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All Tensors Secretly Wish to be Themselves
Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtneon Unsplash
16 is by no means a big number. How many MAC units would be required to compute a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to produce 16 output channels of a 16×16 tile from 16-deep 3×3 tensor convolution in, say, 64 clocks?
It would take at least 9,216 MAC units if not using a fast algorithm. 9,216 MAC units would commonly be used to construct a 96×96 systolic array, but it takes at least a latency of 96 clocks to calculate a 96×96 matrix multiplication (MM). A long train of 96 96×96 matrix multiplications would be required to keep the systolic array occupied.
Welcome to the world of tensors in AI. It is now time to get used to the curse of dimensionality.
The title of this article is inspired by and a counter-response to a quote from Professor Charles F. Van Loan in his lecture on tensor unfoldings in 2010.
All tensors secretly wish that they were matrices!
This statement demonstrates the desire of the tensor research community to study tensors by first unfolding them into matrices and then leveraging well-established matrix-theoretic frameworks to study them. It is also an industry standard practice to flatten tensors all the way to matrices to leverage the highly optimized libraries for matrix multiplication (MM) or MM accelerators (MMAs), even though tensors are considered to be the most fundamental data type in all major AI frameworks. Matrices are generally considered to be special cases of tensors by the AI community.
Here might be what conventional wisdom says:
There are very nice parallelism and data-sharing patterns in MM to leverage.
Matrices are a more natural or native fit for programmable hardware than tensor.
There is a native hardware acceleration solution, the systolic array, for MM.
CNNs are structurally equivalent to MMs. It is not necessary to flatten tensors to leverage the MM-equivalent parallelism and data-sharing patterns.
Matrices are recursively blocked for temporal locality and packed for spatial locality while climbing up the memory hierarchy. They finally become micro panels, which are small block rows or columns, to be consumed by a software microkernel or GPU shader kernel.
In my review of Google's TPU v1 with 256×256 systolic array, the issue of scalability from the curse of the square shape of a systolic array was addressed. Since then it seems to be mainstream to use multiple relatively smaller systolic arrays. For this reason, matrices must be similarly blocked and packed before they are in the square matrix shape that can be consumed by systolic arrays.
As a result, matrices from flattening out tensors are actually blocked and packed to be in the appropriate structure for high-performance execution as illustrated below. The former can be referred to as flat-unfolding, and the latter as block-unfolding. Matrices become the default data type for CNN and AI in general because of the efforts from decades of researching, building, and leveraging the block matrix framework for high-performance MM implementations.
Block-unfolding of a MM
Following the conventional wisdom, a feature map in CNN is coerced to be a column of some matrix and a convolution filter is flattened out to be some consecutive matrix elements in a column. The potential for spatial and temporal reuses of neighboring pixels in a feature map is lost as a result of flat-unfolding.
One key feature of recursive matrix block-unfolding in MM is that high-level temporal and spatial localities are preserved when the matrices are moving closer to the bare metal of hardware. It should be intriguing to see whether data localities in CNN can be preserved similarly in the tensor form.
It is a reasonable design choice to partition a feature map into tiles and keeping the tiling structure for re-using filters, leveraging fast algorithms for small tiles, and achieving fine-grain SIMD-like parallelism. The tensors should remain as tensors while approaching the bare metal to keep the tiling structure and data locality in a feature map intact.
Furthermore, locality patterns among the input feature maps and output feature maps must be addressed. The former allows data from multiple input feature maps to be shared for the calculation of multiple output feature maps. The latter enables a bigger audience to share the input feature maps. The twist is that you cannot share the whole, and all feature maps since producing an output pixel do not require the whole input feature maps, and it would be impractical to keep all the feature maps on-chip. To conclude, all dimensions need to be partitioned or blocked to some extent, and such a consideration leads to tensors being partitioned into smaller ones and becoming block tensors.
A block tensor is a tensor whose entries are tensors. It is a counterpart of the block matrix.The concept of block tensors can be used to address the curse of dimensionality and preserve the data locality in CNN, similar to how the high-performance computing (HPC) industry adopted the concept of block matrix for MM. Tensor packets, equivalent to micro panels or square submatrices in MM, are defined to be the basic tensor units that must be processed atomically to leverage spatial locality along all dimensions. A tensor block, consisting of tensor packets, is defined as the tensor units that must be transferred between computing units and external memory in their entirety to facilitate temporal locality among the tensor packets.
The atomic tensor packet operation is defined to be producing a minimally sufficient number of output channels of minimally sufficient-sized tiles from a minimally sufficient number of input channels. Due to the curse of dimensionality in tensors, processing such tensor packets could become a big effort even though each tensor packet is small in size in each dimension. It can be iterated or applied concurrently within a tensor block to solve bigger problems. The ideas are elaborated semi-formally in the rest of the post.
Input A and output C of a CNN consist of multiple input feature maps (IFMs), and output feature maps (OFMs), respectively. They can be considered as 3-dimensional tensors, with dimensions x, y for feature maps, input depth w for indexing IFMs, and output depth z for indexing OFMs. In order to achieve fine-grain SIMD parallelism and leverage fast algorithms with spatial locality, each feature map can be further partitioned along x and y dimensions into tiles. The compound index (tx, ty) is used to identify an input tile and an output tile, respectively. For each unique pair of an IFM w and an OFM z, there is a filter B(w, z), typically consisting of 3×3 filter parameters. The input and output tensors become block tensors of tiles as illustrated below
CNN in terms of block tensors of tiles
Tiled CNN can be represented more compactly and precisely in tensor-theoretic notations as follow:
The colon notation means taking all data from that dimension. A(:, :, w) represents IFM w, since it takes all tiles from that IFM.
Conventional wisdom says we must flat-unfold tensors to matrices to leverage the parallelism and data-sharing patterns in MMs. However, it is actually the other way around. CNNs are structurally equivalent to MMs in terms of their parallelism and data-sharing patterns as shown below, and that is the reason why MMs have been so pervasively used in CNNs.
CNNs are structurally equivalent to MMs
The rows of A can be blocked since the computations of rows in C are independent. Equivalently, a feature map can be tiled since pixels can be independently computed.
The MM-equivalent parallelism and data-sharing pattern remains intact with respect to tiles.
Output tiles in the same feature map share the same filters but not the same input tiles. Output tiles along the output dimension share the same input tiles, but not the same filters. The equivalence between MMs and CNNs can be described more compactly in tensor-theoretic notations in the following table:
Now, imaging size of on-chip memory is constrained, and it is desirable to fully leverage the MM-equivalent data-sharing patterns in CNNs among IFMs, OFMs, and filters within a chunk of data that we bring on-chip. What should the geometry of the chunk of data look like? It must have sufficient (x, y) to reuse the filters, sufficient w to have enough input data to be shared, and sufficient z to effectively share the input data as illustrated below:
On-chip buffers must have sufficient coverages along all dimensions
This observation leads to blocking w and z dimensions in addition to blocking x and y dimensions, which we have already done. This is to make sure input and output chunks of data cover a minimally sufficient number of IFMs and OFMs, respectively. New indexes tw and tz are introduced to identify a group of IFMs, and a group of OFMs, respectively. We define an input tensor packet A(tx, ty, tw) as a group of (tx, ty)-aligned tiles from IFM group tw. Similarly, we define C(tx, ty, tz) as a group of (tx, ty)-aligned tiles from OFM group tz. B(tw,tz) represents a group of filters, each for a pair of an IFM from group tw, and an OFM from group tz. It is called a filter tensor packet. Input, output, and filter tensors are now block tensors of tensor packets as shown below
CNN in terms of block tensors of tensor packets
MM-equivalent parallelism and data-sharing pattern remains intact with respect to tensor packets.
A tensor microkernel in software or a tensor packet engine in hardware could be designed to handle the atomic operation of convolving an input tensor packet A(tx, ty, tw) with a filter tensor packet B(tw, tz) as illustrated below:
Atomic tensor packet operation
Assume input and output tiles are 6×6 and 4×4, respectively, and use 8 as the size of an IFM group and an OFM group. Without using a fast algorithm for 3×3 convolution, it takes 2,304 MAC units to finish this operation in 4 clocks. The 2,304-way parallelism is invested fairly equally among all dimensions, including x and y along a feature map, input depth w, and output depth z. Blocking with small tile size such as 4×4 enables the use of a fast algorithm such as Winograd so that 2,304-way parallelism can be achieved with only 576 MAC units.
A tensor packet is the fundamental unit to be consumed in its entirety by the computing units. In order to preserve the data locality and tiling structure among the tiles, we introduce an intermediate block level between the full tensor and tensor packet, tensor block, to include the tensor packets we want to bring on-chip in their entirety. It is the fundamental unit for temporal locality among tiles, and for spatial locality when there are sufficient computing units, on-chip memory, and supplying bandwidth. A tensor block is identified with (bx, by, bz) along x, y, and z dimensions.
Below is an example of recursive blocking of tensors. An entire tensor is a block tensor of 4x4x2 block tensors of 1x1x8 block tensors of 4×4 tiles, where (dx, dy) is an offset to find a pixel within a tile, and dz is an index to identify a specific feature map within a group.
Recursive blocking of tensors to preserve locality in a feature map
Tensor blocks are stored linearly in memory. We do not need to worry about how exactly they are ordered. For a tensor block, there would be two different block-unfolding orders, one optimized to store a tensor block to DRAM, and the other optimized to present it to the computing unit. A transposition mechanism in software and/or hardware would be required to transpose from one format to another on the fly as illustrated below.
Transposition of a tensor block
The latency from performing transposition can be covered by double buffering. When a tensor block is presented to the computing units, it is unfolded into tensor packets in the (tx, ty)-major orders so the tensor packets can be processed in parallel in (x, y) domain with the computing units arranged accordingly.
Professor Van Loan also said in a talk on block unfolding of block tensors:
Block unfolding preserves structure and locality of data. …In my opinion, blocking will eventually have the same impact in tensor computations as it does in matrix computations.
Tensors are block-unfolded into tensor blocks for temporal locality in multiple dimensions so that when brought on-chip, data can be shared among multiple dimensions. A tensor block is further block-unfolded into tensor packets that have minimally sufficient coverages along all dimensions. In the presented case, it would take a big 2,304-way parallelism to process such tensor packets. MM-equivalent parallelism and data-sharing patterns are applied tensor packets in a tensor block.
To the best of our knowledge, what has been discussed in this post might be the first effort in computing history to adopt the concept of block tensors to the bare metal. Scalable and greater parallelism across x and y dimensions for applications dealing with high-resolution video/images can be achieved. CNN might be the first killer app of block tensors with its revolutionizing power and being deeply rooted in tensors.
All tensors secretly wish to be themselves as block tensors, expecting their potential to be unleased to achieve breakthroughs in AI hardware.


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Alliance Passport Services Overview
The Alliance Business Suite contains a powerful and extensible Authentication and Authorization engine called the Alliance Passport Service ("APS").
The Alliance Passport Service enables developers and non-developers alike to easily configure and manage identity scenarios. The Alliance Passport Service Engine contains features for managing authentication, authorization, data protection, HTTPS enforcement, app secrets, XSRF/CSRF prevention, and CORS management. These security features allow you to build robust, yet secure Alliance Business Suite apps.
Learn more about APS + IAM terms.
Permission Sets: refer to the ABM record objects that are used to grant access to resources. You can attach Permission Sets to Identities. These include BusinessProfileRecord, BusinessPermission, SecurityGroup, and SecurityRole.
Identities: The ABM record objects that APS uses to authenticate and group. These include AccountHolder, BusinessTenant, BusinessApplication and BusinessDomain.
Users A person or application that uses an Identity. Although AccountHolder is the most common type of Identity, BusinessApplication can also be used to sign in and make requests to the Alliance Business Platform's APIs within the scope of a BusinessTenant or a BusinessDomain.
Managing Identity
With the Alliance Business Suite, you can easily manage Authentication and Authorization flows.
Understanding how APS works
Before you create Account Holders or Business Tenants, you should understand how APS enables IAM workflows.
Alliance Passport Services (commonly known as "APS") is an Identity Engine that provides the infrastructure necessary to control authentication and authorization for the Alliance Business Suite.
The Identity and Access Management Module ("IAM") is an extension built on top of the Alliance Passport Services Framework to allow users and applications to connect to certain Alliance Business Suite instances.
Authentication vs. Authorization
Authentication is a process in which a user provides credentials that are then compared to those stored by an operating system, database, app, or resource. If they match, users are authenticated successfully, and can then perform actions that they're authorized for, during an authorization process. The authorization refers to the process that determines what a user is allowed to do.
Another way to think of authentication is to consider it as a way to enter a space, such as a server, database, app, or resource, while authorization is which actions the user can perform to which objects inside that space (server, database, or app).
Authentication fundamentals
An Account Holder must be authenticated (signed in to the Alliance Business Suite) using their credentials to send a request to any Alliance Business Platform API. Some modules, such as Media Portals, ICX Stores, and ABS Workplace, allow a few requests from anonymous users. However, they are the exception to the rule.
A User is a person or application that can make a request for an action or operation on an ABM resource. The User is authenticated as a Security Identity to make requests to allowed resources through the Alliance Business Platform set of APIs.
Note: As a best practice, do not use your root user credentials for your daily work. Instead, create an additional Account Holder with a more limited Permission Set. You can also support federated users or programmatic access by allowing a Business Application to access your ABS instance.
Root Users
To authenticate from the root user, you must sign in with the email address and password you provided when installing the instance. As any other regular IAM user, root users can set up multi-factor authentication through an authenticator app such as Google Authenticator, Microsoft Authenticator, or really any MFA TOTP (Time-based One-time Password Algorithm) application.
API Users
To authenticate from the API or ABS Commander CLI (Bash or Powershell), you must create and provide an access key and secret key. You can get these keys by installing and navigating to the ABS Self-integration.
Users might also be required to provide additional security information. For example, Fenix Alliance recommends that you use multi-factor authentication (MFA) to increase the security of your account and to enforce it on Privileged Account Holders. To learn more about the IAM entities that the Alliance Passport Service can authenticate, see APS Identity Holders and APS Security Roles.
Authentication Middleware
The Alliance Business Suite uses two primary middlewares for authentication. A Cookie-based authentication engine and standard Token-based authentication.
Cookie-based authentication
When a user authenticates into an Alliance Business Suite instance using their username and password (or any other authentication provider, for that matter), they're issued a cookie, containing an authentication token that can be used for authentication and authorization. The token is stored in the browser as a cookie that accompanies every request the client makes to the application. Generating and validating this cookie is performed by the APS Cookie Authentication Middleware. The middleware serializes a user principal into an encrypted cookie. On subsequent requests, the middleware validates the cookie, recreates the principal, and assigns the principal to the User property present on controllers, views, components, and more.
Token-based authentication
When a user is authenticated, they're issued a token (not an anti-forgery token). The token contains user information in the form of claims or a reference token that points the app to the user state maintained in the app. When a user attempts to access a resource requiring authentication, the token is sent to the app with an additional authorization header in form of a "Bearer token".
"Bearer tokens" make the app stateless. In each subsequent request, the token is passed in the request for server-side validation. This token isn't encrypted; it's encoded. On the server, the token is decoded to access its information. To send the token on subsequent requests, the token is saved in the browser's local storage. This design prevents CSRF vulnerability as the token is stored in the browser's local storage. CSRF is a concern when the token is stored in a cookie.
Identity Providers:
Although but you can use third-party identity services such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, or even enterprise services such as Azure AD, Azure AD B2C, AWS Cognito (preview), Okta (preview), and many more, the Alliance Business Suite provides many tools and libraries to secure your apps including built-in identity providers, TOTP MFA (Time-based One-time Password Algorithm Multi-Factor Authentication) support.
Authorization Fundamentals
Users must also be authorized (allowed) to complete any request. During authorization, the APS Engine uses values from the request context to check for policies that apply to the request. It then uses the policies to determine whether to allow or deny the request. Most policies are stored in the ABS as ABM Records and specify the permissions for principal entities. There are several types of policies that can affect whether a request is authorized. To provide your users with permissions to access any layer of the Alliance Business Suite, you need only identity-based ABM records. Resource-based policies are popular for granting cross-account access. The other policy types are advanced features and should be used carefully.
The APS Engine checks each policy that applies to the context of any given request. If a single permissions policy is missing, a denied action will be returned, APS denies the entire request and stops evaluating. This is called an explicit deny. Because requests are denied by default, APS authorizes your request only if every part of your request is allowed by the applicable permissions policies. The evaluation logic for a request within a single account follows these general rules:
By default, all requests are denied. (In general, requests made using the ABS root user credentials for resources in the instance are always allowed.)
An explicit allow in any permissions policy (identity-based or resource-based) overrides this default.
The existence of a Parent Tenant' IAM permissions boundary or a session policy overrides the allow. If one or more of these policy types exists, they must all allow the request. Otherwise, it is implicitly denied.
An explicit deny in any policy overrides any allows.
To learn more about how all types of policies are evaluated, please refer to Authorization evaluation logic. If you need to make a request in a different account, a policy in the other account must allow you to access the resource, and the Identity Entity that you use to make the request must have an identity-based policy that allows the request.
Security Permissions
After your request has been authenticated and authorized, the Alliance Passport Service approves the actions or operations in your request. Operations are defined by service and include things that you can do to a resource, such as reading, creating, editing, and deleting that resource. For example, APS supports several actions for each ABM Record, including the following actions:
To allow an Identity to perform an operation, you must include the necessary actions in a role and then assign to the Identity the Role that grants action access to the affected resource type.
After the Alliance Passport Service Engine approves the operations in your request, it can be performed on the related ABM Records within the Alliance Business Model. A resource is an object that exists within an Alliance Business Suite instance. Examples include a Financial Account Record in the ABM, an IAM user, and a Storage File. The service defines a set of actions that can be performed on each resource through its exposed API Methods through either the REST Application Programming Interface or a GUI, like the Alliance Business Studio or a Portal. If you create a request to perform an unrelated action on a resource, that request is denied. For example, if you request to delete an IAM role but provide an IAM group resource, the request fails. Please refer to the BusinessPermission tables that identify which resources are affected by an action, see Actions, Resources, and Business Permissions for Alliance Business Suite Resources.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Catching the Parse kPFErrorConnectionFailed error-code & Cancelling the pullToRefresh's UIActivityIndicatorView in the IOS PFQueryTableViewController I have two questions as follows:

*

*I will like to catch the kPFErrorConnectionFailed error-code from the query in the IOS PFQueryTableViewController's queryForTable. How do I go about it?

*After the last attempt to connect to Network and I receive  [Error]: Network connection failed, How do I cancel the pullToRefresh's UIActivityIndicatorView which currently continues to load indefinitely?

What I've tried:

*

*Concerning catching error-code kPFErrorConnectionFailed, I tried the following (which does not catch the error):
- (void)objectsDidLoad:(NSError *)error {
    [super objectsDidLoad:error];
    if(error.code == kPFErrorConnectionFailed)
    {…}
}

A: *

*A work around for Catching kPFErrorConnectionFailed is to use Apple's Reachability Class to check if the Parse Network Server is reachable before trying to load data.

*A fix to the indefinite pullToRefresh UIActivityIndicatorView is to use kPFCachePolicyCacheThenNetwork as opposed to the kPFCachePolicyNetworkOnly. The kPFCachePolicyNetworkOnly keeps trying to load data from the network even with a bad connection. However, kPFCachePolicyCacheThenNetwork relies on the cached data when the network server is unreachable. Check here for more information

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home Uncategorized Webinar: Integrating Tools for Air Pollution Assessment (ITAPA) – Learning from the Dutch Approach
Date: 27 Jul, 2020
Webinar: Integrating Tools for Air Pollution Assessment (ITAPA) – Learning from the Dutch Approach
Ecological assessment of air pollution is under increasing scrutiny due to caselaw challenge and UK policy developments. In the Netherlands, a similar challenge was tackled through their Integrated Approach to Nitrogen (PAS). With the advent of the Dutch Nitrogen Judgment, the PAS is being revised. However, the AERIUS suite of tools developed to implement the PAS remain useful. Through the ITAPA project, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is helping the UK explore how AERIUS can help address air pollution effects on ecosystems and to recognise the benefit from emission reductions at local scale.
In this webinar, Susan Zappala from the JNCC and Mark Wilmot from Wing on behalf of the RIVM (Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment) discuss AERIUS and the possible UK benefits.
Subscribe to the YouTube channel to be notified when future episodes are added.
Prof Frank Kelly elected as IAQM Honorary Fellow
Air Quality Positive London Plan Guidance Consultation


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Come home every day to your perfect living space. You'll love the lavish look of your gourmet kitchen with granite countertops and top of the line appliances. All homes have their own private outdoor balcony, so you can unwind and enjoy the sites and sounds of the city anytime. Our relaxing, resort-inspired roof decks allow you to relax and recharge for a new day. You can soak in the custom stone and tile spa or simply lounge and enjoy the sweeping views of the San Francisco Bay. A fitness center is also available, so you can maintain a healthy lifestyle. Plus, the electric car charging stations, the on-site bike parking and garage parking make sure you'll never have to worry about the basic commodities. We've even added an enclosed dog run space, so your four-legged friends can feel at home right away. The AT&T Park, home of the San Francisco Giants, is right there on your doorstep, while the plethora of eating, shopping and entertainment venues nearby ensures you'll never run out of things to do. Start living the life you deserve. Get in touch with our professional leasing staff and schedule your own tour of the property today!


This Daily Post writing prompt from May 31, 2013 asks an important question of character.
I am definitely the "head for the hills" type. I'm not one to confront or fight back, which has been a huge problem for me as long as I can remember. I don't like to argue with others – nothing is worth hateful namecalling and discussion escalating into an argument. Everything lately seems to be an argument, and I'm wondering if that was the case five years ago, when this prompt was published.
Being backed into a corner that gets me. I'm not the fastest thinker when a situation gets out of hand (with the exception of the workplace, I can always think fast when it is work-related), and I'm not the calmest head in the room either.
I would have loved to have had the opposite reaction when I was in high school. There was a group of girls who bullied and picked on me because they could, because I would never fight back. I acted like the bigger person, not stooping to their level of ignorance, but I also ignored (well, I tried to ignore them) and went about my business. They did things to get a rise out of me, and while it got my hackles in a rise, I refused to confront them. I wish I had. I wish I had gone back at them, or had a support system of friends to stick by me. I had friends, but none that would ever have helped when it mattered most.
As an adult (I'm in my mid-thirties now), I've regretted not being a little bit more tough, but I also knew that these girls were good at ensuring teachers never saw anything. That would never have been my luck. It would have been my word against theirs, and when it came to that, the outcome may not have been good. I didn't want to get in trouble. It was rough, but I survived my bullying. I grew up, as did they. I don't keep in touch with them, and don't care to know what they are doing. I'm sure they've moved on as well, at least, I hope they did. Perhaps they're adults who realize they did the dumbest thing as kids. I'm not giving them a second glance in life (except in this reflection), so they are likely doing the same. If I ran in to them, I'd say hello.
I'm glad I likely never will have that opportunity, but it would be fun for them to see how my life turned out.


The FES trial does not replace an FES Assessment and is to give you a taster of how it can help you. For this reason, sessions are limited to 30 minutes maximum. If additional time is required a paid FES Assessment appointment will be required. Completing the form below does not guarantee you a free FES Trial, however we only offer a certain number of trials per week.


text:
Africa's best bank for transaction services 2018: Citi
Africa has seen a seismic shift in its transaction banking operations in recent years. With many international banks retrenching, those who remain are bedding in and extending their reach across the continent.
Citi has its feet on the ground across the continent, giving it a reach and stability that is difficult to match by either regional or the international competitors.
Citi has moved to align itself with the 2020 Vision growth plans adopted by many of the continent's central banks. Under Peter Crawley, treasury and trade solutions head, sub-Saharan Africa, CIti has also aligned its business with the increasing trade flows in the region. Recognizing the importance of a single channel of support, it has focused on developing and improving its Trade Services Hub.
As the continent is known for being an early adopter of fintech, it serves as a good testing ground for further advances.
Awards BankingTreasuryCitigroupAwards for ExcellenceAwardsCiti


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Note: The case in Brazil, Rio De Janeiro was conducted several years ago. The language in Brazil is Portuguese, a mixture of French, German and Spanish languages. I had to study the language for 60 days on a daily basis in order to get a moderate grasp of the language prior to conducting the polygraph examinations along with the use of an interpreter assigned. I am proud to say that all of the information that you find in this website is factual. Though I have now been left with a very basic grasp of the language spoken in Brazil as I have not spoken the said language in many years.
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text:
One Tourniquet
by Andrew Motion
It was a long time ago
but I was there,
a combat medical technician.
I saw children
and IEDs
which wasn't nice at all.
One boy:
he had shorts and a dirty vest,
he stood on a mine;
he was conscious at first,
screaming,
and I thought
All in a bit of field.
None of the other kids cried,
they're all quite sort of tough.
Very tough kids in fact.
At the time
we were issued with only one tourniquet each.
But Camp Phoenix was down the road
and he went there.
A double amputee.
We heard later he survived.
So yeah. Brilliant.
Everything is hard.
Everything they've got to do
everywhere they've got to go.
Just hard.
I used to imagine
little towns in the country
nobody knew.
Little towns nobody had touched.
People would be living there
Just living there
in the vastness.
This is an extract from Coming Home, featured on Radio 4 and produced by Melissa Fitzgerald. It won the Ted Hughes Award in 2014.
Andrew Motion
Professor Andrew Motion was born in London on 26 October 1952, and read English at University College, Oxford. An acclaimed poet (and champion of poetry), critic, biographer and lecturer, Andrew Motion became Poet Laureate in 1999, succeeding Ted Hughes and preceding Carol Ann Duffy. He was awarded the Newdigate Prize at Oxford for his poem 'Inland', included in his first collection of poems, The Pleasure Steamers, published in 1977. His collection, The Cinder Path (2009), was shortlisted for the 2010 Ted Hughes Award for New Work in Poetry. His latest collection is The Customs House (Faber and Faber, 2012). He is Professor of Creative Writing at Royal Holloway and is co-founder of The Poetry Archive. He was knighted in 2009 for his services to literature.


text:
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Founded in Toledo, Ohio, USA in 1922 to support a local YMCA, Y's Men International is now oriented to serving the worldwide YMCA, the largest non-governmental youth organisation, and through it the communities in which it is present throughout the world. Since the YMCA is usually known as "the Y" in the USA, and as the Y's Men movement started there as a club of "men of and for the Y", it was named the "Y's Men's Club".
Judge Paul William Alexander (pictured) was the founder of the first club together with a group of other young men. However, today women are also full members of our movement and family participation is encouraged in numerous activities. Since 1995 local affiliated clubs wishing to emphasise this openness can choose to call themselves "Y's Men and Women's Clubs" or "Y Service Clubs". Members are known as Y's Men or Y's Women.
Our service clubs can promise you and your family the personal pleasure of fellowship and shared values and ideals plus the satisfaction of making your community a better place to live in.
Y's Men International is oriented to serving the worldwide YMCA and the communities in which it is present throughout the world.
Our mission is to strive through active service to develop, encourage and provide leadership to build a better world for all humankind.
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Please keep in mind that parents must provide transportation to and from school. Enrollment is not on a first come first serve basis. Children are accepted into the program through specific needs that are assessed in the application.


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'Personal Identities/Contemporary Portraits'
Jesse Hamlin, Special to The Chronicle
Nov. 25, 2010 Updated: Feb. 8, 2012 10:02 p.m.
1of2Michael schwager_with work by Eric _fischl:Anna TracyShow MoreShow Less
2of2Michael schwager_with work by Andy Warhol a sculpture by Robert _arneson:Karen KesselShow MoreShow Less
Michael Schwager was working at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1985 when Eric Fischl's famous life-size "Portrait of the Artist as an Old Man," painted the year before, entered the collection. He was struck by the power and beauty of the image - a startled-looking old man wearing nothing but a shirt and slippers standing in a Van Gogh-like landscape before a blank canvas - and by the idea of an artist in his 30s picturing himself in his twilight years.
"It has this great presence and poignancy," says Schwager, an art history professor at Sonoma State University, standing in front of Fischl's oil-on-linen painting in the University Art Gallery. "At the time, Fischl was known for his kind of naughty scenes of young boys and older women, and disturbing images from his childhood. I can't think of another self-portrait he did."
Inspired by Rembrandt's late self-portraits, the work was high on Schwager's list when he began putting together "Personal Identities/Contemporary Portraits," an engaging exhibition that encompasses a wide range of artists, ideas and media. It explores the complexity and ambiguity of portraiture in the era of Facebook, Photoshop and the blurring of cultural and gender boundaries, when images and identities are in flux.
Walking through the galleries, you encounter famous faces, blurred and vanishing faces, anonymous figures, digital hybrids and even your own visage, captured live on camera and playing on LCD screens. Andy Warhol's famous silkscreen images of Richard Nixon and Marilyn Monroe share space with Ray Beldner's stitched-dollar-bill riff on Warhol's Mick Jagger. On the opposite wall hangs Ray Turner's "George," a grid of 16 lusciously painted oil-on-glass images of the same mutable man. One's a smear of greens, white and mauve; another has blue eyes and a flaming yellow face; a pinkish face fades away.
Elsewhere, you come across British sculptor William Tucker's "Our Leader," a lumpy abstract bronze that suggests an ear here, perhaps a nose there. Rigo's sardonically political image of an American Indian - the word "Missile" refers to the U.S. military's Tomahawk missile - is made of multicolored pushpins. The Vietnamese-born artist Binh Dahn's "Ancestral Altar #12" bares the images of butterflies and anonymous Cambodian political prisoners, printed on leaves through the natural process of photosynthesis (the artist puts negatives on leaves and exposes them to sunlight).
A rare Robert Bechtle self-portrait, the exquisite 2004 charcoal drawing "RB on De Haro Street," appears in a room with a big Chuck Close self-portrait, a print-on-wood version of Raymond Saunder's famous collaged-and-scribbled-on painting of the storied black boxer Jack Johnson (Saunders added new doodles and ephemera to the print), and Deborah Oropallo's gender-bending digital picture of Napoleon overlaid with a sexy barmaid who wears similar white silk stockings.
"You have issues of race, gender, age and social class all coming through these various portraits, either directly or subtly," says Schwager, who wanted to "show the range of what a portrait can be." Declared dead by some modern art critics 50 years ago, portraiture, which Warhol was instrumental in reviving in the 1960s, and became a staple of feminist and postmodern art, "came back with a vengeance."
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Schwager wanted to show the Micks and Marilyns cheek to jowl with images of ordinary people and outsiders, like John Sonsini's dignified, painterly portrait of a Latino day laborer standing on the street with all his belongings (the modeling of the shoes brings Van Gogh to mind), and Catherine Opie's photograph of the cross-dressing San Francisco artist Jerome Caja.
Standing in front of Lincoln Schatz's computerized "I, You, We," you see the reverse, real-time image of yourself on three LCD monitors, mixing and merging with people who previously stood before the piece. The computer software continually recycles and mixes the images caught by the camera; a month from now, you'll crop up in the company of people who saw the work that day and months before.
"The piece is creating a portrait of us as we look at it. It's a constantly shifting, evolving portrait," says Schwager. He hopes the show, the most ambitious in his 19 years at Sonoma State, "gets us to stop and think about who we are, who the person next to us is, how we see ourselves and how others see us."
Personal Identities/Contemporary Portraits: 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tues.-Fri. Through Dec. 12. University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park. Free. (707) 664-2295. www.sonoma.edu/artgallery.
Jesse Hamlin


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Best 3D printing Campaigns on In die Go Go & Kicks tarter 2011
Disney develops 3D printed VertiGo robot that can drive straight up walls
Dec 29, 2015 | By Kira
Disney Research Zurich and ETH Zurich have teamed up to create a multimodal, wheeled robot that can transition from driving over rugged terrain to climbing vertical walls in seconds, easily ascending elevations of all sizes and angels, regardless of their surface texture and without the use of sticky pads or suction. Instead, VertiGo relies on two tiltable propellers that provide thrust against the wall, and a mix of carbon fibre and 3D printed parts to keep its weight as low as possible, ensuring speed, agility, and gravity defying moves.
Whereas past 3D printed robot designs have relied on suction to climb up walls or grab things, VertiGo's design utilizes the thrust of powerful propellers to generate downward force, enabling the vehicle to easily drive its four wheels over bumpy, rugged terrain, and then transition within seconds to climbing vertical surfaces. The concept is very similar to spoilers or other aerodynamic features on racecars, which generate a downward force and keep the car firmly pressed to the road for increased traction.
Unlike typical RC cars, it's not the wheels that users steer, but the helicopter-like propellers themselves, each of which offers two degrees of freedom for either horizontal or vertical driving. As Disney explains, the choice of two propellers rather than one is the key to VertiGo's seamless floor-to-wall transition: thrust is applied both towards the wall using the rear propeller, and in an upward direction using the front propeller, causing the robot to flip vertically and get right back in motion.
Of course, another key to ensuring that the VertiGo can easily climb walls is to keep it as lightweight as possible, reducing the amount of thrust that must be generated in the first place to keep it moving. This was achieved in part thanks to 3D printing.
"A key research problem in the design of VertiGo robot was to maximize the ratio between thrust output and vehicle weight," explained Principal Research Scientist at Disney, Paul Beardsley. "Weight is minimized by using a central carbon fibre baseplate, while 3D-printed parts in conjunction with carbon-rods are used for more complex three dimensional structures like the wheel suspension or the wheels themselves. The baseplate provides mounting points for two thruster modules and the wheel suspensions. It also serves as carrier for all the electronic parts and wires." In total, the VertiGo measures about 60 centimeters long, yet weighs no more than 2k (4.4 lbs).
"The full design has eight individually controlled actuators. To enable a human operator to conveniently drive the vehicle in a way similar to common RC-cars, an onboard computer is incorporated as a controller," Beardsley continued.
VertiGo's seamless ground-to-wall transition extends the ability of robots to travel through urban and indoor environments. Most importantly, because there is no need to ensure a solid vacuum-seal, as for suction-based climbing robots, VertiGo can move over just about any surface, including masonry, glass, trees, curved walls, and potentially even ceilings. It's also easier and safer to control than many flying drones. Though it's current lithium polymer battery is only capable of lasting for about 10 minutes at a time, many existing drones face the same limitations, and researchers are no doubt working on a solution to that.
Both Disney Research and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich) have been making significant advancements in 3D printed robotics. Disney, for example, has already revealed an automated method for create 3D printed connectors, 3D printed soft-skins for kid-safe robotic toys, and a 3D printed robot that walks like an animated character, all of which have pretty useful applications for Disney-related toys, merchandise, or filmmaking equipment. As far as applications for their wall-climbing VertiGo, however, the company is remaining characteristically tight-lipped:
"About why Disney is interested in this area, I am not able to say specifics as you can understand. But just speaking in general, one can imagine that robots with lighting effects could be useful for entertainment effects or for wall games," said Beardsley. "We are motivated by making a practical device, so it is real-world feedback and challenges that drive our work." Additional applications could be industrial inspection robots, robotic vacuum cleaners, or exploratory vehicles for outer space or even just remote or dangerous areas here on Earth.
Regardless of how Disney and/or ETH Zurich intend to use VertiGo, the technology itself is quite impressive, and extends robotic capabilities one step further that what was possible before. It's kind of a cute-looking for four-wheeled robot, too, although I'm not sure if that's just my imagination or the magic Disney touch. See the VertiGo 3D printed robot in action below:
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Jose wrote at 1/2/2016 9:25:15 AM:
How can I buy one my number is 347-241-5148
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Istanbul To Receive UNESCO Funding for Culture Project
Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) announced to be among the grantees of the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD), established under Article 18 of the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions.
The grant will support İKSV in realizing the nationwide project of 'Thread of Culture: Empowering Turkey's Local Cultural Professionals', proposed and to be carried out by the Cultural Policy Studies department of İKSV. One of the nine eligible projects to receive funding among 480 projects from 60 countries, Thread of Culture is also the first project to receive the fund from Turkey.
Thread of Culture will establish a platform for professionals working on every level of the cultural field across Turkey to offer a wide variety of capacity building trainings, and to set new standards for cultural production, policies and management. Developing countries that are parties to the 2005 Convention have the opportunity to benefit from this fund, which aims to develop sustainable cultural policies and support practices, researches and projects.
Thread of Culture, scheduled to begin in July 2020, aims to improve the competencies, skills and increase the overall capacity of cultural professionals at a local level, in as many cities as possible across Turkey. To this end, a need assessment research will be conducted, cultural management training programmes will be designed and implemented and a web platform open to public will be activated. In order to establish a balance between participants from civil and public sectors, the participants of the training programmes will be chosen among the employees of both public and nongovernmental organisations and independent institutions. The content, curriculum and the programme of the training will be designed, prepared and implemented by prominent professionals from the academia, civil society, and private as well as the public sector. Thread of Culture will persistently open its resources and know-how to its participants across the country and to the public along the way for everyone to access with a web platform that will reflect the diversity of cultural expressions in local contexts. The web platform will function as an online capacity empowerment tool (discussion forum, audio-visual content, publications) while assuring the sustainability of the project in the future.
The objective of the project is also to foster civic participation in the decision-making processes in the cultural field by enhancing dialogue and cooperation between civil and public sector, which is also among the foremost universal objectives of the 2005 Convention. Training sessions with novel methods of participation and dialogue are being designed for civil and public sectors to work in a spirit of exchange and cooperation.
A multifaceted assessment of the project will be presented by the Cultural Policy Studies of İKSV to all relevant institutions, policy makers and officials in the form of a report upon the project's termination. To take shape with the contributions of the participants of the training programme, the report will try and measure the integration of civil society into the decision-making processes in the cultural field, and identify the obstacles faced by the private sector while proposing alternative ties with public sectors.
Carried out by the Cultural Policy Studies of İKSV with the partnership of Turkey Europe Foundation (TAV), Thread of Culture is planned to run between July 2020-2022.
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Creation has given man the five senses for perception.
A stay at the Bergidyll Hotel Tratterhof at 1,500 metres above sea level allows these receptors to convey pure sensory impressions again and to sharpen them. All this in times of sensory overload. The principle is simple: arrive, let go, use your senses consciously, let them work, feel good. During the holiday and afterwards.
Directly from your suite, the wellness area Monte Silva Spa or in the evening in the restaurant you can admire over 500 mountain peaks of the Alps, including the impressive mountain world of the white Dolomites. Seeing, the most dominant sense, is here at eye level surrounded by dominant mountain massifs.
Far away from the traffic of the big city, you hear nothing in the mountain idyll Tratterhof except...the sounds of nature. A pleasant summer breeze or the soft sounds of birds and diligently humming insects bring back to mind the true summer of good old times.
You don't have to be a scent researcher to smell the real summer. Here is something in the air, something particularly good: freshly cut grass from local farms, the scent of roses, lilies, camomile or lavender blossoms or the sweet scent of wild berries along the way. Here nature mixes its own perfume.
Taste what tastes good. Butter and cheese from local suppliers, exquisite wines, spicy herbs, fruit from South Tyrolean meadows refined to traditional dishes and the Mediterranean-influenced menus with high-quality ingredients from southern Italy. With the rich breakfast buffet or the 5-course evening menu, this sense also experiences a flight of fancy.
During the daily hikes with our experienced guides, you will descend the high-performance mechanism of everyday life and feel the energy of stones, tree trunks and moss while "bathing" in the woods in slow motion. In harmony with nature around the Tratterhof, you will slow down the days of well-being and accelerate your mental regeneration.
Evolution has not given us its own receptors for this. If all five senses provide positive feedback and combine it with the typical South Tyrolean hospitality, then sociability develops all by itself. This is what the host family Gruber-Hinteregger and the Tratterhof team want to ensure!
In our state-of-the-art spa area "Monte Silva" wellness dreams come true (included in the price).
You can also look forward to the wide range of massages, beauty treatments and mountain baths (not included in the price). You can find out more on our homepage.
Rich breakfast buffet with South Tyrolian quality products, fresh fruit, special vital and yogurt drinks and a tea buffet with more than 30 teas.
The "Bistro Lounge Monte Silva" in the Tratterhof is open from 12.30 to 17.00 and offers the possibility of snacks and drinks for a fee.
ALMENCARD+: Save money and height meters! You will receive the Almencard+ for a holiday between 17th May and 03rd November 2019. With the Almencard+ you can use the three mountain lifts of the Gitschberg-Jochtal holiday region and a further 6 mountain lifts unlimited and free of charge! From 25th May to 02nd November, the Gitschberg mountain railway and the Jochtal mountain railway will be in operation! So you can start your hikes comfortably at 2,000 metres above sea level and pay nothing for it! With the Almencard+ you can also use all public transport in South Tyrol free of charge and enjoy free admission to over 80 South Tyrolean museums. The Almencard+ also includes a super activity programme (e.g. farm hike, summit tour to the panorama platform Gitschberg, etc.)! You can find more information on our homepage!


When I hear the word "Dynamo," I think of the overweight, opera-singing, lightning-slinging baddie from 1987's The Running Man, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. Played by some unknown Dutch-American fellow named Erland van Lidth, the character was bold, brash, and unfashionably fat. In fact, soon after the film's release, Mr. van Lidth passed away from heart failure in his New York City flat.
I thought maybe this beverage was inspired by the robustness of Dynamo from the movie. Or maybe, I thought, this beverage was dedicated to the loving memory of poor Erland, implying that if he had drunk more fruit juices fortified with vitamins and calcium and cut back on the greasy street vendor hotdogs, that perhaps he would not have met such an unfortunate, untimely demise.
It certainly didn't occur to me that this beverage might not have anything to do with The Running Man or the fictional Dynamo character. I mean, shoot, even the lights on the guy's costume were kinda orange. You expect me to believe that's just a coincidence?
At any rate, we decided to try it. I was somewhat scared. The beverage looked so very orange, I assumed that carrot juice was a main ingredient. I did check the list, and all of the juices seemed pretty safe. No carrot juice at all. Curious. Also, I noted on the product tag that some store employee named Jen recommended it. I took dear, sweet Jen for her word. Mind you, I have no idea who Jen is or whether, in fact, she is dear and/or sweet.
Then we tasted it. First impressions? The biohazard-orange color and the blatant Schwarzenegger action film allusions were way misleading. The first word out of Sonia's mouth was "Weird." We had both brushed our teeth just 45 minutes prior to trying this drink, so initially we blamed the lack of flavor on that. Later on, we tried it again, but same conclusion. The flavor of this beverage was not unpleasant, but was really, really, surprisingly subtle. Sonia declared, "It tastes like lemon juice with a little bit of sugar." I thought maybe I hadn't shaken the bottle enough. I proceeded to manhandle the juice, now with a sizeable pocket of air trapped inside the container, and agitated the beverage into a frothy foam.
There indeed had been a little extra flavor hiding in the form of sediment on the bottom of the bottle, yet still, I wondered where most of the apple, white grape, pineapple, and orange flavors mentioned on the ingredients list had gone. It was almost as if all those flavors canceled each other out.
I can see how this would be a very refreshing beverage after a run on a hot day. It is light, despite its robust name and color. And I'm sure the extensive list of vitamins and minerals would help an athlete regain his or her strength after a workout. Unfortunately, when we tried it, it was raining outside, so it was cool, and we were not in desperate need of deep refreshment.
Sonia's final assessment: "There's not enough flavor. I can't taste anything." But she agreed that it wasn't really gross, just kind of bland. She gives it 2.5 stars out of 5.
If I had been expecting something really light, I think I would have been fairly impressed. I think TJ's Dynamo would be extrememely satisfying after a half hour of jogging in the hot sun. I want to be careful to score it for what it is, and not for what I thought it was going to be. I give it a 3.5 out of 5.
I don't think that's what Dynamo is designed for, refreshment. Look at it as a giant bottle of liquid vitamins, and then it all makes sense!
I have two bottles right now.
YES. And Now its gone! so Disappointed and in search of it where to find it?
I am very disappointed that it is discontinued. I viewed it as fabulous source of vitamins and I thought the taste was fine. If you can find another juice with even 1/2 the vitamin content as Dynamo, let me know. I can't!
Bland? Oh my. I love this juice. I don't usually dig juices, but LOVE this one.
We Also Love this and now Its Gone fron Trader Joes shelves smh Please where to find it ?
My kids LOVE this stuff! It kind of reminds me of Five Alive, which is not available in the US, and not something I would actually by for my kids anyway. I like the fact that Dynamo is packed with vitamins. Although it is loaded with sugar, it's not from high fructose corn syrup and contains no artificial colors. So, all in all, I could do worse for them.
I have liked Trader Joe's fruit and vegi juices for a long time, I always feel much better after having both every day which gives me a lot of energy for hikes etc, I am pretty active. I saw this and thought I would try it out for a change and as healthy as I am already, the two times I have drank it it has given me a really bad stomach ache which is very similar to too much Iron when you haven't eaten and I'm thinking it should be diluted somewhat though it tastes really good. Thanks!


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Note to 'Empire': Jussie Smollett Was Not Exonerated of All Charges
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9:30AM EDT 3/27/2019	 Michael Brown
Actor Jussie Smollett leaves court after charges against him were dropped by state prosecutors in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., March 26, 2019. (REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski)
I wish no ill to Jussie Smollett. As for Empire, I've never seen the show (as I'm not much of a TV watcher) and have no feelings about it, positive or negative. But I despise falsehood and duplicity, and as the Smollett case has turned into a complete fiasco, the truth meter inside me stirs me to write.
In the aftermath of the shocking news that all charges against Smollett were being dropped, an executive producer at Empire tweeted: "You've just watched a truly good person get dragged through the gutter. I am so happy he's been exonerated before any more damage was done, but make no mistake. Damage was done."
Sorry, but Smollett was not exonerated. Hardly.
First, Tandra Simonton, a spokesperson for the Chicago prosecutor who decided to drop the charges said this: "We did not exonerate Mr. Smollett."
"We did not exonerate Mr. Smollett," Simonton said. "The charges were dropped in return for Mr. Smollett's agreement to do community service and forfeit his $10,000 bond to the City of Chicago. Without the completion of these terms, the charges would not have been dropped. This outcome was met under the same criteria that would occur for and is available to any defendant with similar circumstances."
In other words, Smollett cut a deal.
Second, even without the statement from the prosecutor, an innocent victim does not do community service or forfeit $10,000 to the city. Obviously.
Could you imagine this?
A woman claims to be raped and beaten by four male assailants.
The police then claim that she set the whole thing up, and charges are brought against her.
All charges are then dropped against her after she does community service and pays a fine to the city.
That is not being exonerated. That is striking a deal. The guilty, not the innocent, strike deals. If the woman had been raped and beaten, do you think she would have been required to do community service and pay a fine? Of course not.
How is this not obvious to all? How could anyone still believe Smollett was somehow exonerated?
If he was, in fact, assaulted by nefarious strangers, where are they? Where's the investigation to find his attackers?
You say, "That's easy. Those two brothers confessed to being paid by him to attacking him."
So, either they're telling the truth (in which case the prosecutor did the city a real disservice by dropping the charges with a mere slap on the wrist) or they're lying about being paid by Smollett.
If the latter, why aren't they being charged for the assault? (I apologize for raising such ridiculously obvious questions, but these days, truth can hit some people between the eyes without them realizing it.)
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And this whole affair has nothing to do with racism and homophobia (the very allegations that brought this to national attention).
Chicago's Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson is outraged and is not backing down at all. And he is African-American. In his words, "But again, at the end of the day, it's Mr. Smollett who committed this, this, this, this hoax."
Those are strong words from a high-level, career officer. Police don't lightly issue their own guilty verdicts in public.
And it was none other then Rahm Emmanuel, the very pro-gay mayor of Chicago, who said, "Without a doubt this is a whitewash of justice and sends a clear message that if you are in a position of influence and power, you'll be treated one way. It is wrong."
He added, "Mr. Smollett is still saying that he is innocent, still running down the Chicago Police Department. How dare he?!? How dare him?!? How dare him after everybody saw. Is there no decency in this man?"
Note also that in this same speech, Emmanuel mentioned the name of the gay icon Matthew Shephard and then spoke of how the Smollett fiasco could make things more difficult for gays who were real victims of hate crimes. ("Gay men and women who will come forward and one day say they were a victim of a hate crime now will be doubted.")
He even got in a backhanded attack on President Trump, saying, "I cannot stress that in a time when you have people bringing a moral equivalency in Virginia between bigots and those fighting bigotry, and you have a person using hate crime laws that are on the books to protect people, who are minorities, from violence, to then turn around and use those laws to advance your career and your financial reward. Is there no decency in this man?"
To repeat: No one can accuse either Mr. Johnson or Mr. Emmanuel of being racist or homophobic. And in case you missed the news conference, neither of them was wearing a MAGA hat.
Yet they both spoke against the outrage of all charges being dropped in the strongest possible terms. Rightly so.
Again, I wish no ill for Jussie Smollett or the people involved in Empire. I simply write to give voice to the frustration experienced by many when truth and justice are mocked in the public square.
I would have been fine if Smollett had said, "I'm terribly embarrassed by what happened and incredibly grateful to the mercy of the court. I got off with far less than I deserved, and I'll be meeting with the police and the mayor to find out what I can do that would help bring healing for the pain I have caused. And I will be seeking professional help to get to the root issues that caused me to lie in such a public and ugly way. Please forgive me and allow me to regain your trust in the years ahead."
That would have been glorious.
But that is not what happened. And that is a loss for all involved. And Smollett's legacy will remain deeply muddled.
I polled my Twitter followers, asking, "What's your take on the dropping of all charges against Jussie Smollett? (I'm not trying to determine truth; just getting your take.)"
The choices were: 1) He's obviously innocent! 2) Chicago is corrupt! 3) Something else.
Only 1 percent believed Smollett was innocent. And that will be hard to shake.
Dr. Michael Brown (www.askdrbrown.org) is the host of the nationally syndicated Line of Fire radio program. His latest book is His latest book is Jezebel 's War With America: The Plot to Destroy Our Country and What We Can Do to Turn the Tide. Connect with him on Facebook or Twitter, or YouTube.
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I meant to have this post up yesterday but the day after Christmas got to me. I enjoyed the day sitting on my couch, reading the latest Pretty Little Liars book Deadly(which I'll do a post on later) and eating Christmas dinner leftovers.
This Christmas was surprisingly good. My holidays are always hit or miss but this year was definitely a hit. Christmas Eve was at my house with my mom's family while I spent Christmas day at my aunt's house with my dad's family.
Food was eaten (feast of the 7 fishes for us Italians on the Eve), wine was poured (a lot of Pink Moscato for me) and gifts were unwrapped.
I was really happy as was my family; it was a lot of fun.
The night before Christmas Eve me and my friends went to this neighborhood close by that always goes insane with the Christmas lights. There are competition and they accept donations for children's hospitals. There were people all over, stopping to look at the lights and it put me in the best spirit.
One of the most favorite parts of Christmas is of course the presents you give and receive. This Christmas was a little smaller than usual because well, that's what happens when you get old.
I definitely received some amazing presents and I wanted to share some with you because I couldn't keep them to myself.
Kate Spade Earbuds: My best friend got me these and they are awesome! I've lusted after them for at least a year but always hesitated to purchase them myself. The polka dot design is perfect and they are strong; you could hear what you're listening to perfectly.
Monogrammed Bracelet: Ever since I saw Carly from The College Prepster's bracelet, I knew I needed to have one. My mom ordered this for me from the Etsy shop Nurjewel design. Check them out, they have great stuff for prices that won't break your budget.
Crystal Faye Eat.Blog.Love Mug and Notepad: I've been wanting both of these for months but never made the leap to buy them myself. My mom came through this Christmas and I love both of these gifts so much! Crystal Faye is completely awesome so check out her website!
Rebecca Minkoff Mini M.A.C Crossbody: This was a gift that was a total surprise to me. My grandma and grandpa got it for me and my sister (twins, yay) and I was so extremely excited my family was mocking me all night. I've been wanting a Rebecca Minkoff bag for a year now but never asked for one. Unwrapping my gift and seeing this pretty was completely wonderful. It's a very tiny cross body which isn't that great for every day but perfect for a night out.
Naked 3 Palette: I GOT IT! I GOT IT! I GOT IT! This baby has been sold out everywhere and I was a lucky gal to get one. I don't have any of the Naked Palettes but have wanted since I saw the first one. I'm glad I waited for the third one because the rose gold shades are perfect.
Kate Spade Bag: This is the end all be all. My mom scored this bag on Black Friday and I had to wait till Christmas to get it. It's the perfect work bag for when I enter the "real world" in May but it's also perfect for everyday. I'm so in love with it I could cry.
I know that Christmas isn't all about presents but about friends, family, and Jesus.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and are ready for New Years! What did Santa leave under your trees this year? Let me know in the comments!
PS: Don't forget to enter my HireStyle $40 giftcard giveaway! It ends on Sunday so don't miss out!


Don Buckley lost his job driving a Chicago Transit Authority bus almost two years ago and has been looking for work ever since, even as other municipal bus drivers around the country are being laid off.
Mr. Buckley is one of tens of thousands of once solidly middle-class African-American government workers — bus drivers in Chicago, police officers and firefighters in Cleveland, nurses and doctors in Florida — who have been laid off since the recession ended in June 2009. Such job losses have blunted gains made in employment and wealth during the previous decade and undermined the stability of neighborhoods where there are now fewer black professionals who own homes or who get up every morning to go to work.
Though the precise number of African-Americans who have lost public-sector jobs nationally since 2009 is unclear, observers say the current situation in Chicago is typical. There, nearly two-thirds of 212 city employees facing layoffs are black, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union.
The central role played by government employment in black communities is hard to overstate. African-Americans in the public sector earn 25 percent more than other black workers, and the jobs have long been regarded as respectable, stable work for college graduates, allowing many to buy homes, send children to private colleges and achieve other markers of middle-class life that were otherwise closed to them.
Blacks have relied on government jobs in large numbers since at least Reconstruction, when the United States Postal Service hired freed slaves. The relationship continued through a century during which racial discrimination barred blacks from many private-sector jobs, and carried over into the 1960s when government was vastly expanded to provide more services, like bus lines to new suburbs, additional public hospitals and schools, and more.
But during the past year, while the private sector has added 1.6 million jobs, state and local governments have shed at least 142,000 positions, according to the Labor Department. Those losses are in addition to 200,000 public-sector jobs lost in 2010 and more than 500,000 since the start of the recession.
The layoffs are only the latest piece of bad news for the nation's struggling black middle class.
A study by the Brookings Institution in 2007 found that fewer than one-third of blacks born to middle-class parents went on to earn incomes greater than their parents, compared with more than two-thirds of whites from the same income bracket. The foreclosure crisis also wiped out a large part of a generation of black homeowners.
The layoffs are not expected to end any time soon. The United States Postal Service, where about 25 percent of employees are black, is considering eliminating 220,000 positions in order to stay solvent, and areas with large black populations — from urban Detroit to rural Jefferson County, Miss. — are struggling with budget problems that could also lead to mass layoffs.
The postal cuts alone — which would amount to more than one-third of the work force — would be a blow both economically and psychologically, employees say.
Pamela Sparks, 49, a 25-year Postal Service veteran in Baltimore, has a brother who is a letter carrier and a sister who is a sales associate at the Postal Service. Her father is a retired station manager.
In Michigan, Valerie Kindle, 61, who was laid off in April as a state government employee, said the loss of her $50,000-a-year job with benefits had caused her to put off retirement. Instead, she is looking for work. Two relatives have also lost state government jobs recently.
"She's ready for me to get up out of here," he said. In the meantime, Mr. Buckley says his life has drifted into the tedium of looking for decent-paying jobs that do not exist.
Copyright 2011 The New York Times Company. Reprinted from The New York Times, National, of Tuesday, November 29, 2011.


I am speaking from just my own personal experience as a white male and, of course, these points do not refer to all Korean women. The information in this article is going to assume that you are indeed looking for a more substantial relationship rather than something that is short term. Dating Korean Girls Welcome to Korea. You just arrived as a tourist, a new English teacher, a new exchange student or a factory worker. Your goal is not only to travel, work or study here, but also to live here and experience the culture. The best thing to overcome loneliness and improve your adjustment to the country would be to start dating a Korean woman.
A bachelor as suave as James Bond can pick the interest of a lovely lady, just as surely as a man seemingly as wealthy as Donald Trump can buy some short-term and deeply misplaced affection. So, apart from being a model, what do you do for a living? Sorry, I thought you were a parking ticket.
I love so much. Marry with me.
Hola como estas me gusta mucho tu video del taxista esta bien rico el man.


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text:
Phones under Rs 15,000
Samsung has a new entry-level 8-inch tablet in the pipeline
By David Nield published 26 December 15
Is the price right?
The 2015 Galaxy Tab S2.
Samsung's Galaxy Tab series of tablets have impressed us in the past and it looks like the South Korean company is going to keep churning out new slates until it manages to wrestle a decent amount of market share away from Apple's iPad.
A new 8-inch model has been spotted thanks to it being granted Wi-Fi and Bluetooth certifications from the official bodies - these are the hoops every manufacturer has to jump through to get their goods on sale.
That would put it at the same size as the smaller 8-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab S2, which achieved a respectable third place in our comprehensive list of the best tablets of 2015.
Android on the cheap
However, it looks like Samsung is aiming for a much lower price point this time around - the new slate, model number SM-T375S, was listed in an Indian database with a price around US$100 (roughly £70 or AU$135).
Prices around that level would put the new tablet firmly in the budget category, which is one way of distinguishing your wares from the devices that Apple puts out each year.
There are no other details of the tablet as yet and Samsung has said nothing officially, but it seems likely that the slate is due to arrive sometime in 2016 - perhaps its compact size and low price will suit those waiting for something to fill the Nexus 7 gap.
10 best Android tablets in the world
Freelance Contributor
Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. On TechRadar you'll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables.
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text:
President Obama Addresses Racial Profiling In Amerikkka – You Can't Build A New House On A Rotten Foundation!
in: Blog, Home, Police Watch
It was quite a milestone indeed to experience President Obama address the country and the world on what it feels like to be Black in America by the often ignored phenomenon called profiling and the racist under the radar things that we as Black people have to endure.
It took the President of the United States to be the one to force many in White America to see this and not be emboldened to say that he is merely whining and complaining on a matter that he should simply "get over!"
President Obama stands in a rare and unique place indeed as a Black President speaking out on something that is often swept under the rug by the mainstream media and is usually reported with a negative slant and twist when acknowledged by the so called mainstream media.
I don't care WHO you are! When the President speaks you have no choice BUT to listen to the subject matter and even though many will still refuse to acknowledge what he and countless other Black have been saying about our treatment on these shores from the time our people have arrived here.
This has been the experience of the great majority of Blacks who were born and raised in this country and beyond. The frustrating part of it is that most Whites in America have refused to deal with our plight and actually will use a twisted delusional logic to explain it away as though it doesn't exist.
This can be very frustrating indeed and the reason for many mounting tensions within the Black community as an entire people couldn't be wrong about experiencing the same damn thing!
Is it a case of two different races of people seeing the same thing in a totally different way or is it that the Caucasian side of the equation are simply lacking the depth of reasoning to see something so obvious and glaring?
Again, I'm not accusing all White people with being inept and insensitive, but it's a great many that literally refuse to see their ways in how we as Black people are prejudged and profiled by them in every segment of our everyday lives because of their sickness called racism.
I'm convinced that we as a people are equipped with an internal spiritual gear that many others just simply don't possess. They say in general that color doesn't matter but on the road and in the fields of life when quickly find out different and many times far too late.
Isn't it amusing how many Caucasian people ran with the idea – and I haven't a clue where they got this from – that we are living in a post racial America while at the same time the racist comments and acts of violence soared?
A post racial America?
President Obama was the spoon that stirred up the ever present sediment of vile racist emotion from the very country to whom claimed that we have entered a New day in relations between the races in America.
Guns and weaponry were purchased in record numbers because of the fear that this President was going to take them away and therefore their protection from the symbolic big Black Bogeyman that 17 year old Trayvon Martin was projected to be after his murder.
The often repeated battle cry of paranoia "taking our country back" reeked of an unsubstantiated fear that truly displayed how delusional an entire people could be and let me know off based many were in their perception of the world around them.
Heck! How sane could one be when they absorb the propaganda of Fox News at every turn and allow the corporate mind control specialist mold their feelings about a people to whom they've dealt with on a limited basis aside from the buffoonish television shows that some of us happen to headline.
Every Black person does NOT act like Flava Flav! But some of you haven't figured that out yet!
Yesterday morning I received a phone call from the CBS Network up in Boston and was invited to address the issues on The Dan Rea Talk Show that Black people had after the rendering of the very unpopular not guilty verdict in the George Zimmerman trial.
Once on the air live with my dear friend Dr. Vibert White, the attack from the stand in host began. A question would be asked of us and as soon as we drew the breath to answer the inquiry, we were bludgeoned with comments that were designed to throw us off track mentally and frustrate us to the point where we couldn't answer and hopefully get frustrated enough to act as the barbaric animals that they like to portray us as.
We prevailed with an intelligent and passionate message over the slights and slurs of the host to display an image that they obviously didn't want broadcast over their agenda filled radio equipment. we were abruptly cut off and soon after received a text message from the host that "we were great guests" and that "the time ran short". What it was is that we came with too much fire and truth as they saw their tactics were unable to throw us off from delivering the sound sensible information that these authors of confusion didn't want to see shared on their tab.
So while the President did a great thing regardless as to who said it was too late or a delusional effort, there are factions here in this country that want to keep the people divided because that is the only way that they can continue to profit. The "us versus them" syndrome and tactic is one of the oldest in the world yet many White Americans can't get over themselves and what is pumped into their brains from birth in a system that makes them feel as though they are the privileged race over and above the darker people of the planet.
So while many suggest that we work along in this system to make a change, I suggest that we also have factions working OUTSIDE of this extremely flawed and useless system that was built on the premise that Blacks are inferior and that we are less than human regardless as to what lip service is given to the people in 2013.
For Black people to finally enjoy the equality that we not only deserve from birth, but have earned from the sacrifice of losing our religion, culture and god in our unfortunate walk through slavery here, a new house can NOT be built on the old cracked, rotted and crooked foundation. We have got to build the new system from scratch as we will forever feel the sting of racism and the unfair practices of institutionalized racism, redlining, job discrimination, police and employer profiling, unfair court rulings and being stigmatized as being the problem with all things wrong in America.
Look White people, as approximately 13% of the population here in America, Black people were NOT the ones who caused YOU to spend irresponsibly and find yourself without a roof over your head because of foreclosure.
Black people weren't the ones who decided to ship your "cushy" jobs overseas and we damn sure didn't bring the drugs over here that YOU are statistically the majority in consuming. While you continue to say that all Black people are on welfare, you refuse to see that it can appear that way merely because of the overwhelming populations who are in the inner cities but fail to see how it's a proven fact that White women and White farmers receive the lions share of government handouts!
So before you go on perpetuating these false ideas to support your sick delusional mind, realize that this very way of thinking will cause YOUR destruction slowly but surely as this unrighteous mentality can NEVER make it to the new Kingdom of God on Earth as it is in Heaven!
It's as simple as that!
What President Barack Obama shared with you about our plight even Stevie Wonder can see!
So it's time to stop waiting and time for the revolution of our minds! No more waiting! It's time for some ACTION!
The Assassin Of Racism, Ignorance & Exploitation,
Your Brother,
You stupid niggers need to go back to Africa! America is a WHITE MAN's country! Get the fuck out, niggers!
Trayvon Martin was just a criminal nigger who was trying to steal from people's houses and Zimmerman did the right thing by shooting that nigger dead.
-Signed, a white man . , , ,. .
Anita Laurence
The next time you see a NIGGER feel free to walk up to him and slap him! We didn't come from AFRICA we are descendants of AFRICA, Just as you are from the caves of Europe via ELLIS ISLAND! This is the LAND and COUNTRY of my RED BROTHER, that you stealing, Murdering Mother Fucker stole from them < YOU GET THE HELL OUT WHITEY! Your Mom should of swallowed that nasty BROWN GOO that came from her Brother's foaming penis! You inbred LOWLIFE you!


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Consultants from Sterling Frazer Associates are available to provide in-house training to your management, staff and volunteers so they are better able to meet the specific needs of your clientele and your legal requirements under the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA 2005).
We provide guidance and training on all five (5) of the AODA Standards. Sessions are modified to meet the individual needs of each business and/or industry segment. Our consultants use a variety of teaching methods that range from lectures through group discussions and may include simulation exercises that give participants a glimpse into daily activities experienced by a person with a disability. Programs range from one hour through full-day workshops.
Sterling Frazer Associates provides site assessments of your facilities to determine the accessibility of your business to your customers.
Audits are performed in consideration of your customers with physical disabilities; including people who use wheelchairs, scooters, ambulatory devices (canes, crutches, walkers), or other devices such as prosthesis. We also evaluate the facilities from the perspective of sensory disabilities and consider the needs of people who have low vision, are blind, or have communication disorders (speech or hearing).
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Here are two examples of the same Word document. Document One uses an accessible electronic format of Word; while Document Two is a non-accessible Word document. Can you tell the difference? Visually, there is little difference, however the accessible document is readable by a person using an assistive reading device. Creating accessible documents when the document is first created provides the greatest amount of flexibility when asked to provide an accessible document in another format. For example, creating an accessible Word document allows the document to be saved as an accessible pdf which reduces the ability of a third party to modify your original, and it requires less space when sending documents by email.
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When modifying your home, be aware that architects, planners, designers, engineers and contractors are not legally responsible for ensuring a property meets provincial or national standards for accessibility. This is the responsibility of the home owner. Protect your investment and make sure that modifications to your home are safe and meet your requirements for accessibility.
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It is such a busy time of the year with parties, travel, and get togethers.
So I was looking for a quick but substantial appetizer or even lunch on the go.
Creamy Boursin cheese is so versatile. Already this week, I have used it to finish off a risotto, put a dot of it on endive and topped with salmon lox and now stuffed into mushrooms and topped with prosciutto.
This is really not a recipe so use the amounts you have of these items.
In a bowl toss mushrooms with olive oil and seasoning.
Line a baking sheet with foil and place mushrooms stem side down and bake about 20 minutes. They will shrink a little. Using tongs, flip the mushrooms over and stuff with cheese. Top with the prosciutto and return to oven to bake until prosciutto is crisp, about 10 minutes.
Place on serving platter and sprinkle with parsley.
The combination of peppery arugula, sweet mandarins, and roasted beets are a nice change from the heavy meals this time of year.
In a large salad bowl, combine sliced beets, oranges, arugula, baby lettuce, and green onions.
Whisk the olive oil and vinegar together, in a small bowl and toss with the salad ingredients.
We have used this casserole as a side dish for many Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. It can be made a day ahead and holds well in the refrigerator.
In a large skillet, add butter, oil and onion and saute over medium high heat until onion is soft.
Add garlic and shredded zucchini, cook about 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Sprinkle in the flour and stir until cooked.
Stir in the half and half, rice, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Pour into lightly greased 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese over top.
Remove from oven and rest 10-15 minutes. Slice into squares.
I knew it was the holiday season when my Mom would make these little treats.
The glazed cherries are found in the stores this time of year, I think they are the ones used for fruitcake but this is much better than fruitcake!
My girlfriend tried making them with soft, caramel centers and I actually preferred those, but the company that made the caramels stopped making them, and the caramels I made were not as soft.
If I had to be away from home at Christmas, I would make these for the flight crew, to share a traditional holiday memory.
Combine peanut butter, butter, walnuts, dates, and sugar in a food processor.
Roll out into a little smaller than golf ball size dough, and place a cherry in the center. Roll until smooth.
Melt chocolate and roll dough to cover. Let sit on wax paper.
Shrimp tacos are pretty far from the Thanksgiving table, but a nice change of pace. This is made with ground Chipotle chile, as opposed to the canned Jalapenos in adobo sauce. But either could be used.
In a bowl combine oil, lime juice, zest, cumin, chili, garlic, shallot and Jalapeno and mix well. Add shrimp and stir to coat. Let marinate 30 minutes to 4 hours.
In a small bowl, combine sour cream, cumin, chipotle chili, lime juice, cilantro, honey, and salt and pepper. Whisk in half and half, if needed to thin mixture.
Cover and chill until needed. Place in a squeeze bottle.
On a grill pan or large non stick saute pan, cook shrimp over medium-high heat, about 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside.
Lightly grill corn tortillas. Take each tortilla and top with a spoonful of shrimp, some shredded cabbage, avocado slices and drizzle crema over top.
Serve alongside limes and more cilantro.
Note: To adjust heat use more or less chipotle chili in crema. Also, some pico de gallo would be another great addition over top of taco.