text:
require "fileutils"
require "pathname"
require "rbconfig"
require "thread"
require "tmpdir"

require "bundler/errors"
require "bundler/environment_preserver"
require "bundler/gem_remote_fetcher"
require "bundler/plugin"
require "bundler/rubygems_ext"
require "bundler/rubygems_integration"
require "bundler/version"
require "bundler/constants"
require "bundler/current_ruby"

module Bundler
  environment_preserver = EnvironmentPreserver.new(ENV, %w(PATH GEM_PATH))
  ORIGINAL_ENV = environment_preserver.restore
  ENV.replace(environment_preserver.backup)
  SUDO_MUTEX = Mutex.new

  autoload :Definition,             "bundler/definition"
  autoload :Dependency,             "bundler/dependency"
  autoload :DepProxy,               "bundler/dep_proxy"
  autoload :Deprecate,              "bundler/deprecate"
  autoload :Dsl,                    "bundler/dsl"
  autoload :EndpointSpecification,  "bundler/endpoint_specification"
  autoload :Env,                    "bundler/env"
  autoload :Fetcher,                "bundler/fetcher"
  autoload :FeatureFlag,            "bundler/feature_flag"
  autoload :GemHelper,              "bundler/gem_helper"
  autoload :GemHelpers,             "bundler/gem_helpers"
  autoload :GemVersionPromoter,     "bundler/gem_version_promoter"
  autoload :Graph,                  "bundler/graph"
  autoload :Index,                  "bundler/index"
  autoload :Injector,               "bundler/injector"
  autoload :Installer,              "bundler/installer"
  autoload :LazySpecification,      "bundler/lazy_specification"
  autoload :LockfileParser,         "bundler/lockfile_parser"
  autoload :MatchPlatform,          "bundler/match_platform"
  autoload :Mirror,                 "bundler/mirror"
  autoload :Mirrors,                "bundler/mirror"
  autoload :RemoteSpecification,    "bundler/remote_specification"
  autoload :Resolver,               "bundler/resolver"
  autoload :Retry,                  "bundler/retry"
  autoload :RubyDsl,                "bundler/ruby_dsl"
  autoload :RubyGemsGemInstaller,   "bundler/rubygems_gem_installer"
  autoload :RubyVersion,            "bundler/ruby_version"
  autoload :Runtime,                "bundler/runtime"
  autoload :Settings,               "bundler/settings"
  autoload :SharedHelpers,          "bundler/shared_helpers"
  autoload :Source,                 "bundler/source"
  autoload :SourceList,             "bundler/source_list"
  autoload :SpecSet,                "bundler/spec_set"
  autoload :StubSpecification,      "bundler/stub_specification"
  autoload :UI,                     "bundler/ui"
  autoload :URICredentialsFilter,   "bundler/uri_credentials_filter"

  class << self
    attr_writer :bundle_path

    def configure
      @configured ||= configure_gem_home_and_path
    end

    def ui
      (defined?(@ui) && @ui) || (self.ui = UI::Silent.new)
    end

    def ui=(ui)
      Bundler.rubygems.ui = ui ? UI::RGProxy.new(ui) : nil
      @ui = ui
    end

    # Returns absolute path of where gems are installed on the filesystem.
    def bundle_path
      @bundle_path ||= Pathname.new(settings.path).expand_path(root)
    end

    # Returns absolute location of where binstubs are installed to.
    def bin_path
      @bin_path ||= begin
        path = settings[:bin] || "bin"
        path = Pathname.new(path).expand_path(root).expand_path
        SharedHelpers.filesystem_access(path) {|p| FileUtils.mkdir_p(p) }
        path
      end
    end

    def setup(*groups)
      # Return if all groups are already loaded
      return @setup if defined?(@setup) && @setup

      definition.validate_runtime!

      SharedHelpers.print_major_deprecations!

      if groups.empty?
        # Load all groups, but only once
        @setup = load.setup
      else
        load.setup(*groups)
      end
    end

    def require(*groups)
      setup(*groups).require(*groups)
    end

    def load
      @load ||= Runtime.new(root, definition)
    end

    def environment
      SharedHelpers.major_deprecation "Bundler.environment has been removed in favor of Bundler.load"
      load
    end

    # Returns an instance of Bundler::Definition for given Gemfile and lockfile
    #
    # @param unlock [Hash, Boolean, nil] Gems that have been requested
    #   to be updated or true if all gems should be updated
    # @return [Bundler::Definition]
    def definition(unlock = nil)
      @definition = nil if unlock
      @definition ||= begin
        configure
        Definition.build(default_gemfile, default_lockfile, unlock)
      end
    end

    def locked_gems
      @locked_gems ||=
        if defined?(@definition) && @definition
          definition.locked_gems
        elsif Bundler.default_lockfile.exist?
          lock = Bundler.read_file(Bundler.default_lockfile)
          LockfileParser.new(lock)
        end
    end

    def ruby_scope
      "#{Bundler.rubygems.ruby_engine}/#{Bundler.rubygems.config_map[:ruby_version]}"
    end

    def user_home
      @user_home ||= begin
        home = Bundler.rubygems.user_home
        warning = "Your home directory is not set properly:"
        if home.nil?
          warning += "\n * It is not set at all"
        elsif !File.directory?(home)
          warning += "\n * `#{home}` is not a directory"
        elsif !File.writable?(home)
          warning += "\n * `#{home}` is not writable"
        else
          return @user_home = Pathname.new(home)
        end

        login = Etc.getlogin || "unknown"

        tmp_home = Pathname.new(Dir.tmpdir).join("bundler", "home", login)
        begin
          SharedHelpers.filesystem_access(tmp_home, :write) do |p|
            FileUtils.mkdir_p(p)
          end
        rescue => e
          warning += "\n\nBundler also failed to create a temporary home directory at `#{tmp_home}`:\n#{e}"
          raise warning
        end

        warning += "\n\nBundler will use `#{tmp_home}` as your home directory temporarily"

        Bundler.ui.warn(warning)
        tmp_home
      end
    end

    def user_bundle_path
      Pathname.new(user_home).join(".bundle")
    end

    def home
      bundle_path.join("bundler")
    end

    def install_path
      home.join("gems")
    end

    def specs_path
      bundle_path.join("specifications")
    end

    def cache
      bundle_path.join("cache/bundler")
    end

    def user_cache
      user_bundle_path.join("cache")
    end

    def root
      @root ||= begin
                  default_gemfile.dirname.expand_path
                rescue GemfileNotFound
                  bundle_dir = default_bundle_dir
                  raise GemfileNotFound, "Could not locate Gemfile or .bundle/ directory" unless bundle_dir
                  Pathname.new(File.expand_path("..", bundle_dir))
                end
    end

    def app_config_path
      if ENV["BUNDLE_APP_CONFIG"]
        Pathname.new(ENV["BUNDLE_APP_CONFIG"]).expand_path(root)
      else
        root.join(".bundle")
      end
    end

    def app_cache(custom_path = nil)
      path = custom_path || root
      path.join(settings.app_cache_path)
    end

    def tmp(name = Process.pid.to_s)
      Pathname.new(Dir.mktmpdir(["bundler", name]))
    end

    def rm_rf(path)
      FileUtils.remove_entry_secure(path) if path && File.exist?(path)
    rescue ArgumentError
      message = <<EOF
It is a security vulnerability to allow your home directory to be world-writable, and bundler can not continue.
You should probably consider fixing this issue by running `chmod o-w ~` on *nix.
Please refer to http://ruby-doc.org/stdlib-2.1.2/libdoc/fileutils/rdoc/FileUtils.html#method-c-remove_entry_secure for details.
EOF
      File.world_writable?(path) ? Bundler.ui.warn(message) : raise
      raise PathError, "Please fix the world-writable issue with your #{path} directory"
    end

    def settings
      @settings ||= Settings.new(app_config_path)
    rescue GemfileNotFound
      @settings = Settings.new(Pathname.new(".bundle").expand_path)
    end

    # @return [Hash] Environment present before Bundler was activated
    def original_env
      ORIGINAL_ENV.clone
    end

    # @deprecated Use `original_env` instead
    # @return [Hash] Environment with all bundler-related variables removed
    def clean_env
      Bundler::SharedHelpers.major_deprecation("`Bundler.clean_env` has weird edge cases, use `.original_env` instead")
      env = original_env

      if env.key?("BUNDLER_ORIG_MANPATH")
        env["MANPATH"] = env["BUNDLER_ORIG_MANPATH"]
      end

      env.delete_if {|k, _| k[0, 7] == "BUNDLE_" }

      if env.key?("RUBYOPT")
        env["RUBYOPT"] = env["RUBYOPT"].sub "-rbundler/setup", ""
      end

      if env.key?("RUBYLIB")
        rubylib = env["RUBYLIB"].split(File::PATH_SEPARATOR)
        rubylib.delete(File.expand_path("..", __FILE__))
        env["RUBYLIB"] = rubylib.join(File::PATH_SEPARATOR)
      end

      env
    end

    def with_original_env
      with_env(original_env) { yield }
    end

    def with_clean_env
      with_env(clean_env) { yield }
    end

    def clean_system(*args)
      with_clean_env { Kernel.system(*args) }
    end

    def clean_exec(*args)
      with_clean_env { Kernel.exec(*args) }
    end

    def local_platform
      return Gem::Platform::RUBY if settings[:force_ruby_platform]
      Gem::Platform.local
    end

    def default_gemfile
      SharedHelpers.default_gemfile
    end

    def default_lockfile
      SharedHelpers.default_lockfile
    end

    def default_bundle_dir
      SharedHelpers.default_bundle_dir
    end

    def system_bindir
      # Gem.bindir doesn't always return the location that Rubygems will install
      # system binaries. If you put '-n foo' in your .gemrc, Rubygems will
      # install binstubs there instead. Unfortunately, Rubygems doesn't expose
      # that directory at all, so rather than parse .gemrc ourselves, we allow
      # the directory to be set as well, via `bundle config bindir foo`.
      Bundler.settings[:system_bindir] || Bundler.rubygems.gem_bindir
    end

    def requires_sudo?
      return @requires_sudo if defined?(@requires_sudo_ran)

      sudo_present = which "sudo" if settings.allow_sudo?

      if sudo_present
        # the bundle path and subdirectories need to be writable for Rubygems
        # to be able to unpack and install gems without exploding
        path = bundle_path
        path = path.parent until path.exist?

        # bins are written to a different location on OS X
        bin_dir = Pathname.new(Bundler.system_bindir)
        bin_dir = bin_dir.parent until bin_dir.exist?

        # if any directory is not writable, we need sudo
        files = [path, bin_dir] | Dir[path.join("build_info/*").to_s] | Dir[path.join("*").to_s]
        sudo_needed = files.any? {|f| !File.writable?(f) }
      end

      @requires_sudo_ran = true
      @requires_sudo = settings.allow_sudo? && sudo_present && sudo_needed
    end

    def mkdir_p(path)
      if requires_sudo?
        sudo "mkdir -p '#{path}'" unless File.exist?(path)
      else
        SharedHelpers.filesystem_access(path, :write) do |p|
          FileUtils.mkdir_p(p)
        end
      end
    end

    def which(executable)
      if File.file?(executable) && File.executable?(executable)
        executable
      elsif paths = ENV["PATH"]
        quote = '"'.freeze
        paths.split(File::PATH_SEPARATOR).find do |path|
          path = path[1..-2] if path.start_with?(quote) && path.end_with?(quote)
          executable_path = File.expand_path(executable, path)
          return executable_path if File.file?(executable_path) && File.executable?(executable_path)
        end
      end
    end

    def sudo(str)
      SUDO_MUTEX.synchronize do
        prompt = "\n\n" + <<-PROMPT.gsub(/^ {6}/, "").strip + " "
        Your user account isn't allowed to install to the system RubyGems.
        You can cancel this installation and run:

            bundle install --path vendor/bundle

        to install the gems into ./vendor/bundle/, or you can enter your password
        and install the bundled gems to RubyGems using sudo.

        Password:
        PROMPT

        unless @prompted_for_sudo ||= system(%(sudo -k -p "#{prompt}" true))
          raise SudoNotPermittedError,
            "Bundler requires sudo access to install at the moment. " \
            "Try installing again, granting Bundler sudo access when prompted, or installing into a different path."
        end

        `sudo -p "#{prompt}" #{str}`
      end
    end

    def read_file(file)
      File.open(file, "rb", &:read)
    end

    def load_marshal(data)
      Marshal.load(data)
    rescue => e
      raise MarshalError, "#{e.class}: #{e.message}"
    end

    def load_gemspec(file, validate = false)
      @gemspec_cache ||= {}
      key = File.expand_path(file)
      @gemspec_cache[key] ||= load_gemspec_uncached(file, validate)
      # Protect against caching side-effected gemspecs by returning a
      # new instance each time.
      @gemspec_cache[key].dup if @gemspec_cache[key]
    end

    def load_gemspec_uncached(file, validate = false)
      path = Pathname.new(file)
      # Eval the gemspec from its parent directory, because some gemspecs
      # depend on "./" relative paths.
      SharedHelpers.chdir(path.dirname.to_s) do
        contents = path.read
        spec = if contents[0..2] == "---" # YAML header
          eval_yaml_gemspec(path, contents)
        else
          eval_gemspec(path, contents)
        end
        return unless spec
        spec.loaded_from = path.expand_path.to_s
        Bundler.rubygems.validate(spec) if validate
        spec
      end
    end

    def clear_gemspec_cache
      @gemspec_cache = {}
    end

    def git_present?
      return @git_present if defined?(@git_present)
      @git_present = Bundler.which("git") || Bundler.which("git.exe")
    end

    def feature_flag
      @feature_flag ||= FeatureFlag.new(VERSION)
    end

    def reset!
      @root = nil
      @settings = nil
      @definition = nil
      @setup = nil
      @load = nil
      @locked_gems = nil
      @bundle_path = nil
      @bin_path = nil
      @user_home = nil

      Plugin.reset!

      return unless defined?(@rubygems) && @rubygems
      rubygems.undo_replacements
      rubygems.reset
      @rubygems = nil
    end

  private

    def eval_yaml_gemspec(path, contents)
      # If the YAML is invalid, Syck raises an ArgumentError, and Psych
      # raises a Psych::SyntaxError. See psyched_yaml.rb for more info.
      Gem::Specification.from_yaml(contents)
    rescue YamlLibrarySyntaxError, ArgumentError, Gem::EndOfYAMLException, Gem::Exception
      eval_gemspec(path, contents)
    end

    def eval_gemspec(path, contents)
      eval(contents, TOPLEVEL_BINDING, path.expand_path.to_s)
    rescue ScriptError, StandardError => e
      msg = "There was an error while loading `#{path.basename}`: #{e.message}"

      if e.is_a?(LoadError) && RUBY_VERSION >= "1.9"
        msg += "\nDoes it try to require a relative path? That's been removed in Ruby 1.9"
      end

      raise GemspecError, Dsl::DSLError.new(msg, path, e.backtrace, contents)
    end

    def configure_gem_home_and_path
      configure_gem_path
      configure_gem_home
      bundle_path
    end

    def configure_gem_path(env = ENV, settings = self.settings)
      blank_home = env["GEM_HOME"].nil? || env["GEM_HOME"].empty?
      if settings[:disable_shared_gems]
        # this needs to be empty string to cause
        # PathSupport.split_gem_path to only load up the
        # Bundler --path setting as the GEM_PATH.
        env["GEM_PATH"] = ""
      elsif blank_home || Bundler.rubygems.gem_dir != bundle_path.to_s
        possibles = [Bundler.rubygems.gem_dir, Bundler.rubygems.gem_path]
        paths = possibles.flatten.compact.uniq.reject(&:empty?)
        env["GEM_PATH"] = paths.join(File::PATH_SEPARATOR)
      end
    end

    def configure_gem_home
      # TODO: This mkdir_p is only needed for JRuby <= 1.5 and should go away (GH #602)
      begin
        FileUtils.mkdir_p bundle_path.to_s
      rescue
        nil
      end

      ENV["GEM_HOME"] = File.expand_path(bundle_path, root)
      Bundler.rubygems.clear_paths
    end

    # @param env [Hash]
    def with_env(env)
      backup = ENV.to_hash
      ENV.replace(env)
      yield
    ensure
      ENV.replace(backup)
    end
  end
end


This beautiful cat whose chest wears a black heart was looking for a family who will take her out of the animal shelter. She spent most of her life in a shelter along with other furry animals who also await for a family to adopt them.
According to The Dodo, this adorable cat named Muffy was found in a yard by a concern resident together with two kitten siblings and were brought to the Converse Animal Shelter located outside San Antonio, Texas.
Muffy was left in the shelter, while the two kittens were both taken out of the no-kill shelter.
Contrary to the two kittens who were active and outgoing, Muffy was very shy and used to hide in her cage. She'd rather stay in her cage and remain silent that is why nobody notices her uniqueness.
Muffy who is already two years old, is a timid cat yet has a big heart on her chest. Isn't it obvious?
Just a few days ago, somebody took her home and adopted her. They immediately had the connection and became friends.


But United's interim manager was remarkably upbeat despite his side's flat performance, saying they had plenty more to fight for as they aim for a top-four finish in the Premier League and look forward to a Champions League last-eight tie against Barcelona.
United were well beaten by an eager Wolves side who scored two goals in the space of six minutes in the second half through Raul Jimenez and Diogo Jota, with Marcus Rashford's injury-time effort a consolation.
But they now go into the international break with back-to-back defeats after losing to Arsenal last week, with Rashford's goal their only real chance of the game.
But Solskjaer delivered a positive message to fans."We're in a great position in the league, we've got the Champions League," he said.
Wolves head coach Nuno Espirito Santo was delighted after his side reached the club's first FA Cup semi-final for 21 years."It means a lot of course. The FA Cup is the oldest competition and we played well," he said."We achieved it with the amazing support of our fans believing in us and the noise was fantastic.
"When we achieved it, we achieved it together. Now we have to prepare for the next one."Wolves had the best chance of the first half, two minutes before the break. Ruben Neves sent Jota galloping clear for a one-on-one with Sergio Romero, but the United goalkeeper beat his curling shot away.
Six minutes later Wolves put the tie beyond United when Neves sent Jota racing clear on the counter and the Portuguese left Luke Shaw in a heap before firing an unstoppable left-foot drive inside Romero's near post.
Referee Martin Atkinson showed United defender Victor Lindelof a red card for lunging in on Jota but it was overturned by VAR. Rashford pulled one back with a shot on the turn in the fifth minute of the five added one, but it was too little, too late.


Japanese engineers have unveiled plans to create a moving version of the world famous Gundam robot from the 'Mobile Suit Gundam' anime series. The 60-foot machine is expected to be operable by the 40th anniversary of the cartoon in 2019.
Five years ago, on the 30th anniversary of the anime series which first aired in Japan in 1979, enthusiasts erected a life-size statue of the robot in a Tokyo park.
Though the statue was welcomed by devoted fans of the cartoon, the prospect of the real thing is much more exciting – even if it won't be shooting a blaster or brandishing a sword.
"When I created Gundam 35 years ago, I used my imagination freely because it wasn't real," Yoshiyuki Tomino told reporters in Tokyo on Wednesday, as quoted by AFP.
"That is what creativity is for – when you dream of something. Four decades later, Gundam is growing into something new," Tomino said.
The team tasked with developing the Gundam robot has called on fans in Japan and elsewhere in the world to share useful ideas on how to make the creation as close to the sci-fi prototype as possible.
There are two distinct world leaders in modern robotic technology, namely Japan and the US.
Japanese engineers from major companies, including Toshiba, are competing to create robots that are capable of working in harsh environments, like the Toyota-built 13in (34cm) Kirobo robot currently operating at the International Space Station.
Meanwhile, engineers from NASA are also developing a walking human-like robot for space missions.
Toshiba has also developed a four-legged robot to help engineers decommission the Fukushima nuclear plant.
Japanese company Hitachi unveiled a remote-controlled robot also designed for work in radioactive areas such as Fukushima.
Internet giant Google is also gearing up to sell a humanoid robot that can run, climb, and even drive a car.
Google has already announced that robots are likely to become the company's major interest within the near future.
American engineers are mostly interested in two areas in which robots could be useful: domestic service and warfare.
Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has reached unprecedented results in constructing humanoid robots for future military needs.
Some of DARPA's creations look and move in strikingly human-like ways.
Still, modern technology has not yet reached a level to satisfy the demands of Hollywood filmmakers in creating robots like those in blockbuster films such as 'Transformers' or 'Pacific Rim' – but that's probably for the better.


coming off the best offensive season of his career, and now finds himself paired with Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay.
I will never forget the scene. Draft day, June of 1995. Edmonton, Alberta.
The names that quickly went off the board were Bryan Berard, Wade Redden, Aki Berg and Chad Kilger. Then the Tampa Bay Lightning selected Daymond Langkow and the roof nearly came off the then-Northlands Coliseum for the kid from nearby Vegreville who led the Western Hockey League with 67 goals and 73 assists in 72 games.
"I saw you looking at his bio," Lightning scout Don Murdoch said. "It may say he's 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, but I say this kid is more like Doug Gilmour ... plays like he's 6-2, 220, strong as nails.
"Every time I went to see this kid, two goals, three goals. But it was Daymond's intensity, his guts and grit. Anybody takes a run at him, they're going to eat 18 inches of stick. The kid won't back down. It's in his genes."
Daymond Langkow's dad, Randy, and his uncle, Grant, still can be found mucking and grinding in a senior league in Vegreville, where hard work and no-nonsense are the buzzwords and hockey definitely is a man's game.
Daymond's dad is a plumber by trade and also helps repair air conditioners. His mom, Vivian, manages a small restaurant in British Columbia. They were living in nearby Edmonton when the middle of their three children was born. The couple divorced when Daymond was 10, but the roots were established. Ask where Daymond is from, and he'll tell you Vegreville.
For the majority of his NHL career, Langkow was seen as a "plumber," a hard-nosed mucker who chipped in offensively, but was better known for checking and penalty-killing duties.
But last season, Langkow had his best offensive season, posting career highs in goals (33), assists (44) and points (77), while going plus-23 for the Calgary Flames.
Perhaps the offensive explosion was the result of playing with the offensively gifted Kristian Huselius. Whatever the reason, it worked. After six seasons in which he scored no fewer than 50 points but never managed more than 62 points – Langkow enjoyed his best season.
The career year that the Albertan center put up last season has served as a stepping-stone to the start he's having this season. Langkow has eight goals and seven assists in his first 11 games to rank among the NHL's top 10 scorers for the first time in his career.
"Nothing's going to change the way 'Lanks' always works hard and goes into the corners and battles, but ..."
Flames captain Jarome Iginla got a big smile on his face as he paused to think about the clever Huselius before he added, "Before I think the Flames' mentality was being a straight up-and-down-the-wings team, but Kristian helped add a new dimension of creativity to go with the hard-to-play mentality we developed under Darryl Sutter when we went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2004.
"Now, instead of dumping the puck in the corners and barging in after it, we're a more diverse, more creative team. We'll criss-cross at the blue line and carry the puck into the opponent's zone. Try to do some of the things that make a big guy like Joe Thornton so effective, so deceptive; while still being strong on the puck and putting other teams on their heels."
It's not an old dog learning new tricks at 31 years old for Langkow. It's just a reminder of the total package that he and the Flames have to offer. And it's working under new coach Mike Keenan.
Langkow, who already was a hard-to-move forward with quick hands, now is becoming more of a net presence. He's dynamite in front of the goal, tipping in pucks, picking up rebounds or finishing off neat setups from Huselius.
"Confidence is the biggest thing," Langkow said. "But it also helps when you're out there playing along with guys like 'Juice' (Huselius) and 'Iggy' (Iginla) or 'Tangs' (Alex Tanguay), who are so unselfish. Chemistry is a big part of that confidence."
And what about Murdoch's "18 inches of stick" scouting report?
"I thought I had a pretty good rookie season, but it was kind of all downhill from there," Langkow recalled of his 15-goal, 13-assist 1996-97 campaign in Tampa Bay. "It's not that I didn't want to score more goals, but my role just seemed to change."
And his journey through the NHL began, from the Lightning to the Philadelphia Flyers and then the Phoenix Coyotes.
But Langkow's defensive play dramatically improved to the point where he was wanted for attributes besides a scoring touch.
Langkow is beyond 30 now, but he is improving, and at 5-11 and 195 pounds, his size no longer is what stands out about his game.
"When I first came into this League, I knew right away it would not be like juniors at all," Langkow said. "It's a totally different game. You have to make an adjustment and try to help the team any way you can. If the coach says this is your job, you do it.
"All I heard leading up to the draft was that I wasn't tall enough, big enough. Honestly, I still think if you're a good player, you're a good player. Guys like a Theo Fleury, Doug Gilmour and a lot of others made an impact for a lot of years, didn't they?"
It is, after all, the player who can adjust to the game and thrive that makes the best pro, isn't it?
"I traded (Oleg Saprykin and Denis Gauthier to Phoenix) for a solid, two-way character player who could strengthen us up the middle," Sutter said of acquiring Langkow. "We've still got that, but I just smile when I see 'Lanks' out there moving the puck back and forth with Kristian.
"We definitely got more than I expected."
"He scores on everything, so I better pass to him," Huselius shrugs. "I can't describe it. We seem to read each other so well."
"I don't feel like a different player," Langkow said. "I still go out there night after night to compete. I always thought I could score a few more goals, but ..."
The quiet center's thoughts stream off into the stratosphere someplace.
Funny, but there were those in that Daymond Langkow fan club at the draft in Edmonton in 1995 who talked about this guy who used to walk the halls of his school and immediately attract the attention of the school bully. Fights and gaining respect were the major part of his resume off the ice.
"Don't believe everything you hear," Langkow said. "Stories tend to grow over the years."
One story that has changed through the years is Daymond Langkow's place in that 1995 Entry Draft behind Berard, Redden, Berg and Kilger. The long and short of it is that Langkow clearly is the warrior, the best all-round player of that group.
Even if it has taken him 12 years to prove it.


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Profile of RobertWinters »
Messages - RobertWinters
VW stuff Wanted / Gas cap for Bay Window Bus
I'm looking for a gas cap for my 1979 Westfalia Camper Bus. Though I'd prefer a locking gas cap, any cap for a 1972-79 Bus will do.
I figured I'd check here first before shelling out a lot of money for a new one.
Bay window concerns / 1979 Westy - seeking a fuel injection guru
I have 1979 Westy that's been nicely restored on the outside but which has less than optimal performance. The Bus is originally a California Bus, but my former mechanic made some modifications to the fuel injection system in order to get the Bus on the road and out of his shop. I like to call it Frankinjection. I've had the Bus since 2000 and restored the body in 2008. The Bus and I reside in Cambridge, MA.
The Bus runs OK on level ground with a steady foot on the accelerator, but the fuel efficiency is way down and it's terrible on hills and lacks acceleration. It also lurches a bit when under load. It has a good Boston Bob engine with no apparent problems, but it hasn't been right since the modifications were made. It also can be hard to start after running a while, but that's not so uncommon with a late model Bus.
The original (electronic) distributor was replaced by a mechanical distributor. I believe it has its original (CA) air flow meter and wiring harness. The dual relay has been replaced (don't recall right now if it's for a CA or a Federal Bus), and I'm pretty sure the ECU was replaced. Other changes may also have been made.
Anyway, I'd like to find someone in the Greater Boston area who is a real guru when it comes to getting fuel injection right. I won't take the Bus on the highway or on any long adventures until I get things right.
Robert Winters, Cambridge MA
Technical Concerns / 1979 Westy - seeking a fuel injection guru

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


She would become a historical figure and remembered for her bravery and courage for spending weeks living among the Native American Indians. She not only lived among them but later she would be able to recount the time she spent with them through her writing.
Mary Rowlandson was born Mary White. She was the daughter of one of the town's founding fathers where she was born. The town, Lancaster, Massachusetts, was a typical frontier village of its day. She married John Rowlandson who was an ordained minister and they had three children.
On the morning of February 10, 1676, Mary Rowlandson's family was attacked in part of the efforts for King Phillip's War. What would become known as the bloodiest of the American Colonial History era, Lancaster was attacked by Nashaway Indians. She was forced into their camps and became a hostage where she had no other choice but to live among those who captured her.
She watched in horror as her friends and one of her children died before she was ever rejoined with her husband. A ransom was paid for her return and after weeks and long days of heartache, she was released.
Mary Rowlandson recounted her days with the Indians deciding that the Indians were "instruments of Satan" and felt strongly in her faith even though she faced hardships. She would go on to write about her experiences and her writing would in fact, set the tone for a new literature genre which would be considered the Indian Captivity Narrative.
Mary Rowlandson's book was dubbed A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. There isn't record of her death which has allowed for much speculation about the accuracy of the year when she died.


You are visiting the placeholder page for Kevin Barnes. This page is here because someone used our placeholder utility to look for Kevin Barnes. We created this page automatically in hopes Kevin Barnes would find it. If you are not Kevin Barnes, but are an alumni of Campbell High School Campbell, CA, register on this site for free now.


Identify specific IgE antibodies to broad categories of allergens with ImmunoCAP™ Weed Allergen Mixes, essential tools to aid in the diagnosis of allergic conditions. IgE antibodies appear in human serum and plasma as a result of sensitization to specific allergens. Qualitative measurement of circulating IgE antibodies to allergen mixes provide an assessment of sensitization to group of related allergens. Reflex testing to the individual whole allergens that make up an allergen mix is generally recommended to identify the allergen specific IgE.
Test results for ImmunoCAP Allergen Mixes are derived from multiple allergens and are reported as qualitative values (positive or negative). A cut-off value of 0.35 kUA/L is recommended for ImmunoCAP multiple allergens. Values between limit of quantification and 0.35 kUA/L may represent very low levels of IgE antibodies. Values ≥0.35 kUA/L indicate specific IgE antibodies to one or more of the allergens coupled to ImmunoCAP multiple allergen. Reinvestigation with appropriate ImmunoCAP single allergen is recommended when there is a need to further identify and obtain a quantitative result for the specific allergen(s). A value below 0.35 kUA/L indicates undetectable or very low levels of allergen specific IgE antibodies towards all of the allergens bound to ImmunoCAP multiple allergen but deviations from results obtained with single ImmunoCAP allergens may occur. The interpretation of results obtained with ImmunoCAP multiple allergen cannot be compared with the results with ImmunoCAP single allergen. The degree of positivity of ImmunoCAP multiple allergen cannot be considered the cumulative degree of positivity of the respective ImmunoCAP single allergen.


Beckett, Charlie (2007) It's a man's (political media) world. POLIS: journalism and society at the LSE (03 Feb 2007). Blog Entry.
Following on from yesterday's observations on beauty and politics, it seems that gender still counts, too, at least for the US political press.


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Home » Casement, Sir Roger David
Casement, Sir Roger David
by Michael Laffan
Casement, Sir Roger David (1864–1916), humanitarian and Irish nationalist, was born 1 September 1864 in Sandycove, near Dublin, youngest child among one daughter and three sons of Roger Casement, retired army officer, and Anne Casement (née Jephson). His elder brother was Thomas Hugh Casement (qv). He was brought up as a member of the Church of Ireland, although his catholic mother arranged for her children to be baptised secretly in her own faith. After her death (1873) the family moved to Co. Antrim, where Roger was educated in the Ballymena diocesan school. When his father died (1877) the children were left in straitened circumstances and became wards in chancery. Roger was cared for by relatives in Antrim and Liverpool. As an adolescent he admired and identified with Irish rebels of the past, and he remained a romantic idealist all his life.
Africa At the age of 15 Casement began work as a clerk in the Elder Dempster shipping company, and four years later this led to a post as purser on one of the company's ships bound for West Africa. From 1884 to 1891 he lived in the Congo, which became a personal colony of the Belgian king, Leopold II. His occupations included those of surveyor, explorer, and (briefly) assistant in a Baptist missionary station. From 1892 to 1895 he was employed as a surveyor and customs official in the Niger Coast protectorate, after which – because of his extensive African experience – he was absorbed into the British consular service. Joseph Conrad was impressed by him when they met in the Congo, remarking that 'he could tell you things! Things I have tried to forget, things I never did know' (Reid, 14).
Casement was a tall, handsome man of considerable charm. During his time in Africa he was efficient and energetic, he was 'brave, diplomatic and usefully observant' (Sawyer, 26), but he was also frequently bored, irritable, and depressed. He suffered from malaria, jaundice, and other illnesses, and throughout adult life was often debilitated. He veered rapidly from enthusiasm to anger and despair, showing signs of bipolar disorder. He hated routine and disliked most of the places where he lived. Early in his career he was an imperialist, believing that colonialism was a force for enlightenment and that it eliminated abuses such as slavery. He supported the British war in South Africa at least partly because of the Boers' maltreatment of the black population. (In later years he became a harsh critic of British policy towards the Boers.) He could be snobbish, and at times displayed some of the racist views characteristic of the period, but he liked Africans and they reciprocated his affection. He was a warm-hearted man who sided psychologically with the underdog or the oppressed. On two separate occasions the consular service provided him, improbably, with a challenging role in which he could display his initiative, independence, and courage.
After serving in Luanda and Lourenço Marques (later Maputo), Casement went back to the Congo as British consul. The turning point in his career came in 1903 when he was ordered to investigate reports of atrocities carried out by Leopold's agents. He rented a steamboat and travelled to remote areas of the Upper Congo, remarking that he was ceasing to be a consul; he had become a criminal investigator (Ó Siocháin & O'Sullivan, 37). In the course of his journey he encountered plentiful evidence that the collection of rubber was associated with forced labour, extortionate taxes, mutilation, murder and depopulation; he observed colonialism in its most brutal form.
In February 1904 Casement's report on the Congo was published as a sixty-page government white paper. It was well structured, solidly factual, and detached in tone – in contrast to the intemperate and emotional style that characterised much of his correspondence. It was a formidable indictment of a system based on oppression and cruelty. He was aggrieved when the Foreign Office watered down his original version, describing the final result as 'cooked and garbled' (Inglis, 86), and felt that he was inadequately supported against Leopold's counter-attack. Nonetheless his findings were confirmed by an international commission appointed by the king, and his report was one of several pressures that led the Belgian government to take over the administration of the Congo in 1908. His achievements were recognised by his inclusion as CMG in Edward VII's 1905 birthday honours list, but this gave him no satisfaction; he never opened the parcel containing the insignia of his award. More significantly, they also led him to establish a close working relationship with E. D. Morel and other critics of colonial abuses.
South America Partly for reasons of ill health Casement interrupted his consular career in 1904–6 to spend eighteen months in Ireland and Britain, and for most of this time he was seconded without pay. In Ireland, as abroad, he was peripatetic; he had no home or base, and he stayed in lodgings, hotels, and the houses of friends. He became a committed Irish nationalist who supported the ideals of 'Irish Ireland', and in particular the revival of the Irish language. He excused his continuing membership of the consular service, which he loathed, by the fact that he could (and often did) give away much of his salary. While he was parsimonious in small matters he was always extravagantly generous in his financial assistance to individuals or groups that won his sympathy – such as wayward members of his family, Morel's Congo Reform Association, and an Irish-speaking community in Co. Galway.
He was a difficult subordinate and the Foreign Office was reluctant to reemploy him, but in 1906 he rejoined the consular service and took up the first of a series of postings in Brazil. These culminated in his appointment as consul-general in Rio de Janeiro. Although he continued to be efficient in the conduct of his duties, he became increasingly frustrated, and disliked the Brazilian people. During this 'exile' his commitment to Irish causes deepened. But he was aroused by a new challenge: he was directed to investigate reports of atrocities in the region of the Putumayo, a remote tributary of the Amazon. In its collection of rubber the Peruvian Amazon Co. was accused of exploiting not only local Amerindians, but also some British subjects from Barbados. This new task seemed to replicate his experiences in the Congo.
In August 1910 Casement joined a commission of inquiry established by the company. Once more he was a diligent and persevering investigator, interviewing victims and witnesses, keeping detailed records, and taking photographs. He discovered that many of the indigenous population of the Putumayo were treated as slaves, and that practices such as flogging, rape, starvation, mutilation, and murder were commonplace. He wrote a second report for the Foreign Office, which he completed in March 1911, and then returned for another visit to the Amazon. His report attracted widespread publicity and praise when it was eventually published, but in practice it did little to improve the conditions of the inhabitants of the Putumayo. Ultimately they were saved not by the intervention of foreign consuls and governments but by the collapse of the market for wild rubber.
Casement had become a dissident within the consular service and (despite his graceful acknowledgment) was embarrassed by the award of a knighthood in 1911. He became even more committed to Irish causes and advocated a fully independent Ireland – which he believed could be achieved with German assistance. In August 1913 he retired at last from the Foreign Office. Until then he was better known abroad than at home, having spent more than thirty years in Britain, Africa, and South America; only now, aged almost 49, did he begin to play a significant role in Irish affairs.
Nationalist and rebel At first Casement tried to win over Ulster protestants to Irish nationalism, and his predictable failure threw him into one of his many fits of depression (although to the end of his life he persisted in his belief that unionists and nationalists could join forces). But the formation of the Irish Volunteers in November 1913 provided him with a new role and a new crusade. He became a member of their provisional committee and travelled around the country, organised paramilitary units, made speeches, and relished what he described as intrigue and gross sedition. He believed that not merely would the creation of a Volunteer force strengthen the hand of Irish nationalists, but it would also provide the Irish people with much-needed discipline.
Casement took the initiative in the Volunteers' most spectacular exploit, the Howth gun-running of July 1914. In contrast to the inactivity displayed by most members of the IRB, he and a small number of friends decided to follow the example of the Ulster Volunteers and to import guns from Continental Europe. Together with Erskine Childers (qv), Alice Stopford Green (qv), Bulmer Hobson (qv), and a few others, he organised the purchase of 1,500 rifles and ammunition in Belgium and their transportation to Ireland. Some of these weapons were used two years later in the Easter rising.
Casement was always impatient and impetuous, and by the time that the arms were delivered to Howth he had already arrived in the US with the aim of raising funds for the Volunteers. The success of the gun-running made him a hero among Irish-Americans, but the outbreak of the first world war a week later soon distracted attention from Irish affairs. The results of his campaign were disappointing. He wrote an incautious letter to the Irish Independent in which he claimed that Ireland's real enemy was Britain and not Germany, thereby ruling out his return to Ireland. Instead he travelled to Berlin in October 1914 as the envoy of Irish-American leaders. He persuaded the German government to declare that if its forces landed in Ireland they would do so as liberators. Later he had a friendly interview with Chancellor Bethmann Hollweg – but he was already accustomed to the company of the powerful, having met King Leopold in Brussels and President Taft in Washington. His actions disconcerted the British authorities, and he was flattered by reports that a substantial sum of money would be paid in return for information leading to his capture.
Otherwise the eighteen months he spent in Germany were a failure. He tried to induce captured Irish prisoners of war to change sides and to join an 'Irish brigade' which would support the central powers by liberating Ireland – or, alternatively, Egypt. His methods were clumsy and the response was disillusioning: he secured only fifty-six recruits from a total of about 2,300 prisoners. Casement's communications with friends and allies in Ireland, Britain, and the US were equally inept. He encouraged the Germans to assist an Irish rebellion but he became dismayed by what he saw as their inadequate commitment, describing their plans (almost prophetically) as 'practically three men in a boat to invade a kingdom' (Reid, 335). He denounced them with the same fervour with which he had earlier abused Belgians, Brazilians, Americans, Irish unionists, home rulers, and various others. His health was wretched, and he was often lonely and depressed.
Casement believed that an Irish insurrection would be crushed unless it received substantial assistance from Germany, and when it became clear that adequate help would not be forthcoming he decided to travel to Ireland and try to prevent the planned rebellion from taking place. The Germans obligingly sent him there by submarine, and it was intended that he would arrive on Good Friday, at the same time as a ship carrying a modest supply of arms. The two vessels failed to rendezvous in Tralee Bay, but Casement, accompanied by Robert Monteith (qv) and Daniel Bailey, set off for the shore in a dinghy. It capsized, and Casement landed on Banna Strand ill, drenched, and exhausted. He hid and waited for his companions to return with assistance, but was soon captured. He persevered with his original intentions, and while under arrest he tried to send a message to Dublin, warning that the rebellion should be aborted. He was brought to London, and during his interrogation in Scotland Yard on Easter Sunday asked to be allowed to communicate with the rebel leaders to persuade them to call off the insurrection. This was not permitted.
After the suppression of the Easter rising Casement was tried for treason in the Old Bailey in June 1916. The case against him was based on a statute of 1351 which, in translation from the original Norman French, defined treason as 'levying war against the king or being adherent to the king's enemies in his realm, giving them aid and comfort in the realm or elsewhere'. He was accused of having tried to recruit Irish prisoners of war to form an Irish brigade which would fight the British, and of having participated in a German expedition to Ireland. His counsel, A. M. Sullivan (qv), argued that any treason of which he was guilty had taken place outside the realm, but this plea was not allowed. Sullivan also failed in his more reasonable effort to link Casement's actions with the plans for rebellion made by the Ulster Volunteers – in which they had been supported by F. E. Smith, who was now attorney general and counsel for the prosecution. Neither side mentioned the fact that Casement had landed in Ireland in an effort to prevent the rising. The prosecution remained silent because such evidence would complicate its case for treason, and the defence because Casement did not wish to repudiate the rebels. In any case, he was obviously guilty of treason while in Germany. Among the witnesses were some of the prisoners of war whose loyalty he had tried to subvert and who had (foolishly or cynically) been returned by the Germans as part of a prisoner-exchange.
After a trial lasting four days the jury took less than an hour on 29 June to declare Casement guilty. Following an old Irish tradition he made an eloquent speech from the dock. He ridiculed the 1351 statute, claimed that he should be judged only by an Irish jury (particularly since he had landed in Ireland rather than in Britain), praised the Ulster Volunteers, and argued that Irishmen should fight for their freedom at home rather than abroad. His knighthood was cancelled the day after his conviction. An appeal against his sentence was rejected on 24 July, and Casement was hanged on 3 August 1916, a day after he had been received into the catholic church. He was buried in Pentonville jail, and his remains were returned to Ireland only in February 1965. After an elaborate state funeral they were reburied in Glasnevin cemetery.
The diaries Even before Casement's trial British officials circulated portions of diaries, supposedly written by him, in which the author described homosexual encounters with young men and adolescents. They contained numerous accounts of partners' physical details and of payments made. Their circulation to journalists and to influential figures in Ireland, Britain, and the US was designed to blacken his reputation and to undermine any movement for clemency. In the probable event of his execution they would also help to prevent his being viewed as a martyr. The tactic succeeded in the first of these objectives. At a time when homosexual tastes and practices were widely loathed, several among those who were shown the diaries chose not to involve themselves in the appeal for a reprieve.
Over many decades some of Casement's supporters claimed that the diaries were forged. There were strong arguments in favour of such a view: none of his friends and acquaintances suspected he was a homosexual; accounts of the diaries' discovery were inconsistent; the 'black' or compromising diaries related to the years in which he made his two river journeys, when his movements were uniquely well recorded; and some of the entries for 1911 indicate rash behaviour at a time when Casement was under constant surveillance by his enemies.
On the other hand it was argued that the diaries were preserved carefully by the British government (although access to them was denied until 1959), and that this would have been self-defeating if they were forgeries; F. E. Smith clearly believed they were genuine and offered them to Casement's counsel for inspection – an offer which was wisely declined; the diaries contained inconsistencies (such as criticism of homosexuality) which seemed to weaken their impact, and which a forger might sensibly have avoided; the sheer volume of material was superfluous, increasing the risk of incriminating errors; and any forgery had to be carried out in a hurry, since there had been no need to produce the diaries until Casement was captured a mere five weeks before his trial.
Eventually in 2002 scientific examination vindicated their authenticity to general (although not universal) satisfaction. But in contrast to the long-standing disagreement over whether the diaries were genuine, the unscrupulous use that was made of them in 1916 – to smear the reputation of a condemned man and thereby help ensure the failure of his appeal against his death sentence – has met with nothing but embarrassment and distaste.
The diaries have provoked understandable controversy, but this cannot obscure Casement's importance. He was a humanitarian who fought with bravery and determination against the enslavement of indigenous peoples in the Congo and Amazonia. He was the principal organiser of the Howth gun-running, without which the Easter rising might not have taken place. Despite his attempts to prevent what he believed would be a doomed insurrection, he was also the last victim of the executions that followed the Easter rising, and thereby became a nationalist martyr.
Brian Inglis, Roger Casement (1973); B. L. Reid, The lives of Roger Casement (1976); Roger Sawyer, Casement, the flawed hero (1984); Reinhard R. Doerries, Prelude to the Easter rising: Roger Casement in imperial Germany (2000); W. J. McCormack, Roger Casement in death (2002); Angus Mitchell (ed.), Sir Roger Casement's heart of darkness: the 1911 documents, IMC (2003); Seamas Ó Siocháin and Michael O'Sullivan (ed.), The eyes of another race: Roger Casement's Congo report and 1903 diary (2003); Mary E. Daly (ed.), Roger Casement in Irish and world history (2005)
Revised: December 2010
humanitarianIrish nationalist
Michael Laffan


Characteristics and Range The Sharp-tailed Grouse, often misnamed "prairie chicken", is a robust bird that bursts into flight with loud, cackling calls. The short, pointed tail is usually obvious, especially when raised during spring "dancing" at a lek, where the male's yellow combs, violet air sacs, and puffy white undertail coverts are also prominent. Fine white and golden-buff markings on the upper parts are a prominent feature of the cryptic plumage in both sexes. The range extends discontinuously across boreal and prairie regions from Alaska to western Québec and southward across the northern Great Plains to Nebraska, with a number of outlying populations including some introductions. Seasonal movements are mostly local, though the poorly known northern race is irruptive (Connelly et al. 1998).
Distribution, Abundance, and Habitat Atlas records are concentrated primarily in the Prairie Potholes and partly agricultural portions of the Boreal Taiga Plains and Boreal Hardwood Transition. Occurrence is sparse in the most intensively agricultural regions of the Red River Valley and southwest of Lake Winnipeg. A substantial boreal population exists in the fens, heaths, and extensive burns that characterize much of the Grand Rapids - Ponton - The Pas region. While the Sharp-tailed Grouse was barely detected in the Boreal Softwood Shield, small numbers were also found in the eastern portion of the Taiga Shield & Hudson Plains (six squares). The maps of computed relative abundance and probability of observation both emphasize (in decreasing order of importance) the southwestern Prairie Potholes, the southern Interlake, and the region east of The Pas. Jehl (2004) documented the Sharp-tailed Grouse as a rare visitor to the Churchill region, but it appears that The Birds of Manitoba overestimates the range extent in northwestern Manitoba. Preferred habitat, whether prairie or boreal, has large open areas (for feeding and lekking) juxtaposed with shrubby or dense vegetative cover (for roosting and nesting). Wooded cover becomes increasingly important in winter, especially in regions where open land is mostly cultivated.
Trends, Conservation, and Recommendations Analysis of BBS data indicates a widespread increasing population trend in the face of increasingly intensive agricultural practices, which is perhaps offset by the recent, prolonged "wet cycle" climatic conditions. This is encouraging and indicates a sustainable current level of hunting. Historically, declines were most severe for southern and peripheral populations, with extirpation in several U.S.A. states attributed mainly to habitat loss (Connelly et al. 1998). The Sharp-tailed Grouse is an iconic element of "wild prairie" that should be treasured, and it merits an ongoing, primary position in Manitoba wildlife conservation efforts. Lek surveys provide the best means of monitoring population levels and habitat quality, as well as spectacular viewing opportunities. Important conservation measures include the retention of ungrazed, unmown native grassland and (where native cover is not available) the planting of appropriate cover vegetation (Connelly et al. 1998).


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


In November, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the idea that so-called fake news could influence the US election was "crazy."
Six months later, however, the social network has announced an all-out war on misinformation and hoaxes in the UK before the general election in June.
The PR-friendly campaign is welcome — but overdue. And it's the latest in a chain of examples of Facebook doing too little too late to battle very serious issues it has had a crucial hand in creating.
A few years ago, Zuckerberg decided that the future of the web wasn't text but video. Since then, Facebook has heavily pushed video on its platform, prioritising it with its algorithm and even paying news outlets (including Business Insider) to create it. If you've wondered why your News Feed is so full of videos these days, this is why.
But as Facebook pushed to grow its video efforts, it developed a major problem: "freebooting." That is, video theft. Unscrupulous users were ripping viral videos from professional producers on YouTube and republishing them on Facebook — building pages with millions of followers off the back of stolen content. "Facebook is prioritizing growth (and the perception of growth) over acting decently," YouTuber Hank Green told The Verge in 2015.
The social network eventually took steps to solve it by introducing Rights Manager— software to help track and remove infringing videos — in April 2016. But it took more than a year of complaints from video creators to get there.
Another example: Facebook Live. In January 2016, Facebook let American users (with iPhones) broadcast live videos from their phones, and it has since gradually rolled the feature out to users in the rest of the world. But in the intervening months, it has developed a grisly reputation.
A student killed himself. A 2-year-old accidentally killed himself and another man. An 18-year-old crashed her car and died. Two journalists were gunned down. An Ohio man killed an elderly man and bragged about having killed others. These are just a few of the examples of what has been broadcast to the world on Facebook Live.
Facebook is now hiring 3,000 extra moderators to review content on the social network.
Some have argued that fake news played a role in the election of US President Donald Trump.
And then there's so-called fake news.
Concerns about politicised intentionally false information spreading on Facebook surged around the US presidential election. Some argue that it played a role in the election of President Donald Trump, and by some metrics fake news stories even outperformed some of the more popular pieces from mainstream news outlets. A story falsely reporting that the pope endorsed Trump was shared almost a million times, for example.
But Zuckerberg was initially dismissive of the idea that such articles could have any impact, even as the company's ad sales team boasted of the impact its adverts could have on elections.
The 32-year-old CEO has since evolved his position on the issue. Earlier this year, he wrote a mammoth 6,000-word manifesto addressing fake news alongside other issues, saying: "While we have more work to do on information diversity and misinformation, I am even more focused on the impact of sensationalism and polarization, and the idea of building common understanding." In March, Facebook started to flag potentially fraudulent stories as "disputed," with the help of fact-checking services like PolitiFact and Snopes.
Now, as the UK general election approaches, Facebook is determined to appear as if it's tackling the problem head on.
The social network is running full-page ads in British print newspapers from Monday. "Investigate the source," it recommends, and "be skeptical of the headline." It is also introducing a tweak to its algorithm that tries to identify misleading articles being shared on its platform, tracking down fake accounts, and working with fact-checking organisations.
"People want to see accurate information on Facebook and so do we," UK policy director Simon Milner said in a statement provided to the media (via The Independent). "That is why we are doing everything we can to tackle the problem of false news.
"We have developed new ways to identify and remove fake accounts that might be spreading false news so that we get to the root of the problem. To help people spot false news we are showing tips to everyone on Facebook on how to identify if something they see is false.
Print newspaper ads are a great way to be seen to be doing something visible by politicians and media execs, but the real-world impact is questionable. If you're buying a print newspaper, you're in the minority, with circulation dropping as the vast majority of Brits turn to the internet for their news.
More broadly, though, these efforts are — of course — a good thing. It's just a shame Facebook was unwilling to face up to the reality of its impact until overwhelming public pressure (and the threat of legal action) forced it to.
Facebook used to live by the motto "Move Fast and Break Things." It emphasised speed and innovation — and if there were a few problems from time to time, so be it. That's not such a bad way to do things, if you're a social network for college buddies and you're willing to tolerate a few bugs.
But when you're the world's most powerful media and publishing company, with a global community of 2 billion and unparalleled impact on public discourse and the political process, greater care and attention is vital.


Two defeats in a row have brought New Zealand to this position,where there is not scope for error.
Aware that one more defeat will ensure their exit from the tournament,New Zealand need nothing less than a big win against the West Indies in their make-or-break Super Eight match of the ICC World Twenty20 here tomorrow.
However,a mere win will not help the cause of the Kiwis and they will have to win with a big margin and hope that England lose their last match on Monday.
With that result,Sri Lanka will be through to the semifinals and the other three teams — New Zealand,West Indies and England — will be equal on two points each.
The Net-Run-Rate then will come into play and the team with better run-rate will advance along with the hosts.
West Indies have a cushion of one win under their belt and one more victory would keep them in the semifinal hunt.
A West Indies victory tomorrow and England defeat on Monday will push the Caribbean side and the hosts to the semifinals.
The Kiwi batsmen have performed consistently but their bowling has been a cause of concern. Despite making some competitive scores they failed to defend those totals.
The defeat via Eliminator against Sri Lanka in the first Super Eight match came after scoring a very challenging 174 for seven.
West Indies too rely heavily on their batting and it has been a roller-coaster ride for the Caribbean side in the tournament so far. They had done exceedingly well before suffering a crushing nine-wicket defeat on Saturday.
Key for the Kiwis here would be to target the West Indies top order. It happened against Sri Lanka when the explosive Chris Gayle failed to get going and all of West Indies struggled.
Kiwi spinners will also have to play an important role if they aspire to remain alive in the competition.
Brendon McCullum and Gayle are the batsmen to watch out for and their performance will play a crucial role in the fortunes of the two teams.
New Zealand: Ross Taylor (c),Doug Bracewell,James Franklin,Martin Guptill,Ronnie Hira,Brendon McCullum,Nathan McCullum,Kyle Mills,Adam Milne,Rob Nicol,Jacob Oram,Tim Southee,Daniel Vettori,BJ Watling,Kane Williamson.
West Indies: Darren Sammy (c),Dwayne Bravo,Samuel Badree,Darren Bravo,Johnson Charles,Fidel Edwards,Chris Gayle,Sunil Narine,Kieron Pollard,Denesh Ramdin (wk),Ravi Rampaul,Andre Russell,Marlon Samuels,Lendl Simmons,Dwayne Smith.


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It's been awhile since we have done an impromptu photo shoot. It started when I asked to snap a picture of Claire's "rainbow outfit." She picked out the pants and then insisted on finding a rainbow shirt to "match." And then the socks. It's a moment that needed recorded.
And, of course, Grace wanted in on the action.
After awhile they went and changed clothes and came down in this. It quickly got out of hand.
This was, of course, pre-broken leg.


41052540 has 48 divisors (see below), whose sum is σ = 121000320. Its totient is φ = 10370880.
The previous prime is 41052533. The next prime is 41052551. The reversal of 41052540 is 4525014.
Adding to 41052540 its reverse (4525014), we get a palindrome (45577554).
It is a super-2 number, since 2×410525402 = 3370622080903200, which contains 22 as substring.
It is a polite number, since it can be written in 15 ways as a sum of consecutive naturals, for example, 16866 + ... + 19145.
It is an arithmetic number, because the mean of its divisors is an integer number (2520840).
Almost surely, 241052540 is an apocalyptic number.
41052540 is an abundant number, since it is smaller than the sum of its proper divisors (79947780).
41052540 is a wasteful number, since it uses less digits than its factorization.
41052540 is an evil number, because the sum of its binary digits is even.
The sum of its prime factors is 36042 (or 36040 counting only the distinct ones).
The product of its (nonzero) digits is 800, while the sum is 21.
The square root of 41052540 is about 6407.2256086390. The cubic root of 41052540 is about 344.9689533078.
The spelling of 41052540 in words is "forty-one million, fifty-two thousand, five hundred forty".


An off-duty state trooper in Massachusetts has been charged with driving under the influence of drug and alcohol when he crashed into the cruiser of another state trooper who on-duty was making a traffic stop.
According to state police, Trooper John Phonesavanh had pulled over another car on Route 1 south in Revere, Mass., around 12:40 a.m. on Monday and was still inside his cruiser when a 2013 Toyota Corolla crashed into the back of his car.
State police said 43-year-old Shawn D'Amato, an off-duty trooper, was the behind the wheel of the Toyota Corolla. Once D'Amato is released from the hospital, he will be arraigned.
Phonesavanh and the driver of the car that he had pulled over all suffered minor injuries and were rushed to Massachusetts General Hospital.
According to wcvb.com, D'Amato was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, negligent operation of a motor vehicle and blocking an emergency vehicle.


RSVP by Friday 10 June 2016 to 5683 9780 - Please leave a message if the phone is unattended.
You are invited to a free public forum to learn about wills, powers of attorney and elder abuse prevention.Hear from our expert speaker Gary Ferguson from Seniors Rights Victoria and have your chance to ask any questions.
This event supports World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.
Sponsored by South Gippsland Shire Council, Gippsland Southern Health Service, South Gippsland Hospital and Leongatha RSL.
Prom Country Aged Care awarded our first eight Life Memberships to deserving recipients at the AGM on 6th November 2015 at Prom Country House. Janice Cayzer, Julie Need, Garry Clavarino, Ian Park, Marg O'Day, Teresa Cicero and Rod Lomax were the nominees awarded at the meeting for their selfless dedication to the organisation over a long period of time. It is the first time that PCAC has awarded life memberships and this tradition will now continue on after the Rules of Association were changed last year to include life members into the organisation.
"So much for my name being 'Win,' I never win anything!" laughs Win Osborne, who was born Winifred Cook nearly 90 years ago.
He has been such a major player in the life of the Corner Inlet community for so many years, it is perhaps surprising to learn that Max Mortlock is not a born and bred South Gippslander.
You would be hard pressed to find a greater fan of Fish Creek than Maudi Thomson. She has even written several books about the picturesque district in which she grew up and where she lived until moving into Banksia Lodge a few years ago.


Where do we go from here? Statistics on congestion, reliability and accessibility in the District provide insights into individual parts of overall system mobility, but the big picture is still missing. To address District-wide mobility challenges, it is important to visualize and identify areas with many multimodal mobility challenges. By highlighting areas with acute concentrations of congestion, reliability and accessibility issues, DDOT can assess and prioritize activities to break down the greatest barriers to District-wide mobility.


Where did you make the animation at?????
I made it on Macromedia Flash 8. The trial can be downloaded.
Can you make a link Omega???
Ask your questions somewhere else.
That was real nice of you.
Yay! My animation is actually rated 1/5 stars!
here! this is where you ****ing get flash.
Work on particles. It was allright.
No, I've never done Pivot. The line tool is just very easy for me to animate with now.
Or maybe I've done an animation with line that looked like Pivot, which was also awesome?
Omega you've done it again.
And I do not mean fail.
It's cool! EPIC heavy spacing, I say. Keep up with this style!
Aha, if I remeber you're the one who always C & Cs the ****ing crap out of me.
K, first of all, the physics on the box didnt work for me- it travels left, then loses momentum, drops very quickly, but then suddenly on the bounce, it manages to bounce at a very sharp angle and move left farther than it should. Because of the weight you put on the box when it fell, I wouldnt have made it bounce twice either, or at least not that far or high.
When it 'sploded, I felt it couldve split into more pieces for a better effect. The part when the pieces shot upwards was still cool though, although it wouldve been nice and perhaps a nicer looking effect if they didnt all just shoot up and the same time. And also, if they didnt move vertically, but perhaps swayed a little more to the left or the right as they travelled.
The guy punching was okay, it didnt have very much force which is something you can work on, and also the jump, for the physics applied to the person when he moved, shouldve perhpas been slightly more "laboured" if you know what I mean- he shouldve put more effort into the jump.
Thank you. If you're wondering, I was trying to make everything kind of lag-ish, hence the double, triple, and quadruple framing. The stickfigure was animated at 12 fps, then i double framed and moved it up to 24 fps; this is how I'm going to animate at most from now on.


These groups help members of the same size/annual revenue find one another, solve problems and share information.
Open to ARCSI members who are either starting a cleaning business or who have already started a residential cleaning business and are making between $0 and $250,000 per year.
This group is open to ARCSI member whose annual sales are between $600,000 and $1,000,000.
This group is pen to all ARCSI members whose current annual sales are between $250,000 and $600,000.
This group is open to members whose annual sales are over $1,000,000.


text:
Paula Fox (* 22. April 1923 in New York City; † 1. März 2017 ebenda) war eine US-amerikanische Schriftstellerin, die in New York lebte. Lange Zeit war sie vergessen, heute sieht man sie als eine Klassikerin der Moderne.

Leben
Der Vater Paul Fox, ein Drehbuchautor irischer Abstammung, und die Mutter Elsie Fox, geborene de Sola, eine mäßig erfolgreiche kubanische Schauspielerin, kümmerten sich nicht um sie. Wenige Tage nach ihrer Geburt gaben die sehr jungen Eltern den Säugling in einem Findelhaus ab. Im Alter von fünf Monaten wurde Paula von dem kongregationalistischen Pfarrer Elwood Corning aufgenommen, bei dem sie bis kurz vor ihrem sechsten Geburtstag lebte. Er wurde zu ihrer wichtigsten Bezugsperson, vermittelte ihr Bildung und gab ihr Halt.

Im Alter von sechs Jahren kam Paula in ein Kinderheim nach Kalifornien. Zwei Jahre später zog sie auf eigenen Wunsch zur Familie ihrer Mutter nach Kuba, wo sie mit ihrer Großmutter lebte und Spanisch lernte. Dort teilte sie ein sehr einfaches Leben vorwiegend mit dem Personal einer Zuckerrohrplantage. 1933 kehrte sie zusammen mit ihrer Großmutter nach New York zurück, weil es auf Kuba Unruhen gegeben hatte.

Mit 12 Jahren war Paula Fox bereits auf neun verschiedene Schulen gegangen. Sie lebte abwechselnd in Kalifornien, New York, Cape Cod und Florida.

Sie bekam im Alter von 20 Jahren eine Tochter (die spätere Mutter der Sängerin Courtney Love), die sie jedoch im Alter von drei Jahren zur Adoption freigab. Courtney Love bezog sich später in mehreren Interviews darauf, dass der Recherche ihrer Mutter nach Marlon Brando der Vater gewesen war, der damals noch unbekannt, der Mitbewohner von Fox und ihrer Freundin, seiner späteren Agentin Stella Adler, gewesen war, die zeitlebens gute Freunde blieben. Im letzten Kapitel ihrer Autobiografie In fremden Kleidern beschreibt sie die Suche nach Linda, der Tochter, und das bewegende erste Treffen mit ihr, als diese eine junge Frau ist. Zuletzt war Fox in dritter Ehe mit dem Literaturkritiker und Übersetzer Martin Greenberg verheiratet. Sie lebten in Brooklyn, New York.

2004 wurde sie in die American Academy of Arts and Letters gewählt.

Paula Fox hatte drei Kinder und mehrere Enkelkinder. Sie starb im März 2017, im Alter von 93 Jahren, in einem Krankenhaus in Brooklyn.

Auszeichnungen
 1978: Hans Christian Andersen Preis
 2008: Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (Sparte Kinderbuch) für Ein Bild von Ivan

Werke (Auswahl)
Neben Kinderbüchern, für die sie 1978 mit dem Hans Christian Andersen Preis ausgezeichnet wurde, schrieb sie Romane. In Deutschland sind vor allem bekannt:
 Pech für George (Poor George, 1967); C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2004
 Was am Ende bleibt (Desperate Characters, 1970); C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2000, ISBN 3-406-46060-7
 Kalifornische Jahre (The Western Coast, 1973); C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2001, ISBN 3-406-47152-8
 Lauras Schweigen (The Widow's Children, 1976); C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2002, ISBN 3-406-48703-3
 Luisa (A Servant's Tale, 1984); C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2005, ISBN 3-406-53549-6
 Der Gott der Alpträume (The God of Nightmares, 1990); C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55614-2
 In fremden Kleidern: Geschichte einer Jugend (Borrowed Finery: a memoir, 2001) C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2003, ISBN 3-406-50271-7; Autobiographie
 Ein Bild von Ivan (Portrait of Ivan, 1969); Boje Verlag, Köln 2007, ISBN 978-3-414-82059-4; Jugendbuch
 Die Zigarette und andere Stories (News from the World: stories and essays, 2011), aus dem Amerikanischen von Karen Nölle und Hans-Ulrich Möhring, C. H. Beck Verlag, München 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61289-3
 Der kälteste Winter (The Coldest Winter: A Stringer in Liberated Europe, 2005) C.H.Beck, München 2006, ISBN 978-3-406-54208-4; Autobiographie 1946–1947

In ihren 153 Seiten starken Erinnerungen Der kälteste Winter beschrieb Paula Fox ihre Erfahrungen als junge Frau im Nachkriegseuropa 1946. Sie reiste im Auftrag einer britischen Nachrichtenagentur und nutzte die einjährige Reise zu einer Recherche des Nachkriegselends und ihrer eigenen Wurzeln.

In ihrem meisterhaften Roman Was am Ende bleibt schilderte sie, wie sich das fragile Zusammenleben eines gutsituierten, kinderlosen US-amerikanischen Ehepaares durch eine Kleinigkeit, einen Katzenbiss, in alltägliches Grauen verwandelt.

Mit In fremden Kleidern erzählte Paula Fox autobiographisch von ihrer Kindheit und Jugend. Ein weiterer Roman, der die Kindheit thematisiert, ist Paul ohne Jakob.

Ihr in den USA am meisten beachtetes Buch ist der von der Sklaverei handelnde Jugendroman The Slave Dancer (1973); dt. Sklavenfracht für New Orleans (Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1979) und Jessies Melodie (Köln: Boje, 2013; ISBN 978-3-414-82249-9).

Literatur
 Bernadette Conrad: Die vielen Leben der Paula Fox. C. H. Beck, München 2011, ISBN 978-3-406-61259-6
 Paula Fox: Borrowed finery: a memoir. Flamingo, London 2003, ISBN 978-0-00-713723-7
 Verena Auffermann: Paula Fox: Wer von der Angst spricht, in dies., Gunhild Kübler, Ursula März, Elke Schmitter: Leidenschaften. 99 Autorinnen der Weltliteratur. C. Bertelsmann, München 2009, S. 180–185

Weblinks

 Oliver Broudy, Interview mit Paula Fox: The Art of Fiction No. 181, The Paris Review 170, Sommer 2004 (englisch)

Einzelnachweise

Autor
Literatur (20. Jahrhundert)
Literatur (21. Jahrhundert)
Literatur (Englisch)
Literatur (Vereinigte Staaten)
Roman, Epik
Erzählung
Kinder- und Jugendliteratur
Autobiografie
Mitglied der American Academy of Arts and Letters
Schriftsteller (New York City)
US-Amerikaner
Geboren 1923
Gestorben 2017
Frau

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
Новополеевский — посёлок в Обливском районе Ростовской области. Входит в Солонецкое сельское поселение.

География

Улицы
 ул. Белорусская,
 ул. Дружбы,
 ул. Запрудная,
 ул. Молодёжная,
 ул. Степная,
 ул. Центральная,
 пер. Торговый.

История
Указом ПВС РСФСР от 24 февраля 1988 года поселку четвертого отделения совхоза «Песчанный» присвоено наименование посёлок Новополеевский.

Население

Примечания

Населённые пункты Обливского района


In a recent blog post, Dan Meyer describes his discomfort with the expression "real-world," writing I understand what it means. I know it's code for something that basically everybody understands. But I'm not comfortable with the implication that if the mathematics won't help you build a deck or make payroll or beat the odds at a card table that it's "fake-world math" (or, even more unfortunately, "fake math") and without value.
I've not heard anyone argue that applied math and pure math are mutually exclusive--indeed, I don't recall ever hearing the expression "fake math" until I read the post--but Dan does bring up a very good question: how do we as educators balance the need to make math concrete on one hand, and abstract on the other. We want students to recognize how math relates to "real" life (as they experience it), but also to be able to extend it in hitherto unknown directions: known-knowns, and also unknown-unknowns.
Real-world scenarios allow us to ask more questions--to cover more math--in a way that makes sense to students. If we want them to solve 6.25x + 399 = 1000, how do we explain "subtract 399 from both sides" without it sounding totally random, like some trick we just made up? But ask, "What size iPad could you get for $1000?", and a student may instinctively say, The first thing I need to do is get rid of the $399 base price, leaving the $601 I'm spending on memory. At $6.25/GB... Other questions we can ask include: If you double the size of the iPad, does the price also double? (proportions). Would it make sense for the 16GB version to cost $499 AND $529? (vertical line test). For the same size, will the Wi-Fi model ever cost the same as the 3G model? (parallel lines). Assuming linear pricing, how much should the 64GB model cost? (evaluating equations). According to website, the 64GB model costs $699, $100 less than we'd expect. What does this mean? (linear vs. non-linear functions...and marketing to boot). The list goes on, and a small amount of contextualization allows us to do more math. Indeed, the iCost lesson addresses approximately 30% of the Common Core standards for Grade 8. From the teacher's perspective: a third of the year in 90 minutes. From the student's: I get it.
In addition to being more accesible to students, real-world math can also be more accessible to teachers. This may not matter to everyone, but it's worth remembering that in many states 6th grade teachers can teach on an elementary license, while many middle school teachers teach on a Grades 6-8 license (which doesn't necessarily include Algebra). To the extent that many teachers themselves feel a certain math-phobia, contextualizing skills can assuage their angst and make them more comfortable, confident and effective. Again, this doesn't concern everyone, but it absolutely must concern curriculum developers whose content can act as both a tool for instruction as well as professional development.
Not only is the concrete, then abstract approach more effective--especially for students yet to fully develop the capacity for abstract thinking--it's also more reflective of the K12 trajectory. In elementary school, kids use coins to understand place value, marbles to learn addition and make groupings, etc. Topics become a bit more abstract in middle school--we begin to substitute one thing for another, variables for values, etc.--though it's mostly pretty concrete. It's really only in high school that math starts to transition towards the pure, until eventually it's almost exclusively abstract. Of course, even before this happens there's some serious number theory going on beneath the surface, and we would do well to develop this type of thinking as early as possible (which I imagine is even earlier than we tend to think possible!). Still, it would be strange to teach modular arithmetic before addressing "Tell and write time...to the nearest five minutes" (2.MD.7), which is why even in college it's called "clock."
Not only does the concrete, then abstract parallel the K12 trajectory, it more importantly parallels the evolution of mathematics itself. Just as humans developed a screwdriver in order to build something, humans developed mathematics as a tool to construct a more comprehensive understanding of how the world works. Put more simply: we've always had a practical/utilitarian relationship to math. The Egyptians wanted to calculate field dimensions and army formations. The Arabs, Indians and Italians: to improve commerce. This is not to minimize the contributions of pure mathematicians such as Pythagoras, Cantor & Euler, but simply to highlight that whoever notched the Ishango bone was probably motivated less by some fascination with prime numbers, and more by the immediate need to count his sheep and make sure they all came home at night. We went to the moon because it was there, and there's something profoundly beautiful about exploration for exploration's sake. Still, aviation began when some dude strapped feathers to his arms, which is to say: it was pretty concrete (and flew like it, too).
By using real-world topics to teach how math works, we end up teaching something else, too: how the world works. A student goes home and her mother says, "Hi, honey, what'd you learn today?" And the girl doesn't say "how to write the equation of the line between two points" (in all of human history, has that conversation ever happened?), but rather "I learned how Apple prices its products." Or, I learned that...video game consoles haven't followed Moore's Law, but still may be changing exponentially; ...even though people with small feet pay more for shoes, Nike probably still shouldn't charge by weight; ...Wheel of Fortune may be rigged, but I have to watch more episodes to find out for sure. And isn't that what's so unique about math: it's ability to shed light on...everything? And isn't that what makes being a math teacher so cool: our ability to ask...anything?
Which gets us right back to the question-at-hand: real vs. fake. Pure vs. applied. Embedded in Dan's post are really two questions: what's the point of math; and how do students learn it? There's no easy answer to the first--certainly it's a tool and an object of inquiry in its own right--and how you address it depends on any number of things, from your own experience as a student to the grade level you teach (or are writing for). In terms of "how students learn it," though, I think the answer is a bit clearer cut: "The way we [humans] developed it in the first place." There seems to be this rate of change phenomenon that keeps coming up. Let's call it something. How's "slope?"
How do we learn math? By using it. And indeed, I think Dan's WCYDWT materials are wonderful examples of this. Pure or applied? Yes, and a scenario like the basketball parabola allows students to access quadratics in a real-world setting, while also providing them an opportunity for "pure" extension later (e.g. prove why the parabola opens down iff a is negative). Mathalicious lessons do this, too, albeit in their own way and with their own focus.
Again, the question isn't "real" or fake, concrete or abstract. It's not drill & kill or open-ended exploration, but rather: Why do so many kids hate math, where does this drop-off happen and and how do we fix this? And before we can answer How do we get where we're going, where must first ask, Where do we start?
"Real world" may be an overused expression, but it's definitely an underused launching point in most math classrooms. Yet just as a swim coach doesn't teach his kids to dive from the raft, we'd do well to begin on solid ground, get our footing first and go from there.
I tend to agree that for the majority of our students, it is better to begin with concrete examples, and the more realistic the better. But that may be a social issue rather than a cognitive one, conditioned on the society we live in. See my summary of the Davydov curriculum: http://www.maa.org/devlin/devlin_01_09.html . Note that in Davidov's approach, the students do begin with concrete activities, and a lot of them, but then develop mathematics in a highly abstract fashion. Whether this corresponds to the way our predecessors developed mathematics I don't know. My own experience in mathematics research is that new methods and results are discovered from a mixture or bottom-up and top-down thinking.
I think 'real-world' just means needing to put math in context, and there are lots of ways to do that, but they take time *and* more teachers who really understand math. The issue is that too much of what kids learn (not just math) is not connected to anything else, including their own lives. Once you make that connection, it builds a platform for further inquiry and questions, knowing and understanding. This platform is built through active learning, project learning, integrated learning, interdisciplinary learning, hands-on learning, or whatever label you want to give it. For example, I think that creating scenarios is a great start, but I wonder who is doing the learning in that kind of situation? The teacher has compiled all the data and created a context for some interesting discussion, but…what about bringing in all the shoes to class and a scale or, even better, asking them to take their own shoes and weigh them and talk about what they cost, then compile the data? What about taking them to the gym to shoot the baskets themselves and figuring out how to organize the data as the first step? Maybe it would take longer, but it might be more engaging, and therefore even more memorable. What about asking the question "What do you want to know (or know more about)?" and then guiding students to the relevant math? Is that too open ended?
The other issue in my mind in the concrete math vs. abstract/formal math question is the need to build procedural skills vs. the need to see the big picture so the skills are seen as useful. You need both, right? But if you skip certain experiences, you really can't move any further (van Hiele, right?). Developing literacy is a good model – children start by developing fluency with the spoken language; a lot of listening to stories, songs, and conversations; hopefully adults who engage the child in conversations and discussions about what they see, think, feel and read; experience with writing utensils and exposure to letters, etc. The written word will make no sense if there is no fluency behind it, and many kids are forced to learn to read before their brains or their own interests are ready. This may not help the discussion much in terms of middle or high school math, but still... how many of those older kids still need remediation with the basic building blocks of math? Just some thoughts.
I was at MCTM yesterday and loved your talk. I am a second career math teacher and after finally realizing that I can get support and ideas from teachers all over the country/world without just using google and trying to sift through things, I have discovered blogs and your site. I wasn't sure how to use some of the lessons until yesterday after I went home and looked at them again.
Thanks for coming to MN!
The "real world" examples matter too - relevant vs. useful. I can easily articulate this point with a science example. When learning about physics, basketball is a relevant topic to many students but not all. And those who would engage more with such an example wouldn't become better basketball players, better coaches, better referees, better fans. Alternately, it might useful to situate all of the examples in a useful context such as construction or cooking. Entire units (thermodynamics, electricity, and materials & mechanics), could be used to better understand one's home (heating and cooling, electric generation/transfer/wiring/safety, building structure).
Situating math in "useful contexts" may be more challenging, especially due to abstract concepts and "pure" math, but they exist. Algebra could focus on computing: coding, spreadsheets and databases.