Those who are ready to accept that their Galactic Family is here to assist them, can look into the skies to see the "cloud" that reminds them that they are NOT alone.
We are sorry that many of the teens will not be able to have their usual time to "act out" and discover themselves, as the teens who are at all awake to their true SELF will be called on to awaken others as soon as possible.
The teens will still have their teenaged rebellion, which is a normal part of breaking away from childhood and preparing to be an adult. However, within their NOW, their rebellion will not be against your parental authority figures. Instead, you will be rebelling against the Illuminati authority figures.
Gaia has indeed gone into Her "darkest night before the dawn," and this is especially true for the United States, which was assigned to be the "flashpoint" for ascension. Please remember that in order to "jump high," one must first bend down low to gain the momentum for change.
When the darkness is hidden it is easier for humanity to ignore it. "If it does not affect me, what do I care?" say the complacent/frightened one. From this perspective, being complacent is actually being afraid to face the truth.
"Just making ends meet," Yes, it will indeed be great when it ends. But do not despair because within your third dimensional reality, there must be an ending of the old in order to have the beginning of the new.
However, the teens are not "too busy." Also, they are old enough to see the greater world, and young enough to know that they will have to live in that world for a long time if they don't do something to change it before it begins.
I wish to tell them that they must look inside to find their answer. You all have the answers inside of you, no matter what your age. It was because of my teenaged perspective that I was asked to share my Starship perspective of ascension with those who still earthbound.
Before I came to the Ship I spoke and heard individual words. However, as soon as I bonded with the others on the Ship, which I shared in my last transmission, I began to remember how to speak and hear Light Language.
Now that statement leads me into a description of how we "hear" via Light Language. How can you hear light? Well, you don't really "hear" it. Instead, you FEEL it within your aura. On Earth your Aura is largely forgotten, but on the Multidimensional Starships, your fourth dimensional aura is a natural component of your body, as is your fifth dimensional Light Body.
Fortunately, because the frequency of Gaia is rising, many of you are remembering more of your dreams and remember to perceive, attend, and fulfill to your inner aspirations. Therefore, you are living more and more within the resonance of the fourth dimension.
These events also lowered Her Planetary Consciousness. Gaia's "planetary consciousness" means the frequency of her resonance, also known as the Schumann Resonance. Gaia was once a fifth dimensional planet, but She fell into the lower resonance of a third/fourth dimensional planet.
I look forward to our next conversation. If you have any questions you wish ask me, just place them in the "comments sections," and I will be happy to respond.
Question: As I am reading this NOW, should i feel like i am 'assigned' to assist planetary ascension or is it STILL my free will that makes me to continue? I mean, am I playing my 'previously contracted' role or am I offered choices? Thank you!
Can I visit one of your ships assuming it is safe for both parties involved?
Why not wait until you'll visit your "own" home (ship)?
I don't understand...what will happen to the earth and its inhabitants in the present moment? What is the main source of the problems that come there? Are the illuminatti human?
Maybe life just needs to sort itself out. And those who create it (us!) assist by solving the problems that are facing us individually.
Hi, after all, it is our inner vibration and the way we modulate it.
Hey, I recently learned that souls incarnate into a very specific position of disconnection on purpose, just to "get" to the problematic levels of gaia. Then, the task is to dig out of it again. This is the way we help. So whatever you are facing right now, whatever the situation and circumstances you are in - this is what needs to be transcended.
Question = I'm 28 years old and i have already been contacted by Arcturians visually through my laptop.Do you think my generation will see the first landings ?
After a few "difficult days" at "work" I came home to this transmission where I had left off. Staring brightly at me was the phrase "I had come to the ship to put aside my selfish ways". Well that really says a lot doesn't it? in case we forget. Yes, it brings me back to a truer reality, a clearing in the storm.
Thank you Sha-ier. Your message is very lovely and educational. Any message from you is helpful in this Now of ascension.
Many thanks and blessings for all. In truth, we resonate beyond the limits of the identification with a separate self. Find your inner peace and ask to be shown what understanding/belief you have that is distorted from this truth. Bless yourselves and release that which you are ready to release. Be grateful for this awareness. In love and joy.
I just had a flash of light/vision of myself in light body weaving threads of gold. As the vision stepped down in frequency the weaving became a gramophone.
I want to ascend so badly I'm crying. Now I feel weird saying that- but if there is anything I can do to help please tell me - I know Gaia needs help- I can feel it.
I'm looking forward to ascend, I find living in 3rd dimension hard it is so overwhelming. I'm wondering if I be able to ascend. I do feel shifts in new energies alot. I've read both part 1 and 2. I'm also hoping to meet the Galactic family too.
What a relief it is to read this post. I started what I call the "awakening process" (I see hear you call it that too!) in 2008. It began with the intense compulsion to read as many ancient religious texts as I could get my hands on. I felt there could be a code in some of the old books. Next came the number 11. If any of you can relate, you will understand what I'm saying. Not just 11, but also the numbers 3, 4, 7 & 12. If you get it, you get it. Then, fast forward to 2014, and my daughter is 13 years old and she starts seeing and communicating with nature spirits: fairies, gnomes, leprechauns, elementals, salamanders, brownies, etc. I am scared, but I believe her and then everything starts unfolding in my spiritual self. Next thing that occurs is my daughter begins getting visits from some Pleiadeans. A male and female. She goes aboard their starship several times. She believes them to be her "parents". They are tall and slim and attractive and have blonde hair and blue eyes just like she does (we do). She meets a lightbody in the ship named Agalai who she senses is her daughter. They all speak light language to each other and my daughter understands all of it. I now meditate almost daily and have had incredible experiences with other beings. I had a near death experience before my awakening. I think that somehow opened a door. I have been taken up into the sky with lightbeings during my early meditations and have recently experienced a sort of threshold to another realm during my meditations. I know it is another dimension. I get afraid and pull out, but after reading this I will consciously make the choice to not be afraid. I had a kundalini activation experience yesterday during morning meditation and am eager and excited for the next step of being introduced to light language, as you mentioned in this post. Thank you so much. I learn more and more in leaps and bounds ever single day whether it be through reading or people or just within. It is a most wonderful adventure for my soul.


text:
Madstagram
Ripping Baja with the Ragland's, Menzies and Anderson's
The other day I figured out that I have been going to Baja for almost 30 years. The relationship started off rocky with short, wild trips to Tijuana. Let's just say I was an ugly tourist kid doing things teenagers do in a town that encourages bad behavior. When I was introduced to the beaches and seafood of Rosarito, I clearly remember thinking, "Wow this is beautiful. The food is amazing. The people are amazing. And it's right here in our back yard!" That was a time prior to Narco wars, where getting shaken down for twenty bucks was pretty much the worst thing that was going to happen.
Consequently, tourism was booming. It seemed every weekend there was something going on in Baja. The "Ah-ha" moment came when I went on a surf trip to K38 and realized Baja kept going. It's massive untouched beauty jutted out into the pacific like a middle finger to the developing world exclaiming, "You can not tame me." As I have traveled all over the world, I have come to appreciate Baja even more. It is a unique combination of beauty and harshness, of chaos and serenity. To truly appreciate it you must be an off-roader. If you merely experience Baja by pavement you are missing the most important parts.
Chad Ragland and I have been working on putting a RZR tour of Baja together for almost two years. Trying to coordinate schedules between three families has proven to be an exercise near futility. But the stars finally aligned and we were able to get Chad and Larry Ragland, RJ and Randy Anderson, and Steve and Bryce Menzies all together for a few days of fun and exploration in Baja.
For those of you who don't know, Bryce Menzies is a desert and short course champion. He has found success at young age, winning multiple championships and the Baja 500 three times. His father Steve is a successful businessman from Las Vegas and has been instrumental in building the highly successful Menzies Motorsports program with his son. He is as passionate about off-roading and racing as his son.
RJ Anderson is also a short course champion and star of the XP1K video series. He has just begun racing in the desert. He was raised by off-road luminary Randy Anderson, CEO of Walker Evans Enterprises. Randy was previously Walker Evans' crew chief. He is one of the top suspension wizards in the world and is part of a small group of people who helped create the world of off-road racing as we know it today. Randy has personally designed the majority of shocks run on RZR's to date.
Five time Baja 1000 Champion Larry Ragland is a recent RZR convert. He has quickly logged over 6,000 off-road miles on his RZR while falling in love with the simplicity and function of the Polaris RZR platform. His son Chad also took to RZR's, competing in races, then launching his company Cagerwrx, an aftermarket manufacturer of cages and performance parts for UTV's. Chad continues to race all platforms of off-road as well and was the catalyst for putting this trip together. He loves to share his infectious passion for off-road with his friends and family.
Many of the routes and locations we picked were places we have been driving by for years but never have had time to stop and check them out. Now that we have Google Earth, we constantly comb the magic peninsula for routes we have never been on.
The purpose of this trip was not just to explore parts of Baja we had never seen on the super utilitarian Polaris RZR, but also to explore the father-son relationships that seem to thrive in off-road racing culture. We were there to capture all the fun and will be releasing the full video on father's day June 21st.
As we drove past the border and dropped into Baja, we stopped for some shrimp tacos just south of Rosarito at Juniors. They have some of the best fried shrimp tacos in all of Baja. After the feast, the Raglands, Mad Media Crew, and chase crews headed south to Estero Beach to pick up the Menzies and the Andersons, who had opted to fly into Ensenada.
Our first stop was dinner at Acambaro in Urapan. What seemingly looks like a rundown truck stop is a quirky off-road history lesson. You'll have to go in and look around at the combination of race and ranch paraphernalia hanging on the walls yourself. It's like you stepped back in time. The food is simple. They always serve local cheese and if you're lucky, they'll have lamb. The handwash station is outside and the chopping board is an old tree stump just like an old school ranch.
From Acambaro we drove straight to Colonet and stayed at Hotel Paraiso, a well-known hotel that is next to Baja 1000 race course. It's always been weird to me that all these hotels in Baja are right on the road instead of set back away into the beauty of Baja, but then again I guess you wouldn't see them from the road.
After having the ritualistic "Machaca con Huevos" for breakfast, we unloaded the RZR's from the trailers and headed north of town to find a line we had always seen that leads to the beach. After blazing through a series of farm roads, we arrived at an open plateau that overlooked the tight, single track that led down to the secluded rock beach.
We all charged down to the beach and blasted through the natural rock whoops. After a few runs we stopped to take in the beauty of Baja and smell the saltwater air. This was our first spot and it was stunning! I knew this was going to be an epic trip. After exploring both ends of the beach we realized the canyon line we came down was the only way back up.
After ripping back up through the super tight and twisty canyon we headed south using part of Baja 1000 course that runs along the coast heading south towards San Quintin. It was hard to focus on the course because of the spectacular ocean views to our right. We turned inland for a bit then found a farm road back down to the beach and dove down sandy beaches for over twenty miles.
We stopped for late lunch at Old Mill and had some delicious shrimp and fish tacos. From Old Mill we drove pavement up to Rancho El Coyote via the Observatory road, one of the sketchiest paved roads in all of baja. The Menzies, Anderson's and Ragland's took off. I had to remind myself that I wasn't a professional driver and to just cruise it. Tightening corners, off camber turns, and lots of elevation changes make the road challenging but there is little room for error, as one of my guys learned the hard way. He came over a crest and clipped the water guard laying our brand new 4 seat Polaris RZR on its side on the pavement. No one was hurt, but it was just a reminder that Baja can bite you at anytime. We got the car on a trailer and headed into Rancho El Coyote down the dirt turn off at the Meling Ranch sign.
Rancho El Coyote is a real working ranch set in the middle of the Sierra San Pedro de Martir mountain range they have about 7,000 head of cattle roaming free. They are completely self-sufficient, run on a combination of solar, wind, and generators. The people who run the ranch are super nice and the food is great. It's as remote as you can get in Baja with race course running right next to the ranch. Rancho El Coyote is another place I have probably driven by over thirty times and never stopped. The whole crew sat around the campfire had a few beers and tequila and listened to war stories about previous races in Baja. It was great to hear the different generation of off-roaders talk about their experiences in Baja.
We woke up and had breakfast fixed our car and decided to trailer the cars to Catavina so we didn't need to rush on the next leg of the trip. Just after you turn at El Rosario there is an outstanding taco stand on the left with great carne asada and adoba tacos. Mama Espinoza's is also a must stop. Their lobster burritos are like crack.
Just a few miles south of El Rosario is an invisible line marked by the first of the Cirio, or Boojum, Trees. This is where the real beauty of Baja begins and where you have to do work as an off-roader to experience the unspoiled terrain. Boojum trees look like a plant that Dr. Suess designed, yet they seemingly make perfect sense mixed in with the giant Cardón cactus that paints Baja. The name comes from an appropriate reference from Lewis Carroll's poem, "The Hunting of the Snark". This one section of Baja is the only place the Boojum trees grow in such abundance in the entire world, as if to signal to travelers that they have found someplace special.
We stayed at the Hotel Mision Catavina. There are a few of these styles of hotels throughout Baja that I love staying at. Relaxed and authentic, the interiors have an "Old Baja" feel.
After some drinks around a campfire out in back of the hotel, we had a great dinner at the restaurant in the hotel and tuned in.
We all got up the next morning and had a quick breakfast and headed down to Punta Prieta to start our ride for the day.
After unloading the RZR's from the trailers, we gassed up and headed out. Less than 10 miles into the course we were surrounded by a forest of Boojum trees and cacti in a stunning landscape. After a few hours of driving through varied terrain including a few small silt beds, we arrived at San Borja Mission.
Misión San Francisco Borja was founded in 1762 by Jesuit missionaries as part of the El Camino Real (Spanish for The Royal Road, also known as The King's Highway). The Mission not only established religious doctrine but introduced european livestock, fruits, vegetables, and industry into the region changing mexico forever. Many streets throughout California still follow or run parallel to this historic route and bear the "El Camino Real" name. Eventually, a network of settlements were established, each of which was no more than a long day's ride by horse or boat (or three days on foot) from another. It was all part of the Spanish government's plan to conquer new land, reap the riches and convert the natives into tax paying contributors to the empire.
A newer built San Borja Mission lies in front of the old ruins. The newer Mission is being restored by hand by the family that own the ranch. They still climb the nearby mountain and hand cut large blocks of cantera stone and carry it down on a stretcher one block at a time.
Mission caretaker José Ángel Gerardo Monteón Jr. gave us the tour of the Mission as well as the entire grounds, which still have a variety fruit trees and the original grape vines brought by Jesuit missionaries. These grapes are likely the first introduced to North America pre-dating famed wine growing areas like Napa. The mission is also known for its natural hot springs. Because of the rough road leading to San Borja, the mission receives an average of three visitors a month. They receive no government or outside support, so a little donation goes a long way to help keep this part of history alive.
After the day's history lesson, we headed East towards Bay of LA, our final destination. The course straightened out a bit allowing us to pick up the pace until we hit the pavement. Once on the pavement we cruised slowly over a hill until the stunning view of the Sea of Cortez was revealed. We stopped to take some pictures and headed into town to Guillermo's Hotel.
Guillermo's lies beachfront and has great food, clean rooms and warm showers. Guillermo is also an off-road racer so we always enjoy swapping stories with him. The Anderson's and the Menzies had to get on a plane and head home to meet other obligations, so we sent them off with big smiles on their faces.
The next morning we woke up to super windy conditions which killed our fishing plans so we decided to have breakfast, ditch the cameras and go exploring. We headed south of town and found the "Bahia 200" race course, a local race that happens every year in March. We spent hours running the tight technical track and exploring random washes and trails. This is the fun of not having an agenda – you see something and just turn and go check it out.
We headed back to town for some fish and shrimp tacos then headed to the North side of the bay. First, we drove out to the cape that the lighthouse was on. We stopped for bit to explore the beach filled with crabs and blow fish and random seashells. Then we headed North on a the beach until we came to the turtle sanctuary where we turned back up onto a coastal dirt road and kept heading north exploring beaches until we found a giant canyon wash. We rode up the canyon until it looped back to the coastal road and drove drove back to Guillermo's for another delicious dinner.
I can honestly say that finding new lines with Larry and Chad Ragland was the most fun I have had in Baja ever. If your going to go on an adventure, surrounding yourself with great people is a must.
One of the best parts about being an off-roader is you get to see and experience things most people on the planet will never do. Off-roading teaches you to constantly push your comfort zone and work for the experience. Once you gain this mindset the entire planet becomes your playground.
You can off-road in whatever platform you chose, Jeep, pre-runner, Raptor, but nothing offers the ease and versatility of the Polaris RZR XP1000. Whatever vehicle you choose slow down, take a look around, drive up that dirt road, have a taco, and enjoy Baja with your friends, because life is not a race to the end, it's a journey to be thoroughly enjoyed.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Data;
using System.Data.Entity;
using System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure;
using System.Linq;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Web;
using System.Web.Http;
using ScholarshipManagementSystem.Models;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
using System.IO;
using System.Reflection;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.Web.Security;
using WebMatrix.WebData;
using NPOI.SS.UserModel;
using NPOI.XSSF.UserModel;

namespace ScholarshipManagementSystem.Controllers
{
    [Authorize(Roles = "Teacher")]
    public class ImportProjectBonusDataController : ApiController
    {
        private StudentContext db = new StudentContext();

        public String Postgetfile()
        {
            try
            {
                String return_msg = "";

                System.Web.HttpPostedFile excel_file = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Request.Files["file1"];
                String file_name = excel_file.FileName;
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                String path = System.Web.HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath("~/App_Import/");
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                FileStream stream = new FileStream(file_name, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read);
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
To: Bureau of Ocean Energy Management
TAKE ACTION: Offshore Arctic Drilling Announced for 2014--Help Fight Back!
Kari Birdseye, Earthjustice
Victory! The creator of this petition declared the campaign a success. You can still sign the petition to show support.
Allowing oil drilling and development in the pristine and remote waters of America's Arctic Ocean and the Chukchi Sea is a risky and unnecessary venture. The rush to allow oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean moves us away from a clean energy future that doesn't rely on dirty fossil fuels. It puts a sensitive ecosystem at unnecessary risk, threatening endangered and threatened species.
Alaska's Chukchi Sea provides vital habitat for polar bears, endangered bowhead whales, walrus, beluga whales, seals, fish, and marine birds. Alaska Native communities along the Chukchi Sea practice a subsistence way of life and have depended on the resources of this sea for their cultural and nutritional well-being for thousands of years.
This remote region is one of the least understood areas of the world, and government scientists agree that more data is needed to fully understand the impacts of drilling in this sensitive region. There is also broad agreement that an oil spill in these icy, remote waters cannot be effectively cleaned up and could, as the Deepwater Horizon spill showed in the Gulf of Mexico, devastate the region.
The Arctic is feeling the effects of climate change at twice the rate of the rest of the world. Drilling for oil in the Chukchi Sea will only lead to more unsustainable carbon pollution, furthering climate change and putting the Arctic--and the rest if the planet--at risk.
As your agency considers responses to the call for information, please also step back and reassess whether to open the Arctic Ocean to oil drilling. We cannot afford to open the Chukchi Sea to more oil leasing. The climate consequences are dire, and the risks to this vibrant but sensitive region are too great. Do not open the Chukchi Sea to more unsafe oil drilling that will only feed our unsustainable addiction to oil.
Shell just announced a new plan to drill for oil in America's Arctic waters in 2014. But it still hasn't addressed embarrassing offshore drilling rig failures.
We've already watched the company lose control of two different drill rigs in less than a year, with one of them catching fire and the other one running aground off the coast of Alaska.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is asking for comments as it considers another lease sale for offshore oil drilling in the Arctic. Tell them the risks of drilling in the Arctic Ocean are far too great and we cannot afford to open Chukchi Sea to more oil leasing.
To add insult to injury, America's Arctic is ground zero for climate change. It's warming twice as fast as the rest of the world and if Shell and other Big Oil companies drill for oil in these remote waters, it would even further accelerate climate change.
Offshore drilling in the Arctic leads to a cycle that reinforces climate disruption. Not only would burning oil produced from the region pump more carbon into the atmosphere, but the drilling operations themselves would emit black carbon or soot that would be deposited on the ice, where it does the most harm. Soot causes heat to be absorbed rather than reflected by the ice. Because the Arctic ice cap acts like a refrigerator for the planet, less Arctic sea ice means a warmer planet and a change in climate patterns.
Drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean is not consistent with a responsible course to combat climate change, something the president has committed to in his second term.
Tell the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management not to hold any more lease sales in the Chukchi Sea and to reevaluate current plans to drill in these remote waters.


text:
Topics: Case StudyEthical DilemmaJohnson and Johnson
Johnson and Johnson`s is one of the well-known companies in the world. It is developed in 1886 by three brothers, Robert wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson. It is a fortune 500 Pharmaceutical and consumers packaged goods manufactured multinational company. It has more than 265 operating companies in more than 60 countries approximately 126500 peoplesss. Moreover, company launched number of products among them Johnson baby powder was most prominent in market. Its success leads to the company's heritage baby business. The corporation incudes 250 subsidiaries and products sold in over 175 countries. The company business is divided into three major segments.
J&J Family of Companies
Pharmaceuticals Medical Devices Consumer Products
Janssen Biosense Webster Skin and hair care
Janssen Diagnostics Mentor Baby care
Janssen Pharmaceuticals Janssen Diagnostic Oral care
Vision of the company
"To continue the path set forth by the founders of Johnson`s Enterprises, by committing ourselves to our clients and employees and also contributing to the community".
Mission of the company
"To provide our clients with the best possible service and product. Which meet our demands in quality and safety regulations, by assuring that our employees have all the necessary tools, training and expertise to accomplish their given tasks?"
To provide the high-quality services and products in cure disease.
To improve the quality of life.
To be the leaders in the customer satisfaction.
To encourage the peoples for using or attracting their products.
Major Competitor
Pfizer Inc. (Pfizer) is a multinational biopharmaceutical company. It is involved in the discovery, development and production of health products. It has vast portfolio such as medicines and vaccine. Corporation has three business segments e.g. pharmaceutical, Animal health, Corporate. Coselling its products over150 countries worldwide about 98000 employees are working in 115 countries. The main strength of this brand is that six of their products are among the top pharmaceutical's brands in India. It has a superb R&D wing that constantly produces and modernize products. Because of their sturdy brand name, Pfizer is considered as one of the highest Johnsons & Johnson competitors.
One of the well-known companies in the world, and it is in the United States. It was established in the year 1891; it is a multinational healthcare company. The corporation gives diverse health solutions through their vaccines, medicines, and animal healthcare products. Organization has four main segments, Animal health, Pharmaceutical, Healthcare services, and Alliances. Moreover. The Company`s care Services offers services and solutions which will specialize in engagement, health analytics, and clinical services. The corporate incorporates a vast portfolio of products and has an outstanding R&D wing. Because of their sturdy brand with in the pharmacy sector, company is taken into account as one of the top Johnsons challenger.
Novartis is the Swiss pharmaceutical company located in Basel, Switzerland. It considered largest companies in pharmacy sector by means of income and market placed capitalization. The organization is a member of diverse associations such as European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EEPIA), an international Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA) and others. The corporation produces drugs for respiratory and infectious illness, cardiovascular, dermatology, urinary complications, and animal health products. Their recognition is to investigate, broaden, and marketplace innovative merchandise associated with medication in an effort to assist to treatment sickness and to ease the struggling of human beings to help them live a excellent lifestyles. Due to their worldwide attain, Novartis is taken into consideration as one of the top Johnsons Johnson competition.
Alex Grosky
Alex Grosky is chairman, Board of director, as well as the Chief Executive of the company. He illustrates the transformational leadership style in action. Alex began his Johnson & Johnson career as a sale, marketing, management, culminating in being CEO and Chairmen in 2012. He said that "The world today requires the very best that Johnson & Johnson has to offer, and we are constantly striving to come up with ways we can innovate and lead". During his tenure, Johnson & Johnson has become a leading global Pharmaceutical company as well as the industry's number one investor in research and development.
Marketing of Baby Powder
The target audiences of Johnson and Johnson company is "mother and babies". The product includes Johnson baby powder and shower-to-shower baby powder. In 1893, Johnson and Johnson had developed baby powder and promoted It to absorbed unwanted moistures and odors(smell) from babies and women. with the passage of time talcum powder became a top selling product of the company.
About Talcum Powder
Talcum powder is made from talc. Talc is a white grey and pale green stone, that is made from clay mineral composed of hydrated magnesium, silicon, and oxygen. Talc is most natural form, the objective of the talc is to make skin smooth, it contains asbestos, which is the cause of lungs cancer due to this disease all the products of U.S has been free from asbestos since 1970s.
Johnson baby powder lawsuits
Up to 2009-year, people was using products of Johnson and Johnson without any worry. The baby powder was so much prominent among women because of its hygienic nature and beautiful fragrance. They used to prefer Johnson and Johnson over any other product. The company was earning its profits on its product because of its well-known brand image among people but the product has a flaw-a deadly-flaw which has a potential to cause death of its customers. It would not be wrong to say that It was working as a slow poison as continuous use of it was causing cancer, but the company did not mention any such problem. They have kept this information secret from its customers. Johnson and Johnson`s product credibility was questioned for the first time when a lady named Diane Berg in 2006, Physician`s assistant by profession, claimed in a court that the use of Johnson and Johnson products have caused her cancer. Moreover, she said the product has elements which cause cancer by mutating the normal cells. Although, she died of cancer but later few more customers have sued the company for same reason. Still today, the company do not bother to inform its customers about the threat its product can pose on many lives. More than 30% girls in Pakistan keep using their baby products even when they grow up and most of them are unaware about its issue. Transparency is considered as a liability of a company and providing right information to its customers is the very first responsibility of a company (Specially, when it is a multinational firm) when It is causing such a severe damage to its customer. Still today, the company`s advertisements do not address this issue. Further, the very first question that arises here is 'Is It ok to let these firms operate in market specially, in such markets where most of the people are already illiterate? Secondly, is imposing a fine to the company on death of people is fair? Because life is subjective and it worth more than any penny, pound or rupee. So, counting value of life in monetary terms is justifiable? Specially, when the company is not going to change its policy and keep on reporting its mistakes.
Challenge for Gorsky
On September 2016, J&J was facing 1800 cases against its talcum powder. In September 2016, another case filed in St. Louis by Deborah Giannecchini from Modesto, California. She stated that she had diagnosed with cancer in 2012 after using J&J talcum powder.
Johnson and Johnson is one of the most renowned company in the world. It provides number of products among them Johnson baby powder is top selling product. As it is talc-based powder so long usage of this powder causes cancer in consumers. In May 2016, jury in St. Louis, Missouri, awarded US $55million to a woman who was suffering from cancer after using talc-based Johnson`s baby powder for nearly 40 years.
Ethical Dilemma: Case Study of Johnson and Johnson's and Its Major Competitor. (2022, August 12). Edubirdie. Retrieved February 1, 2023, from https://edubirdie.com/examples/ethical-dilemma-case-study-of-johnson-and-johnsons-and-its-major-competitor/
"Ethical Dilemma: Case Study of Johnson and Johnson's and Its Major Competitor." Edubirdie, 12 Aug. 2022, edubirdie.com/examples/ethical-dilemma-case-study-of-johnson-and-johnsons-and-its-major-competitor/
Ethical Dilemma: Case Study of Johnson and Johnson's and Its Major Competitor. [online]. Available at: <https://edubirdie.com/examples/ethical-dilemma-case-study-of-johnson-and-johnsons-and-its-major-competitor/> [Accessed 1 Feb. 2023].
Ethical Dilemma: Case Study of Johnson and Johnson's and Its Major Competitor [Internet]. Edubirdie. 2022 Aug 12 [cited 2023 Feb 1]. Available from: https://edubirdie.com/examples/ethical-dilemma-case-study-of-johnson-and-johnsons-and-its-major-competitor/
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Introduction: Crisis Management can be defined as "the identification of threats to an organization and its stakeholders, and the methods used by the organization to deal with these threats." (Investopedia, 2018). In October of 1982, Johnson and Johnson came under tremendous scrutiny, as it was...


Being inspired by Eric Weiner's book The Geography of Bliss I picked up his next book right before my trip to Vienna, The Geography of Genius: A Search for the World's Most Creative Places from Ancient Athens to Silicon Valley. The title itself is self-descriptive, so trying to not spoil anything will just tell that the author travels the world to find out how the places of genius were born – Athens in around 400BC, Florence during the Renaissance, Edinburgh in 18th century, Silicon Valley nowadays, and some more. But Vienna… Vienna was featured 2 times in the book, as unlike other places, Vienna had 2 periods of genius – the golden age of classical music coming with Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Beethoven, and the next one hitting the city with science & arts – Freud and Klimt being the prominent representatives.
The city itself smells like music, pure and ingenious classical music. It's in the air, it's soaked in the buildings of Vienna, in its people, in its food. Feels like the city is constantly giving a concert, the orchestra never stops, and the audience keeps admiring. Vienna still has the spirit of the great composers who lived and composed here centuries ago.
Christmas in Vienna? That's another story! The Holiday spirit just floods the city, the Christmas markets are everywhere, joy and happiness surrounds Vienna despite the cold and dark weather. People get together, celebrate life, create that amazing contagious mood, wait for something magical to happen.
I'm not Catholic myself, in fact not a religious person at all, but I like the way people celebrate Christmas in Europe. Maybe the Christmas we experience nowadays is far from its true meaning, maybe it's more commercial now than pure religious, maybe it has been modified throughout centuries to survive in modern world, but I like its spirit anyway. It connects people, it reunites families, it brings joy to everyone. It also adds so many lights to the cities! I'm sure summertime Vienna would be as magical as it is in Christmas time, but the extra lights and the nice decorations add so much charm to the city.
Vienna is truly magical and outstanding, Lucy! I loved your stunning pictures. When's the best time of teh year to go in Vienna?
Such utterly beautiful, striking photos. I'm so happy I found your blog!
Wow….the place sounds amazing. I haven't visited Vienna but it sounds lovely. The pictures are breathtakingly beautiful. Thanks for sharing this.
I think you've described Vienna perfectly. I actually live here atm and totally agree with your spirit comment about the great composers.
Also love your pictures. Karlskirche is one of my favourite buildings in the world.
wow, we are visiting Vienna next month and I cannot wait. It is a city that we have wanted to visit for so long now and looking at your photos just makes me even more excited to explore.
Yes, Christmas is a wonderful period in Europe. Cities then look so beautiful and you can feel the special atmosphere – people are much nicer and life goes by so slow. Great post, thanks for sharing.
Thanks Milena! Absolutely agree, Christmas season is a great time to travel in Europe.
Highlight was tafelspitz at Cafe Plachutta. That was a memorable meal and a half!
Vienna is spectacular really. So much to see and do. Love the photos – especially the christmas lights!
Thanks for bringing back to VIenna! I spent a full week there on my honeymoon, but that was summer and it was 27 years ago! So nice to see it all sparkly for Christmas!
I have such a thing for those delicate sparkly lights! It reminded me of Larimer Square in downtown Denver, CO. I also quite loved those little artsy buildings and would love to see what the inside of them are like!
Just googled the Larimer Square images, it's really gorgeous in Christmas time!
I really love Vienna and it is especially nice around Christmas for all the lovely markets. I especially like the Christmas market in front of the town hall. I have not made it to the Museum of Modern Art but it looks like a great place to visit. Enjoyed reading your post.
Thanks Christine 🙂 The market in front of the Town Hall was probably the biggest one, but somehow I managed to miss it 😀 Just visited on Christmas Eve night when everything was closed.


Seabuckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) Essential oil– Seabuckthorn sends its lipids deep into the skin, diminishing imbalances from the inside out. This supercritical extract is packed with omega fatty acids 3, 6, 7, and 9, antioxidants, vitamin, palmitoleic acids, carotenoids, and phytosterols. A single drop of seabuckthorn oil contains 190 different bioactive compounds. This bright orange essence is incredibly regenerative and complexion clearing - relaxing redness and paring puffiness. Seabuckthorn is an excellent addition to cleansers for acne. It helps to harmonize skin with sun.
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In 1966 , while with the 3d SFG I was detailed to do the A-Team walk on. We had a guy, Roy K. "Squirrel" Sprouse, who brought up the end of the demo by saying " I speak Hillbily and Profanity and have a working knowledge of English". That usually brought the house down.


text:
References Used for Dactyloscopus fimbriatus
Search for more references:
Biodiversity heritage library | Google Books | Google Scholar | Scirus | PubMed | Zoological Record
Reference no.
Named Used
13293	 Springer, V.G. and T.M. Orrell, 1996. Catalog of type specimens of recent fishes in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, 5: Chaenopsidae, Clinidae, Dactyloscopidae, Labrisomidae, and Tripterygiidae. Smithson. Contrib. Zool. 576:38.	 1996	 Cokeridia fimbriata 13
31517	 Wu, H.L., K.-T. Shao and C.F. Lai (eds.), 1999. Latin-Chinese dictionary of fishes names. The Sueichan Press, Taiwan. 1028 p.	 1999	 Dactyloscopus fimbriata -->
58108	 Chinese Academy of Fishery Sciences, 2003. Chinese aquatic germplasm resources database. http://zzzy.fishinfo.cn	 2003	 Dactyloscopus fimbriatus -->
52299	 Nelson, J.S., E.J. Crossman, H. Espinosa-Pérez, L.T. Findley, C.R. Gilbert, R.N. Lea and J.D. Williams, 2004. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 29, Bethesda, Maryland. ix, 386 p. + 1 CD.	 2004	 Dactyloscopus fimbriatus 162
82814	 Hastings, P.A. and V.G. Springer, 2009. Recognizing diversity in blennioid fish nomenclature (Teleostei: Blennioidei). Zootaxa 2120:3-14.	 2009	 Dactyloscopus fimbriatus 5,9;tab.1
References uploaded by users for Dactyloscopus fimbriatus
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text:
or Services
Ruth Faye Johnson
Resthaven Funeral Home
Sympathy and Grief
27 June, 1934 – 22 November, 2021
Resthaven Funeral Home & Memorial Park
Ruth Faye (Belcher) Johnson arrived in this world on June27, 1934. She made a lasting mark through her hard work, smarts, and never-say-die-attitude. She passed on November 22, 2021 after a 6 year, hard-fought battle with cancer and heart failure. She is survived by James H. Johnson, her husband, partner, and soul mate for 68 years. She is also survived by her children and their spouses Victor and Andrea Johnson, Zana and Mike Cook, Zeta Powell, and daughter-in-law Debra Johnson, and was preceded in death by her son Vance Johnson and son-in-law Paul Powell. Ruth was also preceded in death by her parents Herschel and Leola Belcher, and 8 of her 9 siblings. She is survived by her sister Mary Strong.
Ruth spent her life with the gas pedal pushed to the floor, working to build the family farm, raise her children to be as strong, independent and capable as she was, supporting and encouraging her grandchildren, and loving her 9 great-grandchildren.
Ruth's pie baking, embroidery and quilting skills were meticulous and measured, while her tell-it-like-it-is approach to the truth was no-holds barred. Those who truly knew her loved her for both.
Ruth's formal education ended after High School graduation but she read ravenously, and was known for her practical wisdom, preaching the value of continuous learning and using a great attitude as a lever to get things done. "A place is what you make it" was one of her favorite mantras. Her direction to each of her kids was, "Find the smartest partner who will have you and marry them!" Her advice has paid off for all her children.
Ruth was a star basketball player on Earlsboro High School's first and still only women's state tournament qualifying team in 1951. She loved basketball her entire life and wore OKC Thunder apparel every chance she could.
James was a 20 year U.S. Air Force veteran, and he and Ruth traveled the world. Ruth never failed to grow a garden, make friends, and turn any house into a cozy and comfortable home. It was all practice for when James retired and they molded their dreams into the reality of a family, a farm, and unending chores (fun).
Ruth was passionate about working hard, providing a good example for others. She was able to push herself to continue working when the day was too late, too dark, too cold, too hot or the deck seemed too stacked. She would say, "You never know what you can accomplish until you give it all you've got."
Ruth passionately pursued her life and passionately loved those around her. She will be sorely missed.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Promedica Foundation, Johnson Cemetery Fund or Mars Hill Cemetery Fund.
In Memory of Ruth Faye Johnson


Being arrested for Percocet possession is a serious offense in New Hampshire.
That's why you'll want to immediately talk to criminal defense lawyer Michael Anzalone if you are arrested. Why? Because of the opioid crisis, prescription and other drug use has come under the scrutiny of law enforcement, prosecutors and judges.
They are always on the lookout for anyone who possesses a controlled substance. And how they determine whether you have the drugs in your possession can help your defense team when you case goes to court. Did the police illegally search your vehicle and seize the drugs? This is one of the ways your attorney can help.
For example, your lawyer can determine whether police lacked probable cause to search you, or whether it was an illegal traffic stop.
This is a drug that contains a mixture of acetaminophen and oxycodone, which belongs to the opioid family. Acetaminophen is less potent and is a pain reliever. Still, this is a drug that can be highly addictive when not used as prescribed by a physician.
This is a painkiller and should not be used in conjunction with alcohol, other sedatives or narcotics. It can slow or even stop your breathing and can be highly habit forming.
So, if you are using Percocet, or possess it in great quantities, be aware that law enforcement officers may arrest you if they find a reason to pull your vehicle over.
Criminal defense attorney Michael Anzalone suggests that you don't speak with police officers if you are arrested. Instead, ask to make a phone call and get a lawyer who is experienced in the state's drug laws by your side before you talk to authorities.
Depending on the circumstances of your arrest and the charges against you, you could either face a misdemeanor or a felony. It makes a huge difference in the kinds of punishment you could face. For example, according to the state statute that outlines the controlled drug policy, RSA 318-B, you could face up to seven years in prison and fines of up to $25,000 _ even for a first felony offense.
This can be a life-changing event so you want to make sure you have the very best legal team by your side as you face the charges.
In New Hampshire, if you are caught either illegally possessing or distributing (selling) a prescription drug, you could be facing significant charges.
You'll need to have the advice from the legal team at The Anzalone Law Firm to help get the charges against you either dismissed or greatly reduced. This could save you a lot of money and time in prison.
Remember, a judge may order you to prison, or to participate in rehabilitation programs. This can cost you a lot of money because much of the cost will fall to you. Also, you may either lose your driving privileges or even your job once you are sentenced.
Call us today in Nashua, New Hampshire to make an appointment for a free consultation.


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text:
Q: Deserializing adjacently tagged data with special characters I have JSON data that I need to deserialize, where the format is
[
  {
    "tag": "path\like\string",
    "data": [{"fieldA": 1}, {"fieldA": 2}]
  },
  {
    "tag": "another\path\like\string",
    "data": [{"fieldA": 3, "fieldB": "some string"}, {"fieldA": 4, "fieldB": "some string"}]
  },
  ...
]

Some searching lead me to this page about Adjacently tagged data on the serde docs page under "Enum Representation" which looks like it would fit my use case perfectly. The only problem is that when structuring my enum, the enum variant name must match that name inside the tag field which I can't do in this case because the tag field contains special characters.
Is there anyway I can do something like this using serde
enum Data {
    VariantA(Vec<...>),
    VariantB(Vec<...>)
}

with my JSON data? I am not able to change the format of the JSON data currently.

A: I added variant renaming after configuring my enum to be serialized with adjacent tagging. Thanks to @Masklinn for pointing this out to me.
So with the JSON data
[
  {
    "tag": "path\like\string",
    "data": [{"fieldA": 1}, {"fieldA": 2}]
  },
  {
    "tag": "another\path\like\string",
    "data": [{"fieldA": 3, "fieldB": "some string"}, {"fieldA": 4, "fieldB": "some string"}]
  },
  ...
]

The corresponding enum should look like this:
use serde::Deserialize;

#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
#[serde(tag = "tag", content = "data")]
enum Data {
    #[serde(rename = "path\like\string")]
    VariantA(Vec<...>),

    #[serde(rename = "another\path\like\string")]
    VariantB(Vec<...>),
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Joyce Besch - bassoon
Joyce Besch currently holds the position of third bassoon/contrabassoon in Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra. Joyce is also a member of the Nebraska Chamber Players and Bassoons Across Nebraska, and performs with the Omaha Symphony, Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra, and Lincoln Municipal Band. Before coming to Lincoln, Nebraska in 2006, Joyce was an active free-lance bassoonist in Toronto, Ontario. There she held the second bassoon position with Niagara Symphony and performed with several area orchestras, including Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Windsor Symphony, and Oshawa-Durham Symphony. One of her quirkier bassoon performances was playing "Happy Trails" on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor. Joyce teaches bassoon at Nebraska Wesleyan University. She has given contrabassoon masterclasses at Ithaca College in New York and taught bassoon and aural skills at Olivet College in Michigan.
Joyce studied bassoon with Laine Bryce and Carole Mason-Smith in St. Paul, MN, Yoshi Tominaga in Salzburg, Austria, and Linda Harwell in Baltimore, MD. She received degrees from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota (B.A. Music Ed.) and from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University (M.M. Performance).
Donna Carnes - violin
Lincoln native Donna Carnes enjoys teaching violinists and violists of all ages. She currently maintains a large studio and also teaches at Nebraska Wesleyan and Child's View Montessori. For many years Donna has been on the faculty of SAIL music camp. She has been a clinician at numerous workshops in Nebraska and Iowa.
Donna can frequently be heard in performances with the Nebraska Chamber Players, the Summit String Quartet and the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra (in the position of principal second violinist). She is a former member of the Classic Quartet and the Omaha Symphony.
Ms. Carnes earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees in music performance from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she studied with Robert Emile. She also studied with Bernhard Goldschmidt at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Donna and her husband, Dave Hughes, are kept busy with four (!) boys—Dylan, Evan, Liam and Rhys. Dave spins records and the boys provide live trombone, guitar and piano music. If you can't find Donna, she's playing with her dogs.
Joe Holmquist - percussion
Joe Holmquist is a performer, music educator, and composer living in Lincoln since 2000. As a generalist in percussion, he plays everything from timpani and drumset to cymbals and xylophone. He received his Master of Music degree at New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, where he studied with master teacher Vic Firth, timpanist of the Boston Symphony. Joe's compositions have been played all over the U.S. and Europe, released on various CDs, and have received many public radio broadcasts. As an educator, Mr. Holmquist is known most broadly for his drumset and snare drum etude books published by Neil A. Kjos Music Co., a leading company in the field. Joe works in Lincoln as a freelance player for a number of music organizations. His career as a performer has included touring across the country and 13 countries in Europe. His favorite musical activity is playing in small groups.
Bob Jenkins - oboe & English horn
Bob graduated from Lincoln High School and received a B.M.E. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. After Army basic training, he attended Northwestern University School of Music in Evanston for an M.M.E. and taught for one year in Bannockburn, Ill.—K through 8, "Mr. Music."
Returning to Omaha to teach in District 66, Bob was hired by the Omaha Symphony and played principal oboe both there and in the 43rd Army Band of the Nebraska National Guard. His teaching positions in the Westside Community Schools ranged from K-6 general music, elementary instrumental, 8 years as Director of Bands at Westside High School, and 27 years teaching junior high/middle school (concert and jazz bands).
Although still performing with the Omaha Symphony and with Mannheim Steamroller, Bob retired from District 66 and the National Guard in 2010. He's now a volunteer, working with kindergarteners and first-graders in reading at Florence Elementary.
Ed Love - clarinet & saxophone
Ed Love is a graduate of Omaha Central High School and of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, having earned a Bachelors degree in 1970 and a Master of Music degree in 1972. While at UN-L he studied clarinet with Wesley Reist. He also studied with George Silfies, Principal clarinet of the Saint Louis Orchestra. Although clarinet was his major instrument in college, Ed's first instrument was the alto saxophone. In 1972 he was selected to the All-Star Band at the American Jazz Festival in Washington, D.C. He has performed with many of the greats in jazz, including Clark Terry, Henry Mancini, Don Menza, Victor Lewis, John Fedchock, Bobby Watson and Jay McShann. Ed played clarinet in th Lincoln Symphony Orchestra for 25 years, with the Omaha Symphony for 12 years, and was Principal clarinet in the Opera/Omaha orchestra for 6 years.
A saxophonist with the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra since 1978 and its Music Director since 1979, Ed has been a part of the music scene in Lincoln and Omaha for over 40 years. He taught instrumental music for 38 years, 32 of which were in Lincoln. He enjoys retirement, which gives him more time to practice and take naps.
Ed currently plays clarinet with the Lincoln Municipal Band and the Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra, flute with Coro di Flauti, saxophone with Group Sax, and all of his instruments with his own jazz quartet. He can frequently be found in the orchestra pit for touring Broadway musicals at the Lied Center in Lincoln and the Orpheum Theater in Omaha.
Clark Potter - viola
Clark Potter is Professor of Viola at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and principal viola of Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra. Clark is especially noted for his interest in new works, having premiered dozens of pieces over the years. He has appeared as soloist or chamber musician in nearly half the states in the union. Clark is also the conductor of the Lincoln Youth Symphony. His primary non-musical hobby is running and racing. Since turning 50 he has finished the only two marathons he ever started, and he will not be starting another one.
Ric Ricker - horn
Ric began to seriously study of music at the Blair School of Music and Sewanee Summer Music Center throughout high school; then continued at the University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Music, Southern Methodist University with a Master of Music and a couple of years on the streets of Chicago. The next 18 years before moving to Lincoln he spent professionally in music as a symphony performer, private and college instructor, recording musician and symphony manager. Since moving to Lincoln, he has served the local music community as a manager at Dietze Music; teaching music, privately and as instructor of horn and brass ensemble at Nebraska Wesleyan University; and performing music as a regular member of the Nebraska Brass, Lincoln Municipal Band, Nebraska Chamber players and the Lincoln/Omaha area freelancing community.
Jack Rinke - piano
Pianist/composer Jack Rinke earned a Bachelor of Music degree at Nebraska Wesleyan University, with an emphasis in piano performance. While pursuing a Masters Degree at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, he was honored by being accepted as a composition student of Dr. Robert Beadell and also studied with Dr. Randall Snyder. During his graduate courses, Jack studied composition and worked closely with Dr. George B. Wilson, Libby Larson, Dmitri Mousulcous, and the American String Quartet. Jack's main piano instruction was with Beth Miller Harrod at Nebraska Wesleyan and Shirley Irek at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
As a pianist, Jack regularly appears in concerts and recitals and has performed with Abendmusik: Lincoln, The Nebraska Chamber Players, The Lincoln Symphony, Arts for the Soul, the Lincoln Civic Orchestra, and Lincoln Youth Symphony. He has composed pieces for soloists, chamber groups and large choral/instrumental ensembles, and released two CD's of original piano music. Jack is currently a member of the First-Plymouth Choir and Abendmusik Chorus where he previously served an honorary position of Composer-In-Residence for those ensembles. He is a Senior IT Infrastructure Analyst for the State of Nebraska.
Tracy Sands - cello
Tracy Sands is a frequent chamber player in the Lincoln area. She is a member of the Summit String Quartet, the Bachman Trio, and Nebraska Chamber Players. Sands has been a member of the Lincoln Symphony for many years and currently serves as Assistant Principal. An active teacher, she started the first Suzuki cello studio in Nebraska. She has worked as a clinician throughout Nebraska, Iowa and Texas. A Lincoln native, Sands has been on the faculty of Nebraska Wesleyan University and Doane College. She received her undergraduate degree from Northwestern University, where she studied with Dudley Powers, and her graduate degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Becky Van de Bogart - flute, Artistic Director
Rebecca Van de Bogart, Artistic Director for Nebraska Chamber Players, was a founding member of Third Chair Chamber Players and has served as Artistic Director since 2001. Chamber music has been a passion all of her life, and Nebraska Chamber Players was the natural vehicle to feed this passion. In the late '70s she was a founding member of the Bachman Trio, a flute, cello and piano ensemble. The trio stayed together for 20 years and then expanded to become TCCP. Becky is also piccolo chair with Lincoln's Symphony Orchestra, and flutist with the Nebraska Symphony Chamber Orchestra and Lincoln Municipal Band. Previously she played with Opera Omaha, the Omaha Symphony, and the Nebraska Chamber Orchestra.
Being involved in music education and advocacy is another of Becky's passions. A private studio teacher for 30 years, Becky also taught in the Arts Are Basic program. She created and presented educational children's concerts for the Lincoln Symphony's In-School Concert series, performing concerts up to 30 times each year. TCCP continued this passion with their two educational programs, Music in Your Space and Music Mentors. In 1991, Becky received a Woods Charitable Fund Grant to travel with an artistic delegation to Khujand, Tajikistan. She worked there in an NGO capacity until 1996. In 1989 she was awarded "Woman Artist of the Year" by the Lincoln-Lancaster Commission on the Status of Women for her work in the musical community. In 2008 she received the Artistic Achievement Award for Performing Arts as part of the 30th annual Mayor's Arts Awards. (Third Chair Chamber Players was a co-recipient of a second Mayors Arts Award for the collaborative project with The Angels Theatre Company "The Train.")
Katie Wychulis - harp
Katie Wychulis, principal harp of the Lincoln Symphony, Boulder Philharmonic and Sioux City Symphony, is a native of Omaha, Nebraska. She graduated cum laude from the Cleveland Institute of Music, studying with Alice Chalifoux and Yolanda Kondonassis, and received her Master of Music degree from Rice University as a student of Paula Page. A Fulbright grant recipient in 2001, Katie traveled to Australia where she studied with Alice Giles at the Australian National University in Canberra. She has performed nationwide as an orchestral soloist and harpist, chamber musician, and recitalist. Katie teaches at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Omaha Public Schools, gives masterclasses nationwide, and maintains a private studio in Omaha.
An active supporter of arts non-profits, Katie has served on the board of the Omaha Chamber Music Society and the Great Plains Harp Chapter. She currently resides in Omaha with her husband and three daughters.
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Regular Meetings of Council are held on the third Tuesday of each month, from September to June. These meetings are held at 7:30 pm in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Administration Centre and are generally open to the public. The agenda for these meetings will be posted below during the week prior to each meeting.
There are no regularly scheduled council meetings during the months of July and August.
Occasionally, meetings are required outside the regularly scheduled dates. When this occurs, notice of such meetings is broadcast via the local media and posted under the "Recent Posts" section on the sidebar of this website.
Minutes will be posted following Council approval at the next meeting – expect a minimum of one month following the Council meeting for the minutes to be available.


Cosmur reaches the 100th registered site milestone!
We are proud to announce that Gordon infant school is our 100th Registered Considerate Constructors site.
The Considerate Constructors Scheme National Site Award recognises contractor and client milestones and acknowledges the long-standing commitment we have made in improving the image of the industry. A huge thanks to Tim Lane, our Safety, Health and Environmental Director and our dedicated Site Managers for making this happen.


Plot: Gareth (Julian Morris) is a man with a singular vision, as he wants nothing more than to become a knight. He has trained his entire life to serve as a knight and he has the skills the role requires, but he is refused time and again. This is because while he has the talent and battle skills to take up a knight's sword, he lacks the social status and wealth that the nobles think a knight should possess. As this isn't likely to change, Gareth is more than a little disheartened, but when he sees a golden meteor crash to earth, he thinks his luck might have shifted. After all, if the meteor had even a little gold to offer, he could prove he belonged, so he seeks out the crash site. But once he arrives, he is attacked by other treasure seekers and left badly wounded, though one golden egg remains left behind. Gareth might not have found the key to knighthood he hoped, but what secrets does this mysterious egg hold?
Entertainment Value: The first DragonHeart was a passable fantasy with comic tinges and the first sequel was an outlandish b movie, but this third movie winds up as a slice of mediocre, forgettable cinema. This feels like someone had a generic fantasy story and the DragonHeart brand was slapped on, to the point that the dragon element is barely part of the experience. The narrative is fine at the core, but is so convoluted and drawn out, it just drags on and on, taking new turns and involving new characters with little to no payoff involved. I think The Sorcerer's Curse could have been a little better if some of the filler was cut loose, as the pace is slow even when the movie tries to be kinetic and even chaotic, as the material is dull. The movie tries to compensate for the bland script with erratic, fast camerawork in a lot of the scenes, but the result isn't fun or all that effective at all. I just found this to be boring and of little entertainment value, despite being able to enjoy the previous installments in one way or another. If you're here for the dragon action, you'll likely be let down, but if you're a fantasy film addict, perhaps you can get more out of this one.
The cast here is mostly lower profile performers and that's fine of course, but no one is able to do much or stand out. This is in part due to the mind numbing script and poor production choices, but I've seen worse movies where at least someone on the cast took a run at a memorable effort. Ben Kingsley is the star power of The Sorcerer's Curse, but he has a voice over role and given the lowered emphasis on the dragon this time around, he can't do much to save the movie. Even so, his presence ensures that one performance is decent at least, which is a plus. Julian Morris isn't the worst lead I've seen, but he brings little to the table and doesn't seem that interested, so between that and the weak script, things don't work too well. At least a colorful or enthusiastic lead could have driven the movie a little, but no such luck here. The cast also includes Tamzin Merchant, Jonjo O'Neill, and Jass Ahluwalia.
Use this Amazon link to purchase DragonHeart 3 (or anything else) and help support my site!


Vault, the U.S-based career intelligence provider, has published its 2012 rankings.
The famed "Vault 100" ranks the most renowned law firms in the U.S based on the perceptions of currently practicing lawyers at peer firms.
16,000 attorneys participate in a survey and are asked to score each law firm's prestige on a scale of 1 to 10.
Click here to see the full 2012 Vault 100.
A second Vault survey has also been published which identifies the "Best Law Firms to Work For".
In this survey associates were asked to rate their firm on a 1-to-10 scale for each of several quality of life categories. These include associate/partner relations, formal training, green initiatives, working hours and office space.
Vault's associate satisfaction sits in the same space as the American Lawyer's A-List, which factors in diversity and pro bono work rather than solely traditional measures like law firm financial performance.
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text:
Adorable Joey + Rory Moments [PICTURES]
Angela Stefano Updated: March 4, 2016
Frederick Breedon, Getty Images
Country music fans first got to know Joey + Rory in 2008, when the husband-and-wife duo appeared on the CMT singing competition Can You Duet, but they were making music -- and being adorable together -- for years before their third-place finish on the show and their subsequent signing with Sugar Hill Records.
Rory Feek and Joey Martin Feek were married in 2002; in February of 2014, they welcomed their baby girl, Indiana, into their family. Prior to their Can You Duet days, both Joey and Rory Feek released solo albums, and Rory Feek penned hits for Clay Walker, Blake Shelton and Jimmy Wayne, among others. Between 2008 and Joey Feek's death in 2016, they released seven studio albums and one holiday album; their final record was a dream project of Joey Feek's: an album of hymns.
The Feeks are known for their strong faith, but one thing proved tough for even them to handle: Joey Feek's diagnosis with Stage IV cervical cancer. The Feeks first revealed in June of 2014 that Joey Feek had undergone surgery to remove cancerous areas from her body. One year later, in June of 2015, they shared that her cancer had returned -- and, this time around, it was worse.
Joey Feek underwent a 10-hour surgery at the end of July, at Chicago's Cancer Treatment Centers of America, returned home for a bit, and then went back to Chicago's CTCA for chemotherapy and radiation. She was scheduled to begin more chemo in late October, but after a CT scan revealed that two quarter-sized tumors had already appeared in the same area that the doctors had been treating aggressively, and that several more tumors had appeared in her abdomen, the Feeks made the decision to cease treatment.
"We came home," Rory Feek wrote at the time. "Not to die. But to live. To put our hands in each other's and sit out on the back porch and watch the sun set as our sweet little baby girl plays on a blanket in front of us. To bask in the glory of the beautiful life He's blessed us with and try not to question why we can't have more of it together. And why He is allowing this to happen."
Joey Feek died on March 4, 2016. The photo gallery below contains snapshots of many sweet moments in the couple's life together:
NEXT: Country's Greatest Love Stories
Source: Adorable Joey + Rory Moments [PICTURES]
Filed Under: Editor's Picks, joey + rory, joey and rory
Rory Feek Releases First Album Since the Passing of His Wife, Joey: 'She Would Have Loved the Songs'
Rory Feek's Daughter, Indiana, Made Joey the Sweetest Mother's Day Card
Rory Feek and Trisha Yearwood Find Redemption in 'Met Him in a Motel Room' [Listen]
Joey Feek's Father, Jack Martin, Has Died
Rory Feek's 'One Angel' Honors Late Wife, Duo Partner Joey Five Years After Her Death [Listen]
Rory Feek Announces First Album Since Wife, Duo Partner Joey's Death
10 Monumental Stories From 10 Years of Taste of Country
Indiana Feek Starts First Grade — On Late Mother Joey Feek's Birthday
Rory Feek Faces Another Father's Day Without Joey: 'I'm Not Waking Up and Kissing (Her)'


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I've been home with the flu (fever, cough and ache-all-over) for the last two days, and consequently have no street shots, or outfit posts. In between naps and throwing back advil, neo-citran and oil of oregano, I took some photos of the swell thrifted finds I have acquired in the last few weeks, all of which were priced at $10 or under. Unfortunately, we don't have regular car boot sales where it's possible to score something fabulous for 50p (yes, Vix, I'm referring to you) but these days, I consider it a bargain at $10 if something is well made, and I know that no one else is going to have one.
A home-made wiggle dress, found at the Sally Ann on Bloor St. W. in Toronto, which originally I thought was made out of silk, but was corrected on that by Melinda, she of the awesome fabric knowledge. It came with what I first though was a lovely gathered short cape (and it still could be worn as one), but it was decided that it had been made to wear around the waist of the dress to add a "bustle" effect. The dress is a bit tight and if I'm going to wear it, a trip to a seamstress will be necessary.
Someone had stuffed this made in India beaded silk jacket in with the winter coats at my local Goodwill store, perhaps thinking they would come back later and get it, but their timing was bad, as I scooped it. The thing weighs a fracking ton, and of course, can't be cleaned, so it's not going to be worn often. I'm thinking of getting some dress shields to put in it for extra protection.
Back view of the ridiculously heavy jacket - the design is all beading and 95% of the beads are still there.
I can't claim credit for discovering this knit fur poncho - that goes to my friend Heather, who was trying it on at a Value Village in Hamilton, at the same time that I was trying a tapestry fitted jacket. We looked at each other, and immediately Heather said, "let's switch". The jacket went home with her, and I got the soft and cozy poncho. Not to rush the seasons, but I am looking forward to being able to throw this over pretty much every outfit when it gets cooler.
They might not have been 50p but man, are they gorgeous! I've got a pattern somewhere for a frock with a detachable frill that looks remarkably similar. Is the dress made of acetate?
Fabulous buys, Shelley, I love them all! The wiggle dress is to die for, the colours are beautiful. I am sure a little minor tweaking will make it right for you. The beaded jacket is a stunner, it will bling up any outfit, and give you a work out at the same time! And I agree, the little poncho will be a go-to item this autumn.
that poncho is fabulous. Can't wait to see you wearing it with some of your edgy boots. I bet someone was trying to hide that beaded jacket. I do that too. ;) Until I can make up my mind.
O,poos to the flu! I have a heavy cold myself,let's be miserable together!
I reckon $10 and under is a good deal in any currency.$10 is generally my limit, unless it's something really REALLY special!
The wiggle frock is divoon,and I have a soft spot for homemade!!!
The Indian jacket is incredible!Soemthing like that can only be aired;I just wouldn't wear it if I was going dancing!
The poncho is ridiculously practical AND adorable!!!
Aww, Shelley, sorry to hear you're ill too - I hope you will soon be well!
Thanks for giving us a peek at your finds! The beading on that jacket is amazing.
This jacket is unbelievable, incredible find Shelley!
So sorry to hear that you're ill, but would never know it by this post of spectacular finds. Such diversity, but that's what makes it so much fun. The wiggle dress with a bustle! I'm happy to hear that you didn't resist!
Hope you are feeling better soon. I love the beaded jacket! And the poncho will be loads of fun this winter.
Great finds! I love the beaded jacket and the fur poncho. I can imagine someone coming back for the jacket and discovering--- nothing! She Who Hesitates must be prepared to weep later.
Incredible finds. Each of them is perfect. If I had to choose just one it would have to be the poncho. Wow.
that jacket! to think it was at a goodwill in london ontario (and it could have been mine had i spotted it first) - inspiring thrift gem!
as a piece of art if you weren't wearing it!
Oh I do hope you are feeling better! Love your finds. The jacket makes me want to kick myself for passing up a thrifted jacket I saw at the beach, but I did end up with some other treasures!
Love the high tops in the previous post. I love high tops.
If you ever get rid of that dress please let me know!


text:
\section{Introduction}
 We consider a strongly convex function $f$ defined on a convex set $K$. We denote  by $\mu$ its strong convexity constant. Following~\cite{shalev2007pegasos,nemirovski2009robust,hazan2011beyond,rakhlin2012making}, we consider a stochastic approximation scenario where only unbiased estimates of subgradients of $f$ are available, with the projected stochastic subgradient method.

 More precisely, we assume that we have an increasing sequence of $\sigma$-fields $(\mathcal{F}_t)_{t \geqslant 0}$, such that
 $w_0 \in K$ is $\mathcal{F}_0$-measurable and such that for all $t \geqslant 1$,
 \begin{equation} \label{eq:update}
 w_{t} = \Pi_K \big( w_{t-1} - \gamma_t g_t \big),
 \end{equation}
 where

 \begin{itemize}
 \item[(a)]  $\Pi_K$ is the orthogonal projection on $K$,
 \item[(b)] $  \mathbb{E}  ( g_t | \mathcal{F}_{t-1} ) $ is almost surely a subgradient of $f$ at $w_{t-1}$ (which we denote $f'(w_{t-1})$),
 \item[(c)]  $ \mathbb{E}  (\| g_t \|^2 ) \leqslant B^2 $ (finite variance condition).
 \end{itemize}
 We denote by $w^\ast$ the unique minimizer of $f$ on $K$.

 \section{Motivating example} \label{sec:example}
 Our main motivating example is the support vector machine (SVM) and its structured prediction extensions~\cite{shalev2010pegasos, tsochantaridis2006large,ratliff2007subgradient}, where the pairs $(x_t,y_t)$ for $t \geqslant 1$ are independent and identically distributed and $f(w) =  \mathbb{E}  \ell(y,w^\top x) + \frac{\mu}{2} \| w\|^2$, where $\ell(y,u)$ is a Lipschitz-continuous convex loss function (with respect to the second variable) and $K$ is the whole space (unconstrained setup). We then have
$g_t = \ell'(y_t,w_{t-1}^\top x_t ) x_t + \mu w_{t-1}$, where $\ell'(y,u)$ denotes any subgradient with respect to the second variable.

If we make the additional assumption that $ \mathbb{E}  \| x\|^2$ is finite, then this setup satisfies the assumptions above with $B^2 = 4 L^2_{\ell}  \mathbb{E}  \| x\|^2$, where $L_{\ell}$ is the Lipschitz constant for $\ell$. We show this bound in Appendix~\ref{sec:SVMbound}.

Alternatively, we can consider $K$ to be a compact convex subset. This is used in particular in a projected version of the stochastic subgradient method for SVM in~\cite{shalev2007pegasos}. In this case, we can take $B^2 = (L_{\ell} \sqrt{ \mathbb{E}  \| x\|^2} + \mu \max_{w \in K} \| w\|)^2 $.

 \section{Convergence analysis}
 Following standard proof techniques~\cite{shalev2007pegasos,nemirovski2009robust}, we have:
 \begin{eqnarray*}
 \| w_t - w^\ast \|^2 & \leqslant & \| w_{t-1} - \gamma_t g_t - w^\ast \|^2
 \mbox{ because orthogonal projections contract distances,}\\
  & = &  \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2 + \gamma_t^2 \| g_t \|^2 - 2 \gamma_t ( w_{t-1}- w^\ast)^\top g_t \\
  \mathbb{E}  ( \| w_t - w^\ast \|^2  | \mathcal{F}_{t-1} )
 & \leqslant &  \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2 + \gamma_t^2  \mathbb{E}  (\| g_t \|^2 | \mathcal{F}_{t-1} ) - 2 \gamma_t ( w_{t-1}- w^\ast)^\top f'(w_{t-1}) \\
 & \leqslant &  \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2 + \gamma_t^2  \mathbb{E}  (\| g_t \|^2 | \mathcal{F}_{t-1} ) - 2 \gamma_t
 \big[
 f(w_{t-1})  - f(w^\ast) + \frac{\mu}{2} \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2
 \big]
.
 \end{eqnarray*}

 The last inequality is obtained from the $\mu$-strong convexity of $f$.
 Thus, by re-arranging the function values on the LHS and taking expectations on both sides, we get:
 \begin{eqnarray}
 2 \gamma_t \big[  \mathbb{E}  f(w_{t-1}) - f(w^\ast)  \big]
 & \leqslant &  \gamma_t^2  \mathbb{E}  \| g_t \|^2 + ( 1 - \mu \gamma_t )  \mathbb{E}  \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2
 - \mathbb{E}  \| w_t - w^\ast \|^2 \nonumber
\\
  \mathbb{E}  f(w_{t-1}) - f(w^\ast)
 & \leqslant &  \frac{\gamma_t B^2}{2} + \frac{ \gamma_t^{-1} - \mu  }{2}  \mathbb{E}  \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2
 - \frac{ \gamma_t^{-1}   }{2}  \mathbb{E}  \| w_t - w^\ast \|^2. \label{eq:ineq}
 \end{eqnarray}

 \subsection{Classical analysis}

 With $\displaystyle \gamma_t = \frac{1}{\mu t}$, then inequality~\eqref{eq:ineq} becomes
 $$
   \mathbb{E}  f(w_{t-1}) - f(w^\ast)
  \leqslant    \frac{  B^2}{2 \mu t} + \frac{\mu(t-1) }{2}  \mathbb{E}  \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2
 - \frac{ \mu t   }{2}  \mathbb{E}  \| w_t - w^\ast \|^2,
 $$
 and by summing from $t=1$ to $t=T$, we obtain:
 \begin{eqnarray*}
  \mathbb{E}  f \bigg(
  \frac{1}{T} \sum_{t=1}^T w_{t-1}
 \bigg) - f(w^\ast) & \leqslant &
 \frac{1}{T} \sum_{t=1}^T
   \mathbb{E}  f(w_{t-1}) - f(w^\ast)   \\
  &
  \leqslant &  \frac{B^2}{2 \mu T } \sum_{t=1}^T \frac{1}{t} + \frac{\mu}{2T} \left[0 -
   T  \mathbb{E}  \| w_T- w^\ast \|^2 \right] \leqslant \frac{B^2}{2 \mu T } ( 1 + \log T).
 \end{eqnarray*}
The first line used the convexity of $f$; the second line is obtained from a telescoping sum. We also obtain $\displaystyle  \mathbb{E}  \| w_T- w^\ast \|^2 \leqslant \frac{B^2}{\mu^2 T } ( 1 + \log T)$.

 \subsection{New analysis} \label{sec:new_analysis}

 With $\displaystyle \gamma_t = \frac{2}{\mu(t+1)}$ and multiplying inequality~\eqref{eq:ineq} by $t$, we obtain:

 \begin{eqnarray*}
 t \big[  \mathbb{E}  f(w_{t-1}) - f(w^\ast)   \big]
 & \leqslant &  \frac{t B^2}{
\mu(t+1)} +
\frac{\mu}{4} \bigg[ t (t-1)
   \mathbb{E}  \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2
 - t(t+1)  \mathbb{E}  \| w_t - w^\ast \|^2
 \bigg]
\\
 & \leqslant &  \frac{  B^2}{
\mu } +
\frac{\mu}{4} \bigg[ t (t-1)
   \mathbb{E}  \| w_{t-1}- w^\ast \|^2
 - t(t+1)  \mathbb{E}  \| w_t - w^\ast \|^2
 \bigg].
 \end{eqnarray*}

 By summing from $t = 1$ to $t=T$ these $t$-weighted inequalities, we obtain a similar telescoping sum, but this time the term with $B^2$ stays constant across the sum:

 \begin{eqnarray}
\sum_{t=1}^T  t \big[  \mathbb{E}  f(w_{t-1}) - f(w^\ast)   \big]
   & \leqslant &  \frac{  T B^2}{
\mu } +
\frac{\mu}{4} \bigg[ 0
 - T(T+1)  \mathbb{E}  \| w_T - w^\ast \|^2
 \bigg]. \label{eq:telescope}
 \end{eqnarray}

 Thus
 $$
  \mathbb{E}  f \bigg( \frac{2}{T(T+1)} \sum_{t=0}^{T-1} (t+1) w_t \bigg) - f(w^\ast)
 + \frac{\mu }{2}  \mathbb{E}  \| w_T - w^\ast \|^2
 \leqslant \frac{  2 B^2}{ \mu( T + 1 )}
 $$
 which implies
 $$  \mathbb{E}  f \bigg( \frac{2}{T(T+1)} \sum_{t=0}^{T-1} (t+1) w_t \bigg)   - f(w^\ast)
 \leqslant
 \frac{  2 B^2}{ \mu( T + 1 )}$$
 and
 $$
  \mathbb{E}  \| w_T - w^\ast \|^2 \leqslant \frac{  4 B^2}{ \mu^2( T + 1 )}.
 $$

So by using the weighted average $\bar{w}_T \doteq \frac{2}{(T+1)(T+2)}\sum_{t=0}^T (t+1) w_t$ instead of a uniform average, we get a $O(\frac{1}{T})$ rate instead of $O(\frac{\log T}{T})$. Note that these averaging schemes are efficiently implemented in an online fashion as:
\begin{equation} \label{eq:wavg}
\bar{w}_t = (1-\rho_t) \bar{w}_{t-1}  + \rho_t w_t .
\end{equation}
For the proposed weighted averaging scheme, $\rho_t = 2/(t+2)$ (compare with $\rho_t = 1/(t+1)$ for the uniform averaging scheme).

 \section{Experiments}

\begin{figure}
\centering
\mbox{%
\includegraphics[width=.33\textwidth]{WSG_hinge_quantum.pdf} \hspace*{-.1cm}
\includegraphics[width=.33\textwidth]{WSG_hinge_protein.pdf} \hspace*{-.1cm}
\includegraphics[width=.33\textwidth]{WSG_hinge_sido.pdf} \hspace*{-.1cm}}
\mbox{%
\includegraphics[width=.33\textwidth]{WSG_hinge_rcv1.pdf} \hspace*{-.1cm}
\includegraphics[width=.33\textwidth]{WSG_hinge_covertype.pdf} \hspace*{-.1cm}
\includegraphics[width=.33\textwidth]{WSG_hinge_news.pdf} \hspace*{-.1cm}}
\caption{Comparison of optimization strategies for support vector machine objective. Top from to right: \emph{quantum}, \emph{protein}, and \emph{sido} data sets. Bottom from left to right: \emph{rcv1}, \emph{covertype}, and \emph{news} data sets. This figure is best viewed in colour.}
\label{fig:svm}
\end{figure}

To test the empirical performance of the averaging scheme, we performed a series of experiments using the support vector machine optimization problem
\[
\min_w \; \frac{\lambda}{2}\|w\|^2 + \frac{1}{n}\sum_{i=1}^n \max\{0,1-y_iw^\top x_i\},
\]
where $x_i$ is in an Euclidean space and $y_i \in \{-1,1\}$.

We performed experiments on a set of freely available benchmark binary classification data sets.  The
\emph{quantum} ($n=50 000$, $p=78$) and
\emph{protein}   ($n=145 751$, $p=74$) data sets  were obtained from the KDD Cup 2004 website,\footnote{\small\url{http://osmot.cs.cornell.edu/kddcup}} the \emph{sido} data set ($n=12678$, $p=4932$) was obtained from the Causality Workbench website,\footnote{\small\url{http://www.causality.inf.ethz.ch/home.php}}
 while the \emph{rcv1}  ($n= 20 242$, $p=47 236$), \emph{covertype}   ($n=581 012 $, $p=54$), and \emph{news} ($n=19 996$, $p= 1 355 191$) data sets were obtained from the LIBSVM data website.\footnote{\small\url{http://www.csie.ntu.edu.tw/~cjlin/libsvmtools/datasets}}
We added a (regularized) bias term to all data sets, and for dense features we standardized so that they would have a mean of zero and a variance of one. We set the regularization parameter $\lambda$ to $1/n$, although we found that the relative performance of the methods was not particularly sensitive to this choice. We didn't use any projection ($K$ is the whole space). Our experiments compared the following averaging strategies:
\begin{itemize}
\item[--] {\bf 0}:  No averaging.
\item[--] {\bf 1}: Averaging all iterates with uniform weight.
\item[--] {\bf 0.5}: Averaging the second half of the iterates with uniform weight, as proposed in~\cite{rakhlin2012making}.
\item[--] {\bf D}: Averaging all iterates since the last iteration that was a power of 2 with uniform weight (the `doubling trick'), also proposed in~\cite{rakhlin2012making}.
\item[--] {\bf W}: Averaging all iterates with a weight of $t+1$, as discussed in this note.
\item[--] {\bf W$^2$}: Averaging all iterates with a weight of $(t+1)^2$, which puts even further emphasis on recent iterations.
\end{itemize}
We plot the performance of these different averaging strategies in Figure~\ref{fig:svm}, which shows the objective function against the number of effective passes through the data (the number of iterations divided by $n$). This figure uses a step size of $1/\mu t$ for all methods as we found this gave better performance than a step size of $2/\mu(t+1)$, although we include the performance of {\bf W} with the latter step-size for comparison.
In Figure~\ref{fig:svm}, we observe the following trends:
\begin{itemize}
\item[--] {\bf 0}: Not averaging at all is typically among the worst strategies. However, this proved to be the best strategy on the \emph{sido} data set. This may be because the method is still far from the solution after $50$ passes through the data.
\item[--] {\bf 1}: Uniform averaging of all iterates is always the worst strategy.
\item[--] {\bf 0.5}: Uniform averaging of the second half of the iterates is typically among the best strategies, provided we are in fact in the second half of the iterates.
\item[--] {\bf D}: The doubling trick typically gave among the best performance across the methods.
\item[--] {\bf W}: The proposed weighting typically performed between the doubling trick and not averaging.
\item[--] {\bf W$^2$}: Weighting the iterates by $(t+1)^2$ always outperformed weighting them by $t+1$.
\end{itemize}

 \section{Discussion}
 \begin{itemize}
 \item[--] We note that the averaging of linear approximations of $f$ (rather than the iterates) by $t+1$ is also used in the optimization strategy of Nesterov~\cite{nesterov2005smooth}, which achieves an optimal $O(1/t^2)$ convergence rate for optimizing (deterministic) objectives with Lipschitz-continuous gradients (see step 3 for their Equation 3.11).
 \item[--] There are previous approaches to removing the $\log t$ term~\cite{hazan2011beyond,rakhlin2012making}, but the one presented in this note is arguably somewhat simpler to implement and analyze. Rakhlin et al. propose in~\cite{rakhlin2012making} the `1/2-suffix averaging' scheme (and the `doubling trick' that we used in the experiments). Their proof technique requires separately bounding $ \mathbb{E}  \| w_t-w^\ast\|^2$ and then controlling the sum of inequalities in~\eqref{eq:ineq} by using that only the last half of the iterations is averaged (the `1/2-suffix'). Hazan and Kale propose in~\cite{hazan2011beyond} the epoch-GD scheme, which uses a similar averaging schedule as in the `doubling trick' of~\cite{rakhlin2012making}, but using a fixed step-size within each geometrically sized `epoch' of averaging, as well as using the previous average as the initialization for an epoch.
 \item[--] We note that all the schemes presented in the experiments can have their convergence rate proven. Schemes \textbf{0} and \textbf{1} have $O((\log t)/ t)$ rate whereas the schemes \textbf{0.5}, \textbf{D}, \textbf{W} and \textbf{W$^2$} have $O(1/t)$ rate. We can show the $O(1/t)$ rate for general weighted averaging schemes (with weight $t^k$ for iterate $t$ for some fixed $k \ge 1$) as well as step-sizes of the form $\gamma_t = c/(t+b)$ for $c > 1/2$ and $b\geq 0$. The proof becomes longer though as the nice telescoping sum in~\eqref{eq:telescope} doesn't cancel out in these cases. One has to use instead a bound on $ \mathbb{E}  \| w_t-w^\ast\|^2$ such as in Lemma 1 in~\cite{rakhlin2012making} to control the non-canceling terms. The overall rate is still $O(1/t)$, but with different constants depending on $c$ and $k$. %
 \item[--] At the same time that we first posted this note, Shamir and Zhang independently proposed a similar weighted average scheme in~\cite{shamir2012sgd} which they call `polynomial-decay averaging'. They consider a running average scheme as in~\eqref{eq:wavg}, but with the more general $\rho_t = \frac{1+\eta}{t+1+\eta}$, where the integer $\eta \geq 0$ parameterizes the different schemes.\footnote{We note that the index $t$ is shifted by one between this note and their paper as their initial point is $w_1$ whereas ours is $w_0$. We also note that they use the misnomer `gradient descent' for their algorithm despite using subgradients which don't necessarily yield a descent direction.} $\eta = 0$ yields the standard uniform averaging scheme, whereas $\eta = 1$ yields the simple weighted average analyzed in Section~\ref{sec:new_analysis}. The general $\eta$ gives a weight of $O(t^\eta)$ for each iterate, similar to what was mentioned in the previous paragraph, but with a different exact formula. They provide in~\cite{shamir2012sgd} a proof of a rate of $O(1/t)$ for $\eta \geq 2$. The proof that we give in Section~\ref{sec:new_analysis} can be seen as complementary and is especially much simpler (as well as giving a tighter constant). We also note that the rate of $O((\log t)/ t)$ for the last iterate $w_t$ (scheme \textbf{0} above) is proven for the first time in~\cite{shamir2012sgd}.
 \item[--] While this paper focuses on the non-smooth case, it is still interesting to relate results to the smooth case (see, e.g.,~\cite{bach2011non} and references therein), where in the strongly convex case, averaging with longer step sizes---i.e., of the form $t^{-\alpha}$ with $\alpha \in (1/2,1)$---leads to better and more robust rates. Can larger step sizes improve results for the non-smooth case?
 \end{itemize}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv