The government of California has launched an online database of products containing BPA. "The database contains nearly 20,000 entries. It includes such details as a product's brand and description, size, universal product code (UPC) and category. It also includes a date column allowing manufacturers transitioning to BPA alternatives to indicate the 'use by' date beyond which products have been manufactured without BPA." Link to the database at the bottom of the page, not in the story. If you have lame Internet like I do, you might have to wait a moment for the database to load.


text:
Q: Java duplicate local variable. Stumped I am brand new to coding and trying to get my second program working. It is pretty straight forward as to what it does, but it is throwing an error on line 24 "Duplicate local variable confirm". Can't quite work out why it doesn't like what I'm doing.
Scanner userInput = new Scanner(System.in);
char confirm;

do{

System.out.println("Welcome to the story teller");
System.out.println("What is your name?");
String name = userInput.nextLine();

System.out.println("How old are you?");
int age = userInput.nextInt();

System.out.println("What country would you like to visit?");
String country = userInput.nextLine();

System.out.println("Great! So your name is" + name + ", you are" + age + "years old and you would like to visit" + country + "?");
System.out.println("Press Y to continue or N to start over");
char confirm = userInput.next().charAt(0);

  if (confirm !='y' || confirm !='n'){
 System.out.println("Sorry that input is not valid, please try again");
}
  else {
  System.out.println(name + "landed in" + country + "at the age of" + age + ".");
  }
} while(confirm == 'Y'|| confirm == 'y');

A: You're declaring confirm twice. Change the second declaration to just assigning to it and you should be OK:
confirm = userInput.next().charAt(0);
// No datatype, so you aren't declaring confirm, just assigning to it

A: Because your "confirm" variable already defined in the scope (second row). If you want to assign a value, just write confirm = userInput.next().charAt(0);

A: Another option to fix is to remove the unnecessary declaration char confirm;
And use it only when needed
char confirm = userInput.next().charAt(0);

As @ScaryWombat suggested, you will need to change scope of the variable (currently while is in different scope than do )

A: It seems apart from re-declaration of the variable confirm there are one or  more issue -

Issue 1:

After int age = userInput.nextInt(). It won't prompt for country input and will prompt Press Y to continue or N to start over.
Cause of this issue:
Since you are using int age = userInput.nextInt(); the scanner will only take the integer value from the input and will skip the \n newline character.
Fix
As a workaround, I've added userInput.nextLine(); after int age = userInput.nextInt(); such that it will consume the \n character after nextInt().

Issue 2:

After the 1'st iteration, this line will cause issueconfirm = userInput.next().charAt(0);.
Cause of this issue:
In 2'nd iteration you won't get a prompt to enter the name as the line String name = userInput.nextLine(); will take \n from the last iteration as input and will skip and prompt for age How old are you?.
Fix
As a workaround, I've added userInput.nextLine(); after confirm = userInput.next().charAt(0); such that it will consume the \n character after userInput.next().charAt(0) and the next iteration will go as expected.

Issue 3:

This logic if (confirm !='y' || confirm !='n') expects only y and n in lowercase but here while(confirm == 'Y'|| confirm == 'y') you are expection y and Y both.
Fix - I've added the necessary changes in the code below but would recommend you do change it to a switch case.
NOTE:

It is not recommended to do userInput.nextLine() after every input and you could simply parse it. See here for further information.

I'm not recommending it but this will get you program working
Scanner userInput = new Scanner(System.in);
    char confirm;

    do {

        System.out.println("Welcome to the story teller");
        System.out.println("What is your name?");
        String name = userInput.nextLine();

        System.out.println("How old are you?");
        int age = userInput.nextInt();

        userInput.nextLine(); //adding this to retrieve the \n from nextint()

        System.out.println("What country would you like to visit?");
        String country = userInput.nextLine();

        System.out.println("Great! So your name is " + name + ", you are " + age
                + "years old and you would like to visit " + country + " ?");
        System.out.println("Press Y to continue or N to start over");
        confirm = userInput.next().charAt(0);

        userInput.nextLine(); //adding this to retrieve the \n this will help in next iteration

        System.out.println(name + " landed in " + country + " at the age of " + age + ".");

        if (confirm == 'y' || confirm == 'Y') {
            continue; // keep executing, won't break the loop
        } else if (confirm == 'n' || confirm == 'N') {
            break; // breaks the loop and program exits.
        } else {
            System.out.println("Sorry that input is not valid, please try again");
            // the program will exit
        }
    } while (confirm == 'Y' || confirm == 'y');
}

Recommending that you use switch case instead of if comparasion of confirmation and parse the character and integer input and remove the arbitary userInput.nextLine() added as workaround.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Purdue offers up to $12B in opioid talks, reports say. Will that be enough?
On the heels of Johnson & Johnson's $572 million verdict in Oklahoma this week, opioid settlement talks seem to be heating up. Several reports say Purdue Pharma has offered $10 billion to $12 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits grouped up in Cleveland.
Under a potential settlement, Purdue would declare bankruptcy and the billionaire Sackler family who own the company would give up control of the drugmaker, Reuters reports. NBC News first reported Purdue's offer. The Sacklers themselves would pay $3 billion of the total, reports say.
A Purdue representative told FiercePharma the company is "prepared to defend itself vigorously in the opioid litigation" but has "made clear that it sees little good coming from years of wasteful litigation and appeals."
"The people and communities affected by the opioid crisis need help now," she added. "Purdue believes a constructive global resolution is the best path forward, and the company is actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to achieve this outcome."
Under the reported deal, Purdue would restructure as a "public benefit trust" for a minimum of 10 years, according to reports. Instead up upfront cash, the company would provide more than $4 billion in free drugs, including overdose-reversal medicines. It'd also chip in from profits of ongoing drug sales to bring the company's contributions to between $7 billion and $8 billion.
The Sacklers' reported $3 billion contribution toward a settlement would still leave them with billions in wealth. In 2016, Forbes calculated their net worth to be around $14 billion, with the wealth coming primary from opioid sales. The sides are approaching a Friday deadline to update the judge in Cleveland about settlement talks, according to Reuters.
News of the settlement offer comes right after a judge ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million following an opioid trial in Oklahoma. After the ruling, Wells Fargo analyst David Maris said he believes the verdict will prompt other opioid drugmakers to "think more seriously" about settling the more significant group of cases—the multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Cleveland.
More than 2,000 cities, counties and other entities from around the country have sued opioid drugmakers, distributors and other defendants, alleging their actions contributed to a national epidemic. Plaintiffs say drugmakers oversold opioid benefits for treating chronic pain and downplayed their risks, and that distributors failed to monitor suspicious orders.
Many of the lawsuits are grouped up in the Cleveland MDL. Maris said he believes a global settlement could come in north of $50 billion.
On news of the Purdue settlement offer, Maris wrote that he thought Purdue's portion of a deal "might be larger, and as such, we are not sure of the public's taste for accepting a $10 billion or $12 billion deal, let alone one that is comprised only in part of cash and the rest of royalties from drugs and donations taken at list price of high margin drugs."
But if Purdue does reach a deal, that could pressure other drugmakers to "move into settlement mode," the analyst wrote.
Already, as the first MDL cases near a bellwether trial in October, Endo and Allergan have inked small settlements to sidestep that trial. Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland has reportedly pushed for settlements as a way to resolve the complex litigation and to address the nationwide opioid crisis.
With the opioid overhang, some drugmakers are hurting. Teva shares closed Tuesday at nearly a 20-year low, while Mallinckrodt shares closed at an all-time low, Maris pointed out.
By Eric Sagonowsky
Source: Fierce Pharma
Merck to acquire German contract development company AmpTec
The deal will enhance Merck's expertise in developing and manufacturing mRNA for its customers for use in vaccines, treatments and diagnostics applicable in Covid-19 and various other diseases.
Goodbye pill, hello science: Pfizer debuts redesigned logo with double helix
It's the first significant visual redesign for Pfizer in 70 years since the company began using the blue oval background. The tagline outlining Pfizer's purpose, "Breakthroughs that change patients' lives," remains the same.
Fujifilm triples down on viral vector manufacturing with new $40M Boston site
The massive growth of gene therapy research and development over the last few years has boosted demand for viral vectors, the engineered viruses used to deliver therapeutic genes into patients' bodies. Tokyo-based Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies is stepping up to meet that demand.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


SLR is a leading global provider of advisory, sustainability and environmental consultancy services to manufacturing industries.
We have a long history of supporting our clients in the industrial sectors with industry experts who truly understand the complexities of manufacturing processes, the regulatory requirements, increasing cost pressures, and the need to build a sustainable business and supply chain.
We work with clients to provide strategic support and guidance, to help clients quantify environmental impacts (energy, water, waste, air, noise, ecological) and identify and prioritise actions to reduce the impact and business risk whilst also enabling business growth.
Our capability doesn't end at creating the strategy; our consultants work with clients to prepare options appraisals and develop a business case for sustainability and environmental implementation projects. Further to this they help clients to identify targets and metrics which provide business benefit and value. As many of our consultants have previously worked in industry, we work with our client team to deliver projects and drive value and minimise risk.
We support clients in a range of industries.
Since the introduction of the Sentencing Council's 'Environmental Offences: Definitive Guideline' in July 2014, the increase in fines has dramatically impacted on Water Companies.
IOSH is co-hosting four ISO workshops in different venues across the UK from 27 March 2017.
Rod has 30 years' experience in undertaking soil surveys, formulating erosion and sediment control plans, conducting land reclamation and revegetation programs, preparing water management plans and assessing environmental impact of industrial developments such as abattoirs, steelworks, alumina refineries / aluminum production plants and intensive agriculture (beef cattle feedlots, dairies, piggeries, poultry) and viticulture.
Rod is a Certified Professional Soil Scientist (CPSS Stage 3) with the Australian Society of Soil Science and a Certified Professional in Erosion & Sediment Control (CPESC) with the International Erosion Control Association (IECA). Having fulfilled the roles of extension officer, regulator, consultant and contractor, Rod is in the unique position of having an intimate knowledge and understanding of soil and water management issues within a variety of industries.
Glenn Reynolds is a Senior Hydrogeologist and the National Industry Sector Leader at SLR. With over 35 years of consulting experience, Glenn specialises in investigations of groundwater, surface water, soil and non-aqueous phase contamination plus litigation support and the development and approval of remedial strategies at industrial facilities.
Sue has over 30 years' experience in industry, having started her career as a Pharmaceutical microbiologist, and worked in the pharmaceutical sector. Sue spent many years working as a consultant to companies globally in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, foods and drinks, conducting business reviews, mock regulatory audits and helping companies to create strategies and implementation plans.
Mr. Hiller's experience includes more than 31 years of comprehensive health and safety administration and consultation. As the former Director of Environmental Health and Safety for a major division of Dana Corporation, Mr. Hiller's private sector work has exposed him to a broad range of industrial processes and stressors in manufacturing, R&D, and distribution environments. He has developed, instituted and measured the effectiveness of compliance and assurance programs on a global platform. Prior to his tenure with Dana, he spent several years in the chemical industry, specifically in coatings and film conversion acting as the organization's EH&S Coordinator.
Rob Hounsome has more than 20 years' experience as a leader responsible for operational and strategic leadership of consulting businesses across multiple offices and engineering and scientific disciplines.
He has specific experience of environmental management requirements of mining, oil and gas and manufacturing/industrial development of associated issues ranging from those affecting biodiversity and social impacts through to waste and water management, control on air and noise and emergency response planning.


One former American Idol winner has once again proven that not only is she a complete ray of sunshine, but she's a total trooper, as well. Carrie Underwood shared new details about her injury from November 2017 that provide more insight into what sounds like a terrible incident. Yet, Underwood's fighting spirit and positivity still shines through.
UPDATE: As Bravo's The Daily Dish reports, Below Deck star Adrienne Gang apparently took a photo with Underwood post-injury, which can be seen on her Twitter.
In addition to breaking my wrist, I somehow managed to injure my face as well. I'll spare you the gruesome details, but when I came out of surgery the night of my fall, the doctor told Mike [her husband, Mike Fisher] that he had put in 40-50 stitches in. Now, here we are 7 weeks later, and even though I've had the best people helping me, I'm still healing and not quite looking the same.
Bustle reached out to a rep for Underwood for additional comment, but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
This news comes after her injury was reported back in November by The Tennessean. The publication reported that Underwood suffered her injuries after she fell down the steps outside of her Nashville home. The singer's spokesperson revealed at the time that Underwood had a broken wrist and cuts and abrasions due to the fall, according to The Tennessean.
Ever since the singer's accident, she has yet to be seen in public or at any events. She was supposed to appear only days later at a Country Rising benefit event on Nov. 12, in support of the victims of the Las Vegas shooting in September 2017 and the victims of the Hurricanes Puerto Rico, Florida, and Texas, but was unable to attend due to the incident.
Underwood was also unable to attend the American Music Awards in November, where she won Best Female Artist - Country. However, the singer did tweet out her thanks to her fans.
In a recent Instagram selfie, Underwood gave fans a glimpse of herself in what was the first new photo of the singer in months. She posted an image of herself, with a scarf covering the majority of her face, during what seems to have been a family vacation with her husband and son, Isaiah.
The singer's fans have taken to social media to wish her well during her recovery. Many fans echoed similar statements and said that whether or not Underwood looks "a bit different" after the incident, she'll always be beautiful to them, inside and out.


What you are doing right now is the memory you will have years from now. The memories we want to last are the memories of meaningful relationships. Join us for this 4-week series as we encourage one another to invest our lives in what matters most!
Big Idea: Our most treasured memories are memories of meaningful relationships.
Big Idea: Forgiveness is the path to healing memories.
Big Idea: Everyone leaves a legacy. The question is, what type of legacy do you want to leave?
Big Idea: We can be part of making life-changing memories by sharing with a child in need.


We understand that privacy online is important to users of our Site, especially when conducting business. This statement governs our privacy policies with respect to those users of the Site ("Visitors") who visit without transacting business and Visitors who register to transact business on the Site and make use of the various services offered by Michael Proctor & Associates (collectively, "Services") ("Authorized Customers").
Personally Identifiable Information collected by Michael Proctor & Associates is securely stored and is not accessible to third parties or employees of Michael Proctor & Associates except for use as indicated above.
Visitors and Authorized Customers may opt out of receiving unsolicited information from or being contacted by us and/or our vendors and affiliated agencies by responding to emails as instructed, or by contacting us at 7929 Brookriver Drive Ste 640, Dallas, TX 75247.
How does Michael Proctor & Associates use login information?
Michael Proctor & Associates uses login information, including, but not limited to, IP addresses, ISPs, and browser types, to analyze trends, administer the Site, track a user's movement and use, and gather broad demographic information.
NorthTexasPropertySearch.com contains links to other web sites. Please note that when you click on one of these links, you are moving to another web site. We encourage you to read the privacy statements of these linked sites as their privacy policies may differ from ours.


text:
Astronomy, History of Science & Epistemology, My books & articles, Sciences
Cosmogenesis (10) : A Modern Account
October 20, 2016 Jean-Pierre LUMINET Leave a comment
Sequel of the preceding post Cosmogenesis (9) : The Big Bang Discovery and End of the Cosmogenesis Series.
According to modern physics the universe has undergone a gradual process of expansion and cooling ever since the big bang; at the same time increasingly complex physical structures have evolved. The history of the universe can conveniently be divided into two main periods: the first million years (infancy) and the remaining 15 billion years (maturity).
The Infant Universe
The Bubble Theory of Cosmogenesis. According to some models constructed according to the laws of quantum physics, the observable universe is merely one of a multitude of ephemeral "bubbles" created by spontaneous fluctuations in the quantum vacuum. The universe as a whole is like a rapidly expanding foam, each "baby universe" giving birth to more "baby universes" and so on in an eternally self-reproducing system.
Artistic view by S. Numazawa.
During the Planck era, time and the dimensions of space as we know them were so intimately linked as to be practically indistinguishable. Various speculative theories of "quantum cosmogenesis", as yet in their infancy, attempt to explain how our universe emerged at the end of the Planck era. Some physicists refer to its "spontaneous emergence", others to an infinite number of separate "cosmic bubbles" arising from the quantum vacuum like foam from the surface of the sea.
Between 10-43 and 10-32 seconds after the big bang the infant universe consisted of elementary particles bound by a primeval superforce. A few billiseconds later gravity separated itself from the surviving electrostrong force, which in turn, as the temperature fell to 1027 degrees, divided into the strong force and the electroweak force. Recent experiments in high energy physics suggest that these "symmetry breakdowns" had spectacular consequences: the appearance of strange objects; "topological defects" such as "cosmic strings"; even the onset of "inflation" – a very short period during which the universe grew immeasurably. The fundamental constituents of matter – quarks, electrons and neutrinos – also appeared at this time.
10-11 seconds after the big bang the temperature of the universe had dropped to 1015 degrees and the electroweak force split into an electromagnetic and a weak force, thus establishing the four fundamental forces and fixing the physical conditions for the formation of complex structures.
10-6 seconds after the big bang all quarks were "linked" in threes by the strong force to form the first nucleons, i.e. protons and neutrons. By this time the temperature had fallen to a billion degrees as the universe continued to expand. As particles became more widely spaced, they collided less frequently but one hundred seconds or so later the crucial process of nucleosynthesis began. Neutrons and protons combined to form the simplest atomic nuclei: hydrogen, helium and lithium (in various isotopes). Most of the universe, however, remained as isolated protons, i.e. as hydrogen nuclei.
Nucleosynthesis took place only for a very short time: the universe was cooling so rapidly that there was only time for the lightest elements to form. These therefore constitute 99 per cent of the visible matter in the universe today (75% hydrogen and 24% helium). The remaining one per cent, consisting of heavier elements like carbon, nitrogen and oxygen, would not be created until billions of years later, when the stars were formed.
Nucleosynthesis. Scientists at the particle accelerator near Caen in France (known as GANIL — Grand Accélérateur National d'lons Lourds) have managed to fuse heavy ions by making them collide at high speed. These computer-generated images show the fusion of a lanthanum nucleus with a copper nucleus. Such experiments help scientists to understand the process of nucleosynthesis which, during the first few seconds after the big bang, caused the fusion of hydrogen ions and helium ions, creating the first lightweight elements. Nucleosynthesis is one way of testing big bang theory, whose predictions as to the quantity of each element in the universe can be compared with experimental results. Indeed they are remarkably similar: the universe does in fact comprise 75% hydrogen (in mass) and between 24 and 25% helium (in mass). There is an equally close correlation between the predicted and observed prevalence of deuterium and tritium. Other experimental results are valuable in limiting the possibilities open to those refining big bang theory.
Montage by Philippe Chomaz (GANIL)
Until it was 300,000 years old the universe remained opaque; in other words it emitted no radiation: the density of electrons prevented photons from moving freely. But the universe, consisting of a "soup" of particles and radiation, continued to cool and expand until, at 3,000 degrees, it became transparent and emitted its first electromagnetic signal in the form of what we now detect as cosmic background radiation.
A million years after the big bang the first atoms were formed, when electrons were captured by hydrogen and helium nuclei, and these atoms combined into molecules to create vast clouds of hydrogen, out of which stars would later emerge.
The Birth of Stars
The universe today is no longer homogeneous like a sea of oil, as it was 15 billion years ago. Cosmic evolution has created all sorts of individual structures. Each single star probably has its own planetary system, like our own solar system. Hundreds of billions of these are combined into galaxies, like the Milky Way. In the part of the universe we can see it is estimated that there are a thousand billion galaxies. Some are elliptical, spiral (including ours) or lenticular; others, whose origin is still a mystery, are irregular in shape. Galaxies are grouped into clusters and superclusters to form the fabric of the universe: astronomers have identified several thousand clusters, each of which comprises hundreds or even thousands of galaxies; these clusters in turn form part of even larger structures, superclusters. Superclusters are arranged as if on the surface of gigantic cosmic bubbles, hundreds of billions of light-years across, which appear to be almost "empty" of matter (see p. 122), making the universe as a whole resemble a sponge. One of the biggest challenges facing today's cosmologists and astrophysicists is to understand how these bubbles were formed.
Different Models of Galaxy Formation. The formation of cosmic structures, especially galaxies and clusters of galaxies, was a problem that preoccupied cosmologists for more than half a century. Not knowing the exact process of evolution, they simulated various possibilities using powerful computers. Eventually they succeeded in creating a process which led to structures resembling those of the galaxies and clusters in the observable universe. Now cosmologists are trying to understand how even larger structures, such as filaments and bubbles, might have developed from minute fluctuations in the original cosmic brew. These pictures represent three different hypotheses as to the nature of the "missing mass" or "dark matter" of the universe: "cold dark matter" (a), "hot dark matter" (b) and a mixture of the two (c) – the last being the model which best accounts for the observed pattern of galaxies. Computer simulation by J.-M. Alimi, Paris Observatory.
One of the keys to this understanding is the decoupling of matter and radiation, which took place during the period when cosmic background radiation began. This was in fact when cosmic structures began to take shape, the moment when the force of gravity started to exaggerate the minute variations in density of the primordial gas: every "lump" in the soup would attract nearby matter, which would make it even more dense. After a few million or billion years the lump would have developed a recognizable structure.
When these lumps of matter reached a certain density, their own gravitation would counteract the overall expansion of the universe and make them contract even more. It is not known, however, how large or massive these early structures would have been. Were there originally individual stars, which grouped themselves into galaxies and then into clusters and superclusters? Or were there vast clouds which disintegrated into galaxies and then into individual stars?
Birthplace of the Stars, 1. Five thousand light-years from earth, in the constellation of Sagittarius, the Lagoon Nebula contains a variety of substructures including dark globules, Shockwaves surrounding newly formed stars, rings and jets of gas. © CFH Telescope
Birthplace of the Stars, 2. The Horsehead Nebula is a dense, dark cloud near the Orion Nebula whose dust absorbs all the light from objects behind it. © CFH Telescope
Birthplace of the Stars, 3. The Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius is about 4,500 light-years away near the center of the galaxy. Its pinkish color is due to the presence of hydrogen which has been ionized by a group of young stars in the center of the nebula. This expanding area is surrounded by bands of dust and globules of cold gas, which will condense to form new stars. © CFH Telescope
As inhabitants of the Solar System, we are still more interested in the formation of the stars and the planets that might be orbiting them. The material from which they were formed is gas – the same gas that fills the Milky Way and every other galaxy. This gas exists in clouds of varying density, temperature and chemical composition. Some of them, illuminated or excited by neighboring stars, appear as gaseous nebulae. It is here that stars are formed.
The "Pillars of Creation", 1. The M16 nebula in Serpens Cauda (Tail of the Snake) is a vast agglomeration of gas and dust about 7,000 light-years from earth, shown here by a photograph taken through the Mount Palomar telescope. © P. Scowen (Palomar Observatory)
The "Pillars of Creation", 2. The enlargement of M16 taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1995 (fig. 260) shows one of the "pillars" of hydrogen, each measuring a light-year (six thousand billion miles) in height, which are like gigantic star incubators. Just above the pillar, hot young stars that have recently emerged from it are bombarding it with ultraviolet radiation, gradually eroding it until "lumps" of gas known as EGGs (Evaporating Gaseous Globules) break off, some of them containing embryonic stars.
Gravity is the driving force behind the formation of stars: under the influence of gravity nebulae rapidly condense and collapse, eventually forming stars, which initially consist mainly of hydrogen. As it condenses, the gas in the nebula gets hotter; when the center of the cloud reaches 15 million degrees, a chain of nuclear reactions is triggered which effectively marks the birth of the star: it is the fusion of hydrogen to helium that generates the energy which makes the star shine. That energy also stabilizes the star by counteracting the force of gravity and preventing further contraction. This is the beginning of the star's maturity, known as its "main sequence", whose duration depends on the star's mass: ten billion years for a smallish star like the sun; much less for larger stars.
Bok Globules. Any extremely dense part of a nebula attracts the surrounding dust and appears black. These dark globules of gas, known as Bok globules after the American astronomer Bart J. Bok, stand out against the bright background of the nebula. Each of them measures less than three light-years across and has a mass of between one and 200 times that of the sun. Many astronomers believe such globules to be the matrices of stars.
Bok globule in IC 2944, © D. Malin
New-Born Stars. This cluster of new-born stars, about 2,500 light-years from the sun, suggests that stars emerge from their matrices in groups. These stars emerged from a Bok globule (in the Cone or Conus Nebula in the Monoceros or Unicorn constellation) less than two million years ago. They are shining not because of thermonuclear combustion, which has not yet begun, but because of gravitational contraction.
Star cluster NGC 2264 in the Conus Nebula. © D. Malin
Young Stars. The Pleiades in Taurus have always been a source of fascination. They consist of a cluster of stars about 400 light-years away, six of which are clearly visible to the naked eye. Through a telescope it is possible to make out up to 1,000 stars, arranged in what astronomers call an open cluster. The Pleiades are a young cluster: a mere 60 million years have elapsed since the condensation of the nebula which gave birth to them – not even time for them to move apart. The nebulosities surrounding these young stars are the remains of the cloud of gas from which they emerged. During the next few million years of their life they will continue to contract, gradually burning off their gaseous afterbirth.
Open cluster of the Pleiades, © D. Malin
Our Sun, a typical Main Sequence Star. The Sun is a star measuring almost 1.5 million km in diameter. It shines because of the nuclear reactions taking place at its center. In optical photographs the sun appears as a round yellow disc with a sharp edge. This visible surface, known as the photosphere, is at an average temperature of 6,400 degrees kelvin. X-ray photographs like this one reveal spectacular eruptions which shoot jets of gas at 60,000 degrees up to 100,000 km into space at 25,000 km/s. These eruptions occur when masses of cold plasma escape into the area surrounding the sun, known as the heliosphere. ©ESA
At the end of the main sequence the helium starts to burn, producing carbon, oxygen, magnesium, etc. This is where the history of chemical elements begins, a chain of nuclear reactions realizing the alchemist's dream of creating heavier and heavier (and increasingly rare) elements from the simplest material, hydrogen. Inside the largest stars all the elements up to and including iron are created, but no further thermonuclear reaction can take place. From then on no more energy can be generated and the massive gravitational pull of the star no longer counteracted: its iron core collapses under its own weight to form an ultra-dense nucleus, a neutron star or, in extreme cases, a black hole. As the star implodes, its crust rebounds off the nucleus in a massive explosion: the star has turned into a supernova.
The Crab Nebula. In the year 1054 an exploding star threw out the spectacular cloud of gas we now call the Crab Nebula. It also left behind a pulsar, an extremely dense object (a similar mass to that of the sun condensed into a sphere just 10 km in diameter) spinning 30 times a second and emitting beams of X-rays and radio waves like a lighthouse that has gone out of control. The nebula as a whole, shown here, measures 10 light-years across and is approximately 7,000 light-years from the earth in the constellation of Taurus. The white filaments are the remnants of the star which exploded. As they slowly dissolve into the nebula, they will "fertilize" it with heavy elements formed inside the star.
© J. Hester and P. Scowen (Arizona State University) and NASA.
This cataclysm, which occurs only to the most massive stars (at least ten times the mass of the sun), hurls into space all the heavy elements that were formed in the now defunct star and these provide raw material for the formation of a new generation of stars.
The very first generation of stars did not form until two or three billion years after the big bang; the largest of them grew rapidly until they exploded as supernovae, creating new clouds of interstellar gas. The second generation was formed largely out of hydrogen and helium but also incorporated some of the heavier elements created inside first generation stars. The pattern of evolution continued with subsequent generations, enriching the chemical composition of the universe and of the objects it comprised with increasing quantities of heavy elements.
Our sun emerged about 4.5 billion years ago from a cloud of gas known as a "giant molecular cloud". It may have been powerful shock waves from a nearby supernova explosion that triggered the sun's formation. The planets were formed, probably at the same time as the sun, out of gas and dust in the nebula. In fact every object in our solar system — the small rocky planets, the large gaseous planets, the asteroids and comets, etc. – emerged simultaneously from the same cradle: a gigantic cloud of hydrogen.
The Formation of the Solar System According to the Theory of Accretion. This illustration shows what the early solar system might have looked like as the planets were formed by a process of accretion or aggregation from planetesimals, bodies ranging in size from less than a millimeter to several kilometers. Any remaining material is rapidly burnt off as soon as the central star (the sun) begins to emit radiation (i.e. shine).
© Dana Berry / STScI / NASA
During the first 500 million years of its existence the solar system consisted of a flat disc of gas, rotating about its own axis, in which pockets of gas and lumps of rock were flying in all directions. These collided with one another and gradually coalesced into larger and larger objects, culminating in the formation of the planets.
Slowly each planet developed its own identity. The sun's heat burnt off the lighter, gaseous elements surrounding the inner planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars), which turned into balls of molten rock; a process of fusion forced the heavier elements (iron, nickel, etc.) to the center of the planets, leaving most of the lighter elements like silicon and carbon near the surface. But the outer planets remained entirely gaseous and even today consist largely of lighter gases like hydrogen and helium.
A Rocky Planet. The planets nearest the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars) soon lost their gaseous elements and developed solid, rocky crusts. Here the surface of Mercury is pitted with craters from meteorite impacts. ©NASA
A Gaseous Planet. The outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune) retained those gases and are therefore much larger than the inner planets. This photograph shows part of the surface of Jupiter, including the Great Red Spot (left of picture) and two of its many satellites, Io and Europa. ©NASA
A number of small objects avoided being amalgamated into any of the planets, which had no sooner formed than were bombarded by a veritable deluge of meteorites, asteroids, planetoids and comets. Hordes of these "minor planets" whirled about all parts of the solar system and the surfaces of Mercury, Mars and the moon still bear the scars from impacts they sustained during this period. The earth too suffered a similar bombardment before being protected by its atmosphere, which appeared much later.
The moon itself was probably formed when a planetoid the size of Mars collided with the earth soon after it had formed, tearing part of it away and disintegrating in the process. The lump of molten rock which had been detached began orbiting the earth and coalesced to form the moon.
Today the solar system is much "tidier": the few remaining minor planets have gathered either in one of the asteroid belts or in distant regions beyond Pluto, now and then visiting us as comets but only occasionally threatening to collide with the earth.
Collisions in Space, 1. In July 1994 the comet known as Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter, an event which was recorded at the Hawaii observatory using an infrared sensor and a telescope equipped with "adaptative optics" (to neutralize the effect of the earth's atmosphere). First the comet's nucleus was broken into 21 pieces by the tidal forces generated by the giant planet. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 STScI / ESA
Collisions in space, 2. Then the fragments of the comet SL9 plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere, causing huge explosions -some of them equivalent to the detonation of 100 million megatons of TNT: observers reported great mushroom clouds appearing about ten seconds after each impact. Scientists believe that the earth suffered similar collisions four billion years ago and, since comets contain large amounts of water, carbon and organic molecules, some researchers reckon that they could have brought the organic matter from which all terrestrial life forms have evolved.
Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 colliding with Jupiter, ©
STScI / ESA
Some three tons of rock fragments were collected from the meteorite which landed in Allende in Mexico on 8th February 1969. This was the first time anyone had witnessed material dating from before the formation of the solar system; it had probably been formed when the shock wave from an exploding supernova triggered the condensation of the original nebula. In this tiny fragment weighing just 300g (fig. 272) both chondrules and white granules are clearly visible, the latter being 4.566 billion years old – the same age as the solar system. The magnesium content of some of these granules is rich in isotope 26Mg3 a product of the disintegration of the radioactive isotope 26A1 of aluminium, which is produced by supernovae and ejected into space when they explode. It is believed that the first solar particles were created less than five million years after the explosion of a nearby supernova. In July 1994 the comet known as Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter, an event which was recorded at the Hawaii observatory using an infrared sensor and a telescope equipped with "adaptative optics" (to neutralize the effect of the earth's atmosphere). First the comet's nucleus was broken into 21 pieces by the tidal forces generated by the giant planet (fig. 274). Then the fragments plunged into Jupiter's atmosphere, causing huge explosions -some of them equivalent to the detonation of 100 million megatons of TNT: observers reported great mushroom clouds appearing about ten seconds after each impact (fig. 275). Scientists believe that the earth suffered similar collisions four billion years ago and, since comets contain large amounts of water, carbon and organic molecules, some researchers reckon that they could have brought the organic matter from which all terrestrial life forms have evolved.
Allende meteorite
Paris, National Museum of Natural History, Mineralogy Department
Rocks From the Sky
Chondrites are stony meteorites which are as old as the solar system: about 4.56 billion years. Carbonaceous chondrites are the oldest of all and their chemical composition is similar to that of the sun, minus volatile gases like hydrogen and helium. They consist of chondrules, tiny spheres (between 0.2 mm and 4 mm across), which were probably formed inside the protosolar nebula when grains of dust collided and fused. The white dust granules are among the first solid objects to be formed in the solar system; chemical analysis of these granules has revealed traces of protosolar dust.
Allende meteorite. Some three tons of rock fragments were collected from the meteorite which landed in Allende in Mexico on 8th February 1969. This was the first time anyone had witnessed material dating from before the formation of the solar system; it had probably been formed when the shock wave from an exploding supernova triggered the condensation of the original nebula. In this tiny fragment weighing just 300g (fig. 272) both chondrules and white granules are clearly visible, the latter being 4.566 billion years old – the same age as the solar system. The magnesium content of some of these granules is rich in isotope 26Mg3 a product of the disintegration of the radioactive isotope 26A1 of aluminium, which is produced by supernovae and ejected into space when they explode. It is believed that the first solar particles were created less than five million years after the explosion of a nearby supernova.
Other types of meteorite originate from asteroids or planets, which evolved independently of the earth and therefore have different chemical compositions. As these objects cooled, two nickel-iron alloys were formed, each with a different geometric structure – a complex pattern of oblique and parallel lines known as Widmanstatten figures. These patterns, which are revealed when a polished slice of the meteorite is attacked by acid, tell us what the interiors of other planets look like – worlds which are otherwise inaccessible to us. As the French poet Roger Caillois has put it, they are "the only drawings known to man which were not made on earth" ("Recipe", Minerals, Gallimard, 1970).
The Appearance of Life
The Creation of the Animals According to the Bible. This engraving by M. De Vos illustrates verse 20 of the first chapter of Genesis, according to which the creatures of the sea and air were created simultaneously. The artist has drawn mostly imaginary creatures which might once have existed !
In the mid-18th century the Swede Carl von Linné identified and classified 12 thousand species of living things, many of them obviously related. Then, in 1809, the French naturalist Jean Lamarck published his Philosophie zoologique, which broke with the traditional belief in the Creation story by suggesting that there was a hierarchy of species, from the simplest to the most complex, which had resulted from a gradual process of transformation. The simplest organisms had appeared first (spontaneously) and had progressively metamorphosed as they adapted to their environment and passed on the resulting modifications to their offspring in a process Lamarck called "acquired characteristic inheritance"; species that had failed to adapt to changes in their environment had become extinct, as evidenced by fossils. This hypothesis was contested by Georges Cuvier, French anatomist and father of palaeontology and comparative anatomy, who argued that species had become extinct as a result of the various catastrophes the earth had suffered since its creation.
The publication of Darwin's The Origin of Species in 1859 provoked violent argument. In it he echoed Lamarck's idea of gradual transformation but suggested that it worked in a different way: according to natural selection and the survival of the fittest. The development of genetics in the early 20th century led to general acceptance of the theory of evolution, even though its precise workings are still being debated and the significance of catastrophic events (both geological and astronomical) is now fully appreciated. Today we know that all living things, including man, evolved from the same primitive organisms.
Another crucial step was taken in 1865, when Pasteur put an end to two thousand years of controversy by demonstrating that fermentation was caused by organisms rather than resulting from spontaneous generation. With the advance of biological science, vitalism found fewer and fewer adherents as they were forced to accept that living matter and inert matter do not consist of different types of atoms but merely have different arrangements of atoms. At the same time, both chemists and biologists tried to discover how the first organic molecules were formed. In 1953 an experiment conducted by the American chemist Stanley Miller caused great excitement: electrical discharges (similar to miniature thunderstorms) were passed through a mixture of water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen (a recreation of what was then thought to have been early earth's atmosphere) and, after a week, a few prebiotic compounds were found to have been formed; among them were amino acids, the basic components of proteins. Today it is believed that the earth's atmosphere initially consisted mainly of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, which are far less volatile than the gases used in laboratory experiments like Miller's (although this does not necessarily invalidate them, since conditions more favorable to the creation of life forms might have existed in certain places).
The Creation of Life. In this completely revised edition of a work first published in 1877, the French astronomer Camille Flammarion described an imaginary tour of the planets in the solar system. He pictured Jupiter covered in raging oceans, violent flashes of lightning piercing the dense atmosphere — the sort of environment in which life could develop. In fact this sort of "prebiotic primordial soup", which Stanley Miller attempted to recreate in his laboratory 75 years later, might have existed on earth three and a half billion years ago.
Camille Flammarion, Les Terres du ciel, 1884.
It has recently been suggested that life originated in space. Astrophysicists have discovered organic molecules (amino acids, nucleic acids and fatty acids, etc.) in meteorites and other extraterrestrial objects. When these were bombarding the earth during the first few hundred million years of its life, they could have brought with them some of the organic matter from which the first life forms emerged. Indeed the appearance of the first living organisms coincided with the end of meteorite bombardment, approximately 3.8 billion years ago.
The fact that increasingly complex molecules could have developed from ordinary matter by means of standard chemical processes is not in itself problematical. What is in doubt is how life emerged from inanimate matter – in other words, how a new "order" was created. There are plenty of examples in thermodynamics of order arising out of disorder, but no one yet understands every detail of the appearance of the highly complex DNA molecule, of viruses or of cell tissue. Several scenarios have been proposed, but experimental results do not make it possible to choose between them.
Membranes to separate organisms from their environment, genetic fingerprints, metabolic and reproductive systems: primitive structures like these appeared during an early stage, even before the first living cells had developed, after several generations of prebiotic structures. They were initially anaerobic (the earth's atmosphere then contained almost no oxygen) and heterotrophic (i.e. they had to extract from their environment the organic matter they needed for growth). Five hundred million years later some of these cells evolved a new mechanism, photosynthesis, which allowed them to escape that need by using the sun's energy to break down water and carbon dioxide molecules to produce sugar and oxygen. Their success was demonstrated by the rapid proliferation of stromatolites, vast organo-sedimentary structures.
The metabolic activity of these new autotrophic bacteria, which released large quantities of oxygen into the atmosphere, brought about radical changes in the terrestrial environment: many cell types disappeared, "poisoned" by the new gas; some took refuge in the sea or underground; others adapted to it and became aerobic. The formation of a protective ozone layer, on the other hand, encouraged certain life forms, including primitive eucaryotes (cells with a membrane-enclosed nucleus), to venture out of the depths of the ocean. Of the three main branches of the family tree of life, archaebacteria, eubacteriales and eucaryotes, it is the last which is of particular relevance to human evolution. Eucaryotes developed sexual reproduction about a billion years ago, then multi-cellularity: marine plants, marine invertebrates, fish, ferns, insects, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, flowering plants. Just over a hundred million years ago plant and animal life as we know it was in existence – with one significant exception…
Various species of hominids developed in Africa about five million years ago, modern man (Homo Sapiens Sapiens) being the only one to have survived. In the 40,000 years of its existence — a blink in terms of the history of life on earth – our species has overrun virtually the entire planet. Although we share 99% of our genetic code with our cousin the chimpanzee, it seems that the remaining 1% is crucial – so much so that man has always considered himself to be the nec plus ultra of the evolutionary process. But, just as there is no constitutive difference between living and inert matter, so we should not imagine that there is a radical distinction between our large brain and the smaller brains of the other primates.
The Creation of Adam and Eve. First printed in 1503, Gregor Reisch's Margarita Philosophica is the earliest known popular science book. In it Reisch summarizes the scientific knowledge of the time. This illustration, which appears at the beginning of book IX, De Origine, upholds the traditional view of man's pre-eminence in the order of the Creation, a view which prevailed throughout the Renaissance. Despite the change in perspective brought about by the theory of evolution, the image of Adam and Eve would remain an icon of Western culture.
Gregor Reisch, Margarita Philosophica, Freiburg, 1512. Paul Getty Museum.
The emergence of life and the evolution of different species should be seen as part of a larger process whose context is the universe as a whole. The history of man's search for origins is one of a progressive weakening of the notion "beginning" – beginning of human existence, beginning of life, beginning of time – by substituting evolutionary processes for spontaneous, instantaneous acts of creation. According to modern science, there was no Adam and Eve, no "zero hour"…
The Structure of DNA. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is a molecule present in cells in the form of chromosomes. It has a distinctive double helix structure whose two parallel, twisted strands are held together by chemical compounds called "bases". There are four bases (adenine, thymine, guanine and cytosine) and the order in which they appear on each strand determines the cell's genetic structure. Almost all living things on earth have a genetic code which is the relationship between this four-letter matrix and the 20 amino acids comprising the cell's protein.
This is an artitic representation of the double helix of the DNA molecule.
The history of life on earth is now regarded not as an inexorable progression towards diversity and complexity but as a largely accidental process of "pruning" whereby only a few branches of an initially luxuriant tree manage to survive. The last 500 million years are now known to have witnessed a series of cataclysms which had a decisive influence on evolution, making it anything but the regular, ordered progression once imagined. During this period the earth has been bombarded by countless comets, meteorites and asteroids, which have caused widespread ecological damage and led to the extinction of numerous species. According to a theory proposed in 1980 by the American physicist Luis Alvarez, it was the impact of a giant meteorite 65 million years ago which caused the destruction of three-quarters of all land and sea animals including the dinosaurs, marking the end of the cretaceous period. This theory has since been corroborated by a number of discoveries, including that of a massive crater in the Gulf of Mexico in 1991-92.
As the American palaeontologist Stephen Jay Gould has written, if it had not been for this catastrophe which wiped the dinosaurs off the face of the earth, "mammals would still be small creatures, confined to the nooks and crannies of a dinosaur's world. […] We are the glorious accidents of an unpredictable process with no drive to complexity, not the expected results of evolutionary principles that yearn to produce a creature capable of understanding the mode of its own necessary construction."[1]
The irony is that we now seem to be the only species on earth capable of comprehending the universe from which we have emerged and of asking how it originated. Will we ever find the answer? There is no reason to suppose that we shall. As the French poet Jean Orizet reminds us, "We enquire of the spinning stars how they began, but our question merely glances off them and returns to us unanswered."[2]
[1] Stephen Jay Gould, Life's Grandeur, Jonathan Cape, London, 1996, p. 216
[2] Jean Orizet, Hommes continuels, Belfond, 1994.
Cosmogenesisgalaxy formationsolar systemstar formationune
Previous PostCosmogenesis (9) : The Big Bang DiscoveryNext PostMy books (3) : Celestial Treasury


text:
Potential new painkiller provides longer lasting effects ..........
Medications have long been used to treat pain caused by injury or chronic conditions. Unfortunately, most are short-term fixes or cause side effects that limit their use. Researchers at the University of Missouri have discovered a new compound that offers longer lasting painkilling effects, and shows promise as an alternative to current anesthetics.
"Because of its versatility and effectiveness at quickly numbing pain in targeted areas, lidocaine has been the gold standard in local anesthetics for more than 50 years," said George Kracke, Ph.D., associate professor of anesthesiology and perioperative medicine at the MU School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "While lidocaine is effective as a short-term painkiller, its effects wear off quickly. We developed a new compound that can quickly provide longer lasting relief. This type of painkiller could be beneficial in treating sports injuries or in joint replacement procedures."
Painkillers work by interfering with the nervous system's transmission of nerve signals that the body perceives as pain. Lidocaine is used as an injectable pain reliever in minor surgical or dental procedures, or as a topical ointment or spray to relieve itching, burning and pain from shingles, sunburns, jellyfish stings and insect bites. The new compound developed at MU, boronicaine, could potentially serve many of those same functions as an injectable or topical painkiller.
National Academy of Sciences member M. Frederick Hawthorne, Ph.D., director of MU's International Institute of Nano and Molecular Medicine and a pioneer in the field of boron chemistry, synthesized boronicaine as a derivative of lidocaine. By changing aspects of the chemical structure of lidocaine, the researchers found that the new compound provided pain relief that lasted five times longer than lidocaine. In pre-clinical, early stage studies, boronicaine provided about 25 minutes of relief, compared to about five minutes of pain relief with lidocaine.
"Although some conditions may warrant the use of a short-lasting painkiller, in many cases a longer lasting anesthetic is a better option," Kracke said. "Having a longer lasting anesthetic reduces the dosage or number of doses needed, limiting the potential for adverse side effects." While other types of painkillers can provide longer pain relief than lidocaine, they can cause heart toxicity, gastrointestinal issues and other side effects. Preliminary findings show no toxicity in single-dose studies of boronicaine, though more studies are needed.
"Boronicaine could have distinct advantages over existing painkilling medications," said Hawthorne, who also serves as the Curators' Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Radiology at MU. "We're conducting more research into the side effects of the compound, but in time it could very well become a useful material to use as an anesthetic."
Ref : http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cmdc.201402369/pdf
Potential new painkiller provides longer lasting effects
Labels: boronicaine, Drug Discovery, lidocaine, new drug, pain killers
Chemical compound shows promise in treating rheuma...
Salix Pharmaceuticals receives FDA approval for Xi...
Actavis announces FDA approval of VIBERZI (eluxado...
First-line axitinib 'feasible' in advanced, metast...
Drug combination lengthens lives of metastatic col...
Mifepristone-eribulin combination clinically activ...
Combination of contraceptive and cholesterol-lower...
Combination therapy provides promising results in ...
STA, Helsinn announce approval of AKYNZEO for prev...
Risk for endophthalmitis no higher with Avastin, f...
Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs could delay pros...
Dexamethasone May Help Prevent Severe Kidney Injur...
Potential new painkiller provides longer lasting e...
Viagra to prevent transmission of the malaria para...
Plant-derived compound targets cancer stem cells
FDA Expands Uses of Vyvanse to Treat Binge-Eating ...
FDA Approves Prezcobix (darunavir and cobicistat) ...
FDA Approves Glyxambi (empagliflozin and linaglipt...
FDA Approves Ibrance (palbociclib) for Postmenopau...
FDA Approves Dutrebis (lamivudine and raltegravir)...
FDA Approves Lenvima (lenvatinib) for Differentiat...


text:
Home » Language » English Language » Literature » How to Rhyme a Poem
How to Rhyme a Poem
by Hasa
What is Rhyme in a Poem
Rhyme is the connection of sound between words or endings of words. When two words share similar endings, they are called rhyming words. Rhyme is often used in poetry to make a poem more pleasant and enjoyable.
Although many people assume that rhyme comes at the end of a line, this is not true; there are two types of rhyme schemes in poetry: internal rhyme and end rhyme.
End Rhyme
Rhyming words are used at the end of lines. This is also known as external rhymes.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are"
Internal Rhyme
Rhyming words are used within a single line or between phrases across multiple lines.
"Who so beset him round with dismal stories
Do but themselves confound—his strength the more is.
No foes shall stay his might; though he with giants fight,
He will make good his right to be a pilgrim."
Importance of Rhyme in a Poem
It is true that rhyme adds beauty to a poem and makes a poem more pleasant and enjoyable. It is important to the structure of the poem. But remember that the content is more important in a poem than rhyme. So you should always give priority to content. A poem doesn't have to rhyme to make its point; a poem can also be written in free verse. Choosing the rights words that convey the appropriate meaning is more important than adding rhyming words to a poem. Therefore, rhyme scheme can be decided after you have determined the content.
Step 1: Write Freely
Select an idea for your poem. Write your ideas freely. Don't think about a rhyme scheme. At this stage, your poem will be in free verse.
Step 2: Make a List of Rhyming Words
Make a list of rhyming words. Make sure the words are appropriate to the content of your poem.
Step 3: Select the Most Important Lines
After you have written the poem in free verse, select the most striking and important lines in your poem – the lines that you don't want to change.
Step 4: Select a Rhyme Scheme
Look at some rhyme schemes and select an appropriate structure. You can use the lines you selected as the guide to your rhyme scheme. You can now use the list of rhyming words you made earlier. Check whether some words can be replaced by synonyms that match the rhyme.
Step 4: Read Aloud
Now read your poem aloud. You can revise the rhyme if you find any faults.
About the Author: Hasa
Hasa has a BA degree in English, French and Translation studies. She is currently reading for a Masters degree in English. Her areas of interests include literature, language, linguistics and also food.
What is the Difference Between Poetry and Hyperpoetry
What is the Difference Between Iambic and Trochaic
What is the Difference Between Narrative and Lyric...
What is the Difference Between Epithalamion and...
What is the Difference Between Song and Poem


text:
Home WinBuzzer News Facebook Closure Plan Announced in Papua New Guinea
Facebook Closure Plan Announced in Papua New Guinea
The island nations plans to close Facebook for a month to investigate several aspects of the network, and there is a possibility it could be permanently banned.
May 31, 2018 2:13 pm CEST
When it rains it pours? Facebook has been having a tough year. The Cambridge Analytica data scraping scandal is still fresh and ongoing, while the social network has faced usual criticism from authorities over privacy. In Papua New Guinea, Facebook could be closed, perhaps permanently.
The Pacific island nation has announced a plan to shut down Facebook for a month. During the temporary closure, regulators will investigate how the network affects citizens. The assessment will consider fake accounts, false news, data, privacy, pornography, and other negative aspects that are reported to be big problems in the country.
While the government says the ban is temporary, there could be further sanctions ahead. For example, if investigators don't like what they find, could they turn off Facebook permanently?
Sam Basil, communication minister in Papua New Guinea certainly pointed to a strict attitude. Speaking to the Post Courier, he said the government "cannot allow the abuse of Facebook to continue in the country."
Probably the most interesting aspect of this story is that the internet is not widely used in the country. Indeed, internet penetration is less than 15 percent. Obviously not all that percentage is on Facebook, so in reality not many residents of Papua New Guinea use the network.
So, this suggests the government has looked at other nations and wants to prevent universal concerns over Facebook from growing. According to the report, Basil hinted at a government-backed social network to replace Facebook in the country.
Before the ban is implemented, Basil will meet with police to assess the legality.
Recent Woes
As mentioned, Facebook has been in hot water recently. Over 80 million users had their data sold to Cambridge Analytica and the information was used to directly impact the last US Presidential Election.
A report from the New York Time and The Observer showed a researcher had access to personal data from over quarter of a million Facebook users. From these 270,000 members, the researcher could access 50 million friends and pass the data to Cambridge Analytica.
SOURCEPost Courier
Previous articleRussia Asks Apple to Block Telegram Notifications
Next articleQualcomm Snapdragon 850 for Windows 10 on ARM could Solve Many Problems
Microsoft Give Users of Cortana Control Over Voice Recording Access
Microsoft Commits to User Privacy and Details Legal Battles with U.S. Government
Microsoft Joins Group Seeking to Remove NSO Group Cyber Immunity


text:
The Washington PostSUN-SENTINEL
In the walnut-paneled world of chief executive compensation, the word underpaid acquires a meaning unlike any it has ever had before, particularly in a new analysis of the nation's 200 richest companies.
The report by Graef S. Crystal, a widely recognized expert on executive compensation and editor of the Crystal Report, gives Bernard Marcus, chairman of The Home Depot Inc., the retail warehouse chain, the title of most relatively underpaid CEO.
By Crystal's complex calculations, Marcus's $2.8 million in salary, bonuses and options last year was $14.4 million less than a rational market - by Crystal's standards of rationality - would have awarded him.
Much of this turns on the key factor in Crystal's analysis, performance. Home Depot came out best at returning value to shareholders as measured by share price appreciation and reinvested dividends. Marcus' fat pay envelope only seemed thin on Crystal's scale because Home Depot's performance was so good.
Meanwhile, the most relatively overpaid CEO, Sanford I. Weill of Primerica Corp., earned Crystal's booby prize because Weill was paid $50.7 million by a company that reached only the 64th percentile in rewarding investors.
A former professor at the University of California at Berkeley, Crystal spends his time in a small office on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe studying and writing and crunching and recrunching stacks of numbers as beautiful to him as the Sierra peaks outside his door.
"If the market was totally rational for CEO talent I could say that for certain company size and performance there is a predicted pay for each CEO," Crystal said. "The problem is the market is crazy. I can only account for 8 percent [of CEO compensation) based on company size and only about 3 percent based on performance.
"So only about 11 percent is based on size and performance and 89 percent is noise," Crystal said.
Compare that, he said, with baseball player salaries. University of Pittsburgh economist Kenneth Lehn found 74 percent of their pay was tied to results on the field.
Just below Home Depot's Marcus on the most underpaid list is David D. Glass of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. His compensation was nearly $1.3 million last year, but because his firm was near the top in both size and performance, Crystal concluded he ought to have received another $11.4 million. In third place is Raymond J. Noorda of Novell Inc., the Utah-based software company. Noorda's company is relatively small, but his compensation was so low ($199,000) and the firm's performance so good (third on Crystal's list) that he came out underpaid by $7.6 million by Crystal's reckoning.
Crystal acknowledged that no one should feel sorry for men who, whatever the number of digits on their checks, are usually worth hundreds of millions in company stock.
Sanford Weill


Shipping costs, time, and more.
All domestic orders over $100 ship free. All in stock items usually ship within 2 business days. We charge by item for every other order and show shipping charges at checkout.
Just fill out the contact us form with what you need and we will get right back to you.
We secure our site so it's safe for you to shop and buy our merchandise. We use the latest security protocols including SSL and keep our site up to date with the latest updates.
Yes you will receive a completed invoice at the email you provide during checkout. Please check your spam folder if you do not receive one.


text:
Balmoral, Regent hotel owners fight city's $1 expropriation in court
Amy Smart	The Canadian Press Published Friday, December 6, 2019 11:39AM PST
The Balmoral Hotel is seen in Vancouver on Monday, July 30, 2018.
VANCOUVER -- The owners of two derelict hotels on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside have launched a legal challenge against the city's plan to expropriate the buildings for $1.
The Balmoral and Regent hotels, which have been operated as single-room occupancy buildings, were home to more than 300 of the city's most vulnerable residents before the city ordered them shut down over safety concerns.
Council voted to expropriate the properties for $1 each last month, more than a year after failing to compel the owners to bring the decaying buildings up to code.
In a petition for judicial review filed in B.C. Supreme Court, Balmoral Hotel Ltd. and Triville Enterprises, allege the terms of the expropriation were "patently unreasonable, or made in bad faith," and the city breached its duty to procedural fairness.
The documents say the owners have pleaded guilty to failing to maintain the buildings but allege they have suffered "irreparable harm" because they did not have the opportunity to sell them for the multimillion-dollar market value.
The city says in a statement that it's aware of the petition and will file a legal response "in due course."
The owners allege in the court documents that they received 10 open-market offers for purchase, ranging from $7 million to $12.5 million per hotel, since the buildings were shut down.
The petition says the city made two offers to purchase the buildings, first at $6 million and then at $4 million, before the expropriation vote was cast.
But it says council's vote to spend $1 each on the expropriations "was grounded upon the incorrect assumption that the city had tried to negotiate in good faith with the petitioners and that the petitioners had refused to engage in good faith negotiations with the city."
The hotels were separately ordered shut down in 2017 and 2018 by the chief building officer after they were deemed unsafe.
When the notice of expropriation was filed in July 2018, deputy city manager Paul Mochrie said it was the first time the city had pursued expropriation with the purpose of providing public housing.
Atira Women's Resource Society, a local non-profit group, took over management of the Regent Hotel in 2018 before its closure. CEO Janice Abbott said at the time that she found mould in the rooms, ceilings that collapsed under the weight of water ingress and people living on urine-soaked mattresses.
The owners' petition identifies the shareholders and principals of the companies that own the hotels as siblings Parkash Kaur Sahota, 89, and Pal Singh Sahota, 80.
In November 2018, it says they pleaded guilty to violating maintenance law for their buildings.
But it says the decision to expropriate the hotels was "unreasonable."
"If the expropriation approval decision is allowed to stand, the petitioners will suffer irreparable harm that cannot be compensated sufficiently within the available compensation scheme," it says.
"Even if successful in securing $20 million in compensation through the expropriation compensation claim that will follow expropriation, the Expropriation Act only awards interest to a successful claimant at the annual rate that is equal to the prime lending rate of the banker to the government ... which is far below standard investment rates of return," it says.
Balmoral, Regent hotel owners should be paid $1 for expropriation: city report
Some DTES residents calling for transparency in future of the Balmoral, Regent Hotels
Expropriation notices filed for Balmoral, Regent SRO hotels
Vancouver votes to expropriate rundown Downtown Eastside hotels for $1
Vancouver Top Stories
Man with gun taken into custody after major police response on Sunshine Coast
Float home on B.C. lake seen sinking after heavy snow Saturday
More stormy weather in store for B.C., including freezing rain and high winds
Falling ice injures driver at Massey Tunnel
State of emergency still in place in St. John's
Canadian airports not yet screening passengers
Should snow tires be mandatory?
Canada's first drug-dispensing machine
Otter spotted in Stanley Park
More From CTV News Vancouver
New UBC life sciences lab unveiled
Construction underway on new park
Abandoned in a Calgary parking lot as a newborn, B.C. woman finds birth mother
Why are gang-related murders so difficult to solve? We asked a homicide investigator
Parents caught between work and kids on snow days have the right to stay home in B.C.: expert
'What would Jesus do?' B.C. student asks in plea to superintendent for a snow day
SPCA raising funds for stray cat found with serious burns on paws
Hummingbirds become an obsession for many during Vancouver's cold snap
Passengers had to help push a stuck bus through the snow in Vancouver
Take-home fentanyl test strips to be offered at some Vancouver Coastal Health sites
Van dwellers choose Vancouver over anywhere else, according to Instagram
Duchess of Sussex visits 'Justice for Girls' charity in Vancouver
Snowfall warning issued for Surrey, Langley: Environment Canada
Canada's first opioid vending machine launches in Vancouver
Will Iran cooperate with nations
Caught on camera: Cat fights off three coyotes


Here are a few stories of sea turtles rehabilitated at the Aquarium in recent years.
The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, is officially permitted to help stranded sea turtles.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) occasionally brings stranded or injured turtles to the Aquarium for medical treatment, satellite tagging, and assessment before these animals can be released back into the ocean. After they are released, NOAA and other organizations that track sea turtles published the maps of the GPS locations sent back by satellite.
A juvenile loggerhead sea turtle that came to the Aquarium in September 2015 with an injury was rehabilitated by the veterinary staff and released back into the ocean in November 2015.
The sea turtle was named Char Char after a Pokemon character. Because of the turtle's size, experts estimate it to be around two or three years old.
NMFS officials asked if the Aquarium would provide housing and care for the injured sea turtle.
Aquarium Veterinarian Dr. Lance Adams placed it in a behind-the-scenes holding tank. While the turtle appeared to be in good health, it had a dislocated right front flipper, apparently due to some previous injury.
Dr. Adams determined that the flipper would never function and in fact impeded its ability to swim properly. He made the decision to amputate the flipper at the elbow joint. The turtle made a full recovery from the surgery and NMFS biologists determined an appropriate release date and location.
Char Char was equipped with a SPOT-5 satellite transmitter affixed to the shell via the 'Seney and Mansfield' technique, which used flexible neoprene as a middle layer to allow for rapid shell growth as expected in small juvenile turtles.
Char Char was released on the east side of Catalina Island on November 15. In just a couple days, Char Char had traveled about 30 miles south to San Clemente Island. A map recording Char Char's movements is available on seaturtle.org, a website providing satellite tag data from sea turtles and other animals around the world.
Jeffrey Seminoff, who leads the NMFS Marine Turtle Ecology and Assessment Program, applied the tag and reports unprecedented numbers of loggerheads in Southern California waters in recent years.
He attributes their abundance to warm water temperatures off the coast. In 2011 his team counted zero loggerheads during aerial surveys conducted by NMFS.
In the last year, they have counted over 300, which means there could be tens of thousands of loggerheads in ocean waters off the coast between Santa Barbara and Mexico.
Char Char is only the third loggerhead to be fitted with a satellite tag in Southern California.
The other two, Coco and Matteo (released in April and July, respectively), can also be tracked on seaturtle.org. Seminoff expects the satellite tag to stay affixed to Char Char's shell for up to a month or more. The data collected by the tag will help him and other researchers determine how long loggerhead sea turtles typically stay in the Southern California area, whether they swim with or against ocean currents, whether they stay inside or outside of the Channel Islands, and other questions.
Typically, loggerheads live in the central North Pacific around the Hawaiian Islands and their only nesting grounds are located in Japan.
Will Char Char still have a long and healthy life and good mobility while missing a front flipper?
Seminoff reports that it is common for sea turtles, particularly around Australia where they are more prone to attacks from sharks, to survive and thrive with just one front flipper. While their swim stroke is slightly different, their migratory paths are indistinguishable from those of turtles with two front flippers.
After being rehabilitated by the Aquarium for several months, an olive Ridley sea turtle was released back into the open ocean by husbandry staff members on September 5, 2013.
The Aquarium was selected by NMFS to provide veterinary care and housing for the rescued animal. The Port of Long Beach and Harbor Breeze Cruises assisted with the release.
Marine Animal Rescue found the sea turtle stranded on Venice Beach in January. It was severely underweight, hypothermic, and had buoyancy problems when it was rescued. Olive Ridley sea turtles are listed as endangered.
The olive ridley sea turtle, also known as the Pacific ridley sea turtle, is a medium-sized species of sea turtle found in warm and tropical waters, primarily in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
The turtle was fitted with a satellite tag, so its movements could be tracked.
Periodic updates showed the turtle to have traveled south along the coast to Baja California, Mexico. Aquarium staff members stopped receiving data from the sea turtle's transmitter as of October 16, 2013. Either the transmitter ran out of battery life or fell off the turtle. In the future, if the turtle is observed nesting on a monitored beach or found deceased, she can be identified by her flipper tags or passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag.


AND THEN I DON'T FEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL SOOOO BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!
I figured I owed everyone a little extra effort tonight since I didn't blog last night (although I think one night I blogged twice, so it should all even out), so I give you a parody of "My Favorite Things" from The Sound of Music. It talks, obviously, about a few of my favorite things about today. Except Netflix. I actually didn't watch Netflix at all today (GASP), but it's still one of my favorite things.
Virginia House Blog-athon: I SAW IT AGAIN!!!
Virginia House Blog-athon 6: WHAT.
I Got The Power! ...except I kinda don't.


I Am Andrew Simmons, correspondent for Al Jazeera English, and fresh out of Syria. Ask me anything!
Andrew Simmons will be swinging by in an hour to answer your questions.
For proof, a quick description of him and to see the latest things he's been reporting on, click here.
He's just returned from Syria and is currently on the Turkey-Syria border.
Feel free to start asking questions, and he'll update this post (and start answering questions) as soon as he gets in.
Edit: Sorry, Andrew has been detained. At around 14:30GMT he said he had some breaking news to attend to, so we're waiting for him to finish that up.
Edit2: He just popped in.
Edit3: Update on the breaking news: At least 3 people were killed after mortar attacks from Syria land in the Turkish border region of Akcakale.
Edit4: Andrew's latest report: Syrian familes torn apart by civil war.
Edit5: Andrew's preparing for another live at the top of the hour (1700gmt) - he'll be here intermittently answering questions, and again later on after he goes on air. You can find our livestream here.
Edit6: While waiting for Andrew, you may as well follow him on Twitter: @simmjazeera.
Edit7: By the way, here is the original video of his Reddit AMA callout from the Syrian border posted yesterday. Also, ctrl-f rampart. No matches found. Thank you, Reddit.
Do the rebels have any chance of winning?
That is hard to predict. And dependant on how they can somehow co-ordinate their actions on the ground in a better way. Not only that and far more crucial they are crying out for more effective heavier weaponry and more ammunition supplies.
As many others have said, Thank you for taking the time to do this. These AMA's really are making reporters seem human again.
Recently, Hillary Clinton pledged millions of dollars for the Syrian rebels/Resistance. She pledged humanitarian aid, and electronic support/assistance. By your view, have these pledges made there way to the ground? Have you seen such missions being carried out? If so, what sort of aid has been given? By your own view at least.
I was in Istanbul when Hilary Clinton pledged more humanitarian aid in August and there have been more such gestures since. There is aid - but not enough - reaching the 90,000 + Syrian refugees here in Turkey. But on the other side of the border next to nil. Western NGOs and aid agencies are very thin on the ground, partly because the Syrian Government doesn't want them there, Last week I was at Atma camp - a stone's throw from the border where 7,000 internally displaced people are living in dire conditions. Many under the branches of olive trees strewn with the few blankets they possess. I spoke at length to a Syrian lawyer there who explained he didn't necessarily want to leave the country he loved.. he was living in those awful conditions to keep his kids safe. Sorry have to cut short.. shells have landed Turkish side of border at least five dead and we have to do a team briefing, Back within 15 minutes.
Thanks for doing the AMA Mr. Simmons!
Would you say what is happening right now in Syria constitutes civil war?
What do you think will be the biggest deciding factor in whether Assad stays or goes? What kind of percentage chance would you give the survival of his regime?
Can you say at this point whether the country would be better off one way or another? Obviously Assad has been brutal and murderous, but it's not difficult to foresee a potentially worse situation.
And lastly, how do you think the resisters in Syria find the courage to continue? It's been such a long and brutal conflict, it must take a tremendous amount of resilience and fortitude.
Sorry for all the questions, I don't know when I'll get another chance to ask! Thanks!
Without doubt this is civil war. Assad going a percentage chance???? I am not a betting man but I would put it as high. The only question is when and how. It could be a very long time with who knows how many civilian deaths before there is some solution which is more than likely in my view to be well after the US elections. This country would be better off with a political settlement but that is out of reach right now. A worse situation? It could indeed get worse and as things stand that is probably likely. If what you mean is could chemical weapons be involved or could the war spread regionally for now these threats are further down the road .. as threats I mean.
How many foreign fighters did you come in contact with?
Only a handful -- but I haven't been to areas where they are reportedly prevalent. They tend to be at the very frontline of conflict.
What's the average day like for the citizens there?
Have you ever been close to dieing from a suicide bomber or gun-fight?
The average day is absolutely dreadful for so many Syrian civilians right now. Please view the report running on AJE if you can - it's on again in just over 5 minutes. It hasn't been uploaded yet - I will post the link as soon as it is up there. It's the children who are suffering the most.
On your second question - I've never thankfully been near to a suicide bomber. In this conflict I have been lucky so far although only a few days ago we had to take hard cover during an air raid. In the past yes I have been too close to gun fights. In Grozny, Chechnya and in Bosnia. And in Iraq on Gulf War 1 I was taken prisoner by the republican guard in Basra for more than a week. At one stage it looked like I was going to be executed. However, it was at the end of the conflict and I along with the rest of the team for the UK news organisation ITN became part of the final peace deal by being classified as POWs and handed over to the ICRC in Baghdad.
Turkey has already closed its borders to internally displaced people in Syria who become refugees once they are here. They are allowing a few thousand a week through but that isn't enough. Turkey is overwhelmed by the influx of Syrian people – the total of officially registered refugees is about to reach 100,000 and you have to add to that a colossal number of unregistered Syrians most of whom have been smuggled across the border illegally – something that is commonplace at a cost to the Syrians. Politically Turkey is at risk of political isolation should it try to intervene militarily. Put simply without US support it will not do so.
Mr. Simmons, thank you very much for this. Where does Turkey stand on the movement of men and materiel across its southern border into Syria? How are weapons and ammunition, outside of store captured from the regime, making it to the frontline brigades?
Turkey turns something of a blind eye to the movement of men across the border and I have no doubt that arms and ammunition are crossing as well although covertly and with the watchful eye of Turkish intelligence services. I cannot give absolute evidence of this but I do know their intelligence agents are active on the border and fairy well appraised of what is going on. Again I cannot prove this but reliable sources have told me that much of these arms and ammunition are bought on the black market and smuggled along well used routes through holes in fences along the long winding border with Syria that stretches more than 900 kilometres. As for foreign arms shipments there appear to be none from Western states in line with their public statements. However there are unconfirmed reports of Arab states supply arms or the money to buy them. But how such weaponry is getting in is unclear.
How does the Free Syrian Army compare to similar groups in similar conflicts?
I normally baulk at comparing one warzone or force within it to another because every conflict is different. Syria is one of the most complex wars I have covered. The Free Syrian Army is an umbrella organisation that gradually started showing some signs of co-ordination. But now it has splintered and its very existence isa t stake. No one knows an accurate number of brigades, battalions, military councils and fighting groups. The head of the FSA Riad al-Asaad who has been trying to run his campaign from Turkey is under serious pressure now because of dissent and outright hostility on the ground in Syria. I reported on this two days ago. A new command of military councils has now been formed that claims 80 per cent support. One of the main aspects of the frequent switches of allegiance from one command to another is the poor supply of weapons, almost exclusively off the black market, that the FSA gets. Riad al-Asaad told Al Jazeera English in a rare exclusive interview that he hasn't received one bullet from any foreign power. However other groups do seem to be getting much better arms shipments from Arab states. It gets complicated but as for comparing the FSA to similar groups in similar conflicts I would say there are no such similar groups and no such similar conflicts.
If the anti-government forces succeed in toppling the regime could it inspire other revolutions in other Arab states? Would a decisive victory by the al-Assad regime quell protests and slow the spread of the Arab Spring?
This of course is a possibility. There is little doubt that the Syrian uprising would not have happened had it not been for the Arab Spring starting in Tunisia and inspiring the Egyptian revolution and then the uprising in Libya. As for a decisive victory by Assad quelling protests elsewhere that is a hard call. I think it unlikely. I also find it hard to foresee Assad remaining as president should there be a political settlement eventually.
What are the main foreign interests in Syria? Who is (or isn't) supporting which side of the struggle, and for what reasons? And why are the UN having such trouble there?
The main foreign interests in Syria are these: Iran, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar, Egypt, the USA of course, Europe (particularly France of late), Russia and China. Russia and China are with the Assad government. The rest support opposition to Assad but they are split on which elements of resistance both politically and militarily they are prepared to back.
As for the UN – the Security Council is impotent in taking any action. Resolutions have been vetoed by China and Russia. And the UN General Assembly is turning out to be little more than talking shop and place for all sides to grandstand. Meanwhile the abysmal human tragedy of Syria carries on.
Since there is all this death in destruction going on in Syria have you seen something while you were there that has restored your faith in humanity?
The level of support civilians have for each other -- often selfless under the most appalling circumstances. And a lawyer sitting under an olive tree in Atma IDP camp with absolutely nothing apart from the love and care that made his 3 kids smile. And he was smiling too. I gave him a Turkish cellphone and SIM card and we'll keep in touch.
How much is your station influenced by the fact that the Qatari royal family is funding you? They are really pro America and against countries who are openly hostile to western interference.
This fact is also why your network has lost a lot of face, would be great with your perspective on it.
I answer this with all sincerity as a Correspondent of 57 years of age with three decades of experience in broadcast news. Not once with AlJazeera English have I been swayed, censored or had story ideas refused in my seven years with the organisation. And I know I also speak on behalf of my colleagues in saying this. Please judge our journalism from what you see on screen, not the predictable lines you have obviously seen in other media.
What is the most interesting thing you have encountered during your time spent reporting in Syria?
DEPENDS WHAT YOU MEAN BY INTERESTING. IN TERMS OF NEWS INTEREST THE MOMENT IS NOW. SORRY I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO ANSWER MORE QUESTIONS BUT I HAVE BEEN REPORTING LIVE FOR THE PAST THREE HOURS IN OPEN ENDED COVERAGE OF TURKEY'S ARTILLERY ATTACK ON SYRIA IN RESPONSE TO THE ASSAD FORCES MORTAR THAT KILLED FIVE TURKISH NATIONALS AMONG THEM CHILDREN. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME TURKEY HAS RESPONDED MILITARILY IN THE 19MONTH CONFLIC. DIPLOMATIC HOTLINES ARE BUZZING. NATO EMERGENCY MEETING SOON.
What was a typical day like for you while in Syria?
Getting very little sleep although I was so exhausted at one point that I slept though an air raid in Jabal AlZawiya with one bomb landing fairly close. Getting stressed by the time it takes to get from A to B - with fuel shortages you have to be vigilant about having enough to make your destination. Food isn't in short supply so no real problems there. The stories covered made for different days really - not a typical one. In Jab alZawiyah the random nature of shelling and air attacks was a constant. It was striking how extraordinarily resilient civilians have become in dealing with the threat. Digging out their gardens to make bomb shelters, some using caves. There is a mood of sad acceptance that the war will be prolonged.
Is there any fear of retribution in the Alawite community if the rebels are able to unseat al-Assad?
Do you think that kind of retribution is likely?
I am afraid sadly the answer is yes.
In your opinion, is there any way this conflict could end other than either side claiming a military victory? Would Bashar al-Assad ever conceivably step aside under an amnesty agreement, power-sharing arrangement, or some other non-military option?
EDIT: Removed a small typo.
I think your question is well put. Russia wants to see a political settlement along the lines of the latter part of your question. However, all sides in this have come so far down a bloody road it is hard to see anything settled in the near future. But many observers feel realpolitik will have to kick in eventually. One has to ask what the people of Syria want - they don't have a vote or any means of an opinion poll. The longer this goes on the more polarised it gets with sectarianism making a peaceful solution appearing unattainable.
When is your next shipment?
Fresh as described by an online colleague isn't the word I would use to describe my state. And as for shipments, carrying a rucksack with a couple of changes of clothes, some protective body armour and water supplies with long walks across borders is about all any shipment amounts to on newsgathering assignments.
sigh I bet this will be ignored or buried, but I wanted to ask how you got your career started at Al Jazeera Mr. Simmons? I love the courage journalists like you have to dive right into the action and come out with a story.
My career started in tv news three decades ago. I was a correspondent for the UK's Independent Television News for 16 years followed by Sky News then the BBC. I had been based in West Africa when I was asked by a former ITV colleague to join AJE pre-launch and set up Africa Bureaux. I hesitated at first but then jumped in at the deep end in June 2005. And I've never looked back. In 2006 I moved to Nairobi, Kenya in 2006 and I transferred to London News Centre two years ago. But I'm on the road most of the time. It's a great channel for independent journalism. Multinational spread of staff,culture and receptive to ideas form the field in a way I haven't experienced at any stage in my career.
Are you always fearful of your surroundings? Are you always alert just in case you end up in the wrong place at the wrong time?
Yes you have to be alert - not just for yourself but the camera person who takes more risks than the Correspondent. In TV news the pictures are obviously the priority and that sometimes means taking calculated risks as a team. We are also so dependant very often on fixer/translator/guides who are much braver than us. And so often we leave them behind when the assignment is over. They deserve more plaudits than us in making things happen. As for wrong place wrong time well yes you are mindful of that but if it spooks you through some instinct then you just don't do it.
Do you speak Arabic? If so, do you've any advice for an English speaker in the process of learning it? It's damn hard.
I don't speak Arabic and wish I did. And I agree it is very hard - especially at my age. Please pass on any advice!
How long do you expect the conflict to continue?
Impossible to judge. I would suggest that it will be well after the U.S elections.
So what's the deal with Turkeys counter artillary strike against Syria? Are we looking at a war between the two nations now?
Syria just attacked Turkey and the situation between the two nations has escalated.
In your professional opinion, do you think Turkey will strike back?
That question has been answered now by events -- I hope you can watch AJE online for updates. Please see earlier post for my brief thoughts.


Hi Brad! I wish the Walt Disney World website had detailed maps of the resorts online, but the maps page of the website only shows general locations of the resorts. However, several unofficial websites have maps of the Port Orleans resort. I've found the unofficial site www.PortOrleans.org to have lots of helpful information, and you will find a detailed map of the Port Orleans Riverside on that site.


text:
Q: A finite summation of combinations Let $p$ be an odd prime. Is it true that
$$-\left(\begin{array}{c}p+1\\ 2\end{array}\right)+\left(\begin{array}{c}p+1\\ 3\end{array}\right)\dots+\left(\begin{array}{c}p+1\\ p\end{array}\right)-\left(\begin{array}{c}p+1\\ p+1\end{array}\right)=p?$$
I could show that it is true for $p\in\{3,5\}$, but I could not prove it.
Any help will be greatly appreciated!
Note: For positive integers $k$ and $n$, where $k\leq n$,
we define $\left(\begin{array}{c}n\\ k\end{array}\right)=\frac{n!}{k!(n-k)!}$.

A: It isn't true: for $p=3$ you have $-\binom42+\binom43=-6+4=-2$. You need to switch the signs, so that the first term is positive. Then it's true much more generally.
For any $n>0$ we have
$$\sum_{k=0}^n(-1)^k\binom{n}k=0\;;$$
you see this by recognizing the summation as the expanion of $\big((-1)+1\big)^n$ using the binomial theorem (and in various other ways as well). After you reverse your signs, what you have (when $n=p+1$) is
$$\begin{align*}
\sum_{k=2}^n(-1)^k\binom{n}k&=\sum_{k=0}^n(-1)^k\binom{n}k-\sum_{k=0}^1(-1)^k\binom{n}k\\
&=0-\binom{n}0+\binom{n}1\\
&=n-1\;.
\end{align*}$$

A: $$\sum_{i=0}^{p+1}\binom{p+1}{i}(-1)^{i+1}=0$$
as $\binom{p+1}{i}=\binom{p+1}{i+2(i-\frac{p+1}{2})}\hspace{10mm}\forall i<\frac{p+1}{2}$ as the binom is symmetric and $p+1$ is even.
From there you just take
$$\sum_{i=0}^{p+1}\binom{p+1}{i}(-1)^{i+1} + \binom{p+1}{1}-\binom{p+1}{0}=0+p+1-1=p$$
to eliminate the first 2 elements
You just need to reverse the signs to do this