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13 Sep The Red Fish
📅 Published on September 13, 2021
"The Red Fish"
Written by Nick Carlson
Pirarucu.
The Brazilian name for "the red fish," known among scientific circles as the arapaima. If you've never heard of "the red fish" before now, then prepare yourself, because you won't be forgetting it anytime soon.
Imagine a living torpedo, pushing ten feet and five hundred pounds of bone, muscle, and iron-hard scales. Imagine a primordial, upturned, snakelike head, helming a sleek, tapering body behind it, sporting drab olive green on its flanks that melds into vibrant floral red as it approaches its scallop-shaped tail. Now give this creature a psychological addiction to power and speed, and an unyielding temper to match.
To put it another way, people have died from this fish, being struck by their solid, bony heads as they jump. With cracked skulls or ruptured lungs, they fall out of their boats and sink, unable to draw breath, darkness and turbulent mud the last thing they see before the light snuffs out. Those who survive an attack walk away with broken bones, scarred hearts, and a healthy newfound fear literally hammered into them.
In terms of diet, however, they only eat small animals. Humans are off the menu. Their aggressive responses are triggered when they feel cornered, or during the breeding season when protecting their young. But in my opinion that doesn't make it much better. Consider this…which animal would impart the worst death? The one that kills for food, because it has to? Or the one whose only concern is ensuring its own survival…by any means necessary?
That's what we were after. That's what motivated our endeavor of greed and destruction. That's what led to where we are today…here and there…all over the place…spread out so thin we'll never be put back together.
"Acquisitors" is the term I'd use to describe ourselves. Our organization existed solely to provide covert resources in the "acquisition" of whatever it was we were paid to nab. Laws, politics, socioeconomic status, it mattered naught to us, as long as the client followed through with the price we quoted. After that, it was no questions asked. We did what we needed to follow through on our word. No double standards. No acknowledged pleasantries. Point A to Point B.
Depending on the jobs we carried out, and those who fell victim to our work, we were given a host of other labels, each nastier than the rest. Mercenaries. Traffickers. Thieves. Assassins.
And in the case of the red fish…poachers.
I perfectly remember the conversation I had earlier that day. The palace seemed to breathe gold, with its gilded pillars and cavernous hallways that swam in dim candlelight. Private security guards led me down the corridors to my client's den, an opulent office space adorned with expensive frescoes and cages of exotic birds. Behind the client's desk was a window the size of a small house, overlooking the Essequibo River, gleaming silver and yellow in the rising sun.
The whole place stank of exploitation and arrogance. I gazed at the rosewood walls, rising two stories above, almost hearing the cries of the animals and trees that had once called this plot of land home. But I hadn't come here to judge.
My client regarded me with a stony expression as I sat down. Maybe he thought the live jaguar dozing on his desk between us would be intimidating, to give him some kind of edge over me. But I met his face with a similar blankness. It would take more than a jungle cat to impress me.
"Thank you for agreeing to meet me here," he said. He gestured around his den. "You like it?"
"It's very grandiose," I settled with.
"Very," he agreed. "Spared no expense. I have the will and I have the means. Who am I to deny what I want?" He scratched the jaguar's ears, who replied with a syrupy growl. "Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, there are still things in this world that elude me. Have you heard of the pirarucu, gringo?"
"'The red fish,'" I answered. "Yes. I know of it."
"Manna of the gods," he said wistfully. "One fish can feed a village for a week. And for the more culinarily inclined, they make for the most wonderful seared steaks. I tell you man, I've sampled beasts from all over the world, and none compare to the pirarucu."
His tone hardened. "But the local government does not respect my tastes. As we speak, our 'representatives' – and I use that term loosely – are ratifying laws banning the harvesting of the red fish. Try as I might but I cannot sway a coalition of progressive bureaucrats. And all this is on the heels of a biannual feast I throw for my friends in this beautiful palace.
"Every six months I serve prime pirarucu cuts to my guests. It's the only thing I can exclusively offer to them. But if I cannot get what I want this time, then I have no leverage. No standing." He stood up, pacing around his desk. "I refuse to be anything less than I have proven to be. I need to uphold my image. I need the red fish."
"You want me to illegally capture and bring back a wild pirarucu," I guessed.
"Hit the nail on the head," he confirmed, hunching to stroke the jaguar's flank.
I nodded. I never thought I'd have to play a glorified fisherman in my line of work, but work was work and I dwelled on it no further. "Sounds straightforward enough. Can you possibly tell me where I can find them?"
"Actually, I can," my client said, straightening up. "Upriver about twenty miles is a…'reserve,' for lack of a better term. A tract of wetland some liberal environmentalist types have set up for the pirarucu. Probably American," he added with distaste. "The red fish is rare enough in these parts already. Way I see it, you can scour the jungle for days, rooting through lakes and swamps in the off-chance you find a suitable specimen…or you can sneak into that reserve, slip past the Americans, and just pick one up like it was a bag of groceries."
I briefly considered the options. "Expediency is my m.o," I said. "Me and my men will infiltrate that reserve and find you the biggest, fattest pirarucu they have. No one will stand in our way."
My client smiled and held out his hand. "You, sir, are one of the good ones."
The journey upriver could not have gone any smoother. I gathered together a crew of contacts stationed in the country, all dressed in civilian attire. We were to pose as a group of old friends, reuniting in Guyana for a bit of sport fishing along the river, quote-unquote, "just like we used to." We'd take the ferry up to the tributary, claiming we wanted to fish the point where it merged with the main channel, then slowly make our way up until we hit the entrance to the reserve. The gear bags and tackle boxes we brought along with us in fact held spearguns, crossbows, and pistols. We hoped the first two weapons would be all we needed to quickly and stealthily obtain a pirarucu. The pistols would only be for if things got out of hand.
The trip ate up most of the morning. The only noteworthy thing was the chatterbox of a ferryman who took to probing our crew about what we were doing. I handled all the talking.
"What are you all fishing for?" he inquired.
"Payara and trahira, realistically," I answered. "And if we're lucky, surubim."
"Ah, ah, of course!" he exclaimed. "So you're not going after the pirarucu?"
I feigned confusion. "Excuse me?"
"Ah, I don't know any other name, it's the big fish with the red tail that jumps?"
"Oh, you mean the arapaima," I said. "No, no, we're not equipped for those guys."
"Good, good," said the ferryman, turning dour. "They're on the brink, my friend. Thankfully they're about to pass laws to protect them! And it was only because of the tribesmen that our gutless politicians finally went through with it."
"The tribesmen?" I asked, legitimately interested this time.
"Yes, yes, some indigenous tribes sent ambassadors to come out and try to convince our representatives to help them protect the pirarucu," he explained. "The fish is important for their spiritual practices, see, and they're being wiped out faster than they can keep up with. Guess we're just too damn good at what we do." He shook his head disdainfully. "Raping the river of its resources."
I mulled over this new information as he gabbed away. I wondered if the American activists had somehow garnered an agreement with these native tribes to build the reserve together. Only now do I realize how foolish that sentiment was.
We disembarked at our stop, six of us, three per dugout canoe, and paddled up the fateful tributary.
The tropical sun was sweltering as we forced ourselves up the channel. It was nearing the end of the dry season; the water was muddy and winding, barely deep enough for our boats in some spots. This was preferable though. Low waters meant the fish would be contained in isolated pockets, and considering their air-breathing habits, they'd be easy to spot whenever they broke the surface.
Jagged, protruding rocks and fallen trees only slightly impeded our progress. We found ourselves occasionally having to drag our canoes over dry land to pass up a barrier, but with six men and the rates I promised them as payment, nothing was too much for us.
The final barrier a few miles up piqued my interest. Sharpened wooden pikes jutted from the water facing downstream, like the spiked walls of a moat. Someone had definitely placed them there to keep trespassers out. I stood up in my perch, peering over the pikes. Beyond, the water tapered out into a vast wetland lined with tall grass.
"We're here," I said.
That's when something pricked me in the neck.
I scarcely had time to pluck the thing from my skin when toxic drowsiness overtook my senses. My fingers went limp, and the dart slipped from my grasp into the water. I collapsed, my vision blackening, watching the rest of my crew shudder and fall with me, before everything went cold and dark.
The sight before us made me wish I had never woken up.
I first realized the six of us had been stripped and bound, hands knotted with vines behind our backs, forced into a kneeling position on the forest floor. I felt a scalding heat on my face. The very air seemed to shimmer before me, on account of the blazing campfire in front of us, its green wood emitting acrid black smoke. It was still the daytime, early afternoon, so I could easily see our captors surrounding us.
One look told me they were indigenous: short, toned, clad only in leaves and loincloths, their deep red skin painted over with vivid black-and-white skeletal patterns. They sneered and hissed, scepters and spears bristling in their grasps.
My heart sank. I hadn't prepared for the possibility of such a swift ambush; my client had claimed we'd only be dealing with American activists, not exactly the fighting type. What the ferryman told me suddenly fell into place. The reserve belonged to them. And the Americans…if there even were any…might have met their fates at their hands.
"What do you want with us!" I croaked, my throat stinging from the fumes.
A bizarre exchange erupted to my left. Someone rasped in what I could only assume to be the tribe's language. A second voice responded in the same tongue.
"You came here to hunt the red fish," the first voice wheezed.
I forced myself to look. It took all my willpower not to shout. Strung up between two tribesmen was an emaciated nude white man, his long hair matted and tangled. His lips were cracked, and his eyes…his eyes were empty, putrescent sockets. To my sustained horror I saw hollow vines had been stuck under the skin on his sore-ridden arms, vines that ran up to fluid-filled sacs made of leaves, toted by the tribesmen flanking him.
A primitive IV system. They were keeping him just barely alive. To translate.
"No," I yelled, my voice strangled. "We wanted to fish for surubim!"
The same double exchange.
"We searched your bags," the translator snapped. "You do not need spearguns or firearms to hunt surubim."
"We use handguns when fishing in Alaska," I countered, thinking on my feet. "We put down halibut once we bring them in our boats! The surubim are no different!"
The exchange.
"You've proven yourself fit for nothing but lies," the translator said. "That will be one bullet for each lie."
One of the tribesmen stepped forward and stuck out his arm. I barely registered one of our guns in his hand before he pressed it to one of the men's forehead and pulled the trigger.
The spray of blood hadn't even settled before he executed the next man. We panicked and struggled against our bonds, showered by a fine mist of salty redness – but the tribesman emptied the magazine into the air, the concussive, ringing bangs finally forcing us into silence.
"Best start talking truth or they'll water the ground with the rest of your brains," the translator leered.
"Alright, alright!" I gasped, fighting the rising whine in my ear. "Yes, we came to find a red fish. But nothing more than that. All we need is one…if you have a sickly one, or even a dead one…that's all we want. We won't venture here again. We won't tell anyone about you!"
"Pillagers and parasites, that's all you are," the translator growled. "This forest has suffered enough without you worms slowly killing it with 'just one more piece.'"
"We have no loyalty to our clients," I said. "We're only doing the job we were hired to do…mere agents of circumstance. We have no stake in either side. We don't deserve your righteous anger. Please…all I ask is to work with me here."
"If all you seek is a single red fish, then capture one if you can," said the translator. "But you will face the gauntlet. You will crawl through the muck like a small, pathetic creature." He interpreted more vocal growls from the tribesman. "…Make it to the end of the reserve, you are free to go. But if you have no red fish, you must leave without one and never come back. All the while, we will hunt you."
Even as our captors reached down to undo our bonds, scrambled thoughts raged in my mind. I had been in more dangerous situations in the past, but never one where I had been so helpless, so stripped of my faculties. I couldn't imagine my contacts had ever found themselves in such dire straits either. Finishing the job was one thing, but staying alive to actually follow through was something I rarely had to consider. Until today.
"We give you no fanfare," the translator said. "Start running."
A tribesman nocked an arrow.
We bolted, vaulting over the headless corpses of a third of our party. Cruel, mocking laughter followed us as we barreled through the clearing and into the dense cover of trees. The arrow lodged in a trunk barely a foot from my head.
The further in we ran, the wetter and flatter the ground became, until we were up to our shins in muddy, putrid swampwater. We stopped, straining to listen out for approaching hunters in the distance. Apart from our sharp, labored panting, we seemed to be alone.
The other three men took their time to catch their breath. Then they all turned and glared at me.
"What the fuck was that about!" one of them snapped, a man whom I only knew by his codename, Gamma.
"Two of us are dead back there because of you!" Delta concurred.
"Did you know we'd be facing armed hostiles?" Epsilon demanded.
"I was never told about any of this!" I protested. "Apparently our client was misinformed!"
"Or lied," Gamma muttered.
"None of that matters now," Epsilon interjected. "What matters is what we do from here. If we get out of the reserve, they'll stop hunting us. The pikes are about a mile south. We can make it if we run."
"Belay that," I said, stepping up to him. "They're giving us a chance. And if we don't deliver what we promised to our client, we don't get paid, and we get blacklisted upon our return."
"We'll die trying to catch one of those fish!" said Delta. "You'd rather die than get out of this mess alive?"
"I've never failed a client yet," I said. "And I'm not going to let some fucked-up indigenous types get in my way."
"We're outgunned and outnumbered," Gamma snarled. "They won't hesitate to kill us."
"If they wanted us dead, it would have been so by now," I reasoned. I looked past them, back the way we came. "They're toying with us. They don't believe we can make it, much less apprehend one of their precious red fish. Frankly, I'd like to spit in their faces. On both counts."
"Your pride will lead to our deaths," said Delta.
"The risk of death was always part of this job," I retorted. "What the Hell did you think you signed on for?"
"I don't fear death," said Gamma. "What I fear is being sentenced to death under false pretenses by ignorant, dishonest clients. Once that trust is breached, consider my services null and void."
Epsilon and Delta grunted in agreement. I gaped at them. "Gentlemen…we're supposed to be the best of the best. Cutthroat. Elite. What they turn to when no one else will fit the bill. You renege on this now, it's over for you. For all of us."
The three of them glared at me. For a moment I thought they'd consider it.
A tribal shout echoed from the woods. They snapped over to look at it, then back at me.
"Not like this," said Epsilon. "Naked. Misled. Undignified." He averted his gaze and trudged away. Delta and Gamma followed him.
I kept quiet, opting to stick to the back of the group. Unbeknownst to them, I was seething, mouthing silent curses at their backs. I myself would bring back a pirarucu. To spite them. To spite them all.
The further we pushed, the higher the water crept up our bodies, until we were waist-deep in stained, foul-smelling swamp. Brambles and gnarled bushes stuck out from the surface, requiring us to squeeze through or duck under walls of branches. More than before I felt exposed and vulnerable; submerged thorns poked at my bare thighs, and the occasional unseen object brushed against the more delicate bits. I tried not to imagine the sensitive skin down there snagging on an underwater thorn and ripping free…
I should have been grateful that it was only so shallow. During the wet season, the water level would be fifty feet higher. Caimans and anacondas would be swimming nearly four stories above us otherwise.
The other three pretended as though I weren't there, which I didn't mind in the slightest. I'd have some less than kind things to say about them once I killed a pirarucu and brought it back myself. Oh, dark, delicious satisfaction…despite the circumstances a laugh yearned to jump free from my chest. I wanted to watch their sorry faces as they choked on humble pie. The red fish became more than just a job for me.
It became validation.
Finally the vegetation thinned out, and our party wound up in a chest-deep lagoon. A quick glance at the sun confirmed we were still going south, towards the pikes, but more submerged trees blocked the horizon beyond. Apparently the reserve stretched on for longer than we'd thought.
As we pushed forward, I noticed something that the other men were too committed to see. Soft swirling ripples sporadically formed at the surface. In these parts, it could have been any number of creatures…but somehow I knew they were the telltale signs of pirarucu taking lungfuls of air.
I lingered, watching the men fan out ahead of me. I could feel sharp, solid branches buried in the muck below my feet. If I could fashion one into a spear…
Lost in thought, the ground below me suddenly gave way, and I sank past my nose. Sputtering, I kicked off and forced myself to tread. I stroked through the water, looking around for the others…but they were still walking, the water at their chests. And within a few seconds, my feet met submerged ground once more.
I must have wandered through a depression, or a hole of some kind. I looked around at the others, and sure enough, Epsilon seemed to bob in the water for a moment before finding his footing again.
"The Hell?" he muttered, reaching down and scraping up something from the water.
The moment his hand broke the surface I knew we were fucked.
I only saw the sunlight passing through the eggs slipping between his fingers before the surface next to him exploded.
Epsilon cried out in pain, clutching his right shoulder and kicking off from his attacker. The way his arm hung limp told me it was dislocated…from a large, fast, blunt force.
"We're in their fucking nests!" I screamed, strafing to the side. "Spread out! Away from the center!"
Delta and Gamma propelled themselves away from the fray. Epsilon could only manage an ungainly half-treading movement. Even in the cloudy water I could see his own destruction in his wake – a cloud of dislodged fish eggs spiraling in the whirls he was making. Claps of water snapped next to him.
"Get to the trees!" I commanded. As Delta and Gamma reached for the overhanging boughs, I fished a broken branch from the silt and set off after him. It was flimsy and short, next to useless as a weapon, but even if I could just injure one of the pirarucu, I could both save Epsilon and pursue a then-crippled fish…
I saw the whirl before it jumped. Hot instinct took over and I sidestepped in the water. A foaming torrent flared up and I saw it…a living missile with beady, pitch-black eyes, long as I was tall, slicing through open air like it was nothing. A whip of wind slashed my cheek as it streaked past and splashed into the water behind me. A foot to my right and it would have taken my head off.
I tried to curse but all that came out was a strangled yelp. My vision tunneled and I forced myself forward, trying to get to Epsilon, who had almost reached a submerged tree, facing backwards and kicking at his pursuers…
Just beyond the range of his flailing feet, one rocketed from the water and struck him square in the chest.
Even from a distance I saw his ribs collapse. A single deathly puff of air expelled from his mouth, followed swiftly by a dribble of blood. Capillaries burst in his eyes as he choked one last time. Then he sank below the surface.
It killed him, I told myself. My God it fucking killed him.
The flimsy waterlogged stick in my grasp seemed even more useless.
Commotion behind me welled up – I whipped around to find Gamma and Delta had hoisted themselves up a tree out of the water – but the branches were splitting under their grasps. Below, the muddy water churned with a looming fish.
"Higher!" Delta growled, hurling himself upwards. His branch snapped and hung limply by a few sinews – but he had secured a grip on a higher bough. One-handed, the man curled his arm and threw his upper body over the branch, his bare feet a good two meters from the water.
Gamma lowered himself to build momentum and pull the same stunt.
But his branch snapped. He plunged into the water, still maintaining his death grip. Once again, a few sinews kept the branch attached to the tree, and he scrambled to try and climb it like a rope.
A monstrous pirarucu lanced through the air, and sliced through the man's face like butter.
Gamma's head drooped to the side. But I could clearly see the gaping hole where his lower jaw once was, shiny and ragged with torn flesh. A broad stripe of red gushed down his exposed front.
His fingers loosened. He slid down the branch agonizingly slow, crashing into the water. Blood clouded from his lifeless corpse, which immediately roiled with tiny scavenging fry.
"Oh fuck me," I gasped.
The lagoon had been churned into a turbulent cauldron of mud and blood, but I saw no more signs of surfacing pirarucu. I signaled silently to Delta, pointing from him to the line of dense cover at the lagoon's far end. As he navigated through the branches, keeping clear of the water's surface, I lowered past my nose and waded forward as smoothly as possible.
My heartbeat amplified in the water, nothing short of a signaling drum for any more pirarucu. But nothing more disturbed the surface. Apparently we'd moved past their nests at that point.
I met Delta at the treeline. The swamp stretched far beyond their twisted trunks, but at least the water level was at our waists now. He lowered himself down from the branches and splashed in front of me with a simmering glare.
"Still vying to take down one of those beasts?" he said coldly.
"Silence yourself. And savor whatever shred of dignity you have left," I snapped.
"Those things cut our party in half in less than a minute," Delta growled. "'Dignity' is out of the question. You and I are next…I pray I can at least watch you die first."
Rage bled in me and I splashed over to him, grabbing his forearm. "Why not kill me now then, and reap the satisfaction?"
Delta didn't resist; he simply stared at me with the coolest of expressions. "Because you're just not worth it."
I shoved him away but responded no further. As angry as I was I couldn't deny that he was correct, to an extent…without proper weapons, taking out a pirarucu in their turf would be suicide. There were two bodies in the lagoon north of us who could attest to that. Completing this mission never before felt more nebulous. I'd never admit it to Delta, but simply getting out alive seemed the most pragmatic option. I'd been trained to think outside the box, to improvise, to always be two steps ahead of the game…but now I felt truly trapped, unable to think beyond what I could immediately see. The tribesmen didn't think we could do it. Time was proving them more and more right.
To our left, something rustled in the bushes. Delta and I whipped around to look, but the undergrowth was too dense. A hoarse whisper cut through the brush…the tribesmen's native language.
"Move," I said. "They said they'd be hunting us too."
The unseen warrior shouted something, and a horribly familiar noise erupted in response.
"Fuck! Go, go go!" I shouted. Delta and I submerged, breaststroking through the water, dipping underneath the overhanging branches.
Two splashes sounded off somewhere behind us, followed by the sharp, noisy slaps of dog-paddling.
We arrived at a fallen tree and dove underneath it – the log's slimy underside grazed past our backs – and we emerged unscathed about fifteen feet beyond it.
I shot a glance behind me.
They jumped on top of the log: two huge, muscular, tawny pitbulls, with red-tinted eyes and black lips jagged and torn from barking. They caught sight of us, their teeth gleaming like sabers – then they sprung into the water, panting and paddling towards us.
"Under!" Delta shouted. We both submerged, scattering in separate directions. I felt around more than I saw, pulling and squeezing my way past sunken roots.
With my sense of touch heightened, I detected the dog's wake before it could strike.
I wheeled around, stirring up a cloud of silt – and I saw pale eyes and a maw of canine teeth emerge from the gloom.
I thrust my hand below its mouth – I grasped the wet fur of its throat and hung on. The dog struggled and writhed, spinning underwater and dragging me along – all the while snapping its ravening jaws at me, mere inches from my face, bubbles streaming, eyes rolling, paws clawing at my exposed arms and stomach –
It kicked to the surface. Sunlight and clean air hit me and I gasped for breath – the pitbull emerged next, still held at arm's length, its barks like railgun blasts in my face –
It paddled forward, pushing me through the water until my back crashed into a tree. The dog slashed and clawed, overpowering my arm's strength, inching closer and closer to my throat –
With a bellow I thrust my free arm through the air and drove my thumb into its eye. It yelped and yanked its neck from my grasp, half-blinded and paddling off. I looked around for Delta, who was twenty feet off from me, locked in a similar half-submerged battle with the second pitbull. I swam forward to help.
When I reached them I grabbed the scruff of the dog's neck and yanked it off Delta, who was scratched up and bleeding freely into the water. I primed my arm to gouge the second dog's eyes.
The first dog lunged from behind and seized my wrist. The pain was excruciating, like a car door with nails, and I let go, letting the force carry me backwards and underwater once more. I heard screams above the surface. Before the bones in my wrist could crack, the first dog let go and pursued Delta along with the second.
Survival overruled. I kicked off away from the fray, resurfacing some ten feet off, my wrist burning with agony. Delta and the two dogs had been reduced to a watery frenzy of limbs, blood, barks, and screams. The man got in a few blows, signaled by the high-pitched yelps and the flying tufts of fur. But within seconds the fur was replaced with human flesh, and Delta's struggling form devolved into a dismembered mangle of red.
His screams silenced.
Fighting the urge to vomit, I simply turned and swam south, towards freedom. The pitbulls didn't follow, perhaps too weakened or too preoccupied to do so.
Once several yards and more undergrowth separated us, I stopped to catch my breath, my injured wrist trembling. My vision overturned, my head was fuzzy with adrenaline. I had grown to hate my crew, but I hadn't wanted them to pay like this. The red fish was supposed to do that. I was supposed to do that. I'd wanted them to feel the misery of defeat and humiliation.
Now the red fish meant nothing to me. Nothing but a cold reminder of all that had put us through this mess.
I continued onward through the undergrowth. If the opportunity presented itself, I'd take it.
But otherwise? Getting out alive was now the goal.
I emerged into another lagoon. This time the setting was recognizable. At the far end, the water narrowed into a channel. A channel blocked off by sharp pikes.
I looked around. I appeared alone. I could make it across. Leave the reserve. They'd let me live.
Red fish or no red fish, I was going to make it.
As I swam forward, I noticed something that hadn't been there before – an overturned canoe floating in the water before me, surrounded by surfacing pirarucu.
My mind immediately drew a connection. Much like how floating debris in the open ocean attracted seafaring fish, this abandoned canoe seemed to serve as a gathering point for pirarucu. And they hadn't noticed me. If I could sneak up on them and catch one, just one by surprise, I'd have the edge. Holding on and dispatching it would be another story…but I tried not to think about it as I entered stealth mode and approached the canoe.
The fish continued to surface regularly. Thirty feet. My motions were careful and calculated. Only my eyes and forehead were visible above the water. Twenty feet. They still seemed preoccupied with the canoe. The boat was dark in color, not the same ones we had arrived in several hours earlier. Was it one of the tribesmen's canoes? What was it doing overturned in the middle of the lagoon in the first place?
At ten feet, the fish scattered.
I slapped at the water, belting out a string of curses. It was over. I lacked the energy to pursue them further, and the longer I lingered, the more likely the tribesmen would find some other way to kill me.
The canoe moved.
It swiveled in the water to face me. That's when I saw the pattern of scales, the organic way the sunlight reflected off of it.
It sank. A red, scallop-shaped tail the size of a sewer grate swirled through the water above it before it disappeared.
"Oh, God," was all I could muster.
The water below transformed into a suction. I was too paralyzed to resist. I sank feet-first below the surface, watching helplessly as my legs disappeared into the leviathan pirarucu's gaping mouth. I caught sight of its black eyes, unfeeling, uncaring, before my head slipped past its bony lips.
Within a second, I was encased in a black, fleshy, watery coffin.
True fear set in. I thought back to my crew…the violent progression of death that had whittled us down, each more hideous than the last…ending with me, being swallowed alive by an outlandishly huge red fish…
The muscles in its throat contracted, squeezing me further down its gullet. I gave up. I waited for the sting of stomach acid, the strangling noxiousness of gas.
Instead, what I got was light.
Not sunlight. This was a deep, hellish red. I couldn't determine where it was coming from. I assumed it was a hallucination, induced from lack of oxygen. But I could clearly see the inside of the fish illuminated around me…the pulsating walls of its guts, the outline of its spine and ribs, dripping with moisture.
There were others. There were others inside the fish with me.
I rolled over onto my stomach and screamed. Five bodies below me, all staring up in differing states of grotesqueness. Two with shattered foreheads. One bleeding from the mouth. One with his lower jaw missing. One nearly torn apart, his muscles and organs exposed.
My men.
For the first time in my life, I broke. I closed my eyes and shrieked, beating at the organic wall around me, the cadavers below, my own flesh, crying for deliverance, an end, a mercy killing to take me away from whatever fresh Hell this was.
I don't remember much else after that. All I know is at some point I ended up outside the reserve, back where we started.
Our canoes were still there, having run aground on the sloping bank. I stood far up the shoreline, watching as more boats showed up at the pikes. They were slick, motorized, definitely government vessels. Military police jumped from the boats, regarding our abandoned canoes before crossing over inside the reserve.
They didn't look at me once. I doubt they noticed me. I doubt they could have noticed me.
Instead, their attention was drawn to something in the lagoon beyond the pikes. It was a corpse, floating facedown. From my distance I couldn't tell whose body it was. It could have been mine, for all I knew.
"Yep, it's one of them," one of the soldiers confirmed. "Matches the description the ferryman gave us."
"All they wanted to do was go fishing," another said, shaking his head.
"Those goddamn savages," a third growled. "See how far their little 'deal' goes now."
Brandishing their carbines, they stalked deeper into the reserve.
A day later, drifting among the crowds of the local town, I learned that with the murders of the six "fishermen," the deal between the politicians and the indigenous tribesmen had dissolved. The proposed law protecting the pirarucu was tossed, and the tribe responsible for their deaths had been "neutralized."
The atmosphere in the town was of celebration. With no more encroaching regulations, and no indigenous tribes to worry about, local fishermen were readying their harpoons and nets to set out and take advantage of the surprise bounty. Some expressed their concerns, warning that the sudden influx of fishing pressure would irrevocably damage the pirarucu populations, leading to their extinction from the area. But the red fish's allure was too strong to grant them any credence.
A few of these fishermen, I noticed, were showing off new toys: spearguns, dynamite, canisters of poison. Things they couldn't have gotten without a little outside help. It didn't take long to guess who in the region had the money and the motivation to fund their missions.
I guess my client was right in the end. With the will and the means, who was he to deny what he wanted?
Suddenly Gamma's suspicions about having been lied to made sense.
I couldn't stop them if I tried. Greed had overtaken them; they were beyond saving, mindless husks set out to reap the pirarucu. In the end, there'd only be one winner. And I hated him for it.
Instead, all I could do was wonder what would become of them.
I found myself wishing my fate upon them all. A stripping. A gauntlet. Suffering. And finally, to cap it all off…ravenous, all-consuming, death.
Hopefully, in the end, they'd learn to realize the futility of their endeavors. Maybe they'd end up like me. Something less than flesh, more than idea. An imprint of sin. A shade.
Hopefully, they'd learn to finally respect the red fish.
🔔 More stories from author: Nick Carlson
More Stories from Author Nick Carlson:
Mausen Hausen
The Gooseneck Chronicle
A Most Special Delivery
Mind Over Misery
The Elevator
The Wood Man
There's No Such Thing
Lights by the Roadside


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Q: Data-dump analysis idea : Detecting the Jon Skeet effect I think it would be interesting to see if there is a Jon Skeet effect on question closure.
I've recently seen two heavily downvoted questions (one here) which AREN'T closed, and I suspect that it's because they have an answer by Jon.
I also wonder whether there aren't people 'following' Jon around, and questions that he answers automatically get more views.
Would be also interesting to see if this is a Jon Skeet effect, or if it is a high rep user effect.

A: I'm pretty sure there are a few people who follow me around to some extent. Eric Lippert seems to comment on my answers more than would seem likely if he were just reading a random sample of C# questions - although that's an effect for which I'm profoundly grateful, as his comments are always insightful.
I believe the linked Meta question already had plenty of downvotes before I answered though - and it's worth remembering that downvotes on a question on meta don't really equate to downvotes on a Stack Overflow question. They're expressions of disagreement rather than suggestions that the question is asked badly etc. Examples in Stack Overflow would be more interesting.
I wouldn't be surprised if there were an effect, but one that's a little more subtle - it's possible that if I answer a question, some people may not downvote it when they otherwise would. That doesn't necessarily have to be due to me being me, however. You might think a question is generally useless until you see an answer which interprets the question slightly differently, for example.

A: It shouldn't be to hard to pull off. Just two subsets of the data. One with Skeet and one without. Plot a graph and ???. Profit!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


KHUSHI RAM SHIELD is awarded for excellent activities done during each year by a State Association.
THE BHAI MOHAN SINGH CUP is awarded for general activities and achievements by a State TB Association every year.
A SPECIAL AWARD for all round activities by a State TB Association and a Special Souvenir for consistently good performance and all round activities by a State TB Association.
THE RUNNER-UP CUP for the second best collections by a State TB Association.
THE SILVER CUP for smaller States for highest collections by a smaller State/Union Territory.
THE SPECIAL TB SEAL AWARD for best collections by a smaller State/Union Territory.
An Awards Committee comprising eminent TB workers adjudicate the above awards every year and the awards are presented at our Annual General Meetings.
DR. P.K. SEN TAI GOLD MEDAL ORATION, instituted in 1996, is awarded in honour of late Dr. P.K. Sen and is delivered at the time of the Annual National Conference on Tuberculosis and Chest Diseases, every year. The Oration consists of a Gold Medal and a Certificate and is awarded to a senior TB worker who has made outstanding contributions to the cause of Tuberculosis Control in India.
TAI Oration, instituted in 1982, to commemorate the centenary of the discovery of Tubercle Bacillus by Robert Koch - courtesy TB Association of India, is generally awarded to a very senior/eminent scientists (for national and international doctors � age no bar) who have made notable contributions/researches in the basic disciplines underlying TB control such as epidemiology, statistics, etc. The purpose is to acknowledge and give recognition to their contribution and excellence in the field of tuberculosis. The Oration consists of a Silver Medal and a Certificate of honour.
LUPIN TAI ORATION, instituted in 1991, is awarded to a person who has made outstanding scientific contributions in the field of tuberculosis control, preferably on clinical, operational, sociological, managerial, etc. aspects or in a field having a vital bearing on them. This Oration carries a cash award of Rs. 15,000/- courtesy Messrs Lupin Laboratories Limited, Mumbai and a certificate of honour.
Dr. R.C. Jain Lifetime Achievement Award, instituted in 2011, carries a cash prize of Rs.25,000/-, a memento and a certificate of honour.
Dr. S.N.Tripathy Memorial Oration, instituted in 2011, carries a certificate of honour, a silver medal and Rs. 10,000/- in cash.
"CHARU CHANDRA DAS MEMORIAL AWARD", is awarded to a person, not more than 45 years in age, who has rendered meritorious service in any field of tuberculosis. The award carries a certificate of honour and Rs.25,000/- in cash.
Dr. K.C. Mohanty�s award for the best performing state in RNTCP The award carries a certificate of honour, a rolling shield and cash incentive of Rs.5000/-.


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powered by its
Shannon is a proud wife of 30 years, a mother & grandmother. She has volunteered and won multiple awards for her work with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and has been a Wish Grantor for the Make A Wish Foundation. She has volunteered to help others most of her life, learning selfless giving from her grandparents as a child. She has been in Vero Beach for over 38 years and has worked for Evans Properties, Inc. for 23 of those years.
Shannon Conn
Jayne has lived in Vero Beach since 1980, has1 daughter and two teenage grandchildren. She has studied psychology and social services and has worked for Harbor Branch & Samaritan Center for Homeless Families. She has volunteered for St Helens, and assisted with hurricane relief.
Christine has a College BS and is an Executive Recruiter by day. She is married and has 3 children. She currently sits as Vice Chair of a Youth Board and formally chair of the Children's Board of Community Church and has experience with organizing events.
Brad comes to us with 20 years of Information Technology experience. He has volunteered for organizations like the American Cancer Society, Samaritan Center and has participated in many fundraising charity events. Brad is a proud father of two young men.
Josh is very active with youth groups and organizations and has coached youth sports for many years. He previously sat as a Board Member for IRCHS, VAPA Choral Parents Assn. He is happily married and a lifelong native to the area.
Deni Willard
Treasurer & Co-Founder
Deni is a proud mother of her 3 children and her grandson. She moved from Vermont in 1982 and has been working in the Accounting field since 1995. She has volunteered and supported many different nonprofit organizations through the years, however, the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is one that she holds near and dear to her heart as she volunteered on behalf of her late niece.
Nicole is a single mom of 3 boys, 26, 24 and 15 years old and grandmother to an amazing 2 1/2 year old granddaughter.
Nicole is a US Navy Veteran.
She has worked with numerous nonprofits over the years including baseball and soccer leagues, PTO/A's in 5 states, Student Advisory Councils' and veterans organizations. She has served these organizations as Treasurer, Secretary and Vice President. She is also a former recipient of Kristina Conn Foundation's Christmas Family Gift Event and is excited to help other families through their crisis.
Nicole O'Neill
Disbursment Committee
Katie Conn
Director of Disbursments
Tesa Boykin
Disbursement Committee
Chris Botkin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The numbers are percentages of the highest booking month.... maybe at some stage we will use real numbers! This chart shows that bookings continue to grow month on month.
The alternative channel (vs booked online) is staff entered bookings (e.g. typed in to TourCMS probably after receipt of a fax, email or phone call, or perhaps from a walk in to a visitor centre).
% of bookings in TourCMS by registration country of the travel company using TourCMS (i.e. not where their clients come from!). This chart shows that over time TourCMS is becoming more and more global and less reliant on the UK.
TourCMS has a mixture of high passenger volume day tour operators as well as lower passenger volume multi-day operators. The system tends to be used in very different ways between those two styles of tour company. We do have some over 28 day trips (expeditions mainly) but they are not included in this analysis.
The shorter the duration of the trip, the shorter the leadtime between booking date and travel date. This leads to the probable conclusion that website partners / travel agents selling multi-day tours have to be at a different point in the consumers' travel research phase than those selling day tours.


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NOVOLIPETSK IN US COURT OVER WITHDRAWAL FROM JMC STEEL PURCHASE
Novlipetsk Metallurgical Company (NLMK), the third ranked Russian steelmaker owned by Vladimir Lisin, is considering whether to cancel two recently announced US acquisitions — John Macneely Corporation (JMC) and Beta Steel. JMC was purchased for $3.54 billion in August; Beta Steel for $400 million in September. The deals are not complete, but closure had been expected before the year's end.
NLMK spokesman Evgeniy Lukashevich claimed Friday that nothing was happening, telling CRU Steel News: "I have no update to our previous statement, when we announced that we expect to close the deal in 4Q2008."
Two days earlier, on October 15, in a filing with the US federal district court in New York, the Carlyle group, seller of JMC, revealed that there was a disagreement over revising the price for the JMC transaction. Carlyle and its subsidiary, DBO Holdings, which owns JMC, asked the court to enforce completion of the transaction, or require NLMK to pay costs and damages. According to Moscow reports, which NLMK sources no longer deny, NLMK has asked Carlyle to lower the sale price to take account of the changed circumstances in the global steel market, the fall of steel prices, and a sharp rise in borrowing costs for the deal. NLMK's bankers — Merrill Lynch, Societe Generale, and Deutsche Bank — have reportedly lifted the interest rate from an initially agreed LIBOR plus 45 points to LIBOR plus 145-320 points.
First word of the breakdown in the JMC deal appeared in a report last week by TroikaDialog Bank analyst Sergei Donskoy. After reviewing NLMK's current financial position, he said: "The most interesting issue to us is whether Novolipetsk Steel will proceed with closing its recent US acquisitions, JMC and Beta Steel, which would cost it almost $4 bln. The company has already arranged financing – a $1.6 bln syndicated loan and a $2 bln bridge loan – but under the current c ircumstances, it could be wiser to walk away paying the break up f ee rather than overstretch the balance sheet in order to gain exposure to a shaky US market. Our recent conversations with the company suggest that this option is indeed being considered. "
According to the TroikaDialog report, "should the deals be cancelled, Novolipetsk Steel would remain in a very comfortable spotin terms of liquidity and debt. On our numbers, the company's cash position is currently around $1.3 bln (net of 1H08 interim dividends payable in 2H08), it has no long-term debt and its short-term debt stands at $1.6 bln, most of it from Russian banks." Lack of current cash is not one of the reasons for reconsideration at NLMK, sources believe. Rather, there is growing concern that the uncertain steel market in North America and Russia next year, and the cost of money, potentially threaten the profitability model that supported the JMC and Beta Steel acquisitions when the model was being drawn up in the summer.
The apprehension now, according to bank sources, is that NLMK is buying out "huge plants on the verge of bankruptcy, with sizeable debts." There is also a politically sensitive problem in Russia. Although NLMK is currently unstrained for liquidity, and is not applying for emergency loans from the Russian government, it may risk the Kremlin's sympathy if Lisin is seen to be bailing out American steelmakers, while cutting back on production, jobs and investment in Russia.
The court filing by Carlyle and DBO claims: "In a series of meetings and telephone calls with the company, which occurred between Oct. 2 and Oct. 15, NLMK's authorized representatives stated that changed financial market conditions warranted a reduction in the purchase price or a significant restructuring of the merger transaction. During these meetings, NLMK's authorized representatives indicated that NLMK repudiated the merger agreement….Although effective Oct. 1, 2008, NLMK's lenders entered into a binding agreement to provide the financing necessary to enable NLMK to consummate the merger transaction, and NLMK refused to take steps — steps entirely within its control — to draw upon that financing."
According to the court claim, NLMK has tried to renegotiate the deal at "a lower purchase price than the one it is contractually committed to pay."
Carlyle bought JMC in March 2006 for $568 million. The sale price it is now trying to enforce represents a 523% gain in two years.
Responding to the court claim by Carlyle, NLMK now claims: "There have been disagreements concerning the rights and obligations of the parties under the merger agreement, and at this time NLMK has not closed the transaction…NLMK has retained legal counsel in New York, and intends to defend vigorously against the claims." NLMK's Lukashevich refused to say what his company intends to do with Beta Steel.
NLMK's share price before the start of Monday trading was just over $1, a 3-year low. Current market capitalization is $6.3 billion.
« ARCHANGEL DEAL DELAY MAY FORCE RETURN OF $172 MILLION ADC SHARES COLLAPSE AS RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT TRIGGERS RETURN OF INVESTMENT FUND »


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You are not alone. Many people run into financial circumstances where they have to spend their retirement savings when they least expect. It's too bad the government penalizes people for making ends meet, and touching emergency dollars in an emergency. But as you said, life happens.
Don't worry about whether your employer matches contributions to your 401(k) and maximum contributions right now. Just put away every dime you can afford to anyway. In the next few years, tax laws are scheduled to change. There may or may not be "catch-up" provisions for your 401(k) over the coming years, where you can put away more money after age 50 or 55 than is currently allowed.
Advantage 1: Tax-deferred. This is where your money gets to grow without paying taxes on contributions today. Don't believe the naysayers who tell you that you will end up paying taxes later so it doesn't pay to contribute. It does pay. Tax-deferral is a powerful tool. It is how banks and mortgage companies make so much money. But this time, you are the bank. Here's what happens: Your money grows and the money you would have paid in taxes to Uncle Sam gets reinvested and that money grows, and the cycle repeats itself over and over again. Now that's powerful.
Advantage 2: Immediate tax deduction. You get to reduce your taxable income by the amount you put away in a 401(k) plan. This is a great immediate benefit. If you put away $10,000 and are paying 20 percent in taxes, then you get to save $2,000 from your tax bill. That is a 20 percent increase in your investment return -- before you invest. Also, if your company did match your contributions that would be even better, but it is more important that you put the money away for yourself.
In addition to a 401(k), you can invest in other tax-deferred plans, such as deferred annuities and permanent life insurance. Deferred annuity interest rates can be fixed -- where you get a fixed rate of return on your investment, like a bank CD or a bond. At the end of the investment period, you get your money back plus the compounded interest. The benefit of a fixed deferred annuity is that you get to defer paying taxes until you start using the money (generally after 59 1/2). Deferred annuities can also be variable. These annuities are like your 401(k) plan with investing options in mutual funds and have the tax-deferred advantage similar to a 401(k) plan, but do not have the immediate tax deduction.
A cautionary note on deferred annuities: Annuities can offer great benefits, but are subject to many of the same types of rules as your 401(k) plan (such as early-withdrawal penalties). Also watch out for sneaky fees that some (not all) annuities can have. These can include early withdrawal fees, fees for switching accounts and maintenance fees. Again, not all companies offering annuities have high fees, so you'll need to do some homework.
Life insurance: If you have a need for life insurance (dependents, surviving spouse), then permanent life insurance can offer the protection you need with tax benefits that even a 401(k) plan cannot deliver -- like being able to access the principal tax free prior to being able to access your interest. Don't always believe that term insurance is the best answer. In cases like yours, if the circumstances are favorable, then permanent life insurance can offer both family and retirement benefits.
Finally, in my experience, the people who "retire" and keep working, whether in the same capacity or doing something completely different, such as volunteer work, tend to lead healthier and more fulfilling lives. As the population ages, there will continue to be a need for bright, vibrant, well-schooled and experienced people like yourself.


Brighter tune for women in music. Most of the career barriers of 30 years ago are gone. Today, women are making names for themselves in the composing, conducting, performance, and recording fields - though still as a relatively small minority.
Thirty-one years later, Hillis sits on a panel before students of the Juilliard School here, testifying to her years of struggle as a woman conductor - but also to the great opportunities available today for women who want to pursue conducting careers.
Like Hillis, many of the conference participants enjoy occupations that 25 years ago would have been unthinkable for women to pursue: composition, concert management, record production. Opera singers, teachers, and scholars - representing fields traditionally open to women - added their depth of experience to the dialogue.
Altogether, these women are the first generation of role models for today's aspiring female musicians who are hoping to ``make good'' in their chosen fields. The speakers had come to encourage the students, but also to report on challenges that remain.
```Women as mentors' is a relatively new concept,'' said Elizabeth Ostrow, record producer and vice-president of artists and repertoire at New World Records. It's going to take more ``women helping women'' for further progress to be made, she said.
But the key to future success, panelists said, is the recognition of women as talented professionals, not merely as women.
``We have to reach the point where we don't address ourselves as women in a certain field, but as composers, conductors, and performers,'' said Lee Lamont, president of ICM Artists Ltd., a concert management firm.
Even a veteran conductor like Hillis admitted that she felt extremely self-conscious when she first stood on the conductor's podium years ago.
``I had the feeling the audience came just to see what this two-headed calf was about!'' Because of stereotyped perceptions, Hillis said, she had to give ``110 percent'' to do her best.
Such efforts included the time 10 years ago when she filled in at the last minute for Sir Georg Solti at Carnegie Hall and led the Chicago Symphony and Chorus in a performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony.
But attitudes have improved much, she added. She finds that what matters most to orchestra members today is: ``Do you know your score? Can you conduct? Are you a decent human being?'' Once you've established that level of trust, said Hillis, the rough part is over.
DESPITE increased opportunities for training and experience, not one of the nation's 30 largest orchestras (those with budgets above $3.6 million) has a woman conductor, reports the American Symphony Orchestra League in Washington, D.C.
What will it take for a woman to be appointed?
But Hillis felt that, within the next five years, someone like Catherine Comet of the Grand Rapids (Mich.) Symphony could move into a brighter spotlight.
On the record industry front, Ms. Ostrow expressed hope, but outlined a need for more progress. Within the six or so top record companies today, ``there are very few, if any, women producers,'' those in charge of technical quality of recordings, she said.
But on the business end of things, Ostrow said women have attained titles as high as vice-president. In this respect, the record industry is progressing at a pace similar to that of United States law firms and top corporations, she noted: They're giving women more responsibility but not the highest.
Ostrow added a note of caution, because few major record companies are American-owned anymore, which ``I don't think is going to make things easier'' for women, she said. Because of cultural differences, a Japanese company such as Sony (owner of CBS Records) may be less likely to promote women to high posts than US managements, she said.
CRACKING the barrier that had excluded women from playing in orchestras has been one of the hardest doors for women to open, said Marylou Speaker Churchill, principal second-violinist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, interviewed separately in Boston.
At the time, there were no women violinists, and she did not get the job. She believes the reasons were partly because she was too young, but mostly because she was a woman. But in 1970, she was admitted to the Boston Symphony and became the second woman violinist and the eighth woman hired by the orchestra.
Today, the orchestra has 18 women among its 104 members, and the addition of women substitutes often increases the number.
The national median, however, is 27 for the nation's 30 largest orchestras, according to the American Symphony Orchestra League.
What's needed now, says Churchill, is for women to continue to perfect their musical skills, so as to keep winning auditions.
``Music schools are heavily women now. It's inevitable. Women have more patience, and in a way, they're even more grateful than the men'' to get into an orchestra, she said.
An experienced violinist, composer Zwilich entered Juilliard in 1970 to study composition with the eminent Roger Sessions and Elliott Carter, a move that, in itself, shook time-honored taboos. In 1975, she became the first woman awarded a doctoral degree in composition from the school.
But in an interview, Zwilich was quick to declassify herself as a ``rare breed.'' She cited Libby Larson and Joan Tower among other composers who have achieved recognition.
Zwilich said she and her colleagues, both male and female, would agree that ``it's very hard to be a composer'' - regardless of gender. She is among the small number of composers who are able to make a living with their work.
Mary Jane Ayers, president of American Women Composers (Washington), says that ``there are thousands and thousands of women composers who are doing serious work - but not supporting themselves.'' Most of them - and this applies to male composers as well - combine composing with college teaching positions.
``Then I feel like saying, `You must not know women very well.''' Obviously, a sense of humor is crucial, she said, since people often make such comments unintentionally.


What do you mean with recorded three times? overlaid?
Thanks. Yeah, it is three overdubs. I have a shortcut in Reaper which stops recording, creates a new track and starts recording on that track from the beginning, like a loooong looper where every pass is independent. It therefore took about 45 minutes to record and about three times that to mix.


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Pop Eye
Local Motion
Music Choices
What's In Your Fridge
Straight Series
Vancouver Jazz Fest 2019: Genre-defying Darius Jones feels the love in our town
by Alexander Varty on June 26th, 2019 at 4:43 PM
Darius Jones is only booked for one gig at this year's TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, but if you're paying attention, you might see a lot of him around town. The Coastal Jazz and Blues Society and the Western Front artist-run centre are teaming up to turn his one-night stand into a monthlong stay, with the plan being that he's going to write a piece that combines a string trio with a jazz rhythm section and his own genre-defying alto saxophone, and then present it here next year.
It should be a chance to stretch for everyone involved, not least Jones himself.
"I haven't written a piece, or composed a piece for strings, specifically in this manner, ever," the 41-year-old musician confesses, in a telephone interview from his New York home. "Now, I've done gigs with string players, and I've written melodies for them or something like that, but not with the full intention that they're going to be a component inside an ensemble that I'm making. I'm thinking about what they can do and what it can't do, how they're going to interact with my horn, all that stuff—and I have not done that before."
Jones is also reading up on the technical side of violin, viola, and cello: how the instruments are made, different techniques that can be used to produce unconventional sounds, and even the way bowed instruments are used in different cultures around the world.
"I'm going to try to do some research on African fiddle musicians and American country fiddle players," he says. "And I'm going to try to check out some more Indigenous kinds of fiddle-playing, because I know that the First Nations element is so prevalent inside of Canadian society. I want to try and tap into that—and that's also kind of up my alley. I'm always trying to pull from the past, and trying to pull from Indigenous types of culture as well—but also trying to get a modern element in there."
Video of OPTION: Darius Jones (Excerpt)
Jones will have good partners in the band he's building here. The bass player and drummer are still to be determined, but he knows who he'll be working with in the string section: Jesse and Joshua Zubot, virtuoso brothers who both double on viola and violin and have an encyclopedic knowledge of fiddle styles, and cellist Peggy Lee, an equally eclectic and accomplished player. Lee, along with her drummer husband, Dylan van der Schyff, and pianist Angelica Sanchez will also join Jones for his Ironworks concert this week.
The saxophonist is enthused about being able to introduce the Vancouvermusicians—and Vancouver audiences—to Sanchez. "If you have the chance to check her out, you should," he says. "She's one of our premier female… No, I don't like to say that. She's just a great pianist. She's an amazing pianist."
If possible, he's even more enthused about getting an in-depth look at the Lower Mainland.
"Ever since I first came to Vancouver, I have had just the greatest response from the audience," he explains. "The feeling, the love… It's one of the best places to perform, because the way the artist is treated is just superb. So I'm hoping to take that even further and create a relationship with the Western Front that we can grow."
Darius Jones, Angelica Sanchez, Peggy Lee, and Dylan van der Schyff play the Ironworks on Thursday (June 27), as part of the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival.
John Fogerty plays his iconic CCR hits in Vancouver this fall


The first time Flash Seats tickets are ordered on your AltitudeTickets.com account, a Flash Seats account will automatically be created with the same username.
For customers without the mobile app who want to add another entry ID or credit card, log in at FlashSeats.com using the e-mail address and password set up on your Altitude Tickets account. Once logged in, click on "Account" and then "Identification" and you will be able to add a new credit card or Colorado State ID as a new form of entry ID.
Present your Flash Seats App mobile phone barcode or registered credit card or ID to the ticket taker at the entry gate, as you would a standard paper ticket, and your tickets will print out right as you walk into the arena. Please note, swiping an entry ID does not result in a charge on the credit card or provide customer refunds for unused tickets.
Most people find it best to transfer the seats to their guests prior to the event. This way your guest will be able to enter the venue, whenever they arrive, using their own ID or mobile app.
For customers without the mobile app who want to update an entry ID or credit card, log in at FlashSeats.com using the e-mail address and password set up on your Altitude Tickets account. Once logged in, click on "Account" and then "Identification" and you will be able to add a new credit card or Colorado State ID as a new form of entry ID.
Flash Seats is the best place to sell your seats because it is a marketplace endorsed by Pepsi Center.


text:
Is Harvey Weinstein Hollywood's Most Hated Man? Clashes With Meryl, JLaw
Keith Girard February 23, 2018 CELEBRITIES
Jennifer Lawrence (left) has scolded Harvey Weinstein for dropping her name in legal proceedings. (Photo: Bang ShowBiz)
Harvey Weinstein can't win for losing. Even the women he treated well during his career hate him. Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep are the latest to condemn the former movie mogul for dropping their names in a class action filed against him by his many victims.
Weinstein's lawyers are trying to attack the lawsuit by claiming it's overly broad, which makes it impossible to identify the real victims.
In recently filed court papers they argued:
"As drafted, they would include all women who ever met with Weinstein, regardless of whether they claimed to have suffered any identifiable harm as a result of that meeting. Such women would include, presumably, Jennifer Lawrence, who told Oprah Winfrey she had known Weinstein since she was 20 years old and said 'He had only ever been nice to me,' and Meryl Streep, who stated publicly that Weinstein had always been respectful to her in their working relationship."
Name-dropping never goes over well in Hollywood and in this case, Weinstein was dropping two big ones in the middle of his legal mess.
Lawrence shot back with a scathing response.
"Harvey Weinstein and his company are continuing to do what they have always done which is to take things out of context and use them for their own benefit. This is what predators do, and it must stop," she said in a statement released yesterday. For the record, while I was not victimised personally by Harvey Weinstein, I stand behind the women who have survived his terrible abuse and I applaud them in using all means necessary to bring him to justice whether through criminal or civil actions. Time's up."
Streep also weighed in with a stateent:
"Harvey Weinstein's attorneys use of my (true) statement – that he was not sexually transgressive or physically abusive in our business relationship – as evidence that he was not abusive with many other women is pathetic and exploitive. The criminal actions he is accused of conducting on the bodies of these women are his responsibility, and if there is any justice left in the system he will pay for them – regardless of how many good movies, made by many good people, Harvey was lucky enough to have acquired or financed."
Weinstein has since tried to make amends with his own statement released to gossip site TMZ.
"Mr. Weinstein acknowledges the valuable input both Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lawrence have contributed to this conversation and apologizes. Once again, moving forward, Mr. Weinstein has advised his counsel to not include specific names of former associates; and to avoid whenever possible, even if they are in the public record."
The 65-year-old disgraced producer has been accused of sexually harassing or assaulting scores of women over the course of his career. His behavior was outed in November in a scathing New York Times expose.
Harvey WeinsteinJennifer LawrenceMeryl Streepsex assaultsexual harassment
Previous ArticleD'Oh! Homer Simpson Called a Republican by Sen. Ted Cruz; Guess Again! (video)
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text:
Q: SQL Select distinct records from a table I have a table like this:

And the desired result would be:

And here's the explantion:
The result should only pick the max ActivityCount column with distinct column UserName, RemarkID, CreatedBy and CreatedDate
I've tried using groupby but there's an error
Column 'ActivityCount' is invalid in the select list because it is not contained in either an aggregate function or the GROUP BY clause.

And here's the SQL script using group by
select * from TableName group by UserName, RemarkID, CreatedBy, CreatedDate

What changes are needed to the script in order to get the desired result?

A: Try this:
SELECT UserName, RemarkID, CreatedBy, CreatedDate, MAX(ActivityCount)
FROM TableName
GROUP BY UserName, RemarkID, CreatedBy, CreatedDate

A: The simplest approach would be using ROW_NUMBER and a CTE:
WITH CTE AS
(
    SELECT t.*,
       RN = ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY UserName, RemarkID, CreatedBy, CreatedDate
                               ORDER BY ActivityCount DESC)
    FROM dbo.TableName t
)
SELECT * FROM CTE WHERE RN = 1

If you want to see all records with the highest ActivityCount per group (in case there are multiple) you can use DENSE_RANK instead of ROW_NUMBER.
Ranking Functions


Discussion in 'Archived Threads 2001-2004' started by Brandon B, Aug 2, 2001.
I heard a news story this morning on a network affiliate (KNX Los Angeles) radio that a new Sony CD copy protection scheme would introduce watermarks which when copied digitally would create segments of howling distortion which could damage or ruin speakers.
I am assuming this is severe misinterpretation on the news copy writer's part about the recent method of introducing areas of white noise which error correction glosses over, and is incorrect about the speaker damaging part. Has anyone else heard this?
Seems very ridiculous and liable to bring lawsuits against any label attempting it, as no one has full control over what CD's are played on their systems. Even Microsoft doesn't blow up your computer if you use pirated windows (and I'm sure they would if they could).
Goofy news error or frightening new development?
Sounds like a goofy news error. Please don't be offended, but I suspect your topic header may tend to perpetuate it.
Sounds like the news story was a bit exaggerated. The scheme (if it works) would basically introduce clicks and pops into copies of "protected" material. Not enough to destroy speakers (unless perhaps if you listen at ear-bleeding levels at the threshold of amp clipping to begin with).
There's already a thread on this topic: click here. It's not just Sony either, it's our old pals Macrovision that developed the scheme (or one of them anyway), and a few record companies have been quietly slipping us "protected" discs for several months now, on a trial basis. They won't tell us what CDs have the scheme though.
If your speakers can survive some of the techno music out there, they should do just fine!
Then I would say, "SONY! Bring it on!"
LOL... with a lot of the stuff kids listen to nowadays, adding noise as a protection scheme would probably be an improvement!
I can agree that Sony should bring it on as it just might improve some of the music out there today.


2. I will stop searching for tomorrow's star money manager, as there are no gurus. Capitalism will be my guru because with capitalism there is a positive expected return on capital, and it is there for the taking. And for me to succeed, someone else doesn't have to fail.
3. I will not invest based on a forecast—whether it is mine or anyone else's. I will recognize that the urge to form an opinion will never go away, but I won't act on it because no one can repeatedly predict the future. It is, by definition, uncertain.
6. I will adhere to my plan and continue to rebalance (i.e., systematically buying more of what hasn't done well recently) rather than "unbalance" (i.e., buying more of what's hot).
Most of us find it hard to follow a sensible diet or a sensible investment strategy 100% of the time. If you must stray when managing your wealth or well-being, moderation is the key. Chocolate cake is OK, as long as it's not for dinner every night. Speculating on a stock or two is all right as well, as long as you don't do it with your investment capital.Finally, just as successful athletes rely on coaches and trainers to help them achieve their goals, most investors can probably benefit from having a "financial coach" to remind them about their New Year's resolutions and keep them on track toward a more prosperous future.I wish you and your clients good health and good wealth in 2011.The comments of Weston Wellington are gratefully acknowledged.
1. Globally diversified portfolio represented by MSCI World Index performance. As of November 30, 2010, the ten-year annualized compound return (gross dividends) for the index was -1.78%. MSCI data copyright MSCI 2010, all rights reserved.
Dimensional Fund Advisors ("Dimensional") is an investment adviser registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission.This article contains the opinions of the author but not necessarily the opinions of Dimensional. The opinion of the author is subject to change without notice. All materials presented are compiled from sources believed to be reliable and current, but accuracy cannot be guaranteed. This article is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer, solicitation, recommendation or endorsement of any of the products or services described in this website.
© 2011 Dimensional Fund Advisors. All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying, reproducing, duplicating, or transmitting of this material is prohibited.


Manage the city's parks, cemeteries, waterways, forestry, street trees, floral design, and many other public open spaces.
Maintains all local roads within the city of Welland. Services include street sweeping, resurfacing, shoulder maintenance, debris pick up and snow clearing.
Maintain the city's water and sewer distribution systems.


text:
Cancer Websites
Take Control Now
Suspicion of Cancer
• Cancer Screening Tests
• Alcohol and Increased Breast Cancer Risk Factors
• Preventing Skin Cancer
• Coping: Feelings and Cancer
• Associate Mesothelioma Guide
• Dive In: The Benefits of Swimming for Cancer Survivors
• Exercise for Cancer Patients: Fitness After Treatment
• 5 Ways Service Dogs Help People with Cancer
• Cancer Staging Guide
• Cancer Prevention Diet
• How Many Cancers are Caused by the Environment?
• Everything You Need to Know about Indoor Air Quality
In prior sections, I have given you a number of web sites you can refer to using the World Wide Web. I urge you to try to do this in harmony with your physician and be critical about what you read. Nonetheless, everything you could want is out there, and the list presented here is fairly comprehensive regarding reputable sources for any information I have ever imagined a need for, but it is by no means complete. You will notice I have repeated some of the clinical trials sites for emphasis.
• CALGB Cancer and Leukemia Group B
www.calgb.uchicago.edu
• ECOG Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group
ecog.dfci.Harvard.edu
• NCCTG North Central Cancer Treatment Group
ncctg.mayo.edu
• NSABP National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project
www.nsabp.pitt.edu
• POG Pediatric Oncology Group
www.pog.ufl.edu
• RTOG Radiation Therapy Oncology Group
www.rtog.org
• Southwest Oncology Group
www.swog.saci.org
• European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer
www.eortc.be
• National Cancer Institute of Canada Clinical Trial Group
www.ctg.queensu.ca
• National Cancer Institute
http://rex.nci.gov
www.plwc.org
www.asco.org
• American Cancer Society
www.cancer.org
• CancerGuide: Steve Dunn's Cancer Information Page
www.cancerguide.org
• Cancer News on the Net
www.cancernews.com
• Cancernet
http://cancernet.nci.nih.gov
• CanSearch
www.cansearch.org
• Huntsman Cancer Info Service
www.hci.utah.edu
• Medicine Online
www.meds.com
• New York Online Access to Health
www.noahhealth.org
• Oncolink
http://oncolink.upenn.edu
• University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
http://utmdacc.uth.tmc.edu
• MD Anderson Cancer Center
http://www.mdanderson.org
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
http://www.mskcc.org
The National Cancer Institute has many materials to help you understand your medications and diagnosis. The US government sponsors this. The NCI coordinates the government's cancer research program and provides information in both English and Spanish for patients, the public, and the media. Information is available about advances in cancer treatment and research, ongoing clinical trials, specific types of trials (many on campus), specific types of cancer, and managing adverse effects of treatments. Cancernet, PDQ, and the Cancer Information Service are all provided by the NCI. They publish many monographs and booklets, among which are Chemotherapy and You and Helping Yourself During Chemotherapy.
The American Society of Clinical Oncology has a number of new resources available for practitioners to share with patients. As the leading professional society for professionals who treat people with cancer, ASCO is committed to providing patients and their families with information that is accurate, timely, and oncologist approved. Some of their materials are The Cancer Handbook, second edition; the Cancer Advances annual meeting newsletter; ASCO Patient Guide: Understanding Tumor Markers For Breast and Colon Cancers; ASCO Technology assessment: Aromatase Inhibitors for Early Breast Cancer; and "People Living with Cancer," which is the new patient-education website from ASCO. Th is offers easy-to-understand cancer information that is accurate, up-to-date, and oncologist approved. There are sections devoted to cancer types, clinical trials, symptom management, cancer news, family and friends, coping, discussions, and much more.
The American Cancer Society has many local programs to support their patients with cancer and their patients' families. They will connect you with the office nearest you. The American Cancer Society is a
voluntary organization with national and local offices that may be able to provide patient services, including transportation, lodging, cancer information, support groups, and oncology camps. They have information and catalogs for cancer-related products, such as hats, turbans, hairpieces, wigs, prostheses, and breast forms. They lobby for cancer-prevention legislation and conduct education and awareness programs, such as Man to Man (prostate cancer), Reach to Recovery (breast cancer), and "Look Good Feel Better."
Steve Dunn's website is maintained by a cancer survivor and provides information specifically for patients. It tells patients how to find information, the pros and cons of researching their cancer, when and why to get a second opinion, and how to maintain a positive outlook. Alternative and unconventional therapies are discussed in a practical, balanced manner, and patients are cautioned to make careful decisions.
A nuclear medicine physician who works with cancer patients edits Cancer News on the Net. It can provide articles on many forms of cancer.
CancerNet is an international online service provided by the
National Cancer Institute. This information is for patients, families, the public, health-care providers, and researchers. It covers cancer detection, prevention, treatment, and research. Users may research CancerLit, a bibliographic gold mine of a database that indexes cancer-related articles from the medical literature. It does not provide articles but helps users decide which will be the most useful. PDQ, the NCI's comprehensive cancer database, can be accessed from CancerNet.
Cansearch is a site sponsored by the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship for both survivors and patients. It provides information about meetings and events, survivorship programs, and a systematic guide to cancer resources on the Internet.
Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah provides patients and providers with information about cancer detection, prevention, and treatment. Referral to local programs is also provided.
Medicine Online is sponsored by Ultitech and funded by Glaxo-Wellcome and Pharmacia. It provides information, education, the Daily Oncology News Digest, discussion groups, and meeting reports.
New York Online Access to Health is provided by the City University of New York and has information for both patients and providers on cancer and other diseases.
OncoLink is sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania and contains information for patients and providers about specific diseases, medical specialties related to cancer treatment, chemotherapy, psychosocial support, clinical trials, financial issues, international cancer meetings, and other topics.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, which is an enormous institution, provides information about cancer prevention and detection, clinical trials, and basic information about cancer and its treatment.
Another completely different and more personal approach is offered by radio and is called The Group Room: A Worldwide Virtual Support Group. It airs every Sunday from 4–6 p.m. eastern time and can be reached at 1-800-GRP-ROOM (1-800-477-7666). For a list of radio stations that carry The Group Room, or to listen to the Internet broadcast, please visit www.vitaloptions.org.
Information is available from many sources about specific types of cancer. Patients may wish to join cancer-specific support groups or find vendors, such as vendors for prostheses for bone cancer or breast cancer, or ostomy bags. The following is a good sampling of cancer-specific resources available by telephone or the web. Remember, these may not be as reliable or accurate as those sponsored by the NCI or major institutions.
• American Brain Tumor Association
1-800-886-2282 http://www.abta.org
• Brain Tumor Society
1-800-770-8287 http://www.tbts.org
• Cure for Lymphoma Foundation
1-800-235-6848 http://www.cfl.org
• International Myeloma Foundation
1-800-452-2873 http://www.myeloma.org
• Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
1-800-955-4572 http://www.leukemia.org
• National All Br Ca Org
1-888-806-2226 http://www.nabco.org
• National Hospice Organization
1-703-243-5900 http://www.nhpco.org/body.cfm
• National Ovarian Cancer Coalition
1-888-682-7246 http://www.ovarian.org
• Support for People with Oral and Head and Neck Cancer
1-800-377-0928 http://www.spohnc.org
• Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization
1-800-221-2141 http://www.y-me.org
Sources of National Cancer Institute Information
Cancer Information Service:
Toll-free: 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237)
TT Y (for deaf and hard of hearing callers): 1-800-332-8615
NCI Online:
Use http://cancer.gov to reach NCI's website.
LiveHelp:
LiveHelp link on the NCI's website.
Copyright © 2015. Kevin P. Ryan, MD FACP COL USAF (ret). All rights reserved.


text:
[hackmd](https://hackmd.io/ILafTVysTIeIIv_imcHAoQ)

# 2021-07-14 conda-forge core meeting

[Zoom link](https://flatiron.zoom.us/j/93242638216?pwd=bjRCWmVJRW1oTGJhN09VUmxtTTJOUT09)
[What time is the meeting in my time zone](https://arewemeetingyet.com/UTC/2020-08-26/17:00/w/Conda-forge%20dev%20meeting#eyJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2hhY2ttZC5pby9wUk15dFVKV1FmU3NJM2xvMGlqQzJRP2VkaXQifQ==)
[last weeks meeting](https://hackmd.io/gb3Rqs_iSWSCl2FvrBVrvA)

## Attendees

## Agenda

### Standing items

* [x] intros for new folks on the call
    * Jannis
    * Alex - engineer working on installer

* [x] (CJ) budget
    * current approvals?
    * Whenever updated numbers land, please screenshare and show the budget.
        * Link is in Keybase (numfocus_spreadsheets.txt)

* [x] open votes

#### From previous meeting(s)

### Your __new__() agenda items

- [x] (IF): NumFOCUS Small Development Grant
    - Update GCC compilers and support cross-compiling scenarios.
    - Got approved by university last week. Can start working now.
    - First thing is going to be moving away from crosstools-ng.
    - going to be building GCC directly with their configure scripts.
    - Work has started now and lets see how it goes
    - Anaconda may want to have a look. Will send WIP PR and tag Anaconda folks

- [x] (IF): CUDA 11.3, 11.4
    - (IF) Adding CUDA 11.3, 11.4 will add 30 more jobs (3 platforms * 5 python * 2 cuda)
    - (IF) This will add to already big matrices with ~60 jobs making it a
      denial of service to other feedstocks
    - (IF) There's a way to reduce the matrix by building for only one CUDA 11.x version
        - This would reduce CI time
        - Avoid rebuilding heavy packages like pytorch which has to be done manually.
        - almost all libs in 11.x depends only on major version except for 2-3 libs (e.g., nvrtc)
        - Can we rate limit the Azure workers on a per-feedstock basis?
            - Maybe limiting to 50 parallel builds would be sufficient to not hog the queue
            - long running jobs like pytorch is an issue.
        - we could use https://cirun.io/auth/login w/ aws and GHA
    - (JK) `cudatoolkit` packaging plans

- [x] (IF): Drop numpy 1.17 on July 26
    - https://numpy.org/neps/nep-0029-deprecation_policy.html

- [ ] (JK): CUDA ARM packaging
    - https://github.com/conda-forge/cudatoolkit-feedstock/pull/59

### Pushed to next meeting

### Active votes

### Subteam updates

#### Bot

#### ARM

#### POWER

#### CUDA

#### Docs

#### staged-recipes

#### website

#### security+systems

### CI infrastructure

#### Compiler upgrade

### CFEP updates

#### Open PRs

* [cfep-04](https://github.com/conda-forge/conda-forge-enhancement-proposals/pull/7) X11 and CDT policy
    * INACTIVE - Merge in with some inactive-esque status?
    * Needs new champion. Thanks for your work on this pkgw! Has unaddressed comments from pkgw as from Jan 10, 2020
    Solved: Let's defer and keep the "mixed model" we have now.

* [cfep-06](https://github.com/conda-forge/conda-forge-enhancement-proposals/pull/9) Staged-recipes review lifecycle
    * INACTIVE - Merge in with some inactive-esque status?
    * Lingering comment from @saraedum. @jakirkham, can you reply? Has unadressed comment from @saraedum from Jan 8, 2020
    * (MRB) The stalebot has solved the worst of the issues here. I think we could defer this one permanently.
    Solved: defer in favor of the stale bot for now.

* [cfep-15](https://github.com/conda-forge/conda-forge-enhancement-proposals/pull/15) Feedstock statuses, unmaintained
    * INACTIVE - Merge in with some inactive-esque status?
    * Needs another review. Has unaddressed updates from pkgw as of Jan 11, 2020
    Pending: re-pinged pkgw for a second review.

* [cfep-12](https://github.com/conda-forge/cfep/pull/23) Removing packages that violate the terms of the source package
    * Stalled since May 26, 2020
    * Active debate about moving to "broken" vs deleting from conda-forge channel
    * Active vote, ends on 2020-03-11
    * What were the results of the vote?
    * Did we hear back from NumFOCUS? they did the legal seminar which is recorded

* [cfep-17](https://github.com/conda-forge/cfep/pull/32) Handling pin backports and dependency rebuilds
    * Stalled debate about implementation details between Isuru, CJ and Matt
    * **UPDATE 2020-07-22**: We in principle have agreement to render the extra pinnings needed directly in the feedstock
      on a temporary basis (i.e., until the migration has ended).

* [cfep-19](https://github.com/conda-forge/cfep/pull/35) Pinning epochs
    * Stalled since July

* [cfep-20](https://github.com/conda-forge/cfep/pull/39) Package split
    * No updates for ~1 month

## Discussion

## Check in on previous action items
Copy previous action items from last meeting agenda.

### This meeting

### Last meeting

### 2 meetings ago

### Move to Issue Tracker
2020-11-18
* [ ] (IF/MRB/MV) intel oneAPI
    * todo
        * [ ] (Nikolay) licensing for opencl_rt
        * [ ] (Nikolay) intelmpi ABI compat w/ mpich
        * [ ] (MRB/IF) figure out how exactly to package C/C++ compilers
        * [ ] (MRB/IF) think about fortran ABI
        * [x] (MRB) make conda-forge compilers room (add people including keith)
* [ ] (MB) asking core members to move to "emeritus" status
    * [ ] TODO: Eric to set up quarterly check-in for all core members to see if they're interested in remaining "active" or if they want to move to emeritus
        * Remove emeritus folks from having access to various credentials (api tokens, twitter password, etc.)? This would require a change to the governance doc.

2020-11-11
* TODO: Think about bringing in JOSS to provide context around how we might best write papers

2020-11-03
* TODO: Check on Forrest Watters permissions for core
* [x] (FF) Outreachy would cost 6500 USD.
  * Next steps: write abstract and vote on spending of funds.

2020-10-28
2020-10-21
* [ ] (Marius?) Python 2.7 migration
    * ( ) [ ] make a hint
    * ( ) [ ] make an announcement
    * ( ) [ ] make the hint a lint

2020-10-07
* [ ] Make sure to add the NVBug info to the cudatoolkit package that conda-forge makes (if we make one)

2020-09-09
* [ ] (ED) Update governance docs with similar voting model as what got put into conda-tools (+3 with no -1 is a pass)
* [ ] (SC) Write jinja template to turn institutional partners yaml into a website https://github.com/conda-forge/conda-forge.github.io/blob/master/src/inst_partners.yaml
* [ ] (SC) Document what needs to be done to create an OVH account and get access

2020-08-26
**Docker hub**
* [ ] (JK) Check in on Azure build workers to see if they have the docker hub limitation.
* [ ] (JK) work with dockerhub to see if we can get OSS status
    * [ ] Check in again at some point. We haven't heard back as of 2020-09-23

**OVH**
* [ ] Shout-out on twitter at some point. "Thanks forOVHCloud for providing a VM", etc. (maybe after we ship qt on windows with it?)

* [ ] Figure out how to communicate breaking changes to users. Likely should open up an issue immediately for futher discussion. Ping @kkraus, plus capture notes from further up in these meeting notes

* [ ] John K. will update the cuda toolkit feedstock on the git repo to note the NVBug link to the internal NVIDIA issue tracker
* [ ] Jonathan will update docs to note that some non-exhaustive list of packages (like cuda-toolkit, MKL, etc.)
* [ ] Jonathan will review this [PR](https://github.com/AnacondaRecipes/cudatoolkit-feedstock/pull/7)

* [ ] (Kale) schedule conda working group
* [ ] cfep-10 next steps: CJ to call a vote for feedback
* [ ] cfep-06 next steps: Ask staged recipes team to champion this CFEP and move it forward
* [ ] jakirkham & CJ-wright to sync on adding CUDA to the migration bot
* [ ] (Eric) Scheduling Anaconda <-> conda-forge sync on anaconda.org requirements gathering
    * Will try and get this scheduled in the next month.
* [ ] (Anthony) Reach out to NumFocus to figure out legal ramifications of not including licenses in files.
* [ ] (Eric) check internally for funding levels for hotels & flying folks from the community in?
* [ ] (Eric) Figure out finances of conda-forge to support themselves?
* [ ] (jjhelmus) Open up CFEP for which python's we're going to support
* [ ] (jakirkham) write a blog post on CUDA stuff we discussed today
* [ ] (jakirkham) update docs on how to add CUDA support to feedstocks
* [ ] (jakirkham) will open an issue on conda-smithy to investigate Drone issues. (ping the aarch team)
    * https://github.com/conda-forge/conda-forge.github.io/issues/954
* [ ] (ED) Who we are page? Some combination of a FAQ and a who is everyone. FAQ things like:
    * who's the POC for CF <> Anaconda, CF <> NumFocus, CF <> Azure
    * who's the POC for the various subteams?
    * Informal information: roles, day jobs, bios, the whole nine yards, why you're here, etc.
    * Public or internal? I don't really care either way. Anyone feel strongly one way or the other?
    * opt-in to public bios
    * software carpentry has a large number of instructors and has https://carpentries.org/instructors
    * some concern about "yet another place to keep stuff up to date"
* [ ] (ED) document strategies for reproducible environments using conda-forge
* [ ] (UK) Static libraries stuff
    * [ ] Add linting hints to builds to find them
    * [x] Recommend how to package them -> CFEP-18
    * [x] We should write docs saying we don't provide support and this is a bad idea. -> CFEP-18

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


John J. Murphy, Vancouver; Jas.
The Saddle is owned by Chas.
ive wire mining men of the north.
Arm. Centrally looated. Excellent water supply. Prioe $375.
was also high scorer with 9.
turned in a neat performance.
decisively by the score of 26-14.
scoring 8 markers and the latter 6.
ceremony being performed by Rev.
the bride's parents Mr. and Mrs.
Mrs. W. F. Eve, Mr. and Mrs. D.
Miss Dora Grigg, Mr. and Mrs.
G. Thompson, Mr. and Mrs. D.
Campbell, Mr. Wm. Wells, Mr. R.
best of luck in their future life.
Mine squad on Monday evening.
the stiff defence of the visitors.
H. Calderone-4, P. MoMillan, O'Neill, Scott-4, Morley.
by Mrs. Barclay and Mrs. A. Crone.
in care of Mrs. J. Dunn and Mrs.
work by Mrs. Russell and Mrs.
weather of the. whole winter season.
for Geneva, Switzerland, iu connection with mining business.
whom he expeots to become interested in the camp.
view is taken chiefly because "Col.
the property was examined by J.
F. Tener, a consulting engineer, '"
believe that such will be the case.
Rupert returned home on Monday.
A. W. White, Miss Farmold, H.
Hunter, R. Smith, Mr. Miirchie.
D. Sherk, S. C. Thompson A.
.   Why the big smile Mike?   Oh!
I am smoking an El Dora cigar.
esky, T. Mason, J. E. Miller, W.
Lang, T. Munday, W. Loving, D.
others capital for their development.
attention of the bigger capital.
the hills surrounding Alice Arm.
Major Daniels Owen, K. C. of Annapolis, N. S. member of the Canadian air service, declared recently.
Taxes May Curtail P. G. E.
grain had yet passed through it.
that your requirements can be quickly supplied.
of all our metals, and its importance in the mining industry is exceeded only by the gold and silver.
This, however, is not its sole use.
without the furnishings and the.
national existence depends on copper.
twenty years.—A. Smith, in Spokane Mining Truth.
ual project of its kind on the C< "
Noel Bay, Bay of Fundy.
Lands, Viotoria, B.O., or to any Oovernment Agent.
forms, ooples of which can be obtained from the Land Commissioner.
and Und has been surveyed.
and the range administered under a.
Seattle, eaoh Thursday and Sunday, 11.00 p.m.
Atelegram was sent to Mr. P.
their husbands in the noble art.
will be made to each member wishing to enter this contest.
Thorsteinsson lost to Mrs. E. J.
lost to Mrs. E. J. Conway and Mr.
9 p.m. until 2 a.m.
herd (over 8,000) in tlie world.
Metal Calf, and latest shades of Tan, giving the wearer a full expression of shoemakers' art.
JLaSlCl   llUVClUCS, Easter Cards and Easter Party Decorations.
BIG SELECTION AT MODERATE PRICES.
EASTER LILLIES AND POTTED PUNTS AT HARDWARE DEPT.