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Motorola Unveils Second 802.16e WiMAX Solution with Live Demonstration Featuring Third-Party Interoperability at WiMAX World Europe
Motorola Solutions, Inc. May 31, 2006
Carrier-Class Wimax Solution Delivers Rich-Media Downloads and Video Streaming to Laptop Via PC Card
VIENNA, Austria, May 23 / WiMAX World Europe -- Motorola, Inc. (NYSE:MOT) continues to show its WiMAX leadership with the latest addition to its MOTOwi4(TM) portfolio of wireless broadband solutions. At WiMAX World Europe, Motorola's new carrier-class WiMAX network will be used to perform rich media downloads and video streaming through a laptop PC using a third-party PCMCIA card that incorporates an 802.16e chip from Beceem Communications.
This is Motorola's first public demonstration of third-party interoperability of its WiMAX products and shows how Motorola's MOTOwi4 wireless broadband solutions can help people stay seamlessly connected wherever they may be. At its booth #202 Motorola also will be featuring live demonstrations of its 802.16e-based Ultra Light Access Point for 3.5 GHz fixed applications, Canopy® solutions in 5 GHz spectrum, and IP video telephony all connected through an IMS core.
The Motorola carrier-class WiMAX network, supporting both 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz, is an 802.16e solution that uses advanced antenna techniques to provide greater coverage range and building penetration. Designed to support fixed, nomadic, portable and mobile applications, the carrier-class WiMAX access point will meet the needs of operators offering in-building fixed and portable service, as well those marketing personal broadband, mobile WiMAX applications and services.
"The carrier-class WiMAX network shows our further progress in delivering a broad range of end-to-end WiMAX offerings," said Dan Coombes, senior vice president, chief technical officer, Motorola Networks & Enterprise, and general manager, Wireless Broadband. "As we continue development of our WiMAX infrastructure and customer premise equipment, we're working with third-party vendors to test for and promote interoperability, which is critical to widespread industry adoption of the 802.16e standard and this new technology."
"Demonstrating interoperability of IEEE 802.16e standards-based equipment between Beceem's terminal chipset and Motorola's network within six months of the standard's approval shows the commitment of key WiMAX Forum(TM) members to work together to ensure that operators have a full range of WIMAX equipment available for their network trials and deployments," said Shahin Hedayat, CEO and co-founder of Beceem. "We are focused on the development of mobile WiMAX solutions that support interoperability of chipsets, access networks and subscriber devices, and our 802.16e terminal chipsets are achieving this goal today."
"Motorola continues to be a leading promoter of WiMAX, developing a portfolio of end-to-end 802.16e WiMAX solutions for many different market needs -- from compact 'light' base stations through high-capacity carrier- class products integrating multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO)," said Peter Jarich, Current Analysis. "Motorola's demonstration of interoperability with third-party vendors is another significant step in helping to advance the development of and acceptance of WiMAX and getting a jumpstart on 802.16e- based WiMAX certifications."
Motorola's carrier-class WiMAX network is based on its Carrier Access Point architecture, an all-IP fully distributed peer-to-peer architecture that reduces the amount of equipment needed thereby helping to reduce capital expenditures. The carrier-class WiMAX access points also feature a combination of MIMO antenna techniques and software defined radios (SDR) that, along with the IP architecture, provides flexibility in network deployment and enables operators to choose among many third-party vendors to add applications and services.
Motorola's carrier-class WiMAX networks are expected to ship for customer trials by the end of 2006 while the Ultra Light Access Point is already shipping for customer trials.
MOTOwi4 is a portfolio of wireless broadband solutions and services that create, complement and complete IP networks. MOTOwi4 includes Canopy® broadband fixed wireless for point-to-multi-point and point-to-point, Mesh, Broadband over Powerline, WiMAX and Point-to-Point solutions for private and public networks. For more information visit: www.motorola.com/wi4 .
About Motorola
Motorola is known around the world for innovation and leadership in wireless and broadband communications. Inspired by our vision of Seamless Mobility, the people of Motorola are committed to helping you get and stay connected simply and seamlessly to the people, information, and entertainment that you want and need. We do this by designing and delivering "must have" products, "must do" experiences and powerful networks -- along with a full complement of support services. A Fortune 100 company with global presence and impact, Motorola had sales of US $36.8 billion in 2005. For more information about our company, our people and our innovations, please visit www.motorola.com/ .
Source: Motorola, Inc.
CONTACT: Media Contacts, Gemma Priscott, Motorola Networks & Enterprise EMEA, +44 (0) 7970 882994, or Gemma.Priscott@Motorola.com , or Kathi Haas, Motorola Networks & Enterprise, +1-480-732-2835, or kathi.haas@motorola.com , or Motorola Industry Analyst Contact, Kathy Wiesner, Motorola Networks & Enterprise North America, +1-847-632-6021, or k.wiesner@motorola.com
Web site: www.motorola.com/
http://www.motorola.com/wi4


[FAQ] ADC Noise: How can you reduce the amount of reference noise passing into your system?
[FAQ] ADC Noise: Can clocks affect your ADC's noise performance?
Can clocks affect your ADC's noise performance when using Delta-Sigma ADCs?
Although you may expect an ADC's sampling period to be perfectly constant, there is always some deviation from the ideal. "Clock jitter" refers to the variation in a clock waveform's edges from one period to the next. Since all ADCs use a clock edge to control the sampling point, clock-edge variation creates deviations in the sampling instance. This deviation results in a non-constant sampling frequency that appears in the conversion result as another source of noise. Figure 9 shows the sampling-edge variation caused by clock jitter on a sinusoidal input signal.
To learn how clocks cause additional errors, as well as ways to reduce system noise due to clocking, read part 10.
While these are some of the most important questions answered in the "Resolving the Signal" series, I covered many more topics and examples to help you get the best noise performance out of your high-resolution, delta-sigma ADC signal chain. Read the series to learn more, and if you have any additional questions, feel free to post them in the comments below.


He may be 75, but Eddie Palmieri remains many things: still touring, still a pianist of legendary force, still funny.
In many ways, those offerings challenged what Latin jazz could be. Palmieri's legacy is a varied one. In the '80s and '90s, he explored more expansive solo material; the early '70s held impressive, experimental funk-fusions. Uniting it all was the enduring bedrock of Antillean rhythm, montuno motifs, and fervor of the salsa tradition Palmieri and La Perfecta helped birth in the '60s.
For more information on events celebrating Palmieri's career, visit www.ep75.com.


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College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
cu-logo College of Biomedical and Life Sciences People
NHS Liaison Unit
Centre for Trials Research
Institutional Strategic Support Fund
International and engagement
The College is led by the Pro Vice-Chancellor with assistance from the College Board.
Professor Gary F. Baxter
Pro Vice-Chancellor, College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
baxtergf@cardiff.ac.uk
Carolyn Donoghue
College Registrar
donoghuec1@cardiff.ac.uk
Professor Dai John
Professor of Pharmacy and Dean of Undergraduate Studies, College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
johndn@cardiff.ac.uk
Dr Emma Kidd
Dean of Postgraduate Studies, College of Biomedical and Life Sciences
kiddej@cardiff.ac.uk
Professor Phil Stephens
College Dean of International & Engagement, Professor of Cell Biology
stephensp@cardiff.ac.uk
Professor Ian Weeks
Acting Head of the School of Medicine
weeksi@cardiff.ac.uk
The College of Biomedical and Life Sciences is a vibrant academic community, which undertakes innovative research and provides state-of-the-art learning facilities.
Email: bls@cardiff.ac.uk
Visit the College of Biomedical & Life Sciences
College of Biomedical & Life Sciences, Cardiff University, College House, King George V Drive East, Heath Park, Cardiff , CF14 4EP

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


What is the highest and most auspicious expression of the human birth? It is to utilise one's ability, drive and openness to awaken to that, which is indefinable, unconquerable, imperishable, immutable—our timeless Being. Just this.


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Do you have a sense of adventure and a desire to serve in Latin America? Would you like to live a simpler lifestyle closer to the people, and share you faith and talents with the poor? If so, we would like to invite you to consider joining us in our mission work in Peru.
We are looking for dedicated lay Catholics with an independent spirit to serve in Trujillo on the northern coast of Peru.
Trujillo: What's it like?
We've had lay missionaries serve in the neighborhoods of Rio Seco and Kumamoto on the outskirts of the large city of Trujillo in northern Peru. Thousands of poor families have come to the desolate sand hills overlooking the city in search for a place to live. These hillside neighborhoods are often described as a pueblo joven (a young town). The area is an urban slum, a desert-like hillside where thousands of poor and desperate families have come to build a home and find work.
Many of the families have left their hometowns in the mountains or rural areas in search of a better life. They have left the places where they had family ties and a sense of identity and community to come to a barren hillside where there are few trees or shrubs — rarely even a blade of grass. There they build little houses of adobe bricks and begin a long struggle for the basic necessities of food, water, latrines, transportation, and above all, a job.
There are signs of despair up and down the dusty dirty roads of these neighborhoods. Men turn to alcohol, and youths gather together in gangs to assault and steal from the weak. Violence is a big problem for the community.
But there are signs of hope, too, as people plant flowers outside their doors and leaders organize the community to press the government to provide the basics of water, electricity, latrines, and schools. The church is there, too, helping with soup kitchens, a school for handicapped children, chapels, and plans for new job training programs. There are signs of hope, too, in the children – ever resilient – laughing and playing games in the dirt streets and climbing the hills of sand.
Read more about the lay missionaries in Peru here.
What Kind of Work Would You Do?
Our previous lay missionaries served in a variety of ways, according to their skills. They worked in the parish, with some of the small projects of the church (like those mentioned above), and they found other ways to contribute, such as in the forming of a women's knitting group, and an informal school for child dropouts. There are opportunities in education, youth organizations, job skill training, community organizing, health care, sports, and pastoral work with catechists and religion classes. There would be work in the soup kitchens, centers for handicapped children, the Fe y Alegria school.
What Kind of Candidates Are We Looking For?
We are looking for candidates with some skills and experience in the following areas:
Motivated self-starters. This site, more so than any of our others, will need people with the personality style of seeking out work and building relationships. This site is one of our least structured, because the needs are many, and there are a variety of places to insert yourself. This is also our only site where the Comboni community is not within walking distance.
Basic skills in Spanish.
Some experience working with parish and/or community groups, or a strong desire to learn.
Skills and talents in education, health care, job training, parish youth ministry, community development, or working with handicapped children.
What Do We Provide?
Preparation: We provide a solid 14-week formation for mission program at our center in La Grange Park, IL. It includes discussions and workshops in mission theology, skills for cross-cultural living, collaborative leadership, communication and team building skills, mission spirituality, and community.
Language Training: New lay missionaries assigned to Peru will have 3-4 months of Spanish training, if needed.
Local Support: The lay missionaries will work in the area of the parish that is managed by the Comboni community in Trujillo. There are currently three Comboni priests in this community. The priests do not live on the compound of the parish.
Room and Board: Housing is provided for the lay missionaries, along with a monthly stipend of $275 for personal expenses and for food. The lay missionaries also receive an annual allowance of $300 for professional growth, retreat, and vacation expenses.
Health Insurance and Other Benefits: Lay missionaries are provided health insurance and transportation to and from the mission site in Peru. Upon successful completion of their three-year contract, they will also receive $1800 for relocation expenses.
How Do You Take the Next Step?
If you would be interested in serving as a lay missionary for three years in Trujillo, Peru, please take a look at our requirements for Eligibility. If you think you meet the requirements, fill out the Preliminary Form and we can begin to discuss the possibilities.


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(-) Remove European Single Electronic Format filter European Single Electronic Format
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MiFID - Investor Protection X Speeches X European Single Electronic Format X Transparency X Corporate Disclosure X Q&A X SMSG Advice X Technical Advice X Compliance table X
04/10/2011 2011/323 Final report- ESMA's technical advice on possible delegated acts concerning the Prospectus Directive as amended by the Directive 2010/73/EU Prospectus, Corporate Disclosure Technical Advice PDF
01/03/2012 2012/137 ESMA's technical advice on possible delegated acts concerning the Prospectus Directive as amended by the Directive 2010/73/EU Prospectus, Corporate Disclosure Technical Advice PDF
1.32 MB ESMA publishes today the second part of its final advice (ESMA/2012/137) on possible delegated acts for the Prospectus Directive (PD). The advice was submitted to the Commission on 29 February 2012. In its advice, ESMA proposes how to use a prospectus in a retail cascade and provides input on how to review the provisions of the Prospectus Regulation concerning tax information, indices, auditor's report on profit forecasts and estimates and audited historical financial information. Today's advice follows a public consultation started on 13 December 2011. Overall, the technical advice aims to achieve a high level of investor protection and to increase across Europe the legal clarity and efficiency of the prospectus regime. Investment prospectuses as such are aimed to provide investors with easily accessible information on financial products so as to foster in-formed decision-making.
19/12/2014 2014/1569 Technical Advice to the Commission on MiFID II and MiFIR MiFID - Investor Protection, MiFID - Secondary Markets Technical Advice PDF
2.8 MB Reasons for publication The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) received a formal request (mandate) from the European Commission (Commission) on 23 April 2014 to provide technical advice to assist the Commission on the possible content of the delegated acts required by several provisions of Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR). The mandate focuses on technical issues which follow from MiFID II and MiFIR and is available on the European Commission website (here). ESMA was required to provide technical advice by no later than six months after the entry into force of MiFID II and MiFIR (2 July 2014). Contents This final report follows the same structure as the Consultation Paper (CP) published by ESMA on 22 May 2014 which is: (1) Introduction, (2) Investor protection, (3) Transparency, (4) Data publication, (5) Micro-structural issues, (6) Requirements applying on and to trading venues, (7) Commodity derivatives and (8) Portfolio compression. This paper also contains summaries of responses to the CP received by ESMA. The rationale of those items covered already in the CP for which no relevant changes have been introduced, is not developed again in this Final Report. ESMA recommends, therefore, to read this report together with the CP published on 22 May 2014 to have a complete vision of the rationale for ESMA's technical advice. Next steps Delegated acts should be adopted by the Commission so that they enter into application by 30 months following the entry into force of the Directive and Regulation, taking into account the right of the European Parliament and Council to object to a delegated act within 3 months (which can be extended by a further 3 months).
18/02/2016 2015/SMSG/036 SMSG Advice on ESEF European Single Electronic Format, Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group SMSG Advice PDF
24/04/2017 ESMA 32-67-184 Compliance table- guidelines on APMs ESMA 2015-1415 Corporate Disclosure, Guidelines and Technical standards Compliance table PDF
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Old Al-Aqsa (Bab al-Nabi)
The structure known as the Old al-Aqsa is accessed by leaving al-Marwani Mosque and walking towards al-Jami' al-Aqsa. Before reaching the middle of the space leading up to al-Jami' al-Aqsa , a stone staircase leads to a door and into the Old al-Aqsa. The requirements that apply to visiting al-Marwani Mosque are also applicable here.
Nature of the Old al-Aqsa
The Old al-Aqsa refers to the area that extends from north to south ibneath the middle riwaq (asile) of al-Jami' al-Aqsa , 18 steps lower than its floor and entrance. This slope continues inside the Old al-Aqsa as the visitor moves southward. As such, the Old al-Aqsa slopes twice: once immediately after passing through the entrance and another at the end of the eastern portico of the Old al-Aqsa. The visitor must move towards the west a little and go down eight large steps. This decrease is characteristic of the nature of the location. The scheme and architectural elements clarify this, with a door comprising two long passageways leading into al- Jami'al-Aqsa . This door was known as Bab al-Nabi (the Gate of the Prophet) in Arabic writings and the Double Gate in western ones.
Plan of the Area
The ceiling of the two passageways, which meet in a semi-barrel shallow vault, is founded on three lines of semicircular arches extending from north to south. The stones of these arches are large and dressed. The openings of the arches were closed off for support purposes. At the opening of the door, there are huge lintels and great pillars. The area to the inside of the door is a a square space decorated by four shallow domes . In this area, one can see a set of huge granite pillars, as well as a modern concrete peir i to support the ceiling.
According to Nasir Khusra, Suleiman Ibn ibn Daoud was the founder and builder of this door, the Old al-Aqsa, because Khusrau could not believe how men could move and use its stones, as this is beyond man's capabilities. As those above men are the jinn, and Sulieman was the one to whom Allah (God) Almighty dedicated the power of the jinn, so Khusraw believed that Sulieman built this door.
However, it appears that this door is Roman, which was held as probable by Mujir al-Din when he spoke about al-Zawiyya al-Khataniyya, saying that it was built by the Romans. Some experts date it back to Herod (37 - 4 BC). It also appears that this door was destroyed in Titus' campaign of 70 AD and was neglected until 'Abed al-Malik Ibnibn Marwan ordered the renovation and reconstruction of the area of al-Aqsa Mosque, rebuilding it from already available materials and introducing architectural and decorative elements, so long as they did not contradict with the traditions of Islam.
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Emirates Cricket Board has announced that its Chief Executive, David East, is to leave the organisation at the end of December, 2018.
East has been with the ECB for 6 years, and in his time has stewarded the introduction of professional contracts for its full time players, and established a strategic partnership for high performance with ICC Academy in Dubai.
He has also been instrumental in attracting and delivering major events to the UAE such as ICC U19 Cricket World Cup, ICC World Cup Qualifiers, IPL, T10 Cricket League, and working closely with the PCB whilst hosting its cricket in the UAE.


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More general cluelessness from Representative Adkins
When Tallahassee talks about school choice they are really talking about privatization and I think I can prove it.
When defending her school choice bill Rep. Janet Adkins, R-Fernandina Beach said, "Parents do know what is best for their child. Not government. Not bureaucrats." This is the same representative which has insisted we keep with the high stakes testing agenda despite the protest of most of the states parents. Apparently Representative Adkins only thinks parents know best if they are opting their children out of public schools.
I wonder if she thinks the parents of the thousands and thousands of children who were enrolled in one of the 270 Florida charter schools that failed knew best too.
Margrett Raymond the founding director of the Center for Research on Education Outcomes, known as CREDO, the definitive study on charter schools which says Florida's underperform when compared to public schools, disagrees with Adkins, she recently said:
This is one of the big insights for me. I actually am kind of a pro-market kinda girl. But it doesn't seem to work in a choice environment for education. I've studied competitive markets for much of my career. That's my academic focus for my work. And it's [education] the only industry/sector where the market mechanism just doesn't work. I think it's not helpful to expect parents to be the agents of quality assurance throughout the state. I think there are other supports that are needed. Frankly parents have not been really well educated in the mechanisms of choice.… I think the policy environment really needs to focus on creating much more information and transparency about performance than we've had for the 20 years of the charter school movement. I think we need to have a greater degree of oversight of charter schools, but I also think we have to have some oversight of the overseers.
We do have problems in education but by far the biggest is the leadership out of Tallahassee which has been abysmal.
at March 31, 2015 No comments:
The big lie that the Jacksonville Public Education Fund is trying to tell (rough draft)
I have said several times that Jacksonville Public Education Fund does some nice stuff but what does it matter if what they do to harm education far outweighs it?
First a little background about the Jacksonville Public Education. Their first foray into education policy brought a "who the heck are these guys" from then school board member Tommy Hazouri.
They were founded by Gary Chartrand the local grocer who has his thumbs in every local education pie from Jacksonville University's public policy institute to funding WJCT's education coverage. He brought in the Professional Educators Network, a faux union, the KIPP charter schools, and Teach for America as well. Then he was instrumental in Superintendent Vitti getting hired and he and his friends have given money to at least 5 of the 7 school board members. I would say he was Duval's very own one man education Koch brother but since he really lives in St. Johns county I can't
Chartrand used his money not just to start JPEF and all of above but to get on the State Board of Education too where he serves as chair. There he helped start Florida's race based goals, minorities aren't expected to do as well, expanded charter schools and vouchers, stripped teachers of work protections, brought in common core and several other corporate style reforms.
He undoubtedly influences everything JPEF does and people have to know by now that JPEF is ideologically driven as him. They think what is best is for kids is to be tested (ad nausea) and to be funneled into charter schools and voucher schools, while public schools wither and die on the vine. They just can't come out and say it because they know people would push back.
Please don't just listen to me but instead you should let their own words do the talking for them.
This past summer they did a school choice study which said, choice siphons resources from public schools, charter schools do worse than public schools and we have no idea how voucher schools are doing because of the complete lack, emphasis mine, of accountability. Their conclusion, we need more school choice.
Then look what they just said about testing.
From the Times Union: The Senate bill caps testing at a level that doesn't do a whole lot," Csar said.
Data compiled by the Education Fund, shows Duval County students in K-fifth grade dedicate approximately 1 percent of their school year to statewide standardized tests and just over half a percent to district-level exams. Meanwhile, Duval middle-school students spend about 1.5 percent of their year taking statewide exams and just under 1 percent on district-level exams.
Duval County high-school students dedicate the greatest chunk of their year to testing. The data shows students spend nearly 2 percent of the academic year in statewide exams and just under 1 percent on district-level exams.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-03-31/story/parents-other-express-concerns-about-testing
Two things, please don't take my word for how wrong they are ask any teacher and you have got to be $%^*ING kidding me, that they actualy thought they could say that and the Times Union printed it without any analysis.
I asked the reporter Rhema Thompson who usually isn't this bad, Let me ask you a question. Was the only time you spent on the story about testing the time you were actually typing? Or did you spend a lot more time on the piece before you actually started writing. I bet it is the latter. I have yet to hear back from her.
First how long kids are testing is just one of the issues. The stress they put on kids is another. I just wrote recently about a tear fest at a local elementary school had, a scene repeated all throughout the district. Then it is what they are used for too. Testing experts say high stakes tests shouldn't be used to make policy decisions nor should they be used to judge the quality of educating going on.
How much time we spend on them however cannot be discounted or lied away. JPEF says kids spend just 2.5% of the time on state and district tests, or 4 and a half days. Maybe kids do just spend nearly 32 hours bubbling in scan trons but that's just part of the picture and to leave out everything else that goes on when talking about testing is at best ignorant but I believe it is agenda driven. I believe since they know people are becoming more and more aware and outraged by the high stakes testing agenda they covered for them, in effect said, what those little tests don't worry about them. I believe they think if they tell the big lie often enough or muddle the facts people will come to believe it.
A few other more knowledgeable sources think we are testing a lot more than the JPEF says.
A study cited by the Washington Post says it is anywhere between 19 days and six weeks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/07/25/how-much-time-do-school-districts-spend-on-standardized-testing-this-much/
The Florida Education Association says some students spend 60-80 days a year on testing or testing related activities.
Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers union, said last year, "It is outrageous that schools in some states are spending up to 100 days a year doing test-prep or actual testing."
http://www.politifact.com/georgia/statements/2013/apr/24/randi-weingarten/union-chief-criticizes-days-spent-testing/
Does JPEF think testing happens in a bubble and nothing related to the test happens ever? If hey do they are ignorant which should concern us all as the line between them and the district is becoming increasingly blurred. If they said it and don't believe, because how could anybody then that is even more troubling.
at March 31, 2015 1 comment:
Superintendent blasts state for wanting to give tax payer money to for profit charter schools.
The following is a letter that Pasco Superintendent Kurt Browing sent to prominent legislators in Tallahassee.
Richard...I just read that the House adopted an amendment by Rep Fresen that will require school districts to share part of the 1.5 mills with charter schools. This is VERY problematic. School districts are already strapped for capital dollars. The millage was 2 mills but the Legislature cut it to 1.5 all the time our school facilities are in disrepair. The Legislature will not even consider giving local district the option of increasing the millage to 2 mills by a supermajority vote. With the vote of the House, school district(s) will be in a position of having difficulties in meeting debt service payments. A great deal of the 1.5 mills goes to debt service. Additionally, this may very well cause school districts to have their bond ratings reduced making it even more difficult to borrow if they have the capacity. I am not opposed to charter schools but I have a very hard time when public dollars are diverted to for profit charter schools that knew what they were getting into when they established their charter. Public schools continue to suffer while for profit charters benefit. I am very disappointed in the actions of the House.
http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/gradebook/pasco-superintendent-chastises-local-house-members-over-charter-school/2223391
There is no longer any pretense, the legislature is looking to dismantle our public schools to fill the coffers of their charter school supporters.
Superintendent Vitti takes credit for sun rising
Oy vey, okay I am willing to admit, I may have lost sight of things, that I may be cynical or jaded when it comes to the superintendent but I will let you be the judge. The following is a letter he sent to district employees.
Good Morning Teachers,
On the heels of announcing our historic salary increases last week, we would like to provide you with courtesy tickets to the Jacksonville Armanda game this Saturday, April 4th. We have 1,000 tickets available to teachers for the game against Edmonton. The game will take place at 7:30 p.m. at EverBank Field. You can request up to 4 tickets each - first come, first served.
If you would like tickets, they can be picked up on Thursday, April 2nd from the security desk at the Duval County School Board (1701 Prudential Dr., 32207) office between 7:30 a.m. – 6 p.m. or, at the Teacher Supply Depot – Supply Give-A-Way (3108 Lenox Avenue, 32254) from 3 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Thank you for what you do for our students every day!
Nikolai P. Vitti, Ed.D.
I don't know about you but I don't feel so great about a 3.8 percent raise when I have been living on three percent less since 2011. I don't know about you but I am still bitter about losing a step when the district declared financial urgency while simultaneously siting over a hundred million in reserves. I don't know about you but most teachers I know would have rather had a greater base pay rather than the opportunity to make bonuses. I don't know about you but where appreciative of the raise I still know Duval is one of the worst paying districts in one of the worst paying states when it comes to teacher salary.
So yes the raise may be historic but that's like me saying we will have a historic amount of sun rises tomorrow or me saying if I go ten days without shaving I have a historic beard. Quite frankly it doesn't mean that much.
Why didn't he just go, hey guys we have these tickets we would like to give you, thank you so much for all that you do? Why does he feel the need to try and spin everything? Spoiler alert he does not walk on water and we have a long way to go and if Vitti is taking us there we are on a road with lots of twists and turns.
So thank you for the offer of tickets, I may take you up on it but keep your historic talk to yourself until it actually means something.
SHEESH!!!
at March 30, 2015 4 comments:
Everything that is wrong with VAM and testing in Florida in four minutes. A must watch!
Class size versus charter schools, one works one doesn't. Hint, it's charter schools that doesn't.
At the same time the state is voting to further limit the class size amendment, something the people of Florida have voted for three times, because Tallahassee does not want to pay for it, they have voted to force local school districts to share local tax revenue with charter schools, many of which are run by for profit management companies.
Smaller classes are one of the few reforms that has actual evidence that says it works, charter schools of which over 270 have opened and taken public money in Florida leaving families and communities in a lurch cannot say that. The Stanford Credo charter schools study, the definitive study on charters says, they as a group under perform in Florida, when compared to public schools.
Why is Tallahassee forcing districts to invest in an arguably failed reform while ignoring the will of the people and gutting one that has evidence saying it works? The answer as usual is follow the money as charter school operators are some of the biggest supporters of the republican legislators in Tallahassee. It's crony capitalism with our children paying the price.
We should demand our representatives do what is right for the children of Florida instead of doing what is best for the profit margin of their supporters.
Wait what, Duval County schools done lost their mind!
I am just going to let them do the talking for me.
From the Times Union in an article about opting students out of standardized tests:
There are other drawbacks to opting out, parents say.
Amy Hynes-Johnson, a Mandarin parent whose fourth-grader and two fifth-graders opted out of tests this week, said they sat in the testing room for 80 minutes at a time. But because they didn't test, when their classmates had an after-test party at school, her children were sent to another room.
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-03-27/story/more-parents-taking-their-students-out-testing
Oy vey, so the school can't find a place to send kids who opt out of testing so they don't have to sit there and do nothing but we can find a place to send them when they are to be excluded from a party? What the $%#@!!!!
I talked to an elementary school vice principal two days ago and she told me about all the children who were crying before having to take the tests. They said they did their best to calm them down but the stress we are putting on children is incredible.
Stress, children, all over a test that most teachers can tell how their students are going to do without them even having to take it.
We have gone to far if this is what is happening.
Local Jacksonville education leaders who never taught or haven't taught much
The Huffington Post did a piece on all the education leaders who never taught including Education Secretary Arne Duncan. Why Obama, why, why, why.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/08/education-leaders-never-teachers_n_4235177.html
And it got me thinking about local education leaders who never taught or didn't teach that much.
First there is our Superintendent Vitti who taught for just two years at two different schools in North Carolina and New York.
There is Trey Csar the president of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund who spent two years as a teacher for America teacher in Louisiana.
Chair of the State Board of Education Gary Chartrand, a grocer by trade, says thirty years ago he substituted some but to be honest I can neither confirm or deny that.
School Board members Scott Shine, Jason Fischer, and Cheryl Grymes, nope, nope and nope.
Then there is Ashley Smith Juarez who I believe taught at Bolles for a couple years, it says in the SB biography she taught for public schools too but I can't find any record of that, she's so young the timeline would be really tight
So there you have it there is a woeful lack of teaching experience, especially local and public among our leaders. I can't help but think that has contributed to our schools spinning their wheels.
Why doesn't Vitti understand the importance of libraries?
A reader pointed out something I missed: "Do we really promote and teach the joy of reading," School Board member Connie Hall asked.
Answer: NO. You don't fund media specialist positions, close school libraries, & then you you ask about promoting the joys of reading? Might as well be a rhetorical question.
The Mike the Teacher blog has covered the cutting of librarians extensively.
65% of existing Duval County Middle School libraries in 2012-13, were eliminated in 2013-14 (Vitti's first full year as Superintendent).
79% of existing Duval County High School libraries in 2012-13, were eliminated in 2013-14.
90% of Duval County high schools (26/29) had no full-time librarian in 2013-14.
86% of Duval County high schools (25/29) had no librarian at all in 2013-14.
74% of Duval County middle schools had no librarian at all.
58% of Duval County elementary schools did not have a full-time librarian, but all had at least a part-time librarian.
In 2013-14, Vitti's funding decisions eliminated library positions from 15 middle schools and 15 high schools (one other high school librarian was reduced from full-to part time).
While 90% of high schools didn't have a single full-time librarian, Paxon (the college prep school) got TWO librarians.
Vitti cut the equivalent of 28 full-time positions at these middle and high schools where librarians were eliminated.
http://www.miketheteacher.com/it-would-have-taken-less-than-2-million-to-save-all-of-duval-countys-libraries/
Having talked to some of the few librarians left they tell me more cuts are on the way as libraries across the city will be turned into testing centers and for a district with a reading problem how does this make any type of rational sense.
Vitti has a problem that many people in government have and that's unless it benefits them or it has worked for them they have no use for it. Take for instance Senator Rob Portman from Ohio who changed his tunes about gays when his son revealed he was one, Andy Gardiner here in Florida who has pushed for personal learning scholarships for disabled children because he has one and then there is Vitti too who has a child with dyslexia, he starting the grasp academy to service children with it.
Vitti battled dyslexia too and the super should be applauded for overcoming his disability but at the same time this may have led to his lack of appreciation and understanding about the importance of libraries and librarians. Not everybody can learn from being thrown in front of a computer.
Mike the Teacher pointed out it would take about 2 million to fully fund our libraries or about the cost of one of Vitti's computer programs that I am sure we will chuck in a year or too.
Librarys' and librarians are important despite what Vitti thinks and it's a shame he doesn't understand that even if he personally didn't have much use for them growing up.
Do you ever just get tired of the ridiculous stuff that comes out of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund?
Point one, their school choice report said charter schools do worse, we have no idea how voucher schools are doing, school choice drains much needed resources from public schools and the coup-de-grace, we need more school choice.
Point two a couple years ago Tommy Hazouri during his stay on the board said, who the hell is the Jacksonville Public Education Fund, when they tried to elbow their way into local education. fast forward and the creator of JPEF Gary Chartrad has his hand picked superintendent appointed and its hard to tell where the district ends and JPEF begins.
Point three, the director of JPEF has two years teaching experience, in Louisiana as a Teach for America teacher. I am siting on my couch with my wife and between us we have more teaching experience than the entire JPEF organization, she has none by the way (except for teaching me how to put the toilet seat down she wanted me to mention).
Point four is the wacky shit trey Csar, of the two years experience, says, take for example what he said in the Times Union the other day. When talking about the slow progress at The Transformation schools, funded by money manged by JPEF he said"What the district needs to do is to focus on closing the achievement gap," said Trey Csar, head of the Jacksonville Public Education Fund.
"I have no doubt that the achievement gap is closable. The question is, are you closing it fast enough?"
http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/2015-03-26/story/duvals-transformation-schools-face-long-road-improvement
Oh, we just have to close the achievement gap, its as easy as that. Tomorrow I just have to breath and the day will be great.
The real problem is Vitti, JPEF, Csar and the donors to the QEA, have no idea how to do that and reason one is none were educators, reason two is they don't respect or appreciate them.
Representative Eric Fresen votes to give his charter school owning brother tax payer money.
Oy vey, just when you think there is the worst of the worst another pops up. How Eric Fresen, who has had multiple conflicts of interest isn't in jail is beyond me. Welcome to Florida.
From the Miami Herald: The bill found little opposition at first — until House Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Erik Fresen, R-Miami, added the contentious provision about construction funding.
Charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately managed, have long sought a stable revenue stream for construction and maintenance. Unlike traditional public schools, they cannot levy property taxes for that purpose. But school districts oppose sharing their tax dollars because most of the money is earmarked for debt service. What's more, they point out that many charter schools are housed in privately owned facilities that do not revert to the public if the school closes.
The bill that passed Friday would ensure charter schools receive about 40 percent of the amount traditional public schools can raise for construction and maintenance, Fresen said.
If the state does not provide enough money in the budget, as it has done in recent years, the school districts would have to make up the difference with their tax revenue.
That Fresen sponsored the amendment was controversial. His firm has helped build several charter schools, and his brother-in-law runs Academica, the state's largest charter school management company, .
Fresen said he did not consider the amendment to be a conflict of interest because it would not increase funding for charter schools.
"There's already money for capital outlay," he told the Herald/Times. "All this does is create a predictable framework for this capital outlay money to be expended."
Democrats also raised problems with the measure itself. Several voiced their concerns during a caucus meeting earlier Friday.
"The deal with charter schools was supposed to be that they operate on a shoestring budget," said state Rep. Richard Stark, D-Weston. "They didn't need the capital outlay funding."
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article16483178.html
Just so everybody understands, this means we are going to be giving for profit charter schools, like the one his brother runs, more tax payer money.
What the fuck beep!!!
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/education/article16483178.html#storylink=cpy
Saying Jason Fischer represents district 7 is a bit of a stretch
Saying Jason Fischer represents District 7 is a liberal interpretation of the facts, yes he was elected but rather than the people in District 7 he represents Jeb Bush and the privatization movement and make no mistake when he talks about school choice, privatization is what he is really talking about.
First let's talk about charter schools. Over 270 in Florida have taken public money and closed leaving families and communities in a lurch, including a half dozen in Jacksonville.. Also according to the Stanford Credo and a Jacksonville Public Education Fund study, Jacksonville's charter schools as a group under perform when compared to the public schools. In fact the only ones that are doing well are either in neighborhoods that have traditionally done well or spend about a third more per child (KIPP) to educate them
Then there are vouchers, the same JPEF study lamented that we have no idea how they are doing. Furthermore not only does most of the money go to religious schools and they don't have to take the same standardized tests that public schools do but the system is set up so they don't even have to report how the money they receive is spent. Accountability it seems is a necessity for public schools but less than an after though for voucher schools.
These which drain resources out of the schools, again from the JPEF study, are two of the choice options that Fischer praises.
Jacksonville also recently voted overwhelmingly that employees should live within the city limits, well Fischer is advocating with HB 1145, that Duval educate children who not only don't live in the district but whose parents don't pay taxes here either.
Manny Diaz r-Hialeah when shilling for the bill said, "There should be no hesitation in allowing a student who has not been provided the right opportunity in whatever arbitrary, designated county they live in to be able to cross that line and get a better opportunity," he said. "I will tell you that if that school district and that school that that student is supposed to be zoned for is doing their job and providing them the best opportunity, the parent's not going to be looking for another one.
Yes no hesitation and if schools weren't crappy then parents wouldn't have their kids leave. Or maybe there are just too many back kids, or poor kids, or some other petty reason that people sometimes use to make decisions.
Also how isn't this going to further segregate our schools? What poor or middle class parent can drive their child across the county line day in and day out? That would be none. All this is going to do is further drain resources from schools that can't afford to lose them and Diaz and Fischer think that is a winning proposal.
Fischer is also for fiscal accountability, except for voucher schools which don't have to report how the money is spent and for Charter schools many of which are for profit. It's also interesting to see an elected official advocating for the end of democracy. Charter and Private school boards are not elected.
I have long said public schools need more choice options and I applaud the district for creating dozens and dozens more but charter schools and vouchers schools aren't here to add choices they are here to replace public schools and since charters do worse and voucher schools are without accountability it's a bad deal for all of us. Just like Jason Fischer has been for district 7.
Finally, I am not sure how many of you know this but before Jason Fischer loved education, he loved soil and water; he just wasn't elected to the soil and water board. Then just a little after the two year mark of his term he announced he was going to run for the state house. His biggest supporters have been charter school and voucher interests, one of who he works for.
Sometimes it is the little things about Vitti that bother you the most.
At the Jacksonville Public Education one on one conference Vitti went on about the transnational schools quite a bit. He said for the first time ever every position had been filled.
Well today in the Times Union he sang a different tune. Transformation schools have in the past suffered from high teacher turnover. Even now, not all of their teaching positions are filled. Vitti said the district is trying to hire for nine openings, and 27 more are unfilled for a variety of reasons, including that some teachers are on leave, that is out of more than 1,100 teaching positions.
"My concern is, do we have quality teachers in front of those students every day," said Paula Wright, a board member, "A quality teacher can override … poverty, attitudes and all those negative things."
Okay, just 36 out of 1100 is a drop in the bucket, just let it go Chris who cares. the thing is the conference was just six weeks ago, did we lose 36 teachers since then, or did he know that there were openings and just went with the pep rally vibe he was selling. I don't know about you but I want a super who doesn't run from or spin problems no matter how small they might be. Deep breaths, who cares, I get it we have big problems and this probably isn't one.
A big one however is who was Wright referring to, she is obviously not convinced all the classes are staffed by quality teachers. I don't think for a second she is talking about the transfers, which makes me believe she is talking about the 200 or so Teach for America teachers. I am not saying they don't work hard or they aren't trying, I am saying those kids, our neediest of the needy, deserve better.
If we want them to improve anyways that is.
No information on how high and middle schools are doing with the QEA. Not even any spin.
The Times Union did a pretty big piece about the Duval Transformation schools. Thirty-six traditionally low performing schools that have seen unprecedented community support in the form of additional money.
The article went on and on how the elementary schools were doing, giving some pretty impressive spin from the district but do you know what the article doesn't mention once? How the middle and high schools are doing.
A couple years ago the department of education did a similar study offering unprecedented bonuses to high performing teachers to go to traditionally low performing schools.
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/02/superintendent-vitti-reads-slate.html
The study reveled solid gains at the elementary level but zero gains in middle school and they didn't even try it in high school. So why no information about how the high and middle schools are doing? What's the big secret?
School board member concerned about discipline at the transformation schools
From the Times Union: But some School Board members say they wish there were more signs that transformation schools were catching up to the rest of the district.
"I'm still very concerned. ... We've got a lot of work to do," said Constance Hall, adding that when she visits transformation schools she sees teachers and students working hard.
It will take time, she said, for high-performing teachers to have an impact. National research shows it can take four or five years to turn around a persistently low-performing school, she said.
She added that she wants more improvement in children's behavior, especially more respect for teachers and principals. But mostly she is concerned about reading progress.
"Do we really promote and teach the joy of reading," she asked.
Okay, there is a lot of yada, yada, yada there but notice when Hall said, She added that she wants more improvement in children's behavior, especially more respect for teachers and principals.
Who wants to bet referrals are way down at those schools? If a sitting school board member mentions that discipline isn't where it should be shouldn't we stand up and take notice? Shouldn't we say, what about all of Vitti's reports that it has improved?
Discipline is hard but necessary and I am not saying to drop the hammer or be cruel but it is something we have to address and its something that is holding back the learning of many children. If a teacher spends just ten percent of their time disciplining, usually just a couple kids too, then the entire class has lost out on 18 days of instruction.
The teachers that transferred to those schools deserve every dollar they get and then some but if we wanted to make real gains, we should have had smaller classes, behavioral supports and wrap around services. You know things that have proven to work.
Vitti makes some more exscuses
Superintendent Vitti is great at making excuses.
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2015/02/superintendent-vitti-is-great-at-one.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/07/vittis-excuses-about-davis-promotion.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/10/is-anybody-buying-vittis-principal.html
http://jaxkidsmatter.blogspot.com/2014/07/how-vittis-grade-excuses-arent-good.html
Well today when talking about the transformation schools he made some more.
From the Times Union: Vitti said the district's mid-year reading and math scores show that students in transformation schools, from kindergarten through fifth grade, have exceeded a year's worth of expected growth in reading, with fourth and fifth grades making the most headway. Likewise in math, students in transformation schools in grades three through five exceeded a year's growth, while kindergartners, first- and second-graders made about 80 percent of a year's growth.
Despite the advances, the transformation schools' achievement levels are far lower than at other schools, mid-year data show.
For instance, 75 percent of Duval's fifth graders district-wide are on target for grade-level proficiency in math. But at transformation schools, only 38 percent are at or near that level, data show.
And in reading, 81 percent of Duval's third graders are on target, but only 44 percent are, at the transformation schools.
It's worse for fourth and fifth grades, where about half of Duval's students score at or near grade level in reading, but only 16 percent of fourth-graders and 26 percent of fifth-graders are at grade level in the transformation schools.
"We cannot view the work in DTO as a one-year fix," Vitti said, "but (it's) a commitment to sustained and aggressive growth to accelerate student performance to grade-level standards."
He is right it's not a quick fix but it's not a three year fix either which is what the QEA is going to pay for. Furthermore it's not just a school fix, we should have behavioral supports and wrap around services going on if we really want to make a difference too.
Vitti however threw most of his eggs in the merit pay basket because that's what the businessmen who gave the money wanted. They don't understand that education is so much more than a good teacher in front of a class and instead of being the adult in the room and explaining it to them Vitti just went along.
His whole spiel seems to be setting us up for disappointment.
We have to take everything Vitti says with a grain, make that a shaker of salt.
I really hate to say it but I believe everything that Superintendent Vitti says should be taken with a grain of salt and I base this mostly on his proclamations about improved discipline. Everyone knows the books are cooked.
So when Vitti says the kids at the transformational schools have already gained a year's worth, I am not buying it and it doesn't help that Vitti has a lot riding on the QEA either.
From the Times Union: Most students at 36 of Duval County's struggling schools made a year's worth of progress in six months in reading and math, new district data show.
"I know we're moving in the right direction," said Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, referring to the 36 schools in the Andrew Jackson, Ribault and Raines high school feeder patterns which are called Duval's "transformation" schools.
I actually think moving some of our best teachers to our neediest schools was the right idea, though where worth every penny I think there were better ways than bribing the to move. Sadly we know that as soon as the money is turned off most will head back to the schools they came from.
But how do you staff those schools with Teach for America hobbyists too? On one hand they go we need these veterans there but then on the other they say let's throw in some non-education teachers, a fifth of whom won't last a year and the vast majority will be gone it two, as well. That's F$%#ing madness.
Has there been improvement? I imagine in some classes yes, but I imagine overall they are not far from where they started.
Some good news out of Tallahassee?
From State Impact: Nearly one in five Florida 3rd graders were at risk of being held back because oflow scores on the state reading test last year.
But this year the state might not hold back any 3rd graders. That's because a Senate committee voted to suspend those penalties this year.
The bill requires an outside group to make sure the state test results are statistically valid.
Sen. David Simmons says he wants to make sure schools and the state can depend on Florida Standards Assessments results before making big decisions using those results.
"Common sense says that we need to ensure that this test that is being administered is, in fact, psychometrically valid," Simmons says. "This amendment does that."
http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2015/03/25/senate-committee-wants-to-suspend-testing-penalties-for-third-graders/
I personally believe it is just a bad idea to fail kids, especially ones so young based on how they did on one test on one day which was the cornerstone of Jeb Bush's reforms.
Anyhoo if this amendment passes it's good news. It's baffling why makings sure we get things right meets such resistance from the republicans in Tallahassee. That being said, what abut the tenth graders who might not be able to graduate and all the kids who might be forced to take remedial classes based on a dubious test. What about the schools that are going to be labeled as failing and the teachers and principals who are going to lose their jobs. Where is their consideration.
This is a nice first step but what a long way we still have to go.
The big lie that the Jacksonville Public Education...
Superintendent blasts state for wanting to give ta...
Everything that is wrong with VAM and testing in F...
Class size versus charter schools, one works one d...
Local Jacksonville education leaders who never tau...
Why doesn't Vitti understand the importance of lib...
Do you ever just get tired of the ridiculous stuff...
Representative Eric Fresen votes to give his chart...
Saying Jason Fischer represents district 7 is a bi...
Sometimes it is the little things about Vitti that...
No information on how high and middle schools are ...
School board member concerned about discipline at ...
We have to take everything Vitti says with a grain...
The true aim of Florida's school choice agenda.
Let the Florida Senate know you support Senator Ha...
Oy vey, Manny Diaz, clueless about education
Some more random hypocrisy from Jason Fischer
Don Geatz, parents are idiots, screw school choice
Duval Charter Schools lag behind public schools in...
It's time to let parents easily opt their children...
Steve Crisafulli, another clueless republican legi...
Rep. Manny Diaz, attempts to stifle debate, really...
Rep. H. Marlene O'Toole attempts to cover for the ...
Separate and unequal
It takes six figures to be an education leader in ...
What restorative justice looks like in Duval's sch...
Broward County turns down charter school grant tha...
New York Post pans Vitt's restorative justice plan.
Janet Adkins, the worst legislator ever or just fr...
Do you ever get the feeling that Tallahassee wants...
Geatz and Adkins, oh Florida why do you elect peop...
The conundrum that is Becki Couch (rough draft)
Ms. Smith deserved better from Duval County Public...
Is Vitti being sincere or is he giving lip service...
When is getting just 50% AWESOME! When the Times U...
Wait, what now it was a cyber attack that messed u...
More general cluelessness from Commisioner Stewart
Superintendent Vitti's abysmal poll numbers.
Restorative justice and why we don't do science ex...
Superintendent Vitti, thinks our math and science ...
How aren't Florida's writing tests invalid or ever...
Scott Shine's poor start as a school board member.
The school board turns off clock for clueless Wayn...
Superintendent Vitti's opt out letter analyzed.
Duval's opt out plan, students can miss weeks of s...
Reader: Vitti is responsible for the district's dr...
Superintendent Vitti's no good terrible very bad l...
Backpacks not bullets.
Pam Stewart says the system is fine while it is im...
Becki Couch may have some explaining to do.
WJCT and The Jacksonville Public Education Fund te...
Becki Couch reads the school board the riot act.
Not one teacher speaks up for Vitti
Accountability and Data are great for teachers but...
Vitti's contract extended.
Strange doings on the second day of testing.
The Duval County School Board's habit of manufactu...
Superintendent Vitti really loves Gary Chartrand, ...
It's time for Pam Stewart to go!
First day testing problems, oh Florida, a round up...
The new contract proposal encourages veteran teach...
More about Al Brennan at First Coast
Principal admits Duval's new discipline techniques...
Al Brennan principal of First Coast High school ha...
Four more years of crazy, Gary Chartrand reappoint...
If only Andy Gardiner were poor


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The Arrival of Super Rugby Aotearoa
By: Shane Miles, Lukas Zaher
Domestic rugby union action is set to return to New Zealand as the country begins easing lockdown restrictions following the coronavirus crisis.
New Zealand Rugby (NZR) have confirmed the go-ahead for a new men's domestic mini-series named 'Super Rugby Aotearoa'. It will temporarily replace the 2020 edition of Super Rugby, the annual 15 team club competition that also includes teams from Australia, Argentina, South Africa, and Japan. The competition will kick off on 13th June as the Highlanders square off with the Chiefs at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin.
The 2020 edition of Super Rugby was suspended after just seven rounds in March, with restrictions on global travel making finishing the series impossible.
Starting this weekend, Super Rugby Aotearoa will see each of the five NZ franchises – Blues, Chiefs, Crusaders, Highlanders and Hurricanes – play each other in home-and-away fixtures over ten weeks. Stats Perform have used our detailed rugby data to analyses how this new-look tournament might play out.
New Zealand's Domestic Dominance in Super Rugby:
Three of the top four most successful teams in the history of Super Rugby are based in New Zealand and of the five teams to have clinched the championship title more than once, three are based in the land of the long white cloud.
The first five Super Rugby finals were all won by New Zealand outfits – the Blues clinching the first two before a Crusaders three-peat from 1998 to 2000. Overall, only seven times has a team from outside New Zealand been crowned Super Rugby champions.
Life started out slow for the New Zealand conference in Super Rugby, with only two of the five teams winning more games than they lost in the 1996 campaign. The Blues were the most successful in that campaign, going on to clinch the trophy in the game's inaugural season.
It would not be until the 1998 season that more than two New Zealand teams would end the regular season with a winning record and it was a season which saw the balance of power in the conference shift dramatically. The Crusaders rose to a powerful position which they would occupy almost perpetually until the current day, while the early success of the Blues was starting to lose its shine.
New Zealand's stranglehold on Super Rugby has only grown stronger over time. Only once since the beginning of the 2014 Super Rugby season have fewer than four of the five New Zealand teams finished with a regular season win-rate of 50% or higher – including a standout season in 2016 where all five teams finished with a winning record. Now, with all five teams rising to the top of the competition, intra-country derbies take on ever-increasing importance.
The Chiefs have won half of the 138 New Zealand derbies they have contested over the course of Super Rugby, but it is only the Crusaders who can boast a winning record in such fixtures. The most decorated team in Super Rugby history has won 64% of all their local derbies.
In fact, no other team in the history of the competition has won more games against New Zealand opponents than they've lost, with the Crusaders (64%), Chiefs (50%), and Hurricanes (48%) occupying the top three positions in terms of win rates in such fixtures.
The Sharks are the best of visiting teams, boasting a 48% win rate against New Zealand opposition, with the Brumbies (46%) and NSW Waratahs (43%) occupying the positions directly below them.
The New Zealand conference has been the most difficult for nearly all teams to wrestle with in the context of the wider competition. The Cats are the only team in Super Rugby history with a higher win rate against New Zealand opponents than their overall win rate. They've won 26.7% of their games against New Zealand opponents but have an overall win rate of 26.2% in the competition.
In Which Areas Do the New Zealand Teams Dominate?
The detailed data shows that we could potentially be seeing the peak of New Zealand's powers in Super Rugby – or that there are even more dangerous heights to ascend to in the coming years.
New Zealand Teams in Super Rugby
Clean Breaks
Defenders Beaten
Offloads
Tackle Success
Penalties Conceded
2011 23.1 2.3 6.7 15.4 10.2 106.1 89% 10.3
2015 25.3 2.9 10.0 20.3 13.9 112.6 86% 10.7
2016 29.6 3.8 13.0 21.5 13.2 107.7 85% 9.5
2019 27.8 3.8 12.3 24.3 9.7 121.7 85% 9.1
2020 27.8 3.7 11.8 24.7 8.1 125.0 85% 10.6
The five New Zealand teams combined have made an average of 10+ clean breaks and beaten 20+ defenders per game in each of the last six Super Rugby seasons – a feat that they had not managed as a conference in even one of the four seasons prior. In fact, they have beaten 24+ defenders per game over each of the last three seasons, with each of the last seven campaigns seeing an increase in this category.
An Evolving Style of Play:
The three seasons prior to the Crusaders current reign of dominance was highlighted by a New Zealand conference ready to throw the ball around. As a collective, they made more than 13 offloads per game throughout each of the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons. The data above shows a sharp decline in this area, though, with the 2019 and 2020 campaigns seeing average figures below 10 per game.
Their offensive mindedness has meant that they have been a little less reliant on needing to have a staunch, bolstered defence. The tackle success rate of the New Zealand conference has been 85% or lower in each of the last five Super Rugby seasons after having been above that mark in all five seasons prior. Indeed, their 2011 and 2012 seasons saw a combined tackle success rate of 89% – the highest in the last decade. Though, it is important to note that the volume of tackles has also increased steadily from 106 per game in 2011 to 125 per game in the current campaign.
The Aotearoa Experiment:
Among the incoming changes in Super Rugby Aotearoa are two key experiments which could eventually find a permanent home in Super Rugby. The competition will trial a red card system which allows another player to return as a substitute for a red-carded player after 20 mins as well as a Golden Point system to decide winners in extra-time if they are drawing after full-time in regulation play. Under the Golden Point system, the first team to score – by drop goal, penalty goal, or try – during a 10-minute period of extra time will win the game.
At first glance, the Blues and Highlanders look to be the two teams set to benefit from the reformatted red card system set to function in Super Rugby Aotearoa. Both clubs have been on the receiving end of a red card on five occasions since the beginning of the 2011 campaign – more than any other New Zealand side and tied for third-most overall.
The Highlanders still managed to earn two wins from their five games when they had conceded a red card on the day in the last decade, but the Blues managed to win only once from their five games. They would give themselves a good chance of turning that form around if they could have the opportunity to replace their sanctioned player after 20 minutes.
While there wasn't a draw in the opening seven rounds of the 2020 Super Rugby competition, there were six played out during the 2019 campaign. That was twice as many as the two previous seasons combined and more than any other single season of the competition has seen.
The Crusaders (5) have been involved in more draws throughout Super Rugby history (not included cancelled games) more than any other New Zealand club; the Chiefs have drawn four games, while each of the Blues, Highlanders, and Hurricanes have accrued three draws.
In the last decade of Super Rugby only three New Zealand players have struck multiple successful drop goals and of those only one is active in the competition. Lima Sopoaga (8) tops the list, but currently plies his trade for Wasps in Premiership Rugby. As a result of a key recent signing in Dan Carter, the Blues could well be placed as the Golden Point specialists for the remainder of this year.
Carter has made four successful drop goal attempts in the last decade of Super Rugby – the most of any active New Zealand player. He's struck 11 across the course of his Super Rugby career – a figure only Andrew Mehrtens (17) stands above among New Zealanders. Carter's experience and skill could be the difference when we see our first Golden Point Super Rugby game.
New Zealand continues to rise as the dominant force in rugby in the southern hemisphere and with Super Rugby Aotearoa on the horizon, we won't have to wait long for them to show us why.
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You can't hide from your past, not even if you're Ben Affleck. The actor is facing criticism after reportedly requesting that PBS omit that his ancestors were slave owners in America in an episode of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates' documentary series Finding Your Roots. The show helps celebrities like Derek Jeter and Jessica Alba explore their ancestral paths.
While it's easy to criticize Affleck, to do so misses the point. His story reflects America's larger problem of not knowing how to deal with its history.
"The U.S. suffers from historical amnesia," Mic's Darnell Moore wrote last month of our modern tendency to hide from the prejudice that characterizes our nation's past.
Affleck's apparent desire to hide from his ancestors is a symptom of white America's shame and embarrassment about a history we seem not to be able to get beyond, but which we must if we hope to actually achieve racial equality.
The story: The details of the request were released in the latest round of Sony emails uploaded to WikiLeaks on Thursday. According to the Daily Mail, Gates emailed Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton to discuss the request to edit out the fact that Affleck's ancestors "owned slaves." Lynton replied, "I would take it out if no one knows, but if it gets out that you are editing the material based on this kind of sensitivity, then it gets tricky. Again, all things being equal, I would definitely take it out."
Gates said a handful of other guests were descendants of slave owners and did not make such a request (even Anderson Cooper, whose "ancestor was a real SOB."). He added that to omit this information was to make an ethical compromise and, in effect, call into question the show's entire editorial process: "To do this would be a violation of PBS rules actually, even for Batman."
Gates is right. We must face our most shameful history in order to break free from it. Silence and erasure have been the two primary strategies Americans have used to whitewash our history. But in our attempts to hide the past, such strategies only anchor us to it more intensely.
Americans largely don't consider how the legacy of slavery connects to the current police brutality against people of color like Michael Brown and Walter Scott, for example, or how brown and black bodies have continued to be exploited and terrorized for American capitalism.
For Affleck, as for countless white people, America has failed to teach us how to talk about race. According to a recent MTV poll, only 30% of white respondents talk about race at home. The problem can also be attributed to our public school system, which has become increasingly segregated since Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, are better at teaching children to color in bubbles for standardized tests than to think and talk about race in depth.
Silence doesn't create change. Gates, who has written about the inefficacy of silence, knows that.
Affleck's embarrassment of his family's slave-owning past is not unique to white America. But it is a shame that can only be overcome by acknowledging it. Rather than erase both our individual stories and America's collective racial history — from the genocide of the land's Native peoples to the foundation built on the backs of slaves — we must acknowledge and learn from the darkest parts of our past in order to create the racial equality we so desperately need.


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The Business News Headlines & More 24 October 2019
The markets struggled all day and in the end the Dow missed making it back to the flat-line. It's the business news headlines for Thursday the 24th day of October. And, we've got a shorter segment today because we've got a rare two-part interview with the current Mayor of the City of Des Moines, Iowa, Frank Cownie. In the news:
What happened today on Wall Street;
Tesla is now the most valuable U.S. automaker;
Flight Shaming...it's a thing;
Twitter stock drops and we'll share why;
Pot profits...going up in smoke.
Those stories plus a two-part long form interview with Mayor Frank Cownie. Mayor Cownie has served the city of Des Moines, Iowa for 16 years and he wants another four. I'll ask him why voters should reward him for that. Plus we'll talk about promises made and he says...kept. Here is Part One.
Then in Part Two we'll talk about the water issue that impacts not only Des Moines but also the surrounding communities that buy water from the Des Moines Water Works. We'll also get into flooding, climate change and more. Here is Part Two.
Mayor Frank Cownie - The Interview Part Two
Here I continue my conversation with Mayor Frank Cownie and first ask him about the issues regarding water, water safety and the impact it has on not only the residents of Des Moines but the communities that are the customers of the Des Moines Water Works. So much inside to unpack on that issue and others. Click in to listen.
The Business News Headlines 12 March 2019
It's the 12th day of March and thank for clicking through for the top business news stories of the day. These stories are just a click away:
Wealthy folks bribe their kids into trendy colleges and universities;
Boeing continues to have troubles with their stock and worried passengers;
Dick's Sporting Goods to rid itself of rifles and some shoes;
You may have forgotten about Lumber Liquidators but the SEC didn't;
The UK votes against the Theresa May Brexit plan...now what;
Windsor Heights said "no" to Aldi but not Waukee;
Is it really a paid family leave proposal from Sen. Joni Ernst;
What happened today and why on Wall Street.
Those stories plus I'll have a conversation about the Latino Community not only in Iowa but in the United States with Joe Henry an official with LULAC the League of United Latin American Citizens. And yes, we'll touch on the impact Latinos have on business, education, voting and more here in Iowa with LULAC Council 307. To hear that conversation click here.
The Business News Headlines 23 August 2018
Click through to learn more about these top business news stories and later two great interviews:
Markets hit a wall today and we'll share why;
So, is Tesla REALLY going private? We've got an update;
There is one job young people don't want even though it pays well;
Grocery store plastic bags on the way out;
No, Mr. President that is not the price of a Camero in China
Those stories the markets and our Restaurant of the Week is Central Standard. You've got to listen to our conversation with general manager Andy Crounse it's pretty clear why this new place was packed today at lunch.
Then you can click through to listen to Michael Lawrence the founder of something called BluJaket. He's pretty stoked about the mobile app and we were too once we heard what it can do for retail, restaurants and sporting/special events.
Thanks for coming by...and subscribe by hitting the FOLLOW button...OK?
Our Restaurant of the Week - Central Standard with Andy Crounse
We went "Out to Lunch" and met up with Andy Crounse the General Manager of Central Standard a restaurant that's been open for less than a month but...packed. So, what is it? The food? The service? The price? What if we told you it was all of that and more. Central Standard spent lots of time researching their customer base and then creating appeal. Click through and go Out to Lunch with us as we learn more about Central Standard of Waukee.
Good Times with Jeff Pitts from Cityview
At the end of our broadcast week we dive into fun stuff to do and chat it up with Jeff Pitts from Cityview Magazine. Here we talk a little nonsense but also offer up a couple of great things going on in the Metro with a solid look at Waukee for some reason! Enjoy...and laugh a little.
Barn Town Brewing - Restaurant of Week
Each week we bring you the IoB Restaurant of the Week and this week we double down on beer and food with Pete Faber from Barn Town Brewing. This new establishment is already a hit in West Des Moines, Waukee and the entire Des Moines Metro. How did they get started, who is behind it and what does it take to create a successful place where people actually WANT to return? We asked...
Students Should Be Seen and Heard
As legislators and school boards and teachers make decisions about education...who listens to the students? That is the question on the minds of the Iowa Student Learning Institute...bet you didn't know there was one. Here we talk with the ISLI president Justin Sindelar and member Taylor Larick about what they think should happen and about the upcoming Student Voice Rally scheduled for April 11. Good stuff here from two very mature and well spoken young people.
Insight on Business the News Hour with Michael Libbie is the only weekday, hour-long business broadcast in the Midwest. The national, regional and local business news along with long-form business interviews can be heard Monday - Friday starting at 5:05pm on AM-940. The Business News Hour is a production of Insight Advertising, Marketing & Communications through a business relationship with The Des Moines Radio Group. You can follow us on Twitter @IoB_NewsHour.


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Mike Nichols and "The Graduate"
Clip: Season 30 Episode 1 | 1m 17s
Mike Nichols won an Academy Award for directing "The Graduate," his second film, released in December 1967. Nichols learned about directing from Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg. Dustin Hoffman, the young star of "The Graduate," and Paul Simon, whose songs are included on the soundtrack, describe working on the film, which earned many Academy Award nominations as well as Nichols' win.
Major support for American Masters is provided by AARP. Additional funding is provided by Rosalind P. Walter, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Ellen and James S. Marcus, Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Vital Projects Fund, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Lenore Hecht Foundation, Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation, and public television viewers.
Meryl Streep Interview: Working with Director Mike Nichols
Meryl Streep does a funny imitation of Nichols while describing working on films with him.
Clip: S30 Ep1
Mike Nichols: Interview with Producer Julian Schlossberg
The producer of Mike Nichols: An American Master describes working with Nichols.
Clip: S30 Ep1 | 5m 2s
Mike Nichols: An American Master - Preview
The late, great director (The Graduate, Angels in America) discusses his 50-year career.
Preview: S30 Ep1 | 39s
Mike Nichols' Laugh
Stars of theater and film remember Mike Nichols' famous, uncontrollable laughter.
Clip: S30 Ep1 | 47s
Season 33 Season 32 Season 31 Season 30 Season 29 Season 27 Season 26 Season 22 Season 17
Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future
Explore the life and work of Finnish-American modernist architectural giant Eero Saarinen.
Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
The first documentary about the legend behind much of the bold television of the '70s.
S30 Ep8 | 1h 24m 3s
Loretta Lynn: Still a Mountain Girl
"The Queen of Country Music" is still going strong after more than 50 years of music.
S30 Ep5 | 1h 53m 14s
Fats Domino and The Birth of Rock 'n' Roll
How Fats Domino's brand of New Orleans rhythm & blues morphed into rock 'n' roll.
Carole King: Natural Woman
King tells her story in a new documentary with previously unseen and rare performances.
Mike Nichols: American Masters
Watch & Share Your Story
Join us in celebrating the powerful, creative and innovative women in our lives. Inspiring Woman is a year-long online campaign based on artistic expression, academic success, active community engagement and acceptance of difference.
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Today my mom found the rooftop terrace at our riad. On the terrace, we have a very nice view over the city of Fes, and in the morning, it is very hot up there. The way we found the rooftop terrace was the lady who works here told us our laundry was hanging up there to dry. We also found a little sitting area on the rooftop.
Then later that night we went to the market. We had a good dinner of meat kabobs then some guy put a monkey on my shoulder(sorry no picture) but my mom freaked out and told the guy to take the monkey off me because she thought I would get rabies. After dinner we visited the souk (market) for a little while, then we came back to the raid and went to bed.
This morning we had a good breakfast (the family at the raid made it for us) then left to go out for the day. We first went to a private garden and little museum about the Berber people who live in Morocco. We took a horse and buggy ride to Cafe Henna, where we had a very good lunch (potato and egg sandwich) after we got cool henna tattoos. I got a panda bear on my arm.
We had camel burgers for dinner. Yum.


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Q: How to transfer one domain to another domain without losing theme options (customizer)? I have developed the one wordpress site with custom theme,
Here I used the custom customizer options.
Then site completed on my local machine I mean localhost (http://127.0.0.1/wordpress).
Now the problem is I tried to transfer my site to live domain (http://wordpress.bla.com).
How I tried to transfer files?
1) exported the database from localhost/phpmyadmin and changed the oldurl to new url using ctrl+f.
2) then transfered files through ftp.
After live site opens without logo, header menu, and custom customizer data. but DB having these values.
What I expect from you guys?
How to avoid these losing theme options?
I tried many times and checked all the old url was changed to new url in DB.
But I didn't get theme options values in new url.
please suggest me to  avoid these losing theme options?
Thanks.

A: You can not replace the URL in the database using ctrl+f or any other "direct" method. You have to do a search & replace in the whole database in a way capable of keeping the validity of serialized data.
There are several tools to do that serialized seach & replace. For example:

*

*Plugins like Better Search Replace, Velvet Blues Update URLs or All-in-One WP Migration.

*WP-CLI's search-replace

*Search and Replace for WordPress Databases Script

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Fort Erie Judged as Having the Best Tasting Water in the Province.
Included at the Ontario Water Works Association Annual Conference May 6 – 9, 2012, was a Water Quality Taste Test Competition. Water samples from across the province were submitted for the attending delegate's scrutiny to determine the facility that has produced the best tasting water.
It is with congratulatory kudos to the Region of Niagara and their dedicated staff that we are pleased to announce that the Rosehill Water Treatment Plant here in Fort Erie was judged as producing the Best Tasting Water in the Province.


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About Freestyle
Freestyle skiing is a dynamic sport featuring some of the most innovative events and highest-flying tricks in the world. The sport was named for the free and creative element introduced by athletes who resisted traditional alpine and nordic skiing. Freestyle skiing made its debut on the Olympic program in 1992 (moguls) and 1994 (aerials).
The sport consists of three primary disciplines: aerials, moguls and dual moguls.
Athletes get started in freestyle by learning to ski at a local resort and taking ski school lessons to learn basic skills. Local U.S. Ski & Snowboard Clubs are the primary starting point for aspiring athletes, providing an introduction point with knowledgeable coaches and officials to guide them along the development pipeline. Young athletes have numerous opportunities to grow in their freestyle skiing abilities through programs like the Young Guns camp and the Elite Aerial Development Program (EADP).
The U.S. Ski & Snowboard provides education and support to its local clubs including a certification process for coaches, judges and officials and the club itself to ensure the best experience possible for athletes and parents.
So What is Freestyle?


VR5800WSA – WaterSaver Faucet Co.
Application: Vandal-resistant multiple service fixture for hot and cold water and gas. All-forged brass construction for superior strength and durability. Furnished with WaterSaver self-contained compression valve units with stainless steel valve seats. Two laboratory ball valves for gas service.


Businesses who haven't taken a lot of their operations, records management and customer information digital are at a risk of getting left behind in the modern corporate environment. PEERNET offers a variety of software that can help your business facilitate the switch seamlessly.
One common aversion that small business owners have to moving their documents online is the fear of digital threats. No matter how big or small your business is, you're likely handling sensitive customer data in some form or another. This poses a problem for many small businesses, as the luxury of having a dedicated IT person or team is out of reach. But there are some simple steps you can take to ensure that your business keeps its network as protected as possible.
Use a good quality general antivirus program on all company computers. This is a simple yet effective way to maintain your company's computers and ensure that they have that first level of protection against attacks.
Worms, which automatically spread themselves through a network and have had terrible consequences for businesses in the past.
Anti-Malware software provides a second line of defense to pick up threats that your anti-virus software is not able to detect.
Keep your software updated. The battle between makers of antivirus software and hackers will wage on forever, because hackers are always finding new vulnerabilities. It's important to keep not only your antivirus or anti-malware software updated, but also the operating systems on your computers.
Schedule your programs to run regularly. You can set any antivirus or anti-malware program to run on a schedule so that any threats are detected and dealt with as soon as possible. The software won't serve its purpose if it's not run frequently enough to catch potential threats efficiently.
Use a password-protected central database to store log-ins. If you are handling login information for clients whose accounts you need access to, it's critical to After all, if someone breaches their system or accesses their information, you know the fingers will be pointed toward any other business who had access to their systems. A database protected by 2-tier protection is an ideal place to store passwords if you need regular access to them.
Have your employees uncheck the 'Remember Passwords' function on their web browsers. Again, this is a simple, one-time fix that offers a higher level of security should unauthorized users access your workers computers. It's especially important to protect against data theft in case computers are physically stolen from your office as well.
Encourage strong passwords. As hard as it is to believe, some people still haven't gotten the message about the importance of having a strong password. Here are some of the most common passwords used in 2013: 123456; 'password'; qwerty; and 111111. A strong password uses a mix of capital and lowercase letters, numbers and punctuation marks.
Train your employees on suspicious links, emails, etc. People who are more technically savvy know how to spot a phishing email, or not to click on suspicious online links, but you should set a short period of time aside each year just to reaffirm your policies and refresh your employee's memories.
Back up your digital documents. We've all been working away on a document or a project when the program freezes up and you lose all your work. Now, imagine that everything on your computer or network was wiped out. That's not just frustrating, but potentially devastating to your businesses operations.
Keep only a bare minimum of data about customers, and never keep credit cards on file. This is one of the most important policies that any business can implement to keep their customers or clients' data secure. Over the past few years, many large international retailers have suffered massive data breaches, exposing millions of their customers' personal information to hackers. Make sure you minimize your potential exposure to that risk; not only could you be held liable for not having good practices in place, but you can lose the trust of your customers, damaging your operations going forward.
If it's over your head, seek out a consultant. Hopefully we have been able to provide some of the main steps and protocols that are important to implement to protect your small businesses IT security. But if you're not confident or unsure about such matters at all, find an expert in your area who can work with you to assess and recommend solutions for your company.
Your network's security should be treated with the highest importance; he cost of taking some basic precautions to ensure that you've reduced the risk to your business and your customers is likely far less than the potential cost of a data breach.
With that said, it's important to keep in mind that even something written with a pen on paper is not immune to the threat of theft or being leaked. There's no need to be fearful of taking documents, operations and record keeping digital, just the need to take the necessary precautions to protect your business.