text:
from __future__ import absolute_import
from cebulany.app import app, db
from cebulany.models import Member

from itertools import chain
from sys import argv
from datetime import datetime

from csv import reader

def get_users(filename):
    with open(filename) as f:
        return list(reader(f, delimiter=','))

if __name__ == "__main__":
    data = list(chain.from_iterable(
        get_users(arg) for arg in argv[1:]
    ))

    with app.app_context():
        for name, date, raw_active in data:
            name = name.strip().decode('utf-8')
            active = raw_active == 'y'
            member_query = (
                db.session.query(Member)
                .filter_by(
                    name=name,
                )
            )
            record = dict(
                name=name,
                is_active=active,
                join_date=datetime.strptime(date, u'%Y-%m'),
            )
            if member_query.first() is None:
                db.session.add(Member(**record))
            else:
                member_query.update(record)
        db.session.commit()


text:
CHEROKEE CHIEF
MONTERO/PAJERO
Off-Road Projects
5 Things You Should Know About the New Toyota Prado 150
by Matt Grabli
UAZ 469 & UAZ Hunter – all you wanted to know about Russian 4×4
Many skeptics tend to believe that the new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 is no longer a tough offroad tool like it's famous ancestors. Even though this model is not offered in the USA officially, our team at 4x4Projects.com decided to find out if it's true and take a closer look at the newest Prado 150.
Prado 150 engine line up consists of 4 diesel and gasoline engines. Diesel engines are represented by 4-cylinder natural-aspirated and turbo 2.7L, newer 2.8L, and older 3.0L versions.
The global modernization of this model has been started with the introduction of the brand new 6-speed automatic transmission, that installs even on the basic models equipped with 2.7L engines and the newer 2.8L diesel engines that replaced the older 3.0L Diesel. This transmission is more agile and allows drivers to get more control under the vehicle.
The updated 2.8L motor is giving out 177HP and 331 ft.lb of torque (3.0L Diesel produced 173HP and 302 ft.lb of torque). Our observations showed that the newer 2.8L motor has an average consumption of about 22 MPG, which is quite a good result for a 2-ton SUV.
In 2018 Prado 150 was facelifted and received the attractive body and interior elements, but except for that, it's new diesel engine has become EURO 6 emission compliant, which made it more efficient and environment-friendly. The biggest difference that you can see under the hood on the new model is a blue tank with the AdBlue liquid that takes care of the emissions in the exhaust system. It is very similar to the Blue-Tech technology used by Mercedes. According to Toyota, it's recommended to refill it every 15.000 km.
Among the other improvements of the new 2.8L engine is it's smooth and silent operation, so you wouldn't hear the famous diesel rumble and vibrations as clearly as you used to on the older Land Cruiser models.
As many of you have noticed the newer Land Cruiser Prado 150 has got the same hood as it's older brother LC 200. This model became 2 inches longer and received a row of some new interior components.
2. FOUR-WHEEL DRIVE
The four-wheel-drive system has been also changed on the newer Toyota Prado models. Since 2018 the option of the on-demand rear differential locker is available only on the top-level modifications. The rest of the models are equipped with either free differential without lockers or with Torsen differential which automatically locks your rear differential when engaged. This means that you get less control over the 4×4 capabilities of your LC on base trim levels.
Four-wheel-drive control buttons allow you to switch from 4H to 4L, lock the center differential, disengage the ESP and activate the hill assist. Crawl control function is also available on the top trim levels.
3. SUSPENSION
The choice of suspension setups for the new 2018 model remains the same, which means that you can choose either the basic suspension with springs, more advanced KDSS (Kinetic Dynamic Suspension System), or top of the line air suspension on bags.
Unlike the sloppy suspension of the Prado 120, the new setup of the 150 model provides a very stable and comfortable ride. Even the basic suspension with springs provides the smooth damping and doesn't transfer the vibrations to the body of the SUV, so the passengers can feel comfortable even on the bad quality road. There is a big choice of aftermarket suspension lift kits and spacers available for Toyota Prado 150.
In our opinion, it's not necessary to pick the top of the line KDSS and Air suspension setups for the Prado, as the base all-mechanical suspension provides an excellent damping and a much better reliability on the trails, which is vital for the real off-road fans.
The logo on the grille of the new Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 became bigger to hide the adaptive cruise control sensor which is used by Toyota Safety Science system. This means that that the premium functions such as blind spot monitoring, lane departure assist, and road signs assist that used to be available only for the owners of the LC200 and Lexus models are now available for Prado drivers.
There was a lot of criticism pointed at the interior design of the pre-facelifted 2015 Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150, and it's center console style in particular. Toyota has addressed this issue and redesigned the center console in the style of its modern flagship models. Bulky A/C control knobs were replaced with modern and convenient buttons. The gauges were upgraded with the full-color display. The sound deadening of the interior is on the Lexus level.
Toyota 4Runner Off-road Build – The First Aid for Escaping the Pavement
The rear seats allow you to completely transform the interior and offer many convenient options for the passengers. The seats fold in the proportion 40/20/40.
Universal rails on the floor of the cargo compartment allow you to install drawers or other luggage organizers. The window portion of the rear barn door lifts up for an easy access to the cargo area.
If you want the most advanced technological features, it may be a better decision to go on with the Land cruiser 200 or Lexus GX and LX models, but if the off-road capability, simplicity, and reliability are your main concerns, even the base trim level Toyota Land Cruiser Prado 150 will be the best bet for you.
Production Years: 2010–present
Layout: Front engine / four-wheel drive
Engines: 2.7L - 4.0L Gas and Diesel
Transmission: 5-, 6-Manual; 4-,5-,6-Automatic
Body Style: 3-Door, 5-Door SUV
Availability in USA: Not offered officially
Price: $45,000-$60,000
JDM Land Cruiser Land Cruiser Prado Overland Prado 150 Toyota
Matt Grabli
Automotive journalist and technical writer at Offroadium.com with more than 10 years of experience in the sphere of aftermarket parts and 4×4 vehicle modifications. Passionate about off-roading, outdoor adventures, and an active lifestyle.
Matt Grabli December 24, 2019
Ford Explorer – overland expedition project
Jeep Grand Cherokee 32 inch Tires – Pictures and Wheel Specs
DIY Project – Chevy Tahoe With 6″ lift and 35 Inch Tires
I guess it's a lot cheaper than GX470 that's offered on US market.
Lifted 2020 Subaru Ascent – Family Overlander to Conquer Off-road Trails
Simple & Functional – Lifted 2014 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon Built by a Purist
1991 GMC Vandura 3500 4×4 Pathfinder – Ready for Whatever
2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee – the Master of Challenging Roads
Lifted 2010 Subaru Forester – the Source of Enjoyment on Roads Less Traveled
Lifted 2006 Land Rover Defender 90 – Camouflaged Beast from The Rainforest
2005 Mitsubishi L200 with Lexus V8 Power Under the Hood
2017 Land Rover Discovery – Luxurious Off-roader Disguised as a Mall Crawler
Attention Grabber 2016 Toyota Tacoma TRD Built For Off-Road Adventures
Lifted Porsche Cayenne Turbo S on 33 Inch Off-road tires
©Offroadium.com 2021

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Humans Show Empathy for Robots
By Tanya Lewis 23 April 2013
Humans are increasingly exposed to robots in their daily lives.
(Image: © photobank.kiev.ua | Shutterstock)
From R2-D2 in "Star Wars" to Furby, robots can generate surprisingly humanlike feelings. Watching a robot being abused or cuddled has a similar effect on people to seeing those things done to a human, new research shows.
Humans are increasingly exposed to robots in their daily lives, but little is known about how these lifelike machines influence human emotions.
Feeling bad for bots
In two new studies, researchers sought to measure how people responded to robots on an emotional and neurological level. In the first study, volunteers were shown videos of a small dinosaur robot being treated affectionately or violently. In the affectionate video, humans hugged and tickled the robot, and in the violent video, they hit or dropped him. [5 Reasons to Fear Robots]
Scientists assessed people's levels of physiological excitation after watching the videos by recording their skin conductance, a measure of how well the skin conducts electricity. When a person is experiencing strong emotions, they sweat more, increasing skin conductance.
The volunteers reported feeling more negative emotions while watching the robot being abused. Meanwhile, the volunteers' skin conductance levels increased, showing they were more distressed.
In the second study, researchers use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to visualize brain activity in the participants as they watched videos of humans and robots interacting. Again, participants were shown videos of a human, a robot, and, this time, an inanimate object being treated with affection or abuse.
In new research, volunteers showed empathy while watching videos [See Video] of a small dinosaur robot being treated violently. (Image credit: Astrid Rosenthal-von der Pütten )
In one video, for example, a man appears to beat up a woman, strangle her with a string and attempt to suffocate her with a plastic bag. In another, a person does the same things to the robot dinosaur.
Affectionate treatment of the robot and the human led to similar patterns of neural activity in regions in the brain's limbic system, where emotions are processed, fMRI scans showed. But the watchers' brains lit up more while seeing abusive treatment of the human than abuse of the robot, suggesting greater empathy for the human.
"We think that, in general, the robot stimuli elicit the same emotional processing as the human stimuli," said lead study author Astrid Rosenthal-von der Pütten of the University of Duisburg Essen, in Germany. Rosenthal-von der Pütten suspects that people still have greater empathy for humans than robots, as evidenced by the stronger effect of watching violence toward the human than the robot.
Still, the study only assessed people's immediate reactions to the emotional cues, Rosenthal-von der Pütten said. "We don't know what happens after the short term," she said.
Human-robot interactions
That humans would show empathy for the robot is not surprising, because the bot looked and behaved like an animal, roboticist Alexander Reben, founder of the company BlabDroid, LLC and a research affiliate at MIT, told LiveScience. Reben, who was not involved in the recent study, himself builds small cardboard robots that tap into the human affinity for cute creatures.
Some people find the idea of humans empathizing with robots concerning. But Reben compared trends in robot development with breeding dogs for companionship. "We have been doing this for millennia," he said. "I think we're doing the same thing with robots."
Humans have been known to show empathy for robots in a variety of contexts. For instance, soldiers form bonds with robots on the battlefield. Other research suggests that humans feel more empathy for robots the more realistic they seem, but not if they're too humanlike.
As robots become more and more ubiquitous, understanding human-robot interactions will take on increasing importance, Rosenthal-von der Pütten said.
The new research will be presented in June at the International Communication Association Conference in London.
Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook& Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


This beautiful home; a piece of art; on Mitchell Bay, San Juan Island, Washington.
Charming newly remodeled 3 bedroom rambler.
BRAND NEW MODERN & CHIC multi-level townhouse complete with 2 bedrooms each with their own private baths.


text:
Don Giovanni Returns to Santa Fe
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th July 2009
Last performed by the Santa Fe Opera in 2004, Director Chas Rader-Shieber production of Don Giovanni returned to the company's stage last night (July 18, 2009). Designer David Zinn clothed even the trees in red and hot pink. His movable sets adjusted the changing scenes with great dramatic effect. The opera's famous penultimate scene was mounted with stunning and chilling tension. The Commendatore appears from stage left and then from stage right and finally from within a cabinet in rapid succession. These multiple iterations of fate's vengeance on the Don ends with him jumping into a brightly lit drop to hell that opens from a cabinet that has grown to be about 10 feet tall. The scene capped what is a very good staging of Mozart's masterpiece.
The costumes ranged from early 19th century to well into the 20th. This ambiguous chronology fits into the ambiguous nature of Da Ponte's libretto.
Lucas Meachem
It was the production, design, and fine conducting by Lawrence Renes that made this presentation a success. In general the acting was quite good. The singing only occasionally exceed the adequate. All the singers are young and are thus works in progress. Their youth was, of course, beneficial to the drama.
Lucas Meachem portrays the Don as mean and dangerous in addition to being sex crazed. A valid interpretation that would benefit from a little more charm and a little less nastiness. His Don is clearly a very dangerous guy whom you would not want to be around. He kills the Commendatore with a knife rather than a sword and threatens almost everyone with a pistol. His singing was smooth and effective. His impersonation will likely grow with repetition.
Leporello, the Don's prosaic alter ego, was bass Matthew Rose making his Santa Fe Opera debut. Another young singer new to his role, Rose presented another emerging portrayal. "Madamina, il catalogo è questo" was well sung and well acted. The book containing the names of the Don's conquests (or victims) was red as was most everything else in this staging. I'm almost certain that a few more years will broaden and polish his Leporello.
Donna Anna was the South African soprano Elza van den Heever. She has a very big spinto voice that goes shrill and sometimes sharp when under stress. Another relatively young artist, her future trajectory is hard to guess. Susanna Phillips was a little more comfortable as the discarded Donna Elvira. A graduate of Santa Fe's apprentice Singer Program, she was vocally smooth and appropriately persistent as the only woman on stage that the Don was not interested in. "Mi tradì quell'alma ingrata" was very well sung – a promising voice.
Kate Lindsey's Zerlina was a combination of randiness and mugging. Amusing, but a little over the top. Another graduate of the Apprentice Program, her light soprano had all that was needed for the role. She projected the combination of appetite and innocence that is Zerlina's personality. Corey McKern, yet another ex-apprentice singer, was suitably bumptious as the jealous peasant Masetto. Bass Harold Wilson did all that was required from the Commendatore.
This leaves Charles Workman – Don Ottavio, perhaps opera's biggest nebbish. The tenor, a native of Arkansas but based in the UK, has a rather gruff voice that lacks the flexibility needed for this challenging role. "Dalla sua pace" was under par; it lacked a firm line and was awkwardly delivered. Surprisingly, "Il mio tesoro" was much better. Workman's breath control was good and the aria's runs were delivered effectively. The voice remains rather unattractive.
The young, appealing, and convincing cast in a first rate setting directed by a director with a valid vision of Mozart's and Da Ponte's masterwork made for a splendid evening. Highly recommended. Catch this show if you can.
Don Giovanni hits home in so many ways that there are many ways to present it. For a review of a deranged mounting that I saw in London five years ago see below
MAD MAX MEETS MOZART (2004)
Things can always get worse. Consider Don Giovanni at the English National Opera. I was at the October 4th performance. Calixto Bieito was the director. He is from Barcelona. My theory is that looking at all that wonderful, but weird, Gaudí architecture has destroyed his cerebral cortex. How else can one explain the dreck he put on the Coliseum's stage in the guise of Mozart's and Da Ponte's opera. Another contributing cause may be that he was once in the same city at the same time as Jacque Derrida.
First you must understand that a director like Bieito, and his ilk, intends to offend and outrage. Those are the only emotions they are skilled enough to evoke. When people walk out of the theater in mid performance or boo, the no talent director feels fulfilled. The more offense you take the more they offend. It's like yelling at your pet parrot to shut up when he's squawking very loudly. The louder you yell, the louder he squawks. Thus indifference is the best response to the directorial rape of opera. After all Mozart and Don Giovanni will be around a lot longer than Calixto Bieito.
Apparently, this production was first mounted by the ENO a few years ago. It aroused so much ire at the time that it was said to be partly responsible for the resignation of the company's director. So the director resigns, a new director is hired, and guess what? It's back. Don't yell at the parrot. The International Herald Tribune from whence I got this history of the production also said that the current version was toned down from the original. Ah to be in England when the tone is not down.
To start with the opera was performed in English. I could tell it was English because there were no surtitles. Of course, it might have Esperanto as I could barely understand a word. Changing the language of an opera to the vernacular gives a loony director even more excuse to change the plot. Bieito's Don Giovanni is set in the present. Whether or not it's in Spain is uncertain as Leporello spends a lot of time wearing and abusing a Union Jack. A similar use (or abuse) of the Stars and Stripes on an American stage would lead to a full scale riot, though the Supreme Court would hold it to be protected free speech; nonetheless riot would ensue.
Leporello arrives driving a car. The Don and Donna Anna are in the back seat copulating like gerbils. They get out. The Don is either finished or bored, but Donna Anna wants more. But her father appears; he doesn't look like a Commendatore. The Don stabs him and there is much blood. Father's bloody body is stuffed in the back of the car. You might have thought him dead, but it was really only a flesh wound as he comes back in the second act not as a statue, but as an even bloodier dad. Blood is a dominant motif in this production. There's more of it than in 10 corridas.
The rest of the opera resembles a deranged Ken Russell movie – here I may be redundant. The Don is presented as a sex crazed, alcoholic bisexual hophead. There's more smut than in 10 skin flicks. Leporello urinates on stage in the first act, the Don takes a whiz in the second. Don Ottavio appears at the Don's party at the end of the first act in a Superman costume complete with large muscles. At the party DG rapes Zerelina who is wearing a wedding gown which thereafter is covered with so much blood that I thought the Don had assaulted a different organ. The are lots of hula dancing dolls on the stage. Both the Don and Leporello are inordinately fond of cold cereal – Coco Pops to be precise. The Don phones in his serenade. Ottavio sang Il mio tesoro (I couldn't catch the English words, so I'll stick to the original Italian) while Leporello was chained to a billiard table wearing a garbage can on his head. But the best piece of stage business was that attached to Non mi dir. Donna Anna launches into the aria whereupon Ottavio begins to grope her, then he reaches under her skirt and removes her underpants which he tosses onto the middle of the stage. Then he unzips his fly and has at her. All the while she keeps on singing. How that poor woman stayed on pitch is a miracle. You must believe that I'm not making any of this up. Who could invent something remotely like this? The aria ends with three climaxes – one by Mozart and two inserted by Bieito.
Now the Brits are pretty tough, but even they can only take so much. Nobody walked out during the first act. But about 15% of the audience called it a night after the interval. A general retreat ensued, however, during the second act – it was like the Roman legions at Cannae. Non mi dir drove an elderly gentleman seated behind me out of the theater muttering imprecations I couldn't understand, but the intent of which was clear. He was gone before I could tell him my parrot story, not that it would have made any difference.
But there's more. The statue of the Commendatore (there was no statue but you know what I mean) speaks to DG out of a bottle of booze. The Commendatore staggers out of the car, even bloodier than in the first act, to attend the Don's dinner – mostly Coco Pops and eggs. Instead of dragging the Don down to hell, the Don finishes him off and stuffs him back in the car. Then he (DG) goes mad. Probably because he knows this is not the last performance of the run. The opera's final jolly little scene has the Don taped to a chair, his back to the audience. The rest of the cast takes turns stabbing him to death. End of show.
I have a solution. The EU could pass a rule (they love to make rules) forbidding any EU citizen from directing opera. They would have to include Texas in the rule to protect us from Robert Wilson. That would leave the Americas (Texas excepted), Asia, and Australia to mount the world's opera – more than enough talent there to get the works staged. EU citizens would be free to direct anything else. It's just opera they have to stay clear of. We saw a splendid production of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd the night following Don Giovanni. It was directed by the UK's John Doyle. There's a lot of blood written into that piece. Seven of the nine characters get their throats cut. Doyle managed to bring that off without resorting to caricature. The orchestra was the cast. They all played a variety of instruments at a very high level of skill – a tour de force.
But back to Don Giovanni. There was singing and playing – all of it very good. A blind man would have loved this performance. David Parry conducted with skill and insight. The penultimate scene, one of opera's most inspired moments, sounded powerful and awe inspiring. Parry must be very near-sighted not to have been terminally distracted by what was going on in front of him. The singers were all young and attractive. Mark Stone has a pleasant baritone that's a little light for the title role. Silvio is in his repertoire, that's about what he's ready for now. He's very young and may yet develop the voice needed for the Don. Barry Banks has been gradually moving up the tenor pole. He was impressive as Menelas in last year's La Belle Hellene in Santa Fe. He handled Il mio tesoro with ease though his approach was a little too muscular for my taste. Unfortunately Dalla sua pace was cut. I'd have liked to hear him sing something with a long line. Directors can't seem to avoid making an issue of his short stature. His Donna Anna (Linda Richardson) was a lot taller and wore five inch heels. His head just about reached her bosom. Ms Richardson deserves the Richard M Nixon award for persistence in the face of continuous abuse. That she could sing at all was remarkable, that she sang very well was miraculous. Iain Paterson is a true bass and was outstanding as poor Leporello.
Victoria Simmonds and William Berger were convincing as the peasant couple. Mary Plazas sang Ah! fuggi il traditor with power and ease. Hans-Peter Scheidegger made the most of the time he was allowed out of the back of the car.
Don Giovanni is a great opera. In addition to Mozart's wonderful music, one of the opera's sources of fascination is its dramatic ambiguity. What really happened in that bedroom between the Don and Anna? How come the great seducer really succeeds with no one over the course of the opera? Freud said that a man who can't find what he's looking for in 1000 women is looking for a man. Absurdities ignored, Bieito has removed all the ambiguities that make this opera so interesting. That's his true failure as a director.
Originally published online in Oct 2004, but no longer available at its original site.
Mad Max Meets Mozart – 2004
Don Giovanni's Timeline
Finale 11 – Don Giovanni Act 1
Il Mio Tesoro
Don Giovanni in HD 2016
Post a Reply to Letter From Dallas | Neil Kurtzman cancel
Last reply was August 5, 2018
A.C. Douglas
Is that splendid photo of the the SFO's open-air auditorium your work, and, if so, what camera did you use to shoot it?
Neil Kurtzman replied:
Alas, I did not take this picture. I found it on Google images.
Tad Cook
Wonderfully descriptive review of Don Giovanni at Santa Fe, but one thing has me confused. The scene where Don G drops to hell is described here as the penultimate scene, but I thought it was the final scene in the opera.
Or is the concluding chorus considered a seperate, final scene, making the descent to hell the penultimate? I realize there can be differences in staging, but I thought the penultimate took place in Donna Anna's room, and the final (or ultimate) in Don G's chambers.
Neil Kurtzman
The libretto lists the final ensemble (technically not a chorus as it's sung by the surviving principals) as Scene VI. I suppose you could think of it as a continuation of the Dinner Scene. All the productions of the opera I've seen of the last 50 years have staged it as a separate scene.
http://www.opera-guide.ch/libretto.php?id=251&uilang=de&lang=en
Donna Elvira, Donna Anna, Leporello, Zerlina, Don Octavio and Masetto.
DONNA ELVIRA, DONNA ANNA, ZERLINA and DON OCTAVIO
Where is the miscreant?
Where is the traitor?
MASETTO
By fate o'ertaken.
Now fallen low, now fallen low!
Thanks for the positive review and recommendation of DG at SFO. It's the one SFO production that I bought upgraded tix for so I could see that wonderful villain go to hell! So now I am really looking forward to it…waiting to read what you'll have to say about The Letter. Are you skipping La Traviata for a reason, or just haven't seen it yet?
The constraints of time and real life have prevented me from seeing any of the company's operas. I will soon post a review of the Santa Fe Chamber Music festival's opening night.
operalover
Correction: Susanna Phillips has the role of Donna Elvira.
Thanks for catching the error. Somehow Elvira came out Anna. I corrected the review. Without your help it might have taken me quite a while to spot the mistake.
Letter From Dallas | Neil Kurtzman
[…] I wouldn't like, but the Dallas Opera committed some sins in this one. [See hasn't seen this one – not the Santa Fe performance the one from London appended – NK] Denyce […]
Un Ballo in Maschera in Munich | Neil Kurtzman
[…] has a La Juive to be directed by Calixto Bieito coming up in June. Having seen what he did to Don Giovanni in London (scroll down the linked page to find the review) I predict he'll set this opera in Dachau. […]
Rowena Shepard
View August 5, 2018
I have seen parts of this on YT, and with Keenlyside (how much did they pay him?), and I still have war flashbacks. I'm pretty used to Regie by now, but this? What the everloving fúck.


Depression can leave you feeling alone, hopeless, and hurt, but many people don't know about the physical toll of depression. Over the years the estimated count rose dramatically. Now it is estimated that 121 million people suffer from depression… that is a lot of people!
When people suffer from depression, all they can think about is, loneliness, hopelessness, and of course, how much it hurts. But what most people do not know about depression, is that it causes severe damage to our body, both mentally and physically.
Depression highly damages your immune system, because usually, your immune system is up and ready to fight off bacteria and other diseases. Well… this is not the case with depression. Depression lessens the effectiveness of the immune system, so your body becomes much more vulnerable to catching on diseases.
When a person ends up having depression, they usually do not care about a lot of things, and that very frequently includes taking care of their own hygiene. Taking showers, combing their hair, and maybe even brushing their teeth are all last priority categories for the people who suffer from depression. They cannot control themselves anymore, and their body cannot just pull back anymore, so they usually end up having to catch some flu, especially since we have to be careful in this world of evolving diseases.
The immune system, skeletal system, heart, mind, and experience of pain, are not the only types of damages that depression can cause. Depression could also cause major problems such as malnourishment, or even obesity. Do not let depression get to you.
Alpha Yana likes to write articles about many different topics that interest her. Come and visit her latest website over at http://glasskitchentable.org/ which helps people find the best glass kitchen table and information they are looking for when remodeling or improving your kitchen.


text:
Home > LAWREVS > wjlta > Vol. 3 > Iss. 3 (2007)
Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts
Enforcement of Contractual Terms in Clickwrap Agreements: Courts Refusing to Enforce Forum Selection and Binding Arbitration Clauses
Rachel Cormier Anderson
In three recent cases, courts have invalidated portions of consumer clickwrap agreements containing either forum selection or binding arbitration clauses. In the first case, the Washington State Court of Appeals invalidated a forum selection clause found in a clickwrap agreement because the clause was contrary to state consumer protection policies. In the second case, the California Court of Appeals rejected a clickwrap agreement calling for binding arbitration in a specified forum when the plaintiff sought to bring a class action claim. Finally, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently declared a binding arbitration clause because it was unconscionable. Although these cases address a relatively new form of contracting known as "clickwrap agreements," the essential issue in each case was not new. These cases suggest that courts are willing to accept the validity of clickwrap agreements in general, but have invalidated specific clauses based on traditional contract doctrines such as unconscionability and public policy. This Article examines these recent cases in light of existing precedent concerning the enforceability of clickwrap agreements.
Rachel C. Anderson, Enforcement of Contractual Terms in Clickwrap Agreements: Courts Refusing to Enforce Forum Selection and Binding Arbitration Clauses, 3 Shidler J. L. Com. & Tech. 11 (2007).
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uw.edu/wjlta/vol3/iss3/4
Contracts Commons
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The Politics of Compassion
It was a busy week in Washington. Jerome Powell, the chair of the Federal Reserve, testified before a House subcommittee. His dovish remarks signaled Wall Street traders that the Fed would almost certainly lower interest rates at their next meeting on July 30-31 (Note #1). The market rallied to new highs even as investors continued to transfer funds from stocks to bonds during the past month (Note #2).
Not so dovish was the atmosphere at a House subcommittee hearing this week on immigration proceedings at the southern border. Very emotional testimony from several freshman House members who had visited immigrant detention facilities in Texas. The former head of ICE under Presidents Obama and Trump testified about the challenges that border patrol officers face under the surge of immigrants. Human and drug trafficking along the southern border has been at crisis levels for many months. Patrol officers are not trained to be social workers or medical attendants but find that most of their time is spent caring for people who lack the physical stamina necessary to navigate the harsh conditions of the deserts of northern Mexico.
Many immigrants are sick or injured after a long treacherous journey from Central America. The crowded facilities pose a challenge even for healthy immigrants. They are certainly no place for mothers with young children, but neither was Ellis Island (Note #3). However, most of the immigrants at Ellis left the building after several hours (Note #4).
I was reminded of my grandmother and aunt who were turned away twice for whooping cough and pink eye. It was easy to pick up contagious diseases on the 7-10 day journey in third-class quarters on a crowded transatlantic steamer a century ago. Processing hundreds of immigrants a day, doctors at Ellis Island were quick to reject those with even the hint of TB or trachoma (Note #5). In the years before World War I the northern states needed workers and government officials were largely forgiving of many disabilities and illnesses. Less than 2% of immigrants were deported. My family was one of the unlucky ones – twice. My grandfather waiting on the Manhattan shore a few miles away must have been confused and angry.
Some Americans are insistent that immigrants should follow our Constitution, but our founding document has little to say about immigration. Article 1, Section 8 states that the Congress shall "establish a uniform rule of naturalization." End of story. For the first hundred years of our nation's existence, each state processed immigrants. Many immigrants did not present any paperwork or pass a medical examination. State and Federal governments simply took an immigrant's word as to their name and personal information. Those who insist most loudly that immigrants follow our laws may be descended from people who followed no laws when they immigrated into our country.
In 1891, Republican President William Henry Harrison signed into law the Immigration Act of 1891 passed by a Congress dominated by Republicans (Note #6). Republicans represented the interests of northern businesses who needed able bodied workers who were unlikely to become dependent on government for their care. The flood of immigrants into the northern states gave Republicans additional congressional seats and an edge over Democratic majorities in the southern states.
The founding documents of this country were forged in the fires of heated debate and hard bargaining (Note #7). In 230 years, the debate has not cooled. Today, Democratic majority states like California and New York stand to gain Congressional seats as they welcome and champion the rights of immigrants. While the Senate has a filibuster rule, only the Democratic Party can fix our broken immigration laws because they are the only ones capable of securing a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The Republican Party has not enjoyed such a majority since Senators were first popularly elected in 1914. If Republicans are ever going to take the lead on contentious issues, they will have to abandon the Parliamentary filibuster that chokes most legislation to death in the Senate.
Why didn't the Democratic Party address the issue of immigration while they had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and controlled the Presidency and House? Was it not important then? Nancy Pelosi was House Speaker then and now. She is known for her political ability to "count votes." Perhaps she would be more effective if she looked further than votes. In a deeply divided nation with a constitutional architecture that resists change, a resolution of our most intractable problems is a formidable challenge for any leader.
After the Financial Crisis in 2008, Pelosi helped patch together two large pieces of legislation under Obama's first term. ARRA was an $800B stimulus package passed in February 2009 that did help keep unemployment from getting even worse but was ineffective in many areas because the stimulus was diluted over several years (Note #8). That and the passage of the controversial ACA, dubbed "Obamacare," cost the Democrats dearly in the 2010 midterm elections. Obamacare has withstood both legislative and judicial assault but may fall sometime this year to yet another judicial challenge that was just heard by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. That's a topic for next week's blog.
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Schedule of Fed meetings
ICI flow of funds
Crowded main hall at Ellis Island
Relatively short processing time at Ellis Island
Medical examinations of immigrants at Ellis Island
Immigration Act of 1891
Michael J. Klarman's "The Framer's Coup" is a thorough account of the construction of our nation's Constitution. The audio book
ARRA – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
Posted in: ARRA, Ellis Island, Federal Reserve, immigration, ObamaCare
Working Class Blues


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posted Oct 9, 2014, 10:28 AM by dinbody@vbschools.net [ updated Oct 9, 2014, 10:38 AM ]
KiaLynne Bland
Feminism: a word used since the mid 1800s. A word commonly used in stores as "feminine needs" or to describe someone who acts like a lady or to describe a word that sounds "girly". But it is also a word being taken advantage of and used incorrectly in today's world.
Feminism started out in a Women's Conference held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Participants campaigned for equal voting rights, education rights, equal pay and work equality, as well as and slavery issues. Almost one hundred years later, feminism is being used and taught more than ever for the same reasons.
Feminism has always been a trending topic, but it has recently taken a toll over social media over the years. Articles have been written, speeches have been performed, and tweets have been sent, all about feminism. While feminism is becoming more known, the term has also been used wrongly. It has been taken advantage of and used in ways that do not promote women's rights.
According to Oxford Dictionary, feminism is "the advocacy of women's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men." The goal of feminism is to promote women's rights and equality, as well to fight for justice for women who have been sexually harassed and assaulted, domestically abused, and discriminized.
Whether people realize it or not, men have a role in feminism. Gender equality, which regards men, plays a huge part in feminism. As the definition of feminism says, feminism is to make women as equal as men, which is where gender equality comes in. While men are to play a role in gender equality, the tables have turned on them, being blamed for what others have done in the past. Many have begun to shame men, and in some ways, disregard them when it comes to gender equality. Feminism has become an excuse for people to make women more powerful in some aspects than men. This, according to the definition and past movements of feminism, is not the purpose of feminism. The idea of feminism is to make women as equal as men; not make women more powerful than men or shame men.
A speech performed by Harry Potter's Emma Watson spread throughout social media just two weeks ago. Watson's speech focuses mainly on women's rights and gender equality. Striving to spread gender equality, Watson mentions Twitter-trending-campaign, #HeForShe. Focusing on a man's role in feminism, #HeForShe's goal is to help people realize men play a role in feminism and are as equal as women. The campaign will hopefully reach out to men, getting them involved with feminism and spread awareness for gender equality.
#HeForShe isn't the only thing that promotes feminism or gender equality. While trends and speeches have been made to fight for women's rights, many have turned to a different idea to spread feminism. All over the world, men and women have created the signs, "I need feminism because…" or "I don't need feminism because…", listing their reasons why they feel feminism is important or not. The signs have been used several times to protest and spread awareness for feminism. While some signs are related to the purpose of feminism, some however, are not. A sign posted on Tumblr that says, "I need feminism because my long distance boyfriend cheated on me but I still want him back" does not particularly go with the reason for feminism. Feminism is to spread women's rights; not as an excuse to call out a cheating boyfriend or a reason to want him back.
Feminism has become a worldwide issue. It has sparked minds all over social media, causing different opinions and views. Many have begun to misunderstand the real reason for feminism, taking advantage of it. It might always be known as that misunderstood, misused, and misinterpreted issue. But hopefully one day, people will come to realize the real usage for feminism: to promote women's rights and equality to men.


Discover the sensation of foiling with the Naish Hover Crossover. Featuring one board and one foil in this clip, the new foil collection will get you flying above the water no matter what you are doing. Coming soon to a Naish dealer near you!


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Hire 60s Band in Southend On Sea
60s Band Southend On Sea
Browse 60s Bands
Are you looking for a 60s band in Southend On Sea, Kent? Our catalogue includes 35 acts available for hire in Southend On Sea. We also recommend to see: function bands, jazz bands, string quartets, swing bands
Elvis Tribute Gary Graceland
Available in Southend On Sea from £325
Recent review: We booked Gary for an ticket event at our Golf club. He was brilliant. All our guests were up and dancing. Professional from start to finish. We have had some great comments from those who attended and will be arranging another evening with him very soon.
Soul Desire
Recent review: We have had so many friends saying how much they enjoyed your band and the music! Lyn and I would like you to pass on to the band our thanks for such a successful wedding celebration - All of our guests had a wonderful time!
Recent review: An absolutely brilliant afternoon, you girls made the day. Thankyou so much for singing Crazy, my mum's favourite song. It was beautiful.
Dee-Lite 60's Tribute Show
Recent review: Hi, they were amazing. Really lovely people, they arrived nice and early and we agreed the best way for them to set up. The set was ideal. A perfect blend of get-up-and-dance tracks with accomplished playing. They were endlessly enthusiastic, cheerful and engaging with the crowd. They were the cente
60's Vibes
About: Ultimate live 60's band based in Kent and available nationwide. 5 piece band with lighting and projection show to take your event to the next level. Seasoned musicians with a love of the 60's and born performers. Bringing you the best of the most exciting decade in popular music. Available for a
The Swinging 60s
Recent review: What a fantastic night these guys were amazing and made my mum's surprise party a very special evening .I would recommend the swinging 60s to anyone looking for entertainment for an amazing night.
Available in Southend On Sea from £550.00
Recent review: Hi Ivan. Many thanks for your note and I'm pleased to hear that you all enjoyed the D&D. I must say I've not received one negative response, which is a relief, and I would like to thank you all for your contribution to making the evening such a success. Unfortunately we won't be at Geoff's do, but g
The Lollipops
Recent review: The Lollipops were fabulous. The sweetest girls, they arrived and just got stuck in - very professional, a great performance, easy to work with (great communications ahead of the event and on the day). We were able to specify some songs for their set, and every single one was great. Loved the mat
freeloaders
Recent review: They were truly amazing, 21st birthday with music that was so appropriate that they danced from start to finish and knew all the words - implying some of the songs were oldies and still so popular! The guests of the 60th half of the party felt so at home. Would use them again as first choice.
Cool Vibes
Recent review: Cool Vibes, cool band definitely made it a night to be remembered. So easy to deal with and gave exactly what it said on the tin. Huge thanks x
Recent review: "I've been meaning to contact you to say thank you so much for such a lovely performance at Jenny and Lee's wedding.There were so many compliments about the music throughout the day, I feel that you should receive the feedback. Do take care and I hope to see you again at the famous – Selby Oast even
50's and 60's Tribute Act - Ricky Fontayne
Recent review: We had a really great party. Ricky Fomtayne was excellent. Just perfect for our evening could not have gone down better with our guests.
Blake Sonnet
About: Blake Sonnet, expect original cathartic songs from the heart, acoustic guitar and harmonica. Debut album 'Middle Of Everywhere' is now available on all digital platforms. Influenced by the great songwriters from the 60's and 70's Paul Simon, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Leonard Cohen. Cu
DaniElviS - Elvis Tribute, Singer & Entertainer
Recent review: Booked for my mum and dads 50th wedding anniversary and he truly made the night super professional and a lovely guy. He played all night with only a short break He did Elvis Ratpack Stevie wounder and more couldn't recommend him more strongly. Thank you
Carnaby Army
Recent review: The band were amazing! Their performance was brilliant we had so many people commenting how good they were. The communication with the band from start to finish was excellent and they were so helpful with ideas and suggestions if their own and on the day itself they were very accommodating regards l
Available in Southend On Sea
About: We specialise in music from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s & 80s with an inclination towards the 60s.
Off the cuff 60/70s 4 piece band
About: A four piece mature band music from late 50/ 60/70s
Elvis Tribute
Recent review: "Thank you for yesterday Damian, you were fantastic!! Everybody loved you and you got people up dancing, laughing and singing. You made the day and made the wedding a rememberable and special one. Thank you :-) Warm regards"
Superphonic
About: This fantastic band (also known as "The Headliners") delivers over two hours of the funkiest hits: from 60s soul and rock 'n' roll to 70s disco; from classic rock and 80s pop to the latest hits and everything in between, in a spectacular live stage performance. Formed in 2001, Superphonic have ga
Counterfeit Beatles
Available in Southend On Sea from £1500
About: Beatles tribute band the counterfeit Beatles London based,avilable for corporate hire perform globally, Japan, India, Thailand, South Korea, tel 07715131556 email counterfeitbeatles@btopenworld.com www.counterfeitbeatles.com
Local Results for 60s Band
Canterbury, Kent, Gravesend, Rochester, Sevenoaks, Dartford, Tonbridge, Maidstone, Gillingham, Sittingbourne, Southend On Sea, Aylesford, Beckenham, Belvedere, Bexley, Bexleyheath, Birchington, Broadstairs, Bromley, Chatham, Chislehurst, Cranbrook, Deal, Dover, Edenbridge, Erith, Faversham, Folkestone, Greenhithe, Herne Bay, Hythe, Longfield, Margate, New Romney, Orpington, Ramsgate, Romney Marsh, Sandwich, Sheerness, Sidcup, Swanley, Tenterden, Tunbridge Wells, Welling, West Malling, West Wickham, Westerham, Westgate On Sea, Whitstable, Dymchurch, Meopham, Hawkhurst, West Kingsdown, Hawkinge, Snodland, Borough Green, Staplehurst, Headcorn, Cliffe Woods, Ash (Dover), East Peckham, Wingham, Goudhurst


We are now offering a new acrylic kit, a GLITTER acrylic kit. This kit comes with everything you need including instructions. With two different colour glitters you can get started on creating some easy and fun nail art. The glitters provided can be mixed in with the acrylic powder, do this in a dappen dish and the mix of glitter to powder should be 1 part glitter to 3 parts powder. You then pick up a ball of glitter mix powder with your and apply as you would normally apply just acrylic powder. This is an easy way to create glitter french nails or you can add in a tiny bit of glitter to your final application layer to give the nails a fine glimmer effect, do this with 1/2 part of glitter to 3 parts powder.
When applying the glitter do this as your first application layer then finish with a final application all over the nail with clear powder. Once you have buffed the nail down you will quickly see the glitter shining through. To create multi colours of glitter acrylic on the nail try using a #6 round acrylic brush as this brush is small enough to create patterns in small places.
We include in this kit 1 x 5 gram White Opal Glitter and 1 x 5 grams Black Opal Glitter.


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1DF68F12-5CFA-450B-9BF6-98E0CC3F0809
Legends of motorsport set to be honoured
Stephen Wright, Sports Editor
Created: May 09, 2019 09:00 AM
Bermuda's four motorsports national governing bodies are set to honour those who have made outstanding contributions to karting, street biking, dirt biking and powerboat racing.
Five nominees from each clubs will be inducted into the inaugural Bermuda Motorsports Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony at the Hamilton Princess Trudeau Room on Saturday night.
It is hoped the hall of fame will help preserve the history of motorsports on the island and recognise those who have made a major difference to their clubs.
Nominees must have been a club founder, race-team owner, volunteer, mechanic, committee member or motorsports advocate, as well as having served their clubs for a minimum of five years.
The idea is the brainchild of Scott Barnes, the former BKC president, who said the celebration gala will be held biennially, with the four clubs nominating two inductees each year.
"Motocross and powerboats are the oldest clubs [on the island] so they had the toughest job of picking five names," Barnes said.
"The hardest obstacle is that this is the starting point; everyone is a bit like, 'What about this person, or what about that person'.
"I'm sure there are lots of people who need and deserve to be in [the hall of fame]. It's hard to start with just five, but there's no point making it a one-time thing and inducting everybody in the first year."
Barnes added that the organisers hoped to establish a physical version of the hall of fame rather than it simply be an abstract sense.
"Our next step is to find a physical place to actually have this hall of fame. We're working on something now. It would be a way to gather all the archives and the history of the clubs".
Takera Dill, the Bermuda Motorcycle Racing Club president, believes it is important for Bermuda's motorsports history "to be told accurately and celebrated".
She added: "It's been fun learning about each other's clubs and it should be an amazing night for everyone.
"It's very rare for all four clubs get together unless it's an expo.
"This holds more weight because we're delving back into our history. One of the inductees has been involved with all four clubs and we believe that's something that should be recognised."
Hall of fame brainchild: Scott Barnes
New book chronicles history of Bermuda motocross
Stephen Corrado continues fine form in national championships
Scott Barnes starts year with two big wins
Flawless Stephen Corrado dominates at Southside Raceway
Published May 09, 2019 at 9:00 am (Updated May 08, 2019 at 11:31 pm)


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Washington--Plans for "radically different" tests to license new teachers were announced here last week by Gregory R. Anrig, president of the Educational Testing Service, the maker of the most widely used teacher examination in the nation.
The new assessments, which will be available to states by 1992, are part of what Mr. Anrig described as a "full-court press" by the nonprofit testing firm to create broader forms of educational measurement.
Eventually, they will replace the multiple-choice, paper-and-pencil National Teacher Examinations, which have been in use since 1939. The nte is now part of teacher-licensure requirements in 30 states.
Unlike the nte, which is given at one point in a teacher's career, the new generation of tests will be administered during three separate phases in a teacher's education and training.
And they are likely to make use of such technological developments as interactive video, computer simulations of typical classroom events, and portfolios documenting a teacher's accomplishments.
If successful, Mr. Anrig predicted, the new measures will mark the first full application of "adaptive testing" to a professional-licensure examination. Other professions are also moving in this direction, he said.
The testing company is expected to spend just under $2 million on the test's development during the current year, and approximately $20 million over a five-year period.
Its officials first began thinking about changing the nte in 1986, Mr. Anrig said, based on the growing consensus among educators that a new and better kind of test for licensing teachers was needed.
The paper-and-pencil format of the nte and other teacher examinations has drawn sharp criticism in recent years on the grounds that they discriminate against minorities, fail to measure complex teaching knowledge, and are too removed from actual classroom situations.
Nonetheless, the use of teacher tests for state licensure has expanded rapidly as part of the school-reform movement. In 1981, when Mr. Anrig first came to ets, only eight states used the nte Today, 45 states require some kind of test for entry into teacher-education programs or for initial licensure. And approximately 200,000 prospective teachers take the nte each year.
Mr. Anrig admitted that the ets's existing teacher tests have been "controversial." But he said the organization hoped to benefit from past criticisms in designing its new exams.
Stage one, to be given during or after a student's sophomore year in college, would measure his or her basic skills; it would use a computerized diagnostic assessment to identify strengths and weaknesses.
Stage two, to be taken at the completion of college or of a teacher-training program, would measure how well a student knows his or her subject matter and the principles of teaching.
Depending on the subject area, these tests might include more traditional paper-and-pencil measures as well as computer-assisted exercises, said Carol Anne Dwyer, a senior-development leader who is directing the testing project.
Stage three, to be given after a prospective teacher has spent time in a supervised teaching situation, would measure the ability to teach a subject in the classroom, often known as "pedagogical content knowledge."
Ms. Dwyer predicted that this last phase of the examination might be conducted, in part, in an assessment center. And it could include live exercises, computer simulations, in-class observations of the candidate's performance, and portfolios documenting the teacher's work.
Eventually, Ms. Dwyer predicted, candidates would be able to take such tests at their convenience, with the set of exercises individualized to match their ability level, and with minimal time restrictions.
Such tests might also prove beneficial for minority students, Mr. Anrig predicted, because they provide "a variety of ways for someone to show what they can do."
But he added that "there are unequal educational opportunities in4the United States."
"To the extent that the tests reflect those," he said, "you will have unequal results."
Ms. Dwyer noted that the tests, in and of themselves, will not improve the quality of classroom teachers, because individual states will still have to set the passing standards required for licensure.
But Mr. Anrig said that they would provide states with much richer and more definitive information about a candidate's performance.
The ets expects to spend the next two years exploring how to make such tests practical on a large scale. Some of the models or "prototypes" for such exams will be field-tested in states within a year, Ms. Dwyer predicted.
The firm is developing the exams with advice from its "Teacher Program Council," the majority of whose members are classroom teachers.
In addition, it is working closely with other groups that are trying to develop new models of teacher assessment. These include the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, which plans to provide voluntary national certification for more experienced teachers, and the Teacher Assessment Project at Stanford University.
Mr. Anrig said there would be a "transition period" between 1992, when the new tests first become available, and the withdrawal of the nte from the market.
The nte now costs approximately $35 each for the subject-area exams and $50 each for the three-part core battery, which measures a candidate's communication skills, general knowledge, and professional knowledge.
The ets is also exploring ways to measure and score these more complicated assessments, particularly since many questions would not have one right answer.
Officials expect to use more than a dozen different psychometric techniques to score the tests, according to Ms. Dwyer. But it will take "considerable research," she said, to tailor these new methods "for this particular application."
"We're taking a high risk on this," said Mr. Anrig. But the time is right for a new exam, he added, both because of advances in test measurement and technology, and because of the recent push to professionalize teaching.


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Interview, supporting women, female founder
Episode 69 -How Accidental Entrepreneur, Fran Dunaway of TomboyX, happened to launch an apparel company
Terri talks to Fran Dunaway of TomboyX about how she and her partner and wife Naomi Gonzalez started TomboyX in 2014 to create a better shirt and ended up launching an underwear company. Fran and Naomi recently raised a Series A and Fran shares their journey to this point and where she sees TomboyX going in the next few years.
Who is Fran Dunaway?
Fran likes to call herself the accidental entrepreneur. In 2013, she had a great life as partner in a media strategies firm with big budgets, lots of vacation time, regular exercise, and excellent sleep habits. She and her wife, Naomi Gonzalez, started a little side business because they wanted some cool button-down shirts like a Robert Graham for women. They picked the name TomboyX because they thought it was cute.
When the name started resonating with women and girls around the world, they knew they had an instant brand. It turns out that the word 'tomboy' opens the door to a conversation about being whoever it is you want to be. Women were SO elated to have a brand that saw them for who they are at their core. So, when customers started begging for TomboyX to design the first boxer briefs for women, Fran and Naomi obliged.
In September 2014, they pre-sold two styles of boxer briefs designed for women and sold out in two weeks. They have never looked back. TomboyX has since refocused solely into the underwear/loungewear market and is thriving on the fact that people of all shapes and sizes want to be part of a brand that stands for values they share. Their customers continually prove that there is a toughness required to express your individuality – the defining characteristics of a tomboy.
Fran shares the story behind TomboyX and the evolution of the TomboyX brand
Fran continues to talk about how difficult it has been to raise funds to fund the business and what it's like to run out of inventory as an apparel brand.
Terri and Fran about the shifting landscape for female founders and the economic opportunity in investing in these founders.
Fran explains how she went from a job in corporate to being a founder and focusing on TomboyX 100%
Fran talks about how she and Naomi have evolved as founders and leaders and the evolution of their team as the company as grown and matured
Terri asks Fran about how she sees the company evolve over the next few years
If Fran could wave a magic wand, she would change the lens with which we see each other; to be less judgmental of each other and to have greater clarity as to who we are as individuals.
Fran's favorite founder resources are Loose Threads (podcast), Leap Frog (the book) and founders stories in general.
Money is power and to shift the power dynamic, we need to shift the economic dynamic.
TomboyX: https://tomboyx.com/
CPB Group: http://www.cpbgroup.com/
MergeLane: https://www.mergelane.com/
Katica Roy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katicaroy/
Rain Dove: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rain_Dove
DapperQ Fashion Show: https://www.dapperq.com/
TomboyX ad with Rain Dove: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKnbum7v1aw
Loose Threads (podcast): https://loosethreads.com/podcast/
Leap Frog: The New Revolution of Women Entrepreneurs: http://leapfroghacks.com/
Fran can be reached through the TomboyX website https://tomboyx.com/, on Twitter @fdunaway and via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/frandunaway/
Newer PostEpisode 70- Imène Maharzi's vision to educate and train 2000 female business angels and get female founders greater access to capital for their startups.
Older PostEpisode 68 - how investing in startups with female founders, and closing the wage gap, has a positive economic impact with shannon grant


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St Stephen's Shopping Centre
Hundreds queue from 4am for Boxing Day sales in Hull
There's plenty of bargains on offer
Elizabeth Mackley
Psst... share your email to join the Secret Elves Club and get first access to exclusive reviews of this year's must-have products.
Queues stretched back half the length of the main concourse in St Stephen's Shopping Centre on Boxing Day as hundreds of shoppers nabbed themselves a bargain in the sales.
People began queuing to get into the popular Next store from as early as 4am on December 26, hoping to be among the first to take advantage of the Boxing Day sales.
The queues stretched back as far as Build A Bear, according to one man.
The St Stephen's shop opened at 6am, with deals promised until 6pm. Almost all sale items were half price or more.
Dozens queued up for Next
The Princes Quay outlet opened at 8am with clothing and homewear available for up to 75 per cent off the original price.
Two friends, who did not want to be named, said they had queued outside the store since 4.10am.
Easter beauty egg launched
Inside stunning White Company
New food shop in Hull city centre
Treasure trove in Beverley Road
"Actually, it's the first time we've come so early to something like this," one said. "We came with neighbours and we were actually waiting longer than we were shopping, we were only shopping for around 40 minutes."
Another woman said the best bargains were on children's clothes.
"There's nothing for us," she said. "Most of it's kids' clothes."
Queues outside River Island in St Stephen's
A mum and her daughter said it was unusual to get up to get to the store for around 7am, but it was not as busy as it has been in previous years.
They said: "We got here around 6.45am, it's great, it's not as busy as it has been either. Although we are a bit earlier than usual.
Can you refuse to work on Boxing Day? Your rights explained
Nearby, people were also queuing outside River Island to be the first though the door.
One shopper said: "I got here about 7am. I just want to get the best deals."
EventsDates confirmed for huge week-long outdoor spectacle in HullThe awe-inspiring performances and installations form part of a UK celebration of creativity
Hull Royal Infirmary staff 'deserve medals' after man's abusive behaviour on A&E After Dark
Hull Royal InfirmaryThe Channel 5 show was back for another episode on Monday night
Sainsbury's gives warning to anybody who shops or works there
Sainsbury'sShoppers have two days to prepare
Triumphant return for Greko serving authentic Greek cuisine in Hull's Trinity Market
Eating out in HullThere has been a bit of a wait but one of the city's favourites is back
Supermarket law change to affect shoppers of ASDA, Aldi, Lidl, Morrisons, Tesco, M&S or Sainsbury's from today
Covid-19Not all supermarkets agree with the new law
UK & World NewsLily James' onset colleagues 'blown away' by her portrayal of Pamela AndersonNew Disney series recreates sex-tape scandal of Baywatch star and Motley Crue lover Tommy Lee
Jet2 cuts £50 off city breaks with spring deals on host of exciting destinations
What's On NewsAs well as trips to the heart of some of Europe's most popular cities, there are beach breaks in Malaga and Palma de Mallorca
Photos and memories from Hull's missed Chiquito restaurant at Kingston Retail Park
NostalgiaThe loved Tex-Mex restaurant sat in the same spot since the early nineties
'I went shopping and it cost me over a fiver to buy just a loaf of bread and a tub of butter'
ShoppingTrip to one of the 'big four' UK supermarkets laid bare the sharp rise in the cost of living


Join us May 22-24, 2019 at Lake Ozark for MCCA's annual Trustee and Executive Leadership Conference (TELC). Your participation in the annual conference will strengthen the skills and knowledge required to lead your colleges and be accountable to your communities. Conference speakers and sessions will explore student success, fiscal responsibility, educational trends, effective trusteeship, and the complexity of the policy landscape faced by our institutions.
Hotel accommodations are available at Camden on the Lake Resort. Reservations will be accepted beginning on March 13, 2019. The special room rate ($130–$160) is available until 5 p.m. on April 23, or until the block is sold-out, whichever comes first. More information is available via the online registration form.
Whether you want to elevate your visibility with additional on-site signage opportunities and digital advertisements or use your attendance to connect one-on-one, MCCA has a variety of sponsorship opportunities available at all of our professional development events. Additionally, having a physical presence at our events is your best bet for stewarding your most loyal clients and engaging your prospects. Exhibiting is a low-cost option with high-level rewards.
Breakfast will be served buffet-style. This is an opportunity for casual networking with colleagues from across the state.
Join your colleagues for an informal reception at the Chili Bar. Each attendee will receive complimentary drink tickets, so enjoy some casual conversation before you head out to dinner.
If you have any questions, contact Kalynn Ramsey, Director, Member Engagement and Professional Development, [email protected].


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Q: When will Thread.Abort() not actually abort? So you read the title, when will Thread.Abort() not actually abort? I've heard lots of people say that its a dangerous command and that it is never guaranteed to work, but ive never actually been able to reproduce that. It's always worked for me..
Is there any specific situations that might cause Thread.Abort() to fail consistantly?

A: Did you even read the documentation?

The thread is not guaranteed to abort immediately, or at all. This situation can occur if a thread does an unbounded amount of computation in the finally blocks that are called as part of the abort procedure, thereby indefinitely delaying the abort. To wait until a thread has aborted, you can call the Join method on the thread after calling the Abort method, but there is no guarantee the wait will end.
...
If Abort is called on a thread that has not been started, the thread will abort when Start is called. If Abort is called on a thread that is blocked or is sleeping, the thread is interrupted and then aborted.
If Abort is called on a thread that has been suspended, a ThreadStateException is thrown in the thread that called Abort, and AbortRequested is added to the ThreadState property of the thread being aborted. A ThreadAbortException is not thrown in the suspended thread until Resume is called.
If Abort is called on a managed thread while it is executing unmanaged code, a ThreadAbortException is not thrown until the thread returns to managed code.
If two calls to Abort come at the same time, it is possible for one call to set the state information and the other call to execute the Abort. However, an application cannot detect this situation.
After Abort is invoked on a thread, the state of the thread includes AbortRequested. After the thread has terminated as a result of a successful call to Abort, the state of the thread is changed to Stopped. With sufficient permissions, a thread that is the target of an Abort can cancel the abort using the ResetAbort method. For an example that demonstrates calling the ResetAbort method, see the ThreadAbortException class.

A: There is also a situation where the Thread.Abort() call does not fail, but the thread does not terminate.  The ThreadAbortException that is thrown can be caught by the thread itself.  If it does and then calls Thread.ResetAbort() within the catch handler, the ThreadAbortException will not be rethrown at the end of the catch block.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


After 30+ years working in the hedge fund industry, Stanley Druckenmiller of Duquesne Capital Management has decided to call it a day.
In a letter to his investors that was circulated earlier today, Druckenmiller said that he was retiring because "competing in the markets over such a long timeframe imposes heavy personal costs", and that "the disappointment of each interim drawdown over the years has taken a cumulative toll that I cannot continue to sustain."
Druckenmiller also points out that he "chose to leave Soros Fund Management ten years ago because the challenge of managing an enormous amount of capital was having a clear impact on my ability to perform", and that, as Duquesne Capital Management has grown, "these factors have again emerged."
These are words that people such as John Paulson would be wise to pay attention to. Success in the hedge fund industry is a double-edged sword - on one hand you earn untold riches and gain a tremendous amount of respect and admiration from your peers, but on the other hand you also experience a tremendous uptick in both assets under management and investor expectations that makes it much harder to duplicate your past results.
John Paulson, for instance, has been phenomenally successful over the past few years, and has become a billionaire (a few times over) as a result. However, the assets under management at Paulson & Co INC have swelled into the many billions of dollars as investors clamor to benefit from Paulson's "Midas Touch". These high expectations mean that Paulson and his fund's performance are constantly under the microscope, and this has no doubt taken a toll on Paulson.
Given the turmoil in the hedge fund industry over the past 2 years, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see more big names announce their retirements over the short-term.
Druckenmiller is likely best known for "orchestrating" the $10 billion bet that George Soros (and his Quantum Fund) made against the pound in 1992. The bet was a big success, resulting in profits of over $1 billion for the fund.
Not all of Druckenmiller's big bets were successful ones though, according to the New York Times. At the height of the dot-com bubble in 2000, Druckenmiller (still at the Quantum Fund at the time) made an enormous bet that the bubble would continue. He was wrong and made the decision to leave the firm shortly thereafter.
Despite a few missteps along the way, Druckenmiller achieved a phenomenal amount of success over his 30+ year career, amassing a personal fortune of approximately $3.5 billion.


A dusting of snow turning to light rain (total 2mm) on Tue afternoon. Freeze-thaw conditions (max 3°C on Mon afternoon, min -3°C on Sun night). Winds decreasing (fresh winds from the SW on Sun afternoon, calm by Mon night).
Moderate rain (total 15mm), heaviest on Thu afternoon. Freeze-thaw conditions (max 7°C on Thu morning, min 0°C on Wed night). Winds increasing (light winds from the W on Thu morning, fresh winds from the WSW by Fri morning).
This table gives the weather forecast for Little Giant Peak at the specific elevation of 3500 m. Our advanced weather models allow us to provide distinct weather forecasts for several elevations of Little Giant Peak. To see the weather forecasts for the other elevations, use the tab navigation above the table. For a wider overview of the weather, consult the Weather Map of Colorado.
* NOTE: not all weather observatories update at the same frequency which is the reason why some locations may show data from stations that are further away than known closer ones. We also include passing Ship data if it is recorded close to Little Giant Peak and within an acceptable time window.


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Herb Głogowa Małopolskiego – jeden z symboli miasta Głogów Małopolski i gminy Głogów Małopolski w postaci herbu.

Wygląd i symbolika
Herb przedstawia w polu błękitnym  złotą majuskułę "G" – inicjał nazwy miasta.

Historia
25 kwietnia 2019 r. herb został przyjęty przez Radę Miejską.

Wizerunek herbowy używany jest od dziewiętnastego stulecia.

Przypisy

Głogów Małopolski
Głogowa Małopolskiego

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Joaquín Arzura (Campana, 18 de maio de 1993) é um futebolista profissional argentino que atua como meio-campo.

Carreira
Joaquín Arzura fez parte do elenco da Seleção Argentina de Futebol nas Olimpíadas de 2016.

Futebolistas da Argentina
Futebolistas do Club Atlético Tigre
Futebolistas do Club Atlético River Plate
Futebolistas do Club Atlético Osasuna
Futebolistas da Unión Deportiva Almería
Futebolistas do Club Nacional de Football
Jogadores da Seleção Argentina de Futebol Sub-23
Futebolistas nos Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016
Futebolistas olímpicos da Argentina


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YouTube, Twitch, and Press
Official Trailer, Steam Page and ______!
We are incredibly proud and excited to announce that the official trailer for Use Your Words is now live! We couldn't have done any of this without the support of our Kickstarter backers, so from the very bottom of our hearts, thank you.
Platform Changes & Livestream Video
Julian & Brent here with an update on platform changes and our debut livestream! (more…)
Watch our Livestream of the Use Your Words Beta!
Tomorrow, December 3, we'll be hosting a livestream where we play the beta version of Use Your Words! Tune in from 2pm-4pm Eastern time and you can even join in the fun with "spectator mode" from wherever you're watching! (more…)
An Overdue Update: New Partners, Release Window & More!
We've got some big news to share with you today. Use Your Words started out as a modest crowdfunded indie project, but we were always aiming to make a game with mass market appeal. To that end, we are thrilled to announce that we've teamed up with Screenwave Media as our official publishing partner. (more…)
Smiling Buddha Games, LLC ©2020


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Ariel Shapira
What Facebook's rebranding tells us about Big Tech's 'Game of Platforms'
In his monthly crypto tech column, Israeli serial entrepreneur Ariel Shapira covers emerging technologies within the crypto, decentralized finance (DeFi) and blockchain space, as well as their roles in shaping the economy of the 21st century.
Sometimes a project's name tells you all you need to know about it, no matter how niche. Take Kryptomon, for example, the NFT game that recently completed a 24-hour sale in one second. You understand, based on its name, that some kinds of cutesy monstrosities evolving and fighting one another must be involved, and you know it must be blockchain-based. Clear, concise and to the point.
Facebook's new name, Meta, doesn't exactly fit on the same shelf. Granted, it does make clear that the company is setting sail for the Metaverse, but this destination still remains unclear. As many commentators have pointed out that at this point, the Metaverse is as vague as it is enticing or dystopian, depending on who you ask. The hint at a heavy virtual reality (VR)/augmented reality (AR) component from gadgets like the haptic gloves still only tells us not much of what the future holds.
The one thing that is clear about Meta's name game is that it represents a statement of ambition. The company has already tried this trick with Libra, its prospective stablecoin backed by other tech giants when it found itself under some of the same scrutinies Meta has now. Renaming the coin into Diem was meant to highlight its ambition of independence, and it didn't fly considering the project was still ultimately scrapped. Just like with Google and Alphabet or Snapchat and Snap Inc, Facebook's rebranding proclaims its intent of reaching beyond — meta in Greek, by the way — the initial platform.
Related: One currency to rule them all: Facebook's Diem has global ambitions
But, there is something else at play here: an echo of a larger tech-world trend that could have serious implications for the internet itself, as well as for us, its users.
Rules for me and for thee
Earlier this year, we saw Epic Games, one of the world's largest gaming companies, brandishing its own metaverse ambitions, take on Apple by accusing it of monopolist practices over its App Store rules. Though the monopoly charge did not stick, the court did approve Epic's bid for directing users to its own in-app payment methods. Epic Games also clashed with Google in a case that similarly revolved around the latter's app market. Facebook itself had more than a few angry words with Apple regarding its own feud with the tech giant that focused on the privacy rules update of the latter's platform.
You've probably picked up the central theme here. Being locked into a specific ecosystem of products and services comes with its limitations — just think of Apple removing the standard 3.5 mm audio jack in 2016. Sure, it may have helped with water protection, but it was just as much about promoting its own connector to amp up its revenues. Incidentally, this rule also holds for small devs releasing their products on others' platforms, and to giants like Epic and Facebook, too. You get the convenient distribution, but it comes with more than a few strings attached. To assume that the terms and conditions remain the same in the long term would be unwise, to say the least.
These days, few would realistically expect Big Tech to make a stand for a more free and open digital ecosystem where interoperability is the law, and users are free to select the best gadgets and services without any vendor lock-ins. They'd rather ensure that users are locked into their respective platforms while they themselves have the maximum versatility that comes with running your own ecosystem — and setting all the rules. This makes sense from a business perspective, but is hardly conducive for cooperation which requires trust, and one of the main reasons to build your own platform is that you don't trust anyone.
This is also exactly what I see in Facebook's name change into Meta as an aspiration to build up its own all-around ecosystem that would most likely incorporate a plethora of components, from all the VR/AR gadgets to its own operating system. It does make me wonder, though, whether other giants bidding for the Metaverse will follow suit with building out entire technological stacks, possibly for the internet itself because if they do, things could turn ugly.
Related: The metaverse: Mark Zuckerberg's Brave New World
Caught up in the net
The concern is that this "Game of Platforms," if brought out into the web, could foster its stratification and segregation.
When you are visiting a website, your device downloads its building blocks from a remote server, ideally with a set of instructions tailoring its design and functionality to different types of devices like a desktop or mobile. Adding metaverse functionality does not seem like that much of a stretch. You will just need to download more data so that your haptic shoes, smells generator and other thingamajigs know what sensory experiences you are in for. But, the devil lives in the details.
In line with the good ol' product support cycle, we may end up in situations where some services eventually drop support for their non-metaverse versions. This is especially true for projects run by conglomerates that offer metaverse hardware. Why wouldn't they want to incentivize more consumers and businesses to buy their stuff? By the same account, we could get a web that is stratified into metaverse and non-metaverse portals, and if search-engine algorithms begin favoring the latter, this would again amp up costs for developers and consumers alike.
If the push for own platforms goes far enough with different sections of the Metaverse powered by different and non-interoperable protocols (good ol' vendor lock-in, remember?), this could result in web segregation. There is no telling how far things could go on this front. On the one hand, a segregated Metaverse would be downright self-defeating as a concept. On the other hand, at least some friction between rival protocols and networks is not unheard of. Yes, you may want to pop into an Ariana Grande concert on Epic's Fortnite with your 3D avatar from the Facebook-verse, but for that, it has to be fully compatible with the game in the first place. For that to happen, Meta and Epic must first reach product compatibility, and for that, they should have a more or less trustful relationship.
Trust, but blockchain-ify
Moving forward, one of the ways that could be conducive to building bridges and not walls in the tech world is by doing business on the blockchain. Yes, the idea that you can fix something broken by putting it on the blockchain is a bit overdone, but the argument holds in this case.
The reality is that blockchain-based smart contracts are very effective in fostering trust. The reason for that is that instead of having to trust the other party whose internal processes may be a mystery to you, you must trust the contract, a fully auditable piece of software that will automate your business interactions. It executes all by itself under the right conditions, making sure that your interests will remain intact regardless of the actions of your partner.
We are unlikely to see all business activities moved to the blockchain any time soon, but Big Tech, with its endless supply of know-how and experience, is uniquely positioned to be the leader in this sphere. By investing in the field, tech giants could set the new business paradigm for every other industry to follow, removing trust out of the equation and setting the foundation for future cooperation. This is ever more important at a pivotal moment like an emergence of what could be the new iteration of the internet, a technology that has transformed our daily and professional ways in too many ways to even count.
Granted, things may not necessarily be as dramatic. Maybe the Metaverse will boil down to a batch of VR/AR solutions doomed to remain a very niche market for the well-endowed crowd. But, judging by the sheer number of multiverse projects, something bigger than that is on its way, and blockchain technology could make sure that, in the long run, our venture into the Metaverse will be a bit more egalitarian than it shapes up to be.
Ariel Shapira is a father, entrepreneur, speaker, cyclist and serves as founder and CEO of Social-Wisdom, a consulting agency working with Israeli startups and helping them to establish connections with international markets.
What is impermanent loss and how to avoid it?
There is room for the Metaverse in 2022, but the virtual space is far from perfect
Stephen Gregory
Terra could leave a similar regulatory legacy to that of Facebook's Libra
What are governance tokens, and how do they work?
Marcel Deer
Zuckerberg's $100B metaverse gamble is 'super-sized and terrifying' — Shareholder
Brayden Lindrea
US Justice Department seizes website of prolific ransomware gang Hive The legal dangers of getting involved with DAOs Bithumb in turmoil, Binance's 47K law requests, Axie players down 85%: Asia Express SBF allegedly used FTX money to invest $400M in obscure VC firm Breaking: Coinbase fined $3.6M in the Netherlands


It's not very often that Andy and I get time to just be us since we've had our girls. So, when last night an opportunity came along, we took it.
Since having Alice, we have not had that many nights out together. This mainly down to having someone to look after the girls and also because we are tired most of the time.
A few weeks ago, some friends of ours invited us over for dinner, we see them regularly but we normally have all the children with us. It's not always easy to have a good conversation and enjoy each others company, with little ones around. We arranged for my parents to babysit the girls, the date was in the diary and we were looking forward to.
Friday night we had a bad night with Holly, which luckily for the past six months is rare, but it was a long night of Holly just not settling. Which ended up with her finally waking Alice up and the whole house was awake by 5.30am, we were tired!
If we're honest with ourselves, all we really wanted to do was go to bed and catch up on some sleep. But, we also knew that having a babysitter doesn't happen that often and we should really make the most of it.
So, we decided that we would go out for dinner and enjoy a couple of hours together with no distractions. I managed to get us a table booked and we were going out.
As the afternoon went on, we were really starting to struggle with tiredness. Normally on days like this, we are counting the hours until the girls are in bed and we too can get some sleep. I asked Andy if he still wanted to go out, his eyes gave one answer, but he said 'yes, lets still go'.
Getting myself ready to go out is not like it used to be, where I could send lots of time deciding what to wear. Not it's a quick decision, quickly do my make up and hair and hope I look presentable.
When my parents come to over to babysit, we never tell the girls and we get them to sleep before we sneak my parents in. Mainly because they love nan and grandad so much, they wouldn't want to go to sleep if they knew they were coming over. It makes it easier for us to leave them and enjoy ourselves knowing they are in bed asleep. Not worrying if they are playing nan and grandad up and having to deal with tired and grumpy children the next day.
Everything went to plan, the girls fell asleep quickly, I got ready, my parents arrived and we were in the car on our way out. Yes, we were extremely tired, but we both know how important it is to make time for each other and to just be us.
During the meal, it gave us time to talk, to reconnect. Our days are busy at the moment, with Andy working long hours and it was great to just chat, without the distractions of life or children.
We talked a lot about making plans for our family holiday this year and how our life is going to change in September, when Alice starts school.
Yes, of course we talked about our girls, because they are our world and whilst we are with them all the time. We don't very often take the time to chat about the changes in them recently and how far our little family has come over the last eighteen months when Holly arrived.
The food was delicious and I didn't have to share it with anyone.
We didn't have a late night, we were both exhausted, but to have that time together was worth the couple of hours sleep we missed out on. Because without Andy and I there is no family, there would just be two individual people with children.
I know the feeling of almost being too tired to make the effort well but like you say sometimes it's important to make the effort & you end up being really glad you did! i'm glad the missed hours of sleep were worth it!
How lovely. Its so important to have some quality time just the two of you. Although i know what you mean, it has hard to make the effort and often I can't really be bothered to get ready, but its definitely worth it when you do.
It was worth making the effort and the food was yummy too ha ha!!
It's so lovely when you force yourself to get out there and manage to have some great quality time. It's always worth it – those kind of moments are so few and far between once children enter the mix!
How lovely, we hardly ever do this and I think we should do it more. A good tip to get the children to sleep before the grandparents arrive. I always fail at this and then Nanny and Grandad make a feeble attempt at trying to put them to bed but they are always still awake when we get home and then it kind of defeats the point of going out because we have grumpy tired children to deal with like you say!