"Biotechnology's version of the Xerox machine" -- that's what Forbes magazine called the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This revolutionary technique enables a scientist to take a sample containing a minute amount of DNA and replicate that DNA sequence until there are a million copies instead of just one or two.
Kary Mullis, inventor of PCR, won a 1993 Nobel prize for his billion-dollar invention, which has become indispensable to any genetics lab. It is ironic that one of the first applications of PCR was to detect HIV, considering that Mullis himself doesn't believe his invention is capable of this. Mullis states the problem is PCR is too efficient -- it will amplify whatever DNA is in the sample, regardless of whether that DNA belongs to HIV or a contaminant. And how do you decide which part of the amplified material could be HIV and which part the contaminant(s), if you couldn't detect HIV in the sample without using PCR?
One of the main arguments against the HIV/AIDS hypothesis is that, when employing traditional methods of virus detection, HIV has never been inferred in significant amounts in people with AIDS. Virus culture, for instance, has been adequate to find other viruses, but not HIV. Why not? When virus culture is employed to detect HIV, HIV is never seen or even looked for in the cultures. Its presence is measured by very indirect methods: assays for detection of reverse transcriptase or a p24 protein, neither of which is specific for HIV. Indirect methods would not be necessary if a significant amount of HIV were there to begin with.
In other words, if a meaningful amount of HIV were present, the time-honoured laboratory techniques should be able to find it. They can't. Now we need not only PCR, but continuous modifications and improvements on PCR, in order to try to find HIV.
This is how the idea of "viral load" came about, inspired by two spates of scientific papers that claimed HIV is busily replicating by the billions: initially, papers claiming HIV was "hiding in the lymph nodes," (1,2) and more recently, the Ho and Wei papers. (3,4) The latter studies attempted to measure "viral load" at a given point, after which "antiviral" drugs were administered to the patient. The drugs were supposed to prevent replication of any new HIV, and the viral load would decrease accordingly. However, within a few days, the remaining virus would mutate into a form resistant to the drugs, and in a few weeks the viral load would return to its pre-treatment levels. Applying a mathematical formula to this dynamic, the rate at which the virus replicates was allegedly determined.
Hence was born what I call "Dr. Ho's kitchen sink theory". According to Ho, billions of copies of HIV are being made every day, which infect billions of T4-cells. These T-cells are destroyed not by HIV, but by the immune system. They are replenished every day, but over the years, the immune system loses ground and HIV finally wins. This process was likened to a sink with the drain open, the water pouring in from a tap (new T-cells being made) at a slightly lower rate than it drained away (infected T-cells being destroyed).
It is most important to note that the viral load studies all rely completely on PCR and related techniques. This article will discredit PCR as an accurate method of determining HIV infection, which will in turn cast doubt on any conclusions about HIV that have been made based on PCR techniques.
PCR takes advantage of certain fundamental properties of DNA. DNA (as well as RNA) is a nucleic acid, and nucleic acids are composed of nucleotide "building blocks". DNA exists as two complementary strands arranged in a double helix formation (two intertwining spirals). These strands are made up of many nucleotides hooked together to form a long chain of DNA.
The nucleotide molecule has three different parts: the phosphate and the sugar (which form a backbone or a ribbon-like structure), and the base. There are four types of bases: A, T, C, and G (adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine). These bases are attached to the backbone, which is wound in the familiar double helix.
The bases on one strand bind to the bases on the other strand, and this gives DNA its stable double helix structure. (Think of the two strands as forming a zipped-up zipper.) The distinct nature of an organism's DNA code depends on the order, or sequence, of the bases along the DNA chain.
There are special rules about how bases form chemical bonds with other bases: an A will only bind to a T, and a C will only bind to a G. A base on one strand binding to a base on the other strand is called a "complementary base pair". This rule of complementary base pairing is what gives DNA its ability to replicate itself exactly.
Each time a cell divides, it has to make a copy of its DNA for the new cell. The DNA double-strand first "unzips" itself into two separate strands. Each single strand serves as a template, or pattern, from which to make a new copy of its complementary strand. (So, strand #1 serves as a pattern to make a new copy of strand #2, and vice versa.) The single strand then incorporates new nucleotide building blocks from the surrounding medium according to the rule of complementary base pairing. In other words, an available A on the single strand will grab onto a T nucleotide, a C will grab a G, and so on until the entire opposite strand is duplicated. At the end of this process, the two original strands zip themselves up again, and the two copied strands serve as DNA for a new cell.
The theory of HIV says it, like other suggested retroviruses, contains RNA but no DNA: when HIV is said to infect a cell, the reverse transcriptase enzyme is thought to transform the RNA into complementary DNA, which is then inserted into the host cell's DNA.
Step 1: Heat the template. A long piece of DNA containing the smaller fragment to be copied is heated. The two strands can be "melted" apart at elevated temperatures, and will slowly come back together upon cooling ("annealing"). The two separated strands are complementary to each other. They serve as templates for the new strands.
Step 2: Add the primers. Something called a primer is necessary for the next step. Primers are nucleotides that form a short sequence of new strand. Primers are designed to be complementary to a known sequence which is part of a larger sequence, and thus where the primers will bind (or hybridise) is known.
In other words, the polymerase can only form a new strand if the new strand has already partially been formed. In nature, when your own DNA is duplicating itself, other enzymes called DNA primases build the primer onto the old strand.
Once the polymerase gets going, it crawls along the single DNA strand (the template) adding to it the nucleotide building blocks one by one. The primer ends up being part of the newly-made strand.
In nature, polymerases pull the DNA strands apart while they build the new DNA strand. This is how duplicate copies of DNA are made so that cells like blood and skin cells can divide into two new cells, a process essential for life.
Step 3: Amplify. Once again, after melting and then annealing the primers, the polymerase enzyme copies the DNA beginning at the primer, making a new copy of each target segment. This process is repeated for as many as 30-40 rounds. During each cycle, the amount of segments doubles, so two segments become four, four become eight, then 16, etc. By the end of the process, approximately a million copies of the original segment have been made. Now you have a whole lot of DNA, where originally you had only a minuscule amount. This is why PCR is referred to as being able to find a "needle in a haystack."
Obviously, it is necessary for the primers to be specific to HIV. Whether the PCR will make an amplified product (a "positive PCR") depends on whether the primers you add match part of the DNA in the target specimen.
Below, we will see that the specificity of the primers for HIV is in doubt. Even if the primers were specific to HIV, if similar sequences are present in the target, the primers, under lax conditions, will form hybrids with (or bind) related sequences that are less than a perfect match. They will then prime the polymerase, which starts the amplification procedure, even though no HIV was present to begin with.
A problem for the HIV hypothesis was that, even with the use of standard PCR, researchers could not find much, if any, HIV in persons with AIDS diagnoses. To resolve this paradox, the authors of the new "viral load" papers came up with two modifications of PCR, which they claimed were much more efficient at finding HIV. These were the QC-PCR and the branched DNA test (bDNA). And suddenly -- eureka! -- billions of copies of what was believed to be HIV were found. The contradiction here seems to have escaped the authors of these papers: Why would such powerful new tests be needed at all to find a microbe that is present in the billions? Traditional methods should suffice.
This is the test used in the above-mentioned papers by Anthony Fauci (Pantaleo) and Ashley Haase (Embretson), which claimed HIV was "hiding in the Iymph nodes." These papers were accepted as fact, even though QC-PCR was, and remains, an unvalidated technique.
"PCR mass produces fragments of DNA. You start with a small amount of DNA and after each PCR cycle, the amount of DNA you have is between one and two times the amount at the beginning of the cycle. Thus, the amount of DNA you have to study increases exponentially. The fact that the PCR is an exponential growth process means that experimental errors will also grow exponentially, so you need to be very careful about what you do with the process.
"A number of people have decided that it should be possible to estimate the amount of DNA present in a sample by using PCR. This is the so-called quantitative competitive PCR. The idea is to add to the sample to be estimated a known amount of similar but distinguishable DNA and amplify both together. The assumption is that the relative amounts of the two products should stay the same, and hence you can work out the size of the sample you started with by knowing the ratio of the two, determined by observation when PCR has produced enough of both to measure, and how much control DNA was added.
"What is absolutely crucial is that the relative amounts of the test DNA and your known control must remain exactly equal. Close is not good enough. The slightest variations will be magnified exponentially and can produce massive errors in your estimate.
"The difficulties in using PCR quantitatively were pointed out by Luc Raeymaekers in the journal Analytical Biochemistry in 1993. He noted published papers on QC-PCR contain data that show that the fundamental assumption that the relative sizes of the samples remain constant is not met in practice. Despite this, HIV researchers continue to use PCR to quantify viral load. There is simply no way of knowing whether a given estimate is correct or is 100,000 times too high!"
Todd Miller calls QC-PCR the "latest fad in science" and agrees that if the relative amounts of your test DNA and your known control are not equal, there is one thing you can say for sure about the estimate of your starting target (the amount of proposed HIV RNA in the patient's blood sample): It will be wrong.
How did QC-PCR, with all its flaws, become an acceptable HIV test? Miller explains: "The way this situation has manifested itself in modern science is like this: First some people spend a lot of time trying to get this test to work, and if they're lucky, end up publishing papers about caveats in the procedure. Second, others happen to get the test to give them an answer that "makes sense" and publish their data as a significant contribution to the field. Third, because of its relative newness and arcane nature, it remains as quasi-accepted with many passive sceptics and a few users. However, most who use it are more interested in their own pet phenomenon than in the mechanics of the reaction."
"Copies of a DNA probe are attached to the wall of a small laboratory vessel; then the sample is put in. [A DNA probe is a small piece of DNA complementary to the target DNA sequence.] This probe binds to a certain part of HIV RNA, if it is found in the sample, holding the RNA in the vessel. Then another DNA probe is put in; one end of this attaches to another part of the HIV RNA. The other end of the second probe has many branches and each branch ends with a "reporter" chemical that, under certain conditions, will produce light, which can be detected by laboratory equipment. Each molecule of HIV RNA can attach to one of these branching structures and hold on to a small number of light sources, not just one. In this way, very small amounts of the target RNA can be detected, without the need for PCR amplification."
In his initial paper, Ho gave no data on the protocols for this test or whether it was reliable. The reader was referred to two other papers that were "in press". So, no data was available at that time to anyone who wanted to verify this method. The data obtained from bDNA was confirmed by QC-PCR, the details of QC-PCR being set out in a reference authored by four co-authors of the Wei study, hardly what you might call independent or objective researchers. In the tradition of HIV research, unproven theories and faulty studies are accepted without question and incorporated into the "conventional wisdom" before being properly validated. By then, the damage is done, and if subsequent flaws are discovered it hardly matters.
The mechanics of bDNA are complex: Five different hybridisation reactions are going on. Hybridisation is a standard technique wherein a DNA probe is put into a sample and will bind to any complementary segments it finds. It's another indirect test, and it has a lot of problems. According to molecular biologist Bryan Ellison, "The only time molecular biology works is if you purify things first. There's always the possibility of cross-reactions, especially when you put your probes into a big soup of proteins" (which is exactly what the target blood sample is).
Duesberg pointed out the following: After making the appropriate adjustments to his calculations, Ho himself later found that more than 10,000 viruses inferred by the bDNA assay used in his Nature paper would actually correspond to less than one infectious virus, leading one to wonder what it is that is actually being measured on these tests. (10) Yet these speculative and unvalidated papers have been accepted as gospel truth!
In Ellison's mind, Ho's study is "Pure fantasy. There's never been a paper that shows viral load."
To find out if any diagnostic test for HIV infection actually works, it is necessary to verify the test with an independent gold standard. The only proper gold standard for this purpose is HIV itself. In other words, the results of your experimental test, whether it's PCR or anything else, must be compared to the results of virus isolation in each sample tested. If virus is actually found in each patient with a positive PCR, and no virus is found in each patient with a negative PCR, then you could say PCR is extremely accurate for detecting HIV.
The concept of virus isolation as a gold standard is particularly important in the case of HIV, since HIV has been extremely difficult, if not impossible, to define in genetic or molecular terms. Even if anyone had ever accomplished virus isolation for HIV (11), it has never been used as a gold standard for any HIV diagnostic test, including PCR. As it stands right now, bDNA uses QC-PCR as a gold standard; QC-PCR uses regular PCR as a gold standard; regular PCR uses antibody tests as a gold standard, and antibody tests use each other. I have noticed time after time that studies which are "verifying" an HIV antibody test will invariably state that they evaluated the performance of their test on samples which were known to be TRUE-POSITIVE or TRUE-NEGATIVE. How did they know this? It's simple: Without a gold standard, they didn't.
It is sometimes argued that "studies have shown" these tests to agree with each other or confirm each other's findings, and therefore they must be correct. This is not rigorous scientific thinking. Sometimes you can get the results of different tests to agree with each other, but that does not prove anything -- no more than it would prove if five criminals all agreed that they were somewhere else when the bank was being robbed.
Eleopulos says the following about the importance of gold standards: "The use of viral isolation as an independent means of establishing the presence or absence of the virus is technically known as a gold standard, and is a quintessential element for the authentication of any diagnostic test. Without a gold standard, the investigator is hopelessly disoriented, since he does not have an autonomous yardstick against which he can appraise the test he is aspiring to develop.... Only by this means can we assure patients that a positive HIV PCR is only ever found in the presence of HIV infection, that is, the tests are highly specific for HIV infection."
Citing a proficiency study involving five laboratories with extensive PCR experience, Sloand states that the average specificity was 94.7%. (14) Specificity was as low as 90%. Numbers in the 90s may sound good, but in reality, this is not the case. The number of false-positives compared to true positives is dependent on the prevalence of HIV infection in any population being tested (15) -- the lower the prevalence, the more false-positives.
Sloand comments that if the specificity levels achieved in this study were applied to the potential blood donor population" (blood donors now consisting of members of the low-prevalence general population), then "...for every true silent infection detected, 1800 uninfected donors would be classified as PCR positive and 3500 as PCR indeterminate. Thus PCR is clearly not suitable for routine screening of transfused blood" and by inference, any low-prevalence population. At a specificity of 90%, I would say it wasn't suitable for testing any population.
According to Eleopulos, Turner, and Papadimitriou, "The minimum requirement for [interpreting that a positive PCR signal, or hybridisation in general, proves HIV infection] is prior proof that the PCR primers and the hybridisation probes belong to a unique retrovirus, HIV, and that the PCR and hybridisation reactions are HIV-specific." Turner told me: "The PCR genomic arguments require isolation of HIV as absolutely essential. Otherwise how does anyone know the origin of the nucleic acid?"
* There is no way to be sure the "HIV" nucleic acid probes and PCR primers are specific to HIV because: most, if not all, probes used for hybridisation assays, including the PCR probes and primers, are obtained from "HIV" grown in tissue cultures using cells (called a cell line) taken from a patient with T4 cell leukemia, a disease which Gallo claims is caused by a retrovirus similar to HIV -- HTLV-I. And recently a retrovirus is claimed to have been isolated from a non-HIV-infected cell culture using another cell line. Thus the standard cell lines used to grow HIV have been shown to indicate other retroviruses. Since even the well-established method for isolating retroviruses (which to date has never been done for HIV) cannot distinguish one retrovirus from another, one cannot be confident that "HIV" nucleic acid probes and PCR primers are indeed specific for HIV.
* Proposed HIV genes hybridise with the structural genes of HTLV-I and HTLV-II, two other human retroviruses. This means that if the probes find genetic material from these other retroviruses, they will stick to it and give a signal that they have found HIV instead. Since it is accepted that 10% of AIDS-diagnosed patients carry HTLV-I and that the normal human genome contains sequences related to HTLV-I and HTLV-II, this type of cross-reaction can be anticipated.
* Normal human cells contain hundreds or thousands of retrovirus-like sequences, that is, small stretches of DNA that match a small part of the proposed genome of HIV or other retroviruses. And, since PCR often amplifies just a small part of the entire genome of whatever it's looking for, how do you know that what it finds isn't a normal cellular gene sequence that just happens to match part of what's proposed for HIV?
* Further evidence that PCR is nonspecific is that positive PCRs can be obtained from cells without nucleic acids. So if there's no nucleic acid, there's no DNA or RNA, and if there's no DNA or RNA, there's certainly no HIV.
PCR detects at best single genes and most often, only bits of genes. If PCR finds two or three genetic fragments out of a possible dozen complete genes, this is not proof that all the genes (the entire genome) are present. Part of a gene does not equal a complete virus particle.
HIV experts admit that the majority of proposed HIV genomes are incomplete; they could never orchestrate the synthesis of a virus particle.
Turner explains: "Even if all genomes were complete, having the plans doesn't mean you've built the house. You can carry a whole retroviral genome around inside your cells all your life without ever making a virus particle." These two problems make it even more uncertain what the significance of a positive PCR is.
These days, one keeps hearing the phrase "HIV RNA PCR." What's the difference between that and regular old DNA PCR? Regular PCR looks for the DNA version of what is often accepted to be the HIV genome; RNA PCR looks for the RNA version, that is, free virus that has not infected a cell.
With the new notion that HIV was busily replicating by the billions, it was now thought necessary to find how much free virus there might be at any given time. Free virus would contain only RNA, so if the PCR finds a lot of "HIV RNA," it is believed billions of copies of free virus are swarming around the patient's tissues. In other words, if you find RNA, you've found HIV as well. Since it's believed HIV contains two strands of RNA, the suggested formula is: Two RNAs = one virus.
In actuality, things are not this simple. In 1993, during the "HIV is hiding in the lymph nodes" phase of the viral load theory, Piatak and colleagues, including Shaw, admitted that in order to determine the quantity of HIV particles, one must have prior evidence that the RNA actually belongs to an HIV particle. (5) No such evidence was presented. No relationship has yet been established between the amount of RNA and the amount of particles that may or may not be present. And no one has established whether the RNA comes from a virus particle or from somewhere else. Without virus isolation, how do you know the origin of the nucleic acid (RNA)?
Essential to Dr. Ho's theory is the idea that HIV mutates so rapidly that within days or weeks it has become resistant to whatever "antiviral" drug the patient is taking. In order to prevent this, it is recommended that the patient take three-drug "combos" which theoretically hit HIV from all angles simultaneously, thus reducing the chance that a resistant strain will survive. Meanwhile, one must continuously monitor the "viral load" with tests that cost 200 bucks a pop. Emphasis is placed on early intervention, that is, dose patients with multi-drugs the minute they sero-convert (assuming that anyone would know when this event took place to begin with) and keep them on these drugs for the rest of their lives.
Even though no one has shown them to be accurate, viral load assays are being vigorously promoted as state-of-the-art necessities for PWAs, and it's not hard to figure out why. In the Washington Post (2-06-96), David Brown inadvertently revealed the reason: "Aggressive HIV treatment will probably be even more expensive than in the past. Measuring viral load will cost about $200 per test, and the new generation of HIV medicines will probably be at least as expensive as the ones they replace."
U. S. News and World Report (2-12-96) was more specific, estimating the yearly cost of a protease inhibitor at around $6,000, and the cost of triple-drug combinations at up to $12,000 to $18,000. Combos of three or four drugs are now prescribed, where one (AZT) used to suffice. As more and more drugs are considered necessary to "treat" people, many of whom have nothing wrong with them, it is obvious what a cash cow this is going to be for the pharmaceutical industry.
Every article on the subject so far has a different expert guess about how this whole program is supposed to work: no one knows if you can get cured or merely hold the line; no one knows the long-term prognosis for those who take this triple-toxic triple-combo. (Protease inhibitors have produced extreme adverse reactions in many people, so it shouldn't be hard to figure it out). Anyone foolish enough to sign up will become a test animal for people who don't know what they're doing.
Christine Johnson is a member of MENSA and a freelance science journalist from Los Angeles, USA. She is the Contact person of HEAL/Los Angeles, is on the Board of Advisors of Continuum magazine and copy-editor of Reappraising AIDS. She has an extensive background in medicine, law and library research and is motivated by a desire to find out the truth about 'AIDS'. She has a special interest in making the information in technical science journals accessible to the public. Over the past four years she has followed the work of the Perth group and written articles critical of the HIV antibody tests, including an extensive interview with Eleni Papadopulos-Eleopulos, which have been published world-wide.
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Haniya Minhas Becomes First From Pakistan to be Ranked in Top 3 in Asian Tennis Sports
by Sahrish Shakeel January 7, 2022
written by Sahrish Shakeel January 7, 2022
Haniya Minhas is the first Pakistani to be ranked in the top 3 Asian Tennis Sports. She achieved this goal at the mere age of 10.
Haniya's father, Muhammad Minhas, who is active on social media and is seen cheering on the platforms after every achievement of his daughter, said on occasion, "With tears of joy and pride I can say my daughter Haniya Minhas becomes the first-ever and youngest ever Pakistani girl to be ranked #3 in Asian Tennis!"
Haniya partook in the Under-14 Sobir Cup ATF Tournament in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. She won 2nd seed against Sumaya Tukhtaeva of Tajikistan 6-1, 6-0 in straight sets in the tournament's Final.
A post shared by Haniya Minhas (@haniyaminhas1)
Muhammad Minhas further added that his daughter has played many tennis matches against international players. However, her win against Tajikistan has put her on the map. He said none of this was possible without the sponsor BARD Foundation (Bilquis Abdul Razak Dawood Foundation).
Haniya has several other accolades under her belt. She is the first girl in the World to Win 90 professional tennis tournament titles. She is the youngest in history and a Pakistani to Win the Asian Tennis Championships. She is also the first in Pakistan to win an Asian Tennis title.
Because of her dedicated career in tennis and her many accolades, Haniya has also been invited by Pepsi and ARY for the Pakistan Sports Awards as the Emerging star of the year. With her tennis career, she has inspired many girls to pursue sports and become prodigies in their fields at such a young age.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Plans to Become First in Asia to Launch Women's PSL. Read the full story here:
The newly-appointed chairman Ramiz Raja announced this week that he hopes the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will launch a women's version of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Twenty20 tournament soon. Ramiz's announcement was relatively vague when he announced he has women's PSL in his mind. However, it held significant meaning and gave hope to many women in the sport.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Plans to Become First in Asia to Launch Women's PSL
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A poignant and engaging family memoir about a daughter who is racing to assemble her father's story—one that includes parachuting into France and Burma for British special forces during World War II—as his mind dissolves into dementia.
Keggie Carew grew up in the gravitational field of an unorthodox father who lived on his wits and dazzling charm. For most of her adult life, Keggie was kept at arm's length from her father's personal history, but when she is invited to join him for the sixtieth anniversary of the Jedburghs—an elite special operations unit during World War II—a new door opens in their relationship. As dementia stakes a claim over his memory, Keggie embarks on a quest to unravel her father's story and soon finds herself in a far more consuming place than she had bargained for.
Tom Carew was a maverick, a left-handed stutterer, a law unto himself. As a Jedburgh he was parachuted behind enemy lines to raise guerrilla resistance first against the Germans in France, then against the Japanese in Southeast Asia, where he won the moniker "Lawrence of Burma." But his wartime exploits are only the beginning. Part family memoir, part energetic military history, Dadland takes us on a spellbinding journey, in peace and war, into surprising corners of twentieth-century politics, Keggie's rackety English childhood, the poignant breakdown of her family, the corridors of dementia, and beyond. As Keggie pieces her father—and herself—back together again, she celebrates the Technicolor life of an impossible, irresistible, unstoppable man.
I've been in thrall to Dad too many years. It's been hard to grow out of the need to impress. Be more fearless. Be wilder. Be braver. Be different. Think differently. I knew Dad was out of the ordinary and I wanted to be too. He disliked authority and taught me, by default, to distrust it as well. Dad's response to pretty much everything was usually different to everyone else's response. Rules were there not just to be broken but to pit yourself against, to outwit. It was an intellectual exercise for him. He thought nothing of allowing us to duck out of school for a day if there was something better on. He had no respect for anything if it clashed with common sense: his, that is. On one occasion, I must have been about twelve or thirteen, I skived off to go riding. The next day, on the bus into school something (the sly way Dad had licked the envelope?) made me open the sick note he'd written to my teacher. One sentence. It said: "I am sorry Keggie was not at school yesterday, she had a bad hangover." Of course I was furious. I suppose the question is, Did he know I would open it?


text:
Q: ViewPager + FragmentStatePagerAdapter: How to recreate all fragment with new adapter I'm using the v4 compatibility library. I have a Fragment Tabhost, the first tab have a ViewPager using FragmentStatePagerAdapter. The problem is when I switch to other tabs, change data of the first tab's ViewPager, then return to the first tab, recreate new Adapter with new data and set it to ViewPager, but the first 3 fragments in ViewPager still hold reference to old data.
My code in the first tab to create adapter (called in onCreateView method):
private void setPagerData() {
    if (mPager == null || AppConfig.getInstance().todayData == null)
        return;

    if (AppConfig.getInstance().todayData != null && !AppConfig.getInstance().todayData.isEmpty()) {
        //
        mPager.setOffscreenPageLimit(AppConfig.PAGER_OFFSCREEN_PAGE_LIMIT);
        mPager.setAlwaysDrawnWithCacheEnabled(true);
        //
        mAdapter = new TodayPagerAdapter(getChildFragmentManager(), AppConfig.getInstance().todayData);
        mPager.setAdapter(mAdapter);
        mAdapter.notifyDataSetChanged();
        if (mAdapter.getCount() == 1)
            mPager.setCurrentItem(0);
        else
            mPager.setCurrentItem(1);

        text_currentpage.setText("1");
        text_totalpage.setText(String.valueOf(mAdapter.getCount() - 2));
        anim_numpage = AnimationUtils.loadAnimation(TodayFragment.this.getActivity(), R.anim.fade_numpage);
        layout_numpage.setVisibility(View.INVISIBLE);
        image_nextpage.setOnClickListener(this);
        image_prevpage.setOnClickListener(this);
        //
        mPager.setOnPageChangeListener(this);

    } else
        onNoData(true);
}

onDestroyView():
public void onDestroyView() {
    AppUtils.Log("Destroy view Today Fragment");
    mAdapter = null;
    mPager = null;
    super.onDestroyView();
}

My Adapter:
    public class TodayPagerAdapter extends FragmentStatePagerAdapter {

    private List<PostDTO> posts;
    private FragmentManager fm;

    public TodayPagerAdapter(FragmentManager fm, List<PostDTO> posts) {
        super(fm);
        this.fm = fm;
        this.posts = posts;
        if (posts == null)
            posts = new ArrayList<PostDTO>();
    }

    @Override
    public Fragment getItem(int page) {
        if (page == 0 && posts.size() > 1)
            return TodayPagerFragment.init(posts.size() - 1, posts.get(posts.size() - 1));
        if (page == posts.size() + 1)
            return TodayPagerFragment.init(0, posts.get(0));
        if (posts.size() > 1)
            return TodayPagerFragment.init(page - 1, posts.get(page - 1));
        return TodayPagerFragment.init(page, posts.get(page));
    }

    @Override
    public int getCount() {
        if (posts.size() <= 1)
            return posts.size();
        return posts.size() + 2;
    }

    @Override
    public int getItemPosition(Object object) {
        return POSITION_NONE;
    }
}

My ViewPager's Fragment:
    public class TodayPagerFragment extends AbstractFragment implements View.OnClickListener {

    int page;

    private ImageView iv_image;
    private LikeButton button_like;
    private PostDTO data;

    public static TodayPagerFragment init(int val, PostDTO data) {
        TodayPagerFragment frm = new TodayPagerFragment();
        Bundle args = new Bundle();
        args.putInt("page", val);
        frm.setArguments(args);
        frm.data = data;
        return frm;
    }

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        page = getArguments() != null ? getArguments().getInt("page") : 0;
    }

    @Override
    public View onCreateView(LayoutInflater inflater, ViewGroup container, Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        View view = inflater.inflate(R.layout.tab_today_viewpager, container, false);
        setupView(view);

        iv_image = (ImageView) view.findViewById(R.id.today_viewpager_image);
        button_like = (LikeButton) view.findViewById(R.id.today_button_like);
        button_like.setUp(true);

        initViews();
        return view;
    }

    @Override
    public void onClick(View v) {
        switch (v.getId()) {
        case R.id.today_viewpager_image:
            ((BaseContainerFragment) getParentFragment().getParentFragment()).replaceFragment(TodayDetailFragment.init(this.data), true);
            break;

        case R.id.today_button_like:
            if (!AppConfig.getInstance().isLoggedIn || AppConfig.getInstance().appUser == null) {
                AppUtils.openLogin(getActivity());

            } else {
                String ms = getString(R.string.do_you_want_to_like_this_post_);
                if (data.isLiked())
                    ms = getString(R.string.do_you_want_to_unlike_this_post_);
                new MyDialogHandler().confirm(getActivity(), getString(R.string.like_confirm), ms, getString(R.string.no), getString(R.string.yes), new Runnable() {
                    @Override
                    public void run() {
                        new PostLikeTask(button_like, data, !data.isLiked()).execute();
                        // data.setLiked(!data.isLiked());
                    }
                }, null);
            }
            break;

        default:
            break;
        }
    }

    // Setup view data
    private void initViews() {
        iv_image.setOnClickListener(this);
        button_like.setOnClickListener(this);

        if (this.data != null) {
            AppUtils.Log("Current: //////// " + (data.toString().equals(AppConfig.getInstance().todayData.get(page))));
            // if (AppConfig.getInstance().appUser != null &&
            // AppConfig.getInstance().isLoggedIn)
            // new GetLikedTask().execute();
            // else
            button_like.setData(data.getLikes(), data.isLiked());
            // ImageLoader.getInstance().displayImage(AppConfig.SERVER_IMAGE_URL
            // + this.data.getImage(), iv_image);
            // onLoading(true);
            UrlImageViewHelper.setUrlDrawable(iv_image, AppConfig.SERVER_IMAGE_URL + this.data.getImage());
        }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


← I'm gonna be a big star, Ma!
Which Golden Girl is the New Girl?
It's a question for the ages. Whenever a new ensemble comedy premieres with a cast of four, it is inevitable that you will ask who is Dorothy, Rose, Sophia, and slutbag (and my idol!) Blanche Devereaux.
Thank you for being so iconic. And great shoulder pads Dorothy!
They just took the bad with these outfits and hairdos. Mrs. Garrett has better taste!
You see where I'm going with this. And now that one of my favorite new shows has just concluded for the season, we're going to play the same game. Yup, New Girl, it's time for you to get the Golden Girls treatment.
Schmidt sees a tail he wants to chase! No Winston, not you.
Nick: This was a tough one. He's cynical and a lost soul (oh how I can relate!) and confused about love. While I adore everyone on the show, I actually find him the most real. And that's why I gotta go with Dorothy for him. Caroline is his Stan, but less charming.
Schmidt: This is another easy one. And you know Schmidt himself would agree . . . yes, he is the Jewish Blanche Devereaux of the group. Romancing Cece and her roommate at the same time, always talking about his insatiable need to satisfy his private parts . . . that's straight out of the book Blanche wrote.
Winston: Ugh, again by default, he's gotta be Sophia. I feel like such a racist. I would even say he's more like Miles Webber, but that's not how we play the game.
Luckily for us, New Girl has been renewed for a second season, so we will have the opportunity to cast Barbara Thorndyke, Big Daddy, Uncle Lucas, Clayton Hollingsworth, Laszlo, Jean the lesbian, and more in future episodes!
Even though the season is over, this is not the last you'll hear from me on New Girl, by the way . . . .
1 Response to Which Golden Girl is the New Girl?


This app has a free version for IOS that allows three free whiteboard options where students and teachers can share their thoughts back and forth. The nest feature is that the boards can be saved and accessed at a later time. This would be a good tool to use for students to write thoughts during class for the teacher, or as a warm up or exit slip.
I believe there are more efficient and more engaging apps and websites that serve the same function but in a more visually appealing way such as Padlet and Answer Garden.


text:
Artificial Intelligence and its applications are a part of everyday life: from social media newsfeeds to mediating traffic flow in cities, from autonomous cars to connected consumer devices like smart assistants, spam filters, voice recognition systems, and search engines.
AI has the potential to revolutionise societies in positive ways. However, as with any scientific or technological advancement, there is a real risk that the use of new tools by states or corporations will have a negative impact on human rights, including the right to privacy.
AI-driven consumer products and autonomous systems are frequently equipped with sensors that generate and collect vast amounts of data without the knowledge or consent of those in its proximity. AI methods are being used to identify people who wish to remain anonymous; to infer and generate sensitive information about people from non-sensitive data; to profile people based upon population-scale data; and to make consequential decisions using this data, some of which profoundly affect people's lives.
What Is The Problem
Re-identification and de-anonymisation: AI applications can be used to identify and thereby track individuals across different devices, in their homes, at work, and in public spaces. For example, while personal data is routinely (pseudo-)anonymised within datasets, AI can be employed to de-anonymise this data. Facial recognition is another means by which individuals can be tracked and identified, which has the potential to transform expectations of anonymity in public space.
Discrimination, unfairness, inaccuracies, bias: AI-driven identification, profiling, and automated decision-making may also lead to unfair, discriminatory, or biased outcomes. People can be misclassified, misidentified, or judged negatively, and such errors or biases may disproportionately affect certain groups of people.
Opacity and secrecy of profiling: Some applications of AI can be opaque to individuals, regulators, or even the designers of the system themselves, making it difficult to challenge or interrogate outcomes. While there are technical solutions to improving the interpretability and/or the ability to audit of some systems for different stakeholders, a key challenge remains where this is not possible, and the outcome has significant impacts on people's lives.
Data exploitation: People are often unable to fully understand what kinds and how much data their devices, networks, and platforms generate, process, or share. As we bring smart and connected devices into our homes, workplaces, public spaces, and even bodies, the need to educate the public about such data exploitation becomes increasingly pressing. In this landscape, uses of AI for purposes like profiling, or to track and identify people across devices and even in public spaces, amplify this asymmetry.
What Is The Solution
The development, use, research, and development of AI must be subject to the minimum requirement of respecting, promoting, and protecting international human rights standards.
Different types of AI and different domains of application raise specific ethical and regulatory human rights issues. In order to ensure that they protect individuals from the risks posed by AI, existing laws must be reviewed, and if necessary amended, to address the effects of new and emerging threats to privacy.
What PI Is Doing
We are working with policy makers, regulators, industry, and other civil society organisations to highlight the need for strong data and privacy regulation.
We are also doing research and policy work on AI in the Chinese context. Chinese companies collect and maintain far-reaching stores of data on Chinese users, and many are actively developing artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) programs to harness this information to provide services and grow business.
Reports and Analysis
Alexa, what is hidden behind your contract with the NHS?
Privacy and Freedom of Expression In the Age of Artificial Intelligence
Algorithms, Intelligence, and Learning Oh My
Our Advocacy
Submission to CERD's Draft General Recommendation n° 36 on preventing and combating racial profiling.
Submission to the IEEE Global Initiative for Ethical Considerations in Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems
Submission Of Evidence To The House Of Lords Select Committee On Artificial Intelligence
Profiling and Automated Decision Making: Is Artificial Intelligence Violating Your Right to Privacy?
The Data Arms Race Is No Excuse for Abandoning Privacy
AI tools threaten right to privacy and freedom of expression – report
Privacy International's evidence to the Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence at the U.K. House of Lords
Experts object to US Immigration & Customs Enforcement's "Extreme Vetting Initiative" that will rely on AI
Facial payment systems develop apace in China
Databases of facial images proliferate
ProPublica analysis finds bias in COMPAS criminal justice risk scoring system
Three London hospitals give Google DeepMind 1.6 million patient records
AI helps match refugees to destinations
Multiple US agencies cooperate to intensively vet immigrants
Startups use behavioural data and smartphone habits for credit scoring
Predictim offers US parents risk analysis of babysitters


The North Shore of Vancouver defines the city in so many ways. Our mountains are unique. They have limited development to ensure the safety of the cities watershed, but we also enjoy skiing on 3 separate ski hills, all within 30 minutes drive of downtown.
A visit to the Capilano Suspension Bridge, or the Lynn Valley Suspension Bridge Parks gets you into the heart of a temperate rainforest. Explore the bridges and trails that are so close yet seem as if they are in the middle of nowhere.
Visit the top of Grouse Mountain during the summer and enjoy the antics of the Lumberjack Show, Birds of Prey courtesy of the Raptor Rehabilitation Centre, or the two orphaned grizzly bears, Grinder and Coola.
We can also visit the Capilano Salmon Hatchery and see the efforts being put in to maintain a strong salmon population here on the west coast.
Perhaps you want to try some kayaking on a scenic protected waterway in Deep Cove, home to the Hallmark TV Show Cedar Cove! With fantastic views of the city, the coast and the mountains, a North Shore trip is definitely worth your time.
The cities of North Vancouver and West Vancouver have their own distinct flavour, and offer fantastic views of the Lower Mainland and the coast. A jaunt up to the Cypress Mountain viewpoint, a stroll along the waterfront in Horseshoe Bay, photos at Whytecliff and Lighthouse Parks, and a return trip along Marine Drive back to the city brings you closer to understanding why we love this area so much.


Any gardener can face the situation of needing to buy topsoil. A perfectly common situation is that it's early spring, and the only good garden spot is filled with rock hard clay or gravel. In this case, as in many others, it makes sense to order a few loads of good topsoil. Another example can be a yard or garden where it is necessary to build up the soil level by a few inches. In any case, ordering good soil is important.
Is good topsoil expensive? It depends on the location. The highest price should not exceed $30 a cubic yard, while an average price is somewhere between $15 and $22 a cubic yard. To cover a 50 x 20 foot garden, with 9 inches of good topsoil at $20 a cubic yard, would cost approximately $550. This can be a real time saver, as the new topsoil does not need to be tilled, and one can start planting right away.
A soil with a pH of 6.0 to 7.0 is good for most plants, but you should have an idea of what you want to plant and its optimal pH. The chosen topsoil should also have lots of organic matter.
Asking local gardeners and nurseries is a recommended way to locate a place to buy good topsoil. Good soil producers should be well known in any community. It's best to start by asking the people who know best, either fellow gardeners, or else gardening professionals. Talk to at least 5 nurseries and 4 or 5 gardeners; if 7 out of these 10 recommend one particular supplier, it's a good bet that this supplier's soil will be top notch.
One must select the mix of topsoil that one wants: most soil suppliers routinely mix sand, peat or other components into soil at specified percentages. One should check with the supplier to find out options are available and what these options cost. Make sure to buy screened soil; soil that has had the roots, rocks, and other naturally occurring debris removed.
The delivery of the topsoil is also important. It is important to take the time to arrange an appropriate delivery date. Try to check the local weather forecast, before arranging delivery, if possible. Try to arrange delivery when the weather is expected to be good and when it has not rained for at least a few days prior to the delivery.
If your garden is in the backyard and the delivery truck crosses your lawn, a fully loaded dump truck may leave deep – deep – tracks. It is much better, when possible, to avoid travel over the lawn. As soon as possible, in dry weather, distribute the new topsoil. Topsoil left for a few days will begin to compact under its own weight. If it rains, a few cheap tarps can be purchased to cover up the topsoil.
A word of caution for the wise: two important things to look out for are power lines near the dump zone, and under ground drainage or sewage pipes that may be affected. It is important to select a dumping area where power lines are not a hazard. If dump truck must cross a property, it is essential to avoid travel over buried sewage or drainage lines: the compression of the soil, by the fully loaded dump truck could crush them. Keep in mind that the dump truck will have to completely raise its box in order to empty the load of soil.


text:
WoundExpress
About WoundExpress
Case Study Brochure
Patient Zone
Clinician Zone
What is WoundExpress?
Advanced Wound Therapy Device
The WoundExpress comprises a single patient use garment and a pump. Treatment has been shown to be effective from as little as 8 weeks in significantly reducing the size of a chronic leg ulcer. The WoundExpress system has a specially designed three chamber garment that attaches to the pump which has a unique, patented timing cycle that augments venous and arterial blood flow.
WoundExpress, uses Intermittent Pneumatic Compression (IPC) to increase blood flow around the leg ulcer. Unlike standard treatment, the Wound Express universal garment has been designed to be placed on the thigh of the ulcerated limb and not on the wound site. The garment is easily applied by the patient and is used for only 2 hours per day as an adjunct to standard treatment.
The garment is inflated to 60mmHg in a peristaltic action which draws the venous blood from the wound site. By inflating the garment in this special sequence, venous blood flow is increased, even in the presence of venous insufficiency, since reflux is prevented. This effect reduces the venous and interstitial pressure and increases the pressure gradient across the arterial venous pathway, distal to the garment.
The result is the removal of high levels of accumulated carbon dioxide and metabolic waste products from the wound site. The arterial inflow to the leg subsequently increases and encourages the flow of nutrient and oxygen rich blood into the affected region of the wound, promoting enhanced wound healing performance.
WoundExpress Brochure PDF
How to use WoundExpress
WoundExpress is easy to use; but to help you educate your patients on the type of treatment and to encourage its proper use, we have a number of learning resources available.
How to use WoundExpress - Tutorial Video
What is WoundExpress Therapy, how does it work – Fact Sheet
Treatment Diary
As a proud member of the Arjo family, we believe that great healthcare is always a collective effort. The greatest contribution we can provide to patients, and the professionals who care for them, is confidence. This is what we have been striving for since 1979, with innovative solutions in vascular care, fetal and patient monitoring. Solutions that can assist clinicians in improving outcomes and enhancing patient wellbeing. Whether it's the safe delivery of a new life, improving the day-to-day quality of life or monitoring life's vital signs, we aim for clinical excellence and improved performance, for life.
This website is intended to provide information to a UK audience only.
Huntleigh Healthcare Ltd
Diagnostic Products Division
35 Portmanmoor Road
CF24 5HN
United Kingdom +44(0)29 2048 5885 sales@huntleigh-diagnostics.co.uk
Copyright © 2020 Arjo. All Rights Reserved.
Version 010/09/2020
Cookies Policy | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use


text:
Weekend Preview: IceRays Hit Road Against Amarillo
The IceRays will conclude the regular season matchups with the Amarillo Wranglers on Friday and Saturday night. The games for Corpus Christi come after five straight against Odessa, which went three to two in the favor of the Jackalopes.
Matchup History
Corpus Christi has played six games against Amarillo this season. The first four matchups, all before the holiday break, went the way of the Wranglers. The last time these two teams met, the Rays swept Amarillo at American Bank Center. With a sweep this weekend for Corpus Christi, the season series would be tied at four wins aside.
Scouting Amarillo
Amarillo started the season red hot as they were first in the south in December. Since their first visit to American Bank Center, the Wranglers have struggled dropping all the way to seventh place in the division. They come into the weekend on an eleven-game losing streak and only collecting five points over their last seventeen games played.
IceRays Recent Power Play Success
Since the series in Shreveport in mid-January, the IceRays have found their grove on the man-advantage. In 31 power play attempts over the past nine games, the IceRays have struck for eleven goals. This puts the Rays percentage at 35.5% during that span. The recent success also has boosted the IceRays power play from 29th in the NAHL to 23rd.
South Division Standings Implications
The IceRays push toward the Robertson Cup Playoffs has Corpus Christi sitting outside of the picture at the moment. They sit five points back of fifth place and the Wichita Falls Warriors. This weekend's games are of the utmost importance as the Rays need to get points from the teams beneath them in the standings like Amarillo.
Puck drop is scheduled for 7:05 both nights in Amarillo. Coverage of this weekend's games can be found on Brewster Street Radio and HockeyTV with coverage starting at 6:45 pm both nights.
IceRays Partner With Whataburger For Whataburger Community Night on March 5th
IceRays Fall 4-2 in Amarillo


text:
Q: Is it possible to share USB port hooked by libusb-win32 among several applications? To make my program could communicate with Nokia phone I have setup libusb-win32 library. But after I have this library installed any standard Nokia soft like PC Suite refuses not only to communicate but even to detect my phone! The phone is still available only to my program through libusb-win32 now. Removal of the libusb0.sys driver helps and phone becomes again accessible through Nokia PC Suite, but then it is no more visible to my app via libusb-win32 library. Whether it is somehow possible to get the phone accessible as through libusb-win32 for my application as for standard Nokia phone programs (Nokia PC Suite, NSU, NSS, etc.)?
I run Windows 7 Enterprise and libusb-win32 1.2.6.0

A: Answer to myself. Yes, it is possible. The driver libusb-win32 should be installed in the filter drive option, not in the device file option.


text:
Indian Team performance - Eclipsed
By Enigmatic India Wednesday, July 05, 2006
During the last few months, I felt we as a nation probably missed out the contributions of the Indian team or an Indian sports person. Few examples of this:
1. Saina Nehwal - Winner of the Phillippines Open 2006. A true achievement by itself and any standard. Most of us probably would have got confused...with Sania Mirza(similar sounding name) who has become a tennis icon in international circuits. I feel Saina Nehwal deserves a lot more from the country than what she is getting today....Keep it up both Saina and Sania.
2. Indian Cricket team - Winning a series at the West Indies almost after three decades was a feast for the Indian cricket fans....However, I felt the World Cup football fever probably snatched the attention this item should have usually been given by the media and recognized by the fellow country men...A wonderful team effort...
3. Indian Hockey Team - The national game of the country...had been on a downslide with politics playing a major role...the team has not made it to the semi-finals of any major tournament since 2003... Couple of weeks back when the Indian hockey team won the bronze medal in the Azlan Shah Hockey tournament played at Kuala Lumpur, I felt the day of reckoning has finally arrived...Kudos to the Indian hockey team...Great work!!!.
We are a country full of talented people and they deserve a lot more.
Posted by Enigmatic India at Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Indian Team performance - Eclipsed Reviewed by Enigmatic India on Wednesday, July 05, 2006 Rating: 5


text:
Linares gets 2nd term
Ryan Blessing, The Bulletin
Nov 4, 2014 at 9:55 PM Nov 4, 2014 at 10:10 PM
COLCHESTER - Democrat Emily Bjornberg said Tuesday she had conceded to Republican incumbent Sen. Art Linares, R-Westbrook, in the race for the 33rd District state senate seat.
"It was a hard night for Democrats in Eastern Connecticut," Bjornberg said. "But I want to thank all the volunteers who came out and supported us. There were strong headwinds we couldn't overcome, and a lot of anger."
Complete results of the 33rd District state senate race were not available as of 9:30 Tuesday, but Linares picked up early gains in Colchester, where he defeated Bjornberg in all of the town's four districts.
"I voted for Art because of his support for small business growth, his fighting for lower taxes and his vote on the gun control legislation," voter Brenden Healy, of Colchester, said.
Republican Linares, 26, of Westbrook, ran for his second term after being elected in 2012. Linares co-founded Greenskies, a Middletown-based commercial solar energy company.
This was the first attempt at elected office for Bjornberg, 33, of Lyme. For the past seven years the Democrat has been the Youth and Family Ministries Director of the Deep River Congregational Church.
Green Party candidate Bennett, 35, of Westbrook, is a substitute teacher who served 12 years in the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve as a marine science technician. This was Bennett's fourth run in the 33rd District.
The position pays $28,000 annually.
The 33rd District covers Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Deep River, East Haddam, East Hampton, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Saybrook, Portland and Westbrook.


Are we jealous that the Engadget fellas got their hands on Motion Computing's brand new fancy medical tablet before we did? You better believe it! Just because they have millions of hits a day? But we're Doctors! Where's the love, Motion Computing? We'd promise to show it off at the clinic and make the nurses covet our technology.
Check out their gallery of medical tablet pics . . .


In case you haven't noticed: I. Love. To. Decorate. This week I made and decorated an enclosure for a speaker.
My partner Rebecca (above) and I teamed up to make this stop motion animation. A big thanks to her for the great posture and posing.
Above is a little illustration that depicts the sunrise and sunset times (listed on the y-axis) of two locations in the world for each day in the year (spread across the x-axis).
See the code and web version here (press the play button – not optimized for mobile).
In this current case it is the 2016 sunrises and sunsets from Eastern Standard Time (EST) – aka New York – and Central European Time (namely Switzerland & France).
At many stages in my life, for different reasons, I have found myself doing a mental calculation to imagine this time difference, and specifically when our normal waking hours overlap.
These days, both a friend and my girlfriend's father are stationed in Switzerland.
This illustration is designed to show that our days share a lot of the same sunlight – especially in the summer. So even if we are far away, we can often look up at the same thing in the sky. ?
Do you ever get tired of throwing your own dice during a particularly long game of Monopoly?
Me neither because no one plays monopoly anymore, but for your dice throwing pleasure, here is the Dice Catapult 5000!


She holds a degree in Art History by the Universitat Autònoma de Bellaterra and another one in Music by the Liceu Conservatory in Barcelona. While never losing sight of art, Agnés deeply dives into both pattern design and drawing to create the right blend of her designs, workshops and customers. Agnés Sunyer has been combining prêt-à-porter fashion and bespoke design by working closely with her customers for five years now.
A collection inspired by the colours and textures perceived on my trip between Tokyo and Kyoto. Through this collection, I convey the coexistence between avant-garde and tradition in the Japanese country, as well as its vision and passion for culture, art and design.


Mark, James and I headed out early morning for our banca to pick us up in Navotas and to bring us further up north to the vast wetlands in coastal Bulacan. We ventured into the canal system of Tanza Peninsula due to strong winds. It was a truly awesome experience with the sight of people living in absolute poverty in stark contrast to the presence of prawn/shrimp ponds owned by the wealthy. The entire area is perhaps 95 % water and 5 % land, mostly in romantic canal settings.
However there is also an unsecured dumpsite right next to Meycauyan River and the Bay. Shortly after, we reached our destination: the St. Nino Chapel at the very southwest corner of Bulacan. From thereon we marched along various dikes 45 minutes inland to the dry fishponds where the congregations of shorebirds easily were found. Most of the time, we battled a thunder storm. From time to time we get drenched us we were busily identifying and counting the birds, many of them still in their amazing summer plumages.
31. Roseate Tern - 1 Ad in summer plumage.


Boulevard Manor in 2 sentences: Boulevard Manor is a small, winding neighborhood with wide streets set on a hilly landscape consisting of modest-sized homes on small to medium-sized lots. While it's western location will not put you walking distance to the Metro, the neighborhood is convenient to other parts of the county through main roads and offers a quiet setting just minutes from everything you need.
In this post I will go through the history of Boulevard Manor and discuss how Boulevard Manor was developed, the style of Boulevard Manor houses, and go into detail on present-day Boulevard Manor, all of which are aimed at the Boulevard Manor beginner. I will assume you have some knowledge of Arlington and basic geography of the area.
Boulevard Manor was established in 1932. Most of the history can be traced back to three individuals and their respective families: Timothy Munson, William Torreyson, and George Reeves. Timothy Munson was a farmer from up north who moved down to the Boulevard Manor area after the land had been depleted of nutrients by tobacco harvesting. He started a very successful nursery (trees) business in the area and the land is now known as Munson Hill. Munson Hill is in parts of Arlington, Boulevard Manor, Spy Hill, Stone Ridge, and Falls Church.
William Torreyson, a former Confederate soldier, purchased 94 acres from Timothy Munson in 1869 to set up a dairy farm. This was centered around 1st St and S Madison St. The Torreyson family eventually built a home near the intersection of 1st St and N Manchester. William Torreyson had 3 children. His daughter Lucy, ended up marrying George Reeves.
Mr. Reeves' wife Lucy was deeded over 75 acres of land which was used to set up a dairy farm. The land stretched from 2nd St up to Wilson Blvd, encompassing most of present-day Boulevard Manor. Reeves had 3 children and his son Nelson, lived the longest all the way up until 2000. The house at 400 N Manchester St which still stands today was the farming house the family used and is known as Reevesland. For a complete history, you can reference the Boulevard Manor Civic Association.
The houses in Boulevard Manor all tend to look alike. This can be contributed to the time the neighborhood was developed, the developer, and the landscape. The most popular housing styles are Ramblers, Split Level, and some Colonial. Most are Ramblers and Split Level to take advantage of the hilly terrain. Lots are built on uneven ground so Split Level and Ramblers were popular options to optimize the space and provide a suitable living area.
Boulevard Manor would not be classified as a tear-down neighborhood. New construction in Boulevard Manor is rare. You will notice some additions but for the most part lot sizes are not big enough and do not provide the right terrain to accommodate new add-ons. Many backyards slope or are on a steep grade. Garages in Boulevard Manor are also rare. Most houses offer off-street parking in the form of a driveway. There is always plenty of on-street parking as well. Garages are much more common in Spy Hill, which is a subdivision inside of Boulevard Manor. Garages can also be found in Stone Ridge, which is the other subdivision inside Boulevard Manor. One car garages are popular in Stone Ridge, and two-car are much more common.
Boulevard Manor is a quiet neighborhood. Almost forgotten that it is in Arlington, it's proximity to Falls Church provides many pros and cons. Wilson Boulevard is your friend; Route 50, not so much depending on the time of day. Seven Corners Shopping Center is less than five minutes away. And unless you live on a small section of N Madison St, noise from Target and other businesses will never been an issue. The downsides of Boulevard Manor are Metro accessibility, longer distance to D.C., and some streets may have houses that are quite out of touch with present-day (hint: they're old and small). Some may say that speeding and cut-through traffic is an issue. For the most part, this is a concern from the past. Raised crosswalks and speed bumps have been installed and help curb the minority that speeds through Boulevard Manor.
Boulevard Manor is filled with mature trees, wide roads, and hills. Hills are everywhere. Traffic never seems to be an issue in Bouelvard Manor. Toward Bluemont Park and Ashlawn Elementary, things can get hectic during athletic events and at peak hours during the school year as one might expect. Upton Hill Reginonal Park provides a mini golf course, a batting cage, a swimming pool, grilling stations, horseshoes, and a walking path for indivduals to enjoy. And finally Bluemont Park is home to a generous amount of fields, biking trails, basketball courts, and tennis courts that attract people from all over the county looking to enjoy the wonderful parks Boulevard Manor has to offer.


text:
AllofUs appoints Tim Smith as Senior Designer
Hires, Wins & Business 0 Add to collection
Multi-disciplinary interactive design consultancy AllofUs new Senior Designer.
Smith joins the agency from GR/DD, where he worked on branding projects, print, exhibition design, press kits, websites, digital installations, interactives, games, smartphone apps and augmented reality.
Notable work at GR/DD includes two games for the Science Museum – the Carbon Cycle Augmented Reality Interactive and the Flash-based Drench Game for the 'Water Wars' exhibition – as well as the Time Explorer game for the British Museum and a new online identity and website for The London Library, the world's largest independent lending library. Smith also created a CD Rom interactive browsing tool to help journalists pick and choose which games and assets to feature in articles relating to the PlayStation Network relaunch.
Smith was lead designer on a number of branding projects, including Playstation's PlayTV, Echochrome and Nokia amongst others. He has contributed illustration work to Computer Arts, Time Warner, Symantec, Sony BMG and Tate.
Smith has been a key part or lead in many award-winning projects, garnering two Webby Awards, an FWA Award, a GD USA Award, and two YCN awards. He has received nominations for a BAFTA, two Webby Awards, two Museum & Heritage Awards and a Museum & Web nomination as well as working on two Design Week Award finalists.
As a freelance designer Tim has worked on projects for Orange, Game, Macmillan Cancer Support and Bebo.
Tim Smith says: "As a designer with an interest in a broad range of disciplines, AllofUs are a natural fit for me. I am particularly excited by their varied portfolio and client base, they are well respected in their field and I have been a fan of their work for years. Working for them will be an exciting challenge and a great development in my career, I am really pleased to have had such a warm welcome into a great company."
Richard Sullivan, Art Director at AllofUs, says: "We're really pleased to have Tim on board at AllofUs as he's clearly a great talent. The style of work along with his design methodology fit perfectly with our own approach to design and his skills will help to bolster what is an already talented team."
For more about Tim visithttp://www.mypoorbrain.com/and to find out more about AllofUs go to http://allofus.com/
lbbonline.com, Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:24:43 GMT


text:
Al-Inshiqāq (, "The Sundering", "Splitting Open") is the eighty-fourth chapter (surah) of the Qur'an, with 25 verses (āyāt). It mentions details of the Day of Judgment when, according to this chapter, everyone will receive reckoning over their deeds in this world.

Summary
1-5 Signs of the judgment-day
6-15 The books of the righteous  and the wicked given into their hands, and the consequence thereof
16-20 Oaths attesting the doctrine of the resurrection
21-25 The unbelievers denounced and threatened

The name of the chapter, Al-Inshiqaq, is a noun variously translated as "The Sundering", "The Bursting Asunder", "The Splitting Open", among others. This name comes from the first verse of the chapter which reads When the sky is rent asunder. The verse does not contain the word al-inshiqaq verbatim, but rather it contains a word of the same root. It is a reference to the destruction of the world at the end of days, which the chapter portend. Thematically, the chapter follows a day-of-judgement theme that is present in the preceding chapters, including Al-Infitar (the 82nd chapter) and Al-Mutaffifin (83rd).

The chapter begins (verses 1 to 5) by mentioning events that will happen on the Day of Judgment, including the sundering of the sky and the flattening of all that is on earth. Verses 6 to 15 talk about the disparity between those who in that day will be "given [their] book in [their] right hand" and have a joyful reckoning, and those who will not. A series of oaths (verses 16—18) follows, and then another contrast between the fate of the believers and the unbelievers in the day of judgment.

Revelation
According to the Islamic tradition, Al-Inshiqaq was most likely revealed after the 82nd chapter Al-Infitar, and was chronologically one of the last of the Meccan surahs—chapters revealed before Muhammad's migration to Medina.

Prostration

According to the hadith, Muhammed was prostrated when reciting this chapter, particularly after the verse 21 which reads ... and that when the Quran is recited unto them, they do not prostrate? Therefore, most Islamic scholars consider this verse one of the 15 verses in the Quran where one prostrates after reciting it. In most copies of the Qur'an these are indicated by the symbol ۩. Most Maliki jurists consider it obligatory to prostrate after reciting the verse; Malik ibn Anas, the founder of the Maliki school, was a notable exception.

References

Citation

Bibliography

External links
Quran 84 Clear Quran translation

Inshiqaq
Islamic eschatology
Judgment in Islam

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
Lost Ballparks
Deadball Novel
Ballpark Index
Lonaconing's Own Lefty Grove
February 18, 2013/Byron Bennett/No Comments
Robert Moses "Lefty" Grove was one of the greatest left-handed pitchers of all time. He spent his 17 year major league career with the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics, compiling a record of 300-141 with an ERA of 3.06. Prior to his major league debut, he pitched for several seasons for the Baltimore Orioles of the International League, which played their home games at Terrapin Park (Oriole Park V). He complied an impressive record of 108-36 while with the minor league Orioles.
Lefty Grove Baseball Card (1932 American Caramel)
Grove was born in Lonaconing, Maryland (pronounced loan-a-coney), in 1900. Lonaconing is a 19th century coal mining town located in the George's Creek Valley of Allegany County, Maryland, about 10 miles south of Frostburg, Maryland, off Interstate 68.
Welcome to Lonaconing, Maryland, Hometown of Baseball Hall of Famer Lefty Grove
Grove spent his childhood in Lonaconing, where his father and many members of his family worked in the coal mines. According to local residents, Grove lived in a house on Douglas Avenue. One person I spoke with told me Grove lived in a duplex at 81- 83 Douglas Avenue. That house, although located within the Lonaconing Historic District, is in desperate need of renovation.
Duplex Where Lefty Grove Once May Have Lived, 81-83 Douglas Avenue, Lonaconing, Maryland
The duplex at 77-79 Douglas Avenue, which sits just to the left of what is believed to be Grove's house, is in much better condition – an example of what Grove's house might once have looked like.
Duplex at 77-79 Douglas Avenue, Lonaconing, Maryland
After Grove retired from baseball in 1947, he returned to Lonaconing and opened Lefty's Place, a duck pin bowling alley and pool hall.
Lefty's Place (photo from www.appalachianhistory.net and bandkgreen.net)
In 1996, the building that housed Lefty's Place at 14 Union Street was destroyed by a flood. On the former site of the pool hall now sits the Lonaconing Republican Club, which is fitting given that Grove was once an active member of that club.
Site of Lefty's Place, Lonaconing, Maryland
Many of the buildings throughout the town of Lonaconing appear as they did when Grove lived there, which is one reason much of the town was designated a historic district as a surviving example of a 19th century coal town.
Union Street, Lonaconing, Maryland
The George's Creek Regional Library at 76 Main Street includes a small museum honoring Grove and the history of Lonaconing.
George's Creek Regional Library
A display case in the library's conference room includes several items that once belonged to Grove, as well as memorabilia from his playing days.
Case Displaying Lefty Grove Memorabilia
Of greatest import is his 1931 American League Most Valuable Player award, which Grove gave to his friend, John Myers, a baseball coach at Valley High School in Lonaconing. Grove made the gift because he wanted the people of "Coney" to enjoy it, rather than give it to the Baseball Hall of Fame where likely no one from the town would ever to see it.
Lefty Grove's 1931 American League Most Valuable Player Award
Also included in the display is a Walter Hagen golf club that once belong to Grove, as well as a leather bound golf rule book with "Lefty Grove" imprinted on the cover and a Lefty Grove autographed baseball.
Lefty Grove Memorabilia, Including Grove's Walter Hagen Golf Club
Located in Furnace Park on East Main Street, less than a quarter mile from the library, is a plaque dedicated to Grove. At the rear of the park sits the George's Creek Coal and Iron Company Furnace No. 1, a historic iron furnace dating to 1839.
Lefty Grove Plaque, Furnace Park
The plaque states:
"A Native of Lonaconing, Lefty Grove was one of baseball's all-time great pitchers. In 17 season (1925-1941) as a major leaguer, he won 300 games and lost 141 for a .680 percentage.
Pitching for Philadelphia and Boston, he led the American League in earned-run percentage nine times and won 20 or more games on eight occasions. He won 16 consecutive games in 1931, a league record, and 14 straight in 1928. In 1931, when his record was 31-4, he was vote the league's most valuable player. He was elected to the hall of fame in 1947
In connection with the baseball centennial in 1969, he was selected as the greatest lefthanded pitcher of all time. His career earned-run average in the majors was 3.06. He won 108 games and lost on 36 during six years with Baltimore in the International League."
Plaque Honoring Lefty Grove
The park is also the former site of Central High School, which Grove attended prior to beginning his playing career with the International League Orioles.
Plaque Honoring Former Site of Central High School
Grove died in 1975 at the age of 75 and is interred ten miles north of Lonaconing in Frostburg Memorial Park (70 Green St Frostburg, Maryland).
Entrance to Frostburg Memorial Park
Grove's grave site is located in Section 9, Lot 94, near marker 3A.
Lefty Grove's Burial Plot, Frostburg Memorial Park
Frostburg Memorial Park employee Joe Lavin, who worked for the cemetery at the time Grove was buried there, constructed a memorial to Grove in front of the grave site.
Joe Lavin's Memorial to Lefty Grove
Grove is buried along side his wife Ethel, who died in 1960.
Head Stone of Robert and Ethel Grove
Should you find yourself driving along Interstate 68 in western Maryland and looking for a baseball excursion, head 10 miles south on Route 36 to Lonaconing and pay a visit to the home town of one of baseball's greatest left handed pitchers, Lefty Grove. And while there, should you find any additional information about Grove's house on Douglas Avenue, please be sure to let me know. I certainly would appreciate it. In the meantime, be sure to check out Austin Gisriel's installment of Off the Beaten Basepaths, which features Austin's take on Lefty Grove and the town of Lonaconing.
"Safe At Home" Author Austin Gisriel Standing Behind the Lefty Grove Plaque at Furnace Park
Posted in Lefty Grove Home Town (Lonaconing, MD), Maryland Ballparks
Byron Bennett
Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds – Sightseeing on the Circle Line June 13, 2021
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The West Coast Wrigley Field April 5, 2020
Space Coast Stadium's New Frontier March 17, 2019
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← Albert Spalding and Point Loma Nazarene University
Walter Johnson: The Montgomery County Farmer Who Could Also Pitch →
© 2022 Deadball Baseball


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text:
layout: model
title: English RobertaForSequenceClassification Base Cased model (from SkolkovoInstitute)
author: John Snow Labs
name: roberta_classifier_base_formality_ranker
date: 2022-09-09
tags: [en, open_source, roberta, sequence_classification, classification]
task: Text Classification
language: en
edition: Spark NLP 4.1.0
spark_version: 3.0
supported: true
annotator: RoBertaForSequenceClassification
article_header:
  type: cover
use_language_switcher: "Python-Scala-Java"
---

## Description

Pretrained RobertaForSequenceClassification model, adapted from Hugging Face and curated to provide scalability and production-readiness using Spark NLP. `roberta-base-formality-ranker` is a English model originally trained by `SkolkovoInstitute`.

## Predicted Entities

`formal`, `informal`

{:.btn-box}
<button class="button button-orange" disabled>Live Demo</button>
<button class="button button-orange" disabled>Open in Colab</button>
[Download](https://s3.amazonaws.com/auxdata.johnsnowlabs.com/public/models/roberta_classifier_base_formality_ranker_en_4.1.0_3.0_1662765912018.zip){:.button.button-orange.button-orange-trans.arr.button-icon}

## How to use

<div class="tabs-box" markdown="1">
{% include programmingLanguageSelectScalaPythonNLU.html %}
```python
documentAssembler = DocumentAssembler() \
    .setInputCols(["text"]) \
    .setOutputCols("document")

tokenizer = Tokenizer() \
    .setInputCols("document") \
    .setOutputCol("token")

seq_classifier = RoBertaForSequenceClassification.pretrained("roberta_classifier_base_formality_ranker","en") \
    .setInputCols(["document", "token"]) \
    .setOutputCol("class")

pipeline = Pipeline(stages=[documentAssembler, tokenizer, seq_classifier])

data = spark.createDataFrame([["PUT YOUR STRING HERE"]]).toDF("text")

result = pipeline.fit(data).transform(data)
```
```scala
val documentAssembler = new DocumentAssembler()
      .setInputCols(Array("text"))
      .setOutputCols(Array("document"))

val tokenizer = new Tokenizer()
    .setInputCols("document")
    .setOutputCol("token")

val seq_classifier = RoBertaForSequenceClassification.pretrained("roberta_classifier_base_formality_ranker","en")
    .setInputCols(Array("document", "token"))
    .setOutputCol("class")

val pipeline = new Pipeline().setStages(Array(documentAssembler, tokenizer, seq_classifier))

val data = Seq("PUT YOUR STRING HERE").toDS.toDF("text")

val result = pipeline.fit(data).transform(data)
```
</div>

{:.model-param}
## Model Information

{:.table-model}
|---|---|
|Model Name:|roberta_classifier_base_formality_ranker|
|Compatibility:|Spark NLP 4.1.0+|
|License:|Open Source|
|Edition:|Official|
|Input Labels:|[document, token]|
|Output Labels:|[class]|
|Language:|en|
|Size:|454.9 MB|
|Case sensitive:|true|
|Max sentence length:|256|

## References

- https://huggingface.co/SkolkovoInstitute/roberta-base-formality-ranker
- https://github.com/raosudha89/GYAFC-corpus
- https://aclanthology.org/N18-1012
- http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~nlp/resources/formality-corpus.tgz
- https://aclanthology.org/Q16-1005

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Mechanical technician Dan Pitts prepares a nine percent scale model of Lockheed Martin's Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) X-plane preliminary design for its first high-speed wind tunnel tests at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
NASA and Lockheed Martin have commenced the first high-speed wind tunnel tests for the Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) X-plane preliminary design at NASA's Glenn Research Centre in Cleveland.
Mechanical technician Dan Pitts prepares a nine percent scale model of Lockheed Martin's Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) X-plane preliminary design for its first high-speed wind tunnel tests at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
NASA said the program will run for eight weeks during which scientists will expose a nine percent scale model of Lockheed Martin's X-plane design to wind speeds ranging from Mach 0.3 to Mach 1.6 to understand the aerodynamics of the design as well as aspects of the propulsion system.
Aerospace engineer Ray Castner, who leads propulsion testing for NASA's QueSST effort, said the QueSST X-plane was expected to pave the way for supersonic flight over land in the not too distant future.
"We'll be measuring the lift, drag and side forces on the model at different angles to verify that it performs as expected," Mr Castner added.
Facility manager David Stark said Glenn's 8' x 6' Supersonic Wind Tunnel was uniquely suited for the test because of its size and ability to create a wide range of wind speeds.
"We need to see how the design performs from just after takeoff, up to cruising at supersonic speed, back to the start of the landing approach," Mr Stark said.
Peter Iosifidis, QueSST program manager at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, said recent research had shown it was possible for a supersonic airplane to be shaped in such a way that the shock waves it forms when flying faster than the speed of sound can generate a sound at ground that would be hardly noticeable, at the very least.
"Our unique aircraft design is shaped to separate the shocks and expansions associated with supersonic flight, dramatically reducing the aircraft's loudness," Mr Iosifidis noted.
Lockheed Martin engineers developed the preliminary design for the new "low boom" flight demonstration aircraft featuring Quiet Supersonic Technology under a $20 million contract awarded by NASA in February 2016.
According to NASA, this design phase has matured the details of the aircraft shape, performance and flight systems, with wind tunnel testing and analysis expected to continue until mid-2017.
Assuming funding is approved, NASA expects to compete and award another contract for the final design, fabrication, and testing of the low-boom flight demonstration aircraft.