text:
E-cigarettes – What's the harm?
I've recently noticed a wealth of articles exploring the potential for harm associated with 'smoking' E-Cigarettes (also known as vaping) – for a few examples see here, here and here. But, with vaping steadily on the rise* what is the bigger picture?
One thing we can all agree on is that smoking cigarettes is pretty dam bad for you; certainly, the facts and figures associated with this habit don't make for pleasant reading…
There are about one billion smokers worldwide, of whom about half will die prematurely as a direct consequence of smoking.
Smoking currently accounts for around 100,000, or about one in six, deaths each year in the UK.
Smoking causes around 85% of the approximately 40,000 cases of (and deaths from) lung cancer in the UK each year. What's more, smoking also contributes to the development of many other cancers, including oral cavity cancer, oesophageal and gastric cancer, kidney and bladder cancers, and pancreatic cancer.
…for more startling stats see here.
With this in mind, it's worth noting that electronic cigarettes have traditionally been marketed as a 'less harmful' alternative to smoking and, in some cases, a stepping stone on the path to quitting the habit entirely. But what are they, what are the associated risks and are they really safer than conventional cigarettes?
Electronic cigarettes are designed to provide a measured dose of inhaled nicotine, whilst also mimicking the experience of smoking a conventional cigarette. Early models looked almost identical to normal cigarettes, with most even incorporating a realistic glowing tip. However, newer products come in all kinds of shape and sizes.
The most important difference between e-cigarettes and the real deal is the method of nicotine delivery. A regular cigarette burns tobacco and the user inhales the resulting nicotine-rich smoke, along with any associated nasties. E-cigarettes, however, produce a vapour by heating a solution of nicotine mixed with propylene glycol or glycerine. This method of nicotine delivery means that users still get the desired effect from the vapour but, without many of the toxic side effects associated with cigarette smoke.
It is now widely accepted that nicotine itself carries no serious health implications and is likely to be no more harmful than caffeine (for studies see here, here and here). The main problem with cigarettes is that they deliver their nicotine hit alongside a staggering array of carcinogens and toxins. These include: nitrosamines, acetone, acetylene, DDT, lead, radioactive polonium, hydrogen cyanide, methanol, arsenic and cadmium and vapour phase toxins such as carbon monoxide.
Since e-cigarettes do not burn tobacco, they do not deliver such a large doses of associated nasties. However, this does not mean that they're harmless. Studies reveal that e-cigarettes contain small amounts of formaldehyde and acetaldehyde (both known human carcinogens); they can also deliver trace levels of carcinogenic nitrosamines, and some toxic metals such as cadmium, nickel and lead. A quick scan of the literature suggests that levels of these substances can vary hugely between e-cig brands, however, most studies agree that levels are generally low and are almost always significantly below those delivered by traditional cigarettes. Also, unlike traditional cigarette smoke, there appears to be little harm in the passive inhalation of vapour.
So at this point the case for e-cigarettes looks pretty strong. We know that smoking kills and that, without intervention, millions of smokers alive today will die of smoking-related illnesses. Despite being new to the market and lacking the long term research which can only come from an established product, e-cigarettes certainly seem significantly safer than their conventional cousins. Therefore, it is likely that making the switch from smoke to vapour is going to be pretty beneficial for your health.
This said, I don't think we should be complacent with vaping and it certainly shouldn't be marketed as 'harmless'. It is important that legislations be formulated to standardise the mechanics of vaporisers and the content of e-liquids – particularly since studies have found products to vary widely in both their toxicity and nicotine delivery. Advertising must also be approached with caution. Critics of e-cigarettes have suggested that vaping may become a gateway for youngsters into smoking. Although there is currently no grounding to these fears, it is important that vaping is not glamorized in the media – it is not a harmless practice and should only be used by those already addicted to nicotine who want to improve their health by quitting smoking.
So, although we may have discovered smoke without fire there is no guarantee we won't still get burned…
* Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) has estimated that currently about 1.3 million people in the UK use electronic cigarettes, and around 400,000 people have completely replaced smoking with electronic cigarettes (for link see here).
Categories Sarah Fox 20 Comments
Schizophrenia: setting the misconceptions straight
I'm not going to lie, I do enjoy films like 'Fight Club' and 'Me, Myself and Irene', and I agree that 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' is a classic novel which should be read by all. But putting entertainment aside, presenting those with schizophrenia as violent individuals with split personalities does not help public understanding of the illness. Such widely believed misconceptions are only amplified further by the media. A prime example was the recent story in The DailyMail about a paranoid schizophrenic who murdered a young man. The paper nicknamed the perpetrator the 'cannibal killer'; a catchy title which leaves no doubt in the reader's mind that individuals with schizophrenia are a danger to others. But these views are both mistaken and highly damaging to the 21 million individuals living with schizophrenia around the world today. Hopefully the evidence presented here can go a little way towards dispelling these misconceptions.
Misconception number 1: people with schizophrenia have a split personality
The most common misconception about schizophrenia is that people with the illness have a split personality; that is, they may be their normal selves one minute and then seem like a completely different person the next. In a survey carried out by the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), 64% of Americans said that they share this belief.
However, what people are actually describing when they talk about a split personality is a condition known as dissociative identity disorder (DID; previously multiple personality disorder). People with DID generally present with around 13–15 different personalities and, in some cases, have even been known to have up to 100! Those with schizophrenia, on the other hand, tend to suffer from hallucinations and paranoia, often hearing voices or believing that someone is 'out to get them'. The two conditions are very different and should not be confused.
Of course, this misunderstanding is not helped by fact that the term 'schizophrenia' means 'split mind' in Greek. The name was, however, coined a long time ago, before the symptoms of schizophrenia were properly understood. A significant number of experts in the illness now believe this term is inappropriate and agree that schizophrenia should be renamed.
Misconception number 2: all people with schizophrenia are violent
The belief that all people who suffer from schizophrenia are violent is another widely held misconception. Going back to NAMI's survey, around 60% of Americans identified violent behaviour as a symptom of schizophrenia. Why is this the case?
Putting aside the obvious influence of films and media, there are studies which have found a correlation between mental illness and violence. Swanson, for instance, concluded in his 1994 study that those with a mental illness, including schizophrenia, were twice as likely to be violent as the general population. This correlation, however, could be explained by the presence of co-existing substance abuse, rather than the mental illness itself. In fact, only 7% of the individuals in the study who had a mental illness but did not use drugs had shown violent behaviour.
More recent investigations by Swanson (2002) and Elbogen (2009) further support the argument that factors other than mental illness may predispose an individual to violence. These studies found that, apart from substance abuse, factors associated with violence in the mentally ill included homelessness, physical abuse and unemployment. Mental illness alone was found to be unrelated to violence and those without any co-existing risk factors were no more likely to be violent than someone from the general population.
On the same topic, the belief that individuals with schizophrenia are violent towards others is not necessarily the case either. In fact, people with schizophrenia are more likely to hurt themselves than those around them, having an 8.5 fold higher suicide risk than the general population.
This is certainly not the first article hoping to dispel the misconceptions that people with schizophrenia are violent or have a split personality, nor will it be the last. But with popular films, such as 'Fight Club' and 'Me, Myself and Irene', and headline news stories reinforcing these misperceptions, it's going to take a lot of work to change public view of schizophrenia. Perhaps the introduction of a new name could help dissociate schizophrenia from these stereotypical portrayals, allowing us to be entertained by stories like 'Fight Club' or 'Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde', without letting them shape an inaccurate public perception of a mental illness.
Post by: Megan Barrett
Categories Megan Barrett 1 Comment
'What are you looking at?': The science of facial pareidolia
July 5, 2016 January 12, 2015 by The Brain Bank North West
As a child, much to my parents' confusion, I had the uncanny ability to see faces in everyday patterns and objects. Yes, my circle of friends soon extended well beyond the confines of the playground, covering cloud formations, leaves, coffee stains and my personal favourite, a wise old man who stared knowingly down from a rip in my bedroom wallpaper. This peculiarity was put down to the fact that I was an only child with a particularly overactive imagination. However, the ability has never left me and these illusionary faces often still pop up from time to time…although I now rarely try and engage them in conversation.
Therefore, I was quite interested to find that this phenomenon, known as facial pareidolia, is actually quite common. It is also the subject of a recent research paper entitled: 'Seeing Jesus in Toast: Neural and behavioural correlates of face pareidolia', which won its authors an Ig Nobel prize*. This paper explores how pareidolias (both facial and otherwise) can be used to understand the way our brains process information and how our sensory experiences often incorporate more than meets the eye.
We all know that our sensory experiences (vision, olfaction, touch etc) begin life in our sensory organs (eyes, nose, fingertips etc). Once a sensation is detected, this travels to the brain, where it is processed into a multi-sensory experience. However, we are not just passive sensors, like a camera. Instead our sensations are often coloured by internal processes, such as mood, expectation or attention. This 'colouring' is known as top-down modulation and can be a particularly personal experience (think of the Rorschach 'inkblot' test). Facial pareidolia is a good example of top-down modulation since: our sensory organs are simply experiencing a random pattern of input (such as a cloud formation or coffee stain), and something else causes us to give this input a more familiar or meaningful interpretation – in this case a face.
The study described in 'Seeing Jesus in Toast' investigated which brain regions were active when participants experienced pareidolia for either faces or letters. Specifically, brain activity was monitored while subjects viewed one of five different categories of images:
1) obvious faces (image: A)
2) hard-to-detect faces (image: B)
3) obvious letters (image: C)
4) hard-to-detect letters (image: D)
5) pure noise – no face or letter (image: E).
Participants were told that the images they were being shown could contain either faces or letters and were asked to decide which pictures actually showed this hidden imagery. To ensure that all participants experienced pareidolia, the pesky researchers deliberately made sure that this task was really tricky.
What they discovered was that their subjects were a pretty suggestible bunch. Those who expected to see faces often spied a pair of eyes peering out at them from the pure noise stimuli, while those who were looking for letters often saw just that. .
From this work, the researchers were able to identify a network of crafty brain regions which seemed to be specifically responsible for tricking us into seeing illusory faces. They suggested that when we expect to see a face, regions of the brain responsible for decision making and facial recognition (such as the prefrontal cortex) shout commands down to regions that process more basic elements of images ( in this case a region known as the right fusiform face area). Such a shout forces the 'lower' areas to incorrectly interpret a noisy image as containing a face. Put simply, if the brain is expecting to see a face it can alter the way we interpret visual information and make us see things which aren't actually there.
Interestingly, not all noisy images were incorrectly interpreted as showing faces. In fact, when the researchers took a closer look and compared noisy images which were mistaken for faces with those which were not, they found that these did actually contain patterns which looked a bit like faces. Take a good long squint at the image to the left (showing a noisy image mistaken for a face) and, at least to me, it's easy to see two eyes a nose and an open mouth.
The researchers suggest that the system responsible for seeing faces popping out of highly ambiguous visual information may actually be adaptive. Specifically, they say "The tendency to detect faces in ambiguous visual information is perhaps highly adaptive given the supreme importance of faces in our social life and the high cost resulting from failure to detect a true face". So, it appears that not only is seeing faces perfectly normal, but it may even be a socially adaptive trait. I guess that means I'm not really crazy and neither is this woman…
* The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that make people laugh, and then make them think and include a huge range of fascinating research. If you've not already heard of them I strongly recommend you have a browse through their website (here).
Categories Sarah Fox 4 Comments
Solipsism, Sympathy, and the Connection of Minds
January 4, 2015 by The Brain Bank North West
Human beings often share the desire to reach out and connect to others, to feel part of a community, to understand and to be understood. In fact, understanding and empathy underpin a peaceful and productive society, and connecting with others can provide a sense of purpose and meaning. It is this connection of minds that has long been a topic of fascination.
The early-modern philosophers such as Descartes and Wittgenstein introduced the philosophical notion of solipsism, taken from the Latin solus, meaning "alone", and ipse, meaning "self". Solipsism can be defined as "the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist". Hence, philosophers of a solipsistic persuasion questioned the very existence of other minds.
This question has been scientifically investigated by psychologists interested in the Theory of Mind (or ToM). The term was coined by Premack and Woodruff (1978), who studied chimpanzees. They inferred from their investigations that chimps could attribute intentions and desires to others (human actors), showing that they understood the concept of another mind. Human research suggests that ToM develops around the age of 5 or earlier, when children can understand that other people have different desires, thoughts, and feelings to their own.
But if the mind can conceive of another mind, how does this occur, and what evidence do we have to challenge the solipsism of Descartes and Wittgenstein?
The answers lie in the advancement of technology and neuroscience. Dr Giacomo Rizzolatti recorded electrical activity from the brain of a monkey whilst they performed a specific action (grasping an object) – so far nothing exceptional. However, the same electrical activity in the monkey's brain was generated when the animal observed another person performing the same action. This suggested that the monkey understood the action to be the same as its own, demonstrating a kind of 'sympathy'. The cells responsible for this understanding of another's actions were termed 'mirror neurons', due to the obvious connection with mirroring another's behaviour.
So far it seems that we can theorise about another's mind, and that the explanation of understanding another's actions can be (at least partly) explained by mirror neurons, but the possibility of the connection of minds is yet to be proven.
… Or is it? Earlier this year, a group of scientists from Spain, France and the U.S.A documented what they term 'conscious brain-to-brain communication'. Grau and colleagues recruited participants in two distant locations, one to be the 'emitter' – the person who generated the message to communicate; and one to be the 'receiver'. The emitter thought of a word, which was represented as a binary code of '1's and '0's. The '1's and '0's were recorded from the brain of the emitter using motor imagery: if the emitter wished to communicate a '1' they imagined an action with their hands, for a '0' they imagined an action with their feet. The electrical activity from the scalp over the brain areas relating to the actions of hands and feet was recorded with electroencephalography. Computers transformed this electrical activity back to binary code for transmission via the internet to the location of the receiver. A computer at this location received the binary code and relayed it to the person designated as the receiver. The receiver experienced the '1's and '0's via a magnetic field applied to the brain through the scalp (transcranial magnetic stimulation or TMS). If the digit of code to be conveyed was a '1' the researchers stimulated the part of the brain responsible for vision, and this made the receiver think they were seeing a light.
If the digit to be conveyed was a '0' the computer positioned the magnetic stimulation over a different part of the brain which resulted in the omission of a light. Therefore, the receiver could communicate the code of '1's and '0's based on the presence and omission of lights. The transmitted word could be deciphered, completing the brain-to-brain communication.
Although perhaps not what Descartes and Wittgenstein had in mind when they questioned the existence of other minds, modern technology has helped us to explore, explain and expand our means of communication with some truly fascinating results.
Post by: Gemma Barnacle
Original article by Grau and colleagues: http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0105225
Interview with Rizzolatti on the discovery of mirror neurons: http://www.gocognitive.net/interviews/discovery-mirror-neurons-1
Categories Gemma Barnacle 3 Comments


Obama Schedule || Monday, January 18, 2015White House DossierThanks a lot, Obama. (No, really)'. The White House said the First Couple ate with friends, but would not identify which friends were present at the dinner….
Obama to make good on Guantanamo pledge: White House chief of staffReutersObama will first present a long-awaited plan to Congress about how to close the facility, and seek its approval, McDonough said in an interview….


If these Frequently Asked Questions don't address your issue, please email hpc-support@umich.edu. Please include your job ID number for specific job troubleshooting.
How can I start using Flux?
In order to use Flux, you will first need a User Account. You can apply for a User Account by filling out this form.
A Flux User Account is different from a Flux Account. A Flux User Account is used by a single user to log onto the Flux nodes, whereas a Flux Account is a collection of Flux User Accounts that are associated with one or more Flux allocations.
Flux uses two-factor authentication for security purposes, so you will also need to enroll in Duo to be able to log in to one of our login nodes. Once you have a User Account and Duo, you will be able to copy data to your Flux home directory and run small programs on the the Flux login nodes.
You will need access to a Flux Account with an allocation in order to run jobs. A Flux Account must be paid for, so this is typically provided by a faculty member or your school or college.
How do I log on to Flux?
To connect to Flux you should use secure shell (ssh) from a terminal on your computer to one of the Flux login nodes. If you are using a Mac- or Linux-based operating system, you can use the default terminal for this. If you are using Windows, you will need to download a program. One popular program is PuTTY.
If you are not logged on to a computer using your uniqname, you should specify your username when connecting.
Connecting to a login node with PuTTY on Windows.
What is the difference between a compute node and a login node?
A login node is a computer that you can connect to directly through ssh. The login nodes can be used to copy files to your home directory and to queue jobs to run on the compute nodes. The compute nodes are where the actual jobs are run. Compute nodes are automatically assigned to a job when a PBS script is submitted to the job scheduler.
Which Flux Accounts can I use?
If you are a member of the College of Engineering or the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, you have access to a Flux Account with a College funded allocation.
For Engineering, the Flux Account name is engin_flux. For LSA, it is lsa_flux.
The ALIST lists all of the Flux Accounts you are authorized to use. Note that some of these accounts might not have an active allocation. Our example user has access to run jobs on engin_flux and FluxTraining_flux. It is important to note that default_flux cannot be used to run jobs and is simply a placeholder.
How do I access an existing Flux Account?
To be given access to a Flux Account that your group is already using, please have an administrator of that Flux Account send an email to flux-support@umich.edu requesting that you be added. The administrator will usually be the person who pays for the account, or a delegated manager.
How many jobs can I have queued or running at once?
There can be up to 5,000 jobs per user in each queue (like flux or fluxm). There is no built-in limit to the number of jobs a user can have running at one time, but specific Flux Accounts can have per-user job limits. For example, engin_flux allows a maximum of 10 jobs per user at one time.
Portable Batch System (PBS) is the system that the cluster uses to schedule jobs. Users use PBS scripts to specify important information, such as number of processors and memory that a job requires, to the scheduler. Visit this page for more information about PBS.
What do I change in my PBS script when running on a different Flux Account?
When using standard Flux Accounts, those that end in _flux, you must set the qos parameter and queue parameter to flux in your PBS script.
When using Large Memory Flux Accounts, those that end in _fluxm, you must set the qos to flux and queue to fluxm in your PBS script.
When using GPU Flux Accounts, those that end in _fluxg, you must set the qos to flux and queue to fluxg in your PBS script.
When using Flux on Demand (FoD) Accounts, those that end in _fluxod, you must set the qos to flux and queue to fluxod in your PBS script.
When using Flux operating Environment (FoE) Accounts, those that end in _fluxoe, you must set the qos to flux and queue to fluxoe in your PBS script.
What security measures are in place for Flux?
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) – For all interactive sessions, Flux requires both a UM Kerberos password and an MToken. File transfer sessions require a Kerberos password.
The answer lies in the third-party certifications and evaluations that Flux has undergone. IIA has evaluated the system, network, and storage practices of Flux and Globus. The evaluation for Flux is published at http://safecomputing.umich.edu/dataguide/?q=node/151 and the evaluation for Globus is published at http://safecomputing.umich.edu/dataguide/?q=node/155.
The Flux support staff is available to help manage user lists for data access, and information is publicly available on how to manage file system permissions, please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_system_permissions.
Why can't I connect to Flux from off campus?
where the % is the prompt on the login.itd machine.
How can I find out my job's status?
The status of the job is found in the column labeled with the letter "S".
Why isn't my job running? I queued my job, but it isn't running and has a status of queued.
Jobs may sit in queued status for a variety of reasons. The scheduler makes batch passes of queued jobs and determines if there are sufficient free resources to run a job, and then runs those that it can. If there are sufficient resources at the time a job is submitted, it may still sit in the queue for up to 15 minutes before the scheduler makes a batch pass and starts the job.
If there are not sufficient resources, the job will sit in queue until resources open up. The most common limiting resources are processors and memory. For example, if I try to run a job on a Flux Account that has an allocation with a total of 10 processors and nine are in use, a job asking for two processors will have to wait in queue until another processor is becomes available. Once a processor is freed, the scheduler will assign the job to the two free processors and the job will run.
Why does my job have a status of Batchhold? I queued it but it isn't running.
Jobs are assigned a Batchhold by the scheduler when they have bad PBS credentials and will not run. Jobs are often given this status when the Flux Account name, qos, or queue are misspelled. Jobs can also be given this status if you try to run on a Flux Account to which you do not have access. If you cannot determine why your job is on Batchhold, please contact us at flux-support@umich.edu with your job number.
How many processors or how much memory does my Flux Account have?
MAXPROC indicates the total number of processors available to the Flux Account.
MAXMEM indicates the total amount of memory available to the Flux Account in megabytes.
What jobs are currently running on the Flux Account I use?
What does this e-mail mean: moab job resource violation: ``job ####### exceeded MEM usage soft limit``?
This message is sent when you use more memory than you asked for (default is 768 MB per core).
You can request additional memory by adding "#PBS -l pmem=###MB" to your pbs file, which will ask for ###MB of memory per process asked for (i.e., if you asked for 2 nodes with ppn=2 and pmem=3000MB, you will have asked for 12000MB of memory total). This is not in addition to the default, but replaces it.
How can I specify processor and computer layout with PBS?
There must be exactly N processors on each computer.
1. If it does not matter how the processors are divided among the computers, you should use the procs property. Using the procs property usually allows for an eligible job to run with the shortest time queued. Flux is a heterogeneous cluster with computers of varying number of processors. Because of this, asking for a specific computer/processor combination may cause delay in your jobs starting.
2. If you would like a minimum of M processors on each computer, you should use the nodes property in conjunction with the ppn property.
Here, nodes is used to assign a group of M processors all to the same physical computer. The number of groups of M processors is assigned by N. Using nodes in conjunction with ppn does not guarantee that the M groups of processors will all be put on separate physical computers. Because of this, you will get a computer with at least M processors, but you may end up with some multiple of M on a computer.
Here, three groups of four processors could all end up on one computer, or groups of four processors could end up on three separate computers or eight processors could end up on one computer while four end up on another.
3. If you want exactly M processors on exactly N computers, you should use the tpn property in conjunction with procs.
The procs property will specify the total number of processors to be used across all computers, when using the procs property with the tpn property.
Assigning "procs=M" says that you want M processors total, and you want exactly N processors to run on each physical computer. This would give you M/N processors running on N separate physical computers.
How do I get my Network File System (NFS) shares, including Value Storage, mounted on Flux?
Yes, but only if you use a secure storage solution like Mainstream Storage and Flux's scratch storage. Flux's home directories are provided by Value Storage, which is not an appropriate location to store sensitive institutional data.
One possible workflow is to use sftp or Globus to move data between a secure solution and Flux's scratch storage, which is secure, bypassing your home directory or any of your own Value Storage directories.
Keep in mind that compliance is a shared responsibility.You must also take any steps required by your role or unit to comply with relevant regulatory requirements.
use the U-M VPN in order to log in to Flux from off campus. WHY: Flux login is restricted to campus IP addresses.
have your jobs read their input and write their output to the /scratch filesystem, WHY:/scratch is much faster and more reliable than your Flux home directory.
remember to load any modules your job needs each time after logging in to Flux but before submitting any jobs. Modules that you will always be using can be loaded automatically when you log in by putting the modules into your default module set. WHY: Software will not be available to your job if it is not loaded prior to submitting the job.
request 20% more than the maximum memory and maximum walltime you think your jobs might need. WHY: if a job exceeds the requested memory or walltime, it will be terminated before it can finish.
use "#PBS -j oe" in your PBS scripts to combine the PBS output and error messages into a single file. WHY: It is much easier to figure out what your job did (you won't have to match up lines between the two files).
submit lots of jobs at once rather than submitting one job and waiting for it to complete before submitting another. WHY: "keeping the queue full" will give you the overall best throughput and utilization for your Flux allocation.
perform regular backups of all of your data on Flux yourself, including data in your home directory and in/scratch WHY: If you lose a file, the Flux staff can't get it back for you.
submit interactive jobs using "qsub -I". WHY: Login nodes have a per-user resource limit of 8GB of memory and even splitting of CPU cycles among users.
send any requests for help as a new email (not a reply to a previous email) to hpc-support@umich.edu. WHY: You'll get quicker help if you don't send email to individuals directly and don't reply to old (unrelated) support tickets that may be closed already.
run "qdel $(qselect -u $USER)" to delete all your jobs if you need to terminate all your jobs.
run interactive jobs or do significant computation on the Flux login nodes. WHY: Login nodes have a per-user resource limit of 8GB of memory and even splitting of CPU cycles among users.
use /scratch space for long-term storage; files that you're not using for two weeks or longer should be moved to your home directory or another system. WHY: /scratch is a limited, shared resource; also, no files anywhere on Flux are backed up, and cannot be recovered if lost.
run "qdel all" WHY: It will lock up the cluster scheduler for a long time trying to delete jobs that do not belong to you when you do not have the permission to delete them.


text:
Gar Alperovitz has had a distinguished career as a historian, political economist, activist, writer, and government official. He is currently the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the
Gar Alperovitz has had a distinguished career as a historian, political economist, activist, writer, and government official. He is currently the Lionel R. Bauman Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland and is a former Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge University; Harvard's Institute of Politics; the Institute for Policy Studies; and a Guest Scholar at the Brookings Institution.
He is the author of critically acclaimed books on the atomic bomb and atomic diplomacy and his articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, the New Republic, The Nation, and the Atlantic among other popular and academic publications. He has been profiled by the New York Times, the Associated Press, People, UPI and Mother Jones and has been a guest on numerous network TV and cable news programs, including "Meet the Press," "Larry King Live," "The Charlie Rose Show," "Cross Fire," and "the O'Reilly Factor."
10 Ways to Democratize the Economy
Gar Alperovitz| January 6, 2014 July 30, 2019

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Greenpeace and Rethink have new name suggestions for Asbestos
March 27, 2020 by David Brown
Who: Greenpeace and Rethink Montreal and Toronto.
What: "After Asbestos," a campaign to get the council in Asbestos, Que. to rename the town after one of six endangered species in the region.
When & Where: The campaign went live last week, very narrowly targeted to those in the town of about 7,000, located about two hours east of Montreal.
Why: The town had already decided to change its name to shed the lingering stigma of being associated with the building material known to cause cancer. Council is choosing a shortlist of names that the community will be able to vote on. Greenpeace wants to get the public (and council) to choose one of six names inspired by endangered animal and plant species.
"With your help, a name synonymous with destruction can become a symbol of life and biodiversity," explains Greenpeace on the web page dedicated to the campaign.
How: This is where it got tricky. Rethink created a hero video for the campaign to make the case for naming the town after an endangered species, said creative director Xavier Blais.
But the agency originally wanted the campaign to focus on outdoor advertising, such as election campaign-style signs placed on lawns around the town. "Obviously because of the really dire situation right now we had to pivot and do this all online," said Blais. Once they knew social distancing was going into effect, they shifted the focus towards new digital assets, including social posts, stories and filters for sharing.
"Greenpeace has a huge database, so it was old-fashioned digital, email-based, sending out all the elements and an online form to vote and then these social elements that people can take and put on their channels," said Blais.
About the timing: Rethink and Greenpeace were going to push pause on everything as the COVID crisis began to take hold, but Asbestos city hall wanted to go ahead with its process to choose the shortlist, so they had to launch the campaign.
Quote: "It was tough because we liked the idea of being on the ground," said Blais. "But to go and change everything from lawn signs to stories and posts was good. It's something we didn't consider at first. And it kind of helped us change the way to think about this. It was like 'Yeah we should have done this in the first place, we should have had all these assets in the first place.'"
Previous Post Quarantine Diaries — Volume 4
Next Post Trigger leaders Hardwicke and Blevins buy out Calgary agency


If you have a business franchise, or or even a regular business, you can always benefit from search engine optimization. Once you are able to reach the top of the search listings, taking advantage of the free traffic that you will receive, you will be able to start generating more for your company. The problem that most people have is they are not able to do this on their own. They may try to properly optimize their website, or get backlinks from different websites, but their efforts might be in vain. They need to have a very specific plan of action, and the means to do proper SEO, and that's why you need to work with a professional that can help you achieve top rankings. A search engine optimization expert by the name of Tom Johnston has been providing SEO services for many years. He specializes in working with franchise businesses. Here is a basic overview of the different types of services that he provides, and why you should consider working with him to get your franchise website to the top of the search listings.
When you arrive at his website, you are going to see an overview of the different services that he provides. There is a quick video that you can watch where he will detail the type of services that he offers, explaining the basics of search engine optimization. There is also a section dedicated to franchise SEO which is how he is able to help franchise businesses take their websites to much higher positions on Google, Yahoo and Bing. There are also testimonials that you can read from happy clients that he has served in the past, attesting to how he was able to help them generate more traffic from higher search engine listings.
What Is Discussed On The First Video?
In his introductory video, you are going to learn about the type of services that he will provide. He begins by talking about the importance of keyword research and choosing the best keywords to rank for. The keyword phrases that you target must be used by people that are actually interested in the products that you are selling. He also goes into the three steps of search engine optimization that he targets which is why he is so successful.
The first step when using SEO strategies is to properly optimize your website. This is going to take into account many different things. For example, the quality of the content that you are posting, as well as the images and videos that you have on that website, are going to contribute to how high it is able to rank in the search engines. Additionally, you will want to interlink all of the similar pages that are on your website, making it very easy to not only navigate, but for the search engine spiders to find and index your information. He then moves on to the second step of his three primary SEO strategies which is called off-page optimization.
This is also known as building backlinks, or also link building. You need to place hyperlinks on different Web 2.0 properties across the Internet that are pointing back to your main website. He teaches that having random backlinks is not the key but specific back links that originate from authority websites, preferably those that are in the same niche as your website. From the perspective of the search engines, and also visitors on those websites, it should make sense that they are actually linking to your website because of the content. He provides an analogy involving a homeless person, the president of the United States, and the billionaire Warren Buffett. The homeless person would be someone that would not have a great deal of information on how you would invest your money. The president of the United States would be a much better choice, but his primary focus is not on finances. Warren Buffett, on the other hand, is an expert in this industry and any information from him should be highly regarded if your goal is to get the best financial information. Equating this to link building, there are simply links that are much better to have, specifically those that come from websites that are very similar to your own. Therefore, when someone arrives at this website where they see a link to your website, when they click through, they will likely stay. This will decrease your bounce rate, and from the perspective of the search engine algorithms, it makes sense that that link is there. Therefore, your goal is to get as many links as you can from websites that are niche similar. Finally, he moves on to the third part of his SEO strategies which is human interaction.
Tom Johnston, when talking about human interaction, is primarily referencing links that are going to be on social media pages. For example, when people share links with friends and family members that are following them, and a search engine such as Google takes notice, this is an indication to the search engine that the content at the other end of that link is actually worth indexing. The more links that you have on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and others can only help boost your position on the search engines because people are sharing links. It is this human interaction that he is referencing that can be a crucial part of whether or not you are able to reach number one positions on the search engine listings. The other aspect to human interaction is the number of links that you have which can be found on the social media sites. In this way, it is similar to regular link building. The more that something is being talked about, the more likely it is that it is quality information that deserves to be ranked in a higher position.
Once the introduction is over, Tom Johnston goes into the type of services that he currently offers. Specifically, he does SEO for franchise businesses. The example that he gives in another video is a security company, one that he is building pages for in order to improve their overall rankings. There could be any number of franchise businesses that he would work with. These particular companies are often found nationally. As a result of this, when he does his on-site optimization, he is going to build pages for not only local keywords related to the primary city that the business is located, but all of the other cities that are currently serviced by this company. He takes this a step further and states that he will build individual pages for not just the city, but for ZIP code and county. By doing so, he makes it easier for these businesses to achieve multiple positions on the search engines by having numerous pages that are targeting all of the cities that they service in several different ways.
The key to outranking your competitors is to work with a search engine optimization specialist that is able to do both on page and off page optimization at a higher level. Though you may have multiple competitors in your city, it is possible to get more backlinks than them, and more importantly, higher quality backlinks that originate from niche specific websites. The links must come in at a gradual basis, and at the same time, new content needs to be added on the website in the form of new pages and posts. It is also important to continue to post on social media sites, showing that there is human activity that is going to help your websites rank even higher. There are two things that will happen once you have improved your content, and you have also started generating multiple social media backlinks on websites like Facebook and Twitter. First of all, quality content is going to motivate people to spend more time looking through your website after they have found it on the Internet. This will lower your bounce rate significantly, and the longer that they spend on your website, this also helps with your ranking. Second, as you get more people looking at your website on social media platforms, and they begin to share those links with people that are following them, this will also help create a positive momentum for your website and all of the pages that you have posted. You may soon find that many of your pages for your products are showing up above the fold in the search engine listings. You may also find yourself getting to number one positions where you can generate a substantial amount of traffic. Tom Johnston is able to do this for virtually any website, but his specialty is working with franchises that are situated all over the nation in different cities and states.
There is really nothing different between franchise SEO and traditional search engine optimization. The main difference is that it can be much more complex. For example, if you have a franchise that is in all 50 states, and multiple major cities in those states, this can require several hundred pages of content. Additionally, this will also require a multitude of backlinking campaigns that are happening automatically, building your Web 2.0 property and social media presence. This can become very time-consuming, but fortunately Tom Johnston has been doing this for so long that he is able to take on even the largest clients and help them rank many of their pages at the top of the search engine listings. These pages must specifically target the name of the city, state, ZIP Code, and county in which the business is currently operating. All of this must be done for each city and town that the franchises operating in if they are to start out classing their competitors. Some of them will be very easy to rank for such as small cities or towns that likely do not have highly competitive keyword phrases that must be targeted. However, as these pages begin to rank, they will become ubiquitous, adding to the notoriety of the company as the website becomes more well-known. This can help with branding, and also delivering additional traffic, helping a franchise business grow exponentially fast. These strategies must be implemented the right way to mimic natural link building and content posting, and Tom Johnston will know exactly how to do this to achieve maximum results.
You can either call his toll-free number to speak with them, or you can send your name, email, and what you would like to do for your business. He can set up a meeting with you, talking with you over Skype or by telephone, helping to understand what it is that you would like him to do for your business. He has had many clients in the past, providing outstanding results, and you can also achieve similar results with your business. You can call him today to set a time where you can talk about what he can do for your business. Once the phone call is over, he will start to work on a package that is designed to help you get your website to the top of the search engines. It will be a combination of on page, off page, and human interaction campaigns that will help you start moving up in the search engine listings. It does not matter how large or small your business is, and if you do have a franchise business, this is his area of speciality. Give Tom Johnston a call today, or send him an email, to find out how he will be able rank your website on the search engines so that you can generate more sales this year.


text:
News Sports Business Opinion Lifestyle Obituaries E-Edition Legals
These kids feel the presence of who's missing — Mom
Tom Whitehurst Jr.
BISHOP — Candice exhibits none of the stereotypical behaviors of a 14-year-old girl. No theatrical eye-rolling at anything her grandmother, Terri, asks of her — if she even has to ask. Candice is respectful and dutiful. She is as likely to change 11-month-old Freddie's diaper as is Terri.
Victor, 12, is another story. He's quiet but makes no secret of wanting to live with his father in nearby Kingsville. Terri, his legal guardian, says it'll happen when Candice and Victor's dad achieves enough stability — steady employment and a home of his own.
Candice chooses to stick with Terri either way, for the stability, and because she likes her school, where she performs well and has friends.
Victor and Candice's mother, Terri's daughter, is missing from this picture because she died two years ago waiting in vain for a liver transplant.
Freddie is not the other two children's baby brother. He is a first cousin. Since Freddie turned 6 weeks old, Terri has been raising the children of two of her daughters. Freddie was a CPS case because of his parents' problems with alcohol and other drugs.
In addition to these three children, Terri also had custody of the older brother of Candice and Victor, who's now 18, taking care of himself, considering welding school, and providing occasional help to Terri watching the kids.
Terri, 50, has a good job as a medical worker with certifications, but can't work full-time because of these child-care responsibilities she didn't expect at this stage of life. She went from solidly self-sufficient to needing SNAP and WIC assistance.
Her deceased daughter's presence in the house is powerful. Just inside the front door is a shrine to her with several shelves, with photos and some of her daughter's favorite knick knacks.
"I don't know if shrines are just a Hispanic thing," Terri says.
On the top shelf is a poem compiled by a relative from contributions by the extended family. Terri asked Candice to read it aloud. To hear her read is to believe what she and her grandmother say about her being a good student. It wasn't a reading comprehension problem that prevented her from finishing. It was grief. The tears rolled out. Terri asked Victor if he'd like to finish and he waved her off, his cheeks as wet as his sister's.
But then who could recite lines like these without losing it?:
Take care of my babies, whom I will always love,
Tell them every day I love them and will be watching from above,
Tell them when life gets complicated they will have a choice,
Tell them to talk to me, listen and they will hear my voice.
The house? It's well-kept, adequately furnished and not cramped. The utilities are maintained. A Nueces County social worker familiar with their case describes Terri as a strong pillar — someone who did all the right things to be self-sufficient, if not for the unexpected responsibilities of raising her grandchildren.
Both children asked for clothes for Christmas — functional clothes, not from a fancy boutique, though both like Vans shoes. What 12- and 14-year-old asks only for that? Pressed further, Candice added makeup, perfume and earrings to her list, and Victor likes video games.
Freddie is too young to ask for Christmas presents. A generous person can't go wrong giving disposable diapers.
The children represent thousands who will be helped by the Caller-Times Children's Christmas Appeal. The names of the families profiled have been changed to protect their privacy.
Since 1973, the Caller-Times has reported the struggle of thousands of needy children and their families during the holiday season. Every cent donated to the campaign benefits the children; all overhead costs are borne by the Caller-Times, United Way of the Coastal Bend and participating agencies.
Participating agencies include the Boys & Girls Club of Alice, Duval County Christmas Committee, the Kleberg County Welfare Department, Nueces County Department of Social Services, the Odyssey After School Enrichment Program in Rockport, Sinton for Youth Inc. and The Purple Door.
Here's three ways to help:
*Fill out the donation form. Make your check or money order payable to Children's Christmas Appeal and mail to: United Way of Coastal Bend, 4659 Everhart Road, Corpus Christi, TX, 78411 (designate funds to Children's Christmas Appeal)
*Donate online at www.uwcb.org. Look for the Christmas Appeal logo.
*Text Christmas2018 (no spaces) to 41444 to make a donation.


text:
Tucson: 520.571.9700Yuma: 928.723.0088Phoenix: 602.402.5207
How to Avoid an Accident on Prom Night
By Karnas Law Firm | January 28, 2022
It's prom night, and many of you will be taking a drive in the limousine or the stretch SUV provided by your prom committee. You've had a great time at prom but maybe got a few drinks in you. It's late, so you flag down a cab to take you home. But by doing so,…
Underage Drinking and Car Accidents
Underage drinking has become a significant issue in the United States. According to recent studies, alcohol consumption among underage individuals has reached an all-time high. Over 5,000 underage fatalities occur each year due to underage drinking and driving accidents. Many young people who are caught driving while intoxicated go on to develop alcohol abuse problems…
How Much is a Settlement for Whiplash Worth?
Whiplash is a common injury in car accident injuries. Commonly, whiplash claims make up roughly one-third of all the personal injury claims presented against US insurance companies, and whiplash injury settlement typically ranges from $1,000 to $10,000. If you have been involved in a whiplash incident in Tucson, please ensure you contact a Tucson car…
What Are The Most Common Car Accident Injuries?
Car accidents can lead to several injuries. Many car accident injuries are not life-threatening, and the injured party is expected to make a full recovery within weeks or months after car accident treatment. However, car accident injuries ranging from broken bones to death have resulted from car accidents. In all cases, car accident victims can…
How to Know If You Have Internal Bleeding After a Car Accident?
Internal bleeding is one of the common internal injuries caused by car accidents. Sometimes, internal bleeding is also referred to as internal injuries or internal organ damage. You can suffer internal bleeding if you are involved in a car accident. You will often discover internal bleeding well after your accident which is why it is…
What Back Injuries Are Caused by Car Accidents?
The back is a critical part of the body, and back injuries can be excruciating. In addition to back pain, back injury symptoms include: Numbness or tingling in the back or legs. Loss of bladder or bowel control. Difficulty walking. These conditions might result from an accident that caused your back to be injured. If…
What to Do If You Are Involved in a Multiple Motorcycle Accident?
A motorcycle accident can be perilous, especially multiple motorcycle accidents. Motorcycle accidents are usually gruesome and fatal. If you are involved in a motorcycle accident with other vehicles in Tucson, you should never forget you will need the help of a Tucson car accident attorney. Make Sure You Are Involved It can sometimes happen that…
What Happens When You Suffer a Private Injury on Private Property?
Generally speaking, personal injury law takes the same form whether the personal injury occurs on private or public property. However, some differences may apply if you suffer a personal injury on what amounts to "private property" within a store or restaurant. Hence, you should consult a Tucson car accident attorney if you have a private…
How is the Determination of Fault in a Multi-Car Accident?
If you've been in an accident with multiple cars, the only thing on your mind is who to call and how to get out of there. You probably don't think about the legal implications of what just happened. But it pays off to know a bit of fault determination before taking any action. In Philadelphia,…
Handling an Uninsured Car Accident Lawsuit? Here's What You Need to Learn
If you've been in a car accident and your car was uninsured, you may be wondering what steps to take next. With an insurance company on the other side of the table, it can seem like there is no hope for justice. The truth is that if you have been injured in any way by…


After a restful summer (which included a move to a new school!), classes are finally back in session! I always begin the year with a set of activities that challenge students to practice science process skills (observing, recording data, asking questions, etc.). My approach includes a series of quick "discrepant event" demos that captivate (and baffle) my students. From trying to figure out why two ice cubes melt at dramatically different rates to brainstorming explanations for how a sealed opaque balloon suddenly starts self-inflating, these demos engage students, assess their science skills, and emphasize the processes and habits that scientists use to inquire about the world around them.
You are currently browsing the Educational Innovations Blog blog archives for September, 2016.


Windows 7 has been around for almost a year now, but lots of people are still sticking with Windows XP.
Just because Microsoft has extended XP sales over and over again doesn't mean that they'll keep selling XP forever. Well, yes, they are supporting XP for years more to come, but this time — cross their hearts and hope to die — Microsoft really is killing XP sales on October 22, 2010. Some companies, noticeably Dell, are pulling the plug on XP even sooner.
Microsoft spokesperson Brandon LeBlanc has written that most Windows users may "not notice much change." I disagree.
Others just don't like or trust Windows 7. I can sort of see this one. I'm no Windows fan, but my favorite version of Windows is still XP SP3. I can also come up with lots of reasons to hold off moving to Windows 7.
All that said, if you must use Windows, I think Windows 7 is actually quite decent. Yes, I'm still a Linux user, but I'm not blind. Windows 7 actually has several good points in its favor. For example, I like all of its new network features. Windows 7's security is still a stinker, but then security holes come built-in with Windows. Still, if you really are joined at the hip with Windows, Windows 7 is a fine upgrade.
Well, not upgrade really. You can move an existing XP system to Windows 7, but it's not easy. The best way to handle going from XP to Windows 7 is to bite the bullet and buy a new PC.
No matter which path you take, you end up spending more money. Maybe you'll end up spending a lot of money. So, I've been finding that people are either sticking with their old PCs, or if they do buy new, they've been asking for XP. After all, XP is more than good enough and it doesn't require any additional training or expense.
But now, it's a different story. If you really like XP, and you know you're going to need new PCs, dig into your budget and order XP systems today. They're not going to be around much longer.


text:
Honda launches 5th gen all-new CR-V in India at Rs 28.15 lakh onward
Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) has launched its 5th Generation All New Honda CR-V in the Indian market at a starting price of Rs 28.15 lakh onward for the petrol 2wheel drive. The diesel two-wheel drive will cost Rs 3...
2018 Honda CR-V Diesel 4WD | First Drive
Honda of Japan has a very cautious approach to making cars, so much so that I personally feel that they are a tad slow in introducing new products and technology in the country. A case in point is the new Honda CR-V...
Global unveiling of next gen Honda Amaze, all-new Honda CR-V
Honda Cars India Ltd. (HCIL) unveiled the Next Generation Honda Amaze at the Auto Expo 2018 in presence of Takahiro Hachigo, President & Representative Director, Honda Motor Co., Ltd.
Lexus Unveils NX300H hybrid electric vehicle for I...
Tata Motors Kite 5 concept is now Tata Tigor
The New Age XUV 5OO Road Test Review
Porsche Cayenne Platinum Edition for Rs 1.07 crore
BMW M5 Competition launched in India at Rs 1.62 cr...
Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres for Volvo cars
2017 Honda City Road Test Review
World premiere of the Mercedes-Benz F 015 Luxury i...
New Land Rover Defender launched at Rs 73.98 lakh ...


couldn't agree more. It's been like this for years, and it's one of the most dangerous, dysfunctional intersections I've ever seen. It's right in front of the police station too. I'm sure accidents happen all the time.
I think its been like this since the 60s. Back then someone crashed into the control box and put the lights in their emergency backup mode... Been blinking yellow ever since.
Fingers crossed that the craddock bridge construction will include a fix for this. Money was appropriated exclusively for it.
The City of Medford is excited to be launching Commonwealth Connect, powered by SeeClickFix. We are currently in a testing phase and anticipate full launch by the end of March. During this process, we are closing out old issues. If the issue you originally reported has not yet been resolved, please submit a new report. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you.
Issue closed. Pre-launch comment sent.


text:
New Satellite-Based Technology Aims To Crack Down On Illegal Fishing
Published September 28, 2016 at 9:20 AM AKDT
Courtesy Oceana
Commercial fishing in Alaska is a multibillion dollar industry. But every year, billions of dollars are lost to illegal fishing around the world. A new satellite-based surveillance system makes it easier to track illegal fishing. But some fishermen aren't ready for Big Brother watching their every move.
Worldwide, overfishing is a huge problem. Jacqueline Savitz, vice president of the conservation group Oceana, says populations of big fish, like halibut, have dropped 90 percent. But the fish can rebound when their habitats are protected.
"We actually see fish stocks coming back and getting to levels where they're sustainable, so we can continue to live off the interest, if you will, and not fish down the principal," said Savitz. "But we also have a problem with illegal fishing. It's about a $23 billion industry globally."
Now, there's a new tool for people who want to prevent illegal fishing: Global Fishing Watch. It's a free, web-based, interactive map of the world's traceable commercial fishing activity, dating back to January 2012.
It's based off information gathered from vessels' Automatic Identification Systems (AIS). The boats broadcast signals including their location, who they are, and where they're headed.
Not all boats have to use AIS. Currently, the International Maritime Organization only requires it for large vessels like big oceangoing cargo ships and certain vessels on international voyages
While AIS technology has been around for a while, this is the first time all its information is publicly available.
As ocean traffic increases, Savitz hopes Global Fishing Watch will increase accountability. She points to Alaska's waters as an example
"There's a lot of change happening up there with the changing climate and potential new shipping routes through the Arctic and the Bering Strait," she said. "There are going to be areas that are protected. How are we going to know if they are really being protected?"
That's what this project hopes to do. But fisherman Roger Rowland doesn't like the idea that everyone can track his vessel. He wants to protect his fishing hot spots.
"With my salmon fishery, I don't want people knowing where I am," said Rowland. "Since I'm not legally required to have it, I turn it off."
Rowland owns a 58-foot seiner based in Unalaska. Because his boat is small, he isn't required to constantly run AIS.
Even though Rowland likes his secrecy, he thinks Global Fishing Watch could be helpful for certain fisheries.
"When I'm pot cod fishing, I do have legal areas where I cannot go," he said. "My boat cannot go inside a ring around a sea lion rookery, and so it's good for that. Nobody is sneaking in there because someone is watching."
John Amos is the president of SkyTruth, a nonprofit that uses technology to highlight what's happening in the environment. He says even though fishermen like Rowland might not want to be tracked, there's a benefit for people who play by the rules.
"People care about where and how their food is being produced," said Amos. "Here's an opportunity for fishing vessel captains to create personal relationships with their consumers at the seafood market or at the restaurant table and say, 'Look, we are the good guys, and we're going to show you.'"
There will always be fishermen who turn off their AIS, but Amos believes Global Fishing Watch will help crack down on the amount of unregulated and unreported fishing as well as empower individuals to monitor patches of ocean they care about.
Science & EnvironmentNewsfishingsatelliteGlobal Fishing Watchshipping
New 3-D Map Will Help Monitor Climate Change In Alaska
In Kotzebue a year ago, President Barack Obama called for a publicly available, high-resolution elevation map of Alaska, a map that will help Alaskans…
Alaska Fisheries Escape Effects Of Climate Change For Now
With coastlines eroding, temperatures rising, and sea ice retreating, Alaska is feeling the effects of a warming planet. But a new federal report suggests…


Your business outlet needs to be protected 24/7 – there is no question about that. There are thousands of people coming in to make a purchase or just look around and see if they like something. With so much hustle and bustle around you, how will you focus on your business if security tops your list of concerns? By hiring a Bellflower armed security guard service, you can stop worrying and focus on your core operations while a well-renowned security firm takes care of your protection, and that of your customers and products. Having armed guards deployed around the premises will also give off an impression of ultimate safety, be a source of comfort for your employees and customers, and ultimately result in an increase in sales. An armed guard is fully trained for carrying a loaded weapon, as well as keeping an eye on his or her surroundings. Their training never lets them be careless in any situation.
Our kids are our future. The recent security threats and attacks in the most shocking of places have taken their trust away from the human race and they need to feel secure again. Terrorists, criminals, and assaulters, all are ready to strike whenever they can, so a fail-safe way to protect children while they are out getting an education is by hiring a Bellflower armed security guard service. The professional guards will be able to take care of the kids so that their parents can relax and go about their daily activities without a worry. A trained guard can handle all kinds of threats, whether they be in the form of external terror attacks or even rifts between older students.
Whether it's a commercial property, a retail store or any populated business or residential dwelling, a Bellflower armed security guard service is the optimum way to maintain ultimate protection. While you can pair this form of protection with other services, such as CCTV monitoring, patrolling services, unarmed guards, and much more, having armed officials in the vicinity is a must. Whether it is a residential area or business hub, individuals who live or work there deserve to feel safe. While armed guards can effectively control a criminal activity when it occurs, their mere presence acts as a deterrent to crime, making them a highly valuable component of any security plan.


text:
Q: Reporting Services Excel rendering extensions? Our company has a reporting solution utilizing Analysis services + Reporting Services, with excel reports being a priority. Everything's sort of fine, but several annoying things are bothering us:

*

*No ability to rename the sheets

*Embedded images stretch the containing cells vertically, thus making scrolling a pain

*Cross-sheet links are not supported (turns out that can be implemented using bookmarks)

So my question is basically this - should we try solving these issues somehow (i.e. is that even possible), or should we use some excel rendering extension with more formatting options ? Can you recommend any extensions ?

A: You may want to take a look at Apose.Cells.  I've never used their products, but you can download a free trial and see if it suits your needs.
Alternatively, you can create custom renderer (MSDN)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


With news earlier today that ICANN has finally agreed to go ahead with generic Top-Level Domains (gTLDs) you'd think there would be a mad rush to register and take advantage of them. But registering a new gTLD is nothing like registering a domain. It is a very long and expensive process that can easily end in failure.
To give you some idea of just how involved this process is, the Application Guide consists of 352 pages of detail on what you have to do, what can go wrong, and what fees you will incur along the way. We'll try to summarize the process here and give you some idea of what it takes to run your own TLD.
One thing to point out from the start: individuals are not allowed to register a gTLD. ICANN is quite clear on this. In fact, not just any company can register one either. It has to be an established organization or company with representatives that have a totally clean record (they check back 10 years).
If you fit those initial prerequisites, then get ready for a 9 month process of evaluation. That's 9 months minimum for an application that doesn't hit any roadblocks. ICANN believe a more difficult application could easily take 20 months.
Any company wanting to apply for a gTLD has to do their homework and make sure the required resources are in place. After the submission period, the first of which has been set by ICANN as January 12 to April 12 2012, the completeness checks begin. You have to demonstrate as an organization that you have the financial, technical, and operational capabilities to run a TLD on your own. You also have to be competent enough to answer all the questions they ask or your submission is rejected.
Get past that initial stage and you are in for a long review. Even a smooth process can take 5 months during which your gTLD name will be checked for security and stability issues as well as further checks being done on your company to ensure it has the resources to keep this gTLD running. During this same period the details of the application will be made public and comments accepted. It's also possible to submit objections to the gTLD in question, but ICANN charge between $1,000 and $5,000 for that which should stop bogus claims. Get a real objection, though, and it could extend the submission process up to a further 7 months–that includes string contention issues where two gTLD applications have very similar characters (this could be quite common as more applications come in).
Any company that makes it through the evaluation process is probably counting their blessings having overcome technical testing, financial evaluation, and had your whole operational setup looked at in detail, not to mention dealt with any objections from your competitors and been subjected to a public review.
The final stage is Transition to Delegation, meaning signing a registry agreement with ICANN and ensuring you have a pre-delegation technical test completed. This process only takes a further 2 months before your gTLD is given the all clear.
Is it an involved process? Yes, but it's also a very costly one. The basic cost of submitting an application is $185,000 per gTLD. If you submit a batch of them times that cost by the number of domains. $5,000 is required on requesting the application form, and the other $180,000 is wired to ICANN when you submit the form.
If you decide you don't want to continue with an application then a refund is possible, but the amount you get back varies based on the stage of the process you are at. Ask for a refund before an evaluation is complete and you get 70% back, ask for it after receiving the evaluation results and that amount drops to 35%. If your application fails completely then only expect 20% back.
Everyone submitting an application will be praying for a smooth process as the costs can easily escalate. For example, if your application gets pushed to an extended evaluation and requires the Registry Services Technical Evaluation Panel to get involved, add $50,000 to your bill. If you have to carry out a dispute proceeding it's between $2,000 and $8,000 per objection. Worst of all, if you require a dispute resolution meeting the costs range from $32,000 to $122,000 based on an hourly rate!
Finally, we must not forget that even if a gTLD is approved the organization applying for it then has to fund the running of that domain for its entire lifetime. That's no small cost and will surely make the $185,000 application fee seem small over the course of a few years.
So when gTLDs do finally start to appear on the Internet, just remember the cost and time that went into getting each approved and online. Each organization will have worked hard to get it there, but at the same time ICANN should have done a thorough job of deciding whether it should be there in the first place. In other words, no gTLD should appear that isn't legitimate and run by a respected organization.


Human identity, the concept defines every one among us, might be dealing with an unprecedented crisis. The concept and use of video and net conferencing, as an example, has helped firms remove geographical obstacles and given them the opportunity to succeed in out to workers and shoppers through out the world. While the amount of time spent online is a misuse of know-how in itself, it is what persons are doing whereas on-line that may be seen as a problem.
Greenfield had said in her article Today's know-how is already producing a marked shift in the best way we expect and behave, notably among the young." Both texts present how young teenagers are altering themselves into someone they aren't by the affect of technology. This know-how is creating potentialities for communication that by no means existed earlier than.
The advancement of Science and expertise allow mass communication at the moment so that we not solely have the television, radio and newspaper, but even mobile phones which renders a multipurpose service; from long distance calls, listening to radio and music, taking part in video games, taking footage, recording voice and video, and searching the internet.
They dwell for the nursery." Similarly within the modern context, the article goes into particulars of the harmful results of having an obsession over modern technology. In this point in time, though the old traces of communication are still accessible, equivalent to land line telephones and the United States Postal Service, most individuals desire to use the new technology so they can talk instantly with people across the country or across the world. We can watch it on televisions, or see it on the internet and even just hear it on the radio.
Some of the most poignant criticisms of know-how are present in what are now considered to be dystopian literary classics akin to Aldous Huxley 's Brave New World , Anthony Burgess 's A Clockwork Orange , and George Orwell 's Nineteen Eighty-Four In Goethe's Faust , Faust promoting his soul to the devil in return for power over the physical world can also be usually interpreted as a metaphor for the adoption of industrial know-how.


text:
East of Angel Town
by: Peter Cincotti
Peter Cincotti's 2009 release East of Angel Town is the vocalist/pianist's first album since his 2004 sophomore effort, On the Moon. That album found the onetime neo-crooner moving from jazz standards to more contemporary pop-oriented original material. East of Angel Town finds Cincotti having fully made the crossover move, and fittingly the album features production by crossover Svengali David Foster as well as Humberto Gatica and Jochem van der Saag. Foster has helmed similar efforts from such genre-bending artists as vocalists Josh Groban and Michael Bublé. That said, neither of those artists has ever gone quite as far toward the pop/rock vein as Cincotti does here. Still displaying a knack for jazz and blues-inflected melodies, Cincotti nevertheless dives headlong into the rock world. Tracks such as the sharp-tongued and urbane leadoff title track, with its hard-edged guitar backgrounds and lyrics detailing the superficial lives of N.Y.C. scenesters, bring to mind the theatrical '70s singer/songwriter pop of both Rupert Holmes and Steely Dan. In fact, Steely Dan seem to be the biggest touchstone for Cincotti here. Which isn't to say he rips off them off -- on the contrary, as the production on Angel Town is so thoroughly modern, you'd never mistake it for classic Steely Dan. Nonetheless, Cincotti's mix of jazz, blues, and crisply drawn singer/songwriter lyrics clearly draws much inspiration from Steely Dan and other eclectic artists of the '70s and '80s, including Elton John and Billy Joel. Keeping in that tradition, it's not just the rockers, but primarily Cincotti's ballads that really stick in your ears, with both "Lay Your Body Down (Goodbye Philadelphia)" and "Cinderella Beautiful" delivering a warm, melancholy afterglow vibe. Similarly, "Man on a Mission" is a perfect soft rock ballad. Taken as a whole, East of Angel Town is a somewhat sprawling and stylistically varied pop album that finds Cincotti meandering all over the creative map. However, in the world of crossover singer/songwriter pop that's actually kind of the goal, and in that sense Cincotti is right on course. ~ Matt Collar


Discussion in 'MacBook Pro' started by raptor402, Sep 2, 2013.
My mid 2010 15" MBP is suffering from kernel panics due to the Nvidia Card, which is a pretty common issue. I can't have the Logic Board replaced anymore, so I decided to go for a workaround. I was experiencing the issue on Mountain Lion. I had read that Lion (10.7.3 and up) fixes the issue, so I went ahead and downgraded to 10.7 and updated to 10.7.5. I thought that the kernel panics were gone, since AOE3 ran for 15 minutes without a hitch. But then, as soon as I loaded an RCT3 map, the laptop crashed. I couldn't get a crash report, but I'm pretty certain that was the issue.
So, which OS and which updates will help me fix this issue? Will i have to go back to Snow Leopard?
UPDATE 1: I just pulled a log from another crash. It's the popular Nvidia kernel panic. Also, I realised that there's still an SMC update left (not in the 10.7.5 combo update), so that might fix it. Fingers crossed.
So I did the SMC update too, along with everything else that was there. I ran RCT3 for a full half hour before the system crashed. On 10.8, I got no more than 6-8 minutes. I suppose this is the best that I'll get. It'll have to do.
Give. The fact Apple refuses to acknowledge nor do anything about the 2008 iMac's that are magically "fixed" by downgrading to 10.6.2(this proving it's a software issue), I wouldn't hold out much hope.
Well, this is a hardware issue in some Logic boards which is instigated by bad software. Apple did acknowledge this issue and offered free replacement of logic boards of all laptops suffering from it within 3 years of purchase, but mine is 3 months over.
However, considering that I have to use this MacBook for another 2-3 years, the Lion fix is better than what Mountain Lion did.


text:
Provision of Hybrid Vehicles and Car Rental
This matters?The number of people this matters to is 0
Share with Google+
Related Decisions
Approval to award a contract via single tender action for the provision of Hybrid Vehicles and Car Rentals to Europcar Group UK Ltd for a 2-year period commencing on the 10th August 2019, with the option to extend for a further period up to one-year subject to budget constraints and performance.
Decision type: Non-key
Decision status: Recommendations Approved
Wards affected: (All Wards);
Notice of proposed decision first published: 12/08/2019
Decision due: 5 Aug 2019 by Deputy Chief Executive
12/08/2019 - Provision of Hybrid Vehicles and Car Rental


Three of five leading University of South Florida researchers named to the new class of Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science are from USF Health.
John Adams, PhD; Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM; and Shyam Mohapatra, PhD, MBA, have been awarded the distinction of Fellow at AAAS, the world's largest and one of its most prestigious scientific societies.
With this year's new Fellows class, USF again ranks fourth among all organizations worldwide, tied with University of Florida, in the designation of new AAAS Fellows, and joining Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, Texas A&M University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University of Texas at Austin, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. USF and UF lead Florida universities in new AAAS Fellows selection.
Election as an AAAS fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.
Dr. John Adams, elected AAAS Fellow in the the association's Biological Sciences Section, was cited for pioneering efforts and distinguished contributions in fundamental and translational malaria research, particularly discoveries to improve antimalarial drugs and vaccines. Dr. Adams is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Global Health, College of Public Health, and holds joint appointments in the Department of Molecular Medicine and the Division of Infectious Disease & International Medicine, Morsani College of Medicine. He has dedicated his career to finding solutions for malaria, one of the leading causes of death and disease globally.
Dr. Charles Lockwood, elected AAAS Fellow in the Medical Sciences Section, was cited for distinguished contributions to reproductive science particularly discovery of the first biochemical marker of preterm birth, fetal fibronectin, and the molecular mechanisms underlying uterine hemostasis. Dr. Lockwood is senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, and a professor of obstetrics and gynecology and public health at USF. An internationally recognized health care and research leader, Dr. Lockwood is the recipient of multiple research grant awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the March of Dimes and other foundations. His clinical interests include prevention of recurrent pregnancy loss, preterm delivery and maternal thrombosis, and he maintains an active laboratory at USF Health dedicated to research in these areas.
Dr. Shyam Mohapatra, elected AAAS Fellow in the Pharmaceutical Sciences Section, was cited for outstanding contributions in the field of pharmaceutical and health sciences, particularly for pioneering achievements in advancing biomedical nanotechnology for inflammatory diseases. Dr. Mohapatra is a Distinguished USF Health Professor; director of Translational Medicine; associate dean of graduate programs and professor in the College of Pharmacy; Distinguished Professor in the Institute for Advanced Discovery & Innovation; and a Department of Veteran Affairs Research Career Scientist at James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital. He founded the USF Center for Research & Education in Nanobioengineering in 2010, and has served as center director since then. His research on the immunobiology of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), atrial natriuretic peptide signaling pathways, and nanoparticle-mediated gene/drug delivery has helped guide the fields of inflammation, immunology, infectious disease, biotherapeutics and translational medicine. He has also pioneered novel approaches for potential treatment of RSV, allergies, asthma, traumatic brain injury and cancers.
Spanning medicine, public health, and technology research, the new group of five USF Fellows are among some of the university's most accomplished faculty members, representing decades of scientific accomplishments and more than 50 patented technologies.


text:
Meanwhile in Japan...
Fukushima's Catastrophic Aftermath Continues
In her book titled No Immediate Danger: Prognosis for a Radioactive Earth, nuclear power/environmental health expert Rosalie Bertell (1929 - 2012) said:
Should the public discover the true health cost(s) of nuclear pollution, a cry would rise from all parts of the world and people would refuse to cooperate passively with their own death.
In her article titled "Radioactivity: No Immediate Danger," she coined a new word. "Omnicide" describes the ultimate human rejection of life. It's "difficult to comprehend," but it's happening, she said.
She called industrial radioactive pollution "cumulatively greater than Chernobyl. We are now in a no-win situation with radioactive materials, where (it's) acceptable to have cancer deaths, deformed children and miscarriages."
Industry propaganda falsely claims nuclear power is clean and green. The nuclear fuel cycle discharges significant amounts of greenhouse gases.
It's also responsible for hundreds of thousands of curies of deadly radioactive gases and elements in the environment annually.
"Claiming nuclear production of energy is 'clean,' " said Bertell, "is like dieting but stuffing yourself with food between meals."
Separately, she said:
There is no such thing as a radiation exposure that will not do damage. There is a hundred per cent possibility that there will be damage to cells. The next question is: which damage do you care about?
All toxic hazards are serious, she explained. Nuclear radiation is worst of all. It threatens all human life. "Our present path is headed toward species death - whether fast with nuclear war or technological disaster, or slow, by poison."
Global suicide is certain. Continued nuclear proliferation and Fukushima accelerated it.
March 11 marked its second anniversary. It's perhaps the worst ever environmental disaster. Reliable experts call large parts of Japan unsafe. They're too hazardous to live in.
According to Professor Hiroaki Koide, Tokyo's as contaminated as Fukushima. Thousands of city residents protested. They oppose nuclear power. They want safe energy sources replacing it.
Radiation contamination is widespread. East Asia, North America, Europe and other areas are affected.
Hazardous air, water and land readings across many areas globally are many multiples too high. Future epidemic cancer levels are certain. It occurs when body cells divide and spread uncontrollably. If untreated, it metastasizes and kills.
Michel Chossudovsky calls Fukushima "a nuclear war without a war." It's an "unspoken crisis of worldwide nuclear contamination."
Tens of thousands of children have confirmed thyroid abnormalities. They reflect the tip of the iceberg. Children are especially vulnerable. No radiation dose is safe.
Karl Grossman wants planet earth made a "nuclear free zone." We barely made it through the last century without a "major nuclear weapons exchange," he said.
Nuclear energy in all forms is unsafe. Safe, clean, renewable solar, wind, geothermal, and other energy sources are readily available.
Admiral Hyman Rickover (1900 - 1986) was the father of America's nuclear navy. In January 1982, he told a congressional committee that until a few billion years ago, "it was impossible to have any life on earth."
"There was so much radiation on earth you couldn't have any life, fish or anything." Gradually the amount subsided. "Now, we are creating something which nature tried to destroy to make life possible."
"Every time you produce radiation, (a) horrible force" is unleashed. "In some cases (it's) for billions of years, and I think the human race is going to wreck itself."
"I am talking about humanity. The most important thing we could do is start having an international meeting where we first outlaw nuclear weapons to start off with. Then we outlaw nuclear reactors, too."
"The lesson for history is when a war starts, every nation will ultimately use whatever weapons are available. That is the lesson learned time and again." "
"Therefore, we must expect, if another war, a serious war breaks out, we will use nuclear energy in some form. We will probably destroy ourselves." Widespread contamination acts in slow motion.
Disturbing reports explain. In early April, around 120 tons of contaminated water leaked from Fukushima's No. 1's underground storage tank. It contained an estimated 710 billion becquerels of radioactivity.
Water around the affected tank is highly radioactive. It's about 800 meters from the Pacific. Government and Tokyo Electric (Tepco) claimed it won't likely reach it. Numerous previous reports suggest otherwise.
Tepco general manager Masayuki Ono said "(w)e cannot deny the fact that our faith in the underwater tanks is being lost."
In November 2012, Nature.com headlined "Ocean still suffering from Fukushima fallout," saying:
Radioactivity is persisting in the ocean waters close to Japan's ruined nuclear power plant at Fukushima Daiichi.
New data show high contamination levels. "The Fukushima disaster caused by far the largest discharge of radioactivity into the ocean ever seen."
Radiation levels aren't dropping. "The implications are serious for the fishing industry."
On December 26, CleanEnergy.org headlined "Japan Continues Struggle with Aftermath from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster," saying:
….an estimated 160,000 (Japanese) citizens still have not returned home. Reports of illness in humans and livestock continue to underscore the far reaching and difficult to predict impacts that a nuclear accident can cause.
In July 2012, 36% of Japanese children screened had abnormal thyroid growths. Months later an illness called the "Fukushima syndrome" was killing cattle throughout Fukushima Prefecture.
Mutations were found in butterflies and other insects. Their shorter life cycles allow genetic disruptions to show up sooner than in humans or other mammals.
On April 11, Bloomberg.com headlined "Tepco Faces Decision to Dump Radioactive Water in Pacific," saying:
"Leaks were found in three of seven pits in the past week…." Options for moving contaminated water are limited.
"With Japan's rainy season approaching, contaminated water levels are likely to increase…"
"Yesterday, Tepco reported another leak of radiated water, this time from a pipe."
"Pacific bluefin tuna caught off San Diego in August 2011 was found to contain radioactive cesium 10 times higher than fish seized in previous years…." Perhaps its much higher now.
On April 15, Science Daily headlined "The Fukushima Dai-Ichi Power Plant Accident: Two Years On, the Fallout Continues," saying:
"….(S)cientists are still trying to quantify the extent of the damage." Most important is "determining just how much hazardous material escaped into the atmosphere…."
Japan Atomic Energy Agency researchers now say previously estimated "137C and 131l" release rates were too low.
On March 11, 2013, nuclear expert Arnie Gundersen said "(t)here's definitely a large crack, perhaps five inches in diameter, in Fukushima reactor 2."
Containment is sorely lacking. Pacific Ocean leakage continues.
On April 24, Natural News headlined "Massive, uncontained leak at Fukushima is pouring over 710 billion becquerels of radioactive materials into atmosphere," saying:
It's the largest ever plant leakage. Fukushima's disaster never ends. It "keeps on giving."
"(N)ew reports indicate that a wealth of new radioactive materials have been spewed into the atmosphere."
It's spreading globally. Nuclear radiation is forever. It doesn't dissipate or disappear. No safe level exists. Every dose is an overdose. Bertell was right. "Omnicide" threatens everyone.
http://www.activistpost.com/2013/04/fukushimas-catastrophic-aftermath.html
Glenn Greenwald on the High Cost of Government Sec...
DISARMED: A History of Gun Control...
Gun control reality check...
USA!!! USA!!! USA!!!
BOMBSHELL: FBI Whistleblower Reveals CIA Ran The B...
OOPS!!! It is getting colder because it is getting...
Billboard of the day...
More questions about Boston bomber shootout...
Costs of healthcare reform...
Budget lies...
The evening news, are you a believer???
Music and your health...
Do you fear the growing power of the government???...
"In terms of ethics, "controlism" is inherently de...
Banks and drug money...
"The U.S. economy has become a miserable junkie th...
Depression??? What depression???
Watertown Resident describes Forceful Intrusion & ...
Nothing fishy going on here...
We're number 2!!! We're number 2!!!...
Depression??? What depression?
Coming to a hospital near you...
"Sadly, we have been conditioned to believe that t...
"To be an effective terrorist, you don't have to k...
Education news...
"In the United States today, the amount of money t...
"You see if the government can override the Second...
They should...
Timewatch - Beatlemania...
"Finally, after the false-flag is over and time be...
More questions...
Education news: Where's the opposition???
"The simple fact of the matter is that Google con...
Does The Fourth Amendment Still Apply?
"I do not believe in coincidences and the Boston M...
" Through the educational system, the social scien...
OOPS!!! I guess it isn't getting colder because it...
Is the risk worth the loss of our liberties???
Lamestream Media: TV titans lose US viewers over s...
The distractions continue while the real questions...
The Resident: Bush Library won't release documents...
Privacy...
The terrorists have won...
New Boston Bombing Information...
First we have a guy who is seriously wounded in th...
"...what do conspiracy kooks really want? What is ...
What did they know and when did they know it???
"Innocent bystanders, whether in Damascus, Kabul, ...
"I'm staying to the bitter end to make comment and...
"The thing is, there is no "exigent circumstances"...
"As things stand, since it's highly unlikely that ...
"The martial law we predicted, that could, at any ...
Sifting through the lies...
Fake FBI Terror Plots...
"The fact that the FBI had previous contact with T...
The endgame is approaching...
Bombing suspect disappears down memory hole...
Do you wonder why the government is pushing food s...
Still eating at McDonald's???
S.C. elementary school test paper photo of the day...
Reality Check – Internet Privacy Bill CISPA Means ...
But they had nothing to do with the attacks. They ...
" But keep in mind an important point here: There ...
"Every false flag event in recent memory has been ...
"In essence, Bloomberg believes that the country i...
"The American people made a pact with the devil in...
While we were all preoccupied the destruction of t...
"Television desperately needs events like Aurora, ...
Still trying to get their story straight in Boston...
Interesting visitor to White House gets visit from...
Where does your tax money go??? Practice makes per...
From those crazy conspiracists at the New York Tim...
"If you had told someone in 1996 the security meas...
I guess he didn't shoot himself as was originally ...
Ron Paul: D.C. Will Keep Spending Until There's An...
"...they want Americans to continue going about th...
The more things change the more they remain the sa...
Leftist organization influenced crazy liberal terr...
Interesting analysis...
Canadian Police Wanted To BUST Train Terror Plot "...
They knew who he was...
"Spiderman was not immediately available for comme...
"CIA director William Casey and Russian dissident ...
See what welfare does to you...
You can't have it both ways...
Former FBI Employee: Bombers Could Have Been Recru...
Chambliss: Law enforcement agency may have known a...
"Nothing more to see here, move along..."
" When all is said and done, police are subjecting...
"...independent journalists, along with men and wo...
Meanwhile, in Japan...
"We have allowed our economic infrastructure to be...


Timothy Tillman will be on Bayern Munich's International Champions Cup roster.
Honestly, if we need to resort to using guys who are youth team players as full national team starters (apart from meaningless friendlies, and even there it's only sort of defensible with the Olympics on the horizon), we should probably just close up shop.
If Will Trapp and Jorge Villafana can start for us so can youth player from a top 4 club in the world.
Don't hold your breath that Tillman will leave the German set up any time soon.


text:
Launch of Denis Hurley book Cork Hurling: Game of My Life
I was delighted to launch Denis Hurley's book Cork Hurling: Game of My Life with Denis in the lovely Cork Waterstone's in Patrick Street. It was a really enjoyable event, especially after the tough two years we have put in, losing out on so much. Thanks to Denis and Liam Hayes from Hero Books for asking me to be there. There was a great crowd there including several hurlers who feature in the book. It's a great book, I recommend it highly and it's now available in all good bookshops. Here are some photos of the night, taken by the great John Breen of Waterstone's.
Essay Published in the Journal of Sports Literature
I'm delighted that my essay 'A Place Beyond Words' has been published in Aethlon: The Journal of Sports Literature. Aethlon is a publication of the Sports Literature Association, which is centred at East Tennessee State University. It's a print journal published twice yearly and publishes works about sport and sport literature, including original fiction and poetry, juried scholarly and critical essays, and book reviews. My essay is about the intersections between art and sport and features in my upcoming book, The Game which will be published by Merrion Press. More information about my book here. More information about Aethlon here.
The Game included in the Irish Examiner sports books, Netflix series, films, and video games to watch out for in 2022
Big thank you to the novelist and sportswriter Eimear Ryan who included my next book The Game from Merrion Press (May 2022) in her list of sports books, Netflix series, films, and video games to watch out for in 2022. Her kind words were a lovely boost. Read all her recommendations here.
The Game Listed as one of the 2022 Books to Look Out For
It was lovely to see my next book, The Game: A Lifetime Inside and Outside the White Lines listed in TheJournal.ie and The Irish Times as one of those to look out for in 2022. In such good company, it's going to be an amazing year of writing.
My Next Book will be out in May!
I'm delighted to announce that my next book The Game: A Lifetime Inside and Outside the White Lines will be published by Merrion Press in May 2022. The book is a hybrid, a multifaceted meditation on sport. It is part memoir, outlining my time as a player and fan of sport and how it has shaped my life. It is also a book of essays critiquing several aspects of sport, both good and bad, and showing its influence in the wider world. It is also a work of auto-fiction, wherein I try use my novelistic abilities to chart narratives, personal and public. It is, finally, a work of scholarship, interweaving my own view of a life spent inside and outside the white lines with the cultural discourse of previous writers and thinkers on the many themes explored.
'Possession' from Winter Papers features on Arena
I was delighted that my sports essay 'Possession' from Winter Papers featured on on the RTÉ Radio 1 arts show Arena. The programme was devoted to Winter Papers 7 and Billy O'Callaghan kindly picked out my essay to discuss. You can listen back here ('Possession' appears at 43:52).
Essay published in The Winter Papers