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Propaganda Machine Takes Aim at Zika Virus
February 16, 2016 | 324,089 views
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It's that time again — time for the pandemic outbreak propaganda machine to cry "Wolf!" and justify the mass use of vaccines and the necessity for chemical remediation. The World Health Organization (WHO) has already declared another global public health emergency.1
We've seen a string of these over-hyped virus scares over the past six years, from the bird and swine flu to Ebola — all of which died down as suddenly as they emerged, without causing the predicted widespread catastrophic damage in the real world.
This year, it's the Zika virus, which is being blamed for a rash of reports of microcephaly2,3 among infants born in Brazil. The condition, in which babies are born with unusually small heads, is said to have surged from an average of about 150 cases annually to more than 4,780 cases since October 2015.
Microcephaly Cases Vastly Over-Reported
The Brazilian government has already admitted that overly generous parameters resulted in dramatic over-reporting of the rare condition public health officials have associated with the Zika virus, which has been dubbed by the media as the "shrunken head" virus.
To be on the safe side, when Zika-affected areas began seeing a rise in microcephaly, the Brazilian government asked health officials to report any case in which a child was born with a head circumference smaller than 33 centimeters.
False positives were expected, and when they realized that most of these babies were in fact healthy and normal, the threshold was lowered to 32 centimeters in December. The limit may be lowered even further, to 31.9 centimeters for boys and 31.5 centimeters for girls.
As reported by The New York Times:4
"Of the cases examined so far, 404 have been confirmed as having microcephaly. Only 17 of them tested positive for the Zika virus...
Another 709 babies have been ruled out as having microcephaly ... underscoring the risks of false positives making the epidemic appear larger than it actually is. The remaining 3,670 cases are still being investigated." [Emphasis mine]
As noted by The New York Times, there's actually very little scientific evidence tying the Zika virus to this particular condition.
Still, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Zika virus a global health emergency5 on February 1, noting that the "main worry" is the virus' potential link to microcephaly and subsequent brain damage.
According to WHO, the Zika virus may have infected as many as 4 million people in the Americas, and public health officials in Brazil, Colombia and El Salvador are reportedly all researching the effects of Zika infection in pregnant women.
Poverty, Pollution, and Vitamin Deficiencies May Affect Microcephaly Rates in Brazil
The Zika virus was initially identified in 1947 in Uganda, where it was originally limited to rhesus monkeys. It's an arbovirus, meaning the disease is transmitted via mosquito, tick or flea bites.
According to ATCC,6 a "global biological materials resource...organization whose mission focuses on the acquisition, authentication, production, preservation, development, and distribution of standard reference microorganisms," the Zika virus7 — which they sell for about $500 — causes paralysis and death.
In humans, Zika infection typically causes only mild flu-like symptoms, if any, and there does not appear to be any prior evidence suggesting it might cause birth defects.
That certainly doesn't exclude the possibility, of course, but there are many other factors and co-factors that offer a far more likely and rational explanation for the rise in microcephaly in this area of Brazil, besides Zika-carrying mosquitoes.
For starters, the "outbreak" is occurring in a largely poverty-stricken agricultural area of Brazil that uses large amounts of banned pesticides.8,9,10
Between these factors and the lack of sanitation and widespread vitamin A and zinc deficiency, you already have the basic framework for an increase in poor health outcomes among newborn infants in that area.11
Environmental pollution12,13 and toxic pesticide exposure have been positively linked to a wide array of adverse health effects, including birth defects. When you add all these co-factors together, an increase in microcephaly doesn't seem like such a far-fetched outcome.
Vitamin A Deficiency Linked to Microcephaly
Vitamin A and zinc deficiency is considered endemic in Brazil,14,15,16 and both of these nutritional deficiencies are known to depress immune function.17,18,19
More importantly, vitamin A deficiency has been linked to an increased risk of microcephaly specifically,20,21 and zinc is known to play an important role in the structure and function of the brain.22
Even the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) lists malnutrition and exposure to toxic chemicals as two of the three known risk factors. The third is certain infections during pregnancy, including rubella, cytomegalovirus, toxoplasmosis, and others.23
Researchers24 have also noted that microcephaly follows "an apparent autosomal recessive pattern," and may be the result of a recessed gene.
Atrazine Also Implicated in Microcephaly
The pesticide Atrazine also appears to be a viable culprit. According to research25 published in 2011, small head circumference was listed as a side effect of prenatal Atrazine exposure.
Atrazine is used to prevent pre- and post-emergence weeds and is the second most commonly used herbicide after Roundup. As noted by Sott.net:26
"The most obvious cause of birth defects in this area is direct contact and absorption of pesticides. A study of pesticide use on tomatoes27 in the Northern State of Pernambuco, Brazil, indicates high exposure to pesticide workers and poor application methods which threaten the ecology of the area.
Women washed the pesticide application equipment, generally in the work environment, without protective clothing or without observing the recommended three-fold washing process ... Of the women workers, 32% reported being pregnant more than five times ... Almost three-quarters of the women (71%) reported miscarriages, and 11% reported having mentally and/or physically impaired offspring."
Why Is Brazil Overlooking Teratogenic Larvicide Added to Drinking Water in Affected Area?
A report28,29 by an Argentine physician's organization called "Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns" also challenges the theory that Zika virus is responsible for the microcephaly cases in Brazil. They note that for the past 18 months, a chemical larvicide that causes malformations in mosquitoes (pyroproxyfen) has been applied to the drinking water in the affected area of Brazil.
Pyroproxyfen is manufactured by Sumitomo Chemical, long-term strategic partners of Monsanto, and has been used in a state-controlled program to eradicate mosquitoes.
This chemical inhibits growth in mosquito larvae, thereby producing malformations that disable and/or kill the mosquitoes. According to "Physicians in the Crop-Sprayed Towns," it's also an endocrine disruptor and teratogenic, meaning it causes birth defects. The organization also points out that Zika virus has never been associated with birth defects previously, even in areas where 75 percent of the population has been infected. According to the report:
"Malformations detected in thousands of children from pregnant women living in areas where the Brazilian state added Pyroproxyfen to drinking water are not a coincidence, even though the Ministry of Health places a direct blame on the Zika virus for this damage."
Aerial Spraying of Neonicotinoids Also Causes Skeletal Malformations
The list of pesticides that have the potential to disrupt fetal development is long. Yet another suspect is Imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid. In October 2012—around the same time that these women would have been getting pregnant--Brazil lifted its ban on aerial spraying of neonicotinoids. In30 2001, it was reported that Imidacloprid fed to pregnant rats and rabbits in "maternally toxic" doses caused skeletal malformation in a small percentage of fetuses.31,32
In December 2013, the U.K. Daily Mail33 also reported that neonicotinoids were suspected of causing developmental problems in babies and children. Another 2013 study34 showed adverse events with embryo development and neonicotinoids. Perhaps it's not any single one of these pesticides that is to blame. Perhaps the rise in microcephaly cases is the result of exposure to a terrible mixture of toxic pesticides before or during pregnancy?
Mandatory Vaccination Program of Pregnant Women Took Effect 2015
Also, in October 2014 the Brazilian government mandated that all pregnant women must receive the pertussis-containing Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis) vaccine, effective as of 2015.35
The fact that birth defects began rising toward the end of 2015 seems more suspicious in light of this mandate than the possibility that Zika infection is solely responsible — especially when you consider that pertussis vaccine has previously been linked to brain inflammation and brain damage in infants, and the safety of administering Tdap to pregnant women has never been proven.36
In the summer of 2015, Dr. Kathryn Edwards, director of the Vanderbilt Vaccine Research Program, received a $307,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to study the immune responses of pregnant women receiving Tdap, the vaccine in question.37 Her conclusions remain to be seen.
But a number of previous studies have demonstrated that stimulating the immune system of a pregnant woman is a very bad idea. So why mandate Tdap vaccine but not vitamin A and zinc supplementation for pregnant women? Studies showing adverse health effects from maternal immune activation include but are not limited to the following samples:
Brain Behavior and Immunity 2001:38 Increased cytokine levels during pregnancy is a potential risk factor for psychotic illness in offspring
Biological Psychiatry 2006:39 Immune activation during pregnancy in mice leads to dopaminergic hyperfunction and cognitive impairment in the offspring, and may promote schizophrenia
Brain Behavior and Immunity 2006:40 Immune stimulation during pregnancy was found to promote neurodevelopmental mental diseases, including but not limited to schizophrenia in the offspring
Journal of Neuroscience 2007:41 Maternal immune activation alters fetal brain development, and may predispose children to schizophrenia and autism
Journal of Neuroscience 2008:42 Inflammation during a critical postnatal period causes a long-lasting increase in seizure susceptibility
Medical Veritas 2008:43 Excessive vaccination during brain development may promote autism spectrum disorders
Are Genetically Engineered Mosquitoes Linked to Zika Infection?
Interestingly enough, the Gates Foundation has also financed the development of genetically-engineered (GE) mosquitoes,44 designed by a biotech company called Oxitec to combat dengue fever and Zika — a project some suspect may have somehow backfired, resulting in a Zika outbreak instead.45
Considering the fact that the transgenic mosquitoes are designed to kill the offspring before they reach breeding maturity — they're carrying a "suicide" or "self-destruct gene"46 if you will — you may wonder how such mosquitoes could possibly promote the spread of Zika. Well, they can't. Not intentionally, anyway, which is what some people have suggested.
There are some potential problems though. This genetic "kill switch" starts to fail in the presence of the antibiotic tetracycline.47 Brazil is the third largest consumer of antibiotics for food and animal production48 and, according to a 2009 analysis,49 an estimated 75 percent of the tetracyclines administered to farm animals end up being excreted in waste.
The use of manure and sewage sludge as fertilizers is a major route of spread of antibiotics in the environment. (Little is known about the environmental impact of tetracycline, but Brazilian researchers50 have found alarming situations where the presence of these drugs in drinking water has resulted in bacterial resistance.)
According to Oxitec documents,51 in the presence of tetracyclines the survival rate of the GE mosquitoes' offspring may be as high as 15 percent. However, aside from not decimating the mosquito population as efficiently as intended, there's really NO evidence to suggest that these GE mosquitoes are somehow intentional carriers of the Zika virus.
That said, while the GE mosquitoes are supposed to be all male, which don't bite, if females either happen to slip through the process, or for some reason survive, there may be a risk that they could transfer their modified DNA to the host. What the ramifications of this might be is unclear.
GE Mosquitoes Claim Success — Yet We Need Harsher Pesticides?
Oxitec released the first batches of transgenic Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the Cayman Islands in September 2009.52
Malaysia releases followed in 2010. In July 2012, the company had set up a large-scale transgenic mosquito farm in Brazil. The GE mosquitoes were released into the wild in Juazeiro, Brazil in the summer of 2015, and shortly thereafter Oxitec announced53 they had "successfully controlled the Aedes aegyptimosquito that spreads dengue fever, chikungunya, and zika virus, by reducing the target population by more than 90 percent."
Research54 findings published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases claim the sterile breed had reduced the mosquito population in one Brazilian suburb by 95 percent. Despite such claims of successful decimation of the disease-carrying insect, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff recently made an announcement saying: "each federal public official has to transform into a combatant against the mosquito and its reproduction."
Thousands of soldiers and state employees have been enlisted to eradicate mosquitoes wherever they may lurk. "We will do everything, absolutely everything in our reach to protect you,"President Rousseff said55 in her speech, addressing all the mothers and future mothers of Brazil — and then she turns around and orders women and children to be fumigated with toxic chemicals! Oh, the tragic irony!
'Health Experts' Call for Return of DDT
Groups like the Manhattan Institute are even calling for the return of DDT56 to address the mosquito problem! This is despite the fact that DDT passes freely through the placenta during pregnancy,57 where it gains direct access to the developing fetus and its brain.58
Studies have linked DDT to high blood pressure, decreased fertility, premature delivery, adult diabetes, and Alzheimer's.59 Moreover, DDT has also been linked to microcephaly,60 so using this toxin would definitely not be the answer to the current problem!
As noted by STAT News:61
"The United States banned DDT in 1972 after it was found to persist in the environment for decades, build up in food chains, and kill eagles, pelicans, and other wildlife. But the pesticide was never banned globally.
Though the 2001 Stockholm Convention called on countries to eliminate use of DDT and related chemicals, DDT is still used in African and other countries to control malaria-carrying mosquitoes (which, as predicted, evolved widespread resistance to the chemical).
A significant concern about DDT is that when a mosquito population evolves resistance to it (as individual insects that harbor DDT-defying mutations leave countless more descendants than vulnerable insects), the creatures also develop resistance to other, safer insecticides...
Epidemiologist Brenda Eskenazi, Ph.D. of the University of California, San Francisco, who led a 2009 study raising concerns about the human health effects of DDT exposure, agreed that DDT might not work in Brazil and other countries where Zika is spreading. 'They should use whatever they can to control the virus,' she said, 'but they have to do it safely.'
According to news photos, 'men in hazmat suits are spraying pesticides around women and children' who have no protective clothing or anything else, she said, 'which is horrible and upsetting.'"
Foggers and Mosquito Sprays Don't Work on This Mosquito
It's astounding how short-sighted many are, but that's what happens when you incite panic — people don't stop to think. In this case, recommendations to use toxic foggers and sprays is bound to do FAR more harm than good, if for no other reason than the fact that they're ineffective against Aedes aegypti, the species of mosquito in question.62
These tiny black and white striped mosquitoes do not fly far — their range being a mere 300 to 600 feet. Since it's so difficult to catch them airborne, insecticidal sprays and foggers are mostly useless for controlling them. Also, they feed during the daytime, not at night, which is typically when the fog-trucks will roll through the neighborhood. As noted by Medicinenet.com:63
"To feed, they have to stick close to their intended targets, a.k.a. us. They live under decks, patio furniture, and in homes that don't have cool air — they don't much like air conditioning. They especially love the drip trays that collect extra water under potted plants ... They 'can breed in incredibly small amounts of water,' says Joe Conlon, spokesman for the American Mosquito Control Association.
'When I was in Suriname, South America, several years ago, I saw them breeding very happily in discarded soda bottle caps,' he says. In New Jersey, researchers at Rutgers University found them breeding in water that had pooled in discarded snack-size potato chip bags.
'These mosquitoes are in people's backyards,' says Dina Fonseca, Ph.D., an entomologist and associate professor at Rutgers. They live in containers, she says, and are 'urban, domestic mosquitoes.'"
Other questionable suggestions on the table include using X-rays and/or Gamma rays to sterilize mosquitoes. According to Reuters:64
"Such laboratory-bred male mosquitoes could then be released in the wild to mate with the females of the species who then bear eggs that never hatch, thus reducing the number of insects in a given area without killing any animals or using chemicals."
Emergency Declaration Begins Another Round of Massive Profiteering
The emergency declaration begins another round of massive profiteering for drug and vaccine companies. And this year, the chemical- and biotech industries get to ride gunshot too. This is how they survive — scaring the heck out of people at regular intervals while making tons of money in the process.
As expected, Zika vaccines are in the works, with companies racing to become the first to deliver a remedy,65,66 no matter how poorly tested and ultimately dangerous they might be — all under the auspices of saving tons of lives, of course.
Yet it's worth remembering that any pandemic vaccine fast tracked to market in the U.S. during a "public health emergency" is completely shielded from liability for injuries and deaths. Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck are all looking to develop a Zika vaccine.
The Indian company Bharat Biotech somehow got a head start, and began working on two Zika vaccines in November 2014.67 Would it surprise you to find out that this company is also linked to the Gates Foundation? They received $50 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to research and conduct human trials on a malaria vaccine.68
Merck, Syngenta, and Bayer are also partners in the Gates Foundation, as are chemical giants Monsanto69 and DuPont. This unholy alliance is just one of the reasons why I don't trust Bill Gates' philanthropy, he might be one of the most dangerous individual powers on the planet.70
U.S. Overreacts Based on Poorly Constructed Fear Porn
Like many other nations, the U.S. has overreacted to the news and is increasing mosquito eradication efforts. According to some models, an estimated 200 million Americans, or over 60 PERCENT of the U.S. population, may become infected with Zika this summer.71 So far, about three dozen cases of Zika virus infection have been confirmed in 11 U.S. states — most of which, according to the report, were thought to have been acquired by people while out of the country.
The CDC urges pregnant women to avoid traveling to countries with reported transmissions of the infection — a total of 24 countries so far.72
As noted by Reuters:73
"With no specific federal guideline yet in place to control the spread of the Zika virus in the United States, some mosquito-heavy states like Florida are stepping up spraying and education programs. But, the North and West have yet to boost prevention. Only one out of the more than 30 confirmed cases of Zika in the country appears to have been transmitted locally, in Dallas, Texas.
Public health officials are bracing for the time when warmer weather increases the number of mosquitoes that can transmit the virus by biting an infected person and spreading it to others. The types of mosquitoes carrying the Zika virus, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus, are common in Florida, where mosquito season is year-round, and along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, including Houston."
Panama, India, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Florida in the U.S. are also slated to receive Oxitec's "self-destruct" mosquitoes74,75 and the longer the Zika scare continues, the more likely these little critters will be released in mosquito-ridden areas across the world.
Is this wise? Chances are we may be in for some nasty surprises. As noted by Helen Wallace in 2012, a British environmentalist with the organization GeneWatch:76
"This mosquito is Dr. Frankenstein's monster, plain and simple. To open a box and let these man-made creatures fly free is a risk with dangers we haven't even begun to contemplate."
We may not like the mosquito, but that doesn't mean it serves no function in the ecosystem. If we successfully eradicate this mosquito, what might the ramifications be ecosystem-wide?
How Does U.S. Explain 25,000 Microcephaly Cases Annually — Without Zika?
In the U.S., approximately 25,000 infants are diagnosed with microcephaly each year.77 Brazil has about 70 percent of the population the U.S. has, and now reports just over 400 cases, 17 of which tested positive for the Zika virus. So is this really the global emergency it's being made out to be?
And more importantly, is Zika virus really responsible for these birth defects? Colombia reports that 3,177 pregnant women have tested positive for Zika virus, yet no cases of microcephaly have occurred.78
The evidence suggests implicating Zika virus may be a matter of convenience — leaders of the public-private partnership between industry and government are quickly blaming the rise in microcephaly on disease-carrying mosquitoes in order to sell more GE mosquitoes, to sell more toxic insecticides, and to have an excuse to develop and sell more vaccines.
All the while, they are keeping hidden some of the most likely culprits — poor nutrition and toxic environmental exposures like pesticides, as well as vaccines given during pregnancy when the fetus is most susceptible to harm. By throwing up a convenient veil in the form of Zika-infected mosquitoes, business can not only go on as usual, but grow and expand profits to boot.
I have no immediate answers to this problem, other than a firm suggestion, and that is to put on your thinking cap and assess the situation based on what the actual evidence shows, and do not just go by the sound bytes regurgitated by the talking heads. Sooner or later the insanity must end.
We cannot expect a healthy infant and child population when pregnant women are assaulted with toxins at every turn. And MORE toxins is NOT the answer! This really should be self-evident.
For all intents and purposes my review of the available evidence strongly suggests that the Zika virus is just another fabricated threat designed to support even further use of profitable but unproven and highly ineffective products like vaccines. For a quick list of some of the most common toxic threats to avoid during pregnancy, take a look at this infographic. For more healthy pregnancy tips, please see my "No-Nonsense Guide to a Naturally Healthy Pregnancy and Baby."
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Theodore Schroeder papers, 1842-1957
Brief Description: The Theodore Schroeder papers consist of material related to his extensive research and writing concerning freedom of speech, religion, human sexuality, and other interests, and include: correspondence; manuscript and published forms of Schroeder's writings; autobiographical material; notebooks and diaries; newspaper clippings and other printed matter, notes, bibliographic compilations and other types of research material; reviews and other published material concerning Schroeder; and other personal papers.
Record Series Number: 1/5/MSS 017
Created by: Schroeder, Theodore, 1864-1953.
Volume: 118.0 Boxes
Acquired: 00/00/1969. Supplement acquired by Arnold Maddaloni in 1980.
Arrangement: Organized into six series: (1) Correspondence, (2) Autobiographical, (3) Manuscripts, (4) Published papers and is arranged in alphabetical order by title, (5) Research (6) Reviews and material about Schroeder.
Biographical Note for Schroeder, Theodore, 1864-1953. :
Schroeder was born in 1864 and attended The University of Wisconsin in 1882 where he got his degree in civil engineering.
He then went to law school at Wisconsin and graduated in 1889 and opened a law office in Salt Lake City which is when he adopted an anti-Mormon stance. In 1898, Schroeder started writing a series of pamphlets under the name of "Lucifer's Lantern". The series challenged many Mormon leaders and bordered on the brink of libel suits. After his interest in Mormonism faded out in the early 1900's, he moved to New York and took up the crusade of defending free speech.
In 1911, he helped establish the Free Speech League. In 1909 the first of many writings on free speech by Schroeder appeared in the Free Press Anthology which was followed by a collection of essays titled Free Speech for Radicals, Free Speech Bibliography in 1922, and A Challenge to Sex Censors in 1938.
Access Restrictions: Unrestricted access.
Carus, Paul, 1852-1919.
Freedom of speech - United States - History - 20th century
Mormon Church - Controversial literature
Schroeder, Theodore, 1864-1953
Genres/Forms of Material
Correspondence.
Roosevelt, Eleanor, 1884-1962. - Correspondence
Roosevelt, Franklin D. (Franklin Delano), 1882-1945. - Correspondence
Schroeder, Theodore, 1864-1953 - Correspondence
Schroeder, Theodore, 1864-1953 - Manuscripts
Sinclair, Upton, 1878-1968. - Correspondence
Truman, Harry S., 1884-1972 - Correspondence
Writings.
Languages of Materials
Rights/Use Restrictions: To quote in print, or otherwise reproduce in whole or in part in any publication, including on the World Wide Web, any material from this collection, the researcher must obtain permission from (1) the owner of the physical property and (2) the holder of the copyright. Persons wishing to quote from this collection should consult Special Collections Research Center to determine copyright holders for information in this collection. Reproduction of any item must contain the complete citation to the original .
Acquisition Notes: Purchased
PreferredCitation: Theodore Schroeder papers, Special Collections Research Center, Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


October 10, 2012 • Despite the microwave's bad rep for uneven cooking, new ways to use this kitchen tool might just be your secret weapon. A quick turn in the microwave makes peeling garlic a snap and shortens the oven time for baked potatoes.
June 28, 2010 • On this Sandwich Monday, we try the jibarito, a sandwich with fried plantains in place of bread.


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16.May.2013 16.May.2013 longshotist
You're now Wolfie – and that's it!
As many of you know, despite being a long-time DDO player with just under seven years under my Belt of Thoughtful Rememberance, it wasn't until the last year or so that i was able to reach the upper echelons of adventuring. This was mostly due to serious alt-itis and a penchant for playing exclusively solo (or with a single RL friend or two). Two things occurred that changed the game for me. The first was the introduction of the Artificer, which i completely fell in love with immediately. The second was recruitment into Sacred Flame Guardians, a veteran guild on what is now the Sarlona server. Just prior to hooking up with SFG, my own guild-of-one – Adventurer of Adventure – relocated its headquarters to a teeny airship devoid of any accoutrements. So i was a tad reticent to abandon ship and join another guild, especially with the crippling case of an i'm-not-good-enough-to-group complex. However, when my RL and gaming pal Wrongside joined and sent me a ship invite, and then i saw what there was to see on the decked-out deck of their Stormglory Tempest, i was like "Adeventurer of Adventure who?"
Before switching allegiances though, i had to prove me mettle, or so Wrongside explained. Would i have to lead a raid? Perform Herculean tasks? Fork over some astral shards? Who were these Sacred Flame Guardians, and would i really want to associate with a guild whose name is reminiscent of the Silver Flame that i detest so much?
As it turns out, none of the above. For this all-adult guild, the requirements to join are pretty simple – run some quests with a few officers and see if we all get along. As Wrongside put it, they're a bunch of dudes who like to have a good time, joke around, and run quests together. In this situation, bringing my A-game meant bringing a fun attitude. And i imagine that contributing in a meaningful way wouldn't hurt my chances either.
So it was that i first met Wolfie, the erstwhile leader of SFG. i couldn't tell you which iteration of Wolfie it was though. There are at least 10 Wolfie's out there, designated by roman numerals, but they all have one thing in common. The man behind the toon. i've been running around Eberron with him and the SFG crew for about a year now. Recently, i had the opportunity to speak with Wolfie outside of the game and learn a bit more about the guy who helped me expand my enjoyment of the game we all love.
Wolfie, 45, will be the first to tell you that he has no creativity when it comes to naming his DDO toons. In fact, somewhere on the interwebs is a video wherein he is described as having the "most unimaginative name in DDO." Research opportunity – if you can find it let me know! But lest you think the man has an unhealthy obsession with canis lupus, the moniker dates back much farther than DDO. All the way back to Wolfie's college days, when he was bestowed the nickname in real life.
"I had a buddy that was drunk out of his mind," Wolfie said. "Couldn't say my last name. He kept calling me Wolfmiller. One night in a drunken tirade he's like 'screw it – your name is now Wolfie, and that's it!' It became my call sign in the army, in Iraq and other places I've been to. It's been a nickname forever, so it's always been a name I've had through different games. I tried different names, but I just game up and said 'Wolfiei,' 'Wolfeii,' and it just went from there.
"I do have Choppsuey. That's my one toon in DDO that's named something different. But everyone still says 'hey Wolfie!' So it just became my name."
It's interesting to note a phenomena of gaming that i've noticed myself, and that's referring to players most often by their main toon's name at all times. Even in SFG's Steam group chat, we often call each other by our DDO main toon names. i will admit that this can be a tad unusual for me, since my main toon Schir Gold is a female sorcerer. There are times i cringe when my mates will greet me with a hearty "hey Schir!" It's like, hey guys – my name is Doug! But if they insist on referring to me by a name derived from Phantasy Star II character, then so be it. Okay fine, I'm Schir. At least Wolfie can say that's his RL nickname too.
O.G. Shir Gold
Wolfie's introduction to video games came through the oft-nostalgically remembered Intellivision home console system. Dating myself, i can attest to the fun times provided by Mattel's entry in the console market. My neighbor across the street growing up had one and we'd regular go from his house to ours, where we had the Atari 2600.
Gaming as a hobby stretches back over 16 years for Wolfie, who got into online gaming through the beginnings of Diablo, and Black Hawk Down – one of the earliest FPS games. In fact, the guild SFG can trace it's origins back to that same era, when Wolfie co-founded Special Forces Group Allied with a core group of fellow soldiers and gamers. By the time DDO came about, SFG was a cross-game guild. When they expanded into DDO, they wanted to keep the spirit of SFG alive, and at the same time adapt their guild to this new venture with a thematic name. And so the Sacred Flame Guardians were born on the Aerenal server. Just think – if i'd known then what i know now and chosen the Xoriat server, i'd be running around Thelanis now and probably never met the SFG guys. Sliding doors, i tell ya…
SFG has been around pretty much since beta. And even though these days it's confined to what i understand is considered both the "friendly server" and the "role-playing server" – Sarlona – that wasn't always the case.
"I branched out to the other servers for a little bit," Wolfie said. "And Jerry <Snook> did as well. But when Jerry took the position at Turbine, he obviously had to shut down his affiliation with the common gamers, and I believe our guild. So he shut down the Sacred Flame Guardians on the other servers, and I haven't made them active again. So it's strictly just Sarlona.
The core group of SFG, when I was in Iraq they would send me gifts and stuff, and care packages," Wolfie said. "It's been 15 years now, they've just been around. Some of the guys I was in the army with. We were in combat zones but different theatres at the same time. We never ran into each other. Now, I've hung out with some of them. Cody, and Charlene, and Leadsides – Glenn – I've hung out with them outside. I've gone out to dinner with them or just met up with them."
Wolfie's interest in Dungeons & Dragons extends beyond the virtual MMO world as well. Like it is for so many of us DDOer's, his indoctrination into the world of swords and sorcery began with its progenitor – the classic tabletop game of thrown dice and depths delved. That's right – Wolfie was a bonafide pencil-and-paper gamer too.
"I grew up in the 70's and 80's," Wolfie said. "So I was in way back with the original set. The Player's Handbook, and the DM's Guide, and the couple of dice that came with it. Not a whole lot of options. I was an elf ranger. In fact, in moving, I was digging through some old boxes and I found all my old books. It was like finding a treasure trove. I was like 'oh my god – it's the original Player's Handbook!' It was pretty cool. I found my folder that had Ander Foracker – it was my ranger."
Before all the splatbooks, there was just these two bad boys.
Isn't it curious how so many of us look back at our PnP days and fondly remember that ranger character we played? What is it about these reclusive woodsmen that so entranced us? Perhaps it conjured images of Strider in our imaginations. Maybe it was the notion of a noble savage that stirred guided our choice to play the woodland warriors. It could have simply been the wide variety of options available to the subclass of fighters. Whatever it was, i'd be willing to bet that most dice-throwers have at least one former ranger in their menagerie of PCs. And yet, it's an oft-maligned class in DDO, if the forums are to be believed. Nevertheless, not a login goes by that i don't come across at least one ranger worthy of a place in any party. And more often than not when things go south, you'll find the ranger is the ultimo hombre – the last man standing. Ramble on, rangers. Ramble on.
Bow? Check. Two swords? Check. Pointy ears? Check.
With a firm foundation in DDO and a history that spreads beyond that singular MMO, it certainly takes something special for a guild like SFG to have the kind of staying power it's enjoyed. i can tell you from my own experience that, compared to gaming groups both online and in real life that i've been a part of, SFG certainly has something unique about it. It's not about raiding. It's not about power-gaming. It's not about filling it's ranks with the best of the best most elite players. Instead, at least to me, it's about the fast friendships that are formed. This is a group of people who genuinely get along. And i might add, chatting through Steam certainly adds a fun new dimension as well. But online games are no strangers to drama. By their very nature, online games offer the same anonymity that affords people an avenue to express thoughts and feelings they might never do in real life. So what carries SFG through the years, when so many other guilds disband or fade away over time?
"It's interesting, because I've seen that too," Wolfie said. "And you see some of the core names, but I think back to when the big names were around – you had Diligence and a few other big name guilds. The only other guild I can think of that can really date back to the origins of DDO, or Stormreach, is probably Gravis. Those were a couple of guys who wanted to do just high end raiding, and that was it. We have a more "building toons" and what have you, so they broke off from SFG. And we played with them a lot, so there's no bad blood or anything. But you look at some of the old guilds that aren't around and the players are still there.
But SFG, we have our peaks and valleys just like any other guild. There's times when there's one person on for a week, and then another time there's 20 people playing. But it just doesn't go away. Also because it's an all-adult guild. We understand there's lives, and it's about a game. You know, I have four kids, and a wife, and a house. And I just moved into the house. And we're doing construction. I've got real life that hits me, and if I'm not playing for four days, it's okay. No one gives me a hard time about it."
With all the gaming going on in Wolfie's life, and the composite family he's formed with his own kids and those of his wife, you'd think they were a veritable clan of gamers, right?
"My son played for a little bit," Wolfie said. "He's 12 now, and he discovered soccer probably two years ago. And my love of soccer – I grew up as a goalie and my brother was a semi-pro goalie – and goalie is just in our blood. My son is at a tryout for a club team. And he's being looked at by the L.A. Galaxy Academy. Which is huge. At 12-years-old he's that good of a goalie. Just amazing. So when he discovered that, gaming just took second. He's up at 5 o'clock on Saturday morning to watch all the games in England and Spain. I'll catch him watching the Mexican channel – can't understand a damn thing they're saying but he'll sit there and watch for hours just to watch soccer play. My stepson plays once in a while too, but he's more Batman and superhero-type gaming. Other than that it's just me.
"My wife loves video games if it's like Pac-Man. If it has a joystick and a single button, she's happy as a clam. But other than that, no. No wish whatsoever. I tried to show her DDO, and she saw my fingers flying all over the keyboard and mouse, and my head never stops moving, and she looked at that and she's like 'forget it, I don't even want to try it."
Old school.
During an interview back in 2007, and again during my talk with Wolfie, he mentioned the care packages he received from fellow gamers while deployed as a soldier in the U.S. Army. Intrigued by the way the gamer community shows their support to our troops, i wondered if Wolfie had any involvement with that practice now that he is home in Southern California following a military career that spanned nearly half his life – 22-1/2 years as a soldier. Spent mostly in reserves, he did have three deployments and was injured a couple of times, but is quick to point out that the how's and why's aren't important because that is not what defines him.
"It was the best time I'd ever hand in my life, and also the worst," Wolfie said. "But I don't send care packages now, only because when I was over there, it got to the point where people would send cookies and candies and stuff like that. The pantries are so well stocked that I could go get anything I wanted, really. So what I did was I used to take a lot of these things, and I did coalition support. So I trained special operations units from other countries. In a lot of those countries, their soldiers are so dirt poor, they couldn't afford anything. A deodorant was an extravagance. I used to take the stuff that was sent over and I'd give it to those guys, as well as other Americans that were detached from the bases way out in the sticks."
Instead, Wolfie remains involved with the military in a different way here at home, by helping soldiers who return from active duty with injuries.
"I do a lot of advising and helping people through the VA system, and soldiers with PTSD," Wolfie said. "Trying to get them to take that first step and getting them to the VA. Getting help. I commanded a company of 313 soldiers and within a year-and-a-half I had nine of them commit suicide after deployments. I was trying to push my finger in a hole in a dam that was ten feet wide and trying to stop the flow. I got chaplains. I wolud go to the local colleges and find students studying forensic psychology and bring them in to just talk to the guys. To just come down on a weekend and hang out.
"I just kept pushing it, and have since taken a step beyond that by finding soldiers that are getting hosed by the military, or not taken care of, and help them through that. So that's what I do. It's not so much care packages. I'm helping the guys that come back.
"When a kid comes to me and says 'my leg's blown off, I'm getting no help from the military, and I don't know how to file for assistance,' I walk them through that. Because I had to figure it out on my own. I spent basically two years in a hospital after my deployment getting put back together. I had a major that was in charge of my case, and he could care less. He was like 'you're a captain, figure it out.' So I did. And invariably, what he did was he started sending soldiers from Southern California to me because I was a senior-ranking officer down here. So he would send me all these broken soldiers that just got back from different warzones and say 'can you help them?' I had my own mini-command of broken soldiers that I helped to figure out their medical, get their doctor's appointments taken care of, and stuff like that."
For the final segment of my interview with Wolfie, i'd planned to fire off a series of rapid questions to him about DDO specifically. What i got instead were insightful perspectives on various aspects of the game.
What is your favorite thing about DDO?
"Hanging out with the guys. Being a father, I can sit down for an hour or two and play and hang out with my buddies. Have some fun in the game and detox from my civilian job, just kinda separate for a little bit and then come back. If I've had a bad day, I can hang out and play a game that I really enjoy – that's probably the biggest thing. Another things it's provided me though is, when I got back from Iraq, it was one of the things – and the military's actually using that now as a support system for PTSD – it really helped me to funnel and focus the PTSD that I had. It gave me an avenue, and I really disappeared into it between all the surgeries. I've had my back rebuilt with titanium and all that, and between all those surgeries it gave me that avenue. And now it's something that just became my hobby. I enjoy it."
What is your favorite quest?
"VON 5 and 6. Hands down. When I first saw that dragon, and I stepped on that platform. She's flying in the air and you see the world all around. You look down, and Stormreach is down there. I remember I was like…I had my girlfriend at the time over and I'm like 'come here and look at this!' That was the coolest thing. At the time, level 10 was the max. I remember the first time I did VON 3, we were all level 10 and it took us six-and-a-half hours. By the end I was sweating so bad, I was starving. Six-and-a-half hours of straight fighting to get through VON 3. Now we do it in 14 minutes.
You know what's really exciting for me? I've been playing for seven years, and I still get excited when, you know like you guys when you stepped out and you're like 'look at all this, wow!' And I'm sitting there thinking 'I remember that feeling, too.' That was cool. When I hear guys for the first time in a quest, I try to back off and not direct. I'll give advice, but I want you to kind of figure it out, and look at it, and get excited about finding that trap for the first time or whatever. We all know it's there, but sometimes it's fun to say 'oops! sorry, look what we found.'
What is your favorite class or build to play?
"That has varied through the years. I love my monk. But right now I am really digging the Juggy build. I also took my barbarian through three lives, and three lives of fighter, and I'm on the seventh life – as a barbarian. I enjoy that one because I hit like a you-know-what brickhouse. It's fun to see that. But the Juggy build is just a lot of fun. And I love my ranger. Hands down, that is one of my favorites of all time. I have a lot of fun with that build."
What is your favorite race?
"I like the half-elf especially, because of the dilletante system and some of the feat bonuses. Those are nice. I have a half-elf as my ranger. I'm really liking that. The human is just…it's one of the classics because you get all of the feat bonuses, and it's the utility race. You can do anything with it. I really like the half-orc. Both my barbarian and my monk are half-orcs. They're both just straight strength, beat-your-way-through-stuff builds and those are fun. Favorite of all time though would be the half-elf."
What is your favorite piece of loot?
"I'll go with my alchemical longbow. Right now I have earth-earth on it, and I'm debating what I want to do on Tier 3. But it just looks wicked. It's got the spikes, and the acid look. The way it oozes, the graphics on it just look pretty wicked. And when I shoot something with my ranger it's just amazing the damage you do. Especially if you're in your normal Epic Destiny. If you go Shiradi it's insane the damage you get with an arrow."
What are your thoughts on cosmetics? The expansion pack will introduce cosmetic slots…
"That is very cool. I've spent a minor fortune on cosmetics, and I swore I'd never do that. I'd say 'I'm an old man – I don't care about that stuff.' But you get suckered in because you look at your toon, and you've got the baby blue IQ stuff on your warforged docent and it just looks…you look at that and go 'I'm gonna go get a cosmetic for that.' They really need to work on those."
Why a level 18 adventurer still carries a rope is beyond me.
What is your favorite monster?
Suggestion to Turbine: random spawn mimics. You know you want it.
I dug the mimic. I thought the mimic was one of the cool ones and when they finally brought that into the game I was like 'thank you!' That was fun. But my favorite one – and this goes back to the pencil-and-paper days – is the minotaur. I see a minotaur and it's just wicked looking. It's bad ass looking. It's a cool graphic. They're cool to fight. There's no magic to it – you're just beating the heck out of each other. But they're cool looking."
My guess? Wolfie does ALL the optionals in Frame Work.
If you could change one thing about DDO, what would it be?
"The ladder bug! I said it seven years ago, and I'll say it again. My name is Wolfie and I approve this message. Get. Rid. Of. The. Ladder. Bug. For god's sakes – don't do Neverwinter Nights, don't come out with anything else, I don't want to see an update. Fix the ladder bug. I beg of you."
Do you have any words of wisdom for new players?
"Don't take it so seriously. Someone will say 'the sky is purple,' and all of a sudden 20 people are yelling at them in chat saying 'oh my god, not it's not, it's mauve.' Dude, really? It's a game. Who cares? It's not a forum for politics. I've been in groups where we've gone down the road of heavy conversation about Iraq. And it's four military guys, and we're sitting talking military stuff, and the other two guys are like 'shut up.' We'll sidetrack once in a while, because you just get there, and a couple of drinks in you go there. But really, like if you die – it's okay. It's still just a game. Just respawn, and it's not that big of a deal to go get your buffs again. Sure, it sucks, and I've been there a million times. But if it happens, don't turn around and dress down the guy. And I've dressed down a couple of players so I'm talking about myself in this as well. I've had to learn over the years to just back off and enjoy the game. I've been a jerk to people in the past, and I've gone back and said 'hey, I'm sorry I came at you like that. I'm sorry I was a jerk.' But really, the bottom line: just remember it's a game. That's it."
Do you have any words of wisdom for jaded players?
"I can be one of those jaded players. When I get in a group, and you're doing a raid, and you want to finish the raid. You've spent an hour putting the group together, and there's that one person. Last week, we did Caught in the Web. And there was that one individual that kept running off to the side. And dragging all the aggro. We're all sitting there, and people are bolding it saying PLEASE STOP GRABBING AGGRO. Only because I just spent two hours of my life getting to this point. I really don't want to repeat it. So if someone gives you a piece of advice, and tells you in-game 'don't do something,' try not to do it. I can understand the jaded players, because you'll have that one guy that does it again. And again. And again. And you're sitting there going 'for the love of god, stop!' And they turn around and do it again.
Still no Sireth or Twilight. Sad Schir.
"But in the same sense, if you get someone new in the game, I can't tell you how many thousands of plat I've given away to people who tell me 'I just got this game a week ago and thought I'd give it a try but it's hard to get a start.' It's not like they beg for it. You just talk to them, and play a couple of missions with them, and he or she is a cool person, and you give them 10,000 play and tell them to go buy some heal pots, or whatever. Just have fun with it. I think this would be it. If I were to meet someone, like myself or another jaded player that can be a little callous, just stop and think of when you first started. You didn't know where House D was. You didn't know what House D was. Someone tells you to go to House D to buy arrows and you're like 'huh?' Just stop and ask them 'do you know where it is?' Just help out players."
What are your thoughts on the upcoming expansion pack?
"I'm looking forward to it. Every time there's an expansion or an update, I jump on and dive into it. I grind like the best of them, and I turn around and respec my dudes just like everyone else does. You plan your toon for +3 tomes, because oh my god that's the new latest and greatest and you'll never see one but just wait for it. Now we're all sitting around saying 'well I've got +4 tomes – now what?' You're always respeccing, and I kind of dig that. I'm looking forward to the new loot, and new quests, and I'll jump right on board with everyone else."
What are your thoughts on the Iconic Heroes, like the Bladeforged Paladin?
"I haven't looked too much into it, but I'm looking forward to that. The paladin is up and down. When the paladin was great, we had Zeal. Then they turn around and nerf Zeal. I've got a level 25 paladin that was a beast. I think with the new enhancement system, it will make that toon a little more worthwhile. I've got the Chimera set on him, and I understand that's going to get a revamp. So all of a sudden, my paladin will be an awesome fighter again. It's like I said – peaks and valleys."
The character model the Bladeforged Paladin is different, have you seen it?
Please tell me our character models will all be amped up like this.
"Yeah! That will be cool. With the armors, there was a period there where I really had to question who they were hiring for design. I don't know what they were thinking. When the IQ came out, it was great. There was great stuff, but really? Look at that one set of armor. You put it on and you're like…I'm not going to make the stupid comments, but you can imagine, we all saw that for the first time and thought 'this is sweet armor, but there's no way in hell I'm going to wear this.' I had a dwarf at the time, and on a dwarf there's nothing you can do to make that look cool.
"I'm looking forward to something that's a little more…you know, you're a fighter. You're a paladin. You're supposed to be bad ass looking. You're a warrior out on the battlefield. And you get out there and you've got this flamboyantly colored, slim cut, French runway model looking armor and you're like, really? This isn't bad ass. This is 'I'm going to get my ass kicked in high school.' If you could change the character model, that would be a tremendous boost to their client list and the amount of players in the game if they'd just improve the looks of the toons. It's still one of the best out there, but still, it needs a huge revamp. Give me sliders so I can make them taller, or make their head squashed or beat up, give them more scars, cool looking mohawks, whatever.
"It's a game about going into war, going into battle. They definitely don't look like they're doing that."
So concluded my interview with Wolfie, leader of Sacred Flame Guardians on Sarlona server. Wolfie – both in and out of game – brings a real appreciation for the camaraderie of MMO gaming to his guild that i've been proud to be a member of for over a year now. It was really an honor to get to talk to him and learn more about his life outside of DDO as well, and i've certainly grateful for the opportunity. i hope that players both new and old can discover how much fun DDO is, and knowing people like Wolfie are out there shows me that all the cries of dooooooooom over the years basically amount to naught. You don't have to be a hardcore zerger or grinder to find the fun in DDO. Just remember that it's just a game, and there are real people on the other side of those colorful characters who have lives and experiences in game and out. But we all gather on our servers for the same purpose at the end of the day – to enjoy a game we love, with friends who make our adventures worth having.
Thanks to Wolfie for his time, and thanks for visiting!
Next Volume 1, Issue 2
16.May.2013 at 10:41 pm
Wow! Talk about a nice interview! I am hoping the Neverwinter online bug cools off soon so we can get the gang back together soon 🙂 looking forward to the expansion myself and running into all the new content with Wolfie and the rest of SFG.
17.May.2013 at 12:06 am
That was pretty cool. Thanks!
samiusgurobo says:
17.May.2013 at 1:14 pm
EVERYONE NEEDS ROPE…. you can do so many things with rope. It is like a good towel. Also Wolfie is a good egg. You could have done a lot worse then ending up in SFG.
I don't know, by that point you'd have something a little more elegant i think. Plus, thematically it doesn't jive with the pack. And yes, i lucked out – great guild!
DDOcast 283 « DDOcast – A DDO Podcast! says:
[…] You're now Wolfie – and that's it! May 16, 2013 […]
To me, my blog! | The Long Shot says:
6.June.2013 at 3:17 pm
[…] SFG. They are a great bunch of players on Sarlona and they taught me a ton! Particularly Wolfie and Boeregard, who showed Wrongside and i the ropes of a bunch of raids and high-level quests, […]
Where the magic happens | The Long Shot says:
8.June.2013 at 3:46 am
[…] Jim Mahfood for the geek-out moment of a lifetime, Chad Zumock for being a hometown hero, and Wolfie for his in- and out-of-game […]
Playstyles, pet genders and possible PUGs | The Long Shot says:
10.July.2014 at 3:28 pm
[…] for the laughs and shared experiences. DDO took a major upswing for me when i was invited to the Sacred Flame Guardians and even though i'm an officer now, it's not the same when there's at most maybe […]
Lordy, lordy, D&D is 40. Happy B-Day dude! | The Long Shot says:
7.September.2014 at 12:15 am
[…] such an iconic D&D moment to face off against a powerful red dragon. Heck, my guild leader Wolfie said a while back that he feels the same rush as his first time whenever he's taking first […]


text:
---
id: 5a9036d038fddaf9a66b5d32
title: Add Columns with grid-template-columns
challengeType: 0
videoUrl: ''
localeTitle: Добавить столбцы с столбцами таблицы-шаблона
---

## Description

 Простое создание элемента сетки не слишком далеко. Вам также необходимо определить структуру сетки. Чтобы добавить некоторые столбцы в сетку, используйте свойство grid-template-columns в контейнере сетки, как показано ниже:
 .container {
 отображение: сетка;
 grid-template-columns: 50px 50px;
 }
 Это даст вашей сетке два столбца шириной 50 пикселей. Количество параметров, заданных для свойства grid-template-columns указывает количество столбцов в сетке, а значение каждого параметра указывает ширину каждого столбца.

## Instructions

 Дайте контейнеру сетки три столбца шириной по 100px .

## Tests

```yml
tests:
  - text: класс <code>container</code> должен иметь свойство <code>grid-template-columns</code> с тремя единицами <code>100px</code> .
    testString: 'assert(code.match(/.container\s*?{[\s\S]*grid-template-columns\s*?:\s*?100px\s*?100px\s*?100px\s*?;[\s\S]*}/gi), "<code>container</code> class should have a <code>grid-template-columns</code> property with three units of <code>100px</code>.");'

```

## Challenge Seed

```html
<style>
  .d1{background:LightSkyBlue;}
  .d2{background:LightSalmon;}
  .d3{background:PaleTurquoise;}
  .d4{background:LightPink;}
  .d5{background:PaleGreen;}

  .container {
    font-size: 40px;
    width: 100%;
    background: LightGray;
    display: grid;
    /* add your code below this line */

    /* add your code above this line */
  }
</style>

<div class="container">
  <div class="d1">1</div>
  <div class="d2">2</div>
  <div class="d3">3</div>
  <div class="d4">4</div>
  <div class="d5">5</div>
</div>

```

## Solution

```js
// solution required
```

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Camera IconDarcy, affectionately known as a 'little lion', desperately needs a bone marrow transplant after he was diagnosed with leukaemia. Credit: Instagram / little.ox.aml
'Be my boy's superhero': Perth mum in desperate plea for bone marrow donor to save son and 'little lion' Darcy
Kate RyanPerthNow
Email Kate Ryan
PerthWA NewsHealth
The Perth mum of a brave four-year-old boy in the fight for his life has made an impassioned plea on social media to help save her son's life.
Casey Keeley's son Darcy, affectionately known as a 'little lion', desperately needs a bone marrow transplant after he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia at the end of of June.
He's been in isolation in PCH for the last five weeks, receiving intensive chemotherapy.
His next round of chemo will need to be followed by a bone marrow transplant, but doctors, his family and even The International Marrow Registry haven't been able to find a match.
I am appealing to you to be my little boy's superhero.
That's when his mum turned to social media for help.
"No immediate family members have been found to be suitable and the international registry has come back empty," she wrote on a Facebook group.
Loading Instagram Post
"The current COVID situation is making everything more complicated as well. I am appealing to you to be my little boy's superhero and become a bone marrow donor."
Since she posted on Wednesday night, she's received thousands of comments and shares, with dozens of people sharing photos of themselves registering to become donors.
Camera IconDarcy has been in isolation in PCH for the last five weeks, receiving intensive chemotherapy.
"This is one of the most beautiful and caring families I have ever come across and I know that with peoples kindness and generosity, Darcy will come out of this stronger and healthier. Please help if you can," friend Courtney Churchill wrote.
"Becoming a bone marrow donor is as easy as giving blood.
You'll need to:
Be aged between 18 and 45.
Have given, or be prepared to give, blood if eligible.
Be able to provide a small blood sample for tissue typing.
"Unfortunately you can't specify who you'd like to be tested for but the more on the database, the more likely they are to find a match." another friend wrote.
Even Australian parenting author Maggie Dent shared her post.
A GoFundMe page has been set up and a blood drive donation has been planned for the little fighter, with the community rallying around the family.
To see if you're eligible, head to this link.
BUY NOWCompelling new book by The West Australian's Tim Clarke.


How has Taiwan been able to pay an astronomical defense budget to the US over the years?
By depressing wages. Taiwan's buildup depended on keeping spending low by massive underpayment for military labor, and government employees pay was kept too low over the decades, with sallow malnourished faces. The foreign exchange reserve is rich because of three classes of people: the military, public servants, and teaching staff.
Late AIT Director David Dean described this in his book "Unofficial Diplomacy: The American Institute in Taiwan". Because of the American trade deficit crisis in 1986, the U.S. demanded Taiwan appreciate its currency by 20%.
A 20 percent appreciation of the NT dollar would result in losses to Taiwan of 243 billion NT dollars, or about one -half of Taiwan's budget for the year.
If not for Yale graduate Dr. Fred Chien, Taiwan would break her economy. Dr. Chien emphasized to Washington that many of Taiwan's small and mid-sized enterprises would go bankrupt if the currency value was appreciated so drastically.
Dr. Chien pointed out that in 1987; the U.S. Trade deficit with Taiwan was $19 billion. In 1988, it dropped to $13 billion, a decrease of 30 %.
Any fair observer would agree this was an achievement. They pressured Taiwan even during President Chiang Ching-kuo's funeral in 1988.
If US did break Taiwan's economy, then, Taiwan would not be able to purchase expensive defense weapons from the US. Also, this may have destabilized regional security.
ROC chronically suppressed government workers wages, and the main beneficiaries of the economic boom are Taiwan local farmers who sold land in Taiwan for millions of dollars and purchased housing in top US neighborhoods. They are the rich DPP party.
DPP Candidate Tsai told the US that the KMT should not have any offices on school campuses, but meanwhile she has her campaign posters at a Tainan high school, see photo.
David Dean's book also mentioned the charge that the KMT refused to let Taiwan locals to be in the government. This is not true. I provide three examples.
1: The Legislative Yuan in 1963 with local ethnic Hakka Mr. Huang Guoshu as Chairman.
2: Taiwan started TV broadcasts in 1964. Many important personnel such as famed popular singing star in Japan and Taiwan Judy Ongg's father, a Taiwan local, worked for Taiwan TV Company, a government joint venture with Japan. My senator grandfather promoted him and gave them big breaks.
3: China Broadcast Company broadcaster Lin Haiyin also is a Taiwan local.
Now that treacherous Taiwanese brainwashed Americans and took control of all the sectors of the country, they are wearing out the system with low quality performance and are closing many businesses down.
Lee sold off China Broadcasting Company and built a private hospital of which he was the Chairman of the Board.
Lee robbed our voice and sold our company, so KMT are all muted and fail to defend our works and have become jobless.
KMT state enterprises originated in the late Qing Dynasty, and they evolved in progress to further develop in Taiwan. Taiwan adopted postwar Germany's economic model of the mixed economy, with the government helping small enterprises. These quasi-state enterprises hired retired military such as my father who worked as a unit operation manager to help local farmers by appropriating fertilizers.
Once the local Taiwanese start to run these companies, their standard is low. A recent quasi-government owned company's sea transport 12,000 ton ship hit a small 48 ton ship. They have not upgraded the system, so without radar, using their vision only, they think that a tiny ship was a wave, and their training was amiss, they should turn right as international protocol, instead, they turned left. They were pressured to be in a hurry from Hualien port to Taichung port and were travelling too fast.
All 9 on board are either dead or missing.
The Nationalist hard earned system, but in Taiwan local hands, without upgrade, has simply degraded. Instead the Taiwanese-owned Evergreen company with money pouring in by selling the KMT party building in developing a joint venture with Japan, and gave Japan business with 20 container ships to be delivered over the years, see photo.
Once upon a time, Taiwan was energetic and its people worked hard to build up the country and defend it from Communists, though their pay was low. We were hopeful with prospect and looked to the US as a powerful ally.
After I immigrated to US, those childhood places were buried in my deep conscious and stay in my soul.
I dreamt of the howling northern wind, I was racing in Taichung Shuinan vacant military airport fields, trying to catch the flight.
That dream echoed my childhood when my Father took me to Shuinan to add gas to his jeep. There was an American GI in saluting to him.
My soul returned to help my Dad as he had heart trouble, and I carried him on my back in running to catch the plane. Then, in the middle of clouds, a couple of intellectuals also lined up. The door of an American transport plane slid open. A tall and gaunt man in embroidery grass green jacket let my Dad in.
A chart indicating he went to north, and straight down south. I knew he finally back to his hometown in Henan, China.
I pray for Taichung Shuinan military airport, the last virgin metropolitan land, currently under development in the hands of the DPP mayor. This land is always in my loving memory.


text:
New Operation Inherent Resolve commander Continues Fight Against ISIL
AUGUST 22, 2016, WASHINGTON – Army Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend, commanding general of XVIII Airborne Corps based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, assumed command of Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve during a transfer of authority ceremony on Monday August 21.
Army Gen. Joseph L. Votel, U.S. Central Command's commanding general, presided over the ceremony in which command was transferred to Townsend from Army Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland, the commander of III Armored Corps based at Fort Hood, Texas. The ceremony was attended by hundreds of U.S. and coalition soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.
PRESSURING ISIL
Votel expressed confidence in the team from Fort Bragg to continue pressuring the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
"We are very fortunate to be welcoming another great team in Lt. Gen. Steve Townsend and Command Sgt. Maj. Benjamin Jones," Votel said. "The XVIII Airborne Corps has very big shoes to fill, but I know they are up to the task and raring to go!"
Over the last several months, officials said, soldiers from the XVIII Airborne Corps have conducted intense training to prepare for the mission.
In his remarks, Townsend highlighted the progress already accomplished in the region.
"Over the past year, CJTF-OIR, led by my good friend Lt. Gen. Sean MacFarland and his III Armored Corps, and our coalition and regional partners, have done incredible work to degrade and dismantle ISIL's oppressive and brutal regime," Townsend said.
"Their combined efforts on the ground and in the air have accelerated" the counter-ISIL campaign, Townsend said, pushing ISIL back across the battlefield and achieving remarkable momentum toward ISIL's ultimate defeat.
COUNTER-ISIL ACCOMPLISHMENTS
Key accomplishments achieved during the III Armored Corps tour include:
— The training of more than 13,500 members of the Iraqi security forces, including more than 4,000 Iraqi soldiers, 1,500 counter-terrorism service soldiers, 6,000 Peshmerga, andalmost 1,000 federal police and 300 border guards.
— An increased emphasis on police training and the recruitment of tribal forces, adding 5,000 trained local police and over 20,000 tribal fighters enrolled.
— About 50,000 counter-ISIL sorties conducted in the past year, during which more than 30,000 munitions were dropped on the enemy, approximately two-thirds of them in Iraq and about one-third in Syria.
— The liberation of more than 25,000 total square kilometers from ISIL, nearly nearly half of the territory the enemy once controlled in Iraq and 20 percent of the territory the enemy once controlled in Syria.
— More than 200 strikes conducted against oil and natural gas activities of the enemy, which reduced the enemy's oil revenue stream by approximately 50 percent.
— Vigorous attacks on the enemy leadership and command-and-control and weapons manufacturing capability, including attacks on more than 25 bulk cash storage sites, resulting in at least half-a-billion dollars destroyed.
Townsend shared his vision for the CJTF-OIR mission ahead.
"Let me say for all to hear — friend and foe alike — we will continue the attack against ISIL, and we will defeat them in Iraq and Syria on our watch," Townsend said.
The XVIII Airborne Corps most recently returned from a December 2014 deployment to Afghanistan, where it led the NATO operational headquarters in Kabul, the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command.


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text:
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2018 Dec;121(6):711-716. doi: 10.1016/j.anai.2018.08.022. Epub 2018 Sep 6.
Comparison of comorbid diagnoses in children with and without eosinophilic esophagitis in a large population.
Capucilli P1, Cianferoni A2, Grundmeier RW3, Spergel JM2.
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Division of Allergy & Immunology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Electronic address: capucillip@email.chop.edu.
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Division of Allergy & Immunology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Perelman School of Medicine at The University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Department of Biomedical and Health Informatics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Previous reports suggest a higher prevalence of comorbid diseases in patients with eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE), although few have systematically quantified comorbidities in pediatric patients.
To define the rate of comorbid diagnoses in pediatric EoE patients compared with rates in those without EoE.
Retrospective cross-sectional review of electronic medical records for patients seen in a single large pediatric primary care network between January 2007 and December 2016 (n = 456,148). International Classification of Diseases, Ninth and Tenth Revision codes were used to determine prevalence rates for coexisting diagnoses.
A total of 428 patients held a diagnosis for EoE. Significant differences in rate of comorbid diseases included allergic rhinoconjunctivitis (60.0% of EoE cohort vs 17.4% of non-EoE cohort, P < .0001); asthma (59.8% of EoE, 21.4% of non-EoE, P < .0001); atopic dermatitis (17.8% of EoE, 6.6% of non-EoE, P < .0001); adrenal insufficiency (2.6% of EoE, 0.4% of non-EoE, P < .0001); autism spectrum disorder (7.5% of EoE, 1.9% of non-EoE, P < .0001); celiac disease (5.6% of EoE, 0.9% of non-EoE, P < .0001); connective tissue diseases (1.4% of EoE, 0.1% of non-EoE, P < .0001); cystic fibrosis (0.9% of EoE, 0.05% of non-EoE, P < .0001); inflammatory bowel disease (0.7% of EoE, 0.2% of non-EoE, P = .03); type 1 diabetes mellitus (1.2% of EoE, 0.3% of non-EoE, P = .0069).
Children with EoE have markedly higher rates of both atopic and non-atopic diseases compared with children without EoE. These associations have important implications for comprehensive EoE care and future research regarding associated disease mechanisms.
Copyright © 2018 American College of Allergy, Asthma 8 Immunology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
10.1016/j.anai.2018.08.022
Adrenal Insufficiency/epidemiology
Asthma/epidemiology
Autism Spectrum Disorder/epidemiology
Comorbidity*
Connective Tissue Diseases/epidemiology
Cystic Fibrosis/epidemiology
Dermatitis, Atopic/epidemiology
Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1/epidemiology
Eosinophilic Esophagitis/diagnosis*
Inflammatory Bowel Diseases/epidemiology
Eosinophilic Esophagitis - MedlinePlus Health Information


Position: Former Associate Professor, School of Engineering, University of Waikato.
Rainer was born in Germany where he attended high school and university. He completed his university studies with a doctorate at the University of Hannover, specialising in laser-based plasma diagnostics under the guidance of Professor Manfred Kock. It was this experience that formed the basis of his interest in using light to probe and investigate the structure of materials.
With a desire to see the world, Rainer and his partner Anna took up a contract to work in Australia analysing and improving laser systems. After the initial culture shock, both started to love the southern hemisphere and decided to stay.
Rainer then took up a position with a company involved in developing and manufacturing electronic measuring equipment for agricultural applications. During this period, Rainer learned how to apply science to solve real-world practical problems. This was a challenging time, as it also required understanding commercial realities, in particular, the demands of operating a small private company and how science and engineering fitted into such an environment.
A position at the University of Wollongong working in the area of materials engineering then followed on from his experiences in the commercial world.
New pastures beckoned, and Rainer moved to New Zealand where he took up a position at the University of Waikato where he undertook teaching and researching for 24 years.
Given that the university is in the centre of a very productive agricultural region, it was obvious to Rainer to focus his research on agricultural or biological products.
Rainer always enjoyed science at school and has been tinkering with mechanics and electronics since high school. He still enjoys doing hands-on work himself, but generally only his students get to do that.
It is a joy to see students learn and progress and to see them end up in high-flying jobs.
In addition to his passion for tinkering with mechanics and electronics, Rainer is a keen pilot and a qualified flying instructor for both gliders and microlight aeroplanes.
Rainer left the University of Waikato in June 2018.
Listen to this video interview with Rainer, in which he talks about his commercial experience, his students, and some of his work including diffuse optical tomography and blu ray technology.
This article is based on information current in 2012 and 2018.


Dan Shaughnessy on Game 1: "It wasn't exactly a banner night at TD Garden."
On Tuesday the Celtics made it clear they hoped that the Cavaliers would be a bit rusty in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals after being idle since May 7. And although Boston's players might be tired, the belief was that maybe they would just ride the momentum from their stirring Game 7 win over the Wizards in the conference semifinals two nights earlier.
But it quickly became clear on Wednesday that neither of these things would transpire. The Cavaliers were crisp, sharp, and connected, and the Celtics looked like they were stuck in mud at the start.
When they had open 3-pointers, they missed them. When they did not have open 3-pointers, they turned the ball over. And when they matched up against James, they could not stop him. Although the offense found some semblance of a rhythm late in the third quarter, by then the deficit was far too large against a team as powerful as this one, as the Cavaliers took a 117-104 win.
Just like that, the homecourt advantage Boston worked so hard to secure while the Cavaliers placed more of a premium on rest is gone.
LeBron just came up a little gimpy after being fouled by Isaiah Thomas on a dunk attempt.
Can the Celtics come all the way back in fourth quarter vs. Cavs?


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text:
The Washington Post -- "Intelligent and Well-Conceived" Bio of Masters and Johnson
Love -- The Scientific Way
By Louis Bayard
The Life and Times of William Masters And Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love
By Thomas Maier
Basic. 411 pp. $27.50
How suggestively their names intertwined from the start: Masters, with its echoes of bondage and onanism, and Johnson, that venerable euphemism for penis. If they hadn't been the most famous sexologists of their day, they might have opened an S&M club in Tribeca. Gini, with her purring smile, would have greeted the customers; Bill would have stayed in the back room, testing the hoists and chains.
Which was only a couple of degrees removed from what they did in real life. Their partnership began in St. Louis in the mid-1950s, when William Masters, an ob-gyn and fertility specialist at Washington University, decided to launch a scientific inquiry into human sexuality. Unlike his predecessor, Alfred Kinsey, Masters proposed something far more immersive than questionnaires: direct observation of the body's procreative functions, with each pulse and quiver painstakingly recorded.
He began in a small way by spying on prostitutes (conscripted with the local vice squad's help and the Catholic archbishop's blessing). When one of his subjects suggested he find a female partner, Masters settled on an unlikely candidate: an unemployed, twice-divorced mother with two small kids and no degree. Initially hired as Masters's secretary, Virginia Johnson quickly proved her worth in the lab, efficiently gathering personal histories and sounding the notes of empathy that were absent from Masters's cool register.
With the help of tools like "a motor-powered Plexiglas phallus," the white-coated team observed approximately 10,000 orgasms over 11 years. The fruits of their labor were gathered in a volume called "Human Sexual Response," which managed to sell 300,000 copies in just a few months. Was it the plain brown paper wrapping? Was it the ribald prose? ("This maculopapular type of erythematous rash first appears over the epigastrium.") Or was something more tectonic going on?
Thomas Maier's intelligent and well-conceived biography reminds us that, as recently as the mid-1960s, "the word 'pregnant' could be bleeped from any television show. Sex education was kept out of the classroom." Copulation itself was "the private domain of the marital bed." Masters and Johnson, with their pharmaceutical calm and their vast edifices of data, made sex an over-the-counter commodity -- and, along the way, demolished some entrenched myths.
Intercourse during pregnancy endangers the fetus? Nope. Vaginal orgasms beat clitoral orgasms? Sorry, Dr. Freud. As for females being the delicate sex, the research showed that women could achieve five or six orgasms in as many minutes while men had to quit the field for at least an hour after every climax. Women suddenly had a green light for sex, and the news was welcome not just to hedonists -- Hugh Hefner was one of the study's biggest funders -- but to feminists, who glimpsed a new dawn of erotic self-determination. "It's 10 o'clock at night," read the sign at Ms. magazine headquarters. "Do you know where your clitoris is?" The answer, according to the St. Louis researchers, was a decided yes. Large numbers of women had already confessed that they enjoyed their best sex alone.
Kinsey died at the height of his notoriety, but Masters and Johnson were able to parlay their fame into a second career of sexual healing. For a then-whopping fee of $3,000 (actually, it's still whopping), movie stars, senators and the just plain dysfunctional could spruce up their sex lives with the help of male-female therapy teams, achieving results in a couple of weeks that might have required many years of traditional psychoanalysis. By the time Masters and Johnson came out with a second volume in 1970, their names were as wedded in the public mind as Romeo and Juliet.
Before long, they were wedded in the eyes of the law, too. Their union, so appealing on the surface, had one slight problem: They didn't love each other. Much of the problem lay with Masters, who admitted to being "sort of a bastard" and a stranger to the ways of the heart. He carried on an extramarital affair with Johnson for many years before divorcing his wife and, in the twilight of his life, abruptly ditched Johnson for an old sweetheart.
He was also the driving force behind the team's controversial embrace of conversion therapy for gays. In "Homosexuality in Perspective" (1979), he and Johnson claimed they could straighten out gay men or women in a matter of weeks, with a "failure rate" of only one-third. Buttressed with phony case studies, the book's findings were quickly denounced by the medical establishment and seized upon just as quickly by the religious right as evidence that gay lifestyles were a choice, not an orientation.
So Masters and Johnson bear some of the blame for the "ex-gay" ministries that currently litter our cultural landscape, but who is to blame for the dissolution of the Masters-and-Johnson brand? Their names are now largely unknown, I'd wager, to anyone under the age of 40, in part because the mainstreaming of sex they advocated and embodied has taken hold with such a vengeance. We are not, to put it mildly, as shockable as we were. Cosmopolitan magazine weighs in each month with primers on the female orgasm; sex columnists like Dan Savage and Susie Bright embrace every kink and fetish of the human comedy; grown men fill the airwaves with choruses of "Viva Viagra!" The culture that Masters and Johnson helped to create has swallowed them whole.
Louis Bayard is a novelist and reviewer whose most recent book is "The Black Tower."
- June 05, 2009 Links to this post
Labels: " "Thomas Maier, " therapy, "Masters and Johnson", "Masters of Sex, biography history sex love "book club" intimacy marriage chick lit, Book World, podcast, Washington Post


In theory-based applied learning, students study a principle or idea on which the practice of an activity is based, and then they apply it through in-class exercises and laboratory activities. In other words, learning by doing. This hands-on approach has always been the hallmark of the college, and the Polytechnic transformation has strengthened it even further.
Over 90 percent of Polytechnic courses now reflect this core approach. For example, mechanical engineering technology and construction management technology students might study the area moment of inertia to learn about how a beam's cross-sectional shape affects its stiffness before they build a device or structure that will be subjected to heavy loads. For course material that is less conducive to "hands-on" lab work, in-class case studies and role-playing are popular applied-learning techniques.
When it comes to learning the physics of multibody mechanisms, a static two-dimensional illustration on a whiteboard can only do so much. The illustration can define components, such as gears, cams and connecting links. It can also specify how these components connect to each other with symbolic joints. However, such a static, two-dimensional illustration cannot demonstrate real mechanical components or the real motion of various mechanisms in a three-dimensional environment. Its very existence is theoretical because – as a line drawing – the mechanism itself does not exist. Without actually seeing or touching the mechanisms, students usually have a difficult time understanding how the mechanical components and joints are configured and how the mechanisms move and work.
Xiumin Diao, assistant professor of engineering technology, teaches Applied Mechanism Kinematics and Dynamics. The class is no longer a chapter-by-chapter lecture of topics listed in the textbook.
- Xiumin Diao To modernize the teaching method, he uses clear, plastic, box-like cases that can house any combination of connected mechanical components, such as gears, levers and cranks. These example mechanisms can clearly demonstrate the configuration of mechanical components and joints. The contents of each mechanism are removable, allowing student teams to disassemble and reassemble the mechanism in different configurations, depending on the assignment's specifications. Students work in groups to discuss assignments and troubleshoot problems. They devise solutions by manipulating the various components, taking into account any physical limitations, such as size constraints, outlined in the case studies.
"The class is no longer a chapter-by-chapter lecture of topics listed in the textbook," said Diao.
By incorporating these example mechanisms in his class, Diao delivers advanced, technical lessons in a more engaging, dynamic, hands-on manner… as his students learn by doing.
The Department of Computer and Information Technology introduces students majoring in cybersecurity to cyber criminology, which includes the study of theories related to crime, psychology, deviance and sociology.
Researching why people engage in cybercrimes provides a theoretical foundation for students' hands-on work in cyber forensics and advanced security. In cyber forensics, students learn and practice with the tools and techniques used in computer forensic investigations and cybercrime scene analysis. The cybersecurity major also includes hands-on experience in network penetration testing and vulnerability analysis.
All indications point to the successful transformation of the Polytechnic.
With a focus on innovative learning methods, hands-on experiences and industry partnerships, these 10 Elements of Transformation drive the Polytechnic Institute's dedication to impactful technology education.


text:
Taylor's criticism came a day after a report in the Journal Sentinel by Marquette Law School fellow Mike Gousha that about 28% of the city's 6,438 employees — 1,793 workers and their families — now live outside the city in the aftermath of state action that eliminated a requirement they live in the city.
The Milwaukee Democrat and declared candidate for Barrett's job cited what she called his "failure to show leadership in Madison and to rally support in Milwaukee" to defeat the state action as the reason the city needs a new mayor.
A statement from the Barrett campaign called Taylor's criticism "baseless and absurd" and said she was ineffective in stopping Republicans from ending the residency requirement.
Taylor "knows that Tom Barrett fought tooth and nail against a hostile, Republican-controlled legislature and governor to keep them from ending residency," the statement said.
"Senator Taylor is doing what politicians often do — she's substituting press conferences for real leadership and offers false charges hoping something can stick to her opponent and advance her political career."
State lawmakers did away with strict residency laws in 2013, a decision Barrett harshly criticized. Among his arguments were that ending the residency requirement would reduce property values and would mean employees would be contributing nothing toward their pensions if they weren't paying city property taxes.
Lawmakers did allow the city to require that police officers, firefighters and other emergency workers live within 15 miles of the city limits. The police union sued, but in May 2017 a federal appeals court upheld the requirement.
Taylor also condemned Barrett for appointing Brett Blomme as chairman of the city's Board of Zoning Appeals.
Blomme — who is paid $39,865 a year for the part-time position — and his husband purchased a $109,000 home in Milwaukee in 2018 but own a $380,000 home in Cottage Grove in Dane County.
"If the chair of BOZA makes more than the median income of people of color in this city … for a part-time position, what does that say," Taylor said at a news conference outside City Hall.
Blomme, a Milwaukee County circuit judge candidate, says he resides in the Milwaukee residence.
In 2013, the Wisconsin Legislature approved an end to local residency requirements for municipalities. Taylor and the other Democrats voted against the budget that included an end to the requirement.
On Friday, however, she declined to say whether she would work to reinstate it.
Barrett spokeswoman Jodie Tabak declined to say whether Barrett was available to respond to Taylor's criticism, deferring comment to his campaign, though he has not formally announced that he is seeking re-election.
Journal Sentinel reporter Patrick Marley contributed to this report from Madison.


text:
Q: SQL Server Application Role vs. regular logins and users What is the advantage of using a SQL Server application role to manage permissions vs. using standard logins/users and granting the necessary permissions to said users?
We have been using application roles which require the following scenario:

*

*Connect to SQL Server using a SQL Server login and password.

*Activate an application role by passing the role name and another password to sp_setapprole.

I don't see how that's any better or more secure than just granting the application role's permissions to the login/user. Both passwords must be available to the application and anyone who gains access to the login password can probably gain access to the app role password and call sp_setapprole from their own program or in SSMS.  Right?
EDIT: As Ed Harper surmised, all instances of the application use the same login in my scenario.

A: I've never used application roles (CREATE APPLICATION ROLE). I really can't see the point of them
I have used database roles and added users as members
CREATE ROLE WebUsers AUTHORIZATION dbo;
ALTER ROLE WebUsers ADD MEMBER Tom;
ALTER ROLE WebUsers ADD MEMBER Dick;
ALTER ROLE WebUsers ADD MEMBER Harry;

CREATE ROLE WebAdmins AUTHORIZATION dbo;
ALTER ROLE WebAdmins ADD MEMBER Tom;

Roles have the permissions, not the user
GRANT EXEC TO WebAdmins;

GRANT EXEC On SCHEMA::WebCode TO WebAdmins;

A: It's not completely clear from your description, but it sounds like you might be using a SQL login assigned at application level - i.e. all instances of the application (assuming there is more than one instance) use the same login/password. In that scenario, using an application role adds very little value.
As I understand it, application roles are intended to be used where each user has their own login in SQL Server (perhaps in a scenario where access to the database is granted by AD authentication), but you don't want to grant users the same rights as applications they use; this assumes the application connects to the database with the AD user's identity, then elevates its permissions by using sp_setapprole. I've never seen this approach used in a production system.

A: Using a regular login, your credential and password would potentially pass on network. While application role switching could be completed done within database if the password is also saved in the database.

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