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December 23, 2010 Umair Mohsin Media
The Blogging Scene In Pakistan
Ten years ago a set of 95 theses were organized and put forward as a manifesto, for all businesses operating within what was then suggested to be a newly-connected marketplace. Titled 'The Cluetrain Manifesto', it put forward an idea that the Internet was unlike the ordinary media used in mass marketing as it enables people to have "human to human" conversations, which have the potential to transform traditional business practices radically. The authors asserted that a shift would occur through substantial and pervasive changes in current company-to-consumer interaction. Communication would shift from mission statements and marketing media aimed at consumer segments to open dialogues or conversations between businesses and consumers, whilst online marketing would be more about holding conversations with people rather than broadcasting half-truths about products and services. Turns out that tens years on that now everything is a conversation.
The fastest growing alternative media to the traditional channels (3.7 million results on Google Pages from Pakistan and 367,000 blogs found), blogs in Pakistan are now being credited from everything from bringing a giant corporate to its knees over its negligence during a reality show, greater consumer awareness, putting pressure on governments and politicians for greater transparency, showcasing the new and the trendy to the point where all gadgets now MUST have a blogger's meetup at launch followed up by reviews, media practices, latest fashions, marketing and even general venting of frustration at All Things Pakistan.
The ability for anyone to have a thought, be able to type it up and then publish it online for the world to see for free has been equated with bringing in the same revolution as the printing press did 400 years ago. So much so that every traditional broadcast media & newspaper worth their salt has started their own blogging channels to avoid missing out on this cluetrain. Just on Dawn.com alone, one is treated to a myriad of subjects ranging from Politics, Satire, Sports, Technology, Business, Culture, Food to much much more. Politics of course is the favorite subject and one is treated to the widest range of topics from 'Couldn't She Find A Nice Indian Boy' to deep philosophically inclined discussions on women's rights and the burka. One is also treated to all the content that one would never be privy too in our traditional channels especially regarding our political leaders. Sports too especially Cricket are the passion of the nation and nowhere is it more apparent than on the net with the keywords 'Cricket Blog Pakistan' resulting in 446,000 results from Pakistan alone.
The biggest benefactor of the blogging scene however has been the Citizen Journalism scene, everything from taking on the big bad corporate and their policies to exploit low waged workers and risk their lives in factories without proper precautions or rights, or to prison seriously injured workers in a hospital room to block them from the media and labor movements, action against exploitative advertising of baby milk or more minor issues like delays in payments has been documented and archived for generations to come. The citizen of Pakistan's voice is finally being heard and it is loud and demanding remedial for the generations of anger, exploitation and squelching of our voices.
One of the management gurus Tom Peters said, "One of my grand theories is that, fundamentally, there's only one source of innovation, and that's pissed off people. I think anger is the essential motivator." If this is the case than this is our time to change the Pakistani world the way we want it to be with the power of the word. It has been known for eons to be mightier than the sword and with digital distribution it's a tsunami now which will shatter all that that comes in its path.
August 23, 2009 August 23, 2009 Umair Mohsin Others
Age Of Engage – Digital Marketing Strategies For The New Age Customer
ITCN – Age Of Engagement
View more presentations from Umair Mohsin.
June 29, 2009 June 29, 2009 Umair Mohsin Brand Strategy, Integrated Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Media, Mobile, Traditional Media
The Future Of The Media Agency
PHD on the Future of the Media Agency
-By Mark Holden
Source: http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/data-center/research/e3i4993a5c32cf65e0308acb68d773e6ab8
Making predictions for what's going to happen in media next week is hard, let alone undergo the ambitious challenge of trying to second guess the next five years. However, we believe our vision, which is based on rigorous research, conversations with key influencers and the collation of pertinent data and statistics, is not far-fetched. In fact, most of the predictions we make are grounded in today's reality; we are building the foundations now for a future-proof media agency in five years. So, take a trip into the future with us, use your imagination and tell us what you think.
Fast-Forward to the Future
It's 2014. You're walking into a global media agency that you last visited five years ago. The first thing you notice is that it does not appear to be organized too differently from how you remember it, apart from the fact that much of the buying process now looks like it is automated. There are client teams scattered around the agency, composed of a range of different specialists: a couple of TV buyers, a radio buyer, an online buyer and duo of planners. So far, so similar. However, on closer inspection you realize that there are some key differences. For a start, the TV buyers no longer call themselves TV buyers but instead are AV (audiovisual) buyers and their remit covers TV and online. They also seem to be talking about targeting and consumer behavior data much more than they did in the past.
You overhear a client-planning meeting and you realize that most planners aren't even called planners anymore. They're MIMs — marketing investment managers. It looks like their role is now to advise the client on all aspects of his marketing strategy, from whether the brand should change its packaging to whether he should launch a new variant or product. Their role has clearly evolved significantly over the last five years. They seem to be much more multi-skilled and referring to a host of different research experts in the brainstorming meetings from consumer psychologists to neuroexperts to social anthropologists to new product development managers.
Some client teams appear to be populated by product placement specialists, who are on the lookout for opportunities in events and linear broadcast content, as well as ad-funded games and ad-funded widgets. There are a couple of software developers too, who are creating ad-funded applications and experiences on social networking sites. Other teams also have creatives from a sister creative agency, who now work beside the planners and buyers. All these specialists work in the agency's content creation department. It's much, much bigger than it was in 2009 and has become a mini quasi-creative agency in itself.
Other client teams have mobile planners and buyers and there's a new breed of digital marketer. They are calling themselves DRM's, or digital relationship managers, and are in the business of building and maintaining huge databases of consumers. Apparently they're a great source of ideas for planners, and clients even ask to audit these databases as part of the pitch process.
Long gone are the days when all the media agency did was plan and buy a campaign.
First, we thought hard about how the consumer will be using technology in five years. After all, technology is the biggest driver of change in the evolution of the media landscape. If we can accurately predict what technology will catch on with consumers, then this will lead us to what the media agency will look like in the future.
Expect a technological infrastructure at home that will enable consumers to instantaneously download several types of content simultaneously in high definition with no lag time. We predict that in five years mainstream audiences in most developed markets will be able to download 100+ Mbps per second. To put this in context, in 2008 a typical home-achieved download speed was between 0.8 – 3.5 Mbps. Consequently, consumers will be streaming instead of broadcasting content. And they will be able to access multiple channels, games and applications on one screen simultaneously. Similarly, there will be huge advancements in storage technology, which will enable consumers to store much more content for access at their convenience. Connectivity speeds and bandwidth capacity will also have advanced beyond recognition. Already we are seeing improvements in this arena with the investment of companies such as Verizon and AT&T in fiber optic networks.
The home will be more connected to the consumer than ever before. Through handheld devices like the mobile phone, consumers will be able to link to their hard drive at home, which in turn will link to home appliances and their car.
We can safely say by 2014 that there will be seismic advances in battery power and storage capacity of handheld devices. Already we are seeing vast improvements in these areas. Wireless Internet access will also have improved beyond recognition. In five years it will no longer be about 3G but 4G, otherwise known as WiMax or WiFi on steroids. Not only will this be eight times faster than 3G, but it will also be considerably cheaper.
We'll keep seeing our handheld devices getting smaller, thinner and lighter. There will be a sharp increase in the amount of HIP's, or highly intuitive products, that will incorporate the latest advancements in voice recognition, electronic ink and scroll-out displays, touch screens, image recognition (augmented reality) and correlation-based software.
For example, in five years mobile phones will have satellite navigation and correlation-based information so users know where they are and what's around them, enabling them to search for anything relevant. And search will be much more dynamic too; results will be tailored to our exact needs with, for instance, information presented as videos, tables, charts, animations and databases. Early examples of this can be seen with MSN's Bing and Google Squared.
Which Technology Will 'Liberate' the Consumer?
Predicting what technology will really captivate consumers and change the media market is not always easy. While technologists love complex technology with all the bells and whistles, consumers just want apps that make their lives easier. Whether consumers know it or not, they are on a quest to be everywhere, with everyone, with everything, at every moment. Any piece of technology that has ever been successful has, in some way, moved the consumer one step further on this journey.
The surprise success of SMS texting technology is a prime example of this. Technologists rubbished the primitive, limited, text-only technology, but consumers couldn't move their fingers quick enough around their mobile keypads, rapidly inventing a text short-hand language.
Why did this basic black-and-white messaging system of only 160 characters resonate so strongly with the consumer? Because it offered them a quantum leap in communication: near-instantaneous, non-verbal communication on the move. You could say that SMS text messaging liberated consumers. We believe the level of success of a technology is directly related to the level to which it liberates the consumer.
But which technologies will prove most liberating in five years' time? If we can answer this question, we can determine what the media landscape will look like in 2014. In our opinion, the most liberating technologies will be those that blur traditional boundaries, such as the mobile phone and the PC or the TV and the Internet. The most successful media and media technology will be those that reflect the fluidity of human nature, which is not fixed into separate compartments.
'Blurs' and What They Mean for the Media Agency of the Future
We've identified five "blurs" that will shape the media landscape in 2014. Beside each one we've explained how the merging of traditional boundaries will affect how a media agency operates.
Blur 1: TV and Online
By 2014, a high percentage of homes in developed markets will be watching content streamed over the Internet, as opposed to being broadcast over the airwaves. We'll also reach the tipping point when all major TV channels, and production houses, stream and make all their content available online. It's happening already in major markets, particularly America. Just look at Hulu.com (the Internet content system created by NBC and Fox and other networks and studios). And even the stalwarts are playing – ABC has embraced the merging of TV and online and even launched its own branded news channel on YouTube in May (www.youtube.com/ABCNews).
With sites like YouTube uploading thousands of new videos every day, consumers are getting used to consuming broadcast content online and soon – when the TV and the computer finally merge in the living room – they will be able to sit at home using TV-based search to find the content they want, when they want. This will be driven forward by the convergence that we are about to witness within the TV market: the replacement for the plasma screen you bought last year will incorporate a hard-drive (an Intel chip) and an Ethernet cable. And we will be able to stream content directly into the TV or over the top of broadcast content in the form of applications that enhance the viewing experience. Imagine sports stats, wiki-information about the program, actors, place or even on-the-fly blogging about the content. It is coming.
What Does This Mean for the Media Agency?
Naturally, this will lead to a merging of TV and online buying and measurement. This is already happening. Nielsen launched its TV/Internet Convergence Panel in late 2008.
Media agencies will have to merge TV buying with online buying to create an AV (audiovisual) buying department – or simply expand their online departments and shrink, and ultimately close, their TV buying departments. Traditional TV buyers will see their roles change and remits widen. This movement to streaming content will give marketers the opportunity to achieve an unprecedented level of interaction with consumers. This will mean that TV buyers will play a much more important role in targeting, ad serving and ongoing campaign management. Expect to see behavioral targeting TV planning. This will allow for an even more advanced form of targeting and interaction than we are currently seeing with cable-based addressable TV.
Blur 2: Mobile Phones and the PC
Think for a minute about the iPhone. It seems to have slipped from a future decade into ours, seamlessly bringing a host of applications we are more used to seeing on our PC to our handheld device. But by 2014, the mainstream audience will be using mobile devices with intuitive, touch-based controls, paper-effect or e-ink screens, image recognition (augmented reality), high-definition resolution and a constant connection to the Internet. We're already seeing other players like Sony Ericsson, LG and Samsung launching touch phones, and the technology will only continue to improve – rapidly.
By 2014, the development of mobile phone applications will also be revolutionary. Software for mobile phones like the now-fledgling Google Android and other new entrants will, in five years' time, be commonplace. Android is open source, which means that anyone can create mobile applications for it. For example, developers can come up with new ideas based on the latest innovations to make functions like texting, using the camera or making calls a richer experience for users. Google Wave — a new platform that converges e-mail, instant messenger, wiki-software and microblogging – will dramatically reorganize how we communicate. This will enable other companies to build their own software from this platform. By 2014, it is highly likely that brands will create their own versions that will be free – de-positioning Microsoft Outlook. Consumers will be able to create a phone tailored exactly to their interests and needs. They will also be able to make use of location-based services such as Google's Latitude, which will be much more sophisticated in five years. As a result, users will be able to, for instance, be alerted when their friends are in the vicinity — or their favorite brands. All these new applications will provide a wealth of new advertising and ad-funded opportunities.
Mobile marketing will go from being a niche media channel to being a high-reach and high-segmentation channel. We know that mobile phone users typically choose ad-funded content in favor of content they have to pay for, which bodes well for advertiser opportunities. Although there will naturally be some crossover between mobile and fixed-line Internet, the different opportunities on mobile, such as geo-targeting, will lead to mobile specialists working within media agencies. At the very least, we will see one or two digital planners/buyers who specialize in mobile planning and buying. At the very most, we will see the launch of independent specialist media agencies that do nothing else except plan and buy mobile marketing campaigns.
Blur 3: Entertainment and Advertising
With the increase in the number of TV stations around the world, we have witnessed a huge surge in the amount of advertising inventory available. This has placed, and will continue to place, growing pressure on the creative industries for quality content. But, with the explosion in the number of channels and the resulting drop in audience figures, many production teams have seen their budgets slashed as TV stations grapple with falling advertising revenues. This is where advertisers have a perfect opportunity to step in and lend a helping hand, both by creating more quality content, through branded content, and driving up program makers' revenues, through product placement. In many markets, regulators are continuing to relax the current rules on product placement, which will only serve to increase this channel's importance.
Online and on interactive TV platforms we have also seen a growth in marketing campaigns which bring brands to life through applications such as games. The early forays into this area have seen an increased level of engagement, resulting in dramatic increases in brand preference scores, albeit for smaller audiences. Internet gaming enables games to reach much larger audiences, but to date the cost has been prohibitive. However, this is set to change with some of the major games producers starting to embrace the ad-funded model. For example, in January 2008 Electronic Arts was able to launch its first free online video game, Battle Heroes, due to ad-funding. The major tipping point for advertising within games is predicted to arrive between late 2009 and early 2010, when a new streaming high-definition gaming site launches called OnLive. OnLive is set to dramatically reorganize the gaming sector by allowing users to play the highest quality games without buying. And because it is live, advertisers will be able to place ads into games by region with as much ease as placing an online banner campaign. We are also expecting to see game designers no longer hard-coding in cars and other products and instead having them as caching opportunities. Thus, Mercedes can insert different models by region, even after the game has been launched. So, by 2014 ad-funded gaming will be commonplace.
Another major growth area is ad-funded apps — an app being tech-speak for an online application that can be downloaded onto a social networking site. Ad-funded apps have already been created on social networking sites like Facebook and mobile platforms such as the iPhone. We believe it will not be long before we see widgets become brands in their own right. There are signs of this happening now. One example is RadicalBuy, a classified sales site on Facebook where users can buy and sell items from/to their friends, as well as selling their friends' items for commission.
Creating content will become a much bigger and more important part of a media agency's remit. At present, all of the major networks have content creation departments but, by 2014, these will be sizeable revenue generators. In fact, these departments will grow to become mini quasi-creative agencies, taking on more creative tasks and working alongside or even in competition with creative agencies. Media agencies will offer their clients a channel-led, full-service approach.
They will be staffed by a vast array of specialists, from product placement experts to software developers. The latter will be tasked with creating innovative digital assets and have close relationships with third-party software houses, working with them to create ad-funded applications. Software was heralded as "the new media" at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show. By 2014 this will no longer be a "new" concept, but rather an accepted part of the media mix. Pioneering media agencies will also be seeking to share in the value created from these new branded products.
Blur 4: Consumer and Publisher
It is now hackneyed to say that the consumer is the new journalist. There are now approximately 20 million independent Weblogs, and most Google searches list user-generated content (UGC) on the first page. Bloggers are increasingly becoming media owners in their own right with a growing number influencing the influencers: a recent survey of 5,000 journalists found that 75 percent used blogs for research and many newspapers actually referencing blogs in copy. This has huge implications for brands, which can be damaged or boosted by the opinions of the satisfied or disgruntled.
Over the next five years blogs will become increasingly sophisticated with higher quality content, links to other sites, RSS feeds, online applications, video and images. Some blogs are already doing this, such as http://www.eventful.com, which combines an RSS feed of forthcoming gigs overlaid onto Google Maps and then integrated with free music downloads from other sites. And sites such as Stumble and Digg index the high-ranking blogs. The influence of these blogging opinion formers will continue and those most active in the blogging sphere – teenagers – will also be a key consumer group in terms of spending in five years' time. This represents an opportunity and a threat for advertisers.
By 2014, bloggers will also increasingly be looking to profit from their opinions. It is easy to imagine a situation whereby pioneering bloggers create their content, embed it with Google AdWords and post it as an RSS feed, receiving advertising revenue from the resulting clicks on ads. This will lead to the advent of "super influencers" – high-quality bloggers whose content is liberated and propagated by many. Understanding this ecosystem is going to become more and more important, particularly for high-value product categories where consumers undergo significant research before making a decision about, for example, cars and holidays.
Understanding how to influence the influencers will be crucial. As the IPA Future Foundation Report predicted in its study on agency requirements in 2016, communications agencies will have to become adept at online reputation management. For example, if a hotel client receives negative reviews on a hotel recommendation site, such as TripAdvisor.com, it will be the agency's role to first alert the brand to this criticism and then advise on appropriate action to regain credibility. This could, for instance, be a posting from the CEO apologizing for any mistakes made and pledging to correct them as soon as possible. This has predominantly been the domain of the PR agencies, but there is no reason why media agencies cannot deliver this skill set.
Blur 5: Online and Real-Life Experience
Over the next five years we will see the "Y Generation" (the 16-30-year-olds of 2014) increasingly blur their online identities with their offline social lives. This age group is completely at ease with creating identities online, whether it is via an avatar, blog or social networking site. For younger kids, it is all they have known, with sites such as Webkinz and Disney's Club Penguin currently proving popular. These social networking sites will continue to link to mobile phones in the future, tapping into the benefits of location-based data and opening up a whole new world where users can see where contacts are on a map of their area while interfacing with them through an avatar.
The implications will be similar to those outlined in Blur 3 and again expand the creative remit of media agencies. Agencies will employ software developers that understand these communities and can create engaging branded experiences for them. There are a few new consultancies starting to offer these services, but this will become mainstream by 2014.
Can we make any other predictions about what the media agency of 2014 will be like? Yes, we certainly can.
Prediction 1: By 2014, clients can expect the same level of control, accountability and transparency that they currently enjoy for direct media, for all media.
We can confidently say that clients will continue to challenge agencies to demonstrate the ROI of all communications. By 2014, clients can expect to see improved software systems that provide a similar level of control, accountability and transparency as they currently enjoy for direct media. This process will be accelerated by new players that offer clients total accountability of their marketing spend, such as Google TV, which not only serves relevant ads to viewers but can track every penny of an ad campaign. Over the next five years, agencies will follow Google's lead and will have successfully developed models that allow clients to see the payback of all media. Debate is currently raging about how to do this effectively, but everyone agrees that well-maintained customer data is vital to any solution.
Prediction 2: The media agency will take the lead in driving forward this new age of accountability and transparency.
Media agencies are in a prime position to take the lead because they have vast databases storing historical learnings from thousands of previous campaigns spanning a vast range of media channels, from which predictive models can be created. Expect to see powerful channel planning systems in place in five years' time. But why, you might ask, are media agencies in a better position than their creative, digital or direct counterparts to spearhead this specialism? Because media agencies tend to have longer and more senior relationships with clients and, so, a bigger bank of primary data from which they can build these databases and build connections. Also, more than any other type of agency, media agencies have had to transform and modernize for the changing media environment: they couldn't differentiate themselves by creative work so they were forced to up their game in other areas — data being a key area. Additionally, they are the only type of agency that can truly claim to be channel-neutral in their approach.
Prediction 3: Econometric modelling will be cheaper and more widely available to clients.
Savvy media agencies continue to build the infrastructure to capture data because they know that this gives them the power to understand what drives consumers. Increasingly, agencies will combine all of their network learnings into dynamic software systems in order to create predictive models that can be updated with real-time information. Through economies of scale, this will lead to agencies reducing the price for econometric modelling (currently expensive) and running more tactical and cheaper models that can be made available to more clients.
Prediction 4: Agencies will automate wherever possible.
More and more of what media agencies do will become streamlined, optimized and automated by better software. Media agencies will do what Google already does and create automated media planning and buying software. Clients will have the option of operating this software themselves. In fact, PHD has already launched a first stage version of this software called "Director," which allows the client to "direct" direct response campaigns. However, we predict that most clients will have no interest in operating this software and continue to handover the task of planning and buying campaigns to their agencies. Automation will also have an effect on digital, where the pressure to keep down costs will be relieved through more automated systems for campaign management.
What automation will mean for planning/strategy
The role of planning/strategy in five years' time deserves special attention because we believe this function will undergo the biggest transformation. With all of this automation, strategists and planners will be freed up to deliver a much more sophisticated and evolved form of planning. This is just as well because, in five years' time, planners will be faced with an even greater number of potential channels and ways of influencing a target audience.
In 2014, planners/strategists will be seen as "marketing investment managers" (MIMs). They will be valuable resources that clients can tap for ideas on all aspects of their business. Clients will ask planners/strategists questions such as: Should we spend more or less on advertising? Should we change our packaging? Should we create a new variant? Should we enter a partnership? Should we launch a new product?
It's true that media agencies before now have not invested enough in strategy. This is why small strategy shops sprung up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. However, investing in strategy-supporting resources is now a priority for global networks. In five years' time, we believe there will be a number of new resources to support planners/strategists so they can fulfill this wider role, such as:
* Psychological-based research: to better understand how communications affect cognition. PHD is already a big investor in fMRI scanning, which we have invested in since 2005 with the launch of our global planning product, Neuroplanning. Other players have made similar investments. By 2014, leading communications agencies will have neuroexperts and consumer psychologists working in-house.
* Marketing investment planning software: This tool will be created by combining analysis of historical client activity with secondary source research such as TGI and MRI, providing a powerful new channel-planning tool. Omnicom Media Group's BrandScience has already started doing this.
* Scenario planning tools based on computational marketing (also known as game theory): This takes into account how a host of factors affect a market (such as distribution, climate and word of mouth) and derive planning insights that are not evident from traditional planning techniques. Weather forecasters, for example, are currently using similar approaches. This will enable clients to scenario plan different strategies and see the effects on sales. This will give clients that invest in them an unrivalled competitive advantage. PHD is already working with Fleetwell Analytics to develop this area.
* NPD resources: Agencies such as Bartle Bogle Hegarty have already launched NPD departments, but these will be much more common by 2014. They will be hubs where new marketing ideas can be explored.
* Digital relationship managers (DRMs): These managers will be found in the digital department and will prove an invaluable resource to planners. They will build and maintain databases of consumers who can be tapped into for new ideas and who can be used to gauge the influence of a brand. These consumers will contribute ideas and feedback in return for exclusive information and free products and will be segmented according to their interests. DRMs will provide such a competitive advantage that clients will ask to audit agencies' databases as part of the pitch process.
That is our vision of the media agency in 2014. We believe technology will play the central role in shaping the media landscape in five years' time, particularly technology that blurs the lines between traditional boundaries. And we will continue to monitor technology and seek to understand the next-step effects for media. Above all, the consumer and how he or she chooses to use technology will drive us.
Nevertheless, whatever happens, we believe that the media agency must be at the center of any change, taking the lead in driving forward this new age of accountability, creativity and strategy.
At PHD we urge you to stay ahead of the curve — the view's a little different there.
Mark Holden is one of PHD Worldwide's thought leaders and managing partner of PHD Australia, an Omnicom Group company.
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Will the Resident Season 7 Return in 2023? Here's What We Know
The Resident Season 7 Release Date: The Resident's Season 7 launch date has been determined after considerable anticipation. The highly acclaimed drama's eagerly awaited second season will debut in 2023. The Resident, an American drama series, makes its Disney+ premiere. The online series The Resident, which debuted in 2022, is being continued in this current season.
Season 7 will surely have fans on the edge of their seats, as Season 6's cliffhanger demonstrated. The production crew and actors of The Resident are excellent, and the show is quickly moving up the rating ladder. Mark your calendars today to get ready for The Resident's upcoming thrilling season.
Also Read: Wednesday Season 2 Release Date: Netflix Announces Next Season
The Resident Season 7 Release Date
The Resident Season 7 Cast
The Resident Season 7 Plot
The Resident Season 6 Rating
The Resident Season 7 Trailer
The world's biggest ad-supported streaming service, Disney+, is likely to debut The Resident: Season 7 in the spring of 2023. We can only speculate, but we'll let you know as soon as we find out more.
Dr. Conrad Hawkins, portrayed by Matt Czuchry, and Nicolette Nevin, played by Emily VanCamp, were the show's main characters. Additionally, Manish Dayal (as Dr. Devon Pravesh), Bruce Greenwood (as Dr. Randolph Bell), Shaunette Renée Wilson (as Dr. Mina Okafor), Malcolm-Jamal Warner (as Dr. AJ Austin), Jane Leeves (as Dr. Kitt Voss), Glenn Morshower (as Marshall Winthrop), Morris Chestnut (as Dr. Barrett Cain), and Melina Kanakaredes as Dr.
The fact that the program is about medical professionals means that it regularly highlights the enormous sacrifices that physicians and nurses make in order to prioritize the needs of their patients. Although the medical team at Chastain Memorial Hospital also faces personal and professional obstacles, they persevere in this drama for the sake of their patients.
Conrad faced the challenges of parenting his daughter by alone after losing his wife Nic in the fifth season. He goes on dates in an effort to create some sort of pattern in his life, but soon discovers that he is involved in a love triangle with Cade and Billie. Devon and Leela reunited, and Kit and Randolph got engaged.
The Resident's first season premiered on August 5, 2022, and all of its fans loved watching this suspenseful show. On the internet, the series earned a lot of favorable comments and ratings. The Resident season 6 has received favorable reviews from 69% of Google users, 7.8/10 on IMDb, and 75% of rotten tomatoes.
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The fact that Season 6 won't premiere until September 20 of this year may be the reason why the Season 7 trailer hasn't changed yet.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


As I revisit my mentoring blog series, I am on to my second Grandpa: Geeps. My Dad's dad. James Norwood Blazer, Senior. I wrote a lot, I could revise it; I could easily write more.
My regret is not learning his hobby from him: refinishing furniture. I learned a lot about being a good man from him; I still long for more of his heart and story. I look forward to seeing him in the New Heavens and New Earth (where I assume he will have hair).
It should be said: I don't have a lot of regrets. I have made a lot of mistakes, but most of them were not based on bad motives – they were just me not being mature and I grew from them. I regret not learning about planes, wood, leather, sanding from Geeps. It would have been good for my young male heart.


CARNEROS — Amid drought, Carneros farmers are anticipating the addition of a new irrigation water source that will be virtually drought-proof.
The Los Carneros Water District and Napa Sanitation District held a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday for a $20 million recycled water line project. By next year, recycled water will travel in a 9-mile pipeline through this south county grape-growing region.
Steve Moore of the state Water Resources Control Board said he's asked what the state is doing to deal with the four-year drought. As he attended the groundbreaking on a hill at Acacia Vineyard overlooking a distant San Pablo Bay, he had an answer.
"We're doing things like this," he said.
The water will have its origins in the city of Napa, traveling through the sewer system to the Napa Sanitation District plant south of Highway 29 and the Butler Bridge. After the city's sewage is cleaned up, the resulting highly treated water can be used for irrigation, but not for drinking.
A decade ago, Napa Sanitation District had trouble getting rid of recycled water. Now, its recycled water is in great demand.
The district is building a pipeline to bring irrigation water to the rural Coombsville area east of the city of Napa. When that project and the Carneros project are finished, the district will have increased its recycled pipe network from 11 miles to 25 miles and doubled its recycled water sales, officials said.
Rather, the sanitation district also uses its recycled water to help out in rural farm areas.
The Carneros recycled water project is a long time coming. John Stewart of the Los Carneros Water District said the idea dates to the late 1970s, when the area had cow pastures and orchards instead of vineyards.
"It's taken a couple of generations to get this thing together," he said.
More than 100 Los Carneros properties will pay an assessment to help cover the pipeline costs. The figure of $150 per acre per year was mentioned at the groundbreaking ceremony, but Stewart said the precise cost is being settled. District officials talked last summer about a $200-per-acre annual bill.
Grants are helping to lessen the amount that must be borrowed for the project. For example, the project received a $1 million federal grant last summer and $2 million state grant earlier this year.
Lincoln said that the 125 acres of Beckstoffer vineyards in the Carneros area use water from small reservoirs. Every winter, he has to worry about whether the reservoirs will fill. They did this winter.
Having a reliable water source from the recycled water pipeline will translate to a reliable grape supply for vintners and stability for vineyard workers, Lincoln said.
Copyright 2015 Napa Valley Register. All rights reserved.


text:
Copyright 2014 Mentor Graphics Corp.  All Rights Reserved.

---

# Add more information for Instance variables in Variable view such as related instances
### xtUML Project Implementation Note

1. Abstract
-----------
Currently, only model class attributes are displayed in the Variables view,
which is not good since the user needs to use other views, e.g. Session
Explorer, to find more information about the instance.

2. Document References
----------------------
[1] Issues 135, https://github.com/xtuml/internal/issues/135
[2] CQ DEI dts0100895768 - Add more information for Instance variables in
	Variable view such as related instances.
[3] Design note : < cvs >\Documentation\internal\technical\notes\dts0100895768\dts0100895768.dnt
[4] CQ DEI dts0101070518 - Group related instances and Pending Events under
	parent tree node in Session Explorer view

3. Background
-------------
None.

4. Requirements
---------------
See [3]

5. Work Required
----------------
See [3]

6. Implementation Comments
--------------------------
6.1 In Addition to the added children (Current State, Last Executed Transition,
and related instances) to the instance, the Pending Events is added as well
to the instance children.

6.2 Unlike what is mentioned the design note, related instances will be grouped under
the association tree element in the variables view. Same things for Pending Events.

6.3 The order of the instance children is changed to match the same order
in Session Explorer view which is :
		- Last Executed Transition
		- Current State
		- Attributes
		- Pending Events
		- Related Instances

6.4 A separated issue is raised [4] to decide if we need to change the instance
children representation for session explorer view, by grouping related instances
under association tree element.

6.5 The proper icons are displayed for the new added instance children (Current
State, Last Executed Events, Pending Events, and Associations)

6.6 The value of variables sets (instance set, related instance set, and Pending Event set) in
	Variables view is changed to display the set length at the beginning of value
	string. This change allow the user to determine the size of the set without
	need to count them manually.

Before:
R1.'Teaches'	3:Subject, 4:Subject, 5:Subject

After:
R1.'Teaches'	[3]  3:Subject, 4:Subject, 5:Subject

7. Unit Test
------------
7.1 Debug verifier tests must pass.
7.2 Although it is mention in [3] that a manual test will be added, but
	with investigation, it is found that automated test can be done without
	much effort. therefore, a new junit class test is added.
	The test execution a model in verifier, set breakpoint and execute the
	model, then inspect/expand elements in Variables view and validate their
	existence, value, and repetition.

8. Code Changes
---------------
Branch name: 135_dts0100895768_NM

<pre>

com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/ui/BPDebugModelPresentation.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/ui/model/BPDebugElement.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/ui/model/BPStackFrame.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/ui/model/BPValue.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/ui/model/BPVariable.java

com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui.test [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/
    VerifierTestSuite2.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui.test [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/engine/SignalParameterPassingTest.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui.test [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/test/InstanceVariableViewTests.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui.test [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/ui/test/DebugUITestUtilities.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui.test [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/ui/test/execute/VerifierExecuteActionTests.java
com.mentor.nucleus.bp.debug.ui.test [internal 135_dts0100895768_NM]/src/com/
    mentor/nucleus/bp/debug/ui/test/execute/
    VerifierExecuteActionTestsGlobals.java

-
</pre>

End
---

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Page 1 of 5, items 1 to 25 of 114.
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text:
News / National Sickle Cell Disease Poll of African Americans Dispels Long-Held Views
National Sickle Cell Disease Poll of African Americans Dispels Long-Held Views
Pfizer, NNPA, and Howard University Collaborate to Improve Public Education and Awareness
Thursday, September 21, 2017 - 10:00am
Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE), the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), and scholars from Howard University today announced results from a new national poll designed to deepen understanding and gauge perceptions around sickle cell disease (SCD) among African Americans. The poll, which included responses from adults in the US who self-identified as African American, revealed that while the majority of respondents were familiar with SCD and understood the disease in general, only one-third (36%) were aware that it disproportionately affects people of African descent,1 demonstrating a critical need for education and awareness.
Sickle cell disease is a lifelong and debilitating disorder that affects red blood cells.2 It is the most common inherited blood disorder in the US, and most people living with sickle cell disease are of African descent.3 In fact, SCD occurs in one out of every 365 African American births.4
"These poll findings will give our readers an in-depth understanding of how sickle cell disease is perceived by African Americans," said Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr., President of NNPA, a trade association of 211 African American-owned community newspapers from around the US. "With this knowledge from the dedicated research team at Howard University, and through our collaboration with Pfizer, we can spur meaningful conversation and assess the best ways to improve disease education for those impacted in our communities."
The poll also revealed:
Despite long-standing historical perceptions of mistrust in medical professionals by the African American community, in this poll 91% of respondents indicated that they believed health care professionals to be trustworthy.1
Over three quarters (79%) of respondents described SCD as "more important" or "just as important" as other health conditions.1
Most respondents (76%) had positive or neutral attitudes toward SCD clinical trials and a majority indicated a willingness to participate in future clinical trials for SCD, given appropriate knowledge and recommendations from health care professionals.1
Historically, clinical trial recruitment obstacles have been a barrier in SCD research. In a review of 174 SCD trials, difficulty enrolling patients was the stated cause in nearly half of the trials that terminated early.5
The majority (79%) of respondents understood the importance of disease education and expressed the need for additional current information, specifically regarding pain relief, clinical trials, and progress toward better treatment or a cure.1
"We are encouraged by the poll results as they have allowed us to gain a better understanding of the perceptions of SCD among African Americans. These insights will not only help us determine how to further enhance disease education and awareness, but will also help us educate SCD patients and their families about the importance of clinical trials in bringing novel treatment options to market for those in need," said Dr. Kevin W. Williams, Chief Medical Officer, Pfizer Rare Disease. "Through our work with patients and the community, as well as through research and development and clinical trials, Pfizer remains committed to addressing the unmet needs of people affected by sickle cell disease."
The poll is a key initiative under the Pfizer-NNPA collaboration. Throughout the rest of 2017, a series of articles with more information regarding SCD, its impact, as well as the common myths, is also being published in NNPA-affiliated newspapers. The poll results and information about SCD will be shared with the NNPA network and incorporated into future educational programs. More information about SCD can be found at www.Pfizer.com/RareDisease. For more information about the NNPA, please visit www.nnpa.org.
About the Poll
The National Poll of African Americans on Sickle Cell Disease Awareness questionnaire was conducted via a telephone interviewing system by the Howard University Interdisciplinary Research Team on behalf of Pfizer Inc. and the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) between June 15, 2017 and July 15, 2017. A total of 741 surveys were completed, drawing from 31,934 telephone calls made that resulted in polling answers from 741 individuals aged 20–70 living across the US, who identified as being of African American ethnicity. Poll respondents were selected from individuals who had agreed to participate in the survey through the Howard University Interdisciplinary Research Team. Results are weighted to the African American population projected by the Census in the American Community Survey. The poll was conducted using a nationally representative survey of the African American population to accurately measure the knowledge, perceptions, and behavior of the community with regard to sickle cell disease.
Pfizer Rare Disease
Rare disease includes some of the most serious of all illnesses and impacts millions of patients worldwide,6 representing an opportunity to apply our knowledge and expertise to help make a significant impact on addressing unmet medical needs. The Pfizer focus on rare disease builds on more than two decades of experience, a dedicated research unit focusing on rare disease, and a global portfolio of multiple medicines within a number of disease areas of focus, including hematology, neuroscience, and inherited metabolic disorders.
Pfizer Rare Disease combines pioneering science and deep understanding of how diseases work with insights from innovative strategic collaborations with academic researchers, patients, and other companies to deliver transformative treatments and solutions. We innovate every day leveraging our global footprint to accelerate the development and delivery of groundbreaking medicines and the hope of cures.
Click here to learn more about our Rare Disease portfolio and how we empower patients, engage communities in our clinical development programs, and support programs that heighten disease.
Working together for a healthier world®
At Pfizer, we apply science and our global resources to bring therapies to people that extend and significantly improve their lives. We strive to set the standard for quality, safety and value in the discovery, development and manufacture of health care products. Our global portfolio includes medicines and vaccines as well as many of the world's best-known consumer health care products. Every day, Pfizer colleagues work across developed and emerging markets to advance wellness, prevention, treatments and cures that challenge the most feared diseases of our time. Consistent with our responsibility as one of the world's premier innovative biopharmaceutical companies, we collaborate with health care providers, governments and local communities to support and expand access to reliable, affordable health care around the world. For more than 150 years, we have worked to make a difference for all who rely on us. We routinely post information that may be important to investors on our website at www.pfizer.com. In addition, to learn more, please visit us on www.pfizer.com and follow us on Twitter at @Pfizer and @Pfizer_News, LinkedIn, YouTube, and like us on Facebook at Facebook.com/Pfizer.
About the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA)
The NNPA is a national trade association of 211 Black and women-owned U.S. media companies with a weekly print and digital readership of over 20.1 million Black Americans. The Black Press of America is 190 years old. The NNPA is known as the Black Press of America and the Voice of Black America, because its member publishers are trusted, respected and embedded in their local communities where they provide significant influence and impact. Learn more about the NNPA.org.
1 Data on file. Pfizer Inc, New York, NY.
2 National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. What is sickle cell disease? https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/health-topics/topics/sca. 2016. Accessed August 25, 2017.
3 National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). Learning about sickle cell disease. https://www.genome.gov/10001219/learning-about-sickle-cell-disease/. 2016. Accessed July 31, 2017.
4 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data and statistics. http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/sicklecell/data.html. 2016. Accessed August 25, 2017.
5 Lebensburger JD, Hilliard LM, Pair LE, et al. Systematic review of interventional sickle cell trials registered in ClinicalTrials.gov. Clinical Trials. 2015:12(6):575-583. doi:10.1177/1740774515590811.
6 Pfizer Inc. Rare Disease. Areas of focus. http://www.pfizer.com/health-wellness/disease-conditions/rare-diseases/a.... Accessed August 25, 2017. PP-RDP-USA-0236-01
Steven Danehy, 212-733-1538
Claudette Perry, 212-588-8764 Ext. 2


This terms topic is 'I love Planet Earth'. We will use this as a learning point to learn all about human and physical features of our world.
The children will learn what physical features make up the Earth and how these change over time and create a constantly changing landscape. They will also study the history and geography of other cultures around the world and use this to broaden their understanding of life as we know it around the globe.
TIME for kids Select a continent or a country to learn about.


text:
Category Archives: Penguin By Hand
The Forty Rules of Love
Historical fiction novel about Sufism and love
Content warning: sexual assault
Quite some time ago I started collecting these beautiful Penguin by Hand editions. There were six books written by women published with embossed covers inspired by different types of craft. I have three in my collection (so far) but have only reviewed "The Help" and "The Postmistress". This book is just as beautiful as the others with a gorgeous tactile embossed design inspired by cross-stitch. I actually can't believe it has been over five years since I last reviewed a book in this series. I feel like I have picked this one up and put it with a handful of books to read on several trips, but it has never made it to the top of the pile until now.
Image is of "The Forty Rules of Love" by Elif Shafak. The paperback book is resting on a red scarf with dark amber beads laying diagonally across the top of the photograph. The cover has a cross-stitch design with whirling dervishes and a border of a dark and light blue zigzag design.
"The Forty Rules of Love" by Elif Shafak is a novel within a novel. The first story is about a mother called Ella who lives with her husband and three children. Her days are mostly spent on housework and preparing elaborate meals for her family. Despite being in the family home day in, day out, her family seem to be drifting away from her and her life feels meaningless. However, when she gets a part-time job reading for a literary agency, suddenly everything changes. The first book she is asked to read, the novel within this novel, is called Sweet Blasphemy by an author called A. Z. Zahara. This, on the other hand, is a historical fiction story set in today's Iran in the mid-1200s about a Persian poet called Shams who befriends and becomes the spiritual instructor of an Islamic scholar known as Rumi. At the beginning of the story, we learn that Shams had a pivotal impact on Rumi's poetry and that he was murdered. As Ella reads the story of Shams and Rumi, she begins to feel more and more inspired by love and decides to email the author.
I am no expert in poetry, but this book has just reaffirmed to me the strength of Iran and Persia's poetry tradition. My favourite parts of the books were by far the Sweet Blasphemy chapters. Shafak uses a range of characters to examine different parts of Persian society: a novice, a beggar, an alcoholic, a sex worker, Rumi, members of his household and even the person who killed Shams. There was an incredible magnetism between Shams and Rumi and even if their relationship was strictly platonic, it certainly felt very romantic. I also really enjoyed Shams' rules and how each rule tied into the theme of each chapter. It was also a fascinating history of the origin of whirling dervishes.
I did find, however, that I was much less invested in Ella's story. Somehow compared to the historical significance of Shams and Rumi and the mark they made on poetry and religion, Ella's difficulties with her family, love life and career just weren't as engaging. I could see that her story did serve to bring modern relevance to Shams and Rumi, but I'm not sure it was enough to keep me compelled.
A beautifully written novel, especially Shams and Rumi's story, but a little unevenly paced.
Filed under Book Reviews, General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Penguin By Hand, Pretty Books
Tagged as book reviews, books, Elif Shafak, Mount TBR Reading Challenge, Penguin By Hand, pretty books, The Forty Rules of Love
The Postmistress
This book is part of the Penguin By Hand set and like "The Help", it has a beautiful embossed cover. The embossing matches the design and you get the wonderful tactile experience of it feeling as though it's been cross stitched. I'd been eyeing off the set for a while, and bought myself this book as a treat for finishing a unit at university.
"The Postmistress" by Sarah Blake is a World War II story set in 1941 about three women. There is Iris, who is the postmistress in a small town called Franklin in the USA; Emma, the Franklin doctor's new wife; and Frankie, an American newsreader based in London that the other two women hear on the radio. The women are united by the increasingly irrefutable impact of the war in Europe on America, and by a letter to be delivered.
I have very complex feelings about this book. On the one hand, Blake is without a doubt a beautiful writer who has brought to life a fraught period in world history from a number of perspectives. Her research is excellent and the detail of her own descriptions of everyday life as well as that of Frankie's observations in her reports on the radio are very immersive. Frankie is an excellent character and Blake does a great job of handling the peculiar situation women found themselves in during World War II with burgeoning opportunities resulting from necessity and changing social attitudes but the lingering sexism of the past still very much present.
There are some wonderful subtleties in this book, however I did find myself wanting more from the story. I felt that Blake simply did not do the character of Iris, the postmistress, justice. I was completely disinterested in Iris' blossoming romance with the town mechanic. What I wanted to know more about was about Iris herself. There were only a handful of chapters told from her perspective, and there was scanty information given about all the things I was desperate to know. How did she get the job as postmistress? What was it like working in the post office? I was way more interested in her troubleshooting the machine that printed dates on the letters than I was in her anxiety over her virginity. I feel like with books that look retrospectively at the chronically underwritten role of women in history almost have a duty to look at the influence women had on keeping society running. Blake did a fantastic job in this sense with Frankie, so it just seemed out of step that Iris' character was cheapened by reducing her to not much more than her relationship with a man.
The other thing that I felt was a wasted opportunity (and this is a minor spoiler, so if you want to read the book completely unsullied, skip to the final paragraph now) was that Blake hints that Frankie's housemate Harriet had actually met Otto's wife in London before they were separated in Spain and he went on alone to America. I was hoping that somehow Frankie might have put two and two together, and delivered some of Harriet's intel or a letter or something but Otto's story was left in limbo (which, fair enough, it is WWII – that's realistic) and Frankie's focus is elsewhere. I think I just felt that maybe where other things had failed and gone wrong, that could have been a nice little thing amongst the collective disaster of war to go right.
This is a well-written book with some great historical and literary merit, and this edition in particular is absolutely gorgeous. A unique take on America's role in WWII that perfectly captures the senselessness of war, but that I wanted a little bit more from when it came to some of the characters.
Filed under Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Penguin By Hand
Tagged as book reviews, books, Penguin By Hand, sarah blake, the postmistress, women, world war two
This is one of the rare times that I saw the film before I read the book. I remembered quite liking the film "The Help" at the time, but thinking that it lacked depth. I had intended on reading the book, but hadn't gotten around to it because to be honest, I wasn't really that enthusiastic. Then I came across the Penguin By Hand Series. A series of general fiction books written by women, these beautiful paperback editions each show off a different kind of craft in beautiful embossed designs. "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, is gorgeously decorated like a quilt and if you run your fingertips across the cover, it feels like it's been quilted. I picked up a copy and I'm hoping to eventually get the full set of these beautiful books.
"The Help" is set in Jackson, a city in the state of Mississippi, USA in the early 1960s, where racist attitudes and racist laws are still very much in force. The book is narrated by three different women: two maids and a graduate. Aibileen is a black maid who has been working for white families for decades. Minny, who is also a black maid, is Aibileen's younger friend whose smart mouth gets her into a lot of trouble. Skeeter is a young white woman who has just come back from college and is looking to start her career in journalism. When Skeeter's friend Hilly conspires to introduce separate toilets for black maids in a racially motivated "health initiative", Skeeter is inspired to interview black maids in Mississippi and write about the their lives. However, the risks of being caught after curfew and of the maids being found out by their employers, not to mention the risk that the story won't even get published, prove to be significant hurdles for Skeeter's scheme.
I wasn't expecting much from this book, but I was surprised at how much I liked it. The film is almost more of a comedy than a drama and paints Skeeter as an almost insufferable Mary-Sue. The book is far, far better with a lot more substance and nuance. Skeeter is much more well-rounded as a character with plenty of faults and many sacrifices to make. Instead of being a book about a privileged girl following her dreams of becoming a writer, it is a book about a white woman learning that good intentions are no substitute for empathy and understanding. I thought that Aibileen and Minny were also much better depicted in the book, with far more focus on their home lives and their own perspectives. I really felt that where the movie glossed over the racial issues, the book went into far more depth and detail. Minny in particular has so much more going on than meets the eye, and is an incredibly complex and interesting character.
Stockett is a convincing and evocative writer with a real flair for characters and relationships. I think my only lingering reservation is that I would have liked to have seen a story of working as a black maid in Mississippi in the '60s written by a black author. I was somewhat mollified after reading "Cane River" and I do think that Stockett was able to tackle this topic with sensitivity and insight. A surprisingly enjoyable novel that is easy to read, I would highly recommend it over the film.
Filed under Book Reviews, General Fiction, Historical Fiction, Penguin By Hand
Tagged as book review, books, kathryn stockett, the help, tinted edges


text:
Major Spoilers
Major Spoilers Question Of The Day: "Gimme A Q! Gimme An O! Gimme A T! Gimme A D!" Edition
By Matthew Peterson on	 June 2, 2013 5 Comments
From the earliest days of Major Spoilers, I have tried to instill in others a greater appreciation for the forsaken characters, titles and forgotten moments of comic-book history, many of which have never gotten much positive attention. Cheerleading for the likes of Matter-Eater Lad, Herbie The Fat Fury and the writing of Bill Mantlo can be depressing, though, even for someone like myself, and occasionally it's fun to play 'What If?.' What if, instead of 'New Teen Titans' becoming popular, Black Lightning had been the book to save DC from utter doom? What if, instead of Rob Liefeld, John Byrne had been a founding member of the Image Seven? What if, instead of 'Ultimate Spider-Man,' Bendis and Jemas had reinvigorated 2000s Marvel with 'Ultimate Power Man and Iron Fist?' There's even the more frivolous question of whether would people be less condescending if 'Fifty Shades of Grey', instead of being a Twilight fan-fic, featured the cast of 'The Warriors?'
(The answer is, no. They would not.)
Still, if we've learned nothing else from Basco Ta'Jalokia, it's that you can't get something good without giving something else up, which leads us down a peculiar path of inquiry…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, "misquoted") finds that there's seldom a best of both worlds situation, especially in comics and such, but is nonetheless asking: If you had the power to make one obscure thing that you love become super-popular, but in return one other thing that you love would have to become obscure, what two items would you choose? (For the purposes of our question, this would be an irreversible process.)
Major Spoilers Question Of The Day
Previous ArticleWayne's Comics Podcast #92: Henry Saine
Next Article REVIEW: Earth 2 Annual #1
Matthew Peterson
Once upon a time, there was a young nerd from the Midwest, who loved Matter-Eater Lad and the McKenzie Brothers... If pop culture were a maze, Matthew would be the Minotaur at its center. Were it a mall, he'd be the Food Court. Were it a parking lot, he'd be the distant Cart Corral where the weird kids gather to smoke, but that's not important right now... Matthew enjoys body surfing (so long as the bodies are fresh), writing in the third person, and dark-eyed women. Amongst his weaponry are such diverse elements as: Fear! Surprise! Ruthless efficiency! An almost fanatical devotion to pop culture! And a nice red uniform.
Dueling Review: Blue and Gold #5
Munchkin Land #647: Mountains out of Molehills
Major Spoilers Podcast #960: Flash Gordon: The Death Planet
Armaan on June 2, 2013 11:58 am
Avatar, The Last Airbender. I want THAT to blow up again. I would totally sacrifice…
Okay, question. If you're willing to sacrifice it do you really love it that much in the first place? I mean, does saying "I'd unpopularize this for THIS" automatically mean I don't really love it as much?
But I'd give up the Avengers movie's popularity from the world.
Frank on June 2, 2013 5:12 pm
In the world of Marvel, send Deadpool to obscurity and bring Alpha Flight into the limelight.
DC wise, that's a bit harder. Maybe send Batman (heresy, I know) to the minor league and raise up Firestorm up.
Vandalous on June 2, 2013 11:16 pm
For some reason when I was wee lad, I was totally into Power Pack. I'd happily trade any mutie group for this young foursome of alien-infused badassery.
Derek Viger on June 3, 2013 8:20 am
I'd like to see the His Dark Materials series get a bit more love. Sure the first book got a semi-faithful adaptation, and there is a decent audio drama out there, but it deserves a full movie or animated series.
Sorry Mad Men, but you'd have to go back to obscurity. I love ya to death, but you've rode the zeitgeist for long enough.
zookningel on June 4, 2013 5:45 pm
The more obscure the better; less chance that somebody will reboot it badly


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Sir Fred Goodwin, the former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, was able to remove crucial warnings about the risk the bank was taking from a letter sent by the UK regulator to the lender's board.
The report said the bank's collapse was because of "poor decisions", but added there were no grounds for legal action against any of its senior managers, including Sir Fred, or its board.
A Financial Services Authority notice to the RBS board containing details of its concerns over the bank's deteriorating relationship with its officials, as well as worries over its exposure to commercial property loans, was watered down, according to a report into the lender's collapse published on Monday.
The FSA admitted it was "common practice" to send out draft copies of so-called "ARROW" letters, a risk assessment document, to bank chief executives and said Sir Fred had "proposed changes" to one such letter in 2005.
"The effect of these [changes] may have been to obscure from the board of RBS that the FSA had not always regarded the dialogue with RBS's executive management as constructive," said the report.
The FSA added that the change by Sir Fred to the letter's warning about RBS's exposure to commercial property lending may have meant the bank's board "did not appreciate the extent of the FSA's concern about RBS's management of the risks associated with its corporate lending".
The long-awaited, 452-page report into RBS's collapse offers a damning indictment of the way the bank was run in the years before its collapse in October 2008. RBS was only rescued after a £45bn direct capital injection by the taxpayer, as well as several hundred billion pounds of state loans and guarantees.
The report said the bank's collapse was because of "poor decisions" but added there were no grounds for legal action against any of its senior managers, including Sir Fred, or its board.
Lord Turner, chairman of the FSA, used its publication to call for hostile bank takeovers to be outlawed. "They should either be completely banned or the regulator should have power to block them," he added.
Last night, there was a call for senior resignations at the FSA. John Mann MP, a member of the Treasury Select Committee (TSC), said Hector Sants, the regulator's chief executive, should not take up a new post as a deputy Governor of the Bank of England.
Mr Sants took over as chief executive in July 2007 and was in charge when RBS completed its disastrous acquisition of Dutch financial group ABN Amro in October of that year.
The FSA chief also presided over the bank's controversial early 2008 rights issue, which followed weeks of denials that the bank needed more capital and came shortly after it had announced a raised dividend.
Publication of the FSA report only came after a political backlash last December when the regulator closed its investigation into RBS saying it found no grounds for further enforcement actions and would not be making its work public. Andrew Tyrie, chairman of the TSC, led a campaign for the documents to be made public.


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Rhetoric on terrorism reveals underlying Islamophobia
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For the younger generations, religion probably means very different things than it did for our parents. This year, Vassar College Television's (VCTV) new series, "God Only Knows," starring Meghan McDonell…
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There was an article published in The New York Times the other day called "God, Darwin and My Biology Class" by David P. Barash, a Professor of Psychology and Evolutionary…
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Religious students encounter difficulties voicing beliefs
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Letter to the Editor 2/13/14
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It´s been brought to my attention that Professor Joshua Schreier, in the Jan. 22 article "Office of the President Opposes Israel Boycott," refers to Jews as a race. Comparing Israel…
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Q: $x \lim_{n\to\infty}\sum^n_{r=1}\frac{1}{n}\ln\left(\frac{1+\frac{xr}{n}}{1+\frac{x²r²}{n²}}\right)$ into an integral. $$x \lim_{n\to\infty}\sum^n_{r=1}\frac{1}{n}\ln\left(\frac{1+\frac{xr}{n}}{1+\frac{x²r²}{n²}}\right)$$ into an integral.
So this beast right here is the result of a bigger one: $$\lim_{n\to\infty}\left(\frac{n^n(x+n)(x+\frac{x}{2})\dots (x+\frac{n}{n})}{n!(x²+n²)(x²+\frac{n²}{4})\dots (x²+\frac{n²}{n²})}\right)^{\frac{x}{n}}$$ but that's another thing, no need to check on that since I know for a fact that it is correct and it does arrive to the thing above. All I have left os to transform that riemanm sum into a definite integral, but the issue is that I'm unsure on how to do so. Any hints or tips? I've noticed that $dx=\frac{1}{n}$, since it's outside of the function $\ln$ but that's the most I have been able to get to.

A: An overview

*

*For simplicity, suppose $f:[a,b]\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ is a nice continuous function.

*Divide the interval in $n$ pieces, not necessarily of the same length. That is, consider points $\mathcal{P}=\{a=t_0<t_1<\ldots<t_n=b\}$.

*For each subinterval $I_k=[t_{k-1},t_k]$, ($k=1,\ldots,n$), choose a point $t^*_k\in I_k$. Call this $t^*_k$'s tags,  and denote the set of tags as $\tau_{\mathcal{P}}$.

*The Riemann sum for the partition $\mathcal{P}$ and tans $\tau_{\mathcal{P}}$ is defined as
$$S(f,\mathcal{P},\tau_{\mathcal{P}})=\sum^n_{k=1}f(t^*_k)(x_k-x_{k-1})$$

*As you may have seen from your Calculus course, as the partition $\mathcal{P}$ gets finer and finer, and no matter what tags $\tau_{\mathcal{P}}$ one chooses the Riemann sums converge to a number, denoted as $\int^b_a f$ (or $\int^b_b f(t)\,dt$).

*Equivalently, (all this takes substantial effort to make it rigorous terms but let's not worry about that here) as the size of the partition $\|\mathcal{P}\|=\max_{1\leq k\leq n}(x_k-x_{k-1})$ gets smaller and smaller, no matter what tags $\tau_{\mathcal{P}}$ one chooses, the Riemann sums converge to a number, denoted as $\int^b_a f$ (or $\int^b_b f(t)\,dt$).

So far I am probably not telling anything new, but let's use this as a simple overview.
As you may know already, all continuous functions on $[a,b]$ are Riemann integrable, that is the limit of the Riemann sums exists. In particular, we may consider uniform partitions of $[a,b]$, that is partitions of the form $t_k=a+\frac{b-a}{n}k$, $k=0,\ldots, n$, in which case $x_k-x_{k-1}=\frac{b-a}{n}=h_n$. Since the choice of tags is not important, we may as well choose the endpoints (right for example) of the subintervals $I_k=\big[a+h_n(k-1),a+h_nk]$, $k=1,\ldots,n$. Then
$$\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty}\sum^n_{k=1}f\big(a+k\tfrac{b-a}{n}\big)\frac{b-a}{n} =\lim_{n\rightarrow\infty} h_n\sum^n_{k=1}f(a+kh_n)=\int^b_a f$$
Back to you original problem:
The sum in your problem can be written as
$$
S_n=x\sum^n_{k=1}\frac{1}{n}\ln\Big(\frac{1+\tfrac{xk}{n}}{1+\big(\tfrac{xk}{n}\big)^2}\Big)=\frac{x}{h}\sum^n_{k=1}\ln\Big(\frac{1+\tfrac{x}{n}k}{1+\big(\tfrac{x}{n}k\big)^2}\Big)=
h_n\sum^n_{k=1}\ln\Big(\frac{1+h_nk}{1+\big(h_nk\big)^2}\Big)
$$
where $h_n=\frac{x}{n}$. This corresponds to a Riemann sum with uniform partition over $[0,x]$ with $n$ subintervals of size $h_n$ and using the right-end points of subintervals as tags, and function $f(t)=\ln\Big(\frac{1+t}{1+t^2}\Big)$. Hence
$$S_n\xrightarrow{n\rightarrow\infty}\int^x_0\ln\Big(\frac{1+t}{1+t^2}\Big)\,dt$$
I hope this clarify matters.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Are you a massive Harry potter fan? Curious to discover a new sport? Would you like to catch the Golden Snitch?
Yet another wonderful opportunity to celebrate Festival Fortnight!
Alison Thewliss launches Festival Fortnight as the festival enters its fifth consecutive year.
Dream of joining the Circus?
Adventure Circus in Perth are offering a beginners workshop for LGBTI people in association with LEAP.


Commentary: Fortnite just launched on iOS, and so far it captures that battle royale experience with just a few early issues.
Even on the smaller screen, Fortnite looks pretty great.
Has the time for top-tier gaming on a phone finally arrived?
When Epic Games announced Fortnite was coming to iOS, I wasn't convinced they could pull it off. Now that I've played my first game -- I'm pretty amazed with what I'm seeing, but the experience is far from perfect.
Let's talk about the good stuff first. Once I was logged in, I started a game and dropped from the bus as usual. The first thing I noticed was that the map looked pretty amazing from up high -- there was plenty of detail, even if it was on a much smaller screen. The controls include an on-screen joystick on the left for movement, buttons across the bottom to switch weapons and space on the right side to aim and look around. When you're ready to take a shot, you just tap the right side of the screen.
All that seems pretty clear-cut, and it is. But I'm used to playing on the PS4, and while I understand the controls well, I realized quickly it's going to take practice to instinctively know where everything is on a touch screen.
The storm closed toward the Moisty Mire, so I ended up hiding in the muck.
That said, the graphics look almost as good as they do on the console. You can see the blades of grass swaying in the wind, the draw distance is good enough to see far-off players and there are even water effects. Nothing's as good as the console version, but that's the sacrifice needed to run it on an iPhone. There is one big visual issue though -- it's pretty dark. You'll want to bump up the brightness before playing.
Once on the ground, I managed -- if a little slowly -- to loot a couple of houses and score some pretty good gear. From there, I made my way to the center of the storm. In the process, I got into one firefight and managed to win, but mostly it was just my opponent and me flailing around hoping to hit each other. Don't expect a lot of expert marksmanship from the mobile competition.
My main troubles with the game so far are with the audio. On the phone, you can't hear directional sound like you can when you play on a console, which is a big deal. Not knowing where footsteps are coming from can mean death. To solve this, Epic decided to show where sound is coming from with on-screen directional arrows. It sort of works, but it's not ideal -- especially when you're fighting for your survival. I also noticed there were clicks and pops that came through my headphones periodically and frankly, they scared me every time. In a game like Fortnite, you're always listening for the shot that might take you down, so the audio glitches were startling and distracting.
Somehow in my first game, I actually made it all the way to the end and won. Admittedly, I got lucky; I survived until there were only two other people left and they managed to kill each other simultaneously, handing me the Victory Royale.
Overall, I would say Fortnite's iOS port is off to a great start. The controls will take getting used to, and hopefully Epic can do something about those audio problems, but mostly we're getting what was advertised. If things continue to go smoothly, one of the most popular games in the world is about to become a whole lot more popular.


Just How Serious Are Eating Disorders?
Did you know that approximately 24 million people in the U.S. struggle with an eating disorder yet most of them do not know they even have one?
People with eating disorders have an unhealthy relationship with food and their body image. Classified as a mental illness, eating disorders can have life threatening consequences. The three most common types include Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia, and Binge Eating Disorder. But help is available and people do recover. If you think you could have an eating disorder, take this simple and confidential online quiz from The National Association of Eating Disorders, and read on to find out more.
It is a mental illness where there is an unhealthy relationship with food and their body image. Eating disturbances of inadequate or excessive food intake and severe distress or concern about body weight or shape will occur. These habits over time can ultimately damage an individual's well-being.
The most common eating disorders include anorexia nervosa (not eating enough), bulimia nervosa (purging everything you eat) and binge-eating (eating too much).
Though the exact cause of eating disorders is unknown, it is generally believed that a combination of biological, psychological,and/or environmental abnormalities contribute to the development of these illnesses.
Anorexia symptoms: extreme restricted eating, extreme thinning down to bones, relentless pursuit of thinness and unwillingness to maintain a normal or healthy weight, fear of gaining weight, distorted body image, weakness and sluggishness from muscle loss, brittle hair and nails, dry and yellowish skin, low blood sugar, damage structure.
Binge-eating symptoms: eating large amounts of food, eating even when full. fasting during binge episodes, eating until uncomfortably full, eating alone, feeling distressed, ashamed,or guilty about eating, frequently dieting.
Others: dieting despite being hazardously underweight, constant weight fluctuations, obsession with calories and fat contents of food, engaging in ritualistic eating patterns, continued fixation with food, recipes, or cooking, depression or lethargic stage, avoidance of social functions and switching between periods of overeating and fasting.