text:
Free Burning by Bayo Ojikutu
By Mike Moreci | Published: November 9, 2006
It's not uncommon for a short work of fiction to elicit a reaction that calls for more—that the richness of the story and the characters could very well expand into a novel. Not so often is the inverse true for novels winnowing down to a shorter work, novella or less. Yet such is the case with Bayo Ojikutu's sophomore effort, the problematic Free Burning. While sharing much in common with Ojikutu's award-winning debut 47th Street Black—unrealized hope, failed promise, a gritty, brass-knuckle voice aligning with the violence and crime that both buttress and decimate the world Ojikutu's characters inhabit—Free Burning lacks focus and enough intrigue to sustain its four hundred pages.
The novel centers around Tommie Simms and his Odyssey-esque journey through the South Side of Chicago's Four Corners, encountering a myriad of characters ranging from crooked cops, dope dealers, loan sharks, and old-time neighborhood sages. In its best moments, the novel is a careful examination of class and race. Ojikutu clearly understands the truth behind any timeline concerning the history of these two social phenomena, that when dealing with class and race, nothing is consistent, and, eventually, everything and everyone becomes contradictory and oppositional. Yet such moments of keen insight are buried beneath the misguided colloquial monologue that occupies the bulk of Free Burning.
At the book's opening, Tommie has recently lost his job at a downtown insurance firm, a result of 9/11's financial aftermath. He's got three months left of state aid, a ten-month-old baby, and a wife who is exhausted from the daily grind of being a mother and the family's sole breadwinner. Their marriage is falling apart not only because of the strain, but also because of Tommie's malaise during his jobless stretch. Much of his time is spent either at the local bar—putting his child in the care of his former addict mother—or at his cousin Remi's apartment, who deals drugs along with his half-brother, Westside Jackie. After a series of disappointing job interviews that leave Tommie with few options, the college graduate begins to sell weed alongside Remi and Jackie. The decision fails horribly; before he can unload half of his two-pound marijuana supply, Tommie is arrested by Weidmann, a dirty cop who patrols the Four Corners. Because of his obligations to Remi and Jackie, his entanglement with Weidmann, his debts to a local loan shark and to his mother, who bailed him out of prison, Tommie is dragged further down into the exact world he went to college to escape.
The problem within the novel hinges on Tommie, our narrator. From early on, Tommie is placed down a road of forking paths: every encounter with other characters in the book, every conversation and piece of advice, present Tommie with a trajectory that will affect all subsequent choices. Like the Odyssey, all options have the stench of death—"the great leveler"—lingering on their trails. The difficulty with Tommie's character is that his desires are never established; we don't know where his trials are leading him. While Odysseus journeyed to return home to Penelope and Telemachus, Tommie isn't consciously heading toward or away from anything. His interactions with his wife and child are mostly ambivalent; he never expresses a want or, more fitting, a desperation, to distance himself from his tangled web of crime, nor does he express any fascination or attraction to it. The same can be said about his office job—there is neither a sense of pleasure nor loathing. Tommie straddles two worlds—despondency in the Four Corners and affluence downtown—yet he never uses his intelligence to excel in or escape either one. Instead he allows himself to be a pawn of both the white-collar corporate vultures and the ghetto hustlers. Windows open for Tommie in each milieu, yet he chooses neither. He chooses nothing. There are moments when Tommie speaks about freedom as a desire, but the parameters he lays out are largely opaque and inscrutable:
[M]y mind will be long made and I'll care nothing of these obligations, my short options, or of the corners waiting just outside this box. Once my mind is made, all I'll care about is freedom—freedom just for me because living free will be such a self-possessing thing, high and powerful as some from the crack pipe. Crave that smoke, swallowing freedom's cloud into my own lungs and, maybe, letting all the rest of them get free off my exhale. Maybe. But I don't give a damn if they choose not to inhale.
As the novel progresses, this thinking occurs less and less, yet Tommie is more self-aware than what he delivers. Still, while the novel is overfilled with these forced poetics whose evocations are slight, it also has moments when the language achieves a nearly sublime usage. When alone with the aggressive and dominating Jackie, Tommie thinks, "I know I scare you mofo . . . It's cause I got these thoughts, and you see um shining, not floating, in my eyes. Scariest thing this world done ever known is a nigga with thoughts."
Or, in a scene where Tommy reminisces of being a child and dreaming about a panther invading his bedroom:
Whatever he saw hurt the panther plenty—its own eyes shined wet as its hoofs retreated to the doorway, where the panther drooled and growled soft. My stomach boiled as I begged the beast to try coming near again, crash down these bars, for they were built only of splinters. Snatch me with those claws like panthers are supposed to do bloody prey. Take me with it, so far away.
Ultimately though, where these thoughts can lead Tommie becomes muddled and lost; he is simply carried along in the current of surrounding forces. And while this may be reminiscent of Camus' The Stranger, it's far less compelling.
The outcome of this lack of characterization is a sense of familiarity that permeates its pages. The more encounters Tommie has with Remi, Jackie, Weidmann, or any other character, the more similar and circular they become; every conversation feels like the one before it. Likewise, the same can be expressed with the novel's basic story: young man from impoverished area tries to make good, societal constructs force him into a life of crime. It was Solomon who said there's nothing new under the sun. Understanding this, there certainly is not an expectation for any novelist to prove such wisdom wrong. But that doesn't mean that everything already known can't be reexamined. Without a strong character forcing the narrative ahead, kicking over rocks of insight along the way, Free Burning is but the sum of its story, and this story has been done before.
Yet all is certainly not for naught is Ojikutu's work. There are those moments where the language soars, and Ojikutu's rendering of the parallels between white-collar crimes of the corporate world and the base crimes of the impoverished city are adroit and stated with the perfect amount of latency. Free Burning is a well-intentioned enough novel, but it's not one that grabs the reader by the labels with the depths it uncovers. One gets the impression that Tommie, and Ojikutu, have more to offer.
Portrait of the Author as a Revolutionary: Matthew Flaming Reviews Ian Spiegelman's Everyone's Burning
Do You Smell Something Burning?
Campaign for an Oil Free Congress
Posted in Book Reviews and tagged Bayo Ojikutu, Free Burning, Novels. Bookmark the permalink. Trackbacks are closed, but you can post a comment.
« Mark Monmonier
Random Truths About… Jamie of Xiu Xiu »
Contribute a Book Review
The books section of Identity Theory is maintained by Matthew Tiffany. Contact him to submit a review.


text:
IGM Colloquium: Prof. Horea Ilies, University of Connecticut, USA
© 2018 EPFL / Prof. Horea Ilies
Geometric Excursions in Computational Design and Manufacturing
We've always seemed to be able to fabricate physical artifacts before being able to formally describe what we do and how we do it.
Geometry has historically, and naturally, played a key role in the development of new abstractions used to build formal models of physical artifacts and of the associated design and fabrication processes. However, these formal models as well as the associated computational tools are still playing catch up with manufacturing. For example, even as the enthusiasm for 3D printing continues to build, the computational support for this technology is not adequate. In this talk I will review some of our recent efforts in developing valuable solutions to complex (geometric) problems in computational design and manufacturing, ranging from printability analysis in robotic 3D printing, to interactive haptic assembly of complex shapes, and systematic design methods for controllable nano-machines.
Horea Ilies is a Professor and Department Head of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Connecticut with a secondary appointment in Computer Science. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Wisconsin – Madison, and received M.S. degrees in Mechanics and ME from Michigan State University, and Technical University of Cluj, Romania. He has several years of industrial experience with Ford Motor Company in research, manufacturing, and product design and development activities. His current research interests center on theoretical and computational aspects for systematic design and manufacturing of engineered systems. Dr. Ilies has received the NSF CAREER award in 2007, as well as several Best Paper awards, and he is an elected member of Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering (CASE).
Tuesday 20 November 2018, 12:15 - 13:15, MED 0 1418: IGM Colloquium: Geometric Excursions in Computational Design and Manufacturing By Prof. Horeas Ilies, University of Connecticut
Author: IGM Colloquium
Source: Institute of Mechanical Engineering
Prof. Horea Ilies
Department Head of Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut
All Institute of Mechanical Engineering news
School of Engineering | STI news

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Soil Water Content- and Soil Matric Potential-Based Irrigation Trigger Values for Different Soil Types
Figure 1. Corn in one of the irrigation research plots at the South Central Agricultural Lab was starting to show signs of stress Wednesday.
Suat Irmak – Distinguished Professor, Soil and Water Resources and Irrigation Engineering
Soil-water status (soil moisture) plays a critical role in determining the yield potential of crops. Soil-water in the plant root-zone must be maintained in a balance so that plants can optimize their transpiration (biomass/yield production process) as well as water, nutrient, and micronutrient uptake. Accurate determination of soil-water status (either matric potential or water content) is not only important for irrigation and water resources management, it is also a fundamental element of soil-water movement, chemical (fate) transport, crop water stress, evapotranspiration, hydrologic and crop modeling, climate change, and other important disciplines. Irrigation management requires the knowledge of "when" and "how much" water to apply to optimize crop production and increase and maintain a high level of water use efficiency. Too light or infrequent irrigation applications can impose water stress on crops, which can also cause irreversible damage. This can lead to reductions in crop yield and yield quality.
Volumetric soil water content (SWC) indicates the quantity of water in the soil but does not directly indicate the availability of this water to plants.
Soil matric potential (SMP) represents the relative availability of the amount of water held in the soil profile for plant uptake/use. SMP indicates how much energy plants will have to exert to extract the water molecules from soil particles.
Too much water or frequent irrigations may cause anaerobic soil conditions and promote undesirable chemical and biological reactions in the soil, which can reduce yields and water and energy resources. For example, a multi-year study at the UNL South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center (Irmak, 2014) reported that having 25% more water than was needed in the maize root-zone reduced grain yields as much as 15 bu/ac, which is a substantial portion of attainable maize yield in south-central Nebraska. Reduced oxygen concentrations in soil due to wet soil or flooding conditions can cause stomatal closure of plants, which causes plant stress because plants cannot transpire water vapor at an optimal/potential rate although water is available. Some researchers have reported that soil-oxygen deficiency can cause stomata closure as well, even when plants do not experience water deficit stress. As a result, stomata closure reduces the transpiration rate and yield because transpiration and yield are strongly and linearly correlated (Irmak, 2016).
Given its vital importance to numerous processes, plant physiological functions, and soil-water-atmosphere relationships, soil moisture determinations and irrigation management decisions must be made based on technology rather than non-technological approaches (i.e., hand-feel method, calendar day approach, neighbor's schedule, visual observations of soil and/or crop status) to optimize crop production efficiency. Furthermore, unlike some weather variables, soil moisture is not a transferrable variable between locations or fields. It is a field-specific variable that must be measured for each field.
Expression of Soil-Water Status
Soil-water status in the soil profile can be expressed in two very different ways:
Volumetric soil water content (% vol)
Soil matric potential (kPa)
Volumetric soil water content (SWC) indicates the quantity of water in the soil but does not directly indicate the availability of this water to plants. Soil matric potential (SMP) represents the relative availability of the amount of water held in the soil profile for plant uptake/use. The quantity of soil-water from SMP is determined through soil-water characteristics curves developed for specific soil types. In more practical terms, SMP is a direct indication of how much energy must be exerted (application of pressure) by plants to extract the water molecules from soil particles. As the soil gets drier, the plants must exert increasingly more energy to extract water molecules. This is because water molecules are extracted from the large soil pores first and water is held more tightly in the smaller pores and the bond between water molecules and soil pores becomes even stronger as the soil gets drier. Plants extract most readily available water molecules first and gradually extract more strongly held water molecules. This is why SMP gradually increases as the soil gets drier (the maximum value of SMP is zero, which indicates very wet soil conditions). As the soil gets drier, SMP increases negatively (more negative tension), but in practical applications, the negative sign in SMP is usually ignored.
Irrigation Trigger Points (Thresholds) when Using Soil Water Content (SWC)-Based Sensors
While the author developed some of the first guidelines for irrigation management/irrigation trigger points for different soil types using SMP values for Watermark and other SMP-based sensors, the guidelines for irrigation management/trigger points using SWC-based sensors did not exist. This is the first publication that developed research-based irrigation trigger points for different soil types using SWC-based measurements. In Table 1, soil textural characteristics, soil-water holding capacity, and suggested ranges of SWC-based irrigation trigger points (% volume) are presented.
If the soil moisture sensors are not well-calibrated, the trigger points, as well as the soil moisture sensor readings will be erroneous, resulting in
non-optimal crop production;
a waste of energy, time, labor, water, and financial resources; and
compromise yield quality and quantity.
These SWC-based trigger points were calculated assuming no sensor malfunction. The trigger points are applicable to any SWC-based sensor. They were calculated based on approximately 35%-40% depletion of the total soil-water per foot of soil layer. The sensor readings and the trigger points should be verified/checked against the crop appearance in the actual field conditions during the season (at least during the first season when this approach is implemented). For irrigation management, the irrigation trigger point should be the average of the first 2 feet of SWC sensors (average of top one- and two-foot sensor readings, when sensors are installed with 30-inch increments) prior to crop reproductive stages (for example, before R3 stage for soybean; tassel stage for corn). Once the crop reaches the reproductive stage, the first 3 feet (average of the top first, second, and third sensor readings) should be used. However, for sandy soils, the average of the top two sensor readings should be used as a trigger point at all times during the season to trigger irrigations due to very low water-holding capacity. It should be noted that some of the soil characteristics are also provided in Table 1 because trigger points are a function of these soil-water characteristics. For the same soil series, the trigger points may vary due to differences in these characteristics. For example, even though two soils can be classified as Hastings silt loam soil, their particle size distribution (i.e., percent sand, silt, and clay), field capacity (FC), permanent wilting point (PWP), bulk density (BD), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat), and other characteristics can be different and they would have different irrigation trigger points. Since it is extremely difficult to present the trigger points for every soil series, soils are grouped under five classifications in Table 1.
Since every SWC-based soil moisture sensor measures SWC with some degree of error, to accommodate at least some of the measurement errors (related to resolution/sensitivity and precision) in SWC-based sensors, safety factors were also included in the trigger values presented in Table 1. It is very important to note that the irrigation trigger points presented in Table 1 assume that the SWC sensor used to measure these trigger points is well-calibrated for the soil conditions in which the sensor is deployed. If the soil moisture sensors are not well-calibrated, the trigger points, as well as the soil moisture sensor readings. will not be useful, and both will result in erroneous trigger points and irrigation applications. In turn, this will result in non-optimal crop production; waste energy, time, labor, water, and financial resources; and compromise yield quality and quantity.
Table 1. Soil textural properties, soil water-holding capacity, and research-based irrigation trigger points when using soil water content-based sensors for major soil types. FC: field capacity; PWP: permanent wilting point; Ksat: saturated hydraulic conductivity; BD: bulk density (Irmak, S., unpublished research data, 2017).
Soil textural
and hydraulic
Soil textural properties, water-holding capacity, and irrigation trigger points for various soil types when using soil water content sensors
Silty clay loam topsoil, silty clay subsoil (Sharpsburg)
Clay loam
Upland silt loam topsoil, silty clay loam subsoil (Hastings, Crete, Holdrege)
Sandy loam
Loamy sand (O'Neill)
Sand (Valentine)
% Sand
% Clay
% Silt
FC (% vol)
37.9 35 32.2 17.9 12 9.4
PWP (% vol)
21.0 21.3 17.3 8.1 5.7 5
Saturation (% vol)
51.0 47.20 48.2 45.0 45.70 46
Ksat (in/hr)
BD (lbs/ft3)
81.06 87.39 85.67 91.10 89.78 88.90
BD (gr/cm3)
Water-holding capacity (in/ft)
1.80-2.0 1.60-1.80 2.20-2.30 1.20-1.80 0.75-1.10 0.50-0.60
Suggested range of irrigation trigger points when using SWC sensors (% vol)
(25-27) (23-25) (23-24) (12-14) (8-10) (6-8)
In Figure 1a and b, SWC fluctuates as a function of rainfall and/or irrigation and soil evaporation and transpiration (evapotranspiration). SWC increases with irrigation and/or rainfall and decreases as soil-water is taken up by plants. When irrigation is applied, soil-water should be replenished up to about 90% of FC so that some storage remains in the profile to store any potential rainfall. In both figures, it is clear that the driest layer is the top 1 foot and SWC in this layer fluctuates with the largest magnitude as this layer is subject to direct radiation, soil evaporation, and plant water uptake as most of the plant roots are in the first one-foot layer. In the fully irrigated treatment (Figure 1a), the SWC in most of the layers is managed between field capacity and permanent wilting point and there is no clear decreasing trend as irrigations maintained SWC adequate for plant growth, development, and meeting the evapotranspiration demand. Since there is no irrigation in the rainfed treatment (Figure 1b), the SWC in almost all soil layers has a decreasing trend due to insufficient rainfall to meet crop water demand, which is typical for rainfed cropping systems.
Figure 1 Example of neutron probe-measured soil-water content (SWC) for fully irrigated (a) and rainfed (b) corn plots in a silt-loam soil [adopted from Irmak (2015a and b)].
Irrigation Trigger Points (Thresholds) when Using Soil Matric Potential (SMP)-Based Sensors
Trigger-based irrigation management is a unique, robust, and research-based approach that does not require measuring precipitation or tracking soil water status for water balance calculations to determine irrigation trigger.
Similarly, Table 2 presents the soil-water depletion per SMP readings in kPa (cbar) and the range of irrigation trigger points for eight major soil types. These trigger points and depletion levels are not unique to only Watermark sensors and can be used for any other soil moisture sensors that measure SMP. As was the case in Table 1, safety factors were built into the SMP-based trigger point calculations to account for uncertainties in SMP measurements. These SMP-based trigger points have been successfully used in the NAWMN functions and are still valid. They represent the latest information and data on SMP-based irrigation management practices. Between Tables 1 and 2, practitioners can manage irrigations using any kind of well-calibrated SWC-based or SMP-based soil moisture sensors for up to eight major soil types. The trigger point-based irrigation management is a unique, robust, and research-based approach that does not require measuring precipitation or tracking soil water status for water balance (budget) calculations to determine irrigation trigger. The SWC or SMP sensors would measure the change in SWC or SMP in the soil profile and will respond to any precipitation events by measuring the change in SWC or SMP and the values will fluctuate until the irrigation trigger point is reached for a given soil type.
Examples of SWC values measured using a neutron probe in a center pivot-irrigated corn field at the South Central Agricultural Laboratory are presented in Figure 1 (adopted from Irmak, 2015). The SWC was measured with 1-foot increments down to a 6-foot soil depth on a weekly or every other week basis in fully irrigated (a) and rainfed (b) treatments. Field capacity (FC) and permanent wilting point (PWP) values (34% and 14% volume, respectively) are marked on the graphs for reference. For irrigation purposes, soil-water in the crop root-zone should be managed between field capacity and the permanent wilting point as this is the amount of water available for plant uptake. Soil water content should not be allowed to get close to the permanent wilting point as this can cause severe stress and/or irreversible damage to plants. It's important to use technology to monitor soil-water status to make effective decisions to maintain optimum soil-water in the crop root zone, which otherwise cannot be determined using visual, hand-feel, or other qualitative methods.
Table 2. Depletion (in/ft) in available soil-water versus soil matric potential (SMP) and suggested range of irrigation trigger point for different soil types. These SMP-based trigger points and depletion levels are not unique to Watermark sensors and can be used for any soil moisture sensors measuring SMP.
Soil matric
potential (kPa)
Soil type, depletion in inches per foot associated with a given soil matric potential value measured by the Watermark and other soil matric potential sensors, and available water-holding capacity for different soil types.
Silt-loam topsoil, clay loam subsoil
Bottomland silt-loam (Wabash, Hall)
Find sandy loam
Find sand (Valentine)
0 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
20 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.20 0.30 0.30 0.30
90 0.70 0.60 0.78 0.70 1.40 1.20 1.04 N/A
100 0.80 0.68 0.85 0.80 1.60 1.40 1.10 N/A
110 0.82 0.72 0.89 0.88 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Water-holding capacity (in/ft) 1.8-2.0 1.8-2.0 2.20 2.00 1.80 1.40 1.10 1.00
Suggested range of irrigation trigger points (kPa) 75-80 80-90 90-100 75-80 45-55 30-33 25-30 20-25
Figure 2. Example of seasonal progression of measured soil matric potential (SMP) values in variable-rate irrigation and variable-rate fertigation corn research field at the UNL South Central Agricultural Laboratory near Clay Center.
Figure 2 shows an example of measured SMP in three soil depths in a variable-rate irrigated and variable-rate fertigated corn field at the UNL South Central Agricultural Laboratory in silt loam soil for a portion of the growing season. Similarly to SWC, the SMP fluctuated the most in the topsoil layer (1 foot) as a function of greater evaporative losses. This layer is subject to the most radiation, wind speed, crop water uptake, evaporation, etc. The second soil layer (2 feet) fluctuated to a lesser extent than the first layer and more than the third layer. During the season, the SMP reached irrigation trigger point several times (when the top two layers' average SMP value reaches 90-100 kPa before tassel and when the average of the top three sensors' SMP value is 90-100 kPa after tassel) which can provide an effective irrigation management information.
Irmak, S. and D.Z. Haman. 2001. Performance of the Watermark granular matrix sensor in sandy soils. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 17(6):787-795.
Irmak, S. 2014. Plant Growth and Yield as Affected by Wet Soil Conditions Due to Flooding or Over-Irrigation. Nebraska Extension NebGuide G1904.
Irmak, S. 2015a. Inter-annual variation in long-term center pivot-irrigated maize evapotranspiration (ET) and various water productivity response indices: Part I. Grain yield, actual and basal ET, irrigation-yield production functions, ET-yield production functions, and yield response factors. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, ASCE 141(5):1-17. 04014068. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000825.
Irmak, S. 2015b. Inter-annual variation in long-term center pivot-irrigated maize evapotranspiration (ET) and various water productivity response indices: Part II. Irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE), crop WUE, evapotranspiration WUE, irrigation-evapotranspiration use efficiency, and precipitation use efficiency. Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, ASCE 141(5):1-11. 04014069. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000826.
Irmak, S., J.O. Payero, B. VanDeWalle, J. Rees, G. Zoubek, D.L. Martin, W.L. Kranz, D.E. Eisenhauer, and D. Leininger. 2016. Principles and Operational Characteristics of Watermark Granular Matrix Sensor to Measure Soil Water Status and Its Practical Applications for Irrigation Management in Various Soil Textures. Nebraska Extension Circular EC783.


text:
As Sony Recovers, It Faces Challenges From Hackers, Customers & Congress
By Ben Parr 2011-05-06 01:50:29 UTC
By now you've probably heard about the cyber attack that took down the PlayStation Network and compromised user account information. The attack revealed security flaws so gaping that Sony has been working for the past two weeks on a completely redesigned system with additional firewalls, encryption and server-side security.
There's no question that the attack has cost Sony millions of dollars and tarnished the electronic giant's strong brand. For the first week after the attack, Sony was mostly silent on the matter while it investigated the attack. Ever since its Sunday press conference though, the company has been on a public relations assault to win over upset customers and even members of Congress.
On Thursday for example, Sony published three posts on the PlayStation blog. The first was an announcement stating that it had begun "the final stages of internal testing of the new [PlayStation Network and Qriocity] system," one of the last milestones before PSN returns to millions of PlayStations worldwide. The second post announced that Sony would be offering identity theft protection to U.S. customers. Sony is giving away a one-year subscription to "AllClear ID Plus," which provides personal data protection and a $1 million insurance protection program.
The third and final blog post is actually a letter from Sir Howard Stringer, Sony's CEO. In the letter, Stringer apologizes to customers "for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack," explains what steps Sony is taking to restore service. It also reiterates Sony's position that "there is no confirmed evidence any credit card or personal information has been misused."
The following is an excerpt from his letter:
"As a company we — and I — apologize for the inconvenience and concern caused by this attack. Under the leadership of Kazuo Hirai, we have teams working around the clock and around the world to restore your access to those services as quickly, and as safely, as possible.
I know some believe we should have notified our customers earlier than we did. It's a fair question. As soon as we discovered the potential scope of the intrusion, we shut down the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services and hired some of the best technical experts in the field to determine what happened. I wish we could have gotten the answers we needed sooner, but forensic analysis is a complex, time-consuming process. Hackers, after all, do their best to cover their tracks, and it took some time for our experts to find those tracks and begin to identify what personal information had — or had not — been taken."
Fighting Off Another Attack
As Sony recovers from the attack that breached its servers, it must simultaneously appease customers, addresses congressional concerns and fend off a potential hacker attack.
The planned attack seems to be the most immediate concern facing Sony. According to CNET, hackers are telling people on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) that they intend to attack Sony's website sometime this weekend and publicly release any information they can take from Sony's servers. These hackers already claim to have access to some of Sony's servers and data.
Another successful attack would be a devastating blow to Sony's credibility. Customer trust in Sony's ability to protect their data would all but disappear, and that's simply something the company cannot afford. For its part, Sony has been working around the clock to beef up its security in case of a follow-up attack.
Appeasing Lawmakers
Sony also faces political pressure. Last month, the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to Sony asking for information about the attack. Sony has also received a Subpoena from the New York Attorney General.
The technology giant has already responded to Congress in an eight-page letter. It details the attack and what steps Sony is taking to increase its security. The letter also revealed that "Anonymous" may have planted a note on PlayStation's servers. Anonymous, a loosely organized group of hackers known for its attacks against Scientology and other targets, has denied involvement.
As for the subpoena from the New York Attorney General, Sony says that it will review and respond to the request.
Regaining the Trust of Customers
With its heightened security measures, Sony has the capability to fend off hackers. It can also likely satisfy Congress with its explanation of what happened, especially if credit card information wasn't accessed. However, regaining customer trust will be a big challenge that could take months or even years.
Sony didn't win points for taking days to inform and reassure PlayStation Network customers about the outage. We understand why Sony waited so long to respond, but even a daily blog post saying it was working on restoring service day and night and conducting an investigation into what happened would have gone a long way to soothing customers.
Sony has made the right moves since then, though. It is giving customers a month of free service and a year of free identity theft protection. It is hiring a Chief Information Security Officer and a security team to make sure this type of incident never happens again. And most of all, it is communicating with customers on a daily basis.
If Sony can keep its servers safe from hackers, it may be able to recover from this disaster. The big question is whether customers will trust Sony with their data once the PlayStation Network is back online.
Topics: Gaming, hacker, hackers, PlayStation, PSN, Qriocity, security, sony, Tech


text:
Q: Upper right Dini derivative and lower left derivative. In one paper there is a theorem:
For every real function $f(x)$ the set of points where $D^+<D_-$ is a countable set.
For example the function $$f(x)=\begin{cases} 1, x<0, \\ 0,x\geq 0.\end{cases}$$ in point $0$ has $D^+=0$ and $D_-=+\infty$. And we say that in any function there are at most contable points where this occures.
Question 1: Is my example is correct?
Question 2: I have started just now
to read about this type of derivatives and I need some clarification. Why we can not say that the set of points where $D^+>D_-$ is also a countable set? Can you give some simple example which shows that we can not say it.
Edit : I will give some clarifications to why I have this question. The proof of the theorem is slightly messy but the intuition behind is very understandable. The idea is that we can construct around all such points open intervals such that one interval contains only one such point (where $D^+<D_-$). And ofcourse we can number all these intervals by some rational number from this interval. And we get countable numbers of this intetvals. So my question is why we can not say the same thing about the points where $D^+>D_-$? I think I need some example.

A: Question 1: Yes it is correct. Your example is so trivial because the set of non-differentiable points is countable which includes the set of those points with $D^+ < D^-$. In your example, the set of non-differentiable points is $\{0\}$.
Question 2:  Take
$$ f(x) = \left\{\begin{matrix}
1 & x \in Q\\
 0 & x \notin Q
\end{matrix}\right.  $$

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


How cute will you look in these great California Republic bear knee high socks? Featuring the neon California Republic motif, you'll look super stylish wherever you go! Made of a cotton/nylon/polyester/spandex blend for easy care and wearability. An easy gift, or a must have for all those sock collectors out there.


A gunnery sergeant with the U. S. Marine Corps Forces, Africa trains a Ugandan soldier. By Hakeem A. Buuza, via AFRICOM.
Many Ugandan and central African commentators have written and spoken about the one-sided and oversimplified nature of the "KONY 2012" video. Reporting from Uganda's capital city Kampala, Associated Press writer Rodney Muhumuza noted that former United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Olara Otunna has long accused the Ugandan government itself of committing acts of genocide, in part using Kony as an excuse in its policies against the rural north. Otunna, himself a member of the Acholi ethnic group and a leader of the Ugandan Peoples Congress, has termed the decades-long forced relocation of Acholi and other northerners "the secret genocide," where huge portions of the population have been housed in poorly-equipped internment camps, with up to one thousand perishing weekly.
Black Star News editor Milton Allimadi, speaking at New York's Left Forum on March 17, also suggested that the Ugandan government shares much of the blame, imploring us that "when you allow Kony to be the focus, you exonerate someone else even more responsible." By taking Kony and the LRA out of their historical context, the best that can be hoped for are simplistic and ineffective solutions. A more holistic approach has been documented in the work of Uganda's Raising Voices, whose co-director Dipak Naker has worked extensively in the development of broad-based, child-centered interventions.


With a victory that puts them back in the Big Ten title game, the Buckeyes have now won 14 of their last 15 games against the Wolverines.
The history of corn, one of humankind's indispensable staple crops, is far more complicated that previously known, according to scientists who conducted a comprehensive genetic and archeological analysis of its domestication.
The two golfers, who made a splash at the Ryder Cup and who are now being called Moliwood, may give the tour a boost. Researchers trying to commercialise nuclear fusion believe they've solved one of the most pressing problems of generating energy like the a star, how to exhaust gas at temperatures hotter than our sun, as Stuart McDill reports June 12 - Researchers in the UK have developed a prototype three dimensional screen made of mist, that will allow multiple participants to interact with shared images. The MisTable's inventors say their water-based technology could prove transformative in the business and education sectors. Jim Drury reports. Bukayo Saka made the most of his first start for Arsenal in Thursday's Europa League victory over Qarabag and the club's fans certainly believe he could be the next big thing. Parts of Scotland and England have amber weather warnings for snow and ice put, as sub-zero temperatures, strongwinds and heavy snow and rain are forecast across the country. Despite the countrys political instability, its production has grown to 885,000 barrels a day, undercutting OPECs efforts to shrink supplies worldwide. U.S. singer Nick Jonas and "Quantico" actor Priyanka Chopra will be married in a traditional Hindu ceremony today, the culmination of a three-day long wedding celebration that featured cricket matches and Bollywood songs, all taking place in a heritage Indian palace atop a hill. Roland Fryers ascent in the economics field was swift. Now he is embroiled in investigations into his workplace behavior.
The De Vere Beaumont Estate in Old Windsor has 420 rooms, a pool and a gym. The Inspector said his room was a 'let-down' but the restaurant 'exceeded expectations'. U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who has aggressively sought to roll back Obama-era environmental protections, will be leaving his post at the end of the year, President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday, the latest high-profile departure from his administration. With 65 billion chickens consumed each year, the signature fossil of the modern epoch may be the leftovers. Dazzled onlookers took in all the sparkling lights in the first-ever NYC Winter Lantern Festival. Rough Cut (no reporter narration). London remains the top financing centre for the global transport industry, although it faces stiff competition from New York and capitals in Asia Pacific as companies seek to tap more funding sources, a survey showed on Friday. What you need to know from Wednesdays TV, music and movie news. As U.S. stocks have been rocked by trade tensions and monetary policy worries, shares of small-cap companies, by one measure, have now confirmed that they are in their first bear market in three years.


text:
Q: DB Selection and Modeling Time Series Data with Ad-Hoc queries I have to develop a system for tracking/monitoring performance in a cellular network.
The domain includes a set of hierarchical elements, and each one has an associated set of counters that are reported periodically (every 15 minutes). The system should collect these counter values (available as large XML files) and periodically aggregate them on two dimensions: Time (from 15 to hour and from hour to day) and Hierarchy (lower level to higher level elements). The aggregation is most often a simple SUM but sometime requires average/min/max etc. Of course for the element dimension aggregation it needs to group by the hierarchy (group all children to one parent record). The user should be able to define and view KPIs (Key Performance Indicator) - that is, some calculations on the various counters. The KPI could be required for just one element, for several elements (producing a data-series for each) or as an aggregation for several elements (resulting in one data series of aggregated data.
There will be about 10-15 users to the system with probably 20-30 queries an hour. The query response time should be a few seconds (up to 10-15 for very large reports including many elements and long time period).
In high level, this is the flow:

*

*Parse and Input Counter Data - there is a set of XML files which contains a periodical update of counters data for the elements. The size of all files is about 4GB / 15 minutes (so roughly 400GB/day).

*Hourly Aggregation - once an hour all the collected counters, for all the elements should be aggregated - every 4 records related to an element are aggregated into one hourly record which should be stored.

*Daily Aggregation - once a day, 2 all collected counters, for all elements should be aggregated - every 24 records related to an element are aggregated into one daily record.

*Element Aggregation - with each one of the time-dimension aggregation it is possibly required to aggregate along the hierarchy of the elements - all records of child elements are aggregated into one record for the parent element.

*KPI Definitions - there should be some way for the user to define a KPI. The KPI is a definition of a calculation based on counters from the same granularity (Time dimension). The calculation could (and will) involved more than one element level (e.g. p1.counter1 + sum(c1.counter1) where p1 is a parent of one or more records in c1).

*User Interaction - the user can select one or more elements and one or more counters/KPIs, the granularity to use, the time period to view and whether or not to aggregate the selected data.

*

*In case of aggregation, the results is one data-series that include the "added up" values for all the selected elements for each relevant point in time. In "SQL":
SELECT p1.time SUM(p1.counter1) / SUM(p1.counter2) * SUM(c1.counter1)
FROM p1_hour p1, c1_hour c1
WHERE p1.time > :minTime and p1.time < :maxTime AND p1.id in :id_list and join
GROUP BY p1.time

*In case there is no aggregation need to keep the identifiers from p1 and have a data-series for each selected element
SELECT p1.time, p1.id, SUM(p1.counter1) / SUM(p1.counter2) * SUM(c1.counter1)
FROM p1_hour p1, c1_hour c1
WHERE p1.time > :minTime and p1.time < :maxTime AND p1.id in :id_list and join
The system has to keep data for 10, 100 and 1000 days for 15-min, hour and daily records. Following is a size estimate considering integer only columns at 4 bytes for storage with 400 counters for elements of type P, 50 for elements of type C and 400 for type GP:

As it adds up, I assume the based on DDL (in reality, DBs optimize storage) to 3.5-4 TB of data plus probably about 20-30% extra which will be required for indexes. For the child "tables", can get close to 2 billion records per table.
It is worth noting that from time to time I would like to add counters (maybe every 2-3 month) as the network evolves.
I once implemented a very similar system (though probably with less data) using Oracle. This time around I may not use a commercial DB and must revert to open source solutions. Also with the increase popularity of no-SQL and dedicated time-series DBs, maybe relational is not the way to go?
How would you approach such development? What are the products that could be used?
From a few days of research, I came up with the following

*

*Use MySQL / PostGres

*InfluxDB (or a similar product)

*Cassandra + Spark

*Others?

How could each solution would be used and what would be the advantages/disadvantages for each approach? If you can, elaborate or suggest also the overall (hardware) architecture to support this kind of development.
Comments and suggestions are welcome - preferably from people with hands on experience with similar project.

A: Going with Open Source RDBMS:
Using MySQL or Postgres
The table structure would be (imaginary SQL):
CREATE TABLE LEVEL_GRANULARITY (
    TIMESTAMP DATE,
    PARENT_ID INT,
    ELEMENT_ID INT,
    COUNTER_1 INT
    ...
    COUNTER_N INT
    PRIMARY_KEY (TIMESTAMP, PARENT_ID, ELEMENT_ID)
)

For example we will have P1_HOUR, GP_HOUR, P_DAY, GP_DAY etc.
The tables could be partitions by date to enhance query time and ease data management (can remove whole partitions).
To facilitate fast load, use loaders provided with the DB - these loaders are usually faster and insert data in bulks.
Aggregation could be done quite easily with `SELECT ... INTO ...' query (since the scope of the aggregation is limited, I don't think it will be a problem).
Queries are straight forward as aggregation, grouping and joining is built in. I am not sure about the query performance considering how large the tables are.
Since it is a write intensive I don't think the clustering could help here.
Pros:

*

*Simple configuration (assuming no clusters etc).

*SQL query capabilities - flexible

Cons:

*

*Query performance - will it work?

*Management overhead

*Rigid Schema

*Scaling?

A: Using InfluxDB (or something like that):
I have not used this DB and writing from playing around with it some
The model would be to create a time-series for every element in every level and granularity.
The data series name will include the identifiers of the element and the granularity.
For example P.P_ElementID.G.15MIN or P.P_ElementID.C.C1_ELEMENT_ID.G.60MIN
The data series will contain all the counters relevant for that level.
The input has to parse the XML and build the data series name before inserting the new data points.
InfluxDB has an SQL like query language. and allows to specify the calculation in an SQL like manner. It also supports grouping. To group by element would be possible by using regular expression, e.g. SELECT counter1/counter2 FROM /^P\.P_ElementID\.C1\..*G\.15MIN/ to get all children of ElementID.
There is a notion of grouping by time in general it is made for this kind of data.
Pros:

*

*Should be fast

*Support queries etc very similar to SQL

*Support Deleting by Date (but have to do it on every series...)

*Flexible Schema

Cons:
 * Currently, seems not to support clusters very easily (
 * Clusters = more maintenance
 * Can it support millions of data-series (and still work fast)
 * Less common, less documented (currently)


text:
The April 20, 1977, meteor over Alsace:
The article below was published in the daily newspaper L'Alsace, France, on April 30, 1977.
See the case file.
Colmar's luminous phenomenon:
other testimoniies
We reported, these last days, a strange phenomenon which had occurred on Wednesday April 20 in the sky of Colmar, in the evening around 10 p.m. Several people have spoken of a strong light that would only last for a moment.
Other testimonies reached us after our article. Thus this light was seen by two young women employed at the Pasteur hospital. "It was bluish, and very bright," they said. A resident of Orschwihr, Mme Marguerite Simon, who was driving towards Colmar, coming from Rouffach, that day, around 10 p.m. - 10:15 p.m., told us: "I was accompanied by my daughter and I was driving towards Colmar when, suddenly, I found myself in a bright blue light which went far beyond my car and which seemed to fall from the sky. The phenomenon lasted a few moments then the light moved rapidly towards Colmar."
This page was last updated on June 4, 2021.


text:
Chapters Home • SABR Home
About SABR UK
About Bobby Thomson
Meeting Recaps
UK Baseball History
Early Ball and Bat Games
Society for American Baseball Research - UK Chapter
The UK Chapter of SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research, largely devotes itself to researching the history of baseball in Britain. It's a rich and fascinating history that's yet to be fully uncovered, though our members have succeeding in unearthing some fascinating facts about the development of the sport in this country, and also about the origins of the game itself.
Of course, we also concern ourselves with all sorts of other baseball-related topics. Members of the UK chapter of SABR, scattered all over the country, have a wide variety of interests, from researching the history of the game to the study of its statistics and most things in between. In other words, if it has to do with baseball, we'll be interested.
On this website, you'll find a large collection of articles from our house publication, the SABR UK Examiner, including five new pieces from issue 13; a couple of potted histories (one on Early Bat and Ball Games, the other on baseball in Britain), and a hand-picked collection of baseball links. If you're interested in joining us, click here for our contact details, as well as for more information about the future activities of SABR UK.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 19 April 2011 20:13
© 2005 - 2019 Society for American Baseball Research - UK Chapter. Designed by JoomlArt.com


… and she's off to the Races!
Home » … and she's off to the Races!
We are thrilled to announce BSG's sponsorship of Katherine Stewart-Jones, member of the Canadian Senior National Cross Country Ski Team on her pursuit to represent Team Canada in PyeongChang and realize her Olympic dream!
Katherine is from Chelsea, trains with the National Development Team Centre in Thunder Bay and her home club is none other than Nakkertok Nordic based in Cantley, Quebec. We look forward to cheering her on as she races in the World Cup in Lillehammer (Norway) on Dec. 1st and 2nd, then Davos (Switzerland) on the 9th and 10th finishing in Tobalch (Italy) on Dec. 16th and 17th.
Athletes at this level have to balance so many demands – school, training, work and competition – sponsoring Katherine was an easy decision for us; she embodies so much of what we believe in.
Stay tuned as we cheer Katherine on!
Need a flexible, affordable way to resource your small business? BSG senior and operational consultants provide embedded expertise in HR, finance, strategy, governance and marketing.


Sometimes a startup needs to pivot a few times until it finds just the right idea. Similar to chefs trying out new dishes, Gojee co-founder Michael LaValle says his one-year-old company changed its own formula twice before its latest idea caught on this summer. The New York startup curates recipes based on the ingredients its users' keep in their respective kitchens.
Gojee offers its subscribers links to recipes based on the ingredients they list. LaValle, 31, a West Point grad and a former analyst, says Gojee features dishes from some 80 food bloggers chosen by the staff. "It depends on how much history [the bloggers] have in writing, the quality of their photos, and how easy their recipes are to cook," LaValle says. Gojee is geared for intrepid cooks who may not be master chefs but are not complete beginners, he says.


Next time you eat a blueberry (or amber chip) muffin accede what happened to the blueberries in the concoction as it was baked. The blueberries started off all squished together, but as the muffin broadcast they started to move abroad from anniversary other. If you could sit on one blueberry you would see all the others affective abroad from you, but the aforementioned would be accurate for any blueberry you chose. In this faculty galaxies are a lot like blueberries.
Since the Big Bang, the creation has been expanding. The aberrant actuality is that there is no distinct abode from which the creation is expanding, but rather all galaxies are (on average) affective abroad from all the others. From our angle in the Milky Way galaxy, it seems as admitting best galaxies are affective abroad from us – as if we are the centre of our muffin-like universe. But it would attending absolutely the aforementioned from any added galaxy – aggregate is affective abroad from aggregate else.


text:
Q: In which cases git merge --no-ff is not keeping the commit history? I have a development branch called devel, a feature branch called feature_1, and a testing branch called testing. This is what I've done:

*

*feature_1 branched from devel

*commits were made here, to implement the feature

*feature_1 was merged to testing

*some bugs were discovered on feature_1 ( with --no-ff )

*additional commits have been made to feature_1

*in the mean time, a hotfix has been merged to devel, and feature_1 has not been rebased

*feature_1 has been merged again to testing, with --no-ff )

*all the tests on branch testing were succesful, and the feature_1 branch can be merged back into devel

*I merged feature_1 into devel with --no-ff, but instead of the merge copying all the commits that were created on the feature_1 branch, it only created a merge commit saying that the feature_1 branch has been merged.

Could anyone explain why the --no-ff did not preserve the commit history? I'm inclined to say that it's because the feature_1 branch hasn't been rebased against devel, but I'm not sure.

A: Contrary to git rebase, which by default will keep the history of commits, a git merge --no-ff generates by design one commit.
So what you see after merging feature_1 into devel with --no-ff is normal.
--no-ff

Create a merge commit even when the merge resolves as a fast-forward.


text:
Q: What is the sum over the transition rates? I was looking at the solution to an exercise, and I came over this expression:
$$P_{i\to f} = \sum \limits_{f}    {2 \pi \over \hbar }\; |\langle f |\hat V | i \rangle |^2  \delta(E_{fi}-E),$$
where I simplified this but it is in effect what the expression is a sum over the Fermi golden rule first order for the transition rate, summing over the final states. I would like to know why this sum is showing up and what it could mean in this context.

A: This is the total transition rate for a transition to occur. For instance, in a scattering experiment, there is a probability that an incoming particle will or will not be scattered  by the target. If the quantity in which one is interested is the probability that a particle is scattered, then the quantity you have given above would give you the answer. This is because it gives the probability of scattering out of the initial state into all final states. This is not  always the quantity that one is always interested in in a scattering experiment, however.


text:
Shannon May, Reporter
In honor of the cult classic Star Wars, many have celebrated May 4th as Star Wars Day because the date sounds like a pun on the popular phrase "may the force be with you." And of course there's an after party, appropriately titled Revenge of the Sith celebrated on May 5th. In honor of this celebrated movie series, here are ten facts about Star Wars.
Yoda was voiced by Frank Oz, who you also may know as Miss Piggy from the Muppets.
George Lucas denied Harrison Ford's request for Han Solo to die due to carbon freezing at the end of The Empire Strikes Back.
The Emperor was played by an elderly female stand-in. Later in production chimpanzee eyes were superimposed over her face to give her a more eerie feel.
In The Empire Strikes Back, the asteroids in the asteroid scene were made of a variety of materials, one of which was a potato.
Up to ten puppeteers using both hands gave life to the galactic mercenary Jabba the Hutt.
George Lucas planned for Yoda to be played by a monkey wearing a mask and using a cane.
The name "ewok" was never uttered in the original trilogy.
Luke Skywalker almost became the new Vader at the end of The Return of the Jedi. The movie was also going to have dthe name The Revenge of the Jedi.
Chewbacca's iconic growl/roar is a mix of bears, walruses, lions, badgers, and other animals.
The South Pacific island Niue accepts Star Wars collectible coins as currency.
All The Edge Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest


Sliders … teeny weenie hamburgers … on cupcakes? My sliders aren't hamburgers at all … but I'm sure you knew that. They are made with Nilla Wafers, York peppermint patties and candy coating. The cupcakes … well, it is summer … I'm lazy … I used a mix … but I did make my favorite decorator icing (recipe above – all butter version).
Don't forget the lettuce (green candy) … and the top bun … your sliders are cooked!
I believe that if some sprinkles are good … more must be better!
These are so cute. I love everything mini, and the mini burgers are adorable. So creative!!And on the cupcakes, they are the perfect 4th of July treat!! Thanks for a great post!
Thank you. I don't know why … but mini everything is sooo cute!
The Burger Sliders are fantistic. i think they would be great just by themselves. Can't wait to try them.
The little burgers would be cute by themselves … since they are made with peppermint patties, would you serve them as after dinner mints?
Yes, that would be a great after dinner mint. But I would also serve them as a snack for at our poker games.
If you sprinkle on sesame seeds to just the top "buns" they look even more like hamburgers and really the seeds have no taste! I use coconut dyed green for lettuce too!
I agree with you … the first time I made these many years ago that is what I did … but I had 4 people in my house that didn't like coconut and came up with this version.
Those little sliders are genius!


text:
Webvent Academy
Bringing Professionals Together
Professional Content Networks
Dorie Clark is a marketing strategy consultant, professional speaker, and frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Entrepreneur, and the World Economic Forum's blog. Recognized as a branding expert by the Associated Press, Fortune magazine, and Inc. magazine, she is the author of Reinventing You: Define Your Brand, Imagine Your Future, which has been translated into Russian, Chinese, Arabic, French, Polish, and Thai. Dorie's next book, Stand Out: How to Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It, was published by Portfolio in April 2015.
Dorie consults and speaks for a diverse range of clients, including Google, the World Bank, Microsoft, Morgan Stanley, the Ford Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Yale University, the Mount Sinai Medical Center, and the U.S. National Park Service. A former presidential campaign spokeswoman, she is an adjunct professor of business administration at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and a visiting professor for IE Business School in Madrid, Spain. Dorie has taught marketing and communications at Tufts University, Suffolk University, Emerson College, HEC Paris, Babson College, the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School, and Smith College Executive Education. She has been named to The Huffington Post's "100 Must Follow on Twitter" list for 2013 and 2014, and to the #Nifty50 list of top women on Twitter.
Date & Time (EST)
3:00pm - 4:00pm	 Stand Out: Networking Presenter
12:00pm - 1:00pm	 Stand Out: How to Become a Recognized Expert in Your Company and Beyond Presenter
12:00pm - 1:00pm	 Defining Your Personal Brand Presenter
Webinars3
Send an email message to Dorie Clark :


text:
Q: Prove that $\sin x$ is not of bounded variation, $\sin x\not\in BV$ I already know that $\sin x\in BV([a,b])$ for $-\infty<a<b<\infty$.
However, I have failed to see why $\sin x\notin BV$.   Please help.

A: Hint. Let $x_n = \frac{\pi(2n + 1)}{2}$ for $n\in\mathbb{N}$. Then $\{x_n\}$ is a strictly increasing sequence and $\sin(x_n)=(-1)^n$. Now consider the sum
$$\sum_{n=1}^N \left| \sin(x_n) - \sin(x_{n-1})\right|=\sum_{n=1}^N 2=2N.$$
What may we conclude? Recall the definition of bounded variation function and take a look at Functions of bounded variation on $\Bbb R$

A: The derivative of $sin(x)$  is $cos(x)$.  The arc length of its derivative $ \int_a^b |cos(x)| dx$ can thus be made arbitrarily large as we consider increasingly large closed intervals $[-n \pi, n \pi]$


Written for those studying or practicing estate planning in the state of Maryland as well as students preparing for the Uniform Bar Exam, the second edition of Fundamentals of Estate Planning (Maryland) provides a unique opportunity to bring the practical aspect of trusts and estates into the classroom by explaining concepts in a real-life manner. The text provides practical problems and illustrations with suggested responses that explain the material at a sophisticated, yet accessible, level. The book addresses Maryland, Uniform Probate Code, and Federal statutes. The second edition is fully up-to-date on recent legislation, including the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the Trust Act.
Click here to access forms and other supplemental materials that accompany the book.


Powered by IST's Arabic NLP (Natural Language Processing) engine, Industry Insights is a Social Media analytical tool that will provide valuable marketing intelligence to your organization to make informed decisions.
Listen to what your customers have to say about your organization so you understand their feelings towards your brand so you can alter and fine-tune your marketing activities to what your customers want.
Industry Insights not only provides intelligence for your organization, but more importantly, you can listen to what your current or potential customers are saying about your rivals within the industry. This powerful intelligence will help you to adapt to changing market conditions and customer behaviour more effectively.
Highly accurate Arabic Sentiment analysis based on Natural Language Processing (NLP) is performed on all incoming interactions. All interactions are categorised into positive, negative or neutral based on the 'sentiment' or emotion expressed in the comment.
Topics discussed within comments are detected and classified into appropriate groups for analysis. Topics are pre-defined words that are selected based on industry relevance. E.g., in banking, topics include: Loans, Savings Accounts and Credit Cards.
A 360-degree view of how your brand is performing against the competition.
Agents are empowered by their performance metrics within the Agent Workspace.
Common Franco-Arab terms and phrases are detected and correctly assigned a sentiment.
What's better than learning from your own mistakes? Learning from your entire industry's mistakes. Gain Access to what your competitors are doing on social media and how customers are feeling about it, allowing you to strengthen your own brand.
Track and Analyze your brand's performance across all your social media channels in one place. Monitor sentiment levels, presence and reach over time.
Loyal customers are important for your bottom line, monitor your customer's feelings and thoughts to engage and interact with them better, this will make them feel valued and it will increase loyalty and their Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).


text:
Tag Archives: Assemblyman Steven Sanders
Opinion: Leading by example
By former Assemblymember Steven Sanders
During tough times, I often take refuge and inspiration from history and the leadership that helped people get through the worst moments.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused unimaginable disruptions to our daily lives and poses a serious health and safety threat to possibly tens of million Americans, and hundreds of millions more around the globe. But it is not the first calamitous threat a nation has ever faced.
Exactly 80 years ago another deadly enemy was on the move causing whole nations to be swallowed up in just weeks.
The Nazi war machine was spreading across all of Europe faster than the COVID-19 contagion. Countries were falling like dominos. In just a few months during the spring of 1940 Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Finland, Denmark, Norway and France were overrun by the Nazis, soon North Africa too. The year before, parts of Eastern Europe fell victim to the German army rout.
Posted in Editorial/Op-Ed/Opinion
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, coronavirus, covid-19
Opinion: Crisis, yes… apocalypse, no
Over the past twenty years, we have had more than our share of calamitous events, each one with worries and dire fears. But it is said neither our greatest hopes nor our worst fears are ever realized. And so it will be with the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2001, the New York City World Trade Center and the Pentagon building were hit with terrorist missiles in the form of passenger airplanes. The World Trade Center towers were utterly destroyed with a loss of life of over 3,000 persons including hundreds of first responders. For those of us in New York City, it seemed like the end of the world. The Stock Market crashed and closed for several days. All of New York City was on lockdown. Nobody knew if there would be more attacks in the days to come. It was terrifying.
But our city showed courage and resilience. We somehow got through those dark days where destruction and fear seemed to permeate everyday life. We persevered. We rebuilt and we restored downtown Manhattan. We came through it arguably even stronger than before.
Opinion: Coming to our census
I must confess I do not much like filling our surveys or answering questionnaires. We all have busy lives with much to do and a lot to think about. However, the census material that is being sent out to every household this very week is very significant information to open and to read, and then to respond to the simple 10 questions. This is of critical importance to every New Yorker in particular. The stakes are very high for our city and state.
Every 10 years, the United States Constitution requires a tabulation of the total population of the nation, state by state, and community by community. The numbers that are yielded are not just interesting data, they are the basis for how much federal resources and political representation this state will receive relative to the rest of the nation. Ten years ago, we failed.
In 2010, only about 62% of all New Yorkers responded to the census questions. That compares unfavorably to the 76% response rate in the rest of the nation. That failure to respond has likely led to an undercount of persons living in New York State. The undercount has cost the State billions of dollars each year. A lower recorded population also impacts the number of Congressional seats that New York State is assigned and our strength in the Electoral College, which selects the President of the United States.
It is vitally important that New Yorkers not repeat that dismal showing again this go around. In baseball parlance, we need to step up to the plate!
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, US census
Opinion: Science versus convenience
This week, the ban on issuance of plastic bags in supermarkets and other stores went into effect in New York State. It is inconvenient, to say the least. Customers must now either bring their own reusable bags or deal with the more cumbersome paper bags that these retail places will substitute. Yes, life is tough.
But science has proven that the billions of plastic bags in circulation poses a serious threat to our environment. They are not biodegradable. And when they inevitably find their way into our water systems, lakes, rivers, streams and oceans, they do major damage to our already fragile ecosystem. Aquatic life below the waves are choking and suffocating. This carnage to sea life damages the fishing industries. These plastic wraps is also a cause of massive pollution which adversely impacts the environment and us all.
Next year, new regulations are scheduled to be issued which will implement congestion pricing in New York City. It is intended to reduce the number of vehicles entering and clogging Midtown Manhattan. Private vehicles would be charged a new toll when entering the zone. This is intended to be a deterrent to driving in congested areas of Manhattan and instead encourage the use of mass transit.
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, Donald Trump, science
Opinion: The truth about Mayor Pete
Some people think that this is the most consequential Presidential election since 1860. I agree.
Had Democrat Stephen Douglas or any of the other candidates defeated Republican Abraham Lincoln, it is unlikely that the "peculiar institution" of slavery would have ended three years later. The savage brutality would have continued for years, maybe decades more. Southern states that had a vested economic interest in preserving the status quo would have grown stronger. The ramifications of that are impossible to calculate or even imagine. But it would have continued to tear at the fabric of this country, our ideals, our morality and our democratic institutions. The course of American history and our trajectory as a world leader would have forever been changed.
It is 160 years later now, and the election of 2020 is fast approaching. The Republican candidate will be its incumbent, Donald Trump. As for the Democrats, well, that is a much different story. There are still a half dozen candidates who are seriously vying for the nomination. In two months, on April 28, Democratic voters from Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village along with the rest of the state will get their say. That is the date of the New York Presidential Primary. And it may be pivotal.
After the very early voting in Iowa and New Hampshire, one thing is certain. The mayor of South Bend Indiana has emerged as a major contender. His name is Pete Buttigieg. I have watched his unlikely rise with fascination.
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, Mayor Pete
Opinion: An election and a warning for 2020
Two hundred and thirty-two years ago, the American Democracy was founded with the approval of our Constitution. In the centuries that have passed, it is easy for some to forget how inspired and revolutionary that document was. Sadly, others choose to ignore it.
For the first time, a nation was to be a Republic, governed not by a monarchy or other form of dictatorship or autocracy, but rather by the will of its citizens with important checks and balances among three co-equal branches of government.
That was the enduring genius of our founders. Every president of the United States takes an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution" rather than to preserve his own power.
Like me, you may be wondering whatever happened to those principles and that oath that guided this nation and its presidents for over two centuries.
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders
Nadler, Engel and Maloney
They sound like partners of a law firm… but in truth they are the firmament of law.
New York has taken center stage in the rapidly expanding impeachment inquiry of President Donald J. Trump.
Three of the key players in Congress are New Yorkers and one is our very own.
I am speaking of Manhattan Congressman Jerry Nadler who is chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Bronx Congressman Eliot Engel who chairs the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and our very own Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who just last week assumed the post of interim chair of the House Committee on Oversight following the sudden passing of Elijah Cummings.
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, impeachment
Maloney named interim chair of House Oversight and Reform Committee
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, seen here celebrating the passage of the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund earlier this year with US Senator Charles Schumer (left) and Congressman Jerrold Nadler (right), has been named interim chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee. (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)
Democrats have named Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney as the interim chair for the House Oversight and Reform Committee last Thursday following the death of Representative Elijah Cummings, who played an active role in the impeachment inquiry as the committee's chair.
Maloney is a senior Democrat on the panel and the New York Times noted last week that her appointment as acting chairwoman is in line with House rules. A permanent leader of the committee is expected to be elected at a later time, a senior Democratic leadership aide said.
Local elected officials lauded the news of Maloney's appointment while paying tribute to Cummings.
"While we all mourn the loss of Congressmember Cummings, I am reassured by Congressmember Maloney's appointment as interim Chair," Assemblymember Harvey Epstein said. "Congresswoman Maloney is dedicated to protecting our democracy and I am confident that she will carry out what is necessary to move forward with impeachment inquiries."
Tagged Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, Assemblyman Steven Sanders, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, Council Member Keith Powers, house of representatives, State Senator Brad Hoylman
Opinion: The Fall of Rudy
"Men at some time are masters of their fates; the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves." The precipitous fall of Rudolph Giuliani is like something from a Shakespearean drama.
For a moment not so long ago, Rudy Giuliani was viewed as "America's Mayor." That title was given in the days and weeks following the attack against the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. During that horrible time, Giuliani used his considerable skills to rally a city wracked with grief and anger. His resolute leadership inspired the nation. It was a defining moment for Rudy. It was short-lived.
It is worth remembering that before the attack, Mayor Giuliani had fallen out of favor with most New Yorkers who had tired of his combative and snarling personality. He could not run for re-election because of term limits but if he could have, the odds were that he would have lost.
So off he went to the world of lobbying, forming his own firm working closely with his business associate the former NYC Police Commissioner Bernie Kerick until Kerick was convicted of corruption and sent to prison. That was an omen of things to come.
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, rudy giuliani
Opinion: Who's a socialist? Part II
Last week, I wrote about how political candidates are being tagged with that seemingly evil "socialist" label for advocating that more government resources be redirected to health, education and other social needs.
But it is also true that Democratic candidates for president are falling over themselves to make one promise after the other, many of which Congress will never approve and all of which would be a major cost to the treasury. However, that is still a far cry from being a socialist. Sadly, some in the political world care very little about the honesty of such a charge, but rather hope that the label of socialist will stick. That is the state of our politics by vilification today.
But the issue of health care for all Americans will dominate the national debate over the next year. Was it accurate to call Medicare or Medicaid socialism when enacted over 50 years ago? Is it socialism to go the next step and provide health care coverage for all Americans regardless of their ability to pay? That is the big question. And how would such a system be paid for?
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, socialism
Letters to the editor, Sept. 19
Cartoon by Jim Meadows
City's plan will hurt Stuy Cove
In response to the ad in the September 5 issue of T&V, the Stuyvesant Cove Park Association received a number of comments and questions. The following letter has been sent to elected representatives in Washington, Albany and New York. The SCPA thanks to all those who took the time to contact them.
On Monday, October 21, the Stuyvesant Cove Park Association will hold its annual Friends of Stuyvesant Cove Park meeting. The meeting will take place at the Stuyvesant Town Community Center, located at 449 East 16th Street. Among our agenda items is the planned razing of Stuyvesant Cove Park as part of the East Coast Resiliency Project.
It is the opinion of this body that the planned destruction and modification of the park, a project estimated to deprive the community use of the park for two years or more, will do nothing to prevent flooding in Stuyvesant Cove Park in the future. In addition, despite the surge in 2012, regular park-goers observed that within months, most of the flora was alive and well, with only a few exceptions, and within six months, you would not know anything had happened. All this in spite of the fact that the park had been under four feet of river water.
We understand that funds are being provided by the federal government. However, spending money simply because it is available should not be confused with justification and we are in total disagreement with the city's decision to choose years of construction, hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs and no discernible new protections for the park itself. Moreover, Stuyvesant Cove Park's natural resiliency in the wake of Hurricane Sandy proves that this is an ill-conceived over reaction to this event.
Posted in Letters to the Editor
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, Associated supermarket, charter schools, Stuyvesant Cove Park, Stuyvesant Cove Park Association
Opinion: What's on the governor's plate?
The winning design
There was an election last week. Cuomo lost.
Being governor of New York State with its nearly 20 million population and world important venues is a really big job. To govern successfully requires great intelligence, leadership skills and a focus on what matters most.
Andrew Cuomo has had this job for the past nine years. But one must wonder if he momentarily lost his attention on what is really important. Of all his significant policy initiatives during his first two terms, Cuomo's preoccupation with issuing new license plates for motorists is a head scratcher. Of course, the change is estimated to raise upwards of $100 million for the state coffers, whether the replacement is necessary or not.
It will tax each car owner up to $45 to replace their current plates, once in circulation, for ten years. Governor Cuomo says that is needed because EZ pass terminals are having a hard time reading the existing plates. Since when?
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, Governor Andrew Cuomo, license plates
Opinion: De Blasio's Delusion
Last week I saw Mayor Bill de Blasio on a local newscast giving an interview from the Iowa State Fair. He looked very relaxed in his shirtsleeves with no tie or jacket. I think he had just eaten a corndog, a local favorite. He seemed a million miles away from the daily cares of his actual job as chief executive of New York City. To be precise, he was about eleven hundred miles away from home.
Hizzoner was enjoying himself free from the problems of the disgraceful public housing conditions, the mass transit infrastructure woes, another police suicide, the worry about a terrorist attack in Chelsea with the discovery of what appeared at first to be improvised explosive devices. You know, some of the stuff that requires a Mayor to be on the job 24/7. But Bill de Blasio assures us that he is in communication with his staff every hour. That sort of makes him New York's first Skype Mayor.
To be sure, everyone deserves a vacation and respite from their job. But Bill de Blasio has been spending chunks of time out of the city on a regular basis for the better part of 2019. His venue of choice has been Iowa because that is the first state which will be holding a Presidential nominee contest in just five months.
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, Mayor Bill de Blasio
Letters to the editor, Aug. 22
Unfair criticisms of Schwarzman
Re: "Pulling back the curtain on Blackstone," letter, T&V, Aug. 15
I find the character assassination by letter writer "name withheld" of Stephen Schwarzman and President Trump offensive and all too common by Trump haters. The letter writer should at least have the courage to sign his name. It's not as if Antifa will show up at his door and threaten his wife and children. Contrary to what "Name withheld" would have us believe, Trump never said there were good white supremacists. Trump said, "In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy."
Regarding caging of children, there is no question the situation of people detained at our border is an unfortunate one, but before we believe people who bash Trump for political gain, we need to ask ourselves what are the alternatives. One is to send the illegal immigrants back home immediately, but that would require changing laws that the Democrats refuse to change.
Tagged anti-vaxxers, Assemblyman Steven Sanders, protests, Stephen Schwarzman
Opinion: Gunning down America
On the Monday after two mass shootings in Texas and Ohio, several dozen people gathered in Union Square to both mourn the several dozen victims as well as to criticize the ease of buying guns in America. Organized by the group RefuseFascism.org, many at the rally were critical of politicians who blamed mental illness as the cause of the massacres rather than the availability of military-style guns. (Photo by Jefferson Siegel)
Last week I wrote about gun violence and mass murder. My column was a warning entitled "It could happen anywhere."
Two days later, it did.
This time a shopping mall in El Paso, Texas. It was one of the worst massacres in U.S. history, leaving 20 dead and dozens more seriously wounded. The weapon of choice again was an assault weapon. And then just hours later a gunman in Dayton, Ohio opened fire on innocent bystanders killing nine with an assault weapon. It took 30 seconds. That's the killing power of assault weapons.
Thirty-one dead and scores wounded in 12 hours. They won't be the last.
In El Paso, the assailant was fueled by hatred of Hispanics and Mexicans who largely inhabit the city of El Paso. He was said to be enraged by what he referred to as the "invasion" of Hispanic immigrants. He used the very same language that we have heard this president use over and over again. "Invasion."
Tagged Assemblyman Steven Sanders, gun violence


Listen to the newest episode of Interstate Sportsman Radio Show each Thursday right here on the Interstate Sportsman This weeks guest's are Eddie Lee Rider with The Land Report, Doug Mackro and Scott Drummond with Sportsman's Rights Origination.
Listen to the newest episode of Interstate Sportsman Radio Show each Thursday right here on the Interstate Sportsman This weeks guest's are Wes Eason with Sunburst Trout, David Fields with Fishing the Americas and Scott Drummond with Sportsman's Rights Origination.
Listen to the newest episode of Interstate Sportsman Radio Show each Thursday right here on the Interstate Sportsman website This week's guests are This week's guests are Alex Bell with AB's Fly Fishing Guide Service and Scott Drummond with Sportsman's Rights Origination.
Listen to the newest episode of Interstate Sportsman Radio Show each Thursday right here on the Interstate Sportsman website This week's guests are This week's guests are Dave Milton with Southeastern Land Group and the host of The Land Show and Scott Drummond with Sportsman's Rights Origination.


The pharmacist told me the tablets weren't available anymore and that she didn't even have the powder in her computer. So strange. Maybe I'll have to talk to my doctor again. I might try it anyway. I'm aware this won't cure the problem, but if for a time this gives me more benefit than otherwise, that's probably ok. I just don't feel that anything I'm taking is making enough of a dent in my colon's infestation.


text:
Visa, Mastercard freezing card use on Pornhub site amid allegations of illegal content
By Amanda Connolly	Global News
Updated December 10, 2020 4:12 pm
1:03 Public safety minister says he reached out to RCMP to offer support in response to Pornhub accusations
WATCH: Public safety minister says he reached out to RCMP to offer support in response to Pornhub accusations – Dec 8, 2020
Visa and Mastercard say they are no longer allowing their cards to be used on Pornhub, a website owned by the Montreal-based company MindGeek, amid concerns about allegedly illegal material on the site.
The decisions from the major credit card companies come as Pornhub remains under fire following a report by the New York Times last week that alleged the website has videos of child sexual assaults and exploitations.
Read more: Pornhub pushes back against accusations that it allows child sexual abuse materials
Pornhub has rejected those allegations, saying the site has "zero tolerance for child sexual abuse materials" and that it has "a vast team" of moderators monitoring the content posted to the site.
Mastercard said in a statement, though, that an investigation by the company found evidence of "unlawful content."
"Our investigation over the past several days has confirmed violations of our standards prohibiting unlawful content on their site," the statement reads.
"As a result, and in accordance with our policies, we instructed the financial institutions that connect the site to our network to terminate acceptance. In addition, we continue to investigate potential illegal content on other websites to take the appropriate action."
Mastercard added that it also plans to "continue to investigate potential illegal content on other websites."
A spokesperson for Visa offered a statement expressing similar concerns.
"Given the allegations of illegal activity, Visa is suspending Pornhub's acceptance privileges pending the completion of our ongoing investigation," the statement said.
"We are instructing the financial institutions who serve MindGeek to suspend processing of payments through the Visa network.
"At Visa, we are vigilant in our efforts to stamp out illegal activity on our network, and we encourage our financial institution partners to regularly review their merchants' compliance of our standards on this and other platforms."
Pornhub denies there is illegal content on its site.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Friday that the allegations are cause for concern.
"We are always extremely concerned with gender-based violence, with exploitation of minors, with child pornography," Trudeau told reporters in a press conference.
"We're going to continue to work with police agencies and security agencies and all means possible to ensure that all Canadians are kept safe."
—With files from The Canadian Press.
Sexual AssaultSexual ExploitationMastercardPornhubmastercard pornhubmastercard pornhub investigationpornhub investigationsexual exploitation pornhub


always incredibly helpful. A Steamboat must.
My favorite place to consign and shop in Steamboat!! All the staff here are helpful.
the staff is so fabulous and helpful! I love this place!
Excellent service today! Easy Contract set up and friendly staff. Thanks!


When asked by friends and relatives for mid-price lipstick reco's, my number one choice is always T. Le Clerc.
I used to be only familiar with their Banane loose powder before but have since been a fan of their many products over the years. Out of everything they offer though, my favorite are their lipsticks.
T. Le Clerc's Lipsticks retail for P795 and are available in all Rustans Department Stores nationwide.
gorgeous shade i must say!


text:
I.n.c. Women's Coletta Slingback Pointed Toe Pumps, Created for Macy's Women's Shoes at Macy's
Wanted Bushkill Wedge Slip-On Sneakers Women's Shoes at Macy's
Born Lilly Flats, Created for Macy's Women's Shoes at Macy's
Calvin Klein Women's Dalana Pool Slides Women's Shoes at Macy's
Aerosoles Lovely Wedge Pumps Women's Shoes at Macy's
Dr. Scholl's Look Booties Women's Shoes at Macy's
Aerosoles Good Graces Smoking Flats Women's Shoes at Macy's
Franco Sarto Brandy Booties Women's Shoes at Macy's
Bandolino Kyrie Embellished Flat Sandals Women's Shoes at Macy's
I.n.c. Women's Sapphira Slip-On Sneakers, Created for Macy's Women's Shoes at Macy's
Nine West Gabrielle Slingback Platform Pumps Women's Shoes at Macy's
Dr. Scholl's Excite Chop Loafers Women's Shoes at Macy's
Tommy Hilfiger Women's Chang Flip Flops Women's Shoes at Macy's
Thalia Sodi Bridget Platform Dress Sandals, Created for Macy's Women's Shoes at Macy's
Naturalizer Zophie Flats Women's Shoes at Macy's
Franco Sarto Tallen Slip-On Sandals Women's Shoes at Macy's
Tommy Hilfiger Covens Flip Flops Women's Shoes at Macy's
Clarks Artisan Women's Calla Rose Pumps Women's Shoes at Macy's
Jewel Badgley Mischka Tessy Sandals Women's Shoes at Macy's
Esprit Odina Flats Women's Shoes at Macy's
Alfani Women's Joyy Step 'N Flex Perforated d'Orsay Pumps, Created for Macy's Women's Shoes at Macy's
Bella Vita Kortez Sandals Women's Shoes at Macy's
Naturalizer Imogene Sandals Women's Shoes at Macy's
Dr. Scholl's Foxy Sneakers Women's Shoes at Macy's
Bella Vita Abi-Italy Sandals Women's Shoes at Macy's