text:
What's the real California Dream? It's all about the weather
USC Dornsife/LA Times Poll finds residents are pessimistic about traffic and the cost of living — but wouldn't live anywhere else.
BY Merrill Balassone
What do residents love most about California? The climate. (Photo/Derek Key)
California voters are less optimistic about the quality of life for the state's next generation than their own, but by overwhelming margins believe the Golden State is the best place to live, according to the latest results of the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll.
Forty-two percent of Californians said they thought the next generation of Californians would have it worse off than they did, as compared to 28 percent who thought California would be a better place to live. Twenty-four percent of Californians believe that California will be the same for the next generation.
But more than 7 in 10 voters said they would rather live in California than anywhere else, with 47 percent agreeing "strongly" with that statement. Twenty-six percent of voters said they'd prefer to live elsewhere, according to the poll.
By a wide margin, weather, the beach and the state's coastal location topped the list of voters' favorite thing about living in California, with 69 percent citing the climate, followed by family, friends and the people (18 percent); a diverse and progressive atmosphere (17 percent); and a laid back pace of life (13 percent). In the birthplace of the Gold Rush and the silicon chip, only 12 percent of voters cited employment and earnings potential, the poll showed.
What do Californians hate? Topping the list is congestion, traffic and "too many people" (24 percent of voters overall and peaking at 34 percent in LA County), cost of living (23 percent overall with a high of 34 percent in the Bay Area), taxes and business climate (22 percent), government and politicians (14 percent) and the cost of owning a home (11 percent).
Most Californians have decided that they are willing to pay a 'weather tax' to live here.
Dan Schnur
"Most Californians have decided that they are willing to pay a 'weather tax' to live here," said Dan Schnur, director of the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll and executive director of the Unruh Institute of Politics of USC. "Our weather is one of a series of quality of life and lifestyle issues that draw people here. Taxes are one aspect of a set of policy challenges like traffic, housing and the overall cost of living that discourage us. But on balance, most Californians have decided it's a tradeoff worth making."
Los Angeles Times political editor Cathleen Decker and USC's Dan Schnur discuss the poll:
But Californians largely aren't disgruntled enough to pack their bags, the poll showed. Roughly 1 in 4 voters said they were more likely to move out-of-state now than in past years, and 46 percent of Californians said there was no real difference in their desire to move. Twenty-six percent said they were less likely now to move away than before.
Among voters who said they are more likely to move away, cost of living was a top reason to relocate (31%), followed by employment (20%), taxes and business climate (19%), government and politicians (12%), the cost of owning a home (11%) and traffic and overcrowding (11%).
"Living in California is no longer about striking it rich, but about looking past the high cost of living and shrinking opportunities for the lifestyle that it offers," said Drew Lieberman, vice president of Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research, part of the bipartisan team with Republican polling firm American Viewpoint that conducted the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll. "There's undoubtedly some real angst among Californians about the state of things. But given a binary choice between their finances and their lifestyle, at the end of the day, Californians will still pay a premium for what California offers."
When asked to choose between two statements describing the business climate, 50 percent of Californians said that "state rules and regulations are getting in the way of business creation and growth," and 41 percent of Californians said the state provides "opportunity for entrepreneurship and promotes innovation," according to the poll.
Said David Kanevsky, vice president of Republican polling firm American Viewpoint: "California voters still want to believe in California – they haven't completely soured on it – but they no longer have the sense of optimism or attractiveness that earlier generations saw. If Californians thought the economic and business climate was as good as the meteorological climate, they would be a lot more satisfied about how things are going in the state."
A report card on California
The poll also asked voters to rate California on a number of quality of life measures.
Among the most positively ranked were culture and the arts, with 85 percent of voters saying they were "excellent or good" as opposed to 11 percent rating them "poor;" innovation (74-16); and preserving natural resources like parks or beaches (77-20).
Those issues universally panned were: traffic and congestion (17-82); being able to afford housing (20-78); being able to buy a home (29-66); government spending (29-65); taxes (31-66); being able to afford college (30-66); income inequality (33-59); government corruption (31-55); and dealing with immigration (35-57).
Latino voters were far more negative than white voters on some of the state's economic and public safety measures. When asked about finding a good paying job, 37 percent of Latinos rated California "excellent or good," as compared to 61 percent who rated the state "poor." Whites were more closely split, 45-51. On crime and safety, 45 percent of Latino voters rated the state "excellent or good" as compared to 54 percent who rated it "poor." White voters were more positive about the state's crime and safety record, with 54 rating it "excellent or good" and 43 percent "poor."
This poll illuminates the cross section of the fading optimism of aging white Californians and the youthful exuberance of young Latinos.
Michael Madrid
"This poll illuminates the cross section of the fading optimism of aging white Californians and the youthful exuberance of young Latinos," said Michael Madrid, a distinguished Unruh Institute fellow, Republican strategist and nationally recognized expert on Latino voting trends. "At the same time the growing divide between these two California groups is becoming more apparent on issues like crime and public safety, housing affordability and the ability to secure a good paying job. While there remains a generally optimistic view of life in the state there are undeniable elements of growing concern that policy makers should pay attention to."
Governor at highest approval rating, state finally on the "right track"
Californians' general good feelings about living in the state are also reflected in the highest approval rating for Gov. Jerry Brown in the history of the USC Dornsife/LA Times Poll. Similarly, for the first time in the poll's history, a plurality of voters say the state is on the right track.
More than two-thirds of voters, 64 percent, approve of the job being down by Brown, with 27 percent of voters saying they disapprove of Brown. That's up 10 percentage points from his 60-33 approval rating in October's USC Dornsife/LA Times Poll.
Voters also approve of the job being done by the state Legislature, 42-39; Sen. Barbara Boxer, 53-32; and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 54-30.
Forty-five percent of voters say the state is on the right track, with 39 percent of voters who believe California is on the wrong track. That's a 13 percentage point swing from October, when 39 percent of voters said the state was on the right track and 46 percent said it was on the wrong track.
California voters love the weather, the environment, and the culture of the state, but they have real concerns about the future and cost of living issues here.
Matt Rodriguez
"California voters love the weather, the environment, and the culture of the state, but they have real concerns about the future and cost of living issues here," said Matt Rodriguez, a distinguished Unruh Institute fellow and Democratic strategist. "The state's elected officials, who fare better in this poll than they have in previous years, should take notice and provide solutions to the problems that voters are raising."
The latest USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll, the largest statewide survey of registered voters, was conducted Feb. 18-24 and includes a significant oversample of Latino voters as well as one of the most robust cell phone samples in the state. The full sample of 1,505 registered voters has a margin of error of +/- 2.7 percentage points.
Additional poll results and methodology are available here.
About the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences/Los Angeles Times Poll: The USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll is a series of statewide public opinion polls in California, designed to survey voter attitudes on a wide range of political, policy, social and cultural issues.
Conducted at regular intervals throughout the year, the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times Poll is one of the largest polls of registered voters in the state and has been widely cited, helping to inform the public and to encourage discourse on key political and policy issues.
About USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences: USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences is the heart of the university. The largest, oldest and most diverse of USC's 19 schools, USC Dornsife is composed of more than 30 academic departments and dozens of research centers and institutes. USC Dornsife is home to approximately 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students and more than 750 faculty members with expertise across the humanities, social sciences and sciences.
About the Los Angeles Times: The Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of 2 million and 3 million on Sunday, and a combined print and interactive local weekly audience of 4.5 million. The fast-growing latimes.com draws over 10 million unique visitors monthly.
More stories about: Polls
Californians side with Jerry Brown in UC tuition dispute
USC Dornsife/LA Times Poll finds voters oppose UC tuition increases, even if it means fewer spots for in-state students.
Policy/LawSocial Impact
Kamala Harris is leading among the candidates to replace Barbara Boxer in the Senate; Antonio Villaraigosa has decided not to run.
Kamala Harris has early lead for Senate; Antonio Villaraigosa faced uphill battle
USC Dornsife/LA Times poll shows the former mayor, who decided not to run for Barbara Boxer's Senate seat, was nearly 10 points behind the attorney general.
The USC name will go atop the AT&T Center in downtown LA later this year. (Artist's rendering by Sheharazad Fleming/USC)
USC name to rise over downtown Los Angeles
University leases additional space at AT&T Center, which will get new signage later this year.
(iStock image)
What will tomorrow's computers look like? Nothing like today's
USC scientist predicts people soon will interact with technology the same way we interact with other people.


LANSING, Mich. (WILX) - The 2018 Report Card for Michigan's Infrastructure comes back with an overall grade point average of D+.
At a news conference on Tuesday, the Michigan Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) released the report.
The report included an evaluation of Michigan aviation, bridges, dams, drinking water, energy, navigation, rail, roads, schools, solid waste, storm water, transit and wastewater.
The grades on the report card ranged from the highest grade of C+ for Solid Waste to the lowest grade of a D- for roads and storm water. The report also found that much of the state's infrastructure is toward the end of it's useful life, which threatens Michigan's lakes, rivers, drinking water, and public health.
•	The category of Roads received a grade "D-" because 39 percent of the 120,000 miles of paved roads in Michigan are rated in poor condition, with 43 percent rated in fair condition and just 18 percent rated in good condition.
•	Michigan's Drinking Water systems scored a "D." It is estimated that drinking water system owners in Michigan are underfunding system improvements for Safe Drinking Water Act compliance by $284 - $563 million every year.
•	Currently, Michigan lacks a way to inventory, operate and maintain our Stormwater infrastructure. Stormwater management systems provide flood protection, improve quality of life for residents and impact the water quality of Michigan's rivers, lakes, streams and the Great Lakes.
•	Michigan has 1,234 structurally deficient bridges, and the Michigan Department of Transportation estimates the number of state-maintained bridges currently rated in poor condition will increase by 50 percent in the next five years.
It was presented by Sen. Tom Casperson, (R‐ Escanaba), Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee and Myndi Bacon, President, ASCE MI Section from the state capitol.


Cue the dryers. Wave the wands. This is Swink, the first style bar to hit Seattle. Home of the quick, affordable beauty blast. Like blow outs. Lash extensions. Makeup. Bridal packages. Whatever you choose, sit back and relax. Let us take care of you. You leave chin up, shoulders back. So you, only better.
Blowouts, drystyles, updos, braids and more. Whatever you can imagine - our expert stylists can do. Never wash your own hair again.
The best way to complete your look. Picture perfect makeup for your head shots, special occasions, or any day. Lessons for teens and adults too.
We are the absolute experts in lash extensions. We've not only done more lashes than anyone else in Seattle, we are the school for lash extension certification!
coffee - check. email done - check. georgeous hair - check!
Join our e-newsletter for news about special events, deals and other offers. We don't email often - but when we do, we try to make it count!


text:
"Do Unto Others ..." To my loving Hubber-Friend Ruby Jean Richert.
manatita44
Manatita is an esteemed author living in London, UK. He writes spiritual books, flash fiction and esoteric poetry, his favourite genre.
I was a newborn babe when the wicked Queen placed me in a basket, allowing the raging current to decide my fate. My mother said she bawled and bawled, running after me down the river bank, a nervous wreck, desperately pleading for anyone, or anything, to save her only child.
My father, the King, had longed for a boy and the Court's Astrologer had told him, that a star had flown by, which suggested that I was ear-marked for greatness. These were all good omens in the Period or Dynasty in which I was born and the King, who loved boy children, did not stop to think of the possibility that I could be a girl.
In those days, status meant everything and my mother was a lowly concubine. Although endowed with many virtues, she was chosen only for her beauty. Hair flowing back, youthful and alluring, she was blessed with a charming smile, kind and sympathetic face and the King fell for her at first sight. Yet the Queen was his favourite, as she bore the child that they both wanted to be the future King.
Knowing that the King was fond of the Astrologer and that the stars were usually correct, the Queen became jealous and did all within her power to destroy the unborn child. However, unlike the King who was blinded by his love for her, another concubine was wise to her tricks and saved the child's life, until birth, when a girl was delivered, instead of a boy. This altered the picture considerably.
My mother told me all this, ever since I was old enough to listen … and of how I was saved by a goddess on the river bank … of how she lost all hope, with pain tugging at her life-energy, when she saw the broken basket in the waterfall below.
Then it happened. The Royals all heard a loud scream followed by a child's crying, not unlike my own and followed the sound, only to find me wrapped in the same royal clothing, lying on the lap of the goddess on the river bank. The King took this as a sign of good fortune and saved my life.
I'm now four years old and know only so much. Yet I know that my mother stands at the door daily and looks across the courtyard to the palatial suite. She has a solemn but longing look on her face and sometimes she cries.
One day I asked her why she was crying and without saying much, she pointed to the direction of the Palace, a mere 100 yards away, saying: "This is where your father lives." One morning, I was to do the impossible and visit the King, which changed our lives forever.
Bright and early I set out, walked straight into the courtyard and into the inner sanctum, where my father was sitting on his throne. I saw many palatial guards in their uniforms and other ceremonial gear, but none stopped me, except at the very entrance to the throne, where I was then challenged.
They must have been intrigued by this harmless and innocent-looking toddler, seemingly unconcerned and assumingly playing in the courtyard. Not that this was ever done. So who knows why they did not hinder my passing?
However, I was stopped at the entrance to my father's chamber and made a fuss -as any 4-yr old would - stating that I was here to see my father, the King. My father heard the commotion outside and asked for me to be brought in. Thereon was exchanged a series of conversations between my father and I, at the end of which he became extremely fond of me.
I told him who I was, that he hadn't visited my mother for 4 years - in fact since my birth - and that she was lonely, afraid and insecure. I think he must have felt me bemusing for a 4-yr old, but proud of me at the same time.
"How do you know all this?" He enquired. So I told him of the many long hours my mother spent looking across the courtyard of the Palace … the tears in her eyes … of how she would hold me tightly, when all she wanted was her own comfort - the desire to be loved and made to feel important - to recover her self-esteem. The King listened and marveled at the wisdom of one so young.
That very night my father paid his concubine a visit. My mother opened the door and was overjoyed to see him. Tears flowed from her eyes copiously. He asked her what was wrong, but, ever the woman, she apologized for not knowing that he was coming, and felt sorry that she did not have time to get properly dressed for his arrival. She said that her tears were tears of joy … that she felt like a mother receiving her lost husband, whom she dearly loved and who had just come home.
The king was extremely touched … so touched in fact, that he embraced her, told her that she was lovelier than he had ever seen and apologized for his mistakes. He then kissed her cheeks softly and sweetly. Looking over her shoulders, he saw her maids, all with happy smiles on their faces. With a knowing nod, they all left the room and the King gently closed the door behind him.
It is now Christmas time and many years later. I am the Empress and the Kingdom is united. The Astrologer was right. My father has died and the old Queen is dying. She sends for me and apologizes on her death-bed. I smile, pick up her hands and kiss them both. Our eyes meet and I gaze into hers lovingly … kiss her again on the cheeks and forehead. She smiles, closes her eyes and enters peacefully, into the world beyond.
"The age-old ancient wisdom: forgiveness, forgiveness, forgiveness, is the only way, to a lasting happiness." -Sri Chinmoy. Merry Christmas, guys and girls.
Manatita, The Lantern Carrier. 6th December, 2019
Time of forgiveness and renewal

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


NPIV provides a means to assign multiple port IDs to a single N Port. This feature allows multiple applications on the N Port to use different identifiers and allows access control, zoning, and port security to be implemented at the application level. You must globally enable NPIV for all VSANs on the MDS switch to allow the NPIV-enabled applications to use multiple N Port Identifiers.
The MDS discovered in the Vblock does not have NPIV enabled. This is required as per the checklist in the UIM Deployment Prerequisites document.
Configure NPIV feature on the MDS.
This is a weird message considering the switch in question is Ethernet switch, not SAN switch and NPIV validation is not applicable.
I have sent the database backup to UIM development team for analysis. Let's wait what they come up with.
Open UIM Configuration Cnter: Login to UIM management interface, click on the icon next to Logoff/Exit icon in the top right corner of the screen and launch Configuration Center.
Why Ethernet switch gets validated with the MDS validation test? Is this another EMC UIM/P 4.1 bug?
This is applicable considering unified switching in Vblock (Nexus 55XX – LAN & SAN in a box). In this, though you use 5K and UIM/P discovers SAN part the switch as MDS only.
The question remain the same – why 5k gets discovered as unified switch?


Price includes free next day courier delivery within the UK. Order before 3pm for next day delivery, excluding Sundays and Mondays.
A striking collection of soft pink, cerise pink and white tulip flowers, pink stocks, white narcissi and a mix of homegrown foliage.
Contents will vary (please note that the photo is for illustration purposes only) but one thing is guaranteed: our bouquets feature only the finest seasonal British flowers and foliage.
Carefully remove the protective packaging and begin with a clean vase, as bacteria is the main reason for shortened flower life.
Strip all of the leaves that will fall below the water line in the vase. Then cut at least one inch off each stem with a sharp knife or scissors. The cut should be clean and on an angle to increase the amount of water uptake by the stem (cutting is not always possible on smaller bouquets).
Fill the vase to three quarters capacity with fresh cold water and add the flowers. Place in an area away from heat and direct sunlight. Change the water if it becomes cloudy or every two to three days. Avoid placing cut flowers next to fruit as they give off ethylene gas that can shorten the life span of your flowers. Tregothnan charcoal is an excellent water purifier and a few grams in the vase will work wonders. https://tregothnan.co.uk/?s=charcoal&type=all+categories Enjoy!


A keen observer will note that this is almost the same as computing a windowed standard deviation curve of the A values of a MA plot along the M axis. It would in fact be the same if the rotation angle was exactly pi/4. Also, the standard deviation threshold alone would probably not be an excellent criteria to identify interesting genes as it would tend to select many lowly expressed ones. A limit on expression level and fold change remains our best option when working without replicates.
Former physicist turned structural biologist and software developer, he now manages a team of talented bioinformaticians at the platform. Racing god and master barista aside, he expertly handles the next-gen sequencing analysis service and IT infrastructure. Legend has it that he was roaming the future site of IRIC prior to its foundation. He also wrote this entire bio himself in the third person.


Invented in 1920′s this could be world's first navigation system. No satellites or digital screens were used in the making of this portable navigation system. Called Plus Fours Routefinder, this little invention was designed to be worn on your wrist, and the "maps" were printed on little wooden rollers which you would turn manually as you drove along.


Gems™ flow switches provide thoroughly dependable protection of shipboard systems utilizing liquid flow in their operation. Made to monitor specific flow rate setpoints, Gems flow switches are used to initiate automatic shutdown or actuate alarms in the event flow falls off, exceeds or otherwise fails to meet established parameters. Use Gems flow switches in heating, cooling, lube oil systems, or any other critical flow area in a vessel. They utilize our reliable reed switch technology which responds to true fluid flow, and isn't affected by pressure changes. And because they are Gems sensors, these flow switches feature only the highest quality, corrosion-resistant materials for use in the toughest marine environments.
Simple in Concept, Gems flow switches are sophisticated in design. They respond only to true fluid flow, and are unaffected by changes in line pressure that can cause false readings in other types of sensors.
Shuttle Type switches use a shuttle which, when displaced by fluid flow at a preset rate, actuate a hermetically sealed, SPST or SPDT reed switch within the unit's stem. Either a compression spring or gravity provides shuttle return when flow decreases.
Paddle Type switches feature cam action. When liquid flow in either direction deflects the paddle it rotates an attached cam, which then displaces a permanent-magnet-equipped shuttle along the unit's stem. The magnet actuates a hermetically sealed, magnetic reed switch within the stem. Paddles are cut to provide specific setpoints and to allow use in a range of pipe diameters. They provide flow/no-flow detection where there is a fluid velocity of at least 0.5ft. per second (152 mm per second).
When actuated, these switch units are used to operate remote alarms, indicators and annunciators, pumps, motorized valves, or are integrated into automatic system controls.
Sensing flow in either direction to monitor flow/no-flow conditions, Gems paddle switches are cut to size to fit a variety of pipe sizes from 1-1/4" and up. The unique, patented cam design assures low pressure drop, and requires no bellows, seals, or mechanical linkages. They are supplied in two paddle lengths and can be trimmed during installation to permit switch actuation at the desired flow rate. Available with brass or stainless steel housings, 316 stainless steel paddles, and Teflon®, Viton®, and ceramic wetted parts. Temperature capability ranges from -30°F to +300°F (-34°C to +149°C), and pressures to 2000 psig (138 bar). Threaded or flange mounted versions available.
Rugged shuttle type flow switches are used for moderate to high flow rate applications. A broad range of models allow flow actuation settings from .5 GPM to 150 GPM (1.9 I/min to 568 I/min). They provide 1% repeatability over a broad range of flow settings and port sizes. The shuttle design offers generous flow paths to keep pressure drop low, and a choice of flange NPT, socket weld, and union end connections provides versatility. Available in bronze or stainless steel housings with Teflon®, and ceramic wetted parts. They handle temperatures of -20°F to +300°F (-29°C to +149°C), and pressures to 400 psig (27 bar).
Call the Marine Product Specialists at Gems Sensors & Controls at 1-855-877-9666 for assistance or click here for authorized Marine product representatives.


Dell Sells Services Business; Are Quest Software, SonicWall Next?
Dell may look to sell Quest Software and/or SonicWall after shedding its IT services business to NTT Data for $3.055 billion today, pundits speculate.
After weeks of rumors, NTT Data is officially buying Dell's IT services business for $3.055 billion. New reports suggest Dell may also be looking to sell its Quest Software and SonicWall businesses. The various moves could help Dell to strengthen its balance sheet ahead of the EMC buyout, which is expected to close between May and October 2016.
> Update June 15, 2016: Dell reportedly still negotiating to sell Quest Software, SonicWall.
NTT Data's buyout of Dell Services will shift 28,000 employees to the Japanese company. NTT gains lucrative customer contracts across a range of vertical markets, including healthcare, financial services and the U.S. federal government. Official timing for the deal was not disclosed.
Channel partners may also rejoice, especially in the midmarket, since Dell essentially is shedding major IT consulting and managed services business practices.
Still, the deal's value is weaker than some pundits had been expecting. Dell had been seeking $4 billion or more for the business unit. The reported asking price allegedly fell to $3.6 billion in recent weeks, before the company and NTT settled on the $3.055 billion figure.
Dell paid $3.9 billion for Perot Systems in 2009, though certain pieces of the business won't be sold to NTT.
Will Dell Sell Quest Software and SonicWall?
Dell has been shedding some assets as part of a broader effort to raise money ahead of its $67 billion buyout of EMC. Rumors are swirling again that Dell may be looking to sell off Quest Software and SonicWall, which could be worth as much as $4 billion, Reuters reported.
Together, Quest and SonicWall represent a range of IT management and security solutions. SonicWall has a particularly close following in the IT channel.
In recent months, Dell has either licensed or sold certain Quest technologies to NinjaMSP, a startup led by former PacketTrap executives. PacketTrap had been part of the Quest Software business until Dell shut it down in August 2013.
Dell no longer in Managed Services, expanding the enterprise storage vertical market instead…..
Hey Dave: Our team has covered Dell's various MSP curiosities for a decade, stretching back to Dell's buyout of Silverback (2007). I agree. There isn't too much in Dell's portfolio today specifically designed for MSPs, particularly in the SMB sector.


Kids love to pretend to be somebody they are not. Whether it's a superhero, a friendly monster, or even a robot. The thing you can always count on to be real is their ongoing imagination! These personalized Christmas ornaments will do nothing but encourage them to keep using their beautiful little minds!


text:
var Board = require("../lib/board.js"),
    events = require("events"),
    util = require("util"),
    __ = require("../lib/fn.js");

var priv = new WeakMap(),
    Devices;

Devices = {
  /**
   * Sharp GP2Y0D805Z0F IR Sensor
   * 0×20, 0×22, 0×24, 0×26
   *
   * http://osepp.com/products/sensors-arduino-compatible/osepp-ir-proximity-sensor-module/
   *
   *
   * http://sharp-world.com/products/device/lineup/data/pdf/datasheet/gp2y0d805z_e.pdf
   *
   */

  "GP2Y0D805Z0F": {
    type: "proximity",
    address: 0x26,
    bytes: 1,
    delay: 250,

    // read request data handler
    data: function( read, data ) {
      var state = priv.get( this ).state,
          value = data[ 0 ],
          timestamp = new Date(),
          err = null;

      if ( value !== state && value === 1 ) {
        this.emit( "motionstart", err, timestamp );
      }

      if ( state === 1 && value === 3 ) {
        this.emit( "motionend", err, timestamp );
      }

      priv.set( this, {
        state: value
      });
    },

    // These are added to the property descriptors defined
    // within the constructor
    descriptor: {
      value: {
        get: function() {
          return priv.get( this ).state;
        }
      }
    },
    setup: [
      // CRA
      [ 0x3, 0xFE ]
    ],
    preread: [
      [ 0x0 ]
    ]
  },

  "QRE1113GR": {
    // http://www.pololu.com/file/0J117/QRE1113GR.pdf
    type: "reflect",
    address: 0x4B,
    bytes: 2,
    delay: 100,

    // read request data handler
    data: function( data ) {
      var temp = {
            left: data[0],
            right: data[1]
          };

      // if ( temp.left < 200 ) {
      //   this.emit( "left", err, timestamp );
      // }

      // if ( temp.right < 200 ) {
      //   this.emit( "right", err, timestamp );
      // }

      priv.set( this, temp );
    },

    descriptor: {
      left: {
        get: function() {
          return priv.get( this ).left;
        }
      },
      right: {
        get: function() {
          return priv.get( this ).right;
        }
      }
    },

    setup: [
      // Reset the ADC (analog-to-digital converter)
      // NXP PCA969
      [ 0x0, 0x0 ]
    ],
    preread: [
      // left, right
      [ 0x0, 0x1 ]
    ]
  }
};

function IR( opts ) {

  if ( !(this instanceof IR) ) {
    return new IR( opts );
  }

  var address, bytes, data, device, delay, descriptor,
      last, properties, preread, read, setup;

  // Initialize a Device instance on a Board
  Board.Device.call(
    this, opts = Board.Options( opts )
  );

  device = Devices[ opts.device ];

  address = opts.address || device.address;
  bytes = device.bytes;
  data = device.data;
  delay = device.delay;
  setup = device.setup;
  descriptor = device.descriptor;
  preread = device.preread;

  // Read event throttling
  this.freq = opts.freq || 500;

  // Make private data entry
  priv.set( this, {
    state: 0
  });

  // Set up I2C data connection
  this.firmata.sendI2CConfig();

  // Enumerate and write each set of setup instructions
  setup.forEach(function( byteArray ) {
    this.firmata.sendI2CWriteRequest( address, byteArray );
  }, this);

  // Read Request Loop
  setInterval(function() {
    // Set pointer to X most signficant byte/register
    this.firmata.sendI2CWriteRequest( address, preread );

    // Read from register
    this.firmata.sendI2CReadRequest( address, bytes, data.bind(this) );

  }.bind(this), delay );

  // Continuously throttled "read" event
  setInterval(function() {
    // @DEPRECATE
    this.emit( "read" );
    // The "read" event has been deprecated in
    // favor of a "data" event.
    this.emit( "data" );
  }.bind(this), this.freq );

  if ( descriptor ) {
    Object.defineProperties( this, descriptor );
  }
}

util.inherits( IR, events.EventEmitter );

module.exports = IR;

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Our Memorial Hall opened in November 1984 as the only facility in Japan to commemorate Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the great Chinese revolutionary, statesman, and philosopher.
Around the end of the 19th Century, Wu Jintang (1855-1926), a wealthy Chinese merchant in Kobe, built his villa on Maiko Beach and named it "Shokai Villa". In spring of 1915, an annex named "Ijokaku" was built on the east side of "Shokai Villa". While "Ijokaku" in fact is an octagonal and three storied building, it has been generally called the "Rokkaku-do (hexagonal building) in Maiko, Kobe", by the locals because it appears hexagonal.
In the spring of 1913, Sun Yat-sen traveled through Japan and visited Kobe as well as Tokyo, Yokohama and other cities. On March 14, prominent Chinese businessmen living in Kobe held a luncheon at "Shokai Villa" to welcome Sun. It could be considered that the relationship between Sun Yat-sen and "Ijokaku" started then, two years before "Ijokaku" was built in reality. In November 1983, The Kobe Overseas Chinese Association, which had taken over the management of "Ijokaku" from Wu's Family, donated "Ijokaku" to Hyogo Prefecture. After the restoration of its architecture, "Ijokaku" was presented to the public as the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on November 12, 1984, an anniversary of Sun's birthday. In December 1993, its architecture was registered by Hyogo Prefecture as a prefectural important tangible cultural property. In March 1994, due to the construction of Akashi Kaikyo Bridge, the building was taken apart and rebuilt at its present location, 200 meters southeast of where it originally stood. The restoration was completed in April 2000, and in November 2001, "Ijokaku" was designated as a national important cultural property.
We have a variety of exhibits about the relationship between Japan, Kobe and Sun Yat-sen, the life of Wu Jintang, history of "Ijokaku", and so forth.


text:
@interface BgView : UIView

@end


Triple Chocolate Dipped Graham Crackers is rated 5.0 out of 5 by 1.
Rated 5 out of 5 by MammaG from Great Gift Bought these for my mom and she loves them :-) I have not had a chance to try them myself.
A delicious treat of delicate, handcrafted graham crackers that are dipped by hand into rich milk, luxurious white, and decadent dark Belgian chocolates before being elegantly decorated with ribbons of silken chocolate confection.


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Modality Meaning: Here's What It Means and How to Use It?
Wondering the meaning of modality? If so, keep reading — this article covers the complete definition of the word modality and more.
There are a number of words in the English language that have more than one meaning. The term "modality" is one of those words.
In this guide, we're exploring the term modality to uncover its many definitions, origins, synonyms, and antonyms. We'll also go over a few usage examples to show you how to use modality in a sentence.
What Is the Definition of Modality
As mentioned above, the term modality has multiple meanings — in other words, it's a homonym. The many definitions of modality can be found below:
In grammar and semantics, the term modality refers to linguistic devices that are indicative of the degree to which an observation is probable, likely, possible, certain, prohibited, or permitted. More often than not, these notions are expressed by modal auxiliaries, such as might, should, can, and will. They are sometimes combined with the word not.
When used in medicine, the Collins Dictionary defines modality as a therapeutic method or agent (such as chemotherapy, surgery, or electrotherapy) that involves the physical treatment of a disorder.
The Oxford Dictionary defines modality as the particular way in which something exists, is experienced, or is done. A sensory modality is a way of sensing, like hearing or vision. A modality in an individual's voice provides a sense of their mood.
In semiotics, the word modality refers to the particular way or channel by which sighs are transmitted (such as a gesture, in writing, or in speech).
After reviewing the definitions listed above, it's easy to see how the term modality can be a bit confusing. Not only does it refer to the quality or state of being modal, but it can also refer to a type of treatment for a disease or medical condition.
In addition, modality can be expressed by modal verbs, such as "can," "might," and "should," or by expressions such as "I'm supposed to" and "it's likely that."
The Origin of Modality
According to the Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary, modality comes from 1610s' Old French modalité or directly from Medieval Latin modalitatem (nominative modalitas), meaning "a being modal." This word comes from the Latin modalis.
Synonyms and Antonyms of Modality
To further your understanding of a word, it can be helpful to review its synonyms and antonyms.
Synonyms are words that have the same or nearly the same meaning as another word, whereas antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning of another word.
Learning synonyms and antonyms from a thesaurus can help to refine your writing and sharpen your sense of language.
Synonyms of modality include:
Indicative mood
Sense modality
Antonyms of modality include:
Transitivity
Ill humor
Examples of Modality in a Sentence
Now that you understand what the term modality means, it's time to practice using our word of the day in a sentence. Quiz yourself to see how many complete sentences you can come up with using modality, or feel free to check out our example sentences below:
He said they operate on several sensory modalities, so it would be a rewarding species to study.
If you ask me, the harmony had a perfect touch of modality.
Did you know that modality, often called modal auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliaries modal verbs, are special verbs that provide extra info about the function of the main verb?
Cindy gets all of her assignments done by working in a productive modality that allows her to multitask.
The modality of the dancer's movement centers on his skill and expertise.
John has had quite a bit of success with his teaching modality. Other people often ask him for pointers.
My teacher told us that modality is also a concept in Anthony Giddens's structuration theory.
How do you pick which patient for which therapeutic modality?
I told you, testing was only in the visual modality.
She's been using meditation, yoga, and prayer as modalities to cope.
He said his most effective treatment modality is osteopathic manual medicine.
Sorry, logic doesn't seem to be among the modalities.
My doctor said sound healing was a wonderful modality!
Do we really need to repeat the modalities that we've inherited?
He never faltered the reader on the head with dull modalities when dealing with the war.
Bob's doctor used an interesting modality when giving his diagnosis.
A modality is a mode or way something exists or is done. Often seen regarding diagnostic modality, which is how an illness or condition is diagnosed by a health care provider, modality shares its root with the term mode, meaning how something is experienced or happens.
In other words, it's how people talk about their obligations, attitudes, and intentions. It's the type of behavior, expression, or way of life that belongs to a particular person or group.
But that's not all; the term modality is also used in logic when it has to do with whether a proposition is necessary, possible, or impossible.
Simply put, a modality is a particular way in which something exists or is done.
MODALITY (noun) definition and synonyms | Macmillan Dictionary
Modality definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
modality noun – Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary


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Pong was released by Atari 50 years ago
By Megan Lim,
Ashley Brown, Ari Shapiro
Published December 2, 2022 at 3:18 PM CST
Two moving lines, a dot that volleys between them and a score display at the top - that's really all there was to the game Pong.
(SOUNDBITE OF PONG SOUND EFFECTS)
SHAPIRO: And that was all it needed to become the first widely played commercial video game. Atari released the original Pong as an arcade game. Fifty years ago this week, to mark the anniversary, we've called up Allan Alcorn, co-founder of Atari and computer scientist who designed Pong. Welcome, and thank you.
ALLAN ALCORN: Hello. Yes, thank you very much. I'm glad to be here.
SHAPIRO: Take us back half a century. You had started working at Atari as an engineer. Where did the idea for Pong come from?
ALCORN: Well, it came from Nolan Bushnell, a co-founder of Atari. The idea was to give me something to practice on because I had never designed a video game before - no one else ever had either, except Nolan. And so he thought of the very simplest possible game that could ever be and never thought it would be a financial success.
SHAPIRO: Wait. So you're saying this wasn't even originally intended to be released to the public? It was just kind of a programming exercise?
ALCORN: Exactly. Yeah. And I was so young. I was 24 years old. I said, OK.
SHAPIRO: And when did you realize that this is actually showing up all over and becoming a massive hit?
ALCORN: Well, when we put the thing on location just to try it out, because I tried to make it as fun to play as I could. And all of a sudden, the thing went nuts.
SHAPIRO: What was that first location?
ALCORN: The first location was Andy Capp's Tavern. It was a bar in Sunnyvale.
SHAPIRO: And those guys had no idea that they were making history as the first people to play an arcade game in a bar.
ALCORN: That's right. Yep (laughter).
SHAPIRO: When did you realize you were making history as the first person to invent such a game?
ALCORN: I don't know. I mean, it just seemed I was - it was just - I didn't think the company would last long because most startup companies didn't. And so I thought it would fail after a while, but it'd be a lot of fun and I'd learn a lot doing it and then go back to work for a real company. But that never happened. And it just kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger.
SHAPIRO: Well, given that I work in audio, I have to ask, how did you develop the sounds for the game?
ALCORN: Oh, the sounds for the game. Nolan said he wanted the roar of a crowd of thousands. And I didn't know how to do that. So I said, OK, I'll be right back. And I just poked around in the circuit itself, in the vertical shape (ph) generator for appropriate sounds and piped them out and...
SHAPIRO: Wait. Are you saying that this was not a sound that you found somewhere and applied to it? This was a sound that was actually being produced from the circuitry itself?
ALCORN: Yeah. There were no sounds out there. This is - remember; this was 1972. There was no internet. There was nothing. And so I just poked around. And it took me about two hours, and Nolan said, I didn't like it. I said, well, if you don't like it, Nolan, you do something better. He said, OK. OK.
ALCORN: That's how the sounds were done.
SHAPIRO: Well, there is a connection here to the early beginnings of Apple. Pong's influence went beyond just video games. Tell us about that origin story.
ALCORN: Well, yeah. We were a rapidly growing company. And I needed a technician. And one day, the personnel lady came in, says, you like to get these strange ones. So here's one, this young guy out in the lobby. I said, sure, bring him in. And he was a dropout of Reed College. He was kind of a hippie, pretty disheveled. But, you know, the kid was really enthusiastic. And when you're hiring somebody - and this was for a technician, the lowest rank in the engineering department - you know, enthusiasm counts for a lot. So I figured, OK, he's got to be cheap. But we didn't have much money, so I hired him.
SHAPIRO: I don't think you've said his name yet.
ALCORN: Oh, it was a guy named Steve Jobs. You may have heard of him.
SHAPIRO: Yeah. OK. Heard of him. That is Allan Alcorn, co-founder of Atari and engineer who helped create the classic game Pong 50 years ago. Thank you so much for speaking with us about this amazing history.
ALCORN: I'm delighted. Thank you for having me. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
Megan Lim


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Science Communication	27
#AGU	18
#AGU100	18
#NASA	10
Women in Science	8
BAERI	8
NASA Ames	8
American Geophysical Union	6
The American Geophysical Union	1
AGU 2018 Fall Meeting	13
Washington DC	13
Silicon Valley	8
Bay Area	7
"I realized outreach needs to be part of my scientific career. It brings me so much joy to talk to people." An interview with Sanjoy Som
AGU Narratives
July 16, 2019	App Interview
Sanjoy Som, Director of the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, believes in the importance of space science as a common goal of humanity, regardless of country – the founding inspiration of his institute. He talks about his passion for...
#AGU
#AGU100
AGU 2018 Fall Meeting
next generation scientists
"I have friends that do kinds of jobs that you wouldn't expect scientists to do if you didn't know better." An interview with Erica Bickford
Erica Bickford's advice to early career scientists or students is to look outside academia and explore all the potential career options available to scientists. She is particularly aware of the importance of science in daily life and in the policy...
science career paths
"We look at life in extreme environments and learn about what life can do, how it adapts." An interview with David Smith.
Kassie Perlongo
August 24, 2020	App Interview
Dr. David Smith is a microbiologist at the NASA Ames Research Center. David led the design, construction, and validation of two NASA Balloon Program payloads carrying biology experiments (E-MIST and MARSBOx) as well as the use of a bio-aerosol collector...
#NASA
BAERI
NASA Ames
space bioscience
StoryCorps Connect
"A lot of teachers that I had as a child they inspired me and I was like man, I really like what they do." An interview with Brian Campbell
February 26, 2020	App Interview
Meet Brian Campbell, a NASA Senior Earth Science Specialist who works with satellite missions like ICESat-2, SMAP, GPM and with the NASA GLOBE Program, including the NASA GLOBE Observer Citizen Science App. He is passionate about making the plethora of...
Science for good
"If you want something bad enough, you can work hard and get it or you can at least try." An Interview with Shobhana Gupta.
March 5, 2020	App Interview
Dr. Gupta was unsure of what she wanted to work on after finishing medical school, but she found her calling and is now the Open Innovation and Community Applications manager at NASA headquarters. Listen to Dr. Gupta talk about her...
Career Story
"I was drawn to geophysics because, through technology, you can look at the things you're studying." An interview with John Booker Grab
John Booker Grab grew up in New Mexico and remembers, at the age of 8, running out the back door into the Santa Fe National Forest to go and collect fossils. He then went on to study at Montana State...
"Always remember that we professors are all smart, but what will set you apart is being kind." an interview with Rafael Loureiro
July 9, 2019	App Interview
Rafael Loureiro may confess to being an introvert, but he has no fear of people. He started off talking about AGU's Voices of Science bootcamp, which he is participating in this year to develop his spokesperson skills. That segued into...
AGU Voices for Science
"I like the human challenge working and researching in these extreme environments." An interview with Alfonso Davila.
November 30, -0001	App Interview
How will we search for life beyond Earth? If we do find life, what are the implications? As an Astrobiologist, Dr. Alfonso Davila travels to 'planetary analogue environments' that are remarkably similar to areas on other planets -- Chile's Atacama...
"At an early age, I was exposed to all things NASA." An interview with Christina Lim.
Christina Lim is an Experiment Support Scientist with the Cell Science Project and the Biospecimen Sharing Program at Paragon-Tech, who work with NASA Ames. She is also a passionate science communicator and has worked in public outreach and education. In...
"It's hard to say what's going to get invented and eventually end up being in everyone's homes." An interview with Richard Johnson
Richard Johnson is an AGU member who has been coming to Fall Meeting for years. He discusses some of the keynotes he's attended in recent years, like those by Jerry Brown, Elon Musk, and Dan Rather. A sci-fi enthusiast, Richard...
"Science is a universal language, which helps us bridge language and cultural gaps." an interview with Emily Wolin
Emily Wolin is almost singe-handedly trying to upgrade Myanmar's national seismic network. As a student, Emily saw the Mount Saint Helens eruption. Today, she helps scientists in Myanmar prepare their country for the aftermath of the next hurricanes to come...
"The sun kind of affects everything here on Earth in one way or another." An interview with Nicholeen Viall.
Nicholeen Viall is a research astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, with her research focus being the sun and solar wind. Listen to Dr. Viall talk about her start in space science, her greatest accomplishment, and her hopes for...
What's My Motivation, Said Neither of These Two Ever. An interview with Lucy Jones and Wendy Bohon
Seismologist Lucy Jones gained recognition for doing a TV interview following the 1992 Joshua Tree earthquake while holding her sleeping infant son. Long before that, she became one of the first American scientists to enter China after it's normalization in...
science activation
"Embracing the different kinds of scientists that exist is something that we're still working to do." An interview with Kiya Riverman
Kiya Riverman ended up studying glaciers because, on a field work trip, she was one of the few who could fit the ice cave in the glacier. She recalls, "you're surrounded by glaciers and then sometimes you're underneath glaciers. And...
Glaciology
"Choosing the Science of Decision-Making" an interview with Roger Pulwarty and Michael Hayes
Why do people feel they way they do about issues? Why do lawmakers and policy leaders seemingly act against their better interests? And how can information be developed in a way that leads not just to greater understanding, but to...
"I was one of those kids who always wanted to be a scientist." An interview with Egle Cekanaviciute.
Dr. Egle Cekanaviciute is a Principal Investigator and Research Scientist in the Radiation Biophysics Laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center. She is also one of the Course Directors for STAR (Spaceflight Technologies, Application and Research), an intensive training course...
Human Microbiome
"How is it that we collect stories [and] create spaces for those stories to be told?" An interview with Michele Koppes and Heidi Roop
Michele Koppes and Heidi Roop met "on an incredible landscape on the edge of the Greenland ice sheet about two years ago." The conversation that followed made both of them think more closely about the value of science communication and...
Researching the effects of aerosol-cloud interactions and air pollution. An interview with Kristina Pistone.
Dr. Kristina Pistone is a climate and atmospheric scientist for the Bay Area Environmental Research Institute (BAERI) at NASA Ames Research Center who is researching aerosol-cloud interactions and air pollution. Dr. Pistone was part of the NASA Earth Venture Suborbital...
#climate
"There is humor and wonderment in all these great people." An interview with James Garvin.
James Garvin is the Chief Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Dr. Garvin has been at NASA for 35 years in a variety of roles and missions, and is well known for his incredible work in NASA's Mars explorational...
"I love where life has taken me." An interview with Mamta Nagaraja.
Mamta Nagaraja started her career as an engineer but has adroitly transitioned into a position in science communications at NASA, where she strives to craft science into stories that will inspire others. Listen to Dr. Nagaraja discuss her path to...
An oceanographer and chemist working on space missions at NASA. An interview with Tori Hoehler.
Dr. Tori Hoehler is a scientist at NASA Ames, with a background in chemistry and oceanography. He now studies the interaction of microbial communities with their environment, with an emphasis on the habitability of environments beyond Earth and the detectability...
"It's important to get out of the textbook and into the field to communicate science and new research." An interview with Elizabeth Eubanks
Engaging young students outside of the classroom can help further a life-long interest in science. Elizabeth Eubanks is trying to bring these kinds of experiences to as many kids as she can. As a science teacher, she's heard from students...
"Communication is our responsibility." an interview with Jay Famiglietti
James Famiglietti, hydrologist and Director of the Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, discusses his work with NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experience (GRACE) and the evolution of technology throughout his career including its impact on water security....
#EarthScience
food water energy nexus
"I grew up in a place where I was the first to go to college – not just in my family, but in the village." An interview with Charles Gatebe.
Dr. Charles Gatebe's research focus is on clouds aerosols, ecosystem structure and function, albedo, and feedbacks to climate. In this interview, we chat about his science journey pursuing science, starting with his interest in studying Kenya's air pollution, and how...
monitoring air quality
"Something that helps me get reinvigorated about my own science is to teach and do outreach." An interview with Michael Wong
Michael Wong is just as comfortable talking about science as he is with working on it. Currently a post doc at the University of Washington in Seattle, he talks about his work and path through science, from being inspired as...


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(-) Energy Security (2679)
Food Security (3396)
(-) Health (2862)
(-) Social Issues (10830)
16 Jan 2022 TORONTO, Canada
Seasonal Gifting Campaigns Can Have Unintended Adverse Effects
Scientists urge charities to "stop animal gifting" as excessive numbers of livestock in some developing countries has crippled communities affected by food and water insecurity.
16 Jan 2022 STOCKHOLM, Sweden
Toxic Forever Chemicals "Boomerang" From Ocean To Shore
Crashing ocean waves found to emit "forever chemicals" into the air. New evidence that sea spray aerosol can be an important source of PFAS in the atmosphere.
Mind The Gap: Women Underrepresentd In Water Resources Management
New report from GWP concludes that, although gender has been integrated into policymaking in several countries, there is still a wide gap between policy and practice, and a long way to go before gender equality is achieved in water resources management.
8 Jan 2022 RUNDU, Namibia
Communal Land Board Halts Illegal Water Drilling
The company were only granted permission to extract water in June 2021, 6 months after operations had already begun. ReconAfrica has been accused of unsafe wastewater disposal, drilling without adequate permits and harm to local wildlife.
7 Jan 2022 WASHINGTON DC, United States
USAID Annual Report On Water Security: First-time Access For 4 Million
289 water and sanitation institutions in 41 countries benefit; 4 million have access to water and sanitation for the first time
6 Jan 2022 TEHRAN, Iran
Drought-stricken Southeast Iran Hit By Floods
Unprecedented decade-long drought, followed by sudden heavy rain, deals irreparable blow to Southeastern Iran economy.


Can you imagine the exuberant chaos of the Israelites as they left Canaan, a ragtag multitude of adults and children, sheep and goats, laden down (humans and animals) with the stuff they needed for living—clothing, tents, water, food, even bowls of unbaked dough for the coming day's bread? But after the first hours of walking, I can just see them (especially the like-to-know-how-this-is-going-to-work types, like I am) beginning to grasp the grim reality of their situation.
Which route would they take? How would they stand the heat of desert travel? What if they got attacked by desert tribes or surrounding nations? Where would they find food for such a multitude, not to speak of water?
God had an answer for each desert-travel challenge. The trouble was that He didn't reveal His plan beforehand but supplied the answer in His good time. Our reading today describes the divine GPS He gave them. The cloud by day, pillar of fire by night not only pointed out their route, but because it was visible by night, allowed them to travel during the cooler hours of darkness.
I believe we can look to God for such direction and provision in our lives too. It will probably not be in as visible a way as a cloud directing our route, but God will send what we need, of signposts and resources and stamina and courage. Sure we'd like to see all these things listed like a travel itinerary before we set out. However, like the Israelites we too will need to have faith as He unveils His route and provision one item at a time as needed.
There are times when you cannot understand why you cannot do what you want to do. When God brings the blank space, see that you do not fill it in, but wait. The blank space may come in order to teach you what sanctification means, or it may come after sanctification to teach you what service means. Never run before God's guidance. If there is the slightest doubt, then He is not guiding. Whenever there is doubt—don't" (My Utmost for His Highest , January 4th reading).
"If we are saved and sanctified God guides us by our ordinary choices, and if we are going to choose what He does not want, He will check, and we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once. Never reason it out and say—'I wonder why I shouldn't?' God instructs us in what we choose, that is, He guides our common sense, and we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually saying—'Now Lord, what is Thy will?'" (June 3 reading).
"We have to be so one with God that we do not continually need to ask for guidance. Sanctification means that we are made the children of God, and the natural life of a child is obedience—until he wishes to be disobedient, then instantly there is the intuitive jar. In the spiritual domain the intuitive jar is the monition of the Spirit of God" (November 14th reading).
You two have been much on my mind. So glad the dizzy move is a good one!


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text:
Govt eyes Singapore COVID-19 tracking app
Denham Sadler
National Affairs Editor
There could soon be an Australian version of Singapore's coronavirus tracking app, with the federal government urgently reviewing the technology amidst the growing COVID-19 pandemic.
An Australian Government coronavirus app being put together locally is a simple information and guidance app, rather than something that identifies contacts and helps with contact tracing.
The TraceTogether app, developed by the Singaporean GovTech agency, uses a smartphone's BlueTooth to voluntarily track a user's movements and proximity to others. If another user is diagnosed with COVID-19, any user that has been in close contact with them is alerted and told to self-isolated.
Tracking: Govt urgently reviews Singapore open source app
It uses a phone's Bluetooth connection with another phone to do this and alerts them if they have been within 2m of a known COVID-19 case for at least 30 minutes.
The app also helps to facilitate testing for individuals who need it. Location data is stored for three weeks, making contact tracing for COVID-19 cases more accurate and reliable, and easing the burden on government agencies doing this.
The app was rolled out last week and had more than 500,000 downloads in the first 24 hours.
A Department of Health spokesperson in Australia confirmed that the federal government COVID-19 information app to be launched next week would not include the tracking functionality.
But the federal government is understood to have ordered a fast-track review of Singapore's TraceTogether app with the possibility that a localised version could be launched shortly. The Singaporean government has made the app open-source, meaning Australia would be free to copy its source code.
"We believe that making our code available to the world will enhance trust and collaboration in dealing with a global threat that does not respect boundaries, political systems or economies," Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said.
"Together, we can make our world safer for everyone."
Prime Minister Scott Morrison held a video conference with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon on March 23, where the approaches and tools used by each country to combat the spread of coronavirus were discussed.
Mr Morrison later confirmed the Australian government is looking closely at the Singapore COVID-19 app.
"We're doing a lot of effective work there about how digital methods can be also used to assist in identifying contacts and to be able to shut those down as was practised in Singapore," he told the media last week.
"So those delivery methods are also being looked at by the Commonwealth and we're making a lot of progress there."
The surveillance app may raise privacy concerns in Australia, and questions over how to balance this with the public health need. It's unclear whether it would comply with Australia's existing privacy laws.
It comes as the Malaysian government announced that it too was working on replicating the Singapore COVID-19 tracking app.
"A few days ago, Singapore launched a mobile phone app called 'TraceTogether' that can track the movements of people so that in a positive case, they can look at the individual's movement history and warn others who have been near the patient to be screen," Malaysian Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said.
"And I can announce that Malaysia is also preparing such an application."
In a blog post about the app, Singapore's GovTech said it transforms smartphones into "contract tracers", making the process of contact tracing significantly less labour-intensive and time-consuming.
It is based around who a user has been in contact with rather than where they have been, with GPS struggling in indoor and highly urbanised settings, GovTech senior director of government digital services Jason Bay said in the post.
The app does not collect any real-world geographic location, Mr Bay said. Phones with the app installed send other nearby devices a timestamp, Bluetooth signal strength, the phone's model and a temporary identifier or nickname.
If someone is diagnosed with the virus, the user can upload their information to the government, which will then decrypt it and begin tracing contacts of them, based on the Bluetooth data.
Related: COVID-19 | Lee Hsien Loon | Scott Morrison | TraceTogether | tracking app | Vivian Balakrishnan
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text:
Patient is the web's leading independent health platform, established for 20 years. With more than 18 million visits a month, it is a trusted source of information for both patients and health professionals across the globe. The site contains over 4000 health information leaflets and thousands of discussion forums. It is accredited by The Information Standard, NHS England's quality mark and was listed as 'The top health website you can't live without' by The Times newspaper (Jan 2013).
Patient provides a wealth of health and medical information in a variety of ways, including:
• 900+ information health condition leaflets and 750 medicines leaflets, written to meet The Information Standard, NHS England's quality mark, which are aimed to be fully accessible to all non-medical, English-speaking people
• 2000+ reference articles about diseases and conditions and links to almost 1900 approved medical guidelines which are intended to aid clinicians and other health professionals
• 1800+ support directory, which list accurate and up-to-date details of UK-based self-help groups, charities and patient support organisations
• Almost 900 directory pages providing links to a variety of health information sources from external websites
• A lively discussion forum where patients can speak to other patients


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De Zweedse weg 185 (Zweeds: Länsväg 185) is een provinciale weg in de provincie Jönköpings län in Zweden en is circa 17 kilometer lang.

Plaatsen langs de weg
 Bottnaryd
 Mullsjö

Knooppunten
 Riksväg 40 bij Bottnaryd (begin)
 Riksväg 26/Riksväg 47 bij Mullsjö (einde)

185
Lansvag 185

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Female shot on the east side
WBFO-FM 88.7 | By Thomas O'Neil-White
WBFO News
An investigation is underway after a woman was shot in the city of Buffalo at Sunday morning.
The incident occurred on the 100 block of Oakmont Avenue on the city's east side. The 26 year-old victim has taken by ambulance to Erie County Medical Center where she was treated and released.
Crime buffalo policeECMCgun violence
Thomas O'Neil-White
Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Thomas moved to Western New York at the age of 14. A graduate of Buffalo State College, he majored in Communications Studies and was part of the sports staff for WBNY. When not following his beloved University of Kentucky Wildcats and Boston Red Sox, Thomas enjoys coaching youth basketball, reading Tolkien novels and seeing live music.
See stories by Thomas O'Neil-White
Lack of criminal charges in Wardel Davis death leads to protest of Buffalo Police
Mike Desmond
An investigation into the death of a Buffalo man who died while in police custody has resulted in no criminal charges against the two city police officers…
Hit-and-run driver gets prison time in pedestrian fatality
Mark Wozniak
A Buffalo man has been sentenced to one-and-two-thirds to five years in prison for leaving the scene of a hit-and-run accident that left a pedestrian…
Funds raised in Lehner's honor to be used for new K-9
Nick Lippa
It has been two months since Buffalo police officer Craig Lehner died during a training exercise in the Niagara River. On Friday, the K-9 division he…


Hitronics Technologies Inc. provides optics solution for telecom, industrial lasers, medical devices, and instruments.
As a world-class manufacturer of precision optics, we supply a wide variety of optical components & solutions with high quality and quick delivery.
With more than 250,000 square feet facility and 450 talented employees, we develop products and process from design to prototype as well as from pilot to massive production.
Courtesy of baidu, use these online maps and driving information.


text:
Q: Reload bxSlider on window resize I use bxSlider on my website. The slider should reload on window resize. With the code i actually use the slider is loadad on load and resize. But the slider is not reloaded but loaded the second time. So i have 2 loaded sliders. I need just to reload the slider and not load it again.
$(window).on('load resize', function () {
    /* BX SLIDER */
    $('#bannerslider').bxSlider({
        captions: true
    });
});

A: Used 2 callbacks from the bxSlider API:

*

*onSliderResize() When the resize event is triggered, reloadBX() will call .reloadSlider, store the current index in localStorage and retrieve it to maintain index position instead of starting at the beginning after a reload.

*onSliderLoad() When load event is triggered, checkBX() will check the height of bxSlider, and if it is collapsed (0px), it will invoke redrawSlider(). That will force a reset graphically until it succeeds in forcing bxSlider to wake up.
This Snippet works fast, so I setup the console to show that it is working. Review it in full page mode of course. If for some reason the Snippet is broken (it does at times), you can test the demo at Plunker
SNIPPET

<!doctype html>

  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <title>bxSlider Resize</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/bxslider/4.2.5/jquery.bxslider.css">

  <input id='cache' type='hidden'>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


to point to the traditional resolution of fairy tales, the And they all lived happily ever after ending. It can be written to motivate, educate or most commonly entertain. . Characters who make mistakes frequently pay, and, at least in fiction, commendable folks often reap rewards. Whether a character successfully overcomes his or her problem or is decidedly crushed in the process of trying is not as important as the fact that, one way or the other, it will finally be resolved.
A short story conserves characters and scenes, typically by focusing on just one conflict, and drives towards a sudden, unexpected revelation. This is not essay pros and cons of nuclear power normally the case with writing a story. One or more problems that keep a character from their intended goal. What does it look like? For those of you who are looking for more long-term writing strategies, here are some additional ideas. Students can even cut pictures from magazines to put a face to their character and allow their imaginations to fill in the rest of the details. You clapped your hands with joy. The purpose of a narrative is simple, to tell the audience a story. .


text:
Wales' tuition fee policy is 'unsustainable' and must change, finds report
Sir Ian Diamond said there was a 'lack of consensus on the way forward'
Tuition fees in Wales are coming under scrutiny
Sign up to FREE daily email alerts from Wales Online - Weekly Politics
Wales' costly tuition fee policy is "not sustainable" and "maintaining the status quo is not an option", contributors to a major review of student finance have warned.
Sir Ian Diamond , vice-chancellor of the University of Aberdeen, said there was a "lack of consensus on the way forward" but most respondents recognised "that difficult choices will have to be made".
Writing in his interim report, Sir Ian said many respondents to his call for evidence were of the view that, in light of sustainability concerns, "there is a need to revisit the tuition fee grant policy".
Currently a Welsh Government subsidy ensures students ordinarily resident in Wales pay around £3,500 a year for their studies wherever in the UK they decide to study.
Related: Wales is cutting funding to universities by a third - this is what it will mean for staff and students
According to its annual report, Hefcw – which finances higher education (HE) on behalf of the Welsh Government – shelled out £99.7m in tuition fee grants in 2012-13.
It paid £65m to universities in Wales and £34.7m to cover the cost of students learning at other UK institutions and senior academics have spoken out against the policy's "unintended consequence".
Sir Ian, who is leading a 10-strong panel appointed to review HE funding in Wales, said the nation's university sector had benefited from a net increase in income since the introduction of the current fees and funding regime.
More: Hard-up students consider quitting university amid cash problems, says NUS Wales
But he said there was concern, particularly among those within the HE system, about "a large and increasing funding gap" in the level of investment in HE in Wales compared to elsewhere in the UK.
"It is believed that this is affecting the ability of HE institutions to invest, which in turn is making institutions in Wales less competitive and less able, therefore, to respond to Welsh Government priorities," he said.
"There is a strongly held belief that the current HE sector funding and student finance regime in Wales is not sustainable into the future.
"Many respondents are of the view that, in light of sustainability concerns, there is a need to revisit the tuition fee grant policy – an even-handed response was noted in this regard."
Related: More Welsh students are going to university - but still room for improvement
He added: "The majority of respondents who expressed a view believe that maintaining the status quo (maintaining current arrangements) is not an option.
"There is, generally, a lack of consensus on the way forward. Most respondents recognise, however, that difficult choices will have to be made."
Sir Ian's interim report, designed to fuel party manifestos ahead of the Assembly election, will be supplemented and published in full in September 2016.
Education Minister Huw Lewis said: "Since April 2014, Sir Ian Diamond and his review panel have made good progress in reviewing a wide range of evidence and data relating to the HE sector and to HE funding.
"Sir Ian's summary report, which we are publishing today, summarises the evidence considered by the panel between April 2014 and September 2015.
Education Minister Huw Lewis
"The report identifies the key themes arising from that evidence, however it does not make any judgement about the validity or significance of that evidence.
"Nor does it seek to represent the review panel's view or provide any recommendations. These will be presented in the final report which will be issued in September 2016."
Shadow Education Minister Angela Burns said the report's findings supported the Welsh Conservatives' call for change.
She said: "This blunder has always been a misguided vanity project and the evidence against it continues to pile up.
"Labour's current policy only serves to gather vast amounts of Welsh public money and dump it at the front door of English universities.
"All the while, our HE sector continues to struggle. It's unfair – it's disadvantaging Wales – and it's got to stop."


text:
How was Slack Developed?
By Thi Thuong To
"I Slacked you" may still be a confusing phrase to many, but not for long. With its instant messaging convenience, Slack is designed to keep your attention within its confines, which sometimes comes at the expense of actually getting any work done. Slack has the primary form of workplace communication to many organisations, reducing the email traffic and connecting remote team.
While Slack's track record is interesting, it is background history of Slack – and how the suite of tools offered by Slack – that makes the story so interesting. Let's start from the beginning.
Slack was originally developed as a solution to a problem for game developers. In 2011, Tiny Speck was developing the online game ''Glitch'' and found that there wasn't a team collaboration tool on the market that met their needs. So they created one! Through this, Slack was born. In the first 24 hours of its launch, 8,000 companies signed up for Slack in 2013.
The tool was called Slack, and it soon became the focus of the company after developers saw the potential. They renamed their company Slack Technologies, and began to market their new product. The core team was drawn from the founders of Flickr, leveraging their Silicon Valley network to build out the new venture. In 2014, Slack raised $120 million, giving the company a whopping valuation of $1.12 billion and Slack became the fastest company in history to achieve a billion dollar valuation.
In 2015, Slack acquires Screenhero (YC W13) to add screen sharing and voice chat to its work messaging platform. In the same year, they hit 1.1 million users and got over $25 million on the revenue. The next year, the platform exceeded 2.7 million daily active users, 800,000 of which were paid. In addition, it raised $200 million in funding, bringing the company valuation to over $3.8 billion. This came as both Facebook and Microsoft launched new workplace collaboration software to compete with Slack.
In 2017, Slack launched enterprise grid, a new set of tools focused on bringing in lucrative corporate clients. It raised even more money, bringing the valuation to $5.1 billion.
In 2018, the competition was heating up. As a result, Slack bought both HipChat and Stride from Atlassian and migrated users to its platform. While Slack's user count had been explosive, it still wanted a boost to bring in enterprise clients.
The fast-growing company began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on April 26 2019 to grow the corporate chat platform into even more offices, let alone lexicons. The jury is out on whether Slack, reportedly used by 12 million people, is a good thing for productivity and communication.
To understand how this incredible venture was developed over the course of history, we look at three key components making up Slack that we know and love today:
Slack Platform
Slack Technology
Slack Architecture
1. Slack Platform
Essentially, Slack aims to become the aforementioned digital office. At its core, it's a rather simple messaging app. Slack offers organisations the use of public chat rooms organised by topic, private groups, and direct messaging. The accessibility of each user can be defined by an administrator, and set according to their role in the company. It includes public channels such as #random that allow a team to "chat over the watercooler", offering a vital outlet for non-work discussion.
New users are invited into teams by being sent a simple URL. Although Slack was designed as an organisational interface, its use is slowly morphing into more and more of a social one, with niche groups creating their own teams where they can meet and talk with like-minded people. Slack simply aims to replace the mess of phone calls, texts and emails with a simple, centralised place for your organisation to collaborate. Everything on Slack is searchable, meaning less confusion and more efficiency.
Web App, Mobile Apps and Desktop Apps
Slack can be found everyone. You can access Slack on any mobile device, in the browser, and from standalone desktop applications.
For the Web, Slack is based on a mix of JavaScript/ES6 and React.js. When Slack created the Windows application, they couldn't use the existing codebase. In order to make the platform is available on all the devices you can think of. Slack decided to use cross-platform development tools like Electron.
Slack's desktop application is built using Electron AKA Atom shell, for a faster, frameless look with a host of background improvements for a superior Slack experience. The Electron framework lets Slack write cross-platform desktop applications using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. It is based on io.js and Chromium and is used in the Atom editor.
Slack's original desktop app was written using the MacGap v1 framework using WebView to host web content within the native app frame. But it was difficult to upgrade with new features only available to Apple's WKWebView and moving to this view called for a total application rewrite.
However, when Slack looked into how to modernize the Mac app, moving to a unified codebase across Mac, Windows, and Linux was an easy choice with Electron.
Although Slack Desktop takes a hybrid approach, most of their assets and code are loaded remotely, combining the rendering engine from Chromium and the Node.js runtime and module system. The new desktop app is now based on an ES6 + async/await React application, which is currently being moved gradually to TypeScript.
Electron functions on Chromium's multi-process model, with each Slack team signed into a separate process and memory space. It also helps prevent remote content to directly access desktop features using a feature called WebView Element that creates a fresh Chromium renderer process and assigns rendering of content for its hosting renderer. Additional security can be ensured by preventing Node.js modules from leaking into the API surface and watching out for APIs with file paths.
Communication between processes on Electron is carried out via electron-remote, a pared-down, zippy version of Electron's remote module, which makes implementing the web apps UI much easier.
Finally, for Android, Slack is built by a mix of Java and Kotlin, and for iOS it's written in a mix of Objective-C and Swift.
Where Slack separates itself from many other chat apps is the option for Slack integrations to other services. Major integrations include Google Drive, Trello, Dropbox, GitHub, Mailchimp and Zendesk, although there are hundreds in total.
Integrations with for example SocialWall has turned Slack from a private team collaboration service into a public team display service, with the #random channel or a channel devoted to important team announcements being able to be displayed on any web-connected screen, no matter how widely dispersed your team may be.
To construct Slack bot, there are different alternatives to pick in programming dialect. The decision will contrast by the support given by these stages. The main consideration in choosing the programming dialect will rely on upon the upheld APIs utilized by the stages.
Additionally, Slack gives support for various languages for creating bots on its stage including Node.js (JavaScript) and Python.
The programming language which are for the most part utilized as a part of building up the bots for Messenger, Telegram and Slack incorporate Python, PHP, Java, Node.js, C#, Objective-C, Swift, and Go.
2. Slack Technology
With the overview of all the different applications making up Slack's platform, we now dive into the technology that powers all the messages, files and calls in Slack's backend and database.
Slack's team uses PHP and Java on the backend. Slack's JavaScript framework is a homespun mixture of jQuery, pure JavaScript, and an in-house plugin called Monkey scroll.
They use Apache Lucene for searching and Fastly as their CDN. Their desktop apps are built with Electron AKA Atom shell.
Slack is built on PHP, using MySQL as the database, Smarty templating for the view side of things and everything is hosted on Ubuntu servers.
They help verify that the data remains intact and stored safely at all times. Yet, even with the best efforts to prevent errors, inconsistencies are bound to creep in at any stage. In order to test the code in a comprehensive manner, Slack developed a structure known as a consistency check framework based on PHP and MySQL.
This is a responsive and personalized framework that can meaningfully analyze and report on the data with a number of proactive and reactive benefits. This framework is important because it can help with repair and recovery from an outage or bug, it can help ensure effective data migration through scripts that test the code post-migration, and find bugs throughout the database. This framework helped prevent duplication and identifies the canonical code in each case, running as reusable code.
The framework was created by generating generic versions of the scanning and reporting code and an interface for checking code. The checks could be run from the command line and either a single Slack team could be scanned or the whole system. The process was improved over time to further customize the checks and make them more specific. In order to make this framework accessible to everyone, a GUI was added and connected to the internal administrative system. The framework was also modified to include code that can fix certain problems, while others are left for manual intervention.
For Slack, such a tool proved extremely beneficial in ensuring data integrity both internally and externally. Slack is inconceivably prominent nowadays. It's a stage for in-organization correspondence through visit informing, and a naval force of outsider combinations. It's so straightforward, and effective. It goes to show you that it doesn't take the latest hype languages or frameworks to build a great product. PHP cops a lot of smack, but Slack have a great product and PHP doesn't seem to have inhibited their success.
It's ironic that the de facto demo app that shiny modern tools show off to prove their viability is an instant messaging app, but that the number one app for business messaging, Slack, is built of tools that are much older.
3. Slack Architecture
Slack needed to pick an infrastructure partner that could support the exponential growth they were experiencing. Amazon's AWS is the cloud provider to supply i2.xlarge Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) instances for their LAMP stack, Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) for user's file uploads and static assets, and ELB to Load Balance workloads across their EC2 instances.
For security, Slack went with Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) for controlling security groups and firewall rules and AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) for controlling user credentials and roles.
In 2018, Slack signed an agreement with AWS to spend at least $50 million a year over five years, for a total of at least $250 million, according to the company's filing with the SEC for a public stock listing.
In order to protect applications such as Slack from malicious activity, it was crucial to monitor the infrastructure at all times. The best way to do this was through a centralized logging system and Slack enables the same through tools such as StreamStash, Elasticsearch, and ElastAlert.
StreamStash is a Node.js based service for log aggregating, filtering, and redirecting. It transmits outputs to ElasticSearch, which is an open source full-text search engine using an HTTP web interface and schema-free JSON documents. It provides an almost real-time and scalable search to the user.
This helps users retrieve any log file at its most updated state almost instantly. ElastAlert helps provide alerts for anomalies, spikes and other curious patterns for data available in ElasticSearch. This robust system together ensured all the data was processed and collected by the application and can be studied and retrieved at a moment's notice for necessary action.
As the teams got bigger, the initial techniques for loading and maintaining data did not scale. To fix this, a system to lazy load data on demand and answer queries was developed. Some critical problems faced at this juncture were: connection times started to take longer, client memory footprint was large, reconnecting to Slack became expensive.
So then, Slack clients connected to Flannel, an application-level caching service developed in-house and deployed to their edge points-of-presence which in turn gathers the full client startup data opening a WebSocket connection to Slack's servers in the AWS regions.
Flannel then returns a slimmed down version of this startup data to the client, allowing it to bootstrap thus ensuring the Slack client is ready to use. Flannel ran in Slack's edge locations since January 2017 serving 4 million simultaneous connections at peak and 600k client queries per second. With Flannel, the payload size needed for client bootstrap reduced considerably. In all Flannel played quite a role in making Slack faster and more reliable.
In a video of the series "This is My Architecture", Richard Crowley, Director of Slack Service Engineering shows us how they use Cloudfront, HAProxy, ELB, EC2, and Route 53 to make all of this happen.
As of 2017, Slack was handling a peak of 1.4 billion jobs a day, (33,000 jobs every second). Until recently, Slack had continued to depend on their initial job queue implementation system based on Redis.
While it had allowed them to grow exponentially and diversify their services, they soon outgrew the existing system. Also, dequeuing jobs required memory that was unavailable. Allowing job workers to scale up further burdened Redis, slowing the entire system.
Slack decided to use Kafka to ease the process and allow them to scale up without getting rid of the existing architecture. To build on it, they added Kafka in front of Redis leaving the existing queuing interface in place.
A stateless service called Kafkagate was developed in Go to enqueue jobs to Kafka. It exposes an HTTP POST interface with each request comprising a topic, partition, and content. Kafkagate's design reduces latency while writing jobs and allows greater flexibility in job queue design.
JQRelay, a stateless service, is used to relay jobs from a Kafka topic to Redis. It ensures only one relay process is assigned to each topic, failures are self-healing, and job-specific errors are corrected by re-enqueuing the job to Kafka.
The new system was rolled out by double writing all jobs to both Redis and Kafka, with JQRelay operating in "shadow mode" – dropping all jobs after reading it from Kafka. Jobs were verified by being tracked at each part of the system through its lifetime.
By using durable storage and JQRelay, the enqueuing rate could be paused or adjusted to give Redis the necessary breathing room and make Slack a much more resilient service.
Slack has ascended to end up plainly the web's most famous corporate talk customer. It's adored for its exquisite, bubbly interface and huge amounts of delightful little co-operations all through the application. Clearly that level of users traction indicates something good is happening with this increasingly ubiquitous app bringing all the communication together in one virtual place.
There's no arguing that Slack is a great product. Everyone seems to be raving about the magical team chat app that boosts productivity overnight. But it has got some criticisms. For example, continually checking in or switching on notifications on Slack can be damaging to your productive flow when doing an intensive piece of work.
However, the problem with Slack is not in the tool itself, but rather in the way people use it. No matter how powerful a tool is it will fail you unless you know when to use it. For many teams Slack has been hailed as the saving grace to their communication and productivity faults. Is it time that we start to rethink how and when we use Slack.
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