Chapman's Department of Physical Therapy offers a "boot camp" that takes a creative approach to rehab.
's stroke boot camp looks nothing like a traditional physiotherapy session. On any given day there might be a competitive game of wheelchair hockey or Guitar Hero. Campers might be clad in commando outfits, crawling across the floor Marine-style through an obstacle course with mock barbed wire — or even paddleboarding on dry land with Beach Boys music blasting in the background.
Another way the Chapman sessions differ from traditional hospital or outpatient stroke therapy is the level of intensity — up to six hours a day. "Even with inpatient rehab, research shows that for every hour of therapy, you do about a half hour of active work. So we try to keep people moving," McKenzie said.
According to the American Heart Assn., nearly 800,000 Americans have strokes each year — one every 40 seconds — and stroke ranks No. 4 among all causes of death. The good news is there has been a decline in stroke mortality over the past few decades; the bad news is that the vast majority of these survivors are left with physical and mental challenges.
"Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and we need to be doing a better job of providing services to people," McKenzie said.
This summer will mark the fourth year in a row that McKenzie and Chapman have organized their boot camp for stoke survivors. It will be a five-day course over a two-week period, with enrollment limited to no more than 25 people.
Participants have ranged in age from 19 to mid-80s. McKenzie says a lot of them are working-age people who fall into a sort of "no-man's land" when it comes to health insurance.
"They had insurance through their employer and then they become disabled, and once their disability and insurance benefits expire, they lose that job and they lose insurance," she explained.
McKenzie believes that one of the strengths of the Chapman program is the interaction that participants have with one another and the support network that grows out of attending the camp.
If you would like to support Chapman's Physical Therapy programs- including events like Stroke Boot Camp- you may now do so through the program's new online giving portal.
Stroke Boot Camp, Fall 2014 a Great Success!
28 people shared or liked this.


Everyone talks about what school to choose, if it's better studying abroad, academy or university. But no one tells you how you will come out (alive) of this experience.
Talking to a fashion student would probably lead you to the conclusion that it's not worth attending it at that cost. I don't agree with that, because I firmly believe that every experience has a lot to teach us.
Of course I would suggest some schools over others, but I wouldn't say that some are useless. I would say that they are all deadly. I can shout "I'm a survivor" out loud!
Do you want to defend yourself from major fashion schools threatens? Here you are.
You won't eat for about 4 years. You and your family will have all your money spent over your school's fees. Moreover, you'll probably have to buy all the things you need by yourself, paper and Pantone included!
You are going to be super busy for the whole length of the course. You are going to attend many different courses, and each subject is going to require the same commitment. It's like being a fashion designer already, a fabric expert, a marketing worker, a costume designer, a pattern designer, a stylist, and everything at the same time.
You are going to be super worried for what to put on in the morning. The problem is that everyone in your school is a likely stinging critic of your outfits. Most of the time they will talk about it behind your back, if you're unlucky, they will say it roughly in your face. Even your teachers. And they will judge you by what you are wearing of course, beside of judging you on how well you can draw.
You have to be very strong. I mean strong in your style. Every teacher will try to influence you a bit too much. Try hard to be yourself, and keep your self-esteem high. But don't deny the communication between you and who's around you: your teacher will eventually disagree on your choices, but if you're sure about yourself and your style, they will respect your ideas.
Keep in mind that you are out of high school. A fashion school is not actually a school. It is a job. You are starting to work in fashion industry the very first day you step into your first course.
Think about it this way, and you will go the right way!
Ideas must be above everything else, also quality. I mean that you have to come up with many good ideas you can, and you have to depict them in a good way. But if you keep yourself plunged in a drawing for a whole afternoon, you won't be able to finish a 100 drawings project, and show all of your fantastic ideas.
Please please please stay true to yourself. Learn the basics, the methods, the know-how, but don't let anyone speak a word about your style. This is something you have to grow in by yourself. Teacher's suggestions must be welcome, but you have to keep going your way. Don't be afraid to show yourself, you won't regret it, I tell you.
Last but not least, be kind. You have to keep good relationships with colleagues, other students, teachers and pr of your school. Those people are the ones who will find you internships, jobs and support for all the length of your courses, and later.


text:
Chengzhong (kinesiska: 城中, 城中街道) är en sockenhuvudort i Kina. Den ligger i provinsen Jiangsu, i den östra delen av landet, omkring 110 kilometer nordost om provinshuvudstaden Nanjing. Antalet invånare är . Befolkningen består av  kvinnor och  män. Barn under 15 år utgör  %, vuxna 15-64 år  %, och äldre över 65 år  %.

Runt Chengzhong är det tätbefolkat, med  invånare per kvadratkilometer. Närmaste större samhälle är Taizhou,  km norr om Chengzhong. Runt Chengzhong är det i huvudsak tätbebyggt.

Genomsnittlig årsnederbörd är  millimeter. Den regnigaste månaden är juli, med i genomsnitt  mm nederbörd, och den torraste är januari, med  mm nederbörd.

Källor

Orter i Jiangsu

WP:Projekt Kina

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


2 bedroom top-floor condo overlooking Long Sands Beach and the new Bathhouse now available for your vacation getaway. Located in a 4-unit building with yours on the third floor, you'll be able to pick your spot on the beach from the deck before you head over for the day. Open space for living/dining/kitchen, deck with direct ocean and beach views, 2 bedrooms and a full bath. One-car garage and storage on the ground level, parking for 2 cars, convenient and close to the action. Can be (and is) rented for summer weeks.
This warm & inviting end unit boasts natural light throughout! Offering 3 BR's, 2.5 Baths, master bedroom suite, gleaming hardwood floors, open concept kitchen & living area; great for entertaining, ample closet and storage space, covered porch(s), yard, 1 car garage & full unfinished basement. While being perfectly situated and close to all the amazing amenities Saco has to offer, it's truly a must see! Well maintained and cared for - come make this house your home!


text:
First Look: The BAU Seeks A Serial Killer's Help On 'Devil's Backbone'
'Devil's Backbone'
When guards at a Virginia prison intercept a package with evidence relating to the kidnapping of two boys several years ago, the BAU questions a notorious serial killer who may have information on the boys' whereabouts, on Criminal Minds, "Devil's Backbone," on Wednesday, April 20, 9/8c on CBS.
The BAU seeks information from a notorious inmate.
"Devil's Backbone" (Episode 21, Season 11 of Criminal Minds)
Reid tries to get some answers.
The prisoner doesn't easily comply.
The team tries to decode a letter.
Hotch analyzes the evidence.
The team notices a trend.
The BAU is one step closer to locating the UnSub.
Hotch delves deeper into the case.
The prisoner voices her demands.
Garcia and the team track the killer's whereabouts.
The BAU depends on the prisoner's information.
Reid goes into the field.
Watch Full Episodes Of Criminal Minds On CBS.com
More on CBS.com:
Criminal Minds: Do You Remember These 10 Shocking Moments?
6 Times Hotch Dropped His Poker Face—And We All Swooned!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Keras loadmodel for custom model with custom layers - Transformer documentation example I am running the following example:
https://keras.io/examples/nlp/text_classification_with_transformer/
I have created and trained a model as described, and it works nicely:
inputs = layers.Input(shape=(maxlen,))
embedding_layer = TokenAndPositionEmbedding(maxlen, vocab_size, embed_dim)
x = embedding_layer(inputs)
transformer_block = TransformerBlock(embed_dim, num_heads, ff_dim)
x = transformer_block(x,training=True)
x = layers.GlobalAveragePooling1D()(x)
x = layers.Dropout(0.1)(x)
x = layers.Dense(20, activation="relu")(x)
x = layers.Dropout(0.1)(x)
outputs = layers.Dense(2, activation="softmax")(x)

model = keras.Model(inputs=inputs, outputs=outputs)

"""
## Train and Evaluate
"""

model.compile("adam", "sparse_categorical_crossentropy", metrics=["accuracy"])
history = model.fit(
    x_train, y_train, batch_size=1024, epochs=1, validation_data=(x_val, y_val)
)

model.save('SPAM.h5')

How to save and load such custom model correctly in Keras?
I have tried
 best_model=tf.keras.models.load_model('SPAM.h5')
 ValueError: Unknown layer: TokenAndPositionEmbedding

but the model seems to miss the custom Layers. However the following also does not work
best_model=tf.keras.models.load_model('SPAM.h5',custom_objects={"TokenAndPositionEmbedding": TokenAndPositionEmbedding()})

TypeError: __init__() missing 3 required positional arguments:
 'maxlen', 'vocab_size', and 'embed_dim'

also passing the class does not solve.
best_model=tf.keras.models.load_model('SPAM.h5',
 custom_objects={"TokenAndPositionEmbedding": TokenAndPositionEmbedding})
 TypeError: __init__() got an unexpected keyword argument 'name'

 best_model=tf.keras.models.load_model('SPAM.h5',
{"TokenAndPositionEmbedding":
TokenAndPositionEmbedding,'TransformerBlock':TransformerBlock,
'MultiHeadSelfAttention':MultiHeadSelfAttention})

A: Based on this answer you need to add this method (get_config) to each class (TokenAndPositionEmbedding and TransformerBlock):
TransformerBlock:
def get_config(self):
    config = super().get_config().copy()
    config.update({
        'embed_dim': self.embed_dim,
        'num_heads': self.num_heads,
        'ff_dim': self.ff_dim,
        'rate': self.rate
    })
    return config

and change the constructor to
def __init__(self, embed_dim, num_heads, ff_dim, rate=0.1, **kwargs):
    super(TransformerBlock, self).__init__()
    self.embed_dim = embed_dim
    self.num_heads = num_heads
    self.ff_dim = ff_dim
    self.rate = rate
    self.att = layers.MultiHeadAttention(num_heads=num_heads, key_dim=embed_dim)
    self.ffn = keras.Sequential(
        [layers.Dense(ff_dim, activation="relu"), layers.Dense(embed_dim),]
    )
    self.layernorm1 = layers.LayerNormalization(epsilon=1e-6)
    self.layernorm2 = layers.LayerNormalization(epsilon=1e-6)
    self.dropout1 = layers.Dropout(rate)
    self.dropout2 = layers.Dropout(rate)

TokenAndPositionEmbedding:
Similarly, add this to the class
def get_config(self):
    config = super().get_config().copy()
    config.update({
        'maxlen': self.maxlen,
        'vocab_size': self.vocab_size,
        'embed_dim': self.embed_dim
    })
    return config

and replace constructor with:
def __init__(self, maxlen, vocab_size, embed_dim, **kwargs):
    super(TokenAndPositionEmbedding, self).__init__()
    self.maxlen = maxlen
    self.vocab_size = vocab_size
    self.embed_dim = embed_dim
    self.token_emb = layers.Embedding(input_dim=vocab_size, output_dim=embed_dim)
    self.pos_emb = layers.Embedding(input_dim=maxlen, output_dim=embed_dim)

The reason why you cannot save and load the custom layer is explained in the answer link. When loading just do:
x = load_model('model.h5', custom_objects = {"TransformerBlock": TransformerBlock, "TokenAndPositionEmbedding": TokenAndPositionEmbedding})

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


KUNM Youth Radio Programmer Taylor Griffin interviewed KUNM Youth Radio Blogger Victor Torres about his struggle with being a student with disabilities at his middle school. Victor has cerebral palsy and while it affects the development of movement and posture, as well as speech, it has no effect on his mental capacity. Sadly, he was treated as such by his teachers and ended up taking legal action.
This interview explores how Victor and his attorneys changed policies at the school for students with disabilities.
I know it requires a bit of attention to understand Victor in this piece. But luckily, KUNM Youth Radio posted an excerpt of the interview in video from YouTube, so watch it right here!
And watch other KUNM media at their section of the Youth Media International website!


The Biocomplexity Station was established in 2005 to measure landscape-level carbon, water and energy balances at Imnavait Creek, Alaska. The station is now contributing valuable data to the AON project that was established at two nearby stations. These will form part of a network of observatories with Abisko (Sweden), Zackenburg (Greenland) and a location in the Canadian High Arctic which will provide further data points as part of the International Polar Year. This particular part of the project focuses on simultaneous measurements of carbon, water and energy fluxes of the terrestrial landscape at hourly, daily, seasonal and multi-year time scales. These are the major regulatory drivers of the Arctic climate system and form key linkages and feedbacks between the land surface, the atmosphere and the oceans. We will provide a comprehensive description of the state of the regional Arctic system with respect to these variables, its overall regulation and controlling features and its interaction with the global system.
There are two types of data that are collected from each flux station involved in the AON project: high frequency eddy covariance (EC) data and low frequency means of meteorological and subsurface data. On a daily basis, approximately 75Mb of high frequency binary data and 16Kb of low frequency ASCII data is collected. This station is equipped with an RF modem that transmits all of the data back to a telemetry computer at the Northeast Science Station (NESS).
This station uses a CR3000 datalogger and a loptop to collect and store data. The CR3000 is used to measure the open-path EC equipment which is sampled at 10Hz. Mircrometeorlogical data is scanned at 0.33Hz and all datapoints are averaged every half hour. The CRBASIC program that controls the datalogger has been written in such a way that only the most basic corrections and filtering are applied to the raw data. These would include shifting the CSAT3 and LI7500 data arrays by 2 and 3 scans respectively to account for the inherent processing delays of these sensors.
The high frequency data is processed to yield mass and energy fluxes using a Reynold's decomposition after which the following corrections are applied: the WPL correction, a coordinate rotation, a spectral correction and the 'Burba' correction. Further quality controls flags are generated such as a stationarity test and a foot print analysis.
2) Parameters that are based on the Automatic Gain Control of the LI7500 (AGC - lens transmissivity flag). If this value exceed a given threshold, the lens of the LI7500 is assumed to be obstructed by ice or snow. All measurements from this sensor and all radiation sensors are then assumed to be similarly obstructed and this data is filtered.
5) Parameters for previously flagged data including '-9999'. Dataloggers or other processed datasets for which raw data isn't available will sometimes have various flag strings in use. This will standardize everything to 'NaN'.
1) A P-th order autoregressive model. Two values for each missing element in a time series are predicted with a forward-looking model and a back-looking model. This function is currently looking 168 elements in both directions in a time series and both predictions are averaged to produce a final estimate. This model is still capable of producing impossible values (ie. negative measurements from a pyranometer) which are filtered out - thus, there may still be gaps in the time series, but they will be minimized.
See the file IC_1523_MetaData_2007.csv for data collection statistics.


With Energy Savings Agreements (ESAs) agencies are able to fund the capital costs of energy efficiency improvements through cost savings. These approaches directly securitize savings achieved through capital improvements.
While energy efficiency is pretty straightforward to calculate, infrastructure projects generate other cost savings as well that might be monetized in the future. It's common to consider avoided costs in infrastructure project analysis, but rare to consider it as a form of revenue that could be used to support capital investment. Framing avoided cost as "NegaRevenue," could encourage both capital markets and cities to expand this approach to more types of projects.
NegaRevenue has great potential to expand beyond the energy space into new areas. For example, could a transit or highway agency use NegaRevenues to invest in new signal infrastructure to reduce operating cost? To make NegaRevenue financing work on those kinds of projects, cities will need to track project benefits and resulting cost savings more closely. It will also help to link the capital and operating budgets, with techniques such as the ones described below.
Capital investment can be paid off via operational savings. The converse is also true—greater operational investments might create savings from avoiding capital costs. Since operating and capital budgets are usually managed separately, and in different budget cycles, most cities lack a framework allowing city employees to propose either kind of project. Creating a mechanism by which departments could link the dollars in their operational budgets to the dollars in the capital budget—and vice versa—could help foster even more creative thinking about how to optimize life cycle costs.
Suppose a department identified a capital project that would lead to operational cost savings, compared to current expenditures. For example, purchase of hybrid vehicles for a city fleet might result in substantial fuel savings. Many cities have done this, but the savings could be accelerated if there were a direct mechanism for employees to propose a project that would dedicate those savings to financing the fleet upgrade. Where social goals would also be achieved, impact investors may be willing to support the financing. For example, an impact investment fund might be interested in helping a city reduce public health spending due to high rates of type 2 diabetes cases in neighborhoods without bike-able or walkable infrastructure. City staff could identify pedestrian, bicycle, and lighting infrastructure improvements that could facilitate health promotion programs in those neighborhoods.
Capital cost savings could also be used to fund alternative cheaper operational improvements that could eliminate (temporarily or permanently) the need for a capital improvement. For example, funds intended to construct new lanes to reduce congestion could be used for active traffic management, ramp metering, or other operational activities that would deliver an equivalent level of congestion reduction. Instead of building a new prison, or expanding an existing one, employees could propose a restorative justice program that would reduce the need for new prison beds. This could provide a direct source of funding for programs backed by outcomes-based financing.
Almost every year, Alaska's Permanent Fund distributes a dividend to residents that comes from development of publicly owned energy resources like oil and gas. Could the benefits of infrastructure project development be similarly shared? What if governments retained part of the land in infrastructure reuse projects, or adjacent to transit developments, and leased them to the private sector? Part of the returns could be allocated to low-income community members in equity shares. These could be distributed to residents living within the geographic area, below a certain income.
In a sense, urban infrastructure agencies are real estate developers. The three most important things about real estate are, as always, "location, location, location." Unlike traditional developers, cities have an unprecedented power to reshape location. When people think about where a location is, their mental map locates it by the time it takes to reach other places. By improving transit infrastructure, a city can change where a location is in the public mind– from 45 minutes to downtown by bus, to 20 minutes downtown (by rail). By improving walkability, building parks, and improving aesthetics, these amenities can make a formerly distressed area thrive economically to benefit existing residents.
Cities know that these kinds of improvements will increase property values—eventually. Yet tapping into that long-term value can be difficult, especially when most capital sources want to see returns within a decade, or even shorter-term.
Meanwhile many state and local governments are having trouble meeting their pension obligations. Pensions overseas have provided a lot of the seed capital for infrastructure investment funds. Pensions and infrastructure are a natural fit: pensions have money to invest now, and need a long-term payoff; infrastructure projects need money now, and expect a long-term payoff.
Investing a limited amount of state and local pension funds as subordinated capital for placemaking could help shore up pension financing while providing a truly patient source of capital. Communities could be more receptive to projects making a return if that return were shoring up local pension funds.
Bringing that concept to a national level, the federal government could invest a small share of the Social Security Trust fund in resilience projects to address sea level rise and extreme weather. Right now, Social Security investments are severely limited to safe, but low-paying securities. Shoring up coastlines could bolster the United State's most important national pension fund at the same time. Of course, as with all of the projects featured in this guide, the challenge will be identifying a revenue source to pay that investment back.
Challenges for municipal infrastructure agencies seem to increase daily—from deteriorating infrastructure, budget shortfalls, extreme weather events, polarized politics, and persistent and growing racial and income inequity.
Yet enormous private, philanthropic, and impact investing resources are also growing rapidly. These sources of committed, involved capital can help agencies take on the risk of experimenting with new approaches. The accountability provided by new results- and outcome-driven investment models can help cities collect the data they need to refine those approaches. As a result, infrastructure finance innovations are being diffused and adopted at historic rates.
Indeed, many of the new ideas included in this guide are from the past five years (and some of them from the past few months). We hope that the tools, resources, and approaches in this guide will help other cities to develop their own innovative approaches to solving the long-term challenges of equity and resilience.


Have you ever heard a piece of Chinese classical music and marvelled at the way the instruments came together to make a beautiful melody? Do you love the blend of cultures you hear when you listen to songs from other countries? Or do you simply want to learn how to play an instrument? WenLin Chinese School is now offering workshops where you can experience and learn about over 30 different kinds of Chinese musical instruments.
China is known for its wide variety of musical instruments. More than 500 types of Chinese musical instruments have existed and today, more than 100 of them are still frequently used in music. When you book for WenLin's music workshop, our specialised professional musician will bring over 30 kinds of different Chinese instruments to your office, school, or any suitable event settings. Our musician will demonstrate how to play each instrument and how the traditional Chinese orchestra is formed and developed. We offer bowed string instruments, plucked string instruments, wind instruments, and percussion instruments.


text:
Black Dog Films ist eine Doku- und Musikvideo-Produktionsfirma mit Sitz in London und Los Angeles. Zu den Produktionen der Firma gehören Dokumentationen, Musikvideos, Mitschnitte von Konzerten, Fotografie-Veröffentlichungen und die Produktion von Werbevideos. Die von Black Dog Films produzierten Musikvideos wurden mehrfach ausgezeichnet.

Auszeichnungen (Auswahl)

 Loudwire Music Award
 2011: Video of the Year für Mein Land
 Echo
 2011: Bestes Video National für Ich tu dir weh

Filmografie (Auswahl)
 2017: Rammstein: Paris (Zusammenschnitt aus zwei Rammstein-Konzerten in Paris im März 2012)

Regisseure (Auswahl)
 Adam Smith
 Asa Riton
 Jonas Åkerlund

Künstler (Auswahl)
 Madonna
 Rammstein
 Beyoncé
 Britney Spears
 will.i.am
 One Republic
 U2
 Coldplay
 Rolling Stones

Weblinks

 www.blackdogfilms.com/

Einzelnachweise

Unternehmen (London)
Unternehmen (Los Angeles)


text:
Opinion|Friends and Refugees in Need
https://nyti.ms/1PD6bGJ
Friends and Refugees in Need
By Thomas L. Friedman
STOCKHOLM — Now in his last year in office, President Obama is in legacy mode. He has much to be proud of. But if he doesn't want his achievements muddied by foreign policy, he'll spend his last year redoubling his efforts to contain the Middle East refugee crisis before it goes from a giant humanitarian problem to a giant geostrategic problem that shatters America's most important ally: the European Union.
I know — putting "European Union" into the lead of a column published in America is like a "Do Not Read" sign. Maybe I should call it "Trump's European Union." That would go viral. But for the two of you still reading, this is really important.
The meltdowns of Syria, Somalia, Eritrea, Mali, Chad and Yemen and our takedowns of Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan — without proper follow-up on our part, NATO's part or by local elites — has uncorked the worst refugee crisis since World War II. This tidal wave of migrants and refugees is a human tragedy, and their outflow from Syria and Libya in particular is destabilizing all the neighboring islands of decency: Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Kurdistan and Turkey. And now it is eating away at the fabric of the E.U. as well.
Why should Americans care? Because the E.U. is the United States of Europe — the world's other great center of democracy and economic opportunity. It has its military shortcomings, but with its wealth and liberal values, the E.U. has become America's primary partner in addressing climate change, managing Iran and Russia and containing disorder in the Middle East and Africa.
This partnership amplifies American power and, if the E.U. is hobbled or fractured, America will have to do so many more things around the world with much less help.
At a seminar in Davos, Switzerland, sponsored by the Wilson Center, I interviewed David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, which oversees relief operations in more than 30 war-affected countries. He made several key points.
First, one in every 122 people on the planet today is "fleeing a conflict" at a time when wars between nations "are at a record low," said Miliband, a former British foreign secretary. Why? Because we now have nearly 30 civil wars underway in weak states that are "unable to meet the basic needs of citizens or contain civil war."
Second, he said, last year the rescue committee assisted 23 million refugees and internally displaced individuals. Some 50 percent of those going to Europe come directly out of Syria and most of the rest come from Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea — and the international humanitarian relief system "is now being overwhelmed by the numbers."
Last year, within the E.U. bloc there were 56 million truck crossings between countries and every day 1.7 million crossings by people. Preserving that free movement of trucks, trade and people, Miliband added, is a huge "economic prize," but it will not be sustained if E.U. countries feel swamped by refugees who can't be properly registered or absorbed.
More and more countries are now sealing their borders, and anti-immigrant parties are rising everywhere. Sweden has imposed border controls, and its ultranationalist Sweden Democrats party has grown from the fringe to one of the largest. Many in Germany, Sweden and Austria, which have accepted the lion's share of refugees so far, want to seal off Greece from the E.U.'s passport-free internal travel zone if Greece — the first port of entry of many refugees — is unable or unwilling to hold them.
In the past few days, The Guardian reported, national leaders and top E.U. officials warned "that Europe's passport-free travel zone could crumble within weeks, risking the dissolution of the union."
Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany was well intentioned when she opened her country to 1.1 million Arab, African and Afghan migrants last year, but it was also reckless of her to think that so many immigrants, primarily Muslims, could be properly absorbed so quickly into society in Germany — a country that took two decades and billions of dollars to absorb East Germans. Merkel's open-door policy drew even more refugees to the E.U., and now that the Germans want to stop the flow, their neighbors won't take them.
"This refugee crisis is a real arrow pointed at the heart of the European Union," said Miliband. "There is no solution that confines itself within the borders of Europe." As long as there is "war without law and without end in Syria," the refugee flow will continue, with all its destabilizing implications.
Obama did not cause this Syria problem, and he can't fix it alone — but it's not going to get fixed without U.S. leadership. I have shared the president's caution about getting involved on the ground in Syria. But I now believe we need to take another look at establishing some kind of U.S./E.U./NATO safe zone inside Syria and Libya to create space for refugees to remain in these countries. It's not a panacea or cost-free, but letting this refugee disaster fracture the E.U. will be a lot more expensive.


text:
The Curious Case Of Amanda Bynes' Twitter
By Ryan O'Connell, June 10th 2011
http://tcat.tc/17yo9BB
I'm about to give you the best Internet gift ever. Ready? Follow Amanda Bynes on Twitter. Like now. You should've been doing it five minutes ago but you had no idea. I understand. Now you know.
Before I discovered Amanda Bynes' Twitter, I, like most people, never really thought about her. Granted, I've always believed she was talented. She's been doing improv since she was practically a little baby and she recently gave a hilarious performance as a psycho Christian in Easy A. But other than that, she was decidedly under the radar. Her career wasn't necessarily in the toilet but she was clearly having a hard time carving a niche for herself. Then Amanda Bynes made the worst/best career move of her life and signed up for Twitter.
If a celebrity's Twitter is entertaining enough, it can make them relevant again. It's possibly one of the most powerful tools in the industry today. If you're not starring in any noteworthy movies and your agent is screening your calls, just make Twitter your new job. If you tweet enough of your insane thoughts, you could very well be back on top again.
So that's sort of what Amanda Bynes did. She got a Twitter and soon enough she was back in the headlines for announcing her retirement from acting at the tender age of 24. Amanda Bynes retiring from acting is hilarious for a multitude of reasons. One being, of course, her age. At 24, her acting career wasn't exactly prolific enough to merit a lifetime of exhaustion. It's sort of like Lil Bow Wow (or Bow Wow) being like, "I'm pooped from making music these past few years. I think I will spend the next 65 years of my life doing nothing." Amanda Bynes also didn't have the kind of huge career where people would actually give a shit if she stopped. It's like Alexis Bledel from Gilmore Girls announcing that she was finished with acting. What do you say other than, "Okay. Bye?"
Even though she later said she was kidding, Bynes' retiring actually made people pay attention to her again. They knew that she was on a certain level of crazy for tweeting that shit so she probably gained like 30,000 followers from the incident alone. Little did people know that they were in for a real tweet treat by adding her. Here are some of my favorite tweets of hers.
After tweeting that her puppy, Lil Angel, had gone missing and died, Amanda tweeted five days later about a new puppy she just bought.
I got another pomeranian puppy that I'd like to introduce to you, her name is Tiara :)
For those asking if it's too soon for me to get a new puppy, it isn't too soon. Tiara's helping me cope with the loss of Little Angel.
Thank you everyone who understands.
Amanda Bynes on The Things She Loves
I love my family!!!!!
5:41 PM Apr 4th via Twitter for iPhone
I love removing evil folks from my life!!!!
I love the people in my life sooooo much!!!!!
1:58 AM Apr 4th via Twitter for iPhone
Amanda Bynes on Music
NOTHING is better than music
11:34 PM Mar 16th via Twitter for BlackBerry®
What's better than music?
Amanda Bynes on Love and Marriage
I'd date a guy that has a kid or kids if we're in love
5:50 PM Feb 26th via Twitter for BlackBerry®
I take back that I'm only into dating guys that don't have kids
I'm into getting married and having kids with my husband
3:12 PM Feb 16th via txt
only into dating guys that don't already have kids
i want to get married to a good guy that loves me more than he loves his friends…. guys with too many friends aren't good husbands i hear.
i always wanted to get married on 11/11/11 but i will be happy whatever day i get married. it doesn't have to be that day.
February 10, 2011 5:04:05 AM EST via web
that'll be the best day of my life, that and my wedding day
4:50 AM Feb 10th via web
i will immediately twit pic my engagement ring and show everybody
i like dating someone i like but i can't wait to be "off the market" & call my boyfriend my husband.. lots of people are getting engaged….
i only like love when it's deep
10:38 PM Feb 12th via txt
10:24 PM Feb 11th via Twitter for BlackBerry®
Deep Thoughts by Amanda Bynes
i love people that love me
#iwrotethat #latenightdeepthoughts
"everything is connected and connection is everything"
God's always watching
9:34 PM Feb 8th via web
Quotes by Amanda Bynes
I love tweeting quotes, some I find and some I write
February 15, 2011 7:22:03 PM EST via txt
there's somebody for everybody
consistency is everything when it comes to love
12:16 AM Feb 15th via txt
Inconsistent people are so disappointing, you get your hopes up for them and they keep hurting you
If you're not consistent, you get no love from me
Amanda Bynes on Fame
little angel didn't even watch it. she was chewing anything she could possibly chew while I watched it. rude!!!!
2:13 AM Feb 13th via txt
I'm on my couch and in that movie at the same time. whoa.
i'm in that movie. it was crazy… I watched it and saw myself in that freaking movie
I totally just watched Hairspray on ABC.
Amanda Bynes is clearly a sad crazy person but it's not totally her fault. That's what happens when you're a child star—you catch a bad case of Peter Pan Syndrome and become developmentally stunted. Let's just hope she gets into some therapy ASAP and live tweets her sessions.
image – Wikipedia
Ryan O'Connell
I'm a brat.
Amanda Bynes dogs Entertainment Hairspray insane loxe-sex Marriage Quotes Twitter Uncategorized
The 10 Best Amanda Bynes Tweets
Amanda Bynes: The Accidental Modernist?
Do You Think Amanda Bynes Is Trolling Us?
It Is Not Okay To Make Fun Of Amanda Bynes
5 Things Amanda Bynes Should Be Doing Besides Driving A Car
10 Lies Nickelodeon Told Me
14 Things I Miss From The Early 2000s
http://twitter.com/dynamofire	devon maloney
ryan, thank god someone else has finally (somewhat) legitimized my obsession with this account. people have stopped following me because of my bynes retweets. favorite recent one: http://twitter.com/#!/MsAmanda…
THIS IS GREAT! The list of deep thoughts was particularly inspiring and I'll like anything with a Gilmore Girls reference. I'm still rooting for Amanda Bynes (I mean, She's The Man is still one of my favourite movies of all time!) and WHAT THE HELL AM I ADMITTING IN AN INTERNET COMMENT.
http://www.facebook.com/jeffreyjamesskatzka	Je Sk
"I love tweeting quotes, some I find some I write"
AB in LA
Ryan, thanks for helping my career. xoxo Amanda ( …. or am I)
jaskmackey
I love writing quotes, but not Tweeting them.
too rude magazine
basta!!!
http://twitter.com/crapface	Hannah Foster.
"I'm on my couch and in that movie at the same time. "
I can't decide if I want to be her friend or if I want to eradicate her from all existence.
http://thetangential.com	Becky Lang
she dumb
http://www.facebook.com/jinstellakwon	Jin Stella Kwon
MsAmandaBynes_ Amanda Bynes One of the greatest qualities in someone is loyalty4 AprMsAmandaBynes_ Amanda Bynes If you betray me you're OUT OF MY LIFE
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1363230138	Michael Koh
This is too much, ohmigod I am dying
The whitesade got me to follow amanda bynes' twitter 5 months ago…get with the times!
http://twitter.com/jkymarsh	J. Ky Marsh
Apparently I don't find Ms. Bynes' tweets to be as hilarious as the rest of you do. And not because she's a "sad individual." They're just not really funny.
http://twitter.com/suntwee	MarieSa
How do you write a piece about Amanda Bynes' crazy without including a reference to her '08 relationship with Seth Macfarlane
http://twitter.com/fluteattack	Allison Selig
Peter Pan Syndrome, or just a lot of pot.
Imadethisemailup
She's scatterbrained. =/ I'm disappointed. In my mind I liked to believe that one of my most beloved comediennes was actually witty in real life too. 'manda 'manda 'manda 'manda shooowww. what happened to her?
:( disappointed as well
she grew up and become a sniveling pathetic single lady. she needs to own it instead of OBSESSING about it the way she is now. God her account is like a 15 year attention starved girl's. bleck. how can amanda be so funny in her roles and so …. blehck on twitter? I no understand.
http://twitter.com/sophiakiona	Sophia Anderson
My facebook profile says that Amanda Bynes is one of the people who inspires me and I honestly can't tell if I was being ironic when I said that or not.
inflammatorywrit
I don't think I "get" Twitter.
Orkey
Chicky <3
http://www.oneyearintexas.com	Perfect Circles
"hurt people hurt people" is from Greenberg
http://twitter.com/MissKimball	misskimball
she used to be funny and intelligent on twitter then last summer she got possessed by demons and started saying creepy evil stuff. I think her management forced her to have a lobotomy or something
Judge Trudy
BRING OUT THE DANCING LOBSTERS!
amandabynesistheman
I think we are completely misinterpreting Amanda Bynes' Twitter. To me she is CLEARLY intentionally posting scary/sad/bizarre tweetZ as her own mock comedy.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002063779137	Lindsay Wade
I am reading this at work and literally crying from laughter.
Girlchris2011
I have been a Amanda Bynes fan for a long time. She does have a good acting career. She held strong in HairSpray, and What I like about you, is still running in syndication all over the world. Granted she was not in Twilight, witch seems to be the only way a young star can be A listed these days,but she is very talented.She does need to validate her twitter account!!
She's the Man is my favorite drunk movie. Everytime my roommate and I get drunk we leave the party/pub/club/back alley to go home and watch it. I know the entire movie word for word. It's my modern day Dumb and Dumber. Amanda Bynes is hilarious and I could give two shits that her tweets are boarderline crazy – my group texts are just as bad.


text:
How BlackRock Strikes Out on the Issue of Climate Change
Bernard S. Sharfman
Senior Corporate Governance Fellow, RealClearFoundation
There is a growing understanding that BlackRock's increased offerings of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment funds, along with its increased willingness to throw its weight around in the corporate boardroom, are an impediment to the world's ability to deal with climate change. A recent op-ed by Tariq Fancy, BlackRock's former chief investment officer for sustainable investing, helps explain why.
Mr Fancy believes, as do I, that we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sooner rather than later. To that end, Mr Fancy was greatly disappointed to find that while his work enhanced the company's profitability, it had no impact on mitigating climate change. Moreover, he realized that it was highly unlikely that creating ESG funds was going to have any real-world impact on reducing carbon emissions.
Given this insight, Mr Fancy came to the realization that only governments can have a real impact on climate change. Moreover, he concluded that a focus on ESG investing harmed mitigation efforts 'by creating a societal placebo that delayed overdue government reforms.' That is, this focus has reduced our sense of urgency to advocate for strong governmental actions that will have a real impact on mitigating climate change. Mr Fancy refers to this as a 'deadly distraction,' and I agree.
In terms of strong governmental actions, a number of leading business groups would like to see governments focus on 'putting a price on carbon and accelerating the development of carbon capture and other technologies'; 'US and European automakers want subsidies to expand charging infrastructure'; and the AFL-CIO would like to see import taxes placed on goods from high-emissions countries. In contrast to investors simply being satisfied with how their financial advisers have incorporated ESG assets into their portfolios, the quick implementation of such proposals will be what determines whether climate change is significantly mitigated.
Besides the harm caused by focusing too much on ESG investing and reporting, we need to add the unintended consequences of BlackRock and other shareholder activists pressuring energy companies to reduce their exposure to fossil fuels. The economic argument is that energy companies need to reduce their exposure to fossil fuels or they will be stuck with billions of dollars of stranded assets.
An example of such unintended consequences is BP's decision to sell off its entire Alaska oil operations to a private investor, resulting in the company having a much smaller carbon footprint. Moreover, BP was divesting itself of a type of oil that created a higher than average level of emissions when extracted. So, by all appearances, the activists, including BlackRock, got what they wanted from their interference in BP's corporate governance—but there was one problem: the activists did not consider how concerned the new owner was going to be about carbon emissions. The new buyer, a privately owned company, has allegedly allowed these assets to generate a significantly higher level of emissions than what occurred during BP's ownership.
BlackRock's climate-change activism not only has unintended consequences; it is also another deadly distraction because BlackRock is able to influence only those companies in which it holds large amounts of shareholder voting authority. It uses this voting power to engage with and pressure energy companies on various issues. However, it holds no such influence with the national oil companies that own the vast majority of the world's oil and gas reserves. In sum, while this activism may generate good publicity and entice millennials to give BlackRock their business, it misleads investors into believing that BlackRock has significant influence in the fight against climate change when, in reality, it has very little.
I believe that, instead of being part of the problem, BlackRock can be part of the solution by attempting to add 'financial innovation' as a tool in the battle against climate change. Such financial innovation should be targeted to creating new private equity funds that help provide the billions of dollars of funding that will be needed by new and growing carbon-cutting companies. BlackRock can market these funds to the millions of retail investors who currently invest in its products.
Of course, this is easier said than done. Besides the issue of how to market to retail investors billions of dollars of private equity funds composed of relatively illiquid assets, regulatory hurdles must be overcome. For example, BlackRock will have to work with the SEC to expand the definition of 'accredited investor' so that more retail investors will have the opportunity to invest in these funds. Nevertheless, BlackRock has a huge amount of financial and legal resources to draw from, giving it a realistic chance of making a real impact in the fight against climate change.
This post was originally published on RealClearMarkets.
Bernard Sharfman is a Senior Corporate Governance Fellow at RealClearFoundation.
More JoMo Less FoMo: The Case for Voluntary Disclosure of Uncertain Information in Securities Regulation
Ido Baum | Dov Solomon
Securities regulation is one of the most harmonized fields of business law. Observing disclosures about cross-border transactions between public corporations traded in the United States and the...


text:
Greatest NBA player of all-time: LeBron James or Michael Jordan? | The Tylt
Greatest NBA player of all-time: LeBron James or Michael Jordan?
#TeamLeBron
#TeamJordan
It's one of the most polarizing sports debates ever, and a classic case of old school versus new school. Some fans say topping Michael Jordan's legacy is impossible, but others argue LeBron James is actually the greatest NBA player of all-time. There's no denying MJ's status as a sports icon, and once you have a honorific title—it's yours, right? But some think that James at 32-years-old has accomplished more than MJ did at the same age. Who do you think is the GOAT? 🏀
LeBron's icon is growing, and he is constantly being compared to Jordan's legacy. LeBron once told Sports Illustrated, "My motivation is this ghost I'm chasing. The ghost played in Chicago." While some argue James has already surpassed MJ's legacy, others say that no one can.
LeBron is now 32-years-old. He's not slowing down just yet. At the age of 31, he nearly tied MJ in awards and recognition at the same age. Both had three rings and was the NBA Finals MVP three times. Yet at 31—James had been named the NBA MVP more than Jordan—a total of four times compared to MJ's three times.
Watch LeBron's highlights, and check out his career stats.
https://youtu.be/VUrsnDWFaJw
But beyond the age of 31—MJ won six championships and five NBA MVP awards. Just to name a couple of his accomplishments in his career. And let's be honest—there would be no LeBron without Jordan. Period. Jordan set the foundation for what a basketball player could accomplish as an athlete, celebrity and world icon. No one's touching his legacy—including LeBron.
Watch Jordan's highlights, and check out his career stats.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uWZcFCsi2w
Sometimes you have to pass the torch, and that's the case with Jordan to King James.
The Guardian's Bryan Armen Graham wrote:
There's never been anyone with a wide-ranging a skill set as James, who became the first player ever to lead both teams in all five major statistical categories – points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocked shots – over the course of an entire playoff series. But to many observers it will never be enough.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/jun/20/lebron-james-cleveland-cavaliers-nba-title-goat
For the Win listed some of the reasons why King James is surpassing Jordan's legacy.
1. LeBron is a completely different player2. Handling the hype3. LeBron's developed edge4. Winning with less5. Bringing glory to Cleveland will resonate more6. LeBron will win more titles and MVPs
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/6-reasons-lebron-james-will-be-better-than-michael-jordan
But not everyone is convinced LeBron can ever replace Jordan as the greatest.
Former Miami Heat teammate Dwyane Wade told ESPN King James won't surpass MJ's legacy.
"You can't go past it," Wade said of Jordan's legacy. "How can you? That's as great as it gets, man. The only thing you can do, like I said, is be A-1, A-B. There's no way higher."
LeBron is great, but not MJ great—basically.
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17730592/dwyane-wade-says-best-lebron-james-do-tie-michael-jordan-legacy
MJ recently celebrated his 53rd birthday, and everyone was reminded why he's the greatest. Fox Sports made sure of that.
He elevated the entire NBA and propped it on a cloud. He popularized basketball in dozens of countries all over the world, and his last name is recognized and celebrated across cultures and oceans.
http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/michael-jordan-birthday-chicago-bulls-charlotte-hornets-021716
But LeBron has a lot more time to do more than what Jordan did.
Though Jordan is truly one of a kind.
Every generation has the opportunity to be better. Hence—LeBron's the greatest.
People fail to realize that every generation evolves and brings something better. LeBron is better than Jordan! #TeamLeBron
— Rxcklxss (@Jigsaw495) May 3, 2016
LEBRON "GREATEST OF ALL TIME" JAMES.
13X ALL STAR
— LeGreatestToEverDoIt (@PrimeLeBron) February 20, 2017
Gif proving Lebron James is the GOAT. Don't @ me pic.twitter.com/8KmFzZFbt3
— Everett Mason (@evmason81) February 24, 2017
nobody has ever scored, passed, rebounded, and defend like Lebron does every game. Therefore he is the greatest of all time.
— j-flewww. (@yahoo_flores) February 24, 2017
But some say no matter how hard LeBron tries he'll never be Jordan. NEVER!
Michael Jordan is the greatest player of all time Lebron could do a 720 dunking over the moon and he won't be Jordan ... Kobe #2 btw
— Flea Kolombo (@WhoIsFlea) February 8, 2017
Happy Birthday to the 🐐! The Greatest of All Time! Michael Jordan! pic.twitter.com/DWeUpnKkjc
— Jerad Tibbetts (@23jtmoney) February 17, 2017
Happy Birthday to the 14-Time NBA All-Star, 6-Time NBA Champion, 6-Time NBA Finals MVP, & 5-Time NBA MVP, the GOAT Michael Jordan! 🎊🎉🐐 pic.twitter.com/SdP5uhcqr3
— NBA SKITS (@NBA_Skits) February 17, 2017
MJ's the greatest in the NBA and the greatest period!
Since I missed the biggest day yesterday #BHM Day 23 the 🐐. The greatest athlete of all time Michael Jordan. pic.twitter.com/gNX5agnteI
— Jordan Johnson (@JJSlimShady9) February 24, 2017
"It's the only argument I need, Shawn!"
Even in popular culture, sports fans have argued who's the GOAT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=17&v=gAbojIyN1zY
Favorite game show host: Steve Harvey or Wayne Brady?
Are you friends with your smart assistant?
Would you finance or lease your car?
Favorite edgy pop singer: Halsey or Charli XCX?


West Don Lands Revitalization Project – Elite Construction Inc.
Description: A multi-phased project to revitalize city land at Toronto's Waterfront which will be the site of the 2015 Toronto Pan Am & Para Pan Games for the Athletes Village. The project involves both below ground servicing & foundation work supporting complex above ground structures such as the Flood Protection Landform.


Please come for a tour of our Preschool at your convenience. We cannot wait to show you the amazing features of our program! To schedule a tour today, contact our school office at 407-313-7222 (PCCA). At Pine Castle Christian Academy, we provide a faith-based and fun early childhood learning environment. It is a full day program for children ages three and four. Through an engaging, thematic center-based system, the students are fully prepared for kindergarten and life-long success.
Classroom Centers: Each week the classroom is transformed with thematic centers to help our students develop spiritually, physically, emotionally, and cognitively. Large group instruction is utilized each day for subjects such as Bible, math, and reading. Students also participate in library, music, PE, chapel, and STEAM.
Fine and gross motor skills are developed to enhance physical development.


More than 3,200 students in grades 4 to 6 got a taste of the Old West with educational presentations and displays set up as part of Ted Walker Youth Day Jan. 28 at Old Tucson Studios.
Walker was a longtime business leader, philanthropist and Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation Commission member. Walker was instrumental in the expansion of the county's park system from 1953 to 1973. The Pima County Board of Supervisors renamed Ina Road Park in Walker's honor in 1979 for his contributions to the development and expansion of the park system.
Walker founded a Youth Day celebration in 1988 to give local schoolchildren an opportunity to experience Southwestern history and culture. At this year's event, Old Tucson presented western entertainment and educational living history presentations that are aligned with core standards. Previous educational booths included the: Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, Pima County Environmental Education, Buffalo Soldiers, Arizona Game and Fish, Postal History Museum, Pima County Public Library and many more.
Ted Walker Youth Day is sponsored by Pima County Natural Resources, Parks and Recreation in partnership with Old Tucson Studios, Pima County Parklands Foundation, Dan Felix Memorial Fund and Horse Tales Literacy Program.


Watermeal in Markleeville, CA can be a real problem for municipal and home owners ponds and lakes as well as golf course ponds throughout the State of California. Now there is help with controlling and removing Watermeal in Markleeville. Check out our machines by clicking here.
Water plants are plants which have adapted to living in water places (salt water or fresh water). These are often known as hydrophytes and / or macrophytes. A lot of these plants must have specific variations for existing submerged in water, and / or at the water's surface. The most prevalent adaptation is aerenchyma, but floating foliage and very finely dissected leaves are also typical. Water plants can only grow in water or in mud which is completely soaked with water. They're consequently a normal component of wetlands.
Aquatic plants are for the most part an advantageous portion of the water body, be it a lagoon or possibly a fish-pond. The water vegetation is a source of nutrition, cover and oxygen to the wildlife dwelling in the pond or lagoon. Yet unfortunately left uncontrolled most of these water plants are able to propagate easily and constrain the activities within the fish-pond or lake. That's when these particular aquatic plants come to be water weeds.
A straightforward classification of an aquatic weed is a plant that grows (typically too densely) inside of an area in a way that it effects the usefulness and / or enjoyment of that area. A lot of prevalent examples of aquatic plants that will end up being unwanted weeds are water milfoil, duckweed, pondweed, Watermeal, water hyacinth, cattail, bulrush, ludwigia, and many others. They will often flourish within ponds, lakes, streams, rivers, navigation channels, storm water basins and channels, wetlands and lagoons. Typically the growth may perhaps be due to a number of elements for instance excessive nutrients within the water as well as the arrival of rapidly-growing exotic varieties. The problems caused by aquatic unwanted weeds are many, which range from unpleasant growth and nuisance aromas to blockage of waterways, flood damage, watercraft damage, and in some cases drowning and impairment of water quality.
Most of the time it will be extremely effective and economical to utilize a qualified aquatic weed control business to cut out and control your water weed troubles. Within California probably the most competent organization is DK Environmental. DK Environmental is located in the San Francisco Bay area yet performs aquatic weed extraction everywhere in the State of California. The machines that DK Environmental utilizes is really distinctive to the western Unites States. Featuring number of DK can access virtually any water body.


text:
My favorite medium
On December 9, 2019 By broadsideblogIn behavior, culture, journalism, life, Media, music, Technology
My poor little radio! Still working, even after (!) it fell off a shelf into a bucket of soapy water last week
A writer…Must be print!
Radio.
I grew up in Canada, where the CBC was huge; we now listen to it on the Internet, and it makes me homesick!
At boarding school, always sharing a room with three or four others, we'd get into radio wars, turning up our little transistors as loud as possible to drown out competing music.
Guess whose radio got confiscated?
As a teenager living in Toronto with my father, the CBC nightly news show, As It Happens, dominated every dinner.
I didn't own a television in my 20s. In the days before cable and hundreds of streaming services — and with plenty of friends to hang out with — it wasn't interesting.
So radio has long been my low-cost, portable stalwart companion.
When I was a reporter at the Globe & Mail, Canada's national newspaper, I'd listen to the news before heading to work — and hear my own stories reported again: "rip and read radio" we called it.
One of my favorite memories was arriving in Salluit, Quebec, at the Arctic Circle in December, on assignment for the Montreal Gazette. The tiny village had disliked a previous story of mine (poorly edited!) and no one wanted to speak with me now.
I had 24 hours there and the flight had cost $5,000.
So I went into the particle board shack that was their local radio station and a local man interviewed me in English, then translated my replies into Inuktitut and broadcast them to the village.
It worked, and people at the village hall that evening shared a powerful story with me of government mismanagement. Not the original assignment, but much stronger.
I recently re-watched the terrific The King's Speech, the 2010 film about King George VI having to give a radio speech despite his stutter.
Then there's Van Morrison's classic Caravan, a radio-themed song, off of Moondance.
My favorite Saturday routine is listening to This American Life at 1:00 pm ET, followed by The Moth, on NPR. The first is a set of three related true-life stories, the second story-telling before a live audience by regular (coached) people. I enjoy "appointment radio" — when, of course, everything is now easily listened to by podcasts.
I also enjoy WKCR's reggae Saturday morning show, followed by Across 110th St., with funk and blues; it's the radio station for Columbia University.
Then our favorite, TSFJazz, from Paris, which plays a phenomenal range of music, with and without lyrics.
I work alone at home, without kid or pets, so the radio is such a welcome companion, whether music or talk show while television requires me to sit still in one place; I can enjoy the radio lying in bed or the bath or doing some housework at the same time.
In our car, we have Sirius XM, with its enormous array of stations — from Canadian comedy to my current favorite, Channel 163, Chansons, which only plays French music, a mix of country (!), folk, hip-hop, pop. It's helping me stay fresh with my French vocabulary and introducing me to so many great new performers.
I love this one, Courir, by Gaspé musician Guillaume Arsenault.
Do you listen to or enjoy radio?
CBClistening to the radioradioTSFJazzWFUVWKCR
Two chairs
A rough week
20 thoughts on "My favorite medium"
Great post – I like listening to the radio while I work. Sometimes I need uplifting high energy music, sometime just smoothing classics…
Thanks! I love that there's so much variety, too.
Inkplume
I love radio, especially shows with storytelling. One of my favourites is a blend of music and stories: Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap on CBC Radio. Each week, he has a theme and plays songs related to the theme. But before each song, he has an anecdote about the band or the song that is always fun or interesting to hear.
Thanks! Good tip…will look out for it.
kennynines
This sounds waaaaaaaaaaay cool, I listened to BTO all through the '70's, there was no getting away. I'm with you on the storytelling. There's a show on NPR called "This American Life" that has tales of every kind, all allegedly true. Another one I really love is "Selected Shorts", short stories read mostly by actors and actresses,, well curated and always entertaining. I'll be checking out Bachman's show this evening. Thanks for the heads up.
The radio is great on the way to places in and around Columbus. It's actually how I get most of my diet of music from the 1980s. Anywhere further out, and I switch to audio book (currently The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett).
Nice. The only way I learn new music is the radio since I haven't tried Spotify.
And here I thought I was the only one who wasn't using that app! LOL
that's a great mix. like you, I've enjoyed listening to the radio since I was a young girl, my transistor was my constant companion.now, I still enjoy it. the radio is my companion on my daily commute, when not listening to audio books. I am a fan of our local station, where the dj's play long strings of music of their selection, they are well versed in the backstories, and they are wildly eclectic in taste. on Sundays, they host an on-air 'acoustic brunch' which is always interesting. other than that, I listen to 2 npr stations, both hailing from our local universities, with a dose of jazz, and wonderful shows. I am a podcast fan as well and enjoy learning something from them whenever I listen.
What are the call letters of your local station? I'd like to listen to it online.
http://www.annarbors107one.com/lineup/
after you click on, scroll down to see the shows they do – such an interesting and personal mix
julesparis2013
BBC Radio Four
https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4
and BBC Radio 4 Bookclub
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006s5sf
I use an online service called radio garden. It shows a satellite image of the earth, with green dots showing the locations of different stations worldwide. There is no way to get bored with it.
American commercial radio is turning to plastic, which is a total shame. WKLS, 96ROCK out of Atlanta was a great station. You got the old and the new, Arlo Guthrie and Devo,, Lynyrd Skynyrd and David Bowie. If you want some progressive jazz, you could find it on WRAS (Georgia state) and WREK (Georgia Tech). These stations also played a variety of other styles, WRAS being the source for Punk, New Wave and Alternative sounds and WREK had Stonehenge, three hours of the greatest psychedelic rock EVER. Then there was WBIE, a country station that could have been broadcasting from some dude's shed. Pure country gold all day and all night. I'm glad I can change the station with a switch on my steering wheel. I have to do it a lot.
Thanks! This sounds cool.
I've now been in the radio business for over 30 years and I still love it. Always will. No matter how well you plan a board shift, you never know what's going to happen – what an on-air guest will say, when equipment will fail and you have to fill the dead air with nothing but your voice, when something momentous happens in the world around you and it's your job to convey that to a sea of unseen listeners. There's nothing like it. Coincidentally, my husband's pet project right now is restoring a tabletop radio shaped like a microphone that was given out as a promotional item in 1959 when the current radio station I work for signed on for the first time.
Radio rules! How cool that this is your world.
Pingback: [BLOG] Some Friday links | A Bit More Detail


text:
Before and after photos show scale of tornado destruction in Kentucky, Illinois and Arkansas
Satellite images detail scenes of devastation from the rare December tornadoes that hit multiple states and killed at least 74 people.
Kentucky man describes saving neighbor trapped in tornado debris
Dec. 13, 202104:35
Dec. 13, 2021, 10:32 PM UTC
By Jiachuan Wu and Doha Madani
A rare December tornado outbreak across multiple states killed at least 74 people, with many more unaccounted for, on a path of destruction that nearly leveled entire towns.
One of the tornados managed to cross four states — Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky — in four hours, some people dubbing it a "Quad-State Tornado." Communities like Mayfield, Kentucky, were almost entirely devastated, and thousands of people have been displaced.
Satellite images from before and after the storm show the level of devastation in some of the worst-hit areas.
Six people were killed in Edwardsville, Illinois, when an EF3 tornado touched down at an Amazon warehouse.
The storm destroyed part of the building the length of a football field, causing 40-foot-tall concrete walls to collapse inward on both sides, and the roof fell, Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford said.
Search and rescue crews were sorting through the site over the weekend to find potential survivors.
Monette Manor Nursing Home
Preliminary reviews of reports from Arkansas showed that three tornadoes touched down in the northeastern part of the state. Monette Manor Nursing Home in Monette was almost razed to the ground.
One person died at the home, and five more people were seriously injured.
Mayfield candle factory
The Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory in Mayfield, Kentucky, was among the hardest-hit locations. At least eight people were killed when the factory's roof collapsed, sparking a long search and rescue effort over the weekend.
A survivor, Mark Saxton, said he looked outside Friday night after a third tornado warning unsettled him. It was then, he said, that he saw a tornado headed in his direction and he began to back up to a tornado-safe hallway.
But it was too late, he said.
"Tiles and concrete started falling," he said. Walls imploded. "Everyone started running, so I just dropped to the ground. I got in a fetal position, and the concrete slab fell on top of me."
At least four factory workers said supervisors warned employees that they would be fired if they left their shifts early to seek shelter.
Mayfield, Kentucky
Outside the candle factory, the community didn't fair much better. Mayfield Mayor Kathy Stewart O'Nan told NBC's "Nightly News" over the weekend that the town "is gone."
"We knew it was bad, but not till the sun started coming up did we look at it and saw matchsticks," she said. "Our hearts are broken."
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was unable to give a full estimate of how many residences were gone in the area, but he estimated that the state lost thousands of homes. The streets of Mayfield, population 10,000, were filled with debris, torn-down power lines and trees ripped from the ground.
Wayne Flint, whose family restaurant was flattened, said he was ready to rebuild. "There's nothing left here. So all we can do is just clean up and start again," he said. "That's what we're going to do. ... I don't know what else to do."
Jiachuan Wu
Jiachuan Wu is a national interactive journalist for NBC News.
Doha Madani
Doha Madani is a breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.


Suitable for kids 9-18kg. Free Animal seat cover. Serious buyer only. No negotiation. Self collect.
Perfect condition. Bought at Isetan ~2 years ago. Self collect at Serangoon MRT or the Minton condo.
Rarely used baby stroller 3-wheeler 360deg rotation for front wheel 90deg to 180deg inclination ONE HAND FOLD Full canopy Condition: 9/10 No stains, no tears Well taken care of Bought in Jakarta for $180 Selling for $100 My loss, your gain!
Brand New Spider Man Trolley School Bag. Front Bag can be detachable to use separately. Six Wheeler enable to be pulled up stairs easily. Size : 43cm x 32cm x 19cm. Brand New, never use at all. Bought for my N1 boy, but it's too big for him to pull around.
Can make it into 4 in 1 adaptable seat, safe and easy to use. Used it less than 20 times, it was bought from US, cost USD 1200, but I got a post delivery sickness of seeing it. Foc red velvet cupcakes.
Super comfortable MACPAC Vamoose child carrier for extensive hikes. Sunshade, Rain cover, harness for small infants, detachable daypack and large pocket.


Hebrews 3:7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.


text:
War on Women
#WomenSavingDemocracy
More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Ms. Studios
Women & Democracy
What the Health Care Bill Means for Women
3/24/2010 by Jessica Stites
Obama signs the healthcare overhaul bill into law.; Photo courtesy of White House by Pete Souza / CC BY 2.0.
President Obama signed the 2,409–page health-care reform act into law yesterday, and the analyses of its effects are beginning to come out. Some provisions go into effect immediately, others in 3-6 months, others in 2014. Here's how we know it will affect women:
Contraceptives are covered, which means millions more women will gain access to family planning.
Basic benefits include preventive care such as PAP tests and mammograms—without any co-pays or deductibles—as well as maternity coverage, not currently in most individual policies.
"Gender rating," the practice of charging women more for the same coverage (48 percent in some cases), will be eliminated for individuals and workplaces with under 100 employees.
Discrimination in favor of higher-paid employees will also be banned, so employers will not be able to give lesser plans to lower-paid workers, who are more likely to be women and people of color.
The executive order that President Obama promised to sign in order to gain the votes of Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) and other anti-choice Democrats will implement the "compromise" abortion restrictions proposed by Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE). Abortions cannot be covered by any federal subsidy or funding (in accordance with the longstanding Hyde Amendment), but individuals may buy insurance plans that offer abortion coverage as long as they pay for it with their own money. To "segregate" the money, the policyholder must make two payments, one for the bulk of the coverage and a second minimal amount to an allocation fund that would include the abortion coverage. In addition, individual states may pass a law to "opt out" of allowing abortion coverage.
And here are the major provisions that will affect everyone, women included:
Denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions will be eliminated for children. Right away, there will be a high-risk pool created to enable adults with pre-existing conditions to obtain affordable coverage. Insurance denials for adults with pre-existing conditions will be banned in 2014.
Lifetime caps on coverage will be eliminated immediately, and restrictive annual limits will be capped. When the insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014, no caps will be allowed.
The practice of dropping an insurance policy as soon as an illness is diagnosed or a claim is made, known as rescission, will be banned immediately.
Young people can remain on their parents' health insurance policy until age 26 if they are not covered through an employer plan.
This year the "donut hole" in Medicare prescription drug coverage will begin to close, beginning with a modest payment of $250 for those who are in the donut hole.
Beginning in 2014, about 15 million people will gain access to coverage through Medicaid. Today, Medicaid only includes pregnant women, children under 8, the elderly, blind and disabled living under the federal poverty level. Under the new act, all people living at less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level (e.g. $18,310 for a family of three in 2009) will have health care through Medicaid.
An additional 17 million people will be able to purchase insurance at group rates through the to-be-established state insurance exchanges. The program will require most citizens and legal residents to purchase health insurance coverage, but it is estimated that initially about 90 percent of those purchasing insurance through an exchange will receive federal subsidies or premium credits to make it affordable. These credits will be available to those whose income is between 133 percent and 400 percent of the federal poverty level (approx. $55,000 for a family of three).
Employers with more than 50 employees will be obligated to provide insurance coverage for their employees, or pay a penalty of $2000 per employee.
There will be a formal appeal process for consumers to challenge claim rejections and other unfair insurance practices, with funding to help consumers protect their rights.
What do you think of these pending changes in our health-care system?
This blog is part of the #HERvotes blog carnival. Read more HERvotes posts by Ms.
Tagged: Affordable Care Act, Healthcare, HERvotes, Women's Health
About Jessica Stites
Jessica Stites is Associate Editor at Ms. magazine.
Anti-Abortion Groups Ask Trump-Appointed Judge to Ban Mailing Abortion Pills
Carrie N. Baker
Speaker Nancy Pelosi's Fearless Feminist Legacy
Kathy Spillar
Feminist Daily News
Midterm elections deliver major victories for abortion rights
New Survey: Concern Over Abortion and Equal Rights Top Inflationby 22 Points as Main Drivers of Young Women's Vote in Battleground States
Iranian Women Leading Unprecedented Protests
How Johnny Depp Turned Abuse Allegations Into a Comeback
Corporate Profiteering Is Driving Inflation
Biden Administration Clings to Title 42, Despite Its Harm to Asylum Seekers
About Ms.
Ms. History
Ms. Committee of Scholars
Get Ms.
Give the Gift of Ms.
Manage Your Ms. Membership
Support Ms.
Writing for Ms.
Advertise with Ms.
Programs & Sister Organizations
Feminist Majority Foundation
Feminist Campus
Girls Learn International
Copyright © 2023 Ms. Magazine
Ms. is wholly owned and published by the Feminist Majority Foundation


Some members of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly are angry about the Chief Executive�s continuous stay outside his official residence.
Mayor Kojo Bonsu has been occupying the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Guest House in Kumasi while the assembly spends money to maintain the abandoned house.
The assembly members are pushing for a vote of no confidence in him for this and other alleged breaches of the law.
Since his appointment in March 2013, Mr. Bonsu has stayed in a Ministry of Foreign Affairs bungalow which is less than 50 meters away from the KMA�s official residence at Nhyieaso. The three-bedroom apartment accommodated his predecessors like Patricia Appiagyei and current Regional Minister, Samuel Sarpong.
Angry members of the assembly have petitioned the Presiding Member, Nana Kofi Senya, to call an emergency meeting for impeachment of the Mayor for what they say are disrespect and abuse of office. The Mayor�s refusal to relocate into his official residence is among a list of charges leveled against him by 47 assembly members.
Member for Ridge-Nhyiaeso, Abraham Boadi, who is leading the charge against Mr. Bonsu, insists the assembly has spent funds to renovate the Chief Executive�s residence.
He claims 95,000 out of 110,000 Ghana cedis voted in the 2013/2014 budget has already been spent to renovate the residence.
According to him, several appeals to the mayor to move into the official bungalow have failed.�We�ve complained even on the floor of the assembly several times. We�ve advised the Chief Executive to go to the residence of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly because it is disrespect to the assembly for the Chief Executive to live in a building 50-metres away from the residence of the Chief Executive. We spent a certain amount of money to do renovation because of the new Chief Executive and we are not using it,� Mr. Boadi explained.
But spokesperson for the mayor, Sammy Gyamfi, said he would not move into the residence because his priority was not to immediately furnish it.
He insists the facility requires renovation and furnishing and, as his spokesperson puts it, �little work� at the kitchen as well as living and bedrooms.�Security was an issue. Now that matter has been resolved. There are still some issues to do with the kitchen and one of the bedrooms; not much would be done to the living room because the tiles are still in shape but a couple of curtains, maybe the change of the coatings of the furniture there and other facilities�, Mr Gyamfi said.
According to Mr. Sammy Gyamfi, the mayor prioritizes the needs of residents more than his personal comfort.
He dismissed claims by the assembly members that the place has been renovated, though he concedes the walls were white-washed and wire-fencing erected.
�It has got to do with the Mayor and what his priorities are. He as a leader had to make the decision; 'do I use these scarce resources of the assembly to buy new LCD screen, new wardrobes and beds and all that into my apartment for the sake of my comfort whilst there was an alternative that I can improvise' with so that at the appropriate time that thing be done". A visit to the KMA mayor�s official residence by Nhyira News, however, revealed no major work has taken place on the apartment which looks habitable, without any renovation.
Two assembly security guards man the gate while stewards and house-keepers work around to keep the house in order.
A portion of the landscape compound appear weedy with climbing shrubs taken over the entrance of the tennis court.
A gas cooker in the kitchen is calling for replacement because of its rusty nature whilst cabinets also need refurbishment.
But there is little work to be done in the bedrooms which either need a bed or new set of furniture and television sets at the main living room which is currently stocked with old leather furniture.


text:
Q: Can't get my Geospatial Query to Work. Querying Mongo in Node As soon as a User logs in his/or her location is reported. And continues to report the current users location every 15 minutes there on. Or atleast until their session is over.A users location is read into the Database with the Locate method. It is stored in the location array in the database associated with that specific user. And this is all working fine.
A users location will be read out of the database with the scan method.
I was wondering how to create a 2dsphere around location.coordinates. I know I have to target location.coordinates so mongo knows to treat it as a 2dsphere. So I know I have to use User.ensureIndex({location: "2dsphere"}). My issues/ questions are:
1st) Should it be User.ensureIndex("location.coordinate": 2dsphere) or ("location": 2dsphere). And would this go at the top of the app.js.
2nd) In my scan method I'm trying to create logic and query for documents with a username that matches in addition to being within 300 meters. So lastly my question is my last Mongo query structured correctly
Here's what my mongo Schema looks like:
var userSchema = mongoose.Schema({
  username: {
    type: String,
    required: true,
    unique: true
  },
  password: {
    type: String,
    required: true
  },
  email: {
    type: String
  },
  location:
    {
      type: "Point",
      coordinates: [Number, Number],
      datetime: Date
  },
  points: {type:Number, default:10000},
  imageUrl: {type:String, default:'/img/gravatar.jpg'}
});

This is how my app.js is set up:
var User = require('../models/users.js');

var userController = {

 locate: function (req, res) {

  var data = req.body;
  var date = new Date();
  var username = req.user.username;

  User.findOne({username:username}, function(err, user) {
    if (err) return handleErr(err);

    find = {
      coordinates: [data.longitude, data.latitude],
      datetime: date
    };

    user.location.push(find);
    user.save();

   });

 },

 scan: function (req, res) {

  var date = new Date();
  var twentyb4 = date.setMinutes(date.getMinutes - 15);

  User.find({"datetime": {$gte: twentyb4}}, function (err, user) {
    if (err) return handleErr(err);

    for (var i = 0; i < user.length; i++) {

    //return users other than current user
    if(req.user.username !== user[i].username){

       User.find({$and: [{username: user[i].username}, {$near:   {$geometry: {type: "Point", coordinates: [ req.user.longitude, req.user.latiude ]}, $maxDistance: 300, $minDistance: 0}}]}, function(err, data){
        if (err) return handleErr(err);

          console.log(data.username);

        });

      }

    }

  });

};

So ultimately what the scan function is to do is find all users in the database not including the current user. And then it filters to get just those users that have logged in within the last 20 minutes. And then I filter it down one more time comparing the last reported location of the other users compared to that of the current user.

A: Your schema is wrong, you need to fix this:
  location:
    {
      type: "Point",
      coordinates: [Number, Number],
      datetime: Date
  },

To this:
  location: {
      "type": { "type": String, "default": "Point" },
      "coordinates": [Number, Number],
      "datetime": Date
  },

As the "type" keywork is being confused, and "Point" is not a mongoose datatype.
You also need an index defined for geoSpatial queries:
userSchema.index({ "location": "2dsphere" });

Then your query is quite simple ( you don't need $and here as all query arguments are an "and" condition already ), and you really want $nearSphere here with real world coordinates:
User.find({
    "username": user[i].username,
    "$nearSphere": {
        "$geometry": {
            "type": "Point",
            "coordinates": [ parseFloat(req.user.longitude), parseFloat(req.user.latiude) ]
        },
        "$maxDistance": 300,
        "$minDistance": 0
    }
}, function(err, data) {

});

Being careful to watch that parseFloat in there as well, as I cannot recall offhand if Mongoose actually has the smarts to "type cast" with a $nearSphere query like this.
I would also suggest "don't loop" here, and just get all users other than the current usename all at once. Simple with some pre-filtering and the $in operator:
// Filter out username values only except for the current user
var otherUsers = user.map(function(u) {
    return u.username
}).filter(function(u) { return u != req.user.username });

if ( otherUsers.length > 0 ) {

    User.find({
        "username": { "$in": otherUsers },
        "$nearSphere": {
            "$geometry": {
            "type": "Point",
                "coordinates": [ parseFloat(req.user.longitude), parseFloat(req.user.latiude) ]
            },
            "$maxDistance": 300,
            "$minDistance": 0
        }
    }, function(err, data) {

    });

} else {
   // no-one else is within the time :(
}

Now you tested all the other users in a single query, so you don't need to bother with looping results and the related asynchronous control that you really would require otherwise as well.

A: You only need to create an index once (ensureIndex is deprecated, the same functionality is present in createIndex. Since you're using mongoose, just define the index on your schema, e.g.
userSchema.index({location: '2dsphere'});
Your query is almost there, here's the correct version.
var geoJSONpoint = {
   type: 'Point',
   coordinates: [
       req.user.longitude,
       req.user.latitude
   ]
}

User.find({ username: user[i].username, location: { $near: { $geometry: geoJSONpoint, $maxDistance: 300 } } })
...

A: Heres the working solution:
I needed to have:
var userSchema = mongoose.Schema({
  username: {
    type: String,
    required: true,
    unique: true
  },
  password: {
    type: String,
    required: true
  },
  location:
      {
        type: { type: String, default: "Point" },
        coordinates: [Number, Number],
        datetime: Date
      },
  email: {
    type: String
  }
})

userSchema.index({ "location.coordinates": "2dsphere"});  //In my model

This is my controller in Node (server):
scan: function (req, res) {

    var date = new Date();
    var minusmin = date.setMinutes(date.getMinutes() - 20);

    User.find({ "location.datetime": {$gte: minusmin}}, function (err, user) {

      if (err) return handleErr(err);

      for (var i = 0; i < user.length; i++) {

        //return users other than current user
        if(req.user.username !== user[i].username){

          User.find({ username: user[i].username, "location.coordinates": { $nearSphere: { $geometry: { type: "Point", coordinates: [ req.user.location.coordinates[0], req.user.location.coordinates[1] ]}, $maxDistance: 300 } } }, function(err, data){
              if (err) return handleErr(err);

              console.log(data);

          });

        }

      }

      res.send(user);

    });

  }


text:
Fietsstad (Nederland), een wedstrijd van de Fietsersbond (Nederland) Vanaf 2022 is de titel veranderd in Fietsgemeente.
 Fietsstad (Vlaanderen), een wedstrijd van de Vlaamse Stichting Verkeerskunde samen met de Vlaamse overheid en de Fietsersbond (België)
 een stad/ gemeente met veel fietsers (en meestal ook veel fietsinfrastructuur)