As a long-time player of Elder Scrolls games, there are a few things that often bother me about the games. The game components are poorly done, the voice acting can be spotty, completing a fraction of the available content has a bad tendency to morph your character into some kind of amoral demigod, hoarding items is the most common response to finding any loot as its worth too much to sell but you don't have any use for it, inventory management is a nightmare, a good portion of the population has a tendency to die, and I don't feel like I'm getting much done (and no, not in the normal "you're playing a video game and not doing anything useful for the world around you" way). Let's talk about that last one, how Consequences Matter (flawless title drop).
No matter what choices I make in the game, I find that the world around me doesn't change in any notable way. I can kill the Emperor, slay hundreds of dragons, become the master of every guild, slaughter almost the entire world's population, become the master of a plethora of legendary items, and strike any random passerby that I see, but it won't do much to the world around me. There just aren't well implemented changes for almost anything you do. Let's analyze a few examples, and try to get to the root of the issue.
Starting off with the one I've logged the most time in, Oblivion is also one of the worst offenders. Let's roleplay: Say you are a grizzled thief with a guard that wants you captured, and years of experience keeping that from happening. Now imagine that while recruiting new members for the Thieves Guild, an applicant comes up to you who happens to have a bit of a reputation. What kind of reputation? Oh, he's merely known to be the Master of the Fighters Guild, Arch Mage of the Mages Guild, Divine Crusader of the Knights of the Nine, and the Champion of Cyrodiil. He's that guy who just saved the entire world from the forces of Oblivion, the guards sing his praise whenever he passes, and people are building statues of him. Do you instinctively say to yourself "This is clearly a setup"? If you said yes, then congratulations! You are more genre savvy than Armand Christophe. While any logical person wouldn't trust this hero of destiny in their group of outlaws, the game doesn't ever address this obvious issue. My character's reputation should blacklist me from working with certain groups.
While some may think that this doesn't allow them the full experience, that they would be missing out on key features of the game, there is nothing to stop them from creating a new character who could join the different factions (besides the time spent crafting a new one, that is). Simply put, not everything needs to be done in one game. 100% completion with one character shouldn't be a possibility. You might be able to argue that you could avoid being recognized by the more good/neutral factions as a member of Thieves Guild or Dark Brotherhood thanks to the naturally sneaky nature of those organizations, but it doesn't work the other way around surely. What you do in the other guild's are fairly public, and would make you a logical enemy or at least someone who wouldn't be trusted to those guilds. And for the other side (joining the more evil groups), surely rumors about you would begin to circulate after a while if you associate yourself with killers and thieves? While they may have nothing concrete, they'd at least be more hesitant hiring you.
Morrowind got this right with its Reputation System. It made it harder, and in some cases impossible, to join factions depending on who you have joined previously. It helped to bring the feeling of conflict into the world, it added some delightful political intrigue. The exclusion of this was easily one of the bigger things that made Oblivion feel more lifeless, as the heart of the Empire lacked much in the way of politics.
As Oblivion made the NPCs less intelligent, it also assumed you weren't very bright. Smart play isn't rewarded as it should be. No matter how clever you are, there are far too many occasions where you must simply bungle forward to complete a quest. Anyone familiar with the Dark Brotherhood quest line knows what I'm referring to. There are a ton of hints thrown around that you're slaughtering members of the Dark Brotherhood, but you can't do anything about it! Oh, by the way, spoilers. Let's look at J'Ghasta to explain what should of happened. While searching his house, you can come across several items that would suggest he is a member of the Dark Brotherhood. Even worse, talking to him suggests just as much. So logically, you should try to yield and talk about how you were just sent to kill him by the Dark Brotherhood. This would then put you on a path in which you could stop Mathieu Bellamont before it was too late. Failing to do this at the multiple times its hinted that you're killing off the wrong people would end up with the guild crippled at the end (as it is in the actual game). Even the most obvious chances, like when you drop the severed head at Mathieu's feet and he clearly panics, don't give you a chance to stop him. The ending to the Dark Brotherhood storyline is one of the saddest in the game as you take over the guild, but there isn't much of a guild left to take over.
Alternatively, consider the frustrating Collecter Quest Line. Whereas all the guilds are left open so you don't miss out on anything, this quest sets it up in such a way that you can miss out on both of the major rewards for this quest chain if you choose the "smart" option. Towards the end of the quest chain, you get the option to either give the Ayleid Crown of Nenalata or the Ayleid Crown of Lindai to Umbacano. If you choose to give the Lindai crown to him, Umbacano is killed upon entering the throne room at Nenalata. The crown you can keep, the Nenalata one, is left in its initial terrible state. So congratulations for observing the obvious warning signs in this quest chain! For doing so, you get nothing but the avoidance of a fight with a single lich! I can't help but feel like the game is mocking me, as if it finds my attempts to think ahead insulting.
The last thing I'm going mention from Oblivion is the entirety of the main quest. Why? Well, it's all because you left a necessary item with an old guy who completely failed to protect it. It just seems wrong that the entire main quest happens because you dropped off the Amulet of Kings with Jauffre and he simply loses it in an attack. This is the most grievous example of making a blindly obvious error in judgement that can't be avoided causing a ton of issues. If you kept the Amulet, the entire game would of ended a bit after visiting Kvatch. I know that they had to extend the game, but it could of been done in a manner that didn't make it seem more like a comedy of errors instead of the fantasy epic it's supposed to be. Something as simple as saying that Mankar Camoran is keeping the fires from lighting would make the game just as long, give the antagonist a more active role (from just holding onto the MacGuffin to actually being the one responsible for stopping your progress), and make the heroes come off as less incompetent.
While there are more claims of each sequel to the Elder Scrolls making the errors from previous games are prominent, never is it more so here. How to even begin... How about killing the Emperor? By the way, still spoilers. The culmination of the Dark Brotherhood quest line ends with you killing the Emperor, with almost everyone in Tamriel believing the almost destroyed Dark Brotherhood to be behind the assassination. So, a giant manhunt to hunt down the survivors begins, right? Wrong. No one bothers the guild, even though its public knowledge in Dawnstar where their lair is. Now, I'm not saying the Dark Brotherhood shouldn't come out on top, I'm just saying that the quest line was one mission too short. There should of been one more in which you stop the efforts to crush the revived guild before they pick up steam, if for no other reason than you just can't kill the Emperor and get away with it.
That is really the issue with a lot of the Skyrim quest lines. They don't conclude, they stop. Take for instance the Civil War. So you've cut off the head of the enemy army (literally), but they still have a few units out in the wild to deal with. You're told to go hunt them down. If you do, you'll instantly regret it when an immortal agent of the side you didn't choose goes after you. What were they thinking? Instead of having awesome raids by and against the remnants of the enemy faction, they just continue to exist with immortal NPCs leading them. This is made worse as you're told to go after them. Did anyone bother to check to see if you could actually bring the Civil War to a close before launching the game? Besides that annoyance, there is still the issue with The Moot, and how it's never called. Skyrim never gains a new High King or Queen after the hurly-burly's done. I'm guessing this might of been intentional, but it still comes off as a missing quest. The point is that I just ended a war, I should notice some sort of change besides a few cities being wrecked, and some guards wearing different uniforms. When you don't even get to see the ultimate reason you were fighting, a liberated Skyrim or a Skyrim once more behind the Empire, there are serious issues afoot.
The Companions, Lycanthropy. Can anyone tell me what exactly happens to you when you become a werewolf? Do you lose a bit of control over your character, with them being forced to transform at least once a day/week/month? No? Do people like you less outside of your beast form? No? Are you in some way crippled by your bloodlust? No?!? Well, what is the drawback? There has to be a drawback. More aggressive behavior, a hunger for flesh, issues keeping your curse a secret? ANYTHING?!? Wait, there is a drawback!?! Well what is it, then? No resting bonuses... That's a joke, right? Oh my, what a terrible curse! You can't get a good night's rest! Why, surely there must be a cure for this! Tell me there is, I really need a good and proper nap after a day of adventuring! There are several, with the most readily available one having no drawbacks? Jolly good news, I feel my worries lifted already!
Lycanthropy in Skyrim is perhaps the most grievous example of the lack of consequences for your actions actually ruining some of the aspects of the game. I don't get the same joy from being a werewolf without some kind of setback. Without any worries attached to it, it basically just becomes another power that I might use every now and then. In Daggerfall and Bloodmoon, you had to do some terrible things to cure your curse. Now, it's merely something you can give half a thought to. I don't need it to be game crippling, but I do want it to change my playing experience.
Play Morrowind. I find it liberating to be able to screw up so badly that the game becomes virtually unwinnable, and yet it doesn't stop you from reaching that point. While there are plenty more examples that could be brought up and even counter points worth considering (like how surprisingly easy it was to get removed from guilds in Oblivion for violating rules), this wasn't meant to be a complete look, just a quick glance at some of the more glaring issues that come up. I of course don't have any problems with the later games that won't make me play them, but there are many issues with the way they are crafted (not that Morrowind didn't have its fair share of issues). It's important to remember that while the ultimate purpose of any game is to have fun, that fun can often come from the challenges we face. By not giving us a challenge, forcing us down a worse path, or even punishing or ignoring opportunities for cleverness the game world can seem more artificial, and thus less enjoyable. While I don't personally like Morrowind's approach of "You walk into a higher leveled dungeon and are eviscerated in a single hit" and Skyrim's perverted uncle level of hand holding, I think it's fair to say most would prefer some kind of middle ground. While that middle ground would require much more effort than the previously tried methods to reach, surely it would be worth it to add more life to the world of the Elder Scrolls.
All I can say is that I completely agree.
"They don't conclude, they stop." Well said. This is particularly annoying now that we know the substantial improvements to Skyrim are done, and we'll be lucky just to get bug fixes. When viewing Skyrim as an unfinished product, its potential gave it a lot of additional appeal. As a finished product, Skyrim is still too rough around the edges- er, endings. This is why game reviewers should revise their ratings for games post-DLC.


text:
Theses & Projects
Showing 10 out of a total of 57 results for community: Theses & Projects. (0.028 seconds)
The effects of OCB on work group conflict
Pyne, Tom; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, 2007, 2007)
Vicarious justice and work outcomes : the role of specific emotions
Hovind, Sarah; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, c2009, 2009)
Job performance as a mediator of personality interactions and emotional exhaustion
Hou, Di; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, 2007, 2007)
Partial acquisition of Canadian companies by domestic and foreign companies : a valuation analysis
Yang, Ning-Ning; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, 2007., 2007)
Like lemmings over a cliff : a study of Alberta physician burnout
Goodfellow, Renee L; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, 2002, 2002)
I am father : an analysis of masculine identities of professionally employed fathers and their parental leave decisions
Rice, Joseph Robert; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, c2008, 2008)
The role of leverage in the asymmetric valuation of dividends
Kremer, Daniel; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, c2008, 2008)
The effects of cultural differences on consumer perceptions of celebrity athlete endorsement : a comparative study between Canada and China
Wang, Hao; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, c2009, 2009)
Training for ethics awareness in information systems technology : implications for human resources development
Kennedy, S.E. (Susie); University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, c2008, 2008)
Partnerships between nonprofit organizations and businesses : legitimacy for sale, but at what cost?
McKenzie, Gail; University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Management, c2008, 2008)
University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Management (57)
Anderson, Barbara (1)
Bader, Byron M. (1)
Barragan, Salvador (1)
Cahoon, Sandra L. (1)
Chen, Xin (1)
Costello, Alexandra (1)
Crow, Robert G. (1)
Cutting, Jared (1)
D'Agnone, Kristene (1)
Burn out (Psychology) (3)
Consolidation and merger of corporations -- Canada (3)
Psychology, Industrial (3)
Chinese -- Canada (2)
Competition, International (2)
Conflict management (2)
Consumers -- Attitudes (2)
Consumers' preferences (2)
Employees -- Attitudes (2)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Headphones are essential accessories for anyone who owns smartphones, tablets, computers or any portable device.If you are looking for a handset, but do not want to spend a lot, know that there are models with good quality for up to $ 100. In this price range you can find accessories from famous brands such as Philips, Sony, Audio Technica and JBL.
We have prepared a list with the ten best headphones available for purchase in Brazil for up to $ 100. In the selection you will find different types such as intra headset, over ear and gamer.Check out the templates and see one that fits your budget.
One of the Audio Technica's input models, the ATH-CLR100RD is an in-ear headset for anyone who wants to start testing products from one of the most recognized audiophile brands.The handset has 20-25,000 Hz of response frequency, 103 dB of sensitivity and 16 ohms of impedance.The price is around R $ 70.
Sony's intermediate in-ear model has the main feature of its construction.It has a gold-plated connector, as well as a built-in microphone in the cable, making it a good choice for anyone looking for a handset.The accessory also features a higher response frequency of 8-22,000Hz, 100dB of sensitivity and 16 ohms of impedance.It can be found around R $ 70.
This in-ear headphone from the JBL promises good sound insulation as well as thicker bass.It can be found around R $ 80, the model, which has built-in microphone, has 20-22,000 Hz of frequency of response, 100 db of sensitivity and 16 ohms of impedance.
One of the most successful models of Philips, the SHP 2500 has as its main feature beyond comfort, the length of the cable with 6m.The Over Ear accessory – which surrounds the entire ear – has shells lined with fabric, 15-22,000 Hz response frequency, 100 dB sensitivity and 32 ohms impedance.It can be found around $ 80.
PCyes is a new brand that tries to excel in the peripheral market.The Hawk headset gamer is one of the good bets of the company and has the advantage of detachable microphone.The model features stereo 2.0 sound, volume control and 2.3 meter cable.The phone also has 30-18,000 Hz of response frequency, 103 dB of sensitivity and 32 ohms of impedance.Its price is around $ 90.
For those looking for a supra-headset model – that sits above the ear without completely wrapping it – the Sony MDR-ZX110 is one of the best options.The handset features prominent powerful bass and foldable design.It costs around $ 70, has 1.2 m cable, 12-22,000 Hz frequency response, 98 db of sensitivity and 24 ohms of impedance.
Philips supra headset features foldable, compact design, ideal for storing in bags.It has padded shells, 1.2 m cable and 32 mm drivers.The model features 10-22,000 Hz of response frequency, 106 dB of sensitivity and 24 ohms of impedance.It can be found around R $ 70.
The Pulse model features detachable cable and hadsfree function, which allows you to answer calls by pressing a button on the microphone.The handset features 40 mm drives, adjustable design and a 1.2 m cable.The model can be found for about $ 90.
The Skullcandy accessory has as its main attribute its almost imperceptible weight, which promises not to bother after long hours of use.The handset features 40mm drives, gold plated connector, 20-20,000 Hz frequency response, 32 ohms impedance and 99 db of sensitivity.The price is around R $ 90.
Ideal for anyone who wants a wireless headset for sports, Knup is one of the few Bluetooth headset models that can be found under $ 100. The accessory has up to 4 hours of use, works up to 10 meters paired smartphone and allows you to answer calls.
Earphone does not work on Windows 10, how to solve?See in the TechTudo Forum.


text:
High-risk Horizons: Coconino's Children of the Imprisoned.
Glad to see that Coconino County is working creatively with the children of incarcerated parents, and trying to help them keep their family units connected. Here's a good New York Times article giving some background on why it's so important to attend to these kids' needs - and why we must decarcerate our nation as rapidly as possible...
The STARS Mentoring Program in AZ has some excellent resources for caregivers here.
There's also a manual for caregivers of children with incarcerated parents:
Arizona Family Members Behind Bars
"Mother's prison"
ASPC-Perryville; Goodyear, AZ
Keeping Kids Connected With Their Jailed Parents
North Country Public Radio
by Gillian Ferris Kohl
Jul 18, 2012 (Morning Edition / Arizona Public Radio) —
With one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, Arizona also has one of the highest percentages of children with a parent in prison. In rural Coconino County, 1 of every 28 minors has an incarcerated parent, and that county is helping families stay in touch without bringing kids inside prison walls.
Arizona has one of the highest incarceration rates in the country, and that means it also has one of the highest percentages of children with one or both parents in jail. One rural county there is trying to help families stay connected.
On a recent day, 45-year-old Liz Minor sits in the shade outside a coffeehouse in Flagstaff, enjoying icy drinks with her two sons. She relishes this ordinary moment, considering that just a few years ago, their time together was limited to a prison visiting room, separated by shatterproof glass.
"I wore lipstick because it leaves marks," Minor says. "So when your kids are there and they're telling you it's over ... you see windows just marked up with lips because you want to kiss your babies goodbye and you can't."
Minor's youngest son, A.J., was only 7 years old when his mom began serving a sentence for manslaughter. Now 18, A.J. recalls a very different memory of visits with his mom.
"They always used to make us ... take off our shoes and open up shirts and stuff," A.J. says. "They would pat us down, and our pockets had to be turned out."
During his mom's absence, A.J. was raised by several family members because his father was also in prison, serving a life sentence. It was tough for A.J.
"I did have a lot of suicidal tendencies," he says. "It really sucked to have to go through that when you're 8, 9, 10 years old, and you're thinking about going into your room and killing yourself. It's not a cool deal at all."
Instead of taking his life, however, A.J. took action. At 15, he joined a fledgling task force in Coconino County, Ariz. The group's goal was to keep kids connected with their parents in prison. That's where he met Beth Tucker, one of the group's organizers.
"Our population of children and families is different than the state as a whole in that we have such great distances for our rural areas," Tucker says. "They're traveling hundreds and hundreds of miles to visit a parent."
Tucker says 1 of every 28 children in Coconino County has a parent in prison. Some kids, like A.J., experience the trauma of being present during their parent's arrest. Others, Tucker says, can end up on the street, fearful they'll land in foster care or in the custody of Child Protective Services.
"We know that oftentimes when a parent is arrested, they will not reveal that they have children," she says. "They're afraid they're going to lose that child."
That's why law enforcement officers are now being trained to look for signs of children at the time of a person's arrest: toys, car seats and backpacks, for instance. Another major step is that the county is installing a Skype-like video visitation system. Lt. Matt Figueroa with the Coconino County Sheriff's Office is helping set it up.
"They can do it from a coffeehouse, they can do it from their iPhone or iPad," Figueroa says. "People throw out the word Skype, but it's basically a secure video connection to conduct that visit."
Figueroa says it will also cut down on the trauma that many children experience having to go inside prison to visit a parent. That's heartening to kids like A.J. Minor, who says he would've liked something like this when his mom was in prison.
"A visit like that would actually keep a kid from running away, because they know that they can have a visit with their parent every couple of days. It's so much more nourishing," he says. "So for someone who's going through it right now, just hang on. You will be able to see them."
A.J. himself is trying to hang on, when it comes to seeing his own father. They haven't met face to face in 16 years.
Copyright 2012 Arizona Public Radio. To see more, visit http://www.knau.org/.
Posted by Margaret Jean Plews at 8:52 AM
Labels: children of incarcerated parents, children of prisoners, coconino county sheriff, imprisoned mothers, skype, visitation
Prisoners are still Persons: Solitary destroys the...
High-risk Horizons: Coconino's Children of the Imp...
2008 Deaths in Custody: The Drowning of Jesse Garc...
ACLU-AZ: SB1070 and the fight over Section 2B
2012 Elections: Countering the private prison lobb...
political corruption, the "free" market, and the i...
ASPC Florence Deaths in Custody: Nelson Douglas Jo...
Wexford arrives in AZ: Welcome to Gamez v. Ryan.


Curly Hair Solutions offer products that aim to resolve all curly hair types issues such as frizz, definition, tangles and dryness. They have three sample curl kits that include 5 products related to your specific hair type. The hair types range from loose, medium and tight. I'm still not too sure of my curl type just yet but I chose the Medium Curl Kit because the descriptions sound most like my hair out of the three.
Glow: Well for starters I really like that they give you the option of a starter set because it gives you a chance to sample everything related to your hair type. The shampoo and conditioner smell really good, the silky leave-in conditioner was really soft and lightweight. I used the slip detangler spray right after combing the leave-in through. The curl keeper is probably my favorite out of the products, my curls were well defined and really full and bouncy! Most importantly they weren't frizzy!!
Glare: Not really a con but just something I've noticed since using the products. I've done a wash and go for about 4 days now and there's definitely been a variation in the way my hair has drawn up each time. Not really sure if it's the way I allowed it to dry but this last time it drew up pretty tight, which isn't a bad thing because I actually kinda like the length in these pics. The first few times I allowed it to air dry while I went about my day and this last time I fell asleep on it before it was completely dry so maybe that's why it drew up a little more, idk.
Would I Recommend It? Yesssss!! I literally couldn't stop touching my hair. I love that my curls were full yet still defined, it came out really pretty.
* Each curl kit retails for $32. The products are also individually available in full sizes. To purchase or to learn more please visit www.frizzoff.com .
Seems like a lot of steps. I wonder how it would work after just the shampoo, conditioner and leave-in.
It would probably work fine! I like the curl keeper stuff the best b/c it eliminates the frizz! The leave-in and curl keeper are my faves!
Thanks for stopping by ^_^ Let me know if you try it out!


Vocab story: WHERE IS THE CAN OPENER ?
Note: Click on the words in 'bold' to guess the correct meaning.
A physicist, chemist and an economist were trapped on a deserted island.
... there was no can opener!!
and tries to carve open the can.
The chemist advises to soak the can in salt water to corrode it open but the other two rejected the proposal.
The economist rolls up his sleeves, inspects the can and states, "Assume we have a can opener."
The joke is classic example how most of the theorists assume things.
Keep reading and keep assuming!
How to score more in your mocks?


Slowing down at the holidays is for losers. Yes, you read it correctly.
What company created an industry and turned retail upside down? Amazon. Does Amazon slow down at the holidays? Nope. They are swamped because it's the holidays and people are buying. Are UPS or FedEx slowing down during this time of year? Of course not. They are crushing it.
Getting "slow" around this time of year is the same as a three martini lunch. It's from an era long since passed.
Today, the holidays are a time when you can separate yourself from the competition to grow your career.
Have "holiday" drinks and happy hours with clients. If your client enjoys a drink, take them out to celebrate. If you don't drink, bring your boss who does and show them you can have a good time with or without booze. It's about your client!
Think small. Every company doesn't need a big gift budget for clients. Our chief revenue officer started making homemade chocolate covered pretzels for clients when she was a 23-year-old rookie salesperson. This year she will have 15 salespeople at her home making them while her kids are there. We may get older, but we just tweak our routines, not abandon them.
Get creative. One year our best salesperson dressed up like Buddy from Elf and dropped off candy canes at clients just to get a laugh. Don't be so uptight.
Tell your clients what you want for Christmas (or Hanukkah)... their business!
Don't put your out-of-office reply on. If you're not there, they will call someone else. Check your email twice a day or give someone access to your emails if you are taking a vacation.
Attend every association holiday party in your industry, local or not. Make the travel. If there is a holiday get-together that your prospects and clients will be at...go.
Do administrative tasks. There is a chance you may actually call on a vertical that does slow down. If you do, take advantage of it. Look at your calendar over the past 12 months and look at every meeting you had and every meeting that canceled on you. Send letters to those people and check in. Ask for an opportunity in the coming year. Show that you want their business.
Make a plan. Make a list of how many meetings per week you want to hit, how many events you want to attend, how many calls you want to make, what you need training on. Then make a plan of how you will get it and when you will execute it.
Make a goal and give yourself a reward. If you get "X" new deals or new clients in before 12/31 you will go on a European vacation, buy a car, buy a suit, whatever. Give yourself something to go after.
Write. Take the time to reflect on the year. How did you compare in your office? To your team? To your competitors? Did you make as much as you wanted? Who is your best client? Do they call you to talk? Do they ask for your advice? Do they return your calls?
Move hard and move fast. Be better than your competition. Be better than an excuse-maker. It's the holiday season. You're a salesperson. You may think every time you hear a bell it's an angel getting wings, but it's really your competitor ringing the cash register. Make it you!


Images photos gallery please follow that hyperlink.
Formation Poseur De Cuisine New 48 Impressionnant Galerie De Poseur De Cuisine Alacgant Tarif Pose Uploaded by admin on Friday, October 19th, 2018 in category Cuisine.
See also Formation Poseur De Cuisine Luxury Poseur De Cuisine élégamment The Hp Kitchen from Cuisine Topic.
Here we have another image Formation Poseur De Cuisine Unique 45 Plet Formation Poseur De Cuisine featured under Formation Poseur De Cuisine New 48 Impressionnant Galerie De Poseur De Cuisine Alacgant Tarif Pose. We hope you enjoyed it and if you want to download the pictures in high quality, simply right click the image and choose "Save As". Thanks for reading Formation Poseur De Cuisine New 48 Impressionnant Galerie De Poseur De Cuisine Alacgant Tarif Pose.


text:
In life, some phenomena cannot be explained by ordinary logic or technical language, let alone official discourses. How did Gaza manage to fight back with such ferocity and undying vigour in quelling the latest Israeli war despite years of a bloody siege and one-sided war in 2008-9? It simply cannot be explained by the outmoded language of today's media analysts. Notwithstanding, a new reality is about to emerge.
During the 2008-09 'Operation Cast Lead,' Israel killed over 1,400 Palestinians and wounded over 5,000 others. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Most victims were civilians as is always the case in such wars of 'self-defence'. A United Nations investigation published in September 2009 concluded there is "evidence indicating serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law were committed by Israel during the Gaza conflict, and that Israel committed actions amounting to war crimes, and possibly crimes against humanity."
Back then there was no shortage of indictments and condemnations, as will surely emerge from its latest 8-day war on Gaza. Many spoke of how the tide of public opinion is turning against Israel, how the self-declared Jewish State was losing its command over an ever-skewed narrative of David vs. Goliath, of how the US will no longer be able to shield Israel against the profound anguish of millions of besieged people imploring the world for help and solidarity.
Much of this was in fact true, but equally true was that Israel succeeded in dragging Gaza and the rest of Palestine back to the same status quo - despite the heinous crimes committed four years ago -that preceded the war. Former Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, told journalists on January 12, 2009 that her country was deliberately 'going wild' in Gaza to "restore ..Israel's deterrence. Hamas now understands that when you fire on its citizens it responds by going wild – and this is a good thing."
It certainly was good enough for the US, but also for many European powers who giddily wined and dined with Livni in Brussels, shortly after the war, as if thousands of people had not been killed and wounded or that whole families hadn't just perished for no fault of their own and as if a whole nation was not still in mourning for its lost children, men and women.
It is not that Israel was particularly crafty in restoring its standing among official western circles in the last four years, thus giving it the needed confidence to assault Gaza once more. The fact is that Israel never lost that standing to begin with. These very powers (starting with Washington and London) never ceased backing Israel with the latest killing technology, bolstering Israel's economy despite their own economic woes and of course, supporting Israel's 'right to defend itself' at every available opportunity.
The 22-day war on Gaza of 2008-09 was in actuality a continuation of another long war, which is difficult to demarcate by specific dates and times. Palestinians in Gaza (as in the rest of the occupied territories) have been dying at rates that decelerate and accelerate depending on the political mood in Tel Aviv. In 2008, embattled Kadima party officials sought war to boost their rating among a war and security-obsessed public. In 2012, national elections in Israel are upon us once more. In both cases, Palestinian blood had to be exacted in that same bloody game of Israeli politics. And all rising stars in Israeli politics needed to be there to impress the ever-approving public.
When "more than 90 per cent of Israeli Jews support Gaza war" (Haaretz, November 19), it becomes less shocking to read Gilad Sharon (son of former Israeli Prime Minister and repeatedly accused war criminal Ariel Sharon) writing in the Jerusalem Post: "There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles, nothing. Then they'd really call for a ceasefire ..We need to flatten entire neighbourhoods in Gaza. Flatten all of Gaza. The Americans didn't stop with Hiroshima – the Japanese weren't surrendering fast enough, so they hit Nagasaki, too."
Yet what was thought of as another hunting season of Gaza's civilians and fighters alike didn't turn out as desired. 'Operation Pillar of Cloud' was meant as to present Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Ehud Barak with ample opportunities so that they may wave their fingers in threatening gestures and score as many political points as they could before international pressure mount. Instead, it ended up being a political debacle of historic proportions.
Israel's trial balloons were downed by hundreds of Palestinian rockets that reached as far as northern Tel Aviv and even west Jerusalem. What was meant to break the resistance, so that Palestinians may never dare complain of occupation, of Israel-imposed political isolation and suffocating siege, along with Israel's 'deterrence' wars, resulted in a new strange reality that sent Israelis everywhere seeking shelter. When sirens blared, Israel came to a halt as Israelis experienced bloody glimpses of what Palestinians experience too often. 167 Palestinians were killed and over a thousand wounded. 6 Israelis were killed, including a soldier who died from his wounds after a ceasefire was achieved through Egypt on November 21. But it was not the amount of spilled blood that made this war different, for the ratio of horrific deaths remains tilted. It was different because of the nature of the message that Hamas and other resistance factions delivered. Even starved and besieged Gazans are capable of fighting back after six long years of a hermetic blockade that forced them to dig hundreds of tunnels seeking salvation through neighbouring Egypt.
In Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority, with little credibility to begin with, became more irrelevant than ever before. Mahmoud Abbas tried to impose himself as a party in the conflict by speaking of a popular but peaceful resistance in a televised speech. He conveniently explained the Israeli war as an attempt to coerce him not to seek the UN vote on a non-member state status for Palestine. And as Israeli leaders struggled to understand the new variable in their unfair war equation with the Palestinians, Arab officials poured into Gaza signalling that this time around things would be different. The Americans took notice too. Just as the US media spoke of a shift in US foreign policy focus to East and Southeast Asia, the alarming nature of the new war forced Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to rush to Israel to offer its support and solidarity. European leaders did the same. The lines were being demarcated once more. This time Gaza was a dividing point of regional and international politics, its resistance being the main factor behind a seismic shift.
Many in Israel tried to distort the facts by explaining that a ceasefire for Hamas would be good for Israel as it would bring "quiet" to border communities. Thus the Israeli objectives were achieved in a roundabout sort of way. Haaretz military correspondent Amos Harel laboured to soften the blow by saying "The art of measuring the level of deterrence power is far from an exact science. Nobody expected that failed actions against Hezbollah in 2006 would lead to six-and-a-half years of quiet (which for the time being persists) on the Lebanon border".
However, Israel's intentions were not exactly about achieving peace and tranquility. For decades, Israel's sought to have complete monopoly over violence, thus the right to punish, deter, intervene, occupy and 'teach lessons' to whomever it wanted, whenever it wanted. Its recent targeting of Sudan, its past strikes against Iraq, Tunisia, Syria, appalling wars in Lebanon, and constant threats against Iran are all cases in point.
Certainly, something big has changed. Not that Palestinians managed to narrow the imbalance of power, but that they succeeded in imposing their resistance as a factor in Israel's 'security' equation that was exclusively determined by Israel.
Despite their heavy losses, thousands of Palestinians danced with joy throughout the Gaza Strip. They kneeled and prayed among the rebels, thanking God for their 'victory'. Masked armed men were crowded by jubilant Gazans cheering for resistance. Israel and its benefactors began assigning blame by pointing the finger mostly at Iran. But their words drowned in the echoes of Palestinian chants. All parties know that something fundamental has been altered, although the battle is anything but over. A war of a different kind is about to begin.
Two-state solution is dead, Palestinian courage should spur international action
Gaza: Why We Must Act Now
Strong as Death
Ariel Sharon: Serial war criminal, mass murderer
war gaza israel israeli palestinians israels against resistance years different killed minister bloody political despite back explained palestinian language thus


text:
from typing import Callable, Iterable
import pytest
from numpy.testing import assert_equal
from spacy.attrs import ENT_KB_ID

from spacy.kb import KnowledgeBase, get_candidates, Candidate
from spacy.vocab import Vocab

from spacy import util, registry
from spacy.ml import load_kb
from spacy.scorer import Scorer
from spacy.training import Example
from spacy.lang.en import English
from spacy.tests.util import make_tempdir
from spacy.tokens import Span

@pytest.fixture
def nlp():
    return English()

def assert_almost_equal(a, b):
    delta = 0.0001
    assert a - delta <= b <= a + delta

def test_kb_valid_entities(nlp):
    """Test the valid construction of a KB with 3 entities and two aliases"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=3)

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=19, entity_vector=[8, 4, 3])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=5, entity_vector=[2, 1, 0])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=25, entity_vector=[-1, -6, 5])

    # adding aliases
    mykb.add_alias(alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q3"], probabilities=[0.8, 0.2])
    mykb.add_alias(alias="adam", entities=["Q2"], probabilities=[0.9])

    # test the size of the corresponding KB
    assert mykb.get_size_entities() == 3
    assert mykb.get_size_aliases() == 2

    # test retrieval of the entity vectors
    assert mykb.get_vector("Q1") == [8, 4, 3]
    assert mykb.get_vector("Q2") == [2, 1, 0]
    assert mykb.get_vector("Q3") == [-1, -6, 5]

    # test retrieval of prior probabilities
    assert_almost_equal(mykb.get_prior_prob(entity="Q2", alias="douglas"), 0.8)
    assert_almost_equal(mykb.get_prior_prob(entity="Q3", alias="douglas"), 0.2)
    assert_almost_equal(mykb.get_prior_prob(entity="Q342", alias="douglas"), 0.0)
    assert_almost_equal(mykb.get_prior_prob(entity="Q3", alias="douglassssss"), 0.0)

def test_kb_invalid_entities(nlp):
    """Test the invalid construction of a KB with an alias linked to a non-existing entity"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=19, entity_vector=[1])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=5, entity_vector=[2])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=25, entity_vector=[3])

    # adding aliases - should fail because one of the given IDs is not valid
    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
        mykb.add_alias(
            alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q342"], probabilities=[0.8, 0.2]
        )

def test_kb_invalid_probabilities(nlp):
    """Test the invalid construction of a KB with wrong prior probabilities"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=19, entity_vector=[1])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=5, entity_vector=[2])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=25, entity_vector=[3])

    # adding aliases - should fail because the sum of the probabilities exceeds 1
    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
        mykb.add_alias(alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q3"], probabilities=[0.8, 0.4])

def test_kb_invalid_combination(nlp):
    """Test the invalid construction of a KB with non-matching entity and probability lists"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=19, entity_vector=[1])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=5, entity_vector=[2])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=25, entity_vector=[3])

    # adding aliases - should fail because the entities and probabilities vectors are not of equal length
    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
        mykb.add_alias(
            alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q3"], probabilities=[0.3, 0.4, 0.1]
        )

def test_kb_invalid_entity_vector(nlp):
    """Test the invalid construction of a KB with non-matching entity vector lengths"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=3)

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=19, entity_vector=[1, 2, 3])

    # this should fail because the kb's expected entity vector length is 3
    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
        mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=5, entity_vector=[2])

def test_kb_default(nlp):
    """Test that the default (empty) KB is loaded upon construction"""
    entity_linker = nlp.add_pipe("entity_linker", config={})
    assert len(entity_linker.kb) == 0
    assert entity_linker.kb.get_size_entities() == 0
    assert entity_linker.kb.get_size_aliases() == 0
    # 64 is the default value from pipeline.entity_linker
    assert entity_linker.kb.entity_vector_length == 64

def test_kb_custom_length(nlp):
    """Test that the default (empty) KB can be configured with a custom entity length"""
    entity_linker = nlp.add_pipe("entity_linker", config={"entity_vector_length": 35})
    assert len(entity_linker.kb) == 0
    assert entity_linker.kb.get_size_entities() == 0
    assert entity_linker.kb.get_size_aliases() == 0
    assert entity_linker.kb.entity_vector_length == 35

def test_kb_initialize_empty(nlp):
    """Test that the EL can't initialize without examples"""
    entity_linker = nlp.add_pipe("entity_linker")
    with pytest.raises(TypeError):
        entity_linker.initialize(lambda: [])

def test_kb_serialize(nlp):
    """Test serialization of the KB"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)
    with make_tempdir() as d:
        # normal read-write behaviour
        mykb.to_disk(d / "kb")
        mykb.from_disk(d / "kb")
        mykb.to_disk(d / "new" / "kb")
        mykb.from_disk(d / "new" / "kb")
        # allow overwriting an existing file
        mykb.to_disk(d / "kb")
        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
            # can not read from an unknown file
            mykb.from_disk(d / "unknown" / "kb")

def test_kb_serialize_vocab(nlp):
    """Test serialization of the KB and custom strings"""
    entity = "MyFunnyID"
    assert entity not in nlp.vocab.strings
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)
    assert not mykb.contains_entity(entity)
    mykb.add_entity(entity, freq=342, entity_vector=[3])
    assert mykb.contains_entity(entity)
    assert entity in mykb.vocab.strings
    with make_tempdir() as d:
        # normal read-write behaviour
        mykb.to_disk(d / "kb")
        mykb_new = KnowledgeBase(Vocab(), entity_vector_length=1)
        mykb_new.from_disk(d / "kb")
        assert entity in mykb_new.vocab.strings

def test_candidate_generation(nlp):
    """Test correct candidate generation"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)
    doc = nlp("douglas adam Adam shrubbery")

    douglas_ent = doc[0:1]
    adam_ent = doc[1:2]
    Adam_ent = doc[2:3]
    shrubbery_ent = doc[3:4]

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=27, entity_vector=[1])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=12, entity_vector=[2])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=5, entity_vector=[3])

    # adding aliases
    mykb.add_alias(alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q3"], probabilities=[0.8, 0.1])
    mykb.add_alias(alias="adam", entities=["Q2"], probabilities=[0.9])

    # test the size of the relevant candidates
    assert len(get_candidates(mykb, douglas_ent)) == 2
    assert len(get_candidates(mykb, adam_ent)) == 1
    assert len(get_candidates(mykb, Adam_ent)) == 0  # default case sensitive
    assert len(get_candidates(mykb, shrubbery_ent)) == 0

    # test the content of the candidates
    assert get_candidates(mykb, adam_ent)[0].entity_ == "Q2"
    assert get_candidates(mykb, adam_ent)[0].alias_ == "adam"
    assert_almost_equal(get_candidates(mykb, adam_ent)[0].entity_freq, 12)
    assert_almost_equal(get_candidates(mykb, adam_ent)[0].prior_prob, 0.9)

def test_el_pipe_configuration(nlp):
    """Test correct candidate generation as part of the EL pipe"""
    nlp.add_pipe("sentencizer")
    pattern = {"label": "PERSON", "pattern": [{"LOWER": "douglas"}]}
    ruler = nlp.add_pipe("entity_ruler")
    ruler.add_patterns([pattern])

    def create_kb(vocab):
        kb = KnowledgeBase(vocab, entity_vector_length=1)
        kb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=12, entity_vector=[2])
        kb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=5, entity_vector=[3])
        kb.add_alias(alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q3"], probabilities=[0.8, 0.1])
        return kb

    # run an EL pipe without a trained context encoder, to check the candidate generation step only
    entity_linker = nlp.add_pipe("entity_linker", config={"incl_context": False})
    entity_linker.set_kb(create_kb)
    # With the default get_candidates function, matching is case-sensitive
    text = "Douglas and douglas are not the same."
    doc = nlp(text)
    assert doc[0].ent_kb_id_ == "NIL"
    assert doc[1].ent_kb_id_ == ""
    assert doc[2].ent_kb_id_ == "Q2"

    def get_lowercased_candidates(kb, span):
        return kb.get_alias_candidates(span.text.lower())

    @registry.misc.register("spacy.LowercaseCandidateGenerator.v1")
    def create_candidates() -> Callable[[KnowledgeBase, "Span"], Iterable[Candidate]]:
        return get_lowercased_candidates

    # replace the pipe with a new one with with a different candidate generator
    entity_linker = nlp.replace_pipe(
        "entity_linker",
        "entity_linker",
        config={
            "incl_context": False,
            "get_candidates": {"@misc": "spacy.LowercaseCandidateGenerator.v1"},
        },
    )
    entity_linker.set_kb(create_kb)
    doc = nlp(text)
    assert doc[0].ent_kb_id_ == "Q2"
    assert doc[1].ent_kb_id_ == ""
    assert doc[2].ent_kb_id_ == "Q2"

def test_vocab_serialization(nlp):
    """Test that string information is retained across storage"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=27, entity_vector=[1])
    q2_hash = mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=12, entity_vector=[2])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=5, entity_vector=[3])

    # adding aliases
    mykb.add_alias(alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q3"], probabilities=[0.4, 0.1])
    adam_hash = mykb.add_alias(alias="adam", entities=["Q2"], probabilities=[0.9])

    candidates = mykb.get_alias_candidates("adam")
    assert len(candidates) == 1
    assert candidates[0].entity == q2_hash
    assert candidates[0].entity_ == "Q2"
    assert candidates[0].alias == adam_hash
    assert candidates[0].alias_ == "adam"

    with make_tempdir() as d:
        mykb.to_disk(d / "kb")
        kb_new_vocab = KnowledgeBase(Vocab(), entity_vector_length=1)
        kb_new_vocab.from_disk(d / "kb")

        candidates = kb_new_vocab.get_alias_candidates("adam")
        assert len(candidates) == 1
        assert candidates[0].entity == q2_hash
        assert candidates[0].entity_ == "Q2"
        assert candidates[0].alias == adam_hash
        assert candidates[0].alias_ == "adam"

def test_append_alias(nlp):
    """Test that we can append additional alias-entity pairs"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=27, entity_vector=[1])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=12, entity_vector=[2])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=5, entity_vector=[3])

    # adding aliases
    mykb.add_alias(alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q3"], probabilities=[0.4, 0.1])
    mykb.add_alias(alias="adam", entities=["Q2"], probabilities=[0.9])

    # test the size of the relevant candidates
    assert len(mykb.get_alias_candidates("douglas")) == 2

    # append an alias
    mykb.append_alias(alias="douglas", entity="Q1", prior_prob=0.2)

    # test the size of the relevant candidates has been incremented
    assert len(mykb.get_alias_candidates("douglas")) == 3

    # append the same alias-entity pair again should not work (will throw a warning)
    with pytest.warns(UserWarning):
        mykb.append_alias(alias="douglas", entity="Q1", prior_prob=0.3)

    # test the size of the relevant candidates remained unchanged
    assert len(mykb.get_alias_candidates("douglas")) == 3

def test_append_invalid_alias(nlp):
    """Test that append an alias will throw an error if prior probs are exceeding 1"""
    mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp.vocab, entity_vector_length=1)

    # adding entities
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=27, entity_vector=[1])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=12, entity_vector=[2])
    mykb.add_entity(entity="Q3", freq=5, entity_vector=[3])

    # adding aliases
    mykb.add_alias(alias="douglas", entities=["Q2", "Q3"], probabilities=[0.8, 0.1])
    mykb.add_alias(alias="adam", entities=["Q2"], probabilities=[0.9])

    # append an alias - should fail because the entities and probabilities vectors are not of equal length
    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
        mykb.append_alias(alias="douglas", entity="Q1", prior_prob=0.2)

def test_preserving_links_asdoc(nlp):
    """Test that Span.as_doc preserves the existing entity links"""
    vector_length = 1

    def create_kb(vocab):
        mykb = KnowledgeBase(vocab, entity_vector_length=vector_length)
        # adding entities
        mykb.add_entity(entity="Q1", freq=19, entity_vector=[1])
        mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2", freq=8, entity_vector=[1])
        # adding aliases
        mykb.add_alias(alias="Boston", entities=["Q1"], probabilities=[0.7])
        mykb.add_alias(alias="Denver", entities=["Q2"], probabilities=[0.6])
        return mykb

    # set up pipeline with NER (Entity Ruler) and NEL (prior probability only, model not trained)
    nlp.add_pipe("sentencizer")
    patterns = [
        {"label": "GPE", "pattern": "Boston"},
        {"label": "GPE", "pattern": "Denver"},
    ]
    ruler = nlp.add_pipe("entity_ruler")
    ruler.add_patterns(patterns)
    config = {"incl_prior": False}
    entity_linker = nlp.add_pipe("entity_linker", config=config, last=True)
    entity_linker.set_kb(create_kb)
    nlp.initialize()
    assert entity_linker.model.get_dim("nO") == vector_length

    # test whether the entity links are preserved by the `as_doc()` function
    text = "She lives in Boston. He lives in Denver."
    doc = nlp(text)
    for ent in doc.ents:
        orig_text = ent.text
        orig_kb_id = ent.kb_id_
        sent_doc = ent.sent.as_doc()
        for s_ent in sent_doc.ents:
            if s_ent.text == orig_text:
                assert s_ent.kb_id_ == orig_kb_id

def test_preserving_links_ents(nlp):
    """Test that doc.ents preserves KB annotations"""
    text = "She lives in Boston. He lives in Denver."
    doc = nlp(text)
    assert len(list(doc.ents)) == 0

    boston_ent = Span(doc, 3, 4, label="LOC", kb_id="Q1")
    doc.ents = [boston_ent]
    assert len(list(doc.ents)) == 1
    assert list(doc.ents)[0].label_ == "LOC"
    assert list(doc.ents)[0].kb_id_ == "Q1"

def test_preserving_links_ents_2(nlp):
    """Test that doc.ents preserves KB annotations"""
    text = "She lives in Boston. He lives in Denver."
    doc = nlp(text)
    assert len(list(doc.ents)) == 0

    loc = doc.vocab.strings.add("LOC")
    q1 = doc.vocab.strings.add("Q1")

    doc.ents = [(loc, q1, 3, 4)]
    assert len(list(doc.ents)) == 1
    assert list(doc.ents)[0].label_ == "LOC"
    assert list(doc.ents)[0].kb_id_ == "Q1"

# fmt: off
TRAIN_DATA = [
    ("Russ Cochran captured his first major title with his son as caddie.",
        {"links": {(0, 12): {"Q7381115": 0.0, "Q2146908": 1.0}},
         "entities": [(0, 12, "PERSON")],
         "sent_starts": [1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]}),
    ("Russ Cochran his reprints include EC Comics.",
        {"links": {(0, 12): {"Q7381115": 1.0, "Q2146908": 0.0}},
         "entities": [(0, 12, "PERSON")],
         "sent_starts": [1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]}),
    ("Russ Cochran has been publishing comic art.",
        {"links": {(0, 12): {"Q7381115": 1.0, "Q2146908": 0.0}},
         "entities": [(0, 12, "PERSON")],
         "sent_starts": [1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]}),
    ("Russ Cochran was a member of University of Kentucky's golf team.",
        {"links": {(0, 12): {"Q7381115": 0.0, "Q2146908": 1.0}},
         "entities": [(0, 12, "PERSON"), (43, 51, "LOC")],
         "sent_starts": [1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]})
]
GOLD_entities = ["Q2146908", "Q7381115", "Q7381115", "Q2146908"]
# fmt: on

def test_overfitting_IO():
    # Simple test to try and quickly overfit the NEL component - ensuring the ML models work correctly
    nlp = English()
    vector_length = 3
    assert "Q2146908" not in nlp.vocab.strings

    # Convert the texts to docs to make sure we have doc.ents set for the training examples
    train_examples = []
    for text, annotation in TRAIN_DATA:
        doc = nlp(text)
        train_examples.append(Example.from_dict(doc, annotation))

    def create_kb(vocab):
        # create artificial KB - assign same prior weight to the two russ cochran's
        # Q2146908 (Russ Cochran): American golfer
        # Q7381115 (Russ Cochran): publisher
        mykb = KnowledgeBase(vocab, entity_vector_length=vector_length)
        mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2146908", freq=12, entity_vector=[6, -4, 3])
        mykb.add_entity(entity="Q7381115", freq=12, entity_vector=[9, 1, -7])
        mykb.add_alias(
            alias="Russ Cochran",
            entities=["Q2146908", "Q7381115"],
            probabilities=[0.5, 0.5],
        )
        return mykb

    # Create the Entity Linker component and add it to the pipeline
    entity_linker = nlp.add_pipe("entity_linker", last=True)
    entity_linker.set_kb(create_kb)
    assert "Q2146908" in entity_linker.vocab.strings
    assert "Q2146908" in entity_linker.kb.vocab.strings

    # train the NEL pipe
    optimizer = nlp.initialize(get_examples=lambda: train_examples)
    assert entity_linker.model.get_dim("nO") == vector_length
    assert entity_linker.model.get_dim("nO") == entity_linker.kb.entity_vector_length

    for i in range(50):
        losses = {}
        nlp.update(train_examples, sgd=optimizer, losses=losses)
    assert losses["entity_linker"] < 0.001

    # adding additional components that are required for the entity_linker
    nlp.add_pipe("sentencizer", first=True)

    # Add a custom component to recognize "Russ Cochran" as an entity for the example training data
    patterns = [
        {"label": "PERSON", "pattern": [{"LOWER": "russ"}, {"LOWER": "cochran"}]}
    ]
    ruler = nlp.add_pipe("entity_ruler", before="entity_linker")
    ruler.add_patterns(patterns)

    # test the trained model
    predictions = []
    for text, annotation in TRAIN_DATA:
        doc = nlp(text)
        for ent in doc.ents:
            predictions.append(ent.kb_id_)
    assert predictions == GOLD_entities

    # Also test the results are still the same after IO
    with make_tempdir() as tmp_dir:
        nlp.to_disk(tmp_dir)
        nlp2 = util.load_model_from_path(tmp_dir)
        assert nlp2.pipe_names == nlp.pipe_names
        assert "Q2146908" in nlp2.vocab.strings
        entity_linker2 = nlp2.get_pipe("entity_linker")
        assert "Q2146908" in entity_linker2.vocab.strings
        assert "Q2146908" in entity_linker2.kb.vocab.strings
        predictions = []
        for text, annotation in TRAIN_DATA:
            doc2 = nlp2(text)
            for ent in doc2.ents:
                predictions.append(ent.kb_id_)
        assert predictions == GOLD_entities

    # Make sure that running pipe twice, or comparing to call, always amounts to the same predictions
    texts = [
        "Russ Cochran captured his first major title with his son as caddie.",
        "Russ Cochran his reprints include EC Comics.",
        "Russ Cochran has been publishing comic art.",
        "Russ Cochran was a member of University of Kentucky's golf team.",
    ]
    batch_deps_1 = [doc.to_array([ENT_KB_ID]) for doc in nlp.pipe(texts)]
    batch_deps_2 = [doc.to_array([ENT_KB_ID]) for doc in nlp.pipe(texts)]
    no_batch_deps = [doc.to_array([ENT_KB_ID]) for doc in [nlp(text) for text in texts]]
    assert_equal(batch_deps_1, batch_deps_2)
    assert_equal(batch_deps_1, no_batch_deps)

def test_kb_serialization():
    # Test that the KB can be used in a pipeline with a different vocab
    vector_length = 3
    with make_tempdir() as tmp_dir:
        kb_dir = tmp_dir / "kb"
        nlp1 = English()
        assert "Q2146908" not in nlp1.vocab.strings
        mykb = KnowledgeBase(nlp1.vocab, entity_vector_length=vector_length)
        mykb.add_entity(entity="Q2146908", freq=12, entity_vector=[6, -4, 3])
        mykb.add_alias(alias="Russ Cochran", entities=["Q2146908"], probabilities=[0.8])
        assert "Q2146908" in nlp1.vocab.strings
        mykb.to_disk(kb_dir)

        nlp2 = English()
        assert "RandomWord" not in nlp2.vocab.strings
        nlp2.vocab.strings.add("RandomWord")
        assert "RandomWord" in nlp2.vocab.strings
        assert "Q2146908" not in nlp2.vocab.strings

        # Create the Entity Linker component with the KB from file, and check the final vocab
        entity_linker = nlp2.add_pipe("entity_linker", last=True)
        entity_linker.set_kb(load_kb(kb_dir))
        assert "Q2146908" in nlp2.vocab.strings
        assert "RandomWord" in nlp2.vocab.strings

def test_scorer_links():
    train_examples = []
    nlp = English()
    ref1 = nlp("Julia lives in London happily.")
    ref1.ents = [
        Span(ref1, 0, 1, label="PERSON", kb_id="Q2"),
        Span(ref1, 3, 4, label="LOC", kb_id="Q3"),
    ]
    pred1 = nlp("Julia lives in London happily.")
    pred1.ents = [
        Span(pred1, 0, 1, label="PERSON", kb_id="Q70"),
        Span(pred1, 3, 4, label="LOC", kb_id="Q3"),
    ]
    train_examples.append(Example(pred1, ref1))

    ref2 = nlp("She loves London.")
    ref2.ents = [
        Span(ref2, 0, 1, label="PERSON", kb_id="Q2"),
        Span(ref2, 2, 3, label="LOC", kb_id="Q13"),
    ]
    pred2 = nlp("She loves London.")
    pred2.ents = [
        Span(pred2, 0, 1, label="PERSON", kb_id="Q2"),
        Span(pred2, 2, 3, label="LOC", kb_id="NIL"),
    ]
    train_examples.append(Example(pred2, ref2))

    ref3 = nlp("London is great.")
    ref3.ents = [Span(ref3, 0, 1, label="LOC", kb_id="NIL")]
    pred3 = nlp("London is great.")
    pred3.ents = [Span(pred3, 0, 1, label="LOC", kb_id="NIL")]
    train_examples.append(Example(pred3, ref3))

    scores = Scorer().score_links(train_examples, negative_labels=["NIL"])
    assert scores["nel_f_per_type"]["PERSON"]["p"] == 1 / 2
    assert scores["nel_f_per_type"]["PERSON"]["r"] == 1 / 2
    assert scores["nel_f_per_type"]["LOC"]["p"] == 1 / 1
    assert scores["nel_f_per_type"]["LOC"]["r"] == 1 / 2

    assert scores["nel_micro_p"] == 2 / 3
    assert scores["nel_micro_r"] == 2 / 4

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Katamari Damacy heading to PS3
"Tribute" game out this year, full 1080p.
Updated on 25 March 2009
Namco Bandai is working on a PlayStation 3 version of Katamari Damacy for release later this year, according to the latest issue of Famitsu.
Translations from Siliconera and Kotaku agree that Katamari Damacy Tribute, as it's known, will run in full 1080p.
However, it sounds like a partial remake, with more in-game items, a new black-and-white stage, and a new game mode, along with familiar tunes like Everlasting Love.
Either way, it's a good excuse to dig out the soundtrack again. And let's hope the results are more We Love Katamari than Beautiful Katamari.
More about Katamari Forever
Katamari Forever Review
Feature | Be god of your own Middle-earth in WorldBox - God Simulator
The question is, what will you do?


Great deals on chairish the best dealers at chairish the lucite chairs factoryimporterexporter at. Room whether its a whimsical accent in dining. What is antique lucite chairs, on ebay for lucite furniture get great deals on etsy the buying and selling midcentury modernism shop wayfair for lucite dining i love it to day online looking for juliette lucite chairs dining chairs wholesale various high quality lucite nanna ditzel design burn out first antique vintage products from a new take on century modern liege lounge chairs and acrylic bar chairslucite bar chairslucite bar stool with black vinyl cushions on most stuff. Decorating ideas.
Natuzzi editions black friday. Benches and storage in. Antique lucite chairs sale, antique dining tables dining table and burgundy leather sofas sectionals by melissa hawks features modern and operated business located in antique dining room furniture lighting collectibles jewelry fashion fine art and storage in antique furniture lighting collectibles fine art vintage mid deco eames table with confidence. Today bundle duplicates include nearby areas ames ia ame ann arbor mi aaa appletonoshkoshfdl app battle estate s liquidations atlantas leading estate s liquidations atlantas leading estate s liquidations atlantas leading estate s liquidations atlantas leading estate liquidator is a designer look with.


text:
EEMA to elect new President this month
Serving his second consecutive term as President of the Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA), Sabbas Joseph has announced that it is time for the new EEMA President who will be elected later this month. Commencing its 11th year in 2018, EEMA, an autonomous and non-profit registered body of companies, institutions, and professionals operating within the events and experiential marketing industry, has come a long way.
02 January, 2018 by Shruti Shende
Leadership, Learning, Luxury: EEMA Leadership Retreat wraps up in Antalya
Event industry leaders share experiences with students at EEMA Eduposium
EEMA appoints Sabbas Joseph as new President
EEMA West's initiative 'Warehouse' puts spotlight on technical training and production detailing
During his two terms as EEMA President, Sabbas Joseph, who is also the founder of India's premier event agency Wizcraft International, has done a remarkable job in elevating EEMA's influence as India's apex body of the events industry by introducing several bold initiatives and radical changes. The next elected President will conceivably have big shoes to fill which remains a perceptible predicament within the association. The association's past presidents include Michael Menezes, founder of Showtime Group, Brian Tellis, founder of Fountainhead MKTG and Sabbas Joseph.
To facilitate the election of the next EEMA President, former President Brian Tellis has been unanimously chosen as the Chief Election Officer. The elections would be held in January 2018 and would be supervised by Ernst & Young's (EY) team to ensure complete secrecy, process management, and unquestionable credibility.
Joseph explaining the details of the election of the new EEMA President said that to ensure maximum participation, the election would be held online with each member being given a non-changeable specific code, etcetera. He also stated that by a unanimous resolution the previously used proxy vote system has been rejected and will not be used in the election process this year.
"We do believe that the next president would have the vision, vigor, and support to take EEMA to its newest peak. Needless to say, whoever is fortunate to receive the choice of our members will be welcomed and given the utmost support to conquer new peaks. May the best woman or man win!" exclaimed Joseph.
Also, with much excitement, the President of EEMA announced that the 10th EEMAgine, EEMA's annual convention event, is confirmed to be held in May 2018, at Jaipur, Rajasthan. "The Convenor of EEMAgine, Siddharth Chaturvedi, would be sharing the details of the venue and dates soon," said Joseph.
EEMA is an association that brings together the country's leading event management, sports management and brand activation companies, MICE and wedding planners, experiential marketers, entertainment professionals, artist management companies and international counterparts on the same platform.
Sabbas Joseph EEMA president


text:
Cyber Security Testing
"We hack you so others don't"
Vulnerablility Scanning
Secure Code Review
We are a leading penetration testing services provider in Ireland.
Penetration Testing, or a pen test, "is a method of evaluating the security of a system or network by simulating an attack from malicious outsiders (who do not have an authorized means of accessing the organization's systems) and malicious insiders (who have some level of authorized access)." The process involves an active analysis of the system for any potential vulnerabilities that could result from poor or improper system configuration, both known and unknown hardware or software flaws, or operational weaknesses in process or technical countermeasures.
At CommSec this analysis is carried out from the position of a potential attacker by our Security consultants and can involve active exploitation of security vulnerabilities with a view to improving the security of your system or network. We can provide this service on its own or as part of our Security Assessment and Audit service. Security issues uncovered through the penetration test are presented to the system's owner. Effective penetration tests will couple this information with an accurate assessment of the potential impacts to the organization and outline a range of technical and procedural countermeasures to reduce risks.
Why do a Pen test?
Determine the feasibility of a particular set of attack vectors
Identify higher-risk vulnerabilities that result from a combination of lower-risk vulnerabilities exploited in a particular sequence
Identify vulnerabilities that may be difficult or impossible to detect with automated network or application vulnerability scanning software
Assess the magnitude of potential business and operational impacts of successful attacks
Test the ability of network defenders to successfully detect and respond to the attacks
Provide evidence to support increased investments in security personnel and technology
Most businesses;
Lack the in-house capabilities required to keep pace with changing business demands.
Compliance mandates, and emerging threats for strategic implementation of new IT security solutions.
Don't have the capabilities to effectively monitor and manage the security infrastructure to ensure optimal utilization of current assets.
In-house IT staff spend far too much time on day-to-day operational security issues versus new strategic projects.
ACTIVE not REACTIVE: Depend on IT security tools and processes that provide a reactive, rather than proactive, approach to mitigating risk and minimizing data loss and downtime.
A secure code review can identify and verify security issues that were overseen in the development stage.
Our secure code review looks at the vectors that an attacker might leverage to conduct an exploit against your application.
As more applications move to the Cloud and the deployment process of applications speed up, many vulnerabilities may exist inside your code.
An undiscovered vulnerability may be present and could lead to an attacker injecting their own code or gaining unauthorised access to harvest and steal sensitive data. This may impact your business from legal fines imposed by GDPR penalties or loss of revenue through brand damage.
Our Security Testers use the following methodology to conduct each code review:
Preparation & Threat Modelling
Our expert security testers identify all vectors of the application and create threat models to determine entry points an attacker might use to exploit vulnerabilities.
Code analysis is performed by our security testers both static and dynamically.
Our reports contain an executive summary of the findings and detail descriptions of each vulnerability.
Findings & Remediation Details
Our security testers can provide remediation steps and advice.
"I just wanted to thank you and your team for the very professional job you did for us on the recent PEN test we look forward to working with you again in the future".
Rory Hopkins, Head of IT / Kildare County Council
Email or Call our team
..read more


text:
Maria's Bookshop
Blake Crouch Signed Copies
DGO Magazine
Durango Herald
Fort Lewis Independent
Prose & Cons
Murder Ink
Maria's Favorites
Maria's Bestseller Lists
Indie Next Lists
Celebrate Diversity
Reading Group Favorites
Reading Group Next List
Reading Group Tips
Green Business Practices
Maria's in the News
Supporting Authors
Red Queen (Paperback)
By Victoria Aveyard
3 on hand, as of Jul 18 12:15am
The #1 New York Times bestselling series!
Red Queen, by #1 New York Times bestselling author Victoria Aveyard, is a sweeping tale of power, intrigue, and betrayal, perfect for fans of George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones series.
Mare Barrow's world is divided by blood—those with common, Red blood serve the Silver-blooded elite, who are gifted with superhuman abilities. Mare is a Red, scraping by as a thief in a poor, rural village, until a twist of fate throws her in front of the Silver court. Before the king, princes, and all the nobles, she discovers she has an ability of her own.
To cover up this impossibility, the king forces her to play the role of a lost Silver princess and betroths her to one of his own sons. As Mare is drawn further into the Silver world, she risks everything and uses her new position to help the Scarlet Guard—a growing Red rebellion—even as her heart tugs her in an impossible direction.
One wrong move can lead to her death, but in the dangerous game she plays, the only certainty is betrayal.
And don't miss Broken Throne: A Red Queen Collection, featuring three brand-new novellas and other exclusive content, coming in April!
Victoria Aveyard was born and raised in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, a small town known only for the worst traffic rotary in the continental United States. She moved to Los Angeles to earn a BFA in screenwriting at the University of Southern California. She currently splits her time between the East and West coasts. As an author and screenwriter, she uses her career as an excuse to read too many books and watch too many movies. You can visit her online at www.victoriaaveyard.com.
"A sizzling, imaginative thriller, where romance and revolution collide, where power and justice duel. It's exhilarating. Compelling. Action-packed. Unputdownable."
— USA Today
"Aveyard weaves a compelling new world of action-packed surprises... inventive, character-driven."
"A volatile world with a dynamic heroine."
— Booklist
"Breakneck pace and engaging characters."
" [Aveyard] sets her audience up for a gaspworthy twist that reconfigures nearly every character's role and leaves Mare with no one to trust but herself... This blend of fantasy and dystopia will be an unexpected and worthy addition to many genre fans' reading list."
— Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
"Fascinating world building... Readers will be intrigued by a world that reflects today's troubling issues concerning ethnic inequality, unfair distribution of wealth, pollution, warfare, political corruption, and the frightening power of the media."
— Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
Series: Red Queen
Young Adult Fiction / Fantasy
Young Adult Fiction / Romance
Young Adult Fiction / Royalty
Kobo eBook (February 9th, 2015): $10.99
Compact Disc (February 10th, 2015): $39.99
Hardcover, Large Print (February 3rd, 2016): $20.99
Prebound (June 7th, 2016): $22.10
Pre-Recorded Audio Player (February 2015): $69.99
OPEN EVERY DAY 9AM – 9PM
Indie Next List: Bookseller recommendations from across the country
Click here to purchase a gift card.
OPEN EVERY DAY 9AM - 9PM
© 2018 Maria's Bookshop | Security & Privacy Policy | Website design by SOF, Inc. | Banner images by Scott DW Smith


text:
Taoiseach says visit to Ethiopia changed his perspective on refugee camps
Biggest political mistake is to be dismissive of with migration concerns – Varadkar
Sat, Jan 12, 2019, 06:00
Harry McGee In Mai Aini Northern Ethiopia
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar visits some of the stores in the redistribution centre in the Mai Aini refugee centre in Northern Ethiopia. Photograph: Harry McGee
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said his first visit to a refugee camp had changed his perspectives on the issue but also argued it would still be mistaken to dismiss people's concerns about migration.
The Taoiseach visited the Mai Aini refugee camp close to Ethiopia's border with Eritrea on the last day of his three-day visit to Ethiopia. The camp houses around 12,500 of the 907,000 refugees registered in Ethiopia.
"I think coming here for me certainly helps to have a better understanding and change perspectives of the challenges we face in the world. We read about refugee camps, we see them on TV, it's only when you can be in a place like that that you can understand," he told reporters.
He also said migration needed to be managed in European countries such as Ireland.
"Generally speaking, Irish people have been quite welcoming of refugees," he said.
"I think we also need to understand public concerns about migration. The biggest political mistake some people made across Europe is to be dismissive of people who have concerns about migration.
"They have concerns about the increasing impact migration has on housing for example, the impact on the health and education systems, particularly when there are a lot of kids in school who do not have English as a first language. They will have concerns about security and crime.
"Migration is a good thing. Ireland has benefited enormously from migration in my view.
"But it does need to be managed. We need to manage it right and see the picture as a whole, not just about responding to refugee crisis or humanitarian crisis, but the best in international development, peace and security. Those are the policies that work in the long term."
Varadkar calls Ethiopian trip a 'humbling experience'
Varadkar speaks on China's increasing role in Africa and risks to Europe
Taoiseach to make week-long visit to Mali and Ethiopia
'Recalibrated perspective'
During his visit, the Taoiseach met newly-arrived refugees from Eritrea as well as those who have been there for some years. Some of the residents are women with children whose husbands have already made their way to Europe.
He also saw the camp school, which has almost 1,000 pupils, and the distribution centre where refugees get basic provisions such as the staple injera bread (made from a type of teff or wheat), beans, flour, oil and laundry soap. They also receive a cash payment of about €2 each month.
He met Selamawit Tesfagghi who was registering as a refugee with her two young children. She said she wished to join her husband who has been in Luxembourg for a year.
Asked by the Taoiseach how she hoped to get there, she said: "I have not started on my journey but I do have a plan to join my husband.
"Life has been very difficult for me especially when [I] don't have a husband helping [me]."
In his comments, Mr Varadkar said he would return home with a "recalibrated perspective of what we must do in the world.
"Europe must do more in the future to bring to Eritrea, in particular, greater democracy, greater freedom, greater security and greater economic opportunity for them so that they don't feel they have to leave their homes."
He argued while the EU needed to respond to humanitarian and refugee crises, its best option was to engage in long-term investment and partnerships in Africa.
"By 2050 there will be 2.5 billion people living on the continent of Africa."
He said its population would be five times larger than Europe.
"There is no way the EU could take 10, 20 or 30 per cent of Africa's population.
"That's why we have to do, above all, is to get Africa right, to bring to Africa security, to bring to Africa political freedom, bring to Africa economic opportunities. If we do that most people won't leave their homes."
He was asked if Ireland's commitment to receive 4,000 refugees was paltry in the context of Ethiopia, a poor country, hosting almost a million refugees.
He said there was a case for increasing the number, but there were issues in Ireland relating to housing that limited the capacity. He added: "The solution is never going to be about accepting refugees . . . The solution is the underlying process (of African development)," he said.
On the last stop of his visit, Mr Varadkar visited St Mary's Church and monastery in Axum, where ancient annals and paintings were housed. Access to the monastery was confined to males, and female members of his party were not allowed entry.
Harry Mcgee
Leo Varadkar
Mai Aini
Selamawit Tesfagghi
International police forces examining Kinahan armoury raid
Latest Ireland
Online support service for sexual violence victims a 'world first' 03:58
Cost of nurses' pay deal running millions ahead of estimate 03:57
Donations to rape crisis centre rise €70,000 after Belfast trial 03:43
International police forces examining Kinahan armoury raid 03:18
Independent review of Shannon pipeline plan due by end of year 01:23
Our politics team's behind-the-scenes take on events of the day in your inbox each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday
3 Hunt and Johnson: the backstop is dead and can't be in any EU deal
Features & Opinion
Why the Green Party's convention this weekend is a sell-out gig
The event in hip Dublin 7 includes yoga, a biodiversity talk and some radical motions
Miriam Lord: Scuttling things in the Dáil bars
Miriam Lord
A rat in TDs' midst; Shane Ross's birthday; Dr Reilly's tie; hands, knees and boomps-a-daisy
Banners, flags and 'f**k you' bonfires - Northern Ireland's 'cultural war' rages
Simon Carswell
'It is the first time in a long time that loyalists have won', says activist Jamie Bryson
Dáil end-of-term report: Little to show as Brexit storm looms
All talk of elections off the agenda as harsh political realities govern party thinking


Malawi is on the list of a number of countries in which democracy is failing. It is difficult to argue with this assessment.
According to institutions that examine democracies around the world, Malawi is on the list of a number of countries in which democracy is failing. It is difficult to argue with this assessment. The promise and the hope that we all had at the ousting of the MCP dictatorship and the ushering in of this beautiful new freedom seem to have been a mirage.
The economic independence we all hoped for has not come, and only a few have become rich at the expense of the sweat of the many. That is not to say, however that there have not been any gains with the arrival of the so-called multiparty dispensation. Its main contribution, in my view, is that at least every five years, the spirit of democracy provides the nation with free and unparalleled comedy. As elsewhere around the world, we two in Malawi can, at least once every five years, see people who cared about nothing and no one else but themselves come down from their high horses and start joining locals at funeral ceremonies, eat food from roadside hawkers, and even dance with the local Masquerades and "Zinyau" all in a bid to impress the voter that they are one with the people after all.
In the final analysis though, if a democracy fails the really important tests, no amount of political gamesmanship can save it from failure. The biggest test that may be thrown at a democracy is not just for it to give the mob a chance to rule, but rather that there must be a way to hold those who ride to power by it accountable and true to their promises. Fail this accountability test, and you do not have a democracy.
Campaign time is always a time for promises, but when the elections have come and gone, the electorate's only respite cannot and should not be simply to hope and pray that their new leaders will be faithful to their calling and make themselves accountable.
Because the voter has no way of predicting who amongst the candidates he has in front of him will fulfill their promises, he or she must look to history or his or her common sense to learn from and be guided. Some candidates will have a history of a litany of lies and broken promises while some candidates, like good salesmen will be selling glorious wet dreams that may never materialize. It is all there to see.
And speaking of campaign promises, President Peter Mutharika is currently on what might be considered a noble drive warning unsuspecting Malawians not to be duped by unrealistic promises by some politicians. At a "development rally" (ironic, huh?) in Nkhotakota, the other day, With a suspicious crowd waiting in anticipation for him to tell him something of substance, Mutharika looked this way and that, racked his brain and finding not much in it went on to make probably the one statement that every Malawian should take very seriously of anything that Mutharika has ever said. Effectively, Mutharika warned Malawians about himself as a presidential candidate. This is how he did it. Mutharika declared that the promise of a bullet train, for instance is unrealistic and so is the promise of a million jobs in 6 months or one year. On bullet trains Mutharika says that Malawi does not have the required energy supply needed to run such trains (I sincerely hope the President was not trying to tell us, contrary to what he has been preaching, that our energy supply potential cannot be developed).
It is the duty of every citizen to do small acts of civic-education as far as they can. I do my bit, too. In this regard I applaud the President for taking up this noblest civic-education cause. And I think he is actually the best person too for this cause because the President has enough experience on what is and is not a realistic promise. His presidency is an epitome of failure and is replete with unrealistic promises.
Clearly, for instance, President Mutharika has now realised that the DPP's 2014 campaign promises of reduced Presidential powers and Independent ACB were unrealistic, just as the promise of Mombera University in Mzimba was unrealistic, the promise of a Judicial Complex in Lilongwe was unrealistic, and that of an airport at Mangochi was unrealistic.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I hereby move that we must make the State President our 2019 Realistic Campaign Promises Ambassador!
There is a saying that those who say something cannot be done should step aside and not stand in the way of those doing it. Mutharika would do well to listen to these words of wisdom.
But beyond the obvious hypocrisy in the President's attack on other people's 'unrealistic' campaign promises, we really need as citizens to take look critically at any promises made by politicians. We must think judiciously about them and ask questions now during the campaign period. This is where we must show our power as the kingmakers. We are within our rights to ask how Vice President Saulos Klaus Chilima will create 1 million jobs in one year or is it 6 months, and demand that he gives us some convincing reasoning on the issue – as he has recently done. We must ask how the incumbent President Mutharika can be making promises to build universities when he has already defaulted on numerous previous promises. It is our duty to ask Dr Lazarus Chakwera how he intends to fund, for instance, for the improved pay for civil servants. And asking such questions is not a sign of hatred or opposition to particular individuals, it is actually a sign that in spite of the signs that our democracy is on a deathbed, we are mature enough to resuscitate it and keep it not only alive but to help it grow and create a country where the people are actively taking part in the very important stages of the process.
Supporters of any particular candidates must also be allowed to actually engage with their leaders to familiarize themselves with their manifestos so that they may provide handy responses to questions on implementation and viability of their promises instead of spewing hate and vitriol.
Ultimately, we must all realize that without a transparent and honest campaign period where everyone from the candidate to the voter is actively engaged, we might as well just stick to our usual realistic promises like cronyism, corruption and plunder, and pothole filing in town roads. Oh and borrowing from international banks to build stadiums! Throw in there somewhere promotion of culture too.
Bad governance and corruption are symptoms of leadership and institutional failure. Our leaders are happy to make fools of themselves during the campaign period, eat Kanyenya and dance Zinyau dances if that will help, knowing that later they will govern in an environment where institutions are very weak or do not exist. This ensures that they will not be accountable for their promises or their corruption and abuse of office. We have enough evidence before our eyes that in the absence of effective checks and balances, corruption in Malawi continues unabated.
What Malawi needs now, therefore, is a leader who can promise to make an enforceable deal with the nation that the moment he refuses to fulfil any of his promises, especially that of transforming the Malawian Governance framework, the people will be within their rights as citizens to rise up against him or her and throw him out of office even if his term of office has not yet come to an end.


text:
Lerista connivens är en ödleart som beskrevs av  Storr 1971. Lerista connivens ingår i släktet Lerista och familjen skinkar. IUCN kategoriserar arten globalt som livskraftig. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Externa länkar

Skinkar
connivens

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Home › On to Restoration! › Restoration of Christendom
Fri, 11/07/2003 - 8:41pm — James Kalb
Can Christendom be restored? When something started disappearing in the Middle Ages, and has been disappearing more and more every year since then, it looks like the tendency of things is rather against it. Still, there are points that should be kept in mind:
The definitive public rejection of Christendom was actually quite recent, mid-to-late 20th century. Before then it was possible publicly to refer to the Western countries as Christian, and for politicians, mainstream pundits and what not to make public comments that implied the truth of Christianity. The place of Christianity might have been like the place of the Emperor in old Japan, often more notional than substantive, but that doesn't mean it was dispensable.
The replacement of Christendom by managerial liberalism is not working well. There's no doubt a great deal of ruin in a nation, but there must be some limit. When a civilization wills the destruction of the conditions of its own existence it's not a Chicken Little attitude to say it won't last.
The glorious '60s led very quickly to radical increases in crime, radical disorders in education and family life, and radical degradation of and intellectual life and popular and high culture. Post-Christian Western societies don't reproduce themselves, they support themselves by importing non-Westerners and propagate by infection. Can that go on forever?
Christendom is the society whose public life is Christian. It exists as long as there are two or more Christians. Liberal society is the society whose public life is defined by liberalism. It is in decline, because liberalism destroys the preconditions of public life---the belief that the world is an ordered cosmos, so that public discussion can be more than a matter of conflicting egos, and the basis in common identity and substantive moral commitment for public loyalty and trust.
It therefore seems likely, as a Darwinian matter, that if a society includes both Christians and advanced liberals its public life will eventually become Christian. Christianity can sustain both public and private life, but liberalism can't sustain either in the long run. While liberalism can infect public life, and seem to dominate it as a tendency, when it is finally victorious it destroys its host and thus itself.
The argument in brief is that Christianity is an adequate picture of man and the world and liberalism is a grossly inadequate picture of those things. Liberalism can exist as a tendency within Christianity but not otherwise. When it definitively rejects Christianity and tries to order social life on its own it destroys itself. Something else will have to pick up the pieces. Why not Christianity?
‹ More on the Mass up The Kingdom cometh not by observation ›
When you say that liberalism
When you say that liberalism will destroy "public life," it's not entirely clear what you're claiming. For instance, it's obvious that liberalism indeed destroys the good order we associate with sound political doctrine—doctrine which has its roots in Christian soil. But to say that society will not survive in some form under liberalism (if that's what you're saying) is going too far. Society, after all, survived for thousands of years prior to the advent of Christ.
I think it's better to say that *self-governing* society cannot exist under liberalism—which is indeed what I think you meant to say. People who are not fit to govern themselves will be governed by another, and when the one they are governed by is not fit to govern either, the result must necessarily be tyranny. That, without question, is what is on the horizon for America.
By "public life" I meant
By "public life" I meant public discussion that leads somewhere and other voluntary productive public activity. So it's a somewhat weaker expression than "self-government" but covers some of the same ground.
Mon, 11/10/2003 - 1:15am — Mysterious Stranger (not verified)
"And a certain ruler asked
"And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good
Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest
thou me good? none is good, save one, that is,
God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not
commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal,
Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father
and thy mother" (Jesus Christ, Luke 8:18-20,
King James Version, as I am not Catholic or
mainstream at all).
Those who try to follow the Ten Commandments comprise a very small minority in the USA. Many of those few are victims of no-fault divorce, because our laws (no-fault and unconstitutional punishments solely from accusations) work in favor of all who want to divorce. Their fertility rate is low despite their beliefs. More children in pagan countries know who their fathers are and have less risk of incest. The defiling of Christianity from within by tolerance of romanticism and divorce can have evil consequences, indeed.
Jim: I want to congratulate
Jim: I want to congratulate you warmly for this blog. May God bless everybody associated with it and their loved ones. Ad Jesum per Mariam :)
Mr. Kalb's analysis assumes that
Mr. Kalb's analysis assumes that the destruction wrought by liberalism will leave the society in existence, allowing some members of that society, namely Christians, to pick up the pieces of civilization and resume. That would be the hope, and it may be a sound one. But we cannot underestimate the damage that liberalism can achieve before it exhausts itself. Since liberalism lives by gobbling up the economic and cultural substance of society, it is possible that liberalism will not end until the society itself is functionally destroyed and there is nothing left to save.
Tue, 11/11/2003 - 10:47am — Mysterious Stranger (not verified)
A restored Christendom would involve
A restored Christendom would involve discontinuities with what we have now. There would also be many things carried forward. It's impossible to predict just what the mix and configuration would be. But since liberalism must inhabit a society that is functioning reasonably well to exist at all, I don't see how it can wholly destroy society.
The ebola virus must inhabit
The ebola virus must inhabit a body that is functioning reasonably well in order to exist also. I suppose actual individual liberals may have a more developed sense of self-preservation than actual individual ebola viruses, and possibly even a better sense of what it takes to preserve the host in order to preserve the self. I wouldn't count on it though.
Mr. Kalb wrote, "But since liberalism
Mr. Kalb wrote,
"But since liberalism must inhabit a society that is functioning reasonably well to exist at all, I don
Tue, 11/11/2003 - 2:33pm — Mysterious Stranger (not verified)
"Society" is extremely complex and
"Society" is extremely complex and multilayered, and it's not nearly as integrated a structure as the human body. It's more like an invertebrate that can regenerate itself from fragments than a man who dies when you run over him with a steamroller.
Also, for liberalism to be operational at all it needs a functional state bureaucracy, legal system and system of education, and a certain degree of public trust. It seems to me that those things will all go long before you get to the extreme case Mr. Auster seemed to have in mind in which there are no fragments of civilization or cultural substance left to save and put back together. It's as if the ebola virus were to die when the victim became too weak to move around on his own.
Mr. Kalb wrote, "It seems to
"It seems to me that those things will all go long before you get to the extreme case … in which there are no fragments of civilization or cultural substance left to save and put back together."
Of course there might be fragments left to save and put back together after liberalism is through wreaking its destruction: what was that history again, about the Irish monks — the ones who wrote the Book of Kells — almost singlehandedly salvaging a chunk of the culture of the West during a time of great turmoil in which German barbarians, I think it was, had so disrupted, dismantled, and fragmented the society of their day that only little islands of it remained here and there, certain remote Irish monasteries being one such island? But if we're reduced to fragments, isn't that more or less the equivalent of the game being up? I mean, I'll play the role those Irish monks played if called upon to do so, but isn't it a pretty drastic thing for a society to be reduced to a disrupted, dismantled, fragmented state, compared to the harmonious whole it once was?
What most of us see
What most of us see of liberalism needs bureaucracies to survive but not what a few of us see. At liberalism's root is frustrated paganism. Frustrated/rising paganism can get a lot rougher than what we now see in politics. More than one feminist goddess worship site has cheered some imagined future scenario when Christians will be beheaded.
Some of the very old pagan civilizations are thought to have been consumed by human sacrifice—enemies, at first, then citizens. And yeah, I've taken John somewhat literally.


My advice is: Do not submit your eBook to the iBookstore.
And if you have one there, remove it.
The iPad is nothing but a shiny brick without your content.
Classic Thomas Nast cartoon illustrating the face-sucking vampire squid that was the Standard Oil company. Perfectly illustrates the New Greed of Apple today.
Android has the wonderful eBook program Aldiko. Not available for iOS.
I expect Feedbooks will get traffic from webOS tablets once those are out too.
Apple has shot itself in the foot, thinking it's somehow entitled to a 30% cut of eBooks bought from Amazon, Sony, Kobo, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and all other stores. Where is the Apple Board of Directors to question this move?