text:
package org.apache.gobblin.source.extractor.extract.kafka;

import com.google.common.base.Optional;
import com.google.common.base.Preconditions;
import com.typesafe.config.Config;
import org.apache.gobblin.config.client.ConfigClient;
import org.apache.gobblin.config.client.ConfigClientUtils;
import org.apache.gobblin.config.client.api.ConfigStoreFactoryDoesNotExistsException;
import org.apache.gobblin.config.client.api.VersionStabilityPolicy;
import org.apache.gobblin.config.store.api.ConfigStoreCreationException;
import org.apache.gobblin.configuration.ConfigurationKeys;
import org.apache.gobblin.configuration.State;
import org.apache.gobblin.kafka.client.GobblinKafkaConsumerClient;
import org.apache.gobblin.util.ConfigUtils;
import org.apache.gobblin.util.DatasetFilterUtils;
import org.apache.gobblin.util.PathUtils;
import java.net.URI;
import java.net.URISyntaxException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Properties;
import java.util.Set;
import java.util.stream.Collectors;
import lombok.extern.slf4j.Slf4j;
import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
import org.apache.hadoop.fs.Path;

@Slf4j
public class ConfigStoreUtils {
  public static final String GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_WHITELIST = "gobblin.config.tags.whitelist";
  public static final String GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_BLACKLIST = "gobblin.config.tags.blacklist";
  public static final String GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER = "gobblin.config.filter";
  public static final String GOBBLIN_CONFIG_COMMONPATH = "gobblin.config.commonPath";

  /**
   * Will return the list of URIs given which are importing tag {@param tagUri}
   */
  public static Collection<URI> getTopicsURIFromConfigStore(ConfigClient configClient, Path tagUri, String filterString,
      Optional<Config> runtimeConfig) {
    try {
      Collection<URI> importedBy = configClient.getImportedBy(new URI(tagUri.toString()), true, runtimeConfig);
      return importedBy.stream().filter((URI u) -> u.toString().contains(filterString)).collect(Collectors.toList());
    } catch (URISyntaxException | ConfigStoreFactoryDoesNotExistsException | ConfigStoreCreationException e) {
      throw new Error(e);
    }
  }

  public static Optional<String> getConfigStoreUri(Properties properties) {
    Optional<String> configStoreUri =
        StringUtils.isNotBlank(properties.getProperty(ConfigurationKeys.CONFIG_MANAGEMENT_STORE_URI)) ? Optional.of(
            properties.getProperty(ConfigurationKeys.CONFIG_MANAGEMENT_STORE_URI)) : Optional.<String>absent();
    if (!Boolean.valueOf(properties.getProperty(ConfigurationKeys.CONFIG_MANAGEMENT_STORE_ENABLED,
        ConfigurationKeys.DEFAULT_CONFIG_MANAGEMENT_STORE_ENABLED))) {
      configStoreUri = Optional.<String>absent();
    }
    return configStoreUri;
  }

  public static String getTopicNameFromURI(URI uri) {
    Path path = new Path(uri);
    return path.getName();
  }

  public static URI getUriStringForTopic(String topicName, String commonPath, String configStoreUri)
      throws URISyntaxException {
    URI storeUri = new URI(configStoreUri);
    Path path = PathUtils.mergePaths(new Path(storeUri.getPath()), PathUtils.mergePaths(new Path(commonPath), new Path(topicName)));
    URI topicUri = new URI(storeUri.getScheme(), storeUri.getAuthority(), path.toString(), storeUri.getQuery(), storeUri.getFragment());
    log.info("URI for topic is : " + topicUri.toString());
    return topicUri;
  }

  public static Optional<Config> getConfigForTopic(Properties properties, String topicKey, ConfigClient configClient) {
    Optional<String> configStoreUri = getConfigStoreUri(properties);
    Optional<Config> config = Optional.<Config>absent();
    if (!configStoreUri.isPresent()) {
      return config;
    }
    try {
      Preconditions.checkArgument(properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_COMMONPATH),
          "Missing required property " + GOBBLIN_CONFIG_COMMONPATH);
      Preconditions.checkArgument(properties.containsKey(topicKey), "Missing required property " + topicKey);
      String topicName = properties.getProperty(topicKey);
      String commonPath = properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_COMMONPATH);
      config = Optional.fromNullable(
          getConfig(configClient, getUriStringForTopic(topicName, commonPath, configStoreUri.get()),
              ConfigClientUtils.getOptionalRuntimeConfig(properties)));
    } catch (URISyntaxException e) {
      log.error("Unable to get config", e);
    }
    return config;
  }

  /**
   * Wrapper to convert Checked Exception to Unchecked Exception
   * Easy to use in lambda expressions
   */
  public static Config getConfig(ConfigClient client, URI u, Optional<Config> runtimeConfig) {
    try {
      return client.getConfig(u, runtimeConfig);
    } catch (ConfigStoreFactoryDoesNotExistsException | ConfigStoreCreationException e) {
      throw new Error(e);
    }
  }

  /**
   * Get topics from config store.
   * Topics will either be whitelisted or blacklisted using tag.
   * After filtering out topics via tag, their config property is checked.
   * For each shortlisted topic, config must contain either property topic.blacklist or topic.whitelist
   *
   * If tags are not provided, it will return all topics
   */
  public static List<KafkaTopic> getTopicsFromConfigStore(Properties properties, String configStoreUri,
      GobblinKafkaConsumerClient kafkaConsumerClient) {
    ConfigClient configClient = ConfigClient.createConfigClient(VersionStabilityPolicy.WEAK_LOCAL_STABILITY);
    State state = new State();
    state.setProp(KafkaSource.TOPIC_WHITELIST, ".*");
    state.setProp(KafkaSource.TOPIC_BLACKLIST, StringUtils.EMPTY);
    List<KafkaTopic> allTopics =
        kafkaConsumerClient.getFilteredTopics(DatasetFilterUtils.getPatternList(state, KafkaSource.TOPIC_BLACKLIST),
            DatasetFilterUtils.getPatternList(state, KafkaSource.TOPIC_WHITELIST));
    Optional<Config> runtimeConfig = ConfigClientUtils.getOptionalRuntimeConfig(properties);

    if (properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_WHITELIST)) {
      Preconditions.checkArgument(properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER),
          "Missing required property " + GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER);
      String filterString = properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER);
      Path whiteListTagUri = PathUtils.mergePaths(new Path(configStoreUri),
          new Path(properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_WHITELIST)));
      List<String> whitelistedTopics = new ArrayList<>();
      ConfigStoreUtils.getTopicsURIFromConfigStore(configClient, whiteListTagUri, filterString, runtimeConfig)
          .stream()
          .filter((URI u) -> ConfigUtils.getBoolean(ConfigStoreUtils.getConfig(configClient, u, runtimeConfig),
              KafkaSource.TOPIC_WHITELIST, false))
          .forEach(((URI u) -> whitelistedTopics.add(ConfigStoreUtils.getTopicNameFromURI(u))));

      return allTopics.stream()
          .filter((KafkaTopic p) -> whitelistedTopics.contains(p.getName()))
          .collect(Collectors.toList());
    } else if (properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_BLACKLIST)) {
      Preconditions.checkArgument(properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER),
          "Missing required property " + GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER);
      String filterString = properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER);
      Path blackListTagUri = PathUtils.mergePaths(new Path(configStoreUri),
          new Path(properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_BLACKLIST)));
      List<String> blacklistedTopics = new ArrayList<>();
      ConfigStoreUtils.getTopicsURIFromConfigStore(configClient, blackListTagUri, filterString, runtimeConfig)
          .stream()
          .filter((URI u) -> ConfigUtils.getBoolean(ConfigStoreUtils.getConfig(configClient, u, runtimeConfig),
              KafkaSource.TOPIC_BLACKLIST, false))
          .forEach(((URI u) -> blacklistedTopics.add(ConfigStoreUtils.getTopicNameFromURI(u))));
      return allTopics.stream()
          .filter((KafkaTopic p) -> !blacklistedTopics.contains(p.getName()))
          .collect(Collectors.toList());
    } else {
      log.warn("None of the blacklist or whitelist tags are provided");
      return allTopics;
    }
  }

  /**
   * Shortlist topics from config store based on whitelist/blacklist tags and
   * add it to {@param whitelist}/{@param blacklist}
   *
   * If tags are not provided, blacklist and whitelist won't be modified
   */
  public static void setTopicsFromConfigStore(Properties properties, Set<String> blacklist, Set<String> whitelist,
      final String _blacklistTopicKey, final String _whitelistTopicKey) {
    Optional<String> configStoreUri = getConfigStoreUri(properties);
    if (!configStoreUri.isPresent()) {
      return;
    }
    ConfigClient configClient = ConfigClient.createConfigClient(VersionStabilityPolicy.WEAK_LOCAL_STABILITY);
    Optional<Config> runtimeConfig = ConfigClientUtils.getOptionalRuntimeConfig(properties);

    if (properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_WHITELIST)) {
      Preconditions.checkArgument(properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER),
          "Missing required property " + GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER);
      String filterString = properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER);
      Path whiteListTagUri = PathUtils.mergePaths(new Path(configStoreUri.get()),
          new Path(properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_WHITELIST)));
      getTopicsURIFromConfigStore(configClient, whiteListTagUri, filterString, runtimeConfig).stream()
          .filter((URI u) -> ConfigUtils.getBoolean(getConfig(configClient, u, runtimeConfig), _whitelistTopicKey, false))
          .forEach(((URI u) -> whitelist.add(getTopicNameFromURI(u))));
    } else if (properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_BLACKLIST)) {
      Preconditions.checkArgument(properties.containsKey(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER),
          "Missing required property " + GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER);
      String filterString = properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_FILTER);
      Path blackListTagUri = PathUtils.mergePaths(new Path(configStoreUri.get()),
          new Path(properties.getProperty(GOBBLIN_CONFIG_TAGS_BLACKLIST)));
      getTopicsURIFromConfigStore(configClient, blackListTagUri, filterString, runtimeConfig).stream()
          .filter((URI u) -> ConfigUtils.getBoolean(getConfig(configClient, u, runtimeConfig), _blacklistTopicKey, false))
          .forEach(((URI u) -> blacklist.add(getTopicNameFromURI(u))));
    } else {
      log.warn("None of the blacklist or whitelist tags are provided");
    }
  }
}


text:
Dogs depend on their noses, and so do we
Published 6:24 am Tuesday, August 7, 2018
By HELEN PALMER
This past week, I received the August issue of Dog Watch newsletter published by Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. There were two short articles on the scenting abilities of dogs.
In the past, I reported on dogs that were trained to locate buried land turtles, which are endangered, so they could be relocated in order for a new road that was planned for the turtles' current habitat. My favorite report, back in the 1970s was from a video of three German shepherd dogs trained to locate moth egg masses. That species of moth was brought over by accident and was killing whole forests of trees.
I have also reported on dogs showing the ability to locate cancer in humans before the cancer tests registered any problem. After one dog demonstrated his ability, medical scientists were interested in trying to train other dogs to locate cancer. It seems that some dogs are able to learn, while others can't seem to catch on.
The longest article, "Amazing Scenting Abilities," by the newsletter staff stated that dogs are 10,000 to 100,000 times better than humans at detecting and identifying scents. It is estimated that dogs have about 300 million scent receptors in their noses.
They are capable of identifying the various components of a scent. That is why the drug sniffing dogs in airports can signal a package with drugs even though the drugs have been heavily wrapped in various smelly layers in an effort to fool the animals.
Dogs' noses are not constructed like humans. The dog can keep inhaling and checking the scents while letting air escape through slits on the side of the nose. I trained my first standard schnauzer to track (which she felt was a dumb activity but would go along with me on one track a day). Since dogs can identify the location of a scent, she disqualified herself at a tracking clinic by taking a short-cut to the track going back to the starting point. The judge told me that the track was laid incorrectly and she would have a new track made and aged so my dog could compete. That was the first time I was aware that my dog could raise her head and identify the track 20 feet away going in the opposite direction.
The article also mentions the problems dogs have when they have a respiratory infection that interfere with scenting. Various medications can also disturb the dog's ability to scent. This is important since the animal uses his nose to approve of his food. Often a sick dog will stop eating because he cannot smell his food. The writer suggests adding the juice from a can of tuna to try to stimulate the dog's appetite.
The latest scent training involves detecting laurel-wilt-affected wood from avocado trees. This disease has already destroyed more than 300 million laurel trees in the United States, including the avocado tree. It is caused by the redbay ambrosia beetle, which came from Asia.
Stockpiling forage for fall and winter pastures
By JERRY LITTLE Contributing Writer Many cattle producers can take advantage of late summer and early fall growing conditions to... read more

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Today's thrifty living tip is use a pencil eraser to remove scuff marks from vinyl flooring. This works great since we have vinyl floors in our kitchen. I find it easier than applying lots of elbow grease. Another way to eliminate scuff marks is to use a Brillo pad. Just make sure to rinse very well afterwards. You can also make a paste of baking soda and water and use a scrub pad on the marks. All of these work but I find the eraser is great for small marks. The other methods are better for big or several marks.
HOT!!! Print a $5 off $10 HALLMARK Purchase Coupon!
My Family Dollar Haul- FREE $5 Gift Card & Goody Bag!


text:
'Cyberpunk 2077' Focused On Current-Gen Consoles, Not Worried About 'Half-Life'
Mike Diver in Technology
Last updated 1:23 PM, Tuesday November 26 2019 GMT
A new earnings call from Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher series developers CD Projekt Red has given us a few insights into goings-on at the Polish studio, and where its sights are set when it comes to the 2020-due cyberpunk adventure.
Firstly, and sorta despite previous comments from company CEO Adam Kiciński, it seems that Cyberpunk 2077 is focused on current-gen consoles and PCs, rather than aiming for compatibility with Sony's PlayStation 5 and Xbox's 'Project Scarlett', when they launch at the end of 2020. They're not saying the game won't eventually be playable on said systems, but right now, it's not a priority, so reports US Gamer.
Cyberpunk 2077 / Credit: CD Projekt Red
Going deeper, VGC has a translation of the comments in question, as said by CDPR board member Michał Nowakowski:
"Of course we do have insight into what's around the corner, into what's happening with [new consoles from] PlayStation and Xbox, and we are watching it closely, and one may probably safely assume that at some point we may do something with next-gen. However, we cannot really be very specific what that may be, when exactly that may be. I will only safely assume that it's definitely not going to be around the launch timeframe of these consoles, so I think that's pretty much it."
The call also addressed the always-thorny issue of microtransactions, as picked up by Rock Paper Shotgun. The site reports that, originally, the earnings call was mistranslated from its native Polish as stating that the studio "planned to implement a well thought-out micropayment system" for Cyberpunk 2077. That's since been corrected, and a statement on the issue on CDPR's own site, regarding its accounting, reads:
"As far as the monetisation of multiplayer for Cyberpunk 2077 is concerned, we believe right now it's definitely too early to share any details on that or give guidance; the project is in a relatively early stage. We keep experimenting - that's our first multiplayer game. We check various options and possibilities, and it's definitely not the time to point you to a specific direction on that. Of course you can expect that we won't change our general policy towards 'deals with gamers' so I expect wise monetisation and - always - value for money."
Reminder that Cyberpunk 2077 isn't CDPR's first multiplayer title - that'll be Gwent. But nevermind.
Additionally, the call addressed the recent announcement of Half-Life: Alyx, a VR title set within the Half-Life universe, and the first release in the series since 2007's Half-Life 2: Episode 2. Alyx is due in March - we haven't got an exact date, yet. Cyberpunk 2077 comes out on April 16th. They're going to be only weeks apart, then - but CDPR doesn't see Alyx compromising the appeal and commercial potential of 2077.
"Of course we've seen the Half-Life VR announcement," the call stated, as reported by Gamespot. "I think it was a surprise for everybody, [but] VR remains an extremely niche-y niche of the market. It's very, very small."
The comment continued: "This is probably a big effort for them (Valve) to try to expand that niche. That niche is very, very, very - and I could add a few verys here - small. So, from the market perspective, are we afraid? No. It is a very different niche."
Gotta love those niches. But will you be loving Cyberpunk 2077? April can't come soon enough, frankly.
Featured Image Credit: CD Projekt Red
Topics: video games, Half-Life, Cyberpunk 2077, gamingbible, CD Projekt Red
Mike Diver
Head of Content at GAMINGbible. Former gigs include VICE Gaming, BBC Music, BBC Gaming Show. Author of 'Indie Games: The Complete Introduction to Indie Gaming' (2016), 'How to Be a Professional Gamer' (2016), 'Retro Gaming: A Byte-Sized History of Video Games' (2019). Contact: [email protected]
Follow @mikediver
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text:
Cool, Redfern reappointed to Measure H oversight panel
Jeff Benziger
Updated: July 5, 2017, 6:16 a.m.
Don Cool and Paula Redfern were reappointed to the Measure H Oversight Committee last week by the Ceres City Council.
Measure H was passed in 2007 to raised sales tax in Ceres by a half-cent to fund public safety. The measure called for a citizen oversight committee to make recommendations on where to spend the funds.
The terms of both Cool and Redfern were set to expire on June 30 but both expressed an interest in continuing to serve. Both have only served a single full three-year term.
City Manager Toby Wells said past practice is to open the process up to the public with council making the decision. Wells said the council had the option of automatically reappointing them or solicit applications from the community and consider other candidates. The council decided not to advertise for additional applicants opted to reappoint the two and change the rules for filling vacancies by striking the term "shall" solicit applications from interested citizens and replace it with "may."
The measure ordinance spells out that no person may serve more than two consecutive three-year terms.
The remaining members of the Measure H Oversight Committee are Leonard Shepherd, Diego Fernandez and Rafael Valencia.


text:
Study: U.S. alcohol deaths have doubled since 1997
A separate study shows that binge drinkers are also ordering more rounds.
Stephen Johnson
From 1997 to 2017, alcohol-related deaths among Americans aged 16 and older doubled from 35,914 to 72,558.
From 2011 to 2017, the average number of drinks consumed by binge-drinkers rose from 472 to 529.
A 2018 study showed that people who consume six or more drinks per week are more likely to die early.

Americans are drinking more alcohol and dying at higher rates from it, according to two new reports released in January.

A study published in the journal Alcoholism Clinical & Experimental Research examined alcohol-related deaths from 1997 to 2007. (The researchers considered a death to be alcohol-related if a death certificate listed alcohol as a primary or secondary cause of death.) The results showed that over the past two decades:

Alcohol deaths among Americans ages 16 and older doubled from 35,914 in 1997, to 72,558 in 2017.

The death rate increased 50.9% from 16.9 to 25.5 per 100,000.

944,880 alcohol‐related deaths were recorded between 1999 and 2017.

In 2017, alcohol was associated with 72,558 deaths, making it more deadly than illegal drugs, including opioids.

Only cigarettes are more deadly than alcohol in the U.S.

How exactly are Americans dying from booze? In 2017, about half of alcohol deaths were the result of liver disease; separate research shows that far more young Americans have been dying from alcohol-related liver diseases than they did just two decades ago. But interestingly, since 1997, significantly fewer Americans died in alcohol-related car accidents, possibly because of the rise of ridesharing apps like Uber (though the data aren't exactly clear on that).

However, more Americans are dying from drug overdoses that also involve alcohol.

"In 2017, death certificates captured 10,596 deaths due to overdoses on a combination of alcohol and other drugs and another 2,358 deaths from overdoses on alcohol alone," the researchers wrote. "Alcohol causes respiratory depression on its own, and the risk of acute respiratory failure increases when alcohol is combined with other drugs that suppress respiration, such as opioids and benzodiazepines."

Age‐adjusted death rates by sex and race/ethnicity for (A) all alcohol‐induced causes, (B) acute causes, and (C) chronic causes, fitted with joinpoint log‐linear regression: United States, 1999 to 2017. Rate is shown on a natural log scale to depict a relative change over time (i.e., APC).

The researchers added that mixing alcohol with opioids was especially deadly for Americans ages 66 to 77.

"The fact that a moderately intoxicating dose of alcohol significantly increased the respiratory depression produced by a medicinal dose of oxycodone suggests that any alcohol consumption could contribute to fatal overdoses involving opioid," they wrote.

A second study examined rates of binge-drinking among Americans from 2011 to 2017. (The study defined binge drinking as five or more drinks on one occasion for men and four for women.) The results show that, while the percentage of Americans who drink to excess hasn't really budged, those who do binge-drink are drinking more:

The average number of drinks consumed by binge-drinkers rose from 472 in 2011, to 529 in 2017.

The most significant rise in binge-drinking rates occurred among Americans without a high-school degree.

That group consumed 942 drinks per person in 2017, up from 646 in 2011.

In 2018, 26.45% of people ages 18 or older reported that they engaged in binge drinking in the past month, while 6.6 percent reported engaging in "heavy" alcohol use.

Why alcohol is addictive

Alcohol is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. The data vary by study, but it's estimated that between 6 and 30 percent of Americans are alcoholics, and that most are men. Why is drinking addictive? A few explanations include:

Alcohol triggers the reward centers of the brain, releasing dopamine and endorphins, which reinforces physical dependency.

Alcohol contains large amounts of sugar, which by itself can be addictive, at least according to some research.

People often use drinking as a coping mechanism, whether in social situations or for anxiety and/or depression, which can reinforce the behavior and make us more likely to repeat it in the future.

Some research suggests that people whose brains release large amounts of natural opioids in response to alcohol are especially vulnerable to alcoholism.

How to curb your drinking

So, how much alcohol is too much? It's difficult to say, but a 2018 study found that people who drink more than six drinks per week were significantly more likely to die early, specifically of stroke, heart disease, heart failure, fatal hypertensive disease and fatal aortic aneurysm. If you're looking to curb your alcohol intake, consider some of these tips from Harvard Medical School:

Put it in writing: List specific reasons why you want to quit. Studies suggest writing goals down makes us more likely to achieve them.

Don't keep booze in the house: Try to put more distance between you and alcohol; make it difficult to grab a drink.

Drink slowly: Try ordering a soda (or better, a water) between drinks.

Set a drinking goal: If you want to keep drinking, try setting a drink limit before going out so you know exactly when to stop.

Guard against temptations: Become aware of what triggers you to drink: certain friends, stress levels, particular places, etc. Be mindful of whether you're using alcohol to cope with stress, and if so, work to replace that coping mechanism with a healthier one.

death health brain addiction
Sugar causes 'major changes' to brain's reward systems, study says
The results suggest eating too much sugar can lead to a drug-like dependence.
The study involved feeding pigs sugar water, in addition to a regular diet, for 12 days.
After 12 days, the researchers observed major changes in the pigs' dopamine and opioid systems.
The results also suggest that eating too much sugar can raise our tolerance for other substances.

What does it mean to say someone has a food addiction?

The topic has long been controversial among scientists, with some saying that consuming large amounts of sugar (and/or fat and salt) excites the brain's reward system, leading to drug-like addictions. Others say that food addiction is better classified as a behavioral addiction, where people become dependent on a behavior because the action itself makes them feel good.

Now, a new study, published in Nature Scientific Reports, supports the idea that sugar can cause drug-like additions, and that regular consumption can significantly change the brain's reward system after just a couple weeks.

To study the effects of sugar on the brain, researchers from Aarhus University had pigs drink 2 liters of sugar water over 12 days, taking images of the pigs' brains before the experiment, after day one, and after the 12th day. Throughout that period, the pigs consumed a normal diet, and they were only given access to the sugar water intermittently, which promotes binging.

Why use pigs for the experiment? The researchers noted that, while rodents are often used in brain imaging studies, pigs are a good alternative because their brains are relatively complex and large enough to capture images of deeper brain structures. (Of course, it would've been ideal to take images of human brains for the study. But because many factors affect dopamine levels, from YouTube videos to going on a date, it's difficult to tell exactly how sugar affects them.)

The results revealed that pigs on the sugar-water diet showed less dopamine and opioid receptor availability. In other words, consuming a bunch of sugar made their brains less responsive to these feel-good neurotransmitters, and so, similar to a drug addiction, they'd need to consume even more sugar to achieve the same pleasurable effect.

"After just 12 days of sugar intake, we could see major changes in the brain's dopamine and opioid systems," Michael Winterdahl, Associate Professor at the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University and study author, told Neuroscience News. "In fact, the opioid system, which is that part of the brain's chemistry that is associated with well-being and pleasure, was already activated after the very first intake."

The brain's reward system helps us understand what's valuable. For example, we experience a surge of dopamine, say, when we fall in love with someone, or when we succeed at a difficult task. This encourages us to repeat the behaviors that produced that good feeling. In a similar way, other things that trigger the release of dopamine, like drugs or food, can cause us to reinforce unhealthy behaviors.

"If sugar can change the brain's reward system after only twelve days, as we saw in the case of the pigs, you can imagine that natural stimuli such as learning or social interaction are pushed into the background and replaced by sugar and/or other 'artificial' stimuli," Winterdahl. "We're all looking for the rush from dopamine, and if something gives us a better or bigger kick, then that's what we choose."

Eating too much sugar may raise your tolerance for other substances

The pigs showed decreased dopamine receptor availability after 12 days, even though they hadn't been given sugar for 24 hours. Why? The researchers noted that dopamine is often released by simply wanting or expecting drugs and other pleasurable activities, and that the resulting reduction of dopamine receptors can "raise brain reward thresholds." Interestingly, they suggested that this might desensitize the brain to other stimuli that trigger dopamine. So, getting "addicted" to sugar could potentially raise your tolerance for other substances: amphetamines, cocaine, alcohol, etc.

How to curb your sugar intake

Sugar isn't bad in moderation. However, excessive sugar intake can lead to obesity and a variety of diseases, possibly including diabetes and cancer. The main problem is that many foods, especially fast and processed foods, pack in loads of sugar, partly because it's a cheap way to boost taste, and also because food manufacturers know it's likely to hook customers.

Still, it's probably not a good idea to cut out your sugar intake altogether, considering that multiple studies suggest you might experience withdrawal symptoms. To work toward a healthier diet, Harvard Medical School recommends a few tips:

Limit access to sugary foods: Don't stock up on sweets, and avoid processed foods.

Sweeten foods yourself: You're likely to use healthier sweeteners, and less sweetener than the manufacturer.

Watch out for hidden sugars: Check the labels when buying food, as many manufacturers sneak in sugar to boost taste, especially in low-fat foods.

Eat a balanced breakfast: This helps to reduce cravings.

addiction medical research brain
Love triggers the same regions of your brain as cocaine addiction.
Helen Fisher
Studies have shown that romantic love, while often positive, activates basic brain regions that are also triggered by cocaine addiction.
Stalking, clinical depression, and even suicides have been attributed to love addictions.
For better or worse, everybody at some time in their life has been or will be addicted to love.
love emotions depression brain mental health psychology neuroscience addiction
A new study shows the neurological reason for obesity and how to combat it
It's all about the feeding window.
Derek Beres
Andi Whiskey on Unsplash
A study at the University of Virginia Brain Institute links the brain's pleasure center with our biological clock.
The easy availability of high-calorie foods has created a long feeding window each day, leading to an increase in obesity.
To combat this trend, closing the feeding window, as with intermittent fasting, is proving important for optimal health.

In the modern world, with seemingly simple conveniences such as refrigeration and electricity, perspective is hard. Understanding how to preserve food—even knowing what actually qualified as food—required a lot of trial and error for our first 350,000 years on this planet. What we call progress isn't always the case. For every advancement there is a cost.

Obesity would have been a hard concept for our ancestors to understand. There was little opportunity for it to emerge. Advancements in food preservation and storage, such as processed foods and ice boxes, opened up an entirely new means of existence. We've paid for those technologies with "diseases of affluence," such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. Humans were not biologically designed to have food, especially high-calorie food, perpetually available.

Authors of a recent study funded by The National Institute of General Medical Sciences and University of Virginia Brain Institute and published in Current Biology write that, "The widespread availability of energy-dense, rewarding foods is correlated with the increased incidence of obesity across the globe." The team, led by University of Virginia biology professor Ali Güler, discovered a link between the brain's biological clock and pleasure center—a link that is driving obesity.

The obesity problem is the result of a perfect storm. Humans were designed to gorge when food is available; previously, we didn't know when the next meal would arrive. That's no longer the case. High-calorie foods, those crammed with sugars and carbohydrates, activate our brain's pleasure center; the good feeling is a biological signal for satiation. We feel satisfied then become addicted to and dependent on that feeling. Processed food companies have long exploited this fact. The ability to store food for extended periods of time, a relatively new capability, ensured that our next meal—our next fifty meals—are waiting in the kitchen.

Why you should do Intermittent Fasting | Joe Rogan feat. GSP, Dr. Peter Attia, Dr. Rhonda Patrick

Electricity prompted not only the emergence of refrigeration, but also indoor lighting and eventually smartphones, which also play a role in this conundrum. The sun, for most of time, served as a natural alarm clock. We rose and set with it. As this is no longer the case, we thwart our biological rhythm by sleeping at odd hours or not enough, both of which negatively impact our health. The constant usage of phones also negatively impacts our circadian rhythm, with poor sleep also contributing to the obesity epidemic.

Whereas high-calorie foods were previously difficult to secure, Güler says that this is no longer the case.

"The calories of a full meal may now be packed into a small volume, such as a brownie or a super-size soda. It is very easy for people to over-consume calories and gain excessive weight, often resulting in obesity and a lifetime of related health problems."

Readily available high-calorie foods set off our pleasure center, causing us not only to overeat at meal time, but to snack all day. This is one of the surest ways to gain weight, the study notes. Tragically, our bodies store more calories eaten between meals as fat than those eaten during regular meal times.

"We're learning that when we eat is just as important as how much we eat. A calorie is not just a calorie. Calories consumed between meals or at odd hours become stored as fat, and that is the recipe for poor health."

Not actually food.
Photo by: Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Obesity is costing the United States $147 billion every year. Even the richest nation on Earth cannot afford this bill, especially given how much better we can utilize that money.

One important way that we can combat this trend is by closing our feeding window. As research has shown, Americans eat in an average feeding window of 14.75 hours a day. Intermittent fasting has been shown to help promote weight loss. While there are debates regarding exact fasting duration, it appears that closing your feeing window to a 10-hour period is beneficial. Some research has even even suggested that a 12-hour feeding window is helpful for shedding pounds.

Güler notes that "we evolved under pressures we no longer have." Our pressures are different now, such as this exploitation of our innate pleasure-seeking capacities. Convenience always comes at a cost. Refrigerators and light bulbs have not been everyday objects for that long of a time, and while we don't have to envision living without them, we can certainly make better use of both.

Line up the timeline of obesity trends with technological advancements and we are on safe ground speculating beyond correlation. As this study shows, it's part of our genetic inheritance: give us food and we'll eat it. Closing your feeding window and eating fewer carbohydrates might fly in the face of common wisdom, but nothing is wise about the situation we're in. Good health demands of us this discipline.

--

Stay in touch with Derek on Twitter and Facebook. His next book is Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy.

human body addiction biology medical research psychology health
The 2020s: The decade of psychedelic breakthroughs?
Clinical studies are underway. How we treat them moving forward matters.
Photo credit: Joe Amon / MediaNews Group / The Denver Post via Getty Images
Michael Ehlers, a former executive at Biogen and Pfizer, has assumed an advisory role with Field Trip, a psychedelics research organization.
Ehlers has followed the science of psychedelics for more than a decade and is excited by the potential for therapeutic applications.
MDMA and psilocybin have been granted breakthrough therapy status by the FDA, signaling a shift in the future of mental health treatment.

Beyond the bright colors and hallucinogenic imagery of psychedelic art—the visuals of Ram Dass's 1971 book Be Here Now has never left public consciousness — there has long been a crusade to clinically research substances such as LSD, psilocybin, MDMA, DMT, and ibogaine. We've been informed, again and again and again, about the various ways that current pharmaceutical treatments in our for-profit mental health system is not only not working, but doing more damage than healing. Discussion over health care inevitably defaults to mechanisms for paying for a broken model, rarely touching upon the root causes of why so many people are depressed, sick, anxious, and suicidal in the first place.

We. Need. Better. Solutions.

In regard to psychedelics, an entire herd of elephants remain locked in a room. Thanks to the questionable (and admittedly racist) wars launched by the Nixon and Reagan administrations (first dreamed up during the Anslinger crusades), we've been denied access to these potentially therapeutic substances. Fortunately, a renaissance is occurring in psychedelics research, with ketamine being the first to be legally prescribed psychedelic for treatment-resistant depression and both psilocybin and MDMA being fast-tracked by the FDA after being labelled breakthrough therapies.

One challenge psychedelics advocates will have to face is how these drugs are treated moving through the current medical model. Regardless of personal feelings on the subject, these substances have to contend with a system that requires expensive clinical trials and will be sold in a capitalist marketplace. There will inevitably be patent issues and territorial fights. Unlike cannabis, which is a relatively mild substance with few documented consequences, psychedelics need to be rigorously evaluated and tested. While some label everyone working in medicine as minions of Big Pharma, we need to separate researchers and scientists from the shady dealings of shareholders and profiteers.

Michael Ehlers is an industry figure that has long taken an interest in psychedelics, predominantly from an outsider perspective. Now the former executive vice president for research and development at Biogen is accepting an advisory role with Field Trip Health, the psychedelics-focused organization that recently opened the world's first psilocybin research center. (You can listen to my talk with Field Trip co-founder, Ronan Levy, here.)

I chatted with Ehlers, he is also the former chief scientific officer for neuroscience at Pfizer, about his interest in psychedelics, their potential efficacy, their historical usage in ritual, and how the current model will deal with their vetting and potential applications. With every question, he was informed and honest, offering what he knows and being truthful about what he does not. There is a lot of work ahead in pharmaceuticals, yet it is undeniable the mental health industry needs a reboot, in the same way psychedelics are said to reboot the neural circuitry of the brain, making this class of substances an ideal medicine for study.

Part of my conversation with Ehlers is below; you can read the full transcript here.

Photo courtesy of Michael Ehlers

Derek: You have an accomplished career in the pharmaceutical industry. Now you've taken on an advisory role with a company specializing in psychedelics. I would love to know when you first became interested in psychedelics as a potential therapeutic tool.

Michael: I've followed this area for quite some time. I've been intensely involved in different aspects of drug discovery and development, particularly, although not exclusively, within CNS or neuroscience drug discovery, including neuropsychiatric disease. I've followed more peripherally some of the efforts both in standard pharmacology and then some of the emerging work, whether it was more acute, high-dose psychedelics or microdosing psychedelics in neuropsychiatric disease.

At the same time, I was following a lot of the work on some of the core receptor biology and neurobiology, which was really advancing in systems neuroscience. Following this field and some of the early indications of potential clinical efficacy were some of the things that really got me quite excited. I was particularly close with aspects of what's been done over the past 10 years with ketamine, which is a very different agent but also in the class, initially leading from small trials on ketamine for acute, anti-depressive actions, now to Janssen and J&J using a variation of this, esketamine, to get full-on FDA approval for the first new mechanism in depression in 20 years. The combination of these things indicated to me that there could be a new paradigm change or highly-active psychopharmacology to potentially treat some of these otherwise fairly intractable types of neuropsychiatric disorders.

There are some other things that were also on the horizon. The history of CNS drug development, particularly in neuropsychiatric disease, has been one where the empirical observations in human patients have really guided efficacious therapeutics by and large. Even though I know we like to talk a lot about rational drug discovery and development, at least in the field of neuropsychiatry, because there's still so much that is not known that we've had to rely a lot more on empirical observations in humans.

There's probably no more profound CNS pharmacology out there than that with psychedelics like psilocybin or LSD or ketamine. I've actually long thought it was just a matter of figuring out what a treatment paradigm could look like—how maybe when you dose it could you alter aspects of its dose exposure and distribution and then in what exact disease or syndrome.

Derek: You have a history of working with rare diseases. Field Trip is going to tackle a wide range of studies, but the ones that are really on everyone's mind (in terms of what psychedelics could potentially help) ranges from PTSD to treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. These are much more common diseases. Do you have any background in those diseases and, in the advisory role, what will you be doing for them?

Michael: I've got a lot of background in that. I worked for nine years in large biopharma, six years at Pfizer. I started in neuroscience and pain, but ultimately ran several divisions of Pfizer R & D, that did include rare disease, but included a bunch of other things. Then I ran R & D advising for three-and-a-half years. I've done clinical trials in depression, schizophrenia, PTSD, generalized anxiety disorder, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. I've done both rare diseases and a lot of common disorders: hemophilia, genetic disease, and some of the rare diseases as well. I've done stroke trials. I've had experience across a range.

One thing I like is about what Field Trip is doing and the prospect of these diseases is that they're incredibly common. Roughly 25 percent of people will have some experience with major depression in their lives. One percent of the world has schizophrenia. These are serious and significant disorders. I really love the fact that this field—and Field Trip is really part of that in a leadership role—is looking to take some of these on.

Although the lore has been that there hasn't been that much innovation, I actually think that's not true. I think we're just at the beginning of a whole new era of advances in neuropsychiatric disease. I can point to several things that indicate that. I have a feeling that if we really understand that the best way to dose and conduct trials with psychedelics like psilocybin and be able to segment patients who are the most likely to benefit, this can become quite important.

The future of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy | Rick Doblin

Derek: You mentioned that pharma companies stepping away from neuropsychiatric disease. There is obviously a problem with SSRIs over the long-term. Efficacy rates tend to be high in the short-term, but over the long-term prove problematic. When you're stepping into substances that potentially could help treatment-resistant mental health diseases in one dose (or just a couple of doses), how do you think that companies are going to be able to monetize this, especially given the incredible amounts of money that have to go into R & D and clinical trials?

Michael: It's a very good question. I think we haven't solved that problem yet. There are a lot of open questions. Will some of these therapies really be single dose or short regiments and you're done? Will it have to be that there's some degree of maintenance where there's some regularity in the need for therapy? Will it really be like antibiotics or gene therapy? We don't know.

A lot of these neuropsychiatric diseases, although they're complex, have genetic features that are polygenetic but they're related. Whether you're talking about, schizophrenia, autism, bipolar disorder, ADHD, there's a complex genetic architecture that has shared features across all of those. The risk of relapse and occurrences will be there in a given population. I tend to think the likelihood of things like ketamine or psychedelic treatments for depression will be one of periodic needs.

The question you raised is an excellent one, which is what ultimately is the commercial model for that? Certainly, the hope is that it doesn't go down the road of antibiotics for which the commercial incentivization for real R & D and drug development has been catastrophic. I don't see that in this space. I just don't think it's going to be quite as simple as "one and done." The prevalence alone will be a strong incentive for investment when there's real efficacy potential.

Derek: Please correct me if I'm wrong; I'm fascinated by neuroscience, but not having an academic background my knowledge is limited. That's why I love talking to people about this. From my understanding, SSRIs work in a much different manner in terms of the serotonin release then psychedelics. Do you see any potential benefits or dangers in the ways that psychedelics deal with the serotonergic system?

Michael: It is quite different. From a simple pharmacology point of view, SSRIs are, as their name indicates, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors: they block serotonin transporters that would normally release serotonin back up into nerve cells so that it increases serotonergic tone. Once released, it stays released in the extracellular space for longer, acting on all the different receptors in the places that it does.

The psychedelics typically act directly on serotonin receptors within serotonin transporters, but their action at different receptors has different potency. It's not a clean pharmacology. People will talk about 5-HT-2A receptors and they're clearly important, and there's been a lot of study on that, but we also know that if you just give a pure 5-HT-2A receptor an agonist you do not reproduce the effects of psilocybin or LSD.

The pharmacology is complex; it's clearly different than SSRIs. Obviously, the behavioral and therapeutic groups are very different. It just highlights that we really need to understand it better. It's going to reveal I think very important things about psychiatric disease and fundamental neuroscience.

A shaman gathers the raw materials to make ayahuasca in the jungle outside of Iquitos.
Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images

Derek: One of the criticisms of the way that the industry is right now is that, why would a doctor spend an hour talking to a patient when you can see six patients in an hour and write a script? Efficacy rates are different for different people, dealing with the microbiome, for example, and the way that their gut processes drugs. It's a very complex issue. One thing I believe is going to be important is that psychotherapy is going to be tethered with psychedelics, especially if people have never done them before. Will that coupling provide a sustainable model?

Michael: Here's an aspect of what's important to understand: the field has understandably taken a cautious approach, which I think is warranted in this whole guided therapy concept and that will probably be required for certain dosing regimens. I would personally like to see this converted into what is a very standard thing in a lot of drug administration in practice or trials, which is more about medical monitoring. Change it from the notion of it's guided therapy to monitoring like you would for a lot of things. People go to IV infusion centers to get their IV drug. It's different, but there's nothing that unusual about the notion of having a monitored pharmaceutical or pharmacological drug intervention even in standard practice. This will likely be part of that.

If you're a neurologist treating MS and you've got MS patients on Alemtuzumab or Natalizumab as your IV drugs. They come in, you've got your IV clinic. They come in regularly, every month or every quarter depending on the drug, and they get their IV infusion. They get monitored while it happens because they can have an immune response. I see a future for some of these psychoactive therapeutics where you have something similar.

Now the question will be to what extent does the guided as opposed to monitoring aspect of that influence the degree of efficacy? That's something which really would need to be studied. To the extent it really requires some special type of guided activity that will be a little bit more of a limitation. To the extent that it can be ultimately the design in a more monitoring approach with education, the more widespread this can become.

Does that analogy make sense to you? There's a lot of precedence for this in other areas. The way this has gotten utilized now is still a remnant of causing people to have profound hallucinations and behavioral stuff and paranoia. Some people get afraid of that, so we need to have some monitoring.

We need to understand doses. We need to know the extent to which those experiences are part and parcel to a therapeutic response or not associated with a therapeutic response.

Derek: How much do you think anecdote is going to matter? One main issue I have with the whole cannabis legalization process is the extraction of CBD being sold for every possible ailment out there when the actual evidence is almost nothing at this point, besides epilepsy. At the same time, dealing with mental health disorders, how much are we going to rely on anecdote? If people think they're getting better, there's placebo, and it actually helps them get better.

Michael: I hope we moved beyond anecdotes, and I think that you're right about CBD, but it's interesting the way you put that because of the fact that rigorous trials have been done in rare epilepsies, like Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, nobody disputes that. Patients in need can get insurance companies or health systems in other countries to reimburse for that. That's what I mean by saying real location impact is going to require that component of it too. You'd like to be able to generate the evidence because nothing comes without safety concerns. The nice thing about putting this all through the lens of drug discovery and development is that it allows the community—and here I mean the medical community, policymakers, others —to have a much clearer view of the benefit-risk, and where the benefit-risk is positive, in which case that's usually a required element for real access for patients.

Of course, you could argue and say, "well, if it's just out there, people can try it, we'll see and that's fine," but this doesn't allow us from a clinical scientific vantage point to really know when and where we are going to provide benefits. That's what we really need to work toward. There's enough anecdotal evidence out there to justify rigorous evaluation.

--

Stay in touch with Derek on Twitter and Facebook. His next book is Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy.

addiction marijuana capitalism science politics health care


Long codes are a fine choice for a company for a few reasons. A long code is an actual 10-digit phone number, which can be appealing if your company is local.
In case you want to have your own dedicated Long code Bulk SMS (Long code) number then you can choose any premium number and use that as your SMS long code number.


text:
class Service < ApplicationRecord
  belongs_to :student
  belongs_to :recorded_by_educator, class_name: 'Educator'
  belongs_to :discontinued_by_educator, class_name: 'Educator'
  belongs_to :service_type
  belongs_to :service_upload, optional: true # For bulk-uploaded services only

  validates_presence_of :recorded_by_educator_id, :student_id, :service_type_id, :recorded_at, :date_started
  validate :must_be_discontinued_after_service_start_date

  def self.has_active_service?(student_id, service_type_id)
    Service.where(student_id: student_id, service_type_id: service_type_id).active.count > 0
  end

  def self.active
    where('discontinued_at IS NULL OR discontinued_at > ?', Time.now)
  end

  def self.never_discontinued
    where(discontinued_at: nil)
  end

  def self.future_discontinue
    where('discontinued_at > ?', Time.now)
  end

  def self.discontinued
    where('discontinued_at < ?', Time.now)
  end

  def discontinued?
    discontinued_at.present? && (Time.now > discontinued_at)
  end

  def active?
    !discontinued?
  end

  private
  def must_be_discontinued_after_service_start_date
    unless discontinued_at.nil?
      if date_started > discontinued_at
        errors.add(:discontinued_at, "must be after service start date")
      end
    end
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Adi, A. & Stoeckle, T. (August 2021) The Future of PR isn't what it used to be. Institute for Public Relations.
Adi, A. (2019) The future of PR? As measurement remains an afterthought, it threatens the legitimacy of the profession. IN (AMEC) Demonstrating the Value of Communication| Part III – Evolving Communication Measurement.
Adi, A. (2019) Dissens-PR. Was Kommunikatoren von Aktivisten lernen konnen. Pressesprecher.
Adi, A. (2019) AI and the future of PR. Interview with Inpuncto.
Adi, A. (2019) Too much trust? Communication Director Magazine.
Adi, A. (2019) Measurement and Evaluation Remain a Challenge for PR: According to PR2025 Delphi Study. IPR.
Adi, A. (2018) In VUCA we fear, in data we trust. Communication Director Magazine.
Adi, A. (2018) Measurement week: How to evaluate VR and AR. PRNews.
Adi, A. (2018) How to evaluate virtual reality and augmented reality. Intitute for Public Relations.
Adi, A. and Crisan, C. (2018) Corporate Volunteering Evaluation: A Toolkit Featuring Digital Storytelling. Institute for Public Relations.
Adi, A. and Lilleker, D. G. (2017) Romania`s resistance. The World Today, the Chatham House magazine www.theworldtoday.org.
Adi, A. and Lilleker, D. G. (2017) Five Lessons in Effective Communication from the #Rezist Romanian Protests. Institute for PR.
Adi, A. and Lilleker, D. G. (2017) Reflections on the Romanian #rezist protests and the EACD Manifesto against fake news. European Association of Communication Directors blog.
Adi, A. and Lilleker, D. G. (2017) The postmodern PR practitioner: activist and communicator. Communication Director Magazine.
Adi, A., & Macnamara, J. (2017). The priority is digital and social – but practitioners lack skills in new techniques. Insights from the second Asia-Pacific Communication Monitor. Communication Director – Asia-Pacific Edition, 13(4), 44-48.
Adi, A., & Macnamara, J. (2016). The present and future of strategic communication in Asia Pacific. Communication Director – Asia-Pacific Edition, 11(1), 12-17.
Adi, A., & Crisan, C. (December 2015) "And then a hero comes along…" Empowerment storytelling and its powerful brand impact. Communication Director.
Adi, A. & Lilleker, D. (2012) Getting the message out: Social media daily activity plan.
Adi, A. (2012) The Best Games Ever. Arete: IOAPA Newsletter.
Adi, A. (2012) Beijing: when humanitarian issues and Olympic values collide. Sportanddev.org.
Adi, A. (2009) Olympic Humanitarianism. IOAPA Newsletter.
Miah, A., & Adi, A. (2009) Centre of the Online Universe 'Liverpool08′ European Capital of Culture.


Julie has been invited to present a peer reviewed workshop "The Key To Wellbeing is Musical Play" at the 2016 International Society of Music Education later this month in Glasgow, Scotland. This is a huge honour. Julie will be working with top musicians from all around the world. She leaves on the 14th July for Vienna, Salzburg and Berlin prior to the conference. The classes are in very capable hands with the music team while she is away. Julie will be back on the 2nd August.


FRANKFORT, Ky. — According to a new report, if current trends continue, it will take the average African-American family 228 years to accumulate the wealth of the average white family today; it will take the average Latino family 84 years to do the same.
The "Ever-Growing Gap" report by the Corporation For Economic Development and the Institute for Policy Studies - or IPS - looked at trends in household wealth for families from 1983 to 2013. Josh Hoxie, director of the Project on Opportunity and Taxation at IPS, said widening racial gaps in home ownership and median income are part of the overall wealth gap.
"The story we're seeing around wealth is that this problem has been growing for decades and is going to continue for decades," Hoxie said, "unless we take serious action."
In Kentucky, the median income for African Americans is 35 percent lower than for whites, according to a survey by the online research group WalletHub. The IPS report indicated the wealth gap is far worse, with median wealth for Hispanics and blacks about 90 percent lower than for whites nationwide.
Home ownership is one of the biggest ways families build wealth, Hoxie said, and minority families are far less likely to own homes after years of discriminatory housing policies. He said an "upside-down" tax system has also contributed to the disparity by putting money in the pockets of the disproportionate number of white homeowners.
"So, what we have is a system to incentivize wealth creation, which is a good thing," Hoxie said. "However, the bad thing is that that system is currently benefiting people who are already wealthy, and contributing to the racial wealth divide."
The report said the minimum wage is another piece of the wealth puzzle. According to Hoxie, a low minimum wage can hurt families who are simply trying to stay above water.
"When we don't raise the minimum wage for a long time, it's not just that people aren't creating new wealth - they're not creating a safety net to fall back on in hard times," he said. "They're also going further into debt just to cover their basic expenses."
While Lexington and Louisville have increased their minimum wage slightly, the statewide rate remains at $7.25 an hour. In early 2016, a House committee approved a gradual increase to $10.10 per hour, but the bill never came to a vote on the House floor.


text:
The favourite petroleum geoscience magazine
Conference Round-Ups
GEO Chemistry
GEO Cities
GEO Education
GEO Lifestyle
GEO Media
GEO Physics
GEO Profile
GEO Science Explained
Giant Fields
Global Resource Management
History of Oil
Recent Advances in Technology
Reservoir Management
Seismic Foldouts
North West Europe
Editorials North America
Concerned About the Environment
Halfdan Carstens
Syncrude, the Canadian energy giant that is producing some 350,000bopd from the oil sands in Alberta, has been charged with the deaths of nearly 500 ducks in a massive, toxic settling pond in April 2008. Pictures of sludge-covered birds garnered international attention. The operator highly regrets the incident and says "we feel horrible this occurred and there's a huge resolve in our organization since then to implement the appropriate changes to help prevent it from happening again."
This article appeared in Vol. 6, No. 2 - 2009
The Syncrude facility for bitumen extraction and upgrading north of Fort McMurray. Photo: Halfdan Carstens The ponds are used by oil sands mining companies to store water used in the upgrading process. Particles of heavy bitumen, sand and clay settle out in the ponds so the water can be reused. They are a necessary and environmentally friendly part of the extraction process.
We all want to protect the environment. It belongs to our common future. Nevertheless, it is important to put incidents like this into a perspective. The 500 ducks are next to nothing in comparison to the millions of birds and animals killed every year in North America and elsewhere by vehicles, windmills, buildings, airplanes, and - I'm sorry to say - hunters. I certainly agree with Deborah Yedlin in Calgary Herald who says that "the bird ecosystem is challenged or threatened by every aspect of human life on a daily basis around the world, not just the tailings ponds associated with the oilsands in northern Alberta."
The vendetta against the oilsands operations put forward by so-called environmentalists is not doing the environment a favour. The problem is that they are focusing on small problems that can easily be resolved without devastating conflicts. In this way they stay away from really big problems (and the big kills).
We all know that the oilsands operations are causing big headlines, and the oil companies are an easy target as their ability to stand up against unfair critique has not been very impressive. We should all hope they could improve their skills in this respect.
Editorials Europe
Prudent Resource Management
Roughly 25 million Euros will be spent next year by the Norwegian government on mapping two regions offshore Norway that have not yet been offered for licensing. The reason for omitting the frontier provinces of Nordland VII and Troms II (offshore Lofoten and Vesterålen) from licensing, is strong resistance from environmentalists claiming that exploring for oil and gas will harm the fisheries and the overall environment.
Editorials Worldwide
Exploring Into 2018
Jane Whaley
As we come to the close of another challenging year in the O&G calendar, will 2018 bring better times?
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text:
Hogwarts Library Background
Harry Potter and his friends Harry Potter and his friends attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during the years. The Wizarding World universe has the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry as its main setting. It is a fictional British school for children aged 11-18 years old.
Despite being the least popular of all houses Hufflepuffs have left a lasting impression on the Harry Potter universe. This House is well-known for its kindness, loyalty, and willingness to help. They are committed and hardworking. It's not surprising that they are regarded as being the house of the top witches and wizards.
Newt Scamander, a Hufflepuff is one of the most famous characters from the Harry Potter franchise. He was a brilliant magizoologist and was loved by all who saw him. He never reacted with anger when he was arrested and handed the death penalty. He remained calm and focused, and fought his way out of the situation.
Every student is assigned the Hogwarts house during their first year. This is dependent on their personality. The Sorting Hat handles the heavy lifting and puts students in the best House to test their character. It's a great opportunity for students to test their strengths and weaknesses.
The Sorting Hat is a clever enchanted object. It was invented by J.K. Rowling and pays tribute to the magician's hat that was the property of Godric Gryffindor. It is also used by Hogwarts' Founders of Hogwarts to decide which students to place in their Houses.
The Sorting Hat can be used to determine what house a student should live in. It is able to read a wearer's thoughts and respond to their thoughts. It can even talk to them. It also helps determine which House the student is a member of and to award the Sword of Gryffindor to those who are worthy of it.
The Room of Requirement was a important element of Harry's Hogwarts experience. In addition to providing Harry with his first (and final) horocracy, it was also where Voldemort's lost diadem was kept. The Room of Requirement was so mysterious that it took Dumbledore nearly a year to uncover its dark past.
The area is also home to various odd-looking artifacts like the Sorting Hat, a sapient artifact of its own. It also contains the legilimen, a device that uses legitmization in order to read minds. While this is a trickier task than many wizards would like you to believe, it has been done by a small group of.
Established by Salazar Slytherin, Slytherin was known for its self-preservation and ambition. Slytherin was also known for being cruel and selfish. Slytherin actually produced the most Death Eaters.
The Slytherin common area was located beneath the Black Lake, and had rough stone walls and silver lamps that hung from the ceiling. It is known for its stunning views of the surrounding mountains.
Slytherin was a noble House, while Gryffindor was known for its rivalry with Slytherin. Hufflepuff is the most petty of the four houses, was known for its values of patience, loyalty, and dedication to work.
Hogwarts is the place where all students reside during the academic school year. Students live in dormitories and sleep in large four-poster beds. Students are taught by professors. There are also tables at the House where students can socialise. There are also notice boards located in strategic locations within the school.
If you're a Harry Potter fan or simply curious about the world of Harry Potter The Library at Hogwarts has a lot to offer. Not only is it the home of tens of thousands of books and other items, but it also has an area that is accessible only to students who have written permission. This section is located on the lower level of the library.
The library is divided into five stories with shelves for books. The first story is the main room, which is illuminated with natural light through stained glass and leaded windows. The ceiling measures 65 feet high.
The second story is the home of the headmaster's office. It also houses the Charms classroom. The Reading Room is located on the third floor. This is the only room in the library that is entirely silent. It is a collection of study tables that are upholstered in red-carpeted rooms. Under the study tables are electrical outlets.
Despite its popularity as a novel of fantasy, the Deathly Hallows is a real story about three former Hogwarts students who are trying to escape Voldemort in Godric's Hollow. The plot revolves around the final battle between Harry Potter, Voldemort, and other characters.
This is the seventh volume in the Harry Potter series, and is the final chapter of the tale of the boy wizard. The book was released by the Bloombury Publishing Company on July 21, 2007, and was translated into 120 languages. It is the most loved fantasy series ever with more than 500 million copies sold across the globe.
The book also contains five short stories. A few of the stories are linked to the Deathly Hallows story.
Hogwarts, a magical school for young wizards, is located in the Scottish Highlands. It was established in the 10th century to safeguard wizards against Muggle persecution. Hogwarts is among the most prestigious private boarding schools in the UK. The Forbidden Forest surrounds Hogwarts, also known as the Dark Forest.
Hogwarts is full of secrets. Some of these secrets are hidden from the outside like the Chamber of Secrets. Others are well-known and frequently used, such as the Leaky Cauldron Restaurant and Gringotts Money Exchange.
Salazar Slytherin built the Chamber of Secrets before he left Hogwarts. It was designed to purge the school's students who were Muggle-born. Voldemort believed he had won the final battle and was planning to force all Hogwarts students to Slytherin. He died before he could complete his plan.
The Chamber of Secrets lies deep beneath Hogwarts school. It is also the home to the ancient Basilisk. The Chamber is left open after Dumbledore's army gets betrayed. It is home to floor cushions for defensive spells and Dark Detectors. The Chamber is also the home of an immortal memory of Tom Riddle, who was killed by Harry Potter.
The Chamber of Secrets is also the home of two serpents carved into the solid wall of the Room. They have emerald eyes. They are believed to have been summoned by Tom Riddle. They also have the ability to develop the Devil's Snare, a large snake that is a threat to anyone who enters the Chamber. The Chamber is also home to a snake-scratching tap. Fang is a massive boarhound that is black is a resident of the Chamber. He is more friendly than Mrs. Norris.
The dungeon houses the Slytherin dormitory. The room is green and has carvings on the armchairs. It is also home to a statue of Salazar Slytherin. The room is furnished with green lamps and the room has a greenish glow.
The Hufflepuff dormitory has low ceilings and is a cozy bright and sunny place. The plant life hangs from its ceiling. It also has a large common room. The House animal is the badger. The badger is believed to symbolize the family gathering. Nearly headless Nick is also a ghost that haunts the house.
There are a few short-cuts to get from the school to the castle. They aren't always readily accessible however. They are usually hidden behind tapestry or with a secret entrance. These short-cuts can only be access by House members. The secret entrance to Hufflepuff is hidden behind barrels. It's also under spell, so when you tap the barrel in a the same rhythm it will open up an edgy chute.
The Dark Room is where Dumbledore's Army meets. It is where many of the battles are fought during the Harry Potter series. It is also where Dumbledore argues in Harry's defense. It has floor cushions for defensive spells as well as volumes of Defence Against the Dark Arts.
There are also secret entrances to four dormitories of the House. These secret entrances are also secret from the outside and require an account number and password. These entrances are only used by members of the House.
Vera Bradley Hogwarts
Ho Scale Hogwarts Express


As part of Irwin Mitchell's drive to become one of the leading providers of legal advice to small and medium sized enterprises (SME), the business has launched a new service offering in September which is tailored specifically to their needs.
Details of the service are provided within a dedicated content site on its main website. This area also provides the ability for companies to download 'top tip' factsheets and access common issue scenarios. It also outlines SME offerings in each team, biographies of IM's 'SME champions', client testimonials and links to a pay as you go (PAYG) helpline.
Developments over the coming months will include video presentations and advice, and the introduction of a document builder which will allow companies to build legal documents such as standard employment contracts or standard terms & conditions via a shopping basket facility.
Steve Beahan, partner and a member of the SME Steering Group, said: "This is as a result of careful analysis of this market and the opportunities it presents. In our view, many firms have chosen to overlook this market and very few competing offerings appear to have really got it right.


AT&T -- or whatever company it is that's going by that name these days -- has decided to pull the plug on its pay phone business, over 100 years after the first coin-operated model was installed in Chicago. Currently, the telecom giant owns and operates public telephones in 13 states. With the number of pay phones having more than halved since 1998 -- due in large part to BellSouth's exit in 2001 -- AT&T clearly thinks that the sidewalk stalwart is at the end of its shiny metal rope, although it will continue to provide related services until the dial tones go silent at the end of 2008. While public reaction to the announcement has been mostly tepid so far, several groups have raised their voices in protest, most notably the Justice League of America, which calls the impending lack of changing stations "a national crisis."


Abstract: Formal methods in the industrial wild, outside the academic greenhouse, are still considered rather exotic, or even esoteric. Sometimes they are admired, more often smiled at, and most times simply ignored. There are some niches, though, where they display their abstract beauty. One of those places offering suitable environmental conditions is security. Which are the specific fertilizers there? Which particular sub-species have proven versatile and sturdy enough to survive in harsh industrial climate? Who recognizes the strong blessings of their hardly accessible blossoms? We share our grower's experience with them in the security field.


text:
IF Rune är en idrottsförening i Kungsör i Sverige, startad 28 april 1908. Klubben bedriver gymnastik och orientering, tidigare även bandy och fotboll.

I bandy spelade klubben i Sveriges högsta division säsongen 1935. I fotboll spelade klubben spelat i Sveriges näst högsta division säsongerna 1934/1935, 1936/1937 och 1937/1938.

Källor

Externa länkar
 IF Rune

Gymnastikklubbar i Sverige
Orienteringsklubbar i Västmanland
Kungsörs kommun
Sportklubbar bildade 1908
Upplösta bandyklubbar i Sverige
Upplösta fotbollsklubbar i Sverige

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The year is nearly halfway through, and the 'gman1290' page on YouTube has already started out of the gates faster than last year, according to the most recent data analysis. 'gman1290' has had a recent history of maintaining solid audiences from the United States and around the world. Here are just some of the numbers for the year to date.
In 2015, 'gman1290' saw a record year in total views with over 4.5 million views. At just over 2 million so far, it is on pace to either come close or even surpass the previous number.
As the rest of the year continues on, it appears that the YouTube channel will also continue to put up impressive numbers that can be close to or reaching above all other years.
Copyright © 2019, GC Media Arts, All Rights Reserved.


text:
Nursing Homes' Use Of Antipsychotic Drugs To Be Audited By CMS
The effort is targeting inappropriate prescriptions, where antipsychotic drugs are being abused to sedate patients. Inaccurate coding for schizophrenia will reportedly see nursing homes "negatively impacted." Meanwhile, in St. Louis, nursing home workers strike over low-pay claims and bed bugs.
USA Today: 'A Red Flag': Biden Administration Targets Antipsychotic Drugs Dispensed In Nursing Homes
The Biden administration this month will begin spot audits of nursing home use of antipsychotic drugs in an effort to cut down on inappropriate prescriptions. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will conduct "targeted, off-site audits" to check whether nursing home patients who are prescribed the drugs have a schizophrenia diagnosis. (Alltucker, 1/18)
AP: Feds To Investigate Nursing Home Abuse Of Antipsychotics
CMS will start targeted audits to ask nursing homes for documentation of the diagnoses in the coming days, focusing on nursing homes with existing residents who have been recorded as having schizophrenia. The rating scores for nursing homes that have a pattern of inaccurately coding residents as having schizophrenia will be negatively impacted, CMS said in a statement released Wednesday, stopping short of threatening to levy fines against facilities. (Seitz, 1/18)
In other nursing home news —
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: St. Louis Nursing Home Workers Strike Over Claims Of Low Pay, Bed Bug Infestation
For nearly 43 years, Francine Turner-Minor has distributed medicine to patients at a Baden neighborhood nursing home. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Turner-Minor went on strike from Hillside Manor Healthcare and Rehab Center, where about 130 elderly residents live, according to the latest count in federal data. Workers here say the facility is infested with bed bugs, mice and cockroaches, and they say they've faced union-busting tactics and unequal pay from the facility's owners, New Jersey-based Luxor Healthcare. The concerns have become so dire that city leaders plan to investigate. Luxor Healthcare, which owns health care facilities nationwide, denied the union's allegations. (Landis and Merrilees, 1/17)
AP: Mississippi Nursing Schools Turn Away Students Amid Shortage
Amid a nursing shortage that is worsening poor health outcomes in Mississippi, nursing programs at the state's public universities are turning away hundreds of potential students every year because of insufficient faculty sizes. Alfred Rankins Jr., Mississippi's commissioner of higher education, said at a legislative hearing Tuesday that nursing programs have struggled to retain faculty members because of the state's lower-than-average salaries for public university employees. (Goldberg, 1/17)
More on aging —
NPR: Social Isolation Linked To Increased Risk Of Dementia, New Study Finds
Socially isolated older adults have a 27% higher chance of developing dementia than older adults who aren't, a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers found. "Social connections matter for our cognitive health, and it is potentially easily modifiable for older adults without the use of medication," Dr. Thomas Cudjoe, an assistant professor of medicine at Johns Hopkins and a senior author of the study, said in a news release. (Radde, 1/17)
CNN: Sister André: The World's Oldest Person Dies At 118
French nun Sister André, the world's oldest known person, died on Tuesday at the age of 118 in the southern city of Toulon. The city's mayor, Hubert Falco, announced the news of her death on Twitter, writing that "it is with immense sadness and emotion that I learnt tonight of the passing of the world's oldest person #SisterAndré." (Vandoorne, 1/18)


1.) Our original flight from Santorini was cancelled- the airline just decided not to fly that day.
2.) Our second option with Air Italy did not bode much better. Hanging out in the chaos of Thira Airport waiting for our boarding call, Dan's curiosity finally got the better of him. Roma? When will the flight to Roma be boarding? The staff were very insistent that everyone had in fact already boarded and that the flight to Rome was about to take off. Surely we should have realised that the sign at the Gate could only display one destination and that it was stuck on Verona. Verona/Roma/Verona/Roma. These words blend into one and the same when mumbled into a broken loud speaker in an Italian accent. Queue a private bus transfer down the runway, some abuse and arm waving from the airport staff and we managed to make it on the only flight of the day.
Go out and explore at night.
Arriving into the great ancient city, we walked around in awe taking in the sheer size of everything. There is quite literally ancient history everywhere you look. Everywhere. Rome is at its best in the evening. Live music and laughter pour out of the restaurants and bars that line the pavements. Street light bounces romantically off the marble columns. The Pantheon is simply spectacular in the evening as will be the Trevi Fountain once it has been restored. Magical Italia!
Tick off those bucket lists.
The Colosseum was visited during the opening hours to avoid the mass gathering of tour groups. The Vatican City was explored. I admire the hawkers who seem to know the weather patterns to a synch and swapped out sales of sunhats with umbrellas just in time for the heavy downpour. Trastevere was a leisurely stroll down by the river- where we could play foosball and listen to live music on the bridge.
Venture north and along the coast.
A short train ride took us to Florence- home in my opinion to the best leather markets. We did the expected bout of haggling and then carried beers and pizza up the hill to watch the sunset views over the town.
All roads lead through Pisa- and that is how we made our way along the coast towards Riomaggiore. The obligatory leaning tower photo was taken before training to the Unesco World Heritage Coastline.
Home to five beautiful towns built into the cliffs along the french coast. Made more beautiful by their array of rainbow pastel colours.
Take the walk from Vernazza to Monterosso. Heading in this direction means you get right of way against the crowds and can finish your hike off with a swim in the safer bays of Monterosso.
Enjoy the best mandarin and basil gelato at Alberto Gelateria in Corniglia.
Head to Vertical Bar Riomaggiore for the best cocktails on the Italian Riviera. Utter perfection.
Don't leave until you have ordered as much pesto pasta as your stomach and wallet can afford.


The whole is greater than the sum of it's parts" is our motto: As a group of cavedivers we in Cavebase have put our focus on diving projects that can only be managed as a team due to their complexity. For the last 10 years this unique setup allowed us to explore caves all over Europe and realize challenging dives (of up to 15 hrs) where an individual would have failed.
Still it's not only the underwater world of caves that brought us together but the general love for the aquatic realm and the passion for the sport. We want to share our enthusiasm for the same and the knowledge that we could collect over the past years. The mission is clear: Let's make diving as Enoyable & safe as it can be.


Irrespective of the fact that your website is gorgeous and tech friendly but, if it is not visible online then it is equal to having no website at all. SEO is a technical expression to inform search engines of Google, Bing, and Yahoo that you are at the moment a fraction of the online world plus you also have some dependable products/services for users. Attri Digital renders a complete collection of digital marketing services and hence is the Top search engine marketing company in Delhi, India.
We focus on driving home a comprehensive variety of Search engine marketing strategies certain to work for your company. From formulation to strategy as well as implementation, our specialists will provide 360 degrees SEO solutions to take your website to the top of search engines. Our SEO specialists will take complete accountability of selecting the correct and wise keywords for your website. They will also carry out an all-embracing market research and challenger scrutiny for you. They will shape a sturdy base to lay the pillars of On-page plus Off-page optimization and link building schemes. We assure you an improved online visibility on Google, superior CTR (Click Through Rate), optimization of conversion rate, power on SERPs (search engine results page), and increase in Organic leads.
Our SEO professionals are certified and work on the data-driven approach to gauge power of your opposition, the character of your website, viable intention of your website and other constraints to build up strategies to assist you to achieve and maintain top Search Engine spot.
We at Attri Digital offer a different variety of SEM Services India whose combo will facilitate you to get excellent SEO outcomes and high public status. Our SEO services extend from local to national as well as global level optimization.
We assist you in such a way that your ranking on search engines is boosted and help in generating leads for your company, leading to increased sales. It will as well assist you to generate interest about your product and services which will append a value to your brand on numerous online/offline platforms.


The tower is a commercial, speculative shell and core project maximum G+50, comprising a seven storey parking podium with retail and office space.
The tower, with a typical floor plate of 1800 m2, is conceived as two wings which are connected with a core zone resulting in three distinct elements. The two wings contain the office spaces which afford spectacular views across the DMC development, over Port Rashid across the Gulf and towards the mainland. The core element is distinct amongst commercial developments as it allows natural light in on both the east and west edges, which results in a bright space again affording great views across Dubai. Splitting the floor plate into two wings allows for flexibility in the planning of the floor plates which results in a mix of space planning typologies.
The main form generators for the Commercial Tower deal with short range and long range views and the movement of the sun. Notions of the movement of waves, the wind, palms and light have all played a part in helping to define the formal strategy for the building. The larger landscape strategy is based on the idea of a series of nodes which act as points of collection and distribution within the pedestrian realm.


My family decided to go out to lunch on Mother's Day. I know, a very out-of-the-box, novel idea. When we stopped by the Cheesecake Factory to find a mob and a 90 minute wait, you could hear the laughter a mile away as I got back in the car. So we drove down the road to check out BJ's Brewhouse, a brewpub that one of our baseball mom friends recommended (based on the beer). We were careful not to upset "The Pembroke Pines Man" (camera monitored intersections) as we drove there. Thanks for the welcome!
It was just before noon. We easily found a parking spot. We were welcomed with a nice smile. We were immediately seated. And our waiter was promptly there to take drink orders. He didn't complain when I asked him to redo my kid's apple juice without ice. He was fine with substituting Alfredo sauce for red sauce for the other kid. AND he liked to talk beer--couldn't have been a better matched server for me.
I went right for their "new" beer, an IPA called HopStorm. And it was very tasty. Nice bready, malty backbone with a solid amount of hops and spicy bitterness. Good balance, flavorful, quite enjoyable. After I polished that off, the waiter asked me what I thought. I told him it was great. He said he thought it was perhaps a little more like a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, not hoppy enough. I heard that opinion and was OK with his analysis, but I felt it as a solid IPA.
He went on to let me know his friend was a homebrewer and they had just "celebrated" a successful SNPA clone the night before. He used that as a segue to let me know about a beer dinner they are hosting next Monday, May 21, 2012. It appears to be a 5 Course Dinner paired with 7 Beers from BJ's and Magic Hat. He told me that he's going with 10 of his buddies. Anyway, it costs $30 and you can call 954-430-3545 if you want to check it out. There are other locations too with the same event besides Pembroke Pines so if you're not local, check their website.
I thoroughly enjoyed my burger and fries, which I paired with their Harvest Hefeweizen. This wasn't a bad beer. Had a nice fruity flavor and a little tang. Fairly wheaty. It was easy to see that the glass was not perfectly clean, but I didn't say anything. It was Mother's Day and I had just come from church.
As my son and wife shared a dessert, I grabbed one final beer, the Tatonka Stout. This beer has a very creamy and luscious texture. Malty sweet chocolate with a solid amount of roast. Nice bitterness and balance. Nuances of coffee and vanilla come with a small alcohol bite toward the end. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was shocked to hear my wife agree. SHOCKED!
Anyway, I took a few photos at the bar to show you their full lineup of taps, both their own beers as well as guest taps, which there were many. They also had a fairly extensive bottle list in their menu, which I didn't take too much time to read, but it was solid. I will definitely be back and suggest you do the same for a relaxing, casual lunch or dinner with some great beers. Damn it! I probably should've got the guy's number for a date. LOL.