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yoshi series
ranking the yoshi series
Posted in: lists, nintendo, nintendo software, yoshi series.	1 Comment
it's been a while since i've done a series ranking, so i thought i'd review the main yoshi series. it only consists of five entries, two of which have unusual control schemes, and three of which consist of unusual structures, but i finished the series not too long ago and i should probably write this up before the two new entries yarn yoshi for wii u and yoshi's new island for 3DS come out next year. i wasn't able to find anyone who'd beaten all five entries, so i'm on my own for this one. a-here we go!
the yoshi series
as ranked by geozeldadude
1) it should come as no surprise to anyone that at the top of the list is super mario world 2: yoshi's island originally released on SNES. the game is a frequent member of "best games of all time" lists and has a firm place on my list as well, for good reason. the game improved on super mario world and offered up several new game mechanics (carrying babies, swallowing enemies, and throwing eggs), a previously seen character in his/its first substantial role, a wholly satisfying amount of variety, fun enemies, memorable bosses, tons of collectibles for completionists, and a distinctive art style. unlike other games in the series, this entry hit that ideal sweet spot where it wasn't too easy but also wasn't frustratingly difficult. a well-loved classic, and the only contender for the top spot of this list.
2) next on my list is yoshi touch & go. released as part of DS's launch, the game uses the DS's unique touchscreen and microphone controls. i played it much more recently, though, and the game is very enjoyable even now that the novelty of the DS's controls has been lost. the game combines two distinct experiences, one featuring baby mario falling from the sky and the second, more-substantial section featuring yoshi in his usual role of babysitter. against the odds, the game successfully pulls off the feat of fitting a platformer into an arcade (i.e. high-score chasing) style game, and although it includes all the modes you'd expect (score attack, time attack, etc.), each has a different feel. the controls feel good, and the game is easy to get into but takes time to master. it's a worthwhile challenge to top all the default high scores, and this was a surprisingly fun experience and a definite highlight for the series.
3) in third i would have to put yoshi's island DS. the game was the first true sequel to yoshi's island, and although many felt it suffered in comparison in every way, i enjoyed it overall. it cribs too much from the original, although the addition of multiple babies other than baby mario does give the game a unique twist. the dual screens are not used very well and the difficulty in the last stages is more frustrating than fun (mostly because checkpoints become much harder to come by). the game isn't a classic for the ages, but it has its moments and definitely ranks higher than the other two remaining entries in the series.
4) in a distant fourth is yoshi's story for the N64. like yoshi's island DS, yoshi's story suffers when being compared to the original, yoshi's island, and upset many fans when it was first released for what appeared to be an extremely short length given its high price. for those who looked closer it became apparent that although, yes, you could beat the game very quickly, to experience the full game you'd have to beat the game at least four times, and it would almost certainly take players more attempts than that since to gain access to all the stages you have to track down "special hearts" hidden in previous levels. the game feels like an early attempt by nintendo to offer up an experience that could be both easy and more challenging, and it achieves that by allowing the user to choose among available levels. this unique mechanic is memorable and there is some platforming fun to be had overall (not to mention a new take on the storybook art style of the original), but even aside from being misunderstood by the majority of people who played it ultimately the game fails to provide the thrills of the best of the genre.
5) at the bottom of the list is yoshi topsy-turvy for the GBA. along with the novel motion controls (achieved by the cartridge's built-in accelerometer), the game was unique in that it was mission oriented (e.g. collect a certain number of coins, defeat a certain number of enemies, etc.). although the controls may have been amazing for the time, i found them to be more annoying than fun, and the game was too reliant on its mission-based structure to sustain the player's interest as opposed to all the things that make a platformer really fun and enjoyable. definitely the low point in the series' history.
so that's the list! the series has managed to pack in a lot of variety into just a few entries, and although it's had more downs than ups i'm hopeful that the next two entries will elevate this series' reputation. here's hoping! and to end, here's a classic yoshi comic from nintendo power. yoshi yoshi!
don't expect to be babied by yoshi's island DS
Posted by geozeldadude on September 15, 2013
Posted in: nintendo DS, reviews, yoshi series.	3 Comments
the last game to cross off my list of main yoshi games was yoshi's island DS. this is the fifth game in the main series, and the first one to be content to be a true sequel (of the original SNES title) rather than explore a unique game structure. the game was developed (co-developed?) by artoon, who was behind the repetitive away: shuffle dungeon, also on DS, and at first i was skeptical that they could create a quality nintendo platformer, let alone on the level of the original, which is one of my favorite games of all time. however, once i got past the first world i found myself enjoying the main unique feature of this game for the most part, namely the new baby-switching mechanic. there are five babies in total, including mario, each with different abilities, and because you can only switch babies at certain points you'll invariably end up having to backtrack to get the right baby for the situation. the most egregious example is the baby coins: there's one in each level, but it only be picked up by a specific baby. some of the babies feel a bit underused, but overall their inclusion is a nice change and does a good job of justifying the sequel.
the game got mixed reviews when it came out, with some people saying it was an excellent platformer and others saying it was too close to the first game and suffered in comparison. i found it to be somewhere in between, but what brought it down for me was the difficulty spike in the last fifth of the game. i don't think difficulty is a bad thing in general, but it seemed somewhat inconsistent since the series has generally been on the easy side, and part of the reason it becomes so annoyingly hard/frustrating is because the levels get much longer with not enough checkpoints to compensate. the other thing people seem to complain about is the "dead zone" between the two screens, and the music, but i didn't have much of a problem with either. it did seem the expansion to two screens was somewhat clumsy in general, and every time you fall into a pit you'll have to fall two screens' worth before you die which got to be quite annoying. as with the original, trying to nab all the useless collectibles (time stars, red coins, and flowers) adds to replayability but really feels like overkill.
glad to have finished the series just in time for the upcoming releases on wii u and 3DS. the latter has a lot to live up to and so far it looks like it may have the same problem of cribbing too closely to the first entry, but we'll just have to see how it turns out.
don't be babied by these yoshi's island DS links:
– comprehensive entry at mariowiki.com including a catalog of all of the enemies
– track from the game that appeared in brawl
yoshi to the rescue in yoshi touch & go
Posted in: guides, nintendo, nintendo DS, nintendo software, reviews, yoshi series.	2 Comments
with the exception of the brilliant first title, so far i've found the yoshi series to be fairly lackluster. on the surface the next entry on the list to tackle, yoshi touch & go for DS, looked like it was going to be an even shallower experience. unlike the previous three games which are all essentially platformers, this one's an arcade-style game that features the typical variations, including score attack, time attack, marathon, and vs. modes.
the game was released just a few months after the DS's debut, and it was clearly designed to show off the new hardware's dual-screen, touchscreen, as well as microphone capabilities. each mode has two sections: one in which baby mario slowly drops from the sky to the ground and you trace clouds to guide him to safety, and the other in which yoshi, in a more typical platformer fashion, carries baby mario horizontally, swallowing enemies and fruit and chucking eggs to clear a safe path and rack up points. both sections, especially the second, prove to be surprisingly robust, and once you get into the groove you can last for quite a long time in the endless marathon modes, although it doesn't seem like the difficulty increases noticeably as you proceed within a playthrough. the game does provide a nice balance between the benefits of conserving eggs vs. using them up in order to reach a higher score, and unlike warioware: touched! it's enjoyable even now, years after the novelty of touchscreen mechanics has worn off.
it's surprising how enjoyable the game is. although it has only a few modes it will take you some time to beat all the default high scores, and by that time you may have become addicted to the simple but tactile gameplay. it's unusual to see such a straightforward arcade-style game as this, which makes it a somewhat refreshing experience. it would've been interesting to see the mechanics applied to an entire platformer game, but i suppose that niche was more ably filled by the excellent kirby: canvas curse. despite its modest offerings the game was fairly well-received by critics when it was released, and although i wouldn't say it's one of my favorite games ever, it's definitely one of the more compelling entires in the yoshi series that i've played so far.
yoshi's rescued these yoshi touch & go links:
– FAQ/walkthrough
– positive review at videogamecritic.com
– craig harris's glowing review at IGN
disorienting yoshi topsy-turvy
Posted by geozeldadude on August 13, 2012
Posted in: guides, nintendo, nintendo game boy advance, nintendo software, reviews, yoshi series.	5 Comments
earlier this summer i finally finished playing through kirby tilt 'n' tumble, a late GBC game and nintendo's earliest foray into motion-controlled gaming, thanks to its built-in accelerometer. nintendo waited until the end of the GBA's life span to release its second accelerometer-based game, warioware: twisted!, which i thoroughly enjoyed. this was almost immediately followed by the similarly controlled yoshi topsy-turvy, also for GBA. (incidentally, for all those trivia buffs out there, in the US that game was actually released after its DS cousin, yoshi touch & go, and the very same thing had happened to warioware touched! which was released on DS before twisted!.) also, topsy-turvy has the additional advantage of supporting the original orientation of the GBA (cartridge is oriented the same way as the console), as well as the orientation of the GBA SP and DS (cartridge is upside down).
topsy-turvy, being a platformer, is more similar to tilt 'n' tumble than twisted, although the gameplay is very distinct. whereas in tilt 'n' tumble you guide the pink puffball through pinball-like stages, topsy-turvy plays like a more traditional platformer and you use the tilting mechanism to activate environmental objects, such as making platforms extend or boulders roll. the pacing is more enjoyable than tilt 'n' tumble and tilting to affect the environment doesn't usually bring the action to a grinding halt the way that it did in that game. also, being able to play on my GBA SP did help keep the motion sickness to manageable levels.
the uniqueness of topsy-turvy isn't just the controls, however. as with yoshi's story the game has a surprising structure (not to mention a similar storybook aesthetic). the game includes six worlds, but the number of levels in each world increases from the first world's three to the final world's twelve. although you're required to finish every stage, each stage comes with a mission: eat a certain number of fruits, collect a certain number of coins, get to the exit within a certain time, defeat a certain number of enemies, don't defeat more than four enemies, and avoid getting damaged by the auto-scrolling screen. at times two missions are combined, and the game taxes you with successfully completing the missions (which earns you medals) for a certain fraction of the stages within the world before you can progress to the next.
this focus on missions is unusual for a platformer, and although i never really actually enjoyed that structure i appreciated its pacing: each mission type is introduced one at a time, one for each new world (each world includes the previous mission types as well). the game doesn't particularly impress when judged as a platformer, though. the graphics are excellent and rival those on the DS, but aside from the motion controls the level design is fairly ho-hum and none of the stages really offer much in the way of a "wow" factor. the game does incorporate some transformations (yoshi transformations were last seen in super mario world 2, but the ones here are completely new) but most of them are more frustrating than fun. the game's also a bit on the short side (which was fine by me since it wasn't really keeping my attention) and only includes one real boss battle, although trying to earn gold medals by completing a mission perfectly could extend your game time, at the expense of your sanity.
all in all this was a game that was an interesting entry in nintendo and video game history, but not that much fun. overall i've enjoyed the yoshi series more than the kirby series, though, and am looking forward to playing more of the remaining two, both for DS.
orient on these yoshi topsy-turvy links:
– apparently no one's bothered to write a complete FAQ, but there are a couple of partial FAQs on gamefaqs
– succesfully completing all the missions unlocks some useless bonus modes
choose your own yoshi's story adventure
Posted by geozeldadude on October 9, 2011
Posted in: guides, nintendo, nintendo 64, nintendo EAD, nintendo virtual console, reviews, yoshi series.	4 Comments
i've been meaning to get into the yoshi series more after having played and loved super mario world 2: yoshi's island. next up was yoshi's story for N64. whether it was intentionally designed to be so or not i don't know, but the game feels like an early case of nintendo trying to balance casual vs. hardcore gameplay even way back in 1997, and as with similar, more-recent efforts this attempt was unjustly maligned and misunderstood.
the game has a completely unique premise in that it's incredibly simple to reach the end of a single playthrough since you just have to find 30 pieces of fruit for yoshi to eat to progress and fruit is plentiful. at a minimum on a single playthrough you'd encounter only 6 levels and two bosses, which includes the final boss. after this initially baffling experience i realized that the game is actually quite clever in its setup: each "page" (i.e. world) contains 4 levels of increasing difficulty, but on a single playthrough you only play one of the four. to unlock all the stages in the next page you have to hunt down hearts that are hidden in the current stage. so already the difficulty of the game is completely up to you since you can choose to play the harder stages (which also means choosing to hunt for all the hearts).
the main challenge of the game is clearly not just in finishing the game, then, or actually even playing through all the levels. the real challenge of the game is to skip all the easy-to-find fruit in favor of yoshi's favorite fruit, melons, in order to achieve a high score. hunting down all 30 melons in each stage is certainly time consuming, although this is a case where the game's "challenge" is more about painstakingly searching every corner of a stage (often by stopping to use yoshi's "sniff-sniff" ability) as opposed to feats requiring actual platforming prowess. this type of monotonous gameplay isn't particularly engaging, but there are enough more-worthwhile challenges to keep one reasonably engaged. it's somewhat hard to get too excited about the quest for a high score in a platformer such as this, but putting the attention on the collection aspect gives the game more of a focus.
it's easy to see why people who didn't delve into the game at all would dismiss it too quickly, but even after playing through every stage, many several times, my enjoyment with the game didn't rise to the levels one would expect from a nintendo platformer. yoshi's abilities are a nice expansion on his/its SMW2 skills (minus the whining baby, fortunately), and there are some nice references to that title, including the awesome huffin' puffins. there are definitely moments of brilliance, many quite original, scattered throughout as well; highlights include a helpful white shy guy, hidden black yoshis and white yoshis, and levels in which you roll through a hamster wheel and ride on a dragon. but those moments aren't quite plentiful enough, even with all the new enemies introduced (not many of which, it seems, have continued on, which is a shame as some of them are memorable). the pop-up book art style didn't grab me, although it's interesting to compare it to the recent wii release kirby's epic yarn, which also has an arts 'n crafts aesthetic. the game has some mini-games scattered throughout that require complete mastery for completing the "melon quest", and this and other perfection-requiring objectives are a definite nuisance. the game is also notable for introducing yoshi's love-it-or-hate-it voice (courtesy of composer kazumi totaka), and also including totaka's song.
all in all this is an enjoyable enough platformer that, while certainly not an all-time great especially by nintendo's lofty standards, is definitely underrated, especially considering the fact that it's a throwback to 2-d platforming at a time when 3-d platforming was becoming the new norm. yoshi's next two outings were similarly experimental, so it'll be interesting to see how his/its series shapes up.
choose your own yoshi's story links:
– for a typically damning review, see the review at nintendolife.com, although it's interesting to note that in the comments readers seem to share my opinion that the reviewer is overly harsh. for a more-complimentary review, see nintendojo's review.
– mariowiki.com's page is a great resource and includes a complete guide to all the enemies
– the game has gotten some smash bros. recognition, including a stage in the first smash bros. game and a stage in melee, along with palette swaps in brawl to match the colors of the 6 yoshis featured in this game.
– here's a FAQ from gamefaqs that lists the locations of all the melons, and reveals what the secret message hidden in the game's 24 stages is, which is "YOU ARE YOSHI'S GREAT PARTNER", haha.
yoshi's super island
Posted by geozeldadude on June 4, 2009
Posted in: guides, nintendo, nintendo EAD, nintendo SNES, nintendo software, reviews, yoshi series.	5 Comments
i've never really been that fond of yoshi, mostly because i found him to be pretty useless in super mario world. i hadn't been that excited by that game in general when i played it a couple of years ago for the first time, but i figured that its sequel super mario world 2: yoshi's island, would have about as much similarity to its predecessor as wario land: super mario land 3 had to its predecessor (super mario land 2). so i was keeping an open mind about this, my first game with yoshi in a starring role. (although to be unnecessarily exact, i had played the US tetris attack which starred yoshi and other characters from SMW2).
it turns out i was somewhat wrong about SMW2 being completely different from SMW. it's true almost all of the surface of the game is completely different. one of the central game mechanics that's new and radically different in SMW2 is that yoshi (actually a whole slew of 'em in different colors) is always carrying baby mario around and has to retrieve him whenever yoshi gets hit and baby mario gets knocked off. having to retrieve baby mario gets a little tiresome (especially when accompanied by mario's yelling), but it does give the game a different feel which is appreciated. (although come to think of it, having to retrieve baby mario is rather like getting knocked off of yoshi and having to chase after him in SMW, although i would argue that that wasn't really central to that game.) yoshi's ability to swallow enemies and lay eggs and then throw them is also brand new, and he (i.e. they) also has various unique powerups in the guise of some special fruits he can swallow that give him extra firepower, as well as a few somewhat random transformations. the art style, which was intended to have a crayon-like, "storybook" aesthetic, also contributes to the game's completely unique feel.
but what actually surprised me was that, aside from all of those many surface changes, much of the game's platforming reminded me of SMW, only way better. and not only that, but the variety in the stages felt improved to such a degree that it reminded me of SMB3, extremely high praise indeed. SMB3 is chockfull of surprises, and although SMW2 starts off a bit slow (the first two worlds, of six, don't have much character) and had me feeling like i was going through the motions of playing through yet another platformer, pretty soon the game had surprises around every corner and had me completely hooked. the enemies are well designed and oftentimes funny (and i definitely appreciated the return of SMB2's shy guy to center stage), and i especially enjoyed the admirable number of boss battles. none of them were particularly hard, but all of them were entertaining and fun. i was also surprised that elements i'd first seen in new super mario bros. for the DS actually had their origins in this game.
in terms of difficulty SMW2 wasn't that hard to complete, although in lieu of the alternate routes of SMW instead the designers added tons of useless things to collect and find in every level (namely stars that increase your baby mario timer, red coins, and flowers). item collection does expand a platformer's gameplay a lot, and the levels are definitely designed well enough that finding all the items isn't mindless and dull, but finding 45 items in every level was a bit overkill for me. at some point i'll probably go back and work my way through all the levels again to find all the items, but for now i've added it to my list of all-time greats and moved on to my next challenge … and conquest, hahahahaha! i've gotten to be a fan of yoshi (and baby mario), though, and am looking forward to trying out yoshi's story on the N64, even though it hasn't really gotten great reviews, as well as his other adventures.
coupla yoshi's super links:
– quite a few yoshi wallpapers at yoshiart.com


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Tag Archive for: Bahamas
Bahamas, Debt Forgiveness, Global Poverty, Humanitarian Aid, Mental Health
Caribbean Development Bank Improves Hurricane Resilience
Hurricane Dorian is the latest in a long series of hurricanes that have hit the Caribbean — impacting the Bahamas the worst. Initial reports from the U.N. estimated that nearly 70,000 people were in need of food, water and shelter in the archipelago and that around 30 people had died as a result of the hurricane.
For the estimated 10 percent of the population of the Bahamas who live below the poverty line, recovering from natural disasters such as this is a particular challenge. As a result, there is a massive need for programs that not only address the short-term impacts of hurricanes but also focus on the importance of long-term hurricane resilience.
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), based in Barbados, has pledged to provide $1 million in aid to the Bahamas, with $700,000 in the form of a loan and the remaining $300,000 as a grant. While disaster relief helps improve recovery for local economies and minimize the impact for impoverished communities, there are also other avenues of aid that the CDB could pursue which take the form of mental health programs and debt repayment plans.
As a part of the Stronger Together campaign, in collaboration with the Pan-American Health Organization, the CDB has also placed an increased focus on addressing the negative mental health impacts of hurricanes — which traditionally get little attention. However, this type of support is key to help uplift those who experience the trauma of losing their homes or worse, their loved ones.
The campaign, launched in July 2019, aims to train 16 new mental health service professionals, ranging from psychologists to social workers to promote resilience in the face of natural disasters. This program could have a major impact on helping people in the Bahamas recover, while also offering a path towards future mental resilience in the event of another damaging hurricane. This is especially valuable for communities living in poverty.
Debt Repayment
High levels of debt are a substantial impediment to the massive discretionary spending needed to successfully recover from a hurricane, as nations are often forced to choose between allocating resources towards serving the immediate needs of their citizens or maintaining their current repayment plans. As such, a debt relief program could prove incredibly beneficial in the Bahamas, as the country had a debt burden of $8.2 billion prior to the events of Hurricane Dorian.
There is already precedent for the CDB to offer debt restructuring opportunities. For instance, following Hurricane Ivan, Grenada was able to re-negotiate its debt repayment plan to cease repayment following a natural disaster. Some have argued that this program should be extended to all nations in the event of a natural disaster.
This would help to reduce an unsustainable reliance on foreign aid, as nations find themselves falling deeper into debt and failing to provide adequate assistance to their own citizens. Not only do such increases in debt leave countries less prepared for another similar natural disaster, but they also limit the amount of aid which governments can extend to the citizens facing the most significant damages as a result of the disasters.
While the recent pledge of $1 million in aid to the Bahamas by the CDB is a useful step in mitigating the impact of Hurricane Dorian, the CDB also has several other methods of improving not only hurricane recovery but also hurricane resilience. With investment in the mental health field, the CDB is working to train mental health services professionals who can provide psychological support to citizens. This could be supplemented by a re-negotiated debt repayment plan for the Bahamas, with many arguing that such a program would reduce the financial burden placed on the Bahamas by the need to take more loans.
– Alexander Sherman
https://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/The_Borgen_Project_Logo_small.jpg 0 0 Kim Thelwell https://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/The_Borgen_Project_Logo_small.jpg Kim Thelwell2019-09-14 01:30:042019-10-24 06:37:08Caribbean Development Bank Improves Hurricane Resilience
Bahamas, Economics, Global Poverty
Addressing the Causes of Poverty in the Bahamas
Upon mention of its name, this Caribbean nation evokes thoughts of picturesque sandy beaches with luxury resorts lining the coast. These images are not inaccurate, however they fail to capture the full scope of life in the Bahamas.
Consider that the Bahamian government has set the poverty line at $4,247 of yearly family income. This number places 13 percent of Bahamians in the category of "poor." The reality of this situation is that even those who aren't below the poverty line face harsh living conditions, as the cost of living continues to rise. Minimum wage in the Bahamas amounts to $210 per week, or $10,920 per year, which is still not enough for most Bahamians to support themselves and their families.
So, what are the causes of poverty in the Bahamas? What conditions in the Bahamas are preventing the growth of a strong working middle class?
One answer to these questions is tourism. Already, 49 percent of the country's citizens are employed by the tourism industry. However, the critical flaw in this system is that a majority of the jobs available to young Bahamians within the tourism industry are unskilled labor. These jobs, for the most part, pay minimum wage and don't provide young Bahamians with the opportunity to generate significant savings.
Lack of livable wages consequently results in many Bahamians facing household food shortages. As a response to this issue, in 2008, a group of Bahamian students joined together to create Hands for Hunger, a non-profit organization dedicated to ending hunger in the Bahamas. This group looks to communities within the Bahamas and asks them to contribute their efforts towards feeding the hungry. Hands for Hunger works with local restaurants, farms, hotels and anyone else capable of lending a helping hand by donating food or resources. To date, Hands for Hunger has facilitated the donation of one million pounds of fresh food to Bahamians in need.
Looking even deeper, poverty in the Bahamas is also affected by the educational system. Underfunded school systems perpetuate a system of education which lags greatly behind the rest of the developed world. The national exam system used to evaluate Bahamian secondary school students is known as the Bahamas General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE). With students receiving a disappointing average grade of D on from the BGCSE's introduction in 1993, the Bahamian education system is producing young adults who cannot become employed due to a system that has failed them. Access to proper education is a vital necessity for the growth of a strong generation of young leaders.
Due to multiple factors which can be seen as causes of poverty in the Bahamas,the island nation's people are looking to the international community for support now more than ever.
– Tyler Troped
https://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/The_Borgen_Project_Logo_small.jpg 0 0 Borgen Project https://borgenproject.org/wp-content/uploads/The_Borgen_Project_Logo_small.jpg Borgen Project2017-09-25 07:30:172020-07-16 10:17:45Addressing the Causes of Poverty in the Bahamas
Bahamas, Developing Countries, Global Poverty, Human Rights
Problems of Human Rights in the Bahamas
The Bahamas is a chain of islands located in the northern Atlantic Ocean with great historical significance. The islands first became a British colony in 1783, slightly over a century after British settlement of the islands began. The Bahamas gained its independence in the late 20th century. Since that time, the Bahamas has thrived thanks to a few very fruitful industries such as tourism. The nearly 330,000 people who populate the Bahamas are ruled by a parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy.
One blemish on this nation's record is its substandard record on human rights, particularly in the areas of immigrants and prison and detention center conditions.
The 2015 United States Department of State's report on human rights in the Bahamas concluded that several different types of human rights problems do in fact exist.
The report states that poor treatment of irregular migrants exacerbated by issues in processing them is an issue needing attention. Haitian immigrants to the region, for example, have been detained by Bahamian authorities and kept in custody until proper arrangements were made for them to exit the country or legally stay.
The Bahamian and Haitian governments have taken measures to alleviate the problem, but their solution has brought its own problems with it. The Bahamian government required that non-Bahamian citizens must carry legal documents with them beginning in the fall of 2014. However, outcry poured in from certain international organizations that enforcement of this law was applied unfairly to those of Haitian descent, along with several other complaints. Perhaps the most disturbing accusation of the abuse of human rights in the Bahamas came in the form of reports claiming that "immigration officials physically abused persons as they were being detained and that officials solicited and accepted bribes to avoid detention or secure release," according to the State Department's report.
To make matters even worse, the places where these people are being held is substandard. Prison and detention centers did not meet international standards, and overcrowding is a major issue at the government's only prison.
This data suggests that human rights in the Bahamas are not as well protected as they need to be. In the future, more work must be done by the local and international communities to ensure the better enforcement of human rights in the Bahamas.
– Adam Braunstein
Photo: Google
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Five Things to Know About the Bahamas' Poverty Rate
The Bahamas is known for its natural beauty which attracts visitors from all over the world. Despite its vibrant tourism industry, this small tropical island faces a persistent battle against poverty. There are many important causes, implications and possible solutions to the economic difficulties faced by Bahamians. Here are some interesting facts about the Bahamas' poverty rate:
As of 2017, 14.8% of the country's population lives below the poverty line. Not only is this higher than the average global poverty rate, but the number of people living in poverty continues to increase. Currently, it has grown by two percent since 2014.
Immigration has a great impact on the Bahamas' poverty rate. In fact, the majority of impoverished citizens are actually from Haiti. As of 2015, Haitians comprised about 7.48% of the population of the Bahamas, with 37.69% of these immigrants living in poverty. This statistic is primarily due to economic turmoil in Haiti, which forces many citizens to seek new opportunities in the Bahamas. This turmoil has created a higher demand for jobs and increased the amount of money the Bahamian government spends on preventing illegal immigration.
The Bahamas' poverty rate is mainly attributed to the country's high level of unemployment. Currently, a shocking 14.4% of its citizens are unemployed, which is significantly greater than the 4.3% unemployment rate in the United States.
This high rate of unemployment and subsequent poverty is often attributed to a lack of economic diversity in the Bahamas. Sixty percent of the country's GDP stems from tourism, an industry that has weakened over recent years due to political turmoil, economic instability and high crime rates in the region.
Another factor contributing to the Bahamas' poverty rate is climate change. As weather patterns become more turbulent in the Bahamas, natural disasters continue to create a considerable economic strain on the country. This increase in harsh weather leaves citizens without property and resources. Combined with poor infrastructure, the growing intensity of flooding and tropical storms has forced the government to raise spending on disaster relief.
Despite these significant economic strains, strategic government planning and aid from foreign countries have the chance to positively impact the Bahamas' poverty rate. In fact, in July 2017, the non-profit Organization for Responsible Governance created "Vision 2040," a new plan for national development in the country.
In a similar fashion to the U.N.'s Sustainable Development Goals, this plan urges the government to address issues such as poor strategic planning, lack of financial accountability and country's one-sector economy.
– Julia Morrison
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Bahamas, Developing Countries, Development, Food & Hunger, Global Poverty, Hunger
Four Things You Never Knew About Hunger in the Bahamas
The Bahamas isn't just full of vacationers lounging in the sun or carefree islanders living a life of luxury. The country known for sandy beaches and tropical excursions can't escape the universal problem of hunger. Trying to understand persistent hunger the Bahamas is complicated.
More than 20,000 Bahamians are undernourished, meaning they don't eat enough to maintain their health and stave off hunger. What follows is an explanation of the various factors contributing to the country's food insecurity and what's being done about it.
Here are four things to know about hunger in the Bahamas:
The country's climate and geography are largely to blame. Only around 1.5 percent of the land is suitable for agriculture. The country consists of several islands made mostly of limestone rock, which, unlike other types of bedrock, does not form soil when it weathers. The soil that does exist is of little agricultural value and requires expensive machines to prepare for farming.Fertilizers further prepare the land for crops, and pesticides, fungicides and other materials must be imported to maximize yields. Adding destructive natural disasters and a harsh climate to the mix makes the farming outlook worse. Around 3 percent of Bahamian workers make their living through agriculture, and the farming industry contributes around 2 percent of the country's total GDP.
Rising food prices make hunger worse. To compensate for the Bahamas' lack of agricultural resources, it imports more than a billion dollars worth of food, a third of the country's $3 billion trade deficit. The imported food is sometimes processed and often unhealthy, but the there is little choice. Food prices in the Bahamas fluctuate based on conditions in exporting countries.A study from the University of The Bahamas found that prices of essential food items, like sugar, grits and cheese, have substantially increased since 2014, in one case by as much as 282 percent. Without money to pay for food, thousands of Bahamians eat less and go hungry. The money that is spent on imported food isn't staying in the country. Most of the revenue goes to foreign sellers, leaving the Bahamas in a cycle of food dependency, aggravated by a lack of funds to support Bahamian farmers and agribusiness.
High unemployment contributes to food insecurity. The unemployment rate is 14 percent, and among youth it is around 30 percent. Lacking sufficient incomes makes Bahamians vulnerable to food insecurity, as does living in poverty. One in eight Bahamians is impoverished, causing families to make sacrifices as far as what, if anything, goes on the dinner table.
There is hope. Despite large-scale hunger in the Bahamas, the number of people without access to food is falling. The undernourishment rate is 5.6 percent, far lower than in other Caribbean nations. The archipelago is on its way to meeting the Sustainable Development Goal of eliminating hunger. World leaders have vowed to take on the eight goals as a way to eradicate extreme poverty and improve the lives of millions, if not billions.
To address hunger in the Bahamas, nonprofits are helping bridge the gap from shelf to stomach. One organization, Hands for Hunger, collects edible food from restaurants, stores, hotels and more to give to people who need it. Since 2008, the group has reallocated more than one million pounds of surplus food.
Bahamians are learning that investing in domestic farmers moves the country closer to food security. Supporting local agricultural workers through grants, easier land acquisition and small-business initiatives are all ways to give Bahamian farmers a better chance against international competition.
Experts have determined more efficient ways of farming on little land and poor soil. Hydroponics, for example, is a method of growing crops that requires no soil and less water than traditional methods. Companies that provide hydroponic systems are already serving the Bahamas. Another soilless option, aquaponics systems, are set up next to fisheries to grow vegetables. Aquaponics would help reduce the country's trade deficit, as well help produce fish for a country that loves seafood.
Inefficient agricultural land and dependency on exporting nations constrain the Bahamas. But despite that, scientists, leaders and nonprofits are determined to eliminate hunger in the Bahamas.
– Kristen Reesor
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Aid, Bahamas, Caribbean, Global Poverty
The Role of the OAS in Poverty Reduction in the Bahamas
The Organization of American States (OAS) in the Bahamas is a catalyst for the country's development and offers many programs and activities that contribute to poverty reduction in the country.
The OAS has specifically focused on preserving the heritage of the Bahamas through the revitalization of the downtown area of capital Nassau and preserving the country's historic sites while promoting local artisanship.
The organization is also focused on security for the Bahamas and facilitated strengthening the capacity of law enforcement and prosecutors in the Bahamas as well as the Caribbean. Security has always been a very important mandate for the organization and important to the role that the OAS plays in poverty reduction in the Bahamas.
The OAS has specifically worked along with the ministry of foreign affairs and the ministry of education, science and technology to offer fellowships and scholarships while empowering Bahamians and reducing poverty.
As of recently, the OAS has been working on partnering with the University of the Bahamas to reduce poverty through education, while expanding its role in poverty reduction in the Bahamas and the country's further development.
The OAS has been very vocal about the low level of Bahamian participation in the scholarship opportunities by Bahamians. In 2013 alone, many scholarships were made available that Bahamians were not made aware of or did not participate. These scholarships give Bahamians access to financing and promote the organization's role in poverty reduction in the Bahamas.
Jerome Fitzgerald, the minister of education, science and technology stated, "We have been given a world-class education. We, therefore, are mandated and required as leaders in education and policymakers to ensure that we afford all of our citizens the same opportunities for success."The
The OAS promotes education as the key to poverty reduction in the Bahamas. Through organizations like this, poverty reduction in the Bahamas is hopeful.
– Rochelle R. Dean
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AIDS, Bahamas, Disease, Global Poverty
5 Top Diseases in the Bahamas
The top diseases in the Bahamas are hypertensive disease, ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, HIV/AIDS and diabetes. These diseases account for the high mortality rates in the country and affect the overall health of Bahamians.
Hypertension was the leading cause of death for Bahamians in 2011 resulting in 215 deaths, which is a decrease in the number of deaths from 2008, which stood at 993. Hypertension preventative measures have been implemented in the Bahamas and a national campaign was launched in 2013 promoting good habits for controlling blood pressure.
Ischemic heart disease, or coronary heart disease, has been considered one of the top diseases in the Bahamas and resulted in 180 deaths in 2011. The country's department of statistics has reported that more than 24 percent of all deaths in the Bahamas are directly related to heart disease.
Cerebrovascular diseases accounted for 130 deaths and have been another of the top diseases in the Bahamas, especially among women. Cerebrovascular diseases are considered more life-threatening, even though hypertensive diseases are the number one cause of death.
HIV/AIDS has been prevalent in the Bahamas and ranks fifth on the list of top diseases in the Bahamas with a mortality of 121 deaths, according to a 2011 report by the Bahamas government. This is considered an epidemic, and there is currently no cure. The Bahamas, along with its AIDS Secretariat, is working vigorously to promote preventative measures and proper health measures for those living with this disease. Recently, the Linkages Project in conjunction with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has begun the groundwork of linking across the Continuum of HIV Services for Key Populations Affected by HIV project. This project is aimed at accelerating the ability of partner governments, key population-led civil society organizations and private-sector providers to plan, deliver and optimize comprehensive HIV prevention, care and treatment services to reduce HIV transmission among key populations and help those living with the disease to live longer.
Diabetes, another top disease in the Bahamas, affects 34,900 Bahamians and can lead to death, according to the International Diabetes Federation. The mortality of this disease in 2011 was 86 deaths per year. Diabetes can lead to other complications and result in similar symptoms to the other top diseases in the Bahamas.
These diseases all have a major impact on the health of the Bahamian people, and health providers continue to promote healthy lifestyles and to lobby for affordable, all-inclusive national health plans to combat their impact.
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Bahamas, Global Poverty, Water
Water Quality in the Bahamas
New Providence, the most populated island in the Bahamas, uses about 11 million gallons of groundwater a day.
The Bahamas has been unable to meet the demands of the 11 million gallons of groundwater since the mid-1970s. This led to the emergence of barging water from North Andros due to strict rationing.
Rising sea levels are expected over the next several decades. This may create wetlands, which are freshwater resources that would provide the country's means of water quality and survival. The method of desalting sea water by means of reverse osmosis is used to maintain a level of water quality in the Bahamas today. This suggests that water does not currently come from a supply of clean, fresh water sources.
The country is vulnerable to compromised freshwater from storm surges, which cause saltwater inundation in aquifers in many cases and threatens the country's water quality.
A major concern of the water quality in the Bahamas is the proliferation of private shallow water wells, including domestic and hotel wells. Dangerous elements such as nitrates, pathogens and other substances compromise the groundwater quality when these wells are developed due to on-site sanitation. As a result, Bahamians are at great risk to contamination.
Water quality in the Bahamas is not up to standard, due to critical sanitary problems in the country. The main sources of the water contamination are from septic tanks, soakaways and pit latrines. These issues are all major risks to water quality in the Bahamas and the overall health of its citizens.
Due to over-abstraction, physical disturbance, point source pollution, solid waste disposal, disposal wells and septic tanks, the water quality in the Bahamas is threatened. The majority of Bahamians are encouraged to use bottled water, even though the Water & Sewerage Corporation practices desalination by reverse osmosis and the water satisfies both the World Health Organization and U.K. guidelines for chemical, physical and biological parameters.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This weekend there is more than skiing to draw you to the Aosta Valley. Aosta is an old Roman town in northwestern Italy with a dramatic mountain backdrop that includes the spectacular Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc), Cervinia (the Matterhorn) and Monte Rosa. Starting about the year 1000 the Fiera di Sant'Orso was created to honor an Irish monk who began distributing clothing and sabot (wooden shoes) to the poor. Today the tradition continues with over 1,000 artisans and stands distributed throughout the town the final weekend of January.
Early morning until late at night on Saturday and Sunday artisans will display intricate wood carvings, sculptures baskets, ceramics and other forms of fine & folk art. Though this festival has been a showcase for the wood carving craftsment that display their wares, there is also a food and wine tent showcasing every local delicacy you can imagine: cheese, meat, jams, wines and more. The specialty "L'Atelier" tent has over 80 vendors selling a wide variety clothing, furnishings and housewares.
At night, stroll the streets while sipping warm, mulled wine and listening to spontaneous folk music and singing. Participate in some local food tastings or buy a grolla and share it with friends. La grolla is essentially a friendship cup; it's carved out of wood, has 2, 4, 6 or 8 spouts and is intended to be filled with coffee, grappa and sugar. You might be able to spot one of these in use at a rifugio on the mountain or during apres ski. Buy one from a wood artisan and take it home with you, the perfect souvenir to bring with you to your next party.
Would love to share a La Grolla with you!


When I had coronary bypass surgery at age 32, I thought my life was over.
The prognosis was not good with doctors predicting I would not live to be 40 and would never see my children – then age six and four – graduate from high school. But they were wrong. Recently I celebrated the 39th anniversary of that surgery, and tests show heart disease reversal.
How did this happen? By focusing on lifestyle habits. I may have a genetic leaning toward high cholesterol, but I can't do anything about my genes. Instead, I learned how to live a heart-healthy lifestyle with balanced eating, effective exercise and stress management. As my wife counseled early on, "You can't change the cards you were dealt, but you can change the way you play them." And we did.
As a result, I have experienced the joy of seeing my daughter and son graduate from high school, college, law school, and graduate school; of walking my daughter down the aisle and making a toast at my son's wedding; of celebrating 49 years of marriage; of gathering with family at my 65th birthday; and of holding three grandchildren. None of this would have happened without practicing healthier lifestyle habits. That is the purpose of my web page: to give you information and advice on how to live a healthier lifestyle.
Remember, making healthy lifestyle change is simple—not easy, but simple. Many people can become discouraged, particularly if they have a lot to change or feel pressure to do it all at once. My advice is to make changes just for today. Don't fret about yesterday; it's over and you can't call it back. Don't be concerned with tomorrow as it is not yet here. Instead, live healthy today. Pretty soon, the days will add up to months and years, and changes will become habits. That's what I've done for 39 years . . . one day at a time.


Hi, everybody! It's Jon from The Aspie Dialogues. As promised, I have for you an impromptu behind the scenes look at the making of The Aspie Dialogues Gets Pulled Over, filmed way back in July and shown here, on The Aspie Epilogue, in August.
In particular, what we at The Aspie Dialogues wanted to do with this video was to be more transparent with the process of how we make each episode. For this episode, however, we chose to begin lightly with a microphone experiment.
You see, an XLR microphone requires power — usually about 48v worth. There are special devices on the market made specifically for this purpose. Rest assured, we now have possession of one such device, and we will soon try again.
To synopsize, we needed a power source for the microphone that we didn't have. That's why we couldn't tell any difference in the audio quality (not that our methods were terribly scientific to begin with, I'll admit).
Due to some other professional responsibilities in my life, we anticipate filming the next episode of The Aspie Dialogues sometime in November.
I know this is disappointing to some, but I promise there is a method to my madness. The show must go on, and go on, it shall. We just need a little more time to sort out time commitments. Everything will work out; please be patient as we sort everything out.
Thank you for staying by us, and we hope to return to you with more and better content soon!


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Q: Simple Form: creating a new record from another controller I have a Home controller with an index view that acts like a search box that lets the user query a First Table or Second Table through a select box. After a user enters a search term, he will be redirected to the index page of the First or Second model with the search results for that model.
A Search record must be created each time a query is submitted with the search type and search term. However, I don't know how to create a new Search object using simple_form from a different controller, which is the Home controller in this case.
Home Controller
def index
  @find = Find.new

Home Index View
= simple_form_for @find, url: finds_path, method: :post do |f|
  = f.input :search_type, :collection => [['First', 'First'], ['Second', 'Second']]
  = f.input :search_term
  = f.button :submit

Finds Controller
def new
  @find = Find.new
end

def create
  @find = Find.new(find_params)
  if params[:search_type] == 'First'
    redirect_to first_path
  elsif params[:search_type] == 'Second'
    redirect_to second_path
  else
    redirect_to root_path
  end
end

private

def find_params
  params.permit(:search_term, :search_type, :utf8, :authenticity_token,
    :find, :commit, :locale)
  # the params seem to come from the Home controller so I added them just to see if they will go through :(
end

It doesn't save. Instead it gives:
Started POST "/en/finds"
Processing by FindsController#create as HTML
Parameters: {"utf8"=>"✓", "authenticity_token"=>"..", "find"=>{"search_type"=>"First", "search_term"=>"Something"}, "commit"=>"Create Find", "locale"=>"en"}
Unpermitted parameter: :find
Redirected to http://localhost:3000/en

A:
Unpermitted parameter: :find

Your find_params should be just
def find_params
  params.require(:find).permit(:search_type, :search_term)
end

You should access the search_type with params[:find][:search_type]
if params[:find][:search_type] == 'First'
  redirect_to first_path
elsif params[:find][:search_type] == 'Second'
  redirect_to second_path
  else
  redirect_to root_path
end

Also, I would suggest renaming the Find model as it conflicts with ActiveRecord#FinderMethods

A: You need to save, you are just initializing the attributes..
@find = Find.new(find_params)
@find.save!

OR
@find = Find.create!(find_params)

Also, strong parameters should be
def find_params
  params.require(:find).permit(:search_term, :search_type)
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Robert A.M. Stern: Buildings
Published by: New York: The Monacelli Press, 1996
In over thirty years of practice, Robert A.M. Stern has developed an architecture committed to the synthesis of tradition and innovation and, above all, to the creation of a meaningful sense of place. Initially gaining notice for its residential work, his firm, Robert A.M. Stern Architects, has designed a wide variety of buildings in a range of stylistic vocabularies, all appropriate to their function and site, all deeply involved in the search for an American Architecture.
Robert A.M. Stern: Buildings is the first monograph to focus solely on more than fifteen years of the firm's non-residential work. Divided thematically, it contains over thirty projects, each thoroughly documented with extensive photography and drawings. The introduction to the book, aw well as those to each section, is an unusually personal essay, discussing Stern's education in the era of functionalist Modernism, his efforts to further and even reestablish traditions, and the social, cultural, and symbolic obligations that must inform all successful buildings.
Highlights include the just-completed Colgate Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and the William H. Gates Computer Science Building at Stanford University, as well as a series of commissions for the Walt Disney Company. Other notable works are the Ohrstrom Library at St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire; the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts; and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute in Jamestown, New York.


Bitcoin (XBT), the world's first decentralized cryptocurrency, began with the 2008 registration of the bitcoin.org domain and release of the bitcoin whitepaper by its anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. In January 2009, Nakamoto mined the Genesis block, or first block on the bitcoin blockchain. It contained the first 50 bitcoins.
Today, bitcoin is the most widely-used cryptocurrency, and the project's source code served as the basis for a number of subsequent cryptocurrencies including Litecoin (LTC). In August 2017, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was created through a "hard fork" of the Bitcoin protocol.
itBit offers a personalized Bitcoin OTC trading experience. Work privately with one of our experienced traders straight through settlement.


text:
Michigan Approves Charter For First LGBT Credit Union
Posted on September 10, 2019 September 10, 2019 7:00 am
Michigan has approved a charter for a new financial institution designed for LGBT customers.
Superbia Credit Union will offer products such as loans for transgender people in the process of transitioning, said Myles Meyers, founder of New York-based Superbia Services Inc., which created the credit union. The charter means that online service could launch in early 2020.
Now that it has a charter, Superbia will work on forming a board and hiring executives. There are also plans to offer products such as insurance, health care and wealth management specifically designed for LGBT customers.
While many American corporations advertise their support for LGBT rights — and a majority of Americans say they are for gay marriage — it's still legal to discriminate against LGBT consumers in most U.S. states. In fact, research shows members of the LGBT community have difficulty securing banking services regardless of where they are located, with same-sex couples less likely to be approved for a loan. And when they do secure financing, they usually pay more for it.
"I can walk into a bank or credit union and apply for a loan or credit card or savings accounts and frankly, no problem," said Meyers, according to Bloomberg. "If I walked in to the same institution with my husband, we can come across different responses and welcome. And this is where it all starts to change for the community."
"The LGBTQ community is strong and persistent," he added. "We've been working with, and will continue to work with, the community to improve economic equality by removing the risks of intolerance and discrimination in banking services that continue to plague the community in different forms … We are extremely appreciative to the Michigan DIFS for its efforts on our application and the signing of the executive order to form Superbia Credit Union."
And Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield) told The Oakland Press that "state law doesn't protect Michigan's LGBTQ community from discrimination in the workplace and public accommodations … It's burdensome that gay and trans Michiganders must depend on private businesses to take it upon themselves to provide equal treatment to employees and consumers."
Related Items:banking, charter, Credit Union, discrimination, LGBT, michigan, News, Superbia, What's Hot
Losses Mount For India's Paytm Parent One97
What Apple Fans Are Expecting From Today's iPhone Event


text:
Carr Hall Garden becomes stop on Walk Grow Meadville tour
Steven Heine, Junior News Editor
Allegheny College's Carr Hall Garden became a stop on the Walk Grow Meadville tour on Saturday, Sept. 23.
The tour, which showcased 13 gardens, began at Meadville's Creating Landscapes for Families Garden with an opening ceremony at 2 p.m. Then, participants traveled throughout Meadville, stopping at various gardens. The tour visited the Carr Hall Garden at 5 p.m. and left at 5:30 p.m. to stop by the Meadville Medical Center City Garden. The last garden on the tour was the Meadville Area Recreation Complex Community Garden.
Community member Brenda Boyd attended Walk Grow Meadville and said she was impressed by the event.
"I think it's just fantastic," Boyd said. "I think it's wonderful."
Boyd, herself a gardener, said a personal highlight of the tour was the way in which the Carr Hall Garden used planter bins for growing vegetables.
"[I like] the bins that they have the vegetables and stuff in," Boyd said.
Bryna Bowden, community outreach coordinator with Women's Services, was involved with Walk Grow Meadville. She said the garden tour was intended to facilitate community outreach around the issue of community gardens.
"It was a way to try to get more community awareness of gardens," Bowden said.
It was a way to try to get more community awareness of gardens."
— Bryna Bowden, Women's Services
Steven Heine
A sign stands in Carr Hall Garden during the Walk Grow Meadville tour on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017.
While Bowden said she did not know the exact justification for the order in which the tour visited the various gardens, she knew that Walk Grow Meadville stopped at all of the gardens the organizers knew about.
"We included all gardens that were in Meadville," Bowden said. "That includes community, educational and city gardens."
Kerstin Martin, garden manager for the Carr Hall Garden and director of the Community Wellness Initiative, was one of the organizers of Walk Grow Meadville. She said when the tour stopped at the Carr Hall Garden, it highlighted the garden's new greenhouse.
"[The greenhouse] is a way to mesh both research and renewable energy with our farming program," Martin said.
Martin said students worked with Assistant Professor of Environmental Science Ian Carbone to build the greenhouse and install solar panels for it. She anticipated that the greenhouse would let students grow crops later in the year than they otherwise would be able to.
"Because it's slightly heated, we can grow longer into the season and throughout the winter, if we want to," Martin said.
Martin said the Carr Hall Garden was most often used by classes. The produce raised in the garden is sold to Parkhurst Dining Services for use in Allegheny dining halls, or for Meadville's Mobile Market, which sells produce in the community.
"Right now, I'm teaching a class called Small Scale Production Agriculture," Martin said. "There's students who are learning all aspects of growing food from making a crop plan, to thinking about markets, thinking about pests and diseases. I also hire work-study students to work in the garden when the class isn't happening, especially in the summer, so I had three students working in the garden this summer."
Martin said the Carr Hall Garden started with an environmental science junior seminar in 2012, which developed the idea of the garden. The garden was fully created during the spring of 2013.
The Carr Hall Garden was part of the Walk Grow Meadville garden tour on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017, which showcased gardens in the Meadville community.
Carr Hall Garden
Walk Grow Meadville


text:
Estancja – rodzaj gospodarstwa rolnego w północnej
Argentynie, posiadającego powierzchnię od 15 000 do 35 000 ha. W większości przypadków jest własnością firm specjalizujących się w produkcji spożywczej, rzadziej jest to latyfundium stanowiące własność osób prywatnych. Hoduje się na niej przede wszystkim zwierzęta opasowe i owce (ze względu na wełnę) oraz rośliny pastewne i zboża. Typowa dla Argentyny forma hacjendy.

Argentyna
Gospodarstwa rolne


text:
Q: FileAlreadyExistsException: Failed to rename temp file  to  because file exists I have built a streaming pipeline with spark autoloader.
Source Folder is an azure blob container.
We encountered a rare issue (could not replicate it). Below is the exception Message:
org.apache.hadoop.fs.FileAlreadyExistsException: Failed to rename temp file dbfs:/mnt/delta_checkpoints/sources/0/rocksdb/__tmp_path_dir/.2.zip.52d0723f-b803-4a8a-9533-9d6e67813641.tmp to dbfs:/mnt/delta_checkpoints/sources/0/rocksdb/2.zip because file exists
Please help on this with a resolution, as this looks like some known platform issue.


That depends on what we mean by "measurement". They cannot be measured the way we measure physical object – length, weight, etc. But they certainly can be ranked.
Ayn Rand, in Introduction to Objectivist Epistemology, calls this "teleological measurement". We rank values according to their relation to a goal or an end. So, for example, food, clothing and shelter have to be highly valued, since they are necessary for the mere preservation of life. Friendship, a happy marriage and a rewarding career are valued because they enhance our life and well-being. (You can think of other examples yourself.) But they cannot be measured with ordinal numbers; they have to be measured by cardinal numbers You can say that one value is more valuable than another, but you cannot express that numerically.
… let us imagine a small boy who wants to buy fruit with a small coin in his possession. He can buy either one apple or six plums. Of course, he will compare the eating pleasures afforded by both kinds of fruit. To make his decision, it is not enough to know that he prefers apples over plums. He must decide with numerical precision whether the enjoyment of one apple exceeds the enjoyment of six or fewer plums. To approach the situation from a different angle, let us consider two boys, one with the apple and the other with the plums. The latter would like to acquire the apple and, therefore, offers his plums in exchange. After deliberating on his eating pleasures, the former rejects four, five, and six plums for his apple. But he begins to waver when seven plums are offered, and finally makes the exchange at a price of eight. Doesn't his trade reveal a numerically conclusion that the pleasure of one apple exceeds that of a plum at least seven times but less than eight times?
It does apply when it comes to budgeting our money – choosing what food or clothes to buy or what house or apartment to live in. Here we do reason the way the boy in Böhm-Bawerk's example reasons, weighing for and against and arriving at a price we can afford for whatever alternative suits us best.
And there may be other implications that I haven't been able to figure out yet. So take this post only as a stray observation!


With Chase's departure still haunting her, Morgan Cauldwell is just settling back in to life at MAC. Now a regular at Council meetings, Morgan is only getting stronger…but what good are incredible powers if you can't even protect yourself from a broken heart?
Morgan falls into old routines as her time at MAC winds down. The closer graduation creeps the more someone doesn't want her to make it that far. Could it be her grandfather or Raven coming to finish off the job?
Gathering strength from some unexpected sources, Morgan decides she is done hiding and braces herself for the ultimate betrayal. Can her fragile heart survive the truth and the uncertainty her future holds?


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Ana Novković () is a politician in Serbia. She was a member of the Assembly of Vojvodina from 2008 to 2012 with the liberal G17 Plus (G17+) party and later served in the National Assembly of Serbia from 2012 to 2014 with G17 Plus and the United Regions of Serbia (URS).

Private career
Novković is a graduate of the University of Belgrade Teacher Education Faculty and works as a teacher in Kovin in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina.

Political career

Vojvodina Assembly
The G17 Plus party contested the 2008 Vojvodina provincial election in an alliance with the Democratic Party known as For a European Vojvodina. In this period, half of the seats in the Vojvodina assembly were determined by proportional representation, and the proportional mandates were awarded to candidates on successful electoral lists at the discretion of sponsoring parties or coalitions rather than in numerical order. Novković received the fiftieth position on the DS-led list, which won twenty-three proportional seats, and was subsequently granted a mandate as a representative of her party. For a European Vojvodina won an outright victory in this election, and Novković served as a government supporter for the next four years.

G17 Plus took part in the 2012 provincial election as part of the United Regions of Serbia coalition. Novković sought re-election in Kovin's single-member constituency seat and was defeated.

National Assembly
Novković received the eighteenth position on the United Regions of Serbia's list in the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election. The list won sixteen mandates. This was the first election in which all mandates were awarded in numerical order, following a 2011 reform, and she was not initially elected. She was, however, awarded a mandate on 30 July 2012 as a replacement for Verica Kalanović, who had been appointed to a cabinet position. The URS participated in a coalition government led by the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Serbian Progressive Party following the election, and Novković again served on the government side.

In April 2013, G17+ ceased to be an independent party and officially merged into the URS. The URS left Serbia's coalition government in August 2013, and its members moved into opposition.

Novković was promoted to the twelfth position on the URS's list in the 2014 parliamentary election. The list did not cross the electoral threshold to win representation in the assembly and subsequently dissolved. Several of its members, including Novković, later joined the People's Movement of Serbia. This party contested the 2016 Serbian parliamentary election on a coalition list led by the Social Democratic Party, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, and Novković received the 101st position on the list. This was too low a position for direct election to be a realistic possibility, and she was not elected when the list won thirteen mandates.

Electoral record

Provincial (Vojvodina)

References

1965 births
Living people
People from Kovin
21st-century Serbian women politicians
21st-century Serbian politicians
Members of the Assembly of Vojvodina
Members of the National Assembly (Serbia)
G17 Plus politicians
United Regions of Serbia politicians
People's Movement of Serbia politicians
Women members of the National Assembly (Serbia)


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Mayor Meed Ward will address the Chamber of Commerce and give a State of the City report.
When a significant change in government takes place the new leader has a very short period of time to get a firm grip on the levers of power and put their stamp in the direction they want to take.
Burlington has a tradition of the Mayor giving an address to the business elite at a Chamber of Commerce event in January of each year. They are usually well attended.
The Mayor will be speaking to the business community which in the past has not always been the sector from which Meed Ward draws her support. Growth is the rallying cry from the Chamber of Commerce set. Growth for sure Mayor Meed Ward will say and add that the growth has to be responsible and responsive and not serve the interests of just on part of the population.
It will be interesting to see what tack Mayor Meed Ward takes as she addresses the Chamber crowd at the end of the month. She will not be speaking to the converted.
She will be listened to very closely.
During the past eight years the Gazette has published seven of the State of the City addresses given by former Mayor Rick Goldring who was politely heard. They are all on line.
The standing ovations were usually given to someone else who was recognized.
One can assume that Mayor Meed Ward has at least a first draft of what she wants to say to the business/commercial community.
The members of the Chamber of Commerce will be listening raptly to what Meed Ward has to say. Her supporters think they know what she is all about. They have some surprises coming their way. The Gazette is beginning to learn more about the process Mayor Meed Ward used to staff her office; some hearts were broken along the way.
The business community looks at things quite a bit differently. Meed Ward is going to have to convince them that she understands their language and can communicate with them effectively and meet their needs as well.
Marianne Meed Ward: The reward for ten years of serving and campaigning – an election victory.
Meed Ward refers to her 22 years as a journalist whenever she is outlining the road she has travelled. It is more correct to say that she has spent 22 years in media which is not the same thing as what journalists do.
We will all learn more about how she will actually operate and how she will handle the issues that land on her desk.
This will be her biggest selling job ever since she had that Chain of Office placed around her neck.
Salt with Pepper is the musing, opinions and reflections of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette.


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Details:Relaxed fit t-shirt with curved hem, side slit hem, banded scoop neckline and choice of sleeve.A: With chest pocket and short rolled sleeve B: Long sleeve with optional flounce at the shoulder C: Short self-tie sleeve. Children's sizes: 2 to 13 years (chest 21" to 32", waist 20" to 26.5", hip 22" to 34.5"). Women's sizes: bust 33" to 51", waist 27" to 44", hip 36" to 54".
Details:Kimono inspired by the traditional garment, with sash, generous patch pockets and three-quarter sleeves. Knee-length and loose-fitting design that can be used as loungewear or over garments, as a jacket or cardigan in a heavier fabric. Children's sizes: 2 to 13 years (chest 21" to 32", waist 20" to 26.5", hip 22" to 34.5"). Women's sizes: bust 33" to 50", waist 27" to 44", hip 36" to 53".
Details:Relaxed-fit blouse with round neck and adjustable tie at the waist. Trendy flutter sleeve, side panel, and straight hem that flatters many silhouettes. View A hits just above the hips and view B is a tunic length with optional pocket at the side panel. Children's sizes: 2 to 13 years (chest 21" to 32", waist 20" to 26.5", hip 22" to 34.5"). Women's sizes: bust 33" to 51", waist 27" to 44", hip 36" to 54".


HOUSTON - Despite the Cambridge Analytica failure, Facebook feels consumers are ready to trust them with a chatroom camera in their living rooms.
The social media giant unveiled the "Portal" and "Portal +" which allows for people to have video conferencing in their room. The camera on the device automatically pans and zooms during calls when other people enter the room.
Dan Wallach, a computer science professor at Rice University, says engineers face the challenge of trying to create technical practicality while protecting privacy. Wallach says, "When you have a telephone, you know that when it is hung up, nobody is listening. What is the equivalent for a smart device with a camera and a microphone. The closer that a camera or a microphone is to your personal and private life, the more you may yourself do I need this? The answer is maybe you don't."
Facebook says the devices don't monitor or keep the contents of video calls, which are encrypted to ensure security. There is also a cap provided to cover the camera when not in use. Facebook believes that you will want this device and will be willing to pay 200 dollars for the "Portal" and 350 dollars for the "Portal +."


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15 wounded in Chicago funeral home shooting – 'Attendees exchanged gunfire' (Video)
CBS News – Chicago:
Fifteen people were wounded in a shooting at a funeral home in Chicago on Tuesday, police said. A person of interest was being interviewed by law enforcement, but there are multiple suspects, according to the police.
Six victims were in serious condition in area hospitals and the rest were hospitalized in good condition, police said. One was treated at the scene. They ranged in age from 21 to 65.
Chicago Police First Deputy Superintendent Eric Carter said a black vehicle approached a funeral home in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood where a memorial service was taking place when people in the vehicle began firing.
Carter said that "The funeral attendees exchanged gunfire with the attackers."
At least one was apparently an innocent bystander. Family members at a hospital told CBS Chicago she lives next to the funeral home and was outside for a cigarette break and got caught in the gunfire. She was fighting for her life Tuesday night, her relatives said.
At the funeral home, a woman with blood on her jeans told CBS Chicago she didn't know whose blood it was.
Sources told CBS Chicago the shooting was a planned ambush outside the funeral home. The funeral was for Donnie Weathersby, who was shot and killed July 14, CBS Chicago's Charlie De Mar reports.
Meanwhile, Chicago Mayor Lori 'Lightweight' Lightfoot says "It's ok. We're good. We're good. " – RELATED: Trump, Chicago mayor spar over federal troops after violent weekend
More at CBS News Chicago
VICIOUS, SOROS-FUNDED Prosecutor Says She's Charging St. Louis Couple who Flashed Guns
Meanwhile, 'Michigan woman arrested in murder-for-hire plot to kill ex-husband using fake hitman website' (video)


Matthew started his career as a development management surveyor at a local commercial property development company. He moved to London to manage large, mixed-use developments nationally for Frontier Estates, later returning to the Milton Keynes office of Frontier in 2005. Prior to joining MKDP in 2014, Matthew was Director of a consultancy coordinating planning promotion agreements and running mixed-use development projects for landowners in the Herts, Beds, Bucks area.


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Q: Context and Instance in WCF I am reading Juval Löwy's Programming WCF Sevices. It mentions:

In WCF, we have Context in which we have the instance. By default, the lifetime of the context is the same as that of the instance it hosts. We can have separate lifetimes for both.
  WCF also allows a context to exist without an associated instance at all.

Why would we release the instance and keep the context empty?

A: Coincidentally I recently read the chapter you're probably referring to. In his book Löwy explains why this may be useful. First he writes:

WCF also allows a context to exist without an associated instance at all. I call this instance management technique context deactivation.

After mentioning this is typically done using an OperationBehavior with a specific ReleaseInstanceMode, he goes on and hints on when you could use this:

You typically apply instance deactivation on some but not all service methods, or with different values on different methods. [...] The reason you typically apply it sporadically is that if you were to apply it uniformly, you would end up with a per-call-like service, in which case you might as well have configured the service as per-call.

So you can use this "deactivation" to ensure only certain methods in a service with sessions behave as if they were part of a per-call service. The abovementioned MSDN article also explains this, in a different wording:

Use the ReleaseInstanceMode property to specify when WCF recycles a service object in the course of executing a method. The default behavior is to recycle a service object according to the InstanceContextMode value. Setting the ReleaseInstanceMode property changes that default behavior. In transaction scenarios, the ReleaseInstanceMode property is often used to ensure that old data associated with the service object is cleaned up prior to processing a method call.

A: Disconnecting the context from the instance makes sense when:

*

*Instance creation is customized/extended. For example if you are creating your service instance with a custom IInstanceProvider with a dependency injection library (for example Unity) you might want a Unity lifetime manager to handle the service instance lifetime.

*Some but not all operations result in an expensive service instance to be invalidated. For example: The service object loads a large expense resource as a part of creation. If the service operations called by the client modify or invalidate the resource, it needs to be disposed and reloaded for the next caller. If the operations don't invalidate the resource the service instance can be reused by the next caller. (In almost all cases there's a better way to solve this problem, but WCF allows it).
I'm sure there are additional use cases.


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Přímorožec arabský (Oryx leucoryx) je menší druh přímorožce.

Popis
Jedná se o antilopu nižší postavy s protáhlejší hlavou, delším ocasem a dlouhými rohy. Typické je bílé zbarvení těla. Přímorožci jsou býložravci. Živí se trávou, kořínky a listy ze stromů. Jejich zažívací soustava dokáže zpracovat téměř všechnu vodu, která je obsažena v potravě. Velikost dospělého jedince je až metr a půl délky a metr a půl výšky. Váží 70 až 80 kg. Obývá arabské polopouště, je aktivní především ve dne, v noci spí skrytý pod keři a stromy.V roce 1982 byli přímorožci arabští vypuštěni zpět do přírody v rezervaci Ománského sultánu. Přímorožci jsou jediné antilopy, které se rodí s malými růžky obalenými kožnatým vakem. Současná populace ve volné přírodě je okolo 1 000 jedinců. Dalších přibližně 6 500 jich přežívá v zajetí.

V Čechách je v současnosti chován v Zoo Hodonín, v minulosti byl též chován v Zoo Zlín. Na Slovensku je chován v ZOO Bratislava.

Související články
 Útočiště přímorožce arabského

Reference

Externí odkazy

 Fotogalerie

Přímorožci


Natalia Nikolaeva started teaching English in 1996 and 1o years later after teaching English to students of different ages – from young learners to adults, she moved to Macmillan Education as a representative and a teacher trainer in the Ural region.
Since then she's been a regular speaker at ELT events, giving workshops and webinars for primary and secondary English teachers.
She's got a university degree in Linguistics and holds TEFL Certificate. Among her professional interests are technology in language learning and teaching and testing.


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Chris Needs MBE
Award winning presenter Chris Needs MBE, MA, D.Mus hosts the famous BBC Wales late show with listeners from all round the world tuning into his "friendly garden" - one of the largest on air fan clubs. Chris speaks five languages, and a talented presenter, musician and writer.
Chris has written a number of best selling books Two autobiographies which reached Number one
"Like it is" and "There's more"
Chris has also written the " The Jenkins's's's's's" a new comedy adult cartoon, The Jenkins's's's's..... Strap Line : "The Simpsons meets the Welsh Valleys" - It's the Welsh equivalent of Mrs Browns Boys or as Chris puts it "The Dingles of Wales !" Currently under cosideration by a number of major UK TV networks and production companies.
Chris also has a new book out later this year. " The Highs and Lows".
Liz Morgan
Liz Morgan s a published author and has written over 30 plays for radio television and the theatre.
25 plays for BBC Radio 4.London.
A Large number of Short Stories for BBC Radio
8 Plays for theatre (including plays on at the National Theatre Platform)
7 TV Dramas including working on weekly dramas
6 Published books
Over 20 years Journalism experience – writing in various papers/magazines
WORK AWAITING PUBLICATION
'Ticket to Paradise' - Historical fiction based on Welsh emigration to Patagonia.
Ring your dead Agent' - a tongue in cheek novel about a jobbing actress .
'The Fall of the house of Windsor-' stage play - comedy about the new British Republic
DOWNLOAD LIZ MORGANS' WRITING CV
Jem Roberts
Born in Ludlow in 1978 and graduating from Aberystwyth University in 2000, Jem Roberts has a publishing heritage which goes back over 20 years, with extensive magazine experience - as well as being a performer, with shows all round the United Kingdom.
Although he has made himself the biographer of choice for comedy's elite - the official, authorised historian for I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Blackadder, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and now Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, in 2017's Soupy Twists.
As a journalist, he edited titles including Pokemon World, Disney & Me and Disney's Puzzle Land, and has been a contributor as storyteller for further publications - Muffin the Mule, Disney Girl, Winnie the Pooh and many more.
Jem has appeared in publications as diverse as The Guardian, Rolling Stone, BBC History, The Independent, Geeky Monkey, History Revealed, GamesMaster, The Telegraph, SFX, Xbox World, Disney & Me, Total Film, BBC News online, ImagineFX and many more, and and he has appeared on BBC Radio 4 as an 'expert' on innuendo, which made him proud…
Mark Jenkins has been writing for the stage, television and the big screen for over twenty years. He is a trained journalist and published author of numerous internationally-performed and published stage-works listed below, and has scripted feature films, the most recent of which, 'Playing Burton' won him a BAFTA in October 2014 as both writer and co-producer in the category 'best television feature film'. Prior to his creative writing career he was Principal Lecturer in political economy at what is now the University of South Wales. His historical volume on Aneurin Bevan and the Bevanites (323pp) was recently reprinted in a second edition and is recognised as a definitive work of reference on Labour in the fifties. After successes as a screen-writer, he conducted scriptwriting master-classes at post-graduate level. Mark has a slate of four further feature film-scripts seeking production.
DOWNLOAD Mark Jenkins' Writing Info Pack
Oscar Harding
Oscar is an award-winning Screenwriter, Playwright and Journalist.
His theatre work- One Way, La Famiglia and Smith- has won various plaudits and he is the creator of the online drama series Encryption, which has received press coverage and a limited series of cinema screenings. He is also the creator of the webseries Darren Pearce and Land of Barry
As a Journalist, his work for WhatCulture! magazine has received over 1.3 million views and has been praised by Ricky Gervais amongst others. He was the first European journalist outside of France to cover John McTiernan's imprisonment since Michael Hastings, and has interviewed the likes of Michael Palin, Warwick Davis and Katherine Ryan.
Oscar is also an experienced videographer. He was the behind-the-scenes interviewer for Hazel Hayes' Super Brainy Zombies and was part of the videography team at the 17th World Business Dialogue in Cologne.
Mike Tezcan
Mike has many years writing experience and has written a large number of scripts for TV and film including :
Feature Film Scripts:
"Revenge"
"Signed Shakespeare"
"Dark Rainbow" about a gay mafia in London.
"The Cargo"
A TV pilot called "Death Knell" Currently under consideration by a major TV network