the women whose ceremony we attended were beautiful. my friend from high school, patsy, has always been gorgeous. and she wasn't backing down on her wedding day, let me tell you. she and her partner were lovely.
the group of people assembled to support these two women...again...it was a beautiful thing. amazing. i get a lump in my throat all over again thinking about it.
our friend who sang...more beauty. her best friend that we got to meet...again...beautiful person.
hanging out with my spouse...now this one surprised me for some reason. but we had so much fun... i didn't realize how long it had been. well, a night away together sans kids...this was our first. but we haven't even really been out on a date in awhile. and these women kept telling us how cute we were together...how perfect for each other we are. it was hilarious. and flattering, too, i must admit. we would look at each other..."wow! did you hear that? do we really still have it?..." it was so....healing.
so all in all, we're staying with the gift that keeps on giving theme on the weekends. it was a lovely wedding/commitment ceremony for two very beautiful people...and the love and the warmth and the goodness that was the sum total of all assembled in honor of and for the cause of and inspired by these women....well, that was just a testimony to the good that just is. and it just keeps going...can't seem to help itself.
I missed it! I'll have to listen again!


Dr Paul Watt (Monash University) and Dr Christopher Wiley (University of Surrey).
Although genres of life-writing occupy a prominent position in artistic and literary fields, as well as in the publishing lists of academic and trade publishers, musical biography has historically held an uncertain place within Musicology. Still, musical biography and autobiography have long been important sources for a wide range of readers including students, scholars, programme-note writers and makers of films, documentaries and YouTube channels.
The Research Network will further develop this burgeoning area of study though collaborative, interdisciplinary and international engagement.


The CNMI will be hosting the 20th Annual Micronesian Cup from October 26 to 29 and residents are encouraged to cheer for the home teams.
"CNMI teams have been preparing and training hard and are expected to perform well," Andrew commented when asked about his hopes for the Commonwealth paddlers.
Andrew added that their paddlers have been doing sprint and long distance training three to four times a week, and that each training session usually lasts about two to three hours. In addition to water-based training, some of the competitors have figuratively and literally gone the extra mile by doing land-based training to ensure that their endurance and conditioning are at its peak when it matters most.
Marianas Pacific Paddlers and Micronesian Games veteran Lorenza Aldan, on the other hand, shared that their squad has also been training hard and they hope to put on a good show for the 2018 Micronesian Cup.
When Aldan was asked about the overall team morale heading into the Micro Cup, she replied with pride.
The 500m and long distance relay for the one-man rudderless canoe races for men, women, junior boys, and junior girls will take place on Oct. 26. The 500m and 1,000m six-man outrigger canoe races for the men, women, open mixed, junior boys, junior girls, and junior mixed crews will be he held on Oct.27, while long distance races for the six-man outrigger canoe races are set for Oct. 28.


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Underground Knowledge group membership tops 6,000 on Goodreads
Posted: August 11, 2017 in Underground Knowledge
Tags: Amazon, citizen journos, conspiracy theories, Goodreads, Goodreads groups, journalists, media studies, news, reporters, underground knowledge
Membership of our global Underground Knowledge discussion group on Goodreads.com has topped 6,000, making it one of the biggest and fastest-growing groups on the giant Amazon-owned literary site for authors and readers.
The group's impressive growth reflects the popularity of its below-the-radar and often contentious subject matter, its active discussion threads and its advertised willingness to accommodate all viewpoints. No topic is off limits for our Undergrounders (members).
The Underground Knowledge group's most active discussion threads include:
Is President Trump for the common people? Or has he secretly been installed by the 1% elite? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18333157-is-president-trump-for-the-common-people-or-has-he-secretly-been-instal / A glimpse of the future? (star towers, free energy, revolutionary medicine, Space colonization, technology to reverse global warming & other scientific inventions to come?) https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/18477864-a-glimpse-of-the-future-star-towers-free-energy-revolutionary-medici / Was 9/11 a false flag attack and 'Inside Job'? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2071995-was-9-11-a-false-flag-attack-and-inside-job-poll-50-of-you-say-yes / Meditation, Yoga and intelligence https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2084575-meditation-yoga-and-intelligence / Are vaccines for kids as safe as Big Pharma claims? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2270994-childhood-immunizations—-are-vaccines-for-kids-as-safe-as-big-pharma / Operation Paperclip / Project Paperclip declassified (The US/Nazi post-WW2 collaboration) https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1956855-operation-paperclip-project-paperclip-declassified-the-us-nazi-post-w / Are aliens visiting Earth or not???? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/1966591-are-aliens-visiting-earth-or-not / Universal income https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/17903916-universal-income / Where do you guys get your daily news from? https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/12074389-where-do-you-guys-get-your-daily-news-from
Our polls are popular, too. Our current poll asks members: Is North Korea a genuine threat to world peace? Or is it an exaggerated threat? Interim results show 51% believe it's exaggerated, 30% say it's genuine and 19% aren't sure.
Poll respondents' comments are worth viewing. To view them, or better still to have your say, go to: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/142309-underground-knowledge-a-discussion-group?type=group
Alternative books are featured as well. They include:
Check these and others out at: https://www.goodreads.com/group/bookshelf/142309-underground-knowledge-a-discussion-group?shelf=read
And then there's our alternative videos covering everything from 9/11 to unsolved mysteries, mysterious deaths, aliens and genius intelligence. View these at: https://www.goodreads.com/group/142309-underground-knowledge-a-discussion-group/videos/list
What's our definition of underground knowledge? Essentially the term covers details, concepts and little-known events usually not reported in mainstream media, or, if they are, they're underreported for various reasons.
The Underground Knowledge group has been designed to encourage debates about important and underreported issues of our era. All you need is an enquiring mind and a desire to gain or share underground knowledge.
Our Undergrounders include award-winning authors and journalists, teachers and students, serving and former members of the armed forces, housewives and house husbands, former intelligence operatives, doctors, surgeons, lawyers and other professionals, globetrotters and backpackers, scientists and unemployed people.
Everyone's welcome! Come visit us at: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/142309-underground-knowledge-a-discussion-group
Cover reveal for paperback version of next Morcan novel — Silent Fear
Is North Korea a genuine threat to world peace? Undergrounders say no!

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I'll come right out and say this before I start; This bottle was a fair few months old so I knew the hop flavour and aroma would have taken a hit. Still, going in with that in mind, I found there was a nice balanced sweet, dank aroma of ripe grapefruit, peach, orange and melon. There was some pine there as well. There was definitely a sweet brioche malt presence like you'd expect from an East Coast IPA. None of these aromas blew my socks off but I was under no illusions that this was a result of the age of the bottle. There was a tiny amount of booze on the nose but nothing to write home about.
Flavour wise, I was pretty surprised at how much hop character remained. It was sweet from the heavier malt backbone but those hops still punched through with dank, resinous pine, mango, grapefruit, pineapple. orange and melon. There was a good crisp, dry bitterness in the finish that was really nice after the sweetness up front. The 9.4% was almost undetectable. I've had 4% beers that have tasted more boozy but it somehow still hung on to a medium to big body and sticky mouthfeel. I get the feeling that this beer has aged the way you'd want a barley wine to age. The hops have dropped off and lost a bit of the aggressive edge and have left the sweet malts to come through and deliver wintery, ripe fruit and sweet bread flavours.
I can imagine what this would have been like fresh and, honestly I don't feel cheated by the hop dial being turned down here. I can only speculate but I imagine the flavour would have been a little too astringent and dry early on. I would like to have hung onto the punchy aroma though.


In poems ranging from fantasy and verses for the young to ballads, love lyrics sonnets and religious poetry, Rossetti was regarded was by many of her contemporaries as Britain's finest living poet.
Christina Rossetti was first published at the age of 17 and from there went on to publish hundreds of poems; the majority religious and this may dissuade those who don't hold with religion from reading her work, all I can say is please don't let it.
One of my favourite pieces of her writing is 'Goblin Market', the tale of two sisters Lizzie and Laura, and their almost fatal encounter with the goblin men. On first read I found it to be quite confusing, but the more I read this poem the more I came to realise that it was a morality tale, and that the broken rhythm in which it was written was as compelling and tempting as sin itself. It is full of a sexual innuendo that makes it hard to ignore, even more so when these innuendo lay next to implied religious imagery. However, like most poems the interpretation and intent of the poetry is dependent on the reader, and another may read this poem and come away from it with a totally different picture and meaning in their mind.
Another of my favourite pieces of Ms. Rossetti is 'Remember'. It is beautifully written and covers the subject of death and grieving. I first read this poem shortly after I had lost my Father, and it struck such a chord in me that I immediately started devouring all and any works by this poet. Even though years have passed since I picked up any of her writings, reading this collection has reminded me why I enjoy poetry as much as literature.
Trying to review a collection of poems is difficult under any circumstances, but to give the poetry in this collection the reviews they truly deserve I would have to write about each one individually, and that would result in there been no need for anyone to pick it up and read them. The Project Gutenberg edition (see link above) is considerably longer than the edition I have listed the ISBN for, and contains a larger selection of Ms. Rossetti's poetry. In my opinion, the 'Gutenberg' collection gives a better reading experience than the short collection I've based my review on here, and is worth the time to download. It is also broken down into easy to reference sections including devotional pieces, so if the reader wishes to skip these particular works, they may.
I would recommend this short collection to any who may have heard of Christina Rossetti but have not yet read her work, but for a more extensive collection would highly recommend downloading the version from Project Gutenberg. Yes, some of the poems are a little difficult to understand; yes, there is a religious theme in most of her work and yes they can be highly emotional to read, however, what they are not is a waste of time.
the knuckled, scraping wait for spring's mud-brown.
You bend your mind to months of hunkering down.
outward you bound to boisterous winter sports!
Joy! when the frozen stiffs stagger indoors!
cold attics. Traffic slogs and spins awry.
The bus slings up a wad of slush at an eye.
that famous moonlight. Snow sculpting the trees.
Benches, fences slathered like wedding cakes.
Streetlights. Indigo dark, and the clean flakes.
keen to itself: the sweep of easy wind….
You load the chafing dish. You light the sterno.
where Hell is cold. Where cold is the heart of Hell.
As April is National Poetry Month and I have been reading a lot of poetry recently, I decided that starting today every Wednesday will be given over to poetry; sometimes well established poets and sometimes, as with today's poem, a new name on the poetry scene. I hope you will enjoy reading these poems as much I am enjoying finding them.
I can feel the golden warmth awakening my paper.
then why don't I want to write?
we must give it love, anger, sadness, assurance, care.
scratching the surface until we are content.
it is alright to stare at the white blankly.
tomorrow, a month, who knows?
Shopping for the bibliophile in your life can often be daunting enough when you are an avid reader, but non-readers are often left trying to find their way through the wilderness without a map when it comes to this task. The most obvious answer is, of course, books however, I love receiving reading or book accessories especially if they are unusual and/or fun. Below is a list of seven sites that I have personally used, not only to buy gifts for myself but for my book loving friends, and I have never been disappointed.
Yes, it is part of Amazon, but for those of us who enjoy audio books, this site is excellent. They carry more than 40,000 titles in all genres that you simply download. They have two plans, each one available on a monthly or annual basis. And if you want to, you can easily cancel. The folks on Audible are extremely accommodating when it comes to cancelling and restarting membership, as I've done this several times over the course of my membership I can vouch for the ease of which both be done.
Giant upholstered furniture for kids who love to read. They focus on commercial and public places, but if your child's room is big enough these pieces would be wonderful. Although aimed at the library or a school, these items would be ideal to give interest to a reading room/study in your own home. We will be renovating an attic soon, and 'The Hobbit' book bench would be ideal for the window alcove there.
The Bodleian Library, the chief among all Oxford University's libraries, offers a fantastic array of gifts for the book-minded including home accessories, stationery, bookplates, journals, jewellery and more. I love this store and, although some of the items can lean towards the higher price range, you always know that you are going to receive a top-notch quality item for the price paid. Shipping is pretty speedy too.
I have a thing about bookmarks, and although I possess an irrational number of them, I have you add one of these to my collection. Metal bookmarks that hook over the spine of a book have been named hookmarks by this company who makes a wide range of wonderful designs. I absolutely adore the treble clef hookmark, but if music isn't your thing then they also feature ones with holiday, wedding, animals, nature, hobbies, spiritual, coin and other themes. Very nice, and not too expensive.
Like the Bodleian Library Store mentioned above, this site has high quality bookish gifts, and the Library of Congress is definitely worth checking out. Again, they can lean towards the pricey end of the market, but as I said for the Bodleian you will be receiving a product that reflects the price paid for it.
This website is an "emporium of handcrafted art objects from the hand of Pasternak." That's Robert Pasternak, a Canadian artist whose work is wonderfully original. Among the crafts that booklovers will find of interest are a set of Chicklet-sized books, a miniature book the shape of a stick of chewing gum, and a bacon bookmark. This bookmark is the real thing—or at least as near as you want bacon to get to your books. It's die-cut and looks so real you may be tempted to eat it. Don't. It's the perfect gift since it also opens up into a greeting card.
If you don't find anything in this small, tried and tested selection then head on over to Bibliobuffet, where they have a more extensive list which includes some of the above sites and many more.


Salvation And Survival: New Definitions of "Church"
It's been ten years since we've seen such glorification of the Star Wars movie franchise. Apparently, the latest episode of the movie epic has broken all kinds of records for advance ticket sales. You might be asking, "Why should this be of any interest to us? Aren't there more important things that should occupy our minds?" Well, did you know that there is actually a religion inspired by the fictional warriors who battle the Dark Side? It is called the Church of Jediism. I kid you not!
Although Jediism started as a joke when people listed it as their religion during the 2001 census, the organization (which takes itself seriously) now lists 250,000 members, with an alleged 1,000 members signing up daily as excitement built toward the release of the latest movie, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
So, what exactly does the Church of Jediism promote? Its followers say that it is "a set of philosophies based on focusing, learning and becoming one with the Force". Of course, my first question is what do they define as "the Force"? Apparently, it is "a unifying energy, which everything exists within, around and always returns to." That sounds harmless enough -- until it isn't. In other words, anytime a person opens themselves up to worshipping anything, there is danger of it becoming a false idol, or god, and it becoming "charged" by the real Dark Side.
The founders of the Church of Jediism claim that they do not believe the Star Wars films to be real, and say, "Although Jediism was inspired by the beliefs of the fictional Jedi, we do not believe the Star Wars films – they are entirely fictional." Be that as it may, you better believe that those who are deluded enough to actually sign up as members of this "Church" believe they are following an actual "faith", and the Enemy is only too happy to step through that open door that has been opened.
You see, there is a ten-week training course involved in becoming a member of the organization, and meditation is a key tenet. The "Church" actually says, "Our minds are like sponges which soak up information daily. In order to keep our minds 'clean', we must 'rinse' them of negative Force." But anytime there is a vacuum, something will fill that space, so what is replacing the "negative Force"?
The first clue that following this philosophy is a false religion is that a belief in God is optional. The group says: "There are no strict rules in Jediism, as we believe in freedom and so joining the Church of Jediism would not pose any restrictions on your life. " Oh, I get it ... you can believe in anything! And things like morality and righteousness and holiness are all subject to interpretation. This may all seem like silliness to you, but I guarantee that there are those who will see themselves as "disciples" of this "Church", and there are spiritual entities that are only too happy to lead them down a false path.
While the Church of Jediism may never gain a strong foothold in the American conscious, we better be paying attention to the legitimacy being given to the Church of Satan. Lisa Ling, an actress and self-appointed reporter, appeared on an episode of CNN's This is Life to present her analysis of a story where a woman viewed Satanists as defenders of "civil rights" and joined their group because, as a mother, she blamed the "imposition of Christian values" at school for her gay son committing suicide.
Ling actually had the audacity to say that she visited a Satanic temple and they do not literally worship Satan. Rather, according to her "wisdom", "More than anything, they really are kind of a political action group, and they exist to protest the imposition of what they say are Judeo-Christian values on our political system, in our politics, and in public life." And here's where she is an exceptionally useful tool for that very Satan she says isn't being worshipped: "And, interestingly enough, even though this group has chosen Satan as the head of it, a lot of these issues right now, the idea of respecting people of other faiths, especially during this time, a lot of these issues are relevant right now because there's a lot of scrutinization of people who espouse different beliefs, if you know what I'm talking about. So, even though this group is trying to use one symbol, really they're trying to get people in this country to recognize and appreciate people of all different faiths."
CNN then gives more legitimacy to Ling and her ridiculous claims by allowing her to report on a Satanic temple member named Michael, who had constructed a "Snake-tivity" symbol using a snake to represent Lucifer. Michael had sought to display it next to a Nativity Scene outside the Michigan state capitol. The degree to which Ling is being deceived can be recognized in this statement: "As a skilled artist, Michael is now using his craft to stand with the temple and their fight for religious freedom. When the Michigan state capitol put up a Nativity scene during Christmas time, the Satanic temple placed their own symbol of faith on the state capitol lawn. And Michael helped design it." Then, Michael, the self-proclaimed Satanist, shows the audience what he believes as truth: "The snake itself is to be representative of Lucifer when he chose to lead man to knowledge in the Garden of Eden. We support the idea of Lucifer as a metaphorical figure and his influence on man." (If you want to see Michael's heretical work of art, you can click here. I do not want to promote it on my blog).
But here is the real tragedy of this ridiculous story... Michigan state lawmakers approved a request by Christians who wanted to erect a Nativity scene at the Capitol. The caveat? Because no permanent displays are allowed on Capitol grounds someone would have to set up and tear down the Nativity scene each day. That person never came forward! The Satanic Temple, on the other hand, did have people willing to put in the work each day. And therefore, the profane image of a snake wrapped around the Satanic cross, and presenting a book as a holiday gift, will appear on the lawn of the state capitol during this holiday season.
Furthermore, the false church of Satan promotes this sacrilegious display by declaring, "Just as the Nativity represents a mythology of the birth of Christ, the Snake is symbolic of the birth of human enlightenment and liberation. Happy Holidays from The Satanic Temple of Detroit!"
So, as you can see, the idea of "Church" has been corrupted in our modern culture. Its original context was clearly defined by Christ as a group of people called out by Him for a special purpose; a new society of which Jesus was the founder and which was knit together by the closest spiritual bonds. To be called His "Church" means that we have received the Divine call to partake of the blessings of the redemption and salvation offered by His sacrifice on the Cross.
But as Michael, the Satanist, spoke on CNN, now the idea of "Church" can be defined anyway one desires: "Other religions can be accepted as well, and have their own displays. There can't be one dominating voice to all the voices (my emphasis)." Lisa Ling then goes on to exploit the whole litany of "tolerance" and "acceptance" of all religions, and espouses that this group is just "trying to use one symbol, really they're trying to get people in this country to recognize and appreciate people of all different faiths." She says this politically correct garbage, while at the same time, she promotes her special The Belief of Satanists, in which she is only too happy to promote the Satanic Temple as a new religious movement, where followers believe devoutly in the seven tenets of the Satanic Temple. "But they don't actually believe in the Devil or Satan or any other deity." Sure, Lisa!
But before I leave this sad and tragic topic, I would like to point out to Michael, the Satanic "artist", and Lisa Ling, the deceived "reporter", that there IS one dominating voice among all the voices. And it is not the god of Jediism, or the deceitful snake who offers his false gift of knowledge. It is the voice of Yahweh, the One True God. His sheep hear His voice. He knows them and we follow Him. All those other voices that you want to let in and give equal time to will just lead you astray. Take my word for it. Better yet, take His Word and hear it!
John 8:47 "Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God."


Tickets to Club Villain can be purchased for $99 per person, tax and gratuity included. Reservations are recommended and can be made up to 90 days in advance, either by booking online or by calling (407) 939-3463.
Thus far, the event is only scheduled for Saturday evenings beginning January 16th, starting at either 7:45PM or 9:15PM, depending on park hours for that day.


The domain within your query sequence starts at position 183 and ends at position 239; the E-value for the RRM_1 domain shown below is 8.6e-6.
Many eukaryotic proteins containing one or more copies of a putative RNA-binding domain of about 90 amino acids are known to bind single-stranded RNAs [(PUBMED:3072706), (PUBMED:3192525), (PUBMED:3313012)]. The largest group of single strand RNA-binding proteins is the eukaryotic RNA recognition motif (RRM) family that contains an eight amino acid RNP-1 consensus sequence [(PUBMED:2470643), (PUBMED:2467746)]. RRM proteins have a variety of RNA binding preferences and functions, and include heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteins (hnRNPs), proteins implicated in regulation of alternative splicing (SR, U2AF, Sxl), protein components of small nuclear ribonucleoproteins (U1 and U2 snRNPs), and proteins that regulate RNA stability and translation (PABP, La, Hu) [(PUBMED:3192525), (PUBMED:3313012), (PUBMED:2467746)]. The RRM in heterodimeric splicing factor U2 snRNP auxiliary factor (U2AF) appears to have two RRM-like domains with specialised features for protein recognition [(PUBMED:15231733)]. The motif also appears in a few single stranded DNA binding proteins.
The typical RRM consists of four anti-parallel beta-strands and two alpha-helices arranged in a beta-alpha-beta-beta-alpha-beta fold with side chains that stack with RNA bases. Specificity of RNA binding is determined by multiple contacts with surrounding amino acids. A third helix is present during RNA binding in some cases [(PUBMED:8290338)]. The RRM is reviewed in a number of publications [(PUBMED:1716386), (PUBMED:15853797), (PUBMED:16387655)].


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Gemini Observatory: Exploring The Universe From Both Hemispheres
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A Rotating Compact Nuclear Stellar Cluster in NGC 4244
Based on laser guide star adaptive optics (LGS-AO) -fed integral field spectroscopy with the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIFS) at Gemini North, Anil C. Seth of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and his collaborators demonstrate that the massive nuclear stellar cluster at the core of the spiral galaxy NGC 4244 is strongly rotating.
Most late-type spiral galaxies and early-type galaxies have prominent nuclear star clusters (NSCs), i.e. a significant conglomerate of stars about the same size (~ 5 parsecs) as normal globular clusters. Furthermore, the masses of NSCs are coupled to the mass of their host galaxy, following the similar mass vs. velocity dispersion relation known for massive black holes. This suggests that the formation of NSCs and black holes are linked to the formation of their host galaxy. However, unlike that of black holes, the assembly history of NSCs can be inferred from studies of their kinematics and stellar content.
NGC 4244 is beautiful edge-on galaxy located at 4.3 Megaparcecs (14 million light-years away, Figure 1). It harbors a tiny but impressive NSC that shows a clearly flattened shape in HST optical imaging (Figure 2) and the reconstructed K-band NIFS image (Figure 2b).
Figure 1. SDSS g-r-i' band image of the late-type spiral NGC 4244 seen edge-on. The NSC is visible as a small, almost point-like, white spot at the center.
Figure 2. HST optical image of the flattened nuclear central cluster in NGC 4244.
Figure 2b. Reconstructed K-band image of the nuclear stellar cluster from NIFS data cube.
Using the powerful adaptive optics spectro-imaging technique offered by NIFS the team, led by Seth, explored the kinematics and stellar content of the NSC. The infrared domain allows a more direct view of the center of the galaxy because it is less sensitive to extinction by dust. The most significant finding by the team is that the NGC 4244 NSC is strongly rotating at about 30 kilometers/second within the central 0.5 arcsecond or 10 pc (~32 light-years) radius. The NIFS measurements show clearly that this rotation is shared by both the younger disk component and the older, more spheroidal component (Figure 3). The central cluster is not counter-rotating as seen in some other systems.
Assuming a Keplerian rotating disk, the rotation amplitude suggests a mass of 1.7 million solar masses enclosed within the central 8 parsecs (~25 light-years). Detailed dynamical modeling of the system will help to place constraints on the presence of any black hole inside the cluster.
Figure 3. Top - Color show the measure radial velocity observed with NIFS. Blue approaches, green/orange recedes. Rotation of ~30 kilometers/second is clearly visible along the major axis. Bottom – Velocity dispersion across the NSC derived from NIFS measurements. The contour shows the K-band infrared light surface brightness from NIFS. Flattening of the NSC is obvious.
The NIFS observations also confirm the existence two different star populations in the NSC as found from earlier HST optical data and analysis. The separation of the two different components in the spectra enables the determination of both component's kinematics. Among the various models that explain the formation of NSCs, the authors favored episodic accretion of gas and young star clusters from the larger galaxy disk.
For more details, see the article "The Rotating Nuclear Star Cluster in NGC 4244", by Anil C. Seth, Robert D. Blum, Nate Bastian, Nelson Caldwell and Victor P. Debattista, The Astrophysical Journal, 2008, in press.
Gemini's mission is to advance our knowledge of the Universe by providing the international Gemini Community with forefront access to the entire sky.
The Gemini Observatory is an international collaboration with two identical 8-meter telescopes. The Frederick C. Gillett Gemini Telescope is located on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i (Gemini North) and the other telescope on Cerro Pachón in central Chile (Gemini South); together the twin telescopes provide full coverage over both hemispheres of the sky. The telescopes incorporate technologies that allow large, relatively thin mirrors, under active control, to collect and focus both visible and infrared radiation from space.
The Gemini Observatory provides the astronomical communities in six participant countries with state-of-the-art astronomical facilities that allocate observing time in proportion to each country's contribution. In addition to financial support, each country also contributes significant scientific and technical resources. The national research agencies that form the Gemini partnership include: the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the Canadian National Research Council (NRC), the Chilean Comisión Nacional de Investigación Cientifica y Tecnológica (CONICYT), the Brazilian Ministério da Ciência, the Argentinean Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Productiva, Tecnologia e Inovação and the Korea Astronomy and Space Institute (KASI). The observatory is managed by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. (AURA) under a cooperative agreement with the NSF. The NSF also serves as the executive agency for the international partnership.
Last Modified: April 19, 2018, xzhang


By Guillaume Fort. A Letter of Request is a formal request from a court in one country to the appropriate judicial authorities in another country requesting service of process. Although statutory authority generally refers to the instrument as a "letter rogatory", the terms "letter rogatory" and "letter of request" (which is used specifically in the Hague Evidence Convention of 18 March 1970) have come to be virtually synonymous in actual practice.
The French Foreign Ministry refers all incoming Letter of Request to the Ministry of Justice, which forwards them to the Public Prosecutor (hereafter the "Ministère Public") attached to the "Tribunal de Grande Instance" to which they are addressed.
Then, the "Ministère Public" forwards the letter to the proper court and so informs the requesting authority. The "Ministère Public" makes sure that enforcement of the Letter of Request will not infringe on French sovereignty, security and public policy.
Incoming Letters of Request are always transmitted to the President of the court. Generally, he assigns to one judge of his court to execute them.
Pursuant to article 9 of the Hague Evidence Convention, "the judicial authority which executes a Letter of Request shall apply its own law as to the methods and procedures to be followed.
The judicial authority shall inform the requesting authority of the time when and the place where, the proceedings will take place, in order that the parties involved, and their representatives, if any, may be present. This information shall be sent directly to the parties or their representatives when the authority of the State of origin so requests.
Under article 731 of French Civil Procedure Code ("Code de procédure civile"), parties are not requested to be represented by a local lawyer. Parties may, with the judge's approval, ask questions, expressed or translated in French. The same rule is applicable for answers.
The "Ministère Public" shall ensure that enforcement of Letters of Request comply with the general principles for the conduct of proceedings set out in articles 1 to 24 of the Civil Procedure Code. Under article 744 of the Civil Procedure Code, any violation of those principles allows the "Ministère Public" and any interested parties to request the judge to report back on any measure taken by him or to cancel totally or partially any act in relation with the enforcement of Letters of Request.
Although the majority of Letters of Request is enforced without question, the proper court who receives this act from the "Ministère Public" is not bound to execute it under articles 743 and 745 of the Civil Procedure Code. The court may still determine whether or not their execution would violate French public policy or be otherwise illegal.
In Paris, the enforcement of Letters of Request is usually ensured by the same judge, who is an expert in these matters. The judge, by order, sets a day for the execution of the Letters.
The execution of the Letter of Request shall not give rise to any reimbursement of taxes or costs of any nature.
- report (or refuse to report) back on any measure enforcing the Letter of Request and already taken by an incompetent court, initially assigned on the Letter.
The delay of appeal is of fifteen (15) days following the delivery of the decision.
In France, areas of material jurisdiction are related to the nature of the dispute. When there is a dispute between two commercial companies, commercial courts should be competent according to article L721-3 of the Commercial Code ("Code de commerce").
Since The Hague Evidence Convention was brought into force, the French practice, regardless of the existing rules, was to assign Letter of Request to French civil courts ("Tribunal de Grande Instance"), which have experience in this matter.
Pursuant to article L441-1 of the Code of Judicial Organization ("Code de l'Organisation Judiciaire"), any court of first instance may, by a decision not opened to appeal, request the opinion of the French Supreme Court ("Cour de Cassation") in respect of questions of law which are new, particularly difficult and raised in numerous cases.
In the end, the French Supreme Court should examine this issue and decide whether the pragmatic approach on jurisdiction of civil courts shall prevail instead of the legal competence of commercial courts regarding the nature of the dispute and the parties.
 Convention of the taking of evidence abroad in civil or commercial matter concluded 18 March 1970.
 Neither the Hague Evidence Convention nor the Civil Procedure Code give a definition of the term "representative". However, it appears that parties may be assisted by a foreign lawyer of their choice, provided that this lawyer is well-qualified in his country.
 The term « parties » means all parties to the proceedings and their representatives and also persons to be examined.


Our Gatwick store is one of our new Electric Bike Superstores, offering a comprehensive range of e-bikes, along with 48 hour test rides on our demo fleet, so you can experience the fun of adding a motor to a bike, before you commit to making a purchase. Backing this up is a fully equipped workshop with the diagnostic equipment to service all major brands, so you can be safe in the knowledge that you will have the support if you need it down the line. Of course, e-bikes aren't for everybody and we certainly haven't neglected more traditional styles of bike, with over 140 on display and direct access to our main warehouse with thousands of bikes and accessories you will be sure to find what you need. As the store can be extremely busy we would recommend giving the team a call first if you want to test a specific bike, or why not use our Click & Collect service to order at your leisure.
Airport and railway station are less than two miles away.


It's useful for digital designers and marketers to understand consumer's preferences when it comes to smartphone operating systems. So, what's happening in the mobile device market? Which smartphone OS is leading from a pure sales perspective? Let's take a closer look.
The latest smartphone OS sales data from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech shows Android sales declined in the US, GB, and France, as iOS continued to make gains across most regions in the three months ending November 2016. That is the sixth consecutive period of decline in the US for Android.
While Android decreased in the US over the past year, the brand new Pixel phone by Google made strong gains, rising to 1.3% of sales in the three months ending November 2016, with more than half of that business done through Verizon, according to the report.
This data may influence how you design and market mobile experiences (be they apps or websites) and so it's important to remember from a strategic standpoint.
One of the more interesting data points in the report is that Japan is the only country where iOS leads Android.


JERUSALEM – The Israeli military says it has shot down a Syrian aircraft that infiltrated its airspace over the Golan Heights.
The military says a "Syrian aircraft infiltrated into Israeli air space" on Tuesday morning. It says the military "intercepted the aircraft in mid-flight, using the Patriot air defense system."
The military wouldn't say what type of aircraft was downed and says the circumstances of the incident are "unclear."
A defense official identified the plane as a Syrian MIG fighter jet. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
Israel has largely stayed on the sidelines of Syria's civil war raging across the border. But Israeli leaders appear increasingly nervous about the possibility of al-Qaida-linked fighters occupying the Golan's high ground over northern Israel.


text:
Q: How to set PYTHONHASHSEED environment variable in PyCharm for testing Word2Vec model? I need to write a fully reproducible Word2Vec test, and need to set PYTHONHASHSEED to a fixed value. This is my current set-yp
# conftest.py
@pytest.fixture(autouse=True)
def env_setup(monkeypatch):
    monkeypatch.setenv("PYTHONHASHSEED", "123")

# test_w2v.py

def test_w2v():
    assert os.getenv("PYTHONHASHSEED") == "123"
    expected_words_embeddings = np.array(...)
    w2v = Word2Vec(my_tokenized_sentences, workers=1, seed=42, hashfxn=hash)
    words_embeddings = np.array([w2v.wv.get_vector(word) for word in sentence for sentence in my_tokenized_sentences)])
    np.testing.assert_array_equal(expected_words_embeddings, words_embeddings)

Here is the curious thing.
If I run the test from the terminal by doing PYTHONHASHSEED=123 python3 -m pytest test_w2v.py the test passes without any issues. However, if I run the test from PyCharm (using pytest, set up from Edit Configurations -> Templates -> Python tests -> pytest) then it fails. Most interestingly, it doesn't fail at assert os.getenv("PYTHONHASHSEED") == "123", but it fails at np.testing.assert_array_equal(expected_words_embeddings, words_embeddings)
Why could this be the case, and is there a way to fix this issue?

A: You can't set PYTHONHASHSEED in Python code; it needs to be set before the Python interpreter starts, because that's the only time it's consulted by the interpreter. You could possibly set it globally, before launching PyCharm, or there may be a PyCharm option to set environment variables for whatever execution environment you're triggering from PyCharm. (See for example: How to set environment variables in PyCharm? )
But more generally, you generally shouldn't be trying to make your gensim Word2Vec tests this deterministic.
If whatever you're testing is that sensitive to exact parameters – because only an exact seeding & (much slower) single-threaded training gets within your chosen tolerances, or gets an exact answer you copied from an earlier run – then you're not really verifying the algorithm's contributions under the sorts of real randomness that it is typically subject-to. See more discussion in the gensim FAQ.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Bharti Airtel, the popular Indian telecommunications provider has launched 'Ultra-Fast 4G' services in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Monday. Airtel has turned out to become the first private telecom service company to launch high-speed 4G services in the islands. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi inaugurated the Submarine Optical Fibre Cable connectivity between Chennai and Andaman and Nicobar Islands today as part of the CANI project.
The Chairman of Bharti Airtel, Sunil Bharti Mittal said in an official statement that the fiber link in such a region will be a turning point. The statement further reads, 'The fiber link will be a game-changer for the region and unlock the true potential of 4G and even 5G in future for customers. We hope the Department of Telecom will accelerate the deployment of USOF for building such infrastructure backbone to complement the efforts of telecom operators to bridge the digital divide.'
Bharti Airtel has become the initial telecom firm in India to offer extremely fast 4G services in the union territory. The lightning-fast speed offered by Airtel's 4G network will render excellent digital experience to the tourists and it's subscribers on Andaman and Nicobar islands. The Chairman of the telecom company also thanked the Indian Prime Minister for launching this significant digital infrastructure.
The Submarine Optical Fibre Cable connects Chennai and Port Blair, as per the reports. The state-run BSNL has implemented this DoT-funded project within two years. This cable renders 400 Gbps of internet speed between the two key cities. The cable that has been set up through this project provides an internet speed of 200 Gbps between Port Blair and the remaining islands. The cable that has been set up undersea is available for a distance of about 2313 kilometers. The total distance will connect 7 islands of Andaman excluding the capital city Port Blair. The total of 7 islands includes Long Island, Swaraj Deep, Rangat, Kamorta, Little Andaman, Car Nicobar, and Greater Nicobar.
Airtel's 'Ultra-Fast 4G' Services Enhance Tourism & Job Opportunities
At the inauguration event, Narendra Modi stated that Andaman and Nicobar Islands play a vital role in the nation's development. It will be further increased as per the Act-East Policy of the country. Modi also said that this project will enhance internet connectivity in the islands. This, in turn, helps the people residing in the islands to utilize copious digital options like net banking, online education, e-commerce, and other telemedicine resources. Moreover, highspeed internet connectivity increases tourism by attracting a lot of tourists eventually increases employment opportunities to millions of people.
Modi further said that this move will make other telecom operators show their interest in providing telecom and broadband services on the islands. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited [BSNL] has already announced to revise its mobile plans in Andaman Nicobar Islands. The state-based telecom service provider mentioned that the data benefits on specific plans have been improved by about 8 times.
Bharti Airtel has been rendering it's services to the customers in Andaman and Nicobar Islands since 2005. With the launch of the ultra-fast 4G network in the islands, Airtel is seeking to reinforce it's bonding with the subscribers on the islands. In the imminent future, Andaman and Nicobar Islands will be developed as a key hub of Port Led Development, said Prime Minister Modi.
Besides Airtel, some of the most popular telecom service providers in India include Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Idea, and others. All these haven't announced their mobile plan services in Andaman and Nicobar till now. Get to know the latest developments in the field of telecommunications on this website.


text:
Q: How to fix "mount_smbfs: server connection failed: No such file or directory" Use command "mount_smbfs //username:password@server/Shared /Volumes" to connect with Windows Server, but it return with "mount_smbfs: server connection failed: No such file or directory"
>>mount_smbfs //username:password@server/Shared /Volumes
mount_smbfs: server connection failed: No such file or directory

I can not use "Finder->Go->Connect to Server" neither. Each server I connect to as "smb://server" would return an error "There was a problem connecting to the server".
Beside, I could ping the server successfully.

A: The real problem is that SMB didn't work in My Mac, and someone give a workaround to fix it.
You can visit it


text: C Sharp part one

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: how to update tax amount with custom price in magento 2 HOW TO UPDATE TAX WITH CUSTOM VALUE IN CART OR CHECKOUT.My requirement was when customer click add to cart and he move to cart that time i want to update tax with some API so do the needful.

A: One approach is :
You can try to overide the default collect total tax function.
Add this dependency :
<preference for="Magento\Tax\Model\Sales\Total\Quote\Tax" type="Vendor\Module\Model\Tax\Sales\Total\Quote\Tax"/>

Create you own Quote Tax Collection function based on native one.
Add your logic inside the collect function.
Example :
/**
 * Custom Collect tax totals for quote address
 *
 * @param Quote $quote
 * @param ShippingAssignmentInterface $shippingAssignment
 * @param Address\Total $total
 * @return $this
 * @throws RemoteServiceUnavailableException
 */
public function collect(
    Quote $quote,
    ShippingAssignmentInterface $shippingAssignment,
    Address\Total $total
) {
    $address = $shippingAssignment->getShipping()->getAddress();

    $storeId = $quote->getStoreId();

    if ($this->doNotUseCustomTax()
    ) {
        return parent::collect($quote, $shippingAssignment, $total);
    }

    $this->processCustomTax($quote);

    return $this;
}

A:   public function collect(
    \Magento\Quote\Model\Quote $quote,
    \Magento\Quote\Api\Data\ShippingAssignmentInterface $shippingAssignment,
    \Magento\Quote\Model\Quote\Address\Total $total
) {

    $this->clearValues($total);
    if (!$shippingAssignment->getItems()) {
        return $this;
    }

    $x= $quote->getItems();
    if (isset($x)) {
        foreach ($x as $item) {
            $g = $item;
            $y = $item->getSku();
            $y = $item->getProductId();
        }
    }

    $baseTaxDetails = $this->getQuoteTaxDetails($shippingAssignment, $total, true);
    $taxDetails = $this->getQuoteTaxDetails($shippingAssignment, $total, false);

    //Populate address and items with tax calculation results
    $itemsByType = $this->organizeItemTaxDetailsByType($taxDetails, $baseTaxDetails);
    if (isset($itemsByType[self::ITEM_TYPE_PRODUCT])) {
        $this->processProductItems($shippingAssignment, $itemsByType[self::ITEM_TYPE_PRODUCT], $total);
    }

    if (isset($itemsByType[self::ITEM_TYPE_SHIPPING])) {
        $shippingTaxDetails = $itemsByType[self::ITEM_TYPE_SHIPPING][self::ITEM_CODE_SHIPPING][self::KEY_ITEM];
        $baseShippingTaxDetails =
            $itemsByType[self::ITEM_TYPE_SHIPPING][self::ITEM_CODE_SHIPPING][self::KEY_BASE_ITEM];
        $this->processShippingTaxInfo($shippingAssignment, $total, $shippingTaxDetails, $baseShippingTaxDetails);
    }

    //Process taxable items that are not product or shipping
    $this->processExtraTaxables($total, $itemsByType);

   $total->setTaxAmount(2000);
   $total->setGrandTotal($total->getBaseGrandTotal()+2000);

    //Save applied taxes for each item and the quote in aggregation
    $this->processAppliedTaxes($total, $shippingAssignment, $itemsByType);

    if ($this->includeExtraTax()) {
        $total->addTotalAmount('extra_tax', $total->getExtraTaxAmount());
        $total->addBaseTotalAmount('extra_tax', $total->getBaseExtraTaxAmount());
    }

    return $this;
}

The above code works for me.


text:
https://acpinternist.org/archives/2022/06/improving-trainee-well-being-vital-to-medical-culture.htm
Well-being | June 2022
Improving trainee well-being vital to medical culture
Three steps can help.
COVID-19 has affected physician mental health in many ways, including an increase in burnout. This reversed a downward trend seen before the pandemic.
In 2017, 44% of physicians in one study reported at least one symptom of burnout, compared with 54% in 2014 and 46% in 2011, according to results published in the September 2019 Mayo Clinic Proceedings. But May to October 2020 found 48% of physicians and 51% of residents reporting burnout, according to results from the Coping with COVID-19 survey published in May 2021 by eClinicalMedicine. They reported anxiety at rates of 25% and 30%, respectively.
These data show the importance of reducing burnout and improving well-being, particularly among trainees, said Wei Wei Lee, MD, MPH, FACP, during her "Wellness of Learners: Teaching Them to Take Care" session at the Society of Hospital Medicine's Converge 2022, held in April in Nashville, Tenn.
"There's a real call to really prioritize physician mental health and well-being as COVID continues to morph and change," she said. "You could argue it's even put more stress on health care workers as we're trying to deal with the changing public health recommendations."
The stress of the medical profession is visible in the steady progression of burnout among trainees as they advance in their careers, said Dr. Lee, an associate professor of medicine and associate dean of students at the University of Chicago.
"When students enter medical school, the studies show that when compared to their age-matched peers, they have lower burnout, lower depression, and higher quality-of-life scores," she said. "And unfortunately, this trend is reversed by their second year of medical school, and these measures of distress increase in residency."
From there, burnout and work-life balance dissatisfaction peak around midcareer, about 10 to 19 years after residency, noted Dr. Lee. "There is something clearly damaging about the tunnel that we have created for medical education."
To help make the tunnel of training less damaging and improve trainee well-being, she offered three steps.
1. Recognize physician well-being as a priority.
Health care organizations should embrace the quadruple aim by formally integrating improved clinician experience into the triple aim of better outcomes, improved patient experience, and lower costs, Dr. Lee said. Several professional organizations, such as the Association of American Medical Colleges and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), have issued recommendations to help address well-being at both the trainee and faculty levels, she noted.
"The time to act for academic medical centers really is now," Dr. Lee said. "And also in whatever setting you're in, we are all leaders and have the ability to think about the change that we can enact in the circles that we practice in."
2. Build structures to address well-being.
She noted that the culture in medical education is starting to shift. "When I was a medical student and an internal medicine resident in New York City, there was no wellness committee, there was no talk of physician burnout or well-being," said Dr. Lee. "We have come a long way in recognizing that this is a real issue that we need to think about as a profession. It's a real threat, I think, to the work that we do and the meaning that we find in our careers."
These days, most medical schools have wellness programs. Dr. Lee and her research team surveyed 97 schools in the U.S. and Canada and found a formal wellness program at 93%, according to results published in the May 2021 Academic Medicine. However, while most of the schools had adequate preventative, reactive, and cultural programming, most respondents reported too little programming around structural and curricular initiatives. "The structural piece is where we're all, I think, still struggling," Dr. Lee said.
It's less clear how residencies are supporting wellness, she noted. "With ACGME regulations, all that has been built in their expectations for residency programs," Dr. Lee said. "But how that has been operationalized for our trainees, I think the data and the research are still lagging a little bit there."
Improving well-being relies most on an organization's culture and work environment, not its individual clinicians, she said. Drivers of both burnout and high professional fulfillment fall into three categories: a culture of wellness, efficiency of practice, and personal resilience, according to a model of physician well-being published in August 2017 by NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery.
"You'll notice that that self-care piece, that personal resilience, is the smallest part of this pie," she said. "We really need to think about implementing and thinking about cultural well-being and efficiency of practice to really be able to make a step towards addressing these issues for our trainees and for ourselves in our learning and work environments."
3. Address medical culture.
Burnout is a state of vital exhaustion that results from chronic workplace stress, and medical culture is partly to blame, Dr. Lee said. "We all know that in the culture that we operate and work in and train our students and residents in, there are things that are incredibly problematic."
These negative aspects include hierarchical structures with low tolerance for failure or vulnerability, stigma around mental health care, and the idea that patients' needs should always trump clinicians' well-being, she noted. While individual physicians cannot change the culture of their health systems overnight, they can start to create change on a micro level by acknowledging the mixed messages about well-being their trainees receive, Dr. Lee said.
"If you are feeling ill, sometimes we say, 'I'm glad you came in and prioritized your patients,' right?" she said. "So if it's important to take care of yourself and stay at home if you're unwell, are you going to be viewed as lazy or weak or putting that burden onto another colleague who's already overburdened?"
There's also the illusion of physicians "having it all together," leading them to avoid discussing challenges in work-life integration, including issues they face starting a family or finding child care, Dr. Lee said. This culture, in turn, may send trainees the message that they need to be focused on work at all times.
"Responding to emails at night, while you're on vacation, on weekends really sets the example that you might need to always be 'on,'" she said. "I think it's OK to respond to emails and messages while you're away, but I think you should be explicit that that's not your expectation of the learners or others who are reaching out to you."
In order to address these mixed messages, physicians' words and actions, as well as medical systems and curricula more broadly, must align with messages from leadership, said Dr. Lee, citing a perspective piece she cowrote, published in March 2019 by the Journal of General Internal Medicine. "Until such time as our actions match our messages, the intended goals of wellness training will go unrealized," the paper said.
Well-being resources from ACP
Visit ACP's Physician Well-being and Professional Fulfillment page to explore the College's collection of well-being resources.
New offerings in the I.M. Emotional Support Hub include self-advocacy resources for residents and fellows and resources to implement and sustain change.
The site also features a new advocacy toolkit for revising license and credentialing applications to remove stigmatizing questions about receiving mental health care or having a mental health diagnosis.
There are also several tools to help physicians design their own well-being programs, as well as well-being resources geared specifically toward medical students and residents.
Helping more patients quit smoking
FDA considers new approach to safe disposal of opioids
ACP Spotlight
Latest updates on ACP's priorities, initiatives


Customer Service Managers make sure that customer needs are being satisfied. They can be present at different organization levels, from head office to reception. Typical Customer Service Manager job duties are answering to customer inquiries, promoting products and services, handling correspondence, using digital technology to provide assistance to customers, offering compensation, guiding customer service staff, and updating their knowledge of customer service developments.
A sample Customer Service Manager cover letter containing comparable information is available below.
For help with your resume, check out our extensive Customer Service Manager Resume Samples.
With the enclosed resume, I would like to express my sincere interest in the Customer Service Manager position you have available. As an accomplished professional with experience maximizing customer satisfaction through customer service initiatives and dynamic team leadership, I possess a breadth of knowledge and talents that will allow me to contribute toward your success through this role.
My expertise lies in successfully maintaining superior customer relationships and providing outstanding service and support to meet, and surpass, expectations and requirements. Throughout my career, I have managed customer communications and initiatives to realize improved customer service, satisfaction, and retention. Additionally, my established success in effectively interacting with and leading teams positions me to make a significant contribution in this position.
Leading customer service team to win a national award for Best Customer Service for four consecutive years.
Leveraging excellent communication and relationship building skills—as well as an inherent ability to excel under pressure—to provide an unparalleled level of customer service and satisfaction.
Successfully ensuring top-flight customer service and satisfaction while driving staff training and development and team motivation.
Demonstrating excellent problem-solving, analytical, and interpersonal skills.
My proven dedication to optimizing customer care and leading top-performing teams will contribute immensely to the success of Sanlane Solutions in this role. Thank you for your consideration; I look forward to speaking with you soon.


text:
DEEP STATE BUSTED! New James O'Keefe video catches State Department employee bragging about resisting Trump
Posted at 9:49 am on September 18, 2018 by Greg P.
James O'Keefe's Project Veritas dropped a new video this morning, this time catching State Department employee Stuart Karaffa bragging about working for the Democratic Socialist of America while at his taxpayer-financed job as well as resisting the Trump administration wherever he can.
You see, he's not afraid to say such things in a public place because "it's impossible to fire federal employees." WATCH:
WATCH: @StateDept employee @stuartkaraffa admits to doing @DemSocialists work while on the clock, using taxpayer's dollars."I don't leave a paper trail…I have nothing to lose. It's impossible to fire federal employees." pic.twitter.com/0XSX0CudCl See more: https://t.co/rg6c42gvGS
— Project Veritas (@Project_Veritas) September 18, 2018
Highlights below via Project Veritas:
On his work with the Democratic Socialists of America:
"… I'm careful about it. I don't leave a paper trail, like I leave emails, and like any press s**t that comes up I leave that until after 5:30. But as soon as 5:31 hits, got my like draft messages ready to send out."
"You could put two and two together probably. With like web traffic…. So with web traffic, I mean I could make the case before a court of law that- I'm going to the Virginia sort of, campaign finance website- that I'm just interested in what people are doing politically. But if they also go and look at like DSA minutes and like Officer positions they'll be like, 'that's weird, you were the co-chair of the electoral caucus, and you spent three hours on a Virginia campaign finance website.'"
On oversight at the State Department which didn't catch his dual role:
"… somebody just rubber stamps [the form] and it goes forward… I don't know if [the ethics officer is] all there. He's so checked out…"
On the Trump administration:
"Resist everything… Every level. F**k sh*t up."
Well, someone will have a very bad day today.
'Imagine if this had been O'Keefe': News crew arrested at airport for taking #FakeNews to NEXT LEVEL https://t.co/W3IPP9na3z
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 19, 2018
WOW: O'Keefe video shows Twitter Trust & Safety Mgr. admit they try and silence Conservatives https://t.co/DCWHtYFzV4
James O'Keefe's Project Veritas fires back after NYT editor calls undercover vid 'mortal sin' and 'despicable' https://t.co/ietKGP1vRc
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) October 14, 2017
Historian takes first episode of Hulu's 1619 Project APART in thread and SCHOOLS Nikole Hannah-Jones


text:
Q: How to get logcat -v time in an Android App? I need to get logcat -v time from a device and save it to a text file in a SD Card. The problem is that my application freezes when I press the button to do it.
I understand that it might happen because logcat -v time keeps getting the log of all actions of the device, nonstop. And I need all this information. But I don't know how to code it correctly. Would anyone could help me, please?
Thanks in advance!
Here is my code:
btn_comeca.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {
            @Override
            public void onClick(View v) {
try {
                    Process process = Runtime.getRuntime().exec("logcat -v");
                    BufferedReader bufferedReader = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(process.getInputStream()));

                    StringBuilder log=new StringBuilder();
                    String line = "";
                    while ((line = bufferedReader.readLine()) != null) {
                        log.append(line);
                    }

                    try {

                        if (ContextCompat.checkSelfPermission(MainActivity.this, Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)!= PackageManager.PERMISSION_GRANTED) {
                            //Verifica permissão de gravar/ler
                            if (ActivityCompat.shouldShowRequestPermissionRationale(MainActivity.this, Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE)) {

                            } else {

                                ActivityCompat.requestPermissions(MainActivity.this, new String[]{Manifest.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE}, MODE_ENABLE_WRITE_AHEAD_LOGGING);
                            }
                        }
                        File caminho_arquivo = new File("/sdcard/ARQUIVOFINAL.txt");
                        caminho_arquivo.createNewFile();
                        FileOutputStream fileOutputStream = new FileOutputStream(caminho_arquivo);
                        OutputStreamWriter outputStreamWriter = new OutputStreamWriter(fileOutputStream);
                        TextView tv = (TextView)findViewById(R.id.texttext);
                        String texto = "";
                        //tv.setText(log.toString());
                        texto = log.toString();
                        //outputStreamWriter.append(tv.getText());
                        outputStreamWriter.append(texto);
                        outputStreamWriter.close();
                        fileOutputStream.close();
                        Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), "Text File Saved!", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                    } catch (Exception e) {
                        Toast.makeText(getBaseContext(), e.getMessage(), Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
                    }

                }
                catch (IOException e) {}
}

A: The problem may be: your logic works synchronously. You should never execute work like that in main thread, since it can lead to ANR (Android Not Responding).
There is plenty of ways to fix that, though. Since you are not using frameworks for multithreading (e.g. RxJava, you can read about it, if you are interested), you can use AsyncTask. You can place this in your listener.
EDIT: However, take a look at MVVM or MVP pattern and multithreading frameworks later. These things are widely used in production for executing different kinds of asynchronous tasks.
new AsyncTask<Void, Void, Void>(){
    @Override
    protected Void doInBackground(Void... params) {
        // Place your logic here
        return;
    }
}.execute();

A: Normal invocation of logcat won't every exit by itself.
Therefore your code will be forever stuck in your while loop.
As per https://developer.android.com/studio/command-line/logcat
Use the -d "Dump the log to the screen and exits." commandline option.
This is what I use in a similar method to display the logcat output in to a TextView


text:
Q: Extracting values between two delimiters for an entire column in SQL I am looking for a way to extract all substrings between two delimiters over an entire column.I have found ways to do this for each string separately, but I need something I can apply over the entire column.
For example if I have a column called "NAMES" that contains the below values:

*

*1235_brandon_098410090

*1242353_sam_1920420101222

*134214_kristein_39402384

I want my output to be

*

*brandon

*sam

*kristein

how do I do this?
I've tried this:
regex_substr(names,'_(.*?)_'
Query Error: error: function regex_substr(character varying, unknown) does not exist

A: In MySQL, I think you can use substring_index():
select substring_index(substring_index(names, '_', 2), '_', -1)

This extracts the second value delimited by underscores, which is what all the sample data suggests is needed.
EDIT:
Your error message looks like Postgres.  This is the equivalent in Postgres:
select v.*, split_part(names, '_', 2)
from (values ('1242353_sam_1920420101222')) v(names);

In Postgres, you can use substring() with a pattern as well:
select v.*, substring(names from '[A-Za-z]+')


text:
Category: RXR
Supplementary MaterialsSupplementary Video 1: (Still left) Txnip WT and (Right) Txnip KO mouse peritoneal macrophages were infected with GFP-expressing knockout (KO) macrophages and wild-type (WT) macrophages, KO macrophages were less efficient at destroying intracellular bacteria in the late phase, and their phagosomes failed to undergo appropriate acidification
Supplementary MaterialsSupplementary Video 1: (Still left) Txnip WT and (Right) Txnip KO mouse peritoneal macrophages were infected with GFP-expressing knockout (KO) macrophages and wild-type (WT) macrophages, KO macrophages were less efficient at destroying intracellular bacteria in the late phase, and their phagosomes failed to undergo appropriate acidification. the phagosomes, the pH of the phagosomal lumen, and the ROS levels in WT and KO macrophages upon treatment with bacteria. To decipher the pathways involved, specific inhibitors of the phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3K)/Akt pathway, V-ATPase, and caspases were employed. Based on our findings, we propose that the TXNIP-NLRP3 inflammasome-caspase-1 regulates NADPH oxidase to induce the acidification of phagosomes to clear bacteria in macrophages. Materials and Methods Animals The animal study was approved by the Institutional Pet Care and Make use of Committee from the Korea Analysis Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB-IACUC, acceptance amount: KRIBB-AEC-11044). All techniques had been performed relative to guidelines concerning the use of lab animals (Country wide Institutes of Wellness). WT C57BL/6 mice had been extracted from the Korea Boc-NH-PEG2-C2-amido-C4-acid Analysis Institute of Biotechnology and Bioscience, and KO mice had been ready as previously defined (16). All mice had been housed within a pathogen-free pet facility under a typical light-dark routine with regular rodent chow and drinking water supplied at indicated ratios (macrophage:bacterias CFU) at 37C for 30 min. Following the incubation, cells had been washed 3 x with frosty PBS to eliminate remaining bacterias, as well as the cells had been scraped. For the recognition of remaining bacterias in mouse peritoneal macrophages, cells had been incubated with GFP-expressing at 37C for 1 h and cleaned five moments with cool PBS. After that, the culture moderate was changed with RPMI supplemented with 10% FBS, 1% Antibiotic-Antimycotic (Thermo Fisher), and 10 g/ml gentamicin to inhibit the development of extracellular bacterias for the indicated intervals. Cells had been analyzed immediately utilizing a FACSCanto II stream cytometer (BD), and the info had been processed utilizing the FACSDiva software program (BD). For the treating inhibitors, cells had been incubated with 10 M wortmannin (Selleckchem) or 20 nM bafilomycin A (Selleckchem) for 30 min prior to the addition of bacterias. For the phagosomal maturation assay using pHrodo? Crimson Bioparticles, cells had been plated in 48-well-plates at 2 105 cells per well and incubated with pHrodo? Crimson Bioparticles at 20 g per well on the indicated intervals. Following the incubation, cells had been washed 3 x with frosty PBS and immediately analyzed utilizing a FACSCanto II stream cytometer (BD). Immunostaining Cells had been immunostained as previously defined (22). Peritoneal macrophages (1 105 cells per well) had been plated on circular cup coverslips in 24-well-plates and incubated with bacterias multiplicity of infections (MOI) of 10. For the phagocytosis of yellow-green fluorescent FluoSpheres beads of size 2.0 m (Thermo Fisher), peritoneal macrophages were plated on circular cup coverslips in 24-well-plates and incubated with 5 105 beads/ml per well for 1 h at 37C. After incubation, the cells had been washed with frosty PBS, set for 15 min at area temperatures (RT) in 4% paraformaldehyde, and washed again with cool PBS then. Before staining with principal antibodies, cells had been permeabilized for 10 min at RT in 0.2% Triton X-100 in PBS and incubated overnight at Boc-NH-PEG2-C2-amido-C4-acid 4C with principal antibodies particular Mouse monoclonal to CD55.COB55 reacts with CD55, a 70 kDa GPI anchored single chain glycoprotein, referred to as decay accelerating factor (DAF). CD55 is widely expressed on hematopoietic cells including erythrocytes and NK cells, as well as on some non-hematopoietic cells. DAF protects cells from damage by autologous complement by preventing the amplification steps of the complement components. A defective PIG-A gene can lead to a deficiency of GPI -liked proteins such as CD55 and an acquired hemolytic anemia. This biological state is called paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH). Loss of protective proteins on the cell surface makes the red blood cells of PNH patients sensitive to complement-mediated lysis for Light fixture1 (Abcam) as indicated. Cells had been then cleaned with PBS and incubated for 2 h at RT with Alexa Fluor 555-conjugated donkey-anti-rabbit IgG (Thermo Fisher). Nuclei had been stained with 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (Thermo Fisher). The cells had been imaged utilizing a 60 objective and an IX81 inverted microscope (Olympus). Pictures had been obtained utilizing the DP30BW camera (Olympus) and X-Cite? 120 XL source of light. The acquired pictures had been examined using Metamorph 7.1 plan (Molecular Gadgets). To count up the yellow-green fluorescent FluoSpheres beads, four regions of each picture field of bead-containing macrophages had been analyzed. For the inhibition of NADPH caspase-1 or oxidase, cells had been incubated with GFP-expressing bacterias for 1 h at 37C and incubated with 5 M diphenyleneiodonium (DPI; Selleckchem) and 10 M Z-VAD (Enzo) with 10 g/ml gentamicin for 6 h at 37C. Gentamicin Security Assay The success of bacterias was motivated with the treating gentamicin as previously defined (23). Quickly, mouse peritoneal macrophages had been incubated with or GFP-expressing for 1 h, and the moderate was changed with the main one formulated with 100 g/ml gentamicin to eliminate extracellular bacterias. For treatment with inhibitors, the cells had been incubated with 20 nM bafilomycin A (Selleckchem) for 30 min prior to the addition of bacterias. After Boc-NH-PEG2-C2-amido-C4-acid 1 h, the moderate was changed Boc-NH-PEG2-C2-amido-C4-acid with the new one containing 10 Boc-NH-PEG2-C2-amido-C4-acid g/ml gentamicin at the proper time. The cells had been cleaned with 1X PBS and lysed with 0.5% Triton X-100 in sterile water for 15 min at RT. Finally, the extract was plated onto LB agar plates and incubated at 37C overnight directly. Isolation of.
Phenylbutyrate (PBA) is a derivative of Butyric Acidity (BA), which has the characteristics of being a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor and acting as a chemical chaperone
Phenylbutyrate (PBA) is a derivative of Butyric Acidity (BA), which has the characteristics of being a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor and acting as a chemical chaperone. mevalonate pathway strongly involved in cancer cell survival. Here we differentiated the chaperoning function of PBA from the others anti-cancer potentiality by comparing its effects to those exerted by NaB, another HDACi that derives from BA but, lacking the phenyl group, cannot act as a chemical chaperone. Interestingly, we observed that PBA induced a stronger cytotoxic effect compared to NaB against U373 cells as it skewed the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) towards cell death induction, upregulating CHOP and downregulating BIP, and was more efficient in downregulating MVK. The findings of this study suggest that PBA represents a promising molecule against glioblastomas, especially those carrying mutp53, and its use, approved by FDA for urea cycle disorders, should be extended to the glioblastoma anticancer therapy. strong class="kwd-title" Keywords: PBA, HDACi, glioblastoma, mutp53, mevalonate kinase, UPR 1. Introduction Phenylbutyrate (PBA) is an aromatic short-chain fatty acid known to exert multiple benefic effects, as it holds anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. PBA and sodium butyrate (NaB) derive from modifications of Butyric Acid (BA) that, while maintaining the benefic pharmacologic properties of the molecule, increase its stability, thus rendering it more suitable for clinical use. Due to the addition of a phenyl group, PBA acquires TR-701 supplier also the capacity to act as chemical chaperone and may consequently help to restore the proper conformation of unfolded proteins, whose accumulation induces ER stress. ER stress/Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), usually activated in the cancer cells due to the intrinsic or extrinsic insults, may sustain cancer survival/chemoresistance [1]. Both PBA and NaB are histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACis), and as such, they could keep a solid anti-cancer potential [2], at sublethal doses also. Indeed, with genetic changes together, post-translational adjustments, including acetylation of histones and nonhistone protein, play an integral function in cancerogenesis [3]. PBA Interestingly, as an TR-701 supplier intermediate metabolite from the phenylacetate, continues to be previously proven to decrease proteins prenylation and cholesterol synthesis by inhibiting the mevalonate pathway [4]. This effect plays a part in the PBA-mediated anti-cancer impact, especially against gliomas [4] that relay a lot more than various other malignancies on cholesterol fat burning capacity [5]. Gliomas occur from oncogenic change of glial cells, more astrocytes frequently, and will behave either as low or as high intense cancers. The last mentioned are the glioblastoma multiform (GBM), which represents the most frequent type of gliomas in the adult inhabitants. Its prognosis is certainly worsened by the indegent response to radio/chemotherapies, which makes even more immediate the seek out new and far better treatments in TR-701 supplier a position to hinder its success. P53, a proteins that functions being a transcriptional regulator and has a pivotal function in the handles of loss of life/survival, is certainly deregulated in malignancies and particularly in GBM often. Indeed, just as much as 94% of cell lines of GBM harbor p53 mutations which correlate with GBM aggressiveness [6]. The mutations taking place in the p53 encoding gene in GBM are mainly stage mutations that influence the DNA binding area from the protein. They could lead not merely get rid of the oncosuppressor function of wtp53 but also result in gain oncogenic features (GOF), adding to GBM malignancy [6] strongly. Certainly, mutp53 may cross-talk with many pro-oncogenic pathways like the mevalonate and HSF/HSPs pathways to market cancer cell success [7]. Therapeutic techniques able to decrease the appearance of mutp53 TR-701 supplier may stand for a guaranteeing technique for the treating GBM. Among the substances regulating mutp53 stability, there are the HDACs, whose expression is frequently dysregulated in GBM. Importantly, the use of HDACis, besides reducing the acetylation of histones that leads to chromatin tightening and transcriptional repression, may also affect TR-701 supplier the acetylation Cd33 and expression of non-histone proteins including mutp53 and the proteins involved in increasing its.


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Farewell To An Unlikely Hero: Why 'Chuck' Packed Such A Potent Punch Chuck has never been much more than a blip in terms of ratings. But in a few ways, the story of this little spy comedy that could has been the story of some big changes in television.
Pop culture in high spirits
Farewell To An Unlikely Hero: Why 'Chuck' Packed Such A Potent Punch
January 27, 201212:59 PM ET
Linda Holmes
Yvonne Strahovski as Sarah Walker, Zachary Levi as Chuck Bartowski, and Adam Baldwin as John Casey in Chuck, which wraps tonight after five seasons. Jordin Althaus/NBC hide caption
Jordin Althaus/NBC
Tonight's double episode marks the end of Chuck, NBC's genial spy-nerd comedy that has existed on a perpetual cancellation bubble since its debut in 2007. Against overwhelming odds and in spite of eternally low ratings, Chuck's life and death speaks in surprisingly potent ways to how television is changing.
More than anything, Chuck is a story about the rise of the fan. Not only because the show has organized devotees — that's not new. (Forget that fact and feel the wrath of the indignant Star Trek fans who campaigned to save their show back in 1968 ) What makes Chuck fans different from most is that rather than just expressing the depth of their love, they tried to think pragmatically as well as passionately about keeping their show on the air.
It's a common internet truism that if you're not paying for ad-supported media, you're not the customer — you, as an eyeball to be advertised to, are the product. It's most commonly said about services like Facebook, but it's just as true of ad-supported television. And Chuck fans, in their businesslike enthusiasm, sold themselves as a product.
Specifically, rather than trying to prove how much they loved the show (which is what it demonstrates when you send a network nuts or Mars bars), they took their argument to a sponsor, Subway, when the third season was imperiled. Attacking sponsors who support shows to which you object is old news; enthusiastically presenting yourself as a potentially loyal customer was an approach that had never been deployed in a way that got so much attention. Even star Zachary Levi participated, marching a small army of fans to a Subway to participate in the campaign to buy a footlong sandwich on the night of the season finale, which fans called "Finale And A Footlong." In a five-part interview with Alan Sepinwall of Hitfix, Josh Schwartz, who co-created the show with Chris Fedak, calls it "the sandwich revolution."
Subway has remained a major sponsor of Chuck, and has been the beneficiary of winkingly obvious product placements that fans have basically promised to cheerfully tolerate. "They brought in Subway flatbread breakfast sandwiches!" says a character in this clip. "With Chipotle Southwest sauce!" When the show's most adoring, social-media-savvy fans see those Subway placements, they don't associate them merely with crude commercialism, but with a successful negotiation. The sponsor, who is normally seen as an intrusive, obnoxious presence in a television show, has managed to become part of the team that brings the show to the people who love it.
It's entirely overstating the case to claim that the fans who happily offered themselves up to Subway — or that the extensive social media campaigns that accompanied the Subway push — saved the show. Network decision-making is far more complicated than that. But what's important about the Subway campaign is that the fans saw themselves differently, not as people who had to beg for kindness from the network, but as people whose most important job was to prove their value to the sponsor. In the crude "you are the product" calculus, it's the difference between offering value to the people you are asking to sell you (the network) and offering it to the people you are asking to buy you (the sponsor).
Of course, Chuck fans became examples of the bad, as well as the good, developments in organized fandom. In their passion, they could be the worst kind of impatient and entitled viewers when it came to plot developments, as I wrote about in February of 2010. Their ability and eagerness to engage could be charming or insufferable, respectful or disrespectful of the creative people who worked on the show.
Chuck became an example of trends in writing about television, too. It benefited from a number of well-publicized appeals from critics for its renewal, led by Sepinwall, then of the New Jersey Star-Ledger, who wrote a list of six reasons to renew the show in April 2009. Many internet-dwelling TV critics spend more and more time not merely reviewing shows in a detached way but tracking their episode-by-episode progress. When that happens, some become less interested in tracking bad shows and focus on advocating for the shows they think are most valuable and perhaps most imperiled. Open letters in support of a show — not merely spotlighting its quality, but also highlighting the business reasons why renewing it makes sense — are a hallmark of this kind of approach.
Another reason Chuck stayed on the air speaks not to the growth of new kinds of support, but to the troubles at NBC. Like other low-rated but critically celebrated NBC shows including Community, Parks & Recreation, and Friday Night Lights, it seems impossible to imagine Chuck and its small-time ratings hanging around at a place like CBS. Chuck can only have benefited, in particular, from the disastrous primetime Jay Leno experiment that left the network scrambling to backfill five hours of its schedule in the spring of 2010, as well as the fact that the network seemed incapable of finding a hit. The fact that the network was looking for a lot of material seemed to ease the way for low-rated shows to perk along, but so, frankly, did the fact that the network took a giant public relations bath (rightly or wrongly) over its treatment of Conan O'Brien. Saving Chuck and Friday Night Lights perhaps bought them a tiny, tiny measure of goodwill. If your old show is likely to be tiny, but your new show is also likely to be tiny, you might as well be briefly liked.
The most painful Chuck lesson, though, is that renewal isn't always without strings. Some of the renewals have included substantial budget cuts and oddly-timed seasons that were longer or shorter than originally planned, which forced the writers to create a number of different episodes that could, if necessary, have been season (or series) finales, and that's not always good for storytelling. The budget cuts were visible to fans, both in a reduced presence for some of the supporting cast and in the scaling down of the action sequences. The show returned over and over, but it certainly took a few bumps along the way.
Ultimately, the story of Chuck is a happy one. It remained an upbeat, good-natured lark that could still pull off some effective drama, it bred a more strategic — or at least a more imaginative — kind of fan campaign, and while it's been creatively uneven at times, it's leaving at a time when its fans still love it, and you can get some will buy footlongs for this finale as well.


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Legislation: The laws are very strict, possesion of less than 3 oz is a misdemeanor that can result in up to a year in jail and a $1000 fine (although this basically never happens for just possesion). Just being under the influence can put you in jail for up to 90 days and $100 fine. Having more than 3 ozs is not recommended as this is a felony that results in up to 5 years of jail and $10,000. Overall though, the laws are more strict than they are actually enforced. Must judges will not send you to jail just for possesion of small quantities or being under the influence, but they can if they want.
Law enforcement: In Cody, the police are very serious about cracking down on marijuana in large part because there is a correlation between marijuana use and dealing and methamphetamine use and dealing (their main concern). If you smoke in public you will be busted if a cop sees you. There are also narcs that will try to ask you where to score weed and will arrest you or report you to the police.
Where to buy marijuana in Cody: Your only real chance is to ask around discreetly to people who seem that they would smoke weed. It's very hard to get weed without a hookup and even locals sometimes find it hard to get weed legally and have to travel to other cities. You could try asking the young adults that congregate in the downtown park late at night and during the evening but as a tourist your chances are not all that great.
Cody marijuana prices: Around $20 for a 1/4 oz of schwag (complete rip off coverd in seeds and dry as hell), proper bud, referred to as chronic can go for around $45 an 1/8 or so.


Vlkolínec is a 4.9 ha community forming an administrative part of the town of Ružomberok. It was historically referred to as a "street" of Ružomberok, yet is situated about 7 kilometres from the town itself, in the mountains of the northern part of central Slovakia. It is a remarkably well preserved rural medieval settlement featuring wooden architecture typical of hillside and mountain areas. Its layout, defined in part by the hilly terrain of the mountains of Veľká Fatra, features log houses situated on narrow lots with stables, barns and smaller outbuildings in the rear. A canalized stream flows through the centre of the village. The surrounding landscape is formed by narrow strips of fields and pastures with haylofts, protected from the north by the Sidorovo Hill.
Although the settlement has roots in the 10th century, its first records date to the late 14th century. The urban layout can be traced to this era as records indicate five streets in place by 1469. Most of the surviving buildings, however, date from the 19th century. These include 43 nearly intact homesteads that retain a multitude of archaic building elements, the Church of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary built in 1875, a bell tower built in 1770, and a school.
The settlement and its surrounding landscape form a balanced urban unit with a significant interaction between nature and humans. Vlkolínec represents the region's best preserved and most complex urban unit of original folk architecture consisting of wooden houses and outbuildings, the wooden bell tower and mural buildings of the church and school.
Criterion (iv): Vlkolínec is a remarkably intact rural settlement of a characteristic central European type with log-built architecture, which is often found in mountainous areas. The layout of the settlement has remained virtually unchanged and the architectural style has been fully retained. It is the best preserved and most comprehensive unit of its kind in the whole region.
Criterion (v): Vlkolínec is an outstanding example of a traditional Central European rural settlement, with 43 unaltered houses and ancillary buildings reflecting a multitude of archaic building elements, all set within a traditional farming landscape of strip fields which has become vulnerable due to the changed way of life.
All important elements necessary to convey the Outstanding Universal Value are contained within the boundaries of the property and Vlkolínec's delimitation and size are appropriate. A row of buildings that was destroyed by fire during the Second World War have not been replaced. The buffer zone, which includes the surrounding fields and pastures, safeguards the property's main views and prevents inappropriate developments.
The property is vulnerable to the impacts of tourism interfering with the inhabitants' everyday life. The settlement's character has been affected by the increase of temporary residents acquiring property for recreational purposes. In addition, outbuildings are particularly at risk due to high vacancy rates and lack of appropriate uses.
The historic character of the whole settlement featuring unaltered wooden log houses has been preserved primarily due to its isolated location. Authenticity of form and design is apparent in the original architectural style that survives virtually unchanged. Authenticity of use and function has been affected by modifications to building interiors in order to correspond with current dwelling standards.
The site has the highest form of monument protection enabled by the national legislation under the provisions of the Act No. 49/2002 Coll. on the protection of monuments and historic sites. In 1977 Vlkolínec was declared a Reservation of Folk Architecture which, in part, forbids any new construction. Most of the buildings within the site are protected as national cultural monuments. The site's protection is strengthened by the declared buffer zone (320.7 ha in size) and due to its location within the National Park of Vel'ká Fatra, it also falls under the provisions of the Act No. 543/2002 Coll. on the protection of nature and landscape. The overall responsibility for the preservation of the village and the surrounding area is vested with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Environment of the Slovak Republic respectively.
All planned activities on the site are liable to strict assessment of the project documentation done by the Regional Monuments Board Žilina, office in Ružomberok. Principles of Care for Historic Monuments in the Vlkolínec Folk Architecture Reserve (1981, updated 1995) define appropriate conservation methods and techniques applicable for properties both within the reserve and its buffer zone. Change of use of buildings is only permitted if there are no material changes and must be approved by the regional monuments board.
The majority of the properties within the site are in private ownership. Notable exceptions are the approximately 10 properties owned by the local government (Ružomberok Municipality) and the church which is owned by the Roman Catholic Church.
The site is regularly assessed and monitored, and measures to prevent any potential threats are taken. The site management follows the Management Plan and is conducted by the Town Council of Ružomberok in close cooperation with the respective national authority, the Regional Monuments Board Žilina, Ružomberok office. To facilitate its effective protection and enhance the public awareness of the site's values, Vlkolínec has been granted a specific statute by the town of Ružomberok.