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This portion of the site is new and papers are still being added.
For a more complete list of my publications, please see my former site, Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH), the DBLP Computer Science Bibliography, the Privacy Tools Project, and/or my CV.
Copyright Notice: This material is presented to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly and technical work. Copyright and all rights therein are retained by authors or by other copyright holders. All persons copying this information are expected to adhere to the terms and constraints invoked by each author's copyright. These works may not be reposted without the explicit permission of the copyright holder. Also, some of these works have been submitted for publication. Copyright may be transferred without further notice and this version may no longer be accessible.
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Publications by Year: 2020
Hay, Michael, Marco Gaboardi, and Salil Vadhan. "A programming framework for OpenDP." 6th Workshop on the Theory and Practice of Differential Privacy (TPDP 2020), 2020. Initial PDF VersionAbstract
Version History: Original version released as a Working Paper for the May 2020 OpenDP Community Meeting (version attached as MAY 2020.pdf, and accessible online at https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/files/opendp/files/opendp_programming_fr...).
Talks: View a talk on this paper presented by Marco Gaboardi and Michael Hay at the 2020 OpenDP Community Meeting.
Subsequently presented as a poster at TPDP 2020 (attached as TPDP2020.pdf).
In this working paper, we propose a programming framework for the library of differentially private algorithms that will be at the core of the OpenDP open-source software project, and recommend programming languages in which to implement the framework.
MAY 2020.pdf TPDP 2020.pdf
OpenDP, Team. "The OpenDP White Paper," 2020. Publisher's VersionAbstract
View a talk on this paper presented at the 2020 OpenDP Community Meeting
View a talk on this paper presented at TPDP 2020
OpenDP is a community effort to build a trustworthy suite of open-source tools for enabling privacy-protective analysis of sensitive personal data, focused on a library of algorithms for generating differentially private statistical releases. The target use cases for OpenDP are to enable government, industry, and academic institutions to safely and confidently share sensitive data to support scientifically oriented research and exploration in the public interest. We aim for OpenDP to flexibly grow with the rapidly advancing science of differential privacy, and be a pathway to bring the newest algorithmic developments to a wide array of practitioners.
OpenDP is led by Faculty Directors Gary King and Salil Vadhan and an Executive Committee at Harvard University, funded in part by a grant from the Sloan Foundation. Its efforts so far have included implementing a differentially private curator application in collaboration with Microsoft, and developing a framework for a community-driven OpenDP Commons through the work of an Ad Hoc Design Committee including external experts. Going forward, the project plans to engage with a wide community of stakeholders, establish partnerships with a wide variety of groups from industry, academia, and government, and adopt increasing levels of community governance.
WHITE-PAPER 2020.pdf
Haitner, Iftach, Omer Reingold, Salil Vadhan, and Hoeteck Wee. "Inaccessible entropy I: Inaccessible entropy generators and statistically hiding commitments from one-way functions." arXiv: 2010.05586 [cs.CR] (2020). ArXiv VersionAbstract
Version History: Full version of part of an STOC 2009 paper.
We put forth a new computational notion of entropy, measuring the (in)feasibility of sampling high-entropy strings that are consistent with a given generator. Specifically, the \(i\)'th output block of a generator \(\mathsf{G}\) has accessible entropy at most \(k\) if the following holds: when conditioning on its prior coin tosses, no polynomial-time strategy \(\mathsf{\widetilde{G}}\) can generate valid output for \(\mathsf{G}\)'s \(i \)'th output block with entropy greater than \(k\). A generator has inaccessible entropy if the total accessible entropy (summed over the blocks) is noticeably smaller than the real entropy of \(\mathsf{G}\)'s output.
As an application of the above notion, we improve upon the result of Haitner, Nguyen, Ong, Reingold, and Vadhan [Sicomp '09], presenting a much simpler and more efficient construction of statistically hiding commitment schemes from arbitrary one-way functions.
ArXiv 2020.pdf
Alabi, Daniel, Audra McMillan, Jayshree Sarathy, Adam Smith, and Salil Vadhan. "Differentially private simple linear regression." arXiv: 2007.05157 [cs.LG] (2020). Publisher's VersionAbstract
Economics and social science research often require analyzing datasets of sensitive personal information at fine granularity, with models fit to small subsets of the data. Unfortunately, such fine-grained analysis can easily reveal sensitive individual information. We study algorithms for simple linear regression that satisfy differential privacy, a constraint which guarantees that an algorithm's output reveals little about any individual input data record, even to an attacker with arbitrary side information about the dataset. We consider the design of differentially private algorithms for simple linear regression for small datasets, with tens to hundreds of datapoints, which is a particularly challenging regime for differential privacy. Focusing on a particular application to small-area analysis in economics research, we study the performance of a spectrum of algorithms we adapt to the setting. We identify key factors that affect their performance, showing through a range of experiments that algorithms based on robust estimators (in particular, the Theil-Sen estimator) perform well on the smallest datasets, but that other more standard algorithms do better as the dataset size increases.
Doron, Dean, Jack Murtagh, Salil Vadhan, and David Zuckerman. "Spectral sparsification via bounded-independence sampling." In 47th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 2020), 168:39:1-39:21. Leibniz International Proceedings in Informatics (LIPIcs), Schloss-Dagstuhl-Leibniz-Zentrum für Informatik, 2020. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Version History:
v1, 26 Feb 2020: https://arxiv.org/abs/2002.11237
Full version published as ECCC TR20-026.
View a YouTube recording of John Peebles' talk on this paper, recorded at FOCS 2020.
We give a deterministic, nearly logarithmic-space algorithm for mild spectral sparsification of undirected graphs. Given a weighted, undirected graph \(G\) on \(n\) vertices described by a binary string of length \(N\), an integer \(k \leq \log n \) and an error parameter \(\varepsilon > 0\), our algorithm runs in space \(\tilde{O}(k \log(N ^. w_{max}/w_{min}))\) where \(w_{max}\) and \(w_{min}\) are the maximum and minimum edge weights in \(G\), and produces a weighted graph \(H\) with \(\tilde{O}(n^{1+2/k} / \varepsilon^2)\)expected edges that spectrally approximates \(G\), in the sense of Spielmen and Teng [ST04], up to an error of \(\varepsilon\).
Our algorithm is based on a new bounded-independence analysis of Spielman and Srivastava's effective resistance based edge sampling algorithm [SS08] and uses results from recent work on space-bounded Laplacian solvers [MRSV17]. In particular, we demonstrate an inherent tradeoff (via upper and lower bounds) between the amount of (bounded) independence used in the edge sampling algorithm, denoted by \(k\) above, and the resulting sparsity that can be achieved.
ECCC 2020.pdf ICALP 2020.pdf
Ahmadinejad, AmirMahdi, Jonathan Kelner, Jack Murtagh, John Peebles, Aaron Sidford, and Salil Vadhan. "High-precision estimation of random walks in small space." 61st Annual IEEE Symposium on the Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS 2020). IEEE, 2020. Publisher's VersionAbstract
arXiv version (2019): http://arxiv.org/abs/1912.04524
Published version (2020): https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9317933
Talks: View a talk on this paper presented by by John Peebles at FOCS 2020.
In this paper, we provide a deterministic \(\tilde{O}(\log N)\)-space algorithm for estimating the random walk probabilities on Eulerian directed graphs (and thus also undirected graphs) to within inverse polynomial additive error \((ϵ = 1/\mathrm{poly}(N)) \) where \(N\) is the length of the input. Previously, this problem was known to be solvable by a randomized algorithm using space \(O (\log N)\) (Aleliunas et al., FOCS '79) and by a deterministic algorithm using space \(O (\log^{3/2} N)\) (Saks and Zhou, FOCS '95 and JCSS '99), both of which held for arbitrary directed graphs but had not been improved even for undirected graphs. We also give improvements on the space complexity of both of these previous algorithms for non-Eulerian directed graphs when the error is negligible \((ϵ=1/N^{ω(1)})\), generalizing what Hoza and Zuckerman (FOCS '18) recently showed for the special case of distinguishing whether a random walk probability is 0 or greater than ϵ.
We achieve these results by giving new reductions between powering Eulerian random-walk matrices and inverting Eulerian Laplacian matrices, providing a new notion of spectral approximation for Eulerian graphs that is preserved under powering, and giving the first deterministic \(\tilde{O}(\log N)\)-space algorithm for inverting Eulerian Laplacian matrices. The latter algorithm builds on the work of Murtagh et al. (FOCS '17) that gave a deterministic \(\tilde{O}(\log N)\)-space algorithm for inverting undirected Laplacian matrices, and the work of Cohen et al. (FOCS '19) that gave a randomized \(\tilde{O} (N)\)-time algorithm for inverting Eulerian Laplacian matrices. A running theme throughout these contributions is an analysis of "cycle-lifted graphs," where we take a graph and "lift" it to a new graph whose adjacency matrix is the tensor product of the original adjacency matrix and a directed cycle (or variants of one).
ARXIV 2019.pdf FOCS 2020.pdf
Haitner, Iftach, Thomas Holenstein, Omer Reingold, Salil Vadhan, and Hoeteck Wee. "Inaccessible entropy II: IE functions and universal one-way hashing." Theory of Computing 16, no. 8 (2020): 1-55. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Version History: published earlier in Henri Gilbert, ed., Advances in Cryptology—EUROCRYPT '10, Lecture Notes on Computer Science, as "Universal one-way hash functions via inaccessible entropy":
This paper revisits the construction of Universal One-Way Hash Functions (UOWHFs) from any one-way function due to Rompel (STOC 1990). We give a simpler construction of UOWHFs, which also obtains better efficiency and security. The construction exploits a strong connection to the recently introduced notion of inaccessible entropy (Haitner et al. STOC 2009). With this perspective, we observe that a small tweak of any one-way function \(f\) is already a weak form of a UOWHF: Consider \(F(x', i)\) that outputs the \(i\)-bit long prefix of \(f(x)\). If \(F\) were a UOWHF then given a random \(x\) and \(i\) it would be hard to come up with \(x' \neq x\) such that \(F(x, i) = F(x', i)\). While this may not be the case, we show (rather easily) that it is hard to sample \(x'\) with almost full entropy among all the possible such values of \(x'\). The rest of our construction simply amplifies and exploits this basic property.
With this and other recent works, we have that the constructions of three fundamental cryptographic primitives (Pseudorandom Generators, Statistically Hiding Commitments and UOWHFs) out of one-way functions are to a large extent unified. In particular, all three constructions rely on and manipulate computational notions of entropy in similar ways. Pseudorandom Generators rely on the well-established notion of pseudoentropy, whereas Statistically Hiding Commitments and UOWHFs rely on the newer notion of inaccessible entropy.
EUROCRYPT2010.pdf ToC 2020.pdf
Ullman, Jon, and Salil Vadhan. "PCPs and the hardness of generating synthetic data." Journal of Cryptology 33 (2020): 2078-2112. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Version History: Full version posted as ECCC TR10-017.
Published earlier in Yuval Ishai, ed., Proceedings of the 8th IACR Theory of Cryptography Conference (TCC '11), Lecture Notes on Computer Science. Springer-Verlag, Publishers: Vol. 5978, pp. 572-587. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-19571-6_24
Invited to J. Cryptology selected papers from TCC 2011.
Assuming the existence of one-way functions, we show that there is no polynomial-time, differentially private algorithm \(\mathcal{A}\) that takes a database \(D ∈ ({0, 1}^d)^n\) and outputs a "synthetic database" \(\hat{D}\) all of whose two-way marginals are approximately equal to those of \(D\). (A two-way marginal is the fraction of database rows \(x ∈ {0, 1}^d\) with a given pair of values in a given pair of columns.) This answers a question of Barak et al. (PODS '07), who gave an algorithm running in time \(\mathrm{poly} (n, 2^d)\).
Our proof combines a construction of hard-to-sanitize databases based on digital signatures (by Dwork et al., STOC '09) with encodings based on probabilistically checkable proofs.
We also present both negative and positive results for generating "relaxed" synthetic data, where the fraction of rows in \(D\) satisfying a predicate \(c\) are estimated by applying \(c\) to each row of \(\hat{D}\) and aggregating the results in some way.
TCC2011.pdf ECCC2014.pdf JoC 2020.pdf
Chen, Yiling, Or Sheffet, and Salil Vadhan. "Privacy games." ACM Transactions on Economics and Computation 8, no. 2 (2020): Article 9. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Previously published as: Yiling Chen, Or Sheffet, and Salil Vadhan. Privacy games. In Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Web and Internet Economics (WINE '14), volume 8877 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, pages 371–385. Springer-Verlag, 14–17 December 2014. (WINE Publisher's Version linked here: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-13129-0_30); PDF attached as WINE2014.
The problem of analyzing the effect of privacy concerns on the behavior of selfish utility-maximizing agents has received much attention lately. Privacy concerns are often modeled by altering the utility functions of agents to consider also their privacy loss. Such privacy aware agents prefer to take a randomized strategy even in very simple games in which non-privacy aware agents play pure strategies. In some cases, the behavior of privacy aware agents follows the framework of Randomized Response, a well-known mechanism that preserves differential privacy.
Our work is aimed at better understanding the behavior of agents in settings where their privacy concerns are explicitly given. We consider a toy setting where agent A, in an attempt to discover the secret type of agent B, offers B a gift that one type of B agent likes and the other type dislikes. As opposed to previous works, B's incentive to keep her type a secret isn't the result of "hardwiring" B's utility function to consider privacy, but rather takes the form of a payment between B and A. We investigate three different types of payment functions and analyze B's behavior in each of the resulting games. As we show, under some payments, B's behavior is very different than the behavior of agents with hardwired privacy concerns and might even be deterministic. Under a different payment we show that B's BNE strategy does fall into the framework of Randomized Response.
ArXiv 2014.pdf WINE 2014.pdf TEAC 2020.pdf
Deterministic approximation of random walks in small space
Concurrent composition of differential privacy
Pseudorandom generators for read-once monotone branching programs
Pseudodistributions that beat all pseudorandom generators
Complexity of Counting (3)
Computational Complexity (59)
Cryptography (37)
Game Theory (6)
Law & Policy (6)
Proof Systems (19)
Pseudorandomness (40)
Statistics & ML (14)
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A Unified Theory of Pseudorandomness (NSF CCF-0133096) (17)
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (11)
Applying Theoretical Advances in Privacy to Computational Social Science Practice (Sloan Foundation) (9)
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Computational Notions of Entropy and Cryptographic Applications (US-Israel Binational Science Foundation; BSF 2010196) (5)
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Pseudorandomness and Combinatorial Constructions (US-Israel Binational Science Foundation; BSF 2002246) (18)
Pseudorandomness for Space-Bounded Computation and Cryptography (NSF CCF-1420938) (2)
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How the Vuelta a España became cycling's most dramatic grand tour
With unbelievably challenging climbs and an innovative approach to route design, the Vuelta emerges as a fan favorite grand tour.
The Spanish faithful come out in force to cheer on the Vuelta. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
IF RIDERS BLINKED, THEY MIGHT HAVE missed it. Barely two kilometers into the opening stage of the 2017 Vuelta a España, teams roared straight through the center of a 2,000-year-old Roman arena that once hosted gladiatorial battles. On a hot, sticky afternoon in late August, squads of cyclists, dressed in Lycra and riding carbon-fiber stallions, blasted through the middle of the circular stadium over some hastily laid tarmac in the opening day team time trial. It was a pure Vuelta moment.
"That's what's pretty cool about the Vuelta," says Canadian veteran Svein Tuft (Orica-Scott). "I'm not sure the Tour could have done that, but the Vuelta takes you to some pretty cool places."
Before this 72nd edition of the Vuelta was over, Tuft and the other nearly 200 racers would be in for one surprise after another. This year's course featured nine summit finales. The second week had at least one first-category climb in every stage, except one. The feared and fearsome Alto de l'Angliru was back. Los Machucos — this year's new discovery featured on stage 17 —
featured ramps as steep as 28 percent.
That wild parcours reflects what we have now come to expect from the Spanish grand tour, which throws one crazy finish after another at the pack. La Vuelta Ciclista a España — the cycling tour of Spain — has emerged as the most unpredictable and most entertaining grand tour on the international calendar. Every year race organizers make sure that every stage delivers something to remember — be it a steep goat path up the side of a mountain or a Roman arena. By most counts, their efforts are paying off.
"We made a big bet on the spectacle, and it's paid off for us," says Vuelta director Javier Guillén. "We search out the 'epic' moments — these explosive climbs, these impossible ramps — so that the race comes down to an honest, brutal rider-to-rider battle."
Every grand tour has its own distinctive flavor. The Giro d'Italia is renowned for its tifosi and the Dolomites. The Tour de France boasts the Alps, the tradition, and the prestige. The Vuelta? It packs unpredictability, unconventionality, heat, and, more than anything else, the sense that you're watching one hell of a bike race.
"Why do I love the Vuelta? Easy," says Australian Adam Hansen (Lotto-Soudal). "No one knows who is going to win."
The 2017 Vuelta began with a team time trial that raced through a 2,000-year-old Roman arena in Nimes, France. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
THE VUELTA WASN'T ALWAYS the most exciting grand tour. For a long time, the Spanish tour was a snooze-fest, the perfect excuse to have a siesta on a hot, lazy afternoon. Before 1995, when organizers moved it from April to September, it was almost entirely a race for Spanish riders and teams to focus on.
"Before, the Vuelta was a preparation race, for the Giro, for the Tour. Not anymore," Jesus Gómez Peña, a Bilbao-based journalist who has covered 18 Vueltas. "All the big GC riders are coming now."
This year's Vuelta includes a who's-who of the peloton; that wasn't usually the case. How many Vueltas did Lance Armstrong race once he became Tour king? Nada.
Spanish riders and Spanish teams always targeted the Vuelta. It made sense because it was their race. Back in the 1970s and '80s, there were literally a dozen top-level pro Spanish teams in the peloton, so the Vuelta had a heavy Spanish accent. In 1985, when it appeared Robert Millar (now Philippa York) was on the cusp of becoming the first British rider to win a grand tour, the entire Spanish peloton ganged up on him and colluded to allow Pedro Delgado to take the overall title. La Vuelta es nuestro! The Vuelta is ours.
For just about everyone else in the peloton, the Vuelta was a training race. Eddy Merckx raced only one Vuelta, in 1973, when he won six of 17 stages, as well as the points and combined jerseys, and placed second in the climber's jersey competition. He never returned.
"Cycling was different in those days," says BMC sporting manager Allan Peiper, who raced one Vuelta in his career. "No team did three big grand tours then. The Vuelta was a Spanish race."
During several editions, the Vuelta hardly stretched two weeks long, and there were few mountain stages. It was sprint after sprint, with plenty of time trials. Sean Kelly, a sprinter and classics rider, won his lone career grand tour at the Vuelta in 1988. In 1984, a neo-pro named Eric Caritoux won by the Vuelta's smallest margin of victory: six seconds. It took the race jury 30 minutes to decide he won.
By the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Vuelta almost became a paid holiday for many of the big stars. Those were the days when the Spanish economy was booming and there was plenty of money sloshing around. Running parallel to the race was the infamous "Vuelta de la Noche," a nightly bacchanal of sponsor parties after every stage across Spain. Podium girls, soigneurs, sport directors, mechanics, journalists, race officials, and even the odd cyclist would be partying until the wee hours.
In 2010, Stuart O'Grady and Andy Schleck were both sent home before stage 10 when team boss Bjarne Riis found them sneaking back to the team hotel at 5 a.m. after an all-nighter at the bars.
Then a few key things happened that would forever change the Vuelta and its place in the hierarchy of cycling's international calendar. Enter Guillén and "La crisis."
Vuelta director Javier Guillen is constantly in search of ways to heighten the drama and spectacle at his grand tour. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
VUELTA RACE DIRECTOR Javier Guillén takes a deep breath as he sits down to chat with VeloNews a day before the start of the 2017 Vuelta. As can be expected, he's very busy. Tall and slim with drooping eyes, Guillén has led the Vuelta since 2008. That's the same year that Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO, owners of the Tour de France and other major cycling properties), bought a 49 percent share of Unipublic, the Madrid-based events company that took over the Vuelta in the 1980s.
If it wasn't for ASO, which took over complete ownership in 2014, there might not even be a Vuelta today.
"ASO gave us financial stability," Guillén says. "It's the best company in the world at putting on bike races, so we gain so much by being a part of that organization."
The pro peloton was flying close to the sun in the mid-2000s, and so was the Vuelta. There was no shortage of sponsors or host cities lining up to be part of the Spanish grand tour, but it was a facade. All that came crashing down in 2008, just as the world economy cratered. Spain's booming economy suddenly went bust. Unemployment shot up to 25 percent, and the government introduced an austerity program to keep a rein on rising deficits. That might have saved Spain from bankruptcy, but it was a death knell for Spanish cycling.
Regional governments, which had been the main source of funding for bike races and bike teams across Spain, didn't have money for such indulgences. The Spanish peloton went from nearly a dozen top pro teams to just two today (Movistar and Caja Rural), and its burgeoning racing calendar shrunk. The Spanish cycling federation faced a 50-percent budget cut, and couldn't afford to fly riders to major events like cyclocross or mountain bike world championships.
"The crisis was very hard for us," Guillén admits. "What it did, though, was make us stronger. So we made a bet on the Vuelta, and now that Spain is growing again, the Vuelta is well-positioned to make that investment pay off. We are now on very solid footing."
A lawyer by trade, Guillén admits he leaves the finer details of route design and road selection to his technical team, led by former pro Fernando Escartín. Instead, Guillén plies the boardrooms across Spain as he tirelessly pitches the Vuelta to sponsors and government bodies looking to use the race to promote their regions as tourist destinations.
Before anything, bicycle races are businesses. And Guillén realized that the Vuelta needed to find its niche. To do that, he took the race away from the big flat roads, and into the Spanish heartland.
The Vuelta used to roam almost without purpose, or narrative, from one major city to another. The stages were often run through an uninspiring series of traffic circles and along boring flat straightaways. Local residents would complain about road closures. No one was happy.
With the big cities pinched for money, Guillén found interest in secondary towns and off-the-radar regions looking to boost tourism. The Vuelta reached out to España profunda — rural Spain — with surprising success. After the Angliru climb came stages to such places as Bola del Mundo, La Campera, Ezaro — all ridiculously steep ramps that guaranteed fireworks.
The perfect example of a new Spanish host town is Valdepeñas de Jaén, a small village of 4,000 surrounded by an ocean of olive trees that hosted its first Vuelta stage in 2010. Locals packed themselves 10-deep on the brutally steep finishing ramp of 25 percent as if it was a summer block party. It was back in 2017 for a fifth time as part of stage 14.
Guillén also realized that the Vuelta came at the end of a long and demanding racing calendar when riders were tired. With only three grand tours in the world, he figured if he polished the Vuelta, he might be able to draw the big stars. His vision was as simple as it was engaging: shorter stages, lots of climbs, and a GC battle that would go down to the wire.
"We try to make every stage count. We try to make every day a mini-movie," he explains. "The Vuelta changed the model of what a grand tour can be. We do not have a dogma. What works for the Vuelta might not work for the Giro or Tour. We are happy where we are." Guillén isn't complaining. After some financially lean years, the Vuelta is booming again. The world's top GC riders are flocking to Spain.
How much have the French had a hand in the reinvention of the Vuelta? According to insiders, the French are leaving the Vuelta to the Spaniards.
"The French have let Guillén do his job. They don't want to be seen as Napoleon," says El Correo's Gómez Peña. "The Vuelta really suffered in 2008, '09, '10. They could barely find host cities for the race. Now, they have more than they can handle."
Chris Froome made a name for himself at the 2011 Vuelta when he bested team leader Bradley Wiggins, finishing second overall by 13 seconds. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com
THE VUELTA DISCOVERED THE magic formula. For Guillén, the perfect Vuelta is a race decided on the penultimate stage on the very last climb. He wants the race to unfold like a soccer match coming down to penalty kicks.
The emphasis on tough climbs did have a consequence. From 1995 through 2013, all but one world champion raced the Vuelta to prepare for the end-of-year road race. By 2014, the Vuelta was getting too hard. Michal Kwiatkowski didn't race the Vuelta in 2014 because of the demanding course. Sagan raced the Vuelta in 2015 but skipped it in 2016. Sprinters don't even bother coming anymore. Why? There are almost no sprints.
"Our sprinters don't want to come to the Vuelta," says BMC's Peiper. "It's too hard. Now it's a GC battle."
Another key moment came in 2011. A relatively unknown rider from Kenya named Chris Froome came within 13 seconds of winning the race that year. Ever since then, Froome put the Vuelta on his radar, racing every year except in 2013. The battles between Froome, Contador, Nairo Quintana, and Esteban Chaves have converted the Vuelta into the most interesting stage race of the season.
"It's a race I really enjoy competing at," Froome says. "I wouldn't call it an obsession. I've been second three times. I would simply like to win it one time."
Froome won this year's race, so he can check that off his list.
Short is the new long. While professional cycling, at its core, will remain about suffering, endurance, and sacrifice, the Vuelta helped usher in a new era of wild, dynamic, shorter, unpredictable stages.
Remember the stage to Formigal at the 2016 Vuelta? It was arguably the best stage of the decade. Froome lost the Vuelta that day. Team Sky remembers. They tweaked Froome's training schedule for 2017 to have something left in the tank after the Tour for a shot at the Vuelta title.
Stage races are rarely decided in one singular moment. The Tour is all about control and calculated power. The Giro often comes down to a battle between two or maybe three top riders. But it's at the Vuelta where the race can turn on its head. It's at the end of the season. Riders are racing on fumes. Their ambitions often outstrip the gas they have left in the tank.
"The Vuelta is a funny race," says BMC Racing's Nicolas Roche. "Everything can change at any moment."
Like Hansen says, we all but know who is going to win the Tour de France. Team Sky has won five of the past six Tours. The only one the team didn't win was in 2014 when Froome crashed out. There's no drama in that. Yet Sky has struggled to control the Vuelta. More than anything, that is an endorsement that the Vuelta is the season's most fickle race. "The thing about the Vuelta is that it's at the end of the season, and everyone is tired," says former pro Joaquim Rodríguez. "You can have a bad day, and lose it all. Or hit a good day, and win it all."
Why do all the top riders keep coming back? There are a few reasons: teams want more, riders want more, and, most importantly, because it comes after the Tour, there's nothing to lose. But the main reason is that the Vuelta has found the right amount of difficulty.
"The Vuelta today doesn't have those big, long six-col climbing stages," says Cannondale-Drapac sport director Juanma Garate. "They know the riders are tired, and don't want to make the stages too long because it would kill the race."
In 2013, Chris Horner became the unlikely winner of the Vuelta. He hit top form early, nursed a slender lead, and fended off Vincenzo Nibali on the penultimate stage up the Angliru. He later told VeloNews he had eaten his favorite meal — a McDonald's Big Mac and fries — the night before the brutal stage.
It's that kind of anything-goes ethos that continues to gyrate through the Vuelta even though it's harder than ever. Spain is a relaxed country, where family, meals, and vacation are still more important than how much money you make. The Vuelta reflects that. The racers, sport directors, bus drivers, and journalists agree it is their favorite grand tour of the year. Sure, the Tour is more prestigious, and the Giro is more passionate, but La Vuelta is La Vuelta. Venga!
Who is going to win? No one has the slightest idea, and that's why we love it.
Did the 'big starts' deliver? Rating the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España's overseas openers
Tourmalet, Angliru, a TTT, and more: Here's what we know about the 2023 Vuelta a España
How long can the 'Remco Rampage' last at the Vuelta a España?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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L Train shutdown is officially cancelled: MTA
By Danielle Furfaro, Nolan Hicks and Max Jaeger
January 17, 2019 | 7:08pm	| Updated January 18, 2019 | 8:06am
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delivers his State of the State address and executive budget proposal. AP
l train shutdown
14th Street is only the beginning for NYC car bans, top transit official says
De Blasio's 'busway' plan for 14th Street is a nightmare set to unfold
Cuomo says L train repairs will wrap up months ahead of schedule
Corey Johnson criticizes 14th Street car ban, citing concerns about spillover traffic
The MTA is ramming through Gov. Andrew Cuomo's controversial plan to avert the L train shutdown, the authority announced Thursday — just two days after the agency's board bashed the plan during a heated "emergency" meeting Tuesday.
"[T]he total shutdown of both tunnels and all service scheduled for April 27 will not be necessary," reads a statement issued by the MTA Thursday evening.
An MTA insider said the announcement had Cuomo's fingerprints all over it.
"Cuomo is saying he knows more about the technology stuff than the technology experts on the MTA board," the official said. "It's just a demonstration of who runs the show. This is Cuomo being completely dominant over the MTA."
The MTA will attempt the legal maneuver by arguing that no board approval is needed because it claims Cuomo's new plan won't cost more than the original shut down, even as the embattled authority continues to refuse to provide a price tag.
Good government groups assailed the move.
"The Governor is a wrecking ball, destroying public confidence in both the MTA professional staff and himself," raged John Kaehny, the executive director of Reinvent Albany. "If the board has a shred of authority, it should be voting on this very major decision."
The Canarsie tunnel carrying the L train from Brooklyn to Manhattan was scheduled to be closed for 15 months of post-Hurricane Sandy repairs, but Cuomo swooped in on Jan. 3 and announced the authority would instead shutter one tunnel at a time for piecemeal repair.
Then he pumped the brakes the next day and said the MTA board needed to approve the proposal. But the board picked apart the plan Tuesday over concerns the fix wouldn't last as long as the initial plan — and would expose riders to carcinogenic silica dust.
"We're starting out marginally less safe," the MTA source said. "And that's not a good place to start."
The news came just hours after Cuomo once again argued on WNYC radio that he should be in charge of the struggling authority — which he already controls.
"Many people are wrong," he told host Brian Lehrer, when asked about the claims. "We live in a world of tweets, where facts don't matter."
Hours later, Cuomo's MTA announced the end-run around its own board.
The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment.
Filed under andrew cuomo , l train shutdown , mta
Chicago cops acquitted of covering up police shooting of L...


(a) Whenever it appears that a claim is not eligible for reimbursement pursuant to these rules, the claimant shall be advised of the reasons why the claim may not be eligible for reimbursement, and that unless additional facts to support eligibility are submitted to the Committee, the claim file shall be closed. The chairperson of the Fund may appoint any member of the Committee and/or his/herself to determine the eligibility of claims.
(b) A certified copy of an order disciplining a lawyer for the same dishonest act or conduct alleged in the claim, or a final judgment imposing civil or criminal liability therefor, shall be evidence that a lawyer committed such dishonest act or conduct.
(c) The Bar's Office of Professional Conduct Senior Counsel shall be promptly notified of each and every claim.
(d) The lawyer alleged to have engaged in dishonest conduct shall be provided a copy of the claim and given an opportunity to respond in writing within 20 days of the receipt thereof to the Committee.
(e) The Committee may request that testimony be presented. The lawyer or lawyer's representative shall be given an opportunity to be heard if they so request within 20 days of receiving a notice from the Committee that the Committee will process the claim.
(f) The Committee may make a finding of dishonest conduct for purposes of adjudicating a claim. Such a determination is not a finding of dishonest conduct for the purposes of professional discipline and further, represents only a recommendation to the Board. A claim may only be considered if the individual lawyer involved has been disciplined to a threshold level of a public reprimand or is no longer in practice.
(g) The claim shall be determined on the basis of all available evidence, and notice shall be given to the claimant and the lawyer of the final decision by the Board after a recommendation has been made by the Committee. The recommendation for approval or denial of a claim shall require the affirmative votes of at least a majority of the Committee members and a quorum of the voting members of the Board.
(h) Any proceeding upon a claim shall not be conducted according to technical rules relating to evidence, procedure and witnesses. Any relevant evidence shall be admitted if it is the sort of evidence on which responsible persons are accustomed to rely on in the conduct of serious affairs, regardless of the existence of any common law or statutory rule which might make improper the admission of such evidence over objection in court proceedings. The claimant shall have the duty to supply relevant evidence to support the claim.
(i) The Board shall determine the order and manner of payment and pay those claims it deems meritorious, but unless the Board directs otherwise, no claim should be approved during the pendency of a disciplinary proceeding involving the same act or conduct as alleged in the claim; specifically, no determination and/or hearing shall take place until such time that all disciplinary proceedings have, in fact, been completed.
(j) Both the claimant and the lawyer shall be advised of the status of the Board's consideration of the claim and after having received the recommendation of the Committee, also shall be informed of the final determination.
(k) The claimant may request reconsideration within 30 days of the denial or determination of the amount of the claim.


text:
Gabriella Cooperman chips in with Cookies for Charity
By	Suzanne Kurtz Sloan	 February 19, 2015 12:45 pm
Gabriella Cooperman, left, with a girl whose therapeutic horseback riding she has sponsored at Equestrian Connection for the last four years. (Courtesy of Gabriella Cooperman)
The Teen Heroes column is sponsored by the Helen Diller Family Foundation. To learn more about the foundation's $36,000 Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards, visit http://dillerteenawards.org.
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Gabriella Cooperman was 5 years old when she witnessed the difference that therapeutic horseback riding made for Danielle, her younger sister with special developmental needs.
"I saw how wonderful and magical horseback riding therapy could be," said Cooperman, now 14. "So when I heard that there were kids who needed the therapy but couldn't afford it, I knew I wanted to help."
With her mother's assistance, the 5-year-old decided to set up a lemonade stand at an intersection near her Highland Park, Ill., home to raise the $500 necessary to send a young girl to a one-week therapeutic riding camp at Equestrian Connection, the riding center and stable where Cooperman's sister also received her therapy.
But Cooperman quickly realized that just selling lemonade might not be enough to meet her goal, so she decided to include some homemade cookies, too.
Nine years later, Cookies for Charity is a yearly, weekend-long fundraising event that has raised more than $47,000 for Equestrian Connection.
"Every year I've doubled my fundraising goal and it's become an annual tradition in the neighborhood," Cooperman said. "People come to socialize, and even our mayor comes out as well."
Typically scheduled for the weekend after school starts, she recruits about 30 of her friends to help sell lemonade, water bottles and two kinds of homemade cookies: a nut-free sugar cookie and a signature Heath Bar Crunch chocolate chip cookie. At last August's Cookies for Charity event, Cooperman said they stopped counting after selling 6,000 cookies and 1,000 glasses of lemonade.
The planning (and baking) starts months in advance, she said. Cooperman has secured 24 corporate sponsors who support the event by providing many of the essentials. Companies like Kraft Food, Arm & Hammer, Argo and Domino Sugar have donated gallons of lemonade, water bottles and the pounds of ingredients needed for baking the cookies. Local businesses have provided equipment for storing the cookies, lunch for the volunteers, marketing material and the supplies for building and running the stand.
Even the Chicago Bears have thrown their support behind the event, donating a signed football that Cooperman auctions off during the weekend.
Cooperman, a freshman at Highland Park High School, said she will continue to plan a Cookies for Charity event every year through the remainder of her high school years. After she graduates, she hopes to pass on the fundraiser to someone else to run.
"The biggest lessons that I have learned from Cookies for Charity is that working hard is the greatest award ever and it's a great feeling to help others," Cooperman said. "I hope that I am inspiring other youth to support the idea of tikkun olam and making another person's life better."
JTA spoke to her about heroes who bake, the meaningful Jewish experience that she continues today and her Broadway theatrical aspirations.
JTA: What do you think are the important qualities of a hero?
Cooperman: I think a hero is someone who puts themselves after other people in need.
My mom: She puts me and my sister before her activities. And she bakes everything, all of our meals — even challah dough — from scratch.
Can you share with us a meaningful Jewish experience that you've had?
At my bat mitzvah, I was the first female on both sides of my family to read from the Torah. Reading from the Torah is important to me, still even after my bat mitzvah, and I read it at teen minyans for USY.
What kind of things do you like to do for fun?
I love acting and chorus and I perform in musical theater through my school. I am very active in my USY chapter, which I love so much. Being Jewish is very important to me. I also enjoy doing arts and crafts, hanging out with my friends and playing with my sister is a very important part of my life.
What would be your dream role to play on Broadway?
Ella in Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Cinderella" is one of my favorite roles.
What advice would you give to other teens interested in starting a fundraising event?
Don't be afraid. Who cares what people say. If you're doing a good thing for the world, other people will thank you.
Please tell us about teens who deserve attention by sending an email to teens@jta.org.
Mazels	Lifestyle
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Jewish day schools rushed to hold vaccine drives. Mandates may come more slowly.
By	Julia Gergely	and Shira Hanau	 December 8, 2021 3:17 pm


text:
Types of Media Continued
Angela Oswalt Morelli , MSW, edited by Mark Dombeck, Ph.D.
Music is another highly popular media entertainment. The advent of sound recording at the end of the 19th century ushered in the era of analog recordings, first on vinyl records and later on audio tape in the form of 8-tracks and later, cassettes. Starting in the 1980s, music started to be distributed in a digital format on CD-ROMs. The new format changed everything as digital music could be copied easily and without loss of fidelity. In the 1990s, it became possible to easily compress large digital music files using a technology called MP3, and for the first time, it became practical to share music over the newly invented Internet. An explosion of music MP3 file sharing occurred, first culminating in the Napster file sharing website between 1999 and 2001. The problem was that all this music file sharing was illegal. The record companies sued, and Napster was closed down. However, the damage was done. An entire generation of children had learned that unlimited file sharing was possible and easy. These children were not deterred by the questionable legal status of their activities, and many new forums for file sharing, including the popular peer to peer BitTorrent technology, were developed and continue to operate today.
Modern mobile or cell phones are more than simple telephones. Instead, they are multimedia communications devices. In addition to making telephone calls, today's phones enable SMS text and MMS photo messaging (the sending of email-like text messages and photographs from phone to phone). Many phones feature digital cameras, programmable ring-tones, Internet and email access, and music and video players as well. The very latest "smart" phones (such as Apple's iPhone even feature GPS (global satellite-based positioning) which enables the phone to know and broadcast its location on the earth, as well as downloadable software applications that transform the phone into a multipurpose device. With the right service plan and smart phone, it is possible to watch television shows on the phone, browse the Internet, or to use the phone as a portable GPS navigation unit.
Personal computers and modern smart phones are general rather than single-purpose devices. They can be programmed to perform a wide variety of tasks. The software that provides the computer with instructions for how to perform these various tasks is itself a form of media. As children like to play computer games, a young person's computer or phone is likely to contain various game software titles. However, there are many other categories of software program that are available. For instance, young people may use software to edit and display digital pictures they have taken with their telephone or digital camera. They may also compose or edit digital video and sound recordings, or create visual art in the manner of paintings. Software programs are available to teach youth how to type; to provide help with homework; to teach a specific foreign language, or to guide users in the creation of a family tree, to provide just a few examples.
The Internet (and other connected technologies)
The Internet is a communications technology based on millions of interconnected computers capable of sharing data instantly. The Internet allows two kinds of communication to occur. Two-way communications are possible in both synchronized and asynchronous forms, allowing the Internet to replace traditional telephone technologies, which involve two-way synchronized communications, and bulletin boards, which involve two-way asynchronous communications. One-way communications such as television or radio broadcasts are also possible. All Internet communications, whether voice, video, or photograph, take place using a common digital transmission format. Although the network is world-wide in scale, the playing field is level enough so that individual people without much wealth or education can create and publish web pages for themselves, which are accessible around the world.
Most people know the internet through its most ubiquitous product, the website and the World Wide Web; the Internet protocol upon which all websites sit. Early websites were largely textual in nature with a few photographs for illustration purposes. Over time, websites have evolved into platforms capable of organizing and displaying all other forms of media we have discussed, including books and magazines, movies and television shows, telephone and textual communications, audio recordings and even software. Today, it is possible to watch television on Hulu, or a friend's home movie on YouTube; have a video conference via the Skype service, check in with your boss regarding the latest sales figures on SalesForce, read a book online at Scribd and interact with friends in a wholly new way via Social Media websites such as Facebook and Twitter which have no pre-Internet antecedents.
Benefits of Modern Media
Internet Addiction and Media Issues Introduction
Symptoms - Internet Addiction
Internet Addiction Treatment
Children and Media Issues
Children and Media Issues Introduction
Benefits of Modern Media Continued
Persuasive Speech Blurs Fact and Fiction
Hate Speech, Non-Wholesome Ideas and Illegal Downloads
Privacy Issues, Identity Theft and Online Reputation Concerns
Stranger Danger and Predators (Sexual and Otherwise)
Replacement of Healthy Behaviors
Managing Children's Media Consumption
Asking Questions and Teaching Safe Media Usage
Set Limits on Media Use
Setting Limits on Media Use Continued
Media Ratings: Music and Movies
Media Ratings: Television
Media Ratings: Video Games - Part I
Media Ratings: Video Games - Part II
Media Content Blocking and Filtering Strategies
Children and Media Issues Conclusion
Many Americans Pause Social Media as National Tensions Rise
Video Games May Sabotage Fitness Among College Students
All That Social Media Hasn't Hurt Kids' Social Skills, Study Finds
Beware of 'Media Overload' During Coronavirus Crisis, Experts Say
Is Your Smartphone or Tablet an Injury Risk?
Texting Trauma: Many Teens Suffer 'Digital Dating Abuse'
More Evidence Links Social Media Use to Poorer Mental Health in Teens
Texting While Walking Is Risky Business
Vaping Is the Darling of Instagram
What Parents Overlook When Their Teen Is a Heavy Gamer
[1] Associations
Technology Addiction
Raising Children Responsibly in the Digital Age
Kids and Screen Time
Are Your Kids Addicted to Social Media?
Gaming disorder: questions and answers
What You Need to Know About Internet Addiction
The Neuroscience of Internet Addiction
Internet Addiction: Signs You Need to Shut Down
What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains
Wise Counsel Interview Transcript: An Interview with Joanie Gillispie, Ph.D. on Cyber.Rules: What You Really Need to Know About the Internet


text:
Kate Osamor MP given MAG #SpeakUp4Nigeria campaign letter
MAG - November 2, 2018
Today we delivered more than 2,200 letter signatures to Kate Osamor MP, the Chair of the cross-party UK Parliamentary Group for Nigeria. The letter asks Ms Osamor to make a statement to the House of Commons, urgently calling for this new landmine crisis to be included as a humanitarian priority in international response planning.
Landmines and other unexploded bombs pose a daily threat in north-east Nigeria, killing or injuring 19 people every month there, with unreported accidents meaning the true figure is likely to be much higher.
Jeannette von Däniken, MAG's Programme Support Coordinator for the Sahel and West Africa, personally delivered the signatures.
"This is just the start of our campaign to ensure this new landmine crisis is dealt with and people's lives are protected," Jeannette said. "MAG's research highlights a serious issue in the region. It is shocking that families living with conflict are also living with the daily threat of landmines."
Supporters up and down the UK added their voice to the campaign
MAG will continue to deliver life-saving education to children
MAG's teams in north-east Nigeria are delivering risk education to children and their families throughout the three states most badly affected by the conflict with Boko Haram.
Risk education aims to reach the greatest possible number of people with potentially life-saving information on how to recognise, avoid and report threats such as landmines. This is particularly important for children and returning communities. By raising awareness of the threat and working directly with communities we can change behaviours, reducing the risk of death or injury.
MAG and other NGOs have reached over 680,000 women, girls, boys and men, in north-east Nigeria, the majority of whom are from communities displaced or affected directly by the violence.
What you can do now
You can still make a real difference to our work in north-east Nigeria by donating to our campaign.
A donation of £30 could give a whole classroom of children in Nigeria the knowledge they need to recognise explosives and what action to take, ensuring they live to tell the tale.


Welcome to Airport Gold Star Motel!
Airport Gold Star Motel is located only 4 minutes from the Auckland International Airport.
Our family-friendly motel is an ideal base for short-term transit accommodation when flying in or out of Auckland Airport or for travelers visiting Auckland to explore all that the region has to offer.
All units face a lovely garden with large swimming pool.
Free shuttle will be provided to drop off and pick up guests to and from the airport.
Read on to find out more about our rooms and services !
Auckland International Airport - 3 minutes away from the Auckland International Airport.
Auckland, the City of Sails - 20 minutes from Auckland CBD. Bus stop right in front of the motel. Taxis can be arranged.
Auckland Explorer Bus - hop-on hop-off sightseeing of Auckland. We will arrange the bus and they will pick you up from motel and drop you back.
Supermarkets, restaurants - local dairy & restaurants/takeaway shops within walking distance. Major supermarkets (Countdown & the Warehouse) 3 minutes drive.
Golf courses - only 4 minutes drive from Aviation Golf Club, 10 minutes from Grange Golf Club and 15 minutes from Titirangi Golf Club - one of New Zealand's best. Mini golf course situated right next to the airport.
Manukau City - Manukau CBD is only 10 minutes away. Rainbow's End Theme Park, Westfield Shopping Mall, the Botanical Gardens are so close by!
Other Attractions - we have brochures for many other attractions - eg. Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World, Auckland Zoo, Butterfly Creek or even Dress Smart. Buses are just outside the motel. Taxis can be arranged.
Check-in time - our normal check-in time is 2 pm.
Please let us know beforehand should you require an early check-in. Your unit may be available from 10 am, if there is a unit which has not been occupied from the previous night.
Check-out time - our normal check-out time is 10 am. Please let us know if you require a late check-out. Our last courtesy shuttle to the Airport is at 10am. We may have to arrange a taxi for you should you require transport after 10am.
Reservations - direct online booking available or reservations can be made via email, phone or fax. We would normally require credit card details or a deposit to have the booking secured. Your credit card will not be charged until your arrival. You may wish to pay by other methods.
Payment - you can pay by cash, EFTPOS or any major credit cards (Visa, Master, Diners Club). Cheques are usually not acceptable unless for deposits.
Cancellation policy - The guest can cancel free of charge until 3 days before arrival.
Group Booking - group booking are welcomed. You can secure your group reservation by providing credit card details either through email, phone or fax.
Non-smoking - all of our units are smoke-free.
No Pets - sorry, no pets allowed in the units.
Store room - we have store rooms available for guests wishing to store their baggage or backpacks while they go about exploring Auckland and/or other parts of New Zealand.
Tea & coffee - complimentary tea & coffee comes with the units.
Guest laundry - guest laundry & dryer facilities are available on site.


The Crisis, American quarterly magazine published by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). It was founded in 1910 and, for its first 24 years, was edited by W.E.B. Du Bois. It is considered the world's oldest black publication.
Du Bois played a key role in the creation of The Crisis: A Record of the Darker Races (the subtitle was later dropped). In his editorial for the first issue (November 1910), he wrote that the magazine would "show the danger of race prejudice, particularly as manifested today toward colored people." The Crisis was a huge success and by the end of its first decade had achieved a monthly circulation of 100,000 copies. In its pages, Du Bois displayed the evolution of his thought from his early, hopeful insistence on racial justice to his resigned call for black separatism. The Crisis was an important medium for the young black writers of the Harlem Renaissance, especially from 1919 to 1926, when Jessie Redmon Fauset was its literary editor. The writers she discovered or encouraged included the poets Arna Bontemps, Langston Hughes, and Countee Cullen and the novelist-poet Jean Toomer. Under Fauset's literary guidance The Crisis, along with the magazine Opportunity, was the leading publisher of young black authors.
After Fauset's departure The Crisis was unable to sustain its high literary standards. In 1934 the magazine lost its guiding force when Du Bois stepped down as editor following frequent clashes with the NAACP's board members, who objected to his increasingly controversial opinions, such as his support for interracial marriage. In the ensuing decades, its readership declined, and the magazine briefly ceased publication in 1996. When it returned in July 1997, The Crisis carried the subtitle The Magazine of Opportunities and Ideas, though that was dropped in 2003. About this time the magazine also became a quarterly publication. Despite the various changes, The Crisis remained influential and was especially noted for its coverage of civil rights.


new Possible to re-order and/or rename tracks from mix window?
new 1 raven pro tools license running 2 ravens.
new Floating Mixer not working in Protools?
new Batch command not recording mouse clicks?
new Midi Keyboard Controller Software for Raven & PT?
new please fix inserts "bug"


WordPress got a bad rap when it first came out. Somehow WordPress became known internationally as simply "blog" software. That is soooo limiting to the true power of WordPress. We use WordPress for the entire website…including the blog part.
The website you're on right now is using WordPress. Sure, this is the blog section, but go to any of the main pages you see on the left column and that's just main website content. Still WordPress.
WordPress websites offer much more than the few five or ten benefits you usually hear about. A blogging software-based website is the new evolution of how Web sites are constructed.
Before we get into the meat of the actual reasons why WordPress is so great, let's clear up another myth while we're at it: A blog is a Web site…a Web site is a blog. There is NO difference.
It powers millions of websites worldwide, and many big brands use WordPress: CNN, Playstation, New York Times Blogs, People Magazine, and even Ford – they all use WordPress!
WordPress is here to stay.
It's an opensource CMS (Content Management System) that has taken the world by storm – as of August 2011, "14.7% of the top million websites in the world" are powered by WordPress. Most web designers, web developers, and users praise WordPress for its ease-of-use, hence why it's become so popular, and its growth just keeps on accelerating. Just to give you an idea, last year, WordPress was used by approximately 8.5 of the top million websites in the world, so to jump from 8.5% to 14.7% in one year alone speaks volumes for how popular WordPress is becoming, and how much people love this platform!
Here are top 5 reasons why WordPress websites are better than traditional websites for authors, speakers and business owners today in a very trying economy.
WordPress used to be known primarily as a blogging platform, and it remains the best solution to use for blog, however it has come a long way and has become a very comprehensive Content Management Suite used to power many different types of websites, including business sites, job boards, sites featuring classified ads, etc. WordPress is extremely very flexible, adaptable, and if a specific feature or features that are not built-in are needed by a user, there are literally thousands of plugins available to enhance WordPress' functionality, so there is likely solution already developed for that need – the possibilities are literally limitless!
On the other hand, it definitely does make it easy to have a blog on your website, which is highly recommended as part of your online marketing strategy. Search engines such as Google love WordPress because it uses well-written code, and keeping an active blog tells search engines that your site is alive and well, thereby increasing your website's rank and your chances of being found via organic searches. If you're looking to get a head start with Search Engine Optimization, WordPress is the way to go for your website and/or blog.
A great thing about WordPress is that it's completely open source – which means that the source code used to run WordPress is available to the general public. This means that anyone on the planet can modify the code if necessary and customize WordPress even further to be what they need. Often, this isn't necessary, but it also means that any plugins and themes (templates) created for the WordPress platform must also be open source. Plugins are basically add-ons that can be easily installed in the WordPress dashboard area to add features that are not part of the core code, and themes are what provide a blog or website based on WordPress its design. Imagine a world-wide community working together to add more features and functionality to WordPress – you're not limited to only being able to use specific employees or developers to produce customizations, which means it's a powerful CMS system ready to do what you need it to, it's flexible, and easy to customize.
Because WordPress is open-source, it is freely available to be downloaded, installed, and used on your own servers. This makes it extremely cost-effective. It would cost a lot of money to have a custom CMS developed that could do the same thing that WordPress does, but why spend that much? There's no need to reinvent the wheel with WordPress being freely available, customizable, and very actively supported by a worldwide community of WordPress developers, users, and supporters! WordPress is updated regularly, with new functionality, bug fixes, and security fixes.
Also, because there is such a large community surrounding WordPress, any developer can work on a WordPress-based site to update it, make changes, etc., so you can never be held ransom by any one designer or developer.
You don't have to be a technical genius to learn how to use WordPress. I always tell my clients: if you know how to edit a Microsoft Word document, then you'll be able to easily update the content on your WordPress site. Updating pages and/or blog posts on WordPress is literally as easy as editing a Word document – you don't have to be a web designer to update your content. That is the magic of WordPress!
WordPress offers a backend administrator interface that's visually easy to navigate and very effective. Everything is organized in a logical manner, so it's easy to find the are your looking for, such as editing a page (located in the "Pages" section), editing a blog post/article (in the "Posts" section), uploading images (located in the "Media" section), managing users (in the "Users" section), etc.
It is for these reasons and more that UC Web Creations works exclusively with WordPress. If you'd like to have your own WordPress-based website and/or blog, please contact us – we'd be happy to help!
You can view our latest WordPress works here.


text:
require 'spec_helper'

describe "gws_schedule_plans", type: :feature, dbscope: :example do
  context "repeated schedule", js: true do
    let(:site) { gws_site }
    let(:index_path) { gws_schedule_plans_path site }
    let(:name) { unique_id }

    before { login_gws_user }

    context "every day" do
      let(:repeat_start_text) { "2016/04/15" }
      let(:repeat_start) { Date.parse(repeat_start_text) }
      let(:repeat_end_text) { "2017/04/15" }
      let(:repeat_end) { Date.parse(repeat_end_text) }
      let(:start_at_text) { "#{repeat_start_text} 19:15" }
      let(:start_at) { Time.zone.parse(start_at_text) }
      let(:end_at_text) { "#{repeat_start_text} 19:30" }
      let(:end_at) { Time.zone.parse(end_at_text) }
      let(:repeat_type) { "daily" }
      let(:repeat_type_label) { I18n.t("gws/schedule.options.repeat_type.#{repeat_type}") }
      let(:interval) { 3 }

      it do
        visit index_path
        click_on "予定を作成"

        within "form#item-form" do
          fill_in "item[name]", with: name
          fill_in "item[start_at]", with: start_at_text
          fill_in "item[end_at]", with: end_at_text
          select repeat_type_label, from: "item[repeat_type]"
          select interval.to_s, from: "item[interval]"
          fill_in "item[repeat_start]", with: repeat_start_text
          fill_in "item[repeat_end]", with: repeat_end_text

          click_on "保存"
        end

        expect(page).to have_css("aside#notice div", text: "保存しました。")

        # gws_schedule_repeat_plans
        expect(Gws::Schedule::RepeatPlan.count).to eq 1
        Gws::Schedule::RepeatPlan.first.tap do |item|
          expect(item.repeat_type).to eq repeat_type
          expect(item.interval).to eq interval
          expect(item.repeat_start).to eq repeat_start
          expect(item.repeat_end).to eq repeat_end
          expect(item.repeat_base).to eq 'date'
          expect(item.wdays).to eq []
        end

        # gws_schedule_plans
        expect(Gws::Schedule::Plan.count).to eq 122
        Gws::Schedule::Plan.first.tap do |item|
          expect(item.state).to eq 'public'
          expect(item.name).to eq name
          expect(item.start_on).to be_nil
          expect(item.end_on).to be_nil
          expect(item.start_at).to eq start_at
          expect(item.end_at).to eq end_at
          expect(item.allday).to be_nil
          expect(item.repeat_plan_id).not_to be_nil
          expect(item.text).to be_nil
        end

        # gws_reminders
        expect(Gws::Reminder.count).to eq 122
        Gws::Reminder.first.tap do |item|
          expect(item.name).to eq name
          expect(item.url_lazy).not_to be_nil
          expect(item.date).to eq start_at
          expect(item.model).to eq 'gws/schedule/plan'
          expect(item.item_id).not_to be_nil
          expect(item.read_at).to be_nil
          # expect(item.updated_fields).to eq ["groups_hash"]
        end
      end
    end

    context "set every month plan on 5th monday" do
      let(:repeat_start_text) { "2016/05/30" }
      let(:repeat_start) { Date.parse(repeat_start_text) }
      let(:repeat_end_text) { "2017/05/29" }
      let(:repeat_end) { Date.parse(repeat_end_text) }
      let(:start_at_text) { "#{repeat_start_text} 13:00" }
      let(:start_at) { Time.zone.parse(start_at_text) }
      let(:end_at_text) { "#{repeat_start_text} 14:00" }
      let(:end_at) { Time.zone.parse(end_at_text) }
      let(:repeat_type) { "monthly" }
      let(:repeat_type_label) { I18n.t("gws/schedule.options.repeat_type.#{repeat_type}") }
      let(:repeat_base) { "wday" }
      let(:interval) { 1 }

      it do
        visit index_path
        click_on "予定を作成"

        within "form#item-form" do
          fill_in "item[name]", with: name
          fill_in "item[start_at]", with: start_at_text
          fill_in "item[end_at]", with: end_at_text
          select repeat_type_label, from: "item[repeat_type]"
          select interval.to_s, from: "item[interval]"
          choose "item_repeat_base_#{repeat_base}"
          fill_in "item[repeat_start]", with: repeat_start_text
          fill_in "item[repeat_end]", with: repeat_end_text

          click_on "保存"
        end

        expect(page).to have_css("aside#notice div", text: "保存しました。")

        # gws_schedule_repeat_plans
        expect(Gws::Schedule::RepeatPlan.count).to eq 1
        Gws::Schedule::RepeatPlan.first.tap do |item|
          expect(item.repeat_type).to eq repeat_type
          expect(item.interval).to eq interval
          expect(item.repeat_start).to eq repeat_start
          expect(item.repeat_end).to eq repeat_end
          expect(item.repeat_base).to eq 'wday'
          expect(item.wdays).to eq []
        end

        # gws_schedule_plans
        expect(Gws::Schedule::Plan.count).to eq 13
        Gws::Schedule::Plan.first.tap do |item|
          expect(item.state).to eq 'public'
          expect(item.name).to eq name
          expect(item.start_on).to be_nil
          expect(item.end_on).to be_nil
          expect(item.start_at).to eq start_at
          expect(item.end_at).to eq end_at
          expect(item.allday).to be_nil
          expect(item.repeat_plan_id).not_to be_nil
          expect(item.text).to be_nil
        end

        # gws_reminders
        expect(Gws::Reminder.count).to eq 13
        Gws::Reminder.first.tap do |item|
          expect(item.name).to eq name
          expect(item.url_lazy).not_to be_nil
          expect(item.date).to eq start_at
          expect(item.model).to eq 'gws/schedule/plan'
          expect(item.item_id).not_to be_nil
          expect(item.read_at).to be_nil
          # expect(item.updated_fields).to eq ["groups_hash"]
        end
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


With summer on the horizon, the real estate scene on the island is heating up: Another sizable house in Palm Beach has landed under contract, this one a North End property facing the Lake Worth Lagoon at 1320 N. Lake Way.
And it comes with a royal connection, to boot.
Agent Shelly Newman of Illustrated Properties has the eight-bedroom house priced at just under $18 million, down about $500,000 from when she listed it in December. Three houses south of the Sailfish Club, the residence has about 10,320 square feet of living space, inside and out.
It's the home of a Jordanian princess, Alia Bint Al-Hussein, and her husband, Mohammed Al-Saleh, who control the limited liability company that owns it — Aqua Development North Lake LLC. She is the half-sister of King Abdullah II of Jordan. The sellers bought it for $11 million about seven years ago and have had it on the market previously.
Built in 2002, the Mediterranean-style house was designed by Smith and Moore Architects. It features a courtyard entry, a four-car garage and a deep-water dock, along with a guesthouse and two cabanas by the 60-foot lap pool. The land measures more than a half-acre with about 102 feet of waterfront.
The house went under contract May 17, according to Newman's listing in the Palm Beach Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. Newman declined to comment about her clients or the sale. So no word on the buyer, the amount that will change hands or the closing date.
The change in status brought to four the number of so-called "pending" sales of properties in Palm Beach listed at $16.5 million or above, a recent search showed.
Among those is another lakefront house on the North End — 430 N. Lake Way, listed at $17.5 million. Property records show the 1967 house has about 5,550 square feet, but agent Jim McCann of the Corcoran Group marketed it solely for its land value. The property measures three-quarters of an acre — with 115 feet of waterfront — and is owned by a family trust in the name of the late Ann A. Mergens, who died in December. McCann changed the MLS status to "pending" late last month after fielding several strong offers, he said Wednesday.


text:
Q: How to continue with this Python homework?
Write a program that uses a while loop. Process input that uses a sentinel value to indicate the end of input
Write a program that reads a series of numbers from standard input and prints out the sum of those values.  A sentinel value of -999 will indicate the end of the input values.  Do not include the sentinel value in the sum.
For example:

Can anyone help me with this? This is what I have tried
user_input = 1
    while user_input = -999:
        user_input = int(input())

A: You can try this, This code portion will break when it reaches the value till it matches the sentinel.
value = 0
while True:
    old_value, value = value, way_to_new_value
    if value == old_value: break

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


3F is a proprietary file created by Hasselblad, which allows one to get from film a file that, from a functional point of view, is the equivalent of digital a raw. We offer a state-of-the-art 3F Scan Service for a very convenient price together with the best 3F support on the market. Purchase our scans or download free our 3F Package and try the system.
WIN : Windows XP Pro, Windows Vista, Windows 7 & Windows 8 on 32 & 64bit operating systems.
When you think about 3F don't think about a scan. Think about a System that converts the information stored in your negative into information stored in a digital file. With 3F and Flexcolor you'll be able to use the same workflow of your digital file. Modify, export settings, save in batch. Exactly like your digital raw file, your 3F will remain untouched.
Manage it like a digital file.
Change end export settings in batch.
Preserve history and add metadata.
Retouch the originals once for all.
Change output mode, ICC profile, add USM and Crop in a reversible way.
You don't need to be an expert scanner operator to set your files. You'll simply see an hi-res preview exactly like in Photoshop and modify it according to your needs.
The Flexcolor workflow | Preview your file and you settings at full screen.
With Flexcolor you can watch your file at full screen in Camera Raw and i.e. if you apply a unsharp mask or edit the white balance or the local contrast, you can see exactly this settings applied before to the full-size file. All this is something taken for granted in the digital but in the analog workflow is exclusive and innovative.
In Flexcolor this working mode is called "Virtual Drum Workflow." It means that the basic scan is done already. Untouched, flat, without us and the negatives are not inverted.
If for any reason you prefer to edit your image in Photoshop you can do it. Only install the 3F Plugin, open the raw file within Photoshop and modify it like any other bitmap file.
However, I don't suggest this workflow with color negatives as the Photoshop inversion (negative/positive) is not so good. It often generates a lot of noise and artifacts. Flexcolor with negatives and particularly with color negatives is unbeatable.
I suggest this option only from transparency originals because negatives can be inverted within ACR but hardly edited.
Install the 3F Plugin, open the raw file within Photoshop and only save it as a standard 16bit tiff file.
From Bridge "open with" with Camera Raw.
Then proceed as any other tiff or jpg you are used to managing within Camera Raw. The core difference is that this peculiar tiff is much more abundant of information than a standard one.
With this workflow, I was able to reach the next level and significantly improve many files previously post-produced.
Balance the color of my file within Photoshop, keeping a moderate contrast. See below the tips.
Export the tiff at 16bit converting it to Adobe RGB or sRGB, according to my needs.
Open it with ACR where I can remove spots or scratches non-destructively. Then use all the tools to finely tweak the file ( clarity, for instance, is much more performing on this kind of files than digital ones).
Open them as an Advanced Object in Photoshop.
Add the final touch up and or ALCE etc.
Tips: Flexcolor has a useful Auto button. The default setting is suitable for standard export but too contrasted to be post-produced.
Only open the Setup window (command-U), open the auto tab and set a negative value in highlights and shadow.
Here below you can watch and inspect the original .fff raw files as they come out of the scanner and the same files saved in as a tiff. Viewing the files in hires, you will be able to appreciate their quality. You can notice that the 3F file coming from a negative is still a negative, not a positive, and in its negative form, retains the full, rich, tonal range of the original. The file from transparency seems to be poor, but it's a file of the greatest quality that has retained all the information in the original.


Car charger adaptor. 3.43inch. Lighter handlebar. Speakerphone bluetooth hands free. 12-24v 3 socket ways car cigarette lighter splitter digital lcd displa. Wholesale wp26f torch. 01011070. 12-24v car cigarette lighter dual usb. 2.5 5.5 chargerTem height: Lighter pipe. Gas lighter. 12v/24v cigarette lighter plug with switch light red power cord 1m car. Is_display: 5v/2.5a. 1990-2017.
Wx0909. Interchange part number: 5.5cm*3.6cm*3.6cm. Dual mini car charger. Tirol. Item : Power inverter. Item style: Wholesale three stroke. Car lighter plug adapter. 1883095a/24v. Solar inverter. 5v/500mah.
12v car cigarette lighter power adapter. 1/4sae. Auto bluetooth handsfree car. Outdoor mosquito killer. Bracelet cigarette lighter. Nice lighter. Cigarette rollers. Kaneed. Dc femail. Bluetooth car charger. Marine switch panel 6 gang with usb charger power socket voltmeter. Zj290800. Name: Easysee. Car lighter extension. New generic 3-way car cigarette lighter socket splitter + 1usb port.. Arc electric. 0.1kg.
Flame retardant nylon, copper. Dc 12- 24v. :2.1 cm / 0.83 ". 5v waterproof adapter. Car fragrance. Product size (l x w x h): 100℃--315℃. 16 cm flash. Accessories consists of: 4usb socket charger power adapter. 2 pins (3 pins with led). Tools kit. Wires: Wholesale auto switches toggle. 12-24v 3.1a usb cigarette lighter. Car sticker. Dock xbox one.


text:
Home > Calendar > Recurring events > Weird Holidays > Appreciation Days > Son and Daughter Day
Son and Daughter Day 2023
August 11, 2023 in the World
A brother and a sister celebrating Son and Daughter Day.
Copyright: MichaelDeLeon, license: istockphoto.com
Son and Daughter Day is celebrated on August 11, 2023. It is a day to spend with your children, the joy of your life. Daily life in a family with kids can sometimes be very busy, exhausting and distressing. Son and Daughter Day invites the mums and dads to pause and remember that it is not all stress and work but that their children are actually pure joy. The best way to take part in Son and Daughter Day is to show appreciation to sons and daughters. Spend some time together, hug each other and do stuff kids like. If those children are already grown up give them a call or visit them to let them know they are still beloved sons and daughters.
Friday, the 11th of August 2023
Son and Daughter Day on Aug 11, 2024
Son and Daughter Day 2023 - Aug 11, 2023 – Copyright © 2023 Cute Calendar


Open, flowing floor plan with generous rooms in Impeccable condition! Slab granite counter tops, title back splash,42" cabinets, skylights, wood floors, vaulted ceilings, 2 gas fireplaces, solid 6 panel doors, and many other upgrades throughout. Kitchen open to sunken family room. Vaulted master with 5 piece bath. Finished basement with bar and rec room area. Large two level deck with access from Kitchen and FR. Well landscaped. Across the street from McGraw elementary and neighborhood park.


I know I was inspired. And – I learned a great deal about how to be a more effective and powerful leader.
Too often we fall into the trap of having a meeting, or talking with an employee or customer, or going about our day to day work without defining what the end game is. If you have Core Values (and you definitely should) what outcomes should you expect from them? How do you want people to behave? And more importantly WHY? BE AUTHENTIC as a Leader. If you don't care, don't even try to implement what John shared with us. It won't stick.
In everything you do, ask yourself, "am I inspiring others with my behaviors? Or, am I demotivating them?" In today's world, unlike in the 1950s as John reminded us, people have unlimited choices regarding where they want to work. They can sit in their PJ's all day at home if they'd like and still get a paycheck. Millennials, in particular, can be wildly passionate OR completely disengaged. To attract and retain the best, you need to create a workplace where people want to come to work and have the opportunity to care about something bigger than themselves.
Remember what your parents told you, "always say please and thank you." Do the signs around your office and facilities reflect that common courtesy? Or are they punitive? ("Thanks for washing your hands and taking care of yourself and others" versus "Employees must wash their hands".) And can your employees even tell you what the "inspirational" signs that you have hanging around say? If you gave them $100 as John told us, could they recite your Core Values, Quality Policy, or Mission Statement? What are you doing to make the "platitudes" come to life?
John visited all of his facilities (26 of them) at least twice a year to share information about the state of the business as well as gather input and feedback from his staff.
After the first part of the meeting was done he always sent his leadership group out of the room so that people could share their concerns and have a heart to heart with just him. Free of that constraint, people would point out issues and challenges that needed to be addressed. In the process, their input saved the business tens of thousands of dollars. But most importantly, they went away from meetings knowing that they could have an impact. It's a concrete example of how you as a CEO can, improve your employees' experience, inspire them, and promote positive outcomes.
If you're creating a policy for the 10% of employees who have a poor work ethic, or take advantage, or show poor judgement – DON'T! Address that person with Core Values and focus your energy and recognition on the 90% that are trying and doing the right things!
And make them engaging and humorous. John hired a videographer full time to help broadcast his message, launch themes , share business results, and train. A picture paints a thousand words, and the right video is priceless for getting the message out. Often employees would create videos too – don't limit what's possible. As John shared, people's commitment and engagement will blossom!
Check out some of his Customer Service videos here.
If you're interested in learning more about how you can grow as an Enlightened Leader, drop us a line today!


Every time I've ordered from MJM Magic they have delivered the product in good condition and on time! Jeff goes the extra mile for his customers! Thanks for an easy web site to navigate through also! MJM Magic is the only establishment I order my tricks / illusions from! They have everything for the beginner to pro!


text:
> authors
> Philip K. Dick Award/ In-box
1. I saw on Locus today that the nominees for the next Philip K. Dick Award have been announced. They are: Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro, Fast Foward 2 by Lou Anders (editor), Judge by Karen Traviss, Plague War by Jeff Carlson, Terminal Mind by David Walton and Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait by KA Bedford. The Dick award is for distinguished books first published in paperback. It's a cool thing that there is such an award, because a lot of great sf over the years has seen first publication in paperback, but it's easy to overlook those titles amid the ones that get more attention because they see first publication in hardback editions. I have not myself read any of these books yet. I know, however, that Fast Forward 2 from Pyr is an anthology that follows the much acclaimed first volume. This one has stories from McDonald, Rusch, Resnick, Kress and Doctorow among others (there's a link from the Pyr site to Doctorow's site where one can hear a podcast).
2. My pile of submissions to M-Brane has been dealt with. Save for a couple of writers who just sent stuff in today, everyone should have a reply now. That feels good. It also feels good that I have found some great stories for upcoming issues. The project for the coming weekend is to get #1 ready for launch. Though I have decided to try to go early on #1, I still don't necessarily want to move up #2. But then I'd have a big gap between the first and second issues. I don't know. We'll see how the premiere goes and decide on other matters later.
The only book I read of those listed was Emissaries from the Dead, but I have to say it was a great read. Cross Peter Watts with Larry Niven and mix in a bit of detective fiction and you get the idea.
Looking forward to the first issue.
http://www.nithska.blogspot.com


text:
Why We Use Inclusive Language as Postpartum Doulas
June 8th, 2022 by Major Care Team
In honor of Pride Month, we'd love to share why and how we use inclusive language here at Major Care.
We believe that language matters. How we speak, the words we use—it shows our values. They create our reality.
We are a company founded and run by cis women (women who were assigned female at birth and identify as women). We don't have the lived experience of people who are trans, nonbinary, gender variant, or genderqueer.
We, do, however, deeply believe that all people deserve care and deserve to be seen. We believe that people are who they say they are. We believe that it is respectful and powerful to speak in a way that acknowledges the diversity of people's lived experiences in their hearts, souls, minds, and cultures.
That's why we use inclusive language here at Major Care. Inclusive language means language that does not assume someone's sex, gender, identity, or relationship.
Pregnancy, birth and parenthood are for all genders. Gender-neutral language provides space for everyone to be seen and included in this expansive time of life.
We know that not all of our clients identify as women or as heterosexual. We also know that not all of our clients are married or partnered.
Terms like "birthing person" and "bodyfeeding" do not assume someone's gender or identity in regards to giving birth or feeding human milk. Terms like "support person" do not assume gender, identity, sexuality, or relationship between people.
Inclusive Language We Use
Inclusive terms we use to refer to parents include birthing person, birth person, gestational parent, partner, support person, and non-gestational parent.
Inclusive terms we use to refer to infant feeding include lactation, breast/chestfeeding, bodyfeeding, and nursing.
These are the terms we're using now, but we are committed to changing and growing. We follow the lead of LGBTQIA2S birthworkers, parents, and communities in this realm.
We know that the majority of people who use our app and receive support from our doulas do identify as women and mothers. So, we do use terms like "mother" and "motherhood" sometimes, especially when referring to individuals. But as a whole, we use inclusive language in our company because we believe it's the right thing to do in providing the best postpartum care possible.
We ask our doulas and our clients for their pronouns. When we don't know how someone identifies, we refer to them as "they." We believe people are who they say they are—from "mom" to well beyond.
We see, acknowledge, and honor the vast diversity of pregnant and postpartum people, parents, and families in general. It is our fervent hope that all LQBTQIA2S people and families receive the support they need to thrive—not only in the fourth trimester, but in their whole experience as parents.


Our process works! We have developed a streamlined, organized process from start to finish. Click on each step below to find out more.
To get started fill out our Request a Quote form on our website for the product or service you are interested in. Please furnish us with as much detail as possible as this provides us with the necessary information in order to accurately prepare your quote. You will receive an email confirmation to the email address you provide to let you know your request has been received and is being processed. We will contact you if we have any questions about your project specs otherwise you will receive your quote as quickly as possible.
We will prepare a Proposal/Agreement for you detailing your project requirements, scope of work, costs and payment process. In order to begin your project, we must have this form returned to us signed by an authorized representative of your company along with your initial payment.
In order to begin your project, we require your initial payment which will secure your studio time. Your initial payment amount can be found on your Proposal/Agreement paperwork. We offer various payment options for your convenience: you can make an online payment on our website or mail your payment.
At this point you will have turned in everything necessary to begin production. You will receive your Welcome package and we will contact you to set up your Kickoff Meeting. Your Kickoff Meeting will be a 15 minute conference call to review the process, set dates, introduce our production software, go over payment terms and answer any questions you may have.
We will set up your project schedule from start to finish at the beginning of your project. Your Project Schedule is important as it identifies our production deadlines, due dates to provide work to you for your review, along with your due dates for payments and approvals/revisions. Please review your schedule and let us know immediately of any conflicts on the schedule. Your project schedule can be located in the "Events" (Calendar) section of Basecamp. We ask that you make a note on your calendar of your due dates. It is very important for you to respond with your feedback on approvals/revisions as quickly as possible in order to keep the project on schedule. We will do our best to meet our deadlines, however, occasionally we run into unforeseen difficulties which may cause a small adjustment in the schedule. We will notify you as soon as possible if such a situation arises and the calendar will be updated accordingly.
Our skilled professional designers work hard crafting a unique design paying close attention to every little detail. We begin with preliminary sketches and then add detail throughout to create an amazing, polished final product. With our production software you can keep up with our progress and add your comments/feedback along the way. We will deliver proofs to you for your review at certain checkpoints during production to be sure we are all on the same page.
Once your designs are complete we will deliver final proofs to you in order to give you the opportunity to review your designs and provide your final approval.
Our Approval/Revision process is how you communicate with us during your project to guide us in the the right direction toward your final masterpiece. You are required to sign an approval form accepting your designs before final delivery. You are allowed the allotted number of revisions detailed on your Proposal/Agreement. Once you have maxed out your allotted revisions for your project, you can purchase more revisions at our hourly rate if needed.
The final payment will be due in order to complete your project. Your final payment amount can be found on your Proposal/Agreement paperwork. We offer various payment options for your convenience: you can make an online payment on our website or mail your payment.
Once we have received your final approval and payment we will prepare your final files for delivery or launch. Be sure to download your files promptly and make yourself a backup copy.


text:
Michael Phelps eyes at least three events at Olympic Trials
By Nick ZaccardiMay 31, 2016, 5:23 PM EDT
Michael Phelps expects to swim the 100m and 200m butterfly and the 200m individual medley at the U.S. Olympic Trials in four weeks, but he will be entered in more events, his coach, Bob Bowman, confirmed Tuesday.
Phelps plans to swim just those three events at the June 26-July 3 trials in Omaha, according to Sports Illustrated.
However, Phelps could also swim the 100m and 200m freestyles at the Olympic Trials to post a time fast enough not necessarily to make the Olympic team (top two at trials) but to earn a place on the 4x100m and 4x200m free relays for a fourth straight Games.
"I think he needs to put up a time, sometime, to let us know that he's on that level [in the 100m and 200m freestyles]," Bowman, the head coach of the U.S. Olympic men's team and thus an important relay selector, said two weeks ago.
Bowman said Tuesday that Phelps will be entered in more than the 100m and 200m fly and 200m IM at trials. But Phelps could scratch out of any event before finals or before preliminary heats.
Bowman said Phelps could theoretically try to make the Olympic team in more than three individual events.
As for those main three, it's no surprise. Those are the three events Phelps focused on at his biggest meet of 2015, the U.S. Championships in August. Each time, he clocked the fastest time in the world for the year, making him the Olympic favorite in all three.
If Phelps intends to swim three individual events at the Rio Games, he's looking at his thinnest Olympic slate since his debut at the Sydney 2000 Games at age 15 (one event, 200m butterfly, fifth place).
Phelps swam five individual events each in 2004 and 2008 and four in 2012, dropping the 200m freestyle for the London Games and the 400m individual medley altogether after finishing fourth in that event in London.
Phelps will race this weekend at what is expected to be his final pre-trials tune-up meet in Austin, Texas. He is entered in the 100m and 200m free, the 100m butterfly and the 200m IM.
MORE: U.S. swim stars spread across three Olympic Trials tune-up meets
Follow @nzaccardi


text:
New Regulations Upsetting Truck Drivers
by Ryan Simmons
Nearly a decade ago, the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) began making efforts to reform the rules and regulations that govern our nation's truck drivers. In order to reduce roadway accidents and promote highway safety, the DOT began reducing the number of hours worked by truck drivers. On July 1, 2013, the department issued a rule limiting the number of hours a driver could work and implementing required breaks. The new rule reduces the average maximum weekly hours worked to 70 hours. This is a 15% reduction-down from 82 hours per week. The rule also prohibits a driver from working if more than eight hours have passed since the driver's last sleep break or off-duty period, which must have last for at least thirty minutes. The DOT explained: "The goal of this rulemaking is to reduce excessively long work hours that increase both the risk of fatigue-related crashes and long-term health problems for drivers. The objective of this rule, therefore, is to reduce both acute and chronic fatigue . . . ."
While it appears the U.S. Department of Transportation had the best interests of the truck drivers in mind when formulating these changes, the drivers are none too pleased about the new rules. Arkansas Trucking Association board member, Greg Carman, and vice chairman of the American Trucking Association, Duane Long, are two of the many truck drivers voicing their opinions on the restrictive new rules. Carman stated: "The agency used logic that forcing break, rest or driving periods at a particular time was a one size fits all proposition. [Data] were introduced by people that have never experienced being in a truck." Echoing these sentiments, Mr. Long explained that "[T]he gap between the administration's rhetoric and the trucking industry's operating reality is very wide. These changes are having a very real and very negative impact on hundreds of thousands of drivers and motor carriers." Additional criticism of the rules is also undoubtedly a result of the estimated $470 million in added expenses the trucking industry in now facing due to these changes.
Despite the negative comments by those in the trucking industry, the Department of Transportation stands by its revisions. DOT officials defend their actions by citing fewer accidents and fatalities in recent years than in those before the changes took place. Ultimately, the department and its officials are concerned with the health and safety of truck drivers and other drivers on the road, and they feel as though their efforts to improve safety are the top priority.
Nevertheless, those in Washington who represent the interests of the truckers are seeking to delay the implementation of the DOT's new rules. United States Representative Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., filed the TRUE Safety Act in an attempt to delay such implementation until the accuracy and reliability of the methodology underlying the changes in the rules can be determined. The bill is expected to pass the House, but likely will not survive a vote in the Senate.
It will be interesting to watch this debate play out. If you want more information on the Department of Transportation's new rules and regulations concerning the trucking industry, feel free to contact The Higgins Firm today.