Research on ticket prices, as one of many motivational factors in attending professional sporting events, has been analyzed in sport-marketing studies since Noll's (13) seminal work identifying significant factors that determine attendance (2,8,13). Sport economists have utilized ticket pricing data to analyze both elasticity of demand and profit-maximizing behavior of organizations (1,3,16). Conversely, few studies involving ticket prices have examined the financial impact of those pricing decisions on the fans attending sporting events. Concern by both the media and academicians regarding the gentrification of professional sports has increased as ticket prices have continued to climb at rates that outpace increases in ordinary household incomes (11).
Team Marketing Report created the Fan Cost Index (FCI) to reflect the average cost for a family of four to attend a sporting event. While not without its detractors (many of whom would claim that a family can attend games at a fraction of the cost presented by the FCI), the FCI has provided the most comprehensive pricing data set of professional sport franchises for the last two decades (17). The FCI goods and services "basket" includes the cost of four average-priced tickets, two draft beers, four soft drinks, four hot dogs, two caps, two programs, and parking for one vehicle. All four professional sport leagues have increased prices of their goods and services in the FCI basket considerably from 1991 to 2009. The NFL has outpaced the other professional leagues in FCI increases since 2000. The NFL league average FCI went from $151.55 in 1991 to $278.37 in 2000 to $412.64 in 2009 (17).
The increase in cost to attend live sporting events for all professional sports has received both academic and media attention. The primary focus of this attention has been centered on the argument that all but the wealthiest fans are being priced out of the live sporting event experience. One common question raised in these arguments is whether the long-term health of professional sports leagues is sacrificed for short-term financial gains, as gentrification of sports could lead to a decline in interest among lower and middle class youths who never had the opportunity to attended games during their childhood (5).
In an analysis of Major League Baseball fans, Dortch (6) suggested that in the future Major League Baseball would face a disconnect with younger fans as the demographics of America change. The eventual aging and loss of the baby-boom generation will require Major League Baseball to replace the extremely large baby-boomer fan base with younger fans, many of whom did not grow up attending many baseball games. Dortch highlighted the significance of higher household income as it related to the higher probability of a person attending a sporting event compared to ten years prior. While the focus of the article was on Major League Baseball, it addressed all four major professional sports leagues, as they all face gentrification resulting from the focus on courting more fans who are affluent. The findings of the research illustrated the importance of the baby-boomers on attendance through 2010, with the warning that the generation following the baby boomers might not assume their role when it comes to attending sporting events.
Howard (10) examined the difference in cost for a family of four to attend an NFL game in 1957 compared to attending an NFL game in 1997. The $12.50 it cost in 1957 ($71.40 in 1997 dollars) would cover less than a third (28%) of the $257.00 cost in 1997. Howard emphasized concern for the problematic trend of corporate spectators becoming a large proportion of the attendees at sporting events. The concern has become that corporate spectators do not use their personal funds to gain access and therefore lack the same "emotional commitment and loyalty" (p. 86). Howard also argued corporate spectators were a major cause for the large number of no-shows by ticket holders.
One professional league affected by steep ticket price increases since 1989 was the English Premier League. Premier League fans experienced 600% increases in ticket prices since 1989 and fans under the age of 24 attending games decreased from approximately 25% in 1992 to a league wide average of only 9% in 2006 (5).
The primary purpose of this study was to examine the change in purchasing power of NFL fans since the first publication of the Fan Cost Index (FCI) in 1991. The NFL was selected because the league average FCI is currently the highest of the big four leagues and has increased the most since the creation of the FCI. Further, the NFL is America's favorite sports league, according to annual polls, and has been growing in popularity over the last 23 years (9). This study also intended to forecast future FCI prices based on past pricing trends in order to illustrate future purchasing power losses if sport marketers and executives continue applying the same pricing patterns in the future.
The study identified the change over time in the amount of goods and services a family would receive when applying the 1991 FCI to future years, controlling for inflation. The study utilized 19 years of price changes for each FCI component to pinpoint yearly price changes and to forecast prices 10 years into the future to project loss of purchasing power. In order to allow for comparison of prices over time, all monetary figures were converted into constant 2008 dollars using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index (CPI) and CPI conversion tables on estimated future CPIs through 2019 (14).
The study investigated the changes in purchasing power of NFL fans over a 19-year period (1991 through 2009). The components of each team's FCI were used to represent a basket of goods and services. Once all monetary figures were converted into 2008 dollars, the 1991 FCI for each NFL team was identified and used as the baseline basket of goods and services (4 tickets, 4 Hot Dogs, 4 Soft Drinks, 2 Beers, 1 Parking, 2 Programs, and 2 Caps) (17).
Team Marketing Report's (17) pricing data was collected utilizing every NFL Fan Cost Index report from 1991 to 2009. The NFL experienced both franchise relocations and team expansions between 1991 and 2009. Therefore, the study was limited to NFL teams that remained in the same market throughout this period. Each FCI component was then calculated into single unit prices (a single ticket, hot dog, beer, soft drink, parking space, program, and cap) and all beverage components were standardized to account for changes in serving sizes (soft drinks and beer were converted into per-ounce prices to account for some teams changing beverage cup sizes through the years).
Establishing each component's average annual price change required calculating each year's price change percentage. Then the geometric means of the annual price changes were calculated to determine the average annual price change for each FCI component for all NFL teams in the study. This allowed for the forecasting of the price of each FCI component for the future years of 2010 to 2019.
To determine the change in purchasing power of goods and services for fans of each team from 1991 to 2009, the inflation-adjusted cost of the 1991 FCI was used to determine the quantity of goods and services that could still be purchased in 2009 and into the future. For example, the NFL average 1991 FCI was $149. Once adjusted into 2008 dollars, the NFL average FCI for 1991 equals $236. The $236 figure was then used to determine the change in purchasing power over the years. All percent changes, then, are beyond the rate of inflation and all stated dollar figures are in 2008 dollars, which allows for a true "apples to apples" comparison over time.
For purposes of predicting the goods and services that could be purchased in 2019 with the same total expenditure, it was necessary to prioritize items to purchase. The highest priority was given to purchasing as many tickets as possible, to a maximum of four. The second priority, if money remained, was to purchase a parking space. Beyond that, the purchase of food was prioritized (hot dogs, followed by soft drinks and then beer). Finally, if money remained, it was allocated to programs and then caps. There was effort made to relate the purchase of food to a likely amount consumed based on the number of tickets purchased. However, the ultimate goal was to find a combination of goods and services with a total cost within a range of plus or minus $2 from the original 1991 cost for the complete FCI.
The data set included 24 NFL teams that remained in the same market from 1991 to 2009, along with Team Marketing Report's calculated NFL average for all NFL teams. The NFL average FCI increased $176 from $236 in 1991 to $412 in 2009 (in 2008 dollars), representing a 75% price increase beyond inflation from 1991 to 2009 (Table 1).
The Dallas Cowboys had the largest change in FCI with an increase of 163% beyond inflation since 1991 (from $291 in 1991 to $764 in 2009). Seven of the 24 teams in the study had FCI increases of 100% or more beyond inflation (Dallas, San Diego, New England, Kansas City, New York Jets, Indianapolis, and New York Giants). Only four teams had FCI increases less than 50% beyond inflation (Philadelphia, Arizona, Buffalo, and San Francisco).
The second purpose of the study was to forecast future FCI prices to extrapolate future pricing conditions for fans if pricing trends continue. The NFL average FCI is projected to increase another 165% beyond inflation, to $626 by 2019 (Table 2). If trends continue, Dallas and New England are each projected to have 2019 FCIs over $1,000 (again, in 2008 dollars). Six additional teams are projected to be charging over $800 for all the components in the Fan Cost Index in 2019.
The NFL teams in the study with the highest and lowest changes in purchasing power were the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers (Table 3). In 1991, the cost adjusted for inflation was $291 for a family attending a Dallas game and paying for everything in the FCI basket. In 2009, the purchasing power of fans attending Dallas games had decreased to the point that the $291 would only allow the family to purchase one ticket to the game. By 2019, if past pricing trends continue, the Dallas Cowboys family of four will not be able to purchase any tickets to the Dallas Cowboys games with the money available from the adjusted 1991 FCI.
On the other end of the spectrum, the $312 it cost a San Francisco 49ers family to purchase a full basket of game day goods and services in 1991 would still be enough to purchase 4 tickets to a game in 2009. While the family of 49ers fans has lost purchasing power (they would no longer be able to purchase most of the product extensions; only parking and 1 soft drink), all four family members would still be able to attend the game. The forecast for 2019 suggested that the 49ers family would still be able to purchase three tickets, and minimal extensions.
For NFL fans who could afford the complete FCI in 1991, it was desirable to determine the tangible losses of goods and services from 1991 to 2009 (Table 4). In almost every case, the family would have to leave one or more family members out of the experience. For those who could still afford all the tickets, there was still a diminishment in the overall experience, as defined by loss of parking, food, programs, and caps.
Overall, seven teams in the study had their fans' purchasing power decrease to the point they could only afford two of the original four tickets (Table 4). Thirteen teams had fan purchasing power decrease enough to reduce their FCI basket by one ticket. Beyond just access to the game, there was a loss of purchasing power for product extensions included in the original FCI basket (Table 4). For example, an average San Diego family could only afford to pay for two members of the family to attend the game and pay for parking and two hot dogs, but nothing else in the FCI basket. However, three NFL teams in the study had their fans' purchasing power remain high enough to maintain the original level of four tickets to the game.
If pricing trends continue into 2019, the purchasing power of families will continue to diminish (Table 5). The findings show that the aforementioned Cowboys family would be the only team in the study that would have the price of a single ticket higher than the total inflation adjusted price of the FCI basket in 1991. Twelve teams would have fans experience price increases to the point that their families of four would only be able to purchase one ticket and varying amounts of product extensions. Nine teams would have fans experience price increase to the point that their families of four would only be able to purchase two tickets with varying amounts of product extensions.
The findings revealed a wide variance in the changes in purchasing power between NFL teams. Fans of the Dallas Cowboys have seen their purchasing power diminished severely with the completion of Cowboys Stadium. Cowboys fans experienced an 89.9% increase in average ticket prices from 2008 to 2009 as the team moved into the new stadium. The move increased Dallas's overall Fan Cost Index by 74.2% between 2008 and 2009 (7). However, the new stadium alone did not cause the entire reduction in purchasing power fans have experienced since 1991. The Cowboys had several drastic increases in ticket prices in years prior to the opening of the new stadium, including a 25% increase in 2005 and another 27% increase in 2007 (17). As a result of price increases since 1991, the Cowboys were the only NFL team in the study to see a drop in purchasing power to the point where only one of the original four family members can experience the game live for a comparable cost. Conversely, three NFL teams (Buffalo, Philadelphia, and San Francisco) have managed to control prices closer to the rate of inflation, allowing purchasing power to remain relatively strong for fans.
Burton and Howard (4) argued that the large percentage of weekly income it would take for average fans to attend a sporting event in the late 1990s, was putting professional sports "beyond the reach of a vast majority of the general population" (p.42). However, the problem is worse today for many fans as Scarborough (15) research data showed 45% of avid NFL fans with household incomes of $50,000 or less. Therefore, a Dallas Cowboys family with a household income of $40,000 a year, who wanted to attend one game in 2009 and purchase the complete FCI basket, would have to spend an entire 40 hours worth of gross salary to afford the FCI. When considering net salary, it would take perhaps a week and a half of work to pay for the full FCI for a single Cowboys game.
While all the teams and markets differ, the league as a whole should be mindful that the combination of the aging baby boomer population and the impact of increased ticket prices might alter the long-term health of the league if younger and lower- and middle-class fans continue to be relegated to their couches. In such an environment, tomorrow's generation of fans could be raised strictly as consumers of the televised product. Loss of fans due to increased prices, and concern that this could happen to the NFL, should not be discounted. Conn's (5) depiction of the erosion of younger fans in the England's Premier League because of the extreme rise in ticket prices illustrated the consequences of pricing out younger less affluent fans. Such losses of a generation of fans should concern all professional sports leagues. It is possible to lose a large segment of spectators because they only watched the games on television and never had the chance to experience the fan culture located within the stadium. It is possible that in the future NFL teams could see similar losses should pricing trends continue, along with the ever-increasing entertainment alternatives that could siphon off the fans who have not had the live-game experience.
Avid fans have limited options to react to the price increases of NFL teams: 1) they can stop attending games altogether and become media-only fans; 2) they can devote considerably more discretionary income to maintain access to the sport they love, if they want the same game-day experience as in the past; or 3) they can dedicate money to tickets, to get a few family members into the game, but limit or omit the product extensions, which could alter the game day experience.
If sport marketers applied Mullin, Hardy, and Sutton's (12) Frequency Escalator to the current marketing practices of many NFL teams, it would appear that many teams are thoughtlessly rushing to push "corporate spectators" up the escalator. Unfortunately, they are knocking down and even pushing off the avid fans with lower incomes who have fought so desperately through the years to stay on the escalator by sacrificing more and more of their income every year.
Sport marketers and executives from all professional leagues need to continually monitor both the changing demographics of their fan base and the impact future pricing decisions have on all of their fans. Decision makers using only basic supply and demand pricing practices with the goal of yielding additional revenue in the short-term rarely account for consequences those decisions have on long-term goals and success. These short-term decisions could have a profound impact on the size of the fan base in the future. This could drastically influence the size of the return on investment if the owner wants to sell the team in the future.
Alexander, D. L. (2001). Major League Baseball: Monopoly pricing and profit maximizing behavior. Journal of Sports Economics, 2(4), 341-355.
Baade, R., & Tiehen, L. (1990). An analysis of Major League Baseball attendance,1969-1987. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 14(1), 14-32.
Boyd, D. W., & Boyd, L. A. (1998). The home field advantage: Implications for the pricing of tickets of professional team sporting events. Journal of Economics and Finance, 22, 169-179.
Burton, R., & Howard, D. R. (1999). Professional sports leagues: Marketing mix mayhem. Marketing Management, 8(1), 36.
Dortch, S. (1996). The Future of Baseball. American Demographics, 18, 22-28.
Hanson, H., & Gauthier, R. (1989). Factors affecting attendance at professional sports events. Journal of Sport Management, 3(1), 115-132.
Howard, D. R. (1999). The changing fanscape for big-league sports: implications for sport managers. Journal of Sport Management, 13, 78-91.
Howard, D. R., & Crompton, J. L. (2002). The growth and financial status of professional sports in North America: Insights for the English soccer leagues? Managing Leisure, 7(3), 145-163.
Mullin, B. J., Hardy, S., & Sutton, W.A. (2000). Sport Marketing (2nd ed.). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
Noll, R. G. (1974). Attendance and Price Setting. Government and the Sports Business. R. G. Noll. Washington, D.C., The Brookings Institution.
Scully, G. (1989). The business of Major League Baseball. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Jeffrey J. Fountain and Peter S. Finley are both Assistant Professors of Sport and Recreation Management in the H. Wayne Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale Florida.


Home » Episode 302: Ya Blew It!
Episode 302: Ya Blew It!
There are lots of gems buried in this here mine. It'll take some dynamite and a bit of luck to get the shiny ones you want without collecting cursed ones that'll cost you dearly.
In Ya Blew It, you roll your stick of dynamite (a nifty 8-sided die!) trying to scoop up the best claims of gems before the prospector decides to nab them all. Mining is a high risk and reward business, so you have to play your cards just right to know when to press your luck and when to play it safe. The more you can build and protect your glittering collection, the more you'll cash in for big points.
8 oz. fruit based salad dressing( a raspberry walnut, or orange sesame is nice).
Advice: tailoring amounts to size of pork loin. Bigger tenderloin is going to need roughly double of rice, grapes, and onions.
Grill tenderloin as usual. I like to use indirect heat at first, then move pork over direct flame to finish. Best to get a slight char on outside of roast.
While pork cooks, start rice according to package directions. If you're using boxed rice, easiest is to cook in a large Pyrex bowl in microwave.
Wash and chop green onions.
Wash and halve red grapes.
Mix salsa and salad dressing together.
Once rice has cooked, add in onions and grapes. Stir in dressing and chill in fridge.
When pork is done, move to cutting board and cut into bite-sized chunks.
Add cooked pork to rice mixture, stirring to coat pork with dressing.
Chill an additional 30 minutes, if you can wait that long.
A nice crunchy garlic bread on the side wouldn't be out of place.
- steam rice instead of boxed rice.
add oil and whisk again until emulsified to proper texture.
add herbs, berries to push the dressing toward different flavors.
Welcome, Beth Heile, the newest contributor to The Spiel!
Stay tuned for the first full episode of The Sorting Table later this year.


text:
Q: VariantClear exception when passing COM object to VB 6 with opened watch window Why this error is occurred? References count is increased, threading models is single appartment. Coll-object and EmptyColl-function both located inside one dll. Default calling conversion of ATL project is __stdcall. Same error occured with other objects inside this dll.

VariantClear throws exception when clearing VARIANT with NULL-object:
  Exception thrown at 0x75C14974 (oleaut32.dll) in VB6.EXE: 0xC0000005:
  Access violation reading location 0x00000008.

frmMain.frm (error, see below why):
Private Sub Form_Load()
  Dim c As Coll
  Set c = EmptyColl
  'error when ends here with variable "c" in the watch window.
End Sub

frmMain.frm (no error):
Private Sub Form_Load()
  Dim c2 As Coll 'instead of Coll can be any object of same library
  Set c2 = New Coll 'creation
  Set c2 = Nothing 'destroying (optionaly)
  Dim c As Coll
  Set c = EmptyColl
  'no error
End Sub

filyus.idl:
[
  object,
  uuid(6FA7FAEB-5CE3-4A80-9288-2667EE5E7596),
  dual,
  nonextensible,
  pointer_default(unique)
]
interface IColl : IDispatch{
  //some methods
};

[
  uuid(157F3D2F-A427-4D5A-B908-87868297EA43),
  version(1.0),
]
library Filyus
{
  importlib("stdole2.tlb");
  [
    dllname("Filyus")
  ]
  module Filyus{
    [entry("EmptyColl")]
    HRESULT EmptyColl([out, retval] IColl** Coll);
  }
};

filyus.def:
LIBRARY

EXPORTS
  DllCanUnloadNow       PRIVATE
  DllGetClassObject PRIVATE
  DllRegisterServer PRIVATE
  DllUnregisterServer   PRIVATE
  DllInstall        PRIVATE
  EmptyColl

ole.h:
extern HRESULT EmptyColl(IColl** Coll);

ole.cpp:
HRESULT EmptyColl(IColl** Coll) {
  HRESULT hr; CComObject<CColl>* Object;
  if (Coll != nullptr) {
    hr = CComObject<CColl>::CreateInstance(&Object);
    if (hr == S_OK) {
      Object->AddRef();
      *Coll = Object; //same error with using QueryInterface
    }
  }
  else hr = E_POINTER;
  return hr;
}

A: EmptyColl() needs to use the __stdcall calling convention:
extern HRESULT __stdcall EmptyColl(IColl** Coll);

HRESULT __stdcall EmptyColl(IColl** Coll) {
    //...
}

Alternatively, use the STDMETHODCALLTYPE macro, which resolves to __stdcall:
extern HRESULT STDMETHODCALLTYPE EmptyColl(IColl** Coll);

HRESULT STDMETHODCALLTYPE EmptyColl(IColl** Coll) {
    //...
}

Without a calling convention declared, by default a C/C++ compiler will use __cdecl instead unless configured differently.  __cdecl and __stdcall manage the call stack differently. You will corrupt the call stack if you don't use the correct calling convention.  COM standards require __stdcall, and that is what VB expects.

A: The error is occurred because of wrong access to the object.
CComPtr is for client side, CComObject is for server side (direct access, obtain it only when you already created any object of this library).
Correct ole.cpp:
HRESULT EmptyColl(IColl** Coll) {
  HRESULT hr; CComPtr<IColl> Object;
  if (Coll != nullptr) {
    hr = Object.CoCreateInstance(CLSID_Coll);
    if (hr == S_OK) {
      Object.CopyTo(Coll);
    }
  }
  else hr = E_POINTER;
  return hr;
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


With major technical advances in recent years regarding efficiency, reliability and silent operation, air conditioning for domestic applications is highly sophisticated and becoming commonplace.
Thousands of models are available on the market; it's our job to highlight a cost-effective solution for your needs. Some indoor units have sound levels comparable to rustling leaves. Most have sophisticated air purification filters, and with infrared remote control it is possible to have air conditioning in several rooms, each with individual control connecting to one outdoor unit.
We offer free surveys and estimates without obligation.
Inverter heat pump air conditioning systems offer such energy efficiency that the reduced rate of 5% VAT applies to residential installations.


Covers everything but Canada and the United States.
A collection of South Asian resources.
Humanities Index is an international abstracting and indexing tool for research in the humanities.
Provides access to the complete archives of major journals in a variety of subjects.


As the world's largest mobile trade show, MWC 2016, draws to a close in Barcelona, one thing is for certain: the days of the smartphone being the be-all and end-all are over. We're now in the second coming of the accessory, with virtual reality leading the charge.
Samsung, LG, Sony, Xiaomi, HP, Alcatel and others all lined up to announce their latest smartphones, some garnering interest, others less so. But while the new and shiny smartphones were plentiful, they were dwarfed by the sheer volume of add-ons.
The mainstay of accessories used to be your typical cases, serving as protection for that phone you might have just spent £500 or more on. They came in all colours, with clips, bungee cords, screen protectors and flip-out pads. Remember the days when Nokia's Xpress-on shells were all the rage for the 3310? Want a slide-out keyboard protector like the Matrix phone? No problem. Want to make your phone a gaudy heap of gold-coloured plastic? You got it.
While such plastic adornments are undoubtedly still numerous from third-party manufacturers today, smartphone makers have switched focus to value-adding devices or much grander gadgets that plug into the smartphone to extend its capabilities.
Judging by the volume of accessories, smartphone makers have decided that this "broader ecosystem" should be hung on virtual reality and 360-degree content.
Is that a phone strapped to your face?
Almost every smartphone launched at Mobile World Congress included either a 360-degree camera to go with it or a VR headset.
Samsung launched the Gear 360 ball camera, LG the 360 Cam and Sony had a concept Xperia Eye 360-degree camera, all of which are controlled or interacted with through their respective new smartphones.
At the same time, even more companies launched virtual reality headsets in one form or another. Samsung updated its Gear VR accessory made in partnership with Facebook's Oculus for the Galaxy S7, including a visit from the social network's chief executive Mark Zuckerberg to a conference hall full of Gear VR-wearing attendees – it looked like some sort of sci-fi film, where a leader strode through legions of unaware humans jacked into a virtual world.
LG also joined the VR world with a headset that, unlike most others, wasn't just a holder for your smartphone to slot into, but rather plugged into the company's new G5 smartphone for processing power. It looked more like Geordi La Forge's visor from Star Trek than the others. Whether that's a good thing remains to be seen.
Even budget smartphone makers such as Alcatel joined the bandwagon by turning their smartphone packaging into a Google Cardboard-like smartphone case you hold to your face.
The outlier here is HTC with its Vive headset that, rather than being an accessory to your phone, has phone functions built in, but still requires a PC to power it.
Accessories weren't limited to VR, of course. LG launched a robotic ball thing that has cameras, an IR blaster for controlling your TV or other equipment and a laser pointer, which could entertain your cat, perhaps?
Even HP, which launched a Windows 10 smartphone, also launched a range of accessories as the main selling point of the device, including a dock to turn it into a pseudo-PC with monitor, mouse and keyboard, and a "Mobile Extender" that turned the smartphone into a laptop.
But why are smartphone makers so keen on accessories? There are a couple of likely reasons, the first is simply more things to sell that don't necessarily have the same minimal margins that smartphones do.
That's beneficial to the manufacturers, but also the retailers hawking the manufacturer's wares as it gives them more incentive to give a particular smartphone a solid showing in-store and online. In days gone by, electronics retailers barely made any money selling £1,000+ TVs and only really generated any profit on the scart cables that they sold you with your television – those they would buy for 50p and sell for £10.
The other less obvious reason is that building out a smartphone-dependent ecosystem of accessories aids lock-in for smartphone buyers. In a world dominated by Android, which allows users to switch between different smartphone brands with ease, one of the only ways to keep brand loyalty is to offer something exclusive to your brand.
A Samsung Gear VR will only work with a Samsung smartphone, which means when you've sunk £80 or more into an accessory, it acts as an incentive to stick with a Samsung smartphone when you upgrade. That is particularly true when consumers buy their phones subsidised with mobile phone contracts, which disguise the true cost of a smartphone and makes the cost of the accessory appear disproportionately high, when in fact it's likely only one-fifth or less of the cost of a high-end smartphone.
Outside the world of Android, where transferring your apps from one manufacturer to another is practically impossible, the need for accessories is lessened. The apps and media you buy lock you into your smartphone operating system, and if only one manufacturer such as Apple makes phones with that operating system, you're stuck.
But for the majority of the rest of the smartphone world in developed and saturated markets such as the UK, the US and parts of Europe, the hard sell on add-ons and "ecosystem" starts now. Welcome to the second-coming of the smartphone accessory.


text:
Global Symmetry: Icosahedral - I (3D View)
Global Stoichiometry: Homo 180-mer - A180
Biological assembly 1&nbspassigned by authors and generated by (software)
Atom Count: 3618
Download EM Map
3J7M
Virus model of brome mosaic virus (first half data set)
DOI: 10.2210/pdb3J7M/pdb
EMDataResource: EMD-6000
Classification: VIRUS
Organism(s): Brome mosaic virus
Deposition Author(s): Wang, Z., Hryc, C., Bammes, B., Afonine, P.V., Jakana, J., Chen, D.H., Liu, X., Baker, M.L., Kao, C., Ludtke, S.J., Schmid, M.F., Adams, P.D., Chiu, W.
Method: ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
Aggregation State: PARTICLE
Reconstruction Method: SINGLE PARTICLE
An atomic model of brome mosaic virus using direct electron detection and real-space optimization.
Wang, Z., Hryc, C.F., Bammes, B., Afonine, P.V., Jakana, J., Chen, D.H., Liu, X., Baker, M.L., Kao, C., Ludtke, S.J., Schmid, M.F., Adams, P.D., Chiu, W.
(2014) Nat Commun 5: 4808-4808
3J7L, 3J7M, 3J7N
Advances in electron cryo-microscopy have enabled structure determination of macromolecules at near-atomic resolution. However, structure determination, even using de novo methods, remains susceptible to model bias and overfitting. Here we describe a ...
Advances in electron cryo-microscopy have enabled structure determination of macromolecules at near-atomic resolution. However, structure determination, even using de novo methods, remains susceptible to model bias and overfitting. Here we describe a complete workflow for data acquisition, image processing, all-atom modelling and validation of brome mosaic virus, an RNA virus. Data were collected with a direct electron detector in integrating mode and an exposure beyond the traditional radiation damage limit. The final density map has a resolution of 3.8 Å as assessed by two independent data sets and maps. We used the map to derive an all-atom model with a newly implemented real-space optimization protocol. The validity of the model was verified by its match with the density map and a previous model from X-ray crystallography, as well as the internal consistency of models from independent maps. This study demonstrates a practical approach to obtain a rigorously validated atomic resolution electron cryo-microscopy structure.
1] National Center for Macromolecular Imaging, Verna and Marrs McLean Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA [2] Graduate Program in Structural and Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA.
Capsid protein A, B, C 189 Brome mosaic virus Mutation(s): 0
Gene Names: ORF3b
Find proteins for P03602 (Brome mosaic virus)
Explore P03602
Go to UniProtKB: P03602
Changes: Derived calculations
Changes: Data collection

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Man dies as a result of collision involving school bus near Brayford
Sarah Howells
sarah.howells@archant.co.uk
Read more from Sarah Howells
Updated: Thursday, August 31, 2017 (13:17)
Police road closed sign.
A man, in his 20s has died as a result of his injuries after a collision at Yard Cross near Brayford yesterday (Wednesday).
A man has died following a serious collision near Yard Cross, Brayford, yesterday (Wednesday).
Emergency services were called to the scene at around 8.30am to reports of a two-vehicle collision between a Peugeot 106 and a BMC coach carrying a number of school children.
The driver of the Peugeot, a man in his 20s, was cut from his car by fire fighters and airlifted to Derriford Hospital but later died as a result of his injuries.
No one else was injured in the collision.
The road was closed for five hours whilst local officers as well as officers from the Roads Policing Team and Serious Collison Investigation Unit attended the scene.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Police via 101@dc.police.uk or on 101 quoting the log number 155 30/08/17.
Man taken to hospital with 'life-threatening injuries' following car and bus collision


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text:
Carroll County forced to address jail overcrowding
Joseph Paul
DELPHI, Ind. — Carroll County isn't the same community it was 20 years ago, Sheriff Tobe Leazenby said this week.
And the jail — built more than 20 years ago with only 34 beds — can't keep up.
"Part of the issue is some of the influx of criminal activity coming into the county," he said.
Local government was notified earlier this month that the jail — packed with 43 inmates, some sleeping on the floor in cots — was overcrowded and out of compliance with the Indiana Department of Correction (IDOC), according to documents provided by the agency.
Officials quickly addressed the issue by transporting 19 inmates to facilities in Clinton and Miami counties, paying $34 in rent every day for each inmate, Leazenby said. According to state documents, a letter was sent Aug. 22 notifying authorities the jail was back in compliance.
For now, the jail is once again nearing capacity at 31 inmates. As the county forms a jail study committee, however, the question remains on what do next.
"Basically, there's three options," Leazenby said. "Either we continue to — if you will — farm people out to other counties, remodel where we are or possibly build a new facility."
Delaying the inevitable
Carroll County Commissioners President Patrick Clawson said the jail has been overcrowded since the early 2000s, but staff alleviated the problem by using "canoes" — plastic cots with a mattress inside for inmates to sleep.
He said jail standards recently changed to prohibit the temporary solution. According to the noncompliance letter from a state jail inspector, each inmate must be provided a bed 12 inches above the ground and permanently fixed to the floor.
At least two jail studies to address the issue in the past 10 years — including one that estimated a replacement at $10 million — have been put on the back burner, essentially delaying the inevitable, he said.
But the new solution — busing inmates to out-of-county facilities — is impractical and expensive, and requires additional manpower and resources from the sheriff's department, he said.
"When you house your inmates in a facility outside your county, you're responsible for all their daily needs," Clawson said.
That includes paying rent that covers housing, food and water.
But the arrangement also entails "sending a deputy 30 miles or 40 miles to pick the prisoner up and take him to his doctor appointments, court appointments and everything else we do," he said. "That gets old pretty quick."
Which means elected officials and taxpayers might have to face the unfortunate truth.
"This is going to trigger probably a complete remodel or rebuild of the jail," he said.
Trickle down
The overcrowding issue has been compounded by the state's new criminal code, which pushes low-level felony offenders back to county jails rather than state correctional facilities to serve their time.
"It's trickled down now to the county jails," Leazenby said. "Some of those sentences ... (are) a couple years."
As a result, county judges have put more emphasis on probation and community corrections to free up space for more serious offenders.
"We're trying to move in that direction to alleviate it," he said. "This problem is only going to get worse as time goes by. We're not the only county that's dealing with it."
Still, the IDOC considers a jail "full" when it is at 80 percent capacity, leaving enough space to objectively classify prisoners — or separate them according to their gender and other criteria.
With 31 of 34 beds filled, Carroll County Jail remains above 90 percent capacity, although Leazenby contended that "at no point have we ever had males and females together."
A jail is considered out of compliance when it surpasses its total capacity, which could "result in civil litigation action being taken against the sheriff and county," said Isaac Randolph, a public information officer for the IDOC.
Forcing a hand
Challenges aside, Leazenby pointed to state statute that puts the onus on "the executive" to "establish and maintain" the county jail, according to Indiana code.
"I want to stress the commissioners ultimately have to formulate a plan when it comes to county facilities, including the county jail," he said.
Clawson said a new jail study committee — comprised of a commissioner, county councilor and several community members — will be formed in the coming weeks.
Remodeling the current jail could prove to difficult due its location, lack of parking and construction space, he noted, which means a new building could prove to be the only viable option.
"I think this is going to force our hand into doing something that needs to be done anyway," he said.
Call J&C reporter Joseph Paul at 765-420-5339, email him at jpaul@jconline.com or follow him on Twitter:@JosephPaulJC.
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text:
Astron. Astrophys. 329, 87-100 (1998)
Hipparcos subdwarfs and globular cluster ages:
the distance and age of M 92 *
F. Pont 1, M. Mayor 1, C. Turon 2 and D.A. VandenBerg 3
1 Observatoire de Genève, CH-1290 Sauverny, Switzerland
2 DASGAL/URA CNRS 335, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, France
3 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Victoria, Canada
Received 18 June 1997 / Accepted 8 August 1997
A new determination of the distance and age of the old globular cluster M 92 (NGC 6341) is obtained from a consideration of a set of more than 500 subdwarf candidates with Hipparcos parallaxes. Precise [Fe/H] values are derived for most stars using the equivalent width of the Coravel cross-correlation function.
We examine at some length the biases affecting the determination of the mean luminosity of a set of subdwarfs selected by metallicity and lim criteria, by means of Monte Carlo simulations of the whole selection and analysis procedure. Effects other than the classic Lutz-Kelker bias are found to be significant, so that in most cases considered, the resulting bias acts as a slight shift in a direction opposite to the Lutz-Kelker correction. The effect of the presence of detected (and suspected) binaries is also examined and taken into account.
Our best estimate of the distance of M 92 is mag, from a fit of the cluster main sequence to the 17 subdwarfs in our set with [Fe/H] and %. Bias and binarity corrections are included. The adoption of an alternative [Fe/H] scale causes only minor differences in this result. A more classic treatment of binaries (i.e., simply excluding the detected binaries from the sample) leads to mag. The location of the evolved field subdwarfs (along the subgiant branch) provides a strong indication that M 92 and the most metal-poor subdwarfs are coeval.
The M 92 C-M diagram is confronted with up-to-date stellar evolutionary models (recent opacities and nuclear reaction rates, non-ideal equation of state, -element enhancement). The agreement between theory and observations is excellent, including the position of the horizontal branch, if the models are shifted by mag. An age of 14 Gyr is derived from the luminosities of the cluster turnoff and subgiant branch stars. A similar colour shift is found from an examination of an independent set of subdwarfs having [Fe/H] and very accurate parallaxes ( %). Because the inferred adjustment to the synthetic colours seems to be nearly constant over a fairly wide range in metallicity, we conclude that current theoretical models predict the systematic variation in the location of the lower main sequence as a function of [Fe/H] reasonably well. As discussed herein, a greater distance (and younger age) for M 92 would pose considerable difficulties for stellar structure theory.
Thanks to more precise globular cluster (GC) distances, the dominant source of uncertainty in GC ages now becomes associated with the model stellar interiors and atmospheres. In particular, helium diffusion, which was not treated in the present models, is expected to lead to about a 10% age reduction, while the use of an alternative bolometric correction scale would imply higher ages by Gyr. If GCs formed about 1 Gyr after the Big Bang, then we obtain a minimum age for the Universe of at least 14 Gyr, confirming the necessity of rather low values of in the context of standard cosmological models.
Key words: globular clusters: M 92 stars: kinematics HR-diagram stars: abundances Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics
* Based on data from the ESA Hipparcos Astrometry Satellite, and measurements made at the European Southern Observatory, Chile and Observatoire de Haute-Provence, France.
Send offprint requests to: F. Pont
2. The data
2.1. Sample description
2.2. Coravel measurement campaign
2.3. The Coravel metallicity determination
2.4. Colours and reddenings
2.5. Detection of binaries
3. Absolute luminosity and metallicity of subdwarfs
4. Treatment of biases - binaries
4.1. Biases affecting main-sequence fitting of globular clusters to field subdwarfs
4.2. Binaries
5. Distance of M 92
5.1. Main-sequence fit and distance
5.2. Alternative metallicity scale
5.3. Uncertainty in the distance modulus
5.4. Modified assumptions
6. The age of M 92 and related discussion
Online publication: November 24, 1997


text:
Q: How can add Image and Serial Port to combobox same time? I use this code
foreach (string ports in System.IO.Ports.SerialPort.GetPortNames())
                cmbComPort.Items.Add(ports);
            cmbComPort.SelectedIndex = 2;

for add serial port for combobox. But I want to add image same time with serial port name like this:
.
How can I make it.

A: Use the ComboBox' ItemTemplate-Property to design your ComboBox-Items:
<ComboBox
    <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
        <DataTemplate>
            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal">
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding}" />
                <Image Source="pack://application:,,,/Folder/PictureName.Format"
            </StackPanel >
        </DataTemplate>
    </ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
</ComboBox>


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"Sandhills in Design -Plate 1" is being printed in two separate limited editions. Larger prints on canvas are also available: numbered to two-hundred, with five Artist Proofs.


text:
\section{Introduction}
The toolbag of Natural Language Processing contains several methods for measuring similarity between textual data. From superficial metrics like Levenshtein (edit) distance \citep{levenshtein}, to somewhat superficial ones like TF-IDF \citep{sparck1972statistical}, and to heavily semantic metrics that emerge from the depths of encoding neural networks \citep{vaswani2017attention,kiros2015skip}. In general these methods are particularly suited to analyzing text that represent natural language. However, there are occasions where the string data consist of more than normal text, and contain, for instance, mathematical formulae. The existing metrics are less than optimal in such scenarios, and one has to employ other means of representing the similarity between such data strings.

An example of this comes up in correlation of school standards to textbook headings. School districts are required to follow certain curricular standards that are usually designated at the state or federal level. These standards state the specific topics that should be covered for each subject in each grade. For instance under biology for grade 11, one of California standards about DNA reads ``Construct an explanation based on evidence for how the structure of DNA determines the structure of proteins which carry out the essential functions of life through systems of specialized cells \citep{NGSS}." Therefore, teachers need to know the correspondence between the material in the textbook they adopt and the standards their district follows. Seeing as this correspondence relies on the semantics of the standard and the text in the book, a semantic matching can be used (e.g. document embedding) to measure the similarity between the two, and pick the most similar candidates.

This strategy works well for most scientific subjects (e.g. Biology, Earth Sciences, etc.) but falls short when the subject at hand involves mathematical expressions, because often the matching algorithms do not have a default method of encoding mathematical expressions. A simple approach for such occasions would be to opt for a standard format (e.g. LaTex) and store the formulae as they are. During matching, one only needs to look for an exact match between the formula in the query and the ones stored in the database. However, this approach falls apart quickly as we notice that the same expression may be stated using $x$ and $y$ in the database, but using $\alpha$ and $\beta$ in the query. For instance $(x+y)^2$ vs. $(\alpha +\beta)^2$.

\section{Motivation}
Looking at the following two expressions, we can tell that they are expressing the same symbolic mathematical relationship
\footnote{Of course if we were to specify them further, they may become different expressions. For instance, if one were defined only on complex numbers and the other on positive integers, then obviously they wouldn't be the same.}, even though they look quite different.

\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
& a^2 + b^2 + 2ab \\
& (x + y)^2
\end{split}
\end{equation}

How do we capture this similarity? Part of the problem lies in recognizing the identity $(s+t)^2=s^2+t^2+2st$. Thankfully, there exist libraries and platforms that can easily handle such identities (e.g. Maple and SymPy). The more cumbersome issue is that one expression is stated in terms of $a$ and $b$ while the other is expressed via $x$ and $y$. Since we already have the means of resolving the identity, let us reformulate the problem and focus on the issue that requires our attention:

\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
& a^2 + b \\
& x + y^2
\end{split}
\end{equation}

Note that the isomorphy of the two expressions is in the structure of the algebraic operation they suggest, which in words would be something along "one variable plus the square of another variable". Therefore, what we need is to encode the expression in such a way that exposes this structure.

I propose to use the expression tree for this purpose, namely, a convenient way to represent the structure of a mathematical expression. The useful property of such a graph is that it makes explicit the property of interest, which is otherwise only implied in the nominal representation of the above expressions. Once we have the desired graph, then the problem of matching two expressions changes to that of graph isomorphism. Graph isomorphism is the well established problem of deciding whether two different graphs employ the same toplogical structure, regardless of their apparently different representation. For instance, in figure \ref{fig:isographs}, bottom, a and b are isomorphic to each other, but neither is isomorphic to c.

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=.5]{isomorphic_graphs.pdf}
\caption{Top: The expression tree for $x^2 + y$. Bottom: a and b are isomorphic, even though they appear different. Neither is isomorphic with c.}
\label{fig:isographs}
\end{figure}

It should be noted that the question of whether two mathematical expressions are equal is akin to the halting problem \citep{turing1937computable}, and in general undecidable \citep{rice1953classes}. Therefore, the algorithm I propose here would be better considered a heuristic which can handle most ordinary cases likely to appear in school textbooks, but will nevertheless fail in the face self referential statements. To make matters worse, in the proposed approach , once the expressions are converted into their graphical representation, their equality amounts to isomorphism of their corresponding trees, which is conjectured to be NP-complete \citep{lewis1983computers}. But the algorithm will not actually test for isomorphism of trees (more on that later).

\section{Algorithm}
We start by parsing the expression and building an expression tree. Expression trees are undirected acyclic graphs built from a prefix notation of the expression. Specifically, we are interested in the algebraic expression trees. Figure \ref{fig:isographs}, top, illustrates an example of an expression tree for $x^2 + y$. While it is common for these trees to be binary, here we are relaxing this constraint and allowing each sub-tree to have more than two children. However, note that since $T(c_0,c_1,...c_n)$, an N-ary branch, can be rewritten as $T_0(T_1(...T_{n-1}(c_{n-1},c_n),c_1),c_0)$, a binary sub-tree, our discussion here extends to binary trees too.

With the expression tree built, the adjacency matrix\footnote{A common representation for graphs is a square matrix with as many rows and columns as the number of vertices in the graph. If there is an edge connecting vertex $i$ to vertex $j$ then the $ij^{th}$ entry in the matrix will be $1$, otherwise $0$. This is called the adjacency matrix.}
together with the set of vertices will uniquely identify a symbolic expression. From there, the proper way to test whether two expressions thus coded are equal, will be to test whether they have the same vertices, and more importantly, if their graphs are isomorphic, a rather expensive task \citep{lewis1983computers}. However, if we are willing to accept less than perfect results, we can systematically organize the vertices to be consistent across all expressions and obviate the need to test for isomorphism. The test of graph isomorphism is only necessary because the adjacency matrix for the same graph can be rewritten multiple ways for each possible ordering of the vertices. For instance, for the example in figure \ref{fig:isographs}, top, we can have $x,2,y,\text{Pow},\text{Add}$, or $2,x,y,\text{Pow},\text{Add}$, or ... each resulting in a different matrix. But if the vertices always appear in the same order (e.g. from largest power to smallest, trig functions last, etc.), the adjacency matrix will usually look the same for different expressions that share the same structure. The consistency of the ordering can break, however, where there is ambiguity in the order, and the algorithm has to resort to a secondary tie breaking policy. For instance, when there are multiple terms of the same order, sorting them alphabetically seems like a natural solution. But, this can lead to imperfect results because the letter representing the symbol is the very entity that we want to be invariant to. Consequently, this is a decision on the trade-off between computational expense and error tolerance, which the designer will need to consider for the particular application of interest.

Since the expression tree is undirected, the adjacency matrix will be symmetric. Therefore, instead of the entire matrix, the upper triangular (or the lower triangular) matrix alone will suffice. Putting together the two main ingredients (adjacency matrix and vertex set), one possible coding scheme will then be to concatenate the upper triangular adjacency matrix and the the set of vertices into one long string representation. For instance, for the expression $x^2 + y$ (figure \ref{fig:isographs}), we have:
\begin{equation}
\begin{split}
\text{Vertices}: &x,2,y,\text{Pow},\text{Add}\\
\text{Adjacency Matrix} = &[[0,0,0,1,0],[0,0,0,1,0],[0,0,0,0,1],[1,1,0,0,1],[0,0,1,1,0]]\\
\text{Upper Triangular} = &[[0,0,1,0],[0,1,0],[0,1],[1]]\\
\text{Coded}: &0010010011\text{SymNumSymPowAdd}
\end{split}
\end{equation}
Where the final coded representation is the concatenation of the rows from the upper triangular matrix and the vertices, with Sym and Num denoting symbolic and numerical vertices.
Note that had the expression been $a^2 + b$ or $t+s^2$, the final representation would still be the same. Table \ref{tab:table} lists a few more examples of coded expressions.

\definecolor{MyGray}{gray}{.9}

\begin{table}[bt]
\begin{center}
\rowcolors{1}{white}{MyGray}
\begin{tabulary}{\textwidth}{R c p{9.2cm}}
$(x+y)^2$  &:& $0010010011\text{SymSymNumAddPow}$\\[1.35ex]
$sin(x)cos(x)$&:& $110011\text{SymSinCosAdd}$\\[1.35ex]
$\frac{2xy+5}{y}$ &:& $000100001010100010101\text{SymSymNumNumMulAddDiv}$\\[1.35ex]
\hline
\end{tabulary}
\caption{Examples of expressions and their corresponding expression trees (\ref{fig:example_expressions}), as well as the final coded strings.}
\label{tab:table}
\end{center}
\end{table}

\begin{figure}
\includegraphics[scale=.5]{example_expressions.pdf}
\caption{Examples of expression trees. \textit{a}: $(x+y)^2$; \textit{b}: $Sin(x)Cos(x)$; \textit{c}: $\frac{2xy+5}{y}$}
\label{fig:example_expressions}
\end{figure}

\section{Discussion}

The basic implementation of this coding scheme is truly invariant to both variables and constants. As long as the structure of the expression is the same, it cares not what the specifics of the variables or constants are and treats them all the same. For instance, $(a+b)^7$ and $(u + v)^5$ are both coded the same way. While this may be desired for the purpose of measuring similarity, it can pose a problem when the specific variable or constant used bears a significance not shared by other choices for that variable or constant. Examples are variables of particular meaning in Physics (e.g. $R,C,V,G,\rho, \epsilon$ etc.), exponents of $2$ and $3$ which are generally treated separately and given special attention (e.g. many books cover $(a+b)^2$ and $(a+b)^3$ in isolation before generalizing to $(a+b)^n$), and constants such as $3.14$ and $9.8$. Therefore, it is important for the designer to consider carefully how much invariance is desired and include in the algorithm a list of special cases that require a different treatment.

\bibliographystyle{chicago}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaArXiv


text:
Jennifer Bradley
November-December
What began as a 1942 military training facility and group of outdated buildings is now a modern general aviation terminal, fixed base operator and flight school all in one building. In August, Ohio State University Airport/Don Scott Field (OSU) opened its new $15 million Austin E. Knowlton Executive Terminal and Aviation Learning Center.
The airport, located just 11 miles northwest of downtown Columbus, owns/operates the fixed base operator and runs the university flight training program, which is also open to the public. Airport Director Doug Hammon explains that OSU Airport's main mission is to support the university's teaching, research and outreach activities, but it also functions as a traditional airport. In fact, it's the third busiest in Ohio. "We try to balance those things and think we do it pretty well," Hammon remarks.
The airport became public in the late 1950s and '60s, after receiving federal funds for runway improvements. From there, it has grown into a tier one university research support center and one of the state's leading corporate airports, says Hammon.
"Through this project, we've been able to not only have modern amenities for the airport, but also have a facility to provide aviation students a greater insight into the industry and world," he adds.
Project: New Terminal
Location: Ohio State University Airport/Don Scott Field
Primary Components: Administration Offices; Fixed Base Operator; Flight School
Size: 2 stories; 29,500 sq. ft.
Cost: $15 million
Funding: $10 million from Knowlton Foundation;
$2.5 million from hangar rental; $2.5 million from
other donors
Project Timeline: Design process began in
2015; construction started in fall 2017; facility
opened Aug. 2018
Architect: Moody Nolan Inc.
General Contractor: Whiting-Turner Inc.
Notable Features: More overall space; larger, upgraded teaching areas; new observation deck; Buckeye décor; improved amenities such as Wi-Fi coverage, charging stations & 19 televisions
Proposed Future Projects: 1,000-ft. runway extension; corporate air park; self-fueling station; aerospace & aviation academic/research laboratory
Consolidating OSU's three separate, aging buildings into one modern facility has been a welcome transformation for airport customers and staff. "The terminal was built in 1942 and trying to operate successfully in 2017," Hammon explains. "The flight school was an old office that was never designed for a flight school; it was too small. The administration building was old and didn't provide teaching facilities to help students or an attractive entryway to central Ohio."
Today, all these boxes have been checked. "The airport offers a grand entrance, and there's so much space now," says Mike Eppley, general manager of the airport's fixed base operator (FBO). "We were in a 1940s building, and now it's a 2018 building. There's just something about it that is a hundred times better!"
Five years ago, airport officials began serious conversations with the Knowlton Foundation. Its benefactor, the late Austin E. Knowlton, was an aviation enthusiast and had expressed a desire to provide funding for OSU Airport.
The foundation consequently provided the $10 million needed to move the facility project forward, and the remaining $5 million is being generated through contributions from other donors and revenue from 54 new T hangars. Revenue was available shortly after construction, as the hangars were promptly filled by a waiting list of more than 130 aircraft operators wanting space at the airport.
One of the foundation's specific goals for the new terminal facility was to include a space for pilots and students to interact. "You know pilots love to talk, and students do, too," Hammon muses. "If they can get together and simply share stories, then students can understand what the life of a pilot is like before they get out there. That was the foundation's vision and what brought us all together in one facility."
The design process began in 2015 and took about two years. Construction started in fall 2017, and the new terminal and training center opened this August. Minor cosmetic touches and final clean up are still underway.
A university airport is a unique business. It has an educational component but must also function efficiently for other users. During the initial design stages for the new terminal at OSU Airport, it was imperative for the airport team to educate university officials in charge of construction projects about the inner workings of an FBO/flight school and their operational needs, such as longer runways.
"We had to help them understand our industry and what needed to be included in those structures so we could be the best business possible," Hammon explains.
The new FBO/training building is two stories tall, with large glass windows overlooking the airfield. In the first week alone, dozens from the surrounding community came to see the airfield from the new observation deck. "We really built this space to be interactive with the community," Hammon says, noting that a public open house is being planned for early 2019. To help fulfill that outreach mission, the airport opens its doors to more than 2,500 youth each year.
While some visitors miss the old terminal's 360-degree view, Eppley reports that the new views and other facility upgrades have been well received by customers, community members and staff.
Some customers fly into the facility simply to use the airport's meeting space for local appointments or conferences that involve attendees from various locations. Three classrooms on the second floor can accommodate 50 people each, or the spaces can be combined to create one more expansive room for conferences and other large events.
Hammon suspects that the airport's calendar is already filling up with reservations for the rental space because it boasts such a nice, full view of the airfield. As word spreads about the facility and passengers see it as they arrive and depart the airport, the team expects demand will continue to grow. University alumni are already enthusiastic about the Buckeye theme throughout the facility, and usage is anticipated to be especially high during this and future college football seasons.
"Normally, we book one bus per weekend to take people to the game," says Eppley. "Just knowing how this place will attract people, I've already booked two. A lot of alumni have flown in for years and will really be looking forward to coming through the new terminal."
Improved Wi-Fi coverage, USB charging stations throughout the new building and 19 televisions (vs. just one previously) promise to be particularly popular amenities. "New carpeting and flooring are pretty good, too," jokes Hammon.
"As we all know, we have a pilot shortage," says Brandon Mann, the university's director of flight education. "We have now seen our enrollment numbers increase dramatically to 115 students—the highest we've seen in nearly 20 years."
Mann credits the recent surge of interest in the flight program to the new building, which has more space, improved teaching areas and updated technology, including a new dispatch system. Private testing rooms were added to help students concentrate, and flight instructors no longer battle to reserve space, because there are now three classrooms rather than one.
Designers improved the entrance to the flight education terminal and added glass walls to provide a direct view into the simulator labs. Overall, the added space and modern upgrades have been a tremendous benefit for students and teaching staff, notes Mann.
By design, OSU's training program and new facility offer ample opportunities for interaction between students and professional pilots, especially corporate pilots. The goal is to increase enrollment to 200 students in the next five years and phase out older aircraft with seven Cessna Skyhawk 172 trainers donated by NetJets.
"They are G1000 full auto-pilot aircraft, so our students are getting state-of-the-art technology to learn with," says Mann. NetJets has been a strong partner with OSU for a long time, and the donated aircraft are the latest of many contributions to improve student learning and expose them to advanced aviation technology.
Non-aviation departments from the university also use the airport for course work such as city planning engineering and drone activity. Other nearby universities use the facility, too. All students from all departments and schools can register for flight training to earn a pilot's license.
Of about 100 airport employees, 30 to 35 are students. "Talk about hands-on experience!" says Hammon. "On the weekends or evenings, you'll probably see more student employees than full-time staff."
Currently, the OSU Airport team is in the process of a master plan update—the first since 1990, when the university decided to keep the airport. The facility's importance for research and outreach was more fully realized, and the time came to move forward with the next steps, Hammon explains. The team's goal is to send the master plan up the chain to the FAA in early 2019.
The next major initiative in the current master plan is a 50-acre corporate air park. Discussions are in the works whether to develop infrastructure for leased and/or occupant-built structures, or to let an outside company develop and lease all 50 acres. Decisions will likely be made within the next half-year.
The second master plan project is a much-needed runway extension. "This has been in the books since the '80s," Hammon remarks. "We have 5,000 feet, but we really need 6,000 so the airport can physically fit the level of planes our corporate customers use." Several corporate clients would like to be able to make trans-Atlantic trips without stopping at the coast to refuel.
Safety is the other main impetus for the runway extension project. "It's kind of dicey in winter on the 5,000 feet," Hammon explains. "That extra thousand feet for landing would be good to help stop on ice; or, on a hot summer day, to be able to get out better."
Extra runway length would also help with noise issues, as aircraft won't need as much power to climb out. The airport is now surrounded by a suburban area, but that wasn't the case 75 years ago when it was built. "When someone hears the term 'runway extension,' the first thing they will think is bigger, louder planes," he says. "That's not the case. The longer runway will actually allow aircraft to operate more efficiently. We want to help improve the noise situation for neighborhoods around the airport."
If approved and funded, the runway extension and corporate park will complement the new Austin E. Knowlton Executive Terminal and Aviation Learning Center, which is already making its mark serving the university and surrounding community.
RFID technology for tracking baggage
RECORDED: Wednesday, October 16th, 2019 at 10:00 am EDT
Use of RFID technology for tracking baggage has evolved steadily during the past four years, deployed system-wide by a major legacy US airline, adoption at more airports, and a resounding vote of confidence at the recent IATA AGM in June, 2019. RFID was selected as the ideal technology by the IATA membership for future bag tags because it has been demonstrated to improve read rates which lead to large reductions in baggage mishandling, thereby removing lost baggage and its associated costs.
This seminar sets the record straight regarding RFID bag tags. What's true, what's not true, what are the best ways to deploy the technology, and what components are necessary. These are the issues which deserve additional clarity, and the webinar panel will address the assumptions that have been in place for years, and leave the attendee with the facts.
Mark Summers from Avery Dennison and Tom Gebler from SICK, Inc. will tackle these questions and others in: RFID Baggage Solutions: Let's Talk About the Facts and the Best Way Forward.
View an archived version of this session in its entirety:
View full webinar:
RFID Baggage Solutions: Let's Talk About the Facts and the Best Way Forward - (MP4 video)
Listen as Podcast:
RFID Baggage Solutions: Let's Talk About the Facts and the Best Way Forward - (MP3 audio)


text:
La Cuisine est à vous est une rubrique du journal Spirou créée en 1976 dans le  et publiée jusqu'en 1978 dans le . Il s'agit d'une rubrique qui permet aux jeunes lecteurs de publier leurs propres textes et illustrations.

Historique

Liste des publications

Source
La Cuisine est à vous sur le site Bdoubliees

Rubrique du journal Spirou

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


all the supplies we are lovingly accumulating.
Post for Top Dog Dies!
The detail of the Dies are amazing!
If you turn these over...the other side looks just as great.
I hope you check out their site.
I have been having a great summer with family.
I love to do as well as making cards.
and paired them with some really fun papers and Top Dog Dies.
and some Doggie related vinyl stickers and also my Memory Box Hello Die.
on the TOP DOG DIES Blog Today!
PTI's Note Niblets is a sweet set.
Pairing it with Technique Tuesday's Bring on the Sun.
I knew that I could use my Stampin' up!
Isn't this octopus sweet!..Love the anchor papers..
so I am happy to do another one!
some stars for a little festive whimsy.
Now this card really looks better "in person" as you might say"
For this challenge I reversed up the sketch a little.
Fusion - Old Door Charm!
I took the photo inspiration and went Masculine!
The current Challenge is STARS!
and I had some Festive Fun tonight!
Also posting to Paper Crafting Challenges.
The Challenge AEI U Sequins!
Have you seen this weeks MUSE?
takes it to a whole new level!!!!
cup of tea, I can't wait to see what you do!
Also....this is a WEEKLY PNW Crafters Challenge.
also play the MUSE Challenge!
and used Dreamwaever Stencils Embossing Paste.
and then used Raspberry distress ink to color the Awesome and then stamped.
used the distress marke to come in for some darker areas.
Here is Bobby's Wonderful Inspiration Card!
I hope you are inspired to join along too!!!
And Posting to AAA Cards....STENCIL STYLE!!!
and all of you players!!!
Love seeing what you come up with every week.
The week the CUE is LETTER!
and I made elements of this card..
I chatted so much I had to assemble it later at home..
Many things to do there if you stay!
Sweet mail.... I LOVE Happy Mail!
stamped the exclusive July 2014 Simon Says Stamp Kit "Sending Happy Mail"
envelopes and cut and popped then up on foam.
The mini hearts are from the Mama Elephant XOXO set.
I used copics to add interest over the op of the letters.
I sure hope that you are INSPIRED to join along!
Special thanks to our wonderful sponsors.
This time it is "SEQUINS"
Paper Crafting Challenges as a Design Team Member.
as they are quite fun!
Layered, this challenge is how you like it!
So won't you join in?
I LOVE the look of this, looks quite like it could be made by Papyrus.... !!!


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Oscar® winner Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) and recent Oscar® nominee Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson) star in this taut courtroom thriller directed by Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear) and written by Daniel Pyne (The Manchurian Candidate). Young district attorney Willy Beachum (Gosling) is a on his way to the top with only one last case standing in his way: a mysterious engineer (Hopkins) found innocent on a technicality of his wife's (Embeth Davidtz) murder. In a thriller laden with twists and turns that weave both in and out of the courtroom, the pair becomes entangled in a risky cat-and-mouse game with fatal consequences. Featuring an outstanding supporting cast that includes Oscar® nominee David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck.) and Rosamund Pike (Pride & Prejudice), this thriller reveals that the difference between innocence may be revealed in the smallest of details--Fracture.
Charles Weinstock
Liz Glotzer
Daniel Pyne
Glenn Gers
Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, Billy Burke, Cliff Curtis, Fiona Shaw, Bob Gunton
© 2007 New Line Productions, Inc. All rights reserved.
Critics Consensus: Though Fracture's plot is somewhat implausible, the onscreen face-off between Gosling and Hopkins overshadows any faults.
Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling go at each other with so much gusto that their performances bring...
Independent (UK)
Peter Sobczynski
Movie Mom
Reeling Reviews
Robin Clifford
The villain is more interesting than the hero, but Fracture functions well enough as a fun piece o...
Hank Sartin
Joshua Rothkopf
Cat-and-mouse thriller isn't meant for kids.
Parents need to know that this legal thriller includes a lot of dialogue about legal and moral matters, which means it's not really for kids (and it probably won't interest most of them anyway). It begins with a brutal murder (the bloody-faced body is visible repeatedly); a character shoots himself (it's off-screen, but his bloody head and crumpled body are visible); and another is tackled by police (he struggles before being pressed to the floor). The film opens with very close, very dark shots of their a couple having sex; their affair inspires violent jealousy. Characters drink at parties and swear (language includes several uses of "f--k" and many other curses).
Genre:Drama
Release Date:April 20, 2007
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
The Pelican Brief
JFK (Director's Cut)
The Drowning Pool
The Exorcism of Emily Rose
Mortal Thoughts
Dark Alibi
Hangman, The: Shepherds and Butchers


text:
The 1968 Peach Bowl was a college football bowl game between the LSU Tigers and the Florida State Seminoles. It was the first Peach Bowl game ever played.

Background
The game was originally created as a fund-raiser by the Lions Clubs of Georgia in 1968. The game was played in historic Grant Field for the first three games before being moved in 1971. The Tigers were ranked for nine out of the eleven games of the regular season before falling out late, reaching as high as #8 while finishing tied for 3rd in the Southeastern Conference. The Seminoles were ranked only two times the whole season, but had risen back in the polls before this game, as they tried to win a bowl game for the first time since 1965.

Game summary
Four turnovers by LSU on their first four possessions had been converted by FSU into two first half touchdowns to lead 13–0 at the second quarter. But the Tigers narrowed the lead when Craig Burns returned a short punt 39 yards for a touchdown. Before the half ended, Mark Lumpkin kicked a field goal to make it 13–10 at halftime. The Tigers came alive in the second half, driving 51 yards in eight plays culminated on a Mike Hillman to Bob Hamlett for a touchdown to take the lead 17–13. On their next drive, Hillman threw another touchdown pass, this time to Bill Stober to make their lead 24–13. As the fourth quarter began, the Seminoles drove down the field 72 yards culminated with a Bill Cappleman pass to Ron Sellers touchdown to narrow the lead. On the ensuing kickoff, the Tigers fumbled the ball back to the Seminoles in Tiger territory. A few plays later the Seminoles scored again on another touchdown catch from Sellers to take a 27–24 lead with over six minutes to go. The Tigers went to work, going on a nine play, 61 yard drive (that once had a third and 19 converted) with a Maurice LeBlanc touchdown run. But the 'Noles drove down the field and were in range for a game winner when on 4th down, Barton Frye knocked down a pass intended for Sellers to make it incomplete and seal the game for the Tigers, their 4th straight bowl win.

Aftermath
LSU has played in five Peach Bowls since this game, the most recent in 2019, when it defeated Oklahoma 63–28 in a College Football Playoff semifinal, while Florida State has returned twice, in 1983 and 2015.

Statistics

References

Peach Bowl
Peach Bowl
LSU Tigers football bowl games
Florida State Seminoles football bowl games
1968 in sports in Georgia (U.S. state)
December 1968 sports events in the United States


What should people in Charlotte be doing to get ready for Hurricane Florence?
The storm's exact track is still uncertain, but given Florence's size, power and projected path through central North Carolina, Charlotte is likely to see some impacts. That could range from a couple inches of rain, or more, to tropical storm-force winds starting Thursday, with flooding, downed trees and power outages possible.
Florence isn't likely to prompt mass evacuations in Charlotte, as it has on the Carolinas coast, but here's how to handle some of the problems the storm is likely to cause.
Should I drive in heavy rain and wind?
Law enforcement officers worry more about overblown trees and downed power lines that fall in roadways than about the sheer pushing force of the wind, said Sgt. Michael Baker, a spokesman for the State Highway Patrol.
Motorists should stay off the road if possible when storms start affecting specific areas, he said. The patrol is also asking that drivers avoid calling 911 about road conditions, but instead check drivenc.gov or download the ReadyNC mobile app for real-time road conditions.
AAA Carolinas urges motorists who must drive to take precautions such increasing the following distance to 5 or 6 seconds behind the car in front of you; packing an emergency kit in your car that includes a flashlight, first-aid kit, water, car charger for your phone, reflectors/flares and snacks; and reducing your speed to adjust for wet roads and the potentially destabilizing effect of high wind gusts.
As of Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center projected that Charlotte would get only about 2 inches of rain over the next seven days. But that's just enough to flood some city streets.
Some roadways near creeks can flood within an hour or two of a hard rain, said Timothy Trautman, a program manager with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Storm Water Services. Examples: North Tryon Street at Atando Avenue, near Derita Branch, and Sharon Road at Chilton Place on Briar Creek.
Many Charlotte creeks rise quickly when it rains, backing up water into neighborhoods that are in floodplains like Madison Park on Little Hope Creek and Abelwood on Stewart Creek, he added.
Simple steps can help minimize flooding. That includes clearing storm drains and any small creeks near your house of debris, as well as keeping your gutters and curb free of branches and leaves. "Clogged drains can cause flash flooding," Storm Water Services said in a statement.
How much damage might the wind cause?
Tropical storm-force winds — 39 mph and higher — are expected to blow into Charlotte by Thursday morning. That's right on the fringe of when trouble can begin.
The Beaufort wind scale that weather services use says cars may veer on the road when winds reach an average of about 42 mph. At 50 mph, wind can cause light structural damage. Sixty mph winds can topple trees and damage homes and other structures. At 70 mph, structural damage is widespread.
More than half the city-maintained trees lining streets in Charlotte's older neighborhoods near uptown are already in only fair health, a 2015 Observer analysis of city data found.
How should I prepare at home?
Charlotte social media is already full of photos of bare store shelves, stripped of every last bottle of water. It's clear that some in the city are taking preparation seriously and don't want to be without water.
A storm can disrupt water supplies several ways. Charlotte Water told the Observer last year that hazards include roots from fallen trees damaging water pipes and overflows from the sewer system because of a large volume of floodwater. Those aren't likely to cause widespread or long-lasting disruptions for Charlotte Water customers, however.
The utility has backup plans in place, spokeswoman Jennifer Frost said, and the municipal water supply still functions if customers lose power at home (People on well water will likely lose water if they lose power, since wells need electricity for their pumps). Charlotte Water staff will be able to shelter in place at facilities to keep them running if travel becomes difficult The utility has additional pumps and backup generators to keep facilities functioning during severe weather as well.
As a backup water supply, fill food-grade containers and bottles from the tap.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Emergency Management also advises people to make sure they have an emergency kit stocked with essentials to last at least 72 hours, such as food, water, medications and flashlights with extra batteries. You should also gas up your car in case of widespread power outages — gas pumps don't run without electricity.


Black-faced sheep near Megget Water, photographed by Evelyn Grierson.
Once again I am left wondering if our local Tory political representatives are capable of discussing anything without being deliberately misleading.
The Borderlands deal, about which we've been hearing for months, is now a reality. It is to be funded with £85m from the Scottish government and £260m from Westminster.
Rachael Hamilton, rightly, welcomed it in her Southern column last week. However, she could not resist having a dig at the Scottish government, complaining about the "narrow-mindedness" of Nicola Sturgeon, saying that Ms Sturgeon thought the deal was "all about Scotland" and that "Northumberland and Cumbria were a mere add-on".
Mrs Hamilton forgets, I think, that First Minister's Questions is televised, and anyone watching knows that her characterisation of Nicola Sturgeon's answer was inaccurate.
What Ms Sturgeon pointed out, to my surprise I must admit, was that Westminster's announcement only promised "£65m new funding from the UK government for the Scottish areas of the deal".
Can Mrs Hamilton clarify therefore whether this means that £195m of Westminster's money is being ring-fenced for Northumberland and Cumbria?
In addition, the UK government is proudly pointing out that it's also spent £102m on a housing infrastructure fund for Carlisle, and so Westminster's total Borderlands funding is actually £362m – which would mean £297m for the two English counties, and a mere £65m for the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway.
I have no objection whatsoever to Northumberland and Cumbria being given government funding, but I had thought that the money being made available in this deal was for everyone equally.
Is this actually not the case? Is Westminster regarding the Scottish side of the border as a mere add-on?
Was Mrs Hamilton disappointed when she heard of the funding breakdown for this deal, learning how badly short-changed her own region was going to be?
Did she and her colleagues lobby for more?
Are they making representations that Westminster should, at the very least, match Scottish government funding in the deal?
Or are they doing nothing of the sort, but merely looking for some frivolous, distasteful way they can try to blame the SNP?
I imagine, like myself, the vast majority of your readers despair at the ineptitude of our governing parties.
At Westminster and its ridiculously-expensive Mickey Mouse equivalent, Holyrood, millions are spent pandering to the egos of our so-called representatives, the majority who have absolutely no interest in tackllng the fears held by the common people.
Leaving Brexit aside, possibly the biggest concern of Joe Public is the continuous rise in crime across the UK, and the lack of action by the bodies put in place to control it.
Personally, I find it extremely frustrating that these extremely well-paid public servants, collectively, have not got the imaginative mindset to devise an answer. Here, from a simple layman's perspective, is possibly a straightforward cost-effective solution.
Although employing more police would obviously be beneficial, and if they left their cars even more beneficial, it's pointless apprehending the criminals for them to be freed by the courts to reoffend. This is usually blamed on a shortage of prison cells and leads to the increased use of community service orders which, basically, regular offenders treat with utter contempt.
So rather than spend billions building new prisons, take out of mothballs some of the numerous ex-military bases scattered around the UK and use these for the majority of offenders, who only serve up to two years, using barbed wire, plus ex-military personnel and their canine friends, to provide security. This would enable the present supposedly high-security jails to house the more serious offenders.
Admit defeat on rehabilitation – it's costly and rarely works. Instead, ensure prison is an unpleasant environment to be in, which offenders are extremely loath to return to. Simple measures like stopping access to social media, blocking phone signals, one Freeview TV per 50 inmates, a healthy menu and lights out at 10pm would be classed as draconian by the modern generation.
Also, ensure that all jail terms are served in full – no automatic half reduction for not complaining if their steaks aren't cooked to their liking, and if they misbehave add time on.
No doubt the tiny minority of liberal do-gooders will baulk at supposed breaches of human rights, but it's time to make a stand against these insufferable egomaniacs. The rights of the law-abiding should be of paramount importance, overriding the rights of criminals.
Next, the present epidemic of knife crime should be tackled robustly, stop and search encouraged, and if caught carrying a knife, an automatic one-year jail term imposed; using a knife, a minimum of five years' detention. And, as with every other life sentence, you leave in a box.
None of the above measures, if properly instigated, would be prohibitively expensive, but would ensure that we, the public, can see a genuine attempt to eradicate crime is being made. Simply put, if criminals are locked up, they can't reoffend, which is a far too common occurrence in today's society.
Unfortunately, with the calibre of the majority of today's politicians, I feel even simple solutions are outwith their capabilities.
There has been much well-informed deliberation since 2016 by all seven of the community councils affected by the Pines Burn wind farm development.
After considering the unique and somewhat gloomy forecast facing the residents in the catchment area of Hobkirk Community Council, it was agreed to divide the compensatory fund into eight equal shares, with two going directly to Hobkirk (since the district will be the epicentre of 25 years of serious disruption).
The decision to give Hobkirk an extra share was made thanks to the support and goodwill of all our colleagues on other community councils who acknowledged, despite their own challenges, that Hobkirk is in an unenviable economic position. We have been left struggling after losing our only school, post office, and the right to free burials in the local graveyard.
I am deeply disturbed that there are attempts by elements of Hawick Community Council to overturn the original decision. This is not how democracy works. The very idea that the original idea can be overturned is a most dangerous affront to democracy as it implies the original vote was meaningless.
Reversing the decision could also set a dangerous precedent as it would surely mean that every previous decision ever agreed by community councils could now be overturned or rejected as incoming members arrive with different viewpoints.
With even the Daily Mail admitting that the English are now the laughing stock of Europe, can things get any worse down in the Land of Fear and Hate?
Whether there is a Brexit deal or not, and when and if that might be settled really makes no difference. England is doomed to riots, food shortages, massive frontier delays, medicine running out, hyper-inflation, the demolition of all environmental, worker and consumer protections and, in pretty short time, total anarchy.
The current pathetic ad campaign about how to cope post-Brexit is like those 1960s public education films that advised sticking brown paper on your windows in the event of nuclear war.
England has no future post-Brexit.
When negotiating legal deals, "always make them irrevocable before signing" was the good advice given to me in the past.
It seems we are in a different situation with Brexit.
Policy Exchange, the influential think tank of the Tory party, has commissioned three legal experts – Professor Guglielmo Verdirame, Sir Stephen Laws and Professor Richard Ekins. On Brexit they have concluded that "safeguards and assurances do provide the UK with ample legal comfort and considerably more than seems to be understood by many".
Nor should Tory MPs hang onto the tail of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). If the Tory European Research Group was to fall in line, it is not difficult to envisage the DUP clambering on board.
The way forward is to disagree with the Prime Minister's deal and, according to the previously-mentioned legal experts, go for a no deal, the only deal that honours the democratic result of the 2016 referendum.
It is also time for the Scottish and Welsh First Ministers to get us over the "red lines" and show solidarity towards the United Kingdom, instead of their own small world without the bigger picture.
Of the 751 members of the European Parliament, 73 represent the UK – 9.7%.
How much influence has our country had in that parliament in the past 45 years? Precious little.
Given the arithmetic and the fact that the founders of the EU and their successors have been toiling ceaselessly for a United States of Europe, something Britain has never been in favour of, do those anti-democrats who marched in London and elsewhere last weekend calling for the revoking of Article 50 really believe that saying we have changed our minds and wish to stay mean we will have any influence at all?
We will be told to sit in the corner, shut up and take what you get.
The EU fanatics in Brussels, Berlin and Paris have humiliated our Prime Minister time and time again, expressed total contempt for the UK, and demonstrated total disdain and hatred for our democracy, while at the same time lusting after our money and fishing grounds.
I find it incredible that anyone, no matter how they voted in 2016, can even imagine that we will receive any consideration if we were to remain in the bloc. Because of the actions of fifth columnists in Westminster, the Civil Service, the media and big business, Britain is already a laughing stock in the eyes of the majority in the European Parliament.
Can you not picture the smirks on the faces of Guy Verhofstadt, Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker every time a British MEP stands up to speak in Brussels or Strasbourg?
The SNP's depute leader, Keith Brown, and its leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, have submitted a joint letter of complaint to the BBC bemoaning its news coverage.
The nub of it seems to be that they are displeased that the SNP's propaganda is being given insufficient airtime. The creation of the new BBC Scotland channel seems to have done little to deflect the SNP's deep sense of grievance about everything British, including the broadcasting organisation that carries its name.
Just as some in the SNP consider independence the answer to any problem, so there are those who will never be satisfied with our public broadcaster until it is called the SBC.
In your very full and otherwise accurate report of my suspension (technically instituted while being investigated) by the Liberal Democrat party, there was one important mistake.
It is not true that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) "admitted that charges should have been brought against Cyril Smith years previously". On the contrary, in its 2012 review, having had access, unlike me, to all police records and allegations against him, the CPS concluded "the advice that had previously been given could not be faulted (given the law and guidance in place at the time)".
May I just add that I am grateful for all the messages I have received locally, as well as nationally.


text:
Transit Center's Bus Plaza Rolls to Life | News
Transit Center's Bus Plaza Rolls to Life
SF Muni Lines Using Outdoor Bus Plaza
Brenda Kahn
The multi-lane outdoor bus plaza is tucked under the Transit Center's dramatic superstructure.
There's life at San Francisco's striking new Salesforce Transit Center now that several Muni lines are using the street-level bus plaza. As of Saturday, June 16, 2018, the bus plaza became operational for Muni routes 5/5R, 7 and 38/38R (the 5 actually began service at the Transit Center in December 2017).
The three-block long, four-story high regional transportation hub sits just south of Mission Street between Second and Beale streets, and the exterior bus plaza can be accessed from Beale Street or Fremont Street, between Minna and Natoma.
The interior of the Transit Center is scheduled to open later this summer. It will include a two-block-long bus deck for AC Transit's and WestCAT's transbay buses, Amtrak Thruway and Greyhound buses, and Muni service to Treasure Island (#25). Billed as the Grand Central Station of the West, the building also will incorporate a three-platform, six-track train station underground (to be activated at a later date).
In addition to its transit features, the terminal will offer a range of features:
A stunning Grand Hall entrance lobby with a terrazzo floor evoking California's landscape
A five-acre rooftop public park with trees from around the world and numerous amenities, including eateries, an amphitheater, a jogging/walking track around the perimeter and a linear water feature whose fountains will mirror the movements of buses as they traverse the interior bus bays
A gondola to whisk people from the street to the rooftop
Multi-level building retail space, bicycle parking and administrative offices
Ancillary projects, including a public plaza on Mission Street west of Fremont Street
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) ambassadors are stationed strategically in the vicinity of the new hub and the nearby Transbay Temporary Terminal this week to direct travelers to their routes.
Longer term, Caltrain train service from the Peninsula and eventually California High-Speed Rail trains from Southern California are scheduled to serve the underground station at the Transit Center.
The original Transbay Terminal at First and Mission streets opened in 1939 and was a regional transit hub for over 60 years. It was closed and demolished in 2010 to make way for the new world-class Transit Center. While construction of the new Salesforce Transit Center took place, the temporary Transbay Terminal served more than a half dozen transit systems for eight years.
MTC is a major funder of the Salesforce Transit Center, providing more than $360 million for the $2.3 billion project. Go to SFMTA's website for more info.
AC Transit, Connectivity, Muni, Transbay Terminal (San Francisco), Transbay Transit Center (San Francisco)
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