text:
My Unanimous Supreme Court "Victory"
Last week, in Walker v. Martin, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously reversed a 9th Circuit habeas corpus ruling. I know what you're thinking: What else is new? But wait. Although the result in the case is pro-government, it turns out that the Court reaffirmed an important pro-habeas-petitioner principle--and did that unanimously too.
Martin was convicted of murder and robbery and sentenced to life imprisonment. After some procedural wrangling, he filed a state habeas petition seeking a new trial based on the claim that his lawyer had provided ineffective assistance of counsel, but he did so nearly 5 years after his conviction had become final. Instead of ruling that Martin had had constitutionally adequate counsel, the California Supreme Court dismissed his state habeas petition as untimely, under a state rule that requires that such petitions be filed in a "reasonable" time. Martin then made the same claim in federal court (as the federal habeas statute allows). California argued that Martin was not entitled to federal habeas relief because he had failed to preserve his objections by properly presenting them to the state courts. In habeas lingo, the state argued that Martin--having unduly delayed filing in state court--was "procedurally barred" from filing in federal court.
Under longstanding Supreme Court case law, when a state asserts a procedural bar of this sort, the federal courts do not grant habeas relief (absent exceptions not relevant here), so long as the state procedural rule which the habeas petitioner is alleged to have violated is "adequate." The core idea here is that states are entitled to insist that prisoners comply with their procedural rules for presenting claims, but that federal courts must be sensitive to the possibility of states making up bogus procedural rules to defeat federal claims. The "adequacy" inquiry guards against the latter possibility.
Martin argued--and the 9th Circuit agreed--that California's "reasonable time" requirement was so unclear in principle and was applied so inconsistently in practice that it did not constitute a bona fide state procedural rule. Instead, the 9th Circuit concluded, California was selectively or perhaps arbitrarily invoking the reasonableness requirement so as to defeat federal rights (like the right to effective counsel at issue in the Martin case).
The SCOTUS unanimously disagreed. A standard like reasonableness (as opposed to a rule like file-within-one-year) can be consistently applied, Justice Ginsburg explained for the Court, even though some relatively lengthy periods of delay are deemed reasonable while some relatively short periods of delay are deemed unreasonable. That's just part of what it means to have a standard, the Court concluded. And certainly, the Court said, California could deem a nearly five-year delay "unreasonable." Thus, the Court found that California's application of its procedural bar was in fact adequate.
So, how is this a victory for habeas petitioners? It's a victory insofar as Martin avoided losing in a more spectacular fashion. The warden and an amicus for him had argued that the Court should simply chuck the adequacy inquiry altogether, characterizing it as a relic of a bygone era when state courts were hostile to the assertion of federal rights. Alarmed by this suggestion, and concerned that abolition of the adequacy inquiry would wreak havoc with a larger set of doctrines governing Supreme Court jurisdiction, I filed a brief on behalf of myself and some other federal courts scholars urging the Court not to eliminate adequacy review of state procedural bars in habeas cases. And on that issue, we won! The Court said:
Today's decision, trained on California's timeliness rule for habeas petitions, leaves unaltered this Court's repeated recognition that federal courts must carefully examine state procedural requirements to ensure that they do not operate to discriminate against claims of federal rights.
That's a small victory to be sure, but in this business, you take your wins where you can.
Posted by Michael C. Dorf at 12:08 AM
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I have eaten here on a number of occasions and have always enjoyed the whole experience. The food was particularly good this time and I see a few new things on the menu so I will definitely be back again, probably quite soon. Great place to celebrate any occasion or just for a quiet night out.


my name is Behzad and actually I am working for a BI company in Hamburg.
Is it possible in Targit to open a report without recalculating it? I just want to open the report and want to see it as structure without any content. After applying some filter the report should be processed.
The reason is it seems that in first instance the report is rebuild (it's a quite big one) which lasts quite long, so I would prefer to do the filter settings in advance.
I do appreciate every hint for solving this.
In the Documents Smartpad you can right-click the report. From the right-click menu choose "Open -> Open without data"


text:
package com.amazonaws.services.config.model.transform;

import javax.annotation.Generated;

import com.amazonaws.SdkClientException;
import com.amazonaws.services.config.model.*;

import com.amazonaws.protocol.*;
import com.amazonaws.annotation.SdkInternalApi;

/**
 * ExternalEvaluationMarshaller
 */
@Generated("com.amazonaws:aws-java-sdk-code-generator")
@SdkInternalApi
public class ExternalEvaluationMarshaller {

    private static final MarshallingInfo<String> COMPLIANCERESOURCETYPE_BINDING = MarshallingInfo.builder(MarshallingType.STRING)
            .marshallLocation(MarshallLocation.PAYLOAD).marshallLocationName("ComplianceResourceType").build();
    private static final MarshallingInfo<String> COMPLIANCERESOURCEID_BINDING = MarshallingInfo.builder(MarshallingType.STRING)
            .marshallLocation(MarshallLocation.PAYLOAD).marshallLocationName("ComplianceResourceId").build();
    private static final MarshallingInfo<String> COMPLIANCETYPE_BINDING = MarshallingInfo.builder(MarshallingType.STRING)
            .marshallLocation(MarshallLocation.PAYLOAD).marshallLocationName("ComplianceType").build();
    private static final MarshallingInfo<String> ANNOTATION_BINDING = MarshallingInfo.builder(MarshallingType.STRING)
            .marshallLocation(MarshallLocation.PAYLOAD).marshallLocationName("Annotation").build();
    private static final MarshallingInfo<java.util.Date> ORDERINGTIMESTAMP_BINDING = MarshallingInfo.builder(MarshallingType.DATE)
            .marshallLocation(MarshallLocation.PAYLOAD).marshallLocationName("OrderingTimestamp").timestampFormat("unixTimestamp").build();

    private static final ExternalEvaluationMarshaller instance = new ExternalEvaluationMarshaller();

    public static ExternalEvaluationMarshaller getInstance() {
        return instance;
    }

    /**
     * Marshall the given parameter object.
     */
    public void marshall(ExternalEvaluation externalEvaluation, ProtocolMarshaller protocolMarshaller) {

        if (externalEvaluation == null) {
            throw new SdkClientException("Invalid argument passed to marshall(...)");
        }

        try {
            protocolMarshaller.marshall(externalEvaluation.getComplianceResourceType(), COMPLIANCERESOURCETYPE_BINDING);
            protocolMarshaller.marshall(externalEvaluation.getComplianceResourceId(), COMPLIANCERESOURCEID_BINDING);
            protocolMarshaller.marshall(externalEvaluation.getComplianceType(), COMPLIANCETYPE_BINDING);
            protocolMarshaller.marshall(externalEvaluation.getAnnotation(), ANNOTATION_BINDING);
            protocolMarshaller.marshall(externalEvaluation.getOrderingTimestamp(), ORDERINGTIMESTAMP_BINDING);
        } catch (Exception e) {
            throw new SdkClientException("Unable to marshall request to JSON: " + e.getMessage(), e);
        }
    }

}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
William Hamilton (Glasgow, 8 de Março de  1788 – Edimburgo, 6 de Maio de 1856) foi um filósofo escocês.

Em 1811 graduou-se advogado na Universidade de Oxford. Concorreu, em 1820, à cadeira de moral filosófica na Universidade de Edimburgo, mas não obteve sucesso. Entretanto, foi apontado para professor de história cívica na mesma Universidade no ano seguinte.

Contribuiu uma crítica ao "Curso de filosofia" de Victor Cousin para a revista Edimburgh Review, o que colocou-o em contato amigável com este autor. Seus artigos subsequentes sobre filosofia alemã estabeleceram sua posição de filósofo.

Em 1836, foi eleito para as cadeiras de lógica e metafísica na Universidade de Edimburgo. Seu conhecimento abrangia, além da filosofia, a anatomia e a fisiologia. Tornou-se conhecido por sua doutrina lógica da quantificação dos predicados. Tentou unir a linha de pensamento de Reid e da Escola Escocesa do Senso Comum com várias correntes filosóficas européias, especialmente com o kantismo.

Para Hamilton, pensar é condicionar, o que afasta qualquer possibilidade de se conhecer o incondicionado, o infinito, o absoluto, e estabelece a separação entre o domínio do conhecimento e o da crença.

Suas principais obras foram:

 Discussões sobre filosofia e literatura, (1852);
 A concepção do homem sobre a eternidade, (1854);
 Preleções sobre metafísica e lógica, (1859/60).

Filósofos da Escócia
Alunos do Balliol College
Naturais de Glasgow
!Mais Teoria da História na Wiki (Wikiconcurso de edição)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Here's a handy project file for you, a customizable neon sign. This free resource packs a powerful punch with loads of features for editing the text, details, wires, lights, camera – basically, it's completely customizable.
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text:
Man pleads no contest to sex crimes
By BY Examiner Staff • June 17, 2008 12:00 am
A former San Mateo County Probation Department employee accused of having sex with his underage charge in a South San Francisco parking lot last year took a plea deal Monday that ensures he will spend no more than two years in state prison.
Carlos Alberto Ordonez Jr., 25, pleaded no contest to one felony count of unlawful intercourse with a minor under 16, and one misdemeanor count of molesting a child. In exchange, prosecutors dropped an additional misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, said Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Baum, who prosecuted the case.
The former group supervisor at the Margaret J. Kemp Camp for Girls was arrested Feb. 23, 2007, by South San Francisco police after an officer saw him and the 15-year-old inside of a parked car in Oyster Point.
tbarak@sfexaminer.com
Tags: Bay Area News, Local

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I was talking to some friends in a bar about the wonderful walks around the countryside of West Northamptonshire, the Nene Way, Knightley Way, Jurassic Way and Grand Union canal as well as the many short walks around some of the county's most beautiful villages such as Badby, Welton, Newnham and Ashby St Ledgers.
One of the group, slightly the worse for wear, after having drunk too much of the counties finest ales, gave us his own words of wisdom on the subject, `One of the problems with planning a walk in the Northamptonshire countryside, is how do you get back to the start of the walk, because you have left the `bloody` car there!
It was an obvious point, many of the walks I have mentioned straddle the full length of the county, and arrangements have to be made to juggle walkers to and from the start and finish of the walk, to successfully complete it.
I began to consider whether it would be possible to circumnavigate my own town of Daventry, there are numerous brochures published by the county, available in all good libraries, describing both long and short walks around the West Northamptonshire villages, but no long walk in which you could leave your car at the start and collect at the end – a circular walk of Daventry, in fact!
The idea grabbed my attention, surely there are bridleways and footpaths which could be linked together to create a circular walk taking in some of West Northamptonshire's most beautiful villages , a village walk long enough to be a challenge for the hardiest walker, but not too far as to discourage the novice walker?
I dug out a copy of the OS maps for the local area and set about joining up the dots, a collection of footpaths and bridleways, creating a seventeen mile circular walk of Daventry, passing through seven villages, far enough out of town so as not to become embattled with urban traffic and housing, but close enough should walkers wish to join or finish part of the walk from the town itself, instead of walking the whole 17 miles.
You can obviously start at any of the seven villages along its route, but I usually choose to start in the beautiful village of Welton, as it's also got a wonderful pub, The White Horse, and it is a great place to finish the walk, with a wonderful cold beer and some satisfying food!
From Welton, it's a short forty minute walk across fields to the village of Ashby St Ledgers, historically associated with the Gunpowder Plot but far more interesting today for its picturesque range of thatched cottages, the historic Manor House and the local ironstone Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary as well as the refurbished pub, The Olde Coaching Inn.
From Ashby there is then a long walk of about three miles following the hedgerows around several open fields to Braunston, nestling alongside the Grand Union canal. Braunston was once a very important village on the midlands waterways system, the Grand Union canal and Oxford canal converging at this point, on the canal network. The canals bought a number of important trades to the area, carpenters, blacksmiths, saddlers and rope makers, many of whom can still be seen alongside the towpaths in the Braunston locality. `The Admiral Nelson` is a good place to stop, standing on the narrow bridge watching the narrow boats pass underneath, whilst allowing your feet to rest awhile!
Then up and over the busy A45, you approach the village of Staverton, retaining its village character despite its proximity to Daventry and the Stavereton De Vere golf course complex along its eastern fringes. There is also a delightful country pub in Staverton. `The Countryman` which is well worth a visit.
Walking through woodlands and alongside small streams, it's only a couple of miles to the next destination, the village of Badby, once described as `one of England's most beautiful villages`, it certainly is! Badby Woods is famed locally for its carpet of bluebells in the spring months of April and May.
Each of the seven villages has at least one public house, Badby has two, we usually stop for lunch at `The Windmill, a perfectly located country pub situated in the heart of the village. After refreshments, there is a pleasant walk of a mile across fields following the course of the river Nene, to the slightly larger village of Newnham, where the walk passes `The Romer Arms`, then up the hill and along a footpath that takes you through the churchyard of St. Michael and All Angels Church.
It is at this point that your feet begin to ache and you realise that the walk really is a bit of a challenge, a steep climb alongside Newnham Hall, then down crossing the A45 once again before passing the medieval Burnt Walls, the supposed site of the ancient settlement of Benavenna, skirting the Eastern edge of Borough Hill, over 200 metres above sea level.
The final village on the walk is Norton, a small linear village consisting of a pub, `The White Horse` not to be confused with the pub of the same name in our final destination, and the church of All Saints.
A final hike of two miles across fields and bridging the Grand Union Canal for the second time, the trail finally takes walkers back to the place they started in Welton, and a much needed break.
Previous Previous post: The Magic of Christmas – Rovaniemi, Lapland, Finland.


text:
Animation Survivor- Episode Seven
(Stage Directions in parentheses indicate no speech is attached to them. There may be background music or sound though.)
[Stage Directions in brackets show action, with irrelevant speech associated. Screaming and other reactions may be there too.]
Italic speech indicates a one-on-one interview with the character. Shot is of that character alone unless otherwise indicated.
Bart-
Blossom-
Bubbles-
Buttercup-
Eric-
Kyle-
Stan-
Ash-
Izzy-
Matt-
Misty-
Serena-
Sora-
Tai-
Tracey-
Episode Script:
(Tom Wallace appears on the sandspit. Behind him, there is a tent and a table.)
Tom: For eighteen days, the two tribes, representing Japanese and American animation, have competed against each other in a series of challenges. For the record, the Americans won 6 to the Japanese winning 4… but who's counting? Anyway, in the end, everything's equal, for both sides have eliminated three of their original eight members, including Kyle Broflovski, voted off last time by the American Tribe. Now, the ten remaining must face a new challenge. Tomorrow, the two tribes will merge into one, and will go about the remainder of their life on the island as a single entity, but culminating with one castaway taking home the ultimate prize. Today, both sides are to send one member to the opposite beach as an ambassador. Those two will scout the opposite beach, then meet at the sandspit to determine the details of the new tribe. Representing the Americans is Bart, who is being taken to the Japanese beach by Sora.
(Shot of Sora leading Bart through the woods)
Tom: While Misty will represent the Japanese, taken to the Americans by Stan.
(Shot of Stan leading Misty through the woods.)
Tom: The presentations given today may have a lasting impact on the look of the team. Which is why I'm gonna shut up and let you watch.
(Shot of Misty and Stan walking through the woods.)
Misty: See, we haven't been catching anything on our side. I guess all the fish are over there.
Stan: Well it's not just fish, I reeled in a really freaky talking seal a couple days ago. What's your name for that one?
Misty: I don't know of any that can talk.
Stan: Oh. Not that it matters, Kyle was our fishing expert anyway.
Misty: So why'd you vote him off?
Blossom: I think what Bart said to me was the lasting thing- that if we did vote Stan off, Kyle wouldn't be with us on the team. He wouldn't relent, and we need to go in unified. I figure it's just a lot easier to get Stan on our side than Kyle.
Lisa: It did come as a bit of a surprise to me, and I didn't really agree with it, but I've sworn allegiance to this alliance, and it's simply unwise to stray away from it.
(Shot of Blossom, Bubbles, and Lisa at the campfire. Bubbles is cooking some meat while Lisa prepares some rice.)
Blossom: Now, we need to make a good impression here. If we can get them to come over here, we have the home field advantage.
Lisa: Actually, since all of the stuff here is Japanese, wouldn't we be more comfortable dealing with the things we're used to over there?
Blossom: Hmm… I hadn't thought of that. But this place is like our home, and we've gotten used to it here. I wouldn't want to move.
Lisa: Yeah, I guess you're right.
Bubbles: So who do we vote off first when we get over there?
Blossom: First Lisa needs to talk to Bart. Once we get him, we'll figure something out.
Lisa: Probably Tai, I think.
Blossom: Yeah.
(Shot of Sora leading Bart down)
Sora: It's going to be a lot of fun with you guys into the group. I've heard some fun stories about you guys and if half of them are true, it should be a blast. Is it true you ran into Gomamon?
Bart: Uh… I don't know.
[Stan has guided Misty down to the beach, where she greets the other three. All are in a good mood. Blossom hands her a plate of fish and rice. Misty sits down and starts scarfing.]
Misty: (pleased) Mmm… what is this?
Lisa: Stan?
Stan: That's um… crazy-ass big starfish.
(Misty looks up in shock. She almost looks disgusted.)
Misty: Oh well, I'm hungry.
(She continues eating.)
[Sora and Bart arrive at the Japanese beach, where Izzy, Tai, and Tracey greet him.]
Bart: Well, this isn't too bad. Not a total dump at least.
(Izzy hands Bart a turkey leg. Bart is impressed.)
Izzy: Just give us a chance, I'm sure you'll find that we are quite hospitable.
Tai: Yeah, you haven't even seen the hot spring yet.
[Bart's eyes light up.]
Bart: We're staying here.
Izzy: The group was divided somewhat on choosing whether we should move over there or remain in this location. Tai and Tracey think that we should go over there, since we've heard that it's more in our atmosphere. Sora, Misty, and I meanwhile think that we've made quite a home here, and have grown attached to this place. Of course, we don't know what side the other tribe is taking, whether they want to move or not. Ultimately, the decision lies with Misty and Bart, so it's up to us to influence them.
(Misty, Blossom, and Lisa are looking over the lean-to.)
Misty: See, this looks nice. We have a small shelter that works pretty well. After Izzy and I fixed it up a bit, it's very sturdy.
Blossom: Well, this has worked really well for awhile.
Lisa: Even in that storm last week, we didn't have much leakage.
Lisa: The question is whether it will fit ten people, but we can always build more and add on.
Misty: Yeah, we don't take up much space anyway. Tracey and Sora like sleeping outside.
Blossom: That's good, and also, we'll vote someone off after one night anyway, so it's not a huge deal.
(Misty looks at Blossom and raises an eyebrow in curiosity, but nobody sees it.)
(Bart is in the hot spring with Tracey and Tai)
Bart: This is great. Man, I wish we had this thing back there.
Tracey: It's not a big deal. So what do you guys do for fun?
Bart: Well, we swim a lot. Mostly little games we have. Just goofing off with each other, basically. I guess we work most of the time.
Tai: Yeah. We're really lazy. But we have a blast.
Bart: I can tell, this seems like a fun group. I'm starting to wish I was Japanese. I can't do that weird half-circle eye thing though.
Tai: That's something of an anime trick, it's hard to learn.
Bart: Well… Bubbles and Blossom can do it. Even Stan and Kyle can do it. Well Kyle can't, he's gone. So you don't really have anybody that's keeping everybody working?
Tai: Nope, not really.
Tracey: Matt did a good job, but he became a pain fast. That's why most of us voted him off. He didn't work well with others.
(Tai is looking somewhat down, and staying out of the conversation.)
Bart: Yeah. Buttercup was like that. She really got on our nerves. She's gone, but now Blossom runs a pretty tight shift. Tough as she is sometimes, I will admit that she does keep us going, and I bet we wouldn't have won half of the stuff we did if she didn't get us motivated.
Tracey: Ash was the one that kept us motivated. It's a long story why we voted him off.
Bart: Shame too, because we were looking forward to it.
Tai: What? Voting off Ash?
Bart: Yeah. (mock threatening) Master this!
[Bart and Tracey both laugh. Tai remains reserved.]
Bart: I think it would've been a lot cooler on the other side. They're just in this to have a good time, and don't care about voting alliances and crap like that. I would've liked it there, but since they're joining us, it should be really fun.
[Misty is eating again around the campfire with Blossom, Lisa, and Bubbles.]
Bubbles: So, what kinda stuff are you hearing about us?
Lisa: Yeah, those cameramen don't keep secrets very well, what are they saying about us to you guys?
Misty: Well, we don't hear that much. We hear that you guys are all into voting alliances and stuff, and all you did was talk about them.
Bubbles: Sounds like Buttercup.
Lisa: Yeah, I was going to say. Buttercup was trying to get the whole team against Bart, and the first week or so was pretty much dealing with her.
Blossom: Once she left, we really became good friends.
Lisa: Right, Bubbles and Blossom were on different sides of the fence for awhile, now we're all really close.
Misty: (not satisfied) Oh. Well I also heard that you three were all teaming up and were going to vote us off one by one. I don't know about Bart and Stan though.
Blossom: Hmm…
Lisa: (joking) That's not a bad suggestion.
Misty: Don't get any ideas!
(Blossom and Bubbles laughs while Lisa smiles.)
[Shot of Bart, getting into a canoe. Tai, Tracey, Sora, and Izzy wave him goodbye.]
[Shot of Misty in the same situation as Blossom, Lisa, Bubbles, and Stan wish her a farewell. Montage of them rowing to the sandspit.]
[The sandspit. Tom is seated at the table, covered with food up the rear. He's helping himself to a chicken wing as Bart and Misty arrive. He quickly stands up, wipes his mouth with his sleeve, and approaches. Bart and Misty are impressed.]
Tom: Ambassadors, welcome to the tribal summit. You'll see we spare no expense in making sure you are treated properly. Plenty of food, a good sleeping quarters, and privacy. I'm going to leave you two here for the night, and you can pig out, and do whatever you like. In the morning, I want you to let me know all the details of the new tribe. What it's called, where it will be located, and the three items the other side will bring with them, besides your clothes and luxury items. Sound good?
Bart: You bet.
Misty: Um…
Tom: Now the American Tribe was represented with the color blue, and the Japanese tribe was represented with the color red. But now, you will all be represented by the color white.
Misty: That's not really a color.
Tom: (sarcastic) I'm sorry, would you rather be represented by viridian, saffron, or pewter?
Bart: White it is!
Misty: Ooh, saffron's kinda pretty.
Bart: Yeah… and now that you mention it, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been kicking butt since they started wearing pewter.
Tom: Shut up! It's white! White, white, white, white, white!
Misty: Do I detect a hint of racism, Tom?
Tom: Enough of this! If you are finished demeaning me, I'll leave you two at it.
(Bart looks at the setup, and at Misty, and turns back)
Bart: Hey, wait a minute!
Tom: Yes?
Bart: You wouldn't be trying to set us up, would you?
Tom: Well…
Misty: (angry) What!? Do you actually think I would get involved with somebody his age?
Tom: Relax Misty. Actually, Bart's older than Ash is.
Misty/Bart: (surprised) He/I is/am?!
Tom: The animation style in America takes a lot off of the height. Besides, that whole set-up thing was actually Manny's idea. And he thought of that before you hooked up with Tai.
Misty: (still angry) What?! Me and Tai aren't…
Tom: Jeez, don't have a cow, Misty.
Bart: Didn't I invent that line?
Tom: Yeah, once upon a time.
Misty: (sweet) Tom… do you remember what my luxury item is?
Tom: Well, yeah, it's your… (realizing) I think I should be going now. Good luck!
[Tom takes off in a rush, leaving Misty and Bart to themselves.]
Misty: Hmm… so we're ambassadors? Well, I suppose we should discuss where we should all stay.
Bart: Misty, in times like this I have only two words for you.
(They look at each other and smile)
Bart, Misty: (excited) Hot spring!!
Misty: Now that that's out of the way, let's eat.
Bart: Yeah, man.
[Extensive montage of Bart and Misty pigging out on the food. They are having a lot of fun, and getting along great.]
[Shot of the American Tribe at nightfall, eating rice and waiting impatiently for Bart.]
Bubbles: Why is it taking so long?
Blossom: I don't know, we told Bart that we wanted to stay here.
Lisa: Yeah, Misty seemed impressed enough with this place.
Blossom: I don't know, we're getting a little impatient. With this merger tomorrow, we wanted to talk to Bart and get him on the same page as us. Stan has pretty much said that he doesn't want a part in this, and I'm fine with that if Bart agrees to join.
Stan: I sure hope Bart maintains some dignity and doesn't join their alliance. Blossom's tried to get me in, but I refused. I think she's given up on me. Good, because I'm not joining into anything that kicked my best friend off.
[Shot of Misty and Bart, drinking some bottled sodas on some lawn chairs by a fire, they are overlooking the island and see a small flame in the background.]
Bart: Huh. Who do you think that is?
Misty: That's us. Maybe we should signal them.
Bart: Sorry, left my flare gun in my other pair of pants.
Misty: I'm talking about using the fire!
Bart: Oh. That too.
[On the Japanese side, Izzy, Sora, and Tracey are huddled around the fire. Tracey and Sora are particularly close. Izzy is slightly uncomfortable at it, but hides it well.]
Sora: Well, where is she?
Tracey: I don't think it would take this long to get everything worked out. It's not like they're ending a war or anything.
(They see a fire from the sand spit flickering a lot.)
Izzy: Hmm, looks like they're attempting to contact us. (sarcastically) She's saying "Help, help, I just killed Bart in a murderous…"
(All three laugh, then calm down.)
Sora: I just hope they get back soon.
Tracey: Yeah, we have so much packing to do if we're going to move.
Izzy: Even if they were to come here, we could be setting the place up for their arrival.
[Tai is on the beach, away from the camp. Although the sand spit is in view, Tai is looking at the fire, most notably Sora and Tracey. After awhile, he turns to look at the sand spit.]
Tai: Sora seems a lot happier now that she's with Tracey. She was really out of it for awhile, but whatever she has going with him has helped her out a lot. And they both keep saying they aren't taking this relationship seriously. But while she's getting better, I think I'm getting worse. I still feel bad because of Matt and Ash, and now with Misty away for the night it feels like I don't have anyone to talk to. With Sora feeling so much better with her "little island fling," I'm thinking that I want to start one with Misty. I am starting to like her in that way, and with Ash gone, there's no competition. The question is whether or not she's game.
[Shot of Misty and Bart, getting in their nice, cozy, comfy beds. They basically say "good night" to each other and drift off.]
[Night vision shot of Tai and Izzy in the Japanese shelter. In comparison to Misty and Bart, this seems rather uncomfortable, but Izzy is managing fine. Tai is tossing around a bit.]
[Sand spit- day. Misty and Bart are stretched out in lawn chairs, each with a glass of tea (with accompanying lemon slice). Also, through some strange animation loophole (what were you expecting, a reality series?), they are both wearing sunglasses.]
Bart: (relaxed, lazily) Man, island life is rough, ain't it?
Misty: (equally relaxed) You said it.
(They toast glasses as Tom arrives)
Tom: Well, I'm here to check up on you. You did do everything I told you, right?
Bart: Oh yeah sure.
Misty: We're moving the tribe here, if that's okay.
Tom: Okay… so you didn't get anything done.
Bart: Oh, no. We did everything you said. We're moving to Japan.
Tom: Japanese beach.
Misty: Yep.
Tom: Great. American tribe, your three items?
Bart: Our scuba gear, that filet knife, and we're gonna save that parachute that the filet knife came in.
Tom: And finally, what will your tribe be called?
Misty: Anima. (It sounds exactly like "anime")
Tom: Anime? Isn't that slightly one-sided?
Bart: Nah. It's A-N-I-M-A. It's short for Animation.
Misty: It's like the only thing we have in common.
Tom: Eh, what the hell, it's better than Rattana. Okay. Pack up, and let's head out.
Misty: Do we have to?
Tom: Yes.
Bart: I'll just stay here. Mist, have the others vote me off, 'kay?
Misty: Then who'll vote me off when I stay here?
Tom: Barb! Manny!
[Out of nowhere, Barb and Manny come up from behind, pick up the lawn chairs (with Bart and Misty still on them, and throw them onto a raft.]
Tom: Thanks guys.
[American Tribe, as the raft approaches the beach, the four Americans go up to the shore awaiting it. Bart, Misty, Barb, and Manny arrive.]
Stan: Welcome back, Misty.
Bubbles: Bart!
Bart: Hey guys, we're moving.
Blossom: But, we wanted to stay here.
Bart: They got a hot tub!
Stan: Kiss this dump goodbye!
Manny: You guys need to grab your things, including your luxury items, along with the parachute netting, the filet knife, and the scuba gear. You have five minutes starting as soon as Bugs Bunny's left hand reaches the 12 on my watch… now.
[Shot as the Americans get their things, and say one last goodbye. They board the raft and start rowing away.]
Lisa: It's a bit tough. That beach was our home for two and a half weeks. I met a lot of new friends, and it was a very enlightening experience. It's a shame that we have to go somewhere else; it's like starting the process over again.
Blossom: I'm a little anxious about going over there. They know the place better. They now have the home field advantage. I believe that I have a plan for winning, but there's always that moment when you aren't sure about your future. This is it for me.
(On the raft, Stan is talking to Bart.)
Stan: I will miss that beach. It was a lot of fun.
Bart: What will you miss the most, the big-ass snake or the freaky-ass seal?
Stan: Hmm… good point.
[On the Japanese Beach, Tracey, Tai, Izzy, and Sora see the raft, and are preparing to greet it. Slowly, it arrives, and everyone goes nuts. Sora and Tracey are the first to greet the Americans; Sora going to Blossom and Bubbles while Tracey greets Stan. Izzy goes up to a smiling Lisa. Bart goes over by Stan and Tracey, where Tracey greets him. Sora pops over and greets Bart and Stan before going off with Blossom and Bubbles. Tai shakes hands with Bart quickly, but then goes over and hugs Misty. Misty happily receives the hug, but goes over to hug Tracey and Sora. Izzy sees that, and as Misty approaches, they both shrug and hug each other. Misty then goes over to talk with Blossom and Bubbles.]
Misty: I know this is going to be a lot of fun. More people to get to know and become friends with. Those other Japanese guys were great, but it's a nice change.
Stan: It's definitely nice. Kyle's gone, I'm pissed at the girls, so it's great that I now have five new people to become friends with. I just hope Sora doesn't tackle me again.
[Lisa and Izzy are talking somewhat frankly.]
Lisa: Yeah, I finally got online last year. My dad's not exactly a genius when it comes to the internet. For a while, my dad refused to get an internet browser, saying that I shouldn't have to browse the internet, that I should just buy it outright.
Izzy: You know, I've heard better jokes mistaking the purposes of internet tools. If I had my computer, I'd download a bunch of 'em.
Lisa: That wasn't a joke. He really said that.
Izzy: Oh.
(Stan walks up to them.)
Stan: Hey, Izzy, you got Lisa away from Blossom! We've been trying to do that for days!
Izzy: Well, it isn't that hard. Just need a ten-year old with a curious mind and a somewhat geekish persona.
Lisa: (smiling) Yeah, it's not that hard.
Stan: We'll have to make sure Milhouse hears that.
[Izzy laughs. Lisa smiles oddly as Stan leaves.]
Izzy: Who's Milhouse?
(Blossom and Bubbles are hooking up the parachute netting near the fire. They are turning it into an efficient canopy.)
Blossom: You know, that wasn't a bad idea to use this for shade. I can't believe Bart thought of that.
(Sora and Tracey enter the scene.)
Sora: Hey, need any help?
Bubbles: Sure!
Blossom: Does this look straight to you?
Sora: It looks fine, it's not like we need it to be perfect.
(Blossom and Bubbles step away from the canopy for a second. As soon as they do, it begins to tip over. Blossom quickly flies and catches it before it topples completely.)
Tracey: (somewhat sarcastically) Oh, yeah, it was fine.
Sora: Whoops. Sorry.
Blossom: That's okay. We've had worse problems. We'd need Bart and a giant bug to cause serious trouble.
[Sora laughs as Stan shows up.]
Stan: Hey, Trace, what's going on over here?
Tracey: The girls are using that netting for a canopy. Quite an ingenious idea.
Sora: Yeah, that was smart. It's important to use everything you get.
Stan: Yeah, great, hey Tracey, you were going to show me how to play king's corner.
Sora: King's corner?
Tracey: It's a card game.
Blossom: You brought cards with you?
Tracey: Sure. Just a standard deck though; I didn't feel like teaching anyone Magic: The Gathering. You in, Sora?
Sora: Nah, I'd rather help out these two.
Stan: I know that we're all trying to be friends with each other, but I think that Sora's trying to cozy up to Blossom and Bubbles. Not a bad idea, but the last thing I need is for them to get more friends and become stronger. And if they are the powers here, Sora must be a little weasel to try to get on their good side.
Sora: I have a funny feeling about Stan. He seems rather distant around his American teammates, but he's real quick to try to make friends with all of the Japanese guys, especially Tracey. I'm thinking that if there is an alliance, he must be the double agent.
[As the sun goes down, montage of people talking. Tai and Misty are sitting together, talking with Stan, Izzy and Tracey. Also, Sora, Bubbles and Blossom are having a very friendly conversation. Away from the action, along the beach, Lisa and Bart are talking. The sky is growing more cloudier, and it looks as if a rainstorm is about to hit.]
Lisa: Bart, I'm going to be frank.
Bart: If this is about that alliance, you already know my answer, so you wouldn't be fooling anybody trying to get me in.
Lisa: I won't even ask then. Let me just say one thing.
Bart: What?
Lisa: (very serious) I want to win this game.
Bart: You? Lis, this is a ruthless game of cutthroat island survival. Somehow I can't imagine you winning against these other kids.
Lisa: That's just it! I bet nobody is thinking I can win this. Everyone thinks that I'm just the little weakling here and that I'm just going to fall into the crowd and get voted off like a good girl so that somebody stronger or more popular can win.
Bart: Well, Lisa, given the situation…
Lisa: You see? You don't give me a chance either. But with this alliance, I can prove them wrong. I actually have a chance at winning this.
Bart: Uh huh. So basically you are giving up on everything you stand for to win?
Lisa: I'm not giving up on anything, I'm just playing the game. I didn't feel any guilt voting Eric off, I didn't feel any guilt voting Buttercup off, I didn't feel any guilt voting Kyle off, and I won't feel any guilt voting… well, I won't tell you who's next, but I don't feel wrong about that one either. I only have one question for you.
Bart: Yeah?
Lisa: Do you want to win?
(Lisa walks back to camp, leaving Bart thinking.)
(Shot of a subsiding rainstorm.)
Tai: Man, it was getting to be real comfortable in there with only three people. But throw five more in there and everything gets really tight. It also rained, so Sora and Tracey came inside, so it was really bad. I can see why they came in, but did Tracey really have to step on my head?
Lisa: It was really uncomfortable in that shelter. It must have worked for them before, but not with ten people inside.
(Misty, Izzy, Blossom, and Lisa are standing outside the shelter.)
Izzy: Well, we redesigned the shelter some time after we built the original model. I made these designs the day Matt was voted off, so I made it for seven people.
Blossom: Sure doesn't look like it holds seven people.
Misty: Well, it doesn't. I got him to move the shelter later, and we didn't actually make the changes until after Serena got voted off. So we designed this to hold six.
Blossom: Didn't Bart ask about any of this?
Izzy: Nope.
Misty: Well… I guess we'd better work at making this work for ten.
Blossom: Actually nine. We vote somebody off tonight.
Misty: Okay, fine, nine.
Izzy: Actually, seven. Given our resources, it would be easier to assume that Sora and Tracey will continue to sleep outside. We have only a certain amount of supplies, and expanding this to nine would eliminate most of the benefits my modifications gave to it. If those two end up having to sleep indoors, it would be much less of a burden just to deal with that for the one night.
Misty: How about eight?
Izzy: It would still be a strain.
Misty: So we're adding room for just one more person; why bother?
Izzy: No… we'd better add one more person.
[Blossom and Lisa nod in agreement.]
[Sora and Bubbles are talking around the fire when Tai shows up.]
Tai: Sora?
Sora: Hey Tai.
Tai: Where's Tracey?
Bubbles: He's out fishing with Stan.
Tai: Without you?
Sora: Yeah. Something wrong with that?
Tai: No… I guess not. Tracey and Stan are becoming good friends.
Sora: I guess so. I don't know about that Stan though.
Tai: Why? You think Tracey's cheating on you?
[Tai and Sora laugh. Bubbles just looks confused.]
Bubbles: I don't get it.
Tai/Sora: Anyway…
Sora: (much more serious) So are you still thinking about Misty…
Tai: Well… I don't know.
Sora: If you like her that much, you might as well let her know. I don't think you can get any more than a little island fling anyway. She lives in some place called Cerulean City and I'll bet that's a long way from Odaiba. You aren't going to see her again, so in the end, it doesn't matter what happens here.
Tai: I don't know if it works like that…
Sora: (teasing) Come on, Mr. Crest of Courage.
(Tai is somewhat embarrassed, and can't help but smile at Sora. She returns the smile.)
(Off of a small island near the main one, there is a U-shaped dock. Tom is sitting in the center of it, holding the immunity idol.)
Tom: Previous challenges were fought between two individual tribes, with one tribe collectively taking the reward as a whole. And they were good. But now that the tribes have merged into one, we have to do things a little differently. Now, instead of competing as a team, each castaway must compete on their own, for themselves. This is the locale for the first immunity challenge.
(The Anima Tribe arrives on a large raft. They get out and sit on the dock.)
Tom: Welcome. Now that you are one tribe, you won't be competing for team immunity anymore. We'll just put this little idol thing in a good home.
(Tom throws the idol towards the island.)
Tom: Now, you'll be competing for individual immunity, signified by this pendant.
(He pulls out a large pendant, with a pen emblazoned on it.)
Tom: Whoever wears this can't be voted off at Tribal Council. It's a big thing to have, so these challenges are still very important. Today's challenge involves holding your breath for as long as possible. You will go down and hold onto a bar below. When your face turns a comical purple, that means you have to go up before you die. The last three to stay down move on to the next level. Here's some goggles…
(He passes around ten sets of goggles. Each of the characters puts them on, although Tai feels somewhat stupid.)
Bart: (referring to Tai's other goggles) Hey, six eyes.
Tom: Survivors ready? And Go down on your bad selves.
(The ten submerge. Underwater shot as they all go down and hold onto a bar. I won't be specific on how much time passes, but after awhile, Izzy becomes the first to go up, followed by Tracey and Bubbles. Lisa goes next, then Bart and Blossom. Sora and Stan are practically in a staring contest, which Stan apparently wins as Sora goes up first. Stan, Tai, and Misty collectively realize that they are the last three, and rise together, to the cheers of the other seven.)
Tom: Alright, here are our finalists. Stan, Tai, Misty… Here's the next round. There is an underwater course over there. You must go down your line, releasing bags to the surface as you go along. It'll be much easier staying down below the whole time. Whoever releases all ten of their bags first wins immunity. So with that, get in position.
(Misty, Tai, and Stan line up on the surface.)
Tom: And… Go!
(They go down. Underwater shots of the race. Stan stays down long enough, but is simply out-swam by Tai and Misty, taking him out of the race. Tai and Misty fly down the lines in a blur. Nearing the end, Tai pulls just barely ahead, and wins by a nose. They go up together. Misty is too tired to be a sore loser, so they congratulate each other, Tai particularly close. He holds his arms in victory, while the others clap politely.)
Tom: Congrats Tai! You're here for another three days no matter what happens.
(Tai puts his arm around Misty)
Tai: Swell!
Tom: You okay, Mist? I know you aren't keen on losing.
Misty: (cheery) I'll live!
Tai: Sure she will, she did fine.
(Just as the suspense seems to subside, Tai kisses Misty on the cheek. Misty retains an unsure smile, and glances at Tai a lot. Back to Tom, to the other eight.)
Tom: Well, it may seem like fun now, but that was a serious challenge, and you all will have to go to Tribal Council tonight. The only rule here is that nobody can vote for Tai. That being said… I'll see you tonight.
(Shot of the other eight, including Stan, who swam back to the dock.)
Misty: I guess it's a little easier to cope with now. Instead of voting because we lost a challenge, we just always have to vote. Still, it will be hard choosing somebody. I like the other guys a lot more than I thought I would.
[Shot of Blossom, Bubbles, Lisa, and Bart around the campfire. They appear to be talking very frankly.]
Bubbles: It's up to you Bart.
Blossom: We trust you. We told you who's going today. You don't have to say anything. If there are four votes, it's a yes, if there are only three votes, it's a no. That's it.
(Blossom, Bubbles, and Lisa leave.)
[Tai, Misty, Sora, and Tracey are in the hot spring.]
Tai: Well, here we go again. At least we have more people to choose from.
Tracey: At least you don't have any best friends left to vote off. It should be a little easier for you.
Tai: Well… you voted for Matt and Ash too!
Tracey: I never liked Matt or Ash to begin with.
Misty: Yeah, I never liked Matt either, I didn't feel… wait… Ash?
Tracey: (covering it up) Well… compared to the rest of us.
Sora: He was pretty odd.
Tai: Yeah, well… Sora, you voted for Matt too, you know.
Sora: I was sticking up for Serena, it was the only way to keep her on here.
Misty: Yeah. I'm still surprised Izzy voted for me though.
Tracey: I know. Where did that come from?
Tai: Hey guys…
Misty: Yes?
Tai: We're talking about voting.
Tracey: So?
Tai: So?! We're starting to act like the other tribe. I don't know about you guys, but I'm just trying to enjoy myself here. I don't care about alliances, I don't care about Tribal Council, I don't care about winning! I just want to have fun here. And right now, I'm not.
(Tai gets up and leaves.)
Tracey: What's his problem?
(Shot of Misty, with a sad look.)
Tribal Council
(Tom is standing onstage.)
Tom: The newly formed Anima Tribe has only been together for two days. And in that time, they have become friends quicker than anyone had expected. Although some are having problems, like Stan and Sora, all have found some solace with the other tribe. Misty and Tai's friendship with Bart, and Lisa's friendship with Izzy are just a sampling. But regardless, before we leave tonight, one of the ten will leave.
(The aforementioned ten arrive and take a seat.)
Tom: Well, it's been two days as a new tribe. And I think it's become clear that casting votes for members of the other tribe is not going to be as easy as you once thought. But before we do, I have a couple questions. Tracey. How are things between you and Sora?
Tracey: For a little island fling, it's about as good as you can expect. Some of the others have noticed that we aren't spending as much time together, but it's nothing to be concerned about.
Sora: It's not like us being together in the first place is anything to be concerned about either.
Tracey: Exactly.
Tom: Misty. I don't know whether this is a hot topic or not, but um… Tai kissed you after the immunity challenge.
Misty: (smiling) Did he now? It's not an extremely hot topic, but I don't really want to talk about it here. We're good friends. That's all I know right now.
Bart: Hey, Tom… why are you asking about all this romance stuff?
Tom: Just lightening the mood. Trying to get you relaxed. Stan… go vote.
Stan: (mumbling while going to the box) Pervert.
(Stan heads to the voting booth, voter's shot as he writes down "SORA")
Stan: The last thing I need is another girl in the alliance. I don't think they're shooting for new members, but I can't take any precautions.
(He leaves. Fade to aerial shot of Lisa and then Misty voting. Fade to voter's shot of Misty holding "IZZY".)
Misty: I know it's not the best reason, but he did vote for me last time, and he is starting to get a bit annoying.
(She leaves. Fade to aerial of Blossom voting. Fade to voter's shot of Tai holding "TRACEY")
Tai: Compared to the last three, this one's easy. This guy's just full of himself!
(He leaves. Fade to aerial of Sora voting, then Tracey holding "BLOSSOM")
Tracey: If there is an alliance, it's become quite clear that she's the ringleader. Also, she seems to be a threat to win.
(He leaves. Aerial shot of Bubbles and Izzy voting. Voter's shot of Bart. He has already put his vote in the box.)
Bart: That's my decision, and I'm sticking to it.
(He leaves, back to Tribal Council as Tom takes the box.)
Tom: As always… well, you know. Let's pop the top and give someone the drop.
(He reaches in.)
Tom: First vote is for Bubbles.
(Blossom quickly nods at Bubbles, calming her.)
Tom: Next vote is for Izzy. Then… Sora.
(Shot of Sora, sad. Tai and Tracey are on either side of her.)
Tom: Then… Misty… and Tracey. Next vote is for Stan.
(Stan shakes his head.)
Tom: Then we have one for Blossom. And another for Misty.
(Misty seems really nervous now. Tai clutches her hand in reassurance.)
Tom: The next vote… is for Misty.
(Shot of Misty. Izzy, next to her, also looks sad.)
Misty: (sadly) Oh please no…
Tom: And the final vote, although it doesn't actually matter… is for Misty. Your torch?
(Misty sadly lets go of Tai and takes her torch and goes up. Stay on Tai, who is visibly distraught. Sora puts a comforting hand on his shoulder. Shot of Tom, with snuffer.)
Tom: Misty… the Anima Tribe has spoken.
(He snuffs her torch)
Tom: It's time for you to go.
(Misty slowly leaves.)
Tom: The rest of you- you can see that the game has changed. You can head back.
(The tribe leaves, with Sora and Izzy comforting Tai.)
(Shot of Misty walking down the trail to the beach.)
Misty: The only thing I can think was that the American alliance played a big factor in this. And if so, I'm sure they had very good reasons for choosing me first. I actually take that as a compliment. Out of me, Tracey, Izzy, and Sora, I was the one chosen to be eliminated. Maybe it was because I had the best chance to win and they wanted to get rid of me now. I'll be honest, I didn't really want to leave, but I had a lot of fun while I was here. Tai was a great friend, and although I don't know if I wanted a serious relationship with him, he's still a great guy. I'll miss all of them, but I think I'll be okay.
Preview of Next Week's Episode
Tom: Well, the American Alliance is up and running. Will they pick the Japanese off one by one like the real deal, or will we be creative?
*Will Bart's voting with the alliance make him a full time member, or will he have second thoughts?
*Can the Japanese counter the powerful alliance, or are they all totally screwed?
*And why the hell did they pick Misty?
You didn't actually think I was going to put Tai and Misty together after already including Tracey and Sora, did you? Well, here's the long list of voting results.
Candidate Votes Voters
Misty 4 Lisa Blossom Bubbles Bart
Sora 1 Stan
Izzy 1 Misty
Tracey 1 Tai
Stan 1 Sora
Blossom 1 Tracey
Bubbles 1 Izzy
Now that business is picking up, there's not really much I can say to guide you through everything. However, I will point out that just because I got Ash and Misty out of here doesn't mean that I'm anti-Pokémon in any way. I'm trying to keep this as logical as possible, and I see those two going down at this point. I think it serves the story well, and with Tracey as the only Pokémon representative, it's definitely an interesting situation, which will become even more interesting later on. That's all I'm going to say today, since this episode ended up running a bit long.


The mission of the Barkeater Trails Alliance is build, maintain and advocate for a system of community and backcountry trails for ski touring, mountain biking and other human-powered activities in the eastern High Peaks region of the Adirondack Park.
Efforts to fulfill this mission are coordinated by a full-time Executive Director and driven by a passionate network of local volunteers (and since 2017, a paid seasonal trail crew) who collectively dedicate thousands of hours each year to maintaining and supporting the trail systems.
Simply put, we're working hard every day to build and maintain the amazing trails you enjoy today. Trails that connect our communities to the local woods and the wilder backcountry, whether by skis, bike or foot, for generations to come.
BETA is funded by combination of membership dues, grants, fundraisers, business sponsorships and earmarked donations. Member dues comprise one-third of BETA's operating funds annually.
In 2018, member support fueled a very productive trail work seasons. BETA's seasonal trail crew completed 1200 hours of trail construction and maintenance projects in Wilmington, Saranac Lake and Lake Placid and built 4 miles of new trails. BETA volunteers logged over 2600 hours on the ski and bike trail construction, maintenance and improvement projects.
Our advocacy and hard work has led (finally!) to the release of a final draft plan for the Saranac Lakes Wild Forest. The plan is calling for approximately 20-25 miles of new trails between the hamlets of Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, and a critical new section of the Jackrabbit Ski Trail to help bridge the gap between Rt. 73 and the Old Mountain Rd. Also this year the Adirondack Park Agency is moving toward the adoption of "guidelines for the construction and maintenance" of ski touring, backcounty and skin track trails in the Forest Preserve.
All of this is possible because our members remain committed to the cause, and we are adding new members almost daily. Your support allows BETA to continue to engage decision makers, and key community partners in a joint effort to improve, expand and promote opportunities for ski touring and mountain biking in the region. Thank you for keeping us rolling!


text:
Q: How to correctly fit Cox Regression with coxphf? (Firth's penalized maximum likelihood bias reduction method in R) I am trying to fit a Cox regression (package needed:survival), and have run into a problem. When I try to fit a "regular" Cox regression model with my data, I receive the error message "X matrix deemed to be singular; variable 9" (and if I remove variable 9, the problem becomes variable 8). As far as I understand the problem, this happens because too many patients with these variables have the same event (I believe in another question this was called "perfect classification")
That's why I tried to fit a Cox model with coxphf function (package of the same name), as this should take care of the problem by using "Firth's penalized maximum likelihood bias reduction method" for the Cox regression. But this also doesn't seem to work, until I increase the "maxit" from the default 50 to 1000 and remove the "undefined" variable from the equation. But if I remove the undefined variable from my dataset (it is only 1 person), the model doesn't seem to work again.
So my question is, how can I solve this? Is it even appropriate/necessary to remove the whole variable (a therefore that 1 person) from the dataset?  Probably made some very obvious mistakes, but please bear with me, since I have absolutely no background in statistics. Thank you very much already in advance.
I included the following sample data, as well as my attempts to fit the Cox model.
So this is how I managed to get the model to work, by leaving out the "Undefined" variable from the model:
# load packages
library("survival")
library ("coxphf")

example<-structure(list(Pat.nr. = c(1L, 2L, 5L, 7L, 8L, 10L, 13L, 14L,
15L, 17L, 18L, 19L, 20L, 21L, 22L, 23L, 26L, 28L, 29L, 30L, 31L,
32L, 33L, 34L, 35L, 36L, 37L, 39L, 41L, 42L, 44L, 45L, 46L, 47L,
48L, 49L, 50L, 52L, 53L, 56L, 57L, 58L, 59L, 60L, 61L, 62L, 63L,
67L, 68L, 69L), OS = c(1.6, 34.6, 1.5, 35.8, 7.7, 38.6, 37.6,
8.6, 0.6, 5.7, 0.6, 43.9, 25.8, 7.3, 28.1, 43.8, 12.8, 18.5,
36.1, 43.1, 15.4, 37.6, 8.6, 2.7, 10.2, 8.1, 37.3, 25.3, 3.7,
26.1, 41.2, 5.9, 15.5, 56.8, 29.5, 52.1, 5.4, 54.8, 53.5, 16.6,
49.2, 53.8, 8.5, 56, 7.4, 28, 3.3, 38, 55.7, 0.4), Event = c(1L,
0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 1L,
0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L,
1L), Age = c(68.41, 54.9, 44.44, 64.14, 68.86, 62.93, 40.76,
31.06, 42.97, 69.16, 47.39, 60.14, 27.9, 56.57, 19.63, 47.75,
45.58, 66.22, 43.73, 45.34, 38.83, 54.46, 48.91, 70.3, 60.51,
68.55, 63.18, 55.89, 68.27, 57.25, 56.17, 60.83, 74.42, 71.3,
40.36, 50.85, 59.61, 50.14, 45.77, 19.34, 56.32, 53.38, 70.7,
55.25, 56.05, 44.06, 51.36, 69.37, 69.71, 75.44), Favorable = c(0L,
0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L,
0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L,
0L), Intermediate = c(0L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 2L,
0L, 2L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
2L, 0L, 0L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 0L,
0L, 2L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 2L), Adverse = c(1L, 0L, 0L, 1L,
0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L,
1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L), Undefined = c(0L,
0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
0L)), .Names = c("Pat.nr.", "OS", "Event", "Age", "Favorable",
"Intermediate", "Adverse", "Undefined"), row.names = c(NA, 50L
), class = "data.frame")

#row&columns
n_row <- dim(example)[1]
n_col <- dim(example)[2]

#variables:
OS <- c(example[1:n_row,2])
Event <- c(example[1:n_row,3])
age <- c(example[1:n_row,4])
Favorable <- c(example[1:n_row,5])
Intermediate <-  c(example[1:n_row,6])
Adverse <- c(example[1:n_row,7])
Undefined <-  c(example[1:n_row,8])

# dependent and independent variables
y <- Surv(OS, Event)
x <- cbind(age, Favorable, Intermediate, Adverse, Undefined)
example <- data.frame(cbind(x,y))

#coxphf with Firth's Penalized Likelihood --> which doesn't seem to work
cox2<-coxphf(data=example,y~x, firth=TRUE, pl=TRUE, maxit=1000)
summary(cox2)

#coxphf with Firth's Penalized Likelihood (without Variable "Undefined") --> this works
cox2<-coxphf(data=example,y~age+Favorable+Intermediate+Adverse, firth=TRUE, pl=TRUE, maxit=1000)
summary(cox2)

And here, I have modified the dataset to not include the undefined variable (and the model doesn't work anymore):
example1<-structure(list(Pat.nr. = c(1L, 2L, 5L, 7L, 8L, 10L, 13L, 14L,
15L, 17L, 19L, 20L, 21L, 22L, 23L, 26L, 28L, 29L, 30L, 31L, 32L,
33L, 34L, 35L, 36L, 37L, 39L, 41L, 42L, 44L, 45L, 46L, 47L, 48L,
49L, 50L, 52L, 53L, 56L, 57L, 58L, 59L, 60L, 61L, 62L, 63L, 67L,
68L, 69L, 72L), OS = c(1.6, 34.6, 1.5, 35.8, 7.7, 38.6, 37.6,
8.6, 0.6, 5.7, 43.9, 25.8, 7.3, 28.1, 43.8, 12.8, 18.5, 36.1,
43.1, 15.4, 37.6, 8.6, 2.7, 10.2, 8.1, 37.3, 25.3, 3.7, 26.1,
41.2, 5.9, 15.5, 56.8, 29.5, 52.1, 5.4, 54.8, 53.5, 16.6, 49.2,
53.8, 8.5, 56, 7.4, 28, 3.3, 38, 55.7, 0.4, 2.8), Event = c(1L,
0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L,
0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 1L,
1L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 1L,
1L), Age = c(68.41, 54.9, 44.44, 64.14, 68.86, 62.93, 40.76,
31.06, 42.97, 69.16, 60.14, 27.9, 56.57, 19.63, 47.75, 45.58,
66.22, 43.73, 45.34, 38.83, 54.46, 48.91, 70.3, 60.51, 68.55,
63.18, 55.89, 68.27, 57.25, 56.17, 60.83, 74.42, 71.3, 40.36,
50.85, 59.61, 50.14, 45.77, 19.34, 56.32, 53.38, 70.7, 55.25,
56.05, 44.06, 51.36, 69.37, 69.71, 75.44, 71.05), Favorable = c(0L,
0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L,
0L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L,
1L), Intermediate = c(0L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 2L,
2L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 2L,
0L, 0L, 2L, 2L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
2L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 0L, 2L, 2L, 0L), Adverse = c(1L, 0L, 0L, 1L,
0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L,
0L, 0L, 1L, 1L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L,
0L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 1L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L, 0L)), .Names = c("Pat.nr.",
"OS", "Event", "Age", "Favorable", "Intermediate", "Adverse"), row.names = c(NA,
50L), class = "data.frame")

#row&columns
n_row <- dim(example1)[1]
n_col <- dim(example1)[2]

#variables:
OS <- c(example1[1:n_row,2])
Event <- c(example1[1:n_row,3])
age <- c(example1[1:n_row,4])
Favorable <- c(example1[1:n_row,5])
Intermediate <-  c(example1[1:n_row,6])
Adverse <- c(example1[1:n_row,7])

# dependent and independent variables
y <- Surv(OS, Event)
x <- cbind(age, Favorable, Intermediate, Adverse)
example <- data.frame(cbind(x,y))

# dependent and independent variables
y <- Surv(OS, Event)
x <- cbind(age, Favorable, Intermediate, Adverse)
example1 <- data.frame(cbind(x,y))

#coxphf with Firth's Penalized Likelihood

cox2<-coxphf(data=example,y~x, firth=TRUE, pl=TRUE, maxit=1000)
summary(cox2)

A: I went about a tiny bit different with your data and did not have any problems. First of all, I excluded the Undefined column, as a variable without any variation does nothing for your model (and will create errors).
Then, I just bound your Surv() object to the data you provided:
example$survive <- Surv(time = OS, event = Event)

and called the coxphf() with default settings (as firth and pl are TRUE by default), not changing the default iteration of 50, and used the correct formula specification:
cox2 <- coxphf(survive ~ Age + Favorable + Intermediate + Adverse, data = example)

> summary(cox2)
coxphf(formula = survive ~ Age + Favorable + Intermediate + Adverse,
    data = example)

Model fitted by Penalized ML
Confidence intervals and p-values by Profile Likelihood

                     coef   se(coef)  exp(coef)  lower 0.95 upper 0.95     Chisq          p
Age           0.005652315 0.01598045 1.00566832 0.976272961  1.0391381 0.1297188 0.71872373
Favorable    -3.335329337 1.25086821 0.03560286 0.004236556  0.4169422 6.3231629 0.01191709
Intermediate -1.672995547 0.61363779 0.18768401 0.066460220  0.6321023 6.4756709 0.01093610
Adverse      -3.412597661 1.25225958 0.03295548 0.003909284  0.3863706 6.4164893 0.01130655

Likelihood ratio test=6.535659 on 4 df, p=0.1625574, n=50
Wald test = 7.794526 on 4 df, p = 0.09940164

Covariance-Matrix:
                       Age   Favorable Intermediate      Adverse
Age           0.0002553747 -0.00220437 -0.001027825 -0.001760528
Favorable    -0.0022043699  1.56467129  0.710597909  1.408715695
Intermediate -0.0010278246  0.71059791  0.376551335  0.705180703
Adverse      -0.0017605280  1.40871570  0.705180703  1.568154050

Can I ask why the Intermediate column has values set to 2 instead of 1? Isn't it just a binary indicator of a categorical variable?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


How the Norwegian Refugee Council provides smart aid.
Kahanbu Mastayabo stands in front of a sales booth. "Let's buy some of this oil," she suggests to her husband.
As the midday sun appears between the clouds, she unfolds an umbrella to protect her five-month-old daughter Esther from the scorching rays. The young mother and her husband are doing their shopping at a temporary market on the outskirts of Kanyabayonga, a small town in eastern DR Congo. The market is organised by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO).
They agree on five litres of oil and pass their electronic payment card to the trader, who holds the card up to a smartphone scanner. A total of USD 3.79 is subtracted from the card after Mastayabo enters her personal code on the screen to confirm the purchase.
"This kind of payment is very new to us, but we like the system and haven't had any problems," the twenty-six-year-old explains.
Like most other newly displaced families in DR Congo, the family is struggling to making ends meet. They work in the fields for a meagre 1,500 Congolese Francs (USD 1.10) a day, which barely covers food and rent.
With cash from electronic voucher cards, e-vouchers, provided by NRC and ECHO, Mastayabo and her husband are able to buy exactly what the family needs.
Cash is humanitarian assistance in the form of cash or vouchers. Distributed to people or communities, this type of aid allows them to acquire the exact food, products and services they need.
Electronic transfers, where a displaced person can receive a cash transfer through technology, such as smart phones or electronic payment cards.
Vouchers, which can be exchanged for a specific quantity or value of goods or services.
Unconditional cash grants are based on needs, and people do not have to do anything to receive them.
Conditional cash grants, which a person must earn through certain activities, such as working or going to school.
Unrestricted cash grants, which a displaced person can use for anything he or she chooses.
Restricted cash grants are designated for a certain use or to buy a certain item.
Multipurpose cash grants are regular or one-off cash transfers which are supposed to cover a family's needs for food, shelter, education, health, water and sanitation facilities, and means for a livelihood. The family is free to use the cash as they wish.
The nature of humanitarian crises has changed over the past 20 to 30 years. Of the 65 million people displaced today, most do not live in refugee camps. They're in cities and urban areas. More and more people are in need of humanitarian aid globally, and they're needing it for a longer period of time.
But the humanitarian aid that is actually provided is insufficient. The gap between actual needs and funding is widening. The whole humanitarian system is under immense pressure. With the money that is allocated, both donor countries and aid agencies want to maximise impact even more.
Why not just give them cash?
This is where the cash comes in. Two decades ago, Mastayabo and her family would have queued for hours to receive weekly rations of rice, flour and basic household items. But it would have been costly and time-consuming – for them and for the organisations giving them out.
"Today, a displaced family can receive an envelope of life-saving cash, an electronic card or money transferred directly to a mobile phone, with which they can buy food, pay rent and purchase what they need locally," says NRC's Secretary General Jan Egeland.
Aid agencies still distribute food to displaced people, but the last years have seen an increase in cash-based assistance. With cash, transfer logistics are easier. The people caught in crisis are able to purchase what they need, and at the same time, put money into local markets.
Technological progress can make humanitarian aid more efficient. As a signatory to the Grand Bargain agreement between the world's biggest donors and aid providers, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA) will contribute to increase the use of cash in humanitarian response.
She thinks that increased use of technology, not least in the field of cash transfer, has the potential to reform humanitarian response.
According to the humanitarian and finance industries alike, cash is cost-saving and efficient aid because the organisations are able to spend fewer resources and reach more people.
"It's obvious that it is easier to transport cash than traditional in-kind aid and that it's even easier to transport electronic money," says Idar Kreutzer, CEO of Finance Norway, the Norwegian financial industry's organisation, and head of NRC's board.
In most humanitarian crises, aid organisations can distribute cash in safe and efficient ways – although there are risks, like theft. These risks are reduced when using electronic cards.
The logistics of transferring cash electronically are not just cheaper and faster than transferring traditional aid materials. They're also more environmentally friendly. Kreutzer puts it simply: "Because there's no need for large shipments of food and goods."
So when would cash not be used?
Cash expert Jaqueline Frize was deployed by NRC's roster CashCap to the Cash Learning Partnership in Jordan earlier this year. Speed is key in emergencies, she says. If there is no cash delivery system up and running already, starting off with in-kind assistance may be more efficient.
People fleeing conflict and disaster have had everything they hold dear taken away from them. Life suddenly becomes dramatic and, at times, desperate.
Frize thinks putting cash into people's hands creates a different power dynamic, because it allows the most unprotected to be actors in normal market dynamics.
"By giving people money," she says, "you also give them the power and the responsibility to spend it."
Frize says those who receive cash spend it reasonably. She is astonished by people's ability to save money.
"If you give people cash, even in an emergency, people are already thinking about tomorrow. Somehow they will find a way of saving some of that money and investing it."
It can be as basic as buying three chickens and then selling the eggs. They might eat less this week, but with the money they save, they will be able to eat better next week. Frize explains that most people spend the money on their basic needs, improving their diets, improving their homes and paying their debts. Humanitarians often think of basic needs on a day-to-day basis, she says. But in everyday life, we think with a longer-term perspective. It's the same for people in crisis, explains Frize: "People in a crisis [still] have to plan for the rest of their lives."
In Jordan, Syrians use the money for rent and for fresh fruits and vegetables like they would eat back home. They're also spending money to keep in touch with family and relatives who are still in Syria or elsewhere.
Providing cash can create a demand for goods, and help re-establish infrastructure and markets in crisis-affected communities. The use of cash-based assistance supports local economies, which often play a fundamental role in building up – or rebuilding – struggling local communities.
NRC's food security expert, Thomas Ølholm, describes NRC's preferred approach: work with traders to bring back the supply of key products, to meet the demands in areas where functioning markets have collapsed because of a crisis.
"We explain to them that we will provide money to the population and ask if they can provide the relevant products the population needs," he says. "This way, we bring the market to people living in displacement, instead of expecting them to seek out markets that are far away."
In such a dynamic, it's important to balance local needs with the needs of the displaced population. According to Frize, this type of approach can spur new products for the whole community.
"Even in places like the Sahel," she notes, "if you give cash to a rural community, the traders will know there is a market. So, suddenly they bring food to an area that perhaps was waiting for the one-year harvest."
Kreutzer has also seen how cash can have a strong, positive effect at the local level when he visited NRC's operation in DR Congo back in 2012.
"I visited a local market where I saw how we, through cash-based assistance, contributed to creating local markets where people sell their products.
It's simple: with cash comes demand, and with demand comes economic expansion.
But it's not that simple: there can also be unintended consequences of cash-based assistance. One possible negative effect is the potential for sudden increases in local demand, which may result in overproduction in a short period of time.
"That's why it's important to have functional markets supplementing the needs that cannot be met locally with goods brought in," Kreutzer explains. "This should ideally be done by local private actors, in order to stimulate the market."
Ølholm says NRC is very conscientious about the risks related to bringing cash to a local community. For instance, it's important to know whether the market can meet the population's needs. NRC experts constantly monitor price fluctuations and the availability of seasonal products each year.
"We always have to consider whether to give cash, distribute emergency articles or do a combination of both," says Ølholm, adding: "In-kind distribution of food should always be a last resort."
With cash-based assistance, humanitarian aid becomes more transparent and more in line with the needs it is meant to cover.
According to the report Doing cash differently, a bigger share of humanitarian assistance should be unconditional and unrestricted cash. In a world where more and better digital pay systems are developing, the opportunities for giving cash in cheaper, more secure and more transparent ways are also growing.
Digital payment solutions provide cheaper, more secure and easier ways to control cash transfers.
Electronic cash transfers will especially allow humanitarian assistance to become more transparent and accountable. One reason is that it will become easier to show how much of the aid is actually reaching the target group. Since it's cheaper, more money can go directly into displaced people's pockets.
Another reason is that humanitarian organisations will be more accountable to those receiving assistance, as well as to donors and tax payers in donor countries.
"With cash we can easily track the amounts distributed and it is possible to document, control and to some extent measure the effects of the assistance we give," Kreutzer explains. "This applies to cash in general, but is most efficient when using electronic payment solutions."
But cash and electronic cards are not always the best alternative.
When a cyclone strikes and causes massive destruction, it virtually wipes out all possibilities for markets and stocks. In these cases, Frize says: "A cash injection in the beginning of a response is probably not a good idea."
At other times, when there is a failing market, an injection of cash can send a message to traders that there are buyers that need to be served. This way the market is revived.
People need to have the possibility of buying the goods and services they are after, in order for cash to be useful.
And there are other needs that aren't simple commodities. Cash can't always cover those. Protection, water and sanitation services, and medical aid should all remain priorities for aid organisations.
Another obstacle? Making sure that cash recipients understand the timeline. It's really important to do a lot of community participation in the beginning, to make people aware that the cash payments are not forever.
"It is important to have an exit strategy from the beginning," Frize explains. "When you know you have done the job and achieved your goals, you stop. That way they can plan better and make better use of the cash you do give."
So we see that cash cannot meet all needs in every humanitarian crisis. What do we do then?
"The best programmes I've seen," Frize says, "are the ones that do a combination of different kinds of assistance."
There are different types of cash-based assistance. Sometimes, you have to meet certain conditions to receive cash, such as going to school or working. Sometimes, there are restrictions related to how you spend the money. Other times, the cash is unconditional and unrestricted. In other scenarios, a combination of cash assistance and in-kind assistance – tangible items that could range from drinking water to blankets – is carried out.
According to Ølholm, NRC aims to make cash-based assistance as unconditional and unrestricted as possible.
"Spending money is about both needs and priorities," he explains. "When you have the money, you prioritise your spending according to what is most important to you. Imagine if you didn't have enough money. How would you react if someone told you how to spend the little you received?"
Back at the Kanyabayonga market, Mastayabo and her family have finished today's shopping. They are loaded up with a mattress, a blanket, beans, oil, cassava roots, fruits and soap. The USD 55 they were allocated has been fully utilised.
More than 6,000 displaced families – over 37,400 people – stocked up with food and household items at the Kanyabayonga market during the 11 days it was open.
"Since the electronic system works much faster, we have been able to accommodate 200 more families per day compared to other systems," explains Ibrahim Abdullya Ly, NRC's emergency coordinator in DR Congo.
Starting in December 2016, NRC was among the first humanitarian agencies in DR Congo to successfully implement an e-voucher system of electronic payment cards. It is a more secure and efficient system than the traditional vouchers.
But we need to tread further down this digital path. We need to keep innovating, so that we can make cash-based assistance more present, more efficient, more accountable and more dignified.
"Innovation within humanitarian work is important and digital cash is an example of how we are testing new solutions, learning and improving the ways in which we provide aid," says Kreutzer.


text:
Allison Janney's Oscars 2018 Jewelry Was Worth More Than $4 Million
The actress is nominated for I, Tonya.
By Elizabeth Angell
Most of us have an Oscars fantasy, a daydream about the gown and incredible jewelry we would wear should we happen to get invited to the biggest party of the year. (Did we mention it was a fantasy?)
But even in your wildest imagination, you might not dream of wearing $4 million worth of diamonds, which is what Allison Janney just casually donned for her walk down the Academy Awards red carpet.
The necklace.
In a plunging Reem Acra gown, the 58-year-old actress wore 128 carats worth of Forevermark diamonds, including round solitaire diamond earrings, a necklace that alone totals over 55 carats, a bracelet, and an 18-carat ring, which was the biggest diamond in the suite of jewels.
The ring.
Janney is nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her roll in I, Tonya. She plays Tonya Harding's difficult, troubled mother LaVona, and she has won a Golden Globe, SAG Award and Independent Spirit Award for her work in the film.
Janney told Yahoo news that Harding herself had texted her on the Oscars red carpet. "She's just been so supportive and loving of me," Janney said. "The first time I met her, she said, 'My god! You nailed my mother,' and I didn't know what to say … so I just gave her a hug and I said, 'I'm so sorry you had that kind of an environment when you were growing up.'"
Hollywood Stylist Kate Young: How I Style Jewels
Elizabeth Angell Digital Director Elizabeth Angell is the Executive Editor, Digital for Town & Country, where she writes about the British Royal Family, the Kennedys, Ivy League shenanigans, superstars of interior design, and trends in style, beauty, and home.
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Certificates enrolled receive error message: "Adaptable CA - Failed to prepare for request with error: A parameter cannot be found that matches parameter name 'Specific'."
The purpose of the Prepare-ForRequest PowerShell function that is called by the Adaptable CA driver is to perform tasks that need to happen before submitting a CSR to the CA. One very good use case for this is to implement logic that verifies the organization and domain being request have been vetted and are available in the configured certificate authority account. Unfortunately, the data necessary to perform that verification was inadvertently omitted when the driver was originally released. The Adaptable CA driver included in Trust Protection Platform 16.3 has been enhanced to pass Subject DN and Subject Alternative Name variables to the Prepare-ForRequest. This required the definition of the Prepare-ForRequest function to change from accepting one hash table ($General) parameter to two ($General and $Specific). So any Adaptable CA PowerShell scripts that worked in Trust Protection Platform versions prior to 16.3 needs that function definition updated as shown below in order to be used in 16.3 and beyond.
Update the definition of the Prepare-ForRequest function in your PowerShell scripts to include the "Specific lines" underlined in red as shown below.
It is not necessary for the function to use the $Specific hash table, only for it to accept it when called by the Adaptable CA driver at the very start of certificate lifecycle processing.


text:
Employee Spotlight: Timothy Eplee
Home·About Us·News
l Created with Sketch. Share on LinkedIn noun_Email_865812_000000 Created with Sketch. Forward Article
Timothy Eplee, Director
What truly differentiates J.S. Held is our people — world-class talent driven by a common set of core values. Together, these shared values inspire a culture of integrity, excellence, teamwork, and service.
Get to know Timothy Eplee.
Timothy Eplee has been with J.S. Held for over a year and a half and in that time has become an integral part of our Property Damage Consulting team. Recently, Tim was selected to help lead and direct the opening of J.S. Held's new office in Asheville, North Carolina.
"Tim embodies the core values and professionalism that we look for in all of our top producers. He is a natural leader, a gifted teacher, and accepts every assignment as though it was the most important assignment," said Peter McCabe, Vice President and Area Manager for North and South Carolina.
Whether he is performing property damage assessments, preparing loss scopes, or developing repair estimates; Tim is committed to continually striving to perfect his knowledge and skills through continued education, hard work, and persistence.
Timothy Eplee
From the time he was born, Tim has known construction. His father was a licensed General Contractor who specialized in high-end residential and light commercial structures, which meant Tim was free labor and unable to negotiate his terms of employment. He would spend his childhood afternoons, weekends, and summers helping his dad by carrying tools and sweeping floors. Growing up in construction, Tim realized that the complexities involved in property damage were far more intricate and detailed than typical new construction. It was for that reason, that he decided to pursue a career that would afford him the opportunity to handle complex matters regularly.
Prior to joining J.S. Held, he worked in Project Management, Account Management, and Area Management roles for some of the largest mitigation, property damage, and renovation contractors in the world. Tim's previous experiences are heavily relied upon in his current consulting role and contribute to his ability to deliver accurate and reliable answers on complex losses.
When asked what brought him to J.S. Held back in 2017, Tim pointed to, "the opportunity to work for an organization that prides itself in being on the cutting-edge of technology and the dedication to providing the best client experience possible."
Tim is renowned for his expertise in mitigation, repair, and renovation projects and has consulted on some of the largest property damage losses in the United States, which includes over a hundred restaurants, 500+ unit condominiums, office spaces, retail spaces, industrial facilities, multi-family buildings, residential homes, and senior living facilities. Identifying the unique set of complexities and details that arise with each project is what Tim finds to be most enjoyable about his work in the consulting industry.
The opportunity to provide a positive example through his commitment to quality and service, while leading and guiding his team to become the best version of themselves – both in and outside of the workplace, is what inspires Tim on a daily basis.
Away from the office, Tim enjoys spending time working on his tan and perfecting his patience, which is also known as "fishing." He has competed as a professional angler for over two years and is known to be able to catch a fish in a mud puddle. When not holding a fishing rod, Tim can be found restoring antique hot rods and making memories with his family and friends.
Tim is also an active member of his community, where he volunteers as a member of the Henderson County Rescue Squad (EMT and Alpine Rescue Tech).
Interested in learning more about Tim Eplee? Give him a call at 828-230-6379.
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text:
Man jailed for stealing face masks from hospital amid coronavirus crisis
Lerun Hussain, 34, was caught pinching the protective items at King's College Hospital, south London.
Credit;PA
A callous thief who stole surgical face masks from a hospital amid the coronavirus crisis has been jailed.
Lerun Hussain, 34, was caught pinching the protective items at King's College Hospital in south London.
Police were called to the hospital at around 11.20am last Sunday morning after Hussain was stopped by security for stealing three face masks.
He was arrested on suspicion of theft and also detained for being in breach of a court order – he was later charged with theft and pleaded guilty when he appeared before magistrates yesterday .
Hussain, of Clapham, south London, was sentenced to three months in jail when he appeared in custody at Croydon Magistrates' Court.
Hussain's struck as vital NHS workers fighting COVID-19 outbreak desperately call for more personal protective equipment (PPE).
The items were no longer usable due to contamination.
Health workers have been left scared for their life with the shortage of PPE at hospitals on the frontline – with the Government rushing to deliver PPE across the UK.
A Met Police spokesman said: "Hussain appeared at Croydon Magistrates' Court on Tuesday where he pleaded guilty to theft and was sentenced that same day to three months imprisonment."
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text:
Q: signing with x509certificate that has signature algorithm sha256
Possible Duplicate:
How can I sign a file using RSA and SHA256 with .NET?

I am trying to sign a PDF document with a x509certificate, which has signature algorithm sha256. I have written the following code for this.
RSACryptoServiceProvider rsaCSP = new RSACryptoServiceProvider();
rsaCSP.FromXmlString(cert.PrivateKey.ToXmlString(true));
signature = rsaCSP.SignData(dataToBeSigned, CryptoConfig.MapNameToOID("SHA256"));

which yields into an exception saying "Key not valid for specified state"
Then I have made an edit like the following:
RSACryptoServiceProvider rsaCSP = (RSACryptoServiceProvider)cert.PrivateKey;
signature = rsaCSP.SignData(dataToBeSigned, CryptoConfig.MapNameToOID("SHA256"));

This yields into an exception saying "Invalid algorithm specified"
I have no clue for the errors, can anyone help me to get out from this deadlock please ?


As a kid everyone loved him. What's not to love in a small boy with a devilish smile, intelligent look, lovely freckles, great manners and a determination very rarely seen in a young child? At the same time, we have to admit, there were some concerns as well, some characteristics that told us that Tim Fireball Lawrence was not your typical kid: his fiery red hair, his passion for toys, maybe even his distinctive, yet disturbing interest in anything that had wheels. What ultimately gave him away was the fact that he was always around cars, 24-7, whether he was sitting in them, stealing (ever seen a 6 year old jacking a car?) or driving them, this unique love and passion separated him from everybody else. And then he grew up. Tall, slim, same red hair, same mischievous smile, same love for cars. That is exactly when and where we meet him, in his garage-lab: @Cinema Vehicle Services at 12580 Saticoy St. in North Hollywood, Kalifornia.
My very first stolen car!
Fireball Tim defines himself as Hollywood's secret design weapon. He conceptualized vehicles, weapons, spaceships, costumes, props and completely unique environments for Hollywood's biggest films and television show. And he has been doing this for such a long time, crowning a life-long dream. Fireball Tim has created vehicles and sets for more than 360 projects on popular films like Gone in 60 Seconds (Nicolas Cage & Angelina Jolie), Pitch Black, Starship Troopers (starship vehicles), X-Men, Austin Powers, Starsky and Hutch (the Striped Tomato) & the last Green Hornet. Tim is also the designer behind the most successful TV CAR shows of the last 20 years, including Monster Garage, Extreme Rides, World Most Expensive Rides on Discovery Channel and the new Hollywood Garage, an online series which includes 15 garages, each one of them with its own particular show. To prepare for our GANZO interview he admits to drinking several cups of Caffe' Lavazza, eating gelato and italian chocolate, his favorites. His motto is on fire like him: All you need is love for cars!
All you need is love for cars!
Why the name? "One time, when I was a kid, I got in serious trouble. Me and a friend of mine, we liked to blow things up. Small things. One day we found an old train car and we decided to light it up on fire to see what it looked like, without knowing it was full of barrels of gasoline. The explosion was incredible; all the people in the San Fernando Valley knew what happened! So my parents started to call me Fireball Tim, the name stuck and growing up I found a way to legalize it and my new career started from there!".
I loved to stage car accidents!
How did you became the guru of custom cars? "I was born in Southern California, from a Hollywood family, my parents are, respectively, a writer and a producer. There were 2 things my parents always gave me as a child, die-cast cars and art supplies. And if you put those two together its design, automotive design, expressions of our inner passions. My parents worked in tv movies, so I saw how cars were used in films. But it wasn't until college that I learned how to apply that to the movie industry. Since then I did more than 360 design for films, we built thousands of cars and so many different vehicles. And still moving with the passion for it".
Why you love your job? "I'm currently 46, I hope! But in my heart, I'm still 11, I still get to play with cars everyday, I'm living a life of bliss. Is going from concept to completion, to go from an idea inside my mind, from my hand to a piece of paper, to the shop guys where they put it together, they finish it, we take it to the set, they film it and when the movie comes out everyone in the world gets to enjoy it. Priceless".
No engine... No Problem. Fireball Tim is on his way!
Growing up, what were your source of inspiration? "When I was young I was inspired by futurism, a very good friend of mine is Syd Mead – www.sydmead.com - the genius behind all the great design for science-fiction films such as Blade Runner, Aliens, and Tron. Later I discovered Luigi Colani – www.colani.ch – the biodynamic designer who worked for Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Volkswagen, and BMW. His design is so organic, so visionary. He is applying this designs to all vehicles, boats, planes, clothing, he is a very expressive designer, he does not limit itself in any way. Sometimes I'm limited by budget, but there are ways to achieve things even with time and money constraints, but on paper your imagination is the limit… Colani is the Santa Claus for cars".
Can you tell us some of your coolest projects? "I'm proud of Knight Riders the tv show, the Batmobile in the first Batman, Gone in 60 Seconds, Fast and Furious franchise, Austin Powers and the Striped Tomato in Starsky and Hutch. We spend a lot of time building and then on the set an accident happens and the car get crushed! And this breaks my heart!".
Do you have a secret dream car? "I would like to have 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO. But I own some Ducati, so my Italian dream is covered".
1959 Ferrari Barchetta. All aluminum body, hand fabricated and all Italian.
What is the passion that wakes you up in the morning? "What I do, is not just a business, with my team we live for a culture, a lifestyle. A culture is something you share, you share with content, online, live events, entertainment, most businesses they just provide a service and then move on… For us is different. Is not just about collecting a check, even if we need to! We give a lot back to charities, like Make-A-Wish Foundation. We want to expand people awareness, feels good to think that you can achieve anything, you can apply to what you are most passionate about".
What's next? "Some tv shows, including the Hollywood Garage. We worked on all the last great movies, Iron Man 3, Mission Impossible 4, Thor, Captain America… Fireball Tim is a brand we sell at Walmart, including Hollywood Garage, little die-cast cars, clothing, green products for cars. We are aware of the environment".
Last question? Where do you get your favorite italian chocolate? "You have to go to Rome, is a little shop in Via Del Corso, close to the spanish steps… Ask my friend Luciano Bove – http://www.lucianobove.blogspot.com – great car designer, is on Facebook".
1966 Chrysler Imperial like the one used in Green Hornet. It's a car purchased at Barrett Jackson Auction.
That is such a cool article,Love You Man !!
I have the same dream… but did not come true….. yet.


On World Maths day (february 28th) Microsoft released Mathematics 4.0 and it`s add-in for Word and OneNote.
Microsoft Mathematics 4.0 provides a set of mathematical tools that help students get school work done quickly and easily. With Microsoft Mathematics, students can learn to solve equations step-by-step while gaining a better understanding of fundamental concepts in pre-algebra, algebra, trigonometry, physics, chemistry, and calculus.