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Today's Takeaway
Canada invests in Toronto's Tall Wood future
The Tree Frog Forestry News
Category: Today's Takeaway
Tall Wood is on the Up-and-Up in Toronto as evidenced by Canada's investment in a planned 10-storey timber building. In related news: Northern Ontario needs a wood pipeline strategy; Australian-made CLT is put to the test; and US fire testing goes high-tech with 360-degree video.
In Business news: lumber shippers are feeling the pain of a possible lockout at Vancouver's port; the US-China trade war cut Astoria's log exports; Tolko's Louisiana mill is now open for business; and a timber Ponzi scheme snags United Parcel Service workers in Mississippi. In Forestry/Climate news: Alberta declares disaster, public emergency due to wildfires; the Boreal forest experiences two district wildfire seasons; and a California study says thinning and prescribed fire reduced tree loss across the Sierra Nevada.
Finally, Bigfoot replaces Smokey Bear, and why banning paper receipts is nonsense legislation.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
Bigfoot leads state's effort to prevent wildfires, asks Oregonians to 'believe'
By Douglas Perry
Oregon Live
Category: Froggy Foibles
Everybody knows Smokey Bear and his famous saying, "Only you can prevent forest fires." The Oregon state fire marshal has decided his office can do even better. …Oregon Fire Marshal Jim Walker has recruited an even bigger celebrity – who happens to be a local resident – for his own fire-safety-awareness campaign: Bigfoot. …"Wildfires can easily be ignited by backyard burning; an unattended campfire; a hot car on tall, dry grass; or from dragging tow chains — and they spread fast," Walker said in a statement. "We hope our Bigfoot campaign will draw attention and create a bigger 'footprint' of wildfire prevention efforts around the state."Get it? A bigger footprint.
Ratification of USMCA to dominate agenda as Trudeau, Pence meet in Ottawa
The Canadian Press in The Globe and Mail
Region: Canada, United States
Justin Trudeau & Mike Pence
The ratification of the new North American trade agreement will dominate a packed agenda when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence meet today in Ottawa. …Trade will dominate their initial discussion, and while their focus will be on the pending ratification of the new continental trade pact, other remaining irritants will also be on the agenda, said a senior government official speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record about the talks. The ongoing softwood lumber dispute and future U.S. plans for tariffs on uranium imports, which would have a big impact if they applied to Canada, will also be raised, the official said. Pence and Trudeau will also discuss some larger, shared international concerns, including Canada's ongoing tension with China, which has detained two Canadians on unspecified national security violations, said the official.
Businesses are already feeling the pain of a possible lockout at Canada's biggest port
By Jen St. Denis
The Star Vancouver
VANCOUVER—Somewhere at the Deltaport terminal, three containers full of lumber are sitting on the dock, waiting to be shipped to Pakistan. The abandoned containers were left behind when the vessel they were supposed to be loaded on suddenly pulled away from its berth earlier this week, taking only seven of a 10-container order from SPF Precut Lumber in Coquitlam. It's an example of how a possible lockout, which could take effect at all B.C. ports on Thursday, is already affecting businesses that rely on the Port of Vancouver. Port labour is required for vessels to leave the terminal, said Mo Amir, office and sales manager for SPF Precut Lumber. …When the International Longshore and Warehouse Union issued a strike notice on May 10, SPF Precut expected… it could still ship through Centerm in downtown Vancouver or Fraser Surrey Docks.
Sawmill a working tradition for Timmins family
By Maija Hoggett
Marc and Rene Picard
Since the 1950s, a member of the Picard family has been making a living at the Timmins sawmill. In 1976, Rene Picard was in his early 20s and needed a job. He wasn't a 'school person,' and he had family working at the sawmill. He was hired; his job was piling lumber. From there, he did almost every production job possible until retiring a couple years ago after four decades at the mill on the banks of the Mattagami River. …The EACOM Timmins sawmill is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. That family atmosphere and opportunity for people working hard has been key to the site's success. …"This place works because of the employees and the employees always had work, we've never shut down because it wasn't a profitable mill," said Fleury. To celebrate the mill's centennial, a community celebration is being held this Friday, May 31
Trade war chops off log revenue at Port of Astoria
By Edward Stratton
The Astorian
The trade war between the U.S. and China could chop about one-third of the Port of Astoria's projected pier revenue in the coming fiscal year. The Port… estimates Astoria Forest Products will send out 6.5 log ships over the coming year. Chad Niedermeyer… said the company would usually expect to send out between eight and 10. Port staff projected $1.3 million in pier revenue, down more than 28 percent from this year. …The majority of the loss in pier revenue comes from the lack of regular log ships. …With the decrease in ships, Astoria Forest Products has cut its workforce by 40 percent, Niedermeyer said. Chris Connaway, the president of the local longshore union, has reported members having to go far afield to find work.
Nearly $1 million to be invested into timber jobs in Henry County
By Nathaniel Rodriguez
WDHN Dothan First News
ABBEVILLE, Ala. — The Henry County economy will soon see a boost in job opportunities, thanks to a grant from Gov. Kay Ivey. The Community Development Block Grant will now invest $850,000 dollars into a timber business in Abbeville, providing at least 105 jobs to residents in the area. The money, which was given to the Henry County Commission, will "provide transportation construction assistance to ship lumber, timbers and posts produced at the new Abbeville Fiber plant." The soon-to-be opened plant, a division of Great Southern Wood Preserving Inc., is set to produce 200,000 feet of finished wood per day. To supply this demand for finished wood, the sawmill will buy around $14-15 million of timber per year. This, in turn, will improve the market for timber suppliers from a 50-mile radius.
LaSalle Parish is home to the state's first lumber mill in over 2 decades
By Allison Bruhl
My Arklamiss.com
URANIA, Louisiana — Urania is now home to Louisiana's first lumber mill in over two decades. Governor John Bel Edwards and LaSalle lumber company leaders celebrated the grand opening of the new facility sitting on 125 acres of land on Wednesday. …The sawmill project is a partnership between American-based Hunt Forest Products and Canadian lumber giant Tolko. "By working together these two family-owned companies are creating 115 jobs in the mill and other job and associated facilities and 300 indirect jobs," Douglas George, Acting Consul General of Canada in Dallas, United States said. …Sourcing 850,000 tons of wood per year, Governor Edwards says it's a power move to diversify the workforce and economy.
UPS sued for workers' role in $100M timber Ponzi scheme
The Associated Press in ABC News
Category: Business & Politics, Wood, Paper & Green Building
A UPS store in Madison, Mississippi, is being sued for its workers' role in a Ponzi scheme that cost investors about $100 million. The Clarion Ledger reports New Orleans attorney Alysson Mills filed the lawsuit last week. The lawsuit says the store's employees were complicit in a timber scheme in which about 300 investors were promised high interest rates. In reality, new money was used to pay old investors. The lawsuit says workers notarized fake timber deeds and attested that grantors-landowners appeared before them, even though "no grant-landowner ever personally appeared." Scheme leader Arthur Lamar Adams is serving a 17-year sentence for wire fraud. …The newspaper says the store said it had no comment.
By Natural Resources Canada
Cision Newswire
TORONTO – Investing in the long-term use of wood in Canada's construction industry will increase the demand for Canadian wood products, create good, middle-class jobs for Canadians and help the Government of Canada achieve its climate change goals. Adam Vaughan, Member of Parliament for Spadina–Fort York, on behalf of the Honourable Amarjeet Sohi, Canada'sMinister of Natural Resources, today announced a $4.1-million investment to build a 10-storey tall wood building in Toronto. Construction of The Arbour, a $134-million project at George Brown College's Waterfront Campus, will use an estimated 3,000 cubic metres of wood and will be a new, net-zero carbon emissions academic wood structure. Both during its construction and once complete, The Arbour will serve as a living laboratory where students and researchers will learn to design, construct, operate and monitor climate-friendly buildings. It will also house a new childcare facility to serve the growing community.
Tall Wood is on the Up-and-Up in Toronto
By Natali Tarini
The Canadian Wood Council
The Arbour, a 10-storey building planned for George Brown College's Waterfront Campus, is one of the winning recipients of the Green Construction through Wood (GCWood) Program. Launched by Natural Resources Canada, the GCWood Program encourages the broader awareness and domestic capacity for wood in Canadian construction. The Arbour, which will use mass timber products, will demonstrate wood's ability to complement other building materials in innovative applications such as tall construction. "Today's GCWood Program announcement is about diversifying options for builders and architects in Canada, and providing them with the science, research and funding to support the advancement of wood in tall construction," explained Rick Jeffery, Interim President at the Canadian Wood Council. "It's important to note that tall buildings are hybrid buildings. With a gap existing between wood's capabilities and its perceived capabilities in construction, programs such as GCWood assure that wood is included in the discussions pertaining to building material choices."
Northern Ontario needs a wood pipeline
By David Robinson, Laurentian University
Northern Ontario Business
Over the next 25 years, the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) will add population equal to the size of Toronto's today. …That makes the GTA the most important emerging market in the world for Northern Ontario. It makes our strategy for the wood industry the key to Northern economic development. We have to build a wood pipeline from the vast resources of the North to the huge new market in the south. …Demand in this emerging market will not be for just any construction material; the massive construction project should be based on wood, and not steel and concrete. …The pipeline we need will not be made of Sault Ste. Marie steel. It will be a pipeline of brains and technology. It will be a pipeline of architects and developers, engineers and construction workers, sawmill and building inspectors who understand heavy wood construction.
In the Eye of the Fire
By NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology)
Imperial Valley News
Gaithersburg, Maryland – "In experimental fire research, some of the most compelling data you can get is the visual data from video and photography," says Matt Hoehler, a research structural engineer at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). …With a prototype camera system… he has succeeded not just in getting close to a fire, but inside it. So far, the system has captured mesmerizing 360-degree video from a burning room… a kitchen fire and, most recently, a forest fire. The footage allows a viewer to immerse themselves in the scene and shift their gaze in any direction to look at different aspects of the fire. At the NFRL, scientists and engineers develop ways to measure fire and its effects to help designers, engineers and emergency responders find the best ways to protect people, buildings and other infrastructure.
"Self-shaping" Urbach Tower twists itself into a unique, curvaceous shape
By Lucy Wong
Wood warping typically creates unwanted and undesirable effects, yet the creators behind a unique new landmark in Urbach, Germany have found a way to harness the naturally occurring deformity into an unexpected architectural possibility. The University of Stuttgart completed a nearly 47-foot-tall timber structure that gets its curvaceous form from the "self-shaping process" of its curved wood components. Constructed from spruce wood cross-laminated panels, the Urbach Tower is the first wood structure made from self-shaped components and offers a more sustainable alternative to energy-intensive, mechanically formed structures. …The landmark building's prefabricated, self-shaping components are made from spruce wood CLT sourced regionally from Switzerland and CNC cut into 12 flat panels that deform autonomously into predicted curved shapes when dried. Computational models were developed to design, predict and optimize the material arrangement that would achieve the desired look through moisture-induced swelling and shrinking.
How cross-laminated timber could change how Australian homes are built
By Jim Malo
Domain.com.au
The way Australian homes are built could be changed forever, with new research into a type of engineered timber showing it could cement its place as an environmentally friendly alternative to concrete. Australian cross-laminated timber can replace concrete in many situations, including being used as a foundation for a house. Studies have already been conducted on European CLT, which is being used in towers and building extensions in Australia now. …Aurecon and Lendlease have used engineered timber in some builds already, and Aurecon director Kourosh Kayvani said he saw a bright future for CLT. …"The other element is the biophilic nature. People have better feelings in a building with exposed timber." …Mr Kayvani said the main limit for its uptake in Australia was a lack of local production.
Australian-made mass timber put to the test
Industry Update (Australia)
Paul Kremer & Mahmud Ashraf
Engineering researchers at Deakin University have begun testing Australian-made cross-laminated timber, to ascertain the full potential of this innovative and environmentally friendly construction material. …Unlike in Europe, Australian CLT is made using different grades of timber lamellas. Because of the different timber species used… research is required to verify the relative performance of Australian-made CLT. …As part of a recently formed collaboration, XLam Australia supplied Deakin with 3.6t of CLT panels. …The researchers, led by Associate Professor Mahmud Ashraf from Deakin's School of Engineering, will test and analyse the strength limits of CLT. Dr Paul Kremer, XLam's Head of Marketing, Strategy and Sustainability, says the research at Deakin will help the industry continue to push the boundaries of what is possible.
Caribou Regional District to beef up crisis communications with new plan
By Monica Lamb-Yorski
The Williams Lake Tribune
Deborah Wytrykush & Kristine Wilker
The Cariboo Regional District now has a formal communication plan in place for all crises, emergencies or disasters. "One of the recommendations from the Cariboo Chilcotin 2017 Wildfires Report, and a subsequent business plan goal for the communications department, was to create a crisis communication plan for the CRD," said Emily Epp, manager of communications. …Deborah Wytrykush, regional entomologist, and Kristine Wilker, stewardship officer with the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, gave the board a presentation on the various bark beetles in this region. …Wilker said the wildfires have changed the landscape and it will be a long time before the forests recuperate. …The two women also provided an update on local responses to the bark beetle infestations throughout the region.
Douglas-fir beetle infestation is a provincial crisis: B.C. expert
By Tyler Harper
The Maple Ridge-Pitt meadows News
The infestation of Douglas-fir bark beetles that took over 90 hectares of forest just outside Nelson is a sign of what one local expert calls an impending provincial catastrophe. Gerald Cordeiro, with Kalesnikoff Lumber, first alerted Nelson city council to the infestation in October 2017. On Monday he returned to say the infestation had been mostly been removed, but the entire region is vulnerable. …"It's not on the scale of the mountain pine beetle, but fir forests are generally not on the scale of pine forests in B.C. Cordeiro said a cutting permit was granted by the forest ministry to remove infested trees. Trap trees, which are fallen healthy trees, were also used to attract beetles. …Douglas-fir bark beetles kill trees within one to two years, after which the infested wood cannot be salvaged.
UBC Okanagan aspires to be world class
By Ron Seymour
The Kelowna Daily Courier
Deborah Buszard
Directors of UBC Okanagan have exceedingly high hopes for the institution as they peer into the future. Within a few decades, West Kelowna council heard Tuesday, the university could be among the best in the world…. Deborah Buszard, UBCO principal, told West Kelowna council. …Buszard noted her own background at long-established universities such as Dalhousie and McGill. …Coun. Doug Findlater encouraged UBCO to do more collaborative projects with major West Kelowna businesses, such as Gorman Bros. Lumber and Bylands Nursery, which he said exported their respective products over a wide area. "We've got some very unique businesses here that have a long reach," Findlater said.
Fighting last summer's wildfires cost $212M, but province saying little else
By Erik White
Natural Resources and Forestry Minister Jeff Yurek told the provincial legislature in the midst of last summer's busy fire season that resources were in "good supply" and that crews "received the support they require." He didn't mention how much that would cost taxpayers. The next day, he announced an investment of an extra $100 million in forest fire fighting. In the past, Ontario governments didn't make funding announcements when forest fire crews needed more than the base budget of $70 million. The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry refused to answer CBC's questions about how that emergency funding is allotted. But the ministry is saying that forest firefighting was $142 million over budget in 2018, for a total of $212 million. That's about twice as much as each of the last five years.
IKEA Canada recognized for environmental leadership by Tree Canada
By IKEA Canada
BURLINGTON, ON – This spring, IKEA Canada co-workers will join Tree Canada in 19 different communities across the country to plant trees and shrubs as part of the retailer's ongoing commitment to people and planet. To mark over 23 years of partnership, Tree Canada will honour IKEA Canada with its Ultimate Award at the tree planting event held today in Burlington, ON at LaSalle Park. Since the partnership began in 1996, IKEA Canada co-workers have planted more than 55,000 trees, including 18,700 seedlings, and the company has contributed over $1 million toward greening local communities. "We are proud of our longstanding partnership with Tree Canada, an organization which supports us in creating a positive impact on the planet," said Melissa Mirowski, Sustainability Lead, IKEA Canada. "Our co-workers are our best sustainability ambassadors and look forward to coming together with Tree Canada every year to green our local communities."
Northwest First Nations protest provincial caribou strategy
By Ian Ross
The province's rollout of a woodland caribou recovery strategy in northwestern Ontario threatens the gains made by First Nations in natural resource development, said the chief of the Red Rock Indian Band. Matthew Dupuis and a group of protesters were taking to the road to delay traffic and hand out information pamphlets on the Trans-Canada Highway at the Nipigon Bridge on May 29. They take issue with Ontario's Woodland Caribou Conservation Plan to create corridors for woodland caribou that they say is potentially devastating to communities and industry along the north shore of Lake Superior. Despite the change in provincial government, Dupuis said Queen's Park continues to push the caribou recovery strategy, particularly at the forest management planning level, in an effort to change the "landscape of this area and how it's managed." The Red Rock Indian Band is leading the fight against the caribou strategy.
Thinning Forests, Prescribed Fire Before Drought Reduced Tree Loss
By Kat Kerlin
Thinning forests and conducting prescribed burns may help preserve trees in future droughts and bark beetle epidemics expected under climate change, suggests a study from the University of California, Davis. The study, published in the journal Ecological Applications, found that thinning and prescribed fire treatments reduced the number of trees that died during the bark beetle epidemic and drought that killed more than 129 million trees across the Sierra Nevada between 2012-2016. …The study also indicated that current rates of treatment are not sufficient to reduce the impacts of hotter droughts and large-scale bark beetle outbreaks. Expanding the use of managed fire under moderate fire-weather conditions, along with strategic thinning and prescribed burn treatments, may increase resilience across the forest, the researchers said.
Here's what you need to know about sudden oak death and what to do if your tree has it
By Sarah Bowman
A dangerous disease that can kill oak trees has been detected in plants that have been sent to 10 states across the U.S., including Indiana. More than 70 Walmarts and 18 Rural Kings received rhododendrons infected with sudden oak death in the last several weeks. The fungal pathogen has killed large tracts of oaks along the West Coast, and both federal and state officials are now working to contain it from spreading in Indiana and other affected states. Here is what you need to know about sudden oak death and what to do if you believe your tree might be infected. Sudden oak death is a forest disease affecting oak trees that is caused by a fungal pathogen called Phytophthora ramorum. It is most common along the West Coast, as it enjoys damp, cool and windy conditions. This disease is different than oak wilt, which can be found in the Midwest.
Climate change is a big factor in Alberta's wildfires – but not in the way you might think
By Glenn McGillivray, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction.
Glenn McGillivray
A large wildfire in Alberta in May? This must be the work of climate change, right? …Much of Western Canada actually experiences two distinct wildfire seasons. There's the late summer/early fall season that most people are familiar with. But areas close to or in the boreal forest, like northern Alberta, are currently in the midst of the lesser-known wildfire season, the period after the snow stops but before the forest greens up and sequesters the moisture that makes intense fires less likely. …Climate change is a force multiplier: It doesn't directly produce severe weather, but it does nurture and amplify it. It takes something that likely would have happened anyway and makes it worse. …making severe-loss events more likely to happen. …Fire has been a critical part of our ecosystem since long before we came around. [Fire doesn't] seek out our communities – it's that humans have put communities in its way.
Canada Leads the World in Accelerating a Clean Energy Future
Amarjeet Sohi
VANCOUVER — A global energy transition is fundamentally changing the way we produce and consume energy. In a world increasingly seeking clean, affordable and reliable energy sources, Canada is positioned to become a supplier of choice. …Driven by the need to address climate change and other environmental concerns, as well as by rapidly changing markets and technologies, Canada committed to being a clean energy leader by taking concrete steps to develop policies and make investments that will lead to:
Smarter energy use for our homes, buildings, transportation and industry
Clean energy powering our communities and businesses;
Use of more renewable fuels, including biomass and renewable natural gas
Greater market access for our energy products, technologies and services
Roadless areas are nature's climate solutions
By Dominick DellaSala, William Ripple & Franz Baumann
…Scientists are now saying that pristine areas, like roadless areas and unlogged forests, can buy us time as we transition to a carbon-free economy but only if protected from relentless development. Unfortunately, the fate of millions of acres of roadless areas in Alaska and Utah is now at risk from the Trump administration's efforts to upend one of the nation's landmark conservation achievements – the Roadless Area Conservation Rule of 2000. …Anyone in the Bay Area who cares about wild spaces ought to be alarmed by the pending extinction crisis and the administration's efforts to usher in clearcut logging and road building in Alaska's coastal temperate rainforests and Utah's roadless forests. Here's why. Muir Woods National Monument… these ancient forests function as a regionwide carbon warehouse, quietly absorbing and storing more carbon per acre than just about any forest on Earth.
AB161 is much worse than just another piece of nonsense legislation
By Susan Shelley
…First it was plastic grocery bags. Then plastic straws. And now, California is looking at banning paper receipts. Assembly Bill 161 would make it illegal for stores to print a paper receipt unless a customer specifically asks for one, or unless state or federal law requires it… The bill has already passed the Assembly and is working its way through the state Senate. According to the American Forest and Paper Association, the U.S. economy creates 181,000 tons of paper receipts annually. …The cost of the bill, if enacted into law, would be very high. Retailers of all types would have to buy equipment in order to convert to electronic receipt technology. …Green America, the group that wrote the "Skip the Slip" claimed that an estimated 10 million trees were cut down every year to provide the paper used in receipts in the U.S. …AB 161 would shield retailers from consumer privacy laws, but the privacy concerns raised by asking consumers to give up that data have not been addressed.
Northern Alberta wildfires prompt Kenney government to declare disaster, public emergency
By Phil Heidenreich
As wildfires continue to rage in northern Alberta, and prompting more evacuation orders on Wednesday, the provincial government has officially declared the situation both a public emergency and a disaster. The public emergency order was declared by Alberta's agriculture and forestry minister while the disaster order was declared by the municipal affairs minister. The orders, declared under Section 7 of the Fiscal Planning and Transparency Act, were prompted by what the government called the "extraordinary losses, damages and costs, including prevention, presuppression, suppression, reclamation and reforestation costs, resulting from wildfires" this year. The government also cited the emergency response costs. …According to Alberta Wildfire, there were 25 active wildfires across the province as of 10 a.m. on Wednesday. Of those, six had been sparked in the last 24 hours and seven were considered to be out of control.
Prescribed burns among measures West Kelowna to use to cut fire risk
Fires that are deliberately set and controlled could save West Kelowna from a devastating conflagration in the future, members of city council say. So-called prescribed burns… will be lit to better fire-proof the community even though councillors know the practice could be controversial. Some people may not like the smoke produced by deliberately set fires and they may worry about the potential of deliberately set blazes to get out of control, Coun. Doug Findlater said. …Fire Chief Jason Brolund outlined the ways in which the department will attempt to reduce the wildfire risk in West Kelowna, working on both public land and — for the first time — on select private properties….Twenty grants of $500 each will also be available.
Pikangikum First Nation calls for more evacuation help as fire nears
As the forest fire continues to grow in Pikangikum First Nation, officials at the City of Thunder Bay are preparing to host approximately 300 people from the northwestern Ontario First Nation community over the next 48 hours. Officials in the fly-in community, which is located approximately 500 km northwest of Thunder Bay, called for more planes Thursday morning to help people get out of the community as a forest fire makes its way closer. According to a written release from the city, Thunder Bay will also serve as a transportation hub to assist with travel to other host communities across the province. "Thunder Bay's Emergency Operations Control Group is very experienced in dealing with these types of emergencies," Mayor Bill Mauro stated in Thursday's release.
After Paradise, Living With Fire Means Redefining Resilience
By Eric Westervelt
Dan Efseaff
Dan Efseaff, the parks and recreation director for the devastated town of Paradise, Calif., looks out over Little Feather River Canyon in Butte County. The Camp Fire raced up this canyon like a blowtorch in a paper funnel on its way to Paradise… Efseaff is floating an idea [of] paying people not to rebuild in this slice of canyon: "The whole community needs some defensible space," he says. …"There are areas you just don't build in," he says. …He is up against the two-centuries-old American ethos to build, build, build, no matter the costs or the wisdom. …Politicians vow to rebuild. …But wildfire and recovery experts warn that this immediate impulse to re-create what was there before the disaster is misguided, expensive and dangerous. There need to be more areas where building is limited, they argue, especially with the extraordinary buildup of forest fuels and a warming climate.


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Tag: Yu Miu-Lin
Doubles Cause Troubles (神勇雙妹嘜, Wong Jing, 1989)
August 30, 2019 August 30, 2019 by Hayley Scanlon
Would you be willing to live with someone you hate for a whole year just to get a share in an apartment? According to the sheer prevalence of this plot device in comedies throughout the ages, the chances are most people would, especially in a city like Hong Kong where competition is fierce. In any case the duelling cousins at the centre of Wong Jing's disappointingly normal farce Doubles Cause Troubles (神勇雙妹嘜) find themselves doing just that, only the situation turns out to be much more complicated than one might imagine.
When self-centred nurse Liang Shanbo (Carol "Do Do" Cheng Yu-Ling) receives a visit from a lawyer informing her that her grandmother has passed away she's a little put out because the old lady owed her money. She's comforted with the news that she's been left an apartment, but less so when she learns there's a catch. Shanbo's grandma really wanted her to patch things up with her cousin, actress Zhu Yingtai (Maggie Cheung Man-Yuk), and has left the apartment to both of them with the caveat that they have to live there together for a period of one year after which they can sell it and inherit 50% of the proceeds each or else it'll all go to charity. Neither Yingtai or Shanbo is very happy about the idea but it's too good an opportunity to pass up and after all, it's only for a year. When they arrive, however, they discover there's another tenant – Ben (Poon Chun-Wai), a suave businessman who leaves them both smitten. Ben, it turns out, is not quite what he seems and staggers home on the first night to die in Yingtai's arms after muttering something about a code.
Unlike most Hong Kong comedies of the era, Wong plays things disappointingly straight while remaining as broad as it's possible to be. Odd couple Shanbo and Yingtai bicker and trade childish insults while throwing themselves first at the handsome Ben and then at his equally good-looking "brother" Sam (Wilson Lam Jun-Yin) without really giving too much thought to anything else that's going on until they find themselves well and truly embroiled in a conspiracy. It turns out that Ben had been involved in a smuggling operation in which he betrayed his team and made off with a priceless Taiwanese "national treasure" that the rest of the gang would like to recover which is why Shanbo and Yingtai are being followed around by a "flamboyant" rollerskating henchman and a butch female foot-soldier.
The political realities of 1989 were perhaps very different, but there is an unavoidable subtext in the fact that the dodgy gangsters are all from the Mainland and are desperate to get their hands on a precious Taiwanese national treasure (which they intend to sell for a significant amount of money). The girls find themselves with ever shifting loyalties as they reassess Ben, come to doubt Sam, and fall under the influence of mysterious "inspector" Xu (Kwan Ming-Yuk) whose warrant card is "in the wash". Completely clueless, they are helped/hindered by useless petty gangster Handsome (Nat Chan Pak-Cheung) and his henchman Fly (Charlie Cho Cha-Lee) who've been chasing Shanbo all along while Yingtai falls victim to Wong himself in one of his characteristically sleazy cameos as a lecherous businessman who has toilets instead of furniture in his living room and a boxes full of date rape drugs behind the bar (poor taste even for a Wong Jing movie).
Of course the real message is that blood ties and immediate proximity to danger can do wonders for a "difficult" friendship and so granny gets her wish after all even if not quite in the way she might have planned. Then again, why was Ben staying in her luxury apartment in the first place? Who can say. Setting a low bar it may be, but Doubles Cause Troubles is not even among Wong Jing's funniest comedies though it does have its moments mostly born of sheer absurdity and enlivened by the presence of a young Maggie Cheung alongside a defiantly committed cast desperately trying to make the best of the often "risible" material.
Currently streaming via Netflix in the UK and possibly other territories too.
Celestial pictures trailer (English/traditional Chinese subtitles)
Tagged 1980s, 1989, Cantonese, Carol Cheng Yu-Ling, Chan Fai-Hung, Chan Yuet-Yue, Charlie Cho Cha-Lee, Cheung Bing-Chuen, Cheung Kwok-Wah, Cheung Siu, Chun Kwai-bo, Dennis Chan Kwok-San, Derek Kwok Jing-Hung, Dung Wai-Gong, Gam Biu, Garry Chow Ging-Yeung, Ha Kwok-Wing, Ho Chi-Moon, Hon Yee-Sang, Hong Kong, Hung San-Nam, Kwan Ming-Yuk, Leung Sam, Lo Fan, Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Mak Shu-San, Nat Chan Pak-Cheung, Poon Chun-Wai, Shaw Brothers, Sherman Wong Jing-Wa, Titus Ho Wing-Lam, Wilson Lam Jun-Yin, Wong Hung, Wong Jing, Wong Tin-lam, Wong Wai-fai, Yin Si-ma, Yu Miu-Lin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


cant remember which bit it was now but I thought he only said something like ~200 exchanges etc not customers/production contracts specifically?
The only thing I read is: TESTING. Nothing more nothing less.
Welcome to the syrupy / conservative / risk-averse / over-regulated world of the financial sector. Implementation of large business changes is a process of years and years.
When it comes, it comes with the thunder and I'l be in the front row...??????


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Der Roxborough State Park ist ein State Park im Douglas County im US-Bundesstaat Colorado. Er liegt südwestlich von Denver und etwa 24 km südlich von Littleton an der Nordseite des Pike National Forest. Auf einer Fläche von 13,5 km² sind in erster Linie die durch Verwerfung und Erosion entstandenen Gesteinsformationen das prägende Element des Parks.

Geschichte
1975 wurde das Gebiet als State Park ausgewiesen und unterliegt seitdem der Verwaltung des Colorado Department of Natural Resources. 1980 wurde der Roxborough State Park zusätzlich als National Natural Landmark eingetragen.
Zwischen Juli 2006 und Juni 2007 wurden innerhalb eines Jahres 63.769 Parkbesucher gezählt. Im Jahr 2020 wurden bereits 152.941 Besucher gezählt.

Geologie
Das Parkgelände erhebt sich 1800–2200 m über den Meeresspiegel, die Entwässerung erfolgt überwiegend in den Willow Creek, den Little Willow Creek und den Mill Gulch. Dabei bildet es ein Ökoton zwischen den Ausläufern der Rocky Mountains, den Waldgesellschaften der Front Range und der Ebene mit Grünland.

Die Fountain-Formation aus rotem bis grauem Sandstein entstand vor 300 Millionen Jahren durch Verwerfung und unterschiedliche Erosion aus den urzeitlichen  Rocky Mountains. Die Sandsteinschicht mit einem Winkel von 60° hat sich dabei auch den Spitznamen Iron Flat (Bügeleisen) eingefangen. Im Park sind auch noch freigelegte Schichten aus dem Präkambrium, der Kreidezeit und dem Perm.

Flora

Der Park enthält einige hochwertige ungestörte Pflanzengesellschaften mit Beständen von Gelb-Kiefern (Pinus ponderosa), Douglasienwäldern und Gambeleichen (Quercus gambelii).

Die Hälfte des Parks ist von einem Dickicht aus überwiegend Gambeleichen, (Cercocarpus), Buckbrush, Dreilappiger Sumach (Rhus trilobata), Schneebeeren und Yucca bedeckt. Gemischte Grasbestände stehen auf den Stellen, wo der Boden tief und feucht genug ist, so etwa Western Wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii), Green Needlegrass (Stipa viridula), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii), Prairie Sandreed (Calamovilfa longifolia), Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis), Sideoats grama (Bouteloua curtipendula) und Needle-and-Thread Grass (Stipa comata).

Entlang der Fließgewässer sind eine Traubenkirschenart (prunus virginia), Ahornarten wie (acer glabrum), Strauchbereiche mit (rubus deliciosus) angesiedelt, aber auch (Lilium philadelphicum), (Eutrochium), Sonnenröschen, (Pterospora andromedea) und Carrion-Flower / Aasblumen.

Fauna
Den Parkbesucher zeigen sich öfters Maultierhirsch, Kojoten, Füchse, Schwarzschwanzpräriehunde (Cynomys ludovicianus) und Baumwollschwanzkaninchen. Seltener zu sehen sind Wapiti, Schwarzbär, Puma und Rotluchs.

145 Vogelarten wurden in über 20 Jahren Vogelbeobachtung gezählt, 42 davon nisten auch im Roxborough State Park. Greifvögel, Singvögel, Wasservögel und Grünlandarten wie Abendammer (Pooecetes gramineus) und Westlicher Lerchenstärling bevölkern das Gelände. Auch Felsenzaunkönig, Kieferntangare, Breitschwanzkolibri, Königsbussard (Buteo regalis) und Kaninchenkauz können beobachtet werden.

Verweise

Weblinks

 Geologie der Fountain-Formation mit den Flatirons (englisch)
 Fotos mit Kartenzuordnung (englisch)

State Park in Colorado
National Natural Landmark
Douglas County (Colorado)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
function codegen(::Type{Val{:iterate}}, ::Type{ARS}, job::BasicMCJob)
  result::Expr
  update = []
  noupdate = []
  body = []
  dindex::Integer

  vform = variate_form(job.pstate)
  if vform != Univariate && vform != Multivariate
    error("Only univariate or multivariate parameter states allowed in ARS code generation")
  end

  if job.tuner.verbose
    push!(body, :(_job.sstate.tune.proposed += 1))
  end

  if vform == Univariate
    push!(body, :(_job.sstate.pstate.value = _job.pstate.value+_job.sampler.jumpscale*randn()))
  elseif vform == Multivariate
    push!(body, :(_job.sstate.pstate.value[:] = _job.pstate.value+_job.sampler.jumpscale*randn(_job.pstate.size)))
  end

  push!(body, :(_job.parameter.logtarget!(_job.sstate.pstate)))

  push!(body, :(_job.sstate.logproposal = _job.sampler.logproposal(_job.sstate.pstate.value)))

  push!(body, :(_job.sstate.weight = _job.sstate.pstate.logtarget-_job.sampler.proposalscale-_job.sstate.logproposal))

  if vform == Univariate
    push!(update, :(_job.pstate.value = _job.sstate.pstate.value))
  elseif vform == Multivariate
    push!(update, :(_job.pstate.value = copy(_job.sstate.pstate.value)))
  end
  push!(update, :(_job.pstate.logtarget = _job.sstate.pstate.logtarget))
  if in(:loglikelihood, job.outopts[:monitor]) && job.parameter.loglikelihood! != nothing
    push!(update, :(_job.pstate.loglikelihood = _job.sstate.pstate.loglikelihood))
  end
  if in(:logprior, job.outopts[:monitor]) && job.parameter.logprior! != nothing
    push!(update, :(_job.pstate.logprior = _job.sstate.pstate.logprior))
  end
  dindex = findfirst(job.outopts[:diagnostics], :accept)
  if dindex != 0
    push!(update, :(_job.pstate.diagnosticvalues[$dindex] = true))
    push!(noupdate, :(_job.pstate.diagnosticvalues[$dindex] = false))
  end
  if job.tuner.verbose
    push!(update, :(_job.sstate.tune.accepted += 1))
  end

  push!(body, Expr(:if, :(_job.sstate.weight > log(rand())), Expr(:block, update...), noupdate...))

  if job.tuner.verbose
    fmt_iter = format_iteration(ndigits(job.range.burnin))
    fmt_perc = format_percentage()

    push!(body, :(
      if _job.sstate.tune.totproposed <= _job.range.burnin && mod(_job.sstate.tune.proposed, _job.tuner.period) == 0
        rate!(_job.sstate.tune)
        println(
          "Burnin iteration ",
          $(fmt_iter)(_job.sstate.tune.totproposed),
          " of ",
          _job.range.burnin,
          ": ",
          $(fmt_perc)(100*_job.sstate.tune.rate),
          " % acceptance rate"
        )
        reset_burnin!(_job.sstate.tune)
      end
    ))
  end

  if !job.plain
    push!(body, :(produce()))
  end

  @gensym _iterate

  result = quote
    function $_iterate(_job::BasicMCJob)
      $(body...)
    end
  end

  result
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Sometimes, after the rain, spring really does arrive.
We had torrential downpours, made all the more difficult because we have had a relatively dry winter, so this was the first "real" rain of the year. We spent many days inside, including a three day weekend where we had a spray paint party in the garage. Once it was over, my husband and I decided to head out to Ikea as a celebration of my birthday, and the fact that we could now carry things outside to our car without getting soaked, like this blogger did!
We can back with this mess, which we stored in the library. I'm in the process of styling the shelves and bringing more color in.
We have just started to sort it all out, but one of the first things we did was untie all the branches. And when I untied them I was left with a pile of little strings, which looked just like a bird's nest.
He had to go up onto our spring craft mantle right away.
The branches went into this giant vase in our entry. We needed some height in there.
I'm also guest posting today at Stardust- Decor and Style, so come visit me!
Just like I couldn't jump into the pantry organization all at once, I had to start with organizing the spice drawer, I can't jump headlong into organizing my master closet. It's just too overwhelming. The project involves sorting all of my clothes, donating the clothes that are too old or worn, putting the maternity clothes in a different closet (my eye is on the nursery closet, since the baby doesn't have much hanging), and then organizing the clothes that do fit and look nice.
Step one was organizing the jewelry trays. When we built this house, we ordered our kitchen cabinets from one manufacturer, the bathroom cabinets from another (master bath, guest bath, powder room and kids), and we built the laundry room cabinets for Ikea ourselves. The cabinet dealer for the bathrooms had some extra closet pieces that didn't fit correctly for the client who had ordered them, so he offered them up to us, as long as we could pick them up. The two pieces, as you can see, are slightly different widths and have different things going on with the drawers, but they were free! Plus one was white and the other bisque, so we had to paint them.
Mine (on the right), has two slide out trays. Previously I had been taking apart my jewelry box and just putting things in willy-nilly. Now, all the cute (not fancy) stuff is out there, encouraging me to wear it. Plus I cleaned up the bottom shelf as well. Progress!
Before I launch into the reveal of our morning Launching Pad/Sunscreen Cabinet (too corny?), I wanted to let you all know that my master bath is being featured on Remodelaholic today!
OK, back to my regularly scheduled post. This cabinet is a Jack-of-all-trades as far as furniture and family organization is concerned. Conveniently located between the kitchen and the dining room, we pass it a million times each day.
Cute boxes from the dollar aisle at Target.
Plus the red polka dot basket that just appeared.
Ahh, order is restored, and our mornings can run smootly again.
You would think with all the new appliances in our kitchen I would have been a little more prepared for the onslaught of manuals. I was not. Instead I just threw them all into this drawer.
And that is a prime drawer, I tell you. It's in the kitchen right beneath our hidden microwave, above the sippy cups; it could hold so many useful things. I'm not proud to admit that it took nine months for me to get on this. And boy, when I actually did it, it took me less than 10 minutes, and that was with my kids "helping".
This lovely binder now resides in the library, and I have an empty drawer to fill.
I bought my first can of spray paint! I even had to be ID'ed at Home Depot to prove I was old enough. Although I'm not sure how many underage miscreants are buying pink, high gloss navy, gold and chalkboard spray paint:) Of course just as spring had sprung we were hit with torrential downpours. Conveniently, school was also out for a long weekend, just what every parent needs, homebound kids. So we whipped out the drop cloth, the newspaper, and anything I could think of to paint and had ourselves a little party in the garage (with the doors open and fans on!). These will be cropping up in projects over the next month or two, but here is a sneak peak of what we did.
As always, I can't cook or craft without my big kids "helping".
Clearly they thought it was a real party.
So many dollar store frames, all waiting to be used.
Four separate craft projects all coming together to create a spring mantle! You'll see more how-to's as the season gets going. I displayed a shell collection, made toilet paper flowers, a newspaper heart tree, and chalkboard writing slates.


On a rare occasion, clothes will seize the opportunity to speak what is on their minds, especially when you aim a camera at them. Seems hoodies, button downs and pullovers care more about allergens and dust mite poop than the fact we drown them in water for 30 minutes, once a week. Who knew?


A distinctive reworking of the word 'medicine', this is an amazing brand name for the healthcare, clinical, or pharma sectors. It has the feeling of a real dictionary word, which adds credibility. As well as having clear, unambiguous roots, Medicive has the advantage of being an 'adjective style' name (i.e. "we take a Medicive approach", which adds an effective dose of brand engagement.
Complete ownership of the Medicive.com domain name. This means you can use the domain as your website address, and for email addresses (for example: hello@Medicive.com). Instructions for transferring the domain will be provided.


A beautiful accent to your dining room. The Florence Sideboard is solid maple wood, has four main compartments, plus four drawers. Lots of room for your wares. Additional upholstery and finish options available upon request. Made in Canada.


Twenty is the age considered as the beginning of adulthood in Japanese society.
About the author: I started composing haiku last year inspired by the work of my American penpal. Ever since I have encountered and been impressed by so many beautiful English language haiku made by poets from all around the world. I feel very happy and honored to know as a Japanese this poem that originated in Japan is loved this much in the world.
This haiku had quite an effect on me... very well done work, very japanese: thanks for sharing!
Keiko, this makes me laugh quite inelegantly, but its strength is in its combination of humor and pathos.
Another very individual haiku, and reminds me of Machi Tawara and her tanka.
_Ah... Keiko, so well pointed out, and such contrary truths in your words. From this side?
great haiku. loved it. thanx for sharing.
But why is everyone calling it a haiku ?
I think it's a senryu?
Of course not that it takes away any of the enjoyment either way!!!
I love your poetry, and I also enjoyed your Shiki winner this month.
i thnik everyone misses your excellent haiku and senryu. this has always been my personal favorite. such an excellent excellent poem!


SNAFU!: The Devil Pups still go hard!!!
The Devil Pups still go hard!!!
I just noticed and was never told that this fight took place in a contaminated battlefield...that part isn't mentioned but they were fighting in NBC gear? That makes it all the more heroic. WW1 isn't studied enough.


text:
Q: C# send video from webcam via TCP/IP I use directshow .net to record video from webcam and save it to file, but how can I stream video via TCP/IP to another computer? I don't mind if I can't use directshow .net to do that. I want somehow stream video from webcam to another computer. Any tips or advices?

A: Have a look at the .net vlc based wrapper -
 http://sourceforge.net/projects/libvlcnet/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The Library of Congress > Researchers > Search Finding Aids > James A. Farley papers, 1790-1976
James A. Farley papers, 1790-1976
The papers of James Aloysius Farley (1888-1976) span the years 1790-1976, with the bulk of the items concentrated in the period 1918-1976. The collection includes General Correspondence, Presidential File, Private File, Subject File, Speeches and Writings, and Miscellany series. The focus is on Farley's political career and connections, although a great deal of the material after 1940 also concerns his public relations activity on behalf of the Coca-Cola Export Corporation and his involvement with commercial and service organizations, Irish-American societies, the Catholic Church, professional sports, and the world leaders he met socially in the course of many foreign travels.
A major portion of the Farley Papers reflect his role as Franklin D. Roosevelt's campaign manager and as postmaster general of the United States. Documented in every series of the collection, his relation to Roosevelt and the New Deal is especially evident in the Presidential File and in the Private File of confidential logs or memoranda Farley dictated to himself as a record of important events. The Presidential File includes letters with Eleanor Roosevelt, whom Farley often consulted on political matters, and correspondence with members of the Roosevelt family and staff. The Private File, begun sporadically in 1918, swells in volume and significance after 1932 and lessens after Farley's break with Roosevelt on the issue of the third term. In addition to containing descriptions of cabinet meetings, the Private File offers day-to-day evaluations of Roosevelt's political standing during critical phases of the New Deal. It includes occasional assessments of other cabinet officers and advisers and gives firsthand accounts of major patronage issues, personality conflicts, and Farley's private visits with the president.
The General Correspondence series features letters from prominent acquaintances through several decades, including politicians, judges, cabinet officers, diplomats, legislators, actors, boxers, baseball players, newspaper reporters, businessmen, and socialites. There is considerable correspondence with officials of the Catholic Church, including several cardinals and Pope Pius XII, and with foreign heads of state such as Winston Churchill; Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia; May-ling Soong Chiang (Madame Chiang Kai-shek); General Francisco Franco; and Anastasio Somoza.
The Subject File includes a variety of personal, financial, and genealogical material, but is strongest in its documentation of Democratic Party politics. Included in the files for the presidential campaign of 1936, for instance, are transcripts of ad hoc discussions regarding local and regional election conditions, transcripts of Farley's press conferences, and a campaign book detailing state reports as they were received by the Democratic National Committee prior to elections. Other topics include New York state politics; Louisiana Senator Huey Long, a political opponent; and the Eighteenth Amendment, which Farley opposed and helped to repeal.
The Speeches and Writings series and Miscellany cover the full range of Farley's career and activities. Partially indexed, the speech file is notable as a record of his talks as postmaster general. The Miscellany is notable for the comprehensive scrapbooks which Farley and his family or staff compiled from about 1923 until his death in 1976.
Farley corresponded with every president and most of their wives from Herbert Hoover to Gerald Ford. Among the more frequent of the presidential correspondents were Hoover, Harry S. Truman and Bess Wallace Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson. Other correspondents include Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle (1896-1961), Claude Gernade Bowers, Homer S. Cummings, Éamon De Valera, Denis J. Dougherty, John Nance Garner, Carter Glass, Louis M. Howe, Cordell Hull, Harold L. Ickes, Breckinridge Long, Sean T. O'Kelly, Alfred Emanuel Smith, William H. Woodin, and Harry Hines Woodring.


Archambault came up with a string of sensational saves to hold BFA Fairfax to one goal Oct. 16, leading the Rockets to a 1-1 draw with the Bullets that extended their unbeaten streak to three games after suffering seven straight losses. Three days after shutting out Enosburg with 13 saves in a 1-0 win at Jay Peak, Archambault finished with 18 saves at BFA. In a 2-0-1 stretch over seven days, the Richford defense allowed just two goals.


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This entry was posted in Conventions, Dragondaze, General, UKGamesExpo. Bookmark the permalink.
Thanks so very much for inviting me here to you "Eliment". Many of my "Wolf Advocate" followers have, (Just under 4,000) posted your artwork. I'm very impressed with your tallent that you have. I am also inviting you and your artwork to my pages. We believe in the protection of our, "Wolves and Animals" that are being,recklessly shot and killed. You have an awesome tallent and we appreciate your invite. I would like to be able to share you to my pages. E-Mail us or like our pages,to get that permission to do so.Thanks once again and be safe in life. "Scott Kunze" Cottonwood,Arizona.


text:
Let's Remember Some Guys: Treasure Trove Guys Volume IV
Senior Producer: Kiran Chitanvis, Creative Producers: Jorge Corona, Anders Kapur
What a world, what a world. How, you might wonder, is someone to live in a world like this one, all crumbling and cruel and forsaken and loud? It's a great question and honestly buddy I've got nothing for you there. But I can tell you this much: if you have in your possession a box full of random old baseball cards from the 1980's and 1990's you might as well crack that shit and get to remembering.
This is not because anything is about to end. It's more a matter of self-care. There's no real reason to be nostalgic for the 1980's or 1990's, which surely would have been just as unbearable as our current moment if there had been some sort of rotary-phone version of social media available. But it is nice to remember that there was a time when baseball cards were even dumber and uglier than everything else, and when baseball teams were put together by checked-out chain-smokers in permanent press suits instead of by the highly qualified algorithm-guided data mutants of today. Those teams were flawed and flabby and, in retrospect, both inexplicable and inexcusable. But man did they ever have some Guys on them. You don't have to be nostalgic about the Dumb And Doing A Bad Job part of all that to feel good about the Guys part.
And it is the Guys part that we deal in, here. Lauren and I returned to the jumbo box of random shitty commons that we were sent by an anonymous benefactor in the Pacific Northwest, and we got to work on remembering the guys therein. Some of these dudes were frankly un-rememberable jheri-curl guys who never quite got a shot at making the Astros rotation. Others were once-potent sluggers who got real sad upon joining the Mets. One was the tragic and kind Ken Caminiti. Lonnie Smith is involved.
None of them were great, really. Every single one of them is worth remembering, if not because of who they were or what they did then at least because remembering ennobles both the rememberer and the remembered. Just the ritual of it is important. It is good to remember that there was a past, and that it was in some ways dumber than our present and in some ways less dumb, and that everyone survived it, even Ron Oester. I can't project this forward in any meaningful way. But I can and will reiterate that Herm Winningham is a fantastic baseball name, until next time and then even after that.


text:
package models

import (
	"crypto/tls"
	"encoding/json"
	"errors"
	"fmt"
	"net/smtp"
	"strings"
	"time"

	"github.com/Unknwon/com"
	"github.com/go-xorm/core"
	"github.com/go-xorm/xorm"

	"github.com/gogits/gogs/modules/auth/ldap"
	"github.com/gogits/gogs/modules/auth/pam"
	"github.com/gogits/gogs/modules/log"
)

type LoginType int

// Note: new type must be added at the end of list to maintain compatibility.
const (
	NOTYPE LoginType = iota
	PLAIN
	LDAP
	SMTP
	PAM
	DLDAP
)

var (
	ErrAuthenticationAlreadyExist = errors.New("Authentication already exist")
	ErrAuthenticationNotExist     = errors.New("Authentication does not exist")
	ErrAuthenticationUserUsed     = errors.New("Authentication has been used by some users")
)

var LoginNames = map[LoginType]string{
	LDAP:  "LDAP (via BindDN)",
	DLDAP: "LDAP (simple auth)",
	SMTP:  "SMTP",
	PAM:   "PAM",
}

// Ensure structs implemented interface.
var (
	_ core.Conversion = &LDAPConfig{}
	_ core.Conversion = &SMTPConfig{}
	_ core.Conversion = &PAMConfig{}
)

type LDAPConfig struct {
	ldap.Ldapsource
}

func (cfg *LDAPConfig) FromDB(bs []byte) error {
	return json.Unmarshal(bs, &cfg.Ldapsource)
}

func (cfg *LDAPConfig) ToDB() ([]byte, error) {
	return json.Marshal(cfg.Ldapsource)
}

type SMTPConfig struct {
	Auth           string
	Host           string
	Port           int
	AllowedDomains string `xorm:"TEXT"`
	TLS            bool
	SkipVerify     bool
}

func (cfg *SMTPConfig) FromDB(bs []byte) error {
	return json.Unmarshal(bs, cfg)
}

func (cfg *SMTPConfig) ToDB() ([]byte, error) {
	return json.Marshal(cfg)
}

type PAMConfig struct {
	ServiceName string // pam service (e.g. system-auth)
}

func (cfg *PAMConfig) FromDB(bs []byte) error {
	return json.Unmarshal(bs, &cfg)
}

func (cfg *PAMConfig) ToDB() ([]byte, error) {
	return json.Marshal(cfg)
}

type LoginSource struct {
	ID        int64 `xorm:"pk autoincr"`
	Type      LoginType
	Name      string          `xorm:"UNIQUE"`
	IsActived bool            `xorm:"NOT NULL DEFAULT false"`
	Cfg       core.Conversion `xorm:"TEXT"`
	Created   time.Time       `xorm:"CREATED"`
	Updated   time.Time       `xorm:"UPDATED"`
}

func (source *LoginSource) BeforeSet(colName string, val xorm.Cell) {
	switch colName {
	case "type":
		switch LoginType((*val).(int64)) {
		case LDAP, DLDAP:
			source.Cfg = new(LDAPConfig)
		case SMTP:
			source.Cfg = new(SMTPConfig)
		case PAM:
			source.Cfg = new(PAMConfig)
		default:
			panic("unrecognized login source type: " + com.ToStr(*val))
		}
	}
}

func (source *LoginSource) TypeName() string {
	return LoginNames[source.Type]
}

func (source *LoginSource) IsLDAP() bool {
	return source.Type == LDAP
}

func (source *LoginSource) IsDLDAP() bool {
	return source.Type == DLDAP
}

func (source *LoginSource) IsSMTP() bool {
	return source.Type == SMTP
}

func (source *LoginSource) IsPAM() bool {
	return source.Type == PAM
}

func (source *LoginSource) UseTLS() bool {
	switch source.Type {
	case LDAP, DLDAP:
		return source.LDAP().UseSSL
	case SMTP:
		return source.SMTP().TLS
	}

	return false
}

func (source *LoginSource) LDAP() *LDAPConfig {
	return source.Cfg.(*LDAPConfig)
}

func (source *LoginSource) SMTP() *SMTPConfig {
	return source.Cfg.(*SMTPConfig)
}

func (source *LoginSource) PAM() *PAMConfig {
	return source.Cfg.(*PAMConfig)
}

// CountLoginSources returns number of login sources.
func CountLoginSources() int64 {
	count, _ := x.Count(new(LoginSource))
	return count
}

func CreateSource(source *LoginSource) error {
	_, err := x.Insert(source)
	return err
}

func GetAuths() ([]*LoginSource, error) {
	auths := make([]*LoginSource, 0, 5)
	return auths, x.Find(&auths)
}

func GetLoginSourceByID(id int64) (*LoginSource, error) {
	source := new(LoginSource)
	has, err := x.Id(id).Get(source)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	} else if !has {
		return nil, ErrAuthenticationNotExist
	}
	return source, nil
}

func UpdateSource(source *LoginSource) error {
	_, err := x.Id(source.ID).AllCols().Update(source)
	return err
}

func DeleteSource(source *LoginSource) error {
	count, err := x.Count(&User{LoginSource: source.ID})
	if err != nil {
		return err
	} else if count > 0 {
		return ErrAuthenticationUserUsed
	}
	_, err = x.Id(source.ID).Delete(new(LoginSource))
	return err
}

// .____     ________      _____ __________
// |    |    \______ \    /  _  \\______   \
// |    |     |    |  \  /  /_\  \|     ___/
// |    |___  |    `   \/    |    \    |
// |_______ \/_______  /\____|__  /____|
//         \/        \/         \/

// Query if name/passwd can login against the LDAP directory pool
// Create a local user if success
// Return the same LoginUserPlain semantic
// FIXME: https://github.com/gogits/gogs/issues/672
func LoginUserLDAPSource(u *User, name, passwd string, source *LoginSource, autoRegister bool) (*User, error) {
	cfg := source.Cfg.(*LDAPConfig)
	directBind := (source.Type == DLDAP)
	fn, sn, mail, admin, logged := cfg.Ldapsource.SearchEntry(name, passwd, directBind)
	if !logged {
		// User not in LDAP, do nothing
		return nil, ErrUserNotExist{0, name}
	}

	if !autoRegister {
		return u, nil
	}

	// Fallback.
	if len(mail) == 0 {
		mail = fmt.Sprintf("%s@localhost", name)
	}

	u = &User{
		LowerName:   strings.ToLower(name),
		Name:        name,
		FullName:    strings.TrimSpace(fn + " " + sn),
		LoginType:   source.Type,
		LoginSource: source.ID,
		LoginName:   name,
		Email:       mail,
		IsAdmin:     admin,
		IsActive:    true,
	}
	return u, CreateUser(u)
}

//   _________   __________________________
//  /   _____/  /     \__    ___/\______   \
//  \_____  \  /  \ /  \|    |    |     ___/
//  /        \/    Y    \    |    |    |
// /_______  /\____|__  /____|    |____|
//         \/         \/

type loginAuth struct {
	username, password string
}

func LoginAuth(username, password string) smtp.Auth {
	return &loginAuth{username, password}
}

func (a *loginAuth) Start(server *smtp.ServerInfo) (string, []byte, error) {
	return "LOGIN", []byte(a.username), nil
}

func (a *loginAuth) Next(fromServer []byte, more bool) ([]byte, error) {
	if more {
		switch string(fromServer) {
		case "Username:":
			return []byte(a.username), nil
		case "Password:":
			return []byte(a.password), nil
		}
	}
	return nil, nil
}

const (
	SMTP_PLAIN = "PLAIN"
	SMTP_LOGIN = "LOGIN"
)

var SMTPAuths = []string{SMTP_PLAIN, SMTP_LOGIN}

func SMTPAuth(a smtp.Auth, cfg *SMTPConfig) error {
	c, err := smtp.Dial(fmt.Sprintf("%s:%d", cfg.Host, cfg.Port))
	if err != nil {
		return err
	}
	defer c.Close()

	if err = c.Hello("gogs"); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	if cfg.TLS {
		if ok, _ := c.Extension("STARTTLS"); ok {
			if err = c.StartTLS(&tls.Config{
				InsecureSkipVerify: cfg.SkipVerify,
				ServerName:         cfg.Host,
			}); err != nil {
				return err
			}
		} else {
			return errors.New("SMTP server unsupports TLS")
		}
	}

	if ok, _ := c.Extension("AUTH"); ok {
		if err = c.Auth(a); err != nil {
			return err
		}
		return nil
	}
	return ErrUnsupportedLoginType
}

// Query if name/passwd can login against the LDAP directory pool
// Create a local user if success
// Return the same LoginUserPlain semantic
func LoginUserSMTPSource(u *User, name, passwd string, sourceId int64, cfg *SMTPConfig, autoRegister bool) (*User, error) {
	// Verify allowed domains.
	if len(cfg.AllowedDomains) > 0 {
		idx := strings.Index(name, "@")
		if idx == -1 {
			return nil, ErrUserNotExist{0, name}
		} else if !com.IsSliceContainsStr(strings.Split(cfg.AllowedDomains, ","), name[idx+1:]) {
			return nil, ErrUserNotExist{0, name}
		}
	}

	var auth smtp.Auth
	if cfg.Auth == SMTP_PLAIN {
		auth = smtp.PlainAuth("", name, passwd, cfg.Host)
	} else if cfg.Auth == SMTP_LOGIN {
		auth = LoginAuth(name, passwd)
	} else {
		return nil, errors.New("Unsupported SMTP auth type")
	}

	if err := SMTPAuth(auth, cfg); err != nil {
		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Username and Password not accepted") {
			return nil, ErrUserNotExist{0, name}
		}
		return nil, err
	}

	if !autoRegister {
		return u, nil
	}

	var loginName = name
	idx := strings.Index(name, "@")
	if idx > -1 {
		loginName = name[:idx]
	}
	// fake a local user creation
	u = &User{
		LowerName:   strings.ToLower(loginName),
		Name:        strings.ToLower(loginName),
		LoginType:   SMTP,
		LoginSource: sourceId,
		LoginName:   name,
		IsActive:    true,
		Passwd:      passwd,
		Email:       name,
	}
	err := CreateUser(u)
	return u, err
}

// __________  _____      _____
// \______   \/  _  \    /     \
//  |     ___/  /_\  \  /  \ /  \
//  |    |  /    |    \/    Y    \
//  |____|  \____|__  /\____|__  /
//                  \/         \/

// Query if name/passwd can login against PAM
// Create a local user if success
// Return the same LoginUserPlain semantic
func LoginUserPAMSource(u *User, name, passwd string, sourceId int64, cfg *PAMConfig, autoRegister bool) (*User, error) {
	if err := pam.PAMAuth(cfg.ServiceName, name, passwd); err != nil {
		if strings.Contains(err.Error(), "Authentication failure") {
			return nil, ErrUserNotExist{u.Id, u.Name}
		}
		return nil, err
	}

	if !autoRegister {
		return u, nil
	}

	// fake a local user creation
	u = &User{
		LowerName:   strings.ToLower(name),
		Name:        strings.ToLower(name),
		LoginType:   PAM,
		LoginSource: sourceId,
		LoginName:   name,
		IsActive:    true,
		Passwd:      passwd,
		Email:       name,
	}
	err := CreateUser(u)
	return u, err
}

func ExternalUserLogin(u *User, name, passwd string, source *LoginSource, autoRegister bool) (*User, error) {
	if !source.IsActived {
		return nil, ErrLoginSourceNotActived
	}

	switch source.Type {
	case LDAP, DLDAP:
		return LoginUserLDAPSource(u, name, passwd, source, autoRegister)
	case SMTP:
		return LoginUserSMTPSource(u, name, passwd, source.ID, source.Cfg.(*SMTPConfig), autoRegister)
	case PAM:
		return LoginUserPAMSource(u, name, passwd, source.ID, source.Cfg.(*PAMConfig), autoRegister)
	}

	return nil, ErrUnsupportedLoginType
}

// UserSignIn validates user name and password.
func UserSignIn(uname, passwd string) (*User, error) {
	var u *User
	if strings.Contains(uname, "@") {
		u = &User{Email: uname}
	} else {
		u = &User{LowerName: strings.ToLower(uname)}
	}

	userExists, err := x.Get(u)
	if err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	if userExists {
		switch u.LoginType {
		case NOTYPE, PLAIN:
			if u.ValidatePassword(passwd) {
				return u, nil
			}

			return nil, ErrUserNotExist{u.Id, u.Name}

		default:
			var source LoginSource
			hasSource, err := x.Id(u.LoginSource).Get(&source)
			if err != nil {
				return nil, err
			} else if !hasSource {
				return nil, ErrLoginSourceNotExist
			}

			return ExternalUserLogin(u, u.LoginName, passwd, &source, false)
		}
	}

	var sources []LoginSource
	if err = x.UseBool().Find(&sources, &LoginSource{IsActived: true}); err != nil {
		return nil, err
	}

	for _, source := range sources {
		u, err := ExternalUserLogin(nil, uname, passwd, &source, true)
		if err == nil {
			return u, nil
		}

		log.Warn("Failed to login '%s' via '%s': %v", uname, source.Name, err)
	}

	return nil, ErrUserNotExist{u.Id, u.Name}
}


Chances are good that your air conditioner is inefficient and oversized if it is more than 10 years old. You can probably improve comfort, lower energy bills and reduce your environmental impact by replacing an old air conditioner.
You should consider replacing your air conditioning system if it is noisy or no longer cooling evenly. If your home is humid, your system may be inefficiently oversized or no longer working adequately. These problems could require major repairs that approach the cost of a new unit, particularly when you consider your potential savings on energy bills.
To estimate your potential savings, look for the SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) number on your current AC unit. If it is 10 or below, definitely consider replacement.
The difference in annual operating cost between SEER 10 and SEER 13 air conditioners is substantial. Though costs vary widely, the average family in Florida can expect to pay $722 per year to cool a home with an air conditioner rated at SEER 10. The same family could spend $559, or $163 less, for a season of cooling with a SEER 13 air conditioner. Jumping up to SEER 18 would bring another $100 in savings.
Of course, the high cost of replacing the air conditioner is the major hindrance. High-efficiency systems with SEER ratings above 16 generally cost at least $3,500, but the full project could cost much more. To maximize efficiency, air conditioners should probably be replaced at the same time as the furnace. The heating and cooling systems typically share a blower motor, and an old, inefficient motor will reduce the efficiency of the new air conditioner.


text:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. Reminds Investors That Class Action Lawsuits Have Been Filed Against Genius Brands, STAAR Surgical, Baidu, and Alteryx and Encourages Investors to Contact the Firm
By: Bragar Eagel & Squire via GlobeNewswire News Releases
NEW YORK, Oct. 07, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C., a nationally recognized shareholder rights law firm, reminds investors that class actions have been commenced on behalf of stockholders of Genius Brands International, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNUS), STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA), Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU), and Alteryx, Inc. (NYSE: AYX). Stockholders have until the deadlines below to petition the court to serve as lead plaintiff. Additional information about each case can be found at the link provided.
Genius Brands International, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNUS)
Class Period: March 17, 2020 to July 5, 2020
Lead Plaintiff Deadline: October 19, 2020
Genius conducted a nonstop campaign of hype and press releases to boost the share price of Genius shares. These releases touted the intellectual properties connected to Genius and, among other things, hyped the launch of its new free educational multimedia platform, the "Kartoon Channel!" app. These releases had their intended effect, as the price of Genius shares skyrocketed.
But the Genius story was not all that it seemed. On June 5, 2020, Hindenburg Research published a report titled "A Bagholder's Guide to Why We Think Genius Brands Will Be a $1.50 Stock Within a Month" (the "Hindenburg Research Report"). This report questioned the valuation of Genius and highlighted inaccurate public statements made by Genius.
On July 2, 2020, Genius issued a press release touting that a "Key Business Development" would be announced on July 6, 2020. This vague announcement significantly boosted the stock price, as the price jumped from $2.31 on July 1, 2020 to $3.55 on July 2, 2020.
The July 6th announcement, however, was another exaggerated press release whereby Genius announced the creation of a joint venture with POW! Entertainment regarding the intellectual property that Stan Lee created after his time at Marvel Entertainment. Defendant Heyward stated that "[t]he potential value in this single asset, is greater than any IP anywhere in Hollywood."
With these exaggerated statements, investors realized that there was little substance behind the hype. Following the July 6, 2020 press release, the price of Genius stock dropped significantly from a close of $3.55 on the previous trading day to a closing price of $2.66 on July 6, 2020.
The complaint, filed on August 18, 2020, alleges throughout the Class Period defendants made false and/or misleading statements regarding: (i) Nickelodeon's purported broadcast expansion of Genius's Rainbow Rangers cartoon; (ii) subscription fees for the Kartoon Channel!; and (iii) the Company's growth potential and overall prospects as a company. While the share price of Genius stock was artificially inflated due to these misstatements, Genius registered for sale tens of millions of shares, allowing certain longtime investors to cash out at the expense of Plaintiff and the Class.
For more information on the Genius class action go to: https://bespc.com/GNUS
STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA)
Class Period: February 26, 2020 to August 10, 2020
STAAR designs, develops, manufactures, and sells implantable lenses for the eye and companion delivery systems used to deliver the lenses into the eye. STAAR's primary products are: (1) "implantable Collamer® lenses," or "ICLs," used in refractive surgery; and (2) intraocular lenses, or "IOLs," used in cataract surgery.
On August 5, 2020, after the markets closed, STAAR announced its financial results for the quarter ended July 3, 2020, reporting a net loss of $0.03 per share, versus net income of $0.08 per share in the prior year quarter, among other things.
On this news, the company's share price dropped approximately 10%, from a closing share price of $61.81 on August 5, 2020, to a close on August 6, 2020 at $55.86.
On August 11, 2020, analyst J Capital Research Limited published a report stating that "[w]e think STAAR Surgical has overstated sales in China by at least one-third, or $21.6 mln. That would mean that all of the company's $14 mln in 2019 profit is fake." J Capital stated that the report was based on "over 75 interviews," as well as visits to STAAR locations in China and Switzerland.
On this news, STAAR's stock price sharply declined, closing at $48.25 on August 11, 2020, down approximately 6.2% from its August 10, 2020 closing price of $51.42.
The complaint, filed on August 19, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts to investors. Specifically, defendants misrepresented and/or failed to disclose to investors that the Company was overstating and/or mischaracterizing: (1) its sales and growth in China; (2) its marketing spend; (3) its research and development expenses; and that as a result of the foregoing, (4) defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
For more information on the STAAR class action go to: https://bespc.com/STAA
Baidu, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIDU)
Class Period: April 8, 2016 to August 13, 2020
Baidu is the majority owner of iQIYI, Inc. ("iQIYI"). On April 7, 2020, Wolfpack Research released a report detailing, among other things, how iQIYI had misled investors and failed to disclose pertinent information generally and in its Registration Statement, including: (i) iQIYI overstating its user numbers; (ii) iQIYI inflating its revenues; (iii) iQIYI inflating expenses and prices of assets to conceal its revenue inflation; and (iv) iQIYI misleading financial reporting creating the appearance of a cash generative company.
On this news, Baidu's ADS price fell $4.46 per ADS, or 4%, to close at $97.33 per ADS on April 8, 2020.
On August 13, 2020, iQIYI announced that the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission sought "the production of certain financial and operating records dating from January 1, 2018, as well as documents related to certain acquisitions and investments that were identified in a report issued by short-seller firm Wolfpack Research in April 2020."
On this news, Baidu's ADS price fell $7.83 per ADS, or 6%, to close at $116.74 per ADS on August 14, 2020.
The complaint, filed on August 19, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) Baidu misrepresented the financial and business condition of iQIYI; (2) iQIYI had inadequate controls; and (3) as a result, defendants' public statements were materially false and/or misleading at all relevant times.
For more information on the Baidu securities class action case go to: https://bespc.com/BIDU
Alteryx, Inc. (NYSE: AYX)
Class Period: March 6, 2020 to August 7, 2020
On August 6, 2020, the Company announced in a press release its second quarter 2020 financial results, and disappointing growth projections for the third quarter and full year 2020. Therein, Alteryx stated that, for the third quarter, it expected revenue "to be in the range of $111.0 million to $115.0 million, an increase of 7% to 11% year-over-year." Moreover, for fiscal year 2020, the Company expected revenue "to be in the range of $460.0 million to $465.0 million, an increase of 10% to 11% year-over-year."
On this news, the Company's share price fell $47.62, or over 28%, to close at $121.38 per share on August 7, 2020, thereby injuring investors. The stock price continued to decline over the next trading session by $12.15, or 10%, to close at $109.23 per share on August 10, 2020, representing a cumulative decline of $59.77, or 35%.
The complaint, filed on August 20, 2020, alleges that throughout the Class Period defendants made materially false and/or misleading statements, as well as failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company's business, operations, and prospects. Specifically, defendants failed to disclose to investors: (1) that the Company was unable to close large deals within the quarter and deals were pushed out to subsequent quarters or downsized; (2) that, as a result, Alteryx increasingly relied on adoption licenses to attract new customers; (3) that, as a result and due to the nature of adoption licenses, the Company's revenue was reasonably likely to decline; and (4) that, as a result of the foregoing, defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis.
For more information on the Alteryx securities class action case go to: https://bespc.com/AYX-2
About Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.:
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C. is a nationally recognized law firm with offices in New York and California. The firm represents individual and institutional investors in commercial, securities, derivative, and other complex litigation in state and federal courts across the country. For more information about the firm, please visit www.bespc.com. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.
Bragar Eagel & Squire, P.C.
Brandon Walker, Esq.
Melissa Fortunato, Esq.
Marion Passmore, Esq.
investigations@bespc.com
www.bespc.com
Alteryx Inc Baidu.com SP ADR Genius Brands International Inc Staar Surgical Company


text:
NextFuture Tech: Tracking Terrorists
Real TechnologySpaceSpacecraft
Space Elevator: Is it Feasible?
Darren Beyer on November 28, 2015
In 1895, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian rocket scientist, proposed using a free standing tower that would be placed on Earth's equator and rise to the height of 35,800 km, or geosynchronous orbit. Once the tower was in place, items could be taken aloft by an elevator on the tower at very low cost. There were two problems with the concept. First, there is no known material that could support a tower that tall. Second, there would be enormous side to side stresses that would threaten to bend the tower in two – or three, or four.
In 1959, Yuri Artsutanov, another Russian scientist, proposed something a little more novel. A satellite above geosynchronous height (144,000 km out) would be tethered to a station on the ground with a very long cable, using the force generated as it rotates around the Earth to keep the cable tense and relatively straight. The problem with the cable concept is the opposite of that with the tower concept, namely that there was not a material strong enough in tension to hold together under the enormous loads generated. As anything gets long enough, it can't hold itself together under its own weight if enough centripetal force is generated.
For a long time, the concept of a space elevator was laughed at because the materials simply did not exist to make it feasible.
Enter the nanotube.
In the 1990s, something called a carbon nanotube was developed. As small as 1/100th the size of a human hair, a carbon nanotube has a tensile strength as much as 100 times that of stainless steel and 30 times that of Kevlar while at the same time being extremely light. How strong a material is in relation to its weight is called specific strength. Carbon steel is pretty strong, used in all manner of demanding applications. Carbon nanotubes have a specific strength roughly 300 times that of carbon steel, meaning they can be used to create very long structures without their own weight tearing them apart – long structures like a massively long cable connected to a satellite more than a 100,000 km up.
More recently, something called a diamond nanothread has been developed. It promises to be stronger than the carbon nanotube, offers superior flexibility, and has a very strong ability to return to its original shape if it's stretched out. In other words, it's a perfect candidate for building the cable for a space elevator.
Potential Issues:
In 1996, NASA launched the second Tethered Satellite System on Space Shuttle mission STS-75. The idea behind the mission was to dangle from the orbiter, a small satellite on a tether into the ionosphere and use the highly charged layer of Earth's atmosphere to generate power for spacecraft. The experiment worked – a little too well. It was only 1 km short of its maximum deployment distance of 20.5 km when the cable snapped. Later analysis would show that the voltage and current grew to values so high that it arced through a minute imperfection in the cable insulation to the deployment boom and basically melted it through on the spot. A friend of mine was working the science mission control console in Huntsville at the time. Normally a sleepy shift, he suddenly saw the satellite's position and velocity data shoot off the charts. He knew something was wrong as the satellite plummeted into Earth's atmosphere.
Now in the NASA mission, the idea was to generate power. For a space elevator it's not. Yet, like Ben Franklin and his kite, the potential exists for a charge, possibly significant, to be generated. That has to be accounted for. No one wants the satellite flying away and a tens of thousands km long cable falling all over the Earth.
Another potential issue is an impact with the cable. An aircraft, spacecraft, even an unlikely meteor or space debris could sever the cable with disastrous consequences. Regardless of how unlikely any of these occurrences may be, there must be contingencies to account for them. One proposal is to not have a cable, but more of a ribbon, connecting a satellite to the earth. While that proposal adds redundancy for meteor/debris impact, it doesn't eliminate the threat.
A Half Measure
Earlier this year, a Canadian company, Thoth Technology, applied for, and was granted, a U.S. patent for an inflatable space elevator. The idea would be to inflate the structure, made up of Kevlar cells, to a height of about 20 km, or 12 miles, at which point spacecraft could take off and land from it in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. While it wouldn't go high enough to take cargo to orbit, it would significantly reduce the fuel and launch capabilities to do so.
Will a space elevator ever be a reality? If so, when? In the early 1990s, Arthur C Clarke was asked the same question. "Probably about 50 years after everybody quits laughing," he answered. At the Space Elevator 2nd Annual Conference in 2003, he changed his answer to "ten years after everybody stops laughing… and I think they have stopped laughing." Now ten years have come and gone since Clarke gave his updated answer, but certainly a lot of progress has been made.
Whether it's with a space elevator or reusable space craft, one thing seems certain: the cost of getting to space will be dropping dramatically in the foreseeable future.
Inflatable elevator photo credit: Thoth Technology
Posted in: Real Technology, Space, Spacecraft
Tagged in: launch vehicle, space travel, Technology
Future Tech: Tracking Terrorists
Asteroid Mining a Step Closer


Waterproofing damages are not only irritating, but also involve high repair costs. The refurbishment costs tend to outprice the actual investment amount due to the necessity of removing high quality layers that are in use.
If the waterproofing is loose, the damaged area is very hard to find. In many cases, the water has spread out through the whole system. With its PYE-composite system, Wolfin Bautechnik offers a solution with high security standards.
standards in roof and construction waterproofing."
Together with out technicians we developed the Wolfin-PYE-Composite system in order to reduce the problem with underflow and further risks. We offer you the highest security standards in building construction. The following refers to joining Wolfin IB with a polymer-bitumen membrane through the so called torching method.
If the installation is professionally made it can hold an underflow of up to 1 Bar pressure. Through the combination of waterproofing, mechanical ruptures on the direct waterproofing layer do not affect the system and it holds tight. Wolfin roof and waterproofing membranes are ressistant to roots and other materials it may come into contact with such as engine oil on park decks.
An intensive installation manual can be ordered from the office Wächtersbach.
When waterproofing surfaces without a previous installed layer of thermal insulation, the bare concrete floor is first pretreated with a cold bitumen primer. After that, a PYE polymer bitumen membrane is torched over the full surface area. The top layer consists of a bitumen resistant Wolfin roof and waterproofing membrane with a thickness of 2mm. This layer should be layed/rolled out on a fully torched bitumen underlay. Both layers are now joined and cannot be separated, creating a secure seal against underflow. If there is a usage or protective layer of mastic asphalt on the concrete this should be firstly handeled with a solventless epoxid barrier coating according to DIN 18195. In this case you do not need a primed underlay.
When installing the waterproofing on a foam glass insulation the following needs to be followed: Firstly the bitumen covered insulation board needs to be coated with a hot bitumen paint. On top of this, a first waterproofing layer with a Polymer-bitumen membrane PYE-PV-250-S5 needs to be torched. For the final waterproofing layer, the same method as shown on the left should be used, with a Wolfin roof and waterproofing membrane.


Tactical voting, also called strategic voting, is when voters cast an insincere ballot in order to increase their expected value for an election outcome. A common example of this behavior is when supporters of a minor party candidate vote for their favorite major party candidate, based on the impression that the minor party candidate is unlikely to win.
In discussions of various alternative voting methods, it is often claimed that one voting method or another is "vulnerable" or "susceptible" to tactical voting. But such rhetoric is often misleading.
To illustrate that, consider the "Random Ballot" method, with which the election is decided based on a randomly chosen ballot. This has the academically interesting property that it makes a tactical vote equivalent to a sincere vote. That is, it is completely invulnerable to strategy. However, it is clearly an extremely undemocratic system.
To illustrate this concept, consider the following simple graph of hypothetical voting method performance (i.e. "democratic-ness"). The X axis represents the ratio of tactical voters. On the left, 100% of voters are sincere. On the right, 100% are tactical. The blue line for Random Ballot is flat, which demonstrates that its performance is unaffected by tactical voting. The red line is for a hypothetical "normal" voting method, whose vulnerability to strategy is apparent from its downward slope.
This graph reveals how misleading it would be to claim that Normal Method is more vulnerable to tactical voting than Random Ballot. In fact, Normal Method is better with 100% strategic voters than Random Ballot is with 100% sincere voters.
The above values were purely hypothetical, and only intended to convey a concept. However, real figures of voting method performance have been calculated for a host of voting methods, using a metric called "Bayesian regret". The most extensive Bayesian regret calculations have been performed by a Princeton math PhD named Warren Smith. Sample figures are available here and here.
The following figure, taken from page 239 of William Poundstone's book Gaming the Vote, expresses Bayesian regret visually for several common voting methods, as a function of the ratio of tactical voters. Score Voting here is referred to by its alias, "Range Voting". Notice the marked improvement versus Instant Runoff Voting.
Widespread misinformation persists about the relative merits of various alternative voting methods, with regard to tactical voting. We now discuss a few of those methods.
IRV is a ranked voting method. Proponents of IRV commonly claim that it is highly resistant to tactical behavior. Our extensive analysis finds quite the opposite. IRV fails the Favorite Betrayal Criterion, meaning it can punish voters for sincerely ranking their favorite candidate in first place. This incentivizes a type of exaggeration which causes it to degenerate approximately into ordinary Plurality Voting (aka First Past the Post). Moreover, naive voter exaggeration means that voters commonly utilize this strategy, without even being aware of the mathematical basis for it.
Contrary to common misconception, Condorcet methods are indeed susceptible to strategy. Here is some mathematical analysis from Warren Smith, which explores the susceptibility of various Condorcet methods to the burial strategy. One particularly concerning pathology is the DH3 scenario, in which naive exaggeration results in the election of a candidate considered worst by as many as 100% of voters.
Despite common intuition, Score Voting is extremely resistant to the effects of tactical voting. Unlike virtually all ordinal ("ranked") voting methods, Score Voting satisfies the Favorite Betrayal Criterion, meaning voters can always safely give the maximum support to their sincere favorite candidates. The aforementioned Bayesian regret figures show that Score Voting outperforms all commonly proposed alternatives with any mixture of strategic or honest voters.
Tactical Score Voting may be, in practice, more likely to elect a Condorcet winner (when one exists) than real Condorcet methods.
Score Voting maximizes the number of voters who are "pleasantly surprised" by the election outcome.


VR and xAPI. How to Scale Beyond Prototypes.
Why does Buddy Training for SOP's Work?
What's the difference between an LRS and an Activity Provider?
How Much of Your Training Budget Should be Spent on Measurement?
Collecting On-the-Job Assessment Data the Easy Way!
Mind the Insight Gap: Are Training Managers Ready For Big Data?


Here are a few things that you didn't know about me that I'll elaborate on even more in future blog posts. These are topics you can look forward to exploring here on Sunday Scene with me as I better myself and if it helps anyone else in the process, then that's pretty awesome too.
I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer at the age of 22 and had a total thyroidectomy and I've been relying on thyroid medication and sleep ever since. I've learned the struggle of communication between doctors and patients and being treated as a statistic rather than an individual.
I've only been to three countries: USA, Canada, and France.
Most of my family from my father's side are in France while my mother's relatives are in Chicago. We never took many family vacation trips other than to the countries I've stated and personally I haven't found the time or funds to do much traveling on my own. There has always been a wanderlust in me mixed with fear of the unknown but I think this is something we can explore together.
I was raised in a Buddhist household but converted to Catholicism in 2011.
After many events that happened in life, I was looking for something to fill a void. I knew there had to be more to life than just simply living every day. I was tired of hiding behind work, drinking, and having relationships with toxic people. One day, I went to a church down the street from me and began my journey in RCIA (The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults).
My family immigrated from Laos.
Both of my parents are from Laos as is my stepmom. I come from a culturally rich background and the food is pretty spicy. I would like to go to Laos one of these days.
I have always swayed to my left hand despite people trying to force me to write with my right hand. I do get smudges on my hand as I write sometimes but given that most communication is done through a computer, I'm pretty safe with typing.
I work in the Information Technology industry.
Can you believe that this was not a field I had sought out? I just happened to fall into this route. My father is also in the IT industry and that's kind of where I had my inspiration because frankly, I didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up. It's been over 10 years and I think it's time to make a change.
I'm rebuilding my credit from past mistakes.
A teenager and a credit card, they do not mix. I've paid off my debt for the most part but now it's a waiting game to see my credit score climb from years of abuse. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm a shopaholic but I'm a shopaholic. Don't worry, you're along for that journey too.
I'm not very sentimental but I hold onto a lot of material possessions.
I used to keep movie stubs, cards, and gifts of all sorts; things that have piled up and created clutter and chaos in my life. In order for me to be truly free and happy, I need to let go of these things so I can live intentionally with minimalism.
I've been blogging on and off since I was 12.
I created explosive, colorful, and ridiculous sites with lots of animated gifs since I was a kid. Eventually, I starting actually journaling or blogging on various platforms such as LiveJournal, Xanga, MySpace, Blogger, and WordPress. As I got older, my need and direction for blogging evolved. Sunday Scene has been around since 2014 and has had many different phases. Did you know there's a difference between a personal blog and a lifestyle blog? I learned that while trying to maintain this one. I procrastinated with posts, felt like a sellout, fought myself with privacy issues on what I would share and what I wouldn't, and just became unhappy with blogging and life in general. That's when I decided to live differently.
I know I'm not alone in these things. If you've already overcome the same obstacles in your life or are currently going through them such as myself, please join me on this journey.


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