text:
The First and Only Inherited Gun | Evyl Robot Soapbox
The First and Only Inherited Gun
One morning, the fam and I (the Evyl Robot Empyre) were getting ready to go to our daily life at school and work. We were running a little late that day, and in a rush to get out the door. We had largely made up the time when we were heading out the door at 7:00 a. m., when my phone rang.
The first thought that went through my head was, "Who in the world is calling me at seven in the morning on a Thursday?!?!?" I looked at my caller I. D., and saw that it was Grandpa.
My first thought was worry. It was muted, but it was there. My dad's dad is getting up there in years. Close to 90. When he was a child, his doctor told his parents that he wouldn't live a long life due to a congenital heart defect. In his eighties, he climbs on the roof to repair his house, he roots around in the attic, and he digs in the garden out back (which is a small slice of Eden, I might add). My grandparents have been married for 59 years, and live on their own. They lead a very active lifestyle, live passionately, love passionately, and live remarkably fast. They aren't scared of new technology and entertain guests from out of town. Grandpa gets up before the sun to do his daily bible reading and prayer, and Grandma will cook a meal any time I show up for one. Great people.
Knowing that he wakes up before the dawn, it wasn't so strange that he might be calling at that hour except that he doesn't usually. I answered the phone, "Hello?"
"Michael," he said, "It's your Grandad. Is this a bad time to call?"
"No," I responded, "This is a fine time to call. What's going on?"
He said, "Well, I've got your great-grandma's shotgun here, and I know that you like guns, and if you would be interested, I'd like for you to have it."
This was kind of a shock. A welcome shock at the time, but a shock, no less. I didn't know that he had his mother's gun, and I didn't know why he would choose now to bestow it, but I was interested, "I'd love to have it. That sounds great," I clumsily responded.
"Well, give me a call and let me know when you want to come by," he said.
We parted ways at that. Needless to say, I wondered what the heck kind of gun it was that he was giving to me. I was pretty well obsessed all day long. He said it was his mom's shotgun. That's all I knew. Would it be a pristine gun, or a total, rusted out basket-case not worthy of hanging on a wall? There were several bore sizes that it could be, there were several action types, countless makers… the possibilities were nearly endless!
That afternoon, I called him back to let him know that I wanted to come by. He sounded eager for the visit. When we got to his house, he explained that he wanted to sort out his stuff, and pass it out to who he wanted to own it, before they had to fight over it after he was gone. I didn't like where that was going. He told me that he knew that he wouldn't live forever, and that he wanted to make sure that treasures like this went to the people he wanted them to go to. He said that he wished he had two guns, so he could give one to me and one to my brother, but since I seemed to be more into guns than my brother…
I didn't tell him that my brother was not less into guns, only less into finances currently. I did tell him that I would gladly share – that any time he wanted the old gun, that it was his as well as mine. That was sincere, and still is. I also told him that I hoped he would stick around for a while, because I would miss him as well as a bunch of other people.
That's about when he presented me with this:
This is a Stevens .410 that was built about a hundred years ago.
It has the hammer-block safety, spring-loaded firing pin, and a serial number.
You see, Great-Grandpa wanted Great-Grandma to go hunting with him, and she decided she was game for it (as it were, not literally, of course). He bought her coveralls, and this gun. He went out and bought the absolute, nicest, small-bore shotgun that he could afford. She tried the sport a couple of times and decided it wasn't for her. She did keep the gun though.
Years after the fact, some cousin was using the gun in the field and shot it, not realizing that he had gotten sand in the barrel. It blew off a few inches from the end of the barrel. At this point, the barrel has a very slight bulge in the end of it, and it lacks the sight bead. My brother and I have cleaned and oiled it for these pictures (it looks 100% better than it did originally).
The gun shoots beautifully. I was shocked that such a thing would do so well, so old, beaten and used, lacking the end of the barrel and the sight. And yet, it does function as it should, and it shoots true.
Either person who has been following my blog knows that there are a few guns in The Evyl Robot Empyre. Each one of them is special. Even my twin revolvers, which are with me all day everyday are unique to each other much like the difference between .223 and 5.56 brass is different to the touch when sorting. I love this old single-shot .410. It is a piece of heritage and a piece of history.
Somewhere, I have pictures of the boy shooting his great, great-grandma's gun. That's something that is truly priceless. I worry about Grandpa. I know that his time here is limited, and that The Father will call him home, but I don't want it to be soon. Then again, I don't really get any say in that. At the same time, I'm honored that he would give me such a treasure. It doesn't have much monetary value, but it it priceless in my hereditary line.
Maybe someday, I'll be giving this one to my grandson, telling him the story about his great, great, great-grandmother and her short stint with this wonderful old shotgun.
This entry was posted in beautiful, biology or bio-like, Family, firearms, love, Passing on..., spiritual, Survival by admin. Bookmark the permalink.
5 thoughts on "The First and Only Inherited Gun"
Yes, one day you'll be passing it on to the youngest Robot and he'll then give it to his son, and then his son after that.
You should really start a book on it and get your grandfather to start with the first entry telling the history of it, then you can add to it as you go until you pass it on to the next commander of the Evyl Empire.
It is a beauty, I think my dad has a few that are similar, an old single shot and a double barrel that were my grandfathers. I'll have to find out.
You know, it wouldn't at all be a bad idea to keep a firearm dossier with serial numbers, descriptions, notes, and history of the guns we come by and pass on. I really wish that I could track down more of the family guns that have gone to other branches of the family. It's not like I would want to take them home with me, but it would be nice to know who had them and what they are. I may have to start a paper gun journal and put it in the safe with the guns. Even the new ones that we have now are going to have a story that somebody will be interested in one day.
Maybe you can get the bulged part of the barrel cut off and re-threaded for chokes and tapped for a new sight. It would still be a shooter, albeit with less fps because of the shorter barrel. It's a shame that something as priceless as that got damaged.
Lolly on September 20, 2009 at 16:22 said:
As my husband always says, they don't build old guns anymore.
.-= Lolly´s last blog ..For You =-.
He sounds like a smart guy, Lolly!


We lacked the killer touch. It is as simple to explain and as difficult to put right as that.
They're just awesome to us.
They're always there to support us. If an officer gets sick, they're there to provide meals or help.
I think the key thing is for [Schweitzer and Campbell] to develop a solid personal relationship. Because this is something that needs to be dealt with at the highest levels.
.it was a good all-round effort.
I'd like to have her back. I hope it works out - I really do.
We've just not gathered the points our consistency of performance has deserved but everyone did their jobs and this time we were rewarded.
In my mind, without that funding, FEDC doesn't exist.
What we've been seeing in the Canadian Flathead is sort of a shotgun approach to industrial activities.
As the Fremont Street Experience enters its second decade of operation, the Board appreciates what Joe has accomplished, and is pleased that Joe has agreed to assist with a smooth transition of leadership over the next several months.
Chris picked up a knee injury five minutes from the end. He had a scan which didn't reveal any bad damage, but the knee is very swollen and I expect him to miss the next two games.
Commercial products can kill viruses because the flu is not resistant to disinfectants. Washing hands before and after handling pets is a good start in maintaining good health.
Flu viruses are typically respiratory, but bird flu has been shown to attack intestinal tracts in animals as well. That affects the way pets can pass the virus to each other.
There are a whole host of challenges. The simple fact is that more demands have been put on the river than it can support.
For the first time, people in the watershed are having a tough, respectful dialogue about solutions.


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We're very pleased to report that our new program "Monterey County Stories" is being featured in this year's Monterey County Gives fundraising drive!
"Bringing the area's people who hold our heritage and stories to the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur….
"Countless individuals across our community have stories to tell and knowledge to share. History buffs, authors, writers, musicians, professionals—the list is endless.
Click HERE to learn more about our "Big Idea" and then peruse the Monterey County Give's site for countless amazing causes worth of your support!
← Check out Elizabeth Marvel & Bill Camp introducing the upcoming HML benefit!


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\section{Introduction}
Guitar amplifiers are responsible for significant signal modification, such as equalization (EQ), compression and distortion, to the extent that the resulting timbre is determined more by the amplifier than the guitar itself. Amplifiers utilizing vacuum tubes and analog circuitry are the most popular approach to creating guitar tones. However, these amplifiers have several drawbacks: cost, unreliability due to vacuum tube failure, and the dependence of timbre on the amplification level, leading to difficulties in achieving specific sounds at a required volume. Amplifiers are also limited in their timbral range, as they utilize only a few low-order analog filters for equalization (EQ) and typically 1 to 4 distortion stages. While digital amplifier simulators have gained mainstream success recently, these typically recreate the timbres of vacuum tube amplifiers by simulating the analog circuitry and are similarly limited in their timbral range \cite{fractal}. Digital amplifier simulators also suffer from a limited interface that mimics analog amplifiers, limiting users to adjusting coarse parameters like 3-band EQ and distortion levels.

This work enables musicians to create new guitar timbres by exploring the latent space of a convolutional network that was trained to reproduce a range of guitar amplifiers. We introduce a novel model architecture with an interpretable latent space. Interpolating parameters allows musicians to combine characteristics from various amplifiers, while extrapolating beyond the latent space spanned by the amplifiers in the training set generates entirely new timbres.

\section{Method and Experiments}
\paragraph{Architecture}
The model consists of six sequential EQ blocks shown in Figure \ref{fig:EQlayer}: convolution with 60 fixed bandpass filters, followed by a learned linear combination (reducing the dimensionality from 60 to 1), a learned bias to allow for asymmetric distortion, and a soft-sign activation function for waveform compression or distortion. Each EQ block has a residual connection \cite{resnet} with a learned parameter to control a convex combination of its input and output, to produce cleaner timbres as needed by skipping the soft-sign activation. The learned EQ weights are forced to be positive by squaring their values, which avoids phase cancellation in the latent features.

\begin{figure*}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[width=\textwidth]{./images/EQlayer_smaller.pdf}
\center \caption{Depiction of one EQ block with a fixed bandpass filter bank. The proposed model consists of six EQ blocks connected in series.}
\label{fig:EQlayer}
\end{figure*}

\paragraph{Filters}
Using fixed filters rather than learned convolutional weights aligns the latent spaces of all the models. This enables an intuitive latent space exploration for timbre design.

The filters cover a range of 40 Hz (approximately one octave below the lowest note on a guitar in standard tuning) to 20 kHz (the upper limit of human hearing). The bandpass center frequencies are logarithmically-spaced to follow the human perception of pitch \cite{pitch}. Finite-impulse response (FIR) filters, equivalent to 1D convolutions, are used due to their linear phase property to avoid phase distortion. Infinite impulse response (IIR) filters achieve sharper transitions around the bandpass frequencies and were explored for this work. However, IIR filters, analogous to recurrent networks, increase the training time by several orders of magnitude over FIR filters due to the length of the training inputs. The lower limit for perceptible latency in audio is approximately 2 milliseconds \cite{latency}, which serves as an upper bound for the total filter group delay across all layers in the model.

\paragraph{Loss functions}
Mean-squared error losses in both the time domain and mel-frequency spectrogram domain \cite{mel} were explored. Qualitatively, models trained with time-domain losses, as in \cite{timeloss2, timeloss}, reproduce the distortion of the amplifiers but lack balance between treble and bass. Conversely, models trained with a mean-squared error loss in the mel-frequency spectrogram domain produce a more balanced sounding output. The sum of losses in both domains generalizes well across all amplifiers tested and is used in all results.

\paragraph{Data}
The training data consists of 50 minutes of direct-input (DI) signals.
An additional 3 minutes of validation data is used to control early stopping. The following amplifiers are modeled (ordered from least distortion to most distortion): Fender Twin, Vox AC30, Marshall Super Lead, Marshall JCM800, Mesa Boogie Triple Rectifier, and Peavey 5150. Further details are in the supplement.

\section{Results and Discussion}

Model outputs for all six amplifiers with a test DI signal can be heard at \url{http://youtu.be/cbXa_N1sbvk} along with a visualization of the weights and network activations.

\paragraph{Latent Space Exploration}
We linearly interpolate between the model parameters of two amplifiers $\theta_i$ and $\theta_j$ as
\begin{equation} \label{eq:1}
\theta_{ij\alpha} = (1-\alpha)\, \theta_i + \alpha\, \theta_j
\end{equation}
where $\alpha$ $\in$ [0, 1] controls the blending of the characteristics of the two amplifiers. The same formulation (\ref{eq:1}) is used for extrapolation, with $\alpha$ $>$ 1 resulting in a model similar to amplifier $j$ that has fewer characteristics of amplifier $i$. To preserve the respective distortion levels of the amplifiers, the resulting parameters are not normalized. A user-controlled gain parameter can account for this, similar to a gain control on a guitar amplifier that adjusts the distortion. Note that the interpolation and extrapolation are not generally limited to combinations of two models but is done here for interpretability of the results.

The results of interpolation for $\alpha = 0.5$ between all pairs of amplifiers can be heard at \url{http://youtu.be/FYEN8pMdOnw}. Extrapolation results can be heard at \url{http://youtu.be/q-WrRKHQbBs} for $\alpha$ $\in$ $\{1.25, 1.5\}$. Interpolation for all amplifier pairs yields novel timbres combining characteristics of each amplifier that are not possible with previous amplifier modeling approaches. Extrapolation generates more original timbres for the modern guitarist and the examples provided cover only a small subset of what is possible with this system.

\begin{center}
    \printbibliography
\end{center}

\section*{Supplementary Materials}

\paragraph{Recording setup} All labels were recorded at 44.1 kHz. Due to equipment availability, a digital amplifier simulator (Line 6 Helix) was used to record the ground truth labels rather than recording the original amplifiers. A similar approach is used in \cite{timeloss}. Although this may propagate modeling errors, qualitatively these are not perceptibly significant and exact replication of the amplifier timbres is secondary to the goal of intuitive latent space exploration in this work.

\paragraph{Speaker model} The recorded sound of an amplifier includes the speakers and microphone, each of which impart changes to the tone. In this work we model the amplifier without the speaker and microphone. The combined speaker and microphone EQ response is added to the final result by convolution with a commercially-available impulse response (IR) file. A similar recording setup is commonly used for vacuum tube amplifiers with a USB load-box that emulates the electrical load of a speaker. Separating the amplifier and speaker models gives musicians greater control over the resulting timbre.

The speaker IR used for the results in this work was from an Orange 2x12 speaker cabinet with Celestion V30 and G12M-25 speakers recorded with a proprietary mix of microphones by OwnHammer. The same IR was used for all results to avoid conflating the variations in the models with different speakers.

\paragraph{DI files} The DI files used for training inputs were scraped from several guitar forums and concatenated temporally. Silences longer than 1 second were removed to avoid batches that did not contribute to the training. The validation and test DI were recorded by the author with different guitars. This setup avoids overfitting the model to the EQ profile of a particular guitar.

\paragraph{Societal Impact} This work does not present any foreseeable societal consequence.

\end{document}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


It's that time of year again when us AR parents can get together for a night of fun!
Rusty's Pub on Saturday, April 14th.
The ticket includes a burger and drink and funds raised will go towards our AWESOME kids!
We will be holding a 50/50, Twoonie Toss and Silent Auction as well.


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Stumble into Grace is the twentieth studio album by American singer/songwriter Emmylou Harris, released on September 23, 2003 by Nonesuch Records. It peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard country albums chart. Like its immediate predecessor, Red Dirt Girl, the album contained a significant number of Harris' own compositions.

Track listing

Personnel
Emmylou Harris - vocals, acoustic guitar, 6-string bass guitar
Tony Hall - bass, guitar, backing vocals
Brady Blade - drums, backing vocals
Ethan Johns - drums, electric guitar
Julie Miller - backing vocals
Jane Siberry - backing vocals
Malcolm Burn - bass, electric guitar, piano, whistling, churanga, percussion, harmonica, Fender Rhodes, B2 organ, backing vocals
Buddy Miller - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
Kate McGarrigle - accordion, acoustic guitar, backing vocals
Anna McGarrigle - accordion, backing vocals
Daryl Johnson - percussion, bass, backing vocals
Daniel Lanois - pedal steel guitar, electronic orchestra, backing vocals
Bernie Leadon - electric guitar
Linda Ronstadt - backing vocals
Kevin Salem - electric guitar
Colin Linden - electric guitar
Gillian Welch - backing vocals
Jill Cunniff - backing vocals
Joe West - engineer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

Emmylou Harris albums
2003 albums
Albums produced by Malcolm Burn
Nonesuch Records albums

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Buenos Aires is full of amazing street art, and one of the neighbourhoods where it proliferates most is Villa Crespo. A generous spread of murals by local and international street artists grace the walls in this area of the city, so we have rounded up the best spots in Villa Crespo for you to check them out.
This corner of Villa Crespo straddles the border of Chacarita, and is one of the best places in the city to see some diverse street art. From graffiti to murals to what can only be described as horseplay, the bus terminal located at the corner of Castillo and Fitz Roy has been a stalwart of the street art scene for many years now. It was one of the first places to give street artists free permission to paint there, and as such has become a beloved spot. Artworks change regularly, so if you're a street art buff, make sure to swing by regularly to see what new stuff is up.
Located on Serrano next to the bike lane is a wall that has been in action for a number of years. The mural that graces it is by a famous local artist called Ever Siempre, and depicts a man and a woman of Asian descent. This is a follow-up piece to a previous mural painted there by the same artist which was of an Asian boy and girl, and this new piece is supposed to represent grown-up versions of these characters. The male figure actually works in the Chinese supermarket the artist frequents next to his studio.
Just around the corner from Serrano are more murals located on the stretch of street between Serrano, Thames and Uriarte. A number of these are also by Ever Siempre (you will be able to notice them by the colourful clouds above the heads of the characters or coming out of their eyes), and one in particular, which depicts Mother Earth towering over a line of field workers below, was done for a music video by Puerto Rican hip hop group Calle 13.
Another mural by Ever Siempre can be found on Padilla, this time depicting the head of Mao Tse Tung. A somewhat controversial mural (given the subject matter), it can be explained by the artist's fascination with contradiction and Communism. Another piece across the road, featuring two wrestlers, is by another famous Argentine artist, Franco Fasoli a.k.a. Jaz.
This leafy street has a few smaller murals dotted along its length, but one among them stands out for its whimsical nature. A beautiful piece by local artist Mart depicts a boy on a bike against a colourful but subdued background. If you continue along Julian Alvarez across Cordoba and down the hill to Honduras, you can see another mural by the same artist, a charming portrait of a character with a bicycle for glasses, typical of the playful artworks the artist is known for.
This side street should be approached with caution, as it is located in a bit of a dodgy area. However, if you are willing to brave it, you will be treated to some little-known treasures in the neighbourhood of Villa Crespo. Artworks by Belgian street art giant Roa sit alongside works by local artist Sonni and British legend Sweet Toof.
There are a number of works along Niceto Vega between Darwin and Uriarte. A big bus plastered on the side of a building by Gordo Pelota and fileteado expert Alfredo Genovese questions the disparity between the people who frequent the gentrified neighbourhood of Palermo and those who work there. Another artwork by Mart can be seen just past the corner of Godoy Cruz, and if you head to La Calle, a secret bar hidden behind pizza joint La Guitarrita, you will find some murals inside.


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You are here: Home / Indonesian Church / Indonesia / General Information / Demographics
Indonesia's population can be roughly divided into two groups. The west of the country is Asian and the people are mostly Malay, while the east is more Pacific and people on New Guinea are Papuan, with roots in the islands of Melanesia. There are, however, many more subdivisions, which is logical given the fact that Indonesia spans an area the size of Europe or the USA and that it consists of many islands that to a large degree had their own separate development. Many Indonesians identify with a more specific ethnic group that is often linked to language and regional origins; examples of these are Javanese, Sudanese, or Batak. But there are also quite different groups within many islands, such as Borneo, with its Dayak and Punan, who have different lifestyles and skin tones.
Most Indonesians speak a local language (bahasa daerah) as their first tongue, but the official national language, Indonesian (locally called Bahasa Indonesia) is almost universally taught in schools and is spoken by nearly every Indonesian. Originally a lingua franca for most of the region, including present-day Malaysia (and thus closely related to Malay), it was accepted by the Dutch as the de facto language for the colony and declared the official language after independence. The formerly large, influential Eurasian community (locally known as Indos) has largely left the country for the Netherlands, California and Australia, although a few still remain in Indonesia and are highly esteemed models and soap opera stars.
There are also serious ethnic tensions in Indonesia, predominantly between Indonesians of Chinese ethnicity and the Pribumi peoples, who are considered as natives of Indonesia (the implication, of course, being that "non-Pribumi" people are not always considered to be entirely Indonesian). The riots in Jakarta in 1997 and 1998 highlight this recurring tension. Ethnic relations are strained mostly due to a perception that the Chinese community is too rich relative to the Pribumis, and that this is unfair. That the Chinese community is on average wealthier than the Pribumis is indisputable, and positions of power and influence in the business sphere are indeed held by a relatively small number of very wealthy ethnic Chinese Indonesians. However, much of the community occupies the same kinds of roles as shopkeepers and creditors that they occupied under Dutch rule (when Chinese people were treated as second-class citizens, as opposed to the third-class citizens; the Pribumi peasants and laborers; and used as middlemen), and it would not be unreasonable to surmise that some of the resentment is against the proprietors of these businesses, too. It is pertinent to note that it was precisely these types of shops, and the families living and working in storefront dwellings, who were the target of much of the mobs' wrath. The Indonesian government is attempting to remedy problems which helped trigger the rioting, but due to widespread corruption and discontent experienced by the poorer citizens of Indonesia, ethnic harmony is slow in coming. Corruption, collusion, and nepotism which characterized Suharto's presidency clearly define the origins of Indonesia?s ethnic tensions today.
Islam is Indonesia's main religion, with almost 88% of all Indonesians declared as Muslim according to the 2000 religious census, making Indonesia the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world. Prior to the arrival of the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity and Islam in the Malay Archipelago, the popular beliefs in region had been thoroughly influenced by Indic religious philosophy through Hinduism and Buddhism. After independence syncretism and intermarriage has decreased somewhat and religious divides sharpened, leading to communal violence in many of the eastern islands as well as in Java. Although Islam was once mainly practiced in Java and parts of Sumatra, the transmigration program has increased the number of Muslims living in Bali, Borneo, the Celebes, the Moluccas, and Papua. The remaining population is 8% Christian (of which roughly three quarters are Protestant, with the remainder mainly Catholic, and a substantial charismatic minority), 3% Hindu and 1% Buddhist with small communities of Jews. Although only about 3% of Indonesian population is officially Hindu, Indonesian beliefs are too complex to classify as belonging to a single world religion. In Java in particular, a substantial number of Muslims follow a non-orthodox, Hindu-influenced form of Islam known as Abangan, while across the archipelago the Hindu legacy, along with the older mystic traditions, influences popular beliefs. Indonesians are required to declare themselves as one of these official religions. As a result, many Indonesian "Muslims" are non-practicing, follow Indonesia's animist traditions (a fact that the government strenuously denies), or are entirely secular.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Tutoring and Academic Support Center (TASC) provides tutoring for almost every College course as well as skill-development in general study skills in Fall River, New Bedford, and Attleboro. Academic computing labs can be found for business, sciences, technology, graphic design, health sciences, and other disciplines and give students access to the technology they need to master their material. Technology stays up-to-date, and generous lab hours offer students ample access. Every student receives a free email address for personal and academic use.
Classroom learning infuses practical experience to prepare you for your next step after BCC. Programs incorporate real-time learning experiences, whether you're working with a local business to develop a website, preparing a marketing proposal, practicing clinical skills, or whatever you can imagine. In most programs you can take advantage of internships, field placements, and optional Cooperative Education positions where you earn wages and credit toward your degree and experience toward your résumé. The College's Service-Learning program also gives you opportunity to earn class credit for meaningful community experiences that help you and others.
As much as you'll enjoy your time with us, we know you're preparing to move on. From the moment you step in any learning space, we'll work with you to plan your next step. With a broad range of student services in financial aid, academic advisement, career planning, transfer counseling, and job placement, we can help you plan your career at BCC to best support your goals–or to help you figure out what those goals should be.
See how BCC can connect you to your future.


text:
Audiobooks Narrated by	Jon Gauger
Born Again
The former White House counsel for President Richard Nixon describes his search for meaning amid the Watergate scandal.
Seven Pillars of Health
Dr. Don Colbert is a board-certified medical doctor, highly trained in alternative medicine, and Christian author with thirty-six titles totaling over 3.5 million copies sold.
Life's Challenges, Your Opportunities
In "Life's Challenges - Your Opportunities," Pastor John Hagee gives you the tools you need to move confidently through the challenges of life and into God's promises for you.
The Dangers of a Shallow Faith
A call for every Christian to move from shallow living to deep faith.
Run to Overcome
When Meb Keflezgihi won the New York City Marathon in 2009- the first American to do so in 27 years- some critics questioned whether the Eritrean- born runner was "really" an American despite his citizen status.
The Purpose of Man: Designed to Worship
A. W. Tozer earned a legendary reputation as a prophetic voice, and he continues to be a best-selling author half a century after his death.
The Unshakable Truth
Know why you believe. Pass on what you've experienced. Many Christians are unsure about what they believe and why. They may wonder if their faith is meaningful and credible.
We Hear the Christmas Angels
Since the first Christmas, angels have been delivering messages of God's extravagant love. They watched over the Christ Child so long ago, and they are watching over us all today.
Billy Graham: Candid Conversations with a Public Man
For thirty years, Billy Graham and David Frost fascinated television audiences with their conversations about God, the Bible, and Graham's decades-long ministry.
Good News About Injustice
In this abridged audio book Gary Haugen offers stories of courageous Christians who have stood up for justice in the face of human trafficking, forced prostitution, racial and religious persecution, and torture.


text:
<?php

/**
 * Created by PhpStorm.
 * User: Nitesh
 * Date: 10/13/2015
 * Time: 4:10 PM
 */
class Products extends  MX_Controller
{
    function __construct()
    {
        date_default_timezone_set('Asia/Calcutta');
        parent::__construct();

        $this->load->Model('Mdl_products');
    }

    public function index(){

        if(strtolower( $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] ) == 'post'){
            $this->_insertProducts($this->input->post());

        }
        else{
            $this->load->view('users/header/header_seller');
            $this->load->view('register');
            $this->load->view('sellers/footer');
        }
    }

    private function _insertProducts($data)
    {
       /* echo "<pre/>";
        print_r($this->input->post());*/
        $post_data=$this->input->post();
        $data=array();
        for($i=0;$i<count($post_data['products_name']);$i++){
            array_push($data,[
                'chawri_products_name'=>$post_data['products_name'][$i],
                'chawri_products_brand_name'=>$post_data['products_brand_name'][$i],
                'chawri_products_cenvat_amount'=>$post_data['products_cenvat_amount'][$i],
                'chawri_products_manufacturer'=>$post_data['products_manufacturer'][$i],
                'chawri_products_grain'=>$post_data['products_grain'][$i],
                'chawri_products_packets_per_bundle'=>$post_data['packets_per_bundle'][$i],
                'chawri_products_packing'=>$post_data['products_packing'][$i],
                'chawri_products_quantity_on_offer'=>$post_data['products_quantity_on_offer'][$i],
                'chawri_products_rate'=>$post_data['products_rate'][$i],
                'chawri_products_sheets_per_packet'=>$post_data['products_sheets_per_packet'][$i],
                'chawri_products_size'=>$post_data['products_size'][$i],
                'chawri_products_substance'=>$post_data['products_substance'][$i],
                'chawri_products_thickness'=>$post_data['products_thickness'][$i],
                'chawri_products_weight'=>$post_data['products_weight'][$i],
                'chawri_products_reel_sheet'=>'s',
                'chawri_sellers_id' =>$this->session->userdata['user_data'][0]['users_id']
            ]);
        }
       /* echo '<br/>';
        print_r($data);
        die;
        $this->Mdl_products->setData('insert',1,$this->input->post());*/

       /* $this->Mdl_products->setData('insert',1,$data['products_brand_name'],$data['products_name'],$data['products_cenvat_amount'],
            $data['products_manufacturer'],$data['products_grain'],$data['packets_per_bundle'],$data['products_packing'],
            $data['products_quantity_on_offer'],$data['products_rate'],
            $data['products_sheets_per_packet'],$data['products_size'],$data['products_substance'],$data['products_thickness']);*/

        if($this->Mdl_products->insertProduct($data)){

            setInformUser('success',"Product's Information Was Added Successfully .");
           redirect('sellers/showProducts');
        }
        else{

            setInformUser('error',"Product's Information Not Added. Please Try Again. ");
           redirect('sellers/showProducts');
        }
    }

public function getProducts($id){
  $data['data']=$this->Mdl_products->getProducts($id);
  $this->load->view('users/header/header_buyer');
  $this->load->view('single_products',$data);
  $this->load->view('users/header/footer');

}

    public  function showProducts(){

        $data['data']=$this->Mdl_products->showProducts();
        $this->load->view('users/header/header_buyer');
        //$this->load->view('products_show',$data);
        $this->load->view('table',$data);
       $this->load->view('users/header/footer');
    }

public function showUpdate($id){

        $data['data']=$this->Mdl_products->showUpdate($id);
        $this->load->view('users/header/header_seller');
        $this->load->view('update',$data);
        $this->load->view('users/header/footer');
}

public function update($id){
$data=$this->input->post();
/*echo "<pre/>";
print_r($data);
*/
  // die();
 $this->Mdl_products->setData('update',$this->session->userdata['user_data'][0]['users_id'],$id,
            $data['products_brand_name'],
            $data['products_name'],
            $data['products_manufacturer'],
            $data['products_substance'],
            $data['products_thickness'],
            $data['products_size'],
            $data['products_grain'],
            $data['products_sheets_per_packet'],
            $data['packets_per_bundle'],
            $data['products_weight'],
            $data['products_quantity_on_offer'],
            $data['products_packing'],
            $data['products_rate'],
            $data['products_cenvat_amount']
            );

        if($this->Mdl_products->update($data)){

            setInformUser('success',"Product's Information Was updated Successfully .");

                  redirect('sellers/showProducts');
        }
        else{

           setInformUser('error',"Product's Information Not update. Please Try Again. ");
           redirect('sellers/showProducts');
        }

}

public function productsAdd(){

     $this->load->view('users/header/header_seller');
      $this->load->view('register');
      $this->load->view('users/header/footer');
}

public function productsReel(){

     $this->load->view('users/header/header_seller');
      $this->load->view('add_products');
      $this->load->view('users/header/footer');
}

public function showForm(){

     $post_data=$this->input->post();
    //echo $post_data['reel'];

     if($post_data['reel']=='sheet'){

         $this->load->view('users/header/header_seller');
         $this->load->view('products_form');
         $this->load->view('users/header/footer');

     }
     else{

         $this->load->view('users/header/header_seller');
         $this->load->view('reel_products_form');
         $this->load->view('users/header/footer');
     }

}

  public function productReel(){

      $post_data=$this->input->post();
    /*  echo "<pre/>";
      print_r($post_data);
     die();*/
                    $data_set=array();
                    /*echo count($post_data['products_name']);
                    die();*/
                    for($i=0;$i<count($post_data['products_name']);$i++){
                      //echo  $post_data['products_manufacturer'][$i];
                        array_push($data_set,[
                            'chawri_products_name'=>$post_data['products_name'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_brand_name'=>$post_data['products_brand_name'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_cenvat_amount'=>$post_data['products_cenvat_amount'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_manufacturer'=>$post_data['products_manufacturer'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_grain'=>$post_data['products_grain'][$i],

                            'chawri_products_packing'=>$post_data['products_packing'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_quantity_on_offer'=>$post_data['products_quantity_on_offer'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_rate'=>$post_data['products_rate'][$i],

                            'chawri_products_size'=>$post_data['products_size'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_substance'=>$post_data['products_substance'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_thickness'=>$post_data['products_thickness'][$i],
                            'chawri_products_reel_sheet'=>'r',
                            'chawri_sellers_id' => $this->session->userdata['user_data'][0]['users_id']
                        ]);
                    }

        if($this->Mdl_products->insertProductReel($data_set)){

              setInformUser('success',"Product's Information Was Added Successfully .");
           redirect('sellers/showProducts');
        }
        else{

             setInformUser('error',"Product's Information Not Added. Please Try Again. ");
           redirect('sellers/showProducts');
        }
  }

public function singleProducts(){

 $data=$this->input->post();
/* print_r($data);
die();*/
        $this->Mdl_products->setData('insert',$this->session->userdata['user_data'][0]['users_id'],$data['products_brand_name'],$data['products_name'],$data['products_cenvat_amount'],
            $data['products_manufacturer'],$data['products_grain'],$data['packets_per_bundle'],$data['products_packing'],
            $data['products_quantity_on_offer'],$data['products_rate'],
            $data['products_sheets_per_packet'],$data['products_size'],$data['packets_weight'],$data['products_substance'],$data['products_thickness']);

        if($this->Mdl_products->singleProducts($data)){

             setInformUser('success',"Product's Information Was Added Successfully .");
           redirect('sellers/showProducts');
        }
        else{

            setInformUser('error',"Product's Information Not Added. Please Try Again. ");
              redirect('sellers/showProducts');
        }

}

public function delete($id){

   if($this->Mdl_products->delete($id)){

       setInformUser('success',' Products Deleted successfully');
        redirect('sellers/showProducts');
   }
   else{
     setInformUser('error','Products Delete not successfully');
      redirect('sellers/showProducts');
   }
}

public function buyNow($id){

$data=$this->input->post();
$this->Mdl_products->setData('buy',$data['qty'],$data['description'],$id);
  if($this->Mdl_products->buyNow()){

         $this->load->view('users/header/header_buyer');
         $this->load->view('payment');
         $this->load->view('users/header/footer');

  }
  else{

    setInformUser('error',"Some error Occurred! Kindly retry ");
  }

}

public function extenstion($id){

 $data=$this->input->post();

  $this->Mdl_products->setData('extension',$data['extension'],$data['date'],$id);
  if( $this->Mdl_products->extension()){
         setInformUser('success',"Extension inserted Successfully. ");
         redirect(base_url().'sellers/manageProducts');
  }
else{
        setInformUser('error',"Some error Occurred! Kindly retry ");
        redirect(base_url().'sellers/manageProducts');
}
}

public function showOrder(){

 $data['approvel']= $this->Mdl_products->approvel();

$data['conform']= $this->Mdl_products->pending();
$data['cancel']= $this->Mdl_products->cancel();

        $this->load->view('users/header/header_buyer');
         $this->load->view('order_table',$data);
         $this->load->view('users/header/footer');

}

public function orderApproved ($id){

if($this->Mdl_products->orderApproved()){

  redirect('');

}
else{
    redirect('');
}

}

public function orderCancel($id){

if($this->Mdl_products->orderCancel()){

  redirect('');

}
else{
    redirect('');
}

}

  /*public function productsXml(){

    $excelfile=$this->input->post();

		$this->load->libraries('reader.php');
		//include 'reader.php';
    	$excel = new Spreadsheet_Excel_Reader();
   die();
    $excel->read('upload/sample.xls');
    $x=2;
    while($x<=$excel->sheets[0]['numRows']) {

        $products_name = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][1]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][1] : '';
        $products_brand_name = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][2]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][2] : '';
        $products_manufacturer = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_substance = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_thickness = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_size = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_grain = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_sheets_per_packet = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $packets_per_bundle = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_weight = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_quantity_on_offer = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_packing = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_rate = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';
        $products_cenvat_amount = isset($excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3]) ? $excel->sheets[0]['cells'][$x][3] : '';

        // Save details
        $sql_insert="INSERT INTO users_details (id,name,job,email) VALUES ('','$name','$job','$email')";
        $result_insert = mysql_query($sql_insert) or die(mysql_error());

        $x++;
    }

        if($result_insert){

            echo "Successful Insert";
        }
        else {
            echo "Some error occur";
        }
    }
}
}
}
}
}

*/
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Neonauclea gigantea är en måreväxtart som först beskrevs av Theodoric Valeton, och fick sitt nu gällande namn av Elmer Drew Merrill. Neonauclea gigantea ingår i släktet Neonauclea och familjen måreväxter. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Måreväxter
gigantea


we will do." Nancy Rosen & Company, headquartered in Birmingham, Michigan, is a full service agency with an established reputation for effective marketing and public relations savvy.
We help clients get to the forefront of the consumer and business community with a variety of communication tools including special events like grand opening ceremonies, trade and consumer shows, and through media and marketing plans utilizing such tools as public relations, web sites, marketing collateral and advertising.
Explore our website to discover how we can help your company reach its target audience and work with your business needs.


Trying to balance work, school, home, and your social life can be quite difficult, especially when you are trying to save money. Don't let procrastination have an impact on your wallet. Through stashing cash and cutting expenses, you can begin saving. Let's look at five easy things you can do to save money.
Although this may seem untraditional, internet money-savers sent to your inbox is an easy to gain access to freebies, samples, and an endless supply of coupons. Most of these sites allow you to limit the number of emails sent so you're inbox isn't clogged. These easy offers are great for using around the house or trying out before purchasing.
When completing projects or tackling tasks, many individuals tend to run to the store for items they need. Ask your family, friends, or neighbors if they have what the job requires before opening your pocketbook to purchase something new. If you are connected on social media sites, link up with networks that are selling items that are gently used. You'll be surprised to see how many people are exactly in the same situation as you and creating that kind of network can save everyone a pretty penny as well.
Review your bank statements or monthly costs and find at least one expense that you can cut, reduce, or negotiate away. This can range anywhere from a gym membership you don't use to additional television channels you are paying a premium for. Furthermore, keep credit cards at home in a safe place. This makes it less likely that you will pull it out with friends and spend unnecessary money.
Look at the items you buy most frequently at the grocery store and compare prices in newspapers when they are delivered. Often there are coupons or price alerts for these items. This is even simpler if you use an online food shopping site as you can easily see the deals when they are added to your shopping cart. Sticking to your grocery list is also the best way to avoid unhealthy, unnecessary and costly items that make your bill go up.
Turn off and unplug items that are not in use such as charging appliances, lights, and heating and air conditioning. Programmable thermostats are a great way to automatically regulate the temperature in a home. Compare your bills and see how much money you have saved after a month to pinpoint what major appliances are draining your dollars. Think long run as good habits will make you keep more money in your pockets. A dollar here, a dollar there, try to remember that a dollar saved is two dollars earned, that's how you're starting to create wealth.


text:
2 weeks Ago Talking About Green Energy 2 weeks Ago CBD Reverses Anxiety-Like Behavior 3 weeks Ago Save Money and Live Green 4 weeks Ago Ecommerce on Associate Advertising 2 months Ago Determine Common Digestion Disorders
Debibliotheca – Digital Library Evolution
Automation of Libraries
Personal Digital Library
The Best PC Game
Posted on: March 26, 2021 By : Lena S. O'Reilly
It's difficult to say what makes up the best PC game in this age of ingenious and state-of-the-art gaming. This is quite subjective as well as players have a tendency to have various opinions concerning this subject. As there are numerous gaming categories offered in the market today, it is really tough to claim which video game is the very best.
Traditional gamers could mention Return to Castle Wolfenstein as the most effective PC game of all time. There have to be something on that claim due to the fact that the year the game was launched, every hardcore player have just appreciation for it. It is the initial first individual shooter that added to the popularity of FPS games of today. It supplied quickly as well as furious activity that obtained great deals of players addicted to it for several years.
Sid Meier's People has actually passed the examination of time with the latest Civilization IV making real time strategy gamers keep up late during the night trying to outdo their opponents' actions. The first Civilization game has such a long term game play that many players found themselves playing it for several years. With that said claimed, a great deal of gamers have this game in their finest PC game list.
These traditional video games could be taken into consideration as the very best but there are new games that can give the classics the run for their cash. Despite the development of console gamin, COMPUTER gaming is still to life. There is still a great deal of COMPUTER in residences. The overall variety of Computers at home would certainly exceed gaming consoles. There are PC video games that would cater to any type of gamer type. There's the informal gamer that would certainly play challenge games in his spare time and afterwards there are the hardcore gamers that would certainly invest most of their time submersed in different PC games.
Because there are different kinds of COMPUTER video games, it would certainly be difficult to identify which amongst them is the most effective COMPUTER game. An informal gamer could state that a cooking video game is the most effective for him yet a hardcore gamer can cite a number of examples. There are great deals of web sites that would certainly generate lists that their staff and readers vote the best for the year. Yet still the argument would certainly take place.
Even the very best COMPUTER video games are recognized to be difficult to defeat. That is among the variables that endear them to the gamers. To triumph, gamers turn to searching for COMPUTER video game cheats. However despite having that knowledge, players would still try their best to complete the game without unfaithful. PC game rips off make the game much easier but it does not indicate that the video game might not be thought about finest. It simply offers the player a possibility to relish the endgame cut scene hat others are raving around.
There could be a variety of video games that can be thought about the best. It would depend on that you chat with and what sort of video game he suches as. The best COMPUTER game for one might be something as easy as a word video game while others may like something a lot more complex. It depends on the player to make a decision which video game is best for him.
Feel free to check this site out for more information.
Lena S. O'Reilly
Most Effective Weight Loss Program
Company Calculate Manufacturing Productivity
Healthy Weight Loss Plan
Discover Turmeric Health Benefits
Agreement For Your LLC
When Choosing a Good Plumber
Talking About Green Energy
CBD Reverses Anxiety-Like Behavior
Save Money and Live Green
Ecommerce on Associate Advertising
Determine Common Digestion Disorders


With Greece going through a bit of a rough patch, now seems as good a time as any to remember the days before it all went a bit pear-shaped. And what better way to do that than through the time-honored tradition of theater. Next Monday, Classic Stage Company will put the awe back in austerity as its "Greek Festival" plunges into a month of celebrated dramatic productions, workshops, readings and seminars. Speaking of plunging, the fifth annual "Between the Seas" festival is also going down in September (8th to 13th), bringing contemporary Mediterranean dance and theater to The Wild Project.


One of the first questions that usually comes up when discussing an African hunting safari with a client, is that of what calibre is best for hunting in Africa and which rifles you should bring on safari. The best rifle and calibre combination depends on what you will be hunting and where.
Dangerous game - For hunting dangerous game the 375 calibre is the minimum prescribed by law in most African countries this includes the 375 H&H and the new Ruger 375. I would however suggest something bigger for Buffalo and Elephant like a 416 or 458 provided you can handle the recoil and shoot it accurately.
Plains game - For hunting plains game, the 270 Win should be considered the minimum for most medium sized plains game species. With the proper premium grade bullets and good shot placement the .270 is adequate for some of the larger plains game species. The 9.3 x62, 30-06 Springfield and 308 Winchester are some off the favourites used by local hunters for bush-veld hunting conditions. The various 300 Magnums, 7mm magnums and the 338 magnums are good options if you will be hunting in areas like in Namibia, where long shots on larger plains game may be necessary. However calibres and rifles are a personal choice and the bottom line is bring rifles you are familiar with, can handle the recoil and shoot accurately.
Bullets & Ammunition - Always use the best premium quality bullets for hunting in Africa. Many experienced PH's prefer Swift A-Frame, Nosler Partition, Barnes X and Triple Shock bullets. Some of these bullets are available in factory-loaded ammunition and can also be hand-loaded. African game animals are notoriously tough so please do not try and save money on the quality of ammunition you use, it can ruin a great safari. When hunting dangerous game like Elephant and Cape buffalo use the best monolithic solids available.
Shot placement - Shot placement is the most important part of any hunt so let your PH guide you in this matter, put your shot where he tells you. Practise your shooting on the range and do some research on shot placement by reading or watching footage on shot placement. There are good books and videos available by Kevin Robertson, a veterinarian and professional hunter who has made a detailed study on this subject. Practise shooting from field positions and from shooting sticks, the more you practise the more rewarding your hunt will be.
To bring your firearms into South Africa you need to complete the temporary firearm import permit application (SAP520) in advance if possible and bring it with you. The form must be completed in black pen and must remain unsigned until the document is finalized in front of the police official issuing the actual permit at the airport.
• You will not be allowed to import more than one firearm of the same calibre per person traveling.
• 200 rounds of ammunition per person per firearm is the legal limit of ammunition you will be allowed to bring into the country.
• No Pistols or revolver are allowed unless you can specify that they will be used for hunting.
• A maximum of four (4) firearms or shotguns per person are allowed but not more than one of the same calibre or gauge.
• No ammunition for other firearms (not accompanying you) are permitted.
• Firearms must bear the manufacturer's serial number or any other mark by which the firearm can be identified. The identification number must be stamped and the mark affixed in the prescribed manner on the barrel, the frame or the receiver of the firearm.
• Handguns will be allowed into the country, but only for hunting or sport-shooting purposes. As proof the police will require. A letter of invitation from the outfitter stating the handgun will be used for hunting purposes only; A motivational letter written by you stating that you will be using the handgun for hunting purposes only as well as any other relevant motivation.
• Any person under the age of 21 that wishes to apply for a temporary import permit has to include a motivational letter with the application proving that he/she is a capable hunter. Any additional motivational letters from 3rd parties will help with the application.
• Please take note that only the Central Firearm Registrar in Pretoria, South Africa can authorize special applications for the above restrictions.
• These applications have to be made in advance and must reach them not later than 3 (three) weeks before arrival.
• You will need a special motivation letter for this. Please contact the PHASA for more info and assistance.
Enough ammunition especially if you are using a rifle in calibres not commonly found in South Africa, talk to your PH in this regard.


Boelcke, O. 1964. Notas sobre especies de Lepidium de la Argentina (Darwiniana) 13:526.
Hewson, H. J. 1981. The genus Lepidium L. (Brassicaceae) in Australia (Brunonia) 4:227.
National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland. URL: https://npgsweb.ars-grin.gov/gringlobal/taxonomydetail.aspx?id=316725. Accessed 23 April 2019.


Photos taken around Nashville during CMA Fest, Thursday, June 11.
Courtney Dickinson at Tootsies Orchid Lounge, Nashville, TN.
Teea Goans on the WSM - Durango Boot's Stage, Fan Fair - X Hall.
Teea Goans on the WSM-Durango Boots Stage, Fan Fair - X Hall.
Teea Goans on the WSM-Durango Boots Stage, Fan Fair-X Hall.
Bill Anderson on the WSM-Durango Boots Stage, Fan Fair - X Hall.
The Stage at the City Winery, Nashville, TN - June 11, 2015.
Caroline Kole with guitarist Tory Harding and bass player Chris Nick at the City Winery, Nashville, TN.
Caroline Kole with guitarist Torey Harding, at the City Winery, Nashville.
Tim Venerosa, guitarist for Caroline Kole, at the City Winery, Nashville.


text:
Thanks for attending the 2018 Auction!
May 6, 2018 /0 Comments/in Blog, Past Events /by Katherine Hedland
> We are grateful for our many generous donors and supporters! Thank you to every vendor who donated great auction items and every person who came to the auction or made a bid. Tony V again kept the room laughing with his comedy routine and as auctioneer. With your help, Hear See Hope is fighting Usher syndrome, the leading cause of deaf-blindness in the U.S.
If you couldn't be with us in person, you can still make a donation.
http://www.hearseehope.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/2018_Auction_logo.png 444 556 Katherine Hedland http://www.hearseehope.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo_border-1500x413.png Katherine Hedland2018-05-06 20:17:082018-05-06 20:18:28Thanks for attending the 2018 Auction!
Research and Insight from Lane
April 21, 2018 /0 Comments/in Blog, Lanua McKittrick, Lanya McKittrick, Research News /by Katherine Hedland
Hi, I'm Lane McKittrick, co-founder with my husband, Todd, of Hear See Hope. In addition to being the mom to four boys, including Conner and Dalton who have Usher syndrome, I am pursuing my Ph.D. in Special Education at the University of Northern Colorado. My research interests are deafblindness and family-professional partnerships. I hope to use this blog to share updates on my family and my research. My goal is to provide information and support for families living with Usher syndrome. Research into a cure is vitally important, but I know from experience, family support in dealing with day-to-day issues is critical as well. Thanks for reading. For more on my research, visit my academic site.
Helping my son overcome college challenges
Usher syndrome has taught me so much. We have good days and days that challenge us. This week has been filled with challenges. We are so excited to have Conner come home for Christmas break during his first year at college. It is a blessing to have all our kids in our house for the holidays. We've missed him so much.
Once he returned last week, however, I just had a mom's intuition that something was wrong. We had been down to visit him a few times, and all seemed ok, but something was slightly off. Upon talking with him this week, we found out that he had received an academic warning for his first quarter at OSU. After the initial shock that our strong academic student was getting bad grades, I knew this wasn't an academic issue. There had to be something more.
After more conversation with him, it was evident that he was depressed and unhappy at college. Although he was receiving amazing disability support services, it wasn't enough. He said that he thought that everyone just looked at him like "the blind kid." This breaks my heart. We've taught him that he can do anything he wants to do. He's a motivated student and a strong self-advocate. But, because he didn't feel like part of the community, the support services aren't enough. He is now faced with some difficult decisions about the next year.
I have mixed emotions about all of this. My heart breaks because Conner is hurting. I push away the feelings of "Why does it have to be this way? Why does he have to have Usher syndrome?". I remind myself that Usher syndrome has made our family closer. It has taught us lessons that we would have never learned. It has made all of us stronger. We have met people and experienced life in ways we would never have.
I get asked all the time why I went back to school. This is why. You see, until I started in my Ph.D. program, I had no idea that Conner needed a transition plan. I didn't understand the importance of teaching him to be self-determined. He was 17 when I started my Ph.D. program and I realized this.
No one who understood deafblindness was on his IEP team. His IEP had always been focused on academics and not on other areas of the expanded core curriculum, like self-determination. He had never even seen his IEP until that time. He had attended only one IEP meeting, at the age of 16, because it was required.
In that meeting, no one acknowledged him being there other than to turn to him to ask him what they should write about his future career goals. It didn't feel right to me, but I didn't understand why. I now know that this wasn't active participation. This wasn't an adequate transition plan. His IEP goals did not align with his post-secondary goals.
In the last two years, I've tried to make up lost time so that he would be prepared for college and could achieve his dreams of being a geneticist. We involved him in his meetings. We tried to think of all the things he would need to learn to do to live independently and to be successful in college. The system failed him. We failed him. I wish we had more time to prepare him to be on his own, for a world in which some people may see him for his disability before his strengths.
Like we have done many times, we will pick ourselves up and learn from these experiences. We have some tough decisions ahead. He wants to leave college and have a gap year. We've never thought about what this might look like, and we need to research options. We need to reassess what skills he needs to be successful in college and beyond.
He wants to be around people who are "like him," where he doesn't feel like the "blind kid." So, we will travel to the Rochester Institute of Technology to find out about their Deaf and Hard of Hearing program, to see if that is a better fit for him. Most importantly, we will love him, support him, and help him to figure out how to reassess his plans and goals. We will learn from the past, but we will look forward. We will be thankful for all the blessings we have in life.
I am even more passionate about improving transition for students with disabilities, to prepare them for their post-secondary goals. I want to help provide equal opportunities for all students. Although we've come a long way, more work needs to be done to make inclusion successful.
Conner shouldn't have been given a dorm room in a dark hallway with no roommate and a private bathroom. Although our teenage son thought the room was cool, this is not inclusion. Tomorrow is another day. We will help Conner adjust his plans. We will make sure Dalton learns from this experience as well. I will do what I can to improve outcomes for students who are deafblind. Our family will be stronger because of it. #USHThis.
I'm so grateful for our USH family
I just returned from a trip to New York and New Jersey with Hunter and Dalton, and I have been reflecting on where we are in our journey living with Usher Syndrome.
Dalton was thrilled to meet Usher advocate Rebecca Alexander, who has never let Usher syndrome hold her back.
Dalton has been really struggling this last year with acceptance of Usher syndrome. At age 10, he doesn't want to be different. He doesn't want to ask his teachers for help. That resulted in him experiencing a lot of anxiety and he started to get further behind in school. He has attended a private school but he is also dual-enrolled and has been served by an amazing IEP team at our local district. His orientation and mobility specialist has been working with him on self-determination and self-advocacy. I've also been teaching him how to actively participate in his IEP meetings. But, the last two years have been rough. Most days he's so exhausted at the end of the day that he is in tears. Although his hearing is good with his cochlear implants, when he would start his homework, we would realize that he was missing a lot of information at school. He had no idea how to do his homework and it would really upset him. No one at school really knew how to help him.
At the end of the school year, for various reasons, we realized that we were going to need to find a different school for Dalton and his 11-year-old brother, Hunter. They both have such amazing friends at this school and so this makes us all sad. But, unfortunately, the system for student support at this school is not going in the direction that I think it needs to go in. So, we made the decision to move Dalton back to our neighborhood school. We had his first IEP meeting with the new team and I knew we were making the right decision, although change is scary. Dalton and I were surrounded by a room of caring team members who valued our opinions and really listened to our needs and concerns. I felt like a true equal member of the team.
We have had even more change in our lives. Conner is heading to college soon. He's only going to be home for 2 more weeks this summer before he moves into his dorm. Dalton is sad that his big brother is moving away…his big brother who understands Usher, who understands what he is going through. I am also going through mixed emotions but mostly those emotions now are mostly the same as any parent would feel when their child goes to college. I know he is ready and I know he has the self-determination necessary to be successful.
All this said, it's been stressful. We tried to figure out how to go to the Usher Syndrome conference in Germany but we just couldn't make the trip. So, when I heard about the Usher Society's fundraiser and partnership between Usher advocate Rebecca Alexander and the MLB, I reached out to Carly Fredricks with Ava's Voice and asked if we could come visit her and ride to the game with her. She has kids the same age as ours and I thought it would be good for Dalton and Hunter to hang out with them.
We had an amazing trip. Not only did we have a great time visiting New York City and doing lots of fun things, being around our USH Family was exactly what we needed. For me, it gave me a renewed sense of purpose to keep helping families. I met so many families that I had only met on Facebook and it was so nice to be around people who understand what we are going through. For Dalton, he gained so much confidence in a short amount of time. He and Hunter both hit it off instantly with all the Fredrick kids.
This all came at the perfect time when we needed our USH family the most. I feel so blessed to be on this journey with so many families who help us when we need it the most. Thank you to our USH family.
Conner shares his journey to acceptance
Being Conner's mom is such a joy for me. He has overcome huge obstacles and works so hard to achieve his goals. I can't believe it's almost time for him to head to college. He will start at the Honors College at Oregon State University in the fall. We are beyond proud, but we know it has not been easy. In an essay for a college-level English class, Conner wrote eloquently and candidly about his journey toward learning to accept and live with Usher and not let it define or limit him. I share some of it here with this permission.
"I can't say when it was exactly when I stopped looking at my disability as a limitation. Now I choose to look at it as a way to gain a new perspective on the world and the good that I could do. My disability is the reason I want to become a geneticist, so I can help people who have genetic disorders like me, and possibly help alleviate the symptoms. I also want to be a geneticist to show my younger brother, who has the same disabilities that I do, that he can achieve his dreams if he wants to, and that his disability does not control him. I want him to be and do whatever it is that he desires. I want him to be able to run carefree without worry like I do now. I want him to be able to play sports with other kids, and I want him to live his life without worry about what he can't do because he can't see or hear. I want him to be able to choose his own path. I just hope he accepts it earlier than I did."
You can read his powerful essay here. Thank you, Conner, for everything you do for our family and the example you set for all your brothers, especially Dalton.
Guest podcast with Portland State
As part of my efforts to help more families dealing with Usher syndrome, I was happy to be interviewed by Professor Amy Parker of Portland State University for her Orientation and Mobility On the Go Podcast. In this podcast, I share insights with Amy about the role of the Orientation and Mobility Specialist in supporting the development of self-determination skills from my perspective as a mother and from the perspective of a graduate researcher. I include practical advice for O&M students and practitioners for working with individuals, families and teams. You can listen to the podcast or read a transcript. Thanks, Professor Parker, for the opportunity.
IEP Experiences Podcast
I'm excited to share my podcast about raising two sons with Usher syndrome. In my first episode, I tell you a little about my family, and our experience working with IEP teams. It can be stressful trying to advocate for your child, and I have learned a lot along the way about working with schools to support my sons Conner and Dalton. One of the best things we did was allow our kids to have input into their their IEPs, so I talk about the benefits of student involvement. My hope is to provide support, guidance, and advocacy for other families.
Listen on Anchor. Or you can read the transcript.
Presenting research at the DbI Network of Americas conference
I had the privilege of attending and presenting at the first-ever Network of the Americas Conference sponsored by Deafblind International and Perkins School for the Blind April 16. Leaders in the field of deafblindness from 20 countries in North America, Central America, South America and the Caribbean attended this major conference.
I was part of a team that presented preliminary data from research on Parent-School Collaboration and Conflict: Experiences of Parents with Deafblindness During the IEP Process. This research involved interviewing many families who have been through this difficult journey with their children. I feel so blessed to have talked with so many amazing, strong, families. I remain hopeful that this research helps lead to positive changes regarding family engagement, collaboration, and partnership.
I was joined by my mentors and co-researchers, Dr. Silvia Correa Torres, Dr. Sandy Bowen, and Dr. Tracy Mueller (who could not attend the conference.) I'm so grateful for their knowledge and support, and I look forward to completing this research and making a difference for people who are working with school systems to support their kids.
I also had the opportunity to present my research on Teaching Self-Determination Skills to Elementary Students with Vision Loss at the same conference. This topic is important to me because of my experiences with Conner and Dalton. Conner attended his first IEP meeting at age 16, and until then, we had not thought about transition. I really wanted to understand what was possible for my younger son. Because of what I learned about self-determination, I was able to talk to Dalton's O&M instructor, who is know working on self-determination skills with him. Last month Dalton attended his first IEP meeting, and at the age of 9, he was able to communicate his needs directly to his IEP team. This has resulted in a much more positive experience for him at school.
We were honored to receive the Foresight Award
Todd and I were so honored to receive the Foresight Award from the Usher Syndrome Coalition in 2017. We are gratified by the recognition, mostly because it helps draw attention to the many people like us who are focused on funding research and treatment.
Since we started Hear See Hope in 2004, it has been a journey of learning and growing relationships with others working toward the same goals. Hear See Hope was a founding member of the Coalition, whose mission is to raise awareness and accelerate research into the most common genetic cause of deafblindness. It's so rewarding to work together with other committed and compassionate people, including families, physicians, researchers, organizations, and funders to find a cure.
Usher Syndrome Awareness Day
Gov. Jay Inslee declared Sept. 16, 2017 Usher Syndrome Awareness Day in Washington. We wrote to the governor and asked him to join other states in making the proclamation to draw attention to Usher and the many families it affects in our state and country. Conner was so proud to hold the proclamation. This is just one step in our advocacy efforts, but it's an important one.
Many people don't know about Usher – and that it's the leading cause of deafblindness in the nation. We hope to make this an annual proclamation. Thanks to Gov. Inslee for his support of our cause.
Raising Awareness about Usher with our lawmakers
One of the ways Hear See Hope works to raise awareness of Usher syndrome is through our lawmakers. Todd and I met with Sen. Patty Murray in 2015 to educate her about the disease and the many families it affects. We appreciate her meeting with us and asking us about Usher and the work we've done through Hear See Hope to support not only Conner and Dalton, but other families who are living with Usher.
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HSH co-founder Lane McKittrick presents research at national conference
February 11, 2018 /0 Comments/in Blog, Research News, Uncategorized /by Katherine Hedland
Lane McKittrick, who founded Hear See Hope with her husband, Todd, continues to expand her efforts to find treatment and a cure for Usher syndrome by pursuing her doctorate in deafblindness at the University of Northern Colorado.
She presented her research at the Council for Exceptional Children Conference in Tampa Feb. 9, 2018. Her presentation, with Dr. Silvia Correa-Torres of UNC, was on Teaching Self-Determination to Elementary Students with Sensory Loss.
She and Todd founded Hear See Hope after their oldest son, Conner, was diagnosed with Usher syndrome. The foundation raises money to find a cure for Usher, the leading cause of deafblindness in the United States.
You can support their work by making a donation or attending the upcoming Laugh for a Cure auction March 24 at the Triple Door.
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HSH Comedy Auction is March 24, 2018
November 6, 2017 /0 Comments/in Auction, Blog, Upcoming Events /by Jeanne
Mark your calendars for Saturday, March 24, 2018 for the Hear See Hope comedy auction at the Triple Door! We're thrilled to welcome comedian Tony V. back for another night of laughs. Join us for an entertaining evening of comedy, delicious hors d'oeuvres, wine and other beverages, and bid on terrific items our live auction. Don't miss out on this evening of laughter, food, fun, dancing, and fundraising for a great cause. Help us laugh for a Cure for Usher syndrome, the leading cause of deaf-blindness.
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Visualizing a Cure
November 1, 2017 /0 Comments/in Blog, Research Grants, Research News /by Jeanne
A Proposal for the Hear See Hope Foundation
Understanding Cone Degeneration in Usher Syndrome And Retinitis Pigmentosa
Within the retina, photoreceptors make up one of the most important and most vulnerable cell classes afflicted by retinal degenerative diseases, like those present in Usher syndrome patients. Drs. Jennifer Chao and Ramukar Sabesan, clinical and research faculty at the UW Medicine Eye Institute and Vision Sciences Center, are collaborating on a new approach to visualize what happens to the photoreceptors damaged by retinal degeneration using high-resolution advanced adaptive optics imaging – a next generation technology developed in our labs. This research is critical to advancing our understanding of these diseases and whether potential therapies aimed at preserving and restoring central vision to patients will be successful.
The goal of this research project is to better understand the mechanism of how central vision is affected in patients with Usher Syndrome and Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) using our high-resolution adaptive optics imaging system.
Drs. Chao and Sabesan hypothesize that in patients with Usher Syndrome and RP, the cone photoreceptors (those responsible for our central vision) have impaired function early in the disease process — before there is loss of central vision — due to starvation of the cells.
At the UW Medicine Vision Sciences Center, we have designed and built an adaptive optics imaging system that can detect, measure, and map the structure and function of cone photoreceptors at an individual cell level in a living human eye.
With this new technology, we are now able to detect whether non-functional cone photoreceptors are present, and if they are capable of being stimulated.
Ultimately, this study will help us to determine whether potential therapies aimed at preserving and restoring central vision in patients with Usher Syndrome and RP will be successful.
A New Approach For Usher Syndrome
Recent approaches to treating diseases such as Usher Syndrome or RP include the use of stem cell transplants of photoreceptors, gene therapy, and chemical reanimation. However, a fundamental issue in understanding these diseases and translating potential therapies to patients is the ability to visualize their effectiveness at restoring function at the individual cell level. Until recently, the ability to study individual photoreceptor cell function in patients has been a challenge in the field because of the eye's unique optics and because the retina is constantly moving.
The UW Medicine Eye Institute and Vision Sciences Center is one of only a few institutions in the United States to have designed and built an adaptive optics imaging system capable of imaging the human retina at a singular cellular level. Furthermore, our adaptive optics equipment has the ability to fix an image on the retina, allowing scientists to study cells that are not functioning properly and explore opportunities to stimulate those cells and measure the effects of any treatment with extreme precision.
Figure 1: Human foveal cone mosaic imaged with adaptive optics imaging system in the Sabesan lab. A) and B) are reflectance images with illumination centered at 543nm and 840nm respectively. Each spot denotes a cone photoreceptor and is about 2-4 microns in diameter. The scale bar is 20 microns.
Drs. Chao and Sabesan theorize that in patients with Usher Syndrome and RP, the central cones show signs of disruption in their structure and function before it is clinically noticeable. Several recent studies have shown that the loss of central cone function may be caused by the "starvation" of the cells following the loss of their rod photoreceptor counterparts. Using animal models with RP, researchers have shown that they can reverse some of the damage seen in cones and even restore their functionality with an injection of glucose into the subretinal space (4) (5) (6).
Using our adaptive optics imaging equipment, we propose to map the progression of cone photoreceptor dysfunction in patients with Usher syndrome and RP in order to gain a more complete picture of disease etiology, progression, and possibilities for clinical intervention. In addition, we also seek to demonstrate that cone photoreceptors are only dormant in Usher and RP patients and not completely lost. This finding in patients would confirm what has been observed in animal models and open up new avenues of research for the therapeutic reanimation of cones. The presence of dormant cones would that mean either preserving or restoring central vision in patients with late stage Usher Syndrome or RP is possible.
This new collaboration between the Chao and Sabesan Labs is an opportunity to test the feasibility of conducting these imaging studies in patients with a broad array of retinal diseases, such as will be possible in our new Retina Center at UW Medicine opening in 2018. This proposal is fundamentally distinct from the current efforts of both labs and is a natural next step in our pursuit to translate new therapies developed in the lab to new cures that can be administered clinically. With the results of this research, we intend to apply for federal NIH funding and other private grants in order to support continuing research in this new and promising area of study.
We have received initial funding support for this project from a Latham Vision Research Innovation Award, which was granted by the UW Medicine Department of Ophthalmology in August 2017.
With additional pilot funding of $25,000 or more from the Hear See Hope Foundation, we will be able to fund a portion of a salary for a research assistant for one year to aid in patient enrollment, image acquisition, analysis and interpretation of the data, and manuscript preparation. Additionally, these funds will be used towards the purchase of two new detectors that will allow us to acquire images of cone photoreceptors inner segments in Usher and RP patients.
We estimate that the full study will take three years to complete, with a total cost of $225,000. We envision this project as the beginning of a new field of research that will be ongoing at the UW Eye Institute and Retina Center. This funding will support the salary for a full-time research assistant ($60,000, including benefits) for three years, as well as provide partial salary for a clinical trials coordinator. It will also completely equip our current adaptive optics imaging equipment with the hardware needed to acquire images of cone inner segments or dormant cones ($30,000).
We are grateful for the past support of the Hear See Hope Foundation and we look forward to discussing this new proposal with you. Please feel free to contact Abbey Norris, director for philanthropy, at 206.221.8274 or abbeyn@uw.edu with any questions.
Thank you for your consideration of this request.
Sabesan R, Schmidt BP, Tuten WS, & Roorda A (2016) The elementary representation of spatial and color vision in the human retina. Sci Adv 2(9):e1600797.
Wang Q, et al. (2015) Adaptive optics microperimetry and OCT images show preserved function and recovery of cone visibility in macular telangiectasia type 2 retinal lesions. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 56(2):778-786.
Tu JH, et al. (2017) Dysflective cones: Visual function and cone reflectivity in long-term follow-up of acute bilateral foveolitis. American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports 7:14-19.
Du J, et al. (2016) Phototransduction Influences Metabolic Flux and Nucleotide Metabolism in Mouse Retina. J Biol Chem 291(9):4698-4710.
Punzo C, Kornacker K, & Cepko CL (2009) Stimulation of the insulin/mTOR pathway delays cone death in a mouse model of retinitis pigmentosa. Nat Neurosci 12(1):44-52.
Wang W, et al. (2016) Two-Step Reactivation of Dormant Cones in Retinitis Pigmentosa. Cell Rep 15(2):372-385.
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September 16 declared Usher Syndrome Awareness Day in Washington State
September 20, 2017 /0 Comments/in Blog /by Jeanne
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee has proclaimed September 16 as Usher Syndrome Awareness Day. Washington joins a number of other states who observe Usher Syndrome Awareness Day on September 16. We spent the 16th filming our Hear See Hope Usher syndrome dance video, which will be available soon. It was a great way to spend the day. We feel truly blessed for all the families we met. Thanks again, Governor Inslee!
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gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) stimulates somatostatin release following activation of a GABA uptake carrier located on somatostatin nerve endings of rat cerebral cortex.
The effect of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on the release of somatostatin-like immunoreactivity (SRIF-LI) was studied in synaptosomes prepared from rat cerebral cortex and exposed in superfusion to the amino acid. GABA (1-300 microM) increased the spontaneous outflow of SRIF-LI in a concentration-dependent manner. The effect of GABA was not prevented by the GABAA receptor antagonists bicuculline or picrotoxin. The GABAA receptor agonist muscimol (10-100 microM) did not affect SRIF-LI release. Similarly ineffective was the GABAB receptor agonist (-)-baclofen (100 microM). The GABA-induced SRIF-LI release was counteracted by the GABA uptake inhibitors N-(4,4-diphenyl-3-butenyl)-nipecotic acid (SK&F 89976A) and nipecotic acid. When used as a GABA carrier substrate, nipecotic acid mimicked GABA and increased SRIF-LI release; its effect was antagonized by SK&F 89976A. The mechanism involved appears to be selective for GABA inasmuch as neutral amino acids such as leucine, alpha-aminobutyric acid or valine, tested at 100 microM, had little or no effect on the release of SRIF-LI. Neither GABA (100 microM) nor nipecotic acid (300 microM) enhanced the release of cholecystokinin-like immunoreactivity. The GABA-evoked somatostatin release was calcium-dependent and tetrodotoxin-insensitive. It is concluded that a carrier for the uptake of GABA exists on somatostatin-releasing terminals of rat cerebral cortex and that GABA uptake may regulate somatostatin release. This conclusion would be compatible with the reported coexistence of GABA and somatostatin in cerebrocortical neurons.


text:
Fun Facts #6: "Newcomers" soon outnumbering "Oldcomers"
Posted on June 5, 2007 April 23, 2008 by Debito Arudou, Ph.D.
Hi Blog. I added this on specially to the end of my previous newsletter, but don't want it to get buried. Let me reprint it specially as a FUN FACT:
REGISTERED NJ POPULATION HITS RECORD NUMBERS AGAIN IN 2006: 2.08 MILLION
…the Permanent-Resident "Newcomers" prepare to outnumber the "Oldcomers" by 2008
Latest figures for the population of registered NJ residents (i.e. anyone on 3-month visas and up) were made public last week by the Ministry of Justice (see them for yourself at http://www.moj.go.jp/PRESS/070516-1.pdf)
These are up to the end of 2006 (it takes about 5 months to tabulate the previous year's figures). The headline:
FOREIGN RESIDENTS AT RECORD HIGH
The Yomiuri Shinbun May. 22, 2007
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20070522TDY01002.htm
The number of foreign residents in Japan as of the end of 2006 hit a record-high of 2.08 million, increasing 3.6 percent from the previous year, according to the Justice Ministry's Immigration Bureau.
The figure of 2,084,919 accounted for 1.63 percent of the nation's total population.
By nationality and place of origin, the two Koreas combined had the largest share at 28.7 percent, or 598,219. But because of the aging population and naturalization, the number of special permanent residents is decreasing after peaking in 1991.
In order of descending share after the two Koreas, China registered 26.9 percent or 560,741; Brazil, 15 percent or 312,979; and thereafter the order was the Philippines, Peru and the United States…
By prefecture, Tokyo came top with 364,712. Thereafter, Osaka, Aichi, Kanagawa, Saitama, Hyogo, Chiba, Shizuoka, Gifu and Kyoto prefectures accounted for about 70 percent.
Gifu Prefecture increased by 7.6 percent from a year ago, and Aichi by 7.1 percent. The high rates of increase in the two Chubu region prefectures is thought to be attributable to the area's favorable economic conditions.
(May. 22, 2007)
http://www.debito.org/?p=355
COMMENT: Oddly lost in translation from the original Japanese article (http://www.debito.org/?p=410) was the fact that this represents the 45th straight year the NJ population has risen. And at the rate reported above (3.6%), under the laws of statistics and compounding interest rates, this means the NJ population will again double in about 20 years.
It took twenty years to double last time, so the rate is holding steady. In fact, although the average is usually around a net gain of 50,000 souls per year, 2006 saw a gain of about 70,000. Accelerating?
The bigger news is this, though only briefly alluded to above:
Japan has two different types of Permanent Resident: The "Special PRs" (tokubetsu eijuusha), better known as the "Zainichi" ethnic Korean/Chinese etc. generational foreigners born in Japan, and the "General PRs" (ippan eijuusha), better known as the immigrants who have come here to settle and have been granted permission to stay in Japan forever.
Once upon a time, thanks to Japan's jus sanguinis laws behind citizenship, most "foreigners" were in fact born in Japan–former citizens of empire stripped of their citizenship postwar and their descendents.
No longer. Every year, the number of "Oldcomers" are dropping, while the "Newcomers" are in fact catching up.
According to the MOJ, these are the raw numbers of people each year between 2002 and 2006 respectively:
Oldcomers:
489900 475952 465619 451909 443044
(rate of decrease 2005-2006 of 2%)
Newcomers:
(rate of increase 2005-2006 of 12.8%)
If things continue at 2006's rate, the number of "Newcomer" immigrants will surpass the "Oldcomers" this year, 2007!
Oldcomers: …434183 425499
Newcomers: …444,970 501926
which means that according to statistics, the Newcomers with PR will double again in a little under six years!
Of course, we won't see the point of inflection officially until May 2008, but those are the trends. This is a major sea change, because with PR these people are probably here to stay forever, as per the terms of their visa.
As far as rights and internationalization advocates go, this should sound hopeful for increasing pressure on Japan to pass a law against racial discrimination. But I'm hearing rumblings:
According to sources I really cannot name, the "Oldcomers" have a much longer history of human-rights advocacy, and a greater sense of entitlement to "victimhood" than the upstart immigrants. It's entirely likely the Zainichis might not be too cooperative. After all–they've suffered for generations and gotten a few policy bones thrown them by the GOJ. Why should they help make life any easier for others who haven't paid their time and earned their stripes?
Those are some crystal-ball prognostications. Let's see how things look in five to ten years, as the landscape keeps shifting under the advocates of human rights for minorities in Japan.
Arudou Debito in Upstate NY, USA
Fun Facts, Immigration & Assimilation
3 comments on "Fun Facts #6: "Newcomers" soon outnumbering "Oldcomers""
I imagine that as more people naturalize in Japan, we will also have to start tracking the lineage and birthplace of Japanese nationals in order to keep the picture clear. Who knows how many Japanese nationals are first or second-generation?
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discussion topicHeat output kWh per kg from small pellet boiler-stove?
discussion topicSystem Boiler to Combi?
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discussion topicRe-using plastics for insulation....?
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discussion topicSupplementary heat source or Replace log-gasification boiler?
discussion topicSmall air-source heat pumps for low energy houses (with/without creative hacks).
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When a story remains untold, a lot of sacrifices vanish in thin air. Not many seek these stories to revive them. Hidden Rebellion stands out for unearthing a chapter of the French Revolution few will know. Blessed by a Bishop of France, it will be a great story of faith and martyrs.
I asked the film producer, Daniel Rabourdin, why they decided to start on this project and what effect they hoped it would have. His answer was thorough and shows incredible dedication. I hope you'll take the time to spread word about this project and donate, but if you can't give money, please send up a prayer.
Why did I start this crazy, risky production called The Hidden Rebellion? Why do I desperately ask for your help in a little donation? I'm a fool, preferring to take a risk and produce something good–preferring it to a comfortable job.
Four years ago, I found an old comic book in my family basement in France. It was about the adventure of a Vendéan boy who succeeded to steal a canon from the soldiers of the French Revolution with his friends.
I had just finished a docudrama on Saint Joan of Arc so I was all about action filming. Plus, this story based on true events had all that I could wish for as a film writer. There was injustice, there was a David versus Goliath situation, there was a story that our cultural elites had tried to hide for several centuries.


Changes in the Bundesliga as clubs try to avoid the drop.
• Cagliari appointed Gianluca Festa as coach until the end of the season, replacing Zdenek Zeman who stepped just a month after returning for his second spell of the campaign with the Serie A strugglers.
• Bayern Munich B-team boss Erik ten Hag will take over from Robert Alflen as coach of Dutch side Utrecht at the end of the season.
• Bundesliga strugglers Hanover appointed Michael Frontzeck as coach for their last five games of the season after sacking Tayfun Korkut.
• Stephen Keshi signed a two-year deal to coach Nigeria for the third time. He won the African Nations Cup in 2013 and later returned on a match-by-match deal, which ended in November last year after failure to reach the 2015 tournament.
• Former Mainz boss Thomas Tuchel will replace Jurgen Klopp as coach of Borussia Dortmund on July 1. Tuchel, who took charge of Mainz a year after Klopp left the club to join Dortmund in 2008, has been out of work for a year after taking a break from the game.
• Cagliari coach Zdenek Zeman stepped down just a month after returning for his second spell of the season with Serie A relegation battlers.