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ORHS
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Orrville Railroad Heritage Society
ORHS News
Current News Around the Depot
Our new website is now up and running. Take a look around and see how you like it. Not only is the look new, but entire site is now mobile-friendly for smart phones & tablets and it is much easier to maintain. We will soon add an online store with some of our popular branded items. We hope you like the new look.
Winter Approaches
With cooling water drained, stacks covered and a new carbody tarp installed, the 471 was put to bed for the winter to sleep peacefully until next spring when we'll wake her up and put her back to work. Any light moves over the winter can be performed by the Little Red Engine if needed.
Other work at the yard will continue as weather permits, however. We have scrap bins to fill, parts to strip, equipment to repair, materials to sort, ties to replace and ballast to be spread just to name a few (we have an almost endless list).
If you'd like to volunteer to help at DABO or the Depot, give us a call.
First Event Held at DABO
ORHS held its first event, "Speeders n' Spikes", on October 12 at the DABO rail yard in honor of the 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike on the transcontinental railroad link and to showcase the work achieved in bringing the facility up to operational status.
Despite the cold rain and wind early in the morning, the sun came out and warmed things a bit for the event and it was very well attended despite the early bluster. Kids young and old enjoyed rides in the speeders, the caboose pulled by the Little Red Engine and cab rides in the 471. Gift shop items were also on display and for sale. The Wayne County Humane Society was there with dogs and kittens for adoption and the Kitty Poo Club displayed their litter options.
Thanks goes to the Swensons Food Truck for keeping bellies full for the event.
Also, in lieu of labor, any donations you'd like to make towards the project would be greatly appreciated as we may run out of ties and spikes soon depending on how many more ties need replaced.
Video below courtesy of Jim Simons.
The "Little Red Engine" and caboose #330 back past the crossover
Speeders getting ready to enter the crossover.
ORHS Loses Longtime Member
Long time member and Head Locomotive Engineer Lynn Butts passed away on September 21. Lynn was always willing to help with any project at the Depot or rail yard. He was also known for his light touch and accuracy at the throttle when switching passenger cars which made working with him an enjoyable experience. While Lynn would be serious when need be, he was usually smiling and we'll definitely miss his sense of humor.
Lynn was also very involved with the Buckeye Council Boy Scout Troup #25 in Canton.
Calling hours will be at Wackerly Funeral Home in Canton from 4:00PM to 7:00PM on September 25.
Donations can be made in his name to the Buckeye Council Boy Scouts of America, 3154 13 St NW, Canton, OH 44708
Our heartfelt condolences go out to Becky as well as Lynn's entire family.
High Green, Lynn. You now have the Main....
Work Begins at DABO
Spring 'as sprung. The grass is riz. I wonder where th' railroad is? Come to DABO to find out.
The track rehabilitation project has resumed in earnest replacing ties and broken rails with ballasting and surfacing after.
The #471 will be put back in service on April 9. If you want to learn how to service a diesel locomotive, stop by.
Vegetation control will start soon.
We have projects large and small. If you'd like to volunteer to lend a hand, let us know by calling the Depot. We're working most mornings except Sundays.
You must be a member to actively volunteer at DABO.
DABO Track Rehab Season Coming to a Close
Track rehabilitation at our DABO facility is winding down for the winter. We just about reached our goal of 1,000 feet with roughly another 300' ready to be spiked and ballasted as weather permits. The completed work enabled us to spot the two 250T steam cranes and the RSD1 #805 on the rehabbed section of the "Through Track" and push the 250T diesel crane back 50' to rehabbed track on the "North Siding". Next spring, we'll realign the north siding to remove a jog around power poles that have now been removed. This realignment will improve drainage on the north side of the property.
To facilitate the track work, our gasoline powered compressor has been repaired and put back in service. The compressor is much more cost efficient than using the #471 as a giant air compressor. The #471 is now winterized and out of service until next spring.
If you'd like to contribute to the work at DABO in any way, please contact the Depot.
Track Work Update
Track rehabilitation continues at DABO. In this portion, we had to raise it significantly to remove an 80' long sag. Necessity being the mother of invention, we modified the jackhammer and clamped it to the trenching bucket to use as a tamper since we broke the bit in the smaller hand tamper – twice. We'll go back to the smaller tamper once the new parts arrive.
We've almost completed about 100 yards of track working mostly weekday mornings. After final adjustments in alignment, we'll be ready to start on the adjacent siding to enable us to move the equipment parked there.
If any additional members would like to get good and dirty with us, contact the Depot to find out when and come on down.
Donations of materials and cash are also welcome.
Track Work Begins at the DABO Facility
Track at DABO has needed some attention for quite some time. This month, we've started working in earnest to do much needed repairs and "upgrades". We'd like to get 1,000' complete this summer if we can. This work will enable us to move the heavy equipment off the adjacent siding and onto the repaired track to facilitate repairs to the siding. The heavy equipment is causing the siding track to sink.
The repairs include digging the track out of the foundry sand that was placed over it many years ago, replacing bad ties and a broken rail, new ballast and raising and leveling the track. The longer range grand plan is to refurbish all two miles of track and be able to run events there. How fast we accomplish this depends on donations of materials and money.
This is hard but rewarding work for us older guys and some of the younger ones, too, so if you'd like to help with the labor, please contact the Depot and we'll quickly get back to you so you can come out and get dirty with us. Most work is done Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
Original track condition.
Digging out and replacing ties.
Boxcar #30" Gets a New Life
You may have seen something a bit odd leaving Orrville this week - a boxcar rolling down the highway! Actually, it wasn't rolling by itself. It was loaded onto dollies and being trucked to its new home in Chesterton, Indiana. Boxcar #30, ex-D&RGW #60608, will be refurbished and converted into a restroom facility at Thomas Centennial Park in Chesterton. Schlatter's, Inc. of Francesville, IN did the move by jacking the car up off its trucks and setting it back down on dollies custom made for hauling railcars.
Below shows how to move a boxcar over the highway.
Spread gravel for easy access.
Jack up one end.
Roll out the truck.
Remove any parts in the way.
Back in the front dolly.
Repeat for the rear.
All ready to go.
Load up trucks and equipment.
Meeting Dates to Change
The Board of Directors' meeting and the General Membership meetings have been combined. One monthly meeting will now be held on the LAST Tuesday of each month at 6:30 pm.
The Board meeting will be the first order of business, and then we will go into the general membership portion of the month's business. Hopefully this will streamline our process and get items of importance processed more quickly.
The February combined meeting will be held Tuesday, February 27 at 7:00pm, thereafter the meetings will be on the last Tuesday of each month.
The year 2018 is a special year for ORHS. Not only is it the 40th anniversary of our founding in 1978, but it also marks the 150th birthday of the Orrville Union Depot. The depot was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) in 1868 at the junction of its Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad (PFW&C) mainline with the Cleveland, Akron & Columbus Railroad (CA&C) mainline. This depot replaced an earlier wooden structure located east of the junction which was destroyed by fire. At the time the "new" depot was built, Orrville was becoming an important junction and transfer point for passengers and goods.
Come celebrate with us this year at one of our events. Check out our Schedule page or Facebook to find out what's going on. We'll be releasing our 2018 schedule soon so stay tuned.
And be sure to pick up one of our limited edition HO scale boxcars (see below) commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Orrville Union Depot.
Excess Equipment Available for Purchase
When ORHS acquired the DABO facility back in 2015, vintage rail cars, locomotives, materials and miscellaneous equipment were included with the purchase. Much of this equipment does not fit with our current mission. In lieu of scrapping, which happens all too often, we prefer that it be preserved where possible and it is now offered for sale to others interested in preserving railroading history. If you have an interest, please make an offer. We are happy to report that some pieces have already found good homes in the preservation community and are being put to good use.
In order to help facilitate the sale of equipment, we've added web pages with descriptions and photos. Please note that some of this initial listing is not yet complete in the descriptions and we have a lot of miscellaneous bits, pieces and parts yet to be listed. More will be added as we go along.
Please take a look. The inventory can be accessed here: ORHS Inventory or under the Equipment tab from any page.
Orrville Union Depot Sesquiscentennial Commemorative Car
The Orrville Railroad Heritage Society is proud to announce the Orrville Union Depot sesquicentennial in 2018. To celebrate this milestone, we are offering a limited edition HO scale 40' AAR boxcar kit produced by Accurail, custom decorated to commemorate the Orrville Union Depot Sesquicentennial.
Get one for your railroad or your favorite railfan!
$47.95 each by mail order
$39.95 each at the Depot Gift Shop
Click here to download the order form.
Orrville, Ohio 44667
Copyright © 2020 Orrville Railroad Heritage Society, Inc.
a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation


We do! It's called the Jumpstart program, and it's designed to help eighth, ninth, and tenth grade students build a strong foundation for the upcoming high school years and the college admissions process. Your counselor will help your student select coursework and activities that will allow your student to explore their interests and set the stage for a successful high school career. Toward the end of the program, your counselor will guide your student through the preliminary stages of the college and major research process, taking into account the criteria that matter most to your family, including cost, size, academic programs, and location.
Absolutely. Students who enroll in our Complete Admissions Programs will brainstorm each of their essays with their counselor and submit each essay for rounds of feedback and revision. We also offer several essay packages starting at $200 for students who only want help with essays. To find out more about our essay programs, please reach out to info@collegewise.com, and we'll match you with an essay specialist who can help you brainstorm and write compelling college essays.


A basically simple dish can be rendered sublime with the addition of the right herb, as this recipe demonstrates. A fancied-up version of chicken fricassee, fresh cherivl added just before serving seems to unite the sweet flavors of carrots and caramelized onions with the savory taste of chicken. Try it for a springtime dinner party. A four quart enameled cast iron casserole, such as those made by Le Creuset, is ideal for this and many other recipes. Although the recipe contains generous amounts of butter and cream, subtle seasoning produces a light and delicate result.
Please note that dried chervil cannot be substituted for the fresh chervil. In fact, the dried product tastes a lot like grass clippings. If fresh chervil is unavailable, substitute other fresh herbs, such as parsley, oregano, tarragon, or basil. A combination of 2/3 parsley and 1/3 tarragon probably comes as close to the taste of chervil as one can achieve.
Wash and scrape 2 dozen baby carrots. Place them in a steamer over boiling water, cover and steam for 6 minutes. Plunge into ice water to stop the cooking and set the color, drain well, pat dry with a kitchen towel and reserve.
Thinly slice an onion into julienne. Measure 2/3 cup of the onion, reserving the remainder for another use. In a large, heavy pot, melt 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter over gentle heat. Add the onions, stir well, and cook very slowly until the onions are golden in color but not browned. Regulate the heat and stir gently from time to time to caramelize the onions evenly. Remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. Do not discard the fat remaining in the pot.
You can complete the preparation up to this point in advance, and refrigerate everything up to 24 hours.
To the pot in which the onions were cooked, add another 4 tablespoons unsalted butter. Place over medium heat. When the foam subsides, sprinkle salt and white pepper lightly over 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast fillets, and place them, skin side down, in the butter. Cook over medium heat until lightly browned, about 4 minutes, then turn and cook an additional 4 minutes. Add 4 tablespoons dry sherry and evaporate almost to dryness. Add 6 tablespoons water, reduce the heat, and arrange the carrots and caramelized onions around the chicken breasts. Top each breast with a bay leaf. Cover, reduce heat to the lowest possible setting, and poach the chicken and vegetables until the breasts are cooked through, about 10 - 12 minutes.
With tongs, remove the chicken breasts to a work surface, discarding the bay leaves. Loosely cover the chicken with foil to keep it warm. Increase the heat and reduce the liquid in the casserole to a glaze, watching carefully so it does not evaporate completely and burn. Add 1 cup heavy cream and stir well to incorporate the pan juices. Keep the sauce hot, but do not allow it to boil after the cream is added. Taste, then correct the seasoning. Use white pepper to avoid black specks in the sauce, and do not be too heavy-hended with the salt. The chervil garnish will brighten the flavor considerably.
Slice the chicken breasts on the bias and arrange them attractively on plates. Divide the sauce and vegetables evenly among the four servings, and garnish with finely minced fresh chervil, about a teaspoon per serving.
Accompany the chicken with another springtime treat, tiny new potatoes steamed in their skins. Serve a simple salad of baby greens as a first course, and the meal is complete. Ah, Spring!
John Tullock is an expert gardener and self-taught cook who likes to develop new recipes using his own fresh produce and the best from the local market. His interest in plants and horticulture begin in childhood, and he holds a masters degree in biology from The University of Tennessee. He also co-owns "Native Sons Nursery," a retail business that specializes in rare ornamental and gourmet vegetable plants.


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1) If you do not have a domain name and want us to host your site for you, select option 1: publish as a subdomain of SynthaSite. The subdomain name and hosting or your site are free! Your domain name will be: http://yoursite.synthasite.com and your site will be hosted by us.
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Join Code Blue as they rock out at Alcove Cantina in Round Rock!
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Abstract: The lactose operon in Escherichia coli was the first known gene regulatory network, and it is frequently used as a prototype for new modeling paradigms. Historically, many of these modeling frameworks use differential equations. More recently, Stigler and Veliz-Cuba proposed a Boolean network model that captures the bistability of the system and all of the biological steady states. In this paper, we model the well-known arabinose operon in E. coli with a Boolean network. This has several complex features not found in the lac operon, such as a protein that is both an activator and repressor, a DNA looping mechanism for gene repression, and the lack of inducer exclusion by glucose. For 11 out of 12 choices of initial conditions, we use computational algebra and Sage to verify that the state space contains a single fixed point that correctly matches the biology. The final initial condition, medium levels of arabinose and no glucose, successfully predicts the system's bistability. Finally, we compare the state space under synchronous and asynchronous update, and see that the former has several artificial cycles that go away under a general asynchronous update.


Jonathan Tropper's new novel, One Last Thing Before I Go, is like that sad, too-self-deprecating friend everyone has, who, despite the fact that he depresses you to no end, you still hang out with him because he's entertaining as hell. It's a bit of a departure from Tropper's first five novels — which are usually crackling with one-liners and populated by dudes getting wantonly laid without trying too hard.
Indeed, One Last Thing Before I Go is Tropper's most melancholic novel. While still often funny and with much of Tropper's signature dude-humor, its main goal really seems to be to explore how badly beaten you have to be to decide you'd rather not live anymore. That's the decision our protagonist, 44-year-old Silver, makes. Silver, a former drummer in a one-hit-wonder rock band called The Bent Daisies, has been divorced for seven years, and his ex-wife is about to marry a rich, handsome doctor. Also, his 18-year-old daughter Casey is pregnant, and only decides to tell Silver because she's not-at-all worried about letting him down.
So when Silver winds up in the hospital with a rare heart condition — which a simple surgery will solve — Silver declines to be operated on, deciding instead to put his affairs in order as best he can, and wait for death's call.
But something odd happens on the way to the grave. "Silver doesn't really know how to explain it. It's like he's been inexpertly rewired. Signals are being mixed, relays being tripped, power surging and waning, and he's acting on impulses before he knows he has them."
When you've got nothing to lose, you live your life like losing doesn't matter. And so the rest of the novel follows Silver around as he speaks his mind (sometimes when he doesn't even realize he's talking out loud) and tries to make amends to his wounded family. Will he be able to rescue himself from his family's ire? Will he screw things up worse than they already are? Will he finally decide to have the surgery that'll save his life?
But One Last Thing Before I Go strays into the cliché a few too many times to elevate it into the top tier of Tropper novels. There's actually a scene where Silver grabs a microphone at a Bat Mitzvah and professes his apologies and love for his daughter in front of all the guests. You could almost feel a John Hughes "slow-clap" coming on. And all the divorced dudes live in a converted hotel called The Versailles, which is reminiscent of "Casa Nova: A Transitional Place for Singles" from The Simpsons. There's others, too, which I can't tell you about without spoiling.
Still, only-okay Tropper is great reading. So four stars.
"Stories are people. I'm a story, you're a story ... your father is a story. Our stories go in every direction, but sometimes, if we're lucky, our stories join into one, and for a while, we're less alone."
That's just a wonderful notion, both of fiction and of real life, isn't it? So in this novel, we jump back and forth in time, from a small and dying fishing town on the Italian coast in 1962 to modern Hollywood to 1970s Seattle and even to modern London. Snippets of story connect a cast of characters, who are all, themselves, connected in ways they may not be aware of, or may not want to admit.
During the shooting of the movie Cleopatra in Rome in 1962, Richard Burton and Liz Taylor carry on a torrid love affair. And it's the responsibility of one Michael Deane, a young producer, to make sure the over-budget beast of a movie gets back on track. Pasquale, a young 20s Italian, is entranced with a beautiful American actress named Dee who almost literally washes up on the shore of his small village. And then, in modern times, late 20s Claire, armed with fancy film degrees and working for a now 70-something Deane, struggles with the age-old question of good film vs. popular dreck.
In addition to the fascinating stories of these characters, and the even more fascinating ways they connect, we even get snippets of Deane's biography, a first chapter of a novel by a failed writer who vacations at Pasquale's Italian hotel, and an entire pitch for a film called Donner! by another failed writer hoping for one last chance at stardom. Normally, this kind of almost gimmicky storytelling is kind of annoying — you just want the writer to get on with the story, not distract us with these sideshows. But not here. Each of these DeLillo-like strains actually enhances the core story — giving an indication of how the connections will come to pass. And when they do — at the emotional conclusion — you're left in awe.
The only bad thing I'll say about this novel is that the title isn't exactly catchy. Even with the striking cover image, the title's just a bit too precious — a silly oxymoron that more turns you away instead of brings you in. But by way of explanation: "Beautiful Ruins" is derived from a 2010 New Yorker article about Richard Burton — "Burton, fifty-four at the time, and already a beautiful ruin, was mesmerizing." This is one of three quotes that make up the novel's epigraph.
With Beautiful Ruins, Walter again expands his scope — he's done crime drama, 9/11, and pseudo-dude lit. This is possibly his most "literary" novel — whatever that means. It's not my favorite novel of his — that's still a tie between The Zero and The Financial Lives of the Poets. But this is still a stunningly good read. Four stars - highly recommended.
Given the state of the national political discourse these days, I wonder if Jess Walter regrets using politics as a sort of metaphor for a normal life, as he does in his fantastic 2006 novel, Citizen Vince. It's kind of amusing to consider — perhaps even ironic — that politics and normal could be even remotely related. But anyway, don't worry — this isn't a political novel at all.
Walter uses the days prior to the Reagan vs. Carter election in 1980 as the setting for his tale about a criminal named Vince, who may or may not be trying to go straight and lead that normal life. See, Vince is in the witness protection program in Spokane, Washington. He becomes fascinated with the way the two candidates discuss the Iran hostage situation, and realizes that now, even though he is a convicted felon, because he has a new identity, he can vote. But he's never considered politics and has no idea who to vote for. Things as "mundane" as who leads the free world had never been important to him before.
But can Vince ever really leave "the life"? Indeed, as we first see Vince, waking up to go to his job as a donut maker (no, that's not a euphemism — he literally works in a donut shop) and trying to count how many dead people he's known, we already see that he's involved in a credit card scam; the same thing he was doing when he got busted back in New York and had to bail himself out by testifying against some nasty gangsters.
When a hitman shows up in Spokane, Vince assumes that his past has collided with his present, and tries to figure out how to fix things so he won't have to constantly be looking over his shoulder.
Walter is really sharp here — writing dialogue for gangsters and wise guys that you could drop right into movies like Good Fellas. John Gotti even makes an appearances here. And some of the side stories and minor details — like a guy who loses $2,000 on a football bet because his team misses an extra point — raise the "realness" of the novel as a whole; because, as we learned from Reservoir Dogs, which has nothing on Citizen Vince in terms of sharp dialogue, it's the details that sell a story, right? Walter's also is good at subtly poking fun at some of the absurdities of politics — like a guy who's running for the state assembly whose platform consists solely of revamping the city's zoo.
Citizen Vince is Walter's third novel, and by most accounts, is the best of his early "crime" novels. This is the third Walter novel I've read (after The Zero, and The Financial Lives of the Poets), and I've really enjoyed all three of them — in very different ways. This is highly recommended if you're into the gritty crime novel. Or, if you just like really good writing.


1. Invest in quality tailored clothing that will last. Buy conservative suits and basic trousers that won't be out of style next season, and use fashion dress shirts and ties to personalize your fashion statement.
2. Find a good tailor and treat him/her well. Proper alterations on suits, trousers and sport coats are important to your appearance.
3. Be a bit more adventurous when matching shirts and ties. A large patterned necktie will work very well with a small patterned dress shirt, and vice versa. For example, pair a bold paisley tie with a micro-check dress shirt.
Some simple rules for coordinating your dress shirt with a tie, sport coat, or suit.
1. Avoid patterns that are too similar.
2. Select complementary colors and patterns.
3. Don't wear combinations that are drastically different. The patterns and colors should not compete with one another.
4. Match large patterns with small patterns or vice versa.
5. Don't overdo one pattern or color.


text:
Baryscapus talitzkii är en stekelart som först beskrevs av Kostjukov 1978.  Baryscapus talitzkii ingår i släktet Baryscapus och familjen finglanssteklar. Inga underarter finns listade.

Källor

Finglanssteklar
talitzkii

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Happy Easter! The Northcutts celebrated another Easter in style this year, dressing to the 9's and turning heads from RSM to posh Newport Beach.
Among our key accomplishments this year were getting the entire family dressed and ready for church in time for the 8 AM service. New records were set that may stand for a generation or more. Following a great service at Shepherd of the Hills UMC in Mission Viejo we headed to Newport Beach for a fantastic brunch at Roy's.
Easter this year was a giant feast, attended by both my family as well as my brother's. Bonus guests were my sister-in-law's parents, making this one of the largest Easters on Northcutt record.
"We're going to Easter!" was what Emma squealed as we piled into the car and headed to church on Sunday. She was quite excited thanks to all the talk of eggs, bunnies and, of course, ducks over the past few days.


Kalliope is a former college instructor in both written and oral communications courses. She earned an MA in Linguistics from BYU and recently began a PhD program at University of London. She has two naughty kitties that fill her days with glares and snuggles.
I have a confession to make: I am an unabashed note taker. I have journals and notebooks filled to the brim with scribbles, arrows, diagrams, and cursive loopings cramped along margins. I take notes on everything because the act of writing things down helps me to learn and remember. It should come as no surprise, then, that I not only note-take during General Conference, but also during standard Sunday meetings.
Sometimes I fail miserably because I cannot keep my mind to my task however hard I try. Part of this is certainly my own issue, as I may allow myself to get distracted by uncomfortable room temperatures (I'm looking at you, chapel), stomach grumbles (hello Fast Sunday), or other issues. But I taught at a college for a few years; in fact, I taught public speaking, so the shoe has been on the other foot as well. Many times have I stared into the unblinking void that is an audience whose focus I have lost, and so many times have I sought to regain the attention of a wide variety of (mostly) night-class students, tired after a full day of work and then subjected to a long evening of sitting through my Gen-Ed courses, required for the completion of their degrees. Poor souls. But having been on both sides, I'm here to say that there's a lot we can do to make our Sacrament meetings an easier, more educational, and more spiritual experience.
As I have also taught writing courses, I can't help but notice that public speaking newbies go about preparing their first speeches in the same manner as they write their papers: a main idea, fleshed out with supporting facts and figures. This is fine for paper writing, but makes for a dry speech that may be difficult to follow. See, we don't process information we hear in the same we that we process information we read, and so talks need to be presented and even structured differently, so they can be more easily processed by our audience: the congregation.
We've all been invited to speak publically throughout our tenures in the Church, whether it be in primary, or upon our baptism. We speak all the time! We do it at baptisms, when giving spiritual thoughts or missionary moments, bearing testimonies, sacrament & conference talks, etc. So why aren't we better at it?
Other things that are not easily digestible? Numbers. When speakers start rattling off numbers, whether they be statistics or Bible references, I get a bit lost. I'm great at processing numbers when I see them, but when I hear them, they may as well be meaningless. It's not just me. It's how humans process information. Numbers, especially large or complicated numbers, can be difficult for us to wrap our heads around. So do yourself and your congregation a favor – keep it simple.
Also, don't use too many scripture references in a row, but instead invite listeners to get exact references from you later. Sure, we cite exact references in papers that we write for school. But that is a different medium. The method isn't as successful with a room full of listeners. In my experience, at least, references are spoken very quickly so I lack the time to either write it down or look it up myself, so I just end up flustered.
So what is successful? Let's think about it. Think about the best talk you've ever heard. What do you remember from it? Heck, what do you remember from any of the talks you've heard? Do you remember exact scripture references and statistics? Probably not. Most of us remember stories that made us feel certain ways, stories that we could connect to personally. So let that be a lesson to us. Stories are an effective means of illustrating points and conveying information.
And not just any stories. I don't remember impersonal stories told 4th or 5th hand about whatever. I remember stories about the speaker's actual grandparents or spouse or children. I connect when the speaker dares to connect, as well. Please don't tell me a story you looked up on the internet. Tell me something true about your own life and your experiences with your assigned topic. Connect to your material, so that I can connect to your message.
Keep your organization simple and don't try to pack too much into your talk. Ten minutes flies by a lot faster than you think it will. Give yourself time to fully develop one or two main ideas only, rather than hitting quickly on a slew of ideas. Depth of discussion will have a deeper impact than breadth.
I think my last point should go without saying, but in my experience, it still needs to be said. Please remember that you're standing in front of a remarkably diverse group of people. Your ward family is a beautiful amalgamation of people of varying genders, ages, martial statuses, sexual orientations & identities, education levels, political affiliations, racial & ethnic identities, and more, all in different places in their spiritual journeys. So remember to try to be inclusive of God's diverse children. Don't address only a portion of your audience to the exclusion of the rest. God's words are for all of us.
Now let's talk about delivery. My Rule #1 is to never, ever read a talk. Have you ever thought about why we read to children to help put them to sleep? Our voices become modulated when we read. The sounds we make while reading are very different from those we make while speaking. Our tones become almost soothing compared to the sharp and exciting moderations that occur during more natural speech. Another serious issue with reading a talk is that having a talk written out gives us a crutch, a safety net. And speaking in front of people is a very stressful activity for most people. So what do we do? Dive face first into our safety net and we don't come up for air until it's over.
But here's the issue: you can't connect with your audience if you're not looking at them. Speeches, talks… they're a 2-way form of communication and if you're looking down, you're cutting off half the process. So do yourself and your congregation a favor – pick up your head and talk TO them instead of AT them. Eye contact is crucial to the successful communication of ideas. If a speaker looks down too much, they appear to lack confidence. But when a speaker takes care to really look at us, it is easier to connect with their words. The same is true as a speaker – if you're looking at your audience, connecting with them, they will connect back with you.
Referring back to confidence, I have a pet peeve I'm going to share. I do not like it when a speaker, whether in church, a lecture, or elsewhere, gets up and apologizes for not preparing. The speaker is telling me that listening to them will be a waste of my time because they didn't respect MY time enough to prepare. Perhaps that's not the case, but that's what a lot of audience members are hearing. "Oh, you don't have anything prepared? Facebook time!" Don't start a talk or a lesson by apologizing. It's sending the message that your words won't have value. An audience looks for confidence in a speaker so that we may have confidence in their words. Don't shoot yourself in the foot before you get started.
What you SHOULD do is practice. Out loud. Practicing and rehearsing out loud will help you gain control of your ideas and the flow of your talk in a way that rehearsing in your head cannot. Practice. Use notes, of course, but only make notes for items you will really NEED. If you fill index cards with tiny scribbles in an attempt to get as much information as you can onto a cue card, it won't be very helpful because you won't be able to find what you're looking for in those crucial moments when you're looking for a prompt. Rehearse and then trust yourself.
It's hard, though. It's a scary thing to get up in front of people, and scarier still to get up in front of people and tell the truth about our pains and fears. It's hard to tell a room full of people that we've struggled. That we've had dark days and bleak nights. It's hard to say, "I don't know, but I'm working on it. I'm trying." But we have to. We have to reach out our hands in honesty so that others may be invited to reach back. This is the gospel – becoming one in Christ. Finding Him in each other and in ourselves. It takes so much bravery, but we can do it together. The talks we give are not just assignments; they are opportunities to reach out. Next time it's your turn, take it.
Lots of great advice – thank you Kalliope! I especially agree about the power of stories, especially personal stories. And when I'm referencing from or quoting a scripture I try to tell it as if it were a story, sometimes paraphrasing or essentially using ellipses as needed I sometimes give the reference, and it's interesting to hear that you think nothing is lost by leaving it out.
I always, always read my talks, however. And I don't think anything is lost by that. It's important to me to choose my words carefully, and I spend a lot of time on getting my talks just right. I practice them out loud as well. And I often wish some of the more loquacious people in my stake would write out their talks as a means of controlling the amount of time they're at the pulpit.
I love your approach, Emily U! I've heard people do this too, and it's typically so much more engaging than just reading stories directly from the scriptures.
The idea that I don't have to recite scripture references when I speak in church makes so much sense–and yet, it never occurred to me before. I have had the experience of trying to teach scriptures to my preschoolers for the Primary program, and originally I actually did just teach them the words minus the reference, because it was so hard for them to memorize the words at all, and also because teaching them a reference was essentially like teaching them to memorize nonsense words. As pre-readers, they had no concept of how scriptures are organized into numbered verses in named books, and so the references were meaningless to them. Then they got scolded by the Primary leaders for not reciting the references, and I felt bad for setting them up for that. So I guess the conditioning that we must recite references begins young.
This is so helpful, Kalliope!
I remember way back in high school learning about extemporaneous speeches and how that was a preferred method of delivery. I generally try to do that at church, but find that usually when I bear my testimony, I get flubbery and make a mess of it all, so I love your reminder to practice, even the detail of bearing testimony. I need to do better at that in general.
Such a great idea to not include scripture references– I can't think of a single General Conference speaker who does that, so why do we?
Thanks for the tips! Your point about numbers not being memorable is one that strikes me in particular. I love numbers, but I realize not everyone does like I do, and as you so well point out, mentioning some random numbers is a sure way to make people's eyes glaze over. Stories are where it's at.
I love all of these tips, especially the one of starting with a story. It's so much more engaging, and if the speaker can relate their talk back to the opening story at the end, all the better. Thank you!


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Home > News > Decisions Round-up > Decisions Round-up: 26 to 30 November 2012
Decisions Round-up: 26 to 30 November 2012
Be alert for requests for review
Remember that an applicant does not have to specifically ask for a review ? all they need to do is express their dissatisfaction with how a request has been dealt with. If you are in any doubt, you should contact the applicant to clarify, and if necessary give them assistance in making a proper request for review. Paragraphs 5.2 and 5.3 of the Section 60 Code of Practice provide some helpful guidance.
The Commissioner cannot make judgements on accuracy of information released
In Decision 187/2012, the arguments submitted to the Commissioner included criticisms of the analytical techniques used by SEPA and concerns about the veracity of the scientific data published. Remember that the Commissioner's powers are limited to determining whether information is held, and if it should be released. She cannot comment on the accuracy of information which is released.
Explaining complex or technical information can help the requester
In the same decision, the information requested was particularly complex and technical. You might find that it helps an applicant if you provide some context or explanation, in instances where the information you are supplying is complicated or specialised.
Check that the exemptions/exceptions apply to the specific information you are considering
The relevance of most exemptions and exceptions depends on the particular information you have been asked for. Always make sure you consider the content of the information itself, carefully, before deciding on an appropriate exemption or exception. Misapplying exemptions or exceptions can prolong an investigation and take up resources unnecessarily, and slow down the legitimate release of information.
Summary of decisions
Decision 186/2012 - Ms Julie Ward and North Lanarkshire Council
Mrs Ward received information from the Council in response to a request, but felt that she had not received everything. She wrote to the Council expressing her dissatisfaction, asking why she had not received everything she had asked for ? but did not receive a satisfactory response. When she appealed to us, the Council told our investigators that nothing in her correspondence comprised a request for review. The Section 60 Code of Practice states that a requester need only express their dissatisfaction ? there is no need to specifically ask for a review. It also advises that the authority has a duty to assist the requester in making a proper request for review. In this case, however, the Commissioner found that Mrs Ward's correspondence did constitute a request for review.
Decision 187/2012 - Mr Neil Craig and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA
Mr Craig asked SEPA for information relating to radium in particles found at Dalgety Bay, and SEPA told him that this information was on their website. Mr Craig did not accept that the information he wanted was on the website, arguing that it did not contain evidence of the analysis he expected to see, a matter which caused him concern. The Commissioner found that the SEPA website did publish all the information SEPA held in relation to Mr Craig's request. She went on to clarify that she could not comment on the scientific methodology employed by SEPA, nor arbitrate in a dispute about the accuracy of any scientific claims made by the authority.
Decision 188/2012 - Mr Peter Julien and City of Edinburgh Council
Mr Julien asked the Council for information about Old Drylaw House, and having received only some of the information he had asked for, he requested a review, giving some examples of the sort of information he wanted. However, the Council's response to his review only dealt with these specific examples, rather than looking at the broader scope of Mr Julien's initial request. The Council also wrongly applied a number of exceptions e.g. classifying correspondence between the Council and external third parties as "internal communications". The Commissioner found that while most of the information was correctly withheld, where exceptions had been wrongly applied to some information, it should be disclosed.
Decision 189/2012 - Ms Janet Ellis and Grampian Police
Ms Ellis asked Grampian Police for copies of statements it held relating to a named individual's death. The Police refused to disclose it, as it constituted the personal information of people who provided statements in an investigation into somebody's death. The Commissioner agreed that the information should be withheld. This is one of only a few decisions which has considered the exemption in section 34(2)(b)(ii) ? i.e. information held by the authority for the purposes of an investigation being carried out in order to make a report to the procurator fiscal, with respect to the cause of someone's death.
Decision 190/2012 - Mr Bob Costello and Dundee City Council
Mr Costello asked the Council for information about a particular contract. The Council provided some information to Mr Costello, but withheld the remainder on the basis that it was subject to legal professional privilege. Following an investigation, the Commissioner found that only some of the information withheld from Mr Costello was subject to legal professional privilege. Given that the Council disclosed the information which was not privileged to Mr Costello during the investigation, she did not require the Council to take any action.
Decision 191/2012 - Mr James Milligan and Glasgow City Council
Mr Milligan asked the Council for information relating to the content of signage at a voucher parking scheme area, and specific information relating to a parking penalty notice. The Council did not respond to this request or to Mr Milligan's subsequent request for review. The Council had refused to deal with the same request previously, finding it was vexatious, and so it did not respond to this request on the grounds that it was repeated. The Commissioner agreed that the request was repeated, but found that the Council should have advised Mr Milligan that this was the case.
Decision 192/2012 - Mr Michael Williams and the Scottish Ministers
In this case, Ministers did not receive an information request from Mr Williams until over a month after he had made it ? this appears in part to be due to Mr Williams using the wrong email addresses. However, the Commissioner found that the Ministers had failed to comply with FOISA as they did not respond to the request within statutory timescales, even after receiving the request.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


These enamel figurines have ink on them!
The reason I love these so much is because they put a great modern day component onto something unexpected. Usually, the un-inked versions are sold in Hallmark stores and I always fantasize that these are the kind of things I would get people when I go to their weddings... or maybe I would buy for my wedding cake topper? Now that I know these exist though, I'll have to reconsider.
These are especially excellent because when I read articles about those considering tattoos, I see a lot of blogs and internet comments considering how tattoo placement will effect them on their wedding day.
I say that should not matter! If you want a tattoo on your back a wedding should be when you get to show it off not something you have to cover.
You can check out Jessica's work here.


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Q: How to use model.fit_generator in keras When and how should I use fit_generator?
What is the difference between fit and fit_generator?

A: If you have prepared your data and labels in all necessary aspects and simply can assign these to an array x and y, than use model.fit(x, y).
If you need to preprocess and/or augment your data while training, than you can take advantage of the generators that Keras provides.
You could for example augment images by applying random transforms (very helpful if you only have little data to train with), pad sequences, tokenize text, let Keras automagically read your data from a folder and assign appropiate classes (flow_from_directory) and much more.
See here for examples and boilerplate code for image preprocessing: https://keras.io/preprocessing/image/
or here for text preprocessing:
https://keras.io/preprocessing/text/
fit_generator also will help you to train in a more memory efficient way since you load data only when needed. The generator function yields (aka "delivers") data to your model batch by batch on demand, so to say.

A: They are useful for on-the-fly augmentations, which the previous poster mentioned. This however is not neccessarily restricted to generators, because you can fit for one epoch and then augment your data and fit again.
What does not work with fit is using too much data per epoch though. This means that if you have a dataset of 1 TB and only 8 GB of RAM you can use the generator to load the data on the fly and only hold a couple of batches in memory. This helps tremendously on scaling to huge datasets.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This original red-brick sandstone pub has been much enlarged and was relaunched in 2014 as a 'Whitbread Inn', offering meal deals and the like. Internally it has been arranged quite tastefully. The bar and eating areas are quite distinct, with the dining space having various alcoves which make it seem a little more personal. The pub opens early for breakfast, at 6.30-10.30 weekdays and 7.30-11 on Sundays. This is mainly to cater for the guests in the adjoining Premier Inn, Some may be surprised to learn that the Bridgewater was a Good Beer Guide pub (1979-1982).
The Bridgewater family were large land-owners in the area. The Bridgewater Arms was built when some of their land was sold in the 19th century.
In Hotel (Premier Inn) next door.


Why does art-science matter? Tell funders.
Over the past few years I've been doing some grant searches for funding opportunities that bring the arts and sciences together in some way. Grant programs focused on art-science are fairly sporadic. For well-established projects, the National Science Foundation's Advancing Informal Science Learning (AISL) can be a fit, but NSF grants are notoriously competitive, awarding about 10% of applicants. Alfred P. Sloan Foundation funds a few projects through its Public Understanding of Science. The Wellcome Trust has a great track record of funding arts projects that deal with biomedical topics, for artists who live and work in the UK or Republic of Ireland.
Doing a grant search on the Foundation Center Online, using the controlled-vocabulary search terms, there is no entry for art-science. Writing in "art-science" as a keyword turns up a modest number of grants nationwide, many of which are "state of the art" science technology, or general education grants for "arts and sciences." "STEAM" yields even fewer results, often for things like "restoration of steam engine," etc. Once you further narrow the searches geographically (to make them most useful for actual grant writing) the field is pretty limited.
Philanthropists want to make a difference. Funders want their giving to have the biggest impact it possibly can, effecting change in the areas they care about. What can we do to convince funders that art-science matters? How can we change the funding landscape and increase art-science opportunities?
Here are three ways to start making change in the philanthropy environment. Please add your own and share!
One. Reflect: As practitioners of art-science – whether it's using science materials and methods to make cutting-edge art, using arts to communicate science narratives, blending both art and science to explore in an open-ended manner, using art to teach science in or out of school, or whatever you do that brings art and science together – ask yourself, why does art-science matter?
Two. Communicate: Each time we convene in a think tank, seminar, symposium, workshop, etc. let's invite funders as well. We know art-science makes interesting work. We know that our culture's habit of thinking of art and science as separate has not served us well over the past few centuries, and that reuniting them is important. We know that art-science is nearing a tipping point, with myriad projects germinating in every discipline, in many regions of the country and internationally, in formal education and outside of it. How can we communicate that excitement to funders? With education in crisis, how can we help funders recognize that interdisciplinary art-science is an effective way to re-ignite curiosity, to help learners think of themselves as investigators, as makers, as fully human, with voices worth hearing? At every art-science event, small and large, let's invite funders to the table. Ask for their input, give them a role in this movement.
Three. Measure: With every art-science project, keep track of its outcomes. It's a pain, but it can help you think about what you are aiming to do, then track how well you did it. If you go for funding, tuck a little bit into each budget for evaluating outcomes, even if you don't have to. It shows you mean business, and it will help us as a movement to make a better argument for increased funding.
In talking to neighbors, friends, and coworkers about what I do in art-science, I've been so surprised lately at the rapid growth of this movement. A decade ago, mentions of my art-science collaborations were met with cocked head, furrowed brow, and queries of "How would you bring those two together? They seem so diametrically opposed!" Now, when I talk about art-science, it's more often met with "Oh, yeah, I went to this cool poetry reading about physics last week" or "Do you know about _____ (insert name of art-science person I've never heard of, whom I then tweet next day on my #artscience du jour)." The fact that art-science is becoming not only well understood but even familiar to the general public is a sure sign that we are building a movement.
Getting on board with funders takes more time. The philanthropic landscape changes slowly; Philanthropy by its very nature is a rather conservative sector. But it does change, and it takes our effort and intention to help it change. There are new search terms listed in Foundation Center online: Environmental justice. Climate change. Agrodiversity. Circus Arts. Those are subjects now listed by funders as areas of focus for funding, that weren't there a few years ago. Let's put "Art-science" on the list.


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Q: Standard notation for compositum of field extensions? Let $L$ be a field, and $\{ E_i \}_{i \in I}$ be a family of subfields of $L$, that is, $E_i \subset L$ for each $i \in I$. Then, we define the compositum of the $E_i$'s to be the smallest field contained in $L$ that contains each of the $E_i$'s. More precisely, we define the compositum of the $E_i$'s to be
$$
\bigcap_{\substack{E_i \subset K \subset L \\ \text{for all } i \in I}} K,
$$
and it is easy to show that this is a field which is contained in any subfield of $L$ that contains $E_i$ for all $i \in I$.
My question is whether there is any standard notation to denote the compositum of a family of fields as above. I already know the following:

*

*If $I = \{ 1, \dots, n \}$, then the compositum of $E_1,\dots,E_n$ is usually denoted by $$E_1 \cdots E_n.$$

*If each $E_i$ is an extension of a field $k$, then one can denote the compositum by $$k(S),\quad \text{where } S = \bigcup_{i \in I} E_i.$$

But, if I don't have such a $k$ and if $I$ is an arbitrary indexing set, then is there a standard notation for the compositum? I have been reading Serge Lang's Algebra (3rd edition) and Patrick Morandi's Field and Galois Theory and no notation for the compositum (in the general scenario) is given in them.

A: You can always choose a $k$ for your second notation: both the prime field of $L$ and the intersection of all the $E_i$ would work.