text:
\section{Introduction}
In the past decade, numerous social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook and Twitter have seen a surge in popularity among users \cite{socialMedia} and generates vast amount of data in the form of photos, videos and text. Out of the many topics and categories that can be attributed to this data, one of the top ones is regarding food. A majority of posts on social media platforms about food are attributed to many retail businesses and restaurants. We argue that data referenced to defined locations can inform about the activity and potential hot spots regarding a particular food type or cuisine. Analyzing the time and number of posts about these locations can give insights about popularity among the online populace. Additionally, it can give an idea about what cuisines are popular in which area if we further dive deeper into analyzing the content of the food related media being posted. With the influx of information regarding food online, business owners can identify emerging areas of cuisine popularity and accordingly plan their future decisions to maximize their profits. Also, restaurant investors can direct their resources in a much more informed and dynamic way instead on relying on traditional census data based approaches for deciding to invest in a new location or business.

\subsection{Related work}
Data about social media platforms like Instagram and Twitter have been analyzed, indicating that posts about food forms major percentage of all media. Literature has also emphasized the potential impact of 'Instagram Branding' \cite{instaBranding} for the success of a business. Another research harvests data from social media platforms to identify momentary social hot spots based on sudden or gradual increase in online activity by users \cite{imp1}, emphasizing our hypothesis that online activity can inform about the physical activity for an area. Regarding analysis of users' posts about restaurants, there have been some work on sentiment analysis \cite{sentAnalysis} of content indicating that there is a scope of identification of areas with decreasing popularity along with emerging areas in our work. Furthermore, social media images have also been used as data for prediction of human characteristics and sentiment. Also, deep learning frameworks like Keras and PyTorch have been used to detect food cuisines from images with significant accuracy.

\section{Data}
\label{sec:headings}

\subsection{Yelp}
Yelp API allows to extract information like name, average rating, cuisine type for restaurants in a location. We extract a total of 1000 operating (as of May 2019) restaurants for Manhattan. According to Yelp, the restaurants are randomly sampled out of the total number of restaurants. We then convert the name of each restaurant into corresponding hashtags, attributed for which we extract data from the social media. For instance, if a restaurant has name "Sample Name", the corresponding hashtag would be "\#SampleName". The rationale behind converting to hashtags is that social media users often write the hashtag name along their posts. This enable us to extract data regarding a particular topic, which in this case are food types.\\
The documentation for Yelp API may be found at
\begin{center}
  \url{https://www.yelp.com/developers/documentation/v3}
\end{center}

\subsection{Social media images}
Most recent images were collected corresponding to each location's (restaurant) hashtag from social media (mainly Instagram). A limit of 300 was put for each location's maximum media extraction. These were the most recent images posted by users corresponding to each hashtag. We anticipate that collecting 300 images would cover at least a 15 days worth of media for each restaurant. It was noticed that the posts extracted were dated to more than a year ago for some locations. We discarded these posts from our data and considered media for the last one year (since May 2018). Furthermore, the locations for which no media was found were also removed from the data set.

\subsection{Google Images}
The images for different cuisines and food types were taken from Google. This was required to fine tune a food classification model which we deployed for identifying different food types in social media data and also for removing non-food images from it. A total of 100 images were taken for each food type in a cuisine. This allowed for transfer learning for the classification model based on the images.
The 8 food types we looked here are:
\subsubsection{Food categories}

\begin{tasks}[style=itemize, column-sep=-35mm, label-align=left, label-offset={0mm}, label-width={3mm}, item-indent={12mm}](4)%
\task Ramen
\task Sushi
\task Waffles
\task Burgers
\task Hot Wings
\task Nachos
\task Bagels
\task Pizza
\end{tasks}

\section{Methods \& Results}
\label{sec:others}

\subsection{Image food classification model}
To classify the social media images into food classes, we used a pre-trained deep learning model and used transfer learning with our Google images.
The prediction model was a deep learning network (convolution neural net) trained using Keras. Transfer learning methodology was used on a pre-trained ResNet-50 model \cite{resnet} without the top layers. Training was switched off for the pre-trained layers since the base layers represent simple features applicable to most computer vision classification models. The base model was followed by blocks of fully connected layers and dropout layers for which training was switched on. The fully connected layers were sized based on the length of the feature vector returned by the base model. An Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) optimizer was used along with categorical cross entropy loss function. The model was trained for 200 epochs with a batch size of 32 per epoch. There were 800 total images for 8 types of food classes which were divided as 80:20 for training and validation. The test set were 200 manually annotated images from the social media data. The final accuracy of the model on the entire data set was 90\% with good performance across all 8 food classes.\\

The non-food images posted by users were thus discarded from the data set, which then resulted into a total of around 85,000 images. Furthermore, to adjust for time, we divided each day based on time as follows:

\subsubsection{Time slots}
\begin{itemize}
\item 5am-12noon : Breakfast
\item 12noon-6pm : Lunch
\item 6pm-2am : Dinner
\end{itemize}

\subsection{Kernel Density Estimation}
We used the Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) model using standard Gaussian kernel to get hot spots and interpolations for each 8 cuisines, optimizing for the bandwidth. The KDE function is defined as \\
\begin{equation}
\ \hat{f}_{h}(x)=\frac{1}{n}\sum _{i=1}^{N}K_{h}(x-x_{i})= \frac{1}{nh}\sum _{i=1}^{N}K(\frac{x-x_{i}}{h})
\end{equation}

where (x1, x2, …, xn) be a univariate independent and identically distributed sample drawn from some distribution with an unknown density f, K is the kernel function and h > 0 is the bandwidth.\\
The Gaussian kernel function is defined as: \\
\begin{equation}
\ K(u)=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2\pi}}e^-\frac{u^2}{2}
\end{equation}
Assuming that time of the day may be a confounder for number of posts and popularity of some food, we decided to do the analyses separately for three different times of the day.

The optimized bandwidth for the three slots is shown in Table 1. The KDE analysis gives an idea about the hot-spots in the location for different food types, adjusted for time.
\begin{table}[h!]
  \begin{center}
    \caption{Optimized bandwidth parameters}
    \label{tab:table1}
    \begin{tabular}{l|c|r}
      \textbf{Time Slot} & \textbf{KDE Bandwidth (in meters)} & \textbf{Hot spots}\\
      \hline
      5am-12noon & 134 & Lower East side, Chinatown\\
      12noon-6pm & 151 & Lower East side\\
      6pm-2am & 169 &  Hell's Kitchen, East Village\\
    \end{tabular}
  \end{center}
\end{table}

\subsection{Bayesian Network Modeling}

To model the dependencies among the popularity of food cuisines, we construct a Bayesian Network with BIC scoring method using the Greedy Hill Climbing approach for faster computations. Note that we only use our social media data (number of posts) to learn the structure of the network. Training and making predictions on the same data could be an area of further research. Essentially, the approach learned a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) \textit{G}(\textit{V}, \textit{E}) by modelling dependencies based on the number of posts of different food types in the last one year. To account for time of day, we also divided the data into three time slots as mentioned in section 3.1.1 and learned separate DAG structures for each slot.

\paragraph{Structure learning based on Maximum Likelihood Estimation and Hill Climb approach}
The search is started from either an empty, full, or possibly random network. Then given a Bayesian Network (BN) structure, the parameters of local probability distributions (pdfs) are estimated. In this case, these are the maximum-likelihood estimation of the probability entries from the data set, which for multinomial local pdfs consists of counting the number of tuples that fall into each table entry of each multinomial probability table in the BN. The algorithm's main loop consists of attempting every possible single-edge addition, removal, or reversal, making the network that increases the score the most the current candidate, and iterating. The process stops when there is no single-edge change that increases the score.
The BIC score for DAG \textit{G} and data set \textit{D} is defined as:

\begin{equation}
\ BIC(G, D)=logP_r(D|\hat{p},G) - \frac{d}{2}logN
\end{equation}

The term $\hat{p}$ is the set of maximum-likelihood estimates of the parameters \textit{p} of the BN, \textit{d} is the number of dimensions of multivariate Gaussian and \textit{N} is the number of points in data.\cite{thesis}

The learned graph structure \textit{G(V, E)} for the three time slots are shown: \\

\textbf{G\textsubscript{5am-12noon}}: (Burgers$\rightarrow$ Nachos), (Burgers$\rightarrow$ Pizza), (Burgers $\rightarrow$ Bagels), (Burgers $\rightarrow$ Ramen), (Burgers $\rightarrow$ Sushi), (Burgers $\rightarrow$ Hot Wings), (Burgers $\rightarrow$ Waffles)

G\textsubscript{12noon-6pm}: (Ramen $\rightarrow$ Nachos), (Ramen $\rightarrow$ Pizza), (Ramen $\rightarrow$ Bagels), (Ramen $\rightarrow$ Burgers), (Ramen $\rightarrow$Sushi), (Ramen $\rightarrow$ Hot Wings), (Ramen $\rightarrow$ Waffles)

G\textsubscript{6pm-2am}: (Burgers $\rightarrow$ Nachos), (Nachos $\rightarrow$ Hot Wings), (Hot Wings $\rightarrow$ Ramen), (Ramen $\rightarrow$ Pizza), (Ramen $\rightarrow$ Sushi), (Pizza $\rightarrow$ Bagel), (Pizza $\rightarrow$ Waffles)

where each parent-child relationship is shown as (\textit{Parent} $\rightarrow$ \textit{Child})

\section{Discussion}
The Bayes Network structures for the three defined time slots models the dependencies among the 8 food types. Considering the number of posts as a proxy for popularity, we can infer some relationships among these food types in different locations. At the same time, it cannot be concluded that the resulted structures are the true causal dependencies for our data as we have not included variables like demographics and income which might be confounders in our analyses. That said, we aim to learn the Bayes Network structures at much more dynamically (update every month) than the change of other possible variable like demographics and median income, the change of which takes place in a time frame of years. Thus, we can assume that these confounding variables would not have much impact on the learning from our dynamically updated geo-tagged posts data. We adjust for time in this work by doing separate analyses for three time slots in a day. One can argue that most people are active on social media during the evening hours and thus there would be more number of posts during that time slot, making the data biased. We believe this is one of the limitations in our data and controlling for it could be an area of future work. Furthermore, the KDE gives the locations of hot spots which are indicative of the trending areas in our considered location. The results demonstrate that areas like Midtown and East Village are among the popular areas in food. The optimized bandwidth parameter is indicative of the radius within which nearby restaurants are influencing the popularity of an area. Through KDE, we also expect to know when a new area is emerging as a food hub or is becoming popular among people. Apart from KDE, we can also check spatial autocorrelation to see the spatial dependencies among the food types through measures like Moran's I and Anselin Local Moran's I in further work.

\section{Conclusion}
In this work, we postulate that popularity of businesses and food types in a location can be analyzed using the social media activity of users. We then present ways using machine learning techniques to identify the popular locations and model the dependencies (of popularity) among different food types in Manhattan, New York. The key areas of future work regarding this work include incorporation of other covariates like demographics and median income. Also, finding a proper metric to validate the results and predictions from these methods could be important to test our hypothesis. We measured the activity of users through social media images but also talked about including other media such as text. In addition to texts, information like business check-ins can also be used to expand this work and get comprehensive results. We believe that our approach can be important to business owners and investors who can make decisions based on the dynamically changing online behavior and opinions of users. This would be improvement from the current practice of looking at just the demographics data. Considering the short life cycle of restaurants, especially in New York City, we believe that incorporating new techniques and dynamic data is important and should be widely adopted in this industry.

\bibliographystyle{unsrt}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


Then you'll love the comfort of one of our floor mats. They are versatile in their use as you can place them anywhere in your home, from your kitchen to your laundry room to your garage! They take pressure off your feet as you stand on them, and they have a non-slip underside so you never have to fear one of our floor mats slipping out from under you. Not only are they comfortable, but you... Remove and vacuum your car mats. Take the mats out and place them on the ground; preferably cement, concrete, or blacktop. Use a standard vacuum or a shopvac to get rid of noticeable debris and dirt on the mats.
Floor Mat Guys can make make your floor mats with your choice of Custom Logos or ready made logo designs for any car, truck, van or SUV. These custom floor mats are backed with a sturdy high quality rubber backing with small rubber nibs providing a way to hold your new auto floor mats in place helping to prevent movement of the mat.... We think that a rubber garage floor mat is the solution to your concerns for several reasons. Rubber floors are Inexpensive : Rolled garage flooring made from rubber is affordable. Therefore, using it as a flooring surface to catch wood dust is a wise idea.
So, if you too need a little more padding in your campsite bed, you'll definitely want to check out this tutorial for making your own DIY sleeping pad from Caitlin at The Merrythought! Compact and practical, this is a great project for campers, travelers, or even parents of kids in need of a nap mat.


Innocence Descent is the heavy melodic rock/metal début album from 4-piece Ann My Guard, released on Smash Fabric Records in April 2014. The sound comprises drums and guitar, with front woman Eszter providing bass and vocals.
The 13 lush, melodic and haunting songs showcase Eszter's stunning vocal performance brilliantly. From the super-catchy, pogoing "Crush Honey" to the much darker and heavier "Fallen", every song reeks of the quality you'd expect from an album that took 6 years to write, performed by such an accomplished band and produced by the most renowned producer in their native Hungary, Gábor Vári.
A European album promotion tour is planned for later this year. To be informed of tour dates "Like" their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/annmyguard.


Welcome to our Winter Season 2018/2019!
Another autumn is upon us. We hope you have enjoyed the summer as well as a holiday. Maybe some of you, like myself are still looking forward to a holiday? Once again, by law, we have to have a general meeting. Our usual events are coming up, including Vienna's English Theatre, with their short but excellent version of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The 4th trip to "Britain" for the Austrobrits is planned. You may have noticed that the "Pancake Race" is missing from the programme. Easter and naturally, Shrove Tuesday / Faschingsdienstag are also late in 2019, meaning that a Pancake Race will start our summer season 2019.
• The invitation to the General Meeting you will find with this programme.
• Please do not forget to pay your membership fee before the end of October!
Sunday April 28th 2019 to Bristol where we will stay for 5 nights. As usual this gives us 4 full days in the area before flying back on Friday 3rd May. One day will be spent each in Bath, in the Cotswolds, South Wales World Heritage site ( coal mining / iron works) at Blaenavon and of course in Bristol. The Bristol tourist office tells me that the gardens will be very pretty at this time of the year. The day in Bath will start at Prior Park Landscape Garden which gives us a magnificent view over the city.


This dual fabric base layer delivers on both the two key indicators, insulation and breathability, and provides maximum performance across a range of cooler conditions. Constructed from a merino rich blend with added bio-ceramic fibres, Cosette is extremely comfortable against the skin and has flat locked seams to prevent chaffing.
The structured fabric on the front panel captures air within the weave itself to improve thermal insulation while the cutting edge bio-ceramic technology means that heat absorbed by the yarn while you work can be returned to the body to improve microcirculation. The fibre blend on the the back and arms has been specifically designed to provide outstanding wicking and unrivalled moisture transfer.
Highly adaptable and with a race fit, Cosette can easily be worn under a jersey or jacket, on its own or as part of deep winter layering.


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Central Bank buys building near planned new North Wall Quay HQ
Bank determined that 'acquiring the building at market price' was good business sense
Wed, Sep 23, 2015, 09:00
Jack Fagan
Block R on Spencer Dock: adjacent to the city's thriving financial and business district
The Central Bank has acquired a relatively new office building close to its planned new headquarters at North Wall Quay in the Dublin docklands.
The bank was the top bidder at €104 million for Block R on Spencer Dock, which is adjacent to the city's thriving financial and business district. The bank already occupies just under 50 per cent of the block, which has an overall floor area of 11,798 sq m (127,000 sq ft). It is already paying €3 million for the accommodation, equating to €495 a sq m (€46 a sq ft).
The British building society Nationwide occupies almost half of the top floor, while the balance of the space is to be fitted out for State bodies, including the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Office of Government Procurement and the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer.
The total annual rent roll will be almost €4.9 million. More than 40 per cent of the building is let at €323 a sq m (€33 per sq ft).
The Central Bank's 25-year lease dates back to 2008. A spokesperson said yesterday that based on its leasing arrangement, the bank "determined that acquiring the building at market price would make good business sense".
Because Block R was located close to the planned North Wall Quay building, it would provide the bank with assured headroom for future potential long-term accommodation needs.
The bank's existing city centre staff, currently located in College Green, Dame Street, Harcourt Street and Spencer Dock, would be centralised into the new North Wall Quay building starting at the end of 2016, according to a spokesperson.
Block R was developed by Treasury Holdings just before the property crash. It sold a 62 per cent interest in the building to two geared property funds owned by IBRC Assurance, which paid €66.3 million plus costs of €2.7 million. That deal was financed by a €52 million non recourse loan from IBRC.
The Central Bank expects to spend about €140 million on its new headquarters after appointing Walls Construction as the main contractor.
Savills and CBRE handled the sale of Block R.
Irish Bank Resolution Corporation
Treasury Holdings
Office on Liffey was €7.5m and is now €850,000
€14.35m for newly let IFSC offices
First sales from QRE in Limerick and Dublin
Primark's new HQ all about energy and fun
Sam Stephenson block with refit available to let
Eddie Jordan's JKO confirms withdrawal from $3bn deal for Playtech
6:19 A top tip for hospitality employers: treat your staff as well as you can
As Evergrande teeters, Chinese media walks a fine line
ESB under investigation over electricity prices following complaints from rivals
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0:09 Interested in a smart home? Here's a guide through the maze of options
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Exergyn raises €30m for ground-breaking emissions-free technology 10:44
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Ethiopia's transport ministry is finalizing plans to start building a new airport for the capital Addis Ababa in 2016. The facility, which is expected to take eight years to build at a cost of up to around $4 billion, is intended as a major new hub airport for African air transport, according to Ethiopian transport minister Workneh Gebeyehu. In late September, he told the Airport, Infrastructures and MRO conference in Addis Ababa that the development will feature four runways and will have capacity for more than 100 million passengers per year.
"It's not only a runway and terminal that we are going to build," Ethiopian Airports Enterprise CEO Tewodros Dawit told AIN. "The airport city will make Ethiopia a hub for the whole region." Comparing the new development to airports in Dubai and London, he said that it will include hotels, shopping malls, office buildings and homes.
The Ethiopian government has narrowed down the choice of prospective sites for the new airport to three, all of which are between 37 and 44 miles of the center of the Addis Ababa. French airport engineering specialist ADPI is conducting the planning study for the new facility.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Airports Enterprise is completing a $350 million expansion of the existing Addis Ababa Bole International Airport. This project is due to be completed in 2018 and should triple current passenger capacity of 7 million per year.
In 2013, Ethiopian Airlines overtook South African Airways and Egypt Air to become Africa's largest carrier. Apart from 17 Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 twin turboprops in regional airline service, the flagcarrier's 76-strong fleet entirely consists of Boeing aircraft, including 13 of the new 787-8 Dreamliners. During U.S. President Barack Obama's August visit to the country, Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam urged him to re-open the U.S. Exim Bank, which serves as the guarantor of loans for purchases of Boeing aircraft.


text:
PTISSEM
Once Upon a completely imaginary situation...
Something I come across again and again with my clients, is just how powerful our storytelling powers are. You do it too by the way...
That's right, all those times you sit there and play out a movie in your mind of how you think things are going to play out tomorrow/next week/next year etc...even years into the future.
We may as well grab a bag of popcorn and snuggle up on the sofa whilst we watch this movie play out in our minds - because it's really detailed and you don't want to miss anything...
I mean, you go over exactly what the situation will be, what the other person may do or say in said situation, what you'll then say in return - or even worse - what will you say in return?!
And then you're thinking about all the consequences of that situation and how it will affect not only your life, but everyone else's.
And before you know it, you're really stressed out trying to deal with this situation!
But if you were to have an out of body type experience and float up above your head and look down at yourself, you'd see that you're sat on the sofa, eating popcorn, and not much else. Everything around you is calm, and pretty normal. And most importantly, you're absolutely fine.
And this is your actual reality.
It's inside your head where all the drama is happening.
That's where the made-up, imaginary movies are going full force and taking you down all kinds of different routes and throwing even more problematic situations at you to deal with. And very quickly you start to experience all of the feelings that go along with this thinking - fear, anxiety, frustration, annoyance - you name it!
But none of it is real. None of it is actually happening.
And lets pretend for argument's sake that something you're concerned about did end up happening in the future.
Do you not trust that in that moment, you'll find a way to deal with it and know how to work through it, just as you've done countless times in your life already?
We can grow so used to creating these imaginary movies in our minds of how we think things will play out in the future, that this is where we end up living most of the time. In the made-up reality in our minds, created solely by the thinking we're having in that moment, and nothing else.
You wanna know what's real? You reading this right now.
Nothing else that you're worried about in the future has happened yet - and may not ever happen either. So why not give yourself a break, and switch off from the future (and the past for the matter); and come back to the present moment. And deal with whatever is going on for you right now in this moment instead. And then do the same tomorrow, and the day after that.
It's a pretty good formula for a stress-free life.
And it's exactly the type of thing you'll become more aware of and better able to deal with, in my live monthly coaching programme 'Effortless Relationships'.
Not only do we focus on marriage and relationships, but we also go deep into how to manage your own emotions, so that you end up becoming a stronger, less anxious, more confident and happier person all around - that's genuinely content with life.
But that's probably not gonna happen if you continue to spend most of your time living (and stressing) in that made up movie world in your mind...
This live coaching programme also includes access to my 5-Part online Effortless Relationships training programme -and I've made the first module available for free. Here's where to get it:
www.ptissem.com/free
WITH ME


text:
Tag Archives: Oscar Romero
Human Rights, International, Life, News, Pakistan, Punjab, Religion
Pakistan's assassinated Catholic politician Clement Shahbaz Bhatti may be declared a saint, says Cardinal Keith O'Brien
Shahbaz Bhatti may become a saint, says cardinal
By Ed West
Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani politician murdered a year ago, might one day be declared a saint, according to Britain's most senior cleric.
In a statement issued on the first anniversary of Mr Bhatti's death Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, said he hoped that the Church would consider one day canonising Mr Bhatti, the Pakistani federal minister for minorities who was assassinated after numerous threats were made to his life.
Cardinal O'Brien said: "When that time comes I believe the Church should very seriously examine the question of whether Shahbaz Bhatti might be declared a saint.
"It would be wonderful to think that… Shahbaz Bhatti could become a patron for Justice and Peace in Pakistan or indeed Asia."
He added his hope that El Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Romero might one day become one of the patron saints of Central and South America as well.
Cardinal O'Brien's comments were made in a statement to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which is one of the organisers behind an event in central London honouring the Pakistani politician.
The peace rally and concert on March 10 will led by the British Pakistani Christian Association, and commemorates the anniversary of Mr Bhatti's death. The organisers are calling for an end to Pakistan's blasphemy laws and the way they are abused. The rally wil begin outside the Pakistani High Commission at 11am.
Cardinal O'Brien said: "From what we know of his life and work Shahbaz Bhatti appears to have been a true man of God, who led a life of heroic virtue. His final interview reveals that he foresaw that he might die for what he believed in and was not afraid to join his Lord on the cross.
"His commitment to Christ suggests that here is an individual whose life and faith is worthy of examination [to see if he might be declared a saint] and it may be that in the fullness of time Shahbaz Bhatti is raised to the dignity of the altars."
Bishop Declan Lang of Clifton, Chairman of the International Affairs Dept of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, said: "I want to join with many others across the world in remembering and paying tribute to Shahbaz Bhatti. He was killed because he rejected hatred and violence and instead embraced the Gospel values of reconciliation and fidelity to truth. In his work as Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti had a vision for a more tolerant society, formed by his own deep faith. His heroic witness serves as an inspiration and a challenge to us all."
Courtesy: http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2012/03/02/shahbaz-bhatti-may-become-a-saint-says-cardinal/#.T1JMSzr8ytp.twitter
AfpakAmericaArchbishoparmyassassinationBhattiCardinalChurchdeclareddemocracyEduburghEl SalvadorEstablishmentextremismFundamentalismGHQgovernmentHaqqaniISIIslamabadJusticeKeithMilitaryO'BrienOscar RomeroPakistanPatronPeaceRawalpindiSaintsecurityShahbazSouthStateTalibanU.SWashington


In this Tuesday's U.S. elections, three states – Colorado, Washington and Oregon – have voted on referenda to decriminalize marijuana.
As Op-Ed contributor Ioan Grillo pointed out earlier this week, although any referendum that passes would face legal battles in court, both the federal government and the U.N. would be forced to address their utterly ineffective War on Drugs. Grillo's argument for legalizing marijuana focuses on the profits and brutality of Latin American drug cartels that have presided over tens of thousands of murders while earning an estimated $1 trillion over the last 30 years by selling drugs to Americans. Petition to end the War on Drugs.


Today we take a minutes silence and I try and hold back tears as we remember back to the day when for me it was so very scary. I recalled that day in this blog post -all those memories and feelings.
Today 2 years on I feel sad. Sad for the loss of loved ones many others experienced, sad for the loss of property, homes and workplaces, sad for the loss of normal and safe, and now that sad is turning to frustration and anger as 2 1/2 years on we still have a daily detours and house that looks like we have had earthquakes and feeling stuck in limbo land and anger as they say after waiting 2 1/2 years for action from insurance and eqc who say well last year we would have paid for this and that but we don't any more and anger they are just doing a patch up job and not really fixing anything long term.
So today I feel sad and today I also feel so very blessed and thankful I have my family and all those near and dear to me. I remember the strength of communities and friendships who have helped, listened, laughed and cried together and so very aware of the resilience of my children and all those I know.
Hope you get EQC sorted soon.
Thoughts to all Christchurchians! Donkey has a lot to answer for!


What Services Does An Idaho Falls Dental Lab Offer?
Home » Blog » What Services Does An Idaho Falls Dental Lab Offer?
Diagnostic Wax-Up Presentations – It is much easier for patients to commit to a dental reconstruction procedure when they are able to see the results right in front of them. Wax-Ups created by your Idaho Falls dental lab, are used to provide a visual representation of the before and after of their mouth. A model of the patient's mouth is created with a markup (usually in red) of where the reconstruction will occur during their makeover. Areas on the model where teeth can be built upon are usually constructed out of a beige colored wax. This shows what the mouth will look like after the makeover has taken place. For trial run presentations, we also offer a silicone matrix to make temporaries that look just like the original wax up. After the patient has seen the presentation, if they wish their dentist to make any changes, impressions of the temporaires can be made to create the final presentation and provide a blueprint for the restoration.
Veneers, Crowns, & Bridges – Many dental labs are able to create beautiful smiles, no matter the severity of the patients oral health. An Idaho Falls dental lab will be able to create beautiful, natural products for just one tooth or a complete mouth makeover. Any veneers, crowns, or bridges created through a certified dental lab, like Treasure Dental, will have each of their products inspected before they are sent to the customer. Throughout the entire fabrication process, products are passed under microscopes and must comply to the standards enforced by the QCA. This insures that all of the products created by a dental lab in Idaho Falls maintain a high standard of quality, accuracy, and function. Find out more about material used to create these high quality restorations, here.
Pro-E.max Prosthesis Bridge – "The Cadillac of restorations" features a custom milled titanium bar with individual E. max crowns that are cemented to the bar using a pink tissue.
ZirkonZahn Prettau Prosthesis Bridge – This bridge provides patients with a strong, permanent solution that looks great.
Hybrid Denture – These hybrid dentures are economically priced and provide a wonderful alternative to traditional dentures. Using the best products to date, Treasure Dental is able to create a durable and beautiful product.
Hybrid Overbar Denture – An overbar denture works great for patients who need extra facial support. Using a metal substructure that carries the load, helps to increase the longevity of required attachments.
Nobel Clinician – Full Guided Implant Placement Design – The most accurate way to design a case from the CBCT scan and scan appliance.
Nobel Guide – Fully Guided Surgical Stint – A great tool for placing teeth in a day.
Semi Precision Guide -A clear guide that shows where teeth are located to assist in accurate implant placement.
Interim Denture – A trial run denture that is created out of the same materials and teeth as the final implant.
Temporaries – A great solution during the healing phase are temporaries made out of: composite, acrylic, or pmma.
Dental Labs know how important everyday general dentistry restorations are to a dentist's business. That's is why great care is taken in providing the best general dentistry restorations for the public. Certified dental labs, spend the time and the effort creating beautiful restorations like crowns, bridges, and veneers, so the dentists can get back to taking care of the most important thing, their patients.
Digital impressions are becoming more mainstream each day. With so many advances in technology in the dental field alone, it is important that dentists stay ahead of the curve by partnering with an Idaho Falls dental lab that provides Digital Dentistry. This type of dentistry lends a hand in creating dental work that is faster and much more accurate then it was even a few years ago. When choosing an Idaho Falls dental lab to work with be sure to choose one who can accept digital files from all major digital impression companies.
With many competing dental labs, it can be hard to know which one you should choose to partner with. Here are some tips and questions to ask before accepting a partnership offer with a dental lab.
Do they use ADA materials? As mentioned before, dental labs do not need to be certified in order to conduct business. However, be sure to always ask what certifications they have and that all of the materials they use in their facility are certified by the ADA. You can even ask to be shown the certification.
Are they using genuine manufacturer parts and hardware? There are many copycat manufacturers in the dental implant industry today. Be sure that you are getting genuine hardware for your dental restorations.
How do you perform quality checks on your materials and at your lab? Don't be afraid to ask these types of questions. If there is a quick turn around time on their products you will want to make sure that every piece of material has been thoroughly examined. The dentist's name is on their work, not the dental lab in Idaho Falls, so make sure that you ask the tough questions before making a decision.
Inspect their lab. If the particular Idaho Falls dental lab you are wanting to work with has nothing to hide, they won't have a problem letting you take a peek at their work and processes. This includes talking with the staff and owner of the facility to see if the partnership is a good fit. Dental labs and dentists need to create a lasting relationship just like a dentist creates with their patients.
If you are looking to partner up with one of America's most trusted certified dental labs in Idaho Falls, contact Treasure Dental to talk with us and get a tour of our facility. We can't wait to start sharing our innovative and quality products and services with you.
By Chad Russell| 2017-10-27T16:08:41-06:00	October 27th, 2017|Dental Lab|Comments Off on What Services Does An Idaho Falls Dental Lab Offer?


This article is about the film format. For the related digital image sensor format named after it, see APS-C.
The "C" and "P" formats are formed by cropping the 30.2 × 16.7 mm "High Definition" image. The full image is recorded on the film, and an image recorded in one aspect ratio can be reprinted in another. The "C" format has an equivalent aspect ratio to a 135 film image. Most APS cameras (with the exception of some disposable cameras) can record all three formats; the format selection is indicated on the film by a series of exposed squares alongside the image area or recorded on the magnetic coating depending on the camera. In the absence of an operator-specified format, the machine printing an APS roll will use these indicators to determine the output format of each print.
Two methods for storing information on the film were employed: "magnetic IX" and "optical IX". Optical IX was employed on less expensive cameras and disposable cameras, and employed a light source to expose a small section of the film, outside of the image negative area. This method was limited to determining the print aspect ratio of the finished print.
Magnetic IX was used in the more expensive cameras and allowed for more information exchange. Most cameras with magnetic IX automatically recorded the exposure date and time on the magnetic layer, with more advanced models allowing the user to specify a predetermined caption to be printed on the photo or record the exposure settings, as well as determine print aspect ratio. Magnetic IX caused some problems for photo processors, who found their magnetic reading heads had to be cleaned frequently, or that their equipment's ability to print this information was limited.
Unlike 135 film, processed (developed) APS film is stored in the original cartridge. For identification, every roll of APS film has a six-digit ID code on the label, which is also stored magnetically and is visible on either end of the processed negative. This ID is usually printed on the back of every individual print. This ID was designed to be an additional convenience both for the photoprocessor (who can easily match each strip of processed film with its cartridge, and each cartridge to a particular customer's order) and for the consumer, who can easily locate the correct cartridge if reprints are desired.
To facilitate automatic processing of film, a unique DX number is assigned to the different types of film.
The format was introduced in 1996 by Kodak, Fujifilm, Minolta, Nikon, Canon and others. APS was mainly used for point and shoot amateur cameras, although some SLR systems were also created: Canon EOS IX, Minolta Vectis, Nikon Pronea with Nikon IX lenses. Of these the Canon EOS IX and the Nikon Pronea could use the existing 35 mm SLR lenses, whereas Minolta opted to create a new lens line-up later shared with an early digital SLR. Nikon developed the IX series of lens that were lighter and had a smaller image circle (similar to the Nikon DX format used since 2004). Although the Nikon IX series of lenses were not compatible with the Nikon 35 mm SLR, lenses for the Nikon 35 mm SLR were compatible with the Nikon Pronea. Using existing lenses meant that the field of view was reduced by around 1.6×, but had the advantage of a larger lens selection. Creating a new lens system on the other hand gave the possibility of creating smaller and lighter lenses as they had a smaller image circle to cover. APS SLR cameras were too expensive for the high-end amateur market when they first appeared, and professional photographers stuck with 35 mm cameras, which offered greater image quality and resolution.
Presently the terms APS-C and APS-H are most often used in reference to various makes of digital SLR that contain imaging sensors that are (very) roughly equivalent to their respective film dimensions given above (see Crop factor). Concurrently to their APS SLR film cameras, some manufacturers released lenses intended for use on APS film cameras - such as the Canon EF 22-55mm - which had a wider field of view to account for the relative-to-35mm crop factor. Some of these lenses have survived and are now marketed towards use on "APS" digital SLRs for the same reason. In reference to digital cameras, APS may also mean active pixel sensor, a type of CMOS image sensor.
APS cameras found most of their success among the consumer point and shoot camera market. However, within five years of the format's launch, sales had dropped significantly. This was mainly due to the increasing quality and falling prices of digital cameras.
In January 2004, Kodak announced it was ceasing APS camera production.
Both Fuji and Kodak, the last two manufacturers of APS film, discontinued production in 2011.
^ "Kodak to stop making APS, some film cameras". dpreview.com. 2004-01-13. Archived from the original on 18 October 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-03.
^ "Apusu firumu hanbai shūryō no oshirase" APSフィルム販売終了のお知らせ [Notice of the end of sale of APS film]. Fujifilm. Archived from the original on 2011-07-09.


At Longmont Skinhouse Studio we understand that each tattoo is a permanent piece of art and we create a tattoo that matches the individuality of our clients.
I was born, and raised here in beautiful Longmont Colorado. I fell in love with tattooing at the age of 15 when I went with my sister to get her very first tattoo. At that exact moment I knew what I wanted to do with my art skills. I began drawing tattoos directly out of tattoo magazines, and books. Soon I was designing my own ideas and concepts. I apprenticed here locally, and have gained over six years of experience in the art form known As tattooing. My main style has to be a mix of new school, and neo traditional. I do however enjoy watercolor, dot work, and cover ups/ fixer uppers. I am always willing to to try something new, and expand my experience. In my free time I enjoy spending it with my wife, family, and friends. I am a giant nerd at heart with my main focus on Star Wars! But I also am a Harry Potter, Pokémon, Batman, and Disney fan (another tattoo style I enjoy doing.) allow me to give you an everlasting piece of art you will love.


Air cargo operators will know that 2018 is shaping up to be one of the worst years on record for European air traffic control delays and flight cancellations in nearly a decade. Eurocontrol has revealed that ATC capacity and staff shortages led to a 50 per cent increase in delayed flights in October compared to last year. For the full year, Eurocontrol estimates that total delay minutes will be up by 53 per cent versus last year due to strikes and capacity shortages (14.3 million minutes in 2018 versus 9.3 million minutes in 2017).
These figures follow this summer's record delays due to ATC staff shortages and capacity issues, which have wreaked havoc on airlines, their passengers and Europe's economy. So far in 2018, A4E member airlines have been forced to cancel over 5,000 flights due to ATC strikes, affecting around 800,000 passengers. Flight delays caused by other ATC issues such as staff shortages, airspace diversions and residual backups also hit bellyhold cargo operations.
In 2017, the European Commission released figures further revealing the magnitude of the problem: Since 2005, the EU has been home to some 357 air traffic control strikes, 254 of which have occurred in France – which has seen a 300 per cent in ATC strikes compared to 2017.
"Europe's Transport Ministers are meeting on December 3. They have a unique opportunity to take decisive action on behalf of their citizens and resolve the political bottlenecks that are contributing to these delays", A4E managing director Thomas Reynaert said.


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Don't expect to see Robot Umpires in MLB anytime soon
6 months ago Tommy Lipscomb
Yesterday, robot umpires made their baseball debut in the Atlantic League. The independent league is working as a sort of guinea pig among rules that the MLB is considering in future seasons. The primary goal of robot umpires is to make the game more efficient. In a way, it certainly could. But the problem is whether the technology can not only mimic a human umpire but also be able to get the call right a hundred percent of the time. After the first game, the verdict is that it can't.
In the first game last night between the Long Island Ducks and High Point Rockers, robot umpires were considered to do an as equal job that a human umpire would do. There were also a few glitches that were noted like the communication devices losing connection. The home plate umpire lost the connection between the iPhone and earpiece about a dozen times. In that situation, the umpire made the calls. The system was also offline for half of the fourth inning.
Trackman, the company that developed the system, called the game an overall success. However, there are some inconsistencies in the system. One call was missed when the system called it a strike. The ball allegedly shaved the bottom of the strike zone. It was close, but it was still a missed call. Also, there were several times when the pitcher was ready to throw the next pitch, but the call on the previous pitch wasn't made yet. It was sluggish for the most part of the night. To be fair, it was the first time it was being implemented, but the system didn't show any significant performance over a human umpire.
While Trackman will continue to monitor and fix glitches during the rest of the season in the Atlantic League, this system has a long way to go to make it into the MLB. If it makes it at all. With the MLB trying to shorten game length already, robot umpires could become a setback on that issue. Another issue is the different strike zones and if the system will consistently pick up on a hitter's size and batting stance. Robot umpires did a decent job, but the possibility of manipulating the system is still there. With player sizes and stances differentiating, there are a lot of variables and kinks to sort out. And it could take years for the system to become something that the MLB would consider using for a trial season.
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I remember when I had the Hub Burst, I would get very large amounts of data for a very reasonable price but now they want to charge $75 for just 10 gigs on the MiFi 500 LTE.
I remember getting more data than that for a LOT cheaper too!
IIRC, the Burst came with 10Gb for $40 - however, that was using the now discontinued WiMAX service for data. All FP's current Sprint based devices use LTE & the assumption is that LTE costs Sprint's MVNO's (like FP) more, so the current data plans also cost more.


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SK&H Picks: for Fireworks & Festival Fans
Tags: Astoria | beer | Eugene | Events | Fireworks | Fourth of July | July 4th | Music | portland | Rodeo
As we ramp up for the upcoming July 4th weekend, we're covering all of the bases with this edition of the SK&H events guide! Whether you like beer, music, or bucking broncos, Oregon is filled with festivals and fun this Fourth of July weekend.
Be safe, enjoy the long holiday weekend, and most of all, enjoy your freedom!
Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival
Friday-Monday, July 1-4
The 2016 Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival features 60 performers on four stages this year, and will finish with a fireworks show on the 4th just after 10 pm. Standouts include Dr. John, Femi Kuti, Tedeschi Trucks Band, and The California Honeydrops. Going on at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.
Portland Craft Beer Festival
Friday-Sunday, July 1-3
The Portland Craft Beer Festival will showcase beer, cider, and wine made solely within the city limits of PDX – making it unique to similar festivals. This year's fest features 47 Portland breweries and cider houses. Wine, cheese, and food carts will all be on-site at this fun annual event, taking place at Fields Neighborhood Park.
Astoria Music Festival
From Bach to chamber music and all types of classical music in between, the Astoria Music Festival is quickly becoming one of the state's most anticipated events. This year's festival will include an honorary symphonic performance memorializing the work of the late David Bowie.
Estacada Timber Festival
Sunday-Monday, July 3-4
The Estacada Timber Festival is back this year for 2 days of fun. A full carnival midway with rides, games, and vendors await you and your family. Amateur, individual, and company teams are welcome to join in the timber competitions, but no pros! This competition is for plain ol' everyday loggers. At 10pm, look up for the big bang everyone is waiting for, one of Clackamas County's largest firework shows.
West Coast Science Fantasy Fiction Convention
Billed as a gathering that bridges the worlds of both science and imagination, the West Coast Science Fantasy Conference (Westercon) comes to PDX this year. Enjoy art, panels, costume contests, and vendors at the event. Happening at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton-Portland.
St. Paul Rodeo
From a humble beginning, the St. Paul Rodeo has become one of the nation's top rodeos, with prize monies approaching $500,000 and nearly a thousand competitors. Designated as a Wrangler Million Dollar Tour Rodeo, it's one of an elite group of eight rodeos attracting the top competitors in the world. Watch fearless cowboys and cowgirls ride bucking broncos, and rope and wrestle steers.


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Digital Communications Officer (CWF)
The California Wellness Foundation is a private, independent foundation created in 1992 with a mission to improve the health of the people of California by making grants for health promotion, wellness education and disease prevention. It's the Foundation's desire to promote equity and level the playing field so that everyone has access to good-paying jobs, healthy and safe neighborhoods, and quality health care services. Since its founding, Cal Wellness has awarded 8,750 grants totaling more than $987 million. It is one of the state's largest private foundations.
The Public Affairs Department
Cal Wellness has always valued strong communications work and policy efforts to drive meaningful social change. As one of the first foundations to invest in professional communications staff, Call Wellness understands the value of storytelling to engage people and drive action. In 2016, the Foundation combined communications, community relations and public policy work under a newly formed Public Affairs Department. The department is charged with better leveraging the Foundation's strategic muscle in these areas and fostering additional collaborative work among Foundation staff in support of programmatic efforts to advocate for access and equity.
As a key member of the Public Affairs Department, the digital communications officer will partner with the director of communications in realizing the Foundation's vision to completely transform our online/digital presence and practices. We seek to align our digital and online presence with the short- and long-term strategic priorities of the Foundation. The digital communications officer will be actively engaged in maintaining and improving the Foundation's website, and will serve as a partner in developing a strategy for, and executing on, an expansion of our social media presence.
This position reports to the director of communications and will have day-to day responsibility for the duties listed below.
Content development for website, intranet, social media and email marketing
Develop and maintain an editorial calendar of content for CalWellness.org and Wellness Within (Cal Wellness' intranet for staff) by working with the Public Affairs team to identify news, stories and information appropriate for publishing.
Draft, refine and post content to CalWellness.org and Wellness Within, including writing headlines, reviewing blog posts and repurposing content for other audiences.
Work with external web vendors to keep the website up to date; use Dreamweaver to make basic updates to the website.
Manage content review and revisions to finalize materials for publication.
Draft and refine external communications such as news releases and e-newsletters, and internal communications.
Measure, analyze and optimize performance of content across all channels so as to improve audience engagement.
Select and edit visuals (including infographics, photographs and line art) suitable for posting to support content on CalWellness.org and Wellness Within.
Organize and manage Cal Wellness' image archives, responding to internal inquiries and requests for images as needed.
Design and deploy email campaigns and messages.
Plan and execute content strategy related to the web, search engine optimization, email marketing and social media.
Scan media for news and information relevant to Cal Wellness' work and share a daily report with Public Affairs team to inform social media content decisions and internal communications.
Manage and update a media-monitoring account as needed.
Research and briefing materials
Conduct research and report on issues, policies, people, events and organizations as needed.
Draft briefing materials and talking points for communications activities as needed.
Experience & Skills Required
Bachelor's degree in journalism or communication (or equivalent) and a minimum of four years of experience in web-related marketing and content development.
Excellent written, analytical and oral communication skills.
Strong organizational and multitasking skills with attention to detail, and experience with balancing and adhering to deadlines.
Strong problem-solving skills with a demonstrated ability to meet challenges with resourcefulness and generate innovative approaches and ideas.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook).
Basic knowledge of HTML, Photoshop and Dreamweaver.
Interest in, and ability to work for, an organization that is mission driven.
Ability to promote and model the following Foundation values: respect, integrity, accountability, equity, stewardship, excellence, learning and trust.
Ability to exhibit tact, diplomacy and professionalism in responding to requests from both internal staff and external organizations.
A high degree of initiative, creativity, enthusiasm and independence; desire to be productive and results oriented.
Proven ability to work collaboratively and in a team-oriented environment.
Travel and activities outside of the office, predominantly within California, will be required, up to 20 percent of the time.
Salary is competitive and commensurate with background and experience. The Foundation's benefit package includes a variety of medical, dental and vision plans, as well as life insurance, short- and long-term disability coverage, flexible spending accounts and a generous 401(k) retirement savings plan. A positive work environment that supports work-life balance is provided.
This position is based at the Foundation's headquarters. On September 25, 2017, the headquarters will relocate to beautiful new offices in downtown Los Angeles. Prior to that date, the Foundation's headquarters are in Woodland Hills, CA.
Please upload your resume, letter of interest and a writing sample from your portfolio to the following URL: https://app.trinethire.com/jobs/4860-digital-communications-officer.
The California Wellness Foundation is an equal opportunity employer.
The above job description is intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed and is not intended to limit the scope of potential work assignments. This is only a summary of the typical functions of the job and duties may differ from those as outlined above.
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Home/If Not Happiness, Then What?
In recent years, happiness has been heralded as the foundation for productive and satisfied workers. Even here on the Sycol blogs, we've talked about the benefits of happy employees. However, there has been some push back about the importance of happiness and its real impact on productivity. In fact, some authors suggest that happiness is the result of success, rather than success being the result of happiness.
Dr John Sullivan is one such industry thought leader on talent management who believes the unending search for employee happiness is a fad of which employers should be wary. In fact, he suggests that the pursuit of happiness may be more harmful to organisations than it is helpful. Sullivan warns against getting caught up in the latest "feel-good junk science fad" and instead focus on productivity.
You can read his article to see the many reasons he believes happiness is the wrong metric for productivity. The point, however, is similar to our recent post about motivation vs discipline. Much like motivation, the quest for happiness creates a paradigm in which the people within an organisation believe they must feel a certain way in order to be productive and good at their jobs. It reinforces the idea that happiness and motivation are external, as opposed to being an intrinsic and self-directed.
None of this is to say happiness is a bad thing. On the contrary, according to Sullivan, productive and successful employees tend to be happier than those whose performance doesn't quite measure up. Instead of trying to make unhappy employees happier, he suggests investing your organisational "happiness money" into leadership and development programs, and providing employees with the resources they need to learn and grow.
In this way, employers can pull back from chasing happiness and focus squarely on constant improvement. It is through the hard work and development that people achieve success. With success comes confidence and overall job satisfaction.


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Best Latte and Cappuccino Machines (2018): Keurig, Mr. Coffee, Nespresso, Breville
We've tested a bunch of the best latte machines and best cappuccino makers. These are the absolute best devices to make awesome milk and espresso drinks at home.
Alibaba shrugs off China concerns as revenue jumps 61%
Tencent had an unexpected miss this week, but Chinese rival Alibaba experienced no such issue today as it beat analyst expectation after clocking 61 percent annual revenue growth.
The Chinese e-commerce giant reported total sales of 80.92 billion RMB ($12.2 billion) for its Q1 2019, fractionally beating Bloomberg's estimate of 80.88 billion RMB. The firm record a net profit of 8.7 billion RMB ($1.3 billion) for the period, down 41 percent.
Diluted earnings per share of 3.30 RMB was down 42 percent annually but still ahead of Bloomberg's project of 2.57 RMB. The market has taken that as good news and shares are trading up three percent in the pre-market.
Alibaba's core e-commerce business is its most lucrative and revenue in Q1 rose 61 percent annually to hit 69.2 billion RMB ($10.5 billion), while growth for it cloud computing business continues to impressive albeit at a slowing rate as the unit grows up. Alibaba Cloud recorded total sales of 4.7 billion RMB ($710 million) but a year-on-year growth rate of 93 percent is down slightly on 103 percent in the previous quarter.
Also in the last quarter, Alibaba took up an option to acquire one-third of Ant Financial, its financial services business that's tipped to go public as soon as next year. The deal hasn't closed yet, but when it does it will mean an end to "royalty and technology service fees" that Alibaba had earned from a previous agreement with Ant. Ant is valued at over $100 billion and some analyst estimates that the quarterly fees paid to Alibaba were in the region of one billion RMB, or roughly $160 million.
Looking at customer numbers, Alibaba said its active customer base in China grew to 576 million — an increase of 100 million per year and 24 million on the last quarter — while monthly active users reached 634 million, up 20 percent year-on-year and three percent sequentially.
The company doesn't give international user numbers, but it said e-commerce revenue from outside of China grew 64 percent to reach 4.3 billion RMB, or $652 million.
Beyond e-commerce, Alibaba confirmed media reports that it has combined its Koubei local services platform with its newly-acquired Ele.me business. The entity has raised over $3 billion in new financing from Alibaba, Softbank and others, Alibaba confirmed, as it continues to compete with Meituan — the on-demand platform that is preparing to go public in Hong Kong. There's more on that story at the link below.
Alibaba confirms it raised $3B for its newly consolidated local services business
This New York venture firm just closed on $520 million from 250(!) people, including former Schwab and Facebook execs
Lead Edge Capital, a New York-based venture firm, has been around since 2009, and it has been quietly growing like kudzu since. After closing its very first fund with $52 million back in 2011, it has been roughly doubling the size of its funds ever since, closing on $138 million in 2013 and $290 million in 2016 and today, announcing a fourth, $520 million fund. Altogether, including some special purpose vehicles it has assembled, the firm is now managing roughly $1.5 billion in assets.
How did the team, led by founder Mitchell Green, pull it off? Green's background may have helped. The Williams College grad says he went to work for UBS as a banking analyst in its M&A group out of college, then it was on to Bessemer Venture Partners as an analyst, then Wharton, where he not only earned his MBA but began working at a Tiger-cub-seeded hedge fund by Julian Robertson. All along the way, Green was apparently making friends in high places. And given the success of Lead Edge to date, they are happy enough to have him manage some of their money through Lead Edge.
We talked with Green about some of those connections, and Lead Edge's new fund, via an email exchange late yesterday. Our chat has been edited for length.
TC: Your investor base consists of more than 250 executives and investors. In fact, you say that 70 percent of your new fund comes from individual LPs, while only 30 percent of the capital came from institutional investors. Who are these people?
MG: They come from Charles Schwab, Capital One, NetSuite, eBay, Neiman Marcus, Xerox, Unilever, Cisco, Saks, Microsoft and many more. Among them is Anne Mulcahy, the former chairman and CEO of Xerox; Alison Rosenthal, the former head of mobile at Facebook; Nigal Morris, the cofounder of Capital One; GitHub CEO Nat Friedman; and David Pottruck, the former CEO of Charles Schwab.
We pride ourselves on leveraging our LPs to make connections on behalf of portfolio companies. Instead of simply deploying capital, our LPs and operating partners are dedicated to mentoring and leading portfolio businesses through their extended network and deep knowledge across different industries.
TC: Any examples?
Our first discussion with [cybersecurity firm] Duo Security resulted in an introduction between Duo's CEO, Dug Song, and the former CIO of General Motors. While Duo wasn't raising money, they assured us that if they did, they would let us know, as they saw how helpful our network could be. Eventually, we invested over $90 million into Duo [which is now being acquired by Cisco for $2.35 billion].
TC: What kinds of company does Lead Edge target, and has that changed over time?
MG: We've always been focused on companies in the software, internet, business services and consumer sectors. They types of companies we've invested in haven't changed over time. Some current and former portfolio companies include Alibaba Group, Arrive Logistics, Bazaarvoice, Delivery Hero, Duo Security, Mindbody, Marketo,Refinery29, Spotify, Toast, Uber and Xamarin.
TC: What's the strategy exactly?
MG: Most of our capital is geared towards companies in the $10 million to $100 million annual revenue range, where our LP base can help our portfolio companies in a multitude of ways — from customer relationships to advisory to recruiting. The balance of our capital is invested into what we call "platform" companies like Alibaba, Uber and Spotify, as well as public market investments, where we're long only.
TC: Which company has raised the biggest check from Lead Edge?
MG: We're able to scale our investments though dedicated co-investment vehicles we've raised. We invested more than $300 million into Alibaba in the years leading up to its IPO; more than $150 million into Spotify in the years leading up to its IPO; and most recently, invested more than $90 million into Duo Security prior to the announced of its acquisition by Cisco.
TC: Which has produced the biggest return?
MG: We've had several excellent exits, but our largest returns by dollars returned to LPs were via Alibaba's IPO, Spotify's IPO, and now the impending sale of Duo Security. We've also had a number of other strong exits, including Xamarin, which was acquired by Microsoft; Bazaarvoice, which went public; Clearscore, which is being acquired by Experian); Marketo, which went public and was then acquired; Driling Info, which was acquired by Genstar; and Delivery Hero, which went public.
TC: That's quite a run. How do decisions get made? Majority rules?
MG: We have a streamlined decision-making process that due to the small size of the investment committee consists of the firm's three partners, including myself; Brian Neider, who I'd met at Bessemer; and Nimay Mehta. All three of us have been working together and served on the investment committee since Fund I. Brian and I shared an office together at Bessemer Venture Partners. Nimay was the first hire at here and has been with the firm since 2011.
TC: How much of your deal flow is inbound versus outbound?
MG: We all come from outbound backgrounds, so most of our sourcing is done outbound. Nimay was formerly with Insight Venture Partners, where he was an associate and worked on much of their outbound efforts. Brian and l worked together for nearly three years at Bessemer Venture Partners, and were the first two analysts that Bessemer ever hired to do outbound sourcing in 2005.
TC: What's the strangest deal you've ever invested in?
MG: We knew the founder of this company that had an exciting but off-the-wall idea to create a scooter sharing application. It seemed crazy at the time, but we did participate in the initial funding rounds at Bird.
TC: Any deals you won't do based on experience with last funds?
MG: We have certainly learned lessons in specific sectors and have a higher bar for companies in emerging economies as currency fluctuations could materially impact returns.
TC: Your biggest challenge right now as an investor in the current market?
MG: The largest challenge is seeing companies that are overcapitalized. Years ago, fundraising would take place in stages. Now, once a company reaches $5 million in revenue off a proof of concept, investors want to give them $50 million to capitalize on the idea. We think this can cause bad behavior in companies, so we're cognizant of trying to find businesses that can be capital efficient or are burning capital in a way that's commensurate with strong unit economics.
TC: SoftBank. How is its strategy impacting what you do?
MG: We don't see them in most of our deals.
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Wickr teams up with Psiphon to ensure your packets arrive safely no matter where you are
Encrypted collaboration app Wickr has added a feather to its cap with a partnership with Psiphon, provider of smart VPN tools. Wickr will use Psiphon's tech to guarantee your packets get where they need to go regardless of whether you're at home, at a cafe with bad wi-fi, or at a cafe with bad wi-fi in China.
The idea is that the user shouldn't have to be auditing their own connection to be sure their apps will work properly. That can be a matter of safety, such as a poorly secured access point; connectivity, such as one where certain ports or apps are inoperable; or censorship, like requesting data from a service banned in the country you're visiting.
Wickr already encrypts all your traffic, so there are no worries on that account, but if the connection you're using were to block video calls or certain traffic patterns, there's not much the company can do about that.
Psiphon, however, is in the business of circumventing deliberate or accidental blockages with a suite of tools that analyze the network and attempt to find a way to patch you through. Whether that's anonymizing your traffic, bouncing it off non-blocked servers, doing automatic port forwarding, or some other method, the idea is the packets get through one way or another.
There's a cost in latency and throughput, of course, but while that may matter for online gaming or video streaming, it's far less important for something like uploading an image, chatting with colleagues, and the other functions that Wickr provides. At all events you can turn the feature on or off at will.
There will be a monetary cost too, of course, in the form of premiums added to paid plans. Enterprise customers will be the first to receive the Psiphon-powered traffic handling, today in fact, and the feature will then trickle its way down to other paid users and free users over the next few weeks.
Russian hackers slipped up in attempt to hack senator
Hackers that targeted a Democratic senator up for reelection this year may have left behind clues in their attack that further suggest Russian involvement.
The office of Claire McCaskill, a Missouri senator, was targeted in an apparent targeted phishing attack from a fake Microsoft domain that the software giant later seized pursuant to a court order. The Daily Beast reported that a then-McCaskill staffer was the target of the attack, which was attributed to hackers linked to Russian intelligence — largely because the effort was similar to the phishing attack on Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta, whose account was successfully breached and emails were shared with WikiLeaks.
Now, new research suggests that the phishing page used in the McCaskill attack contains language-specific code references that lends further credence that Russian hackers were involved.
When the hackers built the phishing page used to trick the McCaskill staffer, they scraped the code from a legitimate Microsoft login page that staff would use to log into their network. That code included a browser-generated link of the original web page that was scraped, the research said. That link appended a language marker at the end which varies depending on which country the user is located in the world — such as "gb" for the UK, or "fr" for France.
Because the language tag was "ru", which researchers say shows that the code was likely scraped from a user in Russia.
Yonathan Klijsnma, threat researcher at RiskIQ, said that in many cases hackers won't build a phishing page from scratch but will simply copy and save the page it's trying to imitate. In doing so, any saved language tags embedded in the code "can be a crucial clue in connecting operators with their malicious campaigns."
Klijsnma said these tags are often overlooked by the hackers. That which resulted in a sloppy phishing page that was saved by RiskIQ's vast internet crawling operation.
Although McCaskill, a vocal Russia critic, confirmed the "unsuccessful" attempted hack in a press release in July that she attributed to Russia, a spokesperson for McCaskill declined to comment further when reached Wednesday prior to publication.
In an additional twist, Klijsnma also found that the same Russian hackers also targeted reporter Serhiy Drachuk, whose work has long criticized of the Russian regime. Code from the page that was used in the McCaskill phishing attempt contained leftover references to the journalist's work email address, which was previously accessed by the hackers.
We reached out to Serhiy Drachuk for comment, but did not hear back by the time of writing.
It's the latest in a long string of cyberattacks and phishing efforts to target US political institutions before and during the 2016 presidential election and later. Just this week, Democratic National Committee officials said they thwarted an attempt to access their voter database. It comes hot on the heels of Microsoft's announcement that it prevented a Russian-backed advanced persistent threat group known as Fancy Bear (or APT28) to steal data from political organizations.
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LG's 'wearable robot' will transform the proletariat into unstoppable machines – CNET
LG's SuitBot is designed to make work easier. Forget robot overlords — this robot goes over pants.


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Maryann Amodeo, PhD
Inducted in 2015
Mentor, AASWSW Mentoring Program
Professor Emerita, former Chair of Clinical Practice, and Co-director of the Center for Addictions Research and Services, Boston University School of Social Work
BA), Albertus Magnus College; MSW, Syracuse University; Ph.D., Brandeis University, Heller School
Dr. Maryann Amodeo, PhD, LICSW, is Professor Emerita and former Chair of Clinical Practice, and Co-director of the Center for Addictions Research and Services, at the Boston University School of Social Work. She has more than 25 years of professional experience in the addiction field as a clinician, educator and researcher. Her research, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and local foundations, includes use of evidence-based practices in addiction treatment, addiction training for social workers, the effects of parental alcoholism on children, and cross-cultural issues in alcohol and drug use.
Dr. Amodeo has published dozens of peer reviewed articles and made numerous presentations to professional audiences. She served as President of the Association for Medical Education and Research in Substance Abuse (AMERSA) from 2003 to 2005, and has held several leadership roles in the organization. She has received national awards for her work in integrating substance abuse skills into the social work curriculum. Dr. Amodeo designed, directed and served as a faculty member for the 84-hour Boston University Postgraduate Certificate Program in Alcohol and Drug Abuse: Assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment from which 300 social workers, psychologists, physicians, nurses and rehabilitation counselors graduated. Every semester, she teaches an addiction course for MSW students. For several years, she served as a faculty member for the Chief Resident Immersion Training Program sponsored by the Boston University School of Medicine, a program to train national cohorts of chief residents to identify and assist patients with substance use disorders. In 2002, Dr. Amodeo was awarded the Boston University Scholar/Teacher of the Year prize.
Her recent work includes:
Salas-Wright, C. P., Cohen, M., Scott, J., Oh, S., Amodeo, M., & Vaughn, M. G. (2019). Trends and drug-related correlates in residential mobility among young adults in the United States, 2003-2016. Addictive Behaviors, 90, 146-150. Available online 30 Oct 2018.
Salas-Wright, C. P., Oh, S., Vaughn, M. G., Muroff, J., Amodeo, M., & Delva, J. (accepted). Trends and correlates of perceived access to heroin among young adults in the United States, 2002-2016. Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Available online 18 Oct 2018.
Salas-Wright, C.P., Amodeo, M., Fuller, K., Mogro-Wilson, C., Pugh, D., Rinfrette, E., Furlong, J., & Lundgren, L. (2018). Teaching social work students about alcohol and other drug use disorders: From faculty learning to pedagogical innovation in the classroom and beyond. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions 18(1), 71-83.
Salas-Wright, C.P., Lundgren, L., & Amodeo, M. (2018). Introduction to the Special Issue: Alcohol and Other Drug Education of Social Workers. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 18(1), 1-7.
Krull, I., Salas-Wright, C.P., Amodeo, M., Hall, T., Alford, D.P., & Lundgren, L. (2018). Integrating alcohol and other drug content in the social work curriculum: Practices and perceived barriers. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 18(1), 30-48.
Lundgren, L., Salas-Wright, C.P., Amodeo, M., Krull, I., Hall, T.L., & Alford, D. (2018). Advancing alcohol and other drug education among social work faculty: An evaluation of social work faculty immersion training. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 18(1), 49-70.
Lundgren, L., Salas-Wright, C.P., Amodeo, M., Krull, I., & Alford, D. (2018). The Alcohol and Other Drugs Education Program for social work faculty: A model for immersion training. Journal of Social Work Practice in the Addictions, 18(1), 8-29.
Amodeo, M., da Silva Clark, M., & Lundgren, L. (2017). An innovative addiction course: Teaching SBIRT skills to MSW students. Social Work Distance Education 2017 Conference, (April 12-14, 2017), San Antonio, TX.
Amodeo, M., da Silva-Clark, M., & Hall, T. (2016). Inter-professional Collaboration Implementing SBIRT Training for Social Workers, Counselors, and Psychiatry Residents. CSWE Annual Program Meeting (Nov. 4-6, 2016), Atlanta, GA.
New Roles
Mentor, AASWSW Mentoring Program, 2018.
Maryann Amodeo
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John Michael Rist (Romford, Reino Unido, 1936) es un filósofo británico y canadiense.

John Rist fue educado en estudios clásicos en el Trinity College de Cambridge. Entre 1959 y 1969 enseñó griego en el Colegio Universitario de la Universidad de Toronto, y entre 1969 y 1980 fue profesor de estudios clásicos en esta misma universidad. Entre 1980 y 1983 fue profesor de Clásicos en la Universidad de Aberdeen, pero posteriormente regresó a la Universidad de Toronto, donde fue profesor de estudios clásicos y filosofía entre 1983 y 1996. También realizó un intercambio en el St. Michael College, desde 1983 hasta 1990. En 1997, se convirtió en profesor emérito de la Universidad de Toronto. Ha sido profesor visitante en el Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum en Roma desde 1998 a tiempo parcial.

En 1976 Rist fue elegido miembro de la Real Sociedad de Canadá, y en 1991 miembro vitalicio de Clare Hall, en Cambridge. En 1995 fue el Profesor Visitante en Filosofía en la Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén.

Desde 2012 ocupa una cátedra de filosofía en la Universidad Católica de América.

En 2002 recibió un doctorado honoris causa en filosofía por la Universidad Pontificia de la Santa Cruz.

Obras
El Profesor Rist ha escrito más de 100 trabajos científicos, entre ellos los siguientes libros:

 Plato's Moral Philosophy. The Discovery of the Presuppositions of Ethics (The Catholic University of America Press, 2012)
 What is Truth? From the Academy to the Vatican (Cambridge 2008)
 Real Ethics: Reconsidering the Foundations of Morality (Cambridge 2001)
 On Inoculating Moral Philosophy against God (Marquette University Press, 2000)
 Man, Soul and Body: Essays in Ancient Thought from Plato to Dionysius (1996)
 Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized (1994)
 The Mind of Aristotle (1989)
 Platonism and Its Christian Heritage (1985)
 Human Value: A Study of Ancient Philosophical Ethics (1982)
 On the Independence of Matthew and Mark (1978)
 The Stoics (1978)
 Epicurus: An Introduction (1972)
 Stoic Philosophy (1969)
 Plotinus: The Road to Reality (1967)
 Eros and Psyche: Studies in Plato, Plotinus and Origen (1964)

Es autor de más de 80 artículos sobre filosofía griega antigua, filosofía helenística, Plotino y el neoplatonismo, Patrística y la filosofía medieval.

En español se han editado:

Referencias

Filósofos del Reino Unido del siglo XX
Filósofos de Canadá
Alumnado de la Universidad de Cambridge
Profesores de la Universidad de Toronto
Profesores de la Universidad de Aberdeen
Profesores de la Universidad Católica de América
Miembros de la Royal Society of Canada
Filósofos del Reino Unido del siglo XXI

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Mujtaba Brings Update on Pakistan Emergency Vehicle
Posted by Jim Garrett
Speaker: Rotary Pakistan Project Beneficiary Mujtaba Haider
Internationalist extraordinaire and Rotary Foundation advocate Dave Smith introduced our speaker, Mujtaba Haider, and a guest, Anum Saba.
Dave explained he first met Mujtaba, who was then a member of a group called Pakistan Wilderness, in 2004 in connection with a program then ongoing in a remote area of Pakistan. At the time, Dave added subsequently, Pagosa Rotary wasn't well versed on interactions with the Rotary Foundation, and he credits Dick Bond with conceiving the plan to gain the Foundation's support for Pakistani relief projects, and leading the initial effort to raise matching funds.
Dave said that Mujtaba has been active at least since they first met in efforts to bring the benefits of modernization to rural, mountainous Pakistan. This summer, Dave reported, Mujtaba and Anum had come to the United States to attend a course at Harvard University, and had then come to Pagosa for a visit before returning.
Taking the microphone, Mujtaba told us the area of Pakistan where he works is not only remote, mountainous and poor, it is nearly inaccessible with no modern transportation (imagine the days a century and more ago of ox carts and Ellwood pass), no electricity, and no high schools. The population is widely malnourished, without an adequate food supply, and has no access to health care.
But he told us his credo is "always dream for the best." And so, Mujtaba recalled, in response to a request to Rotary, finally a happy day came when a four-wheel drive truck was delivered to provide the infrastructure of what had til then been only a dream, a mobile medical clinic to carry health care to the area's population.
Doctors from better-off Pakistani communities in the region donate their time, the truck is packed high with supplies (awesomely documented in photographs displayed by Mujtaba), and health care is delivered after an arduous journey to Pakistan's higher altitude version of Pagosa Springs from a more primitive era. With the success of the mobile clinic "driven" by the truck, Mujtaba proclaimed, health care has now been provided to 1000's in an area where before there was none.
Other projects undertaken in the area, he added, include community centers and educational opportunities for women, and computer centers for youth.
While he and his colleagues work to help others less privileged, Mujtaba said, "God didn't forget us. We also benefited. . . The biggest achievement for yourself is when you do something for others." And a big reward, he added, is the smiles of those helped.


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Cyclone Gita: Where in New Zealand will be hit hardest
NZ 19/02/2018
Cyclone Gita is coming - and the South Island is expected to come off worst on Tuesday.
NIWA forecaster Chris Brandolino told The AM Show Monday "it will be a rough day."
"Wellington especially south to Buller, Nelson, Motueka, Westport, even towards Christchurch - they've got a good drop of rain," he says.
"Blenheim as well. So far southern North Island and the northern half of the South Island."
Mr Brandolino warns the "short and sharp" weather could on Tuesday hit right at rush hour.
"I think tomorrow the impact in the Wellington area could be quite significant," he told RadioLIVE.
"There could be some very heavy rain that falls at the wrong time... rush hour - so there could be some high impacts there."
WeatherWatch's head forecaster Philip Duncan agrees, warning the storm will be damaging.
"The area that I'm most concerned about is the West Coast. I think they could be in for some very strong winds, damaging gusts," he says.
"And then we've got this really intense heavy rain crossing over the South Island as well."
He says rain will be worst around the area north of Westport and Nelson - while Dunedin and Canterbury are a flood risk.
"Canterbury could be dealing with some very intense rain, and the numbers are anywhere between 100mm and 200mm," Mr Duncan says.
"I could see winds gusting well over 120k in exposed areas, and that will cause some damage."
Waves are expected to be over six-metres high, along with the gale-force gusts.
Fortunately, the upper North Island will escape.
"There's not going to be much north of that," Mr Duncan says.
"Here in Auckland, north of the Bombays, not much of an impact."


An order was issued July 11 to pick up the 12-year-old on a charge of manslaughter, and he was arrested on Wednesday and taken to the Juvenile Assessment Center.
It is not known there was a seven-month delay between the incident and the arrest. No details were given about who, if anyone, was supervising the children at the time of the incident.


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I am in the midst of preparations for my little girl's upcoming birthday celebration. We are going for a fancy tea party theme, and I am having a good time planning it all out. In my fantasy world, I would have beautiful letterpress invitations, but in real life, they are just a bit out of my budget. So, I came up with the idea of doing some embossing for a similar kind of look that would be inexpensive and easy to do myself.
What's that thing sticking off the front of my Kitchenaid, you ask? It's a pasta roller!! And, guys, it embossed my invitations like a BOSS.
I imagine a hand powered pasta roller would work great too. But I can't guarantee it will work perfectly (please don't send me angry emails if you break your pasta roller!). I have used my pasta roller to make pasta maybe three times in the six years we have had it, so I wasn't too concerned about it not making it through the paper embossing experiment.
I wanted the embossing on the top and the bottom of the invitation, so I put the invitation in the folder where I wanted the embossing to start.
I had my pasta roller set to the largest width and set the Kitchenaid to the lowest speed, which worked well. Hold on to the folder and the paper as it goes through the roller. Grab the folder as it comes through the bottom of the roller so it doesn't just drop out. And that's it!
What do you think? I really like the way they turned out. Do you have a pasta roller that may become your new embosser?
Haha. What a good idea!
I used a hand crank type of pasta roller and it worked just fine too. I'll probably get more use out of it for embossing than pasta making.
very creative and cool- love it- I have the mixer but no pasta attachment- i will look for one now!
Hi,thanks for the great idea for using something I haven't used in years. I bought my pasta roller to use with polymer clay I haven't made anything with clay in a few years. I gave all my clay to my grand kids but kept the roller because they were too young to use it.
I hope it works for you! Put that pasta roller to work!
All I have is a rolling pin .. would that work if you taped everything first so nothing moves around?
I tried using a rolling pin first and didn't have a lot of success, but I think it is possible. Taping everything in place would definitely help. I think the trick is getting enough pressure, which is a bit more difficult with a rolling pin. Good luck!