text:
What happens when a small band of angry legislators takes control of the Texas House? We're about to learn
Filed under Texas Legislature at May 2017
Brandi Grissom
Lauren McGaughy
AUSTIN — Rep. Jonathan Stickland thundered down the center aisle of the Texas House, waving papers in the air and hollering at the speaker's dais.
"No!" he screamed, demanding his colleague's questions be acknowledged. "You are hammering through this, Dennis! We have rights!"
Rep. Dennis Bonnen, a top lieutenant of the House speaker, stood calmly at the dais. The chamber fell silent as Bonnen, befuddled, watched Stickland gesticulating. He adjusted his glasses and instructed Rep. Matt Schaefer to resume his questions.
The Texas Freedom Caucus was fed up. That night, Stickland, Schaefer and the group's 10 other Republican members decimated dozens of bills, exacting political retribution on GOP leaders they said failed to push far-right agenda items like anti-abortion legislation and a so-called bathroom bill.
The press called it the Mother's Day Massacre. House lawmakers who watched their bills die called it an unnecessary slaughter of good legislation, measures killed because a few legislators decided not to play nice. What everyone agreed on is the caucus handed a key bargaining chip to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Straus' archrival who leads the Senate, one he's using to push their priorities in the legislative session's final days.
Bill massacre: Texas House kills its own proposals with late-night talkfest
How did a tiny caucus that formed only three months ago manage to undermine the longtime speaker and hand Patrick a major win? They're wily; they're nimble; they've got the financial and strategic backing of some of Texas' biggest political players.
And they couldn't care less if anyone else likes them.
"We know that some people don't agree with what we did, but there was a method to the madness," said Schaefer, a Tyler Republican who is the caucus chairman.
The Freedom Caucus formed in February, a band of Republican lawmakers whose goal is to force the House's GOP leaders to vote on issues important to the party's most conservative voters.
They say they're listening to "grassroots" Republicans, who want anti-abortion, pro-Christian laws.
"My mantra as our chairman has been 'bold baby steps,' " Schaefer said.
Those baby steps started when members of the caucus began repeatedly challenging minor bills that might increase government regulation. One day, the caucus and its supporters used whistles in the House, launching a cacophony of toots to oppose a bill that would have required people on small boats to carry whistles.
"A dingy is a lot of different things to a lot of different people." - @RepStickland.
Chair threats to eject ppl blowing whistles. #txlege https://t.co/EvUv1iLynO
— Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) May 4, 2017
The caucus members harangued Speaker Joe Straus about why bills, including some of theirs, that would restrict access to abortion, loosen gun laws and keep transgender Texans out of public bathrooms were stalled.
They were seen, both by moderate Republicans and Democrats in the House, as obnoxious but harmless blowhards — until late April.
During debate on the "sanctuary city" ban, which would punish local governments that fail to enforce federal immigration law, the caucus wanted to ensure the measure included strict provisions.
Schaefer proposed allowing police to question anyone they detain about their immigration status. Freedom Caucus member Rep. Matt Rinaldi of Irving proposed deposing local elected officials who support sanctuary policies.
Democrats were enraged, arguing the measures were unconstitutional, would tear apart families and condone racial profiling. Straus lieutenants opposed the changes, too.
Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, speaks against the sanctuary cities bill.
(Jay Janner/The Associates Press)
A bruising emotional battle erupted. The speaker failed to rally enough Republican support to deny the caucus — and the Senate, which favored stronger punitive measures — a win.
Straus' leadership was tarnished, some lawmakers said.
"It was obvious the Freedom Caucus had outmaneuvered the speaker's leadership team," said Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, who leads the Mexican American Legislative Caucus.
With that notch on their belt, the caucus members were emboldened before May 11, the final deadline for the House to approve bills that originated in that chamber. Another major deadline hit the following day — more than 100 noncontroversial bills had to pass or die.
Freedom Caucus members started the day like any other. But they became incensed when a handful of their bills were removed from the schedule, a move they saw as retribution. At a hastily called news conference, Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, said the caucus had had enough.
It was payback time.
The Freedom Caucus, a group of tea party-aligned Republicans in the Texas House, explains how and why they plan to kill dozens of bills. The lawmakers said they were fighting back against personal political attacks by more moderate House Republican leaders and efforts to stymie pro-life and pro-gun bills, among others.
Posted by TexasPolitics on Thursday, May 11, 2017
Over the next five hours, the caucus members — along with Democrats who were happy to delay Republican legislation they disliked — dragged out discussion on minor measures to stymie their colleagues' bills.
Caucus members coordinated their efforts through text messages as they dominated the House floor. By night's end, they had also obliterated all the noncontroversial bills that were set for the following day.
Effort to stop 'lunch shaming' gets a second chance after political manuever killed Dallas lawmaker's bill
"It was a difficult day, to see that happen. Retribution and petty personal politics," Leach said.
"It was unfortunate that we were driven to do that."
What unfolded, said Rep. Jason Villalba, a moderate Dallas Republican, was open civil war between two GOP factions instigated by "bloodthirsty ideologues."
"We're in a firefight now, and the future of our party remains in the air," he said.
The most consequential result of the legislative massacre was the death of a House bill that would have continued the operations of state agencies scheduled to shutter before the 2019 legislative session.
Foes of Texas bathroom bill fear House inaction on 'sunset' ups Patrick's end-of-session clout
That bill, along with the two-year state budget, must pass before the legislative session ends. Now, the only way to ensure those agencies stay open is the passage of a bill under the control of Patrick and the Senate.
That gives Patrick, whom some call the Freedom Caucus' "spiritual leader," all the leverage in negotiations between the House and Senate as the legislative session grinds to an end May 29.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick
(Deborah Cannon/The Associated Press)
And Patrick is doing just what the caucus had hoped. He's holding the budget and the agency rescue bill hostage, demanding a special legislative session if his top priorities, a property tax measure and the bathroom bill, don't pass in the House.
Freedom ain't free
Freedom Caucus leaders have been ebullient, proclaiming victory for grassroots Republicans who they say are their source of motivation. Every Friday, Schaefer said, the caucus holds a conference call with those supporters.
"It's a force multiplier," he said. "We're not the establishment candidates who got all the lobby money and all the establishment money."
But a look at the caucus members' campaign finance reports shows they get plenty of money from one special interest group, Empower Texans. It is funded by wealthy West Texas oilman Tim Dunn and operated by ultra-conservative evangelist Michael Quinn Sullivan. Their primary goal in recent years has been to oust Straus, whom they consider too moderate.
Of at least $5.8 million that Empower Texans, Dunn and Sullivan have contributed to about 120 Republican politicians and organizations since 2008, nearly $1.2 million went to the 12 members of the Freedom Caucus. Another $900,000 went to Patrick.
Schaefer and Leach said their caucus is independent of Empower Texans and its leaders.
"We agree with a lot of what Empower Texans does, but we run our own operation," Schaefer said. "If you don't think we have a mind of our own, you misunderstand what we're doing."
Sullivan did not respond to requests for comment for this story. But his Twitter feed shows that he watched the bill-killing spree with glee.
He chided Straus and his lieutenants for delaying anti-abortion bills and other conservative priorities. He posed for a selfie with Stickland and Rinaldi in the Capitol rotunda.
Honored to be friends w these champions of life & liberty! @VoteBobHall @RepStickland @MattRinaldiTX & Jim Graham pic.twitter.com/nb4c0UD27C
— Michael Q Sullivan (@MQSullivan) May 12, 2017
"I so wish the #txlege House rules allowed us to have popcorn in the gallery," he
tweeted around 9 p.m.
Despite their protestations to the contrary, other Republicans and Democrats in the Texas House believe Freedom Caucus members are the henchmen of Empower Texans.
"They're doing it for political or financial gain," said Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van.
The fight ahead
The Freedom Caucus' successes may have had another — unintended — consequence.
Villalba said after the Mother's Day Massacre, the rest of the House GOP caucus is ready to fire back in the final days of the legislative session.
"A band of idiot pirates overtook the ship that night," Villalba said. "I think you're going to see a much more unified Republican caucus."
Thanks in no small part to the Freedom Caucus, in the remaining days of the legislative session, Straus and his allies in the House will be on defense against Patrick.
"I think that was unfortunate, and I'm not sure it gave anybody positive momentum if again we're going to continue on the path I've always tried and believed in here, which is you work respectfully on each other's priorities," Straus said Wednesday when asked about the caucus.
House Speaker Joe Straus
(Ashley Landis/Staff Photographer)
Straus has pushed back hard against the bathroom bill, arguing it's unnecessary and could cost the economy billions. The lower chamber will also have to fend off the Senate's demands to use public money for private schools, a measure House leaders fear will hurt underfunded public schools.
Dallas city officials oppose House bathroom bill during late-night debate
And the House will be forced to decide whether to give up efforts to boost state funding for education, mental health care and other priorities in the two-year state budget by dipping into the state's $10 billion savings account, a move Patrick has called a non-starter.
Whether the two factions of the Republican Party can put aside their angst and deal with those issues will determine whether May 29 will mark the end of the legislative session or, as Patrick and the Freedom Caucus have threatened, the start of a intraparty skirmish.
"We're not here to be loved," Schaefer said. "We're here to be respected for the issues we advocate and to amplify the grassroots."
Texas lawmakers make nice as they begin negotiating state budget, but obstacles loom
CORRECTION, 11:35 a.m., May 19, 2017: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated who provided the whistles.


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Terms: A 6% buyer's premium will be applied to the real estate. A 10% deposit is required on day of auction and settlement to take place in 60 days.


text:
GeekWire Calendar Picks: Decibel Festival, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and more
by Monica Nickelsburg on September 12, 2014 at 12:43 pm September 15, 2014 at 8:19 am
As summer winds down, Seattle is closing out music festival season with a bang. Decibel Festival and dB Conference are bringing five days and nights of electronic music-based programming to venues around the city, starting Wednesday, Sept. 24.
During the day EMP will host dB Conference, a series of workshops, panels, and artist talks focused on technology-based education. The day-time programming will also include a trivia game, product giveaways, and a synth petting zoo. In the evening electronic artists from around the world will perform in several rooms of EMP and venues around Seattle. One of the more unique aspects of Decibel are the Optical Showcases, which sync visual art and music.
Decibel's 11th annual festival is expected to draw big crowds. Last year over 25,000 attended the event according to Decibel founder Sean Horton — a major advancement from its inaugural event in 2003, which hosted 2,500 attendees.
"There's a great amount of scrutiny and integrity that goes into the program every year," Horton told GeekWire. "Everything we do is curated by myself and really developed and designed to be an optimized experience for the attendees."
Festival passes and individual event tickets for Decibel are available here and the daytime programming of dB Conference is open to the public for free.
That's just one of our selections from the GeekWire Calendar — our curated list of the top tech events in the Pacific Northwest.
Keep reading and check out the calendar for more.
STG Presents Neil deGrasse Tyson
Earlier this week, in true Neil deGrasse Tyson form, the astrophysicist told GeekWire, "There's a constant parade of changes in how we conduct cosmic business that has been unfolding over these years, over these decades, that tech has been exponentially advancing. Larger and larger swaths of the universe fall to our analysis."
Tyson shared his wisdom with us and other reporters in advance of his talk at Tableau Software's annual conference — but don't worry, the Seattle public will also get the opportunity to hear from him too. The Seattle Theater Group is hosting two Neil deGrasse Tyson nights at the Paramount. Tickets are available here.
When & Where: Sept. 14, 7:00p.m. and Sept. 15, 7:30p.m. The Paramount Theater, Seattle.
Entrepreneurs looking to hone their pitches in front of investors should stop by Flowboard for Pitch Perfect. This working lunch will give guests the opportunity to receive feedback on their pitch's flow, content, and design. Investors from Microsoft Ventures and Fledge and a presentation designer will give their notes. This is a free event and lunch will be included.
When & Where: Sept. 16, 1:00p.m. – 2:00p.m. WeWork, Seattle.
Brenthaven Entrepreneur Unplugged with Molly Moon
Seattleites don't have to look much farther than the line around the block at their local Molly Moon's to see an entrepreneurial success story. Molly Moon Neitzel, the woman behind the popular homemade ice cream brand, will be speaking about starting her company, her business plan, and the core values behind her success. Ice cream sandwiches and drinks will be served and the first 25 guests will receive free Brenthaven bags. Tickets can be purchased here.
When & Where: Sept. 18, 6:30p.m. – 8:30p.m.. Brenthaven Flagship Store, Seattle.
Startup Weekend Women's Edition
With over 1,800 past events in 120 different countries, Startup Weekend, is truly a global event. In a couple weeks Seattle will add another one — this time with a twist. Startup Weekend Women's Edition will follow the same basic model with pitches and peer feedback but it will focus on promoting and celebrating female entrepreneurs in the community. But don't mistake this for a gender exclusive event. Men can take part too, so long as they find a female participant to bring them along. As event organizers explain, "Startup Weekend Women's Edition is about connecting entrepreneurial women through the process of building exciting companies, we want to connect them to the best resources and people out there – that includes both men and women." Tickets are available here.
When & Where: Sept. 19 – 20, 6:00p.m.. Nytec Product Innovation Center, Seattle.
GeekWire Summit
Mark your calendars, geeks. The GeekWire Summit is less than a month away. Grab tickets today for our biggest event of the year, featuring fireside chats and panel discussions with author and T-Mobile CEO John Legere, drone entrepreneur Chris Anderson; Walmart global e-commerce CEO Neil Ashe; Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman; Zulily co-founder Mark Vadon; journalists Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher; and many more. Tickets available here.
When and where: Oct. 2, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Westin Seattle.
Contact GeekWire's Monica Nickelsburg at monica@geekwire.com. Listings for this feature are picked from the GeekWire Calendar, where you can submit free listings for technology-related events in the Pacific Northwest.
Monica Nickelsburg is GeekWire's Civic Editor, covering technology-driven solutions to urban challenges and the intersection of tech and politics. Before joining GeekWire, she worked for The Week, Forbes, and NBC. Monica holds a BA in journalism and history from New York University. Follow her @mnickelsburg
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Filed Under: GeekWire Calendar Highlights Tagged With: Events • Neil deGrasse Tyson
After 2 years, Paul Allen-founded Upstream Music Fest and Summit 'taking a break in 2019'
Watch out, Coachella? Amazon gets into music festival business, releases lineup for 'Intersect'
GeekWire Calendar Picks: ACE Comic Con, computer trivia, and the music of Star Wars
GeekWire Calendar Picks: The history of computers; tech's role in clean energy policy; and more

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Watch Cemetery of Splendour (2015) Online
In a hospital, ten soldiers are being treated for a mysterious sleeping sickness. In a story in which dreams can be experienced by others, and in which goddesses can sit casually with mortals, a nurse learns the reason why the patients will never be cured, and forms a telepathic bond with one of them.
Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Actors: Banlop Lomnoi, Bhattaratorn Senkraigul, Jarinpattra Rueangram, Jenjira Pongpas, Petcharat Chaiburi, Sujittraporn Wongsrikeaw, Tawatchai Buawat
Agatha and the Truth of Murder (2018)
In 1926, with her personal life in tatters and her writing in crisis, a young Agatha Christie decides to solve a real-life murder.
Already deep into a second Cold War, Britain's Ministry of Defense seeks a game-changing weapon. Programmer Vincent McCarthy unwittingly provides an answer in The Machine, a super-strong human cyborg. When…
Kings (2017)
A foster family in South Central a few weeks before the city erupts in violence following the verdict of the Rodney King trial in 1992.
Country: Belgium, China, France, USA
Genre: Crime, Drama, Romance, Thriller
Mort Rainey, a writer just emerging from a painful divorce with his ex-wife, is stalked at his remote lake house by a psychotic stranger and would-be scribe who claims Rainey…
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Youngblood (1986)
A skilled young hockey prospect hoping to attract the attention of professional scouts is pressured to show that he can fight if challenged during his stay in a Canadian minor…
The Adventures of Milo and Otis (1986)
The story of two animals and their adventures. Milo, the cat, and Otis, the dog, are two animals who grew up together on the same farm. One day, the two…
Disenchanted with the movie industry, Chili Palmer tries the music industry, meeting and romancing a widow of a music executive along the way.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Music, Romance
Wish Upon (2017)
A teenage girl discovers a box with magical powers, but those powers comes with a deadly price.
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror, Mystery, Thriller
For Lieutenant Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell and his friend and co-pilot Nick 'Goose' Bradshaw, being accepted into an elite training school for fighter pilots is a dream come true. But a…
What Maisie Knew (2012)
Based on the Henry James novella, the story frames on 7-year-old Maisie, caught in a custody battle between her mother – a rock and roll icon – and her father….
Russian terrorists conspire to hijack the aircraft with the president and his family on board. The commander in chief finds himself facing an impossible predicament: give in to the terrorists…
An epic journey into the world of dinosaurs where an Apatosaurus named Arlo makes an unlikely human friend.
Genre: Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Family, Fantasy
Trailer: Cemetery of Splendour (2015)


text:
DR LINDA DAYAN
BMedSci. MBBS. DipRACOG. MM(VenSci). FAChSHM
Dr Linda Dayan is a Sexual Health Physician and General Practitioner who also has an interest in cosmetic medicine.
She has been providing HIV care for over 30 years, and has worked for many years in women's health, sexual health and has been providing cosmetic injections since 2006.
Dr Dayan graduated from the University of Tasmania in 1984 before moving to NSW in 1986. She first started seeing HIV clients in 1989 and completed her Masters of Medicine in Sexual Health at the University of Sydney. During this time she worked at Kirketon Road Centre, and provided surgical terminations of pregnancy and Family Planning advice and care.
In 1992 she moved to New Zealand and worked as the main doctor in the Wellington Sexual Health Centre until 1995, when she moved to a busy hospital in the city of London during the peak of the HIV epidemic. She then went on to become a Fellow of the College of Sexual Health Physicians and returned to Sydney to take up a position as Head of the Sexual Health / HIV Department at Royal North Shore Hospital, and the Northern Area Health Service in 1996.
During her time on the north shore of Sydney, she wrote numerous articles for general practitioners on sexual health/HIV and had a monthly column in a medical magazine. In 2008 she had a baby, and commenced her private cosmetic practice, in addition to her continuing to work in sexual health and HIV. She provides Sculptra to HIV positive clients and also muscle relaxants and Hyaluronic dermal fillers.
In her spare time she paints in oils and watercolours, and has attended numerous art courses at National Art School, just across the road.


text:
'''
Description: Tirion client
'''

import numpy
import os
import socket
import sys
import threading

from __init__ import __version__

class Client:
	"""Tirion client"""

	__LOG_PREFIX = "[client]"
	__TIRION_BUFFER_SIZE = 4096
	__TIRION_TAG_SIZE = 513

	def __init__(self, socket_filename, verbose):
		"""Tirion client constructor

		@param socket_filename the socket filepath to connect to the agent
		@param verbose enable or disable verbose output of the client library
		"""

		self.__command_thread = None
		self.__count = 0
		self.__metrics = None
		self.__metric_lock = None
		self.__net = None
		self.__running = False
		self.__socket = socket_filename
		self.__verbose_output = verbose

	def init(self):
		"""Initialize a Tirion client object"""

		os.setsid()

		self.verbose("Open unix socket to {}", self.__socket)
		self.__net = socket.socket(socket.AF_UNIX, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
		try:
			self.__net.connect(self.__socket)
		except socket.error as err:
			raise RuntimeError("Cannot initialize socket: " + str(err))

		self.verbose("Request tirion protocol version v{}", __version__)
		self.__send("tirion v" + __version__ + "\tmmap")

		header = self.__receive().split("\t")

		if len(header) < 2 or len(header[1]) == 0:
			raise RuntimeError("Did not receive correct metric count and mmap filename")

		try:
			self.__count = int(header[0])
		except ValueError:
			self.error("Did not receive correct metric count")

			raise RuntimeError("Metric count is not a number")

		self.__metric_lock = threading.Lock()

		if not header[1].startswith("mmap://"):
			raise RuntimeError("Did not receive correct mmap filename")

		mmap_filename = header[1][7:]

		self.verbose("Received metric count {} and mmap filename {}", self.__count, mmap_filename)

		self.__metrics = numpy.memmap(mmap_filename, dtype='float32', mode='r+', shape=(self.__count,))

		self.verbose("Initialized metric collector mmap")

		self.__running = True

		# we want to handle commands not in the main thread
		self.__command_thread = threading.Thread(target=Client.__handle_commands, args=(self,))
		self.__command_thread.start()

	def close(self):
		"""Uninitialized a Tirion client object"""
		self.__running = False

		if self.__metric_lock is not None:
			self.__metric_lock.acquire()

		if self.__metrics is not None:
			# self.__metrics.close()
			self.__metrics = None

		if self.__net is not None:
			self.__net.shutdown(socket.SHUT_RDWR)
			self.__net.close()
			self.__net = None

		if self.__command_thread is not None:
			self.__command_thread.join()
			self.__command_thread = None

		if self.__metric_lock is not None:
			self.__metric_lock.release()

	def destroy(self):
		"""Cleanup everything that was allocated by the Tirion client object"""

		self.__metric_lock = None

	def get(self, index):
		"""Return the current value of a metric

		@param index the index of the metric

		@return the value of the metric
		"""

		if index < 0 or index >= self.__count or self.__metric_lock is None or self.__metrics is None:
			return 0.0

		return self.__metrics[index]

	def set(self, index, value):
		"""Set a value for a metric

		@param index the index of the metric
		@param value the value to be set to the metric

		@return the new value of the metric
		"""

		if index < 0 or index >= self.__count or self.__metric_lock is None:
			return 0.0

		ret = 0.0

		self.__metric_lock.acquire()

		if self.__metrics is not None:
			ret = value
			self.__metrics[index] = ret

		self.__metric_lock.release()

		return ret

	def add(self, index, value):
		"""Add a value to a metric

		@param index the index of the metric
		@param value the value to be add to the metric

		@return the new value of the metric
		"""

		if index < 0 or index >= self.__count or self.__metric_lock is None:
			return 0.0

		ret = 0.0

		self.__metric_lock.acquire()

		if self.__metrics is not None:
			ret = self.__metrics[index] + value
			self.__metrics[index] = ret

		self.__metric_lock.release()

		return ret

	def dec(self, index):
		"""Decrement a metric by 1.0

		@param index the index of the metric

		@return the new value of the metric
		"""

		return self.add(index, -1.0)

	def inc(self, index):
		"""Increment a metric by 1.0

		@param index the index of the metric

		@return the new value of the metric
		"""

		return self.add(index, 1.0)

	def sub(self, index, value):
		"""Subtract a value of a metric

		@param index the index of the metric
		@param value the value to be subtracted of the metric

		@return the new value of the metric
		"""

		return self.add(index, -value)

	def running(self):
		"""States if the Tirion Client object is running

		@return running state
		"""

		return self.__running

	def tag(self, format_string, *args):
		"""Send a tag to the agent

		@param format_string the tag string that follows the same specifications as format_string in string.format
		@param args additional arguments for format_string
		"""

		self.__send(self.__prepare_tag("t" + format_string.format(*args)))

	def __message(self, message_type, format_string, *args):
		"""Output a Tirion message"""

		if not self.__verbose_output:
			return

		sys.stderr.write(Client.__LOG_PREFIX + "[" + message_type + "] " + format_string.format(*args) + "\n")

	def debug(self, format_string, *args):
		"""Output a Tirion debug message

		@param format_string the message string that follows the same specifications as format_string in string.format
		@param args additional arguments for format_string
		"""

		self.__message("debug", format_string, *args)

	def error(self, format_string, *args):
		"""Output a Tirion error message

		@param format_string the message string that follows the same specifications as format_string in string.format
		@param args additional arguments for format_string
		"""

		self.__message("error", format_string, *args)

	def verbose(self, format_string, *args):
		"""Output a Tirion verbose message

		@param format_string the message string that follows the same specifications as format_string in string.format
		@param args additional arguments for format_string
		"""

		self.__message("verbose", format_string, *args)

	def __prepare_tag(self, tag):
		"""Prepare a tag string for sending"""

		if len(tag) > self.__TIRION_TAG_SIZE:
			tag = tag[:self.__TIRION_TAG_SIZE]

		return tag.replace("\n", " ")

	def __receive(self):
		"""Receive a message over the unix socket"""

		msg = self.__net.recv(self.__TIRION_BUFFER_SIZE)

		if msg == '':
			raise RuntimeError("socket connection broken")

		return msg.strip()

	def __send(self, msg):
		"""Sent a message over the unix socket"""

		msg_len = len(msg)
		total = 0

		while total < msg_len:
			sent = self.__net.send(msg[total:])

			if sent == 0:
				raise RuntimeError("socket connection broken")

			total = total + sent

	def __handle_commands(self):
		"""Handle commands received from the agent"""

		self.verbose("Start listening to commands")

		while self.__running:
			try:
				rec = self.__receive()

				com = rec[0]

				self.error("Unknown command '{}'", com)
			except RuntimeError as err:
				self.error("Unix socket error: {}", err)

				self.__running = False

		self.verbose("Stop listening to commands")

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Are you a student or graduate interested in working in tech, business, marketing or finance? Do you want to hear from experienced professionals and businesses from various industries? Are you looking for a graduate role, placement or internship opportunity?
Look no further, Startup Your Future Insight Day is an event you won't want to miss.
A number of exhibiting tech startups, SMEs and not-for-profits offering graduate roles, placements and internships.
Workshops and seminars to help you find your future career path. Hear advice from experienced professionals.
Exhibitor pitches — each stallholder has 1-minute to pitch why it's worth visiting their stand. Come along to find out what they have to say.
Feel free to drop in for the activities that most interest you. Register on Eventbrite to receive agenda updates.
Startup Your Future Insight Day is presented by The University of Manchester's Career Service, Division of Development and Alumni Relations, and HireME. Supported by Manchester Entrepreneurs and Manchester Science Partnerships.


Two sisters from Alabama are at war over their mom, who remains jailed for a horrific crime 14 years ago for which one of the women still bears the scars.
One sister wants her mother freed from the prison where she is doing time. However, another sister feels very differently and wants her locked up.
Ashley Smith was just 14 months old when her mother, Melissa Wright, removed the racks from an oven, set the dial to broil and put the infant inside, head-first, in 2002.
The young girl's delicate skin suffered third degree burns over 30 percent of her body.
Wright, who was 26 at the time, was sentenced to 25 years in an Alabama prison for attempted murder after pleading guilty to the crime.
The little girl was rescued by her dad, who heard her desperate screams. He pulled her out of the oven and rushed her to the hospital.
Now, 14 years and 38 surgeries later, the teenager still carries the scars from her burns on her arms and forehead.
Ashley has been raised by her aunt and uncle, and refers to them as her parents.
Ashley's sister, Courtney, was 8 years old at the time, and saw everything. But she believes Wright should be released.
Courtney says their mom was struggling with mental illness and suffering from the side effects of anti-depressant medication.
"Voices in my head were telling me to put [Ashley] in the oven," the mother told police at the time.
Courtney, who now has a son and a 1-year-old daughter of her own, says their mother has been treated for her mental problems in her 14 years in prison and deserves to be freed.
Both sisters appeared before the Alabama parole board. Ashley told how she felt.
"I can't imagine anyone being in as much pain as I went through mentally and physically," Ashley said in her letter she read out to the board.
The board refused to grant parole.
Courtney buried her face in her hands when she heard the decision. Once so close as children, the two sisters no longer speak to each other.
Previous articleThey Rescued Two Puppies From The Street. What They Do Seconds Later? Tears.


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Keep Music Alive founders to release '88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life' Volume 1 book
Buddy Iahn | May 28, 2015 | Pop News
On June 1st, the founders of Keep Music Alive will launch Volume 1 of their new book series, 88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life. 88+ Ways is filled with more than 150 inspirational stories, quotes and anecdotes from musicians, music educators and music lovers from all over the world; their stories are designed to make readers laugh, cry and remember the power of music.
Contributors include more than a dozen Grammy-winning and platinum-selling artists, composers and songwriters. Among them are Rob Parissi (songwriter and vocalist for "Play That Funky Music" for Wild Cherry), Bobby Kimball (original vocalist for Toto with "Hold the Line," "Africa," "Rosanna" and more) and Vanessa Carlton ("A Thousand Miles" and "White Houses").
Keep Music Alive was founded last summer to help raise awareness of how important music is educationally, therapeutically and for the overall happiness of society. According to co-founder Vincent James, the organization was created in response to three changes that have made music less valued. They include cuts in music and arts education in schools, fewer venues available for musicians to perform live and the recent changeover to the streaming business model. The latter has affected how musicians and songwriters are paid, and effectively lowered their income potential.
James says, "I really felt we needed to do something to help turn this ship around a bit, so society as a whole will remember how important music really is in all of our lives."
88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life will be available on Amazon.com beginning June 1st and on BN.com shortly thereafter. 88+ Ways was authored by KMA co-founders Vincent James and Joann Pierdomenico.
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Bruno Mars, Kenny Chesney among '2018 Grammy Nominees' album
RMA releases statement on Prince EP


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Voters say 'no' to factory farming, wildlife trafficking
By	Blog Editor	on	November 9, 2016	with	40 Comments By Wayne Pacelle
In Massachusetts, voters approved Question 3, an anti-factory-farming ballot, by an astonishing "yes" vote of 78 to 22 percent. Photo by iStockphoto
Reddit15
On a day when our divisions have been lain bare by the results of the presidential election – where the two candidates evenly split the popular vote in a race characterized by extreme bitterness – we again demonstrated that promoting protections for animals is a cause that can unite our nation. In the three major ballot campaigns in which The HSUS and the Humane Society Legislative Fund invested time and energy, we won all three races by overwhelming margins.
In Massachusetts, voters approved Question 3 by an astonishing "yes" vote of 78 to 22 percent. It is the fourth anti-factory farming ballot measure we've waged, and, with each one, we've increased our margin of victory as well as the actual reach of the measure. The first anti-confinement ballot measure came in 2002 in Florida where we banned gestation crates with a very comfortable 55 percent majority. In 2006, we pushed an Arizona measure to ban gestation crates and veal crates, and won in a landslide with 62 percent. Two years later, in a high-water mark for our cause, we helped shepherd Prop 2 to passage in California, winning 63.5 percent of the vote, on a measure to ban extreme confinement of laying hens, breeding sows, and veal calves. The Massachusetts measure, which eclipsed our Prop 2 margin by more than 13 points, not only stops extreme confinement of those species, but applies the same standard of animal welfare to the sale of eggs, pork, or veal, no matter where they are produced.
In Oregon, we won another smashing ballot measure against wildlife trafficking, getting 70 percent of voters to favor a measure to restrict the intrastate trade in ivory, rhino horn, and the parts of 10 other species and taxa. Oregon voters replicated what Washington state voters did a year ago on the ballot, with a similarly high margin of the vote. This is part of our state, national, and international effort to combat wildlife trafficking. We worked with the Obama Administration on regulatory changes, including tighter restrictions on imports, exports, and interstate sales of ivory. We've also passed state bans in California, Hawaii, New Jersey, and New York.
In Oklahoma, we crushed State Question 777, despite a multi-million-dollar campaign by the Oklahoma Farm Bureau, the Oklahoma Pork Producers Council, and other animal agriculture commodity groups. Their measure, referred to the ballot with the vast majority of state lawmakers favoring it, sought to amend the state constitution to bar future limitations on the conduct of agriculture in Oklahoma, unless there was "a compelling state interest." Political observers didn't give us much of a chance to prevail, but we secured a huge margin of victory, defeating it with a 60.3 percent "no" vote. We ran up the score in Tulsa and Oklahoma counties, but we also won in suburban and rural counties throughout the state. We worked to assemble a great coalition that included the Five Civilized Tribes, Save the Illinois River, the League of Women Voters, and so many others. We welcomed family farmers, local governments, and key politicians into our campaign, including the three prior governors – Republican Frank Keating and Democrats Brad Henry and David Walters. It was the second time we stopped the Farm Bureau from trying to erode the rights of Oklahoma voters. Twelve years ago, on the same ballot that we overcame their opposition and outlawed cockfighting, we defeated a constitutional amendment that would have essentially prevented any animal welfare reform from appearing on a statewide ballot. We take great hope from the fact that Oklahoma's citizens saw through this measure.
We also endorsed a successful ballot measure in California to affirm a state ban on the sale of plastic bags – a measure we supported because so many ocean creatures die from ingesting this everlasting debris. The measure, Prop 67, passed 52-48, and a competing measure, Prop 65, failed 55-45, ensuring that the plastic bag ban passed by the legislature and signed by the governor stands.
On the downside, voters in Colorado approved a constitutional amendment to make it virtually impossible for a citizen group to qualify or pass any ballot initiative in that state, and Montana voters rejected a ballot measure to restrict trapping on its public lands. While we endorsed the pro-animal position, we didn't conduct any meaningful spending, since we were fully occupied with the Massachusetts, Oklahoma, and Oregon measures.
I am immensely grateful to our staff, members, volunteers, and voters who carried us to victory in key states last night. We materially advanced animal protection, and prevented an erosion of our rights to drive reform in the future. No matter how you feel about the broader election results, there's reason to celebrate these vital outcomes for animals.
Companion Animals, Farm Animals, Public Policy (Legal/Legislative), Wildlife/Marine Mammals
David Bernazani says:
Thank God there's some good news that came out of this election.
Carol Caffrey says:
I'm glad this will not take place , stop it now I vote.NO.MORE….
I agree David!! There has been nothing encouraging other than this!
Natalie e says:
So proud of Massachusetts decision! This is extreme.how can we go about introducing this idea in other areas????? I would love to take part in this.
Jenefer Nielson says:
No factory farming no wildlife trafgicking
Ann Lourie says:
There's no need for this!
Sally Palmer says:
An excellent, inspiring demonstration that you can fight greed, corruption, lies, and ignorance and win. And the best thank you is for people to continue supporting The HSUS work to keep up the momentum and to weather the coming political storms.
Mary Marchese says:
I am so happy to hear that! I love all of God's creatures and am all for doing what we can to help them in all ways. We have had so many issues of distinction and possible distinction of many amazing creatures that were put on this earth for a reason and man has destroyed so much do to greed!
I understand that we have do do things to help us also but I believe that are better and more humane ways to accomplish this without taking away from Native Americans and our animals!!!
Pam Clark says:
Good news, but I can see so many advances being reversed: the endangered species act, trophy hunting laws, federal land sell offs, keystone pipeline or similar disastrous projects getting approval. Commercial development on national park land, what's next, a golf course next to the Grand Canyon? I'm shell shocked and reality hasn't sunk in. Once it does, we will have to go on the defensive if we are to stop all the progress made.
Jen Matthews says:
Pam Clark: did you mean you can foresee the reversal of these acts and laws in the upcoming future, or have they already been reversed?? Say it isn't so!
Mindy Santo says:
Thank you so much for sharing good news today, I needed this.
Jody Riesberg says:
I am so grateful that this issue is being talked about!
Growing up , I knew nothing or even thought about what I was eating and I always thought of myself as an animal lover. But I ate meat!
Now as a vegan, I just hope more and more people become aware and change the world.
Dee Garmon says:
Holocaust starts when you say these are only animals.
Melissa Beck says:
How do you vote? do you say yes or no in a comment? if so, I vote NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeWayne S Williams says:
No to this
Stop all animal abuse…
Chris cano says:
What a great victory!!!
Jayme Pilgram says:
No to wildlife trafficking and no to factory farming !!!!!
No to wildlife trafficking and factory farming
Gail Brady says:
STOP IT!!!
Thank you, I am so proud! Yes, we need to keep fighting and be a voice.
Gary Rogers says:
Cant say enough bad things about people that let animals be miss treated.But that is not the answer.We need laws to help.I know we are all tired of laws but shooting them wont work.Shur would be fun.i hate amimal miss treatment…..
hello, I love you guys, you're so cool!!!
Jenna Miles says:
Well great, but less bad doesnt mean good. No humane farming of animals exists or can ever exist.
Gregory Karas says:
lest do what ever we can to put these Scumbag Farmers out of business, Factory Farming, Cage Farming, Gas striation crates,this is all inhumane for these poor Animals,everyone that has a love for animals, lest stop buying any of there products,and lest stop the demand for there products, NO DEMAND, NO SUPPLY, NO BUSINESS.
Thank goodness that, in so many instances, when people understand issues, they choose to be more compassionate toward living creatures that, like us, can suffer and feel pain.
Kindness is a noble goal, and great work HSUS on striving for these noble goals, and also for your success in achieving them. Thank you.
Clarise Lyon says:
I agree to say "no" to factory farming and wildlife trafficking. I hate greed–unfortunately. It goes on at the expense of these precious animals. Tell us the name of the companies selling these items and I will be sure to stop buying anything from them.
Marilyn marilyn says:
This gives some Hope to Animal Welfare on All Levels <3. I was so worried as to any "Unethical' changes that will happen, since Trump got in. I will still worry until I see a difference though for the Animal Kingdom <3
Toni Hamilton says:
Thank you for fighting for the rights of animals. Keep up the good work for them.
anieda kovatto says:
Anyone hear of rodeo abuse of animals…. Ban that too
Thank You HSUSA…I can't believe that people think its not cruel to put animals in small crates and cages (for their entire lives) for our benefit…people against this should be put in a cage for awhile…I bet they would change their mind…times are changing thanks to more informed people and companies…again, THANK YOU for all you do and speak up for all the animals who can't defend themselves.
PClarke says:
Where are links for petitions so that we can make our feelings count?
Brenda Ruvalcaba says:
Detengan ya la producción masiva de animales de consumo! si las empresas no son lo suficientemente aptas para mantener en buenas condiciones a los animales, tampoco deben tener un permiso para tener una fabrica de matanza, a pesar de ser animales de consumo, ellos merecen tener una vida digna, y su espacio es una parte fundamental de ello.
Scott Slocum says:
Looks like the "right to hunt, fish & trap" amendments passed in Kansas and Indiana. Audubon executive director in Kansas warned that "the measure might prevent citizens from stepping in to prevent unsportsmanlike practices."
Tuffy says:
A promising step forward, but we now have to acknowledge that the new president elect (I can't bear to type/speak his name) that will probably veto all animal rights movements and campaigns. The same president that believes climate change is a hoax and wants to promote fracking. I fear for the future of our planet and I fear for the safeguarding of all animals. Sorry.
Kirsten Wallace says:
This great and encouraging. Just hope it can be enforced!
Maricarmen says:
Please, STOP abusing animals! They suffer pain and stress!
Michael Fair says:
Please provide, if at all possible, the email addresses of those to be praised or criticized for their treatment of animals.
cathy figueroa says:
Wayne, Thank you for helping with animals. Your one of a kind.


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Most of New York's new gun laws go into effect Thursday. What to know.
Sarah Taddeo
New York State Team
The bulk of New York's gun laws passed in the wake of a related Supreme Court decision this summer go into effect Thursday, launching a full-scale overhaul of the state's current measures to restrict access to firearms.
The new laws, some of which will kick in on Sunday, impose a slate of new restrictions on those applying to carry a gun, including new training requirements and a review of an applicant's social media, and detail a number of areas where carrying a firearm is banned, including churches, parks, festivals and most private businesses. Times Square is among the "gun free zones," and this week, officials discussed temporary signage that would go up in the iconic New York City area to remind residents and visitors of the new laws.
Laws passed during the Legislature's session included requiring permits for semiautomatic rifles, and raising the age to purchase those firearms to 21, from 18. These laws will take effect Sept. 4. Permits were already required for purchasing handguns for those 21 and over.
But just after the session ended in June, the Supreme Court struck down New York's "proper cause" clause, which was used to determine whether an applicant had sufficient need to obtain a concealed carry license. The court ruled that it violated residents' constitutional rights.
In response, Gov. Kathy Hochul vowed to further strengthen New York's laws around guns, saying it was a "deeply disturbing day" when the ruling emerged. The memories of a mass shooting that killed 10 residents in a Buffalo Tops grocery store on May 14, and a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that left 21 dead, including 19 schoolchildren, just days afterward, weighed heavily in the room.
She later called the Legislature back to Albany, where lawmakers passed additional laws around carrying and obtaining firearms in New York during an extraordinary session.
Hochul reiterated her point of view on the Supreme Court ruling on Wednesday, at a press conference to discuss the new laws.
"At a time when we're having a national reckoning on gun safety, that decision wasn't just negligent − it was reprehensible," Hochul said.
Counties, residents gear up for new laws
The measures have been met with fierce outcry from proponents of the Second Amendment, who said they target law-abiding gun owners while ignoring those who obtain guns illegally. Some county and law enforcement officials spoke out against them as well, pointing to the extra workload that would fall on local county clerk's offices and law enforcement agencies, who are tasked with processing and investigating applications.
"The fact is we're still considerably behind the eight ball when it comes to the man hours to do this," said Monroe County Sheriff Todd Baxter. As of Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office was behind by about 600 applications, before the law went into effect, he said. They're anticipating the new restrictions will add about three to four extra hours of investigation per application.
He stressed that he "believes in training" when it comes to firearm proficiency, but feels the new requirements are confusing for New Yorkers, and may be unduly burdensome on legal gun owners.
"This is under the guise of keeping people safer…We had 81 murders in this city (in 2021,) and this law isn't going to affect too many of those," he said. "Some of this is just not fair to the law-abiding citizens."
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Counties like Westchester have seen a massive uptick in applications since early summer. The county received 949 applications for new pistol permits this year through July; by comparison, it received 1,124 new pistol permit applications in all of 2019, according to the Westchester County Department of Public Safety.
As Thursday approached, New Yorkers tried to get their applications in under the wire, forming long lines in Western New York pistol licensing offices, shown in photos widely circulated on social media.
And just before the laws went into effect late Wednesday, a Syracuse judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction on those laws sought in a federal lawsuit filed by a Schenectady man in connection with the Gun Owners of America, Inc. The lawsuit claimed that parts of the new laws were unconstitutional.
What's included in the new law?
The new restrictions strengthen the state's existing gun laws, which were already some of the strictest in the nation, on a number of fronts.
Among them:
Banning concealed firearms at sensitive locations - Gun-free zones would include houses of worship, schools and colleges, stadiums, theaters, parks and playgrounds and other outdoor areas when a special event, like a festival, is going on. Additionally, concealed weapons would be banned from private businesses unless those businesses posted a sign explicitly allowing firearms.
Those caught carrying guns in prohibited places could be charged with a Class E felony under New York law. Exceptions for carrying in sensitive locations include current and retired police officers, on-duty security guards and military service members.
Additional training - Applicants for licenses must undergo 18 hours of training with authorized instructors, including 16 hours of classroom training, to include information on state laws, situational awareness for concealed carriers and conflict de-escalation tactics, and two hours of live fire training. Applicants must pass a written proficiency test with a passing grade of 80% or more, and a live-fire assessment.
Those who have completed a firearm safety course − which is already required in pursuit of a concealed carry permit in New York − in the past five years could be eligible to have those hours applied toward the new training requirements, at a licensing officer's discretion, according to guidelines from the governor's office.
Expanded background checks and disqualifying criteria - Applicants who have "documented instances of violent behavior," or those with weapons possession or alcohol-related misdemeanor convictions will be disqualified from obtaining a concealed carry permit. Background checks and assessments of good character will include a review of an applicant's social media.
Safe storage - Guns must be stored in lockboxes in cars while traveling, and safe gun storage would be required in households that are home to children 18 and younger.
Background checks for ammunition purchases - This would apply to ammunition needed for guns that require a license in New York. Buyers will need to show their license at the time of purchase.


text:
Албін Бруновський (словац. Albín Brunovský; нар. 25 грудня 1935 — пом. 20 січня 1997) — словацький художник, дизайнер, літограф.
 Бруновський Бруно Карлович — російський геолог та геохімік.

Див. також
 Бруховський

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Taliban maintains close ties with al-Qaeda, despite peace deal – UN
FT News June 2, 2020
A UN report has claimed that the insurgents still have a tight-knit relationship with the terror network once led by Osama Bin. Taliban leaders, however, slammed the accusations as "baseless and bigoted."
The Taliban in Afghanistan still maintains close relations with the terror network al-Qaida, despite having signed a peace deal with the US agreeing to tackle militant groups, a United Nations report released on Tuesday said.
According to the report, a number of important al-Qaida members were killed over the past months but several prominent leaders remain active in Afghanistan.
In particular, the report noted that the Taliban continues to operate with ally and guerrilla insurgent group – the Haqqani network.
The Islamic fundamentalist nationalist movement promptly criticized the UN report as "baseless and bigoted."
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid slammed the report, issuing a statement outlining that the Taliban "in accordance with the Doha agreement, will not allow anyone to use the soil of Afghanistan against anyone else or maintain training camps or use our soil to fundraise against others."
On the same day of the report's publication, seven civilians were killed by a roadside bomb linked to the Taliban in the restive district of Khan Abad in the northern province of Kunduz. The attack comes after authorities urged for peace talks with militants.
US-Taliban peace deal
Representatives from the US and the Taliban signed the landmark peace deal in Doha on February 29, with both parties agreeing to end the 19-year-long Afghan war, hoping the accord would pave the way for intra-Afghan dialogue.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen had both attended the deal signing ceremony in the Qatari capital.
The accord also planned a gradual departure of foreign troops from Afghanistan by May next year, while the Taliban vowed to fight other terror groups, including al-Qaida, and put a stop to militants using Afghan territory to plot attacks on the US. Although, the exact details of the Taliban counter-terrorism commitment were never publicized.
(DW)
Tags: AFGHANISTAN agreement deal peace Pompeo TALIBAN US
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A dishevelled man sitting outside a restaurant with an empty plate and a bottle of beer. The sense of being ostracised. Further east a patient sits at a park bench with his charge, silently smoking a cigarette. In the same public space a body lies under a sleeping bag, the few worldly possessions scattered around on the grass. Seen but not seen/here but not here.


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Shouldn't Nikki Haley be more concerned about that Islamic crescent moon in the logo?!
In an op-ed piece for The Wall Street Journal, South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley railed against President Obama and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), or more specifically, Obama's "silence" on the move from the federal agency in charge of investigating and remedying unfair labor practices. The issue at hand involves a NLRB complaint alleging that Boeing wants to build its new 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston, S.C., instead of at its Puget Sound facility in Washington state in retaliation against the International Association of Machinists for strikes such as a two-month-long work stoppage in 2008 - something that appears to be a violation of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
In October 2009, Boeing, long one of the best corporations in America, made an announcement that changed the economic outlook of South Carolina forever: The company's second line of 787 Dreamliners would be produced in North Charleston.
In choosing to manufacture in my state, Boeing was exercising its right as a free enterprise in a free nation to conduct business wherever it believed would best serve both the bottom line and the employees of its company. This is not a novel or complicated idea. It's called capitalism.
Boeing has since poured billions of dollars into a new, state-of-the art facility in South Carolina's picturesque Low Country along the Atlantic coast. It has created thousands of good jobs and joined the long tradition of distinguished and employee-friendly corporations that have found a home, and a partner, in the Palmetto State.
This a win-win for South Carolina, for Boeing, and for the global clients who will see Dreamliners rolling off the North Charleston line at the rate of 10 a month, starting with the first one next year. But, as is often the case, a win for people and businesses is a loss for the labor unions, which rely on coercion, bullying and undue political influence to stay afloat.
South Carolina is a right-to-work state, and we're proud that within our borders workers cannot be required to join a labor union as a condition of employment. We don't need unions playing middlemen between our companies and our employees. We don't want them forcefully inserted into our promising business climate. And we will not stand for them intimidating South Carolinians.
That is apparently too much for President Obama and his union-beholden appointees at the National Labor Relations Board, who have asked the courts to intervene and force Boeing to stop production in South Carolina. The NLRB wants Boeing to produce the planes only in Washington state, where its workers must belong to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
First, I want to address one of the arguments made by Haley, as well as other NLRB critics.
"I want to ask (President Obama) why he is allowing unelected bureaucrats to come in and do the unions' dirty work on the backs of our businesses," Haley had told National Review Online.
Haley calls the board members "unelected bureacrats."
The "unelected bureaucrats" are appointed by the president and elected by Senate confirmation hearings. The NLRB chairman, Wilma B. Liebman, was appointed by not only President Bill Clinton, but by Republican President George W. Bush, too, and eventually reappointed by Obama. Board members Brian Hayes and Mark G. Pearce were confirmed by the Senate, leaving only Craig Becker as the only appointee of Obama not to be confirmed - there is currently one vacancy.
The other argument is that the NLRB's move is political, and Obama is staying quiet to appease labor, which was a big supporter for the Democrats in the 2008 elections and as we have seen after the turmoil in Wisconsin, a target for Republicans.
Kenneth Yerkes, who chairs Barnes & Thornburg's labor and employment department, claims the president is using the agency because of roadblocks in Congress.
The complaint against Boeing "may be the biggest legal stretch so far," says Kenneth Yerkes, who chairs Barnes & Thornburg's labor and employment department. He says the Obama administration has failed to achieve its legislative agenda in Congress and is trying to make an end run around lawmakers. "He is now saying to organized labor, 'We'll get this done administratively,'" says Yerkes.
Labor offered a lot of support to Obama in 2008, and he'll need that support again, says Yerkes. "So this is as much a political issue as a legal one-if it is legal at all," he says.
Yerkes says that unions are trying to come up with every idea they can to make it difficult for companies to make business decisions that disadvantage unions and their ability to organize and sustain a dues-paying base.
"Unions are fighting vigorously to maintain their rights in the public sector because that's where their most significant growth has been and is going to be," says Yerkes. And in the private sector, he says unions are trying to use agencies to change the way existing laws are interpreted and applied. "This is an affirmative effort by the administration to create advantages for labor to hang onto its dues-paying base and expand that base," he says.
Critics also believe the move by the NLRB, and by proxy President Obama, is anti-competitive and anti-capitalist. Haley wrote that "Boeing was exercising its right as a free enterprise in a free nation to conduct business wherever it believed would best serve both the bottom line and the employees of its company," which she called "capitalism," but she essentially ignores the possibility of any anti-labor activities taken by Boeing.
Investor's Business Daily similarly wrote in an editorial chastising the agency.
Boeing's move is not about retaliation. It's about remaining competitive in an increasingly competitive global market against Europe's Airbus and even possible Chinese competition down the road. Unable to get a no-strike pledge out of the IAM at Puget Sound, the "overriding factor," said Jim Albaugh, CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, "was that we can't afford to have a work stoppage every three years."
They also thought the move by the NLRB was coincidently close to Obama's re-election bid announcement and the events that have transpired in Wisconsin.
If you ask me, it sounds as if Boeing's decision was in retaliation to the unions. "We can't afford to have a work stoppage every three years" said Boeing's CEO - it is strange since the last strike for the company was much more then three years, and not to mention, the 2008 strike had to deal alot with what IBD claimed Boeing was trying to avoid. Boeing had outsourced much of the construction of the 787 Dreamliner, with the wings built by Mitsubishi Corp. in Japan, its doors by Latecoere in France, and the fuselage sections manufactured by a joint venture with Italian Global Aeronautica in South Carolina (Boeing had since taken complete ownership of their Charleston operations).
Basically, this is not an issue of competitiveness but yet another assault on unions, which is why critics like Haley are coming out to vocalize support for Boeing. Should Boeing win, it would be a win for conservatives who have been working tirelessly to dismantle unions across America. Haley makes the argument that Boeing building the Dreamliner in South Carloina would be a "win-win" but Washington and South Carolina's unemployment and income disparity rates are comparable - Washington (ranked 33rd) experiences 9.2 percent unemployment to South Carolina's (ranked 42nd) 9.9 percent, and regarding income disparity, Washington has the 15th highest disparity to South Carolina's 29th, but even then, the top 5 percent and bottom 20 percent of families in Washington make more than those in South Carolina, so really, Nikki Haley can't talk about competitiveness when the competing state has similar or better labor statistics, and if you want to count stock performance, since the NLRB's complaint was filed in March of 2010, shares of Boeing had risen from $67.93 to $78.55 - roughly a 16% increase in one year, which is better then what those socialist government bonds are returning!


text:
Osborn, Robert Durie (DNB00)
←Osborn, John
Osborn, Robert Durie
by George Clement Boase
Osborn, Sherard→
599994Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 42
Osborn, Robert DurieGeorge Clement Boase1895
OSBORN, ROBERT DURIE (1835–1889), lieutenant-colonel, was born at Agra 6 Aug. 1835. His father, Henry Roche Osborn, entered the East India Company's service in May 1819, and served most of time in the 64th native infantry, but latterly was lieutenant-colonel of the 18th native infantry; he died at Feromepore in 1819. Robert was educated for a cadet at Dr. Greig's school at Walthamstow, and was appointed ensign of the 26th Bengal native infantry 16 Aug. 185i, becoming lieutenant on 31 July 1857. He served throughout the Indian mutiny campaign of 1857-9, and was present in the actions of Boolundshuhur on 27 Sept., and at Allyghur on 5 Oct. 1867. He commanded a detachment of the 4th Punjaub infantry at the actions of Gungeree and Puttiallee, was present in various operations against the rebels in the Agra district, served with Colonel Troup's column in Oude in November 1858, and took part in the action at Biswah. From January to May 1859 he was with the Saugor field force under General Whitelock; he afterwards commanded a field detachment in the Ooraie district, and later on defeated the party of rebels at Tudhoorkee. In 1859-60 he was with the Bundelcund field force under Brigadier Wheeler, and for his services received a medal. He was lieutenant in the Bengal staff corps 30 July 1857 and captain 20 Dec. 1865. On 25 Aug. 1869 he became adjutant of the 2nd regiment of Sikh irregular cavalry, a regiment converted into the 12th regiment of Bengal cavalry in 1861, in which Osborn was third squad officer from 4 Nov. 1865 to 17 May 1866. He was captain in his regiment 8 June 1868 to 1872. In the Latter year he was appointed tutor to the Paikharah wards, became major 20 Dec. 1873, and retired with the honorary rank of lieutenant-colonel 1 May 1879. 1Ie served through the Afghan campaign of that year, but retired after the signature of the treaty of Gundamuk.
Osborn was a serious thinker on both religious and political topics. As a young man he enjoyed the friendship of F. D. Maurice and of Charles Kingsley, and occasionally write papers in the magazines on Maurice's religious position and influence. While in India he was a conscientious student of oriental religions, and spent fourteen years in digesting the tangled materials for his two works, 'Islam under the Arabs,' 1876, and 'Islam under the Khalifs of Baghdad,' 1877; 2nd ed. 1880. These books are highly valued by serious students. They are models of lucid and graceful treatment of a perplexing subject. At the same time Osborn was always a zealous advocate of the rights of the native Indians, and his retirement from the army was largely due to his dissatisfaction with the policy of Lord Lytton, which, in his opinion, outraged native sentiment and needlessly provoked the Afghan war of 1879. On his return from India he settled at Hampstead, and mainly devoted himself to journalistic and literary work. He became London correspondent of the Calcutta 'Statesman,' and took a leading part in the conduct of the London 'Statesman,' which was published for a few months in 1879 and 1880 with a view to resisting Lord Beaconsfield's policy in India. In the 'Scotsman,' the New York 'Nation,' and the 'Contemporary Review' he also wrote much on India and on native claims to popular government.
Osborn was an indefatigable lawn-tennis player, and died of syncope on Good Friday, 19 April 1889, while engaged playing a match with Mr. Ernest Renshaw, the champion of all England, at the Hyde Park tennis-court, London. He married at Trinity Church, Bayswater, 12 Nov. 1864, Edith, daughter of the Rev. Gregory Rhodes, by whom he had two daughters.
A portrait in oils of Osborn was painted by Mr. J. R. Hodgson, R.A., in 1877, and was exhibited in the Royal Academy. It was presented to Osborn by the artist, and descended to his family.
Besides the works mentioned, Osborn also wrote 'Friends of the Foreigner in the Nineteenth Century: a Critique,' 1879, and 'Lawn Tennis: its Players and how to Play,' 1881; 2nd edit. 1884.
[Times, 25 April 1889 p. 7, 27 April p. 9; Barnes's Records of Hampstead, 1890, p. 466; East India Register, 1853 et seq.; Athenæum, 27 April 1889; Calcutta Statesman, May 1889; information from Miss Christabel Osborn.]
G. C. B.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Osborn,_Robert_Durie_(DNB00)&oldid=2803792"


Well what can I say… this Cape Town Lifestyle & Wedding Photographer has also been a massive follower and shooter of South African and International music and bands for about 20 years now. Having photographed locally, and throughout South Africa, I have had the privilege of meeting and capturing some of my personal music favourites.
My coverage includes all of South Africa's biggest festivals in all of our major cities. You can see the links to more of my International and Local work on my Banshee 22 page (links below).
One Night in Cape Town is kind of a stop over event for the top International bands that play at the infamous Oppikoppi Festival that happens each year. A couple of years back I was ecstatic to have photographed one of my personal favourites "Wolfmother" from Australia, and this year, well in fact just last week I had a chance to shoot one of my most loved "Out Of South Africa" bands… the Kongos.
Here are just a few of the image I managed to capture on this cool evening at the Hillcrest Quarry.
These guys are great, they've rekindled this 60 year old interest in new music! Pics are great, would you sell any of these? I'm in Garner, North Carolina, USA.
I heard "Come with me now" on an alt station we have here, youtubed them and now I'm converting all my musical friends and relatives. Caught them too late to see them on their Lunatic tour, but I can't wait to see them live.
If you have not been to cape town, I suggest you pack your bags and go there now. Cape town is one of the most amazing places that my australian essay writing services reviews mates and I have gone to. We definitely had the time of our lives at that place.
I also have some precious piece of concerned info !!!!!!Thanks.
Wow! The photos are so amazing!! Thank you for sharing, you did a great job.


An American military shipbuilding company took top honors in Mississippi Business Journal's Healthiest Workplace Awards, placing first in the mega large business category.
Huntington Ingalls Industries' shipbuilding division, based out of Pascagoula, Miss., recently took home Mississippi's Healthiest Workplace Award.
Mississippi's Healthiest Workplace Awards program is a collaborative effort made by the Mississippi Business Group on Health, the Mississippi Business Journal, the Mississippi State Department of Health and the Mississippi Association of Self-Insurers.
The company operates a family health care center that provides off-site healthcare to Ingalls' employees and their dependents. It has a staffed wellness team to assist physicians in helping patients create and maintain a healthy lifestyle, including nutrition and overall health counseling. The health center, operated by QuadMed, also has an on-site pharmacy where patients can receive prescriptions for as low as $3 a month for a 30-day supply.
The Ingalls on-site wellness program operated by Interactive Health provides on-site health screenings and flu shots and facilitates company-wide physical activity challenges like the Ingalls' annual couch-to-5k competition, urging employees to participate in the company's annual 5K on the Causeway, which benefits Special Olympics Mississippi. The company also has an on-site fitness center with cardiovascular and strength equipment, a full-court gym and various group exercise classes.
The employee assistance program serves employees' mental health by providing drug and alcohol addiction counseling among other mental health services.


Thursday, January 10 is National Cut Your Energy Costs Day! This event is a subtle but important reminder that energy efficiency is important to the future of our planet. We understand that in the business world, cutting your energy costs can be more difficult. However, Alban CAT Power Systems has two products designed with cutting costs in mind: Combined Heat & Power (CHP) and MicroGrid.
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Theater|Marriage as Blood Sport: A No-Win Game
Marriage as Blood Sport: A No-Win Game
Which one are you betting on? The body or the brain? The big-breasted brawler or the spineless professor? Some advice to fans of histrionic blood sports: Don't call this game prematurely. With Kathleen Turner in one corner and Bill Irwin in the other, the balance of power is never fixed in the pulse-racing revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," which opened last night at the Longacre Theater.
Everybody ultimately loses in Edward Albee's great marital wrestling match of a play from 1962. But theatergoers who attend this revealingly acted new production, directed by Anthony Page, are destined to leave the Longacre feeling like winners, shaken but stirred by the satisfaction that comes from witnessing one helluva fight.
Tempering the play's notorious vitriol with eye-opening compassion, this interpretation restores characters who have acquired the faces of Freudian monsters to purely human form. In following Mr. Albee's account of a couple's long-night's journey into dawn, set at their home on an insular New England campus, Mr. Page and company have affectingly scaled a masterpiece back from operatic excess to the tautness of a chamber work.
They have done so without sacrificing the emotional intensity or the abundant, alarming humor that finds the gut-wrenching factor in belly laughs. And as the man-eating Martha, Ms. Turner, a movie star whose previous theater work has been variable, finally secures her berth as a first-rate, depth-probing stage actress.
In a Broadway season crowded with disappointments, "Virginia Woolf" is a very welcome surprise. I confess, my hopes were slim for this incarnation. Casting Ms. Turner, whose brief nude scene turned the lifeless stage version of "The Graduate" into a cash cow, seemed like a cynically commercial choice. Sure, everyone knows that this former film-noir siren can do brassy and blowsy with her eyes closed, but her recent performances had leaned perilously toward camp.
And though Mr. Irwin, best known as a brilliant commedia-dell'arte-style clown, had proved himself a skilled Albee interpreter in the second Broadway cast of "The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?," his is a naturally meek, apologetic presence. When it was announced that he would play George, the alcoholic history professor and Martha's devious sparring partner, predictions were that the full-bodied Ms. Turner would make short work of the splinterlike Mr. Irwin and then munch on the scenery for dessert.
Let me extend full and humble apologies to both stars, who stake finely individualized claims to parts immortalized by Uta Hagen and Arthur Hill (in the original Broadway production) and Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (in the 1966 movie). True, there probably has never been a "Virginia Woolf" in which the leading roles initially register as such elemental contrasts. You at first share the head-scratching wonder experienced by George and Martha's late-night visitors: Nick (the excellent David Harbour), a strapping young biology professor, and Honey (the funny if overshrill Mireille Enos), his squeaking mouse of a wife.
Ms. Turner's Martha is a stunningly spontaneous creature, a wayward life force, while Mr. Irwin's George is a contained, angular study in self-consciousness. It's clear that she acts from instinct, while he never stops strategizing. But as they entertain (read: vivisect) themselves and their young guests, you sense their utter interdependence.
Watch how their eyes keep brushing over each other, sometimes with brutal briskness, but sometimes warmly as well. They are always assessing with those gazes, both to anticipate possible attacks and to confirm a bond that is the only real security either knows. They are as deeply comfortable in their mutual discomfort as they are with their book-lined living room (designed with just the right hint of slovenliness by John Lee Beatty).
You also intuit a sense of shared values between George and Martha. The self-serving ambition of Mr. Harbour's superbly blunt Nick, whose attraction to Martha has much to do with her being the daughter of the college's president, is shone in particularly stark light. And as much as George and Martha manipulate this callous lad to get back at each other, you can feel them recoiling from his moral numbness.
What George and Martha also share, to the bewilderment of outsiders, is a language and mythology of their own invention, an idiom both savage and poetical. The dialogue here is like a Dick and Jane reader compared with the metaphysics of later Albee. Even so, "Virginia Woolf" is full of semantic pranks and games, of carefully cadenced lyricism. The temptation is to ride the poetry as if it were a winged horse. (Think of Richard Burton's Dylan Thomasesque line readings.) Mr. Page and his stars insist on grounding each linguistic reversal and rodomontade in in-the-moment reactions.
Mr. Irwin boldly conceives George less as an emasculated bull à la Burton than as a man of defensive asexuality and carefully modulated whimsy. He lives beneath a shield of artfully contrived mannerisms. But you are always aware of the toll exacted by this posture, and every so often a crippled smile breaks through, chilling in its pain and hostility.
Ms. Turner's Martha counters George's cerebral distance with responses that come straight from the viscera. "I don't have a sense of humor," Martha declares. "I have a fine sense of the ridiculous, but no sense of humor." And Ms. Turner conveys the full weight of that assessment. Her Martha is imperious, spoiled, literal-minded, disappointed, triumphant, nasty and rather kind, all in the same breath.
These disparate traits vie for dominance and surface separately and slowly. Their rhythms are dictated by alcohol, and this Martha moves with a wary feline swagger that bespeaks a long habit of adapting to drunkenness. And her emotional synchronization with George is such that you realize that while "Virginia Woolf" may be the most vicious portrait of a marriage this side of Strindberg, it is also -- deeply and truly -- a love story.
Part of the gorgeousness, by the way, of Ms. Turner's performance is its lack of vanity. At 50, this actress can look ravishing and ravaged, by turns. In the second act, she is as predatorily sexy as she was in the movie "Body Heat." But in the third and last act she looks old, bereft, stripped of all erotic flourish.
When she sits at the center of the stage quietly reciting a litany of the reasons she loves her dearly despised husband, you feel she has peeled back each layer of her skin to reveal what George describes as the marrow of a person. I was fortunate enough to have seen Uta Hagen, who created Martha, reprise the role in a staged reading in 1999, and I didn't think I would ever be able to see "Virginia Woolf" again without thinking of Ms. Hagen.
But watching Ms. Turner in that last act, fully clothed but more naked than she ever was in "The Graduate," I didn't see the specter of Ms. Hagen. All I saw was Ms. Turner. No, let's be fair. All I saw was Martha.
'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?' By Edward Albee; directed by Anthony Page; sets by John Lee Beatty; costumes by Jane Greenwood; lighting by Peter Kaczorowski; sound by Mark Bennett; production stage manager, Susie Cordon; fight director, Rick Sordelet; associate general manager, Elizabeth M. Blitzer. Presented by Elizabeth Ireland McCann, Daryl Roth, Terry Allen Kramer, Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, James L. Nederlander, Nick Simunek; and Joey Parnes, executive producer. At the Longacre Theater, 220 West 48th Street, (212)239-6200. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes.
WITH: Kathleen Turner (Martha), Bill Irwin (George), Mireille Enos (Honey) and David Harbour (Nick).


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Richard Smith: Is the NHS being the top issue in the election a sign of a degenerate society?
Some polls suggest that the NHS is the number one issue for voters in Britain's coming general election. That's one reason that the Labour Party has put it at the centre of its campaign, the other being "when in doubt retreat to where you are comfortable." But would a healthy society put the NHS as its top concern, or is this a sign of degeneracy?
Before being dismissed as a Tory apologist, I must make clear that I have never voted Tory and have no intention of doing so. Although something of a Bollinger Bolshevik, I've lived all my life in safe Labour seats and have usually voted Labour. Sometimes I vote Green to signal that I think the environment, especially climate disruption, the most important issue. I was once a member of the Labour Party before I joined the Young Communist League. And I was a member of the Labour Party's Independent Commission on Whole Person Care.
The National Health Service is a classic example of doublethink. Just as the Ministry of Defence is really a Ministry of War so the National Health Service is really the National Disease Service. I was about to write that most people know this, but do they? A vote for health is a fine thing, but a vote for treating disease is less compelling. If you vote for housing or education you get houses and education (of a sort), but vote for health and you don't get health—you get a lot of extremely expensive tinkering with disease, much of it not very effective.
When the NHS began in 1948 it made lots of sense. People suffered from infectious diseases that could be diagnosed, treated, and cured. Spending on the NHS meant that some people who would have died or been severely disabled could be returned to full health. There's not much of that now. This is the age of chronic disease, where doctors are patching up not curing, and some people (even, I suggest, many) are kept alive when it might be better for everybody, including themselves, if they were dead.
We knew even in 1948, although it's become much clearer since, that how long people live and how healthy they are has little to do with misnamed health services. Investing in health services actually achieves the opposite, a large number of diseased people kept alive. So the main benefit of the NHS in 1948, and still now to some extent, is that it stops people being impoverished and bankrupted by developing a condition like leukaemia that is extremely expensive to treat. Nobody would want to deny curative treatment to a child with leukaemia, but most of NHS expenditure is not on such cases. Rather it's treating people with late stage chronic diseases at considerable expense and with indifferent results. We could avoid impoverishment without spending 9% of our GDP on disease treatment.
Another problem with carrying on with the same old model is that with the old model the doctors cured you. Getting you well was their business. If you had meningitis there was little you, the patient, could do: the doctors would take over and fix you. In hours you'd be recovering. In contrast, if you have diabetes how well you do depends primarily on you, and if you and your doctors don't recognise it then it's bad for everybody.
I've been sceptical about the benefits of medicine ever since I was a student in the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh in 1973 and came to feel that much of what went on was for the benefit of the doctors not the patients. Then I was convinced by Ivan Illich's argument that "the major threat to health in the world today is modern medicine." Illich had a broad view of health: it is primarily the capacity to cope with the pain, sickness, suffering, and death that are an important part of being human. Much of that capacity lies not with individuals but with their communities, traditions, and beliefs. Illich argued that modern medicine with its false promises of stopping pain, curing pain, eradicating suffering, and delaying (and perhaps eventually defeating) death destroyed those traditions.
Interestingly, Atul Gawande, our modern surgeon guru, has reached the same conclusion. "In the past few decades," he writes, "medical science has rendered obsolete centuries of experience, tradition, and language about our mortality, and created a new difficulty for mankind: how to die."
There is a growing feeling among doctors that medicine has over-reached itself, taken a wrong path. The reason that health systems in developed countries demand more and more cash is not primarily because of the aging of the population or even patient expectations it's because medicine can do more and more. Unfortunately much of that "more and more" is extremely expensive and offers marginal benefits. The highly expensive drug that fends off death from cancer in some patients for weeks is one example, but there are also heroic operations, admitting to intensive care patients who have little chance of returning to a meaningful life, and much more.
The number of doctors has increased dramatically since the start of the NHS, and most of those doctors are specialists. For example, I've visited the NHS in Dumfries and Galloway over the decades, and when I first went in the 80s people could remember when there were two physicians and a general practitioner who did surgery on the side. Now, as elsewhere in the NHS, there are dozens of specialist physicians and surgeons. All are busy, and all are appreciated. But are they adding lots of value from society's point of view? I fear not. Carers who visit the elderly at home and community nurses probably add much more value (partly, of course, because they are much cheaper: value is benefit divided by cost.)
As the American writer, Lewis Lapham, wittily puts it: "to regard the mere fact of longevity as the supreme good—without asking why or to what end—strikes me as foolish, a misappropriation of time, thought, sentiment, electricity, and frequent flyer miles. Of the $2.4 trillion assigned last year to the care and feeding of our health care apparatus, a substantial fraction paid the expenses of citizens in the last, often wretched, years of their lives. Who benefits from the inventory of suffering gathered in the Florida storage facilities?"
A society that puts treating disease as its top priority is, I fear, a degenerate society. It is a society that puts disease, and particularly the delaying of death, before knowledge, joy, togetherness, children, learning, love, exploration, the environment, and—for want of better words—moral development and spirituality. "A society's image of death," writes Illich, "reveals the level of independence of its people, their personal relatedness, self-reliance, and aliveness."
Richard Smith was the editor of The BMJ until 2004. He is now chair of the board of trustees of icddr,b [formerly International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh], and chair of the board of Patients Know Best. He is also a trustee of C3 Collaborating for Health.
Competing interest: RS was a member of the Labour Party's Independent Commission on Whole person Care.
Jeffrey Aronson: When I use a word . . . Blogging on
The BMJ Today: Will the mitochondrial horse fall at the last hurdle?


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July 21, 2021 / Buffalo Grove Law Offices / Spousal Maintainence
The parties divorced. They had three young children. Wife received a combination of child support and maintenance. This is done for tax purposes.
Child support terminated when the youngest child went to college. Wife was now awarded permanent maintenance.
Later, Husband filed a Motion to terminate the maintenance. The Husband had to prove a substantial change in circumstances had occurred. Since the order awarded Wife maintenance.
Husband said that he suffered from lymphoma. His salary had been reduced. He was planning to retire soon.
The Trial Court said that a substantial change in circumstances had occurred. The Trial Court granted Husband's petition.
Wife appealed. The Appellate Court reversed the Trial Court.
The Appellate Court said that Husband had an increased ability to pay maintenance. The court said that Husband had substantial income. His new wife paid for a number of his expenses. Including his mortgage.
Wife had delayed her education, training, employment, and career opportunities. For 17 years. Until the youngest was in college.
The court said that Wife had made good faith efforts toward financial independence. But, she did not have enough income. She could not provide for her own support. She could not keep in step with the standard of living established during the marriage.
Wife is entitled to maintain the standard of living established in the marriage. As long as the Husband has sufficient assets to meet his needs and the needs of his former spouse. Evidence showed that husband had such assets.
Husband had economic stability. Wife did not. So, maintenance should not have been terminated. The same outcome would be true if a former Husband were receiving maintenance from a former Wife.
In re Marriage of Bernay, 2017 IL App (2d) 160583, July 19, 2017.
Posted in Spousal Maintainence
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Home » How to Get Running Totals in Google Sheets (Easy Formula)
How to Get Running Totals in Google Sheets (Easy Formula)
A running total is a useful aggregation tool that helps you see the cumulative sum of a sequence of numbers at any point in the sequence.
It is widely used in a number of applications in both academics and the business world.
In this tutorial, we are going to show you how to add a running totals column to your dataset for a sequence of numbers using the SUM Function
What is a Running Total?
A running total, also known as a cumulative sum is a sequence of partial sums of any given sequence of numbers.
It is updated each time a new number is added to the sequence, by adding the value of the new number to the previous running total.
In this way, you get a feel of the growth in the sequence and also know the final sum at a glance by simply looking at the last total.
In the business world, a running total is widely used to keep track of expenses, revenue as well as inventory or employees' hours.
How to Get a Running Total in Google Sheets
To explain how to get a running total in Google Sheets, we are going to use the following dataset:
We will demonstrate how to apply a running total to the sequence of numbers in column B (Daily Expenditure) of the above dataset.
Using the SUM Function to Get Running Total in Google Sheets
In this method, we will use the SUM function to add the values of column B's first row to the value in column B's current row. So to find the running total at row 9, for instance, the formula would be:
=SUM($B$2:B9)
This will find the sum of all values starting from row 2 all the way to row 9.
Notice we used dollar symbols ($) in the starting cell reference and did not use them in the ending cell reference.
This is because we want the starting cell reference to be an absolute one, while the ending one should be a relative one.
These mixed references will allow you to create a growing total that is anchored to the initial value.
Here are the steps to get a Running total for the Daily Expenditure in column C:
Type the formula: =SUM($B$2:B2) in cell C2.
Press the fill handle for cell C2 (located at the bottom right corner of the cell). This will copy the formula to the rest of the cells in column C.
You should now have a running total of column B in column C!
What are Absolute and Relative Cell References?
Cell references can be absolute or relative based on how they behave when copied to other cells. A relative cell reference changes when it is copied or filled to other cells. An absolute reference, on the other hand, remains the same no matter where it is copied.
An absolute cell reference is specified using the dollar symbol ($). For example, an absolute reference to the cell B2 is written as $B$2.
Here's an example to demonstrate the difference between absolute and relative references. In the following screenshots, you can see there are two references to the value is cell A1:
A1 (a relative reference)
$A$1 (an absolute reference)
Both give the same result, which is '20'.
Now try using the fill handle to copy the formula to the next cell in the column:
You will notice that the reference in cell B2 changed from the A1 to A2 to reflect the change in the row number.
The reference in cell C2, however, remains the same.
Explanation of the Formula
The formula in cell C2 is =SUM($B$2:B2). This adds the values from cell B2 to B2, which is just a single cell, so the answer would be 72.34.
In cell C3, the formula now becomes =SUM($B$2:B3), This adds values from cell B2 to B3, which consist of the first two values in the Daily expenditure list.
Similarly, in cell C4, the formula becomes =SUM($B$2:B4), This adds values from cell B2 to B4, which consist of the first three values in the Daily expenditure list.
This goes on to the last row where you get the sum of all values from the first to the last row of the Daily expenditure list.
Creating a Dynamic Running Total Column
If you don't like the idea of copying the formula for Running total every time a new value is added to the Daily Expenditure list, you could add an IF statement to the formula to ensure that a running total is calculated only if the corresponding daily expenditure value is not blank.
For example, for cell C2, the formula could be changed to:
=IF(B2<>"",SUM($B$2:B2)),"")
Then you could copy this formula to the entire column in advance so that only when a new value is added to column B, the corresponding value in column C automatically calculates the running total up to that point.
In this tutorial, we showed you how to calculate and display a dynamic running total for a single column in Google Sheets.
All it requires is a simple application of the SUM function with a combination of both relative and absolute cell references. We hope this tutorial was helpful for you.
I hope you found this tutorial useful!
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