text:
Explaining Pitch Intent Data: The Revolutionary Way of Evaluating Command
By: Henry Ettinger
Elite pitchers usually have two things in common: great pitches and the ability to command those great pitches. With better technology and understanding, the baseball community has gotten much better at determining what makes pitches great. However, our ability to measure command has not evolved in the same way.
Well, in order to understand this, we first need to differentiate command from control. Control is the general ability of a pitcher to throw strikes. It can be evaluated by simple metrics like zone percentage and walk rate. Command, on the other hand, measures the ability of a pitcher to locate his pitches exactly where he wants them to go whether that be in the zone or not.
At STATS, we go through every pitch of every game to determine actual intent. Our team usually starts with four key variables – count, pitch-type, the pitcher's trends and the catcher's mitt location and body position during his setup. STATS then factors in over 20 other key variables, including things like the hitter, game situation and the runners on base.
From there, the intent of a pitch is narrowed to one of 13 zones, which correspond with a concept. For example, a pitch that is supposed to be located on the outside edge of the plate is known as "black or better" because the intent is to paint the corner or be just off the plate.
Let's look at some examples of how STATS Pitch Intent data is revolutionizing the way that pitchers are being evaluated:
Here are two sliders from Yankees right-hander Masahiro Tanaka that end up in the same location, low and inside and out of the strike zone.
But notice the different situations before the pitches.
In the first video, Tanaka has a 1-1 count on Yolmer Sanchez, a relatively low-power hitter at the bottom of the White Sox lineup. The pitch is a slider, so it moves in toward a left-handed hitter. Generally, this would not be used as a chase-pitch off the outside edge because it would start out of the zone. Given that information, the game situation, and the position of the catcher, Tanaka misses on a pitch that is supposed to be thrown for a strike on the outside part of the plate and Sanchez singles to right field.
This breakdown also illustrates why the catcher's mitt is not a good indicator of intent on its own. This pitch is intended to be a strike, yet the catcher sets up with his mitt below the batter's knees for some reason (anticipating a block, just out of habit, etc.). Take a look one more time.
Now, let's look at the second video's situation.
This time, Tanaka has a 2-2 count on Chicago's Yonder Alonso with a runner on second and two outs. Tanaka has a pitch to work with, so he can afford to throw the slider for a ball in hopes of getting a swing-and-miss strikeout. The catcher sets up inside for a common back foot slider location, and Tanaka hits the spot, unlike in the previous video, nearly getting Alonso to chase.
This is the beauty of looking at intent rather than results. If you just looked at a heat map of Tanaka's slider against left-handed batters, you would see that he throws them in two common places – for strikes low and outside and balls low and inside.
Both sliders shown in the videos, represented by those two black dots in the heat map, ended up in that low and inside zone and seemingly fit in with Tanaka's pitching trends. However, with Pitch Intent data, we can distinguish between those two black dots, one as a missed location and the other as a hit location.
Once that data is collected, we can compare it with the results of the pitches to generate a plethora of more accurate metrics. In terms of simply evaluating command, we have developed a Command+ rating that compares the command of every pitcher, sortable by pitch-type, with the league average (set at 100). If you look at the table below, you can see that Tanaka's Command+ rating for all his pitches is actually the best in the league at 132 or 32% better than the MLB average.
Pitcher # of Pitches Command+
Masahiro Tanaka 1037 132
Kyle Hendricks 1006 127
Tyler Mahle 1004 125
Zach Davies 1111 117
Mike Leake 1152 116
Chirs Paddack 874 116
Jose Berrios 1166 115
Jameson Taillon 555 115
Zach Eflin 1029 115
Ross Stripling 677 114
Now that STATS has been collecting this Pitch Intent data for a few years, teams can track how a pitcher's Command+ rating has improved (or gotten worse) for each pitch in his arsenal.
Take Lucas Giolito. The breakout White Sox pitcher went from being one of the worst pitchers in the league last year to winning AL Pitcher of the Month for May. Using Command+, we can illustrate that a lot of Giolito's improvement can be attributed to his improved command.
Pitch Type 2018 Median Command+ 2019 Median Command+
Fastball 91 96
Curveball 81 82
Slider 90 97
Changeup 93 105
Total Command+ 90 97
Giolito's command has gotten better on multiple pitches, but he has commanded his changeup particularly well this season, improving 12% relative to the league average. Combine that with the fact that he now throws his changeup 23.4% of the time compared to 15.8% last season, and you start to get a clearer picture of why he has made such a big leap.
Beyond evaluating pitchers, STATS Pitch Intent data can also be used to evaluate other aspects of the game, like a catcher's ability to frame pitches or how pitchers are attacking a hitter during a slump.
STATS is always working to develop new tools to change how we see sports through data, and for evaluating pitcher command, Pitch Intent is our new darling.
'We're Only Scratching the Surface': Analyst Craig O'Shannessy Talks Data, AI and the Future of Tennis
Sacha Pisani
Fan Engagement, Team Performance
Championship Sunday: Breaking Down the Key Matchups in the Packers-49ers NFC Title Bout
Jimmy Lynn
Championship Sunday: Analyzing the Key Matchups in the Titans-Chiefs AFC Showdown
Taylor Bechtold
Stats Perform's NFL Playoff Matchup to Watch: Vikings at 49ers
Nadeem Patel


Even in the middle of summer, Wednesday would be a ferociously hot and humid day for the Garden State.
Hello, summer! Well, summerlike weather, at least. As high pressure parks south of New Jersey, southwest winds will carry in much warmer and humid air. The result will be two days of near-record temperatures and stifling humidity.
So, allow me to remind you of common sense hot weather precautions... Dress for the weather. Stay hydrated. Take frequent breaks. Use sunscreen. Don't leave pets or kids in cars.
Another important side effect of the heat will be elevated concentrations of ground-level ozone and fine particulates. In other words, pollution gets trapped near the ground. This can cause breathing difficulties for sensitive groups, including the very young, the very old, and those with respiratory problems (like asthma). If you fall into any of those categories, air conditioning will be your friend. The NJ Department of Environmental Protection has issued the first "Code Orange" Air Quality Alert of the year.
Wednesday night? Not cool at all. You will definitely feel the mugginess and stickiness all night. Under partly cloudy skies, low temperatures will only fall to the upper 60s to around 70 degrees. Pretty uncomfortable.
And if Wednesday's heat wasn't enough for you, we'll do it again on Thursday. High temperatures will again soar into the upper 80s to lower 90s. (I suspect Thursday will be a degree or two hotter than Wednesday, just in case you're keeping score.) Again, skies will remain dry, and we'll see a mix of sun and clouds overhead.
Friday will start off very warm, with thermometers climbing to the mid 80s (give or take) by lunchtime. But then, changes will be afoot! A cold front will put an end to the heat and humidity, as a brisk northwest wind will begin carrying in cooler, drier air.
Usually, such a strong cold front would also spawn a line of strong thunderstorms in such a warm and humid environment. But models show storms really won't fire — the NAM is completely dry, while the GFS does show some rain activity. So while I'm not completely ruling out some isolated showers and thunderstorms for late Friday, the chance admittedly looks quite minimal.
And then along comes the weekend, not nearly as summerlike as the rest of the week. Over the past few days, I've been wishy-washy about a potentially unsettled forecast for the weekend. And, while confidence is still shaky, I like what I see to salvage a "decent" weekend.
It's clear that temperatures for the weekend (and beyond) will be nowhere near 90 degrees. The big unknown in this forecast is the magnitude and effects of an on-shore flow — southeasterly winds usually enact overcast skies and cool temperatures. My current thinking keeps most of New Jersey in the 60s for both Saturday and Sunday. We'll probably see more clouds than sun, but the forecast now looks dry throughout the weekend.
Our next storm system of significance will be another strong cold front late Monday. Severe weather and pockets of heavy rain will be concerns.


When my husband passed, I was completely thrown into unbelief–unbelief that it had happened; unbelief that for the first time I was a single mom; unbelief that was going to have to do life without my partner and best friend. As you can imagine I was lost and confuse as to where my path in life would end up.
My Christ-following friends made sure they reminded me to keep the faith, not to lose hope, and while I will never ever lose faith in God, I couldn't understand why I was put on this new journey.
Proverbs 16:9, tells us that we make plans, but it is God who orders our steps.
Whateve my plans were before don't matter because the field isn't the same, yet God is the same.
He will order my steps and direct my path. And, if He'll do it for me, He will do it for you too.
If you're feeling like you are just blowing in the wind without direction, without purpose, remember it's not always easy to understand what God is doing.
If your steps are ordered in God's Word, trust His leading because He's always guiding you according to His plans. Thanks to His precious hand, the thousands and thousands of little puzzle pieces of your life are coming together to reveal the God's beautiful picture that will be your life in Him.
If God is able to take the tiniest atoms, join them together and form the universe and everything in i, then surely He can perfectly align the circumstances of your life.
Have you ever been on course to complete a task, you have all your ducks in a row, them all of a sudden something happens and everything falls apart?
It can be very frustrating during these times. You may feel like you were never on the right path or you may even do all you can to get back to where you were.
Think about it like this for a moment, knock downs, setbacks, denials, rejections, may just be God's way of preparing you for better than what you thought was best.
Isaiah 55:8, reminds you that God doesn't think like you. He doesn't move like you. You don't have to understand what He's doing, all you have to do is trust that He knows what He's doing.


COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Police are not citing a 92-year-old driver who lost control of her vehicle and crashed into a church during a Christmas service in Ohio. Columbus police say officers determined it was a private-property accident. The driver was treated for leg injuries, and three older church patrons were treated at hospitals for minor injuries from glass and debris. A 60-year-old passenger was also treated.
Officers responded at around 10:40 a.m. Sunday to Crossroads United Methodist Church. The Rev. Jay Anderson says members were singing a hymn when the car crashed through the wall. He says that the wall "just exploded" and that pieces of glass went flying.
He says the church was unusually crowded with some 100 people because there was a special Christmas performance. The driver's name wasn't released.


text:
Hechtina es un género de foraminífero bentónico de la subfamilia Nubeculinellinae, de la familia Nubeculariidae, de la superfamilia Cornuspiroidea, del suborden Miliolina y del orden Miliolida. Su especie tipo es Hechtina praeantiqua. Su rango cronoestratigráfico abarca desde el Valanginiense hasta el Aptiense (Cretácico inferior).

Discusión
Clasificaciones más recientes incluyen Hechtina en la superfamilia Nubecularioidea.

Clasificación
Hechtina incluye a las siguientes especies:

 Hechtina praeantiqua †
 Hechtina vagiformis †

En Hechtina se ha considerado el siguiente subgénero:
 Hechtina (Listerella), aceptado como género Listerella

Bibliografía

Géneros de Miliolida
Géneros de foraminíferos bentónicos

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Located just 3 1/2 Miles north of San Pedro on the unspoiled, pristine beach front of Ambergris Caye, Belize, Seascape Villas are the most elegant, spacious, luxury vacations villas found in Belize. Our luxury Belize beach villas are available for 3 night stays or longer year round to those with discriminating taste in tropical vacation villas.
Sea Scape's four acre property spans from the Caribbean Sea to the Belize Bay. It is perfectly designed so each villa has breathtaking views of the sunrise over the reef and the sunset over the lagoon, all the while allowing the gentle sea breeze to flow through each unit. The sweeping 365-degree views from the villas will mesmerize you. Designed by an award-winning architect using individually selected materials, each luxury beach villa boasts approximately 3200 square feet of interior space, sunken living rooms with multiple sets of French doors opening to 700 square feet of shaded verandah.
We provide an exceptionally private and enchanting villa rental experience with every comfort of home and luxury amenity imaginable. Your stay in our beautifully decorated beachfront villas is supported by a highly trained and dedicated management team and staff.
You may opt for total privacy, enjoying quality time with your lover, family or friends, sequestering yourselves away for peace and quiet. A family getaway can take on new intimacy with quality time spent together at a villa. Your villa could also be your headquarters for an action and adventure vacation, diving, snorkeling, fishing, parasailing, sailing, or windsurfing. Or it can be the place you spend your entire vacation, basking in the sunshine on the pool deck or swaying in the soft tropical breezes in a hammock under a palm tree.
We can help you plan and reserve any activities for your island vacation – we'll help you customize the perfect vacation with fun activities and island sights and charge your activities to your Villa account. If you are arriving late in the day, or especially if you're traveling with children, please ask to have your villa pre-stocked with groceries of your choice…this service is well worth the nominal fee so you can settle right into your villa and relax. Special villa services such as chefs, massage and spa treatments, nannies, day sails and so on are often sold out weeks in advance; please book well in advance to avoid disappointment.
Go with the island flow.
Once you've arrived at your villa, take your shoes off, sip a cool drink, savor the ocean views, and take a dip in the pool. Move slowly – it's the Caribbean way. Above all, open your eyes to new experiences and your heart to another culture. Let the rhythm of the tropics take over. Don't plan too much; be open to exploration and spontaneity.
Seascape is located 3 1/2 Miles North of San Pedro. Guests need to make reservations on Tropic Air or Maya Island Air from international airport to San Pedro. From there, catch a taxi to water taxi dock and 15-20mins later arrive at Seascape Villas.


text:
Q: Error while installing Wolfram-Engine I'm trying to install wolfram-engine. However I'm facing some error. After executing sudo bash WolframEngine_13.1.0_LINUX.sh I got following:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                Wolfram Engine 13.1 Installer
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copyright (c) 1988-2022 Wolfram Research, Inc. All rights reserved.

WARNING: Wolfram Engine is protected by copyright law and international treaties. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution may result in severe civil and criminal penalties and will be prosecuted to the maximum
extent possible under law.

Enter the installation directory, or press ENTER to select /usr/local/Wolfram/WolframEngine/13.1:
>

The selected directory contains files and/or directories that may be overwritten during installation. If you have any files you wish to keep in this directory, you should exit the installer and move the files to a
separate directory before continuing.

Overwrite directory (y/n)?
> y

Now installing...

[**********************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************]

Type the directory path in which the Wolfram Engine script(s) will be created, or press ENTER to select /usr/local/bin:
>

  (1) Overwrite
  (2) Rename
  (3) Cancel

Type your selection, or press ENTER to select (1):
> 1

NOTE: Unable to determine the package manager used by the system--skipping the install of WolframScript system integration. Installer packages in the RPM and DEB formats have been left in
"/usr/local/Wolfram/WolframEngine/13.1/SystemFiles/Installation". Consult your system documentation on how such packages might be installed.

Installation failed. See /usr/local/Wolfram/WolframEngine/13.1/InstallErrors.

A copy of the previous contents of the directory "/usr/local/Wolfram/WolframEngine/13.1" can be found at "/usr/local/Wolfram/WolframEngine/13.1/BackupDir-216407".

In the .../InstallErrors, There is nothing more than just warning about egrep.
$ cat /usr/local/Wolfram/WolframEngine/13.1/InstallErrors
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
White Supremacist David Duke Banned From Twitter
By RTTNews Staff Writer ✉ | Published: 7/31/2020 10:53 AM ET
Notorious white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke has been banned from Twitter.
The social media giant's spokesperson confirmed that Duke's Twitter account was "permanently suspended" for repeatedly violating its policy against hate speech.
"This enforcement action is in line with our recently-updated guidance on harmful links," Twitter said in a statement.
Twitter Rules on hateful conduct, revised in March, prohibits posts that incite violence or threats of violence against people based on their religion, race or ethnic origin.
Duke was banned from the service temporarily earlier, and from YouTube in June.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) describes Duke as "perhaps America's most well-known racist and anti-Semite".
Duke is a "figure of the American radical right, a neo-Nazi, longtime Klan leader and now international spokesman for Holocaust denial," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Duke, who founded the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s, ran for governor of Louisiana in 1991 and won a majority of the white votes.
Duke, 70, has advocated Neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories like Holocaust denial and Jewish control of academia, the press, and the financial system.
He had endorsed Donald Trump's re-election earlier this month.
Stage Set For Biden's Inauguration
Biden To Scuttle Trump Order To Lift Air Travel Restrictions From Europe, Brazil
US Capital Under Tight Security Ahead Of Biden's Inauguration
Biden Names 5 Deputy Secretaries
U.S. Retail Sales Continue To Slump Amid Spike In Coronavirus Cases
New York Manufacturing Index Unexpectedly Indicates Slower Growth In January
Biden's Relief Proposal To Include $1 Tln In Direct Relief To Households

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


This is the week of t'shuvah, the week between Rosh Hashanah (the new year) and Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement) — the holiest week of the Jewish year. And to celebrate these High Holidays, today on World Music at Madhu's Café, Carter will explore the music of her own heritage.
You'll hear raucous and passionate Klezmer sounds from eastern Europe. You'll hear the sounds of Sefardic Jews from places like Spain, Turkey, and Morocco. You'll hear traditional Jewish liturgical music presented in fresh and surprising ways. And you'll hear some modern Israeli popular music.
So come celebrate the new year with us, in Second Life at Madhu's Café Indien — or, listen in on Radio Riel Main, wherever you are. Hope you will join us — and l'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem — may you be inscribed and sealed for a good year.


text:
W ciszy (oryg. The Quiet) – amerykański thriller z roku 2005 w reżyserii Jamie Babbit.

Obsada
 Elisha Cuthbert jako Nina
 Camilla Belle jako Dot
 Edie Falco jako Olivia Deer
 Martin Donovan jako Paul Deer
 Shawn Ashmore jako Connor
 David Gallagher jako Brian
 Ken Thomas jako Oficer Jim
 Shannon Woodward jako Fiona
 Katy Mixon jako Michelle
 Nick Porter jako Student

Linki zewnętrzne
 Plakat filmu

Amerykańskie dramaty filmowe
Amerykańskie dreszczowce
Amerykańskie filmy z 2005 roku
Amerykańskie filmy o nastolatkach
Filmy wytwórni Sony Pictures Classics


text:
Home Other News Food & Drink Spanish restaurant loses top spot on '50 best restaurants in the world'...
Spanish restaurant loses top spot on '50 best restaurants in the world' list
The list is created by Restaurant magazine every year
14 Jun, 2016 @ 15:32
SECOND: El Celler
A SPANISH eatery has lost its 'Best Restaurant in the World' title to its Italian rival.
Osteria Francescana, based in Modena, Italy, which was runner-up on last year's list, switched the top spot with the 2015 Spanish winner El Celler de Can Roca, based in Girona.
The organisers of the list said of Osteria's chef-owner Massimo Bottura: "The chef's ambitious creations perfectly balance the demands of honoring heritage while embracing modernity."
WINNER: Massimo
They awarded the restaurant first place for its inventive twist on traditional Italian dishes.
It is the first time an Italian restaurant has won the award.
Bottura said: "We did something epic!"
While Spain didn't claim the top spot – hopefully through no fault of the Olive Press editor Jon Clarke's 'Whine and dine' review – it still had the highest amount of restaurants in the top 10.
Other than runner-up El Celler de Can Roca, Mugaritz in San Sebastian nabbed 7th place while Asador Etxebarri based near Bilbao closed out the top 10.
MARBS FAN: Daniel Humm
Third place went to Eleven Madison Park in New York City, whose chef/co-owner recently visited Marbella to attend the star-studded A Cuatro Manos event.
The list is created by Restaurant magazine and has gained in prominence among chefs since it began in 2002, now rivalling the longstanding Michelin guide.
Asador Etxebarri
El Celler de Can Roca
Mugaritz
Previous articleTorrox's new €307,000 breakwater machine a success
Next articleUproar as Spanish headmaster tells Muslim children not to fast during Ramadan
Spain dominates World's Best 50 Restaurants list with three Spanish kitchens in top 10
Spain crowned world's healthiest country due to 'Mediterranean diet'
Brits being probed for connections to violent Italian mafia after 14 arrested on Spain's Costa del Sol
Labour to back remain as it calls for new Brexit referendum
Spain's Government SEIZES former dictator General Franco's €5 million summer palace over its 'fraudulent' sale
Brit, 20, robbed of €400 by 'hugger muggers' in Benidorm on day one of first-ever lads' holiday
Children's SPF 50+ sun cream revealed as ONLY factor 15 but Spain's Ministry of Health says it's 'not a...
World's first electric commuter plane built with 'pioneer' Spanish engineering


text:
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy asks the Department of Defense to cut ties with DJI in favor of domestic drone manufacturers
- May. 30th 2018 1:51 pm ET
Exclusive Feature
On May 7th, Chris Murphy, the Junior Senator from Connecticut had sent a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, expressing his concerns over an additional purchase of 16 DJI drones in addition to the hundreds of DJI's drones already purchased by U.S. government agencies and the Department of Defense. In his letter, Murphy mentions that at least three separate agencies have found that the commercial unmanned aerial systems (UAS) from the Chinese drone manufacturer pose a potential national security threat. He urges the DoD to cut Chinese drone-maker DJI out of its business and suggests that the department works with domestic drone makers instead, even if they may require some assistance. A source close to the matter has indicated that the DoD has stopped using DJI as of May 24th as a result of Murphy's letter.
Prior to Murphy's letter, DJI was already in hot water
On August 2nd of last year, the Chinese drone manufacturer, officially named Da Jiang Innovations Science and Technology Company, first came under attack when the US Army decided to stop using DJI's drones over cybersecurity concerns.
This was followed shortly thereafter by a memo from the Los Angeles office of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement bureau, claiming that ICE officials had "moderate confidence" that the DJI's drones and software are "providing U.S. critical infrastructure and law enforcement data to the Chinese government." The ICE memo states that:
"Much of the information collected includes proprietary and sensitive critical infrastructure data, such as detailed imagery of power control panels, security measures for critical infrastructure sites, or materials used in bridge construction. According to the source of information (SOI), DJI automatically uploads this information into cloud storage systems located in Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, to which the Chinese government most likely has access."
The document also accused DJI of using dumping techniques to increase their market share:
"In 2015, DJI aggressively dropped its prices by as much as 70 percent in less than one year, effectively forcing its main competitors out of the market. Since that time, DJI's biggest competitors, Parrot in France, 3D RoboticsUSPER in the U.S., and Yuneec in China, all stopped production due to their inability to match DJI's prices.19 Using dumping techniques, DJI was able to sell category one UAS in the United States for approximately $900 USD. Comparatively, other group one category UAS with the same level of technology sold for $3,500 USD.20"
Lastly, the memo states the information had come to them from a reliable source of information in the drone industry "with first and secondhand access."
DJI's response to the ICE memo
DJI responded to these claims with a statement saying that the "bulletin is based on clearly false and misleading claims from an unidentified source." The drone maker added that:
"As DJI explained to ICE, the allegations in the bulletin are so profoundly wrong as a factual matter that ICE should consider withdrawing it, or at least correcting its unsupportable assertions. DJI further urged ICE to consider whether the source of the allegations may have had a competitive or improper motive to interfere with DJI's legitimate business by making false allegations about DJI."
Through the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery, DJI had hired Kivu Consulting, Inc. perform an independent investigation into DJI's data security practices to stem the concerns that the drone maker may be using its products to spy for the Chinese government. The summarized findings of the report: "DJI's UAV Data Transmission & Storage" practices, were released in April and Kivu concluded that "users have control over the types of data DJI drones collect, store, and transmit."
We received a copy of the Kivu report and went through it in detail, concluding that it indeed addresses most of the doubts related to "DJI's UAV Data Transmission & Storage" practices. However, this does not mean that the Chinese government would not be able to access DJI's data if they really wanted. Security researcher Kevin Finisterre has already shown us that personal data such as flight logs, visa, and passports from DJI customers was accessible on their servers.
In response to these concerns, DJI has taken action and issued various public statements. The company denies that its drones are capable of performing facial recognition. In the same statement, it claims the company did not sell its drones at a loss in the US market to drive out the competition.
Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy's letter
Today we learn that Junior Senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy had sent a letter on May 7th, to the U.S. Secretary of Defense, James Mattis. Murphy expresses his concern over a recent solicitation, Benning375EMB00073, for 16 additional DJI drones, that was awarded on April 18, 2018. Murphy said that:
"These 16 UAS add to a fleet of hundreds of previously purchased DJI UAS that were in operation prior to the August 2017 memos. Since it appears that Benning375EMB0007 was awarded contrary to the August 2017 directive, I ask that you provide me an update on the DoD policy regarding the use of UAS owned by, or manufactured in, a foreign nation, and whether the DoD still believes DJI UAS pose a security risk. I encourage you to, at a minimum, consider a DoD-wide directive banning the use of UAS owned by or manufactured in a foreign nation until further threat-assessments can be completed.
The Connecticut Senator also points out that other government bodies such as the Departments of Transportation, Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have also issued solicitations for DJI UAS, and he raises the question if the Department of Defense "has any responsibility in alerting other agencies of these potential vulnerabilities?"
Murphy states his concerns about the "deluge of foreign-made military equipment purchased by the Department of Defense," of which DJI's drones are only a small part. The senator is a strong proponent of the Buy American Act and other statutes that require the U.S. government to purchase American-made manufactured goods, saying that:
"If the hundreds of DJI drones purchased by the U.S. government in the last several years had been American-made, we would not have subjected ourselves to this massive potential intrusion and exploitation of sensitive U.S. sites."
The letter ends with Murphy's suggestion to the U.S. Secretary of Defense to:
"Leverage existing resources like the Defense Production Act to bolster our domestic manufacturing capabilities. The burgeoning domestic UAS industry is currently competing with artificially priced foreign products that have been dumped in our domestic market. With some assistance, U.S. manufacturers are ready to fill your Department's needs."
Has DJI indeed been cut out of the DoD business?
Our source informed us that the Department of Defense, in response to Murphy's letter, has indeed "put into effect measures to stop all use and contract use of DJI products." Since Chris Murphy also sits on the Senate Appropriations Committee, responsible for allocating funds to DoD, his concerns carry a lot of weight.
DroneDJ has reached out to the Media department of the DoD to confirm this but has yet to receive an official answer. We will update this post as soon as we hear back from them.
Murphy's letter puts the pressure back on DJI, which surely would have hoped that the Kivu report addressed any remaining government concerns. At the same time, the current state of affairs represents potentially huge opportunity for American Drone manufacturers.
Note: Support DroneDJ by buying your next drone through our site. You can use the following links directly from manufacturers, such as DJI, Parrot, Yuneec or retailers like Amazon, B&H, BestBuy or eBay. Thank you!
Da-Jiang Innovations, better known as DJI, is the world leader in drone technology with about 70% of the market share worldwide. The company is best known for its Mavic and Phantom drones, which brought consumer drones into the mainstream.
Department of Defense (DoD) Connecticut


The Southern NSW Region of the Australian AlpacaAssociation Ltd (SNSWR) caters to alpaca breederssituated in the Southern Highlands just south of Sydney through to the Victorian border.
The Victorian Western Region of the Australian Alpaca Association, commonly known as Alpacas VicWest, stretches from the South Australian border across to Melbourne, and from Horsham and Ballarat in the north to the southern coast.
02/07/12 - Formed in the early 1970's, the Australian Warmblood Horse Association Ltd (AWHA) is a non-profit body that works for the benefit of Warmblood horses.
02/07/12 - Established in 1972, the Australian Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) is involved in preserving quarter horses and working in the interests of its members, of which there are 6,000.
29/06/12 - In 2003 the Lusitano Horse Association of Australasia (LHAA) was formed with the intent of catering to Lusitana horses and horse breeders in Australia and New Zealand.
28/06/12 - The Percheron Horse Breeders Association of Australia Inc is a national body responsible for representing Percheron horse breeders along with registering and promoting the Percheron breed.
03/07/08 - All State Agricultural Service offers various training courses related to the cattle industry.


text:
Why I Don't Think Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah Is the Author of the Akhbar al-zaman
For the past week or so, I've been working on an interesting project that turned out to be much larger than I intended it to be. One of the unsolved questions surrounding the compendium of medieval legends about Egypt known variously as the Akhbar al-zaman (History of Time) and the Digest of Wonders is the question of who wrote it. The manuscripts of the book give two different authors with no great certainty that either is the actual author. The first attribution is to al-Mas'udi, an early medieval historian who wrote a book called the Akhbar al-zaman, but which appears to have had almost completely different content. The second is Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah, also known as al-Wasifi or in the West as Alguazif, about whom almost nothing is known except that he lived two centuries too late to have written the book that otherwise passes under his name. The situation has not changed since Baron Bernard Carra de Vaux translated the Akhbar al-zaman into French in 1898 and found himself unable to name an author:
From all of this, it follows that the two best-founded assumptions about the origin of our book are that which would attribute it to al-Mas'ūdī and that which would attribute it to Ibrāhīm ibn Waṣīf Shāh al-Ustād. The first has going for it manuscript A—with the proviso that the work cannot be the famous Historical Annals, which are a much more important work and of a much more serious character—the manuscript M, the two best, a pseudonym on manuscript C, and small quotations. The second has going for it the long quotations of al-Maqrīzī, some similar quotations in other authors such as Abu'l-Maḥāsin, and the manuscripts B and N, if one wishes to recognize Ibrāhīm ibn Waṣīf Shāh al-Ustād in the simple words al-Ustād and Ibrahim. (my trans.)
Carra de Vaux noted the equally unpleasant facts against both authors, that al-Mas'udi never wrote anything like it, and evinced no knowledge before or after of its stories, and that ibn Wasif Shah lived too late to have been the first author of the book. Nevertheless, later historians, including al-Qifti, Qalqashand, and above all al-Maqrizi, cite the stories found in the Akhbar al-zaman as the work of ibn Wasif Shah. I agree with Carra de Vaux that "Al-Maqrīzī was able to find in Ibn Waṣīf Shāh what he, in turn, had already found and taken from another." As Mark Pettigrew reported in 2004, the current consensus view among the (very) small number of people who have ever thought about or considered this is that the first half of the Akhbar al-zaman is derived from al-Mas'udi, but revised and abridged by another hand, while the second half is the work of ibn Wasif Shah. I don't quite agree with that.
I base my view on the project I foolishly undertook to read and translate the fragments of ibn Wasif Shah found primarily in al-Maqrizi. I say foolish because I didn't expect them to total more than 30,000 words—about two-thirds of the Egyptian section of the Akhbar al-zaman, which they reproduce verbatim about 95% of the time. What surprised me the most was the differences—and it is surprising that I could not find scholars who addressed these variations.
First, though, a disclaimer: As I have mentioned many times, I can't read Arabic, so the texts I have read are French translations. Therefore, there is always the possibility that some of the differences are due to the choices made by Carra de Vaux in translating the Akhbar al-zaman and U. Bouriant in translating al-Maqrizi's Al-Khitat. Indeed, at times Bouriant expressed doubt over some of ibn Wasif Shah's quoted words, providing them in transliteration rather than translation, which even I, who cannot read Arabic, still recognized as specialized Hermetic and alchemical terminology later adopted by Western occultists. Therefore, some differences might be due to translation issues rather than differences in the Arabic.
But where it was clear that the differences were in the underlying text and not the translation, they were both strange and telling. In every case where they differ, Ibn Wasif Shah has the inferior reading, with jumbled lines, mixed-up names, and garbled stories. It is, in short, a fairly bad copy. Look here at how a surveyor named Marhun building towers for King Sa becomes something very different. The Akhbar is on the left and the quoted text of ibn Wasif Shah is on the right:
Marhūn, the surveyor, oversaw his constructions. He built towers for Ṣā at intervals along the coast of the sea, to the limits of Libya and to Marāqīah; and he placed on top of these towers mirrors composed of various substances.
According to Marhūn the Indian, governor of Banah, he built towers along the sea from the border of the land of Ṣā to that of Libya and Marāqīah; on these towers were placed mirrors made of various amalgamated materials.
"Banah" is a Hebrew term for construction. A "governor of Banah" is quite transparently a mistake for "overseer of constructions." Whose fault that is—ibn Wasif Shah's, al-Maqrizi's, or Bouriant's, I cannot say.
Al-Maqrizi is known for the fidelity of his quotations and the care he took in copying his sources—evidence in citations of works that still exist to check against his quotations—so it seems unlikely that he is the source of the differences. Therefore, it appears that ibn Wasif Shah was himself the censor who cut out of the stories Enochian and Hermetic material, removed references to Abu Ma'shar's astrological works, and stripped out Greek astrological terminology in favor of Arabic.
For example, "Abd Kronos" becomes "'Abd Zahil," subbing in the Arabic name of Saturn for the Greek. Some of the (fake) names of the Pharaohs, too, have been altered from transliterated Greek to a more Semitic form, though this might be more of an issue with the translators' choice of rendering Arabic consonants. Most strange of all is that ibn Wasif Shah has removed references to magical lighthouses and replaced them with towers and boundary markers, even where the story requires a lighthouse to make sense.
Consider the difference right at the beginning of the second half of the Akhbar al-zaman, the half dealing with Egypt. The Akhbar is on the left and the quoted text of ibn Wasif Shah is on the right:
The first to reign in Egypt before the Flood was Naqrāūs. After the sons of Adam had committed injustice against each other, they gave themselves over to battle, and hegemony landed in the hands of the sons of Cain, the son of Adam. Then Naqrāūs the Giant, the son of Miṣraīm, the son of Marākil, the son of Dāwil, the son of 'Arbāq, the son of Adam, along with seventy horsemen and some of the descendants of 'Arbāq, all giants, sought a place to live apart from other men. This company walked until they had reached the Nile, and then they walked along the river and, having seen the extent of the country and its admirable beauty, they said: "This is a country with crops and fruits," and they made their home there. This is the race that built the tallest buildings and most magnificent monuments.
Naqrāūs built Miṣr, and called this city by the name of his father Miṣraīm in order to receive his blessing. Naqrāūs was a giant, endowed with great courage and prodigious strength. Besides this, he was learned; he was the master of the race of djinn. He ruled over the sons of his father and his authority grew continuously. He collected the science that the angel Darābīl had taught to Adam, and by these means he kept under his yoke the giants, his companions; these are the princes who built monuments, erected high towers, and executed the wonderful works; who produced talismans, exploited the mines, and tamed the kings of the earth all around them. Nobody could do anything to oppose them, for all perfect science was in the possession of the Egyptians. Their secrets are engraved on stones. They say Philemon, who went with Noah into the ark, is the one who wrote their inscriptions and who composed their books.
Master Ibrāhīm ibn Waṣīf Shāh the writer, in his book titled Stories and Wonders of Egypt, reports that the city of Masr bore in ancient times the name of Amsūs, and that the first king of Egypt was Naqrāūsh [= Naqrāūs] the Mighty, son of Miṣraīm. Naqrāūsh means "king of his people." This Naqrāūsh, son of Miṣraīm the Elder, son of Mūrqaīl, son of Dūaī, son of Arīab, son of Adam, departed with seventy and some valiant horsemen from the Benu 'Ariab seeking a country to flee from the sons of their father, for at that time they were jealous and opposed each other, and the Benu 'Ariab were molested by the Benu Qabil. The Benu 'Ariab stopped their march only at the Nile, and marveling at the beauty and extent of the country, they settled there and built admirable buildings there.
Naqrāūsh raised the city of Masr to which he gave the name of his father Miṣraīm; then he abandoned it and had it built for a second time, which he called Amsūs. This prince, according to what Ibn Waṣīf Shāh says, knew some of the sciences which Dūai [= Dāwil] had learned from Adam; he built towers, erected stelae, built palaces, extracted metals from the earth, constructed talismans, dug canals, and founded towns; all the high sciences possessed by the Egyptians came to them from Naqrāūsh and his companions. These sciences were represented on stone, and they were explained much later by the priest Qlimūn [= Philemon] who accompanied Noah in the ark.
Aside from the inferiority of ibn Wasif Shah's text, there are some key differences. First, he has removed all reference to Giants. And this isn't the only time. In every case where the Akhbar speaks of the Nephilim, he has stripped it out and replaced it with some generic term like "mighty" or "powerful," even when the context requires great height. He has also removed the angel Darabil and replaced him with Dawil, a legendary king of Babel, either intentionally rationalizing the story or else garbling it. He also has greatly reduced the lifespan of Philemon, who in the Akhbar lives from the dawn of Egypt until after the Flood, but here is a mere interpreter of knowledge in the time right before and after the Flood.
Once you notice the differences, it starts to become obvious that the quotations al-Maqrizi provides come from a redacted and censored text, one that has been copied somewhat inaccurately from the Akhbar al-zaman or a text very much like it but revised to suit the author's point of view, which, to judge by the surviving fragments, was much less open to Enochian and Hermetic material and, within the confines of medieval imagination, attempted to be more historical and focused on the human.
The alternative, which can't entirely be ruled out, is that the Akhbar is a revision of a lost original that purposely added Hermetic and Enochian material, while ibn Wasif Shah preserved something closer to the original. I think that the fact that Murtada ibn al-Afif, who wrote almost at the same time as ibn Wasif Shah is presumed to have written, knows the same versions of the stories as the Akhbar and follows it where it differs from ibn Wasif Shah suggests that this alternative is less likely.
What it all means, I can't really say. It's interesting, especially since the Akhbar itself is believed to be a rebuttal to Mesopotamian Hermetic writers by recontextualizing stories of Hermes, the Flood, and astrology in an Egypt-centered context. Ibn Wasif Shah's version, which is not the same, looks to be another step down the process of cutting occult material out of the narrative.
Dale the Whale
A horse is a horse, of course of course, and no one can talk to a horse, of course.
This is an interesting example of how belief and non-belief can shape a writer's depiction of history. When we try today to figure out what is real history and what isn't, it becomes difficult when faced with two very different tellings of an event: one version clearly influenced by religious belief, and the other by someone who was clearly a non-believer.
(P.S. I previously posted as "Bill," but someone afterwards used the same name, so I'm going by "Bill B" now to distinguish myself.)
that was me. sorry
Your usual great work on a very obscure topic.
My guess is that as you proceed you will find fragments more "classical" works, perhaps Manetho, perhaps "astrological".
The problems with relying on translations of fragments of copies of copies is not only in trying to extract an accurate picture of what the writer was saying and ascertaining the true authorship but also trying to glean any historical accuracy and sift between fact, fiction, and forgery. I don't envy your task.
Especially when dealing with mumbo-jumbo


text:
Ruby Tuesday Matthews poses completely naked to show off her growing baby bump
Ruby Tuesday Matthews was glowing as she showed off her baby bump in a nude photo on Monday.
The influencer, 27, wrapped herself in one of her children's brown, hooded towels which barely covered her chest.
She let her natural beauty shine through as she went make-up free, partially covering her face with her hand.
Ruby Tuesday Matthews was glowing as she showed off her baby bump in a nude photo on Monday
'I'm just wondering who didn't put the load of towels on to wash?! Then realizing it's my job and we all must use toddler towels,' she captioned the photo on Instagram.
It comes as Ruby recently revealed her pregnancy struggles after disappearing from Instagram.
She gave fans an update on her journey in June as she prepared to become a mother of three, admitting her latest pregnancy is the 'hardest' one so far.
Byron Bay-based influencer Ruby Tuesday Matthews revealed on Thursday her latest pregnancy has been her 'hardest'
'Hey, guys, it's me. I know it's been a while and thank you all for hanging in there,' she wrote on Instagram, alongside a mirror selfie.
'I know my content may not be flowing at the moment, but to be honest this pregnancy has been by far the hardest,' she added.
Ruby said she'd been suffering with anxiety and had been 'feeling pretty blue at times'.
Ruby's post was flooded with supportive comments from fans and followers, with many saying they related to her struggles
She also experienced hyperemesis gravidarum, or severe nausea and vomiting, 'for the first 19 weeks' of her pregnancy.
'She still likes to raise her head occasionally, the b***h,' Ruby said.
'I honestly feel like I've lost a piece of myself this pregnancy,' she continued. 'Maybe I have and maybe it's being passed on to my daughter so she can be extra fiery, driven and a true force to be reckoned with – pray for me.'
Ruby said she'd been suffering with anxiety and had been 'feeling pretty blue at times'
'Anyway I thought I'd get that off my chest. I hope anyone else going through the same situation doesn't feel so alone,' she concluded.
I'm definitely not your textbook, glowing rainbow mama-to-be. I hardly recognize myself anymore. But I really do know one thing: it will be worth it.'
Ruby's post was flooded with supportive comments from fans and followers, with many saying they related to her struggles.
She is expecting a baby girl with her fiancé Shannan Dodd and also shares sons Rocket and Mars with her ex-partner Ryan Heywood.
Matthews is expecting her third child, a baby girl, with fiancé Shannan Dodd (left)
Source: | dailymail.co.uk
Ruby Tuesday Matthews was glowing as she showed off her baby bump in a nude photo on Monday. The influencer, 27, wrapped herself in one of her children's brown, hooded towels which barely covered her chest. She let her natural beauty shine through as she went make-up free, partially covering her face with her hand.…
Four Cruise Lines to Drop COVID Vaccination Requirements
Why COPD Is Often Worse in Women Than Men


TimoCom, the European transport platform, is known for more than just efficiently combining freight and vehicle space; it also simplifies innovative networks and digital operations. Militzer & Münch, an international logistics service provider, also makes use of these benefits.
Logistics service providers Militzer & Münch have been working together with TimoCom, Europe's largest transport platform, for more than 10 years. "With TimoCom, we have a trustworthy partner at our side to help us with our daily work in road transport", explains Tom Rosman, CEO of M&M Militzer & Münch GmbH. For example, their own transport management system has just been connected with the transport platform thanks to the TimoCom TC Connect interface, so that bids are now automatically transferred to the freight exchange.
Rosman continued: "Even in the short time after we integrated our dispatch software, we have noticed it does more than save us time, it also simplifies our work processes. Another optimisation is the up and download function for documents on the transport platform. We encourage all our partners to upload the documents used the most, so that we always have them when we need them. This saves us quite a few work steps, and paves the way for a more digital, and especially paperless work process. Every single one of our locations practices conscientious use of resources."
Networks beyond borders The logistics service provider, with headquarters in St. Gallen, has approximately 2000 employees in around 100 company-owned locations across 30 countries. In addition to their own locations, the gigantic Militzer & Münch network also features their preferred partners, which the company uses when assigning jobs. It is a place where a lot of languages and cultures meet. To bring them all together, TimoCom created a closed user group exclusively for the company; assigning jobs and exchanging information is now managed without an issue. It is a simple principle: group members enter their offers, which at first are only available to Militzer & Münch locations. Once a set period of time has passed, these offers also become visible for the preferred partners' network. Militzer & Münch can thus create their own international company network on the TimoCom platform, connecting worlds.
TimoCom Soft- und Hardware GmbH is an IT-specialist, specialised in development and connection of applications for the transport industry. The company runs Europe's largest transport platform. On the TimoCom platform, up to half a million international freight and vehicle offers are entered daily. There are more than 36,000 verified companies in the logistics network. www.timocom.co.uk.
The M&M Militzer & Münch group employs around 2000 employees at 100 locations in around 30 countries. Strategic partnerships in many additional countries expand the close-knit network. Militzer & Münch offers global air and shipping services as well as road and rail led inland traffic, and also project logistics for on the East-West axis in Eurasia and North Africa. The company is active with a close-knit network of locations in Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States, in the Middle and Far East, as well as in the Maghreb countries. The company, founded in 1880, has their headquarters in St. Gallen (Switzerland).


Butch Romey quote: "It's going to take a day to see all these cars."
It's going to take a day to see all these cars.
COLSON WHITEHEAD How lucky I am to have known somebody and something that saying goodbye to is so damned awful.
WILLIAM STAFFORD I will never forget the vision of Jamie walking towards me.
PATRICIA BERTHET But it was better to know of it than to see it in its daily monotony.
BUTCH ROMEY That '50 Mercury is a pro-built car. To have that kind of talent in the Black Hills is just amazing.
BUTCH ROMEY If anybody backs out for any reason, we've got cars waiting to fill those spots.
NICHOLAS SPARKS We want customers to be able to come, see, feel that these are different cars.
KATSUAKI WATANABE Why, if its going to be allright, do we see it getting worse every day?
CHRIS CARSON I will love myself despite the ease with which I lean toward the opposite.
JEFF PORTER Take these broken wings and learn to fly.
ANDREW TO They're going to have to work day and night to write all these laws.
ALI DABBAGH Eventually, all cars are going to be autonomous.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT If we see an opportunity in the software/hardware seam, we're going to take it.
STEVE BALLMER So this is going to be drill!?
BILLY GRAHAM Andre Dawson has a bruised knee and is listed as day-to-day. Aren't we all?
VIN SCULLY Atticus---" ...said Jem bleakly. "How could they do it, how could they?"
TESSA DARE Some of these people, we're the only person they'll see all day or all week.
LEWIS N. ROE We are born different to make a difference.
LISA R. REYNOLDS Oh my God, you ought to see it, ... Cars are lined up all down the street.
ERIC WHITAKER We've got to see a state where the Afghan government can handle its own day-to-day security.
STEPHEN HARPER I don't mind doing this at all. These kids keep the game going. One day, they will take over for us.
JOSH PARRY Our grand openings are stacked all day long with cars. It definitely creates a big buzz.
CRAIG WILLIAMS Our grand openings are stacked all day long with cars. It definitely creates a big buzz.
DAVE MORRIS Its going to take time for it to catch on.
DALE MOSER I was working hard to stay ahead of Hamish. It is a real pleasure to see these cars run in anger.
RICHARD CHILDRESS You never know which Elle you're going to see day to day, because I wake up in different moods.
JOHN MORGAN My life is not mine - it is for my people – the humans – the humans of the thinking society.
MARK WAGGONER If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend.
BHARATH RAO KADAM To love beauty is to see light.
BILL ENGVALL Butch came in the last two innings and we saw the old Butch.
ERIC GUTIERREZ We keep things piled up inside, even the harshest response seems appropriate.
GARY F EVANS... You're going to have to find out where you want to go. And then you've got to start going there.
BUTCH ROMEY Blues Traveler is hot, and Big Head Todd, the Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies - all of 'em.
BUTCH SPYRIDON That's were we are taken aback.


text:
alias reload="source ~/.bash_profile"
alias _="sudo"
alias g="git"
alias rmf="rm -rf"

alias aliases="alias | sed 's/=.*//'"
alias functions="declare -f | grep '^[a-z].* ()' | sed 's/{$//'"
alias paths='echo -e ${PATH//:/\\n'

alias ..="cd .."
alias ...="cd ../.."
alias ....="cd ../../.."
alias cd.='cd $(readlink -f .)'

alias vi=vim
check_cmd nvim | alias vi=nvim
check_cmd tmuxinator | alias mux=tmuxinator

alias ll="ls -lA"
if check_cmd exa; then
  alias ls=exa
  alias ll="exa -la"
  alias lt="exa --long --tree"
fi

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Haskell SDL2 accessing GLContext Ptr I am trying to access the Ptr value in a GLContext provided by SDL2 library. Here is the function to get a GLContext: http://hackage.haskell.org/package/sdl2-2.5.0.0/docs/SDL-Video-OpenGL.html#v:glCreateContext
How do I get access to the Ptr inside?
import qualified SDL                as SDL
import qualified SDL.Internal.Types as SDL

main :: IO ()
main = do
  SDL.initializeAll
  window @ (SDL.Window wp) <- SDL.createWindow "My SDL Application" SDL.defaultWindow
  context @ (SDL.GLContext gl) <- SDL.glCreateContext window
  putStrLn $ show wp

But the error I get is:
Not in scope: data constructor 'SDL.GLContext'
Neither 'SDL' nor 'SDL.Internal.Types' exports '
   |
15 |   context @ (SDL.GLContext gl) <- SDL.glCreateContext window

The constructor appears to be exported. What am I doing wrong?

A: I ended up figuring it out. I can use the Raw.Video module which has a glCreateContext function that returns the type I need.


MayaBerry Jessicalady jasmin. HugeGuy. KarenAndFloyd. MennyGold.
InkedLilaNeedUUrAsianDiamondRosssallliejayrhugecock .MarmeidHellenBurnXTheTinyPrincessjayrhugecock .MonicaSweetPusyAbellaWhiteluizawhiteGirlDancer .NatashaXCharlotexBIGCOCKSERVICExrippedmuscleNatashaXCharlote .beme956baihsot30YanaShineAdeleSaunders .CLARICCEKendallEvansCurvySeductionNewGuyBigCOCK .DeborahrockSashaBarkerExoticFlavorcoolCherry253 .MonsterCocksTsNaugthyFASTcumXNatashaJadeADirttySlub .DafneeRosssalllieNordickVeneraDelicateMia .alexxxesEvaSmit2hotgirlmancumNordickVenera .AdamDiamondbaihsot30AdeleSaundersDarKali666 .
LovelyDarvinNickStelboneHellenBurnXDianaNCarlos .CristhoperFlynnAlmostFamousXCrazynymphoy04MyhornyBear25 .DianaNCarlosMyhornyBear25GiseleGoldSashaBarker .DanteHugeCockbeme956AllexyaHotKarenAndFloyd .AliciaTastyHugeGuyMonicaSweetPusyLICYQUIQUE .CristhoperFlynnbadangel1LovellyMariaSweetLatti4U .InkedLilaNeedUWantedsarahsDanteHugeCockInkedLilaNeedU .AbellaWhiteEvaSmitStsiyaGoldCristhoperFlynn .Crazynymphoy04UrAsianDiamondMonicaSweetPusyKarenAndFloyd .BEBITASLATINSGirlDancerLeila4LuvNikkieNox .TsAsianServicexxUrAsianDiamondRitarusalkaCLARICCE .


I will be brief. It is 2AM and only 4 hours away of our wake up call. And, just in case you haven't been here before, I am NOT a morning person so it won't be easy to wake up. At all.
Anyway, here is my particular chronicle of these two first days at TBCAsia – the first Travel Bloggers Conference in Asia! – which is being held in Sri Lanka at the moment. Lucky me, I got to come 2 weeks in advance and explore a bit of the West and South coasts as well as the central part of the island on my own. But finally yesterday that changed, and since then, I am moving around with other 50 international travel bloggers. FUN!
Based in Habarana, we have been exploring the area for the last day and a half. Have a look at my highlights of the North Central Province.
Witnessing 'The Gathering' at Kaudulla National Park, where wild elephants socialize daily metres away from your safari jeep.
Going all the way to the top of Sigiriya Rock Fortress. Well worth climbing more than one thousand steps!
Enjoying sunset at Polonnaruwa, the royal ancient city of Polonnaru District, among picture perfect landscapes and Unesco's World Heritage monuments.
Inma Gregorio was hosted by Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts and SriLankan Airlines in partnership with the Professional Travel Bloggers Association for TBCasia – Asia's First Ever Travel Bloggers Conference 2014 in Sri Lanka.


text:
SHOSHONE MOUNTAIN RANGE
Berlin-Ichthyosaur State Park encompasses 1,540 acres. The elevation ranges from 6,840 feet to a high point of 7,880 feet. The hillsides in the park are covered with big sagebrush, while pinyon pine and Utah juniper dominate the upper elevations.
Common animal inhabitants include mule deer, black-tailed jackrabbits, cottontails, western bluebirds, pinyon jays, chukar partridge, whiptail lizards, western fence lizards, gophers and snakes.
Nestled at 7,000 feet on the western slope of central Nevada's Shoshone mountain range, the park provides an array of stimulating recreational opportunities. The forested slopes provide shade, and breezes help to moderate the summer temperatures which seldom exceed 90˚F. Late spring and early fall can often be the nicest times of the year. Winter visits to the park are possible, but call for weather and road conditions before visiting.
PHYLLOCERAS OF JAPAN
Phylloceras consanguineum (Gemmellaro 1876) a fast-moving carnivorous ammonite from Late Jurassic (Middle Oxfordian) deposits near Sokoja, Madagasgar, off the southeast coast of Africa. (22.8° S, 44.4° E: 28.5° S, 18.2° E)
This classical Tethyan Mediterranean specimen is very well preserved, showing much of his delicate suturing in intricate detail. Phylloceras were primitive ammonites with involute, laterally flattened shells.
They were smooth, with very little ornamentation, which led researchers to think of them resembling plant leaves and gave rise to their name, which means "leaf-horn."
They can be found in three regions that I know of. In the Jurassic of Italy near western Sicily's Rosso Ammonitico Formation, Lower Kimmeridgian fossiliferous beds of Monte Inici East and Castello Inici (38.0° N, 12.9° E: 26.7° N, 15.4° E) and in the Armine area, southeastern Toyama Prefecture, northern central Japan, roughly (36.5° N, 137.5° E: 43.6° N, 140.6° E).
OUR CARIBOO MOUNTAINS
We soak up the breathtaking views after a long morning's paddle. The east and south sides of our route are bound by the imposing white peaks of the Cariboo Mountains, the northern boundary of the Interior wet belt, rising up across the Rocky Mountain Trench, and the Isaac Formation, the oldest of seven formations that make up the Cariboo Group.
Some 270 million-plus years ago, had one wanted to buy waterfront property in what is now British Columbia, you'd be looking somewhere between Prince George and the Alberta border. The rest of the province had yet to arrive but would be made up of over twenty major terranes from around the Pacific. The rock that would eventually become the Cariboo Mountains and form the lakes and valleys of Bowron was far out in the Pacific Ocean, down near the equator.
With tectonic shifting, these rocks drifted north-eastward, riding their continental plate, until they collided with and joined the Cordillera in what is now British Columbia. Continued pressure and volcanic activity helped create the tremendous slopes of the Cariboo Range we see today with repeated bouts of glaciation during the Pleistocene carving their final shape. Warm and dry with bellies filled full of soup and crisps, we head back out to explore more of nature's bounty.
HOLCOPHYLLOCERAS OF MADAGASCAR
There is tremendously robust suturing on this lovely ammonite, Holcophylloceras mediterraneum, (Neumayr 1871) from Late Jurassic (Oxfordian) deposits near Sokoja, Madagasgar. Madagascar is a treasure trove of outstanding fossil species and this ammonite is no exception.
The shells had many chambers divided by walls called septa. The chambers were connected by a tube called a siphuncle which allowed for the control of buoyancy with the hollow inner chambers of the shell acting as air tanks to help them float.
We can see the edges of this specimen's shell where it would have continued out to the last chamber, the body chamber, where the ammonite lived. Picture a squid or octopus, now add a shell and a ton of water.
EOCENE INSECTS OF PRINCETON
March Flies are hardy, medium-sized flies in the Order Diptera, with a body length ranging from 4.0 to 10.0 mm. This species is one of the most satisfying fossils to collect in the Eocene deposits of Princeton, British Columbia.
The body is black, brown, or rusty, and thickset, with thick legs. The antennae are moniliform. The front tibiae bear large strong spurs or a circlet of spines. The tarsi are five-segmented and bear tarsal claws, pulvilli, and a well-developed empodium. As it is with many species, these guys included, the teens of this species are troublesome but the adults turn out alright. As larvae, Bibionidae is an agricultural pest, devouring all those tasty young seedlings you've just planted.
Then, as they mature their tastes turn to the nectar of flowers from fruit trees and la voila, they become your best friends again. With their physical and behavioural transformation complete, Bibionidae becomes a welcome garden visitor, pulling their weight in the ecosystems they live in by being important pollinators.
In 1788, this magnificent specimen of a Megatherium sloth was sent to the Royal Cabinet of Natural History from the Viceroyalty of Rio de la Plata.
The megaterios were large terrestrial sloths belonging to the group, Xenarthra. These herbivores inhabited large areas of land on the American continent. Their powerful skeleton enabled them to stand on their hind legs to reach leaves high in the trees, a huge advantage given the calories needed to be consumed each day to maintain their large size.
Avocados were one of the food preferences of our dear Giant ground sloths. They ate then pooped them out, spreading the pits far and wide. The next time you enjoy avocado toast, thank this large beastie. One of his ancestors may have had a hand (or butt) in your meal.
In 1788, Bru assembled the skeleton as you see it here. It is exhibited at the Museo Nacional De Ciencias Naturales in Madrid, Spain, in its original configuration for historic value. If you look closely, you'll see it is not anatomically correct. But all good paleontology is teamwork. Based upon the drawings of Juan Bautista Bru, George Cuvier used this specimen to describe the species for the very first time.
MIDDLE TRIASSIC AMMONOID & BELEMNITE
A beautiful plate with a lovely example of the Middle Triassic ammonoid and belemnite from Fossil Hill in the Humboldt Mountains of Nevada. This locality is perhaps the most famous and important locality for the Middle Triassic (Anisian/Ladinian) of North America.
This was the site of the 1905 Expedition of the University of California's Department of Geology in Berkeley funded by the beautiful and bold, Annie Alexander, the women to whom the UCMP owes both its collection and existence. J. P. Smith joined the expedition, though he was interested in the invertebrate fauna, not the mighty marine reptiles that helped get the project funded.
J.P. Smith published on the marine fauna in the early 1900s. They formed the basis for his monograph on North American Middle Triassic marine invertebrate fauna published in 1914.
N. J. Siberling from the US Geological Survey published on these outcrops in 1962. His work included nearly a dozen successive ammonite faunas, many of which were variants on previously described species. Evidently, his collections consisted mainly of weathered material and were made without stratigraphic control because he believed that most, if not all, of these species, were coexistent. The fossiliferous beds found here, as well as localities in north-western Nevada, were designated the 'Daonella dubia' zone. Dubious would be closer to the truth. Smith joined the 1905 Expedition of the University of California's Department of Geology in Berkeley funded by the beautiful and bold, Annie Alexander, the women to whom the UCMP owes both its collection and existence.
AN ANCIENT MARINE LINEAGE
Life on Earth began in the oceans more than 3.5 billion years ago. That means that all of us, all of our homo sapien sapien brethren and every living thing on the planet is a descendant of a marine organism.
Knowing that we share an ancient history with every living species is rather humbling. While we diverged early on from cats, dogs, frogs and birds, we share a history and proud lineage with all the vertebrates alive today.
I was up hunting for trilobites near Cranbrook and came across a graptolite. It looked like a wee pen mark on a bit of rock. It too is one of our relatives and one of the earliest. So how did vertebrates go from worm-like marine animals like Metaspriggina, to the modern diversity of forms?
CONLINOCERAS TARRANTENSE
Previously Calycoceras Tarrantense, this ammonite is now called Conlinoceras tarrantense after J.P. Conlin, a famous early 20th century Texas fossil collector.
Ammonite expert Bill Cobban used this collection to describe many Texas Cretaceous ammonites species including this species from Tarrant County, Arlington, Texas.
He was a surveyor by training and kept incredibly detailed notes on the context of his fossils.
Conlin donated his collection to the USGS and we've learned much by studying it along with other specimens from the Lone Star State. Almost a quarter of Texas is covered by Cretaceous strata, much of it fossiliferous. If we stepped back 95 million years, the world and what we now call Texas, was a very different place.
95 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous, a shallow seaway separated North America into separate eastern and western landmasses. We have a pretty complete picture in the fossil record of the western groups of species but relatively little in comparison for their cohorts in the east.
At the time this fellow was swimming our ancient seas, he was sharing the Earth with carnivorous dinosaurs, duck-billed dinosaurs, mammals, crocodilians, turtles, a variety of amphibians, prehistoric bony fish, oddly prolific sea cucumbers, various invertebrates and plants. Many of these sites are just being written up now and contain new species just being discovered.
During the Late Cretaceous Period, a shallow seaway separated North America into separate eastern and western landmasses. The Woodbine Formation in Texas preserves a rare fossil record of this time for the east, but many of these fossils are isolated and incomplete, making interpretations more difficult. Preliminary excavations at the AAS are providing hints at a more complete ecosystem, preserving similar patterns of change to what we see in the west.
The AAS contains an extraordinary diversity, abundance, and quality of fossil material, preserving one of the most complete terrestrial ecosystems known for this time period and area.
The AAS has a lot to tell us about Late Cretaceous life in the east. Over 2200 individual specimens have been found belonging to numerous groups including carnivorous dinosaurs, duck-billed dinosaurs, crocodilians, turtles, mammals, amphibians, sharks, bony fish, invertebrates, and plants.
Many of the fossils found here represent brand new species and studying these fossils will help to establish the geographic and environmental forces that shaped Cretaceous ecosystems in North America by providing a necessary comparison to the fossil record of the west.
CRETACEOUS NAUTILUS OF MEXICO
A picture-perfect Campanian nautilus, Eutrophoceras irritilansis,
who lived during the Upper Cretaceous (late Campanian) near the town of Porvenir de Jalpa (about 64 km / 40 miles west of Saltillo) in what is now southern Coahuila (formerly Coahuila de Zaragoza), northern Mexico. Collection of Jose Ventura.
FERGUSON HILL, NEVADA
Ferguson Hill contains the most complete macrofossil record spanning the Triassic-Jurassic boundary in North America. The ammonoids from the uppermost Triassic can be traced to the boundary and the earliest ammonites (Psiloceratids) can be seen right at the base of the Jurassic (Hettangian).
It was in contention for the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) defining the base of the Jurassic System, Lower Jurassic Series and Hettangian Stage. However, in 2008, the Kuhjoch (Karwendel Mountains, Northern Calcareous Alps, Tyrol, Austria) was chosen over Ferguson Hill mainly because the beds containing the oldest Psiloceras (P. spelae spelae) were better preserved and contained Hettangian microfossils.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN COUGAR
Cougars are meat-eating mammals (primarily dining on deer) who boast being the most widely distributed land mammal in the Western Hemisphere. They are impressive athletes, able to leap 18 feet or more straight upward from a sitting position.
They lead solitary lives and are excellent at avoiding humans for the most part. Cougars have a massive range that runs from the mountainous Canadian Rockies in northwestern Canada all the way down to Patagonia in South America. These cats make their dens in mountain graggs, along rocky ledges, in dense woodland areas and under uprooted trees and debris.
FOSSIL RELIC: AMIIFORMES
This well-preserved fossil fish skull is from Calamopleurus (Agassiz, 1841), an extinct genus of bony fishes related to the heavily armoured ray-finned gars.
They are fossil relics, the sole surviving species of the order Amiiformes. Although bowfins are highly evolved, they are often referred to as primitive fishes and living fossils as they retain many of the morphologic characteristics of their ancestors.
This specimen was found in Lower Cretaceous outcrops of the Santana Formation in the Araripe Basin UNESCO Global Geopark of northeastern Brazil. Collection of David Murphy
NOTOCHORDS: CHORDATES TO CALAMARI
You and I are vertebrates, we have backbones. Having a backbone or spinal column is what sets apart you, me and almost 70,000 species on this big blue planet.
So which lucky ducks evolved one? Well, ducks for one. Warm-blooded birds and mammals cheerfully claim those bragging rights. They're joined by our cold-blooded, ectothermic friends, the fish, amphibians and reptiles. All these diverse lovelies share this characteristic.
And whether they now live at sea or on land, all of these lineages evolved from a marine organism somewhere down the line, then went on to develop a notochord and spinal column. Notochords are flexible rods that run down the length of chordates and vertebrates. They are handy adaptations for muscle attachment, helping with signalling and coordinating the development of the embryonic stage. The cells from the notochord play a key role in the development of the central nervous system and the formation of motor neurons and sensory cells. Alas, we often take our evolution for granted.
Let's take a moment to appreciate just how marvellous this evolutionary gift is and what it allows us to do. Your backbone gives your body structure, holds up that heavy skull of yours and connects your tasty brain to your body and organs. Eating, walking, fishing, hunting, your morning yoga class, are all made possible because of this adaptation. Pick pretty near anything you love to do and it is only possible because of your blessed spine.
And it sets us apart from our invertebrate friends.
While seventy thousand may seem like a large number, it represents less than three to five percent of all described animal species. The rest is made up of the whopping 97%'ers, our dear invertebrates who include the arthropods (insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapods), mollusks (our dear chitons, snails, bivalves, squid, and octopus), annelids (the often misunderstood earthworms and leeches), and cnidarians (our beautiful hydras, jellyfish, sea anemones, and corals). You'll notice that many of our invertebrate friends occur as tasty snacks. Having a backbone provides a supreme advantage to your placement in the food chain. Not always, as you may include fish and game on your menu. But generally, having a backbone means you're more likely to be holding the menu versus being listed as an appetizer. So, enjoy your Sunday 'downward dog' and thank your backbone for the magical gift it is.
HEXAGONAL COLUMNS: COOLING BASALT
The Giant's Causeway is a spectacular expanse of interlocking hexagonal basalt columns formed from volcanic eruptions during the Paleocene some 50-60 million years ago.
These columns tell a story of the cooling and freezing of the lava flows that formed them. As lava at the surface cools and freezes, it also shrinks as its molecules rearrange themselves into a solid structure. This happens much more quickly at the surface where the lava comes in contact with moist, cool air. As the basalt cools and shrinks, pressure increases in intensity and cracks begin to form. A way to dissipate this huge stress is to crack at an angle of 120 degrees, the angle that gives us a hexagon.
We see this beautifully illustrated at the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. Here, highly fluid molten basalt intruded through chalk beds which later cooled, contracted and cracked into hexagonal columns, creating a surreal visual against a dark and stormy Irish Sea.
DORIPPE SINICA OF JAPAN
A beautiful example of the decapod, Dorippe sinica, from Holocene deposits near Shizuoka, Japan. This regal fellow has a strongly sculptured carapace. He looks like he would have been quite the bruiser moving about on the seafloor looking for tasty snacks. He likely enjoyed just about any form of meat, potentially dining on fish, worms, eggs, squid, starfish or even a few of his slow-moving cousins.
The carapace is deeply grooved with conspicuous wart-like tubercles; anterolateral margin, between the base of the exorbital tooth and cervical groove, smooth, without tubercles or denticles.
The teeth on the lower orbital margin in the cluster. Carpus of cheliped distinctly granulated on the upper surface and with a conspicuous row of granules along the anterior margin. Though missing here, the merus of second and third pereiopods are almost cylindrical. (Türkay 1995). This specimen was collected and is the collection of the deeply awesome Takashi Ito of Japan
ARANDASPIDA: AGENTS OF SHIELD
The oldest and most primitive pteraspidomorphs were the Astraspida and the Arandaspida. You'll notice that all three of these taxon names contain 'aspid', which means shield.
These early fishes and many of the Pteraspidomorphi possessed large plates of dermal bone at the anterior end of their bodies. This dermal armour was very common in early vertebrates, but it was lost in their descendants. Arandaspida is represented by two well-known genera: Sacabampaspis, from South America and Arandaspis from Australia. Arandaspis have large, simple, dorsal and ventral head shields. Their bodies were fusiform, which means they were shaped sort of like a spindle, fat in the middle and tapering at both ends. Picture a sausage that is a bit wider near the centre with a crisp outer shell. Image: Tamura (http://spinops.blogspot.com) - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19460450
TIKTAALIK OF ELLESMERE ISLAND
Tiktaalik was a fish with some advantageous tetrapod-like features that proved to be useful to an adaptation to land. Their head was detached from their shoulder girdle meaning they could lift their heads to take a look around. This was a new adaptation for our marine friends. The bones in the front limb were strong enough and adapted to support their bodies.
PAKICETUS: UNLIKELY WHALES
The unlikely creature bearing the title of "the first whale," is a fellow named Pakicetus. He is definitely not how we picture whales living today. Pakicetus is an extinct genus of cetaceans that lived about 50 million years ago.
They were mammals and looked like large rodents. They were also quite small by whale standards, reaching about four-feet in length. They ate meat, sometimes fish and are the ancestors of whales, porpoises and dolphins.
The only real clue of their connection to our aquatic friends is the shape of their skulls. Pakicetus had a long skull and an ear bone that is unique to whales. Oddly, they also had ankle bones that share characteristics with some of our even-toed mammals. They lived along the shores of a large shallow sea known as the Tethys. Although rare, there are several examples of mammals heading back to a life at sea. Photo: Kevin Guertin from Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - DSCF1201, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36657302
DENMAN ISLAND CONCRETION
Northumberland Fm, Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group
A concretion found eroding out of the grey shales at Denman Island.
Thee Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group of southwest British Columbia is a >4 km-thick succession consisting mostly of deep marine siliciclastics deposited directly on the Insular Superterrane. As such, this succession has been the focus of several paleomagnetic, isotope geochemistry, paleontology, and sedimentology studies in attempts to elucidate the tectonic history and paleolatitude of the Insular Superterrane and associated entities during the critical time of Nanaimo Group deposition, 90 to 65 million years ago. The upper two-thirds of the succession is continuously and well exposed on Denman and Hornby islands and represents the best example of this part of the succession in the northern half of what we consider the single Nanaimo Basin. A concretion found on the beach at Denman, eroding out of the grey shales of the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group
NOOTKA ISLAND
Nootka Sound, Photo: Dan Bowen
Rugged West Coast VIPS Fossil Field Trip to Late Eocene - Early Oligocene, Hesquiat formation of Nootka Island, west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
The area is known for its exceptional natural beauty and bounty of beautifully preserved decapod fossil specimens. The formation is named for the Hesquiaht people of the Nuu-chah-nulth, of Nootka Sound. The VIPS has led many research expeditions to remote sites on our West Coast. Their efforts have been rewarded with many new species being identified and excellent cooperation with paleontological researchers from around the globe.
UPPER CRETACEOUS NANAIMO GROUP AT HORNBY ISLAND
Hornby Island is formed from sediments of the upper Nanaimo Group which are also widely exposed on adjacent Denman Island and the southern Gulf Islands. On this island, a total stratigraphic thickness of 1350 m of upper Nanaimo Group marine sandstone, conglomerate and shale are partially exposed. Four formations underlie the island from oldest to youngest, and from west to east: the Northumberland, Geoffrey, Spray and Gabriola.
During the upper Cretaceous, between ~90 to 65 Ma, sediments derived from the Coast Belt to the east and the Cascades to the southeast poured seaward to the west and northwest into what was the large ancestral Georgia Basin. This major forearc basin was situated between Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia.
The Nanaimo Group as a whole represents largely coarse-grained units deposited in deep-sea fan systems. In this environment, deeper channels continuously cut through successive shale and sandstone bodies. The channels funnelled density currents into the basin, while also building levee deposits. Turbidity currents travelled down the channels, and also overtopped the levees spilling across backslope areas. The sequential sediment formations, from significantly coarse-grained sandstones and conglomerates to fine silts and shale units of the Nanaimo Group, are considered to be partly due to eustacy, but more significantly related to relative sea-level changes induced by regional tectonics in an active forearc setting.
The Northumberland Fm consists of a massive, dark-grey mudstone which is locally interlaminated and interbedded with siltstone and fine-grained sandstone. There are abundant calcium carbonate concretions, parallel and current ripple laminations, clastic dikes and folded layers due to slumping. In the Gulf Islands to the south, this formation has been found to contain abundant and diverse foraminifera indicating marine paleodepths of 150-1200 m.
The more resistive Geoffrey Fm consists of thick-bedded sandstone and conglomerate. It is highly channelized, and some sandstone has exposed parallel and ripple laminations. The Spray Fm exposed on the east end of the island is a massive olive-grey mudstone with interlaminations of sandstone.
Furthest to the east, the youngest exposures on Hornby Island are from the Gabriola Fm, which outcrops on the eastern peninsula. This is again a thick-bedded and channelized sequence of conglomerates and massive sandstone with minor mudstone interbeds. South, in the Gulf Islands, this formation has contained ammonites, gastropods and pelecypods. Paleowater-depth from foraminiferal assemblages has been set at 200 m.
Katnick, D.C. and P.S. Mustard (2001): Geology of Denman and Hornby Islands, British Columbia (NTS 92F/7E, 10); British Columbia Geological Survey Branch, Geoscience Map 2001-3.
England, T.D.J. and R. N. Hiscott (1991): Upper Nanaimo Group and younger strata, outer Gulf Islands, southwestern British Columbia: in Current Research, Part E; Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 91-1E, p. 117-125.
BIODIVERSITY AT SEA AND ON LAND
Most of the Earth's surface is an ocean. When I think of the Earth, it is our oceans that I picture. Life began there. We began there. Most of the major animal groups can trace their lineage back to the seas and the Cambrian explosion, an orgy of breathtaking species diversification.
Since that time, a shocking half a billion years ago, our seas have played host to an astonishing array of species. If I'd visited our Earth back in the Cambrian, I would have bet good money that our watery planet's future was in the seas not on the land. But that 's not the case. Quite surprisingly, it is our humble rock and soil who now boast more species. Five times that of those living in the oceans. I know, shocking but true. Our oceans certainly had the running start on both numbers and diversity of species. But it is our fungi, our flowering plants, mindblowing variety of insects, trees, bees and fleas that make up the bulk of Earth's species these days.
It is something I'm interested in learning more about as it does not make good sense to me. 80 percent of Earth's species live on land today. About 15 percent call our oceans home and another 5% or so live in freshwater. Why more species live on land than in the ocean has puzzled others as well. Robert May, a zoologist at the University of Oxford, mulls this very question in an article from 1994 titled, "Biological Diversity: Differences between Land and Sea." He continued with his research and published "The future of biological diversity in a crowded world," in Current Science, Vol. 82, No. 11 (10 June 2002), pp. 1325-1331.
Here he questions how well we know the plants, animals and micro-organisms with which we share this beautiful planet. His focus in the paper was to question how many species are there and how fast are some going extinct? You'll be interested to know that his best guess in 2002 was somewhere between 1.7 to 1.8 million. That's a considerable increase from Carl Linneaus' work back in 1758, the Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician took a stab at the same question and came up with an estimate of about 9,000 species. While his numbers were off by a long margin, he did give us the binomial nomenclature system we use for naming organisms, so he still gets a hall pass.
May is a boy about town. His work is referenced everywhere. You may enjoy an article by the Atlantic from 2017 that delves into the topic for the lay audience with an eye to popularized reading. May, R. (2002). The future of biological diversity in a crowded world. Current Science, 82(11), 1325-1331. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/24105996 / The Atlantic article: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/07/why-are-there-so-many-more-species-on-land-than-in-the-sea/533247/
ICHTHYOSAURS: WARM-BLOODED DOLPHINS OF THE MESOZOIC
Ichthyosaurs are an extinct order of marine reptiles from the Mesozoic era. They were visibly dolphin-like in appearance but seem to share some other qualities as well. They were warm-blooded, used their coloration as camouflage and had insulating blubber to keep them warm.
"Ichthyosaurs are interesting because they have many traits in common with dolphins, but are not at all closely related to those sea-dwelling mammals," says research co-author Mary Schweitzer, professor of biological sciences at NC State with a joint appointment at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and visiting professor at Lund University. "We aren't exactly sure of their biology either. They have many features in common with living marine reptiles like sea turtles, but we know from the fossil record that they gave live birth, which is associated with warm-bloodedness. This study reveals some of those biological mysteries."
We find their fossil remains in outcrops spanning from the mid-Cretaceous to the earliest Triassic. As we look through the fossils, we see a slow evolution in body design moving towards that enjoyed by dolphins and tuna by the Upper Triassic, albeit with a more narrower, more pointed snout.
Johan Lindgren, Associate Professor at Sweden's Lund University and lead author of a paper, describing the work, worked with twenty-one other ichthyosaur researchers to analyze the 180 million-year-old specimen, Stenopterygius, from outcrops in the Holzmaden quarry in Germany.
"Both the body outline and remnants of internal organs are clearly visible," says Lindgren. "Remarkably, the fossil is so well-preserved that it is possible to observe individual cellular layers within its skin." Researchers identified cell-like microstructures containing pigment organelles on the surface of the fossil. This ancient skin revealed a feature we recognized from marine dwelling animals, the ability to change colour, providing camouflage from potential predators. They also found traces of what might have been the animal's liver. When they put some of the tissue through chemical analysis, it was consistent with what we'd look for in adipose tissue or blubber. Not surprising as dolphins today use blubber for buoyancy and to help thermally insulate for thermal regulation in cold seas. might find in a vertebrate that uses blubber as a means of maintaining body temperatures independent of ambient conditions.
Today, blubber is an important part of the anatomy of seals, whales and walruses. It covers the core of their bodies, storing energy, insulating them from cold seas and provide extra buoyancy. While they do not have blubber on their fins, flippers and flukes. Not all marine animals need blubber. Our cold-blooded marine friends: sharks, crabs, fish, are able to let their body temperatures dropdown to very chilly levels, some as low as 36 degrees Fahrenheit. They have a few tricks up their sleeves to make this happen. Sharks have evolved specialized physiology to keep their metabolic rate high and their hearts are able to contract in the icy depths because of a special protein. These adaptations allow sharks to enjoy a wide range of habitats and follow their food from warm tropical seas to the icy waters of the North Pacific.
Johan Lindgren, Peter Sjövall, Volker Thiel, Wenxia Zheng, Shosuke Ito, Kazumasa Wakamatsu, Rolf Hauff, Benjamin P. Kear, Anders Engdahl, Carl Alwmark, Mats E. Eriksson, Martin Jarenmark, Sven Sachs, Per E. Ahlberg, Federica Marone, Takeo Kuriyama, Ola Gustafsson, Per Malmberg, Aurélien Thomen, Irene Rodríguez-Meizoso, Per Uvdal, Makoto Ojika, Mary H. Schweitzer. Soft-tissue evidence for homeothermy and crypsis in a Jurassic ichthyosaur. Nature, 2018; DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0775-x
North Carolina State University. (2018, December 5). Soft tissue shows Jurassic ichthyosaur was warm-blooded, had blubber and camouflage. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 7, 2019, from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/12/181205134118.htm
FAVRET CANYON
Favret Canyon is considered one of the most important locations for the Middle Triassic (Anisian-Ladinian). It is a beautiful, yet desolate country. The roads are rough and the exposures are weathered out. The mountains bring a moodiness to the landscape and impact the weather.
We had stormy clouds, rain, sun, and afternoons of wind while walking through time and collecting marine fauna.
PRIMITIVE FISH OF THE CHENGJIANG LAGERSTÄTTE
Three genera of Lower Cambrian fish are known from the 530 million-year-old Chengjiang Lagerstätte in Yuxi, Yunnan Province, southern China. The locality is just north of Fuxian Lake and about a half-hour drive south from the city of Kunming.
Haikouichthys ercaicunensis
Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa
Zhongjianichthys rostratus
The first two of these are fusiform in shape, whereas the third is eel-like. Myllokunnmingial and Haikouichthys have fusiform bodies and pairs of large eyes within the dorso-anterior lobe. Zhongjianichthys has eyes behind the dorso-anterior lobe.
A friend of mine, Eldon Grupp from the USA, found an 18 mm specimen on a mortality slab of Haikouella from Chengjiang. Apparently, no one had noticed it before shipping. Not surprising as Zhongjianichthys are easy to overlook. I've asked him if I can get a photo of that mortality plate to share with you. It's quite stunning. Haikouella, of course, are not vertebrates, but advanced craniate chordates. The specimen in question, however, was a vertebrate. Eldon has assigned this specimen to genus Zhongjianichthys based on its eel-like characteristics and its large eyes located behind the anterior or rostral lobe instead of within it. Even so, family affiliation is uncertain.
SIRENIA: MANATEES AND DUGONGS
I'd always grouped the dugongs and manatees together. There are slight differences between these two groups. Both groups belong to the order Sirenia. They shared a cousin in the Steller's sea cow, Hydrodamalis gigas, but that piece of their lineage was hunted to extinction by our species in the 18th century. Dugongs have tail flukes with pointed tips and manatees have paddle-shaped tails, similar to a Canadian Beaver.
Both of these lovelies from the order Sirenia went from terrestrial to marine, taking to the water in search of more prosperous pastures, as it were.
They are the extant and extinct forms of the oddball manatees and dugongs. They inhabit rivers and shallow coastal waters, making the best use of their fusiform bodies that lack dorsal fins and hind limbs. I've been thinking about them in the context of some of the primitive armoured fish we find in the Chengjiang biota of China, specifically those primitive species that were also fusiform.
We find dugongs today in waters near northern Australia and parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. They favour locations where seagrass, their food of choice, grows plentiful and they eat it roots and all. While seagrass low in fibre, high in nitrogen and easily digestible is preferred, dugongs will also dine on lower grade seagrass, algae and invertebrates should the opportunity arise. They've been known to eat jellyfish, sea squirts and shellfish over the course of their long lives. Some of the oldest dugongs have been known to live 70+ years, which is another statistic I find surprising. They are large, passive, have poor eyesight and look pretty tasty floating in the water; a defenceless floating buffet. Their population is in decline but yet they live on.
THE LURE OF THE SEA
Many land animals have returned to the sea throughout evolutionary history. We have beautifully documented cases from amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals from over 30 different lineages over the past 250 million years.
Our dear penguins, seals, sea lions, walruses, whales, crocodiles and sea turtles were once entirely terrestrial. Some dipped a toe or two into freshwater ponds, but make no mistake, they were terrestrial. Each of these animals had ancestors that tried out the sea and decided to stay. They evolved and employed a variety of adaptations to meet their new saltwater challenges. Some adapted legs as fins, others became more streamlined, and still, others developed specialized organs to extract dissolved oxygen from the water through their skin or gills. The permutations are endless.
Returning to the sea comes with a whole host of benefits but some serious challenges as well. Life at sea is very different from life on land. Water is denser than air, impacting how an animal moves, sees and hears. More importantly, it impacts an air-breathing animal's movement on a pretty frequent basis. If you need air and haven't evolved gills, you need to surface frequently. Keeping your body temperature at a homeostatic level is also a challenge as water conducts heat much better than air. Even with all of these challenges, the lure of additional food sources and freedom of movement kept those who tried the sea in the sea and they evolved accordingly.
This is an interesting article from Alicia Ault writing for the Smithsonian who interviewed Nick Pysenson and Neil Kelley about some of their research that touches on this area. They published a paper on it in the journal Science back in 2015.
Here's the link: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/348/6232/aaa3716
And Ault's work is definitely worth a read: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/take-deep-dive-reasons-land-animals-moved-seas-180955007/
ICHTHYOSAURS: WARM-BLOODED DOLPHINS OF THE MESOZOI...


text:
Q: Delete inbox mail item using Exchange server with C#      public static ReadMail()
     {
        ExchangeService Service = new ExchangeService();
        Service.Credentials = new WebCredentials("", "", "");
        Service.AutodiscoverUrl("xyz@xyz.com");
        Folder inbox = Folder.Bind(Service, WellKnownFolderName.Inbox);
        StreamingSubscription streamingsubscription = Service.SubscribeToStreamingNotifications(new FolderId[] { WellKnownFolderName.Inbox }, EventType.NewMail);
        var connection = new StreamingSubscriptionConnection(Service, 30);
        connection.AddSubscription(streamingsubscription);
        connection.OnNotificationEvent += OnNotificationEvent;
        connection.Open();
    }

    private static void OnNotificationEvent(object sender, NotificationEventArgs args)
    {
        Item mail = args.Subscription.Service.FindItems(WellKnownFolderName.Inbox, new ItemView(10)).Items[0];
    }

I'm connected to a mail account using exchange server(2007). I'm able to read the mail item. after i read & parse the mail item i need to delete the mail item from the inbox. Please help me. Thanks in advance

A: I did it using following code: (This will delete the first 10 mails together)
ExchangeService service = new ExchangeService(ExchangeVersion.Exchange2010_SP1);
        service.Credentials = new WebCredentials("xxx@yyy.com", "******");
        service.AutodiscoverUrl("xxx@yyy.com");
        FindItemsResults<Item> items = service.FindItems(WellKnownFolderName.Inbox, new ItemView(10));
        if (items.Count() != 0)
        {
            IEnumerable<ItemId> itemIds = from p in items.Items select p.Id;
            service.DeleteItems(itemIds, DeleteMode.MoveToDeletedItems, null, null);
        }