Regulatory authorities have confirmed that Mr Ibbotson, from Crowle, North Lincolnshire, did not hold a "night rating" on his UK private pilot's licence, the BBC understands.
His UK licence was mirrored by a US pilot's licence - enabling him to fly the US-registered Piper Malibu in Europe.
The public record of his Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) licence states Mr Ibbotson "must have available glasses for near vision" and that "all limitations and restrictions on the United Kingdom pilot licence apply".
But sources have told BBC Wales that Mr Ibbotson's licence restricted him to "flights by day only".
An aviation source told BBC Wales that the ability to be able to differentiate between green and red lights is "key" to flying in the dark.
"Anything that's on the UK licence applies to the US licence as well, so he couldn't do anything more than the UK licence allows.
European aviation rules define night as "the time from half an hour after sunset until half an hour before sunrise".
As the aircraft was US-registered, pilot and passenger must have a "common purpose" for making the journey, and the pilot must dictate when a flight leaves.
The report adds that the flight "must not be made for the purpose of merely transporting the passenger".
Sala's body was recovered from the wreckage of the plane in early February but Mr Ibbotson's body has not been found.
In their preliminary report, the AAIB said that because Mr Ibbotson's pilot licence and log book had been lost in the crash, it had not yet been able to establish what ratings he held or how many hours he had flown recently - although it was known he had completed approximately 3,700 flying hours.


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Coronavirus: Charities at greater risk due to public sector contracts, research shows
By Lauren Weymouth 25/03/20
Charities are at greater risk amid the coronavirus pandemic than 'currently understood' because they subside public sector contracts, research has revealed.
Research conducted by think tank NPC revealed the majority of charities with public sector contracts (54%) cross-subsidise those contracts with funding from other sources, such as the public and fundraising events.
Over half of those surveyed (59%) said they cross-subsidise their public sector contract with other sources of income, which poses risks to delivery as fundraising, trading and investment income all fall over the coming weeks, NPC said.
The findings follow figures released by the NCVO and other sector leaders, which revealed over £4.3bn could be wiped from the sector over the next 12 weeks as the coronavirus pandemic escalates.
"This may mean charities are unable to deliver them, vital services fail, or government funding is placed under more pressure as it has to find a short notice new provider," the think tank said.
The organisation released the figures ahead of the State of the Sector 2020 report, in a bid to help funders and charities understand the underlying issues in the charity sector, and to shape how government and funders target their support to charities.
Other key findings from the report show leaders have been doing more in almost every area than they were in 2017, which may have led to limited resources when the crisis hit.
It said 83% of charities were delivering services or products in 2017, compared to 89% in 2019/20.
Meanwhile charities' confidence in their ability to use digital technology has dropped since 2017, from 70% down to 59%.
"This may leave them struggling to shift services online to reach isolated people during quarantine and social isolation," NPC said.
The research also revealed less than half (47%) of charities believed independent funders offered the 'flexible core funding', which could be vital to keeping them afloat in the crisis.
"Charities are mobilising to help thousands of people across the country but they are also crying out for more help and support. Their income is collapsing just as people's need to use them starts to grow," NPC CEO Dan Corry said.
"Our research reveals some underlying problems in the sector, which the crisis will undoubtedly exacerbate.
"The response both from policymakers and the sector to the crisis needs to take this pre-existing weaknesses into account, and make sure issues like the lack of core funding, the weaknesses on using digital technology and the cross subsidy of contracts are not overlooked, or we could see charities fail and thousands of vulnerable people put at risk."
Coronavirus: Over 100 MPs sign letter to chancellor asking for emergency charity funding
Coronavirus: Regulator updates guidance to include details on finances and reserves

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As a sports journalist, I have (unsurprisingly) always been fascinated by sports stories. Whether it's learning more about high-profile events or athletes, or discovering lesser-known tales, there is never a shortage of remarkable stories shaped and inspired by sport.
The boxing book of all boxing books. McRae – a South African writer and lifelong boxing fan – covers all dimensions of the sometimes glamorous, often murky world of the fight game. Told through the eyes of some of the world's biggest fighters from the 1990s, it is McRae's enduring friendship with one-time superstar James Toney that is the book's highlight.
This is the astonishing tale of Joe Rantz and the University of Washington rowing crew, who would go on to represent the US at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. Parallel backstories are told: one of the Washington crew, the other the rise of Nazi Germany. This is a riveting, inspiring tale that exemplifies the power sport can have – both for good and evil.
The second of two boxing books on this list, The Fight is Norman Mailer's masterful account of the Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Kinshasa, Zaire. A pioneer of New Journalism, Mailer's stylistic telling of the build-up and fight action is one of the finest pieces of sports journalism ever written.
Unlike boxing, tennis doesn't often make for the best stories. Except for Andre Agassi's remarkable autobiography Open. Agassi was one of the defining players of the '90s and did more to evolve the game than arguably any player of his era. However, Open reveals a man in deep conflict: Agassi hates the game he was forced to master but relies on it for purpose.
Perhaps the most famous football autobiography ever wasn't written by a superstar player. Fever Pitch details how football and Arsenal in particular became interwoven into all aspects of Hornby's life, which is measured not in years but in football seasons. Hilarious and bittersweet, Fever Pitch is the book all dedicated football fans wish they could write.


1. First your product (Bitcoin) grows at least 1% per day or more - is there another affiliate -home business that does this? I don't think so.
2. What happens in a traditional affiliate home business if you start, however, you don't talk to anyone, communicate with anyone, or don't advertise? Well there is a pretty darn good bet at the end of 90 days you probably didn't generate even a dime. Well in this program under the same circumstances you would have made at least 90% of the value in BitCoins you started with.
3. What happens in a traditional affiliate home business when you work hard to signup a new person and get them to order? Yeah you made money awesome. However, in the majority of cases they don't reorder on a regular basis or they may never order again. Boo - not so good. Well let's look at this program - everyday whether they recruit anyone or not they make 1% of their original BTC- bitcoin purchase everyday.
Now as of today Jun 15, 2017 if you could have started on May 15th, and had come in with one BTC - BitCoin you would have made $596.25 or 32.6% just on the Bitcoin being worth that much more than a month ago. In addition you would have made an additional 30% - 30% = 1% x 30 days. This is all even if you hadn't lifted a finger and recruited anyone. We haven't even talked about the great additional money to be made by bringing in others.
5. Question for you- How much easier is it to recruit someone when they know they can make money even if they don't recruit anyone?
6. There is no monthly fee or purchase requirement like virtually all other programs. The only repurchase requirement is to repurchase your plan again in 150 days or less to continue earning 1% per day. See item 3 above.
7. You're involved with a product with huge upside - Heck if you'd purchased as little as $1000 in BTC in 2009 it would be worth over $4,000,000 dollars today.
8. Reason 8 is the duplication factor. In a traditional affiliate network marketing business the goal is to get duplication, however, because of a number of various factors duplication only occurs in a small percentage of people. Well we're already seeing something much different here. I've seen in a traditional affiliate home business typically only 5 - 10% even refer one person. I anticipate over time we will see over 80% of people referring at least a couple people.
9. Reason 9 I call the upgrade factor - with the traditional affiliate network marketing business, not all but most people are oriented toward how little can they spend each month and earn commissions. However, what we're seeing early on is that most people are upgrading and spending more because their bitcoin value grows faster, which tends to make you more money in bitcoins.
10. Reason 10 - This is the Big Kauna - Other similar businesses with Bitcoins have come out recently. There is no doubt in my mind that BTC - BitCoins are the business of the future - there will be people that become incredibly wealthy with Bitcoins. That being said there will be companies/people of questionable character trying to take advantage of people with various schemes. In fact we have already seen it.
So why CoinXL - you have the opportunity to make as we said above 1% per day - easily outperforming virtually any other option, you name it. However, it doesn't matter what someone says they are going to pay if they can't pay it. If they can pay it, which we will see is possible next, than who would want 5% or 10% or even 20% gains in a year if over 365% was possible?
Here's where CoinXL is different - they have spent over 2 years and millions of dollars developing a S/W Trading Program Algorithm. It can perform up to 30,000 trades per minute. Automated S/W will easily outperform other forms of manual trading.
In fact while testing their platform they turned $3000 into $1 million in 10 weeks with this proprietary S/W algorithm.
However, here's what really sets CoinXL apart as special- They will be publishing once a week a snapshot of all their daily trading activities. There will be no quessing or uncertainity. You will be able to judge for yourself, to essentially "look at their books" so to speak, looking at the health of the company.
You should then be able to approach anyone with confidence that you have the very best home business opportunity available today. Bar none.
Contact us below to find out all we do to benefit you when you signup with us, things like helping you enroll people. Plus it's pretty obvious people we are enrolling will have to go down under others in the matrix. They might as well be under you as someone else.
CoinXL and BTC Bitcoins Blog - Click Here!
To Contact us to get positioned with CoinXL Click Here!
Click Here to Get registered in a prime position prior to laumch.


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March 11, 2019 Entertainment
Calling all music lovers: we've rounded up the best of the best live music in NELA this month. You're welcome!
Calling all music lovers! Northeast Los Angeles always comes correct when it comes to live music, and our idyllic eastside corner of Los Angeles is home to a variety of shows featuring local and far-flung musicians, bands, and DJ's. With that in mind, we've rounded up the best of the best live music this month. Whether you're into indie rock, old school R&B, lo-fi jam bands, or something funky in between, we've got something for everyone. Grab your tickets to these events now, because they're sure to sell out quick. See you on the dance floor!
Crumb at Lodge Room (Highland Park) Crumb is a Brooklyn-based four-piece psych-pop band making intoxicating music for trippy days and restless nights. Their chilled-out sound is tinged with synths and notes of jazz, and their lovely, looping melodies will stay lodged in your brain long after you hear them. The lo-fi group is currently on a country-wide tour and in the midst of recording their first full-length album. Groove to their ambient, atmospheric sound on 3/19 at the Lodge Room (104 North Avenue 56). Tickets for this all-ages event are just $16. Doors are at 8PM. Get your tickets here.
Green Leaf Rustlers at Lodge Room (Highland Park) "From the sage, smoke, and mists of Marin come your local purveyors of Cosmic Cali country music, playing the dusty country classics of your dreams." The Green Leaf Rustlers is made up of former Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson's orbital pull – his influence has drawn together a merry band of all star musicians and cosmic rangers, including multi-instrumentalist Barry Sless (David Nelson Band), bassist Pete Sears (Jefferson Starship, David Nelson Band), drummer John Molo (Phil Lesh Quintet, Bruce Hornsby & The Range) and guitarist Greg Loiacono (The Mother Hips). They describe themselves as "a down to earth all-star rock and roll band that'll put your head in the stars." They're playing Highland Park's historic Lodge Room (104 North Avenue 56) on 3/23, and tickets for this all ages show are going for just $30. Grab yours here.
BIGGIE: The Birthday Party at Los Globos (Silver Lake)
Silver Lake's legendary Los Globos (3040 Sunset Blvd) is serving up hip hop straight outta Brooklyn on Thursday 3/14, in honor of Biggie's birthday. It'll be an East Coast dance party filled with plenty of West Coast love, and the good vibes will be strong all night long. With DJ's playing all the hits straight from the streets of NYC, this is one dance party you won't wanna miss – plus what else do you have to do on a Thursday night? FREE ADMISSION until 11PM when you RSVP here. Doors at 10PM.
Friends with Benefits at Los Globos (Silver Lake)
Friends with Benefits is a beloved R&B inspired party held at Los Globos (3040 Sunset Blvd). Join them this Friday 3/15 for their one year anniversary party! They're going to be playing all R&B jams, throwback hip hop hits, and your favorite 90's and early 00's songs all night long. They're going to have six different DJ's, and plenty of room for you and your friends to turn up and get down. Bottle service is available. Dress to impress (guys, we're talking to you)! Follow them on Instagram here for a change to win a free bottle of champagne. Doors open at 10PM and entrance is FREE with RSVP before midnight. $10 with RSVP after midnight. RSVP here.
Hot Flash Heat Wave at The Echo (Echo Park)
Hot Flash Heat Wave is an Bay Area based band whose sound has been described as "surfer pop meets post punk meets dream pop." The band met in high school and has been heating up the lo-fi indie scene ever since, releasing their third album, Mood Ring, on 2/15. Catch their smooth sounds, accompanied by Boyo and Diners, at The Echo (1822 W Sunset Blvd) on 3/22 at 5:30PM. Tickets for this all ages show are $13 in advance, and $16 at the door. Grab your tickets here.
I Want To Believe at the Echoplex (Echo Park)
You guessed it – it's a X Files themed dance party! If you're a fan of the show, don't miss this otherworldly event at the Echoplex (1154 Glendale Blvd) on 3/29. This 21 and over night will feature art installations by Mason Rothschild, photo booths and professional photo ops, and alien-approved music selections to keep you grooving all night long from DJ Brian Tarney of Restless Nites and DJ Olive Kimoto (NTS Radio, Heaven or Los Angeles). Costumes are HIGHLY encouraged – bring your FBI badges and flashlights, or shed your human skin to reveal the reptilian beneath and prepare to be abducted! $9 presale tickets, $14 early bird tickets, and $19 the day of show. Get your tickets here.
Mija at the Echo (Echo Park)
Mija is an Arizona-born DJ and musician who rose to acclaim thanks to a chance meeting with Skrillex. But EDM's former poster child has reinvented herself as a raw pop singer with the release of last year's EP, "HOW TO MEASURE THE DISTANCE BETWEEN LOVERS." Now she's embarking on a tour to show off her multi-faceted creative persona – catch her live at the Echo (1822 W Sunset Blvd) on 3/27, with doors at 8PM. Grab tickets here.
Perfection March Residency at the Echoplex (Echo Park)
Patrick Nolan and Perfection is the brainchild of Patrick Nolan (formerly of Meatbodies and Walter), who is joined by an all-star group of locals including guitarist-synth player Misha Lindes (SadGirl), drummer Erik Jimenez (Together Pangea) and backing vocalist Zoe Lambert (No Parents), along with Douglas Lamothe (keys), Elliott Bultard (bass) and Kelsey Rubenstein (vocals, percussion). The group has an undeniably electrifying energy on stage, and you'll have a hard time not grooving to their soul-tinged garage-rock jams that often unfold like a lo-fi homage to Bowie. They're playing a monthlong Monday night Residency at the Echoplex (1154 Glendale Blvd) starting tonight at 8:30PM, so you have three chances to catch these familiar faces – don't miss out. The shows are free, but be sure to RSVP here to secure your spot.
Alison Green
Alison Green is a writer, editor, and Jonathan Gold enthusiast living in Los Angeles. She is short and clever, just like her bio.
concertsdanceechoplexeventsfungroovehappening in highland parkhighland parkhiphlplive musicLodge Roomlos globosmusicmusic eventsnelanela lovenortheast lanortheast los angelesround upshowsthe echothe hi hat


To be able to express themselves in different contexts and for a variety of purposes and audiences.
To encourage independence in writing, balancing the purpose and function with the need to develop conventional organisation.
To become aware of the writing process from ideas through to completion, being able to assess their own efforts and improve them through drafting, sharing, refining and editing, including using ICT.
To find interest and lasting enjoyment in their own creative ability and that of others.
To extend and develop their creative abilities by experimenting with a range of genres, poetry and language conventions.
To present written information effectively through developing fluent, joined and legible handwriting, and using ICT.
To recognise and use the terminology of grammar as defined in the National Curriculum.
To develop an understanding of phonemic, morphemic, etymological principles to aid accurate spelling.
Children become competent in communicating through writing, by experiencing writing in a variety of forms, for a range of purposes and for different audiences. The conventions of the written language, including Standard English are taught through the 'Talk for Writing' approach and children should write with confidence, accuracy and enthusiasm. Teaching of writing should include the teacher demonstrating writing skills and children's own writing to model the writing process. The use of writing targets will help children know where they are, where they need to be, and what steps have to be taken in order to make progress.
Pupils are taught to write using the Talk for Writing approach from FS2 – Year 4. The Talk for Writing approach teaches children the conventions of writing through reading, speaking the language, practising the skills before applying those skills in their own writing. Through speaking, children internalise the conventions they are expected to use in their writing.
Book-Talk – the extended opportunity to use talk to explore children's persona and collective responses to a text as readers.
Writer-Talk – the articulation of the thinking and creative processes involved in all stages of the act of writing; talk that helps children to think and behave like a writer, and consider themselves to be a writer.
Storytelling and story making – involves the learning and repeating of oral stories, building children's confidence to develop them through telling and then extending that development into writing; later creating 'new' stories orally as a preparation and rehearsal for writing. The sequence is imitation, innovation, invention.
Punctuation and grammar are taught as an integral part of the writing process. The objectives that are taught are in line with the New Curriculum (2014) and link directly to the text type that the children are learning. The teaching of grammar compliments the genre that is being taught and these skills are then applied across the curriculum.
Teachers will make judgements and assessments about children's writing throughout the year but every piece of unaided work from each child will be formally assessed. Children's work will be assessed against the National Curriculum end of year statements and against National Standard exemplifications. Progress will be recorded using the Target Tracker software and pupils informed of their next steps.


Description: The University of Luxembourg is a multilingual, international research University. The Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) invites applications from PhD holders in the general area of computer vision. The successful candidates will join the Computer Vision team of Dr. Djamila Aouada as part of the SIGCOM group of Prof. Björn Ottersten. They will contribute to projects in Computer Vision and will perform the following tasks: 1) Shaping research in one or more of the following topics (Deep learning, 3D shape modelling, 3D motion analysis) with a focus on one or multiple of the following applications: Face modelling, 3D human body sensing, Action recognition. 2) Cooperating with industrial partners 3) Coordinating research projects and delivering results 4) Supporting activities related to the SnT Computer Vision laboratory 5) Providing guidance to PhD and MSc students 6) Disseminating results through scientific publications 7) Organizing relevant workshops and demonstrations For further information, please contact Djamila.Aouada@uni.lu. Your Profile: 1) A PhD degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Applied Mathematics or a related field 2) Competitive research record in computer vision, machine learning, and/or image/signal processing 3) Strong mathematical background 4) Strong development skills in C++. Experience with python is a plus 5) Documented research experience in a number of the aforementioned topics 6) Experience in deep learning is a major plus 7) Experience with European projects (FP7/H2020) 8) Commitment, team working and a critical mind 9) Fluent written and verbal communication skills in English are mandatory The University of Luxembourg offers a two year employment contract and may be extended up to five years. The University offers highly competitive salaries and is an equal opportunity employer. You will work in an exciting international environment and will have the opportunity to participate in the development of a newly created research centre. For further information, please contact Djamila.Aouada@uni.lu.


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L.A. Galaxy VS New York City FC
Match date: Sat, 11th May 2019
Stadium: The Home Depot Center
L.A. Galaxy VS New York City FC Major League Soccer live scores, odds comparison, free tips and predictions.
Upcoming we have a Major League Soccer match. L.A. Galaxy will play against New York City FC. Match is played on Sat, 11th May 2019 and the kick off time at 20:00pm UTC. The match will be hosted at The Home Depot Center.
Sorry no odds available for this match now.
Sorry no predictions for this match now.
Since no odds or predictions are available for this match, please view the community forum and discuss the match tips there or you can view another match.
Free live scores for this match available here
We calculate form points from the last 5 matches in all competitions by giving 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 points for losing. The points displayed do not relate to the true points collected from the team in their league, as cup matches where points are not calculated in the competition are also included just to show you the teams current form in all competitions. (Max form points: 15)
We always try to provide the best up to date information that is available on the site, however sometimes not all matches will show the available odds due to costs and limitations. Thank you for your understanding.
Please bet responsibly
Posted in: Free Tips Tags: L.A. Galaxy prediction, L.A. Galaxy tips, L.A. Galaxy VS New York City FC, L.A. Galaxy VS New York City FC prediction, L.A. Galaxy VS New York City FC tips, Major League Soccer, New York City FC prediction, New York City FC tips


Brother Rice's Marquise Kennedy. Provided by Brother Rice.
Sept. 17, 2018 12:07 p.m.
There was a Florida State offer and an official visit to powerhouse Wichita State this fall, but the pull of Loyola and coach Porter Moser's basketball program is real.
Kennedy said his coach at Brother Rice, Bobby Frasor, told him he would get a certain feeling on one of his official visits.
Loyola's recent success was a big draw to Kennedy. With Wichita State firmly in the picture, a program that's reached seven straight NCAA Tournaments and averaged 29 wins a year during that time, it was important for Kennedy to play for a winner.
Kennedy hit it off with not only Moser but assistant coach Bryan Mullins and the players in the program, which is littered with former Illinois high school products.
After a terrific junior season at Brother Rice, Kennedy was the state's breakout performer on the club circuit this past summer. The athletic 6-1 point guard shined, elevating his stock and picking up a dozen-plus offers in June and July.
Kennedy was a stat-sheet stuffer for Frasor this past season. He averaged 17.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists a game while also recording 48 steals and blocking 37 shots.
Kennedy, who knocked down 24 three-pointers and shot 81 percent from the free-throw line, has evolved as a point guard while showcasing his speed and athleticism in the open floor as a scorer.
Moser has now secured commitments from two of the City/Suburban Hoops Report's top six prospects in the state in the Class of 2019. Kennedy joins 6-7 Tom Welch of Naperville North in a class that also includes 6-4 guard Paxton Wojcik of La Lumiere Prep School in Indiana. All three played together for the Illinois Wolves on the club circuit.
Congrats young man. I believe Loyola is a great fit for you.


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The blue bird-of-paradise (Paradisornis rudolphi) is a beautiful, relatively large species of bird-of-paradise. It is the only species in the genus Paradisornis, but was previously included in the genus Paradisaea.

It is often regarded as one of the most fabulous and extravagant of all birds of the world, with its glorified and fancy flank feathers present only in males and also their two long wires also only found in the males.

Taxonomy
The blue bird-of-paradise was formally described in 1886 by the German naturalists Otto Finsch and Adolf Bernhard Meyer. They placed the bird in a new genus Paradisornis and coined the binomial name Paradisornis rudolphi. The genus name Paradisornis  combines the Ancient Greek paradeisos meaning "paradise" with ornis meaning "bird". The specific epithet rudolphi was chosen to honour Archduke Rudolf Franz Karl Joseph, the Crown-Prince of Austria. This species was formerly placed in the genus Paradisaea.

Two subspecies are recognised:
 P. r. margaritae (Mayr & Gilliard, 1951) – east central New Guinea
 P. r. rudolphi Finsch & Meyer, AB, 1886 – southeast New Guinea

The blue bird-of-paradise is known to have hybridized with Lawes's parotia (Parotia lawesii), which is called "Schodde's bird-of-paradise", and also with the Raggiana bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea raggiana).Description

Arguably one of the most fabulous of its family, the blue bird-of-paradise is among the larger birds-of-paradise, being around 30 cm, or a little over a foot in length (excluding the long tail wires), rivaling some of the Paradisaea and Manucodia species. Unlike the Paradisaea birds, the male is mostly glossy black overall with silver-white crescents surrounding the eyes (in both sexes). They have a very crow-like bill that is whiteish to light greyish in colour. The back of the head has a reddish gloss that stretches down to the mantle, or back. A defining feature found in both sexes are the shiny, blue wings that are more commonly light blue but can range from light blue, aqua or even a skyish-baby blue; the tail is also like this. Stretching from the tail are two blackish and elongated wires with small, whitish spatulate tips similar Paradisaea'' males' wires. The most brilliant and distinctive feature present on the male are the fine, silky elongated flank plumes that are mainly a dull amber colour on the surface; below, they are a light blue, based by two dark crimson lines on each side of the lower belly. These elegant features help the male create an illusion for his potential audience. The female, however, is more or less similar to the male; of course, she lacks the opulent flank plumes and tail wires present on the male, but she does sport bright blue wings and tail feathers like the male. Instead of having an all-black underside, she is chestnut-brown below with blackish barring. Her head and neck are more duller also, with only a faint reddish gloss present. They have purplish-grey legs and feet and greyer claws. The wires on the blue bird-of-paradise are 25 inches long.

Behaviour and ecology

Diet
The blue bird-of-paradise is mainly a frugivorous species, feeding on a good variety of fruits like figs, drupes, berries, but animal prey is also present in the diet; it includes insects, but also likely takes some vertebrates like reptiles. They typically feed alone, though females and juveniles are more likely to feed in trees in association with other birds or other species. They are shown to search high in the canopy when seeking fruits, and apparently forage at lower altitudes when in search of their animal prey.

Breeding

The male is polygamous and performs a breathtaking courtship display. But unlike most other birds of paradise species, he performs solitary on a preferably thin branch, while an attending female observes nearby. In the display, the male hangs from a branch upside down. The black oval with red margin at the center of his chest is rhythmically enlarged and contracted. His violet blue plumes spread out in a fan, looking like an apron, swaying its body back and forth while the black wires form two impressive arches down to either side. During this display, he continuously makes a soft, insect-like buzzing noise, mixed with a chittering or chattering noise to rope the female back in if she moves away.

The nesting and parental duties are covered only by the females; she builds her nest with stems, twigs, palm leaves, vines and other materials all by herself, usually in a flat cup-like shape. They mostly lay one egg, but two are less occasional, and the mother is very defensive of her brood. The eggs are described to be a salmon-type color, with the ends being ringed with flecks of cinnamon-rufous to tawny.

Status and conservation
Due to ongoing habitat loss, limited range, small population size and, in some areas, by hunting for its highly prized plumes, the rare blue bird-of-paradise is classified as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. It is listed on Appendix II of CITES. Its population is thought to have a decreasing trend, estimated to be anywhere from 2,500 to 10 000 individuals.

Gallery

References

External links

 ARKive - images and movies of the Blue Bird-of-paradise (Paradisaea rudolphi)
 BirdLife International: Blue Bird-of-paradise  Paradisaea rudolphi

blue bird-of-paradise
Birds of Papua New Guinea
Birds described in 1885
blue bird-of-paradise
Endemic fauna of Papua New Guinea

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Heart Milton Keynes
Iris The Goo Goo Dolls Download 'Iris' on iTunes
100 Years Of Aston Martin
17 August 2013, 07:29 | Updated: 21 August 2013, 11:54
It's a car make closely associated with James Bond and its 100th birthday's been celebrated in Newport Pagnell.
An Aston Martin festival was held at the parish church between Friday 16 August and Sunday 18 August 2013.
The festival was a celebration of the town's continuing connection with this iconic brand with the parish church of St Peter and St Paul on the High Street hosts an Aston Martin exhibition and flower festival.
The exhibition was staged by the Newport Pagnell Partnership, supported by the town's Historical Society, covering the Aston Martin centenary with emphasis on the last 50 years with a vintage Aston Martin on display outside the church.
The festival told the story of the brand with words and pictures and was be stewarded by former Aston Martin employees eager to share their stories about the building of these cars (including the Goldfinger DB5) and the people they met (including royalty) who visited the works in Newport Pagnell.
The Centenary Festival was not an official Aston Martin event, but is an expression of the local pride in the town's association with the company with the proceeds from the Flower Festival being shared between the Brooklands Day Centre and the Parish Church.
Aston Martin still has a strong presence in Newport Pagnell and its works centre is based in Tickford Street close to the town centre.


Zumba® Fitness created by Alberto "Beto" Perez, is the only Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music, created by Grammy Award-winning producers, and contagious steps to form a "fitness-party" that is downright addictive.
Maria Cristina Ginestra & Miguel Vogeler, who were born in Caracas, Venezuela, created Zumba® MC Fitness in July 2010.
Maria who came to Australia in January 2010, has background in Flamenco dance and Miguel, who has been living in Sydney for 12 years, has been in the fitness industry for over 15 years. "We think that Zumba® Fitness offers people more than a normal Fitness class, burning between 500 to 900 calories per 1hr class, we offer exhilarating easy to follow routines with a combination of Latin American and international music that makes Zumba® Fitness a fun workout and exciting experience".
Zumba® MC started in the Bondi Beach and whithin a short time, there was demand for Zumba® Fitness classes in Sydney Northshore and Northern Beaches including St Ives, Mona Vale, Mosman, Queenscliff, Seaforth and Manly. Due to the success of their classes Zumba® MC is now available in 8 different venues around North Shore and Northern Beaches. Maria & Miguel have recently launch Zumba® Toning classes which adds weights to the fun and exhilarating routines of Zumba® Fitness and Zumba® Gold classes which are designed for mature, elderly or just people that have suffer injuries. Classes are at a slower pace and still keeping the excitment and fun that Zumba® Fitness provides. We are also in the process of opening classes for kids and Aqua Zumba®.
Zumba® MC, apart from our regular classes, we offer party for kids, weddings, birthdays, corporate group events and workshops. Personal Trainer (at the confort of your home or outdoor area) available for 1 on 1 training, or group sessions at parks around North Shore and Northern Beaches.
Zumba® Fitness is suitable for all levels of fitness. We work under the philosophy of "Easy to follow, Easy to do".
ZUMBA® logos used on this page, used under licence.


text:
Apache Spark MLlib
MLlib is Apache Spark's scalable machine learning library, with APIs in Java, Scala, Python, and R. It features a large database of algorithms focusing on classification, regression, clustering and collaborative filtering.
neon™ - Intel AI
Intel®'s reference deep learning framework committed to best performance on all hardware. Our focus was on a well-known hotspot (dilated convolution) in the SSD model. To accelerate convolution layer with dilation, the vanilla Python implementation was replaced with C kernels for matrix multiplication. The detection-output layer in inference path was also optimized around better use of these kernels.
Diffblue
Diffblue is a world leader in AI that understands code. Our goal is to automate all traditional coding tasks: bug fixing, test writing, finding and fixing exploits, refactoring code, translating from one language to another, and creating original code to fit specifications. As we progress we are commercialising our blue sky research into a suite of products. Our vision is to make our products ubiquitous, and to make code safer and better and cheaper to produce. We are always looking to hire new talent.
IBM iWatson is a platform that houses an array of tools designed for both developers and business users. Open APIs are available for users to access sample code, starter kits and can build cognitive search engines and virtual agents.
protégé
Protégé is a free, open-source ontology editor and framework for building intelligent systems. Protégé is supported by a strong community of academic, government, and corporate users, who use Protégé to build knowledge-based solutions in areas as diverse as biomedicine, e-commerce, and organizational modeling.
AI & Deep Learning Publications & Researchers at NVIDIA Research
Latest AI, Deep Learning, and Macine Learning research publications from NVIDIA Researchers and graduate fellows.


text:
Tag Archives: LGBTQ
wear it purple: a day of solidarity for rainbow youth
Sarah Iuliano
You might not think purple is your colour, but you should don some of the hue this Friday. Wondering why we here at Lip so concerned about what you'll be wearing for once? Well August 29 is Wear it Purple Day, an initiative to recognise and support sexuality and gender diverse young people in their…
remembering robin williams: the man who challenged our perceptions of feminism, fatherhood and gay rights
Bridget Conway
As you are most likely aware by now, this week the world lost Robin Williams, the great comedian and activist, to apparent suicide. Williams was 63 years old and was found dead by his personal assistant in his California home on Monday. News of his death has launched a stream of tweets, posts, and story…
GaymerX 2014: #everyonegames
Sigrid Cross
GaymerX is a convention for LGBT gamers and allies with the aim of making everyone in the community feel welcome and accepted. Like any other gaming convention, GaymerX is full of panels, parties, devs and publishers showing off their games. How it differs to other cons is in its focus on inclusion; things like gender…
in brief: apple's lousy dictionary defines 'gay' as 'stupid'
Matilda Mornane
A teenager from Massachusetts recently discovered on her MacBook that Apple had defined the word "gay" as 'foolish, stupid or unimpressive'. Stating that she was 'in disbelief', Becca Gormon immediately sent an email to Apple chief executive Tim Cook, who is openly gay and frequently lobbies for equal work rights for homosexuals. While the entry…
in brief: the oxford english dictionary redefines marriage
Rianh Silvertree
Gay marriage will be in the next printed edition of the Oxford English Dictionary as a secondary definition. It will read: '(in some jurisdictions) a union between partners of the same sex.' The primary definition remains 'the formal union of a man and a woman, typically as recognised by law, by which they become husband…
lip top 10: ladies who had ladies for lovers
Melissah Comber
On this day in 1990 the World Health Organisation removed homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases. How kind of them. To mark the occasion I thought I would take a look at a few ladies who liked to like other ladies back when homophobia was really taking off. 1. Sarah Jewett Jewett was an…
the lip crew on marriage equality
lip magazine
Canada did it; the Netherlands did it; even Portugal, Spain and South Africa did it. New Zealand did it and, more recently, France did it. These countries are on a list of 14 whose governments have legalised what could arguably be one of the most contentious political issues of our times – marriage equality. No…
in brief: teacher fired for being gay
Amy Nicholls-Diver
A Catholic high school in Columbus, Ohio fired physical education teacher Carla Hale last month, days after her mother's obituary "outed" her. Hale had been teaching for 19 years. An anonymous parent identified Hale's partner as a woman (Julie) mentioned in the obituary. Within days, Hale was fired. She told reporters: 'Bishop Watterson [High School]…
new zealand becomes 13th country to legalise same-sex marriage
There were jubilant scenes throughout New Zealand and across Australia last night as NZ became the 13th country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage. The legislation, which passed 77-44, redefines marriage as a union between two people, and opens the door for adoption by same-sex couples. Labour MP Louisa Wall, who introduced the Bill,…
in brief: french senate approves same-sex marriage bill
The French senate passed an article of the bill to legalise same-sex marriage on Tuesday night, redefining the union as between "two individuals of different sex or of the same sex". The article is a key element of the bill that also legalises adoption by same-sex partners. After lengthy debate, the article was passed with…
vocal feminist author slammed in official tunisian paper for 'promoting prostitution and homosexuality'
Days after visiting Tunisia and praising the Islamist government's efforts towards gender equality, feminist author and activist Nawal El Saadawi has been condemned in an article published by the State's newspaper. Al-Fajr, the African nation's ruling party's paper, labelled the activist a 'promoter of prostitution and homosexuality'. She had been in Tunisia to meet with…
feminism and testicles: julie burchill and transsexuals
Broede Carmody
By now you've probably heard of Julie Burchill's column and the subsequent outrage it provoked. The piece, which was published in print and online, attracted more than 2000 comments before it was removed from The Guardian's website. In essence, Burchill—a freelance writer and feminist—outright attacked transgender people in her article 'Transsexuals should just cut it…
in brief: lesbian couple responds to homophobic letter from cafe owner
Shawnee McPhail and her wife, Arielle, were the targets of a quiet but nauseating act of homophobia last month in the US state of North Carolina. The couple had just finished lunch at The Sting Ray Cafe, and were holding hands on their way to the car, when the restaurant owner, Ed McGovern, approached them…
in brief: topless feminists protest against homophobia in the vatican
Four women from Ukrainian feminist group FEMEN staged a topless protest on Sunday as the pope delivered his weekly address in St Peter's Square. Painted with the slogans 'In Gay we Trust' and 'Shut up!', the women shouted 'Shut up, homophobes!' into the crowd of pilgrims and tourists. One of the protesters, Inna Shevchenko, informed…


text:
package org.apache.doris.analysis;

import org.apache.doris.analysis.ColumnDef.DefaultValue;
import org.apache.doris.catalog.PrimitiveType;
import org.apache.doris.catalog.ScalarType;
import org.apache.doris.common.AnalysisException;

import com.google.common.collect.Lists;

import org.junit.Assert;
import org.junit.BeforeClass;
import org.junit.Test;

import java.util.List;

public class AddColumnsClauseTest {
    private static Analyzer analyzer;

    @BeforeClass
    public static void setUp() {
        analyzer = AccessTestUtil.fetchAdminAnalyzer(false);
    }

    @Test
    public void testNormal() throws AnalysisException {
        List<ColumnDef> columns = Lists.newArrayList();
        ColumnDef definition = new ColumnDef("col1", new TypeDef(ScalarType.createType(PrimitiveType.INT)),
                true, null, false, new DefaultValue(true, "0"), "");
        columns.add(definition);
        definition = new ColumnDef("col2", new TypeDef(ScalarType.createType(PrimitiveType.INT)), true, null, false,
                new DefaultValue(true, "0"), "");
        columns.add(definition);
        AddColumnsClause clause = new AddColumnsClause(columns, null, null);
        clause.analyze(analyzer);
        Assert.assertEquals("ADD COLUMN (`col1` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT \"0\" COMMENT \"\", "
                + "`col2` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT \"0\" COMMENT \"\")", clause.toString());

        clause = new AddColumnsClause(columns, "", null);
        clause.analyze(analyzer);
        Assert.assertEquals("ADD COLUMN (`col1` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT \"0\" COMMENT \"\", "
                + "`col2` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT \"0\" COMMENT \"\")",
                            clause.toString());
        Assert.assertNull(clause.getRollupName());

        clause = new AddColumnsClause(columns, "testTable", null);
        clause.analyze(analyzer);

        Assert.assertEquals("ADD COLUMN (`col1` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT \"0\" COMMENT \"\", "
                + "`col2` int(11) NOT NULL DEFAULT \"0\" COMMENT \"\") IN `testTable`",
                clause.toString());
        Assert.assertNull(clause.getProperties());
        Assert.assertEquals("testTable", clause.getRollupName());
    }

    @Test(expected = AnalysisException.class)
    public void testNoDefault() throws AnalysisException {
        List<ColumnDef> columns = Lists.newArrayList();
        ColumnDef definition = new ColumnDef("col1", new TypeDef(ScalarType.createType(PrimitiveType.INT)));
        columns.add(definition);
        definition = new ColumnDef("col2", new TypeDef(ScalarType.createType(PrimitiveType.INT)));
        columns.add(definition);
        AddColumnsClause clause = new AddColumnsClause(columns, null, null);

        clause.analyze(analyzer);
        Assert.fail("No exception throws.");
    }

    @Test(expected = AnalysisException.class)
    public void testNoColumn() throws AnalysisException {
        AddColumnsClause clause = new AddColumnsClause(null, null, null);

        clause.analyze(analyzer);
        Assert.fail("No exception throws.");
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
"""Tensor utility functions."""
from __future__ import absolute_import
from __future__ import division
from __future__ import print_function

import numpy as np

from tensorflow.python.framework import dtypes
from tensorflow.python.framework import ops
from tensorflow.python.framework import sparse_tensor
from tensorflow.python.framework import tensor_util
from tensorflow.python.ops import array_ops
from tensorflow.python.ops import check_ops
from tensorflow.python.ops import control_flow_ops
from tensorflow.python.ops import math_ops
from tensorflow.python.util.deprecation import deprecated

__all__ = [
    'assert_same_float_dtype',
    'assert_scalar',
    'assert_scalar_int',
    'convert_to_tensor_or_sparse_tensor',
    'is_tensor',
    'reduce_sum_n',
    'remove_squeezable_dimensions',
    'with_shape',
    'with_same_shape']

# Temporary for backwards compatibility
is_tensor = tensor_util.is_tensor
assert_same_float_dtype = check_ops.assert_same_float_dtype
assert_scalar = check_ops.assert_scalar

convert_to_tensor_or_sparse_tensor = (
    sparse_tensor.convert_to_tensor_or_sparse_tensor)

def reduce_sum_n(tensors, name=None):
  """Reduce tensors to a scalar sum.

  This reduces each tensor in `tensors` to a scalar via `tf.reduce_sum`, then
  adds them via `tf.add_n`.

  Args:
    tensors: List of tensors, all of the same numeric type.
    name: Tensor name, and scope for all other ops.

  Returns:
    Total loss tensor, or None if no losses have been configured.

  Raises:
    ValueError: if `losses` is missing or empty.
  """
  if not tensors:
    raise ValueError('No tensors provided.')
  with ops.name_scope(name, 'reduce_sum_n', tensors) as name_scope:
    tensors = [
        math_ops.reduce_sum(t, name='%s/sum' % t.op.name) for t in tensors]
    if len(tensors) == 1:
      return tensors[0]
    return math_ops.add_n(tensors, name=name_scope)

@deprecated(None,
    "Please switch to tf.confusion_matrix.remove_squeezable_dimensions. Note "
    "that order of the inputs and ouputs of labels and predictions have also "
    "been switched.")
def remove_squeezable_dimensions(predictions, labels, name=None):
  """Squeeze last dim if ranks of `predictions` and `labels` differ by 1.

  This will use static shape if available. Otherwise, it will add graph
  operations, which could result in a performance hit.

  Args:
    predictions: Predicted values, a `Tensor` of arbitrary dimensions.
    labels: Label values, a `Tensor` whose dimensions match `predictions`.
    name: Name of the op.

  Returns:
    Tuple of `predictions` and `labels`, possibly with last dim squeezed.
  """
  with ops.name_scope(name, 'remove_squeezable_dimensions',
                      [predictions, labels]):
    predictions = ops.convert_to_tensor(predictions)
    labels = ops.convert_to_tensor(labels)
    predictions_shape = predictions.get_shape()
    predictions_rank = predictions_shape.ndims
    labels_shape = labels.get_shape()
    labels_rank = labels_shape.ndims
    if (labels_rank is not None) and (predictions_rank is not None):
      # Use static rank.
      rank_diff = predictions_rank - labels_rank
      if rank_diff == -1:
        labels = array_ops.squeeze(labels, [-1])
      elif rank_diff == 1:
        predictions = array_ops.squeeze(predictions, [-1])
      return predictions, labels

    # Use dynamic rank.
    rank_diff = array_ops.rank(predictions) - array_ops.rank(labels)
    if (predictions_rank is None) or (
        predictions_shape.dims[-1].is_compatible_with(1)):
      predictions = control_flow_ops.cond(
          math_ops.equal(1, rank_diff),
          lambda: array_ops.squeeze(predictions, [-1]),
          lambda: predictions)
    if (labels_rank is None) or (
        labels_shape.dims[-1].is_compatible_with(1)):
      labels = control_flow_ops.cond(
          math_ops.equal(-1, rank_diff),
          lambda: array_ops.squeeze(labels, [-1]),
          lambda: labels)
    return predictions, labels

def _all_equal(tensor0, tensor1):
  with ops.name_scope('all_equal', values=[tensor0, tensor1]) as scope:
    return math_ops.reduce_all(
        math_ops.equal(tensor0, tensor1, name='equal'), name=scope)

def _is_rank(expected_rank, actual_tensor):
  """Returns whether actual_tensor's rank is expected_rank.

  Args:
    expected_rank: Integer defining the expected rank, or tensor of same.
    actual_tensor: Tensor to test.
  Returns:
    New tensor.
  """
  with ops.name_scope('is_rank', values=[actual_tensor]) as scope:
    expected = ops.convert_to_tensor(expected_rank, name='expected')
    actual = array_ops.rank(actual_tensor, name='actual')
    return math_ops.equal(expected, actual, name=scope)

def _is_shape(expected_shape, actual_tensor, actual_shape=None):
  """Returns whether actual_tensor's shape is expected_shape.

  Args:
    expected_shape: Integer list defining the expected shape, or tensor of same.
    actual_tensor: Tensor to test.
    actual_shape: Shape of actual_tensor, if we already have it.
  Returns:
    New tensor.
  """
  with ops.name_scope('is_shape', values=[actual_tensor]) as scope:
    is_rank = _is_rank(array_ops.size(expected_shape), actual_tensor)
    if actual_shape is None:
      actual_shape = array_ops.shape(actual_tensor, name='actual')
    shape_equal = _all_equal(
        ops.convert_to_tensor(expected_shape, name='expected'),
        actual_shape)
    return math_ops.logical_and(is_rank, shape_equal, name=scope)

def _assert_shape_op(expected_shape, actual_tensor):
  """Asserts actual_tensor's shape is expected_shape.

  Args:
    expected_shape: List of integers defining the expected shape, or tensor of
        same.
    actual_tensor: Tensor to test.
  Returns:
    New assert tensor.
  """
  with ops.name_scope('assert_shape', values=[actual_tensor]) as scope:
    actual_shape = array_ops.shape(actual_tensor, name='actual')
    is_shape = _is_shape(expected_shape, actual_tensor, actual_shape)
    return control_flow_ops.Assert(
        is_shape, [
            'Wrong shape for %s [expected] [actual].' % actual_tensor.name,
            expected_shape,
            actual_shape
        ], name=scope)

def with_same_shape(expected_tensor, tensor):
  """Assert tensors are the same shape, from the same graph.

  Args:
    expected_tensor: Tensor with expected shape.
    tensor: Tensor of actual values.
  Returns:
    Tuple of (actual_tensor, label_tensor), possibly with assert ops added.
  """
  with ops.name_scope('%s/' % tensor.op.name, values=[expected_tensor, tensor]):
    tensor_shape = expected_tensor.get_shape()
    expected_shape = (
        tensor_shape.as_list() if tensor_shape.is_fully_defined()
        else array_ops.shape(expected_tensor, name='expected_shape'))
    return with_shape(expected_shape, tensor)

def with_shape(expected_shape, tensor):
  """Asserts tensor has expected shape.

  If tensor shape and expected_shape, are fully defined, assert they match.
  Otherwise, add assert op that will validate the shape when tensor is
  evaluated, and set shape on tensor.

  Args:
    expected_shape: Expected shape to assert, as a 1D array of ints, or tensor
        of same.
    tensor: Tensor whose shape we're validating.
  Returns:
    tensor, perhaps with a dependent assert operation.
  Raises:
    ValueError: if tensor has an invalid shape.
  """
  if isinstance(tensor, sparse_tensor.SparseTensor):
    raise ValueError('SparseTensor not supported.')

  # Shape type must be 1D int32.
  if tensor_util.is_tensor(expected_shape):
    if expected_shape.dtype.base_dtype != dtypes.int32:
      raise ValueError(
          'Invalid dtype %s for shape %s expected of tensor %s.' % (
              expected_shape.dtype, expected_shape, tensor.name))
  if isinstance(expected_shape, (list, tuple)):
    if not expected_shape:
      expected_shape = np.asarray([], dtype=np.int32)
    else:
      np_expected_shape = np.asarray(expected_shape)
      expected_shape = (
          np.asarray(expected_shape, dtype=np.int32)
          if np_expected_shape.dtype == np.int64 else np_expected_shape)
  if isinstance(expected_shape, np.ndarray):
    if expected_shape.ndim > 1:
      raise ValueError(
          'Invalid rank %s for shape %s expected of tensor %s.' % (
              expected_shape.ndim, expected_shape, tensor.name))
    if expected_shape.dtype != np.int32:
      raise ValueError(
          'Invalid dtype %s for shape %s expected of tensor %s.' % (
              expected_shape.dtype, expected_shape, tensor.name))

  actual_shape = tensor.get_shape()

  if (not actual_shape.is_fully_defined()
      or tensor_util.is_tensor(expected_shape)):
    with ops.name_scope('%s/' % tensor.op.name, values=[tensor]):
      if (not tensor_util.is_tensor(expected_shape)
          and (len(expected_shape) < 1)):
        # TODO(irving): Remove scalar special case
        return array_ops.reshape(tensor, [])
      with ops.control_dependencies([_assert_shape_op(expected_shape, tensor)]):
        result = array_ops.identity(tensor)
      if not tensor_util.is_tensor(expected_shape):
        result.set_shape(expected_shape)
      return result

  if (not tensor_util.is_tensor(expected_shape) and
      not actual_shape.is_compatible_with(expected_shape)):
    if (len(expected_shape) < 1) and actual_shape.is_compatible_with([1]):
      # TODO(irving): Remove scalar special case.
      with ops.name_scope('%s/' % tensor.op.name, values=[tensor]):
        return array_ops.reshape(tensor, [])
    raise ValueError('Invalid shape for tensor %s, expected %s, got %s.' % (
        tensor.name, expected_shape, actual_shape))

  return tensor

def assert_scalar_int(tensor, name=None):
  """Assert `tensor` is 0-D, of type `tf.int32` or `tf.int64`.

  Args:
    tensor: `Tensor` to test.
    name: Name of the op and of the new `Tensor` if one is created.
  Returns:
    `tensor`, for chaining.
  Raises:
    ValueError: if `tensor` is not 0-D, of integer type.
  """
  with ops.name_scope(name, 'assert_scalar_int', [tensor]) as name_scope:
    tensor = ops.convert_to_tensor(tensor)
    data_type = tensor.dtype
    if not data_type.base_dtype.is_integer:
      raise ValueError('Expected integer type for %s, received type: %s.'
                       % (tensor.name, data_type))
    return check_ops.assert_scalar(tensor, name=name_scope)


text:
Q: Calculating duration for traveling to international countries I want to calculate the allowance for a consultant traveling to overseas countries.
I have to take into account that I can gain a day or lose a day traveling to an international country. Different countries has a different set of allowances.
How can I adjust my code to know whether I will gain a day or lose and adjust in my calculation?

A: Enter the dates/times using the local timezone information.  Convert from that timezone to UTC for both dates/times and calculate the difference between the two based on UTC.
For example:
Left: 11/11/2008 10AM CST (Chicago) == 11/11/2008 4PM UTC (-6)
Arrived: 11/12/2008 5AM CET (Copenhagen) == 11/12/2008 4AM UTC (+1)
Difference = 12 hours

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Which object cache plugin is compatible with HB?
Do you know which plugin can have an object cache function? I'm trying to locate one that won't crash with Hummingbird.
Using multiple caching plugins on a single site usually makes worse as they usually conflict with each other.
But an object cache drop in will work with hummingbird. That means, if your server host configures the object cache, then it will work without any conflict. Most managed hostings offer this feature.
About the warning when you HB and W3TC together, if you are sure about the configuration you are doing, you can ignore the warning. But if you misconfigure, then the site will break. Most of the users don't have enough knowledge to configure both plugins together based on the site they are using, so the warning is put in there.
I can also see on chat note that you tried redis cache plugin, and found an error. Do you remember, what was the error?


Combining a Walt Disney World vacation with a Disney Cruise is a wonderful way to experience all Disney has to offer on both land and sea! In the past Disney Cruise Line has offered military pricing which can be found listed on the Special Offers page on the Disney Cruise Line website. There are some available at this time so my advice is to check it now and often for any other deal announcements.
Good luck finding a military sailing that will work for your crew, Gisela! Thank you for stopping by and please let me know if I can answer any further questions!


Many stations around the country are experimenting with digital newscasts, but a station that the Knight-Cronkite News Lab featured a couple of weeks ago for its Instagram TV newscast Listen Up — WNBC-TV in New York — followed up to tell us about a new twist with interesting implications for platform and content strategy aimed at new consumers.
Two months ago, the digital team at WNBC began producing a two-minute, condensed newscast called, News 4 Now. It's a custom, digital-only newscast produced for its OTT platforms — YouTube, Roku and Apple TV. In that short time, this show has already greatly out-performed similar shows that WNBC produced for other digital platforms.
While Listen Up has had mixed results on Instagram TV, according to WNBC's digital vice president, Ben Berkowitz, News 4 Now's early success has exceeded even his expectations.
"We have been incredibly heartened by the audience reaction," Berkowitz said.
According to Berkowitz, the completion rate for News 4 Now segments has been "stunning to us." He compared it to a daily news brief that WNBC used to post on Facebook — one that the station produced for a few years preceding News 4 Now — and said the completion rate for the current show is about 30 times higher than the Facebook version.
One reason Berkowitz gives for this success: how the platforms are laid out and the audiences on each. "The Facebook audience is transitory," Berkowitz said. "Scroll, scroll, scroll some more," which makes actual engagement hard to come by. And on top of that, Berkowitz said, the Facebook audience is not typically looking for news.
On Instagram, the audience — typically younger women — won't often spend two minutes watching a video as they scroll through their feeds, so the flexibility of skips in the Stories format wins out there.
By contrast, people are actively seeking WNBC's content when they come to the OTT platforms, he said, "so it's a much more attractive opportunity for us if we can serve them effectively." According to Berkowitz, this group of viewers — typically slightly older men — wants the news, but they want it to fit their schedule.
The format for News 4 Now is simple: five stories — short VO's read by one of the station's anchors — in a two-minute segment that goes out every day at 7 p.m. on the station's three OTT platforms.
WNBC wanted to "create something custom for this platform," Berkowitz said. The digital team looked at what other stations around the country were doing, and decided it wanted to do more than take the TV newscast and put it on other platforms.
What sets this show apart from many other digital newscasts, according to Berkowitz, is that it uses a custom location, custom script and custom graphics that are all created by the digital team and unique to the News 4 Now broadcast.
Screenshots of News 4 Now (left) and WNBC's nightly TV broadcast (right). (Photos from WNBC YouTube and nbcnewyork.com).
And it's not just the mix of stories that is tailored to digital realities — so is the staffing. In fact, a single staff member — Darren Price — writes, produces, edits and publishes News 4 Now every day in what Berkowitz said is a less than a five-hour process — and he also writes Listen Up.
Is your station experimenting with digital-only newscasts? If so, email us your examples at cronkitenewslab@asu.edu, and we'll check them out.
Article: From Nieman Reports: Reinventing local TV news might require going over the top. Read here.
Article: Millennials don't hate the news, they just don't watch it on TV. Read here.


Unexpected praise for Ron Paul and his enthusiastic supporters from none other than Hillary Clinton.
Dr. Paul was on the D.L. Hughley show last night. I have to agree with D.L. Hughley, Ron Paul makes "too much sense to be a Republican" (or a Democrat).
Way too much happened at the Rally for the Republic to show it all here, but some of the highlights are below. From all reports it was an amazing time. Obviously there were some excellent speakers there but also (from what I've heard) there was a good sense of camaraderie amongst the various types of people there as well. Freedom unites!
Why I like Penn and want to like Beck.


text:
Bike Sales
SPECIALIZED BIIKES
DAHON FOLDING BIKES
POLICE BIKES
welcome to mikes bike shop.
Conveniently located in the
South Shore of Staten Island!
ALTHOUGH WE NEVER FORGET OUR HERITAGE, CANNONDALE AND OUR DEALERS HAVE COME A LONG WAY SINCE OUR BIRTH IN A CROWDED LOFT ABOVE A PICKLE FACTORY IN 1971.
The company grew quickly during its early years. We introduced the cycling industry's first bicycle trailer, the Bugger, and added successful cycling apparel and accessory lines while earning a strong reputation for innovation and quality.
That reputation proved invaluable when Cannondale introduced its first bicycle, a Touring model, in 1983. We raised the cycling world's eyebrows by building our bicycles around handcrafted, oversized aluminum frames that were both lighter and more flex-resistant than the steel models that dominated the industry at the time. We quickly followed up this success with a road racing model and a mountain bike model in 1984. Our creative reputation encouraged both bike dealers and customers to join the revolution, and widespread industry skepticism quickly gave way to a host of imitators.
In 1997, Cannondale was the first company to feature large, oversized aluminum bike frames on cycling's biggest stage, the Tour de France. After powering his Cannondale to four stage victories at the 1999 Tour, the flamboyant Saeco team leader proclaimed "Cannondale is the best bike."
With a reputation for shaking up the industry, we continued to push the entire cycling community with the release of our first carbon/aluminum frame, the Six13, flaunting the low weight with prison striped jerseys that read: Legalize My Cannondale.
In the last 14 years, we've won five Giro d'Italia Maglia Rosas, arguing that maybe we should add pink to our brand colors. Most recently we won the Girod'Iltalia and the Vuelta a Espana in one single year!
On the mountain bike side, Cannondale started the dual suspension revolution way back in 1990 by introducing the Delta V E.S.T., the industry's first dual suspension bike, and followed it up with the equally radical Super V and Scalpel platforms. Our riders dominated the cross country and downhill scene into the new millennium with the biggest names in dirt like Cadel Evans, Alison Sydor, Missy Giove, Cedric Gracia, Christophe Sauser, Anne-Caroline Chausson, Tinker Juarez and Brian Lopes to name a few. The creation of The Cut freeride crew brought together the audacious riding talents of Aaron Chase, Chris Van Dine and Mick Hannah. Our technologies like HeadShok, Lefty, innovative suspension and optimized aluminum and carbon design directly translated into race victories and riding that continually pushed the limits of what's possible on a bike.
Call us today for pricing on your next cannondale
7522 Amboy Road
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Why do I have to preheat the grilling plate?
Preheating the grill ensures the grilling plate is at the right temperature when you start grilling.
Preheating ensures that your food is grilled in the shortest possible time for the best possible taste.


text:
Q: How can I make a simple 3D line with Matplotlib? I want to generate the lines, which I get from an array in 3D.
Here is the code:
VecStart_x = [0,1,3,5]
VecStart_y = [2,2,5,5]
VecStart_z = [0,1,1,5]
VecEnd_x = [1,2,-1,6]
VecEnd_y = [3,1,-2,7]
VecEnd_z  =[1,0,4,9]

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D
fig = plt.figure()
ax = fig.add_subplot(111, projection='3d')

ax.plot([VecStart_x ,VecEnd_x],[VecStart_y,VecEnd_y],[VecStart_z,VecEnd_z])
plt.show()
Axes3D.plot()

I get that error:

ValueError: third arg must be a format string

A: I guess, you want to plot 4 lines. Then you can try
for i in range(4):
    ax.plot([VecStart_x[i], VecEnd_x[i]], [VecStart_y[i],VecEnd_y[i]],zs=[VecStart_z[i],VecEnd_z[i]])

As Nicolas has suggested, do have a look at the matplotlib gallery.

A: The gallery is a great starting point to find out examples:
http://matplotlib.org/gallery.html
There is an example of 3d line plot here:
http://matplotlib.org/examples/mplot3d/lines3d_demo.html
You see that you need to pass to the ax.plot function 3 vectors.
You are actually passing list of lists.
I don't know what you mean by the Start and End sublist, but the following line should work :
ax.plot(VecStart_x + VecEnd_x, VecStart_y + VecEnd_y, VecStart_z +VecEnd_z)

Here I sum the sublist (concatenation) in order to have only one list by axis.


A Plano high school student accused of planning an ISIS-inspired attack on a Frisco mall has pleaded guilty, according to authorities.
Matin Azizi-Yarand, 17, will be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Azizi-Yarand's target was the Stonebriar Centre Mall in Frisco, according to his arrest affidavit. The attack was planned for May 2018 and when undercover officers learned that Azizi-Yarand had a date planned, investigators said they had to move quickly to arrest him.
The FBI first learned about Azizi-Yarand's attack plans in the fall of 2017. He was arrested in May at Plano West Senior High School, where he attended.
"I'd actually like to make a cop surrender and drop his gun, then douse him with gasoline and burn him … record it," he said.


Gidget, the fluffy white Pomeranian canine voiced by comedienne Jenny Slate, takes center stage in this brand-new character trailer for the upcoming animated sequel "The Secret Life Of Pets 2."
In the above trailer, we see chubby tabby Chloe (voiced by Lake Bell) teaching Gidget how to act and move like a cat as she goes through the four stages of becoming a full-fledged feline: 1. sophistication, 2. grace, 3. etiquette, and 4. cattitude.
Brought to you by the award-winning animation studio Illumination Entertainment, the makers of the "Despicable Me" franchise and the recent smash hit "Dr. Seuss' The Grinch," the animated family comedy is the highly anticipated sequel to the 2016 blockbuster that centered on a motley group of household pets, which included a neurotic Jack Russell Terrier named Max, a large shaggy dog named Duke, and a hyperactive white rabbit named Snowball.
The sequel will again follow the lives of these pets as they continue to hang out together while their human owners are away at work.
Comedian Patton Oswalt takes over the voice role of Max, while returning voice actors include Slate, Bell, Kevin Hart, Eric Stonestreet, Dana Carvey, Albert Brooks, Hannibal Buress, Bobby Moynihan, and Ellie Kemper.
Comedienne Tiffany Haddish joins the cast as the voice of a Shih Tzu named Daisy. Nick Kroll, Pete Holmes, and Harrison Ford are also new to the cast.
Directed by Chris Renaud, "The Secret Life Of Pets 2" arrives in theaters June 7th.
THE SECRET LIFE OF PET 2 will follow summer 2016's blockbuster about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day. Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri and his longtime collaborator Janet Healy will produce the sequel to the comedy that had the best opening ever for an original film, animated or otherwise.


text:
ACCEPTED

#### According to
Index Fungorum

#### Published in
Epicr. syst. mycol. (Upsaliae) 300 (1838)

#### Original name
Cortinarius periscelis Fr.

### Remarks
null


Legends Untold is a co-operative card based adventure game for 1-4 players(4 players in the basic box, more with the expansion). Play an in depth adventure games with your friends in about an hour. Small setup time, zero downtime and a lot more than just finding the next monster to bash.


text:
Cauerstraße 11. 91058, Erlangen, Germany
FAU Department of Data Science
Our Head
Math and Research
Posts on Math and Research
To take away
Computational Hub
Prof. Dr. DhC. Enrique Zuazua
Head Of the Chair
Enrique Zuazua
Chair for Dynamics, Control and Numerics – Alexander von Humboldt Professorship
Department of Data Science. Friedrich-Alexander Universität, Erlangen-Nürnberg. 91058 Erlangen – Germany
Cauerstrasse 11. 91058 Erlangen, Germany
+49 9131 85 67 135 | +49 9131 85 67 133
enrique.zuazua@fau.de vCard
In honor of Enrique Zuazua's 60th. Birthday
Secondary Affiliations
Chair of Computational Mathematics, Deusto Foundation Av. de las Universidades 24, 48007 Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain, enrique.zuazua@deusto.es
Department of Mathematics, Autonomous University of Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain, enrique.zuazua@uam.es
enzuazua site
Dissemination Notes
Presentations | Slides
AvH Professor
FAU ambassador
Deusto profile
CCM profile
Eibar, Basque Country – Spain, 1961
Enrique Zuazua Iriondo
Dual PhD in Mathematics – University of the Basque Country & Université Pierre et Marie Curie, holds a Chair in Applied Analysis – Alexander von Humboldt Professorship at FAU- Friedrich–Alexander University, Erlangen–Nürnberg (Germany). He leads the research project "DyCon: Dynamic Control"funded by the ERC – European Research Council at Deusto Foundation, University of Deusto – Bilbao (Basque Country, Spain) and the Department of Mathematicsat UAM – Autonomous University of Madrid where he holds secondary appoints as Professor of Applied Mathematics (UAM) and Director of CCM – Chair of Computational Mathematics (Deusto).
Education & Impact
His fields of expertise in the area of Applied Mathematics cover topics related with Partial Differential Equations, Systems Control and Machine Learning, led to some fruitful collaboration in different industrial sectors such as the optimal shape design in aeronautics and the management of electrical and water distribution networks.
With an important high impact on his work (h-index = 41) he has mentored a significant number of postdoctoral researchers and coached a wide network of Science managers.
He holds a degree in Mathematics from the University of the Basque Country, and a dual PhD degree from the same university (1987) and the Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris (1988). In 1990 he became Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Complutense University of Madrid, to later move to UAM in 2001.
He has been awarded the Euskadi (Basque Country) Prize for Science and Technology 2006 and the Spanish National Julio Rey Pastor Prize 2007 in Mathematics and Information and Communication Technology and the Advanced Grants by the European Research Council (ERC) NUMERIWAVES in 2010 and DyCon in 2016. He is an Honorary member of the Academia Europeaea and Jakiunde, the Basque Academy of Sciences, Letters and Humanities, Doctor Honoris Causa from the Université de Lorraine in France and Ambassador of the Friedrich-Alexander Universität in Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany.
He was an invited speaker at ICM2006 in the section on Control and Optimization.
From 1999-2002 he was the first Scientific Manager of the Panel for Mathematics within the Spanish National Research Plan and from 2008-2012 he was the Founding Scientific Director of the BCAM – Basque Center for Applied Mathematics.
He is also a member of the Scientific Council if a number of international research institutions such as the CERFACS in Toulouse, France and member of the Editorial Board in some of the leading journals in Applied Mathematics and Control Theory.
Protected: Kinetic theory of Bose Einstein Condensates
pyGasControls library (simulation software)
Author: Martin Gugat, Enrique Zuazua, Aleksey Sikstel, FAU DCN-AvH Code: [HINT] To run the software on your computer, you may have to install additional standard software packages (like cmake and a c++ compiler) and additional libraries (lapack, PETSc). In order to optimize the operation […]
Hamilton-Jacobi Equations: Inverse Design
Author: Carlos Esteve, Deusto CCM Code: In a previous post "Inverse Design For Hamilton-Jacobi Equations", described all the possible initial states that agree with the given observation of the system at time on the reconstruction of the initial state in many evolution models. Our goal here […]
© 2019-2022 Chair for Dynamics, Control and Numerics - Alexander von Humboldt Professorship at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany | Imprint | Contact


The Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce will host a Business After Hours networking event at 5:30 p.m. March 11 at the G Spa at MGM Grand at Foxwoods, 240 MGM Grand Drive, Mashantucket.
Tickets range from $10 to $20. For more information, call the Norwich-based chamber at (860) 887-1647 or visit www.norwichchamber.com.


text:
April 3, 2018 MAMcIntosh
Sinclair Forces Local Anchors to Recite Trumpian Propaganda
"I feel bad because they're seeing these people they've trusted for decades tell them things they know are essentially propaganda," one local anchor said. (Photo: Deadspin)
"It sickens me the way this company is encroaching upon trusted news brands in rural markets," said one local reporter.
By Jake Johnson / 04.02.2018
Journalists and corporate watchdogs reacted with alarm when it was reported last month that the right-wing media giant Sinclair Broadcast Group was planning to force local news anchors to read from a script denouncing "fake" and "false" news stories in a distinctly Trumpian fashion.
But this horror was amplified after Deadspin compiled a video this weekend of what the company's "dangerous" proposal actually looks like in practice.
"The stuff of nightmares," is how one commentator described the end result, which shows news anchors "looking like hostages in proof-of-life videos" and reading directly from a Sinclair-produced "promotional campaign."
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Sinclair employees and local reporters said they are deeply concerned about the right-wing ideological bent being foisted upon television stations across the United States by the massive media company.
"It sickens me the way this company is encroaching upon trusted news brands in rural markets," one reporter told CNN on the condition of anonymity, fearing retaliation from Sinclair's management.
"I feel bad because they're seeing these people they've trusted for decades tell them things they know are essentially propaganda," added a local anchor.
Owned by a family of ultra-conservative millionaires, Sinclair currently operates nearly 200 news stations nationwide—and is pushing for even more control of local outlets, with help from the GOP-controlled FCC.
If Sinclair's acquisition of Tribune Media is ultimately approved, the company will own enough stations to reach an estimated 70 percent of American households, sparking concerns that pro-Trump propaganda could begin to dominate local news.
"I try everyday to do fair, local stories, some Trump-related, but it's always washed out by this stuff they do at a national level," said one local reporter.
Below is the full script dozens of local news anchors have been forced to read under threat of termination:
Hi, I'm(A) ____________, and I'm (B) _________________…
(B) Our greatest responsibility is to serve our Northwest communities. We are extremely proud of the quality, balanced journalism that KOMO News produces.
(A) But we're concerned about the troubling trend of irresponsible, one sided news stories plaguing our country. The sharing of biased and false news has become all too common on social media.
(B) More alarming, some media outlets publish these same fake stories… stories that just aren't true, without checking facts first.
(A) Unfortunately, some members of the media use their platforms to push their own personal bias and agenda to control 'exactly what people think'…This is extremely dangerous to a democracy.
(B) At KOMO it's our responsibility to pursue and report the truth. We understand Truth is neither politically 'left nor right.' Our commitment to factual reporting is the foundation of our credibility, now more than ever.
(A) But we are human and sometimes our reporting might fall short. If you believe our coverage is unfair please reach out to us by going to KOMOnews.com and clicking on CONTENT CONCERNS. We value your comments. We will respond back to you.
(B) We work very hard to seek the truth and strive to be fair, balanced and factual… We consider it our honor, our privilege to responsibly deliver the news every day.
(A) Thank you for watching and we appreciate your feedback.
Originally published by Common Dreams under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license.


28th Apr 2016Can you generate demand?
His exasperation stemmed from his lack of belief that even the most competent marketer could generate demand. To him, the need came first and that was what we should focus on. We could argue about the semantics of 'demand' and 'need', but the point he was making taught me a very important lesson. If we identify the need, and provide a solution, we don't have to try to change the customer. Put another way, there are plenty of unsatisfied needs in both B2B and B2C markets. You can either focus on providing great products that address these needs, or try to push the customer into accepting your imperfect solution. For this reason, marketers should never forget that Product is one of the four 'Ps' of marketing.


Clubhouse Barbershop - Kuts and More is full service related to haircut. Our service delivers the customer with a view of fade haircut in Edmonton in the best way possible. We use to provide kids haircut, Fade haircut, cut and Shave and many more.


text:
International Communist Current
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Manifesto on the October revolution
Buy from ICC
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Massacre of civilians in Afghanistan: "I am going to help my country"
Submitted by ICConline on 4 April, 2012 - 19:22
During the past weeks some abominable acts of violence shocked the world. In early March US Sgt. Robert Bales went on a shooting spree in the Afghan Kandahar province. He went from house to house methodically shooting Afghan civilians. Altogether he killed 16 people, mostly women and children. In mid-March in Toulouse and Montauban the young Algerian born Muhamed Merah killed three French soldiers before gunning down three children and a teacher in a Jewish school.
What do the running amok of the US soldier stationed in Afghanistan and the series of murders by Mohamed Merah have to do with each other?
Mohamed Merah claimed that he wanted to take revenge for the prohibition of the burka in France, the deployment of the French Army in Afghanistan and the oppression of the Palestinians by the Israeli state. Before being shot during the police siege he regretted that he had been unable to kill more people. The motive of the shooting spree by Robert Bales is still unknown. Apparently Merah, by committing as much slaughter as possible, wanted to draw maximum attention to the oppression of his brother and sister Muslims. The spirit of revenge and retaliation drove him to these murders, which he claimed to be carrying out on behalf of al Qaida. On the other hand, it looks like Bales just went berserk – he later claimed that he had no memory of the killings.
How was it possible that the army man Robert Bales, himself a father of two children, lost control to this degree?
The New York Times reported on March 17th that Bales joined the army shortly after 9/11. "I am going to help my country", was his justification. However, after being sent to the theatres of war, he became aware that the lives of the US soldiers (as that of all ISAF troops) were in danger 24 hours a day. They had to expect an attack at any moment. In four deployments within a decade in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bales suffered from a head and foot injury. The eve before the shooting he witnessed a horrific scene in which one of his fellow soldiers lost a leg in a land mine. We do not know how many victims among civilians or enemy fighters he saw or how many shoot-outs he was involved in. In any case, the experience of Robert Bales in these wars was in no way exceptional.
It is a fact that war creates horrendous psychological damage among soldiers as well as civilians. "More than 200.000 people (i.e. one fifth of all veterans of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan) have received treatment since the beginning of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan in veteran hospitals – all of them were treated because of Posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD)". USA Today published these figures in November 2011, referring to studies by the Veterans' Association. "The estimated number of unreported cases of sick veterans is probably much higher (…) The army only admits some 50.000 cases of PTSD". (http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,822232,00.html).
Around one third of the veterans of the Vietnam war returned home with massive psychological disorders. Although only one percent of the population served in the US-army, the suicides of US veterans count for 20% of all suicides. Almost 1000 veterans try to commit suicide every month. As veterans report: "It is a horror. War changes your brain. Between war and life at home there is a world of difference. You change, whether you want it or not. Once you return home, you can no longer find a balance." ((http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/usarmee128.html)
And once they return home many of them have to face unemployment and homelessness. The example of the city of Los Angeles is revealing: "In Los Angeles there are many homeless veterans. They lost everything, their job, their partners, their home. All this because of their psychological disorders and because they do not get any help. Roughly one third of all the homeless of Los Angeles are veterans." (http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/usarmee128.html)
Napo, the British National Association of Probation Officers, "estimated that 12,000 [former servicemen] are under supervision of probation officers, with a further 8,500 behind bars in England and Wales. The total of more than 20,000 is more than twice the number currently serving in Afghanistan" http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/
The psychological mutilation of the soldiers
If you give patriotism and nationalism an inch, you are drawn into a spiral of destruction which not only damages or destroys the lives of civilian populations, but also the soldiers themselves, who are mentally mutilated and emotionally destabilised. While the ruling class and their ideologues embellish wars by speaking about "humanitarian missons" and "stabilising countries", the reality inside the theatre of war looks very different. Here the soldiers are dragged into an abyss where their initial anxieties evolve into hatred and paranoia. What is portrayed as a "humanitarian" deployment in reality turns out to be the permanent terrorisation of the population. In these circumstances soldiers often develop a sense of satisfaction if they can damage or destroy symbols which enjoy a high esteem among the local population, or if they can humiliate human beings directly and openly. The local population, which has been pushed into a dead-end, often feels nothing but contempt for the "liberators" – and many of them can easily be mobilised for suicide attacks. The killing machine has come into full swing.
After so many traumatic experiences Bales could no longer feel that he wanted to "help my country". He was particularly outraged by the fact that after four previous deployments he was being sent to Afghanistan again. According to his wife they would have preferred being stationed in more peaceful outposts like Germany, Italy or Hawaii.
Bales may now be facing the death penalty. Instead of explaining why patriotism and nationalism necessarily lead to orgies of violence, to the destruction of the victims and the perpetrator, the US legal system now acts as prosecutor and judge. The ruling class wants to wash its hands of responsibility for the war, and more precisely, for the army's systematic dehumanisation of its own soldiers. The army, frequently supported by professional psychologists using the latest techniques of 'behaviour modification', has one essential goal: soldiers have to be made fit for combat, which means overcoming any reluctance about killing fellow human beings. The psychologist and film maker Jan Haaken showed in her documentary Mind Zone the role the psychologists play: "We are not here to reduce the number of soldiers. In case of doubt soldiers are diagnosed fit for combat, as long as they can do the job". http://www.democracynow.org/2012/3/16/mind_zone_new_film_tracks_therapists
Overcoming barbarism with barbaric means?
Mohamed Merah, who wiped out the lives of seven people because he wanted to take revenge for the all the acts of violence which this society perpetrates against people, only reproduced the murderous methods of an oppressing system. The means he chose are part of a destructive and self-destructive vicious circle. The fact that his application to join the French Foreign Legion and the army was turned down, although he wanted to offer his services to the French state, may cast a light on his readiness to kill in the service of the state and the nation.
"The spiral of violence which wipes out all that is human cannot be broken using the military methods of the capitalist system. In order to overcome an inhuman system, the goal and the means have to cohere..
The proletarian revolution requires no terror for its aims; it hates and despises murder. It does not need these weapons because it does not combat individuals but institutions, because it does not enter the arena with naïve illusions whose disappointment it would seek to revenge. It is not the desperate attempt of a minority to mould the world forcibly according to its ideal, but the action of the great massive millions of the people, destined to fulfil a historic mission and to transform historical necessity into reality".
(Rosa Luxemburg, 'What does Spartacus want?', 14. December 1918, )
Dv. 25/03/12
Mohamed Merah
Robert Bales
Recent and ongoing:
Rubric:
Robert Bales & Mohamed Merah
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This is one of the most booked hotels in Calella over the last 60 days.
The price you found is 33% lower than this hotel's average rate of US$46/night.
The price you found is 35% lower than this hotel's average rate of US$152/night.
The price you found is 24% lower than this hotel's average rate of US$76/night.


Words: The duellist demands satisfaction. Honour, for him, is an appetite.
Sigil: A shield bearing the icon of a fencing foil.
Duels for honour have long been the tradition in the west, since the days the leaders of Sanctum decided there should be away to challenge and defend honor without murdering a bunch of people that might later be needed to grow crops, or marry daughters, or murder OTHER people. In modern times, it's become fashionable for rich and noble ladies to use duels fought with appointed champions to settle social scores (and in no small part for entertainment). Thus were the champions born, an 'Order of Knights' who sell their swords to noble patrons and represent them in nonlethal duels.


The sad thing about these misconceptions is that the exact opposite is actually true. While B2B companies underinvest in UX, they are investing more in content marketing and other lead-generation tactics that rely on website conversion to build a relationship with their prospects over extended sales cycles. When was the last time you kept going back to visit a website where you hated the UX and design?
The numbers don't lie. Research from the Design Management Institute shows that companies that used design-centric thinking outperformed the S&P 500 by 228 percent over a 10-year period.
In the book Cost-Justifying Usability, IBM reported that, "$20,700 spent on usability resulted in a $47,700 return on the first day the improvements were implemented and $68,000 spend on usability on another system results in $6,800,000 return in the first year," according to UX Team. Not too shabby—and since then IBM has committed another $100 million to the cause.
In today's post, we're going to examine some of the key UX tenets that should be incorporated into any B2B website.
Make your navigation easy to use and understandable to a visitor. The goals of a B2B website are generally more complex than that of a B2C site in direct correlation with the sales process. But you don't need to fit everything into the main navigation to address this. In fact, a HubSpot study found that 76 percent of customers only want a website that make it easy for them to find the information they seek.
This is not to say that mega-drops are always the right solution, but you get the idea.
In the same vein, you don't want to offer too many different conversion paths off of a page. Instead you should carefully select what the next best step would be for visitors who find themselves on that page and strategically move them to the best next step.
For example, when Bizible reduced the number of CTAs on its homepage from 14 to 7, it saw an increase of 29 percent in its homepage click-through rate.
This is especially true on the home page. We like to think of the home page as the elevator pitch for your company. The subpages are more like a meeting. This post from UX Movement does a great job illustrating this mindset. By using effective headlines and shorter copy that grab users' attention and encourage them to click, you're able to guide them to the parts of the site that are most applicable to their needs.
On subpages you have more room to elaborate and go into detail, but ditch the jargon. It's not 2000 anymore and buyers are less concerned about the "synergistic lift in cross-team structures" your product is going to deliver, only that it will "increase team productivity." It's fine to go into detail about your product or service, but remember to keep it simple.
Ninety-five percent of the information on the Web is written language, so typography can make a huge impact. Prospects do judge the book by its cover, and consistent branding and typography go a long way toward making your first interaction with site visitors a good one.
Additionally, as visitors dive deeper into the website, they use of one of two reading patterns (F-Pattern and Z-Pattern) to read the pages. By understanding these patterns and applying them to the specific purpose of each area, you can increase on-site engagement, build brand trust and increase conversion rates.
Finally, a consistent brand helps you build and maintain trust with your audience. Delivering on a consistent and high-quality experience is vital to building a lasting company, and one that your prospects will trust. This often starts with your website and marketing collateral, so make it count!
What user experience techniques have you found to be most effective on your website? Let us know in the comments below!


text:
Best Political Moments Of 2021
From fighting for voting rights to laying the groundwork in Georgia to elect the first Black senator, Black women were organizing on the ground to get things done.
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By Malaika Jabali	· Updated December 31, 2021
With the year closing out, ESSENCE is recognizing the top political moments of 2021. And the common theme is, no surprise, Black women. From fighting for voting rights to laying the groundwork in Georgia to elect the first Black senator, Black women were organizing on the ground to get things done. Here's what was on our radar this year.
1. Black women lead the fight to elect the first Black senator from Georgia.
Photo by Jessica McGowan/Getty Images
Georgia's demographics are changing, and it's making a difference at the voting booths. After a battle in the 2020 election, Black women organizers kept the fight going to increase voter engagement. Largely through their efforts Georgia sent two Democrats, Jon Osoff and Rapahel Warnock, to the Senate. Warnock, the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, is the first Black senator to represent the peach state.
2. All hail the queen…or not.
Photo by John Stillwell – WPA Pool/Getty Images
Barbados gained its independence from Great Britain, removing Queen Elizabeth from the Head of State of the island nation. Two Black women now lead the state. Its government elected Sandra Mason to be the president, and Mia Mottley has served as the prime minister since 2018.
3. Black Lives Matter is still putting in the work, despite much fewer protests against violent policing this year.
As coronavirus continued to rage and those stimmies were drying up, The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation and Black Lives Matter Grassroots gave $3 million to Black households who have been financially crippled by the pandemic.
4. Policing protests declined, but Black people were still in the streets and at the Capitol fighting for voting rights.
The federal government is still struggling to pass legislation to challenge voter suppression laws popping up around the country. But Black folks aren't backing down. For the anniversary of the 1963 March On Washington, several groups teamed up in August to demand passage of the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act
5. The children will be alright. After over a month of protest, Howard University students reach an agreement to address its housing issues.
For 34 days, starting on October 12, students slept in tents outside the HBCU's Blackburn Center, raising awareness about issues with mold, pest control, and other safety issues. They announced a legal agreement with the administration on November 15. Gen Z is really putting in the work!
TOPICS: black politics