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The week in focus
Fears prompted blunt US warnings
Chinese lunar lander discovers water on moon
DEMO, KPITB laud META's 'SheMeansBusiness' Program
Matsuyama rallies for playoff win at Sony Open
Anurag Kashyap to file an FIR against 'Sacred Games 3 scamster'
Karachi Eat 2022: Everything we tried at city's biggest food festival
Former IS-K chief Asif Farooqi killed in Afghanistan clash
Ali Abbas talks about Ahmed Ali Butt 'winning former's PISA award'
Singapore issues guidelines to discourage crypto trading
Special committee reviews extradition treaty between Pakistan, UK
Sakkari hopes 'strong mind' will take her far
World's first NFT restaurant to open in Manhattan next year
Will Murree tragedy bring PM Imran face to face with Shehbaz?
UK's Johnson plans to scrap COVID-19 self-isolation law - The Telegraph
World's 10 richest men doubled wealth during Covid: report
Nadal, Osaka through after Djokovic saga at Australian Open
Osaka 'proud' of WTA handling of Peng Shuai case
'Pakistan next on radar' Cummins eyes subcontinent success after Ashes triumph
Industry members mourn the loss of Rasheed Naz
PM Imran lauds Russia's Putin for stand against Islamophobia
In a first, 'British Vogue' puts nine dark-skinned African models on cover
Port Grand claims to have it all, but will the project stand the test of time?
At the cost of Rs300, Karachiites will finally have the answer to "What is there to do in Karachi except eat?"
Express October 11, 2010
For the uninitiated, the Native Jetty Bridge (more popularly known as 'Netty Jetty') was constructed by British General Sir Charles Napier during the Raj in the 19th century to connect the heart of Karachi with the port area of Keamari. After the inauguration of the Jinnah Flyover in 1996, the Native Jetty Bridge fell into disrepair and misuse. Fortunately for the residents of this metropolis, an ambitious project by the name of Port Grand was launched by the Grand Leisure Corporation to ensure that the bridge did not succumb to the authorities' negligence. With the country engulfed in economic crisis, political brawls and security shortages, one ugly question rears its head: will the project work?
The Managing Director of the Grand Leisure Corporation, Shahid Firoz, certainly believes so. After all, the company has invested a billion rupees in the project. He recalls that a public tender was issued for the development of this historic piece of property by the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) in 2003. Although reluctant at first, Firoz submitted a bid in the interest of "not demolishing a piece of history". The bid totalled Rs130 million. The cost incurred today is more than eight times the initial bid. To keep such a project afloat despite such expenses, one has to wonder whether the founders were hopelessly optimistic about future revenues or steadfastly resolute in their service to the citizens of the city.
Firoz says that it is a combination of both. Citing examples of his previous appointments with the Economic Development Council for urban Sindh, he provides credibility to his affection for the city. Firoz need not flaunt his business credentials. The Grand Leisure Corporation is part of the Arifeen Group. The latter may be recognised as the corporate entity that spawned Envicrete, a name visible on footpaths under construction throughout the city. As Firoz summarises it, "making money from something you love" is most favourable.
Recovering investment
For the project's sake, one can only hope that investors and citizens share Firoz's passion. Investors will fret over the maintenance and upkeep associated with such a project. After all, there are enough examples of such projects lying in a state of abject neglect throughout the city. The billion-rupee project is expected to recover its investment in due time though. With an entrance price of Rs300 and an expected attendance of between 7,000 and 10,000 people per day on weekdays and 15,000 people per day on weekends, total annual revenue from only entrance receipts is an expected Rs1.1 billion.
Other streams of revenue include rent and revenue sharing from tenants and income from advertising. The corporation estimates that people will spend approximately a billion rupees at the venue each year and expect to recoup a part of that in revenue. The estimated foot traffic also makes Port Grand a valuable advertising space.
Convincing 15,000 people to attend every day on a given weekend might not be that tough, according to Firoz, considering the experience Port Grand has to offer. He believes that the venue will provide an experience that will trump security concerns. He summarises eloquently, "We feel security comes from breaking down walls, not by building walls." One can only hope that citizens concur.
Environmental concerns have also been addressed according to Firoz. "Not a single tree was cut and there was no littering or pollution in the sea."
At the venue, a Hindu temple adorns the backdrop. It was revealed that the Hindu community did initially resist the construction of Port Grand on various counts. However, the management of Port Grand claims to have brought all stakeholders on board and all disputes have been resolved amicably. It was learned at the venue that the temple is due to be renovated as part of the agreement.
Launch delayed
The project is substantially overdue though. The first media reports of the project state 2006 as the expected year of completion. The corporation claims that it had to completely revamp the rotting Native Jetty Bridge as part of the project which led to the ballooning expenses and a delayed launch. The usual rumours of mischief were bound to surface, especially considering the scale of the project.
According to sources, cement supplies for the project were supposed to be bought from a single contractor. However, cement was sourced from a number of different suppliers during construction, giving rise to claims of fraud. Fortunately for the corporation, the project remained largely under the media's radar up until very recently.
Port Grand was initially meant to rival Lahore's food street and comprise a multitude of traditional dhabaas and baithaks. As it stands now, Port Grand's food street rivals Zamzama more than it comes close to Burns Road in its offerings.
Aside from the food street, Port Grand boasts a shopping mall, an art gallery, an open air performing stage and a planned movie theatre amongst its offerings. At the cost of Rs300, Karachiites will finally have the answer to "What is there to do in Karachi except eat?" One has to hope that this project overcomes a plethora of potential roadblocks to achieve financial feasibility. As for rivalling San Francisco's Pier 39 or Singapore's Clarke Quay in its grandeur, citizens can keep their fingers crossed. All said and done, it seems the city might have a project whose social benefit outweighs its private benefit.
Asim Kaleem | 11 years ago | Reply Indeed its a wonderful project and all applause to the team of PGCA for bringing kind of relief to us who are fed of all this going on in the country. For me the entrance fee of Rs. 300/- really matters as it will cost me Rs 1500/- per trip with my family of five, which shall indeed keep me away from visiting this place. So if you really want to earn good than you have to look into this high cost of entering. Asim
Raania Azam Khan Durrani | 11 years ago | Reply Dear Mr.Khan & Ms.Badr, Thanks you for your comments and inquiries. Port Grand is a well planned project, and proper measures have been taken to ensure cleanliness of the grounds and waters, and security. We hope that once Port Grand is inaugurated, the citizens of Karachi will respect and enjoy this space, with the same mindset. Please share with us any suggestions you have regarding this matter. Thank you, Raania A. K Durrani PGCA
Vaqas Khan | 11 years ago | Reply Would be really interested to know what measures have been taken by Grand Leisure Corporation to clean up the waters and that stench surrounding the port area and how do they intend to sustain it and keep people from throwing all kinds of stuff in the water to pollute it even more than it is already based on the figures of the people attending over the week?
R. Khan | 11 years ago | Reply If Shahid Firoz is backing the project, it surely will prosper since he truly feels for Karachi. I wish him all the luck. Riaz Khan
Foqia Badr | 11 years ago | Reply My concerns are security, smell, sound, saltiness and smog.
Raania Azam Khan Durrani | 11 years ago | Reply About Port Grand Culture & Art: Port Grand Culture & Art (PGCA) is a team dedicated to supporting, developing and showcasing art, craft and culture. "Art Lane" at PGCA offers indoor and outdoor art spaces to visual and performance artists, for display and performances. One of the main features of PGCA will be its weekly Art & Craft market, where individuals will be able sell their products and showcase their expertise. For more information, do visit the PGCA facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Port-Grand-Culture-Arts-PGCA/162703470406757?ref=mf
Spirit of Riyasat-i-Madina: transforming Pakistan
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NCOC postpones decision on schools closure
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Minna Tariq opts for regal red and gold ensemble at star-studded wedding ceremony
Bill seeks to regulate SC suo motu powers
Shoaib Akhtar begins talent hunt with PM's Kamyab Jawan, GSV
CM assures minorities of fulfilling job quota
Punjab govt may restrict attendance at school
Covid booster shots declared mandatory
Metro bus service to Islamabad airport from March 23
Veteran actor Rasheed Naz passes away
A three-way struggle for global dominance
The Murree misfortune
Miniature fascists of democracy
How to unleash a strategic thought process?
The wealthy asylees of climate change


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News Release 28-Oct-2019
New insights could help block the path of cancer 'super-highways'
The Francis Crick Institute
A key mechanism controlling tissue structure, which could help identify drugs that make it harder for cancer cells to spread, has been identified by researchers at the Francis Crick Institute.
The two studies, published in Nature Materials and PLOS Computational Biology, explain the mechanism that causes changes in the structure of tissues. Using experimental and computational biology, the studies identified how collisions between cells help to create different tissue structures. Some of these structures help cancer spread and the authors also found drugs that inhibit this process.
All tissues in the body contain a scaffold of proteins that maintain their structure. This scaffold degrades as people age, leading to signs of aging such as wrinkles.
Cancerous cells can corrupt the shape of the scaffold to create a tissue structure with pathways that lead away from the tumour and into the surrounding tissue. The cancerous cells take advantage of these super-highways by moving along them to spread into new areas.
However, while it is known that these super-highways are linked to cancer progression, there is little understanding about the mechanisms that control the formation of these tissue structures.
"These super-highways provide roads for cancer cells to travel out of tumours and spread more widely in the tissue, having potentially disastrous consequences for the patient," says Danielle Park, research scientist in the Crick's Tumour Cell Biology Laboratory. "By understanding more about how this type of structure is formed, we can then look at finding ways to stop it and impose a road block on the spread of cancer cells."
By combining insights from laboratory experiments with results from a new computer model which the team developed, the researchers discovered how a tissue scaffold's shape is affected by how it interacts with specialist cells which help to build the scaffold, known as fibroblasts.
"Our computer model draws inspiration from how birds and fish, the fibroblasts in our case, move closely together in flocks or schools, despite being in very large groups," says Esther Wershof, a PhD student in the Biomolecular Modelling Laboratory at the Crick. "With this model, it's much easier to study the relationship between cells and the scaffold than if we could only watch it in real-life."
Further research found that a key factor in the formation of tissue with super-highways is how the fibroblasts act when they collide with each other. By identifying a protein (TFAP2C) that regulates these collisions, the researchers could then look for drugs that inhibit this protein and, in turn, disrupt the creation of super-highways and the spread of cancer cells. Using existing datasets and experiments in the laboratory, the study successfully identified five drugs that affected the formation of super-highways in the tissue.
"This work is a great example of insights that can be uncovered when experimental and computer biologists collaborate. By working together, using a range of techniques and bringing different expertise to the table, we can reach new understandings about how the body works and how we can better treat disease," said Paul Bates, group leader of the Biomolecular Modelling Laboratory at the Crick.
Alice Deeley
alice.deeley@crick.ac.uk
@thecrick
http://www.crick.ac.uk
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Children's National Medical Center, in conjunction with the National Institute of Health (NIH), opened its new Interventional Cardiac Magnetic Resonance suite in spring of 2013. It is dedicated to improving the diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects in children, and consists of a interventional procedures catheterization lab adjoined to a 1.5 Tesla MRI suite. The dual-modality suite suite allows overlay of X-ray images and real-time MRI images helping guide catheters, also reducing anesthesia requirements and radiation exposure. The space also included related patient preparation, physician review and staff support areas.
Korbel Associates provided a full scope of equipment planning services through completion of construction documents, including equipment list development with 3D equipment placement drawings in Revit (see rendering at left). A particular challenge was finding MRI compatible versions of all equipment in the Cath Lab for when the rooms are jointly used, and we helped identify and track new product developments over the project's duration. Korbel's procurement phase scope included gathering all the project quotations and monitoring the budget versus actual dollars spent through the release of purchase orders.
The equipment budget is $2.5 million, not including the multi-million dollar grant for the Siemens imaging equipment.


Nigeria's National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) has signed a National Common STB System agreement with Inview Technologies.
Director General NBC, Emeka Mba, stated that the signing was a culmination of many months of consultation and a crucial step towards the DSO in Nigeria. Adding that the Commission through this agreement hopes to create the biggest TV platform in Nigeria and around the African continent. Mba further stressed that the agreement signing was paramount to moving closer towards the DSO and help give birth to the national set top box platform that would enable commonality for all digital services in the country.
Inview Technologies will be in charge of the Conditional Access System (CAS), Electronic Programme Guide (EPG), the Annual Digital Content Access Fee (DCAF) and the Value added services.


The Alzheimer's Association was incorporated in 1980 to provide persons affected with the disease and Rhode Island Alzheimer's caregivers with support and information regarding AD. In addition to offering referrals to support groups and neurological clinics, the Alzheimer's Association also raises funds for Alzheimer's research.
Aside from the national organization, there are 54 local chapters. There is one in every state, with many largely populated states having multiple chapters. Unlike many health organizations, most local chapters of the Alzheimer's Association were founded independently, created out of caregivers' grass-roots efforts.
Local chapters typically offer caregiver education and support programs that play a direct role in helping patients and families. Local chapters also educate their wider community about Alzheimer's disease through fundraising and charity events.
In 2015, the national Alzheimer's Association proposed that local chapters consolidate with their office, transferring operational authority and financial oversight to the national office. Local chapters were further asked to share their fundraising revenues with the national chapter.
The response of many local chapters, including the ones in San Diego and New York, was to disaffiliate or break away from the national organization. In doing so, they gave up the rights to the name and logo as well as the website and helpline infrastructure of the national Alzheimer's Association.
Local chapters cited the national chapter's mismanagement of funds as a reason to break away. The national chapter's research funding dropped from $28 million in 2007 to $13 million in 2013 while executive compensation and staff payroll increased.
Disaffiliation can be a difficult process for local chapters as they are forced to rebrand and restructure their individual organizations. Fortunately, no local chapters have closed as a result of the split and Rhode Island dementia caregivers and patients are still able to receive the outreach, education, and support they need to effectively fight Alzheimer's in their own communities.
Turn to Home Care Assistance to help your loved one fight Alzheimer's or dementia at home. Our reliable in-home care in Rhode Island gives seniors the emotional and cognitive support they need to delay the onset of dementia and exercise memory skills. Additionally, our compassionate caregivers assist seniors with daily activities of living such as grooming, dressing, bathing, prescription pick-ups, and physical exercise. Learn more when you call (401) 284-0979 today and speak with a knowledgeable Care Manager.


Join us every Friday beginning early June through early October for a gathering of farmers, local producers, makers and more. The Stanwood Farmers Market (newly named in 2019) makes fresh local food accessible to all and cultivates long-term economic vitality for the Stanwood and Camano Island communities.
We promote the idea of shopping locally with local agricultural producers, food artisans and craftspeople.
Cultivate a new recipe. Create a connection with the slow food movement. Connect with your community.


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Ultra-Poor Graduation
Champion Hope
Webinar: Food and income security amid COVID-19 — what is the data telling us?
Posted on September 29, 2020 January 7, 2021 by Sarah Allen
A set of rapid assessments on food and income security across ten countries reveals striking patterns

BRAC has conducted four rapid assessments on food and income security across ten countries in Africa and Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic. This webinar dives into the findings and shares how we can apply the learnings to enable the most vulnerable to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. The webinar features key BRAC leadership and staff; including Sajedul Hasan, Director of Humanitarian Programs; Ruth Okowa, Africa Regional Director; Kazi Eliza Islam, Associate Director of Monitoring and Program Quality; and Dr. Munshi Sulaiman, Africa Regional Research Lead.
Posted in WebinarsTagged Afghanistan, agriculture, humanitarian response, leadership and staff, Liberia, Myanmar, Nepal, Philippines, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Tanzania, UgandaLeave a Comment on Webinar: Food and income security amid COVID-19 — what is the data telling us?
Opinion: A cataclysm of hunger, disease, and illiteracy
Posted on September 16, 2020 October 22, 2020 by Sarah Allen
A pandemic of suffering follows on the heels of COVID-19 in poor countries, and children suffer most.
By Nicholas Kristof
Below is en excerpt of a piece originally published in The New York Times. Click here to view the full piece.
We think of Covid-19 as killing primarily the elderly around the world, but in poor countries it is more cataclysmic than that.
It is killing children through malnutrition. It is leading more people to die from tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS. It is forcing girls out of school and into child marriages. It is causing women to die in childbirth. It is setting back efforts to eradicate polio, fight malaria and reduce female genital mutilation. It is leading to lapses in vitamin A distribution that will cause more children to suffer blindness and die.
The U.N. Population Fund warns that Covid-19 may lead to an additional 13 million child marriages around the world and to some 47 million women being unable to get access to modern contraception.
The greatest impact of Covid-19 may be not on those whom the virus directly infects, but on those shattered by the collapse of economies and health and education systems in developing countries. Many schools and clinics are closed, medicines for AIDS and other ailments are sometimes unavailable, and campaigns against malaria and genital mutilation are often suspended.
"The indirect impact of Covid-19 in the Global South will be even greater than the direct impact," Dr. Muhammad Musa, executive director of BRAC International, an outstanding Bangladesh-based nonprofit, told me. "The direct impact, as tragic as it is, affects those infected and their families. The indirect impact has economic and social consequences for vastly more people — with jobs lost, families hungry, domestic violence up, more children leaving school, and costs over generations."
Posted in Media mentionsTagged health care, humanitarian responseLeave a Comment on Opinion: A cataclysm of hunger, disease, and illiteracy
Video: Evans learns through play
Discover how play is changing Evans' life in Uganda.
Each day, thousands of children attend BRAC's network of Play Labs across Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Uganda. Our flagship play-based approach to early childhood education helps children build better futures at a critical time in their development. Through play, learners develop creative and social skills, build self-confidence, and cultivate resilience. Meet Evans and see how play is helping him build a brighter future.
Posted in VideosTagged education, UgandaLeave a Comment on Video: Evans learns through play
Opinion: Three lessons from the Global South on combating the pandemic
Posted on September 7, 2020 November 19, 2020 by Sarah Allen
As the COVID-19 pandemic wears on, more and more people around the world are struggling during lockdowns and economic shutdowns.
By Dr. Muhammad Musa
This piece was originally published here in The New Humanitarian. It has been reposted below.
The coronavirus could nearly double the number of people facing acute hunger, according to the World Food Programme. Recent data collected by BRAC reveals that many families across the Global South can only sustain their food needs for seven days or less; many are trying to cope by eating less.
Top-down measures to curb the spread of the virus – dramatic steps like lockdowns and bans on large gatherings – pose an immediate threat to families in the poorest communities.
Even in developed countries, local opposition to top-down decrees is undermining the impact of public health initiatives. Resistance to these mandates will only grow if they are not tempered with solutions and leadership from the hardest-hit communities.
The key to turning this resistance around, and dealing with a pandemic long term, lies in the Global South. What's needed is a renewed commitment to community engagement, rather than top-down mandates. The Global South has great experience on which to draw. Here are three examples that have proven effective.
First, local leaders – elected, civic, or religious, in various combinations depending on the community – must be consulted when creating public health strategies. Their concerns must be heard and addressed. In the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh, for instance, many Rohingya religious leaders are working with BRAC to use their platforms to share life-saving information and dispel myths about COVID-19.
This is an age-old principle of community development, but in the rush to stop the spread of the virus too many officials around the world forgot about it and simply issued decrees. In India, for instance, when the government called on 1.3 billion people to stay home for three weeks, millions were left stranded, without work, and potentially hungry.
Second, existing community networks must be engaged. Community health workers are a great example: These are trusted, trained workers who live in the communities they serve. They can be especially persuasive in informing residents and convincing them to adopt needed measures such as mask-wearing, social distancing, and hand-washing.
Half of BRAC's 100,000 frontline staff and volunteers across 11 countries are community health workers. During the pandemic, we've found they've been vital in working with local leaders to raise awareness about COVID-19 and to enact preventive measures.
Non-governmental organisations and other civil society groups have a crucial role to play. They are a vital link between centralised policy conversations and grassroots networks.
Third, hard-won experience with health crises is a powerful asset. In West African countries with a history of Ebola, for instance, adopting social distancing and other public health measures has been far easier. People who went through that emergency – both decision-makers and the public – understood more quickly what was at stake and what was needed. People knew where to turn for trusted information and how to respond.
COVID-19 isn't the first public health crisis we've seen, and it won't be the last. Large populations depend on daily wages to put food on the table. Economic activity and public health measures must co-exist.
We need to involve local leaders in crucial public health decisions to develop interventions that work. Solutions that rise up are better than those that drop down.
Dr. Muhammad Musa is a physician, public health expert, and Executive Director of BRAC International, a Bangladesh-based NGO.
Posted in Media mentionsTagged Bangladesh, health care, humanitarian response, Liberia, Sierra LeoneLeave a Comment on Opinion: Three lessons from the Global South on combating the pandemic
Empowering Digital Health Innovators with Solar: Little Sun partners with BRAC and John Snow R&T Institute, Inc. in Uganda and Ethiopia
The partnership will support state-of-the-art solar-powered phone chargers to strengthen health systems in remote areas
KAMPALA, UGANDA — BRAC Uganda and John Snow R&T Institute, Inc. win the request for proposals by Little Sun, and will receive a total of 648 Little Sun Charges, state-of-the-art solar-powered phone chargers, to strengthen health systems in remote areas without access to electricity during the COVID-19 pandemic. The chargers will be delivered to local teams of Community Health Workers and Technicians in Uganda and Ethiopia.
COVID-19 has brought to light the many challenges confronting health systems around the world. In addition to national limitations in medical equipment and testing capacities, people living in remote areas lack sufficient access to medical care and in Ethiopia alone, 95% of all rural health posts are non-electrified.
Digital Health technologies employing app-based digital tools on smartphones can help overcome these challenges. For successful implementation however, reliable access to electricity is vital.
"Digital health is changing and improving the quality of health provision at the last mile but it can't work without keeping smartphones charged. We've learned from Community Health workers across Africa that a powerful, portable solar phone charger is a game changer. This is why we are very excited to partner with BRAC and JSI to make sure their staff have the access to energy they need to provide their important health care work, especially now during the pandemic," says Mason Huffine, Little Sun's Director of Humanitarian Affairs.
BRAC and JSI convinced the team with their program proposals and will each receive 324 Little Sun Charges to equip their frontline health care workers with solar to power their efforts in Uganda and Ethiopia.
"Health extension workers are usually stationed at their health post, and reside in the Kebele [neighborhood] they serve, so that they will be close to the community at all times. But rural Ethiopia has little or no access to electricity and interruptions are frequent. This means our health extension workers sometimes have to travel up to 10 kms to the next urban area just to charge their phones. The portable solar chargers will save them valuable time and energy that can be used to deliver health services to women and children," says Anteneh Kinfe, eCHIS Team Leader John Snow R&T Institute, Inc.
"The 324 phone chargers will be distributed to a local all-women team of Community Health Workers and Technicians in Northern and Eastern Uganda. They operate in distant and hard to reach places without power. The solar charger from Little Sun is a help-in-time. They provide solar energy and ensure that our community health workers can provide uninterrupted and much needed health services to households at the last mile," says Dr. George Owuor Matete, Country Director, BRAC Uganda.
The Little Sun Charge combines Digital Health care with reliable solar energy – a promising and sustainable combination that can make a real difference in the provision of health care in everyday life, but especially during the pandemic. The Little Sun Charge was specifically designed with a large solar panel and high capacity battery to power any kind of smartphone.
BRAC operates community health worker (CHW) programs in several countries across Africa and Asia, providing its essential health care model with a focus on maternal and child health, infectious diseases, nutrition, family planning and non-communicable diseases. Since 2007, BRAC has provided healthcare services to 3.2 million people in Uganda with an emphasis on women of reproductive age and children under five. Currently, BRAC manages a robust network of more than 4,000 CHWs in 72 of 125 districts across Uganda.
In 2015, BRAC began working with Living Goods and Medic Mobile to build a custom digital health platform for its CHWs. The platform features patient profiles, task management support, point-of-care decision support, forms-based data collection, and analytics for data-driven performance management. BRAC supervising staff use the collected data to monitor and supervise CHWs more efficiently and have developed a cloud-based IT system to digitize all programmatic operations, administrative tasks, and supply chain management. The app was built using the open source Community Health Toolkit, a global public good being adopted by a growing number of governments and NGOs.
Notes to the editor
About Little Sun
Little Sun delivers affordable and renewable energy to those without access to power while mobilizing climate action globally. Founded in 2012 by contemporary artist Olafur Eliasson and engineer Frederik Ottesen, Little Sun integrates the world of art and design with pragmatic clean energy solutions. The non-profit brings light to the most vulnerable communities worldwide who are off the grid, both in Sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide, focusing on school children, refugees and people affected by natural disaster. Over the past five years, Little Sun has become the light of choice in the humanitarian sector and is actively engaged in supporting Digital Health programs with access to energy. In addition, Little Sun runs various social development projects, livelihoods and entrepreneur programs, educational programs, health system-strengthening programs and productive use of renewable energy projects (PURE). Learn more at www.littlesun.com.
About BRAC
BRAC is a global leader in developing and implementing cost-effective, evidence-based programs to assist the most marginalized people in extremely poor, conflict-prone, and post-disaster settings. These include initiatives in education, healthcare, microfinance, women and girls' empowerment, agriculture, human and legal rights, and more. BRAC's vision is a world free from all forms of exploitation and discrimination where everyone has the opportunity to realize their potential. In 2020, BRAC was named the number one NGO in the world by NGO Advisor for the fifth consecutive year. Founded in Bangladesh in 1972, BRAC currently operates in 11 countries in Asia and Africa, touching the lives of over 100 million people.
About BRAC USA
Based in New York, BRAC USA is the North American affiliate of BRAC. BRAC USA provides comprehensive support to BRAC around the world by raising awareness about its work to empower people living in poverty and mobilizing resources to support its programs. BRAC USA also works closely with its international counterparts to design and implement cost-effective and evidence-based poverty innovations worldwide. BRAC USA is an independent 501(c)(3) organization.
Rabea Koss & Romane Guégan
BRAC USA
Sarah Allen
Posted in Press releasesTagged climate change, health care, technology, UgandaLeave a Comment on Empowering Digital Health Innovators with Solar: Little Sun partners with BRAC and John Snow R&T Institute, Inc. in Uganda and Ethiopia
Honoring Sir Fazle Hasan Abed: One-year memorial message
Video: Meet Noor and Aziz, the newest Sesame Street Muppets
Training unlocks a lifetime of knowledge for farmers in Liberia
Opinion: Maker spaces vs. COVID-19
BRAC releases new data on gender-based violence in conjunction with 16 days of activism
110 William Street, 18th Floor
BRAC Bangladesh
BRAC International
BRAC UK
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BRAC University
BRAC USA is an independent 501(c)(3) organization with IRS tax EIN 20-8456741.
© BRAC USA 2020
Donation & Privacy Policy


text:
from direct.directnotify import DirectNotifyGlobal
from direct.fsm import ClassicFSM, State
from toontown.distributed.DelayDeletable import DelayDeletable
from toontown.suit.DistributedSuitBase import DistributedSuitBase

class DistributedTutorialSuit(DistributedSuitBase, DelayDeletable):
    notify = DirectNotifyGlobal.directNotify.newCategory('DistributedTutorialSuit')

    def __init__(self, cr):
        DistributedSuitBase.__init__(self, cr)
        self.fsm = ClassicFSM.ClassicFSM('DistributedTutorialSuit', [State.State('Off', self.enterOff, self.exitOff, ['WaitForBattle', 'Battle']), State.State('Battle', self.enterBattle, self.exitBattle, []), State.State('WaitForBattle', self.enterWaitForBattle, self.exitWaitForBattle, ['Battle'])], 'Off', 'Off')
        self.fsm.enterInitialState()
        self.deleted = False

    def announceGenerate(self):
        DistributedSuitBase.announceGenerate(self)
        self.setState('WaitForBattle')
        holly = self.cr.playGame.place.tutorial.getHollywood()
        self.setPosHpr(holly.getPos(), holly.getHpr())
        holly.delete()

    def disable(self):
        self.setState('Off')
        DistributedSuitBase.disable(self)

    def delete(self):
        if self.deleted:
            return
        del self.fsm
        DistributedSuitBase.delete(self)
        self.deleted = True

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


I am a member of SJSC and I was wondering if I could bring my grandchildren to Spring these night to learn. First timers. Even thought they obviously do not not belong to my ski club?
I do not know - but I would guess that participants need to be adults.. and club members.
You should reach out to the EPSC (or Spring Mountain) to confirm.


text:
Arsenal's draw with Crystal Palace so boring that Jamie Redknapp starts rapping
Arsenal and Crystal Palace only managed six shots on target between them as they saw out a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium - and it was summed up in a cringey rap by Jamie Redknapp
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Arsenal's draw with Crystal Palace bored Jamie Redknapp enough for the Sky Sports pundit to start rapping live on TV.
The Gunners could not find a way past their Premier League opponents, playing out to a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium.
While Mikel Arteta's side did record their first home clean sheet since July, it ends their impressive run of form as they remained in the bottom half of the table.
And Redknapp took the opportunity to sum up the game in a creative way on Sky Sports.
In the clip, the game is over in north London and the broadcaster are running a promo for Will Smith movie "Bad Boys for Life".
Arsenal's dull game against Crystal Palace saw Jamie Redknapp rap live on TV (Image: SKY SPORTS)
Arsenal continue shake-up as Premier League chief joins as contract negotiator
Liverpool 'offered Arsenal ace' Jurgen Klopp knows well as solution to injury crisis
And the former Tottenham forward changes the lyrics of the film franchise's favourite song to assess the game.
He sings: "Bad game, bad game. What'cha gonna do? What'cha gonna do when it's not 3-2?"
All host Kelly Cates and co-pundit Alex Scott can do is cringe as the 47-year-old laughs, trying to get them involved.
The Gunners could not find a way past their Premier League opponents in a 0-0 draw (Image: 2021 Charlotte Wilson/Offside)
"That's what the game's done to you," the former Arsenal women's player says to Reknapp as he waits for the advert break.
But Scott was not the only one cringing as viewers on Twitter were left baffled by the ex- Liverpool star's rapping.
"Not sure what was worse, Pepe's cameo or Jamie Redknapp rapping to Bad Boys," one said.
Another commented: "Jamie Redknapp, what was that? Didn't think today could get any worse."
And Redknapp left viewers cringing when he used a promo for 'Bad Boys for Life' to sum up the game (Image: SKY SPORTS)
While a third suggested the pundit should be punished, with: "Redknapp should be chucked off of Sky Sports for that."
But others praised Redknapp for his creativity as a fourth said: "Jamie Redknapp singing bad boys was the most interesting thing about that game."
With a fifth simply saying: "Highlight of the game."
One Gunners star who was off-tune against Palace was Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who offered an explanation for his moody dressing-room attitude.
ShowbizStacey Solomon apologises to fans as she returns to Instagram after short disappearanceStacey Solomon has marked her return to Instagram by posting a short statement apologising for her disappearance - admitting she's found it hard being a mum and keeping active online
Boy, 4, unable to speak and can only groan in 'very scary' case of Covid infection
CoronavirusOllie Rodgers was "full of life" before he was diagnosed with a "very scary" case of multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) that has left him in hospital unable to speak


text:
Q: definite article or indefinite article - an online survey or the survey online? I'd like to know whether "the survey online" or "an online survey" should be used in the following:

World Gym has been under new management since July 3. For the new team to  better serve our members, please take a few moments and click here to fill out  the survey online / an online survey.

I'd appreciate your help.

A: The chosen article reveals the speaker's thought.
With the the speaker is indicating  that he or she believes you will understand (you, being the visitor reading those words) that a survey is normally associated with attempts to get to know users better, and the particular survey in this instance can be reached by clicking the link.
That thought might not even be fully conscious on the speaker's part.
This "previously mentioned" rule must be understood very very very very very broadly, so that it would include under its aegis what is typical or usual under the circumstances.  It is a previous encounter not necessarily a previous mention, and the encounter need not have taken place in the immediate speech context. The immediate speech context can allude to a general context where the encounter has occurred or is believed by the speaker to have occurred.

A: The survey is very specific here. How? Because it says click here. Anything specific i.e. only that thing and nothing else would have the definite article. Take another example and you may understand that -

If you want to register, click here to go to the registration form.

So, registration here is specific for that login, for that page.
Had it been an indefinite article, I would think of some other form or feedback which could be related to the website but not specific to the matter you are talking about.
Finally, ask yourself, is that the only survey for that activity? If yes, then go for the definite article.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


"Council on East Asian Libraries Statistics 2003-2004" by Vickie Fu Doll, Calvin Hsu et al.
Doll, Vickie Fu; Hsu, Calvin; and Simpson, Fung-yin Kuo (2005) "Council on East Asian Libraries Statistics 2003-2004," Journal of East Asian Libraries: Vol. 2005 : No. 135 , Article 7.


International Women's Day is tomorrow, Thursday, March 8th. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge this day since we, at Terra & Co., are all about empowering women.
You may be asking, what exactly is International Women's Day? International Women's Day was started in 1911 by women in the early 1900's that were fighting for every women's right to vote, and thank goodness they did as we enjoy that to this day. They encouraged and fought for change!
This year, International Women's Day (https://www.internationalwomensday.com) has identified the primary campaign theme to be gender parity and have created the hashtag #PressforProgress. International Women's Day is pressing for progress because the World Economic Forum's 2017 Global Gender Gap Report found that gender parity is over 200 years away. Yes, you heard me… OVER 200 years away! It is up to each and every one of us to press for progress and create the change that we want! #PressforProgress is a call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.
It is so important that all of us fight for change and commit to helping each other, women and girls from all over, to achieve their ambitions and challenge bias whether conscious or unconscious. From awareness to creating action, International Women's Day is rallying for your support.
If you would like to contribute and identify how you will specifically #PressforProgress, follow this link to the International Women's Day Website's call to action - https://www.internationalwomensday.com/PressforProgress - of course filling this out is not required, it is simply an option for you.
Even after International Women's Day passes, we need to keep this struggle front and center and remember to support each other. We are all sisters!
What can you do to #PressforProgress and affect change?


text:
homevideos Newsearnings News
No transaction with Adani Group in near future: Snowman Logistics
videos | Oct 28, 2020 4:04 PM IST
By Surabhi Upadhyay | Nigel D'Souza | Oct 28, 2020 4:04 PM IST (Published)
In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Sunil Nair, chief executive officer, said, "The company has set up a large facility for Amazon in Delhi which will be operational in the next couple of days. Therefore, we see Q3 and Q4 to be much better than the first half of this year."
Integrated temperature-controlled logistics service provider Snowman Logistics on Wednesday said there was no transaction with Adani Group in near future.
On the business front, he said Snowman Logistics will be able to maintain margin at current levels and expect the second half of the year to be much better than H1.
Nair said the company will be taking debt of Rs 60 crore and by this year-end, debt will be around Rs 100 crore, "Snowman Logistics has seen 8 percent growth in the pharma vertical YoY."
"We are fully prepared for COVID vaccine distribution. Each facility of ours is capable of handling the temperature required for the vaccine, which is coming up," Nair added.
For more, watch the video
Snowman Logistics
Sunil Nair


The self induced implosion of Dana Nuccitelli | Watts Up With That?
@RogerPielkeJr @dana1981 Roger's not referenced, just Muller. We never even thought about Roger's work in putting that together.
At this point, I asked Dana to clarify which tornado experts claim Roger is "misleading the American public"? He didn't respond. What he did do is move the goalposts. But even that was incorrect, as Brooks quickly pointed out.
@dana1981, Let me know when you find that tornado expert that says @RogerPielkeJr is misleading the public.
Dana continues to embarrass himself and the community that he purports to represent.
Dana may not like those conclusions. He may disagree with them. That is fine, happens all the time in science. Rather than trying to accuse me of "misleading the public" by claiming falsely that other experts had made that accusation, he might instead try to explain where our analysis of tornado data is mistaken in its analysis or conclusions. I am happy to hear his arguments, were he to actually make any. The idea that a climate blogger can somehow dictate what an academic can and can't say about their own research gives a window into some of the deep pathologies in the climate debate.
I did state in my Congressional testimony that "The inability to detect and attribute changes in hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and drought does not mean that human-caused climate change is not real or of concern." Dana is picking the wrong fight — wrong topic and wrong person.
I will continue to discuss our published research, and will do so accurately and faithfully to what we conclude in the peer reviewed literature. I'd ask Dana to follow the same standards.
Dana Nuccitelli >> Roger Pielke Jr.
You're shifting the goalposts again, Roger. I didn't say anything about your research. I'm not in a position to say if it's wrong or right. Your statements to Congress, which I quoted in my comment, are not consistent with your research. You left out the critical caveats that the data aren't sound enough to make conclusive statements – instead you made those conclusive statements to our policymakers. That is exactly the type of behavior criticized by Markowski et al. in their Op-Ed, as I quoted in my comment.
And really, can't you make your arguments without claiming I'm 'embarrasing myself'? Let others make that kind of judgment for themselves, if you believe your arguments are sound. I suspect your abusive comments are due to the fact you know you're in the wrong, and are trying to distract from the fact that you refuse to admit your errors.
Why don't you just admit your Congressional testimony was misleading in the manner criticized by Markowski et al.? We all make mistakes. I'm willing to admit my initial Tweet was imprecise, because while the Op-Ed criticized comments similar to yours, they didn't name you specifically. That was my mistake.
Dana, this will be my last reply to you as you continue to lie and misrepresent.
You can argue that scientists have accused me of misleading the public and you can claim that my testimony is inconsistent with my research. In both cases the evidence shows you to be not simply wrong, by misleading and even lying.
I do appreciate your willingness to dig in your heels and continue this display. I agree with you that those paying attention will be fully empowered to reach fair conclusions.
Thanks again for the exchange. Very educational, and not just for me.
Someone is wrong. If you want to argue Markowski et al. are wrong, then do it. But don't try to hide behind what you said in your paper, because that's not the issue at hand. The issue is the above quote from your Congressional testimony.
And I agree, this has been very educational. Though I didn't learn much about you that I didn't already know.
At the most macro of levels, the thrust of Pielke's research findings are not being contested. If there is a climate change signal in the phenomena Pielke has studied, it is either or both too slight or too recent to discern.
At the general level of climate discussions Pielke's findings clearly are an effective (if not conclusive) counter argument to those claiming that Xtreme Weather is already upon us. As even the IPCC does not claim this (but rather echoes the 'too slight, too recent to discern' position), Nuccitelli's blasts (which are, as Keith points out) not unusual, can be taken as political agitprop against someone he perceives as an enemy.
As for Pielke's comment on this thread, Pielke is clearly wrong. Nuccitelli and the community he purports to represent are impervious to embarrassment–witness the acceptance of slipshod science that favors their side, such as Lewandowsky, Prall, Anderegg et al, etc., and their blithe embrace of criminal behavior by Peter Gleick simply because he's on the side of the angels.
Nuccitelli's just a hitman and it's important to recognize that in this dispute he has won despite being wrong on the facts and sleazy in his approach. Every published slam against Pielke (in this case–there are dozens of other targets) becomes a reference point that he can use himself to say (a la Joe Romm) that Pielke has been debunked.
These garbage tactics work, so they don't stop. They trashed Pielke's father–mercilessly, wrongly and just as sleazily. Why would they spare his son?
Thanks for posting this. I'm putting together a list of contrarians making this bogus argument to rub it in their faces in 10 days when the IPCC report comes out and proves them wrong (which it will). Pielke Jr. made a similarly inept argument today (only plotting the multi-model mean and ignoring the envelope of model runs and uncertainty range).
So much for these two being 'honest brokers' or, you know, competent at interpreting data.
Astonishingly, even William Connolley had things to say about Dana's behavior that I agreed with, and let me tell you, it is a unique day indeed when Mr. Connolley and I agree upon anything.
All of this could have been avoided by a simple admission of making a mistake, and offering an apology. Everybody would have been moving on.
Instead, we have a spectacle of unprecedented stubbornness, coupled with the sort of egotistical stonewalling we'd expect to see from a politician, something that people are going to remember for quite some time.
December 5, 2013 in Climate ugliness.
I wonder how this is going over with his co-workers at the oil company?
@Otter I often wonder if they know how much company time he wastes on this stuff.
Dana is arguing about his revelations regarding the miracle of AGW. He is not discussing a rational process. Sadly for Dana, his revelation does not hold him to a high standard of ethical behavior. Also sadly for Dana, he is not bright enough to talk his way out of his errors. He can only hope to shout more loudly and arm wave as distractions from his failure.
Dana Nucitelli, Joe Romm, Stefan Lewandowsky, and so many other stubborn and arrogant alarmists activists act like they've got all the money in the world backing them. Well, maybe they used to, but we're about out of other people's money.
Impervious to embarrassment. Righteousness trumps sanity.
There was a significant increase in tornado occurrence during two periods in the last 33 years – in the early 1980s when National Weather Service (NWS) warning verification began, and in 1990 when the WSR-88D became operational.
The increase in reported tornado frequency during the early 1990s corresponds to the operational implementation of Doppler weather radars. Other non meteorological factors that must be considered when looking at the increase in reported tornado frequency over the past 33 years are the advent of cellular telephones; the development of spotter networks by NWS offices, local emergency management officials, and local media; and population shifts. The growing "hobby" of tornado chasing has also contributed to the increasing number of reported tornadoes.
If you go to WOTTS and I'm not saying that I don't have to wash after that but the snipping in comments is a site to see they be at one another s throats over this as Dana will not back down still .
I have no idea if Pielke was trying to be misleading or just fell into an all to common logical fallacy.
I agree with the criticisms of DN. From a purely technical point, I think he misinterpreted what RP said. RP said that actual tornadoes hadn't increased. Of course, that's a verifiable fact.
I think DN interpreted RP's comment as meaning something like: "The underlying propensity for tornadoes hasn't increased." That's not a verifiable fact. It's not even clear that the underlying propensity for tornadoes is objectively definable. Anyhow, my impression is that DN was disagreeing with something like this incorrect interpretation of what RP said.
I wonder if this jumping the shark moment is actually prepositioning in order to secure a new postion should his currnt big energy employer get tired of the embarrassment.
Dana is a perfect example of what Evan Sayet called 'the permanently infantilized'.
Oh goodness me there are several other wot(t)supwiththat web sites. Well I never. WUWT is having babies.
Dana and his mates are Xtreme Activist Nutcases who will continue to distort the truth (lie) in order to push their particular religion down the throats of the increasingly skeptical public.
Anthony: Does someone someone actually employ this guy.
This is one of those moments when you're driving past an accident and you can't help but look.
Just imagine if there were a picture of Dana in a German tank gaily heading off to Stalingrad – how apt that would be!
Fixed… your use of the word "righteousness" is less than optimal. The proper etymology of the word "righteous" reveals its intent: 'right use', as in the right use of an aspect of consciousness.
Self- righteousness more aptly implies a self- justified misuse of an aspect of consciousness, which (I think,) is what you meant.
Even the Winston Smith of wikipedia is waking up to the reality. In the age of the Internet the shame of global warming advocacy burns forever. His record of over 5000 climate gate-keeping edits and the intentional smearing and vilification of sceptics is permanent.
1. Bail out and attempt escape and evasion.
2. Ram the throttles past the afterburner indent to "full stupid" and auger in.
Romm, Mann, Flim Flammery, Gleick and now Scooter boy have chosen option 2.
It becomes clear that Dana's obnoxious behavior arises from a) his predisposition to dislike Roger Pielke, Jr. and b) his misunderstanding of Pielke's work. Dr. Pielke builds on the incidence of violent tornado data by also considering normalized damage. Since the incidence and damage data align he is able to express a level of confidence that there is a negative trend in incidence. Without considering damage, issues related to things like the introduction of Doppler radar make it difficult on climate scales to make such a conclusion with the same level of confidence. Dana is pitting one expert against another without understanding what either one is doing.
Further to that point a tweeter named @thingsbreak has now gotten Dr. Brooks to contradict some of Dr. Pielke's conclusions regarding tornado incidence.
But of course Dr. Brooks wasn't given any context for the question. He has no idea that he is responding to a statement made by Dr. Pielke in a 2 year old blog post. And without knowing the source he has no idea of the basis of the statement. He would of course answer the question on the basis of his own work even though he might also agree (or respectfully disagree) with Dr. Pielke. But shameless Dana can't help but pronounce this as vindication in a post at the WOTTS trolling blog.
Back in 2005 I and others reviewed the entire hurricane record, which goes back over a century, and found no increase of any kind. Yes, we sometimes get bad storms — but no more frequently now than in the past. The advocates simply ignored that evidence — then repeated their false claims after Hurricane Sandy last year.
surely the tabloid – on this occasion – is more fact-based than the pseudo-intellectual TheMonthly!
Best to be on their good side.
Even better to know which side that is.
*: Does someone someone actually employ this guy.
Oh yes over at wotts, I read open jawed, it's a car crash of a thread , fighting like rats cornered in a trap.
I was almost rolling on the ground with laughter.
It has become difficult to regard any of "the travellers" statements as credible, so W.C.'s words are indeed a surprise.
Connolley just wants to use the high-brow approach of the European intellectual socialist while Dana takes the whatever-works approach of the American Alinskyite. A difference over style not over substance.
And that would be different, how ?
So when I tell my kid the there is no such thing as the bogey man I am actually incorrect? I should say that currently I have no information that would lead me to believe that the bogey man exists.
You do realize that the way you have characterized it, that no one, under any imagined circumstances could say: "Tornadoes have not increased in frequency, intensity or normalized damage since 1950." Because every measurement ever made by man kind has error associated with it. And within that error there could always be a non detected trend. Most people know and understand this in there interpretation of statements such as the above quote.
Nuccitelli is acting like a child – unable to admit when he is wrong. But then his moderation at the Guardian represents his childish nature.
Tim says: Amazing use of logic Felix. A small problem. By your logic, if there is no evidence of an elephant in the room, the elephant still might be in the room. Maybe we better look under the chairs for the elephant. You are twisting a reasonable statement.
By your logic you would have Roger Pielke Jr. add some interesting qualifiers. I will list some for you. Roger would have to define the term tornadoes as defined in 'the paper'. (Someone might have a different definition and thus the fact has to be established.) The frequency, intensity, and normalized damage he is referencing would have to be identified as having come from the only available facts (data available concerning such information) and not from any hairbrained dreams and or pontifications of idiots such as Gore and the other priests of AGW. Speaking of people that make up facts makes me realize Roger would also need to qualify he isn't referring to any tornadoes in an alternate universe that hasn't yet been disproven. Oh my goodness he also didn't prove that Dana doesn't live in an alternate universe where the paper is different. The list of things that are not proven to not exit could go on 'ad infinitum'.
Thanks Scott Scarborough for putting it so clearly. Felix sounds like an AGW apologist.
The real scientists do all the work. The hangers-on then try and politicise something that they can't fully comprehend because they are charged with keeping the lie alive, whatever it takes.
General Public Encounters Skeptical Science Forum Posting Guidelines.
I'm just surprised anyone would expect anything better from someone related to skepticalscience.
Their so called scientific paper on "concensus" (a rational phallacy) is quite simply absurd on so many levels.
The papers used include papers by biologists, geneticists, economists and traffic counters; are these really climate experts, cable of defining a generel scientific concensus about CO2 ??
Dana Nuccitelli is the most "misleading" person I have run across in this debate. By a wide margin.
And that is really saying something because there is a whole host of characters doing all sorts of misleading.
Be careful arguing with a fool, he will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.
As for the elephant dilemma the data are clear. We can can examine the room and conclude there is no elephant in it. All elephants are easily visible at close range. So, not seeing one is evidence that no elephant is there. If, on the other hand, there was a big box in the room and we could not see in it, there is no evidence an elephant is in the room, but we cannot conclude that no elephants are in the room because we have not examined the entire room.
The bogeyman problem is different. The term "bogeyman" is not well defined. If we ask, are there evil people that break in to houses and harm children, the sad answer is yes, there are such people.
OK Dana, in my judgement, you've embarrassed yourself horribly. Roger Pielke Jr. challenged you to "Put up, or shut up" but instead, you blathered incoherently about nothing. The only thing you accomplished was to prove you're both a liar and a moron. I just hope your boss is aware of the imbecilic vitriol you tweet and post.
Big oil Dana is at it again!
These are the stats/graph on strong to violent tornadoes that has warmists upset because of what they show. Here are some of the excuses for why we should not believe it.
1. Tornadoes in the 1950's-1970's were not really that powerful. They received higher ratings than they deserved from meteorology students that used old newspaper articles describing damage to rate them, which, they claim caused them to be inflated.
2. Considerable evidence uncovered in the last decade suggests that previous tornadoes actually were underrated compared to the 1980s and 1990s.
As an operational meteorologist in the Midwest the last 32 years, I can say with certainty that unique conditions lead to F3+ tornadoes and an extreme meridional temperature gradient is very often a factor.
Alarmists want their cake and to eat it too.
You can't have warming higher latitudes and a decreasing temperature gradient without it causing LESS extreme weather of some events like violent tornadoes. This is meteorology 101.
Just like you can't have big increases in atmospheric CO2 without it causing massive increases in plant productivity and crop yields. This is the known law of photosynthesis 101.
Lets get back to KNOWN laws and real science and the real world. It's all right there.
But """Ghost sighting records are not accurate enough to tell whether ghost sighting incidents has changed over time.""" give the believers in such things the out to say "See! They ARE there, and there are MORE! We just haven't been able to detect them!!!""".
See how easy it is to drag this into the mud. At some point, even with uncertainties, you have to be able to say whether the fingerprints are there and have been measured, or not. The data may not be the best in the world, but it's the best we have to date, and it's not currently showing an increase.
PS. I just read the article Nuccitelli is refering to and do agree this isn't simple to flesh out. And the farther back in time you go, the more difficult, if not impossible, it is to find any type of proxy to show tornidic activity during any period between 1500 and 1950 on the American Continent that is now labeled as the United States. But it's safe to say, at this time, there is no measurable effect that the tempurature increases from the 50's to now have caused tornado activity to increase, or caused the recent F 5 .
The methodology developed by Harold Brooks of the NOAA (listed in this Twitter-storm), says that 2013 tornado counts will be the LOWEST on record in the adjusted database which starts in 1954.
… and I thought that twitter bullies were mostly young teenage girls jealous of their victim!
Sounds like on the 'Man caused climate change' Plantation these guys are now fighting over which field to be in.
Surely the onus is on those who claim that tornadoes have increased to provide evidence to support that claim. Dana [thinks] it is enough to make unsupported assertions and expect others to disprove them. When others look at the evidence and see no sign of increased tornadoes he has the gall to lecture them over the difference between lack of evidence and disproof, and accuse them of lying. His position is completely ridiculous. I can't understand how he thinks he can get away with it.
Dana is like a playground bully, not a scientist. I'm just stunned by his ineptitude and the degree of propaganda that he attempts to shove off on people as science. His blog is a riot. Someone there suggested the term "Sciencensus" for his type of work-I find it delightful! Let's make it a popular term and mortify the crap out of them every time a real scientist uses it.
Here is a link to Dana's employer, including a history of contracts awarded. Judging from the information posted, the firm is in the environmental protection/clean up business. Dana's contributions seem to be limited to creating FUD for potential company exploitation via climate extortion.
In short, the man's job depends on pinning non-existent disasters on evil carbon consumers…a very short leash to be sure. Methinks, he'll be on the streets within a couple of years. It's no wonder he behaves like whimpering child.
The above seems to qualify.
Oh my! I have witnessed the creation of the first digital climate change victim!
Nucitelli is spoiled by the fact that the Brits have offered him a blog in The Guardian where his main activity appears to be to suppress anyone who posts any link to measured data.
Do it once and get from Nucitelli a "commenting has been disabled on this account" For good.
I wonder if the likes of Dana, John Cook, Lewy etc realise just how much damage they do to the CAGW cause ?
Yes. I agree. If Pielke has stated his case that way he would have avoided the logical fallacy.
The desperation of the AGW's is quite apparent as they are slowly being engulfed by empirical data and a sceptical public with politicians who are looking for a way out which would leave the Dana's of this world to face the music and carry the can. PM Cameron has already referred to "Green Crap" as he wishes to get re-elected and the energy companies can sense problems looming by offering to hold prices for two years….in the full knowledge that they may decrease through political pressure on profits and a reduction in the root cause…green taxes. A few weeks back on BBC's Question Time they had the Climate Change Minister, an MP and a Union Leader talking about melting ice caps when in reality the opposite is taking place. Current global sea ice is the 7th highest in the last 35 years.
We are one bad winter away from real dissent and the Guardian, Independent and the BBC can continue to ignore and delete the dissent coming their way but they are on borrowed time.
Brooks does his best to pander to the alarmist crowd while appearing to be intellectually honest about the lack of increase in Tornadoes due to global warming. When asking Brooks a question it is best to phrase it in a way he cannot spin his way out of.
Where and when has Brooks been misused by the "denial side" (no idea what that is) according to the Kloor piece?
Of course, it is always be possible to claim that fairies, unicorns, or perpetual motion machines might exist as long as the standards adopted for proving they don't exist are high enough. Likewise with elephants in a particular room.
Has it occurred to you that we are talking about tornados? We have tornados in the US all the time and for as long as people have been around to notice them (and make records of them). With all due respect to Mr. Brooks and others, records may not be perfect but surely even he would admit that a sufficiently large increase in frequency, intensity or damage would have been noticable even in the records we have. What Mr. Brooks and others are evidently asserting is that the possibility that a very small elephant is hiding behind the sofa cannot be entirely ruled out. This observation is surely true as far as it goes, but I wonder who is "misleading the public" when point is being made.
If, as everyone evidently concedes, there is no evidence that tornados have increased in frequency, intensity or damage it should be possible to state the conclusion that increase occurred without being accused of misleading the public.
Dana knows very little about climate, nothing about feedback, and either refuses to, or is unable to solve simple junior high school math I put to him in the past. He is just an activist – to be ignored by both sides as a scientific irrelevance.
Connolley accurately discerns which way is up?
If I was Dr. Pielke I would not take what an Exxon-funded shill like Dana Nuccitelli has to say seriously.
When you lie, cheat and steal for your cause, even if you genuinely believe the end justifies the means, pardon the rest of us for simply seeing you people as liars, cheats and thieves. Nuccitelle, Gleick, Mann – we're looking your way.
Felix, you can't have it both ways. If you claim the evidence does not support the idea that tornado activity has not increased, then, by reason, no one can claim tornado have increased either. I'll cut to the chase: this means no one can claim CO2 has anything to do extreme weather events.
The burden of proof is on those who propose the theory, not those that question it.
Warmists everywhere, yes even you Dana.
Be aware that there is an established law of physics called the law of conservation of energy, be also aware that we are talking about a piddling 0.6W energy imbalance per square meter. That's less than the light of a christmas led bulb spread over a 1/2 m circle, that's it. With that piddling bit more energy you are wanting the temperature of the atmosphere to rise, the entire ocean to expand, more water to evaporate, storms to get bigger, storms to be more energetic, more wind, more evaporation, more rain, more lightning, deep oceans to warm up, gigatonnes upon gigatonnes of ice to melt, more algae to grow, rocks to erode faster… and only the good lord knows what else is claimed. Each effect however takes energy OUT, heat expressed as increased wind speed is no longer heat, heat absorbed by growing algae is no longer heat, it is matter, locked up in chemical bonds. Every effect you claim SUBTRACTS from the heating effect. All these effects and the warming too is supposedly powered by an extra led christmas light per square metre.
What you claim and support Dana and other warmists is energetically impossible, it's preposterous. The wilder your claims, the more you embarass yourselves.
"I have no idea if Pielke was trying to be misleading or just fell into an all to common logical fallacy …" (Felix).
There is a common logical fallacy namely banal objections 'where irrelevant and sometimes frivolous objections are made to divert the attention away from the topic' (Wiki).
But Andy–they ARE the "cause".
That's why CAGW will continue to roil and sputter in their minds–and only funerals will cleanse this earth of the meme.
No they don't, for gods sake don't tell them.
Much like the Australian blog that spends its whole time highlighting everything from this blog..
Its so embarrassing for the AGW mob. Its reeks of desperation.
But then again that's all they have left.
Nuccitelli is right is lawyer/philosopher terms, but has forgotten the original scientific context, which was the AGW claim regarding tornadoes. BOTH of Pielke's statements are consistent with the fact that no trend is visible in the data. That the data are inconclusive is, actually, not relevant to the matter. Words can be parsed endlessly, but the claim that tornadoes have gotten worse is not supportable. General scientific usage and popular use of this phrase is equivalent to, "the claim (that tornado activity is more intense and/or frequent) is false, from a scientific point of view".
Thus, Pielke gave the correct understanding, by two different statements. I don't think that's misleading, as all.
Sorry, some people…. you just hand them a shovel with a longer handle ( and no ladder).
Repeated for effect. The warmists simply cannot have both arctic amplification AND increased extreme weather. The very science which they quote requires that cold things warm up more than warm things. So, the delta between night time lows and day time highs must decrease. The delta between winter and summer must decrease. The delta between low altitudes and high altitudes must decrease. The delta between low latitudes and high latitudes must decrease. And with all of these decreases, the end result is lower temperature gradients which result in less violent weather. A warmer world is simply a more tranquil world by all the physics and meteorology that we can apply to understanding the problem.
Dana's problem is that he is not promoting science, but magic. His belief is that any sufficiently advanced magic will be indistinguishable from science.
Ah Dana's Dill -Blurt moment….. again…… and again ….
Why anyone pays any attention to what anyone and especially Dana Dana writes in the Guardian re climate is beyond me. The CAGW party is all over bar the shouting – eventually the partygoers will have to call it a day.
Statement 1 refers to a particular time frame, 1950 – 2013.
Statement 2 refers to a vague time frame of climatic time scales, which is presumably longer.
These two statements are not inconsistent. Statement 1 is a measurement. Statement 2 is a weaker claim based on that measurement.
December 5, 2013 at 5:00 pm.
There are lots of Nutticelli's out there – Wild people who believe in wild weather. Inciters of the Warmist Brown Shirts.
Over a decade ago, I wrote an article in the National Post, saying that Canada should not ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
I soon received an angry, threatening email from someone who held me personally responsible for the flooding of the Prague.
Dear Sir, you are entirely correct.
I am the One fully responsible for the flooding of Prague.
Now "run along", or I'll do it again.
I feel like, y'know, under-appreciated, like TOTALLY! I mean, like, y'know, some of my friends have received like, numerous threats. And all I got was one lousy Nutticelli? Am I not worthy of like, multiple threats? Like, I mean, y'know: Have I not tried like, hard enough?
Dana ain't no Nick Stokes!
For those of us not scientists who may have studied, for example, the philosophy of religion, where else do we see the argument that if something is not discernible that dose not mean it does not exist? – that's right – the existence of god.
And for that he is likely thankful!
Dana is an embarassment. I think he should be consigned to the ignore list as he offers nothing in the way of substance. That is what makes him a perfext fit for Sceptical Science website.
No Felix. Dr Peilke is not trying to mislead nor has he fallen into any logical trap. He is making two statements based upon his research which he claims are true based upon the evidence he has collected. They are not inconsistent with one another, given the array of true statements of varying generality he could make on the basis of his research and evidence, nor are they logically equivalent. Your point about incompleteness of the evidence has more force but is a weak one. A reasonable prior, given the improvements of measuring and recording events over climatic timescales is that measures of frequency would show an increase (but not necessarily in intensity). The lack of any evidence of an increase is therefore strong evidence that, in fact, there has not been one.
I think the self satisfied grin gives him away.
That statement is a logical falacy by your own rules, Felix. You should have said something like "The available data suggests that all elephants are easily visible…" but the data only applies to the elephants we've observed.
That's exactly the same situation as you're complaining about in Dr Pielke's statement – the data on the tornados we've observed fully support that they haven't increased, just as the data on the elephants we've observed support that they're all visible at close range.
In fact, logically, your statement is less defensible than his. We may have missed some tornado data which counters Dr Pielke's claim but we've [i]definitely, by definition,[/i] missed all data on any unobservable elephants.
A truly fatuous statement from a truly fatuous man.
Dana, when have the IPCC ever been right about ANYTHING?
You really need to get off your high horse kid. You might just hurt ourself badly when you fall off it.
A classic case of a little man made big by circumatances , but in fact being little all along .
A classic case of a little man made big by circumstances , but in fact being little all along .
"Nucitelli is spoiled by the fact that the Brits have offered him a blog in The Guardian where his main activity appears to be to suppress anyone who posts any link to measured data.
I concur! I had the nerve to link to some peer reviewed papers and Guardian articles which clearly contradicted his claims that no scientist had ever predicted that Artic Ice would be gone by 2013 and I found myself removed. Since then none of my comments ever make it past moderation. I like you have become one of the disappeared. Perhaps they would have us on a train to Siberia.
Regardless of whether his propaganda articles are remotely believable or not, Nuccitelli's true nature is revealed when you spend some time watching new comments and how they are "moderated". He is just making an idiot of himself over at the Guardian and it also becomes obvious that he refuses to recognise or address the facts. I suppose Nuccitelli and the Guardian are an appropriate match.
Thanks bobl, that's the best elevator speech I have seen in awhile.
by demonizing coal (produces 2x as much CO2 as oil per unit of energy) oil companies hope to gain a monopoly on energy production, knowing full well that renewables are not a replacement for 7×24 reliability.
by promoting CCS oil companies hope to get paid to inject CO2 into the earth for enhanced oil recovery. a process that currently costs them money.
oil companies how very much profit from the AGW alarm. that is why you them promoting green ideas so heavily. not because they believe in green, but because they hope to kill coal as competition, leaving them a monopoly. once coal is eliminated, they know full well that green cannot compete against them.
The idea that a climate blogger can somehow dictate what an academic can and can't say about their own research gives a window into some of the deep pathologies in the climate debate.
The list of those who are treated like this goes far beyond AGW. Intelligent Design Scientists, the Tea Party, those who dare question the medical 'Elites' science, those who think homosexuality is not natural or normal, et al.
There is no reasoning, no vanquishing your foe through logic and data or skillful debate. Ad hominem is mightier than the sword. Rather, it is the precursor to the sword. First the mocking of being outside the 'consensus', then character assassination, then the 'dangerous' label(aka 'misleading the public'), then recant or lose your job and family and life.
Our current trajectory will lead to Stalinistic witch burnings in a generation or two. You guys are all on the list already, courtesty of the NSA.
Felix – there is a small box in my living room. Do you suppose there is a tornado inside?
They are so much smaller than elephants and easier to hide.
The photos of this early winter ice storm will be on line for all to see soon from the west coast to the east coast , all this week , freezing rain, sleet , snow ,, deep south in Texas ect.
More to come, massive tree limb fall all over Texas today. Huge ins. loss, power lines down from the limbs and ice.
Mean old real facts come to cover over the lies and fraud. It will not take a study to know now, and more facts of ice to come.
Pielke's big mistake was feeding a troll.
Felix reminds me of the judge on The Good Wife who insists that all lawyers end their statements with, "in my opinion".
Can some do a study on the effects of Human induced global warming and degradation of human integrity?
This has happened in the past and will do so again. In one paragraph you have summed up many of the 20th century's tyrannies. Just swap "consensus" with the word fascism, communism or whatever evil. As you are no doubt aware there are those within the AGW "consensus" that want to dismantle democracy and reduce us to serfs.
If that's the case then exactly what is accurate enough to make any statement about it?
"My bank records are not accurate enough to tell whether I have become poorer or not"; I will use this when my wife queries the 500 quid I spent on the new camera.
I have also experienced this many times. I think I'm on my 7th or 8th account now at "free to comment" Guardian. Now I don't bother much, I just report breaches of the Editors Codes and Practices to the Press Complaints Commission. Funny thing is though, after raising a complaint the offending article gets amended and I get a reply saying the breach is no longer there. The most recent was Adam Vaughn saying the Chinese lake was largely man made when it formed naturally. I also pointed out the wrong year too.
Man made lakes tend to be more permanent than natural ones so I would guess so he slipped that in for good measure since it was mainly used to supply water for mining. These people are so cunning and nasty they'd target children threatening no presents at Christmas. Erm, what did you say (in background), they've already done this?, Sorry, got interrupted. Nasty people indeed. Dana,Nukem, Peter Gleich and what is Stephan Lewandosky's rant about here?
An honest Climate "reporter" would note the difference in the OpEd views and those like Heidi Cullen, Al Gore, etc. who continue to make the outrageous claims that Dana agrees with. But no one ever claimed that Dana was honest.
I see several logically fallacious attempts to invalidate Felix's point, and even a couple calling him an agw apologist… Name calling, here?
Words mean, unfortunately, what they mean. I wholeheartedly disagree that tornados empirically are increasing, instead that our sensitivity to them (detection, communication, impression) has increased. Felix's analysis of the semantics of the scientific statements given is still correct, as invalidating it seems to require assumptions ( that other things are omitted), ad hominem, snark… But I don't see real logic.
"These garbage tactics work, so they don't stop." That's the one statement that rises above all others. Smear and confusticate, slime and misspeak. It works. It has always worked. I also love the reference to politicians because it is their bread and butter. One thing to keep in mind when such words hurt and false accusations sting: the one blustering the most, hating the most, is losing. I've seen it in debate a million times. It's crazy how you can sit at a table with people you know are bright and intelligent, only to see them descend into the most bizarre and inept tactics possible. It's because they're losing, or see themselves in danger of losing. Just like the bureaucrat that is always seeking to retain his/her power, so do those who cling to the spotlight of their own vanity. No one wants to be wrong, least of all the narcissist.
Nuccitelli appears 3 times on the AGU's Science Program listing for their Annual Fall Meeting in San Francisco next week. He is in one talk session and two poster sessions. All three of his appearances are with John Cook.
Abstracts of each can be found via links on the AGU website and access to the abstracts is open to the public.
Obviously Pielke has an uncertainty estimates for his measurements. All scientific measurements have uncertainty estimates, even ones that are not "of sufficient quality" whatever that means. Measurements of lower quality simply have larger uncertainty estimates. But there is no cut-off between sufficient quality and insufficient quality – the lower the quality the higher the uncertainty measurement. You are taking one quote from Pielke out of context and acting like that is the only thing he said. His research provides uncertainty estimates, he clearly stated in his testamony before Congress that there may be a human infulence that is not yet measurable in the data. But you claim that a one sentance quote had better say absolutly everything or he is being misleading. I have never seen any one sentence that explains everything about such a complex subject. As for the tornado "experts" that say the the data is insufficient to say if tornadoes are increasing or decreasing – they can always say that no matter how good the data is since no data is perfect, it always has an uncertainty band and there could always be a trend within that band. So you critisize Pielke for not stating everything in one sentance but withhold cririsizim for the tornado "experts" for stating a tautalogy.
Dana has apologized to Brooks, but not Pielke.
Why do people assume only no increase or increase? Is it possible we have a decrease??? We may never know due to detection technology issues etc., but it wouldn't surprise me if Dana Tetra Tech Nuttercelli never entertained the thought.
Just curious, are insulting and abusive comments like this allowed?
Dana obviously does not read the climate comments section of the Guardian.
Dana knocks none tornado experts. Dana did a BA, Astrophysics & MS, Physics. Therefore Dana is an expert on tornadoes.
Dana feeds himself from money paid to him by a fossil fuel services company. That company has now gone into windpower. Dana seems to have his fingers in all the pies. CAGW, fossil fuels and wind. What a Fking hypocrite.
…convenient omission of critical caveats, hence conveying confidence not supported by the data.
Dana just characterized every assertion ever made about CAGW.
@Felix: But we *have* examined the whole room, better than we ever did before (thanks to the Doppler radars, spotter networks and everything but the kitchen sink)! It looks like we found only a lot of mice that may look from afar like teeny-tiny elephants to the intellectually challenged (who have promptly upped their elephant sighting reports!), while those who have the brains to understand are recognizing that if so many mice are detected, there is no place left where a real elephant could hide unseen. The profusion of "tornado" reports without consequences – no major shipwrecks nor damage at landfall – shows that our detectors are, if anything, over-sensitive. Would that your BS detectors emulate them!
Dana is a 'Special' person. No need to take that guy seriously………….Seriously!
One wonders what a Dana would deploy to extend or preclude onset of the next glacial if not CO2 or methane……..
Dana, at the half-precession old Holocene what is one to make of extreme weather events, tornados, whatever?
"The transition (MIS 5e/5d) from the Last Interglacial (Eemian, Mikulino) to the Early Last Glacial (Early Weichselian, Early Valdai) is marked by at least two warming events….
Unless you know of some other counter to http://www.agu.org/books/gm/v137/137GM02/137GM02.pdf other than http://large.stanford.edu/publications/coal/references/docs/Lisiecki_Raymo_2005_Pal.pdf then you might want to give a thought as to when you and I and all of us live.
The climate is supposed to have "a strong increase of environmental oscillations during the very end of the (present) Last Interglacial and the beginning of the Last (next) Glaciation." So even if you are right do you have any comprehension at all that extreme weather usually accompanies end extreme interglacials?
Otherwise, how am I going to tell it's you, or me, or us, all of us, and/or the null hypothesis that Gore's me?
Help me Obe-wan Nuccitelli….. You're our only hope……….
And exactly what has that got to do with the price of potatoes?
Dana is a Climate Snob and patronises everybody else. Simple truth!
A few people have already responded to this but I'm not sure if the key point has been made which is that Pielke statement was correct. For 2 statements to be consistent they don't necessarily need to say the same thing it's just necessary that they don't contradict each other. The 2 statements broadly make the following points.
The 2 statements are not inconsistent.
Nobody followed up on the public panning of Muller (who apparently made the "mistake" of reading a graph showing that strong (3-5rating) tornadoes had in fact decreased over the past 5-6 decades, then mentioning it out loud — seemed rather reasonable to me) but not being part of the "tornado cognoscenti", needed to be "informed" by Markowski et al that some of the early tornado data was not good; what followed appeared to be an argument that early- to mid-20th C tornado severity was over-estimated; thereafter an argument was made that severity had in fact been under-estimated… Hmmm.
Notwithstanding the fact that Markowski et al look to be friends of Mann (the latter had nothing but praise for the former's "vindication" of the Hockey Stick), and notwithstanding the fact that Muller made Mann look like an absolute charlatan in his video reviewing the practice of splicing tree-ring reconstructions to thermometer averages a number of years ago, is it possible someone has it in for Muller?


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