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Interpreting J.L. Austin
Critical Essays
Editor: Savas L. Tsohatzidis, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki
Savas L. Tsohatzidis, Marga Reimer, Friederike Moltmann, Robert Fiengo, Maximilian de Gaynesford, Sandra Laugier, Robert Schwartz, Krista Lawlor, Guy Longworth, Stephen Hetherington
Publication planned for: August 2019
availability: Not yet published - available from
In this volume, Savas L. Tsohatzidis brings together a team of leading experts to provide up-to-date perspectives on the work of J. L. Austin, a major figure in twentieth-century philosophy and an important contributor to theories of language, truth, perception, and knowledge. Focusing on aspects of Austin's writings in these four areas, the volume's ten original essays critically examine central elements of his philosophy, exploring their interrelationships, their historical context, their reception, and their implications for key issues of contemporary philosophical research. The volume deepens our understanding of Austin's philosophy while illustrating its continuing significance, and will appeal to students and scholars of modern philosophy, particularly to those interested in the philosophy of language and epistemology.
Approaches Austin's ideas from fresh perspectives, exploring his thinking on language, truth, perception, and knowledge
Provides detailed examination of the connections between Austin's key theses, enhancing our understanding of his philosophy
Situates his work in its historical context, investigating Austin's critical reception and his relevance to modern philosophical debates
Savas L. Tsohatzidis
1. Exploring Austin's galaxy: searching for truth through the lens of ordinary language Marga Reimer
2. Levels of linguistic acts and the semantics of saying and quoting Friederike Moltmann
3. On the representation of form and function: imperative sentences Robert Fiengo
4. Uptake in action Maximilian de Gaynesford
5. Performativity and the 'true/false fetish' Savas L. Tsohatzidis
6. The vulnerability of reality: Austin, normativity, and excuses Sandra Laugier
7 Berkeley and Austin on the argument from illusion Robert Schwartz
8. Austin on perception, knowledge and meaning Krista Lawlor
9. Enough is enough: Austin on knowing Guy Longworth
10. Knowledge and knowledge-claims: Austin and beyond Stephen Hetherington
Savas L. Tsohatzidis, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki
Savas L. Tsohatzidis is Professor of General Linguistics and the Philosophy of Language at Aristotle University, Thessaloniki. His previous publications include John Searle's Philosophy of Language: Force, Meaning, and Mind (Cambridge, 2007) and Intentional Acts and Institutional Facts: Essays on John Searle's Social Ontology (2007).
Word and World
Practice and the Foundations of Language
Mind, Reason and Imagination
Selected Essays in Philosophy of Mind and Language


It may seem to be the dead of winter, but the 2018 NCAA softball season is right around the corner. The USAToday/NFCA poll was released last week, and Thursday marks the official start of the 2018 season.
The Oklahoma Sooners enter 2018 aiming to three-peat as national champions. Head coach Patty Gasso's team lost only one senior and return eight of nine starters. The preseason rankings reflect the high expectations for Oklahoma. Thirty-one of 32 first-place votes in the preseason poll belong to the Sooners. Can Oklahoma be stopped?
Baylor hopes to answer that question with a yes. They played second fiddle to Oklahoma in 2017, but there was no overlooking the Bears. Behind an all-around attack, Baylor finished seventh in the Women's College World Series. Ace Kelsee Selman graduated, leaving Gia Rodoni and Shelby "Goose" McGlaun the remaining pitchers from last year. Filling Selman's hole will be tough, but both Rodoni and McGlaun had under 2.50 ERAs last season.
Kelly Barnhill posted a 26-4 record and 0.54 ERA in 2017.
One team that will also have to fill a hole in their pitching staff is Florida, but they won't need to do much more to repeat as the SEC champions. Delanie Gourley is gone, but Kelly Barnhill is more than enough to propel the Gators forward this season. Barnhill was simply amazing last season, with a 26-4 record and a .54 ERA. Barnhill will be paired with Aleshia Ocasio, who was strong in limited pitching opportunities last season. Only two position players graduated, so expect to see more offensive fireworks from the team that blasted 53 home runs last season.
Texas A&M had a storybook season last year, finishing only four games behind the Gators. This year, they return their entire starting nine in the field and the trio of Lexi Smith, Trinity Harrington and Samantha Snow in the circle. Expect to see the Aggies among the best teams headed into May.
Amber Fiser was undefeated in 18 starts, finishing with a 1.68 ERA in 2017.
Last year in the Big Ten, Minnesota unseated Michigan from the top of the conference with a tremendous 56-win season. This season, it is going to be a tight race in the Big Ten again. For Minnesota to win again, they will need their offense to produce. Pitcher Sara Groenewegen had a tremendous senior campaign with an ERA under 1.00 and 31 wins last year. Replacing the NFCA First-Team All-American will be tough, but Amber Fiser may be up for the challenge. As a freshman, Fiser was undefeated in 18 starts, finishing with a 1.68 ERA, one of the best by a freshman in the Big Ten.
For Michigan, it's looking like a rebound year. Kelly Christner and her .400 batting average is gone along with pitcher Megan Betsa, but Michigan has the recruiting class to make up for these losses. The Wolverines have especially high expectations for Alexis "Lou" Allen. She was a part of the 2017 USA Softball Junior Women's National Training Team and hit over .600 in high school. She will play outfield and first base for the Wolverines.
Out west, the Pac-12 is wide open. Last year, the top four teams were within two games of each other in the conference standings, and this year is no different. It seems one of four teams will win the conference this year.
Oregon finished second in a stacked Pac-12 last season.
The Oregon Ducks finished second in the Pac-12 last year, and have a dynamic duo returning on the mound. Maggie Balint and Megan Kleist both produced more than 150 strikeouts last year and low ERAs. This year both return to a stacked Ducks team.
Arizona was the pride of the Pac-12 last year. However, not all is sunny down in the desert. The Wildcats graduated eight seniors including shortstop Mo Mercado and pitcher Danielle O'Toole. Arizona will have to make up for the loss of a majority of their starters, so expectations are a bit more uncertain for the Wildcats in a competitive conference. They were picked to finish seventh nationally in the preseason poll, behind three Pac-12 teams.
In Seattle, the Washington Huskies are going to be a force to be reckoned with. Junior pitcher Taran Alvelo was dominant last season with a 2.07 ERA and striking out more than 200 batters. The Columbus, Ohio native will be joined by a strong recruiting class, leading to a USA Today/NFCA preseason poll ranking of fifth.
UCLA returns all but three players from last year's national fifth-place finishing team. The Bruins will once again look to win games with tremendous power and solid pitching. The top three pitchers are back, plus seven of nine in the starting lineup. One key player for the Bruins will be Brianna Tautalafua, who hit 16 home runs last year to pair with a .335 batting average.
Florida State looks like the team to beat in the ACC.
Florida State reigns supreme in the ACC. The Seminoles' key player Jessie Warren returns for her senior season. Last year Warren had a .413 batting average and ranked third-best in the NCAA in home runs with a total of 23. If Warren hits like she did in her junior year, and Meghan King can keep up a 1.50 ERA, expect to see Florida State in Oklahoma City.


Iran's incoming President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be open to foreign investors and Western companies should not take fright, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
Ahmadinejad, viewed by Western countries as a conservative, takes power next month after he won an election in June in the second-biggest crude exporter of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Some conservatives, who want domestic companies to work on Iranian projects, have been buoyed by comments from the new president that foreign companies will not have preferential treatment.
But Asefi, on a visit to London, sought to soothe the nerves of Western investors who may have preferred to see the former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani win the election.
"Ahmadinejad has said he is open to foreign investment," Asefi told reporters. "He said he will not close the door, and he is thinking of creating more opportunities."
That meant strengthening relations with European countries as well as with China and Russia, he said.
Iran's parliament has already sent out negative signals to foreign firms.
Legislators have accused oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, which operates Iran's 200,000 barrels per day offshore Soroush and Nowruz oilfields, of "cultural imperialism".
"The worry in the West is based on a lack of knowledge. If foreign companies wait a bit, they will see there is nothing to be worried about"
Parliament also slashed the stake that Turkish mobile phone operator Turkcell was allowed to take in a mobile phone operating licence, potentially worth $3 billion.
Analysts see a $1.2 billion deal between Iran's National Petrochemical Company (NPC), Germany's Linde and Hyundai of South Korea as a test of whether Iran is ready for foreign investment.
Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has argued that Iran needs to award deals to more expensive foreign firms because only they have the technological know-how to do the job well.
Zanganeh said on Tuesday that heavy foreign investment is needed to boost Iran's crude capacity, as the largest fields lose about 7% of capacity each year.
Asefi said Western firms were anxious because they did not know what to expect.
"The worry in the West is based on a lack of knowledge. If foreign companies wait a bit, they will see there is nothing to be worried about," he said.
He said Ahmadinejad would make economic and social policy a priority and that he aimed to help poorer Iranians.
Asefi met British Foreign Minister Jack Straw on his visit to London and the two agreed to greater cooperation on visas and on combating illegal immigration.


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Getting a bargain in the Russian markets
Nikita Dúlnev
The Russian market is one of the cheapest in the world, and investors used to emerging economies have long been taking advantage of the discounts.Source: PhotoXPress
Investing in Russia may not be the easiest thing to do, but the payoffs are well worth the trouble.
It's easy to make money playing the Russian stock market. A price fluctuation in excess of 2 percent is considered sufficient to alarm traders on a developed market, but for Russia, 1 to 2 percent is routine. The Russian market is among the cheapest in the world, and investors used to emerging economies have long been taking advantage of the discounts.
But more and more, investors from developed economies are discovering this open secret, with plenty of encouragement from the Russian government. Shares can be bought in U.S. dollars; investment companies issue regular marketing surveys in both Russian and English; and the main R.T.S. index has a comprehensive English-language version of its Web site.
The Russian market is the most attractive of all the emerging economies in terms of its basic indices. "By the price-to-earnings [p/e] ratio and E.B.I.D.T.A., the Russian market is among the cheapest in the world," said Oleg Achkasov, head of equity trading at V.T.B. Capital. "For example, the average p/e ratio in Russia is 5, compared with 8 to 10 in other emerging markets." Achkasov explained the discount as the result of Russia's problems with governance and transparency issues. However, he continued, once these are resolved, the discount is likely to disappear.
Foreigners interested in trying their luck on the Russian stock market are first faced with the challenge of selecting a broker. While most foreign investors prefer to work with someone from their own country, local brokers say this is a mistake as the foreign banks operating in Russia do not make trading on the Russian market part of their core business.
"They [the foreign banks] have worked here long enough; some have been successful, but their main source of income lies outside Russia," said Achkasov. "By contrast, for us it as our key product; Russian companies have a broader product lineup, better contacts and deeper market analysis." Achkasov added that foreign investors should not be afraid of working with Russian brokerages as they keep up with foreign regulations and often have branches registered in Europe, the United States, China and other countries that operate in compliance with the local legislation.
After determining with whom to invest, an investor must consider what to buy. "The Russian stock market (like any other) is a notion combining thousands of instruments and shares. The simplest and most reliable instrument is blue chips – the biggest companies, mostly oil, telecoms and financial corporations. They grow steadily but slowly, i.e., the risks are lowest here but the yield is far from the best," said Alexander Parfyonov, an analyst at Unison Capital. "At the same time, the low-liquidity second and third tiers trade potentially high-yield securities of smaller companies that are not always transparent. Blue chips provided an average yield of 4 to 5 percent from January to September 2011, whereas in the third tier, yields averaged 20 percent."
Parfyonov suggests that Russia may become a more attractive option the longer the global financial crisis goes on. "Many of these securities will become a safe haven for their owners if the global economy slips into a new recession," Parfyonov said. "Should the situation on the world financial market deteriorate and should the market value of stock fall, these stocks will safeguard their holders against excessive losses and yield considerable profits when the situation gets back to normal."
Economy RIR Blogs

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Pokin Around: Strange times, when the best place for social distancing for me is at work
Two weeks ago, I came home from work and my kitchen was gutted and there was a thick plastic sheet covering the passage from kitchen to living room.
I told my wife, "All I did was sneeze. Once. In the kitchen."
No, she said. She reminded me that it had nothing to do with the coronavirus.
Instead, at long last, the kitchen remodel she had long planned was underway.
My wife is a planner in the same way Eisenhower was a planner. Think of D-Day.
As the disease COVID-19 spreads from continent to continent, nation to nation, city to city, things have gotten more serious and more personal.
We have a presumptive positive case in Greene County and my employer, Gannett, like many other employers, wants people to work from home.
It's called "social distancing," which means keeping a distance of about six feet from another person. That way, you are out of sneeze range, which is one way the virus spreads.
To slow the spread, cities are locked down, large gatherings canceled or postponed.
Springfield's St. Patrick's Day Parade was canceled. Many cities did the same thing.
Related:Springfield-area events canceled or postponed due to coronavirus
As I write this, Eureka Springs still planned to hold its 25th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade on Saturday, March 14.
I've come to believe that parades right now are foolish. Two weeks ago, I would have scoffed and thought cancellation an overreaction.
In large part, I've changed my mind because I've read a fascinating bit of history called the "Deadliest Parade."
It occurred on Sept. 28, 1918, in Philadelphia, during the Spanish Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919.
That pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide, including 675,000 in the United States, a number 10 times the number of U.S. soldiers killed in World War I.
It infected one-fifth of the world's population and killed more people than the "black death" bubonic plague of 1347 to 1351.
Health officials knew in 1918 there was great risk in having a parade in a major city. But since the parade served as a fundraiser for the war effort, some argued it was unpatriotic to cancel.
About 200,000 people crammed into downtown Philadelphia to watch the two-mile parade.
Within three days, every bed in the city's 31 hospitals was filled by influenza patients, according to a recent story in the Washington Post.
This was the flu strain that had ravaged military camps and battlefields all over Europe and now, as the war approached its ultimate end in November, it had invaded cities.
Within a week, more than 45,000 people in Philadelphia were infected with influenza, as the entire city ground to a halt.
Within six weeks, more than 12,000 Philadelphians were dead; there weren't enough coffins to bury them all.
At about the same time, St. Louis canceled a similar fundraising parade for public health reasons. The death toll there was no more than 700.
Clearly, social distancing works. Avoid large crowds.
COVID-19:Springfield's Anthony Tolliver deals with uncertainty after NBA colleagues get coronavirus
New currency: Toilet paper, sanitizer
Recent days have been strange. It reminds me of how the world changed after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
I recall how odd it was to not see or hear a single plane in the sky.
It was the eerie absence of something rather than the presence of something.
No March Madness. Who would have thought that a month ago?
For months I have trained for the Go! St. Louis half-marathon on March 29. It was just canceled.
The stock market has plunged; I dare not look at my 401(k).
Toilet paper and hand sanitizer are the coin of the realm.
My co-worker Wyatt Wheeler called me Thursday. He said that since we might not be seeing each other — because we had been encouraged to work from home — he wanted to check in because, at my age, 66, I might not be long for this world.
I am calm. I am healthy. If I become infected, I reason, it would be no different than contracting the regular flu.
But what chaos would ensue should someone like Tom Hanks or NBA player Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz dies from the disease?
Such a death would shatter the confidence of many who firmly believe the disease is fatal only for the elderly who already are burdened with multiple health problems.
In a year, will we look back and chastise ourselves for being naive to the danger ahead?
Or will we be embarrassed by our overreaction and our supply of year-old toilet paper in the garage?
Health:MSHSAA will limit fans at state basketball championships in response to coronavirus
Just me and Harry, 15 feet apart
Right now in the newsroom, as I write this, it's just me and reporter Harrison Keegan. We maintain social distancing; we sit about 15 feet apart.
In what I facetiously will call great foresight, Gannett seemingly has anticipated this need for social distancing by reducing staff. In 1987, we had 87 newsroom employees. Now we have 17.
Harry and I could actually choose from several empty newsroom offices.
I plan to continue to come to work in the office, in large part because my home ratlles from the sounds of saws and hammers as our new kitchen takes shape.
My life is so disjointed that my wife informed me today that I had received two boxes in the mail. I told her I had purchased a stand for my kayak; I would assemble it and place it in the backyard behind the shed. My goal is to get the kayak off the garage floor.
Column continues below
Two people with no underlying health conditions die of COVID-19 this week in Greene Co. Jordan Valley, health dept. offers free COVID-19 drive-thru testing Friday in Branson How full are Greene County hospitals? Track capacity levels Where to get tested for COVID-19 in Springfield and what to know about the results
In response to the packages, she led me into the garage — which has become the workshop for the kitchen-cabinet maker — and showed me my kayak.
It was hanging off the ground, suspended by straps and a pulley system.
She had ordered it and then asked one of the guys working on the kitchen to install it. He apparently has three kayaks at home stored this way.
"How long has it been up there?" I asked.
"About a week. I guess I should have told you."
These are the views of News-Leader columnist Steve Pokin, who has been at the paper eight years, and over his career has covered everything from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65806.


text: Jesse Williams Best known for his TV roles, Jesse Williams is an outstanding actor and advocate for equality among all races. As the youngest member of the board of directors of The Advancement Project (a civil rights think-tank and advocacy group), Jesse does all he can to help prevent racial injustice. In 2016, Jesse Williams won the Humanitarian Award at the 2016 BET awards. He gave a speech focusing on racial injustice, police brutality, and the invention of "whiteness." "It's kind of basic mathematics - the more we learn about [...]


Neil was one of my very first dog walking clients 8 years ago when I first launched my business (South Tampa Dog Walking & Pet Sitting). I had the pleasure of regularly walking his sweet dog Maggie whom always brought a smile to my face. Neil joined my team to assist in daily dog walks as his love for dogs was simply endless & he wanted to do anything that involved being around them. He was always attentive to every client's needs & their precious fur babies while going above & beyond the norm. This to me showed he had such a wonderful heart & excellent communication skill as well.
Over the years Neil has expanded his love for dogs in various ways. Just to name a few: promoting & encouraging excellent researched quality pet food to pet owners, completing his dog training certification through Catch Canine Trainers Academy, driving as far as necessary to help an animal in need, offering his time to nonprofit rescues as a volunteer & the list goes on.
I honestly cannot say enough wonderful things about Neil & can say that anyone that uses his services is lucky to have him!
"So when you look in the dictionary under amazing dog trainer/animal advocate, Neil Rubenstein is highlighted. Neil is all about the dog. Money is secondary. He just cares so much and will help you in any way possible to get your dog the proper positive training/introduction he or she needs. He is well versed in training, and care on many levels. So without hesitation I continue to recommend Neil to my pet sitting clients for the best positive dog trainer I know.
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If astral intelligences are capable of seeing through matter, why is it that no spirit control of a medium is able to meet the now famous orange counting test?
This question refers to a test to which the Psychical Research Society has put its subjects. It is said that it has offered the sum of five thousand dollars to any medium who can tell the exact number of oranges as they are poured out of a bag into a basket or similar object placed to receive them.
Up to the present time no one has been able to either guess or tell the exact number of oranges on the table or in a basket, though many have made the attempt.
If the correct answer is to be given, it must be given either by the intelligence of the medium or by that intelligence which controls the medium. If the intelligence of the medium were able to solve the problem there would be no need of a control; but neither the medium nor the control has solved the problem. The problem involves not the ability to see through matter, but to compute numbers. Both medium and control may be able to see through matter, as a child might through a glass see the people passing on the opposite side of the street. But if the child has not learned the mental operation of counting, it will not be able to tell the number in front of the window at any given time. It requires a mind trained in counting to be able to add up a large column of figures quickly, and still more trained must be the mind which is able to tell how many coins there are in a group or how many people in a crowd.
As a rule, the mentality of mediums is not of a high order, and the controls of the mediums are below the average of ordinary human beings. A clairvoyant or a control of a medium may, like a child in a library, art gallery or flower garden, see the objects therein. Like the child the control of the medium or the clairvoyant might speak of the strange books in their costly cases, or of the wonderful pieces of art, and of the beautiful flowers, but would be at a woeful loss to deal with the subject matter of the books, to criticize and describe the art treasures or to speak of the flowers in terms other than descriptive. The ability to see through matter does not include the capacity to know what is seen.
A direct answer to the question as to why no medium has been able to qualify for the test is: because no human being has so trained his mind as to be able to compute at a glance the units making up a large number. This is why the medium is not able to clairvoyantly tell the number of oranges in a large bag or basket. A "spirit control" knows no more, where mental operations are concerned, than the mind of that control knew at any time when it was the informing principle of a human being.
If any of those present were able to perform the mental operation of computing the number and would hold the number in his mind, either the control or the medium would be able to give the answer. But inasmuch as none of the minds present can do this, the control is also unable to do it. No control of any medium is able to perform a mental operation that has never been performed by human beings.
What explanation can Theosophy offer for the terrific earthquakes which so frequently occur, and which may destroy thousands of people?
According to Theosophy all things in the universe are related to each other. Men, plants, animals, water, air, earth and all the elements act and react on each other. Gross bodies are moved by finer bodies, unintelligent bodies are moved by intelligence, and all matter circulates throughout the domains of nature. Every catastrophe as an effect must have been the result of a cause. All phenomena attended by good or disastrous results are the outcome and results of the thoughts of man.
The thoughts of a people surround or ascend and form in groups or clouds as it were above and around that people, and the cloud of thought is of the nature of the people who form it. Each thought of each person adds to the general sum of the thought which is suspended over the people. So each country has hanging over it and about it the thoughts and nature of the people who live on the land. As the atmosphere of the earth has forces playing through it which affect the earth, so the mental atmosphere in clouds of thoughts also affect the earth. As the conflicting elements in the atmosphere, result and find their vent in a storm, so conflicting thoughts in the mental atmosphere must also find their expression through physical phenomena and such phenomena as are of the nature of the thoughts.
The atmosphere of the earth and the mental atmosphere of men react on the forces of the earth. There is a circulation of the forces within and outside the earth; these forces and their action in any particular part of the earth conform to the general laws which control the earth as a whole. As the races of men appear, develop and decay on different parts of the earth, and as the earth, too, must change its structure in the course of ages, the changes necessary to the general development must be brought about, resulting in change of the inclination of the axis of the earth and of the earth's conformation.
An earthquake is caused by an attempt, by the effort of the earth to adjust itself to the forces which affect it and to equalize and to balance itself in its changes. When large numbers of people are destroyed by an earthquake it means that not only is the earth adjusting itself according to a geographical plan, but that the majority of those who suffer death have met it in this way on account of the karmic causes which they have engendered.
H. W. Percival
The Word Foundation, Inc. | Publishers of Thinking and Destiny


I cannot say enough great things about our lawyer Vincent Rubino. He met with us very early in the morning to accommodate our work schedules, was incredibly quick with his email responses and ALWAYS pleasant and helpful, and was VERY well informed about the law and what our options were – and our case was not an easy one as we'd already been through a previous lawyer who made some errors. Vince was able to not only fix the previous mistakes, but DRAMATICALLY improve the results of our filing. I never in a million years thought there were lawyers out there like Vince who you felt like you were friends with all along the way and knew that he had your best interest at heart the entire time. It's rare to find someone like Vince in any industry these days and I'm beyond thankful that we did!!
Mr Fareri is personable he helps from his heart. My wife needed representation and he went way beyond our expectations. I have never met many people who truly care about you and do whatever they possibly can to effect a positive outcome. Jim Fareri is an outstanding lawyer. We are very fortunate that Mr Fareri helped us. We feel indebted to him as I personally have met few individuals like him.
Nobody wants to go through bankruptcy, but if you must then I highly recommend Vince Rubino and his team. In fact, determining if you really must file bankruptcy is something that Vince takes very seriously — he does not take you case just because he can. He wants to make sure that filing is the correct path for you. Throughout the process, he and his team were readily available, always clear about current and next steps, and patient with questions.
Vince was also very sensitive to my availability, working his schedule to coordinate with mine and being aware of my availability for the bankruptcy hearing. At the hearing itself, Vince readily put me at ease and the process went exactly as he described. I didn't want to go through this, but I was confident and at-ease with Vince representing me. He is also a great guy. I highly recommend Vince and his team.
Worked personally with Zac Cristman and he was wonderful. Knowledgeable and enough personality to put us at ease in a very stressful situation.
Mr. Williams provided me with Real Estate as well as Land Use (subdivision of property) services. I highly recommend him for these as well as Estate planning.


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Downtown Washington, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to economic development and preservation of our history, heritage and historic structures. Downtown Washington, Inc. was founded in 1959 as a merchants committee and was incorporated in 1973. We are one of the first five pilot Main Street Programs in Missouri chosen in 1989. Downtown continues to be the heart of our community, thanks to dedicated use of the Main Street.
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Every community and commercial district is different, with its own distinctive assets and sense of place. The Main Street Approach™ offers community-based revitalization initiatives with a practical, adaptable four point framework for downtown transformation that is easily tailored to local conditions. The Main Street Approach helps communities get started with revitalization, and grows with them over time.
WHAT ARE THE MAIN STREET APPROACH FOUR POINTS?
• ECONOMIC VITALITY focuses on capital, incentives, and other economic and financial tools to assist new and existing businesses, catalyze property development, and create a supportive environment for entrepreneurs and innovators that drive local economies.
• DESIGN supports a community's transformation by enhancing the physical and visual assets that set the commercial district apart.
• PROMOTION positions the downtown or commercial district as the center of the community and hub of economic activity, while creating a positive image that showcases a community's unique characteristics.
• ORGANIZATION involves creating a strong foundation for a sustainable revitalization effort, including cultivating partnerships, community involvement, and resources for the district.
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT A DOWNTOWN WASHINGTON, INC. EVENT?
We have many sponsorship opportunities. Our events draw visitors from throughout Missouri and the Midwest. Your financial support not only helps us build awareness in the community, it also supports year round downtown preservation and economic development efforts. Please consider being a part of our success in keeping downtown Washington the heart of Washington and a source of pride for our community.
ACHIEVEMENTS & HIGHLIGHTS
• In 2012, Downtown Washington, Inc. was named a Great American Main Street by the National Main Street Center, an honor only given to three communities in the US each year. This is awarded to communities that show excellence in Main Street preservation, design, events and economic development.
• Over 70 unique and locally owned businesses call downtown Washington home. These businesses are vital to the economic development of Washington because 68% of money spent at local businesses stays in Washington, whereas only 43% stays from chain stores.
• Downtown Washington, Inc. hosts 30+ events and trainings each year welcoming over 85,000 visitors. Multiple volunteer committees meet year round to plan the events and hundreds of volunteers help run them.
• Downtown Washington, Inc. is a national model for preservation and economic development and is one of only seven nationally and state accredited Main Street Communities in Missouri.
• Downtown Washington is a resource for attracting business, industry and new residents to Washington. A vibrant community center, like downtown Washington, signals a strong community overall. A busy downtown offers community engagement and opportunities to get involved.
FROM OCTOBER 2018 - SEPTEMBER 2019…
• 9,953 Volunteer hours valued at $76,865
• 30 Net new jobs
• $8,318,599 in private investment
• $417,725 in public investment
• 37 Potential new businesses and/or
property owners consulted
THE SECRET TO OUR SUCCESS…
This is an easy question to answer and it's just one word…teamwork.
Teamwork is essential in every aspect of what we do. From our staff, to the board of directors to our committees and volunteers, teamwork is the key. With a staff of four full-time and two part-time employees, volunteers are essential to achieve 84 event and training days that we host each year.
Teamwork also extends to our relationship with the Washington Area Chamber of Commerce and City of Washington. Each organization performs a key role in the growth and prosperity of Washington. The informal structure of this team is…
• Downtown Washington, Inc. counsels and searches for small businesses and potential property owners for the downtown district.
• Washington Area Chamber of Commerce counsels and searches for small businesses to locate outside of downtown.
• City of Washington counsels and searches for large businesses and industry to relocate or expand to Washington.
There are also many other commissions and committees that are part of this team including, but not limited to, Core Restructuring Committee, Economic Vitality Committee, 353, Tourism Commission, Division of Tourism, Division of Community and Economic Development and our many service organizations.
Keep in mind, we all have the same goal…the success, growth and continuation of our communities. We have different approaches and methods…that is an asset! Approach every meeting with an intention of cooperation and success and you will see progress.
Year In Review - East Central College
The mission of East Central College, Union, is to empower students and enrich communities through education — a goal that the college will continue to strive for over the next year.
ECC was founded in 1968 and classes began in September 1969, making 2019 a historic year. The College wrapped up its 50th anniversary celebration by participating in several area parades during the summer, and in September an event on campus featuring activities, including a car display, petting zoo, inflatables and food trucks. A class reunion was also held for alums to see old friends.
In addition, ECC sealed a time capsule containing mementos of the past 50 years to be opened in 2068 for the 100th anniversary.
Looking ahead, President Dr. Jon Bauer said the college will focus on its new strategic plan, SOAR to 2024. "We begin this new year focused on developing the initiatives in our new strategic plan that will greatly enhance our college and our surrounding communities," he said. "Last year will be remembered as a springboard for our current plan," Bauer added. "I will remember it as one of the most exciting and substantial years in recent memory for East Central College."
The college is governed by a board of trustees. The board includes six members, two from each sub-district.
ECC students can complete their first two years of coursework toward a bachelor's degree and then transfer to a four-year institution. In addition, there are more than 25 career/technical programs are offered with Associate of Applied Science (AAS) and certificate options available for students preparing to enter the workforce. The Union campus sits on over 200 acres. The college also has two locations in Rolla and offers classes in Washington.
Soar to 2024
In August, the Board of Trustees approved a new 5-year strategic plan — SOAR to 2024.
The architects of the plan enlisted the assistance of students, administration, faculty, staff, trustees, community members and business leaders to ensure that all stakeholders had a voice in the process.
SOAR to 2024 features a new mission and vision for the college, as well as a new set of values and five major strategies: Pathways, Partnerships, Employees, Financial Strength and Rolla.
New Dual Credit Opportunities
The college implanted a plan last year to provide more educational opportunities to area students through an earlier college experience. In December, trustees authorized free dual credit classes to high school students who are on the federal Free and Reduced Lunch program. The new initiative took effect in the 2020 spring semester that began Jan. 21. This move provides an avenue for ECC to remove the barrier for high school students who don't have access to traditional financial aid.
Students taking dual credit classes are taught in their high school by a teacher from their school who is certified in that discipline by ECC. The college grants the student credit hours upon completion of the class.
Data show that students who participate in early college programs are more likely to enroll full-time after high school. Early college can shorten the time to degree and reduce the overall cost of higher education for students and their families.
ECC Brings Back Baseball, Adds Women's Soccer
In December, trustees also agreed to expand the slate of sports offerings to include men's baseball and women's soccer. Women's soccer will start in fall 2020 and men's baseball will return to the field in spring 2022. The baseball program was discontinued in 2001 due to budget cuts after starting in 1974.
Men's baseball will have a roster of 35 players while women's soccer will have a roster of 25 student-athletes. There are three primary reasons for moving forward with these two sports: enrollment, student success and revenue generation.
Historically, student-athletes have a higher grade point average, course completion rates, and graduation and transfer rates than non-athletes.
Free Textbook Project
During the 2019 summer semester the college began to provide lower cost textbooks for students. In some cases textbooks are free. Community college students spend an average of $1,400 on books and supplies each year and this initiative lessens the burden for them
ECC is using open educational resources (OER) that are either copyright-free textbooks, or have a license that allows for reuse. Students will get the same quality information at little or no cost.
The idea began with the English department where students were paying about $140 for a required textbook. Now, those students are using a textbook that only costs $34.
The project is expected to be expanded to other classes as the college continues to look for methods to lower the barriers for students.
Higher Learning Commission Visit
A team from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) completed its on-site work in November. The College remains fully accredited and has taken positive steps to improve in the areas from assessment to planning to governance.
The HLC team read and heard about a number of significant, substantive changes that have occurred over the past few years. The energy and engagement was evident throughout the visit, and is reflective of the work happening on campus every day.
In 2020, the college will move forward in implementing SOAR 2024. ECC also will focus on its assessment, evaluating new programs and revising policies.
A grant is being sought by the ECC Foundation to repair and improve the walking trail on the Union campus. In addition, the Foundation will begin spearheading a fundraising campaign to raise funds to upgrade the current baseball field.
The college anticipates the completion of a greenhouse near the ECC Training Center in Union. The greenhouse is substantially complete and it will enhance the college's culinary program. It is funded with federal, state and local dollars.
Overcoming the "Workforce Challenge"
As the 21st century continues to develop new technology in every aspect of the world, including the workplace, more and more people are finding ways to succeed at any age. People are working for years longer due to technology, creating the largest age gap the workplace has ever experienced.
In some industries, communication, workplace culture, the promotional ladder and many other variables are all changing as the gap in age continues to increase.
Julie Scannel, HR director for GH Tool and Mold, believes that some of the problems associated with these arising challenges reflect these younger generations.
"Employees prioritizing their needs isn't really something we used to see very often. They're not afraid to lose a job if it means a better life for themselves; whereas previous generations believed the job was the key to a better life," Scannell said.
Workplaces outside of Washington have defined these changes as a limiting factor to their success. Washington, however, views today's workforce challenge as a workforce opportunity.
David Englebrecht, Chief Operations Officer, President of Citizens Bank believes that the Washington area allows the bank to hire high schoolers to work alongside the veterans like himself. "The young people that are coming to work for us are great examples of what the parents and teachers in this community are teaching them to be," Englebrecht said. "They're hard workers and very competitive and driven. I think a lot of those people my age are somewhat taken aback that they're hungry for movement upward quickly, which isn't necessarily a bad thing."
Luke Meyer, Vice President of Citizens Bank grew up in the Washington community and when he was hired on at the bank, was one of the youngest loan officers the bank had ever had. Now he helps fill the gaps between generations.
Meyer first began working when internet banking first started. As new ideas are created from younger employees he has helpful insight on what it means to be present during such an impactful shift. "When I started, internet banking was the primary cutting edge thing. We've evolved into mobile banking. You can get eAlerts, and you can do everything from your phone now. The younger employees have some really great ideas. There's a lot of different perspectives being thrown in, and their ideas are being heard. The challenge is just trying to manage those different styles, and bring them into our reality," Meyer said.
Paige Robinson, a junior at Washington High School and part-time teller, views the opportunity to work with everyone at the bank as a perspective of what it takes to work in any industry, especially at the bank.
"The older generations have the full time jobs that could potentially be open by the time I'm out of college. Working with people of all ages opens my eyes and teaches me what I have to work towards no matter where I end up," Robinson said.
Similar to the different generations at Citizens Bank, GH Tool and Mold varies in generations. Aaron Meyer and Blaine Straatmann, both work at GH during the school day before their normal afternoon shifts. This partnership with Four Rivers Career Center and GH has allowed both of these students more opportunities to see what it's like working more than just after school. Meyer and Straatmann agree that the culture at GH has a big effect on what their experience is truly like. "I don't think [the workforce challenge] really affects us because we all get along really well," Meyer said. "I've heard about it from the media more than from problems that may happen during work."
The relationships between the community, schools, and businesses in Washington reflects the relationships inside the workplace, as well. "We try to be good friends with all of the workers so that when we make mistakes like setting up the same tools twice we aren't afraid to go and talk with the older employees," Straatmann said. Robinson agrees that the relationship inside the office helps overcome any challenges that do arise because of an age difference.
"We are all a good team. If someone is in the midst of something, we have each other's back and make sure that we get the next customer," Robinson said. "Everyone at Citizens Bank treats me like an adult. Customers ask sometimes if I'm just 'helping out' but everyone I work with sticks up for me and says 'no she's a part of us'," Robinson said.
Washington finds that the different generations are a benefit, however, there are still stereotypes of what the workplace in this generation is going to be like.
"There's always going to be disagreements and there's always going age differences in the workplace, therefore, it's less about the disconnect and more about how to overcome those stereotypes through the generations," Englebrecht said.
Even though there are challenges with training older employees in new technology while also teaching younger generations the expectations of working in a certain environment, the benefit of having a large array of generations working together outweighs any challenges. "Every generation has people with good and bad work ethics, individuals who are eager to learn and contribute, and individuals who are just in it for themselves. We are fortunate to have a company and community culture that promotes the former, regardless of age," Scannell said.
Partnering with the Future Workforce
The Center for Advanced Professional Studies, CAPS, is a program through Four Rivers Career Center that brings together high school students and the community to create an innovative partnership focused on entrepreneurship in the real world. The 2019 CAPS students partnered with the Chamber of Commerce to sell advertisements to help produce this magazine. Students traveled to different businesses, spoke with professionals and sold advertisements to fully fund this edition. "The experience was great. It gave me practice with speaking to professionals and helped me gain experience for my future," Cameron McElhaney said. Not only was this project beneficial for both the magazine and the educational component, but it remains one of the highlights for both the community and the CAPS students. "Selling ads for the Chamber magazine, Washington Insight was my favorite project this year. I woke up every day 100% excited and ready to go try to sell the ads. I loved the experience and it felt like we were making a difference," Colton Cozza said. For businesses it was a great opportunity to meet the future generations of business men and women. "Ethan Strubberg, a member of the CAPS program, arrived at my office dressed for success, including a tie! As scary as I know it can be for these young adults to enter a business they're not familiar with, and then proceed to ask for advertising funds, Mr. Strubberg did so in a very mature and professional manner," Casey Zastrow said. Other students found that being able to go outside the classroom and get invested into the community has a benefit far beyond what was expected at the beginning of the year. "This was my favorite experience so far in CAPS. It gave us real world experience when it comes to sales. It is something I'm considering pursuing in my future because of this project," Tim Logan Roewe said. Being able to come into the different businesses has helped get these students out within the community. "The CAPS program is a wonderful program for students and the business community as a whole," Zastrow said. The Chamber would not have been able to create this magazine without the energy, efforts, and hard work of the CAPS students. These students best represent the heart of the community of Washington. None of this would have been possible without this group of innovative young professionals.
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Corporate Polluters Have Received Tens of Millions in PPP Loans
Oct 05, 2020 3:18AM EDT Business
Fossil fuel companies, a diesel engine parts manufacturer, and a nuclear waste management company were among the corporations which received up to $32 million in loans. Dirk Rabe / Pixabay
As the American public awaits a new coronavirus aid package and at least one in five small businesses expect to close by the end of 2020 due to economic hardship, government watchdog Accountable.US and the HuffPost revealed Sunday that at least five companies which were previously fined for pollution violations received millions of dollars in loans via the Paycheck Protection Program which was introduced in March.
Fossil fuel companies, a diesel engine parts manufacturer, and a nuclear waste management company were among the corporations which received up to million in loans, after they were forced to collectively pay more than million in penalties, according to the analysis.
Tens of millions of dollars went to companies with environmental mishaps. https://t.co/9gZs160fIt
— Chris D'Angelo (@c_m_dangelo) October 4, 2020
"These companies have a clear history of violating public trust and the law by contaminating the environment in pursuit of profits. Our federal government should not be essentially giving back portions of the penalties they've paid, but that's exactly what the Trump administration is doing through the PPP," Chris Saeger, director of strategic initiatives at Accountable.US, told the HuffPost.
The companies include CountryMark Refining and Logistics, a subsidiary of an oil company based in Indiana, which took a PPP loan of million to million in April, seven years after it paid more than million to correct its violations of the Clean Air Act, including emissions standards regarding the carcinogen benzene.
Utah-based diesel engine parts company Performance Diesel took a loan between 0,000 and million, just a year after it agreed to pay .1 million to settle Clean Air Act violations.
"Polluters should receive penalties and regulatory scrutiny, not taxpayer subsidies," tweeted Joe Murphy, an environmental attorney in New York.
The report comes days after Friends of the Earth, Public Citizen, and BailoutWatch revealed "how the U.S. government provided a safety net for the flagging fossil fuel industry" through coronavirus relief packages by allowing oil and gas companies to issue nearly 0 billion in bonds through the Federal Reserve's bond purchasing program.
More than 7,000 fossil fuel companies have received a total of billion to billion in PPP loans, while an estimated 167,735 small businesses, including restaurants and independent retailers, have been forced to close since March. Small business owners reported long delays in actually accessing funds after they were approved for PPP loans in the spring while they struggled to keep their businesses open and employees paid.
As of Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was negotiating more potential Covid-19 aid with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. House Democrats passed the HEROES Act in May and a second version of the legislation last week, calling for a reinstatement of the 0 weekly enhanced unemployment benefit included in the CARES Act, 0 billion for state and local governments, child care assistance funding, and funding for Covid-19 testing and contact tracing.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has so far refused to take up the legislation.
Reposted with permission from Common Dreams.
Fossil Fuel Firms With Ties to Trump Administration Get Small ...
Fossil Fuel Industry Feasted on COVID-19 Relief Programs, Report Reveals - EcoWatch
The horror story of how the Trump administration has handled PPP ...
Trump donors among early recipients of coronavirus loans
Trump Associates Got Millions in PPP Loans | Time
climate crisiscoronavirusenvironmentfossil fuelspandemicpollutiontrump administration
New Reef Discovered in Deep Waters off Tahiti Is a Rare 'Positive Story' for Corals


At an incredible Power of 6 Teraflops of graphical processing, the Xbox One X Project Scorpio is the most powerful console ever made.
The technical specs are pretty high!
-4K immersive Gaming with 2160p frame buffers.
This console is a beast, you will be able to play 100+ console exclusives and 300+ Xbox 360 games!
Another great news, all the accessories from the XBOX One will work on the Xbox One X.
At the time of this article, pre-orders have pretty much sold out which is an excellent news for Microsoft.


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Lums is in the spotlight for hosting all-male conference
Updated Dec 02, 2015 12:13pm
The college's conference on Muslim Intellectual Tradition didn't feature a single female scholar.
Panelists at the conference —Photo courtesy: kalamresearch.com
On November 13-14, Lahore University of Management Sciences (Lums) organized a two-day conference, titled "Pakistan's Contribution to the Muslim Intellectual Tradition" held at the Mushtaq Ahmad Gurmani School of Social Sciences and Humanities. That's all fine. The catch? All the speakers at the conference were all male.
Many current students, alumni, faculty and researchers associated with Lums were troubled; one former student, Fatima Tassadiq, took matters into her own hands and started an online petition titled "Letter of Protest to LUMS MAG School of Humanities Social Sciences".
The petition says: "We appreciate the intellectual premise of the conference and consider it a hallmark of LUMS' vibrancy to have scholars present exciting research on this important topic. However, we are at a complete loss to understand how a two-day conference boasting six panels, each with multiple speakers, along with chairs, and keynote speakers, was organized without the inclusion of a single woman."
"Are there no female scholars working in these fields? If the organizers of the conference did not receive high quality papers from female researchers responding to the conference's call for papers, was it not possible to invite female scholars to at least chair some of the panels? Given that one of the panelists participated in the conference via a proxy who read the paper out, is it unreasonable for us to expect that the same could have been done for female scholars not based in Lahore?"
Whether this was a genuine oversight or an intentional course of action, attention must be brought to highlight the gender disparity that exists in Pakistan.
So far, 200 people have signed the petition, which was created a day ago.
It can't be lack of merit that led to the female voice being expunged in the arena: scholars like Ayesha Jalal, Riffat Hassan and Leila Ahmed or theologian Amina Wadud would have been welcome additions to the line-up of speakers.
LUMS response: LUMS prides itself on a tradition of inclusive dialogue, and we believe that constructive criticism pushes us to work harder to create an exemplary environment for teaching and learning. We welcome the recent feedback we have received suggesting the need to be more proactive in ensuring not simply more, but more meaningful, female representation within academic settings. Such change requires a sustained and institution-wide commitment to understanding histories of marginalization and the manner in which such exclusions are often indirectly and even unintentionally reinforced. As we draw lessons from this experience for the future, we are committed to engaging our students, faculty, and staff in the ongoing and sometimes difficult conversations necessary to achieve our vision of an even more inclusive, and thereby more vibrant, LUMS. We aim to do this in particular through our recently established Saida Waheed Gender Initiative.
Clarification: The article has been modified from the original to more clearly reflect the views expressed in the online petition.
Manto goes to Harvard, Yale and Columbia
In Conversation with Salima Hashmi
Geek chic: Bookworms bring their A-game to eye wear at LLF 2015
Nov 25, 2015 03:32pm
O for god's sake.. everything is not misogyny... Stop throwing that word around everywhere. There couldve been a hundred and one different reasons for why there were no women on a single panel. LUMS would be misogynistic if they never had women on panels or staff... which is clearly not the case! At worst this would be a case of negligence... Grow up guys
N Siddiqui
Nothing surprising in Pak society, which is based on misogynist values.
The first line "Hell hath no fury, blah blah ..." is itself misogynistic and offensive in this context, since it attempts to trivialize the issue. Disappointed.
Afsar Zaman
How can we progress and compete with the world ignoring our 50% or more of population?
In a society like Pakistan, this is not a surprise. The sad thing about the so called educated minority is that they have not learnt anything when it comes to allowing (and encouraging women) to take some of the limelight. It is only reserved for the bearded old men. To me education means completely different and not just a piece of paper. Education, first and foremost, should liberate our minds.
This is utterly stupid. Feminists being feminists.... If women were not interested or qualified to participate in the event, why must it be the case that one of the men (who are both qualified and interested) must be replaced just for the sake of having a woman on the panel.
S. Haider
Now, the LUMS should organize another symposium on the " Negligence of Women in Islamic Countries". Please do not repeat the mistake of inviting men only for this meeting !! I support the petition.
Mueen
@Usman Your assumption "If women were not interested or qualified to participate in the event" is not credible.
Some of LUMS students and alumni act stupidly. It has been already asked in previous comments as how misogyny is defined or identified in this context, one should consider the following questions to qualify it. Is it a norm in LUMS that female speakers are missing from panels? How many qualified women are there to talk on (the) topic and how many of them are willing to speak? Has the school sufficient funds to finance their across continent travel? Finally what kind of feminist subversive politics are you involved in? Do you want a female speaker (unqualified) for the sake of 'aesthetics' which will make look her more stupid? What kind of (stupid) feminism is this? I can see 'secular/liberal-syndrome' involved (more than feminism) in this absurd critique: it makes the 'secular/liberals' uneasy as how can female voice be neglected when it comes to religion.
There is much gender bias that exists even in the developed counties. How can LUMS be an exception? Classical example is the tech sector where a male dominated intelligentsia implicitly believes women can never produce good tech while simultaneously wasting hundreds of man hours in political bickering.
Muneeza
I have been noticing limited female participation in several promotional videos shot for LUMS. It unfortunate especially since it was not the case when I was a student there. It is not feminist to point this out. It speaks to the lack of female role models for women who study at the university.
Every educational institution should have diversity policies in place and its staff trained on procedures to ensure that diversity is reflected in delivery of educational programmes. Having said this, the organisation of the event by LUMS cannot be described as "Misogyny" by any stretch whatsoever. It could be the case that female specialists in the field where not available on short notice or many other plausable reasons could determine the panel. Secondly if there are no Christian speakers on the panel then can we say the organisers are anti Christian? Absence of a group does not automatically imply that the group is deliberately being marginalised. The author should excercise caution before using loaded terminology and get the facts first before accusing anyone of a grave offense.
Aeyaz Kayani
This case seems like the same sort of storm in a tea-cup that has become all too common at LUMS (and was becoming so in recent years). Since LUMS has not had a problem inviting female scholars to lecture in the past, even on religious and Islamic subjects, and since this is easily verifiable, this petition makes sense only if all the following can be shown: 1. There are female scholars working in the areas this conference focused on (or if in related areas then to show that males were invited even when speaking only on related areas) 2. These scholars were as easily reachable as the people actually invited 3. These scholars were purposefully not invited at all (rather than just declined their invitations) while males in similar positions were invited. Otherwise this petition is nonsense. Misogyny is a problem in Pakistan at large. But please don't go around trivializing the actual problem by reacting in this over-sensitive manner everywhere.
Shridhar Subrahmanyam
Gender equality is essential for the country to realise its full potential. Keeping women at home to care for the children and not pursue their dream is cruel and is ultimately a drag on the society. Let the women do what they want to do, manage companies, do research, reach for the sky or whatever they desire. That is the only way you will achieve the full potential of the society and country.
Labeling LUMS "misogynistic" is way out of the line. Yes, we dislike the idea of excluding women from the panel, but let's not get carried away and start using extreme words to label others. Be rational and reasonable.
Why is it necessary to have a woman in the panel? Women should get it on merit, not on the basis of propaganda.
M.Saeed
Today, we have women leading the race against men being miles ahead in every field. Every exams will show women in the lead. Therefore, it is natural for men to be misogynous. This Conference in LUMS simply prove the fact and women cannot be expected to be their own adversaries in such a forum.
and we should thank Gen Zia for letting this happen in 1985. many will disagree / rather all may disagree but it was his govt which let it happen. QAU was founded in 1967 under Field Marshall Ayub Khan, Islamabad Islamic University was founded in 1980 again in Zia's regime. AGHA Khan hospital in 1985 during Zia's regime.... to round it off in 1985 PIMS Hospital Islamabad was established as well in Zia's regime. so all notable education centers, hospitals were founded during Army rules, yet these politicians or their cronies are sadistically trying to expunge all these ....... without shame.
surprised to know how can gender issues come into intellectual discussion ...
I've read gender studies and feminism concept in detail and in my opinion it's very safe to say we as a nation are inclined to abuse any foreign concept. Feminism itself is no different.
Being a graduate from lums, i can say one thing with utmost surety that my university is not misogynist. .. there can be a million reasons for the non participation of a female in this event. i personally have attended numerous events where females were the lead speakers where a male could also fulfil that role, nobody complained then .. why are they complaining now is beyond me !!!
Namaloom Fard
@Usman I concur
"mole out of a mountain" .. really wasn't an issue
Hamza Sultan
Why is it an absolute NECESSITY to have women speakers? What if none of the females are interested? Should they be forced to participate at gunpoint next time there's such an event in order to avoid another accusation of misogyny? Pakistani feminists seem to be running out of real issues, which is very surprising. Please focus on real issues, this is completely nonsensical!
IFTIKHAR
Why on earth, any intellectual or even a knowledgeable person would take a seminar or conference backed by John Templeton Fund seriously? John Templeton Fund's sponsorship topics belong better in churches, mosques, seminaries and 'madrassahs' than universities. Women should actually be glad for exclusion from John Templeton Fund sponsored conference.
Could it be possible LUMS may have invited the ladies but they refuse to come due to wahtever reasons?
In one moment women demand for equality - then in the next they realize their capabilities are altogether different from men - you demand special treatment! If in any particular field women cannot match men - then fairness demands to honor the men only. It would be quite inappropriate to invite women just for the sake of creating artificial equality. If some one doesn't invite women then thats not misogyny in my opinion! Women should demand and struggle for Justice ... not equality (Equality will be unfair to them). And personally I am all for treating women specially (not with discrimination or anything like that).
If this had happened at Harvard, which I can guarantee that must have happened several times, nobody would question. We are a society devoid of trust, where everything is planned and conspired. On the contrary we are opposite, we have no planning. I can just say, very childish to have such a discussion and to publish this and make a news out of it.
probably they picked people on merit rather than on gender quota
@Usman Dear either u did not read the names in the last para or u just happened to assume tht there is no female scholars interested /working in this field...see the problem here??
@Saif Dear Saif, first thing u mentioned "feminist/feminism" far too many times in ur comment. second did u not read tht there was a proxy arrangement for distant speakers. Does word "Scholar" makes any sense to u? It means some one expert in her/his field so I pray explain how come a speaker b "unqualified"? U also managed to ignore/skip the names written in the last para of the article. In ur shole comment u used deprecating words to belittle the writer and protesters which is a proof tht u urself is a misogynist :)
Zubaida khan
@Saif There you go again trying to make decisions for others. The conference only has to invite. It does not pay for travel expenses. How can ICNA here in Connecticut have so many women speakers at their annual conference? While in Pakistan not even one in the city of Lahore? Bottom line did LUMS extend a call for papers to women? Or even an invitation?


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<CHARACTER_LITERAL> ...
<STRING_LITERAL> ...
<IDENTIFIER> ...
"(" ...
"!" ...
"~" ...
"++" ...
"--" ...
"+" ...
"-" ...

at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.generateParseException(JavaParser.java:10490)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.jj_consume_token(JavaParser.java:10366)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.UnaryExpression(JavaParser.java:3175)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.MultiplicativeExpression(JavaParser.java:3090)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.AdditiveExpression(JavaParser.java:3085)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ShiftExpression(JavaParser.java:3027)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.RelationalExpression(JavaParser.java:2990)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.InstanceOfExpression(JavaParser.java:2977)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.AssigmentExpression(JavaParser.java:2959)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.EqualityExpression(JavaParser.java:2886)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.AndExpression(JavaParser.java:2860)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ExclusiveOrExpression(JavaParser.java:2843)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.InclusiveOrExpression(JavaParser.java:2826)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ConditionalAndExpression(JavaParser.java:2808)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ConditionalOrExpression(JavaParser.java:2790)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ConditionalExpression(JavaParser.java:2774)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.Expression(JavaParser.java:2718)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ArgumentList(JavaParser.java:3620)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.Arguments(JavaParser.java:3610)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.PrimarySuffix(JavaParser.java:3511)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.PrimaryExpression(JavaParser.java:3384)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.PostfixExpression(JavaParser.java:3330)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.UnaryExpressionNotPlusMinus(JavaParser.java:3237)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.UnaryExpression(JavaParser.java:3171)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.MultiplicativeExpression(JavaParser.java:3090)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.AdditiveExpression(JavaParser.java:3061)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ShiftExpression(JavaParser.java:3027)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.RelationalExpression(JavaParser.java:2990)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.InstanceOfExpression(JavaParser.java:2977)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.AssigmentExpression(JavaParser.java:2959)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.EqualityExpression(JavaParser.java:2886)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.AndExpression(JavaParser.java:2860)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ExclusiveOrExpression(JavaParser.java:2843)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.InclusiveOrExpression(JavaParser.java:2826)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ConditionalAndExpression(JavaParser.java:2808)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ConditionalOrExpression(JavaParser.java:2790)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ConditionalExpression(JavaParser.java:2774)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.Expression(JavaParser.java:2718)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.VariableInitializer(JavaParser.java:1744)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.VariableDeclarator(JavaParser.java:1672)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.LocalVariableDeclaration(JavaParser.java:4019)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.BlockStatement(JavaParser.java:3941)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.Block(JavaParser.java:3934)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.MethodDeclaration(JavaParser.java:1987)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ClassBodyDeclaration(JavaParser.java:1039)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ClassBody(JavaParser.java:898)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.UnmodifiedClassDeclaration(JavaParser.java:824)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.ClassDeclaration(JavaParser.java:728)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.TypeDeclaration(JavaParser.java:575)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.CompilationUnit(JavaParser.java:318)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.JavaParser.parse(JavaParser.java:100)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.Javancss._measureSource(Javancss.java:192)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.Javancss._measureRoot(Javancss.java:268)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.Javancss.<init>(Javancss.java:347)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.JavancssFactory.newInstance(JavancssFactory.java:40)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.ComplexityCalculator.getFunctionMetricsForSingleFile(ComplexityCalculator.java:243)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.ComplexityCalculator.getAccumlatedCCNForSingleFile(ComplexityCalculator.java:143)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.ComplexityCalculator.getCCNForSourceFileNameInternal(ComplexityCalculator.java:273)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.ComplexityCalculator.getCCNForPackageInternal(ComplexityCalculator.java:208)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.ComplexityCalculator.getCCNForProject(ComplexityCalculator.java:174)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.xml.XMLReport.<init>(XMLReport.java:70)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.xml.XMLReportFormatStrategy.save(XMLReportFormatStrategy.java:18)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.NativeReport.export(NativeReport.java:31)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.CompositeReport.export(CompositeReport.java:19)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.ReportMain.parseArgumentsAndReport(ReportMain.java:91)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.ReportMain.generateReport(ReportMain.java:141)
at net.sourceforge.cobertura.reporting.ReportMain.main(ReportMain.java:151)
net.sourceforge.cobertura.javancss.parser.ParseException: Encountered " ">" "> "" at line 48, column 36.
`Was expecting one of:
"assert" ...
"boolean" ...
"byte" ...
"char" ...
"double" ...
"enum" ...
"false" ...
"float" ...
"int" ...
"long" ...
"new" ...
"null" ...
"short" ...
"super" ...
"this" ...
"true" ...
"void" ...
<INTEGER_LITERAL> ...
<FLOATING_POINT_LITERAL> ...
<CHARACTER_LITERAL> ...
<STRING_LITERAL> ...
<IDENTIFIER> ...
"(" ...
"!" ...
"~" ...
"++" ...
"--" ...
"+" ...
"-" ...

It would be great to receive some kind of suggestions as this is a blocker for the application,Thank You

A: javancss can't handle certain Java8 Code and you get an error while parsing.
The last commit was 2 years ago so you have to try an alternative like SonarCube

A: While the javancss plugin is updated https://blog.sonarsource.com/the_next_major_version_of_javancss_is_on_its_way
I recommend:
Option 1: For the javancss plugin, the specific class could be excluded:
<plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
        <artifactId>javancss-maven-plugin</artifactId>

        <configuration>
          <excludes>
            <exclude>**/bar.java</exclude>
            <exclude>**/foobar.java</exclude>
          </excludes>
        </configuration>

      </plugin>
    </plugins>

Option 2: the errors could be ignored:
<plugins>
      <plugin>
        <groupId>org.codehaus.mojo</groupId>
        <artifactId>javancss-maven-plugin</artifactId>

        <configuration>
          <failOnViolation>true</failOnViolation>

        </configuration>

      </plugin>
    </plugins>

https://www.mojohaus.org/javancss-maven-plugin/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: Steam issues after installing Mesa Intel Iris Xe PPA on Ubuntu 20.04 I recently installed Mesa Intel Iris Xe graphics drivers using this guide.  Now, Steam refuses to load at all. It simply gets to verification completed, pauses, and then stops when run from the terminal. I installed both of the drivers listed here.
terminal output:
[2022-04-28 13:15:27] Startup - updater built
Mar 14 2022 19:48:46 Looks like steam didn't shutdown cleanly, scheduling immediate update check
[2022-04-28 13:15:27] Failed to load cached hosts file (File 'update_hosts_cached.vdf' not found), using defaults
[2022-04-28 13:15:27] Using the following download hosts for Public, Realm steamglobal
[2022-04-28 13:15:27] 1. http://media.steampowered.com, /client/, Realm 'steamglobal', weight was 1, source = 'baked in'
[2022-04-28 13:15:27] Checking for update on startup
[2022-04-28 13:15:27] Checking for available updates...
[2022-04-28 13:15:27] Downloading manifest: http://media.steampowered.com/client/steam_client_ubuntu12
[2022-04-28 13:15:28] Download skipped: /client/steam_client_ubuntu12 version 1647446817, installed version 1647446817, existing pending version 0
[2022-04-28 13:15:28] Nothing to do
[2022-04-28 13:15:28] Verifying installation...
[2022-04-28 13:15:28] Performing checksum verification of executable files
[2022-04-28 13:15:28] Verification complete

running ppa purge the frist time returns
sudo ppa-purge ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa

Updating packages lists
W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu focal InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY F63F0F2B90935439
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu focal InRelease' is not signed.
Warning:  apt-get update failed for some reason

running:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove kisak/kisak-mesa

returns nothing
And
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers

Returns
PLEASE READ: don't email me to report bugs, unless you are sure it's a packaging bug. Not only is email not a good tool for tracking bugs, it also excludes anybody else from tracking or working on the issue. Please read the section "Debugging and reporting problems" below.

Also, please don't ask me to include non-free drivers, I won't do it.

Patches and suggestions are welcomed.

=============

All Ubuntu architectures are supported.

Supported Ubuntu versions:
- 20.04 (focal) <- obsolete
- 21.10 (impish) <- obsolete
- 22.04 (jammy) <- supported
- 22.10 (kinetic) <- supported

For forum support see: http://goo.gl/qoUpWK

=== Introduction ===
This PPA provides updated free graphics drivers (from mesa). Updates packages provide:
 * all driver packages are automagically built every day, when there are upstream changes
 * Vulkan 1.3+ and OpenGL 4.6+ : http://mesamatrix.net
 * gallium-nine support. Read the specific section below
 * VDPAU and VAAPI Gallium3D accelerated video drivers (see below)
 * packages built against latest stable LLVM
 * mesa packages built with gcc LTO for smaller binary size (~10-15%) and improved performance

As an added bonus I may include some updated open source games (backported from Debian or newer Ubuntu).

=== Basic usage ===
See "Adding this PPA to your system" later on, or just do:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
and update your Ubuntu with the package here.

=== Using gallium-nine ===
Gallium-nine lets you run DirectX 9 games in a faster way, avoiding the inefficient translation of D3D9 calls to OpenGL. For more info see https://wiki.ixit.cz/d3d9
You need:
 * enable this PPA (see previous paragraph)
 * then follow the instructions to install wine from this PPA: https://launchpad.net/~commendsarnex/+archive/ubuntu/winedri3

=== Using alternative drivers - Here be dragons ===
* zink - OpenGL emulated on a Vulkan driver:
  Set MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=zink
* zink + lavapipe - OpenGL emulated on a software Vulkan driver:
  Set VK_ICD_FILENAMES=/usr/share/vulkan/icd.d/lvp_icd.x86_64.json MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=zink
* llvmpipe OpenGL software render:
  Set MESA_LOADER_DRIVER_OVERRIDE=llvmpipe
* Other options here: https://www.mesa3d.org/envvars.html

=== Using accelerated video ===
Supported VDPAU drivers: r300, r600, radeonsi, nouveau
Supported VAAPI drivers: r600, radeonsi

* First you need to install mesa-vdpau-drivers package:
sudo apt-get install mesa-vdpau-drivers

* Then to test the VDPAU driver with mpv use:
$ mpv --hwdec=vdpau yourvideofile

=== Upgrading to a newer Ubuntu ===
It is *strongly* suggested to remove all packages from this PPA before updating to a newer Ubuntu release. See the section "Revert to original drivers" later on.
Then, after the upgrade, you can add again this PPA.

=== Debugging and reporting problems ===
If you have some problem with the drivers try running the application from the command line and see if there are graphics related warnings. Also type dmesg to see if there are other related information here.

If you get crashes install the relevant -dbg pacakges (libgl1-mesa-dri-dbg or libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental-dbg for 3D drivers and xserver-xorg-video-intel-dbg , xserver-xorg-video-nouveau-dbg or xserver-xorg-video-radeon-dbg for X drivers) and reproduce the crash with gdb. Example:
$ gdb glxgears
[...make your application crash and then get a backtrace with:]
(gdb) bt

If X.org crashes look at /var/log/Xorg.0.log (or /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old when a new X session is started after the crash).

With the gathered information try searching at https://bugs.freedesktop.org/query.cgi (also try with google) if someone already reported a similar bug. If not you may want to report a new bug:
for 3D drivers bugs: https://www.mesa3d.org/bugs.html
for X / 2D driver bugs: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=xorg

=== Revert to original drivers ===
To revert to standard Ubuntu drivers type the following in a prompt shell:
$ sudo apt-get install ppa-purge
$ sudo ppa-purge ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers

=== Donations ===
Some people asked me if I can accept donations to support this work. I don't, but if you have some spare money I would be happy if you could do a donation to a charity of your choice (for the poors, animals, whatever else you may think it might need it). Then feel free to send me a note about it!
 More info: https://launchpad.net/~oibaf/+archive/ubuntu/graphics-drivers
Press [ENTER] to continue or Ctrl-c to cancel removing it.

I pressed [ENTER]:
however, running:
sudo ppa-purge ppa:kisak/kisak-mesa

Returns
Updating packages lists
W: GPG error: http://ppa.launchpad.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu focal InRelease: The following signatures couldn't be verified because the public key is not available: NO_PUBKEY F63F0F2B90935439
E: The repository 'http://ppa.launchpad.net/kisak/kisak-mesa/ubuntu focal InRelease' is not signed.
Warning:  apt-get update failed for some reason


President Donald Trump flatly denied Monday that he's ever "worked for Russia" in response to a news report that the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation into whether he was an agent working on behalf of Russia against American interests.
The story said law enforcement officials were concerned about his behavior after he fired FBI director James Comey.
"I never worked for Russia and you know that answer better than anybody," Trump told reporters as he was leaving the White House for a trip to New Orleans. "Not only did I never work for Russia, I think it's a disgrace that you even asked that question because it's a whole big fat hoax," Trump said.
The New York Times first reported the story, including details about how officials were concerned about the president's behavior before and after he fired Comey. The purpose of the FBI's counterintelligence program, as defined by the agency itself, is to neutralize national security threats from foreign intelligence services and in the past, countering Russian efforts has been its primary mission.
Trump has long battled allegations of ties to Russia, the focus of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into collusion during the 2016 election.
"Like I said: A puppet," Clinton said Monday.
"The people doing that investigation were people that have been caught, that are known scoundrels there, I guess you could say are dirty cops," Trump said, mentioning fired deputy director Andrew McCabe and former FBI officials Lisa Page and Peter Strzok.
"Let me tell you something, when people see that, you have an angry country. Because the whole thing is a hoax. It is a big hoax and it is very bad for our country," Trump said.
The first time Trump was publicly asked about the report — and whether he currently or ever had worked for Russia — on Saturday night by Fox News by host Jeanine Pirro, Trump denounced the story as "the most insulting" ever written about him but didn't directly answer the question.


text:
Q: How to remove regular strips I want to remove the regular strips of the image as shown as follow. I try many methods, and they do not work, such as image media filter and FFT filter.
Could you tell me how to remove the strips?

A: All that black is removing a ton of information from the image.  You have two options available - either re-capture that missing information in a new shot, or attempt to invent / synthesize / extrapolate the missing information with software.
If you can re-shoot, get your camera as close to the mesh fence as you can, use the largest aperture your lens supports to have the shallowest possible depth of field, and set your focus point as deep as possible - this will minimize the appearance of the mesh.
If that is the only still you have to work with, you've got a few dozen hours of playing with the clone and blur tools in front of you in just about any image editing software package you like.
Photoshop would be my go to tool of choice for this.  In Photoshop CS5 they introduced something called content aware fill.  I'm not sure if it will help you in this specific case because there is SO MUCH black that Adobe's algorithm may think other parts of the mesh are valid sources for filling in the mesh you're trying to clear out.


text:
Q: Migrate data model from MySQL to Cassandra Structure in MySql (for compactness i am using a simplified notation)
Notation: table name->[column1(key or index), column2, …]
documents->[doc_id(primary key), title, description]
elements->[element_id(primary key), doc_id(index), title, description]

Each document can contain a large number of elements (between 1 and 100k+)
We have two key requirements:

*

*Load all elements for a given doc_id quickly

*Update the value of one individual element by his element_id quickly

Structure in Cassandra
1st solution
documents->[doc_id(primary key), title, description, elements] (elements could be a SET or a TEXT, each time new elements are added (they are never removed) we would append it to this column)
elements->[element_id(primary key), title, description]

To load a document we would need:

*

*Load document with given  and get all element ids: SELECT * from documents where doc_id='id'

*Load all elements with the given ids: SELECT * FROM elements where element_id IN (ids loaded from query a)
Updating elements would be done by their primary key.
2nd solution
documents->[doc_id(primary key), title, description]
elements->[element_id(primary key), doc_id(secondary index), title, description]

To load a document we would need:

*

*SELECT * from elements where doc_id='id'

Updating elements would be done by their primary key.
Questions regarding our solutions:

*

*1st: Will it be efficient to query 100k+ primary keys in the elements table?
SELECT * FROM elements WHERE element_id IN (element_id1,.... element_id100K+)?

*2nd: Will it be efficient to query just by a secondary index?
Could anyone give any advice how would we create a model for our use case?

A: With cassandra it's all about the access pattern (I hope I understood it correctly, if not please comment)
1st
documents should not use sets because set is limited to 65 535 elements and has to be read, updated in it's entirety every time a change is made. Since you need 100k+ it's not what you want. You could use frozen collections etc, but then again, reading everything in memory every time is bound to be slow.
2nd
secondary indexes, well, small cardinality data might be fine But from I understand you have 100k per document, this might even be fine but then again It's not the best practice. I would simply try it out in your concrete case.
3rd - disk is cheap approach - always write the data the way you are going to read it - cassandra's writes are dirt cheap so prepare the views at write time,
this one satisfies reading of all the elements belonging to doc_id
documents->[doc_id(primary key), title_doc (static), description_doc(static), element_id(clustering key), title, description]

elements remain pretty much as they were:
elements->[element_id(primary key), doc_id, title, description]

When doing updates, you update it in documents and elements (for consistency you can use batch operation - should you need it) If having element_id you can quickly issue another query after you get it's doc Id.
Depending on your updating needs documentId could also be a set. (I might have not gotten this part right because not sure what data is available when updating the element do you have the doc_id also and can one element be in more docs?)
Also since having 100k+ elements in single partition is not the best thing to have because of the retrievals ( all requests will go to one node) I would propose to have composite partitioning key (bucket) I think in your case a simple fixed int would be just fine. So every time you go to retrieve the elements you just issue selects to documentid + (1, 2, 3, 4 ...) and then merge the result at the client - this will be significantly faster.
One tricky part would be that you don't go into every single bucket for elementid that is stored in the document ... when I think about it then it would be better to use a base of two for buckets. In your case 16 would be ideal ... then when you look to update specific element just use some simple hash function known to you and use last 4 bits.
Now when I think about it if the element id + doc id is always known to you you might not even need the elements table at all.
Hope this helps

A: Based on the suggestion of Marko, our solution is:
CREATE TABLE documents (
   doc_id uuid,
   description text,
   title text,
   PRIMARY KEY (doc_id)
 );

CREATE TABLE nodes (
   doc_id uuid,
   element_id uuid,
   title text,
   PRIMARY KEY (doc_id, element_id)
);

We can retrieve all elements with the following query:
SELECT * FROM elements WHERE doc_id='id'

And update the elements:
UPDATE elements SET title='Hello' WHERE doc_id='id' AND element_id='id';


text:
BRANTLEY GILBERT RELEASES "WHAT HAPPENS IN A SMALL TOWN" WITH LINDSAY ELL TODAY
Art Courtesy of The Valory Music Co.
NASHVILLE, TN (December 14, 2018) – Brantley Gilbert's BG Nation are a passionate group of people who live beyond the obvious, have their own code of honor and believe in the lives they lead. Gilbert has always been the voice of the outsiders, the small towners, the stay up all-nighters and people who believe in the principles our nation was founded on – and that includes the unyielding power of real love.
When "What Happens In A Small Town," the sweeping duet with Lindsay Ell about never being able to shake the places and people who shape us, no matter the wreckage, started being played for people, its immediacy was undeniable. With the single slated for adds at country radio on January 14, Gilbert and Co. didn't want to wait for the new year to get the music to the fans.
"I think everybody's lived this," Gilbert says. "There's that one person, and you can't quite shake'em. You can break up, but you don't let go. And you know, it's never worse than at the holidays. So, when we were talking to Scott about the song, we realized it needs to be out now, when it can – maybe – do people some good."
"The evolution of Brantley Gilbert the man and the artist are on full display here," says Big Machine Label Group President/CEO Scott Borchetta. "He has worked tirelessly on his new music and everyone at The Valory Music Co. and the label group are so proud of him and equally fired up for the BG Nation to get new music. 2019 is going to be an incredible year for Brantley with new music and a new tour that are going to blow people's minds. It's on…"
Teaming with Lindsay Ell, a woman whose musicianship and intensity equals Gilbert, the passion of what the best loves are made of, even when they're short-circuiting, shines in their performance. Add Ell's equally combustive guitarwork, and the burn of knowing you can live with the memories everywhere you go – or figure out how to make it work leaps from the track.
Starting today, fans can get "What Happens In A Small Town" (The Valory Music Co.) first, available digitally everywhere here: https://brantley.lnk.to/WHIAST and can also watch the lyric video here:https://brantley.lnk.to/WHIASTLyricPR.
Gilbert, who's always contended "every album is a chapter of my life," certainly resembles "What Happens In A Small Town." The insurgent mainstream star certainly lost, was haunted by and eventually reunited with that one girl he could never outrun. Today, he and his wife Amber live in the same small town with a song that says it all.
"Music, especially music that rocks like this, crashes through pride, ego and whatever else is in the way," Ell continues. "Being able to play on this opened up the feelings to me. When I went in to do the vocal, it was all about really channeling that pain."
"It's not exactly a Christmas song," Gilbert offered. "But at this time of year, most people really do have a harder time with this sort of thing. The holidays can make it terrible, or maybe make people figure stuff out. So I'm glad we're able to do something a little outside the box, something that plugs straight into the BG Nation with a song that might just make the holidays turn out a little different than they started."