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Tag: women
The Bechdel Test
One of my best friends, Kelly is a graphic designer in the entertainment industry and keeps me up to date on upcoming movies, television theories, and of course celebrity news and gossip. She has lived in LA for the past two years and is currently transitioning to NYC. Her experiences working in this industry and living in LA has been awesome to follow and I'm sure she will have a lot of success in New York as well. You can find her portfolio and blog at www.kellyohara.com.
While reading through her blog posts about upcoming movies and lovable TV characters, I found a post where she explained The Bechdel Test. This feminist test consists of 3 rules in which a film must meet in order to pass:
The film must have at least two female characters with names.
The two female characters must have dialogue.
The dialogue must be about something other than a man.
It sounds simple enough, but within Kelly's blog post was over a dozen movies that didn't really pass. She often writes about how women are represented and recognized on screen, and promotes strong female characters with meaningful storylines. To view her original post, click HERE!
My boyfriend and I are frequent movie goers, so I decided to apply this test to the 5 movies released in 2018 that we have seen so far. (Don't worry – no spoilers!)
Rampage: Kinda sorta passes.
While the movie technically passes, there isn't a lot of female interaction in general here. There's a couple of key scenes where the females on opposing sides come face to face, but that's pretty much it. However, the women are intelligent and highly educated, so that's something.
A Quiet Place: Definitely passes.
The four main characters consist of a mother, father, daughter and son and there is plenty of dialogue that includes the women- despite the fact that that dialogue is in sign language. The family is living in a silent world and the daughter is deaf, but she plays a detrimental part in the plot's conclusion. Both the mother and daughter are innovative leaders, and I wouldn't say that typical gender roles apply here. Everyone is equal, and everyone does what they have to in order to protect each other. The movies itself is amazing and I highly recommend.
Avengers Infinity War: Just barely passes. – This was disappointing. There are a ton of strong female characters in this movie – why didn't any of them talk to each other?! The only reason that this movie passes at all is because of one all-female fight scene that – while pretty badass – was also pretty short. It was also annoying that every single female character had an on-screen love interest, which largely drove their side storylines. I won't even talk about the role of Iron Man's nagging wife… like I said, disappointing.
Red Sparrow: Passes. – Truthfully, this movie didn't portray men very well. They are weak creatures in the eyes of the Russian women, and can easily be taken down once that weakness is found. The women are powerful, manipulative, and stealthy. However, the movie had more rape scenes than I was prepared for and definitely showed a side of Russian culture that feminists may not agree with. So.. the movie passes, but there's a lot more to be explored here.
I Feel Pretty: Passes. – Amy Shumer has done a lot for the feminist movement with her stand up comedy, but this movie is more family-friendly than her normal content. Aside from one quick sex scene in which Amy's character is looking at herself in the mirror, this is a movie you could watch with young girls. It sends a great message – you're as attractive as you feel! Women are always comparing ourselves to each other and highlighting our flaws, when confidence is all we really need. It shouldn't be a surprise that this movie passes.
Women face challenges in every industry – whether it's the pay gap, unequal recognition, or lack of opportunities. And by bringing attention to these issues, we can start to fully address them.
So challenge yourself to apply this test to the next movie you watch! Especially films that have recently been released. (And if this idea has really caught your interest, I recommend listening to the women on The Bechdal Cast Podcast analyze all your favorite movies and why they do or don't pass.)
www.kellyohara.com
ginafinio	Books, TV, & Movies	1 Comment May 30, 2018 March 18, 2019
80% of the people I have reported to in the workplace have been women. This includes every position I have had, from my high school jobs to my college internships to my career. Most of my bosses have been women.
I come from a hardworking family with two parents who worked full-time. My mom took her maternity leave to have my sister and I, and then got right back to her job, working as one of the 11% of civil engineers that are women.* And yet, she still managed to have a life AND be involved with the PTA. The women there would give her patronizing remarks when she was unable to make meetings in the middle of the day because of having a career. "Oh… you have to work?" Really? Not to judge these women, but my mom is a project engineer managing teams across a multinational company with a masters degree from Penn State who also is able to balance being an active mom, so who are they to speak?
All that being said, it's no surprise that I take pride in the fact that I have mainly reported to women. I have had the opportunity to work for some amazing, powerful women, (and one awful one) and I am very thankful.
My first job, however, I worked for a man. In high school, I worked at a pizza place called Bella Roma, which was/still is owned by a man named Ray. To put it frankly, he was a sexist pig. Only girls were allowed to work behind the counter and wait tables, and only boys were hired to be delivery drivers. He made inappropriate remarks about women who came into his shop. You could see it and hear it in the way he treated and talked to people. Luckily for me, he was only in the restaurant during one of my shifts each week so I didn't have to deal with anything first hand, but the stories were passed around. He was a douche.
I worked there for a year and then I started my long line of working for women. My hometown job included working for my friends' mom, and my college campus job had me reporting to one of the female graduate students. It wasn't until I started my internships that I noticed the amount of women in the workforce around me.
Maybe it's my industry. I was a Communications major with minors in PR and Professional Writing, and my experience has been in HR, PR and Marketing. I had four internships while I was in college, all of which I reported directly to women. Three of these internships were within small businesses, and, this next part is noteworthy, ALL THREE OF THOSE BUSINESSES WERE OWNED BY WOMEN. These women were boss ladies, bad bitches, and I wanted to be like them. They were rough around the edges, intimidating, hardworking, and determined with something to prove. I was given mentors at these internships as well, also women. I was inspired by the attitude they had and the image of themselves they they projected into the world. Say what you want, but women get shit done, and done well. Today, almost 40% of all businesses are owned and operated by women.*
My first job out of college, I worked for an awful woman named Heather, who was the HR Director for a small manufacturing firm. When I first started, I heard rumors that she wasn't well liked, but she was so nice to me in the beginning that I figured they were just saying those things because she was a dominant female. As I got to know her more, I realized that she didn't make a whole lot of sense most of the time. She wasn't great at managing people. She was no where to be found for 90% of the time, and the other 10% she would micromanage so much that it was hard to do our jobs. One time, she told me that instead of teaching me the new way she wanted things done, she had been giving me a look periodically to see if I could figure out this own my own. Sorry I didn't pick up on your telepathic signals, Heather. I could continue on about the strange things she used to do, but my point here is that I didn't see her as a good boss. She was off-putting and manic and hypocritical and backwards. She didn't know how to handle people, but then again, neither did most of this organization. I worked there for less than a year before I was begging another company to take me.
After that, I did a complete 180 and started working for a wonderful individual named Cheryl. You can put Cheryl on the top of the boss lady list. Professionally, she helped build a branch from scratch and was running the HR department for her home office and several other offices in the region. Meanwhile, she was dealing with a mother battling cancer, a husband having multiple surgeries on his airwaves, and a daughter in and out of the ER with asthma issues. As if all that wasn't enough, she also fought against the daily prejudice of having an interracial family (a beautiful one) and fought against stereotypes of women in leadership. I was continuously inspired by her strength and prosperity, and the fact that she was a baller breadwinner for her family. Over 40% of moms today are the sole or primary source of income in U.S. households.* Cheryl also was a phenomenal manager. She cared about us on both a personal and a professional level, cared about our growth, and cared about us overall being happy. The year she was my boss, she won HR Manager of the year across a national company, and soon after I left the company, she was promoted to Regional Manager. To put it simply, she dominates.
When I interviewed to leave that company, it was with a man named Glenn. Upon accepting the offer, I learned that Glenn is who I would be reporting to. Truly, my immediate thought was, Wow, this is the first time I'll be reporting to a man since Ray. I wondered if the differences would be noticeable or noteworthy between working for a man versus a woman. I was unsure of how my experience had shaped me or catered to me in my career. I wouldn't say I was nervous, but certainly curious.
However, it was obvious from my interview experience that working for Glenn was going to be a much better situation than the man I worked for when I was 17. True to my expectations, Glenn has been a great leader who is extremely knowledgeable and a great teacher. He's also managing a team of over 40 individuals while juggling a daughter at home with health issues. I've clearly been fortunate to work for several admirable leaders. Lucky for Glenn, we are now adding leadership to our department, and his team of 40+ will be broken up into four teams with four separate leaders. As we make this switch, I will no longer be on Glenn's team, but will now be reporting to a woman named Michelle.
What I've learned about great leaders and managers, is that they are also great people. They are professional and experienced, yet level-headed and caring. They are advisors, mentors and confidants. They multi-task, they prioritize, and they execute. They are the kind of people that you want to surround yourself with. And in my case, they have mostly been women. This should be celebrated! But we have a long way to go.
Almost 52% of professional-level jobs are owned by women*, and yet only 15% of executive officers are female.* Not to mention the prevailing wage-gap issue – despite the spotlight that has been put on it, women still make about 78 cents to the man's dollar.* I won't even get into the workplace harassment issues that the media has highlighted, but let's just recognize the amount of mountains that women have to climb.
So I say, keep climbing! Inspire and empower the women around you. Celebrate their successes, and learn from them to create your own. Collaborate. Nominate. Share knowledge and information. Acknowledge accomplishments and milestones. Break boundaries and tear down stereotypes.
I want to thank the women who have inspired me. From my mom, to my previous bosses, to my mentors, to my friends – you all dominate everyday. As leading women in your industries, you are constantly knocking down walls and paving a greater way for the women who come after us. I hope to pass along the gifts that I have been given from you to other strong women with powerful potential.
Who run the world.*
*11% of civil engineers are women, according to bls.gov.
*30% of all businesses are owned and operated by women,
over 40% of moms today are the sole or primary source of
income in U.S. households, and the pay gap across all
occupations is 77.5%,  according to resourcefulmanager.com
*Almost 52% of professional-level jobs are owned by women and
15% of executive officers are female, according to americanprogess.com
*Who run the world? Girls. According to Beyoncé.
ginafinio	Personal Experiences	1 Comment March 14, 2018 January 28, 2019


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French Property Links for buying and selling property in France
Agent Immobilier France - French Version
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Home > Hotspot Guides > Franche-Comte Property Guide
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Full list of property for sale in Franche-Comte
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Audincourt Rougemont
Champagney Gray Hericourt Tincey et Pontrebeau
Belfort Vetrigne
Chateau de Montmartin in the Doubs
EUR €684,000
More Info>
Flat ground of 46,5 ares of which 43 ares constructible, calm area
Franche-Comte: Amazing Value – Large Home in Riverside Village
EUR €99,000
Renovated 1800 farmhouse, between Vosges and Mille Etangs, close to all amenities
Mansion 12 rooms to restore
Franche-Comte Property Listings and Info
For buying and selling property in Franche-Comte
A piece of Switzerland in France
Franche-Comte is not the most talked about region in France and remains fairly hidden as far as foreign buyers are concerned. Its name literally means 'Free Country' and there's no doubt that the locals have immense pride in their land. Like much of Eastern France, Franche-Comte has fabulous cuisine. You can taste the strong Swiss influence on the area and its culture. The inhabitants of Franche-Comte are most renowned for their Comte cheese. Although, not to be missed are the Jura's wines and a whole host of locally produced sausages to choose from.
Brimming with natural and man-made wonders
The stunning scenery is all you would come to expect from a land with such strong ties to Switzerland. Some say this is the greenest area France has to offer. Dense pine forests fill the land between the mountain ranges of the Vosges to the North and the Jura to the South. Not to be missed are the astounding Doubs and Loue valleys, whose timbered houses perched on stilts in the river continue to impress visitors.
Jura mountains - perfect for skiing
The Jura Mountains are easily accessible. Thousands of winter sports enthusiasts and nature lovers alike are lured here every year.
Franche Comte property prices
Whilst the region remains fairly unpopular with foreign buyers, property prices in the area are higher than the average for France. The region boasts good road networks and TGV connections. Travel to central or southern France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy is also relatively easy from here. If you wish to fly to the region, the closest airports are Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva and Lyon.
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Department Guides to Franche-Comte
DOUBS PROPERTY GUIDE MAP
Doubs is nearly half forest - so that and the Jura mountain range make it a great location for people who love the outdoors. Another attraction is Besancon - the capital of Doubs - which is an attractive and interesting city. Property prices aren't as high as other areas
JURA PROPERTY GUIDE MAP
The relatively undiscovered landscape of the Jura department is overlooked by many potential property investors. However, the Jura's stunning, unspoilt environment combined with a large number of tourist attractions and an extremely strong rental market make this an excellent choice for a property purchase.
HAUTE-SAÔNE PROPERTY GUIDE MAP
The land of a thousand lakes is a peaceful, rural department with a rich history. One of the settlements in the department, Pesmes, has the proud distinction of being judged France's prettiest village.
TERRITOIRE DE BELFORT PROPERTY GUIDE MAP
The Territoire de Belfort is France's smallest department. It is located between the Jura and Vosges mountain ranges, which means that this tiny department is very strategically positioned between France and Germany and has known a lively military history.
Town Guides to Franche-Comte
BESANÇON PROPERTY GUIDE MAP
Besançon, capital city of Franche-Comté, is both beautiful and unusual. Viewed from the air it appears to be a huge moated castle, as it is built on a hilltop with the River Doubs curving around three sides like a giant horseshoe. There are also many old fortifications still standing, adding to the impression of a castle.
Franche-Comte AT A GLANCE
WHERE IS Franche-Comte?
Franche-Comte is in the east of France sharing a border with Switzerland.
IN RELATION TO THE REST OF FRANCE
Franche-Comte Property Map
WHICH DEPARTMENTS ARE IN Franche-Comte?
DEPARTMENT GUIDES
Doubs Guide
Jura Guide
Haute-Saône Guide
Territoire de Belfort Guide
GUIDES TO THE TOWNS/CITIES IN Franche-Comte
Besançon Guide
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A five-time Grammy nominee, Santos has a legendary collection of instruments, recordings and literature, which he puts to use in a variety of ways.
He has been a resident artistic director at the new SFJAZZ Center, curating performance programs as well hosting listening party events where he plays recordings and discusses music. Santos also has lectured on Afro Latin jazz at San Francisco's Museum of the African Diaspora and served on the Smithsonian Institution's Latin Jazz Advisory Committee. He also gives lectures and percussion demonstrations in Latin America and Europe and is known worldwide as a writer, educator, cultural historian and activist.
They also brought him artifacts that he collected and preserved – vinyl records, cassettes, reel-to-reel and VHS recordings. By the time he was in high school, his collection was "formidable" and it's still a great resource to him today.
Both percussionists, now deceased, were Cubans who came to the United States in the '50s and found notable jazz employment before also working in Latin-based rock bands. Aguabella played in Jorge Santana's Malo and in Carlos Santana's eponymous named band, which Peraza also played with for 20 years.
Santos had a brief dalliance with the seminal Latin rock band in 1976 as well, but never performed with them. He did start leading his own groups soon after, though, and created his personal label Machete Records 30 years ago. He has released 12 albums as a leader on the imprint, including his most recent project, the two-volume "Filosofía Caribeña," exploring the African, Iberian and indigenous influences on Caribbean culture.
"It's meant to highlight the black and brown, so to speak, nature of Creole society and Creole culture," Santos said.
The percussionist said he's most proud that the project was financed independently, mainly through private donations.
"We did some fundraising, got some matching grants from the East Bay Community Foundation, and those grants were matched by supporters in a crowd-sourced kind of way," Santos said. "The records highlight these deep African traditions that exist in the Caribbean just a few minutes south of our border.


The spring meeting of the Kawartha-Haliburton Regional Group will be held on Wednesday May 1, 2019, commencing with a luncheon at 12:00 p.m. at Rickie's All Day Grill.
Cash bar & lunch, 12 noon to 1:00 pm - meeting starts @ 1:00 pm.
Ordering from Menu paid directly to Rickie's.
Please e-mail roger.grose@ontario.ca or call 705.755.2143 to confirm your attendance.
CPD hours: 1.5 Professional hours (Meeting Attendance) & 1.5 Formal hours (seminar attendance).
Please see the minutes of the previous meeting of January 31, 2019 attached below.


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Spirituality /
Becoming Wise
An Inquiry Into the Mystery and Art of Living
By Krista Tippett
"The discourse of our common life inclines towards despair. In my field of journalism, where we presume to write the first draft of history, we summon our deepest critical capacities for investigating what is inadequate, corrupt, catastrophic, and failing. The 'news' is defined as the extraordinary events of the day, but it is most often translated as the extraordinarily terrible events of the day. And in an immersive 24/7 news cycle, we internalize the deluge of bad news as the norm--the real truth of who we are and what we're up against as a species. But my work has shown me that spiritual geniuses of the everyday are everywhere. They are in the margins and do not have publicists. They are below the radar, which is broken."
Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and National Humanities Medalist Krista Tippett has interviewed the most extraordinary voices examining the great questions of meaning for our time. The heart of her work on her national public radio program and podcast, On Being, has been to shine a light on people whose insights kindle in us a sense of wonder and courage. Scientists in a variety of fields; theologians from an array of faiths; poets, activists, and many others have all opened themselves up to Tippett's compassionate yet searching conversation.
In Becoming Wise, Tippett distills the insights she has gleaned from this luminous conversation in its many dimensions into a coherent narrative journey, over time and from mind to mind. The book is a master class in living, curated by Tippett and accompanied by a delightfully ecumenical dream team of teaching faculty.
The open questions and challenges of our time are intimate and civilizational all at once, Tippett says - definitions of when life begins and when death happens, of the meaning of community and family and identity, of our relationships to technology and through technology. The wisdom we seek emerges through the raw materials of the everyday. And the enduring question of what it means to be human has now become inextricable from the question of who we are to each other.
This book offers a grounded and fiercely hopeful vision of humanity for this century - of personal growth but also renewed public life and human spiritual evolution. It insists on the possibility of a common life for this century marked by resilience and redemption, with beauty as a core moral value and civility and love as muscular practice. Krista Tippett's great gift, in her work and in Becoming Wise, is to avoid reductive simplifications but still find the golden threads that weave people and ideas together into a shimmering braid.
One powerful common denominator of the lessons imparted to Tippett is the gift of presence, of the exhilaration of engagement with life for its own sake, not as a means to an end. But presence does not mean passivity or acceptance of the status quo. Indeed Tippett and her teachers are people whose work meets, and often drives, powerful forces of change alive in the world today. In the end, perhaps the greatest blessing conveyed by the lessons of spiritual genius Tippett harvests in Becoming Wise is the strength to meet the world where it really is, and then to make it better.
Manufacturer: Penguin Pr
Author: Krista Tippett


One more worth & exciting week end, always I will think I need to go for ride with some bullet group. Because most of the time I am riding alone. Finally my dream came true this week end. I came to know about Silver Bullets (www.silver-bullets.org) Royal Enfield motorcycle club through Jayan S R(jayansr.blogspot.com). Very good people.
Ride 1: started the ride from BTM, Bangalore on 01/Mar/08 at 6.30 AM traveled in Bangalore – Mysore high way(SH17). Before reaching mysore city we took deviation and joined in Bandipure High way(NH212). (This road will go through Bandipure National Park and Mudumalai National Park) we traveled in the same road & reached Kalhatty(15 km before ooty) at 1.30 PM. Totally we took 7 hrs to cover 293km with 2 break.
Ride 2: In evening we went to ooty(21 km from Kalhatty). then we started 17 km ride from ooty to coonoor. we spend some time in coonoor and came back to Kalhatty at night 9.30 PM.
Ride 3: on 02/Mar/08 1:00 pm, we started our return journey to Bangalore from Kalhatty at 1.00 PM in the same way & reached banglore at 8.00 PM with two breaks. Totally our round trip comes 654km in 2days.
01/Mar/08 06:30 AM we(jaayan, Jo, jumbo & myself) started from BTM, Bangalore and reached Kalhatty at 01.30 PM. I really enjoyed this ride with group and following the proper signal. Its very good experience while riding in forest like Bandipure National Park & Mudumalai National park. We seen some of the animals (elephants, etc) while riding in this forest. (Moshaii & GK came to Kalhatty in evening).
01/Mar/08 05:00 PM we(jayan, Jo, Jumbo & myself) went to ooty/coonoor & came back to kalhatty at night. We visited the loco shed near coonoor railway station.
01/Mar/08 10:00 PM its fun time in camp(we had camp fire). We had wonderful entertainment for complete night because of GK. he is singing Malayalam songs for full night.
02/Mar/08 10:00 AM we went for trucking. Good exercise and seen very good bungalow top of the mountain.
02/Mar/08 01:00 PM we stared our ride back to Bangalore.
02/Mar/08 08:00 PM I reached my home, marathalli, banglaore.
Wonderful experience with Wonderful people !! Thanks to Jayan, Jo, jumbo, Moshaii & GK.
Impressive!! I had two trips, one is from Bangalore to Ooty and other is from Bangalore to Kannur, traveled with Spl+ (hard to believe!!), but both of the trips I could not a find a single guy as companion!!(not because of the bike I use).
I am really happy atleast somewhere there are people those are really making it together!! Happy biking!!
I will suggest, you can join any of the Motorcycle Group, Where you can ride in the group and get experience from other riders. After that you can plan your own riding based on Time and Money availability.
i'm one in your category. Riding is my passion.
from the child hood, long rides were my all time favorite.
and after i started working i'm on bikes.
I own a Roadking and 02 Suzuki Fiero.
nature lovers our holidays and ridings are the perfect match.
Would be happy to meet you people some time.
Let me know which number i can reach you guys.
Riding bullet is a wonderful experience that everyone would love to share. I would always love to Join U people for any trips.
your always welcome. Join this group http://www.silver-bullets.org . Yes off course you can fine more bullet group !!
hi guys nice knowing you all…. i too deadly mountain ride experience.. we covered 3200km this year.. now i've planned to start a bike touring club in tanjore….. tell your suggetion.. & udhaya doing great … all his movement is awesome.. best wishes….
Lets Discuss on this man. Thanks.
Nice to know that there are so many passionate bulleteers….we have started a club…and looking for passionate people to join us and be one among us.


Forum GoldenClix → What`s new with GoldenClix → Contests! → Referral Contest Winners.
You can find your money in account balance.
Prepare yourself, next contest will start on May 1.
If you follow MY STRATEGY how to get direct referrals, maybe you are next winner. Direct referrals will help you to manage with RR without spending a lot of money and to get ROI faster.
Do not forget about out point contest too, until April 30. You can win up to $500 in your account balance.
Add $20 - $99 and get 10% more bonus in purchase balance.
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Add $500+ and get 20% bonus.
Bonuses will be added within 24 hours after your deposit.
Thank you Admin pls also add fund deposit bonus for silverclix.
Yeah, next contest there will be several promos.
Congratulations to all of the contest winners!


text:
Is Monogamy Really Natural for Gay Men?
By David Artavia
Ariztical Entertainment
With gay relationships in particular, we don't need to worry about getting our partner pregnant. When we commit, most of the time it's not because of a responsibility to raise a child; it's because we want to. We decide that this man is worth it. We love him and we don't want to hurt him. Not saying this isn't also a reason why straight men commit to their mates but it's very clear that in a gay relationship, you have less to lose so commitment becomes more of a choice rather than an investment.
Why does monogamy exist? Whatever your opinion on the matter is, studies do show that it's very good for people and society. A study published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society said that it reduces crime, leads to gender equality, improves children's well-being, raises self-esteem and confidence, and even helps people heal from diseases faster due to a heavy dose of optimism their man (or woman) may provide. We hear all the time that life is better shared. Perhaps it actually is.
Related: The Difference Between Gay and Straight Guys
On the other hand, there are plenty of gay couples in the world with open relationships, and most of them say it tightens their bond. When researchers studied it further, they discovered it enhanced both their physical and mental health. A study conducted through Hunter College surveyed more than 800 gay and bisexual men in New York City. The guys who said they were in "monogamish" pairings showed lower rates of depression when compared to single gay men, and higher rates of life satisfaction than singles or guys in closed relationships.
The bottom line is this. Monogamy is a construct that may or may not be innate within our nature, but it's still thought to be a necessary tool for social order. Human beings have evolved by being able to distinguish our strengths and weaknesses. Survival of the fittest is the reason why we're still here. When we ban together, we're much stronger. Could monogamy have been the byproduct of our success? Or is it the consequence of our success?
Related: Are Millennials the Gayest Generation Ever?
Personally, I can't see myself with a man who wants to be in a monogamish relationship, though I can understand the appeal. The body wants what the body craves, but there's something beautiful about commitment. It enhances our value and worth inside our heads, but there's also no question that people in open relationships must undoubtedly trust their partners even more so than those in committed ones. They feel secure – something people in monogamous relationships might not feel as strongly.
Love it or hate it, all relationships are different and make up their own set of boundaries. So long as your happy, it doesn't matter whether monogamy is natural or man-made because one thing is certain: LOVE has no rules.
David Artavia is an actor and writer from New York City. He loves living vicariously through his friends. Follow him on Twitter and Like his Facebook page. This article was originally published on GayGuys.com.
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Operational update: The Wallow Fire continues to smolder with minimal fire behavior and growth in the Snowslide Gulch area. Firefighters are still cleaning up foil wrapped telephone poles, flagging, and completing suppression repair. Crews will continue to monitor and patrol the fire area.
Wallow Fire: 65,336 acres; 83% containment. Fire fighters will continue to monitor and repair the fire perimeter and mop up any areas of concern.
Deep Fire: Approximately 101 acres; 95% containment. Fire fighters will continue to monitor the fire perimeter and mop up any areas of concern.
Fourth Fire:One quarter (.25) acre; 100% containment. The fire is unstaffed, but will continue to be monitored.
Claire Fire:One Tenth (.10) acre; 100% containment. The fire is unstaffed, but will continue to be monitored.
Blaine Fire:1 Acre; 100% containment. The fire is unstaffed, but will continue to be monitored.


Post subject: Bridge Toaster Question HELP!!!!
Hi I just swapped my hi gains for toasters on my 360 and I noticed that the bridge pick up volume was a bit low. Should I add a second pad or is it normally much lower than the neck pick up?
Aren't toasters meant to have lower output than High Gains?
I'm assuming you mean the new bridge toaster pickup is low compared to the new neck toaster pickup, and not to the Hi-gain bridge pickup.
I have Hi-gains, but I can generally say that regarding height, and not gain, my bridge p'up is almost touching the strings. I have only one pad. My neck pickup is lower, but can still get louder than the bridge, nonetheless, esp. via the fifth knob.
Most neck pickups are louder than the bridge pickup on any guitar, because neck pickup magnets are usually stronger. Many players have to lower their neck pickup, especially on Strats, because the magnetism pulls their strings out of tune. Richard Thompson's original Strat has the neck pickup almost screwed all the way into the body cavity, because it caused tremendous tuning problems.
That being said, as I posted above, the treble pickup will have lower volume than the high gain, but I can't imagine why it would worry you if it was lower than the neck pickup. The fifth knob allows you to adjust as you please, and I have read posts from toaster fans which indicate that they prefer playing in the lead position anyway.
Thanks and thanks...the other reason that I did this was that my guitar tech/luthier used 2 pads on the bridge pickup and once I looked at it I thought..."That doesn't look right" and he said the level was too low...so then I dug out my little screwdriver set and tore the second pad off....I know that toasters have a lower output and there are no neck or bridge toasters. They are the same pick up for guitars. I was just wondering about the the lower volume for the bridge pick up and the distance between the strings and the pick up for both. THANKS FOR ALL OF THE HELP.
I know that toasters have a lower output and there are no neck or bridge toasters. They are the same pick up for guitars. I was just wondering about the the lower volume for the bridge pick up and the distance between the strings and the pick up for both.
I do have a question for you, though: Would you prefer for the bridge pickup to have more output? In other words, do you regret taking off the second foam piece?
I think that you must want more power, otherwise you wouldn't be concerned about the differences between the neck and bridge volume difference (Because, it's quite clear that the neck pickup is closer to the strings simply by looking at the guitar, right?). I might be wrong, though.


text:
Jobs Work online from anywhere in the world
The Mighty Boosh (series 3)
Party (Beyoncé song)
Gamer (disambiguation)
Gamers (TV series)
A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration of a special occasion. A party will typically feature food and beverages, and often music and dancing or other forms of entertainment. In many Western countries, parties for teens and adults are associated with drinking alcohol such as beer, wine or distilled spirits.
Some parties are held in honor of a specific person, day, or event, such as a birthday party, a Super Bowl party, or a St. Patrick's Day party. Parties of this kind are often called celebrations. A party is not necessarily a private occasion. Public parties are sometimes held in restaurants, pubs, beer gardens, nightclubs or bars, and people attending such parties may be charged an admission fee by the host. Large parties in public streets may celebrate events such as Mardi Gras or the signing of a peace treaty ending a long war.
Types of parties
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Party
The Mighty Boosh's third series was originally broadcast between 15 November 2007 and 20 December 2007. The series features five main cast members; Julian Barratt, Noel Fielding, Rich Fulcher, Michael Fielding and Dave Brown. The third series revolves around Howard Moon and Vince Noir (Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding), and the adventures they have whilst running a second-hand shop. A DVD of the series was released on 11 February 2008 in Region 2 and 7 August in Region 4.
Whereas the second series was set mainly in a flat in Dalston, England, the third series was set in a second hand shop below the flat called the Nabootique, owned by Naboo, and run by Howard Moon and Vince Noir. The flat, however, is re-used for most of the setting of the episode "Party".
Series 3 had the smallest budget of all three series to date. Filming for the series took place in seven weeks, from July to September 2007, in a warehouse in a disused Ministry of Defence site in Surrey, England.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/The_Mighty_Boosh_(series_3)
"Party" is a song recorded by American singer Beyoncé for her fourth studio album, 4 (2011). It features guest vocals from American rapper André 3000, and was released by Columbia Records as the third single from 4 on August 30, 2011. The song was written by Kanye West, Jeff Bhasker, Beyoncé, Dexter Mills, Douglas Davis and Ricky Walters and produced by Beyoncé and West and co-produced by Bhasker. A midtempo R&B song, "Party" exhibits elements of the 1980s funk and soul music, and samples the 1985 song "La Di Da Di". It recalls the work of New Edition and Prince, among others. Built on a 808-retro beat, multi-tracked harmonies, and a smooth groove, the song's instrumentation includes slow-bouncing synthesizers, keyboard tones, and drums. Lyrically, "Party" gives ode to political themes such as feminism and sexual empowerment. In his rap verses, André 3000 references milk and gets philosophical about his own career. "Party" was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 54th Grammy Awards.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Party_(Beyoncé_song)
A gamer is one who plays and/or devises games, especially role-playing or video games.
Gamer(s) may also refer to:
G@mers (TV series)
The Gamer (comics)
The Gamer Studio
The Gamer (magazine) AHC Publications
Gamers (album), an album by The Conscious Daughters
Gamers (US retailer), a retail video game chain located primarily in Iowa and Nebraska
Gamers, a retail chain operated by the Japanese media company Broccoli
The Gamers, a wargaming company
Gamer.tv, a UK video-game programme
Carlton Gamer, American composer and music theorist
Gamer (film), a 2009 science fiction thriller
The Gamers (film), a 2002 low-budget cult film, followed by a sequel, The Gamers: Dorkness Rising.
Gamers: The Movie, a 2006 mockumentary
All pages with titles containing Gamer
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Gamer_(disambiguation)
G@mers is a computer and video games television show, originally produced by and shown on Rapture TV from 1999-2006. As of July 2010, the show has been revived and is now broadcast on Information TV and Showcase TV. The show was presented by Matt Cuttle, a former presenter on Sky One's "Gamezville", and Kate Heavenor, a former children's TV presenter. It is perhaps most famous for launching the career of BBC presenter Jake Humphrey.
G@mers was first broadcast on cable and satellite channel Rapture TV in 1999. Initially, the show (then titled just "Gamers" without the @) was presented by Cuttle and Humphrey. The show was later sold to ITV, coinciding with Rapture's financial problems at the time, and ended when the channel went off-the-air (temporarily) in 2001. At this point Humphrey left. On their third relaunch in 2005, the show was resumed, back on Rapture, with Heavenor replacing Humphrey as presenter.
The show covered console and handheld gaming, PC gaming and retro console systems, with the majority of time devoted to game reviews, which are rated by both presenters.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/Gamers_(TV_series)
G2 Esports, formerly known as Gamers2, is a Spanish esports organization that has teams in League of Legends and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and Hearthstone: Heroes of WarCraft. The G2 League team competes in the League of Legends Championship Series Europe. The organization was first announced on February 24, 2014.
The team was founded by former SK Gaming mid-laner Carlos "ocelote" Rodríguez Santiago in 2014 with an initial roster of Top laner Jesper "Jwaow" Strandgren, jungler Sebastián "Morden" Esteban Fernández, AD carry Soler "Yuuki60" Florent, and support Hugo "Dioud" Padioleau.
The team participated in the Spring Expansion Tournament, beating Reason Gaming in the seeding game and Team Strix in Round 1. Gamers2 were knocked out of the tournament in Round 2 after being beaten by n!faculty.
G2 Esports is a Spanish organization, renamed from Gamers2 after qualifying for the 2016 EU LCS Spring Season.
The team currently competes under the name G2 Kinguin, in representation of their sponsor Kinguin.
This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia -	https://wn.com/G2_Esports
The Gamers' Guide to Party Treasure
source: The Gamers' Guide to Pathfinder
The Gamers' Guide to Party Roles
DTU Gamere får bøde pga. Lan Party!
source: GameBoys
Angi Threw A Surprise Party and Fred Wants To Be A Gamer
source: The Fred Show Radio Blogs
source: Bad Movies & Swedish Opinions
source: Solo a la medida
source: Bad Movie Journalists
source: Panning the Stream
source: Yeah, It's That Bad - Complete Archive
source: Is It Rotten? 100 Greatest.
The Gamers
source: Tenure Media Limited
Gamers?!
source: Boroboro Podcash
source: Los Gamers
source: friday nigth funky
source: o.r gamer's show
source: je be's show
source: Voces Del Alma
Podcast Todas Gamers 5×12: Una Lan Party y una partida de rol en vivo
source: Todas Gamers
Thumper, Overwatch, Jackbox Party Pack 3, War and Order - The Mommy Gamers 150
source: The Mommy Gamers


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Solo Joe – 2013
"Creative, engaging, relevant."
– Paul Israelson, Swift Current, SK
"Top notch in every way."
– Paul Reich, Caroline, AB
"Moving and Poignant."
– Stacia Michael, Prince Albert, SK
"Solo Joe was Fantacular!!"
– Young Audience Member in Moose Jaw, SK
Solo Joe is the story of a church custodian, Joe, who for 23 years has longed to realize a moment that he dreamt of when he was 17. All those years ago he dreamt that the curtains opened, that he stepped into the spotlight and heard the applause of heaven. Now, quite miraculously, in the midst of turning 40, preparing to teach a Sunday school lesson on Joseph and watching his youngest child graduate, Joe finds himself in the middle of that which he has nearly forgotten. There is a set, an audience and an orchestra of one – but the spotlight won't go on. Are dreams reserved only for those with technicolor dreamcoats, or can Joe sing, dance and imagine his way to a new revelation?
"I believe Solo Joe resonates with audience members at all stages of life," says James Popoff, Artistic Director of Burnt Thicket Theatre and creator of Solo Joe. "In the biblical story of Joseph it says that when Joseph's brothers bowed down, Joseph wept because he remembered his dream. Does this mean he had forgotten it? What then enabled him to carry on as his dreams got pushed further and further to the back of his mind? What does this mean for our interpretation of Joseph's story and what does it mean for us and our dreams – realized, failed or forgotten? It is my prayer that through Solo Joe we would each come to our own revelation of a love that is bigger than anything we can dream."


Google today at a small event in San Francisco announced that it's taking Google Maps offline. That's right, no more will you be beholden to your data connection. Or if traveling abroad (or on a subway, for instance), you'll be able to kill data altogether and still find your way around. This, ladies and germs, is a big deal. What's more is that it's not just macro-level mapping. You'll be able to zoom all the way down into street view, sans data. You can't have it just yet, but Google says it's coming soon enough.
Google also showed off a backpack-type Street View rig -- powered by Android, if you'll believe it -- that's taken us down to street level in places cars can't go. Pretty slick.
And then there's 3D modeling in Google Earth. Google walked us through how it does things, making them better all the time. Its modeling has taken a big leap forward with the use of airplanes and oblique mapping, with computers doing some serious number crunching to make things impossibly smooth. It'll be coming to both Android and iOS devices in ridiculous resolution.


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Census Place
4.4% 1-year decrease
In 2020, College Station, TX had a population of 116k people with a median age of 23.1 and a median household income of $47,456. Between 2019 and 2020 the population of College Station, TX grew from 113,686 to 115,802, a 1.86% increase and its median household income grew from $45,820 to $47,456, a 3.57% increase.
The 5 largest ethnic groups in College Station, TX are White (Non-Hispanic) (62.4%), White (Hispanic) (12.6%), Asian (Non-Hispanic) (10.2%), Black or African American (Non-Hispanic) (7.32%), and Two+ (Hispanic) (2.79%).
None of the households in College Station, TX reported speaking a non-English language at home as their primary shared language. This does not consider the potential multi-lingual nature of households, but only the primary self-reported language spoken by all members of the household.
92.1% of the residents in College Station, TX are U.S. citizens.
The largest universities in College Station, TX are Texas A & M University-College Station (19,611 degrees awarded in 2020).
In 2020, the median property value in College Station, TX was $256,600, and the homeownership rate was 36.8%.
Most people in College Station, TX drove alone to work, and the average commute time was 16.8 minutes. The average car ownership in College Station, TX was 2 cars per household.
College Station, TX is home to a population of 116k people, from which 92.1% are citizens. As of 2020, 12.2% of College Station, TX residents were born outside of the country (14.2k people).
In 2020, there were 4.95 times more White (Non-Hispanic) residents (72.3k people) in College Station, TX than any other race or ethnicity. There were 14.6k White (Hispanic) and 11.8k Asian (Non-Hispanic) residents, the second and third most common ethnic groups.
As of 2020, 92.1% of College Station, TX residents were US citizens, which is lower than the national average of 93.4%. In 2019, the percentage of US citizens in College Station, TX was 90.7%, meaning that the rate of citizenship has been increasing.
The following chart shows US citizenship percentages in College Station, TX compared to that of it's neighboring and parent geographies.
The 3 largest ethnic groups in College Station, TX
17.2% of the people in College Station, TX are hispanic (19.9k people).
The following chart shows the 7 races represented in College Station, TX as a share of the total population.
The PUMS dataset is not available at the Place level, so we are showing data for Texas.
2,484,512 ± 36,982 people
279,123 ± 12,908 people
In 2020, the most common birthplace for the foreign-born residents of Texas was Mexico, the natal country of 2,484,512 Texas residents, followed by India with 279,123 and El Salvador with 219,615.
As of 2020, 12.2% of College Station, TX residents (14.2k people) were born outside of the United States, which is lower than the national average of 13.5%. In 2019, the percentage of foreign-born citizens in College Station, TX was 13.4%, meaning that the rate has been decreasing.
The following chart shows the percentage of foreign-born residents in College Station, TX compared to that of it's neighboring and parent geographies.
College Station, TX has a large population of military personnel who served in Gulf War (2001-), 2.15 times greater than any other conflict.
The economy of College Station, TX employs 56.1k people. The largest industries in College Station, TX are Educational Services (15,448 people), Retail Trade (7,043 people), and Health Care & Social Assistance (5,699 people), and the highest paying industries are Management of Companies & Enterprises ($66,042), Finance & Insurance ($53,295), and Mining, Quarrying, & Oil & Gas Extraction ($52,768).
Males in Texas have an average income that is 1.39 times higher than the average income of females, which is $50,589. The income inequality in Texas (measured using the Gini index) is 0.478, which is higher than than the national average.
From 2019 to 2020, employment in College Station, TX grew at a rate of 1.61%, from 55.2k employees to 56.1k employees.
The most common job groups, by number of people living in College Station, TX, are Education Instruction, & Library Occupations (9,240 people), Office & Administrative Support Occupations (6,047 people), and Sales & Related Occupations (5,934 people). This chart illustrates the share breakdown of the primary jobs held by residents of College Station, TX.
The most common employment sectors for those who live in College Station, TX, are Educational Services (15,448 people), Retail Trade (7,043 people), and Health Care & Social Assistance (5,699 people). This chart shows the share breakdown of the primary industries for residents of College Station, TX, though some of these residents may live in College Station, TX and work somewhere else. Census data is tagged to a residential address, not a work address.
The industries with the best median earnings for men in 2020 are Manufacturing ($65,018), Wholesale Trade ($60,881), and Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining ($55,563).
The industries with the best median earnings for women in 2020 are Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting, & Mining ($50,893), Public Administration ($46,842), and Finance & Insurance, & Real Estate & Rental & Leasing ($45,125).
In 2020, universities in College Station, TX awarded 19,611 degrees. The student population of College Station, TX in 2020 is skewed towards men, with 37,319 male students and 33,099 female students.
Most students graduating from Universities in College Station, TX are White (11,456 and 63.9%), followed by Hispanic or Latino (3,851 and 21.5%), Asian (1,267 and 7.07%), and Black or African American (597 and 3.33%).
The largest universities in College Station, TX by number of degrees awarded are Texas A & M University-College Station (19,611 and 100%).
The most popular majors in College Station, TX are Other Multidisciplinary Studies (1,214 and 6.19%), General Biomedical Sciences (710 and 3.62%), and Mechanical Engineering (575 and 2.93%).
The median tuition cost in College Station, TX for a public four year colleges is $8,395 for in-state students and $36,849 for out-of-state students.
In 2020 in College Station, TX, the percentage of applicants admitted was 63.3%, while the percentage of admitted who enrolled was 41%. The number of students enrolled in 2020 was 70,418 (53% men and 47% women).
In 2020 there were 70,418 students enrolled in College Station, TX, 53% men and 47% women.
By race, the largest number of students enrolled was concentrated in White with 38,708 records, of which 47.4% were women and 52.6% men.
Bachelors DegreePostbaccalaureate CertificateMasters DegreePost-Masters CertificateResearch DoctorateProfessional Doctorate
Other Multidisciplinary Studies
1,153 degree-majors awarded
General Biomedical Sciences
In 2020, the most common concentation for Bachelors Degree recipients in College Station, TX was Other Multidisciplinary Studies with 1,153 degrees awarded.
This visualization illustrates the percentage of students graduating with a Bachelors Degree from schools in College Station, TX according to their major.
Texas A & M University-College Station
In 2020, the institution with the largest number of graduating students was Texas A & M University-College Station with 19,611 degrees awarded.
In 2020, 9,640 men were awarded degrees from institutions in College Station, TX, which is 0.967 times less than the 9,971 female students who received degrees in the same year.
In 2020 the most common race/ethnicity group awarded degrees at institutions was White students. These 11,456 degrees mean that there were 2.97 times more degrees awarded to White students then the next closest race/ethnicity group, Hispanic or Latino, with 3,851 degrees awarded.
The most common educational levels obtained by the working population in 2020 were High School or Equivalent (5.56M), Some college (5.02M), and Bachelors Degree (3.9M).
The median property value in College Station, TX was $256,600 in 2020, which is 1.12 times larger than the national average of $229,800. Between 2019 and 2020 the median property value increased from $241,600 to $256,600, a 6.21% increase. The homeownership rate in College Station, TX is 36.8%, which is approximately the same as the national average of 64.4%.
People in College Station, TX have an average commute time of 16.8 minutes, and they drove alone to work. Car ownership in College Station, TX is approximately the same as the national average, with an average of 2 cars per household.
Median household income in College Station, TX is $47,456. In 2020, the place with the highest median household income in College Station, TX was Census Tract 20.09 with a value of $142,303, followed by Census Tract 20.01 and Census Tract 20.11, with respective values of $112,426 and $101,836.
The following chart display owner-occupied housing units distributed between a series of property tax buckets compared to the national averages for each bucket. In College Station, TX the largest share of households pay taxes in the $3k+ range.
The chart underneath the paragraph shows the property taxes in College Station, TX compared to it's parent and neighbor geographies.
In 2020, 36.8% of the housing units in College Station, TX were occupied by their owner. This percentage declined from the previous year's rate of 37.7%.
This chart shows the percentage of owner in College Station, TX compared it's parent and neighboring geographies.
Census Tract 20.09
In 2020, the place with the highest Median Household Income (Total) in College Station, TX was Census Tract 20.09 with a value of $142,303, followed by Census Tract 20.01 and Census Tract 20.11, with respective values of $112,426 and $101,836.
The following map shows all of the places in College Station, TX colored by their Median Household Income (Total).
In 2020, the median household income of the 39.9k households in College Station, TX grew to $47,456 from the previous year's value of $45,820.
The following chart displays the households in College Station, TX distributed between a series of income buckets compared to the national averages for each bucket. The largest share of households have an income in the < $10k range.
The closest comparable wage GINI for College Station, TX is from Texas.
2020 Wage GINI in Texas
In 2020, the income inequality in Texas was 0.478 according to the GINI calculation of the wage distribution. Income inequality had a 0.474% decline from 2019 to 2020, which means that wage distribution grew somewhat more even. The GINI for Texas was higher than than the national average of 0.478. In other words, wages are distributed less evenly in Texas in comparison to the national average.
This chart shows the number of workers in Texas across various wage buckets compared to the national average.
In 2020, 76.3% of workers in College Station, TX drove alone to work, followed by those who carpooled to work (8.2%) and those who worked at home (7.43%).
Using averages, employees in College Station, TX have a shorter commute time (16.8 minutes) than the normal US worker (26.9 minutes). Additionally, 1.36% of the workforce in College Station, TX have "super commutes" in excess of 90 minutes.
The chart below shows how the median household income in College Station, TX compares to that of it's neighboring and parent geographies.
The following chart displays the households in College Station, TX distributed between a series of car ownership buckets compared to the national averages for each bucket. The largest share of households in College Station, TX have 2 cars.
28.3% of the population for whom poverty status is determined in College Station, TX (29.5k out of 104k people) live below the poverty line, a number that is higher than the national average of 12.8%. The largest demographic living in poverty are Males 18 - 24, followed by Females 18 - 24 and then Females 25 - 34.
The most common racial or ethnic group living below the poverty line in College Station, TX is White, followed by Hispanic and Asian.
92.3% of the population of College Station, TX has health coverage, with 65.1% on employee plans, 5.29% on Medicaid, 4.97% on Medicare, 15.2% on non-group plans, and 1.7% on military or VA plans.
Primary care physicians in Brazos County, TX see 1157 patients per year on average, which represents a 1.36% decrease from the previous year (1173 patients). Compare this to dentists who see 1910 patients per year, and mental health providers who see 1019 patients per year.
Data is only available at the country level. Showing data for Brazos County, TX.
Patient to Primary Care Physician Ratio in Brazos County, TX
Primary care physicians in Brazos County, TX see an average of 1,157 patients per year. This represents a 1.36% decrease from the previous year (1,173 patients).
The following chart shows how the number of patients seen by primary care physicians has been changing over time in Brazos County, TX in comparison to its neighboring geographies.
In N/A, insured persons according to age ranges were distributed in N/A.
Between 2019 and 2020, the percent of uninsured citizens in College Station, TX declined by 3.73% from 8.02% to 7.72%.
The following chart shows how the percent of uninsured individuals in College Station, TX changed over time compared with the percent of individuals enrolled in various types of health insurance.
Brazos County, TX
College Station-Bryan, TX


Milan Gallery is proud to announce the gallery's 2nd juried art exhibition, and invites you to apply to be a part of this exciting show. Prizes totaling $1000 will be awarded, and one artist will be awarded gallery representation for 6 months.
Painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, and mixed media qualify for entry. This call is open to Texas artists only.


text:
Home International Monetary Fund Panama: Second Review Under the Arrangement Under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Panama
Panama: Second Review Under the Arrangement Under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Panama
Kamyar August 22, 2022 0 comments
Panama: Second Review Under the Arrangement Under the Precautionary and Liquidity Line-Press Release; Staff Report; and Statement by the Executive Director for Panama https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2022/08/19/Panama-Second-Review-Under-the-Arrangement-Under-the-Precautionary-and-Liquidity-Line-Press-522489


I joined ICT4FREE in 2015 because I wanted to make a contribution to charities and help people with ICT projects. I mainly work on projects that have to do with systems, hardware and network, but I also occasionally develop websites.
In my career I have mainly worked in ICT (that is what I am doing now) and ICT4FREE offers me the opportunity to use my skills to do something for charity. It also offers me the opportunity to meet interesting people and practice my Dutch.


text:
PokerStars and Full Tilt May Launch in New Jersey in 2014
David Sheldon Read More
PokerStars failed in a bid to purchase the Atlantic Club in 2013, but now may re-enter the New Jersey online poker market teamed up with Resorts Casino. (Image: PokerUpdate.com)
PokerStars is still the biggest name in online poker, but it could be even bigger if it were to be allowed back into the legal US market. Until recently, such a return seemed highly unlikely, with "bad actor" clauses and skeptical regulators keeping the company out of states with regulated Internet gambling. But the sale of Rational Gaming to Amaya was designed to help fix these issues, and that may be showing results faster than anyone could have predicted.
According to a report at NJPokerOnline that cites sources in New Jersey, both PokerStars and Full Tilt are set to receive approval to operate in the online gambling market in the Garden State. The report states that the sites are tentatively set to launch sometime early in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Story Unconfirmed by State Officials
As of the time of this writing, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has not confirmed that such approvals are forthcoming for the two brands, both of which are now owned by Amaya. But for PokerStars, it would be a quiet ending to a long struggle to get back into the American market via an Atlantic City presence.
Last year, PokerStars failed in an attempt to buy the Atlantic Club casino, an effort that ultimately cost the site $11 million. PokerStars was then able to reach an agreement with Resorts Casino Hotel to provide poker and casino games for their online gambling venture. However, state regulators suspended PokerStars' application, saying that there would have to be significant changes in leadership before they would be reconsidered for a license.
That change came when Amaya acquired Rational Gaming, and the Scheinbergs were removed from their positions at the company as a result. DGE officials reacted positively to the new ownership situation, suggesting that PokerStars' application might be reopened as a result.
Multiple Licensing Paths Possible
Given the fact that Amaya already has a presence in the New Jersey market, however, there's the potential for a conflict when and if PokerStars and Full Tilt enter the market. Amaya provides software for several other casinos that offer online gambling in New Jersey, including the Golden Nugget, Borgata, and properties owned by Caesars. Meanwhile, PokerStars' partnership with Resorts is still in effect.
It's unclear what route PokerStars and Full Tilt would take in order to gain their New Jersey licenses. The latest report suggests that the DGE may not be prepared to revisit the PokerStars application, and instead would be open to adjusting the Amaya licenses to fit the new brands into the mix. That could potentially include allowing Amaya to provide software to Resorts in order to honor PokerStars' previous agreement.
Should PokerStars enter the New Jersey online poker market, it would immediately become a major factor in the industry. PokerStars has a level of name recognition and consumer trust that its competitors will be hard pressed to match, though the company will have to make up for being a year or more behind sites that have already gained a foothold there.
Meanwhile, Full Tilt would likely offer a wider variety of games to New Jersey players, as the company has recently acquired a number of different online casino software packages to integrate into its poker client.
Modesto Raid Reveals Illegal Online Gambling and Prostitution


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Q: Best way to organize the files in my project What is the best way to organize the files in your project?
For example do you put all user controls in a separate folder or do you place them in a sub folder?  Do you have business logic folder?  A helper classes folder?
I used to organize my projects like this:
Project/User Controls/Module Name/
Project/Classes/Module Name/
Now I am learning more towards something like this:
Project/Module Name/User Controls/
Project/Module Name/Classes/
What is the best way?  Especially if the project gets really big?  What type of folder structure should exist?

A: First the purpose of folder separation is to be an extra level of documentation, to let the programmers find code easier. That means you should not have extra levels "just to organize stuff". That excludes folders named Classes, Controls, etc.
Some examples:
If you work on a thee tier App it would make a lot of sense to have something like:
Project\Tier (Model|Controller|etc)\Classname
If you program is big to the point of having separate functional areas I would go with:
Project\Functional Area\Tier (Model|Controller|etc)\Classname
That is particularly usefull when sub-teams work on the different functional areas.
Also refrain from very deep folder trees (IMHO, more than depth 4 is too much) and keep your folder names compact. Some tools might have limitations on path size as low as 255 chars, so this is one place where brevity has its place.

A: I separate our major chunks into projects - makes it very easy to reuse.
Within a project I do folders (and names) by functional areas.
That's as far as I go on a generic basis - the needs of the project determine any further partitioning.

A: I agree with the other answers that suggest naming folders by purpose and not type (i.e. call a folder Model, not Classes and include only data-oriented classes in that folder).  Additionally I like to keep all Controls and Data/Model related classes in their own separate projects that are not allowed to reference each other.  This can help you enforce the separation between view and model in your code which is generally a good thing.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


ganglia_ipmi_sensors.pl - FreeIPMI Ipmi-sensors plugin for Ganglia. Please see instructions at the top of the file. This script can also be found in the FreeIPMI package documentation.
nagios_ipmi_sensors.pl - FreeIPMI Ipmi-sensors plugin for Nagios. Please see instructions at the top of the file. This script can also be found in the FreeIPMI package documentation.
petalert.pl, check_rmcpping, ipminodes.cfg - Scripts to parse and e-mail the results of platform event traps (PET). See this tool's README for more information. These scripts/files can also be found in the FreeIPMI package documentation.
ipmimonitoring-sel.c - Example usage of libipmimonitoring for SEL monitoring. This example can also be found in the FreeIPMI package documentation.
ipmimonitoring-sensor.c - Example usage of libipmimonitoring for sensor monitoring. This example can also be found in the FreeIPMI package documentation.


The U.S. District Judge presiding over the Lipitor MDL (Multidistrict Litigation), has approved a discovery plan that is designed to prepare a small group of lawsuits for early trial dates starting late next summer.
There are currently about 500 product liability lawsuits filed throughout the federal courts system by women who claim they developed diabetes from side effects of Lipitor, alleging that Pfizer failed to provide adequate warnings for consumers and the medical community.
In February 2014, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) established centralized proceedings for the Lipitor cases, consolidating all federal lawsuits before U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel in the District of South Carolina to reduce duplicative discovery, avoid conflicting pretrial rulings and to serve the convenience of the parties, witnesses and the courts.
Following a status conference on May 16, Judge Gergel issued a case management order (PDF) detailing the discovery plan in the MDL, which will involve the selection of a small group of cases that will be prepared for early trial dates to help the parties gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be similar to what will be offered throughout the litigation.
The plan calls for plaintiffs' attorneys to submit a list of seven cases to be part discovery pool by June 20, and for Pfizer attorneys to submit a list of seven other cases by June 23. These "bellwether" cases will go through case-specific discovery over the remainder of this year.
The pool of 14 discovery cases will be reduced in December, with each side identifying three cases to be removed from consideration for the initial Lipitor trials in the MDL.
By December 15, Judge Gergel has indicated that he will randomly select one of the remaining cases to be scheduled the first trial date, which will be ready for trial to begin by July 1, 2015.
Depending on which side originally submitted the case selected for the first trial date, Judge Gergel indicates that he will then randomly select a case for the second trial date out of the cases submitted by the opposing side.
In complex pharmaceutical litigation, where a large number of claims have been presented involving similar injuries caused by a prescription medication, it is common for a series of bellwether trials to be scheduled by the courts. While the outcomes are not binding on other cases, they may facilitate the negotiation of Lipitor settlement agreements that avoid the need for hundreds of trials to be scheduled throughout the country.
Each of the complaints involved in the MDL raises similar allegations that Pfizer knew or should have known about the potential link between Lipitor and diabetes, yet withheld information from consumers and the medical community while turning the medication into one of the most widely used brand name drugs in the United States.
Lipitor (atorvastatin) is a cholesterol drug that is one of the most widely used brand-name medications in the United States, and it is widely expected that there will ultimately be several thousand cases brought by women nationwide. Plaintiffs claim that if information about the risk of diabetes had been adequately disclosed, they would have chosen not to use Lipitor or may have avoided developing diabetes by carefully monitoring blood glucose levels.
In February 2012, the FDA required new diabetes warnings for Lipitor and other similar statins, informing users for the first time that they may face an increased risk of changes to blood glucose levels. However, plaintiffs allege that Pfizer was aware of the possible risk of diabetes long before these warnings were issued, with some studies connecting statins to diabetes date as far back as 2004.


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Reflections in a Darkened Mirror
Today is the official date of our modern, abbreviated celebration of the ancient European festival of Samhain, pronounced sow-in — the name being one of those lexicographical oddities where "mh" (as spelled) in Irish is typically pronounced as a "w".
We call it "Halloween," which is short for "Hallows' Even," which is short for "All Hallows' Evening." All Hallows, in turn, is the Medieval Roman Catholic reflection of the more ancient Pagan Samhain, which reduced a week- or fortnight-long festival season to two liturgical feast-days in early November, known as All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Taken together, these two days were called All Hallows.
In most societies throughout history, the day always ends, and the new one begins, at sunset. Our current practice of starting the new day at midnight is actually only a century or two old: hence, the apparent traditional obsession with "evenings," such as Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve or the Eve of Departure if you're going to travel a long distance. In Medieval times, All Saints' Day would quite naturally have begun at sunset on October 31 — All Hallows' Evening.
In the modern world, Halloween falls on a single evening, beginning at sunset on October 31 (Gregorian Calendar), and ending — in a bizarre mixture of the old and the new — at the Witching Hour of midnight, when it gives way to All Saints' Day. Halloween is mostly a sentimental, sometimes spooky, sometimes comical echo of the much larger, more practical, and more serious business of the season all over northern Europe — a final battening of the hatches and inventory of the storehouses before winter set in.
The Internet is full of all kinds of factual, fanciful, creepy, and/or perversely ignorant descriptions of the ancient Samhain festival, of which we know so little and speculate so much. Take your pick: however, one of the more respected sources is Ronald Hutton, a professor of history at the University of Bristol in England and someone who has actually studied the ancient Celts of the British Isles, and he has posted an article for the Guardian that talks a bit about the origins of modern Halloween.
I'm not going to try to further summarize any of that here. I'd like instead to make some more personal observations about our modern celebration of Samhain.
I celebrate Samhain as a modern druid. Our Grove, the Treehenge Druidic Circle in Fort Collins, CO, USA, like our parent organization, OBOD, is of a "revivalist" bent, meaning we're quite happy to craft new traditions and practices as we go along and still call it "druidic." The "real" druids don't have much to say on the matter, since they vanished fifteen centuries ago. Some modern druids do take exception to calling what we do — or anything new, for that matter — druidic. For them, I have the following joke:
Q: How many druids does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Thirty-three — one to change the bulb, twelve to write epic poems about The Changing of the Bulb, and twenty to complain about how much better the old bulb was.
So that is all I will say about the "historical authenticity" of our practice as druids. Moving right along….
Our principal focus for Samhain is simply being aware of the change of seasons. This is more profound than it seems.
Most people reading this live in a heated box, somewhere, with Internet access and pizza delivery: I certainly do, as do all of our Grove members. The closest we come to "seasons" has more to do with whether barbecue grills or artificial evergreens are on sale at the big box stores, or whether to worry about the heating bill versus the air conditioning bill, or maybe needing to scrape ice off the windshield of the car. Beyond that, it's a matter of which of numerous human-designed obstacles needs to be negotiated at the moment: Christmas shopping, or doing taxes, or gearing up for the annual family vacation, or buying school supplies, or deciding whether to bother with cranberry relish for Thanksgiving. These obstacles fall on certain traditional but arbitrary dates, as do birthdays, anniversaries, and national bank holidays of all sorts, but they could easily be moved six months around and it would make little difference. They have nothing at all to do with the actual turn of seasons.
Yet aware of them or not, the seasons affect us — our moods, our abilities, our thoughts, our hopes, our dreams, our fears — even when we're packed up inside a heated box with Internet access and a plethora of distractions. So simply being aware of the seasons brings an enhanced self-awareness, which is close to the core of druidic practice.
Or, for that matter, any spiritual practice in any tradition. The goal of any spiritual practice is to replace the conventional with the authentic in our lives. The very definition of that requires that we be aware of what we've given uncritical lip-service to after inheriting it from our environment, and what we've truly incorporated into our being. That is pretty much the definition of self-awareness.
Because we live in heated boxes with pizza delivery, a lot of the pastoral and agricultural concerns of the ancients no longer apply to us. We've even shifted our "year end" from the last harvest to the astronomical solstice, just as we moved the "day end" from sunset to the astronomical midnight. Many of the great celebrations that might have attended the slaughtering of the herds and salting of the meat for the long winter, have likewise moved to the "holiday season" surrounding winter solstice, Christmas, and New Year's Eve.
So although most of us enjoy the Halloween costuming and partying and general Buffy the Vampire Slayer spookiness of Halloween, none of that plays any particular role in our modern druidic practice.
That said, our Grove has a rite — a ritual — that we celebrate together each year, to mark the change of season. It's one of the eight seasonal rites we do, and one of the important ones, standing directly across the cycle of the seasons from another important one: Beltaine, the fertility rite. Where Beltaine celebrates the beginning of life, Samhain celebrates its ending.
This may sound strange to the modern US American ear, that we might celebrate death, for we live in a deeply thanatophobic (death-fearing) culture. The very idea of celebrating death brings to mind every B-grade movie ever made, of dark rituals in dark places, bent on the destruction of the world.
I can think of very little that could be further from the truth. There is a world of distance between celebrating and worshipping. Nor is celebrating death the same as seeking death, or even desiring death, for ourselves or for anyone else.
Perhaps I can illustrate with an example.
Many years ago, my father-in-law died. I don't recall if there was a funeral — if there was, it was a stilted affair in a church or funeral home. What I remember clearly is scattering his ashes, high in the mountains, on a bright Fall day with hot sunlight and gentle but chill breezes. His children were consumed with grief at his passing, and wept as they let fall a bit of ash here, a bit there, reluctant to lose the final touch with his last earthly remains.
But there was a paradox in this, for he had not been a good father to his children, nor in his later years, a good husband to his wife.
His own father had believed him another man's son, the product of an affair that his mother denied, and had been cold, critical, distant, and harsh. The son's childhood had been hard, and miserable. He left home and studied music as a violinist, and was talented and very dedicated — he even met his wife over violins in an orchestra, for she was also a talented and dedicated violinist. They fell in love and married.
Then, like Beethoven, he'd been struck with progressive deafness. He'd turned to teaching music in the public schools, and as his hearing got worse, to teaching mathematics. Long before retirement age, his deafness grew so profound that he could no longer manage his classrooms, and was forced to retire on disability pay. He took to drinking, and spent the next twenty years trying to drink himself to death. He'd hurt his children as they grew up, emotionally and physically. My own son, his grandchild, called him "Grumpa." He was as unhappy a man as I'd ever met, perpetually drunk, maudlin, bitter, and sometimes cruel.
As his son-in-law, I'd received my own handful of his ashes to scatter, and after some thought, I found a spot overlooking a beautiful sunlit valley. I took a deep breath, then threw all of the ashes as high into the air as I could, so that the wind could catch them. As they drifted away, I smiled, and said in my mind as a final prayer, "There, you miserable old coot! Go! You're free! At last you're free! And now that you have your ears back, spend the next year, or fifty, and listen to the late Beethoven quartets the way they were supposed to be heard!"
That is celebrating death.
It isn't always possible. It wasn't possible for his own children to celebrate his death as we scattered ashes. It was impossible for me to celebrate my daughter's death for over two decades, and it is still painful after three. There is no fault or shame in this: it is part of death to create mourners, and they must mourn. But others can celebrate the passing, and even the deepest mourning eventually comes to an end, at our own death if not sooner.
So in our Samhain rite, we face the West — the place of the setting sun, and of endings — and we gaze through a window, or into a darkened mirror, and we call to the Ancestors, and we remember them: we celebrate their births, their lives, and their deaths.
Sometimes, they come to us.
I was touched in a Samhain rite, a few years ago, by the spirit of my fifth-grade teacher. In my six years of elementary school — seven, if you count Kindergarten — she was the only one who actually seemed to take any real, positive interest in me: so much so that she made a special trip to attend my college graduation, her eyes shining with congratulation. I had not thought about her much after the end of the fifth grade, and though I was surprised and deeply touched by her presence, we did not maintain contact after that.
Then suddenly, there she stood again in my mind and heart as I faced the darkened mirror, her flame of carrot-red hair and her big pale eyes and her kindly smile, surprising me as much as she had at my college graduation. She didn't whisper to me any winning lottery numbers from beyond the grave, or deliver a dire warning about the end of days, or expound on the metaphysics of the afterlife. She just smiled and said, "I believe in you. I've always believed in you."
Others in our Grove have had their own visitations during our rite. And if no one comes, that is also as it should be. We aren't so arrogant as to think that we can command the spirits, or that they don't have better things to do. But we welcome them if they come in peace and good will.
Nor does it much matter whether this is an exercise of memory, or of imagination, or some kind of metaphysical lifting of the curtain between life and death. It could be any of those things, or all of them, or something else entirely. Whatever its nature, it is an experience to be approached with respect and humility: in that light, we might as well treat it as real.
So we have adopted a practical Grove tradition of holding our Samhain rite open only to Grove members and guests, where all our other rites are open to the public — we do this, not because Samhain is secret, but because it is intimate.
I'm looking forward to tomorrow evening's rite.
I wish for you all a blessed Samhain, and the gentle touch of the ancestors — or former teachers — who believe in you, and have always believed in you.
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Nottingham University Business School will welcome its first students onto its MSc Industrial Economics, Innovation and Policy programme in autumn 2012.
Nottingham University Business School set up this unique course because of a current demand for graduates who can use a knowledge of economics to work on business-related policy making, explains Giuliana Battisti, a professor at Nottingham University Business School and director of the new programme.
"We'd had feedback from the government and external organisations working with the government, such as consultancies, that they were struggling to recruit economists who could advise them on applying economics to industry," she says.
"There was a need for a higher degree which combined a strong foundation in economics with the study of business."
Industrial economics involves applying economic principles to the workings of firms, industries and markets.
Giuliana explains that the course will provide students with "a range of techniques" for systematically analysing these, but with a particular focus on government interventions on markets and on how successful new businesses are grown.
"Industrial economics involves applying economic principles to the workings of firms, industries and markets."
Both entrepreneurship and regulation are very hot topics indeed in the current economic climate.
Says Giuliana: "Market regulation from now on is going to be a lot more targeted than it has been in the past. And there are investors out there with a lot of cash looking for new ideas to invest in to promote corporate growth and job creation, which we all want to see in the economy at the moment."
Giuliana goes on to explain why economists are crucial for policy-making on these issues: "Economists can quantify the potential social impact of market policies at a sector, national and global level, so can help identify the best ones for governments to pursue."
Applicants must have or expect to obtain a good undergraduate degree in economics, or in management or business studies with a significant element of economics, to win a place.
Once enrolled on the course, they'll study several core modules including Industrial Economics, the Economics of Innovation, Industrial Policy and Regulation, and Managerial Economics.
These will be supplemented by two relevant modules of their own choice, which could involve looking in detail at topics such as corporate governance or venture capital firms.
Students will have a further opportunity to focus on areas of particular interest to them in the final element of the course - their summer dissertation, which is also an opportunity for them to interact with practitioners in the industrial economics field.
Students can stay at Nottingham University Business School to produce their dissertation, but "where possible," says Giuliana, "student dissertations will be researched and written while on placement at a research centre - for example, a government organisation, a consultancy, or an industry body."
"We will suggest some suitable institutions to students, and many have already said to us that they would be happy to have students working with them on a specific targeted project."
"Such placements will be a golden opportunity for students to not only test the knowledge they've acquired during the taught section of the course, but also to make themselves known in the industrial economics and policy field - and will look great on their CVs!"
Giuliana adds that there may be opportunities for students to go to a research centre overseas.
Where could the course take students? Says Giuliana: "It will train them for jobs in a business-focused government body, such as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills or the Office of Fair Trading."
"We'll be getting students as close as possible to potential employers."
"It will also prepare them well to work in the private sector - in a think tank or consultancy. And of course students will also have the option of staying in academia."
"The dissertation will provide the opportunity for students to test out working in one of these areas and help them decide what kind of job they'd like to do permanently."
Students on the course will benefit from Nottingham University Business School's strong academic reputation in industrial economics.
The faculty boasts one of the oldest and largest groups of industrial economists in the UK, including emeritus professor Peter Swann, one of the UK's leading experts in the field who received an OBE in 2005 for his services to business and economic policy.
The faculty also has good connections to those putting industrial economic theory into practice.
Says Giuliana: "We have extensive experience of the application of industrial economics to business policy, and have strong links with national and international organisations working in this area."
"What's more, we'll be encouraging our contacts to come here and share their experiences with our students, telling them how their organisations function and make decisions in real life."
For Giuliana's keen that the course gives students not only a solid grasp of the principles of industrial economics, but also assistance in building a career in the field.
"We'll be relating the course as much as we can to students' professional lives after the masters and getting them as close as possible to potential employers."


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Clinical Leadership: lessons from the past to help build the future
Lord Ara Darzi
Lord Darzi
Clinical leadership has been central to my values and vision of the NHS, from very early on in my career. What became apparent almost immediately when I started working was the immense knowledge and value that other healthcare professionals had in the training of all the junior doctors. It was this that drove me to set up nurse-led endoscopy clinics, and spear head nurse-prescribing. What I have always believed in, is leadership from the bottom up, as well as top down, we must rely on those who best understand the process or the system that they are leading. I believe that all healthcare professionals have the transferable skills to develop their own strong leadership style.
Throughout my career I have met incredibly smart and inspiring people and continue to do so on a daily basis. I have had the privilege of working on the front line as a surgeon, as an academic at Imperial College, as a Minister at the Department of Health, amongst many other roles. It is the talent within each of these units that continues to motivate me and gives me great confidence for the future of the NHS. These people are what keep me optimistic about the system. We continually see negative statistics about the performance of the health service, and rarely take time to appreciate its incredible achievements.
This year has been a remarkable year, we have had the honour of celebrating the 70th anniversary of the NHS. To coincide with this and for the 10th anniversary of my report 'High Quality Care for All', I authored a report entitled 'Better Health and Care for all: A 10-point plan for the 2020s'. I have also had the privilege of celebrating 10 years of the Darzi Fellowship programme, and it was an incredible experience to see so many inspiring healthcare professionals who are dedicated to drive system improvements and change.
The report highlighted a discrepancy between quality indicators in the NHS such as life expectancy and rates of smoking and drinking, and people's experience and perception in terms of their satisfaction. To explain this, we must think about how we enumerate people's experiences. I believe satisfaction is too crude a measure to understand how people experience healthcare. We use it as a general gauge of how people feel, but ultimately it does not tell us why people feel the way they do, what we should improve, or where there was a mismatch between expectation and experience. In order to understand quality from a patient's perspective, we need to collect information not only about what they experienced, but also what they expected. We also need to improve experience questionnaires, so they capture patient feedback in a quick and timely way with data that can be easily digested for improvement efforts.
In thinking about why clinical quality indicators go up and satisfaction metrics go down; it is important to reconsider the mismatch between expectation and experience mentioned above. In the past, the health service was mainly expected to deliver diagnostic services and acute care. Now the health service is tasked with a rising proportion of people with long term, chronic conditions impacting all aspects of life. Why is satisfaction dropping? Because the health service was not sufficiently future-proofed to deal with these new demands.
Quality indicators reflect very specific measures: mortality, quality of life, patient experience, incident reporting etc. To get to the heart of whether these reflect what patients want and need, we need to ask them. Our vision is not only to measure, but to derive measurements that are meaningful. This takes engagement with patients and the public, not just capturing the facts in hospital.
Quality improvement in the health service is an evolution. First, we become curious about whether or not something matters, then we start measuring it, then we use that data to improve. As healthcare leaders, we need to add momentum to that journey and ensure that once we have developed logical and meaningful metrics, that we make them available to the people who use them. We can inspire local ownership of quality indicators by making them accessible, but also by making sure they are not simply fed into benchmarking tables or used as regulatory sticks, which can scare organisations and threaten innovation.
One such reported measure is the decreased access to healthcare. It is a remarkable achievement that over the past decade of austerity, the quality of care has maintained or improved; however, what we have seen is a decline in access. Funding alone will unfortunately not solve this problem. We must embrace all the novel opportunities to drive change in the system, moving from a 'diagnosis and treatment' service to a 'prediction and prevention' service.
We must seize the revolution in robotics, artificial intelligence and data analytics, and use them to transform the way in which we deliver care. Access can only and will only be improved if we deliver a system that is predominantly a wellbeing service over a sickness service. Behavioural interventions, population stratification are all tools that are now readily available to us, to best enhance and improve the system.
Lord Darzi is one of the world's leading academic surgeons who has made fundamental contributions to the quality and safety of surgery. He has pioneered technological advances involving minimally invasive and robot assisted surgery. He was knighted for his services in medicine and surgery in 2002.