Self-employment has an enormous set of benefits, and being able to choose how to spend your time is chief among them. But you may have noticed that this autonomy can be a double-edge sword, as you find yourself reading The Oatmeal or scanning YouTube in the face of an important pending deadline. What's a freelancer to do? Here are seven tips to keep yourself on track.
1. Ditch email and social media. It's hard enough to focus on specific tasks even without a constant stream of interruptions.Turn off your email, and sign out of twitter, Quora and facebook. If you must keep your computer on for research purposes, consider using private browsing options ("Private Browsing" in Firefox, "Incognito" in Chrome, or "InPrivate Browsing" if you're actually still using Internet Explorer.) There are also internet-blocking apps available, including , which locks away social media sites, or , which locks away the internet entirely. –a Chrome extension–turns off your access to social media and other distracting sites (such as YouTube) for 25 minute increments, with a 5-minute break between sessions.
2. Schedule time for specific activities. Whether you're blocking a few hours every morning to respond to emails before setting client meetings, sending all of your Freshbooks invoices on Fridays or running your site analytics on Monday afternoons, having time scheduled for these business tasks will keep you from unnecessarily jumping from one activity to the next when you're trying to finish some writing or coding.
3. Simplify the to-do list. It's tempting to create overwhelmingly long lists of things to do, it will also lead to a feeling of helplessness that kills productivity. Having a will not only keep you on track, but also allow you to prioritize time-sensitive projects (I.e. the ones with deadlines) without neglecting ongoing projects. And delegating work you don't need to do personally to a virtual assistant or other service provider can free up some time to focus on what you do best.
4. Break up your week. Knowing what you need to get done on a daily basis can help keep you on track, and breaking up large tasks into small, manageable chunks will keep you focused. On Monday mornings (or better yet, Friday afternoons), make a list of all the tasks you need to accomplish over the coming week and how long you think they'll take. Then simply divide the activities by five, and resolve to accomplish a set amount each day. Leave some time, if possible, for any last-minute projects that inevitably creep up, or activities which take longer than you've anticipated.
5. Check in with someone. If you've followed the list above, then you know exactly what you need to accomplish and when you need to accomplish it by. Find a friend or coworker to check in on with your progress, and watch your productivity skyrocket simply due to the sense of accountability created.
7. Go somewhere else. Whether you're setting up shop in a local cafe, working alongside a friend in their office, or taking advantage of a shared co-working space, sometimes getting out of your office and being in a different environment will help you focus on finishing the task at hand, without taking breaks to water your plants or clean the closet.


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Q: Condition under which a point belongs to the convex hull of some other points I can't understand a fact used in the proof of a theorem I am reading.  It can be stated as follows:

Let $x_0,\dots,x_n$ be points in some Euclidean space $\Bbb R^d$. Then a point $p\in\Bbb R^d$ belongs to the convex hull of $x_0,\dots,x_n$ if there does not exist a vector $v\in\Bbb R^d$ such that $\langle v,x_i-p\rangle>0$ for all $x_i$.

I know that a point $p$ is in the convex hull if, by definition, it can be written as
$$
p=\sum_{i=0}^n\lambda_i x_i
$$
for some $\lambda_i>0$ such that $\sum\limits_{i=0}^n\lambda_i=1$.  I tried taking the scalar product with $x_i-p$ and separating parts by linearity, but I didn't succeed in proving it.  How can I prove it?
Vectors $v$ that satisfy the statement are called separating vectors.  Why is this term used?  What's the intuition behind?

A: The intuition is that a point $p$ and a vector $v$ define a hyperplane
in $\mathbb R^d$ through $p$ perpendicular to $v$.
The points $q$ such that the inner product of the vector $q - p$ with $v$
is positive, $\langle v, q-p \rangle > 0$,
are all on one side of this hyperplane, the points $q$ such that
$\langle v, q-p \rangle < 0$ are all on the opposite side of this hyperplane,
and the points $q$ such that $\langle v, q-p \rangle = 0$
are on the hyperplane itself.
That is, for any point $p$, the vector $v$ defines a hyperplane through
$p$ that "separates" $\mathbb R^d$.
If there is a vector $v$ such that $\langle v,x_i-p\rangle>0$ for all $x_i$,
it means all the points in the set  $\{x_0,\ldots,x_n\}$
lie strictly on the same side of the hyperplane
through $p$ perpendicular to $v$; no points are on the "other side"
or on the hyperplane itself.
If there is a hyperplane in $\mathbb R^d$ such that
all of the points of the convex hull of
$\{x_0,\ldots,x_n\}$ are strictly on one side of that hyperplane,
what does that say about the rest of the points in the convex hull
of $\{x_0,\ldots,x_n\}$?
What does it say about a point $p$ that lies exactly on
that hyperplane?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Clifton Community School is a secondary school located in Rotherham, South Yorkshire,  England. It is situated on Middle Lane and receives children from a number of primary schools throughout Rotherham.

Clifton is a secondary school serving school years from 7 - 11, with number of pupils on the school roll at 1,009. It is mixed gender and serves pupils aged between 11 – 16.  In January 2014 Clifton Community School entered into a partnership with Wickersley School and Sports College.

History
Clifton first started at Rotherham Girls' High School which was a grammar school. Rotherham Girls' Grammar School was established and was dominated by Rotherham Corporation in 1906.
Rotherham Girls' High School was moved to Middle Lane, Rotherham. After being taken over by Rotherham Corporation in 1906, 67 Years later it closed down in 1973, with Mrs Ridge still being Headmistress at that time. In September 1973, Rotherham Girls' Grammar School changed to a comprehensive school and was opened as Clifton Comprehensive School in the same building. Mrs Ridge was the first Headmistress of the new Clifton Comprehensive School.

In 1991 Clifton Comprehensive School was divided into the Lower School and Upper School, at separate locations, while incorporating the former Spurley Hey school.

In September 2004 Clifton Comprehensive School was specialized into an "Arts College" and was renamed to "Clifton: A Community Arts School".

In January 2014 "Clifton: A Community Arts School", changed its name to "Clifton Community School". This is the now the present name of the school, linking also with the new January 2014 logo as the school's official new logo.

Clifton became an academy, sponsored by Wickersley Partnership Trust, on 1 December 2017.

Ofsted inspections
Since the commencement of Ofsted inspections in September 1993, the school has undergone seven inspections:

Headteachers
 1973 – 1974: Mrs Ridge (continuing on from Rotherham Girls' High School to Clifton Comprehensive School)
 1974 - 1982: Mr Bates
 1983 – 1989: Mr Deeley
 1989 – 1995: Mr Light
 1995 – 2005: Mr Marshall
 2005 – 2014: Mr Daley
 2014 – 2021: Mr Hardcastle
 2021 – present: Mrs Leng

Feeder schools
The school receives a notable number of students from Herringthorpe Junior School, Badsley Moor Junior School, Saint Ann's Junior School, East Dene Primary School and a number of other schools around the central Rotherham area.

Progression to further education
As Clifton does not have its own sixth form, the majority of Clifton students embark on their post-16 education at the neighbouring Thomas Rotherham College for academic courses or Rotherham College of Arts and Technology.

References

External links
 Clifton Community School

Educational institutions established in 1973
1973 establishments in England
Academies in Rotherham
Secondary schools in Rotherham

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Landry's to Buy Morton's: Here's Our Wish List for Its Rebirth
Melissa McCart | February 2, 2012 | 2:08pm
Houston-based restaurateur Tilman Fertitta of Landry's Inc. has acquired 90 percent of Morton's shares, he announced Wednesday, reports Chicago Business. The purchase means he'll own Morton's without shareholders' approval. Shareholders had been trying to block the purchase because they believed the stocks were undervalued.
In Florida, Morton's resides in Boca Raton, Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Orlando, and West Palm. Eater reports that the Miami Beach location shuttered in today's news. Currently, there are more than 70 Morton's in 26 states.
Landry's started as Landry's Seafood House in Katy, Texas, and Willie G's Seafood and Steak House
in Houston. It's the company behind the Houston and Denver Aquariums,
Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., Rainforest Cafe, and Oceanaire Seafood Room in
Washington, D.C. Most recently, the company bought McCormick & Schmick's.
Fertitta promised Morton's will be "refreshed and modernized" under his ownership. Yet we wonder if that's the case, considering the track record of the current holdings. In this area, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. and Rainforest Cafe are not exactly beloved.
Though we're not expecting a dazzling transformation, we can dream. That's what a wish list is for, right? After the jump, our five points.
5) Hire and train local characters
Personalize steak-house culture by hiring as many locals with charisma for the front of the house. Train them in knowing about the area, particularly in places that are tourist destinations. Carving that as a signature of Morton's can lure visitors.
4) Update the design
Choose a known designer -- as Jose Andres has -- and come up with a signature look that's more exciting than the God's-waiting-room-meets-'80s-men's-club motif.
3) Get in on the heirloom and local thing
Find and support a collection of farms like Ayrshire -- raising heirloom breeds of pig and cattle -- and make it your thing. It's not so out of the question since Miami corporate hotels are doing it for pigs and buying whole hogs. While we're at it, support local fish vendors and promote local seafood, perhaps a fancier place than Southport Raw Bar, and offer raw oysters from the Gulf.
2) Promote the chef at each restaurant
Wolfgang Puck does it. Michael Mina does it. Pioneer the area's chef-driven cuisine by hiring and touting a progressive chef. Promoting individual chefs helps drives the area's cuisine and culls loyalty with locals.
1) Find a soul
Whether it's here or Miami, we've got enough corporate steak houses in
town. What we don't have are steak houses with soul. Take a tour of
places like Doe's Eat Place in Greenville, Mississippi, for direction. We know it's asking a lot, but find a way to infuse a soul.
Anything to add to the list? Add your suggestions in the comments.
New Times on Facebook | Clean Plate Charlie on Facebook | Melissa on Facebook | Clean Plate Charlie on Twitter | Melissa McCart on Twitter | E-mail Melissa |

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Try to picture the following situation.
You sit in your kind of not really completely uncomfortable chair on a train, first class ICE, as you do, and a woman arrives to take the seat opposite of you.
She is, well, a lot of human. I wouldn't call her fat, but she is certainly overweight. She is not short either. First she tries to navigate first her luggage into a suitable position and then herself. She wears glasses, a bright colored shirt in yellow, blue, but mostly red with a floral pattern. Beige fabric shoes. Grey hair, long. Bound to a more practical than beautiful pony tail. No make-up.
Got a picture? Think about this woman. Think about how her life may be. Her experiences.
Take your time and try to get a full idea about this woman and her life before you read one.
A couple of minutes later a second woman arrives. Young. Extremely thin. Lots of make-up. Long curly hair. Stylish and thoughtfully combined clothing and some jewelry. Our first woman looks at her, a little longer than you'd expect a glance should last. I get the impression of seeing a sigh in her eyes. I know, sighs gently flow out of a mouth and are not visible in the eyes, but you get the idea. Don't argue with me.
Again. Got a picture? Anything changed about our first woman and her life? Take your time, then read on.
Our woman opens her backpack and gets some papers out and a very thick book. German laws. Laws about social issues and laws for foreigners living in Germany. She reads them. Takes notes. Adds markers to the pages. Writes helpful pointers on her papers. Works highly concentrated.
How has your image of this woman changed reading the last paragraph? Is she a different woman now? Think. Then read on.
The guy checking the tickets arrives and I reach into my backpack to get the ticket out and starting the security dance of showing my ticket and than hand him my credit card to prove that I am who I claim to be and friendly telling him not to bring my a beverage or some strange sandwich.
The woman however just showed her black first class BahnCard 100 which allows her to use any train in Germany first class any time. This card costs € 6,890 for a single year.
My perception of this woman and my idea about the life she may live changed a lot during this couple of minutes.
Maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm just a bad person.


If you suffer from TMJ disorder, you know how awful it can be. Muscle fatigue and spasms not only cause pain in the muscles but can also lead to spasms in the head and neck, migraines and cluster headaches, tooth and facial pain, ear and sinus pain, sleep loss and even anxiety or depression. Worse, many people suffer from this debilitating syndrome and don't know what is causing the misery and discomfort. In fact, many TMJ sufferers are misdiagnosed or feel they will never live without pain medication again.
What Causes TMJ disorder or TMD?
Everyone needs to chew, smile and speak, but if your bite is not correct, even the simplest act could be disrupting your life. In chewing, the upper and lower teeth come together, pushing against the bones of the jaw. When the bite is uneven, teeth are missing or misaligned, the muscles of the jaw must work overtime to bring the teeth together. If you clench or grind your teeth, the strain increases. Bad posture, poor ergonomics, emotional stress, head or neck trauma and certain medications can all contribute to jaw joint pain.
While pain is bad enough, it isn't always the only result of TMJ Disorder. Many of our patients diagnosed with TMD experience clicking, popping or locking of the jaw joints when they do even simple things, like speak, yawn or laugh. Even eating can become an uncomfortable and embarrassing problem when the jaw makes noise with each chew or it locks when you try to bite into your sandwich. However, it should be again stressed that like most dental diseases, TMD can exist and cause severe dental problems without TMJ symptoms or pain.
The National Institute of Health estimates that more than 10 million Americans have problems affecting the jaw joints and muscles, and the Academy of General Dentistry reports that 1 in 8 Americans suffer from headaches. Numerous studies show that approximately 65-75 % of adults have some degenerative change in their TMJ's, and the risk among females and especially young females is much higher! Statistics like these have inspired us to seek knowledge and answers for over 20 years. Our dentist in Lawrence has treated thousands of patients, and there are thousands more longing to find relief.
Can We Help You with Your TMJ Symptoms?
When you wake up in the morning, your jaw muscles feel tired and perhaps sore to the touch.
You experience pain behind the eyes.
Your jaw clicks and pops when you open or close it.
Your jaw gets stuck as you open or close.
You can see wear, chipping and cracking on your teeth.
You have unexplained tooth or facial pain.
Your head or scalp feels painful when you touch it.
Your ears ache or ring.
You have numbness in your fingers or arms.
Your dental restorations don't last as long as they should, especially if crowns and teeth are breaking or don't feel right.


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Homepage / Aerial Warfare / Second Round of Tests of US Army UH-60V Victor-model Helicopter Delayed
Second Round of Tests of US Army UH-60V Victor-model Helicopter Delayed
The U.S. Army has delayed a second attempt at an initial operational test for the UH-60 Victor-model Black Hawk until software and reliability fixes are made and the aircraft receives certification to fly in national airspace. The first initial operational test and evaluation was conducted at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington State, in September 2019, but due to numerous software reliability issues, the U.S. Army decided to hold a second test for the third quarter of fiscal year 2020. That event was pushed back by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic and delays in the Instrument Flight Rules certification process (IFR) that would allow the aircraft to fly in national airspace.
In 2017, Northrop Grumman won a US Army contract to upgrade Black Hawk L-model helicopter cockpits from analogue to integrated, open-architecture digital ones. The converted version is called the Victor-model. The Victor model converts a Lima-model Black Hawk from an analogue cockpit to a digital one. This replacement better matches the capability of the UH-60 Mike-model, the latest variant of the helicopter. But its success could serve as springboard for the Army's future vertical lift backbone, which will allow mission systems to seamlessly plug into the architecture of the aircraft. Three prototypes spent more than two years in the Prototype Integration Facility at Redstone undergoing integration.
AMRDEC's Prototype Integration Facility assisted the Utility Helicopter Project Management Office in developing and qualifying the UH-60V aircraft. The UH-60V features a digital cockpit that updates the legacy analog gauges. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Army)
The U.S. Army partnered with Corpus Christi Army Depot, Texas, to convert "L" models into new "V" models at a rate of 48 aircraft per year, which some have called too slow, as it would take 15 years for the service to produce all 760 aircraft. The Army has been looking at ways to speed that up. The Army has developed a new software baseline — "baseline 3.0" — that is undergoing developmental testing, but has solved the challenges seen in the IOT&E from a software perspective. During the first test, the aircraft used were engineering and manufacturing development versions of the aircraft and not production representative systems.
Around the world, countries with L-model Black Hawks might be interested in upgrading to a digital cockpit or they might be interested in streamlining a fleet of different aircraft with the same cockpit to help reduce logistics and training costs of a mixed-fleet or they could design brand new cockpits using the technology for brand new helicopters. It's clear many countries, including in the Middle East, are looking to upgrade equipment already procured. Since the time Northrop won the contract to integrate the new cockpit into the L-model fleet there's been a "tremendous amount of inquiry" from international customers, who will be watching further flight tests of the V-model very closely.
An engineering development model UH-60V Black Hawk hovers above the runway as part of its successful initial test flight Jan. 19, 2017 in Meridianville, Alabama. The UH-60V is being designed to update existing UH-60L analog architecture with a digital infrastructure to address evolving interoperability and survivability requirements. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Army)
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