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Gravel Preview: Utah's Crusher in the Tushar Returns for Year 9 Ready to Crush
Zachary Schuster — July 9, 2019
Ever wondered what it would look like if a professional cyclist put on a bike race? Well, Utah's annual Crusher in the Tushar gravel race is one example of what might transpire.
First held in 2011, the Crusher in the Tushar was founded by former road professional Burke Swindlehurst because hey, putting on a bike race is way more fun than getting a real post-retirement job.
"I had this idea of an event for years, and when I quit racing professionally in 2010, I was like, 'Now what? What am I going to do?' I decided I would put on that race I've always dreamed about and see what happens," Swindlehurst recalled.
Former road pro Burke Swindlehurst is the driving force behind the Crusher in the Tushar. © Cathy Fegan-Kim
Obviously, since we are here writing about the Crusher, Swindlehurst's post-retirement dream was one that came true.
But to say the event has been a success is a bit of an understatement. The first Crusher drew 130 riders, and since then, every single edition has sold out. On Saturday, the 2019 field of 600 riders descends on Beaver, Utah for the chance to crush gravel and maybe a bit of themselves in the Tushar Mountains.
The route those riders take will be one the event found and race director knows well. If they're lucky, it will have the same good vibes for them, it did for Swindlehurst.
"The idea came from a ride I did way back in like 1996 when I was preparing for the Tour of the Gila," Swindlehurst said. "I wanted to get in some big climbs with a lot of elevation change at high altitude, but I was living in Northern Utah going to school in Logan. That area didn't have the really big climbs I wanted, so I took a trip down to Beaver where I grew up, and since I knew all the roads there, I basically came up with the route that is the Crusher loop we use today."
There was something special about the Crusher loop. Swindlehurst went on to win that edition of the Tour of the Gila, a result that helped open doors for him in the sport.
What was once a training route became the Crusher in the Tushar. 2018 Crusher in the Tushar. © Cathy Fegan-Kim
Another race, the three-day Boulder-to-Breckenridge stage race, helped keep the idea of a mixed-terrain race alive in Swindlehurst's head. That race featured segments on mountain pass dirt roads and even allowed riders to switch to a mountain bike for the gnarliest spots.
When it came time to start the Crusher, the vision of what it would be had taken its mature shape.
"My thinking when I was dreaming up the Crusher was I liked the format of mixing pavement and dirt, but I think the bike change thing was not that attractive," Swindlehurst said. "I figured I would do a race that covers the same kind of terrain, but you have to be on one bike the whole time."
Evolution of the Crusher
While we have seen examples of big-time gravel races changing it up this year, the Crusher has kept its route largely the same over the years. This Saturday, the race starts in Beaver as it always has before heading up and over the Tushar Mountains before climbing up to the mountain-top finish at the Eagle Point Resort.
The highlight of the race is the famed Col d' Crush, which is the second dirt road climb up to the Eagle Point Resort. The Col d' Crush KOM is located at Mile 56, and unfortunately for riders, there is still another good 1,000 feet of climbing to go after the KOM before they reach the finish.
The route starts at 6,000 feet and finishes above 10,000 feet of elevation, all the while packing over 10,000 total feet of climbing into the race's 69 miles. Wondering how hard the Crusher is? Both Josh Berry and Alison Tetrick picked it as the most challenging gravel race they have ever done in our Gravel Superlatives Ask the Pros.
In a gravel world where the roads less traveled are constantly changing, Swindlehurst is sanguine about the decision to keep the Crusher route the same.
"Let's be honest, of the 600 people we have registered, maybe 10% of those people have legitimate aspirations of getting a podium placing," he said. "The rest of the people are out there testing themselves. When you have the same course, it allows people to compare their performances to each other from year to year. They might say, my goal is to take 5 minutes off my time this year."
He continued, "I think that's one of the draws for people. From year to year, they can take a different approach to their training or their nutrition or whatever it happens to be and see how that pans out on the road."
With the route the same each year, riders can push themselves and take on what Mother Nature has to dish out. 2018 Crusher in the Tushar. © Cathy Fegan-Kim
In professional road racing, things are done a certain way, and one could likely forgive the pro-turned-race-director if he insisted that things need to be done a certain way. However, for Swindlehurst, that is really not the case.
"Another thing I really enjoy about the race is instead me trying to curate the race and the experience, I think it's fun to just let the participants be the ones who decide what the experience is going to be like and let it evolve that way," he said.
One aspect of the organic nature of the Crusher experience Swindlehurst pointed to was the "Crushstache" contest that takes place during each race. "A number of guys early on in the race were talking about growing the best Crushstache, so now we have guys who grow these ridiculous mustaches, and we usually have prizes for the best ones," he said with a smile.
Crushstache time is upon us #crushstache2019 pic.twitter.com/yFJgtDjQ0P
— The Crusher (@tusharcrusher) June 27, 2019
While the Crusher route has remained largely unchanged throughout the race history, bike choices among the participants have marked the continuing evolution of the gravel discipline.
When Swindlehurst first did his training in the Tushar Mountains in 1996, he did it the old-school way. "The first time I rode it in 1996, I was on a road bike with 23c tires and a 39-tooth chain ring and a 25t cog in the back. Obviously not the right equipment for the course," he laughed.
By the time the first Crusher took place in 2011, a lot had changed on the mixed-terrain bike scene. Disc brakes were slowly making their way to drop bar bikes and early tubeless technology was also becoming a thing. Bike choice was such a thing at that first event, the race has a "Which Bike?" section to help you choose between mountain bike and cyclocross bike.
Dedicated gravel bikes have obviously flattened out the bike choice decision, but with a sentiment likely shared by many OG Tushar crushers, Swindlehurst looks back fondly on those early days.
"There were a number of what I call 'Frankenbikes,'" he said. "People who had just kind of pieced together bits and pieces of a mountain bike and 'cross bike or whatever. People were riding 29-inch wheels with drop bars and that kind of thing. Looking back, those first few years were a super fun time because everything was so fun and exciting."
The Crusher has a "Wild West" approach to bike requirements. 2017 Crusher in the Tushar © C. Fegan-Kim
When Swindlehurst started the Crusher in the Tushar, he was just a former pro road racer with a dream of putting on a cool bike race. Although the race's success seems kind of inevitable in retrospect—beautiful, challenging course, participant-focused vibe, discipline of cycling on the verge of explosive growth—there was no guarantee of that in 2011.
"If I could look into a crystal ball and see what not just this race has become, but what has happened in gravel in such a short amount of time, I wouldn't have believed it. It's still kind of hard to believe what's going on," Swindlehurst.
Coming from a racing background where winning is everything, there is no doubt the experience of watching all the finishers at the first Crusher make it to the mountain-top finish helped shaped his understanding of what the event could be.
"I cried when I saw the very last person come across the finish line [in 2011]," Swindlehurst remembered. "That brought tears to my eyes because the guy was out on the course for 9 hours. It was a long day, and I'm sure he had to walk up some hills. I'm pretty sure he was on a fat bike. I kind of heard about his back story dealing with some health issues, and the Crusher was how he was motivating himself to hang onto his health. When he crossed the line, I kind of lost it."
The experiences of all riders are important to the event's success. 2018 Crusher in the Tushar. © Cathy Fegan-Kim
Like every gravel race, the experience of every participant at the Crusher is important to the event's success. However, there is at least one way Swindlehurst lets his professional experience shine through.
Since its inception, the Crusher has offered payouts to the top Open Women and Open Men finishers. The payouts are equal, with a top prize of $1,000 going to the top finishers for each gender. There are also $250 prizes for the first to the Col d' Crush KOM line.
"Having been a racer myself, when you go to events, I know you're usually just scraping by, so any bit of cash you can get helps," Swindlehurst said. "I kind of wanted to pay it forward to this generation of rider, because I know it helped me a lot when I was racing."
2018 winners Lauren De Crescenzo and Zach Calton took home nice checks. 2018 Crusher in the Tushar. © Cathy Fegan-Kim
Although the event downplays the payouts, the combination of the prize and the challenge has drawn increasingly impressive fields for the event. Last year, however, there were two registrants who turned Swindlehurst into a bit of a fanboy.
"The very last transfer to come in last year was from Ned Overend, and I like lost it," he said. "I called my wife and was like, 'You'll never guess what happened!' She was concerned and said, 'Oh no, what happened?' 'Ned Overend just bought the last entry!' It was like the coolest thing ever to have Ned show up."
"Then we had Rebecca Rusch last year too. I have a photo of those two at the finish line, and that's definitely one of my proudest moments as an event promoter to have two legends like them come race and see smiles on their faces. That's what keeps you going."
So cool to race the #crusherinthetushar with @rebeccarusch and @nedoverend . Fun and muddy day!
A post shared by Lamont Crook (@lamontacrook) on Jul 14, 2018 at 2:47pm PDT
Thus far, this story has focused quite a bit on Swindlehurst and his shepherding of the Crusher in the Tushar into Year 9. That is because by-and-large, Swindlehurst is the impetus behind much of what happens with the event. He gets some help from his wife and a small group of volunteers, but at the end of the day, he is course designer, race director, press secretary and sponsor relations director, all wrapped into one.
So how has he made it work so well for so long? The event's success has totally taken me by surprise," he initially responded.
After a few seconds, he offered this, "I basically jumped into this thing with both feet not really knowing what I was doing. I think that maybe I didn't have an education in events might have played a role in our success. I've relied on my gut instincts on a lot of things like course design, looking at it from a racer's perspective. Taking it from the ground up instead of like a race operations person who doesn't have as much experience riding bikes."
Whatever it is about the director and the race, together, it all works. On Saturday, the Tushar Mountains will be calling for riders to challenge themselves, enjoy a beautiful route and probably get crushed just a little bit in the process.
Featured image: Cathy Fegan-Kim
Tags: 2019 crusher in the tushar2019 gravel racesBurke SwindlehurstCrusher in the Tushargravelgravel racesrace previewUtah
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Home >News >India >Cinemas struggle with content, lean on old hits in first phase of reopening
Cinema theatres are hoping they will be allowed to reopen when the Indian government announces the next phase of its unlocking strategy at the end of August
Cinemas struggle with content, lean on old hits in first phase of reopening
2 min read . Updated: 16 Oct 2020, 12:59 PM IST Lata Jha
Just as Bollywood doesn't see value in releasing new films immediately, Hollywood too has pushed several titles out of the release calendar this year. It is considering only the second half of next year and beyond to woo audiences back
NEW DELHI: For India's movie theatres, reopening, though welcome, comes with its own set of challenges. Battling lack of new offerings, cinema owners, apart from those in West Bengal, which will see fresh releases in Bangla for Durga Puja, are hesitatingly making do with older hits like Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior, Thappad, Good Newwz, Housefull 4, Chhichhore, Dream Girl to restart business this weekend.
Just as Bollywood doesn't see value in releasing new films immediately, Hollywood too has pushed several titles out of the release calendar this year. It is considering only the second half of next year and beyond, to truly woo audiences back. Warner Bros, for instance, has moved superhero film The Batman from April 2021 to March 2022, The Matrix 4 to December 2021 while another superhero film Black Adam does not have a release date now after originally being slated for December 2021.
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Universal Pictures too has delayed its science fiction adventure franchise Jurassic World: Dominion to June 2022, from the summer of 2021. Sony Pictures has also shuffled a few of its upcoming releases, such as Escape Room 2, which has been bumped to an undetermined future date in 2021 from its original December 2020 release. The new James Bond film, No Time to Die, expected to bring audiences back in the first phase of reopening, has been pushed from November 2020 to April 2021.
The latest move comes on the back of a spate of delays announced earlier--Tom Cruise's Top Gun: Maverick was pushed from June to December 2020 and then slated for July 2021, while horror flick A Quiet Place Part II will premiere in April 2021 instead of September 2020.
"Top markets for (Christopher Noaln's) Tenet and (Disney's) Mulan haven't performed up to expectations of the makers," film trade and exhibition expert Girish Johar tweeted about the only two high-profile Hollywood films to have hit screens in the past few weeks.
"Hollywood, is pretty much, sure of audiences being scared and is moving all major releases to 2021 so 2020 is a wipe out," he added.
The absence of big-ticket Hollywood offerings is not good news for India where local producers are not keen to release new films immediately -- in case they haven't already been acquired by video streaming platforms. In an article for movie portal Film Information, trade analyst Komal Nahta said a lot of cinemas around the country haven't opened their doors this weekend despite permits from the government due to lack of content.
"Since cinemas haven't reopened across India and...particularly so in Bombay (Maharashtra) which is the nerve centre of the film industry, no producer has shown inclination to release a new film. Also, multiplexes have refused to screen films which have been premiered on OTT platforms in the last four-and-a-half months," Nahta wrote.
Though they foresee some tough times ahead, some exhibitors are keeping their fingers crossed.
"It's how you look at it. We were shut for seven months but at least, we're open now. It will be a challenge to run the show but we shall make whole-hearted efforts," PV Sunil, managing director at Carnival Cinemas said.

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Clearly this giant apple is not in Shanghai. It's not even in China - it's in Australia, home of everything Big and Fruity. Home for a visit! Hooray! I get to escape Shanghai's hottest summer to come and enjoy the mild sunny weather Australia calls winter.
Australians are a bit obsessed with large sized fruit as tourist attractions. As a kid I went many times to Nambour's Big Pineapple and rode the macadamia nut train, stopped by the Big Banana at Coff's Harbour and the Big Orange in Orange. It doesn't stop at fruit either - highlights of past holidays around the country included the Big Prawn (Ballina), the Big Sheep and the Big Lawn Mower (Beerwah). On reflection, some of the things I've seen in China may not have been that strange after all.
The Big Apple, now a red Royal Gala, started life in 1978 as a green Granny Smith at the local Applethorpe service station. Now it lives at Vincenzo's Produce and Cafe, and proudly pulls visitors in to buy Royal Galas, Fuji apples, Red Delicious and more, or sample the local wines and olives. I can't wait to get tasting some of that wine.


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And now think about this…how much are we hearing about sugar causing diabetes and other diseases. Did you know cancer FEEDS on sugar? I hope your catching the connection. My heart breaks at how many children are getting diseases. How many kids are given candy and McDonalds on a regular basis which are primarily made up of chemicals and GMO's.


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Taglierini con Tartufo Nero; in house hand made fresh thin ribbon shape pasta with fresh Alba black winter truffle.
Trattoria Carpaccio is one my most delightful finds of recent years. This small, neighborhood restaurant captures an intimate atmosphere that is increasingly rare in today's world of large, corporate restaurants. The small dining room is cozy. A soundtrack featuring Eros Ramazotti, Laura Pausini and a host of other Italian pop icons sets the mood. Close your eyes and you will feel as though you just walked in from a small side street in Rome.
I first met owner Elvis Jadrijev years ago when he was the General Manager at nearby Grissini. At Carpaccio, Jadrijev presents fairly classic dishes that showcase what Italian cuisine is all about: ingredients. The sautéed shrimp, burrata and tomatoes and Dover sole are all divine. My favorite dish is the veal parmigiana, which is superb. One of the many virtues of Italian food is the neutral canvas it provides for wines. That is very much the case on this night.
Roederer's 1995 Cristal Rosé gets the cocktail hour started in style. Delicate and beautifully perfumed, the 1995 speaks to grace above all else. In some vintages, Cristal Rosé can be quite vinous. The 1995, on the other hand is quite subtle.
It is always illuminating to taste the original release of Krug's Vintage Champagne next to the late release. For this informal tasting, the bottles were covered so as to remove any preconceived notions about the qualities of the two wines, but that turned out to be an unnecessary exercise, as it was plainly evident to all which wine was which. Elegantly burnished by the slow passage of time, Krug's 1973 Vintage is now fully mature but at a glorious peak of expression. Apricot jam, honey, spice, hazelnut and orange zest show off the Krug oxidative style at its very best. The 1973 is rich and creamy in the glass, with fabulous depth and resonance in all of its dimensions. I don't see much upside from cellaring bottles further, although the 1973 is likely to drink well for at least another handful of years to come. Tasted next to the Krug Vintage of the same year, the 1973 Krug Collection is a real head-turner. Extended time on the lees has resulted in a slightly reductive character that adds notable complexity as well as freshness. And that is the key word on the 1973: freshness. Lemon confit, white flowers and orchard fruit all take shape in the glass. The Collection is more linear in style than the Vintage, with very few, if any, of the oxidative notes that are found in that wine. Invigorating and refreshing, the 1973 Collection is utterly irresistible. Readers lucky enough to own it can look forward to another decade or more of pure drinking pleasure.
The 1989 Cristal is wonderfully translucent and nuanced, with lovely brightness to its orchard fruit, mint and sweet floral notes. The 1989 speaks in articulate tones. Today, the 1989 is tightly wound and not fully expressive, both of which suggest it may still need time. This is an especially reticent bottle of the 1989.
2004 Ramonet Montrachet is a bit better than the 2004, although, quite frankly, at this level, I expected more. Nevertheless, the 2004 has held up well and still offers good freshness for a wine of its age. The slate, orchard fruit and floral notes are attractive.
The 1989 Richebourg from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti is terrific. Intense dark flavors are given an extra kick of aromatic intensity from the whole cluster, with beams of tannin and plenty of Richebourg vertical structure to back things up. Mint, dark cherry, sage and lavender add shades of nuance, while bright, saline notes punctuate the finish. What a gorgeous wine this is. The 1969 La Tâche is very pretty, even if I have had better bottles. Exotic spice, hoisin, soy, hard candy, blood orange, white pepper and wild flowers give the 1969 much of its eccentric personality. There is very ripe, almost candied quality to the fruit that is quite distinctive. It's hard to move away from the 1969, as it is a wine of total allure.
It's always illuminating to taste the two 1993 Rousseau flagships side by side. The Chambertin-Clos de Bèze is stellar. Translucent, deep and wonderfully expressive, the 1993 is utterly magnificent on this night. Orange peel, rose petal, red fruit and exotic spice give the wine much of its complex, beguiling personality. The 1993 Chambertin is very slow out of the gate, and is really only at its best after several hours of air. Over time, the gap between the wines narrows as the fruit begins to emerge and the tannins gracefully soften. Even so, in this vintage I prefer the Bèze. Roumier's 1993 Bonnes-Mares follows. I doubt the 1993 will ever be especially refined, as it is still a tough and decidedly virile Burgundy. Scents of tobacco, smoke and plum open up in this broad-shouldered, muscular wine.
Bruno Giacosa's 1969 Barbaresco is one of the surprises of the night. About ten years ago I had an opportunity to buy a very large cellar of Giacosa wines. In it there was a case of the 1969 Barbaresco. At the time, I knew nothing about the wine and only had a general sense of a vintage before my time that was not very well regarded. Every bottle of Giacosa's 1969 has been terrific. This bottle, my last, was the best. The 1969 Barbaresco is not an epic wine by Giacosa's standards, but it is glorious tonight, especially with the taglierini with black truffles. Sadly, a bottle of the 1982 Conterno Monfortino is not good. There are no visible signs of damage, but either poor storage or a less than perfect cork resulted in a wine with oxidative notes that are especially evident in the bouquet.
What a privilege it is to taste the two 1959 Bordeaux. From the moment it is opened, the 1959 Lafite-Rothschild is simply mesmerizing. Silky, intensely floral and nuanced, the 1959 is a wine of intoxicating beauty. It is as profound as a wine can be on this earth. The 1959 Latour is bigger, richer and more ample in its feel, with soft contours and yet plenty of tannin. When the wines were first opened, they were quite different, but, interestingly, over time, the two wines began to converge. Perhaps that is the personality of the vintage speaking. In any event, both 1959s were utterly thrilling. There is no doubt in my mind the 1959 Lafite and Latour will be both stunning at age 100, if the corks hold.
The 1985 Leroy Chambertin is a sensual wine with no hard edges and terrific overall balance. The mid-weight, nuanced style stands in stark contrast to the Chambertins Lalou Bize-Leroy makes today from estate fruit. Even so, the 1985 is quite pretty.
It's a school night, so dinner wraps up early with cookies and coffee. Readers who have an opportunity to stop by Trattoria Carpaccio should not miss it. One thing to note: Carpaccio does not have a wine program, it is strictly BYOB. I am already looking forward to my next dinner.


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U.S. airlines capitulate to China's demands on 'Taiwan' references
American, Delta and United are among a wave of airlines to remove website references to Taiwan ahead of a Wednesday deadline set by China.
U.S. airlines capitulate to China's demands on 'Taiwan' references American, Delta and United are among a wave of airlines to remove website references to Taiwan ahead of a Wednesday deadline set by China. Check out this story on USATODAY.com: https://usat.ly/2LNe50B
Today in the Sky
Associated Press Published 10:31 a.m. ET July 25, 2018 | Updated 10:33 a.m. ET July 25, 2018
Delta Air Lines' website no longer makes a country reference to 'Taiwan' in flight information to the nation's capital. Other U.S. airlines had done the same amid threats from China. (Photo: Screenshot)
BEIJING (AP) — China is applauding international airlines for bending to its demand that they stop referring to Taiwan as an independent country on their websites after the issue generated friction between Beijing and Washington.
The three largest U.S. carriers — American Airlines, Delta and United — are among a wave of airlines that have removed references to Taiwan on their websites ahead of a Wednesday deadline set by China. Many airlines now simply list Taiwan's capital, Taipei, as a destination while omitting Taiwan.
China's foreign ministry applauded the airlines' changes on Wednesday as "positive progress." China welcomes foreign businesses if they "abide by Chinese laws and regulations, sovereignty and territorial feelings, and the feelings of the Chinese people," ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said.
As of late Wednesday, all 44 airlines that had been asked to make changes by China's aviation authority had complied, according to the People's Daily, the Communist Party's official newspaper.
China has claimed Taiwan as a breakaway province since the sides split during a civil war in 1949 and threatens to use force to annex it. The mainland has increasingly used its economic and political clout to pressure countries and corporations to stop recognizing the island's government.
U.S. government officials vigorously criticized China's demands over the Taiwan designation and sought talks with their Chinese counterparts, which Beijing rejected. The White House in May slammed the Chinese order as "Orwellian nonsense."
China represents a key air travel market for many international airlines and could become the world's largest by 2022, overtaking the United States, the International Air Transport Association industry group has projected.
IN PHOTOS: Cool airplane pics from Hong Kong and Taipei
#avgeek photo gallery: Cool airplane pics from Hong Kong and Taipei
Airplanes are prepped for departure from Hong Kong International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An HK Express Airbus A321 lands in Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An American Airlines Boeing 777-300 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An El Al Boeing 777-200 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A China Airlines Boeing 747-400 rests at the gate at Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A HongKong Airlines Airbus A330 lands in Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A Cathay Pacific Boeing 777-300 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A China Airlines Airbus A330 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A peach Airbus A320 lands at Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An Emirates Boeing 777-300 lands in Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A HongKong Airlines Airbus A330 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
The central terminal of Hong Kong International Airport in the late evening on Aug. 20, 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A HK Express Airbus A320 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A China Airlines Boeing 747-400 in SkyTeam Alliance livery departs Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-900 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A Thai Airways Boeing 777-300 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A Philippines Airbus A321 lands at Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A cargolux Boeing 747-8F takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An SAS Airbus A330 lands in Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A FIJI Airways Airbus A330 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A HongKong Air Cargo Airbus A330F takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An Air Macau Airbus A319 lands at Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A Phillipines Airbus A330 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
The main landing gear on a Emirates Boeing 77-200 freighter tucks into the fuselage after departing Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A Cathay Dragon Airbus A330 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An AirGlobalCargo Boeing 747-400 freighter takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A Cathay Pacific Airbus A350-900 lands in Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An unusual Palau Pacific Airways Boeing 737 takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
An Emirates SkyCargo Boeing 747-400 freighter takes off from Hong Kong in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A gaggle of mostly Cathay Pacific tails dot the landscape at Hong Kong International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A China Airlines Airbus A350-900 lands at Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
A China Airlines Boeing 747-400 taxis to the gate following arrival at Taipei-Taoyuan International Airport in August 2017. Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren for USA TODAY
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text:
Q: Save array of ObjectId in Schema I have a model called Shop whos schema looks like this:
'use strict';

var mongoose = require('mongoose'),
    Schema = mongoose.Schema;

var ShopSchema = new Schema({
  name: { type: String, required: true },
  address: { type: String, required: true },
  description: String,
  stock: { type: Number, default: 100 },
  latitude: { type: Number, required: true },
  longitude: { type: Number, required: true },
  image: String,
  link: String,
  tags: [{ type: Schema.ObjectId, ref: 'Tag' }],
  createdAt: { type: Date, default: Date.now },
  updatedAt: { type: Date, default: Date.now }
});

module.exports = mongoose.model('Shop', ShopSchema);

I want to use the array tags to reference to another model via ObjectId obviously. This set up works fine when I add ids into the property via db.shops.update({...}, {$set: {tags: ...}}) and the ids get set properly. But when I try to do it via the Express.js controller assigned to the model, nothing gets updated and there even is no error message. Here is update function in the controller:
// Updates an existing shop in the DB.
exports.update = function(req, res) {
  if(req.body._id) { delete req.body._id; }
  Shop.findById(req.params.id, function (err, shop) {
    if (err) { return handleError(res, err); }
    if(!shop) { return res.send(404); }
    var updated = _.merge(shop, req.body);
    shop.updatedAt = new Date();
    updated.save(function (err) {
      if (err) { return handleError(res, err); }
      return res.json(200, shop);
    });
  });
};

This works perfect for any other properties of the Shop model but just not for the tags. I also tried to set the type of the tags to string, but that didn't help.
I guess I am missing something about saving arrays in Mongoose?

A: It looks like the issue is _.merge() cannot handle merging arrays properly, which is the tags array in your case. A workaround would be adding explicit assignment of tags array after the merge, if it is ok to overwrite the existing tags.
var updated = _.merge(shop, req.body);
if (req.body.tags) {
  updated.tags = req.body.tags;
}

Hope this helps.. If the workaround is not sufficient you may visit lodash forums.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Ivan is a Research Associate in Building Physics, Modelling & Programming and is a member of the RCUK Centre for Energy Epidemiology. His current work involves the dynamic simulation modelling of the energy consumption of the non-domestic building stock of England and Wales. It also includes further development of the SimStock modelling tool which is a platform for a non-domestic building stock analysis based on automated sampling, model creation, simulation, and results processing.
Ivan's research interests are related to improving a built environment by designing energy efficient buildings and cover broad range of building and building services topics including: low-energy buildings, building heat transfer; thermal comfort; energy efficiency, optimal control and operation of HVAC systems; modelling of buildings and HVAC systems using dynamic simulation tools, etc.
Ivan joined the UCL Energy Institute as a Research Associate in February 2016. Prior to joining the UCL Ivan held a Research Fellow position at De Montfort University where he was participating in several research and consultancy projects. Research activities were conducted through two EU FP7 projects (KAP and REEMAIN) about industrial sustainability and integration of renewable systems in industrial facilities, and EPSRC CIS funded project MINDER which explores the extent to which factories with electrical loads that can be shifted can be used for grid management to enable greater penetration of renewable energy.
Ivan graduated from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Belgrade-Serbia, Division of HVAC in 2004. Before starting a PhD studies at De Montfort University in October 2006, he was working as a Building Services Design Engineer mainly involved in the design of HVAC systems in non-domestic buildings including office blocks, hotels and multi-functional shopping centres. PhD research has been conducted at the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development with the main research objective to investigate a possibility of estimating HVAC systems energy demand as a function of minimal number of building and HVAC system parameters (such as system type, temperature regimes, building fabrics, glazing properties, etc.) for non-domestic buildings, in particular office buildings. Parallel with the PhD studies Ivan was participating in the Marie Curie Research Training Network where he was holding an Early Stage Research position in the CITYNET project which main task was development of tools to improve the energy management of large scale urban projects.


You are BLESSED to have the body you have.
No matter what shape, what size. No matter if you have cellulite or wrinkles. No matter if there are a million things about you that you wish to change or improve.
There is no one else like you in this world.
No one with your unique DNA, your unique body, your unique gifts and talents.
So why, pretty girl, do you spend so much time focusing on what's imperfect about you, your body and your life - instead of focusing on what IS perfect?
You're living. You're breathing. You're able to walk and eat and play.
It doesn't matter if you're not where you want to be (yet).
It doesn't matter that you don't have a 6 pack, or that you have cellulite on your legs, or that every time you smile you have crows feet around your eyes.
Don't waste another precious moment of your life worrying about what's WRONG with your body.
Instead, appreciate what is. Exactly as you are right now.
Get out there and move your body in a way that feels good to you - maybe that's a sweaty gym class, maybe that's a walk, maybe it's some yoga.
Make yourself a healthy meal and drink lots of water today - not to punish yourself - but because it FEELS good to fuel you in a way that nourishes your body and your soul.
And most importantly, BELIEVE that you're here for a reason.
And that reason is WAY more important than letting negative self talk or limiting self beliefs keep you stuck in a place of misery, hopelessness and anything less than WOOHOOIFREAKINGLOVEMYLIFE excitement.
P.S. While it's easy for me to write this now, I didn't always feel this positive about myself or my body.
Sure, I still have bad days - I'm human. But 99.9999% I'm able to snap out of it and TRULY operate from a place of LOVE for my body, rather than a place of hate.
Receive lots of love, encouragement and confidence-boosting tips sent straight to your inbox every week.


text:
import time as stdtime
from typing import List
from unittest import mock

from absl.testing import absltest

from grr_response_client import time

class SleepTest(absltest.TestCase):

  def setUp(self):
    super().setUp()

    self.sleeps: List[float] = []

    sleep_patcher = mock.patch.object(stdtime, "sleep", self.sleeps.append)
    sleep_patcher.start()
    self.addCleanup(sleep_patcher.stop)

  def testNegative(self):
    with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError, "Negative"):
      time.Sleep(-1.0)

  def testNonPositiveProgress(self):
    with self.assertRaisesRegex(ValueError, "Non-positive"):
      time.Sleep(1.0, progress_secs=0.0)

  def testZero(self):
    time.Sleep(0.0)
    self.assertEqual(sum(self.sleeps), 0.0)

  def testNoProgress(self):
    time.Sleep(42.0)
    self.assertEqual(sum(self.sleeps), 42.0)

  def testProgressCalled(self):
    func_counter = 0

    def Func() -> None:
      nonlocal func_counter
      func_counter += 1

    time.Sleep(42.0, progress_secs=1.0, progress_callback=Func)
    self.assertEqual(func_counter, 42)
    self.assertEqual(sum(self.sleeps), 42.0)

  def testProgressNotCalled(self):
    func_counter = 0

    def Func() -> None:
      nonlocal func_counter
      func_counter += 1

    time.Sleep(42.0, progress_secs=108.0, progress_callback=Func)
    self.assertEqual(func_counter, 0)
    self.assertEqual(sum(self.sleeps), 42.0)

if __name__ == "__main__":
  absltest.main()

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Education Main
Charter Schools and Student Outcomes: What Have We Learned Over Two Decades?
Umut Özek
American Institutes for Research/CALDER
Tim Sass
Georgia State University/CALDER
CALDER Policy Brief No. 18-0919
Charters are public schools accountable to a chartering authority, but with significant leeway from rules and regulations.
The first charter legislation was passed in 1991 in Minnesota. Today, over 7,000 charter schools in 43 states and the District of Columbia serve more than 2.5 million students.
Average impact of charter school attendance on student achievement is positive yet small, with significant heterogeneity across different settings.
Majority of studies find positive effects on high school graduation and college attendance – there is also evidence of a shift from 2-year to 4-year institutions.
There is need for more research about (1) charter school effects on adult outcomes; (2) replicability of effective charter policies/practices in traditional public schools; (3) scaling up effective charter schools; and (4) whether certain state/school district policies better facilitate the growth of an effective charter school sector.
Over the past two decades, charter schools have become the most popular form of school choice, especially in urban school districts. As such, a great deal of empirical research has focused on charter schools. Looking at the literature on the student achievement effects of charter school attendance, the weight of the evidence suggests a moderately positive effect with significant heterogeneity in effectiveness across different types of charter schools and across different states/school districts. For example, "No Excuses" charters such as Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) charter schools have been shown to outperform other charters and traditional public schools in raising student achievement. Educational attainment effects of charter schools have been more positive, with significant effects on high school graduation, college enrollment, and persistence in college. That said, there is still need for more research on (1) the effects of charter schools on later life outcomes including earnings and risky behavior; (2) whether effective charter providers will remain effective at a larger scale; (3) whether the policies and practices of effective charter schools can be successfully implemented in the traditional public school sector; and (4) whether certain state/school district policies better facilitate the growth of an effective charter school sector.
Charter schools are public schools that are granted more autonomy than traditional public schools in exchange for meeting certain conditions outlined in a charter agreement (Gawlik, 2016). These schools have become increasingly popular in urban school districts where the demand for alternative schooling options is typically higher. Figure 1 depicts this trend and presents the change in the number of charter schools and charter school enrollment in the United States over the last two decades. Between 1999 and 2017, the number of charter schools nationwide has soared from less than 100 in 1999 to over 6,000 in 2017 with more than 2.5 million students are enrolled in public charter schools.
Figure 1: Number of Charter Schools and Charter School Enrollment, 1999 to 2017
Despite this trend, charter schools remain to be a highly debated reform strategy to improve student outcomes in the United States. Charter school proponents argue that these reforms could lead to better student outcomes because they induce competition between schools (and hence serve as the "tide that lifts all boats") and potentially produce better student-school matches as charter schools have more flexibility in responding to the educational needs of their students. Further, they claim that charter schools level the playing field for disadvantaged students whose families cannot afford private school or homes near better traditional public schools. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that charter schools hinder the progress of low-performing public schools by attracting the 'best' students and withholding much needed funds as students depart and enrollment numbers decline.[1]
That said, examining the causal effects of charter schools on student outcomes is difficult due to several empirical challenges. Perhaps the most important issue in this context is that students are not randomly assigned to charter schools: Because charters are schools of choice, students who attend them may tend to have better (or worse) outcomes than those who attend traditional public schools. For example, charter students may be highly motivated or may have parents who place relatively high value on educational quality, and have higher student achievement regardless of their school. Therefore, the observed differences in student outcomes between charter students and students in traditional public schools could be driven by differences in these factors instead of differences in quality of schools.
To deal with this selection issue, the existing literature on charter school effectiveness relies on three empirical strategies. The first strand makes use of "matching" models and compare outcomes for students who attend charters with students who have similar observable characteristics that attend traditional public schools. While these studies can compare a broad range of schools, matching models do not account for differences among students which are not readily measured such as educational motivation and parental involvement.
The second strand relies on student fixed-effects models and compares outcomes for the same student when they attend a charter to the outcomes when they attend a traditional public school. This approach holds constant everything about a student that does not change over time, but there may be time-varying factors, such as divorce or an unusually bad year in school, that cause the switch and affect student outcomes. This could lead to falsely attributing achievement gains to the quality of the charter school, when the student may have "bounced back" even if they had not switched schools.
The third strand makes use of enrollment lotteries in oversubscribed charter schools and compare performance of lottery "winners" who attend charters and "losers" who apply but end up attending traditional public schools. This approach is akin to randomized control trials and arguably has the highest internal validity of the three aforementioned methods. That said, these studies may have limited external validity as their findings are only applicable to charter schools that receive more applications than the number of seats available.
What Is Known?
Effects of Charter Attendance on Student Achievement
There is an extensive literature examining the effects of charter school attendance on student achievement, yielding mixed results. For example, lottery-based studies in Boston and New York City of "No Excuses" charter schools (e.g., KIPP and Success Academy) find significant benefits on student test scores (e.g., Abdulkadiroglu et al., 2011; Angrist et al., 2013; Dobbie & Fryer, 2011; Hoxby & Murarka, 2009); however, other lottery-based studies (e.g., Furgeson et al., 2012; Gleason et al., 2010) and studies using quasi-experimental methods such as matching and student fixed-effects (e.g., Booker et al., 2007; Davis & Raymond, 2012; Nichols and Özek, 2010; Hanushek et al., 2007; Bifulco & Ladd, 2006; Sass, 2006; Zimmer & Buddin, 2006; Zimmer et al., 2009, 2012) have found more mixed results.
Betts and Tang (2018) provide a meta-analysis of this literature. Table 1 summarizes their findings on the first-year effects of attending a charter school on reading (top panel) and math scores (bottom panel) broken down by grade level. The first three rows in each panel present the average effect sizes based on meta-analysis excluding studies on KIPP charter schools and the fourth row presents the average effect sizes for KIPP middle schools.
Table 1: First-Year Effects of Attending a Charter School on Reading and Math Scores: Average Effect Sizes by School Type and Subject
The results indicate positive average effects of charter school attendance in the first year that are larger in middle school and in math. Specifically, the first column suggests that attending a non-KIPP charter school increases reading achievement by 1.8 to 5.4 percent of the standard deviation in reading and by 3.3 to 9.7 percent in math. In comparison, Chingos (2013) summarizes that the one-year class size reduction effect is a 7 percent of the standard deviation improvement in test scores for a 10-student reduction in class size based on research by Krueger (1999).Notes: Average effect sizes are calculated based on the meta-analysis provided in Betts and Tang (2018). * indicates that the estimate is statistically different from zero at 95% confidence level.
The second and third columns of Table 1 present these charter effects in a different way and examine how a charter school student's academic ranking changes after one year of charter attendance if the student starts the year at the 50th and the 25th percentile of the test score distribution respectively. Once again, changes in percentiles are larger in middle school and in math, yet represent rather small effects on test scores. For example, the results suggest attending a charter school for one year improves the academic ranking of students at the 50th percentile initially by 0.7 to 2.2 percentiles in reading and 1.3 to 3.9 percentiles in math.
Finally, the last row of each panel in Table 1 highlights the differences in achievement effects between "No Excuses" charter schools and other charter schools. In particular, the average first-year effect of attending a KIPP middle school on reading scores is roughly three times the effect of attending a non-KIPP charter middle school, and almost four times the effect of attending a non-KIPP middle school on math scores.
Effects of Charter Attendance on Educational Attainment
In contrast to the vast literature about the effects of charter attendance on student test scores, relatively little is known about the effects on educational attainment. This is important because charter schools could affect educational attainment without necessarily having an effect on student test scores, for example, if they have stronger pipelines into college.
We summarize the literature on charter schools and educational attainment that has emerged in the last decade in Table 2. The majority of these studies find positive and significant effects of charter school attendance on high school graduation and postsecondary outcomes. For example, using data from Chicago and Florida, Booker et al. (2011) find that attending a charter high school increases high school graduation by 7.4 to 14.8 percentage points and college enrollment by 8.2 to 10.3 percentage points. Sass et al. (2016) extends this analysis in Florida and finds that charter enrollment leads to a 12 percentage point increase on the likelihood of attending college two years in a row. Angrist et al. (2016) finds a negative effect of charter attendance in Boston on four-year high school graduation rates (despite a significant positive effect on the high school exit exam pass rates), no effect on the likelihood of graduating from high school in five years, and that charter attendance leads to a substantial shift from 2-year to 4-year postsecondary institutions.
Table 2: Effects of Attending a Charter School on Educational Attainment
What Is Not Known?
There are several questions yet to be addressed, especially on the effects of charter school attendance on adolescent risky behavior and adult outcomes. To the best of our knowledge, there are only three studies to date that have examined this question. Dobbie & Fryer (2015) track attendees of Promise Academy in Harlem 6 years after middle school admission lottery, and find that girls who attend Promise Academy charter schools are 12.1 percentage points less likely to become pregnant in their teens while boys are 4.3 percentage points less likely to be incarcerated than those not admitted.
The evidence on the effects of charter school attendance on earnings is mixed. Using a sample of students who attended charter middle schools in Florida, Sass et al. (2016) examine the effects of attending a charter high school on maximum annual earnings 10, 11, and 12 years after 8th grade. They find that earnings are $2,300 higher for students who attended a charter high school compared to observationally equivalent students who attended a traditional public high school. On the other hand, Dobbie & Fryer (forthcoming) compare the earnings of students who attended the same non-charter elementary school, but different middle or high schools. They find that (1) each year of charter school attendance lowers average annual earnings at ages 24-26 by $156 and (2) No-Excuses charter schools increase annual earnings by $173, but the estimate is not statistically different from zero.
There is also need for more research on what might explain the heterogeneity of charter school effectiveness across states/districts as illustrated in Betts and Tang (2018). This variation could be partially explained by the quality of the traditional public schools in different locales. For example, Chabrier, Cohodes, & Oreopoulos (2016) show that the effects of charter attendance decline when the average achievement increases at the traditional public schools which charter applicants would otherwise attend. That said, relatively little is known as to whether charter effectiveness is related to the charter authorizing laws or whether certain state/district policies and practices better facilitate the growth of an effective charter school sector.
Policy Levers and Policy-Making Challenges
There are several policy levers regarding charter schools. The first is to increase the access to effective charter schools by raising the cap on the fraction of funding dedicated to charter schools with proven records. A recent example is the policy change in Massachusetts, which raised its cap for charter providers that are deemed as "proven providers" in 2010. The critical question in this context is whether effective charter providers will remain effective at a larger scale. While the evidence from Boston is promising and shows that replication charter schools generate large achievement gains on par with those produced by their parent campuses (Cohodes, Setren, & Walters 2019), more research is needed to examine the effects of scaling up effective charter schools.
Another charter school related policy lever is to adopt the policies and practices of effective charter schools in the traditional public school sector, which could alleviate some of the concerns regarding the possible adverse effects of charters on low-performing traditional public schools (e.g., Imberman 2011). There is limited evidence in the literature suggesting positive effects of effective charter policies (e.g., in No Excuses charters) on student outcomes in traditional public schools (Fryer 2014), yet more research is needed to better understand the extent to which these practices can be implemented successfully in traditional public schools at a larger scale.
Abdulkadiroğlu, A., Angrist, J. D., Dynarski, S. M., Kane, T. J., & Pathak, P. A. (2011).Accountability and flexibility in public schools: Evidence from Boston's charters and pilots. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 126(2), 699-748.
Angrist, J. D., Cohodes, S. R., Dynarski, S. M., Pathak, P. A., & Walters, C. R. (2016). Standand Deliver: Effects of Boston's Charter High Schools on College Preparation, Entry, and Choice. Journal of Labor Economics 34 (2):275–318.
Angrist, Joshua D., Parag A. Pathak, and Christopher R. Walters. 2013. "Explaining Charter School Effectiveness." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 5: 1–27.
Betts, J.R. & Tang, Y.E. (2018). A Meta-Analysis of the Effect of Charter Schools on Student Achievement. San Diego Education Research Alliance at UC San Diego (SanDERA) Discussion Paper 2018-1.
Bifulco, R., & Ladd, H. F. (2006). The impacts of charter schools on student achievement: Evidence from North Carolina. Education, 1(1), 50-90.
Booker, K., Sass, T., Gill, B., & Zimmer, R. (2011). The Effects of Charter High Schools on Educational Attainment. Journal of Labor Economics, 29(2), 377–415. https://doi.org/10.1086/658089.
Booker, K., Gilpatric, S., Gronberg, T., & Jansen, D. (2007). "The Impact of Charter School Attendance on Student Performance." Journal of Public Economics 91: 5–6.
Chabrier, Julia, Sarah R. Cohodes, and Philip Oreopoulos. 2016. "What Can We Learn from Charter School Lotteries?" Journal of Economic Perspectives 30 (5): 57–84.
Cohodes, S., Setren, E., & Walters, C. (2019). Can Successful Schools Replicate? Scaling Up Boston's Charter School Sector. IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/2223064627/.
Davis, D. H., & Raymond, M. E. (2012). Choices for studying choice: Assessing charter school effectiveness using two quasi-experimental methods. Economics of Education Review, 31(2), 225-236.
Dobbie W. & Fryer R. (forthcoming). Charter Schools and Labor Market Outcomes. Journal of Labor Economics.
Dobbie, W., & Fryer, R. (2015). The Medium-Term Impacts of High-Achieving Charter Schools. Journal of Political Economy, 123(5), 985–1037. https://doi.org/10.1086/682718
Dobbie, W., & Fryer, R. (2011). "Are High-Quality Schools Enough to Increase Achievement among the Poor? Evidence from the Harlem Children's Zone." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 3 (3): 158–87.
Furgeson, Joshua, Brian Gill, Joshua Haimson, Alexandra Killewald, Moira McCullough, Ira Nichols-Barrer, Bing-ru Teh, et al. 2012. "Charter-School Management Organizations: Diverse Strategies and Diverse Student Impacts." Princeton, NJ & Seattle, WA: Mathematica Policy Research and Center for Reinventing Public Education.
Gawlik, M. A. (2016). The U.S. Charter School Landscape: Extant Literature, Gaps in Research, and Implications for the U.S. Educational System. Global Education Review, 3(2), 50-83.
Gleason, Philip, Melissa Clark, Christina Clark Tuttle, and Emily Dwoyer. 2010. "'The Evaluation of Charter School Impacts: Final Report.' NCEE 2010-4029." Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education.
Hanushek, E. A., Kain, J. F., Rivkin, S. G., & Branch, G. F. (2007). Charter school quality and parental decision making with school choice. Journal of public economics, 91(5), 823-848.
Imberman, S. (2011). The effect of charter schools on achievement and behavior of public school students. Journal of Public Economics, 95(7), 850–863.
Nichols, Austin, and Umut Özek. 2010. "Public School Choice and Student Achievement in the District of Columbia." Working Paper 53. Washington, DC: National Center for Analysis of Longitudinal Data. http://www.edweek.org/media/publicschoolchoiceandstudentachievement-calder.pdf.
Place, K. & Gleason, P. (2019). Do Charter Middle Schools Improve Students' College Outcomes?. NCEE Evaluation Brief 2019-4005.
Sass, T., Zimmer, R., Gill, B., & Booker, T. (2016). Charter High Schools' Effects on Long‐Term Attainment and Earnings. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 35(3), 683–706.
Sass, T. R. (2006). Charter schools and student achievement in Florida. Education, 1(1), 91-122.
Zimmer, R., & Buddin, R. (2006). Charter school performance in two large urban districts. Journal of Urban Economics, 60(2), 307-326.
Zimmer, R., Gill, B., Booker, K., Lavertu, S., & Witte, J. (2012). Examining charter student achievement effects across seven states. Economics of Education Review, 31(2), 213-224.
Zimmer, R., Gill, B., Booker, K., Lavertu, S., Sass, T. R., & Witte, J. (2009). Charter schools in eight states: Effects on achievement, attainment, integration, and competition (Vol. 869). Rand Corporation.
[1] See, for example, a recent Brookings blog piece on some of the arguments raised by opponents and proponents of charter schools by Paul Hill: https://www.brookings.edu/blog/brown-center-chalkboard/2019/06/07/charter-schools-good-or-bad-for-students-in-district-schools/, accessed on 7/18/2019.
REPORT MATERIALS
Community Colleges and Pathways to the Labor Market
What Do We Know About the Effects of Clinical Practice Experiences and Teacher Performance?
Dan Goldhaber Nov 12


text:
Южен Ливан е губернаторство (мухафаза) в Ливан с площ 930 км2 и население 590 078 души (по приблизителна оценка от декември 2017 г.). Административен център е град Сидон.

Източници

Административно деление на Ливан

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


We offer a wide range of made-to-measure blinds across Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire perfect for use in the home, schools, hotels or commercial premises. Whether you are looking for a more traditional blind or a more state-of-the-art dressing for your window, the team at A G Curtain Design, Wallingford can help.
We pride ourselves on our excellent level of customer service ensuring that the process of choosing your bespoke blinds runs as smoothly and easily as possible.
Soft and stylish creating clean defined lines either fitted inside or outside recess to frame the window. Roman blinds can be supplied on batons with cords and cleats or on a roller system with metal chains. Roman blinds can also be fitted with blackout lining.
We can supply either wooden or aluminium venetian blinds in a variety of colours and slat widths. All our blinds are made to measure.
With a wide variety of fabrics choices from patterned to blackout you can be sure to find the perfect style for your home or office. Blinds can also be laminated with custom fabric to match your rooms décor.
Sliding panels providing versatile coverage of windows or spaces. Designed to stack behind each other to produce a subtle layering effect, they are particularly suited to large patio bi-fold doors.
Contemporary bold horizontal stripes which can be effortlessly moved from transparent, to dim or blackout.
Smart and practical vertical blinds are perfect for offices whether in a commercial setting or in the home. Our made-to-measure vertical blinds can be supplied in a range of colours and materials.
All internal blinds and tracks with cords and chains supplied and fitted by A G Curtain Design Ltd conform to EN 13120. Full details are available and can be supplied on request.
The first step in measuring for blinds is to decide whether you would like to place your blinds inside or outside the recess.
Width: Measure the width of the window inside the recess at three points as the widths may vary, use the shortest width.
Drop (Length): Measure from the top of the recess to the sill.
Deduct 1cm from the overall width and length to allow a small amount of clearance to allow your blind to move up and down freely.
Width: Measure the width of the recess and add 10cm for the overlap (5cm each side).
Drop (Length): Measure from the top of the recess to the desired length of your blind and add 10cm to allow for the baton and to help block out light and draughts.


text:
Cornelis Pruijs van der Hoeven (Rotterdam, 13 augustus 1792 - Leiden, 5 december 1871) was een Nederlands arts. Zijn naam wordt ook wel gespeld als: Cornelis Pruys van der Hoeven. Hij was als hoogleraar verbonden aan de Universiteit Leiden, waar hij ook enige tijd rector magnificus was.

Biografie

Cornelis Pruijs van der Hoeven werd geboren op 13 augustus 1792 in Rotterdam als zoon van Abraham van der Hoeven en Maria van der Wallen van Vollenhoven. Tijdens zijn jeugd ging hij voor een periode van vier jaar naar een kostschool in Noordwijk en volgde daarna lessen aan de Erasmiaansche school. Rond 1812 werd hij ingeschreven als student geneeskunde aan de Universiteit Leiden en in 1816 promoveerde hij aldaar op het proefschrift De constitutionis epidemicae doctrina. Na zijn promotie werd hij arts in zijn geboortestad. Hij trouwde in 1823 met Maria Cornelia Trompert. Naast zijn werkzaamheden als arts bestudeerde Van der Hoeven Hippocrates.

Hij werd in 1824 benoemd tot buitengewoon hoogleraar praktische geneeskunde, pathologie en medische geschiedenis aan de Universiteit Leiden. In 1827 werd zijn buitengewoon hoogleraarschap omgezet in een gewoon hoogleraarschap maar de pathologie en medische geschiedenis behoorde nadien niet langer tot zijn leeropdracht. Gedurende het collegejaar 1839-1840 vervulde hij de functie van rector magnificus. Uiteindelijk ging hij in 1862 met emeritaat.

Hij overleed op 5 december 1871 te Leiden.

Publicaties (selectie)

 Diss. med. inaug. de constitutionis epidemicae doctrina. Leiden 1816
 Chrestomathia Hippocratica. 1824
 Over de vorming eens toekomstigen geneesheers. 1828
 Historische lessen over de cholera. Leiden 1832
 Initia disciplinae pathologicae. Leiden. 1834.
 De arte medica. 1838-40
 Oratio de institutione academica. Hagae Comitis, 1841
 De historia Medicinae liber singularis, Auditorum in Usum Editus. Leiden 1842
 Examen anthropologique. 1851.
 Studie der pathologische anthropologie. Leiden 1851
 Historische Anthropologie. Leiden 1852
 Studie der klinische anthropologie. Leiden 1853, Leiden 1855
 Studie der christelijke anthropologie. Leiden 1853
 Levens-studiën. Utrecht en Amsterdam 1857
 Akademieleven. Utrecht 1866

Referenties
 (1918). Hoeven, Cornelis Pruys van der in: Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 4
Profiel op Leidse hoogleraren

Nederlands medicus
Rector magnificus van de Universiteit Leiden


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Q: Static Nginx with Modsecurity Trying to add Modsecurity v3.0.4 in to Nginx v1.19.9 but running in to some errors I do not understand. There are MANY errors similar to the ones I pasted below but did not include them all. My intention is to create a static Nginx binary and not use the dynamic Modsecurity module.  Thanks for any help.
Dockerfile
FROM alpine:latest as build

#Define build argument for version
ARG NGNX_VERSION=1.19.8
ARG PCRE_VERSION=8.44
ARG OSSL_VERSION=1.1.1k
ARG ZLIB_VERSION=1.2.11
ARG GEO_DB_RELEASE=2021-04
ARG MODSEC_BRANCH=v3.0.4
ARG OWASP_BRANCH=v3.3/master

# Set working directory
WORKDIR /tmp

RUN echo "Installing Dependencies" && \
    apk add --no-cache --virtual general-dependencies  \
    autoconf \
    automake \
    byacc \
    build-base                                                          \
    gnupg                                                               \
    perl                                                                \
    linux-headers                                                       \
    pcre-dev                                                            \
    wget                                                                \
    geoip-dev \
    curl-dev \
    flex \
    g++ \
    gcc \
    geoip-dev \
    git \
    libc-dev \
    libmaxminddb-dev \
    libstdc++ \
    libtool \
    libxml2-dev \
    linux-headers \
    lmdb-dev \
    make \
    openssl-dev \
    pcre-dev \
    yajl-dev \
    zlib-dev

# Clone and compile modsecurity. Binary will be located in /usr/local/modsecurity
RUN echo "Installing ModSec Library" && \
    git clone -b ${MODSEC_BRANCH} --depth 1 https://github.com/SpiderLabs/ModSecurity && \
    git -C /tmp/ModSecurity submodule update --init --recursive && \
    (cd "/tmp/ModSecurity" && \
        ./build.sh && \
        ./configure --with-lmdb  && \
        make -j 10 && \
        make install \
    )

# Retrieve required packages
RUN echo 'Cloning Modsec Nginx Connector, GeoIP, ModSec OWASP Rules, and download/extract nginx and GeoIP databases' && \
    git clone -b master --depth 1 https://github.com/SpiderLabs/ModSecurity-nginx.git && \
    git clone -b ${OWASP_BRANCH} --depth 1 https://github.com/coreruleset/coreruleset.git /usr/local/owasp-modsecurity-crs && \
    wget -q https://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-$OSSL_VERSION.tar.gz     && \
    tar -xzf openssl-$OSSL_VERSION.tar.gz                                   && \
    wget -q https://ftp.pcre.org/pub/pcre/pcre-$PCRE_VERSION.tar.bz2        && \
    tar -xjf pcre-$PCRE_VERSION.tar.bz2                                     && \
    wget -q http://zlib.net/zlib-$ZLIB_VERSION.tar.gz                       && \
    tar -xzf zlib-$ZLIB_VERSION.tar.gz                                      && \
    wget -q http://nginx.org/download/nginx-$NGNX_VERSION.tar.gz            && \
    tar -xzf nginx-$NGNX_VERSION.tar.gz

# Install Nginx with PCRE, OpenSSL, Geomod, Zlib
RUN set -x                                                                  && \
    cd /tmp/nginx-$NGNX_VERSION                                             && \
    ./configure                                                             \
    --with-compat                               \
        --with-ld-opt="-static"                                             \
        --with-pcre=/tmp/pcre-${PCRE_VERSION}                               \
        --with-zlib=/tmp/zlib-${ZLIB_VERSION}                               \
        --with-openssl=/tmp/openssl-${OSSL_VERSION}                         \
        --with-http_realip_module                                           \
        --with-http_v2_module                                               \
    --add-module=/tmp/ModSecurity-nginx                 \
        --with-http_ssl_module                                              && \
    make -j 10                                                              && \
    make install                                                            && \
    strip /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx                                       && \
    apk del general-dependencies

# Symlink access and error logs to /dev/stdout and /dev/stderr, in
# order to make use of Docker's logging mechanism
RUN ln -sf /dev/stdout /usr/local/nginx/logs/access.log                     && \
    ln -sf /dev/stderr /usr/local/nginx/logs/error.log

RUN addgroup -S nginx && adduser -S -G nginx nginx

Failures occur during the Nginx make section. There are many similar to these.
/usr/include/c++/10.2.1/bits/basic_string.tcc:225: undefined reference to `std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >::_S_copy_chars(char*, char const*, char const*)'
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/10.2.1/../../../../x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/bin/ld: /usr/include/c++/10.2.1/bits/basic_string.tcc:219: undefined reference to `std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >::_M_create(unsigned long&, unsigned long)'
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/10.2.1/../../../../x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/bin/ld: /usr/include/c++/10.2.1/bits/basic_string.tcc:212: undefined reference to `std::__throw_logic_error(char const*)'
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/10.2.1/../../../../x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/bin/ld: /usr/local/modsecurity/lib/libmodsecurity.a(lt5-libmodsecurity_la-rule.o): in function `_GLOBAL__sub_I_rule.cc':
/usr/include/c++/10.2.1/iostream:74: undefined reference to `std::ios_base::Init::Init()'
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/10.2.1/../../../../x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/bin/ld: /usr/local/modsecurity/lib/libmodsecurity.a(lt5-libmodsecurity_la-rule.o): in function `__static_initialization_and_destruction_0':
/usr/include/c++/10.2.1/iostream:74: undefined reference to `std::ios_base::Init::~Init()'
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/10.2.1/../../../../x86_64-alpine-linux-musl/bin/ld: /usr/local/modsecurity/lib/libmodsecurity.a(lt5-libmodsecurity_la-rule.o): in function `__static_initialization_and_destruction_0':
/tmp/ModSecurity/src/variables/rule.cc:23: undefined reference to `std::__cxx11::basic_string<char, std::char_traits<char>, std::allocator<char> >::~basic_string()'
collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
make[1]: *** [objs/Makefile:267: objs/nginx] Error 1

A: OWASP ModSecurity Core Rule Set project here.
I've never attempted a static compile, but I suggest you ask the question on the modsecurity mailinglist or on the specific modsecurity developer mailinglist.
https://sourceforge.net/p/mod-security/mailman/


Nine of the Best #DressLikeABook Photos!
The nonprofit organization Electric Literature, which works to make literature relevant, accessible, and inclusive, has just released a new contest under the hashtag #DressLikeABook.
The contest is simple: dress like the cover of a book, win a free tote bag that says READ MORE WOMEN. An exciting enough prize and a fun enough competition; people from the farthest depths of Instagram have been avidly posting their best book cover attempts.
Recommended Reading senior editor Lucie Shelly rescued this rock from a construction site in Mexico City and hauled it up three flights of stairs for this #DressLikeABook photo. So really you have no excuses not to enter @electricliterature's instagram contest!
Electric Literature is doing a #DressLikeABook competition and to promote #ReadMoreWomen I've dressed like the collection of short stories "Bad Behavior" by Mary Gaitskill. Ps. you should subscribe to @electricliterature 's recommended reading for a story (a good one) in your inbox every Wednesday! Pps. please read more women.
My niece Juno's contribution to @electricliterature's #DressLikeABook contest, via @scootes. One week old and already killin' it.


On 1 November, The Langham Auckland, one of New Zealand's leading hotels will be rebranded as Cordis, Auckland.
The Cordis Hotel and Resort chain is a new generation of selected, upscale modern hotels by Langham Hospitality Group, devoted to guests' needs and wellbeing, catering to both business and leisure travellers.
Robert Warman, chief executive officer of Langham Hospitality Group says: "Our hotel in Auckland fits the Cordis brand perfectly. It is well located in the vibrant part of the city, a top-of-mind venue for meetings and events, a favourite for special occasions amongst the locals and we have experienced colleagues who provide warm and friendly service from the heart.
After the recent renovation of their banquet venues and the hotel's Eight restaurant, The Langham Auckland will undergo refurbishment from 11 July for all 411 rooms and suites, lobby lounge and exclusive club lounge. The facelift is scheduled to be completed by February 2018. The design itself will be contemporary, with spaces reflecting that of the Cordis brand and local culture. The award-winning New Zealand based design firm, Space Studio, is the appointed interior designers for this refurbishment project.
For more information, visit Cordis Auckland.


International Coffee Day is being celebrated by people in every corner of the world on the 1stof October. The event is scheduled to be celebrated in grand scale during this year as well. The coffee day is being held in order to celebrate and promote coffee as a beverage. People who live in every corner of the world come together for this celebration.
The first ever International Coffee Day was held back in 2015. The idea of having an International Coffee Day sparked on the month of March, 2014. It was the International Coffee Organization, which came across the need to celebrate an International Coffee Day. They wanted to promote coffee and raise more awareness on it. With this, the first ever International Coffee Day was held in the city of Milan, along with Expo 2015.
However, it has been identified that people celebrated International Coffee Day even before 2015. There was a similar event organized by the Japan Coffee Association and it took place back in 1983. However, the celebrations of the event were restricted only to Japan. Then the people in United States started celebrating a National Coffee day back in 2005. However, there was no properly recognized day for the international celebration of coffee. That's where the International Coffee Day came into play.
What people do on the International Coffee Day?
People who live in every corner of the world prefer to take part in a variety of activities to take part in the celebration events held along with International Coffee Day. You can also think about taking part in these activities, so that you will be able to enjoy the day with others.
If you are looking for activities to take part in, along with the International Coffee Day, you are strongly encouraged to use the best of your imagination. Then you will be able to brainstorm and create new events. These new events can create loads of fun for the people you know. On the other hand, you will also be able to take part in those events and have a fascinating time.
Along with International Coffee Day celebrations, you can host a coffee cupping at your office or home. If there is a coffee shop in your local area, you can go there without keeping any doubts in mind. Then you will be provided with an amazing experience with a unique vibe. You can also go along with your friends and enjoy the best coffee on the International Coffee Day.
If you are a coffee shop owner, plenty of ideas are available for you to execute along with International Coffee Day and make the day a memorable one for your guests. Then you will be able to make the International Coffee Day remain in their minds for a long period of time. They will wait for the next year's October First, just to have those moments again.
One of the simplest things that you can do as a coffee shop owner is to run a discounted promotion on the coffee shop. People would come to your coffee shop and enjoy their favorite beverage at a lower price on the special day. You can ask your customers to show their love towards the International Coffee Day as well. To do that, you can simply ask them to create posts about the day and upload them on social media.
People who are looking for unique things to do on the International Coffee Day can go ahead and host art competitions. You can have coffee as the theme of the art competition. Along with that, you can ask people to write short stories and poems as well. Then you will be providing an excellent opportunity for the people to be more creative with coffee on the special day.
You can get Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee at a discounted price!
We have also decided to celebrate the International Coffee Day in grand style along with you on the upcoming first of October. That's where we have decided to offer an exciting 15% discount on Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans. You will be able to experience this discount on all the purchases that you make from our store.
Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans are well-known for their sweet aroma and flavor. If you have tried it, you will definitely come across the need to go ahead and give it a go along with the International Coffee Day celebrations. Even if not, you will be able to try out this amazing coffee bean on the 1stof October. You will love every single moment that you have along with Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.
It is true that Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans are being sold in the market at a premium price tag. But you can simply make the purchase from our store and we will be able to provide it to you at a discounted price tag. You will be able to get the most out of the money you spend. This amazing discount is available to you throughout the week. Therefore, you can simply go ahead at a convenient time for you and make the purchase.
To purchase Ethiopian Yirgacheffe from our online store, all you have to do is to enter the coupon code "EY18" at the time of checkout. Then the discount will be applied automatically on your purchase.
Now you know how to celebrate the International Coffee Day. We are just a couple of days away from it and it is the high time for you to prepare yourself. Hence, you can purchase the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans and work on other arrangements to celebrate the day on grand style!


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Falcon Edge Capital raises $45.7M for its India-focussed fund
According to media reports, AWI Fund will be located in Abu Dhabi Global Market and will be managed by Falcon Edge Capital, an investment firm based out of New York. AWI Fund will also provide its portfolio companies market access to the UAE, Middle-East and to North Africa region.
Media reports suggested that AWI Fund will encourage Abu Dhabi's culture of entrepreneurship and help promote its emerging position as a global innovation hub, in line with the Ghandan 21 accelerator programme's investment in Abu Dhabi's economy, knowledge systems and communications.
Established in 2018, ADQ was earlier knows as Abu Dhabi Developmental Holding Company. It currently manages more than 90 companies across 11 sectors, including healthcare, tourism and hospitality, logistics, manufacturing, utilities, media, and real estate.
New reports mentioned that Mayank Singhal, Head of Venture Capital and Technology at ADQ, said that the AWI Fund will be providing opportunities to draw young founders and teams to Abu Dhabi.
Earlier in January, YourStory had reported that Falcon Edge Capital was raising $45.7 million for its India-focussed fund. The fund had earlier invested in companies including ride-hailing company Ola, Quikr, media platform Dailyhunt, scooter rental platform Bounce, and fintech startup Khatabook. Additionally, it raised $300 million venture capital fund in February which was led by an undisclosed entity of the government of Abu Dhabi and investors from the UAE. Falcon Edge plans to invest in startups leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Founded by Rick Gerson, Navroz Udwadia and Ryan Khoury, Falcon Edge Capital manages $2 million assets globally. The fund first forayed in India in 2014 by investing in real estate platform Housing, a round that was led by SoftBank.
Edited by Javed Gaihlot
Falcon Edge Capital
venture capital fund
Funding Alert


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City of London denies forestry department contract fixing allegations
By Timothy Z. Gustavson on	 April 20, 2021 Forestry department
City of London lawyers deny claims that officials have secured forestry contracts in favor of Davey Tree Expert for years, according to recently filed court documents in a $ 31 million civil action.
Allegations in the lawsuit, filed in a Toronto court on Jan. 26 by CLC Tree Services, a London, Ont. Company, have yet to be tested in front of a judge.
CLC Tree Services alleges Davey has had a virtual monopoly on all city forestry contracts for years thanks to preferential treatment from the city's forestry department.
CLC Tree Services court records allege that the preferential treatment is based on a close personal friendship between Andrew Beaton, a former Davey employee who is currently the town's forestry director, and Timothy Holley, the man who took over Beaton's job when he left to work for town hall.
CLC Tree Services is a logging company based in London, Ont., Which accused the city and Davey Tree Expert of settling the city's forestry contracts in Davey's favor. City officials deny the accusation. (Colin Butler / CBC News)
The claimant claims that Davey Tree Expert has received all forestry work and consulting contracts from the city since 2003, "with one exception".
CLC seeks $ 15 million in general damages, $ 16 million in punitive damages and a court order against the city, preventing it from awarding or extending contracts for forestry work without first initiating a public call for tenders.
In a defense recently filed in a Toronto court by the City of London's prosecutor's office, attorneys for the town hall argue that the defendants acted reasonably and in good faith and that there is no reason for that the city or Davey pay damages.
Records filed by city attorneys claim that the real reason CLC Tree Services failed to win city contracts is that they often fail to submit proposals and, in the rare cases where the company did so, argues the city, CLC lacked the necessary staff, training, equipment and skills. the work.
Regarding the alleged Beaton and Holley conspiracy, the city says the allegation of preferential treatment for Davey in the town hall contracts is purely speculative and without a factual basis.
Lawyers for the City also argue that for the plaintiff to have a valid case under the Competition Act, CLC Tree Services would have to compete with Davey Tree Expert. "[The defendants] deny that they are competitors with Davey Tree Expert. "
In its defense, the city attorney's office requests that the prosecution be dismissed with costs.
Sabah Forest Department: No illegal logging at Kg Kaiduan near proposed Papar Dam site
Forestry Department Defends Tree Burning Actions Near Turtle Beach (Update)
Forestry Department says more snakes could appear in populated areas
State forestry department searches for acorns and nuts


The U.S. Supreme Court issued two decisions this week protecting foreign manufacturers from lawsuits in jurisdictions in which the manufacturer has no purposeful connection or link.
In J. McIntyre Machinery, Ltd. v. Nicastro, the Supreme Court reversed the ruling by the Supreme Court of New Jersey concluding that a state may not exercise personal jurisdiction over a party unless that party has purposefully availed themselves to the jurisdiction, thus showing intent to benefit from the state's laws. In Goodyear Dunlop Tires Operations, S.A. v. Brown, the Court held that a foreign corporation's placement of products into the stream of commerce is insufficient for purposes of establishing general jurisdiction over a foreign defendant.
In reversing the lower court's decision, the Supreme Court held that due process protects a defendant's right not to be coerced except by lawful judicial power. Consequently, the line of prior cases invoking a "stream of commerce analysis" were inconsistent with the notion of "fair play and substantial justice." The Court found that, even though a manufacturer may show "purposeful availment" by placing a good in the stream of commerce, that alone does not demonstrate that the manufacturer intended to submit to the power of a particular sovereign in exchange for the benefits and protections of the state's laws. Because J. McIntyre did not purposefully direct activity at New Jersey, the Supreme Court found that personal jurisdiction did not exist in that forum.
In Goodyear, the issue before the Court was whether or not foreign subsidiaries of a United States parent corporation were amenable to suit in state court on claims unrelated to any activity of the subsidiaries in the forum state. In this case, North Carolina residents whose sons died in a bus accident in France filed a suit in North Carolina state court alleging that the Goodyear tires on the bus were defective. Defendant Goodyear USA is a U.S. corporation but three additional defendants (Goodyear USA subsidiaries) are organized and operate in Luxembourg, Turkey, and France. "The foreign defendants are not registered to do business in North Carolina; have no place of business, employees, or bank accounts in the State; do not design, manufacture, or advertise their products in the State; and do not solicit business in the State or sell or ship tires to North Carolina customers." Because a small percentage of their tires were distributed in North Carolina by other Goodyear USA affiliates, the North Carolina courts found they had jurisdiction over the foreign defendants because their project had reached North Carolina through "the stream of commerce." The Supreme Court reversed, noting that to justify the exercise of general jurisdiction over petitioners, the North Carolina courts relied on the petitioners' placement of their tires in the "stream of commerce." "Their attenuated connections to the State," said the Supreme Court, "fall far short of 'the continuous and systematic general business contacts' necessary to empower North Carolina to entertain suit against them on claims unrelated to anything that connects them to the State."


26th Feb 09:02 With a growing demand for a better browsing experience on our mobiles, there is, according to the industry, demand for Web 2.0 on the go. While text blogging on a mobile is still seen as a minority sport, the explosion of camera and videophones now allows us to upload pictures and videos to our homepages. It is something that is already extremely popular on the successful South Korean social network Cyworld. The social networking craze has seen phone manufacturers, network operators and big Internet names announce various tie-ins to give users access to their own content. Yahoo's mobile Internet service now incorporates built-in access to photo-sharing site Flickr. Other deals include Vodafone's tie-in with both MySpace and YouTube, which will allow customers to access, edit and post to their MySpace pages and upload videos to YouTube. Newbay is a company that provides mobile networks with servers and back-end support for picture and video uploads. They have seen their mobile traffic triple in the last year. "Blogging on the Internet is different from blogging on the mobile," said Newbay's chief executive Paddy Holahan. "The mobile user is more likely to take a picture or a video and upload it, because he's got a cameraphone in his hands. The Internet blogger is more likely to type because he's got a keyboard in his hand. "When you give people buttons, they press them, and it's a different experience. Mobile tends to be much more about your lifestyle; Internet blogging tends to be much more about your opinions, politics, things like that." Bandwidth issues Mobile phones are not the best way to access the net. So, whether it is pictures, opinion or general video buffoonery, the process for uploading your content is often quite complicated. And even with 3G, your top data transfer rate is 384 kilobits per second, which means your upload could take a while. "The bandwidth issue is basically an issue of quality and speed," said Mr Holahan. "The better the bandwidth, the better the quality image or video you can upload in a short time. "People will generally wait 10 to 20 seconds to upload something at whatever quality that allows you to do, but they're not going to wait for one or two minutes for something that should be a snap or a snippet. "One of the key things we do is turn the uploading experience into a one-click experience. At the moment you may have to go through 10 or 15 clicks just to upload a single picture, and in our opinion for every click you halve the usage." But just as many of us are getting to grips with moblogging and video uploading, the idea of Web 2.0 has moved on. The virtual world Second Life currently seems to represent the cutting edge of the concept, populated as it is by user-generated characters, buildings and businesses. Bridge between worlds IBM's private Second Life play area is a kind of "thought lab" where, amongst the bizarre constructions, the company is trying out methods to combine Web 2.0 and mobile devices in a more homogenous way. IBM's master inventor Zygmunt Lozinski explained his vision does not simply involve accessing Second Life from your phone - it involves using your mobile as a bridge between the virtual world and the real world. "You have a group of people who use virtual environments like Second Life, and they interact within those environments using tools like instant messaging and chat. But what would happen if you could connect people and objects in a virtual world to real world communication networks? To your mobile phone, to phones at home? "So for example, you can make your avatar ring a bell, like in a hotel lobby, and that would send a message to the owner of that area, to their mobile phone, to say 'there's somebody who's interested in talking to you'. Because obviously you can't spend your entire life in a virtual shop hanging around waiting for someone to stop by and buy something. "You can then see a photo of the avatar who's calling you. You can then record a video with your mobile, and send that back so your potential customer can see that video being played to them on a video wall in the virtual world." In effect, IBM's model removes the need for people to exist within a virtual world. "If you're travelling you may not always have good enough connectivity to interact with people in a virtual world, even if you need to. People can communicate irrespective of whether they're in the virtual or real worlds," said Mr Lozinski. "People used to talk about service anytime, anywhere - it shouldn't matter if that's a real or a virtual anywhere."


As far as war is concerned, the world's population can be divided into two groups: those who have or are experiencing war and the effects of this on their lives and those of their families, and those fortunate enough to have escaped suffering such losses and ongoing impact. Common to all of these people however, is the deep-rooted desire for peace and freedom. The very same peace and freedom achieved by struggle for which others paid the highest possible price – their lives.
Some of us know no other life than one of freedom and peace because this is what we have been fortunate enough to know since birth.
History however teaches us that once upon a time, in recent or distant times, people died for this very same freedom. We commemorate these people because they were willing to die for something that was bigger than they were.
The world remembers these people because they died; 'Field of Honour, Field of Life' also remembers these people. Not only as people who died, but as people who once had a life that ended abruptly as a result of violence and war.
We want to symbolise these lives one more time – by placing living people behind the graves.
What better way to symbolise a life, than by a living person? Symbolise so that we can look and see, feel and experience, so that we remember not only the dead, but the living, people of all ages like you and I.
We have chosen this approach to, for a brief moment in time, truly relate to what has happened. As one living being to another and to realise how incredibly valuable the world of peace and freedom is.
Those who died are no longer part of this world, but we are.
That calls for responsibility. Responsibility towards them and to ourselves.


text:
Callispa krishnashunda, is a species of leaf beetle found in Sri Lanka.

Description
Body length is about 5.75 mm. Body broad, oblong and yellowish brown in color. Eyes medium-sized. Antennae dark brown and about 2.25 mm long. Prothorax is about 1.10 mm long and medially truncate anterior margin with a transverse row of punctures. Scutellum sub-pentagonal. Elytral length is about 4.50 mm. There are ten rows of punctures at each elytron base. Small and brownish hind wings with a total length of about 6.00 mm. Legs with both fore-coxae and mid-coxae are punctured.

References

Cassidinae
Insects of Sri Lanka
Beetles described in 1919