text:
City looking to fill Council seat
Kortny Hahn khahn@cheboygantribune.com
CHEBOYGAN — The Cheboygan City Council will be reviewing the list of candidates interested in filling the vacant position on the council and will appoint someone to the position at their July 9 meeting.
The advertisement to gain letters of interest from those who are interested in filling the seat vacated when Nate King resigned from City Council has been in the paper for several weeks. Each council member was given a copy of this advertisement at the most recent city council meeting.
"We are running that for four weeks in the newspaper," said Cheboygan City Clerk and Treasurer Bridget Brown. "We're looking for a candidate for the vacated city council seat."
The letters of those interested in filling the position needed to have those to Brown by July 3, in order to be considered at the July 9 meeting. All of these letters were forwarded to the city council members after the deadline, so the council members could begin reviewing the applications.
"So far, I have received one letter of interest," said Brown at the June 25 meeting. "But it does sound like, I think Tom (Eustice) and I have both spoken to a few other people who have sounded interested, so it sounds like we may have a few people who put their name in the bucket."
Cheboygan City resident Michael O'Brien attended the most recent city council meeting to introduce himself to the council members as a candidate for the vacant position on council.
"I'm here to ask for your consideration," said O'Brien. "We're relatively new to the community, but I feel like I have a lot to offer and I will explain that in my letter of introduction."
The seat on the city council had been vacated at the first meeting of the Cheboygan City Council in June when Councilman King turned in his letter of resignation, effective immediately.
In his letter, King said he greatly appreciates being granted the opportunity to serve the community and the residents, as well as working alongside his fellow council members and the staff of the City of Cheboygan for the last six years.
"I've labored over the decision for the past few months and due to my career obligations and responsibilities to my family, with a father with ailing health and everything, I can no longer give the time and attention needed to my role as a council member," said King early last month.
King had also stated he would be happy to help in any way he can to assist in the transition of his position to his successor.
"I thank you all for your passion and commitment to our great city and I hope that we will all continue to strive to improve the community for generations to come," he said.
The council members will review all of the letters of interest to fill that position. Those letters will be discussed at the meeting and the council members could potentially come to an agreement at that meeting to appoint someone to fill King's position until a permanent replacement can be found at the next election.


text:
Home › News › Bernard Larsson: Leaving is Entering
Bernard Larsson: Leaving is Entering
News, Photo Exhibitions	 1 December 2016 0
The photographer Bernard Larsson (born in Hamburg, 1939) was working from 1959 to 1961 as William Klein's assistant in a France marked by its recent defeats in Indochina and Algeria. It was from here that he embarked on travels through Fascist Spain and Morocco.
Moved by the construction of the Berlin Wall in August 1961, he left Paris so that he could build up his own picture of the situation in the divided city. Larsson was to become one of the most important photographers of everyday life on both sides of the Wall, culminating in the publication of his book "Berlin: The Complete City. Political Photographs" in 1964. This publication stands out from the large number of photo-books about Berlin, since as a Swedish passport-holder Larsson was able to capture the ominous mood that had descended over both halves of the Allied-controlled city.
Once the protest movement that had swept through US university campuses and the "Third World" finally reached Berlin in 1966, demonstrations erupted from June onwards at the Freie Universität against the university's authoritarian system of governance and the city's lack of democratic accountability. Over the course of a whole year, Larsson documented the demonstrations in a kind of photographic diary. This photographic record came to an end when he took a picture of the deliberate fatal shooting of Benno Ohnesorg by a West Berlin police officer on 2 June 1967. That same month, there was an exhibition of large-format photographs taken by Larsson of the student-run AStA inquiry committee. A few weeks later saw the publication of his pamphlet, entitled 'Demonstrations: A Berlin Model'.
In "Leaving is Entering", Larsson presents his Berlin photographs alongside a selection of pictures taken in the same period, which lend some wider international context to the years covered by the exhibition. His visual essay concludes with photographs from Warsaw, Prague, and Budapest, as well as others featuring a number of pop icons.
Bernard Larsson
Leaving is Entering
19 Aug 2016 – 8 Jan 2017
Museum für Fotografie
Jebensstr. 2
www.smb.museum/mf
© Bernard Larsson: Leaving is Entering
2016, Bernard Larsson, Exhibition, Featured, Leaving is Entering, Museum für Fotografie
Vintage: Glass Plate negatives of Snow in Australia (1900s)
Russell James: Angels
Thomas Barrow: The Automobile

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Download the PNG with hex numbers and type them to create binary file.
This is first part and it's meant to be executed (it's x86 32bit code).
Second part is in "iTXt" chunk of PNG, base64 encoded. Decode it and append to first part.
1st part ends with "AAAA" marker, 2nd part starts with "BBBB".
Or you can just find any exe and copy bytes at entry point.
Run in debugger, add breakpoint just before INT 0x80 call.
File is pretty self-explanatory. Just write the code to emulate VM, no secrets there.
There are still some encrypted blocks of memory that looks suspicious.
tried bruteforcing decoding for these unknown parts as well.
See end of page for more details.
First bytes of file (magic) must be gchq.
at 0x0040119C and everything will still work fine.
Another way is to bruteforce this hash, solution is cyberwin.
HEX numbers are the words 1,2,3 from license file.
where at stage1 it reads one word, in stage2 two words.
In stage 1 code, just at beginning, EB 04 instruction skips over 4 bytes.
For stage 2, in JS code is unused variable firmware with values 0xd2ab1f05, 0xda13f110.
the URL to browser. This is due to not including "Host:" header in request.
So you did it. Well done! Now this is where it gets interesting.
Could you use your skills and ingenuity to combat terrorism and cyber threats?
new ways to prove that you're one of the best.
This was fun to do, don't you think?
There are speculations that this simple solution is just some form of honeypot.
First HTTP get was with HTTP/1.1, but later it's HTTP/1.0.
Then there are unused bytes in VM memory.
together in some way to create new decryption VM instructions to continue.
But tried XORing or replacing non-zero bytes... no luck.
at offsets 0x150, 0x200, 0x270.
Tried the firmware values and also 0xDEADBEEF without getting anything useful.
3 Blocks may decrypt to 3 ASCII HEX words needed for licence.txt to get right server reply.
You can see MSB bits are same for all blocks, as expected if result is ASCII text.
XOR i*X+Y pattern we seen for decrypting code and URL.
One firmware value is 0xd2ab1f05 = 1F=31 05=5 -> values for above algorithm. Coincidence?
Formated to 3 lines, for 0x150, 0x200 and 0x270 block contents. It may or may not be single block. Ctrl-C safe.
It's not really readable, but all characters are in printable range 0x20-0x7F.
I found it to get MSB bits zero, but it also produced just printable characters!
There is total 90 unique characters... base 90 code?
Entropy = 7.133685 bits per byte.
of this 273 byte file by 10 percent.
would exceed this value 7.21 percent of the times.
Arithmetic mean value of data bytes is 127.7070 (127.5 = random).
Monte Carlo value for Pi is 3.022222222 (error 3.80 percent).
Serial correlation coefficient is 0.014271 (totally uncorrelated = 0.0).
Entropy = 7.284051 bits per byte.
of this 269 byte file by 8 percent.
would exceed this value 94.91 percent of the times.
Arithmetic mean value of data bytes is 126.8067 (127.5 = random).
Monte Carlo value for Pi is 3.090909091 (error 1.61 percent).
Serial correlation coefficient is 0.040349 (totally uncorrelated = 0.0).
Is this just a random fill to put something in memory?


"The different rhino calves have favorite blankets which they particularly like, and will also drag their blankets in play and to move them where they want them."
A black rhino calf named Storm arrived at Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage extremely ill - he had pneumonia and a gastrointestinal disorder. If he was going to survive, Storm needed extensive medical treatment, and he needed to be kept warm - very warm. To do this, workers at the orphanage swaddled Storm in two comfy blankets.
Storm isn't the only baby rhino who's needed a blanket or two. Most orphans could use the extra warmth. "The very sick, weak and young calves have trouble maintaining body temperature," Karen Trendler, the director of Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage, told The Dodo. "Blankets not only keep them warm, but provide a feeling of security."
Sue Brown, a good friend of Trendler's and the founder of Rhino Alerts (an organization that raises funds for rhino charities), started a Facebook group called Blankets for Baby Rhinos. Members are encouraged to knit or donate blankets, or contribute squares that will be made into a quilt. Brown will be the one sewing the squares together.
So far the group has about 600 members and Brown reports that quilt squares are already arriving from abroad. "They're donating not only their time, but raising awareness and getting a very important job done," she tells The Dodo. "It's fun and engages a group of people that in the past may not have been involved with Rhino or any other conservation group."
The quilts and blanket donations will go Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage in South Africa, a rescue and rehabilitation center that helps baby rhinos who have lost their moms to poaching.
Without their moms, it's hard for baby rhinos to maintain body temperature, so they'll put the blankets to good use. "When the calves' weight is low, not only do they struggle to maintain body temperature but by keeping them warm, we ensure that the energy they're getting in through the milk all goes to putting on weight and regaining condition, and isn't wasted trying to keep its body temperature up," Trendler explained. "A calf that is chilled and underweight is more prone to hypoglycaemia."
Blankets serve another purpose - they help keep injuries clean. "Many calves arrive with injuries, and providing blankets to lie on rather than bedding straw prevents straw and debris getting into and adhering to the wounds and is more comfortable for the calves," Trendler said. "Hygiene and monitoring of feces and urine output is easier on blankets than bedding straw."
But the blankets don't just serve a practical purpose - they also provide comfort and security to orphaned rhinos who have lost their families. Some rhinos become so attached to their blankets that they carry them around with them, according to Trendler. "The different rhino calves have favorite blankets which they particularly like, and will also drag their blankets in play and to move them where they want them," she said. "The black rhino in particular are great at moving blankets around."
Some people might question why rhinos need blankets at all, especially since rhinos don't use blankets in the wild. But Trendler explained that blankets are important. "In the wild ... they have big warm protective hot water bottles in the form of their mom and nature designed milk and feeds," she said. "I can promise you that over the years of rearing and rehabilitating hundreds of rhino calves, there hasn't been a single one who has taken a blanket back to the bush with them. Interestingly we find that as soon as the calf feels better, they chose soft sand and bedding straw and not the blankets."
Storm the black rhino loved - and needed - blankets so much that Trendler would tie a blanket around him when he moved around the orphanage. "Because Storm was so tiny and sick, he just couldn't control his temperature and would get cold and shivery very easily," she said. "If he went out in the wind, we'd tie the blanket around him so that it didn't blow off. Nandi was also quite naughty and would pull his blanket off!"
A year later, Storm has made an amazing recovery - he's bigger, stronger and healthier. And blankets played a big role in getting him there.
If you're interested in donating or making a blanket for a baby rhino, join the Blankets for Baby Rhinos Facebook group. You can also support Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage by making a donation here.


text:
Q: json data save into postgresql become different order When I save data into table , then do select from table it become different order, I check in pgadmin it is too.
Why?? and how to solve it?
CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS "user_role_track"(
    "id" SERIAL NOT NULL,
    "create_date" timestamp without time zone,
    "create_by_user_id" integer,
    "action" integer,
    "old_data" jsonb,
    "new_data" jsonb
  );

data create in nodejs app
var newData = {
  "id": userRoleId,
  "create_date": timestamp,
  "user_id": userId,
  "role": role
};
...

// save with promise sync function
var dbQueryR = yield Promise.resolve( queryPromise(dbClient, dbQuery, dbParams) );

select from table/ see through pgadmin
"{"id": 2, "role": 1, "user_id": 17, "create_date": "2016-07-11 09:09:18"}"

A: If I understand you rigtht, your json elements are mixed up after insert?..
then look at json specs

An object is an unordered set of name/value pairs

as stated in JSON order mixed up

You cannot and should not rely on the ordering of elements within a
  JSON object.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Sharks eliminate Golden Knights in unforgettable Game 7
By James O'BrienApr 24, 2019, 1:30 AM EDT
If someone ever snickered at you for claiming that anything can happen in the hockey playoffs, merely direct them to Game 7 of the Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks.
At the tailend of a thrilling overtime period (did these two teams really just play a double-OT Game 6?), Barclay Goodrow became the unlikely series-clincher in one of the least likely Game 7 comebacks you'll ever see. The Sharks advance to Round 2 and a matchup against the Colorado Avalanche after beating the Golden Knights 5-4 in OT. San Jose wins the series 4-3.
But they had to do that after falling behind 3-1 in the series, and carving their way out of a 3-0 deficit in Game 7. It's the sort of game hockey lovers will pour over for ages, and fans of both teams are unlikely to forget.
All things considered, that unlikely Goodrow goal seems fitting.
Game Winner! pic.twitter.com/LQAQC0PLua
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) April 24, 2019
How we got to overtime, against all odds
On the strength of great goaltending from Marc-Andre Fleury, a Cody Eakin goal that required a review for a high-stick, and a groaner of a 3-0 goal for Max Pacioretty, it sure looked like the Golden Knights were going to skate away with Game 7. Then Eakin became a much bigger story than the fellow who scored what seemed, at the time, like a big goal.
In a scary moment, Eakin hit Joe Pavelski, who hit the ice in an extremely scary way. Fair or not, the officials ejected Eakin from Game 7, whistling him for a game-changing major penalty.
The Sharks went on to score an absurd four goals on the power play, flipping a 3-0 deficit to a 4-3 Sharks lead. With less than seven minutes remaining in the third period, the Golden Knights had to come to grips with the first lead change of this series.
The Golden Knights failed to score on a power-play opportunity of their own, but Jonathan Marchessault delivered after Vegas showed serious resiliency in trying to come back, and a stunning Game 7 went to overtime.
And the rest is … well, NHL history, and the Sharks will turn to a Round 2 series against the Avalanche. Credit the Golden Knights for forcing this contest to OT, but they couldn't win it, and now their fans get a taste of something other hockey fans – particularly those of the Sharks – know all too well: the feeling of shock, and also, feeling like they were on the wrong end of the refs' whistles.
What a game, what a comeback, and what a series.
Tags: 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Cody Eakin, Colorado Avalanche, Joe Pavelski, Marc-Andre Fleury, Martin Jones, San Jose Sharks, Vegas Golden Knights, Barclay Goodrow, Cody Eakin, Joe Pavelski, Jonathan Marchessault, Marc-Andre Fleury, Max Pacioretty


February 2, 2018, 11:21 a.m.
While champagne corks have been long popped on Dec. 31 to mark for the start of the western New Year, the 2018 Lunar New Year begins on Feb. 16.
Because the Chinese calendar is based on the moon's rotation, the new year falls somewhere between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20 each year. People celebrate with lots of food and festivities, as well as dragon and lion dances for good luck. There are red paper lanterns, a bold color to signify a bright future, and firecrackers to chase away evil spirits.
This new year, also known as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival, is the Year of the Dog. Each year is represented by one of a dozen zodiac animals that represent 12 symbolic temperaments.
Here's what you need to know about the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Dog to help you celebrate.
Using the lunar calendar, which originated some 3,500 years ago, people created the Chinese zodiac to track time, reports Quartz. The 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac appear in this order: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat/sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.
In addition to the 12 animals, there are also five elements: gold (metal), wood, water, fire and Earth. Each zodiac sign is associated with an element. So, for example, a water dog comes around once every 60 years.
According to Chinese cultural belief, people born in the Year of the Dog are said to inherit some of the animal's characteristics. They are likely to be loyal, patient and reliable. They are honest, willing to help others and have a deep sense of duty. They are generally agreeable until rubbed the wrong way. They can sometimes be judgmental and picky, but are righteous and always the first to speak out against injustice.
People born in the Year of the Dog are believed to get along best with rabbits, followed by tigers and horses. But dogs don't mesh well with roosters, followed by dragons or sheep/goats.
Because they are loyal and trustworthy, people born in the Year of the Dog excel in careers where they serve others. Some recommended careers for dogs include police officer, counselor, professor, politician, judge, nurse and scientist.
Well-known people born in the Year of the Dog include Elvis Presley, Winston Churchill, Mother Teresa, Michael Jackson, Steven Spielberg, Madonna and U.S. presidents Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.
It's the Lunar New Year. Here's what you need to know to celebrate the Year of the Dog.


actions have been undercut by a cruel deity. He accuses God directly, claiming, "Thou didst betray me to a ling'ring book, / And wrap me in a gown," where the book refers to his education and the gown to both the academic and religious communities. He also references "his birth," suggesting he was born to privilege, as was Herbert, a fact that should have afforded him some power.
Turning my purge to food, thou throwest me Into more sickness.
He follows in the next stanza by wondering, "what thou wilt do with me," and finds no answers in his books. He goes so far as to wish himself a tree, which at least birds could trust, "and I should be just." While the suggestion contains some hint at humor, it also signals desperation. Herbert does not conclude on an optimistic note. His speaker can only say that he "must be meek," and in that meekness he "must be stout." He even considers seeking a new master. However, he concludes with a contradiction that nevertheless indicates he would like to remain with his present Lord: "Ah, my dear God! though I am clean forgot, / Let me not love thee, if I love thee not."
As a result of his experiences the speaker first suffers rebellion but in the end shows humility. He seems to recognize not only his personal inadequacy, but also the inadequacy of his language, particularly figurative language, to express the proper relationship with God. The speaker remains frustrated, a state proper for a mere human in the presence of his Lord.


Finally gotten around to making the drawers after spending the last few weeks finding fabricators and refining drawings for fabrication. It's the first time, after starting at Pratt, I will not be making all the parts for a prototype. Needless to say I learned a lot in this process. The metallic parts are being cut with water jet and hopefully they will be ready early this coming week. I'll be taking them to another metal worker for bending and welding. Unfortunately the breaks at school is not wide enough. The aluminum legs will be TIG welded, unfortunately I don't know how to do that yet. The table top was also sourced out because we do not have a large enough planer. The facets are also too difficult to do at school and a large CNC would be much better.
Thanks to a new miter gauge and a digital tilt meter, these drawers were easier than I first though. Though it was still difficult as I'm much more use to having things perpendicular.


text:
Football Results: Millwall 3-1 Birmingham
kenneth De Souza
Milwall put up a superb performance to end a run of four games without a win in one of the high-scoring football results of the weekend in the Championship. Murray Wallace opened the scoring in the 10th minute before Tom Bradshaw doubled their lead just before half-time. Troy Deeney halved the lead in the 56th minute before George Evans sealed all three points in the 73rd minute.
Managers Reaction
Millwall's Gary Rowett: "It was a complete performance over the 90 minutes. We've started really well in a lot of games this season, but what we've not managed to do sometimes is score that first goal and we've not managed to score two goals in many games." he added. "We've been a little bit critical of the fact we don't think we've scored enough this season, or been dangerous enough. We were excellent in the first half and excellent value for our lead."
Birmingham's Lee Bowyer: "It's a difficult place to come and a very hostile crowd. I warned the players yesterday that if you come here, don't fight and compete, then you're going to lose the game. If you don't stick together as a group, you'll lose the game. We were too soft in the first half. We allowed them to win every second ball, the basics of the game, set-pieces, marking, it's not good enough. It's not like us, we're normally better than that. It was a great goal from Troy [Deeney]. I think that's the best he's played since he's been at the club."
For more football results, click here
Written By kenneth De Souza


Carlo Cottarelli, a former IMF economist, has been asked to form a technocrat government.
Economist Carlo Cottarelli is surrounded by reporters as he arrives at Rome's Termini train station yesterday.
ITALY'S CARETAKER PRIME minister is assembling a cabinet lineup despite almost certain rejection by populist parties whose bid for power collapsed at the weekend.
Fresh elections are now looming as the most likely outcome of the long-running political saga sparked by an inconclusive poll in March.
Carlo Cottarelli, a former IMF economist known as 'Mr Scissors', was tasked with naming a technocrat government yesterday after President Sergio Mattarella blocked a cabinet proposed by the far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).
The president vetoed their pick for economy minister, fierce eurosceptic Paolo Savona, throwing the eurozone's third largest economy into a fresh crisis.
Savona has called the euro a "German cage" and said that Italy needs a plan to leave the single currency "if necessary".
Mattarella said that an openly eurosceptic economy minister was counter to the parties' joint promise to simply "change Europe for the better from an Italian point of view".
Cottarelli said Italy would face new elections "after August" if parliament did not endorse his team, a near certainty given that Five Star and the League together hold a majority.
The parties' approved nominee for prime minister, lawyer and political novice Giuseppe Conte, stepped aside following the decision to reject Savona, crashing the proposed government after nearly three months of convoluted horse-trading.
Mattarella's veto and subsequent nomination of Cottarelli as caretaker prime minister sparked angry calls for his impeachment, since most lawmakers backed Savona.
League leader Matteo Salvini, a fellow eurosceptic who was Savona's biggest advocate, said the anti-establishment government failed because of pressure from the "powers-that-be, the markets, Berlin and Paris".
"This isn't democracy, this isn't respect for the popular vote. It's the latest slap in the face," Salvini said, from those that say "Italy should be a slave, scared and precarious".
Five Star chief Luigi Di Maio called on party supporters to attend a rally in Rome on Saturday, the anniversary of Italy's transformation into a republic in 1946, after what he called "Italian democracy's darkest night".
The latest chapter in the drawn-out political saga sent Italian stocks tumbling more than two percent yesterday and bond yields surging, with Italy's debt risk premium hitting its highest level since November 2013.
The euro also fell in Asian trade today and was in danger of falling below the $1.16 level last breached in early November.
Cottarelli, 64, was director of the International Monetary Fund's fiscal affairs department from 2008 to 2013 and became known as Mr Scissors for his public spending cuts in Italy.
He said that should his technocrat government win parliamentary approval, it would stay in place until elections at the "start of 2019″.
But if parliament fails to approve his government, a new election would be held "after August" – the most likely outcome given the populists' strength in parliament. Only the centre-left Democratic Party has announced that it would vote in favour.
Salvini and Di Maio furiously denounced the presidential veto, blasting what they called meddling by Germany, debt ratings agencies, financial lobbies and even lies from Mattarella's staff.
"Paolo Savona would not have taken us out of the euro. It's a lie invented by Mattarella's advisors," Di Maio said in a live video on Facebook.
The truth is that they don't want us in government.
Elections could benefit Salvini, however, as recent polling by IndexResearch put the League at 22%, five points up from its vote share in the March 4 ballot.
Under the Italian constitution, the president nominates both the prime minister and, following proposals from the premier, the cabinet.
The most famous example of a president denying a PM's choice was in 1994 when Eugenio Scalfari refused then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's choice of his own lawyer – Cesare Previti – as justice minister.
However, Di Maio said that Mattarella, a former constitutional court judge, had "gone beyond his legal prerogatives".
He said an impeachment trial for Mattarella, 76, would be "almost a certainty".
Most analysts however say such calls have little chance of success as impeachment is only possible in cases of "high treason" or constitutional breaches.
"President Mattarella has only exercised his constitutional powers", said Massimo Luciani, president of the Italian Constitutionalists Association.
Email "Italy in crisis: 'Mr Scissors' picks his caretaker cabinet as fresh elections loom ".
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text:
Sroki – wieś w Polsce położona w województwie wielkopolskim, w powiecie krotoszyńskim, w gminie Kobylin.

W latach 1975–1998 miejscowość administracyjnie należała do województwa leszczyńskiego.

Przypisy

Linki zewnętrzne

Kobylin (gmina)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Montana Wildlife Center
Preserving History and Wildlife
By Brian D'Ambrosio
Aged buildings discarded. Doors sealed. Factories shuttered. Older architecture is commonly replaced with new forms.
But instead of bumping into the wrecking ball, many weary – and unceremoniously retired – buildings find re-purpose as housing, arts incubators or events centers.
The Montana Wildlife Center, located at 2668 Broadwater Avenue, is one of Helena's finest examples of adaptive re-use, the revitalization of a former industrial site as a support system for a cherished and engaged relationship with the outdoors.
"One of the themes of Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks is choosing to conserve as well as coexist with our heritage, wild or otherwise, and this building fits in with that," said Thomas Baumeister, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks education program manager.
While the building is certainly part of a larger focus on an aesthetic response to the need for energy conservation and sustainability, its genesis as the Montana Wildlife Center – or Montana WILD – is rooted more in the principles of partnership, good will, and chance.
John Stedman Foundry and Machine Company circa 1892
In the mid-1990s, the Mikal Kellner Foundation for Animals and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks agreed to relocate and improve FWP's rehabilitation facility. (The founding mission of the Montana Wildlife Rehabilitation Center was to rehabilitate injured wildlife, especially bears and raptors, and healthfully re-integrating such animals back into the ecosystem.) The problem was that there was no money available to implement the plan, no resources to pay staff, and no specific location mapped out.
Come 2001, the five-and-a-half acres abutting approximately 60 acres of Spring Meadow Lake State Park was swapped between MFWP and the MKFA. FWP moved the wildlife rehabilitation center to the new site, on acreage that consisted of three buildings that had badly fallen into disuse. Once more, a lack of funds obstructed any discussion of stabilizing the structures.
When the middle building burned down in 2002, and the foundry's pattern house met a similar fate in 2007, a hefty infusion of insurance money allowed for the potential preservation of the lone machine shop. Supported by smaller additional grants, the building, which had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its historic importance to Helena, was salvaged.
That building, the John Stedman Foundry and Machine Company was constructed in 1892, once manufacturing and repairing machinery including mining and milling equipment. As part of an industrial complex that included the Kessler Brewery and Kessler Brickworks, the J.R. Stedman Foundry brought cast iron production and the vagaries of commerce and progress to a developing region. The John Stedman Foundry and Machine Company operated from 1892-1901. (The Stedman iron stamp nameplate is imprinted on various buildings in Helena, Butte, Lewistown, and across Montana.)
Throughout the 20th-century, the location accommodated a wire fencing manufacturer, a metal assaying and refining operation, and Helena Sand and Gravel throughout the 1930s.
"At the time before the refurbishment, it was just a shell," said Baumeister. "The foundry had been abandoned and idling for decades. There were pigeons in here, no plumbing, and it had been really neglected. And it was built as a structure within a structure – a new shell that was built as an envelope."
There was, however, another striking complication: the land the building sat on had been declared a Superfund site, containing an overabundance of heavy metals and contaminated soil. Excavation dug as much as 18 feet deep into the earth to remove the polluted sediment, which was then hauled off site.
"What is interesting here," said Baumeister, "is that the property has gone from an industrial site and a gravel pit and a foundry, where there was a lot of activity, to a place that was abandoned and just sat – this wasteland of an era gone by – to a wonderful place that has been repurposed as an education site."
The stone edifice is one of Montana's best surviving examples of late-19th-century mill-type construction. Much of the building's charm remains intact: timbers and rafters and the original beams now supported by concrete walls. None of the structure's disposition needed to be comprised in order to achieve sustainability or modern design.
"Several of the original details have been retained and repurposed," said Ken Soderberg, Outdoor Interpretation and Volunteer Program Specialist at Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. "The clerestory windows are original – the tremendous windows made to attract more sunlight."
Baumeister said that the idea of providing "a sense of place" was apparent in the design features of the building, and that its history is united to the main theme and mantra of the Montana Wildlife Center.
"It's a great example of showing and saying, 'hey, see what we can do,' said Baumeister. "It's a tangible example of a restoration that can be done if there is the will and creativity to do it. We've repurposed what was once a gravel pit and turned it into a focal point, and it is even a major birding spot now. That same philosophy can be applied to the restoration of water, landscape and wildlife."
Interpreter exhibits, a narrative walkthrough, and meeting rooms designed to accommodate naturalist or educator-led talks were installed, and the Montana Wildlife Center opened to the public in September 2012 (the adjacent wildlife rehabilitation center is not open to the public). Programs ranging from school and youth programs to family-friendly bat walks are offered to the community as a method of scaffolding the foundation for meaningful outdoor interactions.
Ultimately, any shift to recycled and repurposed material brings out the innovative side of architects and builders as well as conserves the link that binds past to present, generation to generation, tale to tale.
As for the narrative of the former foundry, it is not finished. It continues to be written as the Montana Wildlife Center.
Click here for a calendar of free, upcoming programs hosted by Montana WILD.


One Magnetic Influence Strip (four magnets long).
Fabric (enough to cover strip).
Elastic (3mm wide (enough to double around back of head from ear to ear).
Step 1: Cut a length of strip containing four magnets.
Step 2: Cut a piece of fabric, enough to cover strip.
Step 3: Join fabric over strip lengthways and sew along.
Step 4: Leave opening on either side.
Step 5: Place the two middle magnets onto either side of the nose and pinch the gaping vinyl and fabric section at the top part of the bridge of the nose.
Step 6 & 7: Sew a backstitch about a half centimetre deep onto pinched area to secure.
Step 8: Pull out a section of the end of the strip, fold over lengthways and make a small incision.
Step 9: Take one elastic end and pull through slit then pull through the other.
Step 10: Join elastic by tying a knot with the ends leaving a double elastic back strap.
You now have a very effective sinus band. It will sit comfortably just under the eyes and the magnets on the conchal area (sides of nose) to aid the pain associated with sinus and cold and flu symptoms. The magnets will reduce inflammation in the area also providing easier breathing.
Will also aid in pain in the upper cheek and ear area. The Do It Yourself Magnetic Influence Therapy Sinus Band is perfect for those uncomfortable sleepless nights.


text:
Ofili is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:

Chris Ofili (born 1968), British artist
Cindy Ofili (born 1994), American-born British track and field athlete
Edward Ofili (born 1957), Nigerian sprinter
Elizabeth Ofili (born 1956), Nigerian cardiologist
Tiffany Ofili (born 1987), American-born British track and field athlete


text:
About Us People Testimonials
CPD Training (UK) Limited
Lorraine Richardson
Lorraine Richardson, CPD Training's Head of Quality Assurance, practises as a solicitor in East Anglia and has an extensive background in legal education and training.
Lorraine has a particular expertise in Quality Assurance Procedures for training courses and assessments. While at the College of Law, the recommendations in her report for the College's Academic Quality Council, the body responsible for all validation and quality assurance issues, were implemented throughout the Professional Development Department.
Also at the College of Law, Lorraine managed the very successful Higher Rights of Audience programme. She was responsible for dealing with all academic and assessment issues; arranging and chairing Assessment Board meetings and preparing minutes; commissioning new assessments; ensuring the integrity of assessment processes (both written and advocacy) and reviewing all assessment results. Lorraine has brought this expertise to CPD Training (UK) Limited and was instrumental in helping the company secure the SRA's authorisation to deliver Higher Rights assessments.
Lorraine delivers a wide range of CPD courses and webinars for Central Law Training and was an external examiner on CLT's Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT). In addition to her main subject of property, Lorraine teaches a variety of courses including Management Stage 1 and 2 and compliance and legal skills. She has also taught and assessed on the Legal Practice Course at Anglia Ruskin University.
Lorraine was a Director of the QLTT for BPP Law School. The role involved carrying out a comprehensive review of the structure of the QLTT and the Assessment Regulations and culminated in a Law Society re-validation.
Whilst working for the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX), Lorraine set up an extensive programme for Land Registry personnel called the Land Registry Qualification. She then managed its successful transition to the College of Law. This involved setting up processes for nationwide study days and multi-centre examinations. Lorraine wrote the Assessment Regulations and Invigilator's Guidelines for the "two level" programme.
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Yes, you might spend your weekends perpetually lost and weekdays stuck in some hairy man's armpit, but some of London's worst traits can actually have surprising benefits. Here are our top six unlikely advantages of living in the city.
1. It's generally accepted that no one living in the capital ever has any money (double this expectation if you're surviving on minimum wage) and so 'being skint' is a perfectly acceptable excuse for avoiding social events that you had no intention of ever attending in the first place.
2. For that matter, living too far away acts as an equally convincing excuse for the same thing: "Ah mate, I didn't realise your cousin's son's baptism is in North Acton, that means I'd have to get the 185 to Camberwell then the 148 to…' – you can pretty much guarantee they've glazed over by that point and aren't even listening to you anyway.
3. Being constantly unable to buy yourself new clothes makes you a pretty thrifty sale shopper, and those three moth-ridden t-shirts and your dad's old jacket now constitute a 'capsule wardrobe' that will be graciously accepted by hipsters city-wide.
4. Sharing a three bedroom flat with seven other people makes adopting a more innovative approach to your daily bathroom routine essential. Gone are the days of practicing your BGT audition in the shower under seemingly endless supplies of hot water: 'pits and bits' is the new morning mantra.
5. Getting fitter – whether intentionally or not. Despite not setting foot in a gym for nearly seven years, jogging up and down the stairs of the underground does wonders for your cardio. Who knew the morning commute could result in thighs like Beyoncé?
6. Sitting in night after night leaves a lot of time for catching up on shows of the moment on Netflix and browsing social media, meaning you'll never be short on awkward conversation with colleagues: 'Did you know Angela from IT's brother just got married?' 'Yes', you think, 'in excruciating, 214 photo's worth of detail'.


Luxus, individuality, beauty. With these words, we can characterize push-buttons in design, which will catch us on the first look. Push-buttons, socket outlets and accessories are in plastic design, resp.plastic with metalic spraying on it. But for the line LOGUS90 are characteristic a glamorous and luxury materials: metal, real wood, hardened glass or marble. From these materials are made a frames, which we combine with plastic covers of wall-buttons and sockets-outlets. Covers are offered in white or ivory colour and with the spraying on it in pearl, ice, aluminium and grey colour.
With their simplicity,design purity and variety of covers and frames, fi t push-buttons in any interior. Standardly is in our off er 24 combinations. Push-buttons are truthfully described by its strictly geometric shapes. Thanks to square symmetry can by all frames installed in horizontal or vertical position.
Covers can be easily changed instead of the old switches or if you just like a diff erent combination. Any installation of individual parts together is very easy.
Device has four clips, so the frame fi ts right into it, other system of mounting is not need.
This smart clips provide smooth operation of switch, even if the wall is not perfectly flat. Issue with not so straight surface is solved by "floating rocket".
Device can be mounted into installation box with classic screws, or with more comfort spacers.
Another advantage provides screwless terminals: wires rovide fast comfortable connection without any need of screwing..Depth of device is just 20 mm, it means that fi ts into the box without any problems. There are doubled terminals on each pole, which provide multiple connection of echanism, another terminals are not need.
Holes on the front side of the cover are designed for electrical functional test of device – removal of whole device is not need. Of course Logus off ering, beside a basic single pole switch, also double pole switch (two unctions) or triple pole switch (three functions).


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RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 21: Vera Biriukova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasiia Maksimova, Anastasiia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva of Russia compete during the Group All-Around Final on Day 16 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Rio Olympic Arena on August 21, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
Getty Images Sport Clive Brunskill
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 21: Gold medalists Vera Biriukova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasiia Maksimova, Anastasiia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva of Russia celebrate during the medal ceremony following the Group All-Around Final on Day 16 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Rio Olympic Arena on August 21, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 21: Gold medalists Vera Biriukova, Anastasia Bliznyuk, Anastasiia Maksimova, Anastasiia Tatareva and Maria Tolkacheva of Russia stand on the podium during the medal ceremony following the Group All-Around Final on Day 16 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at Rio Olympic Arena on August 21, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Getty Images Sport Julian Finney
(From L) Silver medallists Spain's team, Gold medallists Russia's team and bronze medallists Bulgaria's team pose on the podium of the group all-around final event of the Rhythmic Gymnastics at the Olympic Arena during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on August 21, 2016. / AFP / Thomas COEX (Photo credit should read THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images)
AFP THOMAS COEX


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An overview of  South African prisons service decorations and medals, which form part of the South African honours system.

Prisons Department

1922-1968

The Prisons Department was established in 1911.  It was a civil service department, with uniformed warders.  In 1955, the department adopted military ranks, and in 1959 its uniformed branch was named the South African Prisons Service.

The department had only one medal:

 Long service medal
 Faithful Service Medal of the Prisons Department (1922–68).

Until 1952, it was incorporated into the British honours system, as used in South Africa.  Thereafter, it was part of the new South African honours system.

South African Prisons Service (1968-1980)

After South Africa became a republic (in 1961), the government established new decorations and medals for the various services.  A series of three was instituted for the SA Prisons Service in 1968:

Decorations

Long service medal

Department of Correctional Services (1980-1996)

A new, and more comprehensive, series of decorations and medals was instituted in 1980.  The SA Prisons Service was renamed Department of Correctional Services in 1990.

Decorations

Long service medal

In 1996, the department discontinued its military ranks and culture, including its decorations and medals.

See also

 British and Commonwealth orders and decorations
 South African civil honours
 South African intelligence service decorations
 South African military decorations
 South African orders and decorations
 South African police decorations

References

 Alexander, E. G. M., Barron G. K. B. and Bateman, A. J. (1986).  South African Orders, Decorations and Medals.  Human and Rousseau.
 Monick, S, (1988).  Awards of the South African Uniformed Public Services.  South African National Museum of Military History.

External links

 South African Medals Website

Orders, decorations, and medals of South Africa
Prison officer awards
Penal system in South Africa
South Africa and the Commonwealth of Nations


A stunning classic pencil illustration design Mickey mug, with gilt handle and 'Mickey Mouse' hidden detail on the inside base. Complete with black and gold foiled box, this makes a beautiful gift for a lover of Disney's wonderful characters. Part of a collectable range, featuring all time favourites from Cinderella to Minnie. Not suitable for microwave or dishwasher.


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Q: Distinct users in Cassandra I have the following problem:
In my Cassandra database I have several messages sent by several users.
My messages table has the following structure:
CREATE TABLE messages (
  recipient bigint,
  sender bigint,
  created_at text,
  content text,
  PRIMARY KEY((recipient, sender),created_at)
);

I need to count the number of messages sent by a user in a day. For example, between the date 2017-01-01 and 2017-01-05
sender | created_at
  1       2017-01-01
  1       2017-01-01
  2       2017-01-01
  3       2017-01-02
  3       2017-01-02
  4       2017-01-03
  4       2017-01-04
  5       2017-01-04

I would have the result
2017-01-01 = 2
2017-01-02 = 1
2017-01-03 = 1
2017-01-04 = 2

A: From what I can see, you cannot do that with your table structure because your partition key contains the recipient. To be told, you should not count at all, because counting keys in cassandra is hard.
However, if you insist on counting these keys, I suggest you two approaches:

Create a new counter table
CREATE TABLE counters_by_user (
    sender bigint,
    ts timestamp,
    messages counter,
    PRIMARY KEY (sender, ts)
)

This table will allow you to directly fetch the value you are looking for. It allows you to select the appropriate "granularity" of the counters, that is if you want a day-by-day counter simply store the timestamp in the ts field in the yyyy-mm-dd format. If you want hourly-based counting, store it in yyyy-mm-dd HH:00 format, etc... You'll need the exact sender only to fetch the results, and can range query by specifying the ts component of the primary key. Have a look at the Counters page documentation on how to use them, and beware that the main drawback of this approach is that Cassandra can over/under count, so watch your steps if you need to be pedantic on counting.

Create a new message table, aka denormalize your data
CREATE TABLE messages_by_sender (
    sender bigint,
    created_at timestamp,
    PRIMARY KEY (sender, created_at)
);

Every time you insert a row in the messages table you'll insert a row here, and when you need to count the messages sent you simply run a SELECT COUNT(*) FROM messages_by_sender WHERE sender=? to count them all, or SELECT COUNT(*) FROM messages_by_sender WHERE sender=? AND created_at > ? AND created_at < ?; to specify a range. If you have a lot of messages per sender, however this will lead to inefficiency, since counting keys in Cassandra requires a partition scan.

A: AFAIK, cassandra doesn't allow do SQL-like aggregations. You either need to pre-compute & keep into another database OR do the counting as the results are being scanned/queried.
Another option it to integrate cassandra with hadoop & do some map-reduce, but that seems like an overkill for what you're trying here.


text:
Sorry Rich there's another one
Whichever poll Rich is waiting for is a long time coming. Like the other two polls at the weekend, ComRes in today's Independent shows the Tories, not Labour, going down in popularity:
Con 38% (-3)
Lab 30% (-)
LD 17% (+1%)
posted by Luke Akehurst at 9:48 am | 46 comments
A special post just for Rich
Regular commenter Rich has been saying all week that he has some kind of tip-off that the next set of polls will be so catastrophic for Labour that they would cause the PM to resign.
Well now we have two of them - ICM and YouGov. ICM has Labour up 2% and the Tories down 3%:
LAB 35% (+2)
LD 20% (+2)
YouGov has Labour unchanged and the Tories down 2%:
What happened to your prediction Rich? Care to comment and explain?
Ken's lead going up
Looks like London voters are more interested in buses, police and housing than tittle-tattle in the Evening Standard and on Dispatches.
A YouGov/ITV London poll today shows Ken's lead over Boris up from 1% to 4%.
The poll was taken after the Dispatches programme this week.
In the middle of the Hain resignation there were two council by-election polling days yesterday. The Sandwell result puts the national picture in perspective and ought to cheer up Labour activists:
Sandwell MBC, Newton Ward - Labour gain from Lib Dem. Tom Watson tells me this ward has been Lib Dem since 1980!
Lab 36.9% +2.6%
Lib Dem 35.4% -6.9%
Con 25.7% +2.3%
Green 2.0% +2.0%
Basingstoke & Deane DC, Baughurst Ward - Lib Dem gain from Con on a 40% turnout. Huge swing of about 20% Con to LD. Labour did not contest this seat. The loss of this seat means the council goes from Tory to No Overall Control.
The leaderless soft left
You would have to be fairly heartless not to feel sorry for Peter Hain yesterday - a carefully constructed career in ruins because of admin errors in an internal party election. Clearly the Labour Party could do with fewer days like that.
However, every cloud has a silver lining and my view is that we have a stronger, fresher and more ideologically coherent Cabinet line-up after the reshuffle than before, with promotions for a range of sound star performers: Purnell, Burnham, Cooper, Flint, Watson. For a reshuffle that was forced on him, Brown made a good set of promotions.
Peter Hain's resignation leaves the Tribunite "Soft Left" of the Labour Party without any real Cabinet level figurehead for the first time ever.
This is ironic at a time when Compass, the extra-parliamentary embodiment of the Soft Left tradition, is making a lot of noise in the wider party. Jon Cruddas' refusal to take ministerial office last year means they have a serious lack of presence at the heart of government.
The loss of Clare Short through political self-destruction, Robin Cook through tragic premature death and now Hain through bizarre campaign funding screw-up really means that the tradition of Nye Bevan and Harold Wilson lacks a top flight leader.
The same problem hit the Hard Left a decade or so ago - Benn too old, Livingstone not interested in the Commons, everyone else hating each other too much to emerge as a leading figure.
Meanwhile the right of the party, in its various different and overlapping permutations of Brownites, one-time Blairites, old right, and New Labour, has been shown by this reshuffle to have a queue of talented youngsters waiting to get high office. Whatever the short term bleakness of the political picture, that makes me very optimistic about Labour's future.
posted by Luke Akehurst at 4:37 pm | 29 comments
One third of Hackney Lib Dem Group joins Labour
I had the great pleasure as Chief Whip of welcoming a new councillor to the Hackney Labour Group today.
Cllr Joseph Stauber, who has represented Cazenove Ward in Stamford Hill since 2002, has joined Labour having become disillusioned with the oppositionalist stance being taken by the Lib Dems and wanting to be part of the Labour team improving Hackney.
The move means the council's composition is now:
Labour - 45 + the elected Mayor
Conservative - 9
Lib Dem - 2
Green - 1
Cllr Stauber's decision is extremely important in terms of building Labour's relationship with the Chassidic Jewish community, the largest ethnic minority group in the four Stamford Hill wards won by the Tories and Lib Dems in the 2006 elections.
We are delighted about his brave decision and think that he will be a huge asset to the Labour Group, helping us to work with and respond more effectively to the specific needs of the Chassidic community.
Vote Ken with no illusions
I've just watched the Martin Bright programme on Ken Livingstone on Channel 4's Dispatches. I didn't think much of it as a piece of journalism - superficial, one-sided and in places - such as criticising Ken for promoting London to the EU, China and India, or for spending money on advertising and PR, just silly. The parading of a disillusioned ex-employee, Lib Dem MP Lynne Featherstone, and Mark Wadsworth (who I believe has an axe to grind) was hardly illuminating.
Most of it was staggeringly unoriginal, and has been rehearsed repeatedly not least here in this blog in the past. I was tempted to scream "I told you so!" at the screen as most of it was arguments those of us in the Dobson campaign tried to get across back in 2000.
I don't disagree with some of the key allegations:
- Ken's key advisers are mainly leading members of what was the International Marxist Group/Socialist Action - a Trot grouping
- His support for Venezuela and Cuba is at best silly, at worst scary
- He probably is encouraging his allies to pursue a vendetta against Trevor Phillips for having the audacity to think about standing against him in 2004
- His views on the Middle East are pretty suspect
- He shouldn't have said what he did to Oliver Finegold
All of these were reasons to vote against Ken being the Labour Candidate for Mayor. But that selection trigger ballot has happened. I was one of a tiny handful of people who voted to trigger him last year - my guess is he got 98% of the vote.
But none of these are valid reasons to vote against him in the election happening in May. For anyone on the left of politics, we don't face a choice between Ken and some imaginary moderate Labour candidate. We face a choice between Ken who, faults and all, is doing a damn good job delivering on his key policy responsibilities of policing, transport and regeneration, and Boris Johnson, a Thatcherite buffoon. A defeat for Ken won't be portrayed as a defeat for Socialist Action or the Labour left, it will be portrayed as a defeat for the Labour Government and Gordon Brown and massively boost David Cameron in the run up to the General Election. That's why - despite working for Dobson in 2000, and neither forgetting nor forgiving even earlier events like the coup against Andrew McIntosh, I will be voting, and actively campaigning for Ken with all the energy I can.
Perhaps the nastiest aspect of the programme were the allegations about alcohol. Apparently Ken sometimes has a scotch before or during public meetings. If this was a disqualification from holding high office then there were not be many MPs left, as I believe some of them do frequent House of Commons bars whilst the House is sitting. Nor would there be any Chancellors of the Exchequer who are actually entitled to a glass of whisky or brandy at the dispatch box whilst delivering the Budget.
All in all, Bright has conducted a mistimed hatchet job that can only help Boris and served no useful purpose. A strange choice of journalistic enterprise for someone allegedly on the left.
Dinner invite to the Home Secretary
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has made some unfortunate remarks suggesting she wouldn't feel safe on the street after dark in my home borough of Hackney.
I guess it depends which street.
Personally, I put this down to the usual ignorance of south-of-the-river dwellers (her London base is in Peckham) about anywhere north of the Thames. I'm sure I'm just as ignorant as her, but in my case about sarf London - I always thought (based entirely on watching Only Fools and Horses) that Peckham was a hell hole until I actually went there and discovered it had streets of Georgian town houses as well as decaying estates.
If Jacqui would like a night out in Hackney, Linda and I would be delighted to take her and her Special Branch protection team and Special Advisers to any one of numerous eateries - I'm fairly sure the Turkish restaurants on the A10 are way better at kebabs than the place she goes to in Peckham - where she will discover that actually Hackney is a very good place to go out in the evening. Probably better to avoid the "Best Turkish Kebab" on Stoke Newington Road though, as that is frequented by the coppers from Stokey police station, who might want to bend her ear about pay increases.
Which Respect?
The split in Respect into SWP and Galloway factions seems to be having a practical impact on the ground.
Over in Waltham Forest in the council by-election for Leyton Ward, Big Brother contestant Carole Vincent is standing. The official Respect (i.e. SWP faction) website says she is the Respect candidate. But on the council's list of candidates she has no party description at all.
Presumably there is some kind of dispute between Respect (SWP) and Respect (Galloway) over ownership of the official registration of the party, which carries with it the rights to put the party name and emblem next to a candidate's name on the ballot paper.
Either that, or her agent is spectacularly incompetent.
posted by Luke Akehurst at 12:23 pm | 23 comments
NEC Candidates
Labour First is supporting the following five candidates in this year's Labour Party NEC elections:
Azhar Ali Pendle CLP
Deborah Gardiner Isle of Wight CLP
Sonika Nirwal Ealing Southall CLP
Ellie Reeves Lewisham Deptford CLP
Peter Wheeler Salford & Eccles CLP
CLPs are nominating candidates at their January and February meetings.
There's some disarray on the other side of the fence, with John Wiseman of the LRC running against the "official" slate from the "Centre Left Grassroots Alliance" (sic), for obscure reasons being debated in detail and in public here and here.
With Walter Wolfgang retiring there is a real chance to increase the number of people representing CLPs on the NEC who want to actually do a job of work building the Party rather than denigrating its leadership.
Hackney Mayor on tackling gang crime
Some good stuff from Jules Pipe, our elected Mayor in Hackney, on tackling gang crime here:
http://www.progressonline.org.uk/Magazine/article.asp?a=2380
(hat tip to Dave Hill, fellow Hackney resident and blogger, who I met for the first time over lunch at Cantina Augusto, Clerkenwell, yesterday, for spotting this).
Memo to Steve Morgan
According to today's Guardian, Peter Hain's campaign manager Steve Morgan claims ""My work ended the day the election for deputy leader took place [June 24]. "
Er.... no it didn't and therein lies the fundamental problem.
If you are running someone's campaign your work ends when you file the return of expenses and donations with the relevant authorities, not at the end of the count.
I almost feel sorry for Peter Hain given the muppetry of his camp-followers (who I note include John Underwood who had a huge fight with Kinnock and Mandelson over the direction of Labour's press office back in the early '90s), but then I suppose you get the campaign team your politics deserve.
Six questions for Boris
Boris Johnson is being interviewed tonight on BBC London News.
Ken's campaign have suggested some key questions the BBC ought to be asking:
1. Ken Livingstone has set the policy that 50% of all new housing in London must be affordable housing. Boris Johnson has announced that he would scrap that policy, which would reduce pressure for affordable new homes and concentrate new housing in luxury and high price development. How does he justify pricing housing out of the hands of ordinary Londoners in this way?
2. Boris Johnson has endorsed a new bus for London designed by Autocar magazine, with an open platform, which Transport for London estimates would cost a minimum of £400 million a year to introduce and run and would therefore require a 50% increase in bus fares - a single fare going up from 90p to £1.35 and a weekly bus pass from £13 to £19.50. If Boris Johnson disputes these figures what is his estimate for the cost of his new bus plans and the fares rises they would involve?
3. How does Boris Johnson justify not bothering to vote on London's most important transport project, Crossrail, in Parliament when it was debated? And why did he make the false claim in the TV debate last week that no progress had been made on Crossrail when Ken Livingstone has secured the £16billion funding for the scheme?
4. Youth murders are one of the most serious issues facing London and we must work with the Met and through the expansion of youth facilities to stop them. But why will Boris Johnson not admit that the murder rate in London has been reduced by 27% in the last five years, that this is a great achievement, and that this is due to the increase in police numbers introduced under Ken Livingstone? Why does he claim it is only motor-car theft that has been going down when the most serious crimes such as murder and rape have been sharply reduced?
5. Boris Johnson opposes the Kyoto agreement on climate change. How can be claim he will be a green Mayor when he supports George Bush in opposing the most important international agreement on climate change?
6. London is the world's most multi-ethnic city. Good community relations are therefore crucial. Boris Johnson has claimed that his reference to black people as "piccaninnies" was only for ironic effect in a newspaper article. But the journalist Martin Ivens confirmed yesterday in the Sunday Times that this is not true: 'Rod Liddle, my colleague, sorrowfully admits to being responsible for the left's damaging charge against Boris – that he is racist. Liddle let slip to an interviewer the story that, bored beyond measure by some po-faced Unicef officials in a truck on the Kenyan-Uganda border, Johnson had called out: "Come on, let's get out and see some piccaninnies'.
(link to article)
How, particularly in such a great multi-ethnic city, can Boris Johnson justify use of racist terms as "piccaninnies" when this was clearly not just in a single article?
Just one council by-election result last night - Ibstock Ward in NW Leics - a narrow Labour hold over the BNP whose intervention increased the turnout. In May last year this was actually a split ward with just the one Labour cllr and 2 Tories.
Labour 699, 30% (2007 result was that the 3 Lab candidates got 707, 620 and 559)
BNP 637, 28% (did not stand in 2007)
Conservative 515, 22% (2007 result was 737, 731, 599)
Lib Dem 441, 19% (2007 result was 225 and 222)
UKIP stood in 2007 taking 411 votes but did not stand yesterday.
Cameron and Morrissey
As a fellow Smiths fan I do wish David Cameron would stop trying to use his admirable taste in music to distract voters of a certain age from his crap politics. His latest Morrissey-related stunt is a visit to the Salford Lads Club.
If I was Morrissey I would be highly fed up about being associated with Thatcher-era Central Office Researcher Cameron. I certainly don't claim Morrissey is in any sense a Labour supporter - hence his recent lyric on "Irish Blood, English Heart", "The English are sick to death of Labour And Tories", but his early stuff is consumed with anger and bitterness about the state of the country and life under the Tories.
Maybe Cameron could do a photo op singing along to this Smiths track:
Margaret On The Guillotine
The kind people
have a wonderful dream
because people like you
make me feel so tired
when will you die?
make me feel so old inside
please die
and kind people
do not shelter this dream
make the dream real
I won't hold my breath though. In the mean time I look forward to bumping into Dave when I go to see Morrissey live at the Camden Roundhouse on 22 January.
Is private healthcare no longer taboo?
I was a bit surprised to read an online confession from my Stoke Newington Labour Party comrade Dave Osler that he uses the private sector health check-up he gets as a perk of his job.
Like Dave I am entitled to private health insurance etc. as an employment benefit. However, I had always been under the impression it was not the done thing even for rather moderate Labourites of my ilk to queue jump and get preferential health care over and above what one could expect from the NHS (and ditto on education) so I've always gone through a rigmarole of getting this benefit removed from the stuff my employer gives me - as have other active Labour people I've worked with in the past - which confuses our HR department but leaves me with a clear conscience.
Is this no longer the big taboo that it was?
I feel very uncomfortable about the existence of private sector alternatives to the NHS and state schools, quite apart from not wanting to use them myself or for my family. What do other people think?
Initial impact of Attack of the Clones
My earlier speculation that no one would be able to differentiate between Clegg and Cameron and this was bad news for Cameron seems to be substantiated by today's Populus poll in the Times cutting the Tory lead to 4%:
Con 37 %(-3), Lab 33% (+1), Lib Dem 19% (+3)
This is already good enough to make Labour the largest party in the Commons and the same trend next month would put the two main parties back level-pegging.
Back Ken
I never thought I would be posting this, but I am, and enthusiastically. Join the campaign here: http://www.kenlivingstone.com
Two local council by-election results yesterday:
Cambridgeshire County Council, Roman Bank and Peckover Division: Con hold. Con 61.1% (up 1.1%), Lab 25.9% (did not stand in 2005), UKIP 13.1% (did not stand in 2005), Lib Dems did not stand this time despite getting 41% in 2007.
Welwyn Hatfield DC, Welham Green Ward: Con hold. High turnout of 47%. Con 40.7% (down 25.9% from 2006), LD 36.5% (up 17.8%), BNP 16.2% (did not stand in 2006), Lab 6.6% (down 8.1%).
IPPR on the "working poor"
A quick plug for the IPPR pamphlet published yesterday written by Hackney North Labour Party member Graeme Cooke.
Entitled "Working Out of Poverty: A study of the low-paid and the 'working poor'" it exposes the way that whilst as a Government we've managed to get people into work, in many cases this has not taken them out of poverty because of the way the benefits system is structured e.g. you get housing benefit if you are workless but lose it once you get a fairly low paid job.
Useful research and hopefully being read by DWP Ministers.
http://www.ippr.org/publicationsandreports/publication.asp?id=581
Why I would vote for Edwards
If I was an Iowan I would be going along to my local Democratic caucus tonight to vote for John Edwards.
Ideologically, I'm probably nearer to Hillary Clinton, but I think the geography of where a Democratic candidate comes from is the key to beating the Republicans later this year.
The only Democratic candidates to win since 1960 have been from the south: LBJ (Texas), Carter (Georgia) and Bill Clinton (Arkansas).
The losers have almost all been from rust belt states in the mid-west or north east: HHH (Minnesota), McGovern (S Dakota), Mondale (Minnesota), Dukakis (Massachusetts), Kerry (Massachusetts).
The only exception is Gore, from the outer south state of Tennessee - but he actually won the popular vote and but for some chicanery in Florida would have won the electoral college as well.
Why is the geography important? Because the Democrats already sweep every state in the north and indeed on the liberal west coast, but still can't win. Demographic change - population shift from rust belt to sun belt and Hispanic population growth in states like Florida and Texas mean that you cannot win as a Democrat without adding to the states won by Gore and Kerry at least one southern state.
And the last 11 elections have proved that southerners will not vote for Democrat presidential candidates from the distant North East or Mid West.
The frontrunners can't reach out to the south. One is a senator from rust belt Illinois, the other a senator from New York born in Illinois.
Edwards can - he's from North Carolina and beat an incumbent Republican to become a senator. Even adding his own state to the Democrat column from last time would be enough to change the outcome of the election.
Though I disagree with his stance on Iraq I think Edwards also has by far the most interesting policy platform, with its emphasis on eliminating poverty, combating climate change and support for universal healthcare.
My second preference would definitely be Clinton who has experience and gravitas. The hype about Obama leaves me cold - he's too inexperienced, too much an unknown quantity - a senator for about five minutes - and doesn't seem to stand for very much which is a bit alarming in someone pitching to be the most powerful politician on the planet.
My worry is that yet again the Democrats will go with a candidate who emerges from their primary process because they can galvanise liberal activists and studenty types, and then discover that the swing voters in key states are many things but they are not usually lefty students or liberal activists.
Happy New Year to readers and I hope you had a less flu-afflicted Christmas than my family did.
Congratulations to elected Mayor of Hackney Jules Pipe who was appointed a CBE in the New Year Honours. I'm not a great fan of the honours system but this was an appropriate way of recognising the contribution Jules has made to improving Hackney Council. As the council website I've linked to says, the council is expected to get a 3 star rating (out of 4) in February, up from zero stars at the start of Jules' period of leadership. I certainly never thought I would see Hackney Council officially described as "good" when I volunteered for a tour of duty in the then political equivalent of Apocalypse Now back in 1998. And when I met him two years earlier I didn't think the reluctant press ganged young candidate for the 1996 South Defoe by-election - who seemed far too nice and too normal for the internecine warfare of Hackney politics - would 12 years later be in his second term as Mayor and winning national recognition for his transformation of the borough.
Congratulations too to the consistently underestimated Stephen Byers for the most sensible contribution to internal Labour debate over the holiday period - in Sunday's Observer - calling on Blairites to rally behind Brown, for the tough policy questions to be tackled and for the Party "to start seeing Labour party members as assets to be valued and not as irritants to be tolerated. They will need to have a far more significant role than they are given at present." Byers has been wasted sat on the backbenches for too long. Labour people in local government know he was a superb Secretary of State at DTLR. It's time he was brought back into the political front line.
Congratulations to the Labour Party on the final opinion polls of 2007:
YouGov - CON 40% (-3), LAB 35% (+4), LDEM 15% (-1) i.e. Tory lead down from 12% to 5%.
ComRes - CON 41% (+1), LAB 30% (+3), LDEM 16% (-2) i.e. Tory lead down from 13% to 11%.
ICM - CON 39% (-2), LAB 34% (+4), LDEM 18% (-1) i.e. Tory lead down from 11% to 5%
My political wish list for 2008 (I got 5 and 2 half of my 10 wishes for 2007):
1) The UK getting through the year without suffering a major terrorist attack
2) The UK starts building some new nuclear power stations so we can tackle climate change
3) People to give Gordon Brown the space to actually get on with the job of running the country
4) The Grassroots Alliance to lose some (hopefully all) of their members in the election of the CLP section of the Labour Party National Executive Committee
5) A reduction in inequality and poverty in the UK and some government policy initiatives on this that will be as memorable as the Minimum Wage
6) Ken to thrash Boris for London Mayor in May, and the BNP to be kept off the GLA
7) Regime change to democracy in Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Burma
8) Pakistan and Kenya not descending any further into anarchy
9) No council by-elections in the London Borough of Hackney, or if there have to be any, let them be in the summer, not December
10) Labour to retake opinion poll lead and Cameron to get sacked
posted by Luke Akehurst at 11:38 am | 17 comments


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Home » Newsroom » Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Makes First Two 2020 Teacher of the Year Surprise Announcements
Riverside County Superintendent of Schools Makes First Two 2020 Teacher of the Year Surprise Announcements
Two desert-area educators will compete for California State Teacher of the Year along with two unnamed Riverside County teachers awaiting surprise visits later this week
INDIO & PALM DESERT – Jodi Fecera, a family and consumer sciences teacher at Palm Desert Charter Middle School, and Tom Buck, a digital media career and technical education teacher at Indio High School, both started their school days on Wednesday, May 29, as they would any other. Ms. Fecera was testing a new cookie recipe with her students and had just loaded the ovens with these sweet treats while Mr. Buck was preparing to record the morning's news for the campus YouTube station.
Both teachers, who work in the Desert Sands Unified School District, were surprised by Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Judy D. White, who entered their classrooms with an entourage of colleagues, cameras, and family members with the news that they had been selected as the first of four 2020 Riverside County Teachers of the Year.
Jodi Fecera (center), a family and consumer sciences teacher at Palm Desert Charter Middle School, is named a 2020 Riverside County Teacher of the Year during a surprise visit from Dr. Judy D. White, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools.
The first surprise took place inside the French bistro-style room that serves as Jodi Fecera's Foods and Hospitality classroom. Students in her class learn practical lessons that they will use both in and out of the kitchen for the rest of their lives. Experiencing new challenges, exploring their creative potential, and collaborating as a team, are just a few of the lessons that are cooked up for Ms. Fecera's middle school students every day.
"Ms. Fecera has a recipe for student success that includes dedication, creativity, curiosity, kindness and fun," said Dr. Judy D. White, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools. "You can see how engaged and excited her students are in her classroom as they learn lessons in the kitchen and lessons in life."
"This is a complete surprise and I'm honored to be recognized by the county. I'm fortunate to impact future generations by doing something I love – while this is a happy interruption, we also need to check on our cookies!" Ms. Fecera said with concern that the cookies in the oven may burn while the surprise activities continued.
The second surprise took place inside the Indio High School studio of Mr. Tom Buck—just as the daily broadcast of the school's news report was set to begin. The surprise took place live on the air for the entire school to witness as it happened.
The second surprise visit was at Indio High School where Mr. Buck, the career and technical education teacher for IMPACT, learned he is also a 2020 Riverside County Teacher of the Year.
"I am honored to receive this recognition, and want to acknowledge my school and district peers for supporting my teaching. We truly are a family," Mr. Buck commented. "I'm so thrilled to help students who may not have had a place to belong, to find a place to belong while making a positive impact on the world through digital media."
"Through Mr. Buck's video production class, he is able to make all of his students see that they are superstars. It doesn't matter what role they play in the broadcast – whether talent, crew, director or anything else. Each student knows his or her role and is able to contribute to a high-functioning digital media team," Dr. White said.
Mr. Buck is the career and technical education teacher for IMPACT—the Institute of Media Production Arts and Creative Technology. Mr. Buck began his educational career as an English teacher, but shifted to helping students develop skills in filmmaking, graphic design, audio production, broadcast, animation, and leadership in preparation for postsecondary education and careers in the arts, media, and entertainment industry sector. IMPACT serves more than 200 students each year with the focus on teaching digital literacy. Student-led productions continue to receive local, state, and national recognitions year after year.
The final two 2020 Riverside County Teachers of the Year will be announced later this week. Once named, the four teachers of the year will represent Riverside County in the 2020 California Teacher of the Year competition where at least one Riverside County teacher has been selected as a California Teacher of the Year in five of the last six years:
2019 – Dr. Angel Mejico, El Cerrito Middle School, Corona-Norco USD
2018 – Dr. Brian McDaniel, Painted Hills Middle School, Palm Springs USD
2017 – Shaun Bunn, Ethan A. Chase Middle School, Romoland School District
2016 – Michelle Cherland, Carrillo Ranch Elementary School, Desert Sands USD
2014 – Jessica Pack, James Workman Middle School, Palm Springs USD
In May of 2020, the newly-named teachers of the year will be honored at the Riverside County Office of Education's annual Celebrating Educators luncheon.
The Riverside County Teachers of the Year are selected from nearly 20,000 educators in the county. The rigorous application process requires candidates to spend time reflecting on, and carefully defining, their teaching philosophy. The county teachers of the year are selected on the basis of nominations by teachers, principals, and school district administrators throughout the county. Applications are then submitted to the Riverside County Office of Education, where an outside selection committee reviews the applications on each district candidate and selects semi-finalists. The selection committee then conducts interviews and on-site classroom visitations to select the final four candidates before the county superintendent announces the Riverside County Teachers of the Year.
Peter Daniels
Director, Public Relations and Communications Services
pdaniels@rcoe.us
Craig Petinak
cpetinak@rcoe.us
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Let's talk about chewing gum sneakers
Source: The Verge I like sneakers a lot. For as long as I can remember, I've had a liking for these shoes. I've allowed them to define my wardrobe and over the years my brand loyalty has developed into a set selection. Although I would have to admit that nowadays I would factor in more things before making a call. Price, comfort and aesthetics play a role, whereby in the past, when I was younger, I would have chosen a pair of sneakers based purely on look and brand. I still remember my first pair of Nike's. It was a pair of Air Span II's and I had to be relentless in my nagging for those shoes. My mother relented and I got them and since then, from age 11, I strived to always have a pair of Nikes. Over the years I've owned some really nice ones too. I've owned a pair of Air 180, Air Max 1990 (numerous pairs) and I once almost purchased Air Command Force, the ones worn by Woody Harrelson in 1992's White Men Can't Jump. Converse and Adidas have also featured with a special mention going to Puma Discs, a pair I owned in my youth, touted by former Olympian Linford Christy, and something which didn't come cheap for my dear old mom. As I've gotten older I've learned to settle for simpler sneakers. A good pair of Converse is hard to beat. You'll never catch me wearing a pair of Jordan's and in all honestly Reebok impresses me the most these days. I've also wised up to the extent of the environmental impact made by the sneaker industry, and let me tell you boys and girls, it's pretty bad. I don't put much merit in alternative views, but I think there is a lot to be said for walking around barefoot and connecting your soles to mother earth. In fact, barefoot walking is referred to as "earthing" and there is scientific evidence to support it too. Benefits include improved sleep, reduced inflammation and an increase in antioxidants. Apparently it comes down to the relationship between our bodies and the electrons of the earth.
A sneaky Carbon footprint
The carbon footprint of the shoe and sneaker industry is horrendous. 20 billion pairs of shoes are manufactured every year and with that production comes the leakage of chemicals, fossil fuels and toxins. Adidas recently partnered with a company called Parley to do its part for the environment by making shoes from ocean plastic waste. Nike has a re-use a shoe program where they grind up the old sneakers to be used in tracks and tennis courts etc. However, there aren't enough of these stories doing the rounds. At least that's what I thought until I stumbled upon a nifty little company that's using old chewing gum to make their sneakers! Recycled chewing gum shoes lowers one's carbon footprint. Fans of chewing gum shoes and other environmentalist might also like to play online casino games instead of going to a landbased casino.
Sneakers made with chewing gum!
Traditionally the sole of a sneaker has always been made from rubber and in that way nothing has changed. It's simply the source of the rubber that has. 1.5 million kilograms of chewing gum make their way onto their pavements each year. This is only one country out of a total of 195, do the math. Chewing gum's relationship with mankind goes back to the Neolithic period, Aztecs, Mayans, Ancient Greeks and American Indians when things like chicle, blubber, betel nuts, coca leaves and sugar pine and spruce sap were chewed. Put another way, man has had a relationship with chewing for a very long time. The point I'm trying to make is that as a species we like chewing things, but like everything that we've industrialised and commercialised, it's come with a price. And so, in today's climate of pollution, it only makes sense that we should fight fire with fire. The amalgamated efforts of three organisations, namely Explicit Wear, Gumdrop and Iamsterdam have resulted in Gumshoe. This is the brand and it' sole is made through a process of recycled chewing gum. The process itself is called Gum-Tec and it involves the extraction of the synthetic rubber component of the chewing gum. But it's not just an extraction process, it's a breaking down of properties to create a new type of rubber. The Gum-Tec granules, which are the end products are then moulded into the sole of the shoe. Apparently these soles still have a bit of a gum-like odour but none of the stickiness. Shoes generally aren't associated with pleasant odours, so I find it quite ironic that there are now shoes that actually smell good. It's a good thing, it's all a good thing.
Famous Authors Who Loved ... Adidas and Parley Join ...


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Feds Raid Software Company
By Tovia Smith
Published December 5, 2002 at 10:00 PM MST
NPR's Tovia Smith reports on today's raid of a Boston high-tech firm called Ptech Inc. to investigate allegations it is secretly funded by a Saudi businessman who is designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist financier. The firm's clients include the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. House of Representatives. Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge says there is no evidence the company has posed a threat to national security. No one has been arrested, and no charges have been filed.
Tovia Smith
Tovia Smith is an award-winning NPR National Correspondent based in Boston, who's spent more than three decades covering news around New England and beyond.


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Coac(hella) Jealous I'm Not There
Thousands of people gathered at the main stage by the giant caterpillar.
rom Madonna kissing Drake, to AC/DC's performance, to Justin Bieber being kicked out, The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival made headlines, Instagram posts and Vines across the country.
For the past two weekends, almost 600,000 people flocked to Indio to attend Coachella, according to the LA Times in an article named "A Coachella attraction you hope to skip: The Lost and Found."
"It's just massive and there probably isn't anything like it anywhere else," said Will Cowles-Meyer, a California Lutheran University senior who worked at the festival.
Cowles-Meyer helped set up some of the tents the festival rented out for their VIP areas. When Cowles-Meyer was not working, he was able to see many of the artists and experience the festival.
"I pretty much got to see everything," Cowles Meyer said. "Basically our only things we had to do were to make sure that our hard-ups didn't blow over."
According to Coachella's website there were over 200 artists and bands performing and there was a musical group for everyone.
Cowles-Meyer enjoyed AC/DC's performance in addition to some of the smaller acts. Courtenay Patlin, a senior at Cal Lutheran said she was excited to see Florence and the Machine and Jenny Lewis.
Jessie Stockstad, a student at Cal Lutheran said she enjoyed The Weeknd and Mø.
The larger than life astronaut followed Coachella crowds around the entire festival.
Beyond the music, festival-goers are able to enjoy art and fashion. Over the years fashion has grown to be an enormous part of the festival. Outfits can range from high fashion to a simple sports jersey, to rave wear and even to super hero costumes according to Stockstad.
"People put a lot of time and effort into what they're wearing," Patlin said. "So much so that a lot of fashion companies send out people to take pictures so they can base next season's styles on what people are wearing at Coachella."
Beyond fashion companies, many and websites send out people to seek the best of Coachella fashion.
"If they like your outfit they come up and take pictures of you," Stockstad said.
There are also many celebrities present at the festival. Concertgoers can make a sport of finding them and even talk with them if they meet.
"I was in the VIP section so I saw a lot of famous people that I like and then I saw Justin Bieber," Patlin said. She said she enjoyed being able to talk with some of her favorite artists like the Haim sisters.
Cowles-Meyer said these multiple day music festivals are where the entertainment industry is going. He said he believes there is something in it for performers, technicians, media people and more.
In addition to the fashion aspect, attendees are generally there for the music and the experience. People got in to the music and danced all weekend, to popular artists like Marina and the Diamonds and to other performers as well.
"I think just seeing bands and being with people in the desert that you know you have similar interests with is a fun thing," Patlin said.
An enormous snail art installation took over one of the fields in the Indio desert.
In the end, the festival comes down to the experience and the community. Attendees enjoy being with their friends, having fun enjoying the music and dancing.
"Everyone is there just to have a good time and to see artists and to be with their friends, and it really is a really welcoming atmosphere," Cowles-Meyer said. "Personally if people are on the fence about going they should. I think our generation could learn a lot more about each other just by being at these festivals."
Allie Leslie
Published April 22nd, 2015


To help senior high learners from different schools of Laguna, the Management Information Systems Office (MISO) extended its workplace for the work immersion program, one of the requirements for graduation from secondary education.
Management Information Systems Office (MISO) employees were awarded certificates of appreciation for their valuable contribution on the development and installation of the Queuing System at the Laguna Medical Center (LMC).
On the 1st of March 2019, the Laguna Medical Center (LMC) has attained technological feat when they launched the Queuing Management System (QMS) at the opening ceremony of LMC's 95th Foundation Day.
The Management Information Systems Office (MISO) staff actively participated in the 1st Quarter National Simultaneous Earthquake Drill (NSED) on February 21, 2019.
The Laguna Management Information Systems Office (MISO), under the Leadership of Mr. Jaime M. Garcia and the committed staff gathered for the office's year-end assessment and evaluation on December 14, 2018 with particular focus on the accomplishment for the last quarter of 2018, and targets for the 1st quarter of 2019.


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L.A. Unified teachers ratify three-year contract
Teachers travel to a series of rallies by bus in April during negotiations for a new contract with the Los Angeles Unified School District.
By Howard BlumeStaff Writer
An overwhelming majority of teachers union members voted to ratify a three-year contract with the Los Angeles Unified School District, the union announced Friday.
More than 97% of 25,407 educators who cast ballots favored the pact, which includes a 10% raise over two years.
Union members also ratified a separate benefits package that retains key current features of employee health plans.
"The collective bargaining agreement is good for educators and students," union President Alex Caputo-Pearl said in a statement.
The Board of Education must give formal approval to the deal, which is widely expected as soon as next week.
The raise is phased in: 4% is retroactive to July 1, 2014; 2% retroactive to Jan. 1, 2015. Pay goes up another 2% on July 1, and the final 2% on Jan. 1, 2016. Teachers have the right to negotiate for an additional raise in the third year of the contract.
Teachers had gone without a pay increase for eight years, although they continued to receive salary boosts based on years of experience and additional eligible education credits.
During the recent recession, teachers had agreed to temporary salary reductions. Still,thousands of educators and other employees were laid off.
The agreement includes funding to reduce the size of classes in key subjects or grade levels. Schools may also get more counselors, although the maximum ratio of students per secondary school counselor is still 500 to 1.
The two sides also agreed to develop a new teacher evaluation and support program by fall 2016. In the meantime, the district will streamline the current process.
United Teachers Los Angeles made one notable concession from an earlier position. It accepted three possible final ratings for teachers: exceeds standards, meets standards or below standard.
The union had wanted to keep the practice of using two possible ratings. Accepting the district's alternative could result in the district retaining control over millions of dollars in federal aid tied to evaluation standards.
Though he favors the agreement, Supt. Ramon C. Cortines has warned that its cost could contribute to future budget cuts and even layoffs.
Despite improved relations between the union and L.A. Unified, UTLA has said it will protest next week against the district's plans to cut or even eliminate programs that have lost state funding support.
In addition to teachers, the union represents health and human services staff, including nurses and school psychologists.
Twitter: @howardblume
Howard Blume
Howard Blume covers education for the Los Angeles Times. He's won the top investigative reporting prize from the L.A. Press Club and print Journalist of the Year from the L.A. Society of Professional Journalists chapter. He co-hosts "Deadline L.A." on KPFK, which the press club named best radio public affairs show in 2010. He teaches tap dancing and has two superior daughters.
L.A. council president: It's time to reexamine how we're handling homelessness


Get ready to get your hip hop shoes on because the works of rapper and hip hop extraordinaire Paul Wall is heading out on his live 2008 and upcoming 2009 concert tour from city to city. For a guy that has only been on the hip-hop scene since 2002, Paul Wall definitely knows how to make an audience go crazy. From his notorious 'grill' to his insane raps, there is no doubt that Paul Wall knows how to give a show. Stay in the know with ticket information as it becomes available for your seats to this epic event.
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Paul Wall was born Paul Slayton on March 11, 1981 in Houston, Texas and was raised there for quite a bit. He recently married his wife on October 22, 2005, Crystal. They had their first child on April 18 th , 2006 and named him William Patrick Slayton in remembrance of a friend and fellow rapper, Patrick Hawkins, also known as Fat Pat, who had passed away and was a good friend of Paul Wall.
Since he got into the hip hop music industry, Paul Wall has worked with some amazing talent such as Slim Thug, Mike Jones, Chamillionare and Swishahouse to name a few. Paul Wall has come out with a number of studio album releases in quite a short period of time with Chick Magnet in 2004, The Peoples Champ in 2005, Get Money , Stay True in 2007, The Fast Life in 2008 and the soon to be released and highly anticipated Yung Savage in 2009.
As well as all of his accomplishments in recording and working with the best of them, Paul Wall has managed to be honored with quite a few awards throughout the years. In 2006 Paul Wall was awarded with the Ozone Award in the categories of Taste Maker (style and trendsetter), best Rap/R&B Collaboration with "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)" the remix along with the talent of T-Pain, Twista, Pimp C, R. Kelly, MJG and Too Short, another for Best Rap Collaboration for "Holla At Me" by DJ Khaled with fellow artists Lil' Wayne, Fat Joe, Rick Ross and Pitbull working along with Paul Wall.
One of the all-time most amazing moments Paul Wall will be able to look back on some day to show how successful and loved he is by fans and hip hop lovers everywhere would be his 2007 Grammy Award nomination for Best Rap Performance as a Duo or Group for "Grillz" by Nelly along with the works of Paul Wall and Ali & Gipp. That definitely went to show the world that Paul Wall knows what he is doing and then some.
As he kicks off his 2008 and upcoming 2009 live concert tour, Paul Wall will be kicking things of at The Pearl Room in Mokena, Illinois on November 29 th followed by a performance at the Rex Theatre in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on December 5 th , and a trip to Peabodys Downunder in Cleveland, Ohio on December 7 th . Stay in the know for ticket information as it becomes available for your seats to this hip hop-tastic event for they are sure to sell like grillz after Paul Wall started rocking them.
If her last six tours are anything reference, they all were sellouts and crowd pleasers each one captivating more hearts than the last. Stay updated with all the ticket information for Alicia Keys As I Am Tour as they become available. This is definitely an experience of a life time that you will not want to miss out on!


Is there a way to get all stops at a particular coordinate? Couldn't find a relatively simple way to do it, but just began digging through the SDK.
Basically looking for all time spent at a specific coordinate by all devices, so that I can summarize it as an amount of time at a location. I would like to be able to approximate the time spent on service calls - e.g. if billing X hours, I'd like to know how many hours the trucks were actually at the location.
Not sure if there's a (simple) way to do that.
1) Create one rule that triggers when the device stops in a ZoneType (ie. "Service Call"). Then, create zones (programmatically or manually by a dispatcher) with that common ZoneType. This way you can quickly see service call stops in MyGeotab in a report AND also calculate time in the stop via the SDK.
2) Query the trip data using ther SDK after the fact for the device, and find where trip stops correspond to service calls. The trip object provides the length of time at a stop.
Method #2 may be the simplest (but may require some additional programming logic on your end if the coordinates/address reported are a bit off from the service call system), but method #1 is the one that can be viewed more readily in a MyGeotab report.