text:
All posts made in Jan. 2015:
Drones and renders
12:22, Friday 30 Jan., 2015 Link
So the two things I got from yesterday's hardware-ish coffee morning were:
TV is dead, and the new TV is Youtube and Twitch -- the live streaming video platform for video gamers to watch other video gamers play video games. Bought by Amazon for pennies shy of $1BN last year, and by February 2014, it was considered the fourth largest source of peak Internet traffic in the United States. Here's the start-up I would do if I had some special access: Use GoPro cameras on drones with automatic follow-me functionality, and broadcast streams of climbers and surfers. Live. Put a tip jar on the side of the page.
In the age of renders and green screens, proving that a physical thing is real is super, super difficult. An app or website, you can share a screen grab or an animation and that's as good as the software itself. It's all just pixels. But physical things -- I hear again and again about the lengths we go to, to drum home the point that this gadget or this printed product ACTUALLY EXISTS and YET everyone thinks it's make-believe. So aside from sending the thing (whatever it is) to people through the post, or pointing a live webcam at it (which seems to carry some verisimilitude), ideas welcome... It's a tough sell to get a potential customer to put down cash when, deep down, they're sceptical about whether the product is genuine.
Thanks Gavin, David, Tom, Basil, Matthew, James, and Alex! Coffee again in a couple of weeks.
Books read January 2015
17:54, Thursday 29 Jan. Link
By date finished...
The Book of Strange New Things, Michel Faber (2nd)
Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie (11th)
Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (18th, r.)
Soviet Space Dogs, Olesya Turkina (18th)
The Generation Starship in Science Fiction: A Critical History, 1934-2001, Simone Caroti (25th)
Nineteen Eighty-Four is so much more horribly prescient than I remembered. History lives only in the present; feels like Wikipedia, like electronic records of all kinds? How Orwell put his finger on that I don't know. And man, the paranoia. We swim through paranoia, it's our ocean, we can't see it.
Caroti's book on generation ships is half a history of the eras of science fiction, and half what generation ships meant in those eras. (Generation ships are starships where people live and die before it reaches its destination hundreds of years later.)
The Book of Strange New Things. Beautiful sentences. Meanings delicately poised. A Christian missionary, a man and wife, estrangement. And to discover this is Faber's final novel and he wrote it while his wife Eva was dying -- heartbreaking.
Filtered for what's around us
15:24 Link
Ambient loops from sci-fi.
Including! 12 hours of the engine noise from the ship Discovery in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Bitter Lake by Adam Curtis available for viewing on iPlayer.
A tone poem of the last 50 years of Afghanistan.
Curtis' blog post introducing it: Events come and go like waves of a fever. We - and the journalists - live in a state of continual delirium, constantly waiting for the next news event to loom out of the fog - and then disappear again, unexplained.
Postcards from a supply chain by Dan W -- It might be a photo, an anecdote, a video or a map. There will be mines and refineries and markets and ports and ships and containers. Lots of containers.
The Trees that Return Your Emails.
Did you know that you can email every single tree in the City of Melbourne - and they'll write back?
Right now, you can log onto the City of Melbourne's Urban Forest Visual map and email any tree you'd like within the council's boundaries.
Yep, all 60,000 of them.
I used the website to email a Corymbia Spotted Gum with ID 1358524.
Hardware coffee mornings in SF and Adelaide
08:30, Wednesday 28 Jan. Link
A quick note that hardware-ish coffee morning (here's the pattern) is spreading:
San Francisco! this Wednesday at 9:30AM at Coffee Bar on Mariposa. (That's Wednesday as in today, the 28th.) Convener is @obra of hardware startup Keyboardio
Adelaide! the Bean Bar on Currie Street on Friday the 29th January from 8.30am for an hour or so -- that's @andrewdotcom.
Go along! Let me know how it goes!
Next London coffee morning is tomorrow -- here's the announce list.
Comment on Internet of Things terminology
11:22, Tuesday 27 Jan. Link
Dan Hon commented: The thing - ha - about the internet-of-things is that it's a weird descriptor.
from a consumer point of view, for most things, why would it have wifi if it couldn't be connected, in some way, to the internet? Which is sort of the position that all of this IoT business is a temporary blip and that instead you'll just be looking for "doorbells" or "lightbulbs" or "locks" and you won't really get a choice about whether they "come with internet" or not.
I'll go with that. The internet won't stay trapped behind glass. -- That was a useful encapsulation to explain what we were doing with Berg Cloud.
Of course lightbulbs should be networked. But my hunch is that - with connectivity - we'll find new products that means that we no longer focus on light bulbs per se. Maybe connectivity will mean that we'll buy "lighting," verbs not nouns.
I guess the scale of the difference I mean is like software. Which, when networked, became social. Our global village.
And it won't necessarily be an "internet" and an "internet of things" but still, just, and only, the internet, at least I hope so, because the whole point of the internet - or at least, just one of the points of the internet is that things can link from one thing to another thing and that's why the superset - the internet of networks of things - will be the one that wins. Hopefully.
So I have some very rough mental models that I use, now I'm officially exploring the Internet of Things.
Words... I use titlecase "Internet of Things," and fully capitalise "IOT" (not IoT) so it doesn't look prissy.
Internet of Things is an awesome rallying flag. All kinds of technologies, skills, opportunities, adjacencies, and changes are involved. We're still building and debating it into being. I'm reminded of Web 2.0 and Tim O'Reilly's 2005 essay, What Is Web 2.0: Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software. We don't talk about Web 2.0 any more, but that's what the deployment phase of the web was, for almost a decade.
It doesn't feel to me like there is the IOT in the same way there is the Internet. There are IOT technologies and IOT experts and an IOT mindset. But it's not a single thing. Why? Because technically it's not fully connected, and I would argue that it doesn't need to be. And also because it's like that bit in The Graduate, I just want to say one word to you. Just one word. ... Plastics. What? Pacemakers or wind turbines? Well, yes. All of the above.
Here's the working definition I have in my notebook: We see the internet of things wherever a physical thing is connected by some kind of data carrying link to a computer capable of running software.
I'm casting a wide net -- we've built a lot of infrastructure (train platform signage, building facilities) that we don't call IOT but it is. Or it's close to being so. Why is this good?
The physical thing is no longer closed. By adding software, features can be added and iterated in response to user needs
The computer end of things is easily networked, so things can be monitored and controlled remotely, data aggregated to provide extra intelligence, and the whole system incorporated into other software systems
The opportunity space off the Internet of Things is therefore opened up
So given my working definition, I need to refer to two types of connectivity:
Connectivity is any kind of wired or radio link between the physical things and... anything else. Another physical thing, in a mesh network. A controlling computer capable of running software, such as an iPod Touch. A server.
Backhaul is the specific connectivity that joins the thing to the internet. This doesn't mean that the thing is routable on the open internet... it might just be networked to other things behind the same corporations firewall.
I can think of lots of things that would benefit from connectivity without backhaul. I'd like to be able to orchestrate the behaviour of all the lightbulbs in my house, for example; remote control from the open internet is a bonus.
Then back to Dan's original point... and that's why the superset - the internet of networks of things - will be the one that wins. Hopefully.
Hopefully. Maybe. But where my mental model takes me is to draw analogies with dumb unconnected stuff... my home. And I like that there are doors, that close, and windows that are see-through but with curtains; I can leave the phone off the hook and pull the plug on the wi-fi. There are switch by walls where my hand finds them, and those hidden at the back of the cupboard by the stove. These aren't just security models -- they're ways of making sense of the stuff I have in my life.
Still I go back the connected lightbulb and it's eventual value. To discover the it might require building out the whole Internet of Things first... the World Wide Web was already 7 years old by the time Blogger.com launched and so discovered the real value of the medium.
And maybe that'll require the open internet and all that implies. I hope so too but I think we have to make that case from value, because it's not necessary.
Filtered for magic and legitimacy
19:30, Monday 26 Jan. Link
Types of magician banned in ancient Rome, listed in the Codex Justinianus published in 534 AD.
A haruspex is one who prognosticates from sacrificed animals and their internal organs; a mathematicus, one who reads the course of the stars; a hariolus, a soothsayer, inhaling vapors, as at Delphi; augurs, who read the future by the flight and sound of birds; a vates, an inspired person - prophet; chaldeans and magus are general names for magicians; maleficus means an enchanter or poisoner.
(Source, book 9, section 18.)
Look, you know, consultants.
(In the context of Rome, magic is efficacious.)
Designers.
Account planning.
Cut open a goat and read the emails.
New system for data visualisation of London by After the flood: the London Squared Map. Squares and a pretty river wiggle.
Sitting and smiling.
4 hour meditation sessions, recorded with Google Hangouts. Sitting and smiling.
35 videos to date.
Unnerving.
2 hours and 36 mins into video #5, someone breaks into the house. Then, after presumably seeing me sitting still and smiling in front of a camera, lit from beneath by a florescent bulb, he promptly descends the stairs and exits the house.
Three YouTube stars meet President Obama for a post-State of the Union interview: Holy Shit, I Interviewed the President, by Hank Green.
"News" released its antibodies immediately. @rupertmurdoch: POTUS hard to follow saying no 'available' time for Netanyahu and then hours today with weird YouTube personalities. Strange timing.
Walking around the White House, seeing the Press Briefing Room and all of the two-hundred-year-old chairs and decoy helicopters reminded me that the history of post-democratic power is really the history of legitimacy.
There is nothing actually legitimate about Fox News (or MSNBC for that matter) and young people know this. They don't trust news organizations because news organizations have given them no reason to be trusting.
Legacy media isn't mocking us because we aren't a legitimate source of information; they're mocking us because they're terrified.
And here's the fucking motherlode:
The source of our legitimacy is the very different from their coiffed, Armani institutions. It springs instead (and I'm aware that I'm abandoning any modicum of modesty here) from honesty. In new media this is often called "authenticity" because our culture is too jaded to use a big fat word like "honesty" without our gallbladders clogging up, but that's really what it is.
Glozell, Bethany and I don't sit in fancy news studios surrounded by fifty thousand dollar cameras and polished metal and glass backdrops with inlayed 90-inch LCD screens. People trust us because we've spent years developing a relationship with them. We have been scrutinized and found not evil. Our legitimacy comes from honesty, not from cultural signals or institutions.
We have been scrutinized.
Sharpest analysis I've read in forever re: What Is Going On.
The internet means we don't have to trust second-hand signals, and we choose not to because second-hand signals have been abused. In who we get our views from - and who we give our money to - we can scrutinize.
Filtered for a squelchy something or other
15:34, Saturday 24 Jan. Link
Words in the 25 most common passwords of 2014:
letmein
I can't remember when I first saw this, a segment from a BBC natural history document of a man hunting an antelope by endurance running.
It takes hours.
The hunter uses his hand to get into the mind of the antelope -- there's a moment where he has to think at it does, choose the same direction, pure animal empathy.
Yeah humans! I can't help it, every time I see this. Go us!
It's a bit of a weird reaction I know, because mostly my sense of "us" is mammals. When I think "we're all in it together," when I'm trying to figure out what's ok and not ok about sacrificing dogs in the pursuit of leaving this planet to live in space, my loyalties are mammals. And my sense of "people" goes wider still. Distinguishable matter, probably. Asteroid people. A very different mode of thinking and being, sure, but a type of personhood and rights unto themselves.
I'm completely obsessed with this extended mix of Bojack's theme: great sounds. Deep dubstep bass, loooong sax, and some weird squelchy something or other. Can't stop listening.
Bojack Horseman on Netflix.
A digital clock where all the components are visible, every resistor, capacitor and all the wiring unpacked from its silicon chips, and laid out.
Next coffee morning and how to run one
Let's do coffee morning again! Next week.
Thursday 29th January, 9.30am for a couple of hours, at the Book Club (100 Leonard St).
It would be lovely to see you, come along! There's a vague "making things" skew, but honestly I've spent a lot of time chatting about dogs and music...
We had way too many dudes last time. So if you're Not A Dude or you bring a friend who is Not A Dude, I will be extra extra EXTRA pleased to see you. Please help me fix this.
Last week's coffee morning was bonkers... 15 people, 3 unreleased prototypes from hardware startups, an emergent theme about how to sell products. Other coffee mornings have been more low-key: Six of us talking nonsense and drinking too much caffeine. I don't really mind what happens, it's all good, maybe it'll just be me and my laptop next time :)
(What works for me)
But seeing as coffee morning is spreading to San Francisco I thought it might be worth writing down what works for me...
Space beats structure. Hardware-ish coffee morning is once every two weeks, same time, same place. I'll be there, people come and go. There's no sign-up list, no name badges, no speakers. There are a bunch of great events out there, I don't need another place to be in an audience. Open space.
Informality wins. It's good to not have regular attendees... It's like a street corner, familiar faces and surprise visitors. I try to help this by making sure there are lots of little conversations, not one big one, and by making connections if two people seem to be talking abut the same thing. Mingling is where magic happens.
Convening not chairing. I announce a week ahead of time, and send reminders. I circulate my own perspective afterwards. If I'm having relevant meetings, I ask people to come to the coffee morning instead; that helps set a tone. I also collect names: Everyone gets added to a mailing list where they get all the updates. But at the thing itself, I just chat.
Bonfires not fireworks. For weird chats that have a chance of going deep and leading to new ideas, I suspect that 2 people is better than 20. A fine balance of familiarity and novelty. So: Slow burn. If I'm on my own one week, that's fine. Just keep going. Telling everyone and making it too big too fast would kill it.
If I'm ever in any doubt, I go back and read what Russell did with his coffee mornings in 2007. He's who it all comes from.
For email updates, join the coffee morning announce list.
Filtered for pictures and what's OK
The decision to remove Grand Theft Auto 5 from the shelves of Target and K-Mart stores in Australia caused quite the reaction, especially in the American gaming press.
The move was discussed, argued over and written about, but the act itself took place in Australia, and reflects Australian culture and history.
Grand Theft Auto 5, Australian culture, and how the American press misses the point.
What comes across in this article - through a number of examples - is that, in Australia, debate is not polarised, but We're more likely to participate in public debates about [speech and art], more likely to feel heard and have more faith in judging it.
Public discussion of what's OK.
A neat flow diagram of the various publicly funded research projects that fed into the iPhone.
Gorgeous pictures of 3D fractals.
Beautiful Instagrams through aeroplane cockpit windows, but... But taking photos, or using most any electronic device, while piloting a commercial aircraft is prohibited by American and European regulators.
Some also appear to be flouting even stricter regulations for takeoff and landing, when not even idle conversation is allowed in the cockpit.
But my goodness the photos are beautiful.
That question of what's OK... how do we decide... when do individuals break the rules and when don't they... how do enough individuals break the rules and go "this is the sublime, this is what being human is about" and then as society we figure out that we choose the rules, and we have to find ways of making it safe to take photos from cockpit windows and share them?
Whatever, they're only Instagrams. But pretty ones.
How do we choose what's OK? How do we, as a society, choose what we want?
Filtered for weekend reads
13:32, Sunday 18 Jan. Link
I mentioned the women's movement classic The Tyranny of Structurelessness the other day, on the dangers of refusing to admit power... informal structures have no obligation to be responsible to the group at large. Their power was not given to them; it cannot be taken away. Their influence is not based on what they do for the group; therefore they cannot be directly influenced by the group.
Here's a critical response by Cathy Devine, The tyranny of tyranny, which raises the counter-risk of roles in organisations standing in the way individuality:
What we definitely don't need is more structures and rules, providing us with easy answers, pre-fab alternatives and no room in which to create our own way of life.
we are reacting against bureaucracy because it deprives us of control, like the rest of this society; and instead of recognising the folly of our ways by returning to the structured fold, we who are rebelling against bureaucracy should be creating an alternative to bureaucratic organisation. ... it is more than a reaction; the small group is a solution.
Touches on a few topics I'm super curious about right now... small groups, informality, a trust in the irreducible human element.
Genevieve Bell and Paul Dourish's 2006 paper Yesterday's tomorrows: notes on ubiquitous computing's dominant vision which makes the compelling argument that the habit of researching ubiquitous computing (now called Internet of Things) as something science-fictional or in the future prevents us from applying those learnings to the ubiquitous computing already here today.
the centrality of ubiquitous computing's "proximate future" continually places its achievements out of reach, while simultaneously blinding us to current practice. By focusing on the future just around the corner, ubiquitous computing renders contemporary practice (at outside of research sites and "living labs"), by definition, irrelevant or at the very least already outmoded. Arguably, though, ubiquitous computing is already here; it simply has not taken the form that we originally envisaged and continue to conjure in our visions of tomorrow.
I worry about this with the Internet of Things. There's a lot of research and good thinking... a ton of understanding. But without a deliberate effort to draw that research into the present, will present-day IOT - like connected products in Kickstarter and city-wide transit swipe cards - be able to learn?
And what I really mean is, given research and products come from groups of individuals, do these people hang out and have a common language?
Pulp's Big Moment, the New Yorker on the origin of mass-market paperbacks in the 1930s... The key to Lane's and de Graff's innovation was not the format. It was the method of distribution.
Train stations! Wire racks! Putting books where books weren't usually sold!
Instead of relying on book wholesalers ... de Graff worked through magazine distributors. They handled paperbacks the same way they handled magazines: every so often, they emptied the racks and installed a fresh supply.
Plus the usual high-brow/low-brow scuffle.
Speaking of which, readers absorb less on Kindles than on paper, study finds. Interesting if true, but I'm suspicious of high-brow snobbery.
The New York Times on a series of 36 questions that makes any couple fall in love (you're also required to do 4 minutes of silent continuous eye contact).
From before: the similarities between dating and variable-interval operant conditioning.
And OF COURSE somebody on Hacker News went and turned the 36 questions into a website... Want to fall in love? Play The Love Game (TM).
Hacking intimacy.
Is there a serious difference between this and Jeff Bezos's acclaimed method to introduce "Service-Oriented Architecture" at Amazon by imposing the two-pizza rule? any team should be small enough that it could be fed with two pizzas.
Filtered for cats and bears
08:24, Friday 16 Jan. Link
List of company name etymologies, Wikipedia.
Some Korean companies:
Daewoo which means 'Great House' or 'Great Universe' in Korean
Hyundai 'the present age' or 'modernity' in Korean
LG from the combination of two popular Korean brands, Lucky and Goldstar
Samsung meaning three stars
Good names. Great universe.
Business Cat has some coffee.
When you press the Help button on the ticket machine at the subway in Japan, a man climbs out of a hidden little door.
24 pieces of life advice from Werner Herzog.
Some faves:
Send out all your dogs and one might return with prey.
Learn to read the inner essence of a landscape.
Take revenge if need be.
Get used to the bear behind you.
Today's coffee morning, and SALES SALES SALES
Coffee morning 4 was super fun! Great chat and thank you for coming, Tom, James, Martin, Tom, Matthew (who took a photo), Dev, James, Daniel, Basil, Ben, Chris, Iskander, another Tom, and Jess!
Three people showed prototypes from their hardware startups. So, so good. Two people had successful Kickstarter campaigns under their belts. There was talk of new year's resolutions and books, and Dev described his brand of technology as the art of turning things off and on ... but, you know, in an experience sort of way. And I got to play with some Duplo because Jess brought her infant. Or someone's infant, I didn't think to ask.
But before I get to any of that:
Holy shit, TOO MANY DUDES.
This is a real problem. I know this is only chat and coffee, but what I'm attempting to foster here is a sparky street corner where serendipity occurs. With no structure! Informality! And it's working well. But when it's mostly men it's just weird.
So I had a chat with Basil and I had a chat with Jess, and we've got a couple of ideas about how to bring this back into alignment with the regular world -- and there's no excuse, especially because hardware startups so often have women founders. If I don't fix this soon, it'll get entrenched. So more ideas welcome.
Selling to people who aren't your mates
When I was a kid, I had an LP -- a long-playing vinyl record, which is kind of a large black CD where the sound is actually sculpted into the surface of the plastic -- and I guess I should also say that a CD is a Compact Disk, at which point you say: Compact compared to what? It stores a hundredth of what you get on an iPod and you can't even plug your headphones in.
An iPod, by the way, used to be a physical thing. Now it's an app on your phone.
I had an LP.
On the LP was a novelty song by Charlie Drake called My Boomerang Won't Come Back, and I won't pretend it was anything other than shamefully racist. Sayeth Wikipedia, the track is not exactly a paragon of political correctness, even by 1961 standards. In the song, an Aboriginal meeting is described as a 'pow-wow', something more appropriate for Native Americans, while their chanting sounds more African than Aboriginal.
Here's the song on Youtube. Listen at your own risk.
The punchline of the song is where the boy who's boomerang won't come back (who has practiced till I was black in the face/ I'm a big disgrace to the Aborigine race ) meets a witch doctor (I know, I know...) who tells him:
if you want your boomerang to come back, well, first you've got to throw it.
Which is true. And also hands-down the best sales advice I've ever encountered.
THE RELEVANCE OF THIS:
One of the most common challenges I see in hardware startups is that, after the initial burst of selling, product sales stall.
There were two conversations I had this morning that made me think of this. There's a startup at Techstars who is thinking about the same thing; I've had similar conversations with a couple of other hardware startups thinking their way through this. I've experienced this myself, and the story goes as follows:
You're a designer, or a creative technologist, or whatever. You're good at networking so you know how to reach many thousands or millions of people.. You're good at pitching your idea, well practiced, so you know how to craft a story. You launch your product; it sells.
And sales are decent. When you have PR.
But hardware ain't websites and ain't apps. You don't get an email address with hardware. You can't encourage your users to spam their Facebook friends, like an app can. Apps have got virality: Monkey see app, monkey download app from the App Store right there and then. Hardware got no virality. Users don't get more users.
So sales don't hockey-stick.
Now what you do is what everyone does when they experience a challenge, which is you repeat what made you successful in the first place. You do what you're really good at. You iterate the design, add features, you do better PR, you do a bunch of talks and you craft better stories.
But this is a build it and they will come approach. It probably doesn't work.
Your local social network is now saturated. You need to reach beyond your mates - and your mates of mates - and sell in a different way. But how?
You gotta advertise.
At Techstars, I've been privileged to work with people who really know their shit about digital marketing. They understand e-commerce inside-down and upside-out.
Here's a simple thing they talk about: Putting a budget against, say, Facebook ads. Try a bunch of stuff, see what works. Whatever profit you make from that, recycle it: buy more ads! If you're receiving money from new sales on a weekly basis, you get to recycle money every week. If you get money daily, you recycle daily and grow faster!
As you get better at selling, you recycle the cash and your budget grows and grows... but it's free money! It's still your original budget!
I was talking to Dev about this - at the coffee morning - and he went through the same thing for his Kickstarter campaign. He said that digital marketing was clear and obvious... once it had been framed for him as an engineering challenge with end goals and a toolset. What channels generate sales? What phrases work? Measure it all.
Anyway, I know this is obvious, but it's all about reaching and selling to the people we don't already know, in a repeatable, testable, iterated-and-improvable way. And I only say it because I've had this conversation a dozen times in the last month, and as tech folks and designers (as opposed to biz and marketing people) it appears to be something that we don't notice, or don't get to, or find excuses to not do because "the product isn't ready" or something. Holy shit I've heard a lot of excuses.
This sales attitude has got to be in the team DNA early on, or it'll feel alien when it - inevitably - gets introduced later. What the product is and how the product is understood AND SOLD has to evolve hand-in-hand.
If you want your boomerang to come back, first you've gotta throw it.
Other reason I bang on about this: Ignoring sales is a personal pitfall, and I want to make sure that, for my next venture, I think about sales as early as possible. Ultimately it'll make for a better product.
Next coffee morning
Coffee morning 5 will be January 29th, same bat-time (9.30am), same bat-channel (Old St). For reminders, join the mailing list.
Folks who came today: Thank you for coming! If you want me to connect you with anyone you chatted to, drop me a mail -- I collected email addresses. I'd love to hear about the conversations you had, let me know what sparked your imagination!
Filtered for the Internet of Things
What acronym do we give the Internet of Things? John Gruber:
"IoT" is a terrible acronym, especially in a world where Helvetica and Helvetica-like sans serifs are so popular. Capping the "o" too would help a little -- it would make it much more clear that it's spelling EYE-oh-TEE, not ell-oh-TEE.
Ok, IOT it is.
I wrote a post back in 2013 about how any of Amazon, Apple, and Google could become the default platform for IOT.
Since then...
Amazon have launched new Amazon Web Services tech focused on supporting sensors and web-connected devices.
Google acquired the home gadgets company Nest, back in January 2014. Since then they've been expanding the platform for developers, and there are now many home products that work with Nest. My feeling is that, for IOT, this is the best way to build a platform: Start with a killer product, then include partners, then finally move to 3rd party developers.
And Apple released Homekit, some standard tech for wireless chips that makes 3rd party products work better with iPhones. For instance, every Homekit product has to support identification: Users need ways to identify the accessory they are adjusting, so make sure to provide quick access to a control that physically identifies the accessory. In the case of a light bulb, for example, you might let users flash the bulb using your app to confirm its identity in the home.
Most interesting? Apple has added features to the Apple TV box so that it enables Homekit products being controlled from outside the home: So, while commands like 'Siri, turn off the lights in the living room' will always work while connected to your home Wi-Fi network, they won't from the airport unless you have an Apple TV.
Curious. Sounds like Apple is building the right thing.
Half of the Internet of Things is the things.
But making hardware is hard. Or rather... it requires a process which isn't familiar to most of the startups who turn their attention to hardware, and investors aren't familiar with how to fund hardware startups.
So specialised startup incubators are emerging.
The Economist has a special report. Hacking Shenzhen, Why southern China is the best place in the world for a hardware innovator to be.
Focuses on Haxlr8r.
Two hardware startups I've run across recently...
Re-Timer, a wearable headset that uses bright lights to tinker with your circadian rhythms -- and fix jet lag.
And Kisha, the umbrella you'll never lose. It's a weather forecast app, plus an alert that goes off if you leave your umbrella outside your "safe" places.
From IBM, this Executive Report, Device democracy: Saving the future of the Internet of Things (via @bruces).
Liquifying the physical world.
Great summary of the opportunities and challenges in scaling IOT.
Challenges identified:
The cost of connectivity
The Internet after trust
Not future-proof
A lack of functional value
Broken business models
From experience, these are exactly the challenges businesses face as they have to adapt to connected products.
I'm impressed with what IBM are up to at the moment. Their collaboration with Apple has produced some solid business apps, and their new design language is great.
Also: The UK government's approach to the Internet of Things is laid out in the Blackett review, a paper by the Government Chief Scientific Adviser on what the IOT opportunities are and how the government can help.
Coffee morning 4
10:29, Friday 9 Jan. Link
Let's have another coffee morning! First one of 2015.
Thursday 15th January, 9.30am for a couple of hours, at the Book Club in Old St.
Do come, it would be lovely to see you!
Here's what what happened at the last coffee morning. tl;dr we talked about the manufacturers of web-connected products speaking to consumers for the very first time, and sexy turducken. Also there were crackers.
And here's what coffee morning is all about... a mini, informal street corner to chat about nonsense and hardware. But mainly to drink coffee and hang out.
Oh and -- if you want reminders by email, there's now a coffee morning announce list. Subscribe here.
See you next Thurs!
Filtered for monkeys and A.I.
14:56, Thursday 8 Jan. Link
Who owns the monkey selfie?
There was an interesting dispute last year around that photo the monkey took of itself... or rather, a photographer was out to take pictures, but a monkey nicked the camera and took loads of pictures, then the photographer picked out a particularly good one and shared it, and everyone called it the "monkey selfie."
Then Wikipedia published the photo without asking the photographer, and justified it by saying that actually the monkey owned the photo.
Anne takes this to an interesting place:
Does the monkey have agency? Clearly.
Is the monkey the author-photographer? Sure.
Is the monkey the owner? Possibly.
And if this nonhuman has agency, and the power of authorship and ownership, what about other nonhumans?
What about the camera? What kind of agency does it have? Can a camera author an image? Own a photograph?
Is the camera the author of the photo?
Amazon's robotic fulfilment army [video].
In other robot news, If Your Robot Buys Illegal Drugs, Have You Committed a Crime?
If I give you a cake, did I deliberately make you happy? Of course.
If I order it to be sent online? Of course.
If I flip a coin and if it comes up heads then you get cake, then I flip the coin and it's heads? Yes.
If I write a program that can buy all kinds of stuff and sometimes buys cake? Probably, yes.
If I write an artificial intelligence that wants to delight you, and it happens to get you cake, is that still my agency? I think so, yes.
At a certain point of complexity (is it complexity that matters?) it's no longer my agency. But I don't know what that is.
I want there to be like an age of majority for systems of cause and effect, with a threshold of complexity rather than years since birth.
x.ai is an automated, email personal assistant to help you arrange meetings. It uses artificial intelligence.
Matt Turck's analysis of A.I. as a space is great. How artificial intelligence will come to market:
we're about to witness the emergence of a number of deeply focused AI-powered applications that will achieve commercial success by solving in a definitive manner very specific issues.
...which is a great way to think about it. I don't care how this personal assistant works, but it's great that the company behind it were able to create it. And they were able to create it because of A.I.
If it does something weird or wrong, whose fault is that? The programmers? In some cases. But in most cases, if the person I'm arranging a meeting with is let down or offended or pissed off... it'll be my fault, the user, the person who introduced the A.I. into the situation.
So how do I "interview" an A.I. for this personal assistant job role? How do I get to know them, assure myself they're not going to do anything bonkers?
Intel have released a computer that plugs into the back of a TV.
When you open the box, it plays the Intel jingle.
Filtered for the great outdoors
10:05, Monday 5 Jan. Link
What playing cricket looks like to Americans (video).
I've been sick since just after Christmas -- nothing much, just a light cold that turned into a sinus infection which is usual for this time of year. A slight ringing in the ears; dizziness if I move my head too fast.
Every year this happens! I need my sinuses like I need a hole in the head. Badum tish.
The weirdest effect of this barely-there sickness is that it's leaching my volition. I have zero ideas. Or rather, I can respond to stuff quite adequately. But self-starting volition: Nope. All gone.
Cricket is simultaneously boring and this long, complex, open-ended... something. The annual-or-so Australia/England Test series - the Ashes - comprises five 5-day games. The place in a series can only be described half as stats and half as story.
All the possible cricket fielding positions.
My favourite is when the games are being played in Australia, because then I have the radio on all night and I listen to the ebb and flow of the game through dozing and the half-light of consciousness. And that fully felt, undescribable sunlit contest builds in my head for a month and a bit, the length of the series. A soundtrack.
I wonder why we fall so easily into accepting a movie soundtrack. Maybe we have soundtracks in regular life. Not heard but felt. And that's the niche being occupied.
Regularity, daily routine, the beat of a soundtrack composed in microhertz. I can choose.
Good grief, I need to see the Sun.
The Capital Ring (which is in yellow on this map) is a 70-something mile walk circumnavigating London, linking together parks and open spaces in the city.
It's made of 15 sections.
I think I need some outdoors, that's basically it.
But I also wonder, why no volition? What's resting? What's finding a new direction?
The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) publishes random numbers, every minute of the day: FEB25F1F8A3CD0712 7162AAFF20D0B17D 5A7FFF80523028C8 BE793471EED8335 A955C461D6F4B9C2 8075327469F57315 F2CA216CC5805561 1DF490AEAF64F2B9
The story of how it works is interesting. Coin flips, seeds, and trust.
I don't think having new ideas is quite like having an internal random number generator. But whatever's gummed up in my sinuses right now, that's what's rusty, or sore and stuck.
I think the reason I reach for this kind of language is that one way of seeing illness is as a psychic phenomenon. If I bash my leg, a bruise comes up: fluid builds up around the flesh to hold it and cushion it while it repairs. My being sick is also me wanting to be sick; I am the fluid cushioning, in a way. But holding what while it builds strength?
There's also something magical about being sick that always brings home to me how embodied we are. No mind/body partition here, no way.
Related: I watched the movie Computer Chess over the holidays. The Guardian review calls it audaciously boring. Human/machine. Recommended!
One of my favourite accounts on Twitter is @herdyshepherd1 -- he's a shepherd in the Lake District. It's mainly pictures of sheep and his dogs (and fields) early in the morning. Which would be enough...
It's also, for me, a sense of connection. With sheep and dogs (and fields).
Which is wonderful.
His story.
His photos on Instagram. Must follow.
Then there's stuff like his commentary on fell walking, for instance, Wainwright's canonical fellwalks of the 1950s.
It is quite common for Lake District shepherds to have not been to some of the other valleys - knowledge and work is very local.
The idea of ticking off fells like Wainwright is a fairly alien notion to local folk - many would reply 'what for?'
Older folk thought fell walking was a sign of someone not being a full shilling.
Fell walking is inherently modern - based on idea that an individual can experience something and that the 'self' matters...
But older working communities are more medieval in their perceptions and value an individual within their working context... Self irrelevant
'This accidental present is not the all of me... That was so long in the making' Oodgeroo Nuunucal
So, Lake District has two cultures... One that is very modern and about the 'self' and one very old and native that is about the 'community'
It's the X Factor that has set me off... No one gave a damn if you had a 'passion' before romanticism. Wordsworth turned in to Simon Cowell
The genius of romanticism is that it says everyone can join the club... Whereas older patterns of experience of place are earned/closed
I've been trying to be a farmer/shepherd for about forty years and am in the beginners class... Fell walking is easy to become part of!
[true enough, although walking (and tourism) is surely important for your communities?] Yes. I like guests, not conquistadors
@herdyshepherd1 is James Rebanks, and his book, The Shepherd's Life, is out in April: His family have farmed in the same area for six hundred years.


3 And responding Yahshua spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees saying: "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?" 4 But they were silent. Then taking him, He cured and released him. 5 And he said to them "Of which among you should a son or a steer fall into a well, and you should not immediately pull it out on the day of the Sabbath?" 6 And they were not able to argue against these things.
This Psalm is clearly a Messianic prophecy. Moses was the mediator of the Old Covenant, and the beginnings of the law and the corresponding Levitical priesthood, and Christ is the mediator of the New Covenant, and is a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, as Paul explains in Hebrews chapters 8, 9 and 12. Therefore as the Levites worked to dispense the mercy of God on the Sabbath, attending to the sacrifices, Christ also did that same thing, taking the role of priest to dispense the mercy of God on the Sabbath, albeit in a different and better way. That is how He tells us that the "the Son of Man is lord also of the Sabbath", which is recorded at Luke 6:5.
In Christ, each Christian man is also a priest in his own household, as Peter says in his first epistle, "But you are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, so that you should proclaim the virtues for which from out of darkness you have been called into the wonder of His light". Therefore not needing any other priesthood, there is no other authority but Christ which should rule over our faith. For this reason even Paul told the Corinthians that even he would not rule over their faith, in 2 Corinthians 1:24. And for this reason Paul also told the Colossians in chapter 2 of the epistle he wrote to them: "16 Therefore no one must judge you in food and in drink, or in respect of feast or new month or of the Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of future things. Whereas the body is of the Anointed". So as Christ was, each of us are the priests and lords of our own Sabbaths.
The word πρωτοκλισία (4411) appears in verses 7 and 8, and in the plural it is best seats here, but it is literally first couches. The Greeks ate while reclining upon couches, and not seated at tables.
The phrase "the worst place" is literally "the last place", where I have taken the liberty of writing worst for ἔσχατος (2078), in contrast to the first, or here best seats, as πρωτοκλισία is rendered here.
Those of us who humble themselves, and defer to the brethren, Yahweh will reward them later. Those of us who exalt themselves will be humbled later.
All other things being equal among the Adamic nations, the children of Israel were a humbled people, in slavery, when Yahweh called His son out of Egypt, and they were few in number. He did not call a rich and mighty Adamic nation, such as Egypt or Assyria, but a poor and humble one. Christ wants us to look upon our people likewise, and to follow the example of our God.
On the surface this seems like a different version of the famous Parable of the Wedding Feast given by Christ in Matthew chapter 22. However while the general theme is similar, there are many significant differences, and we have seen sufficient other instances of Christ's having used the same or very similar allegories at diverse times to accept that this also is a different episode and a different parable entirely. The Matthew 22 parable is related after the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem, and this one is related a short time before that event. The Matthew 22 parable is given by Christ in the temple, and this one at a private dinner. The Matthew 22 parable is given to a general audience of the people and the priests in a public place, and this one is given to a more specific audience of men invited to a dinner in a private home. Therefore it is entirely plausible that these are two different parables related at two different times, which just happen to use similar allegories. While all of the Bibles I have checked cross-reference this parable with that of Matthew 22, they should not be cross-referenced at all. The Matthew 22 parable, given to a wider audience, is ostensibly about race. This parable, given to an apparently smaller audience, is about status and has nothing to do with race.
The men who were invited to the feast must represent those who were learned in the Scriptures, for they would have been familiar with the invitation in the calling of the Scriptures, and therefore they represent the clerical class in Judaea. Christ is making an example of the priests and lawyers whom He is together with at the dinner. We have read earlier in the chapter in verse 11 that "everyone who is exalting himself shall be humbled, and he humbling himself shall be exalted". When those who should have known of the invitation were too involved in their own affairs to come to the feast, the feast was filled with the common and humble people taken from the streets, the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame. The calling of God is not according to man, marked by who is successful in the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God. The lesson is the same as that related in the verses before the parable was given, that Yahweh chooses the humble, the meek, the unlearned, in order to confound the wisdom of the world, and set at naught those who have elevated themselves into positions in society.
25 And there gathered to Him many crowds, and turning He said to them: 26 "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his own father and mother and woman and children and brothers and sisters then also even his own life, he is not able to be My student.
This is not teaching us to abandon our families, and if one thought that it were, then one would have to also accept that it teaches us to abandon our own lives in that same manner, which is destructive and not edifying. What it is teaching us, is that we must put our God before our families, and once we realize the will of our God through our coming to Christ, we must hate the things which our families espouse, and we must also hate the things which we ourselves have done or espoused in the past, and turn away from them. Only once we turn away from the evils of the world, can we learn from our God. The second commandment is to honor our earthly fathers and mothers, and we do not abandon it. Yet the first commandment is to honor our God, and that has preeminence over the rest of our lives.
Ephesians 6: "1 Children, you must obey your parents in authority, for this is just. 2 "Honor your father and mother", which is the first commandment with a promise, 3 'that it would be well with you, and that you may be a long time upon the earth.'" But Paul said "in authority", and therefore we put our God first, obeying His will.
27 Whoever does not bear his own cross and come behind Me is not able to me My student.
"The sacrifice of the individual existence is necessary in order to assure the conservation of the race." - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, James Murphy edition, page 94.
"For me and for all genuine National-Socialists there is only one doctrine. People and Fatherland. What we have to fight for is the necessary security for the existence and increase of our race and people, the subsistence of its children and the maintenance of our racial stock unmixed, the freedom and independence of the Fatherland; so that our people may be enabled to fulfil the mission assigned to it by the Creator." - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, James Murphy edition, page 125.
Hitler, while speaking of education in Germany, also said: "In the historical department the study of ancient history should not be omitted. Roman history, along general lines, is and will remain the best teacher, not only for our own time but also for the future. And the ideal of Hellenic culture should be preserved for us in all its marvellous beauty. The differences between the various peoples should not prevent us from recognizing the community of race which unites them on a higher plane. The conflict of our times is one that is being waged around great objectives. A civilization is fighting for its existence. It is a civilization that is the product of thousands of years of historical development, and the Greek as well as the German forms part of it. A clear-cut division must be made between general culture and the special branches. To-day the latter threaten more and more to devote themselves exclusively to the service of Mammon. To counterbalance this tendency, general culture should be preserved, at least in its ideal forms. The principle should be repeatedly emphasized, that industrial and technical progress, trade and commerce, can flourish only so long as a folk community exists whose general system of thought is inspired by ideals, since that is the preliminary condition for a flourishing development of the enterprises I have spoken of. That condition is not created by a spirit of materialist egotism but by a spirit of self-denial and the joy of giving one's self in the service of others." - Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, James Murphy edition, pages 237-238.
The Christian obligation is to lay aside materialism, and to seek the good of our brethren, our kinsmen and our race. Adolf Hitler, perhaps the last great Christian leader we have had, understood all of this, and it is no wonder the enemies of Christ sought to destroy him. They seek to continually discredit him so that his social and economic policies are not examined and taken seriously by Christians today. If Christians followed his example, or if they merely put their Christianity in practice, the enemies of Christ would have no power in the world.
28 For who from among you desiring to build a tower does not first sit to calculate the expense, whether he should have for completion? 29 That perhaps laying its foundation and not being able to finish it, all those watching begin to mock him 30 saying that 'this man began to build and is not able to finish!' 31 Or what king going to meet another king in battle does not first sit down to deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to encounter he who with twenty thousand is coming against him? 32 And indeed if not, while he is afar off he shall send an ambassador who requests the things for peace.
If we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, then we must prepare ourselves for it properly. We are not going to be able to enter it without that preparation, or we will stumble and suffer trial for it.
33 So then in this manner all among you who does not dispose of all his own belongings is not able to be My student.
Here is the conclusion of that preparation: if we truly seek the Kingdom of God, then we are to count our property and our blessings which we acquire from God as belonging to our brethren, and not to ourselves alone. This is a hard pill for many to swallow, even in Christian Identity, but if we do not help our brethren with what Yahweh our God has blessed us with, then we are not fit for His kingdom.
Yet the verb translated "dispose of" here, which is ἀποτάσσω, does not necessarily mean to get rid of, in the immediate sense, and the English word dispose does not necessarily have that connotation either. Rather, the Greek verb means primarily "to set apart, assign specially", as well as "to bid farewell" in certain contexts, according to the Liddell & Scott Greek-English Lexicon. So at the very least, Christians seeking the Kingdom of God should designate the use of their wealth, goods and property to their brethren as well as themselves.
18 And one of the leaders questioned Him saying "Good Teacher, what should I do that I may inherit eternal life?" 19 And Yahshua said to him "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except one, Yahweh. 20 Know the commandments: You should not commit adultery, you should not murder, you should not steal, you should not testify falsely, honor your father and mother." 21 Then he said "All these things I have kept from youth!" 22 And hearing it Yahshua said to him: "Then one thing is left for you: All whatever you have, sell and distribute to the poor, and you shall have treasure in the heavens. Then come, follow Me." 23 But hearing these things he had become very grieved, for he was exceedingly wealthy.
If the rich man had followed Yahshua's suggestion, perhaps he would have a great reward in heaven. Since he did not, while he himself shall be saved, his reward in heaven will be little, for he cared for his earthly treasures more than for the heavenly.


text:
De locomotiefreeks HLE 15 was een Belgische locomotief uit 1962. De machines werden ingezet in het internationale verkeer.

Deze locomotieven werden in 1962 voor de Belgische spoorwegen (NMBS) in een aantal van vijf stuks gebouwd door La Brugeoise et Nivelles te Nijvel. Ze kwamen in dienst als het type 150. In 1971 werd de serie hernoemd in reeks 15. Ze waren speciaal bedoeld voor het internationale verkeer tussen Parijs, Brussel en Amsterdam en waren dan ook geschikt voor de bovenleidingsspanningen 25kV 50 Hz voor Noord-Frankrijk, 3kV voor België en 1.5kV voor Nederland. Vele jaren reden ze met TEE-treinen als de Île-de-France en Etoile du Nord op hun stamroute. Per 1 januari 1988 mochten ze wegens het ontbreken van het Nederlandse beveiligingssysteem ATB niet meer verder rijden dan het Nederlandse grensstation Roosendaal. Nadat ze ook in Frankrijk niet meer werden ingezet reden ze  dan ook enkel binnenlandse treinen, zoals op de lijn Luik-Gouvy.

De locomotieven van de reeks 15 waren met hun 77,7 ton de 'lichtste' elektrische locomotieven van de NMBS. Doordat ze zouden worden ingezet tussen Amsterdam en Parijs dienden ze te voldoen aan de maximum toegelaten asdruk in Nederland die destijds gold op bepaalde bruggen die op het traject voorkwamen.

Na de buitendienststelling zijn twee machines bewaard gebleven voor museale doeleinden. Locomotief 1503 wordt bewaard door de NMBS-Holding in Train World te Schaarbeek, terwijl locomotief 1504 in het spoorwegmuseum Retrotrain te Saint-Ghislain staat.

Belgisch spoorwegmaterieel
Elektrische locomotief
Locomotief van La Brugeoise et Nivelles

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Published online December 31, 2022 https://doi.org/10.3938/NPSM.72.893
Analysis of 6Li Elastic Scattering at 240 MeV : Eikonal Model Approach
Yong Joo Kim*
Department of Physics, Jeju National University, Jeju 63243, Korea
Correspondence to:*E-mail: yjkim@jejunu.ac.kr
Received: September 3, 2022; Accepted: October 24, 2022
III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
IV. CONCLUDING REMARKS
The differential cross sections of 240 MeV 6Li elastic scattering on 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn targets are systematically analyzed using the eikonal model based on the Coulomb trajectories of colliding nuclei. The model calculations successfully reproduced the structure of the elastic scattering cross sections, and provided fairly good description of the experimental measurements. The oscillatory patterns shown in the experimental elastic angular distributions are well explained in terms of the strong interference between the near- and far-side scattering amplitudes. The reaction cross sections obtained from the analysis of 6Li elastic scattering on various targets from 24Mg to 116Sn are found to have linear dependence on the (AP1/3+AT1/3)2. The partial reaction cross sections increased linearly up to some peak values and thereafter decreased rapidly to zero.
Keywords: Elastic scattering, Eikonal model, Differential cross section, Reaction cross section, 6Li + nucleus
Most measurements in heavy-ion elastic scattering is the differential cross section. This physical quantity is calculated from the elastic scattering amplitude. The phase shift is an important factor in determining the scattering amplitude. The eikonal model[1-3] has been used for describing the high energy elastic scattering between heavy-ions. The basic assumption of this model is that its classical trajectory is little deflected from a straight line because the incident energy is sufficiently high. The eikonal phase shift is obtained from the integral equation by further approximating the Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB)results. The only input to calculate the eikonal phase shift is the optical potential, and its parameters are usually determined by the χ2/N−method. Several kinds of eikonal model, including the higher-order eikonal corrections or using the effective impact parameter, were reported[4, 5] to extend eikonal model to the regime of relatively low bombarding energies. Numerous studies[6-11] for describing the elastic scattering between heavy-ions were performed using the eikonal model. An approximated analytic expression of the eikonal phase for the symmetrized Fermi type potential has been derived[8] and compared with that obtained by exact calculations. Various corrections to the eikonal approximations have been studied[11] for two- and three-body nuclear collisions to extend the range of validity of this approximation to beam energies of 10 MeV/nucleon. The early work of Cha and Kim[6] reported the 1st- and 2nd-order corrections to the eikonal phase shift taken into account the deflection effect due to the Coulomb field.
In the recent past, the elastic differential cross sections of 6Li projectile at 240 MeV have been measured[12-15] on 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn targets. Most theoretical studies employed optical and folding models for analyzing these elastic data. It is interesting to analyze the experimental measurements for 6Li + 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn elastic scatterings at 240 MeV by using the eikonal model based on the Coulomb trajectory of colliding nuclei. The purpose of this paper aims at a systematic analysis of 240 MeV 6Li elastic scattering from six different targets having various mass from 24Mg to 116Sn. The main points which will be of concern are the followings : (1) the best fit to the experimental data using the χ2/N−method (2) the far- and near-side contributions to the differential cross section (3) the deflection function which provides an information about the existence of nuclear rainbow, (4) the reaction cross sections obtained from the strong absorption radius and the partial wave sum, respectively, (5) a linear dependence of reaction cross section on (AP1/3+AT1/3)2, and (6) the partial reaction cross sections.
This paper is organized as follows : In the next section, we briefly outline the theory related with the scattering amplitude and eikonal model. The results obtained from eikonal model calculation and their discussion are presented in section III. The concluding remarks are given in section IV.
The differential cross section for elastic scattering between two non-identical spin zero nuclei is given by the following equation :
(1) dσdΩ=|f(θ)|2.
The elastic scattering amplitude f(θ) has the expression
(2) f(θ)=fR(θ)−i2k∑ L=0∞(2L+1)exp(2iσL)(SL−1)PL(cosθ),
where fR(θ), k, σL, and PL(cosθ) are the Rutherford scattering amplitude, wave number, Coulomb phase shift, and Legendre polynomials, respectively. Second term on the right side of the above equation denotes the nuclear scattering amplitude, and SL is the nuclear scattering matrix element obtained from the nuclear phase shift δL through the relation
(3) SL=exp[2iδL].
Following the formalism of Fuller[16], the elastic scattering amplitude is decomposed in the near-side (fN(θ)) and far-side (fF(θ)) components through
(4) fN(θ)=fRN(θ)−i2k∑ L=0∞(2L+1)exp(2iσL)(SL−1)QL(−)(cosθ)
(5) fF(θ)=fRF(θ)−i2k∑ L=0∞(2L+1)exp(2iσL)(SL−1)QL(+)(cosθ),
where fRN and fRF correspond to the near- and the far-side components of the Rutherford amplitudes[16], and QL(∓) are linear combinations of Legendre functions of the first and the second kinds according to
(6) QL(∓)(cosθ)=12PL(cosθ)±i2%πQL(cosθ).
In the eikonal model, the phase shift function δL(rc), taking into account the deflection effect due to Coulomb field, is given by[4-6]
(7) δL(rc)=−mℏ2k∫0∞U(%rc2+z2 )dz,
where m is the reduced mass, U(r) is the nuclear potential, and rc is the distance of closest approach given by
(8) rc=1kη+η2+(L+12)2,
with η=mZ1Z2e2/(ℏ2k) being the Sommerfeld parameter. The potential U(r) used in this work is
(9) U(r)=−V0 fv(r)−iW0 fw(r),
where fv,w(r) is the Woods-Saxon squared shape given by
(10) fr,w(r)=1+exp(r−rv,w(AP1/3+AT1/3)av,w)%−2.
In the above equation, rv,w (av,w) represents the radius (diffuseness) parameter for the nuclear potential U(r), in which subscript v and w denote the real and imaginary parts, respectively. AP and AT are the mass numbers for projectile and target nuclei, respectively. Then the eikonal phase shift δL(rc) can be obtained by inserting this potential U(r) into Eq. (7). Thus one can calculate the nuclear scattering matrix element SL with the help of δL(rc) from Eq. (3).
In this section, the eikonal model mentioned in previous section is applied to the systematic analysis of 240 MeV 6Li elastic scattering from six targets (24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn). The only input required for the eikonal model calculation is the nuclear potential. We use the optical Woods-Saxon squared potential given by Eqs. (9) and (10) as the nuclear potential. The parameter values of the nuclear potential are determined from the χ2/N−method, in which the χ2/N−value shows the quality of fit between the experimental data and theoretical results. In this work, uniform 10% errors of all analyzing experimental data are considered for the χ2/N−calculation. Determined values of the potential parameters (V0, rv, av, W0, rw, and aw) are presented in Table 1, together with the χ2/N−value. The differential cross sections (normalization to the Rutherford cross section) of 6Li elastic scattering are displayed by the solid curves in Fig. 1 (for 24Mg, 28Si and 40Ca targets) and Fig. 2 (for 58Ni, 90Zr and 116Sn targets). In these figures, the solid circles with error bars are the experimental data taken from Ref.[13] (for 6Li + 24Mg and 6Li + 28Si), Ref.[15] (for 6Li + 40Ca), Ref.[14] (for 6Li + 58Ni and 6Li + 90Zr), and Ref.[12] (for 6Li + 116Sn). The calculated angular distributions show fairly good quality of fit to the experimental ones over the whole angles covered by the data. Also, the calculations provide a satisfactory reproduction of the oscillatory pattern shown in the experimental angular distribution of all 6Li + six target systems. As Table 1 shows, the obtained χ2/N−values were reasonable. We can see that it is possible to give a satisfactory account of 240 MeV 6Li elastic scattering from various targets in the mass number range AT=24 to 116 by using the eikonal model.
Table 1 Best-fit Woods-Saxon squared potential parameters extracted from the eikonal model analysis, and corresponding χ2/N−values for the 6% Li + 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn elastic scatterings at 240 MeV. The χ2/N−values were obtained by considering uniform 10% errors for all analyzed data.}
V0 (MeV)
rv (fm)
av(fm)
W0 (MeV)
rw (fm)
aw (fm)
χ2/N
24Mg 154 0.896 1.391 44.8 1.140 1.681 3.61
28Si 199 0.830 1.555 33.1 1.228 1.518 3.09
40Ca 222 0.849 1.521 39.7 1.216 1.523 3.77
58Ni 239 0.885 1.503 41.1 1.242 1.456 3.14
90Zr 257 0.932 1.455 41.8 1.280 1.367 3.63
116Sn 271 0.937 1.526 49.0 1.259 1.301 6.24
Figure 1. (Color online) Eikonal model results (solid curves) of the elastic scattering angular distributions using the parameters of Table 1 for 6Li + 24Mg, 6Li + 28Si and 6Li + 40Ca systems at 240 MeV. Observed data (solid circles with error bars) are taken from Refs. [13, 15].
Figure 2. (Color online) Same as Fig. 1 but for the 6Li + 58Ni, 6Li + 90Zr and 6Li + 116Sn systems at 240 MeV. Observed data (solid circles with error bars) are taken from Refs. [12, 14].
Qualitative features of the dσ/dσRuth of the 6Li elastic scattering from 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn targets can be understood using the near- (fN(θ)) and far-side (fF(θ)) amplitudes obtained from the decompositions of elastic scattering amplitude suggested by Fuller[16]. Figure 3 shows the results of total (solid curves), near- (dotted curves) and far-side (dashed curves) cross sections, in which the total cross sections denote the differential cross sections shown by the solid curves of Figs. 1 and 2. As Fig. 3 and Table 2 show, the dotted and dashed curves have equal magnitudes at the crossing angle θcross=8.1o 23.0o for 24Mg 116Sn targets. As the target mass increases, the crossing angle is found to increase except for 28Si target. Figure 3 further shows the near-side (far-side) dominance for scattering angle regions less (greater) than the crossing angle θcross. The oscillatory patterns appeared in the dσ/dσRuth (solid curves of Fig. 3) are considered to be resulted from the strong interference between the fN(θ) and the fF(θ) given by Eqs. (4) and (5). Maximum amplitude of interference oscillation is occurred around the crossing angle θcross. The far-side cross section plays a significant role in determining the total differential cross sections at scattering angle regions greater than the θcross.
Table 2 Physical quantities obtained from the eikonal model analysis for the 6Li + 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn elastic scatterings at 240 MeV. The meaning of the quantities is explained in the text.
θcross
θn.r.
L1/2
(fm)
Lpeak
σpeak
σRs
σR
24Mg 8.1 −27.8 46.5 7.21 37 47.2 1633 1689
28Si 7.5 -30.3 48.2 7.29 38 46.7 1668 1695
40Ca 10.3 -34.8 55.1 7.92 44 49.5 1969 1971
58Ni 13.3 -39.7 62.0 8.59 51 52.8 2318 2270
90Zr 18.4 -47.8 70.5 9.52 59 58.3 2848 2718
116Sn 23.0 -49.1 74.1 9.94 63 60.9 3105 2906
Figure 3. (Color online) Elastic differential cross sections (solid curves) given in Figs. 1 and 2, near-side contributions (dotted curves) and far-side contributions (dashed curves) following the formalism of Fuller[16] by using the eikonal model for 240 MeV 6Li scattering from 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn targets.
In order to examine the presence of nuclear rainbow, we plotted the deflection function θL(deg) as a function of the orbital angular momentum quantum number L. This function can be obtained from the variations of the Coulomb phase shift and real nuclear phase shift over L given by the formula[17]
(11) θL=2ddL(σL+ReδL).
In a rainbow situation, the strong nuclear force attracts projectiles toward the scattering center and deflects them to negative scattering angles. As shown in Fig. 4, the θL(deg) functions have negative maximum value corresponding to the nuclear rainbow angle θn.r.. This fact indicates that a nuclear rainbow is clearly appeared in all 6Li + six target systems at 240 MeV. As Table 2 and Fig. 4 show, the magnitude of θn.r. displayed a gradual increase from −27.8o to −49.1o as the target mass became heavier from 24Mg to 116Sn.
Figure 4. (Color online) Deflection functions for the 6Li + 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn elastic scatterings at 240 MeV plotted versus the orbital angular momentum L.
In Table 2, the physical quantities extracted from eikonal model analysis are collected. The L1/2 is the critical angular momentum determined by the condition of |SL|2=1/2, where SL is the scattering matrix element expressed by Eq. (3). As this Table shows, the L1/2 value is increasing from 46.5 to 74.1 with the increase in target mass from 24Mg to 116Sn. The L1/2 value and its trend are also reflected in the strong absorption radius Rs obtained from the formula : Rs=η+η2+(L1/2+12)2%/k. The obtained Rs value has a tendency of slightly increasing from 7.21 fm to 9.94 fm when the target mass is increasing from 24Mg to 116Sn.
The reaction cross section σR is expressed[18] using the |SL|2 :
(12) σR=πk2∑ L=0∞(2L+1)(1−|SL|2).
Within the framework of eikonal model, |SL|2 is influenced by the imaginary part of nuclear potential U(r) given by Eqs. (9) and (10) because |SL|2 is calculated from the imaginary phase shift. In Table 2, we listed σR values calculated in this work. As expected, the values of σR increased when the target nucleus became heavier. On the other hand, the so-called geometrical reaction cross section σRs are obtained from the strong absorption radius Rs from the formula : σRs=πRs2. As shown in Table 2, this σRs value is comparable to σR value obtained from Eq. (12) for each scattering system. The percentage errors of σRs relative to σR are 3.3, 1.6, 0.1, 2.1, 4.8, and 6.8% for 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn target nuclei, respectively. This fact tells us that the Rs may be used to estimate the magnitude of σR value.
In Fig. 5(a), the σR values obtained from Eq. (12) are plotted as a function of (AP1/3+AT1/3)2 because the strong absorption radius is generally proportional to (AP1/3+AT1/3) and provides a good estimation of the σR value. This figure shows that σR values have a nearly linear dependence on (AP1/3+AT1/3)2, where the solid curve can be described by the formula : σR(b)=0.0689(AP1/3+AT1/3)2. Figure 5(b) shows the partial reaction cross sections σL=πk2(2L+1)(1−|SL|2) of 6Li elastic scattering from six different target nuclei versus the orbital angular momentum quantum number L. As Table 2 and Fig. 5(b) show, the partial reaction cross sections increased linearly up to some peak values σpeak=47.2, ⋯, 60.9 mb for 24Mg, ⋯, 116Sn targets, respectively, and thereafter decreased rapidly to zero. These σpeak values became larger as the target mass increased : the only exception is the case of 28Si target. In Table 2, the Lpeak is the orbital angular momentum quantum number corresponding to σpeak. The Lpeak values displayed a gradual increase from 37 to 63 when the target mass is increasing from 24Mg to 116Sn.
Figure 5. (Color online) (a) Reaction cross section versus the (AP1/3+AT1/3)2, and (b) partial reaction cross sections versus the orbital angular momentum L for 6Li + 24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn elastic scatterings at 240 MeV.
In this paper, we systematically analyzed the differential cross sections for 240 MeV 6Li elastic scattering from six targets (24Mg, 28Si, 40Ca, 58Ni, 90Zr, and 116Sn) using the eikonal model based on the Coulomb trajectories of colliding nuclei. We have shown that the eikonal model provides a satisfactory account of elastically measured data of all 6Li + six targets scattering systems at 240 MeV. In this study, the calculated results yielded a successful reproduction of the elastic angular distribution structure, and gave fairly good quality of fit to the experimental measurements over the whole angles covered by the data for a wide mass range of target nuclei. Qualitative understanding of the elastic cross section can be gained by the near- and far-side decompositions of the elastic scattering amplitude. The strong interference between these two components of the scattering amplitude resulted in the oscillatory pattern appeared in the dσ/dσRuth of all 6Li + six target systems. Maximum amplitude of interference oscillation is observed around the crossing angle. No oscillatory behavior of the dσ/dσRuth at large θc.m. regions is dominantly influenced by the far-side scattering.
The deflection function has a negative maximum value for each scattering systems, which indicates evidently a presence of an nuclear rainbow. The magnitude of nuclear rainbow angle became larger as the target mass increased. The critical angular momentum L1/2 and the strong absorption radius Rs displayed an increasing trend as the target mass increased. The geometrical reaction cross section σRs values obtained from σRs=πRs2 are similar to the σR values from partial wave sum. This fact tells us that the Rs provides a good estimation of the σR value. Linear dependence of σR on (AP1/3+AT1/3)2 is observed with the formula : σR(b)=0.0689(AP1/3+AT1/3)2. The partial reaction cross-sections increased linearly up to some peak values (σpeak) and thereafter decreased rapidly to zero. The orbital angular momentum quantum number Lpeak corresponding to the σpeak increased as the target mass increased.
Finally, our results confirm that the eikonal model calculation successfully reproduce the elastically measured scattering data of 6Li projectile on six targets having various mass from 24Mg to 116Sn at 240 MeV. Therefore, we can see that the eikonal model is a useful tool to be used in the analysis of the nucleus-nucleus elastic scattering data
This work was supported by the research grant of Jeju National University in 2022.
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Eikonal Model Analysis of K+ Elastic Scattering on 12C and 40Ca
New Phys.: Sae Mulli 2021; 71(12): 1037-1043
$\alpha$ + $^{116}$Sn and $^{6}$Li + $^{116}$Sn Elastic Scatterings at $E_{lab}=$ 240 MeV : Coulomb-modified Glauber Model Approach
Parametrized Phase Shift Model Analysis for 350 MeV $^{7}$Li Elastic Scattering on $^{12}$C and $^{28}$Si
New Phys.: Sae Mulli 2020; 70(1): 29-34

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Designed and developed in-house in our London studio, we ensure a high level of attention is paid to the fit and quality of each garment. Taking influence from the past to create collections for the present, we continue to develop our unique aesthetic each season through a combination of original prints and thoughtful design. The result is flattering women's clothing that feels at once current and timeless.


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Mohammad Azharuddin reinducted as Hyderabad Cricket Association President
By Bullscore5 Jul, 2021
Former Hyderabad Cricket Association president Mohammad Azharuddin has been inducted as Hyderabad cricket Association. A conflict of interest allegation has been leveled against him but the member of the Apex council. As claimed by the ombudsman, the Apex Council had no authority to pass the resolution to suspend anyone without taking the final call from the Ombudsman. Therefore, his suspension was revoked and he was ordered to be reinstated with immediate effect. This order was passed by the ombudsman Justice (retd) Deepak Verma.
HCA ombudsman headed by the justice Deepak Verma passed an interim order disqualifying five members of Hyderabad apex council – vice-president K John Manoj, R Vijayanand, Naresh Sharma, Surender Agarwal, and Anuradha -that has suspended the Mohammad Azharuddin for alleged violation of its constitution.
Justice(retd) Deepak Verma in his interim order pointed out that members of the apex council did not forward the complaint to the ombudsman and took the call on their own that has no validity.
Deepak Verma made the following observation in his interim verdict and gave the orders accordingly.
"[The] Apex Council on its own accord cannot take such a decision. Therefore, I deem it appropriate to set aside the resolution (if any) passed by these five members in suspending the duly elected President, issuing a show-cause notice and direct them to refrain from any subsequent actions against the President of HCA, Mohammed Azharuddin," Justice (retd) Verma said.
"Therefore, I direct that Mohammad Azharuddin shall continue as president and all complaints against office bearers shall only be decided by the ombudsman.
"From the aforesaid facts and features, it is clearly reflected that instead of encouraging the game of cricket, each one is playing their own politics for the reasons best known to them. Thus, it defeats the very purpose for which HCA has been formed," Justice (retd) Verma had said.
Regarding the five Apex Council members, Justice (retd) Verma in the order said, "I would like to make it clear that, just because these five members believe on their own accord that I am not ombudsman does not take away my powers which are now been confirmed by the High Court judgment and the minutes of the 85th AGM as well.
"These members cannot evade the due process of law just by stating that they don't agree to my appointment. It is clear from the above, that these members have malafide intentions and do not want smooth functioning of HCA."


The University of Regina Chapter of Engineers Without Borders, is part of the international non-profit organization Engineers Without Borders Canada. The goals of EWB are: promoting sustainable development in Rural Africa, advocating improved foreign policies, and educating and engaging others. We do all these using a systemic based approach because we believe that if change isn't systemic, it isn't change at all.
EWB Regina members come from a wide range of backgrounds. Our members range from engineering to arts, education and science students. You do not have to be an engineer to get involved!
School outreach sessions to educate young people in Saskatchewan.
Community outreach and awareness activities.
Sending EWB ambassadors overseas every summer.
You can get involved in EWB Regina by either emailing us, coming to an event, or donating to the cause.


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Redis Labs Changing Its Licensing for Redis Modules Again, Raspberry Pi Rolling Out the Linux 4.19 Kernel, Windows Subsystem for Linux Updates Coming, Facebook Removing Its Spyware Onavo VPN from the Google Store and openSUSE Leap 15.1 Beta Pizza Party
by Jill Franklin
News briefs for February 22, 2019.
Redis Labs has changed its licensing for Redis Modules again. According to TechCrunch, the new license is called the Redis Source Available license, and as with the previous Commons Clause license, applies only to certain Redis Modules created by Redis Labs. With this license, "Users can still get the code, modify it and integrate it into their applications—but that application can't be a database product, caching engine, stream processing engine, search engine, indexing engine or ML/DL/AI serving engine." The TechCrunch post notes that by definition, an open-source license can't enforce limitations, so this new license technically isn't open source. It is, however, similar to other "permissive open-source licenses", which "shouldn't really affect most developers who use the company's modules".
Raspberry Pi has started rolling out the Linux 4.19 kernel. According to Phoronix, RPi is moving from kernel 4.14 to the 4.19 long-term support release. This change marks about a year of updates, and as Phoronix notes, "For Linux 4.19 alone on the Raspberry Pi front was updates to its voltage driver, under-voltage issue reporting, and the VC4 DRM changes we see each cycle. Over the span of 4.14 to 4.19 are a lot of improvements upstream and now less patches that need to be re-based and carried by the Raspberry Pi crew."
The Windows 10 April Update will let you access Linux files from Windows. ZDNet quotes Craig Loewen, a Microsoft programming manager on the updates to Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL): "The next Windows update is coming soon and we're bringing exciting new updates to WSL with it! These include accessing the Linux file system from Windows, and improvements to how you manage and configure your distros in the command line."
Facebook to take its spyware Onavo VPN app off the Google Store. TechCrunch reports that following TechCrunch's investigation into the app and how it "sucked up data about teens" and the ensuing backlash, the "app will eventually shut down, and will immediately cease pulling in data from users for market research though it will continue operating as a Virtual Private Network in the short-term to allow users to find a replacement."
The openSUSE Leap release manager has announced that Leap 15.1 has entered the Beta phase this week, and now it's time for a Beta Pizza Party. Geeko in Nuremberg is holding a Beta Pizza Party on March 1st for testing. If you're not in Nuremberg, visit the wiki for details on how to hold your own and test away. You can download the Beta from here.
Jill Franklin is an editorial professional with more than 17 years experience in technical and scientific publishing, both print and digital. As Executive Editor of Linux Journal, she wrangles writers, develops content, manages projects, meets deadlines and makes sentences sparkle. She also was Managing Editor for TUX and Embedded Linux Journal, and the book Linux in the Workplace. Before entering the Linux and open-source realm, she was Managing Editor of several scientific and scholarly journals, including Veterinary Pathology, The Journal of Mammalogy, Toxicologic Pathology and The Journal of Scientific Exploration. In a previous life, she taught English literature and composition, managed a bookstore and tended bar. When she's not bugging writers about deadlines or editing copy, she throws pots, gardens and reads. You can contact Jill via e-mail, ljeditor@linuxjournal.com.


Karl Ove Knausgaard was born in Norway in 1968. My Struggle has won countless international literary awards and has been translated into at least fifteen languages. Knausgaard lives in Sweden with his wife and three children.
Some things I've noticed today:This review of a new biography of one the founding fathers of fantasy and science fiction, H. P. Lovecraft. What's interesting about this bio is that it is done in the form of a graphic novel, a fitting medium in which to describe the life of a visionary. Lovecraft was almost a movie before it was adapted by Keith Giffen from a script by Hans Rodinoff and illustrated by Enrique Breccia.Great capsule reviews at the Christian Science Monitor of the nominees for National Book Critics Circle awards in the criticism category, "far and away the most intimidating [category]." The nominees are Gritos by Dagoberto Gilb, Songbook by Nick Hornby, Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King, River of Shadows by Rebecca Solnit, and Regarding the Pain of Others by Susan Sontag. The winners are announced on March 4th in New York.And a group reads all of Shakespeare in one day, which reminded me of this awesome big ticket item.
I just recently realized how routine my writing time is. I get up at the same time and slip on socks I laid out the night before. I boil water for hot tea before I head into the bathroom to brush me teeth, making sure I finish in time to stop the boiling water before it gets too loud to wake the sleeping house. I turn off the kitchen lights and take my tea into my office, where my laptop awaits my morning writing ritual. But only after I've splashed cold water into my tea and turned on a tiny heater to warm my toes. The dog looks up from his spot on the loveseat, but even he knows it isn't time to go outside until I've written at least 1,000 words!


The word ergonomic applies to the scientific design planning of equipment. If used for office equipment, an ergonomic tool is designed with an objective to achieve maximum productivity. The innovation of Ergonomic Office Chairs has paved the way of effective reduction of employee discomfort and fatigue.


Started singing professionally at the age of 9, the 10-week undefeated champion and Grand champion of Tanghalan ng Kampeon 1993 sang in hotels for more than 10 years. She has recorded more than 30 cover albums released locally and internationally. She has also won the Most Recommended Song in Himig Handog 2004. Chona has written various company jingles and theme songs for companies like Philam Plans, Bancnet, Caltex, Mr. Quickie, Baygon, Devant, Lotsa Pizza and many others. She is mother of two, a health enthusiast, and a born again Christian.


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Freeport Historical Society - Freeport, Maine
Harrington House · 45 Main St.
Freeport, Maine · 207.865.3170
Donating Items to the Collections
Historic Pettengill Farm Tours
Pettengill Farm Tours
July 19 @ 6:00 pm – 7:30 pm
The Freeport Historical Society will offer guided tours of the historic Pettengill Farmhouse and grounds as a way for the public to learn more about this remarkable homestead. These tours offer a rare opportunity to view and learn about the house, which is generally open only once a year, on Pettengill Farm Day.
Join Curator/Collections Manager Holly Hurd as she describes the history of the farm and saltbox, which was built about 1800 and has been sustained over generations without the modern conveniences of central heating, running water, or electricity. The house resides on 140 acres that supported a saltwater farm and dairy, most recently by Mildred Pettengill and her brother Frank.
Participants can sign-up for a 90 min tour of the farm and house, which includes a viewing of the rare sgraffiti wall etchings of ships and marine life. The scheduled tours are as follows:
Wed July 19 at 6 PM – on line registration
Tues Aug 22 at 5 PM – on line registration
Fri Sept 15 at 11 AM – on line registration
Wed Sept 20 at 10 am – on line registration
Cost is $12 per person for the general public and $10 for FHS members.
Participants are required to register at least 24 hours in advance. Tours require a minumum of 4 people and max of 10. On-line registration or call 207-865-3170. If the tours need to be rescheduled due to rain or because of too few participants, those signed up will be rescheduled to another date or refunded.
Attendees meet at the gate entrance at the end of Pettengill Road (31 Pettengill Road), to carpool to the site. Un-registered guests are welcome to join at the start location, but they should first confirm that the tour will take place by calling 207-865-3170.
Please wear appropriate footwear for walking on uneven surfaces and bring along bug spray. If walking is difficult, participants can choose to remain near or in the house.
Tours are also available on request with a minimum of 4 participants. Contact Holly Hurd at library@freeporthistoricalsociety.org or call 207-865-3170 to schedule a time.
Filed Under: 2017, News, Uncategorized, Upcoming Events
FHS on WCSH 6 – The Casco Castle
On Monday May 16, 2017 FHS was featured on WCSH 6 in a the "Maine Mysteries" segment about Freeport's, Casco Castle. Watch to see Executive Director Jim Cram and Collections Manager Holly Hurd share their knowledge of Casco Castle. You can also visit our web page for more information about Casco Castle.
FREEPORT, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — In a neighborhood in South Freeport, a castle once stood high on the hill. It was called Casco Castle, and it ruled the social scene of it's day.
Built in 1903 by Amus Gerald, the grand summer resort had a number of attractive amusements; a zoo with wolves, deer, and even bison. A baseball diamond and swimming area. There were also shore dinners featuring lobster and clams for just 50 cents.
However, Holly Hurd, curator and collections manager for the Freeport Historical Society, said the castle's maine objective was to encourage use of the new trolley line laid out in 1902 that ran from Yarmouth to Brunswick; which is where Gerald built his first resort, Merrymeeting Park.
"He thought, if we put another amusement park along the trolley line, that will encourage people to come up," said Hurd. "They can either visit the one in Souther Freeport, or they can visit the one in Brunswick."
Toward the end of it's days, the Casco Castle suffered financial loss as tourism declined. People simply found a better way to get around- the automobile.
Then one day in 1914, as it was closing for the season, the castle met its end.
Hurd explained, "As people were packing up, it caught on fire. The main part of the building was wooden and it was very dry, so as soon as it started, the whole things just burned to the ground."
There was gossip that the financial troubles lead to arson, but by now we will probably never know. But pieces of the old resort can still be spotted around the neighborhood like the wolf pen, the stone wall, and especially the 185 foot stone tower that once served as a lighthouse for boats coming in on the Harraseeket River.
However, the tower is on private property and can only be viewed from the road. Luckily, it's hard to miss.
© 2017 WCSH-TV
http://www.wcsh6.com/news/local/maine-mysteries-casco-castle/439828587
Filed Under: 2017, News
Writing Contest Winners
Click on the names below to read their entries
Winners Youth (Grades 3-6)
1st Prize: Isla Wilson
2nd Prize Taylor Kaplan
3rd Prize: Lyman Ordway
Kessa Benner
Paige Tyson
Young Adult (Grades 7-12)
1st Prize: Nickolas Eastman
2nd Prize: Renee Pickard
3rd Prize: Raizel McNally
Clare Rigney
Charlie Van West
1st Prize: David Sloan hopes to publish his poem from this contest, so please look for it in a future book!
2nd Prize: Ann Coltman
3rd Prize: Brendan Tierney
Jerry Tims
Sam Hunneman
Mary Ellen Carew
Congratulations George Denney
The Freeport Historical Society wishes to congratulate George Denney for being named Freeport's Citizen of the year 2016, last night, February 28, 2017, at the regular session of the town Council Meeting. George was surprised and surrounded by his friends and family. A small reception followed at the Historical Society. George is a good friend of the Historical Society and as always we wish him the best.
Photo from the Town of Freeport Municipal Bulletin, March 1, 2017
Greetings from the Heart: The History of Chocolate
Pettengill Corn Planting
Golden Age of Wireless
Dry Stone Wall Workshop
35th Pettengill Farm Day
Barns & Quilts Tour
2011 Vintage Baseball at Pettengill Farm
2013 Vintage Baseball Photos & Video Links
Special Thanks to our 2019 Sponsors
Copyright © 2020 Freeport Historical Society – Freeport, Maine · Site Design: Phoenix Massey Studio · Trustees Only · Log in


The Seasons Retirement Community invited me back on May 24th, but for a change of pace, this time to speak about Virginia Bakery Remembered.
There was a large show of hands when I asked if anyone remembered the bakery that had been located on Ludlow Avenue in Clifton, and even those who had never been there let me know they had heard about the famous schnecken. Several were surprised to hear that the recipe was in the book!
As they listened to the local history and description of what it was like to be a part of the bakery's story, the audience members enjoyed Papa Thie's Butterscotch Gems. Luckily Jill James, the Resident Program Director, saved some for me too — what a treat!
After my talk, a few people came up to speak to me because they had their own stories to share. One lady who had been a choir member in a nearby church, fondly remembered that every Sunday there was an array of baked goods from Virginia Bakery available after the service.
Hopefully those who bought copies of Virginia Bakery Remembered are going to benefit from the (over seventy) wonderful recipes that are included in the book!


The Chevrolet Malibu boasts a decent design, good crash test ratings, high reliability, average comfort features, and satisfying performance. Those are reasons why it has garnered above average reviews. Recently, the Sport Package for the 2017 model of the car was announced.
According to source, the new Sport Package only offers aesthetic updates to the LT trim of the 2017 Chevrolet Malibu. Inside, the steering wheel and shift knob are wrapped in leather. Outside, the Chevy Malibu receives a new rear spoiler and 18-inch 10-spoke wheels.
The Sport Package costs $875. Despite the subtle upgrade, the package will surely bring in a sporty appearance to the midsize car.
It should be noted that the Chevrolet Malibu already ditched its two sub-trim configuration. Instead, the range streamlined them into the LT trim.
The 2017 Chevrolet Malibu LT carries a 1.5-liter turbo four-cylinder engine. The output of the power unit is 160 hp. All that is distributed via a six-speed automatic transmission gearbox. The Malibu L and the LS also share the same spec.
Buyers who want more power from their car can opt for the Malibu hybrid with 182 hp or the Malibu Premier with 250 hp packed in its 2.0-liter turbo four-cylinder engine. From the eight-speed automatic gearbox of the Malibu Premier, the new Premier model upgrades it to the nine-speed unit.
The other standard updates in the Chevy Malibu LS and LT lineup include the integration of the Apple CarPlay and the Android Auto into the car's seven-inch touchscreen display. Another inclusion is the Teen Driver system of GM. The system lets parents monitor the driving habits of their teens.
The starting price of the Chevrolet Malibu is $22,555. That is for the L trim. The Premier trim is tagged at $31,850 while the LS and the LT are each worth $105 more than their predecessors.


text:
Q: Typescript error using react-cookie setCookie - Type '{ [name: string]: any; }' has no compatible call signatures.ts(2349) I am using react-cookie in a react application with typescript but coming into the error
Cannot invoke an expression whose type lacks a call signature. Type '{ [name: string]: any; }' has no compatible call signatures.ts(2349)

when using setCookie as
const [setCookie] = useCookies(['example']);
const onLanguageSelect = (data: any) => {
  setCookie('example', data.value, { path: '/' });
};

the error is on the setCookie line.
How can I fix this error? Reading on this issue in other questions hasn't helped but if you know of a resource that can put me in the right direction, that would be great.

A: Following the react-cookie readme:
const [cookies, setCookie, removeCookie] = useCookies(['cookie-name']);

setCookie is the second item of the returned array.
In your code you get the first item, cookies, which you rename to setCookie.
The fix:
const setCookie = useCookies(['example'])[1];

Be carefull with array destructuring, it's quite sexy but may be sometimes misleading.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange