text:
MCCARTHY: Els defends Aussie fans ... Prez Cup draft top-notch ... When golf goes wild
Jon McCarthy
International captain Ernie Els delivered one of the most compelling moments of the week at the Presidents Cup, and he did it from a chair in the interview room.
During the captain's press conferences on Saturday after the matches, and after answering questions about Patrick Reed's caddie's altercation with a fan, American captain Tiger Woods had a few words for the Australian spectators.
"Have people said things that have been over the top? Yes. I've heard it," Woods said. "I've been in the groups playing when it has happened, and I've been inside the ropes as a captain today witnessing it. As I said, all I ask for all the galleries is be excited but be respectful of the players, all 24 of us."
A few minutes later, seemingly after having a little time to digest Woods' statement, Els delivered an unprompted stirring defence of the fans at Royal Melbourne.
"I just want to say one thing about the crowd," Els began. "I've played in many Presidents Cups. I've played in the U.S. many times. If you look back at New York and how these players were treated in New York, this crowd is pretty quiet. I mean, we just get treated the same wherever you go as an away game, there's some heckling going on and we all know that, and you prepare for that, and that's just the way it goes. We shut up and we get on with things. That's what we did in New York. So it's part of the game. And I'm with Tiger; I absolutely, I'm against heckling. I'm against crowds being disrespectful to the players, but it happens. We as professionals, we move on."
Els followed it by heaping praise on Woods' ability over the years to deal with hecklers of his own, and pointed to him as an example of how a professional should act, but he had made his point. And from what we've heard, it was very well received by Els' International players.
Having been at Bethpage Black this year for the PGA Championship, I can confirm that these Australian fans are choir boys compared to a New York crowd. Everybody inside the ropes that week at Bethpage was fair (or unfair) game. I saw a player berated with, "Better luck next year!" exactly two seconds after missing a putt to make the cut on Friday. I saw players asking security to have fans removed. I saw an officer being heckled for wearing a bulletproof vest, "You really think you're going to get shot on a golf course!?!"
So Aussie fans, don't worry, you guys are just fine.
I SELECT TIGER WOODS
One of the best parts of the Presidents Cup this week is watching the captains react off one another and select their pairings. The Ryder Cup definitely should follow suit and let the captains have more of a say in the who will go head-to-head, rather than force them to make their selections blind.
It's great watching the hulking Els put on his glasses and have his assistants huddle around him before each pick. The International captain stays so calm throughout the process that it's easy to imagine the positive effect his demeanour has on his team. Never flustered, Els seems almost bored with the proceedings, as if they are keeping him away from his dinner.
As for Woods, it was worth the trip Down Under just to listen to him refer to himself in the third person when he makes his picks. It took him about half-a-second on Saturday night to counter Els first singles pick of Abraham Ancer with, "Tiger Woods."
It's like the world's most important fantasy draft and I can't get enough of it.
RUN FOR YOUR GOLFING LIVES
A golf event isn't a place where you usually worry about things getting out of control. But three times this year I've found myself running to stay ahead of a mob of over-refreshed men in golf shirts.
The first was at the PGA Championship at Bethpage when spectators broke through the ropes after Brooks Koepka hit his drive on the 18th. There is no mistaking the rumble of humanity coming up behind you. But on that day, there were plenty of New York cops on hand and they apparently had some experience with these situations, and order was quickly restored.
The second was at the Open Championship at Royal Portrush. On Sunday afternoon after Shane Lowry hit his approach shot to the green, the Irish fans couldn't wait any longer for the party to begin. They poured into the fairway and stormed toward the green. That day, it was an eight-inch diameter rope being pulled across the fairway to protect the green. It was like a scene from Game of Thrones and I broke into my first full sprint in 20 years to narrowly beat the closing gate.
Saturday at Royal Melbourne was the third. Early in the week, the Australian crowd was entertaining and amusing, armed with songs and chants they had created in advance. But on Saturday afternoon the spirit of competition went to a level unseen in years, even decades at a Presidents Cup, and the heavily partisan crowd lifted it even further. As the final group of Ben An and Joaquin Niemann versus Matt Kuchar and Tony Finau came up the 18th fairway with their match hanging in the balance, a frenzied gallery stormed the ropes and headed toward the green. I had to deke out good Australian Samaritan Adam Scott who was trying to keep order and mistook me for a fan, before safely making it greenside.
Who says golf isn't a contact sport?
Newsmaker of the decade – Brooke Henderson: Canada's winningest pro golfer...  Holder: Golf a game with one goal, and many languages
'I like the path we're on,' head coach Khari Jones says after re-signing with Montreal ...
The Sens Panel: Evaluating the team at the 20-game mark and what trade scenarios make ...
'November is going to be quite crazy': Senators preparing for 16 games in 28 days
Senators impress with comeback win over Vancouver Canucks, send a few to Belleville
The Sens Panel S2 Ep 17 | Losing streak, Anderson's future, Mark Stone comes home
Game day: Ottawa Senators vs. Las Vegas Knights
Senators skid keeps going with overtime loss against Blackhawks
Memories: Reminders of Sens' turnover come with Zack Smith's return as a Blackhawk
Florida 2 19:10
LA Lakers 100 2:26
4th Qtr
Denver 91 7:10
Indiana 44 25.6
Golden State 7:00 PT8:00 MT9:00 CT10:00 ET3:00 GMT11:00 8:00 MST9:00 CST10:00 EST7:00 UAE (+1)04:0022:00 ET9:00 CT1:00

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Scotland has been holding its annual round of Open Doors Weekends, and it's just been Edinburgh's turn. These are rare opportunities for the public to explore normally inaccessible buildings, and on Sunday I was lucky enough to visit the Cold War nuclear bunker at Barnton Quarry. A work colleague couldn't attend, and knowing I was interested in such places, he let me have his tickets.
The bunker at Barnton started off in 1942 as a control room for the RAF, who flew out of nearby Turnhouse (now the site of Edinburgh Airport). After the war, as the Cold War developed, the wartime building was linked by a tunnel to a much larger subterranean facility. It was originally a ROTOR radar station, providing early warning of possible Soviet attack, before becoming one of Scotland's three Regional Seats of Government. These would have housed a range of officials responsible for running the country after a nuclear attack, when central government was likely to have collapsed completely. I've been to two other bunkers used as RSGs – Kelvedon Hatch and Anstruther – and they're fascinating places.
Barnton became redundant as an RSG in 1983, and was sold to Lothian Regional Council, who intended to use it for further emergency and civil defence purposes, but the government refused funding for refurbishing it, so they never did much with it. The site was sold to developers in 1987, and subsequently changed hands several times. The bunker was repeatedly broken into, partially demolished, and seriously damaged by fire in 1993. In 2011, it was (somewhat bravely!) acquired by the owner of the Anstruther bunker, and a volunteer effort to restore it began.
Rather miraculously, progress is good and there are plans to fully open the bunker in its ROTOR station guise. No other bunker survives in this form, and it's also extremely unusual in being near a city centre – unsurprisingly, most of these bunkers are in remote locations, but the huge rocky hillside of the old quarry at Barnton made it an ideal site. The vision of a museum and educational facility highlighting the Cold War is an extremely good one, and I'm rather keen to do some volunteering on the restoration myself.
Anyway…on the day of the visit, there were lots of interesting things to see. Most of the bunker is a building site, due to the restoration work, and so only a small part of the (unrestored) 1940s building and link tunnel were open. However, these sections hosted a very comprehensive exhibition of photos and memorabilia, showing off the various phases of the bunker's history.
A volunteer from the restoration team also gave three fascinating presentations, covering the historical background to the construction of the bunkers nationwide, the history of the Barnton Quarry bunker, and the progress on restoring it. These again featured a lot of excellent photos, and quite a few fascinating facts – the tunnel connecting the two parts of the bunker is built out of London Underground cast-iron tunnel linings! There can't be too many other ones in Edinburgh.
I'll leave you with a few photos that show off the current rather creepy atmosphere, and a few bits of the displays.
Surface building at Barnton Quarry, part of the WW2 facility built in 1942.
Comprehensive info display in the old wartime ops room.
The place is full of atmosphere!
Some London Underground tunnel segments that got a bit lost! They were requisitioned by the government to build the bunker. The initials "LTE" (London Transport Executive) are visible on some of them.
As I left at the end of my visit, I got to chat with a couple of volunteers, and found them to be a group of dedicated, passionate and knowledgeable people. I have no doubt whatsoever that this will turn into an amazing place to visit, and I'm happy that it's not been left to crumble. I'll be keeping a close eye on progress!
What a fabulous experience! Thank goodness for the volunteers who keep such places alive.


In setting out the first findings of the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (ADII), this report provides our most comprehensive picture yet of Australians' online participation. The ADII has been created to measure the level of digital inclusion across the Australian population, and to monitor this level over time. Based on data from Roy Morgan Research, the ADII measures three key dimensions of digital inclusion — Access, Affordability and Digital Ability – and shows how they change over time, according to people's social and economic circumstances, and across geographic locations within Australia. This first report presents findings for the years 2014–2016.


According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the "Trader Joe's" grocery chain is suing a guy who has spent more than $350,000 at its stores in the past two years, and many stores have put up his picture in an effort to keep him out, like a casino that caught somebody cheating. The reason is that he then takes the stuff he buys up to Canada, where he resells it at a markup. (Trader Joe's doesn't operate in Canada.) In fact, that's all he sells in his Vancouver store, which he calls "Pirate Joe's."
Maybe not the best name, under the circumstances, but has he done anything wrong?
Trader Joe's thinks so, according to a lawsuit it filed in federal court in Seattle. The complaint accuses Michael Hallatt of trademark infringement, unfair competition, false advertising, and a number of similar violations. A motion to dismiss is pending.
Hallatt is from British Columbia but lived in the Bay Area for eight years, where he got used to shopping at Trader Joe's. The company was founded in California in 1967, and still has a somewhat 60s/granola feel to it. (Its first private-label product was actually granola.) Now there are about 70 stores nationwide, many in California and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.
The products are great, which is presumably why Hallatt can make money selling them at a markup even though he self-imports them, literally driving a van into the U.S. every week, loading it up, and then driving back to stock Pirate Joe's. Since Trader Joe's decided to start opposing this, his excursions have gotten longer and more difficult. The Chronicle relates one incident where he tried to shop in disguise. He was in a nearby parking lot "putting on a leopard muumuu, earrings and flowered flip-flops [he was probably in the SF area at the time] when somebody called the police," afraid he was about to rob the place. "My nail polish was not even dry when three cops showed up," he said.
But it's not like these are stolen goods. Once you buy something, don't you have the right to resell it or do whatever you want with it? Is eBay illegal? Well, there is something called the "first-sale doctrine," on which I am not an expert (these people are) but which generally speaking means that a seller only has the right to control the first sale of a copyrighted or trademarked item. This apparently gets tricky with regard to digital rights and "gray-market" sales, but at least according to Greg Owen, an expert cited by the Chronicle, Trader Joe's doesn't have much of a case given that the two businesses don't operate in the same countries.
There conceivably could be an issue with consumer confusion, but that doesn't seem likely here since, after all, the store is called "Pirate Joe's" and doesn't make any secret of the fact it's reselling the chain's goods. That's the business model, in fact. Plus, again, they don't operate in the same countries.
Actually, the name is not "Pirate Joe's" anymore. After the suit was filed, Hallatt scratched off the "P," so now it's just "Irate Joe's."
It does seem like the thing to do here, if Trader Joe's doesn't like the pseudo-competition, is for it to open a store in Vancouver and undercut Hallatt's prices rather than filing a lawsuit. It would not comment as to whether it has any plans to move up north, but that seems like the free-market way to settle the issue.


text:
package lcov

import (
	"bytes"
	"io/ioutil"
	"os"
	"strconv"
	"strings"

	"github.com/Sirupsen/logrus"
	"github.com/codeclimate/test-reporter/env"
	"github.com/codeclimate/test-reporter/formatters"
	"github.com/pkg/errors"
)

var searchPaths = []string{"coverage/lcov.info"}

type Formatter struct {
	Path string
}

func (f *Formatter) Search(paths ...string) (string, error) {
	paths = append(paths, searchPaths...)
	for _, p := range paths {
		logrus.Debugf("checking search path %s for lcov formatter", p)
		if _, err := os.Stat(p); err == nil {
			f.Path = p
			return p, nil
		}
	}

	return "", errors.WithStack(errors.Errorf("could not find any files in search paths for lcov. search paths were: %s", strings.Join(paths, ", ")))
}

func (r Formatter) Format() (formatters.Report, error) {
	rep, err := formatters.NewReport()
	if err != nil {
		return rep, err
	}

	b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(r.Path)
	if err != nil {
		return rep, errors.WithStack(err)
	}

	var sf formatters.SourceFile
	curLine := 1

	for _, line := range bytes.Split(b, []byte("\n")) {
		if bytes.HasPrefix(line, []byte("SF:")) {
			name := string(bytes.TrimSpace(bytes.TrimPrefix(line, []byte("SF:"))))
			var gitHead, _ = env.GetHead()
			sf, err = formatters.NewSourceFile(name, gitHead)
			if err != nil {
				return rep, errors.WithStack(err)
			}
			continue
		}
		if bytes.HasPrefix(line, []byte("DA:")) {
			lineInfo := bytes.Split(bytes.TrimSpace(bytes.TrimPrefix(line, []byte("DA:"))), []byte(","))
			ln, err := strconv.Atoi(string(lineInfo[0]))
			if err != nil {
				return rep, errors.WithStack(err)
			}
			for ln-curLine >= 1 {
				sf.Coverage = append(sf.Coverage, formatters.NullInt{})
				sf.CalcLineCounts()
				curLine++
			}
			lh, err := strconv.Atoi(string(lineInfo[1]))
			if err != nil {
				return rep, errors.WithStack(err)
			}
			sf.Coverage = append(sf.Coverage, formatters.NewNullInt(lh))
			curLine++
			continue
		}
		if bytes.HasPrefix(line, []byte("end_of_record")) {
			err = rep.AddSourceFile(sf)
			if err != nil {
				return rep, errors.WithStack(err)
			}
			curLine = 1
			continue
		}
	}

	return rep, nil
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home » Posts made in July, 2014
Lawyers going to the dogs
Posted on Jul 1, 2014 in General, Lawspeak
I always thought our North American collegues were the most innovative and inventive when it comes to marketing and bringing the law directly to the potential client. But I must admit that in recent years English solicitors are becoming just as creative as their cousin attorneys across the big water. The following is a brief extract from the webite of the English law firm of Cooper & Co. (http://www.doglaw.co.uk/). Cooper & Co. have certainly found an interesting niche in dog law (and the animated terriers and paw imprints on the website are a real attention grabber). But who is looking after the cats? Is your dog accused of being a Pit Bull Terrier type? There are details on this website in the FAQ section which sets out the basis of these cases under Section 1 or 4B of the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991. If you would like to instruct us to represent you in the proceedings please phone us. For all other dog related legal queries: We offer a telephone advice service. This is a premium rate line and calls are charged at £1.53 per minute from a BT landline (other networks may vary and mobiles will cost considerably more). The line is generally available during normal office hours Monday to Friday. The kind of cases that we can advise on include:- Ownership / access disputes Disputes between breeders and buyers Disputes between rescues and owners / former owners Defending personal injury claims Damages claims (dog on dog, dog on other animal, or dog damaging property) Claims against...
Conflict Resolution Clauses Revisited
Posted on Jul 1, 2014 in Bugg's Boilerplate, General
In the event of any dispute the Parties hereto shall seek in the first instance to resolve such dispute by way of good faith negotiations and no litigation or any other form of procedings shall be instigated as between the Parties until such negotiations have been allowed to take place. A dispute resolution clause in a contract is widely used in jurisdictions such as Germany. It generally requires the parties to a contract to attempt to resolve any dispute by way of discussions (in good faith) and within a limited period of time before the dispute could be referred to court or arbitration. However, until the decision in Emirates Trading Agency LLC v Prime Mineral Exports Private Limited [2014] EWHC 2104 (Comm) the English courts had held in recent years that any purported agreement to engage in preliminary (good faith) steps (so-called "escalation" or "tiered" resolution clauses) before resorting to court or judicial proceedings was unenforceable. Indeed, up to the Emirates case the courts generally rejected such clauses by the application of a principle of English law that an agreement to agree is unenforceable (see Walford v Miles [1992] 2 AC 128 ). Moreover, dispute resolution provisions were often struck down because of a lack of certainty in drafting that also rendered them, it was said, too vague to be enforceable. Thus, courts were rejecting clauses which did not set out a specific, defined mediation process or refer to the services of a specific mediation provider because these contract agreements were not interpreted to create an enforceable obligation to commence or participate in a mediation process (see SulAmerica v Enesa Engenharia [2012] 1 Lloyds Rep 671, Court of Appeal) But, in the new case of Emirates the court has held that although certainty in contract language is still required, "…an obligation to seek to resolve a dispute by friendly discussions in good faith has an identifiable standard, namely, fair, honest and genuine discussions aimed at resolving a dispute. Difficulty of proving a breach in some cases should not be confused with a suggestion that the clause lacks certainty…"(per Teare J) Notwithstanding the Emirates case, when drafting a conflict resolution clause, we must still take care to ensure that the particular agreement complies with the English law requirement of certainty. If the parties have to undertake any preliminary attempts at resolution, the drafting must be careful not to allow a party in default to delay the start of any litigation or referral to arbitration proceedings. This is particularly critical in cases of approaching (statutory or other) limitation periods. Time limits are therefore essential. The template clause at the top of this page falls well short of these requirements. Moreover, in...
July 2014: Conflict Resolution
Generally, commercial contract parties want to avoid at all costs any legal proceedings, whether they be at court or before an arbitration tribunal. They often try to achieve this in a contract by way of a conflict resolution clause. But how does English law regard such clauses, especially if they refer to general concepts of "good faith"? This year there appears to have been a major change in the judicial approach to such tiered or escalation resolution clauses. Perhaps this will bring English law in line with existing commercial practice and the legal position in other European jurisdictions by allowing a more relaxed approached to interpretation and enforcement. Read on… Stuart...


Analogies represent an important yet confusing domain of reasoning. There is no intuitive simple way to understand information processing related to analogies. Mathematics and computer programming do not deal with analogy. It is extremely difficult to program computers to recognize and process analogies. This also means that it is very difficult to theorize the processes.
Yet, we know that managers need to constantly engage in analogical reasoning. Entrepreneurs use analogies to evalute, examine, and sell novel ideas (e.g. Cornelissen & Clarke, 2010 in AMR). The whole Harvard case method popular in almost all business schools is based on the assumed ability of analogies to prepare students to manage firms and to solve problems.
There is a very interesting forthcoming laboratory study on analogical reasoning to be published in Strategic Management Journal by Lovallo, Clarke & Camerer.
Please describe the path along which you see the Project proceeding. Start from where the Project is now and construct the most probable future scenario for the Project. Please create a timeline that describes the key steps, milestones, and actions that need to be taken to reach the Project's goal, using as much space as you need (This should take about 15–20 minutes). After you have finished, please answer the questions on the following pages.
What two categories of investments or potential investments are most similar to the Project (e.g., founder-seller, early-stage, technical-risk, public company)? You can define/create whatever categories you think are the most relevant to the Project.
One finding from the study is that people do not seem naturally inclined to form a broad reference class of projects even when encouraged to do so. [...] the vast majority of reference projects were described as successes.These results are disturbing, as they suggest that reference class forecasting is itself open to bias in the recollection of reference projects (Kahneman and Tversky, 1979).
It is clearly alarming if managers mostly base their analogical reasoning on success cases. People justifiedly complain about From Good to Great for its lack of attention to failed firms.If we compare situations we encounter to success cases, we will become overly optimistic about the characteristics of our situation that match successes while at the same time ignoring characteristics that would match failure cases. People love to read and hear good stories. Also, those who succeed are more willing to share their stories than those that fail. Journalists know this and tend to write about successful innovators and turn-arounds. Business professors know this and tend to write and teach case studies of the heroic success stories.
To counter these tendencies, we might need to instruct managers to engage in systematic analogical reasoning. When thinking about an investment or other decisions, managers should see that their discussions and private reflections consider analogies not only to similar success cases but also to an equal number of failure cases. Lovallo et al. forthcoming paper leads to a similar conclusion, although they propose a much more systematic methodology.
I have yet to read a definite paper on the philosophy of analogical reasoning. Personally, I think there are two ways to go about it. First, we can assume analogies to be very complex and follow some form of parallel processing where numerous attributes are matched and conclusions are drawn from a complex body of tacit knowledge. The parallel processing can be assumed to be so complex that it is practically untheorizable on micro-level. The best we may be able to do is to see broad tendencies of past experience or working memory recall to influence outcomes.
Second, we can assume analogical reasoning to follow working theories that are commonly tacit but can be made explicit. That is, analogical reasoning may repreresent a systematic comparison of characteristics and the application of knowledge concerning the relationship of matching characterics on outcomes of interest. We may have never heard of a "snow lion" (an imaginary animal), but through analogy we can figure out the likely characteristics: it would be analogous to snow leopard in being white and furry. It would likely eat other relatively large mammals such as goat, analogously to normal lions. These would be predicted by the knowledge-based theory of categorization -- traits that we know to have either functionality in snow-related environment or likely to be inherited across sub-species.The analogical reasoning is not pattern-matching, but the application of causal knowledge to estimate likely similarities.
The first option mystifies analogical reasoning as something that arises from the complexities of the human brain. The second option suggests that analogical reasoning is really just the application of existing knowledge to match premises to likely outcomes - not qualitatively different from more formal reasoning tasks, except that the initial premises attended to arise from specification of one or more analogous exemplars. The second option is the only account of analogical reasoning that allows discursive consideration of analogies. Classroom discussions of case studies is not about matching patterns, but about illustrating and memorizing knowledge concerning causal relationships.
Analogy and metaphor are difficult topics that can easily become mystified. They are linked to powerful and complicated processes of reasoning that we need to understand better. The forthcoming paper by Lovallo et al. is a nice example of work trying to make analogical reasoning more explicit with simplicity and clarity.
I'll conclude with my favorite passage of James Joyce, an application of analogy (metaphor) to motivate selective reasoning about the properties of women.
Her antiquity in preceeding and surviving successive tellurian generations: her nocturnal predominance: her satellitic dependence: her luminary reflection: her constancy under all her phases, rising and setting by her appointed times, waxing and waning: the forced invariability of her aspect: her indeterminate response to inaffirmative interrogation: her potency over effluent and refluent waters: her power to enamour, to mortify, to invest with beauty, to render insane, to incite to and aid delinquency: the tranquil inscrutability of her visage: the terribility of her isolated dominant implacable resplendent propinquity: her omens of tempest and calm: the stimulation of her light, her motion, and her presence: the admonition of her craters, her arid seas, her silence: her splendour, when visible: her attraction, when invisible.


Oh boy someones stupidity-meter has reached a new low as the New York Daily News reports on a very strange email-ad offering "Special Tsunami Fares" on Singapore Airlines, complete with a picture of people fleeing a giant wave.
The email was sent on behalf for Millennium international travels, a Madison Ave. but they claim they had nothing to do with it. Wizie.Com LLC, who sent the emails wouldn't take responsibility for the message either. "We just send the emails out, the content is approved by the company" said an anonymous spokesperson at Wizie.Com LLC, who wasn't couldn't be sure that the travel agency approved the message.
So does this mean Singapore Airlines will be suing Wizie.com?
It would be nice if someone sued spammers IMHO.


Include your daughter on your wedding day with this Baby Girl Cake Top Figurine. This hand-painted porcelain cake top features a young girl dressed in a cute dress with a beautiful flower in her hair. Pair it with our other porcelain figurines to complete your cake.
- Find parents! Browse Groom Figurines or Bride Figurines.
- Need siblings, shop our Children Cake Toppers.
- Don't forget your pets! Add an Animal Cake Topper.


text:
#ifndef MICROPY_INCLUDED_PY_MISC_H
#define MICROPY_INCLUDED_PY_MISC_H

// a mini library of useful types and functions

/** types *******************************************************/

#include <stdbool.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stddef.h>

typedef unsigned char byte;
typedef unsigned int uint;

/** generic ops *************************************************/

#ifndef MIN
#define MIN(x, y) ((x) < (y) ? (x) : (y))
#endif
#ifndef MAX
#define MAX(x, y) ((x) > (y) ? (x) : (y))
#endif

// Classical double-indirection stringification of preprocessor macro's value
#define _MP_STRINGIFY(x) #x
#define MP_STRINGIFY(x) _MP_STRINGIFY(x)

// Static assertion macro
#define MP_STATIC_ASSERT(cond) ((void)sizeof(char[1 - 2 * !(cond)]))

/** memory allocation ******************************************/

// TODO make a lazy m_renew that can increase by a smaller amount than requested (but by at least 1 more element)

#define m_new(type, num) ((type*)(m_malloc(sizeof(type) * (num))))
#define m_new_maybe(type, num) ((type*)(m_malloc_maybe(sizeof(type) * (num))))
#define m_new0(type, num) ((type*)(m_malloc0(sizeof(type) * (num))))
#define m_new_obj(type) (m_new(type, 1))
#define m_new_obj_maybe(type) (m_new_maybe(type, 1))
#define m_new_obj_var(obj_type, var_type, var_num) ((obj_type*)m_malloc(sizeof(obj_type) + sizeof(var_type) * (var_num)))
#define m_new_obj_var_maybe(obj_type, var_type, var_num) ((obj_type*)m_malloc_maybe(sizeof(obj_type) + sizeof(var_type) * (var_num)))
#if MICROPY_ENABLE_FINALISER
#define m_new_obj_with_finaliser(type) ((type*)(m_malloc_with_finaliser(sizeof(type))))
#define m_new_obj_var_with_finaliser(type, var_type, var_num) ((type*)m_malloc_with_finaliser(sizeof(type) + sizeof(var_type) * (var_num)))
#else
#define m_new_obj_with_finaliser(type) m_new_obj(type)
#define m_new_obj_var_with_finaliser(type, var_type, var_num) m_new_obj_var(type, var_type, var_num)
#endif
#if MICROPY_MALLOC_USES_ALLOCATED_SIZE
#define m_renew(type, ptr, old_num, new_num) ((type*)(m_realloc((ptr), sizeof(type) * (old_num), sizeof(type) * (new_num))))
#define m_renew_maybe(type, ptr, old_num, new_num, allow_move) ((type*)(m_realloc_maybe((ptr), sizeof(type) * (old_num), sizeof(type) * (new_num), (allow_move))))
#define m_del(type, ptr, num) m_free(ptr, sizeof(type) * (num))
#define m_del_var(obj_type, var_type, var_num, ptr) (m_free(ptr, sizeof(obj_type) + sizeof(var_type) * (var_num)))
#else
#define m_renew(type, ptr, old_num, new_num) ((type*)(m_realloc((ptr), sizeof(type) * (new_num))))
#define m_renew_maybe(type, ptr, old_num, new_num, allow_move) ((type*)(m_realloc_maybe((ptr), sizeof(type) * (new_num), (allow_move))))
#define m_del(type, ptr, num) ((void)(num), m_free(ptr))
#define m_del_var(obj_type, var_type, var_num, ptr) ((void)(var_num), m_free(ptr))
#endif
#define m_del_obj(type, ptr) (m_del(type, ptr, 1))

void *m_malloc(size_t num_bytes);
void *m_malloc_maybe(size_t num_bytes);
void *m_malloc_with_finaliser(size_t num_bytes);
void *m_malloc0(size_t num_bytes);
#if MICROPY_MALLOC_USES_ALLOCATED_SIZE
void *m_realloc(void *ptr, size_t old_num_bytes, size_t new_num_bytes);
void *m_realloc_maybe(void *ptr, size_t old_num_bytes, size_t new_num_bytes, bool allow_move);
void m_free(void *ptr, size_t num_bytes);
#else
void *m_realloc(void *ptr, size_t new_num_bytes);
void *m_realloc_maybe(void *ptr, size_t new_num_bytes, bool allow_move);
void m_free(void *ptr);
#endif
NORETURN void m_malloc_fail(size_t num_bytes);

#if MICROPY_MEM_STATS
size_t m_get_total_bytes_allocated(void);
size_t m_get_current_bytes_allocated(void);
size_t m_get_peak_bytes_allocated(void);
#endif

/** array helpers ***********************************************/

// get the number of elements in a fixed-size array
#define MP_ARRAY_SIZE(a) (sizeof(a) / sizeof((a)[0]))

// align ptr to the nearest multiple of "alignment"
#define MP_ALIGN(ptr, alignment) (void*)(((uintptr_t)(ptr) + ((alignment) - 1)) & ~((alignment) - 1))

/** unichar / UTF-8 *********************************************/

#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE
// with unicode enabled we need a type which can fit chars up to 0x10ffff
typedef uint32_t unichar;
#else
// without unicode enabled we can only need to fit chars up to 0xff
// (on 16-bit archs uint is 16-bits and more efficient than uint32_t)
typedef uint unichar;
#endif

#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_STR_UNICODE
unichar utf8_get_char(const byte *s);
const byte *utf8_next_char(const byte *s);
size_t utf8_charlen(const byte *str, size_t len);
#else
static inline unichar utf8_get_char(const byte *s) { return *s; }
static inline const byte *utf8_next_char(const byte *s) { return s + 1; }
static inline size_t utf8_charlen(const byte *str, size_t len) { (void)str; return len; }
#endif

bool unichar_isspace(unichar c);
bool unichar_isalpha(unichar c);
bool unichar_isprint(unichar c);
bool unichar_isdigit(unichar c);
bool unichar_isxdigit(unichar c);
bool unichar_isident(unichar c);
bool unichar_isupper(unichar c);
bool unichar_islower(unichar c);
unichar unichar_tolower(unichar c);
unichar unichar_toupper(unichar c);
mp_uint_t unichar_xdigit_value(unichar c);
#define UTF8_IS_NONASCII(ch) ((ch) & 0x80)
#define UTF8_IS_CONT(ch) (((ch) & 0xC0) == 0x80)

/** variable string *********************************************/

typedef struct _vstr_t {
    size_t alloc;
    size_t len;
    char *buf;
    bool fixed_buf : 1;
} vstr_t;

// convenience macro to declare a vstr with a fixed size buffer on the stack
#define VSTR_FIXED(vstr, alloc) vstr_t vstr; char vstr##_buf[(alloc)]; vstr_init_fixed_buf(&vstr, (alloc), vstr##_buf);

void vstr_init(vstr_t *vstr, size_t alloc);
void vstr_init_len(vstr_t *vstr, size_t len);
void vstr_init_fixed_buf(vstr_t *vstr, size_t alloc, char *buf);
struct _mp_print_t;
void vstr_init_print(vstr_t *vstr, size_t alloc, struct _mp_print_t *print);
void vstr_clear(vstr_t *vstr);
vstr_t *vstr_new(size_t alloc);
void vstr_free(vstr_t *vstr);
static inline void vstr_reset(vstr_t *vstr) { vstr->len = 0; }
static inline char *vstr_str(vstr_t *vstr) { return vstr->buf; }
static inline size_t vstr_len(vstr_t *vstr) { return vstr->len; }
void vstr_hint_size(vstr_t *vstr, size_t size);
char *vstr_extend(vstr_t *vstr, size_t size);
char *vstr_add_len(vstr_t *vstr, size_t len);
char *vstr_null_terminated_str(vstr_t *vstr);
void vstr_add_byte(vstr_t *vstr, byte v);
void vstr_add_char(vstr_t *vstr, unichar chr);
void vstr_add_str(vstr_t *vstr, const char *str);
void vstr_add_strn(vstr_t *vstr, const char *str, size_t len);
void vstr_ins_byte(vstr_t *vstr, size_t byte_pos, byte b);
void vstr_ins_char(vstr_t *vstr, size_t char_pos, unichar chr);
void vstr_cut_head_bytes(vstr_t *vstr, size_t bytes_to_cut);
void vstr_cut_tail_bytes(vstr_t *vstr, size_t bytes_to_cut);
void vstr_cut_out_bytes(vstr_t *vstr, size_t byte_pos, size_t bytes_to_cut);
void vstr_printf(vstr_t *vstr, const char *fmt, ...);

/** non-dynamic size-bounded variable buffer/string *************/

#define CHECKBUF(buf, max_size) char buf[max_size + 1]; size_t buf##_len = max_size; char *buf##_p = buf;
#define CHECKBUF_RESET(buf, max_size) buf##_len = max_size; buf##_p = buf;
#define CHECKBUF_APPEND(buf, src, src_len) \
        { size_t l = MIN(src_len, buf##_len); \
        memcpy(buf##_p, src, l); \
        buf##_len -= l; \
        buf##_p += l; }
#define CHECKBUF_APPEND_0(buf) { *buf##_p = 0; }
#define CHECKBUF_LEN(buf) (buf##_p - buf)

#ifdef va_start
void vstr_vprintf(vstr_t *vstr, const char *fmt, va_list ap);
#endif

// Debugging helpers
int DEBUG_printf(const char *fmt, ...);

extern mp_uint_t mp_verbose_flag;

/** float internals *************/

#if MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_FLOAT
#if MICROPY_FLOAT_IMPL == MICROPY_FLOAT_IMPL_DOUBLE
#define MP_FLOAT_EXP_BITS (11)
#define MP_FLOAT_FRAC_BITS (52)
#elif MICROPY_FLOAT_IMPL == MICROPY_FLOAT_IMPL_FLOAT
#define MP_FLOAT_EXP_BITS (8)
#define MP_FLOAT_FRAC_BITS (23)
#endif
#define MP_FLOAT_EXP_BIAS ((1 << (MP_FLOAT_EXP_BITS - 1)) - 1)
#endif // MICROPY_PY_BUILTINS_FLOAT

#endif // MICROPY_INCLUDED_PY_MISC_H


A city of Lincoln councillor has blasted a graffiti artist plaguing a popular woodland.
Biff Bean, who has served for the Hartsholme ward since being elected in 2015 has hit out a vandal who has been signing buildings and fences close to Swanholme Lakes.
The mysterious perpetrator signs their work as 'Juice' and now the 54-year-old is calling for help in stopping the problem that he believes is escalating out of control.
"The graffiti is all over the place," he said. "It is like the shrimp graffiti all over again. Now we have 'Juice'.
"It is all over Swanholme lakes on every building around and on fences near the railway track.
"I only took a handful of pictures but I could have easily have taken 20 or 30 more.
"It is crazy and it is just ridiculous vandalism. There is no need for it. It is all over the notice boards, it is out of order and it is reckless.
The councillor has grown increasingly frustrated in the state of the park and is urging for people to help the authorities by coming forward with information.
"I will do what I can," he said. "I have informed the neighbourhood watch policing team and asked for an incident number.
And Mr Bean, who has lived in the area for his whole life, believes the problem could spiral out of control and make people want to move elsewhere.
"The community already looks untidy," he added.
"Whenever you walk around you see grass that is overgrown and weeds everywhere.
Anybody wishing to report an act of graffiti can do so here .


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At the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, we don't often see the fish in the swamp. However, in May when dissolved oxygen levels were low in the water, we spied multiple fish species lurking near the surface. Longnose Gar (Lepisosteus osseus) and Bowfin (Amia calva) were present, but their ability to gulp atmospheric oxygen allows them to survive longer than other fish species in low-oxygen conditions. Unfortunately, a low-oxygen water is but one of the threats facing fish in South Carolina.
Bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)
Redbreasted Sunfish (Lepomis auritus)
Spotted Sunfish (Lepomis punctatus)
Warmouth (Chaenobryttus gulosus)
Previously, we have noted that fish in the Coastal Plain, especially in Four Holes Swamp, are contaminated with mercury introduced into environment as a result of burning coal to generate electricity or to power industrial operations.
The Post and Courier reported that an Alligator Gar (Atractosteus spatula) was killed by a bow angler on Lake Wateree. The fish is not native to South Carolina and was likely placed into the lake. Although the caught fish was only four feet long and 27 pounds (more the size of the native Longnose Gar), the Alligator Gar can grow to 10 feet and 200 pounds! Hold on to your children! In the article, SC DNR's Scott Lamprecht is quoted as saying, "Just one more complication to our ecosystem. It just creates an ecological disaster." Sound familiar? Humans need to stop dumping species into ecosystems that have not co-evolved and generated some checks and balances. It is why South Carolina made it illegal to transport wild hogs.
Longnose Gar
Now, back to what is in the native fish. As noted above, mercury is present Coastal Plain fish, which accumulates up the food chain to be deposited into the tissues of the top predators (man, otters, alligators, etc.). Besides Alligator Gar, Lake Wateree also has a polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) problem. PCBs, used in fire retardants and insulators, have been banned in the United States since the late 1970s due to their cancer-causing risk in humans. However, PCBs spilled or dumped on the land or in the water persist in the environment. As land is developed, especially around lakes, PCBs can be exposed and carried away with eroded soils. PCBs will settle into the lake's sediment, but can work up the food chain as sediment-living organisms are consumed by predators which are in turn consumed by larger predators.
Maybe this is a preview of next summer's blockbuster..."Ten feet and 200 pounds of toxic terror! Alligator Gar of Wateree!"
Norman's Boardwalk Sign
At the Audubon Center at the Francis Beidler Forest, sun and time have taken their toll on the interpretive signs around the boardwalk. Signs have become dingy and faded, which is unacceptable when standing in the foreground of nature's beautifully-constructed old-growth swamp. With the help of sponsors, all of the degraded interpretive signs have been replaced.
One of the replaced signs was sponsored by Phyllis and Ray Brunswig in honor of Norman Brunswig, their son, for his decades of service to the Francis Beidler Forest and the National Audubon Society. Norman arrived in 1972 to become the first sanctuary manager at the Francis Beidler Forest. Though his job titles have changed over the decades (currently state director for Audubon South Carolina), he has remained in the old-growth forest of Four Holes Swamp. It is appropriate that the "Islands of Life" sanctuaries sign was the one honoring Norman. The sign describes how the National Audubon Society began, what sites are currently being protected, and the goals for the sanctuary program.
Protection - minimizing human impact on fragile sites
Research - gaining critical insights into ecosystem dynamics
Education - teaching appreciation of wild places and wildlife
Advocacy - promoting wise environmental public policy
Life in the old-growth swamp moves unmolested toward the future with 1000-year-old Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum) trees continuing to stand tall, Ebony Jewelwing damselflies (Calopteryx maculata) reproducing, and fledgling Mourning Doves (Zenaida macroura) contemplating flight. As a result of Norman's eye to the Francis Beidler Forest's future, the sanctuary has grown from the original 3,400 acres to over 16,000 acres and additional strategic parcels are sure to be acquired.
Here's to many more years of service!
Check local listings, but it appears to have rained every day within Four Holes Swamp. A walk along the boardwalk at the Audubon Center at the Francis Beidler Forest reveals water in locations that have been dry since early spring! Animals have been quick to take advantage of the changing habitat.
Areas in the swamp that were previously dry are now accessible to fish seeking food and shelter from predators. Larger fish and snakes follow the smaller fish into the new aquatic territory. Amphibians, especially frogs and toads, are busy laying eggs in the pools of water formed in various depressions throughout the higher, drier forest. Mosquitoes are also taking advantage of these fish-free sites, though both insects and amphibians run the risk that the rain will end and the pools of water will dry before their young can emerge from their aquatic stages.
Above the water, Barred Owls (Strix varia) rest in the shade while keeping an eye on the shallow water at the swamp's edge. Crayfish exploiting access to new food sources expose themselves to a variety of predators, but none as deadly efficient as the Barred Owl watching from on high. Owls will spot a crayfish in shallow water, grab it with their talons, pull off the claws, and swallow the rest whole. Owl pellets found on the boardwalk are often nothing but undigested crayfish exoskeletons.
As late summer is not normally a time of high water, it is a pleasant change to see deep, dark water reflecting the palette of green leaves and blue sky!
Hog Wild!
During the past year, wild hogs (Sus scrofa) have become on increasing problem around the boardwalk at the Audubon Center at the Francis Beidler Forest. Not only have the animals been seen from the boardwalk by staff and visitors, the habitat often looks as though a rototiller-armed platoon of gardeners has assaulted through the area. Beyond the rooted earth, an unknown number of ground-nesting bird eggs, turtle eggs, and amphibians may have been consumed by the non-native, omnivorous hogs. The serious threat to the old-growth habitat within eyesight of the boardwalk has forced us to aggressively seek solutions to the invasion of wild hogs.
Last Wednesday, we attended workshop at the Clemson Extension Service's Columbia-area Sandhill Research and Education Center on the topic "Managing Wild Hog Damage in South Carolina." The workshop's title is somewhat misleading as the wild hog problem is not simply a South Carolina issue or a southeast United States issue, but it is a global issue. Not all habitats are suitable for wild hog survival, but the species exists on all continents except Antarctica. It is a global issue not only due to critical habitat destruction, negative impacts on native wildlife, and water quality degradation, but also due to the real and potential economic losses. Economic losses include crop damage and losses (consumed), failure of reforestation (seedlings consumed), predation of livestock (lambs and calves), resource competition with game species, and damage to suburban landscapes. Finally, there is the threat of disease transmission to the domestic hog stock or to humans. This threat can lead to loss of livestock and/or orders for pork by consumers. Diseases and risks associated with wild hogs include pseudorabies, swine brucellosis, classical swine fever, African swine fever, bovine tuberculosis, influenza, anthrax, tularemia, West Nile virus, E. coli, Salmonella, trichinosis, streptococcus, ticks, fleas, lice, and intestinal parasites. Yikes!
The workshop's plethora of experts covered the following topics: history and ecology of wild hogs in the Southeast; diseases and safe handling techniques of wild hogs; negative impacts of wild hogs; South Carolina hog harvest trends; research and management update; state regulations of wild hogs; management techniques to reduce wild hog populations; and demonstrations of various hog traps. Folks, it does not look good for South Carolina's native wildlife and habitats.
Hogs are not native to this continent. European settlers brought hogs, which had long-since been domesticated from the Eurasian Wild Boar population. Some of these domesticated hogs were released to forage or escaped on their own into the wild to become feral hogs. In the early 1900s, pure Eurasian Wild Boars escaped a hunting enclosure on Hoover Bald, NC and began to breed with the feral hog population producing the hybridized wild hogs now found throughout the Southeast and within 45 of 50 states in the United States.
Although wild hogs will eat almost anything, they have habitat requirements that restrict their ranges. Wild hogs need year-round access to food, water, shade, and escape cover. Water and shade are critical for hogs in order to regulate their body temperature. Wallowing in wetland areas degrades water quality by destroying the habitat and associated wildlife, increasing sedimentation and soil erosion, and introducing fecal material into the water system. In our state, the hotspots include swamps within the Coastal Plain, especially the Congraree River (Congaree National Park) system, the Wateree River system, the Pee Dee River system, and the Edisto River system, which includes Four Holes Swamp and the Francis Beidler Forest.
Wild hogs reach sexual maturity between three and six months, breed year-round (2-3 litters per year), and have an average litter size of six (can be as many as 16). With those reproduction numbers, killing 7 of 10 hogs would only maintain the population at its current level. With hogs favoring swampy areas with ample escape cover, trapping multiple hogs at a time is the most effective management technique, but hunting and law enforcement are also required. Wild hogs have few natural predators, they are alert, and they quickly learn to avoid human threats and traps, which have been ineffective or which have captured only a few of the sounder (group name based on the grunts used to keep the group together in poor visibility).
Unfortunately, the main deterrent to successful wild hog management and the preservation of our native wildlife and habitat is the illegal practice of releasing hogs (domestic or wild-caught elsewhere) into the wild for the purpose of hunting. Act 211-2010, 50-16-25 SC Code of Laws states that, "It is unlawful to possess, buy, sell, offer for sale, transfer, release or transport for the purpose of release a hog into the wild." If you know of any such violation, please contact your local Department of Natural Resources officer.
Don't allow our water quality, habitat, and wildlife to be destroyed by non-native hogs!
Labels: audubon, hog, invasive, pig, swamp, wild
Yesterday afternoon as we were set to depart the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest, it became as black as night outside and the skies opened to begin dumping over 5.6" of rain! Winds drove the rain against the building. Lightning sizzled and thunder added the exclamation point to the storm's dramatic entrance! Needless to say, we got soaked heading to the car.
Sunday mornings are usually quiet with visitor traffic slowly building as the day progresses. This morning, however, we were greeted at the end of the driveway by a sodden, ivy-covered pine trunk blocking our path. Though the log was not so large that it couldn't be moved by hand, it was still securely anchored into the ground and ample poison ivy (Rhus radicans) guarded access to the trunk itself. Among the Prius' qualities one will not find 4-wheel drive or off-road capabilities. Unable to pass the log or handle it manually, we were left with no option but to walk the mile to the barn and fire up the old tractor. (Note to self: Get instructions on how to operate a tractor.)
After a quick, over-the-phone class on basic tractor operation, we notice the flat front tire. After a quick shot of air from the compressor to inflate the tire, we fired up the tractor and backed it out of the barn. We immediately noted that the tractor's steering is more sensitive than that of the Prius or any other vehicle we've driven. The small, water-filled ditches on either side of the driveway, which we've previously given little thought beyond, "Wonder if there are any tadpoles in there?", suddenly appeared to be Panama Canal-size hazards. The tractor, possibly having experienced a previous life as a Stephen King character, seemed determined to steer itself into one watery abyss or the other.
Once at the log, the difference in elevation between the driveway and the sloping road edge made it difficult to use the tractor's bucket to push the log completely to the side. Eventually, however, the mission was completed without any roll-overs or damage. For a first-time driver, that is a win.
After driving the tractor back to the barn, there was the mile walk back to the car, which was still marking the spot on the driveway where travel had ended more than an hour earlier. By now, the neatly ironed Audubon staff shirt was drenched with sweat incapable of evaporating into the already-saturated August air. (Oh, yeah. That's what was missing in Europe...humidity!) Walking down the maintenance road from the barn, we came upon a Timber Rattlesnake (Crotalus horridus) coiled in the sun at the road's edge. It was undoubtedly in the same position when we made our walk in to get the tractor and went unnoticed as we contemplated the possible issues associated with first-time tractor operation. It did not rattle, or strike, or even move...as is usually the case.
Now, for those not paying attention during summer camp or previous blogs...ivy is poisonous and snakes, like the Timber Rattlesnake, are venomous. It's never to late to learn the difference. Afterall, it took almost 47 years to drive our first tractor!
Labels: audubon, reptile, snake, tractor, weather
Euro Trash
Several years ago, the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest got out of the trash hauling business. With limited staff and resources, hauling visitors' trash to the dump was consuming an unreasonable amount of time and fuel several times a week. Communities around the country struggle with the issue of waste management and local newspapers report nearby counties struggling with diminishing landfill space. Europe, with its longer history of habitation and limited land space has had to scrutinize its waste stream.
In Ober-Ramstadt, Germany, the trash is collected once a month. In the image above, the blue can is for recycling paper and the gray can is for trash. Glass must be taken one of the collection sites around town. All plastics (not just #1 and #2) are collected in designated plastic bags and collected at the curb. As only one couple lives at the house where the image was taken, the bottom half of the gray container is blocked off with a board. Therefore, a month's worth of trash for two individuals must not exceed the capacity of the gray container's upper half! Obviously, recycling and composting are absolutely necessary and excess packaging can be costly to consumers.
Not only is getting rid of the non-recyclable, non-compostable trash expensive, water is expensive. One can fertilize the garden of flowers or vegetables with compost from the kitchen, but plants need water too. Rain barrels capture and store water running off of the roof via the gutters. Whenever the garden needs a drink, one can simply dip into the barrel and extract some stored rain. Inside water-efficient appliances, low-flow toilets and low-flow shower heads help keep down the water bill.
Recycling and composting will not eliminate our waste stream or eliminate the need for landfills. However, both will reduce the amount of the waste stream heading to the landfill and thereby prolong the lives of existing landfills. The next landfill will be more expensive to operate and will inevitably be in an unhappy someone's backyard. As the dumpsters in London show, being a TREEHUGGER should not be a derogatory term as it actually makes financial sense for the entire community.
While you're thinking about how you can keep your waste out of the landfill, ponder over what "nasties" the Brits are keeping out of their carbonated beverages.
Labels: audubon, landfill, recycle, trash, waste
Back From Europe!
This blog has been silent during the last two weeks while the Education Department at the Audubon Center at Francis Beidler Forest took a break to visit Europe!
Our travels began with the aircraft landing in Frankfurt, Germany with our base of operations being in the small, nearby town of Ober-Ramstadt.
Although train travel took us to Paris, France; Brussels, Belgium; and London, England, the cities offered few bird sightings beyond Wood Pigeons (Columba palumbus), native House Sparrows (Passer domesticus), and Carrion Crows (Corvus corone). St. James Park in London did have a collection of waterbirds including white pelicans, various species of ducks and geese, Common Moorhens (Gallinula chloropus), and Eurasian Coots (Fulica atra) shown below with a fuzzy-headed chick.
In Paris, we noticed a feline high above the street and theorized that its presence may be having an impact on the local bird population.
We also spotted a familiar friend in London's St. James Park. Although the tag identifies the tree as a Swamp Cypress, the scientific name, Taxodium distichum, informs us that the Bald Cypress too is merely a tourist from the southeastern United States.
Most of our bird sightings occurred in the fields and woods around Ober-Ramstadt. Actually, we first heard the birds. Many of the sounds reminded us of birds we knew from our surroundings in South Carolina. There was a chickadee-like call, a red-bellied woodpecker sound-alike, and a red-shouldered hawk cousin. Upon inspection with our binoculars, we spied Blaumeise (Parus caeruleus) and Kohlmeise (Parus major), which are unmistakable cousins of our Carolina Chickadee (Poecile carolinensis) in the Family Paridae. The woodpecker was a Buntspech (Dendrocopos major), which shares the Family Picidae with our Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus). The Maeusebussard (Buteo buteo) stationed on the fence post ignoring the large European Hare (Lepus europaeus) loping by is related to our Red-shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus) and Red-tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis).
Unfamiliar birds included the European Magpie (Pica pica), which is in the crow family (Corvidae) and has a reputation for stealing shiny objects for its nest treasure collection.
In the local fruit trees, we saw the Serin (Serinus serinus).
At the field's edge, a Greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) picked seeds from unharvested crop.
Farther into the field was perched a European Robin (Erithacus rubecula), although the Amsel's (Turdus merula) size and behavior is more likely to remind one of the American Robin (Turdus migratorius).
Throughout the countryside, we saw large flocks of Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) in their native habitat (no need to add European to the head of their common name).
Although happy to be back in the swamp, we did not miss the humidity! Fortunately, the humidity here does not bring out European Red Slugs (Arion rufus). Even the slightest rain in Germany would cause thousands of these 4-inch mollusks to ooze out onto the trails and sidewalks. Not a pleasant experience when encountered by the tread of a running shoe or the wheel of rolling luggage.
Images by Mark Musselman.
Labels: audubon, birds, travel


(3 credits, alternate years, consult department) Knowledge of and skill development in individual, dual and team sports with emphasis on unit plan formulation and teaching methods for various grade levels.Prerequisite or concurrent: KIN202.
(3 credits)(Alternate years; consult department) Introductory knowledge and practice in the area of personal fitness training, focusing on the principles of client consultation, goal-setting, screening and risk-stratification, education-based client training, exercise program development, facility management, and liability. Prerequisites: KIN 115 and 180.
The methods of teaching physical education and health at the secondary level, emphasizing curriculum theory, instructional pedagogy, and practical applications. This course requires a 30-hour practicum and is required of each candidate seeking an endorsement in this content area. Prerequisites: KIN 202 and KIN 206. (3 credits; alternate years, consult department) Note: Students must earn a C or better in the special methods course in order to fulfill program requirements for secondary licensure.
(3 credits; alternate years, consult department) (Writing intensive) This course presents legal and ethical issues in sport through a topical approach. The course will provide an overview of the American legal system and provide future sport managers with relevant examples of sport law. Prerequisite: KIN 182.
(4 credits)(NWCore option under Cross-Cultural Engagement) A cross-cultural comparison of the relationship between sport and society. The primary emphasis will be the comparison of sport in the United States with sport in selected cultures, while attempting to develop a Christian worldview of sport. Prerequisite: sophomore class standing.
(3 credits; alternate years, consult department) Advanced study of the scientific principles and theories related to strength and conditioning. Discussions related to applications and concepts in the exercise sciences, testing and evaluation, program design, and strength and conditioning administration and facility organization will be emphasized. Prerequisite: KIN250.
3 credits) Students will add to previously gained knowledge and experience in the area of Strength and Conditioning by gaining hands-on experience in the areas of program design and implementation. Students direct Strength and Conditioning program of a sport with supervised independence. Note: There is an 80-hour (minimum) Strength and Conditioning observation requirement in conjunction with this class. Graded on a pass/no pass basis. Prerequisite: KIN381 and KIN417.


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Home 1 10,000 + Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is a cancer research and awareness charity in the United Kingdom and Isle of Man, formed on 4 February 2002 by the merger of The Cancer Research Campaign and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund.
Could virtual biopsies replace tissue biopsies in the future?
A breath test for multiple cancers reaches clinical trial
Researchers have launched a clinical trial to develop a breath test, analysing molecules that could indicate the presence of cancer at an early stage. [This] technology is the first to test across multiple cancer types, potentially paving the way for a universal breath test. – Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald This is the first test of its kind to
Aspirin could hold the key to supercharged cancer immunotherapy
Giving cancer patients aspirin at the same time as immunotherapy could dramatically boost the effectiveness of the treatment, according to new research published in the journal Cell today (Thursday). Francis Crick Institute researchers, funded by Cancer Research UK, have shown that skin, breast and bowel cancer cells often produce large amounts of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2).
New technique for precise light-activated chemotherapy drugs
A new technique that uses light to activate chemotherapy drugs in specific cells shows promise as a way to improve the effectiveness of cancer therapies while preventing severe side effects, according to a study published July 9 in Cell. The so-called photopharmacology approach could be used to treat a broad range of tumors with unprecedented
'Huge breakthrough' in understanding how the immune system recognises cancer
US researchers have revealed(link is external) the identity of molecules on the surface of cancer cells which allow the body's immune system to identify and destroy them. The research could lead to a new generation of immunotherapies that are far more effective than those currently in use, that could target a range of cancers. "This
New drug raises potential for cancer treatment revolution
A revolution in cancer treatment could soon be underway following a breakthrough that may lead to a dramatic improvement in cancer survival rates. A new study at the University of Warwick, published today in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition, has developed a new drug that can manipulate the body's natural signalling and energy systems, allowing
Computer-controlled table could direct radiotherapy to tumours
Swivelling patients around on a computer-controlled, rotating table could deliver high doses of radiotherapy to tumours more quickly than current methods, while sparing vulnerable organs such as the heart, brain, eyes and bowel. Swivelling patients around on a computer-controlled, rotating table could deliver high doses of radiotherapy to tumours more quickly than current methods, while
Breakthrough 'shrinks' childhood tumours
BRITISH cancer specialists have made a breakthrough in their fight against the most deadly childhood cancer. Cancer Research UK and the University of Southampton have unveiled a therapy for neuroblastoma, an aggressive cancer of the nervous system in infants as young as one year old which can spread to bones, the liver and brain. It
Citizen Scientists Combine to Identify Effective Cancer Treatments
When Zooniverse, a citizen science site that hosts collaborative research projects, first looked to the skies in 2007 it was attempting to streamline the way we categorize galaxies by asking ordinary people to lend a hand. Just 14 months after launch they had 60 million classifications by hundreds of thousands of participants. The academic world has
A whole new level of scientific discovery opens up for researchers willing to use this kind of research When Zooniverse, a citizen science site that hosts collaborative research projects, first looked to the skies in 2007 it was attempting to streamline the way we categorize galaxies by asking ordinary people to lend a hand. Just 14 months after
New Research Could Lead To a Breakthrough in Bowel Cancer Treatment
This type of cancer is the third most common cancer worldwide after lung and breast If things pan out correctly, then a clinical trial launched by a team of British researchers could come as a boon for many people with bowel cancer. The researchers have found a compound found in curry, which they believe can
Scientists hail revolutionary breast cancer breakthrough
A dramatic breakthrough in breast cancer research A dramatic breakthrough in breast cancer research will lead to a revolution in the way the disease will be diagnosed and treated in years to come, leading cancer specialists said yesterday. Researchers have discovered that breast cancer patients can be subdivided into ten different groups
Cancer Research UK Research
Join Wirral's Race For Life 2023 in aid of Cancer Research
ENTRIES are now being taken for this year's Wirral Race For Life events in aid of Cancer Research UK. The Globe-backed fundraiser, taking place in Birkenhead Park on Sunday May 21, is open to people ...
Get your boots on for Cancer Research UK's South Coast Big Hike 2023
Why not lace up your walking boots, explore the great outdoors and raise money for Cancer Research UK as part of our exciting new series of hiking events – Cancer Research UK's Big Hike.
UK signs groundbreaking mRNA cancer vaccine research agreement
The UK has signed a groundbreaking agreement to accelerate research into mRNA cancer vaccine research. Announced on Friday, the partnership with German pharmaceutical company BioNTech, will be one of ...
Cancer Research UK brings back the Big Hike to Loch Lomond: when is it, and how to sign up
Why not lace up your walking boots, explore the great outdoors and raise money for Cancer Research UK as part of their exciting new series of hiking events – Cancer Research UK's Big Hike.
UK: New partnership to boost research into vaccines for cancer
Trials into vaccines for cancer and wider diseases will accelerate after the UK government reached a historic agreement with a leading biopharmaceutical firm to bring revolutionary research to England ...
Cancer Research UK Discovery
Turbine's AI-powered Cancer Cell Simulations Will
The partnership will utilise Turbine's Simulated Cells™ platform and expertise to identify target patient populations who could benefit from CDC7** inhibitor therapy with Cancer Research Horizons' ...
Mum who made cancer discovery due to Lorraine strips off in 'real life Calendar Girls'
Jo Kerfoot, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer twice, put her symptoms down to breastfeeding - and now she wants to help others ...
University Of Glasgow Discovery Shows Key To Supercharging Immunotherapy's Ability To Stop Breast Cancer Spreading To The Lung
Breast cancer immunotherapy could be more effective if an immune cell that prevents it from working is targeted at the same time, according to new Breast Cancer Now and Secondary1st funded research ...
Breakthrough discovery could allow urine tests to detect liver cancer
U.K. researchers discovered a metabolite that could allow physicians to use urine tests to detect liver cancer, the Independent reported Dec. 24. Researchers at the Glasgow, Scotland-based Cancer ...
Urine test for liver cancer a step closer after Glasgow scientists' discovery
A urine test could be developed to detect liver cancer after a discovery by scientists in Glasgow. Researchers at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute in Glasgow found a metabolite in mice ...
Tags: cancer research
An experiment to see if artificial intelligence can make more advanced discoveries than humans
Breakthrough in cancer research could spawn new treatments
Open-source laser fabrication lowers costs for cancer research
Harnessing the power of light to fight cancer – optogenetic immunomodulation
The Never-Ending War on Cancer


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Covington Community Park is a 30-acre site at the intersection of 180th Ave SE and SE 240th St and is slated to have a variety of athletic fields, a community event stage as well as walking paths and trails.
The state's capital budget provides funding for new construction and maintenance for public buildings as well as other long-term infrastructure projects. The budget also provides funding or low-interest bonding for local government projects.
"The Covington City Council and Parks & Recreation Department are very excited that our legislators have secured funding for the next phase of Covington Community Park," said Covington Mayor Margaret Harto. "Parks and recreation are essential to our vision of an unmatched quality of life, and I think the public will love what we have planned for phase two."


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