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Jason Isaac
Jason Isaac is one of Sydney's most versatile musicians. He has been playing professionally across a broad range of styles since he was 17 and brings a unique approach to any musical situation. He holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance and a Diploma of Music in Jazz Performance from the Sydney Conservatorium, where he studied with Judy Bailey, Dale Barlow, Craig Scott, Bill Motzing and Andrew Dickeson; as well as principal players from the Sydney Symphony and Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestras. Jason has also studied in the US and Europe, and performed in masterclasses with international soloists and Jazz luminaries.
Jason has toured extensively, both regionally and internationally and has performed in over 20 countries. In 1999 he travelled to Russia, Finland and Estonia as soloist with the SBS Radio and Television Youth Orchestra, and has been broadcast on ABC ClassicFM, Finnish National Radio, Chinese National Television, Channels 10, 9 & 7, the ABC and the SBS television networks in Australia.
Jason's work as a musical director, conductor and drummer has seen him lead groups in performances at the Sydney Opera House, Sydney Town Hall, and Sydney Entertainment Centre, as well as at many music festivals in Australia and overseas. He performs and records regularly as a drummer and musical director throughout both in Australia and abroad, and holds a BMus(Perf) and a DipMus(Jazz) from the Sydney Conservatorium.


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HomeHappy Birthday, Benjamin Franklin!
Happy Birthday, Benjamin Franklin!
January 17, 2021 January 17, 2021 Carl Robert Keyes Bonus Advertisements, Special FeaturesBenjamin Franklin, Book Catalogs, Father of American Advertising, Magazines, Pennsylvania Gazette
Today is an important day for specialists in early American print culture, for Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 (January 6, 1705, Old Style), in Boston. Among his many other accomplishments, Franklin is known as the "Father of American Advertising." Although I have argued elsewhere that this title should more accurately be bestowed upon Mathew Carey (in my view more prolific and innovative in the realm of advertising as a printer, publisher, and advocate of marketing), I recognize that Franklin deserves credit as well. Franklin is often known as "The First American," so it not surprising that others should rank him first among the founders of advertising in America.
Benjamin Franklin (Joseph Siffred Duplessis, ca. 1785). National Portrait Gallery.
Franklin purchased the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1729. In the wake of becoming printer, he experimented with the visual layout of advertisements that appeared in the weekly newspaper, incorporating significantly more white space and varying font sizes in order to better attract readers' and potential customers' attention. Advertising flourished in the Pennsylvania Gazette, which expanded from two to four pages in part to accommodate the greater number of commercial notices.
Advertisements with white space, varying sizes of font, capitals and italics, and a woodcut from Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette (December 9-16, 1736).
Many historians of the press and print culture in early America have noted that Franklin became wealthy and retired as a printer in favor of a multitude of other pursuits in part because of the revenue he collected from advertising. Others, especially David Waldstreicher, have underscored that this wealth was amassed through participation in the colonial slave trade. The advertisements for goods and services featured in the Pennsylvania Gazette included announcements about buying and selling enslaved men, women, and children as well as notices offering rewards for those who escaped from bondage.
Advertisement for an enslaved woman and an enslaved child from Benjamin Franklin's Pennsylvania Gazette (December 9-16, 1736).
In 1741 Franklin published one of colonial America's first magazines, The General Magazine and Historical Chronicle, for all the British Plantations in America (which barely missed out on being the first American magazine, a distinction earned by Franklin's competitor, Andrew Bradford, with The American Magazine or Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies). The magazine lasted only a handful of issues, but that was sufficient for Franklin to become the first American printer to include an advertisement in a magazine (though advertising did not become a standard part of magazine publication until special advertising wrappers were developed later in the century — and Mathew Carey was unarguably the master of that medium).
General Magazine and Historical Chronicle, For all the British Plantations in America (January 1741). Library of Congress.
In 1744 Franklin published an octavo-sized Catalogue of Choice and Valuable Books, including 445 entries. This is the first known American book catalogue aimed at consumers (though the Library Company of Philadelphia previously published catalogs listing their holdings in 1733, 1735, and 1741). Later that same year, Franklin printed a Catalogue of Books to Be Sold at Auction.
Franklin pursued advertising through many media in eighteenth-century America, earning recognition as one of the founders of American advertising. Happy 315th birthday, Benjamin Franklin!
← January 17
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One thought on "Happy Birthday, Benjamin Franklin!"
Happy Birthday, Mathew Carey! | The Adverts 250 Project says:
[…] Benjamin Franklin is often considered the patron saint of American advertising in the popular press, I believe that […]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: Vindictive vs. Vindicative I recently came across a very informative answer here within the Stack Exchange network where the author uses the word vindicative. I assumed the author had meant vindictive (I didn't know vindicative was a word). Google also thought I meant to search for vindictive when I looked up vindicative but to my surprise there are plenty of online dictionaries that list it as a word.
Initially my thought was it was just a matter of a variation in spelling similar to the differences we see between American and British English (the author is British), but then I came across this explanation on WikiDiff which states the following:

"As adjectives the difference between vindictive and vindicative is that vindictive is having a tendency to seek revenge when vengeful, while vindicative is having a tendency to vindicate."

What is the history/origin behind vindictive and vindicative and their respective meanings?

A: The two terms appears to  have a common origin, but "vindictive" has retained its original negative meaning while "vindicative" has also developed a more positive connotation:
From Grammarphobia:.

*

*The verb vindicate comes from the Latin vindicare, meaning to claim, set free, punish, or avenge. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the English word reflected both the negative and positive sides of its Latin heritage.

*First, it meant to avenge or exercise vengeance. Later it came to mean punish; rescue or set free;  justify or clear (as from suspicion or dishonor); establish possession of something; and make good or defend against encroachment.

Origin of vindictive:

*

*The adjective "vindictive" (from the Latin vindicta, meaning revenge), was preceded by an earlier form, "vindicative," in the 1500s, and has had a generally grim history since entering English.

*When "vindictive" first showed up in the early 1600s, it described someone "given to revenge; having a revengeful disposition," according to the Oxford English Dictionary.
  In other words, someone who liked punishing people or holding a grudge.

*In former days, "vindictive" was also used to describe anything punitive, retributive, or avenging. Today we use the legal phrase "punitive damages," but the OED cites a quotation from 1813 about "vindictive damages."

Both terms appear to derive from "vindication",

*

*The Chambers Dictionary of Etymology suggests that "vindicate" could be a back-formation from an earlier word, "vindication," which first appeared in English in the late 1400s and originally meant the act of avenging. (A back formation is a word formed by dropping a real or imagined part from another word.)

*The OED says that "vindication" made its first published appearance in William Caxton's printing of Aesop's Fables (1484): "An asse … smote hym [the lion] in the forhede with his feete by maner of vyndycacion."

but through the centuries developed different nuances:

*

*So both "vindicate" and "vindictive" come from notions of vengeance and punishment. Although "vindictive" has continued to embrace the dark side, "vindicate" has lightened up.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This site is the simplest place for home appraisers to find historical home prices for the Monterey area. HomePriceRecords.com Monterey is the easiest place to find investing and home buying information for the entire Monterey area.
It is the simplest place in Monterey to find home price records which help significantly in investing and real estate appraisal. We hope you can make use of this appraisal information.
We've seen this site getting very popular among real estate investors and real estate brokers. We're working to keep the data fresher and more relevant to real estate appraisers.


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Bethany Beardslee, Lynne Weber, sopranos; Jerry Kuderna, Robert Miller, pianos; tape and synthesized sound
The four works on this recording span a period of a decade and are among the best of Milton Babbitt''s output, tape and otherwise. Philomel (1964), for soprano, recorded soprano, and synthesized sound, is one of the undisputed classics of electroacoustic music and this is its definitive recording. Two versions of Phonemena (1969)-one for soprano and piano, the other for soprano and tape-another virtuosic vocal piece written for the unique talents of Bethany Beardslee, are included on this recording. Post-Partitions (1966) for solo piano, and Reflections (1975), for piano and tape, contrast Babbitt''s complex yet pellucid writing for solo piano with that of his writing featuring the interplay between live performer and tape.
Milton Babbitt: Philomel
CD-R+ $15.99
CD-R+ titles come in a jewel case with print booklet. Liner Notes
A *.pdf of the notes may also be accessed here free of charge.
Philomel for soprano, recorded soprano, and synthesized sound
Milton Babbitt
Phonemena for soprano and piano
Phonemena for soprano and tape
Post-Partitions
Reflections for piano and synthesized tape
Charles Dodge: A Retrospective
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center 1961-1973
James Tenney: Selected Works 1961-1969
Vladimir Ussachevsky: Electronic And Acoustic Works 1957-1972


I've left this website–most importantly–this blog ignored for close to a year now. That's partly because this place didn't feel like my own anymore and that it wouldn't really be my own until I migrated it off of UMW's Domain of One's Own servers where this website was born and raised. Why the neglect? This year of limbo?
Well… ha… you see, it's really a funny story… Actually, it can be summarized quite unhumorously: Anxiety.
As a former DKC tutor, I knew in theory that this process wasn't that hard and totally within my capabilities. I just needed to force myself to sit down and do it. But I let time pass and UMW made a lot of changes, and suddenly, it seemed totally unmanageable. Sort of like when you don't put away your clean laundry and weeks pass and your room is taken over by piles of clothes and you're so OVERWHELMED you just don't know how or where to start.
Sometimes you have to force yourself to pick up a shirt or two. And the next thing you know, it's all taken care of.
So a couple days ago, I finally sat down and tackled it. …And it was an incredibly easy process thanks to Martha Burtis at UMW's DTLT and Jim Groom and Tim Owens at Reclaim Hosting.
Jim and Tim are doing wonders with Reclaim Hosting. My initial shock and sadness over their departure from DTLT has totally been replaced by my happiness and excitement about what they're doing at RH. Their speedy, personable service along with the fact I knew them from my UMW days, made the migration process so so so easy. Even better was that UMW DTLT was already in the process of establishing RH as another option for hosting provider for alums migrating their domains.
The "reclaiming" of my website was such a painless, minor process. I was like a kid at the doctor's office who'd been told they had to get a shot and was instantly imagining THE WORST PAIN AND HORROR EVER, only to be like "Oh, that's it? That didn't hurt at all!" I can't speak highly enough of the experience I had. Seriously, if you want your website in good hands, go with Reclaim Hosting. You can check them out here.
So now that my website was securely in my possession, it was time to make some changes.
Since my website was born during my college years, it was mostly a home to projects and posts related to college courses. Also a bunch of cringe-y bits of blogging during my junior year (yikes). So I decided I needed to freshen things up, reorganize, and clean out. A spring cleaning of sorts, I guess.
WordPress and I reacquainted ourselves after a year of minimal interactions. There was a lot of playing around, googling, and relearning on my part. And after a couple days of toiling away, I'm quite fond of the facelift I've given the site.
There's a new header image (taken during a dinner at a pub in Coverack, UK, June 2014), and an adjustment of the colors. I guess I'm feeling blue these days?
This is the page you'll initially see upon visiting. There's a slider of recent posts. I promise you, this will fill in and not just be that project Moira and I did for our MoPo final that's been hanging out for all eternity. Below it are some goofy photos I thought would give a little personality to the page. (It's like painting your front door red or purple, right?) The picture on the left is of me, age 7, tremendously exuberant. It's meant to express my current excitement about your presence on my site. The photo on the right is of my dear friend, Spooky Jim, and there's an invitation to explore the projects from my past I've allowed to stick around in this new phase of my website.
Nothing fancy here. Yet another photo from my time abroad in 2014. The summarized details of my life haven't changed that much.
These two pages are to please and captivate any potential employers who go snooping around. It's also easy to share this info via link rather than numerous Word documents.
I've decided to refer to my blog as something other than "blog." (Oooooh, she's using her creative writing degree!) I've also simplified the categories of the posts: doing, existing, listening, reading, thinking, watching, writing. Here you can find what I've been up to regarding a variety of my interests. The old blogs I've decided to keep around have been re-categorized.
This is meant to give you a glimpse of the large-scale projects I've been giving an incredible amount of time and attention to. Currently, they mostly exist in Word documents and inside my head. This is mostly just to make myself feel like I am doing something more than spewing words into Word Documents over and over and over and over and over (and maybe get someone else stoked on these words). I am making no guarantees as to if/when these might actually become available to the public. There's also links to where you can read posts about each project (some have no posts yet, sorry).
This is where I've come to let the Ghosts of Projects Past live. I've unearthed a few and given them a better spotlight (The Lizzie Bennet Diaries Archive, The Wire Swede). I guess this would be what I'd consider my best work from college; the projects that defined my junior and senior years. I deleted and decluttered the miscellany of posts from these years, and left only the prized ones for you to gander at. I've also added a section for quilts, as they desire some attention too!
So that's my new and improved site. Of course, now that it's spiffed up, I'm going to try and be more regular with my presence on here. Expect more blogs from me… SOON!
Tagged facelift, good to be back, ooooh shiny, reclaim, revamp, these tags are largely pointless so pay no mind to them, very painless.


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Speech Recognition HOWTO
scook@gear21.com
Revision v2.0 April 19, 2002 Revised by: scc
Changed license information (now GFDL) and added a new publication.
Revision v1.2 February 5, 2002 Revised by: scc
Added more commercial software listings (sent by Mayur Patel).
Revision v1.1 October 5, 2001 Revised by: scc
Added info for Vocalis Speechware. Fixed/Updated various other items.
Revision v1.0 November 20, 2000 Revised by: scc
Added info on L and H and HTK
Revision v0.5 September 13, 2000 Revised by: scc
Initial HOWTO Submission
Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) on Linux is becoming easier. Several packages are available for users as well as developers. This document describes the basics of speech recognition and describes some of the available software.
1. Legal Notices
1.1. Copyright/License
1.3. Trademarks
2.1. About This Document
2.2. Acknowledgements
2.3. Comments/Updates/Feedback
2.4. ToDo
2.5. Revision History
3.1. Speech Recognition Basics
3.2. Types of Speech Recognition
3.3. Uses and Applications
4. Hardware
4.1. Sound Cards
4.2. Microphones
4.3. Computers/Processors
5. Speech Recognition Software
5.1. Free Software
5.2. Commercial Software
6. Inside Speech Recognition
6.1. How Recognizers Work
6.2. Digital Audio Basics
7.1. Books
7.2. Internet
Copyright (c) 2000-2002 Stephen C. Cook. Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.1 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
This document is made available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL), which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The author disclaims all warranties with regard to this document, including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a certain purpose; in no event shall the author be liable for any special, indirect or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use of this document.
All trademarks contained in this document are copyright/trademark of their respective owners.
This document is targeted at the beginner to intermediate level Linux user interested in learning about Speech Recognition and trying it out. It may also help the interested developer in explaining the basics of speech recognition programming.
I started this document when I began researching what speech recognition software and development libraries were available for Linux. Automated Speech Recognition (ASR or just SR) on Linux is just starting to come into its own, and I hope this document gives it a push in the right direction - by supporting both users and developers of ASR technology.
I have left a variety of SR techniques out of this document, and instead I have focused on the "HOWTO" aspect (since this is a howto...). I have included a Publications section so the interested reader can find books and articles on anything not covered here. This is not meant to be a definitive statement of ASR on Linux.
For the most recent version of this document, check the LDP archive, or go to: http://www.gear21.com/speech/index.html.
I would like to thank the following people for the help, reviewing, and support of this document:
Jessica Perry Hekman
Geoff Wexler
If you have any comments, suggestions, revisions, updates, or just want to chat about ASR, please send an email to me at scook@gear21.com.
The following things are left "to do":
Add descriptions in the Publications section.
Add more books to the Publications section.
Add more links with descriptions.
Enhance the description of the ASR system steps
Include descriptions of FFTs and Filters.
Include descriptions of DSP principles.
v0.1 first rough draft - August 2000
v0.5 final draft - September 2000
Speech recognition is the process by which a computer (or other type of machine) identifies spoken words. Basically, it means talking to your computer, AND having it correctly recognize what you are saying.
The following definitions are the basics needed for understanding speech recognition technology.
Utterance
An utterance is the vocalization (speaking) of a word or words that represent a single meaning to the computer. Utterances can be a single word, a few words, a sentence, or even multiple sentences.
Speaker Dependance
Speaker dependent systems are designed around a specific speaker. They generally are more accurate for the correct speaker, but much less accurate for other speakers. They assume the speaker will speak in a consistent voice and tempo. Speaker independent systems are designed for a variety of speakers. Adaptive systems usually start as speaker independent systems and utilize training techniques to adapt to the speaker to increase their recognition accuracy.
Vocabularies (or dictionaries) are lists of words or utterances that can be recognized by the SR system. Generally, smaller vocabularies are easier for a computer to recognize, while larger vocabularies are more difficult. Unlike normal dictionaries, each entry doesn't have to be a single word. They can be as long as a sentence or two. Smaller vocabularies can have as few as 1 or 2 recognized utterances (e.g."Wake Up"), while very large vocabularies can have a hundred thousand or more!
Accuract
The ability of a recognizer can be examined by measuring its accuracy - or how well it recognizes utterances. This includes not only correctly identifying an utterance but also identifying if the spoken utterance is not in its vocabulary. Good ASR systems have an accuracy of 98% or more! The acceptable accuracy of a system really depends on the application.
Some speech recognizers have the ability to adapt to a speaker. When the system has this ability, it may allow training to take place. An ASR system is trained by having the speaker repeat standard or common phrases and adjusting its comparison algorithms to match that particular speaker. Training a recognizer usually improves its accuracy.
Training can also be used by speakers that have difficulty speaking, or pronouncing certain words. As long as the speaker can consistently repeat an utterance, ASR systems with training should be able to adapt.
Speech recognition systems can be separated in several different classes by describing what types of utterances they have the ability to recognize. These classes are based on the fact that one of the difficulties of ASR is the ability to determine when a speaker starts and finishes an utterance. Most packages can fit into more than one class, depending on which mode they're using.
Isolated Words
Isolated word recognizers usually require each utterance to have quiet (lack of an audio signal) on BOTH sides of the sample window. It doesn't mean that it accepts single words, but does require a single utterance at a time. Often, these systems have "Listen/Not-Listen" states, where they require the speaker to wait between utterances (usually doing processing during the pauses). Isolated Utterance might be a better name for this class.
Connected Words
Connect word systems (or more correctly 'connected utterances') are similar to Isolated words, but allow separate utterances to be 'run-together' with a minimal pause between them.
Continuous Speech
Continuous recognition is the next step. Recognizers with continuous speech capabilities are some of the most difficult to create because they must utilize special methods to determine utterance boundaries. Continuous speech recognizers allow users to speak almost naturally, while the computer determines the content. Basically, it's computer dictation.
Spontaneous Speech
There appears to be a variety of definitions for what spontaneous speech actually is. At a basic level, it can be thought of as speech that is natural sounding and not rehearsed. An ASR system with spontaneous speech ability should be able to handle a variety of natural speech features such as words being run together, "ums" and "ahs", and even slight stutters.
Voice Verification/Identification
Some ASR systems have the ability to identify specific users. This document doesn't cover verification or security systems.
Although any task that involves interfacing with a computer can potentially use ASR, the following applications are the most common right now.
Dictation is the most common use for ASR systems today. This includes medical transcriptions, legal and business dictation, as well as general word processing. In some cases special vocabularies are used to increase the accuracy of the system.
ASR systems that are designed to perform functions and actions on the system are defined as Command and Control systems. Utterances like "Open Netscape" and "Start a new xterm" will do just that.
Some PBX/Voice Mail systems allow callers to speak commands instead of pressing buttons to send specific tones.
Because inputs are limited for wearable devices, speaking is a natural possibility.
Medical/Disabilities
Many people have difficulty typing due to physical limitations such as repetitive strain injuries (RSI), muscular dystrophy, and many others. For example, people with difficulty hearing could use a system connected to their telephone to convert the caller's speech to text.
Some newer cellular phones include C&C speech recognition that allow utterances such as "Call Home". This could be a major factor in the future of ASR and Linux. Why can't I talk to my television yet?
Because speech requires a relatively low bandwidth, just about any medium-high quality 16 bit sound card will get the job done. You must have sound enabled in your kernel, and you must have correct drivers installed. For more information on sound cards, please see "The Linux Sound HOWTO" available at: http://www.LinuxDoc.org/. Sound card quality often starts a heated discussion about their impact on accuracy and noise.
Sound cards with the 'cleanest' A/D (analog to digital) conversions are recommended, but most often the clarity of the digital sample is more dependent on the microphone quality and even more dependent on the environmental noise. Electrical "noise" from monitors, pci slots, hard-drives, etc. are usually nothing compared to audible noise from the computer fans, squeaking chairs, or heavy breathing.
Some ASR software packages may require a specific sound card. It's usually a good idea to stay away from specific hardware requirements, because it limits many of your possible future options and decisions. You'll have to weigh the benefits and costs if you are considering packages that require specific hardware to function properly.
A quality microphone is key when utilizing ASR. In most cases, a desktop microphone just won't do the job. They tend to pick up more ambient noise that gives ASR programs a hard time.
Hand held microphones are also not the best choice as they can be cumbersome to pick up all the time. While they do limit the amount of ambient noise, they are most useful in applications that require changing speakers often, or when speaking to the recognizer isn't done frequently (when wearing a headset isn't an option).
The best choice, and by far the most common is the headset style. It allows the ambient noise to be minimized, while allowing you to have the microphone at the tip of your tongue all the time. Headsets are available without earphones and with earphones (mono or stereo). I recommend the stereo headphones, but it's just a matter of personal taste.
You can get excellent quality microphone headsets for between $25 $100. A good place to start looking is http://www.headphones.com or http://www.speechcontrol.com.
A quick note about levels: Don't forget to turn up your microphone volume. This can be done with a program such as XMixer or OSS Mixer and care should be used to avoid feedback noise. If the ASR software includes auto-adjustment programs, use them instead, as they are optimized for their particular recognition system.
ASR applications can be heavily dependent on processing speed. This is because a large amount of digital filtering and signal processing can take place in ASR.
As with just about any cpu intensive software, the faster the better. Also, the more memory the better. It's possible to do some SR with 100MHz and 16M RAM, but for fast processing (large dictionaries, complex recognition schemes, or high sample rates), you should shoot for a minimum of a 400MHz and 128M RAM. Because of the processing required, most software packages list their minimum requirements.
Using a cluster (Beowulf or otherwise) to perform massive recognition efforts hasn't yet been undertaken. If you know of any project underway, or in development please send me a note! scook@gear21.com
Much of the free software listed here is available for download at: http://sunsite.uio.no/pub/Linux/sound/apps/speech/
5.1.1. XVoice
XVoice is a dictation/continuous speech recognizer that can be used with a variety of XWindow applications. It allows user-defined macros. This is a fine program with a definite future. Once setup, it performs with adequate accuracy.
XVoice requires that you download and install IBM's (free) ViaVoice for Linux (See Commercial Section). It also requires the configuration of ViaVoice to work correctly. Additionally, Lesstif/Motif (libXm) is required. It is also important to note that because this program interacts with X windows, you must leave X resources open on your machine, so caution should be used if you use this on a networked or multi-user machine.
This software is primarily for users. An RPM is available.
HomePage: http://www.compapp.dcu.ie/~tdoris/Xvoice/ http://www.zachary.com/creemer/xvoice.html
Project: http://xvoice.sourceforge.net
Community: http://www.onelist.com/community/xvoice
5.1.2. CVoiceControl/kVoiceControl
CVoiceControl (which stands for Console Voice Control) started its life as KVoiceControl (KDE Voice Control). It is a basic speech recognition system that allows a user to execute Linux commands by using spoken commands. CVoiceControl replaces KVoiceControl.
The software includes a microphone level configuration utility, a vocabulary "model editor" for adding new commands and utterances, and the speech recognition system.
CVoiceControl is an excellent starting point for experienced users looking to get started in ASR. It is not the most user friendly, but once it has been trained correctly, it can be very helpful. Be sure to read the documentation while setting up.
This software is primarily for users.
Homepage: http://www.kiecza.de/daniel/linux/index.html
Documents: http://www.kiecza.de/daniel/linux/cvoicecontrol/index.html
5.1.3. Open Mind Speech
Started in late 1999, Open Mind Speech has changed names several times (was VoiceControl, then SpeechInput, and then FreeSpeech), and is now part of the "Open Mind Initiative". This is an open source project. Currently it isn't completely operational and is primarily for developers.
This software is primarily for developers.
Homepage: http://freespeech.sourceforge.net
5.1.4. GVoice
GVoice is a speech ASR library that uses IBM's ViaVoice (free) SDK to control Gtk/GNOME applications. It includes libraries for initialization, recognition engine, vocabulary manipulation, and panel control. Development on this has been idle for over a year.
Homepage: http://www.cse.ogi.edu/~omega/gnome/gvoice/
5.1.5. ISIP
The Institute for Signal and Information Processing at Mississippi State University has made its speech recognition engine available. The toolkit includes a front-end, a decoder, and a training module. It's a functional toolkit.
The toolkit (and more information about ISIP) is available at: http://www.isip.msstate.edu/project/speech/
5.1.6. CMU Sphinx
Sphinx originally started at CMU and has recently been released as open source. This is a fairly large program that includes a lot of tools and information. It is still "in development", but includes trainers, recognizers, acoustic models, language models, and some limited documentation.
Homepage: http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/sphinx/Sphinx.html
Source: http://download.sourceforge.net/cmusphinx/sphinx2-0.1a.tar.gz
5.1.7. Ears
Although Ears isn't fully developed, it is a good starting point for programmers wishing to start in ASR.
FTP site: ftp://svr-ftp.eng.cam.ac.uk/comp.speech/recognition/
5.1.8. NICO ANN Toolkit
The NICO Artificial Neural Network toolkit is a flexible back propagation neural network toolkit optimized for speech recognition applications.
Its homepage: http://www.speech.kth.se/NICO/index.html
5.1.9. Myers' Hidden Markov Model Software
This software by Richard Myers is HMM algorithms written in C++ code. It provides an example and learning tool for HMM models described in the L. Rabiner book "Fundamentals of Speech Recognition".
Information is available at: http://www.itl.atr.co.jp/comp.speech/Section6/Recognition/myers.hmm.html
5.1.10. Jialong He's Speech Recognition Research Tool
Although not originally written for Linux, this research tool can be compiled on Linux. It contains three different types of recognizers: DTW, Dynamic Hidden Markov Model, and a Continuous Density Hidden Markov Model. This is for research and development uses, as it is not a fully functional ASR system. The toolkit contains some very useful tools.
More information is available at: http://www.itl.atr.co.jp/comp.speech/Section6/Recognition/jialong.html
5.1.11. More Free Software?
If you know of free software that isn't included in the above list, please send me a note at: scook@gear21.com. If you're in the mood, you can also send me where to get a copy of the software, and any impressions you may have about it. Thanks!
5.2.1. IBM ViaVoice
IBM has made true on their promise to support Linux with their series of ViaVoice products for Linux, though the future of their SDKs aren't set in stone (their licensing agreement for developers isn't officially released as of this date - more to come).
Their commercial (not-free) product, IBM ViaVoice Dictation for Linux (available at http://www-4.ibm.com/software/speech/linux/dictation.html) performs very well, but has some sizeable system requirements compared to the more basic ASR systems (64M RAM and 233MHz Pentium). For the $59.95US price tag you also get an Andrea NC-8 microphone. It also allows multiple users (but I haven't tried it with multiple users, so if anyone has any experience please give me a shout). The package includes: documentation (PDF), Trainer, dictation system, and installation scripts. Support for additional Linux Distributions based on 2.2 kernels is also available in the latest release.
The ASR SDK is available for free, and includes IBM's SMAPI, grammar API, documentation, and a variety of sample programs. The ViaVoice Run Time Kit provides an ASR engine and data files for dictation functions, and user utilities. The ViaVoice Command & Control Run Time Kit includes the ASR engine and data files for command and control functions, and user utilities. The SDK and Kits require 128M RAM and a Linux 2.2 or better kernel)
The SDKs and Kits are available for free at: http://www-4.ibm.com/software/speech/dev/sdk_linux.html
5.2.2. Vocalis Speechware
More information on Vocalis and Vocalis Speechware is available at: http://www.vocalisspeechware.com and http://www.vocalis.com.
5.2.3. Babel Technologies
Babel Technologies has a Linux SDK available called Babear. It is a speaker-independent system based on Hybrid Markov Models and Artificial Neural Networks technology. They also have a variety of products for Text-to-speech, speaker verification, and phoneme analysis. More information is available at: http://www.babeltech.com.
5.2.4. SpeechWorks
I didn't see anything on their website that specifically mentioned Linux, but their "OpenSpeech Recognizer" uses VoiceXML, which is an open standard. More information is available at: http://www.speechworks.com.
5.2.5. Nuance
Nuance offers a speech recognition/natural language product (currently Nuance 8.0) for a variety of *nix platforms. It can handle very large vocabularies and uses a unqiue distributed architecture for scalability and fault tolerance. More information is available at: http://www.nuance.com.
5.2.6. Abbot/AbbotDemo
Abbot is a very large vocabulary, speaker independent ASR system. It was originally developed by the Connectionist Speech Group at Cambridge University. It was transferred (commercialized) to SoftSound. More information is available at: http://www.softsound.com.
AbbotDemo is a demonstration package of Abbot. This demo system has a vocabulary of about 5000 words and uses the connectionist/HMM continuous speech algorithm. This is a demonstration program with no source code.
5.2.7. Entropic
The fine people over at Entropic have been bought out by Micro$oft... Their products and support services have all but disappeared. Their support for HTK and ESPS/waves+ is gone, and their future is in the hands of M$. Their old website as http://www.entropic.com has more information.
K.K. Chin advised me that the original developers of the HTK (the Speech Vision and Robotic Group at Cambridge) are still providing support for it. There is also a "free" version available at: http://htk.eng.cam.ac.uk. Also note that Microsoft still owns the copyright to the current HTK code...
5.2.8. More Commercial Products
There are rumors of more commercial ASR products becoming available in the near future (including L&H). I talked with a couple of L&H representatives at Comdex 2000 (Vegas) and none of them could give me any information on a Linux release, or even if they planned on releasing any products for Linux. If you have any further information, please send any details to me at scook@gear21.com.
Recognition systems can be broken down into two main types. Pattern Recognition systems compare patterns to known/trained patterns to determine a match. Acoustic Phonetic systems use knowledge of the human body (speech production, and hearing) to compare speech features (phonetics such as vowel sounds). Most modern systems focus on the pattern recognition approach because it combines nicely with current computing techniques and tends to have higher accuracy.
Most recognizers can be broken down into the following steps:
Audio recording and Utterance detection
Pre-Filtering (pre-emphasis, normalization, banding, etc.)
Framing and Windowing (chopping the data into a usable format)
Filtering (further filtering of each window/frame/freq. band)
Comparison and Matching (recognizing the utterance)
Action (Perform function associated with the recognized pattern)
Although each step seems simple, each one can involve a multitude of different (and sometimes completely opposite) techniques.
(1) Audio/Utterance Recording: can be accomplished in a number of ways. Starting points can be found by comparing ambient audio levels (acoustic energy in some cases) with the sample just recorded. Endpoint detection is harder because speakers tend to leave "artifacts" including breathing/sighing,teeth chatters, and echoes.
(2) Pre-Filtering: is accomplished in a variety of ways, depending on other features of the recognition system. The most common methods are the "Bank-of-Filters" method which utilizes a series of audio filters to prepare the sample, and the Linear Predictive Coding method which uses a prediction function to calculate differences (errors). Different forms of spectral analysis are also used.
(3) Framing/Windowing involves separating the sample data into specific sizes. This is often rolled into step 2 or step 4. This step also involves preparing the sample boundaries for analysis (removing edge clicks, etc.)
(4) Additional Filtering is not always present. It is the final preparation for each window before comparison and matching. Often this consists of time alignment and normalization.
There are a huge number of techniques available for (5), Comparison and Matching. Most involve comparing the current window with known samples. There are methods that use Hidden Markov Models (HMM), frequency analysis, differential analysis, linear algebra techniques/shortcuts, spectral distortion, and time distortion methods. All these methods are used to generate a probability and accuracy match.
(6) Actions can be just about anything the developer wants. *GRIN*
Audio is inherently an analog phenomenon. Recording a digital sample is done by converting the analog signal from the microphone to an digital signal through the A/D converter in the sound card. When a microphone is operating, sound waves vibrate the magnetic element in the microphone, causing an electrical current to the sound card (think of a speaker working in reverse). Basically, the A/D converter records the value of the electrical voltage at specific intervals.
There are two important factors during this process. First is the "sample rate", or how often to record the voltage values. Second, is the "bits per sample", or how accurate the value is recorded. A third item is the number of channels (mono or stereo), but for most ASR applications mono is sufficient. Most applications use pre-set values for these parameters and user's shouldn't change them unless the documentation suggests it. Developers should experiment with different values to determine what works best with their algorithms.
So what is a good sample rate for ASR? Because speech is relatively low bandwidth (mostly between 100Hz-8kHz), 8000 samples/sec (8kHz) is sufficient for most basic ASR. But, some people prefer 16000 samples/sec (16kHz) because it provides more accurate high frequency information. If you have the processing power, use 16kHz. For most ASR applications, sampling rates higher than about 22kHz is a waste.
And what is a good value for "bits per sample"? 8 bits per sample will record values between 0 and 255, which means that the position of the microphone element is in one of 256 positions. 16 bits per sample divides the element position into 65536 possible values. Similar to sample rate, if you have enough processing power and memory, go with 16 bits per sample. For comparison, an audio Compact Disc is encoded with 16 bits per sample at about 44kHz.
The encoding format used should be simple - linear signed or unsigned. Using a U-Law/A-Law algorithm or some other compression scheme is usually not worth it, as it will cost you in computing power, and not gain you much.
If there is a publication that is not on this list, that you think should be, please send the information to me at: scook@gear21.com.
"Fundamentals of Speech Recognition". L. Rabiner & B. Juang. 1993. ISBN: 0130151572.
"How to Build a Speech Recognition Application". B. Balentine, D. Morgan, and W. Meisel. 1999. ISBN: 0967127815.
"Speech Recognition : Theory and C++ Implementation". C. Becchetti and L.P. Ricotti. 1999. ISBN: 0471977306.
"Applied Speech Technology". A. Syrdal, R. Bennett, S. Greenspan. 1994. ISBN: 0849394562.
"Speech Recognition : The Complete Practical Reference Guide". P. Foster, T. Schalk. 1993. ISBN: 0936648392.
"Speech and Language Processing: An Introduction to Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics and Speech Recognition". D. Jurafsky, J. Martin. 2000. ISBN: 0130950696.
"Discrete-Time Processing of Speech Signals (IEEE Press Classic Reissue)". J. Deller, J. Hansen, J. Proakis. 1999. ISBN: 0780353862.
"Statistical Methods for Speech Recognition (Language, Speech, and Communication)". F. Jelinek. 1999. ISBN: 0262100665.
"Digital Processing of Speech Signals" L. Rabiner, R. Schafer. 1978. ISBN: 0132136031
"Foundations of Statistical Natural Language Processing". C. Manning, H. Schutze. 1999. ISBN: 0262133601.
"Designing Effective Speech Interfaces". S. Weinschenk, D. T. Barker. 2000. ISBN: 0471375454.
For a very LARGE online biography, check the Institut Fur Phonetik: http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~ifb/bib_engl.html
news:comp.speech
Newsgroup dedicated to computer and speech.
US: http://www.speech.cs.cmu.edu/comp.speech/
UK: http://svr-www.eng.cam.ac.uk/comp.speech/
Aus: http://www.speech.su.oz.au/comp.speech/
news:comp.speech.users
Newsgroup dedicated to users of speech software.
http://www.speechtechnology.com/users/comp.speech.users.html
news:comp.speech.research
Newsgroup dedicated to speech software and hardware research.
news:comp.dsp
Newsgroup dedicated to digital signal processing.
news:alt.sci.physics.acoustics
Newsgroup dedicated to the physics of sound.
DDLinux Email List
Speech Recognition on Linux Mailing List.
Homepage: http://leb.net/ddlinux/
Archives: http://leb.net/pipermail/ddlinux/
Linux Software Repository for speech applications
http://sunsite.uio.no/pub/linux/sound/apps/speech/
Russ Wilcox's List of Speech Recognition Links
(excellent) http://www.tiac.net/users/rwilcox/speech.html
Online Bibliography of Phonetics and Speech Technology Publications. http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~ifb/bib_engl.html
MIT's Spoken Language Systems Homepage
http://www.sls.lcs.mit.edu/sls/
Oregon Graduate Institute
Center for Spoken Language Understanding at Oregon Graduate Institute. An excellent location for developers and researchers. http://cslu.cse.ogi.edu/
IBM's ViaVoice Linux SDK
http://www-4.ibm.com/software/speech/dev/sdk_linux.html
Mississippi State Institute for Signal and Information Processing homepage with a large amount of useful information for developers. http://www.isip.msstate.edu/projects/speech/
ASR software and accessories. http://www.speechtechnology.com
Speech Control
Speech Controlled Computer Systems. Microphones, headsets, and wireless products for ASR. http://www.speechcontrol.com
Microphones.com
Microphones and accessories for ASR. http://www.microphones.com
21st Century Eloquence
"Speech Recognition Specialists." http://voicerecognition.com
Computing Out Loud
Primarily for Windows users, but good info. http://www.out-loud.com
Say I Can.com
"The Speech Recognition Information Source." http://www.sayican.com


Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management, discusses competitive advantage at the November 7 Th+nkCBS event. Th+nkCBS is a student-organized series of 15-minute lectures that provide Columbia Business School professors the opportunity to present their research, review a subject of their expertise, summarize a class, or highlight a single topic of relevance to them.
The global economy is undergoing a massive structural transformation. Bruce Greenwald, Robert Heilbrunn Professor of Finance and Asset Management and Director of the Heilbrunn Center for Graham and Dodd Investing, explains the coming death of manufacturing and the return of the local.
Carlos Brito: "We Chose to Have a Dream"
CBS Matters: What Matters to You Most?
Pecking Order Problems? Your Team May Be Too Talented.
We all want to hire the best of the best, but from the chicken coop to the basketball court, research demonstrates the most talented teams don't always net the best results. Adam Galinsky, Vikram S. Pandit Professor of Business, tells us what you should consider before hiring for your team.
Dave Carroll: Lessons from "United Breaks Guitars"
Our students rave about the Morningside Heights neighborhood that surrounds the Business School. It's easy to understand why.
Can a "Pay-As-You-Go" Method Buy the World's Poorest Safe Energy?
Millions of people in west Africa do not have access to electricity, relying on unsafe energy methods like kerosene and disposable batteries. The "pay-as-you-go financing" model is allowing businesses to profitably provide goods to the most vulnerable and most isolated populations. In Uganda, this model is used by Hugh Whalen of the PEG Group to provide solar energy to those without access to other types of energy. His model effectively reaches remote customers and also allows these customers to develop a credit history, increasing their potential as customers for other products. With Hugh Whalan, CEO of PEG Group, at the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise's 2015 Social Enterprise Conference, September 25, 2015.
Dean Glenn Hubbard and Warren Buffett '51 in Conversation: "Develop a Passion"
Entrepreneur, author, and Shark Tank investor Barbara Corcoran shares the traits needed to start a successful business.
William Klepper is a management professor who teaches Executive Leadership in the EMBA program and serves as academic director of the Executive Education program. He is the author of The CEO's Boss: Tough Love in the Boardroom.
Robert F. Smith '94: "Be an expert at your craft."
Robert F. Smith '94, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, speaks with Darius Gant '17 at the Columbia Black Business Students Association's ELEVATE conference on March 25, 2017.
At the BRITE '16 conference, Rita McGrath, Author of The End of Competitive Advantage, talked about how the nature of a long-lived competitive advantage has changed, with new entry conditions, such as network effects, taking over from traditional ones. McGrath discusses the new sources of advantage and how firms should be thinking about them in a more transient society. For more info on The End of Competitive Advantage, visit: ritamcgrath.com The BRITE conference on brands, innovation and technology is hosted by the Center on Global Brand Leadership at Columbia Business School.
Trade brings many benefits, says Douglas Irwin of Dartmouth College; it lowers prices and increases variety, among other things. Irwin, who is also author of "Free Trade Under Fire" (2014, Princeton University Press), was interviewed at "Trade Issues Today," a conference at Columbia University in September 2016. The conference was sponsored by the Chazen Institute for Global Business, the School of International and Public Affairs, the Center for Global Governance, and the Deepak and Neera Raj Center on India Economic Policies, Columbia University.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which went into effect at the beginning of 2018, has placed a $10,000 limit on state and local tax (SALT) deductions, leading high-tax states to explore workarounds and, in some cases, litigation. Alex Raskolnikov, Wilbur H. Friedman Professor of Tax Law at Columbia Law School, discusses whether states can circumvent the limit, and if there is a legal basis to challenge it.
The Truth about Mobile Advertising: Does It Even Work?
Jonah Rockoff, Associate Professor, talks about his core course Managerial Economics. "Managerial economics is the intellectual foundation for making business decisions. The ideas from Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes...are still valid today, but the science of economics and research in economics also has evolved a lot. We show students how we have to adjust how we think about these old economic theories in light of changes in technology and changes in the way the market functions."
Katherine Phillips, Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics, talks about her core course at Columbia Business School, Lead: People, Teams, Organizations. "A leader really is somebody who knows how to take in the environment around them. So that when you look around you, you actually can see where all of the potential is. You're the one who brings the energy, and the passion, and vision to the table, and people want to follow you."


text:
Washingtonia, comummente designada washingtónia, é um género botânico pertencente à família das Arecáceas. Conta com duas espécies:
Washingtonia filifera
Washingtonia robusta

Arecaceae
Géneros de plantas

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
#pragma once

#include "il2cpp-config.h"

#ifndef _MSC_VER
# include <alloca.h>
#else
# include <malloc.h>
#endif

#include <stdint.h>

#include "Mono_Security_Mono_Security_Protocol_Tls_RecordPro3519001153.h"

#ifdef __clang__
#pragma clang diagnostic push
#pragma clang diagnostic ignored "-Winvalid-offsetof"
#pragma clang diagnostic ignored "-Wunused-variable"
#endif

// Mono.Security.Protocol.Tls.ClientRecordProtocol
struct  ClientRecordProtocol_t1274010348  : public RecordProtocol_t3519001153
{
public:

public:
};

#ifdef __clang__
#pragma clang diagnostic pop
#endif

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Home / Film / NonFicDay / Tony Cross / Non-fiction Weekend - The Possibilities are Endless
Non-fiction Weekend - The Possibilities are Endless
Film, NonFicDay, Tony Cross
The Possibilities are Endless as Tony Cross watches the film about Edwyn Collins for our Non-fiction Weekend...
Here's an off-beam suggestion for a film to watch this weekend, "The Possibilities are Endless." It is a film about Edwyn Collins, a singer-songwriter, formerly of Orange Juice but probably best known for the song A Girl Like You.
It's the story of re-building his life after a stroke that effectively deleted his mind. It's also a love story. A real love story. It isn't a fairy tale. It isn't two pretty actors falling in love after a series of mildly comic misunderstandings. It isn't all flowers and butterflies. This is the story of a marriage an relationship being built and re-built. Because this film isn't just about Edwyn Collins, the musician. It is about Edwyn Collins and Grace Maxwell.
There's a real intimacy between Grace and Edwyn built on their history and then on what's happened since Edwyn's stroke. It hasn't been easy.
But this isn't a sad story.
This is about fragility and strength. How that spongey thing that sits inside our skulls can let us down terribly. That what we are can be gone in an instant. That we are so much about who we remember we are. But equally it is about how resilient we are. How we can be broken but how we can put ourselves back together again and how we are not alone.
The directors, Edward Lovelace and James Hall, have made something that isn't a pure documentary here. A lot of the initial part of the film is done by voiceover whilst we watch images and people underneath the talking. And Edwyn's struggle to communicate and to be understood is illustrated through images too.
Then there's a silent story of a love affair blossoming between two unnamed people played by William Collins (Edwyn's son) and Yasmin Paige. This story I took to be partly an illustration of Edwyn and Grace's story, perhaps simply because William Collins looks so much like his Dad. But partly something more universal. That need to be connected. That need to be loved.
It's all beautifully filmed. Striking image after striking image. Silence and light.
Fundamentally though this is a story about resilience, recovery and love. Apparently when Collins first woke up from his stroke he could say only two phrases, 'The Possibilities are endless' and 'Grace Maxwell'.
There in two phrases is what this film is about. It's about the magnificence of what we are and what we can be, even in the midst of great trials and it is about love.
What more do you need?
Image - Amazon


Traction Digital workshop strategy sessions advise on best practice data management, customer journey mapping, recommended digital touch points and digital transformation strategies.
Create customer segmentation for targeted digital communications with the creation of personas. Determine digital communications mix (email, SMS, digital promotions) for each segment, the content, as well as the send frequency. Educate on best practices in email marketing, to ensure that all digital communications are compliant and engaging.
Define what a customer journey map is and importance for communicating with customers. Examples of the different types of customer journey maps and success stories. Create different customer journey maps for different customer personas, and identify areas where current communication touchpoints can be improved using current and future resources.
Establish strategic ideas to complete records with missing core data. Design a preference centre and welcome process. Define strategies for collecting data through sign up forms and how to leverage cross channel marketing and execute campaigns in a targeted way.
to explore in more detail.
Our team of digital experts will work with key stakeholders to define and develop the key goals and reporting metrics relevant to the organisation. We will guide teams to establish a reporting pattern for a measurable process that align with business outcomes.


text:
******************************
Coalescent class documentation
******************************

.. Note::
    Using the coalescent model is optional. When running via the command line this class will only be initialized when
    the flag

    .. code-block:: bash

        --coalescent <arg>

    is used.
    The argument is either ``'const'`` (have TreeTime estimate a constant coalescence rate), or ``'skyline'`` (estimate a piece-wise linear merger rate trajectory)
    or a floating point number giving the time scale of coalescence in units of divergence (``Tc``). This is also
    called the effective population size.

.. autoclass::  treetime.Coalescent
    :members: __init__

Parameters of the Kingsman coalescence model
--------------------------------------------

.. automethod:: treetime.Coalescent.branch_merger_rate
.. automethod:: treetime.Coalescent.total_merger_rate
.. automethod:: treetime.Coalescent.cost

Skyline Methods
---------------------

.. automethod:: treetime.Coalescent.optimize_skyline
.. automethod:: treetime.Coalescent.skyline_empirical
.. automethod:: treetime.Coalescent.skyline_inferred


text:
Fewer customers, but a steady stream still seen for Black Friday shopping
Charles Dunlap
Columbia Daily Tribune
With masks on and shopping lists in hand, Columbia residents were ready to find Black Friday deals and support local major retailers.
But are in-store shopper volumes the same as last year? With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there are not as many getting out and about for shopping, but there still was a steady flow of customers, Menards General Manager Obi Agusiobo said.
Columbia small businesses will have their chance to shine Saturday, with Small Business Saturday.
While the official opening time for Black Friday sales at Menards was 6 a.m., the doors opened a little earlier.
"Right around 5 a.m. we already had a little bit of a line forming," Agusiobo said. "We realized to try to allow some social distancing the best we can, we needed to start to let people in early to start shopping."
By opening about 30 minutes early, that allowed for people to spread out among the store rather than congregating outside, he added.
There definitely were fewer shoppers at the store, compared to last year, Agusiobo said, which was expected since Black Friday deals are being offered over a 10-day period instead of during a six-hour chunk.
"That was the intention, to try to limit the number of people that would be in the store," he said. "With the whole 10-day sale, that definitely limits the number of people that show up early."
Many retailers were offering earlier than normal Black Friday deals throughout and before Thanksgiving week, said Sara Skirboll with RetailMeNot.
It's a good idea to have a list already prepared before going into stores, she said.
"If you are someone who really enjoys strolling through store aisles and browsing to find the right gift, you may need to readjust your thinking," Skirboll said.
Masks were mandatory Friday at Menards for all customers and associates. The store also had enhanced cleaning practices for shopping carts and plexiglass barriers were up between customers and associates in check-out lines.
A surprising early sellout at Menards was batteries.
"It does make sense. They were a great price," Agusiobo said. "We have sold quite a few gun safes. Those are a popular item. And we have sold some recliners."
For some Columbia residents, shopping at Menards on Black Friday is a tradition. That was the case for Stephanie Dupree.
"I will always support Menards every year," she said. "Just simply because they give the employees Thanksgiving off every year. This is the only store I go to on Black Friday. They care about their employees."
Tanner Reddick wanted to take advantage of the retail shopping holiday at Menards while his wife was at work. He wanted to be able to have the time to hide her gift before she got home. He was there with his mom, Laura Reddick, sister, Haley Lincoln and young niece, Ellie Lincoln.
The group was not looking for anything in particular, but was on the lookout for some good deals.
"They just always surprise when we come in. That is why I like this store," Tanner Reddick said.
Haley Lincoln was scoping out deals on toys for Ellie, who will celebrate her birthday Dec. 27.
"We have a lot going on this year," she said. "She likes animals. Any type of animals."
The smaller crowds on Black Friday also meant shopping was, in most cases, easier. At least that is what Best Buy customers were saying.
The store still was ready for crowds, though, by having security at the entrance to take a count of how many people were in the store at one time. Customers also were provided store maps, so they could figure out where items were.
There was a section outside if there was a line of people who had to wait to enter. This wasn't the case Friday morning. Best Buy also set up additional, temporary contactless pick-up spaces in the parking lot for those who shopped online.
For some shoppers, it was just a typical Friday.
"I forgot it was even Black Friday," said Columbia resident John Smith, who bought a sound bar speaker so he could listen to his favorite genre of music, classic rock, in particular The Eagles. "My wife was coming to Hobby Lobby, so I came over here looking for this."
Crowd levels were fairly small, he said, noting he didn't have to wait in line to check out.
"You hear the horror stories (about Black Friday), but I walked right in, got helped and didn't even have to wait," Smith said.
The small Black Friday crowds also made it easier for Columbia resident Kelly Vaughn to find a deal at Best Buy on some Apple Airpods, a type of wireless headphone. She was frustrated with other retailers having similar online-only deals on other Apple products.
"That is frustrating," she said. "It was nice and not busy at all and pretty well organized."
Vaughn guessed that the way the store was organized and arranged was in response to the pandemic.
"Had I known that a lot of these deals were just going to be online-only, or they were available online, I would have sat at home and shopped," she said. "Pick-up or even just ship to the house, because that would have saved me a lot of time."
Major retailers started offering more pre-Black Friday deals as a response, in part, to Amazon's Prime day, which saw a 36% boost in sales in October, when compared to 2019.
Walmart, for example, offered its Black Friday deals for online shoppers three days early.
"We've been very thoughtful as we planned this year's event," said Scott McCall, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for Walmart. "By spreading deals out across multiple days and making our hottest deals available online, we expect the Black Friday experience in our stores will be safer and more manageable for both our customers and our associates."
Roger McKinney of the Tribune contributed to this report.
© 2021 www.columbiatribune.com. All rights reserved.


Our founder, Heather Bridgers, was frustrated with seeing her beautiful high heel shoes damaged by sidewalks, concrete and daily use, so she set out to find a simple and savvy solution for heel protection. The result is Just for KiiX. What began as an idea to solve a personal challenge that was costing her time, money and pain caused by damaged heels, became a business that helps women all over the world protect their investment in heels.
Besides being a wife, mother and CEO of a rapidly growing company, she is a practicing attorney in Raleigh, NC. You'll find Heather always on the go in beautiful high heels protected, of course, by Just for KiiX! Learn more about Heather and the beginnings of Just for Kiix, the world's best high heel protector, by reading her letter below.
First, I want to thank you for visiting Just for KiiX website! I welcome your comments and feedback.
Like you, I enjoy beautiful shoes. Each pair of high heels has a special story of discovery and selection. And, there are the sad stories of damaged heels from everyday encounters with common street and sidewalk hazards. Preventing these annoying and costly incidents and giving high heels a fighting chance became a personal goal.
• easy and quick to apply without glue or scissors.
To pursue this tall list of strict product requirements, I formed a team of expert technical advisors consisting of PhD level scientists and seasoned industry leaders in the academic and commercial arenas. I asked them to identify highly durable, virtually invisible materials we could test. I held candid, objective focus groups with women in the US and the UK. Their open feedback guided the exploration to produce Just For KiiX. For a year, a team of product testers wore KiiX around cities across the US and abroad to validate that "they really work." I also had lab testing done to ensure KiiX performed under extreme temperature and moisture/water conditions over time. KiiX passed with great reviews, and I received many encouraging stories of how they saved heels from various nasty encounters. Then, Just for KiiX was fully ready for customers and US patent pending and trademarking.
Next, I hit the road to showcase Just For KiiX at key fashion footwear events. I received many highly favorable customer comments during exhibits at Moda, the Fashion Footwear Association of New York (FFANY) and the Magic Platform in Las Vegas. What was amazing and gratifying was the encouragement of other exhibitors, as well as the buyers. These events were the launch points to bring Just for KiiX to discerning customers.
The next wonderful moment was when Nordstom.com selected to offer KiiX. I was so grateful and thrilled to receive this encouraging endorsement.
KiiX protects heels at a fraction of the cost of the shoe. And since KiiX are easily applied before damage occurs, you can save time and money. No more trips to the shoe repair shop. No more frustration and disappointment when you ruin a heel.
Now we step into the future knowing our favorite shoes will stay looking great. We hope you try Kixx for yourself; and we think you will be delighted!
The KiiX story is still unfolding, so please join us as we grow! We'd love to hear from you and see KiiX in action. Follow us and share your photos and feedback on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.
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Etymology: Gk, iatros, physician, genein, to producecaused by treatment or diagnostic procedures.
An iatrogenic disorder is a condition that is caused by medical personnel or procedures or that develops through exposure to the environment of a health care facility.
"Is US Health Really the Best in the World?"
"The Publication Hub remains the first port of call for all those seeking the latest statistics from government departments in the UK. It is the central website for hosting all first releases of National Statistics."
"The term 'National Statistics' is an accreditation kitemark which stands for a range of qualities such as relevance, integrity, quality, accessibility, value for money and freedom from political influence. Data classed as National Statistics provide an up-to-date, comprehensive and meaningful description of the UK's economy and society."
"Our mission is to improve understanding of life in the United Kingdom and enable informed decisions through trusted, relevant, and independent statistics and analysis."
hmm... Ok, lets try one more... Ah! Authority!
"The Statistics Authority provides the top level of governance for ONS, replacing the oversight role previously performed by HM Treasury ministers. As a consequence, the Statistics Authority has a statutory power to produce statistics, as ONS did previously"
Great!!! there is obviously nothing like this happening in the UK!
"In 2008, the latest year for which figures are available, UK men at age 65 had 9.9 years of healthy life expectancy compared with 17.6 years of life expectancy, while UK women at age 65 had 11.5 years of healthy life expectancy compared with 20.2 years of life expectancy."
"Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship to restrict the art of healing to one class of men and deny equal privileges to others: The Constitution of this Republic should make a special privilege for medical freedom as well as religious freedom."


As this is one of the core areas in my collecting interests, I thought I might share some groups (and maybe a few singles) here.
The collecting of Indian Army WWII medals is especially interesting, as most (~ 80%) of the campaign medals are named (using "India" in the post-1947 meaning, while Pakistan -- alas -- did not name their WWII medals so, as I'll detail below, this leads to "issues").
I know this may be "fringe" for this forum., but I hope there is some interest.
Hi Guys, all I can say is stand by for another treat! Ed has some wonderfull stuff.
2nd type -- For acts in Arakan (Burma), 16 May-15 August 1945 – Gazette of India, 3 August 1946, Not. No. 178-H – actually presented December 1953 (!).
Subedar Tikajit Pun was the senior Gurkha officer of a column which was forced through a breakdown in communications and the consequent lack of rations to return across the Chindwin under particularly arduous conditions. His energy and devotion to duty were unfailing and on all occasions he set a superb example of cheerfulness in great adversity. It was largely due to his exemplary conduct that his men, despite hunger and exhaustion, regained their base as a formed body and without casualties.
He displayed the same qualities of leadership during this difficult march as he had previously shown under fire and was throughout of the greatest assistance to his column commander.
I assume the other medals are familiar? Tell me if they aren't or if you want details, please.
IOM in London Gazette 21 September 1944, p. 4371. The recommendation for the IOM is shown below.
During the operations on Monastery Hill above Cassino between 15th and 34th March 1944, this NCO showed courage and devotion of an outstanding quality. Naik Amarbahadur was acting Platoon Havildar of one of the platoons of the company which, alone, captured Hangman's Hill on Monte Cassino on the 16th March 1944. When the company had secured Hangman's Hill the Germans brought intense small arms, mortar and shell fire to bear on the hill top from the Monastery and adjacent ridges, which overlooked Hangman's Hill from point blank range. After enduring this for some time, Naik Amarbahadur picked up a Bren gun, the crew of which had become casualties, and climbed to the highest pinnacle of the rock, where the best view of the enemy could be obtained but which also was completely exposed. From this position he engaged the enemy, particularly a mortar which was causing considerable damage to the company. So effectively did he do this, that the mortar was silenced. He was shortly afterwards wounded, but continued to fight on and engage machine gun posts under the Monastery wall. It was not until the situation quieted down considerably that this NCO allowed himself to be removed and have his wound dressed.
India General Service Medal, 1936-39 - NORTH WEST FRONTIER 1936-37, NORTH WEST FRONTIER 1937-39 -- "2446 RFM. AMARBAHADUR KHATTRI, 1-9 G.R."
1939-45 Star -- "2446 NK. AMMARBAHADUR KHATTRI, 9 G.R."
Africa Star -- "2446 NK. AMMARBAHADUR KHATTRI, 9 G.R."
Italy Star -- "2446 NK. AMMARBAHADUR KHATTRI, 9 G.R."
The Defence Medal, 1939-45 -- "2446 NK. AMMARBAHADUR KHATTRI, 9 G.R."
The War Medal, 1939-45 -- "2446 NK. AMMARBAHADUR KHATTRI, 9 G.R."
One more for now. More . . . many more . . . too many more? . . . to come.
I do hope some can understand how INCREDIBLY rare this group is, though.
\1939-45 Star -- "ME-102050 NK. MOHINDER SINGH I.E.M.E."
Africa Star -- "ME-102050 NK. MOHINDER SINGH I.E.M.E."
Italy Star -- "ME-102050 NK. MOHINDER SINGH I.E.M.E."
France and Germany Star -- "ME-102050 NK. MOHINDER SINGH I.E.M.E."
This is a complex group, one that has resisted research efforts in some dimensions.
Order of British India, first class, type 2, 1939-1947 - OBI2 – Northern Italy, 14 June 1945, GoI Extraordinary, 14 June 1945, Not. No. 140-H. OBI1 – Rawalpindi, India, 13 Jule 1946, GoI Extraordinary, 13 June 1946, Not. No. 150-H.
On 10th January (1943) while still in Cyprus, the Battalion was rejoined by Subadar Narbahadur Gurung IDSM and Jemedar Lalkrishan Gurung, escaped prisoners of war. All escaped prisoners were entitled to leave in India, but none of them would take it – they were afraid to miss the war! Subadar Narbahadur was immediately promoted Subadar-Major, an appointment in which he served with great distinction throughout the Battalion's long campaign in Italy.
In 1944 Narbahadur was awarded the IOM (2nd Class) and RH Vol 3 page 499 records that he was subsequently promoted "Honorary Lieutenant for gallantry in the field.
Other records make it clear that his IOM was awards for his escape and evasion (just how does a Gurkha "blend in" in Italy??), but the recommendation was treated as secret and was intentionally not preserved. Maybe checking the recently released escaped POW debriefs (split between London and New Delhi) will help?
Indian Distinguished Service Medal, George VI - "JEMDR. NARBAHADUR GURUNG, 2-4 G.R." - For bravery at Black Rocks, Koti Raghza Waziristan, NWFP (gazetted as Waziristan, NWFP), action date 29 June 1937 Authy: Gof I Extraordinary 10 Dec 1937. Notn. 192-H. Inter-war IDSMs have no surviving recommendations (so far).
India General Service Medal, 1908-35, George V, 2nd variety - NORTH WEST FRONTIER 1930-31 - "6375 L-NK. NARBAHADUR GURUNG, 2-4 G.R."
India General Service Medal, 1936-39 - NORTH WEST FRONTIER 1937-39 - "JEMDR. NARBAHADUR GURUNG, 2-4 G.R."
His WWII medals are, alas, unnamed. This is a common pattern for those discharged early and the absence of an Indian Independence Medal suggests he was discharged immediately at the end of the War (health?).
On the MAWCHI rd on 21 May 45 Jem RAJPAL SINGH was leading the tp being used in sp of the inf. Advancing, his tank was hit by a 47 mm AP shell. He was ordered by the Tp Comd to withdraw but having seen the flash he held his ground knowing he would be unable to locate it if he went back to cover. His rapid fire then forced the crew to abandon the gun. A 75 mm then opened fire and this he silenced with a direct hit. During this enaggement his tk was hit five times, one jamming the cupola and fracturing the periscope. This action enabled inf to adv and three guns were captured.
On 28 May he was loading with a coy of 4 GR. One of his guns jammed but rather than hold up the adv he pressed on but was hit five times by the enemy guns destroying the tk and killing the crew. The Jem. escaped with severe burns.
This Jemadars courage and steadiness has been a very fine example to all.
As he was discharged early (due to his burns) all the medals are unnamed. The group came direct from the family with tons of photos and documents. Since I have them, I've added photos of him as a young and old man.
On 10 February 1941 during the attack on HOGS BACK this N.C.O. showed great coolness and disregard for personal safety in moving about (in his functions as Company Havildar Major) and assisting his Coy. Commander.
On 11 Feb 1941 during the action on BRIGS PEAK Coy Hav Major MOHAMMED SHER again showed outstanding bravery and coolness. He moved freely amongst the forward sections encouraging Section commanders. When the enemy pressed home his attack Coy Hav Major MOHAMMED SHER was present in assisting the defence and freely exposed himself in throwing bombs at the enemy.
11 March 1941 on Pt 1710 when the Coy had suffered 4 killed and 3 wounded by mortar fire, Coy Hav Major MOHAMMED SHER showed disregard for personal safety by carrying back wounded men to safety whilst under mortar fire.
This N.C.O's name was submitted for bravery at TUMMAR WEST.
As he went to PAkistan with Partition in 1947, his WWII medals are unnamed (while India named most of these medals, Pakistan followed British practice).
MiD in London Gazette, 2nd supplement, 30 December 1941, p. 7354 for "Middle East" as "Subadar Mohammed Sher, 1 Punjab Regt. (no "IDSM"?) - The MiD is also shown in Qureshi's regimental history, most probably for actions at Kissoue, outside of Damascus, Syria, where he was wounded on 13 June 1941. The History also records the Award of the Croix de Guerre (for Syria).
Awards of the MM to Indian soldiers are rare.
On the night of 22/23 March 1945 at MEIKTILA a strong enemy force later estimated at two Bns, with two guns attacked the battalion perimeter.
The fiercest part of this attack, which was not only supported by the two guns at point blank range but also by MMG, LMG and mortar fire, was located in the area of the main road. No 78105 Rifleman Asarsing Limbu was defending the slit trench nearest the road and opposite our MMG post when the enemy made a sudden rush covered by very heavy fire in attempt to overrun the MMG position. Some of the enemy succeeded in penetrating the wire. Riflman Asarsing Limbi with complete disregard for danger left his slit trench and attacked them with grenades and his bayonet, killing three and driving the rest back.
He then returned to his trench and replenished his supply of grenades. Four times he drove the enemy out and accounted for about fifteen to twenty of the enemy. Early in the morning he volunteered to go forward with a clearing party and moving well ahead killed one sniper and engaged a second whom he also killed after being wounded by a grenade. This riflemans dash and determination to kill the enemy was an example and inspiration to all.
1939-45 Star - "78105 RFN. ASARSING LIMBU, 7 G.R."
Burma Star - "78105 RFN. ASARSING LIMBU, 7 G.R." - Wounded B II p. 519 s.l. 504 - 78105 Asarsingh Limbu 23 March 1945, Burma IV.
The War Medal, 1939-45 - "78105 RFN. ASARSING LIMBU, 7 G.R."
A broken group (and I fear the WWII campaign medals are "restorations") but still nice, I think.
Vir Chakra - "24075 SEP. BABU SINGH, 1 BN., SIKH R.-7 NOV 1947" - The rtecommendation is elusive, sorry.
At Abya on the night of 3-4 July 1945, Sepoy Babu Singh was a member of an isolated Platoon in Satthwagyon village, which was heavily attacked throughout the night by approximately 150 enemy. All communications with the Battalion had failed and the position of the Platoon was desperate, as by 0600 hours in the morning only ten rounds of ammunition per man remained.
Sepoy Babu Singh volunteered to take a message to the Battalion some three miles away. To do this, with an interpreter, he divested himself of his clothes and donned a loin cloth. Then, completely submerged, the two men crawled down a nullah out of the position, and through the encircling enemy. They mingled with the local inhabitants who were being cleared by the Japanese, and openly walked past, and within two feet of two Japanese sentries. Once clear of the village, the two men ran for three miles over flooded paddy fields, bearing a written message, to the Battalion position. Thereafter, they led a relieving company back to a position where they could attack the Japanese from a flank, and so relieve the hard-pressed platoon. The gallantry and devotion to duty of these two men was instrumental in saving the Platoon, as owing to the confused situation it was not realised that the Platoon was heavily engaged.


text:
Alleviating Poverty through Microfinance: Nigeria's Experience
Poverty is a global phenomenon, especially in the less developed countries like Nigeria and it has aroused the concern of people all over the world, including individuals, Non-Governmental Organizations. (NGO's), Multilateral Institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP),. as well as national governments. Microfinance is still a relatively new phenomenon in Nigeria as it was just employed as a strategy for poverty reduction in December 2005. The first Microfinance Bank can be traced back to 1976, when Muhammad Yunus set up the Grameen Bank, as an experiment, on the outskirts of Chittangong University camp liS in the village of Jobra, Bangladesh. Since the Microfinance policy was put in place ill December 2005, the .effect has rarely been felt; it hasn't had the adequate trickle-down effect on the Nigerian citizenry because the gap between the rich and the poor is still on the increase. Poverty is a critical phenomenon that calls for an urgent attention and solution all over the world, especially in the underdeveloped nations of the world where it has eaten deep into the lives of many. The need to alleviate poverty arises in order- to enhance the quality of life through the creation of favorable standards of living by effective production and distribution of consumer goods and Services. This study seeks to determine the effect that Microfinance Institutions have had on reduction, or alleviation of poverty in Nigeria ..


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This program allows non-profit organizations to use this product as a fundraising tool. You referral the business to the company, and they will do the follow-up. Depending upon the type of business that purchases, you earn the commission.


text:
Ondřej Kraják (* 20. April 1991 in Hradec Králové) ist ein tschechischer Fußballspieler, der beim FC Hradec Králové unter Vertrag steht.

Karriere
Kraják begann seine Karriere bei Sparta Prag, wo er von 2009 bis 2011 mit der zweiten Mannschaft in der Druhá fotbalová liga spielte. Für die Saison 2011/12 wurde er an Bohemians 1905 Prag verliehen, wo er am 25. September 2011 zu seinem ersten Einsatz in der Gambrinus Liga kam, als er beim Spiel gegen Slovan Liberec eingewechselt wurde.

Der 1,79 m große Rechtsfüßer spielt auf der Position des Mittelstürmers.

Weblinks

Fußballspieler (Sparta Prag)
Fußballspieler (Bohemians Prag 1905)
Fußballspieler (FC Hradec Králové)
Tschechoslowake
Tscheche
Geboren 1991
Mann