text:
PDF Version: BOT Intellectual Property Policy
Policy History
Authority: C.R.S. § 23-54-102, et seq. (2019) authorizes the Trustees of Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU Denver) to establish rules and regulations to govern and operate the University and its programs. The Trustees retain authority to approve, interpret, and administer policies pertaining to University governance. The Trustees authorize the President of MSU Denver to approve, administer, and interpret policies pertaining to University operations.
Purpose: This policy outlines the rights of the University and University employees to own, reproduce, and distribute copyrightable works and patentable inventions created during the course of University employment in accordance with federal copyright and patent laws.
Scope: This policy applies to University employees, including student employees, and students.
II. Roles and Responsibilities
Responsible Executive: Chief Executive Officer
Responsible Administrator: Chief Academic Officer
Responsible Office: Office of the Chief Academic Officer
Policy Contact: Chief Academic Officer, 303-615-1900
III. Policy Statement
A. Copyright Policy
Encouragement of Scholarly and Creative Work: In the course of teaching and professional development duties and other intellectual and administrative activity at the University, faculty, staff, student employees, and others may create works that are protected by copyright. Federal copyright law provides that most original works of authorship are protected by copyright automatically when they are fixed in tangible form. Copyrightable works or authorship include, among other categories, books, articles, and other written works; musical and dramatic works; pictures, sculpture, and other works of art; computer software; and electronic chip designs. Works created by faculty, staff, and student employees in the course of their responsibilities may be found in any of these categories. As a matter of fundamental policy, the Board of Trustees encourages the wide dissemination of scholarly and creative work produced by members of the University community, including copyrightable works.
Ownership: Under the Copyright Act, the copyright to work created by a person in the course of his or her employment belongs to the employer rather than to the individual creator. The Act provides, therefore, that works created by faculty members in the course of their teaching and professional development activities, and works created by staff members in the course of their jobs, are property of the University. However, to encourage members of the academic community to write and to publish what they wish, most colleges and universities have not asserted their claims of ownership to certain scholarly works. Instead, books, articles, lecture notes and outlines, computerized "courseware" and other forms of scholarly writing intended to fulfill the regular classroom teaching and professional development responsibilities of faculty have traditionally been treated as the property of the author, who is entitled to determine how the works are disseminated and to keep any income they produce. In recognition of this longstanding academic tradition, the University disclaims ownership of works by faculty, staff, and students, whether in traditional or nontraditional forms, except in the following cases:
Assigned Tasks. The University will own the copyright to works created (i) by administrative /professional or classified staff members of the University in the course of their assigned duties or employment; (ii) by student employees in the course of their assigned duties ("student employees" includes students who work on a university-funded project, with or without academic credit), or (iii) by faculty members as part of an agreed assignment, when the assignment explicitly states that the work will be owned by the University.
Outside Agreements and Consultant Agreements. When copyrighted materials are developed by an investigator in the course of sponsored research funded by an outside agency or organization pursuant to an agreement approved by the University, ownership of the copyright will be determined by the applicable terms of the funding agreement if the agreement addresses the issue. When University resources are used to retain the services of a consultant or independent contractor for the specific purpose of creating a copyrightable or patentable work, the contract shall provide that the consultant will assign the work to the University unless the Provost approves other terms.
Patentable Works. When a copyrighted work is also patentable, such as certain computer software source code, among other categories of work, the University's patent policy will apply to it, notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this policy.
Online and Other Distance Learning Course Materials. Online and other distance learning course materials (including course materials delivered over the Internet or a campus intranet, by TV or radio broadcasts, or fixed in machine-readable digital storage media, videotape, or audio tape) cannot be treated as traditional works because of the legal and business consideration that affect them. The University devotes significant material and technical resources to the design, development and distribution of these course materials. Also, contracts involving display, reproduction, or distribution of copyrighted material commonly require assurances as to ownership as protection against infringement claims. The University must retain sufficient rights in online and distance learning course material to provide such assurance if they are to pursue distance education opportunities that may arise in an uncertain business environment. Also, the University must retain sufficient rights in online and distance learning materials to enter appropriate and mutually acceptable relationships with external organizations. Because the terms of such relationships cannot be foreseen, it is not possible to provide specific guarantees of any kind as to what the University may be able to provide faculty members in the form of compensation and terms. However, the Trustees recognize that University ownership and use of academic work that is created by faculty may involve important consideration of academic integrity. Before entering a contract with an external public or private organization that would involve such academic consideration, the University will consider the faculty member's interest in using and protecting the integrity of the work, including but not limited to interests in: (1) using the work in future scholarly activity and employment; (2) controlling the use of the faculty member's name in association with the work; and (3) revise the work to assure that it is current. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, the University will retain ownership of scholarly or creative work that is delivered, transmitted, or fixed as provided in this subparagraph. However, the Trustees encourage joint ownership agreements with faculty members who create online or other distance learning courses, which agreements would grant the institution the exclusive right to license the work to others for a specific period of time, allow each party to retain a nonexclusive right to use the work for non-commercial educational purposes, and address the issues of attribution and revision. The Trustees authorize the President to establish institutional contract terms and revenue sharing policies for distance learning courses that as may be, in the President's judgment, financially prudent and consistent with the University's commitments and objectives.
Special Circumstances. When the University makes an unusual and significant commitment of resources to a project, the University may retain ownership of any works created. The President or Provost will determine whether such commitments exist in a particular case and whether the University will retain ownership of such works. When feasible, the President or Provost will make this determination before the work is created and at the beginning of this project, and will so inform the principal investigator or other responsible party.
Although sabbatical leave involves such an unusual significant commitment of resources, works created by faculty members on sabbatical leave traditionally have been treated as the property of the author. Except as provided in subparagraphs a, b, c, and d of this policy, the College disclaims ownership of works by a faculty member on sabbatical leave.
Works that do not meet the criteria stated in subparagraphs a through e above, and works created by a University employee outside the scope of employment and without the use of institutional assistance, support, facilities or resources shall be the exclusive personal property of the employee.
In any case in which there is a question about the ownership of a work, the President or Provost will decide the issue.
Students. Because students who are not University employees may work with faculty members or other University employees on intellectual property in which the University claims an interest as provided herein, the Copyright Act does not automatically grant the University ownership of the copyright to student work. However, to assure fairness, students who serve on University-funded projects, with or without salary and with or without academic credit, are covered by this policy as student employees. Students acting in such capacity are subject to this policy as a condition of their enrollment, employment, or association with the University-funded project. Students will be the sole owners of works that they create solely in their capacity as students or individuals, and not as "student employees" as that term is defined in this policy.
Use of Income from University-Owned Works
Division. Any income which the University receives from the commercial licensing, sale, lease, or other commercial use of copyrighted works owned by the University pursuant to this copyright policy will be shared as determined by the University in its sole discretion. The University will ordinarily share fifty percent of net revenues from such commercial uses with the individual employees who created the work.
Disposition of College Shares. The portion of net income that is not paid to the creator of creators of a work will be used as determined by the University in its sole discretion.
Assistance from the University. A faculty member, staff member, or student employee who has created and under this policy owns a copyrighted work, and who wishes to engage the resources of the University for assistance in licensing or otherwise exploiting the copyright, may request such assistance from the Provost's Office or other office designated by the Board. If the University provides such assistance, all net income from its licensing efforts will be shared between the University and the creator(s) as provided in paragraph 4 above.
Authors are Responsible for Registering and Defending their Copyrights. Except as provided in paragraph 4 of this policy, faculty members, staff, and students are solely responsible for identifying, registering and taking any other legal action necessary to protect and defend their copyrights and any related rights to or arising from work in which the College has disclaimed ownership interests.
Modification: Effective Date. This policy is subject to modification or revocation by the Board Trustees at any time, in its sole discretion. This policy is effective from the date of approval by the Board of Trustees with respect to works created after that date and shall remain in effect until modified or revoked.
B. Patent Policy
Encouragement of Patents. In the course of teaching, professional development, and other intellectual and administrative activity at the University, faculty, staff, student employees (as defined in this policy), and others may make discoveries or inventions both patentable and practical. Encouraging such inventions in appropriate ways both supports the public interest and is consistent with the advancement and dissemination of knowledge, the primary purpose of teaching and professional development. The University's patent policy establishes the procedure to be followed in the administration of inventions which result from teaching, professional development, and other intellectual activity performed under University auspices as defined and clarified in paragraph 6 below.
Purpose of Patent Policy. The purposes of this patent policy are (1) to help assure, in the public interest, that the patentability (or other means of protection) and practicality of inventions will be evaluated by qualified persons, and that the income from inventions will be used to support professional development or other desirable University activities; and (2) to allocate remuneration between the inventor or inventors (hereinafter the "inventor") and the College if the invention produces Net Revenues from commercial use.
Procedure as to Inventions
Patent Applications. All inventions described in paragraph 1 shall be reported promptly in writing to the President or Provost. The President or Provost, with the advice of legal counsel, shall conduct an initial screening followed, if appropriate, by a detailed evaluation of the invention. The evaluation may be conducted internally or referred to an external organization. After the evaluation, the College, with or without the assistance of an external organization, may make application for letters patent or other means of protecting and marketing the invention. At the President's or Provost's request, the inventor shall execute assignments or other documents assigning to the University all rights in the invention and any patent applications or resulting patents on the invention. The University will retain title to all such patent applications and resulting patents. If the University decides that it does not wish, and/or has no obligation to participate in patenting or licensing an invention, the University may release the University's interest in the invention to the Inventor, and the Inventor shall then be free to dispose of the invention as he or she wishes.
License Agreements.
If the University decides to participate in patenting or licensing an invention, the University will seek to enter into appropriate licensing arrangements to commercialize the invention. The University's objectives are to assure the development of its technology in furtherance of its own educational mission and to the benefit of society in general. Therefore, as a general policy, the University will establish license terms that further these objectives. Exclusive licenses will be granted if it appears to the University that this is the most effective way of ensuring that development will proceed to the point that the public will benefit. Any exclusive license agreement will protect against the licensee's failure to develop and market the invention within a specified time.
Grants or contracts sponsored by government agencies and private businesses typically include a section covering patents on future inventions, if any. When deemed appropriate, the sponsor may be granted a license to any inventions developed during the term of the grant or contract in accordance with the policies outlined in (1) above.
Division of Net Revenues. The Net Revenues as defined below shall be divided between the Inventor(s) (as defined under the patent law) and the University as follows: 50% to the inventor(s), 50% allocated to University purposes pursuant to paragraph 5. As used in this document, the term "inventor" may represent two or more individuals. These individuals will be expected to agree among themselves on the fractional distribution of the "inventor" share of any Net Revenues. A written agreement must be signed by all the individuals involved, and deposited for the record in the President or Provost's office. If no written agreement has been deposited at the time of a distribution of Net Revenues, the inventors' share of such distribution shall be divided equally among the inventors.
University Use of Net Revenues. The University's share of Net Revenues will be used for such University purposes as the President shall determine.
Inventions Not Under University Auspices. Inventions by University employees usually result from teaching, professional development, or other intellectual activity involving University facilities or personnel.
Accordingly, all inventions by University employees must be reported to the President or Provost's office. If the University determines that an invention by a University employee is unrelated to the activities for which the individual is employed and has not involved the use of University facilities, property, or personnel, the University will make no claim to such an invention. All inventions made or conceived under circumstances involving University facilities, property, or personnel are the property of the University.
An invention made by a faculty member in the course of a paid consulting engagement for a company may be assigned to the company only if it is unrelated to the activities for which the faculty member is employed by the University and the invention was not made or conceived under circumstances involving University facilities, property, or personnel. Such an invention will be considered unrelated to the activities for which the faculty member is employed by the University if the invention arises directly out of consulting activity paid for by the company, and, for example, it is made in response to a problem posed by the company or is based on nonpublic information provided by the company to the faculty member for use in the consulting engagement. All inventions made by University faculty members in the course of consulting, and any assignments of rights to such inventions, must be reported promptly to the President or Provost's office. The University will agree to abide by reasonable confidentiality restrictions for disclosures of inventions and assignments made in the course of consulting.
An invention will be considered not to have involved the use of University facilities if no University facilities or resources (including, but not limited to, space, computers, laboratory equipment and supplies), no University-administered funds, no University property and no University personnel other than the faculty member himself or herself, are involved in the conception or reduction to practice of the invention.
When Arrangements with Outside Organizations Override this Policy. Arrangements with outside people and organizations that propose terms which are exceptions to this policy must be submitted to the President or Provost for review. If approved by the University the terms shall be binding upon all members of the faculty, staff, and employees of the University conducting such projects or utilizing such facilities, and will supersede the provisions of this patent policy to the extent that the terms are inconsistent herewith.
Inventions by Staff Resulting from Performance of the Responsibilities of Their Employment. If administrative/professional or classified staff make commercially valuable discoveries or inventions in the course of carrying out their assigned duties (e.g., the employee received a salary or wage for the purpose of developing the discovery or invention or for work which directly resulted in the discovery or invention), there is no presumption that the University will share any resulting net revenues with the employee. The University does not share revenues with such staff except in cases where it appears that the invention or commercially valuable property has not resulted from the performance of assigned duties. However, the President or Provost may decide to share revenues on any basis.
Governmental Rights in Certain Inventions. Current governmental regulations permit educational institutions to retain rights and title to patentable inventions which results from federally funded experimental, developmental and research work. Retention of rights by a college is contingent upon the satisfaction of a number of obligations by the college and the inventor(s). These obligations must be met to protect the parties' interests. Though the University may retain rights and title to such patentable inventions, the federal government retains a royalty free license and places certain other restrictions upon the ultimate disposition of the patent(s). Details of the implementing regulations may be obtained from the office of the President or Provost. Members of the University community who apply for and receive federal funding to support research or who use federal monies in the conduct of their research must execute a written agreement that they will promptly disclose patentable inventions to the University and will execute all instruments necessary to protect the rights of the government and/or the University. Forms for this agreement will be provided to all faculty and will be available for other participants from the office of the President or Provost.
Revocation or Amendment. This patent policy is subject to revocation or amendment by the Board of Trustees in its sole discretion. In case of doubt as to the interpretation of this patent policy, a definitive interpretation will be provided by the President or Provost. This patent policy is effective as to all inventions/discoveries made on or after the date of adoption.
IV. Definitions
For purposes of this policy:
"Intellectual property" means a work, creation, invention or idea that can be owned, protected or controlled under the laws of the United States, the state of Colorado, or other governments, concerning copyrights, patents, and similar legal interests.
"Copyright" is the exclusive right of the owner to reproduce a work, prepare derivative works, distribute the work by sale or otherwise, and display or perform the work publicly. Copyright subsists in "original works of authorship" as defined by law, which have been fixed in any tangible medium of expression from which they can be perceived, reproduced, or otherwise communicated, either directly or with the aid of a machine or device. In contrast to a patent, which protects an "idea," copyright protects the "expression" in the particular work.
A "patent" is a grant issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or a similar right granted by a foreign country. Generally, in the United States, a patent gives an inventor of a novel, useful, and nonobvious creation, invention, or idea the right to exclude all others from making, using or selling the invention within the United States, its territories and possessions for a period of 20 years after the U.S. Filing Date of the parent patent application. Patent procedures, criteria for patentability, and terms in foreign countries vary considerably from country to country.
"Creator," "Inventor," and "Author" are used in this policy to describe any person who possesses or claims any legal rights to intellectual property through conception, creation or other lawful means of acquisition.
"Contractor" is any person or entity that receives payment for goods and/or services that is reported by the College to the Internal Revenue Service on form 1099.
"Net revenues" or "net income" means gross income received from the commercial uses of intellectual property (including but not limited to earnings, gains, investments, license fees, rents, royalties, or sales) less all direct or indirect costs of producing, protecting, and enhancing the value of, the intellectual property (including but not limited to personnel costs and overhead, consulting fees, legal fees, and the other costs associated with securing the copyright or patent, for defending it against claims of infringement, and for licensing, marketing, or otherwise using the work for commercial purposes).
"Commercial," when used in this policy to describe the transfer, sale and/or other use of intellectual property owned by the University, shall refer to a use that is intended to produce profit or net revenues in the commerce of intellectual property. The word shall not include uses of intellectual property for the education of students duly enrolled in the University, or for other non-profit educational purposes. The University will not share net revenues with the creator or inventor for such non-profit educational uses.
V. Policy History
Approved by: Board of Trustees
Effective: April 1, 2019
Revised: This policy supersedes section 5.9 of the MSCD Trustees Manual, 2007.
Review: This policy will be reviewed every five years or as deemed necessary by University leadership.
President's Operational Policies
Provost's Academic Policies
Policy FAQs


Oct 11 Awe - the secret to health and happiness?
"Awe is the feeling of being in the presence of something vast or beyond human scale, that transcends our current understanding of things," says Dacher Keltner from the University of California. In 2013 Keltner's lab began "Project Awe", a three year research program.
The study discovered that feeling awe is a positive emotion that most strongly predicts reduced levels of cytokines, a marker for inflammation that is linked to depression. A reported 75% of feelings of awe were inspired by the natural world, suggesting there is a strong link between nature and health. Recent studies have linked exposure to nature with lower blood pressure and even stronger immune systems. The researchers questioned if a lack of nature, access to natural beauty and less opportunities for feeling awe might add to the stresses and health damage that can come from urban living.


Virtual reality is a hot topic nowadays. Leading game developers are already working on titles that will utilise VR headsets from Oculus VR and Sony, which are expected to hit the market in 2015. Unlike many other players in the industry, Nintendo does not believe in VR games. According to the company, the VR technology is not ready for the mass market now.
Keeping in mind that performance of Nintendo's latest Wii U game console is significantly lower compared to that of Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One, it is unlikely that the system will ever support virtual reality headsets. Hence, it is not really surprising that a Nintendo executive does not endorse the VR in general.
It is noteworthy that Nintendo already released a virtual reality gaming device back in 1995. The Virtual Boy product was a commercial failure and was discontinued already in 1996.
Unlike the president of Nintendo of America, Patrick Soderlund, executive vice president at EA Studios, is a strong supporter of virtual reality gaming. He believes that with the Oculus Rift and the Morpheus devices the VR technology will finally take off.


An AMI-Partners survey finds small businesses are focusing more on software as a service and managed services solutions as IT budgets tighten in an uncertain economy.
A recent 11-country study by AMI-Partners highlighted significant changes in small and midsize businesses' IT needs and interests. The study's focus was to analyze how the economy is impacting SMBs' perceptions, usage and purchasing behaviors related to IT. Among key changes identified in the study was the drastic increase of SMBs worldwide now showing strong interest in managed services and SAAS (software as a service) and dramatic increases in midmarket companies' plans to outsource specific IT needs such as storage, security and telecommunications.
The study, released this summer, found that most SMBs feel the economy is starting to stabilize, however, businesses are still seeking ways to significantly reduce costs and increase revenues. This includes exploring IT products and services that can directly and immediately help ease exaggerated pain points like restricted cash flow and limited access to credit. "Solutions like SAAS and managed services offer flexible payment options and usage-based models that are very attractive to SMBs right now, as they struggle to overcome the credit crunch and very tight IT budgets," said AMI Vice President of Marketing Chad Thompson.
Other changes in SMBs' IT perceptions and behaviors include their likelihood to purchase specific IT categories such as desktops, notebooks, servers, printers and software. The study highlights the small percent of SMBs that are "very likely" to make a specific IT purchase in the next three months compared to those "somewhat likely."
"What we are seeing quarter-over-quarter is that SMBs that say they are -very likely' to make a purchase in the next three months tend to make that purchase; however, those that say they are -somewhat likely' will require a clear and compelling reason to make the purchase," said Thompson.
The survey found over the last 12 months the influence of business decision makers (or owners and presidents) has increased drastically. For example, in a fourth quarter 2008 U.S. study, approximately 31 percent of SMBs stated that their business decision makers (BDMs) were involved in "brand selection" while making an IT purchase. The most recent study found that this number jumped to 83 percent.
The study surveys business decision makers of SMBs from four perspectives: Mindset, economic impact and the actions that are being taken to manage their businesses; IT purchase plans including spending, brands and planning; Buying behaviors including routes to market and decision making, and insights for fine-tuning GtM plans including value propositions, messaging, marketing mix and more. "What we are seeing in the SMB space right now is anything but -business as usual,'" said Thompson. "SMBs are re-evaluating the way their businesses run on a number of fronts, including where and how they spend money, how they drive revenues and how IT supports these goals."


Sometimes, you'll go on a trip or have some kind of emergency and need to leave your dog with boarding. But how do you tell which facility is right for your furry bud?
First of all, ask the staff to describe what a usual day is like for the dogs in their facility. The canines should have enough opportunities burn off excessive energy. Ask them about overnight care too.
Pick a place that offers stress-busting amenities, such as an open area where the pets can play with other pets. No matter how great a facility is, dogs can still have difficulty coping with boarding, especially during the first few days.
It's a must to choose a clean, disinfected facility so that your dog stays as healthy and happy as when you left him. This is one of the main reason you should choose a place that is large enough to accommodate freely circulating air. This will help prevent the spread of disease-causing microorganisms among the animals.
The facility you choose should be staffed day in and day out. Pets must never be left among themselves, whether or not during play. There should always be someone available in the event of an emergency.
Ask what training and background the staff has in terms of animal care. If they understand dogs and know how to take care of them, they will be able to respond to issues in the best manner.
If you have a very active and social dog, pick a facility at http://catcountryresort.com/ that lets him meet people and other dogs, such as in parks or on the street. Talk to the staff about your dog's personality, and if he tends to be the quiet type who doesn't enjoy much company, make sure to mention that. Just because you're away doesn't mean your dog has to feel miserable.
Ask the staff how they usually manage general emergencies and what policies they have in place. On top of that, you'd like to know which animal they usually take sick or injured pets to whenever necessary.
If your dog has any specific medical condition from http://catcountryresort.com/about/, ask what training their staff has in terms of administering medications and if they are familiar with that condition. Finally and very importantly, ask them if they are equipped to deal with an emergency and if a veterinarian will be on board round the clock.


Boasting one of the best senior classes in the nation last year, the Tiger veterans took them to 9th at NCAAs, finishing 3rd among all SEC teams behind only Florida and UGA.
Michael Chadwick came up huge for the Tigers, racking up 36.5 points on three individual swims. His biggest swim was a runner-up finish to Caeleb Dressel in the 100 free, breaking 41 seconds in the process, while he also A-finaled in the 50 free and B-finaled in the 100 breast.
In that 100 breast, Fabian Schwingenschloegl put down a runner-up finish as well, touching 2nd behind Will Licon. Andrew Sansoucie was another A-finalist for Mizzou in the 100 fly, while the three of them teamed up with freshman Daniel Hein for some deadly medleys– they grabbed 3rd in the 400 and 4th in the 200.
Meanwhile, Carter Griffin came through for a top 8 finish in the 200 back to round out the Tigers' individual scoring, which was made up entirely of seniors.
Chadwick's departure is an obvious big hit, and Sansoucie was also a notable part of the sprint free relays.
Luke Mankus and Sam Coffman return from the NCAA 200 free relay, having split 19.0 and 19.6, respectively, with flying starts. It took a 19.2 to score in the 50 at NCAAs, and Mankus has been 19.6, so a B final appearance for him next year isn't out of the question.
Meanwhile, Mikel Schreuders is back after swimming on the 400 and 800 free relays. He was 43.1 leading off the 400 relay, .6 off of 16th place in the individual 100 at NCAAs, though his best scoring chance lies in the 200 free. He was 1:34.2 at NCAAs last year, and 1:33-mid is what it will likely take to make the B final next year.
As for the freshmen, there's some potential for 100-200 free development. Matthew Connealy, Alex Moore, and Grant Reed have all been around the same times in the 100 and 200 free: 44.7/1:37.4 for Connealy, 44.8/1:38.4 for Moore, and 44.7/1:37.1 for Reed. They could slot in for two of the open 800 free relay spots left by Griffin and Nick Davis, and there's definitely something to work with between the three of them.
Davis was far and away the best distance swimmer for Mizzou, and he just graduated. There is some help on the way, though, thanks to a freshman and a transfer.
Carter Grimes of Sandpipers of Nevada, a club known for producing distance talent, will join up as a freshman this fall. He's been 4:23 in the 500 and 15:13 in the mile, well off of scoring times, but he made the 2016-17 US Junior National team for the 10K open water and he has potential.
Meanwhile, Jacob Wielinski is coming off of a great sophomore season at North Dakota. He won the 2017 WAC title in the 1650 with a 14:59.09, a time that is seven seconds better than Davis' program record. He's 12-13 seconds off of what scored at NCAAs last year, although he's riding an improvement curve that could soar with his new training home in Columbia.
There isn't much of an IM base in Columbia this year, as Chadwick (1:43.0 in the 200) is gone, and even with Chadwick in the mix, there was no potential for NCAA points as he swims the 50 at champ meets.
Sophomore Nick Alexander will lead the way with 2017 bests of 1:45.3 and 3:46.2, with junior Alex Walton (1:46.1/3:48.1) not far behind.
Grimes has been 3:49 in the 400 IM, which will likely be his third event to go with the 500 and 1650. There will definitely be a Mizzou presence at SECs in the IM's, but the Tigers will be hard pressed to score nationally.
Like most of the strokes here, a graduation takes most of the edge out of this group, with 100 fly NCAA A finalist Andrew Sansoucie no longer part of the picture.
Sophomore Micah Slaton was the team's top 200 butterflier last season and he returns as the fastest 100 flier, too, with bests of 46.6/1:44.3. Slaton might not be able to score at NCAAs, but he's not terribly far off that level, and he'll be a solid fly leg on medley relays. Another sophomore, Daniel Hein, has been 46.8 in the 100, though he is much better suited for the backstrokes.
As mentioned, Daniel Hein is one of the few returners who helped contribute points at NCAAs last year, albeit only on relays.
Hein was 46.6/1:42.9 at SECs last season, scoring up in the A final in the 100. At NCAAs, he dropped a 45.99 leading off their 3rd place 400 medley relay and a 21.24 leading off the 200 medley relay. More of a sprinter, he'll be one important returner for multiple relays, while his individual 100 back has him on the cusp of scoring.
Sophomore Nick Alexander will be important, too, with bests of 47.4/1:42.6. His 200 is the best on the team right now, just a hair better than Hein, and backstroke is looking like the team's biggest strength this season. Juniors Alex Walton and Griffin Schaetzle are both 1:43 backstrokers, too.
Jordy Groters has bests from the 2015-16 season of 52.7/1:56.6, and he'll be the team's top breaststroker for the 2017-18 season. The B final cutoffs last year were 52.4/1:54.1, so he's right on scoring level in the 100.
Meanwhile, Jordan O'Brien isn't too far behind Groters at 53.1/1:58.1, both times coming from the Mizzou Invitational in November of 2016. Additionally, freshman Ryan Geheb brings in times of 54.8/2:00.7, and he could drop a bunch in his first year at Mizzou.
There's no getting around the graduation losses for Mizzou, and the freshman class is solid, but they can in no way make up for all of the A-final national scoring power that's no longer with the Tigers.
There are still some bits and pieces from last year, and Wielinski is an exciting add, as he's already the best distance freestyler the team has ever seen. His pairing with freshman Grimes could turn into something special, too.
Mizzou could still score some relays at the national level, but other than potential individual scoring from Hein, Schreuders and maybe a breaststroker, that will probably be the limit for them this season.
When will you put up USC's preview? Based on the original pattern it was supposed to be yesterday.
Hannah – coming tomorrow morning! We had Mizzou ready a little earlier and went with that one first.
The rankings are based on last year NCAA finish. I personally agree though that it's confusing, and looking at this article I think it makes no sense to slap the #9 number on this year's team.
I agree that many of the rankings make very little sense for teams that are projected to place much lower, like Missouri men, or much higher, like Michigan women. I do think that this is probably the most noncontroversial way to rank the teams though. It might be less confusing if they put in the article that the rankings are from last year.
They only do it in the very first sentence. It's unreasonable to expect us to read anything past the headline.
No way to sugar coat it – this is going to be a rough year for Mizzou. A top 20 finish would be a good result for them in 2018.
It's kind of funny to think about – before Rhodenbaugh came in and had a couple years to establish himself, it was a great year for Mizzou if they could get a single swimmer to NCAAs.
With the success he's had a developing guys, though (Chadwick was definitely not blue-chip coming in, neither was his last all-around star Tierney), I'd bet they at least put together some scoring relays.


One of the best parts of Silver Jack Lake and the surrounding area is the lovely campground at the north end of the lake below the dam. Nestled among the spruce forests, aspen groves, and wildflower meadows of the Cimmaron Ridge area, this campground is a real gem.
Sites are all first-come, first-served and reservations are not available. A typical national forest campground, Silver Jack does not have RV hook ups, dump stations, or other trappings of civilization, though you will find potable drinking water. What it does have are beautiful sites, most with plenty of privacy and wonderful views of the surrounding forest, and easy access to the lake and the trails around it. The boat lauch and fishing access are a few miles away near the south end of the lake, and most of the time boaters may have the lake to themselves.
Beautiful sites. Very peaceful and quiet. Beautiful lake.
A long way to the store.


text:
Dan McKanan
Dan McKanan is Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Uni-versalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity at the Harvard Divinity School. Before coming to Harvard in 2008, he served as department chair and associate professor of theology at the College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University, where he began teaching in 1998. He studies religious movements for social transformation in the United States from the abolitionist era to the present. His first book, Identifying the Image of God: Radical Christians and Nonviolent Power in the Antebellum United States (2002), explores theological understandings of violence and nonviolence among abolitionists, pacifists, and temperance activists. Touching the World: Christian Communities Transforming Society (2007) and The Catholic Worker after Dorothy: Practicing the Works of Mercy in a New Generation (2008) deal with the Camphill and Catholic Worker networks of intentional communities. Professor McKanan's more recent book, Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition, is a general history of religion and the Left in the United States
American Philosophy and Rudolf Steiner
Emerson – Thoreau – Peirce – James – Royce – Dewey – Whitehead – Feminism
Robert A. McDermott, Rebecca Kneale Gould, David Ray Griffin, Gertrude Reif Hughes, Dan McKanan, Frank Oppenheim and Douglas Sloan
Introduction by Robert A. McDermott
Edited by Robert A. McDermott
Foreword by Dan McKanan

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Scarth Hall hosts a wide range of events, open to everyone, and organised by Scarth Hall volunteers or other organisations. Just add your name to our mailing list (via contact us) to keep up-to-date with all upcoming events.
See also Scarth Hall Film Shows and our Facebook page Staindrop Scarth Hall Live for reviews and photos!
See Regular events for weekly and monthly classes and activities.
And if there is anything you would like to see happen at Scarth Hall then get in touch and get involved.
The Monday morning Café sessions are about giving people a chance to get out of the house and have a chat, cuppa and homemade cakes & bakes. Or you may just want to have some time to yourself and read the papers or a magazine (these are provided). Everyone's very welcome, including children. Emergency services in uniform receive a free cuppa. Please spread the word and join us if you can! Email Joanne if you have any questions or if you'd like more information.
Couch to 5K – This is an NHS-backed initiative to get us doing some gentle exercise each week – sessions are 3 times per week, usually on Sunday mornings at 10.30, then Wednesdays and Fridays at 6pm. The first cohort has just done it!! Starting in January, and able to run 5k by March. They are staying with the programme and running several times a week. Most of the team never thought they would do it, but it's really motiving developing together. Why not join the new cohort of beginners starting soon? Do drop us a line on scarthhall@gmail.com if you are remotely interested.
Come in comfortable clothes with comfortable footwear for an introductory session of walking and jogging up the coach road past the cemetery. So all on tarmac, no hills, and good company. If you download the app to your phone you will be told that you need to be able to talk while you are exercising – so it is not too strenuous, just enough to raise the heart rate.
Friday 26 April: Curry Night !!!!
Please support this event if you wish it to be a regular feature in the programme. And if you would like Italian/Chinese etc food on other nights then let's have a chat and see if it can work.
Saturday 4 May: Spirit Festival, celebrating gin, rum and vodka. Open at 2.30, admission £12.50 including 2 spirits of your choice. Live music in the evening. Food available for sale.
then every second Wednesday at 7.30, admission free, bring a favourite album or listen to what others bring. Have a drink and enjoy the music and the chat.
Saturday 22 June: Hot Club du Nord – back by popular demand, and sure to be another sell out. Check out the wonderful gypsy jazz fusion of virtuoso violinist Emma Fisk and her immensely talented band. Tickets £13 to include food.
Saturday 6 July: Americana night celebrating the best in U.S. music from the 20th century with live music all evening, and hot food available. Admission £12.
From 7.30 – 11 00. Admission £10 (under 12's £5, under 5's free). Bar open – bring your own food. Raffle and other games. Tickets from Sarah Fells 01833 660773, and post office.
Beer only £3.30 per pint and sold in third and half pints too. Ciders, cocktails and wines also on offer, and food served too.
Open Friday evening at 7. Closing Friday night will be 'Somebodies Cat'; lively, familiar and not too loud. Saturday afternoon from 4pm with live music throughout, including the 'house' ensemble the D'ukes of Scarth, finishing with the ever popular FABS.
Admission £10 per day or £15 for 2 days.
Please no children after 9.


text:
Screening of Pistacia integerrima extracts for their anticonvulsant activity in acute zebrafish and rodent models of epilepsy
Pankaj D Jain, Rufi M Tambe, Jayant S Sancheti, Mruniya S Nahire, Atulkumar K Bhardwaj, Sadhana Sathaye
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Sadhana Sathaye
Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology, Matunga (E), Mumbai - 400 019, Maharashtra
Background: Epilepsy is one of the most common, serious neurological conditions, affecting more than 50 million people worldwide. This disorder is characterized by the occurrence of spontaneous and recurrent seizures due to the abnormal, excessive, and synchronous electrical firing of neuronal networks Aim: The objective of the present study was to evaluate Pistacia integerrima (PI) gall extracts in acute models of epilepsy for their anticonvulsant activity. Materials and Methods: Extraction of galls of PI using a Soxhlet apparatus was carried out to yield petroleum ether and methanolic extracts. Both the extracts were screened in pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)-induced seizures in the zebrafish model. The active extract was further evaluated in the PTZ-induced seizures in mice. Both extracts were further screened in the maximal electroshock (MES) model in rats. Results: The petroleum ether extract of Pistacia integerrima (PEPI) exhibited dose-dependent delay at 50mg/kg, 100mg/kg, and 200 mg/kg in the onset of different seizure parameters in PTZ-induced seizures in the zebrafish model that was further confirmed in mice at 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg. In addition, the extract exhibited delay in the duration of hind limb extension (HLE) as well as protected from it at 50 mg/kg, 100mg/kg, and 150 mg/kg in the MES model in rats. The metabolic extract of Pistacia integerrima (MEPI) was unable to protect from seizures in both preliminary screening (PTZ and MES) models. Conclusion: The results showed that PEPI demonstrated potential anticonvulsant activity in zebrafish and rodent models of epilepsy. This may be attributed to the presence of essential oil and its phytoconstituents, indicating its role in suppressing generalized absence and tonic-clonic seizures.
Jain PD
Tambe RM
Sancheti JS
Nahire MS
Bhardwaj AK
Sathaye S
maximal electroshock (MES)
pentylenetetrazole (PTZ)
Pistacia integerrima (PI)


SascoSports is a dealer for Avon, Dunlop, Goodyear, Hoosier, Michelin, Pirelli and Toyo racing tires. We provide and can offer expert advice to make sure you are running on the tires best suited for you and which fit within the rules of the club you are racing with.
We attend all the major east coast vintage and historic events and support SCCA regionals with Goodyear tires at VIR. We provide knowledgeable and friendly trackside tire service and can either ship to you or deliver your tires to an event.
Our tire experts can provide custom tread pattern cutting to produce intermediate or rain tires.
To browse the tires we sell - please click on a tire manufacturer.


text:
Buycoins' journey to powering Africa's financial and digital economy – TechCabal
Image source: Techcabal
Buycoins is celebrating its history and the milestone of transitioning to Helicarrier, its new parent company, and is holding an event titled "State of The Union" on October 30 to mark it. While the discussions at the event would have far-reaching consequences on the state of cryptocurrency in the country, the event is exclusive and invite-only.
But before Buycoins, the company was called Bitkoin—a website for peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin trading.
Buycoins was founded in 2017 by Timi Ajiboye, Ire Aderinokun and Tomiwa Lasebikan to afford Nigerians a safe and easy way to buy, sell and store cryptocurrencies. After being called Buycoins for the past three years, the exchange and all the products created by its team will now be housed under the new parent company, Helicarrier.
The Buycoins team expressed that it made the change because its former name didn't do a good job of capturing all they do and have become. Similar to the name of the fictitious versatile super-machines that are capable of sustained flight via four massive turbine engines, Helicarrier currently houses over five which will power its efforts to disrupt remittance payment in Nigeria and, by extension, Africa.
Helicarrier's five products are Buycoins, a platform for buying, selling and storing cryptocurrencies; Buycoins Pro, a platform for advanced crypto traders, featuring an order book, many more currency pairs and other tools for super-fast trading on the go; Sendcash, a platform for crypto-powered remittance; Sendcash Pay, a suite of developer tools that let you add borderless payment experiences to your digital products; and NGNT (Nigerian Naira Token), a naira-backed digital currency.
All the products will retain their names and normal operations, the Buycoins team explained.
To further understand Buycoins' work over the past three years, the challenging, fulfilling and exciting parts, and the rationale behind the change to a new name, I spoke with Tomiwa Lasebikan, co-founder and Chief Product Officer; Teju Adeyinka, Head of Growth, Sendcash; and Zino Asamaige, Head of Growth, Buycoins Pro.
Tomiwa Lasebikan: So, I guess it was the challenge of getting started with crypto in Nigeria. There were times Timi and Ire would want to buy something from the US and want to send me Bitcoin as a means of payment for that. But being able to get Bitcoin in Nigeria was a pain. Back then, we had something called "local Bitcoins", but it was fraud-prone and the user experience was really bad. We all had conversations and thought, "Oh, how difficult would it be to build a crypto exchange?" It was supposed to be a little project that enabled people to trade Bitcoin without stress. So, that was the start of the journey.
TL: There have been a lot of things. One has been the challenge of hiring, especially because we are building something in a very new and rapidly-evolving space. So, we need people with the ability to keep up with the fast pace of the industry. That can be very challenging.
We've also had issues with educating our users about cryptocurrency and the crypto space to protect them from scams. To get people on board, we've had to change the dominant narrative that crypto was for geeky computer scientists and whatnot. Making people think of crypto as something they can use for moving money across borders or hedging against inflation has been an important aspect of our (re)orientation campaign.
Another challenge we faced was interfacing with regulatory systems—although that's a global problem: big exchanges like Coinbase face regulatory challenges too.
Teju Adeyinka: Getting people who are willing to even try out the products is challenging. For instance, with Sendcash, people who have never used Bitcoin before might feel intimidated to try it out because of the interface. So, we had to figure out a way to craft our messages and build experiences that make sense for people who don't care about all the technicalities of using crypto.
We also had to deal with platforms' regulations. For instance, MailChimp reached out to say we can't use them anymore because we are a crypto exchange company and they don't support crypto exchange companies at the moment.
We constantly have to find alternatives for a lot of different things because people and platforms do not want to work with a crypto exchange company.
Zino Asamaige: When we launched, a bulk of the work had to do with educating customers. There were so many questions we didn't have answers to, but we couldn't just send them away. So, we learned more about the space or used Google when asked questions, all to ensure that our customers are satisfied.
TL: Back in November 2018, when we got our first dozen high-volume users, it was nice to see. Subsequently, there was a spike in trading volume and we knew we were building something useful. There were times we got comments like, "Sendcash is the best way for me to send money back home to my mum." During the lockdown, not everyone could stand in queues at Western Union, so using Sendcash to send money was easier. Providing a service that changes dollars or crypto to naira in a few minutes is satisfying.
TL: Another early milestone was when we hit a million dollars in volume of transactions processed in a month, in the fall of 2018, just after YC Demo Day. Before Buycoins—the app with a standard exchange interface, we had Bitkoin Africa, a website for P2P crypto trading, So, when in one day, we did more volume at Buycoins than in all of Bitkoin Africa's history, we were elated.
Also, in December last year, the last month we had publicly shared, we added $20 million in monthly volume.
ZA: We created a crypto course at Buycoins in 2019, and it has been one of the best things I've ever done in my life. It was an introduction to Bitcoin for beginners. We spent a lot of time simplifying the language, making it easy for anyone to read and understand. Right now, we have over 3,000 people taking the course, and the feedback we get from people is particularly about the course is easy to understand.
TL: Being able to define what we do is critical for us because a lot of times, with crypto, it's not very obvious the full range of things that people can do to be able to solve their problems. And so, it became increasingly clear to us that we were in danger of people narrowly defining what it is that we did. Some just think of us as a crypto exchange or platform for sending cash. It was something we wanted to fix. One day, it became clear to us that we're the sum of this box and more. So, we had to turn all of these things into a consistent story and define the set of tools that we think of as the infrastructure for growing crypto adoption on the continent.
So, fundamentally, we think of ourselves as sort of building out the infrastructure for the rapid adoption of crypto. Each of the things that we build as a part of Helicarrier serves a purpose, but we have to ensure that is clear.
So, there are four major things we do: the crypto exchange, Sendcash, Sendcash Pay, and the OTC desk, which is a way for businesses to effectively move money across borders. There's also one more exciting thing, still in the pipeline.
ZA: Our users know that nothing has changed. From the point of view of using our products, they haven't had to do anything extra. All these products were not added in just one day; we gradually built them with the users. So, when we develop anything, the first thing we do is talk to customers about it.
TL: Security is important to us because we are managing people's assets. There are many risk factors we always have to address, but one big thing is recognising that the problems we face are global challenges. So, what we do is, lean into the expertise of big exchanges like Binance, learn from their experience battling these problems and just replicate solutions where necessary.
One good example is asset custody, where we don't worry about building the infrastructure ourselves because there are crypto custody companies that have already solved this problem. We also ensure we take our own security measures: everyone who uses our platform is verified.
ZA: The hardest part has been hiring. One thing that Helicarrier takes very seriously is customer service. We try to make sure that anybody that works with us is as obsessed with it as we are. A large part of customer support work is telling customers that their money is not missing. Customers that have their money on any app open the app every second to check. If they notice any unusual changes, they'll hit you up with "Where's my money?"
TL: It's been one of the obvious challenging points in the company's lifecycle. We had to understand regulatory communication and ensure that we framed that effectively for our users and explained their implications to them. We let them know that their assets were completely safe.
The next thing was to figure out the shortest time for us to get back on our mission and ensure that users could do the things they want to do and extract the value they had always been able to extract from us.
Behind the scenes, we were able to process how we arrived at the problem in the first place, which involved figuring out which regulators or stakeholders to talk to, helping them understand the importance of crypto, and letting them know we are good-faith actors and that there wasn't anything fishy going on in the space. We let them know that we have the same goal, which is to empower Nigerians.
ZA: That would be somebody who doesn't want stress but wants to make cryptocurrency transactions. Or somebody who wants to be able to send money to Nigeria easily. Or somebody who wants to use cryptocurrencies to join a world of possibilities.
TA: A Buycoins user is a global African, living on the continent or elsewhere, trying to connect to the world financially. A Helicarrier customer would be an African or a business that is traditionally shut out of the financial system but wants to access the global finance infrastructure easily.
Previous PostIs Your Broking App Making You Trade More Than You'd Set Out To? – BloombergQuint
Next PostGovernor Hochul Announces New York State's Excelsior Pass Blueprint – Governor.NY.gov
To Make a Profit, Dating Apps Must Leverage Data Differently - Harvard Business Review
Companies such as dating sites often rely on a freemium model, through which they grant users access to premium, usually...


text:
/* global */
const logger = require('./logger').logger;

const log = logger.getLogger('Events');

/*
 * Class EventDispatcher provides event handling to sub-classes.
 * It is inherited from Publisher, Room, etc.
 */
const EventDispatcher = () => {
  const that = {};
  // Private vars
  const dispatcher = {
    eventListeners: {},
  };

  // Public functions

  // It adds an event listener attached to an event type.
  that.addEventListener = (eventType, listener) => {
    if (dispatcher.eventListeners[eventType] === undefined) {
      dispatcher.eventListeners[eventType] = [];
    }
    dispatcher.eventListeners[eventType].push(listener);
  };

  // It removes an available event listener.
  that.removeEventListener = (eventType, listener) => {
    if (!dispatcher.eventListeners[eventType]) {
      return;
    }
    const index = dispatcher.eventListeners[eventType].indexOf(listener);
    if (index !== -1) {
      dispatcher.eventListeners[eventType].splice(index, 1);
    }
  };

  // It dispatch a new event to the event listeners, based on the type
  // of event. All events are intended to be LicodeEvents.
  that.dispatchEvent = (event) => {
    if (!event || !event.type) {
      throw new Error('Undefined event');
    }
    log.debug(`Event: ${event.type}`);
    const listeners = dispatcher.eventListeners[event.type] || [];
    for (let i = 0; i < listeners.length; i += 1) {
      listeners[i](event);
    }
  };

  that.on = that.addEventListener;
  that.off = that.removeEventListener;
  that.emit = that.dispatchEvent;

  return that;
};

class EventEmitter {
  constructor() {
    this.emitter = EventDispatcher();
  }
  addEventListener(eventType, listener) {
    this.emitter.addEventListener(eventType, listener);
  }
  removeEventListener(eventType, listener) {
    this.emitter.removeEventListener(eventType, listener);
  }
  dispatchEvent(evt) {
    this.emitter.dispatchEvent(evt);
  }
  on(eventType, listener) {
    this.addEventListener(eventType, listener);
  }
  off(eventType, listener) {
    this.removeEventListener(eventType, listener);
  }
  emit(evt) {
    this.dispatchEvent(evt);
  }
}

// **** EVENTS ****

/*
 * Class LicodeEvent represents a generic Event in the library.
 * It handles the type of event, that is important when adding
 * event listeners to EventDispatchers and dispatching new events.
 * A LicodeEvent can be initialized this way:
 * var event = LicodeEvent({type: "room-connected"});
 */
const LicodeEvent = (spec) => {
  const that = {};

  // Event type. Examples are: 'room-connected', 'stream-added', etc.
  that.type = spec.type;

  return that;
};

/*
 * Class ConnectionEvent represents an Event that happens in a Room. It is a
 * LicodeEvent.
 * It is usually initialized as:
 * var roomEvent = RoomEvent({type:"stream-added", streams:[stream1, stream2]});
 * Event types:
 * 'stream-added' - a stream has been added to the connection.
 * 'stream-removed' - a stream has been removed from the connection.
 * 'ice-state-change' - ICE state changed
 */
const ConnectionEvent = (spec) => {
  const that = LicodeEvent(spec);

  that.stream = spec.stream;
  that.state = spec.state;

  return that;
};

/*
 * Class RoomEvent represents an Event that happens in a Room. It is a
 * LicodeEvent.
 * It is usually initialized as:
 * var roomEvent = RoomEvent({type:"room-connected", streams:[stream1, stream2]});
 * Event types:
 * 'room-connected' - points out that the user has been successfully connected to the room.
 * 'room-disconnected' - shows that the user has been already disconnected.
 */
const RoomEvent = (spec) => {
  const that = LicodeEvent(spec);

  // A list with the streams that are published in the room.
  that.streams = spec.streams;
  that.message = spec.message;

  return that;
};

/*
 * Class StreamEvent represents an event related to a stream. It is a LicodeEvent.
 * It is usually initialized this way:
 * var streamEvent = StreamEvent({type:"stream-added", stream:stream1});
 * Event types:
 * 'stream-added' - indicates that there is a new stream available in the room.
 * 'stream-removed' - shows that a previous available stream has been removed from the room.
 */
const StreamEvent = (spec) => {
  const that = LicodeEvent(spec);

  // The stream related to this event.
  that.stream = spec.stream;

  that.msg = spec.msg;
  that.bandwidth = spec.bandwidth;
  that.attrs = spec.attrs;

  return that;
};

/*
 * Class PublisherEvent represents an event related to a publisher. It is a LicodeEvent.
 * It usually initializes as:
 * var publisherEvent = PublisherEvent({})
 * Event types:
 * 'access-accepted' - indicates that the user has accepted to share his camera and microphone
 */
const PublisherEvent = (spec) => {
  const that = LicodeEvent(spec);

  return that;
};

exports.EventEmitter = EventEmitter;
exports.EventDispatcher = EventDispatcher;
exports.ConnectionEvent = ConnectionEvent;
//exports = { EventDispatcher, EventEmitter, LicodeEvent, RoomEvent, StreamEvent, PublisherEvent,
//  ConnectionEvent };

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Ross Revenge - Radio Caroline - RCSG Events ... post them here.
The next gathering of the Radio Caroline Southampton Support group will take place on Wednesday 16th May from 7pm at the Netley Victoria Club, Netley near Southampton SO31 5DG.
This time our special guests will be Suzy Wilde plus the team that produces the Top 15s. Some of the DJs and restoration staff will be there and Albert and Georgina Hood will be setting up the Caroline merchandise stall.
There is a bar and everyone are welcome to join us for a £5 donation which includes a buffet. All proceeds will go towards the cost of work on board our Radio Ship, The Ross Revenge.
How did the meeting go? Did anyone from here attend?


text:
Q: Dispatch update to store no longer working I've been doing react for a few months now and from one of the udemy courses I had a base template that used firebase.  I thought it would be a good exercise to try to update my base template to use firestore instead of firebase.  I thought this would be much simpler than it is - there are so many moving parts, and then even within the moving parts there are differences in versions.
The problem that I am having after having moved everything around a bit is that I can't seem to dispatch to update the store when the user logs in.  I suspect that this is an indication of a bigger problem.  I am going to try to include enough code so that someone may have an idea.
  //configureStore.js
  const initialState = window && window.__INITIAL_STATE__ // set initial state here

  firebase.initializeApp(firebaseConfig)
  firebase.firestore().settings({ timestampsInSnapshots: true })

   const store = createStore(rootReducer,
    initialState,
    compose(
      applyMiddleware(reduxThunk),
      window.devToolsExtension ? window.devToolsExtension() : f => f
    ));

    export const auth = firebase.auth();
    export const firestore = firebase.firestore();

    const googleAuthProvider = new firebase.auth.GoogleAuthProvider();

  export { googleAuthProvider, firebase, store as default}

app.js:
  //app.js
const rrfConfig = {
  useFirestoreForProfile: true,
  userProfile: "users",
  attachAuthIsReady: true,
};

const rrfProps = {
  firebase,
  config: rrfConfig,
  dispatch: store.dispatch,
  createFirestoreInstance,
};

/* working firestore code
ReactDOM.render(
  <Provider store={store}>
    <ReactReduxFirebaseProvider {...rrfProps}>
    <AppRouter />
    </ReactReduxFirebaseProvider>
  </Provider>,
  document.getElementById("app")
);
*/

const jsx = (<Provider store={store}>
<ReactReduxFirebaseProvider {...rrfProps}>
<AppRouter />
</ReactReduxFirebaseProvider>
</Provider>)

let hasRendered = false;
const renderApp = () => {
  if (!hasRendered) {
    ReactDOM.render(jsx, document.getElementById('app'));
    hasRendered = true;
  }
};

 ReactDOM.render(<LoadingPage />, document.getElementById('app'));
 firebase.auth().onAuthStateChanged((user) => {
  if (user) {

   store.dispatch(login(user.uid));
    console.log ("store", store);
    console.log ("This prints out the UID correctly", user.uid);
    store.dispatch(startSetTweets()).then(() => {
      renderApp();

auth us file
  export const login = (uid) => ({
  type: 'LOGIN',
  uid
});

actions js file
export const startSetTweets = () => {
    return (dispatch, getState) => {
      const uid = getState().auth.uid;
      console.log("this returns undefined = ", uid);

I can see in my redux dev tool that auth is not correct
auth: {
authError: null
},

A: in the reducer the switch statement was looking for the wrong action type.  Once I corrected this it was fine.
const authReducer = (state = initState, action) => {
  switch(action.type){
    case 'LOGIN':
            return {
                uid: action.uid,
                ...state,
                authError: null
            };

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Christian McCaffrey's humility and hard work – despite the accolades and attention – has had a lasting impact on the team he left, especially on Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week Bryce Love.
Despite Stanford's ups and downs, Love has been a consistent force. He's rushed for more than 100 yards in six straight games and, against UCLA, came 21 yards short of Christian McCaffrey's single-game school record for rushing yards.
"Bryce himself credits Christian's approach to him," David Shaw said of Love's strong start. Last year, while the spotlight focused on McCaffrey, McCaffrey made sure to turn his attention to his teammates to celebrate their success, especially Love.
"For me, a guy like Christian, it's so many little things. here and there so many little conversations," Love said. "It's just a lot of little things he did that set him apart. How he was in the classroom and on the field, I'll say that natural competitive drive is something I took from him."
Like McCaffrey, Love is kind of on the outskirts of some very early Heisman talks. He's already pocketed 787 rushing yards and five touchdowns through his first four games. Though, Shaw laughed at the idea that there is any process to getting Love's name front and center.
"If you can't tell on the phone I'm laughing right now," he said. "To me, there's no – its an observation – there is no process. There's no Heisman process, there's no committee. To think you can influence voters, there's really nothing you can do. We don't know who's going to get it, let's just play as hard as we can and let the chips fall as they may."
The Bruins face a tough Colorado team this Saturday, and Jim Mora is impressed with almost every facet of their team. Quarterback Steven Montez can compete snap to snap with Josh Rosen, Mora citing his big arm and mobility in space. One difference between the two teams might come down to UCLA's struggling defense pitted against Colorado's strong unit. "Defensively they're taking the ball away at a high rate and that's something we've struggled with." Mora said.
The Trojans forced six Cal turnovers last week.
Coach Clay Helton credits his defensive coaching staff for sending new coverages and packages that Cal hadn't seen before, a four-man rush put a lot of pressure that's forced the issue up front a lot this season.
"Not only have we had 10 turnovers, but we've had eight sacks."
The Bears will face Oregon this weekend, which means Ducks' quarterback Justin Herbert and Cal coach Justin Wilcox will be reunited.
The Wilcox and Herbert families have deep ties, rooted in Junction City, Oregon. The Justins, with their siblings, would play football together in the backyard on holidays.
"I was really close with his parents and grandparents growing up," said Wilcox. "I haven't lived there in a long time so I don't keep up with the people, I can only follow Justin from afar."
It's been a while since the Justins, Herbert and Wilcox, have seen each other in their hometown. Now Wilcox has to see Herbert in a different context. "His ability to throw the ball. He can throw it as well as anybody," Wilcox said. "He's a talented quarterback and I know he's a great kid."
Huskies' receiver Chico McClatcher will miss the rest of the season with a broken ankle. That's football, said coach Chris Petersen.
"That's just how football goes, unfortunately. We know that going into the season that we need to have other guys ready to go," he said. "It's football 101, next man up, let's go."
Coach Mike MacIntyre is not looking forward to facing Josh Rosen. The guy leads the nation in touchdowns, so the fear is rational.
"He's just throwing it so well, he's on target," he said. "We're gonna have to play excellent football. If he sits back there all day he'll pick you apart. He knows exactly where he's going with the football, he's reading the coverage well."
To keep up with Rosen, MacIntyre hopes his team can just get the ball in the end zone more.
The Sun Devils are still glowing from their upset win over a ranked Oregon team this past weekend. They're starting to find themselves, said coach Todd Graham.
"We just have to keep getting better," he said. "I think we're close to finding what our niche is, what our identity is on all three phases." Part of the success came through freshman kicker and Pac-12 Special Teams Player of the Week Brandon Ruiz.
"He's special, he's as talented as any guy I've coached. Got a real calm, cool demeanor."
Leach talked about his quarterback Luke Falk, who leads the nation in touchdown-interception ratio.
"He studies relentlessly, constantly studies and constantly works," Leach said. "We've got some young receivers out there and I think we're getting better in terms of our timing out there." He's always been a tireless worker.
The Ducks lost a heartbreaker to Arizona State this past weekend, but coach Willie Taggart never saw the fire flicker in Justin Herbert.
"I learned that we have a winner in him. I know looking at him his eyes the whole game we felt like we were still going to win when we got the ball back with 50-some seconds," he said.
The Beavs play Washington this weekend, and coach Chris Petersen mentioned that he thought the Beavs were close to where they need to be.
"I appreciate that," OSU coach Gary Andersen said. "Obviously we're working to get better every single day. What we need to be able to see is consistency."
"A good coach, Petersen, can see that and he understands that and he'll pass it along to his kids so they'll be prepared."
Utah has a bye this week, which gives coach Kyle Whittingham an extra week to soak in all the Bryce Love film he can take.
The Utes still have the best rush defense in the Pac-12 – averaging 87 yards allowed per game, but they'll face a new challenge in Love.
"Bryce Love is a tremendous football player," Whittingham said. "He has the whole package as a football player....He's a guy that we will have our hands full with."
The Wildcats are coming off an encouraging loss in which they put up 24 points on Utah and their stingy defense. Arizona will face Colorado after a bye week.


text:
Pizzeria donating 100% of sales to family of fallen LMPD officer Zachary Cottongim
A new fundraising initiative is supporting the family of a fallen police officer who leaves behind a wife and two young sons.
lmpd officer zachary cottongim
A new fundraising initiative is supporting the family of a fallen police officer who leaves behind a wife and two young sons. Tim Tam Tavern is donating 100% of today's sales to the family of Louisville Metro Police Officer Zachary Cottongim who died on Dec. 18 after being struck while outside his patrol car during an investigation.Background: LMPD officer who was struck by car on I-64 has diedOwners say they've seen an outpouring of support, with wait times as long as three hours and some customers simply dropping off donations."We've been swamped, they started calling in before we even opened this morning. We've got about a three-hour wait limit right now for orders. we are overwhelmed by the support of the community today," said Clem Russel owner of the Tim Tam Tavern.The pizzeria will be open until 7 p.m. Monday if you want to show your support.
Tim Tam Tavern is donating 100% of today's sales to the family of Louisville Metro Police Officer Zachary Cottongim who died on Dec. 18 after being struck while outside his patrol car during an investigation.
Background: LMPD officer who was struck by car on I-64 has died
Owners say they've seen an outpouring of support, with wait times as long as three hours and some customers simply dropping off donations.
"We've been swamped, they started calling in before we even opened this morning. We've got about a three-hour wait limit right now for orders. we are overwhelmed by the support of the community today," said Clem Russel owner of the Tim Tam Tavern.
The pizzeria will be open until 7 p.m. Monday if you want to show your support.


Applebee's is bringing back their now famous beverage promotion.
"Dollaritas" were a huge hit when the chain restaurant did this in October of last year, and they are doing it again for the month of April. Nothing says Margaritas like a whole bunch of snow in April.
Margaritas are extremely popular with our guests, and our Dollarita is the most refreshing drink money can buy. We're excited to bring it back in April as a reason to celebrate the return of spring.
I know, I can't believe "Beverage Innovation" is a job either. I have no problem with Applebee's, I really don't, it is what it is. It's a place to go when none of the adults want to "adult", as the kids say. You are going there, because you don't want to cook, do the dishes, or care about nutrition for the day. We all have those days.
I just worry about the mentality of the kind of person who actively seeks a $1 margarita. I like a margarita as much as the next guy, but you get what you pay for. The dollar margarita market is a shady business. You have people whose intentions may not be on the "up-and-up."


The Oasis of Marr is a large desert area that lies in the middle of the Desert of Ro. The oasis itself is inhabited by crocodiles of all types, and the island in the middle has a temple that is surrounded by specters. The zone is one of the most dangerous in this part of the world.
This is a very dangerous zone, mostly because almost every creature in the zone is both powerful and aggressive. The pumas are the least of your concerns, the wandering madmen, mummies, and sand giants are much more dangerous. Add to that the fact that many lower level characters travel through here en route from Freeport or Neriak to the swamps to the south.
There are several monsters you can hunt in this zone to earn EverQuest Platinum. Starting from; Pumas, Sand Scarabs, Dune Tarantulas, Desert Madmen, Lesser Mummies, Shriveled Mummies, Crypt Mummies, Ghouls, Dry Bone Skeletons, Crocodiles, Caimans, Deepwater Caimans, Deepwater Crocodiles, Orc Warriors, Orc Priests, Deepwater Goblins, Sand Giants, Spectres.
This area is good hunting for people who are looking to fight creatures of the levels described above. The crocodiles and caimans along the eastern edge provide good hunting for characters in their low teens for level and their older cousins the deepwaters can carry you all the way up to around 20th. If you're savvy, you can also get a regular supply of them from the water, although your swimming skill must be pretty good to actually make it back to shore.
There are also some neat items that can be found in this dungeon. Found a perfect spot for mobs of monster where it is easier for you to found them. There are items can be looted in this spot which can be a great profit to earn EverQuest Platinum.


Jose Antonio Borba Bandera (El-Sato).
Born in Uruguay, living in Spain since 2018.
Working professionally on videogame art and animation since 2006.
Skills include many aspects of 2d art and animation, like Pixel art, flash, bone animation, and others like ilustration, design, concept, comics, etc.
Wayforward – Cleanup and Animator for Batman The brave and the bold and Thor.
Reverge Labs – Cleanup artist for Skullgirls.
Moyo Inc. - Contract artist and animator for several IOS games.
Enlevel studio – Artist for "Are you quick enough?" series for IOS.
Mudloop – Artist for several IOS games, including Pig Shot, Robin Hood, etc.
Pocket Monkey - Art and animation for several IOS games.
Inzen Studio – Hud design and ilustrations for Gameshow warriors for IOS, Comic artist.
Everplay – Pixel art animation, designs, ilustrations for several IOS games.
Nine tales digital – Bone animator.
Arcade Distillery - Bone animator.
Kill the Pikakiri – IOS – Personal project, made with Mudloop.


A primarily North American tradition, the Sweet Sixteen is a coming of age party celebrating a girl's 16th birthday. It has more recently been popularized by the MTV series "My Super Sweet 16," which ran from 2005 to 2008. The show featured privileged teens with wealthy parents throwing lavish galas and dance party blowouts full of celebrity pop stars showing up for guest performances.
Planning a party is no easy feat — it involves the careful coordination of hundreds of details, any of which might abruptly change and require spur of the moment resourcefulness. And depending on the type of event, the stakes can be even higher.


Hundreds of thousands of US soldiers returned from World War II to almost universal approval, parades, honors and public adulation. They were called America's Greatest Generation. The general most identified with this war was elected President by a huge margin.
Hundreds of thousands of US soldiers returned from Vietnam to a very mixed reaction, a good deal of public scorn, and honor largely only among each other. They were called America's Lost Generation. Nobody seemed to want to identify with this war, but among those that were publicly associated there was one President who resigned in disgrace, and one future unsuccessful presidential candidate whose Congressional testimony discussed participating in numerous war crimes.
Now we have Desert Storm, Desert Shield, and Enduring Freedom.
Well, the approval is back, and the honors are back. The adulation isn't there much anymore, but if you talk to a WWII vet, they never understood the adulation anyway. They just went and did a job, did the best they could, and came home. That's what our soldiers are doing now. There aren't many big victories (there were, but only for about two weeks), at least none that get reported, but neither are there defeats, or worse, victories that get reported as defeats. It's a workmanlike effort, a job that needs doing, so we do it.
It's almost like we've grown up as a country.
You can see this very well in the movies. WWII era movies are bloodless, heroic fairy tales. They aren't really about the war in any real sense. The war is a backdrop for John Wayne to make speeches. Not that these movies are bad, immoral, or fattening. They aren't. But they do very well reflect the ethos of the time, that the war was a good thing, a noble cause, and those that fought in it were to be honored and admired.
Fast forward to the 70s and 80s, and you get movies like Apocalypse Now and Platoon, which seem to have as their central character the war itself. The actors are merely foils for the war, powerless to resist its insanity, maimed and disfigured physically and emotionally by the senselessness of it. This, too, reflects an ethos and a public perception. It also reflects the contempt of many for the men that fought in Vietnam, though I should say there are many places and many people that rejected this contempt and held the fighting men in great esteem despite an avalanche of negative press. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that the hopelessness of these movies was born out of a similar public hopelessness, and a rejection of the WWII sanitization of the war.
Today we have something very different. On our airport concourses, we have people applauding our soldiers as they return home. We have entire neighborhoods ablaze in yellow ribbons. We have bands and tributes again, as we once did.
And yet, am I the only one that feels there might be something different about it all? We have heroic war movies again, like before, but Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, while inspiring, in no way gloss over the horror that war brings to those that endure it. And yet, they still do inspire, not in spite of the horror, but in an odd way because of it.
What I hear from the tributes and paeans of praise for our troops in this day and age is an almost adult understanding of the true meaning of the sacrifice being made on our behalf. Oh, there's still bravado and bombast in some quarters, as there is whining and self-pity, hopelessness and defeatism. But by and large, the majority of the country seems to have harnessed itself to the idea that there are noble deeds being done by ordinary men and women every day, and that those deeds should make us grateful that there are such men and women to do them.
America is home to not one great generation, but many. The first, perhaps, we took a bit for granted. The second we unfairly judged. This one, now, this one we see more clearly. They are heroes. Not Olympian heroes, without flaw or pain, but true heroes in the truest sense, men and women of extraordinary character and resolve, who make sacrifices on our behalf not out of necessity, as the previous generations did, but out of gratitude and a sense of duty. These are volunteers, not draftees. Is there any way to entirely comprehend the miracle of that?
We have grown up, as a people, and that is hopeful. I doubt we can ever appreciate in any completeness the miracle we witness every day. We benefit from it now in obvious ways, but we will reap the rewards of it for generations to come. This is an investment that will pay huge dividends for those that made it, and for the rest of us that are their comrades, if not in arms, then at least in spirit.
It is perhaps the most hopeful thing I've seen in my 40 years on this earth.
How Bad is the Offside Rule?
the soccer offside rule is the stupidest rule in sports.
Honestly, folks, this isn't even close.
First, no other rule in any sport requires the referee to be watching three things at the same time; in this case, the single ref on the playing field has to be watching the ball to see when it is played, the most-forward offensive player, and the entire opposing defense. Best-case, that's three things in an area about the size of a basketball court; worst case, it's three things spread over almost an acre.
Second, it's the only rule in sports that penalizes one team for the actions of the opposing team. When the defense moves in football, the offense doesn't get a penalty for it. Lots of sports have offside rules, including football and rugby, but in those sports, the defense cannot make the offense offside.
Third, and most damning, it's a rule that makes no intrinsic sense. It's just stapled onto a really good game for the purpose of restricting scoring. It's exactly like adding a rule to basketball allowing the Celtics to stop Kobe from scoring by having all their players run off the floor when Kobe gets the ball, forcing him to shoot from 40 feet instead of passing the ball to Lamar Odom for a dunk. How stupid is this?
Purists say that getting rid of the offside rule would ruin the game, but they can't agree on how. Some say scoring would skyrocket but fail to explain how that would be bad, except for the Italians. Others say that scoring would fall (not sure how that's possible, really), because teams would put all their players in front of their goal. But both contentions are founded on nothing much but guesswork, since as far as I know nobody has ever tested it.
I think scoring would rise, and rise dramatically, but not because there would be a huge number of long-bomb goals to cherry-picking forwards. In the same way that a team's scoring rises in football when it has a deep-receiver threat, scoring in soccer would rise. Even the best deep receiver doesn't get more than one or two deep balls a game, but his presence allows a lot more play in front of him by expanding the area the defense has to cover. The best players on the field are usually the central midfielders (look for the number 10), who would all of a sudden gain much larger spaces to work magic in. What kills the game is that offside allows 8 defenders to congregate at the top of the penalty box and shut down Ronaldino with sheer numbers; getting rid of the offside rule would not allow them to do that. The magical, miracle moments we fans love so much would come every 5 minutes, not every half hour.
We'll never see it. Even when Italy puts on a ridiculous display in a major international tournament, embarrassing themselves and international soccer, we're not going to hear calls for getting rid of this cancerous growth on the beautiful game (the offside rule, not Italy itself).
long-term mortgage rates do not have that much to do with one another.
and repricing to the better.
So this morning we have the first tick down in certain rates we've seen in a month.
significantly. But again, it's a sign of increasing activity.
a real estate expert, mind you.
try to time the market. It's a fool's game.
production, possibly dramatically, by the end of 2009.
dictators, and Nigeria is in the middle of a civil war.
guaranteed not to do anything with rates, but you never know.
You won't regret it if you do.
What the heck is that about? If your estimates really aren't your estimates, then what are they?
incentive to destroy your portfolio and lose your clients millions?
but boy, I'm having trouble seeing it.
You are currently browsing the blog archives for June, 2008.


This research-project analyses how the interaction between prince, nobles and urban elites influenced the construction, perception, and representation of a territory. The test case will be the late medieval Duchy of Brabant, which still has historical and territorial significance for many people in present-day Belgium and the Netherlands. To underscore the fluidity and multiplicity of the concept of territory, this project sets out to disentangle the divergent, though sometimes overlapping, conceptions of what exactly Brabant was (or should be) in the eyes of different political actors, in this time before the availability of reliable scale maps. To answer the main research question the project takes a twofold approach. On the one hand, we will define ducal, noble, and urban conceptions of Brabant mainly through administrative sources, particularly those of the fourteenth century that reflect a turning point in the capturing of territory. On the other hand, we will explicate how differently political actors envisaged and visualized territory in a wide range of relevant sources: architectural, heraldic, cartographic, narrative, and administrative. In this way, the project provides a completely new perspective on the concept of territory before cartography and state formation turned boundaries and territories into more fixed (but still changeable) geographical entities.
The project is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) within the framework of the so-called 'Free Competition Humanities programme' (2016-2020). Click here for more information on the NWO-website.
Researchers on this project are Mario Damen (PI), Kim Overlaet (Postdoc) and Arend Elias Oostindiér (PhD). For more information click here.
An outline of an intriguing new research project on the late medieval Duchy of Brabant.


I need to figure out how to use it.
>script to search it and it has been quite useful.
as 1-syllable words with 4-consonant coda-clusters.
as 1-syllable words with 7 phonemes.
<ts>, <pt>, <st>, <tz>, <gs>, <ls> .
and also <ngs> and <lls>, though those are two phonemes rather than three.
if these are /skweltS/, /skrVntS/, /strINkT/.
But we already know some pronounce <strength> closer to /strINT/.
<schw>, <sph>, <shr>, <chr>, <thr>.
nucleus, and one can add a coda-consonant.
used to expand the onset instead, if a sonorant is indicated by the diacritic.


I love these paper towels. Having lots of pets in the house, it means that messes can easily be picked up. It is one of the strongest paper towel I have ever used. Love it!
Thanks Nicole. Appreciate the excellent feedback! Glad you and your pets are happy!
These paper towels are a great price and are delivered quickly - terrific product.
Been ordering from Toilet Paper Man for the last 7 to 8 years. They are very good when it comes to delivery. We have a good relationship. This product is always something I order.
Great hand towels, very absorbent, and very strong. Good product.


Published 04/20/2019 02:10:54 pm at 04/20/2019 02:10:54 pm in Philips Surge Protector 6 Outlet.
philips surge protector 6 outlet philips surge protector with usb charging 6 outlet .
buy the huntkey sac outlet surge protected powerboard with dual huntkey sac outlet surge protected powerboard with dual v a usb charging ports ideal for apple samsung mobile devices maximum spike current , philips sppwa wall tap outlets surge protector manualzzcom , philips pk outlet surge protector white walmartcom philips pk outlet surge protector white, philips sppy outlet j white surge protector neweggcom philips sppy outlet j white surge protector, white outlet surge protector power strip plug tap extension white outlet surge protector power strip plug tap extension cord philips, philips outlet power strip surge protector ft cord spcwe philips outlet power strip surge protector ft cord spcwe, philips outlet j surge protector cord white target philips outlet j surge protector cord white, philips ppsk outlet power strip pack ppsk philips ppsk outlet power strip pack, philips outlet power strip surge protector ft j white jasco philips outlet power strip surge protector ft j white out of package , day philips way surge protector zoom philips way surge protector, amazoncom philips sppc home theater surge protector with philips sppc home theater surge protector with outlets j .


BHP's text-based assessments ("Investigations"), rubrics, and its essay-grading service (BHP Score) are made for teachers working in states like Connecticut. For me, it has been a tremendous help in meeting my state's and district's demands, and has offered me a powerful and accessible way to assess my teaching.
Connecticut, like many states, has created and adopted new evaluation systems that use multiple sources of information and evidence to provide a picture of each teacher's performance. A central component of the statewide System for Educator Evaluation and Development (SEED) is student growth and development, as determined by the teacher's student learning objectives (SLOs) and associated indicators of academic growth and development (IAGDs). SLOs must reflect high expectations for students and must align with national or state standards, and the IAGD must clearly define ways to measure the degree to which students met the SLO.
Each year, I must select two SLOs for my students and two IAGDs that I can use to track students' progress toward meeting these goals. During my first year teaching Big History Project to my ninth-grade classes, I chose to go "all in" and base both my SLOs and my IAGDs on concepts taught in BHP Investigations. I created my SLOs around students making arguments and using textual evidence to support their claims, two important goals in the Common Core and BHP. More important, these goals fit with my own goals for teaching.
Not only did BHP help me frame my SLOs, the Writing Rubric enabled me to clearly define student growth and the BHP Score report allowed me to quantify their growth. So, I decided to set my target goal for the year as helping students move up one level on the rubric by increasing their scores by at least one point in both Structuring an Argument and Using Texts as Evidence.
After getting my initial Score reports, all my excitement turned to panic as I saw that my students had completely bombed on their baseline essays. However, after a few minutes of shock, I could see this as a positive thing. After all, we had nowhere to go but up.
I took every opportunity to use the student goals I'd set to inform my teaching. For each activity we completed in BHP, I had the students work on finding evidence. We compared origin stories, we researched foods that foragers used, and little by little, my students started to get it. Making claims using evidence became simply the way we did things in our class.
By midyear, I saw progress. Students were strengthening their arguments and showing great understanding of how to use evidence in support of a claim. More important, they could see their progress when I distributed the midyear report from BHP Score.
Encouraged by the progress, we continued to stress the two areas of the rubric. Of course, BHP lessons and writing activities helped, as they're structured to develop students' thinking and writing in all the areas the rubric measures.
How did we do? Quite well, thank you: Over 80 percent of my students met my goal in both areas. That is, most of my students raised their performance one complete level on the BHP Writing Rubric.
Even if your state or school does not demand formal goal setting and tracking, BHP Score, the Writing Rubric, and all the targeted lessons are great ways to set goals, maintain focus, and help students improve their performance. My students could see clear, measurable results through the Score reports. The reports opened a dialogue between the students and myself since we now had common goals and external feedback that we could use to plan ways to improve learning.
We all know writing often and receiving feedback on writing is critical to students' growth. And we all know how hard it is to grade and give timely feedback to all the students we teach. Well, BHP made it easier for me to do.
If you are new to BHP, choosing one area of focus, such as Constructing the Argument, is a great place to start. It helps to create a common goal for the course, and students love being able to track and measure their progress throughout the year.
About the author: Loren has been teaching at EC Goodwin Technical High School in Connecticut since 2012 and has taught BHP since 2016. Big History is taught across the ninth grade of much of Connecticut's CTE system; at her school, Loren teaches two sections. Her students alternate every two weeks between academics and their chosen trade, for a total of 90 days of academics during the school year.