First of all, I wanted to say that we were really impressed with the cleanliness of our condo! We have owned it for over two years now and we have never seen the condo this clean. I appreciate your attention to detail and the way you communicate with us as soon as you find out something was not left the way it should have. We are so please with you that we gave your name and number to another owner we met at the association's annual meeting. Thanks for everything!
Lloyd's Cleaning Service has been cleaning our house for the past two years. They are efficient, thorough and reliable. We are very pleased with their services.
Lloyd's has preformed other tasks for us like watering plants, picking up mail, receiving over night packages etc.
In fact, we have given a key to our home to Ena allowing her to help us in these other ways.
Thank you for always being so prompt and dependable. We know if we have a problem at our home in Sandestin that we can call you and you will be there, and you will fix the problem the first time everytime at a very reasonable price. We are fortunate to have found out about Lloyds Cleaning Service. Please add this to the testimonial section of your website.
Thank you Glenn for helping me with all of my Spring projects. Everything you did looks great. With the pressure washing, gutters cleaned out, staining of the front door, moving furniture, hanging pictures, my house is just getting better and better. I am working on your next list!
Just want to thank you for the exceptional service you provide.
I knew I was taking a "leap of faith", when I called the number on the side of Ena's SUV while stopped at a traffic light on Hwy 98. From the initial contact your professionalism was apparent. Ena is detail oriented and you, Glen have been able to do any handyman job that "I just thought I might ask" and I am glad I did. The two of you are an amazing team! Most importantly, you are honest and you listen to our needs and concerns. We will continue to refer others to you and we look forward to a long and lasting relationship.
Thank you for the perfect job you did. I will definitely tell my friends and co-workers about you. Count on me to be your customer for life.
At the beginning of this years rental season we were desperately seeking a new cleaning service for our condo at 2830 Scenic Gulf Dr. Our snowbirds had been only the last of several guests over the last season to complain about the substandard cleaning our present housekeepers had been doing. We lost several repeat customers because of this. Since we found Glen and Ena Lloyd we have received praise on their cleaning from every single guest that has rented from us this year. I highly recommend their service to anyone who is looking for peace of mind that their property is being cared for by the best.
Ena of Lloyd's Cleaning Service has been cleaning our house for about two years now. She does a wonderful job and always does more than expected of her. She is devoted to her job and always on time. I would recommend her to everyone I know.
First, thank you for everything you do for us. The condo is just spotless and we love what you do for us. Thank you so much. Never, never, never leave us please. I depend on you and your husband so much and we need you both. Next time we come down I will let you know ahead of time so you will know. This is new for me so if there is anything I need to do for you and your husband, please let us know. Also, we are checking out on Thursday around 7:00 am (my birthday) so I am assuming I will have a renter coming in on Saturday. That way you will have extra time to get my place ready for Saturday. Take care and stay in touch.
We love you both for everything.
Glen painted and did repair work throughout the inside and outside of my house. He has high standards and an eye for details which I appreciate. His knowledge and experience was reflected in his careful preparation to the top quality and appearance of the final finish. I could not have been more pleased with the results.
I was also impressed by the first rate customer service. Terrific communication. Each step of a project was thoroughly explained and I received continual updates.
The care given to my house and the pride in work was apparent.
Please feel free to contact me. My contact number can be provided by Lloyd's Cleaning & Maintenance Service.
I have utilized Lloyd's Cleaning for almost 2½ years. I have found their attention to detail in cleaning excellent and they are always kind enough to point out potential needs in terms of repairs, additional cleaning and other items. I have found this is extremely helpful. In addition, I have found them to be extremely flexible in terms of ability to respond to last minute requests for cleaning and accommodate timing issues. I highly recommend their service.
Charlie & Becky Robbins, Kentucky.
Two years ago we decided to manage our condo instead of using a management company. At that time, we knew the success of our business would depend on a reliable cleaning service. Ena of Lloyd's Cleaning Service was highly recommended to us and we contracted her for our cleaning needs. Looking back, choosing Ena was the best decision we made!!! Our family and guests always find a spotless condo when they arrive. Our guests are always very complimentary to the cleanliness of our unit. In the two years Ena has cleaned for us we have not had a single complaint. She has been a very big part of our successful rental business. I cannot thank her enough and would highly recommend her to anyone looking for a cleaning company!!!
I have been utilizing the services of Lloyd's Cleaning Service in my personal home for several years. Ena has always been prompt and courteous and went out of her way to make friends with my three dogs, which I really appreciate. She was dedicated to understanding my expectations and works tirelessly to make sure they are met.
I would recommend Lloyd's Cleaning Service to anyone looking for quality house cleaning at a fair price.


text:
What is Ezekiel's bread?
What is Ezekiel's bread? What are its ingredients according to the Bible? Why was it made? Should we eat it today?
A little background is needed before we discuss what the Bible says about this unique bread. The prophet Ezekiel was commanded to make a miniature version of Jerusalem and surround it with besiege towers and battering rams. He was then to take an iron pan and lay siege to it!
He was commanded to partake of this mock seize 390 days while on his left side and for 40 days while on his right. This symbolized the number of years Israel and Judah were to be punished (Ezekiel 4). During the first part of his mock siege, he was to eat only food based on the following recipe.
Take also to yourself wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make bread of them for yourself . . . (Ezekiel 4:9, HBFV throughout).
The beans and lentils used to make bread were two of the most widely eaten vegetables in Israel. Millet is a small summer grain that, of itself, makes for a poor quality loaf. Spelt is an inferior type of wheat that is referred to as "rie" in the KJV (Exodus 9:32, Isaiah 28:25). Barley was cheap to buy (see Ezekiel 4:10 - 12). It was often bought by the poor to make loaves that were heavier, but less tasty, than those that were wheat based.
Quality Wheat Bread
Why was the prophet given such an odd recipe? It was to symbolize the famine conditions that would be extant in Jerusalem during an actual siege. God commanded the prophet eat only twenty shekels' weight of food (about ten ounces or 228 grams) and drink only a sixth of a Hin of water (about 1 1/3 pints or .6 liters) each day. This was barely enough to keep him alive.
Ezekiel was initially commanded to make this special bread over a fire created by burning human excrement (Ezekiel 4:12). He so loathed burning human waste that he got God to allow him to cook with cow's dung instead (verses 14 - 15).
We do not have to wonder why the Eternal allowed his people to suffer being attacked and endure a prolonged famine. The last two verses of chapter four tells us it was because the people refused to repent of their sins.
And they shall eat bread by weight, and with care. And they shall drink water by measure, and in silence . . . and be appalled with one another, and waste away for their iniquity (Ezekiel 4:16 - 17).
The bread of Ezekiel did not symbolize abundance. Its ingredients were not meant to be a new formula for creating a healthier loaf that is somehow better to eat than others.
Instead, Ezekiel's bread speaks of scarcity and the need to gather up whatever scraps can be found in order to survive. Such a loaf of poverty and affliction should not be reproduced in modern times. It represents the suffering and trials of those who refuse to repent and begin to obey God. In the final analysis, what Ezekiel had to eat was the Eternal's judgment and punishment of sin!
What does wheel within wheel vision mean?
What exactly is a conscience?
Biblical weights and measures
What is the milk and meat of God's word?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Conservatives Should Support Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai did not become the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize at age 16. Her many admirers around the globe are undoubtedly disappointed that the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons received the award instead of her. Regardless of what the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to do, conservatives can and should wish this brave young lady from Pakistan all success.
I, for one, have long considered the Nobel Peace Prize to be a joke. Though Malala and her family surely would have liked her to join the ranks Barack Obama (who did nothing to earn the prize) and Yasser Arafat (who worked for precisely the opposite of what the prize is supposed to reward) — the Committee has been nothing but a self-congratulatory agency for liberals who don't actually do anything useful. They can just feel happy about the contribution they've made to the greater good with a gold medallion.
What Malala has done is much more important than anything accomplished by that now irrelevant body.
For those who don't know her story, she was educated by her father in Pakistan in her early years. According to the Taliban, it is illegal to educate women — and by age eleven, she was speaking on behalf of women and girls who wanted an education. She began blogging anonymously for the BBC about her education experiences in Pakistan. Eventually, the area's ban on schools for girls was lifted and Malala began appearing on television and other news outlets to discuss providing education for poor girls.
For all this the Taliban threatened to kill her, found her on a bus, and shot her in through the head and neck. Miraculously, she survived and was taken to a military hospital in Peshawar. She has since recovered and has been speaking out in the West about conditions in Pakistan and about education for women and girls around the world.
USA Today's Qanta Ahmed argues that she's no Gandhi, no peacemaker yet. However, Gandhi lived in an India under British control — a culture with a history of free speech — not Pakistan.
In other words, there the peace was largely already made. Historian Paul Johnson said of Gandhi that he "could have flourished in the protected environment provided by British liberalism." George Orwell said that "it is difficult to see how Gandhi's methods could be applied in a country where opponents of the regime disappear in the middle of the night and are never heard from again."
Malala's goals may be much harder to accomplish. It is precisely because Pakistan is a place where enemies of the Taliban are assassinated or "disappear in the middle of the night" that it needs to change as a country. But nations, like people — as most of us have experienced — don't change unless they want to. Outsiders can only do so much. As conservatives must understand, we can provide incentive and support, but Pakistan must ultimately choose to reform.
After Commodore Matthew Perry parked his frigates off the coast of Japan and told them to open their ports, Japanese leaders could have met the minimum level of cooperation, but they recognized the advantages of cultural reform. Their decision to acknowledge and to adopt the positive practices of the modern Western world ultimately resulted in Japan's becoming one of the most prosperous nations in world history in the 20th century.
Bernard Lewis, professor emeritus at Princeton and one of the world's foremost scholars of Islam and the Ottoman Empire, offers a reason why the Muslim World did not react the same way Japan did. In several of his works, Lewis maintains that the Muslim World's failure (with the exception, more or less, of Turkey) to make sense of and react to the changes in the West resulted in its being overtaken by the outside world — and at least partially explains its violent reaction against the outside world since.
For countries like Pakistan to do well, they need many more Malalas who recognize the reforms necessary to cease the prevalent oppression there and in other parts of the Middle East and Central Asia. All decent people wish to see an end of the suffering of people there. Again, we can support and incentivize — but lasting change must come from within.
Because she may be spark that starts the fire in Pakistan, Malala deserves the applause and the prayers of conservatives for success in her mission.


A highly cultivated corn field in Mexico borders a forest. The idea of payments is to encourage farmers to convert land such as the corn field to forest.
Mexico is paying upstream landowners to use their land to minimize pollution and maximize water availability in the communities that use that water downstream. It's a very popular program in Mexico, but no one really knows how well it is working.
Two researchers from Michigan Technological University have joined with natural and social scientists from three other universities and the US Forest Service to study the impact of Mexico's water payment program. The University of New Hampshire is leading the four-year research project, funded with a $1.5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. Other partners are the University of Idaho, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the US Forest Service Northern Research Station in Grand Rapids, Minn.
"Our findings will help governments, non-governmental organizations, the World Bank and others who might promote programs like these to design their programs to be as effective as possible," said Alex Mayer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Michigan Tech and co-principal investigator (PI) on Tech's part of the research.
The project is highly interdisciplinary, Mayer added. That's why his co-PI is Kathleen Halvorsen, a professor of natural resource policy at Michigan Tech. She holds joint appointments in the Department of Social Sciences and the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science and has significant experience working across disciplines.
Michigan Tech will focus on payments for hydrologic services in the state of Veracruz in southern Mexico, where landowners upstream are being paid to preserve forested land and plant new trees instead of clearing the land to grow crops or graze cattle.
One of the social science aspects that the researchers will address is what influences a landowner to make a decision about joining the program. "We want to know if the payments are enough and whether they understand the connection between their land use and the downstream users of water," Mayer said.
Why would researchers from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan be concerned with streams and watersheds in southern Mexico?


I'm back! I actually didn't intend on taking a break from blogging. But, Spring Break ended up being the perfect time to take a break from the Internet and focus on myself. Spring Break has sadly come and gone, though.
The day before Spring Break, I stopped in the teacher's lounge to check my mailbox. In the middle of a pile of mostly junk mail and forms to fill out for the special education teacher, I found a padded envelope. It was addressed to me, and I didn't recognize the name on the return address. Intrigued, I turned it over to open it and saw a message in Sharpie: Happy Pi Day!
I wasn't sure what I would find inside, but I was definitely excited! You see, Pi Day and I don't have the best track record. This year, I was determined to have an amazing Pi Day! Last year, I ended up in the emergency room on Pi Day. A couple of months ago, I was super excited to get a free Pi Day pencil sample in the mail.
Want to know what I found when I opened up the envelope?
An advertisement, plastic bubble packaging, and nothing else. I'm pretty sure some postal employee somewhere is enjoying my Pi Day pencil. Needless to say, I did not end up purchasing Pi Day pencils for my students. We did celebrate however in grand style, but you'll have to wait for another post to read about that. This post isn't about Pi Day; it's about my mystery envelope.
I LOVE getting mail! There's nothing quite like a handwritten card letter or a package in the mail to cheer you up!
The first thing I pulled out of the envelope was another envelope.
Mail from another math teacher. What could this be???
Inside was a sweet, beautiful card from Jackie, a faithful blog reader and fellow math teacher. Jackie's husband, Jeff, is a jewelry designer. And, he has designed a line of mathematical jewelry. Jackie was nice enough to send some along to say thanks for my blog. Thanks Jackie for taking the time to read my blog! And, I absolutely LOVE the jewelry! Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Want to see? I received a sterling silver pi pendant. It's hanging, here, on my bulletin board of jewelry. I kinda have a LOT of jewelry. I hang all of my necklaces from thumbtacks on a giant bulletin board to keep them from getting tangled. It also helps me to easily see all of my choices when I am getting ready in the morning.
I picked up a chain to wear it on from Hobby Lobby, and I've been wearing it everywhere. It even sparked an awesome conversation about pi and math and such with my optometrist. Multiple students have noticed my pi necklace this week and complimented me on it, too.
Also in the pouch were infinity symbol earrings and an infinity symbol bracelet. They are beautiful!
I took some pictures of the bracelet while wearing it the other day. Let's just say I do not have a future as a hand or jewelry model. Though my modeling skills are lacking, the bracelet is simply gorgeous!
I absolutely adore the clasp on this bracelet. I've never had a bracelet that clasps this way, and I just think it's beautiful.
I haven't had a chance to wear the earrings yet. Actually, to tell the truth I just got my ears pierced so I could wear these. I've wanted to get my ears pierced for years, but I just never did anything about it. I decided Spring Break was the perfect time to remedy this. Besides, what better motivator could there be than precious infinity symbol earrings? Now, I just have to wait 6 weeks until I can take out the earrings they used to pierce my ears with. You can count on the fact that I'll be rocking these infinity symbols this summer!
All of Jeff's jewelry is handcrafted from Argentium sterling silver.
Jeff and Jackie didn't ask me to write this post or link to his Etsy store. That's all my doing. I can't express enough just how impressed I am with the quality and creativity of the jewelry they surprised me with. If pi and infinity aren't exactly your thing (though, I'm not sure how that's even possible!), there are tons more mathematically inspired pieces to choose from! And, the pictures are so much better than mine!
Click the image above or follow this link to see all of Jeff's amazing mathematical pieces in his Etsy store, OrionSilverworks! The jewelry is beautiful, creative, and of the highest quality. I'm so impressed and thankful for the pieces I received. And, I know you'll be impressed, too!
If you've been reading my blog lately, you probably can tell that I'm a conic section convert. I'm a conic section hater turned a conic section lover. Confession time. Before this school year, I didn't really know why they were called conic sections. Maybe you're thinking, "Duh, Sarah! It tells you in the name!" Or, maybe you're like me and you never made the connection. Conic means "of or pertaining to a cone." Every single conic section can be formed from a cone. How did I not see that before? I guess I never really questioned why they were called conic sections when I studied them in high school.
This isn't the first obvious connection I've failed to make. A couple of weeks ago, I was in my car, driving to visit my parents. One of the roads that I grew up around in Broken Arrow is known as "County Line Road." Well, technically, it's 193rd E Ave, but everybody just calls it "County Line." As I was driving down an entirely different road, I had an epiphany. It's called County Line Road because it follows the county line between Wagoner County and Tulsa County. How in the world did it take me 24 years of my life to figure this out? It should have been obvious. I was so excited about the realization that I had to call my mom and tell her about my discovery. Instead of laughing or making fun of me for taking so long to realize this, she commented, "Well, I guess you've had more important things to think about than the names of roads." Thanks, Mom! But, I still think I probably should have realized this sooner than I did. Apparently, my sister had realized this because she was less than impressed with my recent discovery. Her reaction was more along the lines of: "How in the world did you not know that?!?" It happens, okay?
Since I didn't want my students to be like me and go throughout high school, four years of college to get a math degree, and a year of teaching without realizing exactly what conic sections were, I designed this foldable to put in their interactive notebooks.
I stole some pictures from online that show how each conic section is created by taking the cross section of a cone. And, I put these on the outside flaps of the foldable.
On the inside, I decided to steal an idea I had seen online. Take paper cones (think snow cones), cut them to form the conic section, dip them in paint, and stamp the conic section. I was going to have students work together in groups of 4. Each student would be responsible for cutting one conic section. All the students would stamp the cut cone in the correct section inside their foldable to form the conic section.
Other people have done it. I read about it from Miss Ruldolph. And, I originally saw the idea on Walking In Mathland. Seriously, you need to follow these links and then come back here to read about my adventures. I promise. It'll make a lot more sense if you do!
The day before I wanted to do this in class, I decided I needed to go to Wal-Mart and buy some paper cones. Did I mention this was back in late January? Either I was looking at the wrong place in the store OR it's a seasonal item. All I know, is I couldn't find the paper cones at two different Wal-Marts. Of course, in retrospect, maybe I should have looked in the sporting goods section where they sell water jugs and the like.
It's okay, I thought, paper cones are just made out of paper. So, I printed off some cone templates on card stock, cut them out, and glued together several cones. So far, so good, or so I thought. Then, I went to cut them. I figured I would start with the circle because it looked to be the easiest. I squeezed the cone shut, made a straight cut, and opened the cone back up to find that I had most definitely NOT made a circle. I tried again. And, again, I ended up with something that was not a circle. I tried cutting an ellipse. It didn't work any better. The parabola came out looking like a hybrid between a quadratic function and an absolute value function. And, let's not even talk about the hyperbola.
Obviously, it can be done because I've seen it on other blogs. But, I couldn't figure out how to cut the cones so they actually formed the conic sections. Needless to say, I ended up scrapping this idea and just jumping into the formulas for various conic sections. If anyone has some advice for how to actually cut the cones, I'd gladly take it. I feel like I must be overlooking something obvious. I think my problem is that I'm squeezing the cone shut before I cut it. But, I'm not sure how to cut the cone without squeezing it shut first. Help!
But, I thought I would go ahead and post the foldable I created in case it would be of use to anybody else. I planned on having my students stamp conic sections on the inside. But, I guess you could have your students write formulas or work out examples.
You can download the file and my other conic section files here.
It's been a little while since my last edition of Things Teenagers Say.
If you're new to my blog, be sure to check out the previous hilarious conversations I've either had with students or overheard in my classroom.
You look like you're dead.
Thanks! I blame the document camera.
Student A: You're 23, right?
Student B: Of course she's 24. We've only been talking about it ALL year.
Okay. I might of made kind of a big deal out of my birthday.
I know. I just can't stop looking at your legs.
Teenagers are the best at awkward comments.
Me: And, we know that the slope of every vertical line is undefined.
Student: Is that language really necessary?
Oh no! I just used the worst curse word ever in math and in algebra in class!
There are 51 states, right?
You say "Uno" when you have two cards left, right?
Me: Unless you are texting someone that today is your math teacher's birthday, your phone should NOT be out!
What do you get when you combine nutella and salmon?
Student: I'm glad you didn't give us a test today. We've had like 8 tests today.
Me: It's only 6th hour.
While doing a worksheet that asks students to write an inequality symbol that correctly compares two students.
Student: I need some help.
Me: Okay. Which problem are you on?
Student: Number of inches in a yard.
Me: And, what's your question?
Student: How am I supposed to know how big their backyard is?
Student: Oh, that kind of yard.
While working on another question on the same worksheet.
There are definitely more oceans than continents.
Your Z's look like the Hitler symbol.
And, this is what you get when you start putting a line through your Z's in the 8th grade because your Algebra 1 teacher puts lines through her Z's.
Student A: Don't so-and-so and so-and-so look alike?
Student C: They don't look exactly alike.
Student B: They're fraternity twins!
After over thirteen hours at school today, I'm happy that Monday is almost over! We had parent/teacher conferences this evening from 3:30-6:30, and we'll do the same tomorrow night. That makes for a very long day, but I guess we do get out of school on Friday to make up for it. Of course, that means my Pi Day celebration has been thrown off once again. One day, I will actually celebrate Pi Day with my students on Pi Day!
In other news, I got a new desk decoration that I haven't been able to take my eyes off of today. It's beautiful, it's mathematical, and it's courtesy of my amazing, artistic sister. She made this last semester as one of her pottery projects. Then, she fired it and glazed it. I LOVE it! It fits my personality perfectly. And, it definitely reminds me of Frankoma Pottery.
Each of the four sides features a different mathematical symbol.
Today, I had a student stay to complete some missing assignments during parent/teacher conference time. This student's sister, a 7th grader, was stuck in my room for 2+ hours. She looked at all my posters, played with my various mathematical toys, and spent a good chunk of time trying to solve my Rubik's cube. One of the first thing that caught her eye was my new pencil/highlighter holder. Oooh! That's the pi symbol. And, it has a square root symbol on this side. And, this means infinity. Then, she got to the side featuring i. What is this? Her brother quickly piped up that i is the square root of negative one. I could see the wheels inside her head turning as she tried to figure out the square root of negative one. That's negative one, right? What's negative one times negative one? Positive one. So, that means negative one cannot be the square root of negative one. The next thing I know, her brother and I are discussing where i would be on the number line. These are the types of conversations that I LOVE!
We discussed the number pi and how it goes on forever. I have issued a challenge to my students to memorize as many digits of pi as possible for our early Pi Day celebration on Wednesday. Today, I handed out slips of paper to my students with the first 1000 digits of pi. One student immediately asked, "Where's the pattern?" There is no pattern. Pi never repeats. That's why it's irrational. "Oh man! That was how I was going to win. I was just going to memorize up until the point that it started repeating..."
Art that sparks mathematical conversations? Yeah, I'll take that any day!
One of my students' favorite ways to solve quadratic equations is by square roots. I covered solving by square roots after solving by factoring. Since my Algebra 2 students still struggle with factoring fluently, solving by square roots is like a breath of fresh air to them. They get it. Square roots are accessible. However, they have a tendency to forget that the square root of sixteen is not just four. It's positive or negative four. No matter how many times I emphasize it, they can't seem to remember the plus or minus sign in front of their answer.
This year, I decided to remedy this by putting an obnoxiously large plus or minus sign in their notebook. We took the notes on top of the plus or minus sign. These are the same plus or minus signs that I used last year for graphing different types of slope in Algebra 1. I love finding new uses for files I've already created!
I wish I could say that this method was fool-proof. I wish I could say that my students never forgot the plus or minus sign in front of their answer. But, then, I'd be lying to you. I do think that this visual helped some of my students, though.
Here's the two-page spread in our interactive notebooks. I have yet to blog about the Zero-Product Property and Solving Quadratics by Factoring yet. They're coming, though. I promise. Pinkie promise.
You may download my quadratic function files below. If you have trouble accessing the file, please send me an e-mail. I will be happy to attach the files and send them your way!
One of the things that has been keeping me busy for the past couple of weeks is getting everything ready for our blood drive at school. Student Council was volunteered to help run the blood drive, and I'm in charge of Student Council. So, it's only naturally that I'm now semi-in-charge of the blood drive.
Have I mentioned that I know nothing about coordinating a blood drive? I've never even donated blood before. I've always had trouble getting blood drawn, so I've always assumed I would have trouble donating blood. Seriously, I'm that patient that goes to Urgent Care and leaves with the nickname of Pin Cushion because it takes 2 nurses and 2 doctors to finally draw blood. It's not a good sign when the doctor says, "Wow! I've never seen anybody with veins quite like yours before. I give up. I'm not poking you again. Somebody else will have to draw your blood."
I kind of took over the trophy case with blood drive reminders. I hung up a poster, a sample of the t-shirt people will get for donating, a poster with QR codes that can be scanned for more information, and a gigantic sign-up sheet.
I'm hoping our turnout is good for this blood drive. Thanks to our recent snow storm, the Oklahoma Blood Institute had to cancel multiple blood drives. So, they are relying on our blood drive to have a good turnout in order to hopefully avoid shortages.
Anyone have any advice to offer a first time blood drive coordinator? I definitely need it!
So, even after writing 273 blog posts, I'm still not exactly sure what people want to read about. If y'all haven't noticed, I just tend to write about everything. Foldables. Games. Lessons that didn't go quite as planned. Books I'm reading. Funny things my students say. Student council projects. Commentary on the weather.
Last Wednesday, I took a group of six student council members to our district meeting in Ponca City. If you're unfamiliar with your Oklahoma geography, Ponca City is practically in Kansas. As you drive north to Ponca City, the highway signs read: "Ponca City X miles; State Line Y miles." District meetings are an opportunity for students from various student councils across our region of the state to come together to listen to a speaker and complete a service project.
The theme for our meeting was "The Road to Success."
The Ponca City High School Student Council did a great job with the decorations!
While waiting for the program to start, we enjoyed muffins and donuts. I took this time to draw a picture on the back of our envelope of registration materials. Keep in mind that I am not an artist.
Yeah, I think I'll stick with teaching math.
I love how they used the old license plates to decorate with!
The highlight of our trip was the speaker, Tiffany Smiling. Tiffany is an entrepreneur and founder of Project Orphans. Project Orphans is a charity that was created to build and staff homes for orphans in Uganda, Jamaica, Burma, and Haiti.
Tiffany was a powerful speaker with a powerful story. If you have time today, I would suggest that you spend some of it listening to Tiffany tell her story of overcoming a childhood diagnosis of a rare form of brain cancer and doing what others deemed impossible. It's not quite twelve minutes long, and I think it will be well worth your time. My students left inspired, and they couldn't quit talking about how touched they were by her story.
If you can't see the video embedded below, follow this link to youtube. Warning, you might want to make sure you have a kleenex handy.
As this school year starts to come to a close, I'm reflecting on what worked and what didn't work. Yes, I realize it's only the beginning of March. We haven't even had Spring Break yet. But, I've woken up to the realization that I have 20 school days left with my students before end-of-instruction testing begins. 20 days. 20 days! I did this counting on Friday when our counselor e-mailed out the standardized testing schedule. I pulled out my calendar and counted. 23 days. Then, we had two snow days. Awesome.
I'm currently working on a plan to figure out how to tie up all the lose ends before testing. My Algebra 2 students have yet to do polynomial long division, solving rational equations, composition of functions, or operations with functions. My Algebra 1 students still need to learn solving systems by substitution, solving systems by elimination, graphing linear inequalities, graphing absolute value graphs, and simplifying radicals. My, oh my! It is going to be a sprint to the finish!
Okay. Back to the topic of hand. What has worked well? What do I need to change for next year?
This year, I feel like I did a WAY better job with quadratic functions in Algebra 2. Way better. Let's be honest. It wouldn't take much to do a better job than last year. Last year, I didn't even teach my students the names for the different forms of a quadratic function. We did all our graphing using the calculator last year, so I didn't think it really mattered. This year, I made it my goal that students would identify the form of a quadratic function first.
Here's how I modeled it on my SMART Board.
Here are the names of the forms. Here are the formulas. What do you notice? How can you tell them apart? Vertex form has parentheses. Doesn't intercept form have parentheses, too? The parentheses in vertex form have an exponent of two. Now, we're getting somewhere. Intercept form will always have two sets of parentheses. Will it? Are you sure? They continued throwing out ideas on how to tell the different forms apart. I'm kinda glad I had them have this conversation as a class before we ever started trying to classify quadratics by their form.
We played one of my favorite games for classifying stuff. The Flyswatter Game!
Two teams. Throw a picture of a function on the SMART Board. First player to correctly swat the correct form on the dry erase board gets to stay in the game. Other player has to sit down. Two new players go to the board. Another function. Another showdown. Winner stays in the game. Loser sits. Game continues until only one team is left.
Practice, practice, practice. I made a slight change to the flyswatter game this time around, though. I had students who weren't playing at the time stay in their seats. They used their notebooks to determine the form. Students at the board had to determine the form without their notebooks. Students with notebooks "graded" the work of the students at the board.
The best part of the game was hearing students explain to other students why their classification was wrong. "But, it can't be in standard form. It has parentheses. Standard form will never have parentheses." Students teaching students. Win!
On Day 2, we went back to our foldables. We added in instructions on how to graph quadratics depending on their forms. This foldable, by the way, is made from a single sheet of paper that has been cut in half hamburger/taco style. Lay the two layers of paper on top of each other. Scoot the top layer up an inch or so. Bring the top of the paper down to bottom of the paper to create four flaps. Staple. Take notes. Enjoy.
The bottom of each section contains important information about the equation and its graph. The top of each flap contains an example.
After we created this foldable, we went back to the functions from the flyswatter game. Again, we would determine the form. But, this time we had the necessary tools to graph the function. We graphed the functions on mini dry erase boards, and students held up their boards to be checked.
Next year, I want to set out to make this even better. Ideas? Do you explicitly teach the different forms of a quadratic function? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!
Oklahoma weather is crazy. There, I said it. Now, don't get me wrong. There are a ton of things to love about this state that I call home. We've got the most beautiful sunsets in the world. Okay, I might be just a tad bit biased. But, seriously, our skies are gorgeous. And, the people here are the epitome of friendly. I grew up in a rural, small-ish suburb of Tulsa where waving at every passing car is an expectation. Now, I'm living in a true small town with population 2,909. It's the type of place where your neighbor shows up at your school to offer you a couch. (I declined the offer. Apparently, someone had told him that I didn't have enough furniture. That's probably because I moved in over the span of a week, just a few pieces of furniture at a time. Don't worry. My living room is nicely outfitted.) This is the same neighbor who stops by every six months or so to remind you where the closest storm cellars are. This past Friday, he stopped me while I was checking my mailbox to tell me that our local bank had been bought out by another bank. I needn't worry, though, because the employees would stay the same. The name would be the only thing that would change. And, they would soon be issuing us new debit cards and checks. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I actually banked with the bank that had bought out our local bank so none of this would affect me.
Yeah, there are some downsides to Oklahoma. Tornadoes are a major one. Drumright has been hit twice by tornadoes, once in the 50's and once in the 70's. They're a way of life here. We've made them our school mascot. At times, it seems a bit disrespectful. We yell, "Go Tornadoes!" at sporting events. Maybe it's not disrespectful. Maybe it's more of a homage to the fact that this town sticks together and rebuilds in the face of adversity. Thankfully, I've never needed to seek out shelter in one on of my neighbors' storm cellars since moving here. But, I have seen this town come together and rally when wildfires forced a city-wide evacuation. I witnessed families helping other families rebuild. Money, possessions, homes, hope. They were all shared.
Now that I've gone off on a sentimental tangent, let's get back to the present. For the past couple of weeks, the weather has alternated between divine and downright chilly. One day, it's warm enough to go out for a run. The next day, I'm wishing for my parka. Saturday, my sister called me to remind me that a snowstorm was headed in. And, like all Oklahomans do, I should probably go to the store to stock up on milk and bread. The weather was actually pretty nice. I didn't even wear a jacket to the store. I stocked up on some essentials. Milk. Tortilla Chips. Cheerios. That's what you'd stock up on too, right?
The snow came Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon, it snowed and sleeted and thundered all at the same time. Thunder Sleet. That's what they called it. All, I know is that it was a weird sensation. Sunday afternoon, I got the call that school would be cancelled Monday. That would be Snow Day #5. It was a good thing, too. You couldn't see the road in front of my house. On top of that, it felt like it was fifteen below zero. What did I do with my snow day? I read. I baked some cookies. I read some more. I stared out the window at the tracks filling my yard. That was a mistake. The snow was so bright that it made my eyes hurt.
Yesterday was Snow Day #6. I read. I baked more cookies. I napped. I read some more. I browsed math teacher blogs. By the afternoon, the snow had finally melted enough to see pavement!
As much as I've enjoyed this unexpected time off to read and relax, I'm ready to be back at school. I've got too much to do in the next couple of weeks. Last year, we only had one snow day. So, having 6+ this year has been quite an adjustment.
Since this post is already a random hodgepodge, here are two other pictures I took last week.
Last week, the school put down some type of fertilizer on the grass in front of the building. You know, the type that turns the grass an artificial green color. One day before school, one of my students came rushing up to me. "Ms. Hagan! Did you see the vandalism outside the school?!? Somebody spray painted the grass!" I hadn't noticed any vandalism when I had came in the front doors that morning, but I walked to the front doors to have a look. "Why would someone spray paint the grass green? That doesn't make any sense!" I had to stifle back a laugh. That's not vandalism, and it's not spray paint. It's fertilizer. "Why would they make the fertilizer look like green spray paint?" Well, they do that so they can see where they've sprayed the fertilizer. This seemed to satisfy my student's curiosity. I'm not sure I will ever look at this artificial green application of fertilizer quite the same after this conversation!
Did I get your attention with the title of my post? Before you call PETA on me, please read the rest of the post. I don't want to kill kittens. You could say I'm in the saving kittens business. Confused? Let me explain.
My Algebra 2 students just started one of our last units on rational functions. We're working on simplifying rational functions You know, factor everything. Cancel out factors, not terms. My students love, love, love to cancel out terms. Last year, I preached and preached about the difference between factors and terms. But, it didn't seem to do much good.
This year, I decided to take a different approach. I gave my normal spiel. Okay guys. Today, we're learning something new. Well, actually it's not entirely new. We're going to combine lots of stuff we've done before to do something we've never done before. Now, before we start, I want to warn you of an important rule. You can only cancel out factors. Factors are things that are being multiplied. You may never cancel out terms. Terms are things that are being added.
By this time, the eyes of almost everybody in class have glazed over. Or, they're talking to their neighbors. Or, they're trying to text somebody without me noticing. I realize they haven't heard a word that I've said. That's okay. I expected this. I was prepared for this.
Cue the next slide in my SMART Board file.
Rational Functions - Every time you do this, a kitten dies.
All of a sudden, I have the attention of my class. There is an audible gasp. Comments are made about how horrible of a person I am for wanting to kill a kitten. Eventually, a student asks, "Why would doing that cause a kitten to die?" Oh, I'm so glad that you asked! I hit the back button to return to my slide that talks about the difference between factors and terms. I once again remind them that they are only allowed to cancel out factors, not terms. We return to the slide with the adorable kitten. Are the x squared terms factors or terms? They are being added, so they are terms. And, we never, ever, ever cancel out terms!
Want a copy of this image or others to use with your students? I downloaded this from Math Curmudgeon.
Some of the shock wears off. A few students nod their heads as if they understand. One student asks if she can take a picture of the screen before we move on. Sure!
Students posting about math on social media? I can handle this.
We move on to practice problems. I put up a rational expression on the SMART Board. Students attempt to simplify it on their mini dry erase boards. They hold up their work for instant feedback. I continually warn them. Factor everything first. This allows you to cancel factors! Please, please, please don't try to cancel out terms. Remember, every time you cancel terms, a kitten dies. And, if you try to cancel out terms, I will be forced to draw a dead kitten on the board.
We do well until we get to this problem: (35x-35) / (25x - 40). With some prompting, the students successfully factor out a five from the numerator and denominator and cancel them out. Then, another student suggests that we cancel out the x's.
Oh no!!!!! You just killed a kitten. The x's are terms, not factors. Oh no!!!!!!! Now, I'm going to have to draw a dead kitten on the board. I warned you this would happen. You should have been more careful.
By this point in the year, my students are very well aware of the fact that I cannot draw. So, they are eagerly awaiting to see what this dead cat will look like. I hadn't exactly planned this far ahead, so I'm eager to find out what my drawing will look like, too.
After I draw the cat, I have a dilemma. How in the world am I going to make this a dead cat?!? I don't want to do something too gruesome. Eventually, I settle on a red x through my cat. That should get the point across. My students are pleasantly surprised with how good my cat turned out. Though, they protest that the cat shouldn't be smiling since it's dead. I'm sorry. I've never drawn a dead cat before. And, this is the only way I know to draw a mouth on a cat.
Another student decides we need a more permanent memorial to the cat our class has sacrificed today with our carelessness. She draws a cat and balances the dry erase board above my bulletin board. She even gives it a name. Pablo. Died February 28, 2014.
My afternoon Algebra 2 class comes in. Why is there a cat on the wall? You'll find out. I give them an even more impassioned plea. 2nd hour killed a kitten. They killed a cat! Can you believe it? I was forced to draw a dead cat on the board as a result. Please don't make me go through that nightmare again! Please, don't kill a cat. Only cancel factors, not terms. My fifth hour is much more careful of their canceling. No kittens were killed during our first 50 minutes of simplifying. I can only hope that streak continues.
In elementary school and middle school, my teachers loved to have us write poems about ourselves. They would give us templates, and we would have to fill in the templates with adjectives to describe ourselves. I hated these assignments because I could never come up with adjectives to describe myself on my own. I usually ended up enlisting the help of my mom and sister to write these poems. Usually, these poems ended up focusing on the fact that I was shy, quiet, kind, thoughtful, intelligent, honest, etc. There were a lot of words I never even considered. A lot of times, I focused more on what I wasn't than what I was. I dreamed of being more outgoing. I dreamed of having more of an influence. But, nobody would have ever known that from my actions. I never spoke up. I never wanted to be the center of attention. I hated it when people said I was "smart." In fact, I would argue with them. "I'm not smart. I just work hard. Anybody could achieve what I have done if they worked hard." My goal was to blend in, to fit in.
There are words I never would have chosen for myself. Powerful is one that comes to mind. Confident is another.
In our teacher's lounge/workroom, there is a poster that I see every time I go to make a copy. It shouts: "Somebody Needs You!" And, it features a quote from Larry Bell: "On your worst day on the job, you are still some child's best hope."
I have the power to change a student's life. Let me rephrase that. I have the power to change a student's day, to make it better or worse. And, the sum of those days forms a students' life. So, my every decision changes lives. I teach in a small, rural school district, but, with the exception of gangs, we face most of the same obstacles faced by inner-city schools. Drugs. Lack of parental involvement. Students living with and being raised by people who aren't even related to them. Most of their parents didn't go to college. Many didn't even graduate from high school. Many students have one or both of their parents incarcerated. I sit in meetings, and I hear the heartbreaking stories of the things they have had to go through. Abuse. Abandonment. Things I could never imagine going through.
And, it hurts. I want to be able to change things for them. But, I can't erase their pasts. And, I can't change the situations they find themselves in currently. I get overwhelmed by all that I can't do. Sometimes I forget that there are things I can do. They are small things. But, they are powerful things.
Lately, I've been finding myself writing a lot of notes. It started after my birthday. I wrote a short thank you note to all of the students who brought me cake or cupcakes or a card. These thank you notes were meant to be a private thing, a small token of my gratitude. But, they were a bigger thing to my students than I realized. To me, it was just a note. To my students, it was tangible proof of their worth and value. I mentioned something to our special ed teacher one day about one of her students surprising me with a gift. She replied, "I know. She was so proud of that thank you note you wrote her. She had to show it to me."
Then, Christmas came. Christmas gifts from students meant more thank you notes. After all, my mom raised me to send a thank you note after receiving any gift. I passed out thank you notes. And, I had students thanking me for their thank you notes. "Your note almost made me cry. I'm going to keep it forever." When I heard this, I felt bad. I couldn't have told you what I had written in the note. To me, it was just a note; I was fulfilling a societal expectation. To them, it was so much more.
While my students were taking semester tests, I set out to write some Christmas cards. One student stayed after school to work on bringing his grade up to passing. He saw my pile of Christmas cards that I had written to various family members, friends from college, and people from church. Unashamedly, he asked me where his Christmas card was. I tried not to act shocked. "Would you like me to write you a Christmas card?" He replied with a simple, "Yes." Then, he stood at my desk and waited while I removed a card from the box and wrote a short note. I wrote the note, stuffed the card in the envelope, and scrawled his name on the outside. I handed it to him, and he walked away, satisfied.
A day or two later, I was once again talking to the special ed teacher. We were going through the list of IEP students in my classes and their current grades. When the conversation turned to the student who had been working in my room after school, the teacher told me how nice it had been of me to write him a card. "He's been carrying that card around in his pocket all day and showing it to everybody! He's so proud of it!" I filled her in on just how he came to have a Christmas card from me in his possession.
To me, if I had to ask somebody to write me a card, it would diminish the value of it. But, I forget that I grew up in a different world than most of my students. I grew up with two parents who are still married to each other to this day. I grew up, surrounded by people who told me how much I mattered to them. I never doubted that I was loved and would be cared for. I never wondered where my next meal would come from or who would pick me up from school that day. I had a life of constancy. I had a life of stability. I had a support system that I felt like I could truly depend on. These are luxuries that many of my students lack. I didn't need a piece of paper to remind me that I was valued. But, what if my life didn't look the way it did? I can imagine that having something tangible to hold onto would be a most meaningful thing.
Most recently, Valentine's Day brought the opportunity to write more thank you notes. I wrote cards to the three students who got me candy. But, I didn't stop there this time. I wrote a note to a student who often comes in during her free period to help straighten up my classroom. I wrote a note of thanks to a student who stepped up and led the class when a fluke left me in a meeting and my class without a sub.
These notes cost me little to write. I buy packs of 8-10 cards for a dollar at Target or Dollar Tree. I picked up a cute "Thank You" stamp this summer from the Dollar Spot at Target. But, by now, I know just how much these notes mean to my students. As I was passing out some of these most recent thank you notes, one of my students questioned me: "Where's my note? Why don't I have a note in the pile? You should write me a note!" I wasn't prepared for this question/demand. This student is an especially sweet one. She often comes in my room before school or at lunch to just talk. She is always leaving me sweet notes on the board, thanking me for being her teacher. Why shouldn't I write her a thank you note?
So, I sat down and penned her a note. I also penned a note to the other girl who was sitting in my room at the time. She often arrives early and comes to hang out in my room. We talk about movies and the best youtube videos. She tells me about getting her nails or hair done. It's nothing deep, but I love that she feels like I am someone she can talk to. The bell rang to start the day before I could give either student their note. I gave one student her note when she came into my room for lunch. She excitedly read it and thanked me for her thank you note. I didn't get a chance to give my note to the student who had requested one until that afternoon when I had her in class. After reading her note, she came up behind me, smiled, and said "Thanks! I love you, too, Ms. Hagan!"
Why have I focused so long on the things I can't change for my students instead of things I can do? Maybe it's the math teacher inside of me. I see the problems they face. I see what little I can do. The inequality is apparent. The problems my students face > What little I can do. That's no excuse, though. If I can do something, no matter how little, I need to be doing it. I need to look at the inequality like this: The problems my students face > What little I can do > Zero/Nothing. A positive difference is exactly that. It's positive. It's greater than zero.
As this school year starts to wind to a close, I want to make sure every student gets at least one handwritten note from me. Will some throw them away without a second thought? Certainly. Will some thank me profusely? Yes. And, I'll probably never get quite used to being thanked for a thank you note. I'll never know the true impact of these notes. But, I'm not going to let that stop me. These students deserve this much from me. They deserve to be reminded that someone cares. They deserve something tangible that communicates the fact that they matter.
I'm inspired by Rebecka Peterson's recent post on One Good Thing. Every Friday, students are allowed to write her letters about anything they wish. On Mondays, she presents them with a letter in response. How simple and yet amazing is this idea? How many students do I have who would write something in a letter that they would never be brave enough to ask me in person? So much of my time is spent managing the students who are loud, the students who misbehave. I end up missing forming connections with the students who are quiet, who always do their work, who never ask questions. They slip through the cracks, and this is not okay.
I realize this school year is almost over, but I'm going to give this a try. Next year, I want a mailbox to set by my desk. I want a physical reminder to students that they can talk to me about anything. If they're too scared or shy to talk to me about it in person, they can write me a letter. And, I'll write them back. I love opening my mailbox to find a letter or a card. I think all of us do.
If I was to write a poem about myself now-a-days, it would probably differ vastly from the ones I wrote in school. Adjectives that come to mind? Teacher. Life-impacter. World-changer. Difference-maker. Inspiring. Powerful.
I have no doubt. I am in the correct profession. This profession has empowered me to become the person I always knew I was meant to be. From here on out, I'm going to set out to not only changes the adjectives that come to mind when I think of myself, but I'm going to change the adjectives that come to my students' minds when they think of themselves, too.
Before I forget, I've got to update you on the whole bat situation. Last Thursday, I found a bat in my classroom while grading papers after school. It was barely moving at all, and I assumed it was sick. I didn't get too close because I did not want to end up with rabies. I left my classroom door open and turned off the light, hoping the bat would leave of its own accord.
Friday morning, I turned on the light in my classroom and crept into it. I felt a little like Indiana Jones. I knew the bat could fly at me from anywhere. I'm sure I would have been quite a site if somebody had been watching me creep slowly into my classroom. I snuck up to the front of the room to where I had left the bat the night before. Nothing. But, that didn't mean I was free and clear. The bat could be anywhere.
The custodian was at school, unlocking doors and emptying trash cans. I stopped her to explain why I had left my door open. She's had a lot of experience with bats in our 1919 school, but she said she was surprised that one had been spotted so early. Usually, they don't come out until summer. She did another check of my classroom to make sure the bat wasn't hiding anywhere. By the time she left, I was pretty confident that my room was bat-less.
We have a faculty meeting every Friday morning at 7:30. I showed up a few minutes early and filled my principal in on the bat situation. Another teacher arrived. She had found a sick bat laying outside the door to the principal's office. (I'm 99.7% sure it had to be the exact same bat.) She had called the science teacher to pick up the bat and take care of it. People, this is why I do not teach science. Our science teachers are continually being brought random animals that students find around campus. Turtles. Rabbits. Frogs. Kittens. And, now, bats. You could not pay me enough to attempt to nurse a sick bat back to health in a box in my classroom. The last I heard, the bat was on its death bed, and they were trying to feed it a slice of apple. I think I'll gladly stick with my numbers. Numbers don't need their cages to be cleaned out. Numbers can't give you rabies. Numbers don't need to be taken home and cared for over extended school breaks.
One of my students drew a picture of the bat to commemorate my experience. I like the looks of her bat a lot more than the bat I found lying on the floor of my classroom!


text:
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  angular.module('dimApp')
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  function ItemMoveService($q, loadingTracker, toaster, dimStoreService, dimActionQueue, dimItemService, dimInfoService, $translate) {
// `<div> ${$translate.instant('BungieService.Twitter')} ${twitterLink}</div>`
    const didYouKnowTemplate = `<p>${$translate.instant('DidYouKnow.DragAndDrop')}</p>` +
                               `<p>${$translate.instant('DidYouKnow.TryNext')}</p>`;
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    const didYouKnow = _.once(() => {
      dimInfoService.show('movebox', {
        title: $translate.instant('DidYouKnow'),
        body: didYouKnowTemplate,
        hide: $translate.instant('DidYouKnow.DontShowAgain')
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      var reload = item.equipped || equip;
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      if (reload) {
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      promise = promise
        .catch(function(a) {
          toaster.pop('error', item.name, a.message);
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      loadingTracker.addPromise(promise);
      (callback || angular.noop)();

      return promise;
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    var consolidate = dimActionQueue.wrap(function(actionableItem, store, callback) {
      var stores = _.filter(dimStoreService.getStores(), function(s) { return !s.isVault; });
      var vault = dimStoreService.getVault();

      var promise = $q.all(stores.map(function(s) {
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        var item = _.find(s.items, function(i) {
          return store.id !== i.owner && i.hash === actionableItem.hash && !i.location.inPostmaster;
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          var amount = s.amountOfItem(actionableItem);
          return dimItemService.moveTo(item, vault, false, amount);
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        return undefined;
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      // Then move from the vault to the character
      if (!store.isVault) {
        promise = promise.then(function() {
          var item = _.find(vault.items, function(i) {
            return i.hash === actionableItem.hash && !i.location.inPostmaster;
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          if (item) {
            var amount = vault.amountOfItem(actionableItem);
            return dimItemService.moveTo(item, store, false, amount);
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          return undefined;
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      }

      promise = promise.then(function() {
        var message;
        if (store.isVault) {
          message = $translate.instant('ItemMove.ToVault', { name: actionableItem.name });
        } else {
          message = $translate.instant('ItemMove.ToStore', { name: actionableItem.name, store: store.name });
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        toaster.pop('success', $translate.instant('ItemMove.Consolidate', { name: actionableItem.name }), message);
      })
      .catch(function(a) {
        toaster.pop('error', actionableItem.name, a.message);
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      loadingTracker.addPromise(promise);
      (callback || angular.noop)();

      return promise;
    });

    var distribute = dimActionQueue.wrap(function(actionableItem, store, callback) {
      // Sort vault to the end
      var stores = _.sortBy(dimStoreService.getStores(), function(s) { return s.id === 'vault' ? 2 : 1; });

      var total = 0;
      var amounts = stores.map(function(store) {
        var amount = store.amountOfItem(actionableItem);
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      var numTargets = stores.length - 1; // exclude the vault
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      var targets = stores.map(function(store, index) {
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            source: vault,
            target: stores[index],
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      // All moves to vault in parallel, then all moves to targets in parallel
      function applyMoves(moves) {
        return $q.all(moves.map(function(move) {
          var item = _.find(move.source.items, function(i) {
            return i.hash === actionableItem.hash;
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          return dimItemService.moveTo(item, move.target, false, move.amount);
        }));
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      var promise = applyMoves(vaultMoves).then(function() {
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
MA in Applied Economics 2016, Czech Republic
For one year you will be part of an international student community in Prague, gaining hands-on tools to work on real-world economics issues and policies in both business and public sectors, while enjoying the benefits of studying at a top economics research institution. The Master of Arts in Applied Economics degree empowers you with knowledge and skills to help you start a career in finance, economics or consultancy, to set up your own business or to pursue managerial positions.
Graduates of the MA in Applied Economics program will know how to:
Approach difficult problems with an analytical mindset
Design solutions that convincingly use data and evidence
Understand, analyze, and interpret quantitative and qualitative data, based on a firm understanding of economic foundations
Efficiently communicate their findings
Collaborate in teams and in international environments
Critically think about their future and prepare a career plan for their years after graduation
Our students most often give the following 7 reasons for why they like the program:
The program is in English
Real-life applications: the curriculum is firmly grounded in real-life applications, from extensive experience with data analysis to real-life project seminars.
Prestige: CERGE-EI is a top European institute with professors who publish with Nobel Prize winners
Small class setting and family-like atmosphere: Professors and expert professionals know each student well and the staff offers personalized and friendly student support
Fast track: Three semesters completed in one year, allowing a faster career start
International student community: students from over 30 countries currently roam our halls
Place: Prague is a safe and vibrant European metropolis. CERGE-EI is housed in an historical building near Wenceslas Square.
The MA in Applied Economics is a US degree, nostrificated in the Czech Republic by Masaryk University.
The MA in Applied Economics program reflects the increasingly significant role that economics plays in today's world. It combines theoretical mathematics-based economics with real-life applications. You will develop your ability to apply economic reasoning to real-world business and public policy issues, and expand your skills in data analysis and interpretation.
During your studies you can specialize in financial economics, public policy,macroeconomics and forecasting or corporate economics. You will gain analytical skills and learn to solve practical problems while earning the Master of Arts in Applied Economics degree in one year. After graduation you will be well prepared to take up a challenging position as an analyst, economist or consultant in either the private or public sector, to pursue managerial positions or to set up your own business.
The program is divided into three semesters, each 12 weeks long. You will study full-time for one year. If you are interested in a part-time option, contact us at mae@cerge-ei.cz. Please note, however, that the Fall Semester is very difficult to do part time.
November 30 Early Application Deadline
March 31 Regular Application Deadline
July and August Online Preparatory Semester
Mid-September to mid-December Fall Semester
Mid-December to mid-January Winter Break
Early January to beginning of April Spring Semester
Beginning of April to mid-April Spring Break
Mid-April to mid-July Summer Semester
End of July Graduation
The MA in Applied Economics is a tuition-based program. In addition to the tuition payments, you are expected to cover your own living expenses.
Tuition level for the full MA in Applied Economics program depends on the admissions round:
Admission Round
Early 30 November, 2015 7,500 USD
Regular 31 March, 2016 9,500 USD
Late Rolling admissions after 31 March 11,500 USD
Exceptionally well-prepared applicants are eligible for partial scholarships. Scholarship decisions are made by the Admissions Committee based on submitted documents and interview results. There is no special application to obtain a scholarship.
Scholarships are given in the form of tuition discounts for exceptionally well-prepared applicants, based on a complete application package (no special procedure to apply for a discount). The lowest tuition level is 7,000 USD. Full scholarships are not available.
It is possible for students to obtain bank loans and other support for study. The MA in Applied Economics program staff will be happy to provide documents required to apply for a study loan upon request.
Since its inception in 1991, CERGE-EI has educated students from 43 countries on 5 continents in modern economics. The graduate programs portfolio includes a career-oriented MA in Applied Economics and a theoretical, academia-oriented PhD in Economics. We also offer a Visiting Master's scheme for Master students from other universities who are interested in taking some PhD courses at CERGE-EI during their studies.
Study Levels
Holland-High Potential Scholarship 2021, Maastricht University, Netherlands
Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa: Post-Doctoral Writing Fellowship 2021, Africa
Summer School - Commoning Art and Culture, 19-29 June 2020, CEU, Hungary
Summer School - Feminist Political Economy: Concepts and Tools to Analyse Intersecting Inequalities, 5 - 9 July 2021, Hungary
Local Rotary Sponsors Global Scholarship 2021 - 2022, USA
2021 - 2022 Kirkland Research Scholarships


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Leader of Private Debt
Leader of Secular Stagnation
Member of Commission on Global Economic Transformation
Rob Johnson serves as President of the Institute for New Economic Thinking.
Johnson is an international investor and consultant to investment funds on issues of portfolio strategy. He recently served on the United Nations Commission of Experts on International Monetary Reform under the Chairmanship of Joseph Stiglitz.
Previously, Johnson was a Managing Director at Soros Fund Management where he managed a global currency, bond and equity portfolio specializing in emerging markets. Prior to working at Soros Fund Management, he was a Managing Director of Bankers Trust Company managing a global currency fund.
Johnson served as Chief Economist of the US Senate Banking Committee under the leadership of Chairman William Proxmire (D. Wisconsin). Before this, he was Senior Economist of the US Senate Budget Committee under the leadership of Chairman Pete Domenici (R. New Mexico).
Johnson was an Executive Producer of the Oscar winning documentary, Taxi to the Dark Side, directed by Alex Gibney, and is the former President of the National Scholastic Chess Foundation. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of both the Economic Policy Institute and the Campaign for America's Future.
Johnson received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Economics from Princeton University and a B.S. in both Electrical Engineering and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Toward an Alternative Macroeconomic Theory
Event Conference |	Sep 6–8, 2010
The Institute joined DIME and Central European University in hosting a conference addressing a key question of economics today: How can we create a new macroeconomic theory that takes into account the true relationship of finance to the real economy and can more accurately anticipate crises?
The Economic Crisis and the Crisis in Economics
New Economic Thinking 2010
Event Plenary |	Apr 8–11, 2010
The Institute for New Economic Thinking convened many of the world's most distinguished economists, academics and thought leaders at its inaugural Conference at King's College, University of Cambridge.
Offsite links
Will Trump's White Working Class Voters Be Seduced and Abandoned?
Nov 21, 2016 Background Briefing with Ian Masters


2019 PGA Merchandise Show Prep – "The Home of Organic Golf Reviews"
Can you believe it? It's nearly 2019 and in a few short weeks UTNT will be heading down to Orlando, Florida for the 2019 PGA Merchandise Show. Honestly, it's this event that gets me excited in a way that Christmas does for children around the world. For this event… truly makes me feel like a child.
As the show closes in my appointment book is starting to fill up. It's a good thing because it will give me content for the year. This year though, is going to be different as far as distributing stories for the year. Look for a ton of video and "First Look" reviews while I'm still in Orlando. It's a perk of writing for yourself I suppose.
Crystal and I are covering it all this year. Apparel, accessories, gift ideas, training aids and of course golf balls and golf equipment. I'm going to be trying to swing as many products as I can from as many manufacturers as possible instead of having tunnel vision and being very selective. However, there are certain companies that I definitely want to visit on Demo Day.
Here is my proposed list thus far for the Driver/Metalwood Category.
Bridgestone Golf – They're back for the first time in a few years. Not only are they unveiling a new Ball Fitting 2.0 system but perhaps they will have the Tour B JGR there to swing among their new offering…the Tour B J819. The original JGR was a sleeper in 2016.
Callaway Golf – The scuttlebutt surrounding the Epic Flash is pretty crazy. If this driver somehow marries the Epic and the Rogue the hype will be worth it. Honestly, I don't know what they're doing for irons this year.
Cobra Golf – You've seen my press release regarding the KING F9 SPEEDBACK range. With professional victories already this year by Lexi Thompson and Bryson DeChambeau it's a must swing. Besides… the KING F8/F8+ was the best driver that I made swings with last year. Will the KING F9 live up to it?
Fourteen Golf – This JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) is the first brand that's a little obscure on the list. At the moment, they have two driver offerings the CT 518 and the DT 112. I made swings with their drivers in maybe 2014 and I remember the crisp feel at impact. Their irons are typically very good.
Lynx Golf – Last year their #BB driver was the biggest surprise for me at the Demo Day. It was a nice looking driver and it performed very well. Maybe my expectations were set very low prior to hitting it and maybe that's why I thought it "over-achieved". Their new Black Cat woods and irons sound and look intriguing. Lynx Golf you're no longer under my radar. The image was too small for me to share.
Mizuno Golf – The last time that I made a swing with a Mizuno Golf driver/metalwood was the JPX EZ. Before that, it was the Blue Rage. Yes… I kid you not. So I'm anticipating swinging whatever they bring to Orange County National Golf Resort and Lodge. Is it the ST190? Or is it a Prototype that I've seen on the internet. After all… if it's on the internet it has to be true.
PING Golf – I have never made a swing with a PING product at the PGA Show Demo Day. A few years ago I snuck onto the ETC and made swings there where I was fit into a 8* G 30 LST and an X-Stiff shaft to get my spin down. It felt hot but I would have loved to see it on the Demo Day range. This year that changes one way or another.
Srixon Golf – Srixon Golf has two drivers in their stable for the 2019 product cycle. The Z 585 and the Z 785. I've heard conflicting reports about these drivers. Everything from they're amazing and long to a few sales people at a large golf box store saying that they can't hit them for the life of them. I'll put them through their paces in Orlando.
Titleist – I haven't made a swing with a Titleist driver since the 2017 PGA Merchandise Show. Funny story, the 917 D2 and D3 review that I did based on those swings at that Demo Day was one of my most read posts of 2018. I'm going to try to get a hold of the TS2 and TS3 at Demo Day. Titleist uses a two-year product cycle which is something that I've always admired about them. When Titleist releases new clubs… they're fantastic.
Tour Edge Golf – I made a claim today. Tour Edge isn't a game-changer in 2019… they're an industry changer. The EXS line is promising and based on my findings while testing the EXS Hybrid was that they have a real winner. The driver and metalwood will be the same. Loaded with technology and an attractive price point at $299 USD. Tour Edge shows us that you can have premium products without having to sell off one of your organs to purchase them. I cannot wait to swing the EXS driver.
Wilson Golf – The winner of Driver vs Driver 2 was introduced to the golfing public. It was fun watching the Cortex through all of the phases. I've been a little critical of the Cortex because I thought it looked "too safe" and "too familiar". But, they know what they're talking about (Tim Clarke and the rest of the team at Wilson Golf). I saw it in hand and it really is their best looking driver yet. What I heard from reps about Srixon (above) was not how they felt about Cortex. Apparently, it's the real deal.
Stay tuned for another piece leading up to the PGA Show. I have a list of "must try" irons and I'm surprised where that focus actually is.


Shanghai's plans to construct a science and innovation centre are becoming a reality with the construction of the ZHANGJIANG COMPREHENSIVE NATIONAL SCIENCE CENTRE.
Using X-rays generated from a synchrotron source, a group of Chinese scientists has developed a new imaging technology capable of creating high-resolution images of non-crystalline samples, which could find application in medical diagnosis. This research, published in Physical Review Letters in 2016, is just one recent example of the many studies that have been supported by the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility (SSRF).
Located on an 18-hectare campus in Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Shanghai's Pudong district, the phase I of SSRF and its seven beamlines were constructed in 2004 with more than 1.4 billion RMB investment from the Chinese government. SSRF is a third-generation synchrotron light source and is China's largest light source facility. More than 15,000 scientists and engineers worldwide have used SSRF for their research since it opened for use in 2009.
Big science platforms like the SSRF are a major component of the infrastructure being developed for a comprehensive national science centre in Zhangjiang. According to Ziqi Shou, director general of the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Commission, construction of the Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Centre, which was approved by the state government in early 2016, is a core task for establishing a global science and technology innovation centre in Shanghai. The aim is to promote China's capacity to innovate in interdisciplinary fields and its overall research power by constructing world-class infrastructure for big science. "It provides a basic platform for implementing our innovation-driven development strategy and for building national innovation systems," says Shou.
The Shanghai Municipal Government has set goals of laying the framework for a comprehensive national science centre by 2020 and achieving global-impact research outcomes, which will drive regional socioeconomic development as well as science and technology innovation. Meeting these goals will entail forming a cluster of research institutions devoted to frontier science, which are supported by state-of-the-art research infrastructure, optimized organizational structure and management systems, and an open environment for innovation. Work is underway to construct a comprehensive laboratory as the base for scientific innovation, functional research and development (R&D) platforms for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, and a network for collaborative innovation that links research with the industrial chain. The national science centre will also initiate and coordinate large-scale international research projects and national key projects.
As the site of one of China's first state-level high-tech zones, Zhangjiang has already gathered rich technological resources, including a cluster of high-tech enterprises, many of which are foreign funded and devoted to R&D. Zhangjiang is also becoming a base for basic research, having several platforms for big science, including the National Centre for Protein Science Shanghai and the Shanghai Supercomputer Centre.
Opened for use in mid-2014, the protein centre boasts to be the world's first comprehensive big science infrastructure in the life sciences. By October 2016, it had operated for more than 190,000 hours and scientists from more than 200 institutions worldwide had conducted over 1,300 research projects, leading to more than 80 publications in Science Citation Index journals.
Since the end of 2000, the high-performance computers at the supercomputer centre have been used by thousands of research teams, providing more than one billion CPU hours and completing around 5.7 million computing tasks.
The Zhangjiang Comprehensive National Science Centre also seeks to integrate all the quality research and educational resources in Shanghai and beyond by attracting top research institutions and universities from around the world to establish innovation platforms on site. One example is the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, which was launched in late 2016. Administered by Shanghai Jiaotong University, the institute will harness the resources of Zhangjiang and focus on astronomy and cosmology, particle physics, and quantum technologies. As a test bed for innovation in research management systems, it will adopt best practices from world-renowned institutions to create a supportive environment for world-class scientists.
To make Zhangjiang a top attraction for talented researchers, the local government provides vigorous support with a series of complementary policies. A Zhangjiang science town is planned to ensure scientists receive excellent services and enjoy a supportive environment for research.


It's the time wasted on the phone with your bank trying to sort out whether you really made all those fraudulent purchases, and then having to enter your new card number at all those sites and services where the old one was stored. It's that awkward moment when the waiter says in front of your date or guests that your card has been declined.
If you're brave enough to pay for everything with a debit card (bad idea), it may be the time you spend without access to cash while your bank sorts things out. It may be the aggravation of dealing with bounced checks as a result of the fraud.
I can recall a recent stay wherein right next to the credit card machine at the hotel's front desk was a stack of various daily newspapers, one of which had a very visible headline warning of an ongoing credit card breach at the same hotel that was getting ready to swipe my card yet again (by the way, I'm still kicking myself for not snapping a selfie right then).
After I checked out of that particular hotel, I descended to the parking garage to retrieve a rental car. The garage displayed large signs everywhere warning customers that the property was not responsible for any damage or thefts that may be inflicted on vehicles parked there. I recall thinking at the time that this same hotel probably should have been required to display a similar sign over their credit card machines (actually, they all should).
"The privacy and protection of our guests' information is a matter we take very seriously." This is from boilerplate text found in both the Trump Hotels and Loews Hotel statements. It sounds nice. Too bad it's all hogwash. Once again, the timeline above speaks far more about the hospitality industry's attitudes on credit card security than any platitudes offered in these all-too-common breach notifications.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 19th, 2017 at 11:43 am	and is filed under Other. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
While there are many breach happened, Capri by Fraser (Singapore) request their guess to provide all card information, including a scanned of both card sides. They must be very confident or risk free in term of protecting their customer.


text:
package net.akehurst.example.flightSimulator.technology.network;

public interface IPublishSubscribe {

	public void publish(byte[] bytes);

	public void subscribe(ISubscriber subscriber);

}


text:
Martin K. Solomon is a professor of Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University since 1981, and is currently Assistant Chair for the Computer Science and Engineering Department. He authored two books on Oracle8i and one on Oracle9i that were published by McGraw-Hill. Dr. Solomon is also a noted scholar on Kurt Gödel, the Austrian logician and philosopher.

Notes

External links

Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


In April 2017, the scientist Dr. Federica Bertocchini and her colleagues Paolo Bombelli und Christopher J. Howe published a discovery in the Spanish magazine "Current Biology", that received great public attention: By chance, the discovered that the Galleria mellonella can biodegrade polyethylene. Polyethylene and polypropylene represent about 92 percent of global plastic production – and up to now, they are almost impossible to biodegrade. Dr. Federica Bertocchini gladly answered our questions on her promising discovery regarding the fight against plastic pollution.
"A Plastic Ocean" is an adventure documentary, which was shot during four years and at more than twenty locations. With a team of international scientists, Craig Leeson and Tanya Streeter documented the consequences of plastic waste in our oceans as well as pointed out solutions.


Welcome to my writing blog, which aims to create insightful, relevant content to encourage new writers and support authors with book launches, reviews, guest posts and useful links.
I average 10,000 to 20,000 visitors a month, about a third US and a third Europe, with a growing audience in Australia and the far-east. The most popular posts are about how and why people write - and get a lot of repeat visits, even over a year later. To make sure you don't miss my newest posts, you can subscribe by e-mail or have them sent straight to your Kindle.
★ Reviewers are welcome to request free review copies of my eBooks.
★ Writers are invited to guest post on book launches, poetry or anything on writing.
★ Readers - it is always good to have feedback, so let me know what you think?
Due to the high level of demand I am not currently accepting new review requests.
I was born in Pembrokeshire, West Wales and spent part of my childhood in Kenya. After gaining a BA degree in Psychology and an MBA from Cardiff University I worked as a Management Consultant, followed by senior roles in the Welsh NHS and Local Government.
I wrote several successful non-fiction books before writing historical fiction and have returned to Pembrokeshire, where I enjoy sailing and sea kayaking.


Interesting reports are emerging from the West today that state the United Nations on February 12 held an emergency meeting among Member Nations growing ever more concerned over the rapidly rising reports of UFO's being sighted around the World.
"I received the following email from two trusted colleagues (Clay and Shawn Pickering) regarding a reliable source informing them that a secret meeting occurred yesterday morning (Feb 12) at the New York office of the United Nations concerning the recent spate of UFO sightings. It appears that a number of nation states are concerned about the impact of increased UFO sightings and wish to be briefed about what is happening.
Their source, who currently works in the diplomatic corps, had to travel for an early morning off the record meeting at the UN. Their source revealed that a secret UFO working group exists that is authorizing the release of such information to the public, in an effort to acclimate others to what is about to unfold."
"According to Angelia Joiner, the reporter who wrote the original UFO stories, there was another UFO sighting on Saturday. "If the military is testing a secret military device, why do they keep doing it here?" she asked me. "If it's not a secret why do they keep scaring the bejesus out of people?"
For its part, the military has done itself no favors, first denying that it had any aircraft in the area, then flip-flopping a few days later -- after more witnesses came forward."
More disturbingly, however, are that these events are occurring during a time that Total World War seems imminent as President Putin has served notice to the West that the Russian Nation will begin targeting NATO allied Nations siding with the United States in that countries effort to encircle the Russias with its nuclear missiles.
Putin is said to be further enraged over the West's planned supporting of the breakaway Serbian province of Kosovo as an independent Nation, and which the Russian Leader has termed "immoral and illegal", and which Russia has stated they will not recognize.
"An Indian government ban of rice exports has plunged neighboring Bangladesh into crisis, in a grim preview of growing global grain shortages. Leading rice-exporting nations such as India and Vietnam are reducing sales overseas to check domestic price rises. Previously healthy buffer stocks in the world's largest rice exporter, Thailand, are shrinking.
The February 7 ban by India's Ministry of Commerce and Industry intensifies a worldwide rice shortage that according to the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization drove up prices by nearly 40% last year. Large rice importers such as Myanmar, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia are worst affected."
Agence France-Presse has, likewise, reported on this growing Global food crisis, and as we can read from their reports: "Rising food prices have hit Asia's poor so hard that many have taken to the streets in protest, but experts see few signs of respite from the growing problem.
An array of factors, from rising food demand and high oil prices to global warming, could make high costs for essentials such as rice, wheat and milk a permanent fixture, they say. "The indications are in general pointing to high prices," Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior grains analyst at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome, told AFP.
The agency's figures show food prices globally soared nearly 40 percent in 2007, helping stoke protests in Myanmar, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia."
"Fear that a hobbled banking sector may set off another Great Depression could force the U.S. government and Federal Reserve to take the unprecedented step of buying a broad range of assets, including stocks, according to one of the most bearish market analysts. That extreme scenario, which would aim to stave off deflation and stabilize the economy, is evolving as the base case for Bernard Connolly, global strategist at Banque AIG in London."
But, to all of these events mentioned, and even without the inclusion of the volatile Middle East, the one remaining constant is the United States propaganda media organs refusal to allow the masses of their people to be made aware of these critical crisis issues facing all of humanity. One can only worry about these deprived peoples as the cost of their war failures is soon to visit them in such a way that will strike terror into their very souls.
History has long shown that Nations who seek to build their empires do so at the expense of their own citizen's lives, a lesson the American people are doomed to have to, sadly, relearn. And, though one may wish for the ancient prophecies of 'help from the stars' to come before our World annihilates itself, it seems more prudent to prepare for the eventuality it will not occur.
© February 14, 2008 EU and US all rights reserved.