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The Classical Jazz of Dave Brubeck
Bridget Riley
|"Those who understand art only by what it looks like often do not understand very much at all." -Sol Lewitt|
In 1965 Bridget Riley made a trip to New York City to participate in a show titled, "The Responsive Eye." Her black and white works were already well known with one having been purchased by a dressmaker who just happened to be on the board of the Museum of Modern Art. He used the painting as the basis for a dress design, other designers quickly followed and suddenly Riley's work was not only on dresses but lampshades and sofas. She was equally surprised and appalled by this use of her work – and received absolutely no compensation. Returning to her home in England, Riley assumed it would be decades before she would be taken seriously again. Fortunately for us, she was wrong.
Riley was asked about the earliest paintings, "Were you an angry young woman?" She responded, "I don't think it was so much that."
Today these early works – mostly synthetic emulsion on board then soon after simply oil on canvas – are too quickly labeled as Op Art. But Riley's intention has never been about visual tricks to entertain spectators. In fact, Riley has described her early work this way, "I think they were beautifully aggressive." When one of the grand old men of art criticism, E. H. Gombrich, inquired about her use of 'the pure physics of the behavior of light' Riley simply replied, "I haven't studied the pure physics of the behavior of light." The paintings are primarily intended to stimulate the brain, not the optical nerves. Her work is instead grounded in the long history of painting. In Riley's intelligent conversations concerning artists, she has studied and admired we hear the importance of Titian, Poussin, Delacroix, Seurat, and Mondrian, among others. Her observations are quite sophisticated, "Titian takes two blues and an off-white from the colors in the sky – the farthest distance – and moves them down into the foreground as a skirt, a cloak, and a dress."
"… color is wholly relative. Every hue throughout your work is altered by every touch you add in other places…" John Ruskin
Riley also discusses her progression as an artist by reflecting on the decision to move from black-and-white, to gray and then on to the color paintings for which she is now best known. She mentions the shift from black-and-white to gray was far more challenging than that when moving to color. Interestingly, many of the color paintings retain visual forms similar to some of those early black-and-white works. Despite the similarity in design, the color works have a startlingly different impact on this viewer. A trip to Egypt inspired both paintings and prints where the organization of colored stripes would influence later colorwork. Like her observation of how Titian uses colors to create "air" and cohesion in his works, Riley is very thoughtful in how she uses color in hers. Whether simple vertical stripes or wavy horizontal lines, these compare favorably to the later works featuring a mash-up of curves fragmented and interlaced diagonally.
"If you think of a square, or a circle or triangle, no matter what size it may be, you know exactly what form you can expect to see. But if you say red, yellow or blue you do not know at all what shade of colour you will be looking at." Bridget Riley
The relationship between music and painting is another interesting topic Riley discusses. She said the impact of Stravinski's lectures from 1939 that she read in book form became a sort of 'bible' to her (her word, her quote marks). Kandinsky also played in this space, but on a more esoteric level, "…we see the color green in the Key of D, only less dogmatically". Again, for Riley color is more than something to stimulate the visual cortex. Like music, color can create feelings and emotions that are physical. Classical music, like classic paintings, can be studied across a spectrum of ideas and concepts.
"To treat them as historical documents or evidence of past concepts is wrong – they are particular solutions to continuing artistic problems…" Bridget Riley
A recent review in the Wall Street Journal (1-7-2020) was effusive in praise for an impressive Riley retrospective at London's Hayward Gallery at the end of 2019. Yet, there remains a tendency to emphasize the visual over the cerebral. Over the top comments in the review included: "walking into a snail shell and discovering a turbulent seascape"; "the furious waves of Cataract 3" and; "the furious Indian reds" (are we allowed to use the word furious twice in one review?). It was a stunning show, but more because of the ideas and art history her paintings embrace, not just the optical effects. Today Bridget Riley is still making artwork that is more cerebral than visual, more lyrical than literal.
A series of interviews originally recorded in 1992 and reprinted in 1995 have been collected in an excellent new book, Bridget Riley Dialogues on Art, 2019. Most of the quotes here – hers and others – came from that book.
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By	Arts-Notes.com
|A real investment strategy is not a document or a forecast, but a viewpoint about how to respond to the forces at work around us.|
I am often admonished by my boxing trainer to breathe. Trying to control my footwork and find a proper response to an attack and put my punches in a logical sequence my brain can over-load and I forget to breathe. Time to back-up, clear the mind, regain focus and…breathe. While it is always a challenge to manage our investment portfolios, exceptional times add even more pressure, often leading to poor decision making. Or, just as often and just as bad, a refusal to make any decision. As the old saying goes, "Many a false step was made by standing still."
So, we're going to look at some ways to look at our portfolios and do some strategizing (which sounds a lot cooler than 'financial planning'). Dislocations like the ones we've been experiencing during the pandemic suggest previous assumptions may no longer make sense, or even be viable. Time to review our financial performance measurements, think about our biases, make sure our plans (dreams) remain clearly in focus and…breathe.
Step one is to have an investment strategy.
A real investment strategy is not a document or a forecast, but a viewpoint about how to respond to the forces at work around us. A financial strategy simply answers the question, "What does my desired future look like?" What do you want? What do you want to achieve, do or have? And don't make small plans or aim for easy goals – these do not have the power to push us to achieve the greatness we are capable of.
Next, think operationally.
What needs to be done to achieve success? What allows us to determine if the things we are doing supports our investment strategy, moving us closer to our goals? For any goal related activity, assign a probability of its value, and be honest about it. One way to think about tasks that don't offer an obvious outcome is to admit, "I am not sure, this is why I am not sure, and this is roughly how unsure I am." If you can't convince yourself, or put the odds of success above 80%, then move on to the next idea.
How are you going to operate? How are you going to execute the tasks required to reach your financial goals? Bank (cash and certificates of deposit), brokerage (equities, fixed income, and debt instruments), realtor and/or property manager (real estate), or safe deposit box (gold and jewelry)? Do you want a support team, an investment advisor or are you a lone wolf? Regardless of your choice, there will be a cost involved, just accept that and move on. Remember, the biggest expense will likely be the mistakes you make, including not taking advice from people you are paid for guidance. While most of these types of decisions will only need to be made once, or twice, they can have a big impact on how hard it is to achieve your goals – if at all.
Finally, what are you going to do to limit your downside losses?
Every truly successful investor in the public eye will admit to worrying more about losses than profits. Making a profit on an investment is a possibility, but not certain, and is unlikely to be the result of anything you can influence. The risk of losing money on an investment is a reality and will happen, often because of something you do (or don't do). If you are risk-averse and find yourself making quick decisions based on emotion or fear, how you answer the questions in the previous paragraph is critical. Investing in stocks and bonds is not a requirement for long term financial success. Saving is far important than investing and most financial problems are caused by debt.
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By	Invest-Notes.com
The Classical Roots of New Jazz
|The last couple of years has witnessed some very good music standing on the corner of Jazz and Classical.|
When the riot broke out on May 28, 1913, during the first public performance of Igor Stravinsky's Rite of Spring in Paris, it's hard to believe the spirit of the new jazz music in America wasn't standing backstage in the shadows. Charlie Parker was a big fan of Stravinsky and his Rites, and it just might be that Salt Peanuts found inspiration in its vicinity. The dissonance we associate with seismic shifts in the landscape of 20th-century music can be clearly heard in compositions and performances of both men. Yet as we have discussed here on several occasions, the intersection of jazz and classical music has found fertile ground even among more straight-ahead jazz players.
"We cannot observe the creative phenomenon independently of the form in which it is made manifest." Stravinsky
The last couple of years has witnessed some very good music standing on the corner of Jazz and Classical. What might be most interesting about the albums mentioned below is that each includes a current mainstay from the straight-ahead jazz scene. More so than other jazz/classical works discussed here at Jazz-Notes, the classical influences of this younger generation are clearly heard in these songs. This can be partially explained by their having been trained as classical musicians before embracing jazz.
Let's start with the well-known string quartet Brooklyn Rider and their collaboration with tenor great Joshua Redman (one our favorites here at Jazz-Notes). The album Sun on Sand was released in 2019 and is singularly successful in blending genres. First, the Riders can hold their own whether acting as a rhythm section or "solo" voice. Second, Redman also moves smoothly through both roles, as comfortable behind the band as fronting it. Finally, all tunes are original compositions of Patrick Zimmerli who is well regarded in both classical and jazz circles.
The opening number, "Flash", does not immediately play to either side of the jazz/classical divide. Likewise, the slightly tremulous "Starbursts and Haloes" manages the same feat of being neither fish nor fowl. But the album's closer, "Between Dog and Wolf: Reprise", might just be the closest we'll ever come to hearing echoes of what that collaboration between Stravinsky and Parker could have been.
The latest release by pianist and composer Victor Gould, "When Thoughts Become Things", also includes a string quartet, as well as trumpeter Jeremy Pelt (whose powerful 2019 release, The Artist, pays tribute to sculptor Auguste Rodin). The title cut that opens the album sways back and forth between strings and piano, without staking a claim to preference. Likewise, the piano solo-track, "Brand New" finds Gould in a contemplative mood that carries through in his piano/trumpet duet with Pelt on the classic jazz number, "Polkadots and Moonbeams". This is a thoughtful and contemplative sounding collection.
Finally, Meg Okura's 2018 release, Ima Ima, featuring the Pan Asian Chamber Jazz Ensemble may offer the most curious blend of jazz and classical sensibilities. With help from another Jazz-Notes favorite, trumpet player Tom Harrell (whose 2015 release, First Impressions, includes compositions by Debussy and Ravel) Okura creates a wide-ranging sonic spectrum full of interesting sounds. In fact, the musical flourishes that appear around the edges of the music create atmospheres as varied as theatrical soundtracks, angelic choirs, classical chamber music, and straight-ahead jazz – and all this just in the song "A Summer in Jerusalem." Even after repeated listens it feels like I hear something new every time Okura's music plays.
By	Jazz-Notes.com
It's A Fool's Errand
|During the last financial crisis, a manager at UBS commented that every investor should have a "SWAN" account—for "sleep well at night."|
It's a fool's errand to try and explain daily gyrations in equity markets. The ride since the S&P 500 hit an all-time high just a few weeks ago has been dramatic, and any further declines should surprise no one.
"How many things were articles of faith to us yesterday, which are fables to us today?" Montaigne
Moving past more jawboning about the totally unprecedented shutdown of economic activity, the way forward is far from clear. The U.S. economy has been put into a forced coma in an effort to prevent further deterioration (which is not to make light of the terrible physical and emotional toll we see growing around us every day – it is simply a fact that I discuss investments here, not medicine – this analogy notwithstanding). It's not certain that the government will be reviving its patient anytime soon. And it is possible that the restart will take far longer to achieve than we can imagine.
I suppose we could be generous and suggest that the government has thrown a financial bone (a few trillion dollars) to small businesses and their now unemployed minions. And despite some seeming confusion, it looks like the banks and really big businesses stand to make out pretty good too, again. Yet by implying (promises don't exist in the House, Senate or Oval Office) that the Fed "will do whatever it takes" for the next couple of months we are being warned the worst may yet be to come.
So how do we save and invest now? Wall Street-ers will tell you that this, too, shall pass. Probably, maybe, or maybe not. Better to wait until the fog clears, or start buying equities now because the first bounce off of the bottom is where most of the gains will come as markets recover? Personally, I'm making assumptions that have led me to use this last updraft to sell some ETFs and build cash for when the time comes to get serious about buying again. I'll be on the sidelines for a while yet.
"Don't trust a brilliant idea unless it survives the hangover." Jimmy Breslin
Two examples are shared here:
First, my enthusiasm for emerging markets has completely evaporated.
Considering the impact of COVID-19 on the United States and our uneven responses, the idea that countries like India (three times the size of the U.S. population with a fraction of the medical infrastructure) will not see economic chaos is unthinkable. The Pacific Rim (and even Russia) haven't begun to be hurt like the U.S. but almost certainly will. My bet is that supply chains get shorter as the world acts more local than global. After a couple of decades, I'm finally eliminating this asset class from my portfolios. When the time is right, the proceeds will be reinvested into non-U.S. blue-chip companies.
Second, publicly-traded REITs and real estate tied to equity markets will likely struggle mightily over the medium term.
Known for their great yields and high payouts (in the case of Real Estate Investment Trusts, required by law to distribute the majority of earnings to shareholders) it will be tough to pay dividends when companies and people don't have to pay rent. How many restaurants, nail and hair salons or tattoo parlors will still be needing retail space six months from now? And what are the long-term ramifications of businesses learning that much of what needs to happen to ensure happy customers does not have to happen in centralized locations? Physical real estate makes up the largest part of my investable assets (all of which I'll note are debt-free) so it no longer makes sense to have real estate exposure through equity markets. These funds will be reinvested in my S&P 500 ETF.
Yet the most important takeaway might just be that cash is still king and liquidity matters more than ever. The focus today isn't about making money, but preserving it. You don't want to be forced into making decisions about your equity investments because one or another financial obligations have come due.
During the last financial crisis, a manager at UBS commented that every investor should have a "SWAN" account—for "sleep well at night." Agreed.
|Duke Ellington Presents from 1963 introduces the world to Abdullah Ibrahim, then living in Switzerland. Nelson Mandela invites the prodigal son back to South Africa in 1990. Subsequently, Ibrahim performs at Mandela's inauguration in 1994. Since then he has continued to find his own way toward new musical worlds.|
In 2019 Abdullah Ibrahim produced The Balance, his first recording as a leader since 2014.
I found the music to be remarkable. While searching his discography for other albums offering his warm, melodic sound, the discovery that Ibrahim was a bandleader starting in 1963 left me feeling pretty stupid. Perhaps this pianist and composer had not appeared on my jazz radar because of how his music is most often described and labeled.
Best guess is that previously reading about Abdullah Ibrahim being connected with Don Cherry, Ornette Coleman, and Archie Shepp would imply a free jazz orientation – not a genre I listen to much. Then again, talk of Cape Jazz from South Africa favoring gospel influences was also not so interesting. Ditto for his important works like Mannenberg, being described as a major part of the anti-apartheid sound – if we can assume there really was one sound to describe that heady time in South Africa. Then there are the movie soundtracks. Oh, and born Adolph Johannes Brand in 1936 then going by the name Dollar Brand on his earliest recordings, finally becoming Abdullah Ibrahim in 1968 when he converted to Islam made recognition challenging. Also, as we will reference, he has maintained a lifelong interest in Zen Buddhism even after his conversion to Islam.
His first, eponymous album, The Dollar Brand Trio, was produced by Duke Ellington in 1963.
It is an impressive freshman performance and in hindsight clearly points in the direction Ibrahim has pursued for decades. The real surprise is that through all the so-called Cape jazz-free jazz-protest jazz-soundtrack jazz phases, Abdullah Ibrahim's sound has been remarkably consistent, and certainly not defined by any of these labels. For a discussion of his music, where I will make my own assertions as to his influences, we'll focus on two albums: the 2011 release Sotho Blue and Mukashi from 2013.
Sotho Blue is a collection of Ibrahim original compositions that include one song by Bud Powell. We hear the influences of Ellington, Powell, New Orleans, and the West Coast jazz of the 1960s. Sounds of the orient and surprisingly contemporary jazz references speak to an open mind, enjoying without embracing. The saxophone, flute, and trombone trade places as lead vocals to Ibrahim's piano from song to song taking the music from highs to lows. It can remind us of the emotions engendered when we travel as flaneurs rather than tourists. Yet the album is described as "background music" and for "private rumination and meditation" by a resource I usually respect. Neither of these comments rings even remotely relevant when listening to the album. Again, labels and comparisons can be misleading and even unfair.
1. Calypso Minor 4. Nisa 7. Glass Enclosure
2. Sotho Blue 5. The Mountain 8. Star Dance
3. Abide 6. The Wedding 9. Joan Capetown Flower
Consider this, a hot new trumpeter is on the scene and we ask someone recently having heard the player live what she sounds like. A response of Dizzy Gillespie or Miles Davis provides little insight. Dizzy hard bop or big band? Miles first quintet or electric? Using Dizzy and Salt Peanuts or Miles and Kind of Blue makes it clear what to expect. Free jazz? Have you actually listened to one of his recordings? The piano of Ahmad Jamal? Too cerebral, Abdullah Ibrahim is more playful. The piano of Chick Corea? Too muscular, Ibrahim is more lyrical. The influences of Ellington and Monk are assumed by his own admission. With Ibrahim offering so many references that are, quite frankly, somewhat tangential to the music he plays proves a distraction. Though I can't offer a good point of reference. (Note to self; listen before assuming.)
Mukashi, named for a Zen master Ibrahim deeply respects, is an album that might be more appropriate for meditation, assuming forceful solos don't harsh your mellow. This music inspires thought not introspection. The recording doesn't sound oriental though it includes the sound of traditional Japanese flute playing. Perhaps some bright spots reflect the definitions of World Music, while he also plays at the fringes of traditional American jazz. All the labels, the genres, and definitions blur in Mukashi. The most interesting of the Ibrahim recordings currently on my playlist, it is also the most challenging.
Sotho Blue and the piano solo album from 2008, Senzo (mostly his greatest hits), are getting the most playtime these days. I prefer music without words so that it doesn't distract me while reading books and magazines. Curiously, I have found myself pausing mid-sentence upon hearing a phrase or block of notes in Ibrahim's playing. He definitely has something to say and doesn't need words to express an idea.
For those interested in hearing Abdullah Ibrahim, a good start would be with The Balance. An elegant and confident album, once again featuring compositions by Ibrahim, with one by Monk. Ellington would be a proud and happy mentor hearing Ibrahim at 86 still playing like a seeker of new worlds.
More Jazz-Notes on "Straight Ahead"
Think Like a Man of Action, Act Like a Man of Thought.
As financial markets continue in their highly erratic trajectory, amid Covid-19, they leave opportunity (as well as shock and awe) in their wake. This is a time when it is especially important to avoid emotional reactions and focus on intelligent decision-making. Revisiting some notes made a decade ago during more quiet times – specifically, the sub-prime mortgage crisis – here are five suggestions that might help to both calm nerves and enhance decision-making capabilities.
1. Don't make more predictions than your data can support.
As Warren Buffett once noted, "You should invest in a business that even a fool can run, because someday a fool will." Now that a virus has taken over management at so many companies, we'll have to see which fools have been the wisest in preparing for tough times. What does the company do and how does it make money? Beyond this, short of being a member of the company's management team, there's not much else you can know for sure. Restaurants and hotels will likely take longer to return to normal than makers of household products. Dividends and yield will suffer.
2. Focus on the not-too-distant future; near-term forecasts are more certain than 10-year projections.
The future has always been hard to predict and this fact is unlikely to change just because investors wish it would. Assuming China doesn't see a second wave of infections (an "if" worth watching for) it appears the worst is now in their rearview. After a few months, life begins to look familiar in Chinese cities. Let's hope it stays that way and we follow a similar path, needing 24-weeks instead of 24-months to begin our recovery. But there seems little sense to talk about what the economy might look like at this time next year, or even year-end. Always be suspicious of undue emphasis on the long-term, especially when the short-term isn't looking so good.
3. Be wary of precision; it is better to be vaguely right than precisely wrong.
Too much detail gives a false sense of security. It's just human nature to think someone predicting that earnings for the S&P in 2020 will be $174.44 must know more than someone who simply suggests that earnings will be more than the estimated $163 achieved in 2019. Yet all we can really expect now is that the S&P will struggle and is unlikely to achieve any growing earnings growth over 2019. Don't trust anyone making an earnings prediction for 2020 or 2021. The financial markets will likely do worse than what we enjoyed in 2019 and you should plan accordingly.
4. Income isn't always income.
A stock or stock fund paying a big dividend is not a safe place to hunker down. Even a 6% dividend doesn't mean much if the value of the underlying asset has dropped over 25% since January (the average for stocks in the S&P 500, so far). Four years of dividends have evaporated and many high yield investments will be forced to cut their payouts, possibly even before the virus fades, adding even further downward pressure to already stressed investments. The current yield of the S&P 500 is now over 4% – which won't mean much if we're only halfway to the bottom for equity prices.
5. Avoid greed.
I fully believe that our country will get through this – just as we do with hurricanes and financial shenanigans. But there is currently no end in view to the Covid-19 crisis and bottom-feeding at this point is more likely to make you poorer, not richer. Frankly, if you depend on your savings to live on, consider some selective cash-raising opportunities. Sub-prime saw a 50% decline from top to bottom – we've only seen half that amount, so far. At this point panic is bad, but being a Pollyanna might be worse. Make sure your umbrella is big enough to keep you dry until the storm passes.
On Prognostication
|We tend to brag about our most recent brilliant investment while conveniently forgetting our more frequent whiffs.|
Chapter eleven from the first book of essays by Michel de Montaigne serves as a welcome reminder that some truths are beyond debate. A minor noble, occasional public servant and prolific reader Montaigne began writing short works of critical self-reflection around 1570. He referred to these works as essays and, effectively, created a novel genre. (As a side note, 400 years later the Argentinian Jorge Luis Borges would, effectively, perfect the essay.)
The title of chapter eleven is deceptively perfect as it relates to our theme herein, investing. This brief essay covers two important topics often overlooked by individual investors; survivorship bias and forecasting. As to the first, we'll quote Montaigne, "Besides, no one keeps a record of their mistakes, inasmuch as these are ordinary and numberless; and their correct divinations are made much of as they are rare, incredible and prodigious." As has been often reflected upon here at Invest-Notes, when reviewing every stock transition I've made over a 12-month period, the many bad trades are inevitably left in the dark, overshadowed by the occasional big winner. We tend to brag about our most recent brilliant investment while conveniently forgetting our more frequent whiffs.
The glaring error in an otherwise interesting book on the wealthy, The Millionaire Next Door, is this failure to acknowledge the losers. We meet a few very successful businessmen, owners of dry cleaners, who have quietly amassed meaningful fortunes. But no mention is made of the thousands of dry cleaners who not only didn't make a million dollars but went broke trying. Montaigne tells the story of a skeptic in ancient Greece shown a chapel filled with votive offerings from sailors who survived shipwrecks to prove the beneficence of the gods. The skeptic observes, "Those who were drowned, in much greater numbers, are not portrayed here."
More importantly, we talk about the records of Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch though never discuss the vast majority of professional investors who went broke or settled into quiet mediocrity. There is a reason books that discuss the "habits of super successful investors" all seem to talk about the same people. Not that many people are successful over a meaningful period of time. Of course, there are big winners, but always remember that the losers are "numberless." Only with hindsight do we know who survived. This applies equally to individual stocks and hedge funds – no one talks about the ones who didn't make it.
"…there is no use in knowing what is to be, for it is wretched to be tormented to no purpose." -Cicero
As to forecasting, we should all know better. The idea that we can tell what is going to happen to the price of any individual stock over a period of a few months is self-deceptive. An analysis showing where a stock price will be 5-years from now is a lie. It has been demonstrated that over meaningful lengths of time the equity markets go up more often than they go down, so while dips can be ferocious, recovery has proven a relatively safe expectation. But this is based on the movement of a cohort of equities, not an individual stock.
As Nassim Taleb has said repeatedly, if the author of that glowing 5-year analysis doesn't have at least half his net worth invested in the stock under discussion don't believe anything being said.
The follow-on is our tendency to look at how much we can make instead of how much we can lose. Yes, there is money to be made if an investment increases in value. But when a company you invest in goes bankrupt (as recently happened to me with a private equity deal) being able to write-off the loss is small consolation. At the time I did the deal it never occurred to me that a total loss of invested capital was a possibility. But the lesson learned was a confirmation of one of the most important rules when investing; never make a bet so big that a loss can leave you with a permanent impairment of capital. While painful, and embarrassing, financially there is no change to my lifestyle or future prospects.
So, since we can never know the future we must avoid prognostication. Because when our bets on future outcomes start going off track, or derail completely, the best we can do is reflect wistfully on what might have been. This, in turn, can lead us to fear the future. What if we are wrong again? Opportunity becomes something to be feared, best to avoid. Instead, focus on the here-and-now, what we know and not what might be. I'll be doing more private equity deals but now with a focus on risks, not just rewards.
When Similar Does Not Mean Same As
|"…it's fascinating to see people converging at similar visual endpoints even when starting from different places, following divergent paths, and all the while thinking about different things."|
For no particular reason, I bought a handsome catalog of Paul Klee works printed in conjunction with an exhibit at the Guggenheim Museum (May 7 to September 19, 1993). Fairly limited in scope, featuring works mostly from the Guggenheim's own collection, it did manage to convey the breadth of styles that Klee worked through, from adolescence to his early death. Always experimenting, Paul Klee used some unconventional methods to create original works, as well as multiples and prints. From sophisticated uses of color to the more primitive, and childlike imagery that he is widely known by, the guy did some really fine work.
But the "A-Ha" moment came with two works in particular. The first was a pen and ink drawing from a Bauhaus course catalog (1929), "Five Part, Polyphony." The second was a later painting (1939), "Rocks at Night." Both were precursors – whether acknowledged or not – of Sol Lewitt. This suggestion is not to in any way intended to diminish the originality of Lewitt's work.
"By diverse means, we arrive at the same end."
-Michel de Montaigne
I was reminded of an essay by Jorge Luis Borges, Kafka and His Precursors. Borges reflected on the phenomenon of similarities of early artistic expressions to later ones that only become obvious in retrospect. In other words, to use Borges' example, the relationship of writings from the Greek philosopher Zeno of Elea to those of Franz Kafka. The work of Kafka is not intended to reference Zeno, but using ideas discussed by Kafka allows us to see something fresh in Zeno. Or, put another way, reading Zeno through the lens of Kafka allows us to tease new meaning from something old and familiar.
Similarly, Lewitt took some heat in the early 1970s when his "Circles, Grids, Arcs," series culminated (logically) with a drawing similar to the works of a French artist, Francois Morrellet. Very different sensibilities, both arriving at similar visual expressions, are not proof of plagiarism. Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz anyone?
So here in the Paul Klee oeuvre was a drawing, Polyphony, of straight lines in four directions, many converging and overlapping, creating an image reminiscent of ideas explored by Lewitt years later in his many series' featuring "Lines in Four Directions." Then the beautiful blue painting, Rocks, which could hardly appear more alike to some of Lewitt's "Irregular Shapes" images.
"Polyphony", "Lines in Four Directions", "Rocks", "Irregular Shapes"
Stretching out a bit, some of the most beautiful of the Paul Klee paintings in the Guggenheim catalog look like carbon copies of Australian Aboriginal Dream paintings. The similarities of some Klee drawings to the work of Milton Avery and Ben Shahn is striking. Prints reminiscent of recent work by Jim Nutt seem obvious. Like Lewitt's intersection with Morrellet, it's fascinating to see people converging at similar visual endpoints even when starting from different places, following divergent paths, and all the while thinking about different things.
Joshua Redman Quartet
|The Joshua Redman Quartet seem to have taken the suggestion of Miles Davis to heart, "First play what you know, then play beyond what you know."|
The new album by saxophonist Joshua Redman, Come What May (2019), features a band Redman first recorded within 2000. In a Wall Street Journal interview from May of that year discussing the recording of Beyond (2000) Redman said, "In many ways, it's the record I'm proudest of so far as really capturing the sound of a band." That article led me to purchase the CD without hearing any of it beforehand. The music relit my passion for straight-ahead jazz and remains a touchstone for what defines contemporary jazz. A few years later I finally had a chance to see Joshua Redman perform live as part of the SF Jazz Collective while he was the Artistic Director. Whether live or recorded, Redman is a delight to hear.
After Beyond, the quartet featuring Aaron Goldberg on piano, Reuben Rogers on bass and Gregory Hutchinson on drums, recorded another gem Passage of Time (2001). Both of these albums feature only compositions by Redman and demonstrate his strengths as both player and creator. Come What May reunites this group who again play only Redman originals. All three have continued to play with Redman in various settings and ensembles over the last 18 years, but there is no question that this line-up is much more than the sum of its players.
In fact, Redman has made many fine albums with outstanding bands. MoodSwing (1994) features Brad Mehldau on piano, Christian McBride on bass and Brian Blade on drums. Or listen to the edgier music from his trio on Elastic (2002) with Sam Yahel on various keyboards and Brian Blade, again on the drums. A few personal favorites are the two albums from quartet James Farm. (2011). Featuring Redman with Aaron Parks on piano, Matt Penman on bass and Eric Harland on drums, their eponymous first release has a feel tangential to Beyond. Considering the ground that's been covered, in finding his way back to that sound from 2000 Redman seems very comfortable.
Other than one song, "Leap of Faith" on Beyond, which features tenor player Mark Turner in a remarkable performance, all three of these sessions only include this iteration of the Joshua Redman Quartet. You'll find this recording offers some of Redman's most fluid and technically challenging music. Enhancing the quality of the compositions, the players are in top form. While this quartet was clearly up to the task in 2000, here on Come What May they are now a more seasoned group of musicians bringing a wider range of musical intelligence to this task. They seem to have taken the suggestion of Miles Davis to heart, "First play what you know, then play beyond what you know."
Much like on Beyond, Redman ranges across a spectrum of jazz styles on Come What May from the driving "I'll Go Mine" to the contemplative "Vast." To my ear, these three recordings make up a distinct sound that stands apart from the many other albums with Redman as leader, yet without sounding the same. Once again, Redman has really captured the sound of this band.
When is a profit or a loss not really either one?
|Successful investing is almost always a result of critical thinking and patience. When you decide to purchase any financial investment the reasons you would sell are just as important as why you are buying.|
An unfortunately common story heard from investment managers is about the tendency for people to panic during market drops. The problem is multifaceted with otherwise sober investors suddenly trying to time the market, taking losses on stocks, giving up dividend income and possibly generating unnecessary tax bills. And when the panic ends? How to determine when to start purchasing equities again, yet another opportunity for market timing – an activity long demonstrated to be harmful to your portfolio.
This is not to say an investor should never sell, just that any decision to make changes in the holdings of a portfolio should be a result of planning, done deliberately and with intention. Not during a time of emotional and financial stress. And while tax implications don't apply to IRA or other retirement accounts, we must still be mindful of what an unrealized gain means.
So, let's do a thought experiment today. We're going to look at a gold coin (let's make it a one-ounce American Gold Eagle) and ten shares of Apple stock (AAPL). Let's assume that these assets are in a retirement account that is unlikely to see any withdrawals for another decade. Today that gold coin is worth about $1,450, and the ten AAPL shares around $2,000. Now for the fun…
In 2016 that gold coin was valued at $1,100, but in 2011 it was about $2,000. It is the same coin and has never been removed from the safe deposit box since 2006 when you originally purchased it. With a current value of $1,450, have you made $350 or lost $550? Yes, a trick question, since you only paid $600 for that American Gold Eagle in 2006. Same with AAPL; in 2016 the ten shares were worth about $950 and in 2012 they were worth $750. But in 2006 you paid $150 – yes, one hundred and fifty dollars for ten shares.
In summary, for both the coin and the stock over the last ten years each has been worth more and less than their value today. Selling in a panic could mean you create a tax liability further diminishing any gain. In a taxable investment account, if you sell the coin or the stock you immediately owe tax on any gain but can deduct any losses against profits from other equity sales. In a retirement account, you don't owe taxes, but if you sell at a loss, you cannot use that loss as a tax credit to offset other winners. In theory (and real-life) you can buy a stock, sell it for what you paid for it, and still lose money. Or take big losses that can't be used to offset profitable trades.
Until you sell an asset it is only worth whatever anyone will pay for it. Gold has demonstrated an ability over very, very long periods of time to be an asset that holds its value. Consider that Benjamin Franklin wrote that in his lifetime an ounce of gold would buy a very nice suit. And a bespoke suit can be had today for $1,500. Holding gold in your portfolio is a way to preserve wealth rather than create it.
As for AAPL, well, the first iPhone was sold in 2007 spurring a revolution in communication that led AAPL to become (on-again, off-again) the most valuable company on the planet. But whether a share costs $12 or $200, it still represents only a minuscule ownership stake of a publicly held company that has demonstrated a highly volatile price history. AAPL has also shown, that like the overall markets, while the water is often choppy, it has historically gone up more than it has gone down and continues to seek a higher level. A poor earnings report can mean a dive in the value of individual shares but is as likely to be temporary as not. Until such time as AAPL begins to underperform consistently or suddenly faces formidable competition, a snap decision to sell could prove to be an expensive mistake. AAPL is in your portfolio with an eye towards making a profit.
Whether either investment should have a place in your collection of assets is determined by your goals. And when you decide to purchase any financial investment the reasons you would sell are just as important as why you are buying. Successful investing is almost always a result of critical thinking (don't panic as markets move dramatically up or down) and patience (it's a marathon, not a sprint). Heaven is not the day after tomorrow.
–How to Navigate Market Drops–
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5/03/2007 · The international drivers license is not an official document. It's just short of being a scam. You need to have a valid issued driver's license to drive in Canada, and Canada recognizes a US driver's license from any state. how to open cd drive with cmd 5/03/2007 · The international drivers license is not an official document. It's just short of being a scam. You need to have a valid issued driver's license to drive in Canada, and Canada recognizes a US driver's license from any state.
iQ Find it fast iQ find it fast iQ is here to help you find the answers to your licensing queries by exploring a collection of frequently asked questions and the information provided by Driver and Vehicle Services, in our Licensing website.
5/03/2007 · The international drivers license is not an official document. It's just short of being a scam. You need to have a valid issued driver's license to drive in Canada, and Canada recognizes a US driver's license from any state.


This is a critical moment for advancing a green collar jobs vision. Over the past year, New York City has taken bold steps to address pressing environmental problems. Long strides have been made toward confronting the threat of global warming, planning for future energy use, and improving our infrastructure to accommodate new residents. At the same time, there is growing recognition that greening New York City can be an engine for economic growth, community reinvestment, and job creation.
New York City's large-scale environmental initiatives, such as plaNYC 2030, have the potential to create and upgrade thousands of jobs — in building retrofits, energy efficient building maintenance, energy management, clean energy, urban forestry, storm water management, recycling, and brownfield remediation.
A growing green economy can help the city meet formidable economic challenges. These include persistent joblessness in many communities — especially for black and Latino youth, the loss of family-supporting jobs, and the growth of low-wage jobs without opportunities for skill development and promotion. Because green jobs often involve working on urban infrastructure and the built environment, they cannot be easily outsourced; and many are based in neighborhoods experiencing the highest levels of joblessness.
If the full promise of a green economy is to be realized, green jobs need to be more than ones that maintain or improve the environment. These jobs have to provide family-supporting wages, benefits, and career pathways.
It remains an open question, however, whether the City's environmental policies will lead to quality jobs. For that reason, Urban Agenda has launched a nine month process to create a coordinated, citywide workforce development plan to prepare New Yorkers for green collar jobs. The kick-off meeting was held on June 24 when nearly 150 participants from many sectors met to identify critical questions and share information and strategies on how to support green collar job creation.
The plan is being created through a broad based effort that includes input from labor unions, community groups, workforce development practitioners, business, environmental advocates and policy makers. Its ultimate success will be measured in the creation of thousands of green collar jobs.
The plan will need to create entry points into green career tracks for workers who have been shut out of the traditional economy. This might include piloting a green collar job corps to provide job training, paid work experience, and placement in green collar sectors with basic entry requirements.
The plan should leverage New York City's strong workforce development system by expanding training in green skills, materials, and systems and bringing these programs to scale. This would enhance the fundability and sustainability of a green collar workforce development plan.
The plan would apply a model used by some already existing programs that explicitly connects pre-employment service providers, community and non-profit training providers, labor apprenticeship programs, and two-year and four-year college programs. Such an approach connects job training programs to green career pathways.
Creating a plan to meet the needs of workers and employers alike will require a commitment from a broad base of concerned stakeholders. A citywide strategy that builds from existing programs, confronts challenges in the workforce development system, and creates green careers would provide the scale and coordination necessary to accomplish this complex effort. With the meeting on June 24, work has now begun on developing a strategy to help lift New Yorkers out of poverty, preserve a middle class and ensure the City's global competitiveness.
Joanne Derwin is the Executive Director of Urban Agenda, an action research and coalition building organization working for social, economic and environmental justice. Urban Agenda convenes the NYC Apollo Alliance where Joanne serves on the Steering Committee.


About the year 1820 Monsieur LOUIS ALEXIS JUMEL, an active and enterprising Frenchman, discovered in a fine garden at Cairo belonging to a Bey (=arab Noblesman title) named MAKO EL ORFALI, some neglected cotton plants which had been placed there merely as objects of curiosity and embellishment. He examined them carefully, and was struck with the facility with which they adapted themselves to the soil and quickly became acclimated, and, after many observations and experiments, became convinced that the cultivation of the staple might be easily propagated throughout Egypt. It was then planted on large scale by the founder of modern Egypt, Mohammed Alì Pascià, symbol of the rebuilding of the country after the invasion of Napoleon's French troops.
"Notwithstanding all that he had done, however, poor JUMEL received no other special benefit than the application of his name to the Egyptian cotton, known in France and in Egypt itself as the Jumel cotton. But even this satisfaction was not to be left to him without a contest, for the English, with their immemorial jealousy of every title to glory won by their neighbors in France, even when it should bring only honor, disputed, or, at least, strove to ignore the title. They gave to the new cotton the name of the Bey in whose garden JUMEL had first seen the plants that suggested the enterprise, and gave it the title of "The MAKO Cotton." Under this appellation it has since become most extensively known and used in many portions of the earth."
Today, Mako cotton crops are cultivated in a tiny area east of the Nile delta and represent 0.5% of the total annual Egyptian cotton production. Cotton is picked by hand so only the flocks that are at the right stage of maturity are picked each time. The care taken with cultivating and manually picking the cotton avoids the use of defoliants and other chemical products commonly used with mechanized picking. Mako cotton fibres are extremely long (36 mm) and have a uniformity index of 88.5%. But what really makes this cotton exceptional is the fineness of its fibres, measured in micronaire, which is between 3.0 and 3.2, and the degree of brightness equal to 74.8, the best among the Extra Long Staple cottons. Despite this fineness, the stretching resistance of the Mako fibres is still high, an average of 44.30 g/tex.
Higher thread count bed sheets are also stronger, more durable and much less likely to pill with washings and prolonged wear.
Interesting, I never knew Mako cotton is to be known under different names.


text:
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Luxury hotel opens in Vancouver amid much fanfare
In the postcard-perfect city of Vancouver, the newly built, luxurious Shangri-La Hotel lords over the heart of downtown like a beacon, its gleaming glass structure welcoming visitors from across North America, the Pacific Rim and the rest of the world. At 61 storeys, it's the tallest building in the city, but although its exterior frame is imposing, the hotel only has 119 guest rooms and suites (the rest are private residences), making it ideal for fostering an environment that speaks to intimacy, exclusivity and a distinct style of eastern hospitality not seen on Canadian soil.
Founded 37 years ago in Singapore, Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts currently has 57 owned and managed hotels located throughout Asia, Australia and the Middle East. The new $300-million, LEED-certified property, which is owned by Vancouver-based Peterson Investment Group and Westbank Projects Corp., is the first Shangri-La hotel in the western world, and it's general manager Stephen Darling's job — and that of his team — to ensure it's a smashing success as well as the launching point for the brand's expansion into the western hemisphere.
That's an objective that comes with tremendous challenges — apart from niggling contractor deficiencies, there's the logistics of moving into a new space and a scarcity of time to run new staff through the required training. But there's another factor to consider when opening a luxury hotel: "From the day you open your doors, the public expects you to be perfect," says Darling, who's also regional vice-president of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts.
As any hotelier can tell you, perfection is not easily achieved. More than anything, it comes down to attracting the right employees, training them thoroughly and retaining them once they're hospitality experts, which can be extremely difficult for a new brand in a new market. "The training component is critical," agrees Darling, who has a distinguished background in hospitality to draw upon. The 53-year-old, Quebec-born hotelier has more than three decades of experience in the hotel business. He worked for Mandarin Oriental in the 1980s, had a previous stint with Shangri-La until 1999 and was with Starwood until 2004. This hotel is the fourth he's opened in his career, and he acknowledges the bar is set very high.
"In the case of the Shangri-La Hotel Vancouver, the project is designed, built and is being operated to five-star, five-diamond and Shangri-La standards," he says. "It's our express objective to qualify for Mobil's five-star rating and be the first five-star hotel in Canada. Now, we are under no delusions — it's not going to be easy. But we're working towards that goal."
In fact, just a few short years ago there were no true, full-service, five-star hotels in Canada, an anomaly given Canadian-based companies like Fairmont and Four Seasons helped draft the blueprint for managing luxury hotels and resorts. Now, with the Shangri-La up and running in Vancouver and the Ritz-Carlton, Trump and new Four Seasons under construction in Toronto, the national landscape for luxury hotels is about to get a lot more crowded.
Understanding the scope of the challenge, Darling had the foresight to develop and champion the Shangri-La 'Tigers' program back in 2006. A group of young hoteliers trained at Shangri-La properties across Asia for a few years before returning to Vancouver with expertise in Asian-style hospitality, and its inherent philosophy within — of creating a peaceful and tranquil environment for guests through the respect, courtesy, sincerity, helpfulness and humility of staff. For Shangri-La guests, the expectation of service style and standards is based on their Asian experience, says Darling, adding the goal of the Tigers program was to translate that service style to the North American market through employees that understand "the emotional essence of the Shangri-La brand."
Once staff training was in place, the hotel conducted 100-per-cent online recruitment, received more than 4,700 applications, and of those, close to 700 hundred people were interviewed in person. Darling personally saw nearly 300 candidates, with just over 200 associates hired. "People were very critical of us, on whether we would be able to deliver true Asian-style hospitality in a North American environment," Darling says. "But based on the guest feedback we have gotten in the first five weeks, we've already demonstrated we can do that."
Another huge challenge Darling and his team face as they guide the hotel through its first year in operation is the current economic downturn. In fact, some might say the timing couldn't be worse for opening a high-profile luxury hotel, especially with so many projects getting shelved and occupancy rates at existing properties beginning to fall off. Darling, though, doesn't agree.
"Honestly, there couldn't have been a better time to open than this January," he says. "We are [ramping up] to the 2010 Winter Olympics. The momentum among hotels in Vancouver is obvious — people are coming to town; they're scouting locations and placing their national teams as well as their non-Olympic family members; and they are staying in our hotels and eating in our restaurants."
In terms of the competitiveness of the market, Darling believes the top end is "somewhat insulated" from the economic downturn that most of the world is feeling. "People accustomed to travelling in luxury are going to continue to do so. [But] they are going to choose the best value for their dollars that they can find. And if you look at the hotels in Canada, and the top hotels in Vancouver particularly, in terms of world pricing we are bargain basement. It is embarrassing how low our rates are."
Each room at the hotel is the pinnacle of deluxe accommodation. Furnished in B&B Italia furniture, they're accented by wood panelling and warm tones, and outfitted with the latest in audio-visual gear. The hotel is also home to chic restaurants, high-end boutiques and an upscale spa. Darling is confident his product is so far beyond anything else in the market, rates are priced about $100 to $150 above the competition. In its first month of operation, the property achieved $100 higher rate than the competitive set did in February 2008, he says.
When asked what sets the Shangri-La apart from the rest of Vancouver's hotels, other than its elegant, luxurious decor and Asian style of hospitality, Darling replies that his property is truly a "next generation hotel," with a strategy that limits the size of the hotel and maximizes the size of the guest rooms and bathrooms. "People judge the luxury of a hotel these days based on guest room and bathroom size. It's about limiting our function facilities to be right for the hotel and right for the market." Designed for individual travellers, business isn't oriented toward conventions and big groups. "We're in the business of building our clientele one guest at a time — the good old fashioned way."
In its western expansion, Shangri-La has defined criteria for its new, next generation hotels — the number of guest rooms per property at each is limited to less than 250, with Las Vegas being the only exception. Guest rooms are also a minimum of 500 square feet. And the chain only plans to expand through new-build hotels in North America.
"We need to unveil and present the brand properly," says Darling. "You can't do that if you're taking over someone else's property."
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Exact inference in structured prediction
Detailed remarks Concerning theorem 1, the bound you prove is related to theorem 4.3 of (Mohar, B. (1989). Isoperimetric numbers of graphs. Journal of combinatorial theory) where a tighter upper bound is proved for laplacian matrix. It would be great to discuss whether your bound is tight in the general case of signed Laplacian matrices knowing that this one is (up to what I read) is tight for the Laplacian one. In particular it would be great to recall what you refer to as the 'Cheeger inequality' (which I believe concerns the first smallest eigenvalue) and the known result for the 2nd eigenvalue of the Laplacian in the paper previously cited Concerning the derivation of theorem 2, the result of theorem 1 appears naturally as the ingredient to bound the 3rd term which is the main originality of the proof. As a consequence, I think it would improve the readability of the paper to announce the use of Th1 earlier in the paper since I understood the logic of your sections only at my second read of the paper. Finally it would have been great to provide a numerical illustration of your result in theorem 2 by simulating graphs and showing whether the bound of theorem 2 indicating when the graph is correctly recovered by the SDP. This could have improved the paper even if it is not mandatory for the sake of the presentation. Minor remarks The notation change from V to \textit{V} (footnote (3)) is a bit weird since it is very hard to distinguish.
Overview: - This paper studies the conditions for exact recovery of ground-truth labels in structured prediction under some data generation assumptions. In particular, the analysis generalizes the one in Globerson et al. (2015) from grid graphs to general connected graphs, providing high-probability guarantees for exact label recovery which depend on structural properties of the graph. - On the one hand, extending the results of Globerson et al. (2015) to general graphs seems like a valid contribution. On the other hand, the assumed generative process (lines 89-101, proposed in Globerson et al., 2015) is somewhat toyish which might make the results less interesting. Therefore, I am inclined towards acceptance but not strongly. - I went over most of the proofs in detail and did not find obvious errors (see more minor comments below though). Comments: - I feel like the presentation can be greatly improved by including an overview of the main result at the beginning of Section 3. In particular, you can state the main result, which is actually given in Remark 2 (!), and then provide some high-level intuition on the path to prove it. This may mean that some derivations will have to be deferred to the appendix, which I think is fine. - Lack of empirical evaluation is another obvious shortcoming of this paper. - Perhaps you can come up with a title that is more specific to this paper (e.g., "Exact Recovery of Labels in Structured Prediction with General Graphs")? Additional related work: - Very recent paper (published after NeurIPS submission): Approximate Inference in Structured Instances with Noisy Categorical Observations, Heidari et al., to appear in UAI 2019. Generalizes Globerson et al. (2015) to multiclass variables. I am wondering if you can use their result to generalize your approach from binary to multiclass variables. - Result on tractable models (line 41): Tightness of LP relaxations for almost balanced models, Weller et al., AISTATS (2016). - Result on approximate inference (line 47): Train and test tightness of LP relaxations in structured prediction, Meshi et al., ICML (2016). - Very recent result on label recovery (published after NeurIPS submission): Accuracy-Memory Tradeoffs and Phase Transitions in Belief Propagation, Jain et al., COLT (2019). The generative process seems very different and the focus is Belief Propagation, so this may be only remotely related. Other minor comments: - Line 142: Let M be a signed Laplacian **with eigenvector y** as in Definition 5. Otherwise it's not clear what y is in the statement of Lemma 1. - Line 163: missing superscript before \top - Line 167: did you mean "\beta w_i^+" instead of just "\beta w_i"? - Line 175: I am probably missing something, but why is the probability equal to |(w_i^+)^2 - (w_j^+)^2|? Don't you also have to require that (w_i^+)^2 \geq (w_j^+)^2? - Line 197: consider adding n to the statement of Thm 2 as it appears in the expression for epsilon. This is actually done in Thm 3, so makes sense here as well. Also, maybe mention in Thm 3 that q is the node noise (as done in Thm 2 for p)? - Line 274: \mathcal{R} is overloaded, used earlier for Reals. - Lines 282-286: what does "bad expansion" mean?
This paper is a, quite technical, theoretical paper that addresses a variant of a tough and old combinatoric problem : the (exact) recovery of a ground state from a noisy planted spin-glass model recast here as a structured prediction inference problem. It comes as a follow-up from two papers : "How hard is inference for structured prediction" by (Globerson et al. 2015), and "Inference in Sparse Graphs with Pairwise Measurements and Side Information" by (Foster et al. 2018). The key contribution of this paper is to answer an open problem stated in (Globerson et al. 2015) by providing a characterisation of the graphs where the exact recovery is tractable. The authors define the hardness of the exact recovery in term of a probability bound : the probability of recovering the exact ground state in polynomial time is higher when the graph is a good expander (i.e. when its Cheeger constant is high) and lower when its nodes have high degrees. They provide examples of graph families like the "d-regular expanders" that fulfil this requirement. As a by-product they provide an extension of Cheeger inequality to signed Laplacians. I found the paper reasonably clear but not as well written as (Globerson et al. 2015) for instance. It lacks a proper justification, a few explaining figures and concrete examples to guide the reader before she/he dives into the (painful) technical aspects of the proofs. The state of the art is really minimalistic: see "Related Work" section in (Globerson et al. 2015). It's not mandatory but it would make sense to move at last one of the proofs in the appendix (keeping only a sketch in the main paper) and use the freed space to fix these issues. I only deeply checked the proof of Theorem 1, but the rest of the maths (mainly the proof of Theorem 2) seems solid. Minor remarks/questions: - The edges noise model as defined on line 105 is a noisy observation of edges from correct spins, would it be easier for instance if we considered a generative model where all the edges would be derived from the same noisy observation of the ground node spins ? How would it impact the error bounds ? - It's only a factor 2 but please make it clear what kind of node degree you use in the Laplacian (oriented or non-oriented) POST REBUTTAL: If the degree of the D matrix is the non-oriented degree i.e. the number of edges connected, then the Laplacian should be L=2D-A otherwise x^T L x is not as stated in Definition 5.


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Semaeognathia sterreri är en djurart som tillhör fylumet käkmaskar, och som beskrevs av Riedl 1970. Semaeognathia sterreri ingår i släktet Semaeognathia och familjen Gnathostomulidae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Käkmaskar
sterreri

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In a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it was found that ball games and circuit strength training could lead to stronger bones, increased strength and improved balance in school children.
In a recent study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, it was found that ball games and circuit strength training could lead to stronger bones, increased strength and improved balance in school children. The Danish study was conducted to examine the bone and muscle health in 295 school children from Frederikssund and Copenhagen over a whole school year.
According to the researchers, a comparison was made on the effects on children who took the normal school physical education (PE) classes with children who had intense exercise on the timetable for two hours a week. As per the findings of the study, the children's bone density increased by a whole 45 per cent compared to the control group.
The study also showed that bone density in the ball-game group rose by seven per cent in the legs and by three per cent in the body as a whole, giving a real boost to bone health. To have healthy bones and muscles, it is very essential to have a diet rich in various nutrients. Here is a list of 5 foods that may help you get stronger bones and muscles.
Yogurt is an excellent source of vitamin D and calcium which can improve the overall bone health to a considerable extent.
When it comes to calcium-rich foods, milk top the charts. You can easily get your daily dose of calcium by having an eight-ounce glass of fat-free milk.
This green leafy vegetable is a powerhouse of essential nutrients. Consuming one cup of cooked spinach daily could give you 25 percent of the daily recommended dose of calcium.
Apart from being delicious, salmon is quite healthy too as it is naturally high in both calcium and vitamin D. You can enjoy it in the form of a salad as well.
Almonds are extremely rich in protein and quite low in carbohydrates. Having a just small handful of almonds daily can make a lot of difference.


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UConn holds off Southern California 61-58 in Legends Classic
Bouknight's 3-point play capped the scoring for UConn (3-0), which had a six-point lead with four minutes to play.
Southern California's Drew Peterson, center, shoots under pressure from Connecticut's Tyrese Martin, left, and Josh Carlton during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020, in Uncasville, Conn. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Author: FOX61 Staff
MONTVILLE, Conn. — James Bouknight scored 18 points and Connecticut lead most of the way and held off Southern California in a 61-58 victory in the Legends Classic.
Bouknight's 3-point play capped the scoring for UConn (3-0), which had a six-point lead with four minutes to play. But USC (3-1) ended the game missing 7 of 8 shots, including three consecutive in the final 12 seconds.
Tyrese Martin added 11 points and Isaiah Whaley had 10 points and blocked five shots for UConn, which outrebounded the Trojans 42-31. Evan Mobley, a freshman forward, led the Trojans with 17 points and seven rebounds.


text:
from jumpgate.common import sl as sl_common
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import availability_zones
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import dns
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import extensions
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import extra_specs
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import flavor_list_loader
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import flavors
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import floating_ips
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import index
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import instance_actions
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import keypairs
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import limits
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import networks
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import quota_sets
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import security_groups
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import server_ips
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import servers
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import usage
from jumpgate.compute.drivers.sl import volumes
from jumpgate.image.drivers.sl import images

def setup_routes(app, disp):
    # V3 Routes
    # None currently supported

    # V2 Routes
    disp.set_handler('index', index.IndexV2(app))
    disp.set_handler('v2_index', index.IndexV2(app))

    flavors_from_config = flavor_list_loader.Flavors.get_flavors(app)
    flavor = flavors.FlavorV2(app, flavors_from_config)
    flavor_list = flavors.FlavorsV2(app, flavors_from_config)
    flavors_detail = flavors.FlavorsDetailV2(app, flavors_from_config)

    disp.set_handler('v2_availability_zone',
                     availability_zones.AvailabilityZonesV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_availability_zone_detail',
                     availability_zones.AvailabilityZonesV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_extensions', extensions.ExtensionsV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_extension', extensions.ExtensionV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_os_extra_specs_flavor',
                     extra_specs.ExtraSpecsFlavorV2(app, flavors_from_config))
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_extra_specs_flavor_key',
                     extra_specs.ExtraSpecsFlavorKeyV2(app,
                                                       flavors_from_config))

    disp.set_handler('v2_flavor', flavor)
    disp.set_handler('v2_flavors', flavor_list)
    disp.set_handler('v2_flavors_detail', flavors_detail)

    disp.set_handler('v2_os_floating_ip_dns', dns.DNSDomainsV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_floating_ip_dns_domain_entry',
                     dns.DNSDomainEntryV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_limits', limits.LimitsV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_os_floating_ips', floating_ips.OSFloatingIpsV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_os_tenant_networks', networks.OSNetworksV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_tenant_network', networks.OSNetworkV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_networks', networks.OSNetworksV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_network', networks.OSNetworkV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_os_keypair', keypairs.KeypairV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_keypairs', keypairs.KeypairsV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_os_quota_sets', quota_sets.OSQuotaSetsV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_tenant_quota_sets', quota_sets.OSQuotaSetsV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_os_server_security_groups',
                     security_groups.OSSecurityGroupsV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_security_groups',
                     security_groups.OSSecurityGroupsV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_os_volume_attachments',
                     volumes.OSVolumeAttachmentsV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_volume_attachments_detail',
                     volumes.OSVolumeAttachmentV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_server', servers.ServerV2(app))
    disp.set_handler('v2_servers',
                     servers.ServersV2(app, flavors_from_config))
    disp.set_handler('v2_servers_detail', servers.ServersDetailV2(app))
    disp.set_handler('v2_server_action',
                     servers.ServerActionV2(app, flavors_from_config))
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_instance_actions',
                     instance_actions.InstanceActionsV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_os_instance_action',
                     instance_actions.InstanceActionV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_server_ips', server_ips.ServerIpsV2())
    disp.set_handler('v2_server_ips_network', server_ips.ServerIpsNetworkV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_tenant_flavor', flavor)
    disp.set_handler('v2_tenant_flavors', flavor_list)
    disp.set_handler('v2_tenant_flavors_detail', flavors_detail)

    disp.set_handler('v2_tenant_usage', usage.UsageV2())

    disp.set_handler('v2_image', images.ImageV1(app))
    disp.set_handler('v2_images', images.ImagesV2(app))
    disp.set_handler('v2_images_detail', images.ImagesV2(app))

    sl_common.add_hooks(app)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
9 Key Conclusions from New Study on Health & Safety of Women on the Job
Workers of both genders face health and safety risks on the job. But for various reasons, female workers may be more vulnerable to certain kinds of hazards. So a new study looked at the state of women's health and safety on the job in Europe.
The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work recently released a study on new risks and trends in the safety and health of women at work.
Here are nine key conclusions from the study:
Occupational segregation—that is, the concentration of female activity in a few sectors, such as healthcare; education; public administration; hotel, restaurant and catering; retail; financial; and other customer services—seems to be increasing rather than declining over time. So to be effective, OSH policy should enhance its activities in these sectors.
In such sectors where an increasing proportion of workers are aging, such as healthcare, specific policies should be developed to address the health and safety risks of these workers and enhance their work ability and wellbeing.
Informal work is increasing among women, which raises OSH concerns, as these types of jobs are more likely to be unstable, unprotected and precarious.
The jobs women do and the choices they make still depend largely on their family commitments. As a result, the study found that many women are involuntarily in temporary jobs or on multiple and short-term contracts, which has a high impact on their OSH.
Women may have a higher level of exposure to health and safety hazards and are particularly affected by multiple exposures, such as in the healthcare and cleaning sectors as well as in the traditional sectors of agriculture, manufacturing and transport.
Women are more exposed to slips, trips and falls and accidents linked to violence.
Women are increasingly affected by musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and stress.
Women are more likely than men to suffer from multiple discrimination at the workplace relating to gender, age, ethnic background, disability and sexual orientation, while migrant women also face discrimination based on their origin or class.
Violence and harassment are a particular issue in service sectors. Additionally, new forms of harassment, such as cyber-harassment, are an emerging issue in some sectors, such as education. Related reporting and support procedures are still lacking. And female workers in personal services and who work at clients' premises are particularly vulnerable.


Why does everyone reccomend a multi vitamin?
Can never eat breakfast as soon as I get up because I feel sick, why is this?
Post workout Shake/meal within time>?
Do you use any kind of sause on food?
Ran out of my whey protein.... Would this be a good idea to drink this post workout?
When clean bulking..... Do you still weight out and measure all your food???
Eating around a weird schedule and cooking for work.
What to expect from a sudden change in diet?
Do you trust the info/help/advice given here?
Do you count the calories from vegies on a bulk?
Cooked chicken breast sat out for 12 hrs in my kitchen.... Is it still good to eat?
4500 calorie diet for bulking?
Low fat diet - why so good?
Please tell me what you think about this diet?
If I've hit my protein requirements for today??
Asian Food So Damn Good but..
how many protein shakes a day is ok?
HELP! Please critique my carb cycling plan!
Are macros/ratios pointless..if i get enough cals/pro?
Is 8-10 Litres (About 2 Gallons) A day too much??
Carb cycling days..am I doing it right?
How many Calories would be Ideal for me.
Going to bulk - is this diet enough?
Labor Intense Work, Nutrition, and You!
What's more fun bulking or cutting?
Had my cheat meal !!
How long after a morning feed can you workout and why?
what to eat when doing this workout?
Need help deciding on a diet please!!
Do you have to be on a special diet to get your arms bigger?
How much protein do you guys intake from your shakes daily?
Kinda off topic...but what brand of protein would be best for cut dieting?
Going from cutting to bulking...How many calories do you increase on the 1st week?
Bulking with psmf weeks inbetween to minimize fat?
How much should i eat When i cant work out?
How much protein in eggs?
Feedback on my Mass eating plan.
How should my diet be this week?
Good way to decide what to cook?
Please rate my meal & supplement plan!
How do I incorporate carbs back into my diet?
Help me with a diet!
INDIA - serious dire need of help!
how long for cheerios to go stale?
Explain the "eat a meal every 2hrs"
Bulk 8 Weeks + Cut 4 Weeks = Clean Bulking?
CHEAP and QUICK meals that are high in protein and carbs.
How can you tell if eggs are bad?
GOMAD: Should I try it?
good inexpensive fat source with less carbs?
How much carbs when you have heaps of fat?
What's an alternative to protein shakes to spike my sugar level after working out?
Anyone work out in the field have to bring a lunch?
Do people actually "count" calories a lot?
Hows this for a carb cycling diet?
I remember Alan Aragorn's thing about PWO carbs..
Cutting down before summer!! Hellp!
Going to buy Impact Whey Protein.
Carb cycling - a quick hand please?
Waking up feeling dehydrated every morning and still peeing a lot at night. HelP!
Best post workout meal out of these 2?
Grilled Chicken & Rice Pre Workout?
Need to get my restaurant habit under control.
Peanuts with or without skin??
How does this diet look? Macros, stats, goals and details inside.
Should I be keeping dairy out of my diet?
Sushi rolls: yay or nay on cut?
Saturated fat. Should be avoided?
Is there a limit to how much fatweight you can put on in 24 hours?
Do You Have Something You Want To Tell?
HIIT On "The Diet Solution"
"Cancer cells slurp up fructose, US study finds"
How to divide up my macros?
6 meals a day versus 3?
ezekiel bread, nutritional value varies??
how long can a protein shake sit for before it goes bad ?
Liquid Calories with every meal?
I eat over 1000 cals of nuts per day, come at me bro ?
Honestly how important is drinking a gallon of water a day....?
For the experts to critique please!


text:
package com.auth0.android.request.internal;

import com.auth0.android.authentication.AuthenticationException;
import com.auth0.android.request.AuthenticationRequest;
import com.auth0.android.result.Credentials;
import com.google.gson.Gson;
import com.squareup.okhttp.HttpUrl;
import com.squareup.okhttp.OkHttpClient;

import java.util.Map;

import static com.auth0.android.authentication.ParameterBuilder.ACCESS_TOKEN_KEY;
import static com.auth0.android.authentication.ParameterBuilder.AUDIENCE_KEY;
import static com.auth0.android.authentication.ParameterBuilder.CONNECTION_KEY;
import static com.auth0.android.authentication.ParameterBuilder.DEVICE_KEY;
import static com.auth0.android.authentication.ParameterBuilder.GRANT_TYPE_KEY;
import static com.auth0.android.authentication.ParameterBuilder.SCOPE_KEY;

class BaseAuthenticationRequest extends SimpleRequest<Credentials, AuthenticationException> implements AuthenticationRequest {

    public BaseAuthenticationRequest(HttpUrl url, OkHttpClient client, Gson gson, String httpMethod, Class<Credentials> clazz) {
        super(url, client, gson, httpMethod, clazz, new AuthenticationErrorBuilder());
    }

    /**
     * Sets the 'grant_type' parameter
     *
     * @param grantType grant type
     * @return itself
     */
    @Override
    public AuthenticationRequest setGrantType(String grantType) {
        addParameter(GRANT_TYPE_KEY, grantType);
        return this;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the 'connection' parameter
     *
     * @param connection name of the connection
     * @return itself
     */
    @Override
    public AuthenticationRequest setConnection(String connection) {
        addParameter(CONNECTION_KEY, connection);
        return this;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the 'scope' parameter.
     *
     * @param scope a scope value
     * @return itself
     */
    public AuthenticationRequest setScope(String scope) {
        addParameter(SCOPE_KEY, scope);
        return this;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the 'device' parameter
     *
     * @param device a device name
     * @return itself
     */
    public AuthenticationRequest setDevice(String device) {
        addParameter(DEVICE_KEY, device);
        return this;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the 'audience' parameter.
     *
     * @param audience an audience value
     * @return itself
     */
    @Override
    public AuthenticationRequest setAudience(String audience) {
        addParameter(AUDIENCE_KEY, audience);
        return this;
    }

    /**
     * Sets the 'access_token' parameter
     *
     * @param accessToken a access token
     * @return itself
     */
    public AuthenticationRequest setAccessToken(String accessToken) {
        addParameter(ACCESS_TOKEN_KEY, accessToken);
        return this;
    }

    @Override
    public AuthenticationRequest addAuthenticationParameters(Map<String, Object> parameters) {
        addParameters(parameters);
        return this;
    }
}


text:
Why TurningArt?
For Hospitality
Our Art in Action
Antelope Canyon Sunbeam
By Adam Romanowicz
Piece description from the artist
Copyright © Adam Romanowicz. All Rights Reserved.
Other works by Adam Romanowicz
About Adam Romanowicz
Bloomingdale, IL
Adam Romanowicz is an award winning travel, landscape, and nature photographer with penchant for adventure.
Born and raised in Chicago, IL, Adam always had a fascination with the artistic and abstract world. Childhood days were spent drawing, building models, and daydreaming of adventures in far off lands. While the real world grounds him in a career of engineering, daydreaming evolved into a passion for travel, outdoors, SCUBA diving, flying, and other exhilarating activities. These passions only reinforce Adam's love of photography, allowing him to show others the world through his eyes.
Shooting the world since 1997, Adam strives to create a strong sense of place in his travel related photographs. The idea is to make the viewer feel that they are literally standing in the image rather than just looking at it. Other than travel, photo interests include aviation, underwater, and macro.
Adam's archival quality fine art prints can be purchased directly from this site, or his online galleries at AdamRomanowicz.com and 3scape.com. Prints are available on paper, canvas, acrylic, and metal with a large variety of custom framing options. His images are also exhibited and sold in galleries and juried art shows around Chicagoland.
In addition to fine art prints, Adam offers a large collection of editorial and commercial stock photography. Stock images are available for license on this website. Published credits include: Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages, Harcourt School Publishers (educational books), Mondo Publishing (educational books & magazines), Newfoundland Gazette, various websites, calendars, cd covers, and store displays. His work was also used in set design for ABC's TV show Desperate Housewives, as well as on a TV spot in Sydney, AU.
See Adam's portfolio here
Learn more about the benefits of our service
An Art Advisor will get in touch with you today to schedule a free consultation to discuss your artwork needs.
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Flexible Workspaces: What They Are & Why You Need Them
© 2022 TurningArt. All rights reserved.


text:
Pats Fortify Back End Of Bullpen With Pena
(PR) Bridgewater, NJ – The Somerset Patriots have signed right-handed pitcher Hassan Pena for the 2017 season.
Pena enters his first season with the Somerset Patriots and first in the Atlantic League. The righty has spent the last two years playing abroad, including stints in the Mexican League with Sultanes de Monterray. In that span, Pena has gone 10-5 with 25 saves over 78 relief appearances, including 2.56 ERA over 48 games in 2015. Pena is 15-10 with a 3.87 ERA and 49 saves in his four total seasons in the Mexican League (2013-16).
The Cuban national has also excelled with Navegantes del Magallanes in the Venezuelan Winter League throughout his career. Pena has recorded 63 saves over the last three seasons with the Navigators, becoming the franchise's all-time saves record-holder. Additionally, the 23 saves Pena recorded in 2015 set a Caribbean leagues single-season record. In his last three seasons with Magallanes, Pena owns a 2.56 ERA and 98 strikeouts over 105.2 innings of work.
"We are very happy to add a veteran presence like Hassan to our bullpen," said Somerset Patriots manager Brett Jodie. "Hassan can handle a variety of roles for us. He has a lot of late-inning experience and is a smart pitcher who has a great idea of how to pitch. The defense will love playing behind Hassan and we are thrilled to have him join our staff."
Pena was originally drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 13th round of the 2006 draft, and spent the first six years of his career in that organization, including 47 total appearances with Triple-A Syracuse in 2011 and 2012. His most recent appearances stateside came in 2014 when he appeared in five games with Double-A Northwest Arkansas in the Kansas City Royals organization.
The West Palm Beach, Florida resident has recorded 157 saves across all the levels of baseball in which he has played throughout his 12-year professional career, including 45 wins and a 3.50 ERA.
Tickets to the 2017 Somerset Patriots Season presented by Ford, which includes the team's 20th Anniversary, are on sale now. TD Bank Ballpark will be the host of the 2017 Atlantic League All-Star Game presented by RWJBarnabas Health and Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey on Wednesday, July 12th. For more information, stop by the ballpark, call (908) 252-0700, or visit www.somersetpatriots.com.


It's 2:00 p.m. and the precipitation is really starting to come down now, changing from sleet to snow to freezing rain and back again.
I just spent some time outside to check on the chickens and refill the bird feeders, which are the most popular spot in the neighborhood right now. The birds know to gorge themselves when bad weather is on its way.
I suspect that if this pace keeps up we're going to have a real mess in Central Virginia tonight. Most weather forecasters are calling for between a quarter and a half an inch of ice tonight, but some are predicting a severe ice storm with up to an inch of ice and several days without power. Bad news for the trees and power lines.
I just made a few more preparations for what is starting to seem like an inevitable power outage. I realized that if the power goes out in the night I would most likely damage myself trying to get on and off an icy porch in the pitch black with armfuls of firewood. So I brought enough wood for the evening and tomorrow morning onto the back porch and stacked it right by the door, along with kindling. Now if I have to get the wood stove started in the dark it's less likely that I will break my neck in the process.
By the time I was done both the dog and I were covered with a nice coating of sleet.
Tucker was well on his way toward becoming a popsicle and seemed pretty ready to be let back in the warm house.
While I was out taking some photos the neighbor kid ran out to the road and gingerly stepped on it. Then he slid in his boots on the ice before turning around and running home. He seemed pretty ecstatic at the thought of what will most likely be a snow day tomorrow.
We escaped anything terrible. Just some slick roads this morning. I hope yours isn't as bad either!
All's good here too. Glad you are safe!
You are currently reading First winter storm of the season at Bonafide Farm.


text:
Mental health drug update
By Maayan S. Heller
The FDA has recently approved the antipsychotic drug Risperdal for treatment of schizophrenia in adolescents ages 13-17 and for short-term treatment of bipolar disorder in youths ages 10-17.
Before now, there was no FDA-approved drug for treating pediatric schizophrenia, and only lithium was approved for treating bipolar disorder in kids 12 and older.
"This is a significant first step in encouraging and supporting the much-needed scientific evidence to improve and enhance the treatment of psychiatric disorders in children and adolescents," says Dr. Tanya R. Anderson, the deputy clinical director of child and adolescent services with the Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Mental Health.
She says many medications used to treat these conditions in adults are used with children and adolescents as well, and physicians have been prescribing Risperdal for about 10 years, based on scientific findings on the drug's effectiveness and their own clinical experience and professional judgment.
However, she says,"once the FDA approves a medication for a specific age group, it typically broadens the number of physicians comfortable prescribing—and thus providing treatment for—those who would be appropriate."
If enough data isn't available on a drug's effect on a particular age range, the FDA will not approve its use. This, Anderson says, is the primary reason most psychotropic meds haven't been approved for young people.
"No one, public or private, has invested the necessary resources to do the appropriate, rigorous studies in the childhood population," she says.
Risperdal is a psychotropic medication used to treat a variety of psychiatric symptoms and disorders. It works mainly by affecting dopamine and serotonin levels in the brain.
"All medications have some side effects and Risperdal is no exception," says Anderson."Before beginning any psychotropic medication, parents should be aware of potential side effects and what to do should they occur."
Diagnoses should occur after a thorough mental health assessment. A variety of mental health professionals can do initial assessments, but Anderson says a child and adolescent psychiatrist should evaluate the child and confirm or adjust any diagnoses before any medications are introduced.
Above all, she says,"parents should know treatment is available and effective. Don't be afraid to talk to your physician and ask questions. This is your child and you are their best advocate."
Here are some extras to consider for overnight campers.