The Irish Setter is widely known as the Red Setter, is a large dog that contains mahogany or chestnut coat. They don't shed that much as we could think of, which is far more convenient. In the same time, it is important to brush them every once-a-while.
The Irish Setter requires lots of exercises because they have high levels of energy that they need in order to explore around areas. You have to take them for minimum two walks on daily basis, but don't you ever keep them confined because that could lead to destructive behaviour.
Irish Setters can reach up to 70 cm in height and 34 kg in weight.
They live approximately 12 years.
Irish Setter is domestic Ireland dog. The history gets us back in the 18th century, and many experts consider that they are developed by combining Gordon Setters, Pointers, English Setters, and Spaniels. In the past, they had a red coat that was sprinkled with dots on the top.
They were introduced in the US at the end of 19th century.
Irish Setters are known for playful highly energetic, loving, bubbling and excitable. You have to understand that they are not suited to be left alone for much time because that could lead to bored and therefore destructive behaviour. They are very protective, especially for their young ones, but still, they are not good guard dogs.
They are easy to train but have a tendency to howl and bark if irritated. You have to stimulate the obedience, agility and tracking training, but also as therapy dogs because of friendly and warm nature.
Irish Setters live with puppy brain all lifelong.
Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, and Ronald Reagan were three presidents that owned Irish Setter.


text:
Q: What does phrasal verb buy in mean? Today during preparing to PMI-ACP exam I bumped into phrase "buy in".
All dictionaries explain the meaning of this phrasal verb as "To buy something in large quantity". Is there any other meanings? Because in context that I have heard it, has no sense to me.
The whole sentence "Develop team rules and processes to foster buy in".

A: buy in TFD - idiom of buy an buy into  Oxford Learner's Dictionary

*To believe in and support an idea, concept, or system.

As in:

*"Rod's a good enough coach, but he just can't get the players to buy in — they still don't listen to him." "We can't approach the CEO with our idea for overhauling the computer system until we get our boss to buy in first".

And as in: Rachel's English

If you buy into something, you believe it.  I bought into the idea
  that he was going to be a great president.  Or, if someone's telling
  you something and it doesn't seem truthful, you can say, "I don't buy
  it."  That's like saying, "I don't believe you."

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


GULF NATIONAL DRILLING COMPANY – A privately owned oil & gas drilling company engaged in the drilling of oil & gas wells on a contract basis.
WELCOME TO GULF NATIONAL DRILLING COMPANY..
in the drilling of oil & gas wells on a contract basis.
GULF NATIONAL DRILLING COMPANY A Division of Alghanim International General Trading & Contracting Co. W.L.L.
© 2019 Gulf Naitonal Drilling Company - All rights reserved.


International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde has personally congratulated Egypt's President-elect Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and stressed the global lender remains ready to help the country, the IMF said Friday.
"IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde spoke to Egyptian President-elect Sisi by phone yesterday to congratulate him on his election," a spokeswoman said in an email to AFP.
Sisi, who won nearly 97 percent of the vote in last week's polls, faces a tough task to restore stability and revive a battered economy amid fears of a return to autocracy. He is to be sworn in Sunday.
The IMF had been in talks on a $4.8 billion bailout package for Egypt, which has been coping with violence and economic woes since the 2011 overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak.
But the discussions broke off last year due to political instability after the military overthrew the country's first freely elected leader, Mohamed Mursi.
On Thursday, an IMF spokesman said the global lender is providing technical assistance on tax issues and other matters to Egypt, and an IMF technical team had been in Cairo from April 27 to May 2.
"Broadly we stand ready to support Egypt and we look forward to engaging in a dialogue with the authorities on the policy actions and wide ranging structural reforms needed to address the challenges ahead," spokesman Gerry Rice said.
The spokesman said that Egyptian authorities and the IMF agreed in April, to hold an IMF review of Egypt's economy, known as an Article IV consultation, after the presidential election.
No mission dates have been scheduled yet for the review, he said.


text:
Q: Why am I getting a Unexpectedly found nil while implicitly unwrapping an Optional value in my Code? I am getting a Unexpectedly found nil while implicitly unwrapping an Optional value in my Code error when I try to use another view controller to save a new task in a to do list. When I tap a button I open up the entry page which then has a text field where I can enter the text to then create a task item. Here is the code for the main view controller:
  class ViewController: UIViewController, UITableViewDelegate, UITableViewDataSource {

    let context = (UIApplication.shared.delegate as! AppDelegate).persistentContainer.viewContext

    @IBOutlet var tableView: UITableView!

    private var tasks = [TaskItem]()

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        getAllTasks()
        tableView.delegate = self
        tableView.dataSource = self
    }

    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, numberOfRowsInSection section: Int) -> Int {
        return tasks.count
    }

    func tableView(_ tableView: UITableView, cellForRowAt indexPath: IndexPath) -> UITableViewCell {
        let cell = tableView.dequeueReusableCell(withIdentifier: "cell", for: indexPath)
        cell.textLabel?.text = tasks[indexPath.row].title
        return cell
    }

    @IBAction func didTapNewTask(){
        let viewContoller = storyboard?.instantiateViewController(identifier: "entry") as! EntryViewController
        viewContoller.title = "New Task"
        viewContoller.update = {
            DispatchQueue.main.async {
                self.getAllTasks()
            }
        }
        navigationController?.pushViewController(viewContoller, animated: true)
    }

    //Core Data Functions

    //Used to get all our tasks in our Core Data
    func getAllTasks() {
        do {
            tasks = try context.fetch(TaskItem.fetchRequest())
            DispatchQueue.main.async {
                self.tableView.reloadData()
            }
        }
        catch {
            print("error getting all tasks \(error)")
        }
    }

    //This is used to create a task, setting the properties to those in the parameters and then saving to our Core Data.
    func createTask(title: String, notes: String, difficulty: Int32) {
        let task = TaskItem(context: context)
        task.title = title
        task.notes = notes
        task.difficulty = difficulty
        task.dateCreated = Date()

        do {
            try context.save()
            getAllTasks()
        }
        catch {

        }
    }

Here is the code for the entry view controller:
class EntryViewController: UIViewController, UITextFieldDelegate {

    @IBOutlet var field: UITextField!

    var update: (() -> Void)?

    override func viewDidLoad() {
        super.viewDidLoad()
        field.delegate = self
        // Do any additional setup after loading the view.
    }

    func textFieldShouldReturn(_ textField: UITextField) -> Bool {
        saveTask()
        return true
    }

    @IBAction func saveTask(){
        let vc = storyboard?.instantiateViewController(identifier: "tasks") as! ViewController
        guard let text = field.text, !text.isEmpty else {
            let alert = UIAlertController(title: "Error", message: "Please input a title" , preferredStyle: UIAlertController.Style.alert)
            alert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Confirm", style: UIAlertAction.Style.default, handler: nil))
            self.present(alert,animated: true,completion: nil)
            return
        }
        vc.createTask(title: text, notes: "Hello", difficulty: 10)

        update?()

        navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)

    }

The app crashes once I click save the new task but then once I reload the app the task I just created is there.

A: @IBAction func saveTask(){
        let vc = storyboard?.instantiateViewController(identifier: "tasks") as! ViewController
        guard let text = field.text, !text.isEmpty else {
            let alert = UIAlertController(title: "Error", message: "Please input a title" , preferredStyle: UIAlertController.Style.alert)
            alert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "Confirm", style: UIAlertAction.Style.default, handler: nil))
            self.present(alert,animated: true,completion: nil)
            return
        }
        vc.createTask(title: text, notes: "Hello", difficulty: 10)

        update?()

        navigationController?.popViewController(animated: true)

    }

The first line of this method is the source of your problem. What you're doing here is making a new instance of the original view controller, not the instance you first came from.
This sort of works for a moment, because you then call createTask on that view controller to make your new task. That's fine, but that method then calls getAllTasks, which then dispatches to the main queue, which then calls reload data on your table.
But your table doesn't exist, because this is a new instance of the view controller which has never had it's view loaded. The table view is an implicitly unwrapped optional, but it's nil when you hit it here.
Your best solution is to pass in a block (like you have with update) to create a new task, and in that block call methods on the original view controller.


text:
Професіональна футбольна група А 2015–16 — 92-й сезон найвищого рівня футбольних дивізіонів Болгарії. Стартував 17 липня 2015 року та тривав до 28 травня 2016 року. Титул чемпіона вп'яте поспіль здобув Лудогорець.

Клуби

Турнірна таблиця

Примітки:
1. Клуб Литекс виключили із Чемпіонату.
2. Клуб ЦСКА (Софія) переміг у Кубку Болгарії з футболу 2015—2016, але не візьме участь у Лізі Європи УЄФА 2016—2017 через виключення з числа учасників з боку органу УЄФА з фінансового контролю клубів.

Позначення:

Лідери чемпіонату

Результати

1. Клуб Литекс виключили із Чемпіонату.

Статистика

Найкращі бомбардири

Хет-трики

Плей-оф

|-
|colspan="3" style="background-color:#D0D0D0" align=center|4 червня 2016

|}

Примітки

Посилання
 bulgarian-football.com
 Професіональна футбольна група А на soccerway

2015–16
Болгарія
Болгарія
2015 у болгарському спорті
2016 у болгарському спорті

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


If you would like to contribute to our charity organisation, you can support us with donations, know how, time, sponsorships and even with the extra space in your luggage in case you would come on holiday to Arusha. We also provide small pamphlets to hang up in your store or office to draw attention to our charity organisation.
If you believe in our project and you would like to help to make a difference we would be very grateful if you could donate items or money.
If you are volunteering or visiting Baraa Primary School and want to bring items with you for us please look at our donations wishlist.
You need to provide all your personal details including your address so the certificate can be sent to you.
Receiving payments to this account costs iThemba 5%, if you are feeling generous please add the additional 5% so the school receive the full amount donated.
Please mark the payment clearly with the specific project at Baraa Primary School that you are contributing too e.g. sports equipment, the feeding programme.
Sometimes knowledge brings us much further than money alone. We have a lot of projects at Baraa Primary School where we can use people with specific know how, not necessarily to come and work, but to guide us and to give us advise on how we best proceed with these projects.
The Vegetable Garden was one of these projects where a lot of local NGO's and businesses were involved in its development. Now we are looking at rain water harvesting, building extra classrooms and improving the sport fields. These are big projects which need specific know how.
If you have certain expertise and you are locally based or you want to come to Tanzania to share your knowledge, the doors of Baraa Primary School are open. Carpenters, plumbers and other craftsmen can come and help us renovate and build. IT specialists are useful to improve our network and tools and to teach our teachers how to use the Internet. Water engineers can help us solve our water problems etc. If you have one of these skills, have a look under our Future Projects and Contact Us.
Your time is the most valuable gift. Volunteer with us.
We need qualified and experienced teachers to assist in the professional development of the Baraa teachers; school administrators to assist in mentoring and coaching the school management staff; volunteers with specialist skills to work on the health and nutrition programs; medical staff to train first aiders and to assist with the health project; agriculturalists for the garden project; crafts people to help us maintain and develop the school premises; sports people to work with our cricket, running, football, basketball. volleyball and netball girls and boys teams; musicians, gymnasts, artists and others to run our extracurricular activities; librarians to develop the library, run story telling and reading sessions for the children; Human Rights educators or child guidance counselors. If you have a talent or skill come and share with the pupils of Baraa Primary School.
Small space. Little effort. Big impact!
If you come on holiday to enjoy a wonderful safari in Tanzania, you can contribute with the extra space you have in your luggage!
We are a member of Pack for a Purpose. Baraa Primary School can always use certain school items, small and big. On the website of Pack for a Purpose there is a list of specific needs like pencils, pens, rulers or arts material.
You can choose exactly what to pack for a purpose and express your gratitude to the local community with the supplies you bring for them.


Our December Holiday Party is fast approaching, and with it our annual Holiday Swap!
If you're unfamiliar with the process, here is how it works: Anyone who wants to swap puts their chosen fabrics in a sandwich sized ziplock bag. Along with your fabrics, include a slip of paper with the following info~ Name, Email Address, Blog/Pinterest/IG, and a few options for ideas of things you might like to get your partner started.
Note: If you missed October's meeting or forgot to pick up a bag, feel free to use your own bag or to pick one up at the beginning of November's meeting. Don't forget to add the info above!
At the November meeting we'll swap bags of fabric and we'll make something for the recipient, to bring back at the December Meeting/Holiday Party. You'll then receive an item back made with your own fabric. Happy Swapping!


Branch allows you to pass any custom key-value from URLs to your app. Use this data to navigate to content, display a personalized welcome screen, login a user, offer a promotion, etc.
The newest Android Studio - 3.3.1 - is not compatible with the current Cordova project.
Install Gradle 4.4 (or higher version), then modify the below files.
PhoneGap Build is also not supported by the Branch SDK because we need plugin hooks to enable Entitlements, Universal Links, App Links, and URI Scheme redirects but PhoneGap Build does not allow plugin hooks.
With both the 'branch-cordova-sdk' plugin and the 'cordova-plugin-siri-shortcuts' plugin installed, deep-linking breaks. This seems to most often happen when the siri shortcuts plugin is installed after the branch plugin.
Using a modified version of the AppDelegate+SiriShortcuts Category to include Branch. This version only works if both Branch and SiriShortcuts is present.
From within the Xcode workspace, locate AppDelegate+BranchSDK.m. Either remove it or ignore it.
From within the Xcode workspace, locate AppDelegate+SiriShortcuts.m. This is the file we want to modify.
Update AppDelegate+SiriShortcuts.m to call Branch SDK. This version should work when dropped in with the current release of both SDKs.
An invalid value 'XC com eneff branch cordova_testbed' was provided for the parameter 'appIdName'.


The Broome County Special Investigations Unit Task Force executed a search warrant Tuesday night in Kirwood.
Police seized $29,000 worth of crystal meth during a raid Tuesday night in Kirkwood, after arresting two people suspected of working together to sell it around Broome County.
The Broome County Special Investigations Unit Task Force said Johnnah L. Degraw, 30, was stopped in a vehicle on Corporate Drive in Kirkwood and she was found with 65 grams of crystal methamphetamine. She also was found with drug packaging materials, police said.
A search warrant was then executed in a Kirkwood hotel, and police arrested Marlon R. Graham, 36, after he was found with 229 grams of crystal meth, according to police.
Graham, of East Patchogue in Suffolk County, also allegedly had five suboxone strips, drug paraphernalia and $1,066 in suspected drug sale proceeds.
The task force was aided by the Broome County Sheriff's Office road patrol during the investigation.
Degraw, of Pleasant Avenue in Binghamton, and Graham were charged with felony counts of second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and third-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, along with misdemeanor counts of criminal using drug paraphernalia.
Graham also faces a misdemeanor count of seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance.


The information contained in this website has been prepared solely for the purpose of providing general information about Smart Training, their partners and the services offered by them.
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is accurate, it does not constitute any form of advice, recommendation, representation, endorsement or arrangement by Smart Training.
The information presented is believed to be reliable but it's subject to change at any time without notice. Smart Training do not guarantee its completeness or accuracy. By accessing this website you agree that Smart Training will not be liable for any direct, indirect or consequential loss arising from the use of the information and material contained in this website or from your access of other material on the internet via web links from this site.


text:
Anselm Kiefer, Maria Walks Amid The Thorn, Salzburg Villa Kast, 2008
Anselm Kiefer Maria Walks Amid The Thorn
24 July—27 August 2008
We are pleased to present a new cycle of works by Anselm Kiefer that deals with the biblical figure of the Virgin Mary in an extensive solo exhibition in Salzburg.
We are pleased to present a new cycle of works by Anselm Kiefer that deals with the biblical figure of the Virgin Mary in an extensive solo exhibition in Salzburg. The title Maria durch ein Dornwald ging [Maria walks amid the Thorn], a German Advent and Christmas carol that has been popular for around a century, refers to a total of roughly thirty pictures and one sculpture, most of which were made in 2007/08. Some of the exhibited works were started in the nineteen-seventies and completed over the past months with the sedimenting working method that is so typical for Kiefer. After the iconography of the divine was the focus of attention in our 2003 exhibition Am Anfang [In the Beginning], which mainly dealt with cabbalistic mythology and myths about the origin of the world, the aesthetics of the works by Kiefer presented at our second solo exhibition in the year 2005 were of a more worldly character: that cycle...
We are pleased to present a new cycle of works by Anselm Kiefer that deals with the biblical figure of the Virgin Mary in an extensive solo exhibition in Salzburg. The title Maria durch ein Dornwald ging [Maria walks amid the Thorn], a German Advent and Christmas carol that has been popular for around a century, refers to a total of roughly thirty pictures and one sculpture, most of which were made in 2007/08. Some of the exhibited works were started in the nineteen-seventies and completed over the past months with the sedimenting working method that is so typical for Kiefer.
After the iconography of the divine was the focus of attention in our 2003 exhibition Am Anfang [In the Beginning], which mainly dealt with cabbalistic mythology and myths about the origin of the world, the aesthetics of the works by Kiefer presented at our second solo exhibition in the year 2005 were of a more worldly character: that cycle linked references to Germanic mythology to the lyrics of the German-writing Jewish-Bukowinian poet Paul Celan.
The latest block of works is focused on the Christian religion, which Anselm Kiefer has been working on as an artist for many years. Here, landscapes and lakes become dramatic sites of mythological scenes: the assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary, the descent of Mary on the third day, the birth of Virgin Mary and the Holy House of Loreto, the invocation of the Virgin Mary through the Litany of Loreto and the Hail Mary prayer, and the appearance of God in the burning bush. But they also become sites of Mariological discourse, such as that between the so-called Maculists and Immaculists on the question of Immaculate Conception, which led to the dogma proclaimed by Pius IX in 1854.
»What greatly interests me about the Virgin Mary today, apart from the biographical formation, are the dogmas. There are five Virgin Mary dogmas. The last one was proclaimed in 1950, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven with her body and soul. The dogma of the virgin birth of Jesus and the Immaculate Conception originates from the nineteenth century, when people already knew how children are conceived. I always thought it audacious of the Catholic Church to proclaim such a dogma. It is such a challenge to common sense. Making an assertion that is completely untenable is somewhat artistic. The absolute power that can be experienced by an artist at work must be seen parallel to the Church that claims Mary was a virgin three times, prior to the visitation, while, and after giving birth. That has always fascinated me. I would almost call it a kind of Dadaism. It's crazy, it's really crazy« (Anselm Kiefer, 2008).
This exhibition also places the viewer into what Daniel Arasse aptly calls the typical 'Kieferian labyrinth'. In the new cycle, the elements 'painter's palette', 'wings', 'stones', and 'flames', which have always been recurrent in Kiefer's picture world, become symbols of a very personally and autobiographically conceived understanding of Catholicism. In earlier works, the winged palette was often used to comment on the heroisation of art in totalitarian systems or to mark art as an endangered good that is worth protecting, whereas it now becomes a vehicle of Christian-mythological ideas. Here, the flames rather call to mind an epiphany than scorched earth, while the stones resemble animate, but silent witnesses of religious scenes. »For thirty years, the oeuvre of Anselm Kiefer has been developing in a process of sedimentation, crossing, and reworking of themes, motifs, and constellations that keep appearing in very different media and overlap in them [...]. The more one becomes familiar with his work and the better one knows it, the more one gets the feeling of dealing with a kind of labyrinth that gradually grows in size and complexity [...]« (Daniel Arasse 2001).
A catalogue including an interview with Anselm Kiefer by Klaus Dermutz will accompany the exhibition
Maria durch ein Dornwald ging
Klaus Dermutz, 30 July 2008
Anselm Kiefer: "Bei mir brennt der Fels"
Der Maler und Friedenspreisträger Anselm Kiefer über letzte Geheimnisse und die Kirche als dadaistisches Phänomen
Interview by Klaus Dermutz

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
You are here: Home | Rajnikanth's
Rajnikanth's
Tuesday August 20, 2002 Hinduism
The Times of India, Aug. 19, 2002
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
CHENNAI: Superstar Rajnikanth's spiritual guru Satchidananda Swami, 88, who was present a the preview of Baba, died in a private hospital here early on Monday.
Swami, who was immortalised as the 2000-year-old Babaji in the film, flew down to Chennai for the preview. Soon after watching the film, he swooned and was taken to the Sri Ramachandra Medical College Hospital here.
Though his condition seemed to have improved, it became critical again on Monday morning and he breathed his last at 5.45 a.m. Rajnikanth had spent some time with his guru at the hospital on Sunday.
As per Swami's wishes, his body would be flown to Virginia, US, via Mumbai, London and Washington on Monday night and he would be laid to rest at his Yogaville Ashram.
Born in Chettipalayam near Coimbatore as Ramaswamy, Swami set up his ashram in Virginia in 1962 after wandering around the world. The ashram also houses a temple – Light Of Truth Universal Shrine – LOTUS. The production company floated by Rajnikanth for the film Baba – Lotus International – is named after the temple.
Religion News Blog posted this on Tuesday August 20, 2002.
Seer's judicial custody extended till Dec 23
Orthodox Russians see red over plans for 'Hindu Vatican' in Moscow
Religious ritual sparks outrage in India
Slaves to the goddess of fertility
Hindu Prayer To Open US Senate


When I was a teenager, I eagerly awaited each new issue of Victoria Magazine. Every issue featured beautiful locales, wonderful recipes, and lovely layouts. As you can imagine, I was deeply disappointed when they stopped publishing the magazine, but I recently received the very first issue of the new Victoria Magazine. The magazine features home decor, recipes, collectibles, and more. If you visit the website, you'll find free recipes and tips on decorating your home.
If you're a writer, you may be interested in contributing an article, especially if you have an interest in antiques and history. Writers' guidelines can be found here.


text:
Washington Yellow Pages > Tacoma Yellow Pages > Consultants & Business Services > Business Management Services > Management Training in Tacoma
Management Training in Tacoma, Washington
Bod Management
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4523 NE 201st Pl Seattle WA 98155
Leadership Development Foundation
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7323 Keen Way N Seattle WA 98103
The Gibson Group
500 108th Ave NE Bellevue WA 98004
Versatile Company
12304 32nd Ave NE
Educational Services, Design & Development Training Seminars & Program Services, Management Training
12304 32nd Ave NE Seattle WA 98125
People who search for this, may also be interested in: additional educational opportunities,education,management training & development,rehabilitational job training services.
Swift and Shift Couriers
Swift and Shift Couriers is an Australian comedy television series that first screened on SBS TV in October 2008. The series is produced, directed and written by Paul Fenech, who was also responsible for the comedy series Pizza. It is set around the staff of the fictional 'Swift and Shift' Courier Company, in the central business district of Sydney.


Welcome to the Wiki of the Molecular Inorganic Chemsitry group at the Stratingh Institute at the University of Groningen. These pages contain information about the Molecular Inorganic Chemistry laboratories. This includes information on working practices, manuals of equipment, guides, etc.
If you have any questions, please contact moc.liamg|mehc.groni.lom#moc.liamg|mehc.groni.lom.


Photos by (l-r): Douglas Hill; Mike Hume; Douglas Hill.
Explore the history and architecture of a historic theatre!
Before seeing a film at Last Remaining Seats, explore the history and architecture of the theatre up close! You'll see the inner workings of a beautiful movie palace and explore spaces that are usually off-limits to the public.
Tour groups are limited to 15 people and begin two hours before the scheduled screening start time. Tours last approximately 50-60 minutes.
Tours cost $20 for the general public, $15 for Conservancy members, and $10 for youth 17 and under. Proceeds support the Conservancy's efforts to preserve historic places throughout L.A. County.
Please note, theatre tours do not include admission to the film screening. Tickets to Last Remaining Seats screenings must be purchased separately.
Two tour times available: 12 p.m. & 6 p.m.
Registration opens on March 27 for Conservancy members, April 10 for the general public.
Participants will need to be able to navigate multiple flights of stairs.
Tickets must be purchased online; no phone orders.
Each tour is limited to 15 people.
Tours will meet at the membership table in the theatre lobby.
For driving and parking information, please visit our Dining & Parking page.


text:
title: Curriculum Vitæ
layout: cv
actions:
  - label: "Download as PDF"
    icon: pdf
    url: "#pdf-asset"
---

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Affordable canvases of an antique map of the world in tan and Brown.
Around the world in eighty days? Not with our rapid delivery.
A huge brown up to the minute set of four piece prints.
The canvases are made to high standards with long lasting inks.
Suitable width for over your bed.
Proportions: 51.2" x 26.4" inclusive of gaps.
Both end pieces are 30cm wide x 45cm high (12" x 18").
The two inside panels measure 30cm wide x 60cm high (12" x 24").
We advise a space of 2.5cm between panels.


Dresser, Jennifer. Cain and Abel: Reimaging Stories of Violence; A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Theology in candidacy for the Bachelor of Theology. Winnipeg, April 2012.
This thesis uses a close reading of the Cain and Abel narrative to offer an interpretation grounded in feminist theology, which imagines a world with less violence. It draws on sources from the social sciences, peace and justice studies as well as theology and biblical studies. The cycle of violence and concepts of restorative and punitive justice are examined as they relate both to the Cain and Abel narrative and current issues such as war crimes, the conflict in Palestine/Israel, capital punishment and internment. This thesis also examines how the Cain and Abel narrative speaks to the current environmental crisis using an understanding of the earth as God's body. The Cain and Abel narrative continues to provide a context for reflecting on violence and responses to violence. The Cain and Abel narrative, not only describes an early story of violence, it offers a model for breaking the cycle of violence and creates the possibilities for peace within creation. This focus continues to speak to many current situations of violence.


text:
This article is gifted to you by Gifted to you by paying member Grace Smith
OluTimehin Adegbeye
In our final bookclub of the year, we'll be reading Sensuous Knowledge by Minna Salami. It's a book that offers a new way of living that so many of us are desperate for.
Read along with our bookclub to discover a more complete understanding of the world
Othering correspondent
Illustrations by Kezia Gabriella (for The Correspondent)
When this year started showing its true colours – when we started to realise just how much trouble we might be in thanks to the coronavirus exposing the fault lines in our social order – there was a lot of conversation about the hidden opportunity in the midst of an overwhelming crisis. Read 'Our world is built for profit. Let's build one that protects us instead'
"The Earth is healing," we half-joked in social media posts from the dubious comfort of our beds. Our planet continued to turn on its axis uninterrupted, of course, but for all intents and purposes, the world had mostly stopped. Unexpectedly, billions of us had a chance to step off the hamster wheel and really look at the realities we were working so hard to sustain. And for a brief moment in the history of global capitalism, it felt like we could be on the cusp of a new way of life.
I, personally, have been desperate for a new way of life for the human collective for several years before this one. Realities are multiple, as I try to remind my readers often, but they aren't all equal. And the overarching reality of my life is that it exists in a hierarchical system where I'm almost always much closer to the bottom than anywhere else.
There aren't many spaces where I can feel like I can truly belong – that is, be safe while being seen; be supported while trying to live; be free from gratuitous harm justified by other people's hatred and fear. Wherever I have found such spaces, it is because I or someone like me carved them out of this bigger reality. Someone decided to create a bubble inside (or outside) this hierarchy where there is a question mark at the end of the existence of people like me.
Worlds within this world
And so, books. Books have the power to make worlds within this world, worlds bigger than this world, worlds that put a fork in the road where there wasn't even a road before. As we have worked through title after title in the past year via The Other Shelf, the imaginations of the selected authors have fed my courage, conviction and commitment to doing my part to do away with the injustice that is so inescapable in our world. I am thrilled to announce, therefore, that our last book selection for 2020 is one of the most imaginative books I have ever wanted to read.
To close out The Other Shelf for 2020, we're going to be sinking our minds' (and hearts'!) teeth into Minna Salami's Sensuous Knowledge.
As an African feminist writer and public intellectual, Salami's work is quite impressive – but precisely because of the way she perceives the world, she wouldn't encourage you to value her based on her accomplishments or credentials. For over a decade, she has published essays, critiques and conversations that claim a centre completely different from the one the global hierarchy dictates.
A new way of life that so many are desperate for
In Sensuous Knowledge, she takes her years of intellectual inquiry a step further by offering a cohesive theory of social organisation and human value that could guide us to the new way of life that so many are so desperate for.
Exousiance, the theory of love and power that Salami expounds on in Sensuous Knowledge, argues that our current understanding of the world isn't just incorrect; instead, it's more that it is incomplete. According to her, Exousiance "interweaves the nonhuman natural world, feminist theory, mythopoetic imagery and social criticism" to offer ideas of power that aren't inherently oppressive or abusive.
What would the world look like if we weren't so wedded to domination, exploitation and violence? What if our understanding of ourselves came not from our ability to wield power over others, but rather from an informed connectedness to one another and our planet?
What if, instead of hoarding surplus and wasting resources while others go without, we abandoned a scarcity mindset in favour of abundance?
What if, instead of hoarding surplus and wasting resources while others go without, we abandoned a scarcity mindset in favour of abundance? What if we stopped thinking in binaries of "either/or", and embraced the more expansive "both/and"? What if we learned to value not only logic, masculinity, and money, but also emotion, femininity and life?
Sensuous Knowledge, which Salami describes as a "progress book, and not a protest book", demonstrates that the monopoly of Eurocentric, masculinist and disembodied voices in the intellectual arena is artificial. In the tradition of black feminist thought, it is a generous offering of imagination, courage and intellectual rigour. In this book, Salami offers readers new ways of thinking and being that nurture life, rather than exploit it. I am so incredibly eager to dive into it. I hope you will join me.
On 2pm , I'll be discussing Sensuous Knowledge in a Zoom video call with Minna Salami: do you want to watch along? You can sign up here You can sign up to join our Zoom book club chat on 16 December here. , and you can leave your questions / reflections under this article about the themes in the book which I have outlined above.
Sapiens: groundbreakingly original in the history it tells, predictably disappointing in the history it leaves out I read Yuval Noah Harari's self-described history of humanity to see if it had a place for someone like me. But although Harari's bestseller promises a satellite view of human history, it has some very traditional blindspots.	Read my review here
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Part of collection The Other Shelf
I'll be discussing 'Sensuous Knowledge' by Minna Salami in our last book club of the year. Join me and Minna on Zoom on 16 December: leave your questions below
Minna Salami
Author of Sensuous Knowledge, founder MsAfropolitan.com


text:
adept professionals armed teachers arming teachers dalton dalton high school dalton high school gun incident florida school shooting georgia georgia teacher barricades self in classroom gun fired by armed teacher guns in schools negligent discharge pt No One Could Have Predicted This rambo fantasies randal Davidson social studies teacher video youtube
Georgia Teacher Arrested In Gun Incident, More Armed Teachers Might Not Have Been Helpful
I know what you're thinking. Did she fire five shots or six? Well did I, punk? Be sure to show your work.
In Dalton, Georgia, a teacher was arrested today after police responded to a report of shots fired at Dalton High School, providing one possible answer to the question, "How will school safety be improved if we arm 20 percent of the nation's teachers as Donald Trump wants?"
The teacher, identified by the Dalton Police Department Twitter account as social studies teacher Jesse Randall Davidson, 53, reportedly barricaded himself in a classroom, fired a single shot, and was taken into custody after the school was placed in lockdown and evacuated. No students were injured by the gunfire, although police tweeted that one student "sustained an ankle injury running inside the school," which just goes to show you shouldn't panic.
The Times Free Press in nearby Chattanooga reports:
Randal Davidson, a social studies teacher who has been at the school since 2004, was alone in his room during his planning period, according to police. Around 11:30 a.m. a student tried to get inside and found the door was locked. A principal then tried to open it with a key, which is when Davidson fired through a window.
Police were called to the school as kids were evacuated to the gym and some locker rooms. Officers negotiated with him for 30 to 45 minutes before he turned himself in. [Still not clear whether it's Randall or Randal -- Dok Z]
It's unclear whether this was a negligent discharge or something more potentially horrific, and we're honestly hoping for "stupid accident," because Jesus, that's bad enough. Yr Wonkette is not a law enforcement or emergency tactical response expert, but we'll go out on a limb and suggest that, regardless of what happened in that classroom, having a whole bunch more armed teachers on the scene probably would not have helped.
As of this time, Donald Trump has not said whether he would have run into the school to confront the teacher, although local police certainly did:
"When you hear this kind of call go out, if you've got a badge, you run to it," said Bruce Frazier, spokesman for the Dalton Police Department. "Our people responded and coordinated in a very professional way."
It's Three PM. Do You Know Which Armed Militia Whackjobs Are Guarding Your Children?
Thank god for a well-regulated bunch of idiots with guns!
It also does not appear the school was being watched over by any Oath Keeper loonies, so thank Crom for small mercies.
WSB TV reporter Chris Jose posted this video of students running from the school, taken by a DHS student:
VIDEO: Dalton High students running to safety after reports of shots fired. @DaltonPD says the suspect is believed to be a teacher. Suspect is in custody. Video credit Dalton HS Student @wesleycaceres5. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/pFyoBVbtFc
— Chris Jose (@ChrisJoseWSB) February 28, 2018
After the school was evacuated, the Dalton Police's Twitter account advised parents to stay away from the school and instead to pick them up at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center, where they were taken after the evacuation.
The Times Free Press reports the Chattanooga region has seen a number of baseless social media threats about school shootings, following the February 14 school shooting in Florida, proving that people are goddamned idiots all around:
In one incident, a Ringgold, Ga., high school student is accused of making a new Snapchat account, sending herself a threatening message and passing it along to other students, making it look like she was the target of a dangerous plot [...]
Separately, a Chattanooga girl was charged with filing a false report after a meme parents perceived as a threat was circulated on social media Monday afternoon [...]
Authorities managed to track it to a juvenile who was identified as the creator of the meme. It was determined there was no real threat, but charges will be filed in juvenile court against the girl because her actions caused significant community alarm.
Those arrests came days after three Bradley County students were arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot up Bradley Central High School and another student was jailed after a social media threat against Meigs County High School. A spokesman for Rutherford County Schools also said false rumors had been spread to parents and students, but no credible threats were made.
So you've got a bunch of stupid teenagers spreading fake threats, a lot of nervous teachers and parents, a "president" calling for the very best teachers who are "very adept with firearms" to be allowed to carry concealed weapons in schools, and a gun lobby insisting that arming teachers is the best of all possible worlds.
Gosh, it's a total mystery how this situation in Georgia could have developed.
We suppose the next logical step is for Alex Jones to proclaim the teacher deliberately fired a gun harmlessly through the window because George Soros paid him to create a panic and shut down the effort to arm teachers before it even has a chance to work. Fortunately, there's no reason to think this sort of thing might ever happen again, because when a lot more teachers come to school packing guns, they'll all know that guns are dangerous and they'll be a lot more careful. That's just logical.
Yr Wonkette is supported by reader donations. Please click here to help us arm up and protect our My Little Pony collectibles.
[Chattanooga Times Free Press]
Follow Doktor Zoom on Twitter
Doktor Zoom's real name is Marty Kelley, and he lives in the wilds of Boise, Idaho. He is not a medical doctor, but does have a real PhD in Rhetoric. You should definitely donate some money to this little mommyblog where he has finally found acceptance and cat pictures. He is on maternity leave until 2033. Here is his Twitter, also. His quest to avoid prolixity is not going so great.


text:
\section{Introduction}

The human population is growing, which has increased the demand for food production and security, which has led to an incompatibility of food production and conservation priorities. Both of which require a balance, to sustainably support an increasing population \citep{Hilborn_07}. Marine fish are a valuable source of food and income for many countries, however the global yield has levelled off and begun to decline, since the 1990s \citep{FA02009,Worm_09}. There is now an urgent need to manage fish stocks sustainably so that the balance between food production, conservation and the socio-economics are considered. This will ideally lead to an increase in food production, whilst protecting fish stocks and jobs for future generations \citep{Mensil_12}.

Fisheries managers use maximum sustainable yield (MSY), which is intended to ensure the sustainability of fish stocks whist maximising food production, without compromising the reproductive potential of the stock \citep{Hilborn_07, Mensil_12}. The legal requirement to manage fish stocks to MSY, was adopted in 1982 at the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the EU Regulation 1380/2013 and the 2002 UN world summit on sustainable development (A/CONF.199/20). The concept of MSY has been adopted by many fisheries management organisations throughout the 1900s, where mathematical and production models were used \citep{Tsikliras_Froese}.
Recently, MSY has become a widely used reference point in the assessment of fish stocks around the world \citep{Hilborn1992,Pauly_Froese_14,Tsikliras_Froese}, here defined as:

\begin{definition}
The fishing mortality that leads to the maximum sustainable yield of the $i$th stock is
\begin{linenomath}
\begin{equation*}
F_{MSY,i}(\bm{F}_{-i})={\text{arg}\sup}_{F_i}\left(f_{1,i}(F_i,\bm{F_{-i}})\right),
\end{equation*}
\end{linenomath}
where $F_i$ is the fishing mortality of the $i$th species, $\bm{F}_{-i}$ is the fishing mortality of the other species and $f_{1,i}(F_i,\bm{F_{-i}})$ is the $i$th species' long-term annual yield (see supplementary material).
\end{definition}
MSY has historically been centred on single species MSY \citep[SS-MSY,][]{Hart_fay}, here defined as:
\begin{definition}
The single species fishing mortality that leads to the maximum sustainable yield of the $i$th stock, the single-species MSY (SS-MSY), is
\begin{linenomath}
\begin{equation*}
F_{MSY,i}(\bm{F}_{-i})=F_{MSY,i},
\end{equation*}
\end{linenomath}
$\forall{}\bm{F}_{-i}$.
\label{ass:ssmsy}
\end{definition}

Although MSY is now a widely used concept it often applied to single stocks and when used in this way does not provide information on ecological interactions, resulting in significant ecosystem and fishing ramifications \citep{Andersen_15,saterberg_19}. The use of MSY in fisheries management has been criticised for leading to significant changes in community structure, degradation of marine ecosystems and over-exploitation of fisheries resources \citep{Larkin_77,Hilborn_07,Andersen_15}. This has rendered MSY policy guidance as incomplete in terms of ecosystem sustainability \citep{Gaichas_08}.

\begin{proposition}
SS-MSY exists if and only if
\begin{linenomath}
\begin{equation*}
\frac{\partial{}F_{MSY,i}(\bm{F}_{-i})}{\partial{}F_j}=0,
\end{equation*}
\end{linenomath}
$\forall{}j\neq{}i$.
\label{prop:ssmsy}
\end{proposition}
\begin{proof}
See supplementary material.
\end{proof}
Proposition \ref{prop:ssmsy} suggests that the fishing mortality on other species does not affect the value of $F_{MSY,i}$, which does not seem plausible in reality and therefore Definition \ref{ass:ssmsy} is rarely met. To counteract this, there has been a push to move to ecosystem-based fisheries management \citep[EBFM,][]{Pikitch_04,link_2011}.

Although there is no universally agreed definition of multispecies MSY \citep[MMSY,][]{essington_punt,norrstrom2017nash}, there are a number of proposed alternatives such as the maximum sustainable yield of the community \citep{Andersen_book}. When satisfied, the maximum sustainable yield of the community leads to over-exploitation of species with larger body sizes, leading to a decrease of predating pressure on fish stocks with smaller body sizes \citep{Andersen_book,Andersen_15,Szuwalski_16}. Fishing in this way leads to the collapse of stocks of larger species, reducing the diversity of the ecosystem and decreasing the monetary value of the fishery \citep{Andersen_book,Andersen_15}. \citet{Thorpe_19} and \citet{saterberg_19} extended this definition to include the risk of species collapse as a caveat to the maximum sustainable community yield. Alternatively the Nash equilibrium has been used to define MMSY \citep{norrstrom2017nash,thorpe17,Farcas_Rossberg}.
The Nash equilibrium is a solution to multi-player games where no player can improve their payoff given fixed strategies played by the opponents \citep{nash}. This was applied, with the interest of maximising the yield of each fish stock, whilst taking account of the ecological impacts on other species \citep{norrstrom2017nash}.

Multispecies reference points have been predicted by production models \citep{sissenwine_shepherd_87}, however these models ignore the effects of ecological interactions between species \citep{norrstrom2017nash}.
Mechanistic multispecies models, henceforth known as simulators, are being increasingly used to support policy decisions, including fisheries and marine environmental polices \citep{hyder,Nielsen_et_al_18}, and are able to capture these interactions. They describe how multiple species interact with their environment and one another, through mechanistic processes allowing them to better predict into the future \citep{hollowed_etal}.
However, calculating reference points can be sensitive to the choice of simulator that was used to generate them \citep{Collie_16,Essington_13,fulton_03,Hart_fay}. This choice can be arbitrary as, although some simulators are better at describing some aspects of the system than others, in general no simulator is uniformly better than the others \citep{chandler}.
Instead of choosing one simulator, it is possible to combine them using an ensemble model, allowing managers to maximise the predicting power of the simulators, whilst reducing the uncertainty and errors, improving their decision making.
\citet{spence_ff} developed an ensemble model that treats the individual models as exchangeable and coming from a distribution. Their model exploits each simulators strengths, whilst discounting their weaknesses to give a combined solution.

In this paper, we demonstrate how multiple simulators can be combined to find a MMSY.
We demonstrate it by finding a Nash equilibrium for nine species in the North Sea using the ensemble model developed in \citet{spence_ff}. Although demonstrated with this definition of MMSY in the North Sea, the procedure can be used to optimise any objective function in any environment, including single-species reference points.

\section{Methods}
\label{sec:method}
We modelled nine species (see Table \ref{tb:species}) in the North Sea using historical fishing mortality from 1984 until 2017 \citep{ices_hawg,ices_ns} and fixed fishing mortality, $\bm{F}=(F_1,\ldots{},F_9)'$, from 2017 to 2050, with $F_i\in[0,2]$ for $i=1,\ldots{},9$.
Our aim was to find $\bm{F}$ values that satisfy the Nash equilibrium \citep{nash},
with a probability that the spawning stock biomass (SSB) falls below $B_{lim}$, the level of SSB at which recruitment becomes impaired, of 0.25 or less (see Section \ref{sec:discussion}).
\begin{table}[ht]
\caption{A summary of the species in the model. The SS-MSY values were taken from \citet{ices_hawg} and \citet{ices_ns}.}
\label{tb:species}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{lllll}
\hline
$i$ & Species & Latin name & SS-FMSY & Price per tonne (\pounds{})\\
\hline
1 & Sandeel & \emph{Ammodytes marinus} & NA & 1314.59\\
2 & Norway pout & \emph{Trisopterus esmarkii} & NA & 151.96\\
3 & Herring & \emph{Clupea harengus} & 0.33 & 528.34\\
4 & Whiting & \emph{Merlangius merlangus} & 0.15 & 785.30\\
5 & Sole & \emph{Solea solea} & 0.20 & 8387.12\\
6 & Plaice & \emph{Pleuronectes platessa} & 0.21 & 1718.21\\
7 & Haddock & \emph{Melanogrammus aeglefinus} & 0.19 & 1346.99\\
8 & Cod & \emph{Gadus morhua} & 0.31 & 1745.22\\
9 & Saithe & \emph{Pollachius virens} & 0.36 & 855.33
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}
We defined our reference point as:
\begin{definition}
$\bm{F}_{Nash}$, is when
\begin{linenomath}
\begin{equation*}
\forall{}i,F_i:f_{1,i}(F_{Nash,i},\bm{F}_{Nash,-i})\geq{}f_{1,i}(F_{i},\bm{F}_{Nash,-i})
\end{equation*}
\end{linenomath}
and $Pr(B_{i}(\bm{F}_{Nash})<B_{lim,i}))<0.25$, where $B_{i}(\bm{F})$ is the long-term SSB of the $i$th species under future fishing mortality $\bm{F}$.
\label{def:nash}
\end{definition}

We used the ensemble model yield and SSB in 2050 to be the long-term yield, $f_{1,i}(\bm{F})$, and long-term SSB, $B_{i}(\bm{F})$, for $i=1,\ldots{},9$, respectively.
As running simulators and the ensemble model is computationally expensive, we used a Gaussian process emulator \citep{kennedy_ohagan} to describe $f_{1,i}(\bm{F})$ and the 25th percentile of the long-term SSB of the $i$th species under future fishing mortality $\bm{F}$, $f_{2,i}(\bm{F})$ (i.e. $Pr(B_{i}(\bm{F}) < f_{2,i}(\bm{F}))=0.25$), which we iteratively updated after rounds of simulations, allowing us to efficiently search for $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values.
A round consisted of running each simulator and the ensemble model for $\bm{F}$ values to find the yield and SSB.
We ran four rounds to find the $\bm{F}$ values that satisfied Definition \ref{def:nash}.
The first round of 196 $\bm{F}$ were chosen using Sobol' sequences, a space filling algorithm \citep{sobol}.
For the subsequent rounds we proposed 100 $\bm{F}$ values that we belied may be $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values according to the Gaussian process emulator.

We found $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values by the following steps:
\begin{enumerate}
    \item Generate $\bm{F}^{(l)}$, for $l=1,\ldots{}196$, using Sobol' sequences.
    \item Evaluate the simulators and the ensemble model at each of the new scenarios to find the yield and the SSB.
    \label{list:nr1}
    \item Emulate the predictions of the long-term yield, $f_{1,1:9}(\bm{F})$, and the 25th percentile of the long-term SSB from the ensemble model,  $f_{2,1:9}(\bm{F})$.
    \label{list:nr3}
    \item Find 100 potential Nash equilibria, $\bm{F}^{(l)}$ (for $l=197,\ldots{},296$ in the second round, $l=297,\ldots{},396$ in the third round and $l=397,\ldots{},496$ in the fourth round).
    \label{list:nr2}
    \item Repeat step \ref{list:nr1} to \ref{list:nr2} twice.
    \item Evaluate the simulators and the ensemble model the scenarios $\bm{F}^{(l)}$, for $l=397,\ldots{},496$, to find the yield and the SSB.
    \label{list:nr6}

\end{enumerate}

After the fourth round (step \ref{list:nr6}), the final $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values were all of $\bm{F}^{(l)}$ scenarios that satisfy Definition \ref{def:nash}, for $l=397,\ldots{},496$.
Due to the uncertainty in the ensemble model, we had several final $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values. To try and distinguish between these we calculated the expected revenue for each of them.

The rest of the methods are as follows: the simulators, the ensemble model and the Gaussian process emulator are described in Sections \ref{sec:sim}, \ref{sec:en_mod} and \ref{sec:gpe} respectively; an algorithm of how we find potential $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values is described in Section \ref{sec:nash} and we conclude by describing how we calculated the revenue of the long-term yield in Section \ref{sec:revenue}.

\subsection{Simulators}
\label{sec:sim}
Four multispecies simulators were used: EcoPath with EcoSim (EwE \citet{mackinson}), LeMans \citep{thorpe15}, mizer \citep{blanchard} and FishSUMs \citep{fishsums}. All of them the simulators were able to describe the dynamics of
all nine species with the exception of FishSUMs, which did not model sole.

To keep the interpretation of fishing mortality the same across simulators, we used the single-species assessments fishing mortality at age to drive the dynamics of the simulators \citep{ices_hawg,ices_ns}.
For the size-based simulators, LeMans, mizer and FishSUMs, we calculated the length at age using their respective von Bertalanffy parameters, however for EwE we used the $\bar{F}$
values from the assessments. In the future (2018-2050), the age selectivity was the same as those in 2017 and species that appear in the models but not in the study were fished at their 2017 levels.

\subsection{Ensemble model}
\label{sec:en_mod}
The predicted yields and SSB from the four multispecies simulators were combined using the ensemble model of \citet{spence_ff}.
The ensemble model is described in Table \ref{tb:ensemble_mod} and the simulator specific values are described in Table \ref{tb:simulators}.
We fit two ensemble models, one for the yields ($j=1$) and one for the SSB ($j=2$). For the yields, the simulators and the observations are in natural log tonnes, with the observations, $\hat{\bm{y}}^{(t)}_1$,
coming from \citet{ices_landings}.
In the SSB model ($j=2$), the simulators predicted SSB and the observations were in natural log tonnes, for their respective species and years, with the observations, $\hat{\bm{y}}^{(t)}_2$, coming from stock-assessments \citep{ices_hawg,ices_ns}.

Due to the high dimensionality and correlation of the uncertain parameter space, we fitted the ensemble model using No U-turn Hamiltonian Monte Carlo \citep{hoffman_gelman} in the package Stan \citep{stan}. We ran the algorithm for 2000 iterations discarding the first 1000 as burn in.

\begin{table}[ht]
\caption{A summary of the variables in the ensemble model. The ensemble model is run for 1984--2050. For values of $n_k$, $M_k$ and $T_k$ see Table \ref{tb:simulators}.}
\label{tb:ensemble_mod}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{cclp{5cm}l}
\hline
Variable&Dimensions&$t$ & Description & Relationship \\
\hline
$\bm{y}^{(t)}_j$&$9$&1984--2050&The truth & $\bm{y}^{(t)}_j\sim{}N(\bm{y}^{(t-1)}_j,{\Lambda}_{y,j})$\\
$\bm{\hat{y}}^{(t)}_j$&$9$&1984--2017&Noisy observation of $\bm{y}^{(t)}_j$&$\hat{\bm{y}}_j^{(t)}\sim{}N({\bm{y}}^{(t)}_j,\Sigma_{y,j})$\\
$\bm\delta_j$&$9$&NA&Long-term shared discrepancy&\\
$\bm\eta^{(t)}_j$&$9$&1984--2050&Short-term shared discrepancy&$\bm{\eta}_j^{(t)}\sim{}N(
    R_{\eta,j}\bm{\eta}_j^{(t-1)},\Lambda_{\eta,j}$)\\
$\bm\mu^{(t)}_j$&$9$&1984--2050&Simulator consensus&$\bm\mu^{(t)}_j=\bm{y}^{(t)}_j + \bm\delta_j + \bm\eta^{(t)}_j$\\
$\bm{\gamma}_{k,j}$&$9$&NA&Simulator $k$'s long-term individual discrepancy&$\bm\gamma_{k,j}\sim{}N(\bm{0},C_{\gamma,j})$\\
$\bm{z}_{k,j}^{(t)}$&$9$&1984--2050&Simulator $k$'s short-term individual discrepancy&$\bm{z}_{k,j}^{(t)}\sim{}N(R_{k,j}\bm{z}_{k,j}^{(t-1)},\Lambda_{k,j})$\\
$\bm{x}_{k,j}^{(t)}$&$9$&1984--2050&Simulator $k$'s best guess&$\bm{x}_{k,j}^{(t)}=\bm{\mu}_j^{(t)} + \bm{\gamma}_{k,j} +\bm{z}_{k,j}^{(t)}$\\
$\bm{\hat{x}}_{k,j}^{(t)}$&$n_k$&$T_k$& The expectation of simulator $k$'s output $\bm{x}_{k,j}^{(t)}$&$\bm{\hat{x}}_{k,j}^{(t)}\sim{}N(M_k\bm{x}_{k,j}^{(t)},\Sigma_{k,j})$
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}

\begin{landscape}
\begin{longtable}{p{0.5cm}p{2.5cm}p{2.5cm}p{1.5cm}p{3cm}p{4cm}p{3cm}}
\caption{A summary of the simulators, their outputs used in the case study, the simulator-specific values of $n_k$, $T_k$, $M_k$ and $\Sigma_k$.}
\label{tb:simulators}\\
\hline
$k$ & Simulator & Description & $n_k$ & $T_k$ & $M_k$ & Reference for $\Sigma_k$ \\
\hline
1 & EcoPath with EcoSim (EwE) &An ecosystem model with 60 functional groups for the North Sea &
$n_1 = 9$ &
$T_1=1991-2050$ &
\begin{equation*}
M_{1}=I_9
\end{equation*}
&
\citet{mackinson}\\
2 & LeMans&
Abundance in length classes is modelled by species&
$n_2 = 9$ &
$T_2=1986-2050$&
\begin{equation*}
M_{2}=I_9.
\end{equation*}
&
\citet{thorpe15}\\
3 & mizer &
Total weight is modelled in weight classes by species &
$n_3 = 9$ &
$T_3=1984-2050$
&
\begin{equation*}
M_{3}=I_9
\end{equation*}
&
\citet{spence_ns}\\
4 & FishSUMs&
Abundance in length classes is modelled by species&
$n_4 = 8$ &
$T_4=1984-2050$.&
\begin{equation*}
 M_4=\begin{pmatrix}
  1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
  0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
  0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
  0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
  0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\
  0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 & 0 \\
  0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 & 0 \\
  0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \\
 \end{pmatrix}
\end{equation*}
&
\citet{spence_ff}
\end{longtable}
\end{landscape}

\subsection{Gaussian process emulator}
\label{sec:gpe}

The four simulators ran $m$ future fishing scenarios, $\bm{F}^{(l)}$ for $l=1,\ldots{},m$, from 2018 until 2050.
The ensemble model was evaluated at each of these future fishing scenarios to find the long-term yield, $f_{1,i}(\bm{F})$, and long-term SSB.
To find the Nash equilibrium we were required to evaluate $f_{1,i}(\bm{F})$ and the 25th percentile of the long-term SSB, $f_{2,i}(\bm{F})$, of the $i$th species at all $\bm{F}$ values. However, this was practically infeasible, as the simulators are relatively slow to run due to the computational complexity.

We used a Gaussian process emulator \citep{kennedy_ohagan,noe_19} to estimate $f_{1,i}(\bm{F})$ and $f_{2,i}(\bm{F})$ for all $\bm{F}$ values. If we let $\bm{f}_{j,i}=\left(f_{j,i}(\bm{F}^{(1)}),f_{j,i}(\bm{F}^{(2)}),\ldots,f_{j,i}(\bm{F}^{(m)})\right)'$, for $j=1$ and $2$, then we say that
\begin{linenomath}
\begin{equation*}
    \bm{f}_{j,i}\sim{}GP(\bm{\eta}_{j,i},K_{j,i}),
\end{equation*}
\end{linenomath}
where $\bm\eta_{j,i}$ was a generalised additive model \citep{wood_gam} and $K_{j,i}$ was the Matern covariance function (for more details see supplementary material), fitted using the DiceKriging package \citep{DiceKriging} in R \citep{R}.

\subsection{Finding the Nash equilibrium}
\label{sec:nash}

An algorithm to find the Nash equilibrium is to iteratively update $F_i$ by solving $F_i=F_{MSY,i}(\bm{F}_{-i})$ \citep{thorpe17,norrstrom2017nash}.
At each iteration, the long-yield term yield of the $i$th species from the ensemble model was maximised by changing $F_i$.
In our case this meant
maximising $f_{1,i}(F_i,\bm{F}_{-i})$, a stochastic function, such that $f_{2,i}(F_i,\bm{F}_{-i}) > B_{lim,i}$.
At each iteration, we sampled 500 potential $F_i$ values, using a  Latin hypercube \citep{McKay_79}, and used the emulators to predict the long-term yield of the $i$th species and the 25th percentile of the long-term SSB of all species.
$F_i$ then became the potential new value with the largest estimated long-term yield for the $i$th species such all of the species' 25th percentile of their long-term SSB's were above their respective $B_{lim}$'s. This is summarised in Algorithm \ref{alg:pmda}.

\begin{algorithm}
\caption{A single iteration to find the Nash equilibrium. $LHC_{500}(0,2)$ is 500 samples from a Latin hypercube of 1 dimension.}
\label{alg:pmda}
\begin{algorithmic}
\FOR {$i$ in $1:9$}
\STATE $\bm{F}'\sim{}LHC_{500}(0,2)$
\STATE $\bm{{\tilde{f}}}_{i,1}\sim{}GP(\bm{\eta}_{1,i}(\bm{F}',\bm{F}_{-i}),K_{1,i})$
\STATE $\bm{{\tilde{f}}}_{1:9,2}\sim{}GP(\bm{\eta}_{2,i}(\bm{F}',\bm{F}_{-i}),K_{2,i})$
\STATE $ll\gets{}{\text{arg}\max}_l\left\{{{\tilde{f}}_{i,1,l}}:\tilde{f}_{i',2,l} > B_{lim,i'}\text{ for }i'=1,\ldots{},9\right\}$
\STATE $F_i\gets{}{F}_{ll}'$
\ENDFOR
\end{algorithmic}
\end{algorithm}

To initialise the algorithm, we sampled 10,000 $\bm{F}$ values, using a Latin hypercube
design and used the emulators to estimate the long-term yield of each species and the 25th percentile of the long-term SSB. The initial $F_i$ value was the proposed fishing mortality for the $i$th species that lead to the highest long-term yield such that the 0.25 percentile of the $i$th species' long-term SSB was above $B_{lim,i}$.

The Nash equilibria was estimated with 100 samples from the posterior distribution of the ensemble model by repeating Algorithm \ref{alg:pmda} between 26 and 100 times, drawn at random. The resulting 100 samples were $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values, which we ran the simulators and the ensemble model with.

\subsection{Revenue of the long-term yield}
\label{sec:revenue}
For the $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values, we calculated the expected revenue from the long-term yields for each Nash equilibrium found using Algorithm \ref{alg:pmda}. To derive the revenue, we predicted the prices for each year until 2050 using a uni-variate Vector Auto-Regressive estimation model (VAR) and landings values per tonne per species (deflated) of the UK fleet in England from 1970-2018. The value of the landings per tonne are shown in Table \ref{tb:species}.

\section{Results}
\label{sec:results}

\subsection{Simulator runs}
Each simulator was run for 496 different fishing scenarios, $\bm{F}^{(l)}$ for $l=1,\ldots{}496$.
Figure \ref{fig:histYield} shows the historical yields and each of the simulators predicted yields for the period 1985 to 2017. Most of the simulators were able to qualitatively recreate the trends of the observed yields for most of the species, however no single simulator appears to be overall better than the others.

\begin{figure}[ht]
\begin{center}
    \includegraphics{Figure1.eps}
\end{center}
\caption{Historical yield from observations \citep{ices_landings} and the simulators.}
\label{fig:histYield}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Ensemble outputs}
We fitted the ensemble model and used it to describe, with uncertainty, what the yield and SSB would be under the future fishing scenarios. The median long-term yield for all of the scenarios is shown in Figure \ref{fig:ens_Yield}. %
Although the long-term yield and SSB were sensitive to the fishing mortality of that species, it was also sensitive to the fishing mortality of other species. Figure \ref{fig:codWhiting} shows the 5th and 25th percentile of the long-term SSB for cod and whiting for varying fishing mortality of cod respectively, with the solid lines being their $B_{lim}$ values. The long-term SSB's of whiting and cod appear to be negatively correlated.

\begin{figure}[!]
\begin{center}
    \includegraphics{Figure2.eps}
\end{center}
\caption{The median long-term yield predicted from the ensemble model.}
\label{fig:ens_Yield}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}[!]
\begin{center}
    \includegraphics{Figure3.eps}
\end{center}
\caption{The 5th (a) and 25th (b) percentile of the long-term SSB for cod and whiting under different fishing mortality rates of cod. The solid line is the $B_{lim}$ for each species.}
\label{fig:codWhiting}
\end{figure}

\subsection{Gaussian process emulator}

We fitted both the long-term yield and the 25th percentile of the long-term SSB for 100 iterations of the ensemble model. Table \ref{tb:acpt_runs} shows the number of scenarios in each round and the number of species with acceptable risk, a probability that the long-runs SSB  is above $B_{lim}$ of 0.75 or more. In later rounds the number of species with acceptable risk increases.

\subsection{Nash equilibria}

Out of the 100 potential $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values found in the fourth round, 39 of them satisfied Definition \ref{def:nash}. For these 39 $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values, we calculated the revenue of the long-term yield. Figure \ref{fig:final} shows the marginal distributions of the accepted $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values, with the solid line showing the $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ value that led to the highest revenue.
The revenues of all the $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values were between \pounds{}1.7 billion and \pounds{}2.2 billion, larger than the revenue in 2017, \pounds{}1.3 billion. See Table S1 in the supplementary material for the 39 $\bm{F}_{Nash} values$.

\begin{figure}[!]
\begin{center}
    \includegraphics{Figure4.eps}
\end{center}
\caption{The 39 Nash equilibria found in the fourth round. The solid line is the Nash equilibrium that generates the highest revenue.}
\label{fig:final}
\end{figure}

\begin{table}[ht]
\caption{The number of scenarios that have acceptable risk to the species long-term SSB. Acceptable risk to a species is that the long-term SSB is above $B_{lim}$ with a probability of 0.75 or more.}
\label{tb:acpt_runs}
\begin{center}
\begin{tabular}{ccccc}
\hline
\# species & Rnd 1 & Rnd 2 & Rnd 3 & Rnd 4 \\
\hline
0 & $0$ & $0$ & $0$ & $0$ \\
1 & $14$ & $0$ & $0$ & $0$ \\
2 & $45$ & $0$ & $0$ & $0$ \\
3 & $42$ & $0$ & $0$ & $0$ \\
4 & $37$ & $1$ & $0$ & $0$ \\
5 & $31$ & $12$ & $1$ & $0$ \\
6 & $19$ & $33$ & $2$ & $0$ \\
7 & $8$ & $43$ & $28$ & $13$ \\
8 & $0$ & $11$ & $46$ & $48$ \\
9 & $0$ & $0$ & $23$ & $39$ \\
\end{tabular}
\end{center}
\end{table}

\section{Discussion}
\label{sec:discussion}

In this paper, we showed that using a SS-MSY is only possible under very strict assumptions. We demonstrated how to calculate reference points using a specific definition of MMSY, the Nash equilibrium \citep{Farcas_Rossberg,norrstrom2017nash,thorpe17}, with a caveat for the risk of species collapse for nine species in the North Sea. We did this by combining multiple simulators using an ensemble model, removing the arbitrary choices of which simulator to use to calculate the reference points. We found that the Nash equilibrium led to higher fishing mortality rates than SS-MSY, leading to an increase in the long-term yields and revenue.
To our knowledge, ensemble modelling has never been used to calculate multispecies reference points before.

We found that the $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values were generally higher than SS-MSY. Fishing predators at higher levels can relieve stress on prey, leading to an increase in prey, which can be exploited by the fishery \citep{Andersen_15}. These interactions are not accounted for when calculating SS-MSY, therefore adopting a MMSY means it is possible to have a higher yield \citep{Beddington_cooke, norrstrom2017nash}.
Furthermore the revenue generated from MMSY was greater than current levels, allowing an economic gain for fishers and their families, something that is not always the case for SS-MSY \citep{Giron_2018}.

A common criteria when defining SS-MSY is that the SSB is larger than $B_{lim}$ with a probability greater than 0.95 \citep{ices_advice}. We demonstrated that the SSB of a single species not only depends on its own fishing mortality, but also the fishing mortality of the other species.
For example, only a small range of cod fishing mortality would lead to both whiting and cod's long-term SSB being above $B_{lim}$ with a probability greater than 0.75. However, no combination of $\bm{F}$ values would result in both whiting and cod's long-term SSB being above $B_{lim}$ with a probability greater than 0.95 (Figure \ref{fig:codWhiting}). This effect between whiting and cod was also found by EwE \citep{Mackinson_09} and the stochastic multispecies model \citep{sms,Kempf_10}.
As it is impossible to find $\bm{F}$ values that satisfy the 0.95 probability criteria for all nine species in this study, we reduced our criteria to 0.75.
In general uncertainty is subjective, specific to the decision maker, the study, the information and the simulators \citep{gelman}.
In this study our certainty is limited to the simulators used, and could be reduced if they were improved, however, we were able quantify this uncertainty in a robust and interpretable manner \citep{harwood_stokes}. Currently when calculating SS-MSY, large amounts of uncertainty are ignored, e.g. species interactions, and thus estimations of probability are not robust, which makes the 0.95 caveat rather arbitrary.

Generally, fisheries managers select a single simulator for a species, from a set of competing simulators to calculate reference points \citep[e.g][]{ices_advice},
however, not including species interactions can lead to inconsistencies in the reference points.
Should a manager chose a simulator for defining an MMSY, they would have to decide which simulator based on an arbitrary choice, and the values of the reference points are sensitive to the simulator (see supplementary material Figures S1-S4) \citep{Gaichas_08}.
Furthermore, choosing a simulator, without accounting for its model discrepancy \citep{kennedy_ohagan}, can lead to biased advice. For example, if we chose LeMans, sandeel yields would be consistently under-estimated, however correcting for the discrepancy would lead to estimations that were closer to the true yields (Figure \ref{fig:histYield}).
In general, no simulator is uniformly better than the others \citep{chandler}.
In our example, mizer captures the dynamics of the saithe yields,
however it does not capture the cod yields as well (Figure \ref{fig:histYield}).
We combined four different simulators, accounting for their discrepancies and uncertainties, to define the reference points, suggesting their values are no longer sensitive to the simulator selection \citep{spence_ff}.

Due to the robust quantification of uncertainty in the ensemble model, we found 39 different $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values. In practice, a manager would have to decide which of the $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values is the `best', which is dependent on their needs and priorities. For example, they may want to maximise the total revenue or to minimise the risk to a specific species. In general, the manager's utility can be computed for the different MMSYs and then they can decide which of them is the `best'. We calculated the revenue for each $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ value, and, if we were to give advice, we would select the $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ value that would lead to the highest revenue, as shown in Figure \ref{fig:final}.

The results should be interpreted in the light of the limitations of the four simulators used in this study, which were the only ones available. Using as many simulators as possible would improve the robustness of the results, however it would be more beneficial to use better or improved simulators.
By robustly quantifying the uncertainty, the ensemble model uses all of the information from the simulators. If there was no, or very little, information in all the simulators then the ensemble model would give very uncertain predictions.
Currently the ensemble model of \citet{spence_ff} assumes that the discrepancies of the simulators are the same in the future as they are in the past, for example a simulator that was uncertain at predicting the past would also be uncertain when predicting the future. More work is required to find the predictive power of these simulators, so we can include this information in the ensemble model.

When calculating the Nash equilibrium, we would like to use a sequential algorithm, such as in \citet{norrstrom2017nash}, which would require running the simulators and the ensemble model many times. Currently this is not feasible due to computational and time constraints caused by the simulators.
To limit the number of simulator runs required, we used a Gaussian process emulator to predict, with uncertainty, what the ensemble model would say for all future scenarios. Gaussian process emulators have been used in other fields when simulators are expensive to run \citep[e.g][]{veron,KENNEDY20061301}.
This allowed us to limit simulator runs to fishing scenarios that may be close to the Nash equilibrium and result in acceptable risk (Table \ref{tb:acpt_runs}), or where the emulator was unsure of the outcome.
Although replacing the ensemble model with a Gaussian process leads to uncertainty in the final $\bm{F}_{Nash}$ values, this would not matter in practice, as the uncertainty Gaussian process will be small.
Using the ensemble model and the Gaussian process emulator allows for the calculation of MMSY in a robust and timely manner.

The Nash equilibrium was calculated for nine species in the North Sea, with caveats for the risk of stock collapse, although the methods described would be applicable for any definition of MMSY, or even SS-MSY, at any location.
Alternative objectives could be ecosystem based yield \citep{Steel_11} or to aim to either maximise profits in the fisheries (e.g. using an MEY approach \citep{Dichmont16,Pascoe_18,Guillen_13}) or focus on the efficiency of the fishing practice. The latter, for example, could aim to define the reference points based on marginal value of yields, apply pareto-efficiency criteria or include joint-technology in production (i.e. mixed fisheries considerations).
In this paper, the Nash equilibrium was chosen as it is a way of combining the SS-MSY with the MMSY as aligned concepts of MSY and EBFM \citep{norrstrom2017nash}.

\section{Conclusion}
In this study we calculated MMSY in the North Sea using an ensemble model, demonstrating that it can lead to sustainable yields whilst ensuring ecosystem health is not diminished.
This approach can be adopted by fisheries scientists and mangers worldwide, taking account of structural uncertainties and removing arbitrary modelling decisions, leading to more robust, and therefore better science and management.
The reference points can be applied to problems in other fields such as climate science, epidemiology or systems biology.
Using the methods described in this paper, we were able to provide a practical tool to optimise any objective function for use by scientists and managers alike.

\section*{Acknowledgements}
The work was funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). We would like to thank Robert Thorpe, Michaela Schratzberger and Paul Dolder for comments on earlier versions of the manuscript.

\section*{Authors contribution} MAS, HJB and KA conceived the ideas and designed the methodology; NDW, AM and MAS extracted data for the study; MAS, KA and HJB ran simulators; MAS and KA led the writing of the manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.

\section*{Data availability statement}
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created; rather, data were acquired from existing published sources (all sources are cited in the text), or are described, figured and tabulated within the manuscript or supplementary information of this article.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


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Childcare Expo Midlands is in full swing as preparations are under way for the 7th year running at Ricoh Arena this Autumn. Exhibitors continue to book onto the popular event that is the focal point for all early years practitioners. If you work in the early years sector, then this event needs to be put in the calendar today – 30th September – 1st October.
Across the two days of Childcare Expo Midlands, visitors will be immersed in a hub of activity as inspirational seminars and encouraging workshops take place. Twinkl will be contributing to a jam-packed schedule with their launch of the first Twinkl Inspiration Zone. Providing a welcomed extension to an already educational event, Twinkl will be hosting four sessions a day covering a wide range of topics dedicated for the early years sector.
Find out about the popular Early Years Planning and Assessment Materials followed by a birth to twos inspiration session with hands-on ideas for creating your own sensory bottles. The children's crafting hour welcomes both children and adults to take a break from the hustle and bustle and use Twinkl mug boxes to make something to take away with you along with a mug itself. The adult mindfulness session planned for the end of each day will be a perfect way to relax and unwind after a productive, yet exciting day.
Throughout both days, interactive and thought provoking workshops take place to give you the opportunity to explore and learn new skills from signing to getting children outside and active. With so much press surrounding the subject of outdoor learning, the array of workshops delivered by British Heart Foundation National Centre (BHFNC) and the popular Robin Sheehan from eQeOUTDOORS will provide you with something to take back to your early years settings.
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text:
Abasiofilija je psihoseksualna privlačnost prema osobama smanjene pokretljivosti, pogotovo onima koji koriste ortopedska pomagala kao što su ortopedske proteze ili invalidska kolica. Izraz abasiofilija je prvi upotrijebio John Money s Univerziteta Johns Hopkins u svom radu o parafilijama iz 1990.

Vidi i
Amputacijski fetišizam
Privlačnost prema invaliditetu
Fetišizam naočala
Medicinski fetišizam
Crash (1996)

Izvori

 "Lovemaps; Clinical Concepts of Sexual / Erotic Health And Pathology, Paraphilia, and Gender Transposition in Childhood, Adolescence, and Maturity" by John Money ()

Preporuka
Journal of Psychology and Human Sexuality Vol 3, issue 2, 1990 "Paraphilia in Females Fixation on Amputation and Lameness; Two Personal Accounts" pp 165 – 172 by John Money PhD, Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, Baltimore, MD, 21205. This is the first record of the term "abasiophilia" being used.

Poremećaji ličnosti i ponašanja odraslih
Bihevioralni sindromi fizičkog čimbenika


This informal birthday dinner provided a great opportunity to spend time with a small group of friends celebrating life around a number of fabulous wines. Take out dinner from a favorite neighborhood trattoria was delicious, but the focus was on wine and the feeling of camaraderie that sharing great bottles inspires.
Champagne to start? Of course. Roederer's 1988 Cristal Rosé is soft, subtle and beautifully perfumed. A Champagne of total understatement and precision, the 1988 is the perfect start to this birthday dinner. What a treat it is to taste and drink Selosse's 1998 Brut Blanc de Blancs. Anselme Selosse's wines are nearly impossible to find, but his wines from the 1990s and 1980s are truly rare birds. The 1988 Blanc de Blancs is rich, vinous and deep, with more power and volume than most Champagnes in this vintage. Creamy and ample, with plenty of apricot, smoke and honey overtones, the 1988 satisfies all the senses. Well-stored bottles will drink well for another decade or more. A bottle of Krug's NV Grande Cuvée, most likely from the 1960s, is utterly spellbinding, with phenomenal purity in its flavors and remarkable finesse in its mousse. Unfortunately, I can't tell you anything more about this stellar Champagne because for decades Krug bottled their flagship wine as a NV Champagne with absolutely no information that might have differentiated one release from another. Aside from the very obvious – that this practice was hugely anti-consumer – it also almost certainly resulted in quite a bit of economic upside being left on the table because certain exceptional editions, such as the current 164ème Édition, were not given the space to stand out. Champagne is not Coca-Cola. Or, at least, it shouldn't be treated as such.
Decanting and aeration are understood to be highly beneficial in allowing red wines to show at their best, but whites are seldom given the same type of attention. That is a mistake, because fine white wines (and Champagne, too) are often at their best several hours after opening. That is certainly the case with the 1996 Montrachet from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, which needs quite a bit of time to open up. When if finally does, the wine is magnificent. In the last year or so, the 1996 has started to turn the corner as some of its youthful freshness fades into a set of more mature flavors and textures. Even so, 1996 remains one of my very favorite vintages of this wine. The 2008 Montrachet, which is usually a total hedonistic turn-on, shows an extra bit of polish to balance some of its more overt leanings. Tangerine oil and exotic floral notes abound in a deeply satisfying Montrachet that should drink well for another 20 years.
This is my last bottle of Bruno Giacosa's 1978 Barolo Riserva Villero di Castiglione Falletto. What a wine. Intensely aromatic and deep, the 1978 presents a veritable kaleidoscope of Nebbiolo flavors and textures. At nearly forty years of age, the 1978 remains a testament to the profound wines Bruno Giacosa made in this historic vintage. With air and the passing of several hours, the 1978 gains in stature. Still monumental and intense, '78 Villero is utterly profound. Readers who own it should be thrilled. In this tasting of more Old World-leaning wines, Luciano Sandrone's 1990 Barolo Le Vigne is almost shocking in its fruit intensity. The Le Vigne, here in its debut vintage, is a blend of fruit from several sources. On this night, it is pure, racy and bold from start to finish, in classic Luciano Sandrone style.
Coche-Dury's 2012 Corton-Charlemagne is surprisingly ethereal. The flavors are naturally very bright and citrus-driven at this early stage in the wine's life. A hint of Coche reduction runs through the 2012, but is not at all intrusive. Lemon peel, white flowers, mint and crushed rocks are nicely delineated. As good as the 2012 is now, it will be even better once it fills out a bit more. Sadly, this is not a good bottle of the 1996 Corton-Charlemagne. When it is on, the 1996 Charlemagne is one of the greatest wines on Planet Earth. At twenty-one years of age, it is hard to say the 1996 is prematurely oxidized, but what is evident is that this bottle is far from being truly representative.
Rousseau's 1989 Chambertin is delicate, sensual and beautifully perfumed. Silky and gracious, the '89 is absolutely exquisite tonight. I would prefer to finish any remaining bottles over the next handful of years, as the fruit appears to be drying out. Hints of dried flowers and sweet tobacco reinforce the impression that the wine is approaching its full maturity. This is a very fine bottle of the 1971 La Tâche. Beautifully persistent and nuanced, the 1971 possesses exceptional finesse throughout. Not surprisingly, the 1971 has shown better of late from large format. From bottle – this bottle at least – the 1971 is just a touch slender. That in no way detracts from its striking perfume and lovely overall balance. Roumier's 1990 Bonnes-Mares has been nothing short of exceptional every time I have tasted it. Remarkably deep, pure and rich in texture, the 1990 has more than enough going on to satisfy all of the senses. The warm vintage and time in bottle have softened some of the typically hard Bonnes-Mares tannins. What comes through today is a wine of total sensuality. I suspect the 1990 will drink well for another 20+ years. Once again, the 1990 Bonnes-Mares is compelling.
A trio of 1961 Bordeaux rounds out the evening. The 1961 L'Evangile is off the charts. A wine of stunning depth, intensity and structure, the 1961 hits the palate with copious dark cherry, plum, chocolate, smoke and licorice, all with a huge backbone of tannin that ensures it will continue to drink well for several decades, or as long as corks hold out. The wine itself is essentially immortal. I have had the good fortune to drink the 1961 several times recently, and while this is not the very best bottle I have had, it is still a head-turner. Wow. Even better, the 1961 Latour is as profound as wine can be. It's as simple as that. Dense, seamless and remarkably deep – especially for a wine of its age – Latour is another timeless classic from this epic Bordeaux vintage. All the elements magically fall into place in a spellbinding Pauillac endowed with magnificent depth and pedigree. Powerful and towering, with a real feeling of vertical structure, the 1961 Haut-Brion fleshes out in every dimension with superb persistence, seemingly endless fruit and beguiling aromatic intensity. There is an explosive energy to the 1961 that is spellbinding. This is another captivating, alluring wine that is very hard to move past. I just want to bask in its glow all afternoon.
As profound as these wines are, the opportunity to follow them over several hours with a small group of close friends makes for memories that will last forever.