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Airline Alliances and Frequent Flyer Programs
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change-Charles Darwin.
It would not be an exaggeration to state that today's markets has undergone radical changes facilitated by advances in global information technology, economic development of third world countries, increasing interplay between various markets, political changes in various nations facilitating openness in trading practices etc. As the Oft-quoted comment these days goes, the markets have turned flatter than ever before facilitating increased movements & transactions between nations, corporates, entrepreneurs and individuals.
Increased opportunities including enlarged existing markets and emergence of new markets has been a mixed bag. Along with its obvious benefits, crippling disadvantages have also followed like its shadow. One of the industries that have had battle its effects is the airline industry. Paradoxically the increased popularity of flying as a medium of faster transportation has also been one of the factors that have brought in impediments to profitability. Since business deals are not restricted by geographical boundaries anymore and people have taken to international travel like never before-be it for business or pleasure, a spurt in demand has resulted in over-crowding within the industry-all vying for the same pie.
With most of the competitors operating from more or less similar technology platforms and offering similar services, major players within the airlines industry has had to battle commoditization of its services and offerings to its passengers. Airline and the tourism industry operate in an interconnected manner and are particularly vulnerable to global incidents like epidemics, natural disasters like earthquakes, cyclones, terrorism, volatile fuel prices etc. These have hurt the industry where it matters the most-profitability!
Every time there is a hit or threat to its financial bottom line, the marketers under pressure to perform and improve cash-flow, would struggle to create innovative marketing campaigns to rise above the communications clutter and attract the customers attention. Ironically in their urgency they end-up using the same self-destructive weapon that they would like to avoid for long term profitability-lower prices. Price-wars cannot be a part of a strategy and every time it is used, it leaves a bitter after-taste among the players within the industry.
The industry has gained maturity over the years, and airlines all over the world have been constantly revising their strategies for growth and encountering competition. This has been driven by one particular need, survival. These strategies cover cost cutting measures, better management and most importantly, strategic alliances with other airlines. Importance of these alliances may be gauged by the fact that they are guided by the bilateral air services agreement system between nations. In many cases code-sharing agreements have been made to maintain or expand coverage & these international codes-sharing has become a part of bilateral negotiations.
THE BUILDING BLOCKS:
An alliance may be understood as an agreement between two or more parties, made in order to advance common goals and to secure common interests.In matured markets, alliances makes business sense and are primarily motivated by cost reduction and improved service for the customer among other factors. Typically alliance partners are bound by a single agreement with equitable risk and opportunity share for all parties involved and are typically managed by an integrated project team.
Strategic alliances are common to any industry. Their presence is being felt quite significantly within the airline industry. Formation of alliances has been a collateral outcome of the deregulation of the airline industry in the United States in 1978. Deregulation was the single most important event that brought about radical changes within the industry. Though it took around a decade for the European countries to follow, the effects of deregulation was quick to filter-in and the airlines were finally free from governmental shackles. The airlines now could choose the routes they wanted to fly and fix the prices as they saw fit without any regulatory interventions. Thus, deregulation enabled airlines to operate based on demand-supply realities and other market realities. The freedom had its cons too-now the airlines had to fend for themselves and had to take careful steps in order to walk the path of positive financial bottomlines.
The most commonly used word these days seem to be "globalisation". The all pervasive globalisation did not happen at one go. Deregulation of the airline industry seems to have been a precursor to it. Globalisation has set new rules and with competition coming from and for new markets, the ground realities have altered Airlines have been slowly adapting to these challenges. Maybe due to the unpredictability of the new market and its inherent vulnerability to global incidents, the industry has had to adapt itself many times over. With adaptation becoming its second nature, alliances with other operations were nothing but a survival mechanism that began many years ago. From basic code-sharing agreements, these alliances have come a long way and today involves much closer co-operation between partners. The flexibility of the format has ensured that even non-flying partners like Hotels; Credit card companies etc have been successfully integrated. No Doubt, these alliances are playing a significant role in the development of the global airline industry.
What the alliances offer a consumer is seamless worldwide travel. To that end, participating airlines have more or less integrated their flight routes, coordinating their schedules and flying from common terminals at shared hub airports so passengers connecting from one alliance partner to another can do so with minimal effort and inconvenience. With an integrated route network in place, airlines in an alliance offer fares that favor a combination of alliance partners, including round-the-world fares that showcase the alliance's global network, permitting travelers to circumnavigate the earth exclusively using members of a single alliance. The looming presence of alliances not withstanding, the consumer still seeks his pound of flesh for his patronage from the alliance in the form of loyalty miles. In order to satisfy the consumer craving for miles, member airlines have linked their mileage programs to reward travelers for flying within the alliance network. Loyalty programs thus continue to hold sway with the Airlines Industry.
AIRLINE ALLIANCES:
In layman's terms, an airline alliance may be defined simply "an agreement between two or more airlines to cooperate on a substantial level". However Oum, Taylor, and Zhang (1993) offers a more comprehensive definition "a global airline network formed by a group of affiliated airlines which offer seamless services to consumers through a joint use of computer reservation systems, through fares and ticketing, automatic baggage transfer, coordinated flight schedules, code-sharing of flights, joint marketing, sharing of a frequent flyer program, etc." (1).
International strategic alliances represent one of the strategies developed by firms to gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. These alliances possess the following characteristics (de la Sierra 1995)(2):
1. The two or more firms that unite to pursue a set of agreed upon goals remain independent subsequent to the formation of the alliance.
2. The partner firms share the benefits of the alliance and control over the performance of assigned tasks.
3. The partner firms contribute on a continuing basis in one or more key strategic areas (e.g., technology, products, and so forth).
Broad objectives of an airline alliance:
Many researchers have examined the various reasons that have led to the formation and sustenance of strategic alliances within the airline industry. Burton and Hanlon (1994) opine that alliances are central to formulation of business strategy. Though there are many objectives, the list below highlights a few important ones:
(1) The primary objective for international strategic alliances in the airline industry is access to foreign markets.
(2) Being a part of an alliance enables the carrier to offer a larger number of flights to a much wider choice of destinations, leading to enhanced marketing opportunities.
(3) Airlines benefit from the economies of scale resulting from an increased scope of operations.
(4) Increase traffic on the airline's routes. Higher traffic levels allow the airline to operate larger, more efficient aircraft at higher load factors, which in turn leads to lower unit operating costs.
(5)Reduce costs through the sharing of facilities and services aircraft maintenance and ground handling.
(6) Increase market feed. Many airlines that are dominant in their home markets have entered into an alliance with an international airline to provide feed to their airlines.
(7) The linking of flights within computer reservation systems allows ticketing and seat assignments for connecting flights to be completed at the point of origin, which benefits the connecting passenger.
(8) Other objectives behind the formation of global alliances between airlines include: the projected growth of international travel versus domestic travel, intensified fare competition, gate/slot constraints, hub congestion, market withdrawal costs, aircraft systems development, human resource development and a desire to match strengths and weaknesses.
International strategic alliances represent one of the strategies developed by firms to gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace. Strategic alliances between airline partners have become a popular business strategy.
Alliance benefits in a nutshell may be summarised as:
(1) Ability to offer a wide range of airline partners.
(2) Better lounge/airport facilities.
(3) More destinations.
(4) Ability to offer round fares/circle fares.
(5) Greater ability to reward passengers.
(6) Faster Mileage accrual.
(7) Larger number of reward destinations.
(8) Better up sell opportunities.
(9) Cost-effective monolithic customer retention/acquisition strategies.
(10) Access to extended passenger database.
(11) Large and international partner portfolio.
(12) Invest in sophisticated campaign management tools.
(13) Joint development of easy to use services for passengers.
(14) Dedicated professional management for meeting alliance objectives.
(15) Increased cost-efficiencies.
(16) Increased aircraft utilization.
(17) Globalised airline operations.
(18) Simplified mileage accounting.
FFP is the most visible joint product of the alliance on the customers' side. Consumer loyalty programs such as frequent flyer programs (FFPs) have proven their ability to alter the intensity of price competition between firms. The increasing marginal benefits that are built into the reward schedules of FFPs give consumers an incentive to concentrate their flying with a single carrier, rather than choose carriers on a flight-by-flight basis. Indeed, both economists and policy analysts have suggested that FFPs might enhance the market power of airlines, in particular, of dominant carriers at hub airports. The FFP points available on a flight are clearly a characteristic that consumers consider in deciding which airline product to purchase. Consumers value frequent flyer points because accrued points give them dual benefit- attractive rewards and the benefits of tier status. Thus, the value of frequent flyer points is derived from the value of the rewards for which they can be redeemed and the probability that a consumer will accumulate enough points to redeem a reward and achieve tier status.
Even within airline alliances, FFPs remain a key component of global strategy. It is interesting to note that the very first airline alliance was built around a FFP. The defunct Swissair owned the "Qualiflyer" FFP and took majority stakes in various airlines which were linked with Qualiflyer. The three existing Global Alliances (Star Alliance, SkyTeam and One World) aim to provide many benefits to their clients, including reciprocal mileage accrual and award tickets. Thanks to huge ICT investments, they introduced standard procedures for data exchange, miles and award settlement, recognition of higher tiers, web booking tools, etc.
WORLDWIDE AIRLINE ALLIANCES:
The three largest alliances that are centered on passenger airlines are the Star Alliance, SkyTeam and Oneworld. Alliances also have also been formed between cargo airlines, such as that of WOW Alliance, SkyTeam Cargo and ANA/UPS Alliance. Alliances provide a network of connectivity and convenience for international passengers and international packages. Various aspects of airline alliances have been discussed in detail above.
Loyalty programs are prime pivots that determine the success of airline alliances. Since there are multiple airlines that are part of an alliance thus bringing with them multiple programs with varied and complex rules, alliances typically offers a single alternative loyalty program that is also umblically integrated with the primary loyalty programme belonging to the "home" airline. In order to protect and maintain the primacy of individual airline FFPs most alliances have the rule that the passenger has to take a minimum no. of flights a passenger before being eligible for an alliance loyalty programme. The alliance loyalty programme also has its own set of tiers. The one world alliance tiers are branded as Emerald, Sapphire and Ruby. By creating an alliance FFP programme, a single data pipeline is created from varied sources that are many and also varied, giving the alliance management the opportunity to process large amounts of heterogeneous data.
FACTS AND NUMBERS-A SNAPSHOT
Year of Formation
Daily Departures
Annual Passengers
499.90 (m)
Available Seat Kilometers
1280.5 (bil)**
Global Passenger Shares
454.4 (mil)**
Revenue Passenger Kilometers
980.8 (bil)**
Operating Revenue Shares
Frequent Flyer Members
462 (m)
2469 (+1,255 from related carriers)
97.9 (bil)**
152 (mil)
318.6 (m)
285.5**
** Source: IATA WATS published 2007. (3)
These numbers indicate that alliances are a significant factor within the airline industry, and that the success of these alliances will determine the success of global airline markets. Not entirely, but a world class loyalty program is a big contributor to business success.
STAR ALLIANCE –SAMPLE UNIFIED LOYALTY PROGRAM:
Star Alliance has two premium levels, Silver and Gold, based on a customer's tier status in a member carrier's frequent flyer program. Each of the member and regional airlines recognizes Star Silver/Gold status, with a few exceptions (mainly pertaining to airport lounge access). The statuses have no specific requirements of their own; membership is based solely on the frequent flyer programs of individual member airlines. Many member airlines also have an additional premium status beyond Gold which is not recognised across Star Alliance.
Star Alliance Silver
Star Alliance Silver status is awarded to customers who have reached a premium level of a member carrier's frequent flyer program.
Benefits of Star Alliance Silver membership:
Priority reservations wait listing
Priority airport stand-by
Some airlines also offer the following to Silver members:
Priority airport check-in
Priority baggage handling
Preferred seating
Additional checked luggage allowance
Airport lounge access
Star Alliance Gold
Star Alliance Gold status is awarded to customers who have reached a high level of a member airline's frequent flyer program.
Benefits of Star Alliance Gold membership:
Additional checked luggage allowance of 20kg (or one extra piece where the piece concept applies)
Airport lounge access to designated Star Alliance Gold lounges on the day and at the place of departure, on presentation of a valid Star Alliance boarding pass.
Some airlines also offer the following to Gold members:
Preferred seating (exit seat, or even on a special section on the plane on some carriers, which provides more leg room)
Guaranteed seating on fully booked flights (subject to the booking class code and notice period)
Free upgrade (in the form of voucher/certificate or automatic upgrade upon check-in)
Close relationships between airlines are nothing new. Despite the cut-throat competition that exists among individual airlines, the industry operates within a highly cooperative framework. Airlines routinely sell and accept each other's tickets, transfer luggage between each other's flights and offer other conveniences. It always seems logical for non-competitive airlines to take that kind of cooperation to the next level, sharing codes, creating joint fares and participating in each other's frequent flyer programs. Airline alliances were just another step in that direction. International strategic alliances are an important strategy in the development of global airline markets. A study estimated that 66 percent or two out of every three passengers fly with an alliance carrier which makes it apparent that in the aviation industry today, alliances play a critical role. While there were many doubters regarding the longevity of global airline alliances, it has more or less been established as a fact of today's travel life. Today's Airline world is consolidating around three major alliances– Star Alliance, Skyteam and Oneworld.
Loyalty Programs have been a vital marketing tool for the airline industry that has enabled them to constantly add value and de-commoditise their services and offerings. it is interesting to note that joint FFP plans seems to be the most common marketing activity entered into by alliance partners in attempting to build a seamless network for the traveler. Frequent flier programs predominantly developed as a tool to regain customer loyalty and reward frequent & high yield passengers continue to have substantial capability to impact the travel Industry. The successes that the alliances have posted have been due to various reasons including seamless travel, better usage of amenities at airports etc, but one of the vital reasons remain that code-sharing effectively merges the members Frequent flyer miles and programs letting them use built-up mileage from one carrier on several others.
According to Harvard Business Review, A 2% increase in customer retention can have the same financial impact as a 10 percent reduction in operating costs. Joining an alliance is proving to be a cost effective way of increasing both frequencies and network pushing more and more airlines to be a part of alliances. This has resulted in alliances increasing their joint market-share & thus being a catalyst for change in the aviation industry.
In an uncertain conjuncture, airline alliances are becoming more influential due to the numerous synergies that exist in the aviation sector. Each of the big alliances today offers an integrated worldwide network, harmonized customer benefits and coordinated loyalty programmes. Here we are forced to concede that Airline alliances are here to stay and loyalty programs will continue to play their vital role in their success.
(1) Oum, Tae Hoon Taylor, Allison J. Zhang, Anming (1993), "Strategic Airline Policy in the Globalizing Airline Networks, "Transportation Journal, (Spring), 14-30.
(2) De la Sierra, M. Cauley (1995), Managing Global Alliances: Key Steps for Successful Collaboration. Workingham, England: Addison-Wesley Publishing.
(3) http://www.staralliance.com/int/press/media_library/presentations/200503_ADP_MoU_Press_Briefing.pdf
(1) Available Seat Kilometers: One seat transported one kilometer; the most common measure of airline seating capacity or supply. For example, an aircraft with 100 passenger seats, flown a distance of 100 kilometers, produces 10,000 ASKs. Sometimes ALSO measured in available seat miles (ASMs).
(2) Operating Revenue: Revenues from the performance of air transportation and related incidental services, including (1) transportation revenues from the carriage of all classes of traffic in scheduled and nonscheduled services, and (2) non-transportation revenues consisting of federal subsidies (where applicable) and services related to air transportation.
Endnote: The author would like your feedback-both bouquets & brickbats. Write to me- [email protected]
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Relevancy-A company needs to remain relevant to its consumer. That means being on top of change. So just like a brand must reflect any change in product, it must reflect changes in technology. The Yellow Pages are a great example of how this approach. As fewer consumers looked to a phone book to garner contact information, Yellow Pages rebranded to YP and began focusing on digital innovations in their field.
Competition-Keeping up with one's competitors or even gaining an advantage over them is a key part of a successful brand. Rebranding ahead of the curve can set you apart for your competitors as a proactive approach. Similarly, rebranding in response to a competitor can keep a company from being left behind.
New Products-As a company evolves, often this includes their product line. If one's brand excludes their new products or does not accurately reflect them, this keeps consumers in the dark. Virgin is an excellent example of a company whose brand evolved with their growing services. What began as Virgin Records now includes air travel, mobile phone services, radio, vacations, and much more. Today they simply go by "Virgin" as the blanket company and offer many different subcategories beneath that.
Interested in expanding your company's longevity or potential for growth? Rebranding is a complex process that requires extensive research, time, and expertise. A company must define its brand, determine the brand's objectives, identify the target audience, and decide how to package the brand. It is important to remember that the company only has one opportunity to make a lasting impression on its potential customer. The Creative Bar is there throughout the step-by-step process to ensure your brand identity is repeatedly communicated with frequency and consistency through its logo design, business cards, stationary and more.


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When - and how - did Neanderthals depart?
It's becoming widely accepted that the last known Neanderthal population, in what is now Spain, survived until about 37,000 years ago. But what happened to them? DNA from the bones of a child who died 30,000 years ago indicates that, at least in this region, some Neanderthal genes were passed on in more modern humans. In other words, the two types must have interbred, something not shown in modern-day human DNA or in evidence from other sites.
NASA's Remembrance Day
On January 29, NASA pays tribute to the astronauts of Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia.
It always seems to me wrong to romanticize death - especially preventable death - and I'm trying hard to avoid it. There's nothing romantic about dying of asphyxiation or impact forces. There are times, though, when some words, sentimental though they seem, must be used.
"Heroes" is one such word. We throw it around a lot. It's used for star athletes when they win a big game. So I think we certainly should bestow it on the lost explorers of humanity. These are people who knew they were taking risks. People who trained and competed for years for the right to take those risks. People who represented the best our species had to offer.
We will never forget.
"I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth....put out my hand and touched the face of God." - John Gillespie Magee, "High Flight"
Carrot-colored dinos?
Dinosaurs, which used to be depicted in a monochromatic hue one paleontologist called "dinosaur s-- green," apparently were more colorful than that. The idea of colorful dinos has gained currency for some years - after all, their living relatives, the birds, are hardly a dull-colored lot - but now there's hard evidence. Some exceptional fossils have preserved structures called melanosomes, present in the protofeathers called "dino fuzz," whose shape in birds is indicative of the type of pigments they hold. Not all paleontologists are convinced, but but claims such as alternating rings of white and orange-brown filaments on the tail of a species called Sinosauropteryx present an interesting new picture of the Mesozoic Era.
Some GOOD news in NASA budget
Overall NASA funding will increase, not be flat as previously reported. An increase of $5.9B over five years (if approved by Congress) will fund an extended US presence on the space station and increase funding for private contractors to develop Earth-to-LEO human transportation. NASA's Earth science program will also be a winner in the overall agency budget as the Administration seeks to prioritize environmental studies. Plans for human flight beyond LEO are still, as earlier leaks indicated, canceled, or at least put in deep freeze for the next five years.
The end of human spaceflight as we know it?
Word now is the Shuttle will phase out with no NASA replacement on line or even in development. The still-developing Obama space policy seems similar to that under President Clinton: solid funding for Earth science missions, but restricted funding for human flight, and nothing at all for travel beyond Earth orbit.
NASA's budget: to boldly go into a real mess
NASA's budget is continuing to leak out, and all kinds of stuff is going to change. The Ares-I might be dead. Heck, the entire NASA human spaceflight program might be put on (minimal) life support. There's support in the White House for outsourcing the most visible and costly thing NASA does, which is putting astronauts into LEO. There is a lack of support in Congress, though. Aside from the politics, we have the problem of facing the post-Shuttle future with nothing currently proven as a human spaceflight launch vehicle. Ares is a long way off if it continues at all. The existing Atlas and Delta launchers have good records and could be "man-rated" to carry the Orion capsule (itself far less capable than originally projected), although it's not a simple, quick, or cheap process.
COMMENTS: We also have startup companies. I believe Elon Musk and his people at SpaceX will succeed with their new Falcon 9 / Dragon vehicle combo, but history says everything you do in space takes longer and costs more than the best projections made in the R&D phases. So we'll have to see how well it works out. The U.S. is, by default, embarking for some years on a major international venture: hiring Russia as the sole provider to put our astronauts up. We can build on that and turn disadvantage into long-term advantage. It's time for NASA to look at everything it does, compare the goals, objectives, and technologies to what's being done overseas, and build on its praiseworthy legacy of joint missions to reinvent the agency as a core component of a global spaceflight program. This is not easy, not cheap (NASA's decision to use English units of measurement on Ares / Orion will haunt us for decades), and not politically popular. But the alternatives are...well, in the current budget climate, what are they, really?
REALLY EMPHATIC VERSION OF USUAL DISCLAIMER: I speak here ONLY as a private citizen / space historian.
Mars rover "Spirit" roves no more.
Five years past its original mission life, the Spirit rover has finally given up the "rove" part of the mission. Stuck in a drift of Martian sand, the rover has resisted all efforts by ground controllers to get it moving again. Since Spirit still has power and the instruments are working, NASA will make us of it as a stationary science platform from now until its instruments wear out or (as happened with the Viking landers) someone decides not to fund it anymore. Meanwhile, the rover Opportunity has put 12 miles on the odometer. Twelve miles may not seem like much, but driving on Mars is a very slow and careful business, not to mention making all those stops for observations. NASA has its ups and downs, but the success of this mission has no downside. It's a brilliant achievement.
Dinosaur skeleton takes long path to proper study
This is an interesting story about fossils, who owns them, and how they are treated. In this case, the skeleton of what may be a new raptor species, 70M years old, was dug up illegally in Montana on private land. The finder was arrested and the dinosaur went into the evidence room. It stayed there for two years before the case was over, and it was adjudged property of the landowners, who in turn donated it to science. There have been many disputes over fossils in the US, most famously in the "Tyrannosaurus Sue," case, and it's good to see this one ended well.
Why Dan Brown perturbs me
Not that he cares, of course. But the bestselling author does a major disservice to science and history that just isn't necessary.
I certainly don't begrudge Brown his commercial success. He's found a winning formula and is no doubt having a great time with it. But why would you insist the background information in your novels was real when it wasn't?
Millions of people who read Angels and Demons or watched the film no doubt believe the Catholic church murdered and branded four scientists and dumped their bodies in Rome as a warning to others. People who read the novel will think Christian fundamentalists killed the Superconducting Super Collider project, when that had absolutely nothing to do with it. (It was killed by a Congress unable to see the value in a project that wouldn't yield immediate, quantifiable benefits.) And don't get me started on the inaccurate physics.
It would not hurt Brown's reputation or success one bit to back off his statements that some of the most dramatic stuff in his novels is real.
NASA budget news leaking out...
...and it isn't good. The $3B increase the Augustine panel said was needed looks like it will never materialize. The agency is going to have to bite a very hard bullet and think about what it can do with less.
One thing to look at right now is increasing partnerships. NASA has a pretty good record of working with other space agencies, but it needs to start a review now to see what programs and objectives might enlist help from the corporate and nonprofit sectors. That can mean adjusting objectives, negotiating partnerships, and other things that are all hard to do. But NASA got famous by doing the hard things. Reinventing itself might be the hardest, but it can be done.
NASA's Puffin - coolest flying machine ever?
OK, it's still just a concept. Maybe it will always be, given what we are hearing of NASA's budget. But the Puffin, with two electric motors, vertical takeoff, and a fuselage sized for one person lying down (like the Deep Flight submersibles) is just unlike any other flying machine. And maybe it will happen - the military and the covert ops guys would love it.
New claim of ivory-bill sighting
A press release from a man named Daniel Rainsong claims he has twice found and photographed a living ivory-billed woodpecker. He gives the location only in general terms as "the southern Sabine River basin." That puts it in western Louisiana or eastern Texas. He has not released the photographs but says he has offered the leading ivory-bill specialists at universities the chance to examine them.
COMMENT: Another false alarm born of overenthusiasm and pileated woodpecker sightings? Hopefully, Mr. Rainsong's photographs are good enough to answer that question. Is is scientific to say, "Fingers crossed?"
Thanks to: Dale Drinnon for circulating this item.
ADDED: The commenter on this post has a superb blog which keeps up on all ivorybill news. Follow it at: http://ivorybills.blogspot.com/
Posted by Matt Bille at 6:35 AM 2 comments:
Safety, Astronauts, and "Paper Rockets"
Interesting war of words between NASA's safety advisory panel, which thinks private spaceflight contenders (like SpaceX with its Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 booster) are not safe enough for astronauts, and SpaceX's Elon Musk, who points out quite emphatically that the panel's preferred alternative, Ares I, has yet to prove its own safety - even after NASA revised the "man-rating" regulation to make sure the in-house rocket could meet the specs.
Catching up with NASA
I somehow got on an invitation list for a one-day overview of the agency's future programs on March 12. I will not in in DC and have to hope they do a Webcast, but the point is the agency is finally getting around (I hope) to nailing down its future course now that the Vision for Space Exploration has been lured down a budgetary cul-de-sac and quietly strangled to death.
Rare brown and white panda cub
Sound the AAAWWW alert. This impossibly cute cub is the fifth brown and white panda ever reported. The newspaper article referenced here raises concern about some kind of genetic bottleneck. That's always a concern with a species as rare as the panda, but I don't see the connection to this off-color oddity.
It sure is cute, though.
One honking big spider discovered
From Israel comes a startling new species: Cerbalus aravensis. This spider, which lives in holes under "trapdoors" of its own making in the sand dunes, has a leg span up to 14 cm. As Dr. Uri Shanas put it, "The new discovery shows how much we still have to investigate, and that there are likely to be many more species that are unknown to us."
A scientist looks at Pandora
I can't resist one more trip to James Cameron's Pandora: not with biologist and award-winning science writer Carol Kaesuk Yoon as our guide.
She writes of the film Avatar: "It has recreated what is the heart of biology: the naked, heart-stopping wonder of really seeing the living world."
Among the features she finds compelling are the well-thought-out web of Pandoran life, which gives humans too jaded to get excited over a new field mouse their best virtual chance yet to step into a world unknown. She praises the depiction of scientists - dedicated, analytical, yet still taken with the wonder of it all.
COMMENT: This is the best of the Pandora articles, even if it does ignore the derivative plot and the talking trees. Great work, Carol.
Increasing cooperation in space exploration
Several milestones in 2009:
The multi-nation International Space Station can now maintain a crew of six astronauts, rather than three. Russian assistance in expanding the station, slowed because of budget troubles, will resume in 2010 as the U.S. Space Shuttle carries up the next Russian module.
Two of the largest space exploring nations announced a new partnership. The US and China agreed to expand cooperation in space science and begin discussions on cooperation in human space flight. Chinese space leaders and the NASA Administrator will make reciprocal visits in 2010.
NASA and ESA signed a letter of intent to closely coordinate their Mars exploration programs. Under the Mars Joint Exploration Initiative (MJEI), ESA will direct a joint orbiter mission in 2016, with the US leading a mission including American and European landers in 2018. Two initiatives to be organized further in the next few years are a possible network of landers in 2020, with the ultimate goal, the return of Martian soil and rocks to Earth, coming after that.
International cooperation is not always easy, but it is imperative. Budgetary pressures alone will ensure we see more of it. And if there is any endeavour in which humanity should be cooperating as a species, it is reaching out from our home planet.
New species: "snail-sucking snake"
The authors of this article seem to have coined the term "snail-sucking snake" for this new species from Ecuador. Naturally, I couldn't resist quoting it. (I also can't help thinking, in Dave Barry mode, that "Snail-Sucking Snakes" would be a great name for a rock band.) It's one of a horde of new reptiles and amphibians from western Ecuador.
Charlie's Used Shuttle Sale
OK, the header isn't quite accurate - NASA's Administrator Charles Bolden is not personally manning a used-Shuttle lot - but the shuttles are for sale after they make their final flights. Each originally cost a billion-plus (specifically, building Endeavour to replace the lost Challenger cost $1.7B). Now they are a mere $28.8M. Several large museums are expected to put in bids for orbiters Atlantis and Endeavour, while Discovery is already ticketed for the NASM. And here's a real bargain. The massive Space Shuttle Main Engines, the costliest, highest-performing rocket engines ever built, are available for free if you can transport and reassemble them. Each one weighs a mere 3.2 metric tons.
Suborbital Astronauts prepare -on their own $$
This is a neat story. Several companies are preparing to launch suborbital passenger-carrying rockets. Some scientists are making sure they are ready. Eleven men and women, paying for their own training, completed a new program to prepare them as suborbital astronauts. They underwent centrifuge and altitude chamber testing in addition to classroom work. Course organizer S. Alan Stern said, "For this diverse group of scientists to invest their own time and money for astronaut training is a true testament to the growing excitement behind the science potential of new commercial spacecraft. Interest was so high that we've already filled up a second class of a dozen scientists for spring 2010."
From Borneo: Newest Bird Species
Leeds University biologist Richard Webster has found the world's newest species of bird. The bird has, unusually, been given a common name before a scientific name: the description is still being prepared, but the small gray and white bird from Borneo is already known as the spectacled flowerpecker.
Earth has close encounter
A house-sized object will zoom past Earth Wednesday at only one third the distance to the Moon. Astronomers are not quite sure what it is. A tiny asteroid is one guess. Passing 130,000 km away is a very close shave by astronomical standards, although the object is too small to be seen by amateurs.
Animal performs photosynthesis
A sea slug named Elysia chlorotica doesn't have to work for a living - after a point, at least. It absorbs genes and cell components called chloroplasts from plants it eats - and puts them to work to produce chlorophyll itself and live by photosynthesis. Biologist Sidney Pierce comments, "This is the first time that multicellular animals have been able to produce chlorophyll."
Finding another Earth
The first exoplanets discovered by astronomers have, not surprisingly, been gas giants like our own neighbor Jupiter. As techniques and instruments have been refined (most notably with the addition of NASA's orbiting Kepler observatory), a class of smaller exoplanets, nicknamed "Super-Earths," has been discovered. These are still several times larger than our own planet, but astronomers are confident we'll soon be identifying Earth-sized worlds. A new generation of instruments (which NASA planned but abandoned in its Terrestrial Planet Finder program) will be needed to nail down the possibilities of life. My prediction: eventually, we'll find it.
"It is inconceivable that the whole universe was merely created for us who live in this third-rate planet of a third-rate sun." - Alfred, Lord Tennyson
The science of seeing sea monsters
Dr. Charles Paxton has published (in the eminent Journal of Zoology, no less!) an analysis which provides important insight on how seriously we should take reports of large unidentified marine animals. Paxton's paper focuses on one key parameter: how well witnesses are estimating distances to the object of their attentions at sea. The distance, which can be tricky to estimate over open ocean, affects the perceived size of the animal and how well a witness can tell a "sea monster" from a whale, shark, or other known denizen of the oceans.
Paxton's Abstract:
Analysis of the nearest reported distance in accounts of seemingly unknown, large, marine animals (sea monsters) by boat- or water-based eyewitnesses, revealed that, contrary to expectation, the majority of sightings were at close distance (<200 m). This suggests that misidentification of inanimate objects or known animal species due to great distance was unlikely. Assuming a uniform distribution of objects around the boat, the reported sightings were far closer than expected, implying a bias in the sighting or reporting process. The distribution of reported distances from boat- or water-based eyewitnesses was almost identical to that of shore-based witnesses. Unidentified large marine animals were more likely to be reported to be closer if the report was anonymous or secondhand. The gap of time between recollection/reporting and the actual sighting did not influence reported distance. There was no relation between reported distance and reported length. There was some equivocal evidence that the absence of a stated distance in a report might be an indicator of a hoax.
THANKS TO: Charles for sharing this.
Takeoff for Pterosaur.net
A group of paleontological researchers including Dr. Darren Naish have launched a site devoted to the largest and strangest creatures ever to fly in the Earth's atmosphere: the pterosaurs. Whether you seek information on particular species, general anatomy, fossil discoveries, or whatever, this is the place to meet the true-life dragons, which were stranger than any fictional counterpart. The site is wonderfully illustrated and just darn cool.
School poised to cut science labs for bizarre reason
I never get political in this blog. Hardly ever. But the story of Berkeley High School's plan to cut science labs should not go unremarked on. It's weird because it's not based on budget cuts. It's based on the bizarre notion that the way to improve achievement for minority students is to cut science labs, since minority students are using them less than white students. Seriously.
The President has made a big deal out of science education, and rightly so. It's a high-tech, science-driven world out there. Shouldn't the school be encouraging more minority students to get INTO those labs? That's not to say the money won't do any good if used to boost programs serving struggling students, which is the plan. But a racially-driven concept that no student needs hands-on work in the sciences in high school is...unearthly.
A fond look back at OMNI magazine
Paul Collins of Slate offers a fond obituary for OMNI magazine, a groundbreaking mixture of science, fiction, and speculation that (for younger readers of this blog) was a really big deal back in the 80s. It was in OMNI that the word "cyberspace" first appeared. Works from the titans of science fiction appeared in it, as did interviews with scientific luminaries like Richard Fenyman.
OMNI did spent some space on UFOs and similar speculative (some would say unscientific) topics. In general, its coverage wasn't as "out there" as some publications have offered, although I recall an article surveying readers on whether they might be alien abductees in which the symptoms it listed for determining your status were so general they applied to practically everybody.
Anyway, I miss OMNI, which was competed out of its niche in the press edition and vanished from its pioneering Internet version when its publisher died. It was nothing if not optimistic about the future, and there was good stuff in every issue.
Return to Pandora: Creating believable plants
Plant biologist Lori Kozlowski explains in this interview how she helped create the plants and the plant science we see in Avatar. She went as far as creating scientific names for all the species involved. She worked with creator James Cameron and others to develop a believable plant communication system (based in a new field of plant science on Earth, called "signal transduction").
She explains the environment this way: "...the atmosphere is thicker than on Earth, with higher concentrations of carbon dioxide, as well as xenon and hydrogen sulfide. Gravity is weaker. And there is a strong magnetic field. Given the role of the environment in plant evolution, one would therefore expect to see gigantism, less of a gravity response (which makes stems grow up and roots grow down), and possibly a response to magnetic fields, which I named "magnetotropism.""

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Connections over the Moon
August 26, 2020 /in Featured, News /by chris
Singapore debutante Moon Face made a great start to his career in the Lion City, with a commanding win in Race 3, the class 4 division 1 over 1200m. The 4 year old grey Argentina galloper who had two runs for a win and a second in Argentina, was well supported in the market on the back of an impressive trial last week.
In the stable since mid March, the grey son of Zensational was among a group of Argentine horses bound for Singapore, which were delayed due to a customs raid on the aircraft they were set to board in late December in Argentina. Covid 19 restrictions then further delayed Moon Face's return to racing, so that when Sunday 23rd rolled around it had been some 430 days since he had last raced.
The in form R Maia shooting for his third straight win of the day, had Moon Face straight on the pace after barrier rise, settling in second place. On straightening, Moon Face extended nicely and his winning debut was never in doubt, as he took command at the 300m and strolled in by 1.5 lengths.. Joshua Tan manager of the new ownership group Maju Racing Stable was delighted with the stable acquisition's first up win.
Moon Face makes a great debut in the Class 4 over 1200m, with R Maia in the saddle.
Consistent mare Ararat Lady brought up a double for the stable when scoring a well deserved win in the $70,000 Beau Brummell 2009 Stakes Class 3 Division 2 race over 1000m. A superbly judged ride by Ruan Maia saw the Battle Paint five-year-old mare jump quickly from barrier No 3, letting the speedy Flak Jacket kick up on her inside. Maia bided is time, happy to let the mare travel on the leader's outside while keeping a neck in front.
Maia allowed Ararat Lady to straighten and get her balance, just waiting for the right time to pop the question at the 400m mark. Extending beautifully under hands-and-heels riding The honest mare easily got the upper hand to win by three parts of a length to Flak Jacket. The in was Maia's fifth of the day, with him going on to record his greatest haul of 7 winners for the day.
Clocking 58.18secs for the 1000m on the Poly track, Ararat Lady has now chalked up four wins and seven placings from 15 starts for around $220,000 in stakes earnings for the Jass Stable.
Ararat Lady proves to strong in the class 3 1000m on Sunday 23rd August.
http://cliffbrownracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/DSC00081.jpg 667 1000 chris http://cliffbrownracing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/logo-cliffbrownracing-1.png chris2020-08-26 11:29:082020-08-26 11:31:30Connections over the Moon
EXCITING DOUBLE!! Inferno headlines great day for stable


After serving as a JAG in the United States Air Force, Chuck joined the firm in 1977, where he has practiced law for over 36 years. He concentrates his law practice in the areas of personal injury litigation, worker's compensation, and mediation. He is an honors graduate of the University of Wisconsin law school. Chuck is recognized by his peers as a Super Lawyer and has an AV Rating from Martindale Hubbell, the highest professional rating that can be given to a lawyer.
Acknowledged as an effective problem solver, Chuck's integrity and judgment are respected by people on both sides of an issue that make him a valued mediator. His negotiation and litigation skills successfully serve clients injured in car and motorcycle accidents, dog bites, slips and falls, and many other injury-producing accidents. For people injured at work, Chuck brings recognized state-wide expertise in the area of Worker's Compensation law essential to maximizing benefits for injured employees. As a founding board member and past-president of the Wisconsin Association of Worker's Compensation Lawyers and after hundreds of successful hearings on behalf of injured workers, Chuck has an excellent working relationship with and the respect of the Administrative Law Judges who conduct Worker's Compensation hearings.
Chuck is a past-president of the La Crosse County Bar Association. He was a founding board member and served as president of the Wisconsin Association of Worker's Compensation Attorneys. Chuck recently completed six years on the Board of Governors for the State Bar of Wisconsin and served as liaison to the Litigation Section.
Chuck is a respected community leader who has served as the founding president of many community organizations including: Freedom Honor Flight, Inc., which sends WW II Veterans to Washington, D.C. to be honored; the Riverside International Friendship Gardens, Inc., the La Crosse Associations for our sister cities in Dubna, Russia; Luoyang, China; Bantry, Ireland; and Forde, Norway. He is also the founding and current president of The Brain Game, Inc. devoted to healthy early childhood development. An active Rotarian, Chuck served as District Governor for Rotary International.
An active member of the La Crosse Rotary Club since 1979, he has initiated a number of legacy projects, including founding the La Crosse Rotary Foundation, Inc. in 1983, which annually provides support to a wide variety of projects in the Greater La Crosse Area. He co-chaired the 1993-1995 Kids Coulee Playground Project that mobilized more than 3,000 community volunteers to construct a large innovative children's playground. He chairs the La Crosse Kids Committee that created The Brain Game, a book that teaches parents how to enhance early childhood brain development. In that process, Mr. Hanson brought together key community organizations and leaders for that book's development and funding (More than 20,000 copies are currently in print and the book is distributed at no cost to new parents at both major medical facilities in La Crosse). He is the founder of the Riverside International Friendship Gardens, Inc., a community-wide project to celebrate different cultures.
He was the founder and first President of the La Crosse-Dubna Friendship Association, which established a sister-city relationship with the "closed" city of Dubna, Russia in 1990 and led to numerous programs, including the development of a University, the creation of the Dubna Rotary Club, and innovative medical programs. He chaired the Hands-Across-The-Heartlands Campaign that coordinated a community effort of 5,000 volunteers who collected and prepared for shipment 400,000 pounds of food, clothing, and medicine. This effort provided humanitarian relief to more than 12,000 needy people in Dubna, Russia during the bitter winter of 1991 - 1992. Mr. Hanson is also the founding President of the La Crosse-Luoyang Friendship Association that established the sister-city relationship with Luoyang, China in 1997. As a result of this relationship, two Chinese teachers are presently in La Crosse every year providing the core of the Chinese language program presently educating 200 high school students annually at no cost to local taxpayers. He is also the founding president of the sister city relationships with Bantry, Ireland and Førde, Norway. Mr. Hanson was the founding co-chair of the U.S. China Council for Sister Cities International and also serves as an advisor to the Mayor on the International Committee of the City of La Crosse. In addition to his international interests, he has served as President of Junior Achievement of the Coulee Region.


An Italian truffle hound digs up only ripe truffles. Its nose is that fine tuned. I don't claim to find only ripe, valuable details when I collect data. Sometimes I have no immediate use for a detail that catches my attention. Like knowing about truffle hounds. Turns out that they come from a long line of retrievers from a lake district in Italy and are called Lagotto Romagnolos. Of what possible use is this information? Well, I just used it to get myself primed for this blog entry.
Often I feel that information comes to me via some vibe in the universe that has me in mind and wafts an image or idea in front of me, says "Notice this." But I suspect that I have primed myself to accept the unexpected. I read a lot, and not just what I should read. This week I read three novellas by Jim Harrison under the title of The Beast God Forgot to Invent. I read I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced. I read several items online about a weather phenomenon called a gray swan storm–one of great rarity and power, hard to predict. Add in a number of Richard Hugo's poems and several pieces of short fiction from Crab Orchard Review. No disciplined research here, right?
But I need that diversity as a writer. I'll not use all of the stuff I stuffed into my head, but it's there in my curio cabinet just in case. And that thing about serendipitous deliveries? "Chance favors the prepared mind" (Pasteur). Writing is not about the self, but about the self in connection with the world and its horrors and wonders. Go ahead, snuffle around in the dirt. Be a truffle hound. Who knows what rare, succulent things you'll find?
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged free advice on writing, truffle dogs, Writers, writing life.
Very nice, very nice–I think real writers collect trivia almost unconsciously, like the cuffs of old men's pants after they've walked in the woods, full of clutter and burrs and thistles and the occasional precious seed. Something of Nujood will drift back in sometime when you need it.


Re: how to ignore position in indexing?
Subject Re: how to ignore position in indexing?
tells me omitting only positional info isn't yet possible.
> Subject: how to ignore position in indexing?
> if I turn off it, will search become quicker?


Year 2 pupils had a very interesting morning at the Canolfan Barcud Centre in Tregaron.
The girls put on white pinafores and everyone sat on long benches behind wooden desks. They had to speak English in the classroom. If they spoke Welsh, they had to wear the 'Welsh Not' around their necks. The children did some sums and recited the 2 times table using an abacus. The children wrote English words on the blackboard with chalk. Before they answered a question, they had to say 'Please Sir..'It was all quite an experience.
A very different experience to our school, luckily!
Thank you to Trystan ab Owen (ex pupil) for being a very strict Sir!
We had a lot of fun in Year 1 today as everyone brought in a bike or a scooter to school.
We had to cycle very carefully around the school playground and concentrate hard as we controlled our bikes and scooters and navigated around and through cones.
Well done everyone on remembering to bring and wear your safety helmet.
LAUNCHING A ROCKET INTO SPACE!
Pupils at Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth are preparing to launch their very own space mission with the help of a robotics expert at Aberystwyth University.
Weather permitting, the mission will lift off from the School's play ground between 9 and 10 in the morning on Thursday 12 June.
In preparation for the mission, the pupils have built a rocket to house the space capsule, and made little plasticine figures who will brave the arduous journey into space.
They have also been studying about space, the weather and about other similar launches, and have been working with animator Tim Allen to make animated short films of the intrepid space travellers climbing into the capsule and taking with them messages for Planet Earth.
Joining them on board will be an Eco-Schools representative carrying an Eco Schools Flag. Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth is a Platinum Eco-School and the project is being filmed by EcoSchools Wales for a video which will be shown at the International Eco-Schools Operators Conference in Cardiff in December 2014, to mark 20 years of Eco-Schools internationally and in Wales.
Speaking ahead of the launch, Mr Clive Williams, Headmaster of Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth said; "Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth is proud to be the venue for this exciting event. The pupils had been studying work about space as part of the science curriculum and have had many and varied experiences whilst building the rocket as part of their craft work. They've created a logo in design and technology, studied the direction of the wind in geography and studied similar events through the medium of the internet.
"One of the pupils' favourite stories is the story 'Y Bobl Fach Wyrdd' (Little Green People) and they look forward to seeing them leave the school in the direction of space. We hope they return safely!
"The School is grateful to the parents for their enthusiasm and to the University for all its support with this every special event", he added.
Using a helium-filled weather balloon, the mission is expected to reach an altitude of around 30,000 metres before falling back to earth.
Hanging from the balloon will be a polystyrene capsule fitted with two cameras, two GPS trackers and a small homemade computer that measures altitude, temperature and the motion of the balloon and transmits the information back to earth via a wireless link.
Using time lapse technology, the cameras are expected to provide several thousand images of the earth, as the balloon climbs to the very edge of the earth's atmosphere.
Reminiscent of those stunning images taken during some of the early Apollo missions, the images are also expected to show how thin the earth's atmosphere is in reality.
Technology for the mission has been developed by Dr Mark Neal, co-ordinator of the Intelligent Robotics Research Group at Aberystwyth University's Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Computer Science, and a parent at the school.
Mark will be relaying live telemetry as the balloon climbs to around 10,000 metres. Once beyond the reach of satellites, he expects to lose touch with the balloon as it climbs to around 30,000 metres where it will burst before falling back to earth. He expects the whole mission to last between 3 and 5 hours.
Once back on the ground, a team will be on hand to find the capsule and return it to Mark who will be able to download the images and all the mission's data.
All being well, the team should be able to track its location to within 30 metres using GPS, once it has landed. Based on current weather forecasts, Mark believes that will be somewhere in Mid Wales!
The mission has been developed by pupils, staff and parents at Ysgol Gymraeg Aberystwyth, with the support of Eco-Schools Wales, animator Tim Allen, Keith Morris Photography and Ultracomida.
YOUNG AMBASSADORS OFFICIATE AT WORLD CUP!
Here are two very brave individuals! Lisa and Ioan, our Young Ambassadors have taken charge of refereeing our World Cup matches.
Both have received training, with a member of staff officiating from the touchlines. They will be responsible for making crucial desicions and to keep time during the tournament.
We hope there'll be no need for them to get their yellow or red cards out!
Well done to the year 5 and 6 Cricket team for playing so well in the Aberystwyth Area cricket tournament this year.
The team managed to win the first round before continuing and winning two games, but unfortunately lost in the semi-final.
Another successful Summer Concert was held at the Great Hall this year, with every pupil taking part in various items to parents, families and friends of the school.
Many thanks to the PTA for their support in organising the evening, and to all the parents and families for supporting yet another concert.
Thank you also to the evening's sponsors for their generosity.
A video of the production will also be available to purchase. More details to follow.
As part of our project alongside Eco Schools and Aberystwyth University the animator Tim Allen visited for a day in order to create short stop-motion animations as part of our Rocket Launch which will happen next week.
Tim has worked on several well-known animations including Shaun the Sheep, and the children very much enjoyed his workshop, learning about his work and how to develop their own characters and animations.
We look forward to seeing the final product!
Year 3 enjoyed a lovely morning on Wednesday the 4th, on Peithyll Farm in Capel Dewi.
We were given a very warm welcome by Dewi (Maria's father) from Innovis, who taught us about many aspects of life on a farm. We spent some time and learned about the lambs, saw Joc and Tango the sheepdogs rounding up the sheep, and we even had time to sit in the seat of the John Deere!
Thank you to Dewi and everybody at the farm.
Congratulations to Steffan, from Year 3, on winning a book review writing competition organised by Oxford Press.
Steffan wrote a review of Lewis Carroll's classic novel 'Alice in Wonderland'.
Well done Steffan, do carry on competing in literary competitions.
Following a successful grant application by the Health and Fitness Committee, a larger bike shelter has been built over the Whitsun half term.
The new shelter is twice the size of the old one, which means there's much more space for bikes and scooters, which will be very welcome as more and more children make the effort to travel to school without depending on a car.
We look forward to next week, National Cycling to School Week – when the shelter is sure to be full to the rafters!
During the Urdd National Eisteddfod at Meirionnydd, Bethan Gwanas' new novel 'Gwylliaid' was launched.
Pupils from the school took part in adjudicating the opening chapters of a novel for the T.Llew Jones Memorial Prize last year, and now the winning novel has been completed and published.
Ioan represented the school at the launch, and we are all grateful to Bethan Gwanas for giving us the first signed copies of the novel.
We look forward to reading 'Gwylliaid'.
Congratulations to Lisa of Year 6 on being chosen to represent Aberystwyth area in the Queen's Baton Relay for the Commonwelath Games.
Amongst other pupils from the area, Lisa carried the baton along the promenade in Aberystwyth. Lisa managed to keep her excitement under control, and carrried the baton very elegantly!
"I was SO SO EXCITED about carrying the baton. I've been looking forward to it for weeks!" said Lisa.


The OUHSD proposes to construct and operate a new state of the art neighborhood High School to accommodate existing and anticipated future enrollment in the District. The new school facilities are designed to meet the educational and recreational needs of up 2,500 students in grades 9-12. The proposed project would comprise approximately 211, 115 sq. ft of building and structures and provide 806 parking spaces. In addition, the proposed project includes a variety of recreational areas to accommodate the recreational needs of the students and community. This proposed project includes a variety of play fields, hard courts, and a pool. Of these, approximately 14.2-17 acres if play fields are proposed for joint-use with the City to provide additional recreation opportunities to the community as well as consideration of civic center used of other facilities onsite.


text:
var check = require('./internal/check');
var pivotal = require('pivotal');
var git = require('./internal/git');
var readline = require('readline');
var colors = require('colors');

var exec = require("child_process").exec;

pivotal.updateStory = require('./internal/pivotal-shim').updateStory,

module.exports = function(args){
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	for(var i=0; i<args.length; i++){
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		if(arg=="-r"){
			preMergeCommand = args[i+1];
			if(preMergeCommand==undefined){
				console.log("bad use of -r".red);
				process.exit(1);
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			else{
				i++;
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		else if(fromBranch==undefined){
			fromBranch = arg;
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		else if(msg==undefined){
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		else{
			console.log("Unknown argument: ".red+arg);
			process.exit(1);
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	if(fromBranch==undefined){
		console.log("Must provide branch name".red);
		process.exit(1);
	}
	else{
		git.getBranch(function (err, toBranch) {
			if(err){
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				if(toBranch==fromBranch){
					console.log("Can't merge with self!".red);
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								output: process.stdout
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							rl.question("What comment should we leave for this roll? ", function(a){
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								msg = a.trim();
								runner(toBranch, fromBranch, msg, preMergeCommand);
							});
						}
						else{
							runner(toBranch, fromBranch, msg, preMergeCommand);
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function runner(to, from, msg, command){
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


4.7 out of 5 based on 156 ratings.
Beautiful, original hand-painted artwork in your home. Interpreted paintings based on the masters' works of Claude Monet.This Sunflowers needs about 14 - 16days for production by a talented artist.
If you're not happy with Claude Monet Sunflowers that you made on PaintingHere.com, for any reason, you can return it to us within 50 days of the order date. As soon as it arrives, we'll issue a full refund for the entire purchase price. Please note - PaintingHere.com does not reimburse the outgoing or return shipping charges unless the return is due to a defect in quality.
This Claude Monet Sunflowers needs 14 -18 days for production time frame. We ship all over the world. We can provide Sunflowers Painting stretched canvas and large framed art.


text:
Linda Gregerson
Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award Judge
Poet and Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Michigan; 2003 recipient of the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
Linda Gregerson on KCRW
D.A. Powell and Linda Gregerson: Chronic
Aug. 5, 2010 from Bookworm
Future of Disney: What is Bob Chapek's strategy?
Disney CEO Bob Chapek recently sent his staff a memo outlining three "strategic pillars" that will "set the stage" for the company's future. What do they really mean?
Jan. 14 from Hollywood Breakdown
Strangers On a Train Redux
Two people thrown together by chance in a tiny compartment on a Russian train traveling from Moscow to Murmansk, in the arctic north.
Jan. 28 from Film Reviews
Honoree Fanonne Jeffers: "The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois" (Part 2)
Honoree Fanonne Jeffers discusses writing about the full range of a community, its sexuality and gender, in her first fiction novel, "The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois."
Jan. 6 from Bookworm
Golden Globes go on — with no celebs, no glamor
This year's Golden Globe Awards will still happen in Beverly Hills, but with no red carpet and no media access. It will be a very pared-down, glamor-free ceremony.
Jan. 7 from Hollywood Breakdown
Meet the real Hunter S. Thompson, one of the most distinctive American voices of the past century
Peter Richardson joins Robert Scheer to discuss his latest book, "Savage Journey," on the legendary Gonzo journalist.
Director Maggie Gyllenhaal on 'The Lost Daughter'
Actress and now director Maggie Gyllenhaal wanted to set her new drama "The Lost Daughter" in Maine, but New Jersey offered a better tax credit.
Dec. 31 from The Business
How much Does Cotton Weigh?
In "Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America," the documentary filmmakers Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler conjure with surprising concepts--including the weight of cotton--to…
Oscar winner Mahershala Ali on 'Swan Song'
Mahershala Ali has worked for 20 years, earning Oscars for "Moonlight" and "Green Book." But the new drama "Swan Song" is his first leading film role.
KCRW's Top 10 Food Books of 2021
From magical cookbooks to culinary ethnographies to secret histories, these are the books that inspired Good Food in 2021.
Dec. 17 from Good Food


Pest returns after a five-year break with a characteristic blend of old-school black metal, full of haunted guitar licks, speed and chaos.
"The Crowning Horror" was mastered by Andy Jackson (Pink Floyd's engineer) at Tube Mastering, UK.
The album was mixed by Fred Estby (Dismemebr/Carnage/Necronaut) at Gutterview Recorders.
Recommended for fans of Bathory, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost, Nifelheim, Darkthrone, Aura Noir and older Deströyer 666.


text:
Q: GA4 e-commerce not tracking revenue./ prices I'm having a strange issue where I've made triple sure that the GA4 e-commerce events, for example the purchase event, have all required fields set. I can see the items array with "price" properties, have the mandatory item_name and id_id, have a value property for the complete purchase but all the purchases tracked have a value of 0.
Any ideas what might be wrong?

A: make sure you have added currency parameter. Apparently GA4 doesn't recognize revenue if there is no "Currency" associated with it. If you are using GTM, make sure the tag has Currency under event parameters.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Desirable 3 bedroom semi-detached dwellinghouse situated at the South end of town in a peaceful location within easy walking distance of all amenities. The property has full double glazing and gas central heating throughout. To the rear is a fully enclosed garden with greenhouse and storage shed. EPC = D.


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Affordable living option with many well known businesses located in town. Great opportunity for multi family investment properties with high rental cap rates.
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Flip Through Joey + Rory's Sweetest Pictures Together in Remembrance of Joey Feek
Billy Dukes Updated: March 4, 2021
Frederick Breedon, Getty Images
Joey + Rory popped onto most country fans' radars after competing on Can You Duet? in 2008, but the couple had been playing shows and looking adorable prior to that. Here are 21 photos that prove love can persevere in the face of life's most imposing obstacles.
At every stage, this married duo seemed to be nothing but a couple of honeymooners. Commercially their music did not catch fire, but that didn't keep them from building a devout fanbase, nor has it prevented them from creating memorable country songs. In fact, one could argue that their greatest professional asset has been their independence.
Rory Feek shared in October 2015 that his wife had discontinued treatment for Stage 4 cancer, and they returned home to face what God had in store for them. Joey Feek died on March 4, 2016, surpassing her goal of living to see the Grammys, the release of the duo's hymns album and daughter Indiana's second birthday.
Joey and Rory's Sweetest Pictures Together
Life After Joey Feek
Next: See Country Stars Who've Endured Unthinkable Tragedy
Source: Flip Through Joey + Rory's Sweetest Pictures Together in Remembrance of Joey Feek
Filed Under: Joey and Rory