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Q: Relationship between user story, feature, and epic? As someone who's still new to agile, I'm not sure I completely understand the relationship or difference between user story, feature, and epic.
According to this question, a feature is a collection of stories.  One of the answers suggests that a feature is actually an epic. So are features and epics considered the same thing, that is basically a collection of related user stories?
Our project manager insists that there's a hierarchical structure:
Epic -> Features -> User stories
And that basically all user stories must fall within this structure.  Therefore all user stories must fall under an umbrella feature and all features must fall under an epic.
To me, that sounds awkward.  Can someone please clarify how user stories, features, and epics are related?  Or is there an article that clearly outlines the differences?

A: Features and Epics are not the same thing.

*

*A Feature is not a User Story.

*An Epic is a User Story.

*A User Story may be an Epic.

*A User Story can contain many Features.

*A Feature can fulfill 1 to many User Stories.

In the planning phases, the discussions result in User Stories which are typicaly identified as Epics because the effort to implement solutions for them is too big to accomplish in a few days. Product Features are identified during this phase. But that's just a by-product of the discussion. Features are then used to plan a product road map, which is a separate discussion.
The Epics are taken and discussed further, resulting in User Stories for each Epic. The Features and Epics are used to drive discussions in Backlog Refinement and Sprint Planning sessions. At which time, the User Stories coming out of those discussions are refined, prioritized, and, in Sprint Planning, accepted into sprints for implementation.

A: It's just problem decomposition. They are just stories, except with different sizes.
I personally prefer not to label their sizes, but if you do that is fine as well. Ask you PM what the definition is in your workspace.

A: Epic
A very large user story that is eventually broken down into smaller stories.
User story
A very high-level definition of a requirement, containing just enough information so that the developers can produce a reasonable estimate of the effort required to implement it.
http://www.telerik.com/agile-project-management-tools/agile-resources/vocabulary.aspx  (archived link)
Feature
A distinguishing characteristic or capability of a software application or library (e.g., performance, portability, or functionality).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_feature

A: The way we work with Epics, Stories and Features is as follows
Early in the project cycle, we come up with Epics. These are very high-level, almost marketing-centric, bullet-points of functionality. The sort of thing that you can use in an executive summary, such as,

Our new web site will allow customers to browse products, view availability and pricing, place orders and see their past order history

This leads to Epics such as

*

*Browse Product Catalog

*View Availability

*View Pricing

*Place Order

*View Order History

These are written up as user stories (e.g. As a customer, I want to browse the product catalog, so that I can make an informed purchase decision), but serve only as a starter for ten for what will be actually developed and released.
These Epics are then further broken down into User Stories. These are actual end-to-end user journeys, very limited in scope and defined in a way that can be estimated and planned independently, and developed, tested, and released in one release cycle.
The User Story is the unit of delivery. It is the user story that is complete or not complete, goes live or does not go live.
An Epic may result in a large number of user stories, not all will be developed or released at the same time.
As an example, the Browse Product Catalog epic may break down into

*

*Navigate Category Hierarchy

*Search by Keyword

*Filter by Product Attributes (e.g. price range, brand, colour, size, etc.)

Again, each of these would be written up in the format, e.g. As a customer, I want to navigate the category hierarchy, so that I can browse products and drill down to the product most suitable for my needs.
Generally, for most of our projects, we have tens of Epics and hundreds of stories.
Now, as we go through the story life cycle, we tag these stories with Features. For example, all the browse and search and stock and pricing stories will be tagged with, say, 'product-catalog'. Place Order stories to do with paying by Credit Card may be tagged with a 'credit-card' label and those to do with paying by PayPal will be tagged with a 'paypal' label.
These labels serve to group together stories that belong together, not because they are different types of performing the same activity (e.g. all the place order stories) but because they ought to be released together.
For example, the "placing an order paying by credit card" story belongs under the same epic as the "placing an order paying by PayPal" story, but they need not be released together.
Whereas, the "placing an order paying by credit card" story, the "processing a return refunding onto a credit card" story, and the "allowing customers to manage their saved credit cards on their account" story do seem to belong to one another. They would all have been tagged with the 'credit-card' feature label. i.e. they would all belong to the "Credit Card" feature. It is not very helpful releasing the ability to place an order paying by Credit Card, if it is not possible to process a return refunding on to PayPal, or if it is not possible to manage your saved Credit Cards on your account
Note: As a general rule, that is. This is, in the end, a business decision. If time-to-market is important, there may be a legitimate reason to go live with one of these and not the other.
Thus Epics serve to break down into (related, but separate) stories that can be developed independently, while Features serve to group together stories that should be released together.
You could say that Epics decompose into User Stories, and User Stories get composed into Features. The stories that belong to a feature are usually across Epics. Thus Epics and Features are orthogonal, not in a strict hierarchy.
In our way of working, once the Epics have been broken down into stories, they lose their purpose. We do not estimate, or plan Epics. We do not track progress on Epics. We do not release Epics. We estimate, plan, and track User Stories. And we release Features.

A: I caution you against applying too rigid a hierarchy to these terms.  We tried to do that in my previous job twice.  Both attempts were different and both times we found we had unnecessarily limited ourselves.  The only constant was the definition of a User Story (archived).
From a planning perspective, a story is the basic building block of a project.  The larger terms (epic, feature, etc.) are effectively just tags.  Tags are an easy way to allow a story to exist as part of multiple Epics and multiple Features at the same time.  It's not worth the mental effort to be more strict than that.
Tags work for Stack Exchange and they can work for you too.

A: Our organization has over 2,000 developers, so the answer to this question is important to fluent and clear communication between the hundreds of Agile teams we have working together on our common product. For a very small organization, you can have a very simple structure that doesn't even need to be hierarchical (as others have answered). However, for large organizations, there is definitely a need for some organized, scaled, consistent hierarchy - and therein lies the problem in striving to make a hierarchy out of something that's not strictly hierarchical.
Incidentally, we refer to each of these disparate levels as "work items". Some organizations (including some of the respondents above) refer to disparate levels as Stories or User Stories (and we have in the past too), but we found this too ambiguous, so we now refer to them generically as Work Items.
The best we have "officially" done thus far is to follow Dean Leffingwell's SAFe structure of Investment Themes and Business Epics being at the top (and second from the top) of the hierarchy, then Features under that, and finally Stories under Features. According to Agile, Tasks are always under Stories, so we are careful not to reuse that term any higher up. We chose to follow SAFe to at least have SOME consistency across all our teams.
But this is still insufficient for our needs. We define a Feature as a clearly valuable deliverable to a consumer of our software product (i.e. we list these Features on our announcements of upcoming Releases). And we define a Story as a smaller amount of scope and work that can be delivered in a single Sprint by a single Agile dev team. We are also now STARTING to follow the SAFe definition of Investment Theme and Business Epic at the Portfolio level (and not below this level). And we are STARTING to NOT use our OLD definitions of "Theme" and "Epic".
We are now slowly evolving in this direction, but the wheels of progress grind slowly. We are still struggling with how to split work into bite-sized chunks so that we can define the work and get it done smoothly by multiple teams. To do this, we see a need for a "Sub-Feature" which is smaller than a Feature but bigger than a Story. Sub-Features can be used for chunks of work done on a Feature by EACH INDIVIDUAL team, or chunks of work done by a SINGLE team at different times (in different Sprints, or even different Releases).
We also need multiple hierarchical levels between Feature and Business Epic, but we haven't solved this one yet, other than to just call them "Themes" - which we know is not the correct term, as it's easily confused with SAFe Investment Themes. For some big projects (releases) we have as many as 5-8 different hierarchical levels, each one breaking the work down into smaller and smaller chunks. You can think of these Themes as being "Feature Groups", but that's not necessarily the correct term either.
I think it's important to try to use terms that offer clarity rather than ambiguity. So anyone referring to a Story means the smallest unit of work that can be done in a single Sprint (except for the Tasks under the Story), and Sub-Feature means the smallest unit of work on a Feature that can be done by a single team. Likewise, a Feature Group is one hierarchical level above Feature. Above that it gets a little fuzzy, so we usually just call them Themes, and we allow Themes as parents and children of other Themes. We try to restrict the Feature, Sub-Feature, and Story levels to a single level each (Features should not be children of other Features) but we are not yet 100% successful in restricting this.
I know we could use "Tags" to organize some of this, but tags don't give us the organizational work breakdown structure that we need to categorize the work between all of our teams. By definition, tags are ambiguous (many-to-many relationships), but a hierarchy is strictly one-to-many.
The bottom line is that this is still a work-in-progress for us, and we're still struggling with it. But adhering to the SAFe definitions of Theme, Epic, Feature, and Story has us moving in the right direction!

A: They are very generic term actually. There is many way to interpret them, varying in the literature and how people see them. Take everything I say with a huge grain of salt.
Usually, an Epic comprise a very global and not very well defined functionality in your software. It is very broad. It will usually be broken down into smaller user story or feature when you try to make sense of it and making them fit in an agile iteration. Example :
Epic

*

*Allow the customer to manage its own account via the Web

Feature and User Story are more specific functionality, that you can easily test with acceptance tests. It is often recommended that they be granular enough to fit in a single iteration.
Features usually tend to describe what your software do :
Feature

*

*Editing the customer information via the web portal

User stories tend to express what the user want to do :
User story
As bank clerk,
I want to be able to modify the customer information
so that I can keep it up to date.
I don't think there is really a hierarchy between the two, but you can have one if you want or if it fit how you work. A user story can be a specific justification for a feature, or a specific way to do it. Or it can be the other way around. A feature can be a way to realize a user story. Or they can denote the same thing. You can use both : User stories to define what bring business value and feature to describe constraint of the software.
User story: as a customer, I want to pay with the most popular credits cards
Feature support the GOV-TAX-02 XML API of the government.
There is also the question of scenario, which are usually a way a Feature/User story will be executed. They usually map cleanly to a specific acceptance test. For example
Scenario : Withdrawing money
Given I have 2000$ in my bank account
When I withdraw 100$
Then I receive 100$ in cash
And my balance is 1900$
That is how we define those terms where I work. Those definitions are far from a mathematical definition or a standardized term. Its like the difference between a right wing politician or a left wing politician. It depend where you live. In Canada, what is considered right wing may be considered left-wing in the United State. It's very variable.
Seriously, I wouldn't worry too much about it. The important is that everyone on the team agree on a definition so you can understand each other. Some method like scrum tend to define them more formally, but pick what work for you and leave the rest. After all, isn't agile about Individuals and interactions over processes and tools and Working software over comprehensive documentation?

A: I agree like many responses that there are really no right answers since these are just terms which can be varied depending on which Agile camp you are based on and you can definitely make up your own camp as long as everyone in your team including the external stakeholders understand what they mean. It is just a way of organizing your requirement.
The answer I like is from Mike Cohn's camp and it is fairly simple.
http://www.mountaingoatsoftware.com/blog/stories-epics-and-themes

*

*Epic is just a big Story (hierarchical)

*Theme is just a group of Stories (pretty much like tag)

He actually avoids the term "Feature". I assume that it is mainly because it was a common term in the traditional waterfall world. Many Agile camp tends to use different terms to emphasize the differences.
So in your PM's definition, Feature is somewhere in the middle of the Epic-Story hierarchy.
Here is my info-graphic of this definition from my InfoQ article http://www.infoq.com/articles/visualize-big-picture-agile ;-)

A: Product Backlog Hierarchy is pretty much dependent on the product size and its modularity (number of product areas defined).
For small Projects: Epic > Story is more than enough; and you call either the "feature".
Large projects might become alike to: Novel > Theme > Epic > Feature > Story
The best example might be the following:
Novel = MS Office
Theme = MS Word / MS Excel ...
Epic = Tables / Font Directory ...
Features = Basic Table / Table Color Scheme / Operations with Cells ...
Stories (for 'Basic Tables' Feature within 'Tables' Epic) = Add Table / Draw Table / Insert Raw / Insert Column ...
What I believe is beneficial to keep in mind when defining your own scaling for backlog is:
1. Story: a) always feasible within one sprint; b) not always testable for end-users
2. Epic / Feature: a) doesn't fit one sprint duration and needs to be decomposed; b) always should be testable for end-users; c) always shippable, can be monetized - get ROI calculated for it
3. When considering add or not Epic > Feature section or stick to Epic > Story: I'd recommend to insert Feature in between Epic and Story only when: Epic doesn't fit even 1 Release, so you need to define shippable element that will fit 1 Release duration.
Hope this is helpful.

A: In our organisation we have the following:
Theme = Used to group together a collection of stories
Epic = Describes a large user story (in truth a requirement) that needs to be broken down into user stories
Features = Does what it says on the tin, describes a feature of the product required
User story = This is the lowest level of detail from which tasks are derived.


More with fishery expert, Dr. Roldan Munoz and his recent work featured in PeerJ.
What are bumphead parrotfish? Why are they called this?
Bumphead parrotfish (Bolbometopon muricatum) are a type of coral reef fish called a parrotfish, and they happen to be the largest species of parrotfish in the world (they can grow over 4.5 feet long and can weigh over 165 lbs). Parrotfish get their name because their teeth are fused to form a beak which they use to scrape and graze algae off the reef. Bumphead parrotfish are named due to their forehead which in adults becomes enlarged and is used by males in head-butting contests (like bighorn sheep) during fights for the chance to mate with females.
Bumphead parrotfish are found associated with coral reefs in coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, from the Red Sea east to the Line Islands, north to Taiwan, and south to the Great Barrier Reef and New Caledonia.
Are they rare/endangered? If so why?
Although they have a wide distribution across the Indian and Pacific oceans, in many parts of their range their populations have experienced dramatic declines and they are now rare or absent from many locations where they were once abundant. When fishing, humans tend to target the largest fish available and because of bumpheads' large size, where they occur they are natural targets, culturally important for feasts and banquets, and highly prized. To make matters worse, bumphead parrotfish like to school in large numbers and use predictable sleeping sites in shallow waters, which makes it easy to harvest large numbers of this giant parrotfish.
What recent research took place?
We recently studied the reproduction of bumphead parrotfish at Wake Atoll, a remote coral atoll (chain of islands formed of coral) and marine reserve under US jurisdiction in the west Pacific. The population there has been protected from fishing for decades which gave us the uncommon opportunity to study them under relatively natural conditions, with little fear of human observers. We determined that bumphead reproduction involves a large group of individuals that repeatedly visit a specific location on the reef for early morning spawning events.
Why do we need to study them? Why do we care about reproduction of the species?
Our study is important because overfishing has apparently altered the behavior of bumphead parrotfish and led to a general avoidance of humans throughout much of their range; they are known as the wariest of parrotfishes and in most locations individuals are difficult to approach underwater. Consequently, before our work, very little information regarding reproduction was available. The study of reproduction is important for any organism because it can help scientists estimate the health of the population, so our work should provide critical insights for future conservation efforts of bumphead parrotfish.
Why are they important to the ecosystem?
Parrotfishes as a group are a key component of coral reef ecosystems because they are often abundant and their grazing activities help keep algae in check, which can outcompete corals for space on tropical reefs. Bumphead parrotfish also feed on algae but are virtually unique on the coral reef by their consumption of large amounts of living and dead coral, which are pulverized and defecated as sand. Each individual adult has been estimated to consume over 5 tons of reef per year, so their feeding activities can affect the kinds of corals and algae growing on the reef, and the distribution of sand around the reef.
How long have you been studying them?
I have been studying bumphead parrotfish since 2011 but have studied other parrotfishes and wrasses (a related group of reef fish) throughout my scientific career, spanning more than twenty years. In addition to their ecological importance, parrotfishes and wrasses are economically important as food fishes and are often the most commonly caught fishes where they occur.
I earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a marine emphasis from the University of Maryland. I then earned a Master of Science from the University of South Florida where I studied the ecology of two species of parrotfishes in the Florida Keys. I completed a PhD at the University of California Santa Barbara and continued my work with parrotfishes and studied the reproduction of a common parrotfish on coral reefs and seagrass beds of St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
GARY RANDALL
District Of Corruption--A City Of Two Tales: Who Is Most Corrupt?
It was Charles Dickens who wrote "A Tale Of Two Cities," the second bestselling book of all time--a distant second to all time sales of the Bible.
Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us... "
He wrote, "It was the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred seventy five...mere messages in the earthly order of events had lately come to the English Crown and People, from a congress of British subjects in America: which, strange to relate, have proved more important to the human race then any communication yet received through any of the Chickens of the Cock-lane brood."
The "most important message" created the most prosperous, blessed and free nation in the history of the world---the United States of America.
It is now the year of our Lord two thousand and fourteen, and again it can be said, it is the best of times, it is the worst of times.
Our capitol has become a city of two tales. A center of corruption. A place where elected officials lose their way and break their promises.
Some of those whom we have elected have told the tale of promise to represent those who elected them, yet the account of their activities is a very different tale---one of self service and personal advancement, not public service.
Here is the list of the most self serving "public servants" in 2013.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who are the most corrupt of all:
Judicial Watch has been compiling this information each year for the past number of years.
The following is their bi-partisan top ten list for 2013 in alphabetical order. I have included a brief comment as to why they were dishonored. I recommend you take a closer look at much more detail through the link above.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH)
Boehner has become a master at the "tollbooth strategy" of charging other lawmakers in order to move their legislation forward for a vote. He requires donations to his campaign fund. Judicial Watch identifies more than $200,000 as political donations from executives just days before holding votes on bills critically important to their industries.
CIA Director John Brennan
Judicial Watch gives in depth insight of how Brennan tried to curry favor with the Hollywood producers of the film "Zero Dark Thirty," how he manipulated information regarding national security editing reports to support a pre-determined narrative.
Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA)
He was a key abuser in using leadership PAC loopholes to convert campaign cash into lavish lifestyle upgrades. When his campaign was asked about the flagrantly lavish spending, his campaign said he did not break the law.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Judicial Watch documents how Clinton protected herself in regard to Benghazi and how she failed in her leadership. They also reveal that in addition to her cover up in the Benghazi fiasco, how she also covered for her long time top aide Huma Abedin. Clinton had allowed her to work as a "special government employee" which allowed her to work for other outside interests while working for the government. Abedin earned $335,000 in addition to her government compensation for her real job of $135,000.
In May of 2013, Judicial Watch says Holder may well have committed perjury. His DOJ is assaulting states such as Texas and others in his hostility toward the concept of one person--one vote and election integrity. They look at the Fast and Furious scandal. Judicial Watch also reveals that Holder's expenses are extremely high and questionable. In an August report, it was revealed that Holder spent $4.2 million in accrued travel expenses over 48 months of which $697,525.20 were personal. They conclude Holder's "corruption knows no limits."
Former IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller / Former IRS Official Lois Lerner
Judicial Watch reveals very much about the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups and other conservative groups and the cover up perpetrated by Miller and Lerner. They reveal that although Lerner was found guilty, "neglect of duties," and the investigation committee was going to call for her firing, she was allowed to retire from the IRS with full benefits. Judicial Watch concludes, "In short Obama's IRS duo may have perfected the formula for stealing in plain sight."
Former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano
There is much detail regarding her failure to perform in office and "for political reasons gutting the very immigration laws she swore to uphold."
Judicial Watch says President Barack Obama actually tops this "Top Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians" list for 2013 as the driving force behind so many of the misdeeds. They document his continual lying to the public about Obamacare and other issues, and his "catch me if you can" corrupt politics. The President used the White House as his personal travel agency, was a one man Congress, and warned groups who oppose his policies. There's much about the President.
Senator Harry Reid ( D-NV)
Judicial Watch reveals how Harry Reid has been involved in mishandling of funds specially related to campaign funds, reporting that his long time friend and donor Harvey Whitttemore was sentenced to 2 years in jail this past year for funneling more than $130,000 in illegal campaign funds into Reid's re-election committee. They also report much about his connection to and profiting from the "Green Industry."
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
The Obamacare fiasco, in addition to campaigning for Obama while acting in her official capacity as an executive branch official during the last presidential campaign. That act was found by the justice department to be illegal. Sebelius is the first member ever of a president's cabinet to be found guilty of violating the Hatch Act.
Dishonorable Mentions were:
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg
Outgoing Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell ( R) / Incoming Virginia Governor Terry McAuliff (D)
Former Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)
National Security Advisor Susan Rice
Not all whom we elect to serve us in our government are corrupt, but too many are. This is a time when we must become more and better informed. Forget the campaign promises-look at their actions in DC---or Olympia or wherever your state capitol happens to be.
Do not accept conflicting tales.
We must communicate with those whom we elect so they can be clear on what we, the people, expect from them.
And pray for the honest ones who tell the same tale at home and at the capitol. Pray God will strengthen them to stand firm in this "season of Darkness."
Be Informed. Be Vigilant. Be Discerning. Be Pro-Active. Be Prayerful. Be Blessed.
Most of the above named corrupt are not nearly so much to blame as are the dangerous FOOLS who re-elect them into office. For shame.
Anonymous 6:18 AM, January 11, 2014
I wait for a president who will tell us all about the worst of times in a state of the union adress. I wish such a thing would go on for many hours, and then tell us that since time is so limited, that there will be a website we may visit to get much more of the worst of what's going on.
If a president told us all about the worst of times, we could have a new meaning to the term politically correct.
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Samsung as of early September 2016 has issued a FULL recall on the Samsung Galaxy Note 7, due to fire hazards linked to overheating of the battery inside of the Note 7. What's your next move if you have a Note 7?
Effective immediately Samsung has requested that ALL Note 7s be turned off and not used for safety reasons. Sales of the Note 7 were halted last week in 10 countries: the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, the UAE and Korea. Phones in China don't appear to be affected because they have a different battery.
Samsung says they know of at least 35 incidents involving the overheated batteries causing damage to a Note 7. The Note 7 went on sale in August. Customers are advised to contact their local call centers or visit the retail location where the phone was purchased. In the U.S., customers can call 1-800-SAMSUNG or 1-800-726-7864.
Customers have the option to replace their phone with the Galaxy S7, the Galaxy S7 Edge or a different device and receive reimbursement for the difference.
Note 7 users can take their phones on board airplanes but the phones must be powered off and cannot be connected to a charging device. However, the phones should be carried onto the plane and not stowed in checked luggage, according to guidance from airlines around the world.
Note 7 accessories can also be returned for a refund and Samsung is issuing a $25 gift card, in-store credit or bill credit to users for the inconvenience. Full details from Samsung on the Samsung Note 7 exchange program can be located Here.


text: Q: How to ask a question on Firefox support forum? Might be a bit off-topic, but I can't imagine I'm the only one with this problem. If I click the big GET HELP button on the Mozilla's Get community support page, it looks like I was getting somewhere useful, with the "Select Product - Explore Solutions - Get Support" line on top. I select Firefox as the product, I get the option to search existing questions, but whatever I search I get 0 results. I try clicking on Ask Now on the side, where I'd expect to type my question in, but that only sends me back to the page I came from. This is surprisingly frustrating. Is the site just temporarily broken, or is there a trick to get in?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Travel-Tot: Sunscreens: What to Look For!
Concerned about potentially hazardous chemicals that can be found in some sunscreens? The Environmental Working Group released its list of the best sunscreens in May 2015; check out their searchable list here.


Wild Earth is challenging the status quo with cultured protein that's safe and sustainable.
Wild Earth is creating the first cultured protein pet food that is cheaper and healthier than existing products.
Wild Earth has developed a novel way to deliver high protein, comparable to other animal derived protein sources, and in many cases even superior. They are creating the next generation of pet food to perfectly match your pets' nutritional needs, and that is better for all animals, people, and the planet.
Wild Earth's first cultured protein product is made from human-grade Koji, a fungi already enjoyed by billions of people around the world that is eco-friendly and renewably sourced.
Koji was domesticated by humans around 9000 years ago and is used to ferment some of our favorite foods like soy sauce or miso soup. Using modern technology, they're now using this ancient food staple to create simple and clean proteins of the highest quality.


text:
DeshGujarat
Bhala Mori Rama Mp3
He is famous for his songs in Gujarati style. Ranveer has surrendered to the director's vision and delivers a power-packed performance.
Singh enrolled for a week transformation programme with Stevens, going on a strict protein diet which involved eating every two hours. Three years ago you'd never have expected her to improve so drastically and command the kind of energy she does now.
It's when the guns come on, and the gun-masters start roaring and shouting, that the love-story drowns, and everything gets both too noisy and too choreographed. Deepika is perfect in every scene. Priyanka Chopra made a cameo appearance in the song Ram Chahe Leela. Ram, however, manages to convince the policemen to leave in exchange for a set of his blue films.
Chadda also attempted to mimic Patel's acting. Ram and Leela develop a romance and plan to elope but a grim turn of events follows when Kanji accidentally kills Meghji, Ram's brother, and is in turn killed by Ram. The idea of a feud between two families that destroys everything really appealed to him. Much of the filming was done on sets, despite previous plans against doing so. Deepika Padukone Ranveer Singh.
Your email address will not be published. The latter was critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful, leaving Bhansali with no money to fund Ram-Leela. Some of the sets were created in Reliance and Film City. This is the second time Sanjay Leela Bhansali composed for a film, the first being the film Guzaarish.
His music albums including Bhala Mori Rama are sold over half million copies. For dramatic stagings of the life of Rama, navigation iphone see Ramlila. Theatrical release poster. He is rewarded by being made the new chieftain of the Rajadis.
The next morning, Leela is forcibly taken back home by Bhavani, her cousin, while Ram is hailed as a hero by the Rajadis for soiling Leela's reputation. She bitterly carries out a negotiation with Ram, equally dividing the travel routes and trades, with the condition that the Saneras and Rajadis will not interact with each other ever again. Arvind Vegda Facebook Profile.
In addition to writing, they collaborated with Bhansali for the costumes, recces, shoot days, editing, subtitling, and post production. After writing the initial screenplay draft, Siddarth-Garima were sent to Gujarat for researching dialect, slang and accent. Feeling that directing two films set in the same place would be repetitive, Bhansali waited. India portal Film portal Bollywood portal. He then requests Dhankor Baa to consider negotiation for peace, and she invites him to celebrate Navratri with the Saneras, with the intention of having him killed.
She attributes Bhansali's perfectionist outlook as the reason, while admitting she became emotional on the set. Ram's look was inspired by Rabari tribesmen. In her anger, Dhankor Baa chops off Leela's finger. There were rumours that Madhuri Dixit would be performing an item number for the film. Arvind Vegda is a Gujarati folk singer from Gujarat, India.
International Business Times. He managed to get the required look in six weeks. Interior sets were created at Reliance while an exterior set used to show the mohallas, streets and markets was set in Film City. Singh, who plays a Gujarati boy, had to learn some Gujarati abuses as well as gain muscle for his character in the film. The two clans come together to cremate the bodies of the lovers.
Bhai Bhai Dj Hemzz Black Night Vol
Leela is made the chieftain of the Saneras and gets busy tending to her mother. Khan and Bhansali travelled through villages in Gujarat and got references from the lifestyle, costumes and markets, which were used for putting together the sets.
Since the two weren't familiar with each other, Bhansali wanted them to socialize. Upon learning of this, Ram does the same to his own finger and visits Leela while she is asleep. Beethoven's String Quartet No.
In response to the attempt on Kesar, Ram storms into Leela's house and incapacitates the guards single-handedly. Films by Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
They started performing at Navratri venues. Leela refuses, citing that her finger is already occupied by the ring from her marriage to Ram. Notify me of new posts by email. The walls are rough hued and lined with glasswork patches. According to her, the Garba performed in the film was a folk one, rather than the commercial ones often played.
Arvind Vegda has no formal training in music. He was also roped in by the Bharatiya Janata Party for its Gujarat election campaign.
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text:
Page last updated at 12:12 GMT, Monday, 8 September 2008 13:12 UK
Where do you think you are?
1850's Soho: an early incarnation of the geographic web
"This is, in a sense, a social network of dead people," Steven Johnson told this year's dConstruct conference in Brighton.
Mr Johnson was a keynote speaker at the gathering which brought together technologists and theorists involved in the social web.
In his speech Mr Johnson described the London cholera outbreak of 1854, and how it was halted.
The quip raised a nervous laugh, but the map of cholera deaths compiled by physician John Snow was meant to show the power of very local knowledge; it clearly showed a clustering of victims around a single water pump.
The water-contamination hypothesis had been made by Snow before, but the piece of the puzzle that made the picture clear came from Henry Whitehead, a local vicar who knew each and every person in the community and helped Snow build the map.
When the handle from that pump was removed, the story goes, modern epidemiology was born. But it isn't just a story about epidemiology, Johnson argues.
"It's also a story about a social system, about a neighbourhood, about amateurs who live in that neighbourhood who have a very local - we might say now 'hyperlocal' - kind of expertise about what's going on in their communities who were able to share that expertise. In doing so they changed the world."
Untethered web users
Mr Johnson and many others at the conference argued about and how to program for the so-called "geographic web". For most of its life, the web has been "out there", a boundless but ethereal construct. While it could provide information about particular places, web surfers had to find and assimilate it themselves. Where that surfer was, or lived, wasn't even possible to specify.
All that is changing. "Geo-tagging", first popularised on the photo-sharing site Flickr, associates files, photos, blogs, restaurant reviews, even music listeners with a particular place.
Google's mapping application has been widely adopted by websites to create their own geo-tagged content. GPS locating hardware is increasingly being built into mobile phones, and location-based mobile phone applications are being integrated with sites like Facebook and "micro-blogging" service Twitter.
Unfamiliar territory? Let the geographic web guide you
"How we access the web isn't necessarily tethered to a desktop computer sitting in a specific room - we're out and about and the kind of information you want to access when you're out and about is different," says Jeremy Keith, a web design expert at the UK consultancy Clearleft. "What becomes really valuable is if your device knows where you are and can tailor useful information to that."
The challenge now is to sort out all that geographically specific information - the "what" narrowed down by the "where".
"This social web of people on the ground," Mr Johnson argues, "requires tools to grab that information and aggregate it, make sense of it, share it, and amplify it."
Last month saw the release of Yahoo's Fire Eagle, one of the steps in the effort to do just that. Fire Eagle aims to be the location broker for a number of third-party applications that can make use of its users' locations. Tell Fire Eagle where you are by, say, sending a Twitter message to it, and it relays the information to other sites.
Those might be social networks like the location-specific brightkite, or one for travellers like Dopplr. Land in Budapest, and you'll know who among your friends is also there and have a handful of hotel and restaurant recommendations already in hand.
Or if you allow your GPS-enabled phone to update automatically, you could be walking home from work when you get word that a Facebook friend of yours is at a pub nearby.
The possibilities are as limitless as your potential wherabouts.
In a lot of cases, software isn't useful unless a certain number of people are adding value
Joshua Porter
Johnson wants to search the web at large to provide local, current news for users of his company's site, outside.in. By setting your location, outside.in searches for current information, blogs, reviews, and so on - in part via Fire Eagle - to provide a customisable service. Set up an account at home and you'll get a custom-built scouring of the web, pared down and made for you, right there.
Or tap into local news and chatter when you're travelling; just let outside.in know and instantly you've got your proverbial ear to the ground.
Users can set a "radius" around themselves to determine just how local the news they receive is. As they join the fray, they receive a ranking for how much they are contributing to conversations on local issues.
Geographic chickens and eggs
These are early days, though, and Jeremy Keith says that the dConstruct conference exists to thrash out the ideas behind sea changes like the transition to the geographic web.
The truth about many of these sites is that they are all taking baby steps toward true integration of web services with the way that, with new tools in our hands, we will be making use of them.
These sites will come into their own only when a critical mass of people are involved, so the first step is getting the word out. Much of the conference's content is dedicated to designing websites that tantalise people into signing up.
"How do you engage people to participate and to contribute their ideas and content? In a lot of cases, software isn't useful unless a certain number of people are adding value - it's a chicken and egg problem," says Joshua Porter, founder of web design company Bokardo.
Porter says that imbuing sites with a sense of competition, like outside.in's rankings, is one of the best ways to encourage people to contribute.
Mr Johnson closed his talk with what he hoped was the take-home message. Teething problems and privacy concerns aside, the geographic web should be a tool "not to use the web as a mechanism to escape the real world but instead use the web as a way of enhancing the real world, making you feel more connected to your community".
That community, wherever and however transient it might be, is connected - and the near future will bring it to the comfort of your home or the palm of your hand.
Privacy worry over location data
14 Aug 08 | Technology
How Twitter makes it real
10 Mar 08 | Technology
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27 Jun 08 | Click
Bluetooth helps Facebook friends
dConstruct 2008
Fire Eagle
Dopplr
outside.in
brightkite
Clearleft
Bokardo
TOP TECHNOLOGY STORIES
US lifts lid on WikiLeaks probe
Bing gains market share in search
'Virtual human' makes Xbox debut


text:
Castlehaven By the Sea
By Covert Novelist 10 months ago	1
"You could live here forever and feel wonderfully cared for, enveloped. I know it sounds crazy but it's so timeless it's as though centuries have passed from then until now, captured at this moment in time!"
By Covert Novelist 10 months ago	13
"He's always given me the creeps and it's been obvious he's had a crush on me and he often crossed the line and I've always felt extremely uncomfortable around him for years."
Danielle was eager to explore the possibilities entailed in her new job. Well, not a new job in fact, but an extension, a new arm to her already existing job. The
As they turned to walk away, she clasped his hand like it was a lifeline and he squeezed lightly back before turning and gently looking into her eyes.
He handed her a cup of hot chocolate, "Thought you might enjoy this."
"How did you know hot chocolate was my weakness?"
By Covert Novelist 10 months ago
Crime scene investigators had determined this was no accident, but sabotage.
If Amy was going to parley this into a winning situation for everyone concerned, both the victims and the perp, she'd have to walk carefully.
"Brrr. It's getting cold, race ya!" Maggy raced off in the lead and Trent was only too happy to fall behind, enjoying the view.
Charlotte was infamous for her practical jokes. The whole department expected something crazy on April Fools Day.
He took his time to explain the symmetry and the angles and how they worked together and why.
McPherson confiscated the file in the guise of looking over its contents and rose to leave.
"What are you, a boy scout?" she quizzed with a smile of appreciation.Wondered who was ahead of me. Saw your tracks earlier."
"More than you'd think, but I design with the individual in mind and what they want. On occasion, my own vision creeps in but not often."
Maggy picked up some dishes and carried them to the sink. She was captivated and she didn't mind admitting it since it didn't happen often.
The office was swamped!
"Alright, on my way," he called from around the corner. Maggy smiled, yep, he was in the greenhouse, had to expect that!
"Paul, that has no bearing on the case what-so-ever.
"Yeh, it was. I'll be back in time for dinner. See you then." He saluted as he turned to walk away.
Now the old diner was hers if she wanted it. Although it had maintained its character and must of the interior was in good condition, there were bits and pieces that required an overhaul.
As she nibbled on her Danish Maggy noted, "I'm really glad Alma hasn't changed the bakery. I grew up here, it was my second home.
Although no one admitted it, adrenaline would course through their veins at the thought of capturing a perp.
Trent joined her and wrapped an arm across her shoulders, "You ok?"
"I will be, but oh my god, I needed that, painful though it maybe."
Christa wasn't sure what she could salvage from the crime scene.
Maggy didn't reply just chomped down on the corn on the cob as she turned to look at him and a juicy glob of butter and corn juice spewed out to land on his sleeve jacket.
Aloof
Patricia had always found it amusing that Mitchell came off as aloof, whether he meant to or not
"Just the best seat in the house!" Maggy taunted.
"I'm sure your mother won't mind a snuggle." He settled down beside her and picked up the cocoa.


text:
Things to do in Lima
Lima Historic Center
Lima Historic Center The historic center of Lima declared a World Heritage Site, one of the areas that joins the list of what to do in Lima. Neighborhood located between two districts of Lima, they are Rimac and Cercado, however it has a dignified tourist importance to mention it in a particular way. Important events occurred in the current center of Lima, which provide reasons for the foundati... More info
Surf Peru's beaches are considered by experts to be among the best in the world. There are permanent surfing opportunities all year round, with small, big, long, tubular, high peak and bell waves, as well as a large amount of waves that break closely one after the other. Nice waves! The central coast has permanent surf during winter (April to September), while the north coast offers... More info
Barranco Barranco is one of the smallest districts, however, it is also the bohemian area of Lima for being the place of residence of many local artists. Formerly it was a fishing village, who through the 'descent of the baths' accessed the sea to undertake their daily activities. Over time, it became the summer resort for upper-class families, who installed their large beach house in thi... More info
Pedro de Osma Museum
Pedro de Osma Museum The Pedro de Osma Museum exhibits Peruvian artistic pieces from the fifth to the eighteenth century. The art works from Ancient Peru corresponds to the geographic area of the south Andes and belong to a private collection from Cuzco. Tiahuanaco and Inca cultures were developed on this territory. The works from the viceregal period consists of paintings, sculptures, fu... More info
Hang-gliding and paragliding
Hang-gliding and paragliding Flight has always been a dream of man. Paragliding and hang-gliding enabled the fulfilment of this old desire. Soaring through Peruvian skies and seeing the sea, mountains and valleys is a truly gratifying experience. It is also a different way to appreciate Peru's immense geography. Paragliding in Peru offers a series of settings with beautiful landscapes ... More info
El Callao Callao is officially a neighboring city of Lima, commonly known as the Port of Lima because the entire port system of the city, both maritime and air, works there because the Lima airport is also located there. Although it is not a district of Lima, it is considered a neighborhood that you can not miss because of the tourist activities it offers for visitors. What to see in C... More info
Adventure Rafting
Adventure Rafting Peru has more than a dozen rivers that cover its varied coastal, hill and jungle regions. Its five longest rivers cover more than 7,000 kilometers within the country's borders. The power of the water in some of these rivers allows makes rafting possible, a sport of pure adrenaline. Rapids are classified according to an international scale from I to VI, according to their diffi... More info
Alpaca 111
Alpaca 111 They are leaders in the exportation of alpaca products. Knitted garments, coats, jackets, baby alpaca scarf, crossed cape, gold of the Andes, shade of the Andes. South American Camelids Produce traditional handicrafts from Peru, all handmade, the incas culture. Rugs, tapestries, blankets, alpaca bedspreads, blankets, gourds. The Peruvian Handicrafts are well known around the world an... More info
Miraflores Central Park
Miraflores Central Park Miraflores Central Park popularly known as «Kennedy Park» is one of the most popular parks in Lima and visited for its central location in the District of Miraflores. It is made up of 2 parks: Central Park and Kennedy Park, side by side, adding an area of 22,000 m² Every day local artists make presence in the park to offer paintings and crafts to visito... More info
Lima: Chiuchin - Picoy - Huancahuasi
Lima: Chiuchin - Picoy - Huancahuasi The legend tells of an Inca that passed through this are impregnating a princess. In Quechua language, 'chiuchi' means small male child, this being the origin of the locality's name. Located on the banks of the Chegras River, all you need to do is cross it to reach Chiuchín's hot springs. Although getting there is not easy due to the condition of t... More info


text:
Frankie Louise Wood Tate
d. June 9, 2017
Frankie Louise Wood Tate, 54, of Country Club Drive, Siler City died Friday, June 9, 2017 at Chatham Hospital after a courageous fight against lung cancer at Duke Medical Center.
Mrs. Tate was born in Chatham County on April 5, 1963, the daughter of Louise "Sis" Brooks Wood and Jerry Burton Wood, Jr. She was a graduate of Jordan-Matthews High School, Louisburg College and Rutledge Business College in Greensboro.
She carried the names of both of her grandfathers who were acknowledged as pillars of the community. One the first pharmacist in the town, the other a long time community servant who was the town's mayor. She worked at First Union Bank and then Chatham Foods. She was president of FTC Sales, Inc, a partner in Bubba's Barbecue and co-owner, with her husband Alan of Oval Oak Steak House. They made their home in Siler City where she was a stay at home Mom with a nurturing spirit and loving heart, always putting family first. She was a lifelong member of the First Methodist Church of Siler City, sat on the Board of Directors of Chatham Charter and coached the tennis team at Jordan-Matthews High School. Continuing her family's strong and enduring legacy of golf, she was the first and only female board member of the Siler City Country Club.
She embraced the best traits of her parents and embodied their lessons of love of family and service to others and was relentlessly devoted to them in sickness and in health. She was a devoted wife of 24 years to Alan K. Tate and the mother to Lindsay, a rising Junior in college and Austin, a rising Sophomore in high school. Her great gift was a nurturing spirit which she lavished on her family and friends. It was an endearing tribute that in her last days and hours, her husband, children, brothers and their wives, nephews, niece, cousins, and childhood friends were all at her bedside to return the love and admiration she poured into their lives. Dr. Jim Davis always nearby, was among them and a tower of strength and comfort to the family. He and Dr. Mike Grant of Duke are held in great esteem for their exceptionally compassionate care. She is survived by her husband, Alan, daughter, Lindsay, and son, Austin of the home; brothers, Jerry B. "Twig" Wood, III and wife, Betty, Craig B. Wood and wife, Margaret; nephews Jerry B. Wood, IV and wife, Ashley, Stephen F. Wood and fiancé, Brianna, Craig B. Wood, II; niece, Ashley A. Wood and fiancée, Justin Foy; mother-in-law Mary Helen Tate; sister-in-law, Elizabeth Ann Tate. Frankie was preceded in death by her parents and an infant brother, Andy Wood; father-in-law, Alfred Tate . The family will receive friends Sunday, June 11, 2017 at First United Methodist Church of Siler City from 6:30 – 8:30 PM. The funeral will be held Monday, June 12, 2017 at 11:00 AM at the First Methodist Church with Rev. Carl Belcher and Rev. Joe Casteel officiating. Burial will follow in Oakwood Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church, P O Box 212, Siler City, NC 27344 or Chatham County Relay for Life, c/o Ann McDaniel, P O Box 522, Siler City, NC 27344. Online condolences may be made at www.pughfuneralhome.com.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Frankie Louise Wood Tate, please visit our flower store.
1101 W Raleigh St, Siler City, NC 27344


text:
from qingcloud.cli.iaas_client.actions.base import BaseAction

class JoinRouterAction(BaseAction):

    action = 'JoinRouter'
    command = 'join-router'
    usage = '%(prog)s -r <router_id> -v <vxnet_id> -n <ip_network> [-f <features> -m <manager_ip> -S <dyn_ip_start> -E <dyn_ip_end>] [options] [-f <conf_file>]'

    @classmethod
    def add_ext_arguments(cls, parser):
        parser.add_argument('-r', '--router', dest='router',
                action='store', type=str, default='',
                help='ID of the router which vxnet will join.')

        parser.add_argument('-v', '--vxnet', dest='vxnet',
                action='store', type=str, default='',
                help='the id of the vxnet that will join the router.')

        parser.add_argument('-n', '--ip_network', dest='ip_network',
                action='store', type=str, default='',
                help='ip for vxnet, e.g. `192.168.x.0/24` ')

        parser.add_argument('-F', '--features', dest='features',
                action='store', type=int, default=1,
                help='''
                the integer value of the bit mask that represent the selected features.
                Masking Bit:
                1 - dhcp server
                ''')

        parser.add_argument('-m', '--manager_ip', dest='manager_ip',
                action='store', type=str, default=None,
                help='the manager ip, this can be used as default gateway within the private network, e.g. "192.168.x.2".')

        parser.add_argument('-S', '--dyn_ip_start', dest='dyn_ip_start',
                action='store', type=str, default=None,
                help='starting ip allocated from DHCP server, e.g. "192.168.x.2".')

        parser.add_argument('-E', '--dyn_ip_end', dest='dyn_ip_end',
                action='store', type=str, default=None,
                help='ending ip allocated from DHCP server, e.g. "192.168.x.254".')

    @classmethod
    def build_directive(cls, options):
        required_params = {
                'router': options.router,
                'vxnet': options.vxnet,
                'ip_netword': options.ip_network,
                }
        for param in required_params:
            if required_params[param] is None or required_params[param] == '':
                print('error: [%s] should be specified' % param)
                return None

        return {
                'router': options.router,
                'vxnet': options.vxnet,
                'features': options.features,
                'ip_network': options.ip_network,
                'manager_ip': options.manager_ip,
                'dyn_ip_start': options.dyn_ip_start,
                'dyn_ip_end': options.dyn_ip_end,
                }

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Discovery Education and the Presidential Specialized Council for Education and Scientific Research announce new initiatives to support President el-Sisi build a community that learns, thinks, and innovates using STEM concepts and digital content.
September 24th, Cairo – Discovery Education, the leading provider of digital content and professional development for teachers and students, and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank (EKB) today launched a number of initiatives that will provide dynamic Science, Technology, Engineering, and Maths (STEM) content to 23 million teachers and students in Egypt, under the directive of the Presidential Specialized Council for Education and Scientific Research, a direct initiative of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Held at The Ministry of Higher Education in Cairo, the launch event was inaugurated by Minister of Higher Education, H.E. Ashraf El-Sheehy, Representative of Minister of Education, Ms. Gihan Kamal, Secretary-General of the Presidential Specialized Councils in Egypt, Dr. Tarek Shawki, President of the American University Mr. Francis J. Riccardione and the President of Discovery Education International, Ms. Kelli Campbell.
Dr. Gehan Kamel, representative of the Ministry of Education, said that innovative students are a national treasure of critical importance that needs to be nurtured. Developing a generation of innovators requires great efforts from the various education and scientific research institutions, and more importantly huge focus needs to be put on the primary player in the education process and that is the educator. This is where the initiative from the Presidential Council in partnership with the Ministry of Education plays a key role, to have real impact on the teachers' development and performance. There are thousands of teaches who will become ambassadors of change in Egyptian schools through this program.
Discovery Education, in partnership with the Presidential Specialized Council for Education and Scientific Research, announced the launch of their Professional Development programme which commences today. Dedicated to building a sustained STEM environment in and outside the classroom, Egyptian educators will participate in Discovery Education's STEM Foundation professional development programme. This two-year professional learning model develops and nurtures teachers and principals as they build a STEM culture using a multi-dimensional solution focused on STEM teaching and learning.
Discovery will work with hundreds of educators as a pathway to start this learning journey with the goal of having these educators share their knowledge with educators across the country. Susanne H. Thompson, Vice President of Professional Development for Discovery Education, noted she "is incredibly pleased and honoured to work with a team of local teachers who are already becoming experts in the STEM professional development programme and will spread their knowledge as they train and mentor other teachers and principals all throughout Egypt." At the end of their two-year journey, STEM teachers will graduate with accreditation as "STEM Now Innovators".
Discovery Education also announced that the EKB WebEdTV will launch tomorrow, Sunday 25th September. EKB WebEdTV is educational online TV at its very best. Every school day during the instructional year, teachers and students are treated to thematically-focused programs, such as "Science Sunday" and "Maths Monday," as well as other programmes including "World Topics," "STEM Careers," and "21st Century Skills". These programmes will be broadcasted online and give educators and students instant access to a collection of engaging short-form videos that together form three hour-long block of premiere programming targeted at each grade range. The programming will revolutionize learning with exclusive content to drive STEM teaching and learning. Using a compilation of the most engaging and informative programs from Discovery Education's world-class collection, and carefully curated to align with curriculum topics, it is customized to highlight programs of the day to inspire curiosity amongst viewers. WebEdTV is available online and on mobile devices for all educators and students in Egypt.
Discovery Education, in partnership with EKB and the Global Alliance Partnership also announced the upcoming launch of the Library of Digital Learning Objects (DLO).
Ms. Robin Headlee, Vice President of Discovery Education International, elaborated stating "The Library of Digital Learning Objects is a new and exciting initiative to provide teachers and students with digital resources aligned directly to the lessons being taught in the classroom. These vetted and approved resources include engaging videos, images, text, audio recordings and interactive simulations.
The pilot for Science Preparatory Grade 1 and Maths Secondary Grade 1 launched today and is temporarily hosted on Discovery Education's portal before being transitioned to the EKB portal in time for the full launch in January 2017. This innovative initiative will be launched for the second term of the school year across all grades in Maths and Science.
The Library of Digital Learning Objects is brought to you by the EKB and the Global Alliance Partnership – Discovery Education, Encyclopedia Britannica, and Wolfram. The Global Alliance Partnership is dedicated to providing teachers, parents, and students with world-renowned educational resources to transform teaching and learning.
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Thread: E-PL2 or Panasonic GF1??
I'm torn between these two cameras!
Please put me write if any of the above are incorrect!
My son has a GF1 and it's very good but the reviews on theE-PL2 seem to suggest that it is a better camera?
My other idea is to buy the Olympus body and put the Pan 20mm lens onto it?
Any help/suggestions will be greatly apprecited - thanks!
Re: E-PL2 or Panasonic GF1??
Beautiful combination. I've had the E-PL1 and 20mm lens for about a year. The IQ is incredible with this combo. It would be the same with the E-PL2.
Here is a review of the E-PL1 - very similar to the PL2.
Personally the in body IS would be the feature that sealed the deal, the EPL-2 also has a built in flash and maybe better IQ at high ISO's.
I'm going towards the PL2 body and the Pan 20mm even though it's an expensive way of doing things!
Just to add - the flash on the E-PL1 and E-PL2 are the same - It's a nice flash because you can bounce it. It's a small flash and like most on-camera flashes, not too strong. However the bounce feature works very nicely. I have found it much more useful than any onboard flashes I've used.
Also, you can add the VF-2 optical viewfinder (a bit expensive - but awesome) to either camera.
I've come to the conclusion that my ideal camera is the E-P3.
All the features of the E-PL2 (including the new accessory connector) in the E-P2 form factor with the E-P2 controls but with flash. Preferably with articulated screen as well as the VF-2.
a) I think it's superior because it is tailored to a particular lens and not a generic system designed to cover everything.
b) because I am a Canon user and that is what I am used to, and see "a"
Ok, the real problem for me is the lack of Focus assist on the Oly, is that a problem, I'm thinking -hunting lenses in low light?


text:
Piteå (; ) é uma comuna da Suécia situada no condado de Norrbotten, no norte do país.

Está localizada no sudeste do condado, junto à foz do rio Piteälven na baía de Bótnia, no mar Báltico.
Sua capital é a cidade de Piteå.
Tem uma área de  km² e uma populacão de  habitantes (2021).

Localidades principais
Localidades com mais população da comuna (2021):

Piteå –  habitantes
Bergsviken –  habitantes
Rosvik –  habitantes
Norrfjärden –  habitantes
Roknäs –  habitantes
Hortlax –  habitantes

Bibliografia

Ligações externas
Página oficial da Comuna de Piteå

Comunas da Bótnia Setentrional (condado)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Question: What's black and yellow. Goes, "Bang!" and you sleep on it? Answer: A school bus, a firecracker, and a bed.
When something bad happens, the chances are that there is more than one cause. And so it is with the last season's lower-than-expected ruffed grouse numbers. Unfortunately, many are laying the blame on one cause: The West Nile virus, and ignoring the poor hatching conditions that existed across much of grouse range.
I think we can all agree that when it comes to hunting ruffed grouse, the Lake States of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan are the real leaders. The bird populations, the number of resident and visiting hunters, the hours spent in the covers – all those are accurate measurements of the interest for this great bird in a great part of the country.
But, there is a shadow over the area right now in the form of that West Nile virus, a malady carried by mosquitoes. And while the bird populations didn't rise to the level that some states' drumming counts would have predicted, it was a wet and often cold nesting season, the weather turning bad about the time chicks were being hatched. Heavy rains, especially across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, did no favors to the young cohort that should have been in the coverts for us hunters come fall.
But, the greatest concern among many hunters is WNV, especially in light of the problems it is reportedly causing in Pennsylvania. So, to find out more about its effects on grouse, grouse dogs, and grouse hunters, we looked at information compiled by the DNRs of these Lake States. A caveat: right now, it's safe to say that way more is unknown than is known about the disease's effects. What follows is a press release put out by the three states in the spring.
A region-wide effort to better understand West Nile virus in ruffed grouse is getting underway in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.
In 2017, West Nile virus was identified in more ruffed grouse in the Great Lakes states than in the past. The virus has been present in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin for about 17 years.
West Nile virus has been documented in more than 250 species of birds; however, not all birds develop clinical disease from the virus. Corvids (including blue jays and crows) are very prone to illness and death from the virus, while other species may be less so or may not develop symptoms at all.
Last year, Michigan had 12 positive cases of West Nile virus in ruffed grouse. Prior to 2017, only one positive ruffed grouse had been found in Michigan, and that was in 2002. The virus was confirmed in one ruffed grouse in the early 2000s in Minnesota, and is yet to have been detected in a Wisconsin ruffed grouse.
West Nile virus in ruffed grouse has become a topic of concern because of a recent study in Pennsylvania reporting that the virus may have contributed to population declines in areas of lower-quality habitat or where habitat was scarce.
Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are in the early stages of planning to test samples from grouse this fall but at this point, there is no evidence that the virus is having a population-level impact in the Great Lakes region.
"By monitoring birds at a regional level, we will be able to gain a better understanding of this disease in ruffed grouse," said Kelly Straka, State Wildlife Veterinarian with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
Ruffed grouse are hunted annually by around 300,000 hunters across the three states. Preliminary reports from 2017 hunters were mixed across the Great Lakes region. While the virus could impact brood survival of grouse, other factors such as cold, wet springs during nesting and hatching; drought conditions; or habitat decline can also affect birds seen and harvested.
Biologists in the region are optimistic that the great habitat for ruffed grouse in the Great Lakes states will help populations thrive despite the virus.
Recently, the Midwest Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies Health Committee held their annual meeting in Traverse City, Michigan. WNV was one of the topics for state wildlife health leaders. Over 25 wildlife health professionals from 13 midwestern states and Canada were in attendance.
Individual agencies are currently reviewing ways they will be monitoring their grouse populations for WNV, and additional information will be shared when more details are determined.
Michigan is the number one destination state for ruffed grouse and woodcock hunters, annually hosting thousands of non-resident hunters thanks to more than 10 million acres of public land and a 19-and-counting collection of GEMS, areas managed specifically for ruffed grouse and woodcock and open accessible only by foot.
According to Al Stewart, Wildlife Biologist and Upland Game Bird Specialist and Program Leader with the state's DNR, setter man, and avid grouse and woodcock hunter, in North America, West Nile virus has been detected in over 300 species of dead birds. Michigan has diagnosed the disease in 60 species of birds and six species of mammals.
When asked about the effects on woodcock, Stewart responded: "We diagnosed West Nile virus in a single woodcock from the Upper Peninsula in 2017. Since 2002, this is the only woodcock that we have received that was tested for the disease.
Now, some general Q & A of special interest to those of us who stumble our way through the autumn clearcuts.
I sent some questions of interest to wingshooters to Tom Cooley, Wildlife Pathologist, and Dr. Kelly Straka, Wildlife Veterinarian of the Michigan DNR.
Can dogs become infected with West Nile virus?
Research has shown that dogs can be infected with the West Nile virus, but they are very resistant to developing clinical signs of the disease. There are no studies that we know of that have shown that infection can occur via a mosquito bite or by consuming an infected bird. Even if they were infected via one of these routes, because dogs are resistant to the virus, they will not display clinical signs. Dogs are considered to be a dead-end host as they do not appear to be a source of further infection.
Is there any protection available for dogs against WNV?
There is not a West Nile virus vaccine that has been licensed for use in dogs. Because dogs are very resistant to the virus, a vaccination would not be warranted regardless.
The most likely route of a human exposure/infection would be via the bite of an infected mosquito. Transmission can also occur via blood transfusion, organ transplant, and from a mother to a child during pregnancy, delivery, and breast feeding. Most human infections are asymptomatic (80 percent), although one in five individuals may develop moderate symptoms such as a fever, headache, body aches, joint pain, vomiting, and diarrhea, and 1 in 150 may develop serious symptoms such as an encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or meningitis (inflammation of the membrane surrounding the brain and the spinal cord).
Even though West Nile virus cannot be spread by handling a dead infected grouse, it is recommended to wear rubber gloves when cleaning any harvested game. Infection with West Nile virus cannot occur by [eating] a grouse that may have West Nile virus; but as a precaution, proper food safety guidelines indicate that avian species should be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. If a grouse is suspected of being sick, the recommendation would be to not consume it.
How can you tell if a grouse is infected?
Visually you may not be able to determine a West Nile virus positive bird. In Michigan, the ruffed grouse confirmed to be West Nile virus positive in 2017 varied in their physical condition from poor to very good. Grouse that were examined [in Michigan] had been found dead or were observed acting or flying in an abnormal manner at the time they were harvested.
How does WND affect grouse chick survival?
It would be assumed that a young bird would be more susceptible to a disease entity than an adult bird. There have been some research projects that have found that grouse chicks are very susceptible to the virus and can result in death. Research projects in grouse in this area of study have been limited.
The chances of a dog becoming infected with WND are extremely rare, certainly more rare than a dog's getting sick from a tick bite, and likely about as rare as getting nailed by a rattlesnake.
But some signs to look for should you suspect a problem: An infected dog will demonstrate overall weakness and muscle ache as though experiencing lameness; he can run a fever; and glands – lymph nodes — in the neck area can become swollen. The dog may develop a rash, which can be hard to see on dogs that have a heavy coat.
There is a danger – again, exceedingly rare — especially in older animals or those whose immune system has been weakened, that the virus can cause encephalitis, which is an inflammation of the brain and can be fatal unless treated. WNV is diagnosed by a blood test.
About 80 percent of humans infected with WNV have no symptoms; but if symptoms present, they do so as body aches, headache, joint pains, possibly a rash, vomiting, and diarrhea. However, symptoms can get worse and may result in disorientation, high fever, loss of vision, numbness in extremities, and stiffness in the neck region.
Though fewer than one percent of humans infected experience such symptoms, those over 60 years old are at the greatest risk, as are those with underlying afflictions such as cancer or diabetes. The best suggestion: If mosquitoes are present where you are hunting, wear clothing that covers exposed skin, and lather on the bug repellant.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, from 2004 to 2016, there were more than 640,000 cases of vector-borne diseases, the 2016 incidence being triple that of 2004. Seventy-seven percent of that increase is attributed to bites from mosquitoes and ticks.
This article first appeared in the July/August 2018 issue of The Pointing Dog Journal.


text:
Die Erde-Schlange (Jisi, ) ist das 6. Jahr des chinesischen Kalenders (siehe Tabelle 天支 60-Jahre-Zyklus). Es ist ein Begriff aus dem Bereich der chinesischen Astrologie und bezeichnet diejenigen Mondjahre, die durch eine Verbindung des sechsten Himmelsstammes (, Element Erde und Yīn) mit dem sechsten Erdzweig (), symbolisiert durch die Schlange (), charakterisiert sind.

Nach dem chinesischen Kalender tritt eine solche Verbindung alle 60 Jahre ein. Das letzte Erde-Schlange-Jahr begann 1989 und dauerte wegen der Abweichung des chinesischen vom gregorianischen Kalenderjahr vom 6. Februar 1989 bis 26. Januar 1990.

Erde-Schlange-Jahr

Im chinesischen Kalenderzyklus ist das Jahr der Erde-Schlange 己巳jǐsì das 6. Jahr (am Beginn des Jahres: Erde-Drache 戊辰 wùchén 5).

06


text:
The Immoralist (1902), by André Gide, translated by Dorothy Bussy
1001 Books begins its summary of The Immoralist like this:
A thought-provoking book that still has the power to challenge complacent attitudes and unfounded cultural assumptions, The Immoralist recounts a young Parisian man's attempt to overcome social and sexual conformity. (1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, ABC Books 2006, p.241)
The novella is prefaced by an attempt to explain that the 'problem' of the book existed before it was written. It is then book-ended at the beginning by a pseudo-letter to the Prime Minister that asks what role in society a young man like the hero might have… and completed by that same friend's awkward conclusion after the hero's story has been told. That story is narrated by Michel, who starts out as an austere young scholar and ends up as a defiant hedonist.
The translation, by Dorothy Bussy, uses the term 'hero' in the preface. But it does not seem to me that there is anything heroic about Michel.
BEWARE: SPOILERS
Michel's mother died when he was fifteen, and he was only twenty-four when he married Marceline to please his dying father. He says at the outset that he does not love her. Marceline is a devout Catholic—whose role in the novel is to be a devoted and uncomplaining wife—and she saves Michel's life on their honeymoon in Tunisia when he has his first haemorrhage from undiagnosed TB. This experience makes him re-evaluate his life, and sets him on a path towards pleasure.
And suddenly I was seized with a desire, a craving, something more furious and more imperious than I had ever felt before—to live! I want to live! I will live. I clenched my teeth, my hands, concentrated my whole being in this wild, grief-stricken endeavour towards existence. (p.29)
Through Marceline's attentive care, and his own determination to recover, he begins to recuperate and finds himself enjoying the company of Arab children. Though nothing is explicit, frequent references to bare skin makes it clear that a sensual attraction to these boys is emerging. There is a curious incident with Moktir, who he sees stealing Marceline's scissors. Michel says and does nothing to reprove him, and in a sign that his moral compass is beginning to shift, Moktir becomes his favourite.
(We do not judge novels from 1902 by the moral standards of today, but we note that these are boys not of the same age as Michel, and his money and status in a French colonial society makes for unequal power relations between them.)
At the same time Michel begins to notice how pretty Marceline is, and he pays more attention to her. They have, however, still not consummated their marriage.
Michel's rejection of bourgeois life and the trappings of society becomes clearer when he returns to Europe. They travel through Italy, where Michel realises that he has lost interest in his field of expertise, classical history. By abandoning austerity to indulge only his sensual appetites, he has alienated himself from his education, his family values, and European culture.
While his father was alive, he had lived a simple life and did not even realise that they were wealthy. But his inheritance comes with certain obligations including attention to the family estate, La Morinière in Normandy. This estate is managed by an ageing man called Bocage whose loyalty and honesty have been unquestioned. Michel, however, becomes attracted to his son, Charles, who persuades him that his father's ways are old-fashioned. Michel's behaviour becomes bizarre when he moves on from allowing Charles to make some changes, to indulging his desire to be closer to the earth and the people who work it, to the detriment of the farm and its income. He allows the sloppy team that does the annual tree-lopping to leave the job unfinished so that new growth is sabotaged; he joins Bocage's son Alcide in poaching from his own land while at the same time requiring Bocage to catch the poachers; and he interferes with the management of the tenant farmers so that they end up leaving and the untended farm becomes worthless.
The couple return to Paris and though the inheritance is diminishing, they take very expensive rooms and live in luxury.
Marceline, meanwhile, has been neglected, but when Michel belatedly notices that she has become ill, he rushes her off the alps where the clear air brings some improvement. Alas for Marceline, his boredom resurfaces, and they embark on travels in Europe and North Africa which bring her nothing but bad food, poor hotels, exhaustion and exacerbation of her condition. Reading this section reminds the reader that Michel has recovered from his TB due to attentive care and good management of his condition. His selfish hedonism and distaste for her symptoms means that when she contracts the same disease, her prognosis is entirely different.
Reading the concluding pages also reminded me of the selfish behaviour of John Middleton Murry, that I read about in Kathleen Jones' bio Katherine Mansfield, Storyteller. Murry's insistence on living in England forced Katherine Mansfield to return to its perilous weather when really, she needed to be nurtured in a more benign climate on the continent. The descriptions of Mansfield's struggle for breath and her constant haemorrhages towards the end of her tragic life were in my mind as I read about Marceline.
The reason for Gide's semi-apologetic preface becomes clearer as the narrative deteriorates into self-pity. Michel's freedom from bourgeois constraints and conventional morality has trapped him in a spiral of loss, and with Marceline's death he has nothing to live for and no one to care about him except for these friends to whom in extremis he has turned.
What frightens me, I admit, is that I am still very young. It seems to me sometimes that my real life has not begun. Take me away from here and give me some reason for living. I have none left. I have freed myself. That may be. But what does it signify? This objectless liberty is a burden to me. (p.157)
But the unnamed friend has his doubts:
…we each of us had a strange feeling of uneasiness. We felt, alas, that by telling his story, Michel had made his action more legitimate. Our not having known at what point to condemn it in the course of his long explanation seemed almost to make us his accomplices. We felt, as it were, involved. He finished his story without a quaver in his voice, without an inflection or a gesture to show that he was feeling any emotion whatever; he might have had a cynical pride in not appearing moved or a kind of shyness that made him afraid or arousing emotion in us by his tears, or he might not in fact have been moved. Even now I cannot guess what proportions pride, strength, reserve and want of feeling were combined in him. (p.157)
As 1001 Books concludes:
Michel's attempt to access a deeper truth by repudiating culture, decency and morality results in confusion and loss. In being true to himself, Michel has harmed others. Yet the novel remains as much an indictment of the arbitrary constraints of a hypocritical society as it is of Michel's behaviour. (1001 Books, p.241)
That letter to the Prime Minister makes more sense when we realise that Michel is going to need a job because he's gone through his entire fortune.
The dilemma, to which 1001 Books refers when suggesting that the book has the power to challenge complacent attitudes and unfounded cultural assumptions, is that most contemporary readers would support Michel's discovery of a life beyond the confines mapped out by his father, including exploring his own sexuality and making friendships outside his own class. The problem is that he goes too far: he exploits and then cruelly neglects his wife; he takes advantage of boys too young to exercise any real choice; and he destroys a working farm that provided income to people more vulnerable to poverty than he is. This is distasteful, but Gide had his reasons for framing it this way. As it says at Wikipedia:
Gide exposes to public view the conflict and eventual reconciliation of the two sides of his personality (characterized by a Protestant austerity and a transgressive sexual adventurousness, respectively), which a strict and moralistic education had helped set at odds. Gide's work can be seen as an investigation of freedom and empowerment in the face of moralistic and puritanical constraints, and centres on his continuous effort to achieve intellectual honesty. His self-exploratory texts reflect his search of how to be fully oneself, including owning one's sexual nature, without at the same time betraying one's values. (André Gide page, Wikipedia, viewed 17/1/21)
Sue at Whispering Gums reviewed it, and Melissa at The Bookbinder's Daughter reviewed it too.
Author: André Gide
Title: The Immoralist (L'Immoraliste)
Publisher: Penguin Modern Classics, 1960, 1986 reprint, first published in 1902
Source: personal library, OpShopFind
Posted in 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, 20th century, Classics, FICTION, France (settings), French authors, GayLit / LGBTQIA, Gide Andre, Italy (settings), Male authors, Male authors in translation, Nobel Prize, Novellas & short novels (100-200 pp), Read in 2021, Read the Nobels, REVIEWS, Translations, Transnational (settings), Tunisia (settings) | Tags: André Gide, Book Reviews, Dorothy Bussy Translator, The Immoralist, Translations
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Hi Lisa
Thanks for this review. I have read a little Gide but not The Immoralist; however you have persuaded me to try it. I have read "Straight is the Gate" and "If I Die"; both books visit the themes that you highlight in The Immoralist, Gide's tormented life, teetering between casual carnality and conservative intellectualism. I can also highly recommend his biography of Oscar Wilde, a man who he befriended in Paris and admired as a writer and loved as a gay man. I will have to find the Penguin Modern Classics edition of The Immoralist that you reference.
(and I look forward to you reviewing the upcoming biography of KSP)
By: cbrowne99 on January 18, 2021
Interesting and challenging book, isn't it Lisa?
Thanks for the link. (BTW I notice that I read a different and later translation. I compared the quote you and I both used – your "what frightens me" and they are quite different in flow and nuance. The last line of mine is "I find this empty liberty painful to bear.")
By: whisperinggums on January 18, 2021
I think you are more patient with him than me.
I'm not sure but I guess I wasn't impatient!
PS Your translation seems better than mine.
I read a fair bit of Gide as a student (probably the best time to read him) but not, I think, this one. I recall The Vatican Cellars being pretty bizarre, and The Counterfeiters – thought my memory of these books is now almost vanished. I used to dip into the Journals, too. He was a taboo-breaker at his time, I suppose, and managed to avoid the fate of his chum Oscar.
I definitely want to read more of him:)
I'm going to have to save this review till I've read the book because, like you, I really want to read more Gide!
He's such an interesting man, like Graham Greene, constantly questioning what the essence of personal morality might be.
Wonderful review, Lisa! I was thinking about this book after I saw Kaggsy's tweet on Gide's The Counterfeiters. I was wondering which would be the Gide book to read first. I'm still not sure. But The Immoralist looks very interesting. I remember V.S.Naipaul did something similar to what the main character in this book did – his wife took care of him when he was unwell, but she was unwell he ignored her and went and had an affair with someone. Thanks for sharing your thoughts 😊
By: Vishy on January 19, 2021
The personal life (and opinions) of V S Naipaul don't seem to make him a likeable man. But from what I've read of his fiction, I do think he's a great writer.
Yes, hard to read his opinions, Lisa. I have read only one nonfiction book by him a long time back. I liked it at that time. Hoping to read one of his novels one day. Which is your favourite book of his?
I've read In a Free State (which won the Booker) see my review https://anzlitlovers.com/2008/12/30/in-a-free-state-by-vs-naipaul-winner-of-the-booker-prize-in-1971/, A Bend in the River, which I wasn't so keen on, and Half a Life which was very good. He's an issues author, and I think he's shaped a lot of my ideas and beliefs about colonialism.
Thanks for sharing, Lisa. Will add In a Free State and Half a Life to my list. Will look forward to reading them.
An important book I think raising issues which were of interest at the time. The question of attaining authenticity without hurting others is surely, however, still with us. Certain themes about boredom, ennui in French certainly occupied others at the time from Flaubert, Baudelaire and on to Camus. Thanks for posting!
By: penwithlit on January 19, 2021
Ah yes, I'd forgotten about boredom in Madame B and also Stendhal. It's a theme in C19th Russian Lit too, from what I've seen of it… but not in English Lit. I wonder why that might be?
I think I'll skip Gide. Stories where the protagonist self destructs don't attract me at all.
By: wadholloway on January 19, 2021
Since I was indignant on Marceline's behalf, I quite enjoyed the schadenfreude!
1902: hunh, what interesting themes, and handled to illuminate the complexity, for more than a hundred years ago. Do you follow the various updates to the 1001 Books series, or are you just working from one of the iterations and gradually aiming to read through them?
By: buriedinprint on January 20, 2021
Well, I have the first (2006) edition, but for a while I had a spreadsheet that included all the updates. But now I think losing that file was a blessing in disguise because adding in all the others would make it a never-ending task, plus there's a lot of recent stuff I do not want to read. So I'm back to using just what's in the book.
The Boy (2010), by Dan Porat
Lisa Hill on The Boy (2010), by Dan Po…
kaggsysbookishrambli… on The Boy (2010), by Dan Po…
TravellinPenguin on The Boy (2010), by Dan Po…
MsWriter3 on The Boy (2010), by Dan Po…
RT @insidestorymag: "Poor-quality join-the-dots lifestyle writing may well be dead as a human occupation." inside.org.au/melbournes-bes… 34 minutes ago