text:
Lucca Cathedral
Lucca: Sweet and Salty Bike Tour
Lucca Cathedral: Tours & Tickets
Medieval Lucca for Kids: 2-Hour Private Tour
Lucca: Private Guided Walking Tour
Lucca: Guided City by Night Walking Tour
Lucca: City Highlights Walking Tour
From Florence: Pisa and Lucca Full-Day Private Tour
Top sights in Lucca
Lucca Cathedral: Our most recommended tours and activities
1. Lucca: Sweet and Salty Bike Tour
Explore the little town of Lucca by bike in a group of no more than 10 participants and taste some of the city's salty and sweet treats along the way. Lucca is surrounded by walls that date back to the Renaissance, and is known as the City with 100 Churches. It's also famous for its food: people talk far and wide of its many specialties and pastries. Take a relaxing 3-hour ride around Lucca by e-bike and visit the main attractions of the town: see St. Martin Cathedral, St. Michele Church, Piazza Napoleone, and a part of the wall with your expert tour guide. Stop along the way to a renowned winery where you'll enjoy a glass of wine from the hills of Lucca and some savory treats. Next, stop at a famous bakery where you'll taste buccellato, a sweet bread with raisins and anise, and torta coi Becchi (a cake with chard, pine nuts, and raisins).
2. Medieval Lucca for Kids: 2-Hour Private Tour
Begin your guided 2-hour private tour at St. Martin Cathedral in the city center of Lucca. The intricacy of the design of the exterior of the cathedral will greet you, then enter to cathedral and allow for mythical animals and ancient legends to be unveiled as you explore. Your guide will explain the symbols seen and the intriguing legends and miracles associated with them. Throughout the tour, sketch the lions, dragons, mermaids, and griffons as seen on the facades of the churches and learn to read the façades of the tower houses that once belonged to the wealthy merchants of Lucca. Continue your tour with a visit to the Church of San Michele where you will find graffiti left inside and outside of the church by silk merchants. From the church, stroll through the medieval streets of Lucca and discover the subterranean area of the city, the walls of the city. After you will visit the historic Zecca, the oldest mint in Europe founded in 650 A.D, and learn how to mint a replica of the oldest European coin. Then finsih your tour with a well-earned gelato.
3. Lucca: Private Guided Walking Tour
Lucca, is a small jewel just north-west of Florence, which rises from the green of its neighboring valley as an almost intact testimony of the succession of centuries and domination. Its history is told above all by its form, by monuments, by streets and structures of every age that coexist in harmony. This classic itinerary was designed for those who come to visit the city of Lucca for the first time, or those who do not wish to dwell only on a historical period, but rather to have a global vision of the history of the city. Your tour includes a visit to the most significant monuments through which your guide will retrace all the historical and artistic phases. Among many other sites, you will visit the Church of St. Michael, a Roman-Catholic basilica with sublime details, built in 795.
4. Lucca: Guided City by Night Walking Tour
Uncover the charm of Lucca as it lights up for the night on this group guided walking tour. Discover Romanesque churches and grand palazzos. Follow your guide to find secret gems that only locals know. Meet your guide amid the medieval architecture in Piazza San Michele. Walk to the church of Roman Catholic basilica of San Michele which was built atop a Roman forum. Admire the massive sculptures and inlays of the church's façade when they are lit for the night. View the trees on the Torre Guinigi tower and stand in the center of the unique Amphitheater square. Look at the shinning golden mosaic on the façade of the basilica of San Frediano. Climb the Renaissance ramparts for a stunning view of the Cathedral of San Martino.
5. Lucca: City Highlights Walking Tour
Get an insider's view of Lucca's most historic neighborhoods on a group walking tour of the Amphitheater Square, the Palazzo Pfanner, the Piazza San Martino. Begin your urban walking adventure by meeting your guide at the Saint Maria Gate, where you'll hear straight to the Amphitheater Square. Learn how it was built on the ruins of a Roman arena, giving it its iconic ovular shape. Next, head towards the Palazzo Pfanner, a stunning palace with Baroque style architecture and opulent gardens. The historic city of Lucca is made of fortress style architecture from the 16th and 17th centuries. Unlike most cities, Lucca is a peaceful and slow-paced place, which you'll notice on your relaxed walking tour. Then, continue your journey down the main shopping street of Via Fillungo, where you can grab a bite to eat and do a little shopping, before walking to the Piazza San Martino — home to several important monuments, including the Lucca Cathedral, built in 1070. Carry on towards the Teatro del Giglio, which is the historic city theater and opera house. Finally, walk along the walls in front of the Porta San Pietro, and enjoy panoramic views overlooking the picturesque city.
6. From Florence: Pisa and Lucca Full-Day Private Tour
Discover the cities of Pisa and Lucca, as you travel on a total freedom tour to Western Tuscany. Start at Piazza dei Miracoli and see the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the Monumental Graveyard and the iconic Leaning Tower. Take your time to enjoy the stunning sights, have a stroll around the city and do some shopping, if you want, as your chauffeur will be happy to meet you anytime, at any place. Continue to Lucca, and appreciate its 16th century intact walls. Visit its famous Piazza dell'Anfiteatro, Via Fillungo, filled with unique shops, restaurants and neighborhood people. See the Guinigi Tower with its roof garden, the Clock Tower and St. Martin's Cathedral. Take a relaxing walk along the city walls and enjoy wonderful views over the city and its rooftops. Your chauffeur will remain at your disposal for the entire day. End with a drive back to your accommodation in Florence.
Top Attractions in Lucca
1 Forte dei Marmi
2 Church of San Michele in Foro
3 Lucca Cathedral
4 Italian Mint Musem
5 Walls of Lucca, Italy
Things to Do in Lucca
1 Lucca Walking Tours
2 Lucca Wine Tasting & Winery Tours
3 Lucca Day Trips
4 Lucca Bike Tours
5 Lucca Tours
6 Lucca Local Food
7 Lucca Concerts & Operas
8 Lucca Bus & Minivan Tours
9 Lucca Summer
10 Lucca Activities
11 Lucca Dinner Package
12 Lucca Cooking Classes
13 Lucca Day Trips From
14 Lucca Tickets
15 Lucca Bikes
16 Lucca Food & Gourmet Tours
17 Lucca Family-friendly Activities
18 Lucca Transportation
19 Lucca Culinary & Nightlife
20 Lucca Cruises & Boat Tours
Other Sightseeing Options in Lucca Cathedral
Want to discover all there is to do in Lucca Cathedral? Click here for a full list.
What people are saying about Lucca Cathedral
Excellent tour, ideal for those who want to discover the beauties of Lucca and also know the history of the city with a fully customized tour, which can be adapted to individual needs. Obviously higher price than a normal group tour.
Lucca: Private Guided Walking Tour Reviewed by Simone, 12/28/2019
The tour was great !! Many thanks. We enjoyed it very much, not just the kids.
Medieval Lucca for Kids: 2-Hour Private Tour Reviewed by Christine, 8/22/2020
Province of Lucca


text:
High diesel prices cause loss of independent truckers, raise price of goods
By Tyler Fedor | Nov 29, 2022
(Graphic and photos by Tyler Fedor)
Marcelano Gonzalez has been an independent trucker for more than 20 years. However, as diesel prices rise and begin to take larger chunks out of the earnings of truckers, Gonzalez said he intends to sell his truck and trailer. He'll instead go work for a company that can help pay for the diesel.
"I see many people already take loans," Gonzalez said while at a gas station outside of Columbia on I-77. "They don't make enough money to pay for their diesel."
He's not alone. As diesel fuel costs rise above $5 per gallon in South Carolina, independent truckers coming through Columbia have said they've lost earnings and have even given up being a lone trucker, while fleet owners said they're eating the cost.
Diesel fuel has cost $5.25 on average so far this November, compared to $5.57 six months ago, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Last year, it was $3.72.
Prices have risen to this level for two main reasons, according to Joey Von Nessen, a research economist at the University of South Carolina. The first is the war between Russia and Ukraine. Russia is a major fuel exporter – the exports have been halted since the war began. The second is the remaining effects of the COVID-19 shutdown two years ago.
Von Nessen said it's inaccurate to call the situation a "resource" shortage. Instead, the diesel itself is getting held up in the supply chain.
"If we look at the additional supply chain constraints, due to energy, the limited ability to import energy from overseas, that exacerbates it as well," Von Nessen said.
Regardless of the reason, the high cost of diesel can increase the cost of most everything else.
"The lifeblood of the U.S. economy comes from the logistics industry," Von Nessen said.
For example, Amazon established a 5% "fuel and inflation surcharge" in April for sellers that use Amazon to ship their goods. Often, the cost is pushed on to consumers, raising the prices of goods, such as holiday gifts.
Also, the increase in demand for consumer goods since the COVID-19 shutdown has strained America's refineries — the factories that turn oil into gas.
The United States hasn't opened a new refinery since 1977, according to Rick Todd, president and CEO of the S.C. Trucking Association. Since the country has opened back up after the worst of COVID, there has been a "quadruple" increase in demand for diesel fuel since the pandemic, he said.
"The refineries we do have and that are still in service are running at max capacity," Todd said.
Truckers who work for themselves usually pay for the diesel out of their own pocket.
For Matt Cudanin, who became an independent trucker last year because of the potential for high paychecks, said the current diesel prices can take up to half his earnings. In June 2021, a gallon of diesel cost an average of $3.29 per gallon.
"Oh, I'm not happy about it," Cudanin said. "Obviously, when you go from $450 to $500 filling up to $800, that's a big, big jump when you're filling up three to four times a week."
What's more, the higher gas prices have made it harder for independent truckers such as Cudanin to negotiate hauling rates with industry brokers.
Cudanin said he has taken fewer long-distance jobs since his income squeeze, preferring to stay in the Southeast.
"It's not really worth spending a lot of money," Cudanin said.
Stephen Ard, owner of the Columbia-based Ard's Trucking, secures jobs for his drivers and sets their hourly pay. He said he feels comfortable his fleet and truckers can survive the rise in prices.
He said he raised the hourly rate his truckers get from $85 to $95 earlier this year, and may raise it to $100 in April.
But another problem fleet owners face is timing. Sometimes, trucking companies don't get paid immediately by their clients, so they must take out loans to cover high gas prices. Todd said the wait on pay can be troublesome for smaller fleets needing to pay for diesel that then have to rely on good credit to purchase diesel in bulk.
"That's a real cash load balancing act for a small, marginal fleet," Todd said. "Any business cash flow is what you have to have to keep the business running."
Gonzalez said in his final days of trucking for himself, he's still having to limit what jobs he takes depending on the pay as he deals with rising expenses of not just diesel, but all other goods.
"So you don't pay me enough. I don't move it at all," Gonzalez said.
A row of trucks fill the lot at the Love's gas station on Bluff Road to fill up on diesel.
The South Carolina Trucking Association headquarters is on Devine Street.
A poster advertising Ard's Trucking Services in Columbia at its location in the Columbia Industrial Park.
The busy Love's gas station attracts long-distance haulers because it's near Interstate 77.
PreviousLocals get excited about the World Cup at watch parties
NextRecalled toys still sending children to hospitals, Trouble in Toyland report says
Tyler Fedor
Fedor is a senior journalism student at the University of South Carolina from Key West, Florida, and misses the island dearly. His work covering the Columbia Mall shooting earlier this year appeared in The New York Times. He is the managing editor of the student-run Daily Gamecock. He also covered the controversial presidency of Bob Caslen at USC. If he's not in South Carolina, he's most likely down in the islands, where he freelances for the local paper.
https://twitter.com/USCCarolinaNews
https://www.facebook.com/USC-Carolina-News-Reporter-1877657275836813/

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Heroin ODs land Appleton man 5 years in prison
Alison Dirr
APPLETON - A 22-year-old man will spend five years in prison for his role in a series of heroin overdoses, a judge ruled Tuesday.
Dewayne J. Farris of Appleton was convicted in Outagamie County court on two counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety as a party to a crime and two counts of manufacturing or delivering heroin, according to court records. He was also ordered to serve five years of extended supervision and four years of probation.
Farris was charged in connection with three heroin overdoses. When one woman overdosed, it took four shots of Narcan to revive her, according to the criminal complaint. The man who revived her then used the same heroin and became unresponsive. The woman called police because there was no more Narcan.
Later in the day, police were sent to a pharmacy in Appleton for a report of an overdose. When the woman was revived, she gave police Farris' phone number, which she said she had used to get the heroin, according to the complaint.
Alison Dirr: 920-996-7266 or adirr@gannett.com; on Twitter @AlisonDirr


I seem to remember that the default was the standard player and I would have needed to select the enhanced player but the standard player "is plenty good enough for me" as well.
Further to these comments I have decided to take my 2010 macbook pro to where I can get wifi away from my property to see if the problem still occurs there. I suppose if it does the problem lies firmly with the laptop.
That'll be an interesting experiment but I don't agree with your conclusion. I'd say if the problem goes away with someone else's wifi, then it's either your HomeHub or the quality of your internet. If it stays the same then it's not that - that's all you can deduce. There may still be an issue with the Enhanced Player on your Mac. I have no idea how the enhanced player works, but I would at least hope that it would degrade gracefully if it couldn't cope e.g. I'd be happy if it degraded to SD rather than displaying one frame every couple of seconds. Either that or BT need to specify minimum system requirements for a pc/mac.
My internet is ok well over 33 mbps download although upload is below the average for around here. Iplayer, SkyGo, etc are ok no problems viewing, Mobile and Tablet both play BT sport ok. I can't see that it is the router as everything else works perfectly. Anyway I'll wait and see what happens using a different wifi. Incidentally does anyone know how to select the unenhanced version?
My internet's fine too - Infinity 1, over 60Mbps, so it's unlikely to be that. I don't doubt that my laptop is underpowered but what bugs me is that most streaming technologies delivering live video are rate adaptive, so they should degrade gracefully. The enhanced player degrades but it's not graceful in the slightest - it degrades to a sequence of still images. I'm quite happy to use the un-enhanced player - will look for a link next time it defaults to the enhanced player.
Hi, having started this thread it is good to know I am not alone in having this issue. Yesterday a BT sent me a new router as the one I had was pretty old. It looks great but has not fixed the issue with the sport. I have spoken twice to the BT Support and they are pinning the blame on my computer. It is a 27'' imac running High Sierra. It is a 2009 model so admittedly it is not that new but my feeling is it should still be able to deliver a smooth stream even if not at the highest resoloution. My work comuter is the same model but 2012 annd it is fine. Like one of the other posters to this thread I am seeing that the pre-recorded content seems to play fine it is only the live channels that buffer. The interface of the video player that delivers the pre-recorded content looks different and I am curious to know if there is any way the "pre-recorded" player can be used to view the live streams. I would like to see if this makes a difference to the quality.
I have been pretty insistent on trying to get this resolved and I have a call sheduled for later with a more senior member of the support team so I will let you know if that achieves any progress.
Excellent. I'm of the same opinion as you - either BT need to say "your machine can't support this" (which would be a poor choice) or it needs to degrade garacefully by reducing the resolution or not supporting the extra live content things (like multicam replays and stuff). Good to hear that you're speaking to someone more senior at BT - although I suspect for a real in-depth answer/solution, someone would need to speak to deltatre, who supply the Diva platform. Not sure if I can post a URL, but it's deltatre dot com.
Interesting, it seems the pre-recorded video is delivered using a viewer made by Brightcove. How did you find out about deltare?


text:
Q: Bit- manipulation I'm implementing a JPEG-Decoder and in one step I need to determine the sign of a value from a given number of bits (positive if 1th bit = 1).
When the 1th bit is 0 then I have to get the two's complement from this value and additionaly add 1 to result.
I've have the following function to do this job:
#include <stdio.h>      /* printf */
#include <string.h>     /* strcat */
#include <stdlib.h>     /* strtol */

typedef int bool;
#define true 1
#define false 0

int DetermineSign(int val, int nBits)
{
    bool negative = val < (1<<(nBits-1));

    if (negative)
    {
        // (-1 << (s)), makes the last bit a 1, so we have 1000,0000 for example for 8 bits

        val = val + (-1 << (nBits)) + 1;
    }

    // Else its unsigned, just return
    return val;
}

Could anyone explain please what does this expression (-1 << (nBits)) do and how it works?
I know there is a comment from author to explain it, but I also tested it with the following function and it returns another result.
const char *byte_to_binary(int x)
{
    static char b[9];
    b[0] = '\0';

    int z;
    for (z = 128; z > 0; z >>= 1)
    {
        strcat(b, ((x & z) == z) ? "1" : "0");
    }

    return b;
}

int main(void)
{
    char testValue = 0;

    testValue = (-1 <<(testValue));

    printf("%s\n", byte_to_binary(testValue)); // output 1111 1111 doesn't it has to be 1000 000?

    return 0;
}

Thank you!

A: It replaces the right-most (least significant) ones with zeros:

*

*-1 << 0 == 0xFFFFFFFF

*-1 << 1 == 0xFFFFFFFE

*-1 << 2 == 0xFFFFFFFC

*-1 << 3 == 0xFFFFFFF8

*-1 << 4 == 0xFFFFFFF0

*...

A: What (-1 << (nBits))  does is that the left operands value(-1) is moved left by the number of bits specified by the right operand (nBits). In decimal representation the  expression x<<y  equals to multiplying x by 2 y times,for example:
x=2,y=3 ,after x<<y x equals to 16.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
nytimes.com Go back Open original
Tech C.E.O.s Are in Love With Their Principal Doomsayer
By Nellie Bowles
Yuval Noah Harari in Beverly Hills in September.CreditCreditEmily Berl for The New York Times
The futurist philosopher Yuval Noah Harari thinks Silicon Valley is an engine of dystopian ruin. So why do the digital elite adore him so?
The futurist philosopher Yuval Noah Harari worries about a lot.
He worries that Silicon Valley is undermining democracy and ushering in a dystopian hellscape in which voting is obsolete.
He worries that by creating powerful influence machines to control billions of minds, the big tech companies are destroying the idea of a sovereign individual with free will.
He worries that because the technological revolution's work requires so few laborers, Silicon Valley is creating a tiny ruling class and a teeming, furious "useless class."
But lately, Mr. Harari is anxious about something much more personal. If this is his harrowing warning, then why do Silicon Valley C.E.O.s love him so?
"One possibility is that my message is not threatening to them, and so they embrace it?" a puzzled Mr. Harari said one afternoon in October. "For me, that's more worrying. Maybe I'm missing something?"
When Mr. Harari toured the Bay Area this fall to promote his latest book, the reception was incongruously joyful. Reed Hastings, the chief executive of Netflix, threw him a dinner party. The leaders of X, Alphabet's secretive research division, invited Mr. Harari over. Bill Gates reviewed the book ("Fascinating" and "such a stimulating writer") in The New York Times.
"I'm interested in how Silicon Valley can be so infatuated with Yuval, which they are — it's insane he's so popular, they're all inviting him to campus — yet what Yuval is saying undermines the premise of the advertising- and engagement-based model of their products," said Tristan Harris, Google's former in-house design ethicist and the co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology.
Part of the reason might be that Silicon Valley, at a certain level, is not optimistic on the future of democracy. The more of a mess Washington becomes, the more interested the tech world is in creating something else, and it might not look like elected representation. Rank-and-file coders have long been wary of regulation and curious about alternative forms of government. A separatist streak runs through the place: Venture capitalists periodically call for California to secede or shatter, or for the creation of corporate nation-states. And this summer, Mark Zuckerberg, who has recommended Mr. Harari to his book club, acknowledged a fixation with the autocrat Caesar Augustus. "Basically," Mr. Zuckerberg told The New Yorker, "through a really harsh approach, he established 200 years of world peace."
Mr. Harari, thinking about all this, puts it this way: "Utopia and dystopia depends on your values."
Mr. Harari, who has a Ph.D. from Oxford, is a 42-year-old Israeli philosopher and a history professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The story of his current fame begins in 2011, when he published a book of notable ambition: to survey the whole of human existence. "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind," first released in Hebrew, did not break new ground in terms of historical research. Nor did its premise — that humans are animals and our dominance is an accident — seem a likely commercial hit. But the casual tone and smooth way Mr. Harari tied together existing knowledge across fields made it a deeply pleasing read, even as the tome ended on the notion that the process of human evolution might be over. Translated into English in 2014, the book went on to sell more than eight million copies and made Mr. Harari a celebrity intellectual.
He followed up with "Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow," which outlined his vision of what comes after human evolution. In it, he describes Dataism, a new faith based around the power of algorithms. Mr. Harari's future is one in which big data is worshiped, artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, and some humans develop Godlike abilities.
Now, he has written a book about the present and how it could lead to that future: "21 Lessons for the 21st Century." It is meant to be read as a series of warnings. His recent TED Talk was called "Why fascism is so tempting — and how your data could power it."
His prophecies might have made him a Cassandra in Silicon Valley, or at the very least an unwelcome presence. Instead, he has had to reconcile himself to the locals' strange delight. "If you make people start thinking far more deeply and seriously about these issues," he told me, sounding weary, "some of the things they will think about might not be what you want them to think about."
Mr. Harari agreed to let me tag along for a few days on his travels through the Valley, and one afternoon in September, I waited for him outside X's offices, in Mountain View, while he spoke to the Alphabet employees inside. After a while, he emerged: a shy, thin, bespectacled man with a dusting of dark hair. Mr. Harari has a sort of owlish demeanor, in that he looks wise and also does not move his body very much, even while glancing to the side. His face is not particularly expressive, with the exception of one rogue eyebrow. When you catch his eye, there is a wary look — like he wants to know if you, too, understand exactly how bad the world is about to get.
At the Alphabet talk, Mr. Harari had been accompanied by his publisher. They said that the younger employees had expressed concern about whether their work was contributing to a less free society, while the executives generally thought their impact was positive.
Some workers had tried to predict how well humans would adapt to large technological change based on how they have responded to small shifts, like a new version of Gmail. Mr. Harari told them to think more starkly: If there isn't a major policy intervention, most humans probably will not adapt at all.
It made him sad, he told me, to see people build things that destroy their own societies, but he works every day to maintain an academic distance and remind himself that humans are just animals. "Part of it is really coming from seeing humans as apes, that this is how they behave," he said, adding, "They're chimpanzees. They're sapiens. This is what they do."
He was slouching a little. Socializing exhausts him.
As we boarded the black gull-wing Tesla Mr. Harari had rented for his visit, he brought up Aldous Huxley. Generations have been horrified by his novel "Brave New World," which depicts a regime of emotion control and painless consumption. Readers who encounter the book today, Mr. Harari said, often think it sounds great. "Everything is so nice, and in that way it is an intellectually disturbing book because you're really hard-pressed to explain what's wrong with it," he said. "And you do get today a vision coming out of some people in Silicon Valley which goes in that direction."
An Alphabet media relations manager later reached out to Mr. Harari's team to tell him to tell me that the visit to X was not allowed to be part of this story. The request confused and then amused Mr. Harari. It is interesting, he said, that unlike politicians, tech companies do not need a free press, since they already control the means of message distribution.
He said he had resigned himself to tech executives' global reign, pointing out how much worse the politicians are. "I've met a number of these high-tech giants, and generally they're good people," he said. "They're not Attila the Hun. In the lottery of human leaders, you could get far worse."
Some of his tech fans, he thinks, come to him out of anxiety. "Some may be very frightened of the impact of what they are doing," Mr. Harari said.
Still, their enthusiastic embrace of his work makes him uncomfortable. "It's just a rule of thumb in history that if you are so much coddled by the elites it must mean that you don't want to frighten them," Mr. Harari said. "They can absorb you. You can become the intellectual entertainment."
C.E.O. testimonials to Mr. Harari's acumen are indeed not hard to come by. "I'm drawn to Yuval for his clarity of thought," Jack Dorsey, the head of Twitter and Square, wrote in an email, going on to praise a particular chapter on meditation.
And Mr. Hastings wrote: "Yuval's the anti-Silicon Valley persona — he doesn't carry a phone and he spends a lot of time contemplating while off the grid. We see in him who we wish we were." He added, "His thinking on A.I. and biotech in his new book pushes our understanding of the dramas to unfold."
At the dinner Mr. Hastings co-hosted, academics and industry leaders debated the dangers of data collection, and to what degree longevity therapies will extend the human life span. (Mr. Harari has written that the ruling class will vastly outlive the useless.) "That evening was small, but could be magnified to symbolize his impact in the heart of Silicon Valley," said Dr. Fei-Fei Li, an artificial intelligence expert who pushed internally at Google to keep secret the company's efforts to process military drone footage for the Pentagon. "His book has that ability to bring these people together at a table, and that is his contribution."
A few nights earlier, Mr. Harari spoke to a sold-out theater of 3,500 in San Francisco. One ticket-holder walking in, an older man, told me it was brave and honest for Mr. Harari to use the term "useless class."
The author was paired for discussion with the prolific intellectual Sam Harris, who strode onstage in a gray suit and well-starched white button-down. Mr. Harari was less at ease, in a loose suit that crumpled around him, his hands clasped in his lap as he sat deep in his chair. But as he spoke about meditation — Mr. Harari spends two hours each day and two months each year in silence — he became commanding. In a region where self-optimization is paramount and meditation is a competitive sport, Mr. Harari's devotion confers hero status.
He told the audience that free will is an illusion, and that human rights are just a story we tell ourselves. Political parties, he said, might not make sense anymore. He went on to argue that the liberal world order has relied on fictions like "the customer is always right" and "follow your heart," and that these ideas no longer work in the age of artificial intelligence, when hearts can be manipulated at scale.
Everyone in Silicon Valley is focused on building the future, Mr. Harari continued, while most of the world's people are not even needed enough to be exploited. "Now you increasingly feel that there are all these elites that just don't need me," he said. "And it's much worse to be irrelevant than to be exploited."
The useless class he describes is uniquely vulnerable. "If a century ago you mounted a revolution against exploitation, you knew that when bad comes to worse, they can't shoot all of us because they need us," he said, citing army service and factory work.
Now it is becoming less clear why the ruling elite would not just kill the new useless class. "You're totally expendable," he told the audience.
This, Mr. Harari told me later, is why Silicon Valley is so excited about the concept of universal basic income, or stipends paid to people regardless of whether they work. The message is: "We don't need you. But we are nice, so we'll take care of you."
On Sept. 14, he published an essay in The Guardian assailing another old trope — that "the voter knows best."
"If humans are hackable animals, and if our choices and opinions don't reflect our free will, what should the point of politics be?" he wrote. "How do you live when you realize … that your heart might be a government agent, that your amygdala might be working for Putin, and that the next thought that emerges in your mind might well be the result of some algorithm that knows you better than you know yourself? These are the most interesting questions humanity now faces."
Mr. Harari and his husband, Itzik Yahav, who is also his manager, rented a small house in Mountain View for their visit, and one morning I found them there making oatmeal. Mr. Harari observed that as his celebrity in Silicon Valley has risen, tech fans have focused on his lifestyle.
"Silicon Valley was already kind of a hotbed for meditation and yoga and all these things," he said. "And one of the things that made me kind of more popular and palatable is that I also have this bedrock." He was wearing an old sweatshirt and denim track pants. His voice was quiet, but he gestured widely, waving his hands, hitting a jar of spatulas.
Mr. Harari grew up in Kiryat Ata, near Haifa, and his father worked in the arms industry. His mother, who worked in office administration, now volunteers for her son handling his mail; he gets about 1,000 messages a week. Mr. Yahav's mother is their accountant.
Most days, Mr. Harari doesn't use an alarm clock, and wakes up between 6:30 and 8:30 a.m., then meditates and has a cup of tea. He works until 4 or 5 p.m., then does another hour of meditation, followed by an hourlong walk, maybe a swim, and then TV with Mr. Yahav.
The two met 16 years ago through the dating site Check Me Out. "We are not big believers in falling in love," Mr. Harari said. "It was more a rational choice."
"We met each other and we thought, 'O.K., we're — O.K., let's move in with each other,'" Mr. Yahav said.
Mr. Yahav became Mr. Harari's manager. During the period when English-language publishers were cool on the commercial viability of "Sapiens" — thinking it too serious for the average reader and not serious enough for the scholars — Mr. Yahav persisted, eventually landing the Jerusalem-based agent Deborah Harris. One day when Mr. Harari was away meditating, Mr. Yahav and Ms. Harris finally sold it at auction to Random House in London.
Today, they have a team of eight based in Tel Aviv working on Mr. Harari's projects. The director Ridley Scott and documentarian Asif Kapadia are adapting "Sapiens" into a TV show, and Mr. Harari is working on children's books to reach a broader audience.
Mr. Yahav used to meditate, but has recently stopped. "It was too hectic," he said while folding laundry. "I couldn't get this kind of huge success and a regular practice." Mr. Harari remains dedicated.
"If it were only up to him, he would be a monk in a cave, writing things and never getting his hair cut," Mr. Yahav said, looking at his husband. "Can I tell that story?"
Mr. Harari said no.
"On our first meeting," Mr. Yahav said, "he had cut his hair by himself. And it was a very bad job."
The couple are vegan, and Mr. Harari is particularly sensitive to animals. He identified the sweatshirt he was wearing as one he got just before one of his dogs died. Mr. Yahav cut in to ask if he could tell another story; Mr. Harari seemed to know exactly what he meant, and said absolutely not.
"In the middle of the night," Mr. Yahav said, "when there is a mosquito, he will catch him and take him out."
Being gay, Mr. Harari said, has helped his work — it set him apart to study culture more clearly because it made him question the dominant stories of his own conservative Jewish society. "If society got this thing wrong, who guarantees it didn't get everything else wrong as well?" he said.
"If I was a superhuman, my superpower would be detachment," Mr. Harari added. "O.K., so maybe humankind is going to disappear — O.K., let's just observe."
For fun, the couple watches TV. It is their primary hobby and topic of conversation, and Mr. Yahav said it was the only thing from which Mr. Harari is not detached.
They just finished "Dear White People," and they loved the Australian series "Please Like Me." That night, they had plans to either meet Facebook executives at company headquarters or watch the YouTube show "Cobra Kai."
Mr. Harari left Silicon Valley the next weekend. Soon, in December, he will enter an ashram outside Mumbai for another 60 days of silence.
Nellie Bowles covers tech and internet culture. Follow her on Twitter: @nelliebowles


Looking to buy patchwork fabric online? Check out our custom line of 100% cotton patchwork fabric. Nearly 20 different designs to choose from. We can often ship our patchwork fabric same-day! Our color offering include greens, reds, blue, orange, pinks and more! All of our patchwork fabrics are 45″ wide.


Mackie first reflects back on his latest number one movie Real Steel and what Hugh Jackman is like.
Whether it was his Broadway role, last year, in A Behanding in Spokane, a recent independent movie role that received buzz in Night Catches Usor being a soldier in Iraq in The Hurt Locker, it seems Anthony is doing it all. He explains how he has been able to work so well in various genres.
Mackie's dream role is to play Jesse Owens.


text:
Q: Java generics: parametricise a generic type Good Morning, I am working on some java code and i would like to make something like that:
public class MyClass <E, T extends MyInterface<T<E>>> { }

In this way, T should  be both a generic and an instance of a class which implements MyInterface and should be parametric of the type E. But it seems it is not possible in Java, or maybe my approach to the problem is wrong. Thanks in advance.
Update:
First of all thanks to all who replied, now just to make things clear and let You understand what I am trying to achieve, I would like to make a generic container of generic TDAs.
So let's say we need a container of Stacks based on Integers, then I would need to write something like that: MyContainer, of course i need to keep types separated for the insertion part, otherwise i could write MyContainer>. Moreover since all my TDAs implements MyInterface, I would like to set this as bound as well.
So i guess public class MyContainer < E, T extends MyInterface < E>>  should do the trick.

A: This doesn't make sense.
public class MyClass <E, T extends MyInterface<T<E>>> { }

Because of the right-most T. Why would you want to parameterise a class with itself? I think what you really mean is this:
public MyClass<E, T extends MyInterface<E>>

Which essentially means that for every MyClass, you need an E, and a T MyInterface instance which is in turn parameterised to work with E.
I've found beginners can get very carried away with generics, which can result in code which is completely unreadable. Use generics sparingly, and think about whether you really need them in each given instance. If you are finding yourself writing code with multiple levels of nested generics parameterisation, then you're probably doing something wrong in terms of design.

A: Basically you are trying to do something like this:
class MyClass<T<E>> // T has to be a generic class

or this:
class MyClass<T<Integer>> // T has to be a generic with Integer as parameter

You cannot and shouldnt have to do it, because it's meangingless. It doesn't tell you anything usefull about T. You could use any class as T like this:
DummyClass<T> extends Anything {};
MyClass<DummyClass<Integer>> myClass;

A: Seems like it should be
public class MyClass <E, T extends MyInterface<E>> { }

Having public class MyClass <E, T extends MyInterface<T<E>>> { }
means that T
should be MyInterface<MyInterface<E>> which doesn't seem likely.
EDIT:
So if you need MyInterface<Class1<Class2>> it seems like it should be something like this:
public class MyClass <A, B extends SomeClass<A>, C extends MyInterface<B> { }

or
public class MyClass <E, T extends MyInterface<SomeOtherClass<E>>> { }

A: I'm not sure if that's what you want, butI think it could just be
MyClass<E, T extends MyInterface<E>>

T<E> doesn't make much sense to me.


I shared multiple posts from Bucharest along the years, however it's unmissable that I only showed a bit as I have always focused on spending time with friends and family. That's always a priority, but this time I really tried to reveal a bit more of Bucharest, not just the same locations as I've done in the past. Bucharest is my home city for anyone new here and is filled with charming restaurants and buildings. Bucharest, once known as "little Paris", is the capital city of Romania. The nickname was given because of the dashing architecture and sophisticated elite. Though during the Communism a lot of socialist-style buildings were constructed, Bucharest kept part of its vibrancy and elegance.
We're going to start our little visual journey in the old town, which started as a artisans and merchants district. Now the narrow streets are packed with restaurants and pubs making for a quirky summer city destination for nights out in Bucharest. The Old Town isn't only famous for the nightlife, it's also filled with historical and cultural attractions. You can clearly see how the the second world war, earthquakes and the communist time have affected the old town, but there's also beauty in the captivating streets. One of my favorite places is the Carousel of Light and shoutout to everyone remembering me raving about the Carousel of Light 3 years ago. This bookshop is so special and I always bring everyone to see it and recommend it wholeheartedly.
Looks like a lovely place just like you.
Beautiful place and you as well!
You discover a great place in Romania.Great photos!
I like the style of your dress!
Beautiful post and also the places are nice.


There are scenarios that require customizing the configuration of a Payara Micro instance beyond what the available options can do.
On these cases, it's possible to execute administration commands on a running Payara Micro instance directly to alter its configuration.
Send the administration commands from a Payara Server's DAS.
Using the Payara Micro API on bootstrapped instances.
Prepare scripts with administration commands that are executed either before or after the instance bootstraps itself.


For the Mayors Challenge, a 2,800 square foot heated area with access to power will be provided. We will have (24) waxing spaces in the Cart Barn (maintenance road between Wirth Chalet and the Trailhead). Twenty-two (22) of these spaces will be available to teams for entire event by reservation and (2) spaces will be on a first come first serve basis. Super Tour, Collegiate and Junior teams can request a waxing space at the following link https://www.tempotickets.com/event/ld6nYJ. We ask all users to be considerate of others while using the facility. Please provide your own equipment, including a tarp or other floor covering material and clean the area prior to leaving.
Building will be open during the waxing hours listed below and will be locked overnight.
Waxing is not permitted inside or around the Trailhead building.
Wax testing area is limited to the Twin Lakes Trail and the Green Meadow Loop. See map.
Wax testing will be allowed in the wax testing area for athletes and coaches during and between races.
Warm-up is available on the Twin Lakes Trail and the Green Meadow Loop and on the trails across the street.


Black Vinyl Coated Chain Link Pool Safety Fence 4 Feet High[.Online Service] 4 Foot Fence Sears. . wood fence panels 4 feet high - WPC Decking,China Wood .
Our range of wooden 4ft fence panels . Garden Fences ; 4ft Fence . ? The treatment has been forced into the timber at high pressure giving a longer .
wood fence panels 4 feet high . 4 ft wood fence panels Wood Fencing Fencing The Seventrust. $59.97 / each. 6 ft. x 6 ft. Pressure . 4 ft fence wood panels .
Buy garden fencing at Wilko. Browse great deals on a wide range of garden fence . Whether it's screen panelling you're after or traditional wooden fence panels, .
Wood Fencing - Fencing - The Seven Trust. Western Red Cedar French Gothic Fence Picket . How To Build And Hang A Small Gate For A 4-Foot High Fence. Nov 18, 2011 .
Wood Fence Panels - Wood Fencing . Each section is 4' high x . 7 rolls of 4 feet high snow fence . Wood Fences From Hoover Fence Co. . 4-ft high Spruce .
Vinyl Fence 4 Foot High Classic Picket Vinyl Fence ,Panel Sections 6 Feet Wide 1 3/8 x 1 3/8 Pickets: , Posts: For 4 foot high fence, most people order posts 6 feet .
wooden fence gate 4 feet. Wood Fencing . Find Cedar Flat-Top Wood Fence Gate (Common: 6-ft x 4-ft; . How To Build And Hang A Small Gate For A 4-Foot High Fence.
Wood Fencing Calculator. . a 100-foot fence that is 4 feet high, . need before you can install your new fence: type of lumber. Typical wood fences last up .
Products Case. wood garden fence 2 feet high - outdoor floor Manufacturer. 20 FT NEW CEDAR WOOD FENCE DECORATIVE GARDEN FENCING NEARLY 2 Find best value and selection .
4' X 50' WOOD SNOW FENCE. . Fabric Mesh Netting Windscreen for Outdoor 4 ft Fencing Black. by . Peeled and Polished Reed Fence, 4-Foot High by 8-Foot Long. by .
Fencing; Fence Panels; Fence Posts; Trellis & Screenings; . Wood & Fence Preservers; . 6 ft x 4 ft 6 ft x 5 ft 6 ft x 6 ft .
Products Case. 4 feet high wooden fences and gates - Composite Wood Deck. 4 Foot High Wood Private Fences Midwest Fence. View examples of 4 foot high wood privage .
4ft High Fence Panels. . This fence panel is 4' 0" . This Feather Edge Wooden Fencing Panel offers the perfect blend of security and build quality.
4ft High Lap Fence Panel: . straight lines of the Lap Fence Panel 4' are just some of the . For all fencing and decking orders we offer FREE delivery .
4 Foot High Wood Privacy Fences Four-foot-high wood privacy fences provide enclosure for your property, keeping pets and children from wandering away while ensuring .
wood fence panels 4 feet high - Wood plastic composite .
4 FT WOODEN PRIVACY FENCE Decorative Fencing. Wood Fence Panels all over the United States for Fence This is the gate for the 4 Foot High Dog Ear Spaced Semi .
4 foot high horizontal wood fence . 4 foot high horizontal wood fence sections - Wood plastic floor How to Build a Six Foot Wood Fence. A tall wooden fence, also .
Strong pressure treated picket fencing supplies. Round top or pointed top picket panels at 3ft or 4ft high or build your own picket fence . Wooden Picket Fencing .
wood fence panels 4 feet high. Pine Stockade Pressure Treated Wood Fence Panel (Common: 4-ft , Find Pine Stockade Pressure Treated Wood Fence Panel (Common: 4-ft x 8 .
Wood Fencing Calculator. Wood . how much lumber you need for your new wood fence, keep the following fencing basics . a 100-foot fence that is 4 feet high, .
4 Foot High Wood Fencing submited images Pic2Fly Find images on 4 Foot High Wood Fencing . 4 feet wood fence panels Living Room Furniture .
Wooden 4,1-6ft Height Fence Panels; . 6ft x 5ft Feathered Edge Wood Fence Panels, Heavy Duty Fencing . . made from high performance Wood Plastic Composite .


Where does your Jiaogulan come from? – We're here to help.
Jiaogulan is indigenous to Southern China but now grows throughout most of Asia. We grow ours in the foothills of Northern Thailand where we find that the clean air and good soil produces a superior sweeter tasting Jiaogulan.


By Herald Staff Report on Apr 12, 2019 at 5:33 p.m.
A letter sent Friday from North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott may have ended the tenure of UND President Mark Kennedy.
Hagerott on Friday sent a letter to Kennedy that congratulated him on being named the sole finalist for the presidency of the University of Colorado, and said he considers the news to be a "de facto notice" of Kennedy's resignation of his position at UND.
The letter was obtained by the Herald just prior to this edition being sent to press. UND spokeswoman Meloney Linder confirmed to the Herald that the letter from Hagerott is legitimate and that Kennedy did receive it Friday.
It was a cap to a hectic week of news at UND. Tuesday, the Herald reported on swirling rumors that Kennedy was considering leaving UND and would be offered a job in Colorado. Wednesday, that news was confirmed.
However, Kennedy is simply the sole finalist for the position, and the Colorado Board of Regents is spending up to two weeks to fully consider him for the job before voting final approval. During that time, Kennedy will visit Colorado and the four campuses that he could eventually oversee.
Linder, reached late in the day, would only confirm that the letter is legitimate and that Kennedy received it. She said neither she nor Kennedy had further comment.
As the Herald reported Tuesday that rumors circulated about Kennedy, he and the university declined to comment. Wednesday, after his selection as finalist was made official, he released a statement that said he had mixed feelings about the news.
Later in the day, the Herald asked Kennedy if his statement meant the presidency in Colorado was "a done deal." He responded that he should have clarified his statement.


We are investigating how variability in regional climate, freshwater inputs, disturbance, and perturbations affect the coastal Everglades ecosystem. Our long term research program will focus on testing the following central idea and hypotheses: Regional processes mediated by water flow control population and ecosystem level dynamics at any location within the coastal Everglades landscape. This phenomenon is best exemplified in the dynamics of an estuarine oligohaline zone where fresh water draining phosphorus-limited Everglades marshes mixes with water from the more nitrogen-limited coastal ocean.
Hypothesis 1: In nutrient-poor coastal systems, long-term changes in the quantity or quality of organic matter inputs will exert strong and direct controls on estuarine productivity, because inorganic nutrients are at such low levels.
Hypothesis 2: Interannual and long-term changes in freshwater flow controls the magnitude of nutrients and organic matter inputs to the estuarine zone, while ecological processes in the freshwater marsh and coastal ocean control the quality and characteristics of those inputs.
Hypothesis 3: Long-term changes in freshwater flow (primarily manifest through management and Everglades restoration) will interact with long-term changes in the climatic and disturbance (sea level rise, hurricanes, fires) regimes to modify ecological pattern and process across coastal landscapes.
We will be testing our hypotheses along freshwater to marine gradients in two Everglades drainage basins (Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough). We have observed a clear productivity peak in the low salinity zone of Shark River Slough (SRS) but not Taylor Slough (TS). This peak appears to be the result of low P, high N freshwater meeting higher P, lower N marine water. We will quantify nutrient regeneration from dissolved organic matter (DOM), and expect this to be a major contribution to this oligohaline productivity peak. We will also examine how this stimulus of the microbial loop affects consumer dynamics. This LTER will thus focus on how changes in freshwater flow and climatic variability control the relative roles that nutrients and organic matter play in regulating estuarine and coastal productivity.
The majority of Florida Coastal Everglades LTER sites are located in freshwater marsh, estuarine mangroves, seagrass estuary ecosystems in Everglades National Park. Everglades National Park covers approximately 4300 km² of south Florida and is part of the greater Everglades ecosystem which extends north to Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River. Our research focuses on understanding ecosystem processes along the two major drainage basins in Everglades National Park: Shark River Slough and Taylor Slough. We are particularly interested in the dynamics at the estuarine ecotone, where freshwater and estuarine wetlands meet. This ecotone is dynamic in the landscape in response to changing freshwater inflow (with Everglades restoration), sea level rise (climate change responses), and disturbance (particularly hurricanes and fire).
The Everglades itself is also quite young, having been formed in the last 5000 years during the Holocene climate stabilization, as the southern Florida peninsula became steadily wetter. Human influence on the Everglades became significant only about 100 years ago. At that time, there were fewer than 2000 non-native people living in south Florida, while today there are over 6 million. In the intervening century, humans have dramatically altered the south Florida landscape. The remaining Everglades is only about half the size that it was in 1900. Over 2500 km of canals and levees, and hundreds of water control structures have been built to compartmentalize, drain, and manage the remaining natural system. At the same time, 95% of the 6 million people living in south Florida get their drinking water from the shallow Biscayne aquifer, which is recharged in near real time by the Everglades. That the Everglades provides this critical ecosystem service is, surprisingly, not well known in south Florida. A primary focus of Everglades Restoration (a 20 year, $8 billion rehabilitation based on a state and federal partnership) is to return the remaining Everglades to a healthy and stable state so that it can continue to provide this, and many other, ecosystem services. The FCE LTER Program is very much involved in this environmental rehabilitation effort, and will play an increasingly important role in Everglades' science in the future.


text:
namespace TwitterBackup.Services.Exceptions
{
    public enum UserExceptionType
    {
        IsAlreadySaved
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
SEAforth 40C18 CPU ships. 40 cores, <9 mW per core at full speed.
IntellaSys has unveiled its SEAforth 40C18, a 40-core multicore processor designed for embedded wireless, portable, and distributed data processing applications. The SEAforth 40C18 is an array of 40 fully functional CPUs operating asynchronously, each of the cores a complete computer, with its own ROM, RAM, and interprocessor communication. Together they can deliver up to 26 billion operations per second.
With what IntellaSys claims is the smallest core size design (0.13 mm2), the SEAforth processor consumes 28 times less power while running 240 times faster than competing architectures. By creating a RAM and ROM on each core, individual cores run at the full native speed of the silicon instead of being throttled down to a slower external system clock frequency. The automatic synchronization feature between cores allows the processors to share the computing load by talking to each other to pass data, status signals and even code blocks. When individual CPUs are not active, they automatically shut down or sleep.
The processor will be offered with VentureForth, a Forth-based IDE that includes fully interactive programming, testing, and debugging facilities. VentureForth includes compilers for both Windows and Linux and a simulator for debugging, and contains low-level primitives as well as the high-level tools necessary to map programs across the array of cores in a SEAforth processor. The SEAforth 40C18 is capable of executing 80 percent of its VentureForth instructions in 1.38 nanoseconds while drawing 7mW of power or less per CPU.
http://www.ddj.com/hpc-high-performance-computing/210603583
http://www.intellasys.net/templates/trial/content/S40C18_DataSheet.pdf
der uber-nerd
In-memory B-trees - faster (and smaller) than binary trees.
I found John-Mark Gurney's B-tree via google search. It is well coded and full of clever ideas. The original version has small memory footprint, but it is not as fast as STL's red-black tree. I studied this source codes and think I should be able to further optimize it. In the end, I got my kbtree.h macro library. As you can see in my hash table benchmark, the modified version beats STL set while using even smaller memory than the original version. I think I am now at the position to say: at least for some applications, B-tree is a better ordered data structure than most of binary search trees.
The most attractive feature of B-tree is its small memory usage. A binary tree needs at least two pointers for each record, which amounts to 16N on a modern 64-bit systems. A B-tree only needs one pointer. Although in a B-tree each node may not be full, a sufficiently large B-tree should be at least 50% full by definition and in average around 75% full. On a 64-bit system, the extra memory is only 8N/0.75+K(1-1/0.75)=(10+0.3K)N, where K is the size of a key. In fact we can do even better as we do not need to allocate the null pointers in leaves. The practical memory overhead can be reduced to below (5+0.3K)N (in fact, as the majority of nodes in a B-tree are leaves, the factor 5 should be smaller in practice), far better than a binary search tree. On speed, no binary search tree with just two additional pointers can achieve the best performance. We usually need at least a pointer to the parent (AVL tree and standard red-black tree) or a random number (treap) to get good performance. B-tree is different. It is even faster than the standard red-black tree while still using (5+0.3K)N extra memory! People should definitely pay more attention to B-tree.
The modified B-tree is available here as a single C header file. Example is here. Currently, the APIs are not very friendly but are ready to use. In case you want to give a try. Note that you must make sure the key is absent in the tree before kb_put() and make sure the key is present in the tree before calling kb_del().


The Ministry of Education distributed a number of plants to staff today in an effort to encourage them to cultivate same at home or within their communities. The distribution took place at the Ministry of Education's 21 Brickdam Office and was coordinated by Principal Assistant Secretary (General), Mr. Kapildeo Loknauth and Assistant Secretary (General), Ms. Patricia Stephen.
Among the variety of plants distributed were fruit trees such as lime, tangerine and gooseberry. The initiative came about from a request by the Ministry of Agriculture for the Education Ministry to participate in its Tree Planting initiative to mark Agriculture Month 2018 and National Tree Day which will be recognised tomorrow.
Additionally, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Secretary-General in Guyana, Ms. Patrice LaFleur and staff held a tree-planting exercise at the La Bonne Intention Secondary School and the East Ruimveldt Secondary School today to also mark National Tree Day.


text:
The online home of the self-published comics & prose anthology, Warrior27, an homage to Britain's early-80s comic magazine, Warrior - along with the various writings, musings, and miscellany of Dan Fleming and Chris Beckett.
Writing Samples - comics
ESSEX COUNTY vol. 1 by Jeff Lemire
Wow! I read the first volume of Jeff Lemire's Essex Country trilogy, "Tales from the Farm," last night (the entire thing is available in one handy volume from Top Shelf) and was completely enthralled. Lemire's deft storytelling belies his relative inexperience at the time he wrote and drew this. Seriously amazing work.
The story takes place in Essex County in southwestern Ontario, where Lemire himself grew up. In this first chapter of the trilogy, readers meet Lester, a young boy who enjoys comic books and dresses up in his own makeshift costume to battle invading aliens in the back fields of the farm where he lives. Though not immediately evident, it is his Uncle Ken with whom Lester lives on the farm, and their relationship is strained at best.
Lemire, thankfully, does not spoon-feed his audience, allowing the narrative to reveal itself at a measured pace while keeping readers engaged in the story. Soon enough, one discovers that Lester recently lost his mother to cancer and does not remember his father. This, as much as anything, explains the divide between the boy and his uncle. It's heartbreaking and authentic, and Lemire's choice of imagery and spare dialogue convey this emotional chasm masterfully.
Through the course of this first chapter, readers follow this new family of two through a year on the farm, slowly learning more of their history. Lester befriends a local celebrity – Jimmy Lebeuf, who played a single game in the NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs, wherein he suffered a career-ending injury – and finds the companionship he needs, at this time in his young life. Lester is comfortable with Jimmy, who enjoys discussing comic books with the boy and even dresses up in his old hockey uniform to help Lester battle his alien invaders. It's a touching friendship, one made more sympathetic when Lester's uncle warns Jimmy off, hinting at something more than just familial responsibility.
Lemire paces this first volume of his Essex County trilogy so beautifully, teasing out information, allowing readers to make the connections between these characters. His deft use of silent and repeating panels – all utilized to provide narrative beats or accentuate an emotional tenor within the story – help create an engaging graphic novel that had me enthralled from page one. And, when this volume reaches its climax, it is presented in such an understated manner that it will resonate with readers long after the book is closed.
Lemire's raw, almost scratchy, brushwork adds an emotional layer that elevates this story. His work exemplifies the difference – and, in my opinion, the superiority – of cartooning over photo-realism, the current trend in "mainstream" comics. Lemire's stark, expressive inks pull readers into this story, enveloping them in the raw emotions he is sharing through these characters. It's a wonderful melding of art with words, showcasing what is possible in comics.
I understand, fully, why Essex County has received such widespread accolades, and I eagerly look forward to the next volume sitting on my to-read stack. If you haven't read this book before, you need to seek it out. Now.
Posted by Chris Beckett at 1:49 PM
Labels: amazing comics, chrisbeckett, Essex County, For Your Consideration, Jeff Lemire, Topshelf Comics
Eamonn Clarke said...
It's powerful stuff, right up there with the best that the graphic medium can do.
Yes I am Eamonn Clarke from the CGS boards. I'm Calib@n on their forum. Enjoying your blog. I still have my original 26 Warriors and look forward to getting hold of Warrior 27
Chris Beckett said...
Eamonn,
You're so right. Really powerful. Looking forward to the next two chapters.
And thanks for reading. I'm glad you're enjoying it, and I really appreciate it.
Dan_Fleming
email address: cmbeckett1972@gmail.com
Meat for Tea: the Valley Review, vol. 12 issue 4
including the short story, "A Stone Wall Between Us," by C.M. (Chris) Beckett
BROKEN WORLDS, now available
including the short story, "Ouroboros," by C.M. (Chris) Beckett
NEEDLE #10
including the short story, "Silence," by C.M. (Chris) Beckett
Firewords Quarterly #2
including the short story, "I Gotta Get Outta Here," by C.M. (Chris) Beckett
New Orleans by Gaslight
Featuring the story, "You Gotta Give Good..." by C.M. (Chris) Beckett
Sin Titulo @ Topshelf Comix
an improvisational neo-noir comic from Jason Copland & C.M. Beckett
Reading Watchmen
A year-long examination of Alan Moore's & Dave Gibbons's seminal graphic novel by Chris Beckett
MAINELINING - a portfolio of comic stories written by Chris Beckett
LIFE IS FUNNY - art by Jason Copland
DESPERATE HOUSEWIFE - art by Azim Akberali
MINISTER TO THE UNDEAD - art by Dan Lauer
SIN TITULO - art by Jason Copland
RURAL BLISS - art by Sergio Martinez
Subscribe To Warrior27
OCTOBER COMICS Starchild by James A. Owen
OCTOBER COMICS Frankenstein by Steve Niles & Scott...
ESSEX COUNTY volume 2
OCTOBER COMICS - Universal Monsters adaptations
OCTOBER COMICS Coraline, adapted by P. Craig Russe...
OCTOBER COMICS The Broadcast by Eric Hobbs & Noel ...
OCTOBER COMICS: Batman – Legends of the Dark Knig...
OCTOBER COMICS: Taboo from Spiderbaby Grafix
OCTOBER COMICS: Hellboy
OCTOBER COMICS: A Glimpse of Crime & Terror
NEW COMICS: Love & Rockets (New Stories) #4
Cully Hamner's Blue Beetle
PLAYING CATCH UP: BLUE BEETLE SHELLSHOCKED
FRACTURE OF THE UNIVERSAL BOY by Michael Zulli
More Infantino/Janson Flash wonderment
NEW TO ME: JLA Rock of Ages
THIS is my Flash!
writing (83) For Your Consideration (69) In the Mouth of Dorkness (41) what it is (40) short stories (33) Warrior27 (28) Alan Moore (26) on writing (26) A Fistful Of (24) October comics (21) 30 in 30 for November (20) Back Matter (20) APE Entertainment (19) Comic Geek Speak (18) SPX (18) Scott Morse (18) Topshelf Comics (18) UFOS (17) Grant Morrison (16) Neil Gaiman (16) 80s comics (15) Baltimore Comic Con (15) In Search Of (15) amazing comics (15) Jason Copland (14) CGS (13) JLA (13) Grendel (12) Harlan Ellison (12) elephant words (12) Just Do It (11) Warrior27: the collection (11) Comics - Creator v. Character (10) Frank Miller (10) Frank Santoro (9) prose (9) Comic Geek Speak. Book of the Month Club (8) Mainelining (8) exhibiting at conventions (8) Geoff Johns (7) Noel Tuazon (7) Reading Watchmen (7) new to me (7) Gilbert Hernandez (6) Greg Rucka (6) Joe Hill (6) John Romita jr (6) Needle a magazine of noir (6) Emily Carroll (5) From the Longbox (5) JRJr (5) Jeff Smith (5) Picturebox (5) Vietnam in comics (5) the 'Nam (5) Bone (4) James Owen (4) Los Bros Hernandez (4) Love and Rockets (4) Naoki Urasawa (4) Negative Burn (4) New Orleans by Gaslight (4) Osamu Tezuka (4) Jaime Hernandez (3) Life is Funny (3) Marvelman (3) Miracleman (3) The Dark Knight Returns (3) Nabiel Kanan (1)


text:
Suzan Moriarty
Featured Actor
By Jennifer Poiry-Prough
Suzan Moriarty can't pinpoint the moment she became interested in performing. But the self-described "very quiet little girl" remembers loving to imitate TV commercials.
"There were many times that I would watch something on TV and then go to a mirror and try to mimic what I just saw," she says. "If I didn't like the way I looked, I'd try it a different way."
Unbeknownst to her, she was laying the groundwork for a lifetime of performing.
When she was a little older, she saw a local community theater production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in her hometown, Findlay, Ohio. "They used children as the dwarfs, two of whom I knew," she says. "I loved everything about it – from the costumes to the special effects of the 'magic mirror.' I walked away thinking, 'That's what I want to do.'"
In the third grade, she entered her school's talent show, created her own dance routine and won first place.
"People who know me now find that hard to believe. I seemed to have developed two left feet over the years," she says.
Like the well-worn TV trope, her first role in a play was that of a tree. "I was in a children's production of Chicken Little," she recalls. "I remember thinking how much fun it was and how seriously I took it."
She performed in her first community theater production, No Sex Please, We're British, when she was 17 years old.
Moriarty studied ballet for 11 years, took voice lessons and studied theater performance at the University of Findlay and Bowling Green State University. She performed in 17 productions throughout her college career, including summer stock.
She moved to Fort Wayne in 1988 and took a long break from theater. Then fate stepped in.
"In 2000, one of my theater professors passed away very unexpectedly," she says. "At his memorial, I reunited with my former theater classmates. I realized how very much I missed [performing]."
Within weeks she auditioned for Steel Magnolias at the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre and was cast as M'Lynn.
To prepare for a role or an audition, Moriarty admits to researching other theaters' performances online. Much like her younger self experimenting with line readings in front of a mirror, she says, "I try different ways to deliver a line and spend time thinking about how we normally speak to each other when we're having a conversation."
She has played a wide range of characters, some similar to her own personality, others completely different.
"I think with every character I've played there is a bit of method acting that takes place," she says. "[But] when the character is really different from me, it almost requires a temporary transformation off-stage to reach the comfort level I need to perform effectively."
Like most actors, the role she cites as her favorite was also her most difficult.
"Berta in Boeing Boeing was a very challenging role," she says. "She needed a French accent and had a very dry delivery and, on top of that, it was a very physical show. I was very nervous to play her."
She experienced a different kind of challenge when in a play called Chapter Two. She and fellow actor Jim Matusik played a dating couple who were drinking glasses of wine. "We actually used apple juice in the glasses," she explains. "But on one particular night, our 'wine' didn't taste the same. That was because our director, Brian Wagner, didn't have enough juice to fill our glasses, so he gave us actual wine instead."
Unfortunately, Wagner forgot to tell them about the switch.
"While sipping the drink, I began to get a bit warm," she says, "and I noticed that Jim hadn't touched his past the first sip. I realized I had been drinking the real thing and began to panic."
Fortunately, Moriarty's professionalism kicked in, and it didn't affect her performance.
Her current role is Masha in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Arena Dinner Theatre, and like many Arena veterans, Moriarty appreciates the intimacy of the space.
"You can feel the emotions coming from the audience because everything is so close to the stage," she says. "You know immediately whether the audience has connected with your character and I love that."
Although they may not follow in her performing footsteps, Moriarty has passed along her love of theater to her 18-year-old twins.
"Both have dabbled in performing," she says. "My daughter has a beautiful singing voice and has performed in the musicals at Homestead and two shows at Arena. We even got to do one together."
Their theatrical appreciation started early. Just before their fourth birthday, the twins attended their first production, the previously mentioned Steel Magnolias at the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre. Director Phillip Colglazier was somewhat apprehensive about the youngsters' ability to focus on the show without disrupting the audience.
"But they sat glued to their seats watching me on stage," Moriarty says. "Their support has been amazing as they've gotten older."
In addition to her familial support system, Moriarty takes comfort in the support of her fellow actors, both onstage and off. "I have some local favorite [actors] that I adore," she says. "The people who take it as seriously as I do are so wonderful to work with. You know that regardless of what happens on stage, they have your back."
She says she had expected Fort Wayne theater to be a different experience than what she'd had in Findlay. "But the truth is, there is closeness that all theater communities seem to observe," she says, "and Fort Wayne is no different."
Fort Wayne Youtheatre builds upon MLK's dream
Building the Dream: MLK Jr.
Teaching kids about civil rights movement...
Rooted in '90s, Yet Transcending Time
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes. Before Rent debuted on Broadway in 1996, few ...
These boots were made for dancing
For those familiar with the work of either Harvey Fierstein or Cyndi Lauper, it's clear that neith...
There may not be a literal recipe for the perfect story, the perfect date, or the perfect performanc...
Biopic brings '60s black icons to life
Based on the smash stage play by Kemp Powers, the enthralling new biopic One Night in Miami&nbs...
Looking back on an unusual year of film
For most of the 12 or so years this column has been around, we've focused on box office and indust...


ROS (Robot Operating System) Increased Support.
The upcoming release of ROS will use DDS/RTPS as the communication engine supporting several implementations, including eProsima Fast RTPS.
eProsima and ROS Team (OSRF) have been working hard to integrate eProsima Fast RTPS on ROS, creating a middleware interface layer for our implementation. The last release (1.1.0) of eProsima Fast RTPS includes some features developed to fully support ROS framework requirements.


text:
The importance of parkinsonian signs for gait and balance in patients with Alzheimer's disease of mild degree.
Tangen, Gro Gujord; Bergland, Astrid; Engedal, Knut; Mengshoel, Anne Marit
Journal article; AcceptedVersion; Peer reviewed
Postprint+version.pdf (238.0Kb)
Institutt for helse og samfunn [1188]
Gait & Posture. 2016, 51, 159-161, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.gaitpost.2016.10.009
Parkinsonian signs are common in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) of mild degree and predict functional decline, but their relationship with gait speed and balance is unclear. The aims of this study were to describe characteristics of patients with parkinsonian signs among 98 patients with AD of mild degree (with no comorbid Parkinson's disease), and to examine associations between parkinsonian signs with gait speed and balance. A cross sectional study at a memory clinic was conducted. Presence of each parkinsonian sign (bradykinesia, rigidity and tremor) was derived from the UPDRS, regular gait speed was recorded over 10 m and balance were assessed using the Mini-Balance Evaluation Systems Test (Mini-BESTest). Bradykinesia was present in 30.6% of the sample, rigidity in 13.3% and tremor only in one patient. Patients with bradykinesia were older, had worse cognitive impairment and worse gait and balance performance than those without bradykinesia. More men than women had rigidity. Bradykinesia was significantly associated with mini-BESTest after adjusting for demographic factors (p < 0.001, explaining 13.3% of the variance), but was not significantly associated with gait speed. Rigidity was not associated with either gait speed or balance. We conclude that assessment of bradykinesia should be included in examination of balance control in patients with AD of mild degree.
This item's license is: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International


text:
Q: Scanning through camera against a bank of 10 images I building an app that can use an iPad camera to scan for particular images. There will be a bank of 10 images that will be matched against, and when there is a match on one I need to navigate the app to a specific screen.
I guess you can compare this to a QR scanner, but without QR codes.
Example of one of the images to scan is:
https://imgur.com/a/lhWv8ny
Trouble is, I'm struggling to come up with a solution to scan the images. The other parts, no issue.
I've tried pattern markers with a-frame, I've done a load of research but can't find anything concrete at the moment.
Any direction will greatly be appreciated.

A: Maybe try to import some machine-learning library and if it's text only extract the text and match it to a dictionary:
https://github.com/zsajjad/react-native-text-detector
Or you could match for similar images with opencv:
Checking images for similarity with OpenCV
https://github.com/brainhubeu/react-native-opencv-tutorial


I CANT AFFORD TO BE AFRAID ANYMORE!
Should I stay comfortable or should I launch out into the deep?
Today, I'm picking back up my crown and taking dominion OVER you!
Ladies, I pray that this encouraged you! Lets take on this journey of overcoming fear TOGETHER! Join me live on Woman:REDEFINED Facebook page for live discussions, challenges, giveaways, and MUCH MORE!!
I believe that you are on a wonderful mission here, for yourself and others whom you may encourage. I can relate. I have struggled with anxiety. The "word" that I claimed for 2018 is COURAGE precisely because I wanted to be bold and brave enough to speak up over insecurities and fears. Also, I like your poetic form in this post. I use poetic form in my blogging, at Grandma Mary Martha, and Telling Hearts. God bless you in your journey.


text:
ANSI ASC X12 (X12)
What Does ANSI ASC X12 (X12) Mean?
Techopedia Explains ANSI ASC X12 (X12)
ANSI ASC X12 is a committee chartered in 1979 by ANSI to create and maintain standards used in electronic business-to-business (B2B) transactions. These include electronic data interchange (EDI) standards; the Context Inspired Component Architecture (CICA), which is a set of standards for assembling electronic business messages; and one for XML that is fully compliant with Electronic Business XML (ebXML) recommendations.
Membership in ASC X12 consists of different professionals from different industries who come together to manage X12 standards such as EDI and CICA standards. ASC X12 has seven subcommittees that deal with specific areas of business:
X12C Communications & Controls
X12F Finance X12G Government
X12I Transportation
X12J Technical Assessment
X12M Supply Chain
X12N Insurance
Common standards for X12 tools allow for the consistent use of enterprise documents and other types of functions such as transactions.
ASC X12, ANSI X12
ANSI Character Set
Commerce XML
Supply Chain Execution
802.What? Making Sense of the 802.11 Family
INFOGRAPHIC: How to Become a Mobile App Developer
INFOGRAPHIC: How 2,405,518,376 Internet Users Changed the World


Best Fence Company In Nj Tags : American Fence Nj Tan Vinyl Fence. Vinyl Picket Fence Parts.
By Noe Metais. Privacy Screens. Published at Saturday, March 02nd, 2019 07:30:25 AM.
By Noe Metais. Fence. Published at Thursday, February 28th, 2019 09:28:47 AM.
By Noe Metais. Fence. Published at Thursday, February 28th, 2019 09:49:04 AM.
By Noe Metais. Fence. Published at Thursday, February 28th, 2019 09:44:41 AM.
By Noe Metais. Fence. Published at Thursday, February 28th, 2019 09:34:26 AM.
By Noe Metais. Outdoor Gates. Published at Thursday, February 28th, 2019 09:51:13 AM.
By Noe Metais. Outdoor Gates. Published at Thursday, February 28th, 2019 09:34:55 AM.
By Noe Metais. Fence. Published at Thursday, February 28th, 2019 09:34:42 AM.


text:
And Then There Were Two……
by bbradley	on October 10, 2018 667 views
The county championship stage is set. The top two seeds, South Forsyth and Otwell, will face off next Tuesday night at 6:30 at Denmark High School. This is a repeat match up from week one. In the first meeting South Forsyth came away with a 14-0 victory. This looks to be game between the leagues two best defenses. This is South Forsyth's first appearance in the championship game since 2010 and Otwell's first ever appearance.
The semi-final game between South Forsyth and Vickery Creek was an exciting contest exhibiting masterful athleticism, determination and toughness. The Vickery defense shut down the Eagles on their first drive of the game and took advantage of short field position after a muffed South Forsyth punt. The Vipers claimed seven points on their first offensive drive and took an early lead. The Eagles answered Vickery Creek's score with a long drive and barreled into the end zone with a touchdown of their own. With the opening quarter drawing to an end, the game was tied 7-7. After the first quarter, both defenses bowed up to show their dominance over the rival's offense. There was a three quarter scoring drought before Vickery Creek's Cooper Milford broke a long run to end the defensive showcase and give Vickery Creek a 14-7 lead late in the 4th. South got the ball with just over a minute left to work in the game and answered the task with great confidence. Brandon Jones connected on a deep pass to WR Alex Urias which led the Eagles to the five yard line. One penalty and one play later, led to the South Forsyth offense punching the ball into the end zone and their ticket into overtime. Vickery Creek won the OT coin toss and elected to give the Eagles the ball first. It only took one snap in overtime for Brandon Jones to take advantage of a ruthless lead block by South o-lineman Christian McCOnnell for the Eagles to score and take their first lead of the game. As Vickery Creek lined up to take the snap, South's defense rebounded to its dominant ways to shut down the Viper offense and lockdown their first championship appearance since 2010.
In the late game, Otwell hosted Lake Side. Lakeside got the scoring going on a long run for a score early in the first quarter. Otwell answered back with a touchdown of its own and then followed that up with a 30-yard field goal to make the score 10-6 Otwell. Just before half time, Otwell scored on a halfback pass that put the score at 17-6 after the point after attempt was successful. This remained the score going into halftime. Otwell opened the second half with long kickoff return down to Lakeside's 30 yard line. Otwell's offenses stalled on the drive and had to punt the ball away. Lakeside' first possession also ended in a punt. Both teams struggled to move the ball in the second half as the defenses tightened up and did not allow a score for the remainder of the game. Otwell sealed the victory with an interception late in the 4th quarter.
Are You Ready For The Playoffs?
Forsyth County News article features Otwell Football
SHOW YOUR SCHOOL SPIRIT!!!
North Forsyth Middle opens the season against Riverwatch!
Liberty and Riverwatch take the 8th Grade County Championship
Championship Match up set
Round 2 of the 8th Grade Tournament underway tonight.


text:
Crime and Courts Jul 17th 2019 - 5pm
Rochester police say son shot father first, then himself
Accidents Jul 17th 2019 - 1pm
Names released triple-fatality crash southwest of Minot
Accidents Jul 18th 2019 - 11am
Grand Forks woman injured in alcohol-related crash
Football Jul 18th 2019 - 6pm
Gophers' P.J. Fleck says he 'lost' top assistant to West Virginia at one point
Billionaires call for wealth tax
Nineteen individuals sign letter calling on presidential candidates to support a levy on the nation's richest Americans.
Written By: Bloomberg | Jun 24th 2019 - 2pm.
Financier George Soros was among those willing to sign a letter calling for a tax to be levied against the most wealthy Americans. Bloomberg photo by Simon Dawson.
Some of the richest people in the United States are calling for a federal wealth tax.
Financier George Soros, heiresses Regan Pritzker and Abigail Disney and Facebook Inc. co-founder Chris Hughes are among those calling for the levy to help address income inequality and provide funding to address climate change and public health issues.
"We are writing to call on all candidates for president, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, to support a moderate wealth tax on the fortunes of the richest one-tenth of the richest 1% of Americans -- on us," according to a letter signed by 19 individuals -- one anonymously -- and posted online Monday. "The next dollar of new tax revenue should come from the most financially fortunate, not from middle-income and lower-income Americans."
Democratic presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg and Beto O'Rourke support the idea, according to the letter. Warren has proposed a 2% tax on assets of $50 million or more, and a further 1% on assets over $1 billion. It is estimated to generate nearly $3 trillion in tax revenue over 10 years.
The wealth tax isn't embraced by all Democrats because many believe it would be difficult to assess objectively the value of wealth like artwork and jewels. There are also concerns that such a tax is unconstitutional because the federal government is prohibited from taxing property, only income.
The New York Times reported on the letter earlier Monday.
Some of those signing have already expressed concerns about America's rising inequality. Hughes has evangelized for higher taxes on the rich in his book "Fair Shot." Disney, whose grandfather and great-uncle founded Walt Disney Co., recently called CEO Bob Iger's $65.6 million compensation package "insane."
Another signatory, entrepreneur Nick Hanauer, first warned his "fellow zillionaires" about the country's growing wealth divide in 2014, writing that "there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn't eventually come out."
Such inequality has only deepened. Last week, Bernard Arnault joined Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates as the third person with a fortune of at least $100 billion on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, whose 500 members have a total net worth of $5.5 trillion, up from $4.9 trillion two years ago.
This article was written by Tom Metcalf, a reporter for Bloomberg.
WEALTH DIVIDE
Nation Jun 28th 2019 - 12am
North Dakota Congressional delegation offers accolades
Nation Jun 24th 2019 - 2pm
Trump signs order imposing new sanctions on Iran, warns US restraint is limited


Check out the latest example of the 4-axis vectored imaged engraving we perform in house. You can send us any .pdf file or vectored image and we can engrave it in any firearm,silencer, receiver, upper, or any other type of product you need engraved.
Email us to get more information on our engraving options and applications.


Forget What You Know About Liquid Lipstick.
Decadently creamy with intense color payoff, this semi-matte liquid lipstick utilizes active ingredients, Volulip™, Instaplump™, and Hyaluronic Acid, to give an instant plump in 3-5 minutes with no stings attached! Providing long-term hydrating benefits, this long-wear formula ensures color is locked in, yet is comfortable enough to wear all day long without cracking, drying, or stripping the lips of natural moisture.
A plumping liquid lipstick with long-term, hydrating benefits. Uniquely formulated to address dry, chapped areas of the lip, GrandeLIPS HydraPlump Matte Liquid Lipstick bestows lips with all day long-lasting high-pigment color without stripping natural moisture. Lips remain softer, smoother and naturally plumped!This revolutionary formula utilizes a unique Microsphere Delivery System to carry active ingredients, Volulip™, Instaplump™, and Hyaluronic Acid directly to the dehydrated portion of the lips - increasing moisture and contributing to the plumping effect.
To obtain results, apply GrandeLIPS HydraPlump Matte Liquid Lipstick 2x a day on clean, dry lips.
Step 1: Insert applicator to fill reservoir well, supplying just the right amount of product for a one time swipe.
Step 1: Define your lip with the angeled contour precision tip.


According to Vedic astrology, the period when Sun transits from one rasi (zodiac sign) to the other, it is known as Sankramanam which occurs once in every month, usually on the 14th / 15th / 16th of the month.
When Sun enters the zodiac sign of Sagittarius i.e Dhanur rasi, it is known as Dhanur Sankramanam. The one month period of Sun's stay in this zodiac sign is known as Dhanur Masam. This transition normally occurs on 16th December every year. This is not a separate month in the Hindu calendar like the other 12 months of the calendar. Dhanur masam begins in the Hindu month of Margasiram and ends in the Hindu month of Pushyam.
Dhanur Masam ends when Sun enters the zodiac sign of Capricorn i.e Makara rasi which marks Makara Sankramanam. The time when Sun transits to Capricorn is known as 'Uttarayana Punyakalam' as Sun starts its northward journey from this day.
Religiously Dhanur Masam is an auspicious month and is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. Special poojas are performed in Vishnu temples particularly in South India. Devotees of Lord Vishnu worship Him in the early mornings during the Brahma Muhurtam i.e between 4 a.m to 6 a.m. This period is also known as Arunodaya Kalam. Devotees perform pooja by reciting Vishnu Sahasranamam, Purusha Sooktam, Narayana Stotram etc.
They offer yadhasakti (as per one's affordability) naivedyam like pongali, chakra pongali, pulihora, dadhojanam etc to Lord Vishnu who is considered as Bhojana priya i.e the one who is too fond of delicious food.
This month is very specially celebrated in Lord Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala with special worships and special alankaarams to the Lord. During the entire month, Tirruppavai is recited in the Vishnu temples. Goda Devi also known as Andal was a staunch devotee of Lord Krishna. She adored the Lord so much that she got a special place for herself beside Him. During Dhanur Masam, Andal is also worshiped in the Vishnu temples along with Lord Vishnu. Vaikuntha / Mukkoti Ekaadasi is the most auspicious day of this month. Devotees throng Vishnu temples on this day and have the darshan of Lord Vishnu from Vaikuntha Dwaram i.e the North entrance gate / uttara dwaram of temple which is opened on this day only.
A special / unique sweet called Dhanur Muvva is prepared during this month and sold in the districts of South Odisha and North coastal Andhra Pradesh.


Boscov'S Online Coupons Free Shipping February,2017. For printable coupons only, enter link to printable pdf or image of coupon.
+ FREE SHIPPING Up to 85% off at the Outlet Center. Add a Boscov's Coupon. Found a great deal or code? Share the savings! Get Started. Get New Boscov's Offers.
Boscov's Coupons, Sales & Promo Codes. Get a 15% discount on orders over $100 plus free shipping when you apply this Boscov's Expired 06/05/18. Get Coupon Code.
Save money with the latest 3 free Boscov's promo codes ,discount code,coupon code,offers and deals in 2018.
Save up to 80% OFF when you use Boscov's Free Shipping Code No Minimum as well as enjoy FREE shipping. Redeem promo code in June 2018 now!
Get a 15% discount on orders over $100 plus free shipping when you apply this boscov's coupon at checkout. limited time offer. some Boscov's Coupon Code.
TechBargains has great deals, coupons and promo codes for Boscov's.Today's best deal is Up to 70% off As Seen on TV products & Free Shipping.
Find all Boscovs coupons and coupon code, including free shipping coupon and 15% to 25% off coupon. Enter the code to save money at Boscovs.com.
Get Boscov's newest coupon alerts Flat rate shipping and free shipping on Do keep in mind that you can use only a single coupon code per order on Boscov's.
Boscov's Coupon Codes Select your desired merchandise and take the following steps to redeem your promo or coupon code at Boscov's: Boscov's Free Shipping Policy.
Boscovs Coupon Codes. Boscov's does not offer international shipping. Boscov's Return Policy. Free Shipping on all standard orders $25 or more with code .
© Free location coupons Incorp coupon | Promo Codes & Deals 2018 Boscov's free shipping coupon code.


A gizmo on your chest can reveal unvarnished truths about your running.
Every kid is an inventor. Where adults want love or money, kids want gizmos—stuff that does stuff, preferably with an accompanying rainbow of metallic colors. I used to fantasize about a device that you could point at a person's head and a little screen would show a movie of what they were thinking. The thing, whatever shape it took, was no simple lie detector or mind reader—I didn't care about what people thought they were thinking; I didn't trust what they said they were thinking. I understood at a young age that we are all essentially conflicted, mysterious creatures. What I imagined was pure gizmo—something that would cut through the fog of self-deception to reveal the window to the soul. Of course the machine came with laser-cut rainbow trim as a standard option.
On a sunny morning run, a friend of mine pointed to the Garmin watch on my wrist, a gizmo of the first order, and asked if it was the model with the wireless heart-rate monitor. I told him it was, although I had never tried it. "I got it hoping I'd grow into it," I said. "But now it just feels too geeked to actually strap the thing on." My friend smiled and lifted his shirt to show me a small black box sitting under his sternum, held in place by a band running tightly around his chest. He told me if I really wanted to know what the run was doing, geek or not, I had to listen to the engine. Looks are deceiving, but the heart don't lie.
Which is exactly what I was afraid of. Ever since I began running, I've invested an enormous effort in concealing from myself and others how I really feel when I run. I've learned to hold my lips in a wide smile to minimize wind noise when panting like an old dog at one and a half miles. I've figured out that when I feel like collapsing, all I have to do is shorten my stride and stop moaning to keep people from staring. With running friends, I craft random yet strategic, game-looking swings of the head accompanied by loud, brief hacks of laughter to upstage even the worst exhaustion. A window to the soul might reveal a few demons, but a window into the soul of the run would probably reveal more than I could stand.
The heart-rate monitor for the Garmin 410 consists of a simple elastic strap with sensors that connect to a small black box about half the size of a deck of cards, which communicates wirelessly with the watch during a run. The morning I finally decided to give it a try, I unwrapped the strap from its cellophane wrapper, joined it to the monitor, and set it on the table. I glanced out the front door to make sure no one was walking up the drive, then stripped off my shirt, threw the strap over my head, and pulled it just past my shoulders, where it stopped, too tight to go down any further. With my arms in the air and the band cutting into my armpits, I glanced out the window again and tried not to despair at the fact that I am never able to do something right the first time. Then I started undulating in the strap until it lowered to my chest, where I was able to loosen it to the proper fit. Next, I had to wet the sensors to get a strong connection. I thought about spitting on them but already felt pretty unusual. Purposely spitting on something I was wearing would not improve the situation. Even under ideal circumstances, spitting on yourself accomplishes nothing. I went to the sink and stretched the strap under the faucet. Then I buckled the watch onto my wrist and scrolled to the "rescan" option, hit the "training" button, and waited.
In no time, a giant number over a small beating heart icon appeared on the screen. Since I was sitting at the table resting, I called the number my resting heart rate. Since I was also wearing a strap for the first time and still feeling unusual, I subtracted two points from the number. Science! Last thing I had to do was enter a maximum heart rate. It turns out there are many ways to come up with this number, not all of them good. After a few clicks online, I settled on the formula for a rough MHR = 205 ? (.5 x age), which for me came to 181.5. In the time it took to find the formula, I'd grown a little more comfortable in the strap and my resting heart rate fell to the number I'd cheated it down to—73 beats per minute.
I began the run feeling very serious. Imagine a circus clown suddenly over-whelmed with a sense of extreme importance—a clown with a pained expression and stark, economizing movements. I glanced at my wrist every few moments to watch the numbers rise and fall in tandem with my speed. Then I settled into my usual pace, and by 1.5 miles, the watch reported a steady heart rate of 160. I maintained my speed through a medium-sized hill, and the number rose to reflect the effort. On the downhill, the number dropped. Suddenly, I was in love.
Because I'd done very little reading about heart rates, I knew almost nothing about what specific numbers meant. But what was obvious was that as the run got tougher, the number got higher; when it felt better for no discernible reason, the number was lower. This may not be a eureka to many people, but it was to me. I no longer had to pass judgment on my effort, or try to honestly gauge how hard I was working—here was a number that turned subjective perception into hard reality. I was thrilled by the implications: A heart-rate monitor levels the playing field. I may be going slower than the next runner, but if my heart is beating closer to its max, then I'm working harder. If the fit people gliding past me put in the same amount of effort as measured by percentage of max heart rate as I was, they'd be going twice as fast and look every bit as parched and blotchy as me.
By the end of the run, I was familiar with my numbers and the effort associated with them, but was eager to learn what "zone" they fell into. The Garmin literature divides its heart-rate zones into five levels. Zone one is a "relaxed, easy pace" with the benefit of "beginning-level aerobic training and stress reduction." Zone five is "unsustainable sprinting" with the benefit of "anaerobic endurance and increased power." There is no zone that lists the "doughnut eraser" as one of its benefits.
After loading the data from my run into my computer, I discovered I'd split the majority of the run between zones three and four—the heart-rate line going up when the pace line went down, and vice versa. It felt like work when the heart said so—no more guessing. Speed is relative, but tired is tired no matter where you find it.
Now if only the geniuses at Garmin could devise a strap that would tell me when I needed more vitamins or when I needed to stop talking. Maybe one with metallic accents that would tell me whether or not I was actually hungry. Or perhaps just a simple strap I could use when I'm not running, one that I could wrap tightly around the fridge.
In his next column, Parent announces plans to take on a big, scary challenge. For more, go to runnersworld.com/newbie.
Marc Parent Marc Parent is the author of Runner's World's Newbie Chronicles column.


CDRCP was formed in 1993, under the name Peel Child Care Committee, at the request of the Ministry of Community and Family and Children's Services, to review child care needs in Peel. The Committee members, including parents and representatives from child care providers, resource centres, Boards of Education, Region of Peel, the Ministries and community groups, embarked on a process of community consultation, surveys and data/statistical analysis. The process culminated in a report called A Community Child Care Plan for Peel.
In the spring of 2001, the Peel Child Care Committee changed its name to Child Development Resource Connection Peel and incorporated as a non-profit agency with charitable status.
Child Development Resource Connection Peel engages, connects and empowers the community through information, resources, learning opportunities and services that promote quality family life.
CDRCP would like to take the time to thank the following donors. Their support has helped make an impact on the lives of children and families in Peel Region.


USD Partners LP (NYSE:USDP) (the "Partnership") announced today that members of its senior management team will participate at the Master Limited Partnership Association 2017 Annual Investor Conference in Orlando, Florida, from May 31 to June 1, 2017.
Presentation materials are available on the Partnership's website at www.usdpartners.com on the "Events & Presentations" sub-tab under the "Investors" tab.
USD Partners LP is a fee-based, growth-oriented master limited partnership formed in 2014 by US Development Group LLC to acquire, develop and operate energy-related logistics assets, including rail terminals and other high-quality and complementary midstream infrastructure. The Partnership's assets consist primarily of: (i) a crude oil origination terminal in Hardisty, Alberta, Canada, with capacity to load up to two 120-railcar unit trains per day, (ii) a crude oil terminal in Casper, Wyoming, with unit train-capable railcar loading capacity in excess of 100,000 barrels per day and six customer-dedicated storage tanks with 900,000 barrels of total capacity and (iii) a unit train-capable ethanol destination rail terminal in West Colton, California. In addition, the Partnership provides railcar services through the management of a railcar fleet that is committed to customers on a long-term basis.