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School officials, board members, teachers and parents in Hoover through the years have blamed shifting demographics of children for Trace Crossings' decline, but court documents now reveal there were many problems among the grownups inside the school.
Robin Litaker at Trace Crossings Character Award ceremony.
Depositions and evidence presented in the lawsuit — where former Trace Crossings principal Robin Litaker is alleging that former superintendent, Andy Craig, showed favoritism toward male administrators, particularly when trouble arose within their schools — describe the turmoil the school was in when she arrived in 2010 and provide some likely reasons why families abandoned Trace through the years.
In court documents, Litaker and others describe a school where collective efficacy isn't visible. Prior to Litaker's arrival in 2010, teachers weren't following the state-mandated math course of study, weren't using board-required curriculum materials, and didn't want to plan together as grade-level teams, according to testimony.
Woven throughout the testimony and evidence is a look at a school that was in disarray when Litaker arrived at Trace in July 2010.
Litaker came to Hoover to teach P.E. at Trace when it first opened in 1992 with 600 students. She became Hoover's first statewide Alabama Teacher of the Year in 1997 while she was at Trace. Trace had grown to more than 1,000 students when newly-built Riverchase Elementary was built in 2004 and Litaker followed half of Trace's students to Riverchase.
A document obtained by Alabama School Connection showed that every one of the 80-plus teachers and employees at Trace was due for evaluation when Litaker became principal. Ten teachers hadn't been evaluated since before the year 2000.
Litaker said she ended the practice of placing children in classrooms using criteria of whether they lived in apartments or single-family homes and whether their parents were married or divorced.
Litaker said she discovered 27 children were misclassified in the DRC report for the school. The DRC ("Data Recognition Corporation") report was used to place children in the proper subgroup for federal accountability purposes. Misclassifying students would have skewed annual test results for Trace and impacted whether the school passed or failed Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) measures.
For example, if a student is classified as being eligible for free or reduced-price meals ("poverty") but actually isn't eligible ("non-poverty"), the test results for that student would be reported in the wrong category which could cause the real results for children in poverty being skewed.
Litaker said when she first came to Trace that "some of the teacher referred to minority students and special needs students as 'Sweet and Low', 'Those Kids', 'Apartment Kids', and 'You Know, Special'." Litaker said she instructed teachers to stop using those terms.
Former director of curriculum Deborah Camp testified that the Learning Forward report confirmed that teachers at Trace were not using the state-mandated math curriculum nor using the board-approved instructional materials for math.
That report was used as a "living document" blueprint for improvement measures, according to Camp.
Litaker, Camp, Barber, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Dr. Ron Dodson, Stone and former Title I director Linda Gurosky used the AYP failure to improve instruction at Trace and worked in teams to observe teachers and provide feedback on how to improve teaching in the second, third and fourth grades.
Litaker and Camp tried to investigate what happened to those fourth-grade test scores, but Dodson didn't follow through with the investigation because when he began the walk-throughs in the fall he could see that teachers weren't familiar with the math curriculum. "It makes sense to me that the scores dropping would have been a result of the teachers not being prepared to teach the curriculum," Dodson testified.
Dodson testified about the negativity that the teams from central office were encountering with teachers while conducting the walkthroughs.
Veal and Barber both testified that it is normal to have some teacher resistance when a new principal replaces a long-time principal.
Camp testified that it takes three to five years to turn a school around.
It's hard to know for sure what is happening with the grownups at Trace. One set of notes from a January 2013 meeting between Litaker, Barber, and Veal shows Barber was still struggling to get teachers to work together. Barber said she was working to build consensus because "teams appear to be taking sides with philosophical matters". In another statement, Barber said teachers refuse to take responsibility for their portion of the team.
That was three years ago. Since that time, school officials have publicly praised work at Trace.


On average, an estimated 565 Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer each day. That's over 16,000 Canadians each month, and an estimated 192,000 each year. In the next 15 years, those numbers are expected to jump by at least 15%.
Note: Pins will be available until April 30th.
Participating retailers may also vary from Province to Province.
In addition to wearing a daffodil, BC residents can also take part in the Canadian Cancer Society's Daffodil Dash. The Daffodil Dash is a run to raise funds for cancer research and prevention. Whether you run solo or participate as a group with friends and family, it's a great (and healthy) way to support those living with cancer as well as a great way to give back to the community and support the Canadian Cancer Society's continued efforts.
Another way you can support Daffodil month is by purchasing freshly cut daffodils. Just like the sales of all daffodil pins, money raised through all flower sales will go towards life-saving research, information, and support services. If you have any questions or would like to order daffodils, e-mail daffodilsbcy@bc.cancer.ca or call (604) 675-7355.
If you or someone you know has received the devastating diagnosis of cancer, remember you are not alone. There are many support options available and many ready and willing to listen and help you. For a list of the different types of support services available, visit cancer.ca.


Cluelessly messed around with roms and recovery, what's the best way to unlock my phone so I can use my sim on it??
Long story short when I got my One M8 back from HTC repair it was locked back to O2, I thought I could save myself a bit of money by changing roms and other stuff that I knew very little about and unlock the phone myself. It didn't work and now I'm running a custom rom so my sim unlock code (that I eventually purchased after changing everything) won't work.
I think I also somehow deleted my recovery because whenever I load into recovery from my boot loader I get a red error triangle. RUU doesn't work for me when I try to restore my phone to the stock rom (receive error 171).
So I'm just wondering what would be the best way to unlock my phone so I can use my sim on it, because I'm not sure what to do right now.
Not sure what information you'll need, but I'm S-on and my boot loader is unlocked. Would be happy to provide any other information needed.
Moved to the M8 Rooting forum.
Welcome to the forums. When booting into recovery, and at the screen with the red triangle, have you tried pressing and holding volume up while clicking power?
Cannot unlock bootloader, root or do anything with Verizon Galaxy S5. What can I do?
How can I transfer data from a tablet with non-functional screen?
How to get my Huawei y635, if it is stuck in fastboot and rescue mode (I cant connect it to the pc.)?
My Moto x 2014 has no memory even after cache reset and deletion of many apps, what do I do?


text:
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THE MID 20TH CENTURY USHERED IN A NEW ERA OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, THE BIRTH OF A NEW PROFESSION… AND ITS REPRESENTATIVE ASSOCIATION
Throughout history there have been multilingual intermediaries who have enabled communication across languages and cultures. These early interpreters played an important role in diplomacy, commerce, exploration and colonial conquests. It was, however, only in the twentieth century that conference interpreting emerged as a recognised profession, and only in the latter half of that century that interpreters decided to organise themselves within a worldwide professional association.
─── A professional association and trade union
A professional association and trade union
As the number of international organisations grew after World War II, so did the number of conference interpreters. Theirs was a new profession that warranted recognition and protection. It was in 1953 that Constantin Andronikof (OEEC, later OECD) convinced his fellow chief interpreters, André Kaminker (Council of Europe) and Hans Jacob (UNESCO), to set up an association, the International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC).
AIIC's Constituent Assembly was held on November 11, 1953. The founding fathers – Andronikof especially – wanted a worldwide organisation of staff and freelance conference interpreters who would agree on professional standards, determine their own working conditions and abide by a code of ethics.
Solidarity informed their approach to what turned out to be both a professional association and a trade union. The Code of Professional Ethics established early on that members of AIIC were bound to respect the confidentiality of all of the proceedings at which they interpreted. Membership was to be a guarantee of professionalism, with members' abilities vouched for by sponsors – members themselves – and vetted by an in-house committee. The language classification system that is still in use today was devised early on: a distinction between active (A or B) and passive (C) languages in consecutive or simultaneous interpreting that is shown in the AIIC Interpreters Directory.
─── Remuneration, working conditions and Agreements
Remuneration, working conditions and Agreements
Right from the outset, AIIC took a keen interest in working conditions in the broadest sense, including health and safety issues. The Code stipulated that members had to declare a single professional domicile, that all members of a team had to be paid the same rate (although a beginners' rate was introduced later on) and that contracts had to be honoured even if meetings were cancelled.
The determination to define remuneration, team strengths, working hours and conditions led the Association, in 1967, to enter into negotiations with major organisations on behalf of all interpreters. The Agreements resulting from these negotiations with employers like the UN, the EU and the Coordinated Organisations (European Space Agency, NATO and the Council of Europe) have been regularly reviewed and updated, apply to all interpreters, members and non-members alike, and have therefore played a key role in providing continuing recognition and protection for conference interpreters in a changing world.
─── Keeping up with the times
AIIC has kept up with the times. While there were only 35 members in Paris, Geneva and London in the 1950s, there are now over 3000 members in some 100 countries. They are divided into regions, with opportunities for local meetings coordinated by regional secretariats which facilitate communication with the Geneva-based headquarters, the Executive Committee and other bodies.
The Association also recognises the way the profession has evolved: there is now a Private Market Sector that focuses on working conditions for interpreters at private sector conferences and meetings not covered by the Agreements, giving them a forum in which to address issues specific to this 'non-agreement sector'.
It keeps up with technical developments, taking a close interest in ISO standards for booths and equipment as well as in the development and increasingly widespread use of remote interpreting. There has also been a move towards inclusivity, with the establishment of the Legal Interpreting Committee and the Sign Language Network. The fact that AIIC now has sign language interpreters among its members is testimony to its outreach to all areas of the interpreting profession in the twenty-first century.
See also: History of the Profession
Photo: AIIC founding member Susanna Vernon: UN Photo/Kari Berggrav
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
The Christmas Bear
December 22, 2022 December 19, 2022 / Artifacts and Objects, Children and Childhood, Christmas and Holidays / bear, childhood, Christmas, object, Tim Sprague
When I was a young kid, there was nothing bigger than Bingo's Circus Extravaganza.
I grew up in the Cleveland area during the '80s. While some of the larger television markets were featuring national children's programming in the afternoons, we didn't have more than one or two of those types of shows during the weekdays. The weekends had Saturday morning cartoons, and that was where we got our regular dose of commercials masquerading as entertainment, but the weekday afternoons were still filled with local programming.
Only a few of those shows were distinct enough that I still remember them. I can recall sitting in my father's recliner watching Barnaby, a show hosted by an older gentleman that would perform skits and introduce short cartoons featuring Casper and Popeye. There was another show that I can't remember the name of, but it consisted of a group of alien puppets that explored the galaxy and learned lessons while they did so. That one I found a bit boring.
Every weekday at 4:30pm, though, there might as well have been nothing else on television because that was when Bingo's Circus Extravaganza aired. I can't overstate how popular the show was. It was headlined by a dog puppet named Bingo who acted as the circus' ringmaster, and it featured a wide variety of recurring characters like Bango the Clown, Poe the Fortune Teller, and Leo Lion.
In the area that it was broadcast in, Bingo's Circus Extravaganza was huge. All of the kids watched it, including myself.
Whenever a new character was introduced, it was treated as a big deal. Teasers would be shown for at least a week before the reveal, and us children would have long and intense conversations about who or what the new character would be.
One of these teasers aired the first week of December when I was six. That was already enough to get me excited, but when it was announced that there would be two new characters, well, that absolutely blew my mind. I waited in anticipation as the days slowly ticked by. It wasn't until the middle of the next week that the reveal would take place. To a child, having to wait nine days is roughly equivalent to wanting something to happen for nine years in adult time.
Finally the big day came, and at Bingo's command a large purple curtain was opened. Standing on a stage were two bear puppets, one a boy and the other a girl. Bingo introduced them as Billy and Betty Bear, and he informed everyone that they were world-famous gymnasts. They started to perform a number of rolls and tumbles and flips. I was instantly a fan.
The reveal of Billy and Betty wasn't the only surprise that the show had in store for us, though. At the end of the episode, an advertisement for stuffed bears based on the pair was shown. These weren't just any old stuffed bears, though. They were able to talk and say a number of phrases, including their catchphrase, "Oopsie doopsie!" Their eyes moved, and their heads could turn from side to side. Best of all, they could even perform forward rolls just like on the show.
The advertisement ended by stating that Billy and Betty would be available in select areas starting that weekend. I moved closer to the television as a short list of stores and the towns they were located in came up on the screen. To my delight, there was my little suburb's name at the bottom of the list.
The begging began instantly.
I started with my mother, mostly because she was the one in the house at the time. After I had sufficiently annoyed her enough with my asking for the toys for Christmas, my father arrived home from work and I started in on him. I went a bit easier on the begging in his case. While my mother had the patience of Job, my father was more prone to becoming annoyed if I kept saying the same thing over and over again.
I knew that I had been successful when I saw my parents share a particular look. I was too young to understand the look at the time, but now I know that it was a combination of amusement and defeat. Even though I didn't know its exact meaning, I did know that it usually meant that my efforts had been successful. Now all there was to do was wait until Christmas.
That was easier said than done. Two weeks was even longer than nine days, after all. I had to keep reminding myself that it was going to be worth the wait when I got to open up the present containing those bears.
I learned later that finding Billy and Betty Bear, especially with such a limited availability at only select stores, was very difficult for my parents. Those of you that are old enough to remember the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle crazy will understand how difficult it can be to get your hands on whatever the big Christmas toy is. With the popularity of Bingo's Circus Extravaganza in the area and the newness of these particular characters, it took until almost Christmas for my parents to find them, and when they did they were only able to get one of them.
The year before there had been an incident in school that ended up dispelling my illusions about the existence of Santa Claus. Because of this, my parents decided to take a different approach for this year. Instead of waiting to put out the gifts after I went to bed, they stacked the boxes under the tree early in the evening on Christmas Eve. It was a lot less stressful for them, and if anything it built even more anticipation for me.
Maybe a bit too much anticipation. I found myself unable to sleep that night even though I absolutely wanted to. Falling asleep was the fastest way to get to the morning, after all, or at least that's how my six-year-old mind reasoned it. No matter how hard I tried, though, I just couldn't drift off.
Deciding that a change of scenery was in order, I got out of bed, grabbed my pillow and blanket, and went down to the living room. I had heard my parents go into their bedroom over an hour earlier, so I had the room to myself. The Christmas tree lights were still plugged in. They cast red, blue, green, and yellow spheres onto the walls and ceiling. I smiled as I climbed up onto the couch and settled in. Everything seemed so warm and pleasant.
I eventually drifted off to sleep.
When I awoke sometime later, it took me a few seconds to remember where I was. I blinked the sleep out of my eyes and turned my head to try to see the time on the clock that sat on the fireplace mantle, but the room was too dark for me to be able to make out where the hands were pointing. I frowned. Something about that didn't seem right.
A moment later I recalled that the Christmas tree lights had been plugged in when I had come downstairs. They were off now, and the tree itself was just a large black shape in the corner. I wondered if one of my parents had come downstairs and unplugged the cord. That didn't seem right, though. If one of them had come downstairs, they would have taken me back up to bed. The couch was plainly visible from the stairs.
I sat up and slid off the couch. I expected my feet to touch soft carpet, but instead they pressed down on something dry that crunched under my weight. Looking down, I found that I was standing on torn and discarded wrapping paper. Nearby was a large present that had been ripped open right down the middle of the box.
Curious, I went over to the present and picked it up. Even in the dim light I could make out the circus-themed pattern on the inside of the box and the picture of the fuzzy-faced bear. I felt a smile spread across my face. My parents had gotten me a Billy Bear for Christmas. I had suspected that they would, of course, but here was the actual proof.
The smile slipped from my lips. This was the packaging for it, but where was the bear itself? It wasn't inside the box.
I'm not sure if I heard a sound or caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of my eye, but something drew my attention to the stairs. By the time that I turned my head there was nothing to see. Nothing that I could make out in the darkness, anyway. I felt a growing sense of unease. I wasn't wholly comfortable with the dark at the age of six to begin with, and the unnatural situation that I had woken up to was compounding that discomfort.
I didn't consciously start walking towards the stairs. One moment I was standing still in front of the couch, and the next my legs were moving. I reached the bottom and went up the two steps that led to the bottom landing. I turned and looked up.
Something was moving on the steps. It was small, maybe half my height, and it was moving awkwardly as it ascended. When it reached the middle landing, the light that penetrated the gloom from outside through the thin curtains of the nearby window gave me a better look at the figure. Standing on the carpeted landing, its head tilted to stare up at the second floor, was Billy Bear.
Before I could fully process what I was seeing, he disappeared behind the wall as it made the turn and continued up the stairs. Just before he went out of view, however, I saw how unnatural his movements were. Instead of being smooth and fluid, they were stilted and twitchy. My young mind went back to an old black-and-white movie that my father had watched with me during the summer. There had been a robot that had attacked a group of astronauts, and the robot had moved with those same jerky motions. The movie had scared me; my mother had scolded my father when she had found out that he had allowed me to watch it.
Not knowing what else to do, I slowly went up the stairs after the bear. I should have yelled out for my parents, or scrambled back down into the living room and buried myself under my blanket, but for some reason I didn't. I don't know why. Again, I was only six, and I had just woken up.
I could hear Billy Bear above me now. He made an odd sound as he moved, like a combination of clicking and the tinkling of small bells. It was very quiet, but I could still make it out in the stillness of the house.
I stopped on the middle landing and listened intently. The jingling of Billy Bear's movements was getting further away now that he was moving across the second floor. Staying as low as possible, I crawled up the steps and halted just before my head would have peeked out over the top step. I waited for a pair of heartbeats before I lifted my head and looked around.
There was nothing there. My parents left a nightlight on in the hallway at night for me just in case I needed to use the bathroom, and the glow it gave off was enough for me to determine that Billy Bear was gone. I had no idea where he had gone, but he wasn't in the hallway.
The door to my bedroom was open. I was certain that I had closed it before I had gone downstairs; I hadn't wanted my parents to wake up in the middle of the night and notice that I wasn't in bed. The only explanation was that Billy Bear had gone inside.
I hurried over to the door and closed it. I didn't know what was going on, but something was and at least this way Billy Bear would be trapped while I got my parents.
Going over to their door, I slowly turned the doorknob but only opened it a few inches before stopping. Even though I knew that I needed to get them, I was still oddly hesitant to wake them up.
I had just started to go into the bedroom when something grabbed me and pulled me backwards. I tried to scream, but a soft object was shoved into my mouth to prevent me from doing so. Losing my footing, I fell to the floor with a thud. Almost as soon as I had landed, Billy Bear emerged into view and hopped up onto my chest, his left paw still pushed down into my mouth. He hadn't been in my bedroom after all, but had been hiding inside the hallway closet instead.
The bear's normally pleasant expression was twisted back in a vicious grin. The mechanical eyes were vibrating in their sockets, and his teeth kept clacking together as it raised its free arm. There was a quiet hissing sound as a long thin needle extended out from the center of its paw.
I tried to struggle, but the bear moved too quickly. Before I could react, Billy Bear pushed the needle down into my neck. I felt a burning sensation as something was injected into my body. Tears began to stream down my cheeks. Billy Bear removed his paw from my mouth and stood up straight, the needle retracting back out of sight.
My first instinct was to throw the bear off of me and scream as loud as I could. No matter how hard I tried to do just that, though, I couldn't move. Every muscle in my body was locked in place. While I could still breathe, it took real effort to do so. I know now that he had injected me with a strong paralytic, but at the time I had no idea what was happening to me and the panic threatened to overtake me.
Billy Bear leaned in closer until his face was mere inches from mine. The insane look that it was contorted into was more than enough to frighten me, but there was something else that I couldn't immediately point to that added to it. He tilted his head back and forth, and as he did so that odd jingling sound filled my ears.
The bear's eyes moved slightly to one side. They shifted just enough for me to see that there was something behind them. I couldn't make out what that something was. Whatever it was, though, it was also moving around at the back of the mouth. Before I could get a better look at it, he slid off of my stomach.
I felt like I wasn't connected to the rest of my body. The paralytic Billy Bear had used on me had not only shut off my muscle control, but it had made it so that I couldn't even feel anything. I had randomly fallen into a position where I was sitting up against the wall. Looking back on it now, this was extremely fortunate. With the state I was in, I'm not sure that I wouldn't have swallowed my own tongue if I had landed differently.
Billy Bear considered me for a long moment before turning towards my parents' bedroom door. He walked over and pressed on it. The door swung open slowly as the bear applied pressure to it. He opened it all the way and stared into the room.
From the angle I was sitting at, I could just make out my father's body on top of the bed. He was laying on his side with his back to the now-open door. I tried to call out to him, but I couldn't move my mouth or force out any noise.
The bear turned and took one last glance at me before going into the bedroom. He walked to the edge of the bed and examined it for a moment before grabbing onto the side with his paws and trying to pull himself up. He slipped off of the sheets and fell back down to the floor. He tried again, but it was met with the same result.
I felt a momentary relief. No matter how hard he tried, Billy Bear just could not get up the side of the bed. Eventually his efforts would wake my father up, and once that happened he would surely be able to help me.
Billy Bear took a step back and considered things. Seeming to come to a conclusion, he sat down on the carpet and reached up to grip his ears with his paws.
There was a ripping sound as he pulled on the ears. His head began to split down the middle as the cloth tore, exposing the white fluff inside. He continued pulling until half of his body was ruined. The stuffing shifted and fell to the floor as the creature inside emerged.
I would have screamed in horror if I had been able to. From the remains of the stuffed bear came something pulled straight from a nightmare. Its head resembled a human skull, but instead of white or gray it was a dark crimson. The jaw worked up and down slowly as it came into view.
The head was attached to a spine-like appendage, and from that appendage sprouted two arms that were jointed the opposite of human arms. Each of the hands' four fingers were thin almost to the point of being delicate, and each of them ended in curved points that resembled scalpels. The creature pulled itself all the way free from the bear's remains, revealing that the spine terminated in a long fine spike. It was the needle that had paralyzed me. A series of ribs were also attached to the spine, but they were able to bend and flex in ways that weren't possible for a human. It operated them like a human moves their fingers.
It raised its head slightly, and it started to float upward off the floor. The spine curled under the head and gave it the appearance of being in an odd sitting position. Its movements were slow and deliberate, each accompanied by the same jingling sound that I had been hearing. When it reached the level of the top of the bed it stopped its ascent and extended its spike towards my father.
It lashed out so quickly that I almost didn't see it move. The spike pushed into the back of my father's neck with seemingly no effort. He yelped and tried to sit up as he woke up, but he was unable to do so before the paralytic took effect.
His sudden activity woke my mother, and she quickly sat up as she tried to simultaneously figure out what was happening and regain full consciousness. The creature's spike whipped forward again and struck her in the chest just above her left breast. She almost immediately froze and fell back onto the mattress.
It was at that moment that I knew that I was going to die. Can you even imagine what type of realization is like to a six-year-old child? I barely understood what death was, and yet I knew that it was a certainty for my family. I didn't have the mental capacity or the world experience at that age to come to terms with that knowledge. There was only a great fear that completely consumed me.
The creature reached out with its short arms and gently pulled down the sheets to uncover my parents. It then floated into position above my father and used its razor-sharp fingertips to slash the buttons off of his pajama shirt so that his chest was laid bare. The jingling grew louder as it bobbed its head up and down.
With the steadiness and precision of a surgeon, it reached down with one finger and slowly sliced open my father's chest.
It was a minor mercy that I couldn't see the operation that was performed on my father. I wasn't sitting at quite the right angle for that. I could hear it, though, and in some ways that was worse. I've never been able to forget the sounds of blood spurting out of the open cavity, or the noise of the creature jingling as it continued cutting.
When it was finally finished, the fountain of gore had stopped, and I knew that my father was gone.
The creature reached into the opening and removed a misshapen object. It was my father's heart. Being careful not to damage the organ with its claws, it wrapped its flexible ribs around it and held it firmly between them. Its jaw opening and closing in excitement, it floated over to my mother and began to perform the same procedure on her.
I was going to be next. There was no doubt about that in my mind. As the creature went about its work, I did everything that I could to regain control of my body. I was starting to feel it again, but I still wasn't able to move anything.
I found that wasn't exactly correct. While most of my body remained immobile, I was able to flex my big toes. It wasn't much. It meant that I wasn't permanently paralyzed, though, and if the creature ignored me for long enough I might be able to run away or fight it off by the time it returned its attention to me. All that I could do was hope.
My hopes were shattered when it finished with my mother, removing her heart and gently placing it next to my father's inside of its ribs. It was poetic, in a way, but that was lost on the young boy that was now orphaned and alone in the world.
The creature rotated towards me and floated over to hover above me. It considered me for a long moment, the eyeless sockets of the skull staring down at me as its fingers flexed and jingled. I was helpless and at its mercy, and there was no mercy in its empty gaze.
Without warning, it turned away and moved out of my sight. For a long while I laid there knowing that it would be back at any moment to cut me open the way that it had my parents, but that moment never came. Eventually the fear gave way to confusion. What had just happened?
I've had a lot of time to think about it, and I've come to the conclusion that the creature didn't spare me out of pity or kindness. I'm sure that it was simply because it wouldn't have been able to carry my heart alongside the two that it had already collected. I was saved by sheer luck.
I don't feel lucky. Quite the opposite, actually.
Over the next few minutes I regained the ability to move my body. It started with the lower extremities and worked its way up. I had never been so grateful to be able to blink in my life.
As I got to my feet, I noticed how warm I was. There was also an odd smell in the air, one that smelled a lot like when my father would accidentally burn bacon when he attempted to make breakfast on the weekends.
It didn't matter, though. All that mattered was that I needed to get help. While I knew logically that my parents were dead, I still had some crazy notion in my head that if I got them help fast enough, they would be able to be saved. I rushed into my room and put on my shoes and coat before hurrying downstairs.
The entire living room was on fire. A wall of heat struck me as I reached the bottom landing, and I held a hand up over my face to shield my eyes from the bright light. I watched the flames dance between the floor and walls for what seemed like an eternity before I roused myself and ran into the kitchen. There was a door leading into the backyard there, and I flung it open before hurrying out into the cold night.
I went around the side of the house to the front lawn and stopped. Other houses in my neighborhood were burning as well, and there were screams coming from inside some of them. It wasn't the fires that held my attention, however. It was the procession moving down the street in front of me.
There were dozens of the creatures heading south on the road. Some of them were still disguised inside of Billy Bears and Betty Bears, while others floated above the concrete. All of them carried freshly harvested hearts. The air was filled with the sound of jingling bells as they moved towards some unknown destination. They ignored me and the few neighbors that were also standing in their lawns staring at them. They had gotten everything that they had wanted, and they no longer had use for us.
Reaching the end of the road, the macabre parade disappeared into the shadows.
As I said earlier, I've had a lot of time to think about what happened. In all that time, though, I haven't been able to piece much together. I have some guesses, but nothing that is rooted in fact.
I think the fires were started to hide what the creatures did. They were set in such a way that the wind quickly spread the flames to other nearby homes, and by the time the sun was coming up the entire neighborhood had burned. It happened in other nearby towns as well, all of which just happened to have been listed as towns receiving Billy and Betty Bear toys on Bingo's Circus Extravaganza.
The fires were all officially listed as having been caused by faulty wiring or started by dangerous Christmas light hookups. The deaths were attributed to smoke inhalation and being burned to death. There was no mention of missing organs or mutilated bodies.
The survivors were informed by law enforcement that the official story about the fires was what had really happened. It was implied that anyone that spoke out against that story would be promptly dealt with. No one came right out and said it, but everyone understood what that implication meant. I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut, and I didn't even tell my grandmother about what had happened when she arrived to pick me up from the hospital I was taken to. It's not like she would have believed me anyway.
I don't know why there was a cover-up. Maybe there was money involved, or maybe the people in power had something to do with the creatures. Maybe it's due to reasons that I'll never know or understand. It's been so many years now that most people that would know the truth are dead and buried.
I've tried to forget about it. I really have. I've paid a lot of shrinks a lot of money to help me with doing just that, but so far nothing has worked. The memories are always rattling around in the back of my mind, ready to surface again when I least suspect it.
Two nights ago, in the early morning of Christmas, there were a series of fires in three nearby towns. All of them occurred in neighborhoods, and all of them were a part of a test market for a new collection of lifelike robotic stuffed animals. The news reported that the fires were due to faulty wiring in old homes and from outlets overloaded with Christmas lights.
That's not what happened. I know that if someone was able to examine the bodies they would find each of them was missing a very specific internal organ. The harvest had come back to Ohio this year.
I'm just going to try to pretend that I don't know any of this and that I believe the news reports. Doing anything else would be dangerous, and I've been through enough to last a lifetime. I've lost enough to the harvest already.
Like I said, I've had a lot of time to think over things.
Credit: Tim Sprague


text:
Q: Mysterious MYSQL syntax error - works fine in phpMyadmin, not on page Trying to get a list of expenses from a certain date, I can execute this SQL fine in PHPMyAdmin but on the page I am receiving a MYSQL Syntax Error.
The Code:
$full_date = date('d M Y', strtotime($date));

$get_expenses = mysql_query("SELECT Sum(cost) AS expense FROM expenses WHERE date = $full_date")or die(mysql_error());

$expenses = mysql_fetch_array( $get_expenses );

echo $expenses['expense'];

The syntax error I receive is:

You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'Apr 2015' at line 1

I have checked to see the value of $expenses['expense'] and it returns a valid date. In PHPMyAdmin I can execute this SQL with no problems. Any pointers? Cheers!

A: try like this,before that convert your date to respective format then do like this,
$get_expenses = mysql_query("SELECT Sum(cost) AS expense FROM expenses WHERE date = '$full_date'")or die(mysql_error());

A: SELECT Sum(cost) AS expense FROM expenses WHERE date = 13 Apr 2015

is not a valid query, but it's what you get from that expression.
You should surround the value with quotes, such as with:
$full_date = date('Y-m-d', strtotime($date));
$get_expenses = mysql_query("SELECT Sum(cost) AS expense FROM expenses WHERE date = '$full_date'") or die(mysql_error());

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Home » Animal Supply Company welcomes 11 high-quality brand partners
Pet Food Press Releases
Animal Supply Company welcomes 11 high-quality brand partners
The brands specialize in natural and organic pet food and products.
Animal Supply Company (ASC), the national leader in pet food and supplies distribution, has added or expanded distribution with 11 brand partners: Almo Nature, Butcher's Prime, FirstMate, Green Coast Pet, Halo, Merrick Pet Care, Meowijuana, Primal, Solid Gold, Tyson Pet and Weruva. Animal Supply is the exclusive distributor to six of the 11 (Almo Nature, Butcher's Prime, FirstMate, Green Coast Pet, Halo and Meowijuana).
"I knew Animal Supply was a team I wanted to represent my brand," said Mike Bateman, President, COO & Co-Founder of Green Coast Pet. "When we had the opportunity to work together, we knew we had a winning partnership. We couldn't be happier with the exclusive national partner we have chosen to help build Green Coast Pet to the next level."
The brands all specialize in manufacturing high quality natural and organic pet food and products, and selected ASC because of its growing, modern distribution network and leading digital products and services.
For example, ASC has developed digital assets optimized for a business-to-business environment that make it easier for pet retailers to stock their store shelves with brands their customers want. This includes a new retail website and mobile app launching later this year that make doing business simple.
The website features a modern mobile responsive design, easy shopping by categories and brands, dynamic inventory, advanced search, quick ordering and simple checkout, to name a few. The mobile app will give retailers the power to shop on-the-go from the convenience of their smartphones with innovative scan-to-order that allows them to spend less time ordering, and more with pet parents.
"These types of innovations and digital solutions help us increase sales and better connect with independent pet specialty retailers," said Tim Simonds, Chief Executive Officer, Merrick Pet Care. "As we continue to grow our business, we selected Animal Supply as one of our strategic logistics partners to help expand our distribution and reach more pet parents with our superior products."
Through the opening of three additional warehouses earlier this year, ASC is also growing its logistics, smart routing and fulfillment capabilities nationwide. Located in Orrville, Ohio; Grain Valley, Missouri; and Bartlett, Illinois, these warehouses employ 200 people, and add 350,000 square feet of warehouse space, including significant freezer and refrigerated storage. This expansion brings total warehouse space to over 1.75 million square feet.
"We're thrilled these top brands have selected us as their exclusive distribution partner," said Tim Batterson, Chief Operating Officer of Animal Supply Company. "Whether it's a big name or a hard to find niche product, our goal is to connect the most trusted brands with independent retailers who share our belief that pets are part of the family."
Animal Supply Company acquired by Summit Partners
Portland Pet Food Company expands distribution with Animal Supply Company
Animal Supply Company announces leadership promotions


text:
The Glendon School of Public and International Affairs
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Major Research Papers
O`Neil, Allison (2021). "Getting Canadians to care": News Media Coverage of the 2016 CHRT Decision on Indigenous Child Welfare.
Supervisor: Dr. Elaine Coburn
Renteria, Cristian (2021). The involvement of Indigenous and Afro-Colombian Women in the Colombian Peace Treaty Process.
Supervisor: Dr. Clara Chapdelaine-Feliciati
Tshibamba Kahongo, Benjamin (2021). Implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) and reparation process for women victims of sexual violence in South Kivu, DR Congo
Sullivan, Charlotte (2020). State Death or the Death of Statism? On Climate Change, Sovereignty, and Deterritorialized Statehood.
Supervisor: Dr. Ellen Gutterman
Awwad, Mona (2020). The Failure of Diplomatic Mediations in the Syrian Conflict. A Comparative Analysis.
Supervisor: Dr. Miloud Chennoufi
Sharma, Kirti (2019). Mapping the "Healthy Immigrant Effect".
Supervisor: Shirin Shahrokni
Therrien, Miguel (2019). Critically Analysing Gender Mainstreaming: Equality Through Gender-Based Public Policies.
Supervisor: Jean-Michel Montsion
Wallace, Justine (2019). "We're Not All Nice": Exploring Ideological Constructions of Canada and "Canadianness" from the Perspectives of Black Women of the Second Generation.
Supervisor: Elaine Coburn
Woodmass, Kyler (2019). Women and visible minorities in Canada's House of Commons: A discussion of data narratives and representational justice.
Supervisor: Nicolas Guillaume-Martineau
Bigand-Mussel, Claire. (2018). Integrating Indigenous Know-How Into Scientific Knowledge: The Case of Arctic Climate Change.
Supervisor: Marie Lavoie
Ebrahim, Christine. (2018). The Failure of Diplomacy in Syria Since 2011.
Supervisor: Miloud Chennoufi
Hudon, Michelle. (2018). Strategic Management in the Public Sector – A Glance at Canada's Approach to Performance Management in the Health Care Sector.
Supervisor: Francis Garon
Mackie, Claire. (2018). Gender, Indigeneity and Trade – The Gendered Impacts of Trade Liberalization on Indigenous Peoples in Canada and Mexico.
Supervisor: Jacinthe Michaud
Nefs, Joanna. (2018). Leaving Some Behind: The Exclusion of Persons with Mental and Intellectual Disabilities in the Context of Modern Disability Advocacy.
Zarbalieva, Simona. (2018). The Social Economy – Two Provinces, Two Approaches.
Blakely-Dejy, Laura. (2017). Living with Precarious Legal Status in the City of Toronto
Curran, Megan. (2017). Balancing Act: A Canadian Federal Access to Information Law For Today
Felian, Melissa. (2017). Defining and Evaluating a Progressive Trade Agenda in Canada and The United States
Mysak, Katie. (2017). The Case for Federal Indigenous Language Legislation in Canada
Supervisor: Ian Martin
Boehm, Shelby. (2016). The Genesis of the Islamic State: How recent events in the Middle East triggered the increasing presence of radicalization
Supervisor : Miloud Chennoufi
Harlley, Louise. (2016). Rwanda: Assessing Innovation in the Agricultural Sector
Supervisor : Marie Lavoie
Harrison, Teshini. (2016). Beyond The Bacchanal: Finding Value in Toronto's Caribbean Carnival Almost 50 Years Later
Williams, Geneviève. (2016). The Case for a Canadian Cabinet Manual
Supervisor : Bruce Hicks
Beqo, Livia.(2015). A Gendered Perspective of the Safe Drinking Water for First Nations Act.
Supervisor : Joanna Robinson
Carpenter, Elizabeth.(2015). Association between Non-communicable Diseases and Foreign Direct Investment in Developing Countries.
Drysdale, Colin.(2015). Renewable Energy Cooperatives: The Impact of Democratic, Community-owned Sustainable Energy in Ontario.
Supervisor : Eugene Lang
Faludi, Otto.(2015). Transnational Corporations, Human Rights, and the Transformation of International Law: Case Studies on Canadian Mining Companies in the International Legal Order.
Supervisor : Michael Barutciski
Lowenger, Allison. (2015). Canadian Judicial Diversity in an Indigenous Context: A Look through Overton's Window at the Need for Aboriginal Presence on the Bench and Potential Methods to Address Urgent Structural Issues and Requisite Aboriginal Justice Reform.
Supervisor : Ian Martin
Turcotte, Alexandre.(2015). The Internet of Things through the Lens of Economics of Innovation – International Comparison of National Systems of Internet of Things.
Hamel, Roxanne. (2014). The Potential Contribution of Chinese-Canadians to Canada-China Relations.
Supervisor : Jean Michel Montsion
Elez Vanya. (2014). Policy Analysis of the Potential Impact Microcredit Expansion: A Case Study of Serbia.
Naon, Katiohora. (2014). La traite des enfants en Côte d'Ivoire: analyse des conditions socio-économiques et du cadre juridico-institutionnel.
Anderson, Jessica. (2013). Domestic Norm Diffusion and International Agents – The development of Kenya's national IDP framework and the role of UNHCR and the Special Rapporteur on IDPs.
Chan, Janet. (2013). Sustainable Urban Transportation: Case study of Taipei's MRT system.
Cowper-Smith, Yuriko. (2013). Aung San Suu Kyi: An Intersectional Analysis of Agency in the Media.
Supervisor : Jacinthe Michaud
Van Ymeren, Jamie Leigh.(2013). Moving "Beyond the Border': risk, surveillance and technology at the Canada-US border.
Supervisor : Ellen Gutterman
Volkhammer, Jaclyn.(2013). Senate Reform: An Alternative Route to a More Effective Upper House.
Supervisor : Ian Roberge
Basta, Francesca. (2012). A Cultural Economics assessment of the Preah Vihear Temple World Heritage Site (Bangkok/Cambodia): How To Reduce the Trade-off between Development and Economic Well-Being.
Imtiaz, Farheen. (2012). MSG Consumption and Obesity: A Bibliometric Analysis.
Jankovic, Milos. (2012). Gambit Diplomacy: Province-Push Federalism.
Angeletti, Cory. (2011). Human Rights and the Environment: The Discursive Position of Human Rights in South Africa's National Environment Management Act.
Supervisor : Stuart Schoenfeld
Collins, Michelle.(2011). A New Multilateralism in a Shifting Foreign Policy.
Supervisor : Alex Himelfarb
Jaotody, Marie-Anitha.(2011). Impact de l'information sur l'équilibre du marché du travail.
Pogosyan, Karina.(2011). Sex Trafficking to Sweden: Documenting the Changes 1999-2010.
Supervisor : Christina Clark-Kazak
Service, Alexandra.(2011). Rescuing Women: A Critical Analysis of the Role of Women in Conservative Government Discourses of the Afghanistan War, 2006-2010.
Abdel-Malek, Reem. (2010). Reforming the Canadian Refugee Determination System.
Balakhnina, Marianna. (2010). Options for Canadian Assistance to Bolivia's Decentralization and Participative Development Process.
Supervisor : Viviana Patroni
Novak, Adrienne. (2010). Economic Clusters in Innovation Strategies of Estonia and Latvia.
Supervisor : Willem Maas
Richardson, Graham. (2010). Towards School Readiness: The Early Development Instrument as a program evaluation tool for the Ontario Full-Day Early Learning – Kindergarten program.
Troster, Nicole. (2010). Risk and the Olympics: The Case of the 2016 Games in Brazil.
Learn more about the MPIA program
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Every day I open up my cover letter. I push a period here, change a sentence there. I think 'That's Good' and hope that will mean Good Enough to the person sifting through resume after resume. How to stand out, how to fit into the shape they want for their firm – is it bragging?


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text:
package com.lightbend.lagom.scaladsl.api

import scala.collection.immutable

sealed trait ServiceInfo {
  /**
   * The name of this service.
   */
  val serviceName: String

  /**
   * All the locatable services and their ACLs
   */
  @deprecated("Lagom will no longer support multiple locatable descriptors per service.", "1.3.2")
  val locatableServices: Map[String, immutable.Seq[ServiceAcl]]

  /**
   * ACLs for this service.
   */
  val acls: Iterable[ServiceAcl]
}

object ServiceInfo {

  def apply(name: String, locatableServices: Map[String, immutable.Seq[ServiceAcl]]): ServiceInfo =
    ServiceInfoImpl(name, locatableServices)

  private case class ServiceInfoImpl(serviceName: String, locatableServices: Map[String, immutable.Seq[ServiceAcl]]) extends ServiceInfo {
    override val acls: Iterable[ServiceAcl] = locatableServices.values.flatten
  }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Using expect to create the Nessus user How can I do the same thing as done here using ansible expect to create nessus user (nessuscli) without using Ansible ?
I am trying following with no luck:
#!/usr/bin/expect -f

set timeout -5

spawn /opt/nessus/sbin/nessuscli adduser

expect "(.*)Login(.*):\r"

send -- "admin\r"

expect "(.*)Login password(.*)\r" send -- "password\r"

expect "(.*)Login password(.*)\r" send -- "password\r"

expect "(.*)system administrator(.*)\r" send -- "y\r"

expect "(.*)rules set(.*):\r" send -- "\n\r"

expect "(.*)ok(.*):\r" send -- "y\r"

expect eof

A: The code in the answer you linked to does not contain \r sequences inside the expect match expressions, nor does a more traditional example
Thus, I suspect you will get a lot further by removing the \r sequences from the expect blocks:
#!/usr/bin/expect -f

set timeout -5

spawn /opt/nessus/sbin/nessuscli adduser

expect "(.*)Login(.*):"
send -- "admin\r"

expect "(.*)Login password(.*)"
send -- "password\r"

expect "(.*)Login password(.*)"
send -- "password\r"

expect "(.*)system administrator(.*)"
send -- "y\r"

expect "(.*)rules set(.*):"
send -- "\n\r"

expect "(.*)ok(.*):"
send -- "y\r"

expect eof


text:
Twitter now lets 68M people in Indonesia buy data, minutes, and SMS packages via DM
Michael de Waal-Montgomery@michaeldwm
Buying Indosat smartphone packages through Twitter DMs
Connect with top gaming leaders in Los Angeles at GamesBeat Summit 2023 this May 22-23. Register here.
Twitter announced a new partnership Monday that allows the 68 million subscribers of Indosat, one of Indonesia's largest carriers, to top up their phones through its direct messaging (DM) feature.
The company lifted the 140-character DM limit in June, seemingly paving the way for new business opportunities such as this.
Indonesia is an emerging market that the microblogging platform is known to have been eyeing. Last week, Twitter's managing director for Southeast Asia, India, North Africa, and the Middle East, told The Wall Street Journal that the country of 250 million is "the next phase of our growth."
Meanwhile, Prashant Gokarn, Indosat's chief of digital, said in a statement that the carrier is the first in Asia-Pacific to ink such a deal with Twitter. But a Twitter spokesperson was unable to confirm whether this was, in fact, the first such partnership.
Update: A Twitter spokesperson offered the following comment:
O2 launched TweetServe that provides features for users to retrieve credit balance or discount deal information (non-transactional base). You can check this video about O2 TweetServe. Another industry that utilised Twitter for their channel is from banking with Hashtag Banking. Another interesting use case of Twitter API is from Jet Airways to get lowest price info through Tweet.
"We're excited to partner with Twitter… Indosat subscribers spend a lot of time on Twitter, one of the largest social media platforms in Indonesia, and they can now easily purchase our packages with a direct message," Gokarn said. That includes data, voice, and SMS.
Thrilled to welcome @roysimangunsong as Business Head @TwitterID for next phase of growth in one of our top markets pic.twitter.com/eBfY269fMX
— Parminder Singh (@parrysingh) September 1, 2015
Thank you!very excited to start working with @TwitterID team.Let's rock Indonesia! https://t.co/d2jFa43a90
— RoySimangunsong (@roysimangunsong) September 1, 2015
To take advantage of the new service, users will have to follow Indosat's Twitter account, send a DM using the hashtag #TwitBuy, and then follow the authentication instructions that are sent back.
Twitter opened an Indonesia office in March, and just welcomed its new head of business for the country on Tuesday — that man, Roy Simangunsong, called Twitter the "social soundtrack to daily life in Indonesia."
For now, an obvious bottleneck around the whole idea seems to be that users who are out of data and also away from Wi-Fi will need to resort to more traditional methods of topping up (i.e. by running a USSD code from the dial pad). In the end, they may just find the Twitter route more trouble than it's worth. And we are all creatures of habit.
But if they're at their desktop or laptop, for example, the convenience of Twitter is something that I could see as actually having more real-world use than a data-dry smartphone. It's not immediately clear whether the platform will take a cut on packages bought through DMs.
"As Indonesia is one of the largest mobile and social media markets in the world, we are thrilled to partner with Indosat to use our social media platform to enhance their subscriber service and increase customer engagement," said Arvinder Gujral, Twitter's director of business development in Asia-Pacific.
"Twitter is an integral part of Indonesian society today, and #TwitBuy is another innovation to make our users' lives easier and more convenient, while enjoying Indosat's leading telecom services in Indonesia," he added.
In any case, whether the method ends up being adopted by more than a very niche user base or not, it certainly makes for an interesting case study in one of Twitter's most important emerging markets.


text:
Hank Lunsford, Trinity UMC, Sarasota
This Week's Storyteller is…
On a recent mission to Pahokee, the ages of the missioners ranged from 17 to 84. One young man was on his first mission trip. He was a new member of another Methodist church, but joined our Trinity-sponsored team. Also along with us was a 17-year-old high school senior. This was her fourth mission trip.
There are two amazing stories here. The young lady comes from a former communist country where (like most of Eastern Europe) the concept of mission does not exist. At the end of our mission, saying our goodbyes, the young man told me that the mission had changed his life, and he wanted to have the same dedication for missions as the young lady.
Mission trips, to me, are more significant for the way we change the lives and hearts of the mission team members than for what we physically accomplish. Putting a roof on a house for a disabled Viet Nam veteran is significant. Two hearts changed are also significant.
Take or go with us on a mission trip to Pahokee and your life WILL be changed also.
Up Next Week…
Erica, Trinity UMC, Gainesville
Erica shares her testimony about the power and gifts of prayer in her church community and her life.


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text:
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Health at the Core of the Migration Debate
"Migration is a planetary force shaping the 21st century society". With these words, Antoni Plasència, ISGlobal director, opened the seminar "Migration, Health and Cities" jointly organised by ISGlobal and the CIDOB, with the support of the "Europe for Citizens" Programme, on November 30. The event brought together experts, health care professionals, politicians and NGO activists to debate on the health challenges posed by migration in the countries of origin, transit and destination.
The first session, chaired by Leire Pajín, director of Global Development at ISGlobal, focused on the problems in the transit and destination countries. "Migration is at the heart of the European-Mediterranean process and the best way of tackling these challenges is promoting regional stability, social development and economic growth" explained Marisa Farrugia, special envoy to the Secretary General, Union for the Mediterranean. In this respect, Rafael Vilasanjuan, director of Policy and Global Development at ISGlobal, presented the Mediterranean Health Observatory, particularly its research line on migration that seeks to understand and tackle health problems in the region.
The two following sessions focused on the health challenges in recipient countries and, more specifically, in the cities. The latter are the main destination of migrants and therefore play a crucial role in tackling specific health requirements at the local level. David Malmusi, director of Health Services of the City of Barcelona, called for an inclusive perspective and for health access criteria based on residence, as occurs in Barcelona, rather than on nationality. In turn, ISGlobal researcher Ana Requena spoke about health policies targeting migrant communities.
Petra Tiarks, Responsible for Humanitarian Consultation Hours at the Frankfurt City Council presented her experience in medical practice intended for migrants and highlighted the importance of reinforcing the psychosocial care of the patients. Finally, Teresa Sancristoval, Responsible for the Emergency Unit at Médécins Sans Frontières, pointed out that despite the clear link between the country of origin and the epidemiology, migrants' health is very much affected by the travel conditions: duration, climate conditions, exposure to violence and safety conditions.
Migration, Health and Cities
New Course on Migrants and Refugees Health in the Mediterranean
A Project to Improve Health Care among Migrant Population
ISGlobal Collaborates in the Public Health Guidance on Screening and Vaccination for Infectious Diseases in Newly Arrived Migrants within Europe
New Alert System to Improve Health Care for Immigrant Population
Migration and Health in the Mediterranean
ISGlobal and the Moroccan Ministry of Health Sign a Cooperation Agreement in order to Establish a Mediterranean Health Observatory
A partnership of
Barcelona Institute for Global Health
C/ Rosselló, 132, 5th 2nd. 08036. Barcelona. Phone: +34 93 227 1806
C/ Doctor Aiguader, 88. 08003. Barcelona. Phone: +34 93 214 7300
Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), 2018.


text:
Q: Extract top, bottom, left, and right (as numeric values) from a polygon in MariaDB? Is there a way to extract the minimum and maximum x and y values separately from a polygon value in MariaDB (I'm using 10.5.8 with no extensions)?
Eg:
set @poly = ST_GeomFromText('POLYGON((1.2 1.2,2 1,2 0,1 0,1.2 1.2))');

What I want is to extract the top (max_y), bottom (min_y), left (min_x), and right (max_x) values separately. So for example here "top" is 1.2, "bottom" is 0, "left" is 1, and "right" is 2.
I can get a "minimum bounding rectangle" containing the polygon, which might help, but I don't know how to extract the individual X and Y coordinates:
select ST_Envelope(@poly);
# POLYGON ((1 0, 2 0, 2 1.2, 1 1.2, 1 0))

What I'd like is something like
select ST_MinX(@poly);
# 1

A: I found a way, which seems a little hacky to me, but does what I'm trying to achieve.
The logic here is:

*

*polygon input

*ST_Envelope to get a "minimum bounding box" for the polygon

*ST_ExteriorRing converts the bounding box into a linestring

*ST_PointN takes a particular point from the linestring

*ST_X and ST_Y take the X or Y coordinate from that point.

# left (MinX)
select ST_X(ST_PointN(ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Envelope(@poly)), 1));

# right (MaxX)
select ST_X(ST_PointN(ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Envelope(@poly)), 2));

# top (MaxY)
select ST_Y(ST_PointN(ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Envelope(@poly)), 3));

# bottom (MinY)
select ST_Y(ST_PointN(ST_ExteriorRing(ST_Envelope(@poly)), 1));

This relies on the output of ST_ExteriorRing always producing the linestring in a consistent order (seems to be counter-clockwise from bottom left), which is apparently the case (thank you @user30184 for clarifying). With that, I think this method should at least be reliable.


text:
Action on Employment and Decent Work
Home»Reports of the...»Reports of the...»Chief Executives Board...» Second Regular...»Action on Employment...
Action source
Agenda Item
In preparation for the CEB discussion at its next session on employment and decent work, the Board was briefed by the Director-General of ILO. He began by thanking the Secretary-General for his leadership on the issue, and, in particular, for two important initiatives he had taken: (a) the creation of the youth employment network; and (b) the Secretary-General's speech to the Heads of State of Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean in Vienna earlier in the year, where he had stressed that full and effective employment for all was not a developing country issue only, but should be pursued as a global concern.
In the subsequent discussion, the Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) stressed the need to look at "the missing middle", that is, small- and medium-sized enterprises employing 20 to 50 people in urban areas that have the potential to partner and trade with entities in other parts of the world. The Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs confirmed that policy development to advance employment and decent work objectives was now recognized as a major priority in the work of the United Nations intergovernmental machinery. The Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP) reminded the Board that productive work was dependent on an educated, healthy and well-nourished workforce. The Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East called attention to the unique situation of 165,000 Palestinian Authority employees who had employment and decent work but could not be paid for it.
The Secretary-General noted that there was strong interest in a discussion by the Board on employment and decent work at the spring session that would combine strategic considerations and concrete action. The preparations that the High Level Committee on Programmes were undertaking under the leadership of ILO augured well for a productive session in April.
Navigate content related to Action on Employment and Decent Work:
CEB: First Regular Session Report (April 2008, Bern)
CEB: Second Regular Session Report (October 2006, New York)
HLCP: Action on Employment
CEB: Action on employment and decent work
HLCP: Action on Global Jobs Pact


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text:
Марисса Кастелли (; ) — американская фигуристка, выступавшая в парном катании. В паре с Саймоном Шнапиром становилась бронзовым призёром Олимпийских игр (2014, командный турнир), бронзовым призёром чемпионата четырёх континентов (2013) и двукратной чемпионкой США (2013, 2014).

Кастелли начинала карьеру одиночницей. В первый год после перехода в парное катание выступала с Брэдом Вигарито. В 2006 году её партнёром стал Саймон Шнапир, с которым каталась восемь лет и достигла основных успехов в карьере. Затем образовала спортивную пару с Мервином Траном, завоевав с ним серебро чемпионата США (2017).

По состоянию на май 2014 года Кастелли и Шнапир занимали десятое место в рейтинге Международного союза конькобежцев.

Карьера
Марисса начала кататься на коньках в три года. Её мать работала тренером по фигурному катанию. Парным катанием Марисса занялась когда ей было 15 лет. Первым партнёром стал Брэд Виджарито.

В пару с Саймоном Шнапиром Марисса встала в 2006 году. Впервые на международный уровень пара вышла в сезоне 2007—2008 поучаствовав в юниорской серии Гран-при на этапе в Эстонии, но там они заняли не высокое 10-е место. При этом на национальном уровне они ещё выступали в категории «новичков», и в этой категории стали бронзовыми призёрами чемпионата США.

Параллельно с парным катанием, Марисса до сезона 2008—2009 выступала и как одиночница. Однако, тут ей не удалось ни разу отобраться на чемпионат США.

В сезоне 2008—2009, пара, единственные из американских юниорских спортивных пар, прошли в финал серии Гран-при, где заняли шестое место. Национальный чемпионат среди юниоров они закончили на третьем месте и получили путёвку на чемпионат мира среди юниоров. Там они стали третьими, проиграв второй паре — россиянам Анастасии Мартюшевой и Алексею Рогонову — меньше балла.

В мае 2014 образовалась новая пара — с Мэрвином Траном. В национальном чемпионате фигуристы финишировали в шестёрке. В сентябре 2015 года пара дебютировала на международной арене на турнире в Солт-Лейк-Сити, где они были вторыми. В конце октября пара выступала на этапе серии Гран-при Skate Canada; где они были на четвёртом месте. Далее пара выступала на этапе Гран-при Trophée Bompard, однако, после коротких программ, соревнования были отменены из соображений безопасности (в столице Франции произошла серия терактов). В начале декабря спортсмены на турнире в Загребе выступили не совсем удачно, заняв пятое место, но улучшив при этом свои прежние достижения в короткой программе. В январе 2016 года на чемпионате США фигуристы завоевали бронзовые медали.

Новый предолимпийский сезон пара начала в Монреале на турнире Autumn Classic International, где они в сложной борьбе заняли третье место и превзошли свои прежние спортивные достижения в короткой программе. В середине октября американские фигуристы выступали на домашнем этапе Гран-при в Чикаго, где на Кубке Америки заняли предпоследнее место. В середине ноября американцы выступили на этапе Гран-при в Париже, где на турнире Trophée de France они финишировали в середине турнирной таблицы, при этом они превзошли свои прежние достижения в произвольной программе. В середине января на национальном чемпионате в Канзасе фигуристы выиграли серебряную медаль.

Новый олимпийский сезон американские парники начали в Канаде, где на турнире Autumn Classic International они выступили уверенно, и финишировали рядом с пьедесталом. При этом они сумели улучшить свои прежние достижения в произвольной программе. Через месяц они выступали в серии Гран-при на российском этапе, где пара финишировала предпоследней. В середине ноября пара выступила на французском этапе Гран-при, где они заняли место в середине таблицы. В начале года на национальном чемпионате пара выступила не совсем удачно. Они финишировали только шестыми.

Результаты

Примечания

Ссылки

 Официальный сайт

Родившиеся в Провиденсе
Фигуристы США
Бронзовые призёры зимних Олимпийских игр 2014 года
Фигуристы на зимних Олимпийских играх 2014 года

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Credit Cards»News & Advice»Research and Statistics»The Fed has a new chair: What this means for consumers
The Fed has a new chair: What this means for consumers
by Fred O. Williams
While other White House appointees disrupt their agencies, Jerome Powell is expected to continue the Federal Reserve's course of gradually raising interest rates
Borrowers on credit cards and other consumer loans will probably see their interest rates continue to rise gradually under incoming Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who was confirmed by the Senate today.
"We expect interest rates to rise somewhat further and the size of our balance sheet to gradually shrink," Powell told the Senate Banking Committee during a hearing on his appointment in November. The shrinking balance sheet – meaning Treasury bonds and other securities held by the Fed – is one way the U.S. central bank puts upward pressure on rates.
While other Trump administration nominees have set their agencies on sharply different courses than their predecessors, Powell is seen as a monetary moderate who will continue on the path established under departing Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
Powell, who was confirmed Jan. 23 by the Senate 85 to 12, already has five years' experience on the Fed's governing body. He was named to Fed Board of Governors in 2012 by then-President Barack Obama, after serving in the Treasury Department under George H.W. Bush. He will begin his four-year term as chair when Yellen's term expires Feb. 3, if not sooner.
No major changes in monetary policies expected
"The outlook for interest rates is not too different than if Dr. Yellen had been reappointed," said Richard Moody, chief economist at Regions Bank.
The Fed's main lever on rates is its federal funds rate, which sets the price for bank-to-bank overnight loans that are used to meet reserve requirements. In five years of meetings at the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee, Powell has voted along with the chair and the majority.
The FOMC started pushing up rates in December 2015 as the economic recovery gained strength. Since then, the federal funds rate has gone up four more times for a total of 1.25 percentage points – causing an equal rise for credit card balances. Most consumer cards have variable rates pegged to the banking industry's prime rate – and the prime rate moves in step with the federal funds rate.
How much more will rates rise? Projections from the FOMC show that the majority of members expect three more quarter-point increases in the federal funds rate in 2018 and three in 2019.
The outlook for interest rates is not too different than if Dr. Yellen had been reappointed.
Richard Moody
Borrowers beware
For credit card borrowers, that's not good news. A 1 percentage point rise in APRs means about $1 a month in higher payments for someone with the average $5,200 balance on cards.
If rates go up by about 3 percentage points as projected, the annual cost will be $156 for the cardholder with average balances – not counting late fees incurred while they try to scrape the extra money together.
That may be better than the alternative, economists say. The Fed rate hikes are based on a rising economic tide that is reducing the jobless rate and increasing paychecks. Yellen has repeatedly said that the data-driven policy is ready to put rate hikes on hold, or roll them back, if the economy starts showing signs of shrinking.
Powell expected to deal with 'slower-growth economy'
Now that national unemployment is below 5 percent, it will be harder to continue pushing rates up toward their long-run normal levels without seeing a slowing effect, economists say.
For Powell, this means "tightening policy enough to settle the economy into full employment, but not so much that it trips into recession," economics professor Tim Duy wrote in his influential Fed Watch blog. "The next Fed chair will need to deftly handle the transition to a slower-growth economy," he wrote.
As the chair, Powell's role will be to find consensus among the rate-setting committee's 12 members. That could become more difficult as tradeoffs between normal rates and economic growth become sharper. "It is after all a committee, not a rubber stamp," Moody of Regions Bank said.
The next Fed chair will need to deftly handle the transition to a slower-growth economy.
Tim Duy
Powell: Current bank regulations are 'tough enough'
Where Powell contrasts with Yellen is in bank regulation, another role of the Federal Reserve that is separate from its control of interest rates.
During his hearing before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said he thinks regulations now are "tough enough." He indicated his focus is on easing rules put in place since the 2008 financial crisis.
That earned him a thumbs-down vote from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., but could mean more capital available for lending.
"He would have a lighter regulatory touch than Dr. Yellen or [former Fed Chair Benjamin] Bernanke had," Moody said.
See related:5 ways to cut your credit card debt as interest rates rise, Average card APR jumps to all-time high of 16.35 percent, Guide to rising credit card interest rates
Fred O. Williams is a former senior reporter for CreditCards.com.
In Research and Statistics
Carrying debt while approaching retirement on the rise
The number of people about to retire, but still carrying debt, is increasing, new research finds


text:
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch Core i7 16GB RAM 512 SSD
GH₵12,500.00 GH₵13,500.00
The best for the brightest.
Designed for those who defy limits and change the world, the new MacBook Pro is by far the most powerful notebook we've ever made. With an immersive 16-inch Retina display, superfast processors, next-generation graphics, the largest battery capacity ever in a MacBook Pro, a new Magic Keyboard, and massive storage, it's the ultimate pro notebook for the ultimate user.
A big, beautiful workspace. For doing big, beautiful work.
The new MacBook Pro features a stunning 16-inch Retina display — the largest Retina display ever in a Mac notebook. It produces 500 nits of brightness for spectacular highlights and bright whites, while delivering deep blacks thanks to the precise photo alignment of liquid crystal molecules. And the P3 wide color gamut enables brilliant, true-to-life images and video. So no matter where you are, you'll see your work in the best possible light.
Processor and Memory
Working at the speed of thought.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro brings a whole new class of performance to the notebook. Thanks to a more advanced thermal design, the Intel Core i9 processor with up to 8 cores and 16 threads of processing power sustains higher performance for longer periods of time — and delivers up to 2.1 times the performance of a quad-core MacBook Pro. So whether you're layering dozens of tracks and effects, rendering 3D models, or compiling and testing code, you'll be doing it in no time flat.
Bending reality takes bandwidth.
The AMD Radeon Pro 5000M series delivers the most graphics horsepower ever in a MacBook Pro. The 16-inch MacBook Pro base model is over two times faster than the previous-generation base model, for seamless playback and faster rendering of ultra-high-definition video.
For working on graphics-intensive projects like 3D rendering or high-end game development, you can supercharge your MacBook Pro with the optional Radeon Pro 5600M. With its 40 compute units and 8GB of High Bandwidth Memory, this powerhouse GPU brings a new level of desktop-class graphics power to MacBook Pro.
There's magic in a perfect workspace.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro takes workflow efficiency to a new level. The new Magic Keyboard features a refined scissor mechanism with 1 mm travel for a responsive, comfortable, and quiet typing experience. The Touch Bar puts powerful shortcuts front and center, and Touch ID provides fast authentication. A dedicated Escape key allows quick switching between modes and views. And the inverted-T arrow keys enable fluid navigation whether you're flying through lines of code, navigating spreadsheets, or gaming.
Bigger bass.
Better mic.
MacBook Pro has a big voice. The six-speaker sound system produces room-filling wide stereo sound like you've never heard from a notebook before. Dual force-cancelling woofers dramatically reduce system vibration for a clearer, more natural sound and a half-octave lower range to the bass. And the studio-quality three-mic array rivals professional third-party microphones, for creating superclean podcasts or music recordings on the go.
Bring your whole studio with you.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro has up to 8TB of SSD storage — the most available in any notebook. So you can take your photo or video libraries with you no matter where you're headed. And with superfast speeds, massive files load in an instant and pro apps launch in a blink.
A battery with a strong work ethic.
The 16-inch MacBook Pro has the highest-capacity battery we've ever put in a notebook. The 100-Wh lithium-polymer battery not only powers the larger display and delivers higher maximum sustained power, it also provides longer battery life — up to 11 hours of wireless web browsing and video playback.22 So you'll have more time to work between charges — whether you're on or off the grid.
Apple T2 Security Chip
The next generation of security.
Every MacBook Pro is equipped with the Apple T2 Security Chip — our second‑generation custom Mac silicon designed to make everything you do even more secure. It includes a Secure Enclave coprocessor that powers Touch ID and provides the foundation for secure boot and encrypted storage capabilities. It also consolidates many discrete controllers, including the system management controller, audio controller, and SSD controller, into one.
The most powerful and versatile port ever.
Thunderbolt 3 combines ultra‑high bandwidth with the ultra‑versatility of the USB‑C industry standard to create one revved‑up universal port. It integrates data transfer, charging, and video output in a single connector, delivering up to 40Gb/s of throughput for twice the bandwidth of Thunderbolt 2. MacBook Pro is equipped with four ports, so you can do all of that from either side. Existing devices are easily connected with a cable or adapter. And Thunderbolt 3 is reversible, so no matter how you plug in, it's always right side up.
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch with TouchBar and Touch ID
16.0-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 3072x1920 native resolution at 226 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors
2.6GHz 6-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz, with 12MB shared L3 cache
Graphics and Video Support
AMD Radeon Pro 5300M with 4GB of GDDR6 memory and automatic graphics switching, Intel UHD Graphics 630
Charging and Expansion
Four Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports with support for: Charging, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt (up to 40 Gbps), USB 3.1 Gen 2 (up to 10 Gbps)
Wi-Fi, 802.11ac Wi-Fi wireless networking; IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n compatible, Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
16-inch MacBook Pro, 96W USB-C Power Adapter, USB-C Charge Cable (2 m)
0.64 inch (1.62 cm)
14.09 inches (35.79 cm)
9.68 inches (24.59 cm)
4.3 pounds (2.0 kg)
Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch Core i9 32GB RAM 1 TB SSD
Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch Core i5 8 GB RAM 256GB SSD (2020 Model)
Apple MacBook Air 13-inch 8 GB RAM - Gold (2020 Model)
Select options i3 RAM 256 GB SSD i5 512 GB SSD
Apple MacBook Pro with Apple M1 Chip 13-inch 16GB RAM 512GB SSD Storage (2020 Model)
GH₵9,500.00 GH₵10,500.00
GH₵12,500.00


text:
New Delhi should now stop misusing CBI and NIA for political vendetta: Mehbooba
By Press Desk on January 8, 2019
Srinagar: Former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party president Mehbooba Mufti has said New Delhi should now stop "misusing" the investigative agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) for political ends.
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti welcomed the Supreme Court's decision on Tuesday to reinstate Alok Verma as CBI director, saying the apex court ruling had restored faith in independent institutions.
"Welcome SCs decision to reinstate #AlokVerma as CBI Dir. (It) reinstates belief in independent institutions of our democracy that are its pillars," Mufti said in a tweet.
The former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said the Centre should now stop "misusing" the investigative agencies like Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and National Investigation Agency (NIA) for political ends.
"Time for the Central gov to stop misusing its influence to arm twist investigative agencies like (the) NIA & CBI for political vendetta," she added.