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Mark Lamster | Essays
Gores House
Of the many individuals who found themselves in the orbit of Philip Johnson over his long life, Landis Gores stands as one of the more fascinating. He was a native of Ohio (like Johnson) who loved horses (he met his wife on a ranch in Wyoming) and played football at Princeton. He met Johnson at Harvard, where the two studied architecture (Gores, though younger, was a class ahead) and developed a shared friendship based on their interest in the classics and a taste for the kind of modern architecture that was not fashionable under Walter Gropius.
Johnson preferred Mies; Gores was more of a Wright man, as the house he built for himself in New Canaan, just after the war, makes plain. Gores's wartime service had been exemplary; he was a part of the now justly mythologized code-breaking team, based in Bletchley Park, England, that broke the cyphers of the Nazi high command. Upon return from the war, he was recruited by Johnson, who needed a deputy to assist him in practice. The collaboration was not too long; Gores, talented in his own right, was anxious to go off on his own. His house, however, though quite different from Johnson's nearby Glass House, was also in many ways modeled on it; set on a promontory with a view; broad expanses of glass opening out onto nature. Gores, sadly, was stricken with polio just a few years after opening his own office, and before the release of the Salk vaccine. It was the end of a promising career. A few more images of the house, designed when Gores was all of 26 (!), follow.
Posted in: Architecture
Mark Lamster is the architecture critic of the Dallas Morning News and a professor at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture. A contributing editor to Architectural Review, he is currently at work on his third book, a biography of the late architect Philip Johnson. Follow: @marklamster.
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Robin Masheb, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry; Director, Veterans Initiative for Eating and Weight (The VIEW at VA CT)
Health Behavior
Christian Pettker, MD
Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences; Chief Patient Safety Officer and Associate Chief Quality Officer, Yale Medicine and Yale New Haven Health; Chief of Obstetrics; Vice Chair of Quality, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences
Fetal Membranes, Premature Rupture
Labor, Obstetric
Labor, Induced
Epidemiologic Research Design
Delivery, Obstetric
Jason L. Schwartz, PhD
Associate Professor of Public Health (Health Policy); Associate Professor in the History of Medicine, and Associate Professor in the Institution for Social and Policy Studies; Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health
Sociology, Medical
Moeun Son, MD, MSCI, FACOG
Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences; Interim Maternal-Fetal Medicine Fellowship Program Director, Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences
Postpartum Hemorrhage
Obstetrical Forceps
Vaginal Birth after Cesarean
Vinod Srihari, MD
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Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
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Peter Whang, MD, FACS, FAAOS
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home / Featured, Industry News, Lenders / Self-Wealth Management Attitudes
Self-Wealth Management Attitudes
Eleanor Montgomery
Over the past several years, numerous aspects of finance have become digitalised. New attitudes and innovations have paved the way for the digital evolution of self-wealth management.
The percentage of online banking users in Great Britain has more than doubled in a decade[1], Monzo now counts 450,000 UK-based users[2], and over 65 peer-to-peer companies have been launched and maintained in the UK alone[3].
With the continuous advancements and developments in the world of technology, it is no surprise that the field of self-wealth and the way in which individuals can manage their personal finances has evolved.
There's a lot of information about the various options open to individuals with personal wealth to manage. Despite this, an increasingly popular trend is emerging; that of entrusting platforms to manage user funds as they see fit. While this does have advantages, including an assured rate of return and a certain removal of responsibility, it is an interesting development in an industry that was founded upon the idea of giving the power to the people.
The element of choice is one of the greatest powers we have as consumers. We value the liberty we have, in weighing up options, comparing prices, analysing our needs, and deciding what to purchase, where from, and when. Why then, are we entrusting fund managers with our money and savings?
In the past, this idea of passing the proverbial buck was understandable. Accurate, factual, unbiased information was often hard to come by. Independent Financial Advisors were professionals who had access to information unavailable to the average person. Now, however, new tools make it quick and easy to analyse financial performance, and we desire to pay less margin to intermediaries. Most platforms, including ours, have dashboards with information relating to each applicant business, as well as explanatory documents, frequently asked questions pages and risk information.
Consumers are now at a point when they can take control and undertake self-wealth management. HENRYs – a term coined by Fortune Magazine in 2003 to describe High Earners, Not Rich Yet – are one key target group, along with millennials and recent retirees. The latter include members of an ageing population, who are taking early retirement and looking to actively manage their savings, in order to create a passive income from interest earnings. The millennials in question are a demographic unit that forms part of the gig economy. While this has advantages, in terms of work-life balance and lifestyle, it does also mean a potential reduction in income; leading to a desire and necessity to carefully manage savings and investigate investment options.
It's not just millennials who want to make their money go further; silver surfers remember the days when interest earnings once generated a passive income. With a little work managing online P2P lending activity, our lenders, many of whom are semi-retired, have been able to generate 9.6%[4] average net returns pa. For many, this has become a dependable complimentary income.
Traditionally, we have been conditioned to believe that we need a professional to manage our finances for us. This, in keeping with the modern finance world in general, is gradually changing. Conventional elements of the industry will need to adapt and adjust to keep up with the ever-evolving financial landscape, and the personal wealth management sector is no exception.
[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/286273/internet-banking-penetration-in-great-britain/
[2] https://monzo.com/press/
[3] http://www.p2pmoney.co.uk/companies.htm
[4] Average Net return, correct as at 06 Dec 2017. Past returns are not indicative of future returns. Capital is at Risk.
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Pebble Beach National Pro-AM 2013: Big Storylines to Watch for
Steven Cook@@stevencookinTwitter LogoFeatured Columnist IVFebruary 7, 2013
Hunter Martin/Getty Images
After a thrilling weekend of golf at the Phoenix Open where Phil Mickelson played at his best, the PGA Tour is moving onto Pebble Beach for the 2013 National Pro-Am.
There are plenty of big storylines heading into Pebble Beach Golf Links, as a $6.5 million purse is up for grabs and golf's best talents look to win at one of the historic golf courses in the world.
We won't be seeing Tiger Woods this weekend, but virtually all of the other elite golfers will be in attendance to try and claim the $1.2 million prize for the winner.
On top of that, some big names from other sports and in pop culture will be playing alongside the professionals.
Let's dive in and check out the biggest storylines to watch for in the upcoming Pebble Beach National Pro-AM.
Can Mickelson Defend His Championship?
Usually after winning big in an exciting weekend, golfers will take some time off. That's not the case for Mickelson.
"Lefty" has a championship to defend as the winner of last year's event, and he'd be hard pressed to skip with that much on the line.
A big part of Mickelson's chances come from his partner, Skip McGee, who is a famous banker. But if Lefty can continue to hit fairways like he did last week and keep his putting form up, it'll be a surprise to see anyone other than Mickelson raising the trophy.
Tony Romo and Jordan Spieth Could Be Deadly
Pro-Am's usually are able to bring in famous folks who are better than average at golf, but there's a glaring omission to that idea with Tony Romo in the field.
The Dallas Cowboys quarterback has tried out for major tournaments more than once and his play has always made storylines. He's also become a staple in the Pro-Am, playing alongside Tiger Woods and John Daly in recent years.
Jordan Spieth is a Dallas native and has played with Romo on more than a few occasions, so their chemistry could make for an interesting team.
Look for the two Dallas boys to make some noise this weekend in Pebble Beach.
Will Dustin Johnson Pick up Win No. 2?
After starting the year off with a bang by winning the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, Dustin Johnson has cooled off a bit.
He didn't appear in last weekend's Phoenix Open, so he'll surely be geared up and ready to go for the Pro-Am.
The No. 4 golfer in the world is set for a breakout year, but the season is still very young and he must keep his priorities in line.
With the Pro-Am, it's easy to lose your focus, but he needs to keep the big picture in mind and strive for victory at Pebble Beach.


Lahore, Mar 29: As many as 2,373 graduates of BS, MS/MPhil, Pharm-D and PhD of the batches of 2012 and 2013 were awarded degrees at the 11th Convocation of the Lahore College for Women University (LCWU) on Monday.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was the chief guest on the occasion, and was accompanied by Governor Muhammad Sarwar and LCWU Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Sabiha Mansoor. Education Minister Rana Mashhood Ahmad, lawmakers, faculty members, students and their parents were also present on occasion.
Addressing the gathering, Shahbaz said that he would open funds for the LCWU if it gains academic rankings of the world universities, conducted by researchers at the Centre for World-Class Universities annually.
"I will open funds for your university if you become part of the world's top 500 universities," Shahbaz announced while addressing the participants of the convocation.
He said that the younger generation was a precious asset and the hope of a bright future of the country. He said that Pakistani women were talented and playing an important role in medical, engineering, education, health and other sectors of national development. He said that the nation was proud of its daughters. He made an appeal to the women to join the practical field after getting their degrees instead of sitting in their homes, so that they could play an active role for national progress and development.
He said that the destiny of the nation could be changed and Pakistan could regain its lost status in the comity of nations through honesty, hard work and determination. He said that universities should be the centre of education and research, but unfortunately, no university of the country was among the top 500 universities of the world. He said that vice chancellors, education authorities and experts should bring the standard of education and research in Pakistani universities at par with international universities. He assured that the Punjab government was ready to provide all funds for this purpose.
While addressing the ceremony, Governor Sarwar said that the future of Pakistan was safe in the hands of the youth who were making progress in various fields of life.
He pointed out that the LCWU was striving to promote quality education among young girls and its role in grooming young ladies speaks of its commitment towards women empowerment.
Sarwar praised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for increasing the budgetary allocation for the education sector. He said that the higher education opens up unlimited vistas and possibilities of success and growth for graduates if they opted for a career. "You are privileged to have an opportunity to study and it is your responsibility to think about the underprivileged, who don't have access to education at all," he said.
Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Sabiha Mansoor informed Governor Sarwar and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif that the LCWU was pursuing its path to be amongst the top ranking universities globally through its Vision 2020 and a landmark five-year strategic plan. She asked parents to encourage and fully support their daughters to take up careers and become economically empowered.
The vice chancellor also pointed out that underprivileged students were receiving specified and need-based scholarships at the LCWU without discrimination. "We are making higher education accessible to students from all walks of life," she said. "The LCWU is a leading teaching and research university and a hub of academic excellence, producing highly skilled, professionally empowered and well-groomed women to make a positive difference in the socio-economic development of Pakistan," she said.
Lahore: Minister for Education Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan has said that Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has allocated initial funds of Rs 2 billion for the constitution of Higher Education Commission Punjab which will help set up new universities instead of upgrading the existing government colleges.
He said this in a meeting with Punjab Professors and Lecturers Association (PPLA) regarding the implementation of 4-tier formula for the promotion of lecturers. The negotiation with the lecturers proved successful after which the PPLA announced to withdraw its ultimatum for protest.
Rana Mashhood said the problems of doctors and teachers should be resolved before they take to the streets. He assured the representatives of professors and lecturers that besides implementation of 4-tier formula for promotion, the genuine rights of young lecturers would also be upheld. It was decided that the seniority lists of lecturers would be updated within next three months.
It was also decided that the number of vacancies in all colleges affiliated with Higher Education Department Punjab would be recalculated while data of lecturers recruited in 2012 would be collected within two months to regularise their services.
Lahore: The Lahore High Court has declared National Testing Service an unapproved body under Higher Education Commission Ordinance 2002 and ruled that the recognised universities/institutions are not under any lawful obligation to conduct tests by the NTS or bound by the results of the tests.
Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah ruled this in a 13-page judgment passed on a writ petition filed by a student of M.Phil (Chemistry), Syeda Anam Ilyas.
The petitioner in order to pursue her Ph.D in Chemistry applied for admission and was required to pass Graduate Assessment Test (GAT) conducted by NTS apparently working under the authority of the HEC.
The grievance of the petitioner was restricted to the marks awarded to her in the GAT by NTS and during the course of hearing this grievance was redressed.
However, an important legal question surfaced during the course of the hearing regarding the legal status and authority of NTS under the law.
The HEC stated in the court that no formal approval from the board of the commission had been granted to NTS to act as national testing body in terms of section 10 (1) (n) of the Higher Education Commission Ordinance, 2002.
The judge also observed that the documents placed on the record by HEC and NTS failed to show that NTS was a duly approved and recognised testing service under the Ordinance.
After hearing all the stakeholders, Justice Shah ruled that the NTS did not have any approval under the HEC Ordinance to hold itself to be as a national testing body in terms of section 10(1)(n) of the Ordinance.
The judge further ruled that the directions issued in favour of NTS by HEC were without lawful authority and any such notification or letter issued by HEC shall be immediately withdrawn.
He, however, observed that the NTS may continue as an entity and act as a testing body but it had no support or blessing of the government and it was voluntary on the universities and educational institutions to engage or not to engage its services. The judge directed that the NTS shall not hold itself as an HEC approved 'national testing service'. It may, however, continue operating as a private entity under the law, but shall not in any manner be taken to be an HEC approved entity.
The judge ordered that the existing arrangement between HEC and NTS shall only continue till May 30, 2014 (cut off date) and HEC shall not enter into any arrangement/contract with NTS after that date.
Lahore: Punjab University (PU), Examinations Department, has issued the schedules for submission of admission fees and forms for Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) (4-Year Programme) in Graphic Design, Textile Design, Painting, Sculpture, Print Making Part-IV Annual Examination 2013.
Lahore: Punjab University (PU) students showed outstanding performance in various co-curricular activities organised by Fatima Jinnah Women University (FJWU) and clinched first positions in all competitions. PU Law College's Sikander obtained first position in photography while College of Art and Design (CAD) student Umme Kalsoom got first position in painting. In Ghazal and Nazam competitions, IBA's Hamza and ICET's Zeeshan Cheema obtained first position, respectively and were declared best team in Bait Baazi.
Lahore: Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif Saturday gave approval to the establishment of Provincial Higher Education Commission in the province here.
This was decided at a high level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif at Chief Minister's Office. Various proposals with regard to promotion of higher education in the province were considered in the meeting.
The meeting also decided to set up state-of-the-art Information Technology University in the Knowledge Park to be established here in the City. Free educational facilities would be provided to the poor but talented children in the Information Technology University.
Addressing the meeting, Shahbaz Sharif said that the Punjab government was taking concrete measures for promotion of higher and quality education in the province. He stressed the need for establishing institution like Provincial Higher Education Commission for the promotion of higher education in the Punjab. He said that universities played very important role for promoting the process of research, therefore, special attention should be paid to the research in the universities.
The CM said that the faculties in the universities should be harmonized with the modern demands of present era. He issued directions to evolve a comprehensive planning for meeting the shortage of Ph.D scholars in the universities of Punjab. He said that the Punjab government would provide all necessary resources for improving the standard of education in the universities of the province.
IT: IT experts of various countries called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif at Arfa Karim Software Technology Park and appreciated his steps for the promotion of information technology in Punjab.
takes notice: Shahbaz Sharif Saturday took notice of torture of a housemaid, Najma, in Bahria Town and sought immediate report from police authorities.
He directed the officials concerned to provide the best treatment facilities to the affected housemaid and take action as per law against those involved in the incident.
message: Shahbaz Sharif Saturday said that 23rd March is very important with regard to Pakistan's Independence Movement as, on this day, the Muslims of the Sub-Continent decided their destiny under the flag of Muslim League.
In his message on Pakistan Day, the CM said the resolution adopted in the historic public meeting at Minto Park, Lahore was the practical shape of the idea of Poet of the East Allama Muhammad Iqbal.


The Republican Party's seven-year quest to undo the Affordable Care Act culminated Friday in a humiliating failure to pass an unpopular bill, sparking questions about how steep the costs will be for its congressional majorities.
While lawmakers have not completely abandoned the effort, they are now confronting the consequences of their flop. Not only has it left the GOP in a precarious position heading into next year's midterm elections, but it also has placed enormous pressure on the party to pass an ambitious and complex overhaul of federal taxes.
Strategists argued for months that Republicans risked more by not acting and alienating their conservative base than by passing an unpopular repeal bill that could turn off swing voters. They now live in the worst of both worlds — with nothing to show for seven years of campaign promises, even though dozens of vulnerable lawmakers cast votes that could leave them exposed to attacks from Democrats.
In the moments after the bare-bones repeal bill failed early Friday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said it was "time to move on." But there seemed to be little stomach afterward among Republicans on Capitol Hill for acknowledging outright failure on their top campaign promise.
Lawmakers did agree, however, that when they return to Washington after Labor Day, they must succeed in their rewrite of the tax code after seven months that have seen too many of their top agenda items untouched.
Off the Hill, the collapse of the repeal effort has left conservative activists fuming about how the GOP could have flinched and pondering payback for the party establishment — particularly several moderate senators who voted for ACA repeal legislation when it had no chance of becoming law only to balk when it did.
In campaign after campaign since the ACA was enacted in 2010, GOP candidates used pledges to "repeal and replace Obamacare" to gain majorities in the House and Senate, and President Trump promised to unravel the law as one of his first acts in office.
Instead, Republicans have continually failed to coalesce around an alternative — vividly demonstrated by the dramatic failure of the "skinny repeal" on the Senate floor early Friday morning. They appear trapped in the fallacy of sunk costs: Having invested so much political capital in the ACA's repeal, they cannot possibly abandon it.
Numerous House lawmakers leaving a closed-door Republican conference meeting hours after the Senate bill collapsed said that efforts to undo the increasingly popular health law would have to continue.
"I am disappointed and frustrated, but we should not give up," House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) declared.
But key figures warned Republicans to move on before the health morass sinks the rest of the party's agenda — most importantly, the tax overhaul.
But conservative activists have been furious in the aftermath of the repeal vote and have cast about for ways to punish those they consider responsible.
The three Republican senators who cast the decisive votes on Friday — Susan Collins of Maine, John McCain of Arizona and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — are largely immune to immediate electoral consequences. Murkowski, who withstood public pressure from Trump, is less than a year into a six-year term; McCain, also reelected last year, is battling an aggressive form of brain cancer; and Collins, who has not faced a serious primary threat since 1996, next stands for reelection in 2020 and is considering a run for governor next year.
But activists are still angry that several other Republican senators — Dean Heller (Nev.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Shelley Moore Capito (W.Va.) and Rob Portman (Ohio), as well as McCain and Murkowski — voted for an ACA repeal measure in 2015, when President Obama was certain to veto it, but opposed an almost identical measure this week knowing Trump could sign it into law.
"That level of cynicism is breathtaking, even in the political world," said Phillips of Americans for Prosperity, which helped drive the public backlash to the ACA ahead of the 2010 Republican congressional wave.
Only Heller faces reelection next year, however, and he has yet to attract a conservative primary challenger despite emerging as a key swing vote who pushed to reduce the scope of the Senate's efforts.
Brandon, whose group deemed the turncoats "Freedom Frauds," said the events of the past months have revealed a party with a double standard in handling its right flank versus its more moderate faction.
Had the Senate's leading conservatives tanked the health bill, he said, "they would be recruiting someone to primary Mike Lee and Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, but that's not happening" with Collins, McCain and Murkowski. He also suggested that the committee chairmanships held by the trio ought to be at risk.
In the House, the political challenge posed to Republicans is the opposite: Dozens of members targeted for defeat by national Democrats voted for the American Health Care Act, the GOP bill judged by the Congressional Budget Office to result in higher premiums for older and sick Americans.
Democrats made clear they intend to use that vote in their 2018 campaigns, even if the bill was never ultimately made law.
On the flip side, House Republicans who cast votes for the bill cannot point to any finished product that might motivate more conservative voters. Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, insisted that the circumstances surrounding the health bill would actually work to the GOP's benefit.
A handful of moderate Republican lawmakers said Friday they would be open to pursuing a bipartisan fix to the ACA. But for most rank-and-file Republicans, the approach is simple: Never say die.
Inside the closed-door conference meeting Friday, Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine) showed his colleagues clips of early Atlanta Falcons touchdowns in this year's Super Bowl — a game won by the New England Patriots after a furious 25-point comeback.
Plenty of House members showed a willingness to hang the health bill's failure on the Senate, which due to its filibuster rules has yet to take up or pass dozens of significant House bills. In a final meeting before a five-week summer recess, Ryan told his colleagues that they represented the most functional branch of government.
But several House members said they were skeptical House Republicans would be able to separate themselves from the other chambers's failure and feared that they, too, would suffer from a dejected GOP base.
Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.), who represents a blue-collar downstate district Democrats are heavily targeting in 2018, said he rarely encounters a constituent who airs frustrations with a particular chamber.


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Powell's Blog
Powell's Blog: Random thoughts on the WWE Survivor Series title matches, Bully Ray appearing at House of Hardcore 3, friends of A.J. Styles paying for airtime on TNA Impact, Main Event Mafia splits but Aces & 8's won't go away
By Jason Powell
-First off, a very heartfelt thank you to all of America's heroes on Veteran's Day.
-WWE needs to deliver a pair of home run shows today and next week if they want to sell the Survivor Series pay-per-view. The two advertised title matches have generated zero steam. We just saw a one-armed John Cena pin Alberto Del Rio last month, and it's hard to care about the WWE Championship right now when its holder has been cast as a secondary player. Challenger Big Show gets favorable reactions from the live crowds, but I really question whether people have enough interest in him to pay $50 to watch him challenge for a damaged title. Either match would be acceptable as the secondary title match on a show headlined by a hot title match, but two bad title matchups does not equal acceptable. These matches feel like Raw or even Smackdown main event fodder rather than something that will generate pay-per-view buys.
As flat as the Cena vs. Del Rio feud seems, I would hate to see creative make it a Triple Threat with Damien Sandow added to the mix. Sure, it makes the match a little more intriguing, but WWE would also run the risk of burning through two opponents in one match. Cena is Superman so it's hard enough to find believable opponents for him these days. I really want WWE to do something big with Sandow, so perhaps they could make him look really strong during a Triple Threat only to have Cena escape with the title by beating Del Rio. Yes, I'm trying to talk myself into liking the Triple Threat idea that I just shot down simply because the Cena vs. Del Rio match does so little for me.
-TNA sending Bully Ray to the House of Hardcore 3 event to make a surprise appearance at the end of the tag team main event was a cool move. I can only hope that the One Night Only "TNA Old School" event it is setting up will be the first event to air next year. It would be a mistake for TNA to lose whatever online buzz they've created for the event by sitting on that show for several months. Either way, I like that TNA took an unconventional route in setting up this match. Company officials need to think outside the box and this was good start.
-On the flip side, I can't say that A.J. Styles defending his version of the TNA Title at a AAA show last weekend does much for me. I don't think viewers buy this as a shoot situation, so it just looks like Styles is being booked via TNA to carry out an angle. Even when I try to look past the obvious copycat nature of the current Styles storyline, I don't think the company did itself any favors by having Dixie Carter say she was giving Styles the title belt as a farewell present. Those who buy into the storyline want to feel like Styles is rebelling and is getting under the skin of Carter.
-It also felt ridiculous that "the friends of A.J. Styles" would be able to pay for airtime on Impact. Did they pay Dixie? Spike TV? This should be presented in a way that suggests someone is finding ways to secretly air the footage against Dixie's will, not something that TNA or Spike TV are willing to air because the price was right.
-The Main Event Mafia going separate ways on Impact was well done. I was hopeful that the company would follow suit with Aces & 8's later in the show, but it looks like the Bully Ray led faction will continue to overstay its welcome. Bully continues to shine on the mic, but a four-man faction that consists of a former champion, two undercard wrestlers, and a color commentator is hard to take seriously. TNA would be better off moving on from the faction and hoping that fans forget all of the cheap Aces & 8's finishes that they've been subjected to.
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A federal judge in Chicago enjoined enforcement Friday of a Justice Department directive that withholds federal funds from so-called sanctuary cities.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, a Ronald Reagan appointee, issued a nationwide injunction staying the program while it is evaluated by the courts.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel brought a challenge against the law to protect the city's status as a sanctuary jurisdiction.
The directive, which Sessions issued in July, requires that all recipients of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant must comply with a federal law mandating information sharing with federal immigration officials. It also permits Department of Homeland Security access to detention facilities to interrogate immigrants and notify DHS 48 hours prior to release of individuals suspected of immigration violations.


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Kerlouan – miejscowość i gmina we Francji, w regionie Bretania, w departamencie Finistère.

Według danych na rok 1990 gminę zamieszkiwało 2406 osób, a gęstość zaludnienia wynosiła 135 osób/km² (wśród 1269 gmin Bretanii Kerlouan plasuje się na 247. miejscu pod względem liczby ludności, natomiast pod względem powierzchni na miejscu 566.).

Bibliografia

Miejscowości w departamencie Finistère

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


ADSI Analog Display Services Interface - Adaptation Box In the VISTEL: project context it is a specific box (hardware and software) developed to assure the management of the interworking between the screenphone terminal P100 and the annexes devices.
MiniTel: The commercial name of the French screenphone terminal for the access to the TéléTel: services.
Screen Phone An enhanced telephone with a display and some functional keys. It is usually based on a programmable microprocessor, RAM and not volatile memory. It can have a small keyboard and additional peripherals such as a card reader, a printer, a RS232 interface. Most screen phones can act as clients for supplementary or Telematic services based on the ADSI protocol.
Screen Reader Software translates a visual display into one which is meaningful with non-visual output.
Soft Key A function key with a special position on the keyboard, that can be associated to a function label on the screen or to a menu item. The activated function is defined by the application within its context, and can change during the dialogue session.
Nowadays the services provided on-line (internet for example) allow people to book a flight, check on a package, get a stock quote, buy a book from their home or office.
Some time ago such kind of services could be accessed only using a personal computer (PC): you had to plug cables in, turn on the machine, install and configure the operating system and all the software needed to communicate. You had also to install additional hardware (modems), avoiding any conflict with the already working hardware in the PC. All such operations are complex and prone to errors.
This is the reason why the main computer manufacturers are developing network computers: just connect the cables and everything is ready to work. But even such equipment can be considered too much just to access currently available information services, especially if the customer does not need to use computers: what is enough is just a phone with improved output: a screen plus a keyboard to be used when it is needed to write short sentences. Such equipment is called screen phone, or when the built-in software allows the use of standard internet protocols, web phones. Some years ago, these boxes were too expensive, but now, while prices are rapidly decreasing, these new equipment are exciting niche markets and are going to be targeted at mass usage.
As with all terminals, failure to take into consideration the needs of visually impaired people means excluding them from new services, and thereby increasing the gap with "normal" people as well as excluding a remunerative and growing piece of the market.
This publication intends to show designers how such terminals can be made so that they are accessible by visually impaired people, addressing the needs of low vision and blind people; many of the recommendations are also applicable for deafblind persons and people with dyslexia. The information is based on the results of the VISTEL: project, whose aim has been to adapt screen phones to make them easily accessible for visually impaired people.
In most developed countries the prevalence of people whose vision is such that they need to use non-visual methods for operating a telephone is about 1 per thousand. However the number of people with low vision such that they would find it impossible to read the liquid crystal display on a screen phone, such as the Philips P100, is in excess of 13 per thousand.
Most visual impairements are acquired late in life; about two thirds of people with a visual disability are over 75 years old. Macular degeneration accounts for about half the visual impariment in developed countries; typically this will result in loss of central vision.
For those under the age of 60, the largest single cause of visual impairment is diabetic retinopathy. This is often correlated with a very poor sense of touch, which makes learning and reading Braille difficult.
In excess of half of the visually impaired population will have an additional impairment; about 35% will have a significant hearing loss.
Braille readership is about 0.02% of the population, and is largely made up of people whose onset of visual impairment was early in their lives.
The most common forms of colour blindness are inherited and are associated with the inability to discriminate red and green wavelengths. Because these defects are inherited as recessive traits, the incidences are much higher in UK males (c. 8.0%), who possess a single X-chromosome, than in females (c. 0.5%), who possess two. Total colour blindness is extremely rare.
Additional components can be a smart card reader (to simplify transactions and to store information) and soft keys (usually near the screen). Some LEDs can also be used to indicate for example that the phone is ringing.
A web/screen phone can be used as a standard Tel: just type in the number to dial and lift the receiver. When it is used to access new information services, it can communicate using the IP protocol too, protecting the information with protocols like Secure Socket Layer 3.0, if needed. The software in the phone can also allow dialogue with the built-in smart card reader, which can contain personal data about the user and service dependent information.
The interface, of the service to the user, can be constructed using the Java language (the personal Java run time environment is integrated in the phone) allowing applications to be easily created. This version of HTML supports the frames for better presentation.
The ADSI (Analogue Display Services Interface) is a "screen phone" Telephony standard that has been defined by Bellcore in the USA.
ADSI supports two operating modes: Feature Download (FD) and Server Display Control (SDC). Each has a different use. Both modes depend on the Abstract CPE for their operation.
The Abstract CPE is the application developers view of what the CPE (Customer Premises Equipment) looks like. It allows the same Feature Download script or Server Display Control application to work with any ADSI phone regardless of its display size. Each phone has an area of memory that implements the Abstract CPE.
All information and soft key labels to be displayed are written into the phone's Abstract CPE. The phone then maps the Abstract CPE to its physical display and soft keys. The scroll keys on the phone allow the user to see any information the display is not big enough to show.
Feature Download (FD) is used to make normal use of the telephone easier by giving the user a visual interface.
A Feature Download script is a program downloaded to the phone to allow it to be customised. The phone can hold in its memory up to four Feature Download scripts though only one can be active at any one time. When a network event (e.g. reception of a caller display message or detection of dial tone) occurs that is catered for in the active script, the script takes control of the display and presents the user with a number of options. This may be while the phone is on or off hook, connected or not connected to another phone or server.
Thus if the phone has detected that the customer uses the "Call waiting" service and there is a call waiting the user may be given the options to take the call or ignore the call. The user selects the required option by pressing the soft key associated with the label on the display. This causes DTMF (Dual Tone Multi Frequency) to be sent to the network to carry out the option selected. The DTMF is the same as would be sent if the operation was carried out manually. Further options may be presented to the user if appropriate. Thus in the example above if the user took the waiting call the further options might be: "Back to party one" or "Conference the calls".
Server Display Control (SDC) is used to display text and soft key options to the user while on-line connected to a server. The addition of a display with soft keys improves the usability of voice/touch-tone services and thus enhances the service possibilities.
An ADSI server is typically an interactive voice response system with the addition of the ADSI signalling capability. The server can send the user a mixture of screens and voice prompts. When the user presses a key an action (e.g. send a DTMF digit) that is associated with that key is performed. For example an ADSI SDC session could allow a user to manage their voice mail via an interface not unlike a normal answering machine, with keys labelled Play, Skip, Erase etc.
The same server can be used for both ADSI and voice / DTMF dialogues. If the phone responds with a DTMF 'A' to an initial short beep of ADSI CPE alert signal (CAS) then the server knows that an ADSI telephone is being used. The server then talks to the phone using the ADSI signalling protocol which defines a way of inserting bursts of 1200 baud FSK data into a normal voice call. The user only hears the alert tone that precedes the data. When the phone detects this tone it mutes its earpiece or speaker until after it has acknowledged correct reception of the data using DTMF. The protocols are very similar to those used for Caller Line Identification and CLASS services.
Server Display Control is only available when connected to an ADSI server. The server can reside in the Network or can be CPE connected to it. It will probably have connections to external databases.
The abstract CPE contains the structure of information and soft keys labels to be displayed. How it is displayed depends completely on the mapping rule of the telephone. The mapping rules are governed by the size and layout of the display.
To handle large characters and graphics a phone would have to be developed that could display them. However a large screen would make the phone very expensive. Larger characters could be displayed on the current screens, but these may require the user to scan and scroll a lot to read the display.
As the way the information to be displayed / conveyed is controlled by the phone it is not necessary to add to the protocol to accommodate blind users. However the way a particular service is designed and presented could greatly affect the ease of use. This would need to be addressed on a service by service nature with service provider.
It should be born in mind that ADSI SDC will normally be used to supplement an existing IVR (interactive voice response) service. Also ADSI FD will mainly be used to aid access to network services that can be access using a DTMF telephone.
Usually an LCD graphical display (colour or monochrome).
Minimal resolution is VGA 640*480 pixels.
Two separate keyboards: numeric one, on the front of the phone, and a complete foldaway alphanumeric keyboard.
Sockets for external power supply or connection to other devices such as printers.
Since a web/screen phone is a terminal, the usual guidelines about accessibility of terminals apply. Attention must be paid in the way the user can select objects on the screen: keyboard should be used too and web pages should be designed in order to simplify automatic adaptation.
telecommunication services provided via screen phones are generally based on some very simple interaction paradigms that can be modeled using a few text based interaction components.
This has been the case for a great variety of text oriented services available via VT100 phone terminals, ADSI screen phones, or the very popular MiniTel: in France. It will still be the case with services delivered over the internet via HTML interfaces if they adhere to the guidelines for accessibility (see Appendix 1).
Thus these services can be made accessible to visually impaired persons using Braille displays, speech synthesisers or enlarged screen displays. VISTEL: has produced these guidelines which can also be applied to adapt or design of a great variety of text-based services and/or terminals such as banking machines or public information terminals.
Before tackling the problems of the user interface, some thought must be given to how blind and visually impaired people are introduced to the technology.
Screen based technologies such as screen phones are often designed to be self taught using hands-on exploration of the user interface, backed up with printed manufacturer's instructions. A great deal of information about what such a piece of technology can do, and how to do it, is communicated implicitly using visual clues.
Both the implicit and explicit printed information are problematic for blind and visually impaired users. For instance, whilst the concept of separate screens or pages of information is a structure easily understood by someone who has had access to books, there is no corresponding experience for the concept of navigating through a structure of parallel menus. Thus, experience of the VISTEL: project has shown that people who already had experience with personal computers quickly grasped concepts such as menus, but many of the others had considerable difficulty in understanding such concepts when presented through a speech synthesizer.
Compared to the young sighted population, visually impaired and older people are likely to be relatively inexperienced at browsing and hands-on exploring as methods of learning unfamiliar technology. It was found that there is some, understandable, reluctance even among computer users to 'play' in the way that computer literate sighted people will do. Overall they may be more fearful, and require more information and prompting in their learning phase than designers might anticipate.
The quality of audible cues, and particularly the quality of the speech synthesiser become very important, particularly for those users users who are hard of hearing (e.g. deafblind and elderly) and thosefor whom the language is not their mother tongue. It should be noted that in tests, using the default setting on a medium quality synthesiser, even those people accustomed to synthetic speech needed a training period where the speech was interpreted for them. This was particularly so where an obscure rather than familiar term had been used: As one subject with some hearing loss pointed out, "it's not perception that is important so much as recognition".
Given the points above, it is not surprising that it was found that some degree of person to person training is almost always required. For those users familiar with computers, the training period will be relatively short, perhaps under an hour. For others the training period would need to be considerably longer.
One important advantage of a training period for those who would use the screen or web phone in their own homes is that it would allow for changes to be made to the audio settings (such as timbre and pitch of speech) to suit the personal requirements of the user. This may be crucial for those with some hearing impairment.
The training period generally needs to include an explanation of what the technology is designed to do, why this might be useful to the user, what the basic operating principles are (i.e. navigating through lists), and a guided hands-on tour of the hardware. Further training should be-hands on and structured around tasks.
Visually impaired users face particular problems with the user interface of the screen or web phones.
Several general categories of activity can usefully be identified as necessary for successful use of the phones. These activities are often largely dependant on interactive visual cues which are unavailable to visually impaired users. In addition, the design of the phones often assumes a degree of manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination which may be reduced or absent, particularly in older users. Visually impaired users may also need longer to complete tasks. A further issue is the question of how visually impaired people can access information about options without actually activating the options themselves.
The design of the user interface will need to address these issues for each of the activities, providing both modified visual information, and non-visual information (e.g. tactile or audible cues and speech).
Good interface design will allow a variety of interaction techniques, and flexible interaction metaphors.
A screen reader that manages user commands and allows navigation on the screen. This would have a "screen reading" mode to allow the user to move around the screen without moving the cusor or performing an operation.
More than one port should be available if different external adaptations have to be connected at the same time (e.g. speech synthesiser and Braille display).
If some of the previous hardware requirements or software flexibility are not satisfied, different software modules have to be implemented on an external device (Adaptation Box).
In any case the screen phone has to provide at least one external port for connecting the two devices, and the phone operating system must allow interception of screen and keyboard events. A connection module has to be implemented on both devices, implementing a common communication protocol.
It is advisable that the adaptation box is manufactured as a docking station for the screen phone, allowing easy connection and acceptability in a home environment.
The adaptation box can host different ports for external adaptations. It is usually based on standard hardware modules and a standard operating system, allowing faster development and easier maintenance.
This solution has the advantage of being independent of the particular screen phone and so easier to maintain or upgrade, used for adapting of different types of equipment (e.g. cash dispensers).
One typical issue in adapting smart phones is the usage of soft keys. These keys are associated to different functions in different services and in different information pages. The current function of each soft key is usually indicated by a label or an icon in a special corresponding area of the screen.
Services can be adapted at terminal level using script files and a recognition mechanism: a special module recognises a specific service and performs some actions in order to rearrange the output in an suitable format, for example masking not important information, describing images and tables, etc.
The advantage of using this method is that no intervention of the service provider is needed. The disadvantage is that it is necessary to write a script file for every interesting service to adapt.
Not all service characteristics can be dealt with at the terminal level. This implies the need to adapt services modifying directly the way in which a service is provided. The service provider would have to be directly involved in the adaptation activity.
Some services can be adapted accessing them by a centralised translation server. The server accesses the requested service and rearranges the information pages "on the fly" presenting them in a suitable format. This method is very useful especially for adaptation of internet services based on the use of a proxy server. However the cost of running the proxy server would have to paid by some organisation.
Good contrast with the background should be provided for text and graphics. Display should give a minimum contrast ratio of 3:1 for positive displays, and a maximum of 1 to 20 for negative displays.
If any, all icons should have a textual description in order they can be read by a voice synthesiser. Do not use similar images whose meaning can be deduced just by their details.
"a gradual increase followed by a sharp decrease in force required to actuate the key, and a subsequent increase in force beyond this point for cushioning"
Position of keys should allow easy usage by right and left handed people. This should include having keys duplicated where necessary.
Some special considerations have to be taken for "soft keys". A soft key is a key with no fixed function associated to it. Its function can change according to the application context and is identified by a function label in a corresponding position of the display or by a menu item. The activated function is defined by the application within its context, and can change during the dialogue session.
There should be a way to have the meaning of a soft key "vocalised" in order to allow visual impaired people to recognise their function before selection. This feature can also be useful for normal sighted users in dark conditions or while performing tasks that do not allow looking at the display. One press of a soft key should trigger announcement of function, two rapid presses should activate the function.
If a soft key is selected which does not have a function associated with it, appropriate sound feedback should be given.
Usually, pointing devices require fine coordination of hand movements and eye. If a device is targeted at a mass market, including elderly people and impaired people, there should always be an alternative method for selection and data input.
If touch screen is used for typing on a screen keyboard, the keys on the keyboard should be shifted by +0.41to 0.54 cm. In this case error rate can be less than 1% also with on screen keys reduced to 2.27 cm.
The best tilting angle for typing on a screen is 30°-45° from vertical (typing is easier at 30° while reading is fastest at 45°).
The presentation of data on a Braille display, or using a speech synthesiser, or magnifying the data on the screen, has to put the components in a sequence. The order in which these components are presented is important for the understanding of the global meaning. As the number of components present in a screen is generally limited, two basic keys (up and down arrows) constitute a simple mechanism to explore the screen.
Since a visually impaired user can not apprehend the screen globally, a part of its meaning and clarity is lost. Some extra guidance is therefore useful to compensate this handicap. This guidance can be given using textual comments just before an interaction component or just after. Messages should be informative but concise, and should be presented in small amounts which are easy to retain. This is also useful for dyslexic and older users.
Non verbal feedback is extremely useful in non-visual interfaces in order to convey feedback rapidly. It can concern feedback on events that the users is expecting and wants confirmation about - like going to the next or previous line or element - or to give low level warning like "no more element after this one". Using beeps is a simple and low cost method to achieve this. Beeps are also compatible with the different types of adaptation based either on Braille, speech or data magnification.
The Screen Phone should support an adaptation strategy based on a general architecture.
To transfer the information displayed on the screen to the adaptation software as soon as this information appears.
To emulate any of the actions usually performed on the phone device to control the dialogue with the service.
The Adaptation Software has to optimise the presentation of data, which often implies reconstructing the initial data on the screen (different order, additional comments, rephrasing, etc).
This architecture can lead to different hardware solutions. For instance, the adaptation software and the non-visual interface can be run by an external device or run internally by the screen phone.
Clarke, A. (1996) Human factors guidelines for designers of telecommunication services for non-expert users. Loughborough: Loughborough University. (Available on CD-ROM from Anne Clarke, Husat Research Institute, The Elms, Elms Grove, Loughborough LE11 3BN, England (Tel: +44 1509 611088; Fax: +44 1509 234651; Email: a.m.clarke@lboro.ac.uk).
Gill, J. M. (1998) Access prohibited? information for designers of public access terminals. [accessed 22/10/07].
Gill, J. M., Silver, J., Sharville, C., Slater, J. & Martin, M. (1998) Design of a typeface for digital television. In: Placencia Porrero, I. & Ballabio, E., eds. Improving the quality of life for the European citizen. Third Tide Congress, Helsinki, June 1998, 248-252. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Gill, J. M. (1998) The use of electronic purses by disabled people: what are the needs? [accessed 22/10/07].
Johnson, V., Petrie, H. & Mercinelli, M. (1998) An investigation of the user needs for screen-based telephony for people with visual impairments. In: Placencia Porrero, I. & Ballabio, E., eds. Improving the quality of life for the European citizen. Third Tide Congress, Helsinki, June 1998, 248-252. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Roe, P. R. W. ed. (1995) Telecommunications for all. COST 219, The European Commission. [accessed 22/10/07].
Thorén, C. ed. (1993) Nordic guidelines for computer accessibility NNH 4/93. (Copies available from Nordic Committee on Disability, Box 510, S-162 15 Vällingby, Sweden (Tel: +46 8 620 18 90; Fax: +46 8 739 24 00).
von Tetzchner, S. ed. (1991) Issues in telecommunication and disability. COST 219, The European Commission. [accessed 22/10/07].
This group of 18 countries is concerned with access to telecommunications by disabled and elderly people.
This site includes many conference papers as well details of devices available for visually disabled persons (eg Braille displays, speech synthesizers, web browsers).
This is the main European website concerned with designing information and communication technology systems so that they are accessible to everybody including disabled and elderly people. This site contains a wealth of information including demographics of disability in Europe, relevant standards as well as legislative aspects.
Gives details of the disabled and elderly projects supported by the European Union tele-communications Application Programme.
This is the main American website concerning access to public access terminals by people with disabilities.
Use standard HTML formats, tags etc.
A basic check for accessibility can be done using WebXact (http://webxact.watchfire.com/) which will indicate aspects of a web page which are likely to cause problems for blind users.
A great emphasis is put nowadays in the accessibility of web services (e.g. stock exchanges) from lightweight mobile Telematic terminals such as mobile telephones, pagers and personal digital assistants. All these devices are characterised by small textual or semi-graphical displays. Common web services based on HTML are not well suitable for such kind of devices. Incidentally, the solutions to this accessibility problem is also very well suited for speech or Braille output by textual browsers for visually impaired people.
The Handheld Device Markup Language (HDML) by Unwired Planet is a language alternative to HTML. It has already been adopted by several research centres and several HDML servers have been already installed. HDML is designed to have a user interface model suited to small textual displays and limited keypads, to support integrated phone features, such as voice, to make efficient use of client device and network transport. There are several web services that can be of interest for visually impaired people as for mobile terminals users. Designers of such services should consider HDML as a possible alternative to HTML for the design of information pages.
The new Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is also being defined. It provides specifications for a contents distribution architecture suited to mass market wireless hand-held devices. This new technology can also incidentally be very important for allowing accessibility by speech or Braille output browsers designed for visually impaired persons.
WAP defines the Wireless Markup Language (WML), which is based on HTML and readable by a micro browser in the terminal analogous to a standard web browser. It utilises proxy technology to filter and adapt on the fly existing HTML pages on the web. The translation operation on the proxy should take care of all the characteristics of a specific user interface. The WAP approach seems to be promising. WAP is still under development and at the moment the specifications have not yet produced a concrete implementation.
Centro Studi telecomunicazioni SpA, via Reiss Romoli 274, Torino 10148, Italy.
telecom Italia, Via E Gianturco 2, Rome 00196, Italy.
Unione Italiana Ciechi, via Borgognona 38, Rome 00187, Italy.
Origin Italia Srl,Piazza IV Novembre 3, I-20124 Milano, Italy.
RNIB, 105 Judd Street, London WC1H 9NE, UK.
University of Hertfordshire, Sensory Disabilities Research Unit, Psychology Division, Hatfield, Hertfordshire AL10 9AB, England.
Centre National d'Etudes de Télécommunications, Département DSV/SRV, Technopole Anticipia, 2 Avenue Pierre Marzin, Lannion 22301, France.
Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Boite 23, 9 quai Saint-Bernard, Paris 75252, France.
Organización Nacional de Ciegos de España, Ramirez de Arellano 21, Madrid 28043, Spain.
University of Wroclaw, Instytut Telekomunikaciji Akustyki, Wybrzeze St Wyspiankiego 27, Wroclaw 50370, Poland.
Published by Royal National Institute of the Blind on behalf of the VISTEL: Consortium.


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MLB Updates - Robinson Cano suspended for the ENTIRE 2021 season
ROBINSON CANO WIFE
The BREAKING NEWS for this slow Thursday is coming from New York and it's bad.Robinson Cano, the second baseman at the Mets, has been suspended by the majors for the entire 2021 season after tests confirmed the 38-year-old's performance-enhancing drug is being used again.Kano was disciplined by the league in 2018 when he was with the Seattle Mariners for the same problem. Remember Kano signed a 10-year contract worth $ 240 million with the Mariners and still has three years ahead of the deal.However, this suspension would result in him losing the $ 24 million salary he was owed for the next season.Mets do not appear to have any concerns about the decision, as President Sandy Alderson said in a statement: "We are extremely disappointed to inform us of Robinson's suspension for violating Major League Baseball's prevention and treatment combined program.".It's really amazing to see a Kano-quality player being discovered to use PED not once, but twice during his illustrious solo career.At 16 years as a professional, Canó had 334 hits at home and an average hit of 303. Now, fans will question the legitimacy of everything he did in baseball and whether he was taking steroids long before he was first arrested in 2018.Unfortunately!Also Read: Brazil beats Uruguay 2-0 to stay top of qualifying group


The market for wearable tech, led by Apple Watch and a range of connected fitness gadgets, is exploding, a survey showed.
WASHINGTON: The market for wearable tech, led by Apple Watch and a range of connected fitness gadgets, is exploding, a survey showed Monday.
The report by research firm IDC said global wearable device shipments will reach 76.1 million units in 2015, up 163.6 percent from 2014.
By 2019, worldwide shipments will reach 173.4 million units, a growth rate of nearly 23 percent over the next five years.
The biggest growth segment in this category is "smart wearables," which includes watches and devices with more capabilities than "basic" wearables such as fitness bands.
"Smart wearables only account for about a third of the total market today while basic wearables, led by fitness trackers, account for the rest," said IDC analyst Jitesh Ubrani.
But Urbani said smart wearables are on track to surpass the less functional basic wearable category in 2018.
"Smart wearables will quickly move from a smartphone accessory primarily focused on notifications to a more advanced wearable computer capable of doing more processing on its own," he said in a statement.
IDC said it sees Apple Watch and the watchOS operating system capturing some 58 percent of the market this year, projecting sales for 13.9 million units. Apple has not released any sales figures so far.
Android and Android Wear, the operating system from Google, is expected to grab a 17.4 percent market share with 4.1 million units selling this year, according to IDC.
Smart wristwear, including watches and bands that are capable of running third-party applications, is a key growth driver, according to IDC.
This includes the Apple Watch, Motorola's Moto 360, Samsung's Gear S-series, and Pebble's Time.
"We are at a stage now where more vendors are getting into this segment, setting the stage for more selection and ultimately more volumes," said IDC's Ramon Llamas.


Do My Efforts Make a Difference?
I can give superhuman effort to something and make little difference. Yet, at the same time, I can give small efforts to something else and make a huge difference. Is there insight beyond this parable to help me gauge where my energies should be expended? Yes.
During the hot and dry season of Palestine, birds seek a refuge from the punishing heat. Their favorite place to hide is under the large branches of a mustard plant. They like it so much that they build their nests there. Jesus' point of the story is this ~ The seed that produces something of such immense value is, in and of itself, small and insignificant. The right seed, planted in the right place, yields high impact.
As a teacher, I've had the privilege of watching people listen to the Word of God over many years. God has given me insight as I've observed. I can see some absorb the message. Their body language reveals their spiritual hunger. Others attend the same event with a resistant heart. Perhaps they came because it was the thing to do or someone pressured them to attend. Their countenance never changes throughout the day even though they hear the same life-saving word. What makes the difference is the listener's perception of his own spiritual need.
I recall the time Jesus went home to Capernaum to do additional ministry. His popularity had worn off. He had become very controversial. Friends and family had grown skeptical and were speaking unkindly of him. Jesus finally left and the story reveals that Jesus was not able to do any miracles there because of their unbelief. The 'mustard seed' was powerful, ready to revolutionize any who would embrace it, but it was rendered powerless by an unreceptive audience.
It is easy for me to expend great energy in the wrong places. I am called to a barren place to sow a seed. If it yields a harvest, I keep investing. But I must beware when the audience for whom I'm laboring has little or no perceived need. They are as closed as Jesus' audience in Capernaum. If I'm prayerful, God will instruct me to leave and sow elsewhere. If I stay too long in a place of unbelief, I hurt myself and deprive a hungry audience from life-giving seeds that would otherwise have come to them sooner. False guilt has keep me in places far too long.


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Pot Shop Next to Fenway Park Proposed at Community Meeting
by Dan Murphy • April 27, 2019 • 0 Comments
An applicant proposing to open a recreational marijuana dispensary adjacent to Fenway Park presented their plans during Tuesday's city-sponsored community meeting at the Fenway Community Center.
Ross Bradshaw, who has extensive experience working as a CPA in the medical industry; his sister Amanda, formerly a social worker by trade; and his wife Sirabel, who has professional experience in retail and as a recruiter, would serve as founder and CEO; community education and substance abuse prevention specialist; and retail and economic development specialist, respectively, of DIA (i.e. Diversity in Action). The proposed location for the business is ground floor and basement space in a multi-unit building at 48-62 Brookline Ave., which is also home to the Cask 'N Flagon.
At 900 square feet, Ross said the dispensary would offer the "biggest waiting room of any
[area]
dispensary," with occupancy for up to 225 customers.
"We guarantee that there will be no lines ever…and we commit to not disrupt any other businesses in the neighborhood, including the Cask 'N Flagon," Ross said.
The business would also have its own separate entrance and exit on Lansdowne Street, as well as offer 26 points of sale on game days.
Upon entering the establishment, prospective patrons would have their ages verified using a scanning machine before being escorted to the downstairs queuing area, where they will have an opportunity to learn about the myriad menu offerings. Once customers travel through a secure entrance to reach the sales area, they would receive their purchased products in child-proof, tamper-proof containers. They will then be escorted back onto Lansdowne Street.
Regarding the proposed hours of operation, Ross said, "The hours will be dictated by the city…but we'll be respectful of the neighborhood we're in and the ballpark."
Paul Fitzgerald, a consultant for a security firm headed by former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, said DIA would have a "strong security plan in place," which mandates that all of its wares would be locked in a secure area that won't be visible to the public at any time.
"[Davis] puts his reputation behind this company, and he doesn't do that lightly," Fitzgerald said.
Dana Van Fleet, owner of the Cask 'N Flagon and the building where it is located, said he vetted a "slew" of "impressive" would-be dispensary owners referred to him by his real estate broker, but that DIA stood above the competition.
"I think this is an amazing company, and if we're going to have a dispensary in the neighborhood, that this is a company we can be proud of," Van Fleet said.
Kim Rivers, a consultant and CEO for the Florida-based, self-described "medical cannabis provider" Trulieve, said her company could provide DIA with seed capital and initial product to help get them to a level where they can compete in the industry.
DIA also intends to operate a 126,00 square-foot cultivation center in Holyoke, Rivers said.
True to its name, Ross pledged that DIA would have a diverse workforce.
"We want to create a company that has the opportunity to change lives of those who have suffered the most from marijuana prohibition," Ross said, adding that 75 percent of its 50 employees would come form the most impacted Boston communities of Mission Hill, Roxbury and Dorchester, and that the company would hire individuals with non-violent, cannabis-related convictions.
The remaining 25 percent of the workforce would be hired via Fenway Partnerships, which includes the Fenway Civic Association and the Fenway CDC (Community Development Corporation).
Additionally, 15 percent of the store's shelf space would be reserved for "social equity" and minority" products, Ross said.
Sirabel said DIA employees would also volunteer in the community and contribute to job training and mentoring programs offered by the Fenway Civic Association and the Fenway CDC.
Meanwhile, DIA's plan, as well its proposed site, were largely lauded by those in attendance.
"Our group is very supportive of this, and the location is ideal," said Terri North, president of the Kenmore Residents Group, "I also have complete confidence that Dana will do the right thing."
Fenway resident Marie Fukuda expressed her continuing frustration with the city's seemingly piecemeal and haphazard approach to courting the numerous applicants intending to open a recreational marijuana dispensary in the neighborhood, however, especially given the stipulation that the establishments must be located within at least a half-mile of each other.
"How many are going to open in the neighborhood?" Fukuda asked.
Dennis Quilty, the applicant's attorney, responded, "We're just following the path laid out for us by the city and we're going to continue until we're allowed or not allowed [to proceed]."
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A Brief History of India Pale Ale
April 12, 2017/Ivan Lauer/No Comments
Beer Drinking Science
By Ivan Lauer | April 12, 2017 | 0
Though sours and goses have been making strong headway into the craft market recently, IPAs remain kings of the mountain. High in alcohol, swelling with hops, both tart and bitter, there's a lot to like about the crisp, bracing taste of a good craft IPA. But whether you're a dedicated hop-head who can recite the IBUs of any given beer, or a more casual fan of the pine and citrus taste of a good IPA, you might wonder where the name "India Pale Ale" actually came from. Everyone knows what a pale ale is, of course, but what does this beer, which is the hallmark of American craft brew more than anything else, have to do with India?
Ale is one of the oldest styles of beer, with references being found in ancient archaeological sites in modern-day Iraq. But there are few cultures that are as synonymous with ale as the English. By the time of the various pagan conquests of England by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, the meadhall with its mead and its ale was firmly entrenched in the culture of the English. In addition to ale, another thing the English were once fond of was colonizing, in order to grow what was once the mightiest empire in the world. The British East India Company began running operations in India in the 1750s, and from the 1850s to the 1940s the British crown laid claim to the whole subcontinent. Throughout this almost 200-year stretch of British rule, both the government and the army of India were both filled with Englishmen.
All of these Englishmen pined for English beer of course, but the brewers back on the British Isles were having trouble getting their beer to last on what was a six-month voyage from London to Kolkata, then known as Calcutta. The solution was hit upon by a London brewer called Hodgson, who formulated a strong, heavily-hopped ale in hopes that the hops and the high alcohol content would serve as preservatives and keep the beer drinkable for longer. The plan worked better than anyone could have guessed, and soon India was importing strong, hoppy ales by the literal boatload.
Though IPA was of course immensely popular in India, the strong, hoppy quality didn't develop a following at home, and with the advent of refrigeration and faster transportation methods, standard English ales could then survive the trek to India. These original IPAs, for the most part, faded away… for a time. Leave it then to the American craft brewers in the 1970s to pick up the style as they searched for an unusual type of beer that could help them stand out from the crowd. These American IPAs became the alcohol- and hop-monsters that we know and love today, no longer developed for preservation reasons but just for their taste. In a funny turn of events it was then the English brewers who began copying American IPAs to fill a niche market at home that just kept getting bigger and bigger.
So when you crack open a bottle of Bear Republic Hop Shovel or something similar, you're drinking a beer with a history that has crossed oceans, crafted from the influence of three different nations. Talk about a glass of history!
Ivan Lauer
Ivan Lauer is a contributor to Drinkhacker.
Review: BridgePort Brewing India Pale Ale Review: Alaskan Brewing Company Imperial India Pale Ale and Pumpkin Ale Review: Hermitage Brewing Company India Pale Ale Single Hop Series – Magnum Review: Newcastle Foreign Extra India Pale Ale
Posted in Beer, Drinking Science


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Thousands of militant soccer fans, in an indication that emergency rule will not squash mass protests, blocked government buildings as part of a general strike in the Suez Canal city of Port Said that is at the center of mounting anger at the brutality of police and security forces and demands that those responsible for the death of more than 800 protesters since mass demonstrations erupted in Egypt two years ago and toppled president Hosni Mubarak be held accountable.
The protest that forced the closure of the port authority and disrupted rail and telecommunications services constitutes a reaffirmation of a deep-seated sense among residents that Port Said is being made a scapegoat for at best the failure by law enforcement to prevent and at worst to have instigated a politically loaded soccer brawl a year ago in which 74 fans were killed.
By targeting the port authority but stopping short of seeking to close the Suez Canal, the fans signaled that they could strike where it hurts most: Egypt's economy that has been in decline since the overthrow of Mr. Mubarak and constitutes one of President Mohammed Morsi's foremost Achilles heels. In a victory for the protesters, Mr. Morsi shied away from enforcing the 30-day curfew in the city that he had declared in January.
Security forces brutally intervened last month killing some 40 people to squash protests against the sentencing to death of 21 members of the Green Eagles, the militant support group of Al Masri SC, Port Said's football club, on charges of having been responsible for the brawl. In response to the protests in Port Said and elsewhere Mr. Morsi declared emergency rule in the city of 600,000 as well as in two other Suez Canal and Red Sea cities, Ismailia and Suez.
Tension is likely to build further in the walk-up to the expected verdict on March 9 in the case of 52 remaining defendants in the Port Said trial, who include club and mid-level security officials.
To prevent further protests and violence, Mr. Morsi would have to meet at least some of the militants demands and take convincing steps towards beginning a process of reform of the police and security forces, the most despised institutions in Egypt because of their role as the executors of the Mubarak regime's repression, that has continued to employ hard-handed tactics since the Egyptian leader's downfall.
The militants are demanding an independent investigation presided by a judge from outside Port Saud into the last month's killing of protesters; the granting of the status of martyrs of the revolution to the dead which would entitle their families to government financial support and a renewed investigation of last year's brawl, the worst incident in Egyptian sporting history.
The protests put Mr. Morsi in a bind. Any concession to the Green Eagles could provoke resistance from the militant supports of crowned Cairo club Al Ahli SC, who were the main victims in last year's brawl. Al Ahli supporters celebrated the sentencing to death of the Green Eagle members, although they agree with their rivals that last year's incident was not spontaneous and likely instigated by supporters of Mr. Mubarak and at least tolerated by the security forces.
Scores of employees of the provincial government, the judiciary, utilities and customs joined the protesters who gathered in front of government buildings on early Sunday morning, the first day of the work week.
In a statement, the Green Eagles said "Port Said has always been treated unjustly over the years," a reference to a perception among city residents that they have always stood in the forefront of the country's battles, including the various wars with Israel, but have been neglected over the years by the central government rather than rewarded.
"The city's revolt comes because of a deep sense of injustice," the statement said. It said that sense was strengthened by last month's use of live ammunition against protesters.
"The officials have done nothing for us ... The presidency is not moving a finger," Mohammed Fouad, a representative of Port Said's business community, told Egypt's privately-owned ONTV channel.
Opposition groups expressed support for the Port Said protests. The Popular Current group, one Egypt's major opposition groups, described them as "part of the popular anger" against Mr. Morsi. "What is happening in Port Said is a legitimate right in the face of an authority that has adopted repression and tyranny," the group said in a statement. James M. Dorsey is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Wuerzburg's Institute for Fan Culture, and the author of The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer blog.


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Festivals on March 28, 2023
Today, on March 28, 2023, our calendar presents 7 festivals. There are festivals in 6 categories that take place in 7 cities of 5 countries. They attract thousands of locals and tourists from all over the world.
ZagrebDox
in the category "Film Festivals". Takes place from March 26, 2023 to April 2, 2023 in Zagreb, Croatia.
AnimeJapan
in the category "Conventions". Takes place from March 25, 2023 to March 28, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan.
Bangkok International Motor Show
in the category "Exhibitions". Takes place from March 22, 2023 to April 2, 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand.
National Cherry Blossom Festival
in the category "Other". Takes place from March 20, 2023 to April 16, 2023 in Washington, USA.
Feis Ceoil
in the category "Music Festivals". Takes place from March 20, 2023 to March 31, 2023 in Dublin, Ireland.


The Bass Rock is a rocky islet located in the Firth of Forth, north of North Berwick. Access is by boat, and boat trips can be arranged in North Berwick.
The castle on the Bass Rock was used as a prison during the time of the Covenant. The rock was sold to the government in 1671 by Sir Andrew Ramsay, Provost of Edinburgh, for £4,000. It was then converted into a state prison for Covenanters. Between 1672 and 1687, 39 Covenanters were imprisoned here.


UCLA, in partnership with Cedars–Sinai Medical Center, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center, has received a five-year Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) of $81.3 million from the National Institutes of Health.
UCLA now joins a prestigious consortium of institutions established by the NIH to enhance biomedical research by accelerating the translation of laboratory discoveries into effective treatments for patients, more actively engaging communities in clinical research and training future generations of researchers to think and work in this bench-to-bedside continuum.
UCLA's Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) is designed to focus on those conditions that account for the greatest proportion of disability and early death in Los Angeles County, the most populous and demographically diverse county in the nation. Rates of premature death and disability related to heart disease, diabetes, stroke, AIDS, depression, violence and other preventable conditions in the county far exceed national averages. The disease burden is magnified by language barriers, cultural beliefs, poverty and access to care.
"The NIH's investment in Los Angeles County will enable UCLA and its partners to more effectively pursue our transformative mission — to improve the health status of Los Angeles in a measurable way and enhance the quality of life for a significant number of our fellow Angelenos," said Dr. A. Eugene Washington, UCLA vice chancellor for health sciences and dean of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "California, and Los Angeles in particular, has always been a trendsetter. So as the rest of the U.S. population undergoes dramatic change, the experiences and successes of our CTSI programs will offer a model for health improvement nationwide."
"Our overarching goal is to create a borderless clinical and translational research institute that brings UCLA CTSI innovations and resources to bear on the greatest health needs of Los Angeles," said Dr. Steven M. Dubinett, director of the CTSI and UCLA associate vice chancellor for translational science. "The CTSA award will help us develop new ways to retain, recruit and empower scientists to work together across disciplines, departments, institutions and geography."
"This award will provide vital support for our translational research programs that focus on advancing scientific discoveries to directly benefit our patients and the community," said Dr. Shlomo Melmed, senior vice president of academic affairs and dean of the medical faculty at Cedars–Sinai and holder of the Helene A. and Philip E. Hixson Chair in Investigative Medicine. "As the largest academic medical center in California, Cedars–Sinai is pleased to participate in this multidisciplinary effort."
"This new grant will not only expand the depth of the partnership between UCLA, Cedars, Harbor–UCLA and CDU but will help build the capacity of communities to improve health and fundamentally change how researchers work with the community to create new approaches to improving health," said Dr. Keith Norris, executive vice president of research and health affairs at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science.
"With this grant, vital research will continue to flourish in Los Angeles and bring new therapies and cures more rapidly and safely to patients," said David Meyer, president and CEO of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor–UCLA Medical Center. "For more than four decades, LA BioMed's General Clinical Research Center has been a keystone of the region's pioneering research into cancer, infectious diseases, male reproductive health and much more. The UCLA CTSI's funding will ensure the continuation of these essential studies, while also expanding and accelerating the process of taking discoveries from the lab and making them available to patients."
(1) Create an academic home for clinical and translational sciences that integrates and builds on the many strengths of UCLA and its partners.
(2) Build transdisciplinary research teams to accelerate and translate discovery to improve health.
(3) Transform educational and career-development programs to promote the next generation of clinical investigators and translational scientists.
(4) Advance and expand strong bi-directional academic–community partnerships to ensure that new scientific discovery is relevant to community needs.
(5) Serve as a national resource for collaborative research through regional, statewide and national CTSA consortia.
Concurrent with the CTSA funding, UCLA will open a new UCLA Clinical and Translational Research Center for outpatient research studies in a newly renovated area of the campus's Center for the Health Sciences. The 23,000-square-foot center will include individual patient rooms for interviews and clinical research. Clinical activities will be supported by a biomarkers research laboratory on the second floor. This research core laboratory will support the latest advances in molecular medicine and medical technology.
For more information on the UCLA CTSI, visit www.ctsi.ucla.edu.


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CT nursing home can continue helping registered sexual offenders, court rules
By Kathleen McWilliams . . . A Superior Court judge has ruled that a private nursing home that provides care to prison parolees does not violate Rocky Hill's zoning code.
The town claims the 60 West St. nursing home violates the town's zoning codes because it does not serve traditional nursing home patients. Officials say the facility should not be allowed to operate in a residential area without prior zoning approval.
In a decision released last week, Judge Marshall K. Berger Jr. ruled that the facility conforms to a traditional nursing home use, despite the fact that numerous patients are state referrals and parolees.
"According to testimony and evidence, the 60 West operation was similar to any other nursing home. While some patients may have had certain parole conditions, which were not known or enforced by nursing home employees, the testimony indicates that such a situation exists at all nursing homes," Berger wrote. "Moreover, not all of the patients were state referrals. [An employee] testified that 60 West does not admit dangerous individuals and has rejected some referrals based on safety concerns."
The 95-bed nursing home opened in 2013 and provides skilled care to select prison parolees and state mental health patients who are often referrals from the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, as well as the state Department of Correction.
Neighbors testified during the trial in August that the presence of sex offenders had caused unease in the neighborhood and real estate professionals testified that the facility had caused property values in the neighborhood to go down.
Read the rest of the story at the Hartford Courant
This topic has 3 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 2 years, 10 months ago by D.
March 23, 2018 at 7:05 pm #37480 Reply
"I really feel for the people who have had their lives disrupted that live next to the facility. The case was really about them." said former Rocky Hill town attorney Morris Borea.
The ONLY reason their lives were disrupted is because they CHOSE to fight the case. Those people living in the facility just want to live their lives in peace…. the town people disrupted THEIR lives!
March 24, 2018 at 8:48 am #37494 Reply
While talk about judging a book by its cover. Hey I visit a lady at a nursing home all the time. While I have to pay no mind to all this it does seem disturbing that residents want to justify that they are afraid or causing unease to their neighborhood. What they label as a violent sex offender is just a label. I wonder if its true if a dog really goes back to his vomit.
I wonder if mentally ill people are not violent or crazy in nursing homes. I'm sure every can say violent things at times or should we just say that was just talk. I was asking someone up at a nursing home today if they would rather be in a nursing home or in a prison and they would rather take a nursing home anytime. Those meddling neighbors need to blow it out their ears. Talk about judging wow..
A Nursing home now this is where I would be worried about dangerous people residing. Stupid!
Reply To: CN nursing home can continue helping registered sexual offenders, court rules


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Priscilla Canny, PhD, BA
Lecturer in Epidemiology (Environmental Health)
priscilla.canny@yale.edu
Priscilla (Penny) F. Canny, '83 Ph.D., has extensive experience as a nonprofit leader with a particular passion for research and data analysis. She is President of the Board of Data Haven, an online comprehensive source for data about the Greater New Haven area. She has served as Senior Vice President for Grantmaking and Strategy at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, leading the Foundation's efforts to build community knowledge and information. Prior to The Community Foundation, she was managing director and director of research at Connecticut Voices for Children, a research-based policy and advocacy organization. Before joining Connecticut Voices for Children, Dr. Canny was assistant dean for the Yale School of Public Health where she also earned a Ph.D. in Chronic Disease Epidemiology and worked for many years as a senior research associate. She maintains an appointment at Yale's School of Public Health.
Stanford University (1968)


FOX Sports will broadcast all the games from NFL Thursday Night Football during the 2015 season live and in Spanish.
FOX Sports Latin America announced its plans to broadcast the NFL Thursday Night Football, one of the NFL's iconic franchises, in Latin America, allowing the channel to become offer the largest game catalog Mexico and Latin America.
With this new deal between Fox Sports and the NFL, the games from NFL Thursday Night Football will be offered in Spanish for the first time in Latin America.
Starting September 17, FOX Sports will broadcast all the games live, along with the original production FOX Impacto NFL before and after each game.
Starting in August, NFL fans will be able to relive the 96 games on FOX Sports, FOX Sports 2 and through the FOX Play app, which includes 4 pre-season games, 69 season games, 16 games from NFL Thursday Night Football, the NFL Playoffs, the NFL Pro Bowl and the Super Bowl 50.
"We are very happy that the NFL chose us to broadcast the NFL Thursday Night Football games live in Mexico and Central America. FOX Sports is one of the NFL's most strategic partners worldwide and in Latin America we are on the cutting-edge of NFL broadcasts per season," said Francisco Pazmiño, SVP Programming and Acquisitions at FOX Sports Latin America.
"This historic agreement with the NFL allows us to strengthen our content offer and remain the favorite network for thousands of NFL fans in Mexico and Central America," he added.
"We are very excited to be strengthening our relationship with FOX Sports to offer our fans the Spanish broadcasts of the NFL Thursday Night Football," said Michael Markovich, VP of International Media.