text:
/*eslint-disable quote-props, one-var */

import { clone } from "lodash";
import Payment from "../Payment";
import Http from "../Http";
import Dictionary from "../Dictionary";
import * as constants from "./constants.test";

import schema from "../schema/donation";

const PAYMENT = {
  amount: 2000,
  givenName: "John",
  familyName: "Doe",
  address1: "123 Main St",
  city: "New York City",
  state: "NY",
  zip: "11201",
  country: "US",
  email: "john@doe.com",
  phone: "1231231234",
  employer: "Acme",
  occupation: "Coyote",
  ccNum: "1234123412341234",
  ccExpMonth: 12,
  ccExpYear: 2020,
  ccCvc: "123",
  agreeToTerms: true
};

// TODO: Implement donation response or remove
const DONATION_RESPONSE = {
  // eslint-disable-line
  donation: {
    id: "someDonationId123",
    created: 14121958916,
    deleted: null,
    amount: 2000,
    gwid: "",
    subscription: "",
    quickCard: "",
    givenName: "John",
    familyName: "Doe",
    address1: "123 Main St",
    address2: null,
    city: "New York City",
    state: "NY",
    country: "US",
    zip: "11201",
    email: "john@doe.com",
    phone: "1231231234",
    employer: "Acme",
    occupation: "Coyote",
    tags: {},
    processor: "processorcompany",
    processorPaymentData: {},
    raiser: ""
  }
};

const I = x => x;

describe("(Payment.test.js)", () => {
  let payment = null;
  let http = null;
  const config = new Dictionary(constants.CONFIG_DEFAULT);

  beforeEach(() => {
    jasmine.Ajax.install();
    http = new Http(config);
    payment = new Payment(config, http);
    payment.schema = schema;
  });

  afterEach(() => {
    payment = null;
    http = null;
    jasmine.Ajax.uninstall();
  });

  describe("formatCurrency", () => {
    it("coerces cents to be a number", () => {
      const p = payment.formatCurrency("  1000 ", "USD");
      expect(p).toEqual("$10.00");
    });

    it("returns USD format", () => {
      const p = payment.formatCurrency(1000, "USD");
      expect(p).toEqual("$10.00");
    });

    it("returns USD format w cents", () => {
      const p = payment.formatCurrency(100023, "USD");
      expect(p).toEqual("$1,000.23");
    });

    it("returns JPY format", () => {
      const p = payment.formatCurrency(1000, "JPY");
      expect(p).toEqual("¥1,000");
    });

    it("removes cents from JPY format", () => {
      const p = payment.formatCurrency(1000.23, "JPY");
      expect(p).toEqual("¥1,000");
    });
  });

  describe("validateCurrencyCode", () => {
    it("validateCurrencyCode returns a rejected Promise if value is falsy", () => {
      const xs = [null, undefined, false];
      const errs = {
        msg: [],
        fields: []
      };
      xs.forEach(x => {
        const e = payment.validateCurrencyCode(x, errs);
        expect(e).toEqual({
          msg: ["currency is not a valid ISO-4217 country code"],
          fields: ["currency"]
        });
      });
    });

    it("validateCurrencyCode returns a rejected Promise if value is invalid", () => {
      const xs = [12, "a", "XXX", [], {}];
      const errs = {
        msg: [],
        fields: []
      };
      xs.forEach(x => {
        const e = payment.validateCurrencyCode(x, errs);
        expect(e).toEqual({
          msg: ["currency is not a valid ISO-4217 country code"],
          fields: ["currency"]
        });
      });
    });

    it("validateCurrencyCode returns true is code is valid", () => {
      const xs = ["usd", "euR", "JPY", "aUd"];
      const errs = {
        msg: [],
        fields: []
      };
      xs.forEach(x => {
        const e = payment.validateCurrencyCode(x, errs);
        expect(e).toEqual(errs);
      });
    });
  });

  describe("validation methods", () => {
    it("validateArg returns a rejected Promise if value is falsy", () => {
      const xs = [null, undefined, false];
      xs.forEach(x => {
        const [, p] = payment.validateArg(x, "arg");
        p.then(I).catch(I);
        expect(p).toEqual(jasmine.any(Promise));
      });
    });

    it("validateInterval returns a rejected Promise if value is falsy", () => {
      const xs = ["roy", "pris", 1, {}, []];
      xs.forEach(x => {
        const [, p] = payment.validateInterval(x);
        p.then(I).catch(I);
        expect(p).toEqual(jasmine.any(Promise));
      });
    });

    it("validateId returns a tuple with true on success", () => {
      const [a, b] = payment.validateId("abc123");
      expect(a).toBe(true);
      expect(b).toBe(undefined);
    });

    it("validateId returns a tuple with false/promise on fail", () => {
      const [a, b] = payment.validateId();
      b.catch(I);
      expect(a).toBe(false);
      expect(b).toEqual(jasmine.any(Promise));
    });

    it("validateSchema returns a tuple with true on success", () => {
      const [a, b] = payment.validateSchema(PAYMENT, schema);
      expect(a).toBe(true);
      expect(b).toBe(undefined);
    });

    it("validateSchema returns a tuple with false/promise on fail", () => {
      const [a, b] = payment.validateSchema({}, schema);
      expect(a).toBe(false);
      expect(b).toEqual(jasmine.any(Promise));
      b.catch(I);
    });
  });

  it("toCents will convert currencies to cents", () => {
    const fn = payment.toCents.bind(payment);
    expect(fn(1)).toBe(100);
    expect(fn("$1")).toBe(100);
    expect(fn(1.99)).toBe(199);
    expect(fn("$.99")).toBe(99);
    expect(fn("$12.04")).toBe(1204);
    expect(fn("$12.34")).toBe(1234);
    expect(fn("$12.34423523")).toBe(1234);
    expect(fn("$1,332.34423523")).toBe(133234);
    expect(fn("$.34")).toBe(34);
    expect(fn("0.2")).toBe(20);
    expect(fn(0.5)).toBe(50);
    expect(fn("$0.34423523")).toBe(34);
    expect(fn("€12.34423523")).toBe(1234);
    expect(fn("£12.34423523")).toBe(1234);
    expect(fn("-¥12.34423523")).toBe(1234);
    expect(fn("-1")).toBe(100);
    expect(fn("-11234.332")).toBe(1123433);
    expect(fn(1000)).toBe(100000);
    expect(fn(1000.00)).toBe(100000);
  });

  it("toIndivisible will convert currencies to Integers", () => {
    const fn = payment.toIndivisible.bind(payment);
    expect(fn("¥12,300.55")).toBe(12301); // Rounds up
    expect(fn("¥12,300")).toBe(12300);
    expect(fn("-¥12,300")).toBe(12300);
  });

  it("validateCreditCard will return an object of bools", () => {
    const fn = payment.validateCreditCard;

    // Total fail
    expect(fn()).toEqual(
      jasmine.objectContaining({
        validCardNumber: false,
        validExpiryMonth: false,
        validExpiryYear: false,
        validCvv: false,
        isExpired: true
      })
    );

    // Should pass
    const d = clone(PAYMENT);
    d.ccNum = "4242424242424242";
    d.ccCvc = "666";
    expect(fn(d)).toEqual(
      jasmine.objectContaining({
        validCardNumber: true,
        validExpiryMonth: true,
        validExpiryYear: true,
        validCvv: true,
        isExpired: false
      })
    );

    // Should NOT pass
    const e = clone(PAYMENT);
    e.ccNum = "4242421111424242";
    e.ccCvc = "666";
    expect(fn(e)).toEqual(
      jasmine.objectContaining({
        validCardNumber: false,
        validExpiryMonth: true,
        validExpiryYear: true,
        validCvv: true,
        isExpired: false
      })
    );
  });

  describe("validatePayment", () => {
    it("validatePayment should return a standard object", () => {
      const invalid = payment.validatePayment();
      expect(invalid).toEqual(
        jasmine.objectContaining({
          valid: false,
          fields: jasmine.any(Array),
          msg: jasmine.any(Array)
        })
      );

      const d = clone(PAYMENT);
      d.ccNum = "4242424242424242";
      d.ccCvc = "666";
      d.currency = "aud";

      const valid = payment.validatePayment(d);
      expect(valid).toEqual(
        jasmine.objectContaining({
          valid: true,
          fields: jasmine.any(Array),
          msg: jasmine.any(Array)
        })
      );
    });

    it("validatePayment should return default required fields on empty {}", () => {
      const invalid = payment.validatePayment();
      expect(invalid).toEqual(
        jasmine.objectContaining({
          valid: false,
          fields: jasmine.any(Array),
          msg: jasmine.any(Array)
        })
      );
      expect(invalid.fields.length).toEqual(payment.schema.required.length);
      expect(invalid.msg[0]).toEqual("Required fields missing");
    });

    it("validatePayment should return specific type errors", () => {
      const d = clone(PAYMENT);
      d.ccNum = "4242424242424242";
      d.ccCvc = "666";
      d.amount = "1200";

      const invalid = payment.validatePayment(d);
      expect(invalid).toEqual(
        jasmine.objectContaining({
          valid: false,
          fields: jasmine.any(Array),
          msg: jasmine.any(Array)
        })
      );
      expect(invalid.fields.length).toEqual(1);
      expect(invalid.fields[0]).toEqual("amount");
      expect(invalid.msg[0]).toEqual("Invalid type: string (expected integer)");
    });

    it("validatePayment should return missing errors", () => {
      const d = clone(PAYMENT);
      d.ccNum = "4242424242424242";
      d.ccCvc = "666";
      delete d.amount;

      const invalid = payment.validatePayment(d);
      expect(invalid).toEqual(
        jasmine.objectContaining({
          valid: false,
          fields: jasmine.any(Array),
          msg: jasmine.any(Array)
        })
      );

      expect(invalid.fields.length).toEqual(1);
      expect(invalid.fields[0]).toEqual("amount");
      expect(invalid.msg[0]).toEqual("Missing required property: amount");
    });

    it("validatePayment should return CC errors", () => {
      const d = clone(PAYMENT);
      d.ccNum = "4242421111424242";
      d.ccCvc = "666";

      const invalid = payment.validatePayment(d);
      expect(invalid).toEqual(
        jasmine.objectContaining({
          valid: false,
          fields: jasmine.any(Array),
          msg: jasmine.any(Array)
        })
      );

      expect(invalid.fields.length).toEqual(1);
      expect(invalid.fields[0]).toEqual("ccNum");
      expect(invalid.msg[0]).toEqual(`${invalid.fields[0]} is invalid`);
    });

    it("validatePayment should return currency code errors", () => {
      const d = clone(PAYMENT);
      d.ccNum = "4242424242424242";
      d.ccCvc = "666";
      d.currency = "a";

      const invalid = payment.validatePayment(d);
      expect(invalid).toEqual(
        jasmine.objectContaining({
          valid: false,
          fields: jasmine.any(Array),
          msg: jasmine.any(Array)
        })
      );

      expect(invalid.fields.length).toEqual(1);
      expect(invalid.fields[0]).toEqual("currency");
      expect(invalid.msg[0]).toEqual(
        "currency is not a valid ISO-4217 country code"
      );
    });
  });

  it("fetchCollection will return a promise", () => {
    let request, response; //eslint-disable-line
    const gwid = "123abc";

    const p = payment
      .fetchCollection(null, gwid)
      .then(r => {
        response = r;
      })
      .catch(I);

    expect(p).toEqual(jasmine.any(Promise));
  });

  it("fetchCollection will return attach parameters", done => {
    let request, response; //eslint-disable-line
    const server = constants.RESPONSE_200;
    const gwid = "123abc";

    payment
      .fetchCollection("payments/donations", { gwid })
      .then(r => {
        response = r;
      })
      .catch(I);

    setTimeout(() => {
      request = jasmine.Ajax.requests.mostRecent();
      request.respondWith(server);
      expect(request.url).toEqual(`/payments/donations?gwid=${gwid}`);
      done();
    });
  });

  it("health calls the health endpoint", () => {
    spyOn(payment.http, "get");

    payment.health();
    expect(payment.http.get).toHaveBeenCalledWith("payments/health");
  });

  it("health calls the health endpoint and gets feature status", () => {
    spyOn(payment.http, "get");

    payment.health({ features: true });
    expect(payment.http.get).toHaveBeenCalledWith("payments/health/features");
  });
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Welcome to Equiki (Fading Twilight Equine Site). This site is specifically dedicated to the equine world.
The Equine World is full of diverse information that needs to be brought out under one roof, a roof that will be the ultimate information location, a wiki that anyone can add any information that he/she come by.
The urge to be with horses can take hold at any age. These spirited creatures gallop through ancient myths, favorite childhood stories, wishes, dreams, and drawings. For many people, the desire recedes over time, hiding in a secret corner of the heart, ready to leap forward, suddenly, when a movie, photograph, or painting triggers emotions too complex to voice, yet too important to ignore.
Those lucky enough to own a horse would seem to have a better understanding of this longing, this mysterious promise of an ancient freedom and an even more ancient knowing. Yet a living, breathing mare or stallion is often more of an enigma than an imaginary one. Answers to the questions that horses pose, silently, relentlessly, to the human soul have always hovered just outside the scope of reason1.
A few tips about working with this wiki: The edit button will always be at the bottom right. Red links will be pages that are not created yet (you could create it!).


text:
The Pixar Times
Pixar news daily.
Pixar Perspective
You are here: Home / The Pixar Times / Brave / Harry Potter Composer Patrick Doyle Scoring Brave
Harry Potter Composer Patrick Doyle Scoring Brave
July 6, 2011 by Samad Rizvi 3 Comments
A few months back, Film Music Reporter broke news that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire composer Patrick Doyle would be scoring Brave for Pixar. After Disney/Pixar recently confirmed the composer's hiring, The Scotsman (via First Showing) had a chance to speak with the Scotland-native about his approach to scoring the film. Read on for more on the research trips that Doyle took, how he would like to honor the land of Scotland, and why he wants to avoid using bagpipes.
Here are some article excerpts:
The project is "very much work in progress", and Doyle has yet to see the finished film, with its story of a feisty, red-haired Scottish princess. But his research has included trips to the Hebrides to listen to unaccompanied Gaelic psalm singing, and he has played recordings of the haunting sound to the film's producers. "It's revisiting what I've heard all my days," he said.
In Tenerife for a concert of music from his films, Doyle said he hoped to give Brave's music a distinctly Scottish twist, but he will wait to hear what the directors want – and is wary of using bagpipes.
"I want to make it accessible but to honour the Celtic traditions if I can," he said. "It's a real fable set in Scotland. I could possibly use the bagpipes as a drone or something that gives atmosphere, but I will resist instantly using them until I see what's going on … they are extremely loud."
It looks like Pixar continues to go all-out on Brave (did we expect anything but that?). Not only is there a large Scottish cast attached to the film, but composer Patrick Doyle, who was born in Uddingston, Scotland, should also be able to bring the culture of the area to life. While the fourth Harry Potter film was the biggest film he worked on, he also scored Thor and Rise of the Planet of the Apes (due in August). Randy Newman and Michael Giacchino, Pixar's two go-to's in the music department, will be sitting this one out, but we are excited to see what unique music Doyle can bring to the table. We already know that the film will be beautiful, but we are hoping to hear a great accompanying score that is faithful to Scotland as well.
For a hint of what we may hear from Patrick Doyle, check out the hauntingly stunning Brave teaser trailer, which we can confirm was composed by him:
Brave hits theaters on June 22, 2012!
Via: First Showing
Source: The Scotsman
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Filed Under: Brave, Pixar Music Tagged With: Brave Composer, Featured, Patrick Doyle
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About Samad Rizvi
Samad is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Pixar Times and The Disney Times. His favorite films include The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Vertigo, Back to the Future, Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, and of course, Pixar's Toy Story and Inside Out.
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Any opinions reflected on The Pixar Times are held by its authors and do not reflect those held by Pixar Animation Studios or the Walt Disney Company. All original text is the property of The Pixar Times. Disney/Pixar images and videos are ©Disney/Pixar. The Pixar Times logo was designed by Jerrod Maruyama.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


/** tcp readers processes, tcp read and pre-parse msg. functions.
LOG(L_ERR, "bad Content-Length header value %d in"
DBG("tcp_read_req: preparing for new request, kept %ld"
LOG(L_ERR, "ERROR: tcpconn_read_timeout: io_watch_del failed for %p"
LOG(L_WARN, "WARNING: tcp_receive: handle_io: received an"
LOG(L_CRIT, "ERROR: tcpconn_receive: handle_io: io_watch_add "
"failed for %p id %d fd %d, state %d, flags %x,"
LOG(L_WARN, "WARNING: tcp_receive: handle_io: F_TCPCONN"
LOG(L_CRIT, "ERROR: tcpconn_receive: handle_io: "
"io_watch_del failed for %p id %d fd %d,"


Congressman Brian Higgins, D-NY-26, is cosponsoring The Save Net Neutrality Act (H.R. 4585), a bill introduced by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney prohibiting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from proceeding through the process of repealing net neutrality rules.
"Consumers, not corporations, should be in control of individual internet access," Higgins said. "Fair and equal access to an open internet is a consumer right that deserves protection and one that maintains a level playing field for all, including those accessing the web for business and educational purposes."
Existing net neutrality rules prohibit internet providers from blocking, prioritizing and charging extra for content or throttling back on the speed at which content is provided. The FCC is scheduled to vote on a roll back of net neutrality policies at its meeting on Thursday.
Higgins supported the FCC's actions in 2015 to protect net neutrality. In addition to supporting the Save Net Neutrality Act, Higgins co-signed a letter led by Congressman Mike Doyle, ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Communications and Technology Subcommittee, calling for the measure to be removed from the FCC's agenda.


Home / airlines / america / Jet Blue's romantic welcome letter!
Now a mail sent by JetBlue made me smile. Jet Blue is a US based low cost carrier with flights within US and to nearby countries. I recently created an account and made one booking with them.
Below is the mail they sent shortly afterwards... Read it for yourself. They call themselves to be a suitor- like how a bride or groom would evaluate multiple potential partners and chose one.


text:
Q: Internal S3 generics with an lapply I have an S3 generic function that I would like to be an internal part of a package. I would prefer not to export it if possible. An interesting downside of this is that it seems that lapply is unable to find or use the proper S3 method. Does anyone know the reason behind this behavior? below is a reproducible example which involves installing a dummy package from my github.
In this case, the generic function is docheck which will return TRUE if the object is "foo" and FALSE otherwise.
library(remotes)
install_github("jtlandis/SOExample")
#> Skipping install of 'SOExample' from a github remote, the SHA1 (27ab918c) has not changed since last install.
#>   Use `force = TRUE` to force installation
library(SOExample)

The foo function is just an NA object with the "foo" class.
foo
#> function ()
#> structure(NA, class = "foo")
#> <bytecode: 0x0000000015033878>
#> <environment: namespace:SOExample>

fun_success() just shows a case in which the internal (not exported) S3 function works.
fun_success
#> function (x)
#> {
#>     docheck(x)
#> }
#> <bytecode: 0x0000000013f83100>
#> <environment: namespace:SOExample>

fun_success(foo())
#> [1] TRUE

fun_failure() calls the same internal generic method, but fails
fun_failure
#> function (x)
#> {
#>     lapply(list(x), docheck)
#> }
#> <bytecode: 0x0000000015e68df0>
#> <environment: namespace:SOExample>

fun_failure(foo())
#> Error in UseMethod("docheck"): no applicable method for 'docheck' applied to an object of class "foo"

Created on 2021-07-24 by the reprex package (v2.0.0)

A: R has been getting more picky about making sure S3 methods are properly registered. The normal method to register package generic methods is with the S3method() in the NAMESPACE file. But if you are trying to keep all of docheck unexported, then you'll need to register the S3 method yourself. You can do that with the .S3method() function. In your R file, add this line
# Existing line...
# docheck.foo <- function(x) T
# New line...
.S3method("docheck", "foo", docheck.foo)

This will allow the lapply to find the method.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
class MdbConverter
  # simple ruby class to export a MDB file
  # into CSV using MDBTOOLS.
  #
  def initialize(mdb_file_path, export_path = "mdb_export_results")
    @db = mdb_file_path
    @export_path = File.join(Dir.home, "mdb_export_results")
    unless Dir.exists? @export_path
      Dir.mkdir(@export_path, 0700)
    end
  end

  def export
    tables.each do |table|
      puts "Exporting #{table} Table into CSV..."
      exists = system("mdb-export #{@db} '#{table}'")
      `mdb-export #{@db} #{table} >  #{@export_path}/#{table.gsub(" ", "_")}.csv` if exists
    end
  end

  def tables
    `mdb-tables -d , #{@db}`.chop.split(",")
  end

end


In this Q&A, Nasdaq talks to Caren Merrick, veteran board member, angel investor and entrepreneur, about the importance of emotional intelligence or "EQ" on boardroom dynamics.
Q: Based on your experiences as a board member and a former CEO, how would you complete this sentence: "For a board to be effective . . ."
A: For a board to be effective, its members must demonstrate emotional intelligence. I don't see much written about the impact of emotional intelligence or EQ on board dynamics, yet it's an issue that someone raises almost every time I speak about boards. A general lack of EQ seriously handicaps a board's ability to problem-solve and make informed decisions.
When a board is recruiting a new member, emotional intelligence and relationship building skills are as important to vet as subject matter expertise and experience. Some of the biggest board blowups I've observed had to do with a board member who was more ego-driven to be a star contributor, or didn't know or respect the difference between their role and the CEO's role, or dug in and refused to budge on a particular issue.
A measured approach to navigating highly-charged situations is another often overlooked and undervalued ingredient of an effective board. When disagreements are handled poorly, boards can build factions and become very political.
Q: How has EQ impacted the boards you are sitting on now?
A: I am fortunate at this point in my career to be sitting on some of the most effective boards I've ever been associated with. The boards I'm serving on now have excellent EQ: We don't always agree on everything, but when we do disagree we are mindfully very constructive in our approach to resolving issues.
One board I sit on in particular, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), which oversees the $800m business operations of Washington Dulles International Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport in addition to the $6b Dulles Corridor Metrorail and other entities.
This board presents a unique challenge to the CEO Jack Potter, because his board members are all appointees. I've learned a great deal watching Jack cultivate a productive boardroom dynamic between a group of individuals he had no say in appointing, who were each put in place to represent distinct constituencies.
When there are disagreements—and there often are—Jack's approach is deliberative, measured, and involves all of the stakeholders. He's patient, asks a lot of questions and implements a rigorous process to analyze the pros and cons in order to uncover what's really at stake. He's also encouraged board members to think more regionally in their approach to governing the Authority. Since Jack became CEO and began implementing this approach, the MWAA board is functioning at a higher level than before and, I believe not coincidentally, our bond ratings have gone up.
Q: A board can be comprised of successful executives who represent a perfect balance of the right professional skillsets, yet still be dysfunctional. True?
A: Absolutely true. As an angel investor, I'm hyper aware of the high number of startups that ultimately fail, and one of the biggest reasons for that failure rate is investors having a different agenda for a company than its founders.
As an entrepreneur, I'm somewhat biased. In an ideal world, founders could build their public company boards from scratch with people who are wise, aligned, generous and completely independent. In reality, it's difficult to launch a company without using outside capital, so newly-public boards are often faced with the possibility of competing stakeholder agendas. It's very important to get transparency and clarity around those agendas right at the beginning, so the board can build consensus. Otherwise, there is a high risk of factions developing among board members aligned with existing investors versus those aligned with the CEO.
Alignment doesn't mean the board won't disagree—there should always be healthy debate in the boardroom—but alignment does significantly increase the odds of reaching constructive solutions and sustainable growth. This is important, because CEOs find it challenging to rotate investors off a board when major disagreements become a stumbling block.
Entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly savvy to the investor/founder alignment issue, and mindful of it when shopping for capital. I recently met a woman who walked away from venture funding because her investor changed the terms at the last minute. She decided, rather than bring on an investor board member who had their own agenda, she would patiently pursue other sources of funding.
Q: Are there any other factors, in addition to stakeholder alignment and EQ, which contributed to your own company's successful transition from a basement startup to a publicly-traded enterprise?
A: I learned from my own experience that the personal networks of board members are an indispensable resource in scaling a new company, particularly when it reaches an accelerated growth phase. A company requires different skillsets from the board at different stages of its lifecycle: During the early phase, a company is consumed with early wins and surviving; once it gains momentum, it needs board members with experience in scaling an enterprise from $20 million to $200 million, for example. Seasoned executives know the patterns involved in rapid growth, can spot challenges ahead, and help a company block and tackle.
When we took webMethods public, our entire board—angel investors, venture capitalists, founders, and management—were all focused on growth. We deliberately composed a board that was skewed toward functional expertise in growth, and had extensive personal networks we could leverage to make introductions to potential customers, influencers, partners, and key critical employees.
There are a lot of technology startups here in the D.C. region, because so many people here work for government agencies on various projects requiring a high level of technical expertise: DOE, Homeland Security, and EPA, just to name a few. When local tech innovators leverage their technical expertise and experience to start companies, one of the smartest things I consistently see them do is tap former agency heads to join their boards. Not only does the company get that person's technical and government expertise, but it gains access to their network and benefits by association from their professional credibility.
Q: If you knew then what you know now, is there anything you would have done differently when launching your own company?
A: Now that I'm a sitting board member, I realize in my past leadership roles, I should have taken much better advantage of my board members' expertise and the wisdom of their experiences. CEOs—myself included—move so fast defending so many fronts that they don't give themselves the time to check in with directors to discuss challenges or opportunities. Sadly, they leave a lot of valuable insight on the table.
Q: What is the greatest challenge boards face right now?
A: I think the greatest challenge most boards face is trying to stay ahead of what is going on in their markets and industries, and trying to imagine what the future looks like in light of major shifts in local and global economies. Obviously cybersecurity is a huge concern. My boards are requiring more and more of my time to stay current on market and industry dynamics to identify opportunities for the company to create value and avoid crippling risks.
Diversity in the boardroom is crucial for companies to successfully navigate the rapid pace of change happening now: not just gender and ethnicity, which are important, but also diversity of perspective, skillsets, age, and professional disciplines. Boards can no longer afford to be composed solely of former CEOs and CFOs, because they need functional expertise in customer relationship management, digital marketing, cybersecurity, ERP systems, and social media marketing (which is a huge new frontier for boards to understand and tackle).
I learn something new every time I meet with my boards: we have people who have led private equity ventures, enterprise resource planning, supply chain ventures, enterprise marketing, and technology. The questions and insights that come from the diverse perspectives seated around the table at these meetings are impressive and very educational.
Caren Merrick is the CEO of Caren Merrick & Co. Previously, she was founder and CEO of Pocket Mentor, a mobile application and digital publishing company that provides leadership development and career advancement. Caren currently serves on the boards of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, WashingtonFirst Bankshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: WFBI), and The Gladstone Companies (Nasdaq: GAIN, GLAD, GOOD, LAND). She is also a co-founder and former Executive Vice President of webMethods, Inc., a business-to-business enterprise software solution, which went public on Nasdaq before being acquired.


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Windows® 7 operating system will be pleased to hear that American Portwell Technology, Inc., has released WADE-8020, a new Mini-ITX embedded system board that takes full advantage of Mobile Intel QM57 Express chipset to provide increased mobile computing performance and graphics.
At the heart of the new WADE-8020 is Intel's Core i7/i5/i3 mobile processor, which is aimed at users who need the solutions that the previous Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad cannot provide. In addition to the Mobile Intel QM57 Express chipset, WADE-8020 includes: two SODIMM that support dual channel DDR3 SDRAM up to 8 GB; dual display via VGA/DVI/HDMI/LVDS; four SATA connectors up to 3Gb/s with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10; one PCI, one PCI-E x1 and one Mini PCIe; dual GbE based on PCI-E x1 high bandwidth I/O interface; Intel Active Management Technology (AMT) 6.0; and Inter Hyper-Threading Technology (Intel HT).
American Portwell's WADE-8020 Mini-ITX embedded system board is available now for applications such as point-of-sale (POS), lottery, medical, gaming, high-resolution digital signage, surveillance security monitoring and kiosk.
American Portwell Technology, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Portwell, Inc., a world-leading innovator in the embedded computing market and an Associate member of the Intel Embedded Alliance.
"Customers using the new WADE-8020 will benefit from the combination of the Intel Core i7/i5/i3 multi-core mobile processor with Intel HT technology," says Robert Feng, American Portwell Technology's product marketing manager, "because it provides high performance computing power, while AMT 6.0 hardware-based security management technology allows their IT department to remotely manage and secure networked computers out-of-band as well control over system assets and an improved ability to discover, diagnose, verify, isolate and update."
Powerful computing performance and longer product life cycle Frank Shen, American Portwell Technology's product marketing director points out that the new Intel Core i7/i5/i3 mobile processor enables WADE-8020 Mini-ITX embedded system boards to deliver powerful computing performance. SATA 2.0. (up to 3Gb/s with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10) supplies a high-speed storage solution. What's more," Shen adds, "the Mobile Intel QM57 Express chipset provides an integrated high-end graphics solution for full HD 1080P."
"All in all," Shen confirms, "our customers not only benefit from American Portwell's ability to consistently provide the most up-to-date technology and features, but they also gain peace of mind from the long life cycle support inherent with every Portwell product."
American Portwell Technology, Inc., is a world-leading innovator in the embedded computing market and an Associate member of the Intel Embedded Alliance. American Portwell Technology designs, manufactures and markets a complete range of PICMG computer boards, Embedded computer boards and systems, and rackmount systems for both OEMs and ODMs. American Portwell is both an ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 13485:2003 certified company. The company is located in Fremont, California. For more information about American Portwell's extensive turnkey and private-label branding solutions, call 1-877-APT-8899, email info@portwell.com or visit us at http://www.portwell.com.


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Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. has added banks including HSBC Holdings Plc and EFG Hermes to help arrange the planned initial public offering of its natural gas business, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
State-owned Adnoc also plans to hire Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank PJSC, Arqaam Capital and International Securities as joint bookrunners on the offering, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information isn't public.
The deal, which could be one of the emirate's largest listings, may happen as soon as the first quarter, though the timing and size may change, the people said. The final list of banks on the IPO may change and Adnoc may hire more banks for the offering, they said.
Goldman Sachs Group, Bank of America, and First Abu Dhabi Bank were already working as joint global coordinators on the proposed listing, Bloomberg News reported in December.
Representatives for Adnoc and all of the banks declined to comment.
A listing of ADNOC Gas would follow a blistering year for shares sales in the Middle East due to high oil prices, favorable macroeconomic conditions, and investor inflows. The region bucked what was the worst slump in global IPO proceeds since the financial crisis as high inflation and interest rate rises sapped investors' appetite for risk.
Emirates Global Aluminium, the Middle East's biggest producer of the metal, may sell shares to the public as soon as the third quarter, one of its biggest shareholders said earlier this week.
ADNOC is combining its liquefied natural gas and gas-processing arms into a new unit called ADNOC Gas. Last week it named executives including Ahmed Mohamed Alebri as chief executive officer.
ADNOC Gas will be one of the world's largest gas-processing entities with a capacity of 10 billion cubic feet a day across eight onshore and offshore sites. It will have a pipeline network of more than 3,250 kilometers (2,019 miles).
The United Arab Emirates is an OPEC member and one of the world's biggest oil exporters. Yet it sees gas as crucial to the global transition toward cleaner forms of energy and is investing billions of dollars to ramp up the production of the fuel.
This article was originally published by Rigzone.com. Read the original article here.


From disco tempo park laps to laid back jib sessions in the streets the Parkboard is a proven punisher. The soft-medium flex is just the right balance between jib feel and control at slower speeds, and the stiffness you need for takeoffs and landings on park jumps. It's got a hard, fast base that can hold up to abuse and hold speed when you're pointing it into and away from those big booters.


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Some Miracles of the Qur'an (2/2)
by al5las · March 11, 2013
Muhammad al-Sayed Muhammad
Published On: 24/2/2013 A.D. – 13/4/1434 H
The Muslims were able to develop such a huge empire because they carried out the teachings and instructions of Islam, the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His prophet (Peace be upon him).
Allah's promise that He made to the Muslims in His Glorious Qur'an was fulfilled because Almighty Allah is the most trustworthy when He makes a promise.
Allah said,
"We have, without doubt, sent down the Message; and We will assuredly guard it (from corruption)." [Surah Al-Hijr, 15: 9]
Over long centuries past, many misled people have tried to distort the Qur'an, but because Allah took over its protection and preservation, they have consistently failed.
One recent attempt was by Zionists. As published in a local newspaper, Israel printed a distorted version of the Holy Qur'an to be published in Muslim countries. Their attempt failed, however, because Allah exposed them, revealed their falsehood and made the whole world lose confidence in them. It became clear that no one could trust them or depend on them, so they gained nothing but shame and loss.
Allah overcomes, preserving his Glorious Book which He sent down upon the last of the prophets and messengers, Muhammad (Peace be upon him).
The Qur'an tells us about a lot of metaphysical issues before they take place, when no one knows about them. The facts of these issues are identical to what is mentioned in the Holy Qur'an.
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) told us about some metaphysical issues that did not occur in his time, yet they were true and accurate, just as he said.
Here are some of the issues that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) told us about:
• News and stories of the ancients, which have since been proven by modern science.
• The Qur'an mentioned news of `Ad and their prophet, Hud (peace be upon him), and how modern science has proven the truth of this information. Also, it mentions news of the people of Lot and their story with their prophet, Lot (peace be upon him). Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) told us how Allah punished them and made the heights of Lot's village the lowest. Allah lifted the village to the sky and turned it over; making the highest parts the lowest as punishment for their misdeeds.
• Modern science has witnessed that what the Qur'an mentioned from the Prophet's lips is true.
• Studies of the sequences of rock layers in the area confirm what the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said about the turning over of the village of Lot's people[1].
The reference to Noah's flood in the Holy Qur'an, as our prophet (Peace be upon him) told us, as well as the ark being preserved as a warning to people, made them remember it. It also reminded us of a lesson from that good prophet and confirmed a metaphysical fact from the past that the Glorious Qur'an informed us about.
Not long ago, the ark was discovered at the top of Mount Judy in south-western Turkey.
The reference to the destruction of the disobedient people of Thamoud's people by a devastating shock is a metaphysical fact from the past that the Glorious Qur'an informed us about more than 1400 years ago from the lips of His prophet, Muhammad (Peace be upon him), the last of all prophets and messengers. Modern science has discovered that there are artifacts which provide proof of this fact[2].
The Prophet (Peace be upon him) told the world about unseen scientific facts that no one had the least information about, more than 1400 years ago—facts which have since been proven by modern science to reveal the accurateness and trustworthiness of what the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said.
Some of the supernatural facts the Prophet (Peace be upon him) referred to typically do just what he said. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:
On the authority of Abu Hurairah, "Every son of Adam will be devoured by dust, except the tailbone (the coccyx); from it he will be recreated on the Day of Resurrection." [Reported by Muslim]
Concerning this hadith, we note that:
• Modern science has discovered that the coccyx does not disintegrate or turn to dust as Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) said. In fact, it is the only part of a dead body that remains after decomposition.
• Modern science also discovered that all parts of the body are formed from this primitive node during the embryonic stage.
• In 1935, Hans Spemann was awarded the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for his discovery of the primary organizer in embryonic development, its role in creating all tissues, organs and systems of the embryo and how it never decays. Thus he was able to prove what Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) had said about it more than 1400 years ago.
• It is thought that Spemann was the first to discover the primary organizer, but the fact is that the first one to mention this scientific fact was Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).
The question now is: who taught the Prophet (Peace be upon him) all this science and why did the Almighty oblige him to tackle these metaphysical issues that no one knew anything about?
Allah knows well that these facts would be discovered one day in the future. So, the hadiths of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) would serve as an amazing synchronicity and true witness that he is a prophet sent by Allah Almighty. He was connected by inspiration to a teacher sent by the Glorious Creator, Allah, the Lord of the whole world.
There are a lot of hadiths from the Prophet (Peace be upon him) that point to many scientific facts and told us about them more than 1400 years ago when no one knew anything about them. They were the reason many western scientists adopted this great religion with which Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), the last of the prophets and messengers, was sent.
Now we are going to talk about some of the metaphysical issues about the future that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) informed us of:
• The murder of Umaya ibn Khalaf (one of the leaders of the unbelievers), which happened.
• The afflictions that would happen by the end of the caliphate of Uthman ibn `Affan (the third caliph) and Ali ibn Abi Talib (the fourth caliph).
• The death of the Negus on a certain day, which happened
• The news about the apostate rebels and the fight against them
• The murder of Ali ibn Abi Talib
• The mastery of al-Hassan and al-Hussain, the sons of Ali ibn Abi Talib. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said they would have to reconcile two parties of Muslims.
• The conquests by sea to Cyprus
• The participation of Umm Haram (a woman contemporary to the Prophet, (Peace be upon him) in a war overseas, and the height of her position
• Fighting the Byzantines
• Fighting the Turks
• Foretelling some things that happened during the Abbasid era
• Foretelling that his daughter, Fatima, would be the first one to die after him
• Foretelling which of his wives would be the first one to die after him
• What happened to the leaders of his army during the invasion of Mu'tah and what happened to Khabbab ibn Adi and the killing of the Qur'anic reciters?
• The strong wind in the Battle of Tabouk about which he warned his companions: whoever responded would be safe and whoever disobeyed would get hurt
• The vastness of the Islamic empire, gaining the treasures of the Byzantine Emperor and the disturbance of the Muslims at the end of their rule
• The liberation of Egypt
• The liberation of Constantinople
Historians agree that these events actually did take place.
All of this news about unseen future events shows for sure that the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is the Prophet of Allah.
This event took place during the year 654, and it lasted for a month or more. It caused the city to shake from an earthquake. Violent sounds were heard before the appearance of this fire, and then the earth gushed forth with a very huge fire.
Those who lived in Basra (Iraq, in the east) said that they saw the necks of their camels glow by the light of the fire that appeared in the land of the Hijaz (the western Arabian Peninsula).
The people of Medina sought shelter in the Prophet's Mosque and repented to Allah from all their sins. They asked Allah's forgiveness, freed slaves and gave alms to the poor and needy.
In the middle of the twentieth century, the truth of what the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said was scientifically discovered. It was proven by the spread of volcanic eruptions along the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The last volcanic eruption in 654 consisted of six new volcanic cones which erupted to a distance of more than 23 kilometers from north to south.
Two huge earthquakes took place in the city of Khaybar, within the span of recorded history, one in the year 460 and the other in the year 654. The last earthquake was preceded by the sound of loud explosions, followed by a huge volcanic eruption. It was accompanied by earthquakes which lasted for about 5 or 6 days at a frequency of ten earthquakes per day. The power of the strongest one is estimated to have measured 5.5 on the Richter scale.
Scientific studies carried out on the area of the Hijaz have explained that the area is definitely going to face volcanic eruptions where the lava will push from craters and faults, as it did before with millions of tons of lava. So it will fill the area with fire and light, and this verifies the prophecy of the Muhammad (Peace be upon him)[3].
In addition to what we have mentioned, there are many other reports of metaphysical future events about which the Prophet (Peace be upon him) informed us, and what happened was exactly what the Prophet (Peace be upon him) foretold.
[1] Al-Naggar, Zaghlul. Scientific Miracles.
[2] Scientific Miracles, by Dr. Zaghlul al-Naggar
[3] Al-Naggar, Zaghlul. Scientific Miracles in the Sunnah.
Tags: Qur'an
Next story The Qur'an: Our Prophet's Greatest Miracle
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We & the Holy Quran
WAY TO THE QUR'AN
Reading the Qur'an as a Quaker
by al5las · Published November 25, 2019


This Clipart Image: "Lady Bug Cartoon PNG Clip Art Image" is part of Cartoons PNG - Gallery Yopriceille category. The image is transparent PNG format with a resolution of 4145x6000 pixels, suitable for design use and personal projects. Its size is 1.77 MB and you can easily and free download it from this link: Download.


This beautiful handmade personalized cat-safe leather cat collar comes with bright-colored tiny metal bell. Available in two sizes: XS and S.
Made out of soft genuine leather, this elegant kitten collar is hand stitched to ensure you're getting a long lasting good quality product.
This collar is personalized with an ID tag. You can get up to four lines of contact information engraved on it depending on ID tag size, which can contain: pet's name, your contact number, address esc.
Elastic strap is designed to allow easy release in case your pet's collar snags on to something.
Color of the bell may vary.


Using 5mm thick glass, this Black Leaf Glass Straight Bong features two blue glass dome percolators to smooth out that hit.
"It has an 18.8 joint, ice notches and comes equipped with a diffuser downtube. It has a small Black Leaf logo near the foot of the tube."
CThis stunning 5mm Weed Star Messias Illusion Ice features a double chamber 3-arm Tree Percolator beneath ice notches and a huge 29.2 size joint. The mouthpiece is subtly worked inside with slim white interweaving lines swirling around inside the rim, while directly beneath it a multitude of glass bubbles decorate the outside of the tube above the frosted WS Series logo.
"With the tube filled with ice behind with the logo and marbled tube, and with the double tree percolators bubbling away and the smoke slowly milking its way into the pipe, this 5mm Messias Illusion Ice 29.2 is truly a magnificent sight to behold."
"Pure Glass Bongs are magnificent examples of the expert craft of making superior percolator bongs, often shied away from by other glass manufacturers due to the intricacy of the work involved and the perceived fragility of the finished product.
Pure Glass are now leading the way with an exemplary selection of high quality glassware featuring smoke-smoothing percolators."


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Tonkin Highway Corridor
Roe Highway to Kelvin Road
Roe Highway to Kelvin Road will be widened, and Hale Road, Welshpool Road and Kelvin Road intersections upgraded, making your drive smoother and safer. Planning and development is underway.
Planning and development is well underway to upgrade Tonkin Highway south of Roe Highway. The project includes widening Tonkin Highway from four to six lanes and upgrading the intersections at Hale Road, Welshpool Road and Kelvin Road, improving safety and reducing delays along this heavily congested route.
Initially, our planning determined that a bridge would be built to take Tonkin Highway over Hale Road with no access ramps to and from Hale Road (Hale Road would still be open for local traffic travelling between Forrestfield and Wattle Grove).
However, following community feedback, we re-examined the options and the design was changed earlier this year to include north facing ramps. This means you will be able to get on and off Tonkin Highway at Hale Road if you are travelling to and from the city (80 per cent of traffic using Hale Road to access Tonkin Highway now is travelling North. View the changes on our video.
For the second consecutive year, we are undertaking environmental surveys, which will provide important information for our environmental approvals process. Our environmental consultants were on site doing some non-intrusive activities, such as recording and looking at waterways, bore locations and vegetation throughout the area.
We met with the Nature Reserves Preservation Group, Friends of Woodlupine Living Stream and Friends of Woodlupine Brook and will be meeting with the Kalamunda Environmental Advisory Committee in coming weeks. The meetings included discussion around avoiding disturbance of native vegetation, threatened flora and fauna, noise mitigation, minimising lighting pollution and revegetation.
Managing water quality was a key topic, and we will be undertaking Baseline Water Quality monitoring (surface and groundwater) to assess pre and post development flows with the objective of retaining or improving quality.
Current progress and next steps
We are currently in the project development phase, which investigates and defines the project's technical scope. This involves assessing the various options for the intersection at Hale Road/ Tonkin Highway.
We have recently updated the concept reference design to incorporate access at Hale Road for local communities travelling to and from the city and the Airport. Find out more in the May Project Update.
A number of activities are now underway to confirm the project scope and include:
initial stakeholder consultation to identify and resolve various issues/constraints
concept design, geotechnical and site investigations, traffic modelling and environmental assessments to inform environmental processes and approvals
Hale road intersection
Hale Road will continue to travel between Forrestfield and Wattle Grove. We have now included north facing ramps in the design so you can travel to and from the city or airport.
We investigated south facing ramps, however they are not a viable option. Low traffic demand does not substantiate the additional costs of adding ramps. Our traffic studies shows there is significantly lower demand to and from the south compared to demand to and from the north for vehicles coming out of Hale Road (both Wattle Grove and Forrestfield).
To access Wattle Grove and Forrestfield from the south, drivers will need to exit at Welshpool Road and likely use Bruce Road or Lewis Roads. We recognises this is currently being used as a rat run to avoid current congestion at Hale Road and Tonkin Highway intersection.
However, we are about to transform the existing Tonkin Highway to a freeway standard link with six lanes. There will be upgrades at Hale Road, Kelvin Road and Welshpool Road creating a free-flowing environment and a safer, more efficient transport route.
Emergency, Trucks and Cyclist/Pedestrian Access
At this stage, we have not been advised of any major issues that will impact timing as emergency vehicles have priority on roads and determine the most appropriate route depending on the time of day.
Cyclists and pedestrians
A new principal shared path will be built to the east of Tonkin Highway from Hale Road to Kelvin Road with links to the local cycle network (in consultation with Local Government). We will be seeking feedback regarding the design from the community.
Trucks and heavy vehicles
Both Welshpool Road East / Tonkin Highway and Kelvin Road / Tonkin Highway intersections will be upgraded. The upgrades will improve capacity and traffic flow and, in turn, reduce the likelihood of trucks seeking alternative routes (including Crystal Brook Road) to avoid congestion.
2020-21: Planning and Development
Construction timeline is subject to environmental and statutory approvals and finalisation of project scope
The entire project will be referred to both Federal and State environmental regulators for assessment. This process involves extensive environmental investigations as well as a public comment period.
We have started liaising with environmental stakeholders and will continue to identify and discuss issues and opportunities.
Additionally, an Urban and Landscape Design Framework will be developed that includes landscaping for the area.
Project update - May 2020 - PDF (987 KB)
YouTube: Tonkin Highway and Hale Road access changes
Roads budget delivers congestion busting solution and WA jobs - 9 May 2019
The Federal ($293 million) and State ($73) Governments have committed funding.
Improve safety and reduce crashes
Ease congestion and improve access
Page last reviewed: 04 November 2020 | Last updated: 29 June 2020


Are you ready for some BHANGRA?
Minnesota Jawani will be hosting their first ever bhangra workshop in the Twin Cities!
This event is open to all ages, so bring kids, parents, grandparents, and anyone!
No dance experience required, let's just have fun!
Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates!
Minnesota Jawani: Our Heritage. Our Passion. Our Story.


Helsinki metropolitan area mayors are encouraging citizens to play their part in tackling climate change as part of a climate training campaign.
The mayors of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen are urging the residents of the Helsinki metropolitan area to make climate-friendly choices in their everyday lives.
Mayors Jan Vapaavuori, Jukka Mäkelä, Ritva Viljanen and Christoffer Masar appear on climate training videos and encourage people to join, speaking about their own ways to do climate training.
Climateinfo, produced by Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY, has developed a climate training online service that anyone can join free-of-charge.
Nearly 70 per cent of Finland's greenhouse gas emissions are generated by households, and therefore residents play key roles in the efforts by cities to achieve their climate goals.
"Climate change is now a household term, and an increasing number of people want to make climate-friendly choices in their lives. However, many people don't know what they should do and what kind of everyday choices really matter," says Mira Soini-Nordström, the project manager of HSY's Climateinfo.
Helsinki metropolitan residents, housing companies and small-to-medium enterprises are encouraged to act on climate change by saving energy, by using renewable energy, with food and in consumption.
Climate training steers participants to make better everyday choices in their living, mobility, food and consumption with the help of personal trainers. The message is that "what's good for the climate is often good for you": increased daily activity to replace driving, eating less meat, sleeping in cooler rooms and ecological relaxing all advance health and wellbeing.
Climate training is meant for all those interested in leading more climate-friendly lives. The training programmes take four weeks each and comprise a weekly letter, training videos, weekly tasks, a closed Facebook group and live chats.
Climateinfo was established in 2010 to turn the climate strategies of the Helsinki metropolitan cities into action and its operations are financed by the Cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen.
The videos in which the mayors encourage residents to join climate training are in Finnish and can be found on the Climateinfo Youtube channel.


Consider this a formal reminder for your Thanksgiving break: bask in whatever community you find yourself in this season, remain mindful of other people traveling to and from thanksgiving celebrations, and wear loose-fitting pants for your second plate of turkey and stuffing.
To pair with the traditional Thanksgiving meal, here are three recipes to help give your holiday a little extra flavor!
What you might not know about Thanksgiving dinner is that the protein (aka the turkey) must be balanced with generous helpings of carbohydrates for maximum food coma after consumption. With this in mind, I suggest a Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Macaroni and Cheese. This loaded dish is the epitome of the American Dream, oozing creamy cheese and optional (but who ever considered bacon optional) bacon toppings. It's a twist on classic Mac!
Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Macaroni and Cheese.
Heat the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat.
Cut the onion into thin rings and add to the butter in the pan. Add the sugar on top.
Saute, stirring occasionally until tender (about thirty minutes).
While sauteing, peel the potatoes, cutting them into large chunks.
Boil the sweet potatoes until completely tender and then drain. Place the potatoes in the blender with the caramelized onions, pepper, broth, paprika, milk and salt to taste.
Pour the sauce over the cooked noodles and add the cheese.
Serve with parsley garnish, if desired.
If you're looking to add some class to your dinner, consider updating your bread rolls with these Rosemary Maple Cornbread Muffins. Rosemary Maple is an unlikely, yet iconic, duo and the cornbread tells your guests, "I will spare no expense to satisfy your soul." Incorporating these muffins into your dinner presentation will only strengthen relationships and bring more warmth and joy into their holiday season.
Preheat oven to 350° F and spray your muffin tin with a nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chopped rosemary.
In another bowl, stir together the milk, honey, maple syrup and vegetable oil.
Mix the dry and wet until just combined. Note: Do not over stir ingredients or else the muffins will become dense.
Fill the prepared muffin cavities ¾ full.
Bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.
Watch guests "ooh" and "ahh" and revel in your incredible hospitality.
What really gets me spiritually excited for Thanksgiving break is my mother's mashed potatoes – light, buttery, keeps me warm on a cold November night. That being said, no mashed potato is absolute perfection. In my humble opinion – though my mother's mashed potatoes make me weep – even the best potatoes have room for improvement, which is why I recommend trying Pesto Mashed Potatoes topped with Pine Nuts.
Place the peeled and cubed potatoes in a saucepan. Cover the potatoes with water then bring to a boil.
Cook until the potatoes are tender, roughly 12 minutes.
Drain the potatoes then place them into a larger bowl.
Mash the potatoes and add the butter and milk.
Beat until smooth. Add more milk if needed.
Stir in the basil pesto and season with salt and pepper.
No matter what your holiday meal looks like, remember it tastes best when shared.


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$900 Million Package announced
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has announced a $900 million package. Pritzker joined members of the Black, Latino, and Asian Caucuses of the state legislature and small business owners to announce the package. The package is a state grant program to help communities and businesses impacted by the pandemic and recent civil unrest.
More than $900 million are included in more than ten programs and four state agencies. They will help the working families and small businesses who have been hit the hardest by COVID-19's economic impacts. On top of the COVID-19 pandemic, the families and small businesses were also hit by recent property damage and civil unrest.
Pritzker said, "We are in a moment that requires a historic effort to mitigate this virus's devastating effects on the health and livelihoods of the residents of this state." He added, "We must do so in a way that prioritizes those who were hurting long before we'd ever heard of COVID-19 – to be there for people who are in need, people who are falling through the cracks, people who never expected themselves to need a helping hand from anyone else – but now they do."
Pritzker said the federal CARES Act and General Assembly partnership including Black Caucus, Latino Caucus, and Asian Caucus, the state government is trying to support the community and businesses with a package of over 900 million dollars. All Illinois residents are impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Households with limited resources are disproportionately affected. Businesses across every industry sector have faced significant economic strain. The new package of grant programs operates with equity requirements to make sure families and businesses receive ongoing support to maintain their livelihoods.
Pritzker announces over $3 million investments to help small businesses overcome COVID-19
JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, announced new investments to help more small businesses. The
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text:
Q: How to SELECT FROM WHERE last record = x? I have 2 different tables:
dossiers (id, name, disp)
dossiers_etat (id, id_dossier, open, incharge, date)
dossiers is very simple, it is a list of names with their id
dossiers_etat is linked to dossiers in a relation 1-N : 1 dossiers can be linked to N dossiers-etat, thanks to a join: dossiers.id = dossiers_etat.id_dossier
I use dossiers_etat as a timeline to record every change of state of my dossiers: 1 dossiers can be open="Y" today, but open="N" yesterday
I can find the last record concerning a dossiers thanks to dossiers_etat.date or dossiers_etat.id (last date and last id show the most recent record)
How can I complete this query to have a list of dossiers that are open="Y" and incharge="-" in their LAST record?
SELECT *
FROM dossiers
JOIN dossiers_etat
ON dossiers.id = dossiers_etat.id_dossier
WHERE dossiers.disp = "Y" AND dossiers_etat.open = "Y" AND dossiers_etat.incharge = "-"
ORDER BY dossiers.id DESC

Thank you very much for your help!

A: try this
SELECT *
FROM dossiers
JOIN dossiers_etat
ON dossiers.id = dossiers_etat.id_dossier
WHERE dossiers.disp = "Y" AND dossiers_etat.open = "Y" AND dossiers_etat.incharge = "-"
ORDER BY dossiers.id DESC
limit 1

A: Try this:
SELECT *
FROM dossiers B
JOIN dossiers_etat as C
ON B.id = C.id_dossier
WHERE B.disp = "Y" AND C.open = "Y" AND C.incharge = "-"
AND C.date = (SELECT max(date) from dossiers_etat WHERE id_dossier = C.id_dossier)
ORDER BY B.id DESC

A: Try this one:
    SELECT
    *
FROM
    dossiers
        JOIN
    dossiers_etat ON dossiers.id = dossiers_etat.id_dossier
WHERE
    dossiers.disp = 'Y'
        AND dossiers_etat.open = 'Y'
        AND dossiers_etat.incharge = '-'
        AND dossiers_etat.id = (SELECT
            *
        FROM
            dossiers_etat
        GROUP BY id_dossiers
        ORDER BY date DESC)
ORDER BY dossiers.id DESC;

With the subselect you will get the id's from your last entries from the dossiers table. And with the outer SELECT you will get all row's which opens the right entry and are also within the last records.


text:
Q: Creating a hierarchical model in Pymc3 I have a hierarchy of how a given variable is to be split into multiple sub-categories
Lets' assume d = 1000, there are 3 categories where this 'd' is to be split with probability as below:
categories = ['c1': 0.3, 'c2':0.3, 'c3':0.4]
Each of the category [c1,c2,c3,c4] has sub-categories which occur with given probabilities:
c1 -> [s1: 0.2, s2: 0.3, s3: 0.3, s4:0.2]
c2 -> [p1: 0.1, p2:0.2, p3:0.2, p4: 0.3, p5: 0.2]
c3-> [t1: 0.4, t2:0.3, t3:0.3]```

Each of these sub-category [s1, s2,...s4], [p1, p2..p5], [t1..t3] are sub-split into 30 days of month, with equal probability

I have modeled d->c relation with a Multinomial, but cannot seem to create a hierarchy all the way to days of month.

Any suggestions would be useful !


text:
In this blog series, our curators, archivists, conservators and learning team will be bringing together works of art from across the Collection under one theme. From armour and jewellery, to portraits and porcelain, read about some of the most fascinating and marvellous pieces in the Collection here.
In this week's blog, we explore some of the more spookier themes found in the Collection... Go forth at your own risk...
Delaroche, Edward V and the Duke of York in the Tower, 1831
In Shakespeare's play, Richard III, the murder of the young Edward V and his brother Richard, Duke of York, in the Tower of London is described by a henchman, rather than shown on stage. However, their deaths are dramatically visualised in this painting, a version of a much larger picture now in the Louvre, Paris.
Edward and Richard were locked up in the Tower of London, reading the Bible, which Richard holds open on Edward's lap. Their dog, possibly a King Charles Spaniel, has noticed the arrival of the murderers and stands looking alert towards the door to the bedchamber. Beneath the door appears an ominous shadow. The young king looks away, unaware of the approaching threat. Yet, his brother seems to listen intently, having perhaps noticed the impending danger. The drama and tension of the scene are almost theatrical and convey to the onlooker the horrible events that are about to unfold.
Alexandre-Gabriel Decamps, The Witches in Macbeth, c.1841–2
The subject of the painting is taken from Shakespeare's Macbeth and depicts the gathering of the three witches, also known as the Three Weird Sisters. The three witches have gathered around a cauldron, hanging over a blazing fire in the middle of a dark room, with the light of a ghostly white moon slipping through the window behind them. Their terrifying figures are illuminated by the flames, revealing their contorted faces. The first witch kneels on the floor spurring the fire on, the second prepares to add a toad to the ghastly contents of the cauldron, and the third raises her arms above her head in a dramatic gesture.
Subjects such as this one provided powerful and inspiring alternatives to the traditions of French classicism and offered young artists new dramatic subject matter. Decamps's interpretation conveys a strong sense of otherworldliness, while his depiction of the three women gives them a sense of evil. It reflects the audiences' beliefs about witches, as women who harm animals and use gruesome ingredients to make their spells. It leaves no doubt as to their connection with evil.
Discover more here.
Lion-mask pauldron, North Italian, c. 1530–50
Armour was an essential part of Renaissance life. Not just equipment for fighting, armour was also an elaborate form of costume. It could be used to hide the mortality of the wearer, to express his personality, or to transform him into something heroic, frightening or even God-like.
Greek and Roman history and mythology was a hugely important source of inspiration for artists, summoning up images of superhuman heroes and infernal monsters. Using these sources, Renaissance armourers worked steel into dynamically expressive forms. One of the most popular was the lion-mask, designed to invoke the Greco-Roman hero Hercules, who wore the skin of the invulnerable Nemean Lion. More generally, the lion-mask symbolised nobility, power and ferocity.
This lion-mask pauldron (shoulder plate), a fragment of a lost armour in the 'Heroic' style, is a good example of the motif. Interestingly, the quality of the workmanship is so beguiling that, perhaps in the seventeenth or eighteenth century, the piece was modified (large holes cut in the eyes and smaller holes punched to take a head band) so that it could be worn as a face-mask, at some forgotten court festivity or mask ball.
Pierre Reymond or his workshop, Limoges plaque with The Last Judgement, mid-16th century
This dramatic depiction of The Last Judgement resonates with the Christian origin of Halloween in All Hallows' Eve, when traditionally the dead are commemorated prior to All Saints Day itself, on which the saints are honoured.
Sixteenth-century Limoges was renowned for painted enamels on copper and Pierre Reymond's workshop was one of the most prolific. In depicting the scene in grisaille (monochrome) the enameller has been faithful to his source, the final print in Dürer's Small Passion woodcut series, but enriched it with gilding. Christ sits in judgement, flanked by trumpeting angels, his head between a lily and a sword, symbolizing purity and justice respectively. The Virgin, accompanied by John the Baptist, petitions on behalf of the souls being judged. Below, angels usher the saved towards heaven while devils push and drag the reluctant damned into hell, its entrance depicted as the gaping jaws of a wild-eyed canine.
Hendrik Hondius the Elder, Death and the Huntsman, 1625
A man on horseback is confronted with Death. In addition to his two hounds, the huntsman is also surrounded by other animals including a toad, a turkey, a porcupine, a goat, and a bull, the latter two poking their heads through the edge of the composition while other unidentified beasts lurk in the background. Their great detail put Hondius the Elder's draughtsmanship on display. The man's lifted gloved hand, where a bird sits, is mirrored by Death's raised skeletal arm. Death points a menacing dart at the huntsman and holds an hourglass in from of him. All the while, twisted around a tree, a serpent offers him an apple, a symbol of sin. It is a momento mori – a reminder of one's own death.
This is a preparatory drawing for an engraving that formed the title page of a set of nineteen prints titled Momento Mori. They depicted skeletons of animals, some of them found all hided and coated in the drawing, accompanied by Latin inscriptions about the passing of time and inevitability of death.
Discover the history of the Wallace Collection, the art collections brought together by the first four marquesses of Hertford and …
Explore the Wallace Collection from the comfort of your home with our latest online content
Discover our collection highlights including paintings, furniture, sculpture, decorative arts and arms and armour...


text:
New backup tools for you
Symantec: Back ups failing? Tell us now
Chapter 5: Maximizing Storage Investments
The new backup tools you can't live without
Using advanced backup management tools, IT execs can get a whole lot savvier about auditing, capacity planning, SLA compliance and more
By Beth Schultz
Network World |
Using advanced backup management tools, IT execs can get a whole lot savvier about auditing, capacity planning, SLA compliance and more.
Heterogeneous backup-management tools are available from various niche vendors including Aptare, Bocada, CommVault and WysDM Software, as well as such infrastructure vendors as EMC and Symantec. An enterprise might be running EMC's Legato Networker, IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager and Symantec's Veritas Backup Exec, but with backup-management software, an IT administrator can get an at-a-glance, big-picture look at what's happened with all those operations from a single console, in real time and historically.
Some vendors take a traditional client/server approach to backup management. An example is EMC's Backup Advisor, in which agents sit on production servers and backup hosts feed system information into the backup-management server residing on the network. More typical is the agentless approach, favored by Bocada, WysDM and others, in which backup-management software gathers statistics through scheduled polling.
These tools are getting ever more sophisticated. In February, start-up Illuminator released Virtual Recovery Engine (VRE), which coordinates reporting of backup applications and other data-protection technologies. In addition, the software associates that information with the application data, so IT executives get an easy view of the backups connected to every data set, says Yishay Yovel, a vice president with the vendor (see screenshot). The initial release provides interfaces to storage arrays and point-in-time copying, replication and backup applications from EMC and Network Appliance.
Better service for SLA management
Given the rise of the dynamic, open New Data Center, products that provide a centralized, heterogeneous view of the data-protection infrastructure are a huge boon. Suddenly, monitoring SLAs gets a lot easier.
WysDM for Backups software, for example, uses a predictive-analysis engine to spot potential SLA problems. The engine learns the normal behavior patterns of the data-protection infrastructure, then flags discrepancies, says Jim McDonald, CTO and co-founder of WysDM Software, one of the pioneers in heterogeneous backup management.
For example, if the engine notices the backup of financial data is taking five minutes longer each night, WysDM for Backups could notify IT that if it doesn't address the situation, it will fall out of SLA compliance in X amount of time. Another example: The engine might notice the absence of a nightly 3GB-file-system backup. Because that doesn't fit normal behavior -- and could put IT out of SLA compliance -- the software would issue an alert, he says. "This is the difference between just having technical output of backup information and providing business protection."
Steve Frewin, storage administrator for TD Banknorth, a banking and financial-services company in Portland, Maine, and wholly owned subsidiary of Toronto-based TD Bank Financial Group, says he is using backup-management functions within Symantec's broader Command Central Service software for a daily health check. That differs from what he had to do in the old days when a server didn't complete its backup within SLA windows: gather the backup's parameters manually.
Having the historical perspective also helps him provide better advice when IT administrators ask how additional data volume would affect the backups. "I can now say, well, we're just barely meeting that SLA now, if you add [100 gigabytes], that's going to be a problem," he says. "Before, all I could say was, 'Well, I think we're out of room' -- that doesn't go far with management."
With these tools, auditing and compliance become painless, some users say. That seems to be the case at Catholic Healthcare Partners (CHP), which uses Bocada's Bocada Enterprise to manage its backup operations and ease audits. "We use Bocada to print reports and say, 'Here you go -- it's done.' We can customize reports to auditors' needs, and that's so much easier than writing long SQL statements to gather the information," says Brian Witsken, the lead storage-management systems engineer for the 30-hospital, nonprofit healthcare system in Cincinnati.
Bocada, one of the first vendors to offer a heterogeneous backup reporting tool, has more than 400 enterprises using its software. According to Nancy Hurley, a vice president with the company, 75% of those users say Bocada reports are essential in helping them pass audits.
Illuminator also pitches itself as an antidote for auditing headaches. With VRE, users can recover application data on request and show exactly what assets are in place and how the data is protected. It also shows the processes in place to fix any problems that occur in the data-protection environment. And if a company can show how well organized it is about its compliance processes, "who knows, then maybe next time the auditor won't even ask [about the processes] and instead just agree to look at the reports," Illuminata's Yovel says.
Getting a charge out of backups
While that remains to be seen, heterogeneous backup-management software is turning into a salve for many other enterprise pain points. Take chargeback and billing, for example. Because the tools provide an enterprise view and offer customizable reporting, it's much easier for IT executives to figure out whose data is taking up how much backup space.
At CHP, Witsken intends to use a new reporting capability in the latest version of Bocada's backup-management software to institute a chargeback program for backup storage, he says. Because Bocada Enterprise 5.0, which began shipping in April, reports on server occupancy, Witsken will be able to use it for an at-a-glance view of how much data each business unit is occupying on the backup storage system, he says.
"We are responsible for a certain amount of data. So, if we set total occupancy on our server at [1TB]; anything over that we will be able to charge back to the customer," Witsken says, noting that CHP hopes to have a chargeback program implemented within six months.
At TD Banknorth, Frewin says centralized backup reporting has slashed the time it takes him to run a monthly virtual chargeback report from three days to a half-hour. While he doesn't use the reports for billing, he says they are critical in helping him understand the data center demographics. "The reports help me figure out on an annual basis what it costs to maintain the data-protection infrastructure and to assess how the business units are using those resources," he says.
Those assessments are quite useful for planning, Frewin says. "The reports highlight who my big users are, and so if I have a change that's coming up or some other data-center activity, I know to look at the resources for those users first because they're the hardest to move. This doesn't necessarily mean they're any more or less important than others, but if you've got a job that runs longer, it's harder to move," he adds.
With the trend, use and volume reports he gets from his Command Central software, Frewin says he acts proactively rather than reactively. He also is beta-testing a stand-alone backup manager: Symantec's recently introduced Veritas Backup Reporter. The specialty software should give him more advanced reporting capabilities than the broader SRM package and help him grapple better with the company's capacity planning needs, Frewin says.
TD Banknorth is expanding its business rapidly, increasing its territory, customer base and types of services offered. As the business has grown, Frewin says he has witnessed 130% year-over-year growth in data backups.
"With a growth curve like that, I have to be able to plan when I'm going to need more equipment, know what backup windows are available, and readily put a finger on problems in the data protection and backup environment. I couldn't just write scripts manually like I used to do," he says.
Better troubleshooting also was a selling point about backup-management software for Peter Amstutz, chief of network design for the Defense Contact Management Agency (DCMA), in Fairfax County, Va. "We wanted to take as much of the human element out of backups as possible," he says.
For that, he selected backup-management software from CommVault, CommNet Service Manager (until recently named QNet Service Manager).
Sophisticated backup management was a must if the agency was to benefit fully from its move from tape backups to disk, Amstutz says. That 100% migration -- unusual as a full-out tape replacement -- occurred over four months beginning in October 2005. Today, two 64TB Network Appliance NearStore R200 Advanced Technology Attachment disk arrays house backup data at the agency's two main U.S. data centers, which support 11,000 users.
Data is replicated for off-site backups using NetApp's SnapMirror software, and backed up locally on disk using CommVault Galaxy. As of this spring, Mimosa Systems' NearPoint continuous data-protection software handles backups for the agency's Microsoft Exchange environment, Amstutz says.
"We set QNet up so that if any jobs fail, it notifies a local administrator. If a job fails more than three times, then it notifies a larger group, including supervisors. That's been quite effective," Amstutz says. A year into the new backup scenario, "we have just one person, on a very part-time basis, monitoring and controlling the entire backup infrastructure from one location," he adds. Previously, DCMA spent eight hours a week on average just handling tapes, he says.
Perhaps the biggest benefit, however, is the peace of mind centralized, heterogeneous backup management brings. As Amstutz says: "I can certainly say that our backups are a lot more reliable now. Before we overhauled the backup infrastructure, we were very uncertain as to whether things were getting backed up at all -- and in some cases, we found that they actually weren't. Now we know for sure."
Advanced back-up management tools
Spun off from the broader storage-resource management market, these tools monitor and report on multiple vendors' backup products.
Aptare StorageConsole
Bocada's Bocada Enterprise
CommVault's CommNet Service Manager
EMC's Backup Advisor
Illuminator's Virtual Recovery Engine
Symantec's Veritas Backup Reporter
WysDM Software's WysDM for Backups
< Previous story: How to save millions (vs. thousands) through optimization | Next story: Virtualization tames the storage beast for vet school >


One woman. One bicycle. One amazing goal.
2018 World's fastest person on a bicycle at 183.9mph.
On September 16, 2018, Denise Korenek (Mueller) broke the overall (men's) record of 167 mph with 183.9mph!!
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What is the Paced Bicycle Land Speed Record?
Bicycle records set when the cyclist drafts (rides) behind a motor vehicle to minimize wind resistance. The vehicle is usually modified slightly by adding a tail fairing (an exterior structure) to keep the wind off the cyclist who is riding behind it.
This type of record was invented by Charles "Mile-a-Minute Murphy" who drafted a train to set a 60 mph record at end of the 19th century. In order to accomplish this feat, a mile of plywood sheets was attached to the railroad ties ensuring that Charles would have a smooth surface riding behind the train.
In 1938, Alfred Letourneur reached 91mph at a velodrome in France riding behind a motorbike.
In 1985, Denise's coach and 3 time Olympian, John Howard, set the record at 152 mph riding behind a dragster car at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.
In three separate centuries, less than a dozen people have set a bicycle land speed record.
On September 14-17, 2018 Denise Korenek will attempt to break the overall (men's) record of 167mph following her setting a FIRST ever women's record in 2016 at 147mph! She will be using the same vehicle the current men's record holder, Fred Rompelberg, used to set his record.
Denise has an inner drive "To Be Fastest!." She describes the moment when the concept of being the first woman to set a Land Speed Record on a bicycle was presented as an epiphany similar to the explosiveness of "a match being thrown on gasoline." There was no looking back. After accomplishing her goal in 2016, that same drive pushed her to raise the bar on the goal to the next level in 2018 … to break the overall (men's) record of 167mph!
Denise raced bicycles as a teenage under the coaching of both Coach Doreen Williams (Smith), and Coach John Howard. Denise accumulated 13 national championship & 2 World Championship podiums before "retiring" her bicycle racing days to enter the family security business (www.RSFsecurity.com) and raise a family. Twenty three years later, she came out of "retirement" and started racing after meeting back up with her coach, John Howard, who convinced Denise to get back on the bike to ride a Challenged Athletes Foundation charity ride.
Coach John Howard, who is a 3-time Olympian and member of the US Cycling Hall of Fame, found that spark still in Denise who was now in her 40's that she had when she was a teenager. John approached Denise about the idea of being the FIRST WOMAN ever to set a record that he had set himself over 30 years ago at 152.2 mph. So with a goal of being the FIRST WOMAN ever, spanning three separate centuries, Denise had a huge goal to focus on.
Racing bicycles and cars, Denise is no stranger to speed and adrenaline. Combining her competitive drive with her natural athletic abilities, this land speed record is the perfect goal for Denise to strive to accomplish.
Denise has also finished on the podium in her other sport love- motor racing. She drives go-karts, rides off-road motorcycles and has even had a run on the Bonneville Salt Flats in her modified Mini Cooper.
Denise's personal journey will provide an inspiration to other women (and men) to follow their dreams no matter what life path they have traveled.
In 2016 Denise may have set the first women's record of 147mph, but 2017 proved to be quite and exciting year as well. She had a terrible bicycle training crash where she broke her shoulder blade and a rib, she ran the Great Wall of China Marathon, she met and married the man of her dreams in 111 days & was shot in the leg at a firearms competition. Nothing seems to slow Denise down; especially when she has a goal in her sights … breaking the overall paced land speed record in September 2018 is certainly that goal!
Denise is a mother of 3 adult sons and currently the CEO and second generation in the family security business. Finding a balance between responsible adult life as a mother and career woman, and training for such a huge goal has had its challenges, but has also been the most rewarding.
John is a legend in American bicycle racing.
Denise is no stranger to speed.
No, They Weren't Crazy, but… Paced cycling events have been a part of the fabric of bicycle racing from the early days of the sport. As early as the 1870s, cyclists began pushing their high wheel "Penny Farthings" for more speed on banked tracks. The first pacing of cyclists was accomplished with human pace, teams of powerful racers pacing from tandems and triplets. The advent of the motorcycle, automobile and airplane (each brought to life through the guts and gears of bicycles) accelerated the pursuit of the bicycle-powered 'need for speed'. Project Speed was created to break a world record.
60 mph – Drafting behind a train (boards placed along the tracks) – Nationality: USA.
76 mph – Nationality: Belgium.
80 mph – Nationality: France.
100 mph – Pedaling behind a midget race car – Nationality: France.
87 mph – Nationality: France.
127 mph – Nationality: France.
140 mph – Cycling behind a Chevy dragster in the Bonneville Salt Flats – Nationality: USA.
152.2 mph – Cycling behind a race car in the Bonneville Salt Flats – Nationality: USA.
167 mph – Cycling behind a race car in the Bonneville Salt Flats – Nationality: Netherlands.
147.7 mph – First Women's Record Holder – Nationality: USA.
The bicycle Denise will use is sponsored by KHS Bicycles (www.KHSbicycles.com) and custom designed for this record. It will have 17″ high speed rated motorcycle wheels & tires to help reduce the center of gravity.
The frame is elongated for stability and utilizes a "short travel" suspension to dampen high speed vibration. It will also be fitted with a steering stabilizer to eliminate any speed wobble at high speeds. The bicycle is hand made by Len Lochmiller from San Diego in conjunction with SD Wheelworks (www.SDWheelworks.com) in San Diego.
The double reduction gearing and drivetrain is custom made by Todd Schusterman of Davinci Designs www.DavinciTandem.com to allow Denise to pedal the bicycle at a rpm that allows her to provide the necessary power to achieve 168mph.
CBS 8 San Diego: Denise Korenek (Mueller) is a true believer.
1. What is the appeal of the Land Speed Record?
It is uncharted territory. Something no Woman has done before, yet men have been setting these records starting with Charlie "Mike a minute" Murphy in 1899 The record has been broken about a half dozen times since. My coach and friend John Howard set the record in 1985 @ 152 MPH. I want to give women a voice on my bike at Bonneville. I want to be the fastest woman on a bicycle.
2. What is the special appeal of Bonneville?
Bonneville is shrine of speed, the mecca of all things fast. I'm an Adrenaline junkie so I view the Land Speed Record as part of my destiny. To do it on Bonneville is not only necessary for safety at the speed goal of 140mph, but an honor to share with so many other amazing people that have set other speed records.
3. Who is your team?
Yes, it's all about the team. My coach John Howard keeps me fit and on point with my training and racing. Working with Fred Rompelberg to use his current record holder car is essential for creating a draft. The driver is critical for propelling the draft, (and I'd love to have a renowned driver pace me) my mechanics prep the car for speed and safety, and the USFRA and Guinness sanction our record and make it official.
4. What sort of speed are you looking to do?
The current record for Men is 167mph. I am looking to go 140mph or better, although the final speed will have a lot to do with the condition of the salt on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
5. How did this idea come up?
My coach, John Howard brought the idea up to me over lunch in late 2012. Since he had broken the record in 1985, he knows what is physically and mentally required in someone to go after this record. Having been my coach since 1987, John knew I had what it took to go after this record. I hadn't thought about going after a Land Speed Record until John brought up the concept. Once he did, I immediately wondered why I hadn't thought about it before. I was completely on board from the first mention of it!
6. How are you training for this?
Bicycle racing, fitness training & speed workouts on the Velodrome. We will be doing more motor pacing behind a motorcycle to help simulate the high speed in-draft element.
7. What is special about the bike used ?
8. Is there a current women's land speed record?
No, we will be the first!
9. Who will drive the car?
There are many available options for this position, but we would like to secure an experienced female race car driver.
10. How do you communicate with the driver?
There will be a two-way radio system in the helmets of the race car driver & myself.
11. What type of gearing is necessary to do this?
The gearing will be similar to what John Howard used for his record, which was around 130 feet per revolution of the pedals. It will be a double reduction single gear set up. The final gearing will be customized to optimize my particular physical pedal power efficiency.
12. What will you wear?
I will be wearing a custom made Leather & Lycra racing suit designed to allow the movement of my legs and to allow me to pedal fast while having protection in all the necessary areas.
13. What issues may cause this to not happen?
Wet weather will make it unable to ride on the Bonneville Salt Flats.
14. I hear you are towed, why is that?
In the same way previous men's records have been done, I will be towed to allow my legs to turn the enormous gear over under my own power. Since the bike has only a single gear, it is impossible to have one gear that is used at 10mph all the way up to 140mph. The gearing has to be setup so that it is most efficient at the highest speed. Think of it as a racecar that only has 4th gear to create a record. That car could not start in 4th gear, so as is customary in setting speed records, there is assistance in getting it to a point that it can run under its own power in that high gear. It is the same theory.
15. Is there a charity involved?
Yes, we are partnered with World Fit (WorldFit.org) which is the Olympic Alumni Charity that focuses on the eradication of Childhood Obesity thru fitness and improved health.
16. What are your accomplishments?
I started racing bicycles in 1987 as a junior athlete. At the end of 1991 I "retired" from racing with 13 National Championship titles in 3 bicycle disciplines (Road, Velodrome & Mountain Bike) along with 2 World Championship podium finishes. During my 23 year retirement, I raised a family, ran my family business and stayed in shape by running marathons and finishing an Ironman Triathlon. In 2014 I entered the bicycle racing arena once again and earned another National Championship in the Criterium. Having raced as a downhill mountain biker in the early 1990's, the thrill of adrenaline is still an inherent part of who I am and is a driving force behind setting this Land Speed Record.
17. How far do you have to go & how long will it take?
The official distance for the timing trap is one mile after approximately a 3 mile lead up distance to get up to speed and under my own power. It will take approximately 25 seconds to go the one mile at my target speed of 140mph!
13. Tell us about the type of car that is used?
We will be using the same car that the current men's record holder used. It is a 1000 horsepower converted rail dragster with a faring attached which will allow me to draft closely in the slipstream.
19. What happens if you get out of the draft?
Hitting a 140mph wall of air will knock me off my bike.
20. What happens if you crash?
We take all precautionary measures, such as the special suit and we practice.
21. John Howard: Why do you believe in Denise?
Denise believes in herself and her spirit is indomitable. She has the heart and soul of a champion.
To make this dream a reality, we are fundraising to help offset some of the large expenses involved in attaining this goal, including pace car, custom bicycle, training, travel, etc. We ask that you provide generous support, and also follow along for this historic ride. We are offering many fantastic perks for your 501c3 donation!
We would be delighted to hear from you regarding any questions about the event, sponsorship opportunities, or even just to send a shout of support to Denise as she prepares for this awesome challenge!


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