock in his book Tower of Babel). So Raelism actually precedes the latest incarnation of intelligent design.
The belief structure of the Raelians is based upon messages sent to Earth from the extra-terrestrial Elohim race through Claude Vorilhon (a French journalist and race car enthusiast) who claims that he was twice contacted by aliens who came in flying saucers and revealed to him the story of how life originated on Earth. Vorilhon is called the "Guide of Guides" by his followers and adopted the name of Rael.
But is the Raelian theory of life science? In a series of earlier postings, I said that for a theory to be even considered as a candidate for science it had to meet two necessary conditions. One was that it had to be naturalistic (and by this I mean methodological naturalism and not philosophical or metaphysical or ontological naturalism) and the second was that it had to be predictive. The latter feature meant that the theory had to have some feature or mechanism that enabled it to be used to make predictions, because that was what made a theory useful to scientists.
I said that IDC failed on both counts, since it had the idea of an intelligent designer who was undetectable and could not be counted upon to act in predictably in a manner that could be tested by any sort of observations.
The Raelians are one step better than IDC theorists in that their theory is materialistic in that the designer who produced the seemingly designed biological species was not a supernatural deity but merely space aliens.
But the Raelian theory suffers from the fact that their theory is not predictive. There is nothing in their theory that enables scientists to do anything with it. All scientists can do is to wait around until the aliens decide to visit us again and show us their latest creations.
This is the problem with all theories that contain appeals to revelation, divine or otherwise. While they may be satisfying an emotional and spiritual need, and appeal to their faithful followers (and there is nothing wrong with that), they simply do not provide science with anything useful to work with.
The scientific community rejects the inclusion of Raelian and IDC theories within the family of scientific theories, not because they are inherently opposed to revelatory notions (after all, many scientists are religious), but because such types of theories have no applications.
The Raelian theory also just pushes the evolutionary question one step away. After all, how did the Elohim come about on their own planet? How did they become so advanced in their technology? Did they too evolve according to some Darwinian model? Or were they created by another alien race? According to the FAQ on their website, the Raelians were created by other extraterrestrials and so on, and that one day the people on Earth will similarly populate other planets. This is, of course, an infinite regression model, but not more difficult than the "who created god?" question posed to believers in a god. As long as you are only interested in how life came to be on Earth, the Raelian model "explains" it well.
But it would be interesting to see how IDC theorists respond to Raelian theory. If IDC theory is accepted by various school boards for inclusion in the school science curriculum because it "explains" some things that evolutionary theory cannot, then I do not see any grounds for rejecting Raelianism. In fact, using the IDC yardstick, Raelianism should actually replace IDC in schools because it "explains" everything that IDC does and some others things that IDC theory does not have ready explanations for, thus clealy being a better theory.
The Raelians have so far not been pushing for the inclusion of their ideas in science classes. But it would not surprise me if, if IDC people succeed in the court case currently underway in Dover, PA, they seize the opportunity to urge that their own program be included in science curricula too. (See here for a blog on the trial maintained by the ACLU which is challenging the Dover school board's decision. Interestingly, Robert Pennock, whose book I have been quoting about the Raelians, testified yesterday.)
Coming soon to a courtroom near you, the case of Intelligent Design v. Raelianism….
POST SCRIPT: Update on the trial of "The St. Patrick's Four"
In the trial of the antiwar protest group referred to in the post script of a previous posting, they were acquitted of the serious felony charge of conspiracy but were found guilty of misdemeanor charges of damage to property and trespassing.


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Tumblr targets hate speech, violence and sexual harassment with new community guidelines
Hate speech and other kinds of hateful conduct have become a bigger and bigger part of everyday life on the internet, and we've seen many different social platforms coming up with ways to tackle the issue. Now, Tumblr is taking steps of its own to combat the presence of such content on its platform.
Unlike the complex studies and algorithms done by companies such as Twitter, Tumblr is simply making some tweaks to its community guidelines to further emphasize which kind of content isn't allowed on the platform. The changes target three categories: hate speech, violent content, and sexual harassment.
Regarding hate speech, the social network simply removed one line, which may have created some doubt as to how hateful one comment can be before warranting a report. The sentence suggested that users only report content which was "especially heinous", but the company is taking a firmer stance now:
Don't encourage violence or hatred. Don't post content for the purpose of promoting or inciting the hatred of, or dehumanizing, individuals or groups based on race, ethnic or national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, disability or disease. If you encounter content that violates our hate speech policies, please report it.
Keep in mind that a post might be mean, tasteless, or offensive without necessarily encouraging violence or hatred. In cases like that, you can always block the person who made the post—or, if you're up for it, you can express your concerns to them directly, or use Tumblr to speak up, challenge ideas, raise awareness or generate discussion and debate.
In the wake of the mass shooting that took place at the Madden Tournament in Jacksonville over the weekend, Tumblr is also making changes to how violent content can be posted on the platform. The guidelines now discourage speech that includes threats of violence in any form, gore, mutilation, or any other kind of torture. It also forbids content that incites or glorifies violence or those who cause it.
Lastly, acknowledging the many ways that can be used to humiliate and harass others - such as deepfake images - Tumblr is making it clearer that sexual harassment is not allowed on the platform. A simple, but straightforward, sentence - which is highlighted in bold below - was added to the guidelines:
Don't engage in targeted abuse or harassment. Don't engage in the unwanted sexualization or sexual harassment of others.
These seem like relatively small changes in wording, but it should make it clearer which content should be reported to moderators - the number of which is also increasing, according to the announcement. The new guidelines take effect starting on September 10.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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OLD BOLSOVER YARD
The Coffee Cup
Butchers, Ropemakers and Markets
Since we moved into Old Bolsover Yard and began working on renovating the site one of the things that was apparent was the history that surrounded the buildings. All our renovation work to date has been done sympathetically to try and retain the character of the area.
We know that the yard was once the town slaughter house with a meat processing area, with a butchers shop on Castle Street. Our Heritage Lottery Project is funding more work in finding out about those who lived and worked at Old Bolsover Yard before we came and turned it into a Craft Courtyard.
It's believed from around 1911 Howard Knighton, who was born in 1884, was a butcher at 2 Castle Street with reference still being made to Howard in the 1939 register.
We'd love to be able to piece together things after 1939. Was he the butcher during the war?
If this means anything to you or you have any memories about H. Knighton Beef & Pork Butcher do let us know.
This advert for S.Davis High-Class Family Butcher appeared in the Church Parish magazine in January 1955 meaning by this time Howard was no longer the resident butcher.
We also know that in 1974 an application was made to the local council to change the use of the building from a butchers to offices.
As you can see a timeline is starting to develop for 2 Castle Street but we still need your help in filling in some of the blanks. Come along to our Show and Tell event being held on Saturday 14th March to help us further with finding out about those who lived and worked at Castle Street. Extra points if you've any photos, adverts or other documents that help to build a picture of the history of Old Bolsover Yard.
Thomas Taylor - Historical Ropemaker
In another exciting development I'm please to say that Unit 4 will soon be welcoming a new tenant to Old Bolsover Yard. Thomas Taylor, Historical Interpreter & Ropemaker will be moving in in March with events and demonstrations already being planned for April. I'll be bringing you more details in the coming weeks.
If you'd like to join us at Old Bolsover Yard then we do still have one unit available to rent - pop in to Old Bolsover Yard to see the space and find out more or email Sarah at oldbolsoveryard@gmail.com
Makers Markets 2020
Stall bookings are starting to come in for our Makers Markets that are going to be held throughout the year. Our first market will be Sunday 5th April and we're hoping that it will be the start of a great series of events.
If you are a crafter, artisan, maker and are interested in joining us for this or any of the other markets then please get in touch.
Until next week........
Hello, I am Sarah & am the owner of Old Bolsover Yard. I will be keeping you up to date about 'Life in the Yard'


As businesses embrace digitization — and the Internet of Everything (IoE) begins to take shape — defenders of corporate data will have even more to worry about. The attack surface will only expand, giving adversaries more space to operate. And end users are, as they've always been, the weak link in the security chain.
For healthcare providers, from a small physician practice to the largest hospitals, there are serious consequences a covered entity faces when it suffers a data breach — specifically the potential for regulatory penalties and other negative impacts such as lost business resulting from all the negative publicity.
Turning now to the most common sources of large healthcare data breaches, this chart is pretty self explanatory. Large means greater than 500 records.
One thing should leap out at you – in an era of rapid migration to electronic medical systems, don't forget about paper records! The OCR reports that paper is still an area where they see a lot of complaints because people forget about protecting them, especially at the Business Associates – so you need to be aware of what your business associates are doing with paper records, and how those records are disposed of.
Don't be the subject of a news story in the local newspaper about boxes of medical records found in a dumpster containing the personal information of thousands of your patients. You can be sure the government will want to know how they got there.
You can also see the prevalence of portable devices and laptops, with a combined total of 26%, is the single largest source of data breaches.
And that should come as no surprise – if you allow ePHI to be stored on movable devices, sooner or later it will walk away and be lost or stolen. And if the data on that device not encrypted, you will have a reportable data breach to deal with.
Looking now at the most common causes of data breaches, this chart is also self-explanatory. A couple of points are worth noting.
First, Theft and loss of devices accounts for nearly half of the reported incidents, or 48%. So if you are still putting ePHI on movable devices, expect them to get lost or stolen, and plan accordingly.
This percentage has come down a bit since last year so maybe people are getting more conscientious about locking things up? Or maybe more devices are encrypted which would remove them from the reportable data breach category? Both things would be positive developments.
However, If this chart were based on the total number of individuals affected, almost the entire chart would be purple, because it is cyber-hacking that affects the vast majority of records breached and individuals affected, but only about 17% of the actual incidents.
So, the next highest after theft and loss is Unauthorized Access or Disclosures at 27%. The point is that these are mostly related to internal management of people, not to outside hackers operating out of some foreign country. That means it is under your control as a healthcare provider or business associate to do something about it.
The important takeaway is that while cyber-hacking is responsible for most of the very large data breaches, it is not the most likely event to impact your organization, especially for the majority of smaller providers.
In addition to its audit program, the OCR investigates complaints and reported data breaches. Let's review the more significant breaches of PHI that resulted in significant penalties during the previous year, and then we will examine the lessons that were learned.
Let's now take a look at the top five settlements in 2017, and a couple of smaller ones.
Memorial Healthcare System at $5.5 million dollars is the largest of the year and involved access of ePHI by staff who were not authorized to do so, and also the lack of audit controls to keep track of that type of behavior. This one ranks among the largest settlements, ever.
Second was Children's Medical Center, $3.2 million, stemming from an investigation of data breaches as far back as 2009 and again in 2013. The violations included compliance with the Security Rule and a failure to implement adequate corrective measures over a number of years.
CardioNet, the next highest at 2.5 million, involved the theft of an unencrypted laptop containing ePHI, and the subsequent investigation revealed the lack of an adequate risk assessment. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
4th is Memorial Herman, at $2.4 million, in which the name of a patient who was arrested for presenting fake identification was revealed in a press release and in subsequent interviews with the media and others.
This seems to fall under the category of "what were they thinking? However, the actual rule violation was obviously, the unauthorized disclosure of PHI.
21st Century Oncology, at $2.3 million. Due to a lack of audit controls, the company did not know it had a data breach until the FBI presented over 2.2 million patient records purchased by an informant. Those patients have filed a class action suit against the company, which was already in bankruptcy.
Also worthy of note is the St.Lukes case, because this mistake cost the New York hospital $387,000 for sending two faxes--yes faxes--revealing patients' HIV status to their employer instead of their health plan.
Now we will review the top ten issues that the Office of Civil Rights of the Department of Health & Human Services (OCR) selected for awareness of because of the number of enforcement actions in every one of these areas. Keep in mind, the following issues were hand-picked by the top officials responsible for overseeing HIPAA compliance and enforcement. So you can bet that these areas will continue to receive heighted scrutiny going forward in 2018.
Covered Entity permits news media to film individuals in its facility prior to obtaining their authorization.
Covered Entity publishes PHI on its website or social media without authorization by the individual(s). This can include testimonials or even pictures of happy patients.
Covered Entity confirms that an individual is a patient and provides other PHI to reporter(s) without authorization from the individual.
Covered Entity faxes PHI to an individual's employer without authorization.
See 45 C.F.R. §164.308(b) – HIPAA requires that covered entities enter into agreements with their business associates to ensure they will appropriately safeguard protected health information.
A collections agency providing debt collection services to a health care provider which involves access to protected health information.
A subcontractor providing remote [cloud] backup services of PHI data for an IT contractor-business associate of a health care provider.
The OCR is still seeing organizations exchanging ePHI with business associates without a signed agreement (BAA), which indicates a real need for education.
Remember, if a provider or covered entity exchanges ePHI with a third party, that 3rd party becomes a business associate regardless of whether or not there is a signed agreement. And lack of a signed agreement with a BA is a HIPAA violation.
The OCR pointed out a few examples involving a debt collection agency, a medical transcriptionist, and a cloud back up provider. According to their guidance on Cloud Service Providers, the rule is if you create, maintain, receive or transmit ePHI, on a more than temporary basis, you will need to have a BAA with the covered entity that is providing the ePHI.
A cloud storage provider, for example, obviously is not a simple "conduit" for information because they typically store ePHI on a more than temporary basis. Maintenance of this data is 'prolonged,' and so a BAA is required.
Organizations frequently underestimate the proliferation of ePHI within their environments. When conducting a risk analysis, an organization must identify all of the ePHI created, maintained, received or transmitted. Lack of an adequate Risk Assessment as required under HIPAA.
This issue comes up a lot. In fact, the problems with ePHI proliferating throughout an organization in various devices and systems where it may not be properly accounted, is not new, and there are many places that ePHI can hide and come back to bite you.
Examples: Applications like EHR, billing systems; documents and spreadsheets; database systems and web servers; fax servers, cloud servers; medical Devices; messaging apps, media, transcriptions, etc.
Investigations uncovered that risks attributable to a reported breach had been previously identified as part of a risk analysis, but that the organization failed to act on its own risk analysis and did not implement appropriate security measures.
In some instances, encryption was included as part of a remediation plan; however, activities to implement encryption were not carried out or were not implemented within a reasonable timeframe.
The requirement for risk management follows from the risk analysis. Once the threats to ePHI are identified by the risk analysis, it is incumbent upon the provider to actually do something to address the risks identified by the risk analysis, and do so within a reasonable amount of time.
The OCR takes a dim view of organizations that are aware of the risks to patient privacy, but don't do anything about it.
This often comes up in regard to the need for encryption, where people knew that they needed to apply encryption to systems or applications containing patient records, and then a laptop with thousands of records goes missing and it turns out there's no encryption on the device, and perhaps no policy governing the use of mobile devices containing ePHI.
It is interesting that the OCR is still seeing so many of these cases despite all the publicity around the security of email and texting in particular and the need to implement strong security policies regarding how to properly communicate ePHI with patients and other covered entities. Remember, the regulator will have the final say as to whether encryption was reasonable and appropriate, in the aftermath of a data breach.
Access to PHI during non-business hours or during time off of by ex-employees.
This is an issue that really goes to the heart of your data protection management. Had Memorial Herman been following this practice diligently, they could have saved millions of dollars!
Here is a hypothetical example that reveals the importance of a. Having an audit system in place and b. using it, regularly.
So you are viewing the logs and notice that Mary in accounting has been accessing patient files from another department. There may be a legitimate reason for that, but you also notice that she was logging in remotely, at 3am.
So maybe Mary is a hard worker, and an early riser? But a closer look at the records also reveal that she was logged in from an IP address located in Russia, and Mary lives in Ohio.
Now you realize that the person logging in at 3 am probably was not Mary, and that her account has most likely been compromised, and now you have a data breach on your hands.
So the sooner your systems can identify and stop this type of behavior, the better for all concerned.
This is the first time we have seen the OCR call out this data security practice. But it is not at all surprising in light of malware such as WannaCry in which patches were available 4-6 weeks prior that would have protected companies from attack, a surprisingly high number of firms succumbed.
Those included the notorious Equifax hack, and also hundreds of healthcare providers in the British National Health System who had their operations seriously disrupted, putting patients at risk.
The fact is that most breaches are caused by failure to update software components that were known to be vulnerable for months, or even years as in the case of Equifax. So this is a very sensible recommendation.
prevent those workforce members who do not have access … from obtaining access to ePHI," as part of its Workforce Security plan.
See 45 C.F.R. §164.308(a)(3)(ii)(B). Appropriate workforce screening procedures could be included as part of an organization's Workforce Clearance process (e.g., background and OIG LEIE checks).
See 45 C.F.R. §164.308(a)(3)(ii)(C). Termination Procedures should be in place to ensure that access to PHI is revoked as part of a workforce exit or separation process.
More than a few data breaches involving ePHI were the result of employees accessing medical records for which they were not authorized to view. And in some cases these were celebrity patients who had their privacy violated due to curiosity or financial gain.
Unfortunately, it is not unusual for a provider to report that an ex-employee had been inappropriately accessing medical records long after they had been terminated. It is a requirement that terminated employees have their access to systems immediately terminated as well.
Electronic media and devices identified for disposal should be disposed of in a timely manner to avoid accidental improper disposal.
Organizations must ensure that all electronic devices and media containing PHI are disposed of securely; including non-computer devices such as copier systems and medical devices.
This can involve paper records, which on more than a few occasions have been found in dumpsters behind medical offices, and also in less obvious places such as the memory of fax machines and printers, which are just a few of the many places that PHI can hide.
See 45 C.F.R. §164.308(a)(7). Organizations must ensure that adequate contingency plans (including data backup and disaster recovery) are in place and would be effective when implemented in the event of an actual disaster or emergency situation.
Leveraging the resources of cloud vendors may aid an organization with its contingency planning regarding certain applications or computer systems, but may not encompass all that is required for an effective contingency plan.
See 164.308(a)(7)(ii)(D). As reasonable and appropriate, organizations must periodically test their contingency plans and revise such plans as necessary when the results of the contingency exercise identify deficiencies.
In the wake of this year's horrendous hurricane season, this issue should be front and center. As we pointed out in a recent webinar on this subject, natural and manmade disasters can happen anywhere, any time, and usually when you least expect it.
But some things can, and should be anticipated. If you are a hospital in a flood prone costal area, you really can't afford to have your backup generators at ground level, or have all your servers in the basement.
Those are the kinds of issues that need to be included in a comprehensive disaster recovery plan.
WHAT ARE THE COMPLIANCE BENEFITS OF CLOUD FAX?
That said, the OCR has embraced the encryption standards set by NIST — the National Institute of Standards and Technology. And the best cloud fax services (although not all of them) employ the strongest encryption recommended by NIST -- Transport Layer Security (TLS) version 1.2 to protect the confidentiality and integrity of data in motion.
Of course, protecting your faxes in storage is equally important in terms of both security and how well your company complies with 164.306.
For this, NIST recommends the Advanced Encryption Standard, or AES, with 256-bit encryption keys to protect data at rest.
It is true that Security Rule doesn't expressly mandate encryption, becuase it is an 'addressable' standard. How ever, if your Risk Analysis and Risk Management Plans determine that encryption is a reasonable and appropriate measure to protect ePHI — it is your responsibility to implement the adequate encryption.
And some healthcare organizations literally could have saved themselves millions had they only encrypted that laptop's hard drive before it was lost.
WHAT IS THE CLOUD FAX BUSINESS MODEL?
As with most cloud-based services, you won't need to buy, install or maintain fax machines, fax servers or any other on-premises hardware/software system to receive or send a fax. And you can disconnect those analog or digital telecom lines since all faxes, like email, will run over your existing Internet connection.
The cloud fax model moves all of the related hardware and software, management and maintenance, into the Cloud, in secure, redundant and survivable data centers. The fax service provider maintains the technology, while the end user can send and receive faxes using desktop computers, mobile devices or multi-function printers, using standard Internet access.
In this model your capital expenses for fax go to zero, as do most of the fixed recurring expenses, since you only pay for what you actually use. This frees up resources to focus on your core business mission.
1. A small monthly fee per fax number, typically includes x number of 'free' pages per month.
2. A fee (measured in pennies) for each fax page sent or received over the monthly allowance.
Secure cloud fax storage, if you want it, is usually included at no charge as well, although that may vary by provider and plan selected.
When it comes to enterprise-caliber cloud faxing, the world's most widely used and widely trusted provider is eFax Corporate. Indeed, for 21 years we have been the cloud fax service of choice for more heavily regulated businesses than any other company.
To cite just two examples, one of the largest and best known healthcare providers in Cleveland, Ohio, selected eFax Corporate as their preferred fax vendor, as did the largest health insurer in a Midwestern state.
Why did these leading healthcare companies choose eFax Corporate? Because unlike most other cloud fax providers, eFax Corporate has designed our faxing technologies specifically to comply with such privacy regulations as HIPAA, GLBA, SOX, FERPA, and similar federal, state and industry regulations.
Yet another layer of security and confidence we offer our heavily regulated customers is the fact that eFax Corporate is regularly tested and certified to meet the most important security and quality assurance protocols for data protection — including ISO-27001, FIPS 140-2 and the global payment card standards body PCI-DSS.
In fact, if your organization isn't specifically regulated by one of these federal laws or private industry regulations — or if you're not sure whether your firm falls under the eye of any of these regulations — the security standards here might represent the most important metrics you'll need to judge how secure is our solution.
Of course, if you know your organization falls under regulatory oversight of a data privacy law, we would be happy to give you a walkthrough of how eFax Corporate's processes will help bring your faxing protocols into alignment with that law.
Our solutions are trusted by many of the world's leading businesses, in the most heavily regulated industries such as healthcare.
We provide service to nearly half of the Fortune 500 companies worldwide.
eFax Corporate® is certified for HIPAA compliance.
Will sign a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement.
Faxes in transit encrypted according to NIST recommended TLS 1.2.
Faxes in storage encrypted according to NIST recommended AES 256-bit.
eFax Corporate® is compliant with PCI-DSS v.3.2 encryption requirements for 2018.
j2 Global® owns multiple Patents on cloud and fax technology.
build a secure, compliant and redundant global cloud fax network.
eFax Corporate operates on a geographically diverse global network comprised of redundant data centers and Tier III/IV rated colocations providing 99.9% server uptime.
SLA for service availability and rapid Fax delivery.


Where in the World is TOUCHING THE SURFACE?
Here are some of the upcoming events, where you can get signed copies of TOUCHING THE SURFACE and hang out with me and talk about writing, agents, publishing and books. You know I ALWAYS love to talk about books.
Fasten your seatbelt…here we go!
Right around the corner (THIS SATURDAY) is the 2016 Millbrook Literary Festival.
YAModerator: Jake Wizner with panelists Gail Carson Levine, Jennifer Castle, Barbara Dee, and Kimberly Sabatini.
Join young adult author Jake Wizner (Spanking Shakespeare) as he talks to Newbery medal honoree Gail Carson Levine (Ella Enchanted), and award-winning authors Jennifer Castle (The Beginning of After), Barbara Dee (The (Almost) Perfect Guide to Imperfect Boys), and Kimberly Sabatini (Touching the Surface) about the paths that they took to get their work published. How did they decide which age group to write for? Find out what it takes to succeed in the world of young adult and middle grade literature.
There is so much to do in quaint Millbrook–visit the shops, grab some fabulous food and make a day of it! You can find the full list of authors and panels HERE.
And where in the world is TOUCHING THE SURFACE next?
I'll be DOUBLE TROUBLE at B-FEST, the TEEN BOOK FESTIVAL at Barnes & Noble!!!!
And what will I be doing at B-FEST???
Do you have a reader at home, who loves to write and might like to be an author someday? Bring them to see me at B-FEST. I'll be sharing my insights on writing, agents and publishing. I can answer your questions about how to get started or where to go next on your current project. I'll also be signing copies of TOUCHING THE SURFACE while I'm there. And of course, I love talking about anything involving YA Books–so stop by and we'll hang out!
Sign up on FB for event updates.
More info to come on B-FEST as the events get closer. Hope to see you there!


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EW Mini
EW Bride
Farfetch: How to grow a global brand with Stephanie Phair
New fragrances our editors can't wait to spritz this Fall
Amy Sessions
Strategy and style
Stephanie Phair is what you'd call incredible. Leading, developing and articulating the long-term vision for Farfetch, we spoke to Phair about supporting boutiques in the time of a pandemic and beyond.
What do your first 30 mins of the day look like, your morning routine?
I've stopped checking emails first thing in the morning, or you go down a rabbit hole, and I end up with a clearer head! If there is anything urgent I would have missed calls. I get myself ready and it's all hands on deck to get 3 children and us out of the house on time.
Tell us about your role as Chief Customer Officer at Farfetch?
My role encompasses the broader customer strategy at Farfetch, the world of Private Client and our customer innovation efforts with Store of the Future. Our customers are at the core of our business and one of our key brand pillars is "amaze customers". José [Neves, founder of Farfetch] always had in mind that he wanted to build a community and our customers are at the heart of that.
How did your previous roles at the likes of Net-A-Porter set you up for such a role and what do you think the key thing is to remember if you strive to build a customer-centric brand?
Net-A-Porter was such a customer centric business and I learnt a lot there. Making sure you constantly look at things not from a functional point of view but from a customer lens is a discipline. The customer doesn't care that your average answering time is x minutes, they care about what it was for them.
The recent months have been a challenge – how did Farfetch stay ahead of the curve in terms of inventory and strategy?
Farfetch was founded at the beginning of the 2008 recession, and born out of a need for brick and mortar boutiques to survive and reach customers worldwide. Today our partners are facing an equally difficult time for trade now as we did then, but our capabilities as a global platform enable us to offer them solutions during this time, because they can still ship from their stores even if their footfall has dropped. Farfetch has hundreds of boutique partners who make our business model so unique and our first instinct was to go back to our DNA and highlight what an important part of our community they represent by launching our Support Boutiques campaign. When our customers shop on Farfetch, the items arrive from one of 700+ boutiques in one of 50 countries around the world, or from the stores of our many brand partners, altogether representing over 3000 designers – mostly small and unique creators of fashion. The vast majority of these are small businesses (often family-run) many of whom cannot welcome customers into their physical stores at the moment. We wanted to ensure these partners have our full support to be able to continue servicing their dedicated customer base and continue to trade. Now as we see the market begin to come out of the strict lockdowns we saw implemented around the world, we remain steadfast in supporting our partners.
Which attributes do you find appeal most to customers when it comes to products?
What customers really want lends to our DNA and what really is authentic to Farfetch -which is curation, aiding in discovery but also the human stories we tell via our community. With Farfetch Communities we spotlight individual points of view across the world which shows how varied and unique the world of fashion can be. Whether it's our boutique partners, our network of influencers or our own teams, our brand has a lot of heart and I believe that is something our consumers appreciate and connect with.
How does Farfetch intend to continue to support boutiques globally going forward?
We will continue to support our boutiques through strong editorial and the ability to let them tell their unique stories but we are also working to integrate technology that better connects the online and offline experiences. If our marketplace can help drive people in to our partner boutiques' stores for example then it is a win-win.
A post shared by Farfetch (@farfetch) on Jul 22, 2020 at 1:22pm PDT
Do you have particular brands yourself that you buy into?
I have always loved more classic, clean lines. The Row, Toteme, Frame – I'm happy to go hi-lo and sometimes throw in something crazy and colourful. Farfetch is such a great place to discover brands.
How do you manage to succeed in both roles (Farfetch & British Fashion Council) and do you have any mindfulness practices that help when the challenges come from every angle?
I prioritise in order of urgency, work as hard as I can, but recognise that there are only 12 hours (or 16) in the day! I am lucky to work in an industry that is about selling nice clothes and storytelling and so perspective is really important too.
What is luxury today?
It is health and quality time. I think this coronavirus pandemic has taught everyone how to appreciate the small things.
Do you see any buying patterns in terms of global sales and if so what?
We are certainly seeing demand change according to where on the path to easing lockdown a region finds itself in. We are also seeing an increase in homewares, active wear and comfortable fashion as you might expect.
How do you approach client engagement and retention?
We have a number of different avenues when it comes to engagement and retention. We are focused on always innovating our online customer experience and user journey, by being able to offer our customers an unrivalled assortment from the best brands and boutiques around the globe. We do look for opportunities where we can bring the offline experience to life by immersing our customers into the world of the many boutiques that sit on the platform and through consumer facing events where we can connect with the Farfetch community. Our loyalty programme, Farfetch Access, allows us to cater to and personalise our offerings to each of our customers as their buying profile develops from one tier to the next. Once our customer reaches the Private Client tier, one of the very personalized services we offer them is a personal stylist and access to the Fashion Concierge service where you can buy unique one-of-a-kind pieces from brands that we don't stock on our platform.
How crucial do you see tech and innovation in luxury versus the personal touch or is it the two combined?
When it comes to the online shopping experience, we know that customers are more hyper connected than ever. They have their pulse to newness and emerging trends so it's very important for us as a brand to create inspiration and aid customers in that discovery. Furthermore, when it comes to the offline versus online journey, the digital aspect of the consumer journey is so important. Due to the current climate, consumers' habits have certainly shifted towards online shopping. I believe that customers today expect a far more seamless, effortless and efficient experience when they shop online. Additionally, customers are incredibly knowledgeable and do their research before purchasing an item, so they want to know that they are being offered the highest quality products at the most competitive prices.
Which Instagram accounts do you follow for inspiration?
I follow a lot of interior Instagram accounts. I believe that fashion is not just about clothes anymore but fits into wider culture and this helps frame the broader perspective. The World of Interiors, The Modern House, Great Women Artists are some.
A post shared by Farfetch (@farfetch) on Apr 25, 2020 at 12:34pm PDT
Do you have any pre-bedtime rituals?
I do check my phone, which is not great!
What effect has social media played in the growth of Farfetch?
Social media has been a great platform through which we have seen the extensive growth and extension of Farfetch Communities – it's limitless. It has also been a platform through which we were able to remain connected to our customers throughout this pandemic. We were able to bring our customers into our boutiques and were able to give our boutiques the chance to talk to the customers and tell them of their experiences throughout these unprecedented times.
What advice would you give to your younger self starting out?
Don't be so impatient. It will all come in time.
Did you have a mentor and if so what was the most valuable piece of advice they gave you?
I have worked with many wonderful women (and men) who have all been mentors in some aspect, from Anna Wintour to Natalie Massenet and Mark Sebba, the CEO of the Net-A-Porter Group I am very lucky that I have worked with some of the best in the business.
If you were not Chief Customer Officer at Farfetch, which other role would you choose career-wise?
I love my role – so much to do and I get to work with smart kind people all over the world.
This issue is 'The Summer Escape' – where would you like to escape to?
I am actually really looking forward to visiting Dubai again when it's safe to do so. My last few trips have been very quick so I would really like to spend some proper time in the city and connect with the community out there.
– For more about Dubai's lifestyle, news and fashion scene follow Emirates Woman on Facebook and Instagram.
Images: Supplied, Instagram, main image from the Emirates Woman 'The Summer Escape Issue' cover shoot.
Spotlight On: Meet Taleedah Tamer, Saudi Arabia's first supermodel
Spotlight On: Prepare to be obsessed with Egyptian handbag label SADAFA
Spotlight On: HRH Sheikha Mariam's advice for aspiring jewellery designers
Spotlight On: Emerging Lebanese Mexican brand Darin Hachem
Spotlight On: Discover this Egyptian jewellery brand loved by the stars
You'll Like This
What to Wear to Dubai Opera: Dress Code
Copyright © 2021 Motivate Media Group. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2021 Motivate Media Group.


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Q: Connection Refused in pythonAnwhere Uing BAsh console i installed Steem Module for Python3.6
and everything seems right but when i try to run my python script in Pythonanywhere it says there is problem connecting with api.steemit.com
but the script works fine in my PC.
code
    import steem
    from steem import Steem
    s=Steem()
    s.get_account_history(your_ac, index_from=-1, limit=12)
log is here. Is there any way to solve this issue?
WARNING:root:Retry in 1s -- MaxRetryError: HTTPSConnectionPool(host='api.steemit.com', port=443): Max retries exceeded with url: / (Caused by NewC
onnectionError(': Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connectio
n refused',))
WARNING:urllib3.connectionpool:Retrying (Retry(total=19, connect=None, read=None, redirect=0, status=None)) after connection broken by 'NewConnect
ionError(': Failed to establish a new connection: [Errno 111] Connection refu
sed',)': /

A: External connections for free accounts on PythonAnywhere are passed through a proxy. The error you're getting looks like the library you're using is not using the proxy. Check the docs for the library to see how to configure it to use a proxy. If it does not support it, contact the authors to see if they can add support for proxies.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt Üniversitesi Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Colchicine Protects against Hyperoxic Lu...
Colchicine Protects against Hyperoxic Lung Injury in Neonatal Rats
ÖZDEMİR R., Yurttutan S., TALİM B., Uysal B., ERDEVE Ö., Oguz S. S. , ...Daha Fazla
NEONATOLOGY, cilt.102, ss.265-269, 2012 (SCI İndekslerine Giren Dergi)
Cilt numarası: 102 Konu: 4
Doi Numarası: 10.1159/000341424
Dergi Adı: NEONATOLOGY
Background: Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is characterized by inflammation, fibrosis and mucosal necrosis, which leads to emphysematous coalescence of alveoli. Objective: We tested whether prophylaxis with colchicine, an anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antifibrotic drug, would decrease the severity of lung injury in an animal model of BPD. Methods: Twenty-five rat pups were divided into three groups: control (n = 8), hyperoxia (n = 7), and hyperoxia + colchicine (n = 10). The hyperoxia groups were exposed to >95% oxygen from day 1 to 10 of life. On day 10, the animals were sacrificed and the lungs were processed for histology and biochemical analysis. Lung morphology was assessed by the mean linear intercept (MLI), a measure of alveolar size. The degree of lung inflammation and antioxidant capacity were assessed by quantifying lung homogenate tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta), malondialde-hyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) levels. Results: Colchicine significantly decreased lung damage as determined by the MLI in the c groups (p < 0.01). The median level of lung MDA was significantly higher in the hyperoxia group compared with the control group (p < 0.05) and the colchicine-treated group (p < 0.05). Lung homogenate SOD and GSH-Px activities in the colchicine-treated group were significantly higher than in the hyperoxia group (p < 0.05). Furthermore, colchicine-treated pups had lower lung homogenate TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta levels compared with the hyperoxia group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Colchicine has favorable effects on alveolarization as well as inflammation and oxidative stress markers in an animal model of BPD. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel
Dumlupınar Mahallesi
Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt Üniversitesi Esenboğa Külliyesi
Esenboğa/Ankara
avesis@ybu.edu.tr


The submission period for the agent and team rankings has opened. If you've never submitted or aren't sure how the rankings differ, we are breaking down the differences between REAL Trends + Tom Ferry The Thousand and REAL Trends + Tom Ferry America's Best Real Estate Professionals. Although they are similar; they are different rankings.
Let's start with the basics, what are The Thousand and America's Best agent and team rankings?
These annual rankings highlight the top agents and teams in the nation, based on verified data submissions that agents, teams, brokerages or national franchise organizations* submit to REAL Trends. We will not publish any data that is not submitted to us. If you did not submit, you will not be featured in the rankings.
To qualify, an individual must have closed at least 50 sides OR $20 million in sales volume. A team must have closed at least 75 sides OR $30 million in closed sales volume.
An individual is defined as an agent who works alone, under a brokerage company, does not share transactions or commissions with other buyer/seller professionals on their transactions. You may; however, employ unlicensed or licensed, non-selling administrative staff.
A team is defined as all others for the purposes of our rankings. An applicant may only submit as an individual or team; you may not submit for both. We no longer allow an individual within a team to break out their individual production and submit it. If you are on a team, you must submit as a team.
Many people ask how to submit for both The Thousand and America's Best. There is only one submission form that needs to be filled out per agent and per team. This submission covers both rankings.
So, why do we have two rankings? Simple, The Thousand is an elite ranking that is created from the best of the best submission data. This ranking is also in partnership with Tom Ferry International and advertised in The Wall Street Journal. The Thousand is released on its own before America's Best and includes the next production tier of sale associates and teams.
The Thousand is separated into four sections—two sections for individual agents, and two for teams. The four sections together equal 1,000 of the top agents and teams from around the country.
Those who meet the minimum qualifications but did not make the cut off for The Thousand (the top 250 in the above categories) are featured on America's Best Real Estate Professionals.
America's Best is the larger ranking and featured tens of thousands of agents and teams. There are a number of ways that America's Best differs from the Thousand.
It's released approximately two weeks after The Thousand.
Agents and teams are broken out by state and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA). When the ranking is live, we feature an interactive map of the United States that allows website visitors to click each state and see the best real estate professionals in a particular state.
Agents/Teams who rank on The Thousand and America's Best are in an elite group. These are the most prestigious agent rankings in the United States. Spread the word to your firm and area, and encourage all qualifying agents and teams to apply before the March 31, 2019 deadline, so they can receive the recognition they deserve.
Although these rankings are released on different days and are separated into two rankings, there is only one submission form and only one application fee. The $100 application fee puts you in the running for BOTH rankings. There is no way of knowing where the cut off for The Thousand will be each year, the 250th agent/ team varies year to year.
Lastly, for the second year, REAL Trends is offering agents and teams on the rankings a customizable marketing package to help them showcase their success. This year, we partnered with an outside firm to bring these packages to a whole other level! More information on how to order these packages will be available in the coming months.
Alright, who's ready to submit for The Thousand and America's Best?!
*PLEASE NOTE: If you are with one of the following national franchise brands – BHGRE, BHHS, CENTURY 21, Coldwell Banker, COMPASS, Engel & Völkers, ERA, Exit Realty, Keller Williams, LeadingRE, NextHome, NRT, Realty Executives, RE/MAX or Sotheby's – your franchise will submit for all qualifying sales professionals and teams and pay the submission fee.


I love to cook and to try new recipes. It's something I discovered a few years back. So whenever I get the opportunity I try something new.
I decided to surprise my supervisor by making my team the dip. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a huge success! I was so pleased. Yesterday, I even made it for my uncle's wife reveal party (she's having a girl! Yay!) and it was also also a huge success! My mom cannot stop raving about it being a great dip to bring to parties.
After all this success with the dip I just find the need to share with everyone how simple it is to make!
Mix mayo with the cold cuts until combined.
This entry was posted in 23rd Year, Food and tagged accomplishment, adventure, America, Delicious, Dip, Discovery, Food, Hoagie, photographs, photos, postaday, recipe, recipes, Self-Discovery, Success on August 29, 2015 by SimplyTiff.
never heard of it! sounds tasty!
It's absolutely delicious! I definitely recommend. It has been a huge hit for me!
I've tried it with crackers, bread and a spoon!


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Visit Pashupatinath temple "Abode of Lord Shiva" in Kathmandu. Witness evening Arati in temple and morning rituals at holiest Hindu shrine.
This 3 days tour itinerary is especially created covering Hindu temples in Kathmandu. The main highlights of this tour id Pashupatinath temple. Pashupatinath temple is the holiest Hindu shrine and temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple is located on sacred river Bagmati on eastern outskirt of Kathmandu.
Pashupatinath temple is masterpiece of Hindu architecture. The roof on the temple is made of the gold with four doors made of silver.The two-storied roof is made from copper and is covered with gold. This richly decorated temple with wooden sculptures is believed to make wishes come true. One of the most astonishing decorations of the temple is the huge golden statue of Nandi – Shiva's bull.
Only Hindus are permitted inside the temple complex. For other religion followers can go other side of temple and see the views of the temple. For Hindus, Pashupatinath teple is holiest and need to visit once in a lifetime.
Along the right bank of Bagmati numerous platforms for funeral pyres are built. The cremations on these platforms are a common activity.
According to a legend recorded in local texts, especially the Nepalamahatmya and the Himavatkhanda, the Hindu god Shiva once fled from the other gods in Varanasi to Mrigasthali, the forest on the opposite bank of the Bagmati River from the temple. There, in the form of a gazelle, he slept with his consort Parvati. When the gods discovered him there and tried to bring him back to Varanasi, he leapt across the river to the opposite bank, where one of his horns broke into four pieces. After this, Shiva became manifest as Pashupati (Lord of Animals) in a four-face (chaturmukha) linga.
We have designed this itinerary covering the major festivity and rituals inside temple. You will see colorful evening Arati on the bank of the river. The next morning you will visit Pashupatinath on the four door opening time to offer worship at temple.
Similarly, you will also cover other major temples located inside Kathmandu area.
Tour Type: Pilgrimage and Heritage
Destination Covered: Hindu and Buddhist Pilgrimage site
Day 01: Arrival transfer and Evening Arati at Pashupatinath temple
Arrive in Kathmandu. Upon arrival you will be welcomed by airport representative waiting at Kathmandu airport with sign-board with your name just outside the arrival hall. You will be assisted and transfer to your hotel.
In the evening, you will drive to Pashupatinath area. Enjoy short darshan of the temple and go to the bank of the holy river Bagmati to witness evening Arati dedicated to Lords of the animals "Pashupatinath". Return back to hotel. Overnight at Hotel in Kathmandu
Day 02: Full-day visit to temples and Stupas – Pashupatinath, Budanilakantha temple & Boudhnath
Morning start your sightseeing tour with first visit to Pashupatinath temple. Enjoy full darshan inside temple and if interested for "Special Pooja" then can do the same at this time. For special pooja you need to obtain special permit at-least a week in advance and we can organize the same for you. However the price depends on the pooja you are looking and every arrangements will made by the temples.
After visit at Pashupatinath temple, you will proceed to Boudhnath stupa located 3 Kilometers away from the temple. Boudhnath stupa is also known as "Mini Tibet" and one of the largest Buddhist stupa in Nepal. This stupa is surrounded by Tibetan settlements and monasteries. You will witness Buddhist rituals and traditions at Boudhnath area which is en-circle by Buddhist prayer flags and mane.
In the afternoon, you will visit to Budanilakantha temple located on north of Kathmandu.
The Budhanilkantha statue of the Hindu god Vishnu, located approximately 10 kilometers from the center of Kathmandu at the base of the Shivapuri Hill, is the largest and most beautiful stone carving in all of Nepal. It is also the most enigmatic.
Carved from a single block of black basalt stone of unknown origin, the Budhanilkantha statue is 5 meters in length and it lies in a reclining position inside a recessed tank of water (representing the cosmic sea) that is 13 meters in length. Called the Sleeping Vishnu, or Jalakshayan Narayan, the statue depicts the deity reclining on the twisting coils of the cosmic serpent Shesha (Shesha is the eternal, multi-headed king of the serpent deities known as Nagas, and also is the servant of Vishnu). Vishnu's legs are crossed and the eleven heads of Shesha cradle his head. Vishnu's four hands hold objects that are symbols of his divine qualities: a chakra or disc (representing the mind), a conch-shell (the four elements), a lotus flower (the moving universe) and the club (primeval knowledge). Return to hotel for overnight. Overnight at Hotel in Kathmandu
Day 03: Patan Durbar Square with Krishna temple and Departure transfer
Morning visit to Patan Durbar Square another UNESCO site located in Kathmandu. Patan is known as "City of Beauty" and visit to Patan Durbar Square offer excellent opportunity to see local Newari people, ancient Royal complexes and architecture of medieval era. Stroll narrow lanes of Patan visiting Patan Durbar Square, Krishna temple, Mahaboudhi stupa and Golden temple. Patan is also famous for metal works and wood carvings.
Today special highlights at Patan is famous Krishna temple. It is built in the Shikhara style imported from India although it is unique in its own way. The stone carvings along the bean above the first and second floor pillar is most notable. The first floor pillar carvings narrate the events of the Mahabharata, while on the second floor there are visual carvings from Ramayana.
The temple was built in 1637 by King Siddhinarasimh Malla. It is said that one night the King saw the Lord Krishna and his consort Srimati Radha standing in front of the royal palace. He ordered a temple to be built on the same spot. There are 21 golden pinnacles in the temple. Below the pinnacles are 3 stories. The first floor holds the main shrine of Lord Krishna with shrines of Radha and Rukmini at each side. The second floor is dedicated to Lord Shiva and the third to Lokeshwor(Lord Buddha).
The square is crowded with thousands of Hindu Pilgrims and devotees during Krishnastami.
After visit, transfer to Kathmandu airport in time to board your flight back home.
-Daily breakfast at hotel
-Air-conditioned private vehicle for sightseeing tours and airport transfers
-An English speaking professional guide for sightseeing tours


Marriage counseling can help open communication in a relationship when both spouses are committed to working toward change. However there's still hope for you and your marriage even if your spouse refuses to go to marriage counseling, states they are not "in love" with you any longer, wants a separation/divorce, or is already living apart from you. The first step is improving communication to express your thoughts and feelings appropriately concerning the current state of the relationship. Communicating effectively takes practice and a great deal of effort. Without healthy communication, it is nearly impossible to resolve conflicts or grow your marital relationship. Whether you are in a troubled marriage, simply seeing the value of a "tune-up", or seeking marriage help, here are some useful tips for communicating effectively within a marriage.
1. Realize that no one "wins" an argument. If you don't leave a discussion with a possible solution to the problem, then neither party has been successful. The marital relationship should always be put as the # 1 priority!
2. Compromise is an essential tool to solving problems through communication. Before bringing up a problem, make sure you have thought of ways that you can help solve it by mutual compromise.
3. Try to be positive when bringing up sensitive marital problems. Instead of jumping right into a discussion, open by acknowledging that every partnership could be improved and you'd like to take some time and discuss the things that are working in your relationship and the areas that could use improvement. It helps to start by talking about positive things and then moving into the deeper discussion on problem areas.
4. Be a "reflective" listener and make sure you understand what your partner has said. "What I hear you saying is..." is a great way to make sure the proper message has been received.
5. Feel free to use the "time out" card if the discussion gets too intense. If an argument gets heated and irrational, it is better to postpone the discussion to a time and place where effective communication can happen. Cooling off and not allowing emotions to make you say or do something your relationship will regret later is one of the first steps to better communication patterns with your spouse.
6. Make sure your body language, facial expressions and vocal tone are in line with your literal message. A majority of the emotional meaning of what you say is expressed by your facial expression. How your spouse interprets how and what you are saying will steer the conversation positively or negatively.
7. Be honest, direct and focus on the real issue. If you enter a conversation insecure about making your point -- you probably won't make it.
8. If you can't come up with a definitive solution, at least try to end the conversation on a positive note like "I think it's good we've both shared our feelings and we'll continue to talk about it and try to come up with a better solution."
9. Don't ever be rude or talk down to your partner in a discussion about your relationship. Don't dismiss an idea or thought as absurd, but instead listen to your partner's point and then react with the reasons you disagree in a respectful manner.
10. Stay on track. If you sit down to talk about a financial problem and suddenly other emotional issues are coming up, realize that you may need to focus on one specific area at a time in order to create solutions instead of mere bickering. Stay focused and do not bring up past events in a present conversation started about another issue.
11. Recognize when you need outside help to communicate effectively. A marriage counselor may help identify what seems to be an impossible communication problem.


Following the recent release of regulations for Indonesia's burgeoning on-demand motorcycle taxis, the country's Ministry of Transportation followed up with the accompanying tariff rules that set minimum and maximum fares.
Through a press conference in his office, the director of Land Transportation at the Ministry, Budi Setiyadi, said the basic tariff for the Greater Jakarta Area is IDR 2,000 (US$0.14) per kilometre and the upper limit is IDR 2,500 (US$0.18) per kilometre.
According to Setiyadi, the tariff limits take into account the interest of driver partners, the interest of customers, and the owners of ride-hailing companies. He hopes that the new tariff limits provide protection for drivers and passengers and prevent the formation of monopolies in ride-hailing.
Tariffs vary by region. Zone One consists of Sumatra, Bali, and Java excluding the Greater Jakarta Area. The lower limit in this zone is IDR 1,850 (US$0.13) per kilometre while the upper limit is IDR 2,300 (US$0.16) per kilometre. The second zone is the Greater Jakarta Area. The third zone is Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Nusa Tenggara, Maluku Islands, and Papua, where the lower limit is IDR 2,100 (US$0.15) per kilometre while the upper limit is IDR 2,600 (US$0.18) per kilometre.
The new tariffs will take effect on May 1st, 2019.
With the new tariff regulation, ride-hailing companies are not allowed to go beyond the upper limit rate, which prevents hefty surge pricing during busy hours, traffic jams or bad weather. According to Setiyadi, the new tariff will be evaluated every three months.
A Grab Indonesia spokesperson told KrASIA it is still waiting for a copy of the written regulation from the government to be studied more closely. "This policy will have a significant impact on users with limited purchasing power. In our opinion, consumer protection agencies are more competent in providing views from the perspective of consumer interests, "said Grab Indonesia's head of public affairs, Tri Anreianno.
Grab Indonesia told us that it has provided input to the government regarding the new regulation of on-demand motorcycle taxis and that the firm suggested an upper-limit tariff of IDR 2,000 per kilometre.
Go-Jek did not respond to KrASIA's request for comment.


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Sigle
 Krefelder Eislauf-Verein  – squadra di hockey su ghiaccio tedesca nota anche come Krefeld Pinguine

Codici
 KEV – codice aeroportuale IATA dell'aeroporto civile di Kuorevesi Halli (Finlandia)
 kev – codice ISO 639-3 della lingua kanikkaran

Altro
 keV – simbolo del chiloelettronvolt

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Tá Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann ar Shráid Chill Dara i lár Bhaile Átha Cliath.
Taispeánann an léarscáil seo suíomh Príomhfhoirgneamh na Leabharlainne ar Shráid Chill Dara, foirgnimh na Leabharlainne ag 2/3 Sráid Chill Dara agus suíomh na Cartlainne Grianghrafadóireachta Náisiúnta i gCearnóg Theach an Tionóil, Barra an Teampaill. Tá ceanncheathrú riaracháin na Leabharlainne lonnaithe freisin ag uimhir a 4 Sráid Chill Dara.


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Roland Emmerich's Midway gets new trailer
September 13, 2019 - Staff@seenituk
From visionary blockbuster director Roland Emmerich (Independence Day, The Patriot), comes the visually spectacular WWII film Midway, scheduled for release in UK cinemas on 8th November 2019.
Midway is the epic, real-life saga about an undermanned American fleet and the brave Navy leaders and pilots who triumphed, against the odds, over a powerful adversary. With democracy and freedom at stake, these U.S. brothers-in-arms conquered the Imperial Japanese Navy at the Battle of Midway, a most stunning clash by air and sea which marked a heroic feat of naval warfare and pivoted the Allies toward victory in the Pacific Theater during WWII.
The film's all-star cast includes Ed Skrein (Deadpool, Alita: Battle Angel), Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring Universe, Aquaman), Luke Evans (Beauty and the Beast, Fast & Furious 6), Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight, Thank You For Smoking), Nick Jonas (Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Chaos Walking), Etsushi Toyokawa (Love Letter, The 8-Tomb Village), Tadanobu Asano (Thor, Battleship), Luke Kleintank (The Man in the High Castle, The Goldfinch), Jun Kunimura (Kill Bill: Vol. 1, The Wailing), Darren Criss (Glee, American Crime Story), Keean Johnson (Alita: Battle Angel, Nashville), Alexander Ludwig (Vikings, The Hunger Games), with Mandy Moore (This Is Us, Tangled), Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow, Far From Heaven) and Woody Harrelson (True Detective, The Hunger Games).
Directed by Roland Emmerich, written by Wes Tooke (Colony) and produced by Harald Kloser (2012, White House Down), Midway will be released in cinemas across the UK on 8 November 2019 by Lionsgate UK.


If you can't beat email, make it social.
It surprises me how many still view email as a static, one-way channel. The technology is now there to create much more dynamic designs, with powerful metrics to boot. We can even transform email into a powerful social communication channel.
That's exactly what we did at Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW) when I first came across Newsweaver in 2011.
Within a few weeks of launching our new newsletter, dozens of employees were interacting with our communications every week. Ideas were shared. New connections were made. We even saved the business cash after one comment thread led to the discovery of duplicated projects.
For us, email was the best way to start these conversations.
Since joining Newsweaver, I've worked closely with a range of customers that have transformed email into a social channel. Not everyone does it the same way. Some use email to signpost to discussions taking place on other social networks or their intranet. Others want everything to take place in the inbox itself. The key thing is that each of them have transformed the way they use email in a way that best suits their own audience.
Dedicated email communication software is packed with social features. Ratings, Likes, Surveys, Polls and Comments provide ways for your audience to interact with your messages that are near impossible to replicate via traditional email.
Devices are another key consideration. If you want to start a conversation that everyone can contribute to, then they've got to be able to access it. Many intranets still suffer from a poor user experience in this area. Email software on the other hand ensures everyone can be involved.
Before launching at CWW, we explained to management that we wanted to use email to facilitate discussions and gain instant feedback. They bought into it. Our CEO even posted a simple 'well done' beneath a customer success story in our launch issue. It not only gave that team a boost, but also sent a powerful message to employees that this was a way for them to share ideas with management.
Plan a major communications campaign to ensure employees know what's changing, and how they can help make it a success. Explain that this is a platform for them to share their knowledge and ideas, and to have their voice heard. This will help to create an environment where people are comfortable sharing and asking challenging questions.
Not everyone feels comfortable commenting on the new strategic direction. Regularly include content that people can easily connect with. I recently worked with a customer that ran a competition asking employees to share the business buzzwords that they wished they could ban. It was brilliant, and the engagement with that message was fantastic to see.
Some don't want to be the first person to comment under an article. Make it easy for them by seeding comments. Ask people you work closely with across the business to add questions as soon as your communication goes out. Or try holding back an anecdote from an article and get the content owner to add that as a comment. If we see someone breaking the ice, the rest of us will be far more likely to take the plunge ourselves.
All your hard work will go down the drain if people think that no one is listening. Try to respond to comments as quickly as possible. If a challenging question comes in, post a comment saying that you're chasing a response. Showcase comments and their responses in your next communication. If your audience see that your communication is a way to be heard, they'll find their voice in no time.


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Residents Advised to Take Precautionary Steps Ahead of Santa Ana Winds
RIVERSIDE (CNS) - With the autumn season's first significant Santa Ana wind event forecast this week, state and local officials today advised Riverside County residents to be prepared for wildfires and do what they can to prevent them.
The National Weather Service issued a Red Flag Warning, meaning ``critical fire weather'' stemming from extremely low relative humidity is anticipated for the duration of the easterly winds.
The warning is in effect from 3 a.m. Thursday to 6 p.m. Friday throughout California. The Weather Service said a ridge of high pressure will begin to settle over the Great Basin in Nevada and Utah mid-week, churning up offshore winds that will be particularly fierce in mountains and passes.
Winds of 20-30 mph are likely to be the norm in the Inland Empire, with isolated gusts as high as 70 mph in narrow passages, such as the Banning Pass, forecasters said.
``With some of the most destructive and deadliest fires occurring October through December, we need Californians to not be complacent,'' Cal Fire Chief Thom Porter said. ``Wind-driven fires move fast, and residents need to be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice in the event of a wildfire. We have increased our staffing but need the public to remain vigilant. It is important to follow evacuation orders and leave early as fires move very fast under these conditions."
Porter stressed the need for people to take basic preventative steps, such as not mowing lawns during high winds, not driving vehicles over extremely dry vegetation, where sparks or hot engine components might touch off a blaze, limiting campfires to designated places and being on the lookout for suspicious behavior that could be arson-related.
Caltrans District 8, which serves the inland region, issued a statement warning motorists that light signals could go out if utilities implement ``public safety power shutoffs,'' which are permitted by the California Public Utility Commission.
The shutoffs, also known as ``de-energization,'' are permissible during high fire danger to prevent electricity lines from arcing, or transformers from throwing sparks and igniting fires, particularly in places not easily accessible to firefighters.
Southern California Edison, which serves large swaths of Riverside County, has a policy of generally trying to notify customers two days in advance of a prospective shutoff.
``Caltrans is advising motorists that (traffic) signalization on state routes throughout Riverside and San Bernardino counties may be affected during the power outages,'' according to an agency statement. ``The signals will continue to cycle regularly for approximately three hours after the outage and will then cycle to `red-flash' for another three to six hours. If the outage remains in place for more than six hours, the signals will then go to `blackout' mode.''
Officials said flashing and blacked out traffic signals must be treated as stop signs, with the usual right-of-way and yielding protocols in place.
The winds are predicted to dissipate Friday night.
Daytime high temperatures in the Riverside metropolitan area and Coachella Valley will hover in low 80s during the latter part of the week, forecasters said.