text:
\section{Introduction}
\label{intro}
Sporting events are widely popular and of interest to many people across several cultures.  Although most attend sporting events for entertainment purposes, some have financial investment in the outcome of the game.  These groups have a keen interest in accurately predicting the results of such events, so it is not surprising that several attempts have been made by researchers to develop methods and algorithms that predict the outcome of various sporting events (\cite{Aoki:2017,Dani:06,Kampakis:2014,Kampakis:2015,Kiraly:2017,Knowlton:2017,Pelechrinis:2017}).

Oddsmakers are one group who attempt to accurately predict the result of games in order to maximize their profit.  They accomplish this by setting the \emph{spread} at a value that encourages equal betting by gamblers for each team in the competition\footnote{Description of spread estimation process: \url{https://tinyurl.com/p5yxekh}}. What makes this challenging is that the outcome of an event can be influenced by many factors that dynamically change across time (\cite{Aoki:2017}), so the spread can be considered a high-level metric that captures these variables.

\begin{figure}[ht]
\vskip 0.2in
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=.8\columnwidth]{fig6.pdf}
\caption{Diagram depicting the process by which game spreads are estimated}
\label{fig:fig1}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.2in
\end{figure}

Due to the difficulty of setting the spread, oddmakers will often leverage algorithms to set the initial value and manually adjust it as more information becomes available (Figure \ref{fig:fig1}).  This process introduces an interesting issue, since it is well-known that both algorithmic performance (\cite{Datta:15,Hajian:16,Sweeney:13}) and human decision-making (\cite{Camerer:02,David:11,Gilovich:93,Gilovich:02,Haghighat:13,Kahneman:79,Kahneman:82,Kahneman:12,Schlicht:10}) can be biased.  Therefore, oddsmakers may be (implicitly) providing reliable information about the outcome of a sporting event to gamblers through the spread.  Using poker terminology, the spread may provide a \emph{tell} that gamblers can exploit to improve predictive performance.

This study is the first to investigate if oddsmaker bias can be exploited to improve the prediction of outcomes in NFL games. Previous research exclusively leveraged game and situational features (e.g., historic win percent, margin of victory) in their predictive models (\cite{Aoki:2017,David:11,Haghighat:13,Kiraly:2017,Knowlton:2017,Pelechrinis:2017}), or aggregated expert predictions to improve model performance (\cite{Dani:06}). This effort will extend existing research by systematically exploring if spread biases provide reliable information about game outcomes.

First, Section \ref{timodel} explores how models that exploit decision biases perform against models that do not leverage this information, under conditions of temporally-independent data.  Then, Section \ref{tdmodel} will investigate how the same models perform under temporally-dependent conditions, that better reflect the nature of real-world gambling. Before performance is considered, the next section will describe how the data used in this effort was leveraged to train and evaluate model performance under the conditions considered in this paper.

\section{Methods and Results}
\label{methods}
In order to investigate if oddsmaker bias can be exploited to improve the prediction of NFL outcomes, real-world gambling data need to be acquired to train and evaluate the predictive models.  Section \ref{data} describes how the data used in this effort was obtained and filtered.

Section \ref{timodel} will outline how the data was leveraged to train and test predictive models under conditions in which the date of the game is ignored (i.e., temporally-independent data conditions). Then, Section \ref{tdmodel} outlines how the models perform under situations where the data used to train and test each model are sensitive to dates in which the games were played (i.e., temporally-dependent conditions).

\subsection{Real-World Data}
\label{data}
\begin{figure}[ht]
\vskip 0.2in
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{fig1.pdf}
\caption{Both spread and NFL outcome data were obtained from an online gaming site}
\label{fig:fig2}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.2in
\end{figure}

To explore if spread bias can be exploited to improve the prediction of NFL outcomes, real-world gaming data are required that contain both spread and outcome information (Figure \ref{fig:fig2}).  This study leveraged data obtained from an online gambling site\footnote{OddsShark NFL Database (uploaded on 10.11.17): \url{http://www.oddsshark.com/nfl/database}}.

The maximum amount of data that could be obtained from the database had an upper-bound of 30 samples per team.  Therefore, the maximum number of games were uploaded, which resulted in 960 unfiltered samples (30 samples x 32 NFL teams). The samples obtained were all regular-season conference games that took place between December, 2014 and October, 2017. Since the database produced duplicates for some games, they were removed which resulted in 648 unique samples that contained both NFL game outcome (Visitor Score - Home Score) and the final spread.  The next section describes how the data were used to train the predictive models used in this study.

\subsection{Temporally-Independent (TI) Models}
\label{timodel}

The goal of this study is to systematically explore if spread estimates provide reliable information about game outcomes. To accomplish this goal, it is necessary that the probability of an outcome ($o$) given a valid spread ($s$) be estimated ($p(o \mid s)$).

For the temporally-independent (TI) models described first, this density is estimated through a training procedure that does not consider the date in which games were played.  In this respect, models can be trained using data from more recent games, and evaluated on games that were played further in the past.  Obviously, this doesn't directly approximate real-world context, but it allows for our analysis to simulate hundreds of games to provide insight into the variability of model performance.  The next section describes how models were trained and evaluated under TI conditions.

\subsubsection{TI-Model Training}
\label{titrain}

\begin{figure}[ht]
\vskip 0.2in
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{fig2.pdf}
\caption{Process used to train and evaluate temporally-independent methods}
\label{fig:fig3}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.2in
\end{figure}

To explore if oddsmaker bias can be exploited to improve the prediction of NFL outcomes, candidate models need to be defined in order to compare their relative performance across the TI conditions considered in this section.  The most straightforward model that defines a lower-bound on performance is the \emph{Random-Guess} model.  Since there are two possible outcomes (i.e., home wins or visitor wins), the Random-Guess model decision ($D_{rg}$) is analogous to a coin-flip (ignoring ties which are uncommon in the NFL).  Notice that the Random-Guess model does not use potential information about the relationship between spread and outcomes when making its prediction:

\begin{equation}
\label{eq:eq1}
  D_{rg}=\left\{
  \begin{array}{@{}ll@{}}
    \text{Visitor}, & \text{if}\ rand < \frac{1}{N_o} \\
    \text{Home}, & \text{otherwise}
  \end{array}\right.
\end{equation}

where $rand$ is a random number generation sample (0-1) and $N_o$ is the number of possible outcomes ($N_o=2$).

Another model that is considered in this paper is termed the \emph{Maximum-Probability} model.  The Max-Probability model\textquotesingle s predictions ($D_{mp}^{s}$) select the team that maximizes the probability of an after-the-spread (ATS) win for either the home ($h$) or visiting ($v$) teams. Predictions are made for each valid spread ($s$):

\begin{equation}
\label{eq:eq2}
  D_{mp}^{s}=\left\{
  \begin{array}{@{}ll@{}}
    \text{Visitor}, & \text{if}\ p(o = v \mid s) > p(o = h \mid s) \\
    \text{Home}, & \text{otherwise}
  \end{array}\right.
\end{equation}

The validity of a spread corresponds to the number of samples available at each spread value. Under temporally-independent (TI) conditions considered in this section, valid spreads were required to have at least 25 outcome samples (Figure \ref{fig:fig3}). The data filtering process resulted in 7 valid spread values ($s$), for which histograms are shown in Supplementary Figure \ref{fig:figS1}.

This filtering was performed since the data need to be separated into training data used to estimate $p(o \mid s)$), and test data that was used to evaluate predictive performance. Figure \ref{fig:fig3} shows the process by which the data were separated.  For each of the N-simulations (N=200), 10 data samples per valid spread were held-out as test data, resulting in 14,000 test samples (10 samples x 7 valid spreads x 200 simulations), or 2000 test samples per valid spread.

Since we required at least 25 samples per spread, this assures that there is a minimum of 15 training samples that can be used to estimate $p(o \mid s)$, per simulation. Supplementary Figure \ref{fig:figS2} shows the estimated pdf for each of the 7 valid spead values.  Notice that the date of the game was not considered during the separation of data between train and test conditions, which is why it is termed temporally-independent (TI) conditions.

In order to estimate the densities needed to make maximum-probability predictions ($ D_{mp}^{s}$), we used kernel density estimation (with width = 4) to estimate the quantities of interest (Figure \ref{fig:fig3}):

\begin{equation}
\begin{aligned}
    p(o = h \mid s) &= \int_{-\inf}^{s} p(o \mid s)ds
    &= \sum_{\min s_a}^{s} p(o \mid s_a)
\end{aligned}
\end{equation}

where $s$ is the valid spread value, $s_a$ are the quantized outcome values used during the kernel density estimation (-40 to +40), and  $p(o = v \mid s) = 1 - p(o = h \mid s)$.

Notice that both Random-Guess and Maximum-Probability models make predictions across each of the valid spread values, and do not take into account oddsmaker bias.  However, the main objective of this paper is to explore how decision-bias can be exploited to improve NFL outcome prediction, so models that accomplish this objective are considered next.

A first step to exploiting decision-bias is to find a method that is capable of quantitatively identifying biases. Since bias can be considered the amount of information the spread provides about the outcome, we can use Shannon entropy (\cite{Shannon:48}) as an effective metric to for this purpose. In this respect, Shannon entropy ($H(s) = - \sum_t p(o = t|s) \log_2(p(o = t|s))$) reflects the amount of uncertainty associated with information carried by spread estimates in their ability to predict outcomes (for each team ($t$)).  Stated another way, decisions that are strongly biased will correspond to minimum-entropy spreads.  Spreads that exceed some threshold-level of entropy (.95 in our work) are then identified and considered biased.  These biased spreads can then exploited to improve predictive performance.

The \emph{Min-Entropy} model essentially makes the same predictions ($D_{me}^{s^*_1}$) as the Max-Probability model for a given spread.  However, whereas the Max-Probability model wagers across all valid spreads, the Min-Entropy model only wagers for spreads that are maximally biased (i.e., minimum entropy spread ($s^*_1$)).  In this respect, the Min-Entropy approach determines \emph{which spread} to select through Shannon entropy, and then uses a Maximum-Probability approach to decide \emph{which team} to choose (Figure \ref{fig:fig3}):

\begin{equation}
\label{eq:eq3}
  D_{me}^{s^*_1}=\left\{
  \begin{array}{@{}ll@{}}
    \text{Visitor}, & \text{if}\ p(o = v \mid s^*_1) > p(o = h \mid s^*_1) \\
    \text{Home}, & \text{otherwise}
  \end{array}\right.
\end{equation}

A more general version of the Min-Entropy model is the \emph{k-Lowest Entropy} model.  Whereas, the Min-Entropy model wagers only on the spread with the largest bias, the k-Lowest Entropy model wagers ($D_{ke}^{s^*_{1:k}}$) on all (k) spreads that are below the threshold-level of entropy (.95 in this paper). Once the k-lowest entropy spreads ($s^*_{1:k}$) are identified, those spreads are selected and teams are chosen for each spread based on Max-Probability methods.

\begin{equation}
\label{eq:eq4}
  D_{ke}^{s^*_{1:k}}=\left\{
  \begin{array}{@{}ll@{}}
    \text{Visitor}, & \text{if}\ p(o = v \mid s^*_{1:k}) > p(o = h \mid s^*_{1:k}) \\
    \text{Home}, & \text{otherwise}
  \end{array}\right.
\end{equation}

This section outlined how each of the candidate models (Random-Guess, Max-Probability, Min-Entropy, and k-Lowest Entropy) were trained and evaluated under TI conditions.  The next section discusses the results obtained through 200 simulations that were conducted under these TI conditions.

\subsubsection{TI-Model Evaluation}
\label{titest}
\begin{figure}[ht]
\vskip 0.2in
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{fig4.pdf}
\caption{Diagram depicting the average entropy ($\pm$ 1 SD) associated with each spread \emph{(Left)} and the mean predictive performance of each strategy ($\pm$ 1 SEM) on test data under temporally-independent conditions \emph{(Right)}.}
\label{fig:fig4}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.2in
\end{figure}

Using the procedure outlined in Section \ref{titrain}, model performance was evaluated with the test data held-out during each training iteration.  As mentioned above, this resulted in 2000 test samples for each of the 7 valid spread values.

The Random-Guess model effectively flipped a coin for each of the 2,000 test samples across each of the 7 valid spreads.  The actual NFL game outcomes from the test data was compared to Random-Guess model predictions, and resulted in average performance (Mean: 49.46\%; SEM: 1.11) that was close to expected levels of chance (Figure \ref{fig:fig4}, Right).

Predictions from the Max-Probability model were compared to actual NFL outcomes across all valid spreads for the test data. The results show a slight improvement in average predictive performance (Mean: 58.15\%; SEM: 1.13), above chance performance (Figure \ref{fig:fig4}, Right).

Finally, performance of the models that exploit oddsmaker bias were examined by comparing predictions from the Min-Entropy model to the 2,000 actual NFL outcomes for \emph{only the test data of the minimum entropy spread} (Figure \ref{fig:fig4}, Left).  Similarly, the k-Lowest Entropy model predictions were compared to each of the (k=2) valid spreads that fall below the entropy threshold (.95), resulting in 4,000 (2 spreads x 2,000 samples) comparisons.  As Figure \ref{fig:fig4} (Right) shows, both Min-Entropy (Mean: 71.85\%; SEM: .82) and k-Lowest Entropy (Mean: 66\%; SEM:.99) outperform the other two approaches that do not leverage biases in oddsmaker decisions.

Although the results under these temporally-independent conditions appear promising, it would be remiss not to evaluate how the entropy-based models perform under conditions that better reflect real-world gambling conditions. The next section will provide such an evaluation under temporally-dependent conditions that better reflect these natural conditions.

\subsection{Temporally-Dependent (TD) Models}
\label{tdmodel}

The previous section was able to simulate hundreds of trials in order to evaluate the performance of different models under TI conditions.  This section will strike the opposite balance by using historic data in an attempt to predict more recent outcomes.  Although these temporally-dependent (TD) conditions accurately reflect the temporal components of real-life gambling, they only allow for performance to be evaluated one time.

The hope is by leveraging these complimentary approaches for model evaluation, insight can be gained into the effectiveness expected from each of the candidate approaches if utilized outside of this study.

\subsubsection{TD-Model Training}
\label{tdtrain}

The candidate TD models are identical to those outlined in Section \ref{titrain}, and the training procedure is also similar to that reflected in Figure \ref{fig:fig3}, with a couple key differences.

First, instead of simulating over multiple iterations requiring train and test data to be randomly selected for each iteration, TD conditions separate the data only once. This one-time separation is based exclusively on the date in which the games were played.  More specifically, the test data exclusively included data from games played in the year 2017 (n=85), whereas training data included games from years prior to 2017 (2014-2016; n = 648-85 = 563). Implicitly, this reflects a situation where the gambler trained the model between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, and did not update the model as results became available.  Therefore, this can be considered a conservative estimate on model performance under TD conditions.

A second difference was in the definition of what constitutes a valid spread. The minimum number of samples required per spread was reduced to 15 (instead of 25).  Remember, this threshold determined the amount of training data used to estimate $p(o \mid s)$, but unlike TI conditions, no additional data in the TD condition need to be removed for testing. Effectively, this filtering reduction balanced the minimum training samples required for a valid spread between TI and TD conditions.

This filtering process resulted in 12 valid spreads which produced a total of 54 (of the possible 85) test samples across each of the valid spreads. Therefore, there is relatively limited data to evaluate performance due to the TD constraints, and Section \ref{tdtest} will overview the performance of each model under the conditions described in this section.

\subsubsection{TD-Model Evaluation}
\label{tdtest}
\begin{figure}[ht]
\vskip 0.2in
\begin{center}
\includegraphics[width=\columnwidth]{fig5.pdf}
\caption{Diagram depicting the entropy  across valid spreads \emph{(Left)} and the predictive performance of each strategy on test data under temporally-dependent conditions \emph{(Right)}.}
\label{fig:fig5}
\end{center}
\vskip -0.2in
\end{figure}

Figure \ref{fig:fig5} (Left) shows the entropy for each of the 12 valid spreads in the TD condition.  It shows there are 4 spreads that exhibit biases that exceed the entropy threshold used in this study (.95).  As a result, the k-Lowest Entropy model has a maximum $k=4$ spreads to wager across.

Surprisingly, the Min-Entropy model performed poorly (37.5\%) in percent ATS wins across the $n_t=8$ test samples that correspond to the Min-Entropy spread (Figure \ref{fig:fig5} (Right)). However, the k-Lowest Entropy method realized good predictive performance from $k=3$ (66.67\% ATS wins, $n_t=18$) and $k=4$ (65.00\% ATS wins, $n_t=20$) conditions.  The $k=2$ condition (44.44\% ATS wins, $n_t=9$) performed at similar levels to the Max-Probability (50.00\% ATS wins, $n_t=54$) and Random (48.68\%, $n_t=54$) models.

In order to visualize the impact on performance from increasing $k$ beyond the entropy threshold (.95), Figure \ref{fig:fig5} (Right) shows how ATS win percent \emph{decreases} for all spreads associated with $k>4$.  This suggests that performance gains were the result of exploiting spreads with significant decision bias.

\section{Discussion}

This effort was the first to investigate if oddsmaker decision biases can be exploited to improve the prediction of NFL game outcomes.  The study evaluated two models that do not exploit decision bias (Random-Guess and Max-Probability methods) against two approaches that exploit bias (Min-Entropy and k-Lowest Entropy) in their ability to predict the outcomes of NFL games.

The results show that under temporally-independent conditions, methods that exploit decision-bias predict NFL outcomes better than those that do not (Figure \ref{fig:fig4} (Right)).  However, when the same models were tested under conditions that account for the dates in which games were played (temporally-dependent), only the k-Lowest Entropy methods predicted NFL outcomes above chance (Figure \ref{fig:fig5} (Right)). For max-k conditions (TI: 2, TD:4), the k-Lowest Entropy method was able to achieve at least 65\% ATS win percent under both TI and TD conditions.

Taken together, it suggests that the k-Lowest Entropy method is a robust approach capable of improving predictive performance by exploiting oddsmaker decision biases.  This result is surprising, given the relative simplicity of the model (only using spread as a feature), compared to previous work in this area (\cite{Aoki:2017,David:11,Haghighat:13,Kiraly:2017,Knowlton:2017,Pelechrinis:2017}). This is likely due to the fact that in order to set spread-values, oddsmakers must account for many game and situational variables (Figure \ref{fig:fig1}).  Therefore, spread appears to be an extremely useful summary feature from which one can evaluate bias.

Another compelling issue to pursue is attempting to gain insight into the underlying reason oddsmakers exhibit biases.  As our analyses show (Figure \ref{fig:fig4}, (Left) and Figure \ref{fig:fig5}, (Left)), biases tend to be relatively stable for some spreads (e.g., -2.5).  This implies that either the algorithm or human is producing this spread for cases in which the visiting team wins frequently.  It's interesting to note looking at the marginal spread distribution ((Figure \ref{fig:fig2}), that the mean (-2.24) is near this maximum-bias location.  This may imply that this spread corresponds to the default \emph{home-field-advantage} produced when two teams are incorrectly estimated to be evenly matched.  Future work will explore this topic in greater detail.

Future work will also investigate more rigorous methods to set the entropy threshold used to identify biased spreads.  This value was set visually (at .95) in this study, so a quantitative threshold selection method is needed.  Moreover, efforts will be made to acquire greater amounts of data that can be used to further train and evaluate the models proposed in this study.

Overall, these results demonstrate how identifying and exploiting decision-biases can improve performance in competitive wagering situations.  Indeed, these results may extend to other competitive decision-making tasks, such as stock selection, where human and algorithmic decisions could be biased.  It will be interesting to see if this work can be generalized to other important domains.

\subsubsection*{Acknowledgments}

The author would like to thank his wife and son for their patience while this analysis was being performed.


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text:
Ебергарт Шра́дер (, 7 січня 1836, Брауншвейг — 4 липня 1908, Берлін) — німецький історик і мовознавець.

Автор праць з ассиріології та історії Давнього Сходу (походження вавилонської культури та ін.). Засновник ассиріологічної школи в Німеччині.

Література
 Советский энциклопедический словарь. — Москва: Советская энциклопедия, 1985. — С. 1516.

Примітки

Німецькі історики
Німецькі мовознавці
Уродженці Брауншвейга
Ассирологи
Німецькі сходознавці

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A rich cream cheese base is lightened with a top layer of sour cream, sugar and vanilla for a delicious velvety vanilla cheesecake you won't soon forget.
Years ago, when my husband and I first got married, we got this cookbook. While my dad was a chef for many of my formative years, I knew how to cook the basics and that was it.
This cookbook, however, had much more than easy, basic recipes. And it sat in a cabinet for a long time before I even attempted to make anything out of it. Even when I did, many of the recipes weren't very good, or were far too involved. It did have a vanilla cheesecake recipe in it that I chose to write down and modify to my own, though.
So, I guess one good thing came out of it. Of course, it had to be a recipe for sweets. When I'm trying desperately to not eat sugar. And all I wanted to do was make something with said sugar in it.
I justified this by saying… at least its homemade! Which, is partially true. But, I probably should have not made it. It's worth it though. It's so good.
This recipe does best after it has sat for a day or two before you eat it. If you choose to eat it soon after it has set, it's just not as good. The flavors need to mix together and it needs to sit in order for that to do it. So, I highly recommend making this at least a day before you need it. It's even better if you have two days. And yes, I know how difficult it is to let it sit in there taunting you for two days. Worth it, but difficult.
Can you make it without vanilla beans? Sure, you can omit them from the cheesecake and the topping. But, it won't have as much flavor if you do. You'll want to make sure they're fairly fresh, but I'd buy them online to save money. At the grocery they're usually in the ballpark of $20 for two whole beans around here. You can buy them online much, much cheaper.
Be careful when making this to not mix it for too long. Once everything is incorporated, it's fine to stop. If you over mix the mixture, it will crack. Will it still taste good? Absolutely. It just won't be as pretty.
Note: I do not bake this recipe in a water bath. Some people swear by it. It was never in the original instructions and it bakes up just fine, not cracked, and evenly baked every time. Which, to me is a bonus. I have avoided cheesecake recipes simply because of that requirement.
If you have a blender or food processor, you can use those. Or, if you're like me and don't like the mess, throw them in a plastic ziplock back and use your rolling pin to crush them up. This takes a little more effort, as you want them fine, but it's definitely doable. If you don't get them crushed enough, the crust won't set up as well.
You also need to throw the crust in the oven after you've put it in the pan.
All of them need to be room temp. Your cream cheese, your eggs, all of it. This will keep the batter from being all lumpy and will allow it to bake more evenly. If you add a cold egg to room temp ingredients, it will not bake as evenly.
Yep. You just can't make a cheesecake without one. Well, you can. My no bake strawberry cheesecake doesn't require one. But, this one does. You'll put the graham cracker crumb crust evenly over the bottom and about halfway to two thirds up the sides. I use my hands, some people use the bottom of a glass. Whatever works. Once your cheesecake is all set up and chilled removing that spring form will make it so much easier to serve.
A rich cream cheese base is lightened with a top layer of sour cream, sugar and vanilla for a delicious velvety vanilla cheesecake you won't soon forget.
Begin by preheating oven to 350°F with rack situated in center and lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan.
Make the crust by mixing the finely crushed graham crumbs, sugar and butter in a small bowl. Gently press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the springform pan and up about halfway along the sides. Bake it in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Remove it and allow it to cool while you mix the cheesecake. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.
Next, make the filling. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese until fluffy, about a minute.
Next, add the sugar in slowly, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix once more to incorporate it all.
Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and the contents of 1/2 the vanilla bean to the bowl, scrape it down and mix once more. Do not over mix, as this will cause cracking.
Pour the filling into the crust and bake it at 325 until the cheesecake is barely set in center, about 45 to 55 minutes. Note, the cheesecake will still jiggle slightly when moved.
When the cheesecake is about finished, you ca mix the topping. In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment you can beat the sour cream, sugar, vanilla, salt, and contents of the vanilla bean for about a minute on low speed until it's all well incorporated.
Once the cheesecake is almost set, remove it from the oven and reduce the temperature to 300°F. Evenly spread the topping over the cheesecake and allow it to bake an additional 5 minutes.
Allow the cheesecake to cool for about an hour on a wire rack once removed from the oven. Refrigerate for a minimum of 6 hours, but preferably overnight before serving.
If you do not have any vanilla beans, simply increase the vanilla extract in the filling and the topping by 1/2 teaspoon.
To remove the contents of the vanilla bean, split the bean lengthwise using a sharp knife and scrape the contents into the bowl.
What's your favorite desert? Have you ever tried to bake your own cheesecake?


text:
Veronica Guerin (Dublin, 1959. július 5. – Dublin,  1996. június 26.) bűnügyekre szakosodott ír újságíró.

Számvitelt tanult a Trinity College-ban. Érettségi után apja cégénél dolgozott. Évekkel később PR-céget alapított. 1983 és 1984 között a Fianna Fáil politikai párt titkáraként dolgozott a New Ireland Forumon. Ezután Charles Haughey személyi asszisztenseként szolgált, és családja barátja lett.

1990-ben lett riporter, a Sunday Business Post és a Sunday Tribune újságokba írt.

1996. június 26-án kábítószer-kereskedők támadták meg, és halálosan megsebesült.

A Lapzárta – Veronica Guerin története című 2003-as film az újságíró életét és munkásságát meséli el. A főszerepben Cate Blanchett, a rendező Joel Schumacher.

Jegyzetek

Újságírók
Dubliniak
1959-ben született személyek
1996-ban elhunyt személyek


text:
Torch of Freedom is a science fiction novel by American writers David Weber and Eric Flint, published on November 3, 2009. It is the second book in the Crown of Slaves series which runs parallel (timeline-wise) to the main Honor Harrington series. It is the sequel to the 2003 novel Crown of Slaves, also by David Weber and Eric Flint. The book includes a Baen CD Library disk.

Plot

While Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat were working undercover on Mesa, Mesa launches an attack at Torch. Anton Zilwicki and Victor Cachat escape Mesa amidst general mayhem together with a defecting leading scientist. The attack against Torch is thwarted by Rear Admiral Luiz Rozsak of the Solarian League Navy, who had amassed a fleet in the interest of the Maya Sector.

Queen Berry becomes romantically involved with Hugh Arai, who, after being freed from slavery by Jeremy X from the Audubon Ballroom, worked as a commando for the Beowulf Biological Survey Corps (BSC), and was assigned by Jeremy X as Berry's bodyguard.

References

External links
 Torch of Freedom on author's website
 The Galley Proof site for Torch of Freedom, Chapters 1 to 24 as of this writing.
 A similar sample page at Baen Books.
 The actual schedule page at Baen, esp. November '09.

Novels by David Weber
Novels by Eric Flint
Honorverse books
2009 American novels


Welcome Students! Please find some helpful quick links below and in the navigation to the left (or in the sliding menu if on mobile). If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact your school or district.


text:
A SET OF THREE HORROR NOVELS
CHASM [trade paperback] by Stephen Laws
CATEGORY Horror
PUBLICATION DATE July 2019
COVER ART Ronnie Jensen
In the ordinary town of Edmonville a tremor hits, followed by a second devastating tremor, then darkness. The next morning, the survivors discover that most of the town has disappeared into an enormous crevasse. As they struggle to survive, one by one people start to disappear without trace.
"An awe-inspiring study in desperation and the supernatural, with excitement lasting without respite to the final page."
THE STORM [hardcover] by Paul Kane
PUBLICATION DATE March 2020
COVER ART Ben Baldwin
INTRODUCTION Rio Youers
It started off like any other day, but for the tourists, staff and workmen at Willerton Castle it will end in terror. Because a storm is coming, a storm like nothing anyone has ever seen. A storm that will herald an attack by creatures this world has never encountered before. Will any of them survive? This new short novel of monstrous horror by the bestselling and award-winning author of Monsters (a British Fantasy Award finalist), the sellout Hooded Man and the award-winning Sherlock Holmes and the Servants of Hell, Paul Kane, comes with an introduction from Rio Youers (The Forgotten Girl, Halcyon) and cover art by Ben Baldwin.
SOMETHING FROM BELOW [hardcover] by S.T. Joshi
PUBLICATION DATE October 2019
COVER ART John Coulthart
When 22-year-old Alison Mannering returns to her home in northeastern Pennsyl-vania after college, she finds a troubling situation. Her father, Guy Mannering, a longtime coal miner, has died recently under suspicious circumstances, and her mother refuses to provide any details of his passing. Alison feels she has no option but to investigate the matter herself, enlisting her high school sweetheart, Randy Kroeber, as well as Randy's twin sister, Andrea called Andy, to assist her.
In the process, Alison and her cohorts become enmeshed in an inconceivable horror that goes back a century or more and is somehow involved with the coal mine, now controlled by the remote and enigmatic Conrad Brashear. Beyond the possibility of danger or death to herself and her friends, Alison comes to realise that what is lurking in and below the mine poses a mortal threat to the safety of the planet.
In this compelling novella, veteran scholar of weird fiction S. T. Joshi has fashioned a novella of cosmic horror that draws upon the work of Lovecraft, Hodgson, and other classic writers, but that also etches the characters of his protagonists with clarity and sensitivity. The result is a distinctive fusion of weirdness and poignancy that will leave few readers unmoved.
BUNDLE - 3 HORROR

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


CHICAGO (CN) – Two weeks after Illinois prosecutors dropped all criminal charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett for allegedly staging a hate crime against himself, the city of Chicago filed a lawsuit Thursday against Smollett over his refusal to repay $130,000 in investigation costs.
The 13-page complaint filed by city of Chicago counsel Edward Siskel alleges that Smollett violated Chicago's false statements and cost recovery ordinances and is seeking relief for "false statements he made to the City, and seeking recovery of the costs of necessary services provided by the City," in investigating Smollett's claims.
The complaint states that Smollett coordinated via text with Abel Osundairo, an acquaintance with whom he had previously socialized and exercised, as well as Abel's brother Ola to establish details of staging a fake hate crime.
The allegations then say that the two brothers, who later told investigators they were paid $3,500 each for their part, staged an attack in which, according to Smollett, two random men attacked him, yelled racist and homophobic comments at him and put a rope around his neck.
The city's complaint finds that Smollett filed a false police report after the fact and "purposely misled the CPD officers to believe that his attackers were white" when Smollett, in fact, knew both of the Osundairo brothers.
The complaint states that over the course of the following two weeks, "the [Chicago Police Department] expended significant resources investigating defendant's false report of a high-profile hate crime and physical assault," which involved over two dozen officers clocking a combined 1,836 overtime hours.
Attorneys for the city sent a letter to Smollett's lawyers in late March demanding he pay the investigation costs within seven days. Smollett did not meet that deadline.
Mark Geragos, an attorney with Geragos & Geragos who is representing Smollett, responded to Chicago's demand with a letter of his own calling the lawsuit "defamatory" and unconstitutional, adding that Smollett would not be intimidated into paying the city.
After the Osundairo brothers revealed their role in the alleged attack, Smollett was indicted by a grand jury on 16 counts of felony disorderly conduct for allegedly faking the crime, but Cook County prosecutors abruptly dropped all charges two weeks later in exchange for the actor turning over his $10,000 bond.
Cook County State's Attorney Kimberly Foxx came under fire when she recused herself from the case after she discussed it with one of Smollett's family members.
President Donald Trump tweeted last month that the Department of Justice and the FBI would look into how Cook County handled Smollett's case, calling it "outrageous." The Chicago police union has also called for a similar FBI investigation into the matter.
In addition to the over $130,000 in investigation costs, the city's complaint demands that Smollett is also on the hook for "a $1,000 civil penalty for every false statement he made to the City, in addition to three times the amount of the damages the City sustained," as well as litigation and collection costs and attorneys' fees.
Geragos, Siskel and officials with the City of Chicago could not be reached after business hours Thursday for comment.


text:
package burlap.domain.singleagent.gridworld.state;

import burlap.domain.singleagent.gridworld.GridWorldDomain;
import burlap.mdp.core.oo.state.OOStateUtilities;
import burlap.mdp.core.oo.state.ObjectInstance;
import burlap.mdp.core.state.annotations.DeepCopyState;

import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.List;

import static burlap.domain.singleagent.gridworld.GridWorldDomain.VAR_TYPE;
import static burlap.domain.singleagent.gridworld.GridWorldDomain.VAR_X;
import static burlap.domain.singleagent.gridworld.GridWorldDomain.VAR_Y;

/**
 * ObjectInstance for locations in a {@link GridWorldDomain}. Variable keys are string "x", "y", and "loc" of type int.
 * @author James MacGlashan.
 */
@DeepCopyState
public class GridLocation implements ObjectInstance {

	public int x;
	public int y;
	public int type;

	protected String name;

	private final static List<Object> keys = Arrays.<Object>asList(VAR_X, VAR_Y, VAR_TYPE);

	public GridLocation() {
	}

	public GridLocation(int x, int y, String name) {
		this.x = x;
		this.y = y;
		this.name = name;
	}

	public GridLocation(int x, int y, int type, String name) {
		this.x = x;
		this.y = y;
		this.type = type;
		this.name = name;
	}

	@Override
	public String className() {
		return GridWorldDomain.CLASS_LOCATION;
	}

	@Override
	public String name() {
		return name;
	}

	@Override
	public GridLocation copyWithName(String objectName) {
		GridLocation nloc = this.copy();
		nloc.name = objectName;
		return nloc;
	}

	@Override
	public List<Object> variableKeys() {
		return keys;
	}

	@Override
	public Object get(Object variableKey) {
		if(!(variableKey instanceof String)){
			throw new RuntimeException("GridAgent variable key must be a string");
		}

		String key = (String)variableKey;
		if(key.equals(VAR_X)){
			return x;
		}
		else if(key.equals(VAR_Y)){
			return y;
		}
		else if(key.equals(VAR_TYPE)){
			return type;
		}

		throw new RuntimeException("Unknown key " + key);
	}

	@Override
	public GridLocation copy() {
		return new GridLocation(x, y, type, name);
	}

	@Override
	public String toString() {
		return OOStateUtilities.objectInstanceToString(this);
	}

	public String getName() {
		return name;
	}

	public void setName(String name) {
		this.name = name;
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
All signs reportedly point to Bob Boughner returning as Sharks' head coach
The Athletic's Kevin Kurz says the team will look at shuffling the coaching staff.
By Jas Kang@jaskang21 Jun 15, 2020, 6:01am PDT
Share All sharing options for: All signs reportedly point to Bob Boughner returning as Sharks' head coach
Photo by Norm Hall/NHLI via Getty Images
It looks like Bob Boughner will be back at the head coach of the San Jose Sharks next season.
The Athletic's Kevin Kurz was asked in a recent mailbag about the team's coaching situation, and here is his response:
"I've said many times and I'll say it again that all signs point to Boughner returning as the head coach. I also believe there could be at least one or two new hires for the coaching staff, allowing guys like Mike Ricci and Roy Sommer to return to their roles in player development."
Boughner took over the job in December when Peter DeBoer was relieved of his duties. The Sharks went 14-20-3 under Boughner to finish out the season. San Jose was decimated by injuries to key players, including: Erik Karlsson, Tomas Hertl and captain Logan Couture. Although the Sharks were missing their best players for extended periods, the team still improved its underlying numbers under Boughner.
San Jose players praised the job Boughner did under difficult circumstances, something general manager Dough Wilsons says would be a factor in his final decision. Some of the other available head coaching candidates have been around for a long time. Names like Mike Babcock, Peter Laviolette, Gerard Gallant and Bruce Boudreau are all out of jobs at the moment, giving Wilson plenty of options.
Boughner will have the opportunity to succeed if Wilson can fix some of the issues with the roster. With the Sharks up against the salary cap limit, Wilson will have to get creative to improve the depth of the team, and potentially address the goaltending. Starter Martin Jones ranked dead last in the league in 5-on-5 save percentage (.892), per Natural Stat Trick.
How do you feel about Boughner reportedly being brought back as the Sharks' head coach next season?


Are you concerned about possible child maltreatment? Child maltreatment includes all types of abuse and neglect of a child under the age of 18 by a parent, caregiver, or another person in a custodial role (e.g., clergy, coach, teacher). There are four common types of abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, neglect.
The Sexual Assault Clinic and Child Maltreatment Center is part of Providence St. Peter Hospital and Providence Behavioral Health Services in Olympia. We serve residents of Thurston, Lewis, Mason, Grays Harbor and Pacific counties.
Our physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses provide special medical evaluations for children, adolescents and adults. Social workers provide crisis counseling for the victims and families of sexual assault, physical abuse or chronic neglect.


text:
Suspected extremists kill at least 40 farmers in Nigeria
by Miller Williams
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria — Suspected members of the Islamic militant group Boko Haram murdered at least 40 rice, fishermen and farmers, in Nigeria since they were harvesting plants in the nation's northern state of Borno, officials explained. One said the death toll may grow to approximately 60 individuals.
The attack Saturday at a rice field in Garin Kwashebe came on the same day that taxpayers were casting votes for the first time in 13 years to select local councils, but many did not go to cast their ballots.
The farmers were rounded up and summarily murdered by armed insurgents in retaliation for refusing to pay extortion to a militant.
Malam Zabarmari, a pioneer of a rice farmers institution in Borno state, supported the massacre into The Associated Press, stating at least 40, as well as 60 people, might have been murdered.
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari expressed despair over the killings.
"I condemn the killing of the hardworking farmers from terrorists in Borno State. My thoughts are with their own families in this time of despair," he explained.
Buhari said the authorities had awarded the armed forces everything required" to take all necessary actions to guard the nation's inhabitants and its land."
A part of the home of Representatives," Ahmed Satomi, that symbolizes the Jere Federal constituency of Borno, said at least 44 burials were happening Sunday.
"Farmers and fishermen were murdered in cold blood. More than 60 farmers were changed, but we just have received 44 corpses in the farms," the lawmaker said.
Officials state Boko Haram members frequently induce villagers to pay illegal taxation by accepting their livestock or plants but a few villagers have started to withstand the extortion.
Satomi said the farmers at Garin Kwashebe were assaulted because they'd disarmed and detained a Boko Haram gunman on Friday who was tormenting them.
"A single gunman, who had been a part of Boko Haram arrived to harass the farmers by ordering them to give him cash and cook. While he had been waiting for the meals to be cooked, then the farmers captured the instant he stepped to the restroom to grab his gun and tied him up," he explained.
But regrettably, the security forces failed to shield the brave farmers. In reprisal for them, the Boko Haram mobilized and arrived to strike them in their farms"
Insurgents also torched the rice farms before departing, he explained.
Miller Williams
Sysmobilenotify Com Reviews – Read More About It!
Hong Kong Cinemas to Close Following Third Wave of Coronavirus


text:
Q: How do I escape a left paren in a Perl regex? If I have a file containing some escaped parens, how can I replace all instances with an unescaped paren using Perl?
i.e. turn this:
.... foo\(bar ....

into this
.... foo(bar ....

I tried the following but receivied this error message:
perl -pe "s/\\\(/\(/g" ./file
Unmatched ( in regex; marked by <-- HERE in m/\\( <-- HERE / at -e line 1.

A: Gah.  From command line, no less.  Way too many levels of metacharacter interpretation.
Try replacing your double quotes with single quotes, see if that helps.

A: You're forgetting that backslashes mean something to the shell, too.  Try using single quotes instead of double quotes.  (Or put your script in a file, where you won't need to worry about shell quoting.)

A: cjm's answer is probably the best.  If you must do it at the command line, try using quotemeta() or the metaquoting escape sequence (\Q...\E).  This worked for me in a bash prompt:
perl -pe "s/\Q\(\E/(/g" ./file

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Given the evolution and sophistication of Google's ranking algorithm for organic search, SEO Companies and Marketers alike must build content around their audience's needs rather than trying to outwit search engine algorithms. Once upon a time, Google was at the mercy of SEO, the search engine was pretty easy to exploit and – what's more – it didn't seem to mind. Some keywords here, some metadata there, then sit back and watch the results appear and the sales roll in. That, is a thing of the past.
There was a time when it was quicker and easier to get online results by focusing your website towards search engines instead of human audiences. That time has passed. Google has continued to release sustained updates that tackle these very issues through "Panda", "Penguin" and other names. Google has shown they are serious when it comes to retaining their top spot in organic search, and are driven by this desire, to deliver relevant results, that aren't being tricked by old school techniques.
The updates' cumulative effect has been to rule practice after practice out of bounds, so that search results reflect ever more closely whatever it is users really have in mind when they perform a search for these particular keywords.
So the hidden hand behind SEO's evolution is Google realising that it cannot take the loyalty of searchers for granted. Google is not a neutral marketplace for bringing together search users and website providers. It is a market maker, with considerable skin in the game.
For example, there was no a priori reason why guest blogging or exact-match domain names should be penalised. Google chose to do it, so as to define "good practice" and even "search" itself in ways that (happily) coincided with its own interests. But what can you do? The rules change and will continue to change. The reason behind the changes, however, does not.
SEO today, then, is more about content marketing. What that means in practice is long-term success will only come when you try to achieve your goals by meeting the needs of online audiences, not by exploiting some concealed loophole in the rules. Focus on good quality content marketing, and all of a sudden, the results will begin to appear once again.
Google – and all the other platforms that provide search or serve ads – is gathering up all the behavioural clues you leave behind online. They are using this data to create a model of your interests, desires and intentions so as to provide what you want when, or even before, you want it. Our advantage as online marketers is that we are not trying to do this on a global scale and can focus on anticipating and providing that for our specific audiences only. Hence persona profiling-led content marketing is the present and future of SEO.
When you paint a picture of a typical member of your audience, you can build your content and outreach around where such people are found, how they communicate and (just as important) what deters them. And by "paint a picture", I mean construct a data-driven behavioural model illustrating how users find, use and interact with your website.
There will always be rewards for the one who can outwit the algorithm, so keep looking for that loophole by all means. But remember, your success is unlikely to last. In the long run, the surest way to reach your destination is to swim with the tide, and evolve with organic search to focus more on content marketing. This is where you will reap the best rewards in search engine optimisation (SEO).


1 agriculture and the Economy, 2588. 2 Problems in US agriculture, 89-134. 4Economic Evaluation of alternative Farming Systems, 195-244. index, 427-448.
E-mail: merrigan@access.digex.net A Catalyst for Progress The Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture, Inc., is a nonprofit, tax-exempt, membership research and education organization established in 1983 to encourage and facilitate the adoption of low-cost, resource-conserving, environmentally sound, and economically viable farming systems. Throughout the evolution of the alternative agriculture movement, the Wallace Institute's fundamental goal has remained constant: to ensure that farm production gains not only are efficient and equitable, but also maintain the soil, water, and air on which farming and all human life depend.
Sustainable agriculture Newsletter index 1999. December Issue. Return toChatham County Home Page Page created by Susan Graham Created 02/01/00.
Created 02/01/00. Last revised 05/18/01.
Sustainable agriculture Newsletter index 2000.
alternatives. Browse the index of agricultural alternative systems. Searchfor alternative systems information from other organizations.
The Horticultural Alternatives Web site is a part of the Texas Agricultural Extension Service Risk Management Education network. Browse and search the index of Texas horticultural alternatives. Browse the index of agricultural alternative systems. Search for alternative systems information from other organizations.
New to CABI Publishing American Journal of alternative agriculture Full textaccess for registered Advertising Rates (in PDF format). No Annual index.
Launched in 1986 by the US-based Institute for Alternative Agriculture (renamed the Henry A. Wallace Center for Agricultural and Environmental Policy at Winrock International, January, 2002), the peer reviewed American Journal of Alternative Agriculture will be published by CABI Publishing from 2002 in print and on the internet. Devoted to publishing original research and review articles on the biological, physical, social science, and policy aspects of alternative agriculture, the journal particularly welcomes multidisciplinary studies and is required reading for agricultural researchers, extension personnel, policy makers, and farmers with an interest in the character and potential of alternative, sustainable, and organic farming systems, including economic, social, and policy considerations.
Southern alternative agriculture Network. Welcome to SAAN. 2. What is alternativeagriculture anyway? We try to explain it here, for those who might be curious.
The Chiang Mai Demonstration On May 18-19 1999 a group of hilltribespeople were forcefully evicted from a peaceful demonstration they were conducting; the media had very little to say about it. We give a couple of reports here.
Chronology Natural Scapegoats - why are hill tribes unjustly looked down upon?
Fishermen stage blockade in south - the beginning. Press Release -of the Federation of Small Scale Fisherfolk in southern Thailand. Letter from the Federation to various embassies Blinded by the light - commentary on sharing a resource and using it sustainably. Fishermen vow to take protest to UN Hurry while stocks last... - editorial demanding conservation. Panel promises realistic solution - but not possible to please everyone, they say.
Many of these pages were written by OZ RURAL (formerly Alternative Directions) for the Farm Diversification Centre at Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. Other major links are to Fisheries Western Australia, Agriculture WA, New South Wales Agriculture and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC). All of the links are to free pages posted by Australian and international agricultural agencies. Please take the time to explore their sites, because without access to the enormous amount of information they provide, OZ RURAL would not exist.
OZ RURAL CATEGORIES Agroforestry Aquaculture Animals/Livestock Horticulture /Agriculture ... Miscellaneous OZ RURALSUBJECT LIST Agroforestry What is It?
This index of selected keywords has been compiled to facilitate the identification of specialized alternative and decentralist literature that is often overlooked by standard keyword searches. However, your choice of keywords to search with is by no means limited to those listed below. The majority of the Library's holdings have also been indexed according to the Library of Congress subject headings and can be located through searches using standard keywords.
Lots of great information about sheep (and other topics) from the Ontario Ministry of agriculture, Category Business agriculture and Forestry Livestock Sheep...... What's New In Livestock alternative Livestock, Bison (Buffalo). , AgriculturalInformation Contact Centre. •, agriculture, Food Rural Associations (The List).
A directory of agriculture, farming and land business related websites, pages and links INDEX Organisations Support Organisations Livestock Smallholdings OTHER RELEVANT PAGES Government bodies Rural Campaigning Employment Make sure your business is registered on The Rural Index click here RETURN TO INDEX Better Business Resources for microbusinesses, entrepreneurs and freelancers.
Business Bureau (UK) Useful advice and information on starting up and running a small business. Articles, guides and links.
20. AgriSearch.net Agriculture And Farming Website Directory.


text:
Osteoporosis management slumps as COVID-19 pandemic rises
Audrey Abella
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the management of chronic noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as osteoporosis, according to an analysis of data from the FRAX®* website.
Launched in 2008, FRAX® is an online tool that can generate 10-year fracture probabilities using easily captured risk factors, with or without femoral neck BMD** measurements. [www.shef.ac.uk/FRAX, accessed January 8, 2021] It has been widely adopted within clinical guidelines and has the benefit of being a global healthcare tool. [Arch Osteoporos 2016;11:25]
Daily sessions*** on the FRAX® website from November 2019 to April 2020 were retrospectively analysed. Between February and April 2020 (main analysis period), 460,495 sessions from 184 countries – 210,656 of which in February alone – were recorded. March and April saw substantial declines in sessions, dropping by 23 percent and 58 percent, respectively. [Osteoporos Int 2020;doi:10.1007/s00198-020-05542-6]
"[T]he decrease in global usage started around mid-March, consistent with the pandemic declaration [in March 11, 2020,] progressed during the second half of the month, and remained low throughout the month of April … [This] pattern was not observed over the same period in 2019," said the researchers.
Regional analysis of 66 countries# revealed variability in FRAX® usage within each region: two-thirds of the territories evaluated showed reductions by at least 50 percent (77 percent [in most European countries], >50 percent [all Latin American countries], 61 percent [US], and 64 percent [New Zealand]). "[T]he impact is large and persisting. [I]t is highly likely that similar patterns are seen across many NCDs," they said.
Other territories (ie, Middle East/Africa, other## European territories, Canada, and Australia) showed <50-percent reductions in FRAX® usage.
Of note was the increase in FRAX® usage in some parts of Asia (ie, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Vietnam) between February and April. "Asia was the only region in which [increases] occurred … [Nonetheless,] smaller reductions were seen in Asia than elsewhere," noted the researchers, who called for further exploration to elucidate the discordance in FRAX® usage in this region.
"The drastic reduction in FRAX® usage underscores widespread concern that the COVID-19 pandemic is having a detrimental impact on the medium- to long-term management and outcomes for many NCDs, with serious repercussions for individuals who are not able to access timely testing and treatment, including for osteoporosis," commented International Osteoporosis Foundation Honorary President Professor John Kanis from the University of Sheffield, UK, in a press release.
"[A]ccess to secondary care-based facilities such as Fracture Liaison Services has also been further [compromised] or inhibited completely during the pandemic," added Kanis.
Access to osteoporosis treatments requiring direct contact with treating physicians (ie, injectable antiresorptives) has also been limited by the pandemic. [J Bone Miner Res 2018;33:190-198] "[These are] likely to be delayed or missed, raising the risk of further fracture," noted the researchers.
Addressing the backlog
"[B]y the time this pandemic is over, a major challenge will remain to address and cope with the consequences of a huge backlog of NCDs … [H]ow do we address the increasing backlog of these 'nonessential' diseases in the short- and longer-term? We cannot simply ignore the fact that 71 percent of global mortality in 2016 was due to NCDs," they stressed.
Within the area of osteoporosis, in the absence of BMD, catching up with the backlog may be enhanced by using FRAX®. [Arch Osteoporos 2017;12:43] Despite the higher accuracy offered by BMD measurements, its additional value is modest. [Osteoporos Int 2012;23:907-915] "[Moreover,] FRAX® without BMD has a predictive value for fractures that is comparable to the use of BMD alone," they said.
"We expect that FRAX®, which can be undertaken remotely via telemedicine and has been shown to have a predictive value for fractures that is comparable to the use of bone density values alone, may be able to play a significant role in addressing this enormous backlog in assessments for osteoporosis," said Kanis.


In probably the biggest match up of the UEFA Champions League round of 16 we have AC Milan taking on Arsenal in what wll be a great match as both of these teams always put together a good football match and from the looks of things it won't be any different this time around as Arsenal plays a visit to Milan for the first leg of the Champions League. You can tune in here to get the live updates and match highlights here.
Arsenal are coming into this match on the back of a two great wins in the league and they are undefeated in their last 4 games. In the game against Sunderland at Stadium of Light Theirry Henry scored a late late winner to give Arsenal all three points in what will be his last Premier League touch of the ball while a week before it was Robin Van Persie who stole the show as Arsenal warmed up for the big Champions League clash with a 7-2 win over Blackburn Rovers.
AC Milan on the other hand regained the lead at the top of the table in Serie by beating Udinese and they will be looking to make it to the next level of the CHampions League by getting a good win in the game against Arsenal. It is the first leg and Milan would love to get somthing out of this match so that their 2nd leg will be easier at Emirates.


text:
Conceal and Reveal: The Evolution of Privacy Coin Technology
Privacy can assume many forms and occur on many levels. The technologies that blockchain architects originally envisioned for privacy coins are now being utilized by an array of crypto stakeholders, from enterprises to exchanges. What began as a means of transacting anonymously has spawned a burgeoning industry, built upon technologies designed to conceal, but which can also be programmed to reveal to a select few.
Also read: Chinese Communist Party Reportedly Filling Roles at Top Exchange Huobi
zk-Snarks
zk-Snarks are best known for their use in privacy coin protocols such as Zcash. These "zero knowledge proofs" have far broader applications than simply masking the sender and receiver when transmitting crypto via a public ledger. A zero-knowledge proof allows one party to prove to another that a statement is true, without revealing any information about the statement itself.
To break this down into a simple analogy, imagine that Farmer Bob is selling some livestock at the market. He wishes to prove to the auctioneer that there is a cow in his trailer, but without opening the door (cos then the creature would escape). Using a heat sensor installed inside the trailer, Bob can prove that there is a living, breathing animal inside, but the auctioneer will have no way of knowing which cow it is, or even whether the animal is a cow (unless it moos and gives the game away). That, essentially, is how a zk-Snark operates: proof that something is true, while disclosing zero knowledge about the thing in question.
As for how zk-Snarks can be deployed outside of privacy coin transactions, look no further than smart contracts. Quras, for example, is using the technology to provision privacy-enabled smart contracts that run on its eponymous VM. Applications include concealing information pertaining to credit history; enabling healthcare and medical information from IoT devices to be shared confidentially; and facilitating sealed auctions that are executed using smart contracts.
Mohammad Mazen is the CEO of Burency, a cryptocurrency exchange and blockchain research and development platform. Expounding on why private smart contracts are desirable, he told news.Bitcoin.com: "Smart contracts have the potential to automate business processes ranging from calculating insurance premiums to powering decentralized synthetics markets, but for this to happen, there needs to be privacy built in. Broadcasting information on-chain nullifies any benefits that might otherwise have been gained through using blockchain, since publicly verifiable smart contracts enable observers to frontrun markets and steal competitors' proprietary algorithms. Privacy technology provides a means to conceal the secret sauce that's in a smart contract, while still enabling its integrity to be verified."
zk-Snarks aren't the only privacy technology whose applications extend far beyond those originally envisioned by its pseudonymous creator. The origins of Mimblewimble don't need retelling again, but its evolution does. Although utilized by both Grin and Beam – and soon Litecoin too – it is the Beam iteration of Mimblewimble that has applications for the broadest range of users. Understanding how Mimblewimble works isn't easy, unless you're au fait with elliptic curve cryptography. Even Beam's attempt at explaining the process via a series of dumbed down metaphors takes some digesting.
What's relevant here isn't so much the way in which Mimblewimble works, but the fact that it can provide complete transactional anonymity between parties while being compatible with implementations such as Beam that enable optional audibility. Digitally signed documentation can be attached to transactions, giving an approved auditor permission to view the transactions associated with a particular key. For cypherpunks intent on concealing their activity from snooping governments, that ability will be of little interest, but for businesses that wish to conceal their day-to-day affairs from the public (paying staff, contractors, and purchasing goods) while still remaining compliant from an accounting perspective, it's extremely useful.
Bulletproofs
Bulletproofs are actually part of the zero-knowledge proofs family and allow multiple range proofs from different parties to be aggregated into one proof. What this means, in practice, is that bulletproofs allow for information to be significantly compressed without compromising its validity. When integrated into Monero last year, for example, bulletproofs slashed transaction fees through reducing the average size of each transaction.
There is a number of interesting applications for bulletproofs outside of facilitating confidential transactions. They can be used in proof of solvency, for instance, with one research paper noting: "A Bitcoin exchange with 2 million customers needs approximately 18GB to prove solvency in a confidential manner … Using Bulletproofs and its variant protocols … this size could be reduced to approximately 62MB." The same paper lists a total of eight use cases for bulletproofs, including smart contracts and crypto derivatives.
Privacy coin tech follows the same adoption curve as other disruptive technologies: first it's used by criminals, outlaws, and geeks. Then by enterprises, ordinary end users and even governments. Just as it was with encryption, so it is proving to be with privacy-preserving tech: from unknown to ostracized to indispensable in under a decade.
What other privacy technologies have broad applications beyond simply enabling anonymous transactions? Let us know in the comments section below.
Did you know you can verify any unconfirmed Bitcoin transaction with our Bitcoin Block Explorer tool? Simply complete a Bitcoin address search to view it on the blockchain. Plus, visit our Bitcoin Charts to see what's happening in the industry.
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Christine's teaching career began when she established her private studio in 1989. Over the years, she has prepared her students for Certificate of Merit exams, Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music exams, and National Guild Piano Auditions where they received high marks from the jury. Her students have also entered in various competitions and received scholarships. Christine's musical lineage can be traced back to Busoni, Brahms, Beethoven and Hayden. Her inspiration comes from many of her great teachers, and she is committed to passing on the great tradition of music making.
New Mozart is the culmination of her dream of making excellent teachers available to students of all ages and levels. She has carefully selected a group of dedicated and talented musicians from around the world who bring with them the enthusiasm, and love of music to our students in the Peninsula.
Christine received a bachelor's degree in piano performance and a minor in vocal performance from San Jose State University. She has additionally studied Orff at the Mozarteum in Salzburg Austria, Dalcroze at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, and piano pedagogy at the Eastman School of Music. She has been a music educator for 30 years. Many eminent pianists in Europe and USA have shaped her as a pianist and pedagogue. Her primary teachers include: Alfred Kanwischer, Jonathan Bass, and Marina Grin. She studied voice with Raymond Nielsson and Joseph Frank. In Europe, Christine studied with Martyn Van den Hoek, Marjes Benoist, Volker Banfield, and Grigory Gruzman. She has been featured as a soloist with the University Choir at SJSU and has performed in the San Francisco Bay Area, South Korea, and in Austria.
Christine and New Mozart School of Music have received the honor of being featured in the Metro Newspaper as well as the Washington Square Magazine (SJSU's alumni magazine).
Christine has served as the chair of the Palo Alto branch of the National Guild of Piano Teachers and adjudicated for the National Guild of Piano Auditions.


All you need to know about Sclerotherapy!
Sclerotherapy is a treatment used widely by vascular surgeons/consultants as well as vein clinics. A sclerosing solution (a type of medicine that will irritate the walls of the veins) will be injected into unsightly spider and reticular veins, causing them dissolve/die off as the body slowly absorbs them back. Don't be alarmed, all you'll see on the surface is just slight redness and swelling like mild mosquito bites, maybe a little stingy and itchy feeling after the procedure; but they will go away within several weeks.
Before you decide that this is THE treatment for your veins, make sure you have arranged for an ultrasound assessment with Dr. John Tan to see that there is no deeper vein problem involved. Treating the spider veins alone will not be effective if you have an internal vein problem. Hence it's best to do a thorough check before making the decision for your treatment options.
Q: Injections?! Are they going to be painful?
The injection needles are extremely small, so they shouldn't be more painful than a small ant bite. However, on areas which are more sensitive, e.g. the ankle area, knee area or the area at the back of the leg, the injection pain may be more significant. If you have a low threshold for pain, you are advised to take some painkillers an hour before the procedure. It is also important that your body remains still during the procedure as any movement from your body can cause the injection needle to miss injecting into the right veins.
Q: What happens to those ugly spider veins?
The sclerosing solution that was injected into the thread-like veins will irritate them, causing inflammation. The effect of the sclerosing solution will also cause the walls of the ugly spider veins to breakdown and dissolve; those veins will die off and thereafter be absorbed back into the body.
Q: Is killing off the ugly veins unhealthy for the body?
Nope! As much as your veins might not be as bad as those bulging ones, some of them can be appear to be quite ugly and painful. Those veins are reticular veins (which appear to be blue and greenish in colour) and spider veins (which are usually reddish and purplish in colour) and they do cause aching, cramps, tired legs and other symptoms for some patients. These unhealthy veins are no longer useful for the body because their dysfunctional valves limit blood circulation. It is indeed an irony that though you might have one vein (or a few veins) lesser, your blood circulation is actually better because the blood in your body will go to other functional veins and serve their purpose.


text:
Madonna looks back on Truth or Dare: 'I sort of gag when I watch it'
Madonna News, Rebel Heart Tour August 10, 2015
(Everett Collection)
Posted August 10 2015 — 9:30 AM EDT
It's one of the best music documentaries ever—and offered viewers an unfettered look at one of the world's biggest celebrities. But what does the film's subject, Madonna, think about the movie, Truth or Dare, 24 years after its release?
In the new issue of EW, guest editor Andy Cohen sat down with the singer to talk about her upcoming Rebel Heart tour, but the conversation later turned to the classic doc directed by Alex Keshishian, who trailed the singer on her Blond Ambition Tour in the early-'90s. So has the singer revisited it recently?
"I've seen bits and pieces from it," she says. "I sort of gag when I watch it, cause I'm like, 'Oh my god, I can't.' It's hard to watch myself do anything. I can't even stand to watch myself in concert, like my last tour."
Cohen pressed Madonna about why she won't tune in for repeat viewings of older performances. "I just don't like to watch it," she says. "But I think maybe Truth or Dare, I could possibly revisit it right now."
Cohen praised Madonna's portrayal in the movie, saying he thought her "arrogance" was "brilliant."
"The shade was thrown!" Madonna told him. "I'm afraid to watch it. I just think I'm a horrible brat, that's what I'm afraid of."
Next month, Madonna returns to the stage with her Rebel Heart tour, kicking off Sept. 9 in Montreal. The singer shared early details about her setlist, which will be a mix of classic songs like "Vogue" along with newer cuts.
"Of course, the thing I'm most excited about doing is my new stuff, because I haven't done it yet and it's fresh," she says. "But I realize that people want to hear my older stuff, so for me it's always a tricky balance trying to keep some kind of continuity, not only with sound, sonically, but also thematically … a lot of times I have to take the songs and turn them inside out and make them more ironic than straightforward."
A version of this story appeared in Entertainment Weekly issue #1376, on newsstands now.
Singer Kavana ignored Madonna's phone call
Madonna News August 10, 2015
Popstar Kavana
Can you imagine missing a phone call from pop superstar Madonna? Well that once happened to Middleton singer Kavana.
The Lucky Star and Into The Groove singer was keen to meet Kav, who found fame in the 1990s with hits including I Can Make You Feel Good and MFEO.
But he ignored her call because her number showed up as unavailable on his mobile phone. He found out it was Madonna calling when he listened back to a message she left on his phone, mocking him for missing the call.
Madonna in the 80s
Speaking to Gaby Roslin on the ITV morning show Lorraine, Kav said: "I was at my mum and dad's place 12 years ago. I became friends with a director that knew Madonna.
"My phone rang and it was an unavailable call. I thought 'I don't need to answer that'.
"It was Madonna. She said "Hi Kavana. We were going to invite you round here tonight but you didn't answer the phone call. So long sucker."
Kav, who made a comeback last year with the supergroup 5th Story, is excited to bereleasing his new track Deja Vu, his first single in 16 years.
The 50s-themed rock and roll inspired video stars his Celebrity Big Brother pal Katie Price and was filmed at Burnage Community Centre in April.
The former Cardinal Langley RC School pupil told presenter Gaby: "We needed a 50s sweetheart to be in the video and I dropped her a text. She was brilliant."
Click HERE to read more by the Manchester Evening News
Madonna says she will no longer perform in Russia
Madonna onstage in Helsinki in 2009 (Image: Vesa Härkönen under a CC licence)
Global megastar Madonna has declared that she will not perform in Russia, citing her objection to discrimination against sexual minorities in the country.
"I won't appear in Moscow or St Petersburg anymore, because I don't want to perform in places where being homosexual is tantamount to a crime," said the singer.
Madonna is preparing for a world tour, which will start in September. The last time she gave a concert in Russia was in 2012, during which she voiced her support for Pussy Riot and stated her hope for a world "filled with peace, freedom and tolerance".
Homosexuality is legal in Russia, but attention has been drawn in recent years to discrimination and difficulties faced by LGBT individuals and groups, particularly in the wake of President Putin's "LGBT propaganda" law. Under this law, introduced in 2013, it is not permitted to spread information aimed at minors that may cause a "distorted understanding" that gay and heterosexual relations are "socially equivalent".
Click HERE to read more by the Calvert Journal
Apparently, Tupac's Relationship With Madonna Started With The Passing Of A Note…
When Madonna revealed earlier this year that she dated Tupac, a few eyebrows were raised. During an interview with Howard Stern, the mega pop star recalled her courtship with the late great rapper as one that made her feel "gangster." Now, 'Pac's brother, Mopreme Shakur, is vouching for the 56-year-old singer.
"One time I was mad at [Letterman] when I said the f-word a lot, but the rest of the time was good," Madonna told Stern in March. "I was in a weird mood that day. I was dating Tupac Shakur at the time, and he had got me all riled up about life in general. So when I went on the show I was feeling very gangster."
In a recent interview with Vlad TV, Shakur recalled the day 'Pac and Madonna hit things off. Detailing a New York press day for the film Above The Rim, the rapper's brother recalls the singer handing off a note. Apparently, the rest was history.
Click HERE for full article by VIBE
Find out which songs in the setlist M just confirmed and more!
Madonna News August 7, 2015
We learn from the brand new Andy Cohen interview with Madonna for Entertainment Weekly, that she will perform: Vogue, Dress You Up, Who's That Girl and Holiday.
However she won't confirm if we'll be hearing Holy Water during the nuns on dancing poles segment.
She also states she won't be performing in Moscow or St. Petersburg again as it's a place where being gay is criminalized.
On her favorite songs on Rebel Heart she adds 'Well, I love "Ghosttown". I love "Bitch I'm Madonna", and I love "Illuminati", "Holy Water". The darker, crazier, more controversial songs'.
M thinks she was a horrible brat during the filming of Truth Or Dare and can't believe what she said and did….the arrogance.
M will not be wearing her infamous grill on stage as it makes singing difficult.
The issue with the full interview is out now!
Full interview by Andy Cohen with Madonna on Rebel Heart Tour here
Madonna News, Rebel Heart Tour August 7, 2015
Scans: Madonnasworld / John pasc
Madonna to mix 'sexuality and religion' in new tour
Rebel Heart Tour August 7, 2015
Madonna has promised to blend "sexuality and religion" into her 'Rebel Heart Tour'.
The 56-year-old star has revealed she has been inspired by "deconstructing" concepts on her forthcoming world tour, which will kick off in Montreal, Canada, on September 9.
She said: "I'm very immersed in deconstructing the concept of sexuality and religion and how it's not supposed to go together, but in my world it goes together."
The news comes just a week after it was revealed the show will feature pole dancing women controversially dressed as nuns.
However, the 'Living For Love' hitmaker insisted the thing she is most looking forward to about the tour is the opportunity to perform new material from her 2015 album 'Rebel Heart'.
She gushed: "Of course, the thing I'm most excited about doing is my new stuff, because I haven't done it yet and it's fresh."
The musical icon – who has been spending 10 to 12 hours rigorously preparing for the tour each day – admitted nailing down the set list has been "tricky" though as she wants to please fans with a mix of both old and new songs.
She told Entertainment Weekly magazine: "But I realize that people want to hear my older stuff, so for me it's always a tricky balance trying to keep some kind of continuity, not only with sound, sonically, but also thematically … a lot of times I have to take the songs and turn them inside out and make them more ironic than straightforward."
(@https://www.irishexaminer.com/)
Bitch, I'm watching MADONNA
PROCESSIONAL CROSSES go stomping in the hands of half-naked men. Nuns with a habit shortage swing on poles, exposing fluttering muscular thighs wrapped with a lace band. The star, Madonna, reveals herself in these 30-second teasers for the Rebel Heart Tour no more beyond 00:10 and 00:12. As elusive as divine apparitions, her minimal exposure symbolizes the exclusivity of seeing her, The Holy Mother of Pop, in the flesh.
Proof is the cost of the tickets to her show at the Mall of Asia Arena, the lone stop in the Asian leg which is uncharted land for the iconic American singer. With the SVIP seats ringing in at Php57,750, Manila concert tickets are reportedly the most expensive in the other countries that the tour will go to.
"So start saving your pennies now," she told Newsweek in 2012, during promotions for her previous album, MDNA, which was accompanied by a tour that same year. "Annoyed," as the weekly put it, by the suggestion that ticket prices to her shows are exorbitant, Madonna declared: "People spend $300 on crazy things all the time, things like handbags. So work all year, scrape the money together, and come to my show. I'm worth it."
Read full article at https://www.bworldonline.com/weekender/content.php?id=113007#sthash.SS62TNuW.dpuf
Taylor Swift says she has no bad blood with Madonna
Vanity Fair recently spoke to Taylor Swift and asked her about Madonna:
VF= She has no bad blood with Madonna and says they will collaborate again. She was upset when the media pitted the two artists against each other when their star-studded music videos came out ("Bad Blood" and "Bitch, I'm Madonna" were often compared since both featured their famous friends).
TS= "I felt so much resentment that they would take two women who made ambitious music videos and use that as a qualifying factor to comparing and contrasting them," Swift said. "I hated that because Madonna and I have gotten along and been fans of each other and performed together, and I didn't want to see that, and there was nothing I could do, and there's nothing she could do, because that's the way the world works right now."
Read more on their Taylor Swift coverstory HERE
Madonna says she 'might' perform with Taylor Swift again
Rebel Heart August 7, 2015
Andy Cohen served as guest editor of this week's issue of EW—and, in it, he had a juicy heart to (rebel) heart with his favorite pop star, Madonna. After getting the scoop about the Queen of Pop's upcoming tour, Cohen also got the singer to share her thoughts on another superstar: Taylor Swift.
The two pop icons performed Rebel Heart's "Ghosttown" together at the iHeartRadio Music Awards back in March, but Madonna says that they didn't intend for their collaborative relationship to end there. "We were actually gonna do something together on stage," Madonna tells Cohen when discussing the instagram shoutout she gave Swift ahead of her recent 1989 shows at New Jersey's MetLife Stadium. "I didn't go to the show because I was rehearsing and I had to shoot a video the next day. I was kinda bummed."
Cohen tried to tease out more details from Madonna about the stadium-sized collab that never was. "I'm not gonna tell you, because we might still do it," she says. "You're very nosy. You just want to know everything."
So, bad news first: We don't know what Swift and Madonna may have been cooking up. But the good news? It could still happen.
(@https://www.ew.com/)
Madonna – Bitch I'm Madonna (Sick Individuals Remix Official Video)
Madonna Video, Rebel Heart August 6, 2015
New interview = Madonna breaks down the rigorous work going into her upcoming Rebel Heart tour
(Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
Posted August 6 2015 — 9:00 AM EDT
Andy Cohen guest-edited EW's latest issue so of course he had to talk to his favorite pop star Madonna about her massive Rebel Heart tour, which kicks off Sept. 9 in Montreal. By her own estimation, the Material Girl has been spending 10 to 12 hours a day prepping for the string of gigs—a schedule so rigorous that an aide follows her to make sure she stays nourished. "I call her the food police," Madonna tells Cohen. " 'Are you eating? Did you drink enough water?' I'm like, 'Bitch, get off my pole!'"
Speaking of poles, Cohen gets the scoop about the dancing nuns on stripper poles that Madonna teased in Rebel Heart's trailer. "I just like the juxtaposition," she says of the risqué routine. "I'm very immersed in deconstructing the concept of sexuality and religion and how it's not supposed to go together, but in my world it goes together."
As for the show itself, Madonna hasn't revealed much, but she offers some insight about how she balances her setlist with greatest hits like "Vogue" and her new Rebel Heart material. "Of course, the thing Im most excited about doing is my new stuff, because I haven't done it yet and it's fresh," she tells Cohen. "But I realize that people want to hear my older stuff, so for me it's always a tricky balance trying to keep some kind of continuity, not only with sound, sonically, but also thematically … a lot of times I have to take the songs and turn them inside out and make them more ironic than straightforward."
Cohen also inquires about whether Madonna's 14-year-old son Rocco would appear on the tour. "I think he's probably gonna work behind the scenes," she says. "He's not interested in performing on stage with me right now. There's way cooler things. Your mom is not that cool when you're 14."
Stay tuned to EW for more scoop from Cohen's interview with Madonna, along with other juicy stories from his guest-edited issue.
A version of this story appeared in Entertainment Weekly issue #1376, on newsstands Friday, August 7.
New interview by Any Cohen with Madonna on Rebel Heart Tour in Entertainment Weekly
Andy Cohen recently sat down with Madonna to talk about her preparations for the upcoming Rebel Heart Tour, to her opinions on Taylor Swift and the use of Instagram.
An excerpt from an article by EW.com
…"Cohen, who has made no secret about wanting to interview Madonna on WWHL, sat down with the Queen of Pop as she gets set to launch her Rebel Heart tour in September. It's the first time he has ever interviewed his favorite singer—and no question was off limits. The two discuss everything from her setlist to her thoughts on Taylor Swift and Beyonce to why she loves using Instagram. "It's an important part of my work now," she says of the social media platform. "I like to think of it as a kind of art gallery for my thoughts, my dreams, my wishes, my state of mind. Can't ignore social media."
Good video of Adventures Of Abdi signing in London (2004) AP Archive
Associated Press posts huge archive material on YouTube (and a lot of M)
Madonna News, Madonna Video August 5, 2015
There's a ton of Madonna videos, all worthwhile seeing, THIS is their account use the search button for the Madonna videos
The Official Pole Trainer for the Madonna Tour!
UPA writes:
Mona Marie is the official pole trainer for Madonna's upcoming tour, Rebel Heart. She is a well known and extremely popular show girl in New York City. She is known for her dare devil tricks on some of the city's tallest poles.
Mona told UPA, "I haven't got any word if I am going on tour yet but I was hired to teach and train Madonna and her dancers how to do the pole, for the pole piece in her tour which I am collaborating with the head choreographers." We would like to officially congratulate Mona on her new position, working with Madonna and the other dancers. Sending good vibes and hopes that they take this bad ass lady on tour!
You can find Mona on Facebook.
To read more visit UnitedPoleArtists.com
Madonna's appearance in new movie Pixels
Taken from an MTV interview in 1984
Two rare and very early interviews with Madonna added to our The First Album Promo page
Madonna News, New Madonna items August 5, 2015
We have just added these two very early and rare interviews to our The First Album promo page in our Album Promo section. To see more early rare videos and view tons of scans of early articles visit The First Album promo tour page.
waynecoyne5 Doin it old school…MC's new record and 1997 version of Auto-Tune!!!! Yep… Recording up at Dave Fridmann's !!!
Madonna's Instagram August 5, 2015
Material girl with 15 bathrooms: Madonna's Beverly Hills mansion for sale at $28 million
Madonna's single now, having long said goodbye to former husband, Guy Ritchie, and their former Beverly Hills mansion, where they lived from 2003 to 2012.
The French Country estate on fabled Sunset Boulevard is now listed for sale by Kurt Rappaport and Drew Meyers of Westside Estate Agency and stars in the week'sTopTenRealEstateDeals.com.
Set at the end of a 500-foot gated drive on 1.14 acres, the house is 5,800-square feet,slightly 64 feet larger than one on the 2015 Street of Dream.
Madonna's old pad has nine bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, two living/reception rooms, a two-story dining room, a junior dining room, large kitchen/breakfast room/den, a full-size screening room/theater, two offices, assistants' offices, a gym, staff rooms, two guest houses, tennis court and a resort size pool.
Madonna bought the house for $12 million when she married Ritchie in 2003. She listed it for sale in 2012 for $28 million and sold it in 2013 for $19.5 million, according to the listing agent.
The 56-year-old songwriter, singer, actress, business woman, philanthropist, author is now a stand-up comedienne — did you see her April bit on the "Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon"?
She has sold more than 300 million records — you know you had one — and is considered the richest recording artist in the world with a net worth of $800 million.
Her art collection includes more than 300 paintings by Picasso, Léger, Dali, Frida Kahlo and renowned modern artists. She displays them in her several houses.
One of the closest celebrity neighbors is Simon Cowell. Wonder what he thought of her singing?
Click HERE to view the pics and read more at Oregon Live
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