On behalf of over 24,000 residents, I wish to welcome you to Moon Township, Pennsylvania! Moon Township is known for its excellent schools, quality of life, active community and strategic location.
This is an exciting time for our township. Moon Park is undergoing much construction in 2018. The highlights include a redesigned playground featuring all new equipment and splash pad and the addition of a Miracle League field. Two senior living facilities are under development, which will make it easier for our aging seniors to continue living in the township. Several proposed road improvements will open new areas for business. The Moon Area School District continues to receive acclamations. And Robert Morris University will complete its new 140,000-square-foot events center, offering the region an attractive new venue for public speakers, conventions, expos, concerts, graduation ceremonies, and family entertainment options. While we look forward to a bright future, we always remember our history. The story is that settlers arriving in what is today the western portion of Allegheny County named the region "Moon" after the crescent-shaped curvature of the Ohio River. From men like John Meek, Robert Loudon and John Vail who received the first land grants that eventually formed Moon Township to the Mooncrest residents who produced armor plates, munitions and ships during World War II to the aviation pioneers who opened our township to new businesses, Moon Township has enjoyed a long history of growth and prosperity.
I think I can speak for our township Board of Supervisors and staff when I say that we take our responsibilities seriously. Our 2018 budget allows us to continue with capital improvements, maintains our street program, allows for stormwater improvements, adds two new employees to our public works crew and increases parks and recreation programs. We're able to do all this without increasing taxes.
So again, welcome to Moon Township! Get involved in the community, study a new interest, support the local businesses and enjoy the parks and trails. We're so glad you decided to Make It Moon! It's a great place to live, learn, work and play.


text:
Culture and Co-Workers IKEA Retail Subscribe
COVID-19: Ingka Group supports over 140,000 homeless people in 17 countries
Over the last two months, IKEA Retail (Ingka Group) has supported over 140,000 homeless people in 17 countries by donating nearly 130,000 products such as complete bedroom and living rooms solutions, food, plastic bags, bins and spray bottles, to help them cope with the unprecedented coronavirus pandemic.
The 17 countries are Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, UK, Spain, among others.
As a part of this initiative, Ingka Group has helped country and city authorities and NGOs in these 17 countries create temporary homes and quarantine centers for more than 50,000 homeless people. IKEA has provided complete bedroom solutions, such as beds, mattresses, bed textiles, pillows, covers, night tables, lamps, and bulbs to create home-feeling in these temporary homes or quarantine centers as well products such as food, shower curtains, towels, plates and cutlery, among others.
Being forced to stay at home to limit the spread of Covid-19 has put a spotlight on the importance of having a home – a safe place for both physical and mental well–being. Billions of people across the globe live in poor housing conditions, are homeless or are constantly at threat of eviction.
"People are at the heart of what IKEA does. While staying at home has been identified as a best way to avoid the Coronavirus by medical experts, not everyone is fortunate to have a safe place to call home. We have seen in all of our markets the challenge connected with the lack of homes or adequate homes for vulnerable people such as homeless, families with low incomes, elderly people and victims of domestic violence – women, children and LGBT+. We believe that home is the most important place, but far from everyone has a safe place to call home," says Mercedes Gutierrez Alvarez, Head of Communities Engagement, Ingka Group (pic below).
Supporting the many people
IKEA touches the lives of millions around the world and has long promised to stand by the side of the many people. This is true now more than ever. Ingka Group put its values into action to help communities, customers, co-workers, and partners adjust to the new realities of life.
By supporting and siding with those in its communities, Ingka Group protects or minimizes damage to the value chain so that it can recover quicker and stronger. This should help secure business as usual as soon as possible and secure long-term success.
"The lack of affordable and safe housing is a complex challenge before, during, and after the Coronavirus crisis. Many governments have taken actions to avoid the spread of the virus but these are temporary solutions. The need of the hour for all of us is to join hands, be it government, civil society, NGOs and private sectors, to find solutions by combining knowledge and capabilities to create sustainable solutions to secure the human right to safe housing for everyone," says Gutierrez Alvarez.
In the meantime, Ingka Group continues working relentlessly to support vulnerable groups. IKEA Bratislava (in Slovakia) joined hands with the city of Bratislava and turned the recreational city area Zlaté Piesky into a small, fully staffed, temporary community for homeless people. IKEA Bratislava also furnished 30 temporary container apartments that serve as a preventive quarantine for people without a home with symptoms of Covid-19.
Photo Ingka Group supports over 140,000 homeless people
Photo Mercedes Gutierrez Alvarez, Head of Communities Engagement, Ingka Group
Mental health high on the agenda at Ingka Group

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Major in thinking, not technology (aka bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger).
Last week we ran the first Million Dollar Plus program in Sydney. MDE Core is our flagship program for helping clever people be commercially smart. MDE Plus is our new program for accelerating that journey. Craig Rispin, our futurist in residence, came in and did a section on technology platforms. If you haven't met Craig, he is an endearing nerd who has accidentally become cool by being nerdy in all the right areas (although given he's a futurist, it's probably not completely accidental). He worked at Apple in the early days of Apple, gets tips on his website from the Vice President of Google, has 400 recommendations on LinkedIn and actually understands how to use Twitter.
I used to tutor high school maths, and what made me good at that was that I understood the maths from first principles. It wasn't just that I knew how to apply the formula, I actually understood where the formula came from, which meant I could explain it three different ways if I needed to. Craig is like that with the technology – he understands it from first principles. Which means he can explain it so that those of us who aren't fluent in computer-speak actually understand what he's talking about.
He said some really cool things about why it's better to use Google to host your email accounts (they will get through more spam filters), why you don't need a website before blue belt (your LinkedIn profile is sufficient until Green Belt), and what you need to get started (and indeed what will get you to black belt) in terms of website, CRM, email system, project management and payment gateway.
The message I took away was that our job is to major in our thinking, not technology. The technology is critical in our practice – can't run a practice without it. But we don't need to spend a day researching all the different website solutions out there. There are Mentors like Craig and Gihan who have done all that work for us. Let's just take their advice, use the solutions they suggest, and get on with our job – thinking, selling and delivering our expertise.
My response after his talk was, in the immortal words of Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral "bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger". I realised that some of the solutions I currently used and had invested time and money in getting used to were heading out the door. But now that I've reconciled myself to that, I'm very excited about implementing it all.
Love to hear your thoughts on majoring in thinking, not technology.


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With users raving about the quality and stylish appeal of these bulbs, they are an ideal choice for those looking for versatile vintage style lighting.
These bulbs stand out for offering plenty of light without being overly bright, and users liked their warm amber glow. We love that this brand also offers high quality packaging for its bulbs, and that they are dimmable.
Although rare, on occasion users received broken bulbs on arrival.
These bulbs stand out not only for their high quality, but also for their excellent packaging and good value, making them a top choice.
Users love their beautiful traditional look and white glow, and praise both the appearance and sturdy packaging that keep the bulbs intact during shipping. We like that they give off a good amount of light and look equally attractive whether on or off.
A few reported a slight buzzing when dimming, and a few customers said the bulbs burned out too quickly.
These are a solid choice when looking for durable bulbs that have a vintage appeal, but may not be the best choice for those who use the dimmable feature often.
These are consistently liked for their beautiful bright light and attractive appeal that works with a variety of decor themes, from rustic to industrial. They stand out for offering a good amount of light and being high quality for the price.
Users sometimes reported a discernible buzzing noise when using the dimmer. Some felt the light was too bright.
A solid contender for a quality Edison style bulb that offers ambient lighting.
This bulb stands out for its attractive, soft lighting that gives off a warm yellow glow. Users praise the beautiful soft lighting and statement-making appearance of these bulbs. We like that you don't have to purchase multiple bulbs.
A few felt the level of light was actually too low, so it's best for those who don't want an area brightly lit. Occasional users reported receiving broken bulbs.
A popular and attractive choice in Edison type bulbs that has a few issues with quality control.
Many users give positive comments about the attractive appearance and bright yet warm light. We love that they are designed to be long-lasting.
Some consumers reported that the bulbs burned too hot, and a few experienced bulbs breaking when in use, so quality control could be improved.
Edison lightbulbs are the perfect choice when you want modern technology paired with vintage looking bulbs. Edison bulbs have an old-time design that allows you to see the "filament" inside the bulb. In incandescent Edison lightbulbs, the visible filament heats up to produce the light. But if you've picked an Edison bulb with LED technology, the filament is only for show. LED technology doesn't use a filament to create light. Most Edison lightbulbs with LED technology don't produce as much light per watt as incandescent bulbs. But most people are buying Edison lightbulbs for style instead of maximum brightness. Edison lightbulbs are available in many shapes, base sizes, filament shapes, and wattages. This gives you quite a few buying options.


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text:
Garcia d'Arlanza (Quintanilla San García, La Bureba, Burgos, final del  – San Pedro de Arlanza, Hortigüela, Burgos, 1073) fou un monjo benedictí castellà, abat del monestir de San Pedro de Arlanza i conseller dels reis Ferran I de Castella i Sanç II de Castella. És venerat com a sant per l'Església catòlica.

Biografia
Va ingressar a l'Orde de Sant Benet al monestir de San Pedro de Arlanza (Burgos). Amb el temps, i ja acabats els seus estudis de teologia, fou nomenat abat en 1039, succeït Aureòl, que havia mort. Durant el seu abadiat, Arlanza es convertí en un dels grans monestirs del regne de Castella, per la seva riquesa i prestigi: a Lleó, acompanyà Énnec d'Oña i Domènec de Silos a la cerimònia de rebuda de les restes de Sant Isidor de Sevilla a la nova basílica llavors construïda, San Isidoro de Lleó.

En 1050 assisteix al concili de Coyanza (Valencia de Don Juan) convocat per Ferran I per a resoldre algunes controvèrsies religioses que afectaven el regne, com el ritu litúrgic a seguir: s'hi decidí suprimir-ne el mossàrab i fer servir el nou ritu romà, seguint així la reforma gregoriana. Nomenat conseller del rei Ferran I, el va acompanyar a la batalla d'Atapuerca en 1054; va mantenir el càrrec amb el seu successor Sanç II

A Àvila, va trobar els cossos dels sants Vicenç, Sabina i Cristeta, avui sebollits a la basílica de San Vicente de la ciutat; la llegenda diu que va tenir una revelació que li en va indicar el lloc exacte.

Ja gran, es va retirar a Arlanza, on va morir el novembre de 1073, poc després d'haver rebut la visita del bisbe Jimeno de Burgos.

Veneració
Sebollit a l'església de l'abadia, a la nau de l'Evangeli, vora l'anomenada capella dels Màrtirs. Va morir en llaor de santedat i se li atribuïren miracles, ja en vida, com la conversió de l'aigua en vi al monestir durant l'àpat d'un Divendres Sant. El seu anell era prodigiós i els pobles propers el demanaven per venerar-lo i procurar-se'n la intercessió. El culte popular no fou reconegut fins al 1620, quan Urbà VIII, a instància del rei Felip III d'Espanya, va permetre el trasllat de les relíquies a la capella dels Màrtirs. Una part d'elles fou portada al seu poble natal, Quintanilla San García, en 1724.

Quan el monestir fou clausurat en 1835, les relíquies anaren a la col·legiata de San Cosme y San Damián de Covarrubias, i l'anell al monestir de Santo Domingo de Silos. En 1973, durant les festes del mil·lenari les relíquies i l'anell foren duts a Quintanilla i es va fer un recorregut pels llocs relacionats amb el sant (Ssn Pedro de Arlanza, Covarrubias, Quintanilla, Silos).

És citat per Gonzalo de Berceo a la Vida de Santo Domingo de Silos com a abat d'Arlanza. Quintanilla afegí al seu nom la menció "San García" en honor seu, i el poble de Segòvia de Sangarcía també li deu el seu nom, ja que fou fundat per gent de Burgos.

Bibliografia
 http://www.es.catholic.net/santoral/articulo.php?id=14099

Abats benedictins espanyols
Sants de la província de Burgos
Sants benedictins

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Home Mayweather vs. Pacquiao 24/7 Canelo vs. Kirkland & new episode of The Fight Game on...
Mayweather vs. Pacquiao
24/7 Canelo vs. Kirkland & new episode of The Fight Game on HBO Tuesday night; Astronauts to watch Mayweather-Pacquiao in space
Credit: Hogan Photos / GBP
In anticipation of the battle between Canelo Alvarez and James Kirkland on May 9th – HBO Sports will air "24/7 Canelo vs. Kirkland," a 30-minute special examining the upcoming showdown t set for Minute Maid Park in Houston, Tex.
The "24/7 Canelo vs. Kirkland" special will premiere Tuesday, May 5 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO. It will preview the fast approaching and hotly anticipated meeting between two accomplished warriors who are on a collision course to confront each other. The special will provide all-new content including portraits of both fighters' path to this significant spring showdown.
Canelo Alvarez, just 24-years-old and one of boxing's biggest stars with a near perfect ring record of 44-1-1 (31 KOs), will make his 2015 debut after a successful 2014 campaign that featured signature wins over Erislandy Lara and Alfredo Angulo. Kirkland, 29, of Austin, Texas, returns to action in his home state boasting a 32-1 record with 28 knockouts which exemplifies the stunning knockout strength he will bring to the ring.
The 30-minute special is narrated by Liev Schreiber and produced by HBO's Emmy-Award®-winning "24/7" production team.
Immediately following the premiere of 24-7 Canelo vs. Kirkland, HBO Sports presents an all-new edition of "The Fight Game With Jim Lampley" at 10:30 p.m. The half-hour program hosted by Jim Lampley will look back on Mayweather vs. Pacquiao from the weekend prior.
Speaking of that fight, for the first time ever, a pay-per-view blockbuster world championship fight will be seen in space, as SHOWTIME Sports® and HBO Sports® have partnered with NASA to release the welterweight title unification bout between Floyd "Money" Mayweather and Manny "PacMan" Pacquiao to the United States astronaut crew on the International Space Station.
At the request of the ISS, the fight was packaged and delivered for the crew to watch at their leisure.
fight game
james kirkland
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pacquiao vs mayweather
Previous articleVideo: Gennady Golovkin highlight reel
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Posts made under this account for ProBoxing-Fans.com are either press releases from sources, collaborative efforts from several writers on ProBoxing-Fans.com, or general news and updates from the staff without attribution to a single author.


text:
Idea Lab
Connecting to Young Alumni
By Kathryn Masterson
Photographs by Travis Dove for The Chronicle
Matthias Bouska (left) and Tricia Teter, alumni-engagement officers at Elon U., talk with Nick Suarez, a student graduating this year. Elon has hired three such officers to better connect with young alumni.
Tricia Teter, senior alumni-engagement officer at Elon University, isn't frustrated when the young alumni she calls don't pick up their phones. Ms. Teter, who graduated from Elon in 2013, understands because when she doesn't recognize a number on her cellphone, she ignores it, too.
"We just never get anybody to pick up and reply," Ms. Teter says. "I do the same thing." So instead, Ms. Teter will text young alumni from her personal number. If she must leave a voice message, she will send an email immediately afterward to let the person know.
Elon University and other colleges experiment with ways to keep recent graduates engaged.
How One University Used Crowdfunding to Reach Young Donors
6 Ways to Increase Engagement With Young Alumni
Reaching young alumni — literally and emotionally — is a challenge for colleges. The way people younger than 30 communicate, their motivations for giving money or time, their use of social media, and their different college experiences are bringing about a shift in alumni relations. Colleges and universities savvy enough to recognize these differences are looking for creative and entrepreneurial ways to reach and communicate with their alumni, tweaking and sometimes overhauling college standbys like reunions and annual-fund appeals.
"Younger alumni — and alumni in general — they're looking for something different," says James W. Dicker, vice president of advancement for Temple University. "The traditional things to give to and ways to give are kind of stale. Maybe they work for some of the over-50 crowd, but they don't work for the under-30 crowd."
At Elon, Ms. Teter's position of alumni-engagement officer is an example of new thinking around alumni affairs. The university treats young alumni, especially ones who were active in leadership roles during college, in the same way universities treat older alumni they are courting for major gifts — hands on and personal. Under this model, a major-gift officer meets one on one with potential donors to discuss their interests and ways they might help the university, and stays in touch.
Three years ago, James B. Piatt Jr., vice president for university advancement at Elon, created the position of alumni-engagement officer. Ms. Teter and two other alumni-engagement officers are each responsible for a portfolio of 1,000 young alumni.
Elon, which in the past did not have a tradition of robust homecomings or reunions, has set an ambitious goal of doubling its alumni participation rate in 10 years, Mr. Piatt says.
"Great universities have great alumni bodies," Mr. Piatt says.
Having a robust alumni body is critical to the long-term health of a university. Satisfied graduates promote and recommend their university, help create deep professional networks that benefit students and alumni, volunteer their time on boards, and give money. As every fund raiser knows, the young alumni of today are the major donors of tomorrow.
Yet nationwide, alumni participation, measured by the percentage of alumni who donate in a year, has declined. In 2006, the alumni participation rate was 11.6 percent. In 2016, it was 8.1 percent.
According to the Council for Aid to Education, on average more alumni gave to their alma maters in 2016 than a decade earlier. The participation rate has not kept up for several reasons, including that universities now have better ways to locate alumni, so the total number of alumni sought out for gifts has grown. Also, the figure does not count alumni who give through family foundations or other philanthropic vehicles.
Traditional ways to give 'are kind of stale. Maybe they work for some of the over-50 crowd, but they don't work for the under-30 crowd.'
The models of alumni engagement have changed with social media, says Rob Henry, vice president for education for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
"I tell people, there was a time after you graduated from your institution when you needed your institution," Mr. Henry says. "Now, I think that's very different, especially for young alumni. Now why would I wait for the university magazine that's going to come out two or three times a year versus going to Facebook and knowing what my friends did yesterday?"
"I think for young alumni, institutions have to ask the question, how can we remain relevant?"
For Elon University, that question is especially pressing. Because of enrollment growth, 60 percent of Elon's alumni have graduated in the past 10 years. Two-thirds of their alumni are under the age of 40.
In its latest strategic plan, the university set a goal of building a better, more modern alumni-engagement program, Mr. Piatt says. That included doubling its alumni participation rate from 16 percent to 32 percent. Engaging young alumni through new channels is critical to Elon's long-term success.
Elon started asking its alumni to participate in three ways: as partners, as advocates, and as investors.
To be a partner means "keeping their Elon IQ up," says Mr. Piatt, by attending events (Elon increased its local chapters from 12 to 37), sharing tweets or other news about Elon on social media, and helping spread Elon's brand and message. To be an advocate means serving on a board or council and offering job opportunities to Elon alumni and students. And investors are those who make gifts.
Tricia Teter (right), an alumni-engagement officer at Elon U., talks with Anna Rice, who will graduate this year.
Elon tries to capture the number of alumni who participate in at least one of the three ways by measuring alumni engagement. If an alumnus attended an event or volunteered for the university, that person is counted, Mr. Piatt said. In 2010, 2,500 alumni were engaged in the life of the university. Last year, that number was 5,807, Mr. Piatt said.
The university also created more ways for recent graduates to have a say in campus affairs, including a young-alumni council that advises the alumni staff, and a young leaders' council that meets with the university president.
"We found opportunities to have the alumni voice be louder than it had been in the past," Mr. Piatt says. But perhaps the biggest bet the university has made is with the hiring of the alumni-engagement officers, like Ms. Teter.
Those three AEOs, as the university calls them, each have a portfolio, similar to what a major-gift officer would be responsible for. But instead of consisting of wealthy alumni and other supporters, the engagement officers' portfolios each contain 1,000 young alumni who were considered active in the life of the college when they were students. The portfolios are divided by geographic area, and each year they are reassessed to take out alumni who have not responded at all.
What we're seeing is a real desire to make a difference, to get involved and to feel they are having an impact.
The AEOs keep in touch with the alumni via text, email, social media, and in person when they travel to cities for events. The officers ask graduates to volunteer for committees, attend Elon events, share their school pride on social media, and give gifts for specific events, such as "Share the Chair," when alumni donors' names are written on stickers placed on every graduating senior's chair at commencement.
Of those 1,000 graduates in their portfolios, the AEOs have identified the 200 who are the most engaged and connected. The AEOs are expected to be up on the lives of those alumni. When Ms. Teter travels once a month for work, she schedules five meetings with young alumni each day for coffee and conversations about their lives and interests.
"They want to feel known and appreciated by their alma mater," Ms. Teter says.
The alumni-engagement officers make job connections, too. When one alumnus mentioned being interested in development, an AEO asked Mr. Piatt for help. He shared several names of contacts in that person's area. And while the young alumni aren't typically in hiring positions yet, Ms. Teter says they are able to talk to their bosses about putting Elon students on their recruiting lists.
Ms. Teter also listens when alumni want to vent about something they don't like about the institution or their experience there. She hears alumni concerns about the amount of growth at Elon, or about how they felt unsupported when they went out on the job market during the Great Recession. In these cases, she makes the time to listen, and if possible, to explain to them how things are different now (in the case of career services) or still the same (in the case of concerns about growth changing the place) and the reasons behind that. Her bosses are also willing to talk with unhappy alumni.
"People want to be heard," Ms. Teter says.
While Elon and other colleges have expanded the definition of engagement by young alumni, they ultimately want to have the recent graduates contribute in the most traditional way: by donating money.
So what do young alumni want when it comes to fund-raising pitches?
"What we're seeing is a real desire to make a difference, to get involved and to feel they are having an impact," says Sue Cunningham, president of the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, referring to alumni preferences for donating as well as volunteering.
In practice, this can include crowdfunding, one-day giving events online, and opportunities to serve as student mentors.
A video team at Elon records personalized thank-you messages for donors to specific programs. Young donors like to see right away where their money is going, say fund raisers.
Transparency is important. Alumni like to see where their money goes and be able to direct where their donations are used, says Michael Ellison, president of Corporate Insight, a consulting company which offers research in alumni affairs and communication.
At Temple, Mr. Dicker sees young alumni motivated by the impact and effect their gifts can have, rather than a sense of loyalty driving their generosity. They are unlikely to make a general gift to an institution if they don't know specifically what it will be used for.
"They want to see it and feel it," Mr. Dicker says. Temple students respond best to giving opportunities that help the surrounding Philadelphia community rather than university budget needs.
One giving opportunity the university saw success with was buying "baby boxes," designed to reduce infant mortality, through the university's crowdfunding site OwlCrowd. The boxes, which cost $50 each (or $125 with extra supplies including diapers, a baby thermometer, and smoke alarm), were distributed to mothers who delivered babies at Temple University Hospital.
As a former commuter college that has changed to a more residential model, Temple is working to build a culture of philanthropy and alumni giving. Its current alumni participation rate is 7 percent, and the university's goal is to raise it to 10 percent.
Giving days — one-day events where small gifts are celebrated across social media, are finding success with young alumni, according to CASE. A growing number of universities use them. Both Elon and Temple have started these programs — Elon Day and Temple Toast — and have increased the number of donors each year.
Transparency is important. Alumni like to see where their money goes and be able to direct where their donations are used.
These events, often tied to a founding day (or in Temple's case, its founder's birthday) generate a sense of excitement — Elon has a "command center" where gifts are processed immediately — as well as a sense of urgency. Matching challenges can last an hour, and at the end of 24 hours, everyone knows whether the university met its goal or fell short. University departments and current students can also be a part of the day, creating of a sense of everyone being able to make a difference. And they thrive on social media.
The first Elon Day, in 2014, had 1,013 donors and $116,867 in donations. Two years later, it had 3,749 gifts totaling $955,099. The university also reported the number of #ElonDay mentions on social media (2,241 tweets and 879 Instagram mentions in 2014; 4,500 mentions across all social-media platforms in 2016).
As the program gets more established, there is a small downside, says John H. Barnhill, assistant vice president for university advancement. Now, when alumni are asked for gifts at the end of the year or other key giving times, they say they're waiting until Elon Day to give.
In all, since Elon started its focused alumni efforts in 2009, the university's alumni-participation rate has gone from 16 percent to 22 percent. But as the total alumni population gets larger with each graduating class, the goal of reaching 32-percent participation becomes harder.
It's a slow build, and for universities measuring immediate ROI, Mr. Piatt says Elon's model might not make sense. His hunch is that these efforts will pay off for the university in the long run, but right now it is too early to say for sure.
"This is a long play for Elon," Mr. Piatt says. "We are making an investment here."
A version of this article appeared in the March 3, 2017, issue.
Read other items in this Connecting to Young Alumni package.
Kathryn Masterson
Kathryn Masterson reported on the almost-$30-billion world of college fund raising for The Chronicle of Higher Education. She also covered other areas of higher-education management, including endowments.


I received a comment this morning challenging my contention that Bitcoin should be thought of as a foundational asset for the crypto-based monetary system.
With Bitcoin inching towards $10,000 arguments like this continue to be made by gold-bugs (of which I'm one) and hard-asset enthusiasts because they make fundamental errors in their analysis of Bitcoin.
And it's important, in my mind, to counter those arguments to help the community refine its response to them rather than simply dismiss them.
Like gold, Bitcoin should sit at the bottom of the crypto-version of John Exter's inverted pyramid which describes the monetary system.
The comment can be found here in full. The commenter means well, but misses a fundamental point that most hard asset enthusiasts miss about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.
I'm going to break it down step by step because I believe it's a perfect illustration of how one wrong assumption can lead to a wrong conclusion.
Comment: Why do you think gold belongs to the bottom of exter's pyramid and diamonds/gemstones are found near the top…?
First, gold belongs at the bottom of Exter's Pyramid because it is the only asset in that mix that has zero counter-party risk. Everything else is secondary.
So, to begin the argument in earnest, do Bitcoins have counter-party risk? No.
No one can issue Bitcoins that someone else, by Bitcoin's very nature, has a claim to.
You may pledge your Bitcoins as collateral for some other transaction, but that transaction, say a loan denominated in Bitcoins, is what has counter-party risk, not the Bitcoin itself. Just like gold.
So, it could qualify as a reserve asset like gold. Okay, step #1 completed.
However, many things have zero counter-party risk, for example diamonds. But diamonds are terrible mediums of exchange, as he points out. The rest of this portion of the comment does a credible job of explaining gold's rise as money and satisfying Mises' Regression Theorem.
But the diamond-cutter argument applies to gold. Gold is more fungible than diamonds. But gold is not fungible compared to the dollar or Bitcoin.
Money is liquid. You can receive it now and immediately exchange it for something else.
Property that isn't money has time-risk. Finding a buyer of your non-money property is the risk of losing value in the transaction.
This is the fundamental problem with barter. It's why gold no longer satisfies, except in specific situations, as a good medium of exchange.
Bitcoin has tremendous liquidity when you realize that 10 minutes to fully clear a transaction is stupendously fast compared to the three days behind the scenes that the average credit card transaction takes.
This is where so many hard asset enthusiasts go wrong. Bitcoin does have actual use. We wanted something like Bitcoin to use as money before it existed.
There was latent demand for a digital asset with its properties. We wanted something better than the dollar, so someone, Satoshi Nakamoto, created it.
That latent demand for a money like Bitcoin imbued it with value from the moment the software started building the blockchain.
Bitcoins are encrypted packets of information.
Do encrypted packets of information traversing the Internet not have use? Yes.
If they don't, then why do we send them? We wouldn't.
If we do, then they must have value.
So, it follows, that certain types of encrypted packets will potentially have more value than others. In this case the signed, hashed, confirmed and stored packets represented by the nine-year old Bitcoin blockchain has a lot more value than literally most of the information on the internet.
So, we have the perception of value, we have zero counter-party risk all we lack is use.
Does anyone use Bitcoin? Yes. This is self-evident.
That is its ACTUAL USE.
Bitcoin came into existence to solve the very modern problem of centrally-issued debt-based monetary units and the corruption of our society those monetary units engender.
And it had to do so better than gold.
All of those things make it a foundation for a new monetary system. This is not to say gold will not be part of this system or that there can be only one system.
In fact, as we move forward I expect to see the nascent crypto-system and the current debt-based one merge. Gold alongside Bitcoin and other Bitcoin-like coins with strong blockchains and hashing networks will form that foundation.
As for post-Nuclear War, if conditions change that radically then the value of everything changes radically.
In this case, there is no 'financial system,' Exter's Pyramid or the like. There is survival and not even gold is useful until civilization and the division of labor are sophisticated enough to support such concepts.
Bitcoin is the money we are choosing to take human society to the next level. If we don't get there all of this is moot. QED.
At which point the cycle starts all over again.
I want to thank "wacky" for his thoughtful comment, even if I disagreed with it. That is the point of forums like this, discussion in order to clarify truths.
For more commentary like this please visit my Patreon page to sign up for the Gold Goats 'n Guns Investment Newsletter where I roll all of this up into a coherent investment thesis and portfolio strategy.
Age 79. Still acknowledge beauty, but pretty helpless to respond.
Bitcoin . age 79. One of the first to hear the word,and, helpless to respond.
Can't help remembering Rhodium almost vertical to $10,000.
So, I continue on my stubborn path with silver coin and certain PM stocks.
Probably die soon with hopes intact.
But, if gold and silver are your protection of chioce, you are well ahead of the rest of the pack.
It is hard to see the precious metals really appreciating much. The problem for silver is that there is too much of it above ground in the hands of governments, and investors who will sell when it rises in price. Governments use their supply to keep a lid on prices. Their is the possibility that JP Morgan may use its physical supply to keep a lid on prices if physical demand does improve in the coming years. Plus, you have all the fictitious activity in the futures market that serves to suppress the price of silver.
Gold is so expensive now, that it is hard for individual investors to actually buy and take delivery of the physical metal. Do the ETFs really have all their shares backed by physical gold on deposit? Perhaps the gold ETFs are similar to a fractional banking system and are only partially backed by physical gold.
Sure, I hope I am wrong, but a significant rise in precious metal prices seems decades away now.
There are certainly vast areas of possibility between a starry-eyed vision of the future independent of fiat currency, all things flowing digitally to productive free individuals via Bitcoin, and the death of technological civilization via nuclear war (or whatever). These possibilities include EMPs, quantum computing capable of hacking blockchained info, competing cryptocurrencies, fiat government diktat, and all too human old fashioned fraud (Mt. Gox, anyone?), any one of which could derail the many thousands I have so far not invested in Bitcoin. Yes, I should have bought when it was 200 or even 1000. Hockey sticks make me nervous.
Hockey sticks make me nervous as well. You'll be interested to note that I don't own any bitcoin at this point in time. In fact, I've not owned any except as a transition from one coin to another. There are plenty of quality crypto-assets that have not gone through massive parabolic upmoves that you can begin layering in a position to gain some exposure.


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text:
Q: Java CORBA Client Disconnects When Event Fires I have built a Java CORBA application that subscribes to an event server.  The application narrows and logs on just fine, but as soon as an event is sent to the client, it breaks with the error below.  Please advise.
2010/04/25!13.00.00!E00555!enserver!EventServiceIF_i.cpp!655!PID(7390)!enserver - e._info=system exception, ID 'IDL:omg.org/CORBA/TRANSIENT:1.0'
TAO exception, minor code = 54410093 (invocation connect failed; ECONNRESET), completed = NO

EDIT:
Please note, this only happens when running on some machines.  It works on some, but not others.  Even on the same platform (I've tried Windows XP/7 and CentOS linux)  Some work, some don't...
Here is the WireShark output...looks like the working PC is much more interactive with the network compared to the non-working PC.
Working PC
No.     Time        Source                Destination           Protocol Info
     62 28.837255   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TCP      50169 > 23120 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=8192 Len=0 MSS=1260 WS=8
     63 28.907068   fe80::5de0:8d21:937e:c649 ff02::1:3             LLMNR    Standard query A isatap
     64 28.907166   10.10.10.209          224.0.0.252           LLMNR    Standard query A isatap
     65 29.107259   10.10.10.209          10.255.255.255        NBNS     Name query NB ISATAP<00>
     66 29.227000   10.10.10.250          10.10.10.209          TCP      23120 > 50169 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=32768 Len=0 MSS=1260 WS=0
     67 29.227032   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TCP      50169 > 23120 [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=66560 Len=0
     68 29.238063   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          GIOP     GIOP 1.1 Request s=326 id=5 (two-way): op=logon
     69 29.291765   10.10.10.250          10.10.10.209          GIOP     GIOP 1.1 Reply s=420 id=5: No Exception
     70 29.301395   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          GIOP     GIOP 1.1 Request s=369 id=6 (two-way): op=registerEventStat
     71 29.348275   10.10.10.250          10.10.10.209          GIOP     GIOP 1.1 Reply s=60 id=6: No Exception
     72 29.405250   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TCP      50170 > telnet [SYN] Seq=0 Win=8192 Len=0 MSS=1260 WS=8
     73 29.446055   10.10.10.250          10.10.10.209          TCP      telnet > 50170 [SYN, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=1 Win=32768 Len=0 MSS=1260 WS=0
     74 29.446128   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TCP      50170 > telnet [ACK] Seq=1 Ack=1 Win=66560 Len=0
     75 29.452021   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TELNET   Telnet Data ...
     76 29.483537   10.10.10.250          10.10.10.209          TELNET   Telnet Data ...
     77 29.483651   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TELNET   Telnet Data ...
     78 29.523463   10.10.10.250          10.10.10.209          TCP      telnet > 50170 [ACK] Seq=4 Ack=5 Win=32768 Len=0
     79 29.554954   10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TCP      50169 > 23120 [ACK] Seq=720 Ack=505 Win=66048 Len=0

Non-working PC
No.     Time        Source                Destination           Protocol Info
      1 0.000000    10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TCP      64161 > 23120 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=8192 Len=0 MSS=1260 WS=8
      2 2.999847    10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TCP      64161 > 23120 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=8192 Len=0 MSS=1260 WS=8
      3 4.540773    Cisco_3c:78:00        Cisco-Li_55:87:72     ARP      Who has 10.0.0.1?  Tell 10.10.10.209
      4 4.540843    Cisco-Li_55:87:72     Cisco_3c:78:00        ARP      10.0.0.1 is at 00:1a:70:55:87:72
      5 8.992284    10.10.10.209          10.10.10.250          TCP      64161 > 23120 [SYN] Seq=0 Win=8192 Len=0 MSS=1260

A: Benny are your still suffering under the yoke of corba?
If so the following may help:

*

*Are you able to find out what version of TAO the server is running?

*Have your tried it with Sun's orb (long shot)?

*You could give OpenORB a try.

*Failing all of the above and if you have python knowledge can you access the server with omniORBpy?

If none of the above works then I am unsure but let me know I can probably come up with a few more ideas. The version of TAO that the server is using would be helpful, at least then you can get an idea of the corba specification version you are dealing with.

A: Does both client and server running inside the same LAN? I mean is there any firewall or software firewall enabled on your client machine?  Or between client and server?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Polymorphism usually occurs, certain individuals having the form of avicularia or vibracula.
The study of polymorphism has been especially pursued by Otto Lehmann, who proved that it is an almost general property; the variety of forms which a given substance may show is often great, ammonium nitrate, for instance, showing at least four of them before melting.
Poulton, in an admirable discussion of contemporary views regarding species (presidential address to the Entomological Society of London 1904), has shown that Darwin did not believe in the objective existence of species, not only because he was led to discard the hypothesis of special creation as the explanation of the polymorphism of life, but because in practice as a working systematist he could neither find for himself nor ascertain from other systematists any settled criteria by which a group of specimens could be elevated into a genus, accepted as a species, or regarded as a variety.
Chodat does not find so general a polymorphism, but nevertheless holds that Raphidium passes through stages represented by Protococcus, Characium, Dactylococcus and Sciadium.
While, therefore, there is much evidence of a negative character against the existence of an extensive polymorphism among algae, some amount of metamorphosis is known to occur.
Chodat, " On the Polymorphism of the Green Algae," Ann.


There's no question that Arrow's Paul Blackthorne (Captain Lance) is going through some interesting changes this season and has resorted to relying on some less than savory allies. This week promises an interesting change in dynamic between the shows lead, Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) and Blackthorne's Capt. Lance, but what the shift will bring is yet to be seen. In a recent interview with EW, Blackthorne talked a little bit about the resurrection of his daughter, Sarah Lance, who we know will go on to become the White Canary in the upcoming CW spin-off, Legends of Tomorrow, as well as his alliance with the show's current big bad, Damien Darhk.
This seems a little bit about what we'd expect Lance to go through given the back and forth he's had with his daughters over the course of the last three seasons, but really, how much more can the guy take. He's definitely been through a lot which is one of the major contributing factors to his awkward new alliance on the show.
When asked about his association with Darhk, Blackthorne explained that, "I thought it was interesting. It's not necessarily the case that if someone does a bad thing, they're a bad person. Sometimes good people are doing bad things for what, in their mind, are good reasons. That's how they can justify it in their mind. In this case, at first Darhk was suggesting he was going to be able to help Star City. In the Arrow's absence during the hiatus, this was a huge thing for Lance, for somebody to help the city after the biological attack in the season 3 finale. It's a huge incentive to have Darhk work with him.
You can check out EW.com for the full interview, but what do you think about the direction Arrow is taking. Is Damien Darhk living up to the level of big bad that we were promised before the season started or is he little more than the Arrow villains we've seen in the past. As always, let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Reboots & Remakes; Are We Entering the Dawn of the De-Boot?


Everyone is talking about Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) due to the upcoming mainnet launch of EOS. Besides the EOS DPoS family, which BitShares and Steem are a part of, there is also the far larger Lisk-DPoS family. That especially the Lisk governance system looks more like the Italian Mafia by now than a decentralized network only very few outside of the DPoS community know. For this reason this article will clearly name the problems leading to mafia like structures and will underpin these problems with facts before pointing out possible solutions in the end.
How does Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) work?
Delegated Proof-of-Stake maps the american electoral system onto the blockchain. Tokenholders elect delegates. It is their task to confirm transactions and forge blocks. Here the term "forging" can be roughly equalled to the term "mining". For their work the delegates receive a reward per block (forging rewards) as well as the fees contained in the block's transactions. Often, the delegate shares his profits with his voters through so-called "kickback payments". To run for the delegate elections only a one time fee of currently 25 Lisk has to be paid. Through every election in the Lisk network 101 active delegates are chosen.
What is the incentive for the delegates?
In the Lisk network the maximal possible amount of forging rewards per year for every delegates comes to about 1,5 million US dollar (Status May 2018). Due to the high revenues and low entry threshold it's no wonder the delegates are playing hardball for the favour of the voters.
Thus, over the course of time, cartels have formed with the goal of establishing the same group of delegates in the top 101 as permanently as possible. Some problematic features of the Lisk network are playing into these cartels hands here.
Which problems exist within Lisk?
In Lisk every token holder can use their voting power to vote for for a maximum of 101 delegates. If a user holds 1000 Lisk their votes have a voting weight of 1000. It doesn't matter if they cast a single vote or all 101 of them their voting weight is always 1000 for every single vote cast.
In this system a high voter turnout is very important. In the case of a low turnout whales, meaning accounts with a (very) large amount tokens, have a larger impact on the outcome due to their voting weight. If a whale owns 1% of all tokens with a voter turnout of 100% he has exactly 1% of the total voting weight. The lower the accumulated voting weight of votes cast is the higher the influence of the whale's voting weight is. Because of this their vote is getting more and more important for every single delegate. A low voter turnout can therefore grant a whale a lot of influence and with that a lot of power in the network.
The chart above shows statistics about core parameters of the network. It should be particularly surprising that only 21% of active accounts, so accounts with a balance of larger zero, are using their right to vote. But these 21% in turn have 42% of the total voting power.
That 42,82% of all Lisk is held by only 10 accounts might be a red flag for some.
Here let it be said that on the one hand most coins of the Lisk family, i.e. Ark or OxyCoin, exhibit a higher value between 60% and 70% degrees of centralization. On the other hand this centralization of tokens mostly is a result of Wallets of the Lisk team or Hot Wallets of large exchanges.
However, of these 10 accounts only Oliver Beddows, one of the founders of Lisk, is making use of his right to vote so that these accounts aren't wielding all that much influence.
The chart below offers an overview of the distribution of wealth inside the Lisk network. Barely 45% of all accounts hold a maximum of 10 Lisk and a further 17% of accounts hold between 10 and 50 Lisk. Therefore 62% of all accounts hold a maximum of 50 Lisk.
But these numbers only gain real meaning when put in relation to the arising fees for voting in the election of delegates. For 1 Lisk 33 votes can be cast. The maximum number of 101 votes costs 4 Lisk. This makes it clear that almost half of the owners of Lisk tokens would also loose half of their tokens by participating in the election. If you remember that in this category not every account holds 10 Lisk but accounts holding up to 10 Lisk are aggregated the statement above is rather optimistic.
These high fees make it doubtful that small investors will or even can make us of their right to vote. This in turn would mean that about 45% of the voting weight are precluded from the election.
The following chart shows a statistic about the relation between votes and voting power. It makes it very clear that the accounts with a capital of more than 10.000 Lisk are only responsible for 6% of all active votes but these votes command more than 83% of the voting weight. In contrast voters with an account balance of up to 10 Lisk come to 23% of all votes but don't really play any significant part with only 0,01% of the total voting power.
In general the number of "real" votes by voters with up to 10 Lisk can only be speculated. The large number of votes can probably be attributed to "old voters". These sold all their Lisk but a tiny amount after casting their votes. This thesis is supported by the fact that 55% of this category only own a maximum of 1 Lisk.
To properly sort these numbers into the overall context one best asks the question: How much voting power does a delegate need to be voted into the top 101 of delegates? At the current point in time this needs about 26-27% of the total possible voting weight. If you base this on the sum of the voting power of all voters who are actually using their right to vote you would need 62% of the voting power.
To get token holders from the virtual couch to the virtual ballot box many DPoS networks allow the distribution of revenues to their voters. Lisk, too, allows such kickback payments. Every delegate can freely decide how many percents of their revenue they want to share with their voters. Through kickback payments the voters can regain their voting fees as well as generate additional profits which might also move small investors into casting their votes.
But if you look at the maximum kickback revenues based on optimized voting those small investors mentioned will quickly sober up. A voter with an account balance of 10 Lisk will take about 24 weeks after deduction of the full fees to regain the initial balance of 10 Lisk. This includes compound interest. With a capital of 25 Lisk it only takes 8 weeks, with 50 Lisk it takes only 4 weeks to completely regain the fees.
So if these kickback payments are an incentive for small investors to make use of their right to vote is questionable. Should potential voters not be able to wait these 8 respectively 4 weeks for their investment in the worst case 54% respectively 62% of all voters would not step up to the ballot box.
A look at the statistical distribution of nonvoters supports this apprehension, too. Just about 10% of all token holders with a maximum of 100 Lisk make use of their right to vote. Since the already mentioned "old voters" only own a small absolute sum of lisk their influence on the validity of this statistic is only marginal.
A further problem is the distribution of the forging rewards among the delegates. As already mentioned the 101 delegates with the most votes receive the opportunity to forge blocks and collect rewards. To be able to keep counting on their votes in most cases a freely selectable percentage of these rewards is shared with their voters by the delegates.
By implication the voters will for economical reasons only vote for delegates who have a high chance of participating in the production of blocks again. If the vote is given to a delegate outside of the top 101 the voter doesn't receive kickback payments. Through this incentive system the reelection of already active delegates is highly favored. The result is a high barrier of entry for delegates outside of the top 101 and therefore a very low fluctuation among the active delegates. The power inside the network is consequently spread onto only a few shoulders.
This theory can also tellingly be proven by a chart about the absolute number of votes per delegate rank. Even without a key you could tell the border between active and passive delegates.
Up until now we have had a look at the general voting system as well as the incentives for voters. Now we will have a more detailed look at the already mentioned economical incentives for the delegates.
After every election every elected delegate can extend the blockchain by one block and for this receives the transaction fees accrued in their block as well as currently a reward of 4 Lisk. With the time between two blocks defined by the system to 10 seconds it takes about 17 minutes (1010 seconds) until all 101 elected delegates can produce their block in a single round. So every one of these delegates has the opportunity to produce a block 85 times a day ((24h*60m*60s)/1010 seconds). So only through forging rewards they earn about 340 Lisk (85 blocks * 4 Lisk) a day. With a current price of 12$ a delegate who is continously voted into the top 101 earns 4080$ a day, 124.100$ a month and in a year almost 1,5 million US-Dollar (as of May 2018). Remember that these earnings are generated through forging rewards alone. Additionally collected transaction fees are not yet considered in this calculation.
But these barely carry weight in comparison to the block rewards. The chart below illustrates the development of revenues per delegate and month from transaction fees. Since the existence of the Lisk network the monthly revenue through these fees was far below the daily revenue through block rewards.
Even if part of the revenues are distributed among voters the system still allows for a very lucrative income.
As we already know the fluctuation of active delegates is not exactly high due to the offered incentives for voters. The combination of a low fluctuation and a lucrative income opportunity inevitably leads to the formation of an oligopoly.
After the numbers presented in previous paragraphs it should be no surprise that all active delegates have a strong incentive to be able to keep producing blocks. To improve the odds for this at first several alliances had been forged with the goal to support each other with votes. In the meantime these alliances have grown to full blown cartels in almost all Lisk-Fork based DPoS networks. However these agreements are not arranged in dark back-rooms but are done publicly through pressure exerted on the voters. Thus the largest Lisk cartel "Elite" demands that a voter uses all their votes for delegates of the Elite cartel to receive kickback payments. The second largest cartel "GDT" acts similarly. Here, too, the users have to vote for all the members of the cartel to receive kickback payments in full. This is strongly reminiscent of the methods of mafia-like clans and not of a decentralized network.
To completely understand the scale of these cartels a look at their size is enough. "Elite" provides 54 of all 101 delegates at the time of the snapshot and "GDT" 32 delegates. This means that 85% of the entire block production has been taken over by two cartels. The only bright spots are the Lisk ecosystem funds in which "Elite" pays 5% and "GDT" 10% of their earnings. This money is used to further developments all around the Lisk network.
The registration of new delegates is at a historic low, too. If these are consequences of the consolidated balance of power or are due to other reasons could only be speculated here.
The essentials of the problems worked out in this article have been known inside the DPoS community for a while now. The statistical analysis and the graphic editing now give the rest of the community a clear approach to this topic.
None of these meaningful changes have been realized up until now. In the context of the Consensus conference 2018 the Lisk founder Oliver Beddows assured CryptoGo that especially the dynamic transaction fees are supposed to be introduced this year. After this change the fee structure would no longer be static but would orient itself at the size of the transaction, similar to Bitcoin. This is certainly a sensible step. But if and how this change can contribute to the solving of the before mentioned problems waits to be seen.
Another possible solution is the complete ban of kickback payments. EOS is the first larger DPoS network to approach this subject. But it is questionable if indirect kickback payments, i.e. through tangible assets or payments in other currencies, even can be prevented.
Other Lisk-Forks have already experimented with changed parameters of the consent algorithm. But here, too, signs of heavy centralization and cartel formation showed.
Our analysis has shown that DPoS networks can be very fragile constructs. In this the incentives between participating parties need to be balanced and adjusted, if necessary, to reach as high a degree of decentralization as possible. According to the opinion of CryptoGo this degree is essential for the long term success of every network.
Lisk shows impressively what happens if a network gets off balance. Even if the solutions listed above were implemented it would remain questionable if the delegates would accept these changes and therefore rob themselves of part of their revenue.
Thanks to hasufly for his valuable feedback!


Plasma Protein Therapeutics Market Size Worth $33.15 Billion By 2025: Grand View Research, Inc.
The global plasma protein therapeutics market size is expected to reach USD 33.15 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc. It is projected to register a CAGR of 4.8% over the forecast period. The growth can be attributed to high prevalence of bleeding and other rare disorders, rising investment in R&D, and increasing use of plasma-derived products in neurology and other therapeutic indications.
Plasma-derived proteins are primarily used as replacement therapies to treat chronic, rare diseases. Patients that rely on these medications require regular injections or infusions throughout their lives. While there are more than 250 products derived from plasma, key players generally rely on Immunoglobulin (IG), albumin, and factor VIII to drive sales and profitability.
Over the past decade, the plasma protein therapeutics market has grown lucratively with immunoglobulin capturing the major market share. Demand for plasma derived-products is driven by rising disease prevalence, geriatric population, and improved access to drugs in emerging markets. Approvals of new plasma-derived therapies are anticipated to further fuel the demand. Developing countries such as China and Brazil offer new investment avenues to the global market giants.
Asia Pacific is expected to exhibit high growth over the forecast period fueled by increasing healthcare expenditure, presence of a large number patients. improved ratio of patients suffering from disease and patients receiving treatment, low-cost production of drugs, and improvement in diagnostic technology.
Major players operating in the plasma protein therapeutics market include CSL Behring, Grifols, S.A., Shire Plc, Octapharma AG, Biotest AG, and Kedrion S.P.A. Regional expansion, broad product portfolio, and merger & acquisitions are chief strategic undertakings adopted by key players.
Coagulation Analyzer Market - The global coagulation analyzer market was valued at USD 3.3 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.2% over the forecast period.
Orthopedic Soft Tissue Repair Market - Orthopedic soft tissue repair market was valued at over USD 5.0 billion in 2015 and is anticipated to show lucrative growth over the forecast period.
Knee Implants Market - The global knee implants market accounted for USD 8.8 billion in 2015 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 4.0% during the forecast period.
Biodefense Market - The global biodefense market size was over USD 9.5 billion in 2015.


text:
Q: What does the syntax `default (dict) .Values.outer.inner` mean in a helm template? Given values.yaml:
outer:
  inner:
    someKey: false

What does the following syntax in a helm template file mean?
  {{- if index (default (dict) .Values.outer.inner) "someKey" }}
  {{- .... }}
  {{- end }}

From context, I can infer what I think it's supposed to do:  check if the specified key exists at the specified location.
But where does the default (dict)... syntax come from? Sprig?  I can't find it documented in any of these places:
https://v2.helm.sh/docs/chart_template_guide/#template-functions-and-pipelines
https://golang.org/pkg/text/template/#hdr-Functions
http://masterminds.github.io/sprig/
http://masterminds.github.io/sprig/defaults.html
And what does it actually mean?

A: This particular code avoids a failure if the values outer: {...} doesn't contain an inner key within it.
dict is a Sprig function that creates a new dictionary.  It can be called with any (even) number of parameters; (dict) with no parameters creates an empty dictionary.
default x y is the same as y | default x and calls the Sprig default function.
The important thing this is trying to protect against is if .Values.outer doesn't have an inner key within it.  If that happened, .Values.outer.inner would be nil, and .Values.outer.inner.someKey would produce an error; the default dict block replaces nil with an empty dictionary, which can be used with index and similar template code.
I'll often write similar template blocks one layer at a time:
{{- $outer := .Values.outer | default dict -}}
{{- $inner := $outer.inner | default dict -}}
{{- if $inner.someKey }}
...
{{- end }}


So… My name is Ranada, and I'm addicted to being busy. The first step is admitting the problem, right?
Ok, ok, ok… Busyness is not the real problem. Why? Honestly, I love my extacurricular activities. The real problem is that I don't always prioritize and say no to the bottom ones. I just take it all on because I know at the end of the day, everything will work out. So, I've been practicing saying no. And I feel better (while a little guilty, but nonetheless better) already.
In 2009, (as I say every year lol) I will be working on a better me. A less stressed me, who not only takes care of others, but of myself as well. And of course my mom and mentor say that I will be of better service to other and have a higher demand when I'm at my best. And I agree. I just feel like I will be searching high and low for something to do. But the reality is that I'll still have plenty to do–just more time to do it. No school, no new leadership roles. That's already a huge weight off as of Dec. 15 or so. More personal activities. More spending time with my Smokie. More sleep (YES!). More exercise… More travel hopefully. More time to sit on my deck and ponder the unknowns of the world. More time to blog!! Haha. I'm looking forward to 2009.
Like you I enjoy my extracurriculars and struggle to balance them. At one time I was asking God for an extra hour or two to watch the news, blog with neglecting others and date every now and again. The request was unrealistic, so I scaled things back a little. That's working better. Good luck to you!


text:
Motel closure prompts emergency funding
United Way approves emergency funding for housing needs tied to local motel closure.
Motel closure prompts emergency funding United Way approves emergency funding for housing needs tied to local motel closure. Check out this story on newarkadvocate.com: http://ohne.ws/2feyA8L
Ohio Published 12:03 a.m. ET Nov. 9, 2016
The United Way of Licking County's board recently approved emergency funding tied to the closure of the Shamrock Motel in Etna Township. The Ohio Fire Marshal's Office issued an evacuation notice at the motel earlier this year, displacing dozens of residents.(Photo: File photo)
ETNA - The United Way of Licking County's board recently approved emergency funding tied to the closure of an Etna Township motel.
The board approved funding for the Licking County Coalition for Housing, allowing the coalition to replace money it spent earlier this year finding both temporary shelter and permanent housing for residents of the Shamrock Motel, which stands on U.S. 40, just west of Watkins Road.
In March, the Ohio Fire Marshal's Office served an evacuation notice at the motel, a move that displaced more than 40 people, including children.
The fire marshal's office made the move after the motel's electricity was cut off due to lack of payment, creating fire safety concerns, in addition to health-related concerns. Some of the concerns related to inoperable smoke alarms and fire suppression systems, a representative from the fire marshal's office said at the time.
At the request of the American Red Cross, the LCCH stepped in and helped find housing for several of the motel's residents.
In light of the move, the United Way of Licking County's board announced on Nov. 3 that it had approved $3,150 to replenish the LCCH's limited discretionary funds, which it used during the aftermath of the Shamrock Motel closure.
The motel, as of Nov. 11, remained closed, according to Etna Township officials.
United Way of Licking County Executive Director Deb Dingus said the incident illustrates an ongoing issue in the county.
"This may not be a one-time problem as homelessness continues to be an issue," she said. "United Way continues to be there taking care of the most fragile part of our community."
The United Way board approved the funding contingent upon the Red Cross/Licking County Coalition for Housing developing a plan with the appropriate community partners, including the Ohio Fire Marshal's Office, and the Licking County Emergency Management Agency, to address similar emergencies that may arise in the future.
The United Way works year round to address a variety of issues, including poverty and behavioral health needs, in Licking County. It collaborates to identify local needs, gather needed funds and resources, fund programs and then evaluate the outcomes of those programs.
Read or Share this story: http://ohne.ws/2feyA8L


Subject The article studies small businesses as economic units.
Objectives The research aims to determine the role of small business in the development and economy.
Methods The research relies upon a comparative analysis and statistical data.
Results I focus on view of many scholars stating that small business underlies the economy in various countries. Therefore, the State should actively support small businesses and encourage the market competition. The article presents my dissent with the above views. Small businesses can neither be the basis for modern economic processes, nor drive its growth. Small businesses tend to sluggish development due to economic monopolies subduing the market competition, dominating small and medium-sized businesses.
Conclusions As long as monopolies dominate the market, small businesses will definitely not contribute to a growth of social production.
Glaz'ev S.Yu. Bitva za liderstvo v XXI veke. Rossiya-SShA-Kitai. Sem' variantov obozrimogo budushchego [The battle for leadership in the 21st century. Russia–USA–China. Seven scenarios of the foreseeable future]. Moscow, Knizhnyi mir Publ., 2017, 352 p.
De Soto J.H. Avstriiskaya ekonomicheskaya shkola: rynok i predprinimatel'skoe tvorchestvo [La escuela austríaca: mercado y creatividad empresarial]. Chelyabinsk, Sotsium Publ, 2007, 202 p.
Smith A. Issledovanie o prirode i prichinakh bogatstva narodov. T. 1 [An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Vol. 1]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1993, 569 p.
Lenin V.I. Detskaya bolezn' "levizny" v kommunizme. V kn.: Poln. sobr. soch. T. 41 ["Left-Wing" Communism: An Infantile Disorder]. Moscow, Izdatel'stvo politicheskoi literatury Publ., 1981, pp. 1–104.
Lenin V.I. Imperializm kak vysshaya stadiya kapitalizma [Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism]. Moscow, Politizdat Publ., 1986, 125 p.
Lundberg F. Bogachi i sverkhbogachi [The Rich and the Super-Rich]. Moscow, Progress Publ., 1971, 683 p.


text:
All For One, and One For Quebec Only
This entry was posted on June 4, 2012, in Canada, Grinds my Gears, Politics, Written by Michael and tagged Bloc Quebecois, Canada, federal government of canada, federal political parties, politics, Quebec, Separatism, Soveriegnty. Bookmark the permalink.	1 Comment
Written by: Michael Kravshik.
A federal government is a government for the entire nation. Sounds simple enough, but for some reason it's a concept that Canadians have a hard time accepting. Well, that's not entirely true, I think a lot Canadians accept that fact but for some reason (political correctness perhaps?), or some slew of reasons, we are willing to ignore or overlook it.
It seems like such a no brainer. The Federal Government of Canada represents everyone from Newfoundland to British Columbia, and in an ideal situation of course, does so perfectly equally. The government in power is the government of every citizen of the country, and not the government of the group that voted them in. Of course, the people who vote in a particular government are bound to agree with more of that government's particular decisions. However, the concept is that the decisions that the government makes are what they believe to be best for Canada as a whole. Getting governments to actually act in a manner that lives up to this ideal can be difficult, especially when partisan politics rears its ugly head, but its hard to disagree with the goal. While people may not agree with their specific policies, the policies of the Conservative, Liberal, NDP, and even Green party are intended for the betterment of all Canada.
This is not so with the Bloc Quebecois. For any non-Canadians out there, the Bloc are a federal political party whose interests are solely that of one, just one, of our thirteen provinces and territories, comprising less than a quarter of our population (down from roughly 43% at Confederation). Unlike the rest of the Canadian federal political parties whose policies are based on political ideology, the Bloc stands alone as a regional interest group pretending to be a national party. Their rejection of the values of a United Canada can be summed up by taking a visit to their official website. Unlike every single other thing in Canada from pop cans to warning labels, the Bloc did not find it necessary to provide a bilingual website. A Canadian living in the farthest reaches of Northwestern Canada has to read "Pomplemousse" on their carbonated Grapefruit beverage before turning the can around to find "Grapefruit." Yet, a federal political party somehow doesn't find it necessary to translate their website for the 77.9% of the country whose mother tongue is not French (circa 2006, probably higher now). Interestingly, the increased cost of a bilingual label has even managed to force some companies not to sell their products here due to paper-thin margins. But lets be honest, this isn't a big problem overall. Yes, I, and my fellow English Canadians, have been forced to turn around lots of labels and search for the one we understand our entire lives, but don't feel too sorry for us. The important issue is how this basic rejection of Canadian unity can be reconciled with the Bloc's role as a federal political party.
There's a simple answer, it can't. The Bloc came into existence in 1991 after the defeat of the Meech Lake Accord, a political agreement that was meant to give Quebec political entitlements none of the other provinces enjoy. The party was intended to help the push for sovereignty, while in the meantime pushing Quebec's interests generally. This is the big difference between the Bloc and any other federal party. While I personally may think that NDP policies will hurt Canada, the NDP doesn't. Whereas, I also personally think that Bloc policies will hurt Canada, and they do as well. In fact, that's their goal, the break up of Canada. These interests are irreconcilable with leading or even taking part in the Federal Government of Canada.
For non-Canadians, the Prime Minister of Canada is the leader of the party with the most federal Members of Parliament (each member earning a seat in the House of Commons by winning their electoral riding), and the leader of the party who places second becomes our official opposition. The official name of this role is Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition to demonstrate that although they are against the sitting government (hence representing Canadians who did not vote for the government), they remain loyal to the Crown, and thus to Canada. I'll give everyone a quick moment to take in the pure ridiculousness of a separatist party being loyal to the country.
Any party able to obtain the positions of either sitting government (with their leader as our Prime Minister), or official opposition, must have the betterment of the country in mind, right? Wrong. In 1993, the Bloc Quebecois edged out the Reform Party of Canada by two seats in the House of Commons, and became Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Granted this was mainly due to conservative vote splitting between the Progressive Conservative and Reform parties. None-the-less, for the first time in Canadian history, a party whose goal was the dissolution of the country was given the role of safeguarding it. This prominent role is sometimes even referred to as the "government in waiting".
The concept of a separatist party being charged with this role is laughable on its own, but it's important to consider that the leader of the Bloc is actually a potential legitimate candidate for our Prime Minister. Regardless of the almost negligible possibility of it occurring, the concept itself should be enough to outrage any reasonably proud Canadian.
There is no situation ever, in which a separatist party, or any party whose goal is not the improvement of a United Canada, should be considered or allowed as a federal party. Does this squash the rights of the people of Quebec? Absolutely not. Quebec has often had separatism supporters, and they have the political party that can honestly claim to strive for that, the Parti Quebecois. A provincial party striving to obtain sovereignty makes sense since they are still attempting to represent the entire population they are being elected to lead.
I'd like to conclude this piece with an anecdote. During the 2008 Federal Election, there was an English Language debate (oh yes, all of our debates are mandatory in both languages as well), between the leaders of the major parties. Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party of Canada, was allowed to join the debate to the consternation of many Canadians. The Green Party did not, and has never, constituted a 'major political party' and in fact did not even have any seats in the House of Commons at the time. Although I, like many Canadians, thought this just another example of how political correctness can be taken to an extreme, I realized that Ms. May was not the most egregious participant in the debate. Gilles Duceppe, leader of the party trying to break apart our fair country, was given just about as much air time as Stephen Harper, our sitting Prime Minister. Many people protested Ms. May's attendance during the weeks running up the debate, yet no one doubted Mr. Duceppe's. I guess the Canadian political psyche has gotten so used to French Canadian abuses that it is suffering from its own twisted form of Stockholm syndrome.
This is my opinion. What's yours?
One thought on "All For One, and One For Quebec Only"
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