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Author Andrade-Núñez, M.J.; Aide, T.M.
Title The Socio-Economic and Environmental Variables Associated with Hotspots of Infrastructure Expansion in South America Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication Remote Sensing Abbreviated Journal Remote Sensing
Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 116
Abstract The built environment, defined as all human-made infrastructure, is increasing to fulfill the demand for human settlements, productive systems, mining, and industries. Due to the profound direct and indirect impacts that the built environment produces on natural ecosystems, it is considered a major driver of land change and biodiversity loss, and a major component of global environmental change. In South America, a global producer of minerals and agricultural commodities, and a region with many biodiversity hotspots, infrastructure expanded considerably between 2001 and 2011. This expansion occurred mainly in rural areas, towns, and sprawling suburban areas that were not previously developed. Herein, we characterized the areas of major infrastructure expansion between 2001 and 2011 in South America. We used nighttime light data, land use maps, and socio-economic and environmental variables to answer the following questions: (1) Where are the hotspots of infrastructure expansion located? and (2) What combination of socio-economic and environmental variables are associated with infrastructure expansion? Hotspots of infrastructure expansion encompass 70% (337,310 km2) of the total infrastructure expansion occurring between 2001 and 2011 across South America. Urban population and economic growth, mean elevation, and mean road density were the main variables associated with the hotspots, grouping them into eight clusters. Furthermore, within the hotspots, woody vegetation increased around various urban centers, and several areas showed a large increase in agriculture. Investments in large scale infrastructure projects, and the expansion and intensification of productive systems (e.g., agriculture and meat production) play a dominant role in the increase of infrastructure across South America. We expect that under the current trends of globalization and land changes, infrastructure will continue increasing and expanding into no-development areas and remote places. Therefore, to fully understand the direct and indirect impacts of land use change in natural ecosystems studies of infrastructure need to expand to areas beyond cities. This will provide better land management alternatives for the conservation of biodiversity as well as peri-urban areas across South America.
Author Sun, L.; Tang, L.; Shao, G.; Qiu, Q.; Lan, T.; Shao, J.
Title A Machine Learning-Based Classification System for Urban Built-Up Areas Using Multiple Classifiers and Data Sources Type Journal Article
Volume 12 Issue 1 Pages 91
Abstract Information about urban built-up areas is important for urban planning and management. However, obtaining accurate information about urban built-up areas is a challenge. This study developed a general-purpose built-up area intelligent classification (BAIC) system that supports various types of data and classifiers. All of the steps in the BAIC were implemented using Python modules including Numpy, Pandas, matplotlib, and scikit-learn. We used the BAIC to conduct a classification experiment that involved seven types of input data; namely, Point of Interest (POI), Road Network (RN), nighttime light (NTL), a combination of POI and RN data (POIRN), a combination of POI and NTL data (POINTL), a combination of RN and NTL data (RNNTL), and a combination of POI, RN, and NTL data (POIRNNTL), and five classifiers, namely, Logistic Regression (LR), Decision Tree (DT), Random Forests (RF), Gradient Boosted Decision Trees (GBDT), and AdaBoost. The results show the following: (1) among the 35 combinations of the five classifiers and seven types of input data, the overall accuracy (OA) ranged from 76 to 89%, F1 values ranged from 0.73 to 0.86, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) ranged from 0.83 to 0.95. The largest F1 value and OA were obtained using the POIRNNTL data and AdaBoost, while the largest AUC was obtained using POIRNNTL and POINTL data against AdaBoost, LR, and RF; and (2) the advantages of the BAIC include its support for multi-source input data, its objective accuracy assessment, and its robust classifiers. The BAIC can quickly and efficiently realize the automatic classification of urban built-up areas at a reasonably low cost and can be readily applied to other urban areas in the world where any kind of POI, RN, or NTL data coverage is available. The results of this study are expected to provide timely and effective reference information for urban planning and urban management departments, and could also potentially be used to develop large-scale maps of urban built-up areas in the future.
Author Chang, Y.; Wang, S.; Zhou, Y.; Wang, L.; Wang, F.
Title A Novel Method of Evaluating Highway Traffic Prosperity Based on Nighttime Light Remote Sensing Type Journal Article
Abstract As the backbone and arteries of a comprehensive transportation network, highways play an important role in improving people's living standards and promoting economic growth. However, globally, there is limited quantifiable data evaluating the highway traffic state, characteristics, and performance. From the 1960s to the present, remote sensing has been regarded as the most effective technology for long-term and large-scale monitoring of surface information. However, how to reflect the dynamic "flow" information of traffic with a static remote sensing image has always been a difficult problem that is hard to solve in the field. This study aims to construct a method of evaluating highway traffic prosperity using nighttime remote sensing. First, based on nighttime light data that indicate social and economic activities, a highway-oriented method was proposed to extract highway nighttime light data from 2015 annual nighttime light data of the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite sensor (SNPP-VIIRS). Subsequently, Pearson correlation analysis was used to fit the relationship between freeway traffic flow volume and freeway nighttime light at the provincial level. The results showed that Pearson Correlation Coefficient of freeway nighttime light and freeway traffic flow volume for coach and truck are 0.905 and 0.731, respectively, which are higher than between freeway traffic flow volume for coach and truck and total nighttime light (0.593 and 0.516, respectively). A new index—Highway Nighttime Traffic Prosperity Index (HNTPI)—was proposed to evaluate highway traffic across China. The results showed that HNTPI has a strong correspondence with socio-economic parameters. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient of HNTPI and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, consumption per capita, and population are 0.772, 0.895, and 0.968, respectively. There is a huge spatial heterogeneity in China nighttime traffic, the prosperity degree of highway traffic in developed coastal areas is obviously higher than that inland. The national general highway is the most prosperous highway at night and the national general highway nighttime prosperity of Shanghai reached 22.34%. This research provides basic data for the long-term monitoring and evaluation of regional traffic operation at night and research on the correlation between regional highway construction and the economy.
Author Ogando-Martínez, A.; Troncoso-Pastoriza, F.; Eguía-Oller, P.; Granada-Álvarez, E.; Erkoreka, A.
Title Model Calibration Methodology to Assess the Actual Lighting Conditions of a Road Infrastructure Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication Infrastructures Abbreviated Journal Infrastructures
Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 2
Abstract Street lighting plays an important role in the comfort and safety of drivers and pedestrians, so the control and management of the lighting systems operation and consumption is an essential service for a city. In this document, a methodology is presented to calibrate lighting models in order to assess the lighting performance through simulation techniques. The objective of this calibration is to identify the maintenance factor of the street lamps, determine the real average luminance coefficient of the road pavement and adapt the reflection properties of the road material. The method is applied in three stages and is based on the use of Radiance and GenOpt software suits for the modeling, simulation, and calibration of lighting scenes. The proposed methodology achieves errors as low as 13% for the calculation of illuminance and luminance, evincing its potential to assess the actual lighting conditions of a road.
Author Touzot, M.; Lengagne, T.; Secondi, J.; Desouhant, E.; Théry, M.; Dumet, A.; Duchamp, C.; Mondy, N.
Title Artificial light at night alters the sexual behaviour and fertilisation success of the common toad Type Journal Article
Year 2020 Publication Environmental Pollution Abbreviated Journal Environmental Pollution
Volume 259 Issue Pages in press
Abstract Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) is an emerging pollution, that dramatically keeps on increasing worldwide due to urbanisation and transport infrastructure development. In 2016, it nearly affected 23% of the Earth's surface. To date, all terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have been affected. The disruption of natural light cycles due to ALAN is particularly expected for nocturnal species, which require dark periods to forage, move, and reproduce. Apart from chiropterans, amphibians contain the largest proportion of nocturnal species among vertebrates exhibiting an unfavourable conservation status in most parts of the world and living in ALAN polluted areas. Despite the growing number of studies on this subject, our knowledge on the direct influence of nocturnal lighting on amphibians is still scarce. To better understand the consequences of ALAN on the breeding component of amphibian fitness, we experimentally exposed male breeding common toads (Bufo bufo) to ecologically relevant light intensities of 0.01 (control), 0.1 or 5 lux for 12 days. At mating, exposed males took longer than controls to form an amplexus, i.e. to pair with a female, and broke amplexus before egg laying, while controls never did. These behavioural changes were associated with fitness alteration. The fertilisation rate of 5 lux-exposed males was reduced by 25%. Salivary testosterone, which is usually correlated with reproductive behaviours, was not altered by ALAN. Our study demonstrates that ALAN can affect the breeding behaviour of anuran species and reduce one component of their fitness. Given the growing importance of ALAN, more work is needed to understand its long-term consequences on the behaviour and physiology of individuals. It appears essential to identify deleterious effects for animal populations and propose appropriate management solutions in an increasingly brighter world.


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Wellington Phoenix
Jun 26, 2020 | 6:37AM AET
National Volunteer Week Feature – Reece Lewis
As well as being a proud fan of the Wellington Phoenix, Reece Lewis is an even prouder volunteer for the club.
READ: Wellington Phoenix Confirms Season Re-Start
READ: National Volunteer Week Feature – Stephanie Evett
Now in his second season, Reece has been a key volunteer for the club and fills a variety of roles; from helping build the 'match day experience' during home matches at Sky Stadium to being involved in school and hospital visits as part of the club's community programme.
44-year-old Reece says that volunteering for the Phoenix was an easy decision for him.
"I've been a supporter of the club for many years, and like the other vollies I wanted to give back to the football community.
"I remember the first match was a bit daunting, and like everyone I wanted to make sure I was doing a good job – and afterwards I was just buzzing, it was awesome to see the reactions of the children in the crowd."
Volunteering isn't new to Reece; he's been a volunteer firefighter for the past five years and is involved in his local community in Stokes Valley. He says that being able to volunteer for an organisation that he also supports as fan, is an added bonus.
"What I love about the Phoenix is that everyone is on the same page, it's like a big family and we're all in it together and for a common cause.
"It's great to be on the other side of the fence now, in that I've been a fan but now I'm part of the team that helps make it all happen – and being able to interact with the players and staff, in addition to the fans, is amazing as well."
Reece says that volunteering is rewarding for anyone who is willing to put in the required time and effort.
"Seeing the difference that my role as a volunteer makes for people is gratifying; especially for kids coming through the football side of things and getting to see their heroes play – they look up to them, and me being a volunteer helps with that."
The volunteering bug has caught on in the Lewis family too, with Reece's daughter Katie often helping out on match day and his son Hayden coming along with him to community events.
Reece is one of over 30 volunteers who are part of the Wellington Phoenix football club, assisting either on match day or with the running of the club's community programmes and activation events.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Home/Featured/Mobile : Expert Review: Samsung Gravity™2 Cell Phone
THE GOOD: The Samsung Gravity 2 is thinner than its predecessor, plus it features several upgrades, notably 3G support, a 2.0-megapixel camera, GPS, and a full HTML browser. It has pretty good quality and is quite affordable.
THE BAD: The Samsung Gravity 2 has rather tiny navigation keys, and the streaming video quality could be a bit better.
THE BOTTOM LINE: The Samsung Gravity 2 offers a lot of features for a very low price, making it a great deal for T-Mobile customers.
The Samsung Gravity was one of T-Mobile's first messaging phones, and while we liked it, it did not have a lot of features. It had no 3G, no GPS, and only a 1.3-megapixel camera. However, its sequel, appropriately dubbed the Samsung Gravity 2, fixed all that. The Gravity 2 not only has 3G, GPS, and a 2.0-megapixel camera, it is thinner and sleeker than its predecessor. The Samsung Gravity 2 is available for $30 with a two-year service agreement, which makes it one of the most affordable 3G messaging phones around.
The Samsung Gravity 2 retains the same overall design as the Samsung Gravity. It has a candy bar appearance when viewed on the front and slides to the right to reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. However, it is a bit smaller and thinner at 4.5 inches long by 2.1 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick (Compared to the 4.53 inches by 2.07 inches by 0.7 inch measurements on the Samsung Gravity), the keypad layout is slightly different, and the display is 2.3 inches diagonally instead of 2.1.
Speaking of the display, it has support for 262,000 colors with a rather nice QVGA 240×320-pixel resolution. The screen looks bright and vibrant, which shows off the colorful animated images. You can adjust the menu interface to either a grid style or a circle style. Other display settings include brightness, the backlight time, and the dialing display. For the latter, you can adjust the type, size, and color of the dialing font, plus the color of the background when dialing. You can also adjust the greeting on the home screen.
The navigation array on the Samsung Gravity 2 is markedly different from the first Gravity. Instead of simple rectangular keys, the Gravity 2's array is a mix of tiny buttons and big circular ones. The two soft keys, the dedicated messaging key, and the Clear key are all small, while the Send, the OK, and the End/Power keys are big. While we were OK with the big round buttons, we found the small ones a bit hard to press without using our fingernails.
The aforementioned messaging key can be mapped to one of five functions–a new message, a shortcut to the messaging in-box, a new audio postcard, the e-mail interface, or the instant-messaging menu. There's an outer circle around the OK key, which acts as a navigation toggle. When on the home screen, the up and down directions of the toggle lead to the call history list and the contacts list, respectively. The left and right directions toggle through your five T-Mobile MyFaves contacts.
Under the navigation array is the number keypad, which is well-spaced with keys that are raised above the surface, so it is easy to dial by feel. You can choose to type out text messages with the number keypad as well, but of course it is far easier to type with the slide-out QWERTY keyboard. On the left spine of the Gravity 2 is the volume rocker, while the charger/headset jack and the camera key are on the right. The camera lens and external speaker are on the back. The microSD card slot is inconveniently located behind the battery cover–it's along the right side of the phone, underneath the SIM card.
If you turn the phone 90 degrees counterclockwise and slide the phone up, you'll reveal a full QWERTY keyboard. The display orientation automatically switches from portrait to landscape mode once it slides out. Flanking the keyboard are two soft keys to be used when the screen is in landscape mode. There are arrow keys on the bottom right for navigation, plus a dedicated OK key, a Shift/Symbol key, and a .com/www key, which is handy for entering URLs. The keyboard is overall quite roomy, with raised keys that make for quick and responsive texting.
The Samsung Gravity 2 definitely has a few more features than the first Gravity. But first, let's take a look at the basics. The Samsung Gravity 2 has a 1,000-entry phone book, with room in each entry for four numbers, four e-mail addresses, three IM usernames, a URL, a birthday, an anniversary date, a street address, and notes. You can categorize your contacts into groups, and pair them with a photo for caller ID, or one of 21 polyphonic ringtones. Other basics include a speakerphone, a vibrate mode, a calendar, an alarm clock, a tasks list, a memo pad, a calculator, a tip calculator, a world clock, a unit converter, a timer, and a stopwatch.
More advanced users will like the voice recognition, stereo Bluetooth, the RSS reader, and the addition of A-GPS support with TeleNav turn-by-turn direction software provided by T-Mobile. We were also pleasantly surprised that the Gravity 2 comes with a decent full HTML browser. It supports JavaScript as well as a version of Flash Lite that let us view streaming YouTube videos. The Gravity 2's small screen size wasn't too great for surfing the Web, though; we had to scroll around a lot more, especially in large Web pages. Resizing pages was a pain, too, as you had to use the magnifying glass zoom controls, which require several button presses. On the whole though, we were happy that the Gravity 2 has a HTML browser at all. It definitely takes advantage of the Gravity 2's speedy 3G.
Since the Gravity 2 is a messaging-focused phone, it was only fitting that it comes with several messaging options. Not only can you send the normal text and multimedia messages, you can also send instant messages (from AIM, Yahoo, and Windows Live), audio postcards (which are framed photos with an audio attachment), and e-mail. You can create e-mail accounts from a variety of providers, like AOL, Yahoo, Comcast, and more, but bear in mind that you can't just enter in a POP3 or IMAP server address, so your provider may not be supported.
The Gravity 2 comes with a rather basic music player. The tracks are organized by artists and albums, and you can also create and edit your own playlists. You can tweak the visualizations during music playback, add up to nine sound effects, which include "Wide" and "Surround" sound, and set it so that the music plays in the background when you're in other parts of the phone. Of course you can also set the tracks on repeat or shuffle. You can load your music via a microSD card. The Gravity 2 supports MP3, AAC, and AAC+ file formats.
We were also pleased to see that the Gravity 2 comes with a slightly better camera; a 2.0-megapixel instead of the 1.3-megapixel on its predecessor. It can take pictures in four resolutions (1,600×1,200, 1,280×960, 640×480, and 320×240), three quality settings, five white balance presets, and five color effects. Other camera settings include a night mode, a self-timer, three shutter tones plus a silent mode, three metering modes (Matrix, Center-weighted, and Spot), and five shot modes (Single, Continuous, Panorama, Smile shot, and Mosaic). Panorama mode stitches photos automatically as you pan from left to right, and Smile shot automatically takes a photo as soon as the camera detects a smile.
Photo quality was decent. Images looked sharp without a lot of blur, though the colors did seem a bit muted and overcast. There's also a built-in camcorder on the Gravity 2. You can record clips in just 176×144 resolution, in either normal length or limited for MMS. You can also choose to record with or without audio. Other camcorder settings are similar to those of the still camera.
You can personalize the Samsung Gravity 2 by adding wallpaper, screensavers, and alert tones. It also comes with a few games, like demo versions of The Sims 3 and Tetris. You'll have to purchase the full versions of the games to play further. To buy them as well as additional graphics and sound files, you can go to the T-Mobile store via the Web browser.
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1,800/1,900; UMTS/HSDPA) Samsung Gravity 2 in San Francisco using T-Mobile's network. We were quite pleased with the call quality overall. On our end, we could hear our callers very clearly with hardly any static or noise. Their voices sounded quite natural as well.
On their end, callers were quite impressed with the call quality. They said our voice sounded clear and natural, though they would've liked a bit more volume at times. In speakerphone mode, we thought our callers sounded slightly tinny, but with plenty of volume. Callers could hear us loud and clear as well, but with a heavy echo effect and a low hum in the background.
We were also impressed with the 3G speeds. We managed to load a full HTML page like the CNET front page in around 15 seconds, for example. We also had no trouble getting a 3G signal in our neighborhood in downtown San Francisco. We also managed to stream video with hardly any buffering time at all. Still, streaming video quality seemed pixelated and choppy.
The audio quality from the speakers was all right, but nothing spectacular. The bass was a bit too light, and the music overall sounded harsh. We would recommend using a headset for better audio quality.
The Samsung Gravity 2 has a rated battery life of 5.5 hours talk time and 12.5 days standby time. It has a tested talk time of 5 hours and 55 minutes. According to FCC tests, the Gravity 2 has a SAR of 0.547 watts per kilogram.


Belize City comments only. Don't discuss the hostels here, post a review on the hostel's page instead.
Belize City is the former capital and largest city of Belize, located midway up the country on the Caribbean coast. Although the population is small (a mere seventy thousand residents), the city caries the feel, amenities, and atmosphere of a Caribbean capital such as Kingston, Jamaica, or Georgetown, Guyana. With its blend of Creole, English, Spanish, and Mayan influences, Belize has a very unique and interesting culture, food, dance, and music. Be sure to come prepared for a new and wonderful experience.
Belize City is easy to get to by air, land, and sea. The airport is easily accessible by a short cab ride from either the downtown core, bus station, or the ferry terminal. Buses go to and from the city with international destinations such as Cancun; Mexico; or Antigua, Guatemala. Local buses are a cheap and exciting way to get to smaller communities. The ferry terminal offers quick shuttles to touristy islands such as San Pedro, Caye Caulker, and Placencia.
Belize City hostels are located downtown and are within walking distance to all the sights, shops, and amenities that a visitor may need. Attractions such as the swinging bridge, the Maritime museum, the museum of Belize, or the casino offer tourists an exciting look at the culture and entertainment this place has to offer. Although the city is rather safe during the day, robberies are common at night -- don't travel by yourself or walk alone from place to place. Belize City offers an excellent jump off point to your travels.
Hi, I'm Fro, the Hostelz.com local expert for Belize City hostels. Welcome.


Weee are the champions, my friends!
Congrats to Damon and the whole Juventus U-17 team for winning the 2005 State Cup!
How to make lightsaber effects using Premiere and Photoshop.
Life In The Fuuuuutuuuuure! Woooo!
You are currently browsing the Casiello Family Weblog blog archives for June, 2005.


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The DIVERSITY DELUSION: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture
Home / Communism / The DIVERSITY DELUSION: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture
By the national bestselling author of The War on Cops: a provocative account of the erosion of humanities and the rise of intolerance
Categories: Communism, New World Order, Spotlight
The DIVERSITY DELUSION: How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture quantity
How Race and Gender Pandering Corrupt the University and Undermine Our Culture
"The Diversity Delusion does an admirable job of dismantling liberal academic narratives. And if anyone has earned the right to do that without looking back, it's Heather Mac Donald." —National Review
By Heather Mac Donald
America is in crisis, from the university to the workplace. Toxic ideas first spread by higher education have undermined humanistic values, fueled intolerance, and widened divisions in our larger culture. Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton? Oppressive. American history? Tyranny. Professors correcting grammar and spelling, or employers hiring by merit? Racist and sexist. Students emerge into the working world believing that human beings are defined by their skin color, gender, and sexual preference, and that oppression based on these characteristics is the American experience. Speech that challenges these campus orthodoxies is silenced with brute force.
The Diversity Delusion argues that the root of this problem is the belief in America's endemic racism and sexism, a belief that has engendered a metastasizing diversity bureaucracy in society and academia. Diversity commissars denounce meritocratic standards as discriminatory, enforce hiring quotas, and teach students and adults alike to think of themselves as perpetual victims.
From #MeToo mania that blurs flirtations with criminal acts, to implicit bias and diversity compliance training that sees racism in every interaction, Heather Mac Donald argues that we are creating a nation of narrowed minds, primed for grievance, and that we are putting our competitive edge at risk.
But there is hope in the works of authors, composers, and artists who have long inspired the best in us. Compiling the author's decades of research and writing on the subject, The Diversity Delusion calls for a return to the classical liberal pursuits of open-minded inquiry and expression, by which everyone can discover a common humanity.
Hardback, 288 pages.
Heather Mac Donald is the Thomas W. Smith Fellow at the Manhattan Institute and a contributing editor of City Journal. She is a recipient of the 2005 Bradley Prize. Mac Donald's work at City Journal has canvassed a range of topics, including higher education, immigration, policing and "racial" profiling, homelessness and homeless advocacy, criminal-justice reform, and race relations. Her writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, The New Republic, and The New Criterion. Mac Donald's newest book, The War on Cops (2016), warns that raced-based attacks on the criminal-justice system, from the White House on down, are eroding the authority of law and putting lives at risk.
Other previous works include The Burden of Bad Ideas (2001), a collection of Mac Donald's City Journal essays, details the effects of the 1960s counterculture's destructive march through America's institutions. In The Immigration Solution: A Better Plan than Today's (2007), coauthored with Victor Davis Hanson and Steven Malanga, she chronicles the effects of broken immigration laws and proposes a practical solution to securing the country's porous borders. In Are Cops Racist? (2010), another City Journal anthology, Mac Donald investigates the workings of the police, the controversy over so-called racial profiling, and the anti-profiling lobby's harmful effects on black Americans.
A nonpracticing lawyer, Mac Donald clerked for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and was an attorney-advisor in the Office of the General Counsel of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a volunteer with the Natural Resources Defense Council. She has testified before numerous U.S. House and Senate Committees. In 1998, Mac Donald was appointed to Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's task force on the City University of New York. In 2004, she received the Civilian Valor Award from the New Jersey State Law Enforcement Officers. In 2008, Mac Donald received the Integrity in Journalism Award from the New York State Shields, as well as the Eugene Katz Award for Excellence in the Coverage of Immigration from the Center for Immigration Studies. In 2012, she received the Quill & Badge Award for Excellence in Communication from the International Union of Police Associations.
A frequent guest on Fox News, CNN, and other TV and radio programs, Mac Donald holds a B.A. in English from Yale University, graduating with a Mellon Fellowship to Cambridge University, where she earned an M.A. in English and studied in Italy through a Clare College study grant. She holds a J.D. from Stanford University Law School.
"I read every word Heather Mac Donald writes and always have. She is brilliant and has tons of guts and is an inspiration." — Peggy Noonan, New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize Winner for Commentary
"Why should we care what happens in the Ivory Tower? Because what happens there very soon happens everywhere. Heather Mac Donald warns us: Attend to the ideology now dominating the humanities and social sciences. Designed to undermine the integrity of the individual and the state alike, it does just that. The universities have a mandate to produce informed, educated, productive citizens. They have been transformed, instead, into factories of ideology that mass-produce victims, certain in their oppression, searching everywhere for oppressors to blame and to punish. And the ranks of those deemed tyrants and persecutors threaten to swell until every single one of us is deemed guilty in some manner or another. Beware." — Jordan B. Peterson, bestselling author of 12 Rules for Life
"Universities justify their privileged position by claiming to be forums for the promotion of clarity, logic, and evidence. Yet their own policies, affecting millions, are too often defended with factual howlers, logical non sequiturs and mindless boilerplate. Heather Mac Donald may not persuade you on every point, but with her spitfire writing and scorn for nonsense she is forcing universities to live up to their own principles." — Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of Enlightenment Now
"Others besides Heather Mac Donald have indicted academia for devastating liberal education, but no one has ever documented the damage as Mac Donald does in The Diversity Delusion. It is crammed with facts and numbers that universities go to great lengths to hide. How she did it is a mystery, but The Diversity Delusion will be my master reference for anything I write on these topics." — Charles Murray, Emeritus Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
"If there were any justice in the world, Mac Donald would be knee-deep in Pulitzer Prizes and National Magazine Awards for her pioneering work." — David Brooks
"No journalist now writing about urban problems has produced a body of work matching that of Heather Mac Donald." — George Will
"You need to know Heather Mac Donald. She'll mess with your mind and make you either up your politico-cultural game or admit you were wrong." — Debra J. Dickerson, Mother Jones
"Not since Alan Bloom's The Closing of the American Mind has a book so thoroughly exposed the damage done to American institutions—particularly universities—by modern liberalism's glib commitment to 'diversity.' Mac Donald unveils today's true operating principle: that claims of social justice precede the diminishment of Western greatness—a greatness that has (and will continue to) benefit the former victims of Western bigotry. This book is a story of what happens when too much insecurity seeps into a great civilization." — Shelby Steele, author of Shame, White Guilt, and The Content of Our Character
"A beautifully-written, hard-hitting expose of the madness—from gender wars to diversity mandates to attacks on speech and academic freedoms—hat has seized hold of the American campus, made education less liberal, and is now doing the same to our culture." — Christina Hoff Sommers
Interviews With the Author
New World Order, ON SALE
Daniel Estulin Double Book Offer
Communism, History, Recommended, Southern Heritage
Red Republicans and Lincoln's Marxists: Marxism in the Civil War
AFP Publishing, New World Order, ON SALE
FUTURE FASTFORWARD: The Zionist Anglo-American Empire Meltdown
Conspiracy, New World Order
Confessions of an Illuminati: The Whole Truth About the Illuminati and the New World Order (Volume I)


Danish flag news - Interesting Facts.
The danish flag in denmark should always be higher up if displayd with other countries.
We have 2 different colored flags the red and red bloody colored for use on ships, said this color was develop to not show blood on ships fighting.
The splitflag of denmark is free of use on all danish boat, I dont no other countries allow this, as it is the form for naval ship flags.


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Q: PostgreSQL 9.5 Replication Lag running on EC2 I have a series of PostgreSQL 9.5 servers running on r4.16xlarge instances and Amazon Linux 1 that started experiencing replication lag of several seconds starting this week.  The configurations were changed but the old configs weren't saved so I'm not sure what the previous settings were.  Here's the custom values:
max_connections = 1500
shared_buffers = 128GB
effective_cache_size = 132GB
maintenance_work_mem = 128MB
checkpoint_completion_target = 0.7
wal_buffers = 16MB
default_statistics_target = 100
#effective_io_concurrency = 10
work_mem = 128MB
min_wal_size = 1GB
max_wal_size = 2GB
max_worker_processes = 64
synchronous_commit = off

The drive layout is as follows - 4 disks for the xlog drive and 10 for the regular partition, all gp2 disk type.
Personalities : [raid0]
md126 : active raid0 xvdo[3] xvdn[2] xvdm[1] xvdl[0]
      419428352 blocks super 1.2 512k chunks

md127 : active raid0 xvdk[9] xvdj[8] xvdi[7] xvdh[6] xvdg[5] xvdf[4] xvde[3] xvdd[2] xvdc[1] xvdb[0]
      2097146880 blocks super 1.2 512k chunks

The master server is a smaller c4.8xlarge instance with this setup:
max_connections = 1500
shared_buffers = 15GB
effective_cache_size = 45GB
maintenance_work_mem = 1GB
checkpoint_completion_target = 0.9
wal_buffers = 16MB
default_statistics_target = 100
random_page_cost = 1.1
effective_io_concurrency = 16
work_mem = 26MB
min_wal_size = 1GB
max_wal_size = 2GB
max_worker_processes = 36

With this drive layout:
Personalities : [raid0]
md126 : active raid0 xvdd[2] xvdc[1] xvdb[0] xvde[3]
      419428352 blocks super 1.2 512k chunks

md127 : active raid0 xvdr[12] xvdg[1] xvdo[9] xvdl[6] xvdh[2] xvdf[0] xvdp[10] xvdu[15] xvdm[7] xvdj[4] xvdn[8] xvdk[5] xvdi[3] xvds[13] xvdt[14] xvdq[11]
      3355435008 blocks super 1.2 512k chunks

I guess I'm looking for optimal settings for these two instance types so I can eliminate the replication lag.  None of the servers are what I would call heavily loaded.

A: With further digging I found that the following setting fixed the replication lag:
hot_standby_feedback = on

This may cause some WAL bloating on the master but now the backlog is gone.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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United Way 2-1-1 Kiosks Offer New Way To Access Support
A partnership between United Way of Greater Chattanooga, various corporate partners and Hamilton County Schools will make the local 2-1-1 service more widely available to those in need. The free and confidential information and referral line, which connects people across the Tennessee Valley with local resources, will soon be accessible via several community-based kiosks.
The first pilot kiosk was revealed Thursday evening at Red Bank High School during their community event, ROAR night.
"One of the most difficult things as an educator is to know where to direct students and parents to find resources that can help them in times of need.
Now, we'll be able to not only give them a phone number but walk them down the hall to find the resources and community services they need to support their family in real time," stated Elaine Harper, principal at Red Bank High School.
The 2-1-1 kiosks will provide targeted information to families and students on how to access community resources including food, health care and insurance assistance, stable housing options, utility payment assistance, employment services, veteran services, childcare and youth services and other family-specific services and community resources.
BlueCare Tennessee, a subsidiary of BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, is a primary partner in helping United Way provide the expanded service.
"We're proud to support United Way and its initiative to provide greater access to community resources for families across the region," said Amber Cambron, CEO of BlueCare Tennessee. "Partnering together further demonstrates our shared commitment to invest in the health and well-being of the communities we serve."
The 2-1-1 kiosks are intended to help close the resource access gap for students and families in the greater Chattanooga area. In addition to BlueCare Tennessee, EPB and Hamilton Plastics have provided support for the effort.
"Helping our students connect with the resources they need to succeed contributes to the vitality and economic growth of our community as a whole. Kiosks provide real-time access to help families and students overcome their challenges, so students can focus their attention on excelling in the classroom," said Elizabeth Hammitt, director of Environmental Stewardship & Community at EPB.
Over the next few months, this kiosk pilot project will be expanded into several other local schools and a community health site. In addition to the community kiosk project, more 2-1-1 access options are being expanded to the current 2-1-1 phone service delivery system, which will provide better access to community resources to all citizens.
(click for more)
The record number of 13,284 wreaths that were placed on graves at Chattanooga National Cemetery on Dec. 14, 2019 will be retired on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 8:30 a.m. at Chattanooga National Cemetery. ... (click for more)
Over 40 vendors will again gather their local history, artifacts and memorabilia for the community to enjoy on Saturday. The event will be held at the Soddy Daisy High School in the Commons area. ... (click for more)
The record number of 13,284 wreaths that were placed on graves at Chattanooga National Cemetery on Dec. 14, 2019 will be retired on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 8:30 a.m. at Chattanooga National Cemetery. Volunteers are needed and should park at the cemetery. Wreaths will be collected from the graves and placed in recycling bends. Anyone desiring to remove a wreath from a loved one's ... (click for more)
Upcoming Street Closures
East Ridge Offices Closed In Observance Of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday
Lula Lake Land Trust Announces the Return Of Hike Bike Brew Beer Festival


text:
Hurley v. Cox
Court Supreme Court of Nebraska
Writing for the Court MAXWELL
Citation 9 Neb. 230,2 N.W. 705
Parties WILLIAM HURLEY, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. WILLIAM COX AND OTHERS, DEFENDANTS IN ERROR.
9 Neb. 230
2 N.W. 705
WILLIAM HURLEY, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR,
WILLIAM COX AND OTHERS, DEFENDANTS IN ERROR.
Supreme Court of Nebraska.
Filed, 1879.
Error from the district court for Burt county.
[2 N.W. 705]
Carrigan & Osborn and J. S. Monk, for plaintiff in error.
Watson Parish, for defendants in error.
MAXWELL, C. J.
On the nineteenth day of October, 1872, the plaintiff commenced an action in the district court of Burt county, against William Cox and Ashley, to foreclose a mortgage upon certain lands in that county. On the fifth day of June, 1874, an amended petition was filed by the plaintiff, bringing in E. D. Canfield as a party defendant. The action is founded upon a mortgage executed by the defendant Cox in the year 1858 upon certain lands in Burt county, and alleges that no part of the sum due upon the mortgage has been paid, and that no proceedings have been had at law for the recovery of the same. The petition also alleges that the defendants Ashley and Canfield hold tax deeds upon portions of said lands which are prima facie evidence of title, but it is claimed the proceedings upon which they are based are irregular and void, and that said deeds confer no title. The plaintiff prays for a decree of foreclosure and sale of the mortgaged premises, and that the defendants Ashley and Canfield may be required to assert their title to said premises, * * * * that it may be declared void, etc. The defendants Ashley and Canfield demurred to the petition on the ground that it did not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action. The demurrer was sustained and the cause dismissed. The cause is brought into this court by petition in error. A copy of the
note is set out in the petition, in which it appears that it became due on the twenty-third day of August, 1859, being dated at Omaha and payable at the office of Cassidy & Tist, in Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The proviso to section 17 of the Code provides that "the absence from the state, death or disabilty of a non-resident, save the cases mentioned in the section, shall not operate to extend the period within which actions in rem shall be commenced by and against such non-resident or his representatives." This case is not within the exception, and this court has held in a number of instances that the foreclosure of a mortgage was a proceeding in rem. Rector v. Rotten, 3 Neb. 177; Peters v. Dunnells, 5 Neb. 460; Hurley v. Estes, 6 Neb. 386. The cases without an exception, as far as I...
...559, 49 S. W. 328, 51 S. W. 821;Carson v. Cochran, 51 Minn. 67, 53 N. W. 1130;Duty v. Graham, 12 Tex. 427, 62 Am. Dec. 534;Hurley v. Cox, 9 Neb. 230, 2 N. W. 705;Hill v. Gregory, 64 Ark. 317, 42 S. W. 408;Law v. Spence, 5 Idaho, 244, 48 Pac. 282;Harding v. Durand, 138 Ill. 515, 28 N. E. 948......
...(49 S.W. 328, 51 S.W. 821); Carson v. Cochran, 52 Minn. 67 (53 N.W. 1130); Duty v. Graham, 12 Tex. 427 (62 Am. Dec. 534); Hurley v. Cox, 9 Neb. 230 (2 N.W. 705); Hill v. Gregory, 64 Ark. 317 (42 S.W. 408); Law v. Spence, 5 Idaho 244 (48 P. 282); Harding v. Durand, 138 Ill. 515 (28 N.E. 948)......
Stryker v. Rasch, 2193
United States State Supreme Court of Wyoming
...31 Utah 203, 87 P. 674; Brandenstein v. Johnson, 140 Cal. 29, 73 P. 744; Kiel v. Staber, (Tex. Civ. App.) 116 S.W.2d 809; Hurley v. Cox, 9 Neb. 230, 2 N.W. 705. (Contra: Gibson v. Ast, 77 Kan. 458, 94 P. 801.) In most of these cases, adverse possession was claimed by the person setting up t......
Eayrs v. Nason, 7841
Supreme Court of Nebraska
...the petition on the ground that the facts therein averred do not state a cause of action. (Peters v. Dunnells, 5 Neb. 460; Hurley v. Cox, 9 Neb. 230, 2 N.W. 705; Aultman v. Cole, 16 Neb. 4, 19 N.W. 783.) Since a defendant may avail himself at any stage of the trial of the fact that the peti......


Included in the exhibition are interesting historical documents such as the 18th and 21st Amendments (the 18th created prohibition and the 21st repealed it) as well as oddities such as President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's cocktail shaker and Prohibition-era prescriptions for medicinal alcohol. Plus there's a large graphic model showing how much Americans drank throughout US history, so you can see what year would have been the best fit for your drinking habits.
Unlike a visit to some of our favorite breweries, this tour doesn't end with a tasting section. However, it may encourage you to up your drinking game. As the BBC points out, one of the most interesting revelations from the exhibit is how much alcohol consumption in the US has decreased. Turns out, American booze consumption peaked in 1830 at 7.1 gallons of pure alcohol per person a year. Compare that to the mere 2.3 gallons guzzled today and it'll finally make sense why we're so much more technically advanced than our sloppy forefathers.
The exhibit, which began on March 6th, is open to the public from 10am to 5:30pm daily. It's also free, making it a much cheaper option than just drinking away the afternoon.


text:
Where to Find This Issue
A Q&A With St. Louis Businesswoman Claire Flowers
Home / Culture / A Q&A With St. Louis Businesswoman Claire Flowers
By Jorie Jacobi
In Culture, St Louis
A Q&A With St. Louis Businesswoman Claire Flowers2017-01-242017-01-24https://www.alivemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/logo-header.pngAlivehttps://www.alivemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/claire-flowers.jpg200px200px
St. Louis native Claire Flowers had been working in sales for years, where it was required to wear a business suit—which meant heels, every day. If her shoes began hurting her feet by noon, she'd have to pull every woman's favorite trick: heading to Marshall's for a pair that could quell the feeling of knives stabbing her feet as she walked.
One day after her heel had already gotten stuck in a grate, she slipped and fell on the way to an all-week training session. She remembers sitting in training, gazing at her shoes and thinking of the ways they weren't working, and how they could be solved with a few simple design tweaks. She came up with a list, and that's how she began developing and designing her own shoes.
After talking with a few close friends and family members, many also expressed interest in a pair of shoes similar to what Flowers described, and eventually the vision became a reality. Flowers' heels include a non-slip sole and cushioned insert, a protective heel plate and a specially designed heel that widens slightly at the bottom, protecting the wearer from it getting stuck. The heel caps are made of a dense, hard plastic that rarely, if ever, needs to be replaced.
Flowers has teamed up with several St. Louis-based retailers who sell her shoes, and today her eponymous brand, Claire Flowers, is her full-time endeavor. Read below to learn more about her thoughts about building a business and learning to trust her instincts.
How did you make the leap from sales to business?
Self-promotion has been kind of hard for me—going out and saying great things about yourself. At times it feels like it's less based on merit. Where I came from, expertise and talent carried you through. But sometimes you just have to catch a break—for example, after Sarah Jessica Parker started wearing manolo blahniks, everyone wanted to wear them. I'm still hoping for something like that to happen, just waiting for some of the right people to notice.
What do you love about this business you've created?
There are people out there who have seven pairs of my shoes—not because they've had to replace them, but because they love them. My favorite is when I start describing my shoes and a woman starts finishing my sentences. I'll say, "The stiletto is wider—" "—so it doesn't get stuck in grates." That's my favorite. I know they've had those problems before, too.
Fashion isn't anything I'd say I was interested in growing up or in school, but I think the business side of me is more what's gotten me where I am today. The shoes, they're beautiful, but they're fairly basic: black pumps, navy, nudes. I'm not trying to appeal to the fashionista who wears Louboutin's or Jimmy Choo's. A lot of the women who are my target market—professional, value-oriented women—have a go-to favorite brand of shoe that is in my price range. But now that the shoes are more out there in the world, it's less of a challenge. I'm becoming a lot more known. In the St. Louis market I have a pretty broad reach, but I just expanded to Dallas, and I can tell by my web traffic that I am gaining popularity here.
Would you consider yourself a creative person?
When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a doctor. I've always been more analytical—not the creative type. If anyone had said "You're going to be a shoe designer," I would have said they were crazy. I am more creative than I ever thought I was. But the creativity shows itself in how there are solutions—for example, I'm working on a wedge right now that allow you to put on different uppers to match what you're wearing. I wouldn't say my designs are creative as far as their aesthetic, but they are creative in that I'm solving problems that shoes typically have. [The style debuts in March].
I surprise myself with that, and I can certainly hack it as a designer. But my shoes need to be more classic in style, because if they last a long time, I don't want the durability to outlive the fashion. I want them to work in tandem with each other. I don't want them to throw away a shoe because it's gone out of style. So what I try to do with my classic pumps that are black, brown and navy is to add something to the aesthetic: the gold nameplate, studs, hot-pink heel caps and different colors—so they are interesting, but you can still wear them with a business suit, jeans or a dress.
What have you learned through this process?
I've learned to trust my instincts. I've gotten advice, solicited and unsolicited. Some people are adamant that you need to do this or that. Every time I've gone against my instincts, I've regretted it. And when I've gone with my gut, it's worked out. I've learned to trust my decisions more. That's what I would tell young entrepreneurs.
I'll have an instinct, then research and get the advice of others. But when all is said in done, if my instinct is still stronger than all that information, I'll go with it. It's better to have a good plan today than a perfect plan tomorrow. I think about that all the time.
What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs?
With anything, you can research it until you can't see straight. That's not always a good thing, because you'll "muddy" your brain, if you will. When you research and get too much advice, you can lose yourself and your initial solution. You can actually prolong moving initiatives along. There's a lot of inaction with young entrepreneurs because they want everything to be perfect and they're scared to make mistakes. I'm not scared to make mistakes. A lot of people have paralysis as entrepreneurs, but you have to be willing to take risks, put yourself out there and make mistakes.
For more information or to purchase a pair of Claire's specially-designed heels, visit her website.
This post has been brought to you in part by the mentioned organization. Thank you for supporting the companies that keep ALIVE growing. Photos courtesy of those listed.
business, Fashion, Footwear, Midwest, Style
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Do you want more people talking about your business? Sure you do. Social proof, the things your customers say about you and your business, have a great impact on your success. There are an estimated 225 million smart phone users in the US (according to BusinessInsider.com). With that many devices in the market, why not use the technology to your advantage.
To a small business, social proof such as reviews and comments can mean the difference between growing and closing up shop. You can encourage customers to leave reviews but unless the process is easy, most customer will give up before finishing.
To make the act of leaving you and your business a review as easy as possible, you should provide easy links to the different review sites. URL shortening services such as Bit.ly, Goo.gl, and TinyURL.com gives you the ability to take a really long web address and shorten it something more manageable and easier to remember. For those customers with smart phones, QR codes can make the process of leaving a review even easiser.
QR codes are those strange, square graphics that have started to pop up in advertisement and around town. They help transform printed information into digital information. Just like the bar codes on the products you buy, the encoded information in QR codes is translated into digital information when scanned. This information can be plain text, contact information, a phone number for a quick call, a SMS or text message, plus many more. The information we're interested in today is a URL or web address.
When a QR code with an encoded URL is scanned, the software recognizes the URL and will ask the user if they want to open the website. No need to type in a long, complicated web address by hand (or thumb…). All a customer has to do is open an app, scan the QR, and open the page. It really is that easy.
There are many sites that specialize in online reviews. Some are specialized for food (UrbanSpoon.com) while others are for general business (Yelp.com and Google+ Local). For this example, let's use Yelp.com.
The URL of a Panera Bread in Mobile, AL on Yelp is http://www.yelp.com/biz/panera-bread-mobile-2. You can shorten the URL by using a URL shortening site. Using the Google URL shortener, it is http://goo.gl/KmRDG. Since Bit.ly will let you customize links, we have http://bit.ly/Panera2.
You can also use a 301 redirect on your own domain. Here's my link using a 301 redirect, http://bluecapra.com/panera2. If your're not sure about 301 redirects, stick with the URL shortening sites or drop me a line and I'll give you the run down.
Making your own QR codes is a simple process. There are a variety of free online generators including QRStuff.com, the ZXing Project, or QRdvark.com (or find your own on Google). Go ahead and pick one to start off with. Doesn't matter which one you choose; after making a few QR codes, you will find a site that you like best.
Notice the first QR code is larger than the next three. The more data that is encoded (for example, the longer the URL), the more complicated the QR code. For a QR code to be read by most modern smart phones, the smallest element in the code (the little black squares) need to be at least a certain size. If there is a lot of data that needs to be encoded, the QR code gets bigger and more complicated. Most modern phones can scan these with no problem but if you wanted the image to be very small, customers would start to have problems. It's best to keep the QR codes about 1 inch square or larger to help with any issues.
If you want to learn more about QR codes, check out this post on 9 ways you can make a QR work for you.
Put a sign on the exit door asking for reviews. If your business has provided a great experience, customers will be happy to leave a review. Be sure to include the logo of the site for the review (in our case Yelp.com), a link, and of course, your QR code.
Getting more reviews for your business is important to your success. It all starts with providing a great customer experience. Once your customers are happy, you can encourage them to leave reviews. By offering short URLs and QR codes, you reduce the friction and steps needed to leave the reviews. Remember, the easier it is for a customer to leave you a review, the more reviews you will receive.
Now that you can build your own QR codes and direct users to review sites, leave a comment and let me know how you are going to use QR codes to get more reviews.


Jana A. Kri: "Authentic wine and spirits cellar. Huge range of cognacs,wine is always on rotation,but it's never a miss! With its intimate atmosphere and knowledgeable staff,this place is a treasure of Mala strana"
Samia Saeed: "Great experience. You can either go up the tower by stairs or elevator . We took the elevator up and stairs down . Beautiful views , however better view is halfway. Mirror maze is a waste of time"
Julia Lu: "Worth the 80kc (for students with ID) to climb to the top of the tower. The best 360 view of Prague!"


In my capacity since the British isles Director of Functions for A person Environment Tours Minimal, I am generally asked all kinds of vacation inquiries helpful resources. A shopper not too long ago enquired about travelling to Japan for your to start with time and wanted my information on what to determine along with the finest strategy to vacation when visiting this extraordinary land. In this article are my recommendations…. Due to the fact only 30% of the stunning nation is inhabitable, while you can visualize everyone is packed into these small locations so the public transport has got to be superior! I found that considered one of the higher strategies to obtain all over was about the Japanese Rail (JR) method. You'll need to book a rail go for this facility prior to leaving dwelling to get started on your journey, approximately 3 months before you propose on travelling. The moment you may have activated your go, you may be cost-free to vacation practically anywhere in Japan.
The exciting detail concerning this process of travelling is the fact that the trains are in no way late and whilst they are able to grow to be very crowded at peak periods it really is a very economical way to get from a to B. There are actually specific carriage quantities on the platforms where the trains end at exactly whenever they pull in with the stations. You can find even colour coded strains over the floors from the station that guide you to definitely the coach that you just must catch. The complete program is made along with the buyers prerequisites in your mind. The Japanese undoubtedly are a quite respectful race and a few with the procedures that they exhibit of their carriages are most welcoming and amusing once you review them to our very own rules in England.
For instance that you are suggested not to enjoy loud audio, acquire up additional room than is critical or converse over a cellphone all issues which might be freely dismissed on our trains! The bullet train was a extremely efficient approach to address prolonged distances inside a somewhat brief house of time. It had been refreshing to find out the uniformed team all lined up on the platforms embarking about the trains, supplying them a thorough but speedy cleanse in advance of the subsequent passengers got on. It is quite spectacular to watch these outstanding functions of technological know-how zooming throughout the stations and after that to determine a person slowing down with its sleek design commanding focus. You'll be able to maneuver the seats that every one facial area a method when there is additional than two with your group to be able to all sit facing each other.
Refreshments are acquired to the carriage many times through your journey to be sure that you have all that you call for. The down side although is the fact you could still smoke in selected carriages in Japan and if you do not observe this when you find yourself reserving your seats, which you can do for your complete remain when you activate your move, you could potentially be trapped in the smoke filled surroundings for your complete journey. You do not seriously feel the velocity you are travelling at but it's really an achievement to cover this sort of distances in this sort of a brief passage of time, opening up the entire of Japan to you personally even if you are only checking out to get a week.


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Mammoth will open for skiing on Friday
PUBLISHED: October 14, 2009 at 12:00 am | UPDATED: August 29, 2017 at 11:11 am
LOS ANGELES – Wax those skis and gas up the car.
Mammoth Mountain will open for skiing and snowboarding on Friday, marking the second-earliest opening in the Eastern Sierra resort's history — the earliest was Oct. 8, 1994.
Mammoth received about two feet of snow at the Main Lodge and four to six feet of the white stuff at the summit due to a powerful storm that also brought rain to the Southland.
Skiers and snowboarders will be able to ride for free on opening day. Broadway Express will open at 8:30 a.m., servicing a base of 16-24 inches of machine groomed natural snow.
"We are so excited to start the season nearly four weeks ahead of schedule and to be able to reward our guests with a free day on the slopes," said Howard Pickett, chief marketing officer of Mammoth Mountain.
Broadway Express will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, providing access to Broadway, Forest Trail, Mambo, St. Moritz, and Main Park.
With the large snowpack at higher elevations on Mammoth Mountain, more chairlifts and terrain will be added as soon as possible, Pickett said.
For more information on Mammoth Mountain, visit MammothMountain.com or call 1-800-MAMMOTH.


text:
8 August 2014|In Headlines|7 Minutes
PREDISPOSITIONS OF HATRED: Gaza, Arabs and Israel
By Purav Patel
Opening any form of social media these days is like walking through a minefield: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – all inundated with videos, pictures and articles expressing bold opinions on the Israel-Palestine hostilities in the West-Bank and Gaza regions (often blindly shared by the unwitting dupes of pedagogy). Don't get me wrong, I'm all for people getting involved in current affairs; the problem is just that everyone seems to interpret the solution to the debate, to the problem, as attributing blame to either Israel or Palestine. Staunch Zionism from Facebook 'friends' of Jewish descent is met by the fanatical vitriol of Israeli actions, from those 'friends' for whom anti-establishmentarianism is the pinnacle of edginess. You can blame Russell Brand for the latter.
I'm not going to attempt to qualify or justify either side of the debate; in such a vicious circle of events the juvenile question of 'who started it?' seems wholly irrelevant. This question is the basis of the debate surrounding the conflict, but to focus on it is to ignore the larger issue at hand – the fact that this is not a hypothetical discussion, that a real and existential tragedy is actually occurring.
Israel's bombardment of Gaza has killed at least 120 Palestinians, whilst Hamas continue to propel rockets on the Jewish state. Stalemate. It is wholly understandable to see both sides of the argument. The pro-Palestinian argument is born from the existence of illegal (strictly adhering to definitions by international law) Jewish settlements and the mistreatment of Palestinians in Gaza/West-Bank, whilst the other, extremely valid, argument emphasises the need to protect Israeli citizens from the military wing of Hamas. The reason behind the conflict is simple: differing perceptions. It is a collective flaw amongst all humans that we are so often unable to appreciate the viewpoint of those in a different position. An unpublished quote of Henry Kissinger's, written in a letter to his parents has resonated with me deeply ever since I first heard it, and seems extremely relevant in this situation, to both sides of the conflict: "only the most callous of persons chooses what they know to be wrong".
For many years, the situation fermented along the lines that neither side was willing, nor able, to recognise this truth. The majority of developments in the conflict, prior to 2005, was seen through the subjective lens of either belligerent; unequivocal retaliation was the name of the game. Yet in most of these cases there was a visible discord between extremism and the majority of the population. The continuous nature of these conflicts, of recurrent conflagrations, has bred a propensity toward hatred on either side – hatred that is no longer confined to extremists. Perhaps the biggest signal of such came in 2006, when Gazans democratically elected the 'militant' Hamas as their de-facto rulers.
What this election showed was that a significant metamorphosis of thought was occurring in Palestine. A new youthful population, one which had been brought up in a climate of continual war, no longer has a perception of a rogue Israeli state; it has become a predisposition of hatred. This 'us and them' mentality appeared in many young Israelis too, since 2000. Tamir Lion, an anthropologist, has noted that many young Israelis, when questioned on why they had joined Israeli combat units had given the disconcerting answer 'to kill Arabs'. The recent revenge killing of a Palestinian boy may have been an isolated example of Jewish extremism, but the dehumanisation of Palestinians has led to a significant absence of condemnation of such acts. Anshel Pfeffer refers to a 'moral blindness' in Israel as the reason why they continue to attack Gaza – seemingly undeterred by the civilian casualties they inflict. It is a moral blindness reciprocated by Palestinians, who continue to support a terrorist organisation that they wrongly see as their only hope of freedom. Why have we reached a point where dialogue and negotiation are nothing more than far-fetched implausibility?
Israel's inhumane attacks on a civilian population has left the majority of the world critical of its actions, and rightly so. Yet critics on social media seem to overwhelmingly ignore the vow made by Hamas to target every Israeli citizen – the words of the supposed democratically-elected representatives of the Palestinian people. Israel has a right to defend herself and protect her population. The problem that exists is largely because of the shortcomings of supranational governing organisations.
Peacebuilding is about more than a ceasefire, or more than simply 'freeing' Palestine. Real liberation can only be achieved when both sides are able to tackle their inherent predispositions of hatred. Peace will only be lasting when the UN and other mediating bodies realise that the task they now face is to change the stern predisposition of either population to hate their neighbour. Education must come first and legislation will follow; extremism may always exist, but it is necessary for the UN to show these troubled regions that it is not a viable solution.
extremism Palestinians
Purav Patel


Nikon Vision Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Nikon Corporation, is pleased to announce the release of the Nikon Laser Rangefinder PROSTAFF 3i — the ideal partner for your outdoor activities.
The PROSTAFF 3i employs ID Technology, which displays the horizontal distance in addition to the actual distance. It also boasts a compact, easy-to-hold, ergonomically designed body.
One simple press of the POWER ON/Measurement button enables measurement, with the results quickly displayed. What's more, keeping the button pressed gives you continuous measurement for up to approx. 8 seconds. This is highly effective when measuring the distance to a moving target — with no need to worry about hand movement.
The PROSTAFF 3i features a rainproof structure (IPX4 equivalent under our testing conditions), making it ideal for outdoor use without being concerned about changes in the weather.
Measurement range: 7.3-590m /8-650 yds.
*The specifications of the product may not be achieved depending on the target object's shape, surface texture and nature, and/or weather conditions.


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Sydney Valdens
Baretta Number 23
Jimmy J Pack Jr
Tore Bahnson
Ilana Masad
Why You Hide From People You Know
We ran into each other at Safeway last week. I was holding a red pepper in my hand and he had a case of bud light in his cart. I blew air out of my nose in a silent laugh at what a mess he seemed. His hair was exactly the same as 4 years ago, shaved on the sides and longer on top because in middle school a kid told him his head looked like a lightbulb. He was in sweatpants and a flannel he had bought years ago when he tried to dress like me. We said hello and exchanged the necessary "how are you?" "I'm good" that comes along with running into anyone at the grocery store. We stood there for a bit in silence before I slowly walked in the direction of the milk with a smile and a wave.
He texted me the next day. I was surprised he still had my number, it had been over a year since he had last drunk texted me. He wanted to get coffee for some reason. I agreed for some reason. So here we are, sitting across from each other at a Starbucks full of the tourist who were smart enough to not wait in line a block down the road just to get the same coffee at what isn't really the original Starbucks. I paid for my own drink because he used to always complain about spending money on me, even though he was the one who asked me here.
"So how is school?" I ask, knowing that he is on his fourth year but not close to graduating yet.
"It's going well, how's life out of school?" he asks.
"It's fine, I have a job with a salary and benefits which is all anyone could hope for these days." I say, bragging in a sad sort of way that only an English major can about their 9-5.
We talk like this for an hour or so until he tells me that he wants me to come over to his house. I don't say anything for a bit, pretending to take the world's longest sip of coffee from my empty cup. I end up saying sure because no is still a word I'm getting used to using.
Which is how I end up in my ex boyfriend's childhood bedroom because when he said house he meant his moms. I want to leave but his mom is downstairs and I get the feeling that after all these years she still hates me. He has changed his sheets from blue plaid to unoriginal red, but it's still a twin sized bed. He points out that his xbox is gone because he lent it to one of his loser frat brothers who got drunk and broke it. I added the loser part, he actually likes frat life.
"Remember when I asked you to prom in here?" he says, referring to either the time he laid out condoms on his bed to spell out the word 'prom' or the time he played a music video for me that he had made to my favorite Vance Joy song with a slide saying 'will you go to prom with me?' at the end. I assume it is the former instead of the latter, his friends thought that one was cooler.
"Um, yeah I remember" I reply, hoping to avoid memory lane.
"We were really good together back then" he says as I look into his mirrored closet doors.
"Yeah, for a bit" I reply as I shift my glance to the small window on the opposite wall, thinking about jumping.
"You're even prettier now than you were back then." He looks the same, average.
His room was almost an exact replica of what it was in high school. I snort, now standing in front of the window.
"Remember when we told my mom that we were going out to get ice cream and instead drove to that elementary school parking lot to-" he starts to asks.
"Yeah, I remember. You told your mom that you wouldn't bring her back any and I was mad that you were about to blow our cover," I try to hide my smile.
He puts his hand on my shoulder, "I'm glad you're happy" he says.
I take a step back. He's acting as if nothing has changed since we were teenagers making out on that tiny ass bed of his. As if I'm still immature enough to think his jokes are funny or naive enough to not see his superiority complex just because he does math and I like books. He's acting like I'm still 18 and in love for the first time. He's acting like he's 18 and still popular enough to be nominated for homecoming court. I sit on his bed and he joins me, too close.
"Look, dude, I moved on a long time ago and if I was to hook up with an ex in his mom's house, it wouldn't be you." I tell him.
"I didn't...I mean….I moved on too." he said, he was much better at lying when we dated.
His walls were still empty, the only thing missing is the sticky notes I used to write to him and stick in the books I let him borrow. They would say lame things like 'I miss you' or 'you're the best thing to ever happen to me'. I always thought it was sad to have a room with no personality but maybe this is just his own way to express who he truly is.
"I should probably go"
"Oh, are you sure?"
I stand up and walk down his white staircase, slipping out the door before his mom turns away from the fridge and sees me. I'm sure she'll spend the rest of the night telling him what a bad influence my tattoos are. My car is in the same spot I would park when I would pick him up and we'd sneak out to the park in the summer to look at the stars that were always hiding behind the suburban lights.
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Death in Retrospect
by Someone Who's Still Alive
Elizabeth Trundle
Lost in the Alps
Simon Sileghem
One story from my forthcoming collection of Short Stories.
Valerie J Runyan
Existential Crisis No. 13: The Nail Salon
Lili Wagner
A New Meaning to Viral
Rachel Clark
The Bus Chronicles-Alpha
Fantastic Realism Flash Fiction Short Stories
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text:
Vampire Hunter D world Premiere
posted on 2000-07-16 13:33 EDT
The new Vampire Hunter D movie premiered Friday at 9:30 (15 minutes behind schedule) at Montreal's Fantasia film festival. The movie was shown it it's incomplete (some editing remains to be done), english language format and will show again on Monday before returning to Japan for final editing.
Since this version of the film is not the final version AnimeNewsNetwork will not post an official review of the movie, but expect a preview Monday night.
News homepage / archives


text:
Q: Js jquery recursive function I want to make a recursive function. Consider I have a function named setoptions and I need to set 2 options so what I will do is call my function twice like this.
setoptions ("ajax",true);
setoptions ("lamda",false);

So to avoid it I should be able to write a function in a way that I can define multiple options like
setoptions({
    "lamda": false,
    "ajax": true
});

This is same as jquery`s attr function.
like
$("#ff").attr("href","#");
$("#ff").attr("data-type","blue");
// can be used as
$("#ff").attr({
    "data-type": "blue",
    "href": "#"
});

Kindly do not provide workarounds as I need to understand such recursion for learning.
Basic setOption function:
  var setOption =  function (val1, val2) {
    $.someplugin(val1, val);
  };

A: Try this:
function setOption(){
  if(arguments.length==2)
    window.arguments[0] = arguments[1];
   else {
     for(var key in arguments[0]){
       setOption(key,arguments[0][key];
     }
   }
 }

Edit: I used window object, because I dunno where your values have to be set. So you might have to modify the if body statement in your code.
Edit2: As only this is can be called a recursion for me, this would be my approach. If you want to call a plugin, then I'd design that plugin to act recursively.
*EDIT 3 *
Yeah I think something like this.
Do note that it is still not recursive.console.log() line should not repeat.
 var setOption = function () {
     if (arguments.length == 2) {
         console.log(arguments[0], arguments[1]);
     } else if (jQuery.isPlainObject(arguments[0])) {
         for (var key in arguments[0]) {
             console.log(key, arguments[0][key]);
         }

     }
 }
 //USAGE:
 setOption({
     "href": "#",
     "data": "123",
 });

 setOption("cell", true);

}

A: Try with:
var setOption =  function (data) {
  for (var key in data) {
    $.someplugin(key, data[key]);
  }
};

A: This is I came up with. Let me know if there is a better approach.
This is now true recursive.
var setOption = function () {
     if (jQuery.isPlainObject(arguments[0])) {
         for (var key in arguments[0]) {
             setOption(key, arguments[0][key]);
         }
     } else if (arguments.length == 2) {
         console.log(arguments[0], arguments[1]);
     }
}

//USAGE:
setOption({
  "href": "#",
  "data": "123",
});

setOption("cell", true);


SPECIAL YEAR END CLOSEOUT PRICE! Covert Scouting Cameras uses approved leading cellular network from Verizon. New for 2017 is the ability to send texts, emails or both within the Covert Wireless mobile app and web-portal. Improved functionality of the app including guest access and the ability to retrieve high resolution images. With the addition of more LED's, night pictures are better than ever. The Blackhawk 12.1 sends instant pictures using Verizon's approved cellular network. Reliability at its finest, Covert Scouting Cameras continues to revolutionize the wireless trail camera industry. Covert Cameras is the leader in wireless trail cameras.


text:
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Manga is the name given to Japanese comics outside of Japan. Within Japan, all comics are called manga, as the exact meaning of the word is comics and cartooning.
Original title: Berserk (ベルセルク), 1989The 1st volume of Kentaro Miura's Berserk...Για την περιγραφή, ..
Original title: Berserk (ベルセルク), 1989The 2nd volume of Kentaro Miura's Berserk...Για την περιγραφή, ..
Original title: Berserk (ベルセルク), 1989The 4th volume of Kentaro Miura's Berserk...Για την περιγραφή, ..
Blade of the Immortal 01: To Αίμα των Χιλίων
Original title: Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人), 1993The 1st volume of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the I..
Blade of the Immortal 02: Η Κραυγή του Σκουληκιού
Original title: Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人), 1993The 2nd volume of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the I..
Blade of the Immortal 03: Νυχτολούλουδο
Original title: Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人), 1993The 3rd volume of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the I..
Blade of the Immortal 04: Σιωπηλά Φτερά
Original title: Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人), 1993The 4th volume of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the I..
Blade of the Immortal 05: Σκοτεινές Σκιές
Blade of the Immortal 06: Σκοτεινή Καρδιά
Blade of the Immortal 08: Φλόγα
Blade of the Immortal 09: Μυστικά
Blade of the Immortal 10: Φθινοπωρινός Παγετός
Original title: Blade of the Immortal (無限の住人), 1993The 10th volume of Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the ..


text:
free uk delivery!!
NEW/SEALED GAMES
GAMES (A-N)
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Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception for Sony PlayStation 3 PS3
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is an action-adventure platform video game played from a third-person perspective, with the player in control of Nathan Drake. Drake has a large number of different animation sets, enabling him to react according to his surroundings. Drake is physically adept and is able to jump, sprint, climb, swim, scale narrow ledges and wall-faces to get between points, and perform other acrobatic actions. Drake can now take on opponents in more ways than before: hand-to-hand combat with multiple opponents, contextual melee attacks, and new stealth options. Uncharted 3 also features expanded and diverse traversal moves with deep gunplay. Drake can be equipped with up to two firearms – one single-handed and one two-handed – and four grenades. Drake can pick up weapons, automatically replacing the existing weapon he was using, and additional ammunition from downed enemies.
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Sweden is currently ranked the 26th largest export economy in the world and its annual export total of $135 billion (less total imports of $139 billion) means that it has a negative trade balance of $4.24 billion.
GDP for Sweden is $510 billion, which equates to a GDP per capita of $49.2 billion. The country is ranked 39th in the world in GDP terms and it has enjoyed an annual growth rate of over 3% in the last five years.
Sweden's annual exports have fallen in value over the last five years from $182 billion to $135 billion.
Top export destinations of Sweden are Germany ($14.3 billion), Norway ($14.1 billion), The United States ($9.8 billion), Denmark ($9.75 billion) and Finland ($9.4 billion).
Sweden has a 1.6% share of a global export market that is worth $412 billion annually. Key destinations for the country's refined petroleum exports are the United Kingdom, Finland, Netherlands and Norway.
Refined petroleum accounts for 4.7% of Sweden's total annual exports.
Exports of large flat-rolled steel represent 0.77% of Sweden's total annual exports and the country is ranked 8th in the world for exports of this product, which represents a 5% share of a market worth $20 billion per year.
Germany is a significant destination, accounting for 41% of all Sweden's flat-rolled stainless steel exports.
Sweden is the sixth largest exporter of iron ore and has a 2.2% share of an annual global market that is worth $71.8 billion.
The value of worldwide iron ore exports has fallen by 45% in the last five years and only Malaysia, among the top 15 exporting countries, has managed to increase the value of its exports over that period.
The annual gold export market is worth $324.6 billion and Sweden is not in the top fifteen of gold exporting countries.
Gold accounts for 0.48% of all of Sweden's total annual exports and 87% of its gold is imported by Switzerland, who are the biggest global exporter of gold.
The annual refined copper export market is worth $38.7 billion and Sweden has a 1.1% market share.
Germany imports 56% of Sweden's refined copper exports and its total output is exported almost exclusively to European destinations.
Despite being a major weapons producer, Sweden has not participated in any war for nearly 200 hundred years.
Swedes are one of the most highly taxed populations in the world with a tax rate of 51.4%.
Sweden is the third largest country in the European Union but it has the second lowest population density.
The country has one of the highest life expectancies in the world, 74 for men and 80 for women.


text:
China 'Delays' Enforcement Of Data Law As Trade Talks Continue
All Tech News > Mobility > China 'Delays' Enforcement Of Data Law As T...
Matthew Broersma, April 23, 2019, 1:56 pm
CloudDatacentreMarketingMobilityNetworksRegulationSecurityWorkspace
Chinese regulators are reportedly looking to avoid a fresh confrontation with US companies amidst sensitive trade negotiations
China's government is delaying the enforcement of a controversial security measure that would restrict foreign companies from transferring certain types of data out of the country due to ongoing trade talks with the US, the Financial Times reported.
Regulators had planned to begin enforcing the new rules by the end of last year, but delayed doing so to avoid a fresh confrontation with US companies amidst sensitive trade talks, the FT said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Article 37 of China's Cyber Security Law (CSL) states that operators of critical information infrastructure must store personal data and "important data" in China.
If it's necessary for the data to be transported elsewhere, companies must carry out a security review or, in particularly sensitive cases, must bring in local regulators to make the assessment.
Controversial law
The law was passed in November 2016 and officially brought into force in June of the following year.
Industry watchers say the vagueness of the definition of "important data", makes it impossible for firms to ensure they're compliant with the new rules.
"The sheer scope of the CSL is mind-boggling. And… it is also extremely vague," London-based strategic consultancy Control Risks wrote in a report at the time of the law's implementation.
"This means that it is currently impossible to be 'compliant'."
The rules specify "important data" as that which is related to economic development or the public interest.
In its 2019 APAC Data Protection Guide, law firm Hogan Lovells said questions remain around "important data" and the cases in which it is "necessary" to move it out of China.
"Significant uncertainty remains with respect to the scope and impact of Article 37," the report states.
"The precise nature of substantive review of international transfers has not yet been clarified, and basic considerations such as the test of 'necessity' of a transfer and the criteria for assessing the adequacy of security measures have not yet been specified."
China says the rules are intended to improve security, but lawyers cited by the FT said the measures also have the effect of putting pressure on international businesses to consider using local suppliers for services such as data storage, systems hosting and technology procurement, including encryption.
Financial services firms often move data out of the country to comply with transparency laws in other jurisdictions or to analyse data to find patterns associated with fraud, the FT said.
The new regulations could force firms to relocate analytics processes to China, possibly moving proprietary software and even staff into the country, according to the report.
The laws have caused some international firms to change their business practices in China, with Amazon Web Services, for instance, selling some of its Chinese cloud assets to partner Beijing Sinnet Technology Co.
Apple says its iCloud services in mainland China are now operated by a Chinese internet services company called Guizhou on the Cloud Big Data Industrial Development Co. (GCBD) in order to "comply with Chinese regulations".
Tesla To Open Chinese Design And Research Centre
US 'Set To Ground Civilian Drone Programme' Over Spying Risk
US 'Pressured' Netherlands To Block China Chip Equipment Sale
Leading New ICT Huawei
powered by Huawei


text:
OAKLANDS COLLEGE
Existing & Proposed
3D visual of the Gateway Building
3D visual of the General Teaching Building – new science laboratories, flexible teaching and learning spaces for a range of vocational and A Level Courses
3D visual of the Construction and Engineering Building – new modern industry standard workshops
3D visual of the Homestead – 80 bedroom residential accommodation
Homestead Elevations
Sectors : Masterplanning / Learning
Client : Oaklands College
DLA's £50M masterplan for the regeneration of Oaklands College's St Alban's campus has received planning consent from the Secretary of State. Our phased masterplan strategically replaces the outdated buildings, in order to create a modern and forward-looking campus.
Once a manor house and former agricultural college, the St Albans campus has evolved over the years with an assortment of teaching facilities in its grounds. Although a highly successful college, much of the estate is no longer fit for purpose and is in need of radical overhaul to meet modern expectations. DLA's architectural response groups departments and student-focussed uses around a new college square, to enrich the college community. Nine new buildings are introduced by the masterplan, connected by landscape improvements, which will enhance the Green Belt setting.
Encouraging a permanent student presence on the campus is vital to the overall masterplan, which The Homestead will help to deliver. Accommodating 80 ensuite study bedrooms, including 4 wheelchair accessible rooms and 2 warden's rooms as well as a student Social Learning Space, collaborative workspaces and lounge areas, The Homestead is intended to reflect the architectural quality of its agricultural and greenbelt setting and is designed with a material palette of brick, timber, and slate.
The largest new addition to the campus will be the General Teaching Building, which will house flexible spaces for a range of courses. The building is organised into four linked blocks of seminar rooms and Category 1 and 2 laboratories over two floors. External materials are black sine-wave zinc and engineering brick, which continues the architectural theme of handmade materials with close attention to detail.
To address the need for a clear College entrance, a new Student Centre has been designed to act as the Gateway Building. It will be home to the main Learning Resource Centre and administration offices, ensuring that student support services are easily accessible, as well as the college's main reception. The Gateway opens up onto the new College Square and will be clad in black glazed terracotta.
The Construction and Engineering building brings together courses for construction trades into one academic setting. Generous workshops are created on the ground floor for the major trades: plastering, electrical, and painting & decorating. Above are seminar rooms for each discipline. Clad in standing seam zinc and with an undulating zigzag roof, the corner dramatically cantilevers over the forecourt to signal the entrance and is lined in a striking red Danpolon.
Other accommodation on campus will include a Sports Pavilion, with new facilities for both students and the local community, a children's nursery with four class rooms and support areas and an Equestrian Centre, featuring a green roof.
The Principal of Oaklands College has made the following statement:
"The masterplan will help us achieve our vision of improving the facilities for our College. Our students and staff continue to contribute so much to the local community and by offering exceptional and highly sustainable learning facilities we will create an asset the community can truly be proud of."
Zoe Hancock, Principal of Oaklands College.
© DLA DESIGN GROUP of Companies Ltd 2019
Registered in England, No: 03651206
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text:
Q: Is it possible to decrease the speed of a standard servo motor? I have TowerPro SG-5010 and its speed is 0.17 sec/60° at 4.8V and 0.14 sec/60° at 6V.
Just to be sure, is it possible to further decrease the rotation speed?

A: The way I reduce the rotation speed of a standard servo is to just not rotate the servo as fast.
Instead of changing the angle straight from, say, 0° directly to 90°, change the angle in small increments at the speed you want.
Even better is to use a logarithmic or exponential acceleration / deceleration schema.
Say you want to to from 0° to 90°.  First go from 0° to 1°.  Then from 1° to 3°.  Then from 3° to 6°, then to 10° etc, until you reach a top desired speed - then reduce the distance you are changing with each "step".
So for each "tick" of your control clock you would step by (as an example) 1°, 2°, 3°, 4°, 5°, 5°, ...  5°, 5°, 4°, 3°, 2°, 1°.
Another useful method is the "divide by 2" schema.
For that you simply move by half the target distance with each "tick".  So for a 90° rotation you first move to 45°.  That leaves 45° left to move, so you move 22.5°.  You then have 22.5° left to move, so you move half that at 11.25°, etc, until you have reached your destination.  It makes for a fast start to the movement, with a nice smooth deceleration to the target angle.
These methods are great for reducing the inertia and momentum induced stresses on the load of the servo motor.

A: Yes, the given speed would be "maximum" speed.
To decrease the speed of a regular motor you would use PWM to lower the voltage.
But servomotors (usually) work with a fixed width (20ms?) to indicate their rotation (1ms 0degrees, 4ms 360degrees?)
The illustration below shows the difference between PWM and servo control.
Image at the right is the servo signal, you should increase the ON time from 1ms to 4ms, the speed at which you do this will be your servomotor speed.
You should check the datasheet of your servo-motor to be sure.

A: Decrease the speed of a TowerPro SG-5010 servo motor
like this
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
import time
GPIO.setwarnings(False)
GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
GPIO.setup(12, GPIO.OUT)
p = GPIO.PWM(12, 100)
t = 0.2
r = 20
p.start(r)
while True:
        for i in range(5,r):
                p.ChangeDutyCycle(i)
                print(i)
                time.sleep(t)
        for i in range(r,5,-1):
                p.ChangeDutyCycle(i)
                print(i)
                time.sleep(t)


Umrah Packages: Mumbai, Delhi, Patna, & Jaipur (Rates Valid : 1st OCT to 11 April 2019) From 12th April to 02 May :: Add +4000 Rs to below rates as AirFare Increases.
Executive Packages : Will have 5 Star Hotels in Makkah 100 Mtrs & 3* Hotel in Madina 100 Mtrs.
Includes : Ticket, Visa, Hotels, Food, Laundry, Zamzam, Transfers, Ziayrats, Welcome Kits.
Please Note : From 20th DEC to 5th JAN - 5 Star Hotels will not be available in Executive so Anwar Deaafa will be given.
Deluxe Packages : Will have 3 Star Hotels in Makkah 450 - 550 Mtrs & Madina 150 Mtrs.
Economy : Will have Standard Hotels in Makkah 900 - 1200 Mtrs & Madina 500 - 600 Mtrs.
Includes : Ticket (Via Flight), Visa, Hotels, Food, Zamzam, Transfers, Welcome Kits.
Basic : Will have Standard Hotels in Makkah 1200 - 1500 Mtrs & Madina 500 - 600 Mtrs.
Includes : Ticket (Via Flight), Visa, Hotels, Transfers.
1. Departures Dates are Not Confirmed in Basic & Economy Package.
2. Dates will be announced 21 Days before Departure for Basic & Economy Pacakges.
3. Their is No Chil Fare in Basic an Economy Packages. Everybody pays Adult Price.
4. All tours are subject to visa availability by saudi government.
Those who have done umrah during Current or Previous Islamic year are liable to pay.


"Palm Trees" off of BetterOffDEAD (Meechy Darko, Zombie Juice, Erick The Architect) Directed By: APLUSFILMZ.
Learn more at: https://fstoppers.com/store How to Photograph Luxury Homes and Advanced Photoshop Techniques Mike Kelley and Fstoppers have teamed up again to share even more photography tips and techniques for photographing high end real estate for architects, interior designers, and luxury home builders. This 13 hour tutorial with 21 unique lessons follows architectural photographer Mike Kelley through 5 multi million dollar homes in Los Angeles and the Big Island of Hawaii. Each lesson will take you on the field as Mike works through each space for the first time, and then Mike will take you into Photoshop to show you every post processing trick he knows to combine all the images together into one spectacular ready for publication photograph. The full download, available at fstoppers.com/store, contains all of the high res images you need to follow along side by side with Mike so you can learn and apply each technique on your own computer.
The first fully illustrated book on the architecture of Max Gordon, just published by Marquand Books and distributed by D.A.P.
Prison Architect is a private prison construction and management simulation video game developed and published by Introversion Software. It was made available as a crowdfunded paid alpha pre-order on September 25, 2012 with updates scheduled every three to four weeks. With over 1,000,000 copies sold, Prison Architect made over US$10.7 million in pre-order sales for the alpha version.Prison Architect was an entrant in the 2012 Independent Games Festival.
The game was available on Steam's Early Access program, and was officially released on October 6, 2015.
The game is a top-down 2D construction and management simulation where the player takes control of building and running a prison. The player is responsible for managing various aspects of their prison including building cells and facilities, planning and connecting utilities, hiring and assigning staff, including a warden, guards, workers, and more. The player needs to recruit staff to unlock more aspects of the game. The player is also responsible for the finance, and keeping their inmates content. The player's role is of both architect and governor with sandbox micromanagement themes such as choosing where to put lights, drains and how they connect together. The player is also able to add workshops to the prison as well as reform programs that reduce the specific prisoner's repeat-offender rate. The player tells the prisoners what to do indirectly by setting their schedule. The game takes inspiration from Theme Hospital, Dungeon Keeper, and Dwarf Fortress.
Every Architectural and Landscape photographer needs this!