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Press releases 1st September 2016
IOC sanctions two athletes for failing tests at Beijing 2008
The protection of clean athletes and the fight against doping are top priorities for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC's strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement. To provide a level playing field for all clean athletes at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the IOC put special measures in place, including targeted pre-tests and the re-analysis of stored samples from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012, following an intelligence-gathering process that started in August 2015.
As part of this process, the IOC today announced that two athletes have been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. The details follow.
Yarelys BARRIOS, 33, of Cuba, competing in athletics (discus throw event), has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, in which she ranked second, and for which she was awarded the silver medal. Reanalysis of Barrios' samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance acetazolamide (diuretic and masking agent). The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Denis Oswald (Chairman), Gunilla Lindberg and Ugur Erdener, decided the following:
1. The Athlete, Yarelys BARRIOS:
• is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete's bodily specimen),
• is disqualified from the discus event in which she placed second upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008.
• has the silver medal, the diploma, and the medallist pin obtained in the discus throw event withdrawn and is ordered to return these.
• The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
• The Comité Olímpico Cubano shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
• The Comité Olímpico Cubano shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the medal, the medallist pin and the diploma awarded in connection with the discus throw event to the Athlete.
• This decision enters into force immediately.
The full decision is available here.
Samuel Adelebari FRANCIS, 29, of Qatar, competing in athletics in the 100m event, in which he ranked 16th, and the 200m event in which he did not start, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. Reanalysis of Francis' samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance stanozolol. The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Denis Oswald (Chairman), Gunilla Lindberg and Ugur Erdener, decided the following:
1. The Athlete, Samuel Adelebari FRANCIS:
• is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use, of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete's bodily specimen),
• is disqualified from all the events in which he participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely the 100m event and the 200m event.
• The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
• The Qatar Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
The additional analyses on samples collected during the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012 were performed with improved analytical methods, in order to possibly detect prohibited substances that could not be identified by the analysis performed at the time of these editions of the Olympic Games.
• This media release was originally published by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 1 September 2016. To access the original, please click here.
100macetazolamideBeijing 2008CubaDenis OswalddiscusGunilla LindbergIOCLondon 2012Olympic Agenda 2020QatarSamuel Adelebari FrancisstanozololUgur ErdenerYarelys Barrios
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Parashat Toldot
Richard Amram Elofer
Parasha for the Week: Toldot Genesis 25:19 – 28:9
Haftarah for the Week: Malachi 1:1 – 2:7
Besorat Yeshua: Mark 11:15 - 25
After 20 years of marriage, Yitzchak's prayers are answered, and Rivka conceives twins. The pregnancy is extremely painful. G-d reveals to Rivka that the suffering is a microcosmic prelude to the worldwide conflict that will rage between the two great nations descended from these twins.
According to the Jewish tradition Eisav represents "Rome" and ultimately the "Goyim" or "nations" and Yaakov represents Israel.
Eisav is born, and then Yaakov, holding onto Eisav's heel. They grow and Eisav becomes a hunter, a man of the physical world, whereas Yaakov sits in the tents of Torah developing his spiritual life. On the day of their grandfather Avraham's funeral, Yaakov is cooking lentils, the traditional mourner's meal. Eisav rushes in, ravenous from a hard days hunting, and sells his birthright (and its concomitant spiritual responsibilities) for a bowl of lentils, demonstrating his unworthiness for the position of firstborn.
A famine strikes Canaan and Yitzchak thinks of escaping to Egypt, but G-d tells him that because he was bound as a sacrifice, he has become holy and must remain in the Holy Land. He relocates to Gerar in the land of the Philistines, where, to protect Rivka, he has to say she is his sister.
The Philistines grow jealous of Yitzchak when he becomes immensely wealthy, and Avimelech the king asks him to leave.
Yitzchak re-digs three wells dug by his father. Avimelech, seeing that Yitzchak is blessed by G-d, makes a treaty with him.
When Yitzchak senses his end approaching, he summons Eisav to give him his blessings. Rivka, acting on a prophetic command that the blessings must go to Yaakov, arranges for Yaakov to impersonate Eisav and receive the blessings.
When Eisav in frustration reveals to his father that Yaakov has bought the birthright, Yitzchak realizes that the birthright has been bestowed correctly on Yaakov and confirms the blessings he has given Yaakov.
Eisav vows to kill Yaakov, so Rivka sends Yaakov to her brother Lavan where he may find a suitable wife.
"A Wrong Appetite"
The Torah states: "Now Yaacov cooked a stew. When Esav came in from the field, he was exhausted, so Esav said to Yaacov, 'Please feed me some of this really red stuff, because I'm exhausted'—that is why he is called Edom." (Genesis 25:29–30) Esav came back exhausted from hunting, when he saw the "red" pottage that Yaacov prepared he was attracted by it. Rabbi Hirsch says: the color attracts him no less than the dish itself. The color reminds him of the blood of a dying animal, which delights his eye when his arrow has found its mark. "Give me quickly some of that lovely red stuff" Later, he still boasts of this characteristic expression and calls himself "Edom" (the red one).
"G-d's Promise to Yitzchak"
The Torah states: "Now there was a famine in the land—aside from the previous famine that happened in Avraham's days. So Yitzchak went to King Abimelech of the Philistines, to Gerar." (Genesis 26:1). The land of Israel is a difficult land, we can live comfortably in this land only if the blessings of G-d is upon it. Living for 15 years in Israel we have seen the challenges, it rains in Israel only from October to March, and during that period it rains only for an average of 50 days a year. There is no rain from Pesach (April) to Succoth (October). Without a wise management of its water resource, the land experiments strong famine, there was a famine in the time of Avraham, another one during the time of Yitzchak, and there will be another famine in the time of Yoseph/Yaacov, that means the land of Canaan knew one famine for each generation.
Hashem promised to Avraham and his descendants a country that can only be managed when it is blessed by G-d.
The same land that was destined to be overflowing with milk and honey was promised to Avraham for his ultimate possession. A very strange gift! a land without any natural resource, a land where there is a famine every thirty or forty years. The productivity of this land does not depend only on man's labors and nature's favors, but first and foremost, on the morality and integrity of its inhabitants. "If you defile it, the land will vomit you out as it vomited out the nation that was before you." (Leviticus 18:28). The land was hard and unfruitful, subject to famine, and only through the power of the Torah did it become a land of abundance and blessing.
"A New Famine"
Let's remember that when Avraham saw a famine in the land, he went down to Egypt. His wife was kidnapped by Pharaoh who wanted to marry her. It was really not a positive experience for Avraham and Sarah.
This time, when Yitzchak suffered from a famine, G-d said to Yitzchak to stay in Canaan. It was important for Yitzchak and Rivkah to experiment G-d's blessings, Hashem said to Yitzchak: "Then Hashem appeared to him and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt. Dwell in the land about which I tell you. Live as an outsider in this land and I will be with you and bless you—for to you and to your seed I give all these lands—and I will confirm my pledge that I swore to Avraham your father. I will multiply your seed like the stars of the sky and I will give your seed all these lands. And in your seed all the nations of the earth will continually be blessed, because Avraham listened to My voice and kept My charge, My mitzvot, My decrees, and My instructions.' So Yitzchak stayed in Gerar." (Genesis 26:2–5).
Egypt was full of food, that is why Yitzchak intended to go down to Egypt during the famine. It was an usual place of refuge from famine. Even though the land of Israel is full of rock and a difficult place where to live, the people of Israel consider it as a treasured possession.
Jews have three treasures, Hashem, the Torah and the Land. The land and the Torah have been entrusted to Israel by G-d. They have been appointed to keep the Torah and to guard the land, to use it in accordance with the Will of the heavenly Owner, but Israel have no right to do with it as they please.
HAFTARAH Malachi 1:1 – 2:7
The prophet Malachi prophesied during the Second Temple period and was a contemporary of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Even though the time of his prophecy is unclear, the Jewish tradition affirms that he was the very last prophet of the Tanakh.
It is interesting that the Talmud identify Malachi with Mordechai (Esther' uncle), but other identify Malachi to Ezra since they have some similarities in their prophecies about foreign marriage for example (Malachi 2:11 and Ezra 10:2), but we prefer the opinion of Radak and Abarbanel who affirm that Malachi was not Ezra but an individual named Malachi who prophesied at that time.
The prophecy starts saying: "An oracle: The word of Hashem to Israel by Malachi" (1:1), it is clear that even though this first verse says that this prophecy is addressed to Israel, the prophecy is referring directly to the people of Judah, since the ten tribes of the Northern kingdom of Israel did not exist anymore. They were exiled by the Assyrians, in the 8th century before Yeshua.
The next verse make the link between this Haftarah and the parasha for this week. In Parasha Toldot, we have the birth of Yaakov and Esav, their differences and conflict. The prophet confirms that the covenant made with Avraham and Isaac goes to Yaakov and not to Esav: "I loved you," says Hashem. But you say: 'How have you loved us?' 'Was Esav not Yaakov's brother?' —it is the declaration of Hashem— 'Yet I loved Yaakov and Esav I hated'." (Malachi 1:2–3). This verse is here again to teach us how much G-d loves Israel. The Jewish people are people full of sin, she has been punished by G-d, but this punishment is from a father who love his child. The prophet speaks on behalf of the people of Israel and asks "How have you loved us?" Israel knew that G-d loved the patriarchs and their ancestors, but they wanted a confirmation of his love for this generation. Hashem answers this question by a first question: "Was Esav not Yaakov's brother?" Yes of course Esav was the brother of Yaakov, they were almost twins, but the blessings of God were more upon Yaakov and his descendants than on Esav, and God continues saying: "Yet I loved Yaakov and Esav I hated." The text is saying how the land given to the descendants of Esav will stay a desert: "I made his hills a wasteland and gave his inheritance to jackals of the wilderness." (Malachi 1:3). The land given to Esav is the Eastern part of the Jordan River, which is until today a difficult land full of desert. Israel has always respected their brothers descendants of Esav, the Torah said to Israel: "You are not to detest an Edomite, for he is your brother." (Deuteronomy 23:8).
Besorat Yeshua Mark 11:14 - 25
Parashat Toldot is about the story of Isaac and Rivka, the second generation of the patriarchs giving birth to Yaakov and Esau, the third generation of the patriarchs. These two brothers are very different from one another, exactly like Abraham was different of his brothers and Isaac was different of Ishmael his brother. While Yaakov is a good boy (Ish Tam), interested by spiritual things, —meditation on the divine promises, studying G-d's Word in the tent of Abraham. Esau, on the opposite was not interested by spirituality but only hunting and girls. Later he will demonstrate also a great interest on possessions. For him the birthrights was about money, the fortune of his father and grand-father.
And even though he wanted to kill his brother, he did not do it when he understood that his brother Yaakov had his own richness and will not try to ask his part of the inheritance.
In the Besorah (gospel) of Mark we have these two brothers symbolized by Yeshua and the Merchants of the Temple. Yeshua as the Messiah is only interested by spiritual matter, accomplishing the mitzvot of the Torah, praying, meditating, teaching the will of his father who is in heaven, and on the other side we have the merchants who are much more interested by the profit of their businesses.
A strong parallel of the story of these two brothers, as Yaakov was shocked by the behavior of Esau and knew that his brother was not spiritual, did not deserve the first born's rights. Parallel with Yeshua who entered the temple and was shocked by what he saw: "Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold dove" (Mark 11:15). Selling doves was not bad business, the pilgrims who came from fare needed these animals for the sacrifice and spiritual devotions, but this spiritual meaning was lost by the merchants, they only saw the money and profit they could make. Yeshua and Yaakov had a similar character, we remember what the Torah said about Yaakov: "Yaakov was a mild man [Ish Tam] (integer and blameless) man, living in tents." (Genesis 25:27). —we are sorry that the translation does not gives back the real meaning of Ish Tam. In the same way, Yeshua was a man of prayer and meditation, studying the Tanakh, if the gospels were written in Hebrew he would have been described as a Ish Tam too. Both, Yaakov and Yeshua, are hurt by the lack of spirituality of the people of their time. That is why in the besorah, Yeshua tried to teach these people, reminding them the first purpose of the Temple, which is and should be first of all a house of prayers for all nations: "And he was teaching them and saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? 'But you have made it a den of robbers.'" (Mark 11:17). We have to be very careful how we interpret the Bible and the Gospel. Many interpreters have used this words to qualify all the Jews as robbers and thieves. Yeshua could express himself in this way, because he was moved by a great love for his people, and only some merchants were robbers, we cannot generalize, if we do it, this is assimilated to racism and antisemitism.
Another parallel can be found between other characters of this story, because Rivka was a great woman, who has fully accepted the destiny of Abraham and his clan, she has accepted the promises of God and trusted Abraham in everything he taught her. She is a lady full of faith in God's promises. Her faith helped her to understand, that these promises would be in danger in the hand of Esau, and trusted more Yaakov. She knows that he is a spiritual man. That is why she was prepared to do everything for Yaakov. She ordered to him: "Now therefore, my son, obey my word as I command you." (Gen. 27:8). The parallel can be made with Yeshua who was on earth a man of faith, a man who knew what would be the future of his people and who invited his disciples to have faith: "Yeshua answered them, "Have faith in G-d" (Mark 11:22). Esau was not happy that the blessing was given to Yaakov, for him what happened was not fair and wanted to kill his brother, he completely forgot that it was him who renounced to his first born rights. The text of the parasha says: "Now Esau hated Jacob … I will kill my brother Jacob." (Gen. 27:41). The parallel character here are the leaders who wanted to kill Yeshua. Their jealousy and misunderstanding gave a wrong conclusion to the leaders of the people of Israel of that time, their intentions were revealed: "And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him" (Mark 11:18). They wanted to kill Yeshua, but they could not because the crowd believed in him: "all the crowd was astonished at his teaching." (Mark 11:18). What is our attitude towards Yeshua's teaching, are we ready to be surprised by His wisdom and to accept His teaching as it was accepted by thousand of Jews in his time?
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"Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say on the Lord!"

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Q: Why am I not able to receive a REST response from my Spark server via this JavaScript? (Hello World!) I have the simplest Spark server set up. It listens to requests and responds with a simple json message.
I also have a very simple web page that makes a request to the Spark "hello world" REST URL.
If I request the URL in my Chrome browser I get the response as expected. However from JavaScript I'm getting an error. What am I doing wrong? Is it not able to connect because it's on localhost? What do I do?
I have the following Spark application:
import static spark.Spark.get;
import static spark.Spark.port;

public class WebServer {

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        port(7675);
        get("/hello", (req, res)->{
            System.out.println("Hello");
            res.type("application/json");
            return "Hello";
        });
    }
}

And I have the following JavaScript:
function onLoad(){
    alert("Loaded")
    var xhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xhttp.open("GET", "http://localhost:7675/hello/",  false);
    xhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-type", "application/json")
    try{
        xhttp.send();
    } catch(e){
        alert(e);
    }
}

Working in the following html:
<!DOCTYPE html>

  <link rel="stylesheet" href="testPage.css">

However when I load the page I get the following alert from the catch clause:
NetworkError: Failed to execute 'send' on 'XMLHttpRequest':Failed to load 'http://localhost:7675/hello

A: Browsers implement a security feature called CORS which you need to enable in Spark. There's a tutorial on how to do that here

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Laura Thorn is the Manager of Membership and Communications at AAIDD. Previously, she was an Associate with Metropolitan Group, working primarily with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She has also held positions in institutional finance and reproductive health.
Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Allegheny College.


Earlier this month (March 8), the Toledo Museum of Art hosted a program featuring Jay Shafer, the founder of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company and one of the proponents for the tiny homes movement. "Tiny" in this case means only a few hundred square feet, and most of the Tumbleweed designs are under 200 square feet. A newly constructed, 65-square-foot Tumbleweed house, mounted on a trailer and parked on the front steps of the Museum, is among the works presented in the Museum's "Small Worlds" exhibition.
From left to right: indoor phone booth, tiny house, and a crosswalk.
I attended this program, in part, at the invitation of a friend who lives in Toledo – because I am an architect, and I am working on the design of a small bunkhouse for their summer cottage in Ontario.
Architecture is about creating meaningful spaces and about communicating that meaning to the occupants and users of those spaces. For me, the Small Worlds exhibition triggered a series of thoughts about elements of physical culture in Ann Arbor and whether that culture is successfully serving its purpose in the city.
I'm going to wrap a lot into this notion of physical culture – from pedestrian amenities, to accessory dwelling units, to a phone booth. The phone booth is something I'm planning to add to the physical culture of my own workspace – at Workantile on Main Street in Ann Arbor. So that's where I'll start, with something tinier even than Jay Shafer's 65-square-foot house.
Workantile, a co-working community at 118 S. Main St., is housed in a large, open office space in an old storefront where independent workers can work in the company of others, rather than in solitude. Chronicle editor Dave Askins and I are both members. On any given day, a handful to more than a couple dozen people might be at work throughout the space, all focusing on their own projects. And life in the 21st century means that people get phone calls and need to have conversations that they don't necessarily want to share.
One of several indoor phone booth design concepts by Philip Proefrock.
The open, unbroken space of Workantile, with its hardwood floors and exposed brick walls, makes it very acoustically "live." The space can be very quiet even when there are a dozen people all working on their own projects, and the ring of a cell phone, or the subsequent talking, can carry through the space. A small "phone room" – a closet with a glass door – provides one bit of acoustic privacy.
If that space is taken, members have learned to use other nooks, such as the landing down the back steps, or a corner by the kitchenette, to avoid intruding on other members. But there are times on busy days when several people all need to talk on their phones at the same time, and there aren't enough corners for everyone. So I am working on the design of an indoor phone booth.
Workantile members using their phones will have some additional privacy for their conversations, and other members will have less of a noise distraction.
The phone booth will be a tiny place, more a piece of furniture than a room, and it won't even include the amenity that phone booths have traditionally offered – a phone.
Instead, it will indicate through its physical attributes that it's the place you go to use your phone. It'll look like a phone booth, and the sides will be transparent, so when Workantile members use it, it'll be clear what they're doing in there – using their phones.
A view from inside Workantile onto Main Street. The telephone-shaped object hanging on the wall does not denote that it's a good place for making a phone call. It's a luminary that was constructed at one of the workshops in preparation for the FoolMoon celebration on Friday, March 30.
The current "phone closet" already offers the functionality that the phone booth will. But for a visitor or a new member, the intended use of the phone closet is not self-evident. It looks and feels like a very tiny office, with a door like any other door in the Workantile. You can't see what people are doing in there. We could put a sign next to it to identify it as a place for phone calls. But that would not convey as clearly and as intuitively, even from 40 feet away, a basic fact about the Workantile community: The phone booth is a good place to take phone calls, and generally we try to be considerate of other people working.
Once it's built, new members won't have to ask where they can go to have a phone conversation. The physical form of the phone booth will serve to define and reinforce the intended activity. And it will do that with less confusion and conflict between different users who are sharing a single space.
Most Ann Arborites are not Workantile members, so they do not need to worry about how to share indoor space cooperatively by using their phones in the right places. But outdoors, we share space with each other throughout the city – as phone users, pedestrians and motorists.
I recently had a near encounter with a young woman (likely a student, given her apparent age and proximity to campus) who, while talking on her phone, walked out in front of my vehicle in the middle of a block, emerging from between two parked cars. She crossed the street with the seeming certainty that the law gave her the right to cross wherever was most convenient. There are those who think that a new city ordinance gives pedestrians carte blanche (and that the city's laws take precedence over the laws of physics).
Seventh & Washington in Ann Arbor looking northwest. The crosswalk includes an island in the middle of the street as well as a "local law" sign.
What we have, then, are crossings where pedestrians have a legal right-of-way, but little more than crosswalk markings and signage to distinguish the point. Pedestrians (if they want to be safe) must still play a waiting game to see if traffic will slow stop before they can venture into a cross walk. Motorists must estimate whether someone standing in the general vicinity of a crosswalk intends to cross, or perhaps is merely waiting for a bus at an immediately adjacent bus stop.
As more motorists conform to the requirement that they yield to pedestrians, other motorists are confronted more frequently with stopped or slowing vehicles ahead of them. A stopped or slowing vehicle by itself is sometimes not a sufficient cue to an inattentive following motorist – and that can result in a rear-end collision. I've seen the aftermath of at least one such incident like this along Plymouth Road.
Seventh & Washington in Ann Arbor. The signal is flashing yellow. The camera caught it between flashes. Recently, pedestrian-activated rapid flashing beacons were installed with additional signage – look for the horizontal bar just below the yellow diamond. The two pedestrians here did not activate the flasher – but when they'd alighted on the center island, the motorist yielded.
Changes to physical culture that go beyond road paint and signs can convey meaning to pedestrians and motorists alike – and provide additional cues that their behavior needs to accomodate a special circumstance. Take for example Ann Arbor's relatively new HAWK pedestrian crossing signal and the very new rapid flashing beacons. The HAWK has been installed along Huron Avenue just west of downtown, and the rapid flashing beacons have been installed at crosswalks along Plymouth Road and at Seventh & Washington.
Such signals invite pedestrians to do something more than just stand there – they're meant to press a button to activate the signal. And the signals provide an unambiguous indication to motorists of a pedestrian's intent. The flashing lights provide an additional cue to following motorists, to alert them to a possibly slowing or stopped car ahead.
However, meaning-laden physical infrastructure need not take the form of signalization. An example of a simple, meaningful infrastructural element – that conveys the same message as a blinking yellow light or a sign that reads "SLOW" – can be found in a residential street in Bloomington, Ind. (pointed out to me in a conversation with Chronicle publisher Mary Morgan). On South Lincoln Street where it crosses Dodds Street, the curbs are bumped out into the roadway on both sides.
Motorists and bicyclists need to exercise added caution to navigate through the narrower space. And a pedestrian who's crossing Lincoln Street can venture into the roadway by the width of the bump-out, to get a clear view of traffic that might be approaching. It's also clearer to oncoming motorists what the intention of such a pedestrian might be. The bump-outs also reduce the width of roadway that pedestrians must cross – reducing their potential risk of being struck by a car.
Of course you don't have to travel to southern Indiana to see bump-outs. They're also a part of the Fifth and Division streetscape improvements that were undertaken in downtown Ann Arbor over the past year.
The bump-outs are consistent with an idea that's been tried in several European cities – completely removing signage and signals.
The distinct lack of all traffic signs conveys meaning – that everyone needs to proceed with care and be fully aware of their surroundings; no traffic light or street sign will tell you what to do or who has right of way. In these cases, drivers have to adapt and be more considerate of other drivers and pedestrians.
Example of an intersection in Drachten Holland with little signage and no signalization. Photograph by Jerry Michalski.
Everyone using the space, drivers and pedestrians alike, have equal rights. They pay attention to what is going on around them. They also work more cooperatively, because everyone instinctively understands that two people or vehicles can't occupy the same space at the same time. People who are given no external cues at all tend to work together to get through each encounter with a minimum of disruption to all. And the rate of accidents and of injuries to pedestrians has been reduced where this approach has been tried.
It was the use of physical limits on space, and the extreme example of Jay Shafer's tiny houses, that first got me thinking about physical culture. The initial drive to create a tiny house came from Shafer's belief in a lifestyle that does not require a large number of possessions. The tiny house movement may just be a counterpoint to the inflation in house sizes that has occurred over the last half century. Instead of pushing to add space to a house because, "we've got too much stuff," opting for a tiny house is a choice that requires more materially-limited living.
This Tumbleweed Tiny House model is called the Walden, offering 117 square feet.
It would be possible to attempt a simpler lifestyle living in an average-size house. But one of Shafer's tiny houses creates a physical limitation on the occupant that enforces a simple lifestyle requiring only a few physical possessions. It is much easier to live a life with just a few possessions if your home offers only 65 instead of 2,700 square feet. That latter figure was the average-sized American new home in 2009 – more than 40 times the size of the XS Tumbleweed house.
Shafer doesn't try to satisfy all possible needs within a small house. Instead, he believes in living in the larger community. The town becomes your living room, with all of its amenities to choose from; the local restaurants serve as part of your kitchen, which help supplement the lone hotplate in a Tumbleweed house.
If living in a tiny house means living in the larger community, part of that includes putting your tiny house on some land somewhere in the physical space of that larger community. Most communities have laws that govern how land may or may not be used – zoning laws. Zoning laws define, among other things, what kinds of buildings may or may not be built on a particular piece of property, and where a building can or cannot sit on the property.
When Shafer lived in Iowa, where he built the first model of the tiny house, he originally had it on a piece of property six miles outside of town. But he wanted to reduce his travel distance into town, to align better with a lifestyle of reduced material consumption. When he went about moving his house into town, he found that the house was smaller than the minimum allowable building size. What he wound up doing was buying the cheapest house in town and moving his tiny house into the back yard of that lot. He then lived in his tiny house while he rented out the "main" house to others.
Of course, Ann Arbor has done its own dance around the issue of tiny houses. That's taken the form of a conversation about whether to allow the construction of an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) or so-called "granny flat," a detached building, usually just a one-bedroom apartment, on the same lot with a house. ADUs might be a bit larger than the Tumbleweed tiny houses, but they're still generally no more than a few hundred square feet.
Although the city of Ann Arbor planning commission has looked at the issue of accessory dwelling units several times over the last decade or so, the matter has never been brought before the city council for consideration. That's because it has been a focus of vocal opposition from some quarters.
Currently, the only kind of "accessory apartments" allowed in Ann Arbor are those that are attached to the principal dwelling and are less than 600 square feet. Additional requirements include: The principal dwelling must be owner-occupied, and the occupant of the accessory apartment must be a relative of the owner. The special exception use for accessory apartments has been sought only twice since it was added to the zoning regulations for residential properties in the 1980s.
A Tumbleweed tiny house parked in an Ann Arbor backyard could not meet the conditions of the special exception accessory apartment use. But as a detached accessory dwelling unit, a tiny house, whether a trailer-mounted Tumbleweed house or a site-specific small accessory building, could offer great benefit to those who would like to have a family member live on the premises, but not necessarily under the same roof – such as an elderly parent or a teenager who needs a bit more private space.
And a tiny house could offer an older homeowner the option of having a tenant who could also help with some chores as part of a rental agreement. But that arrangement would also fail to meet the current standards of a special exception accessory apartment use.
Allowing detached ADUs on appropriately-sized lots with less strict conditions on occupancy arrangements would provide immediate benefits to property owners. And it would permit an incremental increase in total population density over time. Even if such an ordinance revision were to be approved by the city council, it would likely take a number of years before many homeowners added such buildings to their property.
But security fences aren't necessarily pretty. A border of flower beds might just as effectively keep people from trampling on a lawn. As we think about building a physical environment that helps shape our interactions, I think it's worth focusing on making those physical elements attractive as well as functional. Too often, a design gets focused on serving just one function or achieving one goal, and it may accomplish that end adequately, but it's not terribly attractive.
HAWK signals and rapid flashing beacons are examples of a functional way that physical infrastructure can help support the goals of a pedestrian-friendly city. But they are not things of beauty.
It's not hard to imagine a more attractive way to manage the interface between cars and pedestrians, even though I'm not a traffic engineer and have no expertise in designing aesthetically-pleasing traffic infrastructure. But I do know something about designing indoor spaces for people to inhabit, even if it's just for the brief time required to take a phone call. I'm hoping to complete the first version of the phone booth in a couple of months.
If you'd like to see it in person, stand outside the door at 118 S. Main and peer inside. For a member of the Workantile community, your standing there will convey meaning. And someone will likely come open the door for you.
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This is an intriguing exploration of our interactions with physical space. What I take from it is that we would do better to be mindful of our surroundings. I do, however, believe that pedestrian markings are helpful and I am grateful to the city for expanding their application. Now if we did have fewer signs (those ugly "wayfinding" signs put up by the DDA are a good example), perhaps we would see the meaningful ones better.
My pedestrian story: yesterday I watched with disbelief as a woman with a baby in a carriage pushed it calmly across 4 lanes midblock on Jackson Avenue in rush hour. She crossed two incoming lanes that were vacant because of the light at Maple, then threaded her way through the outbound cars stopped for that light, to reach the sidewalk along Veterans' Park. I'm guessing that she had done this many times and knew how to estimate the light changes. None of us moved, of course, though I would not personally have placed so much trust in a double line of people anxious to get home.
'Tiny houses' really intrigue me. I'm not sure what public health and welfare benefit comes from forcing people into homes that are larger than they require or want. Or, for that matter, can afford.
As the accessory dwelling discussions of a few years ago outlined, tiny houses can greatly benefit families and reduce dislocation. With a resurgence in multi-generational households, this would seem to provide a compromise — independence, proximity, sustainability, and access to a family laundry room.
I'd like to know the distance at which someone with sight good enough to legally obtain a driver's license is expected to be able to read the 'local law' signs. Then I'd like to know if that person is traveling at the speed limit, whether it is physically possible, after having read the sign, to stop a car before the crosswalk.
The only problem with the HAWK symbol is, as a driver, I have no idea how long I have before the light changes completely. Do I need to slam on the brakes? How many stages of this crazy blinking are there? Why not just have a regular traffic light that is activated only when the button is pressed?
Also, I've had a cop not stop for me in a crosswalk that was managed by those local law signs. A cop who was very clearly not in a hurry.
Here's another idea, instead of a phone booth you could put in a "Get Smart" style Cone of Silence.
It seems like Workantile should have real offices. Open plan offices are nice for collaboration, but not everyone works that way.
Division Street at E Jefferson could really use a HAWK. I stopped there a couple days ago for a pedestrian and at least 20 cars went through the intersection in the other lane (including the 6 that were behind me).
Jeff, I am one of the co-owners of Workantile, and wanted to clarify what we are and why the space is the way it is.
Workantile is a community of independent and remote workers who for any number of reasons are tired of working in isolation in home offices, coffee shops, libraries, or wherever, and want other people around. There are, of course, a number of social and professional benefits to having others around. The space is designed to support that community. The people who join Workantile are members of the community, not people renting space. We deliberately stayed away from individual offices because people tend to isolate themselves in them and detach from the community. Members who do need a quiet space to work use the carpeted loft. The loft is still open, but quieter than the main space.
The open floor plan gives us a lot of flexibility in reconfiguring the space as needed. For example, every Thursday we have a social lunch. We push all the tables together, and people gather around and eat together. After lunch, the tables are separated back into individual work spaces.
Phil, while I love that you've included the woonerf in your write-up, I had been planning to bring it up as a counter-example. Where ped islands and HAWKs and bump-outs convey expectations of pedestrian activity through the design, the explanation I usually see of the woonerf is that it conveys a lack of expectation, specifically, of who may have (or have to yield) the "right of way". Where all the other elements work to more clearly demonstrate right of way, the woonerf removes it, and forces a consciousness of other road users of all types.
Of a kind, in one of the cities I work in, a councilmember explained that several residential neighborhoods have no stop signs (or yield, or anything) at the intersections, for similar reasons–no driver can assume the person on the cross-street is going to stop, so they both have to slow down to figure it out; a child on the sidewalk can't look at a stop sign and assume that the oncoming car is going to stop, reinforcing the "look both ways" mandate. I didn't have a chance to ask about the actual performance of this scheme, but it was the first time locally I'd run across a conscious application of this principle (albeit decades old).
Murph, yes, I think your description of woonerf streets (streets without control signage) is exactly right. It's a designed absence, and that too, conveys what is expected (that everyone will be careful and exercise due caution). But it needs to be in a place where there is enough surrounding structural roughness (cross streets, intersections, pedestrians, etc) that it will work. A woonerf strategy probably would not work on a more open road like Plymouth Road.
Multi-lane roads also work less effectively in this way than single lane ones do. Think about the way that an intersection with traffic lights works when the power goes out. Those with single lanes tend to work more elegantly and efficiently than those with multiple lanes, left-turn lanes, and the like.
We have a woonerf intersection (one with no signage or signals) at Huron and Ninth that I went through today on my way home today. It didn't work for me.
Not sure what intersection you may mean, Jim. Doublechecking with Google street view shows a stop sign for 9th at Huron.
If it's not there in the real world, it's a temporary thing, I suspect.
The term woonerf applies to a street or a district, not a single intersection.
I wasn't being entirely serious. I understand that the concept doesn't work in a place like that without some serious calming measures. I was talking about crossing Huron at Ninth. The crosswalk there is completely unmarked, and the drivers don't seem to know it's there.
Re #12: this may have been meant humorously, but it is a serious question that needs to be asked. We do have curb ramps that lead across streets but have no special markings. Do they have any legal status or not?
I was considering this the other day as I stood at one on Depot Street and watched the traffic whiz by at full speed without, apparently, even considering whether I was about to cross.
When even Vivienne is unsure of the legal status of these crosswalks, I'd say we have a big problem. Yes, they are legally crosswalks, and cars are required to yield to pedestrians in them. The relevant law is Michigan Vehicle Code Act 300 of 1949, 257.10 "Cross-walk" defined.
The situation is less clear at, for example, Eighth and Huron. If the sidewalk doesn't extend to the edge of the road, I don't know whether it's a crosswalk or not, and I have never met anyone who could tell me despite many years of asking. I have even searched case law. I don't think anyone knows.


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In a press briefing today, Natalya Gallo and Dr. Lisa Levin from the Scripps Institutions of Oceanography, USCD, Julio Cordano on behalf of Chile and Ronald Jumeau, Seychelles Ambassador talked about the importance of including oceans and marine ecosystems in the NDCs.
Natalya Gallo stated that out of the 161 INDC communicated by June 2015, 112 contained references to oceans, 14 included costal zones while the rest did not contain any reference to oceans and marine ecosystems. The oceans were included as part of the adaptation, mitigation or as a climate change marine risk. Also, most attention is given to ocean warming while ocean oxygen loss, ocean acidification receives little to no attention. Mangroves and coral reefs were almost always included. In terms of parties, the Annex I parties did not include oceans in their INDCs while the SIDS were leading the path in this area. The factors that influenced whether oceans were included in the parties INDC varied from percentage of population living in low lying areas to large exclusive economic zones areas and development status of the respective countries.
Julio Cordano, on behalf of Chile, emphasized that although the oceans were included in the Paris Agreement there has been no implementation endeavor. Nevertheless, we must state that the oceans are indeed included only in the preamble of the Paris Agreement, which is non-biding part of the agreement. Therefore, the inclusion of the oceans is a sign of a global awareness and symbolic victory. Mr. Cordano further believes that any future work should built upon the NDCs as a building block of the Paris Agreement. However, he acknowledges that the NDCs were a compromised formulation as first proposed and there is still a delicate discussion on what to include. The inclusion of too many sectors and perspectives may wash down on the content of the NDCs and lead to ineffective mitigation action. Also, there is the fear that opening the discussion with respect to oceans would raise the question of whether the NDCs should include other sectors such as energy. Following last year Because the Ocean Declaration, this year, Chile plans to launch a second declaration on 14th of November.
Dr. Lisa Levin talked about the ocean research needs, as countries specifically provided in their INDCs the need for additional research in the following areas: sea level rise and coastal zone monitoring; fisheries; blue carbon; climate observation system; biodiversity research; oceanography and climate; ocean training and capacity building/academic collaboration. The research needs can be addressed by looking at the research infrastructure and the available funds in place today, such as the GEF and the Ocean Sustainability Bank.
Ronald Jumeau, Seychelles Ambassador for Climate Change and SIDS Issues, recognized that it is natural for them to include oceans in their NDCs. However, they recognize that there is a lack of research, as for example they do not have an accurate and complete overview, among others, on the impacts of climate change and the marine species in need of protection. That is why, the University of Seychelles started a research institute called the Blue Economy Research Institute to advance their knowledge and have access to accurate and complete information that can help them put forward an ambitious NDC. They also decided to be an example and lead the way by starting reviewing and upscaling their NDCs so as to achieve the 1,5°C goal.
We can only hope that at future APA meetings, the Paris Agreement will act as a spokesperson for the oceans and marine ecosystems, as currently they do not have one.
This entry was posted in Annex I, APA, biodiversity, COP22, ecosystems, Energy, GEF, nationally determined commitments, ocean acidification, Paris agreement, sea level rise. Bookmark the permalink.


Nigeria might have Africa's largest economy, but 4 outside of each ten men and women while in the country's workforce ended up unemployed or underemployed by the finish of September, the federal government stats office mentioned on Friday.
The regional energy climbed outside of its initial recession in the quarter of a century in the 2nd quarter, but financial expansion continues to be sluggish. Which has lead to a drought of work possibilities, contributing to your cycle of poverty that drives Nigeria's the vanguard newspaper yawning wealth inequality as well as social unrest.
People have been the terms of Franklyn Akinyosoye, President, Association of Organization Improvement Pros in Nigeria (ABDPIN), whilst addressing the hole between federal government and MSMEs at Abuja, Nigeria's seat of electrical power, Oct 2017.
"Graduates of Nigerian universities usually are not outfitted intellectually to affect positively within the present day economy. They are not trained to engage usefully inside the Nigerian economy. Their mindset needs to alter.
By the conclude of September, Nigeria's economically energetic, nigeria tribune or working populace was 111.1 million folks, stated the NBS.
"We need to change the instructional program to ensure the scholars who graduate in the university can certainly suit in to the economic technique on the nation," the conference famous.
The merged proportion of people unemployed or underemployed was 40 percent with the conclude of September, up from 37.2 percent through the end of June, mentioned the NBS report.
Earlier this thirty day period, rankings company Fitch lower its 2017 thisday nigeria newspaper economic development forecast for Nigeria to one per cent from 1.five per cent.
The administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, who campaigned on vows to fix Nigeria's economy, has struggled to comply with by means of with ideas to reduce the country's dependence on oil. Nigeria, the Gigante of Africa.
Significantly of Nigeria's recovery for the reason that 2nd quarter continues to be pushed by crude production, which accounts for approximately two-thirds of government revenues, regardless of the government's assertions they are purchasing infrastructure and key industries this sort of as agriculture to travel employment and increase development.
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Software is Underperforming and The Future Depends on That Changing
Anne Currie
"If something can't go on forever, it won't." - Herb Stein's Law
What will the future of the tech industry look like?
The challenge facing us all between now and 2030 is no longer how we will persuade the world (or more immediately, our bosses or customers) to become carbon zero. That's coming whether we like it or not. Our new problem is how, as companies, we can position ourselves to have a business left when it does, and how we make sure our long-term suppliers are still standing.
The good news is, I suspect the solution to our problem will be to shift the tech industry onto a trajectory that offers far greater scope for growth in this coming world.
That sounds surprisingly optimistic! So, why on Earth do I think it?
Stepping back, what are the climate issues we will be forced to resolve over the next ten years?
As I discussed in my last post, according to the bright folk who look into this stuff, tech has two problems to solve by 2030:
Real-time carbon emissions from the generation of electricity used in data centres.
Embodied carbon emissions from our consumer hardware production (plus managing the related e-waste).
Fortunately, green electricity for DCs is now in hand. My preferred way to solve a problem is usually to give it to someone clever to come up with a fix, and in this case that's the cloud providers. They have committed to solve it by 2030 and the rest of us can either use their solutions or copy them. So, let's put it to one side for now.
Unfortunately, however, hardware is a disaster area. For end-user devices, the carbon and other pollution from their production outstrips the impact of their run-time electricity use.
That can't go on, so it won't, but what will 'future us' do about it?
There's never just one solution to a problem and user hardware is no exception to that rule. There are at least three ways to reduce pollution from it:
Recycle it.
Improve how it's made.
Make it go further.
We are going to need all of them, but the first two are for hardware manufacturers to address and I won't cover them here. For me, the third is the most interesting. It is the one that:
Surprisingly, needs to be driven by software.
Should make the most significant contribution to pollution reduction.
Could massively boost our own industry - if we do it intelligently.
So, let's talk about hardware longevity.
The Holy Grail: Longevity
According to Microsoft, we should all architect our software in a way that means hardware will last longer. That's about avoiding causing something to become obsolete when it doesn't need to be.
Don't design software that relies on new hardware to run. (Ironically, that immediately makes me think of Windows 11, but there you go).
Don't cause working hardware to become unusable because of a lack of software/security patches. (Android is the worst culprit here).
Although Apple is still providing software upgrades for phones dating back to 2015, Android manufacturers only support phones for 2-3 years (and Apple is not without sin - new apps often force hardware upgrades even when patches are still available for a device).
The good news is we are upgrading our smartphones slightly less often than we used to (mostly as a result of the economy, but also because manufacturers are running out of flashy new hardware features to lure us in). However, it is still averaging once every ~3 years.
The bad news is some of that increased lifespan relies on Android users running unsecure phones because they didn't want to or couldn't afford to ditch a working device. Doing the sustainable thing is putting them in harm's way and I fundamentally blame Google for that - they set the license terms for Android.
Unnecessary obsolescence is not only a criminal waste and a security risk for users, it's a missed opportunity. Every day, millions of folk bin working hardware devices with astonishing capabilities. At the same time, the software we run on our phones and tablets barely scratches the surface of what those amazing devices could do.
What if new releases were about software features rather than hardware ones?
What if new releases ran faster on your existing hardware instead of slower?
What if hardware was designed to support and showcase changing and improving software, not the other way around?
All of these are doable. On launch, software is often barely optimised, which means there's a lot of room for improvement on any given device. We could be exploiting that.
A software-based upgrade system might not be attractive to the current hardware manufacturers, but it should be to software ones. It certainly would be to the planet, which increasingly means to younger consumers.
We've become reliant on hardware because that was the easiest path. Hardware has been exponentially improving for two decades and we weren't footing the climate bills. It therefore paid for us to let our software get bloated. Instead, it should have been generating better products than hardware ever could because it's innately more flexible - it's a language! Software is only limited by our imagination and the skills of our developers and we could do so much more with it.
What do I mean?
Software-based upgrades!? But no one does that!
Microsoft tends to make its money from software rather than hardware. Unfortunately, however, their new releases usually fall foul of the "better hardware required" form of obsolescence.
There's no need for that to be the case. There's plenty of room for optimisation in their software and OS. There is no technical reason why the key feature of the semi-mythical Windows 12 couldn't be that it runs faster on your existing laptop - rather than what's likely to happen, which is that it'll run slower.
Faster tech on existing hardware! How cool would that be? Arguably the best feature you could get. And there is already a great example of a successful consumer business that manages hardware longevity far better than the rest of the industry...
In 2020, Microsoft and Sony each released their first new console in 7 years. That's already more than twice as long as the average phone lasts. The amazing thing is, games continue to get better while you're waiting for the next hardware release! How? By constantly optimising their software for existing devices.
Games companies believe that the software (the games) should be the star rather than the devices they run on, and they're right. There may even never be another new Playstation or XBox. In the future, consumer devices are expected to play a smaller role in the gaming experience because more of the heavy lifting will move to the cloud and the edge (that's good because cloud providers are better at managing hardware longevity than consumers are).
All this only makes it more galling and outdated that, at the same time, I have to throw away a high-spec, working Android phone every 2-3 years. Built-in obsolescence is for Henry Ford, not the 21st century.
What will we do about it?
"Software is eating the world" - Marc Andreesson
Andreesson's quote is an implicit assertion that, this century, software has driven the world's economy. It hasn't. Software has underperformed throughout the past two decades because it has leaned so much on Moore's Law.
Despite the fact that code is almost limitlessly flexible, what has actually been eating the world since 2000 is hardware (Moore's law plus flashy consumer devices built cheaply in Asia) and slick operations (cloud providers). Neither of which are as inherently powerful as software. I'm a software engineer, so in my opinion that's a crying shame.
So far, the 21st century has not been about smart code. It has been about leveraging clever hardware and ops. Hardware has improved exponentially, giving us 1000X growth since the 90s. We spent most of the improvement on making software engineers more productive in a very specific direction (tl;dr: stuff we could do more easily with a growing number of processor-intensive layers). As a result, software became less specialised and more resource hungry.
The most revolutionary tech concept of the past decade has been containers, which showed us the amazing things that can be achieved by removing the heavyweight wrapping of a VM and replacing it with the vastly thinner one of a container. Unfortunately, in most enterprises that intelligence hasn't been realised and containers have just become yet another layer.
The solution to tech's future is to fight our way out of the gilded hardware cage we're currently living in. We are close to the top of the local maximum of hardware + Asian manufacturing. The next peak has to come from smarter software, and ideas beyond just wrapping another thick layer around stuff and letting cheap hardware and electricity do the work of coping with it.
The innocuous phrase the tech industry uses for destroying working hardware is 'premature obsolescence'. In a world that has to deal with climate change, I don't believe that sums up the issue or the challenge.
What we are talking about is negligent obsolescence. We could do something about it, but we don't. Sometimes that's deliberate (we still have Henry Fords out there) but often it's just a failure to pay attention. It's negligence and it cannot continue. Hardware needs to last longer. Unoptimised or unsupported software should never again be what kills a working device.
What I'd love to see in the 2020s is software no longer taking credit for wins being delivered by something else and achieving its own vast potential. By re-focusing on software-driven energy efficiency, software features, and hardware longevity, not only could we solve tech's fossil fuel and pollution challenges, we could enable the industry to reach the greater heights of which it is capable.
The world is changing and software needs to step up.
WTF is Wrong with RFPs?
Agile in the Cloud Native Era


The Home School Legal Defense Association provides a brief summary of the homeschooling laws in Virginia. Includes a link to a legal analysis of laws relating to homeschooling in Virginia.
22.1-254.1. Declaration of policy; requirements for home instruction of children.
A. When the requirements of this section have been satisfied, instruction of children by their parents is an acceptable alternative form of education under the policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Any parent of any child who will have reached the fifth birthday on or before September 30 of any school year and who has not passed the eighteenth birthday may elect to provide home instruction in lieu of school attendance if he (i) holds a baccalaureate degree in any subject from an accredited institution of higher education; or (ii) is a teacher of qualifications prescribed by the Board of Education; or (iii) has enrolled the child or children in a correspondence course approved by the Superintendent of Public Instruction; or (iv) provides a program of study or curriculum which, in the judgment of the division superintendent, includes the standards of learning objectives adopted by the Board of Education for language arts and mathematics and provides evidence that the parent is able to provide an adequate education for the child. B. Any parent who elects to provide home instruction in lieu of school attendance shall annually notify the division superintendent in August of his intention to so instruct the child and provide a description of the curriculum to be followed for the coming year and evidence of having met one of the criteria for providing home instruction as required by subsection A of this section. Effective July 1, 2000, parents electing to provide home instruction shall provide such annual notice no later than August 15. Any parent who moves into a school division or begins home instruction after the school year has begun shall notify the division superintendent of his intention to provide home instruction as soon as practicable and shall comply with the requirements of this section within thirty days of such notice. The division superintendent shall notify the Superintendent of Public Instruction of the number of students in the school division receiving home instruction. C. The parent who elects to provide home instruction shall provide the division superintendent by August 1 following the school year in which the child has received home instruction with either (i) evidence that the child has attained a composite score in or above the fourth stanine on a battery of achievement tests which have been approved by the Board of Education for use in the public schools or (ii) an evaluation or assessment which, in the judgment of the division superintendent, indicates that the child is achieving an adequate level of educational growth and progress. In the event that evidence of progress as required in this subsection is not provided by the parent, the home instruction program for that child may be placed on probation for one year. Parents shall file with the division superintendent evidence of their ability to provide an adequate education for their child in compliance with subsection A of this section and a remediation plan for the probationary year which indicates their program is designed to address any educational deficiency. Upon acceptance of such evidence and plan by the division superintendent, the home instruction may continue for one probationary year. If the remediation plan and evidence are not accepted or the required evidence of progress is not provided by August 1 following the probationary year, home instruction shall cease and the parent shall make other arrangements for the education of the child which comply with § 22.1-254. The requirements of subsection C shall not apply to children who are under the age of six as of September 30 of the school year. D. For purposes of this section, "parent" means the biological parent or adoptive parent, guardian or other person having control or charge of a child. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a pupil and his parents from obtaining an excuse from school attendance by reason of bona fide religious training or belief pursuant to § 22.1-254 B 1. E. Any party aggrieved by a decision of the division superintendent may appeal his decision within thirty days to an independent hearing officer. The independent hearing officer shall be chosen from the list maintained by the Executive Secretary of the Supreme Court for hearing appeals of the placements of children with disabilities. The costs of the hearing shall be apportioned among the parties by the hearing officer in a manner consistent with his findings.
Any person who has residing with him for a period of sixty days or more any child within the ages prescribed in § 22.1-254 whose parents or guardians reside in another state or the District of Columbia shall be subject to the provisions of § 22.1-254 and shall pay or cause to be paid any tuition charges for such child that may be required pursuant to § 22.1-5 or shall return such child to the home of his parents or legal guardians.
Any person violating the provisions of either § 22.1-254, except for clause (ii) of subsection A, §§ 22.1-255, 22.1-258, 22.1-267, or the parental responsibility provisions relating to compulsory school attendance included in § 22.1-279.3, shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor. Upon a finding that a person knowingly and willfully violated any provision of § 22.1-254, except for clause (ii) of subsection A, or any provision of §§ 22.1-255, 22.1-258, or § 22.1-267 and that such person has been convicted previously of a violation of any provision of § 22.1-254, except for clause (ii) of subsection A, or any provision of §§ 22.1-255, 22.1-258 or § 22.1-267, such person shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.
22.1-271.4. Health requirements for home-instructed, exempted, and excused children.
In addition to compliance with the requirements of subsection B, C, or H of § 22.1-254 or § 22.1-254.1, any parent, guardian or other person having control or charge of a child being home instructed, exempted or excused from school attendance shall comply with the immunization requirements provided in § 32.1-46 in the same manner and to the same extent as if the child has been enrolled in and is attending school. Upon request by the division superintendent, the parent shall submit to such division superintendent documentary proof of immunization in compliance with § 32.1-46. No proof of immunization shall be required of any child upon submission of (i) an affidavit to the division superintendent stating that the administration of immunizing agents conflicts with the parent's or guardian's religious tenets or practices or (ii) a written certification from a licensed physician that one or more of the required immunizations may be detrimental to the child's health, indicating the specific nature of the medical condition or circumstance that contraindicates immunization.
32.1-46. Immunization of children against certain diseases; authority to share immunization records.
Text of the code relating to immunization of children and exemptions from these requirements.
This court decision involved a dispute between Prince William County School Board and a family who homeschooled via the Religious Exemption.


Handmade fabric and lace cuff bracelet with a beautiful mix of black, gold and blue beads.
This is a stunning one off statement piece of jewellery. Perfect for someone who loves Gothic style jewellery.
A great addition to your collection.
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DERM AI
AI Standards for Healthcare
by Tim Daly | May 8, 2017 | AI, Blog | 0 comments
Are we on the verge of releasing skynet on the world? Not even close, but a set of standards for the application of AI to healthcare is overdue.
Would then stifle innovation or provide us with the landscape to deliver real value to the healthcare industry? That was the question I asked myself time and again after we were recently invited to an event run by Nesta and BSI and attended by other small firms such as the NHS, Google Deep Mind and Babylon Health.
We were all sitting in a rather dreary room along Victoria Embankment here in London debating the role of regulation and standards for AI used in healthcare. At Skin Analytics we're generally advocates for proportional regulation based on the risks and associated impacts. The new Medical Device regulations are a great step I believe as many Class I products, such as ours, are outside the risk profile that was originally envisaged software was capable being.
Ultimately, the last thing we want to see is innovation being suppressed under volumes of red tape. At the same time, we're trying to change healthcare, meaning that we're dealing with people's health and that's not an area to "move fast and break things" for fairly obvious reasons.
Back to our dreary room however, and we proposed a number of areas that need to be part of any standards developed in this area but there are two I feel quite strongly about.
The first is the requirement for a well designed clinical evaluation that is suitable for the approach and intended use of any AI service. Desk based research just doesn't cut it in the world of AI. Too often we see the real world performance of an AI system to be significantly below expectations. Only a prospective clinical study can meet this requirement.
The second is defining an algorithm update process that ensures that no AI system in healthcare is evolving without a clear set of acceptance criteria for any modifications to the algorithm. In our world this means building a test set that is held apart from the training data and enables new versions to be benchmarked against the old.
These shouldn't stifle innovation in any way. Good clinical evidence is the lifeblood of evidence based medicine and there is simply no way around it. Services that go around the medical community should be closely scrutinised by the regulatory authorities to ensure adequate evidence exists.
Dispelling the myth that all AI is updating itself in unknown ways is important and defining the release of improved versions of any solution is a core part of any well designed software process.
Delivering value in healthcare requires any innovator to ensure that they are delivering a quality solution that enhances or improves the health outcomes in a cost effective way.
That may take longer to deliver and consequently more blood, sweat and tears from founders but it if those principles are at the core of the idea, you will be more likely to achieve your goal. Unless skynet takes over that is.
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I continue where I left off on the work of Alvaro Palacios in Spain. On my post of November, I covered the Priorat. On this post, i will cover Bierzo and of a future post Rioja.
Bierzo wine history goes back to ancient Roman times. The Romans colonized Bierzo with the purpose of mineral exploitation. Like they did in other places that they went, they cultivated the vine to fulfill the thirst of the settlements. Pliny the Elder, who perished in the A.D. 79 wrote the earliest references on Bierzo wine.
The Mencía grape is the star here, where it occupies nearly two-thirds of the vineyards. A variety that dominates in northwestern Spain (especially in the Galician DOPs- appellations- Valdeorras, Monterrei, and Ribeira Sacra), Mencía has only recently gained respect as an honorable grape variety. In good hands, it reveals fresh fruity notes, smooth tannins and that elusive reflection of mineral terroir. Although known as a wine that shines well in its youth, yielding fruit driven and accesible wines, some Bierzo producers are demonstrating that with judicious usd of oak it can make worthy cellars. Other grape varieties cultivated in the Bierzo include Garnacha Tintorera, Godello, Doña Blanca, Malvasía, Palomino and, in experimental quantities, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo.
The vineyards in Bierzo are some of the prettiest in Spain and even in Europe. Many are planted in beautiful view-terraces along the steep slopes of the Sil river valley, some with such marked inclination that only mules can be used for the harvest. The soils are a mix from alluvial near the riverbed, to rocky and slate-filled on the higher slopes. The vineyards, which are planted at elevations of up to 1000 meters, enjoy moderate rainfall and, thanks to the mountains that protect them from the winds of the Atlantic, a relatively mild climate.
Much of the region's fame is attributed to our superheroe, Alvaro Palacios. After succeding in Priorat, he enture with his nephew Ricardo in the Region. However, some sources say that he wanted to start in the Bierzo before the Priorat. However, his success there inspired Alvaro to search again for another challenge, this time establishing a vision in the potential of Bierzo and the area's primary varietal Mencia. In 1998, Alvaro and Ricardo, who had just finished studying in Bordeaux, created the te Descendientes de Palacios estate. Purchasing old vine Mencia vineyards, Alvaro and Ricardo revitalized Bierzo in the same way Alvaro did in Priorat. The winery is dedicated to Alvaro's father, and Ricardo's grandfather, who passed away in early 2000, once again sourcing inspiration from their families' long history in Spanish winemaking.
Petalos del Bierzo is born on several vineyards located on a group of hills of slate in the villages of Corullón, Valtuille, Villadecanes, Parandones and Villafranca del Bierzo. The soils of Corullón are of early cambrian period and of the rest of the villages from Tertiary era: Ferrous Clay with quartzites wnd pebbles.
Pétalos del Bierzo is a lovely fragant and aromatic wine. I was impressed by its core aromas of fresh blueberries and blackberries. It also has a sizzling crushed black pepper with violet infusion component that echoes a Syrah from The Northern Rhone in France. In the mouth, it is full body, rich but satiny with ripe tannins. Its retronasal flavors bring to mind fresh mountain herbs with cool mineral nuances that transport you to the hills of Bierzo.
The flagship wine of Alvaro and Ricardo is Corullón. This is an assemblage from old-vine parcels around the town. The estate also produces up to four extraordinary single-vineyard wines: San Martin, Moncerbal, Las Lamas and La Faraona. Each is a distinctive expression of the enigmatic terroir of the Bierzo.


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This resource remains available under SCIE's commitment to share knowledge and information but please be alert to changes in policy or practice since publication. This resource was last updated in November 2011.
Involving young people and their families in service design
Welcoming, approachable and flexible services
Access for seldom-heard and vulnerable groups
Planning and practice
Service styles, models and barriers
Mental health service transitions for young people
Accessible and easy to use mental health services: Involving young people and their families in service design
Listening to young people and implementing what they say can produce significant improvements in provision. Their involvement in planning, developing, commissioning and providing services can suggest where and how to improve. (11)
Three process mapping workshops with stakeholders were held as part of the practice enquiry to discuss the complexity of the environment in which staff operate. Although staff at the workshops said little spontaneously about this topic, young people themselves were keen to be involved in service design and to have their views heard. The work of The Centre for Excellence and Outcomes (C4EO) on children and their families underpins the fact that young people's involvement in individual decisions about their own lives, and collective involvement in matters that affect them, is key to designing and delivering better services.
The main message in the practice enquiry from young people is the importance of professionals listening to them, and understanding their views and priorities. When asked, young people will have a range of ideas about what makes for good practice.
Uthink was shaped by both evidence-based research and stakeholder influence. Young people, parents and carers were consulted in the original bid (to the Big Lottery fund) and their ideas strongly influenced the overall structure of the programme and the content of individual sessions. Local steering groups involving young people seek to support service delivery and there is a comprehensive framework for monitoring, using specially designed tools and techniques.
North Tyneside embraced the principles of the NSF and carried out extensive local consultation. Young people have commented positively on the increased level of home visiting and outreach work.
Sheffield Y-Talk consulted extensively when designing its service: young people were asked what would help them access emotional and mental health support.
The transition group in Peterborough meets every two or three months, and involves the early intervention in psychosis service (CAMEO) and the local CAMHS team to ensure the smooth transition of young people under the age of 18 with psychosis or possible psychosis. Much of what the group does is case-based (23 young people in 18 months) but the group has also shared training events and supported some of the research projects within CAMEO. The group has collected systematic feedback from families and young people which has been generally positive but has also outlined areas for development, including the use of written information and thinking about how long the transition process should take (some saying not too long for parallel working). Young people have reported a greater sense of the teams working together.
The Rivendell Unit in Wakefield has a multi-disciplinary transition service for 17-year-old women. This designated unit is within a large (adult) female prison (HMP Newhall) for very vulnerable young women with high rates of self-harm and complex psychopathology, often resulting from multiple traumatic experiences in the past. The young people are transferred on their eighteenth birthday to the main prison site, with one or two transfers each month. The women were involved early on in the design of the new service by means of a focus group. They said that getting advice during transition was a key need. They emphasised the importance of having someone to talk to, of health professionals gaining their trust and maintaining confidentiality, and having practical support such as in filling out forms. Formal feedback on the service is collected from the young people who were transferred. The main improvement is that the protocol facilitates communication between the young person, the forensic CAMHS team and the adult mental health team from early on and well before the actual transfer is due. This reduces the anxieties of the young person and of the system.
Providing information about support
It's important to provide information about the transition process, and the services and support available such as non-NHS and other health settings, voluntary sector services, primary health care and other universal services. Providing information is essential to enable the full, informed participation of young people in their transition.
Staff who attended the practice enquiry mapping workshops thought that there was a lack of information for young people and their parents and carers, who often don't know what is available nor how to access it. Young people also think this. Additionally, staff may not themselves know what is available outside their own service. Staff interviewed in the course of the practice enquiry suggested a single website providing information to staff, young people and their families, so that everyone has access to the same resource.
Young people need accessible and comprehensive information about their mental health including treatment choices and self-help options. Many do not really understand what is meant by 'mental health problems' or 'disorders', and fear the stigma of needing mental health services. They may not have had time to learn about their condition nor how to manage it, and they may have a range of other difficulties, including poor self-esteem or confidence, co-existing substance misuse problems, and difficulties with their education, welfare benefits or housing. All of these factors emphasise the need for a holistic approach to supporting young people when they are in transition to adult mental health or other adult services.
Young people value information which:
is given both verbally and 'reinforced' in writing
is attractive and jargon-free
is culturally and age appropriate, and relevant
prepares them and their families for transition
provides signposting from one service to another.
It was a big shock coming to the secure unit. I didn't know what mental health was, it was frightening, I didn't know why I had it.'
Angela, Liverpool
Central Norfolk EIT provides young people with information about psychosis and the ways in which it could affect them.
Liverpool is developing a website for staff, young people and families, bringing together information on transitions and services.
Hafal, in Wales, has developed an information hub to give timely information - the need for which young people themselves identified - consisting of guides, leaflets, web resources and other accessible sources.
The Rowan Centre, based in Elgin, Morayshire, has produced a leaflet for young people and their families entitled 'Moving on to adult mental health services - planning for the change: information about transitional care and adult mental health services.'
Leeds CAMHS, including inpatient and community CAMHS, extended the age of service users from their seventeenth to their eighteenth birthday from 1 April 2010 (inpatient), and 1 October 2010 for the rest of CAMHS. This has led to a renewed focus on transition processes.
Youth Access has a national database of services.
Part of: Mental health service transitions for young people
Last updated: November 2011
Guide 44: Mental health service transitions for young people


i'm on linux mint here, cannot start soundsense through the LNP.
which files do i have to execute manually (trying to figure out packages i might be missing)?
If you start the LNP from a terminal by running ./startlnp in its root: then when you doubleclick soundsense in the utilities tab you can see the messages/errors logged to the terminal.
thanks. found out that java wasn't installed - although it should already be... strange. reinstalling java and trying again.
EDIT: it works now. thanks.
EDIT2: soundsense now works, but DF crashes under wine... so can i just copy the contents of Mephs DF over into the linuxLNP?
To answer my own question, I think this is because the manifests for the other graphics packs don't list themselves as compatible with 44.09. For example, the manifest for Phoebus only lists it as compatible with 44.07.
Hmm, I expect there will be a couple of config files to merge as well as the game save and graphic sets, so you could maybe compare the packs with something like winmerge or kdiff to examine differences in the init.txt type of files - ive yet to look into it all properly.
this is because the manifests for the other graphics packs don't list themselves as compatible with 44.09. For example, the manifest for Phoebus only lists it as compatible with 44.07.
Well noted TV4Fun - I didnt notice because Phoebus is the installed set, but it is missing from the custom list as well as others.
i don't knwo 3dveins... didn't knwo i activated it either. maybe yopying mephs in there might have it listed.
Can you post the contents of your stderr.log file?
Are you saying that you copied over 3dveins/rendermax from Meph's pack?
All plugins are loaded when DFHack starts, which is when the messages you see are being printed. You don't have to do anything to make that happen, and they will be loaded even if they are disabled (in fact, they are all disabled until something enables them, like dfhack.init or someone running commands at the console).
i don't know why, but on the second try it just worked without error.
i'll upload a log with only until main menu.
no, i didn't copy in any dfhack stuff.
I tried this "pack" last Sunday.
I chose a place on the edge of the polar region. Frozen lake, two frozen rivers. All the year! Ice never thaw. No liquid water.
To my BIG surprise this map was full of differents trees. Ok, but... Persimmons, chestnuts, honeybees, termites!
Hm. Life from "Any temperate" and surface water from "Freezing" .
A am able to pick and collect persimmons, acorns, but chestnut burrs remain intact.
1. Many of the graphics packs are only set for a max version 0.44.07 and so will not show up when the game is run. I had to go into the LNP/graphics directory and modify each pack's manifest.json to 0.44.09. Does simply removing the max version also work?
Not sure what the way forward is, but whomever is compiling stonesense, it would be good if you could compile it with an older compiler. I am not sure what the recommendation is, but someone is going to have to recompile it. If I do, can I just add it into df_linux?
BenLubar is aware of the issue and the GCC 4.8 build of DFHack will be more compatible in the next version: https://github.com/Lazy-Newb-Pack/Lazy-Newb-Pack-Linux/issues/52#issuecomment-384182937 . It's actually because he's building on a newer Ubuntu (18.04), although if this pack distributes the GCC 7 build, that could be problematic.
Can you tell what version of GCC yours was built with? At the very least, running libdfhack.so through strings should give some GCC paths. Either 4.8 or 7.3 (7.2? 7?) should show up somewhere.
hmmm i still don't understand enough about linux to see how i could get stonesense to run, but obviously the dfhack-plugin for stonesense is causing some of the problems.
GNU C Library (Ubuntu GLIBC 2.23-0ubuntu10) stable release version 2.23, by Roland McGrath et al.
You can't (without some advanced linux understanding) until it gets compiled differently. The problem is that whomever is building this distribution is using more modern libraries that what we have on our distros of ubuntu and mint.
Another solution might be to stick this whole build on github or bitbucket or something and let us build it from source on our own machines.