text:
Written by Theo | Tuesday, 24 December 2013 16:39	| Published in US NEWS
WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The White House said a surge in visits to the Affordable Health Care website has led to another extension of the deadline for Americans to sign up for coverage.
The Obama administration said Tuesday people who can demonstrate they missed the deadline because of problems with the HealthCare.gov website would be given more time to comply with the individual mandate.
Administration officials said the Health Insurance Marketplace website had 2 million visits Monday. Visitors Tuesday saw a message directing them to contact the Marketplace call center and tell "our customer service representative that you've been trying to enroll and explain why you couldn't finish by the deadline. They can tell you what you can do to finish your enrollment and still get covered for 2014."
Judge rules against parents in case of brain-dead California girl	Featured
OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 24 (UPI) -- A judge in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday decided a hospital can take a brain-dead teenage girl off life support equipment in six days against her parents' wishes.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo made his ruling after an independent doctor he appointed a day earlier and a longtime doctor at Children's Hospital Oakland both testified they had determined Jahi McMath, 13, is brain dead and being kept alive by the ventilator to which she has been connected since Dec. 12, the (Walnut Creek) Contra Costa Times reported.
Edward Snowden The missions accomplished
MOSCOW, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Edward Snowden said when he released classified secret NSA documents, his intention was to "give society a chance to determine if it should change itself."
In an exclusive interview with the Washington Post, Snowden said "in terms of personal satisfaction, the mission's already accomplished."
"I already won. As soon as the journalists were able to work, everything that I had been trying to do was validated. Because, remember, I didn't want to change society. I wanted to give society a chance to determine if it should change itself," he said.
Santa gets sleigh-flying permission in Norway
OSLO, Norway, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- The Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority said Santa's sleigh has been given clearance to fly and land in the country.
Officials said Santa was given a flying certificate for his sleigh, dubbed Santa One, Dec. 18, giving the magical vehicle permission to land Dec. 23-25 anywhere in Norway where Christmas wish lists have been written, TheLocal.no reported Tuesday.
Dozens of TB cases confirmed in Nevada after death of mom twins	Featured
LAS VEGAS, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Never health officials say they confirmed 61 tuberculosis cases after the deaths of a mother and her twins caused nearly 1,000 people to be tested.
Southern Nevada Health District officials said two of the confirmed cases have been found to be contagious, KTNV-TV, Las Vegas reported Monday. The other 59 people show indications of the disease.
Obama pledges to seek Benghazi suspects on 1st anniversary of attack
Written by Theo | Wednesday, 11 September 2013 08:31	| Published in US NEWS
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11 (UPI) -- The White House on Wednesday pledged it would continue to pursue those responsible for the deaths of four U.S. citizens a year ago in Benghazi, Libya.
"The events of last year, losing four brave Americans – Chris Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods – brought home the reality of the challenges we face in the world," press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement marking the first anniversary of the Benghazi attack and the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania
Former NBA player Dennis Rodman in N Korea again
Written by Theo | Tuesday, 03 September 2013 06:02	| Published in US NEWS
PYONGYANG, North Korea, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- Dennis Rodman arrived in North Korea Tuesday amid speculation the former NBA star may seek the release of an American imprisoned in the communist country.
Rodman -- who calls Kim Jong Un, the unpredictable North Korean leader, a friend -- is making his second trip to the isolated country, where Korean-American Kenneth Bae was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor after being arrested last November. Rodman's first trip in March kicked up much controversy at a time when the North's belligerence and threats against the United States and South Korea were at their harshest.
Written by Theo | Wednesday, 28 August 2013 19:55	| Published in US NEWS
50th anniversary of the March on Washington Civil rights leader, left to right, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Dexter King, Rep. john Lewis (R-GA), Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Jesse Jackson and Martin Luther King III
50th anniversary of MLK I Have a Dream Speech in Washington DC
Rep John Lewis (D-GA) waves as he arrives to make remarks in front of the Lincoln Memorial, to mark the 50th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King's, " I Have a Dream " speech, August 24, 2013, in Washington, DC. Lewis attended the 1963 event and joined civil rights leaders, politicians and thousands of guests to remember the 1963 March on Washington. UPI/Mike Theiler
Large US surveillance satellite launched from California
VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif., Aug. 28 (UPI) -- A classified payload presumed to be a U.S. spy satellite blasted off from California Wednesday, the Air Force said.
McCain Graham Obama should cut aid to Egypt
Poll Obamas approval slips on economic issues
Former Rep Jesse Jackson apologizes at sentencing
Rodeo clown wears Obama mask at Missouri State Fair criticism follows
Politics 2014 Paul-Christie dialogue signals start of 2016 season
Theo August-04-2013
Winter, spring, summer or fall ... it's a long way to 2016 Rivers of ink and the bits and bytes devoted to Sen. Ron Paul, R-Ky., and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in their long-running feud about libertarianism and bringing fede...
Theo July-26-2013
NEW YORK, July 26 (UPI) -- New York hip-hop mogul Jay Z says he was so angry about George Zimmerman's acquittal in the Trayvon Martin shooting he didn't sleep for two days. Jay Z spoke out about the case in a Rap Radar interview ...
Issa threatens to subpoena Treasury over healthcare implementation
WASHINGTON, Aug. 15 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., says he may subpoena Treasury Department documents on Internal Revenue Service implementation of the Affordable Care Act. Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Go...


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

namespace Builder
{
    public class LowPriceCarBuilder : ICarBuilder
    {
        private Car car;
        private string carName = "LowPriceCarBuilder";

        public LowPriceCarBuilder()
        {
            car = new Car();
        }

        public void buildBase()
        {
            car.setBase("Low priced base");
        }

        public void buildEngine()
        {
            car.setEngine("Low priced engine");
        }

        public void buildMirrors()
        {
            car.setMirrors("Low priced engine");
        }

        public void buildRoof()
        {
            car.setRoof("Low priced roof");
        }

        public void buildWheels()
        {
            car.setWheels("Low priced wheels");
        }

        public Car getCar()
        {
            return this.car;
        }

        public string getCarName()
        {
            return carName;
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
David Brian Gerson
December 16, 1964 - March 24, 2021
David Gerson, of Kansas City, Missouri, lost his year-long battle with leukemia on March 24, 2021. He passed at home surrounded by his loving family. David was born December 16, 1964 to Kurt and Barbara Gerson. He attended Shawnee Mission East High School and Ohio University, then later obtained his master's in social work from the University of Kansas. He spent his life caring for others as a social worker, philanthropist, volunteer, husband, and father. He started his career in the family business and developed into a skilled entrepreneur and compassionate social worker. He lived life to the fullest through his love for music, theater, art, travel, nature, good food, good friends, and, of course, his family. Throughout his life, he exemplified the values of his Jewish faith and worked hard to pass on those values to his children. David is survived by his loving wife and soul mate, Christine Holland-Gerson of the home, his son, Levi (Emily) Gerson of Denver, Colorado, his daughter, Tess Gerson of Chicago, Illinois, his sisters, Debbie (Kerry) Lindenbaum of Leawood, Kansas, and Linda Gerson of Santa Cruz, California, as well as his nephew Alex Potvin of Denver, Colorado. He was preceded in death by his parents. David's love and generous spirit touched the lives of many, and he will be deeply missed by countless friends and family. Private family services will be held on Friday, please email [email protected] for a Zoom link to attend virtually. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made either to the Leukemia Lymphoma Society or Jewish Family Services. (Arr: The Louis Memorial Chapel 816-361-5211)
David Gerson, of Kansas City, Missouri, lost his year-long battle with leukemia on March 24, 2021. He passed at home surrounded by his loving family. David was born December 16, 1964 to Kurt and Barbara Gerson. He attended Shawnee Mission East... View Obituary & Service Information
The family of David Brian Gerson created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories.
David Gerson, of Kansas City, Missouri, lost his year-long battle...
Share and view memories of David...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Karma is considered one of the best support heroes in the League of Legends game when combined with a good carry the two can take out many opponents. When Karma is alone, she can't do much but escape and harass. You want to stack runes and level your mastery into utility for the extra cooldown reduction.
This LoL hero has five diverse abilities which include Inner Fire, this is a passive capability that boosts her capability power by a percentage based on her missing health. Heavenly Wave is her standard area of effect attack, once used with mantra it will also heal friendly targets in the area. It's the principle capability which will deal the bulk of your damage.
Spirit Bond will slow down an opponent hero which you utilize it against while improving your movement pace, once you utilize it on a friend that both of you will move faster. It will just damage any opponents that pass through its area and not the target itself. This takes time to learn and utilize properly, but if you have enough practice and gameplay experience, then you'll be capable of utilizing it better.
Soul Shield will provide a defensive shield for some seconds, once you utilize mantra with it, then it will deal a destructive are to any opponents nearby. With the best use of all of these talents, you would utilize Mantra + Soul Shield to give yourself a buff then you and your teammate will move against the opponent, if they start to run use Spirit Bond to hold them back and keep up with them, as you and your teammate start to get hurt use Heavenly Wave + Mantra to injure the opponent and heal the team. With the improved Health and Cooldown Reduction, you'll be capable of spamming all of these talents with the usage of Mantra too. The health will provide you with greater survivability and also have good synergy with Inner Fire.
Karma relies greatly on cooldown reduction and health so you'll need to build up, you'll want to stack these two statistics to make the best use of her talents and powers. This will make her talents and abilities more spammable and at the same time very effective.
For items, you'll need to develop and utilize any items which increase your Health, AP, as well as CDR. Items must take account of Ionina boost of the league of legends.


text:
Quick links... Weather Local Investigates State National Election 2022 SWFL Life Your Healthy Family Video As Seen on 4 Contests TV Listings Florida Lottery Hurricane Relief Fund
Snoop Dogg releases new animated series for kids on YouTube
Snoop Dogg has launched a new animated kids series on YouTube.
On Tuesday, the rapper announced the launch of "Doggyland - Kids Songs & Nursery Rhymes," which uses songs and dance to teach kids social, emotional, and cognitive skills.
According to Doggyland Media, the series is geared toward children up to 8 years old.
The company said that the rapper voices the main character, Bow Wizzle, who is the adult mentor to the rest of the cast.
Snoop Dogg said it's always been important to him to build positive and educational environments for all children.
"We wanted to bring our show to YouTube and YouTube Kids, which provides free access to everyone, so all the kids can enjoy it." the rapper said in a statement. "I've always wanted to create a kid-friendly series that lets kids be kids and is truly representative of the Culture with everything from the music to the characters."
The show, which will cover topics including letters, numbers, and good habits, is available on YouTube and YouTube kids, the company said.
According to the press release, new episodes will air every Tuesday.


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AKG Performance Parts for BMW
BMW Performance Parts > Z Series > Z4, E85/6 (2003-2008) > Motor and Trans Mounts (Z4) > BMW Motor and Trans Mount Set, Poly 75D – E36, E46, Z3, Z4
BMW Motor and Trans Mount Set, Poly 75D – E36, E46, Z3, Z4
Part#: MTS36D
Our BMW E36, E46, Z3, Z4 Polyurethane (75D) Motor and Trans Mounts work together to eliminate virtually all engine and transmission movement for effective power transfer through the drivetrain. Designed for racing, these bolt-through polyurethane mounts are engineered to be the strongest and most reliable on the market. Our exclusive design incorporates the factory offset position necessary for a proper fit, consists of multiple parts and is fully rebuildable. The stock rubber engine and transmission mounts deflect as torque moves through the drivetrain, allowing the motor and trans to move. Eliminate virtually all of this movement with our bolt-through BMW E36, E46, Z3, Z4 poly 75D engine and trans mount set.
These extremely hard, race-spec 75D durometer polyurethane motor and trans mounts are the hardest available (aside from solid aluminum). They are the best option for race classes where solid mounts are not allowed, or for those who do not wish to deal with the issues that may arise when using solid mounts.
Our U.S. Military Spec 75D durometer compound is as hard as a bowling ball, yet has elasticity and memory. This exclusive compound allows us to manufacture a mount that has virtually the same performance as a solid mount, but without the harshness on the brackets/chassis associated with solid mounts. Likewise, its elasticity and memory means they are also free from deformation which plastic mounts (Delrin, UHMW) are very prone to.
Made of our exclusive U.S. Military Spec polyurethane (75D hardness). Engineered for a perfect fit. Bolt-through design. Set of two motor mounts and two trans mounts. Hardware Included. Read why our polyurethane mounts are the highest quality mounts available.
Original AKG design. Learn more about Genuine AKG Parts.
Recommended Use: RACE / TRACK
NVH Increase: HIGH
Designed for the following models:
BMW E36 (1992-1999) 318, 323, 325, 328, M3
BMW Z3 (1996-2002) 2.3, 2.5, 3.0, M
BMW Z4 (2003-2008) 2.5, 3.0, M
Tags: 75D, E36, E46, Engine Mounts, Motor Mounts, Polyurethane, Trans Mounts, Z3, Z4
BMW Motor and Trans Mount Set, Poly 75D - E36, E46, Z3, Z4 quantity
Installation GuidelinesAsk a QuestionFind a Local Dealer
Tags: 75D, E36, E46, Engine Mounts, Motor Mounts, Polyurethane, Trans Mounts, Z3, Z4Return to Product Listing


text:
Officials considers bill requiring NYPD to adopt child-sensitive arrest policies
NEW YORK — Right now 100,000 kids in New York State are growing up with a parent in prison. Children are having to overcome fear, trauma and stigma.
One NYC organization, called Children of Promise, acts as a safe haven for hundreds of kids. They all share one thing in common—they have a parent in prison.
"There's a shame… a level of stigma around incarceration… so that child is not able to talk about it," said Sharon Content, who founded the NYC-based organization in 2009.
To help break down the shame, the organization provides counseling for kids as young as 6. Content says one of the toughest experiences for a child is witnessing the arrest of their mom or dad.
"Grades dropping, behavior issues, much more disciplinary actions at school, getting suspended, expelled," Content said.
"The trauma associated with separating a child from their parent is real," councilman Donovan Richards said.
The city council is now weighing legislation that would require the NYPD to adopt child sensitive arrest policies.
A Monday hearing was prompted after a December arrest in a Brooklyn Public Assistance Office when a 1-year-old baby was pried away from her mother's arms.
Under the new law, police officers would have to:
Avoid handcuffing suspects in front of children they care for;
Wait to execute arrest and search warrants until a time when children are not likely present;
Allow an arrested caregiver to speak with their children before they are taken away.
NYPD Inspector Fausto Picharado testified on behalf of the NYPD, and said everyday, officers connect children with relatives and social services after their parent is taken into custody.
"It's incumbent on us to ensure the wellbeing of that child," Picharado said.


text:
Home/World/What is 420, how did Weed Day get its name and is it legal in the UK?
What is 420, how did Weed Day get its name and is it legal in the UK?
Justin ScaccoApril 20, 2022
People across the UK celebrate 420 days each year (Image: Getty Images)
420 is a controversial day that's either loved or loathed around the world, so be prepared for some particularly sharp walks today.
Around the world, fans of Marijuana celebrates the green herb on this day – consider it an unofficial holiday.
Also known as 'Weed Day', 420 fall on the same day each year and one of the UK's largest gatherings of those who celebrate it is in London.
Read on to find out everything you need to know.
What is 420 days?
Today – 420 – is celebrated on April 20th every year, with April being the fourth month of the year.
It sees people around the world lighting up a spliff and gathering to celebrate the herb.
Events are typically held where attendees also aim to raise awareness of marijuana legalization.
The drug is still illegal in the UK and there are currently no plans to legalize it. It is against the law to possess, sell, distribute and grow cannabis in the UK.
With weed illegal in many parts of the world, 420 is part celebration and part protest against what some see as overblown laws against the drug.
The exact origins of the 420 day are still unknown (Picture: Jena Ardell via Getty Images)
What does 420 mean?
Although it has grown in popularity over the years, the exact origins of the term 420 have not been officially explained.
The term has been the subject of much debate among many who attend both the day and the Drug.
Legend has it that the date goes back to 1971, when a group of students at San Rafael High School in California met every day at 4:20 p.m. for a chat.
The group – who called themselves The Waldos – then began using the time to describe the act of smoking itself, and thus 420 was born.
Naturally, due to the fact that Americans tend to write April 20th as 4/20, it became the official day to mark the high.
There are many other theories as to how 420 became popular, with some believing it was a police code for cops to signal when they caught someone smoking (although the three digits are actually the code for murder).
Others believe it has something to do with the chemical compounds in cannabis, while others come up with suitably Stoney Bob Dylan-based conspiracy theories.
Something happening in Hyde Park in 2022?
After two years of 420 gatherings in Hyde Park being canceled due to the Covid pandemic, they return on April 20 this year.
Currently on the Hyde Park Facebook page 420 2022 313 people will be attending the event which starts at 1pm.
However, the day usually draws huge crowds of marijuana lovers with attendances in the region of 11,000 people.
Cannabis is a Class B drug in the UK, meaning there is a potential five-year prison sentence if caught in possession of the drug.
With the easing of Covid restrictions, people will be allowed to gather in Hyde Park without group permits – as opposed to 2021's six-person gathering restrictions.
In which countries is weed legal?
While medicinal cannabis was legalized in the UK in 2018, it is still illegal to use it for recreational purposes.
If you're caught growing marijuana, you could face up to 14 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.
Many countries around the world have taken the step to fully decriminalize the drug, while others, much like the UK, have only legalized medicinal cannabis.
Find out below where weed is legal around the world:
Recreational use completely legal
The following countries allow the possession of weed for personal use.
Australia (only legal in the Australian Capital Territory)
United States (legalized or just legalized in 18 states)
The following 18 American states have legalized or are legalizing marijuana for personal use:
Weed has been decriminalized in nearly 20 states (Image: Tunatura via Getty Images)
Only on medical prescription
Argentina (recreational use also decriminalized but purchase illegal)
Australian (Federal and all states)
Barbados (also legal for spiritual use by registered Rastafarians)
Belgium (recreational use also decriminalized for up to 3g)
Bermuda (recreational use also decriminalized)
Brazil (only for terminally ill patients or those who have no other treatment options)
Chile (recreational use also decriminalized)
Columbia (recreational use also decriminalized)
Croatia (recreational use also decriminalized)
Ecuador (recreational use also decriminalized)
Germany (only for seriously ill patients who have exhausted other options)
Israel (recreational use also decriminalized)
Italy (recreational use also decriminalized)
Jamaica (recreational use also decriminalized)
South Korea (restricted access)
Luxembourg (recreational use also decriminalized)
Malta (recreational use also decriminalized)
Mexico (recreational use also decriminalized)
Netherlands (recreational consumption allowed in licensed cafes)
Peru (recreational use also decriminalized)
Portugal (recreational use also decriminalized)
Slovenia (recreational use also decriminalized)
South Africa (also legal to grow but not for sale)
Spain (restricted)
Sweden (under certain circumstances)
Turkey (cannabis-derived medicines only)
Ukraine (restricted)
All other countries consider weed illegal, although there are some where the law is largely unenforced by the police and no prosecution occurs.
MORE : Cannabis could be prescribed to the NHS as a painkiller if hundreds take part in the study
MORE : Cannabis set to be 'decriminalised' by Sadiq Khan in London
Follow Metro on our social channels, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Share your views in the comments below
Get the top news, feel-good stories, analysis and more
https://metro.co.uk/2022/04/20/what-is-420-how-weed-day-got-its-name-and-is-it-legal-in-the-uk-16494991/ What is 420, how did Weed Day get its name and is it legal in the UK?
Justin Scacco
First Dates' Merlin Griffiths prepares to leave the hospital after surgery
The Kansas producer says drought will likely limit its feed supplies


text:
William Charles Renshaw, född 3 januari 1861 i Leamington Spa i Warwickshire, död 12 augusti 1904 i Swanage i Dorset, var en brittisk tennisspelare som tillsammans med sin tvillingbror Ernest Renshaw var den dominerande dubbelspelaren inom sporten under 1880-talet.

William Renshaw upptogs 1983, tillsammans med Ernest Renshaw, i International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Tenniskarriären

Tillsammans dominerade de båda bröderna Renshaw nära nog fullständigt Wimbledonmästerskapen 1880–1889. De utgjorde ett praktiskt taget oslagbart dubbelpar som vann sju titlar i Wimbledonturneringen. William Renshaw var den kraftfullare och också den framgångsrikaste singelspelaren av de båda bröderna. Han vann sammanlagt sju Wimbledontitlar i singel, sex av dessa i följd, vilket på herrsidan är ett hittills oöverträffat rekord. Han besegrade sin bror i tre av dessa finaler.

Renshaw vann sin första singeltitel i Wimbledon 1881 genom finalseger över kyrkoherden John Hartley med 6-0, 6-1, 6-1 på 37 minuter. De två följande åren, då som regerande mästare direktkvalificerad till finalspel (Challenge Round), finalbesegrade han sin bror Ernest Renshaw, och därefter tre år i följd Herbert Lawford. Sin sista singeltitel vann han 1889, också den genom finalseger över sin bror. Båda bröderna upphörde efter detta med tävlingsspel.

I januari 1888 blev William Renshaw president över den nybildade British Lawn Tennis Association.

Bröderna Renshaw som nydanare av tennisspelet

Bröderna Renshaw anses ha skapat det moderna sättet att spela lawn tennis. Tidigare hade tennis snarare betraktats som ett tidsfördriv, gärna för dubbel- eller mixed dubbelpar, som passade till underhållning på trivsamma trädgårdsfester. Detta var också den ursprungliga idén med spelet. Tennis hade kommit till som ett alternativ till det enligt mångas uppfattning alltför stillsamma krocketspelet, och hade sina rötter i det "majestätiska" real tennis. Med bröderna Renshaw förvandlades tennis i stället till en kraftfull tävlingssport.

Både William och Ernest Redshaw använde som första spelare smash över huvudet och fulländade serven. De utnyttjade också att tennisnätet i början på 1880-talet (se artikel om tennis) successivt sänktes till sin nuvarande höjd. Snabbare än andra spelare lärde sig bröderna således att utnyttja volleyspel, vilket gjorde dem till ett effektivt dubbelpar. Publiken uppskattade tvillingarna, både för deras lysande tennisspel och för deras älskvärda personligheter på och utanför tennisbanan.

Under 1880-talet utvecklades tennisen till den publiksport som den varit sedan dess. De flesta medtävlarna var dock mindre förtjusta; under 1880-talet sjönk antalet anmälda till Wimbledonmästerskapen från 60  1880 till 16 1887. I stort sett var det under denna tid endast den tio år äldre Herbert Lawford som höll samma spelnivå som tvillingbröderna.

Segrar i Wimbledonmästerskapen

Singel - 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1889
Dubbel - 1880, 1881, 1884, 1885, 1886, 1888, 1889 (alla med Ernest Renshaw)

Se även
Ernest Renshaw
Tennis

Referenser

Källor
Gianni Clerici, 1974. 500 Jahre Tennis ( tysk översättning 1978). Verlag Ullstein.
Martin Hedges, 1978. The Concise Dictionary of Tennis. Mayflower Books Inc.

Brittiska tennisspelare
Födda 1861
Avlidna 1904
Män

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: Installation of Ubuntu 13.04 desktop (i386) I am trying to install "ubuntu-13.04-desktop-i386.iso" on a Dell optiplex gx270.
I used "Universal-USB-Installer-1.9.3.5" to get it on an external Seagate Freeagent USB harddrive.  No problem.  I attach to Seagate to the desired computer to install Ubuntu and it boots to the USB with no problem.
The screen hangs with the Ubuntu logo for a while, then I get the error message:
(initramfs) unable to find a medium containing a live file system

Please can anyone help me with this?

A: Either, create the live boot again on your hard drive, or use a usb stick. I've had problems on external hard drives before, so the best bet is a usb stick instead. Hope this helps.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Exposure is the most important principle in photography. It is vital that any photographer who is aiming to progress past point-and-shoot cameras understands the principle and knows how to put it into practice. It is, in fact, very simple, but may require some thought the first time round.
In the first instance, there are a few terms that you should understand. The first of these is shutter speed. This is fairly self-explanatory, describing the length of time for which the camera's shutter (which keeps light away from either the film or the image sensor, depending on whether you are using film or digital respectively) is open when a photo is being taken. Shutter speed is measured in seconds, with the standard scale starting at 1s (very slow) and decreasing up to 1/8000s. On this scale, each 'step' halves the length of time for which the shutter is open; thus, 1/500 and 1/250 will generally appear together.The second important term is aperture. In photographic terms, this refers to the size of the opening through which light is allowed to enter the camera. This is measured in 'f-stops', with (slightly confusingly) a smaller number meaning a larger opening; thus, f/1.4 is larger than f/2.
The final term to understand is light sensitivity. This describes the sensitivity of the film or image sensor to the light which is being allowed onto it, and is measured in terms of ISO. This is described in more detail elsewhere on this site. The combination of light sensitivity, aperture and shutter speed determine the exposure that you will get.
There is a basic rule of thumb for exposure, known as 'sunny-16'. This rule says that, on a sunny day using ISO 100 film, a 'correct' exposure will generally be achieved with an aperture of f/16 and a shutter speed of 1/125. This rule can be extended to suggest that a good choice for shutter speed in these conditions is one 'step' over the ISO.
The vast majority of cameras now include built-in light metering, thus removing the need for either guess-work or a separate hand-held meter. Depending on the age of your camera (if you are using film) you may need to set the ISO manually before you begin; with digital, this variable is at your fingertips constantly, and you can change it between frames. The camera will then take into account the conditions and offer you what it thinks are ideal settings. This will generally be presented as a series of lines, with a 'correct' mid-point, and gradually tapering off towards over-exposure on one side and under-exposure on the other. As you change shutter speed and aperture, an indicator will generally move along the line to give an idea of the exposure that the current set of variables will produce.
On many cameras, it is possible to select the way in which the camera meters. You will often be given a choice between 'matrix' and 'spot' metering, and a few in-between. These options determine how the camera measures the light that is available. With full-matrix metering it will take readings across the entire frame, average out its readings, and produce recommendations based on the average. This is very useful if you are taking landscapes or other images in which you want an even light. In some circumstances, however, you may wish for one part of your image to be more or less highly exposed than the rest. In these cases, you can use spot metering to take a reading of a specific part of the frame. Often the photographer is given the option as to which part of the frame they want metered (generally the frame is divided into four or nine) but, if not, it is also often possible to use whatever spot option is available to you to meter for the relevant part of the frame, and then recompose your shot.
As with everything in photography, guidelines for exposure are not intended to be binding. There is no such thing as a 'correct' exposure, but a basic understanding of the principles that cause certain outcomes should help you determine your own.


The "Mastering the Basics" study is a study of the basics of the Christian faith- four books on the topics of what Christians believe, why Christians believe it and why it matters. Why do Christians believe that Jesus is true God and also true man? Why do we believe in the Trinity? Why do we believe that the Bible is the Word of God? Why do we believe the basic gospel message? Why do we believe in the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus? Present day believers need to "master the basics" to be equipped with reasonable answers when discussion of serious theological issues occurs. The result for believers (and the church) will be an increasing confidence in the scripture and growing impact in the church and the culture.
1) To encourage believers to open the scriptures for themselves, to dig deeply, to "…examine the scriptures daily, to see if these things are so." (Acts 17:11).
The Bible tells us that the primary requirement of an equipped Christian is that one "sanctifies Christ as Lord in your hearts." (1 Peter 3:15) May you feel His presence and know Him intimately as you undertake this study.
Peter Amerman (D. Min, M. Div., BA) is Department Chair and Professor of Biblical Studies at Pillar College, Newark, NJ. He has pastored churches in the northern and southern New Jersey area for nearly forty years. He holds a Doctor of Ministry degree from Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack, NY, a Masters in Divinity Degree from Lutheran Theological Seminary, and a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Religion/Philosophy from Roanoke College. His greatest blessing from God is his family- married to his best friend and ministry partner, Susan for thirty-nine years; blessed with two daughters, two sons-in-law; and seven beautiful grandchildren.
If you'd like to learn more about professions that enable you to serve wholeheartedly and faithfully in your life's work or want to learn more about a biblically based, Christ-centered education at Pillar, we'd love to introduce you to Christian perspectives at work in your future career. For more information on how Pillar College can help you pursue your ministry and educational goals, please phone us at 973-803-5000 or email info@pillar.edu.


Цена в Steam 129 q.
Get ready to rock! The OVERKILL Pack is our 17th DLC for PAYDAY 2. It allows heisters to use the Minigun and the Rocket Launcher weapons, the OVERKILL mask as well as a new OVERKILL Escape Van skin. There will be 3 weapon modifications for the Minigun as well as a total 10 extra achievements added.


Our Australian MAP selection for May comes from Arvo Tanty – the solo project of Michael Dolan who formerly played in perth. Picture heavy, ostentatious synth accordion draped around your cerebrals in stereo sound. It sounds like luxury. IT IS IGOOD.
Some other gems worth noting include jazzy sounds from Brazil's Otis Trio, and a track released in 2000 by Copenhagen band Speaker Bite Me which is receiving acclaim in Denmark and its first vinyl release in over fifteen years.
You can grab a zip file of the full 19-track compilation through Dropbox here.


text:
Tracing the footsteps of democratization in Gwangju
[PyeongChang 2018] Korea female curling team beats Sweden
By Yonhap
Published : Feb 19, 2018 - 13:27
Updated : Feb 19, 2018 - 13:40
GANGNEUNG -- Korea's female curling team extended its unexpected winning streak by beating Sweden on Monday at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
During the thrilling round robin match in the sub-host city of Gangneung, Korea defeated Sweden 7-6, taking a step closer to the semifinals.
Sweden took the lead against Korea in the first end, but the host country immediately caught up in the next end. The four-member Korean team of Kim Eun-jung, Kim Kyeong-ae, Kim Seon-yeong, and Kim Yeong-mi further narrowed the gap with Sweden by earning two more points in the fourth end.
Korea`s female curling team competes in their match with Sweden at Gangneung Curling Centre, located in Gangneung, around 240 kilometers east of Seoul, on Feb. 19, 2018. (Yonhap)
While Sweden earned another point in the fifth end, Korea responded with two more points in the following session, solidifying its lead.
The home team approached closer to the victory by scoring two further points in the eighth.
Sweden sought to snatch the lead by adding two points in the ninth end in the neck-and-neck match. In the final end, Sweden added one more point, but fell short of catching up Korea.
The Korean team has now posted five victories and one loss.
After the round-robin competition of 10 participating nations, four teams will be eligible for the semifinals. The latest win made it more likely for the Korean female team advance to next level.
Korea, ranked eighth in the global rankings, has defeated No. 1 Canada, along with Switzerland, Britain and China. The team, however, lost to Japan.
Compared to their female counterparts, the male curling team has been giving lackluster performances at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
On Sunday, the male team, which only has one win so far, lost 8-9 against Denmark, its fifth loss. It makes it very unlikely the team will move ahead to the semifinals.(Yonhap)
[PyeongChang 2018] With more golds in sight, South Korea targets fourth spot on medals table
[PyeongChang 2018] Speedskater Lee Sang-hwa wins silver in 500 meters
[PyeongChang 2018] Choi Min-jeong wins gold in 1,500m short-track skate


Bürgenstock Hotels & Resort has partnered with Revinate to have Revinate provide all four properties at the Swiss resort, the Bürgenstock Hotel & Alpine Spa, the Waldhotel Health & Medical Excellence, the Palace Hotel & Conferences and Taverne 1879, with its online marketing, reputation and survey tools.
The Bürgenstock Resort is based on a $566-million investment and led by Robert Herr as GM and Bruno Schöpfer as its managing director. The Bürgenstock Hotel & Alpine Spa lies at the core of this four-hotel, 12-restaurant, 10,000-square-meter spa resort, and aims to be one of the most elegant hotels in Switzerland. Its 102 rooms and suites combine modern architecture, contemporary design features and staggering views of Lake Lucerne. A member of the Leading Hotels of the World network, it is also an environmentally friendly property with close to CO2-neutral heating and cooling system based on lake water.
As for the other three properties of the resort, The Palace Hotel dates back from 1903 and has been thoroughly renovated, combining tradition with an innovative architectural vision; the Waldhotel, designed by star architect Matteo Thun, spans 160 rooms; and Taverne 1879 offers a cozy, alpine-styled concept for visitors and hikers.


Are Mail Order Brides Good for Long-Term Relationships?
The "mail order brides" system is a unique one.
It's rarely used by many seeking a relationship. Yet, it's one of the best you can try.
This is what we'll explain today.
Below is an analysis of the system and its benefits. Read it thoroughly, and find a bride online!
Mail order brides come with a big advantage. That is – they're almost always foreign.
This means you're not marrying into locality. You marry someone that's unique and absolutely different from you!
The mail order brides come with a different culture.
They have their own language, behavior, and norms. And you'll have to adapt to them for long-term success.
But, it is an experience. You learn a lot, and you get to appreciate the diversity of humanity!
There's always something special about a foreign bride. And it's always something that'll make you scratch your head.
You learn much from them. And they learn a lot from you!
#2–It's a Relationship of Understanding.
That is, you know that the other has their differences.
You know that each has their own manner of speech. Add to that the cultural (and sometimes) language barrier – which you'll appreciate.
As a result, you won't fight often, if it all.
Well, if they're different, you give them more leeway.
Or–someone might say something that the other finds off.
But in the end, you're open-minded about it. And that's not something you'll get in a relationship with a local!
You don't meet brides online through hookup sites.
You do so through specialized networks. They'll mediate to find a match that suits your tastes!
But the point is – those are marriage networks.
And you surely won't have issues with cheating!
You won't struggle that much with competition.
#4–Mail Brides Tend to be Private.
Some people like to publicize the details of their relationship.
They won't "socialize often" with your family/friends. And when they do, they'll stay quiet!
Plus, expect them to seek people from their cultural background. After all, your bride still needs a connection to her home!
What happens at home, stays at home.
You won't worry about details of your "talks, secrets, etc." spilling to others. Everything stays intimate and private!
#5–You Can Break Out of Cultural Barriers.
Feel stifled by the norms of your home?
If so, find a bride online. They'll change that.
You need to treat them differently. And you need to accommodate who they are.
And they'll treat you differently too. So you can be honest around them. You can truly speak your mind and express yourself.
Obviously this takes time (just like any relationship). But in the end, a mail order bride is the best for the job!
Time to Find a Bride.
So you'll have to do some research for the network. And obviously, there's the reading on the culture you marry into!
But overall, it's a worthwhile experience.
Mail order systems make for excellent long-term relationships. And they add much to your life!
How to Find a Hidden Camera with Spy Camera Detector?


text:
Simbang Gabi helps families keep traditions from their homeland
Elizabeth A. Elliott | Catholic Herald Staff Writer
The parol, a star that symbolizes the one that led the Magi to Christ, is placed on the altar at for Simbang Gabi at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Vienna Dec. 15. ELIZABETH A. ELLIOTT | CATHOLIC HERALD
Bianca (front) and Cielo Leech bring gifts of fruit and flowers to the altar before the Simbang Gabi Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Vienna Dec. 15. ELIZABETH A. ELLIOTT | CATHOLIC HERALD
Youths participate in the panuluyan, a tradition that depicts Mary and Joseph searching for an inn for Simbang Gabi at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Vienna Dec. 15. ELIZABETH A. ELLIOTT | CATHOLIC HERALD
Father Thomas P. Ferguson, vicar general and pastor of Good Shepherd Church in Alexandria, opened the diocesan Simbang Gabi celebration with Mass at Our Lady of Good Counsel Church in Vienna Dec. 15. Mass was concelebrated by Oblate Father John Dolan, Oblate Father William J. Metzger and Missionhurst Father Celso Tabalanza.
Before Mass began, the Leech family carried traditional offerings to the altar, including rice, flowers, fruits and a parol, or Christmas lantern.
"Even though I'm second-generation Filipino, I would like my children to grow up in the Filipino tradition," said Cielo Leech. "We have a mixed marriage and I would like them also to be aware of my heritage and customs."
Her husband, Brent, said it means a lot to their children to participate in his wife's culture. "This is a nice way to make sure they understand they come from more than one place," he said.
Leah Roa, a member of the Filipino community at Our Lady of Good Counsel, said Simbang Gabi is a good way to get families together. "Communities around the United States are sharing the faith tradition," she said. "A lot of families don't want to lose the traditions from back home especially for the children to learn about Filipino faith traditions."
During his homily, Father Ferguson highlighted the significance of each item that is brought forth in a Mass. The parol is a star that symbolizes the one that led the Magi to Christ. The rice symbolizes the Filipinos faith, family and church community; fruits symbolize good harvest; and flowers represent joy and appreciation for the life of Jesus.
The music was in Tagalog, the official language of the Philippines, and provided by Serenata, the Fil/Am Community Music Ministry. Marialena Faria led the music.
The salu-salo, a reception following Mass, included several traditional foods, including lumpia, a type of spring roll; pancit, a noodle dish; rice; fish and other meats.
When everyone finished eating, the children of the Filipino-American community put on a play — the panuluyan, similar to the Mexican posadas tradition that depicts Mary and Joseph searching for room at an inn. Youths took on the roles of Mary and Joseph, St. Luke, innkeepers, shepherds and others. The panuluyan traditionally takes place on Christmas in the Philippines.
Simbang Gabi has been around since the 16th century when Spanish friars introduced the nine-day novena to the Philippines. The novena prepares for the birth of Christ. More than 35 Masses will be celebrated throughout the diocese in the mornings and evenings.
Bishop Emeritus Paul S. Loverde is scheduled to celebrate Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church Dec. 19.
The novena concludes with Mass at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington Dec. 24 at 5 a.m.
@eelliottACH


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Fruit from the Sands:
The Silk Road Origins of the Foods We Eat
by Robert N. Spengler III
Published with the University of California Press and available now in hardcover, paperback, and audiobook.
You have heard of Marco Polo and the mythical Scythian warrior nomads of the Eurasian steppe, and you are likely aware of stories of ancient Central Asian empires lost in the desert sands. The prehistory of the western half of the Asian continent is so deeply intertwined with fictional stories that few people in Europe or East Asia know the true history of the peoples that occupied this region in the past. While these peoples have been overlooked by history, they left a profound impact on the modern world and the legacy of Central Asia's past is seen all around us today. Exploring this legacy, Dr. Spengler focuses on how the ancient exchange routes through Central Asia directly shaped the foods that you eat today and the ingredients in your kitchen.
Fruit from the Sands has received acclaimed praise from both academic and popular sources (including the Gourmand International Award for culinary writing). The book continues to receive praise and Library Journal declared it a top Asian History book for 2019. Science News referred to it as one of the top ten must-read science books of 2019. This coveted title only goes to a select handful of the most prestigious science books published in a given year. In this regard, Dr. Spengler has succeeded in elevating the archaeology of the food on your table to the same level in the popular science world as human evolution, astrophysics, and agronomics.
Fruits from the Sands has been reviewed by an impressive list of journals and magazines:
Nature Plants
Ethnobiology
UCLCAAL
Botany One
Gradfoodstudies.org
Asian Perspectives
Praise from Academics
"A delightful raconteur and astute field archeobotanist, Spengler relates this history in a personalized manner, as if he is conversing with the reader. His command of both botany and linguistics gives readers a front-row seat to historic discoveries about culinary traditions that will dramatically alter the way they think about populations living thousands of miles apart." –Gary Paul Nabhan, University of Arizona Professor, Ethnobotanist, founder of Native Seeds/SEARCH, and author:
"Few scholars would have the chutzpah to write such a bold book. Robert Spengler presents an exemplary case of work that is not only rigorous but broadly accessible and truly interdisciplinary in scope. Fruit from the Sands reveals that the large-scale biological exchange epitomized by the Columbian Exchange had an ancient precursor, one previously unappreciated but equally crucial for the human diet. This book will change the way that readers see their food."—Miranda Brown, Professor of Asian Languages and Cultures, University of Michigan
"To an archaeobotanist, the food on your table encodes the very history of humankind. From a single seed, Robert Spengler unfurls the millennial story of human and biological exchanges with exciting precision. This book is for mindful eaters and hungry thinkers alike."—James A. Millward, Professor of Intersocietal History at the Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University
"Robert Spengler, a young archaeobotanist with much experience in the region, has produced an excellent guide to the plant foods and their history." —Eugene Anderson (Department of Anthropology, University of California Riverside)
"Spengler takes the reader on a kaleidoscopic and dazzling journey: from the rice paddies of southern China, the stands of melon vendors at the bazaars in Samarkand, and the archaeological excavations in remote mountain regions of present-day Kazakhstan to the reader's own kitchen table. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in Silk Road exchanges."—Sören Stark, Associate Professor of Central Asian Archaeology, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World/NYU
"Spengler tells a fascinating tale of a culinary past that is just beginning to come into focus. Perhaps a follow-up volume could delve into what life was like for traders and herders on the Silk Road. For now, though, Spengler's book provides lots of food for thought." –Bruce Bower, Journalist and popular science writer
"Fruits from the Sands is an excellent example of a comprehensive and entertaining historical and botanical review, providing an enjoyable and cognitive read for scientists, general public, students and policy makers. The people of ancient Central Asia are honoured as the main protagonists, dispersing cultivars and agricultural knowledge along trans-Eurasian exchange routes. This fresh view can be credited to the author." –Mayke Wagner and Pavel E. Tarasov, Professors in the Eurasia Department, German Archaeological Institute, and the Department of Earth Sciences, Freie Universität Berlin, respectively
"Fruit from the Sands is an entertaining and thought provoking historical, botanical and archaeological review of a vast swathe of the Old World. It is accessible for specialists and the general public alike, and should be read by policy makers as well, with a mind to thinking about agricultural diversity and sustainability." –Jennifer Bates, Professor in the Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, and accredited archaeobotanist working in South Asia
"Much has been written about the Columbian Exchange and the introduction of 'exotic' foodstuffs from the West to the rest of the world that resulted from opening up of the Americas at the end of the 15th century – and rightly so. But in Europe we are generally much more poorly aware of the influence on our cuisines of foodstuffs from the East. In Fruits from the sands, Robert Spengler redresses that imbalance so that the food debt the West owes the East is rightly showcased, and celebrated. Should anybody require a single sentence, sound-bite summary of the book, I offer this: 'Fruits from the sands, where food meets forensics'." –Nigel Chaffey, botanist and professor at Bath Spa University, he is also the editor of the Annals of Botany
"An entertaining and thought provoking historical, botanical and archaeological review of a vast swathe of the Old World. It is accessible for specialists and the general public alike, and should be read by policy makers as well, with a mind to thinking about agricultural diversity and sustainability" –Central Asian Archaeological Landscapes
"Combines the studies of history, archaeology, and botany in an excellent account of where many of our foodstuffs originate, showing how they became distributed over most of Eurasia." –CHOICE
"Fascinating reading." –Gothic Epicures
"Fruits from the sands is NOT a book you sit down and read in one sitting(!) But, it IS a book that you are likely to turn to again and again for that extra bit of insight into the story behind the food on your plate, which is the true test of great plants-and-people 'story-telling'." –Botany One
"Spengler tells a fascinating tale of a culinary past that is just beginning to come into focus… Spengler's book provides lots of food for thought." –Science News
"Fruits from the Sands is an excellent example of a comprehensive and entertaining historical and botanical review, providing an enjoyable and cognitive read for scientists, general public, students and policy makers." –Nature
"The volume is truly a mine of information. This book is a must for anybody interested in food, cultural diversity, archaeology, exchange networks and the impact of modern globalisation on food and cultural homogenization." –Marijke van der Veen, Paleoethnobotanist at the School of Archaeology & Ancient History, University of Leicester, UK
"As the author reconstructs the story of popular foods, we learn that apples originated not in Europe, but in central Asia, an area where the author conducted extensive field research in archaeobotany." –Caterina Agostini, Rutgers University Department
"Fruits from the Sands is an elegantly written and important book." –Martin Jones, Cambridge University
Many of the most familiar grains, fruits, legumes, and nuts that we eat today spread through Central Asia in antiquity. In his book, Fruit from the Sands, Dr. Spengler tells the story of how these plants crossed two continents and ended up on your dinner table.
Many people think of the great Silk Road as a mirage in the shifting sands of time; however, the ideas and goods that once moved across Eurasia directed the course of human history. Merchant caravans, passing through the mountain valleys and desert oases of Central Asia, directly shaped aspects of culinary traditions across the Old World. Recent archaeological findings have shown that as far back as the third millennium B.C., domesticated crops were diffusing across two continents. This process of ancient globalization led to a diversification of culinary traditions in Asia, Europe, and North Africa. In this book, Dr. Spengler presents first-hand research conducted at over a dozen archaeological sites spread out from Mongolia to Pakistan. He shows that, over the past two millennia, the trade routes of the Silk Road brought almonds, apples, apricots, peaches, pistachios, rice, and a wide variety of other foods to European kitchens. In Fruit from the Sands, Dr. Spengler brings together scholarly sources from across the biological and social sciences, pulling on information from archaeology, biology, Classics, Sinology, ethnohistory, and history. He presents the fascinating story of the origins and spread of agriculture across Inner Asia and into Europe and explores the spread of domesticated plants along the historical Silk Road.
In following camel caravans across the desert sands of the Kara Kum, Taklimakan, and Gobi, this book lays out numerous untold stories relating to humanity's greatest accomplishment: the domestication and spread of the food we eat today. This book represents a story pieced together while working in laboratories in Europe and America and digging through the sediments of the past in Asia. Dr. Spengler spent over a decade compiling these chapters and built the story in collaboration with scholars from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, as well as many European, East Asian, and American colleagues. The book also draws on a deep and rich Soviet scientific legacy of scholarship. Spengler's years of experience working in Central Asia have helped him gain access to archives, archaeological sites, and comparative collections that are not accessible to most people. Fruit from the Sands represents the culmination of all of this research and presents a significant contribution to both history and science, it lays out many new discoveries that have not been synthesized outside of academic journals.
An Uzbek woman collecting her apples for sale at the market. Apples were domesticated along the routes of the Silk Road. The origins for the main wild population of apples is in southeastern Kazakhstan; but the modern apple is a hybrid of several wild apple species, resulting from the spread of the fruit tree along the ancient trade routes.
Uzbek and Tajik women selling their fruit at the market bazaar in Bukhara, Uzbekistan. Many of these varieties of fruits have been sold in markets here for thousands of years.
A bread vendor in Bukhara – while many historians depict Central Asia as a land of warrior nomads, in reality, the cuisine for most peoples of today and in the past centers around tandoor-baked bread.
There are thousands of landrace varieties of melons maintained in Central Asia today. These melons are regional sources of pride and farmers or market vendors will pressure you to taste their local varieties, claiming that they produce or sell the best melons in the world.


text:
'I'll be back in the kitchen': New South Wales chef finds his passion after 10 years in the industry
Sep 7, 2021 Management
A new chef in the New South Welsh capital of Cardiff says he will be back to cooking in the kitchens of families.
Photo: Jason SouthcottMr John Gandy, who was trained at the famed Michelin-starred chef José Andrés in Barcelona, spent 10 years as a full-time chef in South Wales, starting in 2011 and finishing in 2018.
He says he was overwhelmed with the amount of hospitality the city provided.
"I just feel like a part of the family," Mr Gandy said.
"When you're working as a chef, there are so many people around you and it's like you're in a family."
You're part of something and you can't turn it off.
"Mr Gandy's work in South East Asia, in the Philippines, was a passion project, and he's spent the past few months relaunching his business, which he started in 2013."
We have a great team and the best of the best," he said.
The new chef is aiming to open in the next few weeks, and his team has a lot of ideas."
The key is that we want to build a real relationship with the community, and we want them to be part of that," he explained."
It's a small town so we're not doing this for the money, we're doing it for the community.
"The kitchen is set to open on April 20, and Mr Ganey says it will offer the community something they have long been looking for: a place to eat."
There are a lot more families and families who come to us, and it gives us the opportunity to build the community," he added."
And it will be a community centre that people can go and come and hang out.


American businesses have pumped a lot of money into new investment in the first year and a half of the Trump presidency, but there are signs that investment is waning.
Companies pumped more money into software, equipment, buildings, drilling rigs and the like from early 2017 until midsummer.
One key measure of investment known as "core orders" surged to a yearly rate of 13% in Trump's first year in office after being mostly negative from 2014 to 2016.
Yet new investment —what economists call capital spending, or "capex" — almost dried up in the third quarter. And the fourth quarter has gotten off to a weak start.
Business investment is one of the three main drivers of the U.S. economy, along with consumer spending and government outlays. If companies cut back, the economy is almost sure to slow.
A broader survey conducted by the National Association for Business Economists predicts capex will decelerate to 4.4% in 2019 from an estimated 6.7% this year.
"Persistent weakness could spell concern for 2019 growth," said economist Andrew Hollenhorst of Citi Research.
A recent survey of America's top CEOs points to the ongoing trade fight with China and punishing U.S. tariffs on foreign goods such as steel.
Trade tensions have created uncertainty in executive suites and diverted money that could have been used for investment to pay for the higher cost of key supplies. Two-thirds of the corporate chieftains who took part in the survey said capex could suffer in late 2018 and early 2019.
Some companies such as famed motorcycle maker Harley Davidson HOG, -0.37% even contend the tariffs forced them to move manufacturing operations to other countries where costs are lower and their customer base is growing.
Another headwind is a recent rise in U.S. interest rates that make it more expensive for businesses to take out loans.
Even though U.S. rates are still very low historically, senior economist Sal Guatieri of BMO Capital Markets says it appears consumers and businesses are still as sensitive as ever to rising interest rates. Not only has capex slowed, so have home sales and applications for new mortgages.
Other worries for big business include a weaker global economy and a stronger dollar DXY, +0.45% . Europe is forecast to grow less than 2% in 2019, the U.K. and Japan even less.
That's likely to constrain U.S. exports, push American firms to buy cheaper supplies from other countries or induce them to invest more overseas where costs are lower.
Even the sudden drop in oil prices is a double-edge sword.
The savings are great for consumers and allow them to buy other goods and services, but it also means U.S. energy companies might retrench. The energy industry has been one of biggest sources of U.S. business investment.
The last time oil prices sank from mid 2014 to early 2016, energy investment fell and the U.S. economy suffered. The drop this time around is not as big, but lower prices are still likely to pinch.
"Fourth quarter capex appears set to disappoint, and that was even before the impact of the drop in oil prices hits the mining sector data," said chief economist Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics.
Companies still need to invest after years of neglect, for one thing. And an ultra-low unemployment rate is forcing firms to spend on automation and other technology to cope with a growing shortage of skilled labor.
"A tight labor market could induce firms to invest more in capex to enhance the productivity of their existing workforce," economists at Deutsche Bank said in an extensive analysis of corporate-spending trends.
The strong U.S. economy, what's more, gives companies an incentive to keep investment going or risk losing business to competitors.
The big wild card is China.
If trade tensions worsen and the Trump administration expands tariffs, the economy is likely to be harmed give the huge size of U.S. trade with China. Yet if the dispute is resolved soon it would remove a chief obstacle for business investment.
The temporary 90-day truce between the U.S. and China is sure to offer some relief, but businesses might delay some investment to see how negotiations pan out.
In any case, Deutsche Bank contends business investment should continue at a slower but still "healthy" pace through 2019. The bank's economists say the available evidence does "not point to an imminent sharp deceleration that would send a more ominous signal" about the economy.


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Personal Notes About This Work: "Abrazame! En este momento me di cuenta que fue nuestro ultimo abrazo." Embrace me!
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text:
House votes to federally decriminalize marijuana
JOHN PARKINSON
December 4, 2020, 1:22 PM ·6 min read
For the first time in congressional history, the House of Representatives voted to pass a measure that would decriminalize marijuana use at the federal level -- months after pulling the bill amid worries the controversial vote could cause some lawmakers to lose tight races in November.
The vote passed 228-164, mostly down party lines, with just five Republicans voting in favor of the measure. Six Democrats voted to oppose.
While the federal government continues to criminalize cannabis, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler stressed that 36 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical cannabis while 15 states and the District of Columbia have legalized cannabis for adult recreational use. Nadler said the legislation "would reverse the failed policy of criminalizing marijuana on the federal level and would take steps to address the heavy toll this policy has taken across the country, particularly on communities of color."
"For far too long, we have treated marijuana as a criminal justice problem instead of as a matter of personal choice and public health. Whatever one's views are on the use of marijuana for recreational or medicinal use, the policy of arrests, prosecution, and incarceration at the Federal level has proven unwise and unjust," Nadler, D-N.Y., said during debate on the bill Friday morning. "I have long believed that the criminalization of marijuana has been a mistake, and the racially disparate enforcement of marijuana laws has only compounded this mistake, with serious consequences, particularly for communities of color."
Throughout the debate, Republicans spoke in opposition to the bill, blaming marijuana for increased traffic deaths and as a gateway drug.
"Marijuana is one of the most abused substances on this planet," Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., argued. "Legalizing weed would create revenue from taxes, but at what cost? Do we then start legalizing cocaine? Marijuana is a gateway drug -- make no mistake about that. It undoubtably leads to further and much more dangerous drug use."
"It's not a gateway drug," Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, countered. "There is ample scientific evidence demonstrating that the use of marijuana does not cause the use of other illicit substances. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the majority of marijuana users do not use other harder substances."
Rep. Matt Gaetz, the only Republican co-sponsor of the bill, admitted the measure was "flawed" because it "uses cannabis policy to do a great deal of social engineering" to create new taxes, new programs and redistribution of assets. But Gaetz said he would still vote for the bill "because the federal government has lied to the people of this country about marijuana for a generation."
"My Republican colleagues today will make a number of arguments against this bill, but those arguments are overwhelmingly losing with the American people," Gaetz, R-Fla., said. "I'm going to vote for the MORE Act. It won't pass the Senate. It won't become law. We should come back in the 117th Congress and we should truly do more for our people."
Beyond decriminalizing cannabis, the Marijuana Opportunity, Reinvestment, and Expungement Act would also mandate a reassessment of prior marijuana convictions, invest in services for people caught up in the war on drugs and open Small Business Administration funding for legitimate cannabis-related businesses.
Despite widespread support from Democrats in the House of Representatives, the bill stands almost no chance of becoming law in the current session of Congress due to a Republican firewall in the Senate and President Donald Trump still occupying the White House.
President-elect Joe Biden campaigned in favor of decriminalizing marijuana, but even after Biden is inaugurated in January, Democrats would have to pass the measure not just through the House again but also clear it through the Senate. The upper chamber's majority control is still up for grabs -- with two runoff elections in Georgia scheduled early next month -- but the legislation would be subject to a 60-vote threshold to advance through the Senate and on to the Resolute Desk.
Although the measure has collected dust since passing through the House Judiciary Committee last November, the timing of Friday's floor vote more than a year later allows many Democrats to celebrate a promise to pass the bill before the end of the current session of Congress.
MORE: Marijuana legalization measures pass in 5 states
Oregon Democratic Rep. Earl Blumenauer, one of the bill's original sponsors, presided over the House debate on the measure Thursday wearing a face mask featuring cannabis leaves.
I've been waiting for this moment for 47 years. To preside during this debate is a true honor. #EndCannabisProhibition pic.twitter.com/6lqiV09Dfn
— Earl Blumenauer (@repblumenauer) December 3, 2020
Across the aisle, Republicans continued to criticize Democratic priorities in the midst of a pandemic when floor time is limited and considered precious to lawmakers -- Democrats and Republicans alike.
PHOTO: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaks at the weekly news conference on Capitol Hill, Dec. 3, 2020. (Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
"Democrats want to focus on cannabis and cats, not COVID relief," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters at a news conference in the Capitol on Thursday. "You'd think after a humiliating defeat at the ballot box this year, where Democrats didn't defeat one Republican incumbent, that Democrats would get the picture that Americans are demanding action on issues that matter to them."
Nancy Pelosi needs to get her priorities straight.
Millions of Americans are struggling to pay bills & small businesses are shutting their doors for good & all she cares about is marijuana & tigers.
Delivering aid to Americans in need should be our only priority right now.
— Rep. Guy Reschenthaler (@GReschenthaler) December 3, 2020
While the prolonged stalemate over the next phase of COVID-19 relief persists, lawmakers still haven't come together on other must-pass legislation on the agenda that will require bipartisan cooperation, including an agreement to fund the government. Congress has just five legislative days remaining on the schedule before a potential government shutdown on Dec. 11.
Still, Rep. Jim McGovern, chair of the House Rules Committee, called on lawmakers "to take a stand" for "restorative justice, to stand for racial justice, to stand for criminal justice reform, and to stand with the majority of Americans demanding reforms to our nation's cannabis policy."
MORE: UN agency removes cannabis from strictest drug category
"Some, particularly on the other side, have wondered why we are moving forward with these reforms now. We must soon fund the government for the next fiscal year and pass the annual defense bill," McGovern, D-Mass., said during debate on the bill Thursday. "We have a lot to do in the waning days of this Congress. I get that. But the answer is simple: This is not an either-or proposition. Congress can walk and chew gum at the same time."
House votes to federally decriminalize marijuana originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
As Trump gives way to Biden, the 'transfer of families' at the White House shatters norms
Lady Gaga stuns in custom couture for Biden-Harris inauguration
Lady Gaga knows how to make a grand entrance, and she certainly did for the 2021 presidential inauguration. The iconic singer powerfully made her presence known wearing a custom Schiaparelli haute couture look as she sang the national anthem into a gold microphone. Gaga wore her hair in a braided updo and rocked a striking bold red lipstick.
Trump issues last-minute pardon to ex-husband of Fox News' Jeanine Pirro
With less than an hour before his term ended, President Donald Trump on Wednesday granted one final pardon to Albert Pirro, a longtime New York businessman and the ex-husband of Fox News' Jeanine Pirro, one of Trump's staunchest cable news supporters. What was possibly Trump's final act as president reflected a recurring theme in his final months in office: delivering clemencies to scores of personal friends and political allies. The decision to pardon Pirro came less than 12 hours after what was thought to be a final batch of 143 pardons and commutations -- a list that included Steve Bannon, Trump's former chief strategist.
22-year-old Amanda Gorman becomes youngest to read poem at inauguration
Amanda Gorman made history Wednesday as the youngest poet in recent history to read a poem at a presidential inauguration. Gorman, 22, read her own poem at the inauguration of President-elect Joe Bide and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The Los Angeles native told NPR she finished writing the poem, titled "The Hill We Climb," on the night of Jan. 6, hours after rioters took part in a siege on Capitol Hill.
World leaders have reacted to a "new dawn" in U.S. politics after Joe Biden was sworn is as the 46th president of the United States. Historic allies in the EU and U.K. have struck the most upbeat tone, with Ursurla von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, saying there's a "friend in the White House" after four years wheretransatlantic relations often were strained. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulated Biden ahead of the inauguration ceremony.
Jill Biden wears American-designed ensemble for 2021 inauguration
Jill Biden is starting her new role as the first lady of the United States in high style. For the 2021 presidential inauguration, she wore a custom Markarian matching coat and dress set made in an ocean blue, wool tweed. To top her vibrant ensemble off, she wore a statement pearl necklace with Swarovski crystals and a pair of neutral-toned pumps.
Biden assumes presidency at Capitol saying 'democracy has prevailed'
Joe Biden took the oath of office just before noon on a cold but bright and sunny Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol, becoming the 46th president of the United States and culminating a nearly 50-year career in politics and a lifetime of tragedy and triumph. Democracy is fragile.
Officer who fended off Capitol mob escorts Kamala Harris to inauguration
On Wednesday, he aided in the peaceful transfer of power that those protesters had resisted, walking alongside Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, soon-to-be second gentleman Doug Emhoff, into the 59th presidential inauguration ceremony. Goodman was also made an honorary Deputy Sergeant at Arms for Inauguration Day. On Jan. 6, Goodman led the mob on a chase in an effort to divert it away from the unguarded Senate chambers, where Senators, staff and reporters took shelter.
Melania Trump departs White House wearing luxury black dress and pumps
President Donald Trump and Melania Trump shared their final farewell from the White House this morning. For their send-off, Melania was seen wearing an all-black ensemble consisting of a cropped Chanel jacket adorned with gold buttons and a Dolce and Gabbana dress. The first lady also kept a pair of dark shades on as the couple addressed the nation before their departure to President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
When President-elect Joe Biden takes the oath of office Wednesday, he'll do so using a Bible with 127 years of family history behind it. Biden, who is Catholic, has used the leather-bound, 5-inch thick book, which has been in his family since 1893, each time he's been sworn into elected office during the course of his career. Biden's late son Beau also used the family Bible when he was sworn in as Delaware's attorney general.
Garth Brooks performs 'Amazing Grace' at Biden's inauguration
Garth Brooks performed "Amazing Grace" at the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday. Following Biden's first speech as president, the country music legend took to the podium to sing the popular tune. The two-time Grammy winner, 58, announced Monday he'd be singing on-site at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., for the swearing-in ceremony, joining previously announced artists including Lady Gaga and Jennifer Lopez.


Many things have taken place since I have begun writing. On February 4 we moved from Dueñas to Passi for Coné's practice. Passi is 5 km from Dueñas. We were only there a short while, and on Feb. 16 Coné was called into the U.S. Army. Dr. Porras recommended that he would be placed in the hospital at Calinog and also Col. Caiedo recommended it. So, he is now working at the base hospital.
On March 7 we moved to Calinog—our fifth evacuation. We have a very nice nipa house and quite large, including a sala (living room), 3 bedrooms, a big dining room, a servant's room and a nice big kitchen. The garden is beautiful with many flowers and shrubbery, and the back yard is enormous with palm trees and banana plants. It is very convenient for Coné as the hospital is right around the corner.
Yesterday Coné received orders to transfer to the Capiz hospital, now located at Dumalág, about 30 km from here. We shall not follow as it is very difficult to move around so much, and another thing, we have a good hideout within walking distance in case of invasion. We do not have to depend on Coné. John (our cook) is with us and I have another man to help us scram out. Saragosa (our maid) has been with us until two days ago – she is now on a 2-week vacation. Veronica (our other maid) does our laundry, so we are not so bad off as others. Some have no servants at all.
Today Coné went to his new station, but will return tomorrow (Saturday). Many things are happening every day and the papers never publish our losses in the Islands. All our big ships have been sunk – S.S. MAYON, DON ESTEBAN, DON ISIDRO, VENUS, PANAY, LEGASPI, PRINCESS OF NEGROS, and numerous smaller ships.
We have heard that some of the refugees from Manila travelling in sail boats have been machine gunned. Believe me, when we hear airplanes overhead we seek shelter at once.
I haven't written for several weeks and so much has taken place that I do not believe I can recall everything.
We are now in our latest hideout – a nipa shack way out in the mountains or high hills and we are very well hidden. There is nothing for us to do but wait and trust in God.


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Last Comic Standing – First Five
Last Comic Standing update – five comics move on to the semi-finals.
The first five winners are (in the order they were announced on TV) Felipe Esparza, Myq Kaplan, Rachel Feinstein, Mike DeStefano and Jonathan Thymius. I'd say the judges got it 80% correct. More in a moment.
I like the format of having the comics do a few minutes and then hearing some comments from the judges, even though it's a tired gimmick used by American Idol ane every other reality competition. It affords the comedians on the panel the opportunity to be funny, although only Andy Kindler is taking advantage of it on a regular basis.
Greg Giraldo had a couple of zingers, but Natasha Leggero spends most of her time…um…just laughing. (Not that most comedy nerds watching from home wouldn't want a hot girlfriend who laughs at jokes.) But the judges are overwhelmingly positive about everybody, which (1) doesn't match their facial reactions during the performances and (2) is boring and pointless, and hopefully not supposed to create suspense.
Clear winners for the evening? Myq Kaplan and Mike DeStefano, head and shoulders above everyone else. Both have excellent material, command the stage and have perfect delivery. Thymius is an unpredictable oddball (think a disoriented George Goebel), and although Feinstein is pretty funny I think her obvious sex appeal is contributing to her success.
Lucky finalist? Felipe Esparza, who only had one good joke (his closer) and then blew the timing on the best line, his last. I didn't think he was in the top half, let alone the top five.
Who would I have put in the fifth slot? Likely Chip Pope, whose solid routine probably gets the nod over Ryan Hamilton (best physical presence of the night, could have tightened up the story) and Adrienne Iapalucci (funny in spots but milked the same material bone dry).
Interesting to watch a couple of the comics go for one extended character piece, but it usually cost them – none more so than Lil' Rel whose five minutes seemed to be only an introduction to a far longer routine. Next week the other five will be selected, and then the real fun starts.
Filed under Comedy, Film/TV, Orphaned, Reviews
Tagged as Adrienne Iapalucci, American Idol, Andy Kindler, Chip Pope, Comedy, Felipe Esparza, Film/TV, Greg Giraldo, Jonathan Thymius, Last Comic Standing, LCS, Mike DeStefano, Myq Kaplan, Natasha Leggero, Rachel Feinstein, Ryan Hamilton


1) Dependent Exemption – You may be able to claim a dependency exemption for each child living with you. The dependency exemption for 2013 is up to $3,900 per child. The dependency exemption increased to $3,950 in 2014. The child must be considered a qualifying child or qualifying relative. The child must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or U.S. resident alien.
There are 4 main tests for qualifying child: relationship, age, residency, and support. Relationship, the child must be your son, daughter, stepchild, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, grandchild, foster child, or a descendent. Age, the child must be under 19 years old or a student under 24 years old. Residency, the child must have lived with you for more than 50% of the year. Support, you must provide more than 50% of the child's support. There are exceptions to these tests.
2) Child Tax Credit – Parents are able to claim the Child Tax Credit for each qualifying child under the age 17. The credit is up to $1,000 per child. The child must meet the 4 qualifying child tests. However, the child must be under the age 17. Finally, the child must be claimed as a dependent on your tax return.
3) College Tuition Credits – There are two college tuition credits. The American Opportunity Credit and the Lifetime Learning Credit. The American Opportunity Credit is up to $2,500 for the first $4,000 of qualified college expenses paid. You can claim the American Opportunity Credit for the first 4 years of college. After the child has attended college for 4 years, you can claim the Lifetime Learning Credit. The Life Time Learning Credit is up to $2,000 for the first $10,000 of qualified college expenses paid.
4) Child and Dependent Care Credit – You may be eligible to claim a credit for child daycare while you work. To qualify you must be earning income or looking for work. For two parent households, both parents must be earning income. The child must be under the age 13 to qualify.
5) Adoption Credit – For 2013, you may receive up to a $12,970 credit for qualifying expenses for adopting a child.


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Probing intracluster gas with Faraday Rotation from black hole jets
Towards the middle of the year, Honours students give a short 10-12 minute talk on their project for the year. Here's a copy of my talk, with a few extra details thrown in (since there's no time limit here!). This is mostly an introduction to the topic, with a bit of my current progress.
First of all, we should talk a little bit about Active Galactic Nuclei, or 'AGN'.
At the centre of nearly every galaxy we have a supermassive black hole. Matter that's nearby will begin to fall in, forming a disk which orbits faster and faster the closer in you get, eventually accreting onto the black hole. But in order to accrete, the material in the disk has to go from "spinning" to "not spinning" very quickly, and because we always need to conserve angular momentum, some of this material is slingshot out of the disk as a result. We see this material as giant jets of plasma that are expelled from the "poles" of the black hole, which we can observe at radio and X-ray frequencies (among others).
These jets are made up of a plasma containing a mix of protons, electrons, and positrons (the anti-matter analogue to the electron). These particles are travelling at relativistic speeds, at least on parsec scales and possibly up to kiloparsec scales. There are also magnetic fields threading and winding their way through the jets, although we don't fully understand where or how these fields are generated yet.
Radio galaxy Hercules A (3C 348). Image Credit: NASA, ESA, S. Baum and C. O'Dea (RIT), R. Perley and W. Cotton (NRAO/AUI/NSF), and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
To give you an idea of the scale here, this is Hercules A (right), also known by the memorable designation 3C 348. It's the giant elliptical galaxy in the centre of the image, and at optical wavelengths, it looks just like many other galaxies of its kind: a big smudge. But when we look in the radio (pink overlay), we see massive jets of material coming out from this galaxy. These are in fact about 1.5 million light years long, completely dwarfing their giant elliptical host.
These jets extend very far outside of their host galaxy into the Intra-Cluster Environment (ICE), and so it's reasonable to think that the properties of the environment could have a significant impact on these jets. This is something that's relatively well-understood and there are lots and lots of simulations of radio jets which support this idea.
There's also some observational evidence to back it up as well.
J150455+564920. Image Credit: FIRST/NRAO/VLA; Kapinska A.D., et al. (2017). AJ. 154:253
This image (left) is showing a source from the Radio Galaxy Zoo catalogue, with the central galaxy indicated by the green star and the heat map (the red background) showing the radio jets. We can immediately see that these two jets are very different. One (upper right) flares very close in to the core and then peters out a wisp, whilst the other (lower left) travels much farther and terminates with a hotspot. The characteristics of the jet, including things like length and brightness, are collectively known as the jet morphology. This is quite an extreme case, and such sources with extreme jet differences are known as Hybrid Morphology Radio Sources, or HyMoRS for short. Since these two jets have been produced by the same reservoir of material accreting onto the same black hole, it stands to reason that their asymmetry is caused by the environment. This is a case of nurture over nature.
So if we really want to understand how jets grow and evolve and why they come in so many shapes and sizes, we want to know as much about their environment as we can. Unfortunately, we don't have really great measurements for this.
Key parameters for the environment like density or magnetic field strength would typically be measured using X-ray observations. But these observations are biased towards denser or richer environments and to objects that are nearer to Earth. So the values we get for things like density in the ICE come with some significant uncertainties attached. When we then try to run simulations or interpret observations, the uncertainty is passed on to these measurements and it's difficult to interpret the data.
Abell 2029 viewed at (left) X-ray wavelengths and (right) optical wavelengths. Image Credit: CHANDRA/DSS
To compound this issue even more, a lot of the large-scale surveys coming online are being done at radio wavelengths. For the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), two surveys in particular, EMU and POSSUM, are going to be observing large amounts of the sky and lots of new radio objects. EMU alone is expected to observe over 70 million sources, where only 2 million are currently known. X-ray and optical surveys take much longer to run, and simply won't be able to keep up with this demand for environment measures.
What we need are better, more robust, estimates for the ICE, and our saviour might just be in the jets themselves. This is where my Honours project comes into things. This year, I'm investigating how Faraday Rotation could act as a measure for the ICE. My task is to simulate radio jets and their environments and see how different setups affect this Faraday Rotation that we can observe.
But what is "Faraday Rotation"?
Linearly polarised light through a non-magnetic medium (top) and a magnetic medium (bottom).
Right at the beginning, I mentioned that AGN jets are plasma and that they also have magnetic fields threading them. This means we have moving electric charges spiralling along magnetic field lines, and this ultimately results in synchrotron radiation. In fact, this is one of the main emission mechanisms for our jets.
This emitted light is mostly linearly polarised. All linearly polarised light can be thought of as the combination of a left- and right-circular wave component, and in a vacuum, these two components sum together and "cancel out" to give linearly polarised light.
But if this light travels through a magnetic field, then things change. The refractive indices are different for the two circular components. This means that they will travel at different velocities - one lagging behind the other - and when they meet up again at our telescopes, we see this as rotation of that linearly polarised light.
If the magnetic field is varying as the light moves through it, then it will be rotated to lots of different angles. These angles all superimpose as we collect the light at our telescope, making it look more and more like depolarised light. This is Faraday Rotation.
If we can find a way to relate the amount of depolarisation to the properties of the environment that made it depolarised, then we could use this as a measure for jet environments.
So this brings us to the equations to define it all:
Looking at the first equation, if we go through and do some physics then we know that this rotation angle is a function of the square of the wavelength that we're looking at. But we've also already established that it's going to depend on the environment as well, and this is the constant of proportionality known as the Rotation Measure, or RM. The key thing is that the RM is a function of both the density ('n' above) and magnetic field ('B') in the medium, although only in the direction of the line of sight.
Now we can't measure intrinsic angles of polarisation otherwise this whole problem wouldn't exist, however we can measure relative rotations in the emission across the jets. Now, using the equations above, we can interpret these rotations and perhaps determine, at least in a statistical sense, what the required distributions were for the density and the magnetic field in the ICE.
My aim, then, is to model this density and magnetic field, do some mock observations of jets through that modelled environment, and see what the distribution of polarisation angles is like.
So now I'd like to go through a little bit of the work I've already done.
This has mostly involved implementing some pre-existing models for both the ICE and the radio jets, and for both regions I'm modelling the thermal electron density and magnetic field strengths so that I can use that RM equation.
First I'll talk about the models for the ICE. I'm working with a spherical galaxy cluster with a radius of 1 Mpc, which I then resolve down to a scale of 5 kpc. This allows me to simulate some of the finer detail without making things too computationally expensive.
For that density parameter 'n' I just use a simple power law, inversely proportional to the square of the radius (shown above). For the magnetic field, we use a slightly more complicated model. The nitty-gritty details are not so important, but what matters is that we want both large and small scale fluctuations in the field strength, but not too small or too large. To model a field that varies with different periods, we seed the initial distribution in Fourier space. We also convolve this with our radial profile above so that the field is strongest in the core and weakens as we go further out.
So we have our density and magnetic field distributions set up for the environment.
Now I turn my attention to the radio jets.
Since these are also magnetic, any emission they generate can be rotated before it even leaves the confines of the radio lobes. Below is a very simple diagram of the lobe structure I'm using, which is ellipsoidal, or football-shaped. The central black hole would be located right at the centre of this ellipsoid, with the jets coming out to the left and right.
To make things simple to start with, I'm just assuming a constant density inside the lobe. In order to get lobes that are far longer than they are wide, the jet must be pretty under-pressured, so I set the density to only be 2% of the density in the core of our cluster.
When it comes to the magnetic field, I make things a little bit more complicated. I'm splitting things into two sections. The first of these is what I'm calling the "sheath": this is a thin outer layer on the ellipsoid where the magnetic field is wrapping toroidally, and it's shown by the purple arrows to the left. The second region is inside this sheath, and is known as the "spine": this is the core part of the jet which assume is randomly orientated, and these are the smaller red arrows.
These are similar to the magnetic field structures we see when we simulate jets with more complex magnetohydrodynamics, which is why I'm implementing it here. There's also some evidence of this observationally too. Since the RM depends on the magnetic field directed along the line of sight, transverse gradients can be seen if you observe the lobes from top to bottom. At the top and bottom, the purple sheath is pointing directly towards or away from us, giving a larger RM. At the middle, the sheath is moving perpendicular to our line of sight, and so won't factor into the RM at all.
We now have some basic models for our ICM and our radio lobes; this means it's time to see what kind of RMs we'd observe with a telescope.
I'll walk us through what the diagram below is showing.
Up the top, I have some schematics to show the system that I'm doing my mock observations on. The grey sphere is the ICM, and that purple football is the radio lobes. The blue arrows show our lines of sight: these are the paths that light takes from the radio lobes to our telescope, although reversed. On the left I have the radio source pointing straight out to the left and right, i.e. flat on the plane of the sky, whilst on the right, one jet is angled slightly away from us and the other slightly towards us.
The plots on the bottom are showing the RM as a function of horizontal distance swept along the jet.
For the system on the left, with our radio source flat, we see mostly random fluctuations in the RM. There's one larger spike, but it's mostly just noise from our noisy ICM magnetic field.
Things look very different on the right. First, the plot is a little shorter; this is because we're viewing the radio source in projection. We can also see that the jet pointed away from us now has effectively zero RM. All of those big spikes have been flattened out. For the jet pointed towards us, the amplitude is at its maximum and it's varying between maximum and minimum quite quickly.
We can understand this in terms of the path lengths for that emission. For the left-hand case, the emission has mostly travelled the same distance from the lobes. But for the right-hand case, any light that's emitted from the jet pointing away from us has to travel through more of that magnetic ICM. That means it'll be rotated to more random angles and these will tend to cancel out to give us zero RM. For the jet pointing towards us, there's a lot less magnetic ICM to move through, and so the light isn't so heavily depolarised. With the light travelling through fewer random fluctuations in the magnetic field, there's less opportunity for it to all even out.
This is a really interesting result, and we can already see how even slight differences in the orientation of our jets, or any of their parameters, could mean large changes in the RM. If we can characterise these changes, then we can learn a lot about our radio jets and their environments from this RM method.
I've said a lot about what I've already looked at, but there's still another half-year to go.
So what's next on my agenda?
My main focus through all of this is to improve my models. There are still a few changes that could be made to the ICM models, like including temperature variations or changing the magnetic field scales.
Mostly, I'd like to focus on the radio jets though. These are very complex structures and my current model is incredibly simplistic. I can investigate how things will change if I place the jets, say, just behind the ICM rather than in the middle. There's also a lot of room to make that jet magnetic structure more complicated by including cocoons and intermediate phases. Another point of potential interest is in something termed "electron ageing": this is the idea that electrons will emit less and less of this synchrotron radiation as they get older, so parts of the radio lobes that have more old electrons than new are going to be fainter, and this is something that will change as the lobes expand and get older themselves.
Finally, the holy grail for me will be to use radio jet data from more complex numerical simulations. These are generated using relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (RMHD), so the magnetic field and density structures that come out are far more realistic. However, these simulations end up being quite large, so including them in my model will mean that I'll need a lot more computing power.
Payton Rodman 24 June 2018 Honours, Talk, AGN, Environment
A guide to graduate scholarships
Payton Rodman 17 April 2019
Reflections on the AIP 2017 Summer Meeting
Payton Rodman 9 December 2017 AIPSummerMeeting2017, Conference, Citizen science, Poster
© 2019 Payton Rodman


Inspired by a background in classical percussion and an obsession with synthesizers, Jeremy Malvin creates music under the name Chrome Sparks. He grew up in Pittsburgh and went to music school at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Two years later, he left school and went on extensive tours as the drummer for Stepdad, Miniature Tigers, and Rich Aucoin. Jeremy currently resides in Brooklyn, where he spends his time working on music in his bedroom, often leaving it to play DJ sets.