The Chugger lineup of pumps represents a great value for an even better price. These pumps are workhorses in the brewery. Featuring a robust flow rate of 7 gpm, and a magnetic drive designed to handle back-pressure, these pumps are a great addition to any brewing setup!


S.B. Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1976.
S.M.(M.E) Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1980.


text:
It's not all about the game
Super Bowl has something for everyone
By Ron Green Jr.
Charlotte (N.C.) Ovserver
MIAMI — The Super Bowl is about football the way "Grey's Anatomy" is about doctoring. They're both a stage for the beautiful people.
The Super Bowl — it was even called that when Buffalo played in it — is American excess at its finest. It's double-stuffed, triple-decked, fuel-injected, super-sized, laser-enhanced and tricked out.
Like Miami, host country for this year's Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl touches almost everybody — like that creepy guy in accounting.
And the people it doesn't touch, want to touch it.
Like that creepy guy in accounting.
Take, for example, a news release issued recently by a broccoli eater who has figured up exactly how bad tailgating food is for you. It should be noted that tailgating is officially not allowed at the Super Bowl this year, but for those of you noshing at home, it has been determined that:
To work off a 16-ounce bowl of chili and beans, you'd have to run the length of a football field 100 times (and preferably sit on the other side of the room);
To burn off two pieces of fried chicken, you'd have to load all of Tank Johnson's automatic weapons or do "the wave" 3,220 times, which would make you geekier than a high school science club;
And, drinking four beers would require 64 minutes of stadium stair climbing, not to mention two trips to the bathroom during commercials.
Another press release (college professors and social scientists gravitate to the Super Bowl like spectators to free T-shirts) offered this bit of wisdom — be careful whom you invite to your party. Be especially wary of young men who "live in rental property," like to drink alcohol and yell at the officials.
Fortunately, UNCC is having its own Super Bowl party.
(Hey, save the e-mails. It's a joke. I could've said Winthrop, but what fun would that be?)
And what's a Super Bowl without mindless betting.
It's possible to bet on just about everything that happens Sunday. The coin flip. The first team to score. How long it takes Billy Joel to sing the national anthem.
You can bet Dixie Chicks Grammy Awards against Peyton Manning touchdown passes; how many times Rex Grossman gets sacked (the line is two; take the under); and whether Zydrunas Ilgauskas has more points (doing whatever he does) than Manning has pass completions.
Super Bowl Sunday is the great American holiday because it involves football, food and Prince performing the halftime show.
Like every Super Bowl, this game has its own story lines.
Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy, one of whom will be the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl, the other will be the first African-American coach to lose a Super Bowl.
Grossman, who gets blamed for everything, including global warming.
And, of course, Manning, who has been in almost as many commercials as that little green lizard with the funny accent.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Australia stocks lower at close of trade; S&P/ASX 200 down 0.81%
admin 1 year ago No Comments
This post was originally published on this site
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At the close in Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.81%.
The best performers of the session on the S&P/ASX 200 were Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT), which rose 7.12% or 0.105 points to trade at 1.580 at the close. Meanwhile, Adelaide Brighton Ltd (ASX:ABC) added 5.31% or 0.120 points to end at 2.380 and JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) was up 4.80% or 2.27 points to 49.60 in late trade.
The worst performers of the session were GWA Group Ltd (ASX:GWA), which fell 10.51% or 0.29 points to trade at 2.47 at the close. Bendigo And Adelaide Bank Ltd (ASX:BEN) declined 6.57% or 0.46 points to end at 6.54 and Reliance Worldwide Corporation Ltd (ASX:RWC) was down 5.41% or 0.16 points to 2.80.
Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Sydney Stock Exchange by 678 to 578 and 350 ended unchanged.
Shares in JB Hi-Fi Ltd (ASX:JBH) rose to all time highs; rising 4.80% or 2.27 to 49.60.
The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 0.40% to 18.609.
Gold Futures for December delivery was up 0.52% or 10.20 to $1960.00 a troy ounce. Elsewhere in commodities trading, Crude oil for delivery in September rose 0.69% or 0.29 to hit $42.30 a barrel, while the October Brent oil contract rose 0.56% or 0.25 to trade at $45.05 a barrel.
AUD/USD was up 0.21% to 0.7186, while AUD/JPY rose 0.11% to 76.53.
The US Dollar Index Futures was down 0.19% at 92.907.
Virgin Australia to enter voluntary administration: SMH newspaper
Airbnb fields investor interest for stake sale: sources
Emergent slumps as U.S. terminates COVID-19 vaccine manufacturing deal
HK's Analogue says does not see U.S. sanctions impacting firm
U.S. ITC says it will probe Altria, Philip Morris after RJ Reynolds complaint
Exclusive: J.C. Penney to file for bankruptcy as soon as next week, sources say
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text:
Райнгард Їргль (;  ) — німецький письменник. Лавреат багатьох літературних премій, в тому числі премії імені Георга Бюхнера (2010).

Біографія
Райнгард Їргль народився 16 січня 1953 року у Східному Берліні. Під час навчання у старших класах школи освоїв спеціальність електрика. У 1971—1975 вивчав електроніку в Берлінському університеті імені Гумбольдта. Отримавши диплом, кілька років працював як інженер. У 1978 році залишив професійну кар'єру і влаштувався освітлювачем у берлінський театр «Фольксбюне» (Volksbühne), де працював аж до падіння Берлінської стіни.

Писати прозу Їргль почав у студентські роки. Свою першу закінчену книгу «Мама-Тато-Роман» (Mutter Vater Roman) він спробував видати в 1985 році, але рукопис було відхилено за «немарксистське розуміння історії». Однак, незважаючи на невдачу, Їргль продовжив писати «у стіл». До 1990 року, коли зникла НДР і відбулося об'єднання Німеччини, у нього були готові до друку шість книг. «Мама-Тато-Роман» був виданий у тому ж році, за ним з'явилися подальші публікації.

У 1991 році за роман «У відкритому морі» (Im offenen Meer) Їргль отримав першу літературну нагороду — премію імені Анни Зегерс. Премія імені Альфреда Дебліна, присуджена два роки по тому за книгу «Прощання з ворогами» (Abschied von den Feinden), принесла письменникові популярність. Їргль став постійним автором поважного мюнхенського видавництва «Ганзер». Незважаючи на досягнуті успіхи, критика сприймала творчість Їргля неоднозначно. Загальне визнання зумів завоювати роман «Незавершені» (Die Unvollendete), що вийшов у 2003 році. Саме цей твір, одночасно з епосом «Тиша» (Die Stille, 2009), було відзначено, коли в 2010 році письменник удостоївся премії імені Георга Бюхнера, яка закріпила за ним репутацію провідного автора об'єднаної Німеччини.

Творчість
Тематика творчості Райнгарда Їргля звернена до новітньої німецької історії (охоплюючи період від кайзерівської імперії до НДР і після), і тих травм, які велика історія завдає свідомості «людини натовпу» і «людини мислячої, відчуваючої, яка має пам'ять». Пильна цікавість до людської психіки, до її темного боку, а також соціально-філософська спрямованість книг, «палка віра в рятівну силу слова і думки» зближують його з Гансом Генні Янном. Тексти Їргля непрості для сприйняття, оскільки він руйнує фабулу, навмисно ускладнює композицію, експериментує з жанром і з мовою і, тим самим, розвиває експресіоністську лінію в німецькій літературі, виступаючи своєрідним спадкоємцем Альфреда Дебліна. Мова Їргля сповнена незвичайних «словесних гібридів», відступів від традиційної орфографії, а вигадана ним витончена система пунктуації з великою кількістю дужок і інтонаційних знаків, що стоять на незвичних місцях, додатково уповільнює процес читання.

Видання в Росії
На російську мову Їргль перекладався вкрай мало. У 2007 році у видавництві «Kolonna publications» у серії «Ємність беззаконь» вийшов роман «Собачі ночі» (Hundsnächte, 1997), перекладений і прокоментований Тетяною Баскаковою. Ще дві публікації було оприлюднено журналом «Іноземна література» — фрагменти «роману перетинів» «У відкритому морі» і нарис про падіння Берлінської стіни «Театр на вулицях».

Примітки

Посилання
 http://magazines.ua/authors/j/jirgl/ Райнгард Їргль

Члени Німецької академії мови і поезії
Лауреати премії Георга Бюхнера
Німецькі письменники XX століття
Письменники за алфавітом

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The society is pleased to report that we have just completed another successful performance at this year's Ards Guitar Festival, performing just before the very affable Pat Coldrick. Well done to everyone that participated, and Pat for his great performance. See you at the next meeting!


text:
Welcome to GAFA land—where the winner takes it all
by Susanne Wixforth on 30th May 2019
The Big Tech platforms have established monopolies which disempower their competitors as well as their workers. EU competition law can be used by unions seeking to bring them to heel.
Susanne Wixforth
Amazon symbolises the four platform giants, also known as GAFA (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon). The company is Europe's largest platform retailer and its turnover is twice as high as that of its 20 largest competitors. While Amazon´s chief executive earned 2.16 million dollars per hour in 2017, its workers must be grateful if they receive the statutory minimum wage, which in the EU varies between €1.42 and €11.27 per hour.
In 2018, Amazon generated a turnover of about 210 billion euro worldwide, an increase of over 30 per cent on the previous year's. The company has more than 600,000 employees across the globe. With a market capitalisation of more than 730 billion euro, it is one of the most valuable listed companies. Its operating profit amounts to around 11 billion euro. Nevertheless, thanks to a ruling it had agreed on in advance with the tax authorities of Luxembourg, Amazon did not pay taxes on 75 per cent of its turnover between 2003 and 2014.
In the long run, the platform economy not only poses a risk to the stability and budgets of countries where the corporations earn their money but do not pay taxes—it also undermines social cohesion. If the European Union wants to win back the trust of its citizens, it has to make sure that burdens are equitably distributed.
EU competition law offers an approach to tame those platform giants: the European Commission obliged Amazon to refund 250 million euro in taxes; Google had to return 12 billion. But the losses to the exchequer are only one facet of the problem. Others are the exploitation of workers and the elimination of market competitors through unfair business practices, as well as the deleterious environmental impacts of, for example, excessive packaging by Amazon and the destruction of returned mint-condition goods.
Amazon generates its turnover mainly through four channels: as one of the biggest online retailers, as the operator of by far the largest online marketplace for third-party suppliers, as one of the largest providers of online services and as the distributor of the ordered products.
Because of its large market power in some trading segments, independent traders depend on Amazon to reach their customers. There is evidence that Amazon is trying to force traders out through its sheer market power, for instance through copying products and undercutting prices.
But traders are fighting back—meanwhile, several competition proceedings against Amazon are pending due to their numerous complaints. The German Federal Cartel Office initiated an anti-abuse proceeding in 2018 and the Austrian Federal Competition Authority followed in 2019. But what about the company's employees?
Brutal piecework
Amazon's rapid growth is at the expenses of its employees and the social-security systems of its countries of establishment. According to reports by UNI Global Union, the international umbrella organisation of service unions, Amazon´s company strategy is based on brutal piecework, carried out under permanent control using advanced monitoring technology.
Workers can cover distances of 16-20 km per hour and lift 50 tons of packages per day. They may be expected to handle 300 packages per hour—taking breaks is often not possible, even to go to the toilet. Because of work accidents or overloads ambulances had to be called fully 600 times during a three-year period to Amazon's UK warehouses, where 87 per cent of workers reported suffering chronic pain in their joints.
Amazon cleverly plays with what is legally possible: to break strikes, temporary workers are hired. Safeguard measures are often reduced to a minimum. Through classification into more favourable sectoral collective agreements ('sector shopping'), the company chooses the lowest possible collective tariff. To that end, it pretends to be a logistics company in Germany, while in France it operates as a small trader.
Because the company is not paying living wages, the German trade union ver.di organised strikes in several locations on May 2nd. Italy, where a collective agreement with Amazon on wages, shiftwork and working hours was introduced for the first time in 2018, was taken as a model. UNI Global Union has successfully established the UNI Global Amazon Alliance as a network straddling14 countries.
EU competition law is armed with strict sanctions to prevent unfair competition, not only between companies but also between member-states. The idea behind it is that a European single market can only function if both sets of parties abide by fair rules.
The greater the market power of a company, the easier it is to enforce (unfair) conditions against its rivals. Therefore, the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) prohibits the abuse of a market-dominant position. It is obvious that because of its threefold function—as marketplace, seller and deliverer—Amazon holds such a position. It is already responsible for most online trade.
Through network effects and economies of scale, the company is further expanding its position and thus driving competitors out of the market, following the motto 'the winner takes it all'. This is fatal for other market participants as well as workers. Amazon's monopoly position makes it easy to break strikes in pursuit of living wages by recruiting temporary workers or outsourcing to countries with lower minimum wages.
Therefore, trade unions are urged to use the anti-abuse procedure of EU competition law to their advantage. The commission is conducting a market survey to identify any abusive practices by the company. Provided there is sufficient evidence, it will open a procedure in which third parties will have the opportunity to submit comments.
The concerns of employees, such as application of the correct collective agreement or the maintenance of rest periods, have a competition-law aspect. According to article 102 of the TFEU, obtaining an unjustified advantage by imposing unfair trading conditions on other market participants (including workers and consumers), solely through market power, is prohibited. In such a case, penalties of up to 1 per cent of a company's worldwide turnover can be imposed. Further, the commission can require a dominant undertaking to unbundle or divest certain parts of the company.
Electronic platforms have the same characteristics as classic physical infrastructures such as the post, rail, telecommunications and energy. While in the US and the EU these have been subject to strict regulation for years, there is no such regulation in the new sector of the GAFA companies—also referred to as 'BAADD' (big, anti-competitive, addictive and destructive to democracy). From a trade-union point of view, unbundling and regulation in this sector are urgently needed, mainly because the gap between these large corporations and the rest is constantly increasing.
Especially with the GAFA companies, the higher their market concentration, the more the share of wages in their net product decreases. For example in Ireland, the wage ratio fell by 13 per cent between 2008 and 2014. Its counterpart, the profit share, increased at about the same rate. The business model of the GAFAs does not allow for the passing on of productivity improvements to their employees.
Wealth for all requires competition for all. Competition law alone does not go far enough here: it only becomes relevant when oligopolistic structures have already been consolidated. In the digital age of winner-take-all markets, the platform economy has to be subject to legal regulation. An economy of untamed superstars produces one thing above all—many losers.
All articles published on Social Europe (SE) only represent the opinions of the respective author(s) and NOT the opinion of Social Europe Publishing & Consulting GmbH.
Home ・ Employment and Labour ・ Welcome to GAFA land—where the winner takes it all
Filed Under: Columns & Interviews, Employment and Labour
About Susanne Wixforth
Susanne Wixforth is head of unit in the Europe and International Department of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB). She was formerly senior legal and economic adviser on European affairs in the Austrian Chamber of Labour (AK Vienna).


LQ Hotel by La Quinta Puebla Palmas is a 4.5* resort located in Cholula, Mexico. It features 186 rooms and swimming pools.
La Quinta by Wyndham Puebla Palmas Angelopolis is a modern property offering a strategic location in Puebla, close to the major shopping malls and numerous tourist attractions in the city.
Complete with an eye-catching design and 186 spacious suites, this hotel is a great choice for business travelers and vacationers. On the premises you'll find a convenient array of facilities, including event rooms for private functions, a coffee shop, a restaurant serving Mediterranean cuisine, and a bar.


text:
Q: Cannot destructure import from node_modules, but can from file I find a weird behaviour when writing my vite program,
import { Store } from '@decky.fx/react-native-essentials/lib/index';

the code above is working fine, but if i change it into
import { Store } from '@decky.fx/react-native-essentials';

Store will yield undefined
I have to load all modules like this
import All from '@decky.fx/react-native-essentials';
All.Store // this is working

package json for the modules are like this
...
"main": "lib/index.js",
"types": "lib/index.d.ts",
...

any ideas why it behave like this?
the repository is at https://github.com/deckyfx/react-native-essentials/example
Should be able to destructure modules like how react library does
react, {useState} from "react"

A: Hey not sure but i think its happenig because  import { Store } from '@decky.fx/react-native-essentials' is looking for store in the react-native-essentials but its not in that file its in the sub-folder of it  react-native-essentials/lib/index not in the root  and so that's why you not able to destructure it from the react-native-essentials and as for  why this is working import All from '@decky.fx/react-native-essentials'; its because you importing everything from the file even its subfiles/folders .
And in this case react, {useState} from "react" react have everything in the "react" file so that's why this works import{useSatte} from  react

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Third and final part of my instructions for building celestial labyrinths featuring labyrinth of life and death, labyrinth of transformation and labyrinth of freedom. Also with some examples. Enjoy watching!
This is second part of my instructions for building celestial labyrinths. In this video you will learn how to construct labyrinth of energy, labyrinth of wisdom and labyrinth of love and creation. I also put some examples of already built labyrinths. Enjoy watching!
One of the labyrinth builders (and web site's editor) explaining and showing how you can build your own celestial labyrinth. This is first part (out of three) of "How to build celestial labyrinths". Enjoy watching.


In a recent FINRA Arbitration, KYL obtained a complete defense award related to a former financial advisor's claim for wrongful termination, whistleblower retaliation, defamation, and related claims. The former employee of our financial services client sought over $7 million, plus attorneys' fees and other relief. After a seven-day hearing, the arbitrators granted our client's Motion to Dismiss.
Keesal, Young & Logan attorneys Julie Taylor and Elyse Whitehead represented the financial services client.


The Ministry of Inner Cities and Zongo Development will, on Monday, December 3, sign two Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) to train over 2,000 residents of Inner Cities and Zongo communities in employable skills.
The capacity-building programme is aimed at enhancing the skills of residents of Inner Cities and Zongo communities to be self-employed and improve the income of beneficiaries.
Mr Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the Minister of Information, who announced this at a news briefing in Accra, on Sunday, said the first training was for the Zongo Coders Programme, which involves the signing of the MoU with a non-profit organisation known as the Initiative for Youth Development.
He said the programme intended to train up to 1,000 youth in computer coding and application development and facilitating their operations in the development of computer-based software and applications to tackle contemporary challenges as well as take advantage of the economic opportunities in their localities.
The Minister said the project would start with an initial 200 beneficiaries and later scaled up to 1,000 in the subsequent months.
"The apps and technology services to be produced from the project are also expected to increase convenience and productivity for citizens in general. It will span a 24-month period," Mr Oppong Nkrumah added.
The second programme, he said, was the Zongo Cuisines Development programme, which is a collaboration with the National Board for Small-Scale Industries aimed at providing technical and financial support to already existent small-scale business operators such as food vendors in Inner Cities and Zongo communities.
The programme, he said, aimed at assisting food vendors to access larger markets for their products by enhancing their already existing marketing, preservation and packaging as well as book keeping abilities.
The Minister said it had targeted an initial 600 beneficiaries in 2019 and another 600 in 2020.
Mr Opping Nkrumah noted that those Initiatives were in consonance with the President's pledge to develop the capacities of residents in Zongo communities, which would improve their productivity levels and further reduce the hardships of the people.


Nizam Matches are successful manufacturers of Safety Matches in India. In a competitive world of match production, Nizam Matches are known for manufacturing superior quality safety matches at reasonable pricing.We have earned a remarkable position in the domestic as well as in the international market.
Our Zealous efforts and services have created a positive image in the eyes of our customers. We ensure that the products are having higher efficiency in terms of their performance. We firmly believe that our customers are the first assets which aid our growth.
Profile: With a humble beginning in 1962, We Nizam Matches Group of Companies are one of the leading manufacturers, suppliers and exporters of premium quality safety matches, founded by Mr.S.H. Nizamuddin and Mr. S.N. Mohideen, who possesses a tremendous experience of more than 50 years in the allied industry.
Quality: Our products are checked at every level of production as well as in the post- production phase. The tests seek to take on board every factor functionality, endurance etc. that sums up to quality.
We conduct quality control checks at all stages of production so that any minor defect is removed at the earliest stage.
We have appointed quality control analysts to check the quality of our matches. Our analysts constantly supervise the operation and visually inspect the product at all stages to ensure their quality.
Infrastructure: An advanced infrastructure is one of our greatest strengths. It helps in facilitating the manufacturing process smoothly. Our manufacturing facility enables us to customize our products as per the clients' specific requirements.
We, Nizam Matches offer Safety Matches, Veneers Matches, Cardboard Matches, Wax Matches, Kitchen Matches, Barbecue Matches, Promotional Matches, Book Matches, etc. in superior quality. The match sticks are featured with single strike ignition and uniformity of flame.
The chemicals for the match head are weighed and measured precisely to avoid any variation in the head composition that might affect performance.
Our products are synonymous with quality, innovation and value. We are specialized in supplying quality products at competitive rates, faster deliveries and with a personal touch.


text:
Inherent Distinctiveness vs. Secondary Meaning: Chippendales Fights On Despite Setbacks
Posted on October 18th, 2010 by Charles Weinstein
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) has affirmed the decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) that Chippendales' "Cuffs & Collar" trade dress (pictured below) is not inherently distinctive for "adult entertainment services, namely, exotic dancing for women in the nature of live performances." In re Chippendales USA, Inc., No. 2009-1370 (Fed. Cir. October 1, 2010) (PDF).
For nearly ten years, Chippendales has been trying to obtain a registration of its trade dress based on inherent distinctiveness rather than acquired distinctiveness or "secondary meaning." Chippendales filed its first application on November 27, 2000, but for various reasons it was forced to accept a secondary-meaning registration. This registration issued in 2003 and is now incontestable; but Chippendales is not satisfied, and rightly so.
An inherently distinctive mark is preferable to a mark based on secondary meaning, for several reasons. The rights in an inherently distinctive mark attach upon first use, but the rights in a secondary-meaning mark attach only when distinctiveness is acquired. In some cases, this can give rise to difficult questions of priority. A plaintiff's mark may have an earlier date of first use than the challenged mark, but if the challenged mark was used before the plaintiff's mark acquired distinctiveness, the plaintiff may be out of luck.
More generally, an inherently distinctive mark is often regarded as stronger than a mark that has acquired distinctiveness through use. With a secondary-meaning mark, a plaintiff may have a harder time preventing infringing uses on related goods or services that are not listed in the mark's registration. Chippendale's attorney has noted that infringers will often demand evidence of acquired distinctiveness with regard to such goods and services, resulting in increased litigation costs.
Chippendales accordingly filed a new application to register its Cuffs & Collar trade dress in 2005, claiming inherent distinctiveness. The PTO Examiner rejected this claim, and in 2009 the TTAB affirmed. Chippendales appealed to the CAFC, but on October 1st, the Court upheld the Board's decision.
The Court sided with Chippendales on a few issues. It agreed that Chippendales' current registration efforts are not mooted by the existence of its earlier incontestable registration, stating "The potential for benefit in an infringement suit of a registration based on inherent distinctiveness creates a viable controversy." The Court also rejected the Board's suggestion that any costume worn by adult entertainers lacks inherent distinctiveness: "Simply because the live adult entertainment industry generally involves 'revealing and provocative' costumes does not mean that there cannot be any such costume that is inherently distinctive." For the rest, however, Chippendales lost on all points.
Chippendales argued that the inherent distinctiveness of its mark should be determined as of 1979, when the mark was first used, rather than as of the present. The Court disagreed:
[T]rademark rights are not static…A term or device that was once inherently distinctive may lose its distinguishing characteristics over time….It would be unfair for an applicant to delay an application for registration and then benefit from having distinctiveness measured at the time of first use. This would allow an applicant to preempt intervening uses that might have relied on the fact that the registration for the mark as inherently distinctive had not been sought at an earlier date.
Turning to the central issue of whether the Cuffs & Collar trade dress is inherently distinctive, the Court applied the test established in Seabrook Foods, Inc. v. Bar-Well Foods, Ltd., 568 F.2d 1342 (CCPA 1977). Specifically, the Court asked if the mark was viewed by the public as "a mere refinement of a commonly-adopted and well-known form of ornamentation" for the goods or services. The Court answered this question in the affirmative, finding that Chippendales' mark is a mere refinement or variation of the Playboy bunny costume, a trade dress for adult entertainment services that also features a collar and cuffs, along with other elements.
The Court's reasoning is opening to question. Having decided that inherent distinctiveness must be determined as of the present, the Court apparently found that the Playboy bunny costume is currently "a commonly-adopted and well-known form of ornamentation" for adult entertainment. However, the evidence for this finding was slender at best. The bunny costume may have been notorious in 1979 when Chippendales began using its mark, but the last Playboy clubs were shut down over 20 years ago. As Wikipedia notes, Playboy magazine "has seen a decline in circulation and cultural relevance" since the 1970s, and the Playboy empire is now a shadow of its former glory. The Court noted that Playboy owns some active registrations of the bunny costume for, inter alia, casino and nightclub services. However, all of these registrations date from 2007 or later. Are they really enough to establish that the bunny costume is "commonly-adopted" and "well-known" at the present time?
One may also wonder whether the Cuffs & Collar trade dress would really be seen as a "mere refinement" of a female outfit featuring bunny ears, a bunny tail and an abbreviated bustier. In such an ensemble, the cuffs and collar are the last things that draw focus. Would people viewing the trade dress depicted above really think of a Playboy bunny, or regard the Cuffs & Collar as a minor variation of the bunny outfit?
In any case, Chippendales is now back at square one, and must consider its options of requesting an en banc rehearing by the CAFC or filing a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court. The thought of this case being heard by Roberts, Alito, Scalia, Thomas, Kennedy, Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor and Kagan is certainly interesting, but one doubts that it will happen.
Lesson for trademark owners: Chippendales' quest for inherent distinctiveness is not quixotic. The CAFC has clearly acknowledged "[t]he potential for benefit in an infringement suit of a registration based on inherent distinctiveness." While a ten-year fight may not be practicable for most parties, trademark owners should consider making at least some extra effort to obtain an inherently distinctive registration rather than one based on secondary meaning.
Tags: Chippendales, distinctiveness, secondary meaning, trade dress	Categories: Trademark	Comments Trackbacks


Hardware Canucks have been thoroughly enjoying themselves with the new Dell 30" display, the UltraSharp U3014. The 2560x1600 display might be expensive but if you can afford the asking price it will not disappoint. If you look very carefully during fast paced action you might see a hint of ghosting but not enough to distract you from your game. Professionals will appreciate the 10-bit colour capability and the numerous colour settings will help you while creating content. Take a look at the full review here.
"Dell's new flagship monitor, the UltraSharp U3014 is everything we could possibly want. It uses a 16:10 AH-IPS panel, boasts one of the best color rendition scores around and simply outpaces nearly everything else out there."
The days of "Dude, you're getting a Dell" might be long gone but when you are talking about monitors it suddenly becomes apropos again. Dell has been making good quality, large size monitors for long enough to be recognized as a major player in the field and the 30" Dell U3011 is a perfect example of why. Anyone who has seen a true 16:10, 2560x1600 display has probably had the temptation to tell a smug owner of a 50"+ 1080p LCD TV that their computer monitor goes up to 1600p. That jump in resolution has far more effect on your enjoyment than slapping on 3D glasses to watch golf with golfball sized pixels.
This particular display is a CCFL backlit H-IPS TFT, using an LG LM300WQ5 panel and does indeed have a full 30" viewing area, the actual monitor is over 32" horizontally with the bezel included, something to keep in mind if you plan on using multiple displays. With that great size comes some difficulties, while nowhere near the weigh of a large sized CRT the over 20lbs of the U3011 can make removing it from the box and positioning it interesting to say the least. Also something to keep in mind is that according to Dell, in regular use this monitor draws 110W and can pull up to 250W when USB drives are in use and you've bought and installed a Dell Soundbar.


text:
import argparse
import os
import shutil

import torch
import torch.nn as nn
from torch.autograd import Variable
from torch.utils.data.dataloader import DataLoader

from dpp_nets.utils.language import create_clean_vocabulary, BeerDataset, process_batch

from dpp_nets.layers.layers import ChunkTrainer

parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description='marginal_chunk Krause Trainer')

parser.add_argument('-a', '--aspect', type=str, choices=['aspect1', 'aspect2', 'aspect3', 'all', 'short'],
                    help='what is the target?', required=True)

parser.add_argument('-b', '--batch-size', default=100, type=int,
                    metavar='N', help='mini-batch size (default: 50)')
parser.add_argument('--epochs', default=30, type=int, metavar='N',
                    help='number of total epochs to run')
parser.add_argument('--lr_k', '--learning_rate_k', default=1e-3, type=float,
                    metavar='LRk', help='initial learning rate for kernel net')
parser.add_argument('--lr_p', '--learning_rate_p', default=1e-3, type=float,
                    metavar='LRp', help='initial learning rate for pred net')
parser.add_argument('--reg', type=float, required=True,
                    metavar='reg', help='regularization constant')
parser.add_argument('--reg_mean', type=float, required=True,
                    metavar='reg_mean', help='regularization_mean')

# Train locally or remotely?
parser.add_argument('--remote', type=int,
                    help='training locally or on cluster?', required=True)
# Burnt in Paths..
parser.add_argument('--data_path_local', type=str, default='/Users/Max/data/beer_reviews',
                    help='where is the data folder locally?')
parser.add_argument('--data_path_remote', type=str, default='/cluster/home/paulusm/data/beer_reviews',
                    help='where is the data folder?')
parser.add_argument('--ckp_path_local', type=str, default='/Users/Max/checkpoints/beer_reviews',
                    help='where is the data folder locally?')
parser.add_argument('--ckp_path_remote', type=str, default='/cluster/home/paulusm/checkpoints/beer_reviews',
                    help='where is the data folder?')

def main():

    global args, lowest_loss, nlp, vocab, embd

    args = parser.parse_args()
    lowest_loss = 100 # arbitrary high number as upper bound for loss

    ### Load data
    if args.remote:
        # print('training remotely')
        train_path = os.path.join(args.data_path_remote, str.join(".",['reviews', args.aspect, 'train.txt.gz']))
        val_path   = os.path.join(args.data_path_remote, str.join(".",['reviews', args.aspect, 'heldout.txt.gz']))
        embd_path = os.path.join(args.data_path_remote, 'review+wiki.filtered.200.txt.gz')

    else:
        # print('training locally')
        train_path = os.path.join(args.data_path_local, str.join(".",['reviews', args.aspect, 'train.txt.gz']))
        val_path   = os.path.join(args.data_path_local, str.join(".",['reviews', args.aspect, 'heldout.txt.gz']))
        embd_path = os.path.join(args.data_path_local, 'review+wiki.filtered.200.txt.gz')

    nlp, vocab, embd = create_clean_vocabulary(embd_path, val_path) # actualy train_path
    embd.weight.requires_grad = False

    train_set = BeerDataset(val_path, aspect=args.aspect) # actualy train_path
    val_set = BeerDataset(val_path, aspect=args.aspect)
    print("loaded data")

    torch.manual_seed(0)

    if
    train_loader = DataLoader(train_set, args.batch_size, shuffle=True)
    val_loader = DataLoader(val_set, args.batch_size)
    print("loader defined")

    ### Build model
    # Network parameters
    embd_dim = embd.weight.size(1)
    kernel_dim = 200
    hidden_dim = 500
    enc_dim = 200

    if args.aspect == 'all' or args.aspect == 'short':
        target_dim = 3
    else:
        target_dim = 1

    # Model
    torch.manual_seed(0)
    trainer = ChunkTrainer(embd_dim, hidden_dim, kernel_dim, enc_dim, target_dim)
    trainer.activation = nn.Sigmoid()
    trainer.reg = args.reg
    trainer.reg_mean = args.reg_mean
    print("created trainer")

    # Set-up Training
    params = [{'params': trainer.kernel_net.parameters(), 'lr': args.lr_k},
              {'params': trainer.pred_net.parameters(),   'lr': args.lr_p}]
    optimizer = torch.optim.Adam(params)
    print('set-up optimizer')

    ### Loop
    torch.manual_seed(0)
    print("started loop")
    for epoch in range(args.epochs):

        adjust_learning_rate(optimizer, epoch)

        train(train_loader, trainer, optimizer)
        loss, pred_loss, reg_loss = validate(val_loader, trainer)

        log(epoch, loss, pred_loss, reg_loss)
        print("logged")

        is_best = pred_loss < lowest_loss
        lowest_loss = min(pred_loss, lowest_loss)
        save = {'epoch:': epoch + 1,
                'model': 'marginal_chunk Trainer',
                'state_dict': trainer.state_dict(),
                'lowest_loss': lowest_loss,
                'optimizer': optimizer.state_dict()}

        save_checkpoint(save, is_best)
        print("saved a checkpoint")

    print('*'*20, 'SUCCESS','*'*20)

def train(loader, trainer, optimizer):

    trainer.train()

    for t, batch in enumerate(loader):

        review, target = process_batch(nlp, vocab, embd, batch)
        loss  = trainer(review, target)

        optimizer.zero_grad()
        loss.backward()
        optimizer.step()
        #print("trained one batch")

def validate(loader, trainer):

    trainer.eval()

    total_loss = 0.0
    total_pred_loss = 0.0
    total_reg_loss = 0.0

    for i, batch in enumerate(loader, 1):

        review, target = process_batch(nlp, vocab, embd, batch)

        trainer(review, target)

        loss = trainer.loss.data[0]
        pred_loss = trainer.pred_loss.data[0]
        reg_loss = trainer.reg_loss.data[0]

        delta = loss - total_loss
        total_loss += (delta / i)
        delta = pred_loss - total_pred_loss
        total_pred_loss += (delta / i)
        delta = reg_loss - total_reg_loss
        total_reg_loss += (delta / i)

        # print("validated one batch")

    return total_loss, total_pred_loss, total_reg_loss

def adjust_learning_rate(optimizer, epoch):
    """Sets the learning rate to the initial LR multiplied by factor 0.1 for every 10 epochs"""
    if not ((epoch + 1) % 10):
        factor = 0.1
        for param_group in optimizer.param_groups:
            param_group['lr'] = param_group['lr'] * factor

def log(epoch, loss, pred_loss, reg_loss):

    string = str.join(" | ", ['Epoch: %d' % (epoch), 'V Loss: %.5f' % (loss),
                              'V Pred Loss: %.5f' % (pred_loss), 'V Reg Loss: %.5f' % (reg_loss)])

    if args.remote:
        destination = os.path.join(args.ckp_path_remote, args.aspect + 'reg' + str(args.reg) + 'reg_mean' + str(args.reg_mean) +
            'lr' + str(args.lr_k) + str(args.lr_p) + 'marginal_chunk_log.txt')
    else:
        destination = os.path.join(args.ckp_path_local, args.aspect + 'reg' + str(args.reg) + 'reg_mean' + str(args.reg_mean) +
            'lr' + str(args.lr_k) + str(args.lr_p) + 'marginal_chunk_log.txt')

    with open(destination, 'a') as log:
        log.write(string + '\n')

def save_checkpoint(state, is_best, filename='marginal_chunk_checkpoint.pth.tar'):
    """
    State is a dictionary that cotains valuable information to be saved.
    """
    if args.remote:
        destination = os.path.join(args.ckp_path_remote, args.aspect + 'reg' + str(args.reg) + 'reg_mean' + str(args.reg_mean) +
            'lr' + str(args.lr_k) + str(args.lr_p) + filename)
    else:
        destination = os.path.join(args.ckp_path_local, args.aspect + 'reg' + str(args.reg) + 'reg_mean' + str(args.reg_mean) +
            'lr' + str(args.lr_k) + str(args.lr_p) + filename)

    torch.save(state, destination)

    if is_best:
        if args.remote:
            best_destination = os.path.join(args.ckp_path_remote, args.aspect + 'reg' + str(args.reg) + 'reg_mean' + str(args.reg_mean) +
                'lr' + str(args.lr_k) + str(args.lr_p) + 'marginal_chunk_best.pth.tar')
        else:
            best_destination = os.path.join(args.ckp_path_local, args.aspect + 'reg' + str(args.reg) + 'reg_mean' + str(args.reg_mean) +
                'lr' + str(args.lr_k) + str(args.lr_p) + 'marginal_chunk_best.pth.tar')

        shutil.copyfile(destination, best_destination)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Atty. Jesus Falcis will not let Kris Aquino walk all over his family. The abogado continues to fire shots against Aquino after she made her feud with his brother, Nicko, public.
Falcis uploaded a copy of Aquino's text to former Special Assistant to the President, Bong Go after he left his post. In the text, Aquino asked Go why he decided to leave and promised him an endorsement.
The abogado said that Aquino blatantly said that she believes in Go. She even worries about Duterte and how a possible snake can replace him on the President's side.
Kaya pala bad blood sila ni Noy!


text:
Il doppio  del Lambertz Open by STAWAG 2009 è stato un torneo di tennis facente parte dell'ATP Challenger Tour 2009.

Michael Kohlmann e Alexander Waske non hanno difeso il titolo conquistato l'anno precedente.

Kohlmann ha fatto coppia con Horia Tecău, ma ha perso in smeifinale contro Philipp Marx e Igor Zelenay.

Rohan Bopanna e Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi hanno battuto in finale Marx and Zelenay 6–4, 7–6(6).

Teste di serie

 Michael Kohlmann /  Horia Tecău (semifinali)
 Rohan Bopanna /  Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (campioni)

 Philipp Marx /  Igor Zelenay (finale)
 James Cerretani /  Rameez Junaid (primo turno)

Tabellone

Note

Lambertz Open by STAWAG 2009


A low-protein diet for dogs should include adequate amounts of water. While you are busy at work, make sure that your pet at home stays fed and quenched. A simple water dispenser should do the trick since it is easy to make and accessible for dogs.
It is also important to use cleaning products that are safe for canines. Experts only approve those formulated to protect the fur, skin, or body of the animal. You can invest in pet shampoo to ensure that your dog stays protected as you clean them. Experts recommend bathing your pets every one to two weeks.
Your dog needs to have a place to sleep indoors, but some owners might not like it if the pet stays on the bed or sofa. If you are one of these people, you can train your dog to take a rest in a pet crate or bed. This can be any old household item, such as a storage box or an old mattress.
Overall, pet owners are encouraged to take better care of their dogs. This can be done by providing enough food and water, a comfortable resting area, and more. Once you do these things, you will become a more effective pet owner.


text:
FACTOID # 8: Bookworms: Vermont has the highest number of high school teachers per capita and third highest number of librarians per capita.
Interesting education facts »
Encyclopedia > 50 Bands To See Before You Die
50 bands to see before you die was a list published by British music magazine Q Magazine in September 2002. Like most lists created in a similar vein, the bands and the order in which they appeared were the subject of some dispute. Music is sound expressed in the structures of tones and silence. ... A collection of magazines A magazine is a periodical publication containing a variety of articles, generally financed by advertising and/or purchase by readers. ... Q is a music and entertainment magazinepublished monthly in the United Kingdom. ...
The contents of the list actually belies its title, as several of the 'bands' listed are not actually bands or groups but solo artists and duos.
Unless one has already begun working through the list, it is now impossible to see them all, as some of the groups, such as Orbital have since disbanded. Orbital was an English techno duo formed in 1989, consisting of brothers Paul (born 19 May 1968) and Phil Hartnoll (born 9 January 1964). ...
The 50 bands to see before you die and their respective music genres
1. AC/DC Heavy metal music 2. Ash Indie rock 3. The Beta Band Folktronic 4. Tony Bennett Jazz Singer 5. Pink Floyd Progressive Rock 6. Kraftwerk Electronica 7. The Who Rock and roll 8. The Pogues Folk-rock 9. The Fall Rock and roll 10. Oasis Rock and roll 11. Hundred Reasons Rock and roll 12. The White Stripes Rock and roll 13. D'Angelo Soul music 14. The Flaming Lips Psychedelic 15. Femi Anikulapo Singer-songwriter 16. Badly Drawn Boy Indie rock singer-songwriter 17. Ian Brown (Stone Roses) Rock and roll 18. Guns n' Roses Hard rock 19. Bob Dylan Folk-rock singer/songwriter 20. Rolling Stones Rock and roll 21. Neil Young Rock Singer-songwriter 22. New Order Indie rock 23. The Prodigy Electronic dance music 24. Kylie Minogue Pop singer 25. Paul Oakenfold DJ 26. Fatboy Slim DJ 27. Mr. Scruff Acid jazz 28. Osymyso Electronica 29. Eddie Halliwell DJ 30. DJ Hell DJ 31. Erick Morillo DJ 32. Tom Stephan DJ 33. High Contrast DJ 34. DJ Yoda DJ 35. Primal Scream Rock and roll 36. Rl Burnside Blues 37. P.J. Harvey Indie rock singer-songwriter 38. Slipknot Nu metal 39. Radiohead Rock and roll 40. Red Hot Chili Peppers Rock and roll 41. U2 Rock and roll 42. Fairport Convention Folk-rock 43. The Vines Garage rock 44. Madonna Pop singer 45. The Soundtrack of Our Lives Indie rock 46. Ryan Adams Rock and roll 47. The Strokes Rock and roll 48. Outkast Hip hop 49. Orbital Electronica 50. The Hives Garage rock
Category: Category needed AC/DC is a hard rock band formed in Sydney, Australia in November, 1973 by rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young and his brother, lead guitarist Angus Young. ... Wiktionary has related dictionary definitions, such as: ash // Ash may refer to: Sciences The unburnable solid remains of a fire Volcanic ash, rocky powder material ejected from a volcano Fly ash, a coal combustion product Ash (analytical chemistry), one of the components in the proximate analysis of biological materials, consisting... The Beta Band is Scottish musical group whose self-described style is folktronic, a blend of folk, rock, trip hop, and experimental jamming. ... Tony Bennett, 2000 Tony Bennetts heart, left in San Francisco Tony Bennett (born August 3, 1926) is an American popular music, standards, and jazz singer who is widely considered to be one of the best interpretive singers in these genres. ... Pink Floyd (formed in 1965 in Cambridge, England) is a British rock band noted for progressive rock music, philosophical lyrics, classical rock compositions, sonic experimentation, innovative cover art and elaborate live shows. ... Album cover of Trans-Europe Express (1977). ... The Who is a British rock band that first came to prominence in the 1960s. ... The Pogues in concert, 2004 The Pogues are a popular Anglo Irish folk rock band of the 1980s and 1990s. ... The Fall (La Chute) is a novel by Albert Camus, first published in 1956. ... Oasis in the Libyan part of the Sahara In geography, an oasis is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source. ... Hundred Reasons are a British rock band, originally signed to Columbia Records in mid-April 2001 after fourteen months of near-constant touring. ... The White Stripes are an American minimalist blues-rock duo from Detroit, composed of Jack White on guitar, piano and lead vocals, and Meg White on drums. ... DAngelo in his music video for Untitled (How Does It Feel) DAngelo (born Michael Eugene Archer on February 11, 1974 in Richmond, Virginia) is an African-American soul singer, pianist, songwriter, and record producer. ... The Flaming Lips (formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983) are an idiosyncratic and acclaimed American alternative rock band. ... Badly Drawn Boy live in Paris in 2003 Badly Drawn Boy (b. ... Ian Brown in 2004 Ian Brown (born February 20, 1963) is a solo British musician and former lead singer of The Stone Roses, a popular indie rock band. ... The classic line-up at the time of Spike Island The Stone Roses were one of the most influential bands to come out of Britain during the late 1980s and early 90s. ... Guns N Roses (GNR) are an American hard rock band who gained famed during the late 1980s and early 1990s. ... Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and poet whose enduring contributions to American song are often compared, in fame and influence, to those of Stephen Foster, Irving Berlin, Woody Guthrie, and Hank Williams. ... This article is about the rock band. ... Neil Young with guitar (from the 1991 Weld tour). ... New Order are an English rock group formed in 1980 by the surviving members of Joy Division following the suicide of singer Ian Curtis. ... The Prodigy is a British electronic music band, whose music consists of various styles ranging from rave in the early 1990s to dance, alternative rock and bigbeat with punk vocal elements in later times. ... Kylie Ann Minogue (born May 28, 1968) is an Australian singer-songwriter and occasional actress. ... Paul Oakenfold performs at Club Nation in Washington DC. Photo by: Utopium Paul Oakenfold (born August 30, 1960 in London, England) is a record producer and one of the best-known DJs worldwide. ... Fatboy Slim Fatboy Slim (born on July 16, 1963, Quentin Leo Cook) also known as Norman Cook is a British musician in the dance music genre. ... Mr. ... Osymyso is a musician from the United Kingdom who specializes in the bastard pop genre. ... Eddie Halliwell is an English DJ, with the mixing ability of the average pet hamster. ... DJ Hell is a German House/Techno DJ. He is the label boss of International DeeJay Gigolo Records and has been responsible for many of the big records to come out of the Electroclash or German Squelch scene that emerged in Berlin in the mid ninties. ... Erick Morillo is an American DJ, music producer and record label owner from New York City. ... Tom Stephan is a progressive house DJ. Tom Stephan // Biography Tom Stephan was raised in the upstate New York town of Olean but moved to London to go to college. ... High Contrast is the stage name of Welsh drum and bass DJ and producer Lincoln Barret. ... DJ Yoda real name Duncan Beiny (born in London, United Kingdom) is a hip-hop turntablist who utilises obscure samples to create his unique style. ... Primal Scream. ... R. L. Burnside is a blues musician from near Holly Springs, Mississippi. ... Polly Jean Harvey, born October 9, 1969 in Weymouth, Dorset is a British singer and songwriter. ... Slipknot can refer to several things: Slip knot, a kind of knot. ... This article or section needs a complete rewrite for the reasons listed on the talk page. ... The Red Hot Chili Peppers are a California-based rock band formed by vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Michael Flea Balzary, late guitarist Hillel Slovak, and drummer Jack Irons in 1983. ... This article may have used excessive clichés associated with rock music writing. ... Cover of Heyday: BBC Radio Sessions 1968-1969. ... The Vines are an Australian garage rock band that emerged along with a new breed of alternative rockers such as The Strokes, The Hives and The White Stripes in 2002. ... Madonna may be: People The Madonna, Mary, the mother of Jesus Madonna (entertainer) Madonna Wayne Gacy Diego Maradona Places House of the Black Madonna Madonna del Ghisallo, hill Madonna Inn, motel Madonna of the Trail, series of historical monuments Madonna Oriente Other Lady Madonna, song Madonna lily Black Madonna Madonna... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... Ryan Adams Ryan Adams (born David Ryan Adams on November 5, 1974) is an alt-country and rock and roll singer/songwriter from Jacksonville, North Carolina. ... The Strokes are an American rock band that rose to fame in the early 2000s. ... OutKast is an American hip hop duo based out of Atlanta, Georgia. ... Orbital was an English techno duo formed in 1989, consisting of brothers Paul (born 19 May 1968) and Phil Hartnoll (born 9 January 1964). ... The Hives, from L to R: Dr. Matt Destruction, Nicolaus Arson, Howlin Pelle Almqvist, Chris Dangerous, Vigilante Carlstroem The Hives are a garage rock or (more accurately) garage punk band from Fagersta, Sweden that emerged in the US and the UK in the early 2000s. ...
THE WHO : Encyclopedia Entry (7742 words)
Townshend was at the centre of the band's tensions, as he strove to write challenging and thoughtful music, while Daltrey preferred energetic and macho material (Daltrey would occasionally refuse to sing a Townshend composition and Townshend would thus sing it himself), while Moon was a fan of American surf music.
The band's appearance at The Concert for New York City in October, 2001, was the most fervently cheered of any act by the audience of New York police officers and firefighters.
The band was arrested for this on at least one occasion, in Montreal, and were for many years banned from the Holiday Inn hotel chain.


Strictly speaking we have come to specialise in Colombian emeralds, as we've been going to Colombia to buy stones for 20 years now. But that doesn't mean we don't also keep an eye out for emeralds from other countries of origin. For me it's not so much the origin that is decisive, but the colour and the purity of an emerald. With emeralds, there are great variations in the raw stones. Sometimes they're almost completely encased by parent rock. Sometimes they're completely free of it. We were able to purchase some material like that quite recently. It comes from the Panjsher Valley in Afghanistan. It's absolutely free of parent rock, and very beautiful in its purity and colour. We're very glad to have had a real piece of luck like this again after such a long time, because material of this quality really is extremely difficult to get hold of. The region the stones come from is undeveloped and very remote. Travelling directly to the mine is decidedly inadvisable. Communication between vendor and purchaser can only succeed with a skilled intermediary.


Martha came in later that day. During the ultrasound she seldom looked at the screen, and initially did not alter her decision to abort.
She shared many reasons why continuing with her pregnancy seemed like a bad idea. She had financial concerns, educational plans that would be disrupted, and she did not want her father to find out and be disappointed.
Martha's mom was pressuring her to abort. When I sat down with both of them to talk, Martha confronted her mother about her own past abortion.
When I asked Martha's mom how her abortion had affected her, there was no hesitation. She admitted it was terrible. She said she felt guilty, like God had punished her. You see, Martha's mother adopted her because she was unable to conceive after her abortion.
"And yet you're asking Martha to abort - knowing this could easily have an adverse effect on her as well." I said. Once the mother acknowledged her abortion and reflected on how it had affected her, everything changed.
I spoke with the mom about how we could help her recover from the pain and guilt. I also began telling Martha about the side effects of abortion.
Both the mother and daughter had walked in wanting to abort. As soon as the mom stopped pressuring her daughter, Martha believed that she could go through with the pregnancy. Martha's mom took our card and told us she would call for help in recovering from her abortion.


When a product is a perpetual beta, you sort of have to expect there will be bugs. And, as time has gone on, its counted on with Windows 10 updates and upgrades.
One lingering bug with Windows 10 1809 (there are others), is that mapped drives disconnect on boot.
Microsoft now has a support article with workarounds that essentially involves running scripts at startup, creating a startup item, or setting GPO. But, each of these is still required to be run at every login.
For most, this is not a big issue. For PCs managed in a corporate environment, mapped drives are controlled centrally.


Intesa Sanpaolo translates its commitment into various environmental policies that outline the strategic and operational areas within which our Group carries out its initiatives to protect the environment and reduce its carbon footprint.
All the policies have been drawn up with particular attention to the inclusion of blind and visually impaired persons, following the rules of accessibility certified by LIA Foundation (Libri Italiani Accessibili - Italian accessible books).
The basic principles upon which our environmental policy is founded are the reduction of waste, progressive improvement of energy efficiency and performances, attention to the environmental and social consequences of our decisions.
In addition to guaranteeing full and total compliance with legislative provisions for the protection of the environment, we aim to identify innovative and effective solutions in this field, to apply the best environmental standards and to promote and develop the concept of environmental responsibility, with a renewed commitment to translating the international standards to which we have adhered into concrete actions.
The Rules for the purchase and use of paper and derivative materials (PDF - 227 KB) define the criteria for the purchase of paper with sustainability characteristics as well as the Bank's commitment to reduce its consumption.
The Rules governing the organisation of communication events and training courses (PDF - 214 KB) sets out the criteria and rules for improving the environmental sustainability of internal and external communications events and training courses.
The criteria are considered in all stages of any event, that is the preparatory and promotional stages, the organisation and running of the event (means of transport, the nature of the location providing accommodation, the catering facilities and event displays, the dismounting site and departing.
The Sustainability rules for the purchase of office machines (PDF - 189 KB) have been adopted to limit consumption and gradually improve the quality and efficiency of our office equipment, defining the environmental criteria and operating procedures for the assessment, in the acquisition phase, of their environmental direct or indirect impacts.
The Sustainability rules for the setting up of sustainable branches (PDF - 245 KB) define the minimum criteria to be pursued in the setting up of new branches or renovation of existing ones. They also defined the criteria for the realization of the so-called "Nearly 0 energy Branches" (the branch of Venice Marghera is the first example).


I have many people to thank for their support over a career that I continue to enjoy.
We have uploaded a new page on photo‐web that provides a link to my essays on Max Dupain as well as links to other articles and resources. Click here.
Toby Meagher's Research Paper–June 2013. The paper was written for a Masters in Art Administration at COFA. Click here.


I want to find a teaching job.
Here you'll find help writing resumes and cover letters, as well as tips for acing teaching interviews.
Simple teaching tips and teaching strategies to make you an effective teacher.
Learn a little known teaching strategy that works with your angriest, most disrespectful student to ever enter your classroom.
"Marjan, you are making a difference in the lives of students and in the world."
About Harry Wong: Harry is, arguably, the most motivational speaker in education. He and his wife Rosemary are the authors of The First Days of School, which has sold over 5 million copies. His techniques have been adapted by thousands of educators for success in their schools and classrooms, which explains why Harry Wong is the most sought after speaker in education today. He has been called Mr. Practicality for his common-sense, research-based, no-cost approach to managing a classroom for high-level student success.


While I was writing the std_allocator adapter of foonathan/memory I've learned some not so well-known facts about the STL Allocator and AllocatorAwareContainer concepts I'd like to share. Let's take a deep breath and dive in into an aspect of the STL containers that isn't that well covered: Allocator storage.
I will explain the comparison properties of Allocators, show the C++11 propagate_on_container_XXX traits and how the combination of the two can lead to an unnecessary pessimization and a probably not widely known case of undefined behavior.
The above class my_allocator is a naïve and (for the sake of this post) very simplified implementation of an allocator with a name. Each allocator created gets an unique identifier which is useful for debugging purposes. Two allocators are considered equal if they have the same identifier.
It uses the C++11 std::allocator_traits to provide only this minimal interface. All access through an Allocator is done through the traits. They provide default implementations for all the other functions.
A real implementation wouldn't use the value of a global integer variable as identifier and wouldn't just forward to std::allocator in the actual allocation functions, but this implementation is enough to keep us busy for now.
If you are wondering about the second constructor taking a different instantiation of my_allocator, it is required by the Allocator concept. Some containers like std::list get an allocator of the value_type, e.g. int, but need to allocate a different type, e.g. the list node. They rebind the allocator to the type they need and use this constructor to create the new instance.
In this implementation it simply copies the identifier.
The above snippet uses the allocator class in three std::vector objects. The containers are populated, then a is move assigned to c, a and b are swapped and the first value of a and b is printed.
The code compiles, runs and prints as expected 2 1 under GCC and Clang. Everything's alright - except that it is undefined behavior and crashes under MSVC.
And apart from the undefined behavior, there is also one operation which is probably more expensive and dangerous than expected.
To understand why, we need to take a step back and look at allocator comparison and AllocatorAwareContainer classes.
Every Allocator must provide comparison operators for (in-)equality.
Equality of an allocator is determined through the ability of allocating memory with one allocator and deallocating it with another. In other words: Two allocators a and b shall compare equal, if memory allocated by a can be deallocated by b and vice-versa.
The comparison can e.g. be used in AllocatorAwareContainer classes to avoid unnecessary operations if the allocators are already equal.
Starting with C++17, own allocator classes can specify a typedef is_always_equal.
is_always_equal is one of those C++11 booelan typedefs. Instead of specyfing a boolean constant, the standard library is using more and more typedefs to an integral constant. is_always_equal and the propogate_on_container_XXX typedefs are those and need to be either std::true_type or std::false_type (or derived).
If this is std::true_type, two allocator objects are always considered equal. If this typedef is not provided, the std::allocator_traits will forward to std::is_emtpy: Empty, that is, stateless types have no state to be not equal and are thus always equal. This can be used as an additional optimization and especially for noexcept specifications, which will become clear later on.
For the remainder of this blog post, the usage of different or equal allocators is the equality described here, not actual object identity.
AllocatorAwareContainer is a new concept in C++11 and describes how Allocator objects should be handled inside of containers. All STL containers except std::array are modelling this concept.
It requires some less interesting stuff like a get_allocator() function or that every allocation is done through the Allocator, but also specifies how and when an allocator object is copied or moved. This behavior has some interesting consequences.
Copy and move constructors of an AllocatorAwareContainer copy or move the allocator object respectively. Move is done directly by invoking its move constructor, copying can be controlled via a special function, select_on_container_copy_construction().
Yes, that's the name. I am not kidding. Look it up.
If an Allocator provides this member function it will be called in the copy constructor of an allocator. If the member function does not exist, the default will simply return a copy of the passed allocator.
The actual signature of it inside the traits is static Alloc select_on_container_copy_construction(const Alloc& a); Since the return value is by value, it is not possible to prevent a copy by returning a reference to *this inside the member function. The traits function will copy it anyway.
select_on_container_copy_construction() allows an Allocator writer to keep track of container copies and/or modifies state in the copied allocator. I don't find this function that (or at all) useful and although searching on Github does give almost 30,000 results most of them are either tests of standard library implementations, adapter classes which need to forward, or workarounds for MSVC.
A corresponding select_on_container_move_construnction() is missing. That's the kind of consistency you want.
Move constructor was pretty straightforward, copy constructor a little bit over-generic, but so far it was pretty intuitive behavior. Well, that is going to change now with the assignment operators.
The problem with assignment is that the container has already objects in it (usually). Assigning a new container requires getting rid of those and acquiring new ones. If the allocator objects are equal, this is pretty straightforward. If not, it gets interesting.
Ignoring exception safety, the container first needs to destroy the old objects and deallocates their memory with the old allocator. Then it allocates the new memory. For that, it uses the new allocator. Or the old allocator… Is the allocator assigned if the container is assigned?
Don't assign the allocator. A container simply uses the same allocator as before.
Assign the allocator using a copy/move of the other allocator object.
Assign the allocator to a completely different object.
Option 3 is (luckily) out of question. So the choice is only between option 1 and 2. This choice can be done by the user, the default is option 1.
So assigning the container objects does not assign the allocator objects by default. This choice has various pitfalls in addition to being unintuitive. It also has the additional (non-)benefit of not being able to ever change the allocator object inside a container.
The option can be chosen via propagate_on_container_copy_assignment and propagate_on_container_move_assignment.
I am still serious, that is their name.
If your Allocator class provides one of these - wonderfully named - boolean typedefs, it controls whether or not the allocator will propgate on assignment, that is, be assigned. If the class doesn't provide them, the allocator_traits will provide the - bad - default of std::false_type preventing allocator assignment.
The assignment will be done by calling the allocator's copy or move assignment operator respectively.
Again there is no select_on_container_copy_assignment() function or similar for controlling this behavior. This function only exists for one out of four operations. I bet there is a valid reason for this. I just don't know it.
Swapping behaves similar to assignment. Unequal allocators are only swapped if propagate_on_container_swap has the appropriate value (or type, that is). The default is again std::false_type.
The copy constructor will copy construct the Allocator through the select_on_container_copy_construction() function.
The move constructor will move construct the Allocator. Directly, without a select_on_container_move_construnction() or similar.
The move assignment operator will move assign the Allocator if propagate_on_container is std::true_type (not the default).
The copy assignment operator will copy assign the Allocator if propagate_on_container_move_assignment is std::false_type (not the default). There is no select_on_container_copy_assignment() like in the copy constructor.
Swap will swap the Allocator if propagate_on_container_swap is std::true_type (not the default).
A sample and pretty dumb AllocatorAwareContainer class can be found as part of a tutorial for my memory library here. Note that it cannot use the usual copy-and-swap idioms in the assignment operators and has a lot of boilerplate.
This behavior can lead to two cases of unexpected behavior.
Move assignment of a container is a pretty straightforward operation: Just copy the pointer, set the old one to nullptr and you are good to go. Right? Wrong.
Moving transfers ownership over the memory. The assignment of a to c transfers ownership, a will own the memory from c after the operation. a is responsible for c's memory, i.e. it will deallocate it when required.
Combining this with different allocators leads to an interesting behavior: When a is destroyed or needs to grow, it will deallocate the memory using its allocator. But the memory was allocated by c's allocator! Allocating memory from one allocator and deallocating from a different allocator is probably not a good idea.
So the containers cannot simply transfer the ownership in a move assignment with different allocators. They have to do similar work as in a copy assignment: allocate new, std::move_if_noexcept individual elements, deallocate old, adjust pointer, do something to mark other object as moved-from.
This operation is probably more expensive than expected and - more importantly - a potential throwing operation! Container move assignment can only be noexcept if propagate_on_container_move_assignment is std::true_type, in which case the allocator is moved along with the pointers and the fast version is used. Otherwise the allocators are compared and depending on the result the slow move is required.
The aforementioned is_always_equal can be used in C++17 to avoid the comparison similar to propagate_on_container_move_assignment.
Since a's and b's allocators are unequal, the pointers cannot be simply swapped. This would again lead to a deallocation through the wrong allocator.
So the operation has to be a little bit more complicated: It has to allocate new memory for both containers and then swap the elements from - from where exactly? All elements are in old memory, the new memory does not contain any object to swap with!
Okay, so it has to create elements in the new memory using the default constructor. That does not work on types without default constructor.
Fine, it has to std::move_if_noexcept-construct the elements in the new memory from the old memory of the other container in the new memory of the first container. Then it can deallocate the old memory and is good to go.
Except it can't do that.
— no swap() function throws an exception.
— no swap() function invalidates any references, pointers, or iterators referring to the elements of the containers being swapped.
The described way would call the elements move constructor and can throw an exception in the memory allocation step and invalidate all references, pointers or iterators referrering to all elements. So it would violate all requirements of a containers swap function except the one saying that it shall exchange the contents.
Fun fact: Fulfilling 1 of 4 requirements is enough to model the entire concept, 6.25% is the passing grade as Scott Meyers describes it in his great talk "The last thing D needs" at around 36:25.
So it has to allocate new memory without throwing any exceptions and swap the objects into new memory without invoking any operations on the stored type and adjusts all external pointers to the elements so they point to the object in the new location instead of the old.
If allocator_traits::propagate_on_container_swap::value is true, then the allocators of a and b shall also be exchanged using an unqualified call to non-member swap. Otherwise, they shall not be swapped, and the **behavior is undefined** unless a.get_allocator() == b.get_allocator().
Swapping two container with unequal allocators who are not propagated is undefined behavior.
Since not propagating is active by default, swapping the container leads to undefined behavior in the initial code.
To avoid these pitfalls, propagate_on_container_swap and propagate_on_container_move_assignment must both be std::true_type. For consistency, propagate_on_container_copy_assignment should also be true. Otherwise, moving and copying has different semantics.
The allocator comparision should also only reflect whether or not memory can be allocated from one and deallocated from another object. This avoids needless copies which might be expensive.
You could also use my memory library which provides a RawAllocator model, which is simpler to write and use.
Update: A follow-up-ish post is now available.


I am now in the final homestretch of this pregnancy, also known as the last few weeks where pregnant women start to plead unsuccessfully with their unborn child to end their misery. I'm being a little dramatic but since it's been record breaking temperatures here in Arizona (110 already!) and our air conditioning isn't working 100%, I feel incredibly crabby and achy.
Luckily, I had my last ultrasound this week and it made everything feel worth it. Seeing my girl squirm and kick and grab her little toes was just the boost I needed to get me through the aching back, general queasiness (my old nemesis has returned) and exhaustion. The ultrasound tech pointed out a "good coat of hair", which I'm a little surprised about. Both William and Frederick had some decent hair when they were born but the old wives tale is that if you have heartburn, then your baby will have lots of hair. I had horrible heartburn with the boys for months but not with this pregnancy. I know it's just an old wives tale but it's just a little surprising.
She was making some pretty cute faces during the ultrasound. The first real shot was of her "duck face" and we couldn't stop laughing about the thought of her saying, "let me take a selfie". She has the most delicious chubby cheeks and full lips. I think she looks a lot like Frederick in these pictures but we'll see what she looks like soon! William is insistent that she has blonde hair and blue eyes... we'll see! So far, we're 0 for 2 on David's beautiful blue eyes! No matter what, we're very excited to meet this sweet little love.
What a great ultrasound picture! I can't wait to hear all about your baby girl and hear her name.
How precious! So excited for you all!


text:
He's no blackfella, no matter what his background
Is Mal Brough a blackfella? The Weekend Australian certainly thinks so. On Saturday, its front page story proclaimed: "If [Brough's Aboriginal heritage] can be proved, it would make the 44-year-old minister… the first federal Aboriginal indigenous affairs minister." Rubbish. Mal Brough may well have Aboriginal heritage, but that doesn't make him an Aboriginal man. At […]
Is Mal Brough a blackfella? The Weekend Australian certainly thinks so. On
Saturday, its front page story proclaimed: "If [Brough's Aboriginal heritage]
can be proved, it would make the 44-year-old minister… the first federal
Aboriginal indigenous affairs minister."
Rubbish.
Mal Brough may well
have Aboriginal heritage, but that doesn't make him an Aboriginal man. At least
not yet. In Australia, there are three components of the test for
legitimately (and legally) claiming Aboriginality:
1. You must have some
Aboriginal heritage (it doesn't matter how much)
2. You must identify as an
Aboriginal person; and
3. You must be accepted by the Aboriginal community in
which you live.
The last rule is the most important – you may have Aboriginal
lineage, but if you have no ties to the community then you're not Aboriginal.
There are, of course, exceptions. Many members of the Stolen
Generations have discovered their Aboriginality late in life. All are welcomed
warmly into the Aboriginal community provided they can prove their Aboriginal
heritage and they show they can respect their culture.
In Mal Brough's case,
he may pass rule number one, but he fails the final two. In the eyes of
Aboriginal people, he's as black as John Howard. If Brough does decide to
flirt with his black side and embrace his past, then good on him. But he still
faces an uphill battle.
Australian history is littered with blackfellas
behaving badly on behalf of whitefellas and being Minister for Indigenous
Affairs in a conservative Howard government isn't a great start. Having a
black face in parliament is all well and good, but if that person is not
advocating for the rights and interests of Aboriginal people, then he or she is
about as useful as t*ts on a bull.
The question of Brough's Aboriginal
heritage might be "symbolically" important to white historians and members of
the media, but it isn't to the vast majority of Aboriginal people.
Indigenous Australians may celebrate the personal milestone of having an
Indigenous affairs minister with Aboriginal heritage, just as some may
acknowledge the fact the ALP is led by an Aboriginal man in Warren Mundine. But
most couldn't care less. There won't be dancing in the streets.
question for Aboriginal people is not whether Mal Brough has Aboriginal
heritage, but how he acquits himself as Minister for Indigenous Affairs.
he support a treaty? Does he advocate for self-determination or does he prefer
the Howard government's preference for self-management? Does he recognise
Aboriginal sovereignty? And will he wash his face twice a day?
Aboriginal Australians are a patient lot and they will, of course, give
Mal Brough a go. But his Aboriginal heritage isn't going to assist him
one iota.
Ten's Celebrity bounces back against Nine's tennis coverage
Glenn Dyer


text:
Q: how to measure the cosine similarity between 2 images I have a population matrix of 5 images with 49 extracted salience features.
I want to calculate the cosine similarity in Matlab between a test image with the same extracted features 49.

A: 1) Transform your images of size M lines X N columns in a vector M*N lines. Keep one image in a vector u and the other image in a vector v.
2) Evaluate: cosTheta = dot(u,v)/(norm(u)*norm(v)); [As far as I know there is no function in matlab that does that]
Usually people evaluate similarities among images using the projections of them on the eigenfaces. So, before doing that, people usually evaluate the eigenfaces.

A: You could use the matlab's built in function to get the cosine distance:
pdist([u;v],'cosine')
which returns the "One minus the cosine of the included angle between points". You could then subtract the answer from one to get the 'cosine of the included angle' (similarity), like this:
1 - pdist([u;v],'cosine')
Source: Pairwise distance between pairs of objects.


Manmade water bodies is need of today's society. They are generally used for the improving the looks as well as storage of water for the agricultural reasons . Underneath the beautiful foliage and active aquatic life of your pond lies the product that keeps it functioning effectively, Emmbi Pond liners. These products are the true foundation of your pond; Emmbi Pond liners are great for garden fish ponds. By installing permanent pond liners that will withstand a variety of weather and water conditions, you can avoid the hassle of regularly replacing this integral part of garden fish ponds. Emmbi pond liners are highly recommended for garden fish ponds because they are the most flexible type of liner.


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text:
A Charity working in Malawi since 2003
Providing a hand UP, not a hand out
Malawi Facts and Figures
Fuel-efficient Cookstove
Fish Conservation
Carbon Offsets: Made in Malawi
Fruit Tree Project
Sweet Potato Project
More Info: Environment
Library and Literacy
More Info: Education
Healthcare Home
Disabilities and Rehabilitation
Mwaya Community Dispensary
Family Planning & Sexual Health
More Info: Healthcare
Volunteering in Malawi, Africa
Volunteering Home
Volunteering: Introduction
Volunteering: Education
Volunteering: Healthcare
Volunteering: Environment
Accommodation and the Area
Costs to Volunteer
Volunteer in the UK
Visit Us in Malawi
Volunteers' Stories
RIPPLE Africa's Fundraising Pack
Company and Trust Fundraising
Twin Your School
BRIEF SUMMARY
Provides a sustainable source of timber by planting quick growing trees
Conserves existing indigenous trees by decreasing the demand for wood from Malawi's natural forests
Restores land by planting nitrogen-fixing trees
Reduces deforestation in Malawi
What We Have Achieved
Helped communities plant over 10 million trees.
We identify farmers and community groups who are able to grow seedlings and care for the trees
We provide farmers and community groups with relevant equipment and training.
The Project's Future
Continue supporting the communities to plant trees.
Continue educating communities on the benefits of investing in tree planting for the future.
Combine household tree planting with supply of our Changu Changu Moto fuel-efficient cookstoves.
By donating to this project, you will be making a huge contribution to RIPPLE Africa's fight against deforestation. A donation of £25 ($35) pays to grow and plant 100 trees in Malawi, Africa – that's only 25p per tree. This very small cost is nothing compared to the significant benefit just one tree can provide.
If you'd like to plant thousands of trees, as an individual or a corporate, please get in touch.
Donate now to the tree planting project
FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT THE PROJECT
RIPPLE Africa's tree planting project is one of the largest and most successful tree planting projects in the north of Malawi. We provide a long-term solution to fighting deforestation in Africa by reducing the demand for wood, causing the destruction of indigenous forests.
RIPPLE Africa's tree planting project directly fights this by planting thousands of quick-growing trees with farmers, schools and community groups, and these provide a sustainable source of firewood and timber for local people.
A well run community tree nursery growing about 4,000 tree seedlings
Club members manage and maintain the tree seedlings ready for planting out in the rainy season
High population growth has been the prime cause of deforestation across Malawi and has led to soil degradation, landslides, drying up of perennial rivers, rain shortages and depletion of wildlife. Wood is taken from indigenous forests for building and to use for cooking. Increasing numbers of people have become involved in the production and sale of charcoal, particularly in areas near towns, further decimating the remaining forests. Trees are also cut down for firewood and timber used for housebuilding or are burned to make space for growing crops.
Trees are grown for building and firewood along with fruit trees
Providing sustainable fuelwood
Fruit trees are grown for personal and commercial use
RIPPLE Africa's tree planting project is not only about planting trees in Malawi, but also about changing the way people think about their natural environment and the destructive and unsustainable actions which are causing deforestation. By involving farmers, community groups and schools, RIPPLE Africa aims not only to encourage more tree planting in Africa, but to slowly change how people value and use all their natural resources.
A good team spirit at Katenthere Tree Club
RIPPLE Africa encourages primary schools to plant trees
Makwalakwata Primary School has planted over 2,000 trees
RIPPLE Africa first started to address this issue in the area around our base in Nkhata Bay District, providing local communities with quick-growing trees which provide an immediate benefit to the community. They are able to use the trees like a crop – coppicing the tree (cutting off the branches for firewood without felling the whole tree), which then grows back quickly to provide more wood year on year. We also provided community groups with fruit trees – mainly citrus, guava and pawpaw (papaya), which are grown from seed and are very quick and easy to grow and bear good quality fruit. We also grow improved varieties of avocado and mango. This is helping improve household incomes and diet in our local area.
However, we are now increasingly working in Nkhotakota and Mzimba Districts where deforestation is much more severe. Here we are working more with farmers who are prepared to invest a considerable amount of time (it takes up to 15 years to grow a tree large enough to sell for timber) and their own money to ensure that larger numbers of trees can be grown successfully.
Since the project began in 2006, we have planted over 10 million trees in the Nkhata Bay, Nkhotakota and Mzimba Districts in Malawi, Africa.
Planting out the tree seedlings in December/January, the beginning of the rainy season
A well managed woodlot of pine trees: YEAR 1
Pine trees grow quickly: YEAR 3
RIPPLE Africa's environmental staff work in partnership with District Forestry staff to identify farmers and community groups who are able to grow seedlings and care for the trees as they grow to maturity. Local climate (rainfall, temperature etc) is taken into consideration when deciding on the species of trees to plant in each area.
We then provide the farmers and groups with just enough seeds for the area that they are going to plant them out into (there is no point planting trees too close together as they will not thrive) and spend time teaching them how to plant and care for them effectively to ensure that they get the maximum number to germinate and grow. The farmers and groups are provided with plastic tubes in which to plant the seeds and with watering cans and other equipment that they will need. We visit the tree nurseries regularly to build up a relationship with the growers, teach them how to care for the trees, monitor the success of each tree nursery and help troubleshoot when problems occur.
We then work with the farmers and groups to teach them how best to prepare the land where the trees will be planted out and learn how to ensure that they grow most effectively once they are in their permanent location. Regular visits ensure that we are able to help maximize the yield from the trees and we monitor the numbers of trees that are successfully planted out.
Although giving the seeds and the equipment to farmers could be seen to be at odds with our 'providing a hand up not a hand out' ethos, the farmers themselves have to invest many years of effort to ensure that the trees thrive before they are able to make an income through selling the wood. The provision of the seeds is only the starting point.
We intend to increase the numbers of trees grown in Malawi by working with more and more farmers who are able to grow much larger numbers of trees, whilst still working with schools and small community groups.
Malawi is facing a potentially catastrophic shortage of wood and the cost of wood for building and firewood is rising to reflect the shortage of wood in the country. By helping farmers grow fast growing pine and eucalyptus which are in high demand for building – and other fast growing species used for firewood – we are hoping to reduce the pressure on indigenous forests.
We are linking our tree planting project with our Forest Conservation and Changu Changu Moto (fuel efficient cookstove) projects to reinforce the importance of conservation and encourage communities to make more effective use of their remaining natural resources.
Seedlings in black polythene tubes — tree planting in Africa
Links to Documents
Step-by-step Tree Planting Guide
Tree Planting Quick Guide
Makwalakwata School Tree Nursery (4:45)
RIPPLE Africa 2003 - 2020, Company No. 04823686 England, UK Registered Charity Nos. 1103256 (England & Wales) and SC043082 (Scotland)
RIPPLE Africa, Inc. 2012 - 2020, US Registered 501(c)3 Nonprofit Organisation, EIN 26-2059213
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You already know that practicing gratitude is an easy way to improve your life. But did you know there's a better way of being thankful to see more positive results in your life?
Maybe you're already waking up each morning, and writing down 10 things that you appreciate. Or perhaps it's during the evening when you do a recount of what went well in your day.
These are both amazing practices that'll provide a mood boost and help you feel happier in your life.
But I'd like to suggest a new approach to your thankfulness.
Rather than making general blanket statements, try getting more specific.
Refine the details of your appreciation the same way you would with goal setting. Did you know that the more clear you are with your goals, the better chance you have of achievement?
So apply this technique to your gratitude practice!
Instead of saying, I'm so grateful for my family. Or I really appreciate my cozy bed.
Try I am so grateful for my 2 kids who do their homework without me having to nag them.
Or I really appreciate my luxurious Egyptian cotton sheets and warm goose down comforter on my bed.
Does it seem silly to be so specific with your gratitude?
The truth is, it's the details that allow you to tap into the feeling of love for your kids, or the coziness of your bed.
Click play on the video where I share some practice tools that can help you switch on the attitude of gratitude.
And let me know, would you try this more specific way of being thankful?


Published in: Disease Models and Mechanisms, 11 (6), 033506-1-033506-11.
[See more] Cisplatin and derivatives are commonly used as chemotherapeutic agents. Although the cytotoxic action of cisplatin on cancer cells is very efficient, clinical oncologists need to deal with two major difficulties, namely the onset of resistance to the drug and the cytotoxic effect in patients. Here, we used Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate factors influencing the response to cisplatin in multicellular organisms. In this hermaphroditic model organism, we observed that sperm failure is a major cause of cisplatin-induced infertility. RNA sequencing data indicate that cisplatin triggers a systemic stress response, in which DAF-16/FOXO and SKN-1/NRF2, two conserved transcription factors, are key regulators. We determined that inhibition of the DNA damage-induced apoptotic pathway does not confer cisplatin protection to the animal. However, mutants for the pro-apoptotic BH3-only gene ced-13 are sensitive to cisplatin, suggesting a protective role of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. Finally, we demonstrated that our system can also be used to identify mutations providing resistance to cisplatin and therefore potential biomarkers of innate cisplatin-refractory patients. We show that mutants for the redox regulator trxr-1, ortholog of the mammalian thioredoxin reductase 1 TRXR1, display cisplatin resistance. By CRISPR/Cas9, we determined that such resistance relies on the presence of the single selenocysteine residue in TRXR-1.
Cite: García-Rodríguez, F.J., Martínez-Fernández, C., Brena, D., Kukhtar, D., Serrat, X., Nadal, E.,...,Cerón, J. (2018). Genetic and cellular sensitivity of Caenorhabditis elegans to the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. Disease Models and Mechanisms, 11 (6), 033506-1-033506-11.