text:
Honduras v Nicaragua
Events in Honduras have given Hugo Chavez an excuse to meddle in Central America; with the tacit approval of President Obama.
For the record, former Honduran president, Mel Zelaya, was not ousted in a coup. He was removed by the army which was executing an order issued by the Honduran supreme court, unanimously backed by the congress.
Pajamas Media has a man in Honduras who reports that almost all of Honduras is united behind the government. PJM also reports that the violence there is being fomented by Venezuela's socialist dictator, Hugo Chavez, who hopes to us the unrest there as en excuse to send troops into the country. To that end, there are reports of Nicaraguan troops massing on the border with Honduras. Nicaragua is of course run by communist Daniel Ortega.
The military of Nicaragua numbers about 14,000 men divided into five military regions, apparently for internal security operations.
In contrast the Honduran army is organized into five infantry brigades (each of two battalions and usually a third with a specialty, armor, recon, etc...) plus a special operations brigade. They also receive American weapons, and officer training in the US.
Will's book about the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the Battle of 73 Easting, is called A Line Through the Desert. It may be purchased at Amazon.
Posted by William Stroock at 6:51 PM No comments: Links to this post
Pacom Nominee Pledges to Keep Watchful Eye on North Korea
By Samantha L. Quigley
July 9, 2009 - The United States is right to keep a watchful eye on North Korea, the president's nominee to be the next commander of U.S. Pacific Command said today. "We should be concerned about North Korea and continue to be vigilant in watching over their behavior and prepare to defend against a provocation should [the North Korean leader] follow up on one of his threats," Navy Adm. Robert Willard, the now commander of the U.S Pacific Fleet, said during his confirmation testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
"We've been looking at this country for 50 years," Willard said. "We pay a lot of attention to what's going on in North Korea."
Willard said he is confident about U.S. intelligence on North Korea's capabilities, but the motivations for some of its actions, such as the latest round of provocative missile launches, remain a mystery.
In May, North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test, prompting the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution on June 12 banning all weapons exports from the country and the import of all but small arms. Just last week, North Korea launched a series of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, and a Taepo Dong II missile was launched some weeks ago, Willard said.
North Korea wouldn't be the only challenge Willard would face if confirmed as the leader of Pacific Command. China, upset by U.S. authorization of weapons sales to Taiwan, had severed military-to-military interaction, Willard noted.
"The military-to-military dialogue with China has just, in recent weeks, recommenced beginning with an international fleet review that was held in China," he said. "I think it's incumbent first on both nations to realize the value, the benefit of military-to-military dialogue and to sustain it."
Willard said he is looking forward to seeking new venues through which to engage the Chinese military if he is confirmed.
Another important challenge is the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command, part of Pacific Command, which doesn't have enough scientific personnel to increase the number of identifications of remains recovered.
"If confirmed, I'll look forward to understanding fully the resourcing requirements for JPAC," Willard said. "I think resourcing is part of this answer. I think being able to access that level of scientific expertise and the availability of scientists of that caliber to perform this ... work is the other [part]."
Willard, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, has extensive experience in the Pacific region and a thorough knowledge and understanding of the region's history. An F-14 aviator, he was operations officer and executive officer for the "Top Gun" Navy Fighter Weapons School, and he commanded the "Screaming Eagles" of Fighter Squadron 51 and the USS Abraham Lincoln before becoming commander of U.S. Pacific Fleet.
If confirmed, Willard would succeed Navy Adm. James Stavridis as Pacom commander. Stavridis recently took over as commander of U.S. European Command and as NATO's supreme allied commander for Europe.
MILITARY CONTRACTS July 9, 2009
Fluor Intercontinental, Greenville, S.C., is being awarded a $1.5 billion task order cost plus award fee contract for the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program IV (LOGCAP IV) services in Afghanistan. Work is to be performed in Greenville, S.C. (5 percent), and Afghanistan (95 percent) with an estimated completion date of July 1, 2010. Three bids solicited with three bids received. Rock Island Contracting Center, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-07-D-0008).
DynCorp International LLC, Fort Worth, Texas is being awarded a $1.5 billion task order cost plus award fee contract for the Logistics Civil Augmentation Program IV (LOGCAP IV) services in Afghanistan. Work is to be performed in Fort Worth, Texas (5 percent), and Afghanistan (95 percent) with an estimated completion date of July 1, 2010. Three bids solicited with three bids received. Rock Island Contracting Center, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-07-D-0007).
Alliant Ammunition and Power Co., LLC, Radford, Va., is being awarded a $22,468,063 requirements firm-fixed-price contract for TRINITROTOLUENE (TNT) Type I, Flake: TNT procured to MIL-DTL-248, Revision D, May 14, 2002, with amendment 1, June 27, 2007. Quantity: 5,225,131. Work is to be performed in Radford, Va., with an estimated completion date of Sept. 30, 2012. Bids were solicited using World Wide Web with three bids received. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Contracting Center, CCRC-AR, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-09-D-0017).
Nicholson Construction Co., Cuddy, Pa., is being awarded a $8,445,000 firm-fixed-price contract for Howard Hanson Dam, Right Abutment Interim Measure. Work is to be performed in Howard Hanson Dam, Green River, Palmer, Wash., with an estimated completion date of Nov. 1, 2009. Bids were solicited using World Wide Web with five bids received. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Seattle District, Seattle, Wash., is the contracting activity (W912DW-09-C-0011).
Day & Zimmerman, Camden Operations, Camden, Ark., is being awarded a $6,600,711 firm-fixed-price contract. This award is a sole source re-procurement of the MK-45 Electric Primer under the authority of FAR clause 25.249-8 Default, (Fixed Price Supply and Services) as a result of the termination of contract W52P1J-05-C-0076. Work is to be performed in Camden, Ark., with an estimated completion date of April 30, 2011. One bid solicited with one bid received. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island Contracting Center, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-09-C00021).
Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc., Cambridge, Mass., is being awarded a sole-source, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract HQ0006-09-C-0004 for $24,832,170. Under this contract, Charles Stark Draper Laboratory will provide technical services in support of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), and other government agencies, in the areas of research, design, development, program management, engineering, analysis, prototyping, test, demonstration, and evaluation of Guidance, Navigation and Control Technologies. The work will be performed in Cambridge, Mass. The performance period is from June 30, 2009 through June 29, 2014. The amount obligated on this action is $150,000 using fiscal year 2009 research, development, test and evaluation funds. MDA is the contracting activity (HQ0006-09-C-0004).
Lockheed Martin Corp., Space Systems Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $15,725,252 modified contract for the Advanced EHF Satellite program in the MILSATCOM Systems Wing to increase the level of interim contractor sustainment activities. At this time, $14,566,254 has been obligated. Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing, El Segundo, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-02-C-0002).
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Incorporated, San Diego, Calif., is being awarded a $12,052,945 cost plus fixed fee contract to support the NightLighter program, which is an optical change detection system with full day/night capability. At this time, $11,540,000 has been obligated. Detachment 1 AFRL/PKSE, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (FA8650-09-C-1636).
Superior Electric Company, Farmington, Conn., is being awarded a $20,421,400 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity firm-fixed-price contract for the acquisition of various quantities of 15 Kilovolt and 30 Kilovolt Automatic Voltage Regulators (AVR's). Work will be performed in Farmington, Conn., and is expected to be completed by June 2014. Contract funds in the amount of $1,890,400 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured utilizing unrestricted full and open competition with two offers received via the Federal Business Opportunities website. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, Ship System Engineering Station, Philadelphia, Pa., is the contracting activity (N65540-09-D-0021).
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp., Bethpage, N.Y., is being awarded a $14,811,181 modification to previously awarded contract to increase the ceiling amount for Systems Engineering and Systems Software/Firmware support for the various Electronic Warfare Systems for the AN/SLQ-32 System, the threat detection system aboard Navy ships. Work will be performed in Goleta, Calif., (75 percent), Buffalo, N.Y., (10 percent), Dahlgren, Va., (10 percent), and Hollywood, Md., (5 percent) and is expected to be completed by December 2014. No funds will be placed on the contract at time of award. The Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane, Crane, Ind., is the contracting activity (N00164-05-D-8718).
Sauer Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., is being awarded $7,021,100 for firm-fixed price task order #0004 under a previously awarded multiple award construction contract for the design and construction to expand and renovate three facilities at Stennis Space Center, Miss. The work to be performed provides for the design and construction for renovation and expansion of building 3205 and a new stand alone Buoy Blast & Paint Facility for the National Data Buoy Center, a tenant organization of the Space Center. The task order also contains one unexercised option, which if exercised would increase the cumulative task order value to $8,999,800. Work will be performed at Stennis Space Center, Miss., and is expected to be completed by January 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Four proposals were received for this task order. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Southeast, Jacksonville, Fla., is the contracting activity (N62467-05-D-0181).
EDO Communications and Countermeasures Systems, Inc., Thousand Oaks, Calif., is being awarded a $5,672,111 modification to previously awarded contract for the production and support of six Automated Test Units (ATEs) and support services provided by eight Field Service Representatives (FSRs) and one Subject Matter Expert (SME) in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Work will be performed in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and is expected to be completed by January 2011. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington Navy Yard, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-07-C-6311).
Combat Camera Teams Document Military at War
By Ian Graham
July 9, 2009 - From the use of newspapers and pamphlets to stoke the American Revolution to embedded journalists in the War in Iraq, the media has played a major role in every American conflict. A story often lost in the mix is that of military journalists -- men and women in uniform whose weapon of choice isn't an M4 carbine with a laser sight, but a D3 with a 17-to-200mm lens. Members of the Air Force's Combat Camera team spoke in a July 7 "DoDLive" bloggers roundtable about their role in documenting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
By shooting photographs, recording video and writing news articles, Combat Camera airmen provide a unique view inside the military during wartime.
Air Force Capt. Phil Ventura, officer in charge of an Air Force Combat Camera team; Staff Sgt. Shawn Weismiller, a photojournalist; Staff Sgt. Stacia Zachary, the team's print journalist; and Senior Airman Brian Economides, the team's videographer, spoke about their work and training.
"Our job is to document, but our job is also to tell a story and to tell a compelling story," Weismiller said. "And throughout my career in the military, I've been taught, as well as rest of the photographers in the military, that our job is to tell a story and to tell it with emotion and to tell it in the best light possible -- not to just strictly look through the viewfinder and click the shutter. Every time we take a picture, there's a purpose and there's a direction."
A Combat Camera team can be attached to one of many kinds of units, from combat engineers in the mountains of Afghanistan to infantrymen in Baghdad, so the members have to be ready to act as wartime airmen to defend themselves at any time.
"As far as what kind of equipment we take for protection, you need your helmet. You need your body armor. You need to be able to carry a combat load, which [consists of] seven M4 magazines and two M9s," Zachary said. "And then you also carry your sidearm. So at any given point -- I weigh 110 pounds -- I'm carrying 150 pounds on me. So we travel with a lot of gear."
Ventura said his team's look and training when they go into a mission help them to be accepted by the unit they're covering.
"We focus very much on being an asset and not a liability to those that we work with, and our gear lends ourselves to that, as does the training we show up with," he said. "So that is a huge enabler to our mission."
Zachary said his team's recent missions include a humanitarian airlift to Pakistan's Swat Valley, operational missions with the search and rescue teams embedded with provincial reconstruction teams and patrolling a Baghdad neighborhood with security forces airmen.
Sometimes, those missions hamper what they can do with their equipment, so the team members have to improvise to get the shot they need. Weismiller said he's come to prefer using natural light, due in no small part to the fact that using a flash during night missions can affect night-vision equipment users and give away a group's position.
Economides said until he got a special lens called an Astroscope to get night video, he had to make do with what he had.
"There have been instances where I simply took night-vision lenses that you use to see, and I have rigged it to the front of my lens and taken pictures that way," he said.
For airmen with training in reporting, photography or videography, one of the most gratifying experiences is seeing their work distributed globally alongside that of veteran journalists working for major news outlets, as well as within the military for mission-related purposes, they said.
"It's humbling to see how many outlets use our products, not just for news media," Zachary said. "Operational commanders and leaders throughout the Department of Defense rely on it to make informed decisions. Our pictures, videos and stories can often be used for intelligence, reconnaissance, engineering, legal and other operations involving the military services."
The team's imagery and stories appear internally on department Web sites such as af.mil, defenselink.mil and defenseimagery.mil, and externally on blogs, international newspapers and television news programs.
(Ian Graham works for the Defense Media Activity's emerging media directorate.)
Pacom Nominee Pledges to Keep Watchful Eye on Nort...


What's the max amount of threads you can run with each tool before you start getting errors or saturating a basic resource? Is there significantly different resource use?
In this post, we share our results from the experiment conducted by Abstracta's own Santiago Peraza and Pablo Barceló, in which the objective was to make a comparative benchmark between Gatling and JMeter tools, in versions 2.2.2 and 3.0 respectively.
What is the maximum amount of threads I can run with each of the tools before I start getting errors or saturating some basic resource?
Given the same load generated by both tools, is there a significantly different resource use?
The experiment had only one variable: the tool. The rest we kept the same: infrastructure, test, load scenario, system under test, network, etc.
To carry out the test, we decided that the best option was to use two machines, both connected to the same router through two Ethernet connection cables and generate load by making requests from one to the other. For that, we installed in one of the PCs (Laptop A) the Microsoft IIS software, which converts one PC into a web server, and we used the other PC (Laptop B) as a load generator. The laptops had 6GB of RAM and an Intel Core i5-5200U of 2.20GHz with two cores and four threads per core.
To make the comparison as fair as possible, it was necessary to take into account some factors that may affect performance, such as secondary orders, cookies, and cache. Gatling handles cookies and cache by default. However, that is not so in the case of JMeter. Therefore, it was necessary to configure the tools in the same way to avoid biased results.
At the moment of defining the test you can choose to use the cache management (in that case it is necessary to add an element of the type HTTP Cache Manager in JMeter) or without handling the cache (in this case it is necessary to disable the handling of cache by Gatling, adding the disableCaching line in the HTTP protocol configuration). In our case, we chose to disable the handling of the cache in Gatling in order to generate a greater load during the tests.
Both Gatling and JMeter do not invoke the default secondary requests, so in the Gatling script, we included the inferHtmlResources line. In JMeter, we enabled the Retrieve All Embedded Resources option of the HTTP Request.
Keeping in mind that we made the requests on a static website, it was not necessary to take into account the handling of the cookies.
An incremental number of virtual concurrent users, using a one-minute ramp-up on all executions.
Endless and constant iterations for the duration of the test.
The scripts were very simple and both did the same thing.
The first result was that JMeter handled connections differently, which made it necessary to make an adjustment at the operating system level in order to reach the same number of concurrent virtual users.
In a first instance with JMeter simulating 400 users, we observed connection errors (non-HTTP response code: java.net.BindException). These errors are caused by limits at the operating system level. In particular, we were using Windows where TCP and IP connections use the ports 1024-5000 output, so if many connections are generated in a short time, these ports become saturated. To avoid this problem, you must increase the number of ports available for connections by following the steps described on this page.
Gatling: According to what I understand of what is explained here, Gatling handles a pool of connections per virtual user, but the important thing is that in the sequential requests, it reuses connections by default.
JMeter: According to what is discussed here, JMeter does not. Additionally, the JMeter documentation mentions: There is no control over how connections are reused. When a connection is released by JMeter, it may or may not be reused by the same thread.
Related to the above, there is another interesting aspect that differentiates how each tool works with respect to the management of virtual users. In the case of JMeter, we have processes that make synchronous requests, and Gatling handles an asynchronous process through the use of handlers. This OctoPerf article explains the differences quite clearly. Both have the possibility to manage a pool of connections per user, which in the case of having several secondary orders, (something that didn't happen in our experiment), they are done in parallel as the browsers usually do. In Gatling this is the default configuration, with a maximum of six simultaneous connections; in JMeter, you have to specify it.
As we did not try to split hairs, we did not look for the exact amount of users before which it is saturated, the order is the same, there is no significant difference. With both tools, the load of 4,000 virtual users was generated, where we began to see that the HTTP requests failed, which indicated that the results can not be trusted. This actually happened due to saturation as much as on the generator side as the server side, but by looking at the resources, the main saturation was observed on the laptop where the load generator was running.
Although it seems absurd, the maximum number of virtual users that can be generated without reaching 100% CPU of the machine with which the load is generated is four. This is the same with both tools, and running five concurrently "eats up" 100% of the CPU during the whole test.
This is explained by the fact that they are requests one after another, without pauses between each and the responses are almost immediate, whereby each thread is constantly working. I expected a very different result in this regard, but that was how it turned out.
Although both were using 100% of the CPU, in the case of JMeter, there was a greater use of CPU by the system, which could be due to it having more threads to handle the virtual users.
Gatling uses less memory than JMeter. You can see in the graph that JMeter uses almost 100%, or almost 6GB, and Gatling uses a little more than 4GB, or about 30% less. This could also be explained by the handling of threads since Gatling needs fewer threads in memory than JMeter for the same number of virtual users.
Gatling seems to use more network, which would not make sense unless it generated more load. If JMeter generated less load, it is because it was more saturated and perhaps it could not execute with the same intensity as Gatling.
Gatling used less disk than JMeter, and the curious thing is that the majority in JMeter are readings. Here we are lacking a little more analysis to see what is the reason for this difference, but since it doesn't mean it's a bottleneck, we did not find it too important.
In conclusion, while there is not much difference between the load supported by Gatling and JMeter, the latter requires extra initial configuration and also uses about 30% more RAM than Gatling.


text:
Фока ракојед (-{Lobodon carcinophaga}-) је врста перајара из породице правих фока (-{Phocidae}-).

Распрострањење
Антарктик је једино познато природно станиште врсте.

Врста је повремено присутна, или је миграторна врста у Аргентини, Аустралији, Бразилу, Јужноафричкој Републици, Новом Зеланду и Уругвају.

ФАО рибарска подручја () на којима је ова врста присутна су у југозападном Атлантику, Атлантику у подручју Антарктика, јужном Индијском океану и Индијском океану у подручју Антарктика и Пацифику у подручју Антарктика.

Станиште
Станишта ове врсте су копнена и морска подручја.

Угроженост
Ова врста није угрожена, и наведена је као последња брига јер има широко распрострањење.

Популациони тренд
Популациони тренд је за ову врсту непознат.

Референце

Литература
 -{IUCN}- црвена листа угрожених врста, детаљнији подаци о врсти

Спољашње везе

Фоке

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Want to help, but not sure you are ready to be a foster parent?
There are still lots of ways to help children in foster care and their families.
Become a mentor to a child or youth in foster care through the Big Sib or LINKS Mentoring Programs.


text:
Nearly All Votes Counted Following Last Week's Election
The counting of ballots by the Bucks County Board of Election has largely wrapped up.
Votes counted have been posted on the county's unofficial election results webpage.
Roughly 74,000 people voted in-person last Tuesday and 78,000 voted by mail, according to county estimates.
With the pandemic and mail-in voting expanded, the county saw more people vote by mail instead of in-person for the first time.
Based on data, the 2020 primary election saw only slightly less turnout than the 2016 primary election, which had 41.22 percent of voters case their ballots.
The county is still working to finalize the roughly 2,500 provisional ballots submitted. Many were filled out by voters who requested mail-in ballots but never received them, Bucks County Board of Election Director Thomas Freitag said.
For provisional ballots, county election workers cross checked the names to make sure no one was able to vote twice, Freitag said.
Between 100 and 150 military and overseas ballots still need to be tallied.
Nearly all in-person votes were counted by the end of primary election night.
Thanks to an emergency petition granted by a county judge on primary election day, 1,200 to 1,300 mail-in ballots postmarked by the day before the primary election but not received by 8 p.m. last Tuesday have been received and will be counted.
The vote count saw election workers starting last Tuesday morning at the county headquarters in Doylestown Borough opening mail-in ballots, preparing them for the voting system scanners, and running them through to tally votes from Tuesday's primary election.
Clerical staff from the Bucks County District Attorney's Office opening mail-in ballots.
Credit: Bucks County District Attorney's Office
Larry King, the county's spokesperson, said staff had worked on counting ballots and tallying results since mail-in ballots were able to start being processed last Tuesday morning. The staff, which included support from other county departments, started early and ended late in the days since the election.
In part due to COVID-19, Bucks County was flooded with requests for mail-in ballots.
Of the more than 102,000 mail-in ballots requested, 78,000 were returned, King said.
In comparison to the 78,000 ballots returned, Bucks County received about 6,000 ballots by mail in the last presidential primary in 2016. Until this year, there were stricter restriction on receiving mail-in absentee ballots.
With in-person voting, there were some problems with the size of some ballots on primary election day. That issue was due to a mistake by the vendor that printed them.
Last week, Bucks County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo called for state lawmakers in Harrisburg to adjust some election rules to make things run smoother. He suggested that allowing for early counting of mail-in ballots could help speed the process up.
A voter at Maple Point Middle School in Middletown.
Credit: Tom Sofield/NewtownPANow.com
"We don't want to be the laughingstock of the country in Pennsylvania in a presidential election. It's very possible it might come down to Pennsylvania. If the whole country is waiting until Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, or later, that is completely unacceptable," he said.
At Tuesday's Board of Election meeting, DiGirolamo received approval for the county to set up a task force to formulate suggestions to the state help speed up the vote counting process.
Bucks County Commissioners Chairperson Diane Ellis-Marseglia supported the task force, which would include county officials and state lawmakers.
DiGirolamo said he expects a large amount of people wanting to vote in the November general election and he doesn't want counting to take a week. He noted the delay with results wasn't the fault of the elections staff.
During the Board of Election meeting, a member of the public offered the public comment that they felt the privacy shield where paper ballots were filled out was not sufficient.
Total Of 13 Bucks County COVID-19 Cases Linked To Shore Party
State Legislature Passes Resolution To Revoke Gov. Wolf's Coronavirus Emergency Order
Governor Confirms County Will Move To...
Pandemic Doesn't Stop Bucks Knocks Out Hunger...
No, Gov. Wolf Isn't Going To An Out-Of-State...
As 'Green' Phase Sits On Horizon, County...
County Transition Report Calls For Modernization...
Without Delayed Cases, County Reports 11 New COVID-19...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Welcome the holiday season in with these 18…
NewsColorado News
Welcome the holiday season in with these 18 events taking place in Greeley, Loveland and around northern Colorado
A tribute concert to musical icons Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks is just one of the events worth checking out on this week's list of Go+Do events. (Photo courtesy The Petty Nicks Experience)
By Tamara Markard | tmarkard@greeleytribune.com | Greeley Tribune
We are officially into the holiday season and as the weather gets cool, the events calendar starts to heat up with craft and gift shows, indoor music concerts and festive drink classes.
Get into the holiday spirit by taking part in some of these 18 fun activities on this week's list of Go+Do events in Greeley, Fort Collins and beyond.
Do you have an event coming up that you think would be a perfect addition to the weekly Go+Do list? Send the date, time, a description of the event and other pertinent information to Tamara Markard at tmarkard@greeleytribune.com for consideration.
Saturday, Nov. 6
1. The 23rd annual Calf Auction kicks off at 11:30 a.m. at Greeley Producers, 711 O St with a free prime rib lunch and fundraising auction featuring agricultural and non-agricultural items including a John Deere kids gator, professional sports tickets, various cuts of meat, cows, calfs and more. Attendees will also be able to meet members from the Eaton/Galeton clubhouse. All ages are invited to attend. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3Cxxe0K.
2. Calling all fly fishers! The Scheels Fly Fest is taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 4755 Ronald Reagan Blvd. in Johnstown. The event will feature seminars discussing a variety of topics including stream fishing, midge fishing, native fish restoration and more. Attendees can take advantage of exclusive discounts on fly fishing gear and the chance to wind prizes. All ages are welcome to attend the free event. For more information, contact Scheels at (970) 663-7800.
3. Get a jump on holiday shopping at the Holiday Craft Show at 10 a.m. at the Lone Tree Event Center, 33546 County Road 49, Greeley. Over 19 vendors will be onsite selling a variety of unique and handmade gifts such as wood items, custom tumblers, wreaths, earrings and more. The free event is open to all ages. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3w5vUzK.
4. Five-time Grammy nominated comedian, Jim Gaffigan, is scheduled to perform at 7 p.m. at the Bellco Theatre, 700 14th St., Denver. Gaffigan is known for his funny and unusual observations on life. The show is open to all ages and tickets range from $49.95 to $79.95 per person depending on seat choice. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3mAcEaE.
5. Come celebrate 80s and 90s rock music at Tribute Night the Moxi Theater from 9-11 p.m. at 802 9th St. American Idiot, a tribute to Green Day, Blink 303, a tribute to Blink 182, and Chili Powder, a tribute to The Red Hot Chili Peppers take the stage to perform fan favorites for an entertaining evening. All responsible ages with a valid photo ID are welcome to attend. Tickets are $15 per person for general admission or $100 for a reserved table for four. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3nRLefN.
6. Learn how to make some festive fall drinks at a fall cocktail class hosted by 477 Distilling at 7 p.m. on the distillery's Facebook page. The interactive class is open tot adults age 21 and older and will teach viewers how to make a variety of cocktails for the fall and holiday season. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/31nPuMv.
Sunday, Nov. 7
Daylight savings time ends so don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour.
7. As the holidays approach, some people may find it difficult to deal with the cheer and festivities. Handling the Holidays from 2-4 p.m. at Journey Christian Church, 4754 W. 31st St. in Greeley will be discussing ways to navigate through the holiday season no matter what you are facing. The free seminar is open to adults age 18 and older. For more information, contact Dan Schaffner at dan@journeychristian.org.
8. The Mind Body Spirit Expo returns to northern Colorado at 9 a.m. at The Ranch Events Complex, 5280 Arena Circle, Loveland. The event will feature more than 75 booths, performers, psychics, healers and more. All ages are welcome to attend and tickets are $7 per person. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3EFthrF.
9. Celebrate Dia de los Muertos with Wiley Roots Brewing Co. at 6 p.m. at 625 3rd St. The brewery is offering buy one/get one pints of special celebration beer. The event is open to adults age 21 and older. For more information, contact Wiley Roots at (970) 515-7315.
10. The Colorado Country Christmas Gift Show will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Colorado Convention Center, 700 14th St., Denver. The show will feature over 450 displays and vendors selling a variety of décor and gifts. All ages are welcome to attend and tickets are $16.99 for attendees age 14 and older. Kids age 13 and younger are free. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3pYXQ7C.
11. The Blues Party Open Blues Jam is set to take place at 6 p.m. at Rule105 Brewing, 4731 W. 10th St., Unit G in Greeley. Musicians of all ages are invited to come down and play for customers. Amps, drums and tambourines will be provided. For more information, contact the brewery at (970) 301-4575.
Thursday, Nov. 11
12. The Lincoln Center is hosting a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "CATS" at 7:30 p.m. at 417 W. Magnolia St., Fort Collins. The production has captivated audiences in over 30 countries and translated into 15 different languages. All ages are welcome to attend the show. Tickets range from $43 per person to $83 per person depending on time and seat choice. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3GFsatD.
Friday, Nov. 12
13. Vintage Market Days of Northern Colorado is presenting Spruced at 4 p.m. at the Island Grove Regional Park, 501 N. 14th Ave. in Greeley. The event will feature vendors from around Colorado and across the U.S. selling vintage and vintage-inspired art, home décor, clothing, jewelry, food and more. Tickets are $16 per person age 13 and older. Children age 12 and younger are fee. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/2ZKvymd.
14. The Greeley Area Chamber is hosting a Young Professionals Kickoff event at 4:30 p.m. at 477 Distilling, 825 9th St., Unit B in Greeley. The free event is open to professionals age 21 to early 40s and will feature meet and greet opportunities and refreshments. Registration is requested and can be done by going to https://bit.ly/2ZP1qq6.
15. Start the weekend right at Night on the Town from 5-9 p.m. in downtown Loveland, 201 E. 4th St. The event will feature opening receptions at art galleries, happy hour specials, restaurant specials, music and shopping. All ages are invited to come support local Loveland businesses. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3bvNnYy.
16. Head up to the Stanley Hotel for BruceFest: The Definitive Bruce Campbell Film Festival at 6:30 p.m. at 333 E. Wonderview Ave., Estes Park. The event will feature screenings of the Evil Dead series with live commentary from Campbell, drinks, hor d'oeuvres and a chance to talk with the actor. The event is open to adults age 18 and older. Event packages run $300, $450 and $600 per person. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3bzmoeK.
17. Live on the Lanes featuring Stillhouse Junkies at 8 p.m. at Chipper's Lanes, 2454 8th Ave., Greeley. The event will include live music, unlimited bowling, shoe rental and lane servers taking orders for food and drinks. All ages are welcome to attend and tickets are $30 per person. For more information, or to purchase tickets, go to https://bit.ly/3w5p0dT.
18. Fans of Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks will enjoy The Petty Nicks Experience at 7 p.m. at The Armory Performing Arts Center, 300 Strong St., Brighton. The band combines the best of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers with Nick's solo hits to bring audience members an amazing experience. All ages are invited to attend the show and tickets range in price from $20-$30 depending on seat choice. For more information, go to https://bit.ly/3bxfGGo.
MyWindsor
Tamara Markard | Go+Do reporter
— Tamara Markard is the Go+Do reporter for the Greeley Tribune, covering things to go and do in Greeley, Evans, Windsor and surrounding Weld County. Reach her at tmarkard@greeleytribune.com, (970) 392-4440, or on Twitter @Tmarkard1.
tmarkard@greeleytribune.com
Follow Tamara Markard @Tmarkard1
Loveland Fire Exhibit explores the history of the city's fire rescue from past to present day
Events taking place at Clearview and High Plains library districts, Loveland Public Library for the week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 2023
Persimmon is Raffi Jergerian's sweet gift to the community


Several companies are developing helicopters that could replace the U.S. Army's aging Black Hawk fleet in the coming decades. One of those futuristic aircrafts, Sikorsky-Boeing's Defiant, took its first test flight two weeks ago.
The Defiant is based on Sikorsky's experimental X2 technology, which holds the record for being the fastest helicopter technology in the world. A demonstration craft reached 435 km/h in 2010, beating the 1986 record of 400 km/h by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
"The Defiant design represents a leap forward in vertical lift technology," says Boeing spokesperson Randy Rotte. "While it can fly at nearly twice the speed and has twice the range of conventional helicopters, it retains the very best, if not better low-speed and hover performance of conventional helicopters." The Black Hawk has a top speed of about 290 km/h and combat range of 580 km.
The craft's unconventional design consists of dual coaxial main rotors—two rigid rotors that spin around the same axis in opposite directions—and a push propeller in the rear. This combination provides unique capabilities. The powertrain distributes engine power between the main rotors and the rear propeller, says Rich Koucheravy, business development director on the Future Vertical Lift program at Sikorsky, which is part of Lockheed Martin. "For example, the allocation of main rotor thrust and prop thrust may be different during a high speed flight and a low speed, high G maneuver," he says. This means the pilot can efficiently operate the aircraft during both conditions.
The large propeller on the tail performs two major functions, Rotte says. "The obvious one is that it pushes the aircraft to speeds during cruise flight that conventional helicopters cannot achieve. The less obvious capability is an additional thrust vector in all modes of flight." The propeller can act as a brake to slow the aircraft down, and pilots can use it to hover either nose-high or nose-low depending on the needs of the mission.
Sikorsky's main rival is Bell Helicopter Textron, whose V-280 Valor helicopter, which took its first test flight in December 2017 and made its public debut in June 2018. Both are competitors for the Army's Future Vertical Lift contract, and are pushing for high speed, capacity, performance, long range, and fuel efficiency.
The V-280 is a tilt-rotor aircraft, only the second such design after the V-22 Osprey built for the military by Bell/Boeing. The design involves rotors that pivot, so that the craft can fly vertically for landing and takeoff or cruise horizontally like an airplane. But while the V-22 Osprey is a complicated, costly beast (price tag $70 million) which tilts its entire turbine engine, Bell says its V-280 is smaller and lighter, making it more maneuverable, and it comes in at $20 million. And it beats the Black Hawk with twice the top speed at 560 km/h; more than twice the combat range at 1480 km; and 30 percent more cargo capacity.
The Defiant was scheduled to conduct its first test flight in 2017, but technical challenges forced the company to push back until late 2018, and then a second delay came in December 2018. "The time it's taken us to get to first flight is really a reflection of how far we are pushing the envelope on developing new and game-changing technology," Rotte says.
These include not just the unconventional design but also the use of advanced manufacturing technologies, which should ultimately help the Army because they will allow fast, low-cost aircraft production. For instance, the company chose to make the blades using Advanced Fiber Placement, a method used to manufacture lightweight, strong composite materials that has been used to make other smaller aircraft parts before. Other manufacturing techniques they are using include digital sand casting and additive manufacturing. "We are also leveraging digital design techniques including virtual reality to reduce manufacturing complexity," he adds.


The lead singer of the band NOTURNALL, THIAGO BIANCHI, participated unexpectedly in the Symphony X concert, this Saturday (7/5) at Tom Brazil, in São Paulo. Invited last minute to attend the show, the Brazilian singer shared the microphone with RUSSELL ALLEN in one of the classic tracks of the band, "SEA OF LIES".
And BIANCHI did not disappoint, on the contrary, was in fact one of the highlights of the show!
RUSSELL and THIAGO shared vocals throughout the song, which can be considered an honor for the Brazilian, as the SYMPHONY X was never invited any special interest for some of their shows throughout the existence of the band, it said on stage by RUSSELL. The singer was shown very happy and excited by the presence of BIANCHI, since the two are good friends, moreover, RUSSELL already declared unconditional fan of the Brazilian voice several times. The two made a joke with the audience where they divided the audience and made the famous dispute of who screams louder. In the end, it seems, the dispute was tied as the two sides sang too high.
"I was very happy, very honored with the invitation! Singing next to my idol and good friend RUSSELL, next to one of the bands that literally changed the course of my life and still at home, was something that actually still can not sum up in words… that typical thing of the kind, record has not fallen! (laughs). Since we started NOTURNALL, "Russ" has been a great friend, great encourager, including in the NOTURNALL, call him "Godfather" because he was largely responsible for the current success of the band. RUSSELL participated in our first CD, first clip, was one of the producers, and flew to Brazil to participate in our first DVD, "FIRST NIGHT LIVE", and was even one of the great enthusiasts behind the North American guitarist entry and also RUSSELL partner in American band ADRENALINE MOB, MIKE ORLANDO, in NOTURNALL. As for the Symphony X concert audience, WOW! What night! I was also very proud, not only as the band received, but also by how they received me! It is very nice to know that you are loved by such a special audience! Thanks São Paulo, Russell and Symphony X, for this magical night! "Said THIAGO BIANCHI.
The NOTURNALL band is in the process of composition and recording new studio album. Still untitled, the new work has guitarist Mike Orlando (ADRENALINE MOB & Stonic Stomp), one of the great guitar revelations in the US, Thiago Bianchi (vocals), Fernando Quesada (bass), Junior Carelli (keyboard), and drummer Aquiles Priester (Hangar, ex-Angra). Mike Orlando had played with Noturnall on cruise Axes & Anchors and Rock in Rio.
In 2016, the musicians have been preparing to released the new studio album, a new tour and DVD. Mike Orlando as an official member of NOTURNALL, the band is proud to announce that it is now also an international group.


Add peppery basil to the citrus notes of lime and mandarin for a Mediterranean feast of scents. This combination of oils provides a get-up-and-go zing - a firm favourite at Calliope!
Reed Diffusers are a simple and decorative way to fragrance the home without smoke or flame.
1. Think about the atmosphere you want to create in your room and match the aroma to this. Scent can be as much a part of a room's environment as a picture or piece of furniture. Choose a reed diffuser with a scent that "feels" like the colours of your room.
2. Reed diffusers work best if they are placed in the centre of a room or away from walls. Place your reed diffuser on a mantel next to a wall and you'll only get half the benefit, because they radiate scent through 360 degrees. Placing reed diffusers on coffee tables or units where they have more air around them allows the diffusion process to work at maximum efficiency.
3. Keep your reed diffusers out of the way of any pets.
While reed diffusers aren't really harmful to pets, pets can be pretty harmful to them: the last thing you want is to come home to find that the cat has strewn the living room floor with scent-impregnated reeds.
It takes about 24 hours for the diffuser to reach maximum effectiveness, so give the reeds a good coating to boost them. The less sticks used in the reed diffuser, the milder the scent; the more sticks placed in the reed diffuser, the stronger the scent. For fragrance diffuser used in a smaller room or by a person with a highly sensitive sense of smell, using only 1 or 2 sticks will suffice to provide the slight hint of aroma desired. A person who delights in the intensity of heady aroma will choose to use 4 or more sticks in the fragrance diffuser.
5. Turn the sticks every few days to get the maximum benefit from your diffuser.
6. The essential oils will probably stain fabrics and carpets so place your reed diffuser somewhere safe where it will not be knocked over.


The government in its budget proposals wishes to promote economic growth and create new jobs which in turn need to be financed so new businesses opportunities need financing.
A leading article in the Financial Times carried the title – Non-banks colonise former bank territory. This refers to the popularity of shadow banking, which is gaining strength at the time when high street banks are licking their wounds from paying heavy fines imposed by regulators for past irregularities. At this stage it helps to define the concept of shadow banking. This is the provision of capital by loans or investments to companies by other companies that are not banks. The article in the FT mentions a number of examples as providers of credit, such as insurance companies, credit investment funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, and broker dealers. So one may well ask what is new in this type of lending.
The major difference is that it is not as yet regulated as a banking function and because of its freedom of operation (and lower costs) some are branding it as a panacea at a time when banks are shrinking their balance sheets and ongoing intensive ECB mandated audits. For adherents of shadow banking they make a case for it to continue its operation unhindered by excessive regulation. It is true that retail banks in Malta can be applauded for supporting industry sectors during the recession, but many are witnessing a change of heart and their rate of lending is slowing as is happening in some European countries. On the other hand banks in the US are better capitalized and much safer today than before the financial crisis, yet notwithstanding shadow banking offers an alternative source to a wide range of businesses and employees, and fills a real gap in the US market.
As the G-20's Financial Stability Board noted in its policy framework last year shadow banking created "competition in financial markets that may lead to innovation, efficient credit allocation and cost reduction." Within Wall Street not many disagree that blaming bankers is quickly turning out to be a favorite national sport yet conservative business leaders yearn for new regulation to muzzle the proliferation of shadow banking. Banks in Europe are lending less in order to comply with Basel III and other regulatory requirements issued this year by the European Central Bank since it took over as a central regulator last month. In addition, European banks are pulling out of emerging or growth markets and trying to lick their wounds due to non-performing loans. At the same time even in Malta there is a pressing need for easy finance at more competitive rates especially to exporters.
The government in its budget proposals wishes to promote economic growth and create new jobs which in turn need to be financed so new businesses opportunities (especially the promotion of Public Private Partnerships) need financing. Banks may be licking their wounds after the results of tough ECB audits which put them under the lens, exposing any slow performing loans in their cupboards. As a matter of priority these need to be refinanced. As banks cannot or will not provide the financing required to emerging industrial users the vacuum was filled by a proliferation of unsecured / unrated corporate bonds that are quickly snapped within 24 hours of issue. Last year one noticed a persistent dialogue between the Governor of the Central Bank and the banking community criticizing the low levels of lending and the relative high rate of interest on loans (particularly to SME's).
The Central Bank governor reminds us that Malta has the fifth highest rate of bank lending interests after Cyprus, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia, while Labour MP Silvio Schembri, who chairs the economic and financial affairs committee, is also of the opinion that interest rates are too high for small and medium enterprises. He promised to table in parliament a study of how SME's are faring under current banking practices. It is no cliche to say that SMEs are fragile and in need of a level playing field when they access credit to expand operations. All this is happening at a time of disinflation and a policy of negative interest on inter-bank deposits by the ECB. All the while local banks marginally pay 0.3% p.a (or nothing) on savings accounts to depositors and this gives a generous profit margin since the top rate charged to industry is higher than that recommended by the ECB.
Still one cannot ever understand the enigma how local banks manage to beat the crisis and consistently report a higher digit growth in pre-tax profits, more than that registered by the economy – although this year the two main banks reported a dip in after tax profits. The Chamber of Commerce has echoed concerns over the declining levels of bank lending yet it stands convinced the decline in demand for commercial credit does not relate solely to exorbitant interest rates but is probably due to business uncertainty (quoting a drop in demand from manufacturing, import and distribution).
It points to problems on competitiveness and loss of markets due to high energy costs even after the proposed 25% electricity tariff cut expected next year and as a consequence production is channelled to lower cost countries.
The Opposition were quick to lament how Eurostat reported a drop in exports. Again one can still hear the battle cry by Central Bank Governor who extols the perils of reduced volume of lending, saying if new credit is not stimulated, the economic forecasts for higher exports would not be reached. With regard to lending volumes, compared to the rest of Europe, the governor says that we do not seem to follow the ECB trends. As can be expected the views of the ex-minister of finance come with a word of caution. Opposition finance spokesman Tonio Fenech said credit growth appeared to be weak and sowed doubt if the forecasts for the 2015 target performance in the budget document could be attained unless there is some improvement in exports. He feared the rally in business is not export-driven but relies more on domestic trade. Acting as a doubting Thomas he remarked that this apparent shrinking in bank lending, coupled with weak retail volumes and weak credit growth, points to uncertainty in attaining the set targets in the Maastricht criteria and the excessive deficit mechanism triggered due to election slippages in 2012/13.
So what is the solution, given that in reality banks are becoming more risk averse? A partial answer can be found by reading an interesting study published in The Economist concerning shadow banking. This article examines the impressive growth of this sector. It was the crisis of 2007-09 that brought the uniqueness of shadow banking under the spotlight; or rather, made a process that had been accepted as a benign force of financial innovation and competition to be considered by some as constituting a political problem. Five years ago Paul McCulley, then of PIMCO, argued that "the growth of the shadow banking system, which operated legally yet entirely outside the regulatory realm "drove one of the biggest lending booms in history, and collapsed into one of the most crushing financial crises we've ever seen".
After McCulley first coined the term, it became clear that "shadow banking" was both a stroke of genius and an unfortunate choice of words. Unfortunate, because confusingly the term "shadow" banking resonates with "shady" or underground economic activity.
Taking a leaf from a recent Economist report one comes across the following extract "in most countries, only banks can hold deposits guaranteed by the state, and only banks have a standing offer of credit from the central bank. With these privileges come lots of rules and restrictions. That is because banks, although essential to the smooth operation of an economy, are vulnerable to runs, which in turn can cause contagion leading to recessions. Banks have since had their room for maneuver – particularly in lucrative investment divisions – severely restricted to make them safer.
"New accounting rules and Basel 111 have made it much harder for them to hide suspect assets in off-balance-sheet vehicles. In effect, lending by banks must be labelled as such…". All this does not mean that the uniqueness of this innovative vehicle will push traditional banks out of business; only that their relative weight in the financial system may start to diminish as other credit institutions proliferate and grow.
To conclude, the shadow banking system in other countries has so far escaped regulation primarily due to the fact it does not accept traditional bank deposits and this "light touch regulation" lowered costs, enabling it to give better lending terms to SMEs. It is true shadow banking may be too innovative to catch up in Malta but as an immediate solution there is a pressing need to introduce a development bank to facilitate more bank lending at competitive interest rates. Only thus can the seeds sown by the budget germinate and grow to bolster the economy and boost job creation.


The secret to happiness lies in making others happy.
And it need not be a beloved one, to work.
Tip one: Go for the bronze. The glow of happiness Camus refers to is the Olympic Gold Medal of Kindness. Not always obtainable. Going for the Bronze Medal is more realistic.
Tip two: Start with small steps directed at strangers. BWhen I walked the mean streets of New York City, I always looked for something I could compliment when passing by the strangers. Usually, it was a scarf a woman wore, sometimes the dog someone was walking, and sometimes it was just a "Looking great" thrown at a man or woman who had obviously taken time to look their best. Their surprized and happy looks made me happy.
Tip three: Enjoy the journey. Even going for Olympic Bronze Medal of Kindness takes time and practice. Concentrating on the journey promises more.
Make three strangers smile at a compliment you pass their way.
As soon as your child starts talking, teach the power of kindness.
This post was inspired by two things: the Camus quote and then this one word prompt "Secret" found here. Word Press Daily Prompt It seems for 2016, many of the Daily Prompts will be to write a post in response to one word. I like that idea.
PS. As my next eBook Defang Fear in All Its Many Disguises is not yet ready to be published, my eBook Cross Train Your Brain with 12 Easy Emotional Exercises will stay free for now. Go to the sidebar to download a PDF file.


I eagerly await the night time. I welcome those heavy cloud-palms which hide me from the sun, the shining eye of the cyclops-god. There's no anxiety or misery in my dreams. Or at least I do not actually sense any anxiety. There are deaths and flights, seas, pursuits and love. Several times a day I try to do one of DEREVO's exercises; sitting still on a bench with half-shut eyes, trying to remember pictures from my dreams and project them onto the reality of my daytime existence. I'm on a ship. People. There are many of them. Running from one side of the deck to the other. The schooner is pitching. I recall the names of the ships in my dream. Caravel, Frigate, Clipper, Junk. I murmur in my sleep, "Junk, Junk". I jump overboard. An overgrown shore. I'm saved and checking for injuries. An agitated groin. I'm threading my way to the shore through the wet sedge. A long and lonely life lies ahead. Happiness. At the water's edge there is a rubber ball rotting in the water. It's neither big nor small. A small mark on the upper side. A little bit out of shape, but it still causes a smile. I want to kick it but I can't. My long dress is clinging to my legs. They call me to dinner. They call me Robert. I'm arrogant and apparently wealthy. After dinner a doctor comes. I know he's lying when he tells me that I'll die, but I want him to. He asks me to undress. I refuse. I can sense where the boundary lies between the silk reality of my dress and the world of the dream. There is silence in the castle. "ROBERT'S DREAM" was premiered in Dresden. And within a week of arriving in St Petersburg we already know that we'll change everything in it. We were happy to receive a note from a great musician. Please find some time (there is enough of it for all of us) and listen to his music. "Rock Bottom" for instance.
from "Süd. Grenze" (en / de / ru), a white-and-black film by DEREVO © 2001.


text:
Louisiana governor plans cuts to education, health care
Tom Hall
Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal has proposed deep budget cuts to education and health care for the poor. Thousands of residents will see needed services decimated, and hundreds of public sector workers stand to lose their jobs.
The Louisiana budget is prepared by October 1 each year and is followed by a series of public hearings in the legislature. Jindal will formally announce his budget proposal March 11. While pledging not to increase taxes on business, the governor is targeting higher education and health care—two areas of state funding that are relied upon by the working class and poor but neither of which are constitutionally mandated.
Louisiana is already home of some of the nation's most extreme poverty and social distress; among a multitude of indices—education expenditures, food stamp participation, extreme poverty, life expectancy, homelessness, infant mortality—the state ranks near or at the bottom. As in the rest of the country, however, the state's political establishment is preparing to exacerbate the situation by forcing workers and students to shoulder the burden of the state's $1.6 billion deficit.
Speaking before a conference of university administrators in early February, the governor outlined cuts to the state's already ailing higher education system. Jindal boasted that, thanks to cost-cutting in other sections of the state budget, higher education funding would "only" be slashed by 10 percent.
This proposed cut comes atop the $350 million already slashed from the higher education budget over the last two years. The Louisiana State University system has borne the brunt of the cuts. In October, the state's Board of Regents abruptly cut spending by $35 million, eliminating 109 jobs. Louisiana already ranks last out of 16 southern states in public funding for higher education.
The governor has declared his commitment to "a laser-like focus on outcomes." This means, in practice, an endorsement of a recent report by the Board of Regents recommending that state schools cut over 450 "underperforming" degree programs. Programs that do not stress vocational skills and result in immediate entry into the workforce, such as the arts and humanities, foreign languages, theoretical mathematics and physics in particular, are being singled out for elimination. An earlier report had resulted in nearly 250 programs receiving the axe, but, as the New Orleans Times-Picayune noted ominously, "Regents officials said the latest effort will be more stringent."
"This is the kind of streamlining and focusing on excellence that we need in Louisiana, in good budget years and bad," Jindal stated. The governor has also demanded that the five boards that currently oversee the state's public university systems be "streamlined" into a single board. Speaking before a meeting of the university boards, Jindal contemptuously declared that the gathering was "a great physical example of why we need to change the governance system."
Especially concerning for students and workers were the governor's remarks on tuition and "human resources." Jindal demanded, in effect, an average increase in tuition of around $200 per semester for community college students, under what he referred to as a tuition "update." He has also thrown his weight behind de-indexing the state's "operational fee," which is added to the tuition bill to cover "mandated costs," from 2004 tuition levels, tying it instead to current tuition levels, which, according to the Times-Picayune, can legally rise by as much as 10 percent a year. Furthermore, under the guise of discouraging "excessive class-dropping," Jindal argued in favor of raising the cap on per-credit hour tuition from the current 12 credit hours to 15.
The governor has also pledged to work assiduously to destroy the living standards of education workers across the board, which he has euphemized as "reducing red tape," for allowing universities a greater degree of "flexibility" with regards to their workforce, while "maximizing performance" and increasing "autonomies" from the Civil Service to "help schools manage the role, scope and mission of their workforce." While Jindal has yet to provide details, the implications of his statements are unmistakable.
Jindal has earned the ire of thousands of New Orleans residents by suggesting that the University of New Orleans (UNO) merge with Southern University at New Orleans (SUNO), the latter being a historically black college. Graduation rates for both schools are abysmal, with UNO registering a six-year graduation rate of only 21 percent, while SUNO graduates the lowest percentage of students of any historically black college, at only 8 percent. By comparison, the six-year graduation rate of LSU is over 50 percent.
Having been increasingly starved of funds for years (SUNO has buildings that have not been usable since Hurricane Katrina), the governor is essentially attempting to scapegoat them so that he can squeeze even more money out of the institutions by merging them. The State's Board of Regents determined in 2006, when the issue was unsuccessfully pushed through the state legislature, that the two schools serve distinct missions and that both should stay open. If the current push to merge the schools succeeds, it will be because of the markedly different fiscal climate surrounding the issue in 2011.
Public K-12 education in Louisiana is shockingly threadbare, where state laws governing minimum standard did not even require that poor children be fed until last November, when the state legislature ordered that they be given at least a snack. Although the state was awarded stimulus money to the tune of $147 million under the EduJobs program, intended to help states pay for teachers' salaries and benefits, the Jindal administration redirected half of the money to higher education. "Essentially what they did was say that we got this grant money then take money out of our MFP (Minimum Foundation Program) to the tune of whatever that grant award was," Frank Rougeau, the Bossier School Board's director of finance told the Shreveport Times.
Heath care is also being targeted for cuts. Dating back to the Depression era and the reformist administration of populist Huey Long, Louisiana has had a state-run Charity Hospital system that provides medical services to the state's most destitute, free of charge. Like the most basic social programs throughout the country, that legacy is now under serious threat.
Lafayette's Daily Advertiser reported recently on a speech given by John Matessino, president and CEO of the Louisiana Hospital Association, in which he argued that the Charity Hospital system is a major burden to the state's budget. Matessino lamented "those cultural behaviors that have literally gone on for generations," like the fact that "it's been ingrained going back to Huey Long that the uninsured in this state always had the charity hospitals as a backstop."
Far from being an isolated, reactionary rant, Matessino voiced the official policy of the state's ruling elite. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the still serviceable Charity Hospital of New Orleans—the primary source of medical care for thousands of uninsured residents and one of the largest hospitals in the country—was permanently shuttered. In addition to serving the poor, the hospital was integral to education and research programs for Tulane and Louisiana State universities. The New Orleans health care system has struggled under the crush of indigent patients for the past five years.
Medicaid reimbursements have been slashed three times in the past year and a half for a total of 10 percent. The CommunityCARE program halved its base payments to doctors, which has been replaced partially by an incentives-based regime. One of the incentives, according to American Medical News, "involves reducing nonessential emergency department visits." In all, 1.16 million Louisiana residents, or one quarter of the state's population, are enrolled in Medicaid.
Behind the calls for "fiscal responsibility" lies a long-pursued agenda. As with every year since 2008, when Louisiana pitched into a billion-dollar shortfall with the onset of the economic crisis, the current budget deficit is being utilized as an occasion to strip away essential public programs, cut services, and privatize oversight. Since 2007, the Jindal administration has pushed for "coordinated care networks" consisting of private, for-profit insurance companies to manage Medicaid reimbursements and case reviews.
Under the current version of the proposal, likely to pass this year, Medicaid recipients would be shifted away from the state and federal jointly funded program into private insurance plans, and 830,000 cases, mainly children, would be managed by private firms. Doctors and health care advocates have warned that Jindal's proposal would omit some 27 percent of the Medicaid population, including the elderly and disabled, who represent a greater cost for the program.
The calls for education and health care cuts are only the opening shots of an extended austerity program. While details have yet to be announced, in August 2010, state Senate President Joel Chaisson indicated that the administration had already required all state agencies to submit budget proposals with 35 percent reductions for fiscal year 2012.
Louisiana college students protest budget cuts in Baton Rouge
AmericasNorth AmericaUnited StatesWorld News


Lectrifi says that wireless charging will almost certainly be rolled out in lower to mid-range smartphone models.
HONG KONG, April 12, 2018 /24-7PressRelease/ — Hong Kong-based wireless power transfer (WPT) technology company, Lectrifi Limited says it believes that wireless charging is "almost certainly" destined to be rolled out as a feature in devices further down the top smartphone manufacturers' product line-ups within the next few years.
Currently, the two top manufacturers, Samsung and Apple, support wireless charging in their flagship models, the Galaxy S9 and the two iPhone models, 8 & X respectively but, in order to recoup the investment they have made in wireless charging technology, both will need to incorporate the feature in lesser models.
However, Lectrifi believes that, if manufacturers want consumers to embrace the technology in the same way they've welcomed other developments like biometrics, they will need to improve the speed with which devices can be charged to the point where it at least equals that of conventional, wired charging methods.
"At the moment, wireless charging just isn't as fast as wired but, together with our smartphone manufacturer partner, we're working on a solution that can overcome conductivity limitations using a combination of more wattage, dual and triple charging coils and optimal placement of the device's charging hardware," explained Lectrifi's Chief Technology Officer.
The adoption of wireless charging by Samsung and Apple may sound the death knell for aluminum in smartphone production since the metal obstructs electro-magnetic transfers.
"The solution we're working on with our partner aims to be able to fully charge a depleted 2716 mAh battery, such as that within an iPhone X, in an hour without adversely affecting its integrity or lifetime," concluded the CTO.


text:
Q: CodenameOne Floating Action Button binding error My CodenameOne app has a master/detail layout with special size constraints.
Also a "plus" button is present to allow creation of new items.
In the main form:
FloatingActionButton fab=FloatingActionButton.createFAB(FontImage.MATERIAL_ADD);
...

if(isTablet() && !isPortrait())
    {
        mainForm.add(tl.createConstraint().heightPercentage(100).widthPercentage((int)(leftContainerRatio*100)),masterContainer)
                .add( mainEditingContainer);
        fab.bindFabToContainer(masterContainer); //error here
    } else {
        mainForm.add(masterContainer);
        fab.bindFabToContainer(masterContainer);
    }

When running it I get:
 java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Component is already contained in Container: Container[x=0 y=20 width=2048 height=1514 name=null, layout = TableLayout, scrollableX = false, scrollableY = false, components = [masterContainer, Container]]
at com.codename1.ui.Container.insertComponentAtImpl(Container.java:927)
at com.codename1.ui.Container.insertComponentAt(Container.java:918)
at com.codename1.ui.Container.addComponent(Container.java:840)
at com.codename1.ui.Container.encloseIn(Container.java:250)
at com.codename1.ui.layouts.LayeredLayout.encloseIn(LayeredLayout.java:1099)
at com.codename1.components.FloatingActionButton.bindFabToContainer(FloatingActionButton.java:314)
at com.codename1.components.FloatingActionButton.bindFabToContainer(FloatingActionButton.java:286)
at com.myapp.app.MyApp.start(MyApp.java:186)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:62)
at java.base/jdk.internal.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
at java.base/java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:566)
at com.codename1.impl.javase.Executor$3$1.run(Executor.java:258)
at com.codename1.ui.Display.processSerialCalls(Display.java:1331)
at com.codename1.ui.Display.mainEDTLoop(Display.java:1125)
at com.codename1.ui.RunnableWrapper.run(RunnableWrapper.java:120)
at com.codename1.impl.CodenameOneThread.run(CodenameOneThread.java:176)

but nowhere the FAB is added or bound, other where shown in code snippet.
If the bind method is removed no button appears.
(The app is running in the simulator)
What is the problem?

A: See this to understand what happened: How can I reposition the Floating Button in Codenameone?
The gist of it is that when you use FloatingActionButton on a non-form container you need to add its result. Since the container you gave is now wrapped.
So your code should be:
if(isTablet() && !isPortrait()) {
   mainForm.add(tl.cc().hp(100).wp((int)(leftContainerRatio*100)),
                        fab.bindFabToContainer(MasterContainer))
           .add( mainEditingContainer);
} else {
    mainForm.add(fab.bindFabToContainer(MasterContainer));
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


With the number of hikes left to do in the park reaching single digits, I was yet to really explore the heart of Cataloochee. That was to change today with two hikes, the first around the Boogerman Loop, and the second up and back Palmer Creek.
The drive from Gatlinburg to the southern entrance to Cataloochee is an interesting one...through the city, then the countryside, then over the Foothills Parkway, then winding through narrow gorges at high speeds on I-40, then up and over the Cataloochee Divide on narrow, unpaved, windy roads.
View of the ridges that surround Cataloochee from an overlook on the way in.
One of a great number of footbridges along Caldwell Fork, though this one has seen better days. It required a leap and bear hug to make it across without getting wet.
The upper reaches of the Boogerman Trail take one through some old growth forest dominated by massive Tulip Poplars. This one was unique because of its hollowed out interior, large enough to house a few people.
The higher part of Palmer Creek Trail follows the ridgeline through a Rosebay Rhododendron tunnel, in which the blooms blanketed the floor.
Upon reaching trail's end atop Balsam Mountain Road, a backhoe was just finishing some road maintenance by smoothing out surfaces.
I was finished with hiking, but I still had plenty of sights to see along the roads that cut through the heart of Cataloochee. Here's looking across the field toward the Caldwell Barn.
Fortunately, I was able to at least see one Bull Elk before leaving the valley, this guy hanging out in the yard of Palmer Place.


text:
Supreme Court Ends Texas' Grip On Patent Cases
By Daniel Nazer
Today the Supreme Court issued a decision that will have a massive impact on patent troll litigation. In TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods, the court ruled that patent owners can sue corporate defendants only in districts where the defendant is incorporated or has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business. This means that patent trolls can no longer drag companies to distant and inconvenient forums that favor patent owners but have little connection to the dispute. Most significantly, it will be much harder for trolls to sue in the Eastern District of Texas.
For more than ten years, patent troll litigation has clustered in the Eastern District of Texas (EDTX). Patent trolls began to flock there when a judge created local patent rules that were perceived as friendly to patent owners. The court required discovery to start almost right away and did very little to limit costs (which were borne much more heavily by operating companies because they have more documents). Cases also tended not to be decided by summary judgment and went to trial more quickly.
These changes led to a stunning rise in patent trolling in EDTX. In 1999, only 14 patent cases were filed in the district. By 2003, the number of filings had grown to 55. By 2015, it had exploded to over 2500 patent suits, mostly filed by trolls. Patent litigation grew so much in EDTX that it became part of the local economy. In addition to providing work for the local lawyers, it generated business for the hotels, restaurants, and printers in towns like Marshall and Tyler.
Although the TC Heartland case will have a big impact on EDTX, the case involved a suit filed in the District of Delaware and the legal question was one of statutory interpretation. Prior to 1990, the Supreme Court had held that in patent cases, the statute found at 28 U.S.C. § 1400 controlled where a patent case could be filed. However, in 1990 in a case called VE Holding, the Federal Circuit held that a small technical amendment to another venue statute—28 U.S.C. § 1391—effectively overruled that line of cases. VE Holding meant that companies that sold products nationwide can be sued in any federal court in the country on charges of patent infringement, regardless of how tenuous the connection to that court. Today's decision overrules VE Holding and restores venue law to how it was: corporate patent defendants can only be sued where they are incorporated or where they allegedly infringe the patent and have a regular and established place of business.
Together with Public Knowledge, we filed an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to hear this case, and once it did, another brief urging it to overrule VE Holding. We explained that venue law is concerned with fairness and that forum shopping in patent cases has had very unfair results, especially in EDTX. While the Supreme Court reached the result we hoped for, the court did not discuss these policy issues (it also showed little interest in the policy debate during the oral argument in the case). The court approached the case as a pure question of statutory interpretation and ruled 8-0 that the more specific statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1400, controls where a patent case can be filed.
While today's decision is a big blow for patent trolls, it is not a panacea. Patent trolls with weak cases can, of course, still file elsewhere. The ruling will likely lead to a big growth in patent litigation in the District of Delaware where many companies are incorporated. And it does not address the root cause of patent trolling: the thousands of overbroad and vague software patents that the Patent Office issues every year. We will still need to fight for broader patent reform and defend good decisions like the Supreme Court's 2014 ruling in Alice v CLS Bank.
Patent Trolls
TC Heartland v. Kraft Foods
Time to Save Alice: 2019 Year in Review
All too often, software patents stop more innovation than they promote. Patents are legal instruments that can be used to sue people and companies for creating, selling, or using software. Very often, the entities wielding software patents are "patent trolls"—companies that make money off suing and threatening to sue others...
Deeplinks Blog by Alex Moss | December 20, 2019
Seizing Products for Design Patent Owners Isn't CBP's Job
Uh oh, Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) have teamed up again to introduce legislation that would promote the interests of patent owners at the public's expense. This is the same duo that earlier this year sought to dismantle the protections against patents on human genes...
Deeplinks Blog by Joe Mullin | November 12, 2019
Alice Doesn't Block Good Patents, It Protects the Public By Requiring Real Invention
Leaders of the Senate IP Subcommittee have been working, for nearly a year now, on producing some kind of legislation to weaken Section 101 of the Patent Act. Their proposal would throw out all the case law based on Section 101, including the Alice decision, which has been especially critical...
Deeplinks Blog by Alex Moss, Elliot Harmon | October 29, 2019
Inventergy Backs Away from Nuisance Lawsuit over GPS Patent
EasyTracGPS is a family-owned business that provides GPS tracking solutions to commercial shipping fleets. Recently, EasyTracGPS faced a litigation threat from Inventergy LBS, LLC, which accused it of infringing U.S. Patent No. 8,760,286. That patent supposedly claims a "[s]ystem and method for communication with a tracking device," but like...
Deeplinks Blog by Joe Mullin | September 13, 2019
Don't Let Congress Hand Patent Abusers Their Ultimate Wishlist
Congress is considering a bill that would throw out the best defenses against bad patents. The Senate IP Subcommittee recently had a hearing about the Stronger Patents Act, a batch of recurring terrible ideas that has been introduced by Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) for the third time in three years...
Deeplinks Blog by Elliot Harmon | July 31, 2019
Someone Is Suing Companies for Using SMS Messages in 2019
Anuwave's Suit Against Coinbase Demonstrates a Longstanding Flaw in the Patent System This month's Stupid Patent of the Month deals with SMS (short messaging service), a technology that goes back to the mid-1980s. Modern-day SMS messages, typically bundled with mobile phone services, have been around since 1992, but...
Deeplinks Blog by Katharine Trendacosta, Jason Kelley | July 29, 2019
Congress Is Home For the Summer and Ready to Hear From You
When it comes to politics, in-person meetings make a huge difference. Just a few questions from constituents during town halls can show a representative or senator which issues are resonating with the residents of their district or state. Even if you've never met an elected representative before, showing up IRL...
Deeplinks Blog by Alex Moss, Joe Mullin | July 10, 2019
Don't Be Scared: European and Chinese Software Patents Won't Hurt U.S. Businesses
A Senate subcommittee recently concluded three days of testimony about a proposed patent bill that, we have explained, would be a terrible idea. Proponents of the bill keep saying that Section 101 of U.S. patent law, which bars patents on things like abstract ideas and laws of nature, needs...
Press Release | June 4, 2019
Hearing Today: EFF Staff Attorney Alex Moss Will Testify About Proposed Changes to Patent Law That Will Benefit Trolls, Foster Bad Patents
Washington D.C.—EFF Staff Attorney Alex Moss will tell U.S. lawmakers today that proposed changes to Section 101 of the U.S. Patent Act—the section that defines, and limits, what can get a patent—will upend years of case law that ensures only true inventions, not basic practices or rudimentary ideas, should...


text:
CLAUDE MCNAIR (57)
In August of 1920, Claude McNair came into this world and his first home was on a ranch in York, Arizona. York, Arizona is somewhere between Clifton and Duncan across from Apache Grove. Claude said he started cowboying at age three and he's been riding ever since. Even now he still rides 2 to 3 days a week. He has always had an interest in livestock.
When Claude was 8, his dad bought the T-Rail Ranch in Aravaipa Canyon and drove his cattle from the Apache Grove Ranch to Aravaipa. For over 40 years Claude lived and worked on the ranch in the canyon. Claude took over the ranch when his dad passed away.
In those early days, Claude helped to drive the Klondike cattle to the Willcox stockyards to ship. It was very exciting to be a part of this drive. It made you feel something special, with a years work in front of you. It was a 5 day trip to town driving cattle and 2 days to take the horses back to the ranch.
All of the ranchers in the Aravaipa Canyon always worked together to help each other ship their cattle. That cattle drive to Willcox included cattle from everybody that wanted to ship. It didn't matter if you had 2 head or 200 head.
If you lived in the Aravaipa Canyon you didn't come to town very often. When you did you bought only the basics like coffee, flour, or sugar. You were self-sufficient. You gardened, canned, and had beef and hogs. It was a close-knit group of people making a living in Aravaipa Canyon. People watched out for each other, always ready to be a good neighbor.
Claude went to school in Klondike until the eight grade. His dad gave him the choice to go on to school or go to work. Claude went to work.
Claude liked to trade horses and he conned his dad out of $250 (which was a lot of money back then) and started trading. "My dad's advice was, I could trade two horses for one, but not to trade one horse for two because that is just another mouth to feed. I traded horses till I ran out of money, then I'd put some more money together and start trading again," said Claude.
Whether catching wild horses around Reddington or chasing wild cattle on Turn Bull Mountain near Ft. Thomas, Claude knew about 90% of this wild cow business is luck.
After 43 years at the T-Rail Ranch, Claude traded the T-Rail for the Ten Ranch, which is just around the corner of the mountain on the way to Safford.
In 1972 he moved to the Ten Ranch and is still on it. He took in his kids as partners and the family is still active in ranching, keeping up the tradition. Claude has served 30 years on the Board of Directors for the Cochise-Graham Cattle Growers Association, 20 years on the Klondike School Board, and 20 years on the Election Board.
Claude also served on the Eastern Arizona Junior College Governing Board. "I would bet Claude has been the only junior college director with only an eight grade education," said narrator Eddie Browning.
During the lean years Claude was a deputy sheriff and drove an ore truck at night for the Athletic Mining Company.
Claude said, "The kids' mother passed away in 1984 and it was a few years later that I married Henrietta, a Klondike girl that I had known all my life." Together they formed the CNH Cattle Company to do business - CNH, Claude and Henrietta.
When asked what is so special about the cowboy life, Claude said, "It is the best there is! Lots of excitement and lots of hard work. A ranch is the best place you can find to raise a kid. Room to roam and room to grow.
I'll never retire because when I do - I'll die."


text:
Q: Does capitalization matter in MySQL? I can't find a reference about which part of a MySQL query is case sensitive.
Is there an overview of where capitalization matters?
Specifically, are any of these case sensitive:

*

*database name

*table name

*column name

Is it tied to the OS? Configurable? Or some other combination of factors?

A:
In MySQL, databases correspond to directories within the data directory. Each table within a database corresponds to at least one file within the database directory (and possibly more, depending on the storage engine). Consequently, the case sensitivity of the underlying operating system plays a part in the case sensitivity of database and table names. This means database and table names are not case sensitive in Windows, and case sensitive in most varieties of Unix.

.

The lower_case_table_names system variable also affects how the server handles identifier case sensitivity

You can read more about the topic here.

A: It depends on the collation. For example if your table has unicode_general_ci, it'll support general unicode character recognizing algorithm and it'll be case-*in*sensitive.


All Horizons is based on a selection of 150 photographs taken by 127 individuals under a Creative Commons license. I was interested in selecting material that made the horizon the subject of the image. The photographs are ordered serially to form a narrative describing a single, archetypal gesture--told through the lenses of independent agents, brought together by means of a single, external objective and curatorial intent. By treating the horizon as a constant, the work comments on the universally shared perception and experience of space, across cultures and locations, and reflects on how our individual experience at all times is part of a larger continuum.


Zoë Beyers was born in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Since her solo debut aged eleven with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Paavo Järvi, she has performed with many distinguished conductors throughout Europe and Africa. Recent highlights include Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' A Spell for Green Corn and the Britten concerto with the BSO under Michael Seal. Forthcoming projects include the Korngold concerto with the Norwich Philharmonic and Prokofiev's 2nd concerto with the Corinthian Chamber Orchestra.
Zoë is a member of the Hebrides Ensemble and also performs, broadcasts and records with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the Scottish Ensemble, collaborating with, amongst others, Francois Leleux, Stephen Osborne, Lars Vogt, Elisabeth Leonskaja and Alexander Janiczek, and the composers Helen Grime and Oliver Knussen. As a soloist/director, Zoë's 2011 recording of early Mendelssohn concerti with the University of Stellenbosch Camerata was nominated for a SAMA award. Her 2013 recording of Wassenaer concerti armonici (directing the Innovation Chamber Ensemble for Somm Records) was Classic FM's CD of the week, and their 2014 disc of rare Elgar works was received with critical acclaim.
In September 2009 Zoë became the Associate Leader of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She frequently performs with the CBSO as soloist and chamber musician. Zoë is greatly in demand as a guest leader, working with the Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic (also as a soloist/director), BBC Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, Musikkollegium Winterthur and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. She has recently been appointed Leader of the English Symphony Orchestra.


Mr Gasket Utility Jugs are made with thick high quality polyethylene & include a heavy duty cap & filler hose. They feature a main handle and bottom grip pocket for easy pouring. The heavy duty cap is made from thick plastic and features a rubber seal & removable plug that allows the Jug to be used with or without the filler hose. The square shape takes up less room (only 10.25" x 10.25" x 21.5" Tall). 5 Gallon Capacity. Includes: Individually boxed utility jug w/ cap, vent cap & filler hose.


Please scroll down to read the ten finalists in our Pitch + 250 contests. All of these finalists are currently being read by our panel of five agents, and we'll be announcing the winners soon.
Jan and I want to congratulate everyone who made this round, but also everyone who entered the contest, or any contest. Putting our work out there is hard. And sometimes, when you think you can't take another rejection, another blank page you can't see past, another time when someone didn't appreciate your work, the big break-through you've been waiting for is just around the corner.
I'm over at the Querytracker Blog today, posting on just that. You've heard of the monomyth theory? The steps of the heroic journey behind every story as explained by Campbell and Vogler? Well, those same steps apply to every writer. Stop by and see where you are on your own personal path to success.


text:
Q: Calculate the continued fraction of square root I was having difficulty understanding the algorithm to calculate Continued fraction expansion of square root.
I know the process is about extracting the integer part in repeat and maintaining the quadratic irrational $\frac{m_n + \sqrt{S}}{d_n}$. But I don't understand the equation:
$d_{n+1} = \frac{S - m_{n+1}^2}{d_n}$
Why $S - m_{n+1}^2$ is dividable by $d_n$?
This case for example:
$$\ \dfrac {1-\sqrt{5}}2=-1+\dfrac {3-\sqrt{5}}2$$
$$\frac 1{\dfrac {3-\sqrt{5}}2}=\frac 2{3-\sqrt{5}}=\frac {2(3+\sqrt{5})}{(3-\sqrt{5})(3+\sqrt{5})}=\frac {2(3+\sqrt{5})}{9-5}=\frac {3+\sqrt{5}}{2}=2+\frac {\sqrt{5}-1}{2}$$
If $S - m_{n+1}^2$ is not dividable by $d_n$, in the step $\frac {2(3+\sqrt{5})}{9-5}=\frac {3+\sqrt{5}}{2}$, it may result in some result like $\frac{3 + 3\sqrt{5}}{2}$ and break the algorithm. So why won't this happened?

A: At the start we have (for $m=0$ and $d=1$) :
$$\sqrt{S}=\frac{\sqrt{S}+m}d=a+\frac{\sqrt{S}+m-da}d$$
(with $a,\ m$ and $d$ are integers)
Suppose that $\ d$ divides $(S-m^2)\ $  (this is true for $d=1$ of course).
The fractional part $\displaystyle \frac{\sqrt{S}+m-da}d$ becomes :
$$\frac{\sqrt{S}-da+m}d=\frac{S-(da-m)^2}{d\bigl(\sqrt{S}+da-m\bigr)}$$
The numerator $\ S-(da-m)^2=(S-m^2)+da(2m-da)$ will be divisible by $d$ (from our hypothesis).
If we note $\ m':=da-m\ $ then the numerator divided by $d$ becomes $\ d':=\dfrac{S-(da-m)^2}d=\dfrac{S-m'^2}d$
and the next term to examine will be :
$$\frac{\sqrt{S}+da-m}{\frac{S-(da-m)^2}d}=\frac{\sqrt{S}+m'}{d'}$$
But the conditions are the same as at the start :
$\ d'$ divides $(S-m'^2)\ $ (the fraction is the previous $d$ !) and we may continue our rewriting :
$$\frac{\sqrt{S}+m'}{d'}=a'+\frac{\sqrt{S}+m'-d'a'}{d'}$$
This recurrence shows that these conditions will hold at each iteration.
(To be complete let's add that at each step $\ a:=\left\lfloor\dfrac{\sqrt{S}+m}d\right\rfloor$)


Photo by Linda Comins Celebrating the Kiwanis Club of Wheeling's 100th anniversary Thursday are, from left, Corey Albers, vice president; Tammy Kruse, immediate past president; Mayor Glenn Elliott; Alex Coogan, president; Delegate Erikka Storch, R-Ohio; and Eric Fithyan, lieutenant governor.
Continuing a mission to serve children in the community, the Kiwanis Club of Wheeling celebrated its 100th anniversary Thursday and installed officers for the coming year.
As part of the celebration, Mayor Glenn Elliott delivered a proclamation declaring Thursday as Kiwanis Club Day in the city. Delegate Erikka Storch, R-Ohio, read a citation honoring the club that she and Delegate Shawn Fluharty, D-Ohio, introduced in the West Virginia House of Delegates.
The club held a luncheon at WesBanco Arena to mark the milestone. Guests included members of the Wheeling Lions Club, Rotary Club of Wheeling and from Kiwanis clubs in Wellsburg and Weirton.
Nathaniel Kyle, past district governor of Kiwanis, said that reaching a 100th anniversary is "quite a feat." He said only three centennial clubs exist in West Virginia.
Kyle said Kiwanis has experienced a turnaround, going from 698 members statewide last year to 765 as of Oct. 1. In addition, he said five new clubs have been formed in the district.
Eric Fithyan, Kiwanis lieutenant governor from Wellsburg, challenged the club to increase its membership from 60 to 100 by next October. Offering encouragement, he said the Wellsburg club doubled its membership from 15 to 30 last year.
Fithyan installed the Wheeling club's officers for 2918-19: Alex Coogan, president; Corey Albers, vice president; Tammy Kruse, immediate past president; Jan Shelburne, secretary; and Janet Roset, treasurer. Also installed were board members Michelle Dougherty, David Ellwood, Wilkes Kinney, Mike Taylor, Chris Wilson, Nick Kadylak, Tim Reed and Lisa Schmitt.
He also expressed willingness to work on joint projects with other service clubs in the city.
Coogan, who became a Kiwanis member 10 years ago, recalled that his job required him to join a service club.
"I'm so glad I was forced to do so because I do not know where I would be without this club," he said.
He said the club's Fresh Air Farm, on 39 acres of wooded land in Ohio County, is available for use, free of charge, by nonprofit organizations to operate camps for children. The facilities are used for several summer camps.
Kruse, the outgoing president, cited the many projects undertaken by Kiwanis and the resulting impact on lives in the community. For instance, she said members pack food bags for weekend backpacks given to Madison Elementary School students; provide bags of toys to the Salvation Army at Christmas; present special youth awards to Ohio County students; and give four scholarships annually.
She said the club also assists with programs at Laughlin Memorial Chapel, Youth Services System, the House of the Carpenter, Special Olympics at Wheeling Jesuit University and coordinates Sunday free lunches served at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. The club is the sponsor of Key Club chapters at Wheeling Park High School, Wheeling Central Catholic High School and The Linsly School.
The Kiwanis Club of Wheeling donated the Mingo Indian statue, atop Wheeling Hill, to the city in 1928. The club spearheaded the statue's restoration in 2011 and continues to perform maintenance on the landmark.
The Wheeling club, formed Sept. 24, 1918, was the first club in the West Virginia district. The next two clubs were Charleston and Huntington, both established in 1919.


BEIJING: China's auto sales growth decelerated to 5.1 percent in January and February as demand for lower-priced domestic brand SUVs soared but sedan purchases contracted, an industry group reported Thursday.
Sales of sedans, SUVs and minivans in the biggest auto market by number of vehicles sold totaled 3.6 million in the two-month period, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.
Sales for the first two months are reported together to factor out the impact of the Lunar New Year holiday, a two-week slowdown that occurs at different times during that period each year.
SUV sales soared 54.8 percent in January and February from a year earlier while sedan sales fell 12.5 percent, according to the CAAM. Chinese brands accounted for 60 percent of the SUV market.
Total vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, rose 4.4 percent to 4.1 million in January and February.
Auto sales suffered an unexpectedly sharp contraction from June through August, rattling a global industry that is counting on China to drive revenue. Demand rebounded in September after Beijing cut sales taxes on vehicles with smaller engines.
China's auto market has been cooling since growth peaked at 45 percent in 2009.
In December, half the vehicles in Beijing were ordered off the road on alternate days after the Chinese capital's air pollution spiked to dangerous levels.
In January, auto sales rose 9.3 percent and total vehicle sales gained 7.1 percent, according to the CAAM. February auto sales contracted by 1.5 percent to 1.4 million while total vehicle sales declined 0.9 percent to 1.6 million.
Sales by China's lower-priced domestic brands grew at more than double the market's overall pace, rising 12.6 percent in the first two months of the year to 1.7 million vehicles.
Sales of Chinese-brand sedans fell 21.2 percent to 362,000 but SUV sales soared 64.1 percent to 763,000.
China's total auto sales last year were 21.1 million units.