At the end of a road that loops through the Andes mountains and runs north to south along the western coast of South America lies the Olaroz salt flat. The flat rests roughly 4,000 meters, or 13,000 feet, above sea level. One of the few sounds that can be heard in the area is a mechanical one, created by untended pumps. Those at the Olaroz salt flat pluck lithium-bearing brine from wells that are sunk below the salt crust and then go on to place it in evaporation pools. After that, the concentrate will be transported to a plant within reach for processing into lithium carbonate.
As of right now, the project in Argentina's Jujuy state, which is a joint venture between Argentina, Australia, and Japan, holds the title of being one of the country's two active lithium mines. In 2016, it produced 11,845 tonnes of lithium carbonate, which is roughly 6% of the world's production. This year, however, Sales de Jujuy is working towards producing 17,500 tonnes of lithium carbonate.
Lithium is one of the hottest commodities on the market right now. Why? Because it is one of the most important ingredients in lithium-ion batteries, along with cobalt. These batteries power more than just the apps running on your phone, they also power electric vehicles (EVs) and electricity grids (if affixed to wind turbines and photovoltaic cells). According to Joe Lowry, the demand for lithium is predicted to triple by the year 2025. Currently, lithium supply is falling, which resulted in an increase in price. As reported by the Industrial Minerals journal, annual contract prices for both lithium carbonate and lithium hydroxide have doubled this year. This increase has created a rush of investors trying to get a foot in the door at the "lithium triangle" which covers Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. The lithium triangle occupies 54% of the globe's "lithium resources".
The three countries, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia, have not been equitably eager to take advantage of the opportunity. Chile, one of the richest sources of high-grade, low-cost lithium in the world, has a head start. Argentina, on the other hand is stepping up to make up for lost ground, while Bolivia has scarcely started to capitalize on them. These differences prove how the South American trio approach both investment and enterprise differently. The trio faces an intimidating challenger in Australia, where lithium is extracted from hard-rock mines and then shipped to China for processing, but the investment conditions are cordial.
As mentioned, Chile is one of the richest sources of high-grade, low-cost lithium, thus allowing them to control the lithium market for decades. The Atacama salt flat, for instance, has the highest-quality and largest proven reserves. When combining the desert sun, the lack of rainfall, and mineral-rich brines, China's output costs are the lowest in the world. Chile's lithium deposits are in close proximity to Antofagasta, a port city in northern Chile, and a number of other Chilean ports. This means that the lithium carbonate produced in Jujuy passes through these ports.
However, growth has now flattened, thus allowing Australia to endanger Chile's ranking as the top lithium producer in the world. This can be blamed on the fact that, when it comes to the alkali metal, Chile is far less liberal than it is to copper. Luckily, this problem can be mended.
In the 1970's and 1980's, laws were put into place that labeled lithium as a "strategic" material on the ground which can be used for future nuclear-fusion power plants. Though there is little prospect that Chile will build a nuclear-fusion power plant, controls on lithium output do help to protect the desert's delicate ecosystem.
Under the contracts signed in the 1980s, there are only two companies, Chile's Sociedad Química y Minera (NYSE:$SQM) and the US's Albemarle Corp. (NYSE:$ALB), that are allowed to remove brine. Additionally, SQM and ALB have quotas on the lithium that they produce from the brine. Currently, the government wants to increase output, but the Economic Development Agency is undergoing a legal dispute with SQM. As a result, the government has rejected the suggestion to raise it's quotas, which SQM is most likely to use up by the year 2021.
Respectively, Chile is now looking for other outlets to increase production. In January, Codelco, the Chilean state owned copper mining company, allowed for private firms to invest in the Maricunga and Pedernales salt flats. These are the richest lithium areas that Codelco is in charge of. In 2017, Corfo, a production development corporation, entered a deal with Albemarle; under the terms of this deal, Albemarle's mining lease was extended to 2044 and the Louisiana-based company was given an additional quota. As a result of the deal, Albemarle agreed to sell a quarter of its production at preferential prices to Chile-based firms.
According to Corfo's chief executive, Eduardo Bitran, the Atacama salt flat could more than quadruple output to 350,000 tonnes a year without having to extract more brine. Essentially this would help Chile maintain the title as one of the top lithium producers in the world. However, removing quotas and ridding lithium of strategic status would make more sense. As would improving institutions and infrastructure in Chile. Despite being labeled 'the region's best', Chile still falls behind those of Australia. According to Daniela Desormeaux of signumBOX, "Chile is going in the right direction, but more is needed." In regards to Sociedad Química y Minera, this progress is still far too slow, which made it shift its attention to Argentina.
This is a last resort and it would not have happened, say, 2 years ago. It has been decades since investors considered Argentina to be business-friendly. Plus, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who ruled until December of 2015, didn't help the situation. For instance, currency controls meant to boost up the peso blocked foreign business from restoring dividends and export taxes decreased profits. Additionally, import controls made the process of bringing in machinery a lot harder and investors were forced to apply to the tax authority if they wanted to import. After that, investors then had to report to the central bank for hard currency. "It would usually take months to get drilling equipment and pumps into the country," stated David Sidoo, chief executive of the Canadian firm, Advantage Lithium (CVE:$AAL).
According to the constitution, it's the provinces that own the country's minerals, not the federal government. As a result, mining firms were sent on a wild goose chase trying to maneuver their way around a number of provincial rules and requirements. Daniel Meilan likened the situation to the Tower of Babel. Why is this an issue? Well, investors found it hard to decipher which companies had already been given concessions or permits, while provincial governments were including themselves in projects. JEMSE, for instance, is a mining firm owned by the Jujuy province, who called for an equity share of 20% in Sales de Jujuy. They ended up settling for an 8.5% equity stake.
Mauricio Macri, Argentina's current President, has attempted to unblock investment, and that includes lithium investments. In fact, in Macri's first week in office, the President lessened currency controls and began to remove export taxes. Additionally, Macri's entrepreneurial fervor has prompted the provincial government to approve permits for extraction and exploration a lot quicker. "It's much faster to get equipment into the country now," stated David Sidoo. Now, the Jujuy government has constructed a database which makes the process of finding out who already has mining concessions a lot easier.
Currently, the federal government is trying to fix provincial requirements. It has already created an agreement on a standard royalty (3% of revenue and 1.5% to improve local infrastructure), which now has to move through both provincial and federal legislatures. President Macri has plans to work on Argentina's poor infrastructure, but that will take a considerable amount of time.
In the 16th century, the city of Potosi was thought to be the world's largest industrial complex and today, investors are anxious to take advantage of Potosi's lithium deposits. However, the democratic government of Bolivia is less welcoming and enthusiastic than the imperial one.
According to the American State Department, Bolivia's investment system struggles from a "lack of legal security, weak rule of law, corruption and murky international arbitration measures." Since 2006, under the ruling of President Evo Morales, Bolivia has abandoned a number of bilateral investment treaties, which has denied investors access to international arbitration.
Contrary to popular belief, the Bolivian government actually keeps a tighter hold on lithium than it does on gas, which is the country's biggest export. In fact, since 2010, it is only the state that can extract lithium brine. Private firms can admire the Uyuni salt flat near Potosi from afar.
So far, the state's venture into lithium extraction is not going as well as they had once hoped. For example, the state has yet to calculate how the Uyuni salt flats resources translate into exploitable reserves. Regardless, Bolivia has built a pilot extraction operation and is continuing on with their plans to build a full-scale lithium-carbonate plant which has the ability to manufacture 30,000 tonnes a year. According to Juan Carlos Zuleta, an economist specializing in lithium, the state's foray into lithium extraction is well behind schedule, over budget, and is hindered by a lack of technology and expertise.
Similar to Chile, Bolivia aims to develop partnerships with private firms in order to produce value-added products, such as EVs or batteries, through Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos. That said, the government continues to insist on controlling stake which is scaring prospective investors. Last year, Bolivia sold a total of 25 tonnes of lithium carbonate to China and pocketed $208,000.


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Musical Instrument Repairers and Tuners
Exploring this Job
One of the best ways to explore this field is to take some type of musical instrument lessons. This experience will help you develop an ear for tonal quality and acquaint you with the care of your instrument. It will also put you in contact with those who work professionally with music. You may develop a contact with someone at the store where you have purchased or rented your instrument, and, naturally, you will get to know your music teacher. Ask these people what they know about the repair and tuning business. Your high school or local college music departments can also be excellent places for meeting those who work with instruments. Ask teachers in these departments whom they know working in instrument repair. You may be able to set up an informational interview with a repairer or tuner you find through these contacts. Ask the repairer about his or her education, how he or she got interested in the work, what he or she would recommend for someone considering the field, and any other questions you may have.
Part-time and summer jobs that are related closely to this occupation may be difficult to obtain because full-time trainees usually handle the routine tasks of a helper. Nevertheless, it is worth applying for such work at music stores and repair shops in case they do not use full-time trainees. General clerical jobs in stores that sell musical instruments may help familiarize you with the language of the field and may offer you the opportunity to observe skilled repairers at work.
All but the most heavily damaged instruments usually can be repaired by competent, experienced craftsworkers. In addition, instruments require regular maintenance and inspection to ensure that they play properly and to prevent small problems from becoming major ones.
Stringed-instrument repairers perform extremely detailed and difficult work. The repair of violins, violas, and cellos might be considered the finest woodworking done in the world today. Because their sound quality is so beautiful, some older, rarer violins are worth millions of dollars, and musicians will sometimes fly halfway around the world to have rare instruments repaired by master restorers. In many ways, the work of these master craftspeople may be compared to the restoration of fine art masterpieces.
When a violin or other valuable stringed instrument needs repair, its owner takes the instrument to a repair shop, which may employ many repairers. If the violin has cracks in its body, it must be taken apart. The pieces of a violin are held together by a special glue that allows the instrument to be dismantled easily for repair purposes. The glue, which is made from hides and bones and has been used for more than 400 years, is sturdy but does not bond permanently with the wood.
To repair a crack in the back of a violin, the repairer first pops the back off the instrument. After cleaning the crack with warm water, the repairer glues the crack and attaches cleats or studs above the crack on the inside to prevent further splitting. The repairer reassembles the violin and closes the outside of the crack with fill varnish. Lastly, the repairer treats the crack scrupulously with retouch varnish so that it becomes invisible.
The repairer does not complete every step immediately after the previous one. Depending on the age and value of the instrument, a repair job can take three weeks or longer. Glues and varnishes need to set, and highly detailed work demands much concentration. The repairer also needs to do research to isolate the original type of varnish on the instrument and match it precisely with modern materials. The repairer usually has more than one repair job going at any one time.
A major restoration, such as the replacement of old patchwork or the fitting of inside patches to support the instrument, requires even more time. A large project can take two years or longer. A master restorer can put 2,000 or more hours into the repair of a valuable violin that has nothing more than a few cracks in its finish. Since many fine instruments are worth $2 million or more, they need intense work to preserve the superior quality of their sound. The repairer cannot rush the work, must concentrate on every detail, and complete the repair properly or risk other problems later on.
While all instruments are not made by Stradivari, they still need to be kept in good condition to be played well. Owners bring in their violins, violas, and cellos to the repair shop every season for cleaning, inspecting joints, and gluing gaps. The work involves tools similar to a woodworker's tools, such as carving knives, planes, and gouges. The violin repairer will often need to play the instrument to check its condition and tune it. Bow rehairers maintain the quality of the taut, vibrating horsehair string that is stretched from end to end of the resilient wooden bow.
Wind-instrument repairers require a similar level of skill to that required of stringed-instrument repairers. However, as the quality of sound is more standard among manufacturers, old instruments do not necessarily play any better than new ones, and these instruments do not command the same value as a fine violin.
The repairer first needs to determine the extent of repairs that the instrument warrants. The process may range from a few minor repairs to bring the instrument up to playing condition to a complete overhaul. After fixing the instrument, the repairer will also clean both the inside and outside and may replate the metal finish on a scuffed or rusty instrument.
For woodwinds such as clarinets and oboes, common repairs include fixing or replacing the moving parts of the instrument, including replacing broken keys with new keys, cutting new padding or corks to replace worn pieces, and replacing springs. If the body of the woodwind is cracked in any sections, the repairer will take the instrument apart and attempt to pin or glue the crack shut. In some situations, the repairer will replace the entire section or joint of the instrument.
Repairing brass instruments such as trumpets and French horns requires skill in metal working and plating. The pieces of these instruments are held together by solder, which the repairer must heat and remove to take the instrument apart for repair work. To fix dents, the repairer will unsolder the piece and work the dent out with hammers and more delicate tools and seal splits in the metal with solder as well. A final buffing and polishing usually removes any evidence of the repair.
If one of the valves of the brass instrument is leaking, the repairer may replate it and build up layers of metal to fill the gaps. At times, the repairer will replace a badly damaged valve with a new valve from the instrument manufacturer, but often the owner will discard the entire instrument because the cost of making a new valve from raw materials is prohibitive. Replacement parts are usually available from the manufacturer, but parts for older instruments are sometimes difficult or impossible to find. For this reason, many repairers save and stockpile discarded instruments for their parts.
Piano technicians and piano tuners repair and tune pianos so that when a key is struck it will produce its correctly pitched note of the musical scale. A piano may go out of tune for a variety of reasons, including strings that have stretched or tightened from age, temperature change, relocation, or through use. Tuners use a special wrench to adjust the pins that control the tension on the strings. Piano tuners usually are specially trained for such work, but piano technicians may also perform tuning in connection with a more thorough inspection or overhaul of an instrument.
A piano's performance is also affected by problems in any of the thousands of moving parts of the action or by problems in the sounding board or the frame holding the strings. These are problems that the technician is trained to analyze and correct. They may involve replacing or repairing parts or making adjustments that enable the existing parts to function more smoothly.
The life of a piano—that is, the period of time before it can no longer be properly tuned or adjusted to correct operational problems—is usually estimated at 20 years. Because the harp and strong outer wooden frame are seldom damaged, technicians often rebuild pianos by replacing the sounding board and strings, refurbishing and replacing parts where necessary, and refinishing the outer case.
In all their work, from tuning to rebuilding, piano technicians discover a piano's problems by talking to the owner and playing the instrument themselves. They may dismantle a piano partially on-site to determine the amount of wear to its parts and look for broken parts. They use common hand tools such as hammers, screwdrivers, and pliers. To repair and rebuild pianos, they use a variety of specialized tools for stringing and setting pins.
For pipe organ technicians, the largest part of the job is repairing and maintaining existing organs. This primarily involves tuning the pipes, which can be time consuming, even in a moderate-sized organ.
To tune a flue pipe, the technician moves a slide that increases or decreases the length of the speaking (note-producing) part of the pipe, varying its pitch. The technician tunes a reed pipe by varying the length of the brass reed inside the pipe.
To tune an organ, the technician tunes either the A or C pipes by matching their notes with those of a tuning fork or electronic note-producing device. He or she then tunes the other pipes in harmony with the A or C notes. This may require a day or more for a moderate-sized organ and much longer for a giant concert organ.
Pipe organ technicians also diagnose, locate, and correct problems in the operating parts of the organ and perform preventive maintenance on a regular basis. To do this, they work with electric wind-generating equipment and with slides, valves, keys, air channels, and other equipment that enables the organist to produce the desired music.
Occasionally, a new organ is installed in a new or existing structure. Manufacturers design and install the largest organs. Each is unique, and the designer carefully supervises its construction and installation. Often, designers individually create moderate-sized organs specifically for the structure, usually churches, in which they will be played. Technicians follow the designer's blueprints closely during installation. The work involves assembling and connecting premanufactured components, using a variety of hand and power tools. Technicians may work in teams, especially when installing the largest pipes of the organ.
Although the electronic organ imitates the sound of the pipe organ, the workings of the two instruments have little in common. The electronic organ consists of electrical and electronic components and circuits that channel electrical current through various oscillators and amplifiers to produce sound when a player presses each key. It is rare for an oscillator or other component to need adjustment in the way an organ pipe needs to be adjusted to tune it. A technician tunes an electronic organ by testing it for electronic malfunction and replacing or repairing the component, circuit board, or wire.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


New Lab MP: "Bit strange being next to Boris Johnson"
Rosie Duffield MP's Maiden Speech on 07/09/2017.
Rosie Duffield, MP for Canterbury, asks the Prime Minister a question about her disabled constituent who has been refused benefits.
Rosie Duffield speaks after her historic win over Tory Sir Julian Brazier.
Rosie Duffield MP speaks in the House of Commons on Brexit; explains why she will not vote for the Prime Minister's deal.
Canterbury's Labour MP, Rosie Duffield, campaigning at Catching Lives, a homeless charity.
Rosie speaks on Job Centre Closures and how they are affecting her constituents.


New Quarterly Release of NYS Streets and Address Points!
We [GIS/SIG] are looking for presentations for our 28th Annual Conference on April 9, 2019 at the Burgundy Basin. This is a great way to show that big project you have been working on, share your skills or teach some tips and tricks!


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Q: How to leverage auto's searching and hint databases in custom tactics? In my coq development I am learning how to create new tactics tailored to my problem domain, a la Prof. Adam Chlipala.  On that page he describes how to create powerful custom tactics by e.g. combining repeat with match.
Now, I already have a powerful one-shot tactic in use, auto.  It strings together chains of steps found from hint databases.  I have invested some effort in curating those hint databases, so I'd like to continue using it as well.
However this presents a problem.  It isn't clear what the "right" way is to incorporate auto's functionality into customized tactics.
For example, since (per its page) auto always either solves the goal or does nothing, putting it inside a loop is no more powerful than calling it once after the loop.
To see why this isn't ideal, consider a hypothetical way to directly call a single "step" of auto, which succeeds if it could make a change (as opposed to only when it solved the goal) and fails otherwise.  Such single-steps could be interleaved with custom behavior in a match repeat loop, allowing us to e.g. try contradiction or try congruence at intermediate points within the search tree.
Are there good design patterns for incorporating auto's functionality into custom tactics?
Can auto's behavior be decomposed into "single step" tactics that we can use?

A: What I would do instead would be to incorporate other tactics within auto.
You can do so by using the Hint Extern num pat => mytactic : mybase command where num is a priority number (0 being the highest priority), pat a pattern to filter when the hint should be used and mytactic and mybase are of course the tactic you want to apply and the base you want to add the hint to (do not use the default core; build up your custom base instead and call it with auto with mybase; if you do not want to include the lemmas from the core base in the search, add the fake base nocore: auto with mybase nocore).
If you start relying on auto very much, I would switch instead to the almost equivalent but better behaved typeclasses eauto with mybase. Contrary to what its name suggests, it is a general purpose tactic that has nothing to do with type classes (as long as you explicitly provide the hint base on which it should be working). One of the main behavior difference to know is that the search depth is unbounded by default. So beware of possible infinite loops or fix a finite limit with the variant typeclasses eauto num with mybase.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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President Schapiro addresses financial constraints, return to campus
In his 21st Conversations with the President discussion, confidence in the future
May 19, 2020 | By Storer Rowley
President Morton Schapiro spoke of returning to campus only when it is safe.
President Morton Schapiro addressed the difficult financial constraints Northwestern University is facing due to COVID-19 in his 21st Conversations with the President event today (May 19), held remotely on Zoom. But he also declared he is confident that Northwestern is strong and will start ramping up its research and on-campus activities in the months ahead, as long as it can be done safely.
The president discussed the hard decisions to trim expenses, in a concerted effort to defray a roughly $90 million shortfall in the University's operating budget brought on by the global pandemic.
He expressed particular concern for the 249 staff members facing furloughs due to the impact of the virus. "These are people we know," he said. "We are not some large corporate entity where these are just numbers, and it's a headcount. These are people. It's very painful, and we want to bring them back as soon as we can."
President Schapiro also spoke of measures taken to spread the burden so it was shared more equitably by many, noting, "We also made the decision to temporarily suspend contributions to retirement plans for faculty and staff."
Still, the president emphasized how strong Northwestern is in its research enterprise, the overwhelming desire of students to attend, the resilience of its community, the growing distinction of its faculty and a steady expanding recognition of its rising global reputation during his tenure as president. He shared his excitement to welcome students, faculty and staff back to campus in due course, but he emphasized that health would remain the top priority in the University's phased return-to-campus plan.
"We're only going to do it if we can do it safely," he said. "It's not the budget that's going to make that decision; it's going to be the safety of our community."
After President Schapiro's remarks, he was joined on the Zoom event by Interim Provost Kathleen Hagerty and Senior Vice President for Business and Finance Craig Johnson for a Q&A session.
"Coming back to campus isn't going to be like flipping a switch, where it's zero and then 20,000 students on campus the next day," Hagerty said. "We have been making plans to gradually open the campus. We'll do it in a controlled way where we can be careful and learn. Once we learn a little more and feel safe, we can go a bit further."
President Schapiro added that the University also must consider state and local policy in its reopening plan, noting that Illinois continues to be under a stay-at-home order. Additional information about the University's return-to-campus plan will be announced this week, the president said.
The event was hosted by the Northwestern University Staff Advisory Council (NUSAC) in partnership with the Office of the President.
NUSAC Chair Nate Daigle said his group hoped "to highlight issues and questions of great importance to the University community" during a challenging time for Northwestern. Questions were gathered by NUSAC ahead of the event.
President Schapiro, Hagerty and Johnson answered a range of questions about Northwestern's financial health, students and the impact of the coronavirus on the University. The leaders spoke of Northwestern's continued strengths, some of them actually enhanced as a result of the virus.
President Schapiro cited recent headlines describing many colleges and universities' concern about whether they will have enough students to enroll in the fall.
"We have a program and reputation unparalleled at our great University because of all of you: faculty, staff, students, parents, alumni. You've made an extraordinary difference," he said. "In U.S. News (rankings), we went from 13 to 12 to 11 to 10 to 9. That's made a real difference in the perception of where Northwestern stands within the global hierarchy of admissions in terms of reputation," the president said.
"What I'm really proud of as president of Northwestern, it's not just increased strength and momentum in one area," he said. "We're broadly fabulous in everything, and I'm talking about the arts and humanities, quantitative social science and the humanistic social sciences, and, of course, in our myriad STEM programs as well."
Community and the University mission
Johnson spoke of how the University has risen to the occasion of this challenge in the era of COVID-19. He has observed an "amazing amount of camaraderie, pulling together, all-nighters, trying to get through this.
"Before this happened, one of my main goals was allowing people to progress in their careers, to have talent management plans, to have career succession. And seeing this, we want to support them and help their careers grow — because this is a life-defining and career-defining event — and to help them step up," he added.
"We're better together when we're talking and sharing ideas," Johnson said. "And it's so important to our society that we have got to get it back. People pulling together inspires me, and I think it's a great opportunity to be part of something really wonderful."
Topics: Campus Life, Events, President, Provost
Rebecca M. Blank named next president of Northwestern
October 11, 2021 – University
President Schapiro: Make your 'bucket list'
September 22, 2021 – University
The job of a university president is tougher than ever
August 23, 2021 – University


This week we have a real treat in our Big Ups series. If you are a fan of Modern Funk and Soul, or the artists who are making music (recording in the same manner as well) as a lot of these long, forgotten funky artists, then you have to give JJ Whitefield a huge thanks. Without this man, there would be no Truth & Soul and there would be no Daptone Records and those that followed, there would be no Funk and Soul music scene from the 1990's on. JJ Whitefield and Bo Baral put out the 1993 classic Practice What You Preach record by their band The Poets of Rhythm. Channeling their inner Meters and JB's among others, this record set the bar for the new Funk and Soul movement in the United States and lead the charge to the frenzy it is today. Real music played the way it was played by real artists back in the day. They were able to capture the music and struggle within the music and brought it back where it belonged: to the people. It took German musicians to play music like American Funk and Soul artists in the late 60's and early 70's to get us back into this beautiful music again. Recording under a bunch of monikers including The Whitefield Brothers, Bus People Express, the Soul Saints Orchestra, the Pan Atlantics and more, JJ has been a huge contributor and preservationist of this special sound. The Poets have just released an Anthology on Daptone Records which is available now, so don't sleep on this double vinyl. It's an honor to have this great artist and performer get the Big Ups treatment today. Also, JJ, please send Flea Market Funk some Leberkässemmel, I think we're in love with that food without even trying it! Enjoy.
Check out some more info about JJ's music here.


Champions of Breakfast…Need We Say More?
A little while ago we had a girl come up to us at a show and insist that the track "Vanilla (always gets it raw)" was about her. When we told her that the song was written for our manager, Donny Villalobos, she became irate. She broke a bottle on our merch T-shirt bust and then tried to attack Donny. Val had to use his "long bass" to fend off the attacker.
After meeting at a Jesus Lizard concert in the early 1990s, Val and I bought a 1989 white Buick LeSabre and toured in it for a couple years. The passenger door panel had almost completely rusted off, so in order to look badass, we slapped a 4-foot RATT rub-on decal on the hood. It worked.
The taste you get in your mouth after licking a bunch of postage stamps.


Verité formally unveiled the CUMULUS Forced Labor Screen™ membership platform on June 11th at the Global Forum for Responsible Recruitment and Employment 2018 in Singapore. CUMULUS is a technology-driven (patent pending) approach to using shared data for labor supply mapping and forced labor risk screening in supply chains.
The findings reported in a new white paper from Gap Inc. and Verité, Employing Workers' Sense of Value as a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) to Drive Facility Improvement in Social Responsibility, demonstrate that taking a worker-centric approach to sustainable supplier performance improvement can be mutually beneficial to both workers and management.


Nathalie Pozo joined 7NEWS in October 2017 as a reporter.
Before joining 7NEWS, Nathalie worked at WAGA in Atlanta, Georgia as a reporter and fill-in anchor. She covered a massive manhunt for escaped inmates, the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando and extreme weather from hurricanes to snow storms throughout the Southeast.
Nathalie began her career as a reporter in Gainesville, Florida where she was recognized by the Society of Professional Journalists for her story about a single, disabled father's struggle and sacrifice to provide for his young daughter. She also worked at WPBF in West Palm Beach and WTVJ in Miami.
Nathalie was raised in Miami and earned her degree in Broadcast Journalism from the University of Miami. She is the oldest of five children and her parents were born in Cuba.
Nathalie is excited to call Boston home and looks forward to exploring New England and its rich history. She enjoys being at the beach, reading non-fiction books and trying new restaurants. She would love some suggestions on the best places to get Cuban food.


Embed a full-screen viewing experience with multiple videos into any existing web page. No subdomains, No ads, and No additional development required.
Would you recommend Wistia Channels to a friend?
Chris Lavigne has used this product for one week.
The current state of hip start ups and brands trying to bind people unnecessarily to their plattform for no real reason hinders projects and products to grow. The website also hides it pretty well on the product-landing, what the whole servie deal is about. What prices am I to expect and and and.
Hi Product Hunt! Super excited about Wistia Channels, which we see as the first step towards providing a product suite that supports businesses creating episodic video content. It's meant to maximize watch time and consumption, providing a distraction-free alternative to a YouTube channel which can provide value for any part of a company's website. If you sign-up for Wistia today (for free - https://wistia.com/account/signup) you can try out test drive Wistia Channels for the integrations page in app. Please get at the team with any questions or feedback!
@philnottingham This is awesome. Signed up for an account. but not able to test this feature. could you help with that please?
@philnottingham @nithinrj Sending you a message!
@dohertyjf Delighted to hear it!
Wish we had this about 60 days ago for one of our custom built channel pages. May just switch on over to this. Well done @brendan and co.
@tarekp Thanks! Sorry this wasn't around when you built your channel. I feel the same way for our One, Ten, One Hundred series -- had to build that custom. Hit me up with feedback when you give it a try. This is just the start for this feature!
Awesome addition! Valuable to bring all video in one or more channels!
I would LOVE to see @Wistia consolidate all of the content from their makers into a single, searchable place to take over YouTube! If a maker wants it to appear on the larger platform they could opt in per video or project or account.
@wistia @automateiq Hey Chris, love this. Curious what you don't like about YouTube and think we'd be able to do better?
This is great stuff Wistia team. This was so needed and I always wondered why it wasn't there yet. Now it is!


When you are shopping for new bedroom furniture, there are several factors you should take into account. Read on in today's blog from the team at Woodcraft Furniture to find the perfect bed for you.
When you're shopping for a new bed, always consider what type of mattress you'll be using with it. Spring mattresses should be paired with spring beds, but slat beds usually use foam mattresses. Whenever possible, you should buy a new bed and a new mattress at the same time, because a new mattress on an old bed won't last as long as it would on a new one.
Some newer mattresses do not use a boxspring, but instead require a platform design. Many of the beds at Woodcraft Furniture are equipped to handle these mattresses. We have a variety of traditional bed frames as well.
Besides having a comfortable mattress, you need a bed with sturdy construction that can handle a long life of use. A good bed should measure up to the size, shape and specific needs of the sleeper. Whichever style of bed you choose to buy from Woodcraft Furniture, you can count on their sturdy construction.
Because the bed is the focal point of any bedroom, it's critical that you choose a style you and your partner like. If you want to create a warm, welcoming, comfortable feel, you may want to opt for a wooden bed, piled up with quilts and pillows to set a cozy mood. Those who prefer a sleek, modern look should choose a wood bed with clean, minimalist lines. Woodcraft Furniture offers a wide variety of bedroom furniture styles, so you can find the bed or bedroom set that's just right for you.
Be sure you'll have a reasonable amount of space around your bed once you place it in the bedroom. If you don't have a lot of space in your bedroom, a storage bed could be a great option.
Even if you usually sleep by yourself, that doesn't mean that you should buy a small bed size. Some sleepers need or like a lot of space to feel comfortable, so consider investing in a larger bed. Woodcraft Furniture offers twin, full, queen, or king bed frames, as well as platform beds and storage beds.
If you are going to be sharing a bed with someone, then both of you should be involved in selecting a bed you both like that will be big enough for you to share comfortably.
While there are a lot of material options when it comes to furniture, nothing can replace real wood pieces. We offer a broad selection because we work with over a dozen regional wood shops that use domestic hardwoods to create unique home furnishing pieces. Come by one of our locations to see what we offer or go online to view your choices. At Woodcraft Furniture, if you can dream it, we can build it!


The PICO® Toµch™ controller's intuitive touchscreen interface greatly simplifies setup and operation of the PICO Pµlse™ valve, while allowing precise adjustment of valve parameters.
Fine-tune dispensing performance by setting ramp open and close parameters and stroke control from the unique Wave Profile screen.
Adjust pulse time in increments as small as .01 ms, set the valve operating temperature, and easily navigate to all required setup parameters. Cycle the PICO Pµlse valve at up to 1000Hz continuous, with up to 1500Hz burst capability.
The PICO Toµch controller provides the flexibility to dispense a wide range of fluids and viscosities. Better slope control delivers more repeatable deposits and prevents turbulence and air bubbles from entering the fluid, which prevents deposit variations.
This controller also programs the PICO Pµlse contact dispense valve.