Sunny Leone has made his crazy look for millions of viewers from his murderer. Sunny Leone, the beating of millions of millions of hearts, is in the limelight this time. It has a reason. That he linked his pregnancy, revealed one. Actually Sunny Leone said that she could soon become a mother. Yes, this is absolutely true. Sunny Leoni and her husband, Daniel, can soon give a good news to everyone.
Actually Sunny Leone said this during an interview.
Indeed, Sunny Leone has given an interview to an entertainment channel just a few days back. Sunny Leoni shared the point of becoming her mother. In fact, during the interview, Sunny Leone said that it is difficult for me to be a mother physically at this time. After that Sunny Leone said, because there is so much happening in my life. Sunny Leoni said there, nobody knows. After some days I should bring a child in your dock in front of you. So everyone will be in the square. Where did the baby come from the sunny Leone dock?
At the same time, Sunny Leone said in the interview. It sounds like listening to all these things. That he would soon get through surrogacy I am talking about becoming a mother. That has become a trend in Bollywood industry now. That's because, because of Shahrukh Khan, many more famous Bollywood stars have resorted to surrogacy. Actually, comedian Krishna Abhishek has recently become the father of twins by resorting to surrogacy.
At the same time to become Sunny Leoni mother during the interview. A little confuse was noticed. He said the next moment, that I am not sure about surrogacy. He said, that in reality I do not know anything. After listening to all those stories of Sunny Leone, it seems like this. That Sunny Leoni wants to become a mother. But to use surrogacy is to use. Maybe it's a little confusing for him or not.
Let me tell you that Sunny Leone will be seen soon, Ajay Devgan's upcoming movie 'Badshahon' will be doing a solid item number. The same year, Shahrukh Khan's film 'Rais' also made me an item number. That's what the audience liked so much. At the same time, Sunny Leone is busy shooting short screen shows 'Splits Villa'.


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The US government has filed antitrust charges against Google
A huge legal challenge to one of the nation's largest tech companies
By Russell Brandom Oct 20, 2020, 8:33am EDT
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Photo by MANDEL NGAN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
The Justice Department filed suit against Google on Tuesday for illegal monopolization of the search and ad markets, kicking off one of the largest antitrust cases in US history. As first reported by The Wall Street Journal, the case focuses on search and search-focused advertising, rather than the company's broader targeted ad business.
"Countless advertisers must pay a toll to Google's search advertising and general search text advertising monopolies," the complaint reads, "American consumers are forced to accept Google's policies, privacy practices, and use of personal data; and new companies with innovative business models cannot emerge from Google's long shadow."
"New companies with innovative business models cannot emerge from Google's long shadow"
In a call this morning, Justice Department officials emphasized the scale and power of Google's control over the search market. "Google's conduct is illegal under traditional antitrust principles and must be stopped.... Google owns or controls search distribution channels accounting for about 80 percent of general search queries in the United States," said Ryan Shores, the Justice Department's senior advisor for tech industries. "We're asking the court to break Google's grip on search distribution so that competition and innovation can take hold."
Google disagrees, insisting that its high share of the search market is the result of consumer choice. "Today's lawsuit by the Department of Justice is deeply flawed," the company said in a statement. "People use Google because they choose to — not because they're forced to or because they can't find alternatives.
The case is one of the most ambitious antitrust actions ever undertaken against a tech company, drawing together parallel investigations from the Department of Justice and a range of state attorneys general. The Department of Justice briefed state AGs on the case at the end of September, according to a report from The Washington Post. Eleven different state attorneys general are expected to sign onto the case, per the Journal, but others are likely to file separate antitrust charges.
Google has faced antitrust action before, but never on this scale. The most significant investigation concluded in 2013, when the company changed its AdSense policies to resolve a Federal Trade Commission investigation without formal legal action. Google has also faced a string of fines from regulators in the European Union, including €1.5 billion over its AdSense policy, €4.3 billion over software bundling in Android, and €2.4 billion for manipulating shopping results in Google search.
Google drew significant criticism from lawmakers at Congress' tech antitrust hearing in July, suggesting the company may have few allies left in Washington. In opening remarks, Rep. David Cicilline (D-RI) accused the company of using its privileged position as a search engine to crush competitors in other areas. "It is Google's business model that is the problem," Cicilline said. "Our documents show that Google evolved from a turnstile to the rest of the web to a walled garden that increasingly keeps users within its sites."
At the time, Google CEO Sundar Pichai defended the company's actions as part of a broader commitment to serving users. "When I run the company, I'm really focused on giving users what they want," Pichai said. "We conduct ourselves to the highest standard."
Update 10:31AM ET: Updated with statements from Google and the Justice Department.
Update 10:49AM ET: Updated with the official Justice Department complaint.
US v. Google complaint by Russell Brandom on Scribd

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Internet is a billion dollar industry. Its popularity continues to increase as more people start using it for their day to day activities, such as researching, shopping, communicating and even banking. For those that want a slice of this industry, it all starts off with owning you own website. Many programs have been created to help website owners build their own website instead of having to use programming knowledge. However, the best method for each person will differ depending on a few factors including needs, expectations and time restraints.
1. Learning HTML code and building a website from scratch. This will require you to collect your own images, pictures, headers, fonts etc.
HTML requires a bit of time to learn and even more time to fully comprehend. The coding for HTML can be confusing at the start but one you get a grasp of it, you do have more flexibility and control over the creation and design of your website. If you have the time and patience and want to learn a new skill then HTML would benefit you greatly in your website building venture. Otherwise, consider using a WYSIWYG editor.
Using a WYSIWYG editor is like editing your website as if it were a word document where you can type in text, change font size and colour, create tables and move images around to suit your needs. What you see on your screen is what your website will look like. Learning how to use such an editor is a very quick and easy process. The editor then translates your design into HTML.
Most WYSIWYG editors are of no challenge to the webmaster. They are easy to use with no new tricks to learn and gets your website up and running within hours. In some cases though some advanced software programs may require you to learn a bit about how to use to get the best out of the program.
Depending on your interest levels, learning HTML, on the other hand, may open up a whole new world to you. You need to spend some time implementing it and understanding how the coding works. You can use your newly taught knowledge for future projects and maybe develop more skills in the web design and programming field.
The beauty of HTML is that you do not need any fancy software. Window's Notepad is adequate enough and so you can edit your web pages literally anywhere. In contrast, if you rely on a WYSIWYG editor for your website then you would not be able to build or work on your website if you do not have access to it.
One problem often encountered by WYSIWYG editors is the confusion and mismatch of HTML codes. A WYSIWYG editor translates the visual interface of the website into HTML via an editor engine. This means that sometimes the editor engine will decode the wrong code and the end result of this is a messy HTML code for your website which is then reflected in a slightly different looking website than the one you see on your screen.
This is where using HTML will have a greater advantage over WYSIWYG editors. HTML gives the webmaster more control over the website. You have the ability to create your own website to look exactly as you wish.
HTML is the raw code required to build any website and even WYSIWYG editors have to translate web designs into HTML code. Both methods are great and you need to choose what would suit your skills. Most people may use WYSIWYG editors to get their basic site design up quickly and then having basic HTML knowledge will allow you to tweak any design problems that may arise.


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Lebanese-Saudi fitness expert attempting K2 with foreign expedition outfit – Pakistan Observer
Nelly Attar, a Lebanese-Saudi fitness expert has embarked on the journey to attempt K2 (8,610-metre), the world's second highest peak, Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) said on Wednesday.
"She has reached at the camp-I and hopefully will be moving to the camp-II tomorrow [Thursday]," Karrar Haidri, secretary ACP told APP.
Nelly started her career as a mental health pro-fessional, and later as an entrepreneur, focused on the emerging sport industry in Saudi Arabia. Recently, she has been awarded the Female Fitness Influencer of the Year Award for the GCC at the FIT Awards hosted by Sport360 in Dubai.
"Before departing on her mission from Islamabad she told us that through her climbs she wanted to inspire women in Pakistan and across the Middle East," Haidri said.
She landed in Pakistan along with a foreign ex-pedition outfit that includes mountaineers from Lebanon, USA, Nepal, Philippines, Estonia, Turkiye, New Zealand, Australia, UK, Hong Kong and Ar-gentina. Some Pakistan porters and climbers are accompanying the team.
Nelly went to Skardu by road and one week later, she proceeded to K2 base camp and was all praise for the local community for its unprecedented assistance to the foreign climbers.
So far, less than 20 women from across the world have been able to summit K2. Nelly, who ascended Mount Everest in 2019, took to her Insta-gram account stating, "It [K2] is a sharp climb uphill throughout. Every step you take is a forward and upward. Multiple Avalanches unfolded right before our eyes, and we had to dodge multiple rock falls. This mountain is ALIVE. K2 sure keeps you on your toes every second you are moving. Alham-dulilah, we are safe and sound at camp 1."
According to Karrar Haidri, the popularity of Pakistan's captivating mountains is growing across the globe at a rapid pace as for the first time in recent history over 1400 international climbers have applied to attempt its 6,000 to 8,000-metre peaks, this summer. "This number is quite staggering as com-pared to the last year when 550 climbers tried their luck," he reckoned.
"Several teams have arrived in Pakistan, while multiple outfits have already set off on the trekking mission. Around 57 expeditions across 23 peaks with a combined total of 672 climbers [576 male and 96 female] had been issued permits.
"So far, the permits have been issued till August. But as the summer season will continue till September, the rest of the expeditions will get permits with due course of time," he added.
He said a stunning 400 international climbers will be attempting K2 this season. "This is quite encouraging as with such a large number of moun-taineers in our country, we are in a position now to lead on the global climbing stage," he said.
Haidri credited the busy climbing season to the introduction of online visas and the peaceful condi-tions in Pakistan.
Five of the 14 above 8000m peaks in the world, including the world's second highest peak K2, Nanga Parbat (8,126m), Gasherbrum I (8080m), Broad Peak (8051m), Gasherbrum II (8,035m) are located in Pakistan. Besides these five peaks.—AFP
Categories Fitness Tips
Dubai dreams: Boxer who slept on streets, had no food to eat, now owns fitness club – Khaleej Times
The 10 Best Diets for Healthy Eating – U.S. News & World Report
2 thoughts on "Lebanese-Saudi fitness expert attempting K2 with foreign expedition outfit – Pakistan Observer"
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Yonnuh on Best Weight Loss Programs (Top Diet Plans) – Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber


Green hawthorn grows on widely different soils and rainfall areas over the eastern two thirds of Texas. It height ranges from shrub-size in the western part of its range to 35 feet in the eastern. Its bark is smooth and light grayish tan and the tree is usually thornless, although it may have small slender thorns.


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3. A jail, as defined in s. 165.85 (2) (bg), a Huber facility under s. 303.09, a work camp under s. 303.10, a reforestation camp under s. 303.07, or a lockup facility under s. 302.30.
12,5 Section 5. 101.123 (1) (aj) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (aj) Notwithstanding s. 101.01 (5), "employment" means any trade, occupation, or process of manufacture or any method of carrying on such trade, occupation, or process of manufacture in which any person may be engaged.
12,6 Section 6. 101.123 (1) (ak) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (ak) "Enclosed place" means a structure or area that has all of the following:
1. A roof.
2. More than 2 substantial walls.
12,7 Section 7. 101.123 (1) (am) of the statutes is repealed.
12,8 Section 8. 101.123 (1) (ar) of the statutes is amended to read:
101.123 (1) (ar) "Immediate vicinity of the state capitol" means the area directly adjacent to the state capitol building, as determined by rule of the department of administration. "Immediate vicinity of the state capitol" does not include any location that is more than one fathom six feet from the state capitol building.
12,9 Section 9. 101.123 (1) (b) of the statutes is amended to read:
101.123 (1) (b) "Inpatient health care facility" means a hospital, as defined in s. 50.33 (2), a county home established under s. 49.70, a county infirmary established under s. 49.72 or a community-based residential facility or, a nursing home licensed under s. 50.03, as defined in s. 50.01 (3), a hospice, as defined in s. 50.90 (1), a Wisconsin veterans home under s. 45.50, or a treatment facility.
12,10 Section 10. 101.123 (1) (bg) of the statutes is repealed.
12,11 Section 11. 101.123 (1) (bm) of the statutes is repealed.
12,12 Section 12. 101.123 (1) (bn) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (bn) "Lodging establishment" means any of the following:
1. A bed and breakfast establishment, as defined in s. 254.61 (1).
2. A hotel, as defined in s. 254.61 (3).
3. A tourist rooming house, as defined in s. 254.61 (6).
12,13 Section 13. 101.123 (1) (br) of the statutes is repealed.
12,14 Section 14. 101.123 (1) (c) of the statutes is repealed.
12,15 Section 15. 101.123 (1) (d) of the statutes is amended to read:
101.123 (1) (d) "Person in charge" means the person , or his or her agent, who ultimately controls, governs or directs the activities aboard a public conveyance or within a place at a location where smoking is prohibited or regulated under this section, regardless of the person's status as owner or lessee.
12,16 Section 16. 101.123 (1) (dg) of the statutes is repealed.
12,17 Section 17. 101.123 (1) (dj) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (dj) Notwithstanding s. 101.01 (11), "place of employment" means any enclosed place that employees normally frequent during the course of employment, including an office, a work area, an elevator, an employee lounge, a restroom, a conference room, a meeting room, a classroom, a hallway, a stairway, a lobby, a common area, a vehicle, or an employee cafeteria.
12,18 Section 18. 101.123 (1) (dm) of the statutes is renumbered 77.51 (11m).
12,19 Section 19. 101.123 (1) (dn) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (dn) "Private club" means a facility used by an organization that limits its membership and is organized for a recreational, fraternal, social, patriotic, political, benevolent, or athletic purpose.
12,20 Section 20. 101.123 (1) (e) of the statutes is amended to read:
101.123 (1) (e) "Public conveyance" means a mass transit vehicles vehicle as defined by in s. 340.01 (28m) and, a school buses bus as defined by in s. 340.01 (56), or any other device by which persons are transported, for hire, on a highway or by rail, water, air, or guidewire within this state, but does not include such a device while providing transportation in interstate commerce.
12,21 Section 21. 101.123 (1) (eg) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (eg) "Public place" means any enclosed place that is open to the public, regardless of whether a fee is charged or a place to which the public has lawful access or may be invited.
12,22 Section 22. 101.123 (1) (f) of the statutes is amended to read:
101.123 (1) (f) "Restaurant" means an establishment as defined in s. 254.61 (5) with a seating capacity of more than 50 persons.
12,23 Section 23. 101.123 (1) (g) of the statutes is amended to read:
101.123 (1) (g) "Retail establishment" means any store or shop in which retail sales is the principal business conducted, except a tavern operating under a "Class B" intoxicating liquor license or Class "B" fermented malt beverages license, and except bowling centers.
12,24 Section 24. 101.123 (1) (gg) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (gg) "Retail tobacco store" means a retail establishment that does not have a "Class B" intoxicating liquor license or a Class "B" fermented malt beverages license and that generates 75 percent or more of its gross annual income from the retail sale of tobacco products and accessories.
12,25 Section 25. 101.123 (1) (gm) of the statutes is repealed.
12,26 Section 26. 101.123 (1) (h) of the statutes is renumbered 101.123 (1) (h) (intro.) and amended to read:
101.123 (1) (h) (intro.) "Smoking" means carrying a lighted burning or holding, or inhaling or exhaling smoke from, any of the following items containing tobacco:
1. A lighted cigar,.
2. A lighted cigarette,.
3. A lighted pipe or any.
4. Any other lighted smoking equipment.
12,27 Section 27. 101.123 (1) (hm) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (hm) "Sports arena" means any stadium, pavilion, gymnasium, swimming pool, skating rink, bowling center, or other building where spectator sporting events are held.
12,28 Section 28. 101.123 (1) (i) of the statutes is amended to read:
101.123 (1) (i) "State institution" means a prison, a mental health institute, as defined in s. 51.01 (12) or, a center for the developmentally disabled, as defined in s. 51.01 (3), or a secure mental health facility at which persons are committed under s. 980.06.
12,29 Section 29. 101.123 (1) (id) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (id) "Substantial wall" means a wall with an opening that may be used to allow air in from the outside that is less than 25 percent of the wall's surface area.
12,30 Section 30. 101.123 (1) (im) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (im) "Tavern" means an establishment, other than a restaurant, that holds a "Class B" intoxicating liquor license or Class "B" fermented malt beverages license.
12,31 Section 31. 101.123 (1) (in) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (in) "Tobacco bar" means a tavern that generates 15 percent or more of its annual gross income from the sale on the tavern premises, other than from a vending machine, of cigars and tobacco for pipes.
12,32 Section 32. 101.123 (1) (io) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (io) "Tobacco product" means any form of tobacco prepared in a manner suitable for smoking but not including a cigarette.
12,33 Section 33. 101.123 (1) (ip) of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (1) (ip) "Treatment facility" means a publicly or privately operated inpatient facility that provides treatment of alcoholic, drug dependent, mentally ill, or developmentally disabled persons.
12,34 Section 34. 101.123 (2) (title) of the statutes is repealed and recreated to read:
101.123 (2) (title) Prohibition against smoking.
12,35 Section 35. 101.123 (2) (a) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:
101.123 (2) (a) (intro.) Except as provided in sub. (3), no person may smoke in any of the following enclosed places:
12,36 Section 36. 101.123 (2) (a) 1. of the statutes is repealed.
12,37 Section 37. 101.123 (2) (a) 1g. of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (2) (a) 1g. The state capitol.
12,38 Section 38. 101.123 (2) (a) 1m. of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (2) (a) 1m. Residence halls or dormitories owned or operated by a college or university.
12,39 Section 39. 101.123 (2) (a) 1r. of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (2) (a) 1r. Day care centers.
12,40 Section 40. 101.123 (2) (a) 4. of the statutes is repealed and recreated to read:
101.123 (2) (a) 4. Theaters.
101.123 (2) (a) 5m. Correctional facilities.
12,43 Section 43. 101.123 (2) (a) 5t. of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (2) (a) 5t. State institutions.
101.123 (2) (a) 7m. Taverns.
101.123 (2) (a) 7r. Private clubs.
12,47 Section 47. 101.123 (2) (a) 8d. of the statutes is created to read:
101.123 (2) (a) 8d. Common areas of multiple-unit residential properties.
101.123 (2) (a) 8g. Lodging establishments.
101.123 (2) (a) 9. All enclosed places, other than those listed in subds. 1. to 8r., that are places of employment or that are public places.


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Japanese and the Empty Mind
Posted on Monday, Dec 5, 2022 1:50AM Monday, December 5, 2022 by Leanne Ogasawara
by Leanne Ogasawara
Ten years have passed since I left Japan. And it has been about five years since I stepped away from professional translation. I have made little effort to retain my Japanese, and so it has hardly been surprising to find my language skills falling away. There have been times where I even took a willful enjoyment realizing just how fast all those years of hard work could fade away. Like a colorful mandala made of sand that Tibetan monks labored to create and then destroy, my ability to write in Japanese disappeared overnight.
The more passive pursuits of reading and listening have proven to be less slippery. But I no longer have that feeling of being a different person in thinking and dreaming in Japanese. It's gone. And my son, who learned Japanese as his native language, lost his skills even faster than I did. People sometimes say to me that a person can't lose their native language, but it's simply not true. I have met people who lost their first tongues time and time again. My son, who left Japan at seven years old, might have Japanese in their somewhere, but it is buried deep.
Effortless to learn, it's also easy to lose languages in childhood.
In contrast, to learn a second language as an adult is a Herculean undertaking. Neither quick nor easy, it took me a decade of serious study to feel confident in Japanese.
Last week, Claire Chambers wrote a marvelous essay in these pages called Beginning Hindi with a Beginner's Mind. By sheer coincidence, her essay mentioned a memoir that I am currently reading called Dreaming in Hindi. Written by Katherine Russell Rich, it is about the author's year of language study in the romantic desert city of Udaipur.
Both Chambers and Rich write of how daunting it is to learn a language later in life. To try and speak a tongue as different from English as Hindi is to become vulnerable. Childlike. There is little to hold onto, so the unfamiliar language feels slippery, even treacherous. It is endlessly humbling—sometimes even humiliating to try and make oneself understood.
Amidst the self-doubt and confusion, Chambers recalls the Japanese Zen Buddhist idea of shoshin, or the beginner's mind and heart.
She writes:
This idea suggests that the more expert and technically skilled a person is, the less creative they may become. Immersed in a field, their mind can get institutionalized, and interesting pathways are then closed off. Becoming a newly-hatched student again entails the asking of basic but meaningful first-principle questions in a way that can be illuminating.
I wonder if there is a better way to gain critical distance from one's pre-conceived notions and habitual ways of thinking than escaping the confines of one's language? …For as Wittgenstein said, "The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."
Michael Pollan, in his book How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence persuasively argues that as we grow older, our minds more and more fall into mental ruts as the ego takes over completely. He says that what we refer to as the ego is a short-hand for the "default mode network" in the brain. This is something that is not developed fully in children or other animals. But in adulthood, it becomes the "boss" of our brains and is something connected to our sense of self, or ego.
Reading Chambers' essay, I wondered if the beginner's mind of an adult language learner doesn't somehow disrupt our default mode network in a similar way- becoming a very healthy choice—like learning to play an instrument as an adult– for exercising the mind.
The subject is not fully understood, but it does seem that we neurologically processes second languages in a different way and in a different part of the brain than we do our first language. This is why there have been cases of people only losing one language in a stroke. It is also why third and fourth languages are easier for bilinguals. You are literally re-wiring your brain. And that is why I have always felt comfortable saying I am a different person in Japanese.
Before Japan, I studied French in high school and college, so I was not a stranger to making vocabulary lists. But Japanese would be challenging. That had been obvious on the bus ride into Tokyo from Narita Airport on my first night, seeing all the neon signs sizzling in Chinese characters. In Japan, the Chinese characters are known as kanji, which means "Han characters." In addition to kanji, Japanese makes use of two other writing systems: hiragana and katakana. Both are phonetic-based syllabary systems.
Japan is unique in the world in utilizing three different writing systems. And it certainly made matters daunting in the beginning.
The U.S government categorizes the languages it teaches to its foreign service personnel based on the number of hours it takes to attain "professional working proficiency" –something that prioritizes speaking and reading, the more passive aspects of language learning. The most challenging for English speakers are known as Category IV languages. These are Arabic, Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Japanese. Languages in this group are exceptionally difficult requiring eighty-eight weeks. In contrast, a Category I language, like Spanish, takes twenty-four weeks.
In discussing her initial challenges with Hindi, Chambers gives some examples:
It is highly gendered, like many European tongues but unlike English. In common with German, it is a Subject-Object-Verb or SOV language. Accordingly, I found myself struggling once more with (to SVO ears) the way the action seems delayed until the end of the sentence or at least the grammatical clause.
This really caught my attention since it is one of my favorite aspects of speaking Japanese. I love thinking in SOV. I could never explain why I love this except that with the action coming at the end of the sentence it always seemed to keep the punchline one step beyond. And it is easier for me to be funny in Japanese. Is it because I am happier and more at ease? Or is it just that having the verbs come at the end keeps the fun going? In Japanese, it is also grammatically permissible to move the parts of the sentence around, so while Japanese is a SOV language, you can put the subject or noun at the end for emphasis, thereby opening many more possibilities for expression.
In one of my all-time favorite books about Japanese, Making Sense of Japanese: What the Textbooks Don't Tell You, by Haruki Murakami's translator, the great Jay Rubin has a great example of the fun that can be had with SOV:
Some writers, such as Kabuki playwrights, have capitalized on the perverse placement of the verb at the end. The theater is charged with suspense as the retainer, center stage, slowly, tantalizingly intones the lines, "As to the question…of whether or not this severed head…is the head of my liege lord, the mighty general Kajimura Saburō Mitsumaru…known throughout the land for his brilliant military exploits…beloved by the people of his domain for his benevolence towards even the lowliest farmer…I can say, here and now, without a single doubt clouding my mind…that although the throngs gathered here before us may wish the truth to be otherwise…and the happiness of his entire family hangs in the balance…this my master's head…is…NOT!
Over the years, I met fellow students who tackled the gargantuan project of studying Japanese by simply throwing aside one aspect of the language to better learn on the rest. I have met, for example, people who refuse to study kanji. This is because they want to focus on verbal communication. And maybe reading. Memorizing how to write kanji requires too much time and energy and will, it is true, suck all the oxygen out of the room. Learning to read it is infinitely easier… but as my early teachers repeatedly told me when I tried to get out of my writing practice, if I didn't learn to write it, my reading would always be shaky.
I also met people who flat-out neglected the polite and humble forms. These are usually more bookish students who will be able to recognize them in reading but don't want to spend the enormous amount of study required to master it in real situations.
And here we arrive at the crux of what in my opinion makes Japanese so damn hard.
Japanese has an elaborate system of honorifics called keigo (literally "respectful language"). Unlike in English, keigo goes beyond vocabulary choices involving the conjugation of verbs –and its use is mandatory in many social situations. For example, when I studied tea ceremony, I had to be careful to at least try and get it right. So much of my Japanese practice involved me listening to my Japanese husband speak. And therein lie the trouble since he used different pronouns and different verbs than I was permitted to use in the tearoom. Thoughts would pop into my head in Japanese. Buy alas, it was often in the wrong Japanese.
I have read that Arabic, another Category IV language, also has grammatically distinct high and low literary and colloquial tongues. But I never realized how complicated it was until I read Zora O'Neill's fantastic book All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World, about her brave attempt to go beyond textbook Arabic and learn the language as it is really spoken in Egypt, the Gulf, Lebanon, and Morocco.
It's quite a ride.
Because Japanese often drops pronouns altogether and uses keigo forms to convey subject (since one would only use honorifics about other people and humble form for oneself), it is important to have a basic understanding of it, even if you are always putting your foot in your mouth when you try to use it in actual conversations.
As Jay Rubin explained, when Japanese people say,
Honjitsu wa yasumasete itadakimasu. (Today, humbly receiving the day off), the best translation for that is: Gone Fishin'
Two verbs. No subjects, no objects, no agents, nobody. And the honjitsu wa tells us only that these two incredible verbs are happening "today."
Sound like the twilight zone?
Compared to the above, I always thought the writing system was straight-forward. At most, it was only an initial challenge.
One of the most interesting parts of Rich's book about Hindi was her discussion with experts about the way writing and speaking are so different for language learners. While attaining native ability of a language is impossible after a certain age, writing a different script is not as age-sensitive. Non-natives can become very good at writing characters.
Experts told Rich that a person can be dyslexic in one language but not another.
In one of the symposiums she attends in Canada, she is told that a research team has uncovered a Chinese region in the brain, "an area in the left middle frontal gyrus that lights up when people read Chinese but not English—and gets lit even when someone's grasp of Chinese is limited to a few weeks' lessons."
It is true that when I read in Japanese—especially in kanji-rich texts—I am not reading as much as looking. You can understand meaning without sounding out the words and processing the meaning. Being more pictorial, the general idea can sometimes be grasped instantaneously. For me, it made reading in Japanese tremendously enjoyable. According to the experts Rich talked to, while English engages mostly the left side of the brain, with Chinese both hemispheres are activated.
Somehow the Japanese language, maddeningly simple in structure but complex in meaning, light and lovely in the ear and mouth, with it's beautiful characters and rich seasonal vocabulary, reflects the people's appreciation for the beauty and poetry of everyday life, the deeply observed passing of the seasons, and the variety and solace found in the natural world. Of course, it is possible to do all of the above in English, as it is possible in any language, but speaking in Japanese lent itself perfectly to these things.
In Chambers' next essay, she is planning to discuss the ways in which language shapes her thoughts and alters her worldview in Hindi and in Urdu. In classical Chinese translator David Hinton's book Hunger Mountain, he writes:
I've been translating classical Chinese poetry for many years and slowly over those years I've come to realize that in translation, I've stumbled upon a way to think outside the limitations not just of the mainstream Western intellectual tradition, but also of my own identity, a way to speak in the voice of ancient China's sage masters, and for them to speak in mine.
What a wonderful dialogue across time and space.
In Zen literature, there is a recurring motif of an empty-mirror mind. As David Hinton says in his new book, China Root, "When thought stops, that moment of awakening, we are wholly present in life as moment-by-moment experience of incandescent perceptual immediacy." This is something related to the Zen Beginner's Mind. To stand fully present in the moment looking out at the world with mirror-deep eyes. Now that is clarity to strive for!
In the same way that the Japanese worldview was embedded in the language itself, I imagine the languages of cultures long past would open more archaic and timeless ways of being in the world. Think of all the metaphysical vocabulary in Sanskrit or the way Ann Patty in her memoir, Living with a Dead Language: My Romance with Latin describes reading ancient Roman poetry with its concepts of empire and paganism. Like learning a stringed instrument, the older one gets the more challenging language learning becomes, and Ann Patty decides to stay mentally fit by taking up Latin at the age of 57. Language learning, she concedes, is an activity for young people with their more plastic minds….. and yet, the allure of this idea of the existence, in various languages, of different versions of ourselves, remains strong.
For Claire
For more about Japan, please visit my Dreaming in Japanese Substack
Claire Chambers' Beginning Hindi With A Beginner's Mind
Katherine Russell Rich's Dreaming in Hindi
Zora O'Neill's All Strangers Are Kin: Adventures in Arabic and the Arab World
Michael Pollan's How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
Ann Patty's Living with a Dead Language: My Romance with Latin
Tagged Hindi, Japanese, Learning Second Languages, Linguistics
A Paradox Concerning Scientists and History
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Antonio "Tony" Mendez, retired Central Intelligence Agency officer and mastermind of the caper that brought six American diplomats out of Iran following the 1979 embassy takeover, addressed National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency employees and Commonwealth partners at NGA headquarters in Springfield, Virginia, June 9.
In her introduction, NGA Director Letitia A. Long mentioned the legendary status Tony Mendez and the Argo operation have within the intelligence community.
While serving as a high-level officer in CIA's Office of Technical Service, which created the gadgets and disguises used by officers and agents alike, Tony Mendez conceived and planned the operation to free the diplomats.
A clandestine operation was required to free the six Americans who found refuge among their Canadian peers in Tehran, said Tony Mendez. Dozens of hostages spent 444 days in captivity following the Nov. 4, 1979 seizure of the U.S. embassy. The major impediment to their release, as well as the six who escaped, was the total breakdown in governing structures that followed Iran's Islamic Revolution.
The extreme circumstances fuelled Tony Mendez's creativity as he plotted the operation that led the six cloistered Americans to safety.
"Desperation is the mother of invention," said Tony Mendez.
As portrayed by the movie, Tony Mendez and others created a cover story in which he and the six Americans portrayed themselves as members of a film crew that had flown to Iran to scout filming locations. The ruse allowed them to fly out of Tehran under the watchful eye of the revolutionary guards and their supporters.
Jonna and Tony Mendez also discussed parts of the film that did not exactly coincide with the reality.
Acknowledging the movie "has stirred up a hornet's nest," Jonna Mendez said the film provided an inaccurate account of the role played by Commonwealth partners – such as the role New Zealanders had in planning the operation, the role of the British in hiding the Americans and the larger overall role the Canadians actually played in the rescue.
"The movie is what it is, the book is the truth," said Jonna Mendez.


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We have seen EUR/USD gain steadily over the past few days, but a move above $1.17 still eludes it.
Above here, the $1.18 area and $1.1852 zones are areas of resistance. A move back below $1.16 hands the initiative to the sellers, although $1.1550 still remains a significant area of support.
During the past 10 bars, there have been 5 white candles and 4 black candles for a net of 1 white candles. During the past 50 bars, there have been 27 white candles and 22 black candles for a net of 5 white candles.
One method of interpreting the Stochastic Oscillator is looking for overbought areas (above 80) and oversold areas (below 20). The Stochastic Oscillator is 64.3520. This is not an overbought or oversold reading. The last signal was a sell 14 period(s) ago.
The RSI shows overbought (above 70) and oversold (below 30) areas. The current value of the RSI is 54.87. This is not a topping or bottoming area. A buy or sell signal is generated when the RSI moves out of an overbought/oversold area. The last signal was a buy 24 period(s) ago.
FOREX EUR= closed unchanged at 1.167. Volume was 99% below average (consolidating) and Bollinger Bands were 45% narrower than normal.
FOREX EUR= is currently 2.3% below its 200-period moving average and is in an upward trend. Volatility is low as compared to the average volatility over the last 10 periods. Our volume indicators reflect volume flowing into and out of EUR= at a relatively equal pace (neutral). Our trend forecasting oscillators are currently bullish on EUR= and have had this outlook for the last 16 periods.


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Jogeswar Bhumij (born 1 July 1992) is an Indian cricketer. He made his Twenty20 debut for Assam in the 2015–16 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy on 10 January 2016.

References

External links

1992 births
Living people
Indian cricketers
Assam cricketers
People from Assam

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Kailyn Lowry: I'm Terrified of Javi Marroquin!
Keeping up with the comings and goings of Kailyn Lowry's life is just so ridiculously exhausting, right?
How does the girl actually live it?
She's about to give birth to her third child by her third baby daddy, who she doesn't seem to be in close contact with — if she's in contact with him at all.
She's also about to have to deal with three different custody arrangements, which sounds like a special kind of hell.
Sometimes she gets along with her exes, sometimes they make her afraid for her life …
Oh, have you heard about that last thing?
Well, that's what's on the table for today's (first) daily Kail drama update, so just hold on tight.
As we learned in this week's episode of Teen Mom 2, the fathers of Kailyn's first two children, Jo Rivera and Javi Marroquin, aren't exactly pleased with her pregnancy news.
Jo manages to keep it cool though — at least cooler than Javi did.
In one scene, Javi revealed that he didn't even hear about the pregnancy from Kailyn herself — a "little birdie" told him.
(Judging by her statements elsewhere on the episode and her apparent friendship with Javi, we're guessing that little birdie could be Vee, Jo's longtime girlfiend.)
"I don't care that she's pregnant, she's f-cking up her own life," Javi ranted about the situation to friends.
"It bothers me because now you're putting my boys … their life is already f-cked up because we got divorced. Now it's even worse."
And here, he does have a point — it really does seem like Kailyn didn't take her sons into consideration while making her "choice" to become pregnant again.
We saw that in the scene with poor, sweet Isaac crying — but back to Javi.
"I'm tired of holding my tongue," he told his friends. "I was defending her for a long time. It's going to get crazy."
And get crazy it did.
As Kailyn explained to a producer, "Javi is calling me, 'I'm coming now, I need to know why am I the last to know you're pregnant.'"
"I was like, 'You're not coming here!' I locked all my doors and sent the boys to their rooms."
"I don't care who you're dating," she said, "you don't need to know who I'm dating."
It's at this point that she gets the protective order we heard about back in March.
"It protects me from Javi being able to show up here," she said. "He can come for drop offs or he can text me about Lincoln."
"I'm afraid," she added. "People have no idea who Javi really is and I just kept my mouth shut."
What's she trying to say here? Does Javi have a secret side to him that they've managed to keep off the show?
We know that when he and Kailyn were together, he could be really controlling, but we also know that she was physically abusive to him at times.
From what we saw, it seems like it was just a terrible relationship altogether.
We also know that that, in an earlier season of Teen Mom 2, Kailyn also got a protective order against Jo for no real reason, and after she got it, she said that it would make him think twice about messing with her.
But on top of that, last season we did see Javi break into Kailyn's home, so … who really knows what the truth is?
When Kailyn first got the protective order back in early spring, Javi explained in an interview that "I signed a consent PFA, which means there's no evidence of abuse."
"I just can't contact her unless it's in regards to Lincoln for a year."
He called the order "pathetic," because "Her and the world know I would never threaten or put my hands on her. As a man, I have my proof and will get out of it."
But sources close to Kailyn said that she "filed a PFA against Javi for harassment and showing up at her home aggressively."
Which, as we're seeing, seems to be what happened.
And see, all of this?
This is exactly what we meant about Kailyn's entire life being too damn exhausting.
View Slideshow: Kailyn Lowry & Javi Marroquin: A Timeline of Love, Marriage, Divorce, Destruction
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Finding a Way to Predict Epileptic Seizures
WRITTEN BY: Carmen Leitch
Epilepsy is a general term that refers to abnormal brain activity that causes seizures. Anyone can get the disease, and in about half of the cases, there is an identifiable cause such as head trauma, a developmental disorder or infectious illness. Around 3.4 million people in the United States suffer from epilepsy, which can seriously disrupt a person's quality of life especially because the seizures are so unpredictable. While they may be incredibly inconvenient, they can also occur at dangerous times, such as while a person is driving. Most of the time, people with epilepsy don't know when they are about to have a seizure.
New research from scientists at FutureNeuro, the SFI Research Centre for Chronic and Rare Neurological Diseases hosted at RCSI (Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland) may help change that. They identified a pattern of molecules that can be detected in the blood before the occurrence of a seizure. These molecules might offer clinicians and patients a way to detect the onset of seizures. Their findings have been reported in the Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI).
"People with epilepsy often report that one of the most difficult aspects of living with the disease is never knowing when a seizure will occur," said the lead author of the report Dr. Marion Hogg, FutureNeuro investigator, Honorary Lecturer at RCSI. "The results of this study are very promising. We hope that our tRNA research will be a key first step toward developing an early warning system."
Transfer RNA fragments, which are molecules that help cells to construct proteins from the instructions in DNA, get cut up when cells are stressed. The researchers found that the levels of certain tRNA fragments in the blood are a way to detect stress in brain cells, which happens before a seizure occurs.
By using epilepsy patient blood samples, the scientists confirmed that the amounts of three tRNA fragments in the blood spike many hours before a seizure happens.
"New technologies to remove the unpredictability of uncontrolled seizures for people with epilepsy are a very real possibility," said study co-author and Professor David Henshall, Director of FutureNeuro and Professor of Molecular Physiology and Neuroscience at RCSI. "Building on this research we in FutureNeuro hope to develop a test prototype, similar to a blood sugar monitor that can potentially predict when a seizure might occur."
Sources: AAAS/Eurekalert! via RCSI, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, JCI
Carmen Leitch
Experienced research scientist and technical expert with authorships on over 30 peer-reviewed publications, traveler to over 70 countries, published photographer and internationally-exhibited painter, volunteer trained in disaster-response, CPR and DV counseling.
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EXCERPT: Sons of Feminism: Men Have Their Say
Feminism, gynocentrism, Janice Fiamengo, Science and Men's Issues, Sexual Harassment
Feminist leaders tell us that men are entitled and powerful. Janice Fiamengo actually asked men what it is like to be male in a feminist culture. These 26 stories will surprise you with their accounts of men belittled, disliked, dismissed, blamed, falsely accused, and discriminated against under law–all while being expected to apologize for their "male privilege."
The following is one story from the collection.
Feminist Warriors in Astronomy
By an Astronomer
I embarked on an academic career in astronomy almost two decades ago. At the time, I was convinced that space sciences, based on factual observations and physical modelling of the vast universe, would always be immune from the obsessive navel-gazing and politics of hurt feelings of Women's Studies and related departments. Things have changed a great deal since then, and not for the better.
Social justice warriors (SJWs) and feminist activists have penetrated astronomy departments almost to the same degree as in the humanities. The influential Women in Astronomy blog (womeninastronomy.blogspot.com), whose juvenile rants are foisted upon us at major conferences as if they were divine revelation, contains very little astronomy and a lot of political campaigning on leftist issues and victim-group grievances.
There are, in my opinion, two main reasons why even astronomy has succumbed to this disease. The first reason is that astronomers are one of the most politicized subgroups of scientists, and the most susceptible to peer pressure in an overwhelmingly leftist campus environment. The second reason is that there are more men than women in astronomy (http://www.iau.org/administration/membership/individual/distribution/). This indisputable fact is simplistically interpreted as self-evident, mathematical proof that women are discriminated against in their careers. I shall now discuss both arguments in more detail.
Political bias
An average astronomy career develops almost entirely within the narrow boundaries of academia (more than other applied sciences). Most astronomers have a very limited knowledge and understanding of the social and economic structure of the real world. Their worldviews are shaped by the green-left activism of their student days, and are strongly affected by the ideological social-justice movements sweeping western campuses today with an ideological fervor reminiscent of Mao's Cultural Revolution. Moreover, success or failure in astronomy (again, more than in applied sciences or engineering) depends substantially on the opinion of our peers. Grant and fellowship applications, requests to use the over-subscribed major telescopes, and invitations to speak at international conferences are all determined by small panels of colleagues in the same field, based essentially on how much they trust the applicant's ability as a scientist.
In the highly competitive field of astronomical research, it usually takes only one particularly unfavorable assessment to sink a good telescope time application. Job applications require recommendation letters from several colleagues who have the task of extolling our personal qualities and explaining how well we would fit in with the group and the institution. It would be nice to believe that such judgement is founded entirely on the applicant's research results, regardless of personal friendships, social connections, and political opinions, but we know that is not the case; collaborations and connections are often informally created at BBQs, Christmas (sorry, end-of-year) parties and social events. In these circumstances, the safest (perhaps the only possible) strategy for a young astronomer to survive is to "fit in" and follow the dominant political ideology of the group.
Visibly and loudly endorsing the latest fashionable leftist causes (especially feminist and identity politics) with colleagues at lunchtime and around the water cooler can be a matter of academic survival, especially when leftist colleagues outnumber conservatives by a ratio of 20 to 1, as is the case at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Boston (the largest astronomy institution in the US). Being leftist becomes a positional good, a signal of superior morality. There is no escaping the moral gaze of SJWs in astronomy: they seem to spend an egregious amount of taxpayer-funded working hours every day hooked on Twitter, Facebook, and whatever leftist blog is in vogue, scourging the unenlightened and looking for signs of ideological dissent.
Gender imbalance
This is the second main reason why feminist politics has gained significant traction in astronomy. There is an appalling lack of women in STEM fields, we hear from feminist astronomers every day. Many job and grant applications include questions about one's commitment to and track record on bringing more women into astronomy in a way that makes it clear that any dissenting opinions, doubts and questions are not welcome. And yet, there are many pertinent questions on the issue that I would not be afraid to ask if universities were more open to free speech. A lack of women with respect to what? Is it a problem worth spending time on? If and only if it is a problem, what are its true causes and most practical solutions?
Simply stating that women occupy less than 50% of senior positions in astronomy, or are conferred less than 50% of astronomy PhD degrees, is not evidence either of a problem or of a social injustice. The statistical imbalance in favor of men in maths and physical sciences is mirrored by a symmetrical imbalance in favor of women in education, arts & humanities, health, and biological sciences. This is mathematically inevitable, since women now represent a majority of college graduates in the Western world. Perhaps, instead of spending so much time and money to get women into STEM, we could try pushing women out of education and humanities, with aggressive targets for a minimum number of men or a maximum number of women in those careers. But if society benefits from more women moving to STEM fields because of the new talent they bring, will it also suffer from the loss of a corresponding number of women and talent from education and health? Has anyone tried to do a cost-benefit analysis? Or do SJWs believe that gender balance should be aggressively imposed only in fields where women are currently the minority while not touching the female advantage in the other fields?
Such questions are rarely discussed because the drive to shift women into STEM has mostly ideological rather than practical justifications. Two unrelated but equally obnoxious ideologies are clearly apparent in the minds of STEM SJWs. The first driver is the profound feminist dislike of free choice. Women have the right to choose whatever lifestyle they want, provided they choose the one approved by their leftist minders. A young woman who chooses to study English literature or work in education rather than pursue an astronomy research career is somehow being unconsciously oppressed by the patriarchy, even though she erroneously believes that it was her own choice based on her personal preferences. This is analogous to the feminist distaste for women who choose to leave their careers and raise a family at home.
The second ideological driver is the self-belief of almost all STEM practitioners (astronomers above all) male and female, that their field of knowledge is superior to every other. Because we model "important" things like stars, galaxies, black holes and the universe, most of us truly believe that we are also expert in politics, economics and social matters. Plato's Republic remains the ideal state structure in the minds of so many of my colleagues, who dream of imposing their superior knowledge and tidy mathematical order onto the unenlightened, hopeless plebs for the common good (which the masses cannot discern on their own). Maths and physics represent the only true knowledge and power: social justice requires that more women be elevated from the muddy fields of humanities, health and education to the Elysian Fields of astronomy, whether they like it or not.
The ideological motivations driving feminist initiatives in our field would not matter much if more women in astronomy really meant more competence and more scientific progress, as claimed by our SJWs. As the Royal Society of Edinburgh stated, in a 2012 report chaired by astronomy professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell, "[t]he country cannot afford this wastage of talent. We need to tap all our talents." The problem with this argument is that the number of astronomy jobs is limited: society already has all the astronomers it needs, universities already hire more astronomers than they can fund, and the few major telescopes and satellites (essential tools for our research) are routinely oversubscribed by a factor of 5. Doubling the number of astronomy jobs is unrealistic and would be a waste of taxpayers' money. So, in practice, "tapping all our talents" translates into replacing a large number of male researchers with female researchers in order to achieve parity. This can be justified as a political goal, not as a scientific one: there is no evidence that enforced parity is leading to better research outcomes. In fact, the opposite is happening. In practice, half of the astronomy jobs will be available to a large pool of male applicants; the other half will be reserved for a smaller pool of female applicants. Already today, to obtain a good job, a male astronomer needs to be in the top 10% of male applicants, while a female astronomer only needs to be average. If we were really concerned about the science outcome, instead of tapping all our talents, we should try tapping the very best talents: and that requires a free competition on the job market, with no quotas or targets and no attention to gender balance.
Having dismissed free choice as the main reason for gender imbalance in astronomy, SJWs need to come up with different, politically correct explanations that put the blame squarely on the patriarchy. Two of the most quoted reasons are selection bias and the culture of sexual harassment.
Selection bias
As a male astronomer, I am apparently unable to assess fairly the quality of scientific research done by female colleagues due to my unconscious bias against people who are different from me. Similarly, as a person of non-color, I am told I am biased against people of color. As a straight cisgender male, I am biased against LGBTQWERTY astronomers. And so on. I am also told that any attempt to deny my bias is further proof of how dangerously strong my bias is. (This argument is never applied to political bias: insulting people on the conservative side of politics, saying that they should not be allowed at university, or their funding should be cut, or that they are knuckle-dragging idiots, is perfectly acceptable, as I have experienced many times.)
Most astronomy departments have succumbed to political pressure and have decided they have to do something to "correct" the effects of this alleged bias. They do so in at least three ways. The first one is to create jobs and fellowships specifically reserved for female candidates. Such appointments are usually described in terms of "creating role models," a politically correct term more palatable than quotas or targets. Apparently, young girls need to see someone who "looks like them" in a position of academic power to become interested in astronomy. And of course, people of color need their role models, genderqueers need theirs, and so on. This is a complete betrayal of a fundamental principle of astronomy: that the universe can be modelled with physical laws independent of the observer; the motion of a planet, the evolution of a galaxy are not open to interpretation according to our age, sex, gender orientation, race, religion, or veteran status.
The second re-education technique is to leave job ads open to male and female applicants, but include clauses that clearly favor a certain type of political activism. For example, astronomy job ads at the University of California routinely include the request for a "statement of contributions to diversity addressing contributions to diversity through research, teaching, and/or service." The assumption here is that my astronomy discoveries are more valuable if they contribute to diversity and other leftist causes. That apparently innocuous statement contains the same dangerous idea that science should be used to promote a certain ideology, just like physicists in Nazi Germany had to show their commitment to race theories, and Soviet scientists had to explain how their research promoted socialism. Personally, as an old-fashioned libertarian, I still believe that the purpose of astronomy is astronomy itself. None of the great discoveries in the history of astronomy were made by scientists with particular interest in diversity policies. Newton would not have been able to fill out a job application form at the University of California.
The third method used by astronomy institutions to correct for alleged unconscious gender bias is to introduce an even stronger, conscious bias in the opposite direction (the idea of using "good" discrimination to offset "bad" discrimination). Before telescope-time or grant application meetings, we are now commonly subjected to patronizing speeches by diversity figureheads, who remind us how important it is to be fair to female applicants, how we should think twice before rejecting their applications, and how we should be mindful of gender balance and role models in our selection. It is a low-level form of brainwashing. We know that if we select too many male applicants (even if we do it on merit) our choice and motives will be scrutinized, monitored, criticized. Instead, if we select a few more female applicants (even if not all on merit), we will be praised and left in peace. Most astronomers unsurprisingly choose the path of least resistance.
If you believe the hype of astro-feminists, our departments are rife with sexual assaults, bullying and violence. The gender imbalance in astronomy is the result of young women being too scared to venture into this ugly, violent, testosterone-dominated environment.
This is a nice, simple theory that gets parroted by every astronomer eager to show their progressive credentials; but is it consistent with the empirical data? Feminists in every faculty claim that (loosely defined) sexual assaults are rife in their own faculty; indeed, campuses as a whole are said to be in the grip of a rape culture. So, why would that (alleged) widespread violence deter women from doing astronomy but not other fields of studies where they are the majority? Moreover, "sexist" comments and workplace flirting are more tolerated in Latin cultures than in the Anglosphere: and yet, the fraction of women in astronomy is higher in Italy, Spain and Argentina than in the more diversity-obsessed Canada, USA, Australia, and Sweden.
I am not saying that sexual harassment never happens in astronomy. There have been a few highly publicized cases of famous male professors flirting or having inappropriate relations with young postdocs or students, and such professors have been duly shamed and harshly punished. I have seen other senior male astronomers having similar relations and getting away with that. I have also seen female students and postdocs who have been happy to flirt with senior male professors and whose careers have benefited from such interactions (but I would be lynched if I said that in public). And I know of senior female professors who entered into relationships with younger male postdocs while nobody complained. In short, inappropriate sexual relations and unwanted flirting do happen sometimes, creating stress in the work environment, but it is not a crisis, it is not worse than in any other human field, and it is not the reason why there are fewer women than men in astronomy. It has been manufactured into a crisis by special interest groups who try to depict women as perennial helpless victims to be protected and compensated, and men as perennial creepy aggressors to be shamed and punished. The Women in Astronomy blog (widely re-tweeted and shared through social media) has become similar to the Red Guards' Dazebaos during the Cultural Revolution. As a male, I could be anonymously accused of sexual harassment on that blog without a shred of evidence, and my career would be over in a frenzy of online lynching before I had a chance to defend myself. No wonder we all choose to toe the line in public.
Other reasons for gender imbalance
If, as I have argued, sexual harassment is not the reason for a relative scarcity of women in astronomy, what are the true causes? One possibility we need to at least consider is that male brains are better at the higher levels of theoretical physics and maths. I saw first-hand what happened to Harvard University president Lawrence Summers when he suggested such a possibility (I was there at the time), and it was not pretty. In fact, I do not believe that a gap in innate intelligence is the main reason for the gender imbalance. Most types of astronomical research do not require special intelligence or mathematical skills higher than, for example, in biological or health sciences. I suspect the main factor is the hard lifestyle required for a professional career in astronomy. It is often a lonely research pursuit, with a lot of online work in front of a terminal rather than verbal inter-personal communication. It requires working long hours, evenings and weekends. Postdocs have to relocate and move around different countries for a decade (while in their 30s) before they can start competing for tenure-track jobs. More guys than girls enjoy or reluctantly come to accept this lifestyle; it is particularly hard for women who want to have children. The willingness to work longer hours or weekends on short notice is also the main reason behind the so-called "gender pay gap" in other sectors of the economy.
Is it fair?
My colleagues and I were recently pressured to attend a rather patronizing lecture on work-life balance at our University. The speaker was a young female astronomer hired into a women-only fellowship for which she was the only applicant. She argued that in order to narrow the gender balance, astronomy departments should not schedule meetings and seminars after 4pm or before 10am, because such times would be particularly inconvenient for women with children. There should also be restrictions on working long hours and weekends, and in any case people (mostly women) who choose to work shorter hours should not be penalized on the job market compared to those (mostly men) who work longer hours. What I would have liked to reply to her (if I had a suicidal wish) is that it is easy to say so when you have protected jobs with more positions available than applicants. But as a male astronomer, I have to compete with ten other equally desperate people to get a job, and I have to work unsociable hours to survive.
Is it fair that more astronomy jobs and perhaps higher salaries go to people who work longer hours and make more sacrifices in their private lives (which statistically happen to be mostly men)? By analogy, is it fair that all the players selected for our national football team are people who train several hours a day every day rather than people who only have a kick-around on a Sunday morning? Has anyone realized that by selecting only workaholics, our team is missing out on the experience of a diverse group of people and lifestyles and is not representative of the general population? Surely, our team would be twice as good if half of the players were selected based on football skills and the other half on diversity criteria.
Check your privilege
Shaming guys for their "privilege" has become an obsession of SJWs in astronomy, who are aping similar trends in the humanities. At a recent important astronomy conference, we were lectured by a "senior diversity officer" of the host university, who gave the opening plenary speech on what he called the "white heterosexual Anglo-Christian cisgender male privilege in astronomy." After reminding us how we male astronomers cannot even begin to understand the constant state of fear felt by women and people of color in astronomy departments every day, the diversity officer instructed the audience to pair up in male-female couples. Each couple was told to read, acknowledge and discuss a list of "29 white male privileges." A few male astronomers randomly picked from the audience were then asked to stand up and publicly confess instances of their privilege. It all looked straight out of a Maoist textbook. And yet, some male astronomers enjoyed being shamed like that. Nothing gives more pleasure to committed leftist academics than to openly proclaim their shame for their own gender, social class, religion, skin color and nationality, because feeling ashamed is a sign of moral superiority, in the same way that whipping themselves and wearing hair shirts make some ascetic monks feel closer to God.
There are now clearly two streams of astronomy careers. The first stream is based on hard work, and leads to merit-based appointments for whoever (male or female) is prepared to accept the asocial research lifestyle. Luck and chance factors play of course a big part in determining the outcome of job applications, but usually not deliberate discrimination. The second stream leads to fast-track tenured positions with much less competition for those who are willing and able to play the grievance card on behalf of their officially recognized victim group. Some astronomers still spend most of their time researching and monitoring the sky; others instead spend most of their time researching and monitoring gender balance within astronomy departments, setting up equity-and-diversity committees, writing 200-page reports on discrimination, conferring awards to themselves for their social-justice work, making up new types of privileges, and running blogs full of political propaganda. Unfortunately, funding is shrinking for the former class of astronomers like me, and is ever-expanding for the latter. We can predict with Newtonian certainty that the outcome of every diversity committee, the recommendation of every inclusion report, is that discrimination is "worse than we thought," the new women-only jobs or initiatives are "only a first step," and "Much more has to be done."
Facing the corruption of a profession I love, an old-fashioned astronomer like me can only do small acts of passive resistance. I am not in a career position where I can express open dissent with the Women-in-Astronomy gang and their socio-political theories. I have seen illustrious scientists (remember comet explorer Matt Taylor or Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt) being brought down by a frenzy of online bullying without any intervention in their defense from their own department or faculty. Kill one to warn one hundred, as Mao said: it is ugly, but of course it works. There is no easy solution: in the current situation, leftist views totally dominate the campus discourse. Things will only get worse for merit-based rewards and for free speech in general, unless political diversity is pursued in our campuses with the same determination as gender and ethnic diversity.


All inclusive is an entirely new and different prime time TV entertainment of two hours devoted to the whole family - laughing, singing, dancing, variety and circus all in one.
All inclusive is an entirely new and different prime time TV entertainment of two hours devoted to the whole family - laughing, singing, dancing, variety and circus all in one. The show's participants are artists, dancers and magicians.
Adding to the fun are some of Bulgaria's best comedians: Zueka and Rachkov, Maria Sapundjieva and Maria Ignatova, Albena Mihova, Gerasim Georgiev – Gero, Rumen Ugrinski, Stefan Ryadkov and AlexKozhuharov.
All inclusive is hosted by the actor Kalin Sarmenov.


I was having a conversation at lunch with a friend who needed to recover some items for a user from the Exchange Dumpster. So I came up with a one-liner to help you do just that but BEFORE i can really give you the one-liner I need to give you some background.
First there is a Deleted Items folder in your Exchange Mailbox. When you delete an email it goes here first (for many people that is as far as it goes but that's another blog post…).
A user can simply look here in the their deleted Items folder and find something they have deleted if that folder has not yet been emptied.
If the Deleted Items folder has been emptied it will remain in the Deletions folder (Dumpster) for the next 14 days by default. During this time the user can use Outlook and or OWA to Recover Items that are now in the Dumpster. I love this feature but it's not very much fun for the user if they have deleted a lot of items lately.
So to make things a little easier on the user you can recover all the items in PowerShell and then export them so the user can sort them to their hearts content. The tricky part here is that you can't drop them directly back into the mailbox you're searching. You can use the DiscoverySearchMailbox but I keep an admin mailbox around that I use for just such occasions. I call this mailbox SearchAdmin and it will become the Target mailbox.
The three items in red are user mailbox you're searching (ebuford) the target mailbox your dropping the files in (SearchAdmin) and the name of the Folder you want to dump them in (ebufordDumpster).
Once you've got them in the new folder you can export to a PST and then Import them back into the users mailbox. Now this isn't the most straightforward admin task you're going to do, but if you really want to please a user (or maybe your boss) this will make you some brownie points!
It's Midnight, Do you know where your FSW is?


Lock in a great price for Westminster Hotel & Spa – rated 8.6 by recent guests!
Everything: the hotel common areas, the room, the spa, the bar, the restaurant... Beautiful, tasty, the staff was lovely.
The suite had a very nice view of the sea. Loved the little balcony and the automated blinds in all windows. Room and bathroom was very clean . Staff were very welcoming and helpful.
The hotel has a good location and is right on the water! Our room was clean and the staff was friendly. Overall a good place to stay in Nice!
Great location but reflects the past in its facilities and attitudes.
Rooms, building, comfort, Restaurante, spa ... and a threat location see front and next to city center .
We loved the location. The staff were friendly and helpful. The room was clean and comfortable.
Amazing view from our second floor suite. Shops and buses nearby.
One of our top picks in Nice.Located in the heart of Nice, on the Promenade des Anglais, Westminster Hotel & Spa features a spa, a private beach and seafront terrace. The hotel is decorated in a Belle Epoque style and offers both a bar and luxury lounge areas. High-speed wired internet access and free WiFi are provided. There is also a fitness center that guests can use free of charge.
Guest rooms offer contemporary décor and are equipped with a flat-screen TV with free access to satellite channels and videos on demand. There is also a desk, a telephone with a direct line and voice mail, and an electronic lock and a safe. The air conditioning and heating systems are individually regulated in each room. Private bathrooms are marble or design concept and are equipped with a bath or shower, hairdryer and welcome products. A mini-bar is available and is at an extra charge.
Restaurant Le Duc serves Mediterranean specialties which can be enjoyed on the hotel's terrace, overlooking the Promenade des Anglais and the sea. A buffet breakfast is served daily and can be taken in the guestroom or on the terrace. Guests can enjoy a drink in Bar Le W, which also offers a terrace. Seven meeting and reception rooms are available at Hôtel Westminster.
The SPA 27 offers a 1312 ft² a relaxation area with a sauna, steam bath, hot tub and counter-current swimming pool. There are 3 beauty treatment rooms, and guests can enjoy herbal tea or a fresh drink.
The hotel is 15 minutes' drive from Nice Côte d'Azur Airport and only 14 minutes' walk from Nice-Ville train station.
When would you like to stay at Westminster Hotel & Spa?
These individually decorated rooms offers city views, satellite LCD TV, free high-speed internet access and a mini-bar. The marble or designer bathroom features a hairdryer and free toiletries. Allergy-free pillows are provided.
Some of these rooms have views of the surrounding hills. This room can accommodate a baby cot.
These spacious suites have views of the sea and the Baie des Anges. They offer a lounge area with a sofa and armchairs, a mini-bar, a satellite LCD TV, air conditioning and allergy-free pillows.
Luxury products are supplied in the marble or design bathroom with bathtub or shower, hairdryer, bathrobe and slippers.
This room can accommodate a baby cot or an extra bed.
A 1-hour free spa access can be enjoyed per person per stay, if booked in advance. Please note that this free access is subject to availability.
Features a seating area with sofa and armchairs. The spacious suites include a luxury, marble bathroom with bathrobe, slippers and Fragonard toiletries, a satellite LCD TV, a mini-bar and free, high-speed internet access. The pillows are hypoallergenic.
This suite can accommodate a baby cot or an extra bed.
The superior room has a view of the sea and feature air-conditioning, free high-speed WiFi and a large flat-screen TV with a free video on demand service. There is also a mini-bar, a safe, ironing facilities and a courtesy tray. The bathroom has a hairdryer and a magnifying mirror.
This spacious suite faces the beach and offers a balcony with sea views. It has a separate living room with a sofa bed and a flat-screen satellite TV, soundproofing and a mini-bar. There is an additional flat-screen TV in the bedroom and the pillows are hypoallergenic. The large bathroom, illuminated in natural light, has a bathtub and a separate shower, a hair dryer, bathrobes, slippers and comes with Fragonard products.
Price based on 2, but maximum occupancy is 4 (see policies).
Offering a city view, this spacious and bright suite includes a separate living room with sofa bed and a dressing room. It offers 1 satellite flat-screen TV in the bedroom and 1 in the living room. The pillows are hypoallergenic.
The large bathroom, illuminated in natural light, has a bathtub and a separate shower, a hair dryer, bathrobes, slippers and Fragonard products.
This non-smoking room offers free WiFi access, a flat-screen satellite TV, a telephone with voice mail, a mini-bar and an individually-controlled heating and cooling system. Hypoallergenic quilt and pillows are also provided.
This room features a view on the Baie des Anges. It offers free WiFi access, a flat-screen satellite TV, a direct-dial telephone, a mini-bar and an individually-controlled heating and cooling system. Hypoallergenic quilt and pillows are also provided.
Welcome to the Westminster Hotel & Spa Nice, a new universe dedicated to the pleasure of the senses located in the heart of Nice and facing the sea. New SPA 400 sqm, new restaurant and bar. Sea view air conditioned terraces. 99 rooms , junior suites and suites. Close to the pedestrian streets and the city center .
House Rules Westminster Hotel & Spa takes special requests – add in the next step!
Westminster Hotel & Spa accepts these cards and reserves the right to temporarily hold an amount prior to arrival.
Westminster Hotel & Spa accepts these cards and reserves the right to temporarily hold an amount prior to arrival.
Please note that the property will send an email after reservation with payment instructions. Guests will be invited to make payment via a secure link.
Please note that the credit card used to make the reservation, for the prepayment or the deposit and a valid ID must be presented by the holder upon check-in.
Please note that use of the private beach requires payment of an additional fee.
Access to the spa begins at a price of EUR 30 per person. Please note that access is prohibited for children under the age of 16 years old.
Please note that when booking 3 rooms or more, different policies may be applied. Please contact the property for further details.
When booking a room with sea views, a 1-hour free spa access is offered per person per stay.
Larger tv with English options.
Ocean view room and on site bar and restaurant.
A little overpriced. No parking from the hotel, neither price agreement with nearby parking.
Some staff not helpful. Some staff ok.
Location and sea view room!
The rooms are pretty basic, large rooms with very small tv screens - but still comfortable and clean. The iron we had in the room was terrible and leaked water everywhere. The importance of customer service is essential though and with my partner being Gluten Free, our first experience during check-in was poor. The lady not only appeared to find it amusing my partner had Gluten Free requirements, was rude but also said they had no options for breakfast (this proved to be incorrect and clearly the front desk staff need training in what they do/don't have- they can prepare gluten free bread for breakfast etc) - this caused upset to my partner before we had even got into our room. Overall a good hotel but has improvements to be made.
Great location and facilities overall were good.
Restaurant and bar a bit souless. We ate at the restaurant next door. Plumbing a bit dodgy and some sockets didn't work.
There is not a room service menu in the room. When I called room service by phone, I was informed about very few plates that they could offer. It seems they don't like to serve dinner in the room, what is real disappointing in this level of hotel. Anyway, we decided to try the restaurant. It was another disappointment. As my husband was feeling a little bit sick, I asked to prepare a simple "al burro risotto" (much easier to prepare than the risotto indicated in the menu). The waiter told me it was not possible, as they have the plates already organized (!). For me it means they don't have a chef of cuisine. And finally, the risotto (from the menu) arrived not hot, just warm (a real sin in the universe of risottos!).
Excellent position! The sea view room is a wonderful experience. Confortable bed and pillows, Coffee and tea machine in the room. The pressure of water in the shower is very good (not a common thing, even in good hotels). Public parking located just around the corner, few steps from the hotel. You can stop the car in front of the hotel (to have a help with luggage) before going to parking.
Spa swimming pool was denied to our 4 year old toddler. Huge disappointment. Room service usually had only one or two items available from their menu. Ordering from outside ( Ubereats) was very rudely discouraged by bellboy. Well, make sure that your room service is upto the mark then!
Reception staff were helpful and friendly as were restaurant staff.


This monumental early baroque palace in the Malá Strana district was constructed between the years 1623 and 1630 for Count Albrecht von Wallenstein (Czech 'Valdštejn), one of the most significant and colourful figures of the Thirty Years' War.
Wallenstein was born and raised a Protestant, but converted in the early 1600s, most likely in order to pursue high office under the Catholic Habsburgs. His career as a military leader was marked by notable victories which saw him promoted to generalissimo at the age of 42. His acquired wealth enabled him to purchase this plot of land, on which had previously stood a palace complex belonging to Jan Rudolf Trčka of Lípa, some two dozen houses, a number of small gardens and a brick-kiln.
The building is usually attributed to the architects Andrea Spezza and Niccolo Sebregondi from the Lombardy region. They were supervised by the Florentine polymath Giovanni Pieroni, whose father had been an architect for the Medicis, and who took over the project from Spezza on the latter's death in 1628.
The interiors are by the Florentine Baccio del Bianco, who was responsible for the ceiling fresco in the main hall (above) showing Wallenstein as the god Mars, driving his war horses to victory.
Towards the end of the Thirty Years' War, differences with the Emperor Ferdinand II led the ever-ambitious Wallenstein to consider siding with the Protestant cause. He never got the chance. In 1634 he was assassinated, probably on the Emperor's instructions, in the German border town of Eger (Cheb). As an ultimate indignity, in 1648 the palace was looted by the Swedes before they were in turn repelled by Imperial forces during the final action of the war.
A national cultural monument since 1995, the Valdštejn palace is nowadays the central building of the upper parliamentary house, or Senate. It was the subject of extensive and careful restoration between 1996 and 2001.
The palace's walled gardens, with their geometric hedges, parterres and fountains, were developed contemporaneously with the palace. Please follow this link to read more about them.


text:
Wullschleger, Marcel
Illaste, Ardo; Wullschleger, Marcel; Fernandez Tenorio, Miguel; Niggli, Ernst; Egger, Marcel (2019). Automatic Detection and Classification of Ca2+ Release Events in Line- and Frame-Scan Images. Biophysical journal, 116(3), pp. 383-394. Biophysical Society 10.1016/j.bpj.2018.12.013
Wullschleger, Marcel; Blanch Salvador, Joaquim; Egger, Marcel (2017). Functional local crosstalk of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor- and ryanodine receptor-dependent Ca2+ release in atrial cardiomyocytes. Cardiovascular research, 113(5), pp. 542-552. Oxford University Press 10.1093/cvr/cvx020
Wullschleger, Marcel; Imboden, Sara; Wanner, Juliette Denise; Mueller, M. D. (2015). Minimally invasive surgery when treating endometriosis has a positive effect on health and on quality of work life of affected women. Human reproduction, 30(3), pp. 553-557. Oxford University Press 10.1093/humrep/deu356
Wullschleger, Marcel; Aghlmandi, Soheila; Egger, Marcel; Zwahlen, Marcel (2014). High Incorrect Use of the Standard Error of the Mean (SEM) in Original Articles in Three Cardiovascular Journals Evaluated for 2012. PLoS ONE, 9(10), e110364. Public Library of Science 10.1371/journal.pone.0110364