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Dishalicious: A Preview of WTTW's New Cooking Show
by Jaison | Feb 27, 2018 | Blog, Featured
I received an invitation to check out WTTW's new cooking show: "Dishalicious". The show is the brainchild of "Check, Please!" Executive Producer David Manilow. Unlike "Check, Please", the taping of "Dishalicious" is much less intimate, taped in the famed Grainger Studio and features a studio audience of about 250 people. The format is simple: up on stage are three chefs who all prepare a dish. The chefs mingle, joke, and tell stories – all while interjecting instructions on how to prepare the dish. A fourth chef, Chef Sarah Grueneberg (of Monteverde), plays host and ties it all together. Three episodes were filmed, each episode featuring three new chefs. I was fortunate enough to attend "Dishalicious: Mexican".
"Dishalicious: Mexican" was filmed on January 26th, 2018 and showcased Chicago's premier Mexican-cuisine chefs. Preparing an empanada appetizer was Chef Diana Davila of Mi Tocaya Antojeria. The chocolate tamale dessert as prepared by Chef Alfonso Sotelo of 5 Rabanitos, and the main course – a braised ribeye – was prepared by Chef Rick Bayless, of Frontera Grill. Chef Sarah Grueneberg, the host, greeted guests with a shrimp cocktail dish during the pre-filming soiree.
I had an opportunity to catch up with Executive Producer David Manilow to inquire about the new show, while in it's infancy. David Manilow felt that people were tired of the standard cooking competition format, and wanted to present to the audience, the rapport among the chefs preparing their dishes – making jokes and sharing stories. I recall Manilow telling me, "let's see how responsive the viewing audience is, and hopefully we can launch this nationwide; bringing in chefs from various cities. Make it more dynamic."
The episode I witnessed was incredibly dynamic, and when filming commenced, I shook Manilow's hand as he smiled and said, "I think we have something special here."
You have something special here. Be sure to check out the debut of "Dishalicious" in April on WTTW-Channel 11. Be sure to follow my Instagram @TasteWithJais for more photos from the filming.
-Jais


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Click to copyhttps://apnews.com/e4e17af6600e44b3991e255c63c18e25
Washington man accused of killing wife with laced ice cream
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state man accused of killing his wife by poisoning her ice cream has been charged again.
The Spokesman-Review reports 58-year-old David Pettis pleaded not guilty to a murder charge Wednesday in Spokane County Superior Court.
According to court documents, authorities allege David Pettis gave ice cream laced with a lethal dose of pain medication to Peggy Pettis at their home in Cheney in June 2018.
Pettis and his attorney declined to comment.
Pettis was arrested last October on a murder charge, but prosecutors dropped the case in December after determining they didn't have enough evidence.
A new case was filed last month. Prosecutors declined to comment on the new evidence.
Pettis moved to Oklahoma after the initial case was dropped.
A trial has been scheduled for November.
Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The steric hindrance introduced by the additional 2'-protecting group reduces the coupling efficiency of the phosphoramidite, and is limited to >97% using tetrazole activator even with extended reaction times. When using 0.25M ETT (3140/3142), to optimise efficiency a 12min coupling time is recommended. It has been shown that this coupling time can be reduced to 3min when using 0.3M BTT as the activator (0234/3160/3162).
Removal of the base protecting groups, cleavage of the linkage to the support and removal of the ß-cyanoethyl groups are all achieved routinely with aqueous 20% NH3/methylamine (1:1). The cleavage is fast (10-30min) at 65°C. (Heating can be continued up to 1h, however prolonged treatment will cause gradual loss of TBDMS groups resulting in degradation.) The deprotection strategies used are dependent on the base-protection utilised. Bz-A (2036), dmf-G (2033), Ac-C (2038) and Ac-G (2053) can also be deprotected using AMA (1:1 ammonium hydroxide solution in aqueous methylamine) at 65°C for 10min, however it should be noted that the use of ethanol in the deprotection solution aids solubility for full RNA sequences. When synthesising RNA chimera, e.g. RNA/DNA or RNA/2'-OMe RNA, the C amidite cannot be Bz protected otherwise deprotection with AMA will result in transamidation.
Pac-A (2037), iPr-Pac-G (2039) and Ac-C (2038) can be deprotected using UltraMILD conditions such as 0.05M potassium carbonate in methanol at room temperature for 4h.
The desilylation procedure is the same for DMT ON and DMT OFF oligos. Suspend the residue in dry N-methyl pyrrolidone/Et3N/Et3N.3HF (6:3:4 v/v/v) and deprotect silyl groups for 2.5h at 65°C in a sealed sterile tube. Alternatively, DMSO (or DMF)/Et3N.3HF (3:1 v/v) can be used.
Retaining the DMTr group after oligonucleotide synthesis is advantageous to the purification of RNA. This allows failures with no 5'-DMTr protection to be easily removed from the crude mixture. Traditionally this was carried out by RP-HPLC where the full-length DMTr-protected oligonucleotide was collected then detritylated using 10% acetic acid at pH 3.5 (30-45min) then quenched with ammonium bicarbonate followed by desalting.
Today it is possible to carry out the purification by RP-HPLC which includes the detritylation step and the full-length detritylated product is collected. Also, cartridge purification - e.g. TOPS, PolyPak or GlenPak - allow fast processing of oligonucleotides where DMTr-oligos are loaded onto the column and the full-length detritylated product eluted. This is particularly useful in preventing cross contamination since a new column is used for each oligo. DMT-ON purification, although useful, does not remove the N-1 sequences where the DMTr protection is retained. In this case cartridge purification can be useful to remove all other failures prior to purification by IE-HPLC. The latter is also the recommended method for purification of RNA where the DMTr group has been removed, or where the sequence is longer (≥40 bases). The most commonly used IE columns for purifying RNA are Dionex DNA-PAC (100 or 200) columns although there are alternatives from Phenomenex and other suppliers.
Anion-exchange HPLC—A: 20mM aqueous Tris-HCl pH 7.6 + 1mM EDTA + 10mM sodium perchlorate; B: As A with 600mM sodium perchlorate. This system may require alteration for longer oligos.
RP-HPLC—A: 95% 0.1M triethylammonium acetate (TEAA) + 5% acetonitrile; B: 95% acetonitrile + 5% water (or 5% 0.1M TEAA). Gradient of 0-50% B during 20min.
Much longer oligos are best synthesised DMT-OFF and purified by PAGE.
All solid phosphoramidites and RNA supports are stored dry in a freezer at –10 to –30°C. The phosphoramidites are stable in anhydrous acetonitrile solution for 24h (2091 can be stored for 2-3 days).
Unlike DNA, RNA is highly unstable in basic media and must not be exposed to high pH. Traces of heavy metal ions present in various salts used also lead to degradation. Buffers containing 1mM EDTA are used to prevent this.
RNA is very sensitive to degradation by nucleases. All glass (and plastic) used must be rinsed in water containing diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) (2%) and autoclaved before re-use. All reagents, water and consumables used in subsequent handling must be sterile and certified RNAse free. Anion-exchange and desalting columns should be stored in sterile water/acetonitrile (1:1), except Q-res type which should be stored in water/ethanol (4:1).
What is AMA and what is its advantage over ammonium hydroxide as a deprotection solution?


text:
import { Disposable } from 'vs/base/common/lifecycle';
import { URI } from 'vs/base/common/uri';
import { IOpenerService } from '../../common/opener';

export const NullOpenerService = Object.freeze({
	_serviceBrand: undefined,
	registerOpener() { return Disposable.None; },
	registerValidator() { return Disposable.None; },
	registerExternalUriResolver() { return Disposable.None; },
	setDefaultExternalOpener() { },
	registerExternalOpener() { return Disposable.None; },
	async open() { return false; },
	async resolveExternalUri(uri: URI) { return { resolved: uri, dispose() { } }; },
} as IOpenerService);

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Granted, the day trek cost more than gas money. The ravenous, thick pine trees on Bogus' disc-golf course ate three $12-$15 pieces of my plastic. But what the heck: Mom ambitiously hiked the front nine with her sons and grandsons, laughing at our antics. Dad lounged in the parking lot above and watched the local Porsche Club Association race sports cars up and down the winding road between Simplot and Pioneer lodges.
Bogus' disc-golf course was a trip in more ways than one. At one tee, I managed to crush a gravity-aided downhill bomb that wound up in another state. My brother and I looked at each other, slackjawed, as the disc just kept soaring over the treetops and overshot the hole. There was no use even looking for it. Bogus' course is fairly extreme. But it's also the disc-chucking equivalent of batting in the thin air of Coors Field.
Here are a few more Boise summer bucket list suggestions. You might remember me beating you over the head about many of these ideas before. That's the point: We know this stuff is here to do in the Treasure Valley, yet we don't do it.
selling local beer, Payette's Outlaw IPA, at the stadium. (More beer news, p. 26.) It's the ballpark hotdogs. The minor-league promotions. (OK, the "shade blimp" is ridiculous.) The groan-inducing sound of foul balls nailing cars in the parking lot. What's not to love?
When's the last time you've done this iconic Boise recreational activity? It's so much fun. So exhilarating on a hot day. At least I think it is. I have two dusty rafts just rotting in my garage. Yet I haven't floated the Boise River in years. Somebody whack me with a paddle.
I attended last summer. What a riot. Crazy outfits on bicycles. New Belgium beer. Music. Smiles. It's the sort of fundraising festival that I wish occurred more often in Ann Morrison Park. It's Aug. 15.
Funny how living in Boise often feels that way.
Michael Deeds' entertainment column runs Fridays in Scene and every other Sunday in Explore.
Wizard World Comic Con has canceled its show at the Boise Centre in July 2019. And Treasure Valley Comic Con at the Nampa Civic Center has no plans to return this year with a pop culture convention.


"the blissful ignorance of absentmindedness"
Boy. Talk about discouraging. I lent my Pretty Face manga to a friend for three days. And then I walk home and see my roommate reading scanslations of Pretty Face. He couldn't wait two days for the manga to come back... no, he had to have it now. It was an attitude that, had it been prevailing, would mean that I would keep my translations to myself. But hey, the feedback on the forum was primarily good, which makes me feel nice about this project. I'll start as soon as my vacation starts, between 5 and 6 PM on Thursday.
Hi Dom. In case you're wondering who this is, I'm (edited) one of thetranslators for Akatsuki-Manga (among other groups). I'd like to beginby saying I'm a fan of your work.
I know some of my other fellow members of the group are treating your dislike of scanlation as a challenge, either to themselves personally for their choice to scanlate, or to the work they've put into it. Personally, I approve completely of the stance you're taking about theissue.
Fansubbing, all semantics and speechifying aside, is and always has been a major form of piracy. The cries from the fansubbers that "we stop assoon as the series is licensed in our area and always encourage people topurchase the originals for themselves" convince no one. Anyone who paysattention to the fansubbing community knows that the moment a series islicensed, sure, the big groups will drop it, but that doesn't stop translation from finishing. Sometimes it's even the same people doing it, just with different aliases and under a different group name. And as for "be sure to buy this when it becomes licensed in your area", thatoption may never become available in some cases, and in all cases the option to purchase the original Japanese version is open as well--and is often not even mentioned as a possibility.
I know I'm preaching to the choir here by saying all that to you. You'reobviously well aware of the facts, but I like to ramble and seldom have the opportunity.
The thing about fansubbing, though, and scanlation in particular, is thatwe do it because we love it. Obviously you understand the desire to helpothers understand and be able to enjoy works in languages which they maynot themselves speak. The problem is that were I to do translation workof a series I enjoy and distribute only the scripts, one of two thingswould happen. Either nobody would bother to look, because I'm just someguy on the net, like millions of others, or my translations would bequickly stolen by some less-than-ethical scanlation group--and let's faceit, there's more than enough of those out there--and they'd be used to aid and abet the piracy of the manga, and likely without any urgings to purchase the original title included. So I have chosen to join the scanlators, with the knowledge that maybe I'll be able to make a difference in the quality and legitimacy of the work by urging left andright that people purchase the manga, with a sincere hope that they will,as opposed to saying it just to keep myself out of trouble.
You, on the other hand, are rather well known and respected by many in the internet community. You're in a very good position right now to set precedent by distributing scripts, as opposed to scanlations, and I urge you not to become discouraged or dissuaded from that path. I would like nothing more than to be able to present a translation without theaccompanying pirated scans--or even to translate legitimately. In fact, I'm looking into the feasibility of taking the group I'm working most closely with into the legitimate realm by purchasing the rights for the manga we're working on and trying to found a publishing group of my own. But that may be just a dream. In the meantime, the legitimate support ofmanga can be aided by your idea of distributing scripts without scans,and I again urge you to continue with that plan.
Geez... how much more encouragement do I need than that? Thanks... If you want to reply to this person (who requested that their name be withheld), send mail to countb@hotmail.com. Personally, I wish the e-mailer good luck on the company startup.
Next rant I'll talk about another (relatively) recent manga I like, No Bra. It's... interesting.


Frequency: 50.0169 MHz USB mode 3kHz Width.
(50MHz) and fed in to the D/A converter and computer in real time.
Data sampling system: using a 8 bits A/D card to PC/AT and "Data Capture" software with 1 second/8 ampling interval to store all the > 0 s reflections.
observed time:July 13th 0h am- July 20th 9h am.
*.no "*"mark of area is meaning E layer propagation and E sporadic of reflection.


Feds Shake Down Farmer For Free Raisons, by Tony Lee, at brietbart.com. This is Government Tyranny.
Effort To Create New State Called "Northern Colorado" Grows, at cbslocal.com. This is good for liberty.
NSA Help Wanted Commercial, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Sign me up!
In The People's Republic of San Francisco, Dog Walkers Must Now Be Licensed, at economicpolicyjournal.com. They're just looking out for the safety of the dogs.
USA vs. NSA animation. Trampling on our rights.
BREAKING: City Of Detroit Files For Chapter 9 Bankruptcy, at economicplicyjournal.com. If they could print money (like the Federal Government can), they could put off the day of reckoning. Detroit was forced to face reality, the Federal Government will eventually face this day. Any bets on whether we the tax payers will be forced to bailout Detroit?
Charles Barkley Talks About Zimmerman Verdict, in this interview at cnbc.com. You could have a serious discussion about race with Charles Barkley. Unlike our politicians and bureaucrats he won't sugar coat what he is thinking, because he isn't trying to pander to a particular person of group.
The Left In NC Discovers Anew An Ancient Truth, by Mungowitz, at mungowitzend.blogspot.com. The progressive may have discovered that regulation can make it more difficult and expensive to pursue the regulated activity. I guess regulation is only cool when they do it.
This entry was posted on July 20, 2013 at 12:33 am and is filed under Must Reads For The Week. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments.


In this village belle who became a source of income for local communities is as artisans weaving or songket. Motifs woven in the villages is always taken from the example of old fabrics that are still stored properly and is often used as clothing in traditional ceremonies and for other functions within the scope of traditional ceremonies, such as tando and also on display at the time batagak ( built) home. Pandai weaving motifs Sikek believed to be the original motifs on woven fabrics Sikek Pandai women in ancient times.
Pandai Sikek is one of the villages which belong to the districts Ten Koto, Tanah Datar, West Sumatra Province, Indonesia. Nagari is located near Batusangkar, the capital city of Tanah Datar district.Pandai Nagari Sikek also known as a place of artisans weaving, and is appreciated by the government of the Republic of Indonesia in the figure 5,000 rupiah currency denominations.
To make a songket longest took five months. The result was very nice and smooth. The price could reach Rp 10 million. There is also songket made only within ten days and what you get with the price of 200 thousand.
Various shades of fabric too Pandai Sikek songket origin of this West Sumatra. There is a motive pucuak rabuang, stem nut, stacking siriah, sirangkak, nails Rabah and spinach. Name the motive was just a small part. Noted, motif model that can reach 1100 species. In one songket, these motives combined, resulting in a beautiful songket model.


Late spring and all summer are the best times for bowfishing. As spring waters warm, "rough fish," such as carp, gar, buffalo, burbot, pike, and suckers, begin to move into the shallows of lakes and river backwaters to spawn. Check your current state or provincial sport fishing regulations for equipment restrictions, license requirements, bowfishing seasons, and legal species.
The primary challenge of hunting fish underwater is compensating for a phenomenon called refraction. Light rays bend as they enter water, making fish appear to be where they aren't. You must aim lower than a normal sight picture to hit your quarry. Practicing on underwater targets will help you find the correct aiming point.


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Daily coronavirus updates: Weekly COVID-19 test positivity rate at 18.22%; hospitalization decline 'a really good thing,' Lamont says
Jose Colon: A Lifetime Of Improving Lives Through Boxing
Mega-dosing vitamin D: Doctor-prescribed 50,000 IU vitamin D may be right for some patients
After 300 years, First Church West Hartford welcomes its first female senior pastor
Bob Stefanowski announces second run for governor
Mike Anthony: The college football debate includes head-spinning inconsistency from medical groups
The Earth is flat. I know that because someone said it.
"The Flat Earth Society mans the guns against oppression of thought and the Globularist lies of a new age."
That came from theflatearthsociety.org, which adds, "Standing with reason we offer a home to those wayward thinkers that march bravely on with REASON and TRUTH in recognizing the TRUE shape of the Earth — Flat."
If you actually believe something or want to believe something or force yourself to believe something or just say you believe something, you can find someone to back you up. Support, for anything, exists somewhere.
Which brings me to college football.
It is safe to play in the fall. I know that because someone said it.
It is not safe to play in the fall. I know that because someone said it.
Big East postpones fall sports due to coronavirus pandemic, no decision on basketball »
There is a great divide and — Guess what? — the conferences that plan to play have the backing of doctors, and those who do not plan to play have the backing of doctors. All these statements about postponements or maintaining the status quo, most of them including something along the lines of "in consultation with our medical experts …"
Does this make any sense? Those planning to play know it is safe because someone said so. Those who have chosen to cancel or postpone seasons know playing is unsafe because someone said so. These advisers are some kind of experts, for sure, but the across-the-board, head-spinning inconsistency is like something from another world even if a perfect fit for 2020′s national discourse.
I don't know whether college football is safe to play in the fall and that, by the way, is a fine way to begin most conversations nowadays: I don't know. I've long stated that uncertainty alone is enough to simply push sports at the college and high school level out of 2020, with plans to reassess the situation at a time when there might actually be meaningful change to what we know about, and how we treat, COVID-19 and its spread.
New Haven will not permit games nor practices for high school football, moderate risk sports this fall »
None of you need to hear that from me anymore, though, even those who agree. I'm just here to point out that Elvis Presley is still alive, because someone said so, and that the 1969 moonwalk was a Hollywood fabrication, because someone said so. Actually, the moon doesn't even exist. I know that because someone said so.
The NCAA does exist … for now. On Thursday, the governing body of college sports called off fall championships amid the growing number of teams in all divisions having already canceled fall seasons. That affects everything but FBS football, which operates under the independent College Football Playoff umbrella. The 10 conferences that comprise the Power Five and Group of Five are darting in different directions as we hit the middle of August, all of their explanations sounding so similar.
The Big Ten, Pac-12, Mountain West and Mid American Conference have decided, in consultation with their own clusters of medical experts, that holding football games is not wise in the midst of a pandemic that our nation has so miserably failed to contain.
Blumenthal, Murphy announce framework for college athlete bill of rights »
The SEC, Big 12, ACC, AAC, Sun Belt and Conference USA have decided, in consultation with their own cluster of medical experts, that holding football games is still a reasonable option to pursue in the midst of a pandemic that our nation has failed so miserably to contain.
They all know what they're talking about, these major stakeholders in a financial jigsaw puzzle in which "amateur" athletes put together pieces worth millions and millions of dollars. Someone told them they do.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was one medical team, one group of experts, representing the interests of the NCAA's 460,000 student-athletes instead of one group here and one group there, each built differently, delivering different messages? Wouldn't it be terrific if all these voices were a voice, or even fewer voices?
Let's pull a couple ends of the rope on this knot.
First, the words of Dr. Carlos del Rio, a distinguished professor in the infectious diseases division at the Emory Univeristy School of Medicine, and a member of the NCAA's COVID-19 advisory panel.
"I feel like the Titanic," del Rio said during a webinar hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. "We have hit the iceberg, and we're trying to make decisions of what time should we have the band play."
Dr. Greg Stewart, the sports medicine program co-director at Tulane who chairs the AAC's COVID-19 medical advisory group has thoughts, too. He told The Athletic that he believes it's safe to play. He was asked if he was surprised that other medical groups believe it isn't.
"No, I'm not surprised," Stewart said in a piece posted this week at www.theathletic.com. "These different medical advisory groups have very good, very well-qualified individuals who are not sports medicine doctors. They're epidemiologists and they're infectious disease doctors. Nothing against them, but at the end of the day, you've kind of got to put all this information together and weigh all of the stuff. At the end of the day, it'd be safer if everybody went home and stayed there for a month and nobody went outside to do anything. I don't mean to be flippant, but if you want this thing to go away, then that's what you do."
The state Department of Public Health would have recommended moving high school fall sports to the spring, but the CIAC acted before receiving consultation »
Stewart, Tulane's team physician since 1987, specializes in non-operative treatment of musculoskeletal disorders in adults, disability prevention, rehabilitative medicine, sports medicine, and has interest in sports concussions.
I know that because Tulane's website says so.
He's not an infectious disease expert, though. And while he clearly has many qualifications to take part in certain aspects of the play-or-wait debate, I ask …
If you were charged with a crime, would you hire a divorce lawyer?
If you had back issues, would you see an ear, nose and throat doctor?
If you wanted to improve at a particular soccer skill, would you call a hockey coach?
The AAC is planning to hold its first two football games Aug. 29.
The schedule says so.
And it's OK. Everything is fine. Because Stewart and the rest of the medical team says so.
Southington native Chris Denorfia to return as Hartford Yard Goats manager in 2022
After finishing fourth in the 2018 Olympics, Madison ice dancer Zach Donohue and his partner Madison Hubbell want an Olympic medal this time around
This is all so shaky, the foundation on which these decisions are being made.
I'm just a doofus, though.
I know that because someone said it.
Columnist Mike Anthony can be reached at manthony@courant.com.


The reality is that parents' night and large group meetings at the school just aren't as convenient as they used to be. Families lead busier lives these days. If you're an administrator, you need a school website hosting service to make community engagement easy. At the very least, your website will be a content management system (CMS) with some useful information on it. But at its best, it could be a bond that ties your community together.
For starters, you must absolutely select a host that's compliant with the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). The privacy of student records is serious business. The Federal government has very strict guidelines about what student data should be accessible to whom. FERPA is no joke. As a school administrator, you know that. Make sure your Web host does, too.
With your FERPA fears subdued, you'll certainly want a host that offers excellent data storage and protection. You should be able to find providers that can give you maximum bandwidth and transfer capabilities, allowing for fast navigation and unlimited data storage. Security, reliability, and backup management work to keep your data safe. Additional offerings to look for from a host include performance monitoring, regularly scheduled maintenance, and multiple-level redundancy.
When shopping for the best host, it's important to compare costs. Rather than maintaining your own server, having a third-party host support your site allows you to save money on internal infrastructure and other IT costs. And be sure to select a hosting provider that has a high E-Rate, which is the common term for the Universal Service Fund's School and Libraries Program. The highest E-Rate in the industry is about 97%. The higher that rate, the greater the discount available to your school.
There are many additional features that providers of Web hosting for education may offer. Among these are data security and student privacy, as they are legitimate concerns that can help protect your community. Web design is also a major factor to consider. Select a provider that offers Web design and support services in addition to hosting. That way, you can get a help with the appearance of your site if things aren't working properly.
You might want look for a host that lets you include options such as photo albums to show off school events, or portals that connect parents with one another. Modern classroom websites and let you share documents, event calendars, and student assignments. Explore your options and compare your alternatives before choosing the host that's right for you.
In addition to network redundancy, nightly backups, and around-the-clock monitoring, there are a few other boxes that you'll want your school's web hosting provider to check off. See if they can offer you a pre-build consultation to discuss your content concerns. You have a vision; they have the know-how to make it happen. Make sure that both of you are on the same page. If a particular host doesn't provide the technical features you need, keep looking. Make sure that your host offers sites that automatically adjust to screens on smartphones and tablets, so users can stay on top of school news and activities from the palms of their hand. Keep that in mind and demand mobile-responsive design capabilities from your host.
Any teacher knows that the backbone of a strong classroom is parent involvement. When the parents can support the teacher's vision at home, the child will be more successful in the classroom. Today, that vision cannot be delivered effectively in an hour meeting at the beginning of the school year. Instead, a persistent conduit for communication needs to be in place. In other words, you need a school website to connect teachers, students, parents, and staff. So do your homework and find the school website hosting service that best supports your goal.
If you need to learn more about how your school can graduate to new levels of community engagement, you can do some homework here in this article.


Mobility for professional communications over a secure cloud-based VoIP connection.
Special phone equipment is required for the 30+ features to work. If you want to keep your current standard phone, an Analog Converter is required or you can buy new IP Phones for exceptional sound quality. All equipment can be paid for over 12 months without interest. If you don't want to purchase equipment, ask about standard phone packages that work with standard phones.
Go big with Verizon business solutions.
Verizon Fios Internet for Business helps small businesses get ready for orders, customers and growth. Verizon business solutions give you everything you need in one place so you can focus on running your business. Verizon takes care of the rest.
See if you can get business internet in your state.


Your time in New Zealand on a student visa must be mainly for study. You may be allowed to work part-time but there are rules you need to know.
A specific visa is needed if you're coming to New Zealand to study for more than three months.
You may be able to work while you're studying, but only under certain circumstances.
Before offering you a job, employers will check that you have permission to work in New Zealand.
To stay in NZ to work after your studies, you'll need a work visa.


text:
Bay Area coronavirus cases keep surging. Are deaths also starting to rise?
Jess Marmor Shaw, Annie Vainshtein
Nov. 23, 2020 Updated: Dec. 3, 2020 8:30 a.m.
Sources: CDC, CDPH, county public health departments, Chronicle reporting
SF Chronicle
The Bay Area's third wave of the coronavirus pandemic arrived just ahead of the holiday season, and now the waiting begins to see the full impact of Thanksgiving gatherings and travel on case counts.
Right around Dec. 7 is when UC Berkeley infectious disease expert John Swartzberg expects the Bay Area to see another rise in cases from Thanksgiving and then roughly two weeks after that, a rise in hospitalizations. If and when that happens, the deadliness of this surge will hinge on the availability of hospital beds.
San Francisco went into this wave with the lowest mortality rate of any major U.S. city. As the U.S. sees the highest death levels since May, what do the latest numbers show for the Bay Area?
Cases and hospitalizations already are surging across California and the Bay Area, and the majority of counties statewide have regressed to the most restrictive purple reopening tier. Marin is the only Bay Area county to have avoided moving to the purple tier.
Sources: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, California Department of Public Health and county public health departments, Chronicle reporting
The seven-day trailing average represents the average number of cases or deaths reported each day over the weeklong span ending on the given day. It is used to account for daily variances in reporting and large one-off changes in daily counts, such as April 20 when nearly 1,500 cases were reported in L.A. County as the result of a lab clearing a large backlog. Some counties do not provide daily updates which, combined with daily variances in the number of tests given, could result in randomly higher or lower counts for daily reported cases.
In California and the Bay Area, hospitalizations now have exceeded the peak numbers seen in the summer, and continue to rise at a frightening rate. Health officials are sounding the alarm on how this wave of cases could stretch the hospital system. In Santa Clara County, officials said Wednesday that only 12% of hospital beds were available — including just 44 in intensive care. Across the state, about three-quarters of ICU beds are currently full, nearly 25% of them with COVID-19 patients. The state is expected to be over capacity by Dec. 24. Some counties in rural Northern California are projected to run out of ICU beds as soon as this week. And the Bay Area could be over capacity by early January, according to state forecasts.
Source: California Department of Public Health
Deaths in California have started to rise, as of mid-November. The Bay Area, however, has yet to see the same curve up.
That may in part be due to Bay Area counties' ongoing caution over the past month and throughout the pandemic around restricting activities compared to other parts of California, said UC Berkeley epidemiologist Art Reingold.
"Deaths are in part a function of how many people are getting infected and getting severely ill and in part a function of the quality of care they receive," he said. "The Bay Area certainly in general has very good hospitals (and) very good quality of care."
The age and underlying conditions of infected groups can also play a role, he said. But a big additional factor is timing. Death counts can start to trickle in weeks after hospitalizations rise, often spiking weeks after case counts do. The gap can make the picture look a few weeks behind.
"We're not going to have vaccine-induced immunity at a wide level before certainly early spring to save us, so there's certainly a concern that the coming holidays could lead in a spike in infections, and if so, that there will be increases in hospitalizations and deaths," Reingold said.
Swartzberg said that if ICU bed shortages occur in December — or the Bay Area is overwhelmed — that could factor into the death toll numbers we'd start to see by New Year's.
Coronavirus live updates: Bay Area sees plunge in COVID-19 deaths
Coronavirus Map: Tracking COVID-19 cases across California
Jess Shaw and Annie Vainshtein are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: jess.shaw@sfchronicle.com, avainshtein@sfchronicle.com
Jess Marmor Shaw
Reach Jess Marmor on
Jessica Marmor Shaw is the Newsroom Director of Audience for the San Francisco Chronicle. Shaw has over 15 years of experience in digital news strategy and previously led engagement initiatives at MarketWatch and oversaw the online night news desk at The Wall Street Journal. She's a Bay Area native and currently calls Nopa home. Jess is passionate about all the ways data can inform journalism, and about finding new and innovative ways to engage audiences in digital storytelling.
Annie Vainshtein
Annie is a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle. She previously was a digital producer for The Chronicle's Datebook section. She graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2017 with a degree in journalism. During her time there, she spearheaded a culture column, produced radio pieces for NPR-affiliate station KCBX, and was a DJ and writer for KCPR, the campus radio station. Before joining the Chronicle, she was an associate producer at SFGATE and interned at VICE and Flood Magazine. She's particularly interested in communities and scenes that are often misunderstood.


The annual Primary Athletics competition was held on a slightly cloudy day, perfect conditions for over 1000 young athletes. Many teachers, who have been attending the annual meet for years, arrived as early as 8am to reserve the best spots around the track and put up their gazebo's ready for a full day of athletics.
Each school brought a variety of children from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 to compete in track, field and relay events. Each child could compete in one track, one field and one relay event.
Schools were divided into three categories: Minor, Intermediate and Major. They are put into these categories based on the number of pupils on role in KS2, so that the biggest primary schools in the city are competing against each other, and the smaller schools are competing against each other to give all the pupils a fair chance at success.
The day started with a flag ceremony, a tradition that started in 2012, with two representatives carrying the flag of their school.
During the morning, heats were held for all of the track events, with the top two runners from each race going through to the final, held in the afternoon. The field competition was a straight competition with each child getting three attempts at their chosen event and their best jump / throw recorded.
Clearly it was an extremely exciting competition as not one but two ladies went into labour during the day; we hope their babies arrived safely, and hope to see them in 7 years when they are old enough to compete!
In all of the events, the children who came 1st, 2ndor 3rdin their finals received a certificate and the winner also got a medal. The four children who broke records, strangely all set in 2009, also received a special certificate of their achievements and their names have gone down in the archives.
In the past every primary school competing have been asked to provide one teacher to act as an official on the day. For the first time, young leaders were used to marshall the events, and did a fantastic job.
Many of the students have been actively involved in running PSSP events throughout the year and their experience showed with a smooth competition running ahead of time. They were enthusiastic, organised and great with the children. Many teachers have extended their praised to the young leaders with some even stating that they were better than the adults!
A huge thank to the leaders from Stoke Damerel and Hele's.


The third day is always the worst. Your alarm goes off in the morning and the simple action of rolling over to shut it off is painful. Your neck is stiff, your arms are aching, your back spasms, and your abdominal muscles feel torn. And then, you try to stand up.
Coming back to work as a professional dancer after a three month layoff (sometimes longer!) can be similar to your "First Day of School." It's both exciting and slightly scary. The whole crew is back together, there are lots of hugs and "How was your summer?" inquiries, as well as welcoming the few new faces. You're a little bit worried about how out of shape you might be and wonder how well your legs are going to hold you up as the day goes on. But on Day 1, there is always a buzz of energy that comes with the beginning of a new season. The excitement of new repertoire to work on, new opportunities, and the new goals we have set for ourselves. And we're not tired yet.
Company class starts promptly at 9 am and is always taught by Artistic Director Stephen Mills. Day 1 feels familiar, regardless of how much dancing you did over the summer, Day 1 is the time to ease back into the daily grind. This season was no different.
Every one of us approaches our summer layoff differently, while always trying to stay in shape in some form or another. A handful of the dancers teach at the Ballet Austin Summer Intensive, including Orlando Julius Canova and Christopher Swaim. Some dancers take on other dance projects or opportunities, whether local, or off to some other parts of the world. For instance, this summer Oren Porterfield, Jordan Moser, Jaime Lynn Witts and Ed Carr performed in Asheville, North Carolina with Nick Kepley's Motion Dance Theatre. Ashley Lynn Sherman just returned from an intense three weeks at the National Choreographers Initiative in Irvine, California, while Preston Patterson co-directed and choreographed for the Southern Illinois Music Festival.
Some of us take on other projects outside of the dance field, such as my husband Paul Michael Bloodgood, who continued finishing up his first feature length documentary film, Trenches of Rock, which is currently undergoing sound editing/mixing as well as color correction. And others, while still trying to stay in shape, incorporate huge life events into our summers, such as Grace Morton and Ian Bethany who were married in a beautiful Seattle ceremony this past July.
The 2015/16 season starts us off with Stephen Mills' Hamlet, one of my personal favorites. For most of the company, rehearsals start off with a bang. Associate Artistic Director, Michelle Martin, usually starts rehearsing the larger group sections right away. For a production like Hamlet, this meant starting with scenes like Ophelia's Funeral and the opening Wedding scene. We need time with these scenes to get the material out to the dancers, but also to have time to clarify and clean steps. Sometimes Stephen takes the opportunity in these early rehearsals to make small adjustments and changes to choreography. The nuts and bolts of the ballet remain the same, but the nuances evolve and grow with each restaging.
From Day 1, the men cast as Hamlet (Frank Shott & Paul Michael Bloodgood) and Laertes (Christopher Swaim & Jordan Moser) start fencing rehearsals. Since not all of the ballets in our repertoire involve fencing, and since it involves swinging sharp objects, it's a good idea to start these rehearsals early… And slowly.
Week one is generally about getting a good bulk of the material laid out and to slowly work through it before we start layering our characters on top of the movement. Week one often times also includes our first costume fittings. Though the costumes for Hamlet are already built, wardrobe has a limited amount of time to make repairs and adjustments for specific dancers.
My Third Day Theory is basically that the third day of new movement or choreography is the day you are the most sore. This seems to remain true whenever we start a new rep or have a new visiting choreographer. With new material you inevitably are using new muscle groups that you may not have been using the same way a week ago. Or the high probability that there is lots of repetition as we learn a new phrase of choreography. Nothing prepares you for dancing all day, like dancing all day. And this isn't the type of gym where you might have a "leg day," and then focus on a different muscle group the next. Everyday is "leg day" in ballet.
The tools are still all there, but what we lack most is stamina. I think general stamina problems like jumping for long periods of time, and calf endurance are pretty common across the studio. For the men, it's also often lifting/partnering stamina. Lifting weights at the gym isn't quite the same as lifting a woman all day long. A human body's weight distribution isn't as evenly balanced as free weights, and free weights don't change shape and position when you lift them.
And for the ladies, it's the pointe shoes. "Little Pink Coffins," as I like to call them (thank you Allisyn Paino for that one,) are really brutal that first week back. By Friday afternoon you can usually find the ladies lying on the floor with their swollen feet up in the air and looking forward to their evening ice bucket.
As the week rounds up, we're still sore, but usually not as bad as Day 3. But I find it a welcome fatigue. A reminder of the muscles I still have and the years of experience and training behind me. There is something gratifying about working your body that hard and feeling like you really earned your weekend rest, or your Friday night pizza, or your glass of wine, or whatever it is you personally look forward to on Friday. The first week back always reminds me that what I do for a living is quite a special and remarkable thing.
So, cheers to surviving Week 1! Get some rest, ice your feet and we'll see you back at the barre bright and early Monday morning!
This entry was posted in Ballet Austin and tagged Ballet Austin, Dance, Hamlet, Stephen Mills on August 11, 2015 by Ballet Austin.


Conforming to Style, what do we need?
Although the concept did change on one of the many iterations of the shader, we will first try to recover most of the information i based myself… and then talk about the next iterations. What do we see in this picture that we don't have?
The top part of the graph, uses the Depth Fade node as a patch for giving us the ability to draw the collisions… normally we would use the distance fields to draw everything close to a occlusion volume, but we're working with unlit sprites here (and even if they are lit, they have almost no depth, so it wouldn't matter).
As stated previously, the "correct" way to create or draw something that is in close proximity to a occluding block is to use Distance Fields (a buffer created specially for lighting purposes, it was the ability to get the distance to the closest point.. so, please use that if you can), but since we do not understand the concept of a 3rd dimension here in Flatland we will use the next best thing… Depth Fade.
From UE4 Reference Depth Expressions this material expresion can be used only on translucent objects.. and they give an output of [0-1] when a intersection happens (this happens only from the rendering camera perspective), we can abuse this function to draw a panning image that simulate our waves that will have a near "1" value when close to an object (again, from the camera perspective) or "0" if no hit ocurred, with this the wave hit simulation can be done really nicely.
First try at linearts for top and collisions.
Well, that wasn't so difficult right? Ok, let's take our final lineart requirement, lineart on waves… parepare your calculus 101 guys… we're going full math.
The last requirement for lineart it's really not difficult to acomplish, it just needs a little bit of math and the concept of Normals, Binormals and Tangents.
For any of you that have taken courses on Calculus, you are already familiar with the concept of the "Rate of Change", that is, the speed on which something changes (and in which direction). Since i like to catter to a wider audicence, i will give a TL;DR for all of you non Cubic friends.
So, when we are on top of the sine wave, on the very top, there is no change ocurring right now (or very little)… but when we are on going down the ramp, the rate of change starts to increase, and then cycling on and off again and again. The function (that is, the machine) that describes this input/output it's called the Derivative of the Sine (derivative being the rate of change of a function).
So, why do we need this derivatives? the issue is this… we need to get the tips from the waves, if we see our graph here, we can understand that the derivatives are 0 near the tips and valleys. Since the function of our water shader (Traveling Sinc Wave and Gerstner Wave) are a function of F(x,y) i.e. x and y, we can obtain 2 derivatives: The speed of change by moving alongside X and from Y… this will give us our Tangent and Binormal vectors… both can give us (by doing a cross product) the "Normal" vector, that is the direction pointing OUT of our function.
So by using and obtaining the Normal vector (that points UP when on the top, and DOWN when on the bottom of the wave) and with that, we can easily distinguish between our tips and draw a lineart on the top of the waves.
Yellos vectors are the Normal, Light blue and Purple are the others.
As we won't do a full course of Math here, just understand that normals come from the derivative (rate of change) of the functions from X and Y, crossed.
As an example.. i'll show both derivatives from the traveling sine wave (not sinc) so you can understand how i got them, also as i already approved calculus on college, I feel like I deserve to use WolframAlpha for the hard work.
We have the following function: , with the derivative of X and Y being (btw, those are the partial derivatives).
Having this, you only need to construct your Binormal and Tangent Vectors => (1,0,ddx) and (0,1,ddy) (this is because there is no change of X and Y when those are always the same value that the point itself, so deriving d(f=x)/dx = 1 and d(f=y)/dx = 0. Now just cross this and you get your normal.
If you want to, you can head to GPUGems and check the already solved formulas for an easier and simple life (specially for Gerstner Wave).
Now that we have the normals from the functions (not normalized) we can add them together and normalize them to get the overall pointing direction of the normal (each function calculates their own normal, so it's useful to not normalize them and add them as they are, to get a better grasp of the corresponding input each function gives to the overall normal).
With this normal, we can now do a DotProduct to get the alignement of the vectors (remember, near 1 dot products vectors are almost parallel, 0 are totally orthogonal, we are searching for totally pointing upwards vectors, so we need a dot product of approximately 1 between the normal and the UP vector).
Thus ending the line art part of our water shaders.
As we approached the final style given by our artist, we had to transfer the materials from this empty and dark world, to one of our built scenes… context is key and we knew that for this shader to work correctly, we needed to see the full picture.
Right off the bat, we discovered something that could break the style, the water on the guideline picture was way too clear, thus not giving that sense of "depth"… as one of our artist said.. "it looks like a pool".. and i ABSOLUTELY despise pools… our artist iterated on a new concept, that takes this into consideration.
This new concept was spot on, so I started with what i knew i could solve immediately, the depth fade.
Finally, since we have the normals of the functions, we can add a simple "Refraction" to our material (using a refraction of 1.3 by normals). This paired with the textures and colors give us this resulting water material.
With this we have our water, it's not quite the same as the picture given by our artist, but all the parameters are exchangable, so we can tweak the colors to have a brighter or more swampy water if we do end needing it.
As you can see, the water reacts nicely to our character, thus fulfilling all of our artist's requirements… now we only need to polish the results and parameters to get the perfect water, but that's an excercise on trial and error that we will be doing through the life of the project.
If you can spot though something quite obvious: The water reacts to the character movement, and not only to a impulse as we previously stated. This is because we, in that example, are using an improved version of the reactive water, using the technique of Heightmaps to simulate the water behaviour.
Water: How we discarded the sincwave and used Heightmaps instead… Also bouyancy.
Be careful about falling into the trap of spending too much time blogging and PR and not enough game development. That's how a huge amount of indie games fail.
That being said, PR it's a good investment that cannot be avoided if we do want to get traction, so we cannot shy away from it, but don't get the wrong idea, all of our efforts are mainly on game development, although the blog has almost dev-related entries for the moment.


text:
Hamptons Development News
Developer David Wine Might Not Have Time for Us Anymore
By Ian Ratner Sep 9, 2010, 6:28pm EDT
The man behind big-time Manhattan projects like Superior Ink, the Time Warner Center, and Residences at Mandarin Oriental Condominiums—David Wine—is set to leave his post at The Related Cos. to start his own "real estate development, investment and brokerage company." And while we're psyched for him, we wonder how the new venture will impact his presence in the Hamptons. If you recall, Wine made a splash in the East End market earlier this year after listing a $14.95 million "Malibu-style" home, which he developed on a plot of oceanfront land. Sure, the house hasn't sold yet, but it's fun to look at. And for that reason, we'd like to see him do more stuff out here. Wine did tell the WSJ he's been going to some open houses, so maybe all is not lost.
· Related Cos.' exec exits, forms own firm [Crain's New York]
· Listing: Modern Oceanfront Masterpiece [Sotheby's]


Want the country life feel but still be close to town!! Then comes see this 3 bedroom/ 2 bath home on 1 acre of land in the town of San Marcos. This home is located in a nice quiet established neighborhood with no HOA. Home features a Huge open Living Room with high ceilings, Lots of cabinet space in the Kitchen, Large bedrooms for the size of the home, Big walk in closet, Plenty of shady mature trees in front and backyard, the Backyard is enclosed with a chain link fence perfect for pets and for kids to play. Easy access to IH 35. Short commute to New Braunfels, Seguin or San Marcos. New Close Volunteer Fire Dept. No city taxes. The home does need a little TLC but it is a must see!!


text:
Q: Unable to send anything from Python server to Java client I've set up a Raspberry Pi 3 and I want to make a program that sends data whenever a button is pushed on my breadboard. I have a Python server running on my RPi, and a Java client running on my Windows laptop. However, whenever I send data to my Java client, it receives the data, and then for some reason, the RPi server closes the program due to "broken pipe". However this cannot be true, because my Java program receives data from the Pi! The Java program then closes due to the Pi server closing. But from what I've read online, Python's "error 32: broken pipe" is triggered when the remote socket closes prematurely!
What's going on here? Why can't I keep my server running?
(PS: The data that my Java program receives is wrong, but it receives data nonetheless. I send "1\n", and I receive null.)
Here is the code for my RPi server program:
import RPi.GPIO as GPIO
from time import sleep
import atexit
import socket
import sys

GPIO.setmode(GPIO.BOARD)
GPIO.setup(5, GPIO.IN)
GPIO.setup(7, GPIO.OUT)

def cleanup():
    print("Goodbye.")
    s.close()
    GPIO.cleanup()
atexit.register(cleanup)

THRESHOLD= 0.3

host= sys.argv[1]
port= 42844

length= 0

def displayDot():
    GPIO.output(7,True)
    sleep(0.2)
    GPIO.output(7,False)
def displayDash():
    GPIO.output(7,True)
    sleep(0.5)
    GPIO.output(7,False)

try:
    print("Initializing connection...")
    s= socket.socket(socket.AF_INET,socket.SOCK_STREAM)
    serverAddress= (host, 42844)
    s.bind(serverAddress)
    print("Connection initialized!")

    print("Waiting for client...")
    s.listen(1) #Puts the server socket into server mode
    client, address= s.accept()
    print(address)
    while True:
        if not GPIO.input(5):
            length+= 0.1
            GPIO.output(7,True)
            s.sendall('1\n')
            print("HELLO??")
        else:
            if length!=0:
                if length>=THRESHOLD:
                    print("Dash") #displayDash()
                else:
                    print("Dot") #displayDot()
                s.sendall('0')
                length= 0
                GPIO.output(7,False)
except KeyboardInterrupt:
    print("\nScript Exited.")
    cleanup();

Here's the code for the Java client program:
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;

public class MorseClient{
  public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException{
String hostname= null; //Initialize
int portNumber= 0; //Initialize
try {
  hostname= args[0];
  portNumber= Integer.parseInt(args[1]);
}
catch(ArrayIndexOutOfBoundsException aiobe) {
  System.err.println("ERROR. Please specify server address, and port number, respectively");
  System.exit(1);
}

    Socket redoSocket;

    long initTime;

    try(
      Socket echoSocket= new Socket(hostname, portNumber);

      PrintWriter out= new PrintWriter(echoSocket.getOutputStream(), true);

      BufferedReader in= new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(echoSocket.getInputStream()));

      BufferedReader stdin= new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
      ){
        redoSocket= echoSocket;
        System.out.println("Connection made!");

        String userInput= "";

        //Order of priority
        //Connection time= 0
        //Latency= 0
        //Bandwidth= 1
        redoSocket.setPerformancePreferences(0,0,1);

        //Optimizes reliability
        redoSocket.setTrafficClass(0x04);

        echoSocket.setKeepAlive(true);

        String returned= "";
        while(true){
          returned= in.readLine();

          System.out.println(returned);
          if(!(returned.isEmpty())){
            System.out.println(returned);
            System.out.println("YEP");
          }
          System.out.println(returned);
          if(returned==null){
            System.out.println("HAHA");
            System.out.println("Attempting to reconnect...");
            redoSocket= new Socket(hostname,portNumber);
            System.out.println(redoSocket.isConnected());
          }
        }
      }
      catch(Exception e){
        if(e instanceof ConnectException || e instanceof SocketException || e instanceof NullPointerException)
          System.err.println("Connection closed by server");
        else
          System.err.println(e.toString());
      }
  }
}

The output for the Pi server is:
python ServerMorse.py 192.168.1.101
Initializing connection...
Connection initialized!
Waiting for client...
('192.168.1.14', 58067)
('192.168.1.14', 58067)
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "ServerMorse.py", in <module>
    s.sendall('1\n')
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/socket.py", line 228, in meth
    return getattr(self._sock,name)(*args)
socket.error: [Errno 32] Broken pipe
Goodbye.

And the output for the Java client:
java MorseClient 192.168.1.101 42844
Connection made!
null
Connection closed by server

A: Good lord, why are you writing a server with sockets?  Use Flask.
http://flask.pocoo.org/
Also, pretty sure s should not be sending all.  It should be like this:
conn, addr = server.accept()
conn.sendall(....     # <- this is what sends

Here is some sample code from a server I wrote with sockets once..might be useful:
def server():
    server = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM, socket.IPPROTO_TCP)
    address = ('127.0.0.1', 5020)
    server.setsockopt(socket.SOL_SOCKET, socket.SO_REUSEADDR, 1)
    server.bind(address)
    server.listen(1)
    conn, addr = server.accept()
    ...
    ...
    conn.sendall(response_ok(some_stuff))
    ...
    conn.close()

(response_ok is a function I wrote)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
US-China tensions
SMIC has 'preliminary exchanges' with US over export restrictions
Chinese chipmaker earlier received letter citing risk of diversion to a military end use
Workers check their clean room suits at Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. in Shanghai. © Reuters
October 4, 2020 22:52 JST | China
SHANGHAI (Reuters) -- Chinese chipmaker Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation has undertaken "preliminary exchanges" with the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security regarding export restrictions, the company said on Sunday in a filing.
"The Company is conducting assessments on the relevant impact of such export restrictions on the company's production and operation activities," the filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said.
SMIC also said it has been operating in compliance with the relevant laws and regulations of all jurisdictions where it performs its businesses.
The company also advised shareholders and potential investors "to exercise caution when dealing in the securities of the Company."
In September, Reuters reported that the Bureau of Industry and Security under the Department of Commerce had issued letters informing certain companies they must henceforth obtain a licence before continuing to supply goods and services to SMIC.
The letter stated that exports to SMIC "may pose an unacceptable risk of diversion to a military end use" to China.
Such measures recalled those imposed by the Department of Commerce on Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the Shenzhen-based maker of smartphones and networking equipment.
At the time of the reports, SMIC said it had not received any notice from the Department of Commerce regarding the reported restrictions and said it had no relationship with China's military.
SMIC is China's largest semiconductor foundry, though it trails behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd , the global market leader.
Both companies rely heavily on equipment from companies based in the United States or U.S-allied countries to produce chips for clients.
Earlier this year, SMIC raised $6.6 billion in a listing in China's tech-centric STAR Market, aiming to use the cash to kickstart manufacturing into more advanced technology.
China's SMIC stockpiles chip equipment to counter US restrictions
SMIC shares hit after US tightens controls on top China chipmaker
US determined to halt China's chip game plan with SMIC sanctions
China's top chipmaker SMIC hit by US export controls


text:
Which Spider-Man will Morbius Fight?
It's a given that Sony will be using Spider-Man in their upcoming movies. That the wall-crawler will eventually encounter Venom and Morbius is certain; it's only a matter of time. But the recent ending—SPOILER ALERT!!!—of SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, makes it look less likely that the Spider-Man they will be encountering will be the Spider-Man of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And there's a rumor now that Andrew Garfield will be returning to the role!
It makes sense on paper. With two different Spider-Men operating in two parallel universes, it would avoid potential continuity issues. Spider-Man wouldn't have to be in two places at once. He could go off into space, in other words, to battle Thanos and still do battle with the Lizard back on Earth. A self-contained Sony Spider-Man universe is something the company has been working on all along, but it could never make it work before. Now, if it has Marvel's backing and support, then yeah, it could fly. Andrew Garfield back as Spider-Man, doing battle with Venom and Morbius? Hell, yeah, I'd be excited for that! Wouldn't you?
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME accomplished miracles this past weekend. Not only monetary miracles, either. It managed to redeem two lousy movies, SPIDER-MAN 3 and THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2. It created an environment wherein Andrew Garfield could return to his most famous role and fans would actually be happy about it. And Morbius is going to need a Spider-Man to fight, right?
The way of the cinematic multiverse seems to be the way of the future for both the Marvel and DC cinematic universes. And that is, I believe, a very good thing.
Published December 23, 2021 By TheCheezman
Spider-Man and Morbius
A Dark Shadows Christmas Carol


The double challenge for this week's Dark Days Challenge is to create a sweet treat suitable for Valentine's Day using only SOLE ingredients. Since I've got to stick to local and seasonal, this eliminated chocolate, sugar, and any "romantic" fruits, like berries or mango. I toyed with the idea of doing poached fruit, perhaps serving it with a blood orange sorbet. However, the most obvious contender, pears, were no longer available at the farmers' market. Apples were aplenty, though, and in lots of different varieties.
My favorite apple vendor, Prevedelli Farms, sells a dazzling array of expected and heirloom varieties of apples. They've got Fuji, Red Delicious, and Granny Smith, but they also have Pink Lady, Sundowner, Gravenstein, Mutsu, and Hauer Pippin, a variety originating in the Santa Cruz mountains (can't get any more local than that). My favorites are Pink Lady and Sundowner, which are actually rather similar to one another and have a complexity of flavor that I don't find in the run-of-the-mill Fuji. I often buy from the "not-so-pretty" box — because what's a few bumps when they're only a dollar a pound? And particularly when you're going to turn the apples into sorbet.
I found my inspiration while Googling apple recipes, which pointed me in the direction of the baked apple sorbet from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home — a book I happen to own. It's a pretty straight-forward recipe: bake apples with apple cider and sweetener (in my case, Pink Ladies from Prevedelli [40 mi], with honey from Small Bees [10 mi] and local cider [I forget from where]) until soft, then blitz with an immersion blender before freezing in an ice cream machine. The original recipe calls for vanilla and cinnamon, neither of which are local, so I went with Meyer lemon zest (from my tree) instead. The result is a sweet-tart dessert with a hint of floral from the honey. Jeni recommends serving it with whipped cream (Clover, 90 mi) and a glass of whiskey.
To be honest, this really just tasted like frozen applesauce. Not to say that it wasn't delicious — it just didn't fulfill my idea of an ideal, decadent Valentine's Day dessert. The whipped cream helped a bit, and when not eating for the challenge, I did find that a drizzle of Rebel Yell whiskey over the top boosted the flavor. While it's not what I actually want to make for Valentine's Day dessert, the sorbet is pretty nice for what I could do with what's available locally right now.
And what did my Valentine think? The Anthropologist liked it okay, as I did, but was expecting something creamier. I made up for it later in the week when I made ginger-black sesame ice cream for the Lunar New Year.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients except zest in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, tossing to mix. Cover dish loosely with foil and bake for an hour and a half, or until apples are tender. Remove from the oven and let cool.
Puree the apple mixture with an immersion blender or in a food processor until completely smooth. Stir in zest. Refrigerate until completely cold.
Pour the sorbet base into an ice cream machine and churn for 25 minutes. Pack the sorbet into a storage container, and put in the freezer until firm, at least 4 hours.


Henry Jenkins is an unavoidable media/cultural theorist if you study film/media studies/cultural studies, and so I'm quite familiar with his work and really enjoy it. I'd never read one of his books in full, and after reading the introduction of Convergence Culture for a class I took on Netflix (I know), I decided to read the whole thing. I finally got around to it in October in the hopes that it might be useful in my graduate research. Overall, I really enjoyed it – Jenkins lays out his theory of convergence culture using popular, accessible examples, such as Survivor, Harry Potter, and Star Wars. He writes very clearly, so although I've read his work primarily in academic settings (and although he's an indispensable academic theorist), his work is totally accessible to a consumer market. I found his theories compelling and clearly-articulated and his case studies well-chosen and illuminating. I'd recommend Convergence Culture to anyone who's interested in the current media landscape and how the roles of media producer and consumer are becoming blurred.
I was assigned Camera Lucida – as well as Mythologies, which I'll get to – in my second year of university, and, of course, did not read them. In my defense, in 200-level classes professors go over the readings in such detail that they often render it unnecessary to actually read them while still getting their contents across quite thoroughly, so I'm familiar with quite a lot of Barthes' theories without having actually read much of his work firsthand. Once again, I undertook to read the Barthes I'd ignored in anticipation of my graduate studies. Camera Lucida was assigned in perhaps the best undergraduate class I ever took, and his theory of the punctum has stuck with me since then. Reading the entirety of Camera Lucida was a great experience – the first half of the book was especially resonant in elucidating the semiotics and poetics of the still image. I could have done with a bit less of Barthes' famed mooning over his dead mother in the second half, but overall I found Camera Lucida a great read, and one which I expect will be of use to me in the future.
I do love my long-winded books, don't I?! The Luminaries comes in at a whopping 832 pages, making it the longest book I read in 2016. I absolutely loved it – it was a rip roaring yarn of a Victorian pastiche with an interesting structure that was enjoyable the whole way through. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, I loved everything about it.
Mythologies is a study of myth, which Barthes defines as a type of speech which presents ideology as natural and ahistoric. The essays in this book that were good were really good – relevant, incisive, delightfully interesting. And the conceptual framework – the essay "Myth Today" – is fantastic and essential reading for those interested in semiotics. Unfortunately I found that there was a significant chunk of essays which didn't hold my attention or feel relevant – I don't live in 1950s France, and so I don't feel that the entire book was resonant. "Myth Today" and a wide selection of Barthes' essays about everyday objects and phenomenons are great, but the whole book doesn't seem like essential reading in my own context.
This is a fictionalized account of the December 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley. It's a dense book, told from many different perspectives, much of it written in Jamaican Creole, and with an interesting chronological structure. (It spans thirty years, but is only told one day at a time – that is, it takes place on December 3, 1976, February 15, 1979, August 14, 1985…) It is also a very dark and disturbing book and I don't recommend it for the faint of heart – it starts off deeply, unremittingly violent and does not let up. James' use of language is expert and the ripple effect plot and exploration of Western imperialism on the political and social climate of Jamaica are fascinating. It's very broad thematically; it's about music, imperialism, diaspora, gender roles, gang violence, and more. I found some characters and points of view more interesting than others. I also found that the structure – while ambitious – didn't quite work, though it came close. I'd still recommend this book overall, but it's not without its flaws and it's an undertaking to read.
Alison Bechdel's 2006 graphic memoir poignantly weaves together the story of her father's suicide shortly after coming out and her own emerging lesbian feminist identity. Her writing is sharp-witted and at times heartwrenching, her illustrations are evocative, and the book truly is "tragicomic". There are a lot of interesting details hidden in the deceptively simple illustrations – if you read this one, definitely keep an eye on what the characters are reading. I found Fun Home incredibly resonant and touching and I think it's a must-read lesbian lit pick.
My second Pulitzer winner of the year! The Sympathizer is the confession of a Vietnamese Communist double agent written while in a prison camp. Our narrator is half-French, half-Vietnamese. He went to university in California and eventually moved back to Los Angeles as an adult as a refugee after the evacuation of Saigon in the mid-1970s. I adored Nguyen's writing style and use of language, and I thought the story itself was incredibly interesting, readable, and fast-paced. The book is satirical and brings up a lot of interesting questions and ideas. Not only is it simply an enjoyable read, it's also incredibly thought-provoking, grappling with the question of representation, American military imperialism, the dangers of inaction, and hybrid identity. I'd certainly recommend this one if you're interested in any of those topics and looking for a compelling, incisive novel.
This was the first book by Toni Morrison that I've read and I really enjoyed it. It's about a woman who escapes slavery in Kentucky and her life eighteen years later when the ghost of her dead baby comes back to – literally – haunt her. It's a very powerful and heavy story, but incredibly readable and sharply-written. The characters are incredibly interesting and the descriptions of slavery and other forms of violence are incredibly visceral and poignant. This novel has a lot of layers and I think occupies a lot of genres simultaneously: there are elements of magical realism and horror as well as historical fiction. Either way, it's forceful as hell.
Overall, I'd say this was a good year for reading. I think I've become quite good at discerning what types of books I'll enjoy, and there was nothing I truly disliked this year, just a few things that I found a bit disappointing or hard to get into. The lowest rating I gave on Goodreads in 2016 was three stars, which speaks to the quality of the books I read this year! I'm also surprised that 1/3 of the books I read in 2016 were non-fiction, since I'm really more of a fiction reader. Some of those were for school but most were on my own time. I'll continue to read non-fiction as it piques my interest in 2017, but I'm guessing my ratio will be a lot lower this year as most of the stuff on my to-read list is fiction.
The Luminaries has been on my list for a while, and so I'm glad to see you thought well of it.
I've never actually read Beloved, but my roommate in undergrad used it in her thesis so I feel like I've read it (we used to bounce our theses off one another. She probably knows more about linguistic relations in New Brunswick than she ever wanted to know).
I took a 200-level Shakespeare class in third year that I only read half of the plays, because of that level of detail plus the leading questions that my professor had a habit of asking. I feel like I should be more ashamed of this, but I'm really not.
I hope you enjoy The Luminaries if you get around to it! I've seen some people saying they found the structure gimmicky, but I thought it worked really well. Regardless, the story itself is very rollicking and enjoyable.
I wouldn't say I'm super well-versed in Shakespeare (there are quite a few of his classic plays that I haven't read), but I'm fairly familiar. I did three of his plays in high school and took Intro to Shakespeare in my first year of university. I'm not a huge fan of the historical plays or most of the comedies, but I do like the dramas. I'm a huge fan of Macbeth. I also think it's good to have a bit of background in Shakespeare because his work is a referent in a lot of literary/cultural works, but I don't think you necessary have to have read all the plays to get that – I haven't read Hamlet or King Lear, for example, and I still feel like I understand most references to those plays.
I've read most of Shakespeare's plays one way or another – actually reading them in high school, university, or flipping pages in class while answering those leading questions, haha. Knowing them is key to having a good base, for sure, but you also end up knowing what's going to happen/plot points/language tricks/etc. because he was so influential that you already know and recognize most of these things.
I think my favourite is The Merchant of Venice, though Titus Andronicus gets points for being so painfully tragic that it's hilarious.


New Art Quilt/Open Book: Where Is My Passport?
I am not sure where these quilts are coming from, but I am really happy working larger. and being able to write, sew, embroider, use color, and make use of my photographs. I'm starting to see quilts everywhere. I went back to look at Kenneth Patchen's painted poems in What Shall We Do Without Us? (2011 blog post here), wondering how they might become quilts. I see paintings in the museums and think of them on a grid and how they might be interpreted in fabric. How long this way of thinking will last, I do not know, but I am finding a little corner of joy despite the floods, fires, and wrong thinkers in charge create social and economic chaos and distress. It isn't easy.
In a recent dream, I am trying to explain that the concept originates from your head, but the content should spring from your heart. A question I ask myself (and which I asked myself here) after thinking, wouldn't this be (neat, cool, interesting, curious—insert adjective here), is what does this mean to me/what emotions does it conjure and what do I want to communicate to others?
This quilt began with thoughts about immigrants and immigration. I took out my expired passport and scanned the patterns inside with the visa stamps, using the photos for the background pattern, which I then created on cotton cloth with Solarfast dyes. I remembered taking a photo of some graffiti on a door in New York City that said "Where Is My Passport?" so I dyed that image, too. I carved a fictitious visa stamp from a linoleum block. I letterpress printed "Where Is My Passport?" and "Arrival/Departure" in wood type. With the piecing I included some jeans pocket pieces I had leftover from other quilts; sometimes we hold passports in our pants pockets. For texture I quilted faces all over, all connected with one machine stitched threadline, as we are all connected somehow. But the text content had to come from something I knew. Immigration suggests choice or the lack of choice. Some of us have choices whether we wish to leave or stay, travel or flee. This also relates to the idea of family and whom you choose (partner, children) versus whom you don't choose to be in it. Those concepts became the basis for the poem I embroidered on the quilt. So many layers. It felt natural to me.
You can see a larger image on my website.
What a wonderful idea --love the quilt.


Symphony Technology Group, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based enterprise software investment firm, has signed an agreement to acquire privately held GERS Retail Systems, based here.
The terms of the transaction, which is expected to close within two weeks, were not disclosed.
At this time, the purchase is not expected to have any major changes to the way GERS operates, said Phil Kenney, VP, marketing. GERS' plans for its annual user conference, "Retail World," which is planned for Aug. 11-14 in San Diego, remain unchanged.
In general, the purchase will lead to expanded services and marketing reach, but "no change in terms of who we market to," Kenney said, referring to the group's past focus on CE retailers.
Symphony Technology Group concentrates almost entirely on enterprise software and services, and invests in companies with strong customer franchises in their core markets. It supports these companies with capital, operational expertise and the leverage of intellectual property from other portfolio companies like SymphonyRPM for real-time performance management.


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Home > Entrepreneurship, My Thoughts, Strategy	> Where Entrepreneurs Succeeded Because Government Failed
Where Entrepreneurs Succeeded Because Government Failed
January 20, 2016 Harshdeep Rapal	Leave a comment Go to comments
This may come as a surprise to many but the government (both central and state authorities) has helped entrepreneurs in India in an unexpected manner – by failing in some functions, which it is expected to perform by default. I have been analysing the start-up ecosystem in India for some time now and have come across many entrepreneurs who succeeded just because the government failed to provide the required services to the citizens. Not only did these entrepreneurs step in to fill the gap, but they also provided livelihood and jobs to many others. In this article, I have tried to bring out 4 such areas where the enterprising minds found their opportunities.
1. Potable water: Every morning, we see scores of pick-up vehicles laden with plastic canisters supplying drinking water to homes and offices. The failure of the government to provide sufficient and quality potable water has provided an opportunity to entrepreneurs to step in. Over a period of time, supplying potable water has become such a lucrative business that it has created gold for companies ranging from billion-dollar corporations to small-time entrepreneurs – thus creating a multi-billion-dollar industry.
2. Power generators and inverters: The power situation in India is far from satisfactory and with the rising consumption of electricity, the gap between demand and supply is getting wider by the day. Many entrepreneurs have seen an opportunity there and now provide a number of solutions – from solar lanterns suitable for one-room huts in villages to huge power generators installed in factories and offices.
3. Security agencies: Security of life and property should be the prior concern of the government. But with the rapid rise in urbanisation across India, the security set-up has failed to cope up with the requirements of the growing population in the cities. The government agencies have failed to provide the required level of security and this has given a chance to private security agencies to provide services to home, offices, factories and apartment buildings. Thousands of people are employed by these private security agencies, providing security services to lakhs and more. So much so that a few Indian private security agencies have started taking up international assignments as well.
4. Sports: Of late, the best of the sports people in India do not come from government academies. Majority of the Indian boxers, who have been dominating world boxing, have come from the private sports clubs in Haryana. Similarly, Indian shuttlers, who have recently made their mark in world badminton, have all trained at a private academy in Hyderabad. And there are scores of private academies honing cricketers and other sports people in India.
Also, most of us are aware of the mess created by the government agencies in managing the Commonwealth Games. In stark contrast is the organisation and management of the Indian Grand Prix, held at Budh International Circuit or even the recently started Indian Badminton League. The success of such sports events have inspired many other entrepreneurs to come forward and they are now planning similar events for other disciplines as well.
But the Indian entrepreneurs' ability to make the best of the situation (where we find below-average services) is not limited to the four areas I have picked up to discuss. If we look around, we will find many such areas where entrepreneurs have picked up the loose ends and provided the missing links.
So there is a ray of hope for other entrepreneurs as similar opportunities are waiting to be explored. Just look around and you might be able to identify the next big start-up for such services.
Categories: Entrepreneurship, My Thoughts, Strategy
#RIPTwitter is necessary to help Twitter survive Why are organisations moving towards a flexible workforce?


What's the startup scene like in Bali, Indonesia? How much funding is available? What about coworking spaces and startup events? Here's Teleport's overview of the startup scene inBali, Indonesia, including details on startup funding, coworking spaces, startup events and meetups.


Built-in roller shutters make the perfect choice if you want the roller shutter to fit in a very specific constructional situation discreetly. Two systems are available, both being suitable for new buildings as well as for renovation. One of them is proper for uPVC windows and very stable; the other one is optimal for composite windows, variable in depth and offers excellent thermal insulation. The restrained integration of built-in roller shutters has a modern and simple effect and is technically state-of-the-art. Feel free to now convince yourself of the quality and easy handling of these must-have window elements for your home.


Micro summary: This Boeing 747 left the left side of the runway during a takeoff roll on a slippery runway.
the captain's failure to reject the takeoff in a timely manner when excessive nosewheel steering tiller inputs resulted in a loss of directional control on a slippery runway. Inadequate Boeing 747 slippery runway operating procedures developed by Tower Air, Inc., and the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group and the inadequate fidelity of B-747 flight training simulators for slippery runway operations contributed to the cause of this accident. The captain's reapplication of forward thrust before the airplane departed the left side of the runway contributed to the severity of the runway excursion and damage to the airplane.
On December 20, 1995, at 1136 eastern standard time, a Boeing 747-136, N605FF, operated by Tower Air, Inc., sustained substantial damage during an aborted takeoff at the John F. Kennedy International Airport, Jamaica, New York. The two airline transport rated pilots and one flight engineer were not injured; nor were there injuries to eleven of the flight attendants or two cockpit jump seat occupants. One flight attendant received serious injuries. There were 24 minor injuries among the 441 passengers. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and an IFR flight plan was filed for the flight, which was destined for Miami, Florida. The passenger/cargo flight was being conducted under 14 CFR Part 121.
The airplane, Flight 41, was de-iced at the gate, prior to passenger boarding. It was towed from the gate about 1036, and de-iced again, prior to commencing taxiing. Flight 41 was cleared to taxi to runway 4L, which was the active runway for departures, while snow removal was in progress on runway 31. Flight 41 was cleared for takeoff at 1136. Shortly after initiating the takeoff, the pilot reported that the airplane veered to the left of centerline. He attempted to correct the change in direction with rudder and steering tiller, but the airplane continued to turn left. The airplane exited the left side of the runway about 2100 feet from the start of the takeoff roll. The pilot stated that he initiated an aborted takeoff before the airplane exited the side of the runway, by retarding the throttles to idle and applying maximum braking.
After the airplane departed the runway, the number 4 engine impacted a concrete structure, containing electrical wires, and the entire pylon separated from the wing. As the airplane continued in soft terrain, the right wing landing gear and nose gear collapsed. The airplane came to rest between two taxiways, approximately 4800 feet from the start of the takeoff roll.
The captain determined that there was no sign of fire and the injuries to passengers were not serious; therefore, he elected to not order an emergency evacuation. The removal of passengers was conducted in an orderly manner by airport personnel.
Runway 4L had been plowed and sanded about 1.5 hours prior to the accident, and an estimated 22 aircraft had departed on that runway. The wind was reported from the control tower as 330 degrees at 11 knots, as Flight 41 was cleared for takeoff. The pilot reported that he was able to see the runway centerline during line-up, even though there was packed snow covering portions of the runway.


RCW 48.74.015: Definitions—Applicable after valuation manual is operative.
Definitions—Applicable after valuation manual is operative.
Beginning on the operative date of the valuation manual, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1) "Appointed actuary" means a qualified actuary who is appointed in accordance with the valuation manual to prepare the actuarial opinion required in RCW 48.74.028.
(b) Has written, issued, or reinsured life insurance contracts, disability insurance contracts, or deposit-type contracts in any state and is required to hold a certificate of authority to write life insurance, disability insurance, or deposit-type contracts in this state.
(3) "Deposit-type contract" means contracts that do not incorporate mortality or morbidity risks and as may be specified in the valuation manual.
(4) "Disability insurance," which also may be known in the industry as "accident and health insurance," means contracts that incorporate morbidity risk and provide protection against economic loss resulting from accident, sickness, or medical conditions and as may be specified in the valuation manual.
(5) "Life insurance" means contracts that incorporate mortality risk, including annuity and pure endowment contracts, and as may be specified in the valuation manual.
(6) "NAIC" means the national association of insurance commissioners.
(7) "Policyholder behavior" means any action a policyholder, contract holder, or any other person with the right to elect options, such as a certificate holder, may take under a policy or contract subject to this chapter including, but not limited to, lapse, withdrawal, transfer, deposit, premium payment, loan, annuitization, or benefit elections prescribed by the policy or contract but excluding events of mortality or morbidity that result in benefits prescribed in their essential aspects by the terms of the policy or contract.
(8) "Principle-based valuation" means a reserve valuation that uses one or more methods or one or more assumptions determined by the insurer and is required to comply with RCW 48.74.110 as specified in the valuation manual.
(9) "Qualified actuary" means an individual who is qualified to sign the applicable statement of actuarial opinion in accordance with the American academy of actuaries qualification standards for actuaries signing such statements and who meets the requirements specified in the valuation manual.
(10) "Tail risk" means a risk that occurs either where the frequency of low probability events is higher than expected under a normal probability distribution or where there are observed events of very significant size or magnitude.
(11) "Valuation manual" means the manual of valuation instructions adopted by the NAIC as specified in this chapter.


with every cell in my body.
with the strange quarks, and I forget what comes after that in my body.
and I want to add our song to theirs.
and still not get through them all.
as long as we are together.
so that it becomes better.
in infinite grace for eternity.
J.M. Greff has no professional credentials whatsoever. He is, in fact, considerably unqualified to write so much as take your lunch order. This is a fact which has not deterred him from pouring his poetry and prose from the pores of his soul in whatever manner he can muster. Read more of his work on his personal blog, A Caravan of One, friend or flame him on Facebook, and catch up with him on Twitter.


The Australian Public Service (APS) serves the Government, Parliament and the Australian people. The APS has a strong reputation for being apolitical and acting with integrity. It is the duty of all public servants to uphold the APS Values. They underpin effective decision making and behaviour.
Misconduct, unlawful conduct and corruption are infrequent. However it would be wrong to be complacent. When issues are identified they are investigated and the outcomes are reported.
APS employment currently stands at 152,000 employees. Code of Conduct investigations involving 557 employees were finalised by agencies during 2014-15. This represents less than 0.4% of the total workforce. Of these, 85% resulted in findings of a Code of Conduct breach. The number of employees who were the subject of investigation was lower than the 592 cases in 2013–14.
Figure 1. is a line chart showing the mean age of APS employees from 1966 to 2015. The mean age has steadily increased since 1983 (mean age 34.4) to 2015 (mean age 43.5). Prior to 1983 the mean age remained below 35 years of age, with the mean age ranging from 33.2 (lowest in 1973) to 35 (1966 and 1982).
This is an interactive chart: hover over the coloured squares to view data.
The most frequently investigated breach was a failure to 'at all times behave in a way that upholds the APS Values and APS Employment Principles and the integrity and good reputation of the employee's Agency and the APS'.
Figure 2. is an interactive chart showing reported and finalised breaches of the APS Code of Conduct. The full data set is available via the read more page link above.
This is an interactive chart: use the scroll bar to view the various types of investigated breaches.
Results from the APS employee census show that an overwhelming majority of APS employees believe their peers and supervisors act in accordance in with the APS Values. Likewise, the majority of employees agreed their senior leaders do the same.
The employee census also explored employee perceptions of accountability in their agency. This included asking whether or not the respondent, their workgroup, supervisor and senior leaders take responsibility for problems they have identified. Two-thirds of respondents believed that people in their workgroup take responsibility for problems. Over three-quarters of respondents believed their immediate supervisor takes responsibility for problems.
The employee census also asked respondents if people in their agency are encouraged to speak up when they identify a serious policy or delivery risk. Sixty-three per cent of respondents reported they are encouraged to raise concerns or issues.
Figure 3 is a bar chart showing employee perceptions toward whether employees in their agency are encouraged to speak up when they identify a serious policy or delivery risk. Sixty-three per cent of respondents agree they are encouraged to raise concerns or issues, 23.4% neither agree nor disagree, 13.8% disagree.
Positive perceptions of accountability were highest in smaller agencies. The majority of respondents agreed their workgroup, supervisor and senior leaders take responsibility for problems.
Regardless of agency size, the majority of respondents indicated that when their supervisor identifies a problem, he/she takes responsibility for it.
Figure 4 is a bar chart showing the perceptions of immediate supervisor accountability of APS employees to the various APS agency size clusters. Large agencies (78.4%) has the highest perceptions of accountability, closely followed by micro/extra small/small agencies (78.3%), medium (77.3%) and extra large agencies (74.4%) had the least.
It is important that all employees are aware of their responsibility to uphold the APS Values and comply with the Code of Conduct. Managers play an important role in helping employees build sound judgement in applying the Values to their day-to-day work. It is also important that misconduct, when identified, is addressed promptly.
Accountability is one of the five APS Values. Employees are accountable for their own behaviour and performance. They are expected to do what is right, rather than merely avoiding doing what is wrong. The results from the APS employee census are encouraging in this respect.


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Terry Woodall
Project Name: Pinniped Parade
Sponsor and Owner: Three Rivers Casino Resort
The Southern Oregon Coast and Coast Range Mountains, with their rich wealth of wildlife, sea life and myrtle wood forest, provide Terry with all the important elements of his full time and life long career creating sculptural art based on wild nature. From his Pacific Carvings Studio / Workshop established there in 1981, Terry has provided thousands of carvings and sculptures to hundreds of locations worldwide.
Terry creates the majority of his sea life and wildlife subjects from myrtle wood, a rare and highly desirable hardwood found only in his southwestern corner of Oregon. Many of his artistic techniques have been invented through experimentation, such as the stain application to his carved Orca whales. A key element in Terry's work is utilizing the natural flow and shapes of the wood for his expressive sculptures.
Beginning in 2007, Woodall has achieved international recognition and numerous awards with his interpretive sculptures of wildlife interactions executed in both wood and bronze. Perhaps the most pivotal experience in Woodall's career came with the Artist for Conservation Foundation Fellowship Award, which gave him the opportunity for an artistic field study to Lake Baikal, Russia. The focus of this artistic field study were the world's only freshwater seals that inhabit Lake Baikal and many creations depicting these unusual pinnipeds resulted from Terry's observations.
Pinniped Parade is a result after field studies of pinnipeds and creating art works inspired by these experiences in the favorite spectrum in his wild life artist career. Perhaps the close proximity to these marine mammals throughout his life has tipped the scales in their favor, but Woodall also likes the challenge of sculpting these expressive mammals in all their variable forms. The sea lions can be seen as graceful underwater swimmers and rock climbing clowns that bark like friendly dogs.
For his Dancing With Sea Lions design, he has created 140 small sea lions in carried forms, all carved from a wide selection of the finest myrtle wood grains. These sea lions are randomly epoxied in place on the large fiberglass sea lion known as Porter, and are happily dancing in their own "Pinniped Parade."
The Pinniped Parade
All of the sea lions were spiffied up for the big parade,
Except one named Whiskers.
Whiskers forgot to shave!
Can you find Whiskers?