[BTvS General] Report: Brit Tzedek Activists Organize, Advocate in DC!
Rep. Susan Davis (CA), chief sponsor of H.Res.143, the Mideast envoy resolution, addresses a crowd of over 200 at Brit Tzedek's Congressional reception.
From June 16th to 19th, 120 Brit Tzedek activists from across the country converged in Washington, D.C. to take part in four intense days of organizing, training, networking, and advocating in support of our pro-Israel, pro-peace message. For the first time ever, the Grassroots Leadership Training Institute and National Advocacy Days brought together the twin pillars of Brit Tzedek's mission: organizing American Jews and advocating for a two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Photos from DC - Testimonials from participants - Media coverage - Congressional Reception Transcript and Audio - Agenda and Workshops - Donate to Brit Tzedek!
The GLTI opening plenary on organizing in the American Jewish community. L to R: Carinne Luck, Hadar Susskind, Debbie Stillman, and Daniel Sieradski.
that highlighted our grassroots successes from the past year and illustrated the ways in which Brit Tzedek chapters and activists continue to create significant change within the American Jewish community vis a vis the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. While she acknowledged that we have much work ahead of us, Carinne also reminded the grassroots leaders in attendance to recognize and celebrate their accomplishments too!
President-elect Steve Masters and Rabbi Scott Weiner lead a workshop on "Finding Allies and Building Relationships with Jewish Communal Organizations and Synagogues."
participants learned from experienced leaders within their field and each other about how to build and sustain Brit Tzedek's pro-Israel, pro-peace movement in their local community. Click here for a full list of workshops offered.
During lunch, we heard from Chapter Development Chair Cherie Brown on the importance of building relationships to grassroots activism, and the GLTI concluded Sunday afternoon with a plenary session on "Let's Talk! - Communicating the Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace Message" with Brit Tzedek Secretary Aaron Ahuvia and Cherie Brown.
Throughout the GLTI, we took a few moments to thank and honor those individuals who have been particularly significant in the growth of Brit Tzedek and would soon be moving on from their various positions. We honored all of our founding members, in particular our founding president Marcia Freedman, who steps down this November after five years of incredible leadership. We also thanked Carinne Luck, our former Director of Grassroots and Chapter Development, for her three years of dedicated work and commitment to the growth of Brit Tzedek's chapters and grassroots strategy. We wish them all the best of luck in their journeys ahead!
On Sunday night, June 17, we transitioned from the local to the national (and international), as Brit Tzedek's National Advocacy Days 2007 (NAD) began with an incredibly lively panel debate featuring Mideast policy experts Daniel Levy, Ziad Asali, and Mara Rudman. While the original topic slated for discussion was "peace developments in the region," the prior weeks' events, including Hamas' military takeover in Gaza and the breakdown of the Palestinian unity government, dominated the conversation. The three speakers differed sharply on how to best move forward. Ms. Rudman and Dr. Asali argued that the U.S. should capitalize on and support the non-Hamas emergency government formed by Abbas, while Mr. Levy countered that isolating Hamas is dangerous and real progress depends on the re-formation of a Palestinian unity government with deeper power-sharing. Nevertheless, all three panelists agreed that our end goal remains the same: a negotiated two-state resolution and vigorous U.S. leadership to bring it about.
The next morning, Diane Balser, National Advocacy Chair, kicked off Monday's briefing sessions with a powerful presentation on the meaning of grassroots advocacy for a two-state solution and the importance of speaking in one voice. Rob Levy, Brit Tzedek's Washington Representative, followed with a play-by-play of the past year's legislative victories for the pro-Israel, pro-peace forces in Washington, from moderating the punitive Palestinian sanctions bill in spring 2006 to the introduction of the Feinstein Mideast peace resolution just last month.
The Illinois delegation strategizes for their meetings, which would end up very successful. Both Jewish Chicago Reps., Rahm Emanuel and Jan Schakowsky, would become cosponsors to H.Res.143, the Mideast envoy resolution.
up-to-date account of the State Department's efforts to reinvigorate the peace process, and Reva Price, senior advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, discussed Speaker Pelosi's role on the Israeli-Palestinian issue in Congress as well as her recent trip to Syria and the ensuing controversies.
On Monday afternoon, we closed the doors to outside voices and focused on our own. Diane Balser and Rob Levy went point by point through Brit Tzedek's talking points for Congressional meetings, which were printed that morning in order to be as current as possible. Steve Masters, Brit Tzedek president-elect, led an interactive training on how to hold a Congressional meeting, approach different types of Members, and stay "on message." NAD participants Phil Rosen, Rabbi Ben Biber, Yael Samuel, and Molly Freeman demonstrated how to hold a Congressional meeting in a roleplay with "Congresswoman" Diane Balser. Finally, in a whirlwind of advocacy strategizing, each grassroots delegation sat down together to review their Member's pro-Israel, pro-peace voting record and prepare for their meeting.
Brit Tzedek's Congressional Reception in the Rayburn Foyer.
After an intense day of training and strategizing, we put down our talking points and raised our glasses for Brit Tzedek's annual National Advocacy Days Congressional Reception on Capitol Hill. This year's reception featured three esteemed speakers: Reps. Lois Capps (CA), David Price (NC), and Susan Davis (CA). We also welcomed Reps. Jerry Nadler (NY) and Jim Moran (VA) during the reception.
Andy Silver, Sharon Goldberg, Rep. David Price (NC), and Joe Elinoff at the reception - all constituents of Rep. Price.
The reception concluded as Congresswoman Susan Davis, chief sponsor of the Mideast envoy resolution that Brit Tzedek strongly supports, took the podium to deafening applause from the crowd. In the words of Davis, "That cheer made putting in the resolution all worthwhile." The crowd listened closely as Davis recounted her former days as a kibbutznik and later as a social worker in Israel. She urged us to continue our advocacy and promised she would do the same. "I will continue to work hard so that that peace that's been so elusive, hopefully in the next number of years, finds its way to the entire region and that we really can look to a day that Israelis and Palestinians and their neighbors can live in peace." Click here for a full transcript and audio recording of the reception.
Brit Tzedek's NY delegation meets with Rep. Gary Ackerman (NY), chair of the Middle East Subcommittee. From L to R: Adam Esrig, Kobi Skolnick, Rep. Ackerman, Shirley Rausher, Harry Jellinek, Rob Levy, Raymond Hakimi.
On Tuesday, June 19th, Brit Tzedek activists took part in over 100 meetings across Capitol Hill, including over 30 meetings with Members of Congress in person! We asked Representatives to cosponsor H.Res.143, Rep. Susan Davis' resolution calling on President Bush to appoint a special envoy for Middle East peace, and we called on Senators to sign on to S.Res.224, the Feinstein/Lugar resolution calling for vigorous U.S. engagement to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Our advocacy has already made an impact!
Just two weeks since we left D.C. and 12 new Representatives have signed on to the Davis resolution, including prominent Jewish Reps. Rahm Emanuel (IL) and Jan Schakowsky (IL), and 4 new Senators have signed on to the Feinstein/Lugar resolution. Of those 16 new cosponsors, Brit Tzedek activists met with 10 of them during National Advocacy Days, and many offices informed us that our meetings were critical in convincing them to sign on!
Brit Tzedek delegates with Congressman Sam Farr (CA), a new cosponsor to H.Res.143. From L to R: Howie Schneider, Rep. Farr, David Albert, Eileen Ascher.
Baird (D-WA), Allen (D-ME), Hill (D-IN)*, Farr (D-CA)*, Markey (D-MA)*, Johnson (D-GA)*, Moore (D-KS)*, Lee (D-CA)*, Emanuel (D-IL)*, Schakowsky (D-IL)*, Woolsey (D-CA), and Stark (D-CA).
We are especially pleased to announce that Rhode Island has become the first state to have both Senators (Whitehouse and Reed) sign on as cosponsors of S.Res.224! A deep congratulations and "mazel tov" goes out to the entire Rhode Island chapter for an outstanding display of grassroots advocacy!
Now, we return to our communities with renewed energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration for the work of Brit Tzedek. Even when recent events have been so alarming in the Middle East with the collapse of the Palestinian unity government and increased violence between Hamas and Fatah, here in the United States, the winds are turning in a new direction thanks to all of you, the true backbone of Brit Tzedek, our grassroots leaders.
Donate to Brit Tzedek so we can come back next year even stronger!
Events like the Grassroots Leadership Training Institute and National Advocacy Days require a great deal of staff time and resources. Please donate to Brit Tzedek and help us convey our pro-Israel, pro-peace message throughout the Jewish community and the halls of Congress. Click here to donate now!


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After whitening, teeth never adopt their old colour. This is very clearly seen when treating only one jaw, since the other is used for comparison.
In order to maintain the best possible color we recommend regular washing with toothbrush and paste, dental floss, inter-dental toothbrushes and occasional overnight whitening with gel placed in trays or patches.
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However, if the degree of destruction of the tooth is bigger /for example, there are multiple cavities/ and the sound base is insufficient for supporting the veneers, treatment using crowns of pure ceramics or zirconia is recommended.
Zirconia crowns and bridges gain great popularity in the dental treatment. These crowns possess high adaptability regarding their colour and transparency; they are wear-resistant and have perfect marginal integration. They emerge from the gum as a natural tooth, preventing the "black metal tattoo line" which many patients complain of, wearing porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns (PFM crowns).
The dental technicians fabricate the zirconia crowns from zirconia ingots using a special technology known as cad-cam. The plaster models are scanned in advance and the tooth shape is uploaded on a computer. Zirconia crowns are recommended always when there are missing teeth and fabrication of a bridge is necessary or when a single crown is needed.
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Consultation with our doctors is required for choosing the most appropriate material for your mouth. The choice depends on the dentist's knowledge, the present teeth in the patient's mouth, the gingival biotype, the occlusion (bite) type, the finances available, etc.
Bonding is a quick way for correcting slightly chipped-off, abraded, darkened, crooked or gapped teeth. A light-curing resin is placed on the teeth for improving their appearance since there is a variety of colours close to the natural teeth colour.
It is cheaper than other cosmetic procedures and may be performed within one visit. Sometimes, there might be staining in-between teeth and then, in-office Air-flow cleaning is necessary or teeth-chipping that can be restored - and again in-office.
Hence, it is used in an urgent need of a beautiful smile. If the aesthetic expectations of the patient are very high, it is better to use ceramic veneers or crowns.


text:
Pattern theory: translation
Pattern theory, formulated by Ulf Grenander, is a mathematical formalism to describe knowledge of the world as patterns. It differs from other approaches to artificial intelligence in that it does not begin by prescribing algorithms and machinery to recognize and classify patterns; rather, it prescribes a vocabulary to articulate and recast the pattern concepts in precise language.
In addition to the new algebraic vocabulary, its statistical approach was novel in its aim to:
* Identify the hidden variables of a data set using real world data rather than artificial stimuli, which was commonplace at the time.
* Formulate prior distributions for hidden variables and models for the observed variables that form the vertices of a Gibbs-like graph.
* Study the randomness and variability of these graphs.
* Create the basic classes of stochastic models applied by listing the deformations of the patterns.
* Synthesize (sample) from the models, not just analyze signals with it.Broad in its mathematical coverage, Pattern Theory spans algebra and statistics, as well as local topological and global entropic properties.
The Brown University Pattern Theory Group was formed in 1972 by Ulf Grenander. Many mathematicians are currently working in this group, noteworthy among them being the Fields Medalist David Mumford. Mumford regards Grenander as his "guru" in this subject.
Algebraic foundations
We begin with an example to motivate the algebraic definitions that follows.
:Example 1 Grammar
:If we want to represent language patterns, the most immediate candidate for primitives might be words. However, such phrases as "in order to" immediately obviates the inappropriateness of words as atomics. In searching for other primitives, we might try the rules of grammar. We can represent grammars as Finite State Automata or Context-Free Grammars. Below is a sample Finite State grammar automaton
:The following phrases are generated from a few simple rules of the automaton and programming code in pattern theory::: "the boy who owned the small cottage went to the deep forest":: "the prince walked to the lake":: "the girl walked to the lake and the princess went to the lake":: "the pretty prince walked to the dark forest":To create such sentences, rewriting rules in Finite State Automatons act as "generators" to create the sentences as follows: if a machine starts in state 1, it goes to state 2 and writes the word "the". From state 2, it writes one of 4 words: prince, boy, princess, girl. Such a simplistic automaton occasionally generates more awkward sentences :: "the evil evil prince walked to the lake":: "the prince walked to the dark forest and the prince walked to a forest and the princess who lived in some big small big cottage who owned the small big small house went to a forest"
:From the finite state diagram we can infer the following "generators" (left) that creates the signal. A generator is a 4-tuple: current state, next state, word written, probability of written word when there are multiple choices.
:Imagine that a "configuration" of generators are strung together linearly so its output forms a sentence, so each generator "bonds" to the generators before and after it. Denote these bonds as 1a,1b,2a,2b,…12a,12b. Each numerical label corresponds to the automaton's state and each letter "a" and "b" corresponds to the inbound and outbound bonds. Then the following bond table (right) is equivalent to the automaton diagram. For the sake of simplicity, only half of the bond table is shown -- the table is actually symmetric.
As one can tell from this example, and typical of signals we study, identifying the primitives and bond tables require some thought. The example highlights another important fact not readily apparent in other signals modalities: that a configuration is not the signal we observe; rather, we observe its image as a sentence. Herein lies a significant justification to distinguish an observable from a non-observable construct. Additionally, it gives us an algebraic structure to associate our Hidden Markov Models with. In sensory modalities such as the vision example below, the hidden configurations and observed images are much more similar that such a distinction may not seem justified. Fortunately, we have the Grammar example to remind us of this distinction.
Motivated by the example, we have the following definitions:
1. A generator g{in}G, drawn as :is the primitive of Pattern Theory that generates the observed signal. Structurally, it is a value with interfaces, called bonds b{in}B, which connects the g's to form a signal generator. 2 neighboring generators are connected when their bond values are the same. Similarity self-maps s{in}S s: G -> G express the invariances of the world we are looking at, such as rigid body transformations, or scaling.
2. Bonds glue generators into a configuration, c, which creates the signal against a backdrop Σ, with global features described locally by a bond coupling table called ho. The boolean function ho is the principal component of the regularity 4-tuple ho,Σ>, which is defined as
: ho(c) = prod_{ ext{neighboring bonds }b',b" in c } ho(b',b" ).
Regularity is designed to capture the notion of the global feature of interest on a local scale.
3. An image (C mod R) captures the notion of an observed Configuration, as opposed to one which exists independently from any perceptual apparatus. Images are configurations distinguished only by their external bonds, inheriting the configuration's composition and similarities transformations. Formally, images are equivalence classes partitioned by an Identification Rule "~" with 3 properties:
# ext(c) = ext(c') whenever c~c'
# sc~sc' whenever c~c'
# sigma(c1,c2) ~ sigma(c1',c2') whenever c1~c1', c2~c2' are all regular.A configuration corresponding to a physical stimulus may have many images, corresponding to many observer perception's identification rule.
4. A pattern is the repeatable components of an image, defined as the S-invariant subset of an image. Similarities are reference transformations we use to define patterns, eg. rigid body transformations. At first glance, this definition seems suited for only texture patterns where the minimal sub-image is repeated over and over again. If we were to view an image of an object such as a dog, its is not repeated, yet seem like it seems familiar and should be a pattern. (Help needed here).
5. A deformation is a transformation of the original image that accounts for the noise in the environment and error in the perceptual apparatus. Grenander identifies 4 types of deformations: noise and blur, multi-scale superposition, domain warping, and interruptions.
:Example 2 Directed boundary
:This configuration of generators generating the image is created by primitives woven together by the bonding table, and perceived by an observer with the identification rule that maps non "0" & "1" generators to a single boundary element. Nine other undepicted generators are created by rotating each of the non-"0"&"1" generators by 90 degrees. Keeping the feature of "directed boundaries" in mind, the generators are cooked with some thought and is interpreted as follows: the "0" generator corresponds to interior elements, "1" to the exterior, "2" and its rotations are straight elements, and the remainder are the turning elements.
:With Boolean regularity defined as Product (all nbr bonds), any configurations with even a single generator violating the bond table is discarded from consideration. Thus only features in its purest form with all neighboring generators adhering to the bond table are allowed. This stringent condition can be relaxed using probability measures instead of Boolean bond tables. ::p(c) = prod_{ ext{neighboring bonds }b',b" in c } A(b',b" )
:The new regularity no longer dictates a perfect directed boundary, but it defines a probability of a configuration in terms of the Acceptor function A(). Such configurations are allowed to have impurities and imperfections with respect to the feature of interest.
With the benefit of being given generators and complete bond tables, a difficult part of pattern analysis is done. In tackling a new class of signals and features, the task of devising the generators and bond table is much more difficult
Again, just as in grammars, identifying the generators and bond tables require some thought. Just as subtle is the fact that a configuration is not the signal we observe. Rather, we observe its image as silhouette projections of the identification rule.
to be expanded !
PT defines order in terms of the feature of interest given by "p"("c").
: Energy("c") = −log "P"("c")
Grenander's Pattern Theory treatment of Bayesian inference in seems to be skewed towards on image reconstruction (eg. content addressable memory). That is given image I-deformed, find I. However, Mumford's interpretation of Pattern Theory is broader and he defines PT to include many more well-known statistical methods. Mumford's criteria for inclusion of a topic as Pattern Theory are those methods "characterized by common techniques and motivations", such as the HMM, EM algorithm, dynamic programming circle of ideas. Topics in this section will reflect Mumford's treatment of Pattern Theory. His principle of statistical Pattern Theory are the following:
* Use real world signals rather than constructed ones to infer the hidden states of interest.
* Such signals contain too much complexity and artifacts to succumb to a purely deterministic analysis, so employ stochastic methods too.
* Respect the natural structure of the signal, including any symmetries, independence of parts, marginals on key statistics. Validate by sampling from the derived models by and infer hidden states with Bayes' rule.
* Across all modalities, a limited family of deformations distort the "pure patterns" into real world signals.
* Stochastic factors affecting an observation show strong conditional independence.
Statistical PT makes ubiquitous use of conditional probability in the form of Bayes theorem and Markov Models. Both these concepts are used to express the relation between hidden states (configurations) and observed states (images). Markov Models also captures the local properties of the stimulus, reminiscent of the purpose of bond table for regularity.
The generic set up is the following:Let "s" = the hidden state of the data that we wish to know. "i" = observed image. Bayes theorem gives
:: "p" ("s" | "i" ) "p"("i") = "p" ("s", "i" ) = "p" ("i"|"s" ) "p"("s")
:To analyze the signal (recognition): fix i, maximize p, infer s.:To synthesize signals (sampling): fix s, generate i's, compare w/ real world images
The following conditional probability examples illustrates these methods in action:
Conditional probability for local properties
N-gram Text Strings: See Mumford's Pattern Theory by Examples, Chapter 1.
MAP ~ MDL (MDL offers a glimpse of why the MAP probabilistic formulation make sense analytically)
Conditional probability for hidden-observed states
Bayes Theorem for Machine translation Supposing we want to translate French sentences to English. Here, the hidden configurations are English sentences and the observed signal they generate are French sentences. Bayes theorem gives "p"("e"|"f")"p"("f") = "p"("e", "f") = "p"("f"|"e")"p"("e") and reduces to the fundamental equation of machine translation: maximize "p"("e"|"f") = "p"("f"|"e")"p"("e") over the appropriate "e" (note that "p"("f") is independent of "e", and so drops out when we maximize over "e"). This reduces the problem to three main calculations for:
# "p"("e") for any given "e", using the "N"-gram method and dynamic programming
# "p"("f"|"e") for any given "e" and "f", using alignments and an expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm
# "e" that maximizes the product of 1 and 2, again, using dynamic programming The analysis seems to be symmetric with respect to the two languages, and if we think can calculate "p"("f"|"e"), why not turn the analysis around and calculate "p"("e"|"f") directly? The reason is that during the calculation of "p"("f"|"e") the asymmetric assumption is made that source sentence be well formed and we cannot make any such assumption about the target translation because we do not know what it will translate into.
We now focus on "p"("f"|"e") in the three-part decomposition above. The other two parts, "p"("e") and maximizing "e", uses similar techniques as the "N"-gram model. Given a French-English translation from a large training data set (such data sets exists from the Canadian parliament), NULL And the program has been implemented Le programme a ete mis en applicationthe sentence pair can be encoded as an "alignment" (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6) that reads as follows: the first word in French comes from the second English word, the second word in French comes from the 3rd English word, and so forth. Although an alignment is a straight forward encoding of the translation, a more computationally convenient approach to an alignment is to break it down into four parameters:
# "Fertility": the number of words in the French string that will be connected to it. Eg. "n"( 3 | implemented ) = probability that "implemented" translates into three words – the word's fertility
# "Spuriousness": we introduce the artifact NULL as a word to represent the probability of tossing in a spurious French word. Eg. p1 and its complement will be "p"0 = 1 − "p"1.
# "Translation": the translated version of each word. Eg. "t"("a" | has ) = translation probability that the English "has" translates into the French "a".
# "Distortion": the actual positions in the French string that these words will occupy. Eg. "d"( 5 | 2, 4, 6 ) = distortion of second position French word moving into the fifth position English word for a four-word English sentence and a six-word French sentence. We encode the alignments this way to easily represent and extract priors from our training data and the new formula becomes"p"("f"|"e" ) = Sum over all possible alignments an of "p"("a", "f" | "e" ) =
:: = n_0(v_0 | sum_{j=1}^{l}{v_j} )cdot prod_{j=1}^{l} n(v_j | e_j)v_j! cdot prod_{j=1}^{m} t(f_j | e_{a_j}) cdot prod_{j:a_j ot =0}^{m} d(j | a_j,l,m). ,
For the sake of simplicity in demonstrating an EM algorithm, we shall go through a simple calculation involving only translation probabilities "t"(), but needless to say that it the method applies to all parameters in their full glory. Consider the simplified case (1) without the NULL word (2) where every word has fertility 1 and (3) there are no distortion probabilities. Our training data corpus will contain two-sentence pairs: "bc" → "xy" and "b" → "y". The translation of a two-word English sentence "b c" into the French sentence ""x y"" has two possible alignments, and including the one-sentence words, the alignments are: b c b c b
| x
x y x y ycalled Parallel, Crossed, and Singleton respectively.
To illustrate an EM algorithm, first set the desired parameter uniformly, that is
: "t"("x" | "b" ) = "t"("y" | "b" ) = "t"("x" | "c" ) = "t"("y" | "c" ) = ½
Then EM iterates as followsThe alignment probability for the "crossing alignment" (where "b" connects to "y") got a boost from the second sentence pair "b"/"y". That further solidified "t"("y" | "b"), but as a side effect also boosted "t"("x" | "c"), because "x" connects to "c" in that same "crossing alignment." The effect of boosting "t"("x" | "c") necessarily means downgrading "t"("y" | "c") because they sum to one. So, even though "y" and "c" co-occur, analysis reveals that they are not translations of each other. With real data, EM also is subject to the usual local extremum traps.
HMM's for speech recognition For decades, speech recognition seemed to hit an impasse as scientists sought descriptive and analytic solution. The sound wave p(t) below is produced by speaking the word "ski".
Its four distinct segments has very different characteristics. One can choose from many levels of generators (hidden variables): the intention of the speaker's brain, the state of the mouth and vocal cords, or the 'phones' themselves. Phones are the generator of choice to be inferred and it encodes the word in a noisy, highly variable way. Early work on speech recognition attempted to make this inference deterministically using logical rules based on binary features extracted from p(t). For instance, the table below shows some of the features used to distinguish English consonants.
In real situations, the signal is further complicated by background noises such as cars driving by or artifacts such as a cough in mid sentence (mumford's 2nd underpinning). The deterministic rule-based approach failed and the state of the art (eg. Dragon Naturally Speaking) is to use a family of precisely tuned HMM's and a Bayesian MAP estimators to do better. Similar stories played out in vision, and other stimulus categories.
(See Mumford's Pattern Theory: the mathematics of perception)The Markov stochastic process is diagrammed as follows:
: dots, x_k, x_{k+1}, dots Pr(x,s) = prod_k p_1(x_k | x_{k-1}) p_2(s_k | x_k)
exponentials, EM algorithm
* 2007. Ulf Grenander and Michael Miller "". Oxford University Press. Paperback. (ISBN 9780199297061)
* 1994. Ulf Grenander "General Pattern Theory". Oxford Science Publications. (ISBN 978-0198536710)
* 1996. Ulf Grenander "Elements of Pattern Theory". Johns Hopkins University Press. (ISBN 978-0801851889)
* [http://www.dam.brown.edu/ptg Pattern Theory Group at Brown University]
* [http://www.dam.brown.edu/people/mumford/Papers/IHPBook/intro.pdf David Mumford, Pattern Theory By Example (in progress)]
* [http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/brown93mathematics.html Brown et al 1993, The Mathematics of Statistical Machine Translation: Parameter Estimation]
Orcus (Dungeons & Dragons)
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Please note residents in multifamily or condominiums are not eligible for the discount.
Applicant must have an active Waste Management account listed in their name for the address they are submitting with an occupancy of not more than two (2) persons, including the Applicant, and who are seniors.
Applicant must be current with their Waste Management bill (for example, no outstanding or past due balances).
Complete and sign an application for Senior Discount.
Provide proof of age. A copy of Applicant's valid driver license or state issued identification card with current address must be attached with the application.
a homeowner association and does not receive a Waste Management bill directly to their address, please state the homeowner association (not property management) on the application.
The Applicant will not be notified if their application is approved. The discount should be reflected within 3 months from the date of approval, not date of submittal. Please contact Waste Management directly at 800.796.9696 to confirm your discount. Applicants do not need to re-apply once receiving the discount. One discount per household/address.


text:
Binge nation pt 2: a scuffling retraction....
My, what a can of worms. If I'm not willing to admit I've messed up occasionally, then this blog and all of my journalism is just wanking; so, my last post, which was accused of ableism and fat-bashing, was poorly explained and based partly on navel-gazing personal experiences of bulimia and anorexia, and has been duly edited down. Now, let me try to explain better:
Eating disorders are mental illnesses generated by personal and, to some extent, political disempowerment. They are reactions against an erroneously-perceived inner grotesquery: a feeling of being out-of-control, shameful, ugly, powerless and 'fat' as a cipher for all of those feelings.
It is fascinating, therefore, that a white, rich, middle-aged man who has held a high-profile public office and is famous – pretty much the defininition of empowerment in western culture – has suffered in relative silence from the same disorder for twenty years. Prescott represents and embodies a violent, headily consumerist political overculture – not because of his weight, but because of his conduct – and even he is suffering undeservedly.
It was this passage that drew the most criticism:
'John Prescott represents everything every eating disordered person is frightened that they are personally: grotesque, violent, out-of-control, self-indulgent saddled with enormous responsibilities that they did not earn, and as if to symbolise it all, obese. Every bulimic, anorexic and bulimarexic thinks that this is what they are like on the inside.'
Yes, the language is vile. This is because the concept is vile. This vileness is what obesity symbolises for the eating disordered, and it's a violent, painful way of turning that horror inwards. I have been deep down into the bulimic mindset and that feeling of inner foulness and grotesquery is despicable, choking, so deeply fucked-up that even now, three years later, I'm sitting at my rickety kitchen table with snotty tears rolling down my face. Bulimia, all eating disorders, are dreadful, and I reacted with aggreived consideration against a cultural sickness that I once internalised like so many others, and now see everywhere around me.
I can't help but see a link between the feelings of grotesquery associated with eating disorders and the literal grotesquery of corrupt officials and white male consumerist hegemony. The medical profession is fairly unanimous that sufferers of eating disorders and other addictions are responding to external pressures and frustrations – both individual and cultural pressures. Unable to control their personal and political circumstances, bulimics turn that controlling impulse inwards. It is therefore highly indicative that a man like Prescott, who seems to embody that violent overculture, also has to fall back on disordered and dreadful coping mechanisms to deal with himself and with his job.
I have known so many fine, beautiful, thoughtful, talented young men and women cut down by eating disorders: confused, disenfranchised, bewildered by the ridiculous demands of a grotesque and hostile hypercapitalist culture, many of them –male and female - reacting to the increased demands of forced feminisation and gender fascism. The fact that some of the very people complicit in enforcing the overculture – people who, like Prescott, necessarily take on some of the characteristics of that culture –have turned to the same terrible methods of stress control should tell us a lot about how fragile the whole system is.
There is a lot of ugliness and violence out there, and one of the worst parts of recovering from bulimia - apart from the shame, the self-disgust and the terrifying weight gain –is that you start to see that ugliness and violence outside of yourself, in a political and ideological sense, rather than internalising it.
But the fact that our political leaders suffer in the same way tells us that there is no conspiracy going on here. Nobody has forced a grotesque hypercapitalist overculture on us: we have all sleepwalked there together, and even the most powerful cannot deal with its demands. And if we can sleepwalk there, we might just be able to stumble back.
Posted by Penny Red at 25.4.08 1 comment:
Labels: eating disorders, politics
The face of power in a binge nation
John Prescott has made eating disorders news again by coming out as bulimic. This, of course, is a perfect opportunity for me to lash myself to my favourite look-at-this-damn-issue-flogging horse. Eating disorders need celebrity chic to be news these days, but they don't cease to be a dangerous epidemic when someone famous hasn't just bared their soul in a lucrativebook deal. The thousands of brilliant young, and not so young people who are killed or mentally crippled by bulimia, anorexia, bulimarexia, binge-eating and other disorders every year fail to make regular headlines for one reason only: it's a 'girl's illness.'
This is a deeply feminist issue, of course. Although eating disorders are not, in fact, a 'women's problem' -10% of those afflicted are men and boys - is is a highly feminised disease in western culture, not helped by the fact that women and gay men make up the majority of sufferers, and this has everything to do with how it is handled by the state and press. Much was made of Naomi Wolf's erroneous statistics in 'The Beauty Myth', but she used them to make the very salient point that if an equivalent number of men and boys were suffering -even the real statistics, as the charity Beat "currently believes the number of people receiving treatment for anorexia or bulimia in the UK to be near to 90,000, while many more people have eating disorders undiagnosed, in particular those with bulimia nervosa" -there would be a national public health outcry, rather than a series of intermittent media farts.
Prescott having the disorder strikes a violent, on-air media punch of representation for the thousands of men whose lives are destroyed by the disease, and for that one can be reasonably grateful. Prescott does not merely 'represent a sick society', though. He was actually in power, actually helping to build and shape that society. It stuns me that the effect of Prescott's bulimia nervosa upon his role as a key political agent has barely been questioned. For myself, it was only after winning my 6-year battle with anorexia that I was able to properly engage with political power again, as a radical writer and an activist. This is because you cannot engage effectively with outer, political space when all your energies are being focused on fighting interior, emotional battles.
And this is perhaps the most worrying part of the Prescott affair: the fact that we have just been told that government was until not so long ago partly run by a politician who was deeply affected by a serious, chemically addictive mental illness, but because it's 'a girl's disease' that's somehow unremarkable. Charles Kennedy was only third-party leader and he was eventually forced to step down over his alcoholism, but because it's a a feminised concept, nobody takes bulimia nervosa seriously. In fact, it is one of the most physically dangerous psychoses, with a 5% mortality and 20% permanent relapse rate. But noone has yet questioned whether those years of nightly binges, vomit-swollen cheeks and emotional disturbance affected the former deputy Prime Minister's ability to govern during the years of the Iraq invasion. It's 'a women's disease' - of course it didn't affect his mental robustness, not a gruff old bulldog like Prescott!
All this talk has made me hungry, so I'll go and make dinner and muse on this more. If you, too, see John Prescott in the mirror from time to time, don't hesitate to call this helpline.
Posted by Penny Red at 24.4.08 11 comments:
Labels: eating disorders, feminism, John Prescott, politics
Ask a Feminist...
Have you got worries?
Are you struggling to deal with the hefty demands of modern womanhood?
Are you unable to sleep in patriarchal space?
Are you exhausted from supervising the intricate gender fuckeries of your friends, family and pets?
Are you probed by Margaret Thatcher in your dreams?
Help is at hand, as Pennyred turns feminist agony auntie. Post your woes, rants and distressed frothings in the comments, or email to laurie.penny@gmail.com and my secretary will deal with you, once he's finished ironing my thongs. Replies shall be swift and terrible.
These people are sometimes allowed guns.
Back in the meatspace I'm now a journalism student, and I learnt something very interesting at hack school today:
You do not fuck with the police.
See, if you're a journalist, you can say whatever you like as long as you can prove that it's true. And there's the catch. If the person you've got, say, a corruption story on can cast any doubt at all over the absolute truth of your claim, you're going to have to pay them a lot of money in the civil claims court. Especially if they're rich, determined and have good representation. The Metropolitan police have the best lawyers in the country, the Police Federation, and a whole lot of litigation money -so unless you have a lot of sweet, sticky DNA-flavoured evidence in your hands, you and your paper are going to be bankrupt fairly soon.
And not that the police are ever brutal, bullying, thug-like centurions with over-inflated impressions of their own personal power, but if they ever did behave in such a despicable way, it would be incredibly difficult to prove. If someone gets beaten up in the cells, you'd better have a signed and dated testimony, not to mention copies of all their medical records, or no editor will risk going to press. If someone gets arrested without provocation - you'd better have dated, traceable photos, or you're going down.
Normally the trick to get around this is simply not to name the people you're accusing. You'd say 'officers at Hackney central station' or 'A WPC from Guildford'. However, there's a sneaky catch in libel law whereby to prove that something is libellous, it doesn't have to refer to you - it only has to look as though it might. This comes from a judgement way back in 1826:
'It is not necessary that all the world should understant the libel; it is sufficient if those who know the claimant can make out that he is the person meant.'
So unless you were very careful you'd find yourself with a publicly-funded lawsuit from every single officer from Hackney central, every single WPC in Guildford. And that's a lot of lawsuits. During the 33 months to March 1996 the Police Federation fought 95 libel actions and won all of them, recovering almost two million in damages. You do not fuck with the police. You roll over, please, and you call them 'uncle'.
Posted by Penny Red at 18.4.08 No comments:
In case you were wondering....
The latest post has been removed for copyright reasons and will return shortly, as will normal service.
Yours in stress and decrepitude,
Notes on NUS reform...
Radicalism is a dirty word in British youth politics today. Three days ago, the NUS threw out a proposal to drastically restrict its campaigning and representative powers by an approximate ten-vote margin. Frustrated by this slim defeat at the annual conference, Labour Students, 'independent' Labour affiliates and other centre-right groups have already drawn up plans for an extraordinary conference to attempt to pull the changes through.
NUS radicalism has been so eroded over the past decade, however, that there's barely been a murmur of fuss has been made about all of this outside the narrow alley of student politics: as a former NUS rep for Goldsmiths commented, 'It's been coming for a long time.'
Whilst all of this has been going on, massive cutbacks have been tabled to funding for higher education, particularly second degrees.
The worst-hit organisations will be Birkbeck College and the Open University – traditionally where hard-up students and young people go for re-training, for a second chance at broadening their personal and economic potential through education. That second chance is now being scavenged to divert cash to other parts of an already under-funded education system, by a government which recently shelled out £28bn to float Northern Rock. Over 170, 000 mostly part-time students will be affected. A spokesperson for Birkbeck university, where over a third of students have ELQ status, said, "these cuts will have an immediate and detrimental effect on all part-time students and the government's skills agenda. Classes will be vulnerable to closure, choice will be reduced and the student experience will be impoverished." For the NUS, however, this news is firmly on the back-burner: why bother criticising a Labour budget when the next gurning Labour-Student star has just been elected?*
Young people under 30; people in training or looking for work; the inexperienced and exploitable. We are people in desperate need of representation and support, and we are being staggeringly let down on both fronts, by the NUS and by our government. The reasons behind this are simple. We are an extremely valuable and wide-ranging market demographic, and we are, for the most part, politically docile: it's the stuff policy planners' wet dreams are made of. In any society with finite resources, it will always be easier to shaft someone royally rather than make long, expensive and unpopular moves towards the sort of systemic change that would make things fairer. This time, it's the under-30 slice of the population pie who are being shafted, and we ALL know what BASTARDS are to blame, don't we?
That's right. Us.
Yes. We are partly responsible for what has happened to youth politics in the UK today, conspiracy theorise though we may. To pretend otherwise would be immature and pathetic. We allowed ourselves to be bought. We allowed the adults to fob us off with booze, toys and gadgets, and then, because they made us panic that those things might be taken away, we allowed ourselves to be scared into a life of frantic commercial servitude - taking more exams, doing more and harder work and fighting harder for our places in the food chain than any generation has had to in the past. We made that choice. We made it when, in the last two general elections, far more of us 18-to-20-somethings than any other single group chose not to turn up to vote. We sent a message that we didn't care; we told them that they could fuck us any way they wanted, and we promised to secretly love it.
Hell, I'm not patronising: even *I* wasn't there. As I recall, I was wired on Jameson's whisky and caffeine pills, trying to study for my summer exams whilst bingeing, starving myself systematically and hurting myself in some childlike effort to weed out a particularly virulent attack of SYAT (Standard Young Adult Trauma). I regret a lot of things, and a few people, that I did when I was eighteen; I could pretend that I was so distressed that I didn't even remember to vote, but that would be utter rubbish - I remembered all right, I just didn't care, and I'll have to live with that hypocrisy until GE 2009. I lay down and let the system fuck me for far too long as a kid; it won't happen again. I'm not saying it's easy. I know it's not bloody easy. But we can't give up on the notion that things can change, or that our votes and actions and decisions count towards what our political leaders decide to do with us.
We have been cheated - we have allowed ourselves to be cheated - of our political identity, and the NUS reforms that are still on the table emblematise that cynical, fuck-me-please-if-you're-going-to attitude that we've developed towards the older generation. What's happened to the NUS over the past few years is this attitude in action. We've turned from what had, since 1922, been an important locus of comment upon government policy, particularly education policy, towards deliberately working with New Labour and not criticising their fantastically divisive and unhelpful education reforms in order to further the careers of NUS politicians, bring in cash through advertising and other schemes, and win countless establishment pats-on-the-head for our tireless delegates.
Barring a few hard-working revolutionary splinter groups [ENS LINK], the NUS has become as politically vacuous as the model United Nations or those dreadful Young Enterprise corporate-training schemes. It has functioned since 1997 as a finishing school for aspiring toe-sucking Blairite sycophants, set on making their own careers in politics not because they want socio-political justice but because they believe that they themselves deserve power. This is not what we need, as young people trying to stabilise our lives, struggling through university or other forms of career development. What we need is cross-border representation and our own, enfranchised political voice. What we need is a trade union – a real, enfranchised trade union – focused on the needs and specific problems of young workers, including but not restricted to students. But it won't happen unless we want it badly enough.
*As a drinker and a gentleman, I feel obliged to mention that newly-elected NUS golden-boy Wes Streeting did once buy me a vodka-and-orange in a bar after a rally. Wes, wherever you are: I'm not on board with your politics, and I think you're a dangerous sellout, but I undeniably owe you a drink. Put your people in touch with my people.
Posted by Penny Red at 6.4.08 5 comments:
Labels: education, youth culture, youth politics
Techfemme conference '08: your roving reporter...
Microsoft, it seems, do a damn good sideline in chocolates. I was rather jigged up to be able to go to a conference on women in technology at the company's London headquarters tonight and, what can I say, they knew their target audience. Here are my lovely chocolates:
And here are my nice pink pens:
The offices were so terribly shiny that I mistakenly disposed of a wad of gum in what turned out to be an automatic umberella-wrapper-upper. The speakers were mostly accomplished and interesting, but the gestaldtmind of three hundred professional tech-ladies was perhaps even more fascinating. Maybe it was the end of a long day, maybe it's something about women in 'men's world' careers - but when it came to the stand-up-if-you're-wearing-prada excercises, not one of them spoke, laughed or sat down until they were told.
There were interminable talks about 'work-life balance', which one American speaker truly suggested that we 'celebrate as work-life harmony.' As I was shooting him an 'I'm menstruating, don't give me this bullshit' look, I noticed the rest of the back row quietly doing the same. Noone was fooled by the pro-family rhetoric; if they were, it wouldn't have been, as I overheard an events manager commenting to an usher, 'the one event this year where we haven't had a 40-per-cent drop-out rate.'
The women technologists at Microsoft were anxious as anyone else to be treated as true professionals in their own right, and not as professionals handicapped by the biological and social facts of being female.
Coming home toThis piece of news, however, threw the feminist subtleties of the evening into sharp relief. Not far outside the sparkling boardrooms are the streets, where we can be raped and told that we enjoyed it and that it'd be more of an inconvenience to lose our handbags. We are living in the dark ages, and the most privileged and successful of us had best not forget it whilst trading subtleties over management techniques: there is still a long, long way to go.
Labels: branding, corporate culture, feminism, work


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The Clackamas River flows from the western slopes of the Cascade Range in northwestern Oregon. Nearly half of the river is designated as part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, protecting important fish and wildlife habitat as well as some excellent whitewater rafting.


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ECO-FRIENDLY council leaders chose World Environment Day to sign up to charters aimed at cutting global warming.
Climate change is now scientifically accepted as a consequence of the impact humanity is having on the Earth's atmosphere. People's use of coal, oil and gas has increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases to the point that global temperatures have risen by 0.6ºC in the last century, resulting in significant changes to the climate.
The leader of Vale Royal Borough Council, Keith Musgrave, and chief executive Anne Bingham-Holmes signed up to the Nottingham Declaration on Climate Change and the North West Climate Change Charter which calls on authorities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
It also requires councils to promote awareness of climate change and encourage residents, businesses and organisations to seek ways to reduce their carbon footprints.
Cllr Musgrave said: 'The issue of climate change has become the most important environmental concern of our time. By signing these, the council is committed to supporting global efforts to address climate change through local initiatives.


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Subject: Antique print, titled: 'Les Tyrans de la voie publique. Les Balayeurs. (The tyrants from the public road. The sweepers).' - Soldiers are sprayed with waste water by an unwary street Sweeper.
Condition: Good, given age. Foxing and traces from handling in the margins. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.
Medium: Tinted lithograph on wove (vellin) paper.
Size (in cm): The overall size is ca. 21.7 x 14.4 cm. The image size is ca. 18.5 x 11 cm.
Size (in inch): The overall size is ca. 8.5 x 5.7 inch. The image size is ca. 7.3 x 4.3 inch.
Description: This print originates from "Le Chapitre des Accidents" by Maurice Alhoy, Paris: 1845.
Artists and Engravers: Made by 'Victor Jean Adam' after own design. Victor Jean Adam (1801-1866) worked in Paris as a lithographer.


Color is in our everyday lives, but we don't think too much on it.
Describe a color. Write about what a certain color means to you or reminds you of. Is there a certain color that pops into your head when you think of something specific?
I'm the worst at describing colours.
Wonderful suggestion – my color is blue and the possibilities are boggling.
Blue is my favorite color. This particular prompt can be a tough one though.


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Reiroukan is a beautiful house that is currently renting rooms to male and female students. Shirai Genta has just moved to Reiroukan, turning over a new leaf in his life. The house is full of other people with strong personalities, such as the nerdy Tokimaru and the careless and uninhibited Mikoto, who frustrates her friend Midori with her messiness. Genta gets embroiled in all sorts of wacky situations. Soon, though, Genta finds that Reiroukan is scheduled to be closed in a year. At least, there is still a year for Genta to build fond memories with the lively inhabitants of the house!
Vol 3 Chapter 14: Ride on Shooting Star!


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In his blog post last week, in which he accused American Media (AMI for short) of extorting him, Amazon boss Jeff Bezos referred to a "Saudi position" in which the company was involved as if it were the journalist and prosecutors Breadcrumbs would leave consequences.
Prosecutors are now investigating whether AMI may have violated an immunity treaty she met with Bezos last year. On Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported that last year AMI sent a letter to the Department of Justice requesting an opinion on whether it needed to be registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
According to reports, AMI asked the law last year following the publication of the promotional magazine on Saudi Arabia and Salman.
The ad-free magazine was sold on newsstands. His astounding portrayal of Saudi Arabia as a "magical kingdom" was referred to by some observers as propaganda.
It's "Exhibit A in the case of AMI's strange, elusive, unexplained interactions with Saudi Arabia," said Spencer Ackerman of The Daily Beast, who reported on the magazine's existence last weekend on CNN.
AMI representatives created the magazine with a skilful business suit The Crown Prince's much-discussed trip to the US last March because "his readers would have a heightened interest in" Saudi Arabia.
Pecker's lawyer Elkan Abramowitz said on Sunday in an ABC interview that AMI is actually seeking funding from the Saudis. But he said the company had "never received anything."
The Journal reported Monday that AMI had written to the Ministry of Justice "after several news agencies wrote about the publication of the Saudi Arabian magazine."
A partially revised version of In the Ministry of Justice's response, in which the media company that wrote it is not mentioned, states that the government has concluded that the company in question did not have a registration obligation between There was no business relationship with the company and Saudis.
American Media has no editorial or financial relationship with Saudi Arabia, nor have we ever had any connection, "a company spokesman told CNN Business in response to questions from Monday.
le After writing to AMI, the company pointed out that the company was not completely transparent about how the magazine came about.
Last year, when NBC News asked AMI if the project, a spokesman who worked with Saudis, said, "Absolutely not."
But the letter to the Department of Justice states that someone in the company was seeking "comments" from a Saudi government advisor in the letter.
According to the magazine, AMI followed these comments and made changes based on them.
The DOJ's letter of reply indicated that the company had stated that it was "not obliged to follow any suggestions of the consultant".
The facts regarding activities undertaken "by the Company" in this matter are in some way different from those set forth in your submission. Please notify this department "because registration status may change."
Given the deception data from AMI, there are outst and questions about the creation of the magazine.
"We have demanded foreign media from Russia, China, Japan and South Korea Otherwise, Americans can not know that what they digest is actually content or propaganda that influences or even affects a foreign government "If you do not register as a foreign agent, a foreign government can actually wage an information war against Americans because they can blindly influence Americans without them knowing it."


text:
package ifce.redes.servidor.tcp;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
import java.nio.ByteBuffer;
import java.nio.channels.AsynchronousServerSocketChannel;
import java.nio.channels.AsynchronousSocketChannel;
import java.nio.channels.CompletionHandler;
import java.util.Map;
import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
import java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException;

import ifce.redes.protocolo.Mensagem;
import ifce.redes.protocolo.MensagemBuilder;
import ifce.redes.protocolo.Protocolo;

public class ServidorTCP implements CompletionHandler<AsynchronousSocketChannel, Void> {

	private static final int PORTA = 12345;
	private final AsynchronousServerSocketChannel servidor;
	private Map<InetSocketAddress, Partida> partidas;

	public ServidorTCP() throws IOException {
		this.partidas = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
		this.servidor = AsynchronousServerSocketChannel.open().bind(new InetSocketAddress(PORTA));

		System.out.println("Servidor TCP iniciado");
		// Aceitar próxima conexão
		servidor.accept(null, this);
	}

	@Override
	public void completed(AsynchronousSocketChannel canal, Void attachment) {
		servidor.accept(null, this);

		System.out.println("Conexão com cliente recebida");
		Partida partida = new Partida();
		partidas.put(getEnderecoProcessoCliente(canal), partida);

		try {
			conversa(canal, partida);
		} catch (InterruptedException | ExecutionException | IOException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (TimeoutException e) {
			// The user exceeded the 20 second timeout, so close the connection
		}

		System.out.println("Conexão encerrada");
		try {
			if (canal.isOpen())
				canal.close();
		} catch (IOException e1) {
			e1.printStackTrace();
		}
	}

	private InetSocketAddress getEnderecoProcessoCliente(AsynchronousSocketChannel canal) {
		InetSocketAddress enderecoCliente = null;
		try {
			enderecoCliente = (InetSocketAddress) canal.getRemoteAddress();
		} catch (IOException e2) {
			e2.printStackTrace();
		}
		return enderecoCliente;
	}

	private void conversa(AsynchronousSocketChannel canal, Partida partida) throws InterruptedException, ExecutionException, TimeoutException, IOException {
		ByteBuffer byteBuffer = ByteBuffer.allocate(4096);

		while (true) {
			int tamanho = canal.read(byteBuffer).get(1, TimeUnit.DAYS);
			if (tamanho == -1)
				break;

			// Make the buffer ready to read
			byteBuffer.flip();

			// Convert the buffer into a line
			byte[] linha = new byte[tamanho];
			byteBuffer.get(linha, 0, tamanho);

			Mensagem mensagemRecebida = MensagemBuilder.gerar(new String(linha));
			Protocolo protocolo = new Protocolo(partida);
			Mensagem mensagemAEnviar = protocolo.protocolar(mensagemRecebida);

			System.out.println("RECEBIDO: " + mensagemRecebida);
			System.out.println("ENVIADO: " + mensagemAEnviar);

			canal.write(ByteBuffer.wrap(mensagemAEnviar.toString().getBytes()));

			byteBuffer.clear();
		}
	}

	@Override
	public void failed(Throwable exc, Void attachment) {
		// TODO Auto-generated method stub
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Chapuisia rugosa es un coleóptero de la familia Chrysomelidae. Fue descrita científicamente en 1921 por Laboissiere.

Referencias

Chapuisia
Insectos descritos en 1921

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Nest Egg on Derby path for Bergerson
January 9, 2022 4:49 am.
Nest Egg (outer) gets in the deciding stride in a blanket finish at Awapuni. Photo Credit: Race Images – Grant Matthew
Local trainer Roydon Bergerson got his day off to the best possible start at Awapuni when talented three-year-old Nest Egg made it back-to-back victories as he got in the deciding stride in a blanket finish to the Richard Simpson Contracting 3YO (1400m).
The son of Reliable Man had broken his maiden status on the track back in November with a powerful late burst to score narrowly over 1600m and it was nearly a carbon copy of that effort on Saturday as rider Hazel Schofer once again timed her finish to a nicety to secure victory.
Schofer settled Nest Egg at the rear in the early stages before setting out after the leaders approaching the 600m.
Just as northern raider Turn The Ace looked set to fight out the finish with another pair of locals in Prioress and Third Time Round, Nest Egg extended bravely to pop his nose in front at the winning post with noses separating Third Time Round, Turn The Ace and Prioress for the minor placings.
Bergerson has Nest Egg nominated for the Group 1 Vodafone New Zealand Derby (2400m) at Ellerslie in March and can't wait to see his charge step up over more ground in the next few weeks.
"The Derby is our main aim and he is only going to get better when he gets to 2000m and further," Bergerson said.
"He was very good winning over a mile last time, after which we gave him a little freshen up.
"Today over 1400m he settled back but came into it nicely approaching the turn, before letting down strongly to get the win.
"Hazel said he hit a flat spot about 50m out, but picked himself up and went again, which is a really good sign for future plans."
The younger brother to promising stayer Chakana, who finished fourth in the Dunstan Stayers Championship Final (2400m) at Ellerslie on New Year's Day, Nest Egg has always shown Bergerson that his forte would be over a middle distance.
"He had a couple of starts as a two-year-old, but we didn't want to stress him as he was always going to get better with time on his side," he said.
"Everyone who has ridden him has said the same thing so it's time to step him up now and see if he can measure up.
"One thing that has changed has been putting the blinkers on as he is just a different horse. We only put them on for raceday and Hazel says he just has a completely different feel when he has them on.
"The points and prizemoney he got today will help get us into some better races, so we'll work out how we get him to the Avondale Guineas (Group 2, 2100m) next, as the lead-up to the Derby a fortnight later."
Nest Egg, who was raised at boutique Manawatu nursery Highden Park, is out of the stakes-placed Bahhare mare Run To The Bank and was bred by David Price and Brian Stewart who share in his ownership with Mark and Celia Wyborn and Robin Peel-Walker.
Bergerson also advised that Doubletree By Hilton Karaka Million 2YO (1200m) favourite Wolverine has thrived since her win in the Group 2 Eclipse Stakes (1200m) at Ellerslie on New Year's Day and was jumping out of her skin.
"We took Wolverine home straight after that Ellerslie win and she was in her box by 9:30pm that night," he said.
"When I saw her the next morning, she had eaten everything we gave her and was looking for more.
"She spent three days down on the farm with Chris Rutten and since she has been back, she has been a real handful.
"She came off the track this morning squealing like a pig, so she is a very happy horse.
"That experience she had going to Ellerslie is invaluable looking ahead to the Karaka Million and it's very exciting to have such a good chance in the race, especially as she is doing it all on natural ability as I really believe she won't be at her best until next season."


text:
#include <aws/cognito-idp/model/AuthEventType.h>
#include <aws/core/utils/json/JsonSerializer.h>

#include <utility>

using namespace Aws::Utils::Json;
using namespace Aws::Utils;

namespace Aws
{
namespace CognitoIdentityProvider
{
namespace Model
{

AuthEventType::AuthEventType() :
    m_eventIdHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventType(EventType::NOT_SET),
    m_eventTypeHasBeenSet(false),
    m_creationDateHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventResponse(EventResponseType::NOT_SET),
    m_eventResponseHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventRiskHasBeenSet(false),
    m_challengeResponsesHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventContextDataHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventFeedbackHasBeenSet(false)
{
}

AuthEventType::AuthEventType(JsonView jsonValue) :
    m_eventIdHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventType(EventType::NOT_SET),
    m_eventTypeHasBeenSet(false),
    m_creationDateHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventResponse(EventResponseType::NOT_SET),
    m_eventResponseHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventRiskHasBeenSet(false),
    m_challengeResponsesHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventContextDataHasBeenSet(false),
    m_eventFeedbackHasBeenSet(false)
{
  *this = jsonValue;
}

AuthEventType& AuthEventType::operator =(JsonView jsonValue)
{
  if(jsonValue.ValueExists("EventId"))
  {
    m_eventId = jsonValue.GetString("EventId");

    m_eventIdHasBeenSet = true;
  }

  if(jsonValue.ValueExists("EventType"))
  {
    m_eventType = EventTypeMapper::GetEventTypeForName(jsonValue.GetString("EventType"));

    m_eventTypeHasBeenSet = true;
  }

  if(jsonValue.ValueExists("CreationDate"))
  {
    m_creationDate = jsonValue.GetDouble("CreationDate");

    m_creationDateHasBeenSet = true;
  }

  if(jsonValue.ValueExists("EventResponse"))
  {
    m_eventResponse = EventResponseTypeMapper::GetEventResponseTypeForName(jsonValue.GetString("EventResponse"));

    m_eventResponseHasBeenSet = true;
  }

  if(jsonValue.ValueExists("EventRisk"))
  {
    m_eventRisk = jsonValue.GetObject("EventRisk");

    m_eventRiskHasBeenSet = true;
  }

  if(jsonValue.ValueExists("ChallengeResponses"))
  {
    Array<JsonView> challengeResponsesJsonList = jsonValue.GetArray("ChallengeResponses");
    for(unsigned challengeResponsesIndex = 0; challengeResponsesIndex < challengeResponsesJsonList.GetLength(); ++challengeResponsesIndex)
    {
      m_challengeResponses.push_back(challengeResponsesJsonList[challengeResponsesIndex].AsObject());
    }
    m_challengeResponsesHasBeenSet = true;
  }

  if(jsonValue.ValueExists("EventContextData"))
  {
    m_eventContextData = jsonValue.GetObject("EventContextData");

    m_eventContextDataHasBeenSet = true;
  }

  if(jsonValue.ValueExists("EventFeedback"))
  {
    m_eventFeedback = jsonValue.GetObject("EventFeedback");

    m_eventFeedbackHasBeenSet = true;
  }

  return *this;
}

JsonValue AuthEventType::Jsonize() const
{
  JsonValue payload;

  if(m_eventIdHasBeenSet)
  {
   payload.WithString("EventId", m_eventId);

  }

  if(m_eventTypeHasBeenSet)
  {
   payload.WithString("EventType", EventTypeMapper::GetNameForEventType(m_eventType));
  }

  if(m_creationDateHasBeenSet)
  {
   payload.WithDouble("CreationDate", m_creationDate.SecondsWithMSPrecision());
  }

  if(m_eventResponseHasBeenSet)
  {
   payload.WithString("EventResponse", EventResponseTypeMapper::GetNameForEventResponseType(m_eventResponse));
  }

  if(m_eventRiskHasBeenSet)
  {
   payload.WithObject("EventRisk", m_eventRisk.Jsonize());

  }

  if(m_challengeResponsesHasBeenSet)
  {
   Array<JsonValue> challengeResponsesJsonList(m_challengeResponses.size());
   for(unsigned challengeResponsesIndex = 0; challengeResponsesIndex < challengeResponsesJsonList.GetLength(); ++challengeResponsesIndex)
   {
     challengeResponsesJsonList[challengeResponsesIndex].AsObject(m_challengeResponses[challengeResponsesIndex].Jsonize());
   }
   payload.WithArray("ChallengeResponses", std::move(challengeResponsesJsonList));

  }

  if(m_eventContextDataHasBeenSet)
  {
   payload.WithObject("EventContextData", m_eventContextData.Jsonize());

  }

  if(m_eventFeedbackHasBeenSet)
  {
   payload.WithObject("EventFeedback", m_eventFeedback.Jsonize());

  }

  return payload;
}

} // namespace Model
} // namespace CognitoIdentityProvider
} // namespace Aws


text:
HomeGigsSinéad O'Connor – Announces headline show Live At Botanic Gardens this summer on 7 June 2020
Sinéad O'Connor – Announces headline show Live At Botanic Gardens this summer on 7 June 2020
December 3, 2019 XS Noize Gigs, News
Following her recent triumphant sold-out Irish tour, Sinéad O'Connor today announced that she will play Live At Botanic Gardens this summer on 7 June 2020. Special Guest for this Belfast Show will be Soak.
2019 has marked the return of Sinéad O'Connor and a new beginning that will see Sinéad bring out new music and tour the world once again as one of the true and original living greats of our time.
As Jack Kerouac states "Genius gives birth, talent delivers". So where did Sinéad O'Connor begin?
1970s Ireland was the backdrop from which Sinéad O'Connor began her life. Born into tragic times with her own tragic story, one among many from those days, Sinéad would not be defined by what was at that time beyond her control. Her spirit would blossom and bloom manifesting her gift, her voice.
Discovered by the drummer of well-known Irish band In Tua Nua, she co-wrote their first hit. Shortly after being discovered by Ensign records her first album 'The Lion and the Cobra' released in late 1987 reached Platinum sales. Sinéad had arrived.
From the early new wave explosion of 'Mandinka' to the multi–platinum soul of Prince's 'Nothing Compares to You' Sinéad had left an indelible mark with her unique image and vocal style.
Chart-topping singles, hit albums, numerous awards an array of collaborations later and Sinéad's spiritual journey would lead her through a turbulent, troubled and restless existence to find solace in Islam.
An artist beyond comparison – unique, uncompromising, a pioneer, a visionary are just some of the descriptions that might only touch the surface of Sinéad O'Connor. Embodying a voice with beauty and innocence, a spirit part punk, part mystic with a combined fearlessness and gentle authenticity. This voice as Sinéad's unique expression would be echoed in the voices of other artists who she would inspire who came after.
Now Sinéad O'Connor is back performing live on stage where she belongs.
Tickets go on sale Monday 9th December at 9 am
Tickets for Live At Botanic Gardens will be available from:-
All usual Ticketmaster outlets
24hr Credit Card Bookings 0844 277 4455 (NI) / 0818 719300 (ROI)
Book online www.ticketmaster.ie
Live At Botanic Gardens
TRAVIS – Announce new single 'Kissing In The Wind' & 'Almost Fashionable – A Film About Travis'
THE NATIONAL – Announce headline show Live at Botanic Gardens Belfast on 6th June 2020
TOM JONES – Announces Irish dates this summer in Belfast & Cork
January 23, 2020 XS Noize Gigs, New Music, News
As he celebrates a landmark 80th birthday this summer, Aiken Promotions is proud to announce one of the most enduring personalities in the music entertainment business, TOM JONES has confirmed a return to Ireland this […]
INTERVIEW: Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody on Ward Park 3 – "We wanted to complete the hat trick."
April 11, 2019 XS Noize Interviews
Over the last 25 years, Snow Patrol have released 7 albums and racked up an impressive number of critical and commercial accolades, including 13 million global album sales, 1 billion global track streams, 5 UK […]
The Listening Post
SOAK announces second album, 'Grim Town', Watch the video for new single, 'Knock Me Off My Feet'
January 10, 2019 XS Noize The Listening Post, Gigs
SOAK has today announced details of her much-anticipated second album, 'Grim Town', as well as unveiling new single 'Knock Me Off My Feet'. Also featuring beautiful returning track 'Everybody Loves You', 'Grim Town' will be released on […]


text:
California tax revenue plummeted, but not by as much as Gov. Newsom projected
Jul 30, 2020 California, Gov, Newsom, plummeted, projected, revenue, tax
The easy days of California budget surpluses are long gone with tax revenue plummeting in the new coronavirus recession.
But as bad as the outlook stands, tax collections across the board so far are coming in a little better than Gov. Gavin Newsom projected in the $203 billion state budget he signed last month.
The figures suggest to economists that high-earning workers are still employed and that the financial assistance Congress provided at the start of the outbreak in March helped Californians buy necessities.
They see evidence of those trends in better-than-expected revenue from income tax withheld in paychecks and rising sales tax from online purchases. Altogether, the state had about $1 billion more than it expected on hand at the end of June.
But even with modest improvements on Newsom's original forecasts, Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer said California faces more difficult financial decisions.
The trends could worsen if the state's high unemployment rate persists or climbs. A new report released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showing that the nation's gross domestic product shrank by 9.5% from April to June underscored the uncertainty ahead
"California's economy remains severely depressed," the Legislative Analyst's Office wrote in an economic update last week. "The state has a long way to go to return to its pre-pandemic economy. On top of that, the recovery appears to be extremely fragile and could reverse quickly with the recent increase in COVID-19 cases."
Newsom last month signed a budget that that cut pay for state workers, slashed spending on universities and deferred planned spending on public schools. The administration anticipates another $8.7 billion deficit next year.
"The takeaway should not be that we're going to have a much easier time going forward — because we're not," Palmer said. "Even if things break perfectly for us, we're still going to look at having to come up with another $8.7 billion [and] there's still a lot of uncertainty in terms of how much the state's going to have to spend in terms of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.".
High-earners kept jobs
Recent tax revenue reports, officials and economists say, indicate that California's wealthiest have weathered the economic storm relatively well.
Personal income and corporate taxes collected between April 1 and July 23 outperformed predictions by 12 percent, or $2.7 billion, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office. Collection totals are about 9% — or $2.5 billion — behind the 2019 pace.
Department of Finance officials attribute the overall strength of the personal income tax to withholding from wages.
Withholding revenue — the amount of money that employers send directly to the government rather than including those dollars in employees' paychecks — exceeded expectations by $1 billion in June, according to a revenue breakdown in the department's monthly report.
Given that unemployment statistics have largely tracked May predictions, officials say June's withholding numbers may indicate that a greater-than-usual proportion of contributions came from higher-income wage earners who can work from home.
That's true of personal income taxes as a whole, said UCLA economist Jerry Nickelsburg.
Given California's progressive income tax system, those in lower tax brackets — like workers in leisure and hospitality, retail and personal services, who have suffered disproportionately in the economic downturn — contribute less to overall revenues than do higher earners. California's wealthiest 1 percent of households often pay about half of the state's total income tax.
As a result, Nickelsburg said, you wouldn't expect revenues to decline in proportion to the number of overall workers who lost their jobs.
He added that the technology industry will likely lead the way out of the recession in California, which bodes well for personal income taxes. Many tech companies — which offer high incomes — have grown in recent months, Nickelsburg said.
While California may set itself apart with tech, its recession experience mirrors the country's in another area: sales tax receipts.
The economic crisis — driven by rising COVID-19 cases, stay-at-home orders and business closures, according to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center — has resulted in a 21% nationwide decline in sales tax revenues through May as compared to 2019. In California, that number is 20.1% according to data provided by the Department of Finance.
Still, that's an improvement on May predictions, which forecast a 28.8% decline.
One major factor, Nickelsburg said, is Internet sales: A jump in online purchases likely mitigated the state's overall decline in sales tax revenues.
That uptick began months ago. In the first quarter of 2020, tax from online sales increased by nearly 36% compared to 2019, according to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration.
The surge followed a recently enacted state law, the Marketplace Facilitator Act, requiring giant online retailers like Amazon to collect California sales tax on behalf of smaller companies that sell products on their platforms.
Amazon in 2018, reported to the SEC that 58 percent of sales on the website were by made so-called third-party retailers. Previously, some of those so-called third-party retailers did not collect tax on sales to California residents. Those sales now are taxed.
Data from the tax department also shows increased spending at grocery stores, home improvement stores and big box retailers, reflecting Californians' spending priorities at the beginning of the outbreak.
Whether sales and personal income tax trends continue may depend on whether the 4 million Californians currently on unemployment keep receiving increased benefits, officials say.
The federal government has doled out an additional $600 a week since late March, but those checks stopped coming on July 25. It's unclear when — or if — a portion of that payment will return.
Travel Rewards Cards Offer New Perks
This Tomato Leaf Candle Is the Perfect Scent for Late Summer


text:
Home » Environment » 1st Jan 2022 Today's Round-Up of Climate News
1st Jan 2022 Today's Round-Up of Climate News
By olduvai in Environment on January 1, 2022 .
"Snow and ash over Colorado: Devastated owners of the nearly 1,000 homes razed to the ground by December wildfires survey the damage…
"Colorado Governor Jared Polis declared a state of emergency on Thursday, calling the wildfires a 'disaster in fast-motion'… Tens of thousands were ordered to flee as flames swept over drought-stricken neighborhoods with alarming speed, propelled by guests up to 105 mph."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10360171/Devastated-owners-nearly-1-000-homes-razed-ground-December-wildfires-survey-damage.html
"'I thought I was broken': when wildland firefighters head home, trauma takes hold…
"Asad Rahman woke up feeling like someone had punched him in the face. It was the winter after one of his first seasons as a wildland firefighter and he'd battled a blaze that had claimed the lives of six other firefighters. The stress left Rahman grinding his teeth at night until his jaw ached."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/dec/31/i-thought-i-was-broken-when-wildland-firefighters-head-home-trauma-takes-hold
"Are radioactive wildfires next on California's apocalyptic climate-change guest list?
"…The United States hasn't experienced a nuclear disaster on the level of Chernobyl, but there may be other sources of radiation that could have been absorbed by the West Coast's forests."
https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/Are-radioactive-wildfires-the-next-on-16737625.php
"Newsom declares storm-related state of emergency in 20 [Californian] counties, including L.A.
"Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in 20 California counties on Thursday as winter storms continued to lash the state with record snow and rainfall that have knocked out power, shut down major roads and freeways, and caused debris flows, among other hazards."
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-12-30/california-storm-related-state-of-emergency
Tags: climate news, panopticon
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