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What is transhumanism, or, what does it mean to be human?
Maker Kuma
What does it mean to be human? Biology has a simple answer: If your DNA is consistent with Homo sapiens, you are human — but we all know that humanity is a lot more complex and nuanced than that. Other schools of science might classify humans by their sociological or psychological behavior, but again we know that actually being human is more than just the sum of our thoughts and actions. You can also look at being human as a sliding scale. If you were to build a human from scratch, from the bottom up, at some point you cross the threshold into humanity — if you believe in evolution, at some point we ceased being a great ape and became human. Likewise, if you slowly remove parts from a human, you cross the threshold into inhumanity. Again, though, we run into the same problem: How do we codify, classify, and ratify what actually makes us human?
Does adding empathy make us human? Does removing the desire to procreate make us inhuman? If I physically alter my brain to behave in a different, non-standard way, am I still human? If I have all my limbs removed and my head spliced onto a robot, am I still human?
At first glance these questions might sound inflammatory and hyperbolic, or perhaps surreal and sci-fi, but don't be fooled: In the next decade, given the continued acceleration of computer technology and biomedicine, we will be forced to confront these questions and attempt to find some answers.
Transhumanism is a cultural and intellectual movement that believes we can, and should, improve the human condition through the use of advanced technologies. One of the core concepts in transhumanist thinking is life extension: Through genetic engineering, nanotech, cloning, and other emerging technologies, eternal life may soon be possible. Likewise, transhumanists are interested in the ever-increasing number of technologies that can boost our physical, intellectual, and psychological capabilities beyond what humans are naturally capable of (thus the term transhuman). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), for example, which speeds up reaction times and learning speed by running a very weak electric current through your brain, has already been used by the US military to train snipers. On the more extreme side, transhumanism deals with the concepts of mind uploading (to a computer), and what happens when we finally craft a computer with greater-than-human intelligence (the technological singularity)
Beyond the obvious benefits of eternal life or superhuman strength, transhumanism also investigates the potential dangers and ethical pitfalls of human enhancement. In the case of life extension, if every human on Earth suddenly stopped dying, overpopulation would trigger a very rapid and very dramatic socioeconomic disaster. Unless we stopped giving birth to babies, of course, but that merely rips open another can of worms: Without birth and death, would society and humanity continue to grow and evolve, or would it stagnate, suffocated by the accumulated ego of intellectuals and demagogues who just will not die? Likewise, if only the rich have access to intelligence- and strength-boosting drugs and technologies, what would happen to society? Should everyone have the right to boost their intellect? Would society still operate smoothly if everyone had an IQ of 300 and five doctorate degrees?
As you can see, things get complicated quickly when discussing transhumanist ideas — and life extension and augmented intelligence and strength are just the tip of the iceberg! This philosophical and ethical complexity stems from the fact that transhumanism is all about fusing humans with technology — and technology is advancing, improving, and breaking new ground very, very quickly. Humans have always used technology, of course — our ability to use tools and grasp concepts such as science and physics are what set us apart from other animals — but never has society been so intrinsically linked and underpinned by it. As we have seen in just the last few years, with the advent of the smartphone and ubiquitous high-speed mobile networks, just a handful of new technologies now have the power to completely change how we interact with the the world and people around us.
Humans, on the other hand, and the civilizations that they build, move relatively slowly. It took us millions of years to discover language, and thousands more to discover medicine and the scientific method. In the few thousand years since, up until the last century or so, we doubled the human life span, but neurology and physiology were impenetrable black boxes. In just the last 100 years, we've doubled our life span again, created bionic eyes and powered exoskeletons, begun to understand how the human brain actually works, and started to make serious headway with boosting intellectual and physical prowess. We've already mentioned how tDCS is being used to boost cranial capacity, and as we've seen in recent years, sportspeople have definitely shown the efficacy of physical doping.
It is due to this jarring juxtaposition — the historical slowness of human and societal evolution vs. the breakneck pace of modern technology — that many find transhumanism to be unpalatable. After all, as I've described it here, transhumanism is almost the very definition of unnatural. You're quite within your rights to find transhumanism a bit, well, weird. And it is weird, don't get me wrong — but so are most emerging technologies. Do you think that your great grandparents weren't wigged out by the first television sets? Before it garnered the name "television," one of its inventors gave it the rather spooky name of "distant electric vision." Can you imagine the wariness in which passengers approached the first steam trains? Vast mechanical beasts that could pull hundreds of tons and moved far faster than the humble — but state-of-the-art — horse and carriage.
The uneasiness that surround new, paradigm-shifting technologies isn't new, and it has only been amplified by the exponential acceleration of technology that has occurred during our lifetime. If you were born 500 years ago, odds are that you wouldn't experience a single societal-shifting technology in your lifetime — today, a 40 year old will have lived through the creation of the PC, the internet, the smartphone, and brain implants, to name just a few life-changing technologies. It is unsettling, to say the least, to have the rug repeatedly pulled out from under you, especially when it's your livelihood at stake. Just think about how many industries and jobs have been obliterated or subsumed by the arrival of the digital computer, and it's easy to see why we're wary of transhumanist technologies that will change the very fabric of human civilization.
The good news, though, is that humans are almost infinitely adaptable. While you or I might balk at the idea of a brain-computer interface that allows us to download our memories to a PC, and perhaps upload new memories a la The Matrix, our children — who can use smartphones at the age of 24 months, and communicate chiefly through digital means — will probably think nothing of it. For the children of tomorrow, living through a series of disruptive technologies that completely change their lives will be the norm. There might still be some resistance when I opt to have my head spliced onto a robotic exoskeleton, but within a generation children will be used to seeing Iron Seb saving people from car crashes and flying alongside airplanes.
The fact of the matter is that transhumanism is just a modern term for an age-old phenomenon. We have been augmenting our humanity — our strength, our wisdom, our empathy — with tools since prehistory. We have always been spooked by technologies that seem unnatural or that cause us to act in inhuman ways — it's simply human nature. That all changes with the children of today, however. To them, anything that isn't computerized, digital, and touch-enabled seems unnatural. To them, the smartphone is already an extension of the brain; to them, mind uploading, bionic implants and augmentations, and powered exoskeletons will just be par for the course. To them, transhumanism will just seem like natural evolution — and anyone who doesn't follow suit, just like those fuddy-duddies who still don't have a smartphone, will seem thoroughly inhuman.
By Sebastian Anthony | ExtremeTech | Image credit: Darkart.cz
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Cold Call Opt-Out Now Available By Text
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Subject: Cold Call Opt-Out Now Available By Text
Mobile phone users can block unwanted sales and marketing calls by texting their details to the Telephone Preference Service.
Mobile phone users can opt out of nuisance calls by text message for the first time from today.
The "text-to-register" service allows members of the public to add their number to the "do not call" database of the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).
Mobile users can sign up by texting "TPS" followed by their email address to 78070.
The TPS should send a text reply confirming the number has been added to its database.
The service may take 28 days to become fully effective but customers should notice a reduction in unwanted sales and marketing voice calls within days.
It is illegal for organisations to make unsolicited calls to numbers registered with the TPS unless they get consent.
Communications regulator Ofcom said only 48% of people familiar with the TPS are aware that they can register a mobile number, compared with 88% for landlines - meaning only 2.9 million UK mobiles are registered.
John Mitchison, head of the TPS, said: "Rogue callers operate illegally and against the interests of ordinary people.
"Texting will make it easier for people to register their mobile numbers on the TPS, which is the only official no-call list, and help us stamp out rogue callers once and for all by giving the Information Commissioner more ammunition to prosecute these cases."
Baroness Neville Rolfe, the minister responsible for data protection, said: "Nuisance calls are incredibly intrusive and can cause significant distress, particularly to elderly and vulnerable members of society.
"This new service from the TPS and Ofcom will help protect people with mobile phones, making it easier for them to register via text and opt out of the call list."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This name is in version 1.1 of The Plant List, record gcc-34322, with some changes.
This name is a synonym of Coreopsis leavenworthii Torr. & A.Gray.
The record derives from TICA which reports it as a synonym (record 454D3694-A887-4C1C-A7BC-3F9D43301601) with original publication details: Bot. Gaz. 94 592 1933 .
Full publication details for this name can be found in IPNI: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:65838-2.


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Posts Tagged 'Hizb-ut-Tahrir'
The Quilliam Foundation, Set Up By the Spooks
Hat tip to Zelo Street for posting about this story. And it's the type of stuff the conspiracy/ parapolitical magazine Lobster was set up to investigate and publicize: the covert shenanigans and dodgy activities of the British, American and western security services. Earlier this week the Quilliam Foundation, an organisation set up to counter Islamist religious extremism, went under. Its demise, as Zelo Street noted, raised the questions of why it had been wound up, considering all the millions had that been spent on it all these years, why its founder Maajid Nawaz had started deleting all his tweets about it, and what was the role of the security services in all of this. Ian Cobain, a former hack with the Groan knew, and told all.
Quilliam had been set up by the Home Office's Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism. He knew this, as the OSCT had told him. The government initially planned to fund it covertly. It would ostensibly be funded by benefactors from the Middle East, but this would be a cover for its real source of income, MI6. However, the government then decided that it should be openly funded by the government, but that this would not publicised. This is now seen as a mistake. It should have been funded by the security agencies, who do it all the time apparently without anyone finding out.
Solomon Hughes also noted that its links to the security services seemed pretty open when it was founded, as early staff included Special Forces Captain Ed Jagger, and a 'journalist', who goes by the pseudonym 'James Brandon'. Both of these men now work private security/ intelligence companies. This was all exposed six years ago by Nafeez Ahmed in an article in the Middle East Eye, 'The Circus: How British Intelligence Primed Both Sides of the Terror War". Ahmed revealed that the Quilliam Foundation was set up by Ed Husain and Nawaz with funding from the British government. And this, according to Ahmed, was why it failed, as neither of its founders were actually jihadis.
"Perhaps the biggest problem with Husain's and Nawaz's claim to expertise on terrorism was that they were never jihadists. Hizb ut-Tahrir is a non-violent movement for the establishment of a global 'caliphate' through social struggle, focusing on the need for political activism in the Muslim world. Whatever the demerits of this rigid political ideology, it had no relationship to the phenomenon of al-Qaeda terrorism".
Hizb-ut-Tahrir spawned a terrorist-supporting offshoot, al-Muhajiroun, which has also, like HuT, been banned in Britain as terrorist organisation. I think it was al-Muhajiroun, which was openly campaigning for donations to go to al-Qaeda from British Muslims at the time of the 9/11 terror attack. If I recall correctly, a couple of these jokers made the mistake of doing so in the street, and some other, ordinary stout Muslims lads showed them how strongly they disapproved of terrorism and mass murder. I think it was because of his role as a leading supporter and campaigner for al-Muhajiroun that Anjem Chowdhry, who never met an Islamist terrorist he didn't like, apparently, ended up in the slammer. I thought Chowdry was behind the outfit, but it seems he wasn't. It was founded instead by Omar Bakri. According to the US army intelligence officer and prosecutor for the US Justice Department, John Loftus, after Bakr left Hizb-ut-Tahrir he was recruited by MI6 facilitate Islamist activities in the Balkans. Ahmed concluded his piece by wishing that they could round up all the activists in the Quilliam Foundation and HuT and their handlers, and then put them in a boat on a journey to nowhere, so that everyone else could get some peace.
Zelo Street: Quilliam And The Spooks (zelo-street.blogspot.com)
It's been Lobster's contention since its foundation in the 1980s that the British security services are incompetent, out of control and very frequently working against the well-being of this country's ordinary people. MI6's recruitment of Bakri to assist in Islamist radicalisation and activities in the Balkans adds further evidence to this view. Years ago I found a book in the Central Library here in Bristol by a Muslim, which suggested that the 7/7 bombings had also been the result of a plot by the British security services. This was part of a wider scheme to keep western troops in the former Yugoslavia, ostensibly to keep the peace, but in reality to maintain control of yet another oil pipeline. I don't know whether MI6 is so lawless that it was behind the 7/7 bombings – I sincerely hope not – but the revelation that it recruited Bakri to promote Islamism in that part of Europe suggests that there's something to the idea that it's all about oil politics. It was to get control of an oil pipeline that we invaded Afghanistan, not to overthrow al-Qaeda or the Taliban. And the Iraq invasion was to grab their oil industry as well as loot the country of its other, valuable state enterprises for the benefit of western multinationals.
And somehow the Quilliam Foundation fits in with this mess of Islamist surveillance and manipulation.
Tags:7/7 Bombings, 9/11, al-Muhajiroun, al-Qaeda, Balkans, Ed Husain, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Intelligence Agencies, Iraq Invasion, John Loftus, Lobster, Maajid Nawaz, MI6, Middle East Eye, Nafeez Ahmed, Office for Security and Counter-Terrorism, Oil Industry, Oil Pipeline, Omar Bakri, Quilliam Foundation, Security Services, State Enterprises, Taliban, Zelo Street
Posted in Afghanistan, America, Democracy, Industry, Iraq, Islam, Justice, LIterature, OIl, Politics, Terrorism, The Press, Yugoslavia | Leave a Comment »
Has Tory Victory Emboldened the Islamophobes?
Zelo Street yesterday posted an article that 'Hatey' Katie Hopkins has slithered out from under whatever stone she hides under, and endorsed the Tories. And in doing so made some clearly islamophobic and racist comments directed at the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and Sayeeda Warsi.
Hopkins started off by gloating about the extent of Bozo's majority. She tweeted
Boris majority on track to be bigger than Thatchers or Blair's. Incredible turn from Labour to Tory in unthinkable seats like Redcar, jihadi-central-Stoke & Workington … Formally out of the EU in December … Nationalism is back in Britain. Time to put British people first.
Zelo Street points out that Thatcher had a majority of 140 in 1983 and Blair 180 in 1997, both of which were much larger than the Blonde Beast's 80.
Ignoring the inconvenient fact that the Tories lost half their seats in Scotland, she declared that the 'Ginger Dwarf from the North' does not speak for all Scots. Which I'm sure she doesn't, just as Bozo definitely doesn't speak for all of Britain. But Sturgeon speaks for the majority of Scots.
As Zelo Street's article showed, Hatey Katie then posted a meme saying 'Safer to be in Syria' and tweeted
We have taken back control of England from leftists & those who wish to see this country fail. Now it is time to take back our capital city. Time to Make London Great Again.
Which she then followed with
Now that nationalists are in control of England, we begin the fight back for London … It's time to kick Sadiq Khan out of office.
She tried to make this not sound racist by including 'love to my Indian family', but the islamophobic and racist subtext is very clear.
She then tweeted at Sayeeda Warsi when she sent a message saying that her party must begin healing its relationship with Muslims
It's our party now Warsi. Time you stepped down, love. Way down.
This was followed by
Your party? Hold on a minute sister. I think you will find it's OUR party now. Britain has Boris and a blue collar army. Nationalism is back. British people first.
Zelo Street points out that Warsi is British, because she was born in Dewsbury. But Hopkins doesn't mean that. Hopkins then went on to post a picture of a letter box, saying that this reminded her to post her Christmas cards. She then sent another tweet in the direction of Sadiq Khan, saying
Don't think of it as a dark day darling. Think of it as a brilliant awakening. Britain is fighting back for its own.
As Zelo Street points out, the doesn't consider Khan British either, because he isn't white.
Tim concludes
'Bozo's victory has emboldened the racists. I'll just leave that one there.'
https://zelo-street.blogspot.com/2019/12/katie-hopkins-full-tory-english-racist.html
Absolutely. Yesterday I found that a supporter of Tommy Robinson had posted a series of comments on this blog. One was objecting to my article about Mike Stuchbery suing Robinson for libel after Robinson and his storm troopers turned up at Stuchbery's house banging on the windows and doors at all hours. In addition to demanding that Stuchbery come out to talk to them, they also accused him of being a paedophile. Stuchbery's a teacher, and so this has made his job in England very difficult and he's moved to Germany. But Robinson's supporters see their leader as absolutely innocent of all wrongdoing, and claim that Stuchbery had doxed Robinson by putting up pictures of his house. Which I don't believe Stuchbery did.
They also gloated about the extent of the Tory victory, and accused Corbyn of supporting Islamist terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah, and the IRA over here. Which he doesn't. They also posted this comment
Oh, and if you think Islam is so wonderful, I suggest you move to Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, or Iran then you can see what life is really like under Sharia Law.
They're talking to the wrong person here. I'm not a Muslim, but I studied Islam as part of a minor degree in Religious Studies when I was at College in the 1970s. This was during the Satanic Verses controversy, and I am very well aware of the bigotry in certain sections of British Islam, and the problems confronting the Islamic world. These are social, political and economic stagnation, an absence and in some cases complete rejection of democratic government and modern human rights, corruption and religious intolerance. However, none of these are unique to Islam. As I've pointed out, Christianity and the West passed through similar crises in the 19th and 20th centuries, and I've read works by a French anthropologist arguing that Islamism is the result of a similar crisis in Islam as it grapples with modernity. As reader of this blog will be aware, I also call out and denounce Islamist bigotry as well as other forms of racism, including islamophobia.
Some of the problems facing the Islamic world have been greatly exacerbated by outside, western interference. Saudi Arabia has gained its powerful position in the Middle East through support by the West, who have used it as a bulwark against secular Arab nationalism in the Middle East. The rise of Islamism in Algeria was partly encouraged by the country's politically Conservative regime. They saw it as a peaceful alternative to the radical socialism preached by intellectuals with a French education. And there are movement for greater political freedom and feminism within the Islamic world.
Also, just 'cause Muslim countries are a mess doesn't mean that Muslims over here want to turn Britain into an Islamic state or import some of the elements of Islamic politics that have held these countries back. Yes, you can find the intolerant bigots ranting against Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and so on, and there are those, who would like to turn Britain into an Islamic state. But I've also seen them challenged by other British Muslims. There have been demonstrations against bigots like Kalam Sadeequi and the rest. And when Akhthar and his crew were burning copies of the Satanic Verses in Bradford, one of the Islam lecturers from my old College went up there to argue with them, quoting chapter and verse from the Qu'ran why this was wrong. And attempts to launch Islamist parties over here have hardly been impressive. I remember back in the 1980s or early '90s there was a British Islamic party launched. But it seems to have vanished without trace. If it was Hizb ut Tahrir, then this may have been because it was banned as a terrorist organisation. I'm sure you can find some far left morons, who support it and feel it should be given a voice, but they are very few and far between, despite the Islamophobic propaganda. And Hizb ut Tahrir and groups like it, from what I've seen, have never commanded a mass membership.
The wider Muslim community in this country thus should not be accused of terrorism or terrorist sympathies, based on the actions of the Islamist radicals. Nor should they be seen as somehow less British than anyone else in the UK.
Taken with Hopkins' tweets attacking praising the Tories and attacking Warsi and Sadiq Khan for being Muslims, these comments do seem quite ominous. It reinforces Zelo Street's conclusion that the Tory victory has emboldened the racist right. After Johnson published his noxious comments about Muslim women in burqas, there was an increase in Islamophobic attacks. And certainly racist incidents have been on the rise since the emergence of UKIP and the Brexit party. Brexit does seem to have encouraged racist Whites to believe that they can get away with the abuse and assault of ethnic minorities. I might be wrong – I hope I am – but I won't be surprise if we can expect a further increase in racist incidents.
The Conservatives have always played on racism, and Johnson's victory is going to make this worse.
Tags:'The Satanic Verses', Abuse, Assault, Boris Johnson, Bradford, Brexit, Brexit Party, Child Abuse, Christianity, Conservatives, Hamas, Hezbollah, Hinduism, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Human Rights, Indians, Islamism, Islamophobia, Kalam Sadeequi, Katie Hopkins, Margaret Thatcher, Mike Stuchbery, Muslims, Nationalism, Nicola Sturgeon, Protests, racism, Redcar, Sadiq Khan, Sayeeda Warsi, SNP, Stoke, Tommy Robinson, tony blair, UKIP, Women, Workington, Zelo Street
Posted in Afghanistan, Algeria, Anthropology, Arabs, Crime, Democracy, Economics, Education, European Union, Fascism, France, Germany, Iran, Ireland, Islam, Judaism, Law, LIterature, Persecution, Politics, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Syria, Terrorism | 1 Comment »
UKIP, Islamophobia and the Loud Atheism Website
On Thursday, Hope Not Hate published a piece UKIP's Stretford & Urmston Candidate Thinks Islam is "Despicable" reporting that Kalvin Chapman, the UKIP parliamentary candidate for Stretford and Urmston, Kalvin Chapman, had posted a comment on the 'Loud Atheism' Facebook page attacking Islam. He described it as a 'despicable' and 'f***ed up'.
The article's at http://www.hopenothate.org.uk/ukip/ukip-s-stretford-urmston-candidate-thinks-islam-is-despicable-4397, if you want to see it.
Now I have the impression that this is pretty much par for the course for much of the 'New Atheist' movement. This is the form of organised atheism that emerged in late decade, led by Richard Dawkins, Sue Blackmore, Christopher Hitchens and Daniel C. Dennett. The movements critics have pointed out that by and large the New Atheism didn't have any new arguments, except perhaps an extension of Darwinian theory to try and explain religious belief. In the case of Sue Blackmore and Daniel C. Dennett, it had an extremely reductive view of human consciousness that saw it as being nothing more than a series of biological computer programmes. Sue Blackmore in particular took this to its most logically absurd extent and denied consciousness actually existed.
If the arguments were largely the same, traditional arguments used against religious belief and organised religion, the presentation was quite different. It was much more vicious, vitriolic and intolerant. Atheist movements in the past have persecuted organised religion. Religious belief in the former Communist bloc was severely limited and fiercely persecuted, with religious believers killed or sent to forced labour camps. In the former Soviet Union the penalty for holding a religious service in your own home would see you arrested and your house demolished.
The older, atheist tradition in the West could be much more genteel. Angry revolutionaries like the Surrealist film-maker Bunuel and his counterparts could and did make blasphemous films and art attacking organised religion in general and Roman Catholicism in particular. In the 1950s they held a mock trial of the Roman Catholic church in a disused church just outside Paris, while the Surrealists' leader, Andre Breton, wrote an article denouncing recent attempts to combine surrealism with Christianity, entitled 'To Your Kennels, Curs of God'.
Against this, there were atheist intellectuals like A.J. Ayer and Ludovik Kennedy, who were much less personally abusive. Kennedy when he appeared on Mark Lamarr's chat show, Lamarr's Attacks, in the 1990s, was courteous and polite. A.J. Ayer became friends with a Jesuit priest after having a Near Death Experience choking on a piece of fish in hospital. It didn't make him become a religious believer, but the incident does show that people of differing and opposed religious views needn't be personal enemies.
The New Atheism, by contrast, was much more aggressive, with a far greater use of invective. Rather than merely being attacked intellectually, religious and religious belief should be actively discouraged and given much less tolerance. Richard Dawkins has been quoted by his critics as saying that religious believers should be humiliated and shamed into abandoning their beliefs.
The result of this is that some atheist websites have a reputation for abuse and invective, like P.Z. Myers' The Panda's Thumb, set up to defend evolution from creationism, and Raving Atheism. I was warned off the latter by a friend, who said it was just atheists being extremely blasphemous and abusive for the sake of it.
To be fair, this approach has its critics from within the atheist movement, many of whom are genuinely shocked at how extreme and bitterly intolerant the New Atheist rhetoric is. A few years ago one atheist writer published an article in one of the papers actually saying that Richard Dawkins' made him ashamed to be an atheist. And within the last couple of years in particular a strain of Islamophobia has emerged within the New Atheist movement. Again, this has been exemplified by Richard Dawkins, who become the subject of further controversy because of his posts and tweets attacking Islam, particularly the low status of women in Islamic countries and Female Genital Mutilation. Chapman's comments about Islam are part of this strand of New Atheism.
And the fear of Islam, or at least radical Islamism, may have been one of the catalysts of the New Atheism from the start. I was talking to a friend of mine a while ago about the origins of the New Atheism. I thought it was a reaction to the growth of Creationism and Intelligent Design, which recognises the emergence of new species over time, but claims this is due to the intervention of intelligent agencies, rather than the mechanism of random mutation and natural selection, suggested by Neo-Darwinian theory. I also wondered if it was also due to the accession to the Presidency of George 'Dubya', an Evangelical Christian, and the increasing power and influence of the Christian religious right in American politics.
My friend took a different view. He believed it was a reaction to 9/11 and the rise of aggressive Islamic terrorist movements, like al-Qaeda, and radical and aggressive Islamic political movements within the largely secular West, such as Hizb-ut-Tahrir. He stated that some of Atheists', Agnostics' and Secularists' Societies set up on university campus in practice were little more than anti-Islam societies.
Now I don't know how true this is. The AAS at Bristol University did not seem to be particularly interested in Islam, only in attacking religion in general. The events and lectures it organised seemed generally disrespectful, such as a social evening in which members were encouraged to dress up as their favourite religious figure. One of their lectures was a general account of traditional, religious beliefs about the creation of the world from antiquity onwards.
Now I do believe that if you are going to criticise religion, then this should extend to all religions, rather than just Christianity as the former majority, mainstream religion of the West. However, in the case of Islam at the moment, such criticism has become extremely dangerous. It can easily lead to the persecution of innocents, including racist attacks and the demonization of Islam generally because of the atrocities committed by the Islamist militants. This in turn may fuel the alienation and resentment in Muslim communities, and further the Islamists' goal of their further radicalisation.
In the case of Chapman, I'm not surprised that his post against Islam was particularly splenetic, given the title of the website on which it was posted. What is worrying is that it comes from a prospective parliamentary candidate for a party that has developed a reputation for racism and a bitter hostility to Islam.
Tags:'Lamarr's Attacks', 'Loud Atheism', 9/11, A.J. Ayer, Andrew Breton, Atheists' Agnostics' and Secularists' Societies, Bristol University, Christianity, christopher hitchens, Consciousness, Creationism, Daniel C. Dennett, George 'Dubya' Bush, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, Intelligent Design, Islamophobia, Kalvin Chapman, Ludovic Kennedy, Luis Bunuel, Mark Lamarr, Neo-Darwinism, New Atheism, P.Z. Myers, racism, Raving Atheists, Religious Right, richard dawkins, Soviet Union, Stretford and Urmston, Sue Blackmore, Surrealism, The Panda's Thumb, UKIP
Posted in Agnosticism, America, Art, Atheism, communism, Evolutionary Theory, Fascism, Film, Islam, Persecution, Politics, Roman Catholicism, Russia, Terrorism | Leave a Comment »


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Uniting remotely against Sexual Assault: PASA to hold series of virtual events for Sexual Assault Awareness Month
By Katie Frost|April 3, 2020
Sexual Assault Awareness Month has been observed every April since 2001. (Photo Courtesy of PASA)
April has been designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) since 2001. Despite not being on campus this year, Pards Against Sexual Assault (PASA) plans to recognize the importance of this month and what it represents with the entire campus community, if not a larger one, through a series of virtual, month-long events.
PASA has hosted SAAM each April since it was founded in fall 2017. PASA's mission it to both empower and provide resources for sexual assault survivors and educate the college community in order to prevent further sexual misconduct. SAAM serves as an integral part of this mission.
As the rest of the semester has been moved to remote learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic and students are no longer on campus, all events will be held virtually, through the organization's Instagram page or newly created website.
"As we have learned through virtual learning, we don't need to be on campus to continue to expand our knowledge! Even though we are are not physically on campus, it is of the utmost importance that we express our support to survivors on our campus that we are there for them and do not tolerate sexual assault," PASA president Emma Piascik '21 wrote in an email.
The first virtual event, Teal Tuesday, will be held next Tuesday, April 7. For this event, participants are encouraged to change their Instagram profile picture to a teal background to show their support for survivors. PASA also plans to release an educational video to supplement this show of solidarity.
On Saturday, April 11 at 11:00 a.m. and on Friday, April 24 at 5:00 p.m., PASA will use Instagram to livestream a trauma-informed yoga session taught by Liz Jordan, a Trauma Sensitive Yoga certified instructor.
PASA also plans to release informational videos created by Lafayette administrators and staff that will be available on their website on April 18. April 29, Psychology Professor Susan Hannan will host an informational presentation via Google Meets at 12:15 p.m.
April 29 is also Denim Day, where participants will be encouraged to post photos of themselves wearing denim to raise awareness of sexual assault and tag PASA's Instagram account.
Any time between April 5-26, members of the campus community can submit an anonymous note of encouragement and support that will be sent to the Crime Victims Counsel of the Lehigh Valley and shared with survivors of sexual assault after being reviewed by PASA.
Greta Kullby '21, director of marketing and communications for PASA, explained that the events were decided on by the organization prior to the college's closing. COVID-19 has forced the organization to make adjustments and adaptations and "pushed [PASA] to be a bit creative," Kullby explained.
"I think that our virtual events will make SAAM more accessible and provide just as many, if not more, avenues for students to participate," Kullby wrote in an email.
For instance, the notes for survivors initiative was originally only going to be available for one week, but now it will take place over three weeks. Additionally, SAAM was originally only to feature one yoga class, but now there are two.
"The first step in making a change is educating and discussing sexual violence with students. The more individuals understand the causes, effects, and other nuances of sexual assault, the more motivated they will be to change their behavior to make our campus a happy and safe environment," Piascik wrote.
"PASA intends to keep our promise to students, even if we aren't all physically on campus at the moment," Kullby wrote. "No one is going to fix the world in a day, but we as the Lafayette community, wherever we are currently, can still be a part in this greater discussion."


Dungannon Swifts come from 3-1 down to defeat Warrenpoint Town 4-3 at Stangmore Park.
Point led through early goals from Danny Wallace and Mark Griffin before Mark Patton pulled one back, but Dean Watters then restored the visitors' two-goal lead.
A Hernany Marques own goal made it 3-2 and a brave finish by the excellent Daniel Hughes drew the Swifts level before Patton hit the winner with his second.


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After grabbing a quick breakfast, my friends and I piled into the car. Our destination was the Hoover Dam, a short 45 minute drive from Vegas.
As we drove out to the dam the married couple began to complain, well it was mostly the wife. She griped about the size of the car we had rented, the fact that she had limited money to spend because she and her husband had just gone on vacation the week prior to our Vegas trip (my fault, obviously) and she was in a pretty nit-picky mood, even harping on her husband at times. It was annoying and I was growing tired of it.
We arrived to the dam early in the morning but the temperature was already reaching 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 Celsius). My friends and I walked across the engineering marvel, shooting pictures down the 726 foot (221 meters) massive wall that held back Lake Mead.
Note that it's over 110 degrees and it's in the shade!
During the trip planning process I had expressed interest in going on the Hoover dam tour (I'm always up for a dam tour). There were two different tours, a 30 minute and an 1 hour tour. Now we were at the dam I sensed that the married couple had no interest in the dam tour. My friend Amy had also seemed uninterested – however unlike the married couple, she politely mentioned she would skip the tour.
I began to think that I was not going on dam tour as I did not want to be so selfish that I made everyone wait for me while I was touring the dam. As the married couple continued to complain about the tour my friend Laura walked off. I was left with the married couple which obviously I was pleased about.
I told them that was fine that we skipped the tour and I began to look for Laura. Oddly enough I found her in line for the tour. I can only assume she had also grown tired of the complaining and knew the dam tour was important to me. I asked her what she was doing and she simply responded "we're going on the dam tour" (or perhaps it was the damn tour by that point). Apparently the married couple could wait in the 100+ degrees.
Laura and I decided to not be overly rude by forcing the fact that we were taking the tour so we took the 30 minute tour. The tour consisted of a informative video and an elevator ride that took us 530 feet down into inside of the dam. We viewed the 30 foot diameter pipes which carry around 90,000 gallons of water each second charging the hydroelectric generators. We then took another elevator to visit the powerhouse room which consisted of 17 generators.
I think the most fascinating part of the tour was finding out that the concrete is still curing to this day. Not really shocking as the base of the dam is 660 feet wide (202 meters). Built in 1937, it did not surprise me that it would take some drying time… although 73 years was an impressive amount of time.
After the completion of the tour, Laura and I headed back out into the heat and located the rest of our group. As we walked back to the parking garage I rubbed the feet of the bronze winged figures, supposedly rubbing their feet brings good luck. Hopefully the rest of our trip to The Grand Canyon West would go better.
For anyone interested in visiting the Hoover Dam it is located 30 miles southeast of Vegas on Nevada Highway 93. They are open daily from 9am to 6pm with tours running 9am to 5:15pm in the summer and to 4:15pm in the winter. The two tours offered are the power plant tour, a 30 minute tour for $11 and the Hoover Dam Tour, an hour tour for $30. The parking garage is open from 8am to 6pm and is $7. Note they only accept cash at the parking garage.
Tagged group travel problems, hoover dam tours, traveling with friends, visiting hoover dam. Bookmark the permalink.


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Q: Select the first column name where a value is null by Id I would like to get the first null-valued column name when selecting by Id:
I tried:
SELECT Snap1,Snap2,Snap3,Snap4
where NULL
FROM tbtProgressSnap
where Id=3

Id | Snap1 | Snap2 | Snap3 | Snap4|
-----------------------------------
1  |       |       |/a.png |/b.png|
-----------------------------------
2  | d.png | m.png |       |      |
-----------------------------------
3  | g.png |l.png  |p.png  |      |

I expect to get, with respective Ids
1 Snap1
2 Snap3
3 Snap4

A: Try this:
SELECT WorkId,
      (CASE WHEN Snap1 IS NULL OR snap1 = '' THEN 'Snap1'
            WHEN Snap2 IS NULL OR snap2 = '' THEN 'Snap2'
            WHEN Snap3 IS NULL OR snap3 = '' THEN 'Snap3'
            WHEN Snap4 IS NULL OR snap4 = '' THEN 'Snap4'
            WHEN Snap5 IS NULL OR snap5 = '' THEN 'Snap5'
            ELSE ''
       END) AS snapValue
FROM tbtProgressSnap
WHERE WorkId=4;

Check the SQL FIDDLE DMEO
OUTPUT
| WORKID | SNAPVALUE |
|--------|-----------|
|      4 |     Snap5 |

A: You need a case with a group by over min():
SELECT
    min(id) id,
    CASE
        WHEN Snap1 IS NULL THEN 'Snap1'
        WHEN Snap2 IS NULL THEN 'Snap2'
        WHEN Snap3 IS NULL THEN 'Snap3'
        WHEN Snap4 IS NULL THEN 'Snap4'
    END snap
FROM tbtProgressSnap
WHERE Snap1 IS NULL OR Snap2 IS NULL OR Snap3 IS NULL OR Snap4 IS NULL
GROUP BY 2

See SQL Fiddle with your sample data producing your desired output.

A: I don't know if there's a builtin function but you can always do this:
SELECT Id,
CASE
    WHEN Snap1 IS NULL THEN 'Snap1'
    WHEN Snap2 IS NULL THEN 'Snap2'
    WHEN Snap3 IS NULL THEN 'Snap3'
    WHEN Snap4 IS NULL THEN 'Snap4'
END AS FirstNullColumnName,
CASE
    WHEN Snap1 IS NULL THEN Snap1
    WHEN Snap2 IS NULL THEN Snap2
    WHEN Snap3 IS NULL THEN Snap3
    WHEN Snap4 IS NULL THEN Snap4
END AS FirstNullColumnValue
FROM tbtProgressSnap

A: SELECT Snap1,Snap2,Snap3,Snap4 from tbtProgressSnap where snap1 =""

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home » ADAPT Panel: ADAS Work to Become Necessity for Shops
ADAPT Panel: ADAS Work to Become Necessity for Shops
NASHVILLE, TENN., Dec. 7, 2021—Over the last several years, the use of and references to ADAS—advanced driver assistance systems—has grown at an exponential rate.
More and more, vehicles are equipped with sensors, cameras and other tools to help drivers stay safe on the roads, and those vehicles are now entering shops with increasing frequency.
Because of that ubiquity and the amount of technology that is classified as ADAS, however, it has become difficult to succinctly define what ADAS means.
"ADAS is not a 'thing, it's an industry generated collection of features that help the driver. Cruise control is a driver assist system; making it radar-responsive makes it advanced," Ben Johnson, director of product management at Mitchell 1, said. "When people design a new system, they don't decide 'oh, hey, this is going to be a part of ADAS.' It's hard to find one category to put everything into."
Camera and sensor layouts vary widely between OEMs and even between vehicles from the same manufacturer, and each of those components can be used for more than just one ADAS function. For example, sensors in a vehicle's front bumper can be used for auto lane keep, adaptive cruise control, emergency stop warnings and so on.
With those systems becoming prevalent throughout the industry, some have lamented that ADAS will be the end of the repair industry as we know it.
Jason Ziese, mechanical operations manager at LaMettry's Collision, doesn't see it that way.
"Severity of crashes has gone down, but the cost of repairs have gone up. People have been practicing really bad driving habits for the last year and a half," Ziese said. "Because of that, we're going to have an extended time of a lot of crashed cars."
That means your shop has already, most likely, seen an ADAS-equipped vehicle, and if it hasn't, it's almost guaranteed to happen in the not-too-distant future. Instead of ignoring it or actively wishing it weren't here, Johnson says your shop needs to be actively training and preparing for working on ADAS.
"Collision has embraced this a lot more than mechanical. If you're doing basic repair—radiators, windshields, so on—you're working on ADAS," Johnson said. "People don't seem to fully understand it."
There isn't really a one-stop shop to learn about everything ADAS—as mentioned earlier, OEMs vary greatly in their use and deployment of cameras and sensors. Because of that, biting the bullet and researching specific vehicle models as they come in is the best way to get up-to-date on the technology your techs will be working with.
"Keeping things updated is so crucial, both your tools and your techs. Making sure people are actually understanding a vehicle instead of just trying the same thing over and over again is so crucial," Ziese said. "Our staff takes pride in what they're doing, their equipment and their service. It comes down to having the right people.
"Customers want those features and they enjoy those features. When doing even the simplest repairs, if the procedures call for a recalibration, do it. We can't afford to take that liability. You have to be able to explain to your customer what the system is, how it works and why it's necessary to do the scan when fixing their vehicle."
ADAS is an ever-evolving art of the industry, and shops need to be prepared to make a recurring investment in both technology and training to make sure they stay ahead of the curve.
"Everybody is learning this as they go. Even the companies that build these systems for the OEs are learning as they go," Johnson said. "You've got a couple of choices as a shop to start getting in. No. 1) invest in the equipment you need if you're working on enough vehicles. No. 2) if you aren't, find someone who has a facility and refer your customer to them."
Regardless of how a shop decides to handle it, LaMettry's President of Operations Darrell Amberson says it's a step every shop should take.
"It's time for us as an industry to take the next step up, to think more highly of ourselves, to take on more responsibility and gain more trust of the customer," Amberson said. "We are at a point where we deserve and should demand more respect."
Prepping Your Shop to Work on ADAS
The Growth of ADAS for Mechanical Repair Shops
Adapting Shops for ADAS


Come tune in your ears and your imaginations and travel with us around Greece aboard the audio-visual presentation created by the My landscape in sounds programme for schools.
The programme participants recorded, processed and illustrated sounds with a view to sharpening their acoustic observation of the soundscapes that surround us and to cultivating creativity through their synthesis.
The primary and secondary school children started out learning to listen closely. They went on to make their own sound recordings using digital recorders, then processed these sounds using specialized software. In parallel, they created visual representations of their sound compositions, grasping the fundamental properties of sound in the process.
The sound installation maps the different landscapes we encountered in the course of the programme in an original way. We will hear sounds from Koulas' Hill in Serres, from the Old Olive Mill in Eleusina, from Kallithea's street market, from the Roman Odeon on Kos, all turned into sound compositions by the children. At the same time, their graphic scores and collages reveal the shapes and textures our young artists bestowed on the sounds of a playground, a typewriter, the sea, footsteps...The material was designed to be accessible to the partially sighted and to the blind.
Serres' 12th Primary School, the Kallithea Special Primary School for the Blind, Eleusina's 5th Primary School and the 2nd High School of Kos.


We supply all Mapei ceramic products including, Adhesives & Waterproofing products. Mapegum WPS, Ultracolour plus Grouts, primers and self levelling compounds. Everything you need to create and install a wet rooms, and bathrooms installations. Discounts are available on larger quantities, but feel free to call us if you have specific requirements.


Lulling guests into quality sleep is about more than a great mattress, high-thread-count sheets and luxuriating pillows. Encasements that protect mattresses against bed bugs, allergens and liquid damage give hotel guests peace-of-mind so they can rest easily, which cultivates a deeper loyalty to stay at that same property in the future. Protect A Bed's encasements feature breathable fabrics that let air penetrate but keep contaminants out – and this encourages guests to unwind and sleep well after a busy day of work or play.
A smart strategy for mattress protection begins with making it a mattress fabrics priority and ends with the right products. Chemical-free, waterproof encasements are a proven invaluable solution that saves hoteliers money, raises guest satisfaction levels, and safeguards a property's reputation – all while making guest slumber safe and satisfying.
Mattresses represent a substantial monetary investment, so ensuring their long life with the best protection in the marketplace (and avoiding premature mattress replacement) is crucial. Encasements last much longer than other solutions – approximately a decade before replacement needs to be considered – making them a cost-effective way to safeguard bedding assets. Selecting the right products does more than extend the life of the mattress. It minimizes housekeeping labor (the time spent sanitizing mattresses), reduces the costs of water and cleaning supplies, and decreases lost room revenue due to the down-time when mattresses are cleaned.
Focusing on how to improve the mind, body and soul is becoming increasingly important in our tech-heavy society where being "wired and tired" is a real issue, even on vacation.
Guests spend about one-third of their vacation sleeping. Good sleep on a good hotel bed is one of the principle reasons for making a booking in the hotel business.As a result, quality sleep has emerged as the cornerstone of functional wellness because it reinvigorates guests, ultimately driving higher levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Social media's ability to impact reputation and financial prosperity is unquestionable. The numbers speak volumes about the influence of negative reviews when it comes to bed bugs – a University of Kentucky survey of nearly 2,100 travelers in the United States found that a single recent review that mentions bed bugs lowers hotel room values by $38 for business travelers and $23 for leisure travelers.
Since customers spend nearly 40% of their stay in bed – and possibly more time online – mattress care is critical. Give guests something positive to talk about – protecting mattresses with the right kind of encasements can elevate positive interaction on social media and verbal praise among friends and family. Social media shapes travelers' decision-making, and negative reviews, whether accurate or not, Protectioncirculate throughout social platforms and news outlets for years long after a bed bug report. And, the effect can touch a single-named hotel or, by association, a portfolio of properties. Undeniably, bed hygiene is serious business for a hotel because it can make or break a property's reputation and power profitability.


An investment management firm has inked a deal to move and expand its offices to new digs across Park Avenue, Commercial Observer has learned.
Octagon Credit Investors has signed a 10-year lease for office space at 250 Park Avenue between East 46th and East 47th Streets, according to a press release from Cushman & Wakefield, which represented both sides in the deal.
The company, which is currently based across the street at 245 Park Avenue, is taking 16,304 square feet on part of the 15th floor. Asking rent in the deal was $67 per square foot, according to the release.
Mr. Hoffman represented the tenant with colleague Bryan Boisi, and the landlord, AEW Capital Management, with Robert Billingsley and Whitnee Williams.
Octagon was recently purchased by insurance financing giant Conning & Company. The office at 250 Park Avenue will serve as an independent office for the company. Its new offices will be a significant upgrade in the size of space from what the company leases at 245 Park Avenue, where CoStar Group lists it has 3,000 square feet. Octagon is currently based at 245 Park Avenue with its former parent company, CCMP Capital Advisors.


text:
Purolite opens new manufacturing facility in…
Purolite opens new manufacturing facility in Montgomery County
The plant brings an initial 75 new jobs.
Purolite has opened a new 74,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in King of Prussia, initially adding 75 jobs. The company held a ribbon cutting on Monday, Dec. 5. (PHOTO COURTESY OF PUROLITE)
By Donna Rovins | drovins@pottsmerc.com | The Times Herald
KING OF PRUSSIA — Purolite, a global provider of high-end ion exchange resins and an Ecolab company, has opened a new pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in King of Prussia.
The new 74,000-square-foot plant initially creates 75 new jobs, the company says.
The plant at 3700 Horizon Blvd. will produce ion exchange resins for healthcare development and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients — or pharmaceutical APIs — to meet the growing demand for existing and future applications and therapies.
State and local officials joined the company Monday, Dec. 5, for the opening of the facility.
"This expansion adds to Purolite's multi-continent ion exchange production to further ensure the security of supply globally and demonstrates our commitment to supporting growing global demand for new healthcare applications and future drug development," Gergely (GG) Sved, executive vice president and president of Global Healthcare & Life Sciences, said in a statement.
With the opening of the plant, Sved said Purolite is now one of the "fastest-growing global providers of ion exchange resins for the critical industries that helps protect people, planet and business health."
The new plant is the company's fifth manufacturing facility globally. It has two new cleanrooms that are FDA and cGMP compliant, to manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). It is expected the Montgomery County plant will increase the company's production of APIs by 67%, the company said.
A cleanroom is sterile and meets the requirements of the Good Manufacturing Practice sterile code. Each cleanroom has independent HVAC systems. Airflow is controlled in volume, pressure, supply and exhaust, temperature and humidity, and operation is tightly managed, according to a fact sheet about the company.
The company has more than 40 years of experience manufacturing APIs, such as cholestyramine and sodium polystyrene sulfonate. The applications are key to time-release formulas for medical treatments to address high cholesterol and heart disease.
"We are excited to open our facility in King of Prussia to enable our pharma and biopharma customers shortened lead times and security of supply to enable them to deliver lifesaving drugs," Hayley Crowe SVP and GM of Purolite, said in a statement. "We are dedicated to ensuring continued supply of high quality, innovative resin-based products to our customers that the Purolite team built its foundation on."
In December 2021, Purolite was acquired by Ecolab, a leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions and services, in a transaction for $3.7 billion.
Headquartered in King of Prussia, with 40 sales offices in more than 30 countries, Purolite has manufacturing facilities in the U.S., U.K., China and Romania.
Donna Rovins | Business Editor
Donna Rovins is business editor for The Mercury
drovins@pottsmerc.com
Follow Donna Rovins @MercBiz
Steel River's 'Falsettos' focuses on early AIDS crisis
PLANNING AHEAD: How should funds from a trust be distributed? [Column]


You are invited to a lecture on April 17 by Jin Y. Park, professor of philosophy and religion at American University Washington D.C. This lecture will bring together the Buddhist ideas of dependent co-arising, emptiness, suffering and compassion, and Jacques Derrida's discussion of trace, justice, and violence—on the issue of "learning to live." Professor Park will explore the demarcation of the animal and the human, the beast, and the sovereign; and take into consideration how the comparative philosophy of deconstruction and Buddhism are able to contribute to our understanding of how to live a meaningful life in the politically and socially turbulent world of today. This is the second event in the "TUJ Philosophy Lecture Series," organized by Adjunct Professors Jordanco Sekulovski and Takeshi Morisato. Please come and join us for this lively discussion moderated by Prof. Sekulovski.
This event is supported by the Embassy of Korea in Japan and the Korean Cultural Center.
Jin Y. Park is Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Founding Director of the Asian Studies Program at American University. Park specializes in East Asian Buddhism (especially Zen and Huayan Buddhism), postmodernism, deconstruction, Buddhist ethics, Buddhist philosophy of religion, Buddhist-postmodern comparative philosophy, and modern East Asian philosophy. Park's research in Buddhism focuses on the Zen and Huayan schools of East Asian Buddhism on language, violence, and ethics.
TUJ Research Presents Philosophy Lecture Series Vol. 2: "Learning to Live"


Multi-axis linear robots are machinery systems that can travel across predefined surfaces or volumes.
Our drylin® linear robots are based on proven tribo technology, which means that all systems are based on gliding, self-lubricating linear units, allowing for life-long operation without external lubrication.
Typical applications include automation for pick and place, measurement/inspection automation, assembly handling, marking and labeling machinery and handling tasks for low-cost automation applications.
Fully harnessed standard linear robots from stock - at your door from 24 hrs!
The drylin® drive technology construction kit range provides different installation sizes, installation lengths to match the application requirements - starting at lot size of one. Find fully harnessed linear robots from stock here.
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Request a linear robot based on your application and installation parameters here.
drylin® multi-axis linear robots are made using combinations of toothed belt axis that differ in type, size and arrangement. Depending on the loads, twin axis combinations or two to three-axis linear robots are used.
A line robot is used to implement applications that travel vertically to the working plane.
Flat linear robots can reach predefined surfaces. Typical application examples include measurement and inspection automation.
The room linear robot is used to implement three-dimensional applications. The principle is based on a flat linear robot with the appropriate cantilever axis.


Features: 24 oz. Capacity. Durable Tritan Material. Screw-Off Lid. Top Doubles as Cup. Loop Handle. BPA-Free. Full color imprint available on top for extra charge (call or chat for pricing).
Attach this bottle to their attire and your logo and you've got a winning promo! Our BPA-free, shatter-resistant 18 oz. Tritan (TM) notched water bottle with loop measures 7 1/2" H x 3 1/2" diameter. It features translucent colors, notched design for easy grip, twist-on black plastic lid with matching color pull-up spout (straw inside), and built-in loop. Dishwasher safe. Have your logo silkscreened on this eco-friendly item. Ideal for athletic leagues, universities and community programs.
30 oz. mega capacity Tritan (TM) fitness water bottle. Silicone grip on twist-on lid for easy opening. Large loop handle for carrying or attaching keys. Includes built-in storage compartment in lid for supplements or keys. BPA free. Perfect for the gym! Item size: 10"H x 3" Dia.
Ride a wave of promotional success with a cheery summer giveaway! Our 25 oz. shatter-resistant Clear Wave Water Bottle is made of crystal clear Eastman Tritan (TM) material, featuring a beautiful bold color wave graphic, matching twist-on lid with pull-up spout and built-in loop. At 9 3/4" H x 3" Diameter, it's eco-friendly and BPA free. Ideal for festivals, universities and community programs. Your silkscreened logo shows up prominently on the wavy surface!
It's the classic winning formula of athlete, water bottle and your brand! Our BPA-free, 22 oz. Translucent Water Bottle measures 9 3/4" H x 2 3/4" diameter, has bright translucent colors and retractable sipper spout with straw, and fits most vehicles or exercise machine cup holders. Not microwave or dishwasher safe. Silkscreen your logo on this curvy, eco-friendly container. It's a great promotional product for athletic leagues, universities and community programs.
Promote a winning campaign with a lighter "grip" this season with our 28 oz. Long-n-Lean Easy Grip Bottle! With the US design patent pending, this 10 1/4" H x 2 7/8" W, BPA-free, eco-friendly bottle features ribbed rubber back plastic panel, attached heavy-duty twist-on cap, and is stain and odor resistant. Not microwave or dishwasher safe. Have your logo silkscreened on this unique shape. Ideal for athletic leagues, universities and community programs.
Your prospects and event attendees will love our new earth-friendly freebie! This 25 oz., BPA free, eco-friendly, single wall translucent Tritan (TM) infusion water bottle has a clever notch design for easy grip. At 10 1/2" H x 3" D, this jug features bold color 2-tone twist-on lid with slide lock closure and fruit slice design on top. A clear fruit and tea strainer attaches under the lid, filtering your infused beverage. Twist for closure, not microwave or dishwasher safe. Ideal for trade shows, conventions and festivals.
Circa Two water bottle. 21 oz. Tall and slim shatter-resistant. BPA free. Single wall bold color Tritan (TM) material bottle base with matching color PP bottle top with twist-on lid with built-in loop. 2 opening options: Top for drinking and mid bottle for ice or filling. Not microwave or dishwasher safe. Measures 10 1/4"h x 2 1/2" diameter.
It's the quintessential summer water bottle! This 30 oz. shatter-resistant Catalina Column Water Bottle is made of BPA-free, single wall bold color translucent Tritan(TM) material with clever notch design for easy grip. At 10 1/2" H x 3" diameter, it also features bold decorative stripes and twist-on plastic lid. Ideal for festivals and community programs. Your silkscreened logo displays brilliantly on this eco-friendly jug!
Your prospects and event attendees will love our new earth-friendly freebie! This 24 oz., eco-friendly, single wall translucent Tritan (TM) water bottle has a decorative texture body and is easy to squeeze. At 10 1/2" H x 3" diameter, this jug features 2-tone twist-on lid with Sure-Snap (TM) sport valve opening. Ideal for trade shows, conventions and festivals.
Zuma Two-Opening Water Bottle. 30 Oz. single-wall Tritan water bottle with attached spout cap lid. Spout cap threads internally for smooth-lipped sipping; or unscrew the full wide-mouthed cap for easy filling and gulping. Durable and leak-proof with silicone gaskets in both caps. Single-walled, perfect for cold beverages. BPA-free, hand-wash only. 10-1/4" h x 2-3/4" dia.
Features: 22 oz. Capacity. Durable Tritan Material. Drinking Spout. Wide Opening Screw Top for Easy Cleaning. Silicone Seal. BPA-Free.
Drink smart with the Basecamp Metro 26 oz. Water Bottle, BPA-free, impact, odor, and stain-resistant, Easy 1-handed flip top cap for easy drinking, Fits in most car and gym cup holders, Slip-free grip for easy hold, Wide mouth opening for easy filling, spillproof design. 9 1/2"H x 2 7/8" diameter.
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If you are a road warrior, you know that hydration is important to combat jet lag and travel fatigue. If you are a road warrior, you know that opening a fresh bottle of water each time you need a drink means creating a lot of plastic wastage in one journey. If you are a road warrior, you know that conventional round-shaped bottles do not fit easily in handbags, laptop bags, or the seat pockets of planes/trains automobiles that are usually designed to hold magazines. If you are a road warrior, you know that every inch of space matters in making your journey comfortable. A simple solution to a basic problem -- It is a book-shaped flask made with durable BPA-free plastic and designed with curved edges to conveniently hold 16 oz of water that travels easily so you can too.
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text:
Greg Collins is the CFO of The Paul Anthony Foundation. Collins is currently the Managing Director of G. Collins & Company, LLC which was established in 2007. He has over 30 years of experience in providing tax preparation and planning services to high-income individuals and small businesses. His clients include senior executives, major entertainers, record labels, production companies, professional athletes and closely held businesses. He has also been a leader in the accounting industry and actively involved in his community.
During his professional career, Greg has held several key positions in the accounting industry. He was previously the Director of the Entertainment Practice Group of Spielman Koenigsberg & Parker, LLP, a New York based certified public accounting firm and is a former tax partner in the Sports and Entertainment Division of Mitchell & Titus, LLP which is the largest minority owned certified public accounting firm in the country. .
Mr. Collins began his career as a revenue agent with the Internal Revenue Service. From there he went on to be a tax supervisor with the international accounting firm, Ernst & Young, an assistant director of the federal tax group at Columbia Pictures and an assistant director of federal taxes at AT&T. Greg has also served as chief financial officer for the Stevie Wonder business organization and as Managing Director of Collins, Austin & Co., a New Jersey based CPA firm.
Collins has a B.S. in accounting from Montclair State University and is licensed as a CPA in New York and New Jersey. Greg is a member of the New Jersey Society of Certified Public Accountants, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the National Association of Black Accountants (Lifetime Member). At the NJ Society of CPA's, Greg serves on the Strategic Planning Committee and is a former Vice President and member of the Board of Trustees. He also is featured in the NJCPA recruitment video, "Going Places."
The National Association of Black Accountants honored Mr. Collins as their 2007 outstanding member for National Achievement in Public Accounting. He has also been recognized by the New York and New Jersey chapters of the organization for his accomplishments and service to the accounting community. He is a regular presenter at the Accounting Careers Awareness Program given for New Jersey high school students and conducts seminars for both the professional and regional student conferences.
Greg currently serves as the chair of the board of trustees at the Marion P. Thomas Charter School in Newark, New Jersey which he helped to establish over twenty years ago. He is also the vice chair of the Montclair State University Foundation Board of Directors.


text:
#ifndef BERRYMULTISTATUS_H_
#define BERRYMULTISTATUS_H_

#include "berryStatus.h"

#include <org_blueberry_core_runtime_Export.h>

namespace berry {

/**
 * A concrete multi-status implementation,
 * suitable either for instantiating or subclassing.
 *

 * This class can be used without OSGi running.
 *

 */
class org_blueberry_core_runtime_EXPORT MultiStatus : public Status {

private:

  /** List of child statuses.
   */
  QList<IStatus::Pointer> children;

  Severity GetMaxSeverity(const QList<Pointer> &children) const;

public:

  berryObjectMacro(berry::MultiStatus);

  /**
   * Creates and returns a new multi-status object with the given children.
   *
   * @param pluginId the unique identifier of the relevant plug-in
   * @param code the plug-in-specific status code
   * @param newChildren the list of children status objects
   * @param message a human-readable message, localized to the
   *    current locale
   * @param sl
   */
  MultiStatus(const QString& pluginId, int code, const QList<IStatus::Pointer>& newChildren,
              const QString& message, const SourceLocation& sl);

  /**
   * Creates and returns a new multi-status object with the given children.
   *
   * @param pluginId the unique identifier of the relevant plug-in
   * @param code the plug-in-specific status code
   * @param newChildren the list of children status objects
   * @param message a human-readable message, localized to the
   *    current locale
   * @param exception a low-level exception.
   * @param sl
   */
  MultiStatus(const QString& pluginId, int code, const QList<IStatus::Pointer>& newChildren,
              const QString& message, const ctkException& exception, const SourceLocation& sl);

  /**
   * Creates and returns a new multi-status object with no children.
   *
   * @param pluginId the unique identifier of the relevant plug-in
   * @param code the plug-in-specific status code
   * @param message a human-readable message, localized to the
   *    current locale
   * @param sl
   */
  MultiStatus(const QString& pluginId, int code, const QString& message,
              const SourceLocation& sl);

  /**
   * Creates and returns a new multi-status object with no children.
   *
   * @param pluginId the unique identifier of the relevant plug-in
   * @param code the plug-in-specific status code
   * @param message a human-readable message, localized to the
   *    current locale
   * @param exception a low-level exception, or null if not
   *    applicable
   * @param sl
   */
  MultiStatus(const QString& pluginId, int code, const QString& message,
              const ctkException& exception, const SourceLocation& sl);

  /**
   * Adds the given status to this multi-status.
   *
   * @param status the new child status
   */
  void Add(IStatus::Pointer status);

  /**
   * Adds all of the children of the given status to this multi-status.
   * Does nothing if the given status has no children (which includes
   * the case where it is not a multi-status).
   *
   * @param status the status whose children are to be added to this one
   */
  void AddAll(IStatus::Pointer status);

  /* (Intentionally not javadoc'd)
   * Implements the corresponding method on IStatus.
   */
  QList<IStatus::Pointer> GetChildren() const override;

  /* (Intentionally not javadoc'd)
   * Implements the corresponding method on IStatus.
   */
  bool IsMultiStatus() const override;

  /**
   * Merges the given status into this multi-status.
   * Equivalent to Add(status) if the
   * given status is not a multi-status.
   * Equivalent to AddAll(status) if the
   * given status is a multi-status.
   *
   * @param status the status to merge into this one
   */
  void Merge(const IStatus::Pointer& status);

  /**
   * Returns a string representation of the status, suitable
   * for debugging purposes only.
   */
  QString ToString() const override;

};

}

#endif /* BERRYMULTISTATUS_H_ */

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
The Art of Steven Stahlberg
Steven Stahlberg is a world renowned digital artist who works in both 2d and 3d to create astonishing fantasy themed images and paintings. His specialty has got to be his understanding of the female form and the incredibly beautiful women that feature in his artwork and illustrations. Steven has been a freelance artist and illustrator for over 27 years and he was very much ahead of the curve in his use of 3d character models in his artwork and creations. Steven continues to develop and create stunning artwork for multimedia, publishing and the advertising industry. To view more works by the award winning digital artist we recommend you check out his excellent online portfolio and pages on CG Society and Facebook.
All the images in this post are Copyright © Steven Stahlberg
and have been used with the artists permission.
The Amazing Fantasy Artworks of Alex Konstad
The Digital Fantasy Art of Bo Chen
The Dark Fantasy Art of Francesco Ausonia Ciampi
The Stunning 3d Creations of Maria Panfilova
The Sci-Fi & Fantasy Illustrations of Dave Greco
The Classic Sci-Fi & Fantasy Art of Clyde Caldwell
Digital Illustrations


In the last episode, we went over the confirmed murders of American serial killer Edward Wayne Edwards.
His first confirmed murder was committed when Edwards was in his 40's - and it's pretty unlikely that it was truly his first killing.
This episode covers the suspected crimes of Edwards, going off of the book by John Cameron "Its Me: Edward Wayne Edwards, the Serial Killer You've Never Head About."
Includes such gems as the black dahlia, west memphis 3, atlanta child murders, Zodiac, and more!


I don't think any of mine are that high. I was having issues with the extruder getting really hot, even with the driver turned down as far as I could. The voltage on that was less than 0.30v. I just received a larger stepper motor to see if I can lower the heat and keep everything running smoothly. Most of the voltage recommended in the config guide are below .40v. If you have to crank the voltage to get everything moving smoothly, you may have over-tightened the belts and/or have binding elsewhere. The Y-axis skipping after printing for a bit is the thermal protection built into the stepper driver.
All of my motors, extruder excluded, run nice and cool. Even after hours of printing.
As I mentioned before, my Y motors may be more powerful than the spec says, and if you have the same one (5.3 rather than 4.8 kg/cm) it might need a little more than this.
I'm having some issues where I find the extruder will start clicking... I think this is because my hotend is becoming clogged somehow causing it to need a large amount of pressure to extrude. Any ideas?.
I've been printing for about a week now (almost went through a 1kg of abs) couple days ago the x axis started shifting during printing. After examining the x carriage a little I noticed that the belt clamp/holder thing started to wrap... Are the printed parts made out of abs or pla?
A follow up to an earlier post: if you want to see what I mean by the RAMPS board being horrible, look at this picture: [2.bp.blogspot.com].
The replacement I bought is much nicer (and has color coded pins for the limit switches, to reducing the chance of plugging them in the wrong way).
We've switched vendors and our new ones are also color coded. We are pretty happy with them, I don't know what happened with our previous vendor but the soldering was starting to get pretty sloppy towards the end it seems.
Hmm. Should I pull mine apart and check it?
MIne looked pretty bad aswell. It seems whoever made it made no effort to clean up random lines of solder on the pcb.
That gets the travel working, although I am still seeing the bounce on homing.
Is there an estimate for when the 200x200x300 mm will be available?
You got a spare limit switch with the kit, right? Might be worth swapping it out. Sounds like strange behavior to me.
Or hit home then click the switch with your finger to see if you get the same "bounce" ?
Did you print a mount for it? I saw a couple that might work well that I'm going to print tonight.
Replacing the limit switch has no effect. Manually triggering the switch halfway through the home travel creates the bounce mid-run. If I hold it, it stops at the apex of the bounce. If I press and release quickly, it travels towards the limit switch for about 10 units at a much slower speed.
While I'm here, I should ask what you recommend for the printing surface. Should I get a piece of glass cut, or would a thinner wall tile work fine?
Mine's at 5 / 5 / 3. I don't see a place where that constant is used anywhere else in the code.
Yeah, I know (which is why I said mine was essentially that). When I ported my configuration file to the newer version of marlin I had to uncomment the right ones is all.
What's the correct set to have active?
I was looking to see if you could upload a copy of the Marlin code to save me the time of merging the settings from dropbox with the newest code of Marlin.
Howdy folks, just put in my order for the 2020 i3 today and eager for it's arrival. Going to be looking through this thread top to bottom until it arrives. Currently I'm waiting on some bolts to get my Makibox A6HT back in action; I got it tuned to as good as I think it can run and am hoping the i3 will give better stability and results which shouldn't be too big a stretch given the Makibox design limitations. The well known and documented extruder failure/wheel spoke snapping is the holdup..or actually trying to find M3 bolts in small town Alberta for the FroZEN upgrade is the real culprit.
Is the double bounce bad? I assumed that's how it was supposed to work! Besides, you shouldn't hit that when you're printing, only homing.
My X motor is running hot though. While printing the 2nd fan bracket, I checked it and I could keep my finger on it for about 2 or 3 seconds. I may try lowering the voltage more to see of that helps, but I'm skeptical. I'm also tempted to put a heat sink and fan on the back... I have one off of an old motherboard chipset that fits perfectly.
I'm wonder if all I need is a bigger motor!
The ones that are left uncommented above are the ones that are working for me.
I can, but I suspect the configuration of mine is not going to be the same as yours. I've zipped up the folder - now I need to find a place to make it accessible.
Maybe I am reading this wrong but according to the tuning guide - the A4988's should be set to .280v? I have mine all set to .280v and all seem fine - except the stepper motor on the X axis gets very hot. The drivers, however, stay cool. Thoughts???
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2015 11:44AM by plrmaker7.
I looked at the tuning guide, and the motor specs again (assuming the motors FogerTechs sells are the ones in the kit)... The X, Z, and E motors are rated at .4A, and the Y motor at 1.5A. Following the calulation in the guide, vRef for X,Z, and E should be around 0.160V (0.4*8*0.05). And Y should be 0.600V (1.5*8*0.05). But, the Z is running 2 motors, so you'd have to double the voltage to 0.320V, and effectively the current to drive both motors.
I think I'm going to try that tonight and see if it helps the X motor heating issue any.
Can you post a pointer to this tuning guide?
I suspect you're mistaken in terms of doubling the voltage because you have two motors (though I may also be wrong). You want the same voltage to each motor and I have to believe they are wired in parallel, not series. True the current would be twice a single motor, but that would be at original 0.160v. I think doubling the voltage is only going to make things hotter.
I also suspect that the 1.5A motor should be for the Extruder and not the Y Axis.
Can't comment on the way the Z motors are wired as I dont have one of these.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2015 03:49PM by markts.
With Pololus, the sensing resistors are Rs=0.05 ohm, so a Vref of 0.4 should produce a maximum current of 0.4/(8*0.05)=1A.
Clockwise increases the current which will make the motor run hotter and counterclockwise reduces it which will cool it down (seeforum thread 159081).
With a measured Vref of 0.273V, I should expect 0.6825A, and I measured the current through one coil as 0.486A in fullstep mode,which should be 0.7071 of the full trip current, or I_TripMax= 0.486/0.7071= 0.687A, which seems close enough.
The Vrefsignal is accessible as the "VREF" pin on the carriers with voltage regulators, as the through-hole via on the carriers without, and also as the wiper on the trim pot itself on both carriers.
Note:for StepStick, the Rs=0.2 ohm, so you'd get 4 times the Vref at the same current.