Thus far most of my posts have been about stamps issued prior to Queen Elizabeth's reign. Over the next several weeks, I will be finishing my posts on the remaining issues of the King George VI period, and then I will be writing about the modern Elizabethan issues. Before I get into them though, I wanted to write a post to explain my love for them, how they can be both fun and interesting to collect, why collecting modern stamps differs from collecting classic stamps, and some tips on collecting modern issues.
I did not use to like modern material that much. For most of my collecting life, I bought into the conventional wisdom that to be an accomplished philatelist, one has to collect something scarce, or rare, or if not rare, something classic. Although I was always drawn to the colours and the artistic variety of Elizabethan issues, the conventional wisdom that says that these issues are nothing more than discount postage kept me away from collecting them in any serious fashion.
However, there came a point in my collecting life where it was no longer important to me to prove myself to other collectors or dealers. It was no longer important to impress people with the catalogue value of my collection, or the rare and expensive pieces in my collection. I am a junkie for varieties. I love looking for the subtle, but real and significant difference between two seemingly identical stamps. Classic philately is full of opportunities to seek out shade, paper, perforation and printing varieties, but what I never realized until much later in my collecting life is that the scope of collectible varieties is much more vast in the modern Elizabethan period. The best part is that the modern issues are extremely affordable. For me much of the fun in collecting lies in the chase, and the thrill of making a new discovery. Because the quantity of modern issues is so vast, because they have been so under-studied, and because they have been so misunderstood, there are many significant varieties that have simply been overlooked. We see this in the number of new listings that get added to Unitrade every year, especially for issues that have been around for 35-50 years now.
For example, the Louis Riel stamp above exists on at least two types of dull fluorescent paper. I discovered this will going through a quantity of mint singles. One type has a completely smooth surface, and shows no mesh when held up to a strong backlight. Another shows a very light, but visible vertical ribbing on the face, and then clear vertical mesh when viewed against the backlight. I have found distinct shade varieties of the purple in the Musk Ox stamp in the top left corner above, as well as differences in the surface texture of the paper surface. Finally, on the Dollard des Ormeaux stamp from 1960 in the upper right corner, I have found similar textural differences in the paper used to the Louis Riel stamp, and I have also found significant shifts in the brown background design relative to the blue colour. I have not yet found any significant varieties of the 3c Christmas stamp from 1966, but I'm sure that patience and careful study will eventually turn up at least one.
Another fantastic aspect to collecting this period is that you can do it all mint without breaking the bank - for now. I say that because of the fact that for the last 30+ years, dealers have been using these issues as postage, slowly depleting the supply of mint stamps. Of course because many of the significant varieties have been overlooked and have yet to be discovered, it is possible that many of the existing shade, paper and perforation varieties have been used up, or will be if the current foolish trend continues unabated. Thus if you want to truly specialize in this period you probably need to keep an open mind and be receptive to used stamps as well as mint.
Finally, if you have to have rare material in your collection, there is no shortage of rarities in the Elizabethan period. Very few of them are regular issues, with most being printing errors. This is good because it allows you to define the scope of your collection initially as say regular issues, which you can complete over time on modest budget. Then as your means allow, you can expand the scope to include the errors, and proof material.
But not all rare material need be expensive. You want a lifetime challenge that won't break the bank? Try collecting the se-tenant issues and souvenir sheets properly used on commercial, non-philatelic covers! Some of them will be next to impossible to find as their face value did not correspond with any of the rates that were in effect when the stamps were issued, so that to find them you typically have to look for them used on higher rate mailings in combination with other stamps.
I have chosen to collect this period, largely because of my love for it, and also because I can do so without taking material away from my customers - there is enough to go around! Another thing I am excited about is the prospect of producing a super deluxe and comprehensive stamp album for the issues after 1946 - an album that is laid out in a way that allows you to collect in the most detailed manner that you want. To do this though, I have to develop a list of what exists, and to do this I have to collect and study the stamps. This I intend to do over the next several years.
Of all the misconceptions surrounding modern stamps is the idea that almost every stamp is different, and so small "flyspeck" varieties, paper varieties and shade varieties mean nothing since there are so many of them. Nothing could be further from the truth. Modern stamps display a degree of uniformity that is incomparable to the early classic stamps. You could sort a pile of 1,000 3 cent Small Queens, and find dozens if not hundreds of varieties. For the stamps shown above, you could sort through a pile of 1,000 stamps for each one, and you would be lucky if you found a dozen varieties of each. It is even possible with some stamps, like the 1966 Christmas stamp that you sort through 1,000 stamps and you never find a single variety. That is a very good thing, because it means that when you do find a variety, even one that is seemingly quite small, it is significant, and collectible.
Except for perforation varieties, watermark varieties and errors, the other areas of interest are very vast due to the technological limitations inherent in production when the stamps were printed. Colours were mixed by hand using formulas, but inexact measurements of pigments, so that shade varieties result every single time a new batch of ink was mixed. As a result, although many specialists will collect every possible shade variety, most collectors will limit themselves to shades that are very obvious to the eye, even without a comparison to another stamp. Similarly, paper was made either by hand or machine. However, paper from this period was uncoated, automatic mail sorting had not yet been invented, recycling of paper was not a |thing", and so fluorescent brighteners were not a part of paper production yet. As a result, the only dimensions along which paper varies to a classic philatelist is texture, thickness, appearance, the direction of the weave, and the watermark if there is one. Classic stamps were either engraved, typographed, or lithographed from plates. These plates got damaged, wore and had to be repaired or re-worked throughout their life. The collection of re-entries, flaws and retouches, is essentially the study of what happened to the plates over the service life. Perforations during the classic period are generally collected and studied to the nearest 1/4 hole, or more often the nearest 1/2 because the in-exactitude of the perforating equipment is such that smaller differences are often not meaningful.
Shade varieties - fewer and more subtle in most cases.
Paper varieties - all attributes as before, but now with coatings and fluorescence.
Tagging - to assist the mail sorting process - both fluorescent and phosphorescent.
Gum varieties - different types of dextrose, and PVA gums.
Perforations - many finer variations can be found, some being 1/10th of a hole.
Constant and non-constant printing flaws.
The texture of the surface, i.e. smooth or ribbed.
The presence or absence of a coating.
Colour - cream or bright white.
Thus you should also have a micrometer for measuring paper thickness, and a good magnifying glass to examine the paper surface closely.
The nature of the reaction - whether it is phosphorescent, fluorescent or both.
The type of tagging - Winnipeg or Ottawa, and for Ottawa, whether it is OP-2, or OP-4.
The width of the tagging bars.
The absence of tagging on stamps that are supposed to be tagged.
The colour of the tagging both in normal light and under UV light.
The spacing between tag bars.
How solidly the tagging is applied - smooth versus blotchy.
The Unitrade catalogue only covers the second though fourth of the above points, but I believe that in years to come this will change. Tagging is essentially a chemical overprint applied to the stamps after printing, so all of the usual aspects of an overprint that are usually studied, such as the spacing, the setting, the type of ink used, should apply to tagging as well. The only difference is that some of those differences will be visible in normal light, and some will not.
A phosphorescent reaction is characterized by an afterglow that persists for a few seconds after the light is switched off. You generally need to be in a dark room to see this, but it is quite noticeble. The reaction is usually a bluish white, or yellowish white glow. Fluorescent tagging usually glows bright yellow or bright green, and the glow is completely gone the moment the UV light is switched off. Winnipeg tagging is phosphorescent and Ottawa tagging is fluorescent, although experimental Winnipeg tagging exists that is both fluorescent and phosphorescent. The first Ottawa tagging used a compound called OP-4 that was unstable and migrated, so that OP-4 tagging now gives a fairly pale reaction under UV. The later tagging used OP-2, which is stable and gives a strong solid reaction. The width of the tagging bars varied as well. Winnipeg tagging could be found in widths of 4 mm, 8 mm, and 9-10 mm, while Ottawa tagging ca be found in 2 mm, 3 mm, 3.75 mm and 4 mm widths. The strength of the taggant applied varies as well. You can find some stamps where the tagging is almost invisible in normal light, and then others where it is dark yellow. These, in my opinion are all collectible, because they are evidence of the experimentation that was carried out before settling on the tagging that most all stamps today have.
Some of the dextrose gums are streaky, while some are smooth and others grainy.
Some of the gums exhibit a high gloss sheen, while others are semi gloss. Still some are a satin sheen or a matte sheen.
These differences likely result either from chemical differences in the makeup of the gum or its method of application, so in my humble opinion, they are also collectible.
Perforations are another aspect of modern issues that did not receive much attention until the last 30 years or so, mainly because there were thought to be very few varieties. Then in 1988 when the wildlife series was introduced, several perforation changes were made by Canada Post that were never announced. This revived interest in looking at the perforations of modern issues, and has resulted in some very rare stamps. Most issues prior to 1972 are line-perforated, while all perforated stamps after 1972 are comb perforated. It was commonly accepted that unless otherwise stated, all stamps after 1935 were perforated 12. However, that is an over-simplification. There were at least two perforation changes made between 1946 and 1972, and possibly more in the years after. Many of the stamps in the early 1950's will measure exactly 12.0 on an Instanta gauge, but sometime in the late 1950's this was changed to 11.95. Then again in 1962, it was changed to 11.85 - a measurement that holds for all stamps printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company throughout the remainder of the 1960's. These are seemingly very minute differences, but they are consistent and they can be easily seen with the gauge if used properly and with care. This means that with each change, there was a transition period where compound perforations can be found that were previously unknown. So to collect modern issues properly, you need a perforation gauge, like the Instanta, that will enable you to measure to the nearest .05. Remember though that unless each of the vertical lines on the gauge bisects a perforation tooth exactly in the middle, you do not yet have an accurate reading.
Finally. many constant printing varieties have been found on these issues, with more being found every year, as collectors study intact sheets carefully looking for them. Many are quite scarce, occurring only once in a sheet. The wonderful thing is that enough intact sheets still exist to allow philatelists to prove their status as constant varieties.
The biggest tip I would give all of you is: TAKE NOTHING FOR GRANTED. Just because Unitrade only lists one perforation, or lists no varieties for a stamp does not mean there are none. You should check all your stamps carefully, using all the tools at your disposal, which includes your perforation gauge, micrometer, loupe, black light, and backlighting.
Another tip is to start with singles first. Although it may seem too easy, you might well find once you get into collecting this material that singles represent more than enough of a challenge without getting into plate blocks. Then later on you can expand into plate blocks, complete booklets and even full sheets.
That brings me to the end of today's post. I hope this has inspired some of you to give this period another look, or at least convinces you to look at this as more than just postage.
Am looking forward to your posts on the modern era. My father was a part-time dealer in the St. Lawrence Valley of New York, and when he passed I inherited not just his collection, but the balance of his dealer stock, and I have at least a dozen dealer books of Canadian singles from the period 1937-late 1980s. Your blogs will be very helpful in going through those books to find hidden gems.


The outfit in today's post is a great casual outfit when the weather is milder. Thankfully, it has warmed up around here, so I can get away with wearing a skirt and not have to put a snowsuit on to go outside. It has been a bit of a crazy past week here, so the outfit is not on me, but laying out. I haven't had time to take a picture of me wearing the outfit. Sorry! Here it is!


Created in 1985, Wordnet is a hierarchical taxonomy that describes the world. It was inspired by theories of human semantic memory developed in the late 1960s. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into synonyms sets or synsets, expressing a different concept.
ImageNet is an image dataset based on the WordNet 3.0 nouns hierarchy. Each synset is depicted by thousands of images. From 2010 until 2017, the ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge (ILSVRC) was a key benchmark in object category classification for pictures, having a major impact on software for photography, image searches, image recognition.
1000 synsets (Vinyl Edition) contains the 1000 synsets used in this challenge recorded in the highest sound quality that this analog format allows. This work highlights the importance of the datasets used to train artificial intelligence (AI) models that run on devices we use on a daily basis. Some of them inherit classifications that were conceived more than 30 years ago. This sound work is an invitation to thoughtfully analyse them.
This page was last modified on 22 March 2019, at 11:42.


07. It's still increasing quickly.
What problems does Earth have?
2、If you can camp on Mars, what will you take 、 with you?
The surface of Mars is a little a little like the surface of Earth like the surface of Earth.
What vehicle do people use to go to Mars at present? And how long does it take?
2 What vehicle may people use to go to Mars in the future? And how long will it take? 3 What will scientists do to solve the problems of food, water and air? 4 What will food on Mars be like?
5 Is gravity on Mars a big problem? Why? 6 What may happen then? 7 What kind of shoes should people wear? 8 What kind of house may people live in ? 9 Who will do most of our work? 10 What kind of school will students study in? And what do they call their teacher?
to go to Mars at present? And how long does it take?
2 What vehicle may people use to go to Mars in the future? And how long will it take?
Space shuttles. Only a very short time.
problems of food, water and air? Scientists will develop plants that can grow on Mars and produce food, water and oxygen.
4 What will food on Mars be like?
Maybe the food will be in the form of pills.
5 Is gravity on Mars a big problem? Why? Yes, it is. Because the gravity on gravity Mars is three-eighths of the gravity on Earth. 6 What may happen then? People may jump high easily and float away into space. 7 What shoes should people wear? People should wear special boots to make themselves heavier.
8 What kind of house may people live in?
A special dome with 10 bedrooms is highly possible. 9 Who will do most of our work? Robots.
school 10 What kind of school will students study in? And what do they call their teachers? Students can study in online schools and they call their teachers 'e-teachers'.
How do we get there ? at present How long does it take? Transport : How will we get there ? 2100 How long will it take?
What will scientists develop? Food : What will the plants produce? Will the plants produce water?
Will it be a big problem? Why is it a big problem? Gravity : Why is it very dangerous? To prevent this ,what should people do?
People will have more space. Robots will do most of our work… There will probably be no schools on Mars. We can study, do our homework and take exams in online schools.
The journey to Mars will be very uncomfortable.
A、用括号内所给词的适当形式填空 、 1 There is less air (pollute) in pollution town that in the city. 2 Look at the newest T-shirt . It's made of fashionable cotton. I think it will become (fashion) this summer. highly 3 It's (high) possible that people can live on Mars in the future.
to settle 4 Grandma is too old (settle) on another planet at present. 5 The helmet is made of metal. It's too heavy. When I wear it, I feel uncomfortable (comfort). 6 My father cooks very well. The food he cooks is as (taste) as that in the tasty restaurant.
7 Here are many kinds of moon cakes for you (choose) from. to choose 8 (compare) with what he had Compared already, the new stamps were not very interesting. 9 Hopefully (hope), doctors have found a new way to operate on the patients ? flying hospital. 10 We should keep water from (be) being polluted.
Many people believe that we will live onMars by 2100 because of the large and the population serous on Earth. pollution Compared with life on Earth, life on Mars will be shuttles different in many ways. Space that travel at half the speed of light may take the place of . So transport will be much better. spacecraft Humans on Mars will wear special to keep boots themselves from away into space as flying gravity here is very low.


The Saskatchewan Medical Association believes it is critical for patients to have what is called a medical home.
The Pharmacy Association of Saskatchewan has rented billboards to advertise pharmacists' ability to prescribe birth control pills and drugs for ailments such as bladder infections. The selling point is simple enough: these are everyday needs, and you don't have to be a highly trained doctor to meet them. Patients would get fast and convenient service, and the risks of anything going wrong are low. So what's the problem?
We at the Saskatchewan Medical Association are all for improved patient access to high-quality care. Doctors don't lack for things to do and we are happy to share duties with other professional colleagues so that everyone is working safely to the full scope of their training. Our collective duty is to our patients, whose interests must trump ours. Unfortunately, sometimes problems that appear to be simple and easy to fix turn out to be signals of something more complex.
And that is precisely why we have raised concerns about this new development. The SMA believes it is critical for patients to have what is called a medical home: a continuous source of comprehensive care, where patients have a relationship with their family physician and other providers. In such a setting, signs and symptoms of a health issue can be diagnosed and interpreted in the context of a patient's overall life and health experience. And appointments for birth control, for example, are opportunities to discuss healthy sexual practices and other preventative measures. This isn't pop psychology or overkill — it is verified by a great deal of research. Put simply, fragmented care increases the risks of something going wrong.
Good health care is a team activity based on collaboration, interdependency, communication and trust. Our patients expect this of us and often think it is happening far more than it is. Many community pharmacists practice in independent facilities and may have little or no relationship with their patients' doctors, and at best a partial understanding of the patient's overall health. Will the pharmacist accept responsibility for an adverse event? Will the diagnosis and treatment automatically become part of the patient's health record? Will the patient get conflicting advice from her doctor and her pharmacist, and if so, what is she to do?
Pharmacists have also announced their hope for a greater role in managing hypertension, suggesting they can save the system $423 million over three decades. Presumably, the majority of these savings would be due to fewer physician visits. Given that pharmacists are allowed to bill patients directly for their visits, at least some of that $423 million will come directly from patients' pockets. There is also ample research showing fragmented care is ultimately more costly.
Nor can we overlook conflict of interest. Community pharmacies are businesses that make more money when more drugs are dispensed. Certain medications allow pharmacies to make better profits. This is why it has been beneficial for the prescribers and dispensers to be separate parties. We're not suggesting that pharmacists want independent authority to prescribe in order to line their pockets; but in a society where over-prescribing is a common problem, the last thing we need is a further incentive to medicate.
From time to time there will be honourable differences of opinion about who should do what in our increasingly diverse and specialized health-care system. We believe these disagreements can and must be settled by a process that transparently seeks solutions in the public interest. No profession, including ours, can claim a monopoly of wisdom about what best serves the public. This is a system with many moving parts, and their movements must be harmonized to get the best results. Just as health care is more effective in teams, so, too is decision-making about professional roles.
Hence we suggest that before any further decisions are made, all of us — professions, regulators, government, health-care leaders and members of the public – should sit down and develop a principle-based process to guide discussions about scope of practice. We need to consider best practices, competencies, risks, benefits and alignment with broad system goals. Any solution should bring professions closer together, not further isolate them from one another.
Postmedia is pleased to bring you a new commenting experience. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.
Opinion: Most North Americans don't realize in recent years more than 18,000 people annually have been killed in terrorist strikes.
Opinion: After Notre Dame, what to do with historic places of faith?
It was our wedding day near Bordeaux. The flowers from Notre-Dame de Paris were the most beautiful of all those we had received.
No one talks about Justin Trudeau's pay equity legislation, the first violence-against-women strategy, increased child care spaces and the Employment Insurance Parental Sharing Benefit. That would be inconvenient.
Replacing straws, bags and utensils was a distraction. With a new policy, Métro is getting to the core of the issue: plastic packaging.


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Newborn Alexandra, almost 4 weeks old. Dressed up as a flower (top picture) in a costume her Aunt Heidi made for her.
Alexandra as 'Shirley Temple'. Newborn Lorelai, less than 2 weeks old.
Alexandra as a clown. Lorelai wearing the pumpkin costume.
Lorelai as 'Mickey' and Alexandra as 'Scarlett O'hara'. Elisabeth as herself, 1 month old.
Alexandra and Lorelai as 'Dorothy' and 'Glinda the Good Witch'. Elisabeth in the pumpkin costume.
Lately, ballet has been causing Alexandra some stress. I don't think a child should ever feel stressed. That's not what childhood is all about. So yesterday we ditched ballet and went to the park instead.
Lorelai always has a bounce in her step.
And I love that her hair bounces right along with her step.
...around and around and around the park.
I think maybe her ballet days are done.
Recently Donald and I attended a fundraiser at Alexandra's school. While there, a fellow parent asked me if Donald ever worked.
"It's just that everytime I see you, you two are together," she said.
True, true....he and I stick together.
The following photographs were taken yesterday between 5:00 and 6:00 pm.
A side table holding Lizzy's glasses, Alexandra's current crocheting project, Lorelai's books, and an unfinished bottle.
Lorelai, examining the new Toys R Us catalogue that came in the mail (pen in hand).
A wooden giraffe that I bought in Prague once upon a time. Somehow it ended up on the dinner table (my guess is Lorelai).
Elisabeth, trying on her new winter coat.
And that's life at the Sorenson's.
I love our neighborhood. There are parks and walking trails and fun little events throughout the year. We never miss out on the fun little events. Like the fall festival, where they take you on a hayride from the home information center to a vacant-lot-turned-pumpkin-patch. Good times for sure.
The girls, examining a pumpkin stem that had detatched from it's pumpkin.
Donald, Me, and our three girls.
Busy raking on an Autumn afternoon.
When most of the leaves had been gathered, Lorelai looked up at the source and decided to whack the tree a few good times to encourage more falling. Worked like a charm.
...and spent the next few minutes returning the yard to it's original state. Leaves scattered everywhere.


text:
33 reasons why Larry Walker is worthy of the Hall of Fame
How do we love Larry? Let us count the ways
By Adam Peterson@playerTBNL Dec 8, 2017, 11:30am MST
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Today we wrap up the first ever Purple Row Larry Walker Week. The goal was to raise awareness and appreciation for perhaps the greatest player to wear a Rockies uniform and to push his case for Hall of Fame induction. After wishing him "Happy Birthday," we compared him to other notable Hall-of-Fame-caliber outfielders. We reviewed his 1997 MVP season and explored an alternate timeline in which he was already inducted into the Hall of Fame. We also discussed his Hall-of-Fame worthy personality and made the definitive case for his Hall of Fame induction.
But there are, understandably, a few things still missing if we're going to properly tell the story of Larry Walker. There are other things that were mentioned but must be further emphasized. In honor or his fascination with the number three, here are 33 reasons to love Larry Walker.
1. Jay Jaffe's JAWS metric attempts to measure how a Hall of Fame candidate measures up with current Hall of Famers at his position. Larry Walker's career WAR, peak WAR, and JAWS score all show is he worthy of enshrinement. Unfortunately, last year, his seventh on the ballot, he accrued just 21.7% of votes, well short of the 75% required. That is why Larry Walker Week exists (and may, be forced to continue for another two years).
2. The biggest knock against Larry Walker is that he didn't play enough. Between injuries both minor and season threatening, he logged only an average of 124 games per season (if you remove his 20 game cup-of-coffee in 1989). If he played just 10 more games per season, that would be the equivalent of an entire extra season, in which case he'd likely have had the numbers to put him in the Hall of Fame already. And yet he still has a better rWAR, and JAWS score than the average Hall of Fame right fielder.
3. Larry is rightly remembered for facing Randy Johnson in the 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland, but did you know he also finished second in the Home Run Derby that year? Of course, he hit three more home runs overall than champion Tino Martinez, but lost to Martinez in the finals 3-1.
4. Not only was he a five-time All-Star, he was also a four-time starter.
5. There is an entire generation of baseball fans from the Denver area who know Ozzy Osbourne not because he bit the head off of a bat but because of the song that played when Larry Walker went up to bat.
6. Larry Walker was born in Maple Ridge, British Columbia. That makes him Canadian. And everyone knows Canadians are awesome. Seriously, if you've ever met a bad Canadian, check their passport. And birth certificate, just in case.
7. The only Canadian in the Baseball Hall of Fame is Ferguson Jenkins. He was inducted in 1991. The Anti-Canadian bias has gone on for far too long. Larry needs to be in.
8. He also was developed by Canada's first Major League Baseball team, the now defunct* Montreal Expos. So that's pretty cool.
9. These next few come courtesy of Hot Stove Stats on twitter. The most impressive:
There have been 19,180 players to play Major League Baseball.
Just one of them has 350 HR, 200 SB, .300 BA, and .400 OBP in their career.
His name is Larry Walker. #WalkerHOF
— Hot Stove Stats (@HotStoveStats) November 22, 2017
10. Larry Walker was no slouch against the top competition of his day, either. According to Hot Stove Stats, he hit .305/.378/.449 against Hall of Famers Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Randy Johnson. Maybe he didn't need to sit out against Johnson.
11. During his three year peak from 1997 to 1999, Larry Walker led baseball with a .451 on-base percentage.
12. Another fun feature on Baseball-Reference player pages is the Black Ink. These bolded numbers appear on a player's statistical record to designate when he led the league in that category. Larry led the league in a category 12 times in his career.
13. Walker was also an exceptional defender, posting 97 Total Zone Fielding Runs Above Average, according to Baseball-Reference, and 150 outfield assists, the 15th most all time by a right fielder and finishing in the Top 3 in the league in seven seasons.
14. He's part of one-half of the greatest jersey combination in Denver—nay, American history.
15. Larry Walker holds 15 single-season Rockies records. 14 of those come from his MVP campaign in 1997; the other comes from 1999, when he led all of baseball withe a .379 batting average.
16. Walker also hold eight career records for the Rockies (including, amusingly, hit by pitch with 98). If you take out Todd Helton's 17-year Rockies career, that number would rise to 29 Rockies career records.
17. People seem to forget how good of a base runner Walker was—and it's not just conjecture. Tony Gwynn is on record of saying he's the "best baserunner in the game."
18. Walker is second in Rockies history with 126 stolen bases and a career 75.5% success rate. He was particularly adept at taking the extra base: his 52% extra-bases taken rate is well above the league average 40%. In 1997, he took the extra base 70% of the time!
19. His Twitter handle is @Cdnmooselips33, a handle that would make many a AOL user proud.
20. He once rolled into spring training on a motorcycle. That picture proves he was cooler than even your coolest friend in 1993.
21. It's no secret grew up wanting to play hockey. In fact, he played with future Hockey Hall of Famer Cam Neely. We need to make sure he's not the only one of that friend group to end up in a Hall of Fame.
22. Larry's older brother Carey was drafted by the Montreal Canadians in 1977 as a goalie. One may wonder if Larry would've wanted to trade places with Carey at some point, but baseball seems to have worked out pretty well for him.
23. He knows how to attend a baseball game in style.
Larry Walker in a Led Zeppelin jersey? Larry Walker in a Led Zeppelin jersey: pic.twitter.com/fi295nKuV5
— Ryan Thibodaux (@NotMrTibbs) April 26, 2015
24. Larry's Rockies career came to an end on August 6, 2004. On that day he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals.
25. The Rockies got swindled in the deal, fetching Jason Burch, Luis Martinez, and Chris Narveson in return. They also reportedly picked up $9 million of his salary. Why? Because the Rockies wanted to give him a chance at a World Series title.
26. In the press conference announcing the trade, Walker was choked up saying goodbye to the franchise he'd helped build over the past 10 years. There can be little doubt that he'd go into the Hall of Fame as a Rockie.
27. He joined a Cardinals team that included an in-his-prime Albert Pujols, Scott Rolen, and Jim Edmonds and went on to get swept by the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. At least he got his shot.
28. Don't pin that loss on Larry, though. He went 5-for-14 with two doubles and two home runs in those four World Series games.
29. He played in just 100 games in his final season (he still contributed 2.4 WAR, seventh most on the team) and the 100-win Cardinals came two games short of making it back to the World Series.
28. Larry announced his retirement after the Cardinals were eliminated by the Houston Astros in the NLCS. He struck out looking in his final at-bat; "I can't believe I did that," he said.
29. Walker has coached Team Canada for the past five years, including the 2015 PanAm Games and two World Baseball Classics.
30. He's not afraid to bust a move to appease a crowd.
Fans at Canada-Puerto Rico game are chanting "Larry Walker". So he moon-walked to appease them. @Cdnmooselips33
— Jamie Campbell (@SNETCampbell) July 17, 2015
31) He was on the coaching staff that led Canada to it's first ever PanAm Gold Medal by defeating Team USA 7-6 in extra innings (in a game that Jeff Francis pitched in!). Walker was excited.
32) During the 2013 World Baseball Classic, a brawl broke out between Teams Mexico and Canada.
Canadian first base coach Larry Walker, a former NL MVP, said he held back Mexico star Adrian Gonzalez during the altercation. The solidly built Walker also tried to restrain Aceves.
"I had a hold of him and I thought I saw Satan in his eyes," Walker said.
33) One of the fun features on Baseball-Reference.com is that every player that has a nickname has it listed at the top of his page, from the Great Bambino, to Kung Fu Panda, to Death to Flying Things, to the Sheriff of Swattingham. Larry Walker's listed nickname is booger. Perhaps the greatest player in Rockies history has a nickname that second graders use as an insult on the playground. I really want to see that on a Cooperstown plaque.
Larry Walker is a humble man. In an interview with Tracy Ringolsby in March, he had this to say about the Hall of Fame. "Jim Bronner reached out about the Hall of Fame, and how I should get involved and promote myself. I just said, "No, no, no," to everything. That's not me."
If you won't do it, Larry, allow us to do it for you.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Cape Cod Life General Store Partner Profile: Charted Mermaids
Cape Cod Life / April 2018 / People & Businesses
Writer: Allyson Plessner
Charted Mermaids combines a passion for the sea and a creative mind to deliver inspiring results
Deborah Watson, like sailors and fairy tale lovers alike, dreams of mermaids. She finds inspiration in the natural beauty of the ocean, its changing colors and, most importantly, what lies below. Her passion for imagination combined with her love of the sea has lead her to a unique business venture. In 2002, she started Charted Mermaids, an idea born out of artistic intention and frequent trips to the sea. Watson now spends her days creating carefully crafted cards out of nautical charts, featuring hand-painted mermaids.
"I was always a boater," she says, "and one day I looked at a chart and just thought, 'I should paint a mermaid on this.'" The concept is simple enough, but it's one that takes time, dedication, and a lot of patience. Every piece is different, no two mermaids the same. Each work of art is uniquely crafted straight from Watson's creative mind, and they make spectacular additions to anything from walls and refrigerators to desks and mantels.
Watson takes weekly art classes to keep up with her passion. "I love art, and I'm always painting," she says. Her Charted Mermaids collection is a venture that clearly takes a lot of heart, and, because of that, her pieces bring warmth to any room and enjoyment to any home. "It makes me feel good that people love my art," says Watson, whose designs can be framed or sent as cards. Just as the designs are rooted in fluidity, so too are their applications. Whatever the case, Watson hopes that people will look at her artwork and think of someone special, or simply see a piece of themselves.
"I love the colors of the sea," says Watson, a native Cape Codder, "and I love Cape Cod. I'm inspired by the beaches and the flowers all around." Watson flawlessly captures her devotion to the Cape and merges it with the fairy tales of her childhood. Fantasies of fishermen being entranced by beautiful, singing mermaids and mastheads of pirate ships featuring revered ladies with powerful tails instead of legs are the types of images that Watson draws from, and she puts these fantasies into a Cape setting, making them not only attention grabbing but also personal.
"Each map is different, be it in Buzzards Bay or Wareham. Every coast is different, from Nantucket to Martha's Vineyard and Falmouth all the way up to Dennis. I know why people visit Cape Cod in the summer now," she says, laughing.
A serene spring cruise along the coastline of Cape Cod makes it abundantly clear why Watson draws inspiration from this special place. "The ocean is beautiful," she says, and if you're lucky, you might just see a mermaid.
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Q: Deriving a momentum proposal distribution for Hamiltonian Monte Carlo -- non-Gaussian kinetic energies I am trying to understand how to derive the optimal way to generate momenta in HMC.
In the gaussian case, I think the approach is that if one samples proportional to the Gaussian, the log likelihoods have a chi² distribution, and to generate this, one can sample from a Gaussian. This takes care of the individual directions and the normalisation, such that all energy levels are explore proportionally.
In a flat top distribution case, I can also take samples, and compare their log-likelihood (probability density to marginal likelihood), which is a constant. So to generate momenta, I can choose a fixed normalisation, and random direction, i.e., sample from a gaussian, and normalise the length.
In this case I suppose the situation is time-invariant -- the step length defines the time intervals. However, I suppose the total energy injected is an important normalisation(?).
If I have a general distribution -- lets say I understand it analytically, but still want to HMC it -- is the approach to imagine sampling from the distribution, looking at the energy levels / log likelihood distribution, and that should be the momenta normalisation (combined with a random direction)?
There is the additional aspect of choosing the directions following covariance matrices, but I think I grasp that.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Gov. Edgar Chatto was re-elected as secretary general of the League of Provinces of the Philippines. He took oath along with Ilocos Sur. Gov. Ryan Luis Singson and chairman of the board Albay Gov. Al Francis Bicharra with the rest of elected officers of the league of governors before President Rodrigo Duterte at the Heroes Hall in Malacanang. Chatto co-presided the general assembly and election of officers of the league of governors alongside former LPP president Oriental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali, where cabinet secretaries were also present namely DILG Sec. Ismael Sueno, Budget Sec. Ben Diokno, Health Sec. Paulyn Ubial, Environment Sec. Gina Lopez, Defense Sec. Delfin Lorenzana, Agrarian Reform Sec. Rafael Mariano and Information Communications Technology Sec. Rodolfo Salalima.


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Maine bill to protect social-media passwords gets mixed reviews
Supporters say that employers and school administrators have no right to see employees' or students' private messages on Facebook or Twitter.
By Steve MistlerStaff Writer
Turn over your Facebook and Twitter passwords, please.
Just how often Maine employers and school administrators make that request is anyone's guess, but a bill moving through the Legislature would prohibit them from doing so in most circumstances.
Such password protection bills have been enacted in more than a dozen states, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The proposals are advanced by privacy advocates who hope the state-by-state strategy will lead to a comprehensive bill in Congress, where multiple attempts to pass a federal law have stalled.
The Maine bill, L.D. 1194, is sponsored by Rep. Michael McClellan, R-Raymond, who submitted it on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine.
Supporters of the bill say that employers and school administrators have no right to view employees' or students' private messages on Facebook or Twitter.
But some business groups, including the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, say the bill could have unintended consequences and prohibit employers from protecting proprietary business information or policing harassment cases.
The Maine School Management Association, which represents the state's school administrators, opposes the bill, saying it could prevent teachers and administrators from intervening in situations where students are at risk of bullying or other serious danger.
Those arguments colored last year's public hearing on L.D. 1194, which was carried over until this session. On Tuesday, lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee reviewed an amended version of the bill that was written to address some of the concerns raised last year.
While several lawmakers expressed a willingness to endorse the bill, they also expressed concern that it would have broad and unforeseen implications.
Rep. Jarrod Crockett, R-Bethel, said school officials could find it difficult to crack down on cyber-bullying.
"We're requiring all these institutions to have a heightened standard of care," said Crockett, an attorney. "We sue these camps and schools for not protecting children or students, but then we tie their hands when they try to protect them."
Oami Amarasingham, of the ACLU of Maine, said the amended bill would remove only a school's current blanket authority to demand a student's password. If there's a specific incident of misconduct or bullying, she said, the bill contains a provision to allow a school to access social media accounts after it contacts a parent.
Amarasingham said the law is needed because of the evolving ways that students and workers communicate.
"From our perspective, communications on the Internet are equivalent of talking on the telephone," she said. "Schools can't wiretap a student's telephone if they hear that there's bullying."
Connie Brown, executive director of the Maine School Management Association, told the lawmakers that there have been instances when a school administrator has requested a student's social media password during a bullying or harassment investigation.
"An investigation is never something that's tidy," said Brown. "There are times when an administrator may need access to passwords.
"Our primary goal is to keep kids safe," she said. "We try to get parental consent, but sometimes parents have information that they know will be harmful to their kids' reputation."
Brown also said that penalties in the bill would be punitive for schools, which could be inundated with frivolous lawsuits. A school could be hit with a $1,000 civil penalty for requesting password information, and $2,000 for subsequent violations. Similar penalties would be assessed against employers.
In a letter to the Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Janet Mills wrote that her office has not received any complaints about seized passwords, "so we cannot confirm that there is an actual problem in Maine to be addressed by this bill."
Also, she wrote, her office should not be assigned to enforce the law because it doesn't have the resources to represent individual students or employees who seek damages in court.
Supporters of the bill acknowledge that they haven't heard of any specific instance of an employer or school seizing social media passwords in Maine, but there have been multiple news accounts in other states.
In 2012, the ACLU backed a lawsuit by a 12-year-old middle school student in Minnesota after school officials searched her Facebook and private email accounts. The student was punished for statements she made about school hall monitors, who she said had been picking on her.
In 2010, The Associated Press broke the story about Robert Collins, an employee in the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Facilities.
Collins' supervisors requested his Facebook password after he returned from a leave of absence because they wanted to check for "gang affiliations." Collins, fearing the loss of his job, complied with the request.
Members of the Judiciary Committee were ambivalent Tuesday about L.D. 1194, with some saying it isn't needed and others expressing a willingness to pass a narrowly tailored bill.
Rep. Charlie Priest, D-Brunswick, the committee's House chair, said he could see a bill that deals only with schools.
Linda Valentino, D-Saco, the Senate chair, said that while there don't appear to be specific instances of seized passwords, lawmakers should stay ahead of online privacy issues.
The committee is scheduled to consider the bill, and possibly decide whether to endorse it, at a work session next Tuesday.
Congress has been reluctant to act on several password protection bills. Bills proposed in 2012 and 2013 stalled, but a new version could be considered this year.
Last year, Congress also blocked an amendment in the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act that would have prohibited U.S. employers from requiring employees to give them their social media passwords.
Steve Mistler can be contacted at 791-6345 or at:
Twitter: @stevemistler