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64th IFLA General Conference
August 16 - August 21, 1998
Code Number: 077-155(WS)-E
Division Number: III.
Professional Group: Library Services to Multicultural Populations
Joint Meeting with: Library Theory and Research: Workshop
Meeting Number: 155.
Simultaneous Interpretation: No
Analyzing and Understanding Cultural Differences: Experiences from Education in Library and Information Studies
Mirja Iivonen,
Diane H. Sonnenwald,
Maria Parma
Evelyn Poole-Kober
Department of Information Studies
University of Oulu,
In the paper the need to understand cultural differences is discussed. The authors show how cultural differences can be analyzed. They also describe how cultural information was exchanged and analyzed during the library and information studies course that was taught via the Internet simultanously in Finland and North Carolina. In addition, the authors discuss how libraries could use experiences of the common class when they act in a multicultural environment.
In the paper, culture is defined to be a framework to our lives, something which affects our values, attitudes and behavior. In analyzing and understanding cultural differences it is important to pay attention to how members of various cultures see i) the nature of people, ii) a person's relationship to the external enviroment, iii) the person's relationship to other people, iv) the primary mode of the activity, v) people's orientation to space, and vi) the person's temporal orientation. These dimension will be explained in the paper. In addition, the authors pay attention to language and communication styles as a dimension of cultural differences.
The paper describes differences in cultures of Finns, Sami People, North Carolians and Cherokee Indians. Sami People and Cherokee Indians were chosen to represent minor cultures in Finland and North Carolina. An interesting similarities can be found on the one hand between major cultures (Finland and North Carolina), and on the other hand between minor cultures (Sami and Cherokees).
The authors propose that there are a few lessons learnt in the common class which can be useful also for libraries and librarians serving multicultural populations. They are i) to undertand people's behavior as a reflection of their cultural background, ii) to understand of differences in language and communication styles between cultures, iii) to understand that collaboration across cultural boundaries and sharing cultural informations occur together, and iv) to take advantage from the Internet in crossing cultural boundaries but not to forget that people have various attitudes toward the Internet and therefore some clients continue to prefer books and face-to-face interaction with library professionals. The authors emphasize that cross-cultural communication and collaboration does not occur effectively without understanding other cultures.
The need to understand cultural differences is obvious today. Many societies are multicultural, and many people and organizations collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries. Although it is typical for people to see themselves as unigue (Reed 1986, 1) and to be somewhat parochial, parochialism is not a good strategy for the future. According to Adler (1997, 10) "parochialism means viewing the world solely through one's own eyes and perspective. A person with a parochial percpective neither recognizes other people's different ways of living and working nor appreciates that such differences have serious consequences."
Today we live in a world that is somehow smaller than it is used to be. New communication technology (e.g. email and the WWW) has made it easier to a certain extent to cross previous boundaries and communicate across time and space. However, the new technology does not necessarily make it easier to collaborate and communicate interculturally. To effectively collaborate and communicate we have to share meanings. This often requires that we understand cultural differences and share cultural information.
The purpose of the article is to discuss how culture and cultural differences can be analyzed and understood. We describe how cultural information was exchanged and analyzed during library and information studies course that was taught simultanously in Oulu, Finland, and in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, the USA, in the spring semester 1997. In addition, we discuss how libraries could use our experiences when acting in a multicultural environment.
Our common course explored human information behaviour in the context of collaboration. The course also provided students the opportunity to collaborate with fellow students from another country and culture. Many class sessions included small group exercises in which students from Oulu and Chapel Hill collaborated to discuss and complete the exercises. This collaboration was supported by Internet-based videoconferencing technology; students were able to see others and talk to others in a real-time connection although physically there was an ocean between them. (For more information about the course, see Iivonen & Sonnenwald, 1997, and Sonnenwald et al., 1998).
The core assignment in the course included papers and presentations written and produced together by Finnish and American partners. One such team (Parma & Poole-Kober) focused on the role cultural information may play in the context of collaboration. In particular they analyzed the cultures of Finns, Sami People, North Carolinians and Cherokee Indians. Sami People and Cherokee Indians were chosen to represent minor cultures within the major Finnish and North Carolinian cultures. Using a framework to explore these cultures led to insights with respect to the importance of analyzing and understanding cultural differences when collaborating across boundaries.
Culture has been studied and defined in many ways by multiple scholars representing various disciplines. Adler (1997, 15) has synthesized many definitions of culture. She says that culture is:
· Something that is shared by all or almost all members of some social group. · Something that the older members of the group try to pass on to the younger members. · Something (as in the case of morals, laws and customs) that shapes behovior, or... structures one's perception of the world.
Culture is more than arts, it is a framework to our lives. It affects our values, attitudes and behavior. On the other hand we are actors in our culture and affect it. According to Levo-Henriksson (1994), culture covers the everyday way of life as well as myths and value systems of society. Roos (1986) sees culture as a system of lifestyles and as a common dominator for lifestyles. Lifestyle reveals culture that is large and stiff wholeness, uniform, regular and like-minded in our lives. Lifestyles is a possible way to outline one's life within the framework of culture.
According to Adler (1997, 15-16), culture, values, attitudes and behaviors in a society influence each other. Values can be defined as factors that are explicitly or implicitly desirable and that affects our decisions. Values do not need to be conscious, they can be also unconsious. The values we have are based on our culture. Attitudes express values and get us to act or to react in a certain way toward something. Attitudes are always there when people act even if they do not see them. There is no action without attitudes. Behavior can be described to be any form of human action. The behavior of individuals and groups influence the society's culture. There is no culture in the society without people's behavior.
Examples of cultures: Finland and North Carolina
Finland is located in the Northern part of Europe. The Finnish culture has been influenced by the Swedish-Nordic, eastern European-Baltic and southern cultures, mainly the German, and most recently the Anglo-Saxon culture (Levo-Henriksson, 1994.) On the one hand, the Finnish culture can be described as rather homogenous; although there are regions with their own dialects and characteristics, they are strongly part of the main culture. On the other hand, there are also features of a multicultural society in Finland. There is an unique culture of Sami people in the northern part of Finland. Today there live also many people, e.g. refugees, who have immigrated from other countries including Somalia, Vietnam, Russia, former Yogoslavia, etc.
Sami people live in the northern part of Finland, and also in northern parts of Norway, Sweden and Russia. This area is called Lappland or Sami. Today, in Finland there are about 6,400 Sami people. The Sami lifestyle is often a mixture of nature's seasonal cycles, traditions, and modern times. (Aikio et al., 1994.) Because Sami people have lived as a minority in four countries, the Sami language has not been approved for use in schools until recently.
North Carolina is located on the east coast of the United States of America, to the north of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida, and to the south of Virginia and Washington DC. North Carolina was discovered, explored, named, and settled by Englishmen. Powell (as cited in Crow and Tise, 1979) says: "North Carolina is the only one of the United States that can claim an Elizabethan background." For a long time Africn-Americans and other Americans lived segregated lives in North Carolina. Following the civil rights movement in the 1960s and passage of the Civil Rights laws by the U.S. Congress, legal segregation ended in North Carolina. Today, people work, play, and go to school together. Although there are still some scattered problems, generally racial groups associate peacefully.
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians lives rather isolated in the western reaches of the North Carolina mountains on the largest organized Indian reservation east of Wisconsin. Snowbird Cherokees live in isolated community fifty miles from the main reservation (Neely, 1991.) The mountains were a hideout for the Indians who refused to leave the great Smokies during the Indian removals in 1838 in what has become known as the Trail of Tears. Today there are nearly 11,000 tribal members on the reservation (see Cherokee... in http://www.cherokee-nc.com/) and hundreds more living in mountain communities outside the reservation. The Cherokee Indians are taking pride in their heritage and again learning to speak and write their own language. The Cherokee Indian alphabet was invented by Sequoyah, the only man in the history of mankind who invented a complete alphabet without being able to read or write any other language (Underwood, 1961)
Cultural differences: An analytic framework
Adler (1997) gives six dimensions that we can use to analyze cultural differences. She pays attention to the understanding of the nature of people; a person's relationship to the external enviroment; the person's relationship to other people; the primary mode of the activity; people's orientation to space; and the person's temporal orientation.
These dimension are used to explore differences in cultures of Finns, Sami People, North Carolinians and Cherokee Indians, and to develop an understanding about cultures. In addition, we pay attention to language and communication styles as a dimension of cultural differences.
What is the nature of people?
There are differences in cultures with respect to beliefs about the nature of people, that is, people may be seen as good or evil or both. Although it rather usual, at least in western societies, to see people as a mixture of good and evil, it also rather usual for people to fear the unknown. Thus, people may assume foreigners (who are unknown to them) to be evil people. (Adler, 1997.)
Finnish people are supposed to be modest and not talk about themselves. This aspect of the culture is illustrated by the Finnish saying "Modesty makes beautiful". If a Finn is praised a lot, he becomes suspicious and cautious. Emotions run deep in a Finn and do not often come out. Negative emotions are expressed more often than positive ones. It is accepted to feel negatively; when you expect the worse, you cannot be disappointed. (Keltinkangas-Järvinen, 1996.)
In Sami culture individuals are seen as a mixture of good and evil. Myths and shamanism is an important part of Sami culture. (Pentikäinen, 1995.)
North Carolinians are very religious. They have developed fierce loyalties to family, their land, and church. Of course there are differences between people and regions but usually North Carolinians take pride of something simply because it represents North Carolina (Roberts, 1973).
Cherokee Indians are also very religious. Outsiders have known Cherokees as warlords of the southern mountains but among themselves they were Principal People. In history Cherokees warred on their neighbors. However, when the white men arrived, the Cherokee began to make treaties with them. (Norman, 1995.)
What is a person's relationship to the external enviroment?
There are differences in cultures with respect to people's relationships to the external environment. In some cultures people dominate over their environment. In some cultures people can live in harmony with their environment and do not see any real separation between people and nature. In other cultures people are subjugated by the environment and people accept the inevitable forces of nature. (Adler, 1997.) Cultures obviously differ today widely in how they value their technological environment and the role of information technology.
The old Finnish saying "If God is willing and the weather permits", illustrates the Finns' relationship to the environment and nature. In Finland, the climate has set rules to sources of livelihood. When agriculture was the main industry, people's lives were a struggle against weather conditions. Today many persons' livelihoods today still depend on forestry and paper industries. Although Finns try to dominate nature, they also know that forces of nature are too powerful to be completely dominated by them. Today Finns value information technology and believe it to help them in the Information society (On the Road, 1997.)
Sami people want to live in harmony with the nature. Their way of life does not deprivate or destroy the nature. The Sami people believe the stories that there are earth spirits living underground, so people should not pour hot water on the ground in order not to disturb there earth spirits (Aikio et al., 1996). According to Sami culture there are also other kinds of spirits living in nature, and nature itself should be considered holy.
North Carolinians have tried to find a balance between agriculture and industry. They have also made many efforts to protect nature already for a long time. Around 1885, North Carolina established soil conservation in North Carolina; and in 1911 the state acquired the headwaters of certain rivers to protect the drinking water. On several occasions, the people have acted in accordance with the state's long-standing respect for nature and the environment. Information technology has a important role in North Carolina as in everywhere in the United States as a part of National Information Infrastructure.
Historically, the Cherokee have lived off the land. The women gathered fruits and berries, and the men herded bison for meat. The women also started agrigulture when they learnt to till the soil and plant the best seeds for the crop yield. As the Cherokees began to settle into camp sites, they located their villages on the banks of good-size stream that had good fish and fresh water. Cherokees had mystical ceremonies. For example, the Cherokees celebrated the planting of the corn; the first roasting ear time; and the full ripe time of the corn. (Underwood, 1961).
What is the person's relationship to other people?
There are differences in cultures with respect to how people see a person's relationship to other people. In some cultures, people are individualistists and use personal characteristics and achievements to define themselves and value individual welfare. In other cultures people are group-oriented and define themselves as members of groups, which can be clans or communities. In these cultures people consider common goals and the groups's welfare most important. (Adler, 1997.)
Traditionally, especially in the eastern part of Finland collectivism has been strong. People had to work together as a family and with neighbours. (Siikala, 1996.) Today urbanisation has broken the sense of collectivism. As people moved to cities, mostly in the 60's and 70's, they tried to continue the habit of joint activities. After the first years it decreased to a minimum. (Kortteinen, 1982.) Today collectivism has changed to individualism.
Sami people are group-oriented; families and communality are strong. A family spirit has an important role in the education of children. Sami people are also seen as withdrawn and silent people who do not necessarily want to approach an outsider and who often fear and escape people who are unknown to them (Itkonen, 1984.)
On the one hand, North Carolinians have sought to impose order and predictability by developing fierce loyalties to family, church, and local community. (Crow and Tise, 1979.) Among North Carolinians there is a strong feeling of kinship. On the other hand, North Carolinians can be seen also as individualistists. They object to being told by anyone what to do or not to do. (Powell, 1988). They are generous and eager to be helpful, but they also expect in turn favours, not words, for thanks. (Roberts, 1973.)
Cherokee Indians are group-oriented. Their social structure includes seven clans. The Cherokees held others in respect, especially the women, who had as much to say about the tribe as anyone and who participated in various types of ceremonies (Underwood, 1961).
What is the primary mode of the activity?
There are differences in cultures with respect to the primary mode of activity. Some cultures stress doing, or action, and achieving outcomes. The members of the culture are do-ers, who want to achieve the most in life. The other cultures stress being and suppose that people, events and ideas flow spontaneously. The members of the culture are be-ers, who want to experience life. The do-er is more active, and the be-er is more passive. (Adler, 1997.)
One of the most important value in the Finnish culture is the appreciation of work. A person is respected if s/he is a hard worker, a do-er. Work is the measure of success and basis of self-esteem. (Kortteinen, 1992.) Today in Finland there is high unemployment. Because work is such an important value in the Finnish culture, this has meant that many people have lost faith in the future.
Also Sami people are always doing, but they have no hurry. Life goes on, and days are filled with everyday tasks. Sami people just want to live happily. Because Sami people do not aim to collect wealth, the others can see them as lazy. However, if the help is needed, Sami people will work hard to be able to help (Fellman, 1980). Today many antivities of Sami people are connected to tourism.
North Carolinians believe in work. Many counties in North Carolina are experiencing rapid economic growth while others are experiencing a lack of employment opportunities. Many of the mountain folks continue to make their livehood from the land. If the children of farmers go to college and receive a degree, they rarely return to home (Roberts, 1973).
Historically, the Cherokee Indians believed in work and provided for their families by hunting, fishing, and simply gardening. Today, for the Cherokee, the primary industry is the tourism. In the Ocanaluftee Indian village there is the Indian Museum (Cherokee...). After the tourist seasons end there is a lack of employment opportunities. (Norman, 1995)
How do people see space?
There are differences in cultures with respect to people's idea from physical space. Various cultures have different opinions whether the space should be seen public or private. (Adler, 1997.)
Both private and public spaces are important for Finns. On the one hand, home is a private place, where Finns can be safe and do what and how they want to do. The respect of owning land has been strong. On the other hand, it is important for Finns to be able to wander in forests and go for fishing to lakes. The law gives every man's rights to everybody to use forests and lakes without ownership.
Space is public in Sami culture. People have rights to the land but they do not have to own it. Understanding land and space as private is not known by Sami people traditionally.
North Carolinians obtain deeds to their property and can sell it. Rural North Carolinians enjoy the open spaces of farms and rural countryside. For the heavily populated areas many North Carolinians take great pride in ownership of houses. However, many developers are required to leave open green spaces for recreation and parkways in new developments; most towns and cities have community parks and green ways for public walking and biking.
Cherokees living on the Reservation only have possessory rights to the tracts. They cannot sell any part of the land on the reservation without the permission of the Cherokee council and the president of the United Sates. Cherokees living in remote villages and isolated communities in the mountain counties can own and resell their property. The Cherokee Indians continue to appreciate the big outdoors by running campgrounds for tourists, operating parks and trails, and fishing.
What is a person's temporal orientation?
There are differences in cultures with respect to a persons' temporal orientation; a culture may be oriented to the past, the present, or the future. In past-oriented cultures, the customs and traditions have a strong role as the wisdom of society. Innovations and change are justified according to past experience. Future-oriented societies pay less attention to the past and focus on the future. Innovations and changes are justified according to future benefits. They have a very long-term time horizon. Present-oriented cultures have a short-term time horizon and they focus on the benefits possible in a near future.
The temporal orientation in Finland has been traditionally in the past. Finns have used to explain many thing according to the past and the history of Finland under Swedish and Russian rules. Nowadays the orientation is, however, more in the future. Today, Finland is known as a high-technology society looking at the next millineum.
Sami people's temporal orientation is in the past and traditions have a strong role in their everyday life. Their lives have also been bound to seasonal cycles. Sami people believe very strongly in life after death. They do not have to do anything special in their lives because life goes on.
North Carolinians have an Elizabethian background which strongly empahisizes history. They put much emphasis on historical preservation with may towns and cities establishing historic district highly regulated. On the other hand, the school system places more emphasis on the recent past and present (Crow and Tise, 1979). Today North Carolinians are looking forward to the twenty-first century "with eager expectations" (Powell, 1988).
The Cherokee's culture is past-oriented. As Norman (1995) says: "Remembrance weights heavily on the mind of the Cherokee" when they try to affirm their cultural identity. The Cherokee know where they came from and they do not want to forget it. Although the Cherokees are traditionalists, there have been cultural changes and adaptation to a modern society for survival.
Comparision of people's beliefs and orientation
An interesting finding on the basis of the project group's (Parma & Poole-Kober) work is that there are similarities on the one hand between major cultures (Finland and North Carolina), and on the other hand between minor cultures (Sami and Cherokees). Actually there seems to be more similarities between major cultures or between minor cultures in two countries than between major and minor cultures in one country.
In Finland and North Carolina both major cultures have tried to find a good relationship with the nature and external environment. They try both to control and protect nature. Both major cultures also trust the technological environment, especially information technology, which is seen as a important factor on the road to the information society. People in both major cultures are today somehow individualististic although the tradition of collectivism and kinship with other people can also be found in their history. The work is very highly appreciated both in Finland and North Carolina. The private and public aspects to the space can be found in both cultures. In addition both Finland and North Carolina are today more present and future-oriented than past-oriented.
Similarities between Sami and Cherokee cultures also exist. In both cultures nature has an important role and people respect it. Both cultures are clearly group-oriented; families, clans and communities are more important than individuals. Sami people and Cherokees on the reservation do not own land but have only rights to it. Both minor cultures are also more past than future-oriented: their own history and traditions play an important role in their everyday life.
Differences in language and communication styles
Although Adler (1997) does not mention language and communication styles as a dimension of cultural differences, it obvious that they are one major way in which cultures and groups within major cultures vary (Gudykunst, 1986; Tannen, 1990). Although people may be able to speak the same language they could understand and interpret words differently, because the same words may mean different things to various persons. There are differences in shading and nuance of words (Reed, 1986).
Differences in language and communication styles became evident to our class during the course. The course was organized in English, which was the native language of the students in Chapel Hill, but a foreign language to the students in Oulu. This was not, however, a big problem in the class. Students were able to communicate and collaborate in English. Finns have become used to using a foreign language when collaborating with others.
In the class we were able to learn that there are differences in spoken and unspoken languages between Finns and North Carolinians. Finns are known as silent people. They do not usually use small talk. In Finland it is desirable to keep silent and not to speak too much. (Lehtonen & Sajavaara, 1985.) Instead, the silent language is not common to most North Carolinians. They tend to speak to almost everyone they meet and make small talk. Saville-Troike (1985) points out that there are different norms of appropriateness for speaking and remaining silent, which can cause misunderstanding in cross-cultural communication. Lehtonen and Sajavaara (1985, p. 199) describe the role of talk and silence: "Cross-cultural differences in the uses of talk and silence clearly exists. Americans ask questions and forces others to talk to fill up interactional silence, because silence is not tolerated socially. In many cases, the function of talk among Americans is not in transference of information or messages, but in the avoidance of silence."
During our videoconferences both Finnish and American students participated and discussed in a very active way and Finnish and American students in the project groups contacted each other regularly. However we were able to get some evidence of the silent Finns in a very interesting way. We had a common electronic discussion board where various topics were discussed. Some messages sent to the discussion board were course-related topics, e.g. ideas for projects and information about useful links. Many messages which were posted to the discussion board were, however, interpersonal communication, or small talk, about various topics like Valintine's Day, President Clinton's visit to Helsinki etc. Students in Chapel Hill were more eager to send messages to the discussion board than students in Oulu. A total of 128 messages were posted to the discussion board during the semester, 80 messages were sent by students in Chapel Hill and only 12 by students in Oulu. 36 messages were posted by instructors. We suppose that small talk is difficult for Finns also in electronically.
There were a few lessons learned in the class which can be useful for libraries and librarians serving multicultural populations. First, people's behavior reflects their cultural background. This happens also in libraries. Therefore we have to be aware about cultural differences related to a person's relationship to other people, orientation to time and space, etc. When librarians try to learn to know their clients - as they should - we suggest, they also try to learn to know their clients' culture. This may give them the analytical framework to understand their clients' behavior and needs.
Second, we learned that there are differences in language and communication styles between cultures. Library services are based very heavily on language and communication. When librarians act in a multicultural environment differences in language and communication styles may cause misunderstanding and even lead to bad service. Good communication skills can, however, be learned. We suggest that these skills should be taught to librarians, as they should also be taught to other professionals working in the service sector.
Third, we learned in our course that the project that focused on sharing cultural information interested many students. This project was discussed by the students more than other projects. This is easy to understand. Every student worked with a partner from another country. To the students, Finland and North Carolina were not mere foreign countries on the other side of the globe but the countries where their partners lived. The students really wanted to learn about the cultures of their classmates. Collaborative work seems to generate interest in other cultures. We suggest that collaboration across cultural boundaries and sharing cultural information occur together. It happened in our course, it works in IFLA, and it could work also in a library practice. Libraries in multicultural environments could proactively support collaboration across members of different cultures by getting people together and providing information about their cultures.
Fourth, we learned that new information and communications technology will make other cultures closer to us and offer possibilites to overcome cultural boundaries. However, cultural attitudes toward technology may influence people's beliefs and use of the technology. For example, students in Finland rated some applications more highly than their classmates in North Carolina (see more in Sonnenwald et al., 1998). The Internet and Internet-based services are available for public use in many libraries world-wide. On the one hand, we can see this as a benefit, e.g., in public libraries the Internet can facilitate an access to information about other cultures that would not otherwise be possible. On the other hand, we have to understand that clients' attitudes forward the Internet and their abilities to use it will vary. We have and will continue to have clients who appreciate books and face-to-face interaction with library professionals.
Today we live in the world where there is a need for collaboration across cultural boundaries both internationally and internally within countries. Cross-cultural collaboration may be facilated through an understanding of others' cultures. In our class we learned that cultural differences are not necessarily disadvantages but can be enriching and provide many benefits. This framework may be applicable to library education, library research and library work.
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Cherokee Indians of North Carolina. In: http://www.cherokee-nc.com/ (April, 1997).
Crow, J.J., Tise, L.E., 1979. Writing North Carolina History. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.
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Neely, S., 1991. Snowbird Cherokees: People of persistence. Athens: The University of Georgia Press.
Norman, G., 1995. The Cherokee: Two nations, one people. National Geographic (May): 72-97.
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Pentikäinen, J., 1995. Saamelaiset. Pohjoisen kansan mytologia. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura.
Powell, W.S., 1988. North Carolina: A history. Nashville, TN: The American Association for State and Local History.
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Roberts, N., 1973. The goodliest land: North Carolina. Garden City, NJ: Doubleday.
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District investigation into charter school continues
Kristen Wohlers
Molalla River School District continues to investigate Renaissance Public Academy over alleged student privacy breach
The Molalla River School District continues its investigation into district charter school Renaissance Public Academy regarding alleged student privacy violations, and is seeking further documentation from the school.
Investigation background
The current investigation, which follows at least one previous investigation into the charter school in the last three years, was first brought up at the November Molalla board meeting. The investigation is in response to a complaint filed by the charter school's previous administrator Michael Gibson, suggesting that a secretary and a board member may have shared confidential student information.
At that November meeting, some Molalla board members, along with Superintendent Tony Mann, gave the sense that they felt RPA was not fully complying with the investigation by not providing the district, or the district's investigator, with the full report from their own internal investigation.
RPA board member Douhet Wilcox told the Pioneer at the time that their attorney was concerned disclosing the full report would be a violation of attorney-client privilege.
"We reviewed it as a board and discussed it, and then all those hard copies were collected and destroyed," Wilcox said in November. "So, there are very few people that have seen it because of the [attorney-client privilege]."
Molalla board member Ralph Gierke in November went so far as to make a motion to require RPA to provide the report within seven days or the district would vote on a notice of intent to terminate the charter agreement with the school. Other board members felt this action was rash and premature, and the motion was shot down.
Yet now, Molalla's board has implemented a timeline for RPA to comply with their specific requests.
Molalla board seeks more documentation
In February, Molalla board member Neal Lucht made a motion to direct Mann to draft a letter of demand to RPA's board, requesting three items by Friday, March 1 at 4 p.m. to determine whether RPA properly responded to the alleged breach of student information.
The three items include: the letter that RPA wrote to parents about the breach of confidential student information, a list of the parents to whom the letter was sent, and all 1,500-1,700 emails identified in the original complaint that were reviewed by the RPA board members as part of their internal investigation before sending a smaller collection to legal counsel.
"I view this motion not as an ending point of this particular issue," Lucht said, "but that of a beginning. In living up to our responsibility on this board to continually monitor and strive for the safety of all students of the Molalla River School District, we need to take this action at this time to assure the patrons of our district and this board that proper notification has been given to all those involved."
There was no public discussion in February about the potential to terminate the charter agreement with RPA.
Improperly handling student information can be considered a violation of the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, or FERPA, a federal law protecting the disclosure of students' personally identifiable information.
There are some exceptions under FERPA, including that directory information can be shared with third parties. According to the U.S. Department of Education, directory information includes information such as name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports and dates of attendance.
Gierke suggested that the information breach included names, dates, addresses and "actions taken."
"The said emails were between a secretary in the office and board members, which is in reality, a gross lack of responsibility as it relates to FERPA," Gierke said after Lucht made the motion.
He added, "I may be a board member, but I know that I can't walk into any school and ask about a given student…So that, in reality, is a breaking of the law, and consequently that's something that we all have to follow whether we like it or not."
However, Wilcox indicated that RPA's investigation found there were no FERPA violations.
"It was an internal problem, we investigated it, found that there were no legal violations of any kind," Wilcox said in November. "We worked with our attorney to make sure that everything was according to code and policies…and then we gave a brief report to Tony Mann when we were done, saying this is what the accusations were, and this is what we discovered and what we decided to do as a result of the investigation."
Molalla's board approved Lucht's motion unanimously to demand more information from RPA's board.
On Friday, March 1 after 4 p.m., Mann said he had not received any documents from RPA.
The Beehive Buzz
This article brought to you courtesy of teh Beehive, News-Times Insider Senior Living Expert.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Home Departments Manufacturing Siemens Gamesa is preferred supplier for large U.S. wind project
Siemens Gamesa is preferred supplier for large U.S. wind project
Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy was recently named as the preferred turbine supplier for the massive 2,640-MW Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind project in the U.S. This is the largest offshore wind power project in the rapidly increasing U.S. market to date. A long-term service and maintenance agreement is included for the site off the coast of Virginia. The agreement furthermore foresees using turbines from Siemens Gamesa's Direct Drive offshore wind turbine platform.
The final number of units and turbine model remain to be determined. All installations are expected to complete by 2026. The agreement is subject to certain conditions including Dominion Energy's final investment decision, governmental permitting, and other required approvals.
"Signing this preferred supplier agreement with Dominion Energy attests to the enormously exciting growth taking place in the U.S. offshore wind industry and across the globe," said Markus Tacke, Siemens Gamesa CEO. "We're thrilled to have been chosen to support them in their commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to once again do our part in combatting climate change on a global level."
The agreement comes on the heels of Siemens Gamesa's recent commitment to the "Business Ambition for 1.5ºC – Our Only Future" pledge, contributing toward the fight for a zero-emissions future.
"Internationally, every Siemens Gamesa Direct Drive offshore wind turbine we install increases the impact made by the renewable energy industry in avoiding CO2 emissions from power generation," said Andreas Nauen, CEO of the Siemens Gamesa Offshore Business Unit. "Locally, we help our customers provide cost-efficient clean energy as well as additional economic benefits."
Once online, the Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind project is expected to provide enough clean energy to power 650,000 homes at rated wind speed, avoiding 3.7 million tons per year of carbon emissions compared to fossil fuel-based power generation. (Courtesy: Siemens Gamesa)
Once online, the project is expected to provide enough clean energy to power 650,000 homes at rated wind speed, avoiding 3.7 million tons per year of carbon emissions compared to fossil fuel-based power generation.
This is another milestone agreement for the United States as it aims to add 25 GW of renewable energy by 2030, enough to provide clean, renewable energy to approximately 12 million average homes, or 10 percent of total U.S. households.
"We're confident that offshore wind power is already one of the fastest-growing, most important contributors on which Virginia state agencies can draw to reach their ambitious renewable energy goals," said Steve Dayney, head of Offshore North America at Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy. "Receiving 30 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030 is fully feasible, and we are eager to lead the way for the citizens of the Commonwealth. We have always believed that the Coastal Virginia demonstration project currently underway with Dominion Energy is a gateway to something bigger, and now Virginia is poised to benefit from the wide-ranging economic benefits the Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind project will bring."
Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind expands on knowledge gained though the current two-turbine, 12-MW Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project.
It is the first offshore wind project to be built in U.S. federal waters and will use Siemens Gamesa's 6-MW SWT-6.0-154 wind turbines. CVOW is set to be online in 2020 within a research lease area adjacent to site of the 2,640-MW project will be located.
The agreement for Dominion Energy Virginia Offshore Wind also provides for certain early works to support project development, including turbine layouts that will be used in the Construction and Operations Plan (COP) submittal to the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in late 2020.
More info www.siemensgamesa.com
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Borneo…maybe you've heard of it - but do you even know where it is? I'm sure that if I gave you a globe you'd all have trouble putting your finger on it. What if I told you that it is the world's third largest island…and it contains three countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. At one time it was a wild place inhabited by headhunters, but it's now a lush island in the Pacific near New Guinea and the Philippines. My curiosity with Borneo started about seven years ago when I was living in San Francisco. I was up late one night watching television. I came across the show "Eco-Challenge." It was an adventure race that was shown on cable (before the craze of reality TV).
The race was completed in three days for the good teams and about six days for the slower teams. It included hiking, mountain biking, kayaking through rapids, horseback riding, caving, abseiling, orienteering, and any other crazy, dangerous outdoor sport that they could come up with. "Eco Challenge" was in a place called Borneo. I had never heard of it before, but it sounded and looked completely exotic - this sheltered mid-westerner was hooked.
I stayed up that night watching until about 3AM, utterly amazed at what these people were going through. They raced 24 hours a day and were often hallucinating due to dehydration and lack of sleep. They had foot-rot, leeches crawling all over their bodies (and into places that I can't even mention), and they were living on cliff bars. These were the toughest people that I had ever seen in my life and I wanted to be one of them. I was in awe of them and the dangerous, lush, jungle landscape that surrounded them. I got out the map that night and looked up Borneo - it took me quite some time to find it as I had never really heard of it before - but when I did, I knew that it would be someplace that I would visit one day.
After watching Eco-challenge, I started getting interested in adventure racing - wondering if I was tough enough to really do what those people did. The next few vacations I took were adventures to test out my ability in the various activities as well as my capacity to 'rough it'. After sleeping in the Australian rain forest in a hammock – scared to death of every noise and bump in the night, I realized that I probably wasn't cut out for the adventure racing life, but the experience kicked off my interest in traveling to exotic places. I may never get to pull leeches off my body, but I knew that I wanted to go explore, I wanted an adventure, and I wanted to push myself to the limits.
Shortly after I got hooked on Eco-Challenge, the first season of "Survivor" aired on television which I absolutely loved and it was also shot on an island in Borneo. So when I decided to do my year of extended travel around the world, I got out a map, laid it on my floor, and immediately knew that I had to stop in Borneo. There was never a question in my mind; I had to take this opportunity to see it. My friend Russ from NY also had an interest in Borneo, so he flew out to join me.
We arrived in Kota Kinabalu (the largest city in Malaysian Borneo) early in the morning on the celebration of the Chinese New Year. The holiday pretty much had shut down the whole city, like Christmas in Nebraska, no stores or markets were open. As we walked around the deserted town, we realized that we were two of a handful of Caucasians in the whole town…heck…the whole country. I guess that makes sense since most people from the west don't even know where Borneo is! We were on a big island - so we decided that we would treat ourselves to seafood that night.
We went to a place along the harbor, called 'The Seafood Village'. The front of the restaurant had three levels of huge fish tanks full of a variety of extremely fresh seafood. It was also packed with people dining - large families dining together in this overwhelming banquet hall setting. I looked around and realized that the smallest table they had was one that sat 6 people. Most of the tables there were full of 10 to 12 people eating 'family style'.


All of us have looked deep within at some point in our lives and wondered if we could ever have been good enough to be a competitive moustache grower. When I was a kid, we all had trading cards depicting our favourite moustache or beard man, and we would trade them. That is why I am proud to report that the World Beard and Moustache Championships will take place this year in Portland, Oregon! Although Portland is fairly far away for most of us, an event of this magnitude rarely comes along. So if you can make it down to Portland on October 25th, 2014, you simply must. Facial hair Olympians will compete in 17 categories of style ranging from moustaches to partial beards to full beards!
Competition is fierce, so you'd better start not shaving. Just ask Beard Team USA "athlete" Jim Daly, a professional comedian and magician, who has been growing his moustache for over thirty years. Don't let his years of endurance during the unbelievably long and intensive training process comprised of looking like some sort of bizarre, ginger, giant-moustached Dali intimidate you. Registration costs a mere forty dollars American, and the grand prize is……..well, an all-expenses paid trip to next year's world championships in Austria. Nowhere on the website, however, was I able to find the following information that seems pertinent to me, at least. Can women join in any category? Are some categories, like, say, "freestyle moustache" more likely to allow female competitors? I guess all you ladies out there with professional calibre competitive facial hair are going to have to wait for a more enlightened age. Until then, people of all the sexes (competitor or not) should get their collective selves to Portland on October 25th.


text:
Q: Setting up Cup/JLex parsing properly I have a very basic lexer here:
import java_cup.runtime.*;
import java.io.IOException;

%%

%class AnalyzerLex

%function next_token
%type java_cup.runtime.Symbol

%unicode
//%line
//%column

// %public
%final
// %abstract

%cupsym sym
%cup
%cupdebug

%eofval{
  return sym(sym.EOF);
%eofval}

%init{
    // TODO: code that goes to constructor
%init}

%{
    private Symbol sym(int type)
    {
        return sym(type, yytext());
    }

    private Symbol sym(int type, Object value)
    {
        return new Symbol(type, yyline, yycolumn, value);
    }

    private void error()
    throws IOException
    {
        throw new IOException("Illegal text at line = "+yyline+", column = "+yycolumn+", text = '"+yytext()+"'");
    }
%}

ANY = .

%%

{ANY}       { return sym(sym.ANY); }
"\n" { }

And this is my very basic parser:
import java_cup.runtime.*;

parser code
{:

    public void syntax_error(Symbol cur_token) {
        System.err.println("syntax_error " + cur_token );
    }

:}

action code
{:
:}

terminal        ANY;

non terminal    grammar;

grammar         ::= ANY : a
                {:
                //System.out.println(a);
                :}
                ;

I am trying to parse a sample file. I made a method like this:
AnalyzerLex scanner = null;
        ParserCup pc = null;
        try {
          scanner = new AnalyzerLex( new java.io.FileReader(argv[i]) );
          pc = new ParserCup(scanner);
          while ( !scanner.zzAtEOF ){
              pc.parse_debug();
          }
        }

But the above code throws an error:
    #2
Unexpected exception:
# Initializing parser
# Current Symbol is #2
# Shift under term #2 to state #2
# Current token is #2
syntax_error #2
# Attempting error recovery
# Finding recovery state on stack
# Pop stack by one, state was # 2
# Pop stack by one, state was # 0
# No recovery state found on stack
# Error recovery fails
Couldn't repair and continue parse at character 0 of input
java.lang.Exception: Can't recover from previous error(s)
    at java_cup.runtime.lr_parser.report_fatal_error(lr_parser.java:375)
    at java_cup.runtime.lr_parser.unrecovered_syntax_error(lr_parser.java:424)
    at java_cup.runtime.lr_parser.debug_parse(lr_parser.java:816)
    at AnalyzerLex.main(AnalyzerLex.java:622)

I think that I am setting up the lexer/parser not properly.

A: I am not an expert but I can recommend you to take these actions:

*

*You may have to specify which non terminal to start with, for example:
start with compilation_unit;

*You can enhance your syntax error method by adding line and column, that way it is clearer where the error is.
public void syntax_error(Symbol s){
    System.out.println("compiler has detected a syntax error at line " + s.left
        + " column " + s.right);
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Stress is inevitable. Controlling stress sometimes feels impossible. We're here to help.
Every single human being will experience stress at different points across his or her lifespan. While we often associate stress with negative feelings, sometimes, stress can be a good thing to help us be more productive and efficient in reaching goals and deadlines. Yet we need to be able to recognize when good stress becomes bad stress — when productivity becomes overwhelm. Below we map out how to assess your stress, how it might affect you personally, and some helpful tips to coping with stress and controlling stress levels.
When it comes to stress, we're all different. Something that fills you with anxiety and fear may exhilarate and inspire someone else. Before you can decide how to handle your own stress, it's important to know what, specifically, affects you negatively and how you tend to cope with it.
Trauma (death, divorce or job loss) affects everyone differently. Reflect on how you tend to react to the most difficult circumstances. Do you shut down? Do you avoid dealing with it by filling your schedule to the max? Do you confide in a friend? Would you characterize your reactions as healthy? Avoidant? Destructive?
Take note about how you handle the stress of others – do you take on your best friend's relationship problems, getting just as upset as she gets when her boyfriend cancels at the last minute? Do you have a clear sense of boundaries when those around you share their troubles, or do you allow yourself to get wrapped up in the drama?
Take a good look at how you perceive your sense of control over your own life. Do you believe that you have the power to change aspects of your life that you're unsatisfied with, or do you view your life as the hand you were dealt? Would you characterize yourself as optimistic? Do you view your 'bad habits' as unchangeable? The more we feel in-control of the outcomes of our lives, the more resilient we are; which ultimately sets us up to be better at controlling stress in our lives.
Spirituality can have a profound effect on your outlook on life. Do you believe in a god? Do you believe that the energy you put out into the world disperses and has an effect on those around you? Perhaps you believe in some form of karma – what goes around comes around? When was the last time you stopped to assess your personal relationship with your beliefs — or how your beliefs affected your relationships? People who feel a sense of spiritual purpose tend to seek and find what is most important in their lives, removing the need to stress over things that are out of their control or ultimately unimportant in the long-run. This sense of purpose and perspective through spirituality positively affects our ability to handle stress.
Does stress make it hard to fall asleep? Does it affect your memory? Cause anxiety? Affect your appetite? It's important to be aware of how your body reacts to stressful situations so that you will know how best to cope. Of course, this is different for everyone. Take the time to listen to how your body is reacting to stress and how it's affecting your daily interactions, presence, and productivity levels. If you aren't sure about your own reactions, Livzo has a tool that can help. Using the Mood module in your Health Diary will help you understand how stress affects your lifestyle and even your food choices. Sometimes controlling stress means controlling your food choices and sleeping habits — sometimes the opposite is true!
If lack of sleep is causing you stress and exhaustion, try practicing some basic healthy sleep hygiene techniques. Shut off the TV and smartphone an hour prior to getting into bed. Try and go to the bed and wake up at the same time everyday to regulate your sleep-wake cycle. If all else fails, consult your doctor about the possibility of taking a natural sleep supplement, such as melatonin or an herbal blend with chamomile, valerian root, and passionflower, to help initiate drowsiness.
If you feel like you're working too much and are stretched thin with too many obligations, consider trying a checklist app like Wunderlist or go old-school with a piece of paper to help you organize and prioritize all your current obligations. Which of these are absolutely mandatory and which can be let go, delayed, or delegated? Learning to say no when feeling overwhelmed is an extremely difficulty, yet necessary skill we all need to master in order to maintain a healthy mental state.
Find a way to release trapped, negative emotions. Passionate feelings like anger, fear, sadness and even jealousy can overwhelm your happiness and cause you to lose your sense of self. Whenever you feel these emotions taking over, try to refocus your mind on something more positive. Try repeating a mantra like, "I am at peace," while you take slow, deep breaths until the negative feeling passes.
Journaling is a strategy for discharging emotions, clarifying your thoughts and feelings, and getting to know yourself better. Sometimes when you're stressed your thoughts can be all jumbled up in your brain, only causing you to be more stressed. Taking a few minutes to jot down your feelings might help you make sense of them, and can even show you that your problems might be more easily resolved than you originally thought.
Being able to assess your stress and finding the right stress coping strategy that works for you can take time. Be gentle with yourself. If your friend's recommendation didn't work for you, move on to the next technique or idea! It's nearly impossible (and not even necessarily desirable) to eliminate all stress from our lives, so finding a coping strategy that works for YOU when stress creeps in is key for coasting through it. If you're still unsure of how to control stress levels, reach out to a Livzo Health Expert to help get you started.


The Opposition outfit has announced it will resume plans to swear-in Raila Odinga and the People's Assembly process.
Th National Super Alliance (NASA) said the inaugural session of the National People's Assembly will take place early next year.
The postponed inaugural session will be preceded by a series of regional consultative forums.
"Following the postponement of the launch of the People's Assembly that was to take place on Jamhuri Day, Tuesday 12th December, the Organizing Committee wishes to announce the resumption of the People's Assembly process," the committee said in a statement.
Coast region will be first to hold consultative forums on Sunday (tomorrow) 17th December, 2017.
NASA postponed the inauguration of Raila Odinga as the 'people's president' and the launch of the People's Assembly on Sun, December 10th, 2017.
The events were to take place on Jamhuri Day.
"We are aware that this will be a disappointment to the people of Kenya who were eagerly waiting of this occasion. We wish to assure them that our resolve has not change.
"We wish to thank the Government and people of Mombasa County who had graciously offered to host the event. Thank you very much Mombasa…we shall be announcing the new dates of both the swearing in ceremony and the launch of the People's Assembly as well as a more vigorous and prolonged resistance in the coming days," the statement read in part.
NASA's announcement came in the backdrop of tough talk by President Uhuru Kenyatta against dissent.
On Thursday, the President talked of taking of 'firm' action against governor's calling for secession.
Secession has been a popular topic within the Opposition ranks with Raila aide Dr David Ndii being seen as its chief proponent courtesy of his eloquent articulation of the idea in print and television.


text:
aauthor: Chokshi
FantasyRL4
Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi, 368 pp, RL 4
Aru Shah and the end of Time by Roshani Chokshi is the first book in a series and also the first book published by Rick Riordan Presents, a new imprint with Disney with the goal of publishing, "great books by middle grade authors from underrepresented cultures and backgrounds, to let them tell their own stories inspired by the mythology and folklore of their own heritage." Having written series centered on Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Norse mythologies, I think it is very nice of Riordan to give other authors a chance, especially when the authors are members of these underrepresented cultures. And this is not just another money maker for Riordan! As he says, "Disney is paying me a nominal fee to write an introduction for each book, help edit and promote it, etc., but that's the limit of my monetary involvement. . . I am not doing this for money. . . Honestly, for me this is away to give back for my success. I've been lucky in my career. I want to use my platform to help other writers get a wider audience. I also want to help kids have a wider variety of books to choose from, especially those that deal with world mythology." While you may detect a note of cynicism and/or sarcasm in my tone, it is really just sadness that diverse authors writing books with diverse characters need Riordan's name on their books in order for us to buy them. That said, Aru Shah and the End of Time is perfect book for Riordan to kick off his imprint with. Chokshi delivers a plot and characters that will feel be immediately recognizable to Riordan's legion of fans. To this, she brings the richly detailed, intricate and, as with all gods from all ancient mythologies, crazy behavior and life choices of the gods and goddesses of Hindu mythology, to the page. Choskhi also brings some truly beautiful writing to these pages in her descriptions of the Otherworld and its inhabitants, while also capturing the chatty, informal, tone that Riordan has mastered, addressing readers directly in her entertaining glossary at the end of the book. But, best and bravest of all, Aru Shah and the End of Time has TWO FEMALE PROTAGONISTS!!! That is still rare in middle grade fantasy, right? I haven't been reading as much middle grade fantasy as I used to (the reading level of this genre out of reach to all but a few students at the elementary school where I am the librarian) but I think this is still rare? Please let me know that I am wrong!
Once again, seventh grader Aru Shah is stuck at home, which just happens to be an apartment connected to the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta, Georgia, where her mother is the curator. Aru is new to Augustus Day School, where students get dropped off by drivers and go to fabulous places all over the world for vacation, and she wants to fit in. So, Aru lies, among a few other things, about going to Paris for vacation. When her classmates show up at her door to catch her in a lie, she ends up, still wearing her Spiderman pajamas, taking them into the museum where they are her to light the cursed Lamp of Bharata. Which, of course, she does.
When the lamp is lit, the Sleeper is awakened and the world around Aru freezes. Her classmates, her mother, who was running to the museum to stop her, are motionless. From the mouth of an ancient elephant sculpture comes a voice and Subala, the creature given the sacred duty of guiding the Pandava brother who lit the lamp, emerges. Subala, who turns out to be a pigeon (his form is a bit of a mystery/punishment that becomes part of the story) is deeply upset to learn that the Pandava brother, one of five demigod warrior princes and heroes of the epic Mahabharata poem, is in fact a teenaged girl. And, when Subala, nicknamed Boo by Aru, and Aru travel to find the other Pandava brother who will fight the Sleeper with her, they are in for another surprise. Not only is Mini a girl, she is Indian-Filipino and her full name is Yamini Kapoor-Mercado-Lopez. I LOVE that Chokshi made one of her characters multi-cultural! While we are definitely a country of immigrants, we are also a country of multicultural Americans and I have just enough students who are of Mexican and Filipino descent that their eyes light up when I tell them about a book with a character who is part Filipino. Chokshi also touches on gender discrimination, or the challenges of being a girl in the character of Mini. Knowing that there is a Pandava in her family, Mini's mother, who is Indian, assumes that her brother is the Pandava and prepares him for his coming quest. Mini, who is a bit of a germaphobic worrier, has her anxieties increase when she realizes that not only is she the Pandava, she has not been prepared for this role the way her brother has. She does have the sense to grab her brother's "Pandava Preparedness" backpack before embarking on her quest with Aru and Boo.
Aru, Mini and Boo's quest takes them on a labyrinthine journey, searching for information and answers (including the identities of their god-fathers, since as Pandavas, Mini and Aru are also demigods) then completing intricate tasks and retrieving magical items and information that will allow them to conquer the Sleeper, who is spreading his freeze-disease all over the world. Sometimes the trio is entirely in the Otherworld, sometimes they are in a part of our world where the Otherworld exists, but behind a veil of illusion. An elegant beauty salon is actually the home of Brahmasura, a semi-divine being who turns all he touches into ash. When the trio heads to the Night Bazaar, they enter by way of a Costco. These elements, which will be familiar to Riordan's fans, are fun and funny, but as an adult reader, I was yearning for something more, especially when, midway through Aru Shah and the End of Time, Mini mentions her favorite book, The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman (which I have never reviewed here because, despite my profound love for it, I know I cannot do it justice in a review), which happens to also be my absolute favorite trilogy/series in the world. When I read Riordan's books, and reading Chokshi's, I grew weary of the endless running from one place to another, completing one task after another and found myself wanting a larger plot structure for this story to fit into. While there is a thread involving Aru's absentee father and some secrets about her mother, this isn't enough to make the "end of time" that the Sleeper threatens feel imminently dangerous in the way that say, the Oblation Board and the severing of children and their demons did in Pullman's book. But, in the end, I think that's why Riordan's books probably are more widely read (and sell more copies) than Pullman's - at the end of the day, maybe kids (and some adults) just want to have fun without being nudged to think about larger philosophical, ethical and religious concepts. And that's ok. Books can be entertaining. Books can be thought provoking. And sometimes they can be both.
Source: Purchased Book and Audio Book
The next two books being published by Rick Riordan Presents will feature Mayan mythology and Korean mythology.
The Storm Runner by Jennifer Cervantes is due on September 18 of this year. The blurb for the book reads: Zane is a lonely 13-year-old boy living in New Mexico whose physical disability makes him feel even more like everyone at his middle school is watching him. But, as he soon learns, his physical differences are merely the first clue to a family history that connects him to the Mayan gods - and puts him in mortal danger. As an ancient Mayan prophecy begins to unravel, Zane has to find the hero within himself.
Dragon Pearl by adult sci-fi author Yoon Ha Lee will be released Spring of 2019> Here is Riordan's summary:
My elevator pitch for the book is simple: Korean fox spirits in space! (Echo: space, space space.) It's a mix of sci fi opera and Korean mythology. This is not something you're going to see every day, and no one could pull it off like Yoon Ha Lee does. Our main character is Min, a teenaged fox spirit whose brother disappears, supposedly deserting the Thousand Worlds Space Forces to search for the legendary artifact the Dragon Pearl, which may have the power to save their struggling home colony.
Labels: aauthor: Chokshi Fantasy FantasyRL4 Mythology and Folklore Series


Judging by the gray prototype alone, I actually think Akechi has the best sculpt/pose overall. Definitely looking forward to see how this one turns out.
I'm hoping they keep them around 3.5k like Miku, it'll be nice to have an affordable line of P5 figures if they complete the whole cast! I'm definitely getting at least Goro and Akira though, they look great as a set so far.
even if he looks awful like kizuna ai, I gotta get him!
So are these essentially smaller scales or what? They look great so far.
These two look so much better than Miku's already, I hope their paint job is less flat as well.


text:
Q: CSS website background I am looking for some info on CSS style used for many websites these days. Its a style where whole screen is occupied by one background and the websites content is posted on top of it under smaller dimensions.
Something like this website: http://www.obiweb.com.au/
        How do we achieve something like this?

A: This is easily achieved by using the css background property on the body tag:
body {background:#fff url(image.png) repeat 0 0}

You can read up on this css property here: http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_background.asp
You would then have a div container inside your body tag that has a width and margin set to auto:
.container {margin:0 auto;width:900px}

Hope this helps

A: They apply background image to body tag. Here is for example CSS  used by the site you mentioned in your question:
body {
  background:url("/site/default/images/bg_860.png") repeat-y scroll center center transparent;
}

You may read more about background property and its uses here.


text:
Nobody could have imagined a decade back that most of our manual works would be replaced by our Smart devices known as Smartphones. In today's time, one can basically do everything on a Smartphone only. From shopping to dating, everything is available on your handheld device. The best part is that all such apps are pretty easy to set up, learn and use. Take the example of social apps only like Tinder. Such social media applications can easily be installed and learned within a few days of normal usage. You will never know when you would have to become an expert in handling the Tinder app.
On a flirting site, you don't need to do much. Just find singles you like, flirt online, and arrange a live date offline. Flirting is easy – you just stay positive, be humourous, and pay compliments to your other partner about their personality and profile. And remember, by flirting online you'll also pimp your skills in communicating and impressing with the opposite gender. Startflirt.com is a popular online dating site where 1000s of single girls and boys meet their soul mates. If you're looking for the same, try us and see that it's the best dating site for you. On our dating site for singles in search, we provide you with the opportunity to seek women and men.
Try NaughtyDate.com and enjoy the best service available. If you are longing for a new steamy experience, flirty chats with like-minded singles, and real dates, you're at the right place. Browse thousands of locals profiles, contact the ones you like most, enjoy communication, and exchange naughty photos. Use the full range of NaughtyDate.com communication features to meet thousands of matches and make your naughty desires a reality with people who share your flirty imagination.
Tinder is great app for hookups mainly due to the sheer number of users that are on it (a respectable 57 million as of 2019). Finding a willing hookup buddy in your area is undoubtedly a numbers game, and while not everyone on this app is on it for a casual fling, the odds are high that you'll be able to connect with users that are looking for something casual tonight. Not to mention, it's beyond easy to use. Create a profile with some photos, choose an age and location range for the person you're looking for, and start swiping (left to reject, right to accept). If you both dig each other, you'll be able to send messages to get things started.
You can find the Elite Singles app in the App Store and on Google Play, and you won't have to pay anything to download it, upload your information and photos, search through profiles, receive matches via an exclusive algorithm, and communicate in certain ways (e.g., send virtual winks). In addition to the lack of cost, Elite Singles is highly respected, particularly because over 80% of its members have a higher education degree such as a bachelor's or master's.
The photos are large, the app is — comparatively speaking — svelte, and setting up your profile is pretty painless. Tinder gets an A for its usability. Also, no one can message you unless you have also expressed an interest in them, which means you get no unsolicited messages. While there are a fair few people on Tinder who use it strictly to collect swipes, many people are actually inclined to meet up in real life, which is not always the case with dating apps. Tinder is one of the most popular dating apps too, so you're more likely to come across someone you like who lives nearby.
Thirdly, confidence is big. Take pride in what you do well, own up to your flaws and acknowledge when you have done something wrong, but don't apologize for who you are. Canadian online dating has been around for a while and is widely accepted, even cool, so saying things like "we can lie about where we met" will put people off. It's not a very confident thing to say.
You are now entering a special dating website where people are free to share their true desires, intentions and hopes, and find the person who will compliment them perfectly. Because only by showing your real character you will discover your true match. Couples aren't made in heaven – they are made here at Clickandflirt – the online dating site for love seekers. Join now, flirt for free with outstanding people from your neighborhood, and find your soulmate among great people who seek the same. Here you can find plenty of useful functions to help you find your quality match. Use Flirtcasts to send alluring messages to all possible matches, send winks to attract users without typing a word, or join one of our chat rooms.
As you'd expect from any online dating option with that kind of lofty goal, Elite Singles gives you more than just a Facebook photo to base your opinion on. The site collects information about users' professions and appearances, so if you sign up, you get a chance to be as careful and thoughtful with your love life as you are when you're on the job.
Let's say, hypothetically, that you already have some potential hookup partners in mind, and that they just so happen to be your friends on Facebook (or friends with your friends on Facebook). Don't you wish there were some way to see if they were interested in some type of casual arrangement? That's where DOWN Dating comes in: the app that connects you with your Facebook friends (and friends of friends) who are down to get down. But don't worry, the lady you have your eye on won't know you're down for a hookup unless she says she's down for one with you, too.
Features for introverts: Instead of swiping, browsing, poking, and messaging your way into someone's inbox only to never hear back, this app will send you a potential match every day at noon. Men receive curated matches based on the algorithm and women will only be presented with potential matches (called Bagels) that have already expressed interest.
I was also disappointed in the notifications, which were a tad too pushy and out of touch for my taste. CMB was constantly "gently" reminding me to message users I'd matched with and I found myself disabling the app after I received a notification from it that said, "Show [Match Name] who's boss and break the ice today!" Is it just me or is it weird to imply that a potential future relationship should have a hierarchical power dynamic? At the end of the day, I have friends who've had good matches on CMB, but it isn't my favorite app.
Hinge profiles have a good balance of photos versus personality, making it the most relationship-oriented app. It's my favorite app, but I have a lot of difficulty landing a date. I air my frustrations to ELLE.com news editor Alyssa Bailey, who met her boyfriend on Tinder. "Did I tell you I used to have all my dating apps in a folder called Hell?" she says.
As for how to approach potential hookup partners you've matched with, transparency and manners are important, as always. "The key to initiating a hookup over a dating app is to exercise patience," says Caleb Hacke, health and wellness expert at Maple Holistics. "Ultimately, it's more important to make sure you don't offend or put off anyone who isn't interested in a hookup than it is to get your point across as boldly and as quickly as possible."


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Melissa McCarthy, Lizzo Vie For "Little Mermaid" Villain
An epic battle is being waged under the sea. Melissa McCarthy and rap/pop sensation Lizzo are vying for the coveted role of tentacled sea witch Ursula in the live action remake of The Little Mermaid.
Lizzo made her interest in the role known by Tweeting out the crying emoji when news broke that McCarthy was in talks for the part. She then covered herself in purple body paint, rocked a massive, white beehive wig and did a rendition of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from the animated film. Talk about committing to an audition.
McCarthy's name was floated for the villainous role last week. The live action adaptation will be directed by Rob (Chicago, Mary Poppins Returns) Marshall and will feature music from the Oscar-winning original soundtrack by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. The reboot will feature some new music by Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Lizzo recently broke through with mainstream audiences with the hit single, "Juice," even though she's been in the game for years.
The Little Mermaid was released to critical acclaim in 1989 and was a worldwide box office smash. The movie was nominated for three Oscars, winning two (Best Original Score, Best Original Song for "Under the Sea") and is credited with kickstarting the Disney animated film renaissance.
The concept design of the Ursula character was based on John Waters frequent collaborator and muse, the corpulent drag queen Divine. Pat Carroll voiced the role in the animated film, but she wasn't the filmmakers' first choice. It was Bea Arthur. She turned down the part. Roseanne, Nancy Wilson and Charlotte Rae were considered, but Elaine Stritch was hired, then fired after frequent clashes with Ashman.
McCarthy moved away from her mainstream comedy roles last year and was rewarded with great critical acclaim and a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Can You Ever Forgive Me? She appears next in the crime comedy drama The Kitchen alongside Tiffany Haddish and Elizabeth Moss.
If neither McCarthy or Lizzo gets the role of Ursula, we'd like to suggest Rebel Wilson, "RuPaul's Drag Race" queen Eureka O'Hara and Tituss Burgess, who also does a fab rendition of "Poor Unfortunate Souls." See below.
tags: divine, john waters, lizzo, Melissa McCarthy, oscar nomination, poor unfortunate souls, rob marshall, roseanne, the little mermaid, ursula
One Response to "Melissa McCarthy, Lizzo Vie For "Little Mermaid" Villain"
Risa Soderlund
Did you hear about the new show. The Little Mermaid Live? It's on ABC. It's kind of a bad show though. At least that's what I heard. Whish is really too bad.
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Appears on Bryant's map of 1826.
Thomas Aldridge Sturley advised 25th October 1834 that having taken the Inn, he had spared no expense to render every accommodation necessary. Great attention having been paid for the comfort of Commercial Gentlemen, having provided choice Wines and Liquors, good Beds, Neat Post Chaises and Horses, and reasonable Terms. N. B. Good Hay for the accommodation of Bullocks.
Henry Jolly, Dealer in Horses, announced 17th October 1840 that he had taken the Inn and that Considerable Alterations were then being made to the Stabling to allow very superior accommodation to Gentlemen in the habit of Hunting with the Norfolk Fox and other Hounds.
In 1841, Henry Jolly is given as a Publican, living at Mill Road.
The Trustees of the Norwich to Fakenham Turnpike met here 9th August 1841 in order to Let by Auction for periods of two years, the Gates at Drayton, Bawdeswell (with Sparham Gate annexed), and the Langor Bridge Gate. The Bawdeswell / Sparham Gates produced returns of £244 in the previous year. 3 months advance rent was to be immediately paid by the highest bidder.
John Bush, for many years Ostler at the Inn, advised his Friends and Commercial Gentlemen that he had taken the premises - 29th November 1845.
Property described as Freehold, owned by George Morse in S&P document covering the years 06.11.1837 to 11.1851.
Advertised to let September 1860 including 20 Acres of Land.
To Let October 1866 with 20 Acres of land.
Apply Messrs. Steward, Patteson, Finch and Co.
Offered To Let from Michaelmas 1895 along with 20 acres of Land.
Advertised as `Near Foulsham Station'.
Apply Messrs. Steward & Patteson.
Commercial Hotel & Posting House.
Watney Mann (East Anglia) Ltd.
Ceased trading 04.02.1970 according to the Licence Registers.
In January 1844 the Bankruptcy Petition of Thomas Aldridge Sturley, then of the Dereham Road, Bawdeswell, first a Beer Shop-keeper and Farmer, since out of business, before that of Bawdeswell, Innkeeper, Farmer and Licensed to Let Horses and Gigs for Hire, was published. His case to be heard on 3rd February 1844, in London.
** On 16th November 1847 Mr. Sturley had shot and wounded Samuel Page of Cawston, (his uncle). Accused of attempted murder, he was found guilty and sentenced to death at his trial Wednesday 29th March 1848 (Age then given as 39). In 1851 Mary is recorded as a Pauper with son and in 1861 as a former innkeeper with a 16 year old daughter. In 1851 Thomas Sturley survives in Portland District Convict Prison where his profession is is given as Publican / Licensed Victualler. By 1861 he appears to be living in Swaffham with his mother and is given as a retired farmer age 53. By 1871 Thomas and Mary are again resident in Bawdeswell Street. He is unemployed. They still abide in Bawdeswell Street in 1881 where he is given as a former innkeeper, age 73. Wife Mary is 68. Thomas died Q1 1883 and Mary during Q3 1888.
** Thanks 18/12/13 to John Annen, G G Grandnephew of Thomas Sturley for information on the attempted murder.


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Alleluia is a piece for unaccompanied SATB chorus by Randall Thompson. Composed over the first five days of July in 1940, it was given its world premiere on July 8 of that year at the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood under the direction of G. Wallace Woodworth.

The work was written on a commission from Serge Koussevitzky, director of the Tanglewood Festival. Koussevitzky wanted a "fanfare" for voices to be performed at the opening exercises of the new Berkshire Music Center, and he asked Thompson to contribute such a piece. Instead of the joyous work expected of him, the composer produced a quiet and introspective piece. Thompson was inspired by the war in Europe, and the recent fall of France; given these events, he felt that to write a festive piece would be inappropriate.

The text of the work consists of the word "Alleluia" repeated over and over again.  The only other word in the text is "Amen", which is used once at the end, when the choir is divided in seven parts.

Thompson wrote that the Alleluia is

The piece has become Thompson's most popular work, and is frequently performed today. It regularly opens the Tanglewood Festival.

References

External links
 James Leonard: Randall Thompson / Alleluia, for a cappella chorus AllMusic
 Randall Thompson, Alleluia americansymphony.org

1940 compositions
Compositions by Randall Thompson
Choral compositions
Music commissioned by Serge Koussevitzky or the Koussevitzky Music Foundation

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Digital skills and careers
children and young people, Croydon Schools Tech Roadshow, skills
Students, our Tech Roadshow is coming to a school near you
Croydon Digital's schools roadshow is inspiring students across Croydon to consider careers in tech.
Opama Khan - Croydon Council
The Croydon Schools Tech Roadshow launched this month with a triple hitter of events at St Joseph's College, Woodcote School and Harris City Academy Crystal Palace. Amazon Web Services, Sopra Steria and Community Fibre delivered exciting sessions to 200 students over 3 days in the first week of Croydon's first ever Tech Roadshow.
Aimed at secondary schools across Croydon, the objective of the roadshow is to raise awareness and career aspirations of young people, and to demonstrate how future jobs and careers are changing in the digital era. The roadshow will bring assemblies and workshops to children aged 11 to 18 (Years 7 to 13) and showcase careers in tech and digital. If you're interested in a roadshow near you, Croydon students age 13 and over can sign up for updates here.
Highlights of the first roadshows
Amazon Web Services delivered assemblies to year 10 and 11 students at St Joseph's College and 6th formers at Woodcote School. Students heard about the breadth of Amazon's businesses including AWS, Amazon Prime, Kindle, Wholefoods, Twitch and Audible. They also got an insight into innovative products and services in development, like Amazon Go stores (coming to London in 2020) and Prime Air – a drone-based delivery service being trialled in Cambridgeshire!
Students went on to hear about what it's like to work at Amazon, their culture of innovation, and how students could join the Amazon Apprenticeship programme. The workshop gave students an example of one of the many exciting career routes available to them in the digital economy.
There was a real sense of inspiration at the end of the session from students and teachers alike. Students commented:
"I have already applied to university but now that I know apprenticeships go up to level 6, I am reconsidering my options."
"It was a really interesting talk and gave me an insight into the different things that Amazon do."
At the Sopra Steria session at St Joseph's, many of the students were able to experience virtual reality for the first time and heard about how technology will shape their future. Students were inspired about the different roles involved in a tech career and what skills they will need to excel in the future.
Community Fibre, a London-wide internet provider with a Croydon-based founder and director, ran 2 sessions at Harris City Academy in Crystal Palace. The Year 12 students were really engaged and asked a barrage of intelligent questions throughout a relaxed sessions where they learnt about the world of Full Fibre internet and how optic cable enables gigabit data speeds. They observed a demonstration of "fibre splicing" and saw how light and data can travel through hundreds of meters of cable in a split second.
It's so exciting to see the Tech Roadshow get underway with such a positive response from students and teachers alike. By helping young people gain an awareness of how jobs and careers are changing, we hope to raise their aspirations about their future education and career opportunities and bridge the huge gap that exists in digital and technology skills.
The Tech Roadshow will continue throughout February and March, with visits to more secondary schools planned across the borough. Exciting sessions on Virtual Reality, 3D modelling and more will be delivered by Home Office Digital, Mott MacDonald and Openreach, supported by the Institution of Civil Engineering, Institution of Engineering and Technology and the Mayor of London's Digital Talent Programme.
Our digital skills programme doesn't end with the roadshow!
If you're over 13 and a Croydon student, you can sign up here for email updates on future workshops and tech skills events.
We're also looking for more companies and schools to take part, so please drop me an email if you're interested – opama.khan@croydon.gov.uk.
As a taster of what's to come, we'll be hosting the national Education Evolution conference at Fairfield Halls in June. We've partnered with Caterham School, Ada National Digital College and London Office of Technology and Innovation (LOTI) to bring together education and industry leaders and explore how to give students the digital skills needed in the future.
We're also pulling together a Digital Skills Day for secondary school children, followed by an exciting Tech Competition later in the year. Details will be revealed in coming months, so please stay tuned!
Opama Khan is Head of Digital Place, based in the Croydon Digital Service in Croydon Council. Follow her on Twitter @OpamaKhan


NVP runs various projects to engage the National Volunteers under its Relief, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Sustainable Development efforts.
NVP maintains a committed group of volunteers to design and construct earthquake-safe, environment friendly, quick-to-build affordable shelters using easily available and reusable materials. The volunteers collect resources to build such shelters for the needy. NVP coordinates with appropriate government agencies in the process, and maintains complete transparency of all transactions at all times by publishing it real-time on the web.