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Plummeting Production Of Unmanned Undersea Systems Threatens Navy Plans For Distributed Maritime Operations
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The Russian Army Doesn't Have Enough Trucks To Defeat Ukraine Fast
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Limited Air Force Testing Of This Data-Of-Opportunity Navigation System Is A Missed Opportunity
Editors' Pick| Nov 1, 2021, 08:00am EDT |
The U.S. Navy Plans More Powerful Air Wings As The Chinese Navy Reveals Two New Planes
I write about ships, planes, tanks, drones, missiles and satellites.
Sailors direct flight operations while an F-35C Lightning II prepares to launch off the flight deck ... [+] of the USS 'Carl Vinson' on Oct. 27, 2021.
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Emily Claire Bennett
The U.S. Navy has laid out plans for its next-generation carrier air wing. One with drones, new stealth fighters and better munitions.
And just in time. Because the Chinese navy is moving quickly to begin matching the American fleet's current wing.
The U.S. Navy today maintains nine carrier air wings, or CVWs, to fly from its 11 nuclear-powered supercarriers, or CVNs.
The current CVW structure includes four fighter squadrons, each with 11 F/A-18E/Fs, plus a squadron with five EA-18G electronic-warfare jets and another unit with four E-2 radar early-warning planes. MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters and C-2 supply planes round out the wing.
Over the next few years, however, the CVWs will settle on a new mix of planes that should remain standard for a decade or so. USS Carl Vinson in early August sailed from San Diego with the first of the fleet's redesigned wings.
The new structure swaps out one squadron of F/A-18s for a squadron flying 10—later 14—F-35C stealth fighters. There are two extra EA-18Gs and one extra E-2. New CMV-22B tiltrotors replace the C-2s. In a few years, each CVW also will get a handful of MQ-25 tanker drones that also can perform surveillance missions.
The F-35C is the key to the CVW's effectiveness as Chinese ships, planes and missiles grow more sophisticated and more numerous. "The F-35C of 2030 and beyond will serve as an invaluable force multiplier for the [carrier strike group]," the Navy explained in its new aviation strategy document. "The F-35C's stealth and passive detection capabilities will allow the platform to gain critical intelligence and share throughout the CSG, significantly aiding the kill chain."
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The stealth fighter is getting three new weapons, the Navy explained: a networked model of the Joint Standoff Weapon glide bomb, the radar-homing Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile Extended Range and the swarming Small Diameter Bomb II.
The F-35s and new munitions could preserve the Navy's striking power until the mid-2030s, the fleet posited in its strategy document. After that, all bets are off as Chinese deploys its own new carriers and air wings.
At present, the Chinese navy operates two medium carriers. They have ramps instead of the catapults that are standard on American flattops. Low-energy ramp-launch limits how much fuel and weaponry the carrier's J-15 fighters can carry—and totally precludes the operation of heavier aircraft in the class of the U.S. E-2.
But China's third carrier, which is nearing completion in Shanghai, does have catapults—as will any future Chinese flattops, most likely. And Beijing is developing new aircraft to embark on the new carrier.
The J-35 stealth fighter and KJ-600 radar plane—respectively the Chinese equivalents of the F-35C and E-2—apparently both flew for the first time recently. Photos of those first flights circulated online last week.
It's not clear how quickly or in what quantity the Chinese navy will deploy new carriers, J-35s and KJ-600s. But the U.S. Navy is assuming that Chinese developments will blunt the effectiveness of its own carriers and CVWs around 2035.
That's when the U.S. fleet will need a new carrier fighter, the F/A-XX. "The advanced carrier-based power projection capabilities resident in F/A-XX will maintain CVN relevance in advanced threat environments," the Navy explained.
Unlike the U.S. Air Force's own secretive new stealth fighter, which already has flown, the F/A-XX at present is a paper airplane. The service knows what it wants the F/A-XX to do, however. "Analysis shows it must have longer range and greater speed, incorporate passive and active sensor technology and possess the capability to employ the longer-range weapons programmed for the future."
It's an open question whether the Navy will meet its 2035 deadline for fielding the new fighter. It's equally unclear that the fleet can afford the hundreds of F/A-XXs it would need to replace all 600 or so F/A-18E/Fs.
If the Navy is slow, it could give the Chinese fleet a chance to leap ahead in capability if not in numbers. If the Navy is cheap, it might have to reduce the number of carriers and wings in order to re-equip those that remain.
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The Bridgewater College golf team won three tournaments during its fall schedule and is ready to tee it up for the spring portion of the schedule. The Eagles will play against some of the top teams in the South Region this spring as they prepare for the ODAC Championship tournament.
The Eagles open the spring season Feb. 23-24 at the Pine Needles Invitational.
BC head coach Dr. Leroy Williams answers a few questions concerning the upcoming spring season and his young Eagles' team.
Q: The Eagles are coming off a tremendous fall season. Can you reflect on the team's successes earlier this year?
Coach Williams: I was surprised by our success this fall, because we are so young. I expected us to do this well NEXT year, but not so soon. Our core of three players (Mike Redwood, Nick Dean, and John Phillips) played well at each tournament, and showed more maturity than I expected. Our next four players – David Wellman, Aaron German, Michael Hankins and Luke Nash – were all working to play more consistently. Sometimes they did very well (Luke Nash shot a 69 in the final round at the VSGA). I expect those four to keep competing for the two "open" spots each week.
Q: The team has a tough spring schedule. Discuss some of the upcoming tournaments this spring and the benefits of playing at some tough events.
Coach Williams: Our fall success was against Virginia teams. Three of our tournaments this spring (Pine Needles, Jekyll Island, and Camp Lejeune) will pit us against some of the best teams in the region, and the country. We have the players to remain competitive with these teams. It will be a test of our maturity.
Q: The team appears to be close to contending with the best teams in the ODAC. Who are some of the top teams in conference and what are the keys that can help the Eagles contend with these teams?
Coach Williams: Based upon our scoring average, we are ranked second in the conference, and I think that is a fair assessment of where we are. (We are currently ranked 30th in the country, out of 295 teams). Guilford is clearly the top team again, and is ranked No. 3 in the country. A lot of the teams in the conference are playing well, especially Roanoke and Lynchburg. Hampden-Sydney and W&L will be strong as usual. Our goal is to win the conference title this year. To do so, we need to get more consistent contributions from the No. 4 and No. 5 players. Our top 3 each need to shave a stroke off their scores.
Q: What are the team's goals for the upcoming spring season?
Coach Williams: Simple. Win the ODAC Conference Championship and go to the NCAA Tournament. We also want competitive showings at the three big regional events. None of this is out of the question. I think we have the players that can accomplish this, so I am really looking forward to the spring season.


SOP newswire3 Puerto Rico Governor Updates Pence on Recovery Efforts - Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello said today he briefed Vice President Mike Pence yesterday on the recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and underscored the need for urgent, ongoing support following the devastation from Hurricane Maria.
SOP newswire3 U.S. Northern Command Prepares for Tropical Storm Nate - DoD personnel are helping with hurricane relief efforts in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and now the departments U.S. Northern Command is preparing for the approach of Tropical Storm Nate, Pentagon officials said today.
SOP newswire3 Puerto Rico Governor Praises DoD for Hurricane Relief Efforts - Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello this morning described the relief missions on the U.S. island territory following Hurricane Marias devastation as part of a comprehensive effort and thanked the Defense Department for its assistance.
SOP newswire3 Over 11,000 DoD Personnel Aid Puerto Rico Hurricane Relief Efforts - More than 11,000 Defense Department personnel now are in Puerto Rico, helping the U.S. territory recover from the wrath of Hurricane Maria in the areas of logistics, medical support and aviation.
SOP newswire3 Hospital Ship Arrives in Puerto Rico - Defense Department personnel continue to arrive in Puerto Rico to help the island recover from Hurricane Maria, with roughly 10,000 DoD members working with commonwealth officials across the island, Gov. Ricardo Rossello said during a news conference in San Juan today.
SOP newswire3 Food, Water, Fuel Still Priorities for Puerto Rico - Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello briefed reporters today on progress the unified collaboration of commonwealth and federal officials has made in delivering aid to the people of the island following Hurricane Maria.
SOP newswire3 Federal Emergency Response Working Smoothly, Puerto Rico Governor Says - Puerto Rico governor said the commonwealth and federal team combating Hurricane Maria devastation is working smoothly and every resource he has asked for is either on the island or on the way.
SOP newswire3 Military Officials Outline Hurricane Relief Efforts - The numerous natural disasters of the past couple of weeks have cut a wide swath across the United States from Florida and the Caribbean region to the West Coast, Air Force Maj. Gen. Derek P. Rydholm, deputy to the chief of the Air Force Reserve told Pentagon reporters today.
SOP newswire3 Northcom Providing Disaster Relief Following Hurricane Maria - U.S. Northern Command is fully engaged with federal, state, and local mission partners as the command provides support to the response efforts for Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria.
SOP newswire3 Southcom Commander: Military Hurricane Assistance Fast, Flexible - The strength and force of recent hurricanes in the Caribbean left historic levels of devastation on several island nations and territories in the region, said Navy Adm. Kurt W. Tidd, commander of U.S. Southern Command.
SOP newswire3 National Guard Chief Observes Troops in Action Amid Hurricane Damage, Wildfires - As Army and Air National Guard troops worked in the hardest-hit areas of Florida, so too did guardsmen work amid a raging fire in Oregon, as observed by a National Guard Bureau team that traveled to both crises Sept. 16-17.
SOP newswire3 National Guard Plans Relief Efforts as Hurricane Maria Slams Puerto Rico - National Guard troops and members of federal agencies throughout the Caribbean region are hunkering down and making disaster relief preparations as Hurricane Maria made landfall today in Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm, with winds of 150 mph, weather officials said.
SOP newswire3 Tennessee Air Guard Imagery Analysis Supports Hurricane Relief Effort - Members of the Tennessee Air National Guards 118th Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group based at Joint Base Berry Field here are supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agencys relief efforts in response to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
SOP newswire3 Florida Air Guardsmen Assist Elderly at Florida Shelters - When disaster strikes, first responders jump into action at a moments notice. When Hurricane Irma sent hundreds of civilians into special-needs shelters here, moments weren't long enough.
SOP newswire3 Marines Assist Irma Relief Efforts in Caribbean, Florida - Since the beginning of the Hurricane Irma disaster relief effort, Marines have successfully evacuated 1,600 citizens stranded on Caribbean islands that took Irmas full impact, and delivered more than 52,000 pounds of supplies and equipment here.
SOP newswire3 Soldiers Continue to Support Irma Response - The Army -- including active duty, Reserve, and National Guard members -- remains involved in, or is prepared to support state, territory, or other federal agencies such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as part of Hurricane Irma relief operations in the continental United States and the Caribbean, Army spokesperson Cynthia O. Smith said today in a statement.
SOP newswire3 Wisconsin Guard, Other State Units, Contribute to Irma Response - As the nation marked the 16th anniversary of the terror attacks in New York City, the Pentagon and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, more than 2,500 Wisconsin National Guard troops began loading up into military trucks or aircraft, as they made their way to Florida to assist Hurricane Irma relief efforts.
SOP newswire3 Pentagon Provides Update on Hurricane Irma Relief Operations - The Defense Department has initiated operations in Florida in response to Hurricane Irma and also continued response operations in the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, according to a DoD statement issued today.
SOP newswire3 Almost 10K Total Army Personnel Engaged in Irma Response - The Total Army, which includes active duty, Reserve, and Army National Guard personnel, remains involved in or prepared to support state, territory and other federal agencies as part of Hurricane Irma relief operations, Army spokesman Col. Patrick Seiber said yesterday.
SOP newswire3 DoD Continues Hurricane Irma Response Operations - The Defense Department is well-postured for Hurricane Irma response operations in Florida with maritime and air-ground assets, as the department also continues its response operations throughout the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and other Caribbean locales, DoD spokesman Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis said today in a statement.
SOP newswire3 President Urges Vigilance as Irma Approaches Southern Florida - As Hurricane Irma continues to approach the coast of southern Florida today the federal government is working with state and local agencies to help save lives, protect families, and assist those in need, President Donald J. Trump said yesterday as part of his weekly address to the nation.
SOP newswire3 Colorado Air National Guard Sends Commo Unit for Irma Response - A special communications section of the Colorado Air National Guard is staging to Mississippi to assist civilian authorities in areas impacted by Hurricane Irma.
SOP newswire3 Army Assets Ready to Respond to Hurricane Irma - More than 7,400 Army personnel, including active duty, reserve and National Guard soldiers, as well as U.S. Army Corps of Engineers civilian members are involved in or prepared to support state, local and territory agencies or other federal agencies.
SOP newswire3 California Guard Heads Out to Fight Fires, Assist With Hurricane Irma - California Guard helping out in time of crisis.
SOP newswire3 Northcom Begins Support for Hurricane Irma - U.S. Northern Command began supporting the Federal Emergency Management Agencys Hurricane Irma response today as the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp arrived in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
SOP newswire3 National Guardsmen Ready for Action as Hurricane Irma Slams Caribbean - Hurricane Irma, a monster storm packing winds up to 185 mph, is hovering over islands in the Eastern Caribbean as Florida National Guardsmen begin preparing for the storm to hit Florida and residents begin evacuating.
SOP newswire3 Guardsmen Head Toward Hurricane Irma - As Hurricane Irma bears down on the Caribbean today, National Guard units are sending personnel to aid civilian authorities in the storms path.
SOP newswire3 Marine Reservists Answer Call in Texas - Marines with 4th Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Assault Amphibian Battalion and 14th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, have come together since Aug. 28 in the wake of Hurricane Harvey to conduct search and rescue missions and provide disaster relief to affected areas of Texas and Louisiana.
SOP newswire3 Soldiers Take Pride as Hurricane Harvey Response Continues - In response to Hurricane Harvey, the Army has deployed more than 700 wheeled vehicles and more than 90 helicopters.
SOP newswire3 Hybrid Team Rescues Man From Hurricane Harvey Flooding - A team of National Guardsmen, Coast Guardsmen, swift-water rescue technicians and volunteers worked together here Aug. 30 to rescue and airlift a patient needing special medical attention from severe flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey to a safe medical facility.
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Despite the last post going out on April Fool's Day, Zippy and I really did get back on the trail for three days just now, between the winter storm and the wedding. J.'s dad generously loaned us his blue Del Rio, which we left at the Greasy Creek Friendly (as opposed to Hostel, get it? …oh, and it's pronounced Greazy, if you want to sound like a local). The kind proprietor, Connie, shuttled us to the trail, and thus commenced some of the most pleasurable, beautiful hiking we've yet enjoyed… long, sunny days over terrain hinting enticingly at spring: magnolia buds, tiny yellow violets, the post-rain smell of ozone. We climbed over Unaka Mountain, its dense spruce summit holding in a last inch of fresh-smelling snow, making the name apt (Unaka is Cherokee for white). And we felt for the first time the true community of the trail.
I should explain. For our first three weeks, we passed probably between a hundred to a hundred and fifty people. On day three, we'd checked in to Neels Gap as northbound thru-hikers #198 and #199. (Dan got a free candy bar for being #200, so we were just a hair early.) Until mile 317, we knew of no one who had passed us, though surely some did, maybe while we were in town resupplying.
So though we met lots of hikers, we didn't stay with them long, never more than three days, and then they were gone, behind us. We passed various "bubbles" of people–little groups among whom bonds form due to similar paces and personalities, and from which miniature cultures arise. Some are mellow and friendly. Some brim with testosterone. Others are quiet. Some look forward to town trips ("We're gonna get wasted! $3.99 wine at Walgreens!") and others always yearn for the woods. Some religiously hang their food bags and leave no trace; others leave ribbons of TP in their wake. One group glommed around a guy ceaselessly strumming a small, purple guitar. Most groups, and hikers in general, are encouraging and positive, and also rich in dark humor. (One morning I shuffled to the moldering privy, tipped open the lid with a knuckle, and found that someone had taped a scrap of wrapper to the inside: "Making Warm Chocolate Memories".) But despite all the interesting anthropological aspects of passing by bubbles, we didn't feel an overall fellowship. Our hike was a couple's hike, not a community's.
Due to our six-day hiatus, these past fifty miles felt different. We're further back in the pack, and are meeting up with folks we've met before. Two women and their dog, Roscoe. Dan, the famous #200. Leprechaun and Moxie from the Locust Cove campground, who were with us the night everyone's food bags crashed to the ground at 4 am since we'd all thrown our goodies over a branch that was not as strong as it looked. And Fresh Grounds, a trail magic guy we met before the Smokies. He's an energetic and hospitable man who sets up a massive spread, complete with folding chairs and a tarped shelter, for hikers passing through. (When we ran into him yesterday just past Indian Grave Gap, he ruthlessly pushed on us the following: two chili dogs for J., a can of Progresso vegetable soup for me, Fritos, bread, about twenty Hershey's Minis, four Hydrox cookies, a can of Coca-Cola, and refills for our water bottles. Though I have to admit, it didn't take much pushing. Fresh Grounds takes donations and will follow the hikers north as long as the money lasts. He calls his setup the Leap Frog Cafe.) And every time we see a hiker again, it seems that another thread of solidarity is stitched. We are excited to see them still here, still walking.
So we now feel more connected. The people we see now have been through the same weather, the same terrain. They have grown tougher, fitter, wiser, and better able to see the humor in adverse circumstances. We are all each other's cheerleaders. It is wonderful.


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Q: Getting GitHub and Gerrit to play nicely I host a private repo on GitHub. I also want to use Gerrit, particularly for the Hudson Gerrit Trigger plugin. AFAICT, there isn't any simple solution for using them together.
I'd appreciate any help on any of the following wants.

What I want

*

*Clone GitHub repo and add to Gerrit's projects either:

*

*manually, or

*during init

*Merge changes with GitHub using Gerrit

What I've tried
Cloning/Adding...
Manually: I clone the repo as normal, then add into H2 like so:
INSERT INTO projects
(use_contributor_agreements,submit_type,name)
VALUES
('N','M','new/Repo');

During init:
*** Git Repositories
***

Location of Git repositories   [git]: git@github.com:YourName/Repo.git

I don't think that's correct.

What happens
Cloning/Adding...
Manually:
I get this error: repository not found: Cannot open repository Repo
During init:
Creates the directory at ~/gerrit2/git@github.com:YourName/Repo.git and sub-directory Repo.git, which itself contains an empty Git repo. Not exactly what I wanted.

A: Not try myself, but you could use gerrit repo and mirror to github

A: Gerrit is built on top of JGit which does not support a remote GitHub repository.
JGit itself allows to either have the repository on your local (or shared) filesystem or to have it accessible through a genefic "DFS" (Distributed File System) provider.
See as reference: JGit : connect to distant repository.
I wrote an article on a different strategy to use Gerrit and GitHub together: http://www.packtpub.com/article/using-gerrit-with-github
In a nutshell you can delegate three different tasks to GitHub:

*

*Authentication: Gerrit request a GitHub login using OAuth 2.0 authentication API

*Pull requests: Gerrit can fetch GitHub pull requests and present them as Gerrit changes

*Replication: Gerrit can push back the changes (either in review or merged) to GitHub

NOTE: Once you start using Gerrit as your gateway to GitHub, you SHOULD NOT push directly to GitHub anymore but rely on either Pull Requests (imported to Gerrit) or directly pushing to Gerrit and working through changes review.
If you want to experiment Gerrit and GitHub integrated in this way, you can check out http://gerrithub.io, which is essentially a Gerrit 2.9-SNAPSHOT with the GitHub plugin configured as before.
Luca.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Eating fats makes you fat, right??
Well no actually, wrong!! It's not actually that simplistic. For years nutritionists, doctors etc. have preached that the key to losing weight, managing cholesterol and maintaining your health was to eat a low-fat diet. We see the same products everywhere – low fat drinks, fat free yoghurt, reduced fat biscuits and so on. Since this low-fat 'revolution' began over 20 years ago obesity levels in the U.S. has doubled. Here at home a recent study has shown that 66% of Irish men over the age of 20 are either overweight or obese and 50.9% of women over 20 are in the same category. Maybe these 'low-fat' diets aren't all they are cracked up to be.
Trans fat (or hydrogenated oils) are the reason 'fats' have such a bad name. These are fats that you want to avoid as they increase your risk of certain diseases and elevate cholesterol. Trans fat are used in the manufacture of foods to help keep them stay fresh for longer. Foods like pizzas, cookies, doughnuts, muffins etc. contain high levels of trans fats (I hear you, all the nice stuff J).
Saturated fats have been the topic of a lot of debate recently. For years it was believed that diets high in saturated fat led to increased risk of heart disease and stroke as well as raised blood cholesterol levels. More recent studies have been conducted that discount this theory but as a general rule to following we should reduce the amount of saturated fat we eat. This includes beef, pork, lamb, butter, cheese, ice-cream etc.
This is a type of fat found in a variety of foods and oils. Studies show that eating foods rich in monounsaturated fats improves blood cholesterol levels, which can decrease your risk of heart disease. Research also shows that these types of fats may benefit insulin levels and blood sugar control, which can be especially helpful if you have type 2 diabetes. Examples include nuts, avocado and olive oil.
This is a type of fat found mostly in plant-based foods and oils. Evidence shows that eating foods rich in polyunsaturated fats improves blood cholesterol levels, which can decrease your risk of heart disease. Polyunsaturates may also help decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes. Examples include omega 3's found in oily fish, walnuts and sesame seeds.
Everybody's Fats requirements will differ so it wouldn't be right to put a guideline as to how much fat you should be eating. Follow these simple rules and you won't go far wrong.
· Try to minimise Trans fat in your diet.
· Reduce the amount of Saturated Fat in your diet.
· Replace these Fats with healthy sources of Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat.
· Do not overdo it on healthy fats as a gram of fat contains 9 kcals (in comparison to a gram of protein = 4 kcals or a gram of carbohydrates = 4 kcals. Replace the unhealthy fats in your diet with healthy ones, don't add them to it.


Evolvulus nuttallianus Roem. & Schult.
Plant: Suffrutescent herb; stems several, erect to ascending, 10-15 cm tall, densely spreading-pilose with an indumentum of ferrugineous, brown, fulvous or gray color Leaves: linear-oblong, narrow-lanceolate to narrow-oblanceolate or rarely oblong, 8-20 mm long, 1.5-5 mm wide, entire, attenuate basally, acute to obtuse apically, densely pubescent on both surfaces; petioles short or absent INFLORESCENCE: single flowers in axils over whole length of stem; peduncles short or absent, stout Flowers: on pedicels 3-4 mm long, reflexed in fruit; bracteoles subulate, 1-4 mm long; sepals lanceolate to narrowly lanceolate, long-acuminate, 4-5 mm long, spreading-villous; corollas rotate to broadly campanulate, 8-12 mm wide, entire, purple or blue; anthers 1-2 mm long, oblong, basally auriculate, the filaments twice as long as the anthers; ovary globose Fruit: FRUITS ovoid, about as long as sepals, glabrous. SEEDS (1-)2, brown, smooth Misc: Sandy and rocky prairies and plains, chaparral, pinyon-juniper and oak woodlands; 800-2450 m (2700-8000 ft); May-Jul REFERENCES: Austin, Daniel F. 1998. J. Ariz. - Nev. Acad. Sci. Convolvulaceae 30(2): 61.
Perennial herb 10 - 20 cm tall Leaves: crowded, alternate, ascending, stalkless, small (1 - 2 cm long), lance-shaped to narrowly oblong, longer than wide, non-toothed, hairy. Flowers: many, singly in leaf axils, mostly stalkless, blue, small (around 1 cm tall and wide), broadly funnel-shaped. Sepals: five, about 0.5 cm long, narrowly lance-shaped, and covered with long soft hairs. Petals: five, but fused into short funnel with very ends flaring and appearing wavy-edged. Stamens: five, attached to inside top of petal tube. Pistil: with one, two-chambered, superior ovary; two styles, each branching in two near the base; and ending in two pairs of linear stigmas (four total, one per style branch). Fruit: two-chambered, four-valved, one- to two-seeded, egg-shaped capsules atop short, deflexed stalks. Stems: several, erect or ascending, densely hairy, and arising from a central thick root.
Similar species: Evolvulus nuttallianus is unlike other members of the Convolvulaceae family in the Chicago Region because its flowers have two styles which each branch into two and each of those branches ends in a stigma, so there are four linear stigmas per flower. In addition, other members of the family tend to be much larger with larger flowers, and much larger, obviously stalked leaves.
Habitat and ecology: Introduced from farther south and west, this species has only been reported in one locality near a gravel pit.
Notes: This plant is native to dry prairies and barrens south of the Chicago Region from southeast Tennessee, into the Ozark region of Missouri, and west into the Dakotas and Arizona.


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Gov. Edwards, LDH Highlight One Year of COVID-19 Vaccine Progress
BATON ROUGE — More than 2.29 million Louisianans – nearly 50 percent of the state's population – became fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in the first year of vaccinations. In addition, Louisiana has seen a decrease in the number of people hospitalized with COVID and in the percent of COVID tests that are positive. Today, the vast majority of COVID hospitalizations, cases and deaths are in those who have not yet been vaccinated.
COVID-19 vaccinations began on December 14, 2020, and since that day more than 4.7 million doses have been administered in Louisiana alone. More than 2.5 million Louisianans have at least one dose of the vaccine and more than 544,000 booster doses have been administered. According to the CDC, nearly 25 percent of Louisiana's eligible population has received a booster dose.
In addition to a nearly eight-fold decrease in COVID hospitalizations today when compared to a year ago, the percent of COVID tests that were positive in Louisiana was nearly 10 percent a year ago, which signals out-of-control community spread. Today, the state's percent positivity is 2.3 percent, which signals a much lower risk level across Louisiana.
"One year ago, I was proud and hopeful as I witnessed Nurse Deborah Ford receive the first COVID-19 vaccine dose in the state of Louisiana. Since that day, I am proud to see that more than 2.29 million Louisianans have gone sleeves up and are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Just one year ago today, we had 1,527 people hospitalized with COVID. Today, thanks to the vaccine, that number is below 200," Gov. John Bel Edwards said. "That is not to say the past year has not been without tragedy and loss. We've seen more than 500,000 COVID infections in Louisiana in the last year, and we've lost at least 8,052 Louisianans in that time alone, especially when the very strong Delta variant tore through our state, killing thousands. As has been true since the start of the pandemic, the vast majority of people who have died or become critically ill from COVID were not vaccinated – either because the vaccine was not available in the early months of the pandemic or they simply had not taken it yet. Fortunately, the vaccines are here and widely available now, and the importance of taking the vaccines along with the boosters when eligible simply cannot be stressed enough, especially now that the Omicron variant is here. They are our best and most effective path of protection for ourselves, loved ones and community.
"The vaccines are safe and effective and, in Louisiana, they've only resulted in a handful of severe adverse reactions and zero deaths. We have worked hard with public health officials, the Louisiana National Guard, medical professionals, local leaders and community groups to make these free, safe and effective vaccines accessible all across the Louisiana," Gov. Edwards said. "The COVID-19 vaccination effort has been a marvel of modern science and medicine unseen in any of our lifetimes. It is my fervent hope and prayer that all those who are not yet vaccinated will pause and take the time to speak with their doctor or a medical professional about this life-saving vaccine so that we do not have to say goodbye to any more of our Louisiana brothers and sisters."
"Receiving my COVID-19 vaccine alongside my colleagues was a moment that I will always remember," said Debbie Ford, Chief Nursing Officer at Ochsner Medical Center – New Orleans and Louisiana's first vaccine recipient. "Vaccines deliver protection and they also delivered hope to those of us fighting the pandemic. The vaccine allowed me to visit my grandchildren, go to Saints games and meet with other nursing leaders from across the country. Our fight isn't over but with a safe and effective vaccine and booster shots, we remain optimistic and hopeful for a healthy and safe future for all."
"Making the COVID-19 vaccine available and accessible to everyone in our state has been our number one priority from the very beginning, and I am happy to say we have made critical strides," said LDH Secretary Dr. Courtney N. Phillips. "Today more than 2.5 million people have gone sleeves up for the vaccine. These gains are a direct result of intentional, close collaboration with community partners, including our valued healthcare providers, local leaders, pharmacies and countless community stakeholders. They also reflect the Louisiana Department of Health's ongoing commitment to ensure safe and equitable administration of the vaccine for all Louisianans."
"It is too difficult to fathom just how much more loss we would have suffered in Louisiana without the COVID-19 vaccines. These vaccines are highly safe and effective, and have undoubtedly saved countless lives already. As we prepare to gather with family and friends this holiday season, one of the best gifts that we can offer our loved ones is that of protection. We urge everyone who is eligible to get the vaccine and the booster as soon as possible," said State Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter.
HOW TO GET A COVID VACCINE IN LOUISIANA
Everyone aged 5 and older is eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in Louisiana. The FDA has only authorized one of the three COVID-19 vaccines – from Pfizer – for children ages 5 to 17. Parents should confirm with the vaccine provider that their child is under 18 to ensure Pfizer vaccine is available before making an appointment.
COVID-19 vaccines are widely available at more than 1,000 locations in all of Louisiana's 64 parishes, including at pharmacies, hospitals, health care clinics, and doctor's offices.
For a list of locations, visit LDH's vaccine directory or visit vaccines.gov, which is maintained by the federal government.
To get a list of vaccine locations near you text your ZIP code to GETVAX (438829) in English, or VACUNA (822862) in Spanish.
If you have questions, would like to speak with a medical professional, or need help scheduling an appointment, call 211 or Louisiana's vaccine hotline at 1-855-453-0774.
Former Louisiana Police Chief and Current City Councilmember Indicted…

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
News	> Libya
Libya: Haftar's Forces Target Tripoli Hospital Again
A barrage of Grad rockets hit medical depots from the Al-Khadra General hospital, where over 300 patients were being treated. | Photo: Yeni Safak
The new attack is the fourth such strike on a Tripoli medical facility over the past month, according to local authorities.
Forces loyal to eastern-based Libyan General Khalifa Haftar attacked Sunday medical warehouses belonging to the Al-Khadra Hospital in the capital Tripoli for the third time in less than a week, according to the United Nations-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA).
Tripoli Hospital Shelled for 2nd Day, UN Condemns Attacks
A barrage of Grad rockets hit medical depots from the Al-Khadra General hospital, where over 300 patients were being treated, including two for COVID-19 and many for shrapnel wounds and burns from bombs.
The new attack is the fourth such strike on a Tripoli medical facility over the past month, according to local authorities. On March 6 and 7, shells also struck the grounds of the same hospital located in an area held by the internationally recognized government near a front line, injuring at least six health workers.
The United Nations condemned the shelling, calling it a "clear violation of international law" as eastern forces continue their final push to take over the Libyan capital amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
"This is a clear violation of international humanitarian law ... It is unacceptable at a time when healthcare and health workers are vital in our fight against a global pandemic," Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.
"A deplorable strike like this, resulting in senseless damage of a most needed medical facility, cannot be justified," the official added.
As the situation worsens in the war-torn nation, the Great Man-Made River company, a pipe network supplying groundwater from the Sahara, said last week that an armed group had stormed its pumping station and cut off water supplies to most western Libya.
Health experts worry the lack of water would be detrimental in the fight against the novel coronavirus. Libya has confirmed 25 cases of the virus, all in the country's west except for one in the eastern city of Benghazi.
From 2014 and on, Libya has had two political power centers, the U.N.-backed government in Tripoli, that is having a hard time governing the capital city and some western areas, and another government in Tobruk, an eastern city which has remained under Haftar's control.
The North-African nation which has major oil reserves had been under foreign rule for centuries and gained independence in 1951. Colonel Muammar Gaddafi seized power in 1969 and ruled the country for four decades until he was ousted in 2011 by Western military intervention.
Libya Khalifa Haftar Tripoli hospital Haftar forces hospital Covid-19 coronavirus
AA - Al Jazeera - Yeni Safak
by teleSUR / MP
Libya: Haftar's Army Suspends Fight for Tripoli Due to Covid-19
Libya Arms Embargo Has Become a Joke: UN Envoy
Libya: How Did We Get Here?
Libya: Before and After Muammar Gaddafi


text:
\section{Introduction}
\textbf{Geometric Deep Learning}
There has been a recent substantial progress during the past decades on Machine Learning and Deep Learning methods for analyzing large amounts of data to identify meaningful patterns that can be latter used for classification, regression, clustering, data generation... Some areas that have experienced such progress include Computer Vision, Speech Recognition and Natural Language Processing.
\\ \\
However, most of the existing machine and deep learning algorithms need structured data defined on Euclidean domains (voxels, grids, etc) to work with. Since there exist several fields which work with data that is not defined on Euclidean domains (physics, biology, complex systems, etc) the need for algorithms that can work with graph and/or manifold structured data is highlighted. In the recent years, the term Geometric Deep Learning has been coined to refer the extension of Deep Learning methods to graphs/manifold data.
\\
\\
Graphs are one of the most general data structures since they can be used to represent Euclidean as well as Non-Euclidean data. Formally $G = (V', E')$, a graph is composed by a set of vertices $V$ (also known as the set of nodes $N$) representing the data points and a set of edges $E$ which model the relations between the vertices. Moreover, graphs are mainly used to capture relational data (social networks, knowledge bases, image entities, maps, etc.) and, thus, are important for reasoning.
\\ \\
\textbf{Graph Neural Networks}
Graph Neural Networks where initially proposed by Scarselli et al.  \cite{4700287}  and they are a family of neural networks (universal approximators composed by trainable linear and non-linear transformations\cite{HORNIK1989359}) that map graphs to vector representations. This type of neural networks make use of generalized counterparts of traditional neural network functions to work with data with an arbitrary number of nodes and edges.
\\ \\
Recently, Gilmer et al.  \cite{gilmer2017neural}  proposed the Message Passing Neural Network (MPNN) scheme, which is invariant to graph isomorphism and makes use of messages to propagate information across adjacent nodes. The MPNN architecture is comprised of 2 stages: the message passing phase and the readout phase. Formally:

\begin{equation} \label{eq:1}
x_{\nu}^{t+1}  =  \sum_{w \in N(\nu)} M_{t}(h_{\nu}^{t}, h_{w}^{t}, e_{\nu w})
\end{equation}

\begin{equation} \label{eq:2}
h_{\nu}^{t+1} = U_t (h_{\nu}^{t}, m_{\nu}^{t+1})
\end{equation}

\begin{equation} \label{eq:3}
\widehat{y} = R({h_{\nu}^t} | \nu  \in G)
\end{equation}

In the massage passing phase (Eqs.\ref{eq:1} and \ref{eq:2}), the network learns an embedding vector for each node of the graph via iteratively aggregating and propagating information accross adjacent nodes. This part is done in sequential T stages where the network performs 2 functions at each stage: the message function (Eq.\ref{eq:1}) and the update function (Eq.\ref{eq:2}). Since graphs can have arbitrary number of nodes and edges, the resulting embedding vectors depend on the original graph, which creates the need for a function that summarizes the arbitrary number of embedding vectors into a fixed vector representation, which is named as readout function (Eq.\ref{eq:3}). This fixed output can be later passed to a machine learning algorithm of choice to perform different downstream tasks such as classification, regression, clustering,etc.

\textbf{Readout functions.} A highly desired property for readout functions is permutation invariance since graphs are unordered in nature. Commonly used readout functions are the Mean(·), Max(·) and Sum(·) functions. However, these functions present a problem of information loss at the readout phase. Moreover, the choice of the readout function is sensitive to the nature of the dataset, which makes it difficult to choose the optimal function for a specific task and it often leads to a suboptimal performance in many cases. \\
Some attempts to mitigate the information loss at the readout phase have been performed, consisting mainly in 3 different types of techniques:
\begin{itemize}
\item Fuzzy histograms, which are based on aggregating the arbitrary vector embeddings by calculating the membership probabilities to several fuzzy bins, were implemented by  \cite{Kearnes_2016}
\item Hierarchical clustering, which exploit hierarchical structures present in graphs, was used in  \cite{henaff2015deep} .
\item Multi-Layer Perceptrons, which can also be interpreted as weighted sums of node features and are highly expressive but at the cost of not being order invariant, were reported in  \cite{bruna2013spectral} .
\end{itemize}
However, the hitherto attempted methods exploit domain-specific graph attributes (i.g. hierarchical structures, order dependency, ...) and have not been compared to modern state of the art architectures which make use of simple Mean(·), Max(·) or Sum(·) functions and exhibit better performance.

\textbf{Contributions}
The main contribution of this work is a novel and readout layer composed by generalized mean-max-sum function families which substantially improves performance of state of the art GNN architectures and that can be used as a drop-in replacement for existing readout functions with very limited computational overhead. We achieve a state of the art result (improvement by 2 $\%$) in the ogb-molhiv dataset  \cite{hu2020ogb} .

\section{Methods}

\textbf{Generalized Functions}. A generalized function $f_{\theta}(.)$ is the one parametrized by a set of values $\theta$ for which exists a set of special cases $S_{\theta}$ for which such function reverts to another, more simple function. Generalized functions are useful for defining continuous and intermediate transitions between different existing functions, thus becoming more expressive than their special counterparts. Given the increased expressiveness, we hypothesize that a generalized function can help to mitigate the information loss in the readout phase which Message Passing Neural Networks suffer from.
\\ \\
We define a Generalized Readout layer parametrized by 2 values ($\beta$ and $p$) that is able to represent the majority of the existing and commonly used readout functions (mean, max, sum, min, ...) while maintaining permutation and ordering invariance. Our generalized layer reverts to commonly used functions under certain simple parameter settings, and it is also fully differentiable which allows for the training of the parameters via gradient-based algorithms such as the popular backpropagation.
\\ \\
\textbf{Proposition 1} (Generalized Mean-Max-Sum Aggregators). A generalized Mean-Max-Sum aggregation function is that for which there exist at least 3 combinations of a set of parameters $\theta_{i}$ such that:  $\lim_{\theta \rightarrow \theta_{1}} f_{\theta} = Mean( . )$ and $\lim_{\theta \rightarrow \theta_{2}} f_{\theta} = Max( . )$ and  $\lim_{\theta \rightarrow \theta_{3}} f_{\theta} = Sum( . )$.

In order to cover the 3 most popular readout phase functions (mean, max and sum), we design 2 mean-max-sum generalized function families (proposition 1). Inspired by  \cite{li2020deepergcn} , we use two different families of generalized mean-max-sum functions: a softmax-based aggregation and a power mean-based aggregation. Both function families are parametrized by two parameters ($\beta$ and $p$) which are optionally learnable and can be set to the initial value of choice.
\\ \\
Both families return graph-level-outputs by transforming node features based on a Generalized Aggr-Mean-Max function, so that for a single graph $\mathcal{G}_i$ its output is computed depending on the family of transformations by either Eq.\ref{eq:4} for the $Softmax$ family or by Eq.\ref{eq:5} for the $PowerMean$ family. Let $N_{i}$ be the number of nodes in the graph $G_{i}$, $r_{i}$ the output of the readout function, and $x_{n}$ the embedding of the $n^{th}$ node from the Message Passing phase:
\\ \\
\begin{equation} \label{eq:4}
\mathbf{r}_i = \frac{N_{i}}{1+\beta*\left(N_{i}-1\right)} \sum_{n=1}^{N_i} \mathbf{softmax} \left( \mathbf{x}_n * p \right) * \mathbf{x}_n
\end{equation}
\begin{equation} \label{eq:5}
\mathbf{r}_i = \left( \frac{1}{1+\beta*\left(N_{i}-1\right)} \sum_{n=1}^{N_i} \mathbf{x}_n^{p} \right)^{1/p}
\end{equation}
\\
Here we detail some of the special cases of the 2 function families used:
\\
The softmax-based aggregation family reverts to:
\begin{itemize}
\item the Mean function when $\beta = 1$ and $p = 0$
\item the Max function when $\beta = 1$ and $p \rightarrow +\infty$
\item the Min function when $\beta = 1$ and $p \rightarrow -\infty$
\item the Sum function when $\beta = 0$ and $p = 0$
\end{itemize}
The power mean based aggregation function family reverts to:
\begin{itemize}
\item the Mean function when $\beta = 1$ and $p=1$
\item the Max function when $\beta = 0$ and $p \rightarrow +\infty$
\item the Min function when $\beta = 0$ and $p \rightarrow -\infty$
\item the Sum function when $\beta = 0$ and $p = 1$
\end{itemize}

\begin{figure}[h]
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.5]{generalizedfamilies}
\caption{Landscape of generalized Mean-Max-Sum functions}
\label{fig:func-fam}
\end{figure}

The power mean based aggregation function family can also revert to different mean functions (quadratic mean, geometric mean, harmonic mean...).
\\
Another advantage of the 2 function families used is that they both keep the  permutation-invariance to the ordering of nodes and they support an arbitrary number of messages to be aggregated, two highly desired properties in readout functions.
\\
\textbf{Experimental Setup}. The superior expressiveness and performance of the proposed novel readout phase function is tested by comparing the best-performing GCNN on a given graph property prediction dataset (ogb-molhiv  \cite{hu2020ogb} ) with the Mean(·) readout phase, as indicated by  \cite{Fey/etal/2020} , and our new functions under a drop-in replacement scheme.
\\ \\
The ogb-molhiv \cite{hu2020ogb, Wu2018MoleculeNetAB} dataset is a graph property prediction dataset comprised of 41,127 molecules and the goal is a binary classification depending on their experimentally-checked ability to inhibit the HIV virus replication. The evaluation metric fro this dataset is the ROC-AUC.
\\ \\
The computational resources used for the experiments have been:
\begin{itemize}
\item \textbf{Hardware}: All the experiments in this work were carried on an Intel i7-6700-K 4.0Ghz and 16gb RAM computer with an Nvidia GTX 1060 6gb graphics card.
\item \textbf{Software}: In order to design and train the Deep Learning models, we employed the PyTorch  \cite{NEURIPS2019_9015}  and PyTorch Geometric  \cite{Fey/Lenssen/2019}  python libraries.
\end{itemize}
Our new technique has been implemented as a PyTorch Geometric \cite{Fey/Lenssen/2019} layer for ease of use.
The code to reproduce the experiments can be accessed here: \url{https://github.com/EricAlcaide/generalized-readout-phase}

\section{Results}
\textbf{Experiment 1}. In order to prove the superior performance of our novel technique, we performed a drop-in replacement with our readout phase and the Hierarchical Inter-Message Passing GNN (HIMP)  \cite{Fey/Lenssen/2019}  original architecture for the ogb-molhiv dataset  \cite{hu2020ogb}  (which was the best-performing (which had its code in open source) in the OGB leaderboard  \cite{OGB_LeaderBoard} at the time of writing this paper). We trained the new model architecture for 10 independent runs consisting of 100 epochs each. We used the Adam optimizer  \cite{kingma2014adam}  with the following hyperparameters (lr=1e-4, $\beta_{1}$=0.9, $\beta_{2}$=0.999, $\epsilon$=1e-8).
The hyperparameter combinations that were tried were:
\begin{itemize}
\item Softmax$_{1}$ ($\beta$=1, p=1) and Softmax$_{2}$ ($\beta$=1e-5, p=1e-5)
\item PowerMean$_{1}$ ($\beta$=1, p=1) and PowerMean$_{2}$ ($\beta$=1e-5, p=10)
\end{itemize}
The results from the experiment are showcased in table \ref{tab:table1} and the comparison with current SoTA is done in table \ref{tab:table2}. The final metric for every configuration for each of the 10 independent runs can be found, alongside with the mean $\pm$ std. For comparison with previous models, we use the best-performing model from table \ref{tab:table1}.
\begin{table}[h]
 \caption{Results from Experiment 1 (ROC-AUC mean $\pm$ std)}
  \centering
  \begin{tabular}{llll}
    \toprule
    \multicolumn{4}{c}{Our results}                   \\
    \cmidrule(r){1-4}
    Softmax$_{1}$ & Softmax$_{2}$  & PowerMean$_{1}$ & PowerMean$_{2}$ \\
    \midrule
    83.50   & 80.79 & 82.56 & 82.55 \\
    83.90   & 81.54 & 82.54 & 80.38 \\
    83.46   & 81.30 & 82.80 & 81.50 \\
    84.95   & 80.09 & 82.96 & 80.98 \\
    84.32   & 81.50 & 83.25 & 81.57 \\
    83.06   & 80.08 & 80.69 & 81.76 \\
    84.81   & 80.81 & 81.23 & 80.67 \\
    84.91   & 79.21 & 82.49 & 79.37 \\
    84.54   & 80.19 & 82.29 & 79.12 \\
    84.86   & 81.50 & 82.45 & 78.21 \\
    \midrule
    \textbf{84.23 $\pm$ 0.70} & 80.70 $\pm$ 0.79 & 82.33 $\pm$ 0.78 & 80.61 $\pm$ 1.35 \\
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
  \label{tab:table1}
\end{table}

\begin{table}[h]
 \caption{Comparison between our model and previous SoTA (ROC-AUC mean $\pm$ std)}
  \centering
  \begin{tabular}{lllll}
    \toprule
    \textbf{HIMP+GenReadout (Ours)} & GraphNorm \cite{cai2020graphnorm}  & HIMP\cite{Fey/etal/2020} & DeeperGCN\cite{li2020deepergcn} & GIN+VirtualNodes\cite{OGB_LeaderBoard} \\
    \midrule
    \textbf{84.23 $\pm$ 0.70} & 78.83 $\pm$ 1.0 & 78.80 $\pm$ 0.82 & 78.58 $\pm$ 1.17 & 77.07 $\pm$ 1.49 \\
    \bottomrule
  \end{tabular}
  \label{tab:table2}
\end{table}

\section{Discussion}
Our results from Experiment 1 represent a new state of the art result in the ogb-molhiv dataset \cite{hu2020ogb}  with an increase of 5.4$\%$ over the next top-performing model. Remarkably, all the different hyperparameter combinations tried exhibited better performance when compared to previous state of the art architectures. We attribute this to the superior expressiveness of our new function, which might help to mitigate the information that usually takes place at the readout phase.
\\ \\
We encourage the adoption of this new framework of generalized readout functions for graph property prediction, especially in different GNN architectures and bigger datasets than ogb-molhiv \cite{hu2020ogb}, since its superior performance has been proven in a small dataset probably due the fact that this novel mitigates the information loss typically occurring at the Readout phase in MPNN.
\\ \\
Due to computational limitations, it has not been possible to test this novel technique on bigger and perhaps more challenging datasets and other architectures which recently exhibited good performance. Thus, its superior performance on bigger datasets can not be guaranteed, but only expected by logical extrapolation. This is likely to be addressed in future work.

\section{Conclusion}
In this work, we have introduced a generalized readout function, which can revert to many already popular functions under certain parameter settings, to address the information loss problem that typically occur in Graph Neural Networks during the readout phase. We have successfully proven its superior expressiveness \& performance  by achieving new SoTA results in a standardized graph property prediction task from the Open Graph Benchmark  \cite{hu2020ogb} . The scalability of the proposed technique to bigger datasets and different model architectures is to be addressed in future work.

\bibliographystyle{unsrt}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Home » Tech News » Internet » Apple Launches New 'Families' Page to its Site
Apple Launches New 'Families' Page to its Site
There is an ever-increasing pressure over Apple to control the use of technology amongst kids, teenagers, and youngsters. The demand was to give parents more control over how their children use the Apple products.
So today in response to all these concerns Apple is launching a new 'Families' page to its site. The page will give parents the key to their kids' tech usage. There will be a briefing given to the parents as to how they can protect their kids from excessive use of technology.
Interesting: Apple named the most innovative country in the world
The webpage does not reveal what new parental control options Apple is offering. It informs about the already available options like Settings Restrictions that can be used to block in-app purchases. Furthermore, in the page, information about Safari parental controls, App Store Kids section, Find My Friends location tracking option is given in detail.
iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. They're some of the most powerful tools ever made for learning, exploring, and staying in touch. Parents love them. Kids love them. And we're continually designing new features to help make sure kids use them in the ways you want.
Before this investors published an article stating "Think Differently About Kids." The aim of the letter was to put pressure on Apple to add parental control features on the Apple iPhone and iPads. In response to it, Apple said that they are committed to protect the children and soon new parental features will be added them that are "even more robust" than what is currently offered by Apple.
There is a chance that new parental control features will come as part of iOS 12.
The fear is that technology will damage the minds of young souls. The concerns are increasing that gadgets and social media are negatively affecting the minds of young kids. Along with Steve Jobs, many known technologists have show concern over the effects of technology on children. Thus an open letter was written to Apple and here is the first practical response to it.
Tags: apple, families page, internet, kids, parents control, software, Tech news, website
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text:
Ha iniziato la sua carriera nel 1999 in qualità di membro del gruppo musicale visual kei Dué le quartz. Dopo lo scioglimento del gruppo avvenuto nel 2002, ha intrapreso una carriera da solista ottenendo grande successo. Nel 2007 è diventato membro del gruppo musicale S.K.I.N. e nel 2009 ha fondato l'etichetta discografica J-glam.

Nel 2007 ha intrapreso il suo primo tour mondiale. In seguito alla nascita della sua prima figlia nel 2009, ha abbandonato i modi eccentrici e stravaganti che lo avevano contraddistinto negli anni precedenti.

È noto per la sua tecnica di fingerstyle-slapping.

Biografia

La scoperta della musica ed i Dué le quartz
Miyavi nasce il 14 settembre 1981 a Ōsaka, in Giappone. Miyavi è giapponese da parte di madre e coreano da parte di padre: il cognome originale dei nonni coreani è Lee, prima che (trasferitisi in Giappone) lo cambiassero in Ishihara; il vero nome di Miyavi è quindi , come confermato da lui stesso in diverse interviste, ed il suo nome d'arte deriva dall'ultimo kanji del suo nome, 雅, che vuol dire "eleganza" e si legge -masa quando legato ad un altro ideogramma e miyabi quand'è da solo. A 6 anni si trasferisce nella provincia di Hyogo e passa la gioventù e l'adolescenza giocando a calcio nella giovanile del Cerezo Osaka, finché dopo un incidente sul campo decide di lasciare lo sport per dedicarsi alla musica. Miyavi imbraccia quindi la chitarra alla fine delle scuole superiori deciso a sfondare come musicista, ma i primi tempi sono però piuttosto movimentati, trascorsi passando da una band all'altra.
Nel 1998, a 17 anni, Miyavi si trasferisce a Tokyo. Col suo primo pseudonimo , entra nella band indie dei , dove ricopre il ruolo di chitarrista (ma senza scrivere nessuna canzone); quando questa band dopo pochi mesi si scioglie, Miyavi passa ai Loop, che però avranno lo stesso breve destino. Nel 1999 viene invitato da Sakito e Kikasa, con cui aveva già lavorato nei MINTAISHI, ad entrare nella loro nuova band, i Dué le quartz, in sostituzione del chitarrista KEN. Il 29 giugno 1999, durante il concerto al locale CYCLONE, Miyavi compie il suo debutto ufficiale nel gruppo la formazione è composta da Sakito (come cantante), Miyavi con il nome di Miyabi (chitarra e voce death), Kikasa (basso) e KAZUKI (batteria), sotto contratto con l'etichetta indipendente PS Company. Dopo sei singoli, tre album e una raccolta, la band si scioglie nel 2002.

2002–2004: l'inizio della carriera da solista
Pochi mesi dopo lo scioglimento dei Dué le quartz, sempre nel 2002, Miyavi annuncia il suo ritorno sulla scena musicale come solista, e per sottolineare il cambiamento modifica il suo nome d'arte da Miyabi (雅〜みやび〜) a miyavi (雅-miyavi-): scritto in giapponese non c'è alcuna differenza, perché la "B" e la "V" si equivalgono (il cambiamento sta solo nella trascrizione con caratteri occidentali). Inizia quindi la pubblicazione di numerosi singoli e di due album per la stessa PS Company. Miyavi passa nel 2004 alla major Universal Records, a cui è però legato per la sola distribuzione dei suoi dischi. Anche nel passaggio da indie a major, il cantante decide di evidenziare l'evento con un nuovo nome, "MYV": in questo caso, però, quest'ultimo pseudonimo viene usato dall'artista solo per indicare se stesso nei crediti dei suoi CD; esattamente, Miyavi usa "MYV" per indicarsi come compositore e arrangiatore delle sue canzoni e per il lato artistico del suo lavoro, mentre "MYV Jackson" come produttore e per l'aspetto tecnico/economico. Come major, Miyavi pubblica tre album, una raccolta di singoli, un best of, un album di remix ed un re-take album (raccolta di canzoni riarrangiate) che è il sunto della sua filosofia musicale "neo visualizm". Interpreta se stesso nel film del 2004 Oresama.

2007–2008: il primo tour mondiale e il "neo visualizm"
Nel 2007 Miyavi parte per il suo primo tour negli Stati Uniti ed in Europa e ritorna a far parte di un gruppo (senza abbandonare la produzione solista); si tratta degli S.K.I.N., un supergruppo nato da un'idea di YOSHIKI e composto da: YOSHIKI stesso (ex degli X JAPAN), Gackt (ex dei MALICE MIZER), SUGIZO (ex dei LUNA SEA) e Miyavi (che modifica di nuovo il suo nome introducendo l'iniziale maiuscola). Il debutto di questa nuova band è avvenuto il 29 giugno (lo stesso giorno dei Dué le quartz) del 2007 a Long Beach, in California, con un concerto presso la fiera dell'animazione Anime Expo.Nel frattempo, Miyavi prosegue la sua carriera solista continuando ad incidere singoli e album con la sua nuova band di supporto, i Kavki Boiz: si tratta di sei artisti fra pittura, danza e musica dalle molteplici culture musicali con cui porta avanti il suo concetto di nuovo visual, o (secondo la sua stessa definizione) "neo visualizm".

2009–2010: la fondazione della J-glam ed il secondo tour mondiale
Il 16 febbraio 2009 scrive sul suo blog che, dopo attenta riflessione e non senza tristezza, ha deciso di lasciare la sua etichetta storica PS Company per affrontare altre strade. La decisione nasce come l'ultimo passo di un lento processo di internazionalizzazione del cantante che, dopo aver debuttato nel 1999 con l'etichetta discografica indipendente, si è affidato per la distribuzione alla major Universal nel 2004 e dopo molti tour all'estero ha deciso di tentare la strada del mercato occidentale. Il 14 marzo successivo annuncia che ha intenzione di proseguire la propria carriera come manager di sé stesso fondando una sua propria etichetta discografica, a cui darà nome J-glam.

Il 1º giugno Miyavi apre il suo fanclub ufficiale mondiale C.W.I.F. ("Co-miyavi Worldwide International Family") e per l'occasione pubblica la sua nuova canzone Super Hero attraverso la sua pagina MySpace ufficiale. Dopo aver festeggiato il suo ventottesimo compleanno con un concerto in Giappone, il 19 settembre 2009 inizia il secondo tour mondiale intitolato NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK, che comprende molti paesi in Europa (tra cui anche l'Italia per la prima volta), in Sud America ed in Asia. Durante il tour Miyavi ha confermato in un'intervista di star lavorando ad un nuovo album.

Nel concerto del 29 dicembre 2009 riservato ai membri del fanclub, Miyavi annuncia di aver firmato un contratto con la major EMI con cui distribuirà i suoi prossimi lavori, tra cui il nuovo live DVD NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK WORLD TOUR VOL.1 insieme alla nuova canzone SURVIVE in uscita mondiale su iTunes e il 24 marzo 2010 contenuta nel DVD; anche stavolta sottolinea il cambio di etichetta modificando la grafia del nome che passa dal tutto minuscolo "miyavi" al tutto maiuscolo "MIYAVI". Dal 28 marzo parte il NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK -Japan Circuit- che termina a fine maggio mentre il -North American Leg- il 4 luglio. Ad agosto parte il tour giapponese Screaming out from TOKYO per poi pubblicare il 15 settembre un nuovo singolo e il 13 ottobre l'album What's My Name?

Vita privata
Il 14 marzo 2009 Miyavi si sposa con la cantautrice melody.. Il 29 luglio 2009 nasce la loro prima figlia, che chiamano . Per dedicarsi alla vita familiare, melody. abbandona la carriera musicale, ed il 21 ottobre dell'anno successivo dà alla luce una seconda figlia di nome .

Stile

Musica
Il genere musicale di Miyavi è vario e difficilmente identificabile con precisione, spazia dall'hard rock al pop, dalle melodie spagnoleggianti alla musica tradizionale giapponese, dal blues al country, dal visual kei al boogie. Miyavi, sotto la sigla di MYV, scrive, compone, arrangia e produce da solo tutta la sua musica; non sono interamente sue le canzoni Yappari megumi ga suki (contenuta nel singolo Señor Señora Señorita, testo di Miyavi e musica a quattro mani con Naoki Yoshida) e Sakihokoru hana no you ni -Neo Visualizm- (contenuta nell'omonimo singolo e scritta col beat boxer TYKO). La maggior parte dei suoi brani sono una riuscita fusione di musica elettronica, melodia ed ironia, che i giapponesi chiamano koi kei x:  sta per sentimento o amore,  per stile, e la "x" rappresenta la contaminazione, la "speziatura" piccante e divertente che rende vivace un brano romantico. L'esempio più tipico è Jingle Bell (Kari), un brano dal testo natalizio suonato con pesanti chitarre elettriche e cantato con brio che rispetta la sequenza beatlesiana strofa/ritornello/strofa/ritornello/strumentale/ritornello. Più raramente Miyavi introduce nelle sue canzoni il bridge fra la strofa ed il ritornello.

A partire dal 2005 il cantante si fa portatore del cosiddetto "neo visualizm", neologismo inventato dal cantante stesso per inaugurare il suo nuovo percorso artistico: secondo la sua idea, il visual classico deve affrancarsi dall'essere solo moda ed immagine, come è sempre stato, e dedicarsi più effettivamente alla parte melodica e musicale; in concreto, l'intenzione è di parificare l'importanza di musica ed immagine. Proseguendo l'eredità del visual kei storico, Miyavi inizia ad immettere nel genere elementi colti dalle culture musicali più varie, dal latino al melodico al rap al Motown, e soprattutto la musica tradizionale giapponese. Anche il look viene rivisto, con grande abbondanza di colori, ed un atteggiamento e modo di porsi in pubblico tendenzialmente espansivo, contrapposto a quello solitamente più tetro o drammatico del visual più ortodosso.

Aspetto
Il look di Miyavi è estremamente eterogeneo e variegato, non rifiutando nessun tipo di stile o contaminazione e sfociando spesso in volontarie contraddizioni: accantonato il BDSM che caratterizzava i suoi anni nei Dué le quartz, il cantante è famoso per la costante modificazione della sua immagine con vari tagli e colori di capelli, abiti di ogni tipo. Miyavi lavora anche come modello per abiti sia maschili sia femminili, e gioca col cross-over continuo di musica ed abiti indossando insieme kimono e jeans, tute da jogging e stivaletti sanitari in lana merino, costumi da Babbo Natale e da clown, pigiami, gonne, scarpe spaiate, due o tre cappellini da baseball uno sull'altro, smoking e sciarpe rosa.

Rapporto con i fan
I fan di Miyavi sono detti Co-miyavi, battezzati così dal cantante stesso: è un gioco di parole fra il "co-" inteso in senso semantico di "insieme, collaborazione", ed il giapponese , che vuol dire "piccolo, bambino"; Co-miyavi può quindi significare sia "insieme a Miyavi" sia "miyavini".

I nomi
Miyavi nella sua carriera ha cambiato identità più volte, sia a livello musicale sia come nome. Si tratta di una pratica del tutto comune in Giappone e che deriva dall'uso di cambiare il proprio pseudonimo in base ad un cambio di contesto lavorativo, sentimentale o sociale come usavano fare i maestri stampatori ukiyo-e: lo stesso Hokusai, il più famoso degli incisori giapponesi del XIX secolo, cambiò più volte il suo pseudonimo.

Miyabi (雅〜みやび〜) è lo pseudonimo che ha adottato dal 2000 al 2002 durante la sua permanenza in vari gruppi indie, fra cui i Dué le quartz, ma in occasione del passaggio alla carriera solista ha modificato il suo nome da 雅〜みやび〜 (Miyabi) a 雅-miyavi- (miyavi); scritto in giapponese non c'è alcuna differenza, perché la B e la V si equivalgono (il cambiamento sta solo nella trascrizione con caratteri occidentali).

 Vero nome:
 Nickname: 382 (in giapponese si leggono mi, ya e bi)
 Nei Dué le quartz:
 Solista:  fino al 31/12/2009,  dal 01/01/2010
 Come autore: MYV
 Come produttore: MYV Jackson
 Negli S.K.I.N.: Miyavi

Opere
Le specifiche sono indicate fra parentesi "()", le note dopo il punto e virgola ";".

Discografia

Dué le quartz

Album

Periodo indie
 31 ottobre 2002 -
 2 dicembre 2003 -

Periodo major
 1º giugno 2005 -
 13 settembre 2006 -
 19 marzo 2008 -
 27 giugno 2008 - AZN PRIDE -THIS IZ THE JAPANESE KABUKI ROCK- (versione per il mercato asiatico)
 27 agosto 2008 - AZN PRIDE -THIS IZ THE JAPANESE KABUKI ROCK- (versione per il mercato giapponese)
 13 ottobre 2010 - What's My Name?
 16 giugno 2013 - Miyavi
 15 aprile 2015 - The Others
 31 agosto 2016 - Fire Bird
 8 novembre 2017 - Samurai Sessions, Vol. 2
 5 dicembre 2018 - Samurai Sessions, Vol. 3: Worlds Collide
 24 luglio 2019 - No Sleep Till Tokyo
 22 aprile 2020 - Holy Nights
 15 settembre 2021 - Imaginary

Raccolte e remix
 2 agosto 2006 -  (raccolta di singoli + tre inediti)
 18 luglio 2007 -  (re-take mini album)
 24 dicembre 2008 -  (remix album realizzato da TeddyLoid)
 22 aprile 2009 -  (raccolta di singoli del periodo major)
 24 marzo 2010 -  (best album con canzoni selezionate dai fans)

Singoli

Periodo indie
 30 novembre 2002 -

 30 novembre 2002 -

 18 dicembre 2002 - Jingle Bell (kari)
 16 aprile 2003 -

 25 giugno 2003 -

 ; live
 ; live
 3 settembre 2003 -

 23 giugno 2004 -

Periodo major
 20 ottobre 2004 - ; tre versioni: le prime due special edition con DVD, la terza normal edition solo CD

 4 maggio 2005 - Freedom Fighters -Ice cream motta hadashi no megami to, kikanjū motta hadaka no ōsama-
 12 ottobre 2005 - Kekkonshiki no uta/Are you ready to ROCK?
 18 gennaio 2006 - ; tre versioni: la prima special box con DVD e nacchere personalizzate, la seconda special edition con DVD, la terza normal edition solo CD
 Señor Señora Señorita
 Gigpig Boogie
 Señor Señora Señorita ~Dokusō~ (brano presente solo nella prima versione con DVD)
 Gigpig Boogie ~Dokusō~ (brano presente solo nella seconda versione con DVD)
 Yappari megumi ga suki (brano presente solo nella normal edition)
 12 aprile 2006 - ; tre versioni: le prime due special edition con DVD, la terza normal edition solo CD
 Dear my friend -Tegami wo kakuyo-
 Itoshii hito (Beta de suman.) -2006 ver.-
 Dear my friend -Tegami wo kakuyo- ~Dokusō~ (brano presente solo nella prima versione con DVD)
 Itoshii hito (Beta de suman.) -2006 ver.- ~Dokusō~ (brano presente solo nella seconda versione con DVD)
 Kimi ni funky monkey vibration (brano presente solo nella normal edition)
 5 luglio 2006 -
 Kimi ni negai wo
 20 giugno 2007 - ; tre versioni: le prime due special edition con DVD, la terza normal edition solo CD
 Sakihokoru hana no yō ni -Neo Visualizm-
 Kabuki danshi
 Ashita, tenki ni naare ~Dokusō JAM session ver.~ (brano presente solo nella prima versione con DVD)
 Coo quack cluck -Ku・ku・ru- ~Dokusō JAM session ver.~ (brano presente solo nella seconda versione con DVD)
 Mamagoto (ex: Shōkyo to sakujo) ~Dokusō JAM session ver.~ (brano presente solo nella normal edition)
 14 novembre 2007 - ; tre versioni: la prima special edition con DVD e libro fotografico, la seconda special edition con DVD, la terza normal edition solo CD
 Subarashiki kana, kono sekai -WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD-
 2 be wiz U
 Mata yume de aimashō (brano presente solo nella normal edition)
 16 gennaio 2008 - ; guest star: Sugizo; due versioni: la prima special edition con DVD, la seconda normal edition solo CD
 Hi no hikari sae todokanai kono basho de feat. SUGIZO
 My name iz Oresama.com
 Hi no hikari sae todokanai kono basho de feat. SUGIZO (Instrumental) (brano presente solo nella normal edition)
 1º giugno 2009 - ; brano pubblicato solo sul MySpace ufficiale
 Super Hero
 24 marzo 2010 - ; brano pubblicato nel world tour documentary dvd NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK VOL.1 e su iTunes
 SURVIVE
 15 settembre 2010 - ;
 TORTURE
 S.M.F.B (brano presente solo nella normal edition)
 REVENGE (brano presente solo nella special edition)

A ottobre del 2018 ha collaborato con il gruppo musicale psy-trance israeliano nella realizzazione dell'album "Head of NASA and the 2 Amish Boys"

Videografia

Raccolte di videoclip
 21 agosto 2004 -  (DVD con tutti i PV realizzati fino alla data d'uscita)
 Girls, be ambitious
 POP is dead
 Shindemo Boogie-Woogie
 Jibun kakumei -2003-
 Coo quack cluck -Ku・ku・ru-
 Joushō kaidō
 Ashita, genki ni naare.
 POP is dead (off shot version)
 Shindemo Boogie-Woogie (off shot version)
 7 dicembre 2005 -  (DVD con tutti i PV realizzati dopo Hitorigei fino alla data d'uscita)
 Rock no gyakushū -Superstar no jōken-
 21 seikigata kōshinkyoku
 Freedom Fighters -Ice cream motta hadashi no megami to, kikanjū motta hadaka no ōsama-
 Shōri no V-ROCK!!
 Kekkonshiki no uta
 Are you ready to ROCK?
 17 gennaio 2007 -  (DVD con tutti i PV realizzati dopo Hitorigei 2 fino alla data d'uscita)
 Kekkonshiki no uta
 Are you ready to ROCK?
 Señor Señora Señorita
 Gigpig Boogie
 Dear my friend
 Itoshii hito (Beta de suman.) -2006 ver.-
 Kimi ni negai wo
 22 aprile 2009 -  (DVD con tutti i PV del periodo major)

Live
 23 luglio 2003 - Gekokujō
 Girls, be ambitious (apertura)
 Coin Rockers Baby
 Oresama shikō
 Hatachi kinenbi
 Gariben Rock
 Jibun kakumei -2003-
 Jingle Bell (Kari)
 Shōkyo to sakujo
 Ashita, tenki ni naare.
 POP is dead
 Shindemo Boogie-Woogie
 Assolo di chitarra
 Eccentric otona yamai
 Girls, be ambitious (chiusura)
 1º dicembre 2004 - Indies Last LIVE in Nihon Budokan (tte sono mama yanke.) ~「This is ōdō」hen (雅-miyavi-インディーズ・ラスト LIVE in 日本武道館(ってそのままやんけ。)~「This is 王道」編)
 12 gennaio 2005 - Indies Last LIVE in Nihon Budokan (Title nagai na, shikashi!!) ~「Noriko no ichi nichi」hen (雅-miyavi-インディーズ・ラスト LIVE in 日本武道館(タイトル長いな、しかし!!)~「のり子の一日」編); documentario dell'Indies Last LIVE in Nihon Budokan (tte sono mama yanke.) ~「This is ōdō」hen
 2 maggio 2007 - 25 shunen kinen koen Tokyo geijutsu gekijo 5 Days ~Dokusō~ (25周年記念公演・東京芸術劇場5days~独奏~)
 7 maggio 2008- The Beginning of Neo Visualizm Tour 2007
 7 maggio 2008 - Official Bootleg Live at Shinkiba Coast
 24 dicembre 2008 - THIS IZ THE ORIGINAL SAMURAI STYLE
 5 aprile 2009 - Peace&Smile Carnival 2009
 24 marzo 2010 - NEO TOKYO SAMURAI BLACK WORLD TOUR VOL.1

Film
 25 febbraio 2004 - Oresama (uscito solo per il mercato dell'home video in DVD; girato nel 2003 da Hiroyuki Kondō)

Filmografia
 Unbroken, regia di Angelina Jolie (2014)
Kong: Skull Island, regia di Jordan Vogt-Roberts (2017)
 Bleach (2018)
 Maleficent - Signora del male (2019)
 Followers - serie tv, come sè stesso (2021)
 Kate - film, nel ruolo di Jojima (2021)
 Bright: Samurai Soul - anime, voce Kōketsu (2021)
 Arcane - anime, voce di Finn (2021)

Bibliografia

Photobook
 19 settembre 2003 -
 19 ottobre 2004 -
 7 settembre 2006 -

Spartiti
 17 settembre 2005 -
 30 ottobre 2006 -
 30 ottobre 2006 -
 30 maggio 2008 -

Curiosità

 Tutti gli album indie di MIYAVI presentano auto-cover, cioè riarrangiamenti di suoi vecchi pezzi scritti mentre militava nei Dué le quartz.
 Il primo gruppo di supporto di MIYAVI si chiamava Ishihara Gundan, ed era composto da due chitarristi, un bassista ed un batterista.  invece MIYAVI si fa accompagnare dall'eterogeneo gruppo dei KAVKI BOIZ: il loro nome proviene dalla storpiatura dall'espressione Kabuki Boys (ragazzi del Kabuki).
 MIYAVI è del segno zodiacale della Vergine, ma ha dichiarato che in un passato apparteneva al segno del Pegaso.
 Il gruppo sanguigno di MIYAVI è AB (anche se in un'intervista ha ironicamente dichiarato di appartenere al gruppo ABC).

Note

Voci correlate
 J-Rock
 Visual kei
 Hiroyuki Kondō

Altri progetti

Collegamenti esterni

 Pagina ufficiale su MySpace

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
What's next for USC? Pac-12 title game…
What's next for USC? Pac-12 title game vs. Utah
Utah quarterback Cam Rising throws a pass against USC during the Utes' 43-42 victory over the Trojans on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
PUBLISHED: November 27, 2022 at 11:04 a.m. | UPDATED: November 28, 2022 at 11:42 p.m.
No. 4 USC vs. No. 12 Utah
When: Friday, 5 p.m.
Where: Allegiant Stadium (Las Vegas, Nev.)
TV/Radio: Fox (Ch. 11)/790 AM
Records: USC 11-1 overall, 8-1 in Pac-12; Utah 9-3, 7-2
USC update: After a 38-27 victory over rival Notre Dame, the Trojans have put themselves firmly in College Football Playoff position. With three wins over ranked opponents and the chance this week to avenge their only loss of the season, USC seems like a lock for its first-ever trip to the CFP should it beat the Utes in Vegas. … After a week of hearing about how vulnerable its run defense was against the Irish, USC limited Notre Dame to 90 yards on the ground and 3.5 per carry. Notre Dame had rushed for more than 200 yards in four of its previous five games prior to facing USC. … While the defense was good, quarterback Caleb Williams stole the show with his four total touchdowns (three rushing) and two Heisman poses. He will enter the Pac-12 championship game as the favorite to win the coveted trophy.
Utah latest: The Utes needed some help to reach the Pac-12 title game after a Week 12 loss to Oregon, and they received it. While Utah took care of business with a 63-21 victory over Colorado, the Utes needed UCLA to beat Cal, Oregon State to beat Oregon and Washington to beat Washington State. All three outcomes broke Utah's way, clearing the path for this rematch in Las Vegas. … Since his 415-yard performance in a 43-42 victory over USC in Salt Lake City on Oct. 15, Utah QB Cam Rising has dealt with a knee injury. After missing one game, he has not returned to full strength. In the last four games, Rising has completed 71 of 115 passes and thrown for an average of 193.5 yards per game with seven touchdowns to four interceptions. Three of those INTs came in the loss to Oregon.


WARNING: Look away now vegetarians!
Some people think that meat-eaters should have to either hunt their own food or watch animals being slaughtered in order to pass some sort of "carnivore test". I am not one of these people. But while I am normally not squeamish about eating meat, I have to admit that I wouldn't really enjoy tucking into this guy's crispy roasted face, even though I am sure it is delicious. How about you?
I find it hard enough o handle prawns in their shells 😂. I definitely couldn't knowingly eat this. I prefer my food with the face removed thank you very much.


text:
Buddleja euryphylla är en flenörtsväxtart som beskrevs av Standley och Steyerm.. Buddleja euryphylla ingår i släktet buddlejor, och familjen flenörtsväxter. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Buddlejor
euryphylla


Posted 02 months 11 days 17 minutes ago.
Project World School's Family Adventure retreat is a two week community gathering focused on discovery & experience, utilizing the world around us as a rich classroom for learning. This 15 day family retreat takes place in the heart of Peru's Sacred Valley with an emphasis on cultural immersion, exploration and hands on local crafts and cooking. Learn and discover as a family and practice ways to connect deeper in a safe facilitated space. During our stay we'll dive deep into the history through storytelling and archaeological exploration, practice traditional arts through music, weaving and jewelry making, examine agriculture practices through farming and cooking and experience Peruvian mysticism through ceremonies and rituals. No trip to Peru would be complete without a trip to the enigmatic site of Machu Picchu. This is a once in a lifetime worldschooling adventure for you and your whole family!
The Project World School Peru Family Adventure is a temporary learning-community designed for participants of all ages. Together, we immerse ourselves into the rich landscape of Peru as a means exploration and discovery. Our all-inclusive learning adventure is not your typical "family tour", rather an experience designed for transformational learning and discovery in the form of "worldschooling". Together we'll harness the power of a learning-community to experience collaboration, social learning, contextual knowledge acquisition, personal development and changes in global perspectives.
One thing to keep in mind is that the Project World School 15 Day Peru Family Learning Adventure is not a luxury retreat. The accommodations are rustic in nature and we will not have wifi at our lodging for the majority of our trip. We will do our very best to make arrangements so that complete families can share one room, however in the case of large families, we may need to organize two rooms (depending on the size of your family).
For the first 9 days, the Project World School 15 Day Peru Family Adventure will be centered in Amaru, a quaint community just above the bohemian citadel of Pisac. We'll be staying at Inti Qhawarina, a locally owned family guesthouse and farm. While still very much a rustic place, the rooms are comfy and well-designed, warm blankets provided, hot showers and large communy areas will make you feel right at home.
There, we will interact and participate with hundreds of years of rich tradition and culture and have an immersive worldschooling experience. From an ethical standpoint, our visit helps the people from the hilltop community in two ways. First, all the cooks, workshop facilitators, and child care will come from the Amaru community, providing work and the chance to connect and interact through ethical cultural exchange. Second, our host Elojidio built his property with the agreement of the community and for every dollar spent at our retreat center, 10% will go directly to the townspeople of Amaru. Elojidio didn't just build this place for himself, but for the community as a whole and you will feel the love and support of the community during our stay.
After we leave our hilltop sanctuary, we pick up the pace a little. The adventure continues with trips into cloud forest also known as the high jungle. There, we'll relax and rejuvenate in the natural mineral hot springs and explore an organic coffee farm. This is also the starting point for our day hike to the town Aguas Callientes (also known as "Machu Picchu Town"). After a good night's rest, together we'll explore Machu Picchu, the Incan citadel set high in the Andean Mountains, and marvel at the breathtaking panoramic views. Finally our last two nights we will be in Cusco for our final ceremony; an offering to mother earth (Pachamama) in a descpacho ceremony.
Today is the first day of the The Project World School Peru Family Adventure! All families are required to arrive in Cusco this day.
Some families will opt to arrive in Cusco a few days early in order to acclimatize. Other families will be arriving on this day from their home countries via Lima. All families will be met in Cusco, either at the airport or a prearranged pick up spot according to your arrival times. Project World School will transport all families to our retreat site in Amaru, a small community above Pisac.
Families will be arriving throughout the day, greeted by hot coca tea, delicious snacks and warm showers. As night falls, we all gather in the community dining room to meet, greet and enjoy a locally sourced welcome banquet dinner.
DAY 2 – DAY WITH FAMILY, FARM, FOOD AND FUN!
Today is a slower paced day, dedicated to getting settled, grounding ourselves, learning about our hosts and the surrounding Amaru community and learning about each other as we begin to co-create our worldschooling community.
The day is broken into a few local workshops. Before breakfast, we'll offer a morning yoga sun session to get our bodies connected to the earth. After breakfast, we will explore the surrounding farm land known as "chakra" and learn about the local yields from quinoa, potatoes and corn crops. We'll even try our hand at harvesting. Then we'll make an earth stove called a huatia, a true collaborative effort, and cook our freshly harvested potatoes the traditional way.
After lunch we'll take a medicinal plant walk and collect herbs and learn about the the plants healing properties and prepare teas for all of us try.
Throughout the day, we have plenty of time to sit in the garden, drink tea, rest and play.
We'll enjoy dinner together in community, then participate in that day's closing circle.
After breakfast, our private transportation will arrive to our group to explore the salt ponds known as Salinas de Maras. Cascading down a hillside valley like uneven steps, the salt ponds legend says they were first created sometime in the 1400s by the Incas. Salt is harvested from the patchwork of shallow pools via a process of evaporation. A natural spring feeds a salt-rich stream that flows down into the pools, then the water is allowed to evaporate and then the salt crystals are scraped off the ponds.
After Maras, we'll head to Pisac for lunch. Pisac is a bustling and fast-growing colonial village at the base of a spectacular Inca fortress perched on a mountain spur. After lunch, you'll have hours to shop and explore Pisac town from the numerous shops filled with handmade goods, weaving, jewelry to the vegan cafes, health food and shaman supply stores. If you like, you'll have time to explore Jardin Botanico, the village's botanical garden hosts a giant courtyard full of beautiful flora local to the area.
After a few hours, we'll return to our hilltop community above Pisac, enjoy dinner together then participate in that day's closing circle.
After breakfast, we'll head to Cusco, to explore the sacred city of the Incas. We'll explore the history through immersion, starting in the Plaza de Armas. We'll examine the differnt building styles laden throughout the city and make a svanager hunt.
1. A flute making workshop where every member will make their own Andean pan flute and learn about the history of the region through music at Sabino's workshop.
2. A chocolate making workshop, learning about one of Peru's largest crops and exports.
It will be a long day in Cusco, but we assure you, everyone will leave happy and satisfied. We'll return to our hilltop community above Pisac, enjoy dinner together then participate in that day's closing circle.
Every year Project World School volunteers with Cochahuasi Animal Sanctuary for a day of service. This will be our 6th consecutive year to give back to our host community in the form of service.
Cochahuasi cares for and rehabilitates animals that have been rescued from poaching, illegal trading and outright abuse and focuses on the education of locals surrounding animal rights and conservation efforts.
Our service will be hands on, cleaning the animal's habitats, preparing the food, picking up trash and in some cases feeding the animals. It's a great day for service for all ages.
We will be involved with fundraising efforts to support the animal sanctuary before the retreat starts based on the needs of the organization. One year we raised money and built a habitat for the anteojo bear. Another year we raised money and help build winter shelters for the llamas, alpacas and vicunas. Each year a new project will be our focus and this year will not be an exception.
Our day will start early after an early breakfast. We'll break for a packed lunch at the Sanctuary, then at 4:00 return back to our hilltop community above Pisac, to rest, enjoy dinner together then participate in that day's closing circle.
After a busy day of service, we have a relaxing morning scheduled (with the option of early morning yoga before breakfast). We'll leave around 11:00 am, making our way to Chinchero, a community known for weaving and textiles. We'll spend the afternoon together with a family community Project World School has been visiting for 7 years to learn the traditions of weaving.
The family will prepare a delicious hearty traditional lunch for us, then we'll begin our weaving workshop. We'll learn everything about the weaving process, from washing the wool, spinning the sheeps wool into yarn to using natural tints from plants andinsects to dye the wool. Then, we'll have a chance to learn simple weaving techniques by making bracelets together.
In the evening, we'll return to our hilltop community above Pisac, enjoy dinner together then participate in that day's closing circle.
Visitors to this magnificent Inca fortress, which overlooks the city of Cusco, cannot fail to be impressed by the beauty and monumental scale of this important Inca construction. Sacsayhuaman can be variously translated as 'speckled falcon' or 'speckled head'. The last interpretation refers to the belief that the city of Cusco was set out in the form of a puma whose head was the hill of Sacsayhuaman. The origins are uncertain but the fortress is generally attributed to the period of Inca Pachacuti, the man who essentially founded the Inca empire.
The main ramparts consist of three massive parallel walls zigzagging together for some 400m, designed to make any attacker expose his flanks. The massive blocks, the largest being 8.5m high and weighing nearly 300 tonnes, are fitted together with absolute perfection.
Sacsayhuaman played an important part in the final defeat of the Inca Empire by the Spanish. Pizarro's party entered Cusco unopposed in 1533 and lived there securely for more than two years before finally being caught unprepared by the rebellion of Manco Inca in 1536.
This is one of the finest examples of a rock artfully carved insitu showing complex patterns of steps, seats, geometric reliefs and a puma design. The rock is an excellent example of the Inca 'Rock Worship'. In Inca cosmological beliefs the Incas held large rocky outcrops in reverence, as if they possessed some hidden spiritual force. On top of the rock are zigzag channels which served to course chicha (local maize beer) or sacrificed llama blood for purposes of divination; the speed and route of the liquid, in conjunction with the patterns made in the rock, gave the answers to the priest's invocations.
Inside the rock are large niches and a possible altar. This may have been a place where the mummies of lesser royalty were kept along with gold and precious objects.
Commonly referred to as the 'Banos del Inca' or Inca baths, Tambomachay was a site for ritual bathing. The excellent quality of the stonework suggests that its use was restricted to the higher nobility, who maybe only used the baths on ceremonial occasions. The ruins basically consist of 3 tired platforms. The top one holds four trapezoidal niches that perhaps were used as seats; on the next level an underground spring emerges directly from a hole at the base of the stonework and from here cascades down to the bottom platform, creating a cold shower just high enough for an Inca to stand under. On this platform the spring water splits into two channels, both pouring the last metre down to ground level.
Inti Raymi -Festival of the Sun – for the culturally inquisitive, an excursion back to Cusco to witness the Inti Raymi festival. Each year on (the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere) Cusco celebrates the Inca Festival of the Sun. Created by Inca Pachacutec, Inti Raymi was a tribute to the venerated Sun God Inti. Nowadays, the festival draws thousands of local and international visitors to the ancient Inca capital – Cusco – to celebrate one of the most important events of the calendar year.
Activities at the Lodge – these include traditional classes and demonstrations on Jewelry Making, Cuy Preparation, Breadmaking and Traditional Dye/Paint Making. Elojidio and members from the surrounding community will be present to share these traditional processes with all who are interested in learning.
Day Hike Above Pisac – for the physically adventurous. This is a full on hike to the archaeological ruins of Pisac, a full day which will sport breathtaking views and ancient, wondrous buildings.
After the days events, we'll reassemble for a community dinner then participate in that day's closing circle.
Self Directed Sessions – This is the time for the community to share their interests with each other. While it isn't mandatory, each participant is encouraged to lead a session or workshop on something that they are passionate or knowledgeable about.
Kids Storytime, Crafts & Games– This will also be free time for the kids, but we'll provide structure activities to keep for them to choose from, but free play is also an option. Participation is optional.
Free Time – This is a block of time for children and parents alike to do whatever they'd like. You might find yourself visiting Pisac, spending time in the local gardens, or organizing games with the other families.
Then, we'll all come together to enjoy a community dinner then participate in that day's closing circle.
Travel Day – Most of this day will be spent watching Peru from the window of a comfortable van. On our way, we'll pass through many mountainous communities, roadside waterfalls and breathtaking sights. At one point, we'll even drive through a glacier (snowball fights, anyone?).
Hotsprings in Santa Theresa – At the end of our journey, we'll be rewarded with gorgeous, natural hot springs in the rural town of Santa Theresa. Here, we can relax and socialize while the rest of our worries melt away.
We'll have dinner after the hotsprings, followed by circle, then sweet rest for the night.
Immersive Tour of Local Coffee Farm – After arriving in the morning and getting settled in, local farmers will give us a tour around the cloud forest coffee farm. We'll receive an in-depth explanation as to the process of growing, harvesting, roasting and brewing coffee, and have the opportunity to share a mug with the local farmers who are passionate about their craft.
And if the kids aren't interested, they are free to use the play-set while the rest of us are on the coffee walk!
We'll have an early dinner followed by circle for an early night.
Our Trek to Machu Picchu Town – Departing from the coffee farm early in the morning, we'll travel by car all the way to Hidroelectrica and begin our walk from there. It's approximately a 4-hour walk to Machu Picchu Town (Aguas Calientes), but we'll have the chance to stop at the river for a swim on the way.
**For families uninterested in walking, train tickets will be available for purchase at our jumping off point, but please note that they are not included in the PWS fee. Each ticket cost aprox $30USD per person.
On Arrival to Machu Picchu Town – On arrival, we will check into our hotel for the night and eat dinner at a local restaurant. Families are free to go off and shop, or explore the town if they wish. We will make preparations for visiting the incredible site of Machu Picchu the day after. But remember, we have an early morning and a long day tomorrow!
Visiting Machu Picchu – Leaving in the morning, we'll head up the mountain for our guided tour through the ancient city of the Incas. There, families will have the opportunity to take in the site and take all the pictures they'll ever need for their future holiday cards.
Returning to Cusco by Train – After having spent a few hours in Machu Picchu, our group will depart from Aguas Calientes and board the afternoon train back to Cusco.
We'll have dinner this evening in a local Indian restaurant (in fact, it's an all you can eat buffet!) We'll do circle at the restaurant giving people the choice to head back to their rooms early for rest or explore Cusco or even enjoy a drink!
Despacho Ceremony – After resting up from our trip to Machu Picchu, we'll be guided by Cesar, a local shaman and mystic, into the hills above Cusco to perform the traditional Despacho Ceremony. The Despacho Ceremony is a blessing to Pachamama (Mother Earth) and is a way to give back to the mountains, the earth, and the vibrant culture that has hosted us during our stay in this magical land.
Our group will dine at a local restaurant and participate in our final circle ceremony!
Final Day – In the morning, we will have a final community breakfast together and then drop families who are departing by air off at the airport. Some participants may elect to stay, and others may choose to travel with the other families they shared this experience with. Every choice is valid and respected, and it is PWS' priority to support you in your decision. Thank you for sharing this experience with us!