text:
Facebook Grammar, Lincoln Chafee, USA Today, and Confirmation Bias
October 11, 2015 October 11, 2015 / Jack Marshall
He has the smartest supporters of all!
USA Today once was a mediocre newspaper that had one virtue: it was convenient for travelers, and sadly more useful for following non-locale news development than all but a handful of city publications. Now it isn't a newspaper at all, but some hybrid monstrosity that is laid out like a website, has articles too short to be complete or helpful, and a product pandering to those with small vocabularies and attention spans that have been destroyed by the internet. But it's often free, so on my latest (horrible, miserable, disaster-filled) seminar tour around Virginia, I had the pleasure of opening an edition and seeing what immediately struck me as the kind of feature no respectable journalistic enterprise would tolerate.
USA Today political writer Paul Singer thought newsworthy a ridiculous exercise that could only have sprung from a toxic mix of bias and silliness. It's objective: let's either prove that Republicans and conservatives are dumber than their Democrat, liberal counterparts, or prove that an accepted way of measuring intelligence is inaccurate for the purpose, because it doesn't prove that Republicans are morons, and we all know they are. The feature was called "Democrats crush Republicans in grammar; Chafee on top."
This is yet another self-rebutting exercise, as proven by the headline. Lincoln Chafee is a well-established boob, as they will tell you, if you ask, in his home base of Rhode Island. The man announced his Presidential run citing his primary cause as getting the U.S. to adopt the metric system. This immediately places him in the long and amusing line of wacko candidates, including…
Homer Aubrey Tomlinson, who was a New York City preacher that ran for the presidency under the banner of the Theocratic Party in five elections, from 1952 until his death in 1968. He wanted to replace taxation with tithing and promised to create a new cabinet post: Secretary of Righteousness. Later, Tomlinson declared himself King of the World and staged coronation ceremonies in 101 different countries, in which he appeared wearing a gold-plated crown, an inflatable globe and a folding chair as his throne. And…
California congressman John G. Schmitz, who was the American Independent Party candidate for president in 1972. He was expelled from the John Birch Society for "extremism," which sort of says it all. Schmitz also endorsed the return of segregated schools, and later announced that he was rooting for a military coup. Mary Kay Letourneau is his daughter. Then there is…
HRM Caesar St. Augustine de Buonaparte, who is running now as The Absolute Dictator Party's candidate. He says that all the major politicians are "niggers" and so is everyone else "because we all die on our death bed and watch our offspring fight over our money." He pledges to replace any government employee who does not have an IQ of at least 150.
So if Chafee has the followers with the most facility with the language, what does it tell us about the usefulness of that factor in assessing, well, anything? It tells me that this was an inquiry designed to embarrass Republicans that failed, but USA Today decided to publish it anyway with big color graphics using up about half a page in a paper that typically has only a couple of pages as substance.
The stunt was the brainchild of some Marketing flack at Grammarly, a writing app that thought it might increase the number of people who ever heard of it from five to nineteen. According to a Grammarly release, using the app on the websites of presidential candidates' Facebook pages showed that Democratic commenters made an average of 4.2 mistakes per 100 words compared to 8.7 mistakes for supporters of Republican candidates. The Democratic supporters also showed a larger vocabulary, using on average 300 unique words per 1,000 words, while Republicans used only 245. Here was the methodology:
We began by taking a large sample of Facebook comments containing at least fifteen words from each candidate's official page between April, 2015 and August, 2015. Next, we created a set of guidelines to help limit (as much as possible) the subjectivity of categorizing the comments as positive or negative. Since the point of the study was to analyze the writing of each candidate's supporters, we considered only obviously positive or neutral comments. Obviously negative or critical comments, as well as ambiguous or borderline negative comments, were disqualified.
We then randomly selected at least 180 of these positive and neutral comments (~6,000 words) to analyze for each candidate. Using Grammarly, we identified the errors in the comments, which were then verified and tallied by a team of live proofreaders. For the purposes of this study, we counted only black-and-white mistakes such as misspellings, wrong and missing punctuation, misused or missing words, and subject-verb disagreement. We ignored stylistic variations such as the use of common slang words, serial comma usage, and the use of numerals instead of spelled-out numbers.
Finally, we calculated the average number of mistakes per one hundred words by dividing the total word count of the comments by the total number of mistakes for each candidate.
There are many problems with this, of course, the primary one being "Who cares?," followed by "How do you know that the same commenters aren't writing on the walls of multiple candidates?" "Isn't this another classist, pro-coastal, elitist exercise?" "Since when is Facebook spelling and grammar an accepted measure of anything?" "How about finding out how many supporters of each candidate read USA Today, or worse, trust it?"
Now there's an intelligence test.
Why would people waste their time writing on campaign Facebook pages, when almost none of the candidates actually look at them? How do we know the smartest Democratic supporters waste their time on Facebook, while only the dumbest Republican supporters use is? But never mind all the problems with the methodology: Grammarly is a lousy app and doesn't work.
The website Grammarist used to advertise Grammerly but took down the ads in 2012 after testing the software and finding it seriously lacking. (USA Today apparently didn't do any due diligence to vet its source—it liked the results of the "study" too much.) Grammarist began its inquiry by noting…
Grammarly claims to (1) correct grammar, (2) give useful explanations for grammar mistakes, (3) check spelling, (4) identify and help correct plagiarism, and (5) check word usage. We're skeptical on every count, but number five strikes us as particularly implausible. "Usage" refers to the way words are actually used by speakers of a language, and we have trouble believing that a piece of software could evaluate usage in a way that takes the language's flux into account or intelligently interprets all the connotations of words.
When we think about it, the idea of one-size-fits-all software to correct writing raises all sorts of questions. What about different varieties of English? How does Grammarly evaluate words spelled differently in American and British English? What about words that can be pluralized in multiple ways? What about new words, colloquialisms, idioms, and words that are changing meaning in real-world usage? What about redundancies and wordiness? And what are Grammarly's style policies when it comes to, say, the Oxford comma, capitalization of titles, and the hyphenation of phrasal adjectives? If Grammarly has policies on these matters, how do they accommodate differing views?
No doubt Grammarly will come up short in some ways, but we'll keep an open mind. Not everyone is as obsessed with English as we are, and maybe the software will prove serviceable for everyday writing of papers, letters, blog posts, and so on.
To test Grammarly, Grammarist signed up for a Grammarly membership and composed a series of sentences that it considered incorrect or questionable. It ran them through Grammarly and recorded what the software's verdict was. It also tested correctly written sentences "that some stodgy grammarians might consider incorrect." These were the results in the areas relevant to the study of presidential supporters. The bolded comments in brackets are mine.
Obvious spelling errors
I definately love cats.
Grammarly makes no corrections.
Kittens are the cuetest.
Grammarly correctly catches the spelling error, but incorrectly suggests changing are to is.
I especially like the mischievious ones.
Grammarly instructs us to review this sentence for sentence fragments, but we have no idea why, [and] No correction of "mischievious."
Less obvious spelling errors
I got a letter form my girlfriend.
No corrections.
She said she wont ever stop loving me.
She makes me loose my mind.
Grammarly correctly suggests lose in place of loose.
Grammar and punctuation mistakes
The term paper had no typo's.
No corrections. [ Me: !!!!!]
I don't understand it's point.
Grammarly tells us to avoid contractions. This is good advice in some types of formal writing, but it's by no means a blanket rule. [ Me: Especially on Facebook!]
Grammarly correctly suggests its in place of it's.
So the student and me had a talk after class.
Grammarly incorrectly suggests inserting a comma after "So the student."
Grammarly does not suggest student and I in place of student and me.
I said it was well written, however the argument was confusing.
Grammarly correctly catches this run-on sentence and suggests a semicolon in place of the comma.
Grammarly urges us to review this sentence for the passive voice. Making passive sentences active sometimes improves them, but the passive voice is often useful and shouldn't be prohibited.
Reading it, the ideas just never came together.
No correction of the dangling modifier.
Not only was the paper confusing but also late.
No correction of the misplaced correlative conjunctions.
Grammarist's conclusion: "Grammarly doesn't work. As the above results show, Grammarly did not catch several of our intentional grammar and spelling errors, it had nothing to say about any of our intentionally misused words, and it makes recommendations based on 19th-century grammar superstitions. This last point is especially interesting considering that Grammarly is rather laissez-faire with new words such as winningest. Elsewhere, Grammarly is inconsistent in applying its rules. And there is no way to tell Grammarly that we are American writers, so we could spell everything in the British manner and Grammarly would not question it. There's also no way to indicate to Grammarly the level of formality of the text being checked.
We might be tempted to suggest Grammarly for students or learners of English, but the fact that Grammarly has nothing to say about so many of our intentionally incorrect sentences leads us to the sad conclusion that Grammarly is useless for everyone."
The Ethics Alarms verdict: USA Today and Singer were unethical, biased, careless and dishonest to cite the apps' self-promoting study in multiple ways. Unless Singer could independently verify that the software did what it claimed to do, its results were unreliable, even if the theory behind the whole exercise wasn't so shot through with hidden biases and flaws, which it was. Is it possible that the app has improved since 2012? I'd say it's likely, but USA Today had an obligation to check and so inform readers, which it did not. Singer's article was junk science at best, and an embarrassing example of confirmation bias at work on the author's part and on the part of USA Today editors.
Here's the published chart:
Pointer: Newsbusters
Sources: USA Today, Grammarist
Business & Commercial, Ethics Alarms Award Nominee, Facebook, Government & Politics, History, Journalism & Media, Research and Scholarship, Science & Technology, U.S. Society
2016 Presidential campaign, apps, confirmation bias, Democrats, due diligence, Facebook comments, grammar, Grammarist, Grammarly, journalistic bias, junk science, Lincoln Chaffee, Paul Singer, Republicans, software, typos, USA Today
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47 thoughts on "Facebook Grammar, Lincoln Chafee, USA Today, and Confirmation Bias"
I are amazed and dismayed.
Wyo, I was neither. I use Word 2000, which has both a spell checker and a supposed grammar checker. The spell-checker does not check for inappropriate word usage, not does the grammar checker, apparently. There is no substitute for accurate proof-reading, and even then, typo's escape notice. Can't speak to the latest version of Office, but I'd certainly trust Microsoft more than some off-brand software.
I find the "unique words per thousand words" comparison particularly galling. Elegant variation is the worst idea ever foisted upon good expository writing technique. If it's accurate, maybe the results mean Republicans express their ideas more simply so they are more readily understood.
P.M.Lawrence
Elegant variation is something that French prose stylists take to even greater extremes, which sometimes leads to contortions that can even reach absurdity. For instance, essays discussing France are often written to use synonyms or metaphors for France, e.g. "the hexagon" (because of the approximate shape of France on a map) is fairly often used in the expression "the four corners of the hexagon".
Paul Compton
The methodology does state: "which were then verified and tallied by a team of live proofreaders." It doesn't mean the proofreaders have any idea of course, but the whole thing is still gutter press anyway you look at it.
My question would be, why look at a rag like that anyway? Yes, a good place to find inspiration for a blog, if you only read worthwhile publications you won't have much to read, and you're on a mission to improve ethical standards globally.
The latter won't really work unless you send a copy of your blog to the paper as a letter to the editor and they actually publish it. Good luck with that!
Did you like my Oxford comma?
I trust everyone has seen Weird Al Yakovic's 'Word Crimes'?
USA Today is a rag indeed; it also has the highest circulation of any US newspaper. (My letters have too sophisticated a vocabulary to be printed in USAT, and by that I mean above the 9th grade.)
Love the Oxford comma.
texagg04
I think P.M. Lawrence may chop up the "oxford comma", I'm not sure it is one in that case…
I went to Cambridge, where Oxford ideas aren't binding.
I fail to see why you are exhorting readers to love the Oxford comma. Even if you think they should use it, it's hardly a matter for such an emotion.
Eternal Optometrist
The Oxford Comma, sadly, is leaving the legal profession. It is worthy of love because a sentence can completely change without it ("Ethics Alarms is written by Jack Marshall, a lawyer and an ethicist" or "Ethics Alarms is written by Jack Marshall, a lawyer, and an ethicist") and there seems to be no downside to using it.
Punctuation can indeed make a lot of difference to the sense. I recall a Reader's Digest joke reporting how students came up with one of two variants when asked to punctuate and consequentially amend "woman without her man is a savage": "Woman! Without her, man is a savage.", or "Woman, without her man, is a savage." (I include the full stops they gave).
Bonus: spot the two places above where I deliberately split infinitives.
The proscription against split infinitives in some circles is downright asinine. To arbitrarily limit the richness of our language in such away is semantically criminal.
Dammit.
The popular equivalent now, thanks to a book on the subject, is "The panda eats shoots and leaves" and "The panda eats, shoots, and leaves."
So if I see a Panda running down the street with a shotgun in one paw, I'll know what happened.
No, it's "the wombat eats roots shoots and leaves". Of course, you may have to infer the meaning of the Ozzieism "roots".
http://www.amazon.com/Eats-Shoots-Leaves-Commas-Difference/dp/0399244913
"Ethics Alarms is written by a lawyer and ethicist, Jack Marshall." No need for it, just more precise writing, reflecting precision of thinking.
When I'm trying to exhort readers, I write posts. When I write such things as comments, I'm bantering with individuals, and when I use vernacular and italics to show excessive enthusiasm on something I really couldn't care less about, I'm being facetious.
I use the Oxford comma, but it's fair to say that I don't have any emotional attachment to any punctuation.
I wasn't suggesting that you loved the Oxford comma, I was wondering why you wanted others to do so, as your imperative "Love the Oxford comma" urges.
Now I get the joke. Sorry, I've been sick. And stupid…
Well, we should be on the metric system, but it is amazing to me that this is the thrust of Chafee's platform.
I could not read the rest of your post because grammar errors make my blood boil. I know I am guilty of some here, but that is because I am not typing carefully. Work is another story.
Our system is based on humanly familiar quantities – a gallon of beer is perfect, whereas 4 liters is just a hair too much.
Why do we need the metric system?
Because it is so easy to use. Here in New Zealand we converted to the metric system in 1976. My father was a carpenter and he told me that the change from feet, inches, and fractions of an inch to metres and millimetres made measurements much easier to use.
That's actually subtly wrong. Like decimal coinage, the metric system isn't easier to use in general; it depends on the application area, with some areas getting harder if the metric system works with units that are less convenient for human beings (which is why beer is served in pints or half pints but wine usually comes in non-standard multiples of litres). However, decimal coinage and the metric system are easier to learn – which was a non-problem for most of the old systems' users after they had learned those at school (pounds, shillings and pence actually helped a great deal with evenly splitting amounts among several people as the ratios had many factors, which was important in the days when money was valuable enough that any rounded amounts were significant).
Easy to use, not so easy to convert to when so much of the culture–that word again—is so entrenched in another system. The baseball field isn't going to stop being 90 ft between bases (and the game won't work right if is any longer or shorter.) Football fans understand what a 60 yard rush is. 6 feet tall and 200 pounds means something: Abe was 6'4″…Taft weighed 300 pounds. Pound for pound, give them an inch and they'll take a mile, the whole 9 yards, and my oil is a quart low. American pace of life is too fast to stop and learn this stuff, so it's an annoyance and not a perceived benefit. I remember the attempted conversion and everyone's reaction to it as Big Brotherism. When Americans are ordered to change, they tend to dig in their heels.
So typical. The minds of children.
Jeff H.
I still like Lincoln Chafee… I hope that doesn't mean I'm an optimistic fool.
He's very likable.
It has long been my suspicion that political Conservative ranks have a higher concentration of both very smart people and very dumb people, while Liberals have a higher concentration of people in the middle (mental "adolescents") and fewer extremes on both ends of the spectrum.
One reason I suspect this is that I find the best conservative minds and arguments far more logical than the best Liberal ones (on the whole) but there seem to be more reasonably intelligent people siding with the Left.
People of middling intelligence can write and spell well. And this USA Today exercise (I don't deign to call it a study) corroborates my little theory. Assuming the exercise is not just plain flawed…it could only be proving that conservatives candidates attract more of the rabble. Or that the Conservative rabble is more likely to at least care about politics than the Liberal rabble (also very likely.)
Wayne B
So you think the best measure of intelligence is correct spelling? Amazingly naive. I suggest you check out Wikipedia and see how intelligence tests are constructed. Spelling is a measure of achievement not intelligence.
I don't think that at all. I do assume there is some correlation between intelligence and correct use of language in groups of people. Just as there is some correlation between intelligence and achievement. The USA Today hacks know that people know this, and are implying that Democrats are smarter by presenting evidence (however flawed) that Democrats use language more correctly. Jack has pointed out several reasons why this is a bad line of reasoning, including the flawed method of data collection. I just added a couple more reasons why, even assuming that their data is useful and reflects the relative intelligence of the Facebook posters, it still probably doesn't lead to the conclusion they want it to.
On further review, I think my offending sentence was "People of middling intelligence can write and spell well." My bad. I meant generally speaking, in the context of large groups. All sociology deals in generalizations. I didn't mean that individuals can be judged that way. That was confusing, sorry.
That's not a bad theory Isaac. There is some support for that. Anecdotally, I had to quit watching This Week with David Brinkley when they brought on George Stephanopoulos. George Will and George S were supposed to be equals, I suppose, but it was like following Mozart with Milli Vanilli. I'm not sure they can come up with a counterpart to George Will. Limbaugh has ruled the air waves for years with virtually no left opposition (and whatever you think of his theatrics, anyone who invents an industry, and then dominates it for decades, is intelligent).
Further support for your theory may be that uber-smart conservatives are not using Facebook.
Since I just can't seem to get sleepy…here are some more possible conclusions different from the one USA Today wants you to draw…
-Democrats are more experienced at online banter, because they spend less time doing productive things.
-All but the least intelligent Republicans aren't sheeplike enough to follow a politician's Facebook page.
-Republicans for whom English is a second language are more active in politics than Democrats for whom English is a second language.
-Smart Democrats use more social media than smart Republicans, because Democrats, of all linguistic skill levels, are more egotistical and derive more self-worth from having a wide online audience.
-Democratic candidates are better at mobilizing slacktivists.
-Democrats are more likely to hire online reputation management companies and create sock-puppet accounts.
-Democratic social-media managers are more likely to hide or delete unflattering posts by their own allies, while Republicans prefer to value freedom of expression.
-All the smart Republicans are waiting until the herd thins on their side to even start caring.
Nicely spun.
I left out "vast Left wing conspiracy."
Amusingly enough, a good rule of thumb is this:
When Leftwingers start beating the drum about some evil the Right-wing is supposedly pushing, there's a solid chance the Left IS actually engaging in it. I didn't realize it until recently, but Hillary screaming about a "vast Right wing conspiracy" was all diversion in the 90s as the final ties were being solidified between Big Education-Big Government-Big Media-Big Business-Big Legal etc… you know…an actual Vast Leftwing Conspiracy.
When the Left cries about evil Republicans wanting government and business to be in bed with each other, actual research will show that large corporations and big business is by an large in bed with the Democrats.
The Left accuses the Right of perpetuating racism and seeking de jure segregation all while the policies pushed by the Left have INCREASED racism and a de facto segregation.
It's all very Orwellian.
My last response to the assertion that spelling achievement is strongly correlated with IQ: At the low end of the bell curve (IQ below 70) there is a fairly robust correlation although I have known "kids" who are excellent spellers who fall below an IQ of 70, I.e. the idiot savant phenomena. However, at the higher end, there is a low correlation due to the presence of learning disabilities. Einstein, for example was a notoriously poor speller. A link follows addressing standardized testing: http://schoolpsychologistfiles.com/testscores/
Read Hemingway's semi-literate letters. I assume a Grammarist test of James Joyce would suggest he was brain-injured.
Or Irish
The whole thing is ridiculous; an obvious leftist attempt to prove…something… negative about Republicans. Not worth caring about, except for the size of the readership of USA Today, many of whom might think it important. (On the other hand, what do they know about grammar, anyway?)
I might point out — as a student of literature — that many of the best, most elegant, most creative writers use incomplete sentences, odd word combinations, and "ungrammatical" prose all the time — for effect, nuance, and impact. Creativity with the English language — at least among professional writers — is no measure of intelligence. Quite the contrary.
USA Today should run a similar article about grammar "mistakes" in debates, wherein fast talking is required, and respondents don't have the time to think through their answers — either for grammar, or sometimes (as important) the metaphorical analyses (later) of their answers. (Unless, for example, one is Hillary Clinton, who has 10 stock answers to everything, and has repeated them hundreds of times so they just roll of the (ugh) tongue…)
Chiming in late as usual, but there's another answer to how this Grammarly "research" got into USA Today: they paid for the space. It's basically just an ad (with a bonus anti-Republican slant).
It's pretty much routine these days, even in "bigtime" venues. The institution I work for has placed many paid/solicited articles (skillfully written by one of my coworkers) in major papers like the Seattle Times and (authored by yours truly) in humbler venues like regional business journals and local papers. We recently entered into a partnership in which a Seattle-area TV station has agreed to use our in-house experts as its go-to sources for authoritative opinions whenever possible (I think there's some quota, like 25% of newscasts will feature at least a positive mention of our people/research/resources/expertise in some way).
Fortunately the org I work for is politically neutral (at least theoretically) and quite benign, but it gave me a new perspective on the public information/news racket. It really is a racket.
WILDLY unethical. Wow. An ad that doesn't reveal that's it's an ad?????
You better believe it. They're all over the place.
I think the long-term partnerships are worse, though. The top brass at my workplace said they had good assurances from their TV news partner that these partnerships were routine and were managed so as to respect the news media's public integrity. I'm not convinced.
How can an agreement like this *not* slant the news? And my workplace is actually late to the game. Even if every partnership is well-intentioned (and I strongly believe my workplace supports the public good), it's still a constant force, a current pushing everything ever so slightly in a particular direction and providing hidden incentives to ignore or downplay or play up all sorts of seemingly insignificant little things… They add up until they're like the Mississippi River straining against the levees.
I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if the journalism industry hadn't gone to such lengths to cloak itself in false objectivity. They've been trading on Edward R. Murrow's integrity for far too long.
I should be clear: it's not commercial airtime, it's NEWS airtime. Bought and paid for. Not only do they put our experts' analysis and opinions and research on air, we feed them stories. The exact circumstances are always in flux, and they control the timing, but even in the worst possible news cycle we'll be featured in a positive light in their newscasts somehow, no matter what.
Isn't that great? Not skeevy at all. (I've registered my opinion, but I'm pretty low on the totem pole…and hey, lighten up, you libertarian nut, we're the good guys!)
My Home Town Finally Makes Good!


5G services in mmWave bands have been as popular in the US as they are unpopular in Europe. Verizon is already providing home broadband using pre-standards 5G in 28 GHz in several US cities, with AT&T following close behind.
In Europe, there are plenty of mmWave trials. However, the only firm deployment plans are in the 3.5 GHz band, such as BT's launch in 16 UK cities by the end of the year. In the UK, Ofcom is open to requests allowing mobile 5G in existing mmWave licences. Have there been any applications? We are not aware of any.
Why is this? As we have argued previously, the US market-led approach has allowed mobile usage of existing mmWave licences. In Europe, only Italy has auctioned mmWaves, although the UK and France have similar plans. Whether existing mmWave licences can be used for 5G mobile services is clouded with uncertainty in most European countries.
Regulatory issues are clearly a barrier. But I also sense that apart from vendors, industry in Europe is lukewarm about mmWave. There is nothing like the vibrant competition seen in the US for 28 GHz and in 24 GHz.
To take another example, Jersey, the UK Crown dependency off the French coast, has just announced a very impressive 5G testbed. It will be live by the end of the year.
Jersey is a tiny island of only 118 km², with 100 per cent fibre connectivity. It is the perfect place for 5G trials. But the services being provided by incumbent Jersey Telecom are at 3.5 GHz rather than mmWave bands such as 26 GHz or around 40 GHz.
Why not? At a recent TechUK event Graeme Millar, the company's CEO, cited the propagation restrictions in mmWave. He suggested it is best suited for small areas requiring very high capacity. But he added that with all that fibre, he'd be happy to install a mmWave network if anyone asked.
An island this small is one of the few jurisdictions where anything like ubiquitous mmWave coverage is achievable, but it wasn't the first thing that came to mind. This seems indicative of the sentiment in Europe generally.
I'm wondering if the lack of mid-band spectrum available in the US also makes the mmWave bands more attractive? Perhaps European operators feel more assured that they can deploy 5G in the 3.5 GHz band, while US operators have fewer mid-band 5G spectrum options and feel compelled to look to mmWave instead?
"Delivering mmWave broadband connectivity in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) environments, such as suburban and urban areas, is extremely problematic over the last quarter mile, because of foliage and solid constructions. Rather than using the challenging, unproven mmWave channels for 5G, the industry should use the sub-6 GHz spectrum bands, which have incredible propagation characteristics through foliage and construction materials".
The recent recent PT article on the 4.8 GHz band points to a realistic sub-6 GHz alternative that is already gaining traction in some countries.
Thanks for the comments! I am sure that the relative scarcity of mid-band in the USA must be a contributory factor. Interesting what Mimosa say – you would think it would be in their interests to promote 5G last mile connections in the mmWave bands.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


We, the undersigned press freedom and media organisations, are writing ahead of the upcoming meeting between EU leaders and Ahmet Davutoğlu, Prime Minister of Turkey, to express our concern over the collapse of media freedom in Turkey.
In the past six months, we have recorded 50 incidents in clear breach of international standards with regards to media freedom and pluralism in the country. These violations include the recent government takeovers of the Feza media group and the Koza İpek Group; the prosecution and jailing of daily Cumhuriyet editor-in-chief Can Dündar and Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gül on politically motivated charges of terrorism, espionage and revealing classified information; the police raids of Bugün TV; the assault of journalist Ahmet Hakan; and the blocking of Dicle News Agency's website.
Many of these violations took place against the backdrop of the migration and refugee crisis or are related to reporting on sensitive issues such as the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) or Turkey's security operations in the south. Hence we believe the Council has the mandate to address these violations during the specific working session on EU-Turkey cooperation.
While we welcome the fact that you discussed the situation of the media in Turkey with Prime Minister Davutoğlu last week, we believe the EU must not reach a deal without a specific conditionality clause that requires Turkey to improve the environment for freedom of expression and freedom of the media.
When meeting Prime Minister Davutoğlu on 18 March 2016, you have the unique opportunity to not only discuss the press freedom situation in Turkey, but to bring forth concrete measures that Turkey ought to take in order to start reversing its unrelenting crackdown on the media. Without taking these measures Ankara cannot and must not be considered a trustful strategic partner for the European Union. Specifically, we ask that you make any EU-Turkey agreement conditional on the release of the more than dozen journalists currently jailed for their work; the immediate return of the media outlets belonging to the Feza and Koza İpek groups to their rightful owners and editorial boards; and the abandonment of Turkey's official practice of using vague anti-terror laws to equate press coverage with criminal activity.
At a time when the very essence of the European Union is questioned, it is critical to show unity and coherence over one of its core foundations: human rights, and in particular freedom of opinion and expression, which are fundamental elements of democracy.


This holiday season fans will return to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, but they will do so without Harry Potter. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them takes place several decades before "the boy who lived" was ever born, and so we know we won't be running into him, or any of his young friends, but since wizards tend to live for awhile, it's not outside the realm of possibility that we might not run into significantly younger versions of several other Harry Potter characters. One of the actors has certainly implied that could be the case.
As the stories go along, you will hear mention of your favorite characters. And you may meet their young counterparts along the way.
This certainly seems to imply that we will be meeting younger versions of characters that we're familiar with. While Dan Fogler, who plays the role of Jacob Kowalski in the film, doesn't give us any specifics about who that could be, which means it isn't necessarily Dumbledore, he would certainly be the most likely candidate. The trailer itself asks us a question, what makes Dumbledore so fond of Newt Scamander? We assume there is an answer to that question and who better to give it to us than the man himself. Michael Gambon has talked about a young Dumbledore appearing in the film, so it's looking like a strong possibility.
It's far from surprising there would be some attempt to bring in familiar characters into Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Fans of the Harry Potter series as a whole will likely flock to this film and while it takes place in the same world, it's so separated by time and geography that odds are, quite a bit will feel different. By dropping in some names, as well as some appearances, the stories can be connected together and Fantastic Beasts can feel more like part of the larger Harry Potter series as opposed to a standalone story.
Which wizarding cameos would you like to see in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Is there anybody other than Dumbledore that you'd like to see a younger version of? Let us know in the comments.


A group of sadistic Ft. Lauderdale teenagers has been arrested for killing a Brown pelican (like the one pictured below).
According to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission authorities surveillance video captured and showed the sadistic attack in real time. At or about 1:00 am on Friday, January 16th, 2015, a group of young men (teenagers who will all be charged as juveniles) captured and held down a defenseless brown pelican and clamped it's beak shut after another one of the douche bags blew fumes from an e-cigarette into its beak and eyes.
The smoke was blown into the pelican's beak by one douche whilst another held the beak shut such that the bird could not exhale, and this extreme douchebaggery was repeated until the bird finally suffocated. It is unknown whether these f*ckheaded teens knew anything about the biology of pelicans or not, but, sadly it is a fact that pelicans have no nostrils. Therefore, with it's beak forcefully closed the bird in question could not breath, and thus it brutally died.
These kids likely would have skated and been able to continue their sadistic experiments on other unsuspecting and defenseless creatures but for the security cameras at the Venetian condominium tower, the "locus in quo" of the crime and where the the "ringleader" lives with his family.
Since 1991 Michael A. Haber, P.A. has been creatively, effectively and zealously representing clients, both juvenile and adult, in both State and Federal Courts, in criminal cases ranging from DUI to drug trafficking and from misdemeanors to first degree murder.


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Bayon Temple
The Bayon temple features a sea of over 200 massive stone faces looking in all direction. Each face has an enigmatic smile, an instantly recognizable image of Angkor, as familiar as Angkor Wat itself. In fact, many people assume that the faces are an integral part of Angkor Wat but it stands in fact at the center of Angkor Thom.
Built in the 12th century by King Jayavarman VII as part of a massive expansion of his capital Angkor Thom, the Bayon is deliberately built at the exact center of the royal city. The Bayon is the only state temple at Angkor built primarily as a Mahayana Buddhist shrine dedicated to the Buddha. Following Jayavarman's death, it was modified and augmented by later Hindu and Theravada Buddhist kings in accordance with their own religious beliefs.
The Bayon temple rises through three levels to a height of around 43 meters (140 feet). The outer gallery on the first level depicts scenes from everyday life and historical events, while the inner gallery on the next higher level depicts mythical figures and stories. Some of the figures depicted are Siva, Vishnu, and Brahma. The third level is where you will encounter many of the famous faces (and tourists).
Closeup of the Stone face of ancient Bayon
There is still a debate as to who is being depicted in the faces. One school of thought says they represent Avalokitesvara, Mahayana Buddhism's compassionate Bodh. Other think they are a likenesses Jayavarman VII himself or a combination of him and Buddha.
First-hand account
Zhou Daguan, a Chinese diplomat who stayed at Angkor in 1296-1297, provides the only first-hand account of the splendor of Angkor Thom and the Bayon. He wrote: "At the center of the Khmer kingdom rises a golden tower, the Bayon, flanked by more than 20 smaller towers and several 100 stone chambers. On the eastern side is a golden bridge guarded by two lions of gold, one on each side, with 8 golden Buddhas spaced along the stone chambers.". Obviously impressed, Zhou makes no attempt to conceal the sense of awe that he felt even though he would have been used to grandeur as an official of the Chinese court.


restrictions in general, but I don't know a ton about the memory subsystem.
>>> Great to hear. Thanks a lot, Natanael!
>>>>> happening this weekend, and would really like to see this fixed.
>>>>> branch and/or backport the patch, sometime soon?
>>>> for edge and v3.4.
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Hand taming is where the breeder leaves the babies in the nest for the parents to fully rear the young themselves. The babies are fed by the parents and not by spoon/syringe by the breeder. At 10-14 days old instead of pulling away from parents (Like you would when hand rearing) you start to handle for once a day a short session. Keep the area dimly lit (or find a dark corner) as parrotlets eyes are just opening and will still be under developed also soft sounds as you don't want to startle them. Then at around 3 weeks old we start to handle twice a day for longer, returning to their parents after every session. Within days they will begin to trust you and start taming.
As they grow they will be taught 'step up' and also once fledging we start trying to hand feed millet or other treats. Again all babies are different and some will take longer to grasp the concept.
Nutrients and goodness of being fed naturally by their parents. From hatching to about 3 weeks of age the hen produces a crop milk which is a very thin mixture formed in the crop. Father will feed, digest his food and then feed the hen who will digest it further with the crop milk to feed the young. This natural milk is really beneficial for the baby birds and when co-parenting the babes will get full use of nutrients.
Training will need to continue on your behalf; once settled they do need to be regularly handled until fully confident. Start off with handling in the cage slowly place your finger underneath the body and say out 'step up'. The baby Parrotlet may do so and then jump off. perceiver until baby is fully confident... a bit of millet sometimes helps.
Patience is definitely needed, some birds will take longer to settle in their new homes. Do not rush the process, the bird will let you know when he/she is ready.
A hand reared chick is pulled away from the parents at approximately 12-16 days old and reared by humans not birds. (Unnaturally reared) kept in a heated incubator and fed every few hours by a syringe, spoon or crop tube. A hand reared bird does not make a better pet, if anything it can possibly develop behaviour and health (due to be too clean) issues. And may not develop a natural flight or fight instinct which all living creatures need. Both hand reared and hand tame need daily handling to keep them tame. Hand reared birds can occasionally regress so when buying ask your breeder about this and make sure they give you some formula in case it happens.( any good breeder will be more than happy to do so).
Parrotlets are not fully weaned until 7-8 weeks so never buy a parrotlet under that age.


"Every year, cancer claims the lives of more than half a million Americans"
Doing the math, that's roughly 1370 every day.
That's like a September 11 here in America every 2 1/2 days or so.
A lot of people think it's okay that we spend $195 million dollars every day to fight the war in Iraq because of what happened on September 11.
And although most Americans have not suffered the loss of family members on account of September 11 (with the exception of the ever-growing list of families affected by Iraq war casualties), for five years now we've been blowing up people in Iraq and Afghanistan on account of the September 11 attacks.
But where's the outrage over the 500,000 cancer deaths every year?
While people are supporting of the war on brown people who have never harmed them, their friends and family members are dying right and left of cancer at the rate of a September 11th every two-and-a-half days, and nobody's shouting for vengeance and justice from the HMOs that deny cancer surgery (like they did my cousin Jimmy). Nobody's baying for the blood of pharmaceutical companies that price cancer drugs so high that even families with insurance are bankrupted in the fight for their lives, and that taxpayers and insurance policy holders are soaked to the gills for the rest.
But in the election of 2008, my "conservative" friends keep insisting that the most important issue facing America today is either "Islamic fundamentalism" or the immigration "crisis". Brown people, they say, are the biggest dangers.


armored security entrance door , built-in wardrobes, installation of fire alarm and video intercom. The building consists of only 4 floors. The urbanization, one of the most demanded in the area, has a 24-hour security system. It also offers trees, garden areas and 2 swimming pools.
Located in Punta Prima, just 100 meters from the sea.
Punta Prima is a beach formed by a creek located in an urbanized area, natural area and sand beach regenerated annually, is the most northern beach of Orihuela Costa, with gentle waves.
The security services and especially in high season. Accessibility is good through staircases, there are specific signs, but no disabled access.
It is a blue flag beach possessing with vegetation but is not protected zone.
It has an extensive promenade 1200 meters conditioning with banks, night light and pedestrian nature.
At both ends, the beach has a coastline of rocky areas suitable for fishing.
In the environment of the beach there are all kinds of services.
Very well connected, very near the new shopping center La Zenia Boulevard and the shopping center La Mosca.
5 minutes from the Hospital of Torrevieja. Just minutes from public school and daycare, and the Municipal Sports Centre of Orihuela Costa, and several golf courses just a few kilometers (Lo Romero, Campoamor, Las Ramblas, La Finca ....).
Access from the AP7 motorway and the N-340, very well connected to the airports of Alicante and San Javier.
Availability upon agreement. Engel & Völkers does not accept responsibility as the information provided in this brochure is for information only and it is subject to errors, omissions, change of price or withdrawal without notice. Taxes, notary and registry fees must be paid by purchaser, the commission by the seller as stipulated by Spanish regulations.


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Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny: Ahsoka & Padmé – Comic Review
By Ian Blackout 1 February 2018 31 January 2018
Leave a Comment on Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny: Ahsoka & Padmé – Comic Review
All credit to series editors Bobby Curnow and Denton J. Tipton, it's evident that IDW are of the mind that all Star Wars is Star Wars. The latest issue of their Forces Of Destiny tie-in series plunges into the heart of the prequel era with this tale from the Clone Wars starring Jedi padawan Ahsoka Tano and queen-turned-politician, Padmé Amidala.
The story opens in the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, with Ahsoka in the middle of a sparring match with fellow trainee Bariss Offee (this in itself is a particularly bold choice for a comic aimed at youngsters, as readers familiar with the animated Clone Wars series have already watched the latter become a disillusioned terrorist, later in the war). As the training session ends, the two discuss combat strategy and its application in greater problem-solving, which then comes into play in the main thread of the story where Padmé asks Ahsoka to provide security assistance at a diplomatic dinner she's hosting. Naturally, scenes occur…
Writer Beth Revis sets out the events and overall structure efficiently enough, but the dialogue here seems a little formal, even clunky, at times. Given the settings this is only to be expected, but it feels at odds with the action-panels on display. Valentina Pinto provides both the base artwork and the colours, all of which feels more at-ease in the Jedi Temple dojo than the penthouse suite of a politician. The core linework is stylised in a similar way to the 2003, 2D animated Star Wars: Clone Wars series, filled largely with the neutral hues of the characters' surroundings.
Whereas Leia's and Hera's issues of the Forces Of Destiny comics told stories separate from the animated micro-series, Rey's was essentially two of those episodes bolted together. This time round, the action-segment of 'Ahsoka & Padmé' is based on the Disney Channel's 'The Imposter Inside' animation, with the rest of the comic providing much needed context.
All-in-all, the fourth Forces Of Destiny comic seems on-par for the series as a whole, but that series won't be for all Star Wars fans. And after the superb work of the 'Hera' story, this issue won't be, either. While it reinforces what we know about Ahsoka and Padmé, there's little to grab hold of in terms of character development.
And between Zam Wessel from Attack Of The Clones, Cato Parasitti in 'Holocron Heist' and now this, the shape-shifting Clawdite ladies seem to be getting a pretty bad rap, too. It's like the Rodian bounty hunters all over again…
Don't let this curmudgeonly reviewer dampen your enthusiasm, there's plenty to love about Forces Of Destiny: Ahsoka & Padmé, available from your preferred comic retailer. Let us know your thoughts below!
Tags: Ian Paterson Star Wars Star Wars Adventures: Forces of Destiny
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Baho! is a novel by Roland Rugero published in France in 2012, and translated into English by Christopher Schaefer in 2015. It is the first Burundian novel to be translated into English. The story is set in the fictional village of Hariho, following a young mute boy named Nyamuragi. When his attempts to find a bathroom are misunderstood as sexual advances, Nyamuragi finds himself voiceless due both to his disability and the hasty persecution of his wrongful convictions.

Taking place after the events of the Burundian genocides, Baho! grapples with many sociocultural themes and arguments that deal with Burundi's recent problems with cultural identity. As a result, the novel employs many Burundian cultural elements including Kirundi proverbs. Despite its heavy involvement in Burundian culture and history, the novel does not discuss ethnical differences between characters. Baho! serves to instruct Burundi on how it can successfully grow as a culture and nation.

Biographical background
Born in 1986 near Bujumbura, Burundi, Roland Rugero was largely impacted by the violence in Burundi throughout his early life. After fleeing the country with his family on two occasions, he managed to return as an adult to pursue an education and career in writing. Since then, he has worked as both a journalist and author. Throughout his career, he has dealt with political tensions both in Burundian media and the cultural identity problems suffered by his people. As a result, he frequently utilizes in his works a need to publicize Burundian culture and political progressivism.

Summary
The story opens on the fictional Burundian village of Hariho, with the introduction of a nameless, one-eyed elderly woman. The region is experiencing a dry season, causing the plant life and the locals to struggle drastically. While the land was fruitful in the past, it is implied that the unfortunate state that it is currently in is the result of the selfishness of the Burundian people, specifically the "war of '93."

As the one-eyed woman dwells upon her past, she hears a powerful scream in the distance, followed promptly by cries of rage directed at an unknown assailant. The assailant runs quickly by the woman, and it is learned that the man is the protagonist of this tale, local mute, Nyamuragi. The elderly widow joins in the chase after Nyamuragi as she struggles to comprehend the situation. As she approaches the group, she learns more details of the debacle.

General distrust among the locals has recently increased with a recent string of rape incidents, leading many young girls to have heightened paranoia. Nyamuragi, hoping to spend a peaceful evening at the stream, has been drinking an excess of water and wishes to relieve himself. Seeing Kigeme alone, he attempts to approach her and use hand gestures to inquire where the best place to relieve himself might be as not to offend the young girl. Misunderstanding his intentions, the young girl screams for her life, as she is sure that she about to meet the same fate as many girls her age have met in the past few months. Nyumaragi, fearful of this misunderstanding, attempts to silence Kigeme with his hands so he can buy just a moment to explain his situation. Unintentionally, he only succeeds in escalating her fear. As aggressive and afraid townsfolk begin to appear at the stream, the mute sees no other choice but to run, hoping to buy more time to explain, but he is not fast enough, and is caught quickly.

Nyamuragi, who was raised by an abusive father, developed a fear of speaking at a very young age, which gave off the appearance of muteness. This prompted his parents to endure a series of doctor visits to try and remedy their son's silence. After multiple doctors insist that there is nothing wrong with their son, one greedy and unfitting doctor proposes a "cure" that would involve a dangerous surgery to the young boy's tongue. The surgery, combined with a dangerous combination of oils administered by the doctor, resulted in actual muteness for a young Nyamuragi, leaving him unable to speak even if he so desired. Amidst the war within the country, Nyamuragi loses his parents to bandits raiding his home. After witnessing the horrific event, Nyamuragi decides that if the world he lives in his so cruel, he is glad that he is unable to speak in it. This thought echoes in his head as he wishes otherwise during his capture.

Just as the outraged community has gathered all the resources needed to hang the mute, the local police arrive on the scene to prevent the hanging from taking place. It is revealed that amongst the furious townsfolk was none other than Nyamuragi's uncle, Jonathan, who has been siding with the crowd in order to buy their trust and prevent his nephew's murder. The uncle, a veteran in the country's war, witnessed a man burned alive after the man was not allowed to contest accusations of desertion. With this past experience weighing heavily upon him, he could not see another man killed before being able to defend himself, especially someone who could not speak.

The story closes as the one-eyed woman ponders the state of judgement, and whether or not it is fair, in the world that she lives in.

Major themes

Time
The brevity of the novel and Nyamuragi's swift conviction are placed amongst many flashbacks and moral lessons taught by the one-eyed woman. This fluidity of time is rooted in the Kirundi customs regarding the interrelations between the present, past, and future. In this, it is believed that the present is inexplicably linked to both what happened before it, and the effects it will have.

Hunger
Hunger plays a pivotal role in the daily lives and actions of many of the main characters. For example, Nyamuragi scorns his untimely digestion, as it led him to require a bathroom and thus fall into the terrible misunderstanding thereafter.

In terms of the socioeconomic state of Burundi, hunger is used as sensory imagery to invoke the desperation of the poor villagers to survive. Working with the usage of time as a thematic device, Rugero strongly linked eating to the present, claiming that "hunger becomes a motor that pushes the characters of a novel to transcend time."

Nature
One of the primary conflicts presented in the novel is that between man and nature. Rugero incorporates Burundian lessons that associate children with nature, establishing a pure relationship that is tainted by the actions of man. In regards to the novel's historical context, this conflict is utilized to highlight the ruin brought to Burundian culture through its violent history.

The use of nature is largely used to define Nyamuragi's character. His age compared to his persecutors bring about a purer sense of innocence that is being threatened by the ruined adults. Nature is also used to define his disability, as both aspects of his being mute are brought about by very unnatural consequences. He is initially rendered speechless after the violence in Burundi results in his parents' murder, and he is physically muted by a botched treatment. In both cases, societal aspects of Burundi are held responsible for the abuse of one of nature's children.

Justice
The idea of justice in conflict is involved when Hariho suffers an increased number in local rape cases, to which the People's Court Responds with an unjust violence. Their disregard to hear Nyamuragi's testimony is magnified when his physical incapability to do so is considered. In addition to the unjust treatment of Nymauragi in terms of overlooking his disability, this trial also highlights the dangers of rape culture and a level one-sidedness that can effect such court cases.

Allegory
The primary allegory that Rugero utilizes in Baho! ties Nyamuragi to the natural spirit of Burundi that is trying to live on despite the country's past. However, due to the violence instilled in the people, simple misunderstandings are brought to nearly kill the boy.

The many themes elicited in Baho! create a collection of conflicting elements that resemble the dualities that exist in current Burundian culture. As Rugero observes, Burundians are constantly striving to do better as a people, but are also quick to spite one another because of their differences. "Living in Burundi is to be constantly ready for a fight..." To Rugero, this in itself creates another duality in how the outside world views Burundi, as many observe Burundians to be entirely peace loving at face value.

This message is reinforced by the work's title, which translates as a command to "live", referring to Burundi's need to move past its violence and distrust and just live peacefully into the future.

Language
Throughout the novel, many words and phrases are left in their original form in Kirundi. For example, each chapter begins with a traditional Birundian proverb, and the names and dialogue of the characters remain in Kirundi tradition.

In leaving words in Kirundi, Rugero puts more emphasis in their intention. The Kirundi is used to strongly connect the characters and their actions, as well as the chapter's beginning moral and the unfolding practice of it.

Such is the case in the names of the characters. Consequently, the characters' names are in traditional Kirundi, and their translations define the characters themselves. "Nyamuragi", for example, is used to define mutes by their disability.

Style
The length of the novel utilizes its themes of time to create a fast-paced plot defined by its brevity. At the same time, the novel's style also creates a duality in time, as the primary plot occurs swiftly, yet its interpretation is largely slowed due to the changing narrators and telling of backstories. Rugero acknowledges the novel's pace by joking that if a film adaptation were to be made, it would only be around fifteen minutes in length.

In this, the plot takes on the structure of a traditional epic with the main protagonist being Nyamuragi. In being an epic, an aspect of parode is introduced, for Nyamuragi's call to adventure is the need to use the bathroom.

Reception
The novel received critical success, enabling its subsequent translations and features in international literary festivals including the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

Among its reviews, Baho! was reported by Rwanda's The New Times as a "deeply contemplative" piece of African literature that contributes to an international movement of increased popularity among African cultural publications.

Translations

Baho! was originally written in French with elements, including the title, written in Kurundi. Following its initial publication in French, the novel has undergone two major translations.

In 2013, Rugero and translator Giorgio Tognola published Baho! in Italian for the Swiss-Italian literature festival, Babel. Published by Edizion Socrates, the Italian translation is sold under the translated title, Vivi!

In 2015, Christopher Schaefer translated the novel into English. The project was directed by the non-profit publishing company Phoneme Media, which specializes in translating works with cross-cultural messages. Similarly, Schaefer undertook the translation in order to communicate aspects of Burundi culture to English speakers whose perceptions of Burundi would otherwise be influenced by Hollywood depictions of the similar crises suffered in Rwanda.

References

Burundian literature

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


1. an article in a newspaper or other periodical presenting the opinion of the publisher, editor, or editors.
Since its inception, the Devils Lake Navigator's primary goal has been to help create an increased sense of community and provide an open forum for discussion on issues related to Devils Lake in Lincoln City, Oregon. We have gone out of our way to present these issues in a balanced way in the hopes our readers could form their own opinions on important issues related to Devils Lake and the surrounding area. Recent events have compelled us to share our opinion on certain topics so we have added a feature to the Devils Lake Navigator, the Editorial Page. On occasion, we will post an article stating our opinion and will clearly identify them as such. We have also added a page to the site where you can browse our editorial opinion over time. We encourage you to share your opinion on the topic by adding comments to the article. We promise to present all sides; no comment conforming to our rules for posting will be censored. Hope you enjoy this new side of the Devils Lake Navigator.
The Devils Lake Water Improvement District has been backsliding and continues to ignore their responsibility to their charge. It's apparent that every board member is more concerned with their position in society than the welfare of the ecosystem we the people trusted to them. Hence forth I WILL be looking at ways to disband the DLWID. Corruption like this is not going to be tolerated….Kent and Scovile will be on my A hit list. Paul…what can I say… You have shown yourself to not be an asset to the board. You are on my B list along with Ward and Randy… Why are any of you on the board? You will not ever get anything done. I said it once before..The bunch of you are as excited about improving the water quality of Devils Lake as Eunuchs holding hands in a red light district looking for a whore… Lisper and all. Kent Friends Of Devils Lake declares war!


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Q: How to efficiently place RSUs of a SUMO scenario in OMNeT++? I am trying to perform an experiment for vehicular ad hoc networks using Omnet++ (v 5), Veins (v. 4.4), and Sumo (v. 0.25.0). I use LuST Scenario as a realistic mobility trace. I would like to place RSUs optimally throughout the entire region, e.g., at the intersections and square, or at the places with high traffic density. As far as I know, we cannot place RSUs during runtime.
Of course one can identify the longitude and latitude and manually set them in the configuration. But is there a more efficient way to place them?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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TechnicaLee Speaking
Software designs, implementations, solutions, and musings by Lee Feigenbaum
Gathering SPARQL Extensions
By Lee Feigenbaum on March 18, 2008 7:30 PM
I realized that I hadn't blogged a pointer to the compilation of SPARQL extensions that I've created on the ESW wiki. Quoting myself:
Over the DAWG's lifetime (and since publication of the SPARQL Recommendations in January), there have been many important features that have been discussed but did not get included in the SPARQL specifications. I -- and many others -- hope that many of these topics will be addressed by a future working group, though there are no concrete plans for such a group at this time.
In the interest of cataloging these extensions and encouraging SPARQL developers to seek interoperable implementations of SPARQL extensions, I've created:
http://esw.w3.org/topic/SPARQL/Extensions
That page links to individual pages for (currently) 13 categories of SPARQL extensions. Each of those pages, in turn, discusses the relevant type of SPARQL extension and attempts to provide links to research, discussion, and implementations of the extension.
I also plan to use this list to help encourage user- and implementor-driven discussion of these extensions over the coming months. Again, the goal is to allow SPARQL users to make known what features are most important to them and also to allow implementations to seek common syntaxes and semantics for SPARQL extensions. (All of this, in the end, should help a future working group charter a new version of SPARQL and produce a specification that allows for interoperable SPARQL v2 implementations.)
It's a wiki. Please add references that are not there, new topics, or discussions of existing topics. (I've tried to reuse existing ESW Wiki pages for some topics that already had discussion.)
Where I say "this list" above, I mean public-sparql-dev@w3.org. Please subscribe if you're interested in discussing any or all of these potential SPARQL extensions.
This page contains a single entry by Lee Feigenbaum published on March 18, 2008 7:30 PM.
Semantic Web tutorial was the previous entry in this blog.
Now available online - Scientific American: "The Semantic Web in Action" is the next entry in this blog.
lazy web
musings (3)


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A New Spin on a Powerhouse Brand
Long-running TV game show Wheel of Fortune® is a household name and a cultural icon, with perennial appeal to all viewer segments and highly engaged social-media interaction from fans across digital channels. The show has inspired two decades of success in the gaming category, with more than 25 lottery programs in the past three years alone and over $3 billion in jackpots awarded to slot players to date. What's next for this powerhouse brand?
Starting in 2019, North American lotteries can offer players a new spin on previous Wheel of Fortune lottery games with a unique linked promotion from IGT. "Big Money Spin" differs from previous Wheel of Fortune programs in both game play and rewards. In addition to cash prizes, the instant tickets for the new program feature a million-dollar wedge that players scratch off to reveal if they've won a chance to enter a drawing for the Grand Prize trip to Los Angeles, where they will participate in a Big Money Spin event with the chance to win $1 million.There will be multiple drawings to award players from all participating lotteries with trips to Big Money Spin events throughout the instant games' lifecycle.
Winners of the Grand Prize trips to L.A. will tour Sony Pictures Studios and experience the excitement of being on the set of the Wheel of Fortune television show. As they pass through three rounds of a Big Money Spin event, every player will go home winning some amount of money. In the final round, the puzzle board will reveal which player is the winner of the guaranteed $1 million prize.
Designed to offer players a once-in-a-lifetime experience and create multiple winner-awareness moments throughout the life of the game, the fully supported turnkey program provides lotteries with a full suite of customizable marketing components—along with IGT's on-site white glove hosting of the Big Money Spin events. NASPL attendees who visit the IGT booth can spin the Wheel for a chance to win merchandise and learn more about the program. The booth will also feature Wheel of Fortune branded e-instant and instant win games to support an omnichannel strategy, and IGT's new Wheel of Fortune 4D slot machine, launching in late 2018 with advanced gesture and mid-air haptic technology.
©2018 Califon Productions, Inc. "Wheel of Fortune" is a registered trademark of Califon Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


This week, we have been focusing on a recent report commissioned by the Inter-American Development Bank which shows that despite the high level of spending from the public purse, the education sector is in a state of chaotic failure. More children are out of school than in the classrooms, more are dropping out of school and joining gang activities and teachers are sadly anemic in training. The recommendation is for efficiency, quality and equity. News Five's Isani Cayetano has a third report on the document called Challenges and Opportunities in the Belize Education Sector, authored by Emma Näslund-Hadley, Haydée Alonzo and Dougal Martin.
Amid the gloom that overshadows the existing education system is the National Education Strategy for 2011-2016. It is an approach that intends to realize an equitable increase in access and coverage at the preschool, primary, secondary and tertiary levels, as well as special education for boys and girls. That plan of action aims to improve the quality and importance of education at all stages through teacher training and better governance. As it is, schools are not being held accountable for the usage of resources, nor are there consequences for underperforming institutions. The involvement of parents in school management is, for the most part, minimal, contributing to a lack of accountability.
Ironically, the Ministry of Education has very little or no control over what takes place inside the classrooms of denominational schools. The churches handle the implementation of curricula, teaching practices, as well as teacher and student attendance autonomously. The absence of an information system and additional supervision prevents the ministry from intervening in low performing schools. While the national testing system, i.e. the Primary School Examinations, functions well, the test results are not used as a barometer to measure or evaluate school performance. The ministry has also failed to evaluate what education models are most suitable to the improvement of student learning within the Belizean context.
At the lower level, government is keeping its promise to achieve universal primary education as a Millennium Development Goal by 2016. To do so it must curb the current downward trend and increase coverage from ninety-two to one hundred percent by such time. Moreover, there are plans to increase the total enrollment rate from sixty-five to seventy percent in secondary schools. Interestingly, the ITVETs which have been established to provide an alternative to students better suited for vocational learning, are also being underutilized. There is a proposal to ensure that each of the six institutions operate at a minimum of ninety percent of its capacity, thereby increasing its overall enrollment.
Will not improve until we put in a performance appraisal system for teachers. Root out poor performing teachers after three years of poor performance and put in a fund raising policy for all schools.


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Crime levels drop across Co Longford
Gardaí at both ends of the county are winning the battle against crime, latest figures show.
Garda bosses from the Longford and Granard Garda Districts delivered an overwhelming upbeat analysis of statistics at this week's Joint Policing Committee (JPC) meeting.
Longford Superintendent Jim Delaney said he was pleasantly pleased with how his officers were dealing with crime.
"All of the figures are within the national average," he said, while remarking on how recent trends had shown the Longford District to be well within the confines of the 2017 Garda Policing Plan.
Supt. Delaney noted the presence of a recent upturn in commercially releated burglaries, but added efforts to combat those were ongoing.
"There is a bit of a spike in and around the town but we have been working with the business community to try and address that," he told the meeting.
"We are also looking at the ways in which we carry out our patrols and have been using trends from the Garda Analysts Service to try and identify patterns that might help us in relation to the deployment of resources.
"All of these (figures) are within the three year national average and it is within the targets that have been set out in the policing plan."
They were views which carried a strikingly similar tone to the ones which Granard Superintendent Brian Mohan gave.
He said a 'Day of Action' held alittle over a week ago involving gardaí, revenue, customs and social welfare had delivered some interesting results however.
"Quite a substantial number of vehicles seized for various reasons for no tax, no insurance or defective vehicles," he said.
That was followed three days later by a major crackdown on speeding with as many as seven checkpoints being held across the District over a 24 hour period.
Supt Mohan said that measure threw up just one detection, reflecting the changing attitude of motorists in complying with designated speed limits.
Committee members were also told of plans Supt Mohan and his officers had concerning revamping the District's much vaunted text alert scheme.
He said moves were afoot to introduce a Facebook page in a bid to improve and reach out to an even wider audience.
Those plans look set to take centre stage at a District Community Alert Group meeting next Wednesday (April 12).


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How do you come up with the perfect opinion essay? Everybody always has their own different opinion. The key to expressing your point of view is by learning to be persuasive. In addition, you need to learn the art of effectively passing your argument across and use of rhetorical language. For this piece of work, you can choose to compare, analyze, challenge or propose a solution to different educational aspects. Remember, your main objective is to draw your readers' attention toward your own views.
Before you embark on any writing, consider what sort of thesis statement to write. Although this piece of work is based on personal line of argument, you still need to research on your topic. Your findings need to back up your stand about education. Afterwards, craft your thesis based on your view and the reason behind your work. Start your essay with a thesis statement which will serve as the point of origin. With that in mind, your thesis statement should be easily debatable.
The entire content of your paper assignment will tell the extent of your research. Use reasonable points to back up your view. For a research paper, statistics and facts work out very well. Nonetheless, your points should be arranged in a logical order for easy comprehension.
With this type of work, you need to have very good and effective persuasion skills. Some of these persuasion skills are; being logic and an emotional language. To effectively use an emotional language, allow your reader's feelings to be part of your work. If you have no idea how to do it, have a look at how advertisers use it. For instance, you can give a story that will arouse your readers' emotions.
Your readers need to be convinced and trust your argumentative angle. They need a source of evidence so that they can agree with your argument. Cite as many sources as you can to prove your view. Therefore, you need to be credible. To be fair enough in your paper, acknowledge other people's views, and have their references. This may either be after or in between your own points.
In addition, always review you work before handing it over. Check on any grammatical and spelling errors. A well written paper shows that you are sure and cautious about the content you are writing.


Ireland's women's hockey team prepare for World League 2 which is part of the qualifying process for the 2016 Olympics.
Ireland coach Darren Smith has named an 18-woman squad for next month's World League 2, the latest stage of the Olympic qualifying process.
Ulster players Lizzie Colvin, Megan Frazer, Shirley McCaw, Katie Mullan and Ayeisha McFadden are all included for the event in Dublin.
Ali Meeke is an injury doubt after suffering a broken hand so Yvonne O'Byrne is also named in the squad.
The Irish will face Ukraine, Canada and Turkey in their initial group games.
Smith's squad need a top-two finish at the tournament to progress to World League 3.
The Irish are the highest ranked team going into the competition.
They will face Ukraine in their opener on 14 March before game against Canada (15 March) and Turkey (17 March).
"We're very excited to be hosting World League 2 and playing in front of our home crowd," said the Ireland coach.
"It's going to be a tough tournament with eight good teams and Canada, Chile, Belarus and Ukraine in particular all vying for top spots."