This page describes my modifications to the RIG RX-2 receiver which enable it to be controlled remotely from a computer, using an RS-232 serial interface. The modifications are in two parts: some simple additional hardware, and a new firmware program for the PIC16C84 microcontroller.
In manual control mode, the modified receiver operates very much as the original. When the RX-2 is switched on, it will emit a 1 second beep, during which all the display segments are turned ('lamp test'). This allows time for the signal detector circuit to settle. After the settling period, it will start scanning from channel 1, stopping only when it finds a signal. When a signal is found, the RX-2 emits a longer beep and stops scanning, until 15 seconds after the signal is lost. It then emits a short beep and re-starts scanning.
A short button press at any time will jump to the next channel and stop scanning, accompanied by a very short beep. A longer press will re-start scanning, with a longer beep.
At the same time, any characters which arrive at the serial port are checked for valid commands. There are two valid commands: 's' (or 'S' - case is not important) and 'F'. The 'F' command, followed immediately by a channel number 0 to 9, will change to that channel, and stop scanning, if a scan was in progress. 'S' will re-start scanning. No carriage return or line feed is required after the command. Any incomprehensible or extra characters are quietly ignored.
In manual operation, the modified RX-2 uses the same 5 channels as the original. However, there are 5 additional channels available to the 'F' command. The frequencies as supplied are shown below, but are very easily changed.
A button push, or an 'S' command, when the receiver is tuned to one of the 'extra' channels, will re-start scanning from channel 1.
The serial interface is designed to make the minimum demands on the computer driving it. It does not use any flow control: it operates at a fixed 1200 baud, and can handle continuous characters at this speed. There are no 'handshaking' signals. It cannot even send any data to the computer!
The source code for the modified PIC program is available here. This requires Microchip MPLAB/MPASM to assemble, and a suitable device programmer for the PIC16C84. I am currently trying to arrange for a supply of ready programmed devices, via RIG. Until then you will need to program your own. For convenience, here is the Intel HEX format ready for the programmer.
The software operation is based on the idea that when a person presses the button, it stays 'down' for a long time - at least a long time compared to the duration of a serial character. The serial input and push button use the same pin. The program waits for a 'low' logic level on this pin. This could either be the start of a serial character or the start of a button push. The software first attempts to decode the signal as a character. If the input is still low at the end of the character period, when it ought to be high, the software decides that it has a button push. Two separate tasks handle the button pushes and decode the received characters. For those who are interested, there is a more detailed explanation available.
The hardware modifications have been kept as simple as possible. The serial interface uses the same PIC input pin currently used by the push-button, and can be operated in conjunction with the button. It requires no extra power supply, drawing what power it needs from the PC and through the pull-up resistor on the push-button input.
In the RS-232 'idle' state, DB-9 pin 2 will sit at a voltage of -5V to -12V. The opto-coupler LED will be off, and so will be the transistor. Pin 4 will be pulled up to +5V by the push-button pull-up resistor on the RX-2 circuit board. A button push will take this point low to GND, unaffected by the presence of the serial interface.
When an RS-232 character comes along, the start bit will take DB-9 pin 2 to between +5V and +12V, turning on the opto-coupler LED and transistor. The push-button input will go low, to be detected by the software.
The push button input goes to pin 9 of SK1 on the RX-2: GND is found on pin 8 of the same connector. DB-9 connector pin 5 is ground, pin 2 is Rx-data. You will need to use a 'null modem' cable with these connections. Alternatively, wire the resistor to pin 3 and use a 'straight through' cable.
You can also use a 4N25 or similar opto-isolator, the exact device is not critical. For the 4N25, GND goes to pin 4 and the push-button input to pin 5. Pins 3 and 6 are no-connect. Using an opto-isolator helps to keep electrical noise from the computer out of the receiver.
Construction technique is not critical. I built the prototype hardware on a very small piece of Veroboard which I fixed to the back of the DB-9 socket. The output is best wired straight to the push-button, using stranded hook-up wire. Take care when desoldering the existing wiring from the push-button, as the supplied parts tend to melt rather easily. If you are at all in doubt of your skills, order a replacement push-button along with the other parts! No serious harm will be caused if you get the two wires to the button crossed, but probably neither the button nor the serial input will work until you correct the situation.
If you intend using this modification with a computer running Microsoft Windows NT, you should be aware that as it boots, this operating system sends a sequence of 'breaks' to each serial port it finds. These are interpreted as button pushes, causing the RX-2 to switch channels and stop scanning. A long button push - or of course an 'S' command - will restart the scan.


You can take photos one at a time. Or, you can turn the burst mode on and the camera will continue snapping photos as long as you hold the button down, or until the buffer is full (which is a fancy way of saying the camera can't process any more). Burst speeds differ based on what camera you own, some are faster than others. Just how fast is written in "fps" or frames (pictures) per second.


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Whipple Museum of the History of Science
A treasure trove of astronomical, mathematical, and scientific instruments at Cambridge University.
An 18th Century Persian astrolabe, an instrument that predicts locations of the sun, moon, planet, and stars. On display at the Whipple Museum. Andrew Dunn (CC BY-SA 2.0)
A 17th century compound microscope at the Whipple Museum. Andrew Dunn (CC BY-SA 2.0)
A piece of mathematician and engineer Charles Babbage's Difference Machine on display at the Whipple Museum. Andrew Dunn (CC BY-SA 2.0)
SEANETTA (Atlas Obscura User)
Globes duncbfc (Atlas Obscura User)
duncbfc (Atlas Obscura User)
Outside the museum duncbfc (Atlas Obscura User)
A magic cube, where any of the figures on any horizontal, vertical or diagonal lines add up to the same total. reley250 (Atlas Obscura User)
Top Places in Cambridge
Queens' College Moondial
Madingley American Cemetery
Corpus Clock & Chronophage
"I little thought when I bought an old telescope, for the sum of 10 francs from an antique shop in Tours in 1913 that I was embarking on the slippery slope of collecting." - Robert Stewart Whipple
Growing up with a scientist father in London, Robert Stewart Whipple's entire life was spent around scientific tools and inventions. He too eventually fell into the sciences — first as a an assistant apprentice to different a scientific instrument makers, and then as the chairman of the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company.
In 1913, at the age of 42, he began to collect fascinating scientific objects, continuously adding to it until he had a trove of over one thousand of astronomical, mathematical, and scientific instruments and books. Today those scientific instruments are the foundation of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, located in the old Perse Hall at the University of Cambridge's campus.
The pieces and rare books on display represent the diversity and evolution of instruments used in astronomy, navigation, surveying, drawing, and calculating. The museum's Main Gallery is filled with glittering sundials and telescopes, delicate maps and tapestries, and old calculating machines dating from medieval times to present.
There are many noteworthy pieces on display. Among them is one of five existing 10-foot royal Herschel reflecting telescopes constructed in 1781. William Herschel, the astronomer who discovered Uranus (he originally named the planet Georgiium Sidus, which is Latin for 'George's Star'), built the telescope for King George III. The Whipple Museum also has a number of Charles Darwin's microscopes, a portion of Charles Babbage's Difference Engine no. 1, and Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica in the library.
Part of researching science history involves studying and understanding the technological innovations that have allowed discovery. As science became a professionalized discipline during the 19th and 20th centuries, scholars began to treat the history of science as its own distinct field of research. Craftspeople were beginning to make a living on solely manufacturing scientific and medical instruments, and scientists were forming societies and committees for the field.
Whipple decided to donate his collection with the promise that institution would preserve and educate people on the history of science. When he founded the Whipple Museum at Cambridge in 1944, his collection was so large that initially not everything fit in one space, and parts had to be stored in other halls of the university.
Whipple left behind centuries of historical artifacts that mark the progress of scientific innovation. While he died in 1952, his collection continued to grow. The rare book collection now has 3,000 volumes for students and researchers to peruse. As more pieces were donated to the museum the collection had to be moved in 1959 to the larger Perse Hall, which is now the permanent home to Whipple's treasured scientific instruments.
The museum is free and open to the public. The entrance is on Free School Lane in the center of Cambridge's campus. The museum is only open Monday to Friday and is closed on weekends and bank holidays.
science museums telescopes astronomy history
Lauren J Young
duncbfc, hrnick, reley250, barelon, SEANETTA
http://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/whipple/
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Robert_Stewart_Whipple
http://www.radiomuseum.org/dsp_hersteller_detail.cfm?company_id=9637
http://jhc.oxfordjournals.org.ezproxy.cul.columbia.edu/content/20/2/314
Free School Ln
'Teleport-o-Matic'
The Cambridge pub where Francis Crick announced that he and James Watson had discovered the DNA double-helix.
One of several Lilliputian portals that are ready to transport passengers to other dimensions, if they can find them.
Numberless clock creates a meal of time for the dreaded, insectile Chronophage.
Mathematical Bridge
Local legend says Isaac Newton built this footbridge without any screws, bolts, or nails.
Helsinki Observatory
Finland's oldest astronomical observatory once played a crucial role in seafaring and timekeeping.
Leiden, Netherlands
Van der Wall Telescope
Once the world's biggest telescope, it was later used as a coat hanger by a famous Dutch astronomer.
Burnsville, North Carolina
Bare Dark Sky Observatory
A mountaintop space observatory that is certified dark.
King's Observatory
Built by George III to observe the transit of Venus, this Georgian gem is a unique survivor in the Arcadian landscape of Richmond upon Thames.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A well-informed source has reported that the Constitution Drafting Assembly is holding a meeting this Sunday morning after they have come from Oman.
The source, who preferred to be unnamed, told Press Solidarity that the number of the attendees in the meeting did not exceed 37 members.
It also added that the CDA boycotting western members have also been absent from the meeting.
This meeting comes upon an invitation of the CDA Chairman, Al-Jilani Erhouma, who wanted the member be present to amend the schedule of the CDA for the remaining period.


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Robotics and business: A dim future? - Daily News Egypt
Business Robotics and business: A dim future?
Robotics and business: A dim future?
In China, robots are replacing human bank clerks, guards, waiters, cooks
Reem Hosam El-din May 14, 2018 Be the first to comment
In an era where everything is moving fast and getting uninterruptedly modernised, digital technology, artificial intelligence, and robotics have become ever more present in the picture, slowly turning into main pillars in many of the sectors that economic growth and business rely on, leaving a clear impact in many industrial and non-industrial fields. We have all heard of task-specific robots replacing humans in manufacturing and in large factories. In these cases, robots are a faster, cheaper, and more efficient replacement of humans. But as the reliance on robotics increases, it is not unusual now to see robots replace humans in even more complicated tasks that require less physical effort and more mental effort. Today, robots can be found in offices, hospitals, and schools. This may sound rather novel since these are non-industrial environments. They can also be seen working in warehouses and small manufacturing centres. Robots are occupying more and more critical positions every day, announcing the start of an era—one that puts human resources aside and requires a faster accomplishment of tasks with little or no room for mistakes. While this looks like a good deal at first, a second look may tell you that this will not be very good for humans in the near future.
The Guardian recently reported that the UK is worryingly relying, increasingly, on the automation of services and robots in many fields. "ContactBabel, the customer service centres expert, predicts that 45,700 jobs will disappear from the sector between now and 2021. Of those, 20,000 are projected to go from the 168,000 employed to handle customer relations by high street retailers and distribution firms, as shoppers increasingly buy and interact online," The Guardian said.
In the UK finance sector, which employs nearly 230,000 people, about 13,000 jobs are expected to disappear as banks reconfigure their businesses. "The digital revolution is expected to affect utility companies, with 11,000 jobs expected to go as challenger brands such as Lumo offer cheaper gas and electricity deals to customers willing to manage their accounts via an app," The Guardian reported.
At least 44% of UK jobs could feasibly be automated, equating to more than 13.7 million people who together earn about £290bn. Specifically, call centre operators, secretaries, and factory workers are most likely to be affected by this digital revolution.
Recently, China has taken an even bolder step towards automation by opening a branch of China Construction Bank that is human-free. The "unmanned" branch has automated systems and robots that aid clients the moment they set foot in the bank, welcoming the customers, answering basic questions, and helping with services such as opening accounts, transferring money, and more, according to The Guardian.
Robots are handling more aspects of everyday life in Chinese cities. For example, there are guards deployed in train stations, programmed to scan the faces of travellers and answer any questions they may have. Cook robots and waiters can also be found around China.
The CEO of a major Chinese e-commerce company recently predicted "robots will eventually replace human workers in the retail industry, with China's unmanned retail sector expected to triple in size to ¥65bn (£7.5bn) by 2020.
A small company named Skyline Windows LLC in New York City said that it gladly incorporates automation and robots into its business since they increase productivity and reduce the potential for error that comes with humans who are naturally prone to error especially when multitasking, according to Robotics Business Review. The senior vice president of the company said that embracing innovation can strengthen the company's culture and give employees more time and freedom to move. He added that using technology in a work environment allows humans to do their jobs better, though there are, of course, a few places where a human is needed. He noted that customer service fields often require a real person.
According to ZD Net, a technology news website, a recent study by the National Bureau of Economic Research in the US looked at the impact of increased usage of industrial robots on US labour markets from 1990 to 2007 and found that there were "large and robust negative effects of robots on employment and wages across commuting zones…According to the historical data, jobs lost to robots have not been adequately replaced by new opportunities brought by robots, an argument technologists often fall back on," ZD Net said.
While the use of AI and robotics may make for a more errorless work environment and help economies grow, will humans really be entirely replaced and threatened by such technological advancements?
Topics: Business Robotics
Reem Hosam El-din
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BELLE DE JOUR (Luis Bunuel)
He brought Surrealism to the Cinema in 1928, collaborating with Salvador Dali for UN CHIEN ANDALOU and then L'AGE D'OR (1930). He never abandoned it, working in Mexico and elsewhere in the 40's and 50's. But it was not until the 60's (he himself in his 60's) that Luis Bunuel created his masterpieces in France. Sly and off-kilter, Bunuel portrayed a world that had the appearance of normality, but always had the potential to be anything but. BELLE DE JOUR, with Catherine Deneuve as a bored housewife who chooses prostitution as a diversion to her staid life, set the tone for the masterpieces to come.
THE GRADUATE (Mike Nichols)
Mike Nichols hit the jackpot and Dustin Hoffman became a star in the movie that really ushered in the "New Hollywood". Geared to a younger, hipper audience, THE GRADUATE was a near-phenomenon. A sophisticated and funny screenplay by Buck Henry didn't hurt.
IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (Norman Jewison)
Sidney Poitier was already a bona fide star when he went up against Rod Steiger's cracker sheriff. Well worth a look again today.
POINT BLANK (John Boorman)
It took an Englishman shooting in sunny southern California to show us how to make the kind of tough, revenge crime movies Hollywood used to be good at in the 40's. Only this one has a metaphysical twist that brings us right into the "now" of 1967. Trippy. Lee Marvin is simply awesome.
And now a word about………
BONNIE AND CLYDE (Arthur Penn)
An honorable mention for the film that had the most impact on both the industry and the audience in 1967. Notable for its then-excessive violence and the way the film was rescued from early failure by Warren Beatty's insistence and Pauline Kael's critical support.


they braved the 1 mile circuit of the park, with many ending up caked in thick, gooey mud which just added to the fun! The teams in every age group have done really well and showed great team spirit and determination. The support and help from parents was also was brilliant – thank you. We're looking forward to the next and final event (March 9th) which is extra special because it takes place in our very own park in Silsden.
PS: Don't forget to have a look on the "Woodentops" website for some wonderful photos of runners in action.
How many factors of 48 can you write in a 150 seconds? How many star jumps can you do in 75 seconds?
Year 4 have been finding out. They have been timing each other to complete a variety of challenges and learning how to convert units of time, at the same time! or simultaneously!


KEI Nishikori has rallied to outlast Marin Cilic at the US Open, giving Japan a men's and women's semi-finalist at the same Grand Slam for the first time, according to the ATP Tour.
Nishikori won the rematch of the 2014 final with a 2-6 6-4 7-6 (5) 4-6 6-4 victory in a match that lasted four hours and eight minutes.
In the match before Nishikori's, Naomi Osaka moved into her first Grand Slam semi-final by routing Lesia Tsurenko 6-1 6-1.
Only once in the professional era, which began in 1968, has Japan had a men's and women's player in the quarter-finals at the same tournament. That was at Wimbledon in 1995, and both Shuzo Matsuoka and Kimiko Date lost in that round.
This match was nothing like that.
Instead, it resembled their second-round match at Flushing Meadows in 2010 when Nishikori rallied to win in five sets in four hours and 59 minutes, the fifth-longest men's singles match by time in US Open history.
In the match on Thursday (AEST), each man blew chances to gain control and perhaps have a much quicker ending to a match that had wild swings of momentum.
After Cilic evened the match by taking the fourth following a 10-minute break for heat, Nishikori was on the verge with running away with the fifth, holding a break point for a 5-1 lead.
Instead, Cilic held and then broke Nishikori on his way to evening the set at 4-all, before Nishikori took the final two games.
The No.21 seed has continued his strong season after returning from a wrist injury that forced him to miss the US Open last year. He will play either No.6 seed Novak Djokovic or unseeded John Millman.
"I wish I don't go to five sets every time," Nishikori said.
Osaka had it much easier, continuing what's been a largely dominant run through the draw by winning in just 57 minutes, the third time in her five matches she didn't even have to play an hour.
The No.20 seed moved from Japan to New York at age three, and her deepest major run is coming at the same tournament she first visited as a child.
"Well, it definitely means a lot for me, and I always thought if I were to win a Grand Slam, the first one I'd want to win is the US Open, because I have grown up here and, like, then my grandparents can come and watch," she said.
"I think it would be really cool."
She raced to a 3-0 lead in the first set and then 4-0 in the second against the shaky Tsurenko, who finished with more unforced errors than points in her first major quarter-final.
Osaka will face either 14th-seeded Madison Keys or No.30 Carla Suarez Navarro in the first major semi-final appearance for a Japanese woman since Date reached the final four at Wimbledon in 1996.
She won 59 points to just 28 for the unseeded Ukrainian, who knocked off No.2 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the second round.
But Tsurenko said she was sick on Wednesday, waking up with a sore throat and not breathing well.
Osaka had consecutive 50-minute matches earlier in the tournament, including a 6-0 6-0 thrashing of Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the third round.
She was finally tested in the round of 16, edging past No.26 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-3 2-6 6-4 in a little more than two hours, but she was back in complete control against Tsurenko, winning 20 of 22 points (91 per cent) on her first serve.


Field Day 2016 is coming up shortly. The Decatur Amateur Radio Club will operate from the picnic shelter behind the main Spirit of America stage at the Point Mallard Park in Decatur. We plan to have 2 main stations, a 6-meter station, and a GOTA station operating all 24 hours.
The club meeting for June will be held at 6:00 on Tuesday evening, June 7th, at Libby's Catfish and Diner on Highway 67 in Priceville. We will meet together, eat together, and then make our major plans for the Field Day operation. All are welcome to come to both the meeting and the Field Day activity.
Tagged with Field Day on 28th May, 2016.	No comments.


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Pain,Anxiety, Restlessness, Nausea, Insomnia and more.
Disease progression can lead to an increase of medications and medical equipment, sometimes this is can happen unexpectedly or rather quickly.
Our physicians are experts as to what is required, when this change occurs to manage symptoms appropriately. Our network of pharmacy's respond quickly to your needs and medications will be delivered to your home.
Your Medical equipment needs are anticipated and delivered to your home. As changes arise the team will order the appropriate equipment to meet your needs.


During the holiday seasons, I saw on Sephora (yes, I know not Ulta. I rarely venture to the other store) that Milk Makeup was doing a set of their best sellers that includes mini versions some of their face products and the kush mascara. Now I was too late to get the bundle so instead as a little Christmas present for myself I purchased the mini versions of Kush Mascara, Matcha Toner, Watermelon Brightening Serum, Blur Stick, and Cooling Water. The only thing from that bundle I didn't get was the mini holographic highlighter as I have tried it and knew I wouldn't reach for it. I have heard great things and influencers praising each of these products so I wanted to find out myself if they each were worth the hype.
So let's dive into each of the reviews and at the very end I will give my final thoughts on all the products. I have been trying each of these products for a month before I formed my opinions.
If you have been on my blog, Instagram or YouTube for the past six or so months you'll know the only thing I've been reaching for is the Essence Volume Stylist Curl & Hold Mascara. I have actually been trying to be insanely good about not having more than two mascaras on hand at a time so they get the full use before expiration. Well both of my Essence Mascaras hit the end of the road and since I was already going to be testing a bunch of mini products from Milk Makeup, I figured I might as well give this mascara a try. I've heard glowing reviews of it from Jeffree Star, JKissa, and Ateeeely.
So what is the Kush Mascara?
You can get it in two sizes: 0.34 oz/10 mL for $24 or 0.13 oz/4 mL for $12. The second option is the one I went with just so I could try it out before making a full commitment. This mascara is supposed give you high-volume with nourishing hemp-derived cannabis seed oil and thickening heart-shaped fibers. As well as be clump-free, paraben-free, sulfate-free, gluten-free and phthalate-free.
Ever since its inception, Milk Makeup has wanted to create a product that showcases the amazing properties of hemp-derived cannabis seed oil. When they started talking about coming out with a fully vegan volumizing mascara with fibers, they knew they couldn't use beeswax, a common binding component in mascara formulas. Enter: hemp-derived cannabis seed oil. Hemp-derived cannabis oil fuses the heart-shaped fibers to your lashes without fallout. It whips the formula into a creamy texture that allows for smoother application on lashes and an easier, tug-free removal. It also provides an additional conditioning benefit. KUSH Mascara is the vegan way to get major volume and healthier-looking lashes in one hit.
The Matcha Toner is a solid toner stick infused with matcha to detoxify pores and balance skin. As well as help with dryness and dullness in your skin. This solid toner comes in two sizes: 1 oz/28 g for $26 (full size) or 0.33 oz/6.25 g for $14 (mini). The toner is paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free, gluten-free, oil-free, soy-free, talc-free, and alcohol-free. Which is not something you see in toners… and mainly the last one I'm referring to there.
Watermelon Brightening Serum is supposed to be a brightening and hydrating solid serum stick that evens skin tone, reduces the appearance of fine lines, and revitalizes the complexion for luminous skin. Like the other products I'm reviewing today comes in two sizes: 1.2 oz/34 g for $36 or 0.22 oz/6.25 g for $14. This serum is paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free, gluten-free, oil-free, and fragrance-free. Also it's supposed to be good on all skin types.
Next up is the Blur Stick. Which I may have tried in the past as a sample but I can't honestly remember. This is supposed to be a matte primer that glides on sheer to blur pores and fine lines. Similar to every other product mentioned there are two sizes: 1 oz/28 g for $36 or 0.19 oz/5.4 g for $14. The blur stick is paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free, gluten-free, oil-free, talc-free, silicone-free, dimethicone-free, and soy-free.
Lastly the Cooling Water is a cooling, de-puffing stick packed with stimulating caffeine and soothing seawater for energized skin. And it's supposed to be good on all skin types. Like everything else it comes in two sizes: 1.2 oz/34 g for $24 or 0.12 oz/6 g for $14. The cooling water is paraben-free, sulfate-free, phthalate-free, gluten-free, oil-free, and talc-free.
Okay final thoughts. I find it slightly odd that the full sizes though almost identical in weight all are different prices though the mini size is all priced at $14. Would love to see those all match the same price point, but I'm not Milk Makeup so I can't set the prices. I don't think the prices are crazy by any means either for a mid-range brand. They are on the lower end of the spectrum for what I consider mid-range which I strongly like.
Throughout the month as I didn't try each of these individually my skin broke out yet remained smooth. So I don't know if the break outs were related to the products from Milk Makeup or due to stress, but it did pair up with the days I used the blur stick as my primer as compared to something else. I did noticed with use of these products that I no longer had dry patches around my face, which is something I was experiencing in a few choice spots prior to using these. Another thing I noted while trying these skin sticks was that they would be sticky for several minutes after application. But after patting it in, then the tackiness would eventually go away.
I don't think the dark circles under my eyes was drastically changed by the cooling water, though it did feel nice to apply it onto the skin. So that helped me wake up in the morning, but ultimately didn't do much for the skin there. And I'm half tempted to say the bags look worse than before. Again that could be just from me struggling to sleep lately, but the cooling water didn't do much bottom of the line.
So ultimately, I'm not sold on the skin sticks that I tried out. They are cute in concept but I didn't honestly see them doing much for me. They do have other skincare products and makeup in general so I might try out other things from them in the future but these are getting a pass from me.
Moving onto the Kush Mascara. I actually really enjoy this mascara for what it did for my lashes. Even though it's a mini version, the mascara feels luxurious to use. I notice my lashes look longer without any clumps, I don't end up getting the mascara all over my lower lash line. My lashes also look fuller when I wear this. However, I do notice on some days I have flakes under my eyes from this mascara. And I've noticed my eyes are way more watery since trying this mascara, which I have noticed other people mentioning as well. So I'm kind of leaning towards I might be allergic to it though it makes my lashes look super pretty. So that's disappointing if that's true, if it's not I don't know what's happening then. But the only correlation I can put up is that it must be the mascara as I didn't have this issue when I used Essence Volume Stylist Curl & Hold Mascara. I'm going to finish up this mascara but second it's expired or used up, I'm going back to ones I know work and don't irritate my eyes.
What Milk Makeup products work wonderfully for you or do you have similar experiences as me? Since all of these more or less didn't work out for one reason or another.


Skip to main content, dietary Guidelines for Americans, the Nations go-to source for nutrition advice.
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text:
How to Communicate With Parents During COVID-19: Less Jargon, More Grace
by Chandra Williams | Nov 24, 2020
It's easy for principals and school leaders to feel discouraged when trying to communicate with parents during any school year, but communicating with parents during the COVID-19 pandemic is especially challenging. When students must learn remotely part-time or full-time, we depend on parents to help keep them on track with the curriculum. Here are some tips for communicating with parents during this pandemic:
Let parents know exactly what to expect.
The state of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, with each region of the country experiencing peaks at different times. It may be impossible for your leaders to know if/when your classes will have to shift to a virtual-only format and if/when students will be allowed to come back to school in-person. However, even though school leaders cannot predict precisely when changes will occur, parents and guardians need to have clear expectations, so they know how to support their students.
Make sure your team keeps parents informed about:
Where to find information regarding assignments and schedules — Which communications platform will you use? How can parents easily access this information?
When your team will provide updates — On what dates will your leadership team inform parents about any upcoming changes to the school schedule and learning locations? How often and at what times can parents contact teachers and school leaders?
Who to contact when questions and issues arise — Although parents may have questions about virtual learning technology, Project Tomorrow finds that about 78% of teachers are "not very comfortable" supporting student collaboration through technology. If technical issues arise, parents and students need to know whom they can contact for support to prevent lapses in learning.
Most families understand that COVID-19 poses unprecedented challenges in education and know that your team will often need to adapt "on the fly" as the situation changes. Keep parents and guardians updated as you adapt so they can help support their students through the adjustments.
Provide plenty of feedback opportunities.
During virtual learning, many parents must take on the roles of timekeeper, tech support, and private tutor as their students work from home. Assume these roles are unfamiliar to parents and let them know how your team is available to offer support. Parents and guardians need a way to provide feedback and converse with your team so you can work cooperatively to support student learning.
Your school leaders may want to invite feedback through:
Surveys — Ask parents about their communication preferences, needs for resources, issues, and questions about students' assignments, what is working well, and what remaining challenges still need to be solved.
One-on-one meetings — Have your teachers schedule regular one-on-one meetings with parents and students so they can provide more individualized support for unique student needs.
Asynchronous communication — Asynchronous communication falls somewhere between a blanket, one-time survey, and a live, one-on-one meeting. Let parents know how they can contact teachers and school leaders outside of regular office hours and prescheduled meetings. For example, some school leaders have set up an email address designated for parent feedback or a discussion forum open to parents, teachers, and school leaders. This way, parents do not feel like they have to wait for a meeting date to ask their questions.
Make a plan to turn parent and guardian feedback into measurable data that you can use to provide more consistent support for all students. For example, you can find trends regarding which questions and challenges arise most frequently to help you plan ahead. Teacher Pay Teachers recommend keeping a contact log to ensure all parents receive regular, consistent communication.
Streamline communications.
A We Are Teachers article from this summer explains one of the struggles that parents experience through distance learning: "A common pain point was that information, assignments, and collaboration took place on different platforms." Especially for parents who are new to virtual learning, it can be challenging to track where and how to get information about students' learning.
We Are Teachers recommends' that school leaders find a way to consolidate communications into a single platform, so parents and students only have to keep track of one new system. Also, communications should be planned ahead of time to reduce the volume and increase the value of messages sent to parents. The Minnesota Rural Education Association (MREA) explains, "Every teacher sending an email to parents is not a best practice. Rather, schools and districts together need to provide coordinated, clear messaging, systems, and plans."
Get professional support to improve parental engagement.
Our team of expert consultants and veteran educators understand the challenges you face as a principal or school leader. We help district leaders and school principals implement evidence-based practices into their leadership strategy, including the following areas:
Parent and guardian engagement
Virtual learning and blended learning
Raising student achievement
Additionally, we know that your teachers need extra support to learn how to better communicate with parents during the pandemic. We provide customized professional development to help meet your team's specific goals.
Schedule a free call with one of our experts today to learn more about our leadership support approach and professional development.
Blended Learning and Virtual Learning, Parent Engagement, School Reopening


text:
Robin Curtis
Robin Curtis is an American real estate broker and actress. She is most notable for replacing Kirstie Alley in the role of Vulcan Lieutenant Saavik in the films Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Although her first appearance as Vulcan Lieutenant Saavik in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was promoted as being her film debut, in fact Curtis had already made several film and made-for-television movie appearances. Her performance in the film drew mixed reception from Trek fans, and was followed by a brief appearance as Saavik in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.[1][2][3] She co-starred in the 1983 episode "Short Notice" during the first season of the Knight Rider television series. In 1991, she portrayed Carol Pulaski on the soap opera General Hospital. In 1993, Curtis portrayed an unrelated Vulcan character disguised as a Romulan (Tallera/T'Paal) in the two-part episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation "Gambit," for which she was screen-tested instead of being given any special consideration. In the Babylon 5 episode "Deathwalker" (1994), she appeared as Abbai Ambassador Kalika. She also appeared in the television series Dream On, Herman's Head, Night Court, MacGyver, Johnny Bago, and The Equalizer. Curtis's other film work includes Hexed, Ghost Story, Shootdown, In Love with an Older Woman, A White Thread, A Black Thread, and LBJ - The Early Years in which she played the role of Jacqueline Kennedy. *Source:* **Wikipedia**
Jun 15, 1956	In New York Mills, New York
In the series Knight Rider 1982-09-26
Movie Recoil 1998-05-12
Movie	 Recoil Julie Sloan 1998-05-12
Movie	 Scorpio One Shannon Brey 1998-01-01
Series	 7th Heaven Unknown 1996-08-26
Movie	 Dark Breed Marian 1996-01-01
Movie	 Santa with Muscles Leslie 1996-11-08
Movie	 Bloodfist VI: Ground Zero Major Marin 1995-01-31
Series	 Babylon 5 Ambassador Kalika 1994-01-26
Movie	 The Unborn II Linda Holt 1994-04-20
Movie	 Tagteam Lt. Carol Steckler 1991-01-26
Series	 Dream On Unknown 1990-07-08
Movie	 LBJ: The Early Years Jacqueline Kennedy 1987-02-01
Series	 Star Trek: The Next Generation Tallera 1987-09-28
Movie	 Northstar Jane Harlow 1986-08-09
Movie	 Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Lt. Saavik 1986-11-25
Series	 The Equalizer Unknown 1985-09-18
Series	 MacGyver Unknown 1985-09-29
Series	 Airwolf Lynn 1984-01-22
Series	 Mike Hammer Unknown 1984-01-28
Series	 Murder, She Wrote Unknown 1984-09-30
Movie	 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock Lt. Saavik 1984-05-31
Series	 Scarecrow and Mrs. King Unknown 1983-10-03
Series	 Knight Rider Nicole Turner 1982-09-26
Movie	 In Love with an Older Woman Michelle 1982-11-24


People are angry. Floods continue to wreck the lives of millions despite the efforts of an international force to provide rescue and relief. Zardari has been in London meeting with UK PM David Cameron, and the resulting outcry against him has been repeated throughout the media. But the anger is not really with Zardari, and I can prove it.
I laughed when I read that Fatima had written that the floods are 'Zardaris Katrina'. It's actually nothing of the sort. The Katrina floods in America were largely ignored by Bush and his government until it was too late. But the same cannot be said for the KP floods where the government and military have been working tirelessly and against all odds to save the people. Yes, there have been setbacks due to the ongoing weather problems, but we cannot expect the government to control the weather can we?
But it's telling that anti-Zardari partisans are using the Katrina name. It seems to be quite in fashion these days to accuse anything that goes wrong as a leader's 'Katrina'. In America, the oil spill was called by anti-Obama partisans 'Obama's Katrina' even though Obama did not spill the oil and had his government working to stop the disaster.
This is not the only way that the right wing in our country is borrowing from the right wing in other countries, either. How loud has the media wailed about Zardari's children being on vacation in France? Oh, but the same complaints are being made by right wing Americans against the Obama family also. Reporter Ruth Marcus wrote in the American newspaper The Washington Post called this "unfair attacks" on Michelle Obama and her daughters for going on vacation to Spain.
And its not just America and Pakistan, but Russia also is seeing popular anger at government for what is a perceived failure to act fast enough to stop a disaster.
Here, as in other regions overcome by wildfires and choking smog, Russian officials at all levels are facing an outcry over their handling of a mounting environmental disaster. They say the government was ill prepared and equipped to fight the fires, responded too late and is poorly organized to mobilize volunteers who want to help.
President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov have all come under withering criticism. Mr. Luzhkov, whose spokesman had denied Friday that the city was in crisis, returned from a midsummer break, other aides said.
The government and military are doing what they can. The international community has been pitching in with American helicopters flying rescue missions to save families and delivering halal foods to ensure people have enough to eat. Government and military personnel are donating as much as one-month salary to flood victims.
But even with all of the anger against Zardari, what are the complainers doing? Answer is nothing.
Even Nadeem Paracha says he is angry with Zardari, but sees that the people complaining are doing nothing themselves.
I won't go into details about this, but will share with you an episode I witnessed at an office full of young folks. This episode neatly covers the ground realities I experienced elsewhere as well.
At this office I saw three donation boxes put there to collect funds for the flood victims. Since they were one of those transparent plastic ones, one could see through and in them. They'd been lying there for three days and none of them were even half full.
As Mr Paracha points out, Zardari is an easy target to attack when people are frustrated and angry. But it has nothing to do with Zardari, really. It is the same in every country. When something bad happens, people look for someone to blame. The easiest target is the country's leaders, which is why you see the same thing happening in America, UK, Russia…everywhere.
Pakistan is no different. People are upset, and they have found an easy target. Problem is, blaming Zardari will not fix the problems. Will we wake up in time to save ourselves?


I am pleased to announce that for the 3rd year in a row Reiman Photography has received the WeddingWire Couples' Choice Award! I would like to thank all of the amazing couples that have let me share in their special day and let me capture all of their special moments!
I am happy to announce that Reiman Photography has just received the WeddingWire Couples' Choice Award for 2014! This award is only given to the top 5% of Wedding Professionals on the Nationwide WeddingWire Network. Thank you to all of the past couples!


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When will it end? Italy faces Italy's house prices have been declining for nine years, falling by around 17.5% (-25.1% inflation-adjusted) from Q3 2008 to Q4 2017, according to the European Central Bank (ECB) figures. In Q4 2017, Italy's house price index fell by 0.29% y-o-y, according to the ECB. When adjusted for inflation, the index fell by 1.21%.
Prices of second-hand houses fell by about 3.8% to €1,799 (US$ 2,228.60) per square metre (sq. m.) during the year to Q1 2018, according to the real estate portal Idealista.it. In Rome, the country's capital, the average house price fell 3% during the year to Q1 2018.
From 2000 to H1 2008, house prices in Italy rose 85% (53% inflation-adjusted), according to Nomisma. However, house prices started to fall in H2 2008, mainly due to the global financial meltdown.
Then the financial crisis hit, and unlike in Europe's more economically vibrant countries, house prices have not yet recovered. From H2 2008 to 2011, house prices fell 1.9% (-7.8% inflation-adjusted). The price drop worsened dramatically from 2011 to 2014, with the Euro crisis impacting Italy's sluggish economy, and the property tax Tassa sui Servizi Indivisibili (TASI) hindering any recovery. During this period, house prices fell by 13.5% (-16.3% inflation-adjusted), according to the ECB figures.
However property prices are now rising in cities, though still falling in the countryside. All regions, taken as a whole, saw annual house price declines in Q1 2018, according to Idealista.it. Marche had the sharpest price fall (6.5% y-o-y in Q1 2018). Other regions with large annual price declines included Molise (-6.1%), Umbria (-5.6%), Lombardy (-5.4%), Campania (-5.1%), and Piedmont (-5%).
In cities it was generally a different story. The city of Prato recorded the highest annual price rise of around 6.5% y-o-y in Q1 2018, followed by Verona (5.3%), Bologna (5.1%), Modena (4.6%), Brescia (3.5%), Florence (2.3%), Bolzano-Bozen (2.1%) and Salerno (1.5%). House prices in Milan rose slightly (by 0.6% y-o-y), while prices in Naples fell by 2.4%, and in Genoa declined by 6.2%.
Venice has the country's most expensive houses , with an average price of around €4,380 (US$ 5,426) per sq. m., followed by Florence with €3,519 (US$ 4,359) per sq. m., Bolzano-Bozen with €3,446 (US$ 4,269) per sq. m., Milan with €3,365 (US$ 4,169) per sq. m., Rome with €3,176 (US$ 3,934) per sq. m., and Naples with €2,723 (US$ 3,373) per sq. m.
The number of transactions rose in all the main cities, except in Bologna, according to the Agenzia delle Entrate. Bari had the largest increase, with sales surging by 15.1% y-o-y . Other cities with stronger sales included: Milan (8.1%), Verona (8%), Palermo (7.9%), Florence (7.8%), and Naples (7.4%). Turin (4.9%), Genoa (3.3%), and Rome (3%) had moderate sales increases.
Gross rental yields in the historical centre of Rome and of Milan - the return earned on the purchase price of a rental property, before taxation, vacancy costs, and other costs - range from 2.4% to 4.5%, with yields in Rome lower than in Milan. Yields on 120 square metre (sq. m.) apartments are really low, yields on smaller apartments a little better.
Prices of apartments. Apartments in the wealthy suburbs of Rome cost on average between €4,400 to €4,900 per sq. m.. A 120 sq. m. apartment in the suburbs would cost around €4,450 per sq. m. In the historic centres of Rome and Milan, prices are nearer €8,000 per sq. m.
Conclusion: Property prices in Italy are beginning to look attractive. But gross rental yields are very poor, and Italy's predatory taxation system doesn't help.
Round trip transaction costs can be very high on residential property in Italy. See our Italy residential property transaction costs analysis and our Residential property transaction costs in Italy compared to other countries.
Rental Income: Nonresidents are taxed on rental income earned in Italy. The rates range from 23% to 43%. Personal allowances for spouse and family are not available to nonresidents, but certain deductions may be granted.
Capital Gains: Capital gains are not taxed if the property was held for more than five years. Otherwise capital gains are considered as ordinary income and taxed at progressive rates.
Inheritance: Inheritance taxes are levied at 4% to 8%, depending on the relationship between the deceased and the beneficiary, with non-taxable threshold amounts.
Residents: Residents are taxed on their worldwide income. at progressive rates, from 23% to 43%.
Total round-trip transaction costs in Italy range from 8.88% to 22.70%of the property value. Registration tax is 3% for main homes and 7% for second homes. Nonresident buyers pay a fixed registration tax of 7%. The real estate agent's commission is between 3% and 8% plus 22% VAT; typically split between buyer and seller.
Because of strongly pro-tenant landlord & tenant laws, the rental market is shrinking.
Rents: Rents can initially be freely negotiated, but increases are restricted. Landlords can only increase the rent after the initial 4-year contract.
Tenant Security: Tenants have the right to controlled rents, and effectively eight years or more of security of tenure. A landlord may only serve a disdetta - a registered letter of notice which must be sent at least six months before contract expiry - to coincide with the end of the standard 4 years. Failure to do so automatically renews the contract for another 4 years.
Italy experienced its fastest economic growth in seven years in 2017, with 1.5% GDP growth - still modest. There's been strong domestic demand, improvements in the labour market, greater consumer confidence, and investment has improved, due to tax credits, favourable financing conditions, and rising exports, according to the European Commission (EC).
The Bank of Italy predicts 1.5% GDP growth for 2018, followed by above 1% in 2019 and 2020. "The rise in households' disposable income and the decline in firms' spare capacity mean that the improved outlook is increasingly translating into higher consumption and investment," said Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco.
Even before the crisis, the Italian economy had already been growing sluggishly, with average GDP growth of 1.2% from 2001 to 2007. It contracted by 1.1% in 2008 and by another 5.5% in 2009. The country went back to 1.7% growth in 2010 and 0.6% in 2011, but contractions of 2.8% in 2012 and 1.7% in 2013, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). So it has been a miserable decade. Italy's economy then grew by 0.1% in 2014, 1% in 2015, and 0.9% in 2016.
Consumer prices in Italy increased by only around 0.8% during the year to March 2018. Italy's unemployment rate stood at 11% in March 2018, unchanged from the previous month, according to ISTAT.
Italy's banking system has been in crisis, and there is still a possibility of collapse. However, recent developments suggest a recovery.
Private sector lending has been increasing since the end of 2016.
The banking system's stock of non-performing loans (NPLs) has been declining rapidly, mainly due to the decreasing flow of new NPLs and the massive amount of NPLs being sold by banks.
The exposure to domestic sovereign debt has fallen.
On the liabilities side, there were more new bond issues in 2017 than redemptions, the first time since 2015.
The amount of bad loans held by Italian banks is high, but declining - €178 billion (US$ 220.51 billion) in December 2017, down from €215 billion (US$ 266.34 billion) at the end of 2016, according to the Bank of Italy.
"The Italian banking industry is emerging from a prolonged period of distress. The ongoing economic recovery and the resolution of important critical cases have drastically reduced tail risk and are helping to improve confidence," said Panetta.
"Critical cases" included the recapitalization of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena in 2017, the liquidation of Popolare di Vicenza and Veneto Banca, and the sale of four banks put into resolution in November 2015.
Monte dei Paschi (MPS), the oldest surviving bank in the world and the third largest bank in Italy, had been a focus of attention after news in December 2016 that it was running out of cash and might become insolvent within four months without fresh capital. In July 2017, the European Union approved a €5.4 billion (US$ 6.69 billion) state bailout of MPS after the latter agreed in undergoing a major revamp.
Italy's public debt remains remarkably large, estimated at around 131.8% of GDP at the end of 2017, but it was slightly down from 132% of GDP in 2016. Italy has the second-highest public debt to GDP ratio in Europe, only next to Greece.
These improvements earned the country a recent credit upgrade from Standard & Poor's (S&P) from BBB- rating to BBB in October 2017.
On March 4, 2018, Italy held a general election. The election resulted in a hung parliament since no particular party won an overwhelming majority. At time of writing, two months after the election, it had jus been announced that a little-known law professor called Giuseppe Conte has been proposed as the head of the coalition cabinet between the far-right League led by Matteo Salvini and the post-ideological Five Star Movement led by Luigi Di Maio.
In other words, a populist nightmare - sending the Italian bond markets plunging and causing alarm in Brussels. Both allies are anti-EU, anti-immigrant, and are supported by ecosystems of fake news, pushing anything from anti-Semitic and racist propaganda about George Soros to claims about the Obama administration plotting to smuggle migrants from Libya to Italy, or anti-vaccine conspiracies. The Five Star Movement has been particularly good at presenting sanitised messages in mainstream media while allowing their social media followers to spread hate, racism and fake news.
The two parties' informal media networks are separate, but interconnected, and have links to far-right and pro-Russia propaganda sources in the West.
While populism is a stupid answer to real-world problems, experience elsewhere suggests that initially there is unlikely to be any impact on the housing market.


text:
namespace Engine{

void Engine::FatalError(std::string errorString)
{
	std::cout << "FATAL ERROR! Something went wrong!" << std::endl;
	std::cout << errorString << std::endl;
	std::cout << "The program terminated with an error" << std::endl;
	int tmp;
	std::cin >> tmp;
	SDL_Quit();
	exit(6969);
}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


The 2013 CAWS Dues document is now available. Click here for details.
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Rain, rain, rain, there is nothing we have more at the moment! The sky looks as grey as the concrete streets and brutalist buildings, and it takes a little bit more effort to stay in a the mood for quirkiness and colour.
My last outfit shoot had to be postponed because of the lousy autumn weather as well, and instead of posing I am writing this wishlist post snuggled into my blanket. An adorable way to work I must say! As you see, I insist again that looks for colder days are best with a stunning dress.
The core of this outfit is the coolest comic dress from my fav label Moschino. I found it in this inspiring dress guide from Zalando. The dress would go very well with the pink Gucci knee socks and the retro scarf with jukeboxes and diner signs. Pop Art and Comics have always been one of my major style inspirations, just like here often paired with 50s elements.
I couldn't resist smuggling in the Eggo earrings: Eleven loves them, I love them too. Gosh, how can it be Stranger Things is already over, and we all have to wait for so so long? Well, even the more reason to get the earrings and this dress and practice to be just as badass as El till our fav girl returns!


text:
Ecuador: Tribe sees how oil industry affects forest on 'Toxic Tour'
by Daniela Aguilar on 1 June 2018 | Translated by Sarah Engel
Mongabay Series: Global Forests, Indigenous Peoples and Conservation
Guided by the indigenous people of Ecuador's Sucumbíos province, which has been hit by oil exploitation, Waorani people from Pastaza province joined a "Toxic Tour" to learn how contamination has affected other communities in the Amazon.
Faced with the possible concession of their territory for oil activities, the Waorani community in Pastaza province is preparing to defend itself using a strategy they call "spear and law."
"What I tell them is to be firm, to take care of their territory, because it's like an inheritance that our ancestors have left us and I believe that it's mandatory for us to defend it," says one woman from an area already heavily affected by oil drilling.
SUCUMBÍOS PROVINCE, Ecuador — "The land is dead," says Camilo Pauche as he surveys with consternation the devastation that the oil industry has left in Pacayacu, a village in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Camilo, an inhabitant of virgin forest, is part of a delegation of Waorani indigenous people visiting from Pastaza province to participate in an activity normally reserved for foreigners, academics and journalists: the "Toxic Tour."
Camilo closes his eyes and for an instant he can feel the jungle breeze blowing, animals bustling in the distance, against the shadows of majestic trees connected to each other by vines. But then a starker, harsher panorama emerges: bushes stripped of greenery, smoky chimneys, pits full of oil waste, oily bodies of water, weeds, and dead land that doesn't bear fruit. This is the reality that members of the Siekopai, Siona and A'i Kofan indigenous groups now have to live with here in Sucumbíos province .
A pool of oil-industry waste located in the village of Pacayacu in Sucumbíos province, one of the sites the indigenous people visited on the Toxic Tour. Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
Camilo's bewilderment is shared by the majority of the Waorani on the Toxic Tour. "I feel sad; I feel ugly seeing the people who are suffering with contaminated waters. How are they going to go back and take more water? For me, it has already been lost forever," says Carmen Nenquimo from Nemompare, one of the 12 Waorani communities in Pastaza that are surrounded by jungle and can only be accessed by air or river. It is the first time Nenquimo has visited this area, and the first time she's been able to put a meaning to a word that doesn't exist in her ancestral language: contamination.
"Water matters, life matters, [but] money doesn't matter," Nenquimo says, adding that Waorani leaders have been in contact with oil workers seeking permission to enter their territory in exchange for gifts. "They say that it's good: 'we negotiate, we'll give you a motor and chainsaw,' and we negotiate with them. We thought that it was good. But seeing well and thinking well, it isn't good to have chainsaws, motors, or anything they can give, because life is what matters," Nenquimo says.
A journey no one wants
A few hours before joining the Toxic Tour, the Waorani women gather to sing songs and prepare for the unconventional journey. They are dressed in traditional necklaces and skirts made from tree bark and yarn made from Chambira palms, and they paint their faces with a paste made from the buds of annatto seeds. This is just a sample of the elegance and beauty in their culture.
Waorani women paint around their eyes with a paste made from annatto seeds. Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
Once they are ready, they join the Waorani men and meet with a group of Siekopai, Siona and A'i Kofan people who have arrived from other communities in Sucumbíos province. They are ready to learn about the impacts of oil exploitation in the area — the same impacts that could affect the Waorani if their territory, which is included in what the government calls "Block 22," is conceded to the southeastern round of oil territories in the next few months.
The meeting point for the Toxic Tour is the Amisacho ranch in the city of Lago Agrio in Sucumbíos. This is the headquarters of the Ceibo Alliance, an initiative started three years ago by Waorani, Siekopai, Siona and A'i Kofan members to help their communities. The Toxic Tour is supported by Amazon Frontlines, an organization that began as ClearWater, which provides water systems to Amazonian communities.
"From where I come, it's a pure forest, and before the drilling companies, miners and deforestation come to pester us, we want to defend ourselves," Ene Nenquimo, the Waorani coordinator of the Ceibo Alliance, says at the start of the tour. Immediately after, she addresses the members of the three other indigenous communities: "You are a very clear example, and we want to have some of your strength to be able to fight and to keep our territory alive." The elder Waorani women then sing a song in their native Pikani language: "We come from far away, but we are gathered like siblings."
In a traditional house made primarily of leaves, Waorani people from ten communities in Pastaza province gathered for three days. They worked on a strategy to defend their land, located in Block 22, against oil production. Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
Pacayacu is a village in the administrative region of Shushufindi, in Sucumbíos. It encompasses a relatively small area, but it shows clearly the impacts of oil drilling activity. The village came to prominence after a group of inhabitants filed a lawsuit in 2005 against the state-owned oil company, Petroamazonas, over the pollution caused by its activities. The community members won the lawsuit, but the 2013 ruling ordering that reparations be paid was later dismissed at the request of the government under then-president Rafael Correa. The lawsuit has since been taken up at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
In Pacayacu, the Toxic Tour participants meet Armando Naranjo and Sixto Martínez, who were prosecutors in the lawsuit against Petroamazonas. Both share their stories and their advice to the group: "Don't let the company enter your territory, or you'll lose your life defending it."
Naranjo says his farm's productivity, in addition to his family's health, suffered greatly after several oil spills in 1988 and 1989. Instead of providing help, the state-run company brought in machinery to attempt to cover up the disaster, he says. "They told me that the ants would eat and decontaminate the oil spills, but 30 years later, I keep living in this pollution," Naranjo says.
Martínez remembers the death of his wife, at 36, as a result of a cancer that he attributes to contact with crude oil. "I was left with six young children and I almost died," he says. The impacts of the oil industry have not only persisted, he says, but have also grown worse with the passing of time.
Another problem in Pacayacu, previously reported by Mongabay Latam but that remains unresolved, according to locals, is the lack of water fit for human consumption. "Our families are sick, the cassava plants turned black, the papaya turned hard, and nothing that we grow is useful," says Jenny España, who has also been active in the lawsuit against Petroamazonas.
España explains to the Waorani people on the tour how the giant waste pools work: "They are about 50 meters long by 40 meters wide, and they're three meters deep," or about 164 feet by 131 feet, and 10 feet deep. "Everything that isn't useful [to the oil workers] is thrown towards the settlers' farms," España says. Where they're now standing, she says, is the Suzuki oil field.
The Environmental and Social Repair Program (PRAS), a part of Ecuador's Ministry of the Environment, identifies Pacayacu as one of the areas of the Amazon most heavily impacted by human activity. As of 2017, there were a recorded 530 sources of contamination in the village, including 128 pools, 272 pits, and 130 oil spills. The villages of Palma Roja and Limoncocha, also in Sucumbíos province, along with Dayuma and Inés Arango in neighboring Orellana province, contain another 1,097 related environmental issues, according to the PRAS. All of these are part of eastern Ecuador's legacy of exploiting the land for oil. The area's oil boom began in the 1970s, led by U.S. oil giant Texaco, and saw the country produce a total of 6 billion barrels of oil between then and 2017, according to the Ministry of Energy and Non-Renewable Resources.
Sixto Martínez, a farmer from Pacayacu who is driving a lawsuit against state-owned oil company Petroamazonas, shows members of the Waorani indigenous community the impacts of the oil industry. Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
Between 2014 and 2016, hydrocarbon production reached about 550,000 barrels per day, or about 200 million barrels per year, according to the latest published data. In 2016, there were 5,224 drilled oil wells in the country, 1,660 of them drilled between 2010 and 2016.
The building of roads to facilitate the oil drilling activity has resulted in 6,500 square kilometers (2,500 square miles) of deforestation between 1990 and 2015, according to Nicolás Mainville of Amazon Frontlines.
For now, there are no oil wells within the Waorani territory in Pastaza province, nor are there any roads or paths for invaders, loggers and hunters. But the region contains some of the 13,500 kilometers (8,388 miles) of exploration trails that have been made in the Ecuadorian Amazon in search of oil. The story is different for the Siekopai, Siona and A'i Kofan indigenous communities.
In the middle of the jungle, a Waorani man cuts vines hanging from a tree. The jungle provides the Waorani community with everything, including ropes and handles that they use every day. Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
Oil legacy
Sixty-eight percent of Ecuador's oil blocks sit on indigenous people's territory — the highest proportion of all the countries in the Amazon River Basin, according to the report "Amazon Under Pressure" by the Ecuadorian scientific institution EcoCiencia and the Amazon Geo-Referenced Socio-Environmental Information Network (RAISG), a consortium of Amazonian civil society organizations. "The A'i Kofan, Siona, and Secoya (Siekopai) territories, percentage-wise, have the most pressure on their land, with 100% of the surface of the oil blocks in their territories under exploitation," says the report.
This doesn't include the oil industry's impact on the area since the 1970s, in the Texaco era. Several members of these indigenous communities tried to press charges against Texaco, which has since been taken over by Chevron. They accused the company of spilling 71 million liters (19 million gallons) of oil residue and 64 million liters (17 million gallons) of crude oil in the 26 years that the company operated in Sucumbíos and Orellana provinces. The lawsuit began in the early 1990s in New York and wound up at the Lago Agrio Court in Sucumbíos 10 years later. In 2011, the court ruled that Texaco should pay $9.5 billion to repair the environmental and social harm it had caused. However, due to a lack of Texaco assets in Ecuador, the affected parties' lawyers had to file lawsuits in countries where Texaco continues to operate, such as Argentina, Brazil and Canada — all of them unsuccessful to date.
More than two decades have passed since Texaco left Ecuador, but those affected remain "hopeful for a trial that never ended up with a sentence," said Adolfo Maldonado, an environmental health specialist from the Ecuadorean organization Environmental Clinic. He was speaking in a short film about the results of a study of people living with environmental issues in Sucumbíos and Orellana provinces. The study was done at the request of the Union of People Affected by Chevron-Texaco (UDAPT). Environmental Clinic team members conducted interviews with settler families, who live the closest to the environmental problems, as well as with indigenous Siekopai, Siona and A'i Kofan families. Among the 1,579 families interviewed, 479 people from 384 families had cancer of various types. In other words, approximately one in four families had a member living with cancer. Sixty-five families had two people with cancer, and 15 families had three people with cancer. Eighty-two percent of the families also said the water they had access to was contaminated.
But oil is far from the only problem affecting indigenous communities in the northern Amazon. "Now the biggest problem is the African palm, which uses chemicals that later go into the Shushufindi River," says Jimmy Piguaje, a 27-year-old member of the Siekopai community who lives in the village of Siecoya Remolino. Piguaje doesn't know what it's like to live the way his ancestors did. His people have been "an ethnic minority in Ecuador" for a long time, he says, and their territory has been occupied by oil and palm oil companies for years. From stories he's heard from elders like Javier Piguaje, he knows that the contamination began in the form of oil spilled directly into their rivers and lands. This resulted in death, food shortages and undrinkable water. The oil industry also caused fights within the indigenous communities, as well as alcoholism, drug addiction and prostitution, Jimmy Piguaje says.
Ermenegildo Criollo (left) with a group of Waorani people from Pastaza province who went to Sucumbíos province to try to understand the reality of oil-industry contamination. Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
As for the A'i Kofan indigenous community, their young people have never lived in a primary forest. And their adults, such as 60-year-old Ermenegildo Criollo, only have distant memories of what their community was once like. "I was 6 years old and I saw when the oil company came to this area. I was little, and then I saw an oil spill and formation water, and I used to bathe in the contaminated river. We had lizards, capybaras — everything died," Criollo says. (Formation water is water naturally commingled with oil and gas deposits that can be a source of contamination when released by drilling.)
In his youth, the oil industry also left him with two incredibly painful experiences: the deaths of his two children at the ages of 6 months and 3 years. His first was born sick, according to Criollo, because his wife became pregnant during a series of oil spills. His second child drank contaminated water during a trip to a river and died a few hours later. "My message is to not allow the oil company to enter the Waorani territory, because they don't yet know how everything will be affected when it is contaminated," says Criollo, who also participated in the lawsuit against Chevron-Texaco.
For the Siona indigenous community in Sucumbíos's Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, the poison also came in the form of contaminated river water. Alicia Salazar, a member of the Ceibo Alliance who lives in the reserve, says her community has suffered from the effects of crude oil spills for decades. "There have been pretty big spills in Cuyabeno, which are still evident when the water level falls. People move and the crude [oil] still comes out, so there are fewer fish and more skin diseases too," Salazar says. She cites a 2006 spill at the Cuyabeno 8 well, which affected thousands of acres of rainforest in the reserve.
Under the relentless assault of oil, the tiny Siona community of no more than 500 members in Ecuador faces a future that is not at all encouraging. Salazar, having seen the virgin forests of Pastaza province with her Waorani friends, says the difference between that area and the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve is staggering. "What I tell them is to be firm, to take care of their territory, because it's like an inheritance that our ancestors have left us and I believe that it's mandatory for us to defend it," she says.
The Waorani: an inherited opportunity
Several Waorani men on the Toxic Tour have brought along an important tool from their culture's past: a spear. It's their way of coming prepared for the unknown: oil wells, waste pools, chimneys spewing flames, and coguris, as they call people from the city. They're on the tour with the goal of facing their fears, so they can teach their people about the oil industry's impacts. All the groups on the Toxic Tour listen attentively to the stories told by those living in Pacayacu, but the Waorani people appear to be the most affected. Not all of them speak Spanish, especially the community's elders, who are greatly respected for their wisdom. Translating for them is Oswando "Opi" Nenquimo.
A pool of oil-industry waste in the village of Pacayacu in Sucumbíos province. Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
Nenquimo also serves as the voice of the Waorani people to the others in attendance. "We have always defended our territory and our elders," he says, relaying the message of a Waorani woman. "We still have the present moment to fight and defend our territory; we want to leave this territory healthy for the young people from future generations. We want them to live without contamination and without harm to their health."
"We the Waorani [people] of Pastaza, who are free from contamination, are very strongly considering doing two things: 'spear' law and legal law," says Nenquimo, who is also a coordinator of the Ceibo Alliance. He says they are working on a map of their territory, to demonstrate that their lands are not wastelands, but just the opposite. They have seemingly infinite resources and fragile ecosystems. They are also working with a legal team to produce an early defense plan based on national and international jurisprudence.
Some of the Waorani people who attended the Toxic Tour were emotionally impacted upon seeing the waste pools and flares in several different places in Pacayacu. "We have clean air, clean water," they repeated. Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
Although the Waorani people living in Block 22 have not yet directly experienced the oil industry's exploitation, the same cannot be said for other Waorani communities. Those living in Block 14, in the neighboring province of Orellana, next to Yasuní National Park, have already experienced it directly, says Alexandra Almeida, an expert on the oil industry and a member of the Ecuadorean organization Ecological Action. She says she received a call a few months ago from the leader of the Miwaguno community, who went to Quito with a delegation to demand that their community be left alone. This came after the Canadian company Encana Corporation left Ecuador and was replaced by the Chinese company PetroOriente.
"They are surrounded by oil wells, by contamination; they don't have food, and the oil industry doesn't even give them much work; they don't know what to do," Almeida says. "It's sad to say, but they asked for the Canadians to come back, because they gave them more jobs and paid them twice as much per workday ($25)."
Almeida says this shows how oil companies have replaced the state in certain territories, and how indigenous communities continue to lose their relationship with their forests.
Children from the Nemompare community shortly after catching catfish in the Curaray River, which is home to more than 30 species of fish. They caught the fish using a long pointed stick known as a "chuzo." Image by Daniela Aguilar for Mongabay.
Editor's note: the production of this story was supported by a grant from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which also separately funds Amazon Frontlines. The reporting and editing of this story was completed independently by Mongabay, with no input from the foundation.
FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the editor of this post. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page.
Article published by Rebecca Kessler
Amazon, Amazon Rainforest, Energy, Environment, Environmental Policy, Featured, Forests, Fossil Fuels, Indigenous Communities, Indigenous Groups, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Reserves, Indigenous Rights, Law, Oil, Oil Drilling, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Tropical Forests


text:
Does salt really make you...
Water balance in the body
Does salt really make you thirsty?
(Copyright: Shutterstock)
Researchers recently looked at how salty foods impacted fluid intake during a simulated mission to Mars. The results are not what you might expect. Not only did participants on a high-salt diet drink less fluid, but their bodies also produced more water and they felt hungrier.
Salt makes you thirsty. That's a given, right? Up until now, aerospace research teams recommended astronauts be given low-salt diets during long expeditions in order to save water, but researchers from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), and other organizations have results from two studies that suggest otherwise.
The research team joined up with Russian space agency Roskomos and their European counterpart, ESA, for a long-term study under simulated conditions of a Mars mission. Both the nutrient and liquid intake of the ten participants and their excretions were closely monitored for 105 and 205 days. One month into the study, researchers reduced the participants' salt intake from twelve to nine grams per day. Two months in, they reduced levels once more to just six grams. Levels of salt intake were then gradually increased again in the 205-day study.
The results of the study showed that saltier foods only made participants thirstier in the short run. They actually drank less in total when they consumed greater amounts of salt.
"Our results are counterintuitive," says Friedrich Luft, Professor at Charité University Hospital in Berlin and one of the study authors. "While we anticipated a different outcome, liquid intake not only stayed constant on the high-salt diet, but in some cases it even dropped slightly. There was then a higher concentration of salt in the urine."
Salt is essential for bodily functions
Table salt, also known by its chemical name sodium chloride (NaCl), is an important compound for our bodies. Sodium is not only involved in regulating blood pressure but also plays an important role in transmitting nerve impulses. Thus daily intake is absolutely essential.
It will come as no surprise that salt is present in ample amounts in many of today's industrially processed foodstuffs. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends we consume no more than five grams per day, but that doesn't stop many of us from shaking the salt shaker at mealtimes. In our current understanding, overdoing it on salt is associated with high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. In order to maintain balanced sodium levels, the body naturally bonds excess salt with water and excretes it with urine. Thus the logical conclusion: More salt means the body needs more water, so salty food makes you thirsty.
The researchers weren't the only ones taken aback by the results of the new study. According to Luft, reviewers at the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI), the biomedical research publication where the study was published, had their doubts and follow-up studies on animal models were deemed necessary.
Salt doesn't make you thirsty, it makes you hungry
"Water homeostasis, or balancing water in the body, must be viewed as a joint task of the liver, muscles, and kidneys," says Jens Titze, principal investigator of the second study and professor at the University Hospital Erlangen-Nuremberg and Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.
Results of the second study indicate urea could play an essential role in the body's water regulatory system. Urea is created in the liver and skeletal muscles of many organisms and is generally considered a breakdown product of metabolic processes.
However, according to researchers, urea also seemed to accomplish something else in the mouse test subjects. It dissolved the bond between sodium chloride and water, allowing the concentration of salt in the urine to rise whilst some water was reabsorbed into the body. "Urea isn't just a waste product as previously thought," explains Luft. "Instead, it's proving itself to be a very important osmolyte, a compound that bonds with water and aids in its transportation. Urea helps keep water in the body when we excrete salt."
Urea synthesis is a very energy-intensive process. This was reflected in the reports of the first study participants who complained about feeling hungry on the saltier diet, as well as by the food intake of the animal models. The mice had to be given 25% more calories to maintain a stable weight.
However, before we all start running for the salt shaker, a word of caution: These results still need to be replicated in subsequent studies. If studies confirm the researchers' new theses, however, it could mean the body's regulatory system for salt is vastly more complex than previously thought. In that case, the association between too much salt and risk of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease may also warrant reexamination through a new lens.
31.05.2017 , Kai Dürfeld
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Therapeutic fasting traditionally involves going without food for several days. In the case of intermittent fasting, on the other hand, taking regular breaks from eating is sufficient. But is this approach really effective in terms of the participants' weight and metabolism?


Comment: Two analysis were posted by other EW counters, both of which draw corroborating conclusions.
Author: Topic: Bitcoin Silver - Make Bitcoin Decentralized Again (Read 76571 times) This is a self-moderated topic.
By learning more about the price correlations between bitcoin and other top altcoins, you will be.
The purpose of this. a collection of ideas proposed at bitcointalk.org and is still being discussed until we. 1 Oz Silver in BitCoin, LiteCoin.ICO Bounty Programs: The Bitcointalk Signature Campaign. Bitcointalk is probably the biggest bitcoin and.
The database of BitcoinTalk.org, a popular Bitcoin forum founded and moderated by.
BitcoinTalk has been hacked. Theymos has been spotted in IRC saying that bitcointalk is soon to come back online. What Every Bitcoin Holder.Yet another Bitcoin fork could occur in December in the form of so-called Bitcoin Silver,. wrote on the Bitcointalk forum they intend.


Getting message that "Driver is unavailable" and I need to connect in order to print.
I have a HP Laptop (15 Notebook PC) and am staying at a friend's house. I want to connect to their printer which is an HP Laserjet Professional M1212 nf MFP. They left me a note saying it was an "air printer" and that I should have no trouble printing from it. I followed the steps to download the driver, and it acted like it was doing it, but on the Setting - Device screen it shows the printer and then says "Driver is unavailable." I have tried going through the HP Assistant but am not getting anywhere. Does anyone know how I can get my laptop to connect to this printer so I can print? Thanks!
Thanks for this link. I installed it but then it came to a page asking which product I was having the issue with...and the printer I want to use is not on that list. Any suggestions about how to get it to show up on the list?


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text:
Q: If the half life of the Uranium $230$ isotope is $20.8$ days, how much of a given amount of the isotope will be left after $104$ days? If the half life of the Uranium $230$ isotope is $20.8$ days, how much of a given amount of the isotope will be left after $104$ days?
I'm getting $1/32$. The answer key says $1/16$.
$104/20.8 = 5$
The first term plus 5 half lives means there are 6 total terms.
$a = (1/2)^5 (n)$
$a = (1/32)n$

A: community wiki answer so the post can be closed
Your solution is correct.  The answer key is wrong.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
U.S. Army's Black Hawk helicopters fitted with Universal Avionics FMS to meet FANS, FAA requirements
TUCSON, Ariz. Engineers at Universal Avionics in Tucson, Arizona, are integrating the company's instrument flight rules (IFR)-capable flight management system (FMS) into U.S. Army Sikorsky HH/UH-60L/M Black Hawk helicopters under the Federated Advanced Navigation System (FANS) program in partnership with the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Engineering Development Center (AMRDEC) Prototype Integration Facility (PIF) at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and prime contractor Redstone Defense Systems in Huntsville, Ala.
H-60 rotary-wing aircraft are being fitted with a single UNS FMS with 4-inch Flat Panel Control Display Unit (FPCDU) to meet the FANS program obligation to integrate a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)-certified navigational system that meets Required Navigation Performance Area Navigation (RNP/RNAV) and Global Position System RNAV (GPS/RNAV) requirements in the United States, Europe, and other parts of the world.
"Our COTS FMSs facilitate the integration of a solution that allows the Black Hawk to retain all of its mission-critical avionics equipment, while adding new operational capabilities," says Bob Sanchez, Universal Avionics senior manager, government business development. "Universal's solution also meets precision navigation mandates that are critical to aircrew safety. To support the unique missions of the Black Hawk, we are providing Night Vision Goggle (NVG)-compatible variants."
Officials at Elbit Systems with headquarters in Haifa, Israel, have announced their intention to acquire Universal Avionics.
Universal Avionics is a manufacturer of avionics systems offered as retrofit and forward-fit solutions for the largest diversification of aircraft types in the industry. Markets served include business, helicopter, airline (regional/commercial), government/military, special missions, and OEM.
U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center provides increased responsiveness to the nation's warfighters through aviation and missile capabilities and life cycle engineering solutions.
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Very few comedians in India are as popular as Vir Das. Apart from being a standup comedian, he has also acted in Bollywood films. The comedian/actor is known for his roles in films Badmaash Company, Shaadi Ke Side Effects, and Go Goa Gone. His next release is the comedy film, Mastizaade, which stars Tusshar Kapoor and Sunny Leone.
Coming to comedy, he has a show called Virwritten, which is a take on Indian history. Vir also owns the Weirdass Comedy Company, which hosts shows in various cities.
One of their upcoming ones is the Pajama Fest. This will be the third edition of the fest and it will be held in various cities. Over the years, it has truly grown as in its initial year the fest had taken place in Mumbai alone, and the organizers took it to Pune and Delhi in the second year. In 2016, the fest will be held at Ahmedabad, Goa, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Mumbai, Kolkata,Delhi and Pune.
While standup comedy is gaining more popularity in a lot of cities, Goa as a location was a bit of a surprise. The place is known as the party capital of the country and a lot of events like Sunburn and India Bike Week take place there. Now with the Pajama Fest 2016 Goa, it gets even more happening as people over there can enjoy some awesome standup comedy.
The show in Goa is called Jesters Without Borders , and will be performed by Vir Das, Sharul Channa, Imran Yusuf, Mandy Knight and Raj Sharma. The venue for the show is Ravindra Bhavan in Margao and it will be held on 4th February.
The show will be hilarious as all the comedians are very wellknown and have performed across the globe. If you haven't heard of them, worry not. Rest assured that they are renowned international comedians and will leave you in splits. Mandy Knight and Imran Yusuf are famous British comics, whereas Sharul Channa is a comedian from Singapore, and has performed in the country on various occasions.
Pajama Fest 2016 is going to be crazy as some of India's best comedians are a part of it. They, along with the international talent, will bring the house down at various events of the fest. If it is happening in your city, you surely need to watch it.