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CSS was established in 2013 as a company specialized in solar power project by taking over all the development assets or services that Community Wind Power Corp had worked.
Copyright (c) 2014 Community Solar System Corporation. All Rights Reserved.


This course deals with DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC), which have been standardised since March 2005 and implemented in the first domains. With the help of digital signatures, DNSSEC is able to differentiate between fake DNS replies and the replies the responsible server gives. By refusing the 'spoofed' package the safety in the network can be increased.


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Hotel Viu Milan
Prices have been converted from the hotel's local currency (EUR231.82), via openexchangerates.org, using today's exchange rate.
Modern Milan
Picturesque Porta Volta
More hotels in Milan More hotels in Italy
If the Hotel Viu Milan were an Italian fashion-plate, she'd get top marks for accessorising: this sleekly contemporary luxury hotel has been expertly outfitted in caramel, bottle-green and cream by haute furniture design stable Molteni&C. The youthful clientele are just as stylish and can be found milling around the softly-lit bar, posing by the wall of painted flowers and sampling chef Giancarlo Morelli's heavenly bites in the two wood-panelled restaurants. On sunny days, stretch out (signature G&T in hand) by Milan's first ever hotel-rooftop pool, from which you'll have an excellent view of the surrounding Porta Volta neighbourhood, with its many shops, bars and cafés.
A bottle of prosecco, a small fruit cake and late check-out till 4pm (subject to availability)
124, including 30 suites.
Noon. Earliest check-in, 3pm. Both are flexible, subject to availability.
Double rooms from £223.77 (€255), including tax at 10 per cent. Please note the hotel charges an additional local city tax of €5.00 per person per night on check-out.
Rates don't include breakfast (€40 a person and free for under-12s).
The state-of-the-art fitness centre has TechnoGym equipment (including treadmills, exercise bikes and weights) and a CrossFit training area. Ask for the services of a personal trainer, or use the expansive city views – courtesy of floor-to-ceiling windows – as your motivation. Book in for a yoga session, which (if the weather's on your side) can be held on the terrace at sunrise or sunset.
Spa, fitness centre, meeting rooms, free WiFi throughout. In rooms: LG smart TV, minibar, air-conditioning, tea- and coffee-making kit (Nespresso machine in suites), Malin + Goetz toiletries.
All of Viu's rooms are seductive and modern, designed by Molteni&C studio's artistic director, Nicola Gallizia: dark wood panelling and contemporary art on the walls, caramel-coloured furnishings and floor-to-ceiling windows are a recipe for understated seriously sultry style. We're particularly fond of the Terrace King Deluxe Rooms, each of which has a patio, ideal for a private apéritif. If you're staying with children, a few of the rooms interconnect – ask the Smith24 team for more details when booking.
The hyper-modern, open-air rooftop pool – the first of its kind in a Milanese hotel – is surrounded by a chic stone terrace, dotted with sunloungers and alfresco seating; take a pew for breakfast or a drink and enjoy panoramic (and totally Instagram-worthy) views of the city. The pool is open from 8am to 8pm, from April to October; it's heated, so you can still enjoy a dip on cooler days.
Try out the impressive range of treatments in the cream marble-accented spa, from massages to facials and chromotherapy. For true lazy indulgence, you can opt to have your treatment in-room, but the spa's steam room, hammam, ice room and sauna may well tempt you downstairs.
Make space for an armful of Italian designer labels in your case (this is Milan, after all). We'd also pack a clean-lined white shirt and pin-thin stilettos, to match the hotel's modern aesthetic.
The hotel's well suited to guests with mobility issues, as all the common areas are wheelchair-accessible. A few of the rooms have been specially adapted, with lift access and larger bathrooms.
Small(ish) furry friends are welcome for €80 a night each; the hotel provides each pet with a dog bowl, food, blankets and a cosy Simmons bed. See more pet-friendly hotels in Milan.
Little Smiths are very welcome; the pool is open to children and Bulk Restaurant has highchairs. Baby cots for under-3s (free) can be added to all rooms. Couples, don't be deterred by the family-friendly attitude: there are plentiful treats for twosomes…
Try to sit centrally at Bulk, to revel in its buzzy atmosphere; at Giancarlo Morelli, ask for a spot next to the painted flower wall, which depicts a scene from Francesco Hayez's Malinconia.
Svelte Milan street-style for Bulk (smart denims and a silky blouse); full-on Fashion Week for Morelli (heels, cocktail dresses and a fabulous blow-dry).
There are two equally delectable restaurants to sample at Viu: Bulk and Giancarlo Morelli. The former is an Italian bistro, serving a more traditional menu of gnocchi with vegetable caponata, saffron-infused carnaroli rice and lime-marinated ceviche. There's also a raft of small plates: smoked salmon-topped blinis, warm bread with burrata, foie gras, and all manner of fresh focaccia sandwiches. Giancarlo Morelli is helmed by the eponymous chef, who's well renowned for his incredible creations: lamb shoulder in a lovage crust, langoustine with crispy corn and braised leek ravioli, and a light-as-air chocolate cream. Both restaurants have interiors as delectable as their menus: Bulk is dark and moody, while Giancarlo Morelli is more feminine, with starched white tablecloths and a wall painted with flowers. Breakfast is served on the eighth floor, inside on cooler days, and on the terrace when the sun is shining. Please note, the hotel will only offer room service from 3 June.
Bulk Bar (in the same large, open-plan room as the restaurant) is managed by Mattia Pastori, a top bartender with more than a few mixology awards under his belt. The dimly-lit lounge area attract scores of young, local couples, who sip on Gian Tonics – G&Ts named after the resident chef – and shimmy to the DJ, who spins tunes until the early hours at the weekend. Hunker down inside, where shelves of bottles stacked against the window cast a shimmering light, or grab a spot on the terrace in the summer.
Bulk serves lunch from noon–3pm, and dinner from 7pm–11pm. Giancarlo Morelli serves dinner from 7pm–midnight. Breakfast is from 6.30am– noon.
Via Aristotile Fioravanti, 6
A 10-minute walk from Piazza Gae Aulenti, the Hotel Viu Milan sits on a quiet, terraced street in the trendy Porta Volta neighbourhood, within easy reach of the area's bars, shops and the Monumentale Metro station.
Most major airlines fly to Linate Airport, a half-hour drive from the hotel. The Smith24 team can book flights, and the hotel organises airport transfers from €65 one-way. Alternatively, fly to Malpensa Airport, from which it's a 45-minute drive to the hotel. One-way transfers can be arranged from €120.
Milano Centrale is 10 minutes' drive from the hotel, and on-way transfers can be organised from €10. Trains arrive here from main Italian hubs including Rome, Turin, Florence and Venice, as well as Switzerland. The Eurostar from Nice and Paris also stops here.
You're unlikely to need a car, as the hotel is very central and the Milanese streets are notoriously difficult to navigate on four wheels. If you really feel you need a motor, hire one at Linate Airport and take the Via Enrico Forlanini to the hotel, which has a valet parking service for €40 a day.
Most locals take the Metro, bus and tram, or speed around the streets on mopeds. You can buy a weekly public transport pass for just over €10, or hire a moped from either airport (Smith24 can help with this on request).
Scouring designer boutiques is practically mandatory in Milan, and the best are situated on Via della Spiga, Via Montenapoleone, Corso Vittorio Emanuele and Galleria Vittorio Veneto. If you're taking this aspect of Milanese culture particularly seriously, you might even want to enlist the help of a personal shopper – well, you'd ask for a guide at a museum, wouldn't you? Speaking of which, head to Palazzo Reale and the Pinacoteca di Brera to gaze at contemporary works and Renaissance masterpieces respectively, and the Basilica di Santa Maria delle Grazie, home to Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. Take a trip around the Italian gothic Duomo, and climb the stairs to the rooftop, where you'll have panoramic views of the city from a vertigo-inducing height of 215 feet. Once your feet are planted firmly back on the pavement, stroll to the 19th-century Sempione Park: hidden between the trees, you'll find permanent sculptures by Arman, Francesco Barzaghi, Giorgio de Chirico and Antonio Paradiso.
Don't miss Ceresio 7, a cutting-edge restaurant in the historic Enel building, five minutes' walk from the hotel. The menu is as impressive as the location: we're partial to the ox sirloin spiked with green pepper, and the asparagus risotto with basil and parmesan. Try the caviar and oysters at A'Riccione, where the seafood is routinely rated among the best in Milan (you might want to take a pair of sunglasses for the dazzlingly bright art deco wallpaper). For a quieter, more traditional supper, Il Coriandolo serves up veal chops, tuna tartare and super-thin 'guitar-string spaghetti'.
The Crazy Cat Café has one (very furry) difference: it's hosted by nine cats, who'll pad around and purr while you sip hot coffee and munch on sugar-dusted apple pie. Although it doesn't have any feline friends, Pavé Milano does do a wicked brew (and tasty ice cream to boot).
If you've always fancied a tipple in a former church, La Chiesetta will be right up your street: set in the heart of Milan's Chinatown, the light of votive candles glimmers on original frescoes and Gothic stone archways as cocktail worshippers test out the extensive menu. Traditionalists will love the pink-hued Bar Basso, with its glittering chandeliers, while night-owls should head to the technicoloured B38 Club which thrums with dance beats until the early hours.
By Emma Thatcher, Style scribe
A girls trip was in order: two nights of shopping, eating and pasta-eating in Milan to be precise.
As we neared Hotel Viu, our cases laden down with our chicest threads (cool enough, we hoped, for Italy's cosmopolitan fashion capital), we couldn't help but notice the city's conscious effort to break up its bland concrete jungles by draping the outside of newer buildings with pretty greenery. It's a striking feature of the hotel's exterior; one that makes it all the more appealing.
After check-in, among the lobby's dark wood-panelled walls, black basalt tiles, sink-into-soft furnishings and moody lighting, we bombard the brilliantly knowledgeable concierge with the crucial questions: where can we find the best pasta, pizza and gelato. They happily oblige our uncool requests and point out some go-to places and even make reservations for us.
Content we'd soon be indulging in Milan's finest, we head up to see Hotel Viu's pièce de résistance: its rooftop pool. The views are breathtaking – the perfect spot for breakfast, lunch, pre-dinner cocktails and general sun-soaked lounging, always alive with chattering swimmers.
No sunbathing yet, though – we had to unpack. Our rooms (we all check each others, naturally) are sleek and stylish, decorated in taupe and coffee shades with floor-to-ceiling windows, city-spying terraces and bathrooms stocked with Malin + Goetz products and Marvis toothpaste. Everything is carefully curated, but never showy – less flounces-and-frills, more swagger-and-swish.
We quickly empty our suitcases and head from our base between Chinatown and the up-and-coming Porta Volta neighborhood into the bustling tourist area. We explore the Duomo, sample some of the best pizza the city has to offer (Maruzzella, FYI) and attempt some shopping before heading back to our hotel hot, tired and ready for some relaxing (turns out we were a little overdressed for Milan's August heat – now it makes sense why so many leave the city at this time of year).
Rested, refreshed and ready for the night ahead, we eat dinner at the hotel's informal Bulk restaurant in a plant-lined, light-twinkled courtyard. We're shown to the chef's table: a perfectly picturesque place to enjoy a bellini and a delicious plate of pasta.
We wake early the next day ready to tackle the shops. Fuelled by a fine rooftop breakfast we head straight for Via Montenapoleone, home to all of Milan's designer boutiques, this time a little more appropriately dressed for pavement-pounding in the heat. We wander on to the boho streets of Brera, a quirky area full of cafés, boutiques and, for some reason, fortune tellers. Famed concept store, 10 Corso Como, is a must-visit if only for their restorative sickly sweet hot-chocolate.
Later we settle in for dinner at Ceresio 7 – a clever and classy combo of pool, bar and restaurant conceived by fashion siblings Dean and Dan Caten (Dsquared2). It's popular; great for dinner, drinks or poolside posing.
We were saving sunbathing for our own rooftop pool, though. And that's exactly where we spend our final few pre-flight hours, doing nada bar reading magazines, eating delicious fresh fruit and gossiping in the sweltering heat.
One last lunch overlooking the city (the burger is so, so good) and we're back at the airport – our whirlwind weekend was over. You can't beat quality girls time, but Hotel Viu sure proved a pitch-perfect setting for it.
You'll also find Hotel Viu Milan in:
Best Hotel Restaurants
Exclusive hotel offers for Smith members
Magna Pars L'Hotel à Parfum
Galleria Vik
Central Milan - Milan
Aethos Milan
Vico Milano
Portrait Milano

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Gmina związkowa Zell (Mosel) (niem. Verbandsgemeinde Zell (Mosel)) − gmina związkowa w Niemczech, w kraju związkowym Nadrenia-Palatynat, w powiecie Cochem-Zell. Siedziba gminy związkowej znajduje się w mieście Zell (Mosel).

Podział administracyjny
Gmina związkowa zrzesza 24 gminy, w tym jedną gminę miejską (Stadt) oraz 23 gminy wiejskie:
 Alf
 Altlay
 Altstrimmig
 Blankenrath
 Briedel
 Bullay
 Forst (Hunsrück)
 Grenderich
 Haserich
 Hesweiler
 Liesenich
 Mittelstrimmig
 Moritzheim
 Neef
 Panzweiler
 Peterswald-Löffelscheid
 Pünderich
 Reidenhausen
 Sankt Aldegund
 Schauren
 Sosberg
 Tellig
 Walhausen
 Zell (Mosel)

Zobacz też
 Zell

Bibliografia
 Statistisches Landesamt Rheinland-Pfalz, Bad Ems

Zell (Mosel)
Z

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Visual comparison shopping search results: 87 found. Curated content selection, Flash Folding Tables sorted by Recommended and Price.
Copyright 2016-2019 - Office.Great-Furniture-Deals.com. Visual office furniture comparison shopping, curated content. Interior design for room. Great deals for quality, brand name, office furniture.


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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THE RIGHT TO RENT – THERE'S MORE TO KNOW THAN YOU THINK
By Eric Glazer, Esq.
The right to rent your unit has undergone some change over the years. It all started in a landmark case called Woodside v. Jahren which was ruled upon by The Florida Supreme Court in 2002. A condominium in Clearwater amended its declaration of condominium to suddenly prohibit the rental of your unit to no more than nine (9) months in any twelve (12) month period. Mr. Jahren had been renting out several of his units for nearly twenty (20) years and he sued the association, seeking a ruling from the court that this amendment was illegal because it took away a vested right he had to rent his unit all year long. The Florida Supreme Court disagreed.
Basically, The Florida Supreme Court ruled that despite the fact that the declaration of condominium originally allowed Mr. Jahren to rent his units, he was on notice that the unit owners had the authority to amend the governing documents to prohibit renting in the future. In simple terms, The Florida Supreme Court opined that if a super majority of owners in a condominium can finally agree on something, the courts should not stand in the way, unless the amendment violated a constitutional right of an owner. Since there was no Constitutional right to rent your unit, the amendment which limited rentals was affirmed by The Florida Supreme Court.
This did not sit well with one Florida Supreme Court Justice who thought it was unfair for Mr. Jahren to lose this valuable property right after so many years, and she urged The Florida Legislature to ensure a fairer system was put in place. So, in 2004 The Florida Legislature passed the following law in regards to condominiums only:
FS 718.110(13) Any amendment restricting unit owners' rights relating to the rental of units applies only to unit owners who consent to the amendment and unit owners who purchase their units after the effective date of that amendment.
So, as of 2004 if your declaration gave you the right to rent your unit, that right could not be taken away from you during your ownership, unless you specifically voted in favor of such an amendment to your declaration of condominium. Once you sell however, your buyer becomes stuck with that restriction. That remains the law today.
Over the years I have heard a million arguments both for and against the rental of units and homes. Many people think that owner occupied communities are less likely to suffer from a foreclosure problem. I don't know. It seems to me that lots of people lost their homestead property during the recent foreclosure crisis. In fact, some owners were begging the Board to please let them rent their unit in order to avoid the unit slipping into foreclosure. Many Boards still said NO. Then, these same associations foreclosed on some units and took back title to several units. Now the association wanted to rent out the unit each month. Was the association bound by the same rental limitations as all of the owners? Of course they were. But that didn't stop many of them.
About HOA & Condo Blog
Eric Glazer graduated from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after receiving a B.A. from NYU. He is currently entering his 20th year as a Florida lawyer practicing
community association law and is the owner of Glazer and Associates, P.A. an eight attorney law firm in Orlando and Hollywood. For the past two years Eric has been the host of Condo Craze and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show on 850 WFTL.
See: www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
He is the first attorney in the State of Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium residents as eligible to serve on a condominium Board of Directors and has now certified more than 7,000 Floridians. He is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by The Florida Supreme Court and has mediated dozens of disputes between associations and unit owners. Finally, he recently argued the Cohn v. Grand Condominium case before The Florida Supreme Court, which is perhaps the single most important association law case decided by the court in a decade.
Join Our CondoCraze & HOAs Email List


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Q: Perfect Sets of real numbers have the same cardinality as the reals I am currently trying to understand a proof from here that all perfect sets have the same cardinality as $\mathbb{R}$.
So given some perfect set $P \subseteq \mathbb{R}$, the identity mapping $\text{id}_{P}: P \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$ given by $x \mapsto x$ is an injection and so now the goal is to create an injection from $\mathbb{R}$ to $P$ and then invoke the Schroder-Bernstein theorem.
The method outlined in the link is to construct an injection from the set of infinite binary sequences to $P$. They state that we can associate to each infinite binary sequence $\xi = \xi_{0}\xi_{1}\xi_{2}\cdots$ a real number in the interval $[0,1]$ via the mapping $$ \xi \mapsto \sum_{i \geq 0}\frac{\xi_{i}}{2^{i +1}} .$$ They then state that the cardinality of $P$ is at least as large as the cardinality $[0,1]$. This is the part I am having trouble with, i.e.

Why is the cardinality of $P$ at least as large as the cardinality of $[0,1]$?

To me it seems that we have constructed an injection from the set of infinite binary sequences (which has the same cardinality as $\mathbb{R}$) into $[0,1]$ and not into $P$.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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South Africa vs India 1st Test – Who will win today's match?
For India, a chance to conquer the final territory beckons but it won't be easy especially with the form of some of their experienced batters on the decline and their backups not yet exposed to challenging conditions in the rainbow country.
Updated - 25 December 2021 4:23 pm
Date: December 26-30, 2021
Time: 1:35 PM IST (each match day)
Venue: SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium, Centurion
South Africa are all set to play India on their shores first in the Test matches starting on December 26 followed by the ODIs. The first of the three-match Test series begins at the SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium, Centurion on Sunday.
This will be the first Test for South Africa in the 2021-23 World Test Championship cycle after they missed out on making the finals in the previous cycle. The Dean Elgar side will be very aware of their superior record against India at home in Test match conditions and would want to carry forward the same advantage moving forward, denying Virat Kohli & Co. a chance at creating history.
For India, a chance to conquer the final territory beckons but it won't be easy especially with the form of some of their experienced batters on the decline and their backups not yet exposed to challenging conditions in the rainbow country.
Pitch Report:
The pitch at Centurion is expected to be helpful to the pace bowlers initially and while the run-scoring is likely to be difficult, it may not be impossible in these conditions. The home team may be at an advantage since India haven't got any practice matches but even the Indian bowlers are capable of making the best use of conditions, making it quite an event contest to look out for.
Team Analysis:
South Africa:
Even before the start of the Test series, the Proteas have been handed a major blow as pacer Anrich Nortje has been ruled out of the series. This means Kagiso Rabada will be the key threat to India along with Lungi Ngidi. As far as their batting is concerned, there are reports suggesting that Quinton de Kock might be unavailable for at least one Test match later in the series to attend the birth of his child but he will be part of the plans in the opening match and would want to make it count along with Temba Bavuma and Elgar who form the leadership group as the vice-captain and captain respectively.
Despite India gradually building its reputation as one of the best Test teams in the world especially while travelling, they have only won three of their 20 Tests in South Africa. However, perhaps this is the best they have come in terms of preparation which also perhaps coincides with a weaker Porteas unit compared to the legends they had to deal with on their previous tours. Kohli-led India would be aiming for nothing but their best brand of cricket on the tour and if they do that, they could easily win their first-ever series in South Africa.
Probable XIs
South Africa: Dean Elgar (c), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma, Rassie van der Dussen, Keegan Petersen, Quinton de Kock (wk), Wiaan Mulder/ Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier, Keshav Maharaj
India: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah
Match Prediction:
Conclusion-
India looks like the stronger team at the outset and if something dramatic does not happen from the South African camp, looks like an Indian win is on the cards.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the author's personal point of view. They neither reflect the opinion of SportsTiger nor advise anyone to make any prediction based on this. SportsTiger does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.
"You, my love, are limitless" – Anushka Sharma shares an emotional post after Virat Kohli resigns from Test captaincy
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16 January, 2022 WATCH: David Warner takes a…


text:
A Zinaida görög eredetű orosz női név, jelentése: Zeuszhoz tartozó.

Rokon nevek
 Zinajda: a Zinaida írásváltozata.
Zina

Gyakorisága
Az 1990-es években a Zinaida és a Zinajda szórványos név, a 2000-es években nem szerepelnek a 100 leggyakoribb női név között.

Névnapok
 június 5.
 október 11.
 október 30.

Híres Zinaidák, Zinajdák
 Zinaida Nyikolajevna Rajh orosz szinésznő (1894-1939), Szergej Jeszenyin, majd Vszevolod Mejerhold felesége

Jegyzetek

Magyar keresztnevek (Z)
Női keresztnevek (Z)
Görög eredetű magyar női keresztnevek
Orosz eredetű magyar női keresztnevek


text:
Does It Ever Rain In A Michael Bay Movie? – TRANSFORMERS (2007)
This series focuses on the one and only Michael Bay. Attempting to deconstruct his filmography, one film at a time. The ideas explored here may or may not end up in my Dissertation about Michael Bay and Post-Cinema.
And to answer the question: Does it ever rain in a Michael Bay movie?
After THE ISLAND, Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks set about tackling a live action adaptation of a beloved animated 80s TV series and movie. TRANSFORMERS was released in 2007, and promptly spawned 4 sequels and one spin-off (so-far).
But why is the series so derided? They made ALL the money, surely they have to be successful at something.
The opening set-piece in the Middle-East, specifically Qatar, is an attempt to anchor this fantastical story into the real world. What better way to have the threat of the Decipticons depicted than an attack on a US Army base. America in the mid-00s, coming up at the end of the Bush era, was still reeling and recovering from their exploits in the Middle-East, and American audiences were drawn to storys about serviceman and women.
The appealing to Middle-America is consitent throughout. The tone is family-friendly and juvenile, capturing what would appeal to American audiences in the mid-00s. The reveal of Bumblebee, and the subsequent reveal of the Autobots is very Spielbergian, but with a massive helping of Bay commercialism. There are spotlights throughout, navy blue drenching the screen. American audiences grew up with Spielberg in the 80s and 90s, and naturally Bay is the next step in the family-friendly Blockbuster chain.
The action set-pieces towards the first half of the film are a lot more traditional. The editing is a lot less erratic, the shot types and lengths are more composed and less chaotic. There are even wide shots and long(ish) takes. However, the attack on Mission City and the fight between the Autobots and Decipticons devolves/evolves into Bay's style. The geography is unknown and typical understanding of what is happening is almost impossible, it becomes chaos. Slow motion shots and fast cutting is interserped with explosions and random exposition (there's even a Smashing Pumpkins song).
The CGI effects have a 'realness', a tactilitity. The explosions and collisions are tangible, but there doesn't seem to be any weight to the fight sequences between the robots. To compare with Guillermo del Toro's PACIFIC RIM (2013), the fights between the Jaegers and Kaiju have 'weight', the audience feels the impact of every collision. It is odd to think that a filmmaker that likes having real explosions, and tangible effects on screen, can't make these CGI robots have weight.
The first half of the film is a Spielbergian Dreamworks feature, that just so happens to have a polished and commercial sheen to it. The second half, i.e. everything after the awakening of Megatron, is Bay being the filmmaker that mainstream audiences have grown to recognise in his TRANSFORMERS films.
A fast wrap-up of the dangling threads, an Optimus Prime rousing speech, and a Linkin Park song. 2007 is the point when Bay embraced his family-friendly side.
Does it rain? Nnoooooo…….
Next up: More TRANSFORMERS
Filed under: Does It Ever Rain In A Michael Bay Movie?, Film


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Putting a price on gridlock needed to complement better roads and transit: study
Traffic gridlock has a huge economic cost says Chris Ragan, a McGill University economics professor who heads the Ecofiscal Commission, a private ecofiscal think tank. DARRYL DYCK / CP File Photo
OTTAWA – It is long past time that Canada's congested cities began putting a price on some of their most precious real estate, says a new report from Canada's Ecofiscal Commission.
We're not talking about toney residential enclaves, gleaming office towers, retail districts, industrial parks or condominium complexes, but rather the thoroughfares that join them.
"We've got a very scarce commodity called road space during peak times, and it's unpriced," Chris Ragan, the McGill University economics professor who heads the private ecofiscal think tank, said in an interview.
"We don't price road access, and the cardinal rule in economics is if you have an unpriced resource it gets over-used."
Traffic congestion is the subject of the latest commission report, "We Can't Get There From Here: Why Pricing Traffic Congestion is Critical to Beating It."
It's the second major study from the privately funded, non-partisan group of 10 economists backed by a cross-partisan advisory board that includes the likes of Reform party founder Preston Manning, former Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, Suncor CEO Steve Williams and B.C.'s former NDP premier Mike Harcourt.
With less than a month to go until a key international climate change conference, Canadians may be bracing for an economic hit of some sort as the new Liberal government has promised a more aggressive international stance. As Ragan notes, however, "congestion pricing" fits into a suite of solutions that make as much economic sense as environmental.
Traffic gridlock has a huge economic cost, he said, citing the example of a plumber who can only do five jobs in a day instead of seven because of time spent driving between calls, or companies holding larger inventories because of higher shipping costs, translating into higher prices.
"We think of congestion as time waste, you all feel this viscerally and you hate it," said Ragan. "But it's actually worse than that. There are these other costs that most of us don't experience directly."
The 49-page report is larded with fascinating factoids: That as much as 50 per cent of local congestion can come from drivers circling looking for parking; that 90 per cent of the goods we consume daily are transported by truck; that congestion directly costs Toronto about $7 billion annually and Vancouver $1.4 billion; that slow-moving vehicles are less fuel efficient and emit more exhaust.
The report looks at five congestion pricing models currently being used internationally in municipal pilot projects or full scale, and then proposes specific applications in four major Canadian cities — Calgary, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.
Local application is key, as geographic constraints have as much to do with congestion as traffic patterns and volume.
Municipal design will be crucial, but provincial legislative changes may be needed to permit cities to levy tolls and federal funding could help cover the start-up costs of pilot projects.
Road and bridge tolls date back to at least Roman times but have been largely rejected in Canada, despite widespread application internationally.
Ragan says part of the problem may be that governments look at tolls strictly as revenue generators, rather than a way to alter driving habits and encourage use of public transit. Combine that with an impulse to fight congestion by building more roads and the problem never gets solved.
"Over and over again we see from cities around the world, when you build more capacity you actually don't reduce congestion," said the economist.
"The underlying problem is the incentives that are at work."
He calls congestion pricing "a perfect example of an ecofiscal policy, where you price the problem and you recycle the revenues to generate economic benefits."
The incoming Liberal government won a majority mandate on a platform that included spending billions on infrastructure, including transit.
The commission study calls congestion pricing "the crucial, missing piece of a broader, co-ordinated package of policies" to complement new infrastructure.
As Ragan puts it, mobility is a good thing and we need more of it. But building better roads and bridges combined with better public transit will still require an economic incentive to use that increased capacity in an optimal way.
"We need infrastructure, for sure," said Ragan. "But you'll get its maximum value if you put in some congestion pricing."
Five models for pricing traffic congestion
Here are five "congestion pricing" models looked at in the study:
— Single-entity pricing: The most common form of pricing, toll roads, bridges or tunnels charge a fee to use a specific piece of infrastructure. (Example: Highway 407 in Ontario)
— High-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes: Designating a new or existing highway lane for multi-occupant vehicles only, which pay a fee for the privilege of travelling in a less congested lane. (Example: Minnesota)
— Zone-based pricing: Charging a fee to use designated roads within a geographic zone, typically major city core areas. (Examples: Stockholm, London, Milan, Singapore)
— Distance-travelled charges: Typically fees are levied on all vehicles on all roads in a given region, varying in cost depending on distance, time, direction and location. (Example: Oregon pilot projects)
— Parking pricing: Variable parking pricing structures depending on time, location and mode of transport (Examples: San Francisco, Calgary)
Source: Canada's Ecofiscal Commission.
Opinion: All is not right in the Canadian Arctic No more selfies, but way more drama - why Trudeau the...


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Alcoholism and alcohol abuse news |
Negative fathering plus barroom drinking are a dangerous mix, lead to aggression
Apr 17, 2013 Viewed: 515
Alcohol-related aggression is estimated to be involved in half of all assaults globally. In addition, alcohol-related aggression is most likely to occur among young males and usually at a bar or other licensed venue. While it is clear that drinking and heavy binge drinking can lead to male-to-male alcohol-related aggression (MMARA), this study is the first to examine the role of the father-son relationship in MMARA, finding that negative fathering is particularly influential.
Results will be published in the September 2013 issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research and are currently available at Early View.
"Alcohol affects people in a number of predictable ways which make it more likely that they will become involved in aggressive incidents," explained Peter G. Miller, associate professor of psychology at Deakin University, Geelong Waterfront Campus, as well as corresponding author for the study. "They become focused on the moment, have poorer decision-making skills, and interpret social situations incorrectly. All of which mean they are more likely to be both perpetrators and victims of violence."
Samantha Wells, a scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health who was not in involved in this study, has conducted similar research on linkages between masculinity and aggression in bars. "These findings may further explain the link between masculinity and male violence; that is, boys who experience violence in the home at the hands of their fathers may react by embracing extreme versions of masculinity as a way of gaining a sense of power," she said. "In this way, the cycle of violence continues. But what is important here is the suggestion that the cycle of violence extends into social behaviour in a bar setting. This finding confirms that male aggression in bars is not simply 'boys being boys' – it's troubled boys being anti-social and harming others."
Miller's study defines "negative fathering" as an abusive or absent relationship to the child. "The terms we use are: indifference, so lack of emotional attachment or concern for the child; abuse, noted as both verbal and physical, for example, shaming or belittling the child, being verbally aggressive or physically violent such as hitting, punching, spanking; and over-control, an authoritarian relationship characterized by high expectations of conformity and compliance to parental rules and directions, while allowing little open dialogue between parent and child," he said.
Miller and his colleagues surveyed 137 students from Deakin University in Australia, 18 to 25 years of age, using an online questionnaire. The questions were designed to examine if fathering by a biological father rather than another father figure, negative fathering, and gender role modeled by the father figure, were significant predictors of involvement in MMARA, once drinking frequency and quantity and heavy episodic drinking were controlled for.
"Our study found that abusive fathering was associated with the perpetration of MMARA," said Miller, "and that the usual number of alcoholic drinks consumed when drinking significantly predicted participation in MMARA.
Both Miller and Wells believe these findings can be highly helpful for clinicians.
"Understanding the importance of the father-son relationship, and what type of relationship significantly predicts perpetration of MMARA, can help clinicians identify those individuals most at risk of partaking in problematic alcohol behaviour through identifying what type of relationship they had with their father," said Miller. "Prevention campaigns can also be mounted at a population level about the role of the father-son relationship on subsequent aggression."
Wells concurred. "Given that fathering appears to be important, and in particular, abusive fathering, programming may need to address this issue head on," she said. "The role of alcohol in aggression is also extremely important. Therefore, institutions need to adopt evidence-based programming to reduce alcohol consumption among young people. As well, young men face tremendous social pressure to demonstrate conformity to traditional masculine norms, especially in the setting of the bar. Therefore, programs are needed that incorporate these concerns with masculinity. Finally, programs that directly target violence in bars are needed, such as those addressing bar staff behavior and bar policies affecting the barroom environment."
"Previous research has primarily observed the role of the mother in child development, leaving a dearth of literature on the relationship of the father," noted Miller. "This study firstly adds to the literature regarding the role of the father on child development. Secondly, it is the first of its kind to specifically observe the role of the father as a predictive factor of MMARA."
"Perhaps our findings can help the average reader understand their friend or family member's behaviour and take steps to help them," said Miller. "Such as finding out if their friend/family member experienced an abusive relationship with their father, and suggesting counseling services, or discussing it openly as a cathartic experience."
"A key problem with male bar violence is the widespread view that such behavior is completely normal and acceptable," added Wells. "We have found that young men tend to perceive that their male peers approve of barroom aggression, and this perception is linked to their own aggression. These kinds of pressures may have a substantial impact on young men who have had negative relationships with their fathers and are seeking ways to assert their identity. Therefore, it is time to challenge the idea that we can let 'boys be boys' by communicating disapproval for such behavior. Friends or family might also help by demonstrating alternative ways to assert identity, especially when challenged. We also need to understand the key role of alcohol in aggression; and avoiding aggression may involve avoiding heavy drinking situations or risky drinking settings, such as bars where male violence is common, or avoiding alcohol altogether."
Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research (ACER) is the official journal of the Research Society on Alcoholism and the International Society for Biomedical Research on Alcoholism. Co-authors of the ACER paper, "The Association between an Abusive Father-Son Relationship, Quantity of Alcohol Consumption and Male to Male Alcohol Related Aggression," were: Jessica Hargreaves, Ashlee Curtis, and Lucy Zinkiewicz, all of the Deakin University Waterfront Campus.
A new study examines the role of the father-son relationship in male-to-male alcohol-related aggression (MMARA).
Findings indicate that negative father-son relationships can play a significant role in fostering young men's MMARA, particularly when combined with barroom drinking.
Peter G. Miller
61-429-024-844 (Australia)
Samantha Wells
519-858-5010 X22001
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The Highgate Cemetery is one of the most infamous cemeteries in London city that was opened to public in 1839. The place was originally opened as one of the "Magnificent Seven" park cemeteries of London. There are many Egyptian and Victorian tombs in the cemetery, and among them, you can find the gravestones of Karl Marx, Douglas Adams (a sci-fi author), James Holman (a sightless adventurer from the 19th Century known as "the Blind Traveler"), and Adam Worth (a criminal believed as the inspiration for the Sherlock Holmes's nemesis named Professor Moriarty).
The Magnificent Seven comprised of Highgate, Abney Park, Kensal Green, West Norwood, Tower Hamlets, Brompton, and Nunhead cemeteries, which were made in 1832. It was made as part of an effort to move the burial grounds out of the London city due to the twin pressures of desires to have buildable land in the city and health concerns about the churchyard cemeteries being overcrowded.
The buildings and tombs of the cemetery are constructed in a Victorian Gothic style. During the mid to late 1800's, the Highgate Cemetery was much sought after burial ground. By the end of the Second World War, the cemetery was unattended, overgrown, and in serious disrepair, adding to the creepy feel of the place. Eventually, the place became the location for the horror films of the movie studio, Hammer, in the 1970's. The films from the studio regenerated public interest in the Highgate Cemetery and many stories of desecration, grave robbing, and vampires in the cemetery came to appear in the news.
The Highgate Cemetery remains a popular location for paranormal, occult, and vampiric enthusiasts. The West Highgate area of the cemetery is the most overgrown part and can be visited only on a guided tour of the place. However, the East Highgate area that has the grave of Karl Marx can be explored on normal London walking tours.


I have made restrictions for users based on departments (user from one department can work only on tasks that are from that department).
They can't access to tasks for which they don't have rights (tasks are from other department).
But, if users change view in Task Filter to "All Tasks" he can see all tasks that exist in the Company. If they try to access them they can't because they are in some other departments.
Could it be possible that Task Filter shows only tasks for which users have rights (to view, edit...), and that they don't see tasks for which they don't have rights.
You mean the ?m=tasks list or somewhere else?
Yes, I mean on ?m=task.
When user go on ?m=task and select Task Filter "All Tasks" he see all tasks in the Company (although he can't open them).
Would it be possible that he see only tasks for which he have access?
Pedro, can you dig into this one for 2.4 this week?


I hope you all had a great week. We are OFFICIALLY unpacked and it sure feels good to say that! We've been in the home for 23 days and are feeling settled. We absolutely love having more space- it seriously feels like we have some breathing room in this house! I wanted to create a post about the home to update you guys on where we're at because I've gotten a lot of questions on when I'll post our home tour.
Our home feels very 'California'. It has an open floor plan with one bedroom and full bath downstairs, and the rest of the bedrooms upstairs. This is great for visitors- they have their own little place to enjoy that is separate from everyone else. We also have a playroom downstairs- EUREKA! No more Disney Princess castle in my family room. That alone deserves to be celebrated. Very little of the furniture from our main living spaces in our old home will work in this home because these rooms are so much bigger. So we're kind of starting from decorating scratch. Which is equally amazing and terrifying slash expensive.
The wood Floors. SWOONING over these.
As luck would have it, we LOVE stuff that cannot be changed (for the most part!) and the stuff we're not crazy about is easily fixable. So now what? We've made a list of our priorities and are slowly but surely checking them off! Our plan is to focus on the downstairs this year and the upstairs next year but not to rush making any decisions. We're working with The Havenly on decorating our family room now but more on that later!
Garage Cabinets– Installing garage cabinets made me SO HAPPY. Being from the midwest, Austin and I really miss having basement storage. Adding white garage cabinets added so much storage for us!
Play House For Coco– I had put this playhouse on my Insta Stories a while ago and as luck would have it, someone in my neighborhood was selling one! SCORE. It is the CUTEST and Coco loves it.
Replaced Shower Head in Master Bath– Austin used to work for Kohler so plumbing fixtures are really important to him! This was one of the first things we switched out and it makes SUCH a difference in the quality of your shower! We picked this one.
American Flag– In our previous home, there really was no place to put a flag. We had the perfect spot here so Austin hung our American Flag last weekend and it looks beautiful!
Shelves in the Playroom– Another score (from Pottery Barn Kids no less) from a neighbor that was selling these shelves! Perfect for toy storage. I'll be adding lots of baskets and bins.
Dining Room Chairs– I love this style of chair (just check my Pinterest For the Home board!) and scored these at a local consignment shop- I could barely contain myself I was so excited! They were in a model home previously and in excellent condition.
Washer/Dryer Cleaned– If you saw my rant on Insta Stories, you know what I'm talking about, lol! But we had these professionally cleaned which allowed me to sleep at night.
Pantry Organization– I had a ball organizing our pantry! We didn't have one in our old home so I totally geeked out at the Container Store and can't wait to share soon.
Outdoor Conversation Set– Couldn't pass up the great deal on this set!
It sounds like this move was so good for you guys – and although there are some plans for changes, it really sounds like you've already made it your own in little ways! I'm so happy for you guys!!


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2023 EPI Forecasts: Pay360
Alex Common, Chief Product Officer at Pay360, discusses 2023 trends and forecasts with EPI editor Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
Why businesses are flocking to subscription-based models during economic uncertainty
As businesses continue to grapple with the uncertainty of the current economic climate, the rate at which they are monetising their offerings through subscription-based models continues to gather momentum – and its little surprise. Over the last 12 months we have seen significant devaluation of companies across multiple sectors.
Big tech companies like Meta, Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft, haven't been immune, with Q3 earnings reporting a combined loss of over $350bn in market cap value. In fact, according to the British Chamber of Commerce, 39% of businesses across the UK believe their profitability will reduce over the next 12 months.
During a period of uncertainty, businesses need to look at new ways to maximise revenue.
Monetising subscription-based services have seen significant momentum in the market. Take Mercedes Benz, for example. It recently announced that electric car users can now pay an annual subscription fee of £991 to enable their vehicle to reach 0-60 one second faster. With clear benefits like reliable recurring revenue, increased customer loyalty, and the ability to manage your financial forecast, heading into 2023, we will see a steady shift of businesses looking to further monetise their offerings through subscription-based models.
How integrated payments are charging the way for best-in-class customer experiences
In today's digital economy, consumer behaviour has taken a significant shift towards the need for seamless shopping experiences across all channels. This level of expectation has subsequently translated to their expectation of service when it comes to payment choices too. The ability to offer customers the full range of payment options, whether in the store or online, has become a crucial aspect of the customer buying journey. For those merchants unable to give consumers their preferred method of payment, there is a danger that they will simply turn to a competitor. In the battle for market share, it is vital that businesses offer best-in-class, frictionless, multi-option payment services across every channel in which they operate. With higher expectations, merchants are increasingly turning to software like integrated payment service technology which enables the merchant to meet the needs of all customers and allow their customers to pay by any means, anywhere.
The need for total inclusion during economic uncertainty
Increased digitalisation, combined with current economic instability, means it is crucial that merchants and payment providers carefully consider how they reach those with limited access to digital payment methods. While the increase of digital payment use is inevitable, the continuation of cash for households will continue to be a significant part of their everyday spending. Therefore, businesses need to consider how they capture the spending habits of those consumers less connected to digital payment means.
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Review: 'Miller's Valley,' a stunning new novel by Anna Quindlen
(Random House)
By Bethanne Patrick
Mimi Miller, the narrator and protagonist of Anna Quindlen's stunning new novel, "Miller's Valley," knows her mother is someone special. "There are just some people like that," Mimi says. "Everyone pays attention to what they say, even if they don't even know them well or like them much."
None of the Millers, male or female, has much real power. But Mimi's mother, Miriam, a nurse at the local hospital, has plenty of strength. She raises her three children — Mimi and older brothers Tommy and Eddie — on the shoestring budget from her salary and the "fix-it" jobs of her husband, Bud. (He also has a few cows and some acres of corn, but it's not exactly a working farm).
Their inherited land and much of the rest of Miller's Valley lie under threat of flooding because of decades-old engineering miscalculations. As the book begins, 11-year-old Mimi is approached by one of the men who plan to create a new reservoir. These bureaucrats want to relocate the families on several thousand acres and flood their land. For Mimi, it's an early lesson that the ground beneath her feet is not solid. She and everyone around her copes with this impending threat differently.
When Bud refuses even to think about taking government money, Miriam realizes she must act to protect her only daughter's welfare. That this resolve coincides with Mimi's sexual awakening might have caused a terrible break, except that Miriam is already overwhelmed by trying to care for the various members of her family.
The way the story jumps around and collapses time can be disconcerting. Mimi is narrating from old age, and just as the eventual flooding of the farmland jumbles everything in its wake, Mimi's mind floods with scenes and moments in a way that makes sense to her but not always to us. For example, she spends a great deal of time talking about her high school love, Steven, but little time describing another man who will be very important to her.
Author Anna Quindlen (Maria Krovatin)
Fortunately, this doesn't distract from the matriarchal theme at the heart of "Miller's Valley." Miriam pushes her smart daughter to consider college, and other women — a teacher, a doctor a benefactor — will raise Mimi up past the raging waters that swirl in her heart.
Bethanne Patrick is the editor of "The Books That Changed My Life: Reflections by 100 Authors, Actors, Musicians and Other Remarkable People."
On Monday at 7 p.m., Anna Quindlen will be in conversation with Connie Schultz at Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-364-1919. politics-prose.com.
Miller's Valley
Random House. 257 pp. $28


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See the first picture of Ab Fab the movie (sweetie darling)
They're back!
After years of rumours and is-it-isn't-it pondering about whether an Absolutely Fabulous film was in the works, Joanna Lumley confirmed earlier this year that she was working on a script for Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie.
This week, shooting for the film commenced and BBC Films have released the first official picture of Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders on set.
The film will reunite the badly-behaved champagne-guzzling, chain-smoking duo, who appeared in the iconic nineties BBC TV show for almost two decades, from 1994 to 2012.
Saunders will return to play the self-involved, filthy rich fashion victim, Edina Monsoon and Lumley will return to her role as Patsy Stone, the high-powered but work-shy fashion director, who has only been spotted eating twice since 1973.
In the photograph, Eddy and Patsy appear on a yacht, dressed to the nines and sipping on their favourite tipple, 'Bolly.'
Other original cast members to appear in the film include Eddy's 'boring' daughter, Saffy (Julia Sawalha), her ditzy assistant, Bubble (Jane Horrocks) and over-bearing mother (June Whitfield).
The first official photograph of Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie
The film will be shooting in the UK and the South of France over the coming seven weeks and the story will begin in London with Patsy and Eddy up to their usual ways, until they are blamed for a "major incident at an uber fashionable launch party", and the pair flee to the French Riviera, without any money.
"I am thrilled and excited to finally start filming," says Saunders. "We are all on the Sanatogen and hoping for the best."
With direction from Mandie Fletcher (Blackadder, Absolutely Fabulous) and a script by Saunders, we know we will be in for a treat, reliving the glory days of nineties television.
"Ab Fab on the big screen is a treat we've been hotly anticipating at BBC Films and we're very proud to join Jennifer and her terrific team for this delicious reunion," says Christine Langan, head of BBC Films.
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, is due in cinemas in 2016.
Harriet Hall is a former Stylist contributor.
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Tag: Kole calhoun
Trade: Team Hydra | Who's Your Haddy?
Team Hydra sends: CF AJ Pollock ($49), CF David Dahl (minors)
Who's Your Haddy? sends: CF Mookie Betts ($61), SP Michael Wacha ($41)
Jordan's thoughts: A decision was made here that was extremely rushed. Looking from Hydra's side first. They trade away a minor leaguer and an injured semi-keepable all-star for an all-star and an above average pitcher. Easy trade. From Haddy's side, I really don't get this at all. I'm going to keep it short because Andrew sums this up in 800 words beautifully.
We just saw Bailey get two deals where he got back multiple assets for one player being sold. Haddy shot two bullets and got..maybe two… assets back. The price difference between Pollack and Betts isn't worth swapping them for. I really don't see how Hydra turns down Betts for Pollock/Dahl. If they did, fine, wait it out. Betts wasn't likely to lose value over the next two weeks. Wacha is whatever, but he shouldn't be a throw in to get a deal done.
Look Haddy, I don't hate you playing the game, but I think the way you played it was blinded by an urgency that just did not exist. There's 14 other teams in the hunt and looking to improve, I think you do better by opening the bidding than to quickly make backroom deals.
I can't wait to see this deal in two seasons, who knows, Dahl could be the only piece worth anything.
Andrew's thoughts: I get what Haddy was doing here, but I don't like it very much for him at all. At least, I don't like the way the two big name outfielders seem to have been swapped so evenly for one another.
For Haddy, who sits at 1-5 with a very, very remote shot at the postseason, making moves that better his squad in 2017 makes sense. He's publicly said that he prefers Pollock to Betts straight up and the $12 salary gap there helps, but I'm not sure I see it that way. I mean, I can see the two players being coin flips. I don't agree that they are, but that's not a complete stretch. I'm just not sure $12 is all that much of a difference for a player that is five years younger and has more growth and development to do compared to a guy in Pollock that has, at 28-years-old, one full season of awesome production. He was great in 2014 too, but in just 75 games. That sort of speaks to the knock on Pollock: he's suffered a myriad of injuries, including this year's broken elbow that will likely keep him out all year. He's less risky than a prospect but I think he's far more risky than pretty much any outfielder with a salary of, say, $30 or more. Pollock might be the most risky major league outfielder, period.
Alex from Team Hydra had tried really hard to sell me on Pollock, but I just wasn't interested. He's $51 to start next season and vulnerable to greed and, to me, he's a prime target to get a few bucks. A guy with a limited track record coming off a significant injury seems like a guy whose price you want to get up as much as possible to either force a decision or elevate the risk.
Interestingly, Jordan and I were talking about Betts earlier in the day before this deal went down and without even knowing Betts was available. One point I made to Jordan was this: with Mike Trout in center, Haddy was playing Betts in right. The impact of that is negligible, but I think you prefer to play your players in the slots where they are most valuable, and Betts is more valuable in CF than RF. Again, negligible.
Anyway, when we're discussing game theory, we usually use our own players as examples, so one of the questions I pondered to Jordan is: if you concede Betts is going to be used in RF instead of CF, is the gap between him ($61, 232.3 points) and my right fielder, Nick Markakis ($4, 178.8), or his right fielder, Kole Calhoun ($10, 212.5), really that big? Betts has been worth 3.8 points per dollar, while Markakis has been worth 44.7 and Calhoun has been worth 21.25. Obviously, you'd rather have Betts on your team than Markakis or Calhoun. He's objectively better, he's more fun to root for, etc. We're also looking at just a fraction of the season. But when you start talking about value, the conversation changes dramatically. I'm not suggesting Markakis or Calhoun are worth more, that Betts is worth less, or anything of that nature. I just think it's interesting to look at this stuff through different lenses. My ultimate point, I think, is to say that while I may not like Betts-for-Pollock and while you may even think that's an outrageous deal, the case could be made that neither player is all that good of a value long-term.
As for the other two pieces, I don't think a Wacha-for-Dahl straight up deal is bad. As of this posting, Wacha is averaging 26.06 points per start, putting him right around the league average mark. Jordan and I have beaten this drum to death, but league average guys are valuable. If your team is in "win now" mode and the cost of a league average starter is a good prospect, you do it. Average pitchers are worth it. And Wacha is a very nice piece for anyone's pitching stable. But he strikes me as more of a SP3 or SP4 and at $43 minimum in 2017, I'm not sure he's someone that gets kept. To me, Wacha's a guy that could be dropped every year and bought back at auction, essentially existing in our league on a never-ending cycle of one-year deals. You may even overpay for him at auction knowing that you'll dump him at year's end, and that's fine. He's good, but he's the 27th highest paid starting pitcher. He's not that good.
Dahl, on the other hand, was the 33rd overall pick in our minor league draft and at the absolute worst gets to play all of his home games at Coors Field. That's worth something. For a team that's out of it in 2016, I have no qualms flipping Wacha, who Haddy could have a shot to buy back next year anyway, for Dahl.
I think a piece is missing here for Haddy. Maybe not a big piece, but something. A draft pick would have helped some. One of Hydra's underpaid pitchers, a guy like JA Happ ($3) or Tyler Chatwood (FA) on a dice roll. I'm not one of those over the top Mookie Betts fans, but I think he was worth more than an oft-injured outfielder at a $12 minimum discount.
Author Andrew BaileyPosted on May 17, 2016 Categories TradesTags AJ Pollock, David Dahl, JA Happ, Kole calhoun, Michael Wacha, Mike Trout, Mookie Betts, Nick Markakis, pitching, Team hydra


'For a man of such unbending Lefty principle, he seems to have a remarkable beardy ability to speak out both sides of his mouth'.
The campaigners say that no doubt Mr Johnson would say that the remark was light-hearted, and his apologists have said the same about his burka remarks. However just today a man has been jailed at Swansea for crimes including threatening to kill Mr Corbyn.
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SM U-40 – niemiecki okręt podwodny typu U-31 z okresu I wojny światowej
 SM U-40 – austro-węgierski okręt podwodny typu U-27 z okresu I wojny światowej

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Your Canon MP 600f prints beautiful photos, but how are your ink levels? Some day your Canon MP600f will run low on printer ink, and when it happens you'll quickly realise that new Canon MP600f ink may be really costly. However, you have no need to bother about coughing up the high prices you'll find on the high street because right here at Cartridge Save you can find all the Canon MP 600f cartridges you'll need at very small prices. Save money on your ink by ordering with Cartridge Save!
You don't need to overspend on the MP-600f original cartridge or MP600f compatible ink on the main street when it is much easier to save money shopping online with Cartridge Save. You can have utter peace of mind when buying Smartbase MP600f ink cartridges from us as they are all protected by a no quibbles money back guarantee. Remember that each order has free delivery, typically arriving the next working day!
For printing, copying, scanning, and faxing needs, the Canon Smartbase MP600f is an all-in-one printer that can deliver good quality output. This cost-effective device has a maximum print resolution of 2400 x 1200 dpi and can handle a wide range of media, from t-shirt transfers and banner paper to photo cards and transparency film. The only trouble with the Canon Smartbase MP600f is it does not offer support for Macintosh and only has USB and parallel ports for connectivity.
This multifunction printer weighs 12.2 kg and has dimensions of 440 x 584 x 326 mm. The Canon MP600f printer has a flatbed scanner on top along with an automatic document feeder. The maximum paper handling capacity is 100 sheets. The Canon Smartbase MP600f has an organised control panel with a numeric keypad, function buttons, and an LCD display. Print speed can go as fast as 17 ppm for black and white and 12 ppm for coloured.
Multifunction printers are very handy for offices with small spaces. The Smartbase MP600f inkjet printer is very reliable and delivers good quality prints, scans, faxes, and copies at decent speeds. Impressively, the Canon Smartbase MP600f boasts low running costs and is easy to use. It even has PC fax function and standalone fax.
The problem wit the Canon Smartbase MP600f multifunction printer is that it only works on Windows. For connectivity, only a USB and parallel port are available. There is no Wi-Fi or Ethernet.


text:
{-|
Module      : Database.Relational.Unique
Description : Definition of UNIQUE
Copyright   : (c) Alexander Vieth, 2015
Licence     : BSD3
Maintainer  : aovieth@gmail.com
Stability   : experimental
Portability : non-portable (GHC only)
-}

{-# LANGUAGE AutoDeriveTypeable #-}

module Database.Relational.Unique (

      UNIQUE(..)

    ) where

data UNIQUE term = UNIQUE term


text:
Mongabay Series: Great Apes
Illegal bushmeat trade threatens human health and great apes
by Claire Asher on 6 April 2017 |
Hunting for bushmeat impacts over 500 wild species in Africa, but is particularly harmful to great apes — gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos — whose small, endangered populations struggle to rebound from over-hunting. Along with other major stressors including habitat loss, trafficking and climate change.
Bushmeat brings humans into close contact with wildlife, creating a prime path for the transmission of diseases like Ebola, as well as new emerging infectious diseases. Disease spread is especially worrisome between humans and closely related African great ape species.
Bushmeat consumption today is driven by an upscale urban African market, by illegal logging that offers easy access to remote great ape habitat, plus impoverished rural hunters in need of cash livelihoods.
If the bushmeat problem is to be solved, ineffective enforcement of hunting quotas and inadequate endangered species protections must be addressed. Cultural preferences for bushmeat must also change. Educational programs focused on bushmeat disease risk may be the best way to alter public perceptions.
Chimpanzees in Uganda. The bushmeat trade is not only a threat to great apes, but because bushmeat can spread disease, the trade — extending across Africa into Europe and beyond — also poses a serious risk to humans. Public Domain
Great apes should be humanity's best bet for conservation — charismatic, intelligent, strikingly familiar, with big emoting eyes. It's hard to think of creatures with whom the public empathizes more easily, or that are perceived as more worth saving, than our closest cousins.
And yet, we are failing them.
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are the most numerous of the African great apes, found across western and Central Africa, but their populations are suffering severe declines due to habitat loss and hunting. Eastern gorillas (Gorilla beringei) number fewer than 5,000 individuals in the wild and already have an extremely restricted range. And although Western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) are more widely distributed, only 22 percent currently live within protected areas. Bonobos (Pan paniscus) are limited to small pockets of remaining habitat that have been wracked by civil war, lawlessness and violence.
Together with orangutans, these great apes represent our closest living relatives on Earth. All of them are Critically Endangered, except for bonobos, which are Endangered, according to the IUCN. And they all face a daunting onslaught of threats — ranging from habitat loss and trafficking, to climate change and war.
One of the most severe threats today is the thriving bushmeat trade. Bushmeat from the illegal hunting of wildlife — elephants, bats, antelope, monkeys, great apes, roughly 500 African species all together — is sold in markets across the continent, especially in economically well-off African cities, and even exported to Europe and elsewhere.
Bushmeat on sale in Nigeria. Photo by Jbdodane CC-BY 2.0
An old dietary habit threatens wildlife
Bushmeat has certainly existed as long as Homo sapiens sapiens, but traditionally was limited to small rural communities that relied upon the meat for subsistence.
Today, bushmeat has become big business, and it helps feed Africa's booming human population. Estimates suggest that as much as 5 million tons of bushmeat is now being harvested across the Congo Basin alone, annually.
This growth in the bushmeat trade has been partly prompted by the logging industry — in particular, by the roads built to transport machinery and loggers in, and timber out. Across Africa, new roads are being carved through primary forest to reach new logging concessions. Those rough byways give hunters easy access to previously remote populations of wildlife, including chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas.
As a result, the bushmeat trade in Africa is "emptying the forests of wildlife faster than the timber companies can remove logs," says Anthony Rose, director of The Bushmeat Project at California's Biosynergy Institute. "Gorillas and other endangered species are slaughtered and stacked for transport along logging roads, to be sold in the billion dollar commercial bushmeat trade."
Ebola Virus under a transmission electron micrography. Some of the best known zoonotic diseases include HIV, the Bubonic Plague, Lassa fever, SARS, and most recently, Ebola. Public Domain
Bushmeat and human disease
Humans share over 98 percent of our genome with chimpanzees and gorillas. This close genetic relationship is at the heart of a major problem facing Africa and the world today — disease transmission.
Humans are so similar to great apes that it takes almost no evolutionary effort for a harmful virus or bacterium to hop the species barrier — a leap that is a two-way street, with human-to-ape, and ape-to-human transmission both possible. The common cold, which is a minor inconvenience for a human, can kill a gorilla.
Disease transmission between wild animals and humans can occur whenever there is direct contact — this includes wildlife encounters with loggers, poachers and tourists, and especially with anyone who sells, buys, handles or eats bushmeat.
Scientists are particularly concerned about bushmeat-borne epidemics of new diseases. "Animals are a common source for the introduction of new infectious diseases into human populations," says Michael Jarvis, virologist at the University of Plymouth. Some of the best known zoonotic diseases include HIV, the Bubonic Plague, Lassa fever, SARS, and most recently, Ebola. "Even malaria is believed to have been originally introduced into the human population from gorillas," he says.
And this isn't a minor risk: diseases transmitted from animals to humans represented 60 percent of all emerging infection disease events (EIDs) between 1940 and 2004.
An isolation ward in Uganda during a 2000 Ebola outbreak. Despite mounting evidence that infectious diseases can be spread via the handling or eating of bushmeat, local people's attitudes towards the risks remain relaxed. Education could help solve that problem. Photo by Daniel Bausch, Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, CDC
Zoonotic diseases can originate in wildlife or livestock, but over 70 percent of zoonotic EIDs come from contact with wild animals. If an existing disease in wildlife evolves the ability to infect humans, our species is seriously vulnerable because we have no pre-existing immunity.
"The invasion of remaining wilderness in Africa is tapping a source of virulent new micro-organisms, bringing disease and death into urban human populations across the continent," says Rose.
One of the most devastating human epidemics in recent history was caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), and evidence overwhelmingly points to an origin in great apes.
Chimpanzees can carry simian immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs), the wild ancestors of the most common human AIDS virus, HIV-1. Some time between 1910 and 1930, an SIV in a chimpanzee in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, made the leap to humans, although it would be another 60 years before the disease would reach pandemic stage in the United States and around the world.
While SIVs required genetic changes to infiltrate the human immune system, some viruses are able to infect multiple primate species at the same time. One such virus is possibly the most feared human pathogen of all, at least to date — Ebola.
Ebola virus first emerged in 1976, with a few cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Sudan. Infecting humans, chimpanzees and gorillas seemingly indiscriminately, Ebola is fatal in 50 to 90 percent of cases, and has had a devastating impact on humans and wildlife across Central Africa.
Infant Eastern Lowland Gorilla in Kahuzi-Biega National Park, DRC. Humans share over 98 percent of their genome with chimpanzees and gorillas. This close genetic relationship is at the heart of a major problem facing Africa and the world today — disease transmission. Photo by Dave Clement
Since 1976, it has re-erupted sporadically, with more than 20 outbreaks in humans and uncounted others in wild great ape populations. The human epidemic that began in West Africa in 2013 lasted more than two years and killed over 11,000 people. It also generated fear across the globe.
Many of these human epidemics also saw parallel outbreaks in apes, killing thousands of gorillas and chimpanzees in Central African rainforests — shrinking the populations of these primates within their last wild strongholds, and likely wiping out one third of chimpanzees and gorillas since 1990.
Searching for reservoirs
Zoonotic viruses and bacteria — with their ability to hide in remote regions and in a variety of unidentified species, and with their capability of jumping from one species to another — are extremely difficult to eradicate and safeguard against.
Ebola, for example, lives undetected in the years between outbreaks, hiding in a host that shows no symptoms, known as a "reservoir species." While humans and apes show very severe symptoms if infected, silent carriers supply each new outbreak. Despite their searches, scientists have yet to conclusively identify the true reservoir.
The most likely Ebola reservoir candidates currently under investigation are bat species. The 2013-16 outbreak is now believed to have originated in a 2 year-old boy in Guinea, who most likely caught the virus from a fruit bat.
However, many human Ebola outbreaks have been sparked not directly by reservoir species, but by contact with infected apes. "This is not just happening once, but repeatedly over time," Jarvis emphasizes. The "handling of Ebola-infected ape carcasses is known to be responsible for about 30 percent of all previous human Ebola virus outbreaks."
Life cycle of Ebola and other viruses. Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Unknown, ignored bushmeat threats
As already mentioned, the risk of zoonotic disease is not limited to known pathogens; there is always the possibility that at any moment a new previously unknown disease will make the inter-species jump.
Just last year, a team led by Fabian Leendertz at the Robert Koch Institute in Germany, announced the discovery of a new Anthrax-like pathogen in wild animals across West and Central Africa.
Anthrax can be contracted by humans through contact with bacterial spores, or by consuming meat from infected animals. The bacterium infects chimpanzees and gorillas, as well as elephants and goats, and the Koch Institute team believes this variant could have already been the source of some anthrax outbreaks in humans.
Despite mounting evidence — ranging from HIV, to Ebola and Anthrax — local people's attitudes towards the risks of bushmeat in Africa remain relaxed, says Marcus Rowcliffe, a Research Fellow at the Institute of Zoology in London who has studied the socioeconomic factors influencing bushmeat marketing trends. "Surveys have generally found that the vast majority of those involved in the [bushmeat] trade do not perceive disease as a significant risk."
Scientists wear personal protective equipment during a 1995 Ebola outbreak. Africa's wild primates have no such protections, but scientists are seeking, and finding, ways to vaccinate great apes against infectious diseases. Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Seeking solutions
It isn't clear yet whether the most recent Ebola outbreak may have changed perceptions in Africa towards these very real wildlife disease transmission risks. Experts say that educational programs that inform local people about the dangers of contact with wild animals could be a powerful tool for reducing bushmeat consumption — and could serve as a way to not only curb disease but to conserve wildlife by reducing demand for wild meat.
Another promising tool to reduce transmission of shared diseases like Ebola between humans and great apes is to vaccinate both. "A comprehensive vaccination program will be very important in protecting great apes from extinction," says Jarvis.
The first vaccines against Ebola began being developed in the early 2000s, but remained stalled in the pre-clinical phases due to a lack of funding, which seemed logical considering the relatively small number of people impacted by the disease up to that time. Then came the 2013 epidemic, where more than 11,000 people were killed in West Africa.
By 2015 the Ebola vaccine had been rushed through phase III trials, where it proved 100 percent effective in humans. The good news: vaccines that act on Ebola in people can also be adapted for use with wildlife, including great apes, a goal that should be met quickly if we wish to save Africa's primates from extinction.
Silverback mountain gorilla in Parc National des Volcans, Rwanda. Bushmeat brings humans into close contact with wildlife, creating a prime path for the transmission of diseases like Ebola, as well as new emerging infectious diseases. Great apes are at risk from human diseases as well; the common cold, of little threat to humans, can kill a gorilla. Photo by Joe McKenna CC-BY 2.0
So, how do you vaccinate a wild great ape?
While developing an effective Ebola vaccine is a crucial step for protecting humans, creating such a vaccine for great apes isn't enough to safeguard our elusive primate cousins. "The problem for vaccinating wildlife, such as African apes, is not whether we have a functional vaccine, but rather how do we get access to the animals to vaccinate them?" says Jarvis.
Of course, some apes are easier to access than others. Many great apes have now been habituated to the presence of humans, whether by tourism or by ecological and behavioral research. These apes would be the easiest to vaccinate, and should be the first targets for disease protection because of their frequent contact with humans, which puts them at greatest infection risk.
Jarvis says that one way to get vaccines to less accessible wild animals is to slip it into their food. "Dropping vaccine-laden bait has proved extremely successful for control of rabies in wild carnivores in North America and Europe," he says. However, this strategy is unlikely to work with African apes, which tend to be selective about the food they eat, and who live in hot, humid environments where bait decomposes quickly.
A promising option is a self-disseminating vaccine, which spreads from individual to individual just like the virus itself. Jarvis is part of a collaborative project to develop just such a system. The team is currently trialing a single-dose vaccine in macaque monkeys that could ultimately be developed as a spreadable great ape vaccine.
If successful, the approach would be a game-changer, he says, giving conservationists the "ability to control many emerging [zoonotic diseases], not just Ebola virus." But he warns that the self-disseminating vaccine is still in the early stages of development, and may not be ready to apply to wild vaccination programs for another decade. That's a long time to wait for Critically Endangered species.
Bushmeat for sale at the roadside in Africa, including a cane rat, giant pouched rat and red-flanked duiker. African people today get between 30 percent and 85 percent of their protein from bushmeat, with commercial sales in urban areas prominent. Photo by Wikiseal CC-BY SA 3.0
The continuing bushmeat problem
Vaccines developed for known diseases only address one aspect of the primate contagion problem. As long as great apes are hunted as bushmeat, their populations will continue to decline, and there will be a risk of unexpected epidemics — brought on by an unknown virus or bacterium jumping from ape to human, causing an outbreak of a new infectious disease.
To protect our species and other species, we need to curb the trade in bushmeat, reducing it to sustainable levels, and quickly. That means much stronger great ape conservation measures as well as better protections for the roughly 500 other species regularly hunted as bushmeat across Africa. This is a goal not readily achievable by poor African countries, but it is in the interest of all nations to contribute financially to stopping new zoonotic epidemics before they start.
Better monitoring and enforcement of conservation laws and regulations would be a key step forward — in the wild and at every stage of the bushmeat supply chain.
But outlawing bushmeat won't be enough. Understanding what motivates people to hunt and eat bushmeat is crucial if we are to tackle what has become not just an African problem, but a global phenomenon.
Logging truck in the Central African Republic. Across Africa, new roads are being carved through primary forest to reach new logging concessions. Those rough byways give hunters easy access to previously remote populations of wildlife, including chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas.Photo courtesy of World Resources Institute CC-BY 2.0
From subsistence to profit motive
For many living in rural communities, bushmeat remains a vital source of protein, but in urban areas across Africa it has become a commonly traded commodity.
"The main trend [in bushmeat consumption] has been a shift from subsistence-dominated to commercial-dominated use," says Rowcliffe. This switch has been driven by growing numbers of wealthy urban bushmeat consumers, served by poor rural hunters, in conjunction with better transport links and well organized middlemen.
Bushmeat fits this model well, being a highly tradable commodity; relatively light and easy to move, and valuable. "Cities and towns across tropical Africa have thriving markets where illegal bushmeat is sold at two to six times the price of chicken or beef," reports Rose.
Adding to entrepreneurial profitability is the fact that hunters can kill adult primates while capturing younger animals to be sold into wildlife trafficking networks — thus the bushmeat and illegal wildlife trade go hand in hand, along with drug and gun running.
Which is where war and civil unrest come into the picture. The civil war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the 1990s caused many people to flee the cities and move to rural areas, leading to a massive increase in bushmeat trade and shocking declines in wild populations. Militias hiding in the forest ate bushmeat, and sold it too, while participating in wildlife-, gun- and drug-trafficking, as well as supporting illegal logging and mining operations for conflict minerals such as coltan, used in consumer electronic devices.
"Conflict stimulates bushmeat trade and weakens conservation in general by breaking down existing protection and substituting a regime in which the military seek to extract rent from wildlife," explains Rowcliffe.
Between 1990 and 2000 the rate of primary forest loss in DRC was double the post-war rate, bushmeat sales increased by as much as 23 percent and great ape numbers plummeted. This was particularly bad news for bonobos, whose entire range lies within the DRC.
Like other great apes, bonobos do not reproduce quickly, with a generation time of 25 years, making populations particularly vulnerable to hunting. Fewer than 20,000 are thought to remain in the wild today. They are shy and tend to avoid fragmented forests and areas of high human activity — rendering 72 percent of their historical range unusable. This puts the species in increasingly frequent contact with humans, where they risk being hunted as bushmeat or captured for the pet trade.
Rowcliffe notes that cultural norms continue driving the bushmeat problem: some local people have "a strong, persistent cultural attachment to bushmeat" over alternative sources of protein, and African people today get between 30 percent and 85 percent of their protein from bushmeat. However, according to one study, only rural consumers consistently prefer bushmeat, suggesting that urban markets may be more easily curtailed if the right financial incentives, legal deterrents, and/or disease risk education programs were put in place.
Temperature check at a roadblock during the African Ebola outbreak that killed 11,000 people, and unknown numbers of great apes. Disease transmission between wild animals and humans can occur whenever there is direct contact — this includes wildlife encounters with loggers, poachers and tourists, and especially with anyone who sells, buys, handles or eats bushmeat. Photo by JuliaBroska CC-BY 4.0
Alternatives to the bushmeat trade
If the bushmeat trade is to be curbed, governments and NGOs will also need to offer alternative livelihoods — including training and equipment — so poor hunters, and the middlemen who transport bushmeat, can support themselves with new jobs.
A 2011 report by the Convention on Biological Diversity suggested a number of viable alternatives to hunting bushmeat, including beekeeping, arts and crafts, fair trade crops and mini-livestock such as guinea pigs, frogs and even insects. The report suggests that breadwinners diversify their income sources rather than relying solely on a single trade. For example, the Anne Kent Taylor Fund has funded a project to retrain Maasai communities reliant on bushmeat to instead sell beaded jewelry and patrol the forests and plains for illegal poachers. With the profits from selling their crafts at local markets, the Maasai beaders have been able to build a grain mill and open their own shop, which they now run as additional sources of income.
Rowcliffe believes that bushmeat harvesting can become sustainable in Africa, "in theory, but it will require profound societal changes. There are many productive and resilient species in the bushmeat trade that can support sustainable hunting," he says, but ongoing demand for bushmeat and a lack of effective government support for hunting restrictions are major barriers to this transformation.
The worry is that none of these changes will come soon enough to save the great apes, whose population numbers continue to fall. As our closest cousins stagger under a pummeling attack from deforestation, habitat loss, trafficking, war and climate change, will bushmeat and human-transmitted disease be the final two straws that break the back of Africa's great apes?
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Bonobo (Pan paniscus). With most great ape species Criticially Endangered and their populations in severe decline, preventing infectious disease among them is critically important to their survival. Photo by Rhett A. Butler
Article published by Glenn Scherer
Animals, Apes, Bushmeat, Chimpanzees, Conservation, Corruption, Diseases, Ebola, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Crime, Environmental Law, Featured, Forests, Gorillas, Great Apes, Hunting, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Groups, Infectious Wildlife Disease, Law, Law Enforcement, Mammals, Over-hunting, Primates, Rainforests, Tropical Forests, Wildlife, Wildlife Conservation, Wildlife Trade, Wildlife Trafficking, Zoonotic Diseases


Hi everyone! I hope your week has gone well! Our week was crazy with a road trip up to Philadelphia, PA with my family for a couple days. Now we're home and I'm trying to recover from the trip and a nasty cold that decided to pounce on me during our drive up to Philly. I am totally zonked.
And my tired, sick, pregnant brain can think of nothing else to say.
Here's the Inspired Fridays round-up!


text:
import fetchMock from 'fetch-mock';

import getRound from './getRound';
import matchItems from './__mocks__/matchItems.json';
import matchItemsError from './__mocks__/matchItemsError.json';
import testValues from './__mocks__/testValues';

describe('getRound', () => {
  beforeAll(() => {
    fetchMock.post('http://api.afl.com.au/cfs/afl/WMCTok', { token: testValues.token });
    fetchMock.get('*', matchItems);
  });

  test('gets the "current" round without specifying a specific id', () => getRound(false).then((res) => {
    const { id, games, round, items } = res;
    expect(id).toBe('CD_R201701403');
    expect(games).toBe(9);
    expect(items.length).toBe(9);
    expect(round).toBe('Round 3');
  }));

  test('gets round "CD_R201701403"', () => getRound({ id: 'CD_R201701403' }).then((res) => {
    const { id, games, round, year, items } = res;
    expect(id).toBe('CD_R201701403');
    expect(games).toBe(9);
    expect(year).toBe('2017');
    expect(items.length).toBe(9);
    expect(round).toBe('Round 3');
  }));

  test('fails when fetching an invalid round', () => {
    fetchMock.restore();
    fetchMock.post('http://api.afl.com.au/cfs/afl/WMCTok', { token: testValues.token });
    fetchMock.get('*', matchItemsError);
    return getRound('CD_R2017014013').catch((error) => {
      const { code, techMessage } = error;
      expect(code).toBe('CFSAPI001');
      expect(techMessage).toBe('Invalid round id CD_R2017014013');
    });
  });

  afterAll(() => {
    fetchMock.restore();
  });
});


I've had the same best friend since I was 4 years old, she's more like a sister than a friend at this point. When she got pregnant I was almost as excited as she was and now her growing little girl is one of my favorite people to hang out with. So, for her 2nd birthday, I decided to make her an awesome birthday cake and cupcakes. The cake was so popular, there was literally none left!
Now, I'm not usually a fan of using cake mixes because I like to bake from scratch; however, I know some people prefer it for convenience. This cake is so moist with that perfect melt-in-your-mouth flavor, not to mention it's white so you can do fun colors for the layers. This recipe does make enough for very tall layers, so you can certainly scale back for a smaller cake.
I finally found a great cream cheese frosting that I can decorate with, this frosting will pipe to perfection! I have yet to try it on a cupcake but hoping it will work with some of the softer frosting styles (it's definitely not stiff enough for complex flowers, etc.) The trick – you can't use both butter and cream cheese. Together they are too soft and melt easily.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and butter your cake pans. I also add a round of parchment paper to the bottom of the pans and the parchment paper again. This helps the cakes to slide out quick and easy!
Sift together all dry ingredients – 2 boxes of white cake mix, 2c flour, 2c sugar, 1 1/2t sea salt – in a large bowl (I use my stand mixer bowl for less mess).
Add the 8 egg whites, 2 2/3c water, 4T oil, 2c sour cream, 2t vanilla, 2t almond extract; beat on low speed for 2 minutes (if you're like me, you're largest bowl will be very full from this recipe – so just make sure you have a bowl large enough or cut the recipe in half).
Fill pans ¾ full (for big layers) and bake for 30-45 minutes. The time will vary some based on the size and number of pans and how full you make them. Cakes are ready when a cake tester comes out clean (there should be a golden hue to the edges of the cake).
Allow cakes to cool on the rack. Remove from pans after about 15 minutes. I leveled the cakes as well for decorating purposes.
Wrap cakes in seran wrap and then aluminum foil and place back in pans to freeze for up to 1 week. Remove from freezer 24 hours before your event to frost.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the 16oz cream cheese until smooth. Sift the 1c powdered sugar into the bowl, beating to combine, then add the 2-1/2t vanilla extract.
Remove the paddle attachment and attach the whisk. Scrape down any cream cheese from the sides of the bowl.
Next, while beating at medium-high speed, stream in the cold 1-1/3c heavy cream until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Please watch this video from Joy of Baking, which features the frosting recipe and addresses potential issues to prevent the frosting from being too thin.
Add frosting between cake layers and stack cake. Then, do a thin layer of frosting to cover any 'crumbing". Frost the cake as desired.
Voila, you have one awesome layered cake!