The year is almost halfway done and many may be wondering "Why now?" But the truth is, it is never too late to start pursuing your dream. In the past few years, many in the nation have decided to leave their regular jobs and start businesses. In a third world country such as the Philippines, being your own boss is as big a dream as being able to work abroad. And now that the PH economy is doing quite well in the world market, you'll probably witness more people joining the entrepreneurial bandwagon in the coming years.
Setting up a business, however, is no walk in the park. You need capital, a sound business plan, a ton of determination, and most importantly, an amazing business idea. If you're planning to go through the conventional route, you would also need to rent an office space . If you're a parent, you'll also need superb organisational skills. Out of all these though, it's probably the "idea" part that you should first get a hold of. After all, according to American author Earl Nightingale, "Everything begins with an idea."
But what if you have no ideas whatsoever and can find no inspiration to come up with one at the moment? Well, read on. The following business concepts may trigger those neurons to start firing up.
Food of any kind will always have a ready market here in the Philippines as Filipinos just love to eat. When friends and family get together for any occasion, you will rarely find it without anything edible to munch or nibble on. Moreover, in the past few years, people have grown to love baked goods. In fact, giving them as gifts during birthdays and other special events has even become a common practice lately.
Startup Idea: You can buy an oven and bake from home in the beginning. It may also be wise to first pitch your goodies to family and friends then ask for feedback. Feedback is important so you can hone your baking skills before you sell your goods to the general public. Later on, when you've managed to penetrate the market and start earning profits, then you can transfer to a commercial space.
This is, without a doubt, one of the most popular enterprises in the world today. It may be because it's fairly easy to set up an online shop. Aside from that, there are many helpful plugins and widgets for e-commerce sites all over the internet. You can sell almost anything online -- from clothes and fashion accessories to books and gadgets.
Startup Idea: Set up your virtual shop on a website or in any social media platform. Yes, many have set up shop in social networking sites. You don't have to actually buy a domain right away. You can just set up your shop in one of the free blog hosting sites such as WordPress.com or Blogger. And don't forget pictures. Great visuals will be your most important marketing tool so don't just use blurry photos you've taken with your camera phone. Invest on a good camera.
Do you know how to sew, crochet or knit? How about making pretty baubles such as necklaces, pendants, earrings and other fashion accessories? If your answer to both questions is a resounding "yes", then perhaps it's time to convert these hobbies into a money-making venture. Remember, more than 50% of the country's population is made up of women, and Filipino women have grown increasingly fashion conscious these past few years.
Startup Idea: Much like many e-commerce sites, you can also set up an online shop for this. Or perhaps you can set up a personal blog and sell your handmade items there. People who love to buy handmade products like to see how they were made, and so blogging about your processes will be a good marketing move.
Now that you have some clue which business ventures may be a good idea for you, perhaps it is time to gather relevant knowledge and advice about being an entrepreneur from other entrepreneurs. Attend business seminars and workshops. Also, do online research and read up on business tips , especially about starting a business with limited funds.
Loren Maluenda is a part of Regus, an international company that seeks to provide flexible workspaces, business lounges, meeting rooms, virtual offices, IT support, and workplace recovery services.


text:
ABS Group contracts NG for Fire Scout demo
SAN DIEGO, Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman has been contracted to conduct a demonstration of its unmanned aircraft system to test and validate the technology for the U.S. Coast Guard.
U.S. company ABS Group is working on a contract providing the Coast Guard Research and Development Center with systems engineering and technical assistance. As part of the contract, ABS selected Northrop Grumman to demonstrate its MQ-8B Fire Scout tactical vertical UAS technology.
The demonstration is designed to verify the Fire Scout as ship-based UAS and test its payload capabilities. The test is expected to take place at the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River in Maryland.
"This is a great opportunity to demonstrate that Fire Scout is a mature vertical UAS that has the capability, modularity, and flexibility to provide a wide area surveillance capability for the domestic and international customers, including the U.S. Coast Guard," Doug Fronius, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems director of Tactical Unmanned Systems, said in a statement.
Physical therapy may be better than steroid shots for arthritic knees
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Slain NYPD officer Jason Rivera mourned in St. Patrick's funeral
Serial killer identified by Denver police 40 years after murders of five women
Owners renovating old building in Washington find century-old mural

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Don't settle for processed and packaged snacks that work against you—fuel your body with these vegetarian snacks that work for you with the best nutrients to keep you full and fabulous even when you're feeling snackish.
You'll need a little patience to make these kale chips, but I promise you it's worth the wait. Packed with vitamin C and coated with spices and healthy fats, these chips are cooked at a low temperature to maintain the integrity of the nutrients. Kale chips are best enjoyed that day. Once completely cooled, they are good in a sealed container for about 5 days.
Preheat oven to 170 (or as low as it will set).Prep your organic kale by washing thoroughly and lay out to dry.Prepare the dressing for your kale chips: blend drained cashews, bell pepper, garlic, chipotle powder, cumin, aminos, olive oil, and lemon in a blender or Vitamix.Pour mixture over kale in bowl and toss until every chip is well coated.Place chips on parchment lined baking sheets, making sure that they are not touching or overlapping.Bake for 2–3 hours until dry and crunchy. After 1 hour, flip the chips and check periodically for crunchy-ness. When they are completely dry, you're ready to snack!
Low glycemic, healthy fat and totally crunch-worthy, sweet potato chips are in a category of their own. Pair with honey mustard for sensational dipping! The trick to getting your sweet potato chips to be crispy is to wash the yam one day before (if you're planning on leaving the skin on) and letting them dry thoroughly.
Otherwise, skinning it dry will work just as well.
Brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. For a sweeter treat, sprinkle with organic stevia and cinnamon.
Bake for approximately 20 minutes or until desired texture is reached. Flip your chips at the 10 minute mark.
Transfer to a cooling rack and enjoy the same day.
Eaten with a spoon, tastes like a dessert, and is totally guilt-free! This pudding is a great snack for raw foodies and anyone on a juice cleanse or on a high protein, high fat diet.


The apartment had to redo for single men of middle age he works in Finance, he enjoys traveling, sports and music.
Initially the style was defined: how many men, the customer liked the lofts, but for me it was a great opportunity to experiment. From the Romantic Cottage Bedroom Decorating Ideas functional tasks it was important to place the bed and sofa in one room that was both living room and bedroom. For a long time the client lived in rented apartments, where they had to sacrifice in some area of communication, then a full bed. Here, in this apartment, he wanted both.
Small changes were necessary, as the apartment is not too spacious. I reduced the bathroom in favor of the corridor in order to build a huge wardrobe in the wall. Thus, there was plenty of space for storage. Also in the bedroom area includes a wardrobe-coupe, which serves as a partition between the hallway and the bathroom.
Imitation of bricks, tiles and concrete as well as possible to highlight the style loft. For example, a bathroom lined with dark gray "concrete" tile it's perfect to combine with colored glass blocks.Also used plaster imitating concrete, brick and decorative tile.
On the floor, everywhere two lane wooden Board, I chose the color "bleached oak" – it is warm, but not bright. Boards laid at an angle of 45 degrees – this technique optically expands the space and makes it more interesting.
In the kitchen on three sides of wardrobes, there are also overhead cabinets above the main work surface. Washing machine integrated in the kitchen to save space in the bathroom.
In the hallway on the left side of the entrance to the apartment is a wardrobe along the entire height and length of the corridor. The sleeping area off the hallway separates one tricuspid wardrobe. Under the bed there is an extra room for storage.
In the hallway I used the built-in spotlights as the main light they emphasize the line of the wall of glass. For additional lighting of the corridor meets the led strip. In the bathroom there are two built-in ceiling lamp with a diameter of 30 centimeters each and, of course, the lighting over the sink. The glass blocks can be used as a night light and Vice versa, with the Romantic Cottage Bedroom Decorating Ideas.


text:
package com.deguet.gutils.vote;

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Comparator;
import java.util.HashMap;
import java.util.HashSet;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.Random;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.TreeMap;

import com.deguet.gutils.permutation.FactorialBase;
import com.deguet.gutils.permutation.PrimeBase;

/**
 * Represents a preferential vote establish with ranks.
 * Two candidates can have the same rank.
 * The same candidate cannot exist twice.
 * @author joris
 *
 * @param <T> must implements hashCode and equals in a way.
 */
public class RankedVote<T> {

	private final Map<T, Integer> ranks;

	transient Comparator<T> comparator = new Comparator<T>(){
		public int compare(T o1, T o2) {
			return ranks.get(o1).compareTo(ranks.get(o2));
		}};

		public RankedVote(){
			ranks = new HashMap<T, Integer>();
		}

		public RankedVote<T> addAtRank(int rank, T... candidates){
			if (rank < 1 ) throw new IllegalArgumentException("ranks starts from 1 to whatever you want");
			for (T c : candidates){
				if (ranks.containsKey(c) && !ranks.get(c).equals(rank))
					throw new IllegalArgumentException("try to add the same candidate twice with different ranks "+c);
				ranks.put(c,rank);
			}
			return this;
		}

		public Integer rankFor(T c){
			return this.ranks.get(c);
		}

		public Set<T> candidates() {
			return this.ranks.keySet();
		}

		public int score(T a, T b){
			if (this.isPreferred(a, b)) return 1;
			if (this.isPreferred(b, a)) return -1;
			return 0;
		}

		public boolean isPreferred(T a, T b){
			if (rankFor(a) == null && rankFor(a) == null) return false;
			if (rankFor(b) == null) return true;
			if (rankFor(a) == null) return false;
			return rankFor(a) < rankFor(b);
		}

		public List<Set<T>> asListOfSet(){
			List<Set<T>> result = new ArrayList<Set<T>>();
			List<T> candidates = new ArrayList<T>(this.ranks.keySet());
			Collections.sort(candidates, comparator);
			long rank = rankFor(candidates.get(0));
			Set<T> set = new HashSet<T>();
			result.add(set);
			for (T c : candidates){
				if (rankFor(c) == rank){
					set.add(c);
				}
				else{
					set = new HashSet<T>();
					result.add(set);
					set.add(c);
					rank = rankFor(c);
				}
			}
			return result;
		}

		public static <T> RankedVote<T> fromListOfSet(List<Set<T>> list){
			RankedVote<T> result = new RankedVote<T>();
			int count = 1;
			for (Set<T> set : list){
				for (T elt : set){
					result = result.addAtRank(count, elt);
				}
				count++;
			}
			return result;
		}

		/**
		 * Encodes one vote on the format described at http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~legrand/rbvote/
		 * @param votes
		 * @return
		 */
		public String toCondense(){
			List<T> candidates = new ArrayList<T>(this.ranks.keySet());
			Collections.sort(candidates, comparator);
			StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
			for (int i = 0 ; i < candidates.size() ; i++){
				T a = candidates.get(i);
				if (a.toString().contains(">") || (a.toString().contains("=")))
					throw new IllegalArgumentException("Ambiguous string contains either = or > "+a);
				T b = i < candidates.size()-1?candidates.get(i+1):null;
				sb.append(a);
				if (b != null){
					int aa = rankFor(a);
					int bb = rankFor(b);
					//System.out.println(" condense " + a+ " @ " +aa + "    and  " +b + "  @" +bb);
					//System.out.println(aa<bb);
					if (aa < bb) {sb.append(">");}
					else {sb.append("=");}
				}
			}
			return sb.toString();
		}

		/**
		 * parse votes following the format from http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~legrand/rbvote/
		 * Votes can be separated by either a new line or a |
		 * @param votes
		 * @return
		 */
		public static List<RankedVote<String>> fromCondenseList(String votes){
			String[] lines = votes.split("\n");
			List<RankedVote<String>> result = new ArrayList<RankedVote<String>>();
			for (String line : lines){
				int n = 1;
				if (line.contains("|")){
					String[] split = line.split("\\|");
					n = Integer.parseInt(split[0]);
					line = split[1];
				}
				RankedVote<String> vote = fromCondense(line);
				for (int i = 0 ; i < n ; i++){
					result.add(vote);
				}
			}
			return result;
		}

		/**
		 * parse a single vote following the format from http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~legrand/rbvote/
		 * a>b=d>c meaning that we prefer a over b and d equally, c is the least favored
		 * @param vote
		 * @return
		 */
		public static RankedVote<String> fromCondense(String vote){
			String[] rankeds = vote.split(">");
			//System.out.println("rankeds " + Arrays.toString(rankeds));
			RankedVote<String> result  = new RankedVote<String>();
			int rank = 1;
			for (String ranked : rankeds){
				String[] members = ranked.split("=");
				//System.out.println("   members " + Arrays.toString(members));
				for (String member : members){
					result.addAtRank(rank, member);
				}
				rank++;
			}
			return result;
		}

		/**
		 * Encode a preferential vote into one single long
		 * CANNOT REALLY USE WHEN NUMBER OF CANDIDATES GOES BEYOND 5
		 * could be used for 5 people of love like neutral
		 * @param candidateSet an array to determine indexes of candidates
		 * @return
		 */
		public Long encode(T... candidateSet){
			PrimeBase b = new PrimeBase();
			int[] toEncode = new int[candidateSet.length+1];
			for (int i  = 0 ; i < candidateSet.length ; i++){
				Integer nullable = this.rankFor(candidateSet[i]);
				int real = nullable==null?0:nullable;
				//System.out.println("Encode candidate " + i + " avec exposant " +real);
				// got to shift by 1 cause exponents on 1 are useless
				toEncode[i+1] = real;
			}
			//System.out.println(Arrays.toString(toEncode));
			return b.from(toEncode);
		}

		/**
		 * decode a prefered vote when encoded with PrimeBase
		 * @param coded
		 * @param candidateSet
		 * @return
		 */
		public static <T> RankedVote<T> decode(Long coded, T... candidateSet){
			PrimeBase b = new PrimeBase();
			int[] longs = b.to(coded);
			//System.out.println(Arrays.toString(longs));
			RankedVote<T> result = new RankedVote<T>();
			for (int i = 1 ; i < longs.length ; i++){
				long l = longs[i];
				if (l != 0){
					// compensate the shift
					result.addAtRank((int)l, candidateSet[i-1]);
				}
			}
			return result;
		}

		public static <T> RankedVote<T> atRandom(Random r, T... candidateSet){
			int size = candidateSet.length;
			RankedVote<T> result = new RankedVote<T>();
			for (int i = 0 ; i < size ; i++){
				result.addAtRank(1+r.nextInt(size-1), candidateSet[i]);
			}
			return result;
		}

		@Override
		public String toString(){
			return toCondense();
		}

		public RankedVote<T> without(T... candidates){
			RankedVote<T> result = new RankedVote<T>();
			List<T> list = Arrays.asList(candidates);
			for (T t : this.candidates()){
				if (!list.contains(t)){
					result = result.addAtRank(this.rankFor(t), t);
				}
			}
			return result;
		}

		@Override
		public int hashCode() {
			return this.toCondense().hashCode();
		}

		@Override
		public boolean equals(Object obj) {
			if (this == obj)
				return true;
			if (obj == null)
				return false;
			if (getClass() != obj.getClass())
				return false;
			RankedVote<T> other = (RankedVote<T>) obj;
			if (ranks == null) {
				if (other.ranks != null)
					return false;
			} else if (!toCondense().equals(other.toCondense()))
				return false;
			return true;
		}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Shuttle schedule extended due to STS-134 slip to at least November
by Chris Bergin April 26, 2010
written by Chris Bergin April 26, 2010
The delivery of the AMS-02 (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02) payload to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) has been heavily delayed due to a changeout of its troublesome cooling system, resulting in a realignment of the shuttle manifest. Managers have decided that STS-132 can continue to track for May 14, with STS-133 following in September, while STS-134 moves to mid-November.
STS-134 Status:
Along with AMS-02, Endeavour is manifested with carrying the Express Logistics Carrier 3 (ELC-3), Materials on International Space Station Experiment 8 (MISSE 8), an Orion Rendezvous Detailed Test Objective (DTO) kit, and a GLACIER freezer module for one of the Station's science laboratories.
Managers will also make use of the shuttle's downmass ability – soon to be something of the past – as Endeavour will also return the MISSE 7a and 7b experiments to Earth as well as perform four Department of Defense payloads of opportunity: MAUI, SEITI, RAMBO-2, and SIMPLEX.
The 15,300lbs AMS-02 unit – which up until about a year ago was without a ride to orbit until the United States Congress mandated its addition to the Shuttle manifest – will be attached to the Starboard 3 Upper Inboard Command Attach System (CAS) on the ISS.
According to the baseline presentations on L2, the AMS-02 unit is a 'particle physics detector' which contains a large, cryogenic super-fluid helium superconducting magnet. The AMS-02 unit is designed to "search for antimatter and the origin and structure of dark matter."
It was that magnet that became the problem – relating to a vastly reduced lifetime estimation – during testing in Holland, as engineers worked on finding a solution that would allow AMS to enjoy a lifetime that would match the extension of ISS operations until 2020.
A decision to changeout the hardware for a permanent magnet was noted by the STS-134 Mission Integration Manager (MIM), along with pre-empting a new launch date would be the outcome.
"It was announced at the AMS TIM (Technical Interchange Meeting) in Noordwijk that AMS is switching to the permanent magnet instead of using the superfluid helium cooled magnet," noted the address acquired by L2. "New schedules to support delivery to KSC and well as a new launch date will be forthcoming. Impacts to follow."
STS-134 LIVE UPDATES
L2 STS-134 Special Section
Space Shuttle Program (SSP) manager John Shannon also pre-empted a slip to STS-134's launch date, focusing on the need to ensure Endeavour's payload would be in a stance to provide the maximum amount of science.
"The AMS team is getting more clarity. Because of the extension of ISS, they have more time on the truss to gather data. They are moving in the direction to swap the cryo magnet with the permanent magnet," noted Mr Shannon on the Shuttle Standup/Integration report (L2) at the end of last week.
"This will make pad operation easier, but will delay the flight a little. Will meet and next week to find out where the best place is to put them from a science standpoint, and from a support to the ISS standpoint."
Shuttle Manifest – post realignment:
Managers for the shuttle and ISS programs met on Friday to outline their respective positions on AMS' delivery date, after being updated on the latest schedule estimate provided to (NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations) Bill Gerstenmaier during his visit to the ESTEC (European Space Research and Technology Centre) in Holland.
"With the recent decision by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) program to change out its superconducting magnet for a permanent magnet, it's clear the STS-134/ULF-6/AMS launch currently targeted at the end of July is no longer viable," noted a memo (L2) sent out on Monday.
Based on Friday's meeting, a plan was finalized on Monday, which took in several considerations, not least the LON (Launch On Need) role that's provided to the preceding flight.
"The Space Shuttle Program and International Space Station Program met with Space Operations Mission Directorate Senior Management to discuss manifest options. From that discussion on Friday, the following is what we know today (Monday) that will influence our manifest planning and decisions for all remaining flights."
Given STS-134's role was to provide a rescue capability for STS-132, managers evaluated the potential for STS-133 to fly next on the schedule, whilst continuing to track its September 16 launch date.
For STS-133 to take over the LON support for STS-132, managers have to be sure the schedule was within a timescale that allowed for CSCS (Crew Shuttle Contingency Support) margins for the STS-132 crew to take up the Safe Haven of the ISS, in the highly unlikely event of critical damage to Atlantis.
Although STS-133 can't be moved up the schedule – due to the long lead item of converting the recently returned MPLM Leonardo into a PMM that will remain on Station after Discovery's mission – managers have decided STS-132 can remain on track to launch on May 14, with adequate LON support from STS-133.
"We now will plan to fly STS-133/ULF-5 before STS-134/ULF-6/AMS," added the memo. "With STS-134 moving after STS-133, STS-133/Discovery now becomes the Launch-On-Need (LON) vehicle for the STS-132/ULF-4 mission that is targeted for a May 14, 2010 launch. We will hold STS-133/ULF-5 on its current target date of September 16, 2010."
STS-134 now slips to mid-November, but this will continue to be evaluated, pending more information on a shipping date for the AMS payload, and the challenges of dodging beta angle cutouts and Dual-Docked Operations (DDO) constraints.
STS-134 Specific Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/sts-134/
"AMS program management has stated they will be ready to ship to KSC for payload processing in preparation for STS-134/ULF-6/AMS in late August 2010. This delivery date will support a launch of STS-134 in the mid-November 2010 time-frame," added the memo.
"We need to let AMS work through its magnet change-out activity and see how that progresses before establishing a target launch date for STS-134. Launch dates at the end of CY2010 and early into CY2011 will be challenging due to beta angle cut-outs, ISS vehicle traffic (Soyuz, ATV, HTV), and YERO (Year End Rollover).
"Bottom line is we will continue to evaluate these constraints and will determine a target launch date for STS-134 at a later date. For now, it will be no earlier than November TBD (To Be Determined), 2010 on Endeavour."
Meanwhile, talks are still ongoing on adding STS-135 – converting it from its current STS-335 LON role, now in support of STS-134 – to the manifest.
It has been noted that if such an addition is finally approved, the shuttle manifest would stretch yet further, well into 2011, with STS-134 slipping to a January-February timeframe, with STS-135 following sometime between March and June.
A decision to add STS-135 is currently on the desk of NASA's administration in Washington, DC.
STS-132STS-133STS-134STS-135
NASA Reviews Readiness and Potential Timelines for Atlantis' Final Mission
Mission Operations Directorate FRR Presents STS-132/ULF-4 Special Topics
Dragonfly mission heads toward PDR, element fabrication from...


text:
Q: Getting fully qualified FieldUserValue instead of actual user name from SharePoint I'm working on my first C# program, and it's a pretty simple program that uses a view of a SharePoint page to go through and delete things that are older than 5 days on that page. Before deleting the items, though, I want to export the files to be deleted to an Excel file. There are a number of fields we want to record from each list item, including Assigned To/Completed By. In the Excel file the value of these are showing up as Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FieldUserValue instead of the actual name of the person as shown in SharePoint. Is there a simple way of fixing this in the code, or is this a problem with using the view's XML to query SharePoint?
Here is the code I have so far:
    class Program
{
    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        ClientContext clientContext = new ClientContext("url");
        Web site = clientContext.Web;
        List workQueue = site.Lists.GetByTitle("Work Queue");

        View view = workQueue.Views.GetByTitle("Cleanup - Prod");
        clientContext.Load(view);
        clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

        CamlQuery query = new CamlQuery { ViewXml = string.Format("<View><Query>{0}</Query></View>", view.ViewQuery) };
        Console.Out.WriteLine(query.ViewXml);
        ListItemCollection itemsToDelete = workQueue.GetItems(query);
        Console.Out.WriteLine("Retrieving Items");
        clientContext.Load(itemsToDelete);
        clientContext.ExecuteQuery();

        using (StreamWriter file = new StreamWriter(@"C:\Users\...\Desktop\oneQueue.csv"))
        {
            file.WriteLine("Id,Name,Status,Team,Created,Assigned,Completed,Assigned To,Completed By,E-Mail CC,E-Mail From,E-Mail Sender,E-Mail Subject");
            foreach (ListItem listItem in itemsToDelete)
            {
                Dictionary<string, object> values = listItem.FieldValues;
                List<object> fieldValues = new List<object> { values["ID"], values["FileLeafRef"], values["Status"], values["Team"], values["Created"], values["Assigned"], values["Completed"], values["Assigned_x0020_To0"], values["Completed_x0020_By"], values["EmailCc"], values["EmailFrom"], values["EmailSender"], values["EmailSubject"] };
                string fileEntry = fieldValues.Aggregate("", (entry, next) => entry + "\"" + next + "\",", entry => entry.Substring(0, entry.Length-1));
                file.WriteLine(fileEntry);
            }
        }
        Console.Out.WriteLine("Done");
        Console.Read();
    }
}

The "values["Assigned_x0020_To0"], values["Completed_x0020_By"]," portion is where the Excel file is showing Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FieldUserValue.

A: Microsoft.SharePoint.Client.FieldUserValue.LookupValue should give the username.
Have a look at FieldUserValue members
You can also query the user from User Information List to get full details of the user, as shown below:
 var spUser = user as FieldUserValue;
 var userInfoList = context.Web.SiteUserInfoList;
 context.Load(userInfoList);
 var query = new CamlQuery { ViewXml = "<View Scope='RecursiveAll'><Query><Where><Eq><FieldRef Name='ID' /><Value Type='int'>" + spUser.LookupId + "</Value></Eq></Where></Query></View>" };
 var users = userInfoList.GetItems(query);
 context.Load(users, items => items.Include(
      item => item.Id,
      item => item["Name"]));
 if (context.TryExecuteQuery())
 {
      var principal = users.GetById(spUser.LookupId);
      context.Load(principal);
      context.ExecuteQuery()
      username = principal["Name"] as string;
 }

You can also query for Email and other stuff.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Optimized surface covering using rolls of membrane I want to cover a surface that has quite a complex geometry limited with straight lines. Covering will be done using a membrane that is sold in 2 meters wide and 25 meters long rolls, with an overlap longitudinally and at the end of each roll of 10 cm.
Is this a common situation? is there a linear program that lets me optimize the way rolls are cut?


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Victor De Le Rue's such a boss, and killed it so hard last season that the Almo dudes didn't have space for all his bangers in the movie. Fear not, this is the internet, so they just dropped this re-edit with all the hammers crammed in it!
Currently Victor is in AK with Travis and the Fourth Phase homies, so we're hyped to see what he gets up to there when the movie finally drops this autumn. To help pass the time, check out all the other parts from Almo's Comfort Zone – BANGERS.
Check an all-star cast of Shred Bots get busy in the Whistler and Bear section from their new movie, Shredtopia.


The Airbus deal comes while Boeing's own 737 Max narrow-body -- the chief global rival to the A320 -- has been idled following two fatal crashes in five months. The U.S. plane-maker is also struggling with fallout from a China-U.S. trade war that has seen sales to the Asian nation dry up just as Airbus bolsters its position with an offer to expand production facilities in Tianjin.
China has become the world's most important aviation market as its fast-growing middle class spurs demand for travel. The country has traditionally sought to keep a balance between the two Western plane-maker as it seeks to jump-start manufacturing on its own soil, but Chicago-based Boeing's order prospects have been complicated by the trade clash.
Airbus' incoming chief executive officer, Guillaume Faury, said at the press conference that construction of the A320s will take place both in Tianjin and Europe, adding that the deal is "a sign of the confidence" from China. Macron called the transaction "an excellent signal."
"We are honored to support the growth of China's civil aviation with our leading aircraft families," Faury said. "Our expanding footprint in China demonstrates our lasting confidence in the Chinese market and our long-term commitment to China and our partners."
The purchase provides a boost for Faury, who takes over from Tom Enders in April. Airbus sales have had one of the slowest starts in the past decade, with the plane-maker registering 103 cancellations and just four new orders in the first two months.
Fifteen business deals on energy, the food industry, transport and other sectors were signed in the presence of Xi and Macron on Monday at the presidential palace in Paris, in addition to other bilateral agreements.
Both countries agreed on a protocol allowing French exports of chicken meat to China. The country last year opened its market to French beef products after Macron's state visit in the country in January 2018.
Information for this article was contributed by Benjamin Katz, Gregory Viscusi and Helene Fouquet of Bloomberg News; and by by Sylvie Corbet of The Associated Press.


I've been on a decluttering kick recently, inspired by the neat-o ladies in my favourite Facebook groups and Marie Kondo's admonition to keep only the things that spark joy in my tender little heart.
I was sorting out my pantry (not too bad, generally) and I came across some sad jars of jam that I'd made last year. They were sad for two reasons; one was I thought the peel in them would soften more than it did, and the other was that my husband told me after I'd put up that batch that he didn't actually like that kind of jam. So basically every time I looked at it, rather than Sparking Joy it was Sparking FAIL.
and I put the empty jars and their lids in the recycling bin, Tidy Kiwi that I am.
Encouraging "Likes" happened and I was feeling pleased until…. one guy shows up to correct my behaviour.
And of course, that is technically true. I could have given the jars away.
In our relatively prosperous, consumer society, with its constant flow of inexpensive goods, we are faced with a problem our grandparents never had when they were our age – getting rid of too much stuff.
Furthermore, we're over-informed, extra anxious, and infinitely aware of the environmental trade-offs of any given decision.
The landfills that were considered an excellent solution a few decades ago are no longer considered to be solving the problem.
What happens, then, when we easily-overwhelmed people try to declutter? We get Stucked, because we can't do the Technically Best Thing with the stuff we're trying to get rid of, so we'll postpone the decision until circumstances allow us to do that Theoretical Best Thing, which may never happen.
Of course, this Stuckedness and Overthinking was happening with the Bad Jam for me already, and could keep going indefinitely as long as I was willing to feel crushing sorrow every time I looked behind the sauce bottles in the pantry.
I am intensely aware of the continuum of ways to conscientiously dispose of something good that I don't need any more.
Pulling an example of the air, let's say… four empty jam jars.
At one end is the obviously terrible, say, tossing them out the window of a moving car.
Alternatively, I could have just put the jars directly into the trash.
In fact, they want volunteers to make jam, I should go and get fruit from them and then make jam and then put it in the jars and then take the jars back, full of glorious jam!
Apart from the "moving car" one, these are all actual plans I had for those jars, which resulted in the Pantry of Sadness loop I mentioned earlier.
Until I decided to just do what I'd normally do when I emptied a jar of pickles, say, and what most of the population does when they've emptied a jar without overthinking the heck out of the thing.
I rinsed it out and put it in the recycling.
It's pretty much a known fact that when you share an action or an opinion on the internets, there's a risk that someone's going to Sealion their way in to tell you that you're wrong. Frankly, we're pretty good at thinking up all those objections ourselves, let alone dredging up every fact and opinion that we've ever heard or read.
Decluttering is hard, but getting extra stuff out of your house is good.
It's absolutely fine to get rid of things in a perfectly reasonable way.


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When Luther Superintendent Barry Gunn met me at the Middle School Cafeteria on Monday to check out the space for a Luther Register Community Meeting that evening, we wondered if five people would come? Maybe ten?
When the doors opened in the space that feeds about 150 fifth-eighth graders every day, almost 60 community members walked through the doors. The cafeteria has been a science lab, superintendent's office and served the district in various ways since the 1960s. A tight space for 60 adults or 150 students, the students have lunch in two shifts during the school day, and students often will take lunch outside, when weather permits.
Restaurant and shop owners came from Brew 66, Josephine's Cafe, Sonic Drive-In, The Chicken Shack and 116 Farmstead Market & Table. Main Street retailers from Urban 66, Rustic Farm, Beth's Baubles and Bits and Shorty's Prideland Activity Center also participated. Others included representatives from Luther Town Hall, the Luther School Board, OG&E, Choctaw Area Chamber of Commerce, 4 Our Community, Luther Fire Department, Luther Pecan Festival Committee, artists like Triceraware and Felicia's Country Corner, and other hometown Luther fans.
Mayor Jenni White talked about the Town and the Farmer's Market begining in April. Photo from Stephanie Smith.
The evening featured discussion about creating more events in the Town for residents to enjoy and to draw visitors to our growing community. The Luther Pecan Festival showed that with an estimated attendance of 10,000 visitors, more events will help local businesses. In fact the day after the meeting, this column appeared about Luther in the Journal Record. Thanks Oklahoma Joe!
Principal Meek also told the crowd that his students are more than willing to help the community with various projects. He was loaded up with a few needs before the evening was finished.
Superintendent Barry Gunn talked about the bond and the school district.
There was also exciting discussion about celebrating BancFirst when it opens later this Spring, perhaps with an event to feature a 5K run to benefit the volunteer fire department. Any volunteers to help? Luther Track Coach Stan Higdon along with Dr. Rosemarie Strong of the Luther Parks Commission have been proponents of having an activity like this.
Mayor Jenni White promoted Josephine's Farmers Market. Bigger and better, with a new location on Ash at Main Street, producers are sought for the market that will open in mid-April.
Advertise and support The Luther Register.
Volunteers were requested to help with the organization and planning of the Luther Pecan Festival on November 16, 2019.
There was also a plug to support The Luther Register that provides journalism to our community. Advertising, sponsorships and donations are needed to continue the work. Note, have you noticed our new advertising options and advertisers? Our rates provide you with an affordable investment to reach your audience and support community journalism. Thank you.
Supt. Gunn welcomed the group and talked about LPS and its students. He touted small class sizes, dedicated faculty and staff, and an all-in effort to educate a group of almost 850 students that he cares about. There was discussion about the recent bond issue and its failure. He said there are plans to present another bond proposal to voters and the earliest for that will be in August, but he said the projects are not yet determined and input is invited.
The evening ended with a promise to continue meeting. We held this meeting at the middle school to give a chance for the community to see some of the space issues. The middle school cafeteria project that would have included a saferoom was on the failed bond.
We are getting our dates lined out and hope to meet again in February. Who wants to host?


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File: 1506397972965.jpg (486.48 KB, 1200x908, tool.jpg)
Tool & Progressive metal thread Pris Stratton 2017/09/26 (Tue) 03:52:53 No.1224
Tool & Progressive metal thread.
Your thoughts on Tool's effect on current progressive metal and the music industry in general?
I personally think that the band brought to light a new genre and paved a path of music defined by the theme and aesthetic of Alex Grey's psychedelic and out of body art and dark / deep narratives pushed lyrically and musically. These combined created an amazing blend of emotional while still upbeat progressive metal.
They also do very well with album composition, such as the difference between Lateralus and 10000 Days. Where 10000 days covers and narrates dark and more serious themes, Lateralus covers lighter topics, and Aenima is just crazy all around. Maynard keeps such a good balance of humor and intelligence while keeping the albums melodic.
Tool is a band where you don't listen to just one song, but more so entire albums to thoroughly enjoy the work of Maynard and the band.
Although very popular and lyrically dissected by everyone, I think Stinkfist is a great song that can seen relating to a cyberpunk theme. Myself and maybe others somewhat have an addiction to the cyber world, something we need more of.
"It's not enough. I need more. Nothing seems to satisfy." and "I can help you change tired moments into pleasure. Say the word and we'll be well upon our way." we find our escapes here, away from the real world. The internet and the culture of cyberpunk shows "love" to us and changes our weary, bored moments into something meaningful or pleasurable to us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07pLGIgyfjw
What are some bands and favorite songs of yours that relate similarly to this genre or theme?
Cheshire Cat 2018/10/22 (Mon) 16:17:38 No.2272
File: 1540225058853.jpeg (14.1 KB, 474x474, apeofnaples.jpeg)
I used to hate Tool because my older brother would listen to it all the time and talk nonsense about it.
I love Tool now.
As for the other bands I would recommend Coil a lot (Ape of Naples being a must hear album)
I don't really know why they are similar but to me they are, please look up the going up song and the easter eggs behind it . Its cool
Incognito 2018/12/19 (Wed) 22:38:40 No.2343
Tool is probably a good start into Progressive Metal, especially because a ton of other bands within the same genre claim to be influenced by them. So far, I haven't had the chance to listen to much of their stuff but in what I heard, the innovative use of odd meters are especially nice to me. Tools music really sounds like the stuff you need to actually sit down and listen to with nothing else on your mind. That's a quality that not a lot of music has, even within Progressive Metal.
I can really recommend the stuff Karnivool wrote. It's not as rough of a thing as Tool but they are in my opinion unique in their way of creating layers of atmospheric sounds, at times building up to gigantic walls. "Sound Awake" is a masterpiece of an album. If that doesn't get your Prog sense tingling, "TesseracT"'s "One" is really good, too.
Luv 2019/03/12 (Tue) 17:59:03 No.2492
Not listened to tool a huge amount but i know that justin chancellor (the bassist) went to the same university as me. I think he dropped out tho lol. I would recommend Swans if you havent listened to them as they seem vaguely similarly as theyve made music resembling metal and are very progressive, as well as having albums thst feel very cinematic and seem to have a vague narrative to them. There is also a cyberpunk esque feel to some of their music, specifically on Soundtracks for the Blind
>Tool is a band where you don't listen to just one song, but more so entire albums to thoroughly enjoy the work of Maynard and the band.
This has been my approach to music in general for the last few years. I almost exclusively listen to full albums, typically whilst not doing anything else. Might be quite obsessive but i get more out of it that way i feel
Coil are one of my favourite bands and they definitely have a cyberpunk vibe to them id say, as well as throbbing gristle who are like the original cyberpunk band, or atleast one of them
Ishikawa 2019/03/12 (Tue) 19:27:02 No.2493
I've been a Swans fan for over half of my life and I would not call their music "progressive". Progressive rock usually refers to music based around lots of key changes, modulations and in general, complexity. Swans take very minimal song ideas and layer a lot of different sounds around what remain fundamentally simple structures. It isn't "metal" either. Extreme metal as we know it didn't exist when they started; it was influenced by them a few years later (check out Godflesh for instance).
> I used to hate Tool because my older brother would listen to it all the time and talk nonsense about it.
They have some of the dumbest fans of any band on the planet. Second only to Phish.
Hannibal Chew 2019/03/12 (Tue) 22:10:39 No.2494
Thanks for this post and for exposing what little i know about genre tags lol
Music really isnt my area of expertise
Also i am aware that swans arent metal which is why i said they resemble metal, would you agree with that?
In regards to godflesh, i like them and justin broadrick in general a lot. Been a fan of them for about a year now


HIFA (Healthcare Information For All) is a global social movement to improve the availability and use of healthcare information in low- and middle-income countries. It has more than 15,000 members in 175 countries (health workers, librarians, publishers, researchers, policymakers) committed to the progressive realisation of a world where every person has access to the healthcare information they need to protect their own health and the health of others. HIFA is supported by more than 270 organisations worldwide, including the BMA and WHO.
A world where every person and every health worker has access to the healthcare information they need to protect their own health and the health of others.


text:
President Trump just approved a horrible oil pipeline—again
Rafi Schwartz
On Friday morning, the White House said it would approve the permits necessary to build the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. The project had been on hold since the Obama administration rejected the pipeline's construction in November, 2015.
During the signing ceremony, President Trump praised the pipeline as "incredible," using the "greatest technology known to man or woman."
"It's a great day for American jobs," Trump exclaimed, "and a historic moment for North America and energy independence."
"When completed, the Keystone XL pipeline will span 900 miles," Trump said, adding, "wow."
The pipeline has long been a controversial project, pitting environmental advocates and activists against those who argue that Keystone will provide jobs and lower gas prices by connecting Canadian oil to American shipping lanes. However, as anti-pipeline critics have noted, the crude pumped from Canada's tar pits is particularly hazardous to the environment, and unlikely to dramatically increase job prospects in the U.S.
In announcing the pipeline's approval on Friday, the State Department said it "considered a range of factors, including, but not limited to, foreign policy; energy security; environmental, cultural and economic impacts; and compliance with applicable law and policy." Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, a former Exxon Mobil executive, recused himself from his department's work on the pipeline earlier this month.
Environmental groups wasted no time speaking out against the pipeline's approval.
"The State Department just sent a signal to the rest of the world that the United States government is moving backwards when it comes to climate and energy," Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard said in a press release. "The Trump administration may be furiously propping up an obsolete energy system at the behest of his fossil fuel cronies, but the majority of people in this country want action on climate change and want support for renewable energy."
The Sierra Club also decried the move, saying "Trump's decision betrays our children's and future Generations."
"We're living in what feels to be the worst version of Groundhog Day imaginable, as every morning we're waking up to yet another decision made by Trump that would be disastrous for our climate, our communities, and our health," the group wrote. "But Trump will not succeed. The pipeline will pollute our air and water, destroy farmers' and ranchers' property, and enrich the foreign oil barons and corporate polluters that have been stocking Trump's cabinet and pulling his strings from the get-go."
The Trump administration's approval of the Keystone XL oil pipeline comes shortly after the president gave the green light to proceed with construction on the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota. There, activists spent over a year fighting against the pipeline's construction, which they said threatened the neighboring Standing Rock Sioux native tribe's sacred lands and water.


AAI Corp., doing business as Textron Systems, Hunt Valley, Maryland, was awarded a $97,109,000 modification (P00004) to contract W58RGZ-15-C-0047 for the Shadow tactical unmanned aircraft system, tactical data link retrofit for full-rate production VII. Work will be performed in Hunt Valley, Maryland, with an estimated completion date of Oct. 31, 2018. Fiscal 2015 other procurement funds in the amount of $97,109,000 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, is the contracting activity.
Weeks Marine Inc., Covington, Kentucky, was awarded a $10,642,250 firm-fixed-price contract with options to rent one fully operated cutterhead dredge with 30-inch inside diameter pump discharge with submerged pump, attendant plant and discharge pipeline as specified. Bids were solicited via the Internet with one received. Work will be performed in New Orleans, Louisiana, with an estimated completion date of July 8, 2016. Fiscal 2014 and 2016 other procurement funds in the amount of $10,642,250 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, is the contracting activity (W912P8-16-C-0016).
Travis Association for the Blind, Austin, Texas, was awarded an $8,856,391 modification (0005) to contract W56HZV-13-D-0009 to clean and repair unserviceable, but economically repairable, organizational clothing and individual equipment. Work will be performed in Austin, Texas, with an estimated completion date of Jan. 21, 2017. Fiscal 2016 operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $8,856,391 were obligated at the time of the award. Army is the contracting activity.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc., Poway, California, has been awarded a $34,028,813 order (0014) from basic ordering agreement FA8620-15-G-4040 to develop and field the Air Force Special Operations Command MQ-9 Medium Altitude Long Endurance Tactical (MALET) Lead-Off Hitter (LOH) software line. Contractor will establish, define, and grow a process to rapidly field capabilities. Included in this effort is to address activities driving software changes such as: software defect corrections, threats, policy or doctrine driven, safety, interoperability, and software changes resulting from hardware upgrades. Work will be performed at Poway, California; Clovis, New Mexico; and Ft. Walton Beach, Florida, and is expected to be complete by Feb. 28, 2018. Fiscal 2016 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $11,898,735 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is the contracting activity.
Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, has been awarded a $21,079,949 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for critical analysis and simulation efforts. Contractor will provide advanced technology exploration, development and research into optical beam control in the presence of atmospheric turbulence to develop, simulate, analyze, and characterize beam control systems for laser propagation and laser communication. Work will be performed at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, and is expected to be complete by Jan. 23, 2021. This award is the result of a competitive acquisition with one offer received. Fiscal 2015 and 2016 research, development, test and evaluation funds in the amount of $950,962 are being obligated at the time of award. Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9451-16-C-0048).
Bethel-Webcor JV-1,* Anchorage, Alaska, is being awarded $14,989,000 for firm-fixed-price task order 0005 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract (N62478-14-D-4001) for repairs to Buildings 1604 and 1632 at Marine Corps Base Hawaii. Work includes miscellaneous structural repairs; replacement of deteriorated doors and windows; exterior and interior painting; repairs to exhaust ventilation system and air conditioning systems; repairs to hot water heating system, installation of fire suppression system and repairs to fire alarm system; and electrical repairs to include replacing all light fixtures, main electrical distribution panel, and wiring to meet arc fault protection requirements. Work will be performed in Oahu, Hawaii, and is expected to be completed by September 2017. Fiscal 2016 operation and maintenance (Marine Corps) contract funds in the amount of $14,989,000 are obligated on this award and will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Five proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii, Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, is the contracting activity.
Northrop Grumman Corp., Aerospace Systems, San Diego, California, is being awarded an $8,171,523 modification P00002 to a previously issued cost-plus-fixed-fee contract (N00019-16-C-0023) to exercise options for engines, program related engineering services, integrated logistics, and training in support of the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned aircraft system. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (90 percent); and Point Mugu, California (10 percent), and is expected to be completed in December 2016. Fiscal 2016 operation and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $8,171,523 are being obligated at time of award; all of which will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity.


text:
The Majestic Show in the Sky
Northern lights put on dazzling celestial display as solar storm blasts Earth
Shelby Lin Erdman, Cox Media Group National Content Desk
The aurora borealis are lighting up the sky this week, putting on a dazzling display for stargazers in parts of the U.S. as solar winds lash the Earth.
>> Read more trending news
Coronal eruptions on the sun are sending an intense blast of high-speed charged particles through the solar system, according to National Geographic, and that's resulting in a colorful exhibit of the northern lights over parts of the western U.S. and Canada.
"The gaseous stream is flowing from a wide hole in the sun's atmosphere, and our planet is expected to remain inside it for at least another 24 hours," Spaceweather.com reported Wednesday.
Photo: NOAA
The northern lights will be most visible from Nov. 7 to Nov. 9 with the most intense displays in the Arctic regions, but people in in the western U.S. may be able to see an amazing light show as well, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
>> Related: Dazzling Geminid meteor shower to light up the holiday season: How, when to watch
The colorful, flashing lights are caused when the sun's electrically charged particles collide with the Earth's atmosphere around the magnetic north and south poles.
An aurora on March 8, 2012 shimmering over snow-covered mountains in Faskrudsfjordur, Iceland.
Photo: Jónína Óskarsdóttir via NASA


text:
Menhart I. z Hradce ( Mainardo di Neuhaus,  Meinhard von Neuhaus, zvaný "Hergothilf"asi 1329 – po 1377) byl pražský kanovník, jenž byl v letech 1349–1360 také biskupem tridentským.

Život
Meinhard pocházel z rodu Vítkovců, z větve pánů z Hradce. Jeho rodiči byli Oldřich III. z Hradce a Markéta Korutanská. Pravděpodobně založil původní hrad Telč. Již od mládí se připravoval na duchovní službu, proto se velmi záhy stal kanovníkem v Praze. Po smrti Meinhardova otce roku 1349, bylo dědictví rozděleno mezi jeho bratry Jindřicha, Oldřicha a Heřmana.

Meinhardův otec Oldřich udržoval dobré vztahy s českým králem Janem Lucemburským i jeho synem Karlem IV. Jelikož na svém panství potíral stoupence "kacířského" valdenského hnutí, obdržel roku 1340 od papeže Benedikta XII. odpustkové privilegium pro ty své poddané, kteří jej podpoří v potírání valdenských. Po Oldřichově smrti roku 1349 král Karel IV. potvrdil práva Meinhardova i jeho bratrů.

Již v lednu 1349 zajistil Karel IV. pro tehdy asi 20letého Meinharda u papeže Klementa VI. příslib Meinhardova uchazečství na některý církevní úřad, který se uvolní. O deset měsíců později, 4. listopadu 1349, papež Meinhardovi skutečně propůjčil úřad tridentského biskupa. Současně byli kapitula, duchovní, věřící i vazalové biskupství a stejně tak i akvilejský patriarcha papežem vybídnuti, aby Meinharda v jeho biskupství přijali vlídně. Meinhard se v únoru 1350 zavázal k platbám servicií.

Meinhard se zjevně zdržoval také ve své české vlasti, kde se zasloužil o uctívání Panny Marie. Roku 1356 publikoval kartuzián Konrád z Hainburku na Meinhardovo přání oslavu Panny Marie, které se později proslavilo jako "Laus Mariae". Společně se svým bratrem Oldřichem je Meinhard za rok 1354 uveden jako patron kostelů ve Slavonicích, Stranné, Žirově a Číměře. Oba získali v roce 1358 od Martina z Mutic (Mareš z Mutic) statky ve Velešíně, Hříšicích a Strachoňovicích, které byly posléze vloženy do moravských zemských desk v Brně. Přibližně v této době také vystavěli hrad Roštejn (Rosenstein), jehož prvním purkrabím byl Martin z Mutic.

Odkazy

Reference

Literatura
 Severino Varesci: Meinhard, Freiherr von Neuhaus (* um 1329), 1349–1360 Elekt von Trient. In: Erwin Gatz: Die Bischöfe des Heiligen Römischen Reiches 1198-1448. , 782 str.

Související články
 Rodokmen pánů z Hradce

Externí odkazy
 Genealogie

Páni z Hradce
Čeští šlechtici
Tridentští biskupové
Kanovníci kapituly Všech svatých
Narození ve 14. století
Úmrtí ve 14. století
Muži

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Egypt analysts optimistic for post-Morsi economy
By Matthew Davies Business reporter, BBC News
Image caption Can the euphoria last?
Analysts are optimistic that the ousting of President Morsi may presage a brighter future for Egypt's economy.
Stocks in Cairo rose by 7% on Thursday on the news, their largest one-day percentage gain in over a year.
Traders are hoping that Egypt's prospects will improve in the absence of Mr Morsi, even though the country's battered economy remains in crisis.
Some analysts said a long-stalled loan from the IMF may now be possible, although others remained sceptical.
"The technocrats will know how to deal with institutions - they will help the country financially because they have a clear agenda," said Sebastien Henin, portfolio manager at The National Investor, an Abu Dhabi-based investment firm.
"There will be a definitive change to the business environment for international and domestic investors," he added.
However, for Dina Ahmad, a strategist at BNP Paribas, the initial optimism should not be overplayed.
"While essentially this takes Egypt back to square one and delays any chance of economic progress and an IMF deal even further, we think that ultimately it creates a window of opportunity for a more stable government to be put in place," she said.
This window of opportunity brought about by the protests that saw Mr Morsi removed from office has, at least in part, been created by the Egypt's dire economic performance over the past two years.
Image caption Egyptian unemployment remains stubbornly high
The Arab Spring revolution that removed Hosni Mubarak from power did not translate into the economic change many had hoped for.
Instead, over the past two years, political instability in Egypt has ensured that inflation and unemployment rose, while foreign investment and tourist revenues fell.
Government debt has grown from $30bn before Mr Mubarak was ousted to around $40bn today. Inflation, which two and a half years ago was 3%, now stands at between 13% and 18%. Unemployment has climbed to a record 13.2% under Mr Morsi.
Gradual change too slow
Caroline Freund from the Peterson Institute for International Economics said that after Mr Morsi came to power two years ago, he squandered the short "grace period" he had in which to implement changes that might have improved the economy, while he had the support of a newly liberated people.
"It's very typical for economies to decline in the year around transition, but what we've seen is that countries that are able to demonstrate a clear programme both politically and economically are able to rebound much more quickly than countries that do it gradually," she said.
"While gradual sounds good, gradual usually end up being gradual by default, rather than by design, which is a real problem for the economy because it leaves investors, tourists and consumers on the sidelines waiting to see where things are going."
The political instability has made it increasingly difficult for the government to raise taxes from Egypt's 80 million-strong population.
So, as Egypt's debt ballooned, Mr Morsi's government continually dipped into the country's cash reserves, which at $16bn today are less than half what they were before Mr Morsi took office.
Because he battled to raise money from his own people, tourists stopped coming and the IMF loan became stalled, Mr Morsi often relied on cash from other sources to balance the books.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia loaned at least $3bn each, Turkey put in another $1bn and Libya stumped up $2bn. And while the IMF loan of $4.8bn failed to materialise, the United States kept up its annual grant of more than $1.3bn.
But it wasn't nearly enough.
Image caption Egypt's GDP growth has fallen in recent years
In May, the United Nations said that poverty and food insecurity had escalated severely over the past three years. It estimated 17% of the population battled to put food on the table, up from 14% in 2009. In addition, the UN calculated that the malnutrition rate had risen to 31% of children under five, up from 23% in 2005.
Analysts say that under Mr Morsi, Egypt's economy went from bad to much worse and is now close to collapse. Electricity and water supplies are sporadic and in some places, even basic foods such as bread are hard to come by.
However, such a picture shouldn't detract from the fact that Egypt economy was in dire straits before the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak. Unemployment was running at 10% and a quarter of young people were out of work.
In the absence of the Muslim Brotherhood in control of the government, the willingness on the part of donors like Qatar may be in question.
Media captionEconomist Farouk Soussa says ousted President Morsi could have done more to stabilise Egypt
Also, there's no guarantee that any replacement authority will be able to prise cash out of the International Monetary Fund. Mr Morsi's government did sign the much-needed IMF's $4.8bn loan deal last November, but failed to ratify or implement it.
His reluctance to sign the deal was, in part, down to the austerity measures that were conditional on it. Taxes would have increased and, more importantly, fuel and fuel subsidies would have been cut.
Such moves would have made the government extremely unpopular and, no doubt, would have resulted in mass protests.
But by not implementing the strings that were attached to the IMF loan, the economy deteriorated further and the inevitable ousting happened anyway.
It's almost impossible to have any sort of economic stability in the face of political turmoil. By taking control, the Egyptian army may provide the degree of stability necessary to bring the donors and investors back, if only in the short-term.
Hence, the jump in Cairo's stock market. The cost of insuring financial exposure to Egypt in the Credit Default Swap (CDS) market has also fallen.
However, this initial euphoria may be short-lived - underneath the harsh economic realities remain.
Karim Shafaei is the chairman of Al Ismaelia for Real Estate Investments, a firm that refurbishes old buildings in Cairo.
He told the BBC it's almost impossible to do business under conditions of such uncertainty.
Image caption Will the optimism last this time?
"Without knowing where the laws of country are going, what form the economic policy is coming I'm unable to make investments without knowing what the risks are that I'm taking," he said.
As an example of the difficulties facing any authority that replaces Mr Morsi, analysts point to the issue of fuel subsidies.
Currently, the cost of keeping the price of fuel low gobbles up nearly 8% of the country's GDP. So, any formula implemented to permanently boost and stabilise Egypt's economy has to address this through a subsidy cut.
The trouble is, any government replacing Mr Morsi's will be only too aware that Egyptians would be more than willing to take to the streets if their lives are made any harsher.
Nonetheless, many, like Karem Shafaei, remain optimistic.
"The hope we have is that, whatever is happening now, the turmoil and the inability to do business, will result in a better society that is able to set more healthy economic policies, have more transparency politically that will allow more investors to come in and eventually see a society that flourishes."
Oil prices stable after Egypt coup
Ethiopia's tech hopefuls
Egypt under Sisi


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Katie Lobosco of CNN reports, What happens when your pension fund runs out of money:
Harry Van Alstyne and his wife Susan used to go out to dinner every Saturday night — until his pension was cut by 29% last October.
Now, they're thinking about selling their home and skipping their annual trip to Maine. They've already dipped into their savings.
This is not the retirement they planned for. After working for 30 years as a truck driver for UPS, Van Alstyne was promised $5,141 a month by the The New York State Teamsters Conference Pension and Retirement Fund.
"I hated the job from day one, but I stayed with it because I was promised a secure pension," said Van Alstyne, now 64.
When he retired in 2006, he was receiving his full pension. But the fund was hit hard during the financial crisis and never fully recovered. A 2016 report projected it would run out of money as soon as 2026.
To save it from going bust, the fund cut current retirees' benefits last year by 29%.
Van Alstyne's pension fell to $3,650 a month.
He is one of the first Americans whose pension benefit was cut after retiring.
Until now, cash-strapped plans have survived by reducing future retirees' benefits and asking employers to contribute more money.
Most at-risk funds are private multi-employer pension funds like Van Alstyne's that were negotiated by unions. These funds had a harder time bouncing back after the recession because many of their workers were part of declining industries, like manufacturing.
Some struggling employers have negotiated ways to exit the plans, or they went bankrupt, leaving remaining employers to cover unfunded liabilities.
"Understandably, the remaining employers left holding the bag haven't always been willing or able to pick up the slack," said JP Aubry, director of state and local research at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
Currently, $76 billion is needed to shore up the multi-employer funds on the brink of insolvency, according to a report Aubry co-authored.
To help alleviate the problem, employers have put in more money and current workers have agreed to future cuts. A law passed by Congress in 2014 allowed some funds to reduce benefits for current retirees for the first time.
But it still hasn't been enough to make up for the shortfall for some of the funds.
Just four multi-employer pension funds have cut benefits to date, including the New York Teamsters. Some benefit reduction plans were rejected because the government found that they didn't go far enough to save the fund.
"Whatever you think of the law, it's not cutting it. There has to be another solution," Aubry said.
The question is: Who is going to pay for it?
Some proposals call for the government to provide struggling plans with subsidized loans. A bipartisan Congressional committee has been formed and charged with coming up with a plan by November.
Meanwhile, Van Alstyne and other Teamsters remain hopeful new legislation will reverse their cuts.
"When my wife and I were young and just starting out, we struggled to make a good life for ourselves. I was proud of what we accomplished. Now that we have retired, we are right back where we started — but this time we are struggling to keep what we worked so hard to achieve," he said.
I feel for Mr. Van Alstyne and his wife. He worked 30 years as a truck driver for UPS and they both thought they could count on his Teamsters pension which was a little over $5,000 a month, no small chunk of change by any pension standard.
But the 2008 financial crisis exposed how poorly governed all these US multi-employer pension funds were and in October 2015, Teamsters' Pension Fund told its members to prepare for big cuts.
I covered all of this, nothing new to me, the Teamsters' Pension Fund and other multi-employer pension funds were a disaster waiting to happen.
And look how important timing is. My mother's uncle left Greece at a relatively young age and worked as a truck driver in the US for many years. He and his wife returned to Greece during their golden years and enjoyed a great retirement based on his secure pension. They didn't live through a Great Depression or 2008 financial crisis during these years. They were lucky, his pension was never cut.
This I why I have been a vocal supporter of enhancing the Canada Pension Plan and think US Social Security needs to adopt the same governance and independent asset management model as we have in Canada. Despite the naysayers, CPP is a great deal for Canadians.
US multi-employer pension plans are a disaster. And the solutions to their problems range from cuts to benefits to the nuclear option, the Mother of US pension bailouts which I discussed last November. I'm serious, the US pension system has gotten so bad, Congress is actually planning for its failure.
But truth be told, the problem with all these pension plans is they weren't conceived properly to begin with and they definitely weren't managed properly. Unions promised their members generous pensions they knew were unsustainable and they did a lousy job managing these pensions, doling out huge fees to Wall Street sharks which delivered mediocre long-term results.
My best advice to Teamsters' Pension Fund is to contact OPTrust's CEO Hugh O"Reilly and ask him about their innovative new pension initiative. Unfortunately, this isn't available to US members yet but if it was, I'd tell Teamsters worried about their pension to JUMP on it! (alternatively, the time for Amazon Pensions has come!!).
The underlying problem with all these US multi-employer pension funds is lack of governance and until you tackle this and introduce some form of a shared risk model, these pensions will only get worse. You can throw all the money in the world at this problem but if you don't address governance and shared risk, they're all going to run out of money one day.
By the way, this is an important lesson for all of you who think your defined-benefit pension is safe and secure. Even if your pension is managed by Ontario Teachers', HOOPP, OPTrust and other fully-funded pensions, I want you to cut your debt and save your money for your golden years because there are no guarantees.
This is especially true if you're getting ready to collect a pension from a US mutli-employer plan or even a public pension from Illinois, Kentucky and other American pension shitholes.
I've been warning all of you, there is a huge storm headed our way, and I'm not talking about Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump. That's an ongoing farce compared to the storm I'm worried about.
"Oh Leo, stop being such a melodramatic pessimist! The world is beautiful, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators has addressed the big myth of America's pension crisis."
Well, all I can say is maybe the situation isn't as dire as the naysayers claim but NASRA is still smoking some hopium if it thinks 7% or 8% is an achievable bogey going forward.
This morning, I listened to Warren Buffett, Charlie Munger and Bill Gates on CNBC. It was mostly a waste of time but I couldn't agree more with Bill Gates when he said the "risk-free nominal rate on the 10-year Treasury is hovering around 3% so in order to attain 8%, these public pensions are going to need to take on a lot more risk".
Of course, Gates didn't say it explicitly but I could tell he thinks the return assumptions at these US public pensions are still unrealistic and expose them to huge downside risks.
And remember what I keep telling you, pensions are all about managing assets and liabiities. Pensions' funded status are path dependent, when they're already chronically underfunded and taking on bigger and bigger risks to make up that shortfall, they expose their plans to big downside risks and if something goes wrong, they will never recover without taking drastic measures.
What are these drastic measures? Huge cuts in benefits, huge increases in the contribution rate, huge increases in property taxes and/ or a combination of all three.
"This can never happen in the USA". Open your eyes, it's already happening with multi-employer plans and we're one major financial crisis away from it happening at many US public pension plans that are already past the point of no return.
"Yeah but Leo, this is the US, not Greece, we can solve this problem easily by printing more money." True, the US isn't Greece where pensioners across the private and public sector took a massive haircut, it can print the world's reserve currency and try to inflate its way out of mounting debts but that comes at a cost. More debt to pay pensions means less money to pay for other public services.
Lastly, since I'm discussing US pensions running out of money, I want to bring to your attention a comment Mark Miller of Reuters wrote, Low income shortens lives, putting Social Security in a bind:
Americans are all living longer, so it only makes sense to push back the eligibility age for Social Security - right?
Pushing back the age when workers can claim their full benefit may sound like the fair thing to do in a era of rising longevity - and it would help fix Social Security's long-range financial imbalance.
But this easy-sounding fix masks two crucial problems. It makes a higher retirement age sound painless - when it actually would cut everyone's benefits by moving back the goal posts on when you can claim full benefits. Just as important, a higher retirement age would be especially unfair to lower-income workers.
Average longevity has been rising in the United States, but all of the gains have been experienced in higher-income households. A number of studies have reached this conclusion in recent years - but now comes a report from the horse's mouth, so to speak - the actuaries at the Social Security Administration.
By using mortality and earnings data from the agency's massive database on American workers, this report confirms that lifetime earnings have a profound impact on longevity. The findings should help put the brakes on any proposal to solve Social Security's long-range financial imbalance by lifting retirement ages.
The study examines five income segments (quintiles) using Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME), a Social Security measure that averages your top 35 years of earnings when you reach age 60, indexed to reflect average wage growth in the economy. The SSA actuaries compared mortality (death rates) by sex and age. They found lower mortality (death rates) for retired worker beneficiaries with higher-than-average AIME levels, and higher death rates for retired-worker beneficiaries with lower-than-average AIME levels.
The differences are expressed as mortality ratios. An AIME mortality of 1.00 means death rates for a given group were equal to the group as a whole; ratios lower than that number indicate lower mortality, while higher numbers indicate - well, earlier curtains.
Just one example of how this plays out: in 2015, retired men age 62-64 in the highest income quintile had a ratio of 0.52, while those in the lowest income quintile had a ratio of 1.77. The comparable figures for women were not much different - 0.73 for the highest income quintile, and 1.54 for the lowest.
A BENEFIT CUT - NO MATTER WHEN YOU RETIRE
Yet rising longevity is cited routinely as a justification for raising the Social Security full retirement age (FRA). Consider, for example, the Republican-sponsored Social Security Reform Act of 2016. It repeatedly references rising longevity, and a cornerstone element would gradually raise the FRA to 69.
Two years might not sound like much - but recall that we already have raised the FRA as part of the last set of Social Security reforms, enacted in 1983. At the time, Social Security faced a real crisis, with the program due to run out of funds within 18 months. The 1983 reforms gradually raised the FRA from 65 to 67 for workers born in 1960 or later.
Make no mistake - a higher FRA is a benefit cut, no matter when you retire. To understand how that occurs, it is helpful to take a quick refresher on how the timing of your claim affects benefits.
To determine your benefit amount, the SSA starts by translating your AIME into something called the primary insurance amount (PIA). This is a weighted formula that gives a higher benefit relative to career earnings for a lower earner than for a high earner - a bit like income tax brackets. You receive 90 percent of AIME for the first segment (up to $895 for 2018), 32 percent for the second bracket (up to $5,397) and 15 percent for any amount of remaining AIME.
If you wait until the full retirement age (currently 66), you would receive 100 percent of PIA. If you start at 62 (the earliest opportunity), you will receive a reduced benefit for the rest of your life - 25 percent lower. By waiting until after full retirement age (66), you would get the delayed retirement credit, which is 8 percent for each 12-month period that you delay. The credits are available until age 70.
But raising the FRA reduces benefits no matter when you claim. How does this play out? A 2015 report by a group of policy experts for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) expresses it simply: If we raised the FRA from 67 to 70, a worker claiming benefits at age 67 would receive 100 percent of PIA before the reform, but 80 percent afterward - in other words, it is a 20 percent benefit cut.
How about workers with higher mortality rates?
The NAS study examined the impact of the changing gap in life expectancy by income over time, comparing workers born in 1930 and 1960. The researchers found that raising the FRA to 70 would fall disproportionately on lower-income workers. For men born in 1930, lifetime benefits would fall by 25 percent ($31,000) for the lowest-income workers, and 22 percent for the highest-income group ($50,000).
One solution is to revise the Social Security bend points to restore lost benefits to lower-income workers. But whatever solutions are considered should push beyond all the loose talk about averages.
I asked two of Canada's best (now retired) actuaries to give me their thoughts on this article. Bernard Dussault, Canada's former Chief Actuary, shared this with me:
Actuaries have for a long time been well aware of the longer longevity of higher income people (and vice versa). However, that inequity could well, and possibly should, be addressed in a national pension scheme by reducing lower income contributors' contributions or increasing their benefit amount, which should provide reasonable legitimacy to any longevity increase-related increase in the full retirement age (FRA), i.e. retirement pension commencement age at which benefits are not reduced or increased.
And Malcolm Hamilton who worked as a senior actuary at Mercer before retiring shared this:
As Bernard says, the fact that low income workers have shorter life expectancies has been known since I was a child - probably longer.
What, if anything, can or should be done about this?
The fact that there is a link between low income and high mortality does not mean that one causes the other. When I studied statistics 50 years ago the professor pointed to a link between the incidence of drowning and the consumption of ice cream. Both increase in the summer. Warm weather influences both the incidence of drowning and the consumption of ice cream, but neither causes the other.
There are many behaviors that correlate with both income and poor mortality - smoking for example, although less so now that smoking has become so expensive. Should smokers get a better deal? Maybe, but don't hold your breath!
Defined benefit pension plans tolerate many inequities. Women live longer than men. Everyone knows this. No one suggests that men should have larger pensions or smaller contributions due to their shorter life expectancies. Would we feel differently if men lived longer than women? Probably, but not for any good reason.
The author makes one point that is very important. Increasing the age at which unreduced pensions are payable (the eligibility age) is simply a way to cut benefits without admitting that this is what we have done. Governments love increasing eligibility ages and blaming the public for living so long. In fact, Social Security programs have long made provision for mortality improvement in their projections. Consequently, they can be sustained without dramatic contribution increases or benefit reductions. The reason that governments want to increase eligibility ages is not the rising cost of public pensions, it is the loss of tax revenue when well-paid employees become less-well-paid pensioners. Governments can afford to let citizens retire, but perhaps they cannot afford to let them stop working as population aging ratchets up the cost of medical care.
Understandably, governments don't want to admit this.
Great insights from two of Canada's best actuaries. I did however mention to Malcolm that while women live longer than men, they definitely (on average) receive less pension benefits over their lifetime for all sorts of reasons, chief among them, they still don't get equal pay for equal work (here I mean equal responsibilities).
Below, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Vice Chairman Charlie Munger and Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates speak to CNBC's Becky Quick about some of their personal investments.
Listen to what Gates says about what he expects in terms of returns, he's spot on (update: sorry, CNBC didn't provide the beginning where Gates talked about what investors can expect in terms of returns).


The benefits of electronically collecting data directly from clinical trial participants are well documented, and include higher-quality data, reduced data management and monitoring effort, and increased patient engagement. However, many researchers have yet to make the transition from paper to electronic in this area. This webinar is designed to help researchers bridge this gap and develop a successful eCOA strategy by looking at available technology, regulatory requirements, and procedural changes that commonly come with this transition.
Please fill out the form to download our webinar "Getting Started with ePRO/eCOA".


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Many people become overwhelmed and frustrated by the different Medicare parts and all the red tape that seems to accompany them. However, understanding the different types of Medicare coverage is fairly simple when it is broken down into smaller sections. Let's concentrate for a moment on Medicare Part A. Part A coverage is focused solely on insurance for hospital (or similar facilities) stays. It is often referred to as hospital insurance, but it can cover stays in skilled nursing facilities, hospice services, and home health care as well as inpatient hospital time.
Hospital inpatient care is defined as starting when a doctor admits you to the hospital with a formal order. This means that you could spend the day or overnight in a hospital (such as when you go to the emergency room and are undergoing tests) without actually having inpatient status. Hospital inpatient care coverage in Part A also applies to inpatient rehabilitation facilities, critical access hospitals, and long-term care hospitals.
These facilities are places where they have the skilled nursing staff, equipment, and services to offer medical or rehabilitative services. This is not referencing long-term care or custodial care, such as caring for personal hygiene such as bathing and dressing.
Hospice involves a team of people to provide for a variety of the needs (medical, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual) of terminally ill patients.
Medicare Part A only covers a portion of home health care services and only when they are specifically ordered by your doctor.
Some people need medical care services, but their religious beliefs prevent them being admitted to hospitals or being treated with traditional medicines. Part A coverage can be used at some religious nonmedical facilities that provide nonmedical healthcare items.
No matter what facility is providing your care, it is very important that you ascertain whether or not you are labeled as inpatient or outpatient status. This label will determine what you have to pay and what is covered by Part A insurance.
The good news is that for most people, Part A benefits are free once you turn 65 years of age. This is because most people have been working during their adult lives and paying into the Medicare system. Paying Medicare taxes throughout your career makes you eligible for "premium free Part A." Essentially, you have already paid the premiums prior to taking advantage of the benefits. In order to receive premium-free Part A, you must still enroll in the program once eligible.
However, there are some people who are not eligible for premium free Part A. These individuals may be able to get the coverage by paying a monthly premium, just like paying for insurance. There are certain conditions you must meet in order to purchase Part A coverage.
These conditions include citizenship and residency requirements. In addition, you should be enrolled (or in the process of enrolling) in Medicare Part B coverage if you are 65 or older. You can also buy Part A coverage when you are not yet 65 if you are disabled and have lost your premium-free Part A as a result of returning to work. This should not happen until eight and a half years after returning to work, as you are eligible for the premium-free coverage during this period.
For people who are restricted to a limited income or have fewer financial resources, your state of residency may help you pay Medicare Part A and B premiums if you need to buy this coverage. Medicare savings programs are available by state to help with Medicare premiums, deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments if you meet the conditions.
In 2012, the monthly premium for Medicare Part A coverage is $451, but most people receive either premium-free coverage or help from state programs with the cost.
Most people will want to enroll in Medicare Part A as soon as they become eligible. For people who are not disabled, eligibility begins at age 65. You may sign up for Part A coverage during the initial enrollment period, which is a seven month period where your 65th birthday month falls in the middle. This means that you can enroll in Part A during the three months prior to the month of your 65th birthday, the month of your birthday, and the three months following the month of your birthday.
If you have missed your initial enrollment period, you can enroll in Medicare Part A between January 1 and March 31 each year (General Enrollment Period).
Note: If you are not eligible for premium-free coverage and you do not enroll until after your initial enrollment period, your premiums may be ten percent more expensive than if you had enrolled when first eligible. This higher premium amount will apply to the number of years between your eligibility and the time when you actually signed up times two. For instance, if you wait five years after you become eligible, you will have to pay a 10% higher premium for ten years.
What is Not Covered by Medicare Part A?


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Metro Machine Works, Inc.
Custom Machining, Production Machining, WaterJet Cutting, Plasma and Torch Burning, Columbia, South Carolina
Manual & CNC Machining
Plasma & Oxy Fuel Cutting
Fabrication & Welding
Plasma cutting is a process that cuts through electrically conductive materials by means of an accelerated jet of hot plasma. Typical materials cut by this process include steel, aluminum, brass and copper though other conductive metals may be cut as well. Plasma cutting is often used in fabrication and welding shops, automotive repair and restoration, industrial construction, salvage and scrapping operations. Due to the high speed, precision cuts, combined with low cost of operation, plasma cutting sees a widespread usage from large scale industrial CNC applications down to small hobbyist shops.
The basic plasma cutting process involves creating an electrical channel of ionized gas i.e. plasma from the plasma cutter itself, through the work piece to be cut, thus forming a completed electric circuit back to the plasma cutter via a grounding clamp. This is accomplished by a compressed gas (oxygen, air, inert and others depending on material being cut) which is blown through a focused nozzle at high speed toward the work piece. An electrical arc is then formed within the gas, between an electrode near or integrated into the gas nozzle and the work piece itself. The electrical arc ionizes some of the gas, thereby creating an electrically conductive channel of plasma. As electricity from the cutter torch travels down this plasma it delivers sufficient heat to melt through the work piece. At the same time, much of the high velocity plasma and compressed gas blow the hot molten metal away, thereby separating i.e. cutting through the work piece.
As with other machine tools, CNC (computer numerical control) technology was applied to plasma cutting machines in the late 1980s into the 1990s, giving plasma cutting machines greater flexibility to cut diverse shapes "on demand" based on a set of instructions that were programmed into the machine's numerical control. These CNC plasma cutting machines were, however, generally limited to cutting patterns and parts in flat sheets of steel, using only two axes of motion (referred to as X Y cutting).
Our 96" x 240" 200 amp Plasma table can cut Carbon Steel up to a ½" in thickness.
Oxy-fuel cutting uses a combination of fuel gases and oxygen to cut metals. A variety of different fuels may be utilized, although the most common is acetylene. Other gases utilized include natural gas, propane, hydrogen, propylene, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and combinations of these gases. Oxy-fuel cutting begins by using a torch to heat a metal to its kindling temperature. This is the lowest temperature at which the metal in question will spontaneously ignite. At this point, a stream of oxygen is trained onto the metal, in turn burning it into a metal oxide. This new metal oxide then flows out and away from the intact material being utilized. Any leftover slag can be wiped or tapped away. It's actually the heat produced by the metal oxide and its contact with the rest of the material, which actively continues the cutting process. The torch itself only heats the metal to begin the process.
Our Oxy-fuel torch cutter is integrated into the 96" x 240" Plasma table and will cut Carbon Steel up to 4" in thickness.
Metro Machine Works, Inc
1735 Smith Drive
E: mail@metromachine.us
Metro Machine Works, Inc. is a small family run business established in 1985. Starting out with just a couple of manual mills and lathes, Metro Machine Works, Inc. catered mostly to the maintenance industry from the beginning before slowly branching out into CNC mills and lathes and then into metal cutting and fabrication until finally becoming the one-stop job shop it is today.
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MICHIGAN CITY, Ind. (April 10, 2019) – Sullair, an industry leader in innovative compressed air solutions since 1965, is working to inspire the next generation to explore career paths in science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM). Sullair is the first company in LaPorte County to team up with Edge Factor, a resource for educators providing teaching resources for students, to introduce local 3rd-12th graders to career opportunities in industrial settings.
Sullair will highlight five careers found at the Michigan City campus with interviews from current employees working in product management, engineering, human resources, purchasing and assembly. One interview will also introduce students to the Sullair internship program available to college students. Each career path will feature five short touchpoint videos detailing what each position is, how it relates to STEAM and what it's like to work at Sullair.
STEAM education has become part of the regular curriculum for many school districts as a way to help students learn how to think critically — a crucial skill to working in these career paths. Careers in STEAM are widely viewed as a means to boost innovation and bolster national economies.
The videos will be available to local educators who have a subscription to EdgeFactor.com. Edge Factor empowers communities with story-driven tools to tackle workforce development, inspire students, reach parents, and build relationships between local schools and businesses.
To learn more about Edge Factor and how to subscribe, visit www.edgefactor.com.