As I mentioned last week, I was able to spend the day with a sweet friend I've known since we were eleven. Oh the memories that have flooded my mind as I think back through this day together. Jennifer and I were big on Sandi Patti and Psalty praise albums. Albums, mind you. Not tapes. Not CD's. No, those vinyl albums. Can you say children of the 80's? I can remember going to an Amy Grant concert together, as well as a Carmen concert. We had upteen sleep overs and logged miles upon miles cruising Key Avenue in our high school days in Lampasas. Jennifer's grandparents attended my dad's church, and our parents were friends, too. These memories bring a smile to my face, and the fact that I could spend time with Jennifer again brought a smile to my heart.
During our conversation, Jennifer let me know that a dear family friend of theirs had died of cancer. In his 40's. Way too young. Knowing how close he was to Jennifer's family, I felt saddened. Jennifer paused and said that she knows I can understand. She asked how it is for me now. Nearly twenty-three years after I lost my dad. Who was also in his 40's.
I sat quietly for a moment, pondering how to sum it up. How could I express the journey of grief, this far down the road? How could I encourage my friend traveling the same road, many years behind me? For the first time, a word picture came to mind. Something that sums it up as best as I could ever hope to.
I told Jennifer that at this point in grief, there's more sweet than bitter in the bittersweetness of the loss. The hard edge of grief has faded. The shock. The anger. The numbness. I'll always miss him. I'll always wish he was here. I'll always have a void in the space where he should be. But, now--it's like a scar more than a bleeding wound. The jagged edges of pain have healed a bit. The gushing of blood has stopped. Some healing has occurred in time. And in it's place is a scar. A battle scar. Showing the places where I've survived. Telling a story of pain, suffering, and gradually, a story of healing. The scar will never leave me. Nor would I want it to. Because I once considered it ugly. And glaring. And debilitating. Repulsive, even. Now, I see a beauty there. Because the scar tells the world of the hard journey of pain that has been survived. It tells of the beauty of resilience and hope and grieving forward. When others begin to show off their own scars in that comparison game of show and tell, I have something to show, too. I, too, can join in that conversation. I can pull back the sleeve and say, "See here? It also tells a story. It tells MY story. I've been wounded, too. And I found hope and was carried to a place of healing."
I think of concentration camp survivors and the numbers tattooed on their forearms. Tattoos that could be removed, if so desired. But, in countless interviews, I've seen these brave men and women pull back their sleeve and point to the number and say, "Don't forget! Don't forget the pain and the suffering and the horror. Don't forget the survival and the strength and the courage of those so branded."
No. We should not forget our journeys of pain. Our woundedness. Our bleeding. Our heart wrenching cries. And the hope that gradually seeps in, binding up the wounds.
his wounds we are healed.
Indeed, no pain or suffering or wound is too big or too difficult for the salve of Jesus' love, poured in generous amounts. He carries us through our journeys of pain. He made a way to grant hope for the wounded. Hope for a better day. Hope of an eternity with no more suffering, no more tears. He could, in his infinite power and wisdom, remove all traces of our sufferings. He could, in one spoken word, remove any glimpse of even the worst scar. But he doesn't.
Because our scars tell a story. To those who are wounded after us. To those who need to hear that their bleeding will stop. Their jagged edges of pain will close up. Healing will come. They will someday trace their footprints through the valleys and the pits through the scars they will someday hold dear. They will eventually pull up their heart sleeves and look in wonder to see what they have survived. And they will themselves be encouraged, as they show off their scars to encourage others.
I think this is why Jesus' hands still bore the holes of the nails after his resurrection. Oh, he conquered death. The matter of these wounds were no match for God's sovereignty. But, no. They were there for a reason. Jesus' nail scarred hands gave hope to those who witnessed them first hand after his resurrection and before his ascension. They tell us of a story of love and pain and suffering and victory. The victory that eventually comes, only after a season of feeling defeated. The victory that carries with it a strength and a courage and a depth in our faith that could not have existed, were it not for the wounds. The sweet victory of scars, of healing where pain once ruled.
Oh, bloggy friends, if you are enduring a season of woundedness and pain and suffering, may you be encouraged. The bleeding will subside. The heartache and despair will lessen. Gradually. Your season of suffering will usher in a season of healing. You must press on. Grieve forward. Be mad, if you need to be. Rail against your Creator and wrestle it through with him. And know this. Beautiful, victorious scars will come to replace that fresh wound. You will have a story of survival that God will use. If you'll let him. Where you see ugly and senseless suffering right now, you will someday see the beauty of a scar that tells your story. And you'll proudly roll up your sleeves and tell your story, pointing to that line where your broken heart was bound. And hope slipped in to eventually chase away the darkness.


Fission, The breaking down of objects | Fusion, The combining of objects.
Computers and Networking should be your passion, it certain is mine. Hopefully my guides and tip will add fuel to that fire by presenting things in a imaginative and playful light.


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Adolf Schmitt C.M.M., něm. Adolph Gregory Schmitt (20. dubna 1905 Rimpar, Německo – 5. prosince 1976 Lupane, Rhodesie) byl německý misionář a římskokatolický biskup v Bulawayo v dnešním Zimbabwe.

Život
V roce 1926 absolvoval gymnázium v Lohru nad Mohanem. Připojil se k misionářům z Mariannhillu. Řeholní sliby složil 1. května 1927. Studoval ve Würzburgu, kde byl 19. března 1931 vysvěcen na kněze. Brzy poté odjel do Bulawaya v Rhodesii (dnešní Zimbabwe) a byl zodpovědný za péči o tamní bělošskou komunitu. V letech 1936-1938 působil v mariannhillském semináři ve Würzburgu a v mariannhillském studentském semináři v Lohru nad Mohanem. V roce 1938 byl pověřen založením provincie mariannhillských misionářů v USA, kde na závěr svého pobytu působil jako provinciál. Dne 23. prosince 1950 byl jmenován apoštolským vikářem v Bulawayo a zároveň titulárním biskupem v Nasai. Biskupské svěcení přijal 2. dubna 1951 v Detroitu z rukou arcibiskupa Edwarda Aloysia kardinála Mooneyho. Spolusvětiteli byli biskup z Lansingu (Michigan) Josef Henry Albers a biskup ze Saginaw (Michigan) Stephen Stanislaus Woznicki. Jako biskupské heslo si zvolil latinské: "Ut sint unum", v překladu: "Aby (všichni) byli jedno". O několik měsíců později zahájil svou službu v Zimbabwe. 1. ledna 1955 byl apoštolský vikariát povýšen na diecézi a on byl jmenován prvním diecézním biskupem. Zúčastnil se všech čtyř zasedání Druhého vatikánského koncilu. Emeritním biskupem se stal 9. května 1974. V Rhodesii však zůstal, přestože společenská situace byla v místě stále nebezpečnější, protože probíhala občanská válka.

Okolnosti jeho násilného úmrtí
Dne 5. prosince 1976, v době kdy v Rhodesii probíhala občanská válka, jel se skupinou misionářů a sester z misijní stanice Regina Mundi do nemocnice sv. Lukáše v Buschi, aby navštívil nemocného misionáře. Několik kilometrů před nemocnicí poblíž Lupani, na silnici mezi Bulawayem a národním parkem Viktoriiny vodopády, došlo k ozbrojenému útoku. Cestu zatarasil strom ležící přes silnici. Vozidlo zastavilo a cestující chtěli překážku odstranit z cesty. Ukázalo se však, že zátaras byl pastí. Z podrostu vyskočil černošský partizánský ozbrojenec a ohrožoval skupinu. Pod pohrůžkou ozbrojeného násilí požadoval peníze. Poté začal střílet z automatické útočné pušky a křičel: "Všichni misionáři jsou nepřátelé lidu". Biskup Schmitt zemřel v krupobití kulek. Spolu s ním zemřeli otec Possenti Weggartner (C.M.M.) a sestra Francis van den Berg (CPS). Jediná přeživší řádová sestra Ermenfried Knauerová pak popsala způsob přepadení. Ona sama byla zraněna na noze, ale podařilo se jí uniknout tak, že se skutálela pod auto a předstírala smrt.

Ocenění
Římskokatolická církev zařadila biskupa Adolfa (Gregora) Schmitta jako svědka víry do německého martyrologia 20. století.

Odkazy

Reference

Literatura

Související články
 Arcidiecéze Bulawayo
 Katolická církev v Zimbabwe
 Seznam ordinářů, biskupů a arcibiskupů v Bulawayo

Externí odkazy
  Bischof Adolph Gregor Schmitt C.M.M.
  Bishop Adolph Gregory Schmitt, C.M.M. † na webu Catholic-Hierarchy.org

Muži
Zimbabwští katoličtí biskupové
Narození v roce 1905
Úmrtí v roce 1976
Zastřelení lidé

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We traced the coverage of the cholera epidemic from its initial outbreak in October 2010 until the recent two-year anniversary of the devastating earthquake in January 2012. By dividing our search into two-month sections, we narrowed our scope to help decipher who was reporting what and how often they were reporting in a specified time range.
How was the search conducted?
Click for an explanation on how the news source explored the cholera outbreak in Haiti.
Who is reporting about cholera in Haiti today?
As the cholera outbreak in Haiti became more controlled, fewer newspapers reported about the health issue because it was seen as "less newsworthy". By examining the table above, a dramatic decrease in the frequency of reporting between 2011 and 2012 was seen among all the sources. Despite the lack of recent articles, cholera still threatens the innocent lives of Haitian civilians and poses great risks to the health of its people and nation.


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From the LPGA to Bay Ridge: Julie Pyne brings expertise to Door County
By Andrea Nelson, Peninsula Pulse – June 9th, 2016
Golf instructor and former LPGA pro golfer Julie Pyne. Submitted photo.
Julie Pyne has played tournament golf as both an amateur and a professional, competing on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour for seven years. This summer, Pyne will bring her knowledge of the game to Door County, offering lessons at the Bay Ridge Golf Course over a six-week period.
Pyne made clear that her golf career was not something that she ever planned out or anticipated. Originally, her skill on the green served as a means to move forward in her schooling.
"I started playing when I was a freshman in high school and…well, the coach really needed a warm body," Pyne explained. "I didn't take it seriously until my sophomore or junior year. It was at that point I started thinking, 'Hey, I can beat that girl if I practice.' I ended up winning high school state my junior year, right when Title IX passed. After that, my golf coach said to me, 'You know, I think you might be able to get a golf scholarship.' I was expecting to go [to college] but I didn't know how, and this was like an open door for me."
Pyne approached her golfing career from a similar angle once she was at Arizona State.
"I was taking my golf seriously because I wanted to maintain my golf scholarship. I was playing all these national amateur tournaments and I played in the Open as an amateur."
The January after graduation, Pyne decided to go out as a full-time professional.
"I figured I'd give it a shot, what the heck," she said of her decision to go to the LPGA qualifying school. "It was all like a day at a time. It wasn't like I had any of these grand visions."
During her career, the golfer competed in more than 150 LPGA tournaments and six U.S. Opens. At her peak, she was ranked 31st in the world.
Pyne maintained her "day-at-a-time" attitude throughout her period with the LPGA, eventually deciding that she was ready for the next stage of her life beyond professional golf.
"When I was 29 and I had been playing for seven years, my husband and I decided that it was time to start a family," she said. The pair now has four children.
Pyne enjoys sharing her knowledge with young athletes. After retiring from her successful golfing career, Pyne began Solid Swing Solid Shots, her private golf instruction business. Additionally, she serves as the girls' varsity golf coach at Southwest High School in Green Bay.
"Now as a coach it's fun. I get kids involved and engaged," Pyne enthused.
Pyne first learned about Bay Ridge from a friend.
"I was coming up anyway to coach the First Tee," she explained. "I had talked to Sylvia Ferdon, a good buddy of mine – she told me about Bay Ridge. I met Dianne [Trenchard] and Kristy [Champeau-Nelson] and they are such a delight. When I met them I thought it would be very neat to promote other businesswomen."
The Bay Ridge lessons will be every Wednesday from June 15 to July 20, and are open to new and experienced golfers alike.
"It's a one-hour clinic and limited to 10 just for more individual attention," Pyne explained. "We cover chipping, putting and hitting each week, so each class can stand alone. If they come back the next week then I can pick up where we left off."
Pyne is excited to share her expertise at Bay Ridge this year, as she understands the satisfaction and pleasure that can come from having a solid understanding of the game.
"I will say this: as a coach and as a parent of athletes, good instruction is something you can't substitute," Pyne asserted. "Having instruction is a way to make the game a lot more fun. I hope in my lessons to help people enjoy the game more."
Bay Ridge Golf Course

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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All posts tagged "London City Royals"
Home / Posts tagged "London City Royals" (Page 2)
Ashley Hamilton Drops 24 & 11 in His BBL Debut with London City Royals
By Sam Neter on December 10, 2018
Check out Ashley Hamilton going to work in his much-anticipated BBL debut, putting up 24 and 11 whilst leading London City Royals to victory over...
Royals' Nhamo Shire: "London Needs a Team to Get Behind"
By Sam Neter on October 3, 2018
After starting the season 3-0 atop of the BBL standings, Nhamo Shire and Matthew Bryan-Amaning of the league's newest franchise, London City Royals get interviewed...
London City Royals, BBL's Newest Franchise, Begin Life at Crystal Palace
The London City Royals, the BBL's newest franchise, came into the league with a lot of fanfare – so we headed down to Crystal Palace...
London City Royals Confirm Huge Signing of Matthew Bryan-Amaning
By Bradley Gains on August 24, 2018
London City Royals have pulled off another impressive signing ahead of their debut BBL campaign with the addition of Matthew Bryan-Amaning.
Ashley Hamilton Signs with BBL Newcomers London City Royals
Ashley Hamilton has signed with the London City Royals ahead of their debut campaign in the BBL for the 2018-19 season.
London City Ready to Make Royal Splash
By Sam Neter on July 25, 2018
It raised eyebrows a fortnight ago, when, seemingly out of nowhere – and at rather short notice with 8 weeks until the new season, a...
Junior Williams Announced as London City Royals Head Coach
Junior Williams has been announced as the Head Coach of the London City Royals for their inaugural British Basketball League (BBL) season. Williams, a former...
London City Royals Revealed as New BBL Franchise
London City Royals have been revealed as the new British Basketball League (BBL) franchise for the forthcoming 2018-19 season. The new franchise will be based...


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Boards & Commissions>
Board & Commission Profiles>
Infants and Toddlers with Disabilities and Their Families, State Interagency Coordinating Council for
<< back to boards list
Apply to this board Recommend an applicant
Advises and assists the Department of Early Learning and other participating agencies in implementing a collaborative and comprehensive statewide system of early intervention services for infants and toddlers who have disabilities and their families, including identifying sources of fiscal and other support for services for the early intervention programs, assigning financial responsibilities to the appropriate agency, promoting interagency agreements and providing appropriate services for children.
Board Website
https://www.dcyf.wa.gov/about/government-community/advisory/sicc
Governor Appointments
Total Board Positions
Statutory Authority
Executive Order 14-03
Statutory Authority Website
Link to Authorizing Source
Public Disclosure Required?
Senate Confirmation Required?
Per diem and child care for parent representatives
Term Length (years) 3
Statutory Term Limits
3 full consecutive terms
Board Requirements
Membership of the Council shall be as follows: A. Four members shall be parents of infants, toddlers or children with disabilities aged twelve or younger. These members shall have knowledge of, or experience with, programs for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities. B. One member shall be a parent of an infant, toddler, or child with a disability aged six or younger. This member shall have knowledge of or experience with programs for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities. C. Five members shall be public or private providers of early intervention services. D. One member shall be involved in training personnel who provide early intervention services. E. One member shall be from the Department of Early Learning; this appointee shall be someone who has sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency. F. One member shall be from the Department of Social and Health Services; this appointee shall be someone who has sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency. G. One member shall be from the Department of Services for the Blind; this appointee shall be someone who has sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency. H. One member shall be from the Department of Health; this appointee shall be someone who has sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency. I. One member shall be from the Health Care Authority; this appointee shall be someone who has sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency. J. One member shall be a representative designated by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction who has sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency. K. One member shall be from the State Legislature. L. One member shall be from Washington Head Start. M. One member shall be from the Office of the Insurance Commissioner. N. One member shall represent the Bureau of Indian Affairs or Indian Health Services. O. One member shall represent county human services. P. One member shall represent the military. The Governor shall make appointments while considering the geographic representation, gender, and ethnic and cultural diversity, and a variety of delays, disabilities or diagnoses of children represented by family/parent members.
Position Number
Term Begin
Term End
21 VACANT Bureau of Indian Affairs or Indian Health Services representative
12 VACANT Department of Early Learning representative with sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency
19 VACANT Washington Head Start representative
3 VACANT Parent of an infant, toddler, or child with a disability aged twelve or younger, who has knowledge of, or experience with, programs for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities
18 VACANT Member of State Legislature
23 Tolson, Daniel 01/28/2016 01/06/2019 Military Representative
13 Perez, Evelyn 02/20/2018 01/06/2021 Department of Social and Health Services representative with sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency (or designee)
16 Bushaw, Stacey 02/20/2018 01/06/2021 Health Care Authority representative with sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency
10 Greenwald, Lisa 02/20/2018 01/06/2021 Public or private provider of early intervention services
7 Barnes, Maryanne 04/03/2018 01/06/2021 Public or private provider of early intervention services
11 Fettig, Angel 08/28/2018 01/06/2021 Individual involved in training personnel who provide early intervention services
14 George, Janet 04/03/2019 01/06/2022 Department of Services for the Blind representative with sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency
17 Guzman, Ryan 04/17/2019 01/06/2021 Representative designated by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction with sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency
15 Hoffman, Michelle 04/17/2019 01/06/2022 Department of Health representative with sufficient authority to engage in policy planning and implementation on behalf of the agency
1 Antalan, E Renae` 07/02/2019 01/06/2022 Parent of an infant, toddler, or child with a disability aged twelve or younger, who has knowledge of, or experience with, programs for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities
9 Cline-Stively, Mary 10/23/2019 01/06/2022 Public or private provider of early intervention services
4 Ladwig, Darci 01/09/2020 01/06/2023 Parent of an infant, toddler, or child with a disability aged twelve or younger, who has knowledge of, or experience with, programs for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities
6 Carroll, Cynthia (Cindy) 01/09/2020 01/06/2023 Public or private provider of early intervention services
5 King , Katrina 01/09/2020 01/06/2023 Parent of an infant, toddler, or child with a disability aged six or younger, who has knowledge of or experience with programs for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities
2 Sanchez, Sugely 01/09/2020 01/06/2023 Parent of an infant, toddler, or child with a disability aged twelve or younger, who has knowledge of, or experience with, programs for infants, toddlers, and children with disabilities
22 Cromar, Magan 01/28/2020 01/06/2023 County human services representative
20 Huber, Karen 01/28/2020 01/06/2023 Office of the Insurance Commissioner representative
8 LaMotte, Michelle 02/18/2020 01/06/2023 Public or private provider of early intervention services
* indicates serving at the pleasure


Clay tile roofing contractor in St. Louis Archives - Renaissance Roofing, Inc.
Why Choose Clay Tile Roofing Contractor in Omaha?
Comments Off on Why Choose Clay Tile Roofing Contractor in Omaha?
Do you love the distinctive and enticing look of roof tiles? If the solution is affirmative, then you're among a growing range of house owners UN agency decide tiles because the building material of selection for his or her homes.
A roof may be a pricey direct investment, particularly if you choose for clay tiles instead of concrete ones if created by an honest clay tile roofing contractor in Omaha. However, tiles supply several nice advantages together with sturdiness, longevity, energy-efficiency, nice curb charm, low maintenance, hurricane-grade wind mitigation with correct installation and maintenance, hearth safety, and more.
Traditional (non-metal made) tiles are most typically offered in either concrete or clay, and are available in a very multitude of shapes, profiles and colors.


I want you consider another view on this fire coming from the judgement seat of Christ and all such fire which we see again and again in scripture.
Read: Heb. 12:29; 1Cor.3:12-15. What is the fire that refines us? Is it not God's Word? God's grace poured out on us and received by us.
God many times appeared as fire: To Abraham, to Moses in the burning bush, to the people of Israel showing them the way in the desert as a column of fire by night and as a shining cloud by day when He covered the tabernacle with His glory (Exod. 40:28, 32), and when He rained fire on the summit of Mount Sinai. God was revealed as fire on the mountain of Transfiguration, and He said that He came "to put fire upon the earth" (Luke 12:49), that is to say, love, because as Saint John of the Ladder says, "Love is the source of fire" (Step 30, 18). And what of the Chariot of Fire? (2Kings2:11). Is this not God's presence par excellence? There we encounter Elijah, the holy man of God, being consumed by God's fire. And in Daniel within the fiery furnace? Where is God but in the fire? His three holy ones were saved by fire, His fire.
And how was the Pentecostal miracle received? The same miracle, the same fiery tongues, but two different reactions? Who "makes His ministers a flame of fire"? The psalmist tells us that it is God Himself.
God is Love. God is a loving fire, and He is a loving fire for all: good or bad, believing and unbelieving. There is, however, a great difference in the way people receive this loving fire of God.
Consider these two scenes: Luke 9: 28-26 and Luke 22: 55-62. This is the same Christ. This is the same man, Peter. At the Transfiguration: What is Peter's reaction to the exceedingly intense glory of God shining through Christ? His light? His fire? Peter says "It is good for us to be here Lord." He embraces this intense fiery love. Then after his denial: What is his reaction to the Love of Christ when he looks right at Peter? The fire of love burned in that moment. He hid his face, he fled, he wept, he gnashed his teeth.
Fire is a purifying element; it burns sins. Woe to a man if sin has become a part of his nature: then the fire will burn the man himself. This fire will be kindled within a man; seeing the Cross, some will rejoice, but others will fall into confusion, terror, and despair. Thus will men be divided instantly. The very state of a man's soul casts him to one side or the other, to right or to left.
These are sobering thoughts which should drive us to confession and communion, prayer and worship, love and kindness, service to others. These are the elements of fire. This is our communion with Christ God. This is how we become fire. In becoming fire, we will receive His loving fire as Peter received Christ at the Transfiguration: it is good for us to be here Lord. Otherwise, this same fire of Christ's love will burn, as it ignites the dross of our self love, infatuation with our material possessions, self gratification, bitterness, anger, and love of gossip, etc. Fire loves fire. Let us run to our Heavenly Father and receive his warm embrace and allow Him to ignite or reignite the fire of Christ within us.
Mathew Nasrallah serves as Sub-Deacon at Saint Basil's Orthodox Mission in Marietta, Georgia. He is also an attorney in the same town.


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The 5 Biggest Technology Trends In 2023 Everyone Must Get Ready For Now
As a futurist, it's my job to look ahead and identify the most important future trends in business and technology. However, many of them won't become relevant until decades from now. For more actionable advice and to help business leaders prioritize, I also provide a look into the more immediate future.
Every year, I look ahead and outline the key tech trends for the coming year – those that businesses must address today to remain competitive.
So, let's take a look at my list of key tech trends that everyone should be ready for.
AI Everywhere
Ok, the AI hype has been around for a while, but if you're not someone who is actively involved with working on technology, you may not appreciate how ubiquitous AI has become. We use smart algorithms every time we search the internet, shop online, navigate as we travel, choose how we entertain ourselves, manage our schedules, and carry out countless tasks – both creative and mundane.
The hype isn't going to end any time soon. AI has been described by Google CEO Sundar Pichai as "more significant than fire or electricity" in terms of the impact it will have on human civilization. The maturing ecosystem of no-code AI solutions and as-a-service platforms will continue to make it more accessible. With technology infrastructure and (to some extent) budget no longer a hard barrier to entry, those with good ideas will be able to create new AI-enhanced products and services which simplify or enhance our lives.
One strong focus of AI activity in 2023 will be around the augmentation of workers. Although AI will inevitably lead to the disappearance of some types of human jobs, new ones will emerge to replace them. Responsible, forward-looking employers will increasingly think about navigating this change by enabling workforces to fully leverage the new tools that are available to them.
Another exciting field to watch is synthetic content. This involves harnessing the creative power of AI to produce entirely new images, sounds, or information that has never existed before. Just like a human does when they paint a picture or write a piece of music. Natural language algorithms enable computers to understand and recreate human language communications. This means I can have my avatar answer a question or deliver a talk in my own voice without ever having to have spoken the words. The same technology drives the infamous Tom Cruise deepfakes, and the Metaphysic act that has wowed audiences on America's Got Talent this year. In 2023, we can expect to see growth in the use of this generative form of AI across entertainment and business.
The Future Internet (Metaverse)
At this stage, I think the best description that can be applied to the term metaverse is just "a more immersive digital world ."This might sound a bit woolly, but no one really knows what immersive online environments and next-level user experience will look like in five years' time. Mark Zuckerberg thinks it will be about virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR), while creators of web3 platforms like Decentraland or The Sandbox think it will also be about decentralization and blockchains. The ideas are not mutually exclusive, and there's no reason that the internet of tomorrow won't be both decentralized and built around immersion and 3D content. But with various competing ideas being thrown around when it comes to defining the term metaverse, it's not surprising that in 2022 some people got confused.
Since Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the metaverse hype in late 2021, all manner of large organizations in industries from banking to fashion, entertainment, and video gaming have jumped on board. Most have done so by simply taking advantage of existing metaverse-leaning platforms like Decentraland, Roblox, or The Sandbox to establish their first metaverse "outposts ."They're hoping to connect with the first wave of early adopter metaverse users (largely thought to be generation Z), as well as demonstrate their cool by being involved in the early stages of the "next big thing ."Clothing retailer Forever 21, for example, probably does not expect to make much money or much improve the customer experience of its average fan, with the presence it launched this year in Roblox. The aim is to understand the opportunities, test the available technology and demonstrate, to its shareholders and to the tech community - that it's capable of swiftly moving on emerging trends.
In 2023, this outpost-building and piloting will become steadily more popular among smaller organizations, while for the global brands already involved, everything will start to come together to create cohesive products and services. These will be intended for mainstream consumption rather than simply to excite technophiles and early adopters.
We will also start to see that metaverse is both mobile and post-mobile. We will still interface with it from wherever we are in the world and on whatever devices we like. But the default won't always be a smartphone. New ways we access, experience, and interact with content include headsets, smart glasses, and even full-body haptic feedback suits, and these (among others) will define the opportunities that are created. Businesses wanting to ensure they are not laggards when it comes to the next iteration of the internet now need to think hard about two things: How will they leverage these opportunities to build products and services that deliver more immersive and rewarding experiences? And how can they take advantage of the platforms and tools becoming available to make their internal processes more engaging and efficient? This could mean building capacity for collaborative remote working, training, onboarding, and project management.
A Digitally Editable World
Our ever-evolving ability to digitally recreate anything in the physical world is what makes the metaverse viable (or inevitable even) in the first place. But this idea goes further than simply creating immersive online experiences; today, we can edit things in the digital world in a way that influences the real world. Take Digital twins as an example; racing teams in Formula 1 create digital twins of the race car and use the digital world to test the car in virtual wind tunnels and via digital simulations. This allows them to change components of the car in the digital world until they are optimized before they 3D print these components for the real-world vehicle.
We see similar abilities to edit or program real-world materials in nanotechnology. By manipulating characteristics and compositions of material at a nano-scale, we can give materials new features, such as self-healing paints and water-repellent clothes, or we can develop completely new materials, such as graphene, the thinnest and strongest material known to exist.
And the pinnacle of the editable world is the manipulation of living organisms such as plants, animals, or humans by editing the genetic information responsible for the development and functioning of those organisms. Initiatives such as the Human Genome Project have enabled us to successfully create digital representations of entire DNA strands, and innovative approaches such as the CRISPR Cas9 gene editing method allow us to change the DNA and genetic structure of living organisms.
This technology opens up a range of possibilities that are almost unlimited, as it means that any characteristic of a living organism that is inherited can theoretically be changed. Children could be made immune to illnesses that their parents are susceptible to, crops can be developed that are resistant to pests and disease, and medicines could be tailored to individuals according to their own genetic make-up.
Re-architecting Trust With Blockchain
Traditionally, processes involving establishing trust between two parties online have been via a middle-man. Banks and companies like Paypal verify our identities and act as guarantors when we send money to friends or family. Anti-fraud and payment verification services help us to trust that it's safe to allow businesses to store and process our financial information. The fact that these are all centralized systems means that we can still potentially run into problems if the companies providing them fail to manage them effectively or fail to act with our best interests in mind.
The questions asked about trust in 2023 will revolve around the principle of decentralization. This means removing ultimate control of an organization, company, or process from any one central point of ownership, using decentralized networking built around consensus and encryption. These are the building blocks of blockchain, which is really just a way of storing data or running programs that are spread across multiple computers and can't be interfered with by anyone who isn't supposed to.
Energy giant Shell, for example, has revealed a trust-driven initiative that uses blockchain to ensure the provenance of sustainable energy entering its grid. And drinks manufacturer William Grant and Son attached decentralized digital tokens (NFTs) to ultra-expensive bottles of its Glenfiddich whisky it sold to collectors, which will enable them to be authenticated when they are re-sold.
Decentralization will lead to new ways of transacting, communicating, and doing business – and not just for humans. Machines, too, will benefit from the ability to carry out secure transactions between themselves, allowing us to further automate elements of business and industry that involve different interfacing systems.
Businesses are betting big that blockchain technology will drive an evolution of our relationship with the concept of digital ownership – and fuel a consumer boom in the process. They are already being used by brands, including Prada and Balenciaga, to allow users to "prove" that they own genuine digital versions of luxury products that can be shown off in the virtual world. If the metaverse means that more of us will spend an increasing amount of time (and money) online, it's certain that there will be people who will want things that are exclusive or unique to them and to be able to prove ownership and provenance.
Ultimately this leads us to the concept of the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). This is an entity – which could be a company, charity, service provider, or community group – managed and administered via software and rules enshrined on a blockchain. All decisions are made by consensus, usually meaning stakeholder vote. The results of the vote are automatically executed by smart contracts (blockchain programs) that can do anything from making payments to changing the management structure, implementing new rules and regulations, or changing the name of the organization.
The Hyper-Connected, Intelligent World
This trend quite literally ties all of the others together. It's the network of connected sensors, devices, and infrastructure that gathers the data we need to build the metaverse, create digital twins, train intelligent machines, and design new ways of enabling digital trust. This is what is known as the Internet of Things (IoT), and its impact on our lives will continue to be felt strongly in 2023.
The focus will continue to grow on enabling more useful and complex machine-to-machine interactions. Today, we are used to filling our homes with smart gadgets and appliances and our workspaces with smart tools and applications. But we often run into problems when machines have difficulty communicating due to different platforms and operating systems. In 2023, we will see further work on the development of global standards and protocols that devices can use to talk to each other. This means they will work more effectively and be capable of assisting us with a broader range of tasks.
Another area of focus will be IoT security. While connected devices can improve our lives in many ways, they also create security risks. Any device on a network is potentially an access point that an attacker might use to gain access to a system or compromise the data stored on it. Improving security capabilities to thwart these attacks will be a priority for companies that are investing in IoT and will involve tools capable of AI-assisted prediction.
5G and, in the future, 6G services won't just mean that devices will communicate more quickly than ever before. They also mean more devices can be connected, and communication between them can be "sliced" – placed into discrete channels where it exists in isolation and won't be disturbed by whatever else is happening on the network. This will lead to more reliable connected devices for use in critical procedures such as robotic surgery.
Speaking of healthcare, 2023 is also likely to be a boom year for products and services aimed at helping us to manage our health and well-being. With covid-19 still a concern around the world and the ongoing threat of more pandemics, along with the relaxing of lockdown laws, more of us are turning to technology to ensure we stay fit and healthy and smart devices to help us monitor our progress. The newer generations of Apple Watch include sophisticated sensors capable of measuring blood oxygen levels and temperature, as well as carrying out processes like conducting electrocardiograms (ECG). Previously, hardware capable of conducting these scans cost tens of thousands of dollars. This year, we are expecting to see the fruits of Google's acquisition of Fitbit, which will include smartwatches and fitness trackers with even more sophisticated features.
Bonus Trend: Sustainable Tech
On top of the five trends outlined above, there is one other 'non-negotiable' tech trend that will move even more into the spotlight in 2023: we need to make sure our technology is environmentally sustainable. With some of these data-driven and compute-hungry technologies, the environmental costs can sometimes be hidden away in cloud data centers that companies that are using the tech will never see or touch. Customers and investors are increasingly looking for green credentials, and we will see more of this in 2023. Data centers and blockchain technology need to become greener, and companies need to ensure they don't waste valuable resources storing data they don't need and running algorithms that don't add value.
To stay on top of the latest on the latest business and tech trends, make sure to subscribe to my newsletter, follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and check out my books 'Tech Trends in Practice' and 'Business Trends in Practice, which just won the 2022 Business Book of the Year award.
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Is The Bashing Of XTina The Start Of A New Trend?
It must be hard to be a pop star these days. Milk expires fast, but pop stars expire faster. One year's icon is the next year's obscurity. America has always loved to see people fall from grace but a cycle that used to span decades is now condensed to months. I'll put my life savings on the table if anyone wants to make a bet regarding Ke$ha's career longevity.
The latest victim of the pop jaws of death is Christina Aguilera. After a four year absence Xtina has returned with an album that made headlines for not selling very well. While "Bionic" isn't nearly as bad as critics (and sales figures) would lead you to believe it's interesting to watch the public's herd mentality slaughter Aguilera's integrity. Upon a close listen "Bionic" actually reveals itself to be a daring (and perhaps slightly uneven) effort. One must question her record company's choice of singles. Both "Not Myself Tonight" and "Woo Hoo" prove to be the album's weakest and most dated moments. Had the collaborations with LadyTron and MIA been chosen as lead singles perhaps the mass public would have received the album with more warmth.
One point of contention among the Aguilera haters is the accusation that she is trying to mimic the persona of the younger Lady Gaga. While browsing Christina's career portfolio these claims hold little water. Christina Aguilera has always been a bit daring with her fashion. It's unfair and cruel to diminish this now-veteran pop singer to the role of mere copy cat. It is interesting to witness the role reversal that is now occurring in the pop arena. For years people have claimed that young artists were just trying to ape their elders. When Madonna came out many people called her "The New Deborah Harry". Only in this new generation of pop are older performers being accused of copying the ones they influenced. It wasn't like this before. Not once when she tried to make a comeback was Debbie Harry ever accused of trying to be like Madonna!
Pop music will always bear the influence of the generations before it. Rihanna has shades of Grace Jones. Beyonce has shades of Tina Turner. Lady Gaga was obviously influenced by Madonna. I hope it is not a new trend to discredit established pop stars by accusing them of trying to be younger performers. If this is the case, Gwen Stefani is going to have a rude awakening the next time she releases new music. Will Gwen be accused to trying to be like Ke$ha?


This week, the Office of Management and Budget will release its initial budget request to Congress for FY 2018 – following the general timeline that is customary with a change in Administration. The initial request will be followed by a more detailed presentation to the Congress later this spring.
A central tenet of the new administration's budget request is premised on the federal government running more effectively at a reduced cost. A new report from the IBM Center for the Business of Government offers suggestions on how to achieve that objective.
"Transforming Government Through Technology" is a companion piece to a more detailed report recently published by the Technology CEO Council in which the IBM Center participated, titled "The Government We Need." The report highlights key findings and recommendations that can help government leaders in understanding how best to leverage and scale past successes to benefit citizens and taxpayers.
The report demonstrates that by deploying technology effectively based on analysis of what works, agencies can direct resources to initiatives that both lower costs and improve outcomes. Such strategies lead to better returns for the taxpayer than indiscriminate cuts that often address cost management but not service delivery. Indeed, the report shows that by using modern interconnected technologies and processes common to the private sector, agencies can realize sustainable cost reductions of more than $1 trillion over the next 10 years.
Achieving cost reductions and improving service, however, will require technological innovations that support improved processes and decision-making. The government must expand current efforts to modernize its IT portfolio and associated processes. This will add value by enabling agencies to meet their missions more quickly and completely, with less overhead, lower costs and reduced risk.
The following four strategies are key to this endeavor.
The first and fourth categories address strategic pathways for improving effectiveness, while the second and third focus on tools that can lead to greater efficiencies. The chart below highlights opportunities for each.
The cost-reduction estimates shown here were derived through analyzing specific examples featured in the TCC study, extrapolated to reflect the size and scope of the federal government. Cost-reduction figures reflect the total estimated opportunity over a 10-year period, and they may necessitate additional investments in people, processes and technology.
In addition, the IBM Center has already started to review how implementation may be achieved in each area, through a series of posts that commenced last week with a two-part assessment of how cognitive category management can identify $340 billion in cost reductions over the next decade.
The practices and recommendations summarized in this special report provide a roadmap for government leaders to transform activities within and across agencies by adopting a business-like approach. We hope that new leaders find these insights helpful in continuing the effort to modernize government through effective use of technology.


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Maine People's Alliance
Home Care for All Stirs Up Conflict in Maine
By Kaitlyn Mattson | August 8, 2018
A sweeping universal home care initiative, Question One, will be on ballots this November in Maine. However, its opposition is calling it the "Universal Wait List."
Many groups have already chosen sides. Some consumer advocacy groups, such as The Alliance for Retired Americans and Caring Across Generations, have come out in support of Question One. Other organizations in the business and health care communities are leading the charge against it. The Home Care and Hospice Alliance of Maine is in unanimous opposition, and other provider and business groups are also fighting the initiative, including The Maine State Chamber of Commerce, Maine Hospital Association and Spectrum Health Care Partners.
Representatives from Stop The Scam, a non-partisan effort focused on convincing residents to vote no on Question One (officially called An Act To Establish Universal Home Care For Seniors and Persons With Disabilities), believes that while there is room for improvement in home care services in Maine, there are a lot of services already available for those in need and the initiative won't be workable.
"There is no means test, so any millionaire or billionaire would be able to access the program," Newell Augur, Stop the Scam campaign chair and lawyer and registered lobbyist for the Home Care and Hospice Alliance of Maine, told Home Health Care News. "Martha Stewart, who [spends part of her] summer [in] Maine, would be allowed to get services through this program as they've written it."
The tax that would pay for the home care initiative could keep some individuals, companies and their employees from moving to Maine, Augur said, adding that the state would suffer economically if Question One were to pass.
"Our business community would be eviscerated," he said.
The Home Care and Hospice Alliance also has sharp concerns over potential violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), related to patient information being shared with third-party organizations should the measure be enacted.
NO on Question One/Stop the Scam
Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce spoke at the launch of the NO on Question One/Stop the Scam campaign in South Portland, Maine.
Home care ballots similar to Question One have been popping up across the country. Hawaii financed a program last year that sought to fund home care services.
It's not a stretch for states with large aging populations to look for possible solutions like a universal home care benefit.
Maine's median age is 44, and only a few other states in the nation have a median age over 40, according to 2016 Census data from the American Community Survey. The data also shows that 19% of the population of Maine is over 65, a number that is expected to grow.
"This is an issue that affects all of us," Mike Tipping, the communications director of Maine People's Alliance (MPA), told HHCN. "The state we are in is not a good one, something has to be done here, and we think this is the best way of approaching it."
MPA is a grassroots organization that focuses on a variety of issues such as caregiving, health and economic justice. MPA created and is working to pass Question One. The organization has 32,000 members statewide and is 36 years old.
MPA used Maine's citizen initiative process to get Question One on the ballot.
Stop The Scam believes that MPA is simply using it to push its "agenda" on the state.
"We say this is a scam because [the proposal] has nothing to do with home-based care," Augur said.
The question will appear on ballots reading:
"Do you want to create the Universal Home Care Program to provide home-based assistance to people with disabilities and senior citizens, regardless of income, funded by a new 3.8% tax on individuals and families with Maine wage and adjusted gross income above the amount subject to Social Security taxes, which is $128,400 in 2018?"
The fund would be managed by a democratically elected board of home care workers, families and individuals receiving services and home care providers, according to Tipping.
Opponents take issue with the notion that the board will be "democratically" elected, noting that only stakeholders in the provider, patient, and home care worker communities—not the general populace—will be able to vote on board members.
MPA sees the proposal as a necessary initiative in order to help the aging population in the state.
"At its core, it's a guarantee," Tipping said. "So, it's meant to say if you need this care you can get it to stay in your home. Even if you're a part of the wealthy [population] … that is paying for it, you will have access to this."*
MPA also looks at Question One as a possible help to home care workers.
"Like the rest of the country, we have a real problem right now with the caregiving workforce," Tipping said.
The idea is that by passing Question One, home care workers will look at caregiving as a more viable profession with more training and a possible wage increase. In turn, the state could then see a reduction in turnover, according to Tipping.
The median turnover rate in the United States was 66.7% in 2017, according to the 9th Annual Edition of the Home Care Benchmarking Study by Home Care Pulse.
But because there is already a home care aide shortage, the state wouldn't likely be able to keep up with the demand if this initiative were to pass, Augur noted. So, while this initiative could solve problems for the state, it may also cause them.
"We are probably going to be outspent," Augur said. "But if we are able to get the word out to folks of just how pernicious this thing is, [Mainers] will vote it into the gutter where it belongs."
But Tipping is just as optimistic that Mainers will see the good that Question One can do for people.
"We have an opposition that is trying to sow doubt about this and they're throwing things at the wall—I don't think any of them are sticking," said Tipping. "I think people understand that this is a very simple, basic issue—that people deserve the support they need to stay in their homes, that it makes financial sense and that we can do it as a state."
Only time and votes will tell.
*Editor's Note: A previous version of this story referenced specific numbers as to how many people in Maine would be affected by the tax. Because the two sides of the issue dispute the numbers, HHCN has removed them from the story. Further information about the tax structure can be found in the public comment letter below, sent by the state's Department of Administrative & Financial Services to Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap.
DAFS Public Comment – Home Care – Letter and Technical Memo
home care, Maine, Maine People's Alliance, Question One, Stop the Scam


Black Stone Cherry have taken a bluesier turn with their music on the Family Tree album, and it continues here with the band's new weekend anthem "Southern Fried Friday Night."
As heard in the player above, the band makes use of a talk box to open the track, eventually giving way to Chris Robertson's soulful and bluesy vocals. The song chugs along with some nasty funk and some hell-raising guitar licks and beats. In the track, Robertson offers a vivid description of what he's looking for during the titular evening, singing, "Skirts and boots / Them redneck attitudes / A tattoo or three / That's just fine with me." The track instills a little bit of the country life, while also invoking a more rocking sound and walking that line between the two genres.
"Southern Fried Friday Night" is the third song to arrive from the band's upcoming Family Tree disc. It follows on the heels of "Burnin'" and the current single "Bad Habit," the latter of which had a video that debuted right here at Loudwire.
With regards to the bluesier direction, singer Chris Robertson told us in a forthcoming interview that their Black to Blues EP really had an impact on them. "That kinda gave us a free feeling where it kinda took us back. It kind of re-sparked this and rejuvenated us, into that kind of style of the recording and producing records where nothing is completely overdone," explained the singer, calling the process of recording the new album "inspirational."
The Family Tree album will be released April 20 via Mascot Records. You can pre-order the disc in the platform of your choosing here. And look for Black Stone Cherry out on the road at these stops.


The Pineapple Fund , a charitable organization set up by a benefactor who wishes to remain anonymous, has decided to donate $ 5 million to the Open Medecine Foundation (OMF).
The funds, which have been paid into a BitPay account before being converted into dollars, will help " accelerate the necessary research on myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome, but also on other chronic diseases complex". A second donation was made yesterday, this time on $ 4 million.
" Linda Tannenbaum, the CEO of OMF, believes that this extra donation was made following the gratitude expressed on Reddit and other social networks by patients with this syndrome, " reports a blog article published on the site of the OMF, adding that thousands of messages have flocked to Reddit, Facebook or Twitter.
Little is known about the "Millionaire Bitcoin" Pine , the person behind the Pineapple Fund. He made his fortune by investing in digital currency in its infancy, and would be one of the 250 " richest Bitcoin addresses " in the world.
This new donation could help, on its scale, to revive the emblem of the ecosystem crypto-currencies – while these are sometimes presented as assets that would benefit primarily criminals.
Ms. Tannenbaum founded the OMF to help her daughter, but also the millions of people who suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The foundation brings together prominent members of the Scientific Advisory Board , including Nobel laureates and members of the National Academy of Sciences .
This was not the first donation from the Pineapple Fund , which has already awarded $ 37 million to other charities. And he does not plan to stop there: Pine has committed to pay a total of $ 86 million.
The post Charity "Bitcoin" Donates $5 Million to a Foundation for Medical Research appeared first on 5 to 9 News.


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Scientists discover the origin of 2nd interstellar visitor that reached our solar system
Earlier, a top scientist at Harvard had suggested that the first interstellar visitor that reached the solar system could be an alien probe
By Nirmal Narayanan
Updated October 11, 2019 14:13 +08
Gemini Observatory two-color composite image of C/2019 Q4 (Borisov) which is the first interstellar comet ever identified. This image was obtained using the Gemini North Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) from Hawaii's Maunakea. The image was obtained with four 60-second exposures in bands (filters) r and g. Blue and red dashes are images of background stars which appear to streak due to the motion of the comet. Composite image by Travis Rector. Gemini Observatory/NSF/AURA
It was on August 30, 2019, that Gennady Borisov, an amateur astronomer, discovered an interstellar comet that reached the solar system from the deep nooks of the universe. It should be noted that this comet is the second known interstellar visitor that reached the solar system; the first one being 'Oumuamua', that was discovered in 2017. Now, researchers have discovered the origin of this interstellar comet discovered by Gennady Borisov.
A new study conducted by a team of Polish researchers has found that this comet, known by the name 'C/2019 Q4' has reached the solar system from a red dwarf system known as Kruger 60, which is located almost 13.15 light-years away.
In their report, researchers wrote that 'C/2019 Q4' passed just 5.7 light-years from the center of Kruger 60 around one million years ago. During this time, this comet was traveling at a very slow speed of 2.13 miles per second.
As the comet was moving very slowly near the Kruger 60 system, researchers concluded that 'C/2019 Q4' was not just passing by, instead, this rogue body had orbited the star system at that time.
"If you have an interstellar comet and you want to know where it came from, then you want to check two things. First, has this comet had a small pass distance from a planetary system? Because if it's coming from there, then its trajectory must intersect with the location of that system," told Ye Quanzhi, an astronomer and comet expert at the University of Maryland who was not involved in the study to Live Science.
However, the authors of the study report admitted that this result should not be considered as conclusive evidence of C/2019 Q4's origin. They revealed that additional data obtained about this interstellar comet in the future could suggest that the original trajectory known as of now is wrong, and it might have come from somewhere else.
A year back, following the discovery of Oumuamua, Avi Loeb, a top researcher at Harvard had suggested that this first interstellar visitor could be most probably an alien probe. As per Loeb, the unexplained change in acceleration and the weird trajectory of Oumuamua is an indication that it has an artificial origin. However, several space experts dismissed these views, and they argued that the change in acceleration is due to a natural process called outgassing.
International Astronomical Union officially classifies new interstellar object to enter earth's neighborhood
NASA explains when this recently located comet will come close
Gemini observatory captures first-ever image of interstellar comet
This article was first published on October 10, 2019
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YotiYoti's app could let you skip the usual supermarket ID check.
According to The Telegraph, British facial recognition startup Yoti will trial its technology with two of the big four supermarkets. The company hasn't said which, but the big four include Morrisons, Tesco, Asda, and Sainsbury's. None immediately responded to a request for comment.
The technology would effectively replace ID checks by shop staff. It would involve customers registering with the Yoti app, taking a selfie and a test to prove their identity, then pairing this with a scan of their passport or driver's licence. Yoti apparently encrypts the data, and its staff verify people's documents. The app can then verify a person's identity whenever they take a selfie through the app.
According to the report, Yoti's tech would be embedded in the self-checkout tills found in supermarkets. The idea is to try and cut down on a common cause of queues — having to wait for a staff member to check whether you're the right age the buy alcohol.
It isn't clear whether any selfie or personal data might be available to the supermarkets who are trialling the tech, or how the information is stored, and Yoti did not immediately respond to a request for clarification. According to the BBC, Yoti has said it has no access to people's data.
Privacy campaigners said people should question the "everyday" use of biometrics, and that people shouldn't be limited to just one provider.


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"A total mess": GOP in revolt over massive new $1.1 trillion spending bill
AllahpunditPosted at 5:40 pm on December 14, 2010
Supposedly it's the giant number of earmarks involved in the bill that have them balking, but really they just don't want to be locked into a Democratic Congress's spending plan for another year. Better to pass a continuing resolution before Saturday — the deadline for funding the government, or else it shuts down — and let the tea-party Congress put out its own bill in January.
After all, elections have consequences. Or do they?
Republicans poring over a 1,924-page overarching spending bill proposed by Democrats to cover the rest of the fiscal year are threatening to
grind the legislation to a halt, citing massive earmark spending, which, if passed, would be enacted into law without debate in the full Senate.
Two sources who spoke to Fox News are describing the legislation as
"a total mess."…
In total, more than 20,000 earmark requests are listed. The financial services earmark chart, for instance, lists 220 earmark requests from dozens of lawmakers, mostly in the House, each worth anywhere from $50,000 to $2.4 million. The largest sum was requested by Inouye and his Hawaii colleague Sen. Daniel Akaka for "Bank on USA" demonstration projects" in their state. The projects are designed to give underserved communities greater access to financial institutions…
"All hell is breaking loose," the source told Fox News, noting that Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina were expected to insist the omnibus bill be read in its entirety by the clerk on the Senate floor before a vote is held. They also were expected to seek debate on all earmarks and any amendments.
McConnell says no one in the GOP caucus has seen the bill yet, and even retiring Republican Judd Gregg is demanding that it be scrapped in favor of a continuing resolution. Which means a Senate filibuster is a foregone conclusion, right? Wrong: No fewer than four Republicans — Bond, Collins, and retirees Bennett and Voinovich — are thinking of voting for it. The only Democrat I've heard of who's considering opposing it is Claire McCaskill, who's up in 2012 and wants an amendment capping discretionary spending in order to appease Missouri voters in the general campaign. Democrats would love to be able to spare her from having to vote yes in order to protect her for the election, so those four Republican votes will have not only policy consequences but potentially electoral ones too.
Exit question: Are DeMint and Coburn really going to force a full reading of the bill? No wonder Reid's threatening to hold this sucker over until January 5.
Update: In case you're not sufficiently excited about the bill already: "Indeed, the Senate bill has more pork fat than the House counterpart passed last week, and far worse, it contains funding for Obamacare implementation."
Update: Idle thought: Does taking a stand on the omnibus spending bill buy the GOP some leeway among the base to support the tax cuts deal? It'd be a lot easier to quietly vote yes on extending unemployment benefits while making a lot of noise about getting rid of earmarks.
Tags: Democrats Fox News Missouri Oklahoma Republicans South Carolina unemployment


The pundits say that the Indian electorate does not cast votes, but votes castes. This is generally true but at key moments in its postcolonial history, the citizens of the world's largest democracy – India's population is just over a billion – have acted to punish the ruling elites. It is the subaltern's revenge, unpredictable and unpredicted. Almost every Indian pollster forecast another BJP triumph before the election results were announced in May. Few believed that the Italian-born head of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty could lead the Congress-dominated alliance to victory. In the 1990s, threatened by a possible challenge from Mario Cuomo, the governor of New York, Bill Clinton declared that the American people would never elect a president whose surname ended with an 'o'. In India, the BJP ideologues thought the electorate wouldn't accept an Italian woman. Many others agreed. Several months ago, on a flight to New York, I met someone I had not seen for twenty years. A twig from a minor branch of the old Indian nobility, she said: 'It's a national disgrace that the Congress is being run by an Italian au pair.' I pointed out that since an Englishman had founded the party, the transition to an Italian could be seen as progress and that Sonia Gandhi was surely preferable to the scoundrels in saffron. Conversation dried up. Her liberal days were long over and she was now sympathetic to the BJP: they were the saviours of India.
She must have been shocked to discover that the majority of voters did not share her prejudices. The people who voted for Sonia Gandhi's Congress did so in the hope that she would be their next prime minister. They did not suspect that, in the extravagant language of one newspaper editor, 'the jewel would turn down the crown.' It was a shrewd move on her part, as was the choice of Manmohan Singh as prime minister, the first member of an ethnic minority to become the head of government.
The choice pleased secularists at home and capitalists everywhere were thrilled that such a seasoned 'reformer' (i.e. supporter of deregulation and privatisation) was in charge. Singh was the finance minister who inaugurated the 'reform process' in 1991 and became the financial magazines' favourite politician. This time, slightly embarrassed perhaps, he was quick to announce that poverty had to be tackled and that he wanted 'economic reforms with a human face'.
After the 370 million votes to elect 539 members had been counted, the Indian National Congress emerged as the largest single party in the new Parliament with 217 seats; the BJP came second with 185, while the Left Front, made up of the two Communist Parties (CPI and CPM) as well as some smaller independent left groupings, secured 61 seats, enabling Congress to resist the traditional haggling and blackmail from regional parties desperate to join a coalition. Within 24 hours of the Congress victory, the secular alliance had 322 seats. It was not an overwhelming victory but it was a famous one.
Basic roti-dal issues were the most obvious reason for the BJP's defeat. In the words of Sawali Rai, a 34-year-old bank employee quoted in the New York Times: 'it is the anger of the working class . . . privatisation, no government jobs, prices rising.' 'Shining India', the BJP slogan, may have been popular with the monied diaspora in Britain and North America – the non-resident Indians who are provided with generous tax-breaks to invest in the Motherland – but neo-liberal economic policies weren't so popular at home. There were 34,850,000 unemployed in 2002; by 2007 there are liable to be between 40 and 50 million. India has the largest pool of unemployed graduates in the world, despite its success in information technology. According to official statistics, in 2003 there were 740,000 applicants for 20,000 jobs in the lowest, Group D category in the Indian railway system, and many of them were overqualified engineers and accountants. A PhD may not be enough even to guarantee a job serving the European tourists who fly in to Delhi, travel on special luxury trains to Rajasthan for weekend shopping jaunts and then fly back to Paris or London.
The suicide rate in the countryside is rocketing; just under 40 per cent of the population live below the poverty line and 47 per cent of children suffer from malnutrition. There is no running water in Delhi's slums, while the five-star giant hotels in the city consume 20,000 litres of mineral or purified water every day. The decline in living standards under the BJP is revealed by the UN Human Development Index, which showed India slipping from 115th place in 1999 to 127th in 2001.
Indian defenders of the 'Washington consensus' claim that with a growth rate of 10.4 per cent, GDP growing at 8 per cent and foreign exchange reserves in excess of $100 billion, the Indian economy has never had it so good. But they never ask who benefits. The growth is undeniable, but it has increased the gulf between rich and poor in both town and country, as well as widening the gap in living standards between urban and rural populations. The reason is that the growth has been mainly in information technology, manufacturing and the service sector, which doesn't help the 65 per cent of the population that still live in the countryside. The increase in manufacturing has been concentrated on capital-intensive products – cars, washing-machines, dishwashers – rather than labour-intensive ones, and so urban unemployment has remained largely unaffected. Even the much celebrated beneficiaries of outsourcing who work long hours at call centres and try hard to develop American accents are little more than global 'cyber-coolies'.
There are 800 million people living below the starvation line in the world (defined as consuming fewer than 1960 calories a day) and 223 million of them live in India, as compared to 183 million in the whole of Africa. Between 1990 and 2000, the world total fell, but this was thanks exclusively to improvements in China. In India the numbers stayed constant. If you wanted to be generous, you could argue that a third of the population benefited to some extent from the free market and deregulation, and the top 0.5 per cent of this third benefited hugely. Conditions for the remaining two-thirds worsened. In the brave new world of global finance, food subsidies are treated as a sign of weakness, which means that economic reforms tend to cause more deaths among the poor.
Some commentators in Mumbai's influential Economic and Political Weekly have argued that the election result cannot be interpreted as a revolt against the BJP's 'reforms' because the Congress initiated them. There is some truth in this, and it would in any case be ridiculous to overlook the anti-incumbency factor. With the exception of West Bengal, where the Communist Party-Marxist (CPM) has been in power for thirty years, and the partial exception of Kerala, where rivalry between the CPM and the Congress has resulted in very high public spending, existing regional governments all lost power. The BJP suffered the most, losing badly in strongholds such as Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat; the Congress lost Karnataka. Both locally and nationally, the main explanation for the results is the failure to satisfy the basic socio-economic needs of the great majority of the population.
There were, of course, non-economic reasons as well, and they help explain why the BJP's defeat delighted so many Indians. Some regarded the BJP as an Indian version of fascism, though fascists don't usually react so gracefully to losing elections. Others saw in the virulent Hindu nationalism espoused by the BJP a form of authoritarianism that could damage Indian democracy. They were closer to the mark. The crude cultural campaign to 'saffronise' the country's education and information system provoked a great deal of anger. The gurus of the BJP insisted that the Hindu nation was the one true nation, that the Vedas were the only source of Indian culture, and that the Indus Valley civilisation of 3600 BCE was Aryan, not Dravidian. The Dravidian languages of the south? All derived from Vedic Sanskrit. The impact of Islam? Enforced by arms and of little real significance; Muslims should be reconverted to the Vedas. Christians, too. As for the caste system, that is the natural order of things. The only serious response to all this came from the historians Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib and a few others. They soldiered on, responding to every attempt to treat mythology and tradition as history.
Murli Manohar Joshi, a leading figure in the BJP and minister for human resources development, was one of three cabinet ministers to lose his seat. It was under his watch that zealots had begun cleansing the curriculum of texts containing 'hurtful sentiments'. Some of India's most distinguished historians, Thapar and Habib among them, had been denounced. D.N. Jha's monograph which demonstrated the absence of cow-worship and the prevalence of beef-eating at feasts during early Hinduism was temporarily banned. Even when the ban imposed by a lower court was overruled, the author couldn't find a local publisher. Thapar's texts on ancient India, a staple of university and school syllabuses, were censored because she had questioned the existence of Hindu deities.
The rewriting of Indian history hasn't been confined to India. In no-questions-asked multicultural Britain, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, the World Hindu Organisation, a global propaganda outfit allied to the BJP, was invited by local authorities to produce a guide to Hinduism. Explaining Hindu Dharma: A Guide for Teachers, which offers 'teaching suggestions for introducing Hindu ideas and topics in the classroom', criticises any challenge to the historical authenticity of the Vedas.
Between 28 February and 2 March the attackers descended with militia-like precision on Ahmedabad by the thousands, arriving in trucks and clad in saffron scarves and khaki shorts, the signature uniform of Hindu nationalist – Hindutva – groups. Chanting slogans of incitement to kill, they came armed with swords, trishuls (three-pronged spears associated with Hindu mythology), sophisticated explosives, and gas cylinders. They were guided by computer print-outs listing the addresses of Muslim families and their properties, information obtained from the Ahmedabad municipal corporation among other sources, and embarked on a murderous rampage confident that the police was with them. In many cases, the police led the charge, using gunfire to kill Muslims who got in the mob's way. A key BJP state minister is reported to have taken over police control rooms in Ahmedabad on the first day of the carnage, issuing orders to disregard pleas for assistance from Muslims.
Another point of disagreement between the Hindu right and the secular centre was foreign policy. Many in India, and not just on the left, were dismayed by the reversal of traditional Indian foreign policy under the BJP. The attitude to Bush after 9/11 and to Sharon (who was invited on a state visit after the Israeli offensive in Jenin) was not popular. The architect of the new turn, the foreign minister Yashwant Sinha, lost his Jharkhand constituency to a Communist, who won by a handsome margin.
To recapitulate briefly: Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of postcolonial India, had a daughter, Indira, who married a Parsi called Feroze Gandhi. They had two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay. When Indira became prime minister she trusted few of her colleagues and encouraged her younger son, Sanjay, to take an active part in Congress politics. He began to transform the party in his own image: authoritarian, unpleasant, power-hungry. He then died in a plane crash and a reluctant Rajiv was dragooned into service. A genial airline pilot, he had little interest in government, and his Italian wife, Sonia, told friends that she would rather starve than let Rajiv enter politics. But the strong-willed Mrs Gandhi could not be resisted for long. Rajiv joined the party. His mother had quarrelled with the Sikhs and sent troops into their holiest of holies, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, to defeat the Sikh extremists who had occupied the sanctuary. Soon afterwards, her Sikh bodyguards assassinated her. The Congress high command hurriedly elected Rajiv as their leader and prime minister. He sent troops to Sri Lanka to contain the Tamil Tigers and stabilise the situation there; lives were lost on both sides. Several months later, during a pre-election campaign in south India, a Tamil suicide-bomber killed both herself and Rajiv Gandhi. Most commentators assumed that was the end of the dynasty. But earlier, in 1989, while attending the bicentenary celebrations of the French Revolution, the prime ministers of India and Pakistan had shared a VIP box. Gandhi had confided to his fellow dynast Benazir Bhutto that his daughter, Priyanka, was determined to enter politics. 'She doesn't realise what a dangerous occupation it is,' he said. He asked Benazir to try and talk her out of it, but she wasn't in a strong position to do so.
Certainly, few imagined that Sonia Gandhi would accept the invitation of a defeated and tattered Congress leadership to take charge of the party. Even fewer believed she could lead it to victory. But she refused the big job, thereby making the eventual accession to power of her son, Rahul, now an MP, or Priyanka, who campaigned effectively in Uttar Pradesh, a virtual certainty.
Is it possible to say anything new about Jawaharlal Nehru? Judith Brown's study, factually repetitive and analytically anorexic, is disappointingly conventional. Benjamin Zachariah's book is far more useful, placing its subject in the international context of his times. The founding father of modern India was its best known and least demonised (Harrow and Cambridge were helpful here) postcolonial leader. Multivolume editions of his collected writings, including an often reprinted autobiography, have been supplemented by numerous popular and scholarly accounts. The three-volume biography by Sarvepalli Gopal laid everything except Edwina Mountbatten on the table. Most historians regarded Nehru's trysts with her as politically irrelevant, which I always thought was unfair. It's unlikely that couch-talk was confined to discussing the Maharani of Jaipur's latest sari. The limited evidence suggests that intellectual affinities fuelled the affair. On the other hand, the sensationalists (including a number of Pakistani historians) who allege that Nehru's intimacy with Lady Mountbatten helped India get a better deal than it deserved when the subcontinent was partitioned in 1947 are way off the mark. Credit for that must go to the weak-kneed leaders of the Muslim League.
Capital formation (around 6 per cent of NDP) was inadequate to bring about rapid improvement in per capita income, which was about one-twentieth of the level then attained in developed countries. The average availability of food was not only deficient in quantity and quality, but, as recurrent famines underscored so painfully, also precarious. Illiteracy was a high 84 per cent and the majority (60 per cent) of children in the 6 to 11 age group did not attend school; mass communicable diseases (malaria, smallpox and cholera) were widespread and, in the absence of a good public health service and sanitation, mortality rates (27 per 1000) were very high. The problems of poverty, ignorance and disease were aggravated by the unequal distribution of resources between groups and regions.
The Congress Party, with Nehru as prime minister, attempted to create new industries, irrigate more land, and to instigate reforms that limited landholdings and were designed to weaken the grip of the big landlords in the countryside. Nehru and other Congress leaders admired Attlee and Bevan and saw themselves as implementing similar reforms in a much more difficult situation, but in India the dissenters were mainly on the left. In the first decade after independence the Communist Party of India was the official opposition and, in 1957, it caused an international sensation by winning the provincial elections in Kerala, where a veteran Communist intellectual, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, became chief minister.
Determined to topple the elected Communist government, the Congress Party imposed President's Rule (rule by central government) and entered into an alliance with all the anti-Communist forces in the province, from right-wing religious parties to CIA-funded socialists. The plan was masterminded by Indira Gandhi and opposed by her estranged husband, Feroze, who regarded these intrigues as damaging to the new democracy. Because of India's first-past-the-post electoral system, the Congress alliance won the subsequent elections even though the Communist vote increased from 35 to 44 per cent.
The Communists' strength helped to bring the land question to the forefront of Indian politics. It was generally understood that a nationalist party needed a national bourgeoisie and that the one would help the other, but what about the countryside? It was here, in the most appalling social conditions, that the bulk of the population lived and died. For a majority of the Congress leaders – despite noisy denials – the only way to reshape rural India was to capitalise it, by giving subsidies to the rich farmers. Land reforms had ended the political and economic power of big landlords, but the poorest inhabitants were now at the mercy of enriched and powerful kulaks. In 1964, when Nehru died, children made up 2 per cent of rural wage-earners. Ten years later the figure had risen to 3.5 per cent. In roughly the same period, the number of landless peasants went from 17 to 21 million households. Nehru was aware of all this, but the Congress was an intra-class coalition. The rural rich had their supporters in government and an ageing Nehru usually favoured compromise.
As long as income-distribution remains what it is, there is no sense in piling up waste on top of inequality by unrealistic notions of the importance of agriculture. The same reminder is, I think, necessary also in relation to the argument that we should give the highest priority to agricultural production since the highest priority should be given to the satisfaction of the basic needs of the poorest people, and food and clothing form the bulk of these basic needs. An actual transfer of relative incomes in favour of the poor should precede – or at least accompany – any such priority. A mere shift in the nature of goods produced does nothing to alter the distribution of incomes in the desired direction.
Patel's prescriptions were a far cry from the socialism espoused by Nehru in the 1930s, but they were too radical for Nehru's daughter and grandson. Congress had been transformed into an electoral machine which acted as a magnet for power-hungry politicians. Sanjay had yuppified the party in the 1970s. The recruits were rich men who wanted to get richer; they owned small or medium-sized businesses and were keen to become agrobusinessmen. This was the Sanjay levy, which turned the Congress into a coalition of capitalists, landed gentry and a new intelligentsia that was linked to both – the social layer that needed the dynasty. Not possessing a history of its own, it adopted that of its leaders. Soon, many of them would refer to Nehru as 'panditji', as if they had known him.
For many decades the politicians of the religious right have been denouncing secular, Nehruvian values as the illegitimate offspring of the Enlightenment and modernity. To this they counterpose Hindu culture and tradition – i.e. religion. The BJP gave official sanction to the regular denunciations of secularism that became fashionable among certain metropolitan middle-class intellectuals in the late 1970s and 1980s.
Subalternist historians, aided by the odd cultural mystic, started by counterposing the soft Hinduism of Mahatma Gandhi to the hard agnosticism of Nehru. In a Times of India column in 1991, Ashis Nandy explained the killing of Gandhi by the godfathers of the BJP as confirmation of his own, anti-secular thesis: 'That is why the late Nathuram Godse did not kill the modernist and "pseudo-secular" Jawaharlal Nehru, but the "arch reactionary" . . . Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. After the murder, Nehru could only say that the killer was insane. The modernist prime minister found it too painful to confront the truth that Godse was sane, that he knew who was the real enemy of Hindutva.' The truth is simpler. At the time of his assassination, Gandhi had been on hunger strike twice in an attempt to compel his countrymen to stop killing Muslims. He was about to visit Pakistan to show goodwill to the new state. The gangs which had been fomenting anti-Muslim violence were horrified by this and eliminated Gandhi.
The pre-independence Congress Party was the product of Gandhi's victory over Nehru. The modernist capitulated to the mystagogue. Nehru became the dutiful son and Gandhi his bapu ('father'). Indian secularism – equal respect for all religions, rather than the equality of all citizens under a secular legal framework " – was always a Gandhian notion. It was an acceptance of the carefully constructed and self-serving imperial model of two dominant religious communities in permanent conflict. This was a travesty of Indian history, but served a variety of political needs and soon became acceptable to every side and was the justification for Partition. Nehru rejected this view, but the Congress contained a communalist faction, the chief spokesman of which, the powerful Gujarati politician Vallabhai Patel, was the second most important figure in the party.
When Nehru died in 1964, the Congress elected the unassuming Lal Bahadur Shastri as its leader, but he died a year later. It was then that the Congress bosses, an unsavoury collection of regional warlords, decided that the election of Nehru's daughter might be the best way to preserve their stranglehold on the party. To them she was a 'dumb doll', as Kamaraj called her, easy to manipulate. They made a big mistake: Indira Gandhi outmanoeuvred them at every turn. She finally split the party and won the 1967 elections with a giant majority under the slogan 'Gharibi Hatao' ('Remove Poverty'), a sentiment recently reappropriated by her daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Before too long, however, she became intolerant of opposition, declared a state of emergency and suspended Parliament. She went to the polls in 1977 and was destroyed by the electorate: then, as now, the poor in India demonstrated their fondness for democracy. Much has changed in India since her assassination in 1984. It is now virtually impossible for any single party to win an overall majority in the Lok Sabha. Coalitions have become necessary and regional parties are a real force.
The refusal of the left to join the new government is explained not so much by major policy differences (the CPM in West Bengal accepts a great deal of neoliberal economics, including curbing trade-union rights) but by the fact that in both West Bengal and Kerala the Congress has, until now, been the main rival. It was provincial opportunism rather than principle that kept them aloof. A great deal will now depend on what the new regime is able to deliver. Reversing the BJP's cultural chauvinism will be relatively simple, but what about poverty? Will Priyanka be leading the Congress in 2015 under the slogan of'Remove Poverty'?
It is all very well for Tariq Ali to gibe at India's neo-liberal economics (LRB, 8 July), but this, alas, is the only show in town. It would be imprudent for any Indian leader to await an Ali tome on correct economic theory and practice. The rites of passage of a society struggling to modernise are inevitably painful. The idiocies of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and similar backwoodsmen of Hinduism cause justifiable merriment and consternation, but India is the sum of its diverse and contradictory parts. And, by the way, the Sikhs are a religious minority, not an ethnic minority as Ali claims. One expects better from a Lahore-born Punjabi.


Homemade noisemakers can invigorate any kind of celebration, from birthdays and New Year's to football games and pep rallies. Using materials found around your home, you can make all types of simple noisemakers. Get creative and then get loud with your homemade toys.
This noisemaker combines small, loose objects inside of a larger container, and creates a rhythmic sound when shaken. Use dried beans, rice, pennies, beads, bells or any combination of these items. Put them inside of a clean, empty jar with a lid, or create a container by taping together two plastic cups or paper plates. Do not fill the container so much that the small items can't move. You want them to be able to bounce around to create noise. Decorate your noisemaker with paint, markers, ribbon and other accessories.
Create small finger-sized cymbals using metal jar tops. Find two jar tops of the same size, and punch a hole through the top of each with a hammer and nail. Loop an elastic band through the top of each lid, securing them with a knot on the underside of each lid. Decorate the tops of your cymbals with paint, felt, glitter and other accessories. Hook the cymbals over your thumb and forefinger and clap them together to make lots of noise.
Roll up a sheet of paper into a narrow tube, starting at one corner and wrapping the paper around a pencil. After a few turns, carefully remove the pencil. Tape the tube so that it stays rolled up. Cut one end of the tube two-thirds of the way across, forming a triangular flap. Fold this flap so that it covers the end of the tube. Play the noisemaker by putting your mouth on the uncut end, pressing lightly on the flap, and inhaling as you release your finger. This will cause the flap to make a vibrating sound.


text:
#include "berryISources.h"

namespace berry
{

int ISources::WORKBENCH()
{
  static int val = 0;
  return val;
}

int ISources::LEGACY_LEGACY()
{
  static int val = 1;
  return val;
}

int ISources::LEGACY_LOW()
{
  static int val = 1 << 1;
  return val;
}

int ISources::LEGACY_MEDIUM()
{
  static int val = 1 << 2;
  return val;
}

int ISources::ACTIVE_CONTEXT()
{
  static int val = 1 << 6;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_CONTEXT_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeContexts";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_ACTION_SETS()
{
  static int val = 1 << 8;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_ACTION_SETS_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeActionSets";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_SHELL()
{
  static int val = 1 << 10;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_SHELL_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeShell";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_SHELL()
{
  static int val = 1 << 12;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_SHELL_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeWorkbenchWindowShell";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW()
{
  static int val = 1 << 14;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeWorkbenchWindow";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_SUBORDINATE()
{
  static int val = 1 << 15;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_IS_COOLBAR_VISIBLE_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_NAME()
      + ".isCoolbarVisible";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_IS_PERSPECTIVEBAR_VISIBLE_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_NAME()
      + ".isPerspectiveBarVisible";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_ACTIVE_PERSPECTIVE_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = ISources::ACTIVE_WORKBENCH_WINDOW_NAME()
      + ".activePerspective";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_EDITOR()
{
  static int val = 1 << 16;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_EDITOR_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeEditor";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_EDITOR_ID()
{
  static int val = 1 << 18;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_EDITOR_ID_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeEditorId";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_PART()
{
  static int val = 1 << 20;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_PART_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activePart";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_PART_ID()
{
  static int val = 1 << 22;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_PART_ID_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activePartId";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_SITE()
{
  static int val = 1 << 26;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_SITE_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeSite";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

const std::string ISources::SHOW_IN_SELECTION()
{
  static const std::string val = "showInSelection";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

const std::string ISources::SHOW_IN_INPUT()
{
  static const std::string val = "showInInput";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_CURRENT_SELECTION()
{
  static int val = 1 << 30;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_CURRENT_SELECTION_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "selection";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

int ISources::ACTIVE_MENU()
{
  static int val = 1 << 31;
  return val;
}

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_MENU_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeMenu";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_MENU_SELECTION_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeMenuSelection";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_MENU_EDITOR_INPUT_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeMenuEditorInput";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_FOCUS_CONTROL_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeFocusControl";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

const std::string ISources::ACTIVE_FOCUS_CONTROL_ID_NAME()
{
  static const std::string val = "activeFocusControlId";
  return val;
} //$NON-NLS-1$

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Bring your designs into reality. Come to KID Museum to use tools and equipment to begin building your Invent the Future solutions and prototypes. You will have access to drills, scroll saws, laptops, and basic building materials. Come prepared with designs and ideas so that you are ready to dive into building! Open to all Invent the Future teams.
Note: Price is for each student. Each team of students must be accompanied by the Team Coordinator or other adult. Maximum of 6 kids per 1 adult. Price does not include General Admission.


On my way to writing good scripts, I wrote many terrible ones. In my long quest to improve, I found myself at UCLA. There, I spent two quarters with Professor Neil Landau at UCLA's Professional Program in Screenwriting. Not everyone is lucky enough to live within commuting distance of UCLA, but fortunately Neil has written some terrific books. His Screenwriting Roadmap is one of the only books on screenwriting I regularly recommend to writers of all levels.
Neil's latest book, TV Outside the Box: Trailblazing in the Digital Television Revolution, is focused on TV's new golden age of on-demand viewing and digital networks. Neil has a knack for distilling information down to very practical, usable points. The book is stuffed full with interviews from actual, current executives and creators. I can't imagine a more thorough or richer treatment of this subject.
Happily, my interview with Neil is included in this book. It's from a conversation I had as a guest in his UCLA screenwriting class. It covers my experience bringing Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street to fruition in greater detail than I've gone into anywhere before. Even if you have absolutely no interest in me, you should pick up this book — it's timely, and has a high useful-information-to-page-count ratio.