This is not really a normal topic for me to post about on my blog, but it is something that effects every minute of my day. I can honestly say that I can't remember a single time in my life where I have felt good about myself. I've always been bullied. I remember being four years old at church and being told by two girls that I couldn't play with them because I wasn't "like them". I remember being in elementary school and a playmate of mine telling me that I couldn't play the make believe game with her and the other girl because I was too fat. I remember a family member, who at the time I looked up to, calling me a fat cow. I remember in sixth grade a friend telling me I was too chubby to wear nice clothes. I remember starving myself the first year of Junior high. I then remember being called a "Scary skeleton" (which technically was true). I remember in high school being told by someone I cared for that I wasn't all that pretty. As of recently I've been deemed "uncool" to hangout with one of my old friends. Another person also mocked my college choice, my scholarship I earned, the way I talk.
I've never been given credit for anything I have accomplished, rather I receive a lot of criticism. It always seems to be criticism over unimportant things as well. I just wish someone would give me credit for everything I've done by myself.
I suppose it doesn't really matter what other people think of me, but Its like when you have a mosquito bite. Sure, its itchy and hurts at first, but if you leave it alone it goes away. However, if you continue to scratch it, you'll make it an open, raw wound that can leave a scar. Mean comments are like that. A few comments and you can shake them off, but years and years of hearing the same things will leave a scar.
These last two months have quite an adjustment. I transferred from a college I had been so excited to attended to a community college for the semester. I'm back living at home when most people are away. I've been struggling with depression and a gastric illness. And currently I find myself rather friendless. Its very rare for someone to respond to a text of mine, and no one seems to ever want to spend time with me.
I just want someone to genuinely care about me. I want to genuinely care about me. It'd be nice to wake up in the morning and not think I need fixing. I wish I could say "screw those people" and get on with my life, but I can't. I care too much of what people think of me.
Sorry for this rant, my blog is just my safe place to talk about things. I don't really have anyone close to me to talk about things with, so I turn to my blog. Who knows, maybe someone will read this and be going through the same thing as I am and not feel as alone.
Again I am sorry about this post, it'll be back to happier topics next post, I promise!


text:
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Today's Top DR Brand Ambassadors
"If everyone is thinking alike, then someone isn't thinking."-General George S. Patton
For content older than Feb 2013 please search our digital archives
By: Robert Yallen and Hunington Sachs
The InterMedia Entertainment (IME) DR Star Index® currently tracks nearly 1,000 celebrities who are either currently employed, or have the potential to act, as direct response advertising spokespeople. This issue, we concentrate on 25 celebrities who are working in DRTV today—people who represent a national brand and have appeared in television commercials in 2015.
The leading direct response advertising category for celebrity spokespeople is Financial Services, with six current advertisers. The associated products and services cover a broad spectrum of companies, ranging from reverse mortgages to payday loans. Other major categories employing brand ambassadors include Health and Beauty, Charity, Diet Products, Pain Relief, Nutraceutical Supplements, Insurance, and Senior Care.
The top brand ambassador in the DR Star Index already working in the DR space—albeit for a charity—is Jennifer Lopez. Representing Children's Miracle Hospital, Lopez came in No. 7 in the Index overall, and also does non-DR commercials for various beauty and clothing products. The highest-rated Hispanic celebrity throughout the life of the Index, Lopez ranks No. 1 among all celebrities in the key spokesperson attributes of Recognition and Attractiveness; she doesn't fare as well in other vital DR Star Index attributes such as Trust and Influence, but her scores are still in the top 10 percent.
One celebrity spokesperson who sparkles with consumers in the Trust category is Alex Trebek, who does DR spots for Colonial Penn. Trebek ranks in the top 3 percent of all celebrities (No. 19) overall, largely thanks to his No. 1 ranking for Trust. Trebek is perceived positively for all attributes, and also generated exceptional scores in Likeability and Recognition as a function of his long-standing job as the host of Jeopardy!, a top-rated television game show since 1984.
Lopez and Trebek are excellent choices for their long-running spokesperson roles. A more questionable choice is actor and former Senator Fred Thompson, who ranks near the bottom of the top 25 actors currently working in DR. Thompson, who is the frontman for AAG, the leading lender in the reverse-mortgage category, had an overall Index score of just 98.72—1.28 points below the mean for all celebrities tracked.
Thompson is an especially dubious choice as a brand ambassador, since he doesn't display strength in any key spokesperson attribute; worse, his biggest weaknesses are in the most important traits. Among the top 25 current celebrities, he ranks 22nd in Recognition, 25th in Influence, 25th in Trust, 24th in Attractiveness (only edging out Larry King), and 24th in Likeability. With the country's current record-low perception of elected officials, perhaps it's not surprising that a political figure would fare poorly in Trust and Influence.
What is surprising is that the DR Star Index 25's leading celebrity for Influence—one of the most important Index attributes—is Adam Levine. As the lead vocalist of Maroon 5 and a regular judge and coach on The Voice, Levine's position has been propelled upward by appearing in almost 200 episodes of the primetime show, and enhanced by the fact that his team members have consistently won or placed highly in its talent contests.
This dynamic illustrates the power of regular appearances in front of the American public: One market research poll says that Levine's Awareness level has tripled since joining the show in 2011. But Levine's strength with consumers goes beyond Recognition; over the life of the Index, his scores for other key attributes—most significantly, Trust, Influence, and Likeability—have shown steady improvement as well.
Fit for a Brand
The Index's top 25 illustrate that there is no blueprint for predicting the potential success of a celebrity spokesperson. An advertiser sometimes needs to think outside the box when considering spokesperson options. But when selecting a celebrity to represent its brand, certain dynamics should never be ignored. To construct the best-possible match between a celebrity and a product or service, advertisers need to consider:
The connection of the celebrity to the brand and the story that can be woven. Within the Index Top 25, an excellent example of this connection is William Devane, spokesperson for Rosland Capital. Rosland specializes in the sale of gold and silver, and Devane is a known conservative, Rosland's primary target group. Devane uses the company to buy gold and silver himself, and has a strong track record of portraying figures of authority, holding the unofficial record for playing U.S. Presidents and/or their top cabinet members.
The ability of a celebrity to influence trial among the target group. Joey Fatone is a good fit for Bosley, because—as his own before-and-after photos clearly illustrate—he has received a successful hair transplant.
How the celebrity fits with the key demographic and/or psychographic traits of the product's top prospects. George Foreman has been successful as pitchman for InventHelp, a service that guides aspiring inventors toward getting their new product to market, and whose core target is men 35 and over. While Foreman ranks in the top 10 percent among men 18 and up, his scores really shine with the older segment of the male demographic, giving him a top-5 percentile, No. 31 standing.
The Risk of Too Much Exposure
A spokesperson's effectiveness can diminish if consumers perceive that a celebrity is in it solely for the money, or that he or she will pitch anything if the price is right. One top spokesperson at risk of overexposure is Chuck Woolery, who currently does DRTV spots for three brands: Tricalm, Australian Dream Cream, and Willow Curve. Woolery appears to have sidestepped potential overload, however, since all three products are targeted to seniors and deal with various forms of physical discomfort.
Because there is a clear, common thread among the products and Woolery is now a member of the target demographic, he has greater probability of being a successful spokesperson for them without inspiring negative perceptions among consumers. Instead, there is a strong probability that the public (or seniors, at least) will consider him more of a "Truth Ambassador" who understands their needs, and an honest broker of the products he endorses.
Undervalued Celebs
One of the most significant advantages that the DR Star Index can deliver is the ability to identify "undervalued" celebrity options. Celebrities that fall into this desirable Moneyball-style category are usually public figures who (for whatever reason, usually a career lull) generate high scores in Trust and Influence (which are not easy to build), but lower rankings in Recognition and Relevance (which are relatively easy to increase).
As a result, these celebrities have significant potential to be exceptional spokespeople for the right product or service, and marketers can often negotiate favorable deals with them. Examples include Geena Davis (ranked No. 73 on the Index with a score of 118; 100 is average); Molly Ringwald (No. 100, also scoring 118); Bob Vila (No. 92, scoring 118); and James Caan (No. 105, scoring 117).
There is no approach that guarantees optimal spokesperson selection for all advertisers. While they need to resonate with the target audience, how spokespersons achieve this can be a function of a number of different dynamics and situations.
So, to paraphrase Old Blood and Guts, there is a danger to simply following in the footsteps—and mindsets—of those who have gone before. This is especially true in spokesperson selection: Statistical analyses like the DR Star Index can provide advertisers with innovative, cost-effective methods of evaluating potential brand ambassadors.
Hunington Sachs is vice president of Business and Legal Affairs at InterMedia Entertainment (IME), the celebrity acquisition and intellectual property development arm of the InterMedia Group of Companies, headed by president and CEO Robert Yallen. IME Publishes the DR Star Index and provides custom research for advertisers pursuing a celebrity strategy for their marketing efforts. Contact Robert Yallen and Hunington Sachs at (818) 995-1455 or via email at [email protected] and [email protected].
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Michigan baseball seeks to shake off late fade as Big Ten tournament begins
Angelique S. Chengelis
As the Big Ten baseball tournament begins, the Michigan Wolverines don't have time to dwell on what might have been and what was.
They know they should be entering the tournament, that begins for them Wednesday against Ohio State at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, as the regular-season conference champions. But they went 2-5 their last seven games and lost three of the last four games, including a 7-0 shutout to Nebraska. Indiana won the regular-season title. The tournament features the top eight teams in the standings, and Michigan is the No. 2 seed.
The Big Ten Tournament concludes Sunday and the winner earns an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, with a bracket reveal next Monday.
"We blew it. There's no sugar-coating it," Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich told The News on Tuesday. "We didn't get it done, and for the second time in three years we lost the championship by a half a game. That stings quite a bit and is callusing the mind."
Baseball is as much a mental game as it is physical, in many ways more, and as the Wolverines closed in on their target of a Big Ten regular-season title, they began to play tight, more focused on the big picture than the inning-by-inning, pitch-by-pitch approach Bakich wants to see. His message has been consistent throughout the season, encouraging his players to have fun and play loose.
But players know how to do the math, as he pointed out, and knew what they would need to do to win the title. And therein was the problem — they began to think about the big picture instead of focusing on the smaller details.
"There's no question about the investing and the care level of our players," he said. "Baseball is funny sport — the harder you try, the worse it gets. That type of thinking makes us press. We didn't play our best baseball. While we've won games and finished toward the top of the conference. we just didn't get it done. We had it in our grasp, had it well within our control and we let it go.
"No sense crying over it now. This is a new season. Doesn't matter what's happened the past couple of weeks."
Not that it would take much to grab the attention of the Wolverines (38-16) right now, but their first opponent is arch-rival Ohio State. The teams played a three-game series at Ohio State last month, and the Buckeyes had the edge, 2-1, with Michigan winning the final game.
"We've all learned that lesson of playing tight and playing with too much pressure," Bakich said. "We know we play our best when we're loose. That's the recipe for us, and we will get back to that tomorrow, no question. There will be emotion because it's a rivalry game, it's Ohio State, but we will make sure we won't let that emotion limit our performance. We'll add that to fuel. That will be on every player, that the rivalry and the disappointment playing them last time doesn't limit our maximum performance. I have full confidence the team that comes out tomorrow will be the best version."
Karl Kauffmann, a junior right-hander who played high school baseball for Brother Rice, will start against Ohio State. He was one of nine Wolverines to earn Big Ten All-Conference honors announced Tuesday. Michigan junior outfielder Jordan Brewer was named Big Ten player of the year, and Kauffmann was a third-team selection.
Kauffmann leads the team with 89 2/3 innings pitched, struck out 83 batters and held opponents to a .227 batting average. He has a 2.91 ERA and an 8-5 record. One of those losses, however, was at Ohio State, but Bakich is confident Kauffmann will be in solid form. It's probably no coincidence Bakich is going with a pitcher who grew up a Michigan fan in a Michigan family and feels deeply about he Michigan-Ohio State rivalry.
"He got shelled. Did not do well," Bakich said of Kauffmann's loss at OSU. "He gave up eight runs the first three innings, but Karl has been consistent for us all year. And growing up a Michigan fan growing up in Bloomfield Hills, he grew up with as intense a hatred and love of the rivalry as anyone on the team. He's motivated."
The winner will play the winner of the Illinois-Maryland game on Thursday.
"At this point of the season, the seedings don't matter, the regular-season doesn't matter. You can toss aside everything that's happened," Bakich said. "It's tournament baseball, and it's going to be about pitching defense and timely hitting. It's not the best team, it's the team that plays the best. I think our guys feel like they've got something to prove. What we have to do, we're not thinking about this tournament all the way through Sunday. We're just thinking about Wednesday, like 2015."
In 2015, the Wolverines entered the Big Ten tournament as the No. 3 seed and had lost two of their last three regular-season games. They rolled through the tournament and won, earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It will be tough for Michigan to earn an at-large to the NCAA Tournament this year, so winning the Big Ten tournament feels like a must for them.
"As a Big Ten school you don't want to leave your tournament fate to the NCAA selection committee," Bakich said. "We know what we have ahead of us. We are breaking it up as one game at a time. It's a very similar feeling to 2015. That's exactly what our mindset was. We take each game and we're treating it like the only game we're playing the entire week."
Big Ten awards
Jordan Brewer, of St. Joseph, was the ninth Michigan player to earn Big Ten player of the year honors, and the first since Nate Recknagel in 2008. He has hit .358, slugged .637, stolen 19 bases and driven in 52 runs and scored 51.
Brewer is joined on the first team by sophomore starting pitcher Jeff Criswell (Portage) and sophomore DH Jordan Nwogu (Ann Arbor Pioneer).
Michigan shortstop Jack Blomgren and Michigan State second baseman Royce Ando made second-team; Michigan catcher Joe Donovan, first baseman Jimmy Kerr, outfielder Jesse Franklin and Kauffmann made third-team; and Michigan State outfielder Zaid Walker and Michigan relief pitcher Willie Weiss made the all-freshman team.
Big Ten tournament
At TD Ameritrade Park, Omaha, Neb.
All games on Big Ten Network
Game 1: No. 3 Illinois (36-17) vs. No. 6 Maryland (28-27), 10 a.m.
Game 2: No. 2 Michigan (38-16) vs. No. 7 Ohio State (31-24), 2
Game 3: No. 1 Indiana (36-19) vs. No. 8 Iowa (30-22), 6
Game 4: No. 4 Minnesota (26-25) vs. No. 5 Nebraska (28-20), 10
Game 5: G1 loser vs. G2 loser, 10 a.m.
Game 6: G3 loser vs. G4 loser, 2
Game 7: G1 winner vs. G2 winner, 6
Game 8: G3 winner vs. G4 winner, 10
Game 9: G5 winner vs. G7 loser, 4:30
Game 10: G6 winner vs. G8 loser, 8:30
Game 11: G8 winner vs. G9 winner, 10 a.m.
Game 12: G7 winner vs. G10 winner, 2
x-Game 13: G11 winner vs. G11 loser, 6
x-Game 14: G12 winner vs. G12 loser, 10
Game 15: Championship, 2
x-If necessary
achengelis@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @chengelis


Tickets for weekend fixtures will be ready for collection any time after 6pm on Friday and tickets for mid-week fixtures will be ready for collection from midday on the day of the game.
Experience the excitement of a Premier League football match during a visit to the famous Emirates Stadium! Home to Arsenal FC, the stadium is one of the most modern and state-of-the-art football arenas in the world. Feel the incredible atmosphere and anticipation alongside thousands of other football fans.
You will enjoy premium Club Level seats at Emirates Stadium and will be able to take in all the exciting action from a great vantage point. With some of the best views of the pitch, Club Level seats ensure you'll never miss the talented players passing, shooting and tackling throughout the 90 minute game! These premium seats are padded and located in the middle ring of the stadium.
After arriving at Emirates Stadium, settle down in your seat and get ready for the match. At halftime, you can grab a drink at one of the Club Level restaurants. Choose from a selection of drinks including beer, wine, soft drinks, tea and coffee and if you're hungry, food is available to purchase (not included).
You can take home your match program as a souvenir from your day at Emirates Stadium and visit the fascinating Arsenal museum before or after the match. You are also invited to return to the stadium for a tour of the grounds on a non-match day.
If you'd like to make your experience at Emirates Stadium even more memorable, you have the option of adding a delicious two course buffet to this package. The buffet is enjoyed before the match in the stylish Dial Square Club Level Restaurant.
Please note: If a match date changes from Saturday to Sunday or vice-versa there are NO refunds for any cancellations. If a match date changes from a Wednesday to Tuesday or Thursday there are NO refunds for any cancellations. Tickets must be collected from the Amba Hotel Marble Arch, 55 Bryanston Street, London, W1H 7EH. Tickets for weekend fixtures will be ready for collection any time after 6pm on Friday and tickets for mid-week fixtures will be ready for collection from midday on the day of the game.


text:
/**
 * a pile of herbs (NPC 1043001)
 * Hidden Street: The Forest of Patience <Step 5> (Map 101000104)
 *
 * Completes Sabitrama's Anti-Aging Medicine (Quest 2051) and gives rare jewel
 * or mineral ores or Red-Hearted Earrings as a reward if the quest is completed
 * and the player successfully reached the end.
 *
 * @author GoldenKevin (content from KiniroMS r227)
 */

let itemId, quantity;
if (player.isQuestActive(2051)) {
	itemId = 4031032;
	quantity = 1;
} else {
	let rewards = [4020007, 2, 4020008, 2, 4010006, 2, 1032013, 1];
	let index = Math.floor(Math.random() * (rewards.length / 2)) * 2;
	itemId = rewards[index];
	quantity = rewards[index + 1];
}

if (player.gainItem(itemId, quantity))
	player.changeMap(101000000);
else //TODO: GMS-like line
	npc.say("Please check whether your ETC. inventory is full.");

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
<?php

namespace Native5\Security;

/**
 * IdentityManager
 *
 * @category  Security
 * @package   Native5\Security
 * @author    Barada Sahu <barry@native5.com>
 * @copyright 2012 Native5. All Rights Reserved
 * @license   See attached NOTICE.md for details
 * @version   Release: 1.0
 * @link      http://www.docs.native5.com
 * Created : 27-11-2012
 * Last Modified : Fri Dec 21 09:11:53 2012
 */
interface IdentityManager
{

    public function authenticate($user);

    public function authorize($user);

    public function isAuthenticated();

    public function isAuthorized();

}
?>


Nobody will believe you unless you believe in yourself.
Where on Earth is Mooi River? When Sbongakonke Khumalo applied for a bursary to attend Treverton School, she didn't have a clue. From her home in Empangeni, it took her family many hours to get there on their first trip, getting lost four times along the way. "My father is one of those men who won't ask for directions!" She explains.
The interview should have been really scary, but she felt comfortable right from the start and had obviously found her new home in the Midlands.
History, Drama and Afrikaans are Sbongakonke's favourite subjects. She recalls the fun she had in the school production of 'Big Bass Drum' last year and enthuses about being chosen to perform in the school Musical Review. "I love soulful music and jazz. I sang the Alicia Keys duet 'Superwoman' with Janine Koopman. It was wonderful." This year, she and friends put on an experimental drama around the theme of how men don't always think with their heads – "That was so much fun and we realised that men are taught to apologise for their weaknesses, women for their strengths." Afrikaans seems an unlikely favourite subject for a Zulu girl, but Sbo explains that it is really the fabulous teacher, Sonia Cairns, who has made her love Afrikaans. "We have the same sense of humour and sometimes no one else gets the joke we are laughing at!" giggles Sbo.


text:
Rittenhouse lawyers file second motion for a mistrial
Canadian Press | Nov 18, 2021 | News | 2
Circuit Court Judge Bruce Schroeder (Mark Hertzberg /Pool Photo via AP)
KENOSHA, Wis. (AP) — Kyle Rittenhouse's attorneys asked the judge to declare a mistrial even as the jury in the murder case was deliberating Wednesday, saying the defense received an inferior copy of a potentially crucial video from prosecutors.
Judge Bruce Schroeder did not immediately rule on the request, the second mistrial motion from the defense in a week. The jury deliberated a second full day without reaching a verdict and will return in the morning.
At issue was a piece of drone video that prosecutors showed to the jury in closing arguments in a bid to undermine Rittenhouse's self-defense claim and portray him as the instigator of the bloodshed in Kenosha in the summer of 2020. Prosecutors said the footage showed him pointing his rifle at protesters before the shooting erupted.
Rittenhouse attorney Corey Chirafisi said the defense initially received a smaller compressed version of the video and didn't get the higher-quality larger one used by the prosecution until the evidence portion of the case was over.
Related Story: Camera Catches Video Conversion Software 'Handbrake' and 'Format Factory' on Prosecution's Laptop
He said that the defense would have approached things differently if it had received the better footage earlier and that it is now asking for "a level, fair playing field."
He said the mistrial request would be made "without prejudice," meaning prosecutors could still retry Rittenhouse.
Last week, the defense asked for a mistrial with prejudice, meaning Rittenhouse could not be put on trial again. That request was prompted by what the defense said were improper questions asked by prosecutor Thomas Binger during his cross-examination of Rittenhouse.
Rittenhouse, 18, is on trial on homicide and attempted homicide charges for killing two men and wounding a third with an AR-style semi-automatic rifle during a tumultuous night of protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, Black man, by a white police officer. Rittenhouse, a then-17-year-old former police youth cadet, said he went to Kenosha to protect property from rioters.
He shot and killed Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz, now 28. Rittenhouse is white, as were those shot. The case has become a flashpoint in the debate over guns, racial injustice, vigilantism and self-defense in the U.S.
He could get life in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against him.
The dispute over the video erupted after the jurors asked to rewatch footage on Day 2 of their deliberations.
Defense attorneys said they would object to the jury viewing the drone video. The same footage prompted heated dispute earlier in the trial over technical questions of whether a still image taken from the video was distorted when it was enlarged.
The prosecution contends the video proves Rittenhouse lied on the stand when he said he didn't point his rifle at protesters. But the key moment in the video is hard to decipher because of how far away the drone was and how small a figure Rittenhouse is in the frame.
A smaller file size or lower-resolution video file is fuzzier and grainier, particularly if played on a larger screen, said Dennis Keeling, adjunct professor in the cinema and television arts department at Columbia College Chicago. That's why people working with video footage are careful to check file size, length and other details after making a copy to ensure the new version is what they wanted, he added.
Prosecutors told the judge Wednesday that the jury saw the highest-quality version during the trial and that it was not the state's fault that the file size got smaller when received by the defense.
"We're focusing too heavily on a technological glitch," prosecutor James Kraus said.
The judge said he had "qualms" about admitting the video during the trial, but because it had already been shown in court, he would allow the jury to rewatch it during deliberations.
But if it turns out the video should not have been admitted into evidence, "it's going to be ugly," Schroeder warned.
He said the mistrial request will have to be addressed if there is a guilty verdict.
If Rittenhouse is acquitted, the issue will be moot. But if he is found guilty, a mistrial ruling would essentially void the verdict.
Julius Kim, a Milwaukee-based defense attorney who has been watching the case, said a mistrial could be declared even if the judge finds it was an honest mistake or a technical problem.
But to win a mistrial, the defense will have to meet a high bar and explain to the judge why what happened actually hurt Rittenhouse, said Ion Meyn, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School.
"You can't just say, 'The state gave me a lower-quality video and therefore I get a mistrial,'" Meyn said. "That's a losing argument for sure."
Earlier in the day, the judge criticized news coverage of the case and second-guessing from legal experts in the media, saying he would "think long and hard" about allowing televised trials in the future.
He took exception to news stories about his decisions not to allow the men Rittenhouse shot to be called "victims" and to let Rittenhouse draw the lots that determined which jurors were alternates. The judge also complained about criticism that he had yet to rule on the earlier mistrial request.
Schroeder said he hadn't had a chance to read the motion because he had just received it and wanted to give the state a chance to weigh in.
"It's just a shame that irresponsible statements are being made," the judge said of comments in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel story from law school professors.
Forliti reported from Minneapolis; Bauer from Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press writer Tammy Webber contributed from Fenton, Michigan; Kathleen Foody from Chicago.
Find the AP's full coverage of the Rittenhouse trial: https://apnews.com/hub/kyle-rittenhouse
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Leonidas on 9:29 am November 18, 2021 at 9:29 am
I thought I liked this judge but now that he's sitting on two motions for mistrial I'm not so sure. Does he have the guts to grant one of them if the intimidated jury says Rittenhouse is guilty? Will be a hot time in the old town for sure if he overturns a verdict.
ltuser on 5:23 pm November 18, 2021 at 5:23 pm
He supposedly said "I will hold off on ruling the mistrial, TILL THE JURY comes down with a verdict".
IMO A COWARDLY move.


text:
Alternative energy news, and information about renewable energy technologies.
Family-sized Solar Car to Race in World Solar Challenge
The Spherical Sun Power Generator
Hydrogen-Powered Tram Developed in China
The WaterNest: An Eco-Friendly Floating House
Floating Solar Panels: A Viable Solution?
France Passes Green Rooftop Law
Tiny Generators Produce Electricity from Ambient Vibrations
Posted in Energy Inventions | Future Technology
Tiny generators developed at the University of Michigan could produce enough electricity from random, ambient vibrations to power a wristwatch, pacemaker or wireless sensor. The energy-harvesting devices, created at U-M's Engineering Research Center for Wireless Integrated Microsystems, are highly efficient at providing renewable electrical power from arbitrary, non-periodic vibrations. This type of vibration is a byproduct of traffic driving on bridges, machinery operating in factories and humans moving their limbs, for example.
The Parametric Frequency Increased Generators (PFIGs) were created by Khalil Najafi, chair of electrical and computer engineering, and Tzeno Galchev, a doctoral student in the same department. Most similar devices have more limited abilities because they rely on regular, predictable energy sources, said Najafi, who is the Schlumberger Professor of Engineering and also a professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering.
"The vast majority of environmental kinetic energy surrounding us everyday does not occur in periodic, repeatable patterns. Energy from traffic on a busy street or bridge or in a tunnel, and people walking up and down stairs, for example, cause vibrations that are non-periodic and occur at low frequencies," Najafi said. "Our parametric generators are more efficient in these environments."
The researchers have built three prototypes and a fourth is forthcoming. In two of the generators, the energy conversion is performed through electromagnetic induction, in which a coil is subjected to a varying magnetic field. This is a process similar to how large-scale generators in big power plants operate.
The latest and smallest device, which measures one cubic centimeter, uses a piezoelectric material, which is a type of material that produces charge when it is stressed. This version has applications in infrastructure health monitoring. The generators could one day power bridge sensors that would warn inspectors of cracks or corrosion before human eyes could discern problems.
The generators have demonstrated that they can produce up to 0.5 milliwatts (or 500 microwatts) from typical vibration amplitudes found on the human body. That's more than enough energy to run a wristwatch, which needs between one and 10 microwatts, or a pacemaker, which needs between 10 and 50. A milliwatt is 1,000 microwatts.
"The ultimate goal is to enable various applications like remote wireless sensors and surgically implanted medical devices," Galchev said. "These are long lifetime applications where it is very costly to replace depleted batteries or, worse, to have to wire the sensors to a power source."
Batteries are often an inefficient way to power the growing array of wireless sensors being created today, Najafi said. Energy scavenging can provide a better option.
"There is a fundamental question that needs to be answered about how to power wireless electronic devices, which are becoming ubiquitous and at the same time very efficient," Najafi said. "There is plenty of energy surrounding these systems in the form of vibrations, heat, solar, and wind."
These generators could also power wireless sensors deployed in buildings to make them more energy efficient, or throughout large public spaces to monitor for toxins or pollutants.
The research is funded by the National Science Foundation, Sandia National Laboratories, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The university is pursuing patent protection for the intellectual property. Galchev and a team of engineering and business students are working to commercialize the technology through their company, Enertia. Enertia recently won first place in the DTE/U-M Clean Energy Prize business plan competition and second place in the U-M Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies' Michigan Business Challenge. Other members of the team are Erkan Aktakka, and Adam Carver. Aktakka is an electrical engineering doctoral student. Carver is an MBA student at the Ross School of Business.
This shows some promise for devices such as pacemakers and other body-implanted devices, not to mention the devices listed in the article.
I just emailed Galchev about some possible applications, that may be a bit bold be eh, we're all human.
If the technology improves, it would be good to see them in Mobile phones.
Steve Burnham
I have a cell phone that has run in a continuous mode for over 2 years with my thermoelectric modules built on silicon, we have powered everything from cell phones and personal electronics to hybrid automobiles on our ambient temperature modules, we tested a unit on a Toyota hybrid, made 4700 miles without charging or running the gas engine, could have made ten times that but had to return the car. The short of it is finding the money to get launched, we have tried for 2 years and all the interested parties want control of the technology so where do we go from here?
why don't you contact the Steve and Melinda Gates Foundation, perhaps they were interested your idea? Mr. Gates is very big into High Technology, monitoring submissions to Intelligent Ventures Lab, such as a new form of nuclear energy for our nation, using depleted uranium as its primary fuel.
Huge concept. Definitely going to see more of this in the future.
And if this technology can be scaled up to larger and larger devices/applications it will really take off.
anniemughal
hey, energy from piezoelectric materials is even and can be produced but can energy be produced from directly vibrations without any other source between them?
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Flat Tower: Innovative Architectural Solution
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A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is working on lithium-air batteries that could help in generating more powerful, lightweight batteries than available currently.
Using Carbon Nanotubes to Produce Electricity
The researchers of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have uncovered a new phenomenon of carbon nanotubes. They found that carbon nanotubes discharge powerful waves of electricity under certain
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Nanotechnology Lights Up Batteries and Clothing
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Germanium Laser is the Latest Light Technology to be Unveiled
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New Battery Technology Could Lead to Self-Powered Devices
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text:
Local 253667131
Report: Minnesota not so nice to immigrants
The state fails to provide some basic protections to immigrants and refugees, report concludes.
By Mark Brunswick Star Tribune
April 2, 2014 — 10:36pm
Video (01:33) : Despite a self-professed sense of acceptance of newcomers and a well-worn notion of "Minnesota Nice," the state fails to provide some of the most basic protections to the more than 350,00 immigrants and refugees living here, a new report claims.
Despite a self-professed sense of acceptance of newcomers and a well-worn notion of "Minnesota Nice," the state does not provide some of the most basic protections to the more than 350,000 immigrants and refugees living here, a new report claims.
From public safety policies that force immigrants to live in fear of deportation to some of the worst racial disparities in the nation in income, health, and educational outcomes, the failures undermine the state's values and squander the potential resources newcomers can contribute, according to a report from the Advocates for Human Rights, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit.
The study, "Moving from Exclusion to Belonging," looks at a number of federal policies that the report says have combined to create a sense of exclusion. Those include what it calls "meager provisions" of a maximum 90 days of assistance for refugees after arrival, and a six-month wait before asylum seekers become eligible to apply for a work permit.
But it also makes recommendations to state and local policymakers on such things as when police can inquire about a person's immigration status and on developing clear protocols for when to involve federal immigration agencies at traffic stops. It recommends enforcing existing state laws protecting immigrants from exploitation by employers.
"Laws, policies and practices exclude immigrants and refugees from full participation in our community and violate their human rights," said Robin Phillips, executive director for the organization.
The group said it hopes the 300-page report will be used to pursue change at the state and local level, particularly as immigration reform in Washington appears to languish.
GLEN STUBBE • gstubbe@startribune.com
Audience members listened as Robin Phillips, executive director of the Advocates for Human Rights, talked about the group's new report, which concluded that immigrants living in Minnesota could be better served by state agencies.
It supports one bill now in the Legislature, for instance, that would give undocumented immigrants access to apply for a Minnesota driver's license. It argues the change would improve public safety and decrease opportunities for profiling drivers who appear to be immigrants.
State rules now require applicants to furnish proof of identification using documents that only citizens and lawful immigrants would possess. The bill would allow identification issued by another country to be acceptable proof of identity. Critics have said illegal immigrants should not be able to get driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards.
"We have before us thousands of children and young people, citizens whose future is at risk because their parents are forced to drive without a license and run the risk of deportation," said Jovita Morales, a community organizer.
Many of the recommendations would likely come up against the realities of tight budgets and funding battles. In education, for instance, the group recommends raising overall funding for public education and hiring more mental health professionals.
The report took more than two years. It draws on nearly 200 interviews and more than 25 community conversations throughout the state.
"Our tolerance for intolerance has gone down," said Michele Garnett McKenzie, director of advocacy for the group. "But as far as immigration and immigration policy, it's been dramatically opposite. It's been dramatically worsening."
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Debate over tenant background checks heats up in Minneapolis • Minneapolis


Mourning doves, geese, and ducks also provide hunters with many hours of hunting activity. All migratory bird and waterfowl hunters are required to have a basic hunting license. In addition, waterfowl hunters 16 years of age and older must possess both a federal and a state migratory waterfowl stamp to hunt waterfowl in Washington. Juvenile hunters under 16 years old are exempt from this requirement for supplemental stamps.
Mourning doves are found primarily in eastern Washington. Waterfowl populations are found throughout Washington. Early September is the traditional season for dove hunting. Dove populations vary from year to year, but typical seasons include a ten dove per day bag limit during the short season. As with all upland bird hunting opportunity, obtaining access and landowner permission are often critical to success.
Although waterfowl populations nationwide have been fluctuating over the past ten years. While populations within Washington are generally doing well, overall numbers nationwide of pintails, mallards, etc., have declined substantially. Bag limits and season length have been adjusted during the past six years to reflect this dramatic change in waterfowl populations.


One of the easiest ways to construct a virtual environment is to use tiles.
For me the decision to go with the technique was made even easier by already having an old tilemapping system laying around.
It was a bit rusty, but a few hours of mangling put it straight.
The tile graphics are as simple as possible. There's a wall and there's a floor.
I of course only implemented these assets as they were made by Ranquil. Pay special attention to the bump mapping!
There are a few oddities right off the bat. The XML element is called a ship as that's what the original project had, spaceships. The map is also flipped around as unity XYZ coordinates don't quite match with the XY coordinates of the map file.
One nifty feature in the generator is spawning random rooms to specific positions on the map. The rooms themselves are defined in the same way as the maps.
w . w . w . w . .
. . w . o . w . .
And rooms areas are outlined with the characters R (room start position) and r (room limits).
You can see the room randomization featured in the GIF.
Designing maps in black and white is kind of like programming in vanilla notepad, no syntax highlighting, no nothing. In other words clumsy and crude.
Yet again there are a few issues. You need to jump though some hoops to get from the ODS spreadsheet file to the XML file. First the file is converted to the comma separated values format (CSV) and then the data is manually copied to the XML. Yeah, that last bit especially is not so great.
It is trivial to read the CSV file directly from Unity (something I didn't know about way back then), so that's what I'm going to do in the next project.
Tiles are a simple and powerful way to represent a level. Reading letter based map files is easy to code and fluid to create (with conditional formatting at least). Reusing systems that you've made before is a great boon to productivity. Take advantage of previous work as often as possible.
And, of course, you can play Transformagician right here.
The jam is over, the entry turned out great and the WebGL build (which most people are going to play) runs quite badly. What to do? Optimize!
When trying to improve performance you should always go for the elephant in the room. In most cases (including this one) taming the alpha male is enough. Run the profiler on the target build and see what is up (milliseconds) and what is down (framerate!). Let's look at the rendering performance of the following scene.
Not bad! The deferred renderer does a pretty good job at batching drawcalls.
Very bad! The WebGL build seems to fall back to forward rendering before a deferred lighting pass. Maybe this is why the batching is botched, I'm not quite sure, but there most certainly is a drawcall problem.
One solution immediately springs to mind: Mesh.CombineMeshes. After some modifications the script works like a dream.
The walls in the scene are combined into a single mesh and the floors into another. As long as all the meshes share the same material there will be no trouble and the combined mesh looks just like a bunch of individual objects.
Mere three times faster… I think we can do better.
Fifteen times faster! I rest my case.
Use the profiler, identify the worst offender, smite it and rejoice. There are further optimization I could do, but why bother. At this point it's already an effort in diminishing returns.
Getting less than 60 frames per second? Time to look in the mirror and get to work!


text:
ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, 1939-1943.
© IWM (ME(RAF) 3514)
The media for this item are free to reuse for non-commercial purposes under the IWM Non Commercial Licence and can be downloaded or embedded with the code we offer here. By downloading or embedding any media, you agree to the terms and conditions of the IWM Non Commercial Licence, including your use of the attribution statement specified by IWM. For this item, that is: © IWM (ME(RAF) 3514)
    ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, 1939-1943. © IWM (ME(RAF) 3514)
[url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205208829][img]https://media.iwm.org.uk/ciim5/296/696/mid_000000.jpg?action=e&cat=Photographs[/img][/url] [url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205208829]ROYAL AIR FORCE OPERATIONS IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA, 1939-1943.. © IWM (ME(RAF) 3514)[/url] [url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/corporate/privacy-copyright]IWM Non Commercial License[/url]
Short Sunderland Mark I, N9029 'V', of No. 230 Squadron RAF, flying over the RAF Aboukir, Egypt, after taking off from Aboukir Bay.
ME(RAF) 3514
Royal Air Force, 230 Squadron
Western Desert 1940-1943, North Africa, Second World War
Abukir, Egypt
North Africa 1939-1945
Mediterranean 1939-1945


Parkinson's disease-related falls and freezing of gait — when patients are unable to move their feet forward when trying to walk — are associated with changes in a specific type of neuronal communication in different brain regions, a study reports.
The study, "Cholinergic system changes of falls and freezing of gait in Parkinson disease," was published in Annals of Neurology.
Many people with Parkinson's disease will experience falling and freezing of gait, which tend to become more frequent as the disease progresses. In some cases, symptoms cannot be controlled with dopaminergic therapy, suggesting that non-dopamine mechanisms contribute to Parkinson's disease motor symptoms.
Previous studies have shown that the brainstem (region that connects the brain to the spinal cord) and basal forebrain (important in the production of acetylcholine) regions with degenerated acetylcholine-releasing neurons projecting to the thalamus and cerebral cortex are associated with falls and slow gait speed in Parkinson's patients.
Acetylcholine is a brain chemical (neurotransmitter) released by nerve cells to send signals to other cells (neurons, muscles, and glands). The thalamus is involved in several important processes, including consciousness, sleep, and sensory interpretation; the cerebral cortex plays a key role in memory, attention, perception, awareness, thought, language, and consciousness.
The striatum coordinates multiple aspects of cognition, including both motor and action planning; the cholinergic system contains nerve cells that use acetylcholine to propagate a nerve impulse, and has been associated with a number of cognitive functions, including memory, selective attention, and emotional processing.
University of Michigan researchers hypothesized that distinct patterns of cholinergic projection system changes in the brain are associated with freezing of gait and falls in Parkinson's patients.
The team examined and performed [18F]FEOBV positron emission tomography (PET) scans on 94 Parkinson's patients (72 men and 22 women) with a history of falling and "freezing." Most subjects were taking dopamine agonists, carbidopa-levodopa or combinations of both.
[18F]FEOBV is a radioactive marker that selectively binds to the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VACht) that loads acetylcholine into synaptic vesicles — sac-like structures in neurons that store chemical messengers before releasing them into the gap between nerve cells (synapse), enabling neuronal communication.
A PET scan is a non-invasive imaging technique to visualize metabolic processes in the body. Before the scan, [18F]FEOBV is administered via injection; doctors wait for the radiotracer to be distributed throughout the body, and then scan the patient to detect and quantify the patterns of its accumulation in the body.
Because the marker binds to VACht, scientists use it to quantify active cholinergic nerve terminals in the brain.
"Participants were asked about a history of falling. A fall was defined as an unexpected event during which a person falls to the ground. The presence or absence of (freezing of gait) was based on clinical examination and directly observed by the clinician examiner," according to The Movement-Disorder Society Sponsored-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS–UPDRS), the researchers wrote.
They reported that 35 participants (37.2%) had a history of falls, and 15 (16%) had observed freezing of gait.
Compared with non-fallers, fallers had a significant decrease in VACht expression within the right thalamus, specifically in the lateral geniculate nucleus, which is the primary center for processing visual information. This suggests that the visual information processing required for walking around safely might be compromised in Parkinson's patients with a history of falling.
On the other hand, patients with freezing of gait had significantly reduced VACht expression in the bilateral striatum and hippocampus — required for learning and memory — compared with non-freezers.
The team found that a history of falls was associated with cholinergic projection system changes that relay to the thalamus, while the neural signals behind freezing of gait transmit to the caudate nucleus — a brain region associated with motor processing.
They also found that Parkinson's fallers had a lower density of thalamic cholinergic nerve terminals compared with non-fallers.
Freezing of gait was related to longer disease duration, more severe parkinsonian motor ratings, and higher levodopa levels.
These results suggest that changes in acetylcholine-mediated neuronal communication are linked to falls or freezing behavior, depending on the affected brain region.
The post Changes in Neuronal Communication Linked to Falls and Freezing of Gait in Parkinson's, Study Finds appeared first on Parkinson's News Today.
Freezing of gait — the description for a Parkinson's symptom in which a person's feet become briefly "glued to the floor," preventing forward movement despite an intention to walk — is associated with more severe disease and worse motor and non-motor disability, a study reports.
The study, "Factors associated with freezing of gait in patients with Parkinson's disease," was published in Neurological Sciences.
Such freezing, a form of akinesia or abnormal movement, while walking is estimated to affect about 50 percent of Parkinson's patient in later, more advanced, disease stages. Freezing of gait (FOG) is a well-known cause of falls, and a loss of independence and lower quality of life in these patients, but can be difficult for clinicians to assess and treat.
"FOG measurement is quite challenging as objective FOG assessment requires a continuous ambulatory system that can monitor locomotion and FOG episodes," the researchers wrote.
Studies have suggested that FOG is related to an array of contributing factors, including longer disease duration, more severe disability, wearing off of levodopa treatment, and urinary plus cardiovascular symptoms.
Given this variety, scientists at the Chonnam National University Hospital in Gwangju, South Korea, wanted to estimate the prevalence of FOG and pinpoint factors that could independently contribute to its occurrence in a population of Parkinson's patients.
A total of 157 patients (ages 62 to 77) were recruited. All "had a positive response to levodopa and did not have clinically significant brain lesions, as seen by magnetic resonance imaging," tje researchers wrote.
Patients' age at symptom onset, disease duration, and past plus current medications were all evaluated.
Lastly, FOG was assessed using the FOG questionnaire, which determines the severity and frequency of freezing of gait, plus disturbances in gait.
Results showed that 70.7 percent — 111 of 157 — of examined patients had FOG.
Researchers reported that "patients with FOG were older [mean age of 71.1], had long disease duration, were taking higher doses of dopaminergic agents, and had higher motor and non-motor scores than those without FOG." Higher scores mean greater disability.
Among non-motor symptoms, those affecting the cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and urinary systems were more frequent in patients with FOG than in those without. In accordance, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, urinary and miscellaneous NMSS domain scores were significantly higher in patients with FOG.
Results showed that higher mHYS and UPDRS part II scores — the section of the scale that refers to motor experiences in daily living — and NMSS total scores were significant predictors of greater freezing of gait severity and frequency.
Evidence indicates that non-motor symptoms like anxiety, fatigue, and pain impact mobility in PD patients, but this study found no difference between mood/cognition scores in patients with and without FOG.
The post Freezing of Gait Linked to More Severe Disability, Advanced Disease in Parkinson's Study appeared first on Parkinson's News Today.
Low-frequency subthalamic deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS), but not high-frequency STN-DBS, reduces freezing of gait in Parkinson's patients while preserving their ability to simultaneously process motor and cognitive information, a recent study shows.
The study, "Decreasing subthalamic deep brain stimulation frequency reverses cognitive interference during gait initiation in Parkinson's disease," was published in the journal Clinical Neurosphysiology.
Many Parkinson's patients (50-70 percent) will develop freezing of gait, which occurs when a patient temporarily feels as if his/her feet are glued to the floor and hesitates before stepping forward.
Freezing of gait mainly occurs when a patient wants to start walking or change direction, but also can occur in double-task situations, such as crossing the street or talking while walking. This often leads to falls and affects patients' quality of life, making freezing of gait a major burden.
Increasing evidence suggests an association between freezing of gait and impaired attention, executive function, and cognitive control, supporting the additional involvement of non-motor brain regions in this motor symptom.
Deep brain stimulation often is used to treat patients with advanced Parkinson's whose motor problems no longer improve with medication.
The technique involves surgically implanting an electrode in the brain that is connected to an implanted pulse generator through subcutaneous wires. The pulse generator is programmed to deliver charge-balanced, voltage-controlled electric pulses that stimulates the subthalamic nucleus, an area of the brain involved in motor function and which becomes hyperactive in Parkinson's patients.
Several studies have shown that STN-DBS eases motor symptoms, reduces the necessary daily dose of medication, and improves patients' quality of life.
While some studies have shown that high-frequency STN-DBS strongly alleviates motor symptoms in Parkinson's patients, others suggest that it worsens freezing of gait and executive function, compared to low frequency STN-DBS.
French researchers now evaluated the therapeutic effects of low (80-Hz) and high (130-Hz) frequency STN-DBS on the walking initiation performance of Parkinson's patients, with or without the combination of a cognitive task.
This cognitive interference task consisted of initiating walking according to a visual cue, which involved integrating an environmental cue and executing the motor task.
The study included 19 people (15 men and four women) with advanced Parkinson's disease and a mean age of 59 years, and 20 healthy people (15 men and five women) with a mean age of 62 years.
While initiation of walking was recorded in all participants, only nine Parkinson's patients performed the walking test combined with the cognitive interference task. The tests were conducted before DBS surgery, with or without dopaminergic medications, and after surgery without dopaminergic medications.
In the simple walking initiation task, Parkinson's patients showed significant improvements in their walking ability after STN-DBS with either frequency and with prior dopaminergic treatment.
However, when coupled with the cognitive interference task, treatment with high frequency STN-DBS significantly impaired patients' walking performance. These changes were not observed in patients treated with low-frequency STN-DBS, with or without prior dopaminergic medication, or in healthy people.
These findings suggest that "high frequency STN-DBS reduces the ability to simultaneously process motor and cognitive information while this seems preserved with low frequency STN-DBS," researchers wrote.
Thus, the results support the use of low frequency STN-DBS to ease freezing of gait in Parkinson's patients.
The team noted that different frequencies may act differently in the brain networks that regulate motor and cognitive functions, and that additional studies are necessary to clarify the mechanisms behind these different effects.
The post Low-frequency Deep Brain Stimulation Reduces Freezing of Gait, Study Shows appeared first on Parkinson's News Today.
Brain training reduces the severity and duration of freezing of gait and improves cognition and daytime sleepiness in Parkinson's patients, a study shows.
The study, "Cognitive training for freezing of gait in Parkinson's disease: a randomized controlled trial," appeared in the journal npj Parkinson's Disease.
Freezing of gait is a symptom of Parkinson's disease and occurs when patients temporarily feel as if their feet are glued to the floor and hesitate before stepping forward. This often leads to falls and lower quality of life. Studies have shown a connection between freezing of gait and impaired attention and cognitive control.
Researchers in Australia conducted a double-blind trial with Parkinson's patients who self-reported freezing of gait and had no signs of dementia. Patients were randomly assigned to either cognitive training intervention (20 patients) or an "active control" (18 patients).
Cognitive training consisted of exercises where participants were asked to get up from a chair and walk to a spot marked with a box 5 meters away. Conditions in which patients completed different tasks involving the box were evaluated. Two trials of each condition were completed, one with a left turn and one to the right.
The conditions included: one in which participants walked to the box, turned 180 degrees, and returned to their chair; one where they completed a 540-degree turn in the box before returning to the chair; one in which they shuffled around the box, keeping their inside foot to the outside of the box; and a dual task, where they did the same exercise as the first 180-degree condition, but also completed a cognitive task as they walked, either naming aloud the months backwards or multiples of nine or seven.
Study interventions were conducted twice weekly for seven weeks. Each session took two hours.
The initial 30-45 minutes were common to both groups and included education about a number of topics related to Parkinson's. Patients undergoing cognitive training then conducted computer tasks targeting processes such as attention, working memory, and brain processing speed. Patients in the active control group completed nonspecific computer tasks.
Investigators primarily evaluated the percentage of time spent frozen during cognitive training, which was analyzed while subjects were both on and off dopaminergic medications. Researchers also assessed several other measures, including mood, well-being, anxiety and depression, sleep quality, and quality of life.
For patients on dopaminergic medication, results showed that those on cognitive training had a significant decrease in the severity of their freezing of gait compared with patients in the active control group. Cognitive training also led to improvements in processing speed and reduced daytime sleepiness.
In contrast, no differences were found when comparing patients not taking regular dopaminergic treatment.
"These results add to the growing body of evidence showing that [cognitive training] is a useful therapeutic technique worthy of continued exploration in [Parkinson's]," the researchers wrote in the study.
"We believe there is reason to be hopeful for the use of these trials in the future," Simon Lewis, MD, the study's senior author and a professor of cognitive neuroscience at the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre, said in a press release.
The researchers also noted the importance of their finding that improvements only occur in patients on dopaminergic medication, "the normal day-day state for patients with Parkinson's," said Courtney Walton, PhD, the study's lead author, who is now at the University of Queensland.
"While more research is needed to better understand and establish these findings, it's likely that participants in the off- dopaminergic state were too impaired to benefit from any of the potential changes initiated through cognitive training," Walton said.
The post Brain Training Decreases Severity of Parkinson's Freezing of Gait, Study Reports appeared first on Parkinson's News Today.
Electrical-pulse brain stimulation eases a common mobility problem that Parkinson's patients face — their walk freezing in mid-step, a study reports.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University tried the stimulation with 20 Parkinson's patients whose gait freezes. Patients used a head cap to receive 20 minutes of stimulation on three visits.
This technique delivered electric current to the primary motor cortex of the brain or to both this cortex and the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The study included a control group that received placebo stimulation — a tingling sensation but negligible stimulation.
Before and after each round of stimulation, patients took a number of gait-related and cognition-related tests. One dealt with gait freezing. Another, Timed Up and Go, evaluated patients' risk of falling. Another was the Stroop cognition test. It evaluated patients' information processing speed, attention and other factors.
After 20 minutes of simultaneous stimulation of the primary motor cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, patients' gait freezing decreased and their mobility and cognition improved more than those who received sham stimulation or stimulation to the primary motor cortex only.
"What we found was quite encouraging," Professor Jeffrey Hausdorff of Tel Aviv University's Sackler School of Medicine said in a press release. "The participants' walking improved after simultaneous stimulation of the primary motor cortex and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, but not after primary motor cortex only or sham stimulation," said Hausdorff, the study's lead author.
"The results of the study reveal that transcranial direct current stimulation designed to simultaneously target motor and cognitive regions apparently induces immediate aftereffects in the brain that translate into reduced freezing of gait and improvements" in function and mobility, he added.
Overall, the findings suggest that brain stimulation of both motor and cognitive areas improves Parkinson's patients' gait freezing.
Tel Aviv University and Harvard Medical School researchers are collaborating on a clinical trial evaluating the long-term benefits of brain stimulation on gait freezing and other Parkinson's symptoms. The randomized, controlled trial (NCT02656316) is currently recruiting participants.
The post Electrical-pulse Brain Stimulation Improves Parkinson's Patients' Mid-step Freezing appeared first on Parkinson's News Today.


And by the way, I spelled "pretend" as Evelyn pronounces it.
Considering this singular aspect of the story, don't you wish that it was available to us to say, "Just pertend…" in any particular circumstance so that we might reverse its course and change the results? I can think of a few things I might change. I would most certainly "pertend" this and "pertend" that to change the condition of my terrible back.
If I had such power, I'd change these things. And I'd work to make changes to the really big stuff – Hitler, September 11, certain Presidents, and the like. But while I was taking breaks between these event adjustments, I'd probably use it to change the little stuff, too.
Nope. It's still bad. Just pertend you read this review before purchasing a bottle of your own.
I don't think even a young child's imagination could pertend that bottle is good.


text:
Publisher Latté Life launches free fortnightly newspaper in Sydney CBD to fill void left by mX
by Miranda Ward
Eastern suburbs newspaper Latté Life is launching a new free newspaper designed to replace the void left by News Corp's mX which folded in early June.
The fortnightly City Circular will be distributed in the same way mX was, by hand at inner city train stations, and will also be distributed to cafes and office blocks with the publisher predicting an average readership of 75,000.
City Circular editor Jane King told Mumbrella it was a good opportunity for them to extend into what had previously been News Corp's territory, rejecting the idea that audiences had become too focused on the online experience.
"For us we find with our papers, the growth has been so rapid and I think it's because we're so connected locally with our communities, it's a different feel we have, it's a different flavour," she said.
"Producing it fortnightly allows us to do that, when people get something all the time they get sick of it, where as once a fortnight it's a little bit more 'oh yeah I'll grab one of those'. It's a different model."
King said while the title was making the most of the opportunity left by mX, the new paper will not be replicating the News Corp daily in any way.
"Based on the success we've had with our launch into the Southern Highlands a year ago and our publication in the Eastern Suburbs, the flavour of our papers is quite different. We are just going into the mX space, we're not trying to replicate or emulate it in any way," she said.
The publisher is claiming the title will have a fortnightly distribution of 30,000 people across cafes, office blocks, apartment buildings and bars and pubs in the CBD, the Rocks, Walsh Bay, Haymarket, Broadway, Darling Harbour, Pyrmont, Ultimo, Glebe, Chippendale, Newtown, Darlinghurst, Surry Hills, Darlington, Waterloo, Paddington, Kings Cross, Potts Point, Elizabeth Bay, Rushcutters Bay, Double Bay, North Sydney and Neutral Bay.
The paper will also be handed out at train stations, including Central (Devonshire St Tunnel, Chalmers St, Foveaux St & Eddy Ave), Town Hall, Martin Place and Circular Quay as well as at Hyde Park and Railway Square bus stops.
The publisher is predicting the City Circular will have an expected average readership of 75,000 people.
Commenting on the advertiser response to the launch of the paper King said "we've had a really good response to the fact that we're launching the paper".
"A number of our current advertisers have come across as well as some new ones. So it's actually creating a new opportunity across all the papers for us," she said.
King is currently editing the title, a role she expects to have for "a while" as the publisher explores options for the role.
On the paper's editorial team King is joined by Cassandra Murnieks, who has written for The Australian, and Elsie Kassis Grimes who joins the Circular as fashion editor having been the beauty editor of Latté Life from April 2013 to October last year.
The paper will explore local bars, restaurants and cafes. It will offer readers wine reviews, fashion news, the latest trends at work and in IT, health stories, coverage of high profile achievers, art news, the best getaways, news on what's happening in Sydney as well as product reviews and special features.
But for those readers hoping the City Circcular might adopt some of the popular mX segments, such as 'who's looking at you' and the overheard section, King was adament the City Circular was not looking to mX for any content inspiration.
King said content would be shared across the three papers but is tailored to each of the paper's audiences.
"In the first edition of the City Circular we have an interview with the first winner of The Voice Karise Eden, we did run that in the Highlands but with a more Highland type skew then we tailor those questions to her specifically for the city audience as well," she said.
"There are new elements that are coming into the Circular that we don't run in our other publications. They all have their own individual personality if you like."
The paper will be available from tomorrow (Thursday) evening at train stations, and through other distribution channels on Friday. It will also be available at train stations on Friday.
Miranda Ward
News Corp to axe commuter mX newspapers
Media buyers say News Corp's closure of mX is not beginning of the end of print papers
mX editor-in-chief Craig Herbert says staff 'gutted' by closure of commuter newspaper
The mX closure will leave a big hole for those wanting to share ideas to a mass audience
Goodbye mX – Without paying readers you were always going to be first to go
Top 10 of Eric the Circle: How mX powered the world's first draw-it-yourself cartoon
mX could have stayed relevant if it dropped the 'commuter paper' mentality
News Corp commuter newspaper mX signs off with 'heartfelt thanks' in its final edition
Miranda Ward worked for Mumbrella from 2013 to 2017, eventually becoming deputy editor. Miranda joined Mumbrella in September 2013 from Sky News.
topics Jane KingmXNews Corpnewspaper
media kit 12 Aug 15
What's the best contact to get a media kit?
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Anonymous 12 Aug 15
Well done. Looks like an exciting venture. Good luck ?
Go Figure 12 Aug 15
History repeats itself! Traditionally the 'Local' newspaper always returns high readership figures. Journalist students will remember the recall and sharing figures as being surprising as they firstly presume them to be old-school quaint.
However, local businesses report good sales returns with focus groups recording affectionate comments and regret at the loss.
Yet, as these important communication tools were taken over by the larger media groups – the solid figures have been arrogantly ignored with the excuse of 'distribution' costs. The Internet just does not supply the intimate details of community as effectively, and the 'local' always rises as the demand always returns.
Audi finds its replacement for Warburton in marketing lead
Corporate needs you to find the differences between this M&M's picture and this M&M's picture


Four people were killed in separate incidents in the Port City including a womwn on Wednesday and Tuesday. They are a crew, an indentified women , bank officer and an activist of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (JSS).
A crew member of a cargo vessel was burnt to death while two others sustained injuries as a fire broke out at the anchored vessel at Bijoynagar Ghat in Karnaphuli river in the port city on Tuesday night.
The deceased was identified as Saiful Islam, 34, son of Abul Khayer of Fatikchhari upazila.
Sub-inspector Alauddin of Chattogram Medical College Hospital police camp, said the vessel 'MV APS-1' caught fire around 11 pm, leaving three crewmembers of the ship injured.
Later, they were taken to Chittagong Medical College Hospital where Saiful succumbed to his injuries.
The two other injured Nahid, 18 and Mizan, 25 were admitted to the burn unit of the hospital.
UNB from Chattogram reports: An unidentified woman was crushed to death under the wheels of a train near Bhatiari Bridge in Sitakunda upazila on Wednesday.
Mustafiz Bhuiya, officer-in-charge of Railway Police, said the accident took place around 9:30 am when a train hit the woman while she was walking near the rail tracks, leaving her dead on the spot.
On information, police recovered the body and sent it to a local hospital morgue for autopsy.
Another reports says: A senior bank official was killed and two other people were injured as a speeding bus hit a CNG-run auto-rickshaw carrying them at Dewanhat area under Double Mooring Police Station in the port city on Wednesday morning.
The deceased was identified as Anwarul Azim, 56, assistant vice-president of Islami Bank Khatunganj branch and a resident of Haitkandi area in Mirsharai upazila.
The accident took place when Anwarul along with one of his colleague was going to his office around 10 am, said Sub-inspector Alauddin Talukdar of Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH) police outpost quoting family members.
The bus hit the auto-rickshaw while crossing the Dewanhat flyover, leaving them critically injured.
Doctors declared Anwarul dead at noon when he was taken to CMCH while his colleague Shaidul Islam, 45, and CNG driver Jahir Uddin,40, are undergoing treatment at the hospital, the SI added.
UNB from Rangamati adds: An activist of Parbatya Chattagram Jana Sanghati Samity (JSS) was shot to death by miscreants at Biharpara in Naniarchar upazila on Wednesday evening.
The deceased was identified as Shanta Chakma. Abdul Latif, officer-in-charge of Naniarchar Police Station, said a gang of miscreants opened fire on Shanta around 7:15pm while he was going to a local bazaar from his house, leaving him critically injured.
He was taken to Naniarchar Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared him dead.
Shanta might have been killed over political conflict, said locals.


text:
Met Ede-Oost wordt het gedeelte van de Gelderse plaats Ede bedoeld dat ligt ten oosten van de spoorlijn Ede - Barneveld, ten noorden van de spoorlijn Utrecht - Arnhem en het gedeelte ten noorden van de N224 (met uitzondering van Kernhem).

Buurten
De wijk is onderverdeeld in vijf buurten:

Bosrand
Dit is een klein gebied ten noorden van de N224. Belangrijkste voorzieningen hier zijn de algemene begraafplaats aan de Asakkerweg en het crematorium. Ook de hockeyvelden van MHC Ede liggen in het Bosrandgebied.

Burgemeestersbuurt
De straten in deze buurt zijn genoemd naar oud-burgemeesters van Ede. In deze wijk ligt het openluchttheater van Ede.

Centrum
Het winkel- en horecagebied van Ede centrum heeft een belangrijke functie voor de gehele bebouwde kom van Ede, maar ook voor de andere dorpen binnen de gemeente Ede. Op maandagmorgen en op zaterdag wordt in het centrum een weekmarkt gehouden.

Componistenbuurt
De straten in deze buurt dragen de naam van bekende Nederlandse componisten. In deze buurt is na de Tweede Wereldoorlog een herdenkingspark aangelegd waarin het Mausoleum van Ede staat. Ook staat hier het monumentale gedenkteken ter ere van Anna Maria Moens.

Stationsbuurt
De stationsbuurt beslaat het gedeelte van Ede tussen het centrum en het station Ede-Wageningen. Ook het kazernegebied ten westen van de Klinkenbergerweg behoort tot deze buurt. Dit is een nieuwbouwproject.

Galerij

Externe link
 Website Algemene belangenvereniging Ede Oost

Wijk in Ede

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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text:
Connecting Kosovo to the World
#KOSOVOEVERYWHERE
#SEEYOU
A solution to the business management problems – Goodwerp
By: Albana Rama March 18, 2014
Businesses and organizations around the world can now use Goodwerp to manage their tasks and projects, maintain a positive pipeline, chat with their team in real-time, and invoice their clients without the need to switch between several online applications to control their workflow.
Meet Valon Sopi – the founder and the product architect of Goodwerp. The ambitious Kosovar had the fortune to work with several talented people during his career. He has been building an online application for national clients and worked for the National Basketball Association – Oxfam America. Valon also ran a design firm in New Jersey. Today, he loves spending time with his 2-year old toddler. "My main occupation now is teaching colors, numbers, and shapes to an energetic 2-year old toddler who keeps me in check on a daily basis."
"In 2009, the idea behind Goodwerp started to evolve as an online project management solution that is built specifically for service firms and consultancies around the world" says Valon in an interview with Kosovo Diaspora. "The platform offers all the tools needed for one to run their business. Some of the features are: -teams can manage their projects, invoice their clients and collaborate with one another and also get a feel on the pulse of their business.
This idea evolved as an operating design for a firm which manages several projects. Valon expresses how challenging it can be to manage 30-40 projects and serve demanding clients. The firm used different online applications in such cases but missed a feature that would simplify the process.
Namely, Valon says that "separate apps were in charge of various aspects of the business: management, pipeline, finance, collaboration." He adds that he "could never get a real-time pulse of what was going on in the business and had to manually gather data through an excel data sheet."
Goodwerp became what it is as a solution to this problem and as a response to the need to gather all information needed from the entire company and provide the team with useful information to work on. Goodwerp has already influenced many companies and helped them save time and be more productive. The teams behind Goodwerp are working hard on developing it even further with many innovative ideas. The current team consists of six people – Tyler Wetzel, Erman Belegu, Ideal Bakija, Anbullena Krasniqi, Valmir Hazeri and Valon Sopi himself. They all work together on a daily basis and have different backgrounds, from computer science engineering through design and market analysis.
When asked what makes Goodwerp different from other similar platforms Valon says: "Goodwerp is highly accessible and adaptable to users of various skill levels. It helps clients get rid of up to 3 other applications and get a bird's eye view on their business operations. Its pricing model offers companies scalability based on their needs and usage. The beauty of it all is that a company does not have to install a third-party application and stumble in managing their business. Everything is presented in real-time."
Albana Rama
Albana Rama is one of the writers at Kosovo Diaspora and just finished her studies in Media and Communication at the University of Södertörn in Stockholm. During the spring 2013 Albana did her internship at Radio Television of Kosovo and UNDP Kosovo.
St. Francis basketball player Edon Molla supports gender equality #HeForShe
Open Data Kosovo
Kosovo's Balkanspring at JuleExpo
Submit for Newsletter
Qamlije Lokaj: Engagement of Diaspora Professionals at the Country of Origin
Diapsora Register Online
DokuFest offers an exclusive package for Diaspora
Gjakova as a lightweight judo champion
Diaspora Engagement for the Innovation and Training Park (ITP) – Prizren
Mentorship Program for Kosovar Students
Send Us Your Idea
© 2014 Germin


This script imitates water splashes.
The number, sizes, and positions of the drops are defined at random.
If necessary, you can clear the excess splashes with the Eraser tool or add some new ones by painting over the "Water Drops" layer with the hard edged Brush (screenshot).


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