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China Trade Issues at Latest WTO Council for Trade in Services Meeting
At a meeting of the WTO's Council for Trade in Services on October 14, 2022, several trade issues involving China that had been raised previously were on the agenda again.
China Finalizes Measures on Data Security in the Industry and Information Technology
A Chinese regulatory agency recently finalized the new rules on data security in the industry and information technology sectors, which will come into force next year. The rules set forth requirements for data classification, data protection and cross-border data flows.
FCC Official Visits Taiwan
Invited by Taiwan's National Communications Commission (NCC), FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr paid a three-day visit to Taiwan, during which time he discussed cybersecurity and telecoms with Taiwan officials. This is the first time that an FCC Commissioner has visited Taiwan.
U.S. Cabinet Official Warns of "Cut-Rate" Chinese Tech Products
In a speech yesterday at the Singapore International Cyber Week Summit, Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, warned about the general threat China poses in cybersecurity, as well as the risks of using Chinese tech products.
Chinese Cyber Agency Mulls Harsher Penalties
China's internet watchdog is trying to revise the 2016 Cybersecurity Law to raise the level of penalties for violations of provisions related to network protection, key equipment and products.
Chinese Rules on Security Review of Data Outflows Take Effect; More Information on the Review Released
As China's new rules on data exports take effect today, some data will need to pass an official assessment in order to be transferred abroad. To assist the implementation, the Chinese internet watchdog released more information to help companies navigate through the procedure.
China-Australia Relations
Australian Senator Calls Out Didi for Cybersecurity and Privacy Breaches
In recent weeks, Australian Senator James Paterson has pressed Chinese ride sharing company Didi on its privacy policies as they relate to Australian customers.


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Q: Combining several variables into one outcome score: How is it done in the machine learning community? I have got 8 cognitive (continuous) behaviour variables and would like to combine them into a composite score. I would then like to find the best predictors of this outcome (from about 50 predictors).
I was interested if there are alternatives to PCA/Factor analysis or latent variable model approaches which allow to model features which are non-linearly related to the input variables. I am aware of non-linear PCA but as a classical statistician would be interested if there are any other methods in the field of machine learning.
I would also be interested if it is possible to combine the development of a "composite score" and selecting a regression model to predict this composite score simultaneously within a cross-validation model building procedure.
I am grateful about any advice or references.

A: This mentions about composite variable. http://www.r-bloggers.com/ecological-sems-and-composite-variables-what-why-and-how/. In R package lavann, you can create composite variable based on manifest variables (indicators).  Then this composite variable can be treated as a dependent variable or independent as per the question of interest.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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HomeCar CultureClassic Auto Show changes venue, more concours and event news
Classic Auto Show changes venue, more concours and event news
The 1929 DuPont Model G Speedster will be at the Classic Auto Show | Petersen Automotive Museum
The third annual Classic Auto Show takes place March 16-17 in a new venue, the OC Fair and Event Center in Costa Mesa, California, where hundreds of cars, trucks and motorcycles will be on display in a festival atmosphere.
Among the highlights of the wide-ranging show will be the Grand Boulevard, where 30 cars with distinctive pedigrees or histories will be on display, including a 1931 Model J Duesenberg, 1962 Fiat Jolly, 1927 Rolls-Royce Phantom I, a 1941 Tatra T87, 1953 Chevy Corvette, 1976 Bricklin SV1 and a 1956 Cadillac Limousine 7533 used under the dictatorship of Generalismo Francisco Franco of Spain.
The 1949 Tucker Torpedo in the Petersen Museum "vault" | Petersen Automotive Museum
Six vehicles from the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles will be shown, including a 1929 DuPont Model G Speedster, a 1948 Tucker Torpedo and a 1937 Lincoln Zephyr V12 Coupe. The San Diego Automotive Museum is sending a 1963 Studebaker Avanti R2 and a 1937 Lincoln Zephyr V12 Coupe.
Automobile Driving Museum at El Segundo will display its all-women build, the (55 Jimmi), and the Sacramento-based California Automotive Museum will show a 1912 Metz Roadster and a 1929 Stutz Model M Sedan.
"Each year, our goal is to curate a unique selection of historically significant vehicles that are all-new to the Classic Auto Show," Michael Carlucci, senior vice president of LeftField Media, the show's producer, said in a news release. "Since the passions of our fans cover virtually every aspect of car culture and marques, it's important that we truly have something for everyone."
1963 Studebaker Avanti R2 | San Diego Automotive Museum
The all-new "40 Shades of Green" collection will commemorate the St. Patrick's Day weekend with a selection of vehicles in shades of green, while the "Classic Truck Tailgate Party" will display a variety of vintage pickup trucks, set in a family friendly entertainment atmosphere with games and live bands.
A special class this year highlights the Import and Japanese Experience with 16 special vehicles selected by noted tuner and designer Big Mike and Terry & Koji Yamaguchi, chief executives of the Japanese Classic Car Show.
The Classic Auto Show will be hosted by comedian and noted car guy Adam Carolla, with a number of celebrity guests on hand, including Dave Kindig, Mark Worman, Mike Finnegan, Bogi and Lyn St. James.
For more information about the Classic Auto Show, visit the event website.
Diecast collector Barracudas at Carlisle
The Carlisle Chrysler Nationals, billed as the world's largest all-Mopar gathering, offers something special for fans of all ages: a commemorative 1969 Plymouth Barracuda in 1/64th scale.
The schematic for the diecast Barracuda | Carlisle Chrysler Nationals
The Barracuda model, produced by M2 Machines, represents a rare M-code 440 in black with red interior and highlights, including the 50th anniversary logo of the M-Code A-Body Darts and Barracudas. The diecast also celebrates the Carlisle theme for this year: the Summer of '69.
Just 750 of the diecasts will be produced, the organizers notes, and "once they're gone, they're gone." The cars are priced at just $15 each, with a limit of three per customer, and available on the Carlisle Events store website.
One caveat: The diecast Barracudas must be picked up in person at the Carlisle Chrysler Nationals, to be held July 12-14 at the Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Fairgrounds.
Lamborghini Miura celebrated at London Concours
The London Concours has announced the first of its special feature displays, a gathering of Lamborghini's iconic Miura mid-engine V12 coupes, which set the groundbreaking formula for following generations of supercar exotics.
Lamborghini Miura gets trend-setter honors | London Concours
The special showing also commemorates the 50th anniversary of Miura's lead role in the opening scene of the classic film The Italian Job.
"Once the world's fastest production car, and hailed as one of the greatest automotive designs of all time, as many as eight examples will be on display at the London Concours this June," according to a concours news release.
The London Concours takes place June 4-5 at the Honourable Artillery Company HQ in the British capital, with about 100 cars placed in seven curated classes, including The Icons and The Innovators.
The more information, visit the event website.
Goodguys at WestWorld
The second major show of the 2019 season presented by Goodguys Rod and Custom Association, the Spring Nationals, will be presented March 15-17 at WestWorld in Scottsdale, Arizona, in a "giant three-day American hot-rodding festival" with more than 2,500 street rods, customs, muscle cars, classics and trick trucks through 1987 vintage on display.
Goodguys hosts street rods in Scottsdale | Goodguys
On March 17, the show hosts All-American Sunday, which welcomes American-made or -powered vehicles from all years.
Goodguys holds 18 full-scale extravaganzas around the U.S. through November, each open to the best of custom vehicles from the local area and acclaimed national builders, with the coveted Top 12 Cars and Trucks of the Year awards, autocross racing, swap meets, vendors, cars-for-sale corrals, live music and such crowd-pleasing events as the Burn Out Competition.
Other concours and events
The 42nd Annual Antique Automobile Show will be held Saturday, March 16, at Riverside Park in Vero Beach, Florida, with about 325 vehicles on display. Presented by the Indian River Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America, the show includes antique, classic, prestige, foreign, special interest, commercial and modified vehicles in 15 classes. For more information, visit the event website.
The 32nd Annual Donnie Smith Bike and Car Show will take place March 23-24 at the Saint Paul RiverCentre in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Billed as the largest custom motorcycle show in the Midwest, the show is held in the 200,000 square-foot indoors venue featuring some of the biggest names in the biking world. For more information, visit the event website.
The 64th annual O'Reilly Auto Parts World of Wheels takes place March 15-17 at CenturyLink Center in Omaha, Nebraska; the 45th annual Town Fair Tire World of Wheels will be held March 22-24 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston, Massachusetts; and the 45th annual O'Reilly Auto Parts AutoRama happens March 22-24 at Mountain America Exposition Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. For more information, visit the events website.
The Buffalo Motorama takes place March 29-31 at the Buffalo Convention Center in Buffalo, New York, advertised as "the biggest and best indoor custom car and bike show this side of New York. For more information, visit the event website.
The National Street Rod Association has announced two additions to its 2019 event schedule: the Route 66 Street Rod Nationals on April 23-25 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the Cajun Street Rod Nationals on October 4-5 in Gonzales, Louisiana. For more information and a full schedule of the 12 events marking the NSRA's 50th anniversary year, visit the association website.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The CDC's/Rochelle Walensky's Power Grab[s]
Published August 13, 2021 by Papa Giorgio
Tucker Carlson speaks to the CDC creating laws – whole cloth.
Hat-tip to and more from, ACE OF SPADES:
It's a pretty righteous rant about the CDC director's decision to extend the eviction moratorium, and who gave the CDC authority over landlords and the houing market? I agree with Tucker that this is an outrageous overreach, but I have a beef or two with how he's arguing his case.. The first is that Tucker is presnting it his audience as if it were a new thing, some new form of tyranny that the Biden Administration thought up just now. But this is misleading. What Tucker is describing actually has a name, administrative law, and it's been going on over a century, informally since the end of the 1900s, and formally with the passage of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA) in 1946.
I don't think this country's founders ever envisioned regulations with the force of law being written (enacted) by unelected bureaucrats, but that's the country we're living in. This applies to any federal agency, but my favorite whipping boy is the EPA who can come in and designate all or part of your property as a "protected wetland" and too bad about your development plans you were counting on to bring in income for your retirement, but they're now illegal. Or, worse, you need to spend many thousands of dollars to bring your "wetland" up to EPA specs, otherwise you'll be subject to heavy fines.
Often with no appeal.
So what about due process? Congress enacted the APA specifically to establish fair administrative law procedures to comply with the constitutional requirements of due process. But I've heard enough horror stories to wonder how effective these protections are.
Second, despite Tucker's protestations of the illegality of this, I'm not sure it will hold up in the long run. We've been living with administrative law for decades. Some Republicans have grumbled about it on and off, but, like any other federal program or agency, once it's in place, it will never go away. It's now a feature of the landscape. There is, for lack of a better word, "precedence" for this power grab. It's outrageous that SCOTUS has already ruled against this but they're going ahead with it anyway, but what the CDC director wants to do is only different in degree, not in kind, from what has gone before. The Biden administration is doing what it can get away with. As Tucker said, who is going to stop them? Mitch McConnell?
There's a scene in the underappreciated science fiction movie Outland where the beleaguered Federal Marshall O'Neil (Sean Connery) appeals to the people he is trying to protect for help. "What about your men?" one of them asks. "My men?" responds O'Neil. "My men are shit."
That's pretty much how I feel about the Republican Party right now.
Posted in Constitution[al], Democratic Progressivism, Tucker Carlson	Tagged Big Government/Big Business, CDC, Civics 101, Rochelle Walensky
Democrats Again Call For The End To The Electoral College
Published December 25, 2020 by Papa Giorgio
Hillary Clinton again calls for the Electoral College to be nixed:
Mark Levin does a few second response to this idiocy:
"…the possibility that the [Constitutional Republic] in which we live provides us with opportunities for [representation] that… exceed those provided by primitive orders to far fewer people should not be dismissed."
I wanted to edit/adapt the above HAYEK quote to fit the broader idea that what our Founders created is the most fair to the most people. I will include the larger quote at the end, in context, as, it has nothing to do with what I adapted it to. As I was reading this section of "The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism," I thought of the attempt by Democrats to do away with the Electoral College. Which immediately brought to mind that MORE voters will be disenfranchised if it is eliminated. Why? Because the popular vote could be won by almost 4-states alone: California, Texas, Florida, New York. So, let's take the most recent election as an example:
The Democrat outpaced President-elect Donald Trump by almost 2.9 million votes, with 65,844,954 (48.2%) to his 62,979,879 (46.1%), according to revised and certified final election results from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. (CNN)
In the Electoral College world, the smaller states had a say and 2.9 million voters were "disenfranchised," so-to-speak. In a direct democracy, which our Founders specifically wrote against, all a candidate would have to do is campaign in about 11-cities to win the election.
Do you understand what the Electoral College is? Or how it works? Or why America uses it to elect its presidents instead of just using a straight popular vote? Author, lawyer and Electoral College expert Tara Ross does, and she explains that to understand the Electoral College is to understand American democracy.
James Madison (fourth President, co-author of the Federalist Papers and the "father" of the Constitution) – "Democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security, or the rights of property; and have, in general; been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths."
John Adams (American political philosopher, first vice President and second President) – "Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide."
Benjamin Rush (signer of the Declaration) – "A simple democracy… is one of the greatest of evils."
Fisher Ames (American political thinker and leader of the federalists [he entered Harvard at twelve and graduated by sixteen], author of the House language for the First Amendment) – "A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of its own destruction. These will provide an eruption and carry desolation in their way.´ / "The known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness [excessive license] which the ambitious call, and the ignorant believe to be liberty."
Governor Morris (signer and penman of the Constitution) – "We have seen the tumult of democracy terminate… as [it has] everywhere terminated, in despotism…. Democracy! Savage and wild. Thou who wouldst bring down the virtous and wise to thy level of folly and guilt."
John Quincy Adams (sixth President, son of John Adams [see above]) – "The experience of all former ages had shown that of all human governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and short-lived."
Noah Webster (American educator and journalist as well as publishing the first dictionary) – "In democracy… there are commonly tumults and disorders….. therefore a pure democracy is generally a very bad government. It is often the most tyrannical government on earth."
John Witherspoon (signer of the Declaration of Independence) – "Pure democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the departments of state – it is very subject to caprice and the madness of popular rage."
Zephaniah Swift (author of America's first legal text) – "It may generally be remarked that the more a government [or state] resembles a pure democracy the more they abound with disorder and confusion."
Take note that as well ArticleIV, Section4 of the Constitution reads:
"The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government…"
Right now, there's a well-organized, below-the-radar effort to render the Electoral College effectively useless. It's called the National Popular Vote, and it would turn our presidential elections into a majority-rule affair. Would this be good or bad? Author, lawyer, and Electoral College expert Tara Ross explains.
You vote, but then what? Discover how your individual vote contributes to the popular vote and your state's electoral vote in different ways–and see how votes are counted on both state and national levels.
CATO Article:
Critics have long derided the Electoral College as a fusty relic of a bygone era, an unnecessary institution that one day might undermine democracy by electing a minority president. That day has arrived, assuming Gov. Bush wins the Florida recount as seems likely.
The fact that Bush is poised to become president without a plurality of the vote contravenes neither the letter nor the spirit of the Constitution. The wording of our basic law is clear: The winner in the Electoral College takes office as president. But what of the spirit of our institutions? Are we not a democracy that honors the will of the people? The very question indicates a misunderstanding of our Constitution.
James Madison's famous Federalist No. 10 makes clear that the Founders fashioned a republic, not a pure democracy. To be sure, they knew that the consent of the governed was the ultimate basis of government, but the Founders denied that such consent could be reduced to simple majority or plurality rule. In fact, nothing could be more alien to the spirit of American constitutionalism than equating democracy will the direct, unrefined will of the people.
Recall the ways our constitution puts limits on any unchecked power, including the arbitrary will of the people. Power at the national level is divided among the three branches, each reflecting a different constituency. Power is divided yet again between the national government and the states. Madison noted that these two-fold divisions — the separation of powers and federalism — provided a "double security" for the rights of the people.
What about the democratic principle of one person, one vote? Isn't that principle essential to our form of government? The Founders' handiwork says otherwise. Neither the Senate, nor the Supreme Court, nor the president is elected on the basis of one person, one vote. That's why a state like Montana, with 883,000 residents, gets the same number of Senators as California, with 33 million people. Consistency would require that if we abolish the Electoral College, we rid ourselves of the Senate as well. Are we ready to do that?
The filtering of the popular will through the Electoral College is an affirmation, rather than a betrayal, of the American republic. Doing away with the Electoral College would breach our fidelity to the spirit of the Constitution, a document expressly written to thwart the excesses of majoritarianism. Nonetheless, such fidelity will strike some as blind adherence to the past. For those skeptics, I would point out two other advantages the Electoral College offers.
First, we must keep in mind the likely effects of direct popular election of the president. We would probably see elections dominated by the most populous regions of the country or by several large metropolitan areas. In the 2000 election, for example, Vice President Gore could have put together a plurality or majority in the Northeast, parts of the Midwest, and California.
The victims in such elections would be those regions too sparsely populated to merit the attention of presidential candidates. Pure democrats would hardly regret that diminished status, but I wonder if a large and diverse nation should write off whole parts of its territory. We should keep in mind the regional conflicts that have plagued large and diverse nations like India, China, and Russia. The Electoral College is a good antidote to the poison of regionalism because it forces presidential candidates to seek support throughout the nation. By making sure no state will be left behind, it provides a measure of coherence to our nation.
Second, the Electoral College makes sure that the states count in presidential elections. As such, it is an important part of our federalist system — a system worth preserving. Historically, federalism is central to our grand constitutional effort to restrain power, but even in our own time we have found that devolving power to the states leads to important policy innovations (welfare reform).
If the Founders had wished to create a pure democracy, they would have done so. Those who now wish to do away with the Electoral College are welcome to amend the Constitution, but if they succeed, they will be taking America further away from its roots as a constitutional republic.
How did the terms "Elector" and "Electoral College" come into usage?
The term "electoral college" does not appear in the Constitution. Article II of the Constitution and the 12th Amendment refer to "electors," but not to the "electoral college." In the Federalist Papers (No. 68), Alexander Hamilton refers to the process of selecting the Executive, and refers to "the people of each State (who) shall choose a number of persons as electors," but he does not use the term "electoral college."
The founders appropriated the concept of electors from the Holy Roman Empire (962 – 1806). An elector was one of a number of princes of the various German states within the Holy Roman Empire who had a right to participate in the election of the German king (who generally was crowned as emperor). The term "college" (from the Latin collegium), refers to a body of persons that act as a unit, as in the college of cardinals who advise the Pope and vote in papal elections. In the early 1800's, the term "electoral college" came into general usage as the unofficial designation for the group of citizens selected to cast votes for President and Vice President. It was first written into Federal law in 1845, and today the term appears in 3 U.S.C. section 4, in the section heading and in the text as "college of electors."
More Common Sense
Who exactly are the "Resistance," as explored in Kim Strassel's new book "Resistance (At All Costs): How Trump Haters are Breaking America"?
How are "Trump haters" different from "Trump critics?" How is the Resistance different from past political movements? What are the long-term implications of its activities? And how are the media involved?
And, how can the Trump "impeachment inquiry" be seen as the latest chapter of the Resistance's efforts?
This is American Thought Leaders??, and I'm Jan Jekielek.
Today we sit down with Kim Strassel, a member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board and a prominent political commentator. She was the recipient of the Bradley Prize in 2014, and she writes the Journal's long-running "Potomac Watch" column.
Posted in Democratic Progressivism, History, Mark Levin	Tagged Civics 101, Constitutional Republic, Electoral College, Hillary Clinton, Kimberley Strassel, Prager U, Revolutionary Dems, School House Rock, US History
Why Hasn't Pelosi Held A Formal Vote On Impeachment?
Published October 1, 2019 by Papa Giorgio
And this is the million-dollar question, answered by Rep. Chaffetz… House Speaker Pelosi does not want to give subpoena power to House Republicans, says Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz, former chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.
Posted in Democratic Progressivism, Poli-Sci	Tagged Civics 101, Impeachment, Jason Chaffetz, Nancy Pelosi, Poli-Sci
Three Courses On The Electoral College (Civics 101)
Published July 4, 2018 March 30, 2019 by Papa Giorgio
Hillary wants a pure Democracy.
Posted in Common Sense, Constitution[al], History	Tagged Christina Greer, Civics 101, David Barton, Electoral College, Hillary Clinton, Poli-Sci, Poli-Sci 101, Prager U, Tara Ross, US History
The GOP Will Most Likely Have a Brokered Convention (Updated)
Published April 2, 2016 April 28, 2016 by Papa Giorgio
Most delegates will typically support who their person they supported endorses. So if Rubio endorses Cruz… he would be much closer, much… and this amount of a split in delegates would force — per GOP primary rules — a 2nd ballot at the party convention.
So, right this is the count:
➤ TRUMP: 646
➤ CRUZ: 397
➤ KASICH: 142
RUBIO left the race with 163 delegates. If he endorsed Cruz [like he should… unless he is a weenie and endorses Kasich], That would leave…
➤ CRUZ 560 delegates.
Mind you, these delegates would have a choice to remain uncommitted now and choose who to support at the convention ~ which is July 18–21, 2016.
In-other-words, this will most likely end in a brokered convention, per the already agreed upon rules set for the primaries.
AGAIN, for a "civics 101" lesson on the GOP Primary rules, see the below audio:
Posted in Michael Medved, Poli-Sci	Tagged Civics 101, Donald Trump, Election 2016, Poli-Sci, Poli-Sci 101
The Party of the People ~ Rubbish
Published March 19, 2016 March 19, 2016 by Papa Giorgio
Via The Blaze and Dr. Matthew Parks, Assistant Professor of Politics at The King's College in New York City:
Dr. Parks pointed out some of the problems with the Democrats' quirky election anomaly: "Even before we get to the convention, the superdelegates have a disproportionate influence in the overall trajectory of the race," he said.
"Ironically, the Democratic Party have an undemocratic consequence in the overall choice."
Watch Dr. Parks break down the superdelegate:
The term superdelegate is used to describe delegates to the Democratic National Convention who are not elected by primary voters but automatically given a voice in the presidential nomination process because of their position in the party.
Posted in Poli-Sci	Tagged Civics 101, Democrat Primary, Democratic Party, Election 2016, Elitist Democrats, King's College, Matthew Parks, Poli-Sci, Poli-Sci 101, Superdelegates
A GOP-Primary Civics Lesson 101
While this focuses around the current 2016 primary election cycle ~ and thus around Rubio, Cruz, and Trump mainly… it is applicable to other election cycles. It is a sort-of "Civics 101" lesson from Medved on the GOP process of finding a candidate. I think these rules can be up for a vote to be changed at each convention. If they wish to change the process that is.
For more clear thinking like this from Michael Medved… I invite you to visit: http://www.michaelmedved.com/
Posted in Michael Medved, Poli-Sci	Tagged Civics, Civics 101, Election 2016, GOP, Poli-Sci 101
(BACK TO THE TOP!) This is a Constitutional Crisis ~ George Will and the `Rule of Law` (Civics 101)
Sen. Rand Paul opines on what others (Democrats and Republicans) are saying… the President acted unconstitutionally, against his oath to uphold that same document.
While Will was speaking about Obamacare and the fixes the President want to make "ad-hoc," this applies to other areas, such as the Defense of Marriage Act, and the like. Take note Bob Woodward really had no response to George Will.
Via Gateway Pundit:
Democrat Representative, Nick Rahall from West Virginia, had this to say about the Obama "fix" on CBS. "I'm not sure he had the legal underpinning for what he did."
Here is an older Prager audio where he was reading an article about the "Imperial Presidency"
Posted in Big Government, Constitution[al], Dennis Prager, George Will	Tagged Bob Woodward, Civics 101, Fox News Sunday, Nick Rahall, Rand Paul


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Wireless Carrier Abuse Of Location Data Makes The Facebook, Cambridge Scandal Look Like Amateur Hour
Daily Deal: WhiteSmoke Premium
Both Democrats And Republicans Blame The Messenger When Leaked Emails Are Made Available
from the stop-it dept
Fri, May 25th 2018 9:39am — Mike Masnick
Back during the 2016 election, when Wikileaks published John Podesta's leaked emails, Democrats freaked out and blamed Wikileaks, and even tried to lie about the validity of those emails. Many supporters of the Democratic party, to this day, believe that Wikileaks and/or Julian Assange should face legal consequences for publishing those hacked emails. Of course, Republicans cheered on that effort. Sean Hannity, who back in 2010 was screaming about how Assange was "waging his war against the U.S." by publishing the leaked documents from Chelsea Manning and demanding that Obama "arrest" Assange, is now seen as one of Assange's most vocal supporters even having him on his show.
But, of course, when the shoe is on the other foot, things change. Just recently, various news organizations started reporting on shenanigans by top Trump fundraiser, Elliott Broidy, based on a leak of Broidy's emails. Broidy's not taking this very well, issuing a subpoena to the Associated Press to try to uncover the news organization's source for his emails.
No one is saying that it's okay to hack into someone'e email. But in both cases we're talking about those who are upset about an email leak going after the organization publishing the details of the leak and blaming the messenger. Just because documents are leaked or hacked or obtained through questionable means, it does not mean that news organizations can't publish them. Nor does it mean that they have to hand over the details of their sources. But it is worth noting that I don't see anyone who was screaming about Wikileaks now supporting Broidy's demands to the AP. Nor do I see those who were defending Wikileaks now defending the Associated Press against Broidy.
It's almost as if most of the people on either side of this political horse race are determining which news orgs to support based on whose side the revelations help. That's... bad. We should support a free press and condemn attacks on news organizations when they're revealing newsworthy leaked information, no matter whether the news helps or hurts "your" side. Treating politics as a "red team" v. "blue team" sport leads to bad outcomes for everyone's rights.
Filed Under: elliott broidy, emails, john podesta, journalism, julian assange, leaks
Judge Refuses To Extradite Julian Assange, Citing US Prison Conditions & Assange's Mental Health
Chinese Government Sentences Journalist To Four Years In Jail For Reporting On The Spread Of The Coronavirus
ICE Withdraws Demand For Journalists' Sources After Having Its Unconstitutional Demand Outed By BuzzFeed
ICE Sends Subpoena To BuzzFeed, Hoping To Force It To Turn Over Its Sources
Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2018 @ 10:22am
Re: yellow journalism
Ironically, this is just false.


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Rudolph Tesiny  (pisany również Tesing, ur. 4 lutego 1881 w Nowym Jorku, zm. 29 kwietnia 1926 tamże) – amerykański zapaśnik walczący w stylu wolnym. Srebrny medalista olimpijski z St. Louis 1904 w wadze lekkiej.

Mistrz Amateur Athletic Union w 1905 roku.

Letnie Igrzyska Olimpijskie 1904

Przypisy

Amerykańscy medaliści olimpijscy
Amerykańscy zapaśnicy
Medaliści Letnich Igrzysk Olimpijskich 1904
Zapaśnicy na Letnich Igrzyskach Olimpijskich 1904
Ludzie urodzeni w Nowym Jorku
Urodzeni w 1881
Zmarli w 1926

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - ripe fruit. 2013-09-09.
This variety has been offered in the SSE Yearbooks since the 80s.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - plant. 2013-06-23.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - baby fruit. 2013-06-23.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - ripening fruit. 2013-07-29.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - ripe fruit. 2013-08-06.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - ripe fruit. 2013-08-26.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - sliced fruit. 2013-08-06.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - sliced fruit. 2013-08-26.
Tatiana Kouchnareva (B.C KO T). Royal Chico - sliced fruit. 2013-09-09.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds 5 .
Skyfire Garden Seeds - new 5 .
You can buy Royal Chico seeds at Tatiana's TOMATObase Seed Shop.
This page was last modified on 3 December 2013, at 02:47.


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Review of 2022 Budget Statement and Economic Policy of Government: ISSER makes bold recommendations
Prof. Quartey grants media interviews.
The Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) on Monday, 29th November, 2021 invited the media for a review of the 2022 budget statement and economic policy of the government.
The presentation on the 2022 budget statement and economic policy review was delivered, on behalf of the Economics Division of ISSER, by Director, Prof. Peter Quartey, alongside Research Fellow, Dr. Andrew Agyei-Holmes who shared some reflections on the real sectors, namely the agricultural, industrial and services sectors.
3-Dr Andrew Agyei-Holmes, Research Fellow, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) .jpg
Dr Agyei-Holmes shares reflections on the real sectors
Delivering the conclusion, Prof. Quartey advanced some bold recommendations, which were captured and reported by media representatives who attended the forum in high numbers.
The post budget review fora provide an important platform for the Institute to provide objective and independent analysis on the government's account of national fiscal performance during the fiscal year, educate the public and proffer recommendations aimed at achieving stronger fiscal and social and economic outcomes.
The under listed selected online reports highlight ISSER's recommendations, recommendations that were later cited on multiple platforms.
ISSER proposes reduction in E-levy by government
1.75 E-levy punitive, reduce it to 0.75 – ISSER to government
Dialogue on 2022 budget to avert governance and economic shutdown
ISSER worried delay in passing 2020 budget could affect investor confidence
Review 2022 Budget – ISSER
E-Levy rate is punitive, must be reviewed to 0.5% — ISSER
ISSER proposes E-levy of 0.5%


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You are here: Home / Archives / Tennis Governing Bodies to Implement All Recommendations of Independant Tennis Integrity Review
Tennis Governing Bodies to Implement All Recommendations of Independant Tennis Integrity Review
May 19, 2008 by Manfred Wenas
The four Grand Slams, the International Tennis Federation (ITF), ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour have today published the full findings, and accepted the recommendations, of the independent Environmental Review of Integrity in Professional Tennis. The Review concludes that professional tennis is neither systematically nor institutionally corrupt. The Review's findings have been welcomed by the governing bodies, who will start the process of implementing all 15 recommendations contained in the report, including the creation of a global tennis Integrity Unit and co-ordinated Anti-Corruption Programme.
Led by Ben Gunn and Jeff Rees, leading sports integrity experts, the comprehensive review was launched in January 2008, following and complementing work already under way by tennis governing bodies to create a common set of integrity rules, procedures and sanctions across the professional tennis industry. Its remit was to identify the nature of potential threats to the integrity of professional tennis; consider the regulatory resources and policies necessary to combat current and foreseeable threats and to report recommendations on next steps for the sport's governing bodies.
The Review followed a detailed consultation process that involved 95 stakeholders from the sport including players, officials, sponsors, media and representatives of betting organisations. Together with its principal assessment that professional tennis is not institutionally or systemically corrupt, it also concludes that no evidence of a link to organised crime exists.
Ben Gunn commented: "We applaud the governing bodies for taking bold and decisive measures to meet the challenges they face. Their decision to accept the recommendations outlined, underpinned by an agreement to introduce a uniform Anti-Corruption Programme, will help to maintain and enhance the integrity of a global sport enjoyed by millions."
Jeff Rees added: "The findings of this Review clearly demonstrate the need for having an Integrity Unit. The aim to rid any uncertainty or implication of corruption in tennis is fundamental to the reputation and future standing of the game and is fully supported by all international tennis bodies."
The Review identifies five potential threats to the sport, namely corrupt practice by players and others in respect to gambling; breaches of the rules in relation to tanking; violation of credentials; misuse of inside information and illegal or abusive behaviour towards players. The Review also concludes that, as in many sports, some players are vulnerable to corrupt approaches and there are people outside tennis who seek to corrupt those within the sport.
The Review also identified 45 professional tennis matches played in the past five years that had unusual betting patterns that require further review to ascertain if they affected the integrity of professional tennis or if there were other tennis reasons for the outcome of the matches.
With these findings in mind, the Review has outlined the following recommendations to encourage a more focused anti-corruption culture for the sport. The four Grand Slams, ITF, ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour have accepted and will implement all 15 recommendations outlined in the Review:
1. A uniform Anti-Corruption Programme to be agreed by the Tennis
Authorities;
2. An Anti-Corruption Programme to focus on 'prevention' and 'detection' and
be supported by an education programme which identifies threats to
professional tennis and the action to address them;
3. The creation of an Integrity Unit;
4. The Director of the Integrity Unit to prepare an intelligence strategy;
an investigation strategy; and a user requirement for a computer database;
5. The current ban on players betting to be reiterated and maintained;
6. The current ban on tournament representatives betting to be reiterated
and maintained;
7. Officials to examine those matches that players take part in over and
above those necessary to achieve ranking points;
8. A review of current accreditation for all Grand Slam, ITF, ATP and Sony
Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments;
9. Only players and essential tournament personnel to have access to the
players' locker room;
10. The term 'insider information' to be defined for tennis;
11. The creation of an 'integrity module' to assess threats and
recommendations made in this Review and used for education and awareness;
12. A single hearings tribunal for all disciplinary cases involving
integrity issues to be established;
13. Any player caught cheating to continue to be punished by lengthy
suspension, and if appropriate, up to a life ban;
14. A co-ordinated media strategy for integrity issues to be established;
15. The Professional Tennis Authorities to consider seeking the support of
other sporting bodies for the development of legislation creating income
streams from selling sporting rights and/or the creation of a right to bet.
The four Grand Slams, ITF, ATP and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, through the joint Anti-Corruption Programme, will now start the process of implementing the 15 key recommendations. A Steering Committee will oversee this process and a formal progress review and update will be forthcoming during Roland Garros.
The governing bodies intend to have the Tennis Integrity Unit in place this season and will make further announcements in due course. At the same time, in order to enhance and expand the Anti-Corruption Programme, the governing bodies will turn to public bodies and authorities for help in combating the threat of corruption. To this end, the governing bodies will create a Working Group comprising representatives from each stakeholder to develop an effective global approach to the issue of integrity.
Filed Under: Archives Tagged With: ATP Tour News, doping, independent Environmental Review of Integrity in Profes, ITF, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, WTA Tour News
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When it comes to public relations and marketing, Pepsi Co. is a brand to be reckoned with. Over the years, the mega-food company has attracted the endorsement of pop culture and music legends like Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Britney Spears, Beyoncé Knowles, Aretha Franklin, and The All-American Rejects.
So why not Kendall Jenner?
But when Pepsi released the Jump In commercial, starring Jenner, on April 4, 2017, it was not to critical acclaim. Journalists and consumers alike labelled the ad "tone-def", and called it an appropriation of the Black Lives Matter campaign to sell a can of soda.
Literally, Pepsi just used Kendall Jenner to co-opt the resistance to sell a freakin' can of soda. Okay?
There were no police pictured in riot gear as they often are when Black and Brown people are putting their bodies on the line to protest police. This is absolutely crazy.
And the commercial centered a White woman in the middle of the movement… I cannot.
This is a global ad that reflects people from different walks of life coming together in a spirit of harmony, and we think that's an [important] message to convey.
Unfortunately, Pepsi's blunder is one of many in the media, by brands that aim to capitalize on diversity issues. Many critics pointed out that if Pepsi's PR team had included a more diverse mix, the ad would never have left the idea room.
In fact, Pepsi's ad rings a strikingly familiar tune to Glamour's own diversity-scandal last summer, when they hopped on the Lemon bandwagon and was promptly thrown off by minority groups and Beyoncé fans in America and the UK.
What happened? The company completely misinterpreted the term "Becky with the Good Hair" and paid the heavy price. Two coworkers named "Becky" who were pictured with "great hair" got caught up in the mix.
Glamour, however, apologized. Pepsi has not.
Pepsi likely meant no harm, and probably meant to show support for "the resistance". However, when it comes to sensitive and controversial topics in the media, it's not for brands to decide what makes the cut. It's for the demographic involved to make that decision.
There are two ways Pepsi could have done this to prevent a scandal.
As many people pointed out, having a more diverse team, or at least using one for this specific ad could have led to better cast, wardrobe, and storyboard decisions.
And finally, testing the ad more thoroughly on the demographics it represented could have also forewarned the company of possible backlash.
In truth, there's no telling what steps Pepsi did or did not take, and where they went wrong. But for some time, consumers will remember the ad as #ThatAwkwardMomentWhen Pepsi went from singing with the stars to a "tone-deaf co-op of the resistance".
Is your brand or business planning to tackle diversity issues in its ads or campaigns? Our diverse team spans four ethnic groups, three nationalities, three languages… and two species. With our help, your brand will be singing exactly the right tune to a diverse audience.
This was a great read on this Pepsi commercial and the issues that raised from it. I agree that Pepsi meant no harm by this commercial yet, they created a big ruckus with it. How do you think they should move forward from this issue and all of the backlash they are receiving? Great read and thanks for your time!
Thanks for reading. I'm glad you enjoyed the post.
The best approach to this would have been to apologise, and then state what their rationale had been. Following up with a commitment to hire a more diverse media team would have been to their credit as well.
[b] Distract the media and consumers with more positive news, and a better ad.


Discover educational resources and articles designed to support school teachers and educators in their commitment to getting fifth and sixth graders to eat well! All of these tools were created by registered dietitians.
A French program : a video, an online game, a cooking activity, an active game, and a quick printable activity from students in elementary cycle 3!
A French-language guide to fun activities about nutrition for school daycare.


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O Aeroporto Internacional de Volgogrado (em russo: Международный Аэропорт Волгоград) (IATA: VOG, ICAO: URWW) é um aeroporto internacional localizado na cidade de Volgogrado, na Rússia, estão sendo construídos uma nova pista e terminal com previsão para conclusão em 2017.

Ligações externas

 Página oficial

Aeroportos da Rússia


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Q: Mongodb start up error I am new to the mongo db.I just installed it over my ubuntu 11.04 system and when I typed mongo in terminal it showed like this
MongoDB shell version: 1.6.3
Thu Mar 22 15:07:33 *** warning: spider monkey build without utf8 support.  consider rebuilding with utf8 support
connecting to: test
>

Can some one tell me  where I am wrong and how to solve this problem.Ant help and suggestions will be highly appreciable.

A: The Ubuntu repositories have a very old version of mongoDB - the current stable branch is 2.0 at the time of writing and yours is 1.6, you could try fixing the error but it's not really worth it.  You should get an up to date version from the official 10gen repos as described here and uninstall the one you have now:
http://www.mongodb.org/display/DOCS/Ubuntu+and+Debian+packages
General procedure would be:

*

*Remove Ubuntu version (apt-get remove mongodb)

*Add new repo line and gpg key as described above

*Install 10gen version (apt-get update; apt-get install mongodb-10gen)


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RATE project – How old is the earth?
Back in August, I wrote about the RATE project and its extraordinary claim that nuclear decay rates had been accelerated by a factor of a billion during the Creation Week and Noah's Flood. We also saw that they had reported some extraordinary problems with this hypothesis — notably, that it would have released enough heat to boil the oceans and melt the earth's crust many times over. Yet despite this, they were confident that these problems could be resolved, and at the same time they claimed that they actually had evidence to support their hypothesis. One of the claims that they made is the sixth of Answers in Genesis's ten best evidences for a young earth — that radioactive rocks contain too much helium.
Before I get into the technical details of this claim, I'll start by making one very important point.
Complex claims are easy to get wrong, difficult to get right, easy to fudge, and difficult to fact-check.
The same principle applies to any area of science. The more complex it is, the easier it will be for mistakes and fallacies to creep in, whether by accident or design, and the harder it will be to spot them. Accordingly, such claims will need to be scrutinised all the more rigorously.
I am willing to bet that if you presented Dr. Humphrey's research in detail to the geology department at any university, you would find a handful of geologists at most that would be able to follow the arguments without spending several hours reading up on the methodology. The modeling of helium diffusivity in zircon grains is a very complicated, math-intensive process that requires a particular expertise to apply properly. This method was developed only recently (hence the lack of data before 1999), and has been studied by a relatively small number of researchers over the past 10 years. The results can be extremely useful to geologists, and so hundreds of published studies have made use of helium data from zircons, but very few people are familiar with the laboratory procedure.
The upshot of this is that a study such as this one will need to be peer reviewed to within an inch of its life by subject matter experts — aggressively, mercilessly and relentlessly, and all the more so given that it is being made in support of an extraordinary claim about accelerated nuclear decay that would easily qualify for a Nobel Prize if it had any merit. To an untrained observer, this can appear petty and nitpicking, but it is essential. Anything less would also give a free pass to anti-vaxxers, homeopathy, astrology, water divining, reading tea leaves, and tobacco companies trying to prove that smoking does not cause cancer.
Do zircon crystals contain too much helium?
As we've already seen, zircons are tiny crystals of ZrSiO4 whose properties make them particularly well suited to uranium-lead radiometric dating.
When uranium decays to lead, it releases helium in the form of alpha particles, which then get trapped in the crystalline structure. Over time, these are expected to diffuse out of the zircons and into the surrounding rocks. If you know how much lead is in the zircons, you can calculate how much helium was produced by the decay. This value is called Q0. You can then measure the amount of helium that is left, Q, and calculate a ratio, Q/Q0, which tells you how much must have diffused out.
The RATE team studied some zircons that had been retrieved from a borehole in Fenton Hill, New Mexico, and concluded that this value, Q/Q0, was higher than it should have been given the zircons' radiometrically determined ages of 1.5 billion years.
They then came up with a "Creation model" that attempted to better explain the data. This model started off with a burst of accelerated nuclear decay giving rise to modern levels of uranium, lead and thorium, and an initial helium concentration, Q/Q0, of one. They claimed that when all the different values were plugged into their model, the final value of Q/Q0 = 0.58 indicated an age of 6,000 ± 2,000 years. This is pretty attractive to YECs, because very, very few of their claims of evidence for a young earth attempt to pin down its age precisely in this way — most of their other arguments merely attempt to discredit conventional old-earth results.
Noble gas diffusion rates in crystals depend on a large number of different factors, including temperature, pressure, anisotropy (different diffusion rates in different directions), edge effects, and defects and impurities in the crystal structure. The theoretical calculations are complex, and it is very difficult to study it experimentally as well.
The RATE team's study makes several simplifying assumptions. There's nothing unusual or untoward about this: many models in physics do the same, otherwise the maths would be nightmarishly complicated. However, when you do so, you need to demonstrate that the simplifications concerned would not significantly affect your results.
The RATE team claimed that their simplifications would only affect the results by "a factor of two or so," or "an order of magnitude or so." However, they did not provide any calculations or other evidence to back up their claims that the effects were as insignificant as they claimed. Furthermore, factors of two or so, or of an order of magnitude or so, are most certainly not trivial. It only takes a handful of them to mount up to the difference between thousands and billions.
These results suggest that the anisotropic nature of He diffusion at temperatures near the closure temperature should be considered in future diffusivity experiments. Furthermore, care should be taken when making geologic interpretations (e.g., exhumation rates, timing of cooling, etc.) from this thermochronometer until the effects of anisotropic diffusion on bulk ages and closure temperature estimates are better quantified.
Does it stand up under pressure?
Another simplifying assumption made by the RATE team was that diffusion rates would not be significantly affected by pressure. Again, at the time of the RATE project, the exact effects of pressure on helium diffusion rates in zircons had not been studied. In defence of this assumption, they pointed to some studies of argon diffusion in glasses, such as rhyolite obsidian, and gives some plausible-sounding, but nonetheless hand-waving, reasons why helium diffusion in zircons should be affected to a much lesser extent.
However, Kevin Henke, a geology professor from the University of Kentucky, responded to this claim by pointing to a study by Dunai and Roselieb (1996) that showed that at high pressures of 250 bars, helium would take tens to hundreds of millions of years even at high temperatures (700°C) to partially diffuse out of garnets. He also pointed out that garnets have much more in common with zircons, being "hard" silicate minerals, and consequently that this would be much more representative of zircons than rhyolite obsidian.
Did the RATE team stick to the scientific method?
After consulting with Dr. Gentry, we have corrected, in the fourth column, two apparent typographical errors in the corresponding column of his table. One is in the units of the column (which should have been 10-9 cc/μg instead of 10-8 cc/μg); the other is in sample 4 of that column. The crucial fractions in column five were correctly reported, as we have confirmed with our data.
This is a very important question. One does not simply "correct typographic errors" in scientific results. The original lab notes would have to be consulted, independent evidence would need to be provided that these corrections really were warranted, and if the integrity of the data could not be established, the whole data set would have to be thrown out and the experiment re-done. In the absence of such independent confirmation, "correcting typographic errors" in this manner is an unacceptably sloppy shortcut. To their credit, they acknowledged that this was what they had done; if they had not done so, it would quite possibly have constituted scientific fraud.
How not to respond to peer review.
Gary Loechelt proposes a more realistic multi-diffusion domain model which shows that the measured values of Q/Q0 are consistent with the 1.5 billion year age of the zircons. He has also written a reply to the RATE team's response to his critique.
Kevin Henke provides the most detailed and thorough critique of the RATE project's claims. His tone is scathing at times, and he does spoil it somewhat by attacking their religious presuppositions, but many of his points are valid ones that do need to be addressed.
Timothy Christman points to other studies of helium diffusion in zircons which give completely different results from the RATE team's findings.
Rodney Whitefield points out further ways in which the data reported by the RATE team does not support their conclusions of excess helium.
Russell Humphreys responded to the critiques of the RATE team's research in an article on trueorigin.org in April 2005, another article on trueorigin.org on January 5, 2006, and again in an article on creation.com in November 2008. Gary Loechelt replied to these responses in April 2009, and Henke's latest revision of his critique, which also addresses the RATE team's responses, is dated June 20, 2010. I am not aware of any later responses from the RATE team.
The first thing to notice about Henke's issues is how few of them there really are. For example, of the fifteen items above, six of them (4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12) boil down to only one issue, how much helium was deposited in the zircons. Several other items repeated themselves similarly.
The second thing to notice is how peripheral they are. Not one of them has any chance of solving Henke's real problem: how to keep helium in leaky minerals for over a billion years.
Third, notice how petty most of them are. One of my challenges in answering those charges was to find different words describing their basic character: "molehill, not a mountain … distinction without a difference … haggling … ridiculous quibble … inconsequential … majoring on minors … irrelevant". Eight of the items (1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12) fall into that class.
Three points are of note here. First of all, it isn't clear how the six issues he cites as boiling down to one really do refer to the same issue. They may have the same end result in common, but they all refer to different errors in determining that end result. Furthermore, there are numerous other errors that he does not even attempt to address. Dr Henke's list of unanswered questions includes no less than sixty-six that are of a purely technical nature.
Secondly, Humphreys provides no calculations to prove that the objections really are as petty and inconsequential as he claims that they are. As we have seen from Reich et al and Dunai and Roselieb, pressure and anisotropy alone are sufficient to bring us right back from thousands to billions. In any case, even if the other objections really are "only a factor of two or so" or "only an order of magnitude or so," he needs to demonstrate that their cumulative effect really would still be as inconsequential and petty as just considering them individually.
Thirdly, anyone who has had any significant experience in science or technology will tell you that even seemingly "petty and inconsequential" mistakes can completely undermine the validity of your results. As a software developer, I get confronted with such examples several times a day. To dismiss critiques as "petty and inconsequential" in such a cavalier manner encourages Christians to adopt a sloppy and casual attitude towards science and technology — and in many other areas of science, such an attitude can — and does — kill people.
No matter how "petty" and "inconsequential" you think it is, there are only three appropriate responses in science to a peer reviewer's criticisms. Either fix the problem, prove that it is as inconsequential as you think it is, or retract your claim. The RATE team's responses do none of these.
In any case, an error of ±2,000 years in a final result of 6,000 years is an error of 33%. This is an enormous error. It is far, far larger than anything seen in conventional radiometric dating, in which error bars can be tighter than one part in a thousand. Furthermore, it clearly does not account for the multiple "factors of two or so" or "an order of magnitude or so" for the simple reason that just one "factor of two or so" means an error of ±50%, which is one and a half times as large. Bearing in mind that we are dealing with extrordinary claims about accelerated nuclear decay that would easily qualify for a Nobel Prize if they had any merit, results with errors this large are simply far too weak to be credible.
Even if the study did have some merit, it is not at all clear how it supports the idea of accelerated nuclear decay in the first place. In fact, given the RATE team's own admission that accelerated nuclear decay would have generated massive quantities of heat, this would have expelled most if not all of the helium from the zircons anyway, and so the fact that we find any helium in zircons at all is pretty strong evidence against the RATE team's own model.
Since the RATE project, there have been numerous other studies of helium diffusion in zircons. As far as I am aware, none of them have confirmed the RATE team's findings. The figure of 6,000±2,000 years for the age of the zircons appears to be based more on miscalculation, circular reasoning, and improper data handling practices than on the actual age of the earth.
Radiometric deniers love to point out examples of cases where different dating methods give different results on the same rock strata. The most comprehensive attempt to catalogue these that I'm aware of is an article by John Woodmorappe in the September 1979 issue of the Creation Research Society Quarterly entitled Radiometric Geochronology Reappraised, which lists about 300 examples that he had culled from the scientific literature.
Now anomalous results do happen from time to time, and lists such as these do look pretty impressive, but they greatly exaggerate their frequency, extent and significance. Here are a few points to bear in mind.
1. Discrepancies are the exception, not the rule.
As we saw last week, the number of radiometric results in the scientific literature runs into the hundreds of thousands, and quite possibly even into the millions. This being the case, three hundred bad dates represents only a tiny fraction of the overall data.
How many results overall are discordant? Without doing an exhaustive literature search, which would take forever, it is hard to tell. However, one thing is clear: when radiometric dating is correctly applied, they are very much in the minority.
This Talk Origins article cites geochronology expert Brent Dalrymple, an expert in radiometric dating with lots of real-world experience, as estimating that only between 5% and 10% of radiometric results are discordant. The article doesn't explain how he arrived at that figure though.
A more detailed picture comes from this account by geology professor Joe Meert (scroll down to the section "A brief discussion regarding the integrity of radiometric dating"), in which he records a discussion with some YECs on the subject. The figures that they cited were, unsurprisingly, higher, claiming that up to 15-20% or so of dates were discordant. However, he cited fifteen years of his own research, in which he found that fewer than 5% of his results were anomalous, and that each and every one of them had a reasonable explanation.
Even if the figure is as high as 20%, this leaves a serious question for radiometric denialists. Why do so many of the hundreds of thousands of results in the literature show little or no discordance? This would never happen if radiometric dating really were consistently unreliable, and certainly not if it were so off-base that it could not distinguish between thousands and billions.
In any case, there are certain important data sets that show little or no discordance — specifically, meteorites and lunar rocks returned from the Apollo missions. Meteorites in particular are very, very consistent in showing ages between 4.4 billion and 4.6 billion years by up to six different methods. Because they have very simple geological histories and have not been subjected to weathering, erosion, and metamorphic and tectonic processes found on Earth, there is little or no scope for "evolutionists" to fish around for alternative interpretations in order to get the results they want, as creation.com claims to be standard practice. Furthermore, these data sets are relatively small (a few hundred or so samples), so allegations of cherry-picked results are completely unrealistic.
2. Showing that one method fails under specific conditions does not prove that all methods fail everywhere.
There are over forty different isotopes used in radiometric dating. Each of them has a different half-life, applies to a different range of ages, involves different experimental procedures, and works in different situations on some minerals but not others.
Let's say, for example, that you tried to use carbon-14 dating on a traffic cone, and got an age of 5,000 years. This is quite a plausible result, because traffic cones are made of plastic, which has been heavily processed from oil deposits and will therefore have been heavily contaminated by significant amounts of modern carbon. However, what does this tell us? Simply that carbon-14 dating doesn't work on traffic cones. It doesn't tell us whether or not it works on bones, wood, or ancient seeds. And it certainly doesn't tell us whether or not uranium-lead dating works on zircon crystals in granites.
Before radiometric dating techniques can be used in the field on new types of materials, they are first tested against samples of those materials whose ages are already known. Many of Woodmorappe's discordances you read about are the results of these preliminary experimental tests. It is dishonest to cite these preliminary tests as evidence that field results using well-established methods are also unreliable.
3. Showing that a method fails when pushed to its limits does not prove that it fails everywhere.
Take, for example, this report of an attempt to date some lava from a lava dome that formed on Mount St Helens in 1986. The potassium-argon "ages" reported ranged from 0.35 million years to 2.8 million years, which the YEC researcher, Steve Austin, described as "preposterous." In reality, it was his methodology that was preposterous.
Samples less than 5 M.Y. old, or containing less than 0.1%K will incur a 50% surcharge, reflecting the special care and additional analyses required. We cannot analyze samples expected to be younger than 2 M.Y.
Geochron Laboratories did not have the advanced state-of-the-art equipment needed to process samples that young, and consequently, contamination and "memory effects" of lingering argon from previous analyses would have been a very real issue.
The half-life of 40K is 1.25 billion years — roughly a thousand times greater than the ages reported by Austin. This study was the equivalent of using a weighbridge to measure out flour, sugar and eggs when baking a cake for a family of four, then claiming that weighbridges are unreliable when it comes out all mushy.
I'm sorry, but this is called "gaming the system," pure and simple.
Another example here is the RATE project's claims of discovery of primordial radiocarbon in ancient coals and diamonds. The quantities discovered were very low, close to the limits of the capabilities of many radiocarbon labs, and showed clear patterns that were consistent with contamination, with heavily processed samples showing significantly more 14C than unprocessed ones. Although the RATE team claimed to have taken great care to take contamination into account, radiocarbon experts such as Kirk Bertsche noted that the procedures they followed were incorrect.
4. Discrepancies of a factor of two or three do not prove that all methods must be out by a factor of a million or more.
About three quarters of the discrepancies on Woodmaroppe's list come within a factor of two of the expected result, about 90% within a factor of three, and more than 97% within a single order of magnitude. Furthermore, about two thirds of the time, the dates reported are too small. This does not help the Literal Six Day Young Earth timescale, which requires the dates reported to be consistently too large by a factor of between a thousand and a million.
A factor of a million is a colossal error. It is like demonstrating that the whole of London would fit into a rucksack, or that you could buy a four bedroom house in Chelsea for five pounds, or that the life and ministry of Christ recorded in the Gospels happened in the space of fifteen minutes just yesterday afternoon.
5. The differences are unsurprising, well understood, and useful.
Different results from different radiometric methods are not unexpected, given that many rocks have had a complex history. In fact, the differences usually provide a lot of useful information that extends well beyond the ages of the samples.
One condition which results in different dating methods giving different results is when a rock formation such as granite takes a long time to cool. This is because radiometric dating measures the time since the rock cooled below the "closure temperature." Closure temperatures can be determined experimentally and are different for different radioisotopes. Consequently the differences in radiometric ages can tell us how long the rock took to cool.
Far from falsifying radiometric dating, different results from different methods provide additional information about a rock formation's thermal history as well as its age. This extra information is of particular importance in oil exploration, where geologists need to know the thermal history of the oil deposits as well as their ages in order to determine whether they're going to yield anything useful.
Woodmorappe claimed, in response to a critique to his list, that cooling explanations are just a "rationalisation," and that the imbalance between overestimates and underestimates was evidence of cherry-picking by the scientific community, with "nonsensical" results more likely to be withheld from publication. We shall see next week that his allegations of cherry-picking have no merit whatsoever, but for now it should be clear that these explanations are no mere "rationalisation," but are in fact individually testable.
6. Some claims of discordant dates are blatantly dishonest.
One of the articles that Woodmorappe cited was that of a Rb-Sr isochron that allegedly gave an age of 34 billion years — seven times the age of the earth and two and a half times the age of the universe.
This is not an isochron. Anyone who knows anything about isochron dating will be aware that you need all the points to lie on a straight line in order to get a valid date. When they don't, the only correct interpretation of the graph is "undateable due to contamination and leakage," and the 1.09 billion and 34 billion year lines were purely there to illustrate the fact.
For what it's worth, this is a variant on what scientists call "quote mining" — taking a particular quote completely out of context and misrepresenting it as saying something that it is not. A charitable view here would be merely that Woodmorappe had misunderstood the graph, wasn't getting his facts straight, or was perhaps being a little bit careless, but scientists who get quote mined do not take such a charitable view. They consider it to be a form of lying.
Discordant dates do not prove what YECs claim that they prove.
There is a vast difference between showing that something doesn't always work and showing that it never works, and similarly, there is a vast difference between showing that something can occasionally be out by a factor of two, and showing that it is consistently too large by a factor of up to a million.
Disagreements between different dating methods may give us leave to take individual results with a pinch of salt. This may have some bearing on subjects such as the Shroud of Turin, or the occasional archaeological discovery relating to Bible times. But they present no challenge whatsoever to the overall corpus of data as a whole. In particular, they fall far, far short of falsifying the geological column with its display of a general progression of species through the ages, let alone demonstrating that all radiometric results could plausibly be out by up to six orders of magnitude. Radiometric dating still presents an insurmountable barrier to the young-earth timescale and the discordances highlighted by the young-earth literature barely put a dent in it.
Two weeks ago, we saw that the evidence for the age of the earth can not be based on presupposition or worldview because this does not account for evidence from the oil industry, which has to remain strictly independent of such matters for purely financial and economic reasons.
Nevertheless, young-earth creationists still tell me that science must "fit Scripture." By this, they mean their young-earth interpretation of Scripture, because when it comes to the age of the earth, Scripture leaves a lot open to interpretation. But if you want to interpret science to fit into a six thousand year timescale, we know exactly what that involves, for the YEC organisations have spent vast sums of money attempting to do precisely that.
RATE stands for Radioisotopes and the Age of The Earth. It was a research project run by the Institute for Creation Research and the Creation Research Society from 1997 to 2005, which sought to answer the question: if the earth is six thousand years old, why does radiometric dating consistently give results that are much older? It was funded by $250,000 from the Institute for Creation Research, and more than $1 million in donations.
The RATE team admitted that there is overwhelming evidence that hundreds of millions of years' worth of nuclear decay has taken place since Creation. This was certainly ground-breaking for young-earth claims, because they had always insisted up until that point that "evolutionists" were throwing away any results that didn't conform to their "uniformitarian presuppositions" — in effect, claiming that radiometric dating was no more than a fraudulent exercise in cherry-picking random numbers.
Rather than admitting that this meant the earth was old, however, they decided that nuclear decay rates must have been up to a billion times higher in the past — notably, during the first two days of Creation Week, and during Noah's Flood.
The RATE team set about looking for evidence to support their hypothesis, and after eight years they came up with four studies that they claimed did so. I will examine the details of these claims in future blog posts, but for now all you need to know is that no independent peer reviewer has ever found their claims satisfactory, no other researchers have ever replicated their findings, and the subject matter experts who reviewed their work, many of whom were evangelical Christians themselves, documented numerous flaws of a purely technical nature, many of them serious, and all of them, when combined together, more than sufficient to falsify their entire conclusions.
But it was the RATE team themselves who noted the biggest problem of the lot. Radioactive decay generates a lot of heat. So much heat, in fact, that if you squeezed all the observed decay into just a fraction of six thousand years, you would raise the temperature of the earth to 22,000°C.
Twenty. Two. Thousand. Degrees. Centigrade.
They admitted that neither conduction, nor convection, nor radiation, could have removed this much heat fast enough, and furthermore that any cooling process would have had to cool granites much faster than water to avoid the oceans from freezing over. They speculated about one or two possible solutions to the problem, but these also involved proposing equally absurd new laws of physics which are not supported by any evidence whatsoever either. In the end, they said that the removal of heat must have been supernatural, but admitted that the problem was nevertheless unsolved.
Despite this extraordinary contradiction, the RATE project has been marketed as a success, with books, DVDs, and conferences proclaiming accelerated nuclear decay as a rock-solid fact, supported by "overwhelming" evidence. The heat problem is casually dismissed as merely a minor issue — if in fact it ever gets mentioned at all. Accelerated nuclear decay is now touted as the cornerstone of the YEC objections to radiometric dating.
The crown jewels of young-earth research?
If you're a young-earth creationist, struggling to figure out why even many born-again, Spirit-filled Christians find the LSDYEC position an embarrassment despite having a high regard for the Bible, this is why. The sheer absurdity of the RATE team's willingness to downplay the 22,000°C heat problem is mind-boggling. Reading the conclusion of the RATE report, it is almost impossible to believe that it is genuine creationist apologetics, and not some sort of wild atheist parody like the Flying Spaghetti Monster or Last Thursdayism. Even one young-earth creationist friend I spoke to about it thought it was some kind of hoax to "discredit creationism." 22,000°C is four times as hot as the surface of the sun, and hot enough to vaporise the entire planet.
But this is no parody, nor is it the idea of some fringe armchair physicist, nor can it be excused as shoestring research that was only flaky through being under-funded. As far as young-earth research goes, this is about as mainstream as it gets. The RATE project was the most expensive, extensive and thorough research project ever carried out by YEC scientists. They threw eight years, six of their best physicists and geologists, and more than a million dollars at the problem. It has been endorsed by all the major YEC organisations. It represents the very crown jewels of young-earth science.
This is what happens when you try to make scientific evidence fit conclusions that it does not support. The consensus of professional geochronologists is that the earth is 4.54±0.05 billion years old, and any challenge to that figure needs to be based on sound methodology, honest reporting of results, and careful scrutiny through a process of independent peer review. It simply isn't honest to make up science fiction to try and fit the conclusions you want to get. It does not honour God and it does not uphold the Bible. On the contrary, it makes a mockery of it.


text:
Q: Can JavaScript be used to push a file to another machine or web service I'm relatively new to this
We have a requirement to save a file with out the use of the dialog box.
I was wondering if I can use AJAX or some other JavaScript to "Push" the file from the client PC being viewed in a browser to to some web service the client is running and have it save the file.
Do I get into cross site scripting issues or an issue I don't know about at present?
Thanks

A: With valums uploader script, users can drag and drop files (in certain browsers) to a button on the page.. so, yes, no dialog box, but it still requires user interaction.  (I also know IE10 should be able to handle drag/drop functionality from one of their demos; so this kind of functionality is gaining ground).

A: I don't think you can upload a file without a dialog box.  That would remove the user interaction, so it would be the same thing as allowing a webpage to select any file it wanted and upload it without user interaction - an obvious security flaw.

A: Generally, without a dialog box, no it can't be done.
HTML5 has a file API where the web app can store files on the local machine. But this access to the filesystem is sandboxed, so you get to access files only under your directory.
Why can't you do without a dialog box? Imagine you visit some site and it "uploads" files without your permission. That's a security FAIL. The dialog box is the user's authentication for the file to be uploaded.


This is the official statement of the incident by Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad, MAHB.
On 25 October 2012 at 5.40pm, during normal runway inspection, the staff doing the inspection found that the runway lights were dim and not up to the required brightness. At 6.10pm the air traffic controller confirmed that the lights were dim.
As such, due to safety reasons, immediate action was taken by MAHB to request that the runway be closed for further investigation of the runway lights. All airlines were immediately informed of this closure.
The engineers straight-away proceeded to inspect all the runway lighting cables and suspected that the dim lights could be due to electrical current leakage in the old cables which are in the process of being replaced by the contractor. This is part of the overall upgrading of the airport facilities including terminal, runway, taxiway and apron under the Redevelopment Project of KKIA undertaken by the government to provide capacity for growth in air travel.
Efforts were made to identify the points of leakage in the 12 km cables. This process of identifying and rectifying the leakages took time. At 6am on 26 October 2012, all rectification works had to stop to allow the runway to be used for daylight operations which do not require runway lighting.
In the meantime, the sub-contractor was requested to immediately complete the installation of the new cables and lightings. However they could only commence work after the closure of the runway for night operations after 6pm. No work is allowed to be done on the runway during operations due to safety reasons.
As a contingency, it was decided that portable lights from various airports including TUDM be shipped to Kota Kinabalu. These portable lights were scheduled to arrive on flights prior to sunset to enable night operations on 26 October 2012. However, the arrival was hampered by bad weather. The full compliment of portable lights only arrived at 8.00pm. As a result of this the airport had to be closed for night operations from 6pm to 10pm.
However, the sub-contractor for the installation of the new cables and runway lights managed to connect and light-up the runway lights to enable the runway to be operational by 9.30 pm. The portable lights were therefore not required to be used.
The runway was declared safe for operations at 9.30pm on 26 October 2012 and was opened for commercial night flight operations. With the installation of this new cables and runway lightings and with the provision of back-up runway circuit, the operations are now running smoothly.
The number of flights affected in terms of diversion, delay and cancellation is 51 flights for the two nights. A total of 6,000 passengers were affected.
MAHB would like to thank Department of Civil Aviation, TUDM, Malaysia Airlines, Air Asia and other airlines for their support and cooperation during this critical period. Throughout the entire incident MAHB's focus and priority was to minimize the disruption to the airlines and passengers, and everything possible was done to bring the runway to full operations as soon as possible.
Any inconvenience caused to airlines and passengers as a result of this is deeply regretted. MAHB would like to assure that with this new installation, operations are now running smoothly.
Meanwhile Malaysia's Transport Minister Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha and Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman were enraged.
This incident should not have happened. The problem should not have taken so long to fix. It has inconvenienced thousands of travellers and may possibly have affected Sabah's image as a tourist destination. The State Cabinet is expecting a full report from MAB and measures to be taken to ensure that this doesn't happen again in the future.
PUTRAJAYA 27 OCTOBER 2012- The reasons behind the blackout of the KKIA airport runway last Thursday will be thoroughly investigated according to Dato' Seri Kong Cho Ha, Minister of Transport, Malaysia. Due the blackout many flights were postponed and cancelled, Kong was extremely upset with the whole situation that had caused a lot of uneasiness and anger among passengers who had planned their long weekend to celebrate Hari Raya Haji with their families and loved ones.
Kong firmly stated that no one would be spared based on the findings of the investigation with regards to this occurrence. Stern action will be taken on the careless party, whoever they maybe, individuals, local authorities or the airport operator. If there are elements of sabotage in the outcome of the investigation, then, a police report will be made and the case will then be handled by the police.
Kong reiterated that nobody will be protected in this occurrence, action will be taken on the party responsible for this situation. Her also urged the airport operator to ensure Emergency Response Plans (ERP) are in place so that occurrences like this do not repeat itself.


text:
Q: When user remove app - delete user from my sql database When an user remove my app from Facebook interface, I want to delete this user from my mysql database. How is possible to do that? (functions or method)
I see something at App Settings->Deauthorize Callback, when user remove app, Facebook server will send data to this page and should make a script that automatically remove that uid from my database?

A: You are 100% correct - your Deauthorize Callback URL will be sent a signed_request that you can decode to retrieve the information you need on the user that removed your application.


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text:
Michigan Legislature Michigan education policy Politics & Policy
Michigan may waive test for veteran teachers certified in other states
Lawmakers are considering waiving a certification test requirement for experienced teachers coming to Michigan.
Allison Shelley / The Verbatim Agency for EDUimages
Experienced educators from other states could soon teach in Michigan without having to pass the state certification exam.
Under proposed reciprocity legislation, people with three years' experience elsewhere would no longer have to take the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification in order to start teaching in the state. And once they start, they would have a year to fulfill other state licensure requirements, including becoming certified in CPR, and, for some, completing additional coursework in reading diagnostics.
The idea is to reduce barriers and get experienced teachers in the classroom faster, said state Sen. Ed McBroom, a Republican from Vulcan, who is sponsoring the bill.
A teacher shortage crisis is brewing in school districts across Michigan. Chalkbeat Detroit and Bridge Michigan are exploring the issue in a series of stories. This is the third story in the series.
Earlier stories:
Michigan's teacher shortage: What's causing it, how serious is it, and what can be done?
Short on teachers, Michigan schools try to grow their own
Coming soon: A look at what universities are doing to graduate more education majors.
That's important as the state tries to mitigate a longstanding teacher shortage in many districts that worsened during the pandemic. Class sizes are growing, principals are assigning educators to classes they don't feel qualified to teach, and staff morale is down. Students, meanwhile, need good teachers more than ever as they try to make up for lost learning time during the pandemic.
Most other states already waive testing requirements for new hires who have experience in other states, said Phillip Rogers, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification. And some states are relaxing their testing rules even for less experienced teachers, he said.
State Superintendent Michael Rice supports McBroom's bill, saying it could be very helpful and would cost the state nothing.
"It's all upside, no downside," he said.
The Michigan Education Association hasn't taken an official position on the bill but supports its concept as long as its provisions are temporary.
"We do want to maintain the longtime, rigorous standards for being a teacher in Michigan, because our kids deserve the best and the brightest," said Thomas Morgan, spokesman for the labor union. The certification test ensures teaching candidates meet those standards, Morgan said.
"But we do understand there is a crisis in our schools — a shortage of educators — and whatever we can do to get good teachers into our state and into our classrooms while we help them get on the path to meeting Michigan's rigorous standards, we're willing to do that," he said.
About a third of teachers hired last year in Michigan were initially certified in other states. Rice believes the state could have hired more if experienced candidates from other states didn't have to first meet the testing, CPR and reading course requirements set by the Legislature.
Those hurdles aren't insurmountable, but they may be inconvenient enough to dissuade prospective hires at a time when they're most needed, Rice said.
Principals say the legislation would be helpful.
"This would allow us to recruit and bring in new teachers without requiring them to take an assessment to prove abilities" they have already demonstrated by passing another state's test, said Paul Liabenow, executive director of the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principals Association.
The change could make a big difference in Traverse City, home to a U.S. Coast Guard Air Station whose personnel sometimes arrive with spouses who are teachers looking for work.
Scheduling and taking the certification test can be enough of a barrier to persuade some of them to seek other kinds of jobs when they're both qualified and needed in schools, said Traverse City Public Schools Superintendent John VanWagoner.
"I definitely want people that are strong, know their content, and are able to teach our kids at a high level, but I don't know that that specific standardized test is the only measure," VanWagoner said. "If we as an education entity believe they know their content and we feel good enough to put them in front of our kids, we should have the local autonomy to be able to do so."
The Senate Committee on Education and Career Readiness is expected to take up the bill later this month.
Tracie Mauriello covers state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit and Bridge Michigan. Reach her at tmauriello@chalkbeat.org.


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text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Xml.Linq;
using Excel = Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel;
using Office = Microsoft.Office.Core;
using Microsoft.Office.Tools.Excel;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace AMPSExcel
{
    public partial class AMPSAddin
    {
        public class SubscriptionDefinition
        {
            public string Name { get; set; }
            public string ServerName { get; set; }
            public string Topic { get; set; }
            public string Filter { get; set; }
            public string WorksheetRange { get; set; }
            public int Row { get; set; }
        }

        public class ServerDefinition
        {
            public string Name { get; set; }
            public string URL { get; set; }
            public string MessageType { get; set; }
            public int Row { get; set; }
        }

        public class WorkbookInfo
        {
            Excel.Workbook _workbook;
            public Dictionary<string, ServerDefinition> Servers = new Dictionary<string,ServerDefinition>();
            public Dictionary<string, SubscriptionDefinition> Subscriptions = new Dictionary<string,SubscriptionDefinition>();
            public WorkbookInfo(Excel.Workbook workbook)
            {
                // make the special worksheet
                _workbook = workbook;
                Excel.Worksheet subsSheet = getWorksheet("amps-subs");
                Excel.Worksheet serversSheet = getWorksheet("amps-servers");
                for (int i = 1; i < serversSheet.Cells.Rows.Count; i++)
                {
                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(serversSheet.Cells[i, 1].Value)) break;
                    string name = serversSheet.Cells[i, 1].Value;
                    string url = serversSheet.Cells[i, 2].Value;
                    string messageType = serversSheet.Cells[i, 3].Value;
                    this.Servers[name] = new ServerDefinition
                    {
                        Name = name,
                        URL = url,
                        MessageType = messageType,
                        Row = i
                    };
                }
                for (int i = 1; i < subsSheet.Cells.Rows.Count; i++)
                {
                    if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(subsSheet.Cells[i, 1].Value)) break;
                    string serverName = subsSheet.Cells[i, 1].Value;
                    this.Subscriptions[subsSheet.Cells[i, 1].Value] = new SubscriptionDefinition
                    {
                        Name = subsSheet.Cells[i,1].Value,
                        ServerName = subsSheet.Cells[i, 2].Value,
                        Topic = subsSheet.Cells[i, 3].Value,
                        Filter = subsSheet.Cells[i, 4].Value,
                        WorksheetRange = subsSheet.Cells[i, 5].Value,
                        Row = i
                    };
                }

            }

            private Excel.Worksheet getWorksheet(string worksheetName)
            {
                Excel.Worksheet worksheet;
                try
                {
                    worksheet = _workbook.Worksheets[worksheetName];
                }
                catch (Exception)
                {
                    worksheet = _workbook.Worksheets.Add();
                    worksheet.Name = worksheetName;
                }
                worksheet.Visible = Excel.XlSheetVisibility.xlSheetVeryHidden;
                return worksheet;
            }

            public void createOrUpdate(SubscriptionDefinition d)
            {
                var subs = getWorksheet("amps-subs");
                int row = 1;
                if (!Subscriptions.ContainsKey(d.Name))
                {
                    // go make a new row.
                    while (true)
                    {
                        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(subs.Cells[row, 1].Value)) break;
                        row++;
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    row = Subscriptions[d.Name].Row;
                }

                subs.Cells[row, 1].Value = d.Name;
                subs.Cells[row, 2].Value = d.ServerName;
                subs.Cells[row, 3].Value = d.Topic;
                subs.Cells[row, 4].Value = d.Filter;
                subs.Cells[row, 5].Value = d.WorksheetRange;
                d.Row = row;
                Subscriptions[d.Name] = d;
            }

            public void createOrUpdate(ServerDefinition d)
            {
                var servers = getWorksheet("amps-servers");
                int row = 1;
                if (!Servers.ContainsKey(d.Name))
                {
                    while (true)
                    {
                        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(servers.Cells[row, 1].Value)) break;
                        row++;
                    }
                }
                else
                {
                    row = Servers[d.Name].Row;
                }
                servers.Cells[row, 1].Value = d.Name;
                servers.Cells[row, 2].Value = d.URL;
                servers.Cells[row, 3].Value = d.MessageType;
                d.Row = row;
                Servers[d.Name] = d;
            }
        }
        public Dictionary<Excel.Workbook, WorkbookInfo> _workbooks = new Dictionary<Excel.Workbook,WorkbookInfo>();

        public WorkbookInfo getWorkbookInfo(Excel.Workbook workbook)
        {
            if (!_workbooks.ContainsKey(workbook))
            {
                _workbooks[workbook] = new WorkbookInfo(workbook);
            }
            return _workbooks[workbook];
        }

        private void ThisAddIn_Startup(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {

        }

        private void ThisAddIn_Shutdown(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
        {
        }

        #region VSTO generated code

        /// <summary>
        /// Required method for Designer support - do not modify
        /// the contents of this method with the code editor.
        /// </summary>
        private void InternalStartup()
        {
            this.Startup += new System.EventHandler(ThisAddIn_Startup);
            this.Shutdown += new System.EventHandler(ThisAddIn_Shutdown);
        }

        #endregion
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub