text:
Q: will non-trainable layer participate in backpropagation of other layers? In the below neural network, the 2nd layer is non trainable. when calculating gradient for the 1st layer, however, will the 2nd layer participate in?
In short, when a layer is set to non-trainable, will it affect the gradient descent of other layers?
Model: "sequential_2"
_________________________________________________________________
 Layer (type)                Output Shape              Param #
=================================================================
 dense_2 (Dense)             (None, 256)               200960

 my_pca_2 (my_pca)           (None, 10)                2570

=================================================================
Total params: 203,530
Trainable params: 200,960
Non-trainable params: 2,570
_________________________________________________________________

A: The second layer in the neural network is set to non-trainable. This only means that the weights in that layer will not be updated during the training process.
However, when calculating the gradient for the first layer, the second layer will still participate. This is because in the process of calculating the gradient the outputs of the second layer are used as inputs to the first layer, and therefore have an effect on the gradients calculated for the first layer. In other words, the non-trainable status of a layer only affects its own weight updates, but not its impact on the gradients of other layers.
It is the essense of backpropagation using the chain rule that states how you even calculate the gradients of each layer. There is no way a layer could not effect the gradients of its predecessor layer.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Mauritius has miles of sugar cane fields. It has vanilla and pineapples and lychees. It had the dodo bird, its national symbol until that was hunted to extinction in the 17th century.
And it has Rum. In fact, Mauritius recently became one of the few places in the World to produce two types of Rum, both molasses, and Agricole.
Until 2006 there was a prohibition on the production of Agricole – Rum made from sugar cane juice – as the island was so heavily reliant on its sugar-refining industry.
But with the lifting of that ban came a minor explosion of the product and Mauritius is now setting out its stall as a global provider of Rum. Among them is Gold of Mauritius Rum and the craft team behind it, led by Frederic Bestel.
What does Gold of Mauritius taste like?
The Flavor Spiral™ shows the most common flavours that you'll taste in Gold of Mauritius rum and gives you a chance to have a taste of it before actually tasting it.


when they do often they are going to find wonderful meaning in the photo they take.
shoot a topic. Digital digital photography is just one brand new means of having a.
picture. There are actually numerous conveniences for dealing with digital.
skin. The face is essential to the viewpoint you are going to shoot off. This.
is a cliché, that holds true some people possess a far better side. This could be in.
Eye is bigger compared to my right through only a little bit, and also appearing head on into the.
electronic camera will definitely result in an awful portrait, nevertheless if the freelance photographer.
stems from the correct side as well as viewpoints up a little bit of the lighting and shadows.
will certainly help level the functions while always keeping the differences that make.
close-up, a middle selection and also a vast angle. The Angel is actually crucial as.
effectively. If you make use of the incorrect standpoint you may simply undo the most effective.
. Don't forget, your photo needs to show specifically just what is actually shown prior to you.
Lighting fixtures is the upcoming vital measure to picture digital photography. A whole lot from.
digital photographers favor pure lighting to artificial. Your subject matter will definitely in part.
determine this for you. Remember you will utilize the light you have. Natural.
light will certainly commonly need establishing the aperture to compensate for the.
electronic cameras do not have of definition. In shorts you must generate the.
contrast along with the light and shadows for the effect you prefer. Typically.
artificial light is actually extreme as well as not directed correctly unless in a center.
Once more you will certainly should utilize the hands-on environments on your video camera to.
Definitely, the trick to any kind of photograph is to capture the personality and also.
Uniform for a quite necessary photo to the loved ones since the child.
had actually attained the Eagle ranking, which is actually a high honor. I understood this little one.
possessed tons of character so I desired the "professional" shot yet I desired this.
little one's center in this as well. I shared him I will be breaking a few gos to.
test my shutter and also I acquired him referring to kid scouts as well as backpacking. As.
outdoor camping, that smile showed up and boom, I possessed my try. That hangs in my.
When going over light, the experience is actually likewise vital. In a workshop a.
digital photographer will certainly choose a background that will definitely not wash your features out.
you as well as the experience. This is additionally important from house image.
subject as opposed to taking this away. Locating a great area with a plant to sit.
on and hills in the background may be a terrific image, however you will.
wish to create certain the history is certainly not too occupied to distract coming from the.
topic. Make the subject appear apart from the image instead of outside.
This holds true that the mechanical skill-set that the individual at Wal-Mart might need to have to.
might need. The opposition does not conduct up given that the same.
human language is used to generate excellent poetry as this takes yell out.
Yet certainly not minimum. If your equipment, pictures may be ruined quickly.
is not in excellent condition. Be sure that your lense is tidy at all times from.
dirt. No smutches etc. I recognize this appears to become an issue that must not.
also have to be actually mentioned, yet frequently this is the small factors our company forget.
tiny seemingly mute aspects that are frequently disregarded.
Is this merely an issue of point of view? Somewhat, yes. However there is actually an.
specifications whereupon craft is actually determined. One such standard is the intent of.
the artist. The audience is actually if you create a photo or even a fine art business stemmed from a.
picture that is aimed to become seen as craft.
obliged to aim to view the creative merit in this. Whether the visitor sees.
that benefit or even not could depend on the visitor's capabilities, exactly how really good you.
are actually at getting your artistic information around or even several various other elements.
Once more your eye is the very best device for locating a subject. Just how you opt for.
the subject is going to rely on what is actually accessible, the angle as well as the light.
Relocating slowly by means of a location such as garden will definitely help you.
find out the subject. Seeming under leaves or even stones is often.
beneficial to finding one thing brand new and also different. You never understand.
where you will definitely find an image only getting ready for you to click on a photo. Some.
folks and pets carry out factors that are going to certainly never once more occur and also this is actually.
when you would like to have cam accessible. The majority of people considering.
audios like a routine, a true habit becomes a leisure activity and a possible.
If you come to be really good at taking the appropriate photos, income. As you get.
picture. The skin is actually vital to the angle you will certainly shoot from. Remember you will certainly utilize the lighting you possess. Digital digital photography is just one brand-new way of taking a.


text:
MTV Awards: Yemi Alade emerges Africa best female singer
CBN's N213bn electricity intervention fund: N90.4bn yet to be disbursed –ANEDC
Jimoh Ibrahim's recognition by INEC victory for rule of law -Sheriff-led faction
The Sen. Ali Modu Sheriff-led faction of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has discribed the emergence of Mr Jimoh Ibrahim as Ondo state's governorship candidate for the party as victory for the rule of law.
The faction of the PDP made the observation in a statement signed by its acting National Publicity Secretary,
Mr Bernard Mikko, on Thursday in Abuja.
Mikko also discribed the recognition of the candidature of Ibrahim by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as victory for Ondo people.
"The INEC recognition of Jimoh Ibrahim is not only victory for the people of Ondo state, but also a victory for the rule of law and diminishing impunity in our electoral system.
"The PDP NWC under the leadership of Sen Ali Modu Sheriff is pleased with this development.
"The party hereby congratulates the people of Ondo state as they go to polls on Nov. 26 to vote PDP and elect Mr Jimoh Ibrahim as their next governor," Mikko said.
INEC had earlier published the name of Ibrahim as candidate cleared for the PDP and 27 other candidates of political parties contesting the election.
NAN recalls that while Ibrahim name was submitted by Sheriff-led faction, Sen. Ahmed Makarfi-led faction also submitted to INEC the name of Mr Eyitayo Jegede as the party's candidate.(NAN)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I am making a game with 25 "plates" set up in a 5x5 grid and the players(two) have to throw a ball at the plate they want to be theirs. Each plate has an LED that lights up to the player's color and the opponent can "steal" a player's spot by hitting it after them.
Each plate has a mechanism that hits a push button to indicate where the ball was thrown. Can anyone get me started on what the best way to connect 25 buttons to one Arduino would be? I know very little about Arduino and thinking about this is overwhelming lol.
I already figured out I am going to be using a WS2812b LED strip for the multiple LEDs, but I'm not sure what the best option would be for the buttons. I'm also assuming I would need an external power supply.
I don't know about the best way, but one way would be to use a Mega, so you had sufficient pins to do one pin per plate.
Then your going to need to figure out how to read what will probably be short button presses. Sounds like the game will be turn-based so that will be helpful.


text:
TommyWonk
www.tommywonk.com
Judith Miller and the Dangerous Business of Becoming a Player
Even now that I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby has been identified as Judith Miller's source in the investigation into the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame, the whole affair seems murkier than ever. Miller, in an interview this morning with Barbara Walters on ABC, said that the waiver from Libby was inadequate because, as a blanket waiver requested by his employer, it was "inherently coercive."
Adding to the air of mystery is the friendly tone of Libby's letter to Miller:
"Your reporting, and you, are missed," began Vice President Cheney's chief of staff in his Sept. 15 letter releasing Miller from any pledge of confidentiality and urging her to testify in the Valerie Plame leak investigation. "You will have stories to cover -- Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work -- and life."
It's hard to imagine that Libby required confidentiality to protect him from repercussions if his employer found out he was on such friendly terms with a New York Times reporter who was writing stories helpful to the administration. By offering confidentiality to Libby and others, Miller gave the dubious evidence of WMDs an air of objectivity that served the administration's purpose of leading us into war.
Confidentiality is not a sovereign right, but instead needs to be balanced with other compelling interests. David Ignatius in the Washington Post points out that reporters are not free agents in granting confidentiality:
The big lesson of the Miller affair, for me, is that editors are crucial in mediating the relationships between reporters and sources. Almost by definition, those relationships become incestuous -- with journalists and their sources chasing the same facts and often seeking to right the same wrongs. It's the job of editors to intervene in this process -- and demand to know, on behalf of readers, whether a story is really true. In Miller's case, she filed stories about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction based on what her sources had told her, but the crucial judgment lay in the hands of her editors.
This process of editorial intervention is even more important when it comes to making promises to sources about confidentiality. Reporters shouldn't be able to decide unilaterally to whom they will attach their newspaper's reputation.
Even with the proliferation of electronic media, the Times is a uniquely powerful institution. Its reporters, editors and columnists have from time to time succumbed to the pull of powerful people and become "players" as described by Russell Baker in his memoir The Good Times:
I felt no temptation to become a player, to be in with the winning crowd at the White House, have gaudy names to drop, play touch on the lawn at Hyannisport. I was temperamentally disinclined to such pleasures. More and more, my interest in politicians was confined to the study of the species...
What's more, I had just had a sobering talk with [managing editor] Turner Catledge in New York. From this I learned that becoming a player had harmed Bill Lawrence worse than most people suspected. Turner had called me in to tell me that I was to cover all of the forthcoming network television debates between Kennedy and Nixon.
Arriving on the Kennedy campaign, I was on notice that becoming a player was now dangerous business. (p. 325)
Times publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger, Jr. and the paper's editors allowed Judith Miller to become a player. The history of the Times offers another instructive footnote to the Miller case. After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, President Kennedy quietly told the aforementioned Turner Catledge, "Maybe if you had printed more about the operation, you would have saved us from a colossal mistake." (Quoted in The Trust, Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones, p. 315)
posted by Tom Noyes at 7:49 AM
I don't know which is more sickening. The fact that Libby is feeding her still more, "biological threats" bullshit, or the cooing, "..the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work -- and life." ?
Name: Tom Noyes
Tom Noyes has stepped away from blogging after six and a half years and 1,850 posts. He has an MBA in finance and works in the field of energy policy.
Paul Hackett Is Running for the Senate
She Returns Harry Reid's Phone Calls
Underwhelming
What I'd Like to Know
BushCo's Energy Fiasco
Barack Obama: Tone, Truth and the Democratic Party...
Roy Blunt: "New boss, same as the old boss"
A Long Cold Winter Ahead
Meet Roy Blunt
The Moral Compost
Copyright 2005-2011 by Tom Noyes


text:
Megophrys baluensis es una especie  de anfibios de la familia Megophryidae.

Distribución geográfica
Se encuentra en Malasia Oriental.

Referencias

 Inger, R., Iskandar, D., Das, I., Stuebing, R., Lakim, M. & Yambun, P. 2004.  Xenophrys baluensis.   2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Enlaces externos

baluensis
Anfibios de Borneo
Fauna endémica de Malasia Oriental
Animales descritos en 1899

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Known for its ethnically diverse culture Kolkata has remained as nucleus of literary activities since 19th century. The home ground of Nobel laureates Rabindranath Tagore, C. V. Raman, Amartya Sen, it has always contributed in the field of art and education. Other notable scholars of Kolkata like Satyendra Nath Bose, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Prafulla Chandra Roy, have further contributed in the popularity of Kolkata.
For all those looking for knowledge oriented books and magazines it is wise to explore the lanes and by lanes of College street which stretches from Ganesh Chandra Avenue Crossing in Bowbazar area to Mahatma Gandhi Road crossing. Famous for its small and big bookstores, it also called Boi Para (Colony of Books). Many bigwigs of the Bengali publication industry are situated here. Dotted with countless book kiosks it is a one stop destination of purchasing a book of your choice and that too at nominal prices. Enjoy your time at popular Indian Coffee House, a cafe that has attracted the city's intelligentsia for decades.
Kolkata has no shortage of bookstores. The Oxford bookstore Kolkata with number of national and international collections is one of the most famous bookstore of the city. This bookstore is the second oldest bookstore in India. This place is a book lover's paradise. You can find unlimited intellectual treasure here with its huge variety of books from all genres. Spread over 6000 sq ft it houses more than 40 categories of books. This bookstore has a stupendous collection in fiction, travel, literature, new age, arts and design, cookery, architecture and much more. So whether you're a literature guru who admires the works of Shakespeare or a fiction buff who wants a break from reality or even a masterchef in training., you can find every item of your taste.
Oxford bookstore Kolkata caters to everyone needs. It has a very popular magazine section which is stocked with magazines from India and abroad including British and American publications. You can also go through different foreign language newspapers and magazines to gain wholesome idea about international events and happenings.
The Oxford bookstore Kolkata offers exceptionally fine and comfortable environment that lets readers to go for hours browsing through books. Enjoy sipping tea in the relaxing environment of Cha Bar of this book store and feel rejuvenated. The store is a perfect platform for book launches, book readings, and other interactive sessions with well known literary scholars and aspiring writers from India and abroad.
Address: Third floor, Emami Market, 3 Lord Sinha Road, Kolkata-700071.
Needless to say, these book stores are playing important role in shaping the careers of the youth looking for wide range of books and other publications. They acts as one stop destination to find subject book and popular journals of their choice. From Undergraduates to Post-Graduate and above, every book is available to met the requirement of the aspiring student. Browse through them to find and get the one of your choice!


Funding might include the SMART: SCOTLAND grant, which provides funding for feasibility studies and R&D projects with a commercial endpoint.
Or you might benefit from the R&D grant that funds the development of new products, processes and services, or helps to improve existing ones. There are also R&D tax credits that can benefit companies and help them find new markets and provide high-quality skilled-job opportunities. They can also help them find new markets and provide high-quality skilled-job opportunities to Scottish workforce.
If you have a great patented idea and want to commercialise it in Scotland, you can benefit from the Patent Box Scheme. This means paying as little as 10% corporation tax on any profits from commercialising your patents.


Dixie Reading from Her Book: Emotional Business – None of Mine!
I've mentioned my new book, right? Har!
Yeah. Well, here's a chapter I read on video for y'all on the Ace of Cups. Hope you like it!
Be sure and check out Amazon if you're interested in buying it. They seem to be shifting around the discount. I have no control over that, but maybe you'll get a deal!
My book! My book! My book!
You can buy the book online at Amazon, Createspace, eventually Barnes & Noble online and God knows where else.
I've had some asking about signed copies. Hilarious, ain't it? Makes me feel all famous or something. So I got a few for signing; you have my full permission to eBay off these puppies immediately once I become super-famous and appear on Oprah!
Update: I've sold the copies that I ordered for signing. If you'd still like a signed copy, you can contact me to get on a waiting list and I will do another round if there is sufficient interest. But otherwise, just get a copy from Amazon!
UPDATE: Both this e-book and the first volume, "Living the Major Arcana," have been combined into one volume.
Available in either paperback version or Kindle version.
Woot! Glad Mercury's back to behaving!
Y'all remember a while back, when I announced my book, ]Everyday Tarot Archives: LIVING the Major Arcana on Amazon? I pulled the best of my Daily Tarot archives on the Major Arcana and put them together in a single, card-order volume.
Well, I said then I was doing a second volume, to cover the rest of the cards. Good thing I committed, because putting it together was a boatload of work. Ack! But it's finally done. And I am happy to say, I think it came out even better than the first one.
So, you can get Everyday Tarot Archives: LIVING the Minor Arcana now for $5.99. Currently, it's available exclusively on Amazon in electronic format. Amazon Prime members can read the book for FREE. Even if you don't own a Kindle, you can still read on one of the many free Kindle reading apps (for smartphones, tablets, PCs, Macs or online).
For those who've asked, I'm sorry, but I cannot currently offer it for sale through this site or another bookseller, per my agreement with Amazon. And for my geeky foks–er, excuse me, "Geminis"–all my books are DRM-free. That means once purchased, it may be read on any device or converted to any format you prefer. Find out more about DRM here.
Still no hard copy available yet. One thing at a time, already! But thank you so much for your support and I hope you all enjoy it.
P.S. I'm celebrating with a gift .
A Gift for you. But just for a minute.
In celebration of my next edition of EVERYDAY TAROT ARCHIVES being released like, any second now(!), I'm offering a free download of the first edition, LIVING the Major Arcana! But you better be quick.
Please feel free to pass this along to anyone you think would enjoy it.
Now on Amazon – Everyday Tarot Archives: Living the Major Arcana!
UPDATE: Both this e-book and the second volume, "Living the Minor Arcana," have been combined into one volume.
I've been wanting to pull together some of my best Tarot writing for a long time now. As recently noted, I'd done quite a lot of work over the last few years. But reviewing, editing, and (God help me!) formatting it all is no trivial task.
Therefore, it's with the pride of accomplishment I introduce Everyday Tarot Archives: LIVING the Major Arcana! It went live yesterday just in time for Summer Solstice. Fitting, don't you think?
To y'all who have told me you like to go back and reference columns on specific cards, this should help. This volume only covers the Major Arcana, but I will be releasing additional volumes that cover the pips as well; we'll be hitting every card in the deck at least once. I may release a paperback version eventually, but it won't be available before the entire series is done so it be a single volume.
For less than the cost of a latte (i.e. $4.99), you can own Everyday Tarot Archives: LIVING the Major Arcana. Currently, it's available exclusively on Amazon in electronic format. Amazon Prime members can borrow the book for free. Even if you don't own a Kindle, you can still read on one of the many free Kindle reading apps (for smartphones, tablets, PCs, Macs or online).
And if you do borrow or order this book, I would VERY MUCH appreciate it if you would take the time to post an honest review on Amazon. I'm not looking for 5-star reviews so much as I'm hoping for good feedback to help people make an informed choice about purchasing the book. I know what I do is not for everyone, and I want the people who buy the book to be happy with their purchase.
Thanks for your support and any help you can offer spreading the word.
I saw somebody mention in a discussion recently how their crystals and gemstones love to disappear and reappear. I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear somebody else say that!
Mine do so with alarming regularity. And it's not just me being absentminded! Sometimes, these things show up in places that I've looked dozens of times, or disappear right out from under my nose. I can get wrapped up in my own little reality, but I'm not that bad.
I've been telling myself they do this when I am over-using a particular stone or would just be better suited for another stone's energy. When I need it, I'm certain it will appear on my radar. In other words, I simply personify the stone and say it's the stone's preference.
Flipped open my copy of Ask Your Guides: Connecting to Your Divine Support System and noticed that section I opened to was talking about little tricks various guides play–like hiding things to get your attention. So it's not my imagination!
Maybe it's the guides doing the hiding. Or the crystals themselves are the physical manifestations of guides' energy. I don't know! I just know the little suckers hide from me.
Do your gemstones play hide and seek?


VSS V 2.4: How to Push Invoices and Pull Balances with QuickBooks - Productive Computing, Inc.
If your VSS system is configured with QuickBooks (Desktop or Online) using our FM Books Connector plug-in, you can push invoices to and pull payment and balance information from QuickBooks.
Please contact PCI if you wish to configure VSS with QuickBooks.
VSS can push and pull information about cases one at a time or in batches, we'll first cover how to push and pull information for a single case.
Once you have a completed order, you can push it to QuickBooks by locating the sync icon next to the "Pushed to QB" field.
When you click this icon, you will see a series of popups as the invoice pushes. The first will ask if you wish to continue, the next will indicate the invoice is pushing, and the third will indicate if the invoice pushed correctly.
After you have pushed the invoice, you will notice that the "Pushed to QB" field will indicate the date of the push and the icon next to the field will be green.
If you make edits to the line items on an order – such as fix a price or adjust a quantity - after it has been pushed to QuickBooks, the icon next to the "Pushed to QB" field will turn orange. You can then push the sync icon again and it will update the invoice in QuickBooks.
You can post payments in QuickBooks and pull over balance information to VSS. To pull payment information, click the sync icon next to the "Paid On" field.
If your order has been paid in full then the Paid On field will populate with the date the invoice was paid. If your invoice has an open balance, you will get a popup stating the amount of the remaining balance and the "Paid On" field will remain blank.
The More Info tab provides you with additional information such as the QuickBooks ID, the date the invoice was pushed QuickBooks, the last time the balance was checked, and the invoice's current balance.
To view your invoice in QuickBooks, you can go up to the top menu bar, click on the QB drop down list and click "View in QuickBooks".
Your order must be pushed to QuickBooks before you can view it in QuickBooks.
Clicking this option will open up the invoice in your QuickBooks file for easy reference and editing.
To push multiple orders to QuickBooks at once, you must first mark the order as reviewed.
When an order is received back from a captain, the status will change to "Ready to Process" and a button will appear that says "Mark as Reviewed".
Once you have reviewed the order and confirmed that it is correct, you click the "Mark as Reviewed" button and the order's status will change to "Reviewed".
When you are in list view, you can click the "Push Reviewed to QB" button and the system will push all orders marked as "Reviewed" to QuickBooks. If you have modified an order that has been pushed to QuickBooks and the icon is orange, this "Push Reviewed to QB" will also push modified orders to QuickBooks again.
You can also use the list view to do a mass pull of balances. The pull balances button will query QuickBooks for any balances due or paid invoices and update the system appropriately.


A shocking murder leaves Mayoi (Maya), little sister of Chihiro (Mia), in a situation Naruhodo (Phoenix) cannot ignore.
The trial for the chief's murder begins. Will Naruhodo (Phoenix) be able to get Mayoi (Maya) out of this?
The case reaches its climax, as Naruhodo (Phoenix) and Konaka (White) look to get each other convicted.
Will the true culprit of the Steel Samurai case be caught? And why did they do it?
The trial begins, and the god of prosecutors immediately shows off his immense prowess.
Things are looking desperate, as a guilty verdict looms on the horizon. Will the secret behind this case be revealed?
Will the defense be able to prove the guilt of the real culprit? And how will they do it?
Turnabout Goodbyes reaches to its shocking conclusion!
A while after the last case, a new client arrives with the request to attend a channeling ritual.
The trial begins, and the prosecution is helmed by the daughter of a fallen foe, out for revenge.
After the first session of the trial, the investigation continues, and a few suspects start to crop up.
The trial reaches its climax, and the culprit is well and truly unmasked.
A new murder, a new case. This time, the crime scene is a circus.
The trial for the murder of the circus ringmaster begins, and a shocking fact is revealed to the court.
The miraculous magic trick behind the circus murder is finally unveiled.
The trial comes and goes, and a hugely surprising fact comes to light.
The trial enters its second day, as the nature of a defense attorney comes under question.
The trial reaches its thrilling climax, with a life-or-death decision to be made: Guilty or Not Guilty?


The Springfield City School District is along the eight districts that have filed a lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly selling ads to ECOT despite knowing they were struggling.
The lawsuit, which was filed on April 9, claims Facebook committed a "fraudulent transfer," and is seeking around $250,000.
The lawsuit alleges ECOT paid Facebook $92,903.61 in 2016 and $150,000 in 2017 for advertising in order to help boost its enrollment.
"At the time that these payments to Facebook were made, ECOT was insolvent. Consequently, Plaintiffs seek avoidance of the payments made to Facebook in 2016 and 2017," the lawsuit says.
If the eight school districts win the lawsuit, they will share the money.
The sticking point of the lawsuit, Springfield City Schools Superintendent Bob Hill said, is that ECOT was using public dollars for the advertisements.
"It boils down to the fact that public dollars were flowing into ECOT, were being paid to ECOT, to advertise on Facebook," Hill said.
Facebook did not respond to request for comment on the lawsuit.
Other school districts in the lawsuit along with Springfield include Cuyahoga Falls, Woodbridge, Dayton, Toledo, Logan Hocking, Lake Local and Northern Local.
ECOT opened in 2000 as an alternative, online school where students - some of whom weren't successful in a traditional classroom or homeschooling - could get an education using the internet. Families using ECOT ranged from those with young students looking for a new school, to high school students left in limbo on the verge of graduation.
But, an investigation by the Ohio Department of Education, found ECOT claimed an enrollment of more than 15,000 students for 2015-16, but actually had an enrollment closer to 6,000 full-time students.
This meant that millions of tax dollars, that previously would have gone into Ohio Public Schools, was being sent to ECOT as if 15,000 students were attending classes full time.
The Ohio Department of Education's enrollment reviews of ECOT found the school overbilled the state by $60.35 million in 2015-16 and by $19.3 million in 2017. Because of this, Springfield City School leaders believe students were deprived of more than $3.5 million in funding.
"Between 2012 and ECOT's January of 2018 suspension of operations, more than $3,655,897.98 in monies that otherwise should have gone to the Springfield Public Schools were sent to ECOT," the lawsuit says.
ECOT closed for good in 2018.
The Springfield Board of Education passed a resolution last September giving its administration permission to seek legal remedies to get money back. The district joined then Ohio Attorney General, now Governor, Mike DeWine lawsuit against ECOT shortly after.
The lawsuit is currently in its early stages.


text:
Brad Smith Named as Microsoft President
Microsoft today announced that Brad Smith, general counsel and executive vice president of Legal and Corporate Affairs, has been named as company president.
The position title, which has gone vacant since Rick Belluzzo resigned in 2002, will be tasked with overseeing matters focusing on security, privacy, digital inclusion and environmental sustainability, said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a companywide e-mail.
"Brad has long had a broad role at the company and now I'm asking him to lead more new initiatives working closely with his peers on the Senior Leadership Team," wrote Nadella. "I'll look to Brad to play a bigger role in strengthening our external relationships and representing the company publicly."
Today's announcement of title change for Smith is just the latest move in Nadella's reorg initiative, kicked off in June, that aims to consolidate multiple company business units into three groups that will work closer together, while abandoning the separate silos of Microsoft's past. The reorg also saw the exit of key Microsoft execs, including Stephen Elop. Smith will be the only senior leader in the company with the title of president.
Smith joined the company in 1993 and has spent the last 13 years as Microsoft's general counsel. In recent history, Smith has been on the forefront of Microsoft's electronic privacy, speaking out against the U.S. government's PRISM surveillance program and denying Microsoft's involvement in it. He has also currently been leading the legal fight against the Department of Justice's request to hand over private data stored on company servers located in Ireland.
While Smith's new role will have him continue to focus on privacy and intellectual property issues, he will no longer be heading the day-to-day legal responsibilities, Nadella said. Instead, he will be assisting Nadella in shaping the direction of the company moving forward.
"Brad will work with me and others on the SLT in the coming weeks to help us organize ourselves for success, identifying the right way to have impact on these cross company initiatives," said Nadella.
Chris Paoli (@ChrisPaoli5) is the associate editor for Converge360.


- Is there a benefit in thinking about selecting a journal at the start of a project - for example when developing a research question - as opposed to at the completion of the work? - Is it possible to get feedback pre-submission? - Are there any templates available for specific journals so I can prepare my manuscript in advance and make sure it is in an appropriate format?
In answer to the question: "Is there a benefit in thinking about selecting a journal at the start of a project - for example when developing a research question - as opposed to at the completion of the work?"
It is unlikely that selecting a journal for potential publication at the start of a project would guide the development of a research question, or the achievement of better results. Normally, it is only once the results have been gathered and interpreted that it makes sense to start thinking about a venue for publication. Selecting a journal before starting a draft of the paper can however be useful, as it can inform the writing style of the paper.
In answer to the question: "Are there any templates available for specific journals so I can prepare my manuscript in advance and make sure it is in an appropriate format?"
For Nature journals, there are no templates as such, as they will consider a paper submitted in any format at the stage of first submission. If the paper is then accepted for publication, the editors will provide guidance to ensure that the format complies with the journal standards. However, prior to submission, it is useful to become familiar with the main format requirements – such as word and figure limits – of the journal you intend to submit to. These requirements are available in the guide to authors of each journal.
You might find the module 'Submitting Your Paper' particularly useful for answering further questions in this area.


At Little Giraffe we LOVE to celebrate all things LOVE, that's why February is our favorite month! And we didn't want to stop the celebration on the 14th so we're bringing you a fabulous giveaway to keep the LOVE going!
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Little Giraffe $1000 Giveaway - Little Giraffe CEO Trish Moreno has curated $1,000 worth of her favorite items to give away to one lucky fan. Enter to win. Winners announced March 1, 2013.


text:
Pierre's Tuesday Blog
Karl Böhm Conducts Richard Strauss
itywltmt
, May-24-2016 at 08:00 (1377 Views)
This week's Vinyl's Revenge is an old favourite recording of mine, featuring Karl Böhm conducting four works by his friend and mentor Richard Strauss, including two of his oft-heard tone Poems: Till Eulenspiegel and Don Juan.
I thought I would sjhare with you excerpts from a Gramophone interview from 1972 authored by music critic Alan Blyth. In it, there are a pair of long anecdotes about Richard Strauss and their mutual admiration:
"[…] I met Strauss for the first time when I was in Hamburg, where we did a new production of Elektra. After that we were close friends for the rest of his life. Of course he was a musical genius as a composer, but he was also a very good conductor— and taught me a great deal. I remember once after he had rehearsed the first scene of Elektra, he said to the orchestra, 'Play it very softly, it's too loud composed'. He always told me that one must conduct only with one hand; the other should be in one's pocket. But I recall one occasion when he was doing Die Frau ohne Schatten at Dresden, he followed his own advice for most of the evening until he got to the final quartet. There, in the fortissimo C major he brought out his other hand and got really excited. After the performance he asked me, 'Böhmel'—he always called me that—'how was it?'. I said that it was fine except that you used your left hand. Three days later I was sitting in my box when he conducted the same work again. When he reached that passage, he used only his right hand—and with the other, waved to me".
[On Mozart] "Strauss also said that Mozart was the inventor of unending melody—and took for his example Cherubino's 'Voi che sapete'. The melody begins with the first bar and ends with last".
For conducting Strauss, Böhm went back to that dictum of the composer himself. "Not too loud". He added; "I conducted the premieres of Schweigsame Frau and Daphne. Strauss was always present during rehearsals and he repeatedly said, 'too loud, Böhmel'. In the former opera, he once said he couldn't hear the words, so he took the score back to his hotel and reduced the clarinets and bassoons from four to two, with red ink''. Then the thought ran through Böhm's mind that the work had never been recorded, and he made a mental note to put right that neglect.
Richgard Strauss is, it must be said, the prototypical transitional composer, bridging the Late Romantic German tradition and the modern language of the 20th Century. Although Strauss isn't a true atonal composer, he did relish in some of the dissonance of his Viennese contemporaries. Strauss is at home in opera and in lieder, but has left an indelible mark in orchestral repertoire of his generation.
His tone poens – Also Sprach Zarathustra, Ein Heldeleben, his Alpine Symphony and the two shorter works featured this week show him as part trail blazer, par successor to the Liszt tradition. Böhm has stidied these scores with great care, and every subtlety, every indication is given full consideration in his rendition.
In addition to the two Strauss staples, we add the infamous Dance of the Seven Veils from his one-act opera Salome, as well as the less-heard Festival Prelude, written in 1913 for the opening of the Wiener Konzerthaus. This circumstance suggests a parallel with Beethoven's Consecration of the House, written for the opening of a theatre. If Beethoven came up with a Handelian overture, Strauss wrote a solemn work, based on hymn-like tunes, celebratory fanfares and majestic organ chords, in all their diatonic grandeur.
Richard STRAUSS (1864 –1949)
Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, op. 28 [TrV 171]
Festival Prelude, op. 61 [TrV 229]
Don Juan, op. 20 [TrV 156]
Salome's Dance From "Salome", op. 54 [TrV 215]
Wolfgang Meyer, Organ (opp. 28, 61)
Thomas Brandis, violin (opp. 20, 54)
Karl Böhm, conducting
Studio recording, 1963
Deutsche Grammophon AAA reissue – 2535 208
YouTube URL - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...2Iz7LbIYtqtReD
Classical Music , Recorded Music
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(Business in Cameroon) - Cameroon's National Anti-Corruption Commission (Conac) invited the government to foster the denunciation of corruption through a reward system, a report published late 2018 said.
Conac suggests the government should follow the US "Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977" model which rewards whistleblowers proportionally to the assets that are recovered.
This anti-bribery approach, Conac says, puts an end to the sense of impunity that the powerful had during the 1970s. In addition to being protected by the law through several anti-retaliation measures, citizens are encouraged to report acts of corruption and their perpetrators. The commission also recommends that whistleblowers as well as victims and witnesses of acts of corruption must be under law protection.
"Several times, Conac saw situations where the whistleblower refused to give a written statement, fearing retaliation if ever he/she were identified as such and had to appear before a court to affirm their statements," the report states, specifying that "the reason whistleblowers are very often hesitant is the absence of texts or mechanisms that allow them to testify, behind a window or with a voice that is difficult to recognize".