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Improved model could help scientists better predict crop yield, climate change effects
A new computer model incorporates how microscopic pores on leaves may open in response to light—an advance that could help scientists create virtual plants to predict how higher temperatures and rising levels of carbon dioxide will affect food crops, according to a study published in a special issue of the journal Photosynthesis Research.
"This is an exciting new computer model that could help us make much more accurate predictions across a wide range of conditions," said Johannes Kromdijk, who led the work as part of an international research project called Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency RIPE.
RIPE, which is led by the University of Illinois, is engineering crops to be more productive without using more water by improving photosynthesis, the natural process all plants utilize to convert sunlight into energy to fuel growth and crop yields. RIPE is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the U.S. Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research (FFAR), and the U.K. Government's Department for International Development (DFID).
The current work focused on simulating the behavior of what are known as stomata—microscopic pores in leaves that, in response to light, open to allow water, carbon dioxide, and oxygen to enter and exit the plant. In 2018, the RIPE team published a paper in Nature Communications that showed increasing one specific protein could prompt plants to close their stomata partially—to a point where photosynthesis was unaffected, but water loss decreased significantly. This study's experimental data was used to create the newly improved stomata model introduced today.
"We've known for decades that photosynthesis and stomatal opening are closely coordinated, but just how this works has remained uncertain," said Stephen Long, Ikenberry Endowed University Chair of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology at the University of Illinois. "With this new computer model, we have a much better tool for calculating stomatal movements in response to light."
The ultimate goal, Long said, is to identify opportunities to control these stomatal gatekeepers to make drought-tolerant crops. "Now we're closing in on the missing link: How photosynthesis tells stomates when to open."
Computer modeling has been a major advance in crop breeding. The father of modern genetics, Gregor Mendel, made his breakthrough discovery that pea plants inherit traits from their parents by growing and breeding more than 10,000 pea plants over eight years. Today, plant scientists can virtually grow thousands of crops in a matter of seconds using these complex computer models that simulate plant growth.
Stomatal models are used together with models for photosynthesis to make wide-ranging predictions from future crop yields to crop management, such as how crops respond when there is a water deficit. In addition, these models can give scientists a preview of how crops like wheat, maize, or rice could be affected by rising carbon dioxide levels and higher temperatures.
"The previous version of the stomatal model used a relationship that wasn't consistent with our current understanding of stomatal movements," said Kromdijk, now a University Lecturer at the University of Cambridge. "We found that our new version needs far less tuning to make highly accurate predictions."
Still, there's a lot of work to be done to show that this modified model functions in a wide variety of applications and to underpin the relationship between stomata and photosynthesis further.
"We have to show that this model works for a diverse range of species and locations," said former RIPE member Katarzyna Glowacka, now an assistant professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. "Large-scale simulation models string together models for atmospheric turbulence, light interception, soil water availability, and others—so we have to convince several research communities that this is an improvement that is worth making."
Read the paper: Photosynthesis Research
Article source: University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences ACES
Image: Brian Stauffer/University of Illinois
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The East coast of the UK is synonymous with the arrival of migrant birds from Scandinavia during the autumn migration period, and along with the Norfolk coast and the islands of Scotland, one other area stands out for its amazing track record of producing rare and scarce birds – the East Yorkshire coast between Flamborough Head in the North and Spurn Head in the south. Following our successful spring trips to this area, we are returning again in 2018 for this special September tour based at the wonderful Georgian Farmhouse at West Carlton near Aldbrough. Positioned midway between the two aforementioned hotspots, we are ideally placed to explore this fantastic stretch of coastline at a time when anything can arrive and large numbers of common migrants should be moving south. As always the weather plays a big hand in producing optimum conditions for arrivals of migrant birds, but whatever happens during our stay we are sure to enjoy our time here and see some great birds. This tour will be led by Ashley Saunders and you can expect to see approximately 120 species.


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Colorado State University has deployed a Xirrus 802.11n WiFi array in several buildings on its Fort Collins campus. The gear is being deployed at the newly constructed Computer Science Building, Morgan Library, Andrew G. Clark Building, and Academic Learning Center. The wireless network will also be installed in a future academic instruction building, expected to open in mid-2010.
"We have had a WiFi network with hundreds of [access points] (APs) for some time, but some of these traditional APs were being saturated as more and more students brought in WiFi-enabled laptops, PDAs, and phones," said Greg Redder, interim director of networking. "Throwing more and more APs at the problem in some of these facilities was ineffective and costly, so we looked around for an alternative wireless solution--something that could support dozens to hundreds of concurrent users and supply enough bandwidth to meet current and future needs."
To see what Xirrus' WiFi arrays could do, the institution had the company bring one array on a portable tripod to support an Obama campaign rally on The Oval, a large open park where thousands participated.
"The WiFi array supported over 200 concurrent users without blinking an eye," Redder said. "This scenario fit well with some of our larger and more concentrated locations on campus. Thus, we are rolling Xirrus arrays across several high capacity buildings, including the newest building on our campus--the Computer Science Building, a four-story, 45,000 square foot facility, comprised of classrooms, lecture halls, three student labs, faculty offices and large meeting areas."
Colorado State has about 25,000 students, 1,450 faculty members, and 4,100 staff members. Its main campus is 581 acres.


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HCRA has launched a crowdfunding appeal to help raise money towards the creation of a community garden.
A determined group of members hope to transform the scruffy patch of land outside the Nisa convenience store at the top of Rosslyn Crescent.
They are hoping local people and others will get behind the Make Nisa Nicer campaign and donate money to help buy plants, soil and wood.
The association has launched a funding appeal on the crowdfunding site IndieGoGo. For more details and to make a donation click here.
HCRA has been awarded a grant of £350 to create a community garden outside the Nisa convenience store.
The money was awarded by Harrow in LEAF, the umbrella organisation for allotments iand gardening organisations in Harrow.
Other local organisations have also pledged money to help pay for wooden beds, soil and plants.
Harrow Mosque has donated £150 and the project is also being supported by the Jaspar Group, which runs the Jaspar Centre in Rosslyn Crescent.
Work has already started on the site with volunteers removing decking and clearing rubbish.
The aim is to get the new garden in place by early September this year.
HCRA has been given permission to transform the scruffy patch of land outside the Nisa convenience store into a beautiful garden.
Members are now seeking help from the local community to make their vision a reality.
The plan is to create a series of raised beds outside the shop on the corner of Rosslyn Crecent and Station Road.
These will be planted with attractive shrubs and flowers in an effort to brighten up the area.
HCRA is seeking help from volunteers willing to work on the build and donations to help fund the project.
If you would like to take part or can help in any way please email chair@hcra.org.uk or call 020 8427 4121.


For now, Howard appears to have ridden out the storm of the last few days. But the pressure will continue. In a July 11 editorial, the Australian warned that the ongoing leadership dispute "puts both Howard and Costello—and by extension the entire Coalition Government—on thin ice". It called on Howard to "reveal whether he plans to step down around the end of this year or fight an election sometime around October or November next year". It appears that there are significant layers in business and financial circles who clearly favour the former option.
I am in Korea at the moment and was sadened to see on the tv bulls fighting each other. Please could you send polite emails to complain about this. The Channel is called MBC. It is one of the main channels here.
The substitution of "neo-liberalism" with something else, it was said, without ever making clear what option it would be or what it might be called, especially since they decided that foreign investment and the free market would go on. Well?
Anyone who carries anti-G8 material, or who is speaking a non-Russian language is liable to be detained in St Petersburg. The charges made are laughable, but the arrests are deadly serious (from our embedded contacts).
Lord Levy is using Bindmans, activist's favourite(?) solicitor.
Does ex-leaderr of the Tories know what standards of justuice mean?
Michael Howard, MP, spoke today [Wednesday 12 July 2006] in the House of Commons [UK] debate on the so-called NatWest Three that was prompted by the procedural steps taken by the Lib Dems. In his speech, Howard reportedly stated this, "It surely would be an affront to our standards of justice and everything this House should stand up for if these men were to find themselves in a Texas jail for up to two years before they even have the opportunity of answering the charges against them."
An expose of the 9/11 conspiracy wing nuts endangering the very core of our democracy, and world peace.
Announcement of the students of the Antiauthoritarian Movement about the mobilisation of the 27th of July against the Education Ministers Summit in Athens.
Blair - Mind the Gap - but no mention of the P word.
Blair is pushing on with the new nuclear agenda by talking of addressing the coming energy gap and climate change... but no mention of peak oil.
"We're going to move from being self-sufficient in basic energy to a situation of importing energy. Fifteen years down the line we have got high energy prices and real problems.", he said.
The SSP crisis: personality cult or class-struggle party?
The Alliance for Workers' Liberty spoke to Andy McPake, an activist in the Scottish Socialist Youth and a supporter of the SSP-United Left about the current crisis in the Scottish Socialist Party. This is an unedited version of the interview. An edited version will appear in Solidarity, the fortnightly paper of the Alliance for Workers' Liberty and will be online soon.


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Buprestina prosternalis is a species of beetles in the family Buprestidae, the only species in the genus Buprestina.

References

Buprestidae genera

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Ah, the off-duty staple of many a Hollywood starlet's wardrobe from vintage decades until now, the striped Breton top and jeans! There's a reason this look has stood the test of time - it's dressed down, but stripes always sharpen a look. It's chic and incredibly wearable.
In the slighter warmer months, it's my at-home uniform. If I'm doing housework I wear an old pair of Levi's with a turn up, and if I'm relaxing (and not doing anything to get dirty, like scrubbing or gardening!) I might wear my Bernie Dexter jeans. The other day I styled mine with a nod to the 1950s, with cat eye sunglasses, red lippy and turn ups. You might also notice I'm sporting a lovely red 'batchel' from the Cambridge Satchel Company - I won it! Pago, the fruit juice company, held a competition to style an outfit to represent one of their flavours. I dressed to represent their tomato juice, and I was absolutely delighted to be one of five winners. You can see the other winners and the entries on the Pago Facebook page.
Red 'Batchel', Cambridge Satchel Company - prize via Pago fruit juice competition!
The Levi's are too short in the leg for me, and slightly flared, hence the conversion into turn-ups! I have found that Levi's are one of the only brands of jeans that actually fit me and my figure that...how can I put this? Has a little more junk in the trunk?! Modern jeans are too low-rise, cutting painfully across my hip bones, as well as flattening my derriere and straining across my thighs. My Baby thinks this pair of jeans is the sexiest piece of clothing I own, and is like a Wonderbra for buttocks!
Now here's how the starlets did it in their bretons and jeans: Bardot, Monroe and Seberg. They are all so fabulous!
Do you wear a breton and jeans? What do you think of this classic look?
I haven't worn jeans in absolutely years, but I do love Breton tops. I have a slightly cropped one but always think I should pick up a longer one but each time I find one I talk myself out of it again!
The last jeans I had, I loved, they were flares and I wore them until they fell apart and then I moved on to bootleg cords but after seeing one too many photos of me looking far too big in the hip area, stopped in my tracks!
I most definitely do! It's a wardrobe staple for me. Buying jeans is such a nightmare though, I hate low rise jeans anyway but I have a long torso so that tends to make most pairs low rise on me :-( I have found a neat trick is to buy jeans with a 'short' leg length and I instantly have 3/4 length trousers.
I haven't owned a pair of jeans in about 20 years. I do like them on some other people - as with any clothes, it depends on the wearwe and how they wear them.
This casual look is perfection! Loving your eye for style!
Second: you look fabulous, channeling the Brigitte-feel out from the screen.
And last: the bag is adorable.
All in all: you are one lucky lady, dear.
wow how amazing that you won that absolutely beautiful bag!!! and i have to agree with the girl above me you are definitely a second brigitte bardot in that outfit! amazing!!!
hope you have a wonderful sunday evening!
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Great casual look, adore the bag!
How wonderfully exciting!!! Many happy congrats on your awesome win, dear gal. After a long, grey winter, one needs a vibrant handbag/satchel like that to help usher in spring with.
Thank you sooooooooooo much for linking and sharing your wonderful style with us.
I am considering buying my first ever pair of jeans and may try Levis. I have a similar figure to you!
I recently started to wear trousers after being a skirts/dresses only person and now wish I had done so many years ago. They are so versatile and comfy!
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Previous post: A reminder to remember – There is Only To Be!


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Why should Catholics care about the present crisis of the American news media?
Russell Shaw • 10/1/2007
Why should Catholics care about the present crisis of the American news media? Perhaps a classic film will help explain: Not Citizen Kane. Not All the President's Men. Not even The Front Page, but John Ford's classic Western Stagecoach.
Stagecoach uses a tried-and-true narrative device: A group of colorful characters make a perilous journey together. There's a steely-eyed cowpoke bent on revenge; a Confederate officer turned gambler who plays cards with an ace up his sleeve; a shady lady with a troubled past and a heart of gold. Best of all, to my way of thinking, is a drunken doctor, played by that marvelous character actor of the 1930s and 1940s, Thomas Mitchell.
Having botched one case too many, the doctor has been run out of town and is heading west to make a fresh start. Midway through the trip, a young, pregnant woman, traveling to join her Cavalry officer husband, goes into labor. All eyes turn to the unshaven, hung-over physician. He gulps, tosses away his bottle, rolls up his sleeves, and goes to work. Some time later, emerging from an inner room, he proudly tells his companions, "It's a boy."
The news media are something like that doctor—seriously flawed but indispensable in a pinch.
Complex Crisis, Uncertain Outcome
American news media are in a crisis, and all of us should care. It is a long-term crisis of transition and change, gradually unfolding and bound to continue for years. Its consequences are unpredictable, but they will extend widely and go deep, not just in the news business but in the larger society as well. Far-reaching alterations in the way Americans receive the news—and in the kind of news they receive—have occurred, are occurring now, and will continue to occur.
A number of interacting factors have come together to produce this complex crisis. They include rapid and dramatic technological innovations, economic pressures, declining audiences for old media, and evolving public tastes and expectations for news. The crisis has been marked by numerous ownership changes, frequent scandals, clear instances of media bias, a growing focus on local news in preference to national and international news, and a continuing drift toward sensationalism and dumbing-down.
Today all of the established news media, print and broadcast alike, are obliged to cope with the implications of the Internet's spectacular rise as a medium for disseminating information and opinion, including the phenomenal growth of Web logs or blogs. The old media have abandoned whatever thoughts they might once have entertained of resisting the Internet revolution and are now scrambling to find ways of joining it to survive.
Along with changing the way they report news and the sort of news they report, the traditional news media are cutting back. Many outlets have eliminated or sharply reduced bureaus in other countries and other parts of the United States, an economic strategy that leads to increased reliance on wire services, stringers, and canned reports.
Significant reductions in editorial staff have occurred, with daily newspapers especially hard hit. This includes even giants like The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal. In five years the editorial staff of The Los Angeles Times was cut from 1,200 to 940. When the newspaper's owner, the Tribune Company of Chicago, ordered further cuts, the publisher and editor objected—and were forced out. Meanwhile the paper's daily circulation has fallen from 1.2 million in 1990 to 776,000 as of the end of last September.
The question all this raises in many minds is probably: So what? What difference do the problems of news media make to anyone who doesn't work for a news organization or own stock in one? For a long time Americans, including many in the churches, have had a love-hate relationship with their news media. If the media are in trouble now, with unpredictable and possibly unhappy results down the road, the reaction may well be, "Serves them right."
Everybody's Problem
At this point, a long essay about the news business published in The New York Times Book Review in the summer of 2005 deserves our attention. The essay is the work of Judge Richard A. Posner of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Judge Posner also is a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School and an articulate, opinionated man who frequently declares his views on op-ed pages and in various journals. This time he undertook to analyze the crisis of the news media. And although some people in the news business were furious, his mix of astuteness and wrong-headedness invites serious consideration.
"The conventional news media are embattled," he begins. "Attacked by both left and right in book after book, rocked by scandals, challenged by upstart bloggers, they have become a focus of controversy and concern. Their audience is in decline, their credibility with the public in shreds" (Richard A. Posner, "Bad News," New York Times Book Review, July 31, 2005). Even so, no one can seriously doubt that the essential function of these flawed but indispensable means of communication is "to inform people about social, political, cultural, ethical, and economic issues so that they can vote and otherwise express themselves as responsible citizens" (and, one might add—though Posner does not—as responsible members of their churches and congregations). The media's problems are our problems.
Among the problems is ideological tilt, both perceived and real. Of all journalists who consider themselves either liberal or conservative, fully 75 percent regard themselves as liberal. That is far higher than the percentage of Americans generally who consider themselves liberals, which at the time Posner wrote two years ago stood at 35 percent among those with a stated political position. Studies of the media elite who staff national news organizations similarly have shown that journalists are far less religiously inclined than Americans in general. And as if that weren't enough to send religious conservatives into spasms of fury, Posner adds: "The news media have also become more sensational, more prone to scandal, and possibly less accurate."
Economic determinism provides the conceptual framework for the judge's analysis of the news business. He attributes the rise of sensationalism, proneness to scandal, and other such abuses ultimately to a "vertiginous decline" in the cost of electronic communication coupled with a lowering of regulatory barriers. These have resulted in a proliferation of consumer options and heightened competition for audience share. He writes:
Thirty years ago the average number of television channels that Americans could receive was seven; today, with the rise of cable and satellite television, it is seventy-one. Thirty years ago there was no Internet, therefore no Web, hence no online newspapers and magazines, no blogs. The public's consumption of news and opinion used to be like sucking on a straw; now it's like being sprayed by a fire hose.
In this environment, news media must compete to stay alive. Competition in the news business has always been a fact of life; but unlike times past, when daily newspapers warred with one another, now old media battle new media. According to Posner, this struggle has become a race to find the lowest common denominator of audience intelligence and taste, which in turn encourages political polarization and sensationalism in reporting.
Note that in this telling of the story, the failings of the news media are not fundamentally their fault. They are caused by factors largely beyond the control of the media themselves, namely, the operation of free market dynamics in combination with the frivolity of crass, self-indulgent audiences. This may be overly generous to the media and overly hard on the American public, but it contains a substantial measure of truth.
[I]ncreased competition has not produced a public more oriented toward public issues, more motivated and competent to engage in genuine self-government, because these are not the goods that most people are seeking from the news media. They are seeking entertainment, confirmation, reinforcement, emotional satisfaction; and what consumers want, a competitive market supplies . . .
Strange to say, nevertheless, Judge Posner concludes his analysis with a rhetorical shrug, as if to say the situation he describes—polarized and sensationalized news media competing for the favor of irresponsible audiences—doesn't really matter much. After all, one happy byproduct of media proliferation has been to make "richer fare than ever before" available to elitists like Richard Posner, who care about serious news and want diverse opinions. And if elite interests are satisfied, what else really matters? This, it hardly needs saying, is not exactly Jeffersonian democracy at work.
The Papacy on the Press
Where does the Catholic Church fit into this picture? As it happens, that is not so easy to say.
The last public document of the pontificate of John Paul II was an apostolic letter called Il Rapido Sviluppo (The Rapid Development) addressed to "those responsible for communications" and dated January 24, 2005: the feast of St. Francis de Sales, patron saint of journalism. The opening words of the fourth section, "The Mass Media, the Crossroads of the Great Social Questions," are these:
The Church . . . recognizes the duty to offer its own contribution for a better understanding of outlooks and responsibilities connected with current developments in communications. Especially because these influence the consciences of individuals, form their mentality and determine their view of things, it is important to stress in a forceful and clear way that the mass media constitute a patrimony to safeguard and promote.
These are beautiful sentiments—"a patrimony to safeguard and promote." But churchmen have not always spoken that way.
Consider Pope Gregory XVI, who in the 1832 encyclical Mirari Vos noted among the signs of "indifferentism" in religion and morality "that harmful and never sufficiently denounced freedom to publish any writings whatever and disseminate them to people, which some dare to demand and promote with so great a clamor" (MV 15). The pope declared himself "horrified to see what monstrous doctrines and prodigious errors are disseminated far and wide in countless books, pamphlets and other writings which, though small in weight, are very great in malice" (MV 15). Bl. Pius IX, in the 1864 encyclical Quanta Cura accompanying the famous Syllabus of Errors, echoed Pope Gregory on the dangers of freedom of the press. "In these times," he wrote, "the haters of truth and justice and most bitter enemies of our religion, deceiving the people and maliciously lying, disseminate . . . impious doctrines by means of pestilential books, pamphlets and newspapers dispersed over the whole world" (QC 7).
Jacques Maritain once suggested that in saying these things Pope Gregory and Pope Pius simply meant to condemn the establishment of freedom of expression as an absolute end in itself. While that may be putting too benign a gloss on the texts, it is at least necessary to understand the historical context of their remarks. This was a time when the Church in Europe was besieged by militant secularism (and by militant, sectarian anti-Catholicism in the U.S.), with the press a large part of the problem. Still, the papal rhetoric is an embarrassment today and stands in marked contrast with the view expressed by Bl. John XXIII in Pacem in Terris (1963), which includes among its enumerated human rights "a right to freedom in investigating the truth, and—within the limits of the moral order and the common good—to freedom of speech and publication [and] the right also to be accurately informed about public events" (12).
During the last hundred years, in fact, there has been a notable development in the Church's thinking about news media. The historian Owen Chadwick holds that Leo XIII was the first pope to understand "that the press, even when it was Catholic, was a fourth estate, and to begin to treat it accordingly" (A History of the Popes, 1830-1914, 329). With ups and downs, this way of thinking gradually spread throughout the twentieth century. Pope Pius XII—grandson of the co-founder of the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano—played an especially notable role. He expressed appreciation for the press, praised the service of the press to society, and even acknowledged the need for public opinion in the Church.
As with so many other things, the great turning point in this process was the Second Vatican Council. The Decree on the Media of Social Communication, Inter Mirifica, is commonly dismissed as the weakest of its sixteen documents, but even so, in a passage addressed to civil authorities, it declares that "the progress of modern society" requires "a true and just freedom of information" (12).
The decree also directed that after the council a pastoral instruction on the means of social communication be prepared. This turned out to be Communio et Progressio, written by a team of communication specialists working in the service of the Church under the supervision of the Pontifical Commission (now, Council) for Social Communications and published in 1971. Its line on news media comes down to this: "Modern man cannot do without information that is full, consistent, accurate and true. Without it, he cannot understand the perpetually changing world in which he lives . . . Those whose job it is to give the news have a most difficult and responsible role to play" (Communio 34, 36).
Indifference is Not an Option
Despite many flaws, American news media serve the common good. The central element of this service consists in telling people what they need to know in order to be responsible members of their various communities: civic, religious, cultural, and so on. Related to this function is the role of the press as an instrument of oversight—"creating accountability and deterring wrongdoing," as Posner puts it.
Yet widespread ambivalence about the news business is found in many places, most certainly including upper levels of the institutional Church. Complaints about the media, common for years, may even have increased there (at least in private) as part of the fallout from the clergy sex-abuse scandal. As Peter Steinfels and others point out, along with uncovering painful truths that needed airing, not a few journalists also were guilty of sensationalism, exaggeration, and sloppy reporting in their handling of this story. Viewing the crisis of the news media, some churchmen no doubt say, "Let them stew in their own juice."
That is not a helpful response. A series of documents published since 1989 by the Vatican's Council for Social Communications suggests a more useful approach—in particular, a greatly stepped-up effort by the Church to educate and form an audience for excellence in the reporting and interpretation of news.
Many Church documents commend the idea. Ethics in Communications, published in 2000 by the Council for Social Communications, remarks: "Professional communicators are not the only ones with ethical duties. Audiences—recipients—have obligations, too. Communicators attempting to meet their responsibilities deserve audiences conscientious about theirs" (25). The document goes on to insist that "today everybody needs . . . continuing media education" which, "more than just teaching about techniques . . . helps people form standards of good taste and truthful moral judgment, an.aspect of conscience formation" (25). Elsewhere in this and other Church documents there are statements about the need for media education in seminaries, in the continuing education of priests, and even in on-the-job training for bishops.
Up to now, however, much more has been said than done in the Church about media education. Generally speaking, the subject is treated as fluff or ignored entirely in Catholic schools and parishes. That is roughly equivalent to ignoring printed books a century after the invention of printing.
Usually, too, when people do speak about media education, they mean education in how to watch movies and television. Many diocesan newspapers and other Catholic periodicals meet this particular need—up to a point—by carrying film and TV reviews. But getting serious about media education requires a great deal more. It involves forming audiences as informed consumers of news. What do Catholics know about the history of the American news media? What do we know about how news is gathered, processed, and disseminated, and who the people are who do this work? Precious little, one suspects.
Partners in the Human Race
There are at least two main reasons for educating children and adults in media, including news media. The first is defensive: Educating people is a way of protecting them against exploitation and injury. This is an important purpose and, unfortunately, necessary today in the face of repeated abuses of their power on the part of some journalists.
The second reason is positive. In a society where market forces compel media to respond to what people want, the best way to influence the news media for the good is by forming intelligent, discerning audiences—readers, viewers, and listeners who expect, demand and—through the working of the market if in no other way—eventually will get excellent journalistic performance.
There is nothing coercive about this approach. Indeed, it complements the aspirations of conscientious news professionals themselves. Audiences that share thoughtful journalists' own view of what the news media can and should be are essential. The Church cannot resolve the economic and technological aspects of the crisis of American news media, but it can do something more important. Through its schools, parishes, and its own media, it can form discerning readers, listeners, and viewers of news who want and will support the best journalism in the new media as well as the old.
Back in 1971, the post-conciliar document on media Communio et Progressio set out a stirring vision in these words:
The modern media of social communication offer men of today a great round table. At this they are in search of, and able to participate in, a world-wide exchange of brotherhood and cooperation. It is not surprising that this should be so, for the media are at the disposal of all and are channels for that very dialogue which they themselves stimulate. The torrent of information and opinion pouring through these channels makes every man a partner in the business of the human race. This interchange creates the proper conditions for that mutual and sympathetic understanding which leads to universal progress. (19)
We could easily dismiss this view as an instance of the unrealistic optimism said to have plagued the Vatican II years. But even though the ideal proposed here can never be fully realized in our fallen world, the continued struggle to realize it is and will remain a high calling indeed.
Tips for the Informed News Consumer
How can you be an informed, responsible consumer of news media? Here are nine suggestions.
Get your news from more than one source, more than one medium, and more than one ideological perspective. If you think Fox News is great, be sure also to listen to NPR—and vice versa. Observing how different news organizations cover stories, including the same story, trains you to make comparisons, and making comparisons is essential to informed analysis of media performance.
Strictly limit your intake of talk radio, blogs, and TV interview shows whose hosts specialize in bullying and humiliating guests. These may be entertaining and occasionally informative, but they are not reliable sources of news.
Read serious books about the news business.
Acquire sound ethical standards for evaluating media.
Now and then invite journalists to speak to your parish adult education program or other group. Let them tell you how they cover the news. Ask questions. Engage them in dialogue.
Discuss the news media with others—family, neighbors, friends. Consider not only what is covered but how it is covered. Consider joining or forming a group for this purpose.
Read intelligent media criticism (if you can find it) in your daily newspaper and the magazines you get. This means more than skimming TV listings and Hollywood gossip. See how professional journalists themselves size up their trade.
Write well-reasoned, polite letters to editors and news directors. Commend them for good work. Offer constructive criticism when they fall short.
Above all, be selective about what you and your family read and watch and listen to. Skip media junk food. Concentrate on high-quality, meaty fare.
Resources for the Media-Savvy
Breaking the News by James Fallows (Pantheon)
Mediapolitik by Lee Edwards (Catholic University of America)
Public Opinion by Walter Lippmann (Free Press)
"Ethics in Communications" (Pontifical Council for Social Communications)
Also helpful are other documents of this Vatican agency as well as World Communication Day statements by the last several popes and Pope John Paul II's January 2005 apostolic letter The Rapid Development. All are available free on the Vatican's website.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


They strike quickly and efficiently, dressed in tuxedos. Maybe that's why they're called professionals.
In Wild Target, assassination is metaphor for working class, and though it isn't exactly satire, the movie mirrors other stories about the aging of men and the search for meaning amidst the mundane.
It's also a nifty take on the spy/killer movie with good bits of comedy, sentiment, and charm.
Victor Maynard (Bill Nighy) happens to be the most notorious assassin in circles familiar with the business. Described as average (average nose, average mustache), he's about to turn 55, the age his father was when Victor was born.
A sort of mother's boy, he now lives alone and leads a quiet life broken by spurts of quick and efficient violence. With an affinity for the finer things in life — he's overdressed for every occasion and spends his off-time reciting French lessons to himself — Victor comes across as polished and refined to the point where his personality and level of emotion have been bleached out. It's how he compartmentalizes his two lives.
When a con-artist pulls off a bait and switch, the bereaved party hires Victor to get rid of the her.
But the wall separating the two sides of Victor begins to crumble, bit by bit. As he stalks Rose (Emily Blunt) around an outdoor market, he really notices her. As she casually and deftly steals clothing, piece by piece, to fashion herself a nice outfit for the evening, Victor can't help but admire the girl for her ability, creativity, and ambition.
Victor decides to protect the girl, and they become fast friends, even if the friendships is based on false presumptions. She believes he's a private detective, and he plays along as long as he can knowing the truth could destroy the relationship.
It might sound a bit serious in summary, but the movie is rife with comedic moments delivered by expert actors who know the importance of timing. The dialogue is delivered so naturally in a way that isn't pretentious or forced — it's almost self-effacing. Nighy brings likability to his character, and Blunt instills a charm and innocence in the girl — her name is never mentioned — that isn't overwrought.
The inept and pure Tony (Rupert Grint) adds another chaotic element to the movie, forcing Victor to juggle all of the new friendships which start to act like wrecking balls on the neat, orderly, and colorless life he's become accustomed to. Everything spirals delightfully out of control, but it's for the better. In one scene, as the trio first arrive at their first safehouse in a hotel room, Victor puts a table on its side near a corner couch and claims his personal space.
It's at once tragic and quaint — we know it's only a matter of time before Victor embraces this newfound fellowship.


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text:
Who the bookies think will win World Championships 2018 in Innsbruck
It's the climbers' time to shine – but who will wear the rainbow bands next season?
Vincenzo Nibali at the 2018 Tour de France (Sunada)
(Image credit: Yuzuru SUNADA)
By Alex Ballinger published 18 September 18
As the World Championships in Innsbruck approach, the bookies are making their predictions about who will take home the rainbow bands.
This year, the climbers take centre stage after Slovakia's Peter Sagan claimed the world title three times in a row.
With riders tackling climbs of up to 25 per cent gradient, the bookies' favourites all go well up hill.
Top of the list is Spain's Alejandro Valverde, who was flying in the Vuelta a España until the final mountain stages.
The 38-year-old fell off the podium of his national Grand Tour, but picked up two stages wins and won the points classification.
Oddschecker has the Spaniard as 9/2 favourite.
Next on the list of likely winners is Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe, who has been in the form of his life this season.
The 26-year-old won two stages at this year's Tour de France as well as a stage and the overall at the 2018 Tour of Britain.
Alaphilippe is second favourite, with the 6/1 odds.
Other big names tipped for the win are Vincenzo Nibali (Italy, 16/1), Vuelta winner Simon Yates (Britain, 14/1) and Primož Roglič (Slovenia, 18/1).
In the elite men's time trial, reigning world champion Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) is the hot pick, with 3/4 odds.
The next favourite for the TT is Australia's Rohan Dennis, who notched up two emphatic solo victories at the Vuelta.
Bookies are giving Dennis 6/4 chance.
Riders also mentioned for the individual TT include Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) at 25/1, Germany' Tony Martin (28/1) and Gianni Moscon (Italy, 33/1).
At the time of writing, no odds for the women's races or team time trial were available. Odds may be subject to change.
Elite men's road race odds (winner – Oddschecker)
Alejandro Valverde (9/2)
Julian Alaphilippe (6/1)
Simon Yates (14/1)
Vincenzo Nibali (16/1)
Primož Roglič (18/1)
Michal Kwiatkowski (20/1)
Wout Poels (25/1)
Adam Yates (25/1)
Daniel Martin (40/1)
Elite Men's time trial (winner - Oddschecker)
Tom Dumoulin (3/4)
Rohan Dennis (6/4)
Vasil Kiryienka (25/1)
Tony Martin (28/1)
Gianni Moscon (33/1)
Maximilian Schachmann (33/1)
Stefan Kung (33/1)
Jonathan Castroviejo (33/1)
Nelson Oliveira (40/1)
Bob Jungels (50/1)
Sam Bennett aims to be 'master of chaos' in sprints as he returns to Bora-Hansgrohe
Irishman to target Milan-San Remo and then Tour de France as he looks to move on from troubled 2021
Tom Pidcock and Zoe Bäckstedt among British Cycling's cyclocross world championships contenders
Performance director looks to 'medal contenders across all categories' for some big results
Tom Dumoulin confirms he will ride for the overall at a Grand Tour in 2022
The former time trial world champion hasn't had a serious go at a Grand Tour since the 2018 Tour de France
By Tim Bonville-Ginn • Published 23 December 21
Road World Championships 2022 route announced: Australia races to suit puncheurs
The local loop takes in a brutally steep climb every lap to whittle down the field
Tom Dumoulin doesn't rule out Grand Tour return in 2022
Dutchman will decide on his season at the Jumbo-Visma training camp in mid-December
By Ryan Dabbs • Published 16 November 21
Alejandro Valverde confirms he will stay with Movistar for 2022
The Spaniard enters his 18th year with the Spanish-based team, which could be his last
By Ryan Dabbs • Published 3 November 21
Tadej Pogačar adds World Championships and Giro d'Italia to his wish list but is not done with the Tour de France
The Slovenian says he's still hungry to win at the Tour despite his dominance over the last year
By Tim Bonville-Ginn • Published 11 October 21
Jasper Stuyven has his say on Belgian storm after World Championships
'All of a sudden we're so stupid' says Stuyven after his fourth place in Leuven
By Tim Bonville-Ginn • Published 2 October 21
Tom Dumoulin to Team BikeExchange for 2022?
L'Equipe reports Giant bikes could be instrumental in taking Dutch star from Jumbo-Visma
By Richard Windsor • Published 29 September 21
'The girls who were still there can blame themselves': Annemiek van Vleuten critical of team-mates at World Championships
Demi Vollering was due to be a key rider for the sprint but didn't have the legs after multiple mechanicals
By Tim Bonville-Ginn • Published 28 September 21


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text:
Q: Powershell - Not able to pass remote session variable back to local system I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong here. Very new to powershell so be gentle... Trying to run a  PSSession on remote system (reading in from list of systems). Then trying to return the value for missing patches to my local system to then export to CSV. I am looking solely for a number to be returned. The value gets displayed in the Powershell window when inside the Invoke-command but then at the bottom of the script nothing is shown. Can anyone offer some advice how I can pass that value back to my system to then be able to export to a csv? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
$array1 = Get-Content "C:\Users\******\Desktop\Server_List.txt"
$ReportResults = New-Object System.Collections.Generic.List[System.Object]
$Searchresult = @()

#parse thru each machine name in
foreach ($MachineName in $array1)
{

Write-host $MachineName
$session = New-PSSession -ComputerName $MachineName

Invoke-Command -Session $session {
Param($ReportResults)

#Get All Assigned updates in $SearchResult
$UpdateSession = New-Object -ComObject Microsoft.Update.Session
$UpdateSearcher = $UpdateSession.CreateUpdateSearcher()
$SearchResult = $UpdateSearcher.Search("IsAssigned=1 and IsHidden=0 and
IsInstalled=0")

Write-Host "total=$($SearchResult.updates.count)"

$ReportResults.add($SearchResult)

} -ArgumentList $ReportResults

Remove-PSSession $session

}
$ReportResults # | export-csv C:\Users\******\Desktop\Compprogs\Test.csv -
Notypeinformation

A: You've to "mark" parameter as ref. See this link for further info.
Alternativelly you can return your desired value via Write-Output. Example:
 $returnValue = Invoke-Command -ScriptBlock {

     Write-Output "Hello World"
 }

 # $returnValue should include "Hello World"
 Write-Host $returnValue

Be aware that when you use Write-Ouput multiple times at Invoke-Command $returnValue will include ALL values wrote to the output steram via Write-Ouput.
Hope that helps

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Working at Parallel Wireless is not just a job, it's a mission where working on the end to end process of cellular networks is challenging as well as exciting for me. At Parallel Wireless work environment is free with flexible working hours and even allows work from home.
As a freshman, the company is providing good salary with stock options. Opportunity to learn from experts, as most of the employees in the company are skillful in their respective field with helping nature. In Parallel Wireless the work is on new technologies to let you grow technically, mentally and economically.


In A Vase On Monday ~ "Where My Rosemary Goes"
After this morning's somewhat disconcerting shock of discovering daffodils in flower on the other side of the stream bordering the garden, thoughts turned to this week's 'In A Vase On Monday'. Several hellebores are now in flower including helleborus 'Walberton's Rosemary', the large flowers of which turn a deeper pink with age. The flowers were specifically bred to look upwards and do to some extent.
The flower that I had to brace myself to cut is now floating in the base of a ceramic candle container. I bought this at a local craft fair many years ago. The whole caboodle usually comes out at this time of year, when it sits on the hearth from where it sends out a warm glow in the evenings. A few left over cranberries provided a splash of colour underneath the flower.
With a special thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting. Now to find out what everyone else is including in this the last vase of the year.
Some welcome bright sunny weather kick-started the day, so we took a stroll along the canal towpath in the direction of town to pick up last minutes essentials. Just off the busy high street and in the shelter of an old brick wall is a small grassy area of land, which is maintained by a community arts project. Recently a seasonal makeover has taken place, which provides a most welcome splash of colour and a bit of Christmas magic to please all generations.
Here's wishing all my lovely blogging friends a most Merry Christmas!
This week's vase for 'A Vase On Monday' is a small posy of chrysanthemum 'Anastasia Green', which has finally flowered after much, much waiting or so it seems. It is one of a collection of five varieties of rooted chrysanthemum cuttings which I bought earlier this year from 'Sarah Raven'.
'Anastasia Green' is a half hardy perennial which is recommended as being a good chrysanthemum to grow in a sunny porch, conservatory or in a greenhouse. I wish I had access to the first two but don't, so my plants have been lurking in the greenhouse for some time in anticipation of the frosts that we've not had as yet. They are straggly and gangly creatures which are getting in the way. I could forgive them if they were more floriferous but they have not produced much in the way of flower.
Growing chrysanthemums is a first for me and I think that I need to do more research into both varieties and cultivation. Just round the corner from here is a garden which has a fabulous pink variety in numbers in the borders growing at the base of a short wall. They flower their socks off each autumn and are obviously happy and hardy. Maybe one day I might come across the gardener of the household to ask its name. I also think that I didn't perhaps give my plants enough tlc or sunshine. The allotment would probably be a more suitable home. I would like to try again as their late autumn flowering is a huge plus, so it's back to the drawing board over the winter. Any recommendations would be most welcome especially hardy varieties.
In case you are wondering the garlic jar has absolutely no relevance - it just happened to be there. The little vase is one of a cheap collection of four decorated differently coloured vases that came from Lidl. It's ideal for just holding a few flowers.
Thanks as always to the lovely Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for hosting a weekly get together of vases from all over. I'm looking forward to seeing what other flowers are playing starring roles today on this last day of autumn (in the northern hemisphere).
Wordless Wednesday ~ 700,000 Lego Bricks & Counting!
"We are into December, Mid -winter-monath in old Saxon, and what a difficult time it is to fill even a few vases in the garden" ~ from "The Illustrated Garden Book' by Vita Sackville-West.
This is a most generous tree as it produces a second flush of flowers in the spring. It's the autumn blooms that are most precious and the show this year seems particularly floriferous probably because of the mild autumn we've experienced.
This afternoon I've got to concentrate on wrapping up and prettifying the seasonal pot pourri I mentioned in my last post, as I'm meeting with the recipients tomorrow. However I'm looking forward to sitting down this evening to do some virtual vase visiting. Thanks to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' as always for being such a brilliant hostess.
A production line has been in operation in the kitchen this week putting together some gifts of Christmas potpourri. It was quite relaxing sitting there making this concoction - all that was missing was some suitable music and a glass of sherry.
My potpourri mix started with the pine cones, which were picked from the campsite in Normandy where we stayed this summer. To them I've added dried orange slices, some star anise, cinnamon sticks, cinnamon rough sticks and nutmeg. The resulting scent is most subtle and soothing. Other ingredients can be added as you go along e.g. dried cranberries or rose hips for a dash of red, bay leaves for a hint of green, dried flowers etc.
It's possible to dry the oranges yourself which is what I originally intended to do, but I conveniently came across a boxed set of them in a well known German supermarket, along with boxed sets of the cinnamon products. If this stroke of serendipity had not transpired, I would have purchased most of the ingredients online from a company specialising in florist supplies. This is much cheaper than buying the small jars of spices that you come across in supermarkets. The star anise however was purchased as a small jar, simply because I wanted to see that it had not been broken in transit which is what sometimes happens.
The next step will be to bag the ingredients in some snowflake adorned cellophane bags and tie them up with some pretty string or ribbon. I will also be dotting one or two bowls of this mix about the house. As I suffer from asthma I have to be careful when it comes to introducing any scented product in the house. I'm sure that there is nothing in this concoction that will bring about the dreaded wheezing.
Should the potpourri become jaded as we all do at some point over the festive season it can be revived with a drop or two of essential oil e.g. orange, cinnamon etc.
Are you still busy making any festive gifts or is all the present preparation already done and dusted?
"All the kitchens along Brambly Hedge were warm and busy. Hot soups, punches and puddings bubbled and in the ovens pies brown and sizzled. Clover and Catkin helped Mrs Apple string crabapples to roast over the fire. The boys had to sit and watch because they ate too many.
"It's not that I mind, dears, but we must have SOME left for the punch!" "
Does anybody else grow 'Red Sentinel' and if so what is your experience? I'm not sure whether the berries have been purloined by creatures or whether the ferocious gales we've had of late have stripped them off the branches. Another of those garden related mysteries which I will no doubt ponder over for some time to come probably never to reach a clearcut conclusion.
It seemed as if the frost would never come. Late November, and there are still lush mounds of bright green nasturtium leaves, around the feet of the yew cones in the plates-bandes - the trailing sorts, spilling out in their exuberance over the little box hedges, which are themselves sprouting soft new growth after the August clip which should have seen them safely into winter.
Pots of violet-blue streptocarpus which should by now be over-wintering on the bathroom window-sill are still lining the steps up to the back door. There are white geraniums and raspberries still. Roses too of course - Portlands and Chinas, moschatas and noisettes - even a solitary pink bloom on the blue steel foliage of 'Queen Of Denmark'. And all the tender evergreens are still outside : a single precious ball of phillyrea, three pyramids of myrtle, and fifteen big standards of Seville oranges which will take two of us to shift when the time comes. In a normal year they would already be tucked in the house.
And tonight there's a cold rising wind from the north. As darkness falls I can smell the cold. On the six o'clock news there are pictures of snow in Scotland and on the east coast. It's too late to move things now. I go back out again to swathe the orange trees in fleece, drag the myrtles and phillyrea into shelter, move the geraniums and streptocarpus closer to the walls of the house. The wind whips the fleece out of my hands, unravelling. I go back in to fetch string and scissors and a flashlight. By the time I finish, the cold is pinching my nostrils and striking up through the soles of my canvas shoes.
In our house we call the 'homework on the bus' syndrome. It's always the same : however much time I have, I always seem to be behind it".
~ extract from 'The Morville Year' by Katherine Swift.
Illustration of 'Blowing Leaves' by Arthur Rackham.
Was it just me or was anyone else dashing around yesterday to get all those sensitive plants under cover before that first frost descended?
Coming out of my cold frame for some exercise especially for GBBD is saxifraga cortusifolia 'Silver Velvet'. This was a purchase from a plant fair held at Abbeywood Gardens in Cheshire this August. It should have course been planted by now but I think that it may well now reside in the cold frame overwinter. Although the dark foliage is what initially caught my attention its delicate starry late autumn flowers have been its selling point over the last couple of months. It is admittedly going over now but I was not around in October much to take photos.
There was little information on the plant label when I bought it so a delve into Google pointed me in the direction of a post on the very same plant from Helen over at 'The Patient Gardener'. Here you can see the plant in more close up detail. Getting a decent photograph has been a struggle with the poor light and blustery wind that have been assailing this neck of the woods. Helen kindly provided me with some more information about 'Silver Velvet' reassuring me about its hardiness. Like Helen I'm debating about where and what to plant it with but am presently leaning towards planting it in the company of some ferny goodness. Being a woodland plant it prefers some shade but not dry shade.
A special thanks to Carol over May Dreams Gardens, who so generously provides us with a monthly platform to share the flowers and foliage that are giving us pleasure, as well as a brilliant opportunity to add to our wish lists! Now where's my notebook and pen?
In A Vase On Monday ~ Gourdness Gracious Me!
Can it really be two years since Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' made her first 'In A Vase on Monday' post? Well it well and truly is so time to join in the celebrations today! I must admit that I was slow to get off the ground with participating in this meme. My first vase did not materialise until April 2014 - during that year my sum total of vases was a miserly eight. However this post will be number nineteen to date this year so I'm obviously getting the bug along with many other bloggers.
I had never really been in the habit of picking flowers to bring into the house to enjoy at close quarters. I may have bought in the odd small posy of snowdrops in the depths of winter and have regularly picked bunches of sweet peas from the allotment, but that was the extent of my vases, unless I treated myself to a shop bought bouquet or was treated to one. Now I'm really beginning to anticipate what I might be able to pick for a vase and to enjoy putting them together.
I've also recently realised that I do have a cutting garden although the penny has been very slow to drop. I've always had a couple of beds at the allotment which I use for growing flowers and herbs but have never thought of them as a cutting garden as such. I'm considering expanding these beds next year. Not only will it give me the chance to grow some old favourites but also plants that I've not grown before. I already have a long list of flowers/foliage that have caught my eye as I've admired other vases. Most of these will be annuals.
Considering that it's a party today the weather gods are not behaving today chucking down rain and blowing wind which is most inconsiderate of them. So my vase plans have had to change accordingly. I've gathered together a number of gourds which came back with us from our recent holiday. Yes we tend to bring odd souvenirs back with us from our travels. I used to be able to buy gourds to ring in the seasonal changes from our local Country Market but sadly this closed during the summer. I shall definitely be buying gourd seeds to sow next spring. The pumpkins are 'Wee Be Little' which I grew at the allotment this year and which will be eaten in due course. Although on the small side they are most tasty and keep well. The gourds are sitting on a special plate made and given to us as a wedding gift by one of my aunts. The candle needs no explanation. It's contained in a glass jar hand decorated by either my mother or sister. I can't remember which so further investigations are called for. There is a dragonfly on the other side. I shall be removing this arrangement to the living room later, where I will be lighting the candle for a warming glow in the long November evenings to come.
Leaping into this week's 'In A Vase On Monday' and supplying the post title are the the three 'John Riley' chrysanthemums from last week's vase. Will they still be going strong next Monday? They have been joined by a couple of stalwarts which have featured in previous vases, namely mathiasella bupleuroides 'Green Dream' and dianthus barbatus 'Green Trick'. Both of these plants are now at the tail end of flower production days for this year and the flowers that I picked are perhaps a little past their sell buy date. I was reluctant to pick the mathiasella until I saw signs of new emerging flowers on the plant. I have just checked and it featured in a vase on 8th June this year. This plant has been in flower on and off since May so certainly works hard for a living. It took a good two or three years to establish but has flourished since. Moreover it seems untroubled by pests/disease - sssshhhhhh - dare I say that out aloud? My only complaint is that I always have to check its spelling and the fact that it's a mouthful to get my tongue round. The dianthus occupies space at the allotment and featured in vases in July and August. Although this week's vase is perhaps my favourite of the three, looking at and comparing the respective vases has made me realise what a versatile character 'Green Trick' is. I intended to take cuttings but smack wrists haven't done so. They are described as short lived perennials so I really hope that the plants come through the winter.
The red twiggy bits are from an overgrown cornus (variety unknown) which is in need of a good prune. The foliage is from one of my favourite plants - brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'. I'm not sure how long the leaves will last in water so will be observing closely.
I've no idea where the vase came from or how long I've had it. There's not even a single clue on its base to suggest its origins. It's a most useful vessel though.
Thanks as always to Cathy over at 'Rambling In The Garden' for being such a gracious hostess every Monday.
October is coming to an end with snowdrops and sweet peas. The snowdrop in question is one of my specials 'Galanthus plicatus 'Three Ships' - well I that's what the label purports. If the identity is correct it's certainly sailing in well ahead of time. From what I've read about it although an autumn flowering snowdrop, it's more of a late November/ December bloomer than a late October star. I will have to get out my snowdrop tomes and do some serious research. This week on the sweet pea front I've picked what will probably be the last vase worth of the year from the allotment. I thought that I might have picked the last bunch just before we went off on holiday in the last week of September but returned to find that the plants have got a second wind. I will do a separate post on this year's sweet peas soon. I was thinking of missing out on autumn sowing again this year but had a change of heart so a batch of 'Cupani' have just gone in. I'm trying a late October sowing rather than an early one to see if this will produce less leggy plants by the time they are ready for planting out.
I must admit that I have been very much in the doldrums recently when it comes to both garden and allotment which I think explains why I've not participated in the EOMV for some time. In fact I've just checked and June was my last contribution! Lack of time has been a real issue this year which may be hard to understand as I'm no longer working. In theory I should have all the time in the world but in practise it's not working out like that at the moment. I was hoping for a bit of catch up and to do some planting when we returned from holiday earlier this month. However I had more or less no sooner unpacked when I had to unexpectedly down tools to go and care for a poorly mother. So October has gone by in a blink. It doesn't help that October has been a most benign and gardener friendly month.
I had been feeling decidedly peeved at missed gardening opportunities but I'm trying to be positive and think ahead to next year now! I have bulbs to plant (too many as usual), have just ordered a new shrub promising dazzling autumnal colour and am considering one or two perennial purchases for spring delivery. I've also cheered up every time I go out in the garden at the moment by the new crab apple that we planted back in February 2014. Malus x robusta 'Red Sentinel' has produced its first ever fruits which are an absolute delight. The books say they quite often last until the new year and so far there seems to be little in the way of damage from the elements or theft from the feathered population.
Thanks as always to the lovely Helen over at 'The Patient Gardener's Weblog' for hosting this most useful and informative monthly meme.
Taking centre stage this week is the second of my chrysanthemum collection to flower. I know that Cathy, our intrepid 'In A Vase on Monday' hostess also bought the same collection of rooted chrysanthemum cuttings from Sarah Raven as I did earlier in the year. So I've been wondering how her plants are faring of late. Any blooms yet Cathy? We are both keen to see the acid green 'Froggy' leap into action.
This particular chrysanthemum goes by the name of 'John Riley' and it's a tender perennial. The flowers took me by complete surprise returning home on Friday after an unexpected absence of a good few days. The vase has been lurking on a hall window sill for some considerable time but has never been used for flowers before. It's an Emma Bridgewater Pink Hearts Milk Bottle Vase and was purchased a few years ago via eBay.
The neck of the vase is on the small side but three flowers slipped in nicely. Now I will wait with bated breath to see if the flowers live up to the information that they will look good in a vase for up to three weeks. The rest of the collection has still to flower but there are buds and tantalising hints of colour so fingers crossed for a late autumn show.
After an absence from the garden catching up with my chosen tree and its neighbour was much anticipated on my return. We arrived back home in darkness so it wasn't until the next morning that I hurtled out to see my trees with visions of finding some ripe pears dangling from the branches. I had given up any hope of eating fruit from the 'Doyenne du Comice' tree this year but was looking forward to munching pears from its neighbour a few feet away. Back in September there were nine healthy looking tantalising fruits dangling from its branches. Well what was waiting for me? Not a single solitary pear was left on the tree and no traces of cores or pips in the vicinity! Oh what disappointment and yet another year to wait before I eat one of my own pears. This waiting for my first homegrown pear is in danger of becoming a saga that may yet outlive me.
I must admit that in the flurry of activity that seems accompany holiday preparations, I may have not paid close heed to them in the week or so before we left but they were definitely still on the tree when we left. I understand that the weather was mainly dry, sunny and warm whilst we were away. However there was one wet and windy day, which may explain the rather large broken tree branch I found on the ground nearby. This was from a tree growing on the boundary of the garden not so far from the pears. My theory is that the fruits had probably ripened in this golden spell of autumn weather, only to be shaken off on that one wild day and snaffled up by one of the many passing grey squirrels which haunt the garden. Oh yes I can imagine that the flavour combo with horse chestnut conkers would be quite delicious.
Well the wait goes on. My chosen tree is now looking rather sorry for itself as you can see from the top photo being already almost completely undressed. I'm sure that it did not look so weary last October. In comparison its pear tree neighbour is still wearing mainly green. Back in September our hostess Lucy commented that she would like a closer peek at the rust affecting some of the leaves. In response to this I took a couple of photos. I will add these as a postscript to September's post but have also included them here. If you have a pear tree and see orange spots like this take action and remove the affected leaves. I was slightly consoled by a comment from Brian over at Our Garden@19, who said that his pear tree was affected by rust for the first time this year. Maybe it's just not been the year of the pear.
Thanks as always to Lucy over 'Loose And Leafy' who hosts this meme where tree followers and their trees gather from all over the show gather every month for an update.
There has been quite a major change on the home front here when himself retired at the end of May. One of his long held wishes was to go on a rail holiday in Europe to celebrate and that's what we have just done. Starting off in Amsterdam we then travelled on to Berlin, Prague, Bratislava (a last minute destination instead of Budapest), Vienna and finally Frankfurt before arriving back home on Saturday evening.
We have some absolutely fabulous memories including seeing the finishing stages of the Berlin Marathon as the runners came through the Brandenburg Gate, walking around the enchanting city of Prague, and in Vienna visiting the jaw- dropping formal gardens at the Schönbrunn Palace as well as watching the Lipizzaner horses train at the Spanish School of Riding.
However we've taken away some most poignant and sobering memories too of groups of refugees gathered on the concourse of the main railway station at Vienna. Their numbers included some family groups but what was particularly noticeable were the significant numbers of apparently single young men, most of whom were travelling with very little in the way of possessions. On our departure from Vienna for Frankfurt on Friday morning, several of their numbers were waiting for the same train as us and we were asked several times for confirmation of the train's destination.The journey started but for many of them ended prematurely at Passau on the German border. Here a number of police officers walked through the train to check whether they had visas to enter Germany, explaining that without these they could proceed no further. The outcome of this was that a number of refugees had to leave the train. We're sure what happened next - our last sight of our fellow passengers was as they were shepherded into an queue on the platform. The experience certainly put any small worries I have into perspective and reminded us of just how fortunate we are.
On a lighter note although we only visited one garden as such during the trip, I had to make several compulsory pit stops to gaze at gawp at the displays outside florist' shops. My 'vase' this week is one that caught my eye in Bratislava. In the pumpkin were asters, a dahlia, a sunflower, various hips and berries, richly coloured leaves, a couple of ears of sweet corn, hedgehogy cases spilling out sweet chestnuts, crab apples as well as what looked liked sprigs of herby goodness. Being a rather clumsy I dare not risk getting close up to peek to see how the contents were secured in case I disturbed the rest of the display. I did not have the energy yesterday or have had time today to come up with my own vase and take photos but thought that this is one that is calling out to be shared. With thanks as always to Cathy over at 'Rambling Over The Garden' who came up with the brilliant concept of 'A Vase On Monday'. Do call in and wonder over vases from near and far.


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Serbia + 1 more
Launch of a two-volume document entitled:"Kosovo -- A Decade of Unheeded Warnings"
EUR 70/56/99
Copyright notice: The copyright for this document rests with Amnesty International. You may download and read it. You may not alter this information, repost or sell it without permission. If you use this document, you are encouraged to make a donation to Amnesty International to support future research. Here you can find the address of your nearest AI office
News Service 088/99
AI INDEX: EUR 70/56/99
Launch of a two-volume document entitled: "Kosovo -- A Decade of Unheeded Warnings"
On Wednesday 12 May, Amnesty International's Secretary General Pierre Sané will launch a two-volume report that documents a decade of evidence about the torture and ill-treatment, "disappearances" and killings in Kosovo. Many of the case studies preceded the events of March 1999, when military intervention began by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The 30-documents report will be presented at a press conference at 1700 (local time) in The Netherlands Congress Centre, Commission Room 5 (next to the plenary discussion room) Churchillplein 10, The Hague, during the Hague Appeal for Peace Conference, which is being held from 11 to 15 May, 1999 in The Hague, The Netherlands
In reaction to the recent G-8 Summit statement of principles for peace in Kosovo, Secretary General Pierre Sané will protest the lack of any mention of bringing human rights perpetrators to justice or giving any role to the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, headquartered at The Hague.
"In agreeing and implementing any form of peace settlement, will the kind of human rights guarantees that could prevent a repetition of this tragic history be insisted upon?"Pierre Sané asks. "Will the regional and local human rights and democracy NGOs -- and other civil society actors whose voice and vision has too often been ignored in the past -- be guaranteed a seat at the negotiating table?"
Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom
Serbia + 13 more
UNHCR Serbia Update, December 2021
UNHCR Serbia Snapshot - December 2021
Between closed borders 2020-21: Joint agency paper on refugees and migrants in Serbia 2020 and 2021
United Nations working to protect peacekeeping mission staff member declared 'persona non grata' by Kosovo authorities, Secretary-General says
UN SG


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Q: Save as a image which is on android screen I want to save as an image which is on android mobile screen at 10 sec time interval. Which may be home screen or menu screen or any thing. Can anybody tell me how i can achieve this?
I got success for my own application but its not capturing menu screen as an image.

A: Unfortunately, on most devices it's not possible to get the snapshot of the device outside your application. This, obviously, for security reasons.
This could be achieved accessing the frame buffer at /dev/graphics/fb0, but normally you don't have the permissions to read that.

A: You need to have a root access to achieve this. Write a background service and execute "/system/bin/screencap" to get the screenshot. Check this answer to find out how to get screenshot and store in sdcard.
Alternatively you can use Android Screenshot library to get screenshots on a non-rooted phones but it requires your phone to be connected to your desktop using ADB.


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Q: IntersectObjects - THREE.Line - Three.js I have a THREE.Line object that is used to orchestrate a custom grid.  Now the problem I am having is when using a raycast to intersectObjects when the users mouse might goes over this grid, the intercept only succeeds if the users mouse goes "directly" over any of the grid lines.
Please see the attached photo:

So ultimately what I am am trying to accomplish is, how can the fill in the space between the lines with an "invisible" face or even shape so that when the users mouse goes over this grid, I can trigger an action. Here is currently what I am doing:
var response = this.buildGridGeometry(modelStep,modelSize,gridtype);
var geometry = response['geometry'];
geometry.computeBoundingBox();
// #  Setup the material
var material = new THREE.LineBasicMaterial( { color: 0x000000, opacity: 0.2 } );
// #  Draw each individual line
var line = new THREE.Line( geometry, material, THREE.LinePieces );

Any suggestions?

A: The easiest solution would be to create a custom Geometry with the same shape as the grid, then make it's initial position, rotation and scale match with the grid (if it isn't already). After that you can add the custom Geometry as a child to the grid so that it moves correspondingly. Last step is to make the custom Geometry mesh invisible by setting its property .visible = false;.
Now you just need to use the raycasters intersectsObject() on the custom Geometry mesh instead, and when it does intersect, you know that the grid is intersected aswell.


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The Shareholder ForumTM
Electronic Participation in Shareholder Meetings
Forum Home Page [see Broadridge note below]
SEC Support of New
Communication Processes
"E-Meetings" Home Page
"E-Meetings" Program Reference
For a copy of the Forum letter to the SEC reported in the article below, and for links to the referenced Broadridge statements and other source material, see:
December 20, 2010 Forum Report: Response to Proposed SEC Rule Requiring "Forum" Communications
Note: Broadridge was one of the companies that provided invited leadership support of the Shareholder Forum's public interest program to develop standards for electronic communications relating to shareholder meetings.
Securities Technology Monitor, December 23, 2010 article
SEC Shouldn't Mandate Social Media: The Shareholder Forum
Chris Kentouris
Should the Securities and Exchange Commission require U.S. corporations to use social media technology to communicate with their shareholders?
Broadridge Financial Solutions, the proxy distribution and technology giant, might think so but an organization claiming to educate corporations and institutional investors says it shouldn't.
"The eleven year experience of The Shareholder Forum (the organization) supports many of Broadridge's views about the benefits of such communication processes, but does not support their view of a need for new regulations," writes Gary Lutin, chairman of the Shareholder Forum in a letter to the SEC dated Dec.17. "The current regulations should therefore be considered clearly satisfactory for purposes of allowing both corporate and investor participants to fully engage in the legitimate exchanges of information for which our Shareholder Forum programs – and forum-type communications conducted by anyone else – are intended."
Lutin says the Shareholder Forum has been offering "forum-type" communications since 1999 when it was a project of the New York Society of Security Analysts. No longer affiliated with the NYSSA, the Shareholder Forum's programs "provide fair access to the information needed for investor decisions about capital commitments and proxy voting, as well as for decisions about public policy," he says.
Lutin's letter is one of several dozen received by the U.S. regulator in response to its request for comments on reform of the proxy "plumbing."
Broadridge officials were unavailable for immediate comment late Thursday afternoon.
In his letter to the SEC, Lutin cites an article appearing in Securities Technology Monitor on Dec. 8 which summarized a speech presented by Richard Daly, Broadridge's chief executive at a conference held by Hofstra University's Frank Zarb School of Business on December 1.
"Some believe we can wait and see," said Daly in his speech which was distributed by Broadridge Financial. "They believe these developments, if they have merit, will take hold by themselves. But the truth is that changing the paradigm rapidly for all investors will require regulatory support."
Citing statistics that retail voting declined from 20% four years ago to less than 5% in 2010, Daly also said, "Reduced participation in key governance issues is coming at a time when the need for two-way communication with shareholders is dramatically increasing."
According to Daly, the technology underpinning social media can provide knowledge transfer, voting participation opportunities, and transparency between shareholders, boards, management, and regulators at levels that could prevent many of the financial mishaps over the past decade. "A true Investor social network could both prevent these mishaps and raise investor confidence," he said in his speech.
In October 2008, Broadridge developed its own Investor Network after the SEC adopted new rules under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to "facilitate the use of electronic shareholder forums by public companies and their shareholders. Broadridge defines its service as an "online community where investors and corporations come together to share information, ideas and perspectives."
©2010 Securities Technology Monitor and SourceMedia, Inc.
This Forum program is open, free of charge, to anyone concerned with investor interests in the development of standards for conducting shareholder meetings with electronic participation. As stated in the posted Conditions of Participation, the Forum's purpose is to provide decision-makers with access to information and a free exchange of views on the issues presented in the program's Forum Summary. Each participant is expected to make independent use of information obtained through the Forum, subject to the privacy rights of other participants. It is a Forum rule that participants will not be identified or quoted without their explicit permission.
The organization of this Forum program was encouraged by Walden Asset Management, and is proceeding with the invited leadership support of Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. and Intel Corporation to address issues relevant to broad public interests in marketplace practices, rather than investor decisions relating to only a single company. The Forum may therefore invite program support of several companies that can provide both expertise and examples of leadership relating to the issues being addressed.
Inquiries about this Forum program and requests to be included in its distribution list may be addressed to e-mtg@shareholderforum.com.
The information provided to Forum participants is intended for their private reference, and permission has not been granted for the republishing of any copyrighted material. The material presented on this web site is the responsibility of Gary Lutin, as chairman of the Shareholder Forum.
Shareholder Forum™ is a trademark owned by The Shareholder Forum, Inc., for the programs conducted since 1999 to support investor access to decision-making information. It should be noted that we have no responsibility for the services that Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., introduced for review in the Forum's 2010 "E-Meetings" program and has since been offering with the "Shareholder Forum" name, and we have asked Broadridge to use a different name that does not suggest our support or endorsement.


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Wine List Snobbism: Real or Made Up by "Old Guys"?
Charles Olken
Extra Features, Features
Davis Bynum Jane's Vineyard Pinot Noir
The Grapes of What?
Michelle Locke
Columns, Wine Spotlight
Sicily's wine revolution and the challenge of marketing unfamiliar grapes
I'm sitting in a Sicilian fish restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean, a glass of white wine in my hand that pairs perfectly with a plate of seafood yanked out of the water just hours ago.
Clean, crisp and versatile, the wine made from the regional grape grillo is the sort of thing you might expect to go over big in a U.S. market that has embraced Sauvignon Blanc and Pinot Grigio. But in fact I've never seen it on a restaurant wine list or found it lurking in the "other wines" section.
Turns out unfamiliar grapes face a pronounced difficulty making a name for themselves in a market dominated by "international" varieties like Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon.
"If you put it on a wine list or you put it on a by-the-glass list, nobody knows what it is," explains Alberto Lusini, COO of Prestige Wine Imports, which imports Stemmari wines, my host on a recent trip to the region.
The big story in Sicilian wines is the rise in quality. Once viewed as primarily a source of cheap, overcropped grapes that went into indifferent bulk wine there's been a concerted effort in recent years to reduce yields and raise winemaking techniques. These days, this autonomous region of Italy is producing elegant reds and interesting whites proudly labeled under Sicilian appellations. Along with the rise in quality there has been renewed attention to regional grapes which add a unique flair to the island's portfolio of wines.
Now, the task is to persuade consumers to try them.
Take Grillo (gree-lo), one of the white grapes used to make Marsala, Sicily's famous fortified dessert wine. Grillo means "cricket," in Italian; according to Stemmari winemaker Lucio Matricardi crickets used to shelter under the bush canopy of the vines – the old-school cultivation style. Another possible etymological derivation is the way the taste "jumps in your mouth," he says. In the past, the grape was produced in the poorest way and, in Matricardi's colorful analogy, was "like a dog that has been beaten." But grown at lower yields and with an emphasis on quality the grape can produce crisp, dry whites.
Stemmari introduced Grillo in the United States some years ago and while it did well in tastings it didn't catch fire in the market. So, the company regrouped and in August is releasing a Spumante-style Grillo called Baci Vivaci, Italian for "lively kisses."
Stemmari winemaker Lucio Matricardi expounds on the rise of Sicilian wine quality.
Another solution is to marry local and international varieties in an effort to bring out the best of both worlds. The 2012 Dalila, an 80-20 blend of Grillo and Viognier, gets the famous floral aromas of the latter mixed with the fruit and citrusy zing of the Grillo for a fresh, lively white.
On the red grape side, Sicily's star is Nero d'Avola, (neh-row-DAH-veh-lah), which means "black grape of Avola," Avola being the Sicilian town where it was identified. In the past, Nero d'Avola primarily was shipped to France to add weight and color to lighter red wines, winning the nickname le vin medicine for its curative properties. At its best an intense, elegant wine that can be sipped alone or paired with food, Nero d'Avola is becoming better known in the U.S. market, although it hasn't yet reached breakout status.
Stemmari sells a 100 percent Nero d'Avola in the United States and also has a blend, Cantadoro, which mixes Nero d'Avola and Cabernet Sauvignon (also 80-20), and Hedonis, a 70-30 blend of Nero d'Avola and Syrah.
Sicily isn't the only source of obscure varietals. Hungary has Furmint, the white variety that goes into the country's famous Tokaji dessert wine but is also being turned into dry whites these days. And the Greeks have a long list of tongue-twisting varietals, including Agiorgitiko, ah-yor-YEE-ti-ko, a grape that produces red wines as well as dry rosés.
As Shakespeare might have put it, a rosé by any other name would smell as sweet. But it probably takes some serious effort to sell as sweetly.
grillomichelle lockeNero d'Avolaobscure varietiesSicily
Do Lower Yields Mean Higher Quality?
Malbec comeback: A Cahors producer looks to the past for innovation
Michelle Locke is a San Francisco Bay Area-based freelance writer who writes about food, drink and travel for national newspapers and magazines. She blogs at www.michellelocke.com and tweets at @Locke_Michelle.
Out of obscurity and ready for your next BBQ: Friuli's Schioppettino
Elisabetta Tosi
What We're Drinking – 2014 Anthìlia Sicilia DOC Bianco
Grape, the obscure « Artisan Family of Wines August 11, 2014
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