text:
TYWKIWDBI ("Tai-Wiki-Widbee")
"Things You Wouldn't Know If We Didn't Blog Intermittently."
A "cleaner fish" on the eye of a green sea turtle off the coast of Ecuador.
Credit per the watermark, via Scuba Diving Magazine's annual photo competition (gallery at the link).
Labels: nature, photography
Whistling caterpillars
YouTube link.
North American walnut sphinx moth caterpillars (Amorpha juglandis) look like easy meals for birds, but they have a trick up their sleeves—they produce whistles that sound like bird alarm calls, scaring potential predators away.
When pecked by a bird, the caterpillars whistle by compressing their bodies like an accordion and forcing air out through specialized holes in their sides. The whistles are impressively loud, considering they are made by a two-inch long insect. They have been measured at over 80 dB from 5 cm away from the caterpillar, similar to the loudness of a garbage disposal.
Further details at The Scientist, with a hat tip to Kevin Thies.
Labels: butterflies, TYWKIWDBI, Video - science and nature
Cringeworthy
Via the Crappy Design subreddit.
Labels: art, fashion, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
"Muck farm" explained
During a picnic lunch at a friend's farm, mention was made of a neighbor of theirs who operated a "muck farm." I had previously only heard the term used with regard to cleaning out a stable, so I had to learn more about muck:
In the terminology of North American agriculture, muck is a soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland. It is known as black soil in The Fens of eastern England, where it was originally mainly fen and bog. It is used there, as in the United States, for growing specialty crops such as onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes...
Muck farming on drained bogs is an important part of agriculture in New York, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida, where mostly vegetables are grown. American "muckers" often have roots from the Netherlands or Eastern Europe, where their ancestors practiced a similar type of farming. The soils are deep, dark colored, and friable, often underlain by marl, or marly clay...
Muck farming is controversial, because the drainage of wetlands destroys wildlife habitats and results in a variety of environmental problems. It is unlikely that any more will be created in the United States, because of environmental regulations. It is prone to problems, such as being very light and usually windbreaks must be provided to keep it from blowing away when dry. It also can catch fire and burn underground for months. Oxidation also removes a portion of the soil each year, so it becomes progressively shallower. Some muck land has been reclaimed for wildlife preserves.
And here's the etymology:
From Middle English mok, muk, from Old Norse myki, mykr ("dung") (compare Icelandic mykja), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)meug ("slick, slippery"), *meuk (compare Welsh mign ("swamp"), Latin mūcus ("snot"), mucere ("to be moldy or musty"), Latvian mukls ("swampy"), Albanian myk ("mould"), Ancient Greek mýxa 'mucus, lamp wick', mýkes 'fungus'), from *(s)meug, meuk 'to slip'. More at meek.
Apparently the distinction from peat is based on the level of decomposition: peat = slightly decomposed organic material, vs. muck = highly decomposed.
Reposted from 2015 to insert the photo from this year's National Geographic Nature Photographer of the Year competition (via a gallery in The Atlantic). Credit: Joost Boerman.
Labels: English language, food, TYWKIWDBI
The power of hurricane-force winds
Although, to be honest, that's probably a palm tree and palms have wood that has evolved to be soft and flexible rather than sturdy. Still it's a reminder of why weathermen shouldn't stand outdoors for their photo-op reports.
via imgur
Labels: impressive
"The Tillman Story" - official trailer
"They lied to the wrong family."
In spite of the best efforts of the White House and the Pentagon, the world would come to know he had been killed in an act of fratricide that was then covered up in favor of a horrible series of official lies.
But that we know the truth at all is owed to the extraordinary determination of Tillman's family, a foulmouthed and eclectic bunch of square-jawed hippies from San Jose, California, and in particular his mother, Mary. A more compliant family, more easily bamboozled by the institutions of American power at the highest levels, might have meekly, or readily, accepted the government's vigorous effort to turn Pat Tillman into a Sergeant York fantasy that it could then exploit relentlessly for propaganda purposes.
Comments excerpted from a review at Esquire. Those not familiar with the Pat Tillman saga can review the basics of it at Wikipedia. My understanding is that the outrage by the family and by knowledgeable members of the public is not directed at the friendly-fire death per se, but on the extensive coverup that ensued.
Addendum: Those interested in this subject should read Andred O-Hehir's analysis at Salon:
The film is also meant, to some extent, as an antidote to journalist Jon Krakauer's 2009 book "Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman," which the family strongly disliked...
He was a football star and avid outdoorsman who read Emerson; an agnostic or atheist who read the Bible, the Quran and the Book of Mormon out of intellectual curiosity; a man who relished the high-testosterone simulated combat of sports, and excelled at it, while also maintaining an introspective personal journal he allowed no one to read. As a friend of mine recently observed, many of Tillman's characteristics would seem completely normal among the metropolitan educated classes: He never went anywhere without a book, and typically rode his bike rather than driving a car. But Tillman wasn't a bearded, chai-drinking grad student riding that bike to yoga class in Brooklyn or Silverlake or Ann Arbor. He was the starting strong safety for the Arizona Cardinals, and parked his bike next to his teammates' Porsches and tricked-out Escalades...
I'm only guessing here, but one of the things the Tillman family hated about Jon Krakauer's book was probably the author's tendency to view Pat Tillman's death as a case study in the evils of war and the limits of idealism. I might incline toward that view myself, but the Tillmans don't. Right-wing propagandists quickly learned that the Tillman family wasn't going to stick to the pious, patriotic script. (Pat's drunken younger brother, Rich, at the nationally televised funeral: "Pat isn't with God. He's fucking dead.") But the Tillmans aren't interested in starring in an antiwar morality play either. As they see it, Pat Tillman died as he lived, as an American who thought for himself, hewed to his own course and kept his word. It's the rest of us who have betrayed him.
More at the link.
Reposted in 2011 because I just this week finally got an opportunity to view the film. It is excellent (confirmed by a 93% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes).
Reposted in 2017 because Donald Trump, for whatever reason, chose to retweet Pat Tillman in support of his criticism of professional football players. Pat Tillman's widow is justifiably pushing back:
"The very action of self-expression and the freedom to speak from one's heart — no matter those views — is what Pat and so many other Americans have given their lives for," Marie Tillman said. "Even if they didn't always agree with those views."
Labels: ethics, movies, rant, war
Meiofauna
"Among the grains of sand in the surf zone you will in time find... entoprocts, gastrotrichs, gnathostomulids, kinorhynchs, nematodes, nemerteans, priapulids, sipunculans, and tardigrades."
Encountered in Chapter 13 of E.O. Wilson's newest book, Half-Earth: Our Planet's Fight for Life. It's a plea for habitat conservation and the preservation of our planet's biodiversity. Most of the information is familiar, but for the TL;DR crowd I can highly recommend Chapter 15 ("The Best Places in the Biosphere"), for which Wilson polled "eighteen of the world's senior naturalists, each with international experience and expertise in biodiversity and ecology, and asked their opinion on the best reserves, those sheltering assemblages of notably unique and valuable species of plants, animals, and microorganisms." The resulting compilation of about 35 locations is a joy to read.
Including this about the scrubland of southwestern Australia:
"Possessing a mild, Mediterranean-type climate and molybdenum-deficient soil that excludes species other than those adapted to the deficiency, the scrublands have evolved much like the flora of an oceanic island."
You learn something every day.
Labels: nature, recommended books
CCC spillway at Pope Farm Conservancy (Wisconsin)
The first seventeen entries in my ongoing series of posts about the stonework of the Civilian Conservation Corps featured structures situated in state and national parks - bridges, ramparts, towers, stairways and other substantial achievements. Stonework of that type has been well preserved because of the locations and ongoing usefulness of the structures.
But the boys in the CCC also did an immense amount of work in fire prevention (fire breaks, lookout towers), reforestation, water control (dams, reservoirs) and soil conservation. The structure in the photo above is one of probably thousands of such water/soil conservation measures that have been generally forgotten (and in most cases left to fall into disrepair).
I encountered this stonework while hiking at the Pope Farm Conservancy, a working farm with restored natural areas located in the western suburbs of Madison, Wisconsin. I had visited there last year to photograph and blog the remarkable display of sunflowers.
On my recent visit I explored a different part of the property, where hiking trails had been carved out of restored short-grass prairie:
Without a panorama image it's hard to depict the rolling contour in this area created by deposition of sand during the terminal phase of the last glaciation. The hill in front of me (above) is a terminal moraine. To the right of the photo the land slopes downward, then back up again to a broad "bowl" currently covered by cropland and native prairie.
Prior to the arrival of European immigrants, a basin like this would have been covered with either long grasses or short grasses -
Prairie grasses evolved immense root systems that enabled them to regrow after intensive grazing by massive herds of bison, or after wildfires or drought. What they couldn't survive was the introduction of intensive farming, and especially the cutting power of steam- or gasoline-powered tractors. I don't need to repeat here the familiar sequence of stripping vegetation to plant crops, followed by topsoil erosion by wind and water.
By the 1930s a basin such as the one above would have been deeply gullied by rainwater and snowmelt and the runoff would have been choking local streams with sediment. Teams of CCC boys were mobilized to correct these problems on a farm-by-farm basis.
All you see now at the base of the "bowl" is this concrete structure:
This is a simple, but perfectly adequate spillway.
"This dam design, called a head flume, was suggested by UW-Madison soils and agriculture professor Otto Zeasman. It was simple because the intent was merely to slow the flow of water during times of heavy rain and runoff."
To the left and right of the downsloping segment are short concrete walls and then earthen berns, which direct water to the center:
The chute prevents ground erosion as it conducts the water down the steepest part of the slope. At the base of the chute (hard to see with summer vegetation overgrowth) is a triangular concrete "velocity check" structure, and behind that a pile of large boulders in the "stilling basin":
These components of the spillway absorb the kinetic energy of the falling water, which then proceeds down the ravine in the background with much less erosive force (cutting the velocity in half reduces erosion by a factor of 64 according to the information on a local informational placard). Another placard notes:
"Construction of the dam began in late summer 1938. A CCC crew of about a dozen young men needed about 2-3 weeks to finish the project. Other "soil saving" dams of the Great Depression era are quietly deteriorating in farm fields all over Wisconsin. Still others have been removed. This structure on the Pope Farm Conservancy site is the only one in south-central Wisconsin (and perhaps the entire state) that is being protected as an historic landmark."
Kudos to the Pope Farm Conservancy for their stewardship of the land and the preservation of this example of a simple structure that helped rural farms recover from the devastating effects of the Great Depression and the Dustbowl.
Labels: Civilian Conservation Corps
Sixty years ago
It was September 1957, the Jim Crow era of racial segregation, and nine black pupils little guessed they were about to plant a milestone in the struggle for civil rights...
On the first day of term, the national guard were there to stop the nine entering Central High, where all 1,900 attendees were white. Three weeks later, on 25 September, the group braved a hostile white crowd, climbed the school steps and were escorted to class by US army troops. They became known and revered as the Little Rock Nine...
On 23 September 1957, the group did get into the building with police protection. But an angry mob of more than a thousand white people had gathered in front of the school, chanting racist abuse such as "Go back to Africa". "I really think that we were afraid to look at the mob; at least I was," says Trickey. "So we just heard it and it was like a sports event, that sound, the roar, but it was a roar of hatred, and just thinking about it makes me shake."...
The mob started a riot and police decided to remove the students for their own safety. "At about 10am they said: 'You've got to come down to the office,' and we went down into the basement. They put us in these cars and the cops driving the cars were shaking. They had the guns and sticks and they were scared. 'Oh wow, this is scary.' Some of us were told to keep our heads down...
The crisis was cause for Washington to intervene. President Dwight Eisenhower sent in 1,200 paratroopers from the 101st airborne division. The soldiers escorted the students single file into the school for their first full day of classes and dispersed the demonstrators. The US's racial shame had been exposed, shown on TV and reported in newspapers around the world.
More at The Guardian
Labels: history, sociology
One-eared
Another blog entry inspired by a crossword puzzle clue. If I had spent all day pondering 8-letter words describing a praying mantis, I would never have some up with this one. So I had to Ask An Entomologist:
Why do Mantids Only Have One Ear?
Mantids only have one ear, located in the middle of their [chest between the] middle and hind legs. It's split in half, but both halves function as a single unit. There's a single neuron which connects them, and it fires if either half 'hears' anything. In essence, they only have one ear.
This is followed by speculation about why the structure evolved this way. And one anecdote:
"Taylor Swift's first job was picking mantis egg cases off Christmas trees to keep them from hatching in the houses of customers."
Labels: nature, TYWKIWDBI
From a photoessay at Vantage:
The premise of Half Drag is simple. Photographer Leland Bobbé's striking, gender-bending photo series captures New York City drag queens with half of their faces done up in full regalia, the other half au naturel. The result, achieved without any digital effects, is a collection of portraits that put the visual iconography of gender into striking juxtaposition...
... Bobbé suggests holding up a card (or just your hand) to cover one side of each image at a time. The contrast is startling. "People have told me that the male sides in these photos seem vulnerable, the female side with the makeup and jewelry are so powerful," he says...
The models he photographed came into the studio wearing regular clothes, with several days of facial growth. They then shaved half their faces, and prepared their own hair and makeup. The hair proved to be the hardest part of the process.
"One came in and cut the wig down the middle," Bobbé says. "Stray hairs would get over to the male side, that's why the images are all cropped into the forehead, on top of the head are a lot of pins holding everything in place."
More discussion and portraits at the link.
Labels: photography, sociology
Hoople
I was reminded of this song when "Hoople" appeared as a crossword entry this past week. And since I'd never been able to quite decipher all the words, I sought out this lyrics-annotated version.
"All the Young Dudes" is a song written by David Bowie, originally recorded and released as a single by Mott the Hoople in 1972. In 2004, Rolling Stone rated "All the Young Dudes" No. 253 in its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time... It is also one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Bowie himself once claimed that the song was not intended to be an anthem for glam, that it actually carried a darker message of apocalypse. According to an interview Bowie gave to Rolling Stone magazine in 1973, the boys are carrying the same news that the newscaster was carrying in the song "Five Years" from Ziggy Stardust; the news being the fact that the Earth had only five years left to live. Bowie explains: "All the Young Dudes is a song about this news. It's no hymn to the youth, as people thought. It is completely the opposite."
The original Mott the Hoople release had to be changed lyrically in order that it might be played on UK radio and TV. The line in the second verse: "Wendy's stealing clothes from Marks and Sparks" was a reference to UK retailer Marks & Spencer, also known by that colloquialism. As such, air play of the song in its original form would have breached broadcasting regulations relating to advertising in force at the time. The line was replaced with: "Wendy's stealing clothes from unlocked cars". Today, both versions are freely aired.
Labels: Video - music
Divertimento #135
Horse plays with a woman's zipper.
Toddler scared of her shadow.
Labrador dog comforts a child.
Baseball trick.
Grebe courtship dance.
Geometry of bubbles.
"Horse fences tick so it isn't a constant stream of electricity, so that is why they didn't immediately get zapped and had to wait for the next tick to get shocked."
Leopard frogs view worm video.
Car soccer.
Feeding frenzy on a chicken farm.
"Beast mode on" (soccer)
"When the food fights back"
How an eel's double jaw works.
Cats are capable of performing amazing jumps.
Traffic shockwave.
Ants spraying formic acid.
Application of piping. And cake decorating.
Magnetic building blocks.
A tortoise races a hare.
I didn't know guinea pigs can jump. You learn something every day.
Anna's hummingbird, up close and personal.
Described as the "headis world championship."
Machine separates red and green tomatoes.
Dog climbs vertical wall.
Watch a tire cross the road. No - actually, don't watch...
Clever design for a corner cabinet.
Another clever design: a "tambour door" (I remember these from the 1950s)
A softshell turtle is fast in the water. And on land.
Do NOT spray "silly slime" around open flames. (trigger warning: child's hair in flames)
An "own goal" in ice hockey.
Bird has learned how to trigger a door's motion sensor.
Whale shark pup rescued and released.
How to get a balloon down from the ceiling. First, find a little girl...
Eleven flips on an exercise ball (not a "fail video")
Juggling tables with your feet.
Why some spacecraft orbits look like sine waves.
Close call for a dog swimming in a Florida lagoon.
Can this man jump across a swimming pool from a standing start?
Girl standing and spinning on bicycle handlebars.
Squirrel escapes with a clever plan rather than blind panic.
"Underhanded"
Distract the dog with peanut butter.
A father built a "ninja warrior" course for his young daughter. Impressive...
Baby spiny flower mantids.
Table becomes shelves. Clever - but useful??
Wakeboarding with a beer.
Pickpocket caught red-handed.
You've heard of "instant karma." THIS is instant karma. Or perhaps "carma."
Lightning debarking a tree. Wow. Just wow.
btw, there is an entire subreddit devoted to Mechanical GIFs, if you want to waste the rest of your day...
Today's embedded photos are of barn quilts, from a gallery at Madison.com depicting some of the over 300 barn quilts in Shawano County, Wisconsin. (photo credits Jim Leuenberger; originals at Houzz).
Labels: linkdump
Octopus candleholder
Found at the Crafts subreddit.
Labels: art
Ectopia cordis
Colloquially "heart outside the chest." This young girl has the Pentalogy of Cantrell:
Omphalocele
Anterior diaphragmatic hernia
Sternal cleft with or without ectopia cordis
Diaphragmatic pericardium defects (no diaphragmatic pericardium)
Intracardiac defect: ventricular septal defect, diverticulum of the left ventricle, Tetralogy of Fallot
Link to the BBC program. More on ectopia cordis.
Labels: medicine, TYWKIWDBI, Video - science and nature
Your tax money at work
President Donald Trump's Secretary of Health and Human Services, Tom Price, is facing intense criticism due to the revelation that he used private jets on at least five occasions for official business, adding tens of thousands of dollars in expenses for American taxpayers in the process.
Price took five flights between Sept. 13 and Sept. 15 to Maine, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania for various health care-related events, according to Politico. His predecessors under President Barack Obama, Sylvia Mathews Burwell and Kathleen Sebelius, used commercial jets when flying within the continental United States.
On one occasion, Price took a charter flight from the Washington-area Dulles International Airport to Philadelphia International Airport, costing taxpayers roughly $25,000. A flight on United Airlines was leaving at roughly the same time and would have cost only $447 to $725 per person, Politico noted. There were also four Amtrak trains that Price could have taken, which would have gotten him to Philadelphia on time; the cheapest train could cost $72 in advance. And, of course, he could have driven the 125-mile trip, taking about 2 1/2 hours, according to Politico.
Additional details at Salon.
If you want a real rant on this topic, read How the one percent put the fix in at 30,000 feet.
"Time is money, and the wealthy and their political lackeys have been able to use the one to buy the other with their Gulfstreams and Falcons and Bombardiers. They don't wait in line. Nobody tells them to turn off their cell phones and other electronic devices. A big black car drops them off at the steps to a gleaming jet and moments later, they're aloft, above the fray, flying over the heads of the rest of us plebes down here dragging our crummy carry-ons and sweating out whether we remembered to take that damn bottle of mouthwash and transfer three ounces of it into a little travel bottle and stick that goddamned thing in a fucking plastic bag, or somebody in dark trousers and a blue shirt is going to tell us to open our bag and go jamming their hands in our underwear and socks until they come up with the offending bottle of dangerous mouthwash so we can be given the choice of going back to the counter and checking it, or throwing the damn stuff in the nearby trash bin supplied for just that purpose."
Way more at the link.
Labels: politics, rant, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui)
Photographed yesterday nectaring on the last blossoms of our rue. Not as sharp as I'd like the photo to be, but not bad for a cellphone image.
The main website for butterfly sightings in Wisconsin is getting numerous reports of large numbers of Painted Ladies. Earlier this week I received an email from a friend up in Walker, Minnesota who photographed a group of at least 70 of these butterflies nectaring in her front garden.
Labels: butterflies
Happy Afghan child
Posted because Americans seldom see those words written together.
Via Reddit, where the photo location is noted as being set up for raisin-processing.
Labels: food, photography
"Isle of Dogs" trailer
Has overtones of Wall-E. Interesting that there are eleven actors from his Grand Budapest Hotel who provide voices for this animation.
Labels: Video - movies
The world has an abundance of "Devil's Bridges"
The one in the photo above (that doesn't look real...) is the Rakotzbrücke at the Azalea and Rhododendron Park Kromlau (Germany). (summer photo)
Devil's Bridge is a term applied to dozens of ancient bridges, found primarily in Europe. Most of these bridges are stone or masonry arch bridges and represent a significant technological achievement. Each of the Devil's Bridges has a corresponding Devil-related myth or folktale. Local lore often wrongly attributes these bridges to the Roman era, but in fact many of them are medieval, having been built between 1000 and 1600 AD. In medieval times some Roman roads were themselves considered beyond human capabilities and needs, and therefore had to have been built by the devil.
List of such bridges and some legends at the link.
Labels: impressive, photography, TYWKIWDBI
Is this the "worst ever" legend for a bar graph?
Labels: mathematics
Ásatrú - the religion of the Vikings
Excerpts from an article at Iceland Magazine:
The religion of the original Viking settlers of Iceland, the old Norse paganism Ásatrú, is not just still alive and well in Iceland, it is undergoing something of a renaissance...
According to figures from Statistics Iceland 3,583 people belonged to Ásatrúarfélagið on January 1 2017, up from 1,040 members 10 years ago. The membership has grown by 244% since 2007, making paganism the fastest growing religion in Iceland over the past decade...
This growth has come in spite of the fact that unlike other religious organizations Ásatrúarfélagið has never engaged in any form of missionary work or proselytizing...
The weekly meetings of Ásatrúarfélagið are open to the public, as are all its official ceremonies, the blót...
Ásatrú has no prescribed dogma or scripture. However, you are however encouraged to read the Poetic and Prose Eddas written by the 13th-century chieftain and scholar, Snorri Sturluson. No one actually prays to the gods and how you might ask their intercession is entirely up to you. The gods are imperfect and not divine. They are seen more as friends and don´t judge us humans...
Ásatrú, as it has been practiced in Iceland, is a religion of nature and life, stressing the harmony of the natural world...
Many neo-pagan groups in Europe and the US who consider themselves observers of the religion of the Vikings, practice a religion which glorifies battles, militarism, masculine heroism and in some cases chauvinism, violence, intolerance and racism. Some white-power groups and members of Aryan Nation gangs practice these forms of paganism. Ásatrúarfélagið rejects this as a misreading of Ásatrú.
Labels: religion, TYWKIWDBI
Long-distance macro lens
Due to hit the shops next year, the Laowa 24mm f/14 Relay 2x Macro lens has a rather long lens barrel that Laowa says can be used to shoot shy subjects at difficult spots without scaring them.
Explanatory video here.
Labels: impressive, photography
Even more on the Equifax horror story
You know about the security breach affecting 143 million Americans. You probably didn't know (perhaps don't want to know?) what Krebs on Security reported yesterday:
But the official list of victim countries may not yet be complete: According to information obtained by KrebsOnSecurity, Equifax can safely add Argentina — if not also other Latin American nations where it does business — to the list as well...
It took almost no time for them to discover that an online portal designed to let Equifax employees in Argentina manage credit report disputes from consumers in that country was wide open, protected by perhaps the most easy-to-guess password combination ever: "admin/admin."...
Once inside the portal, the researchers found they could view the names of more than 100 Equifax employees in Argentina, as well as their employee ID and email address. The "list of users" page also featured a clickable button that anyone authenticated with the "admin/admin" username and password could use to add, modify or delete user accounts on the system.
A review of those accounts shows all employee passwords were the same as each user's username. Worse still, each employee's username appears to be nothing more than their last name, or a combination of their first initial and last name. In other words, if you knew an Equifax Argentina employee's last name, you also could work out their password for this credit dispute portal quite easily.
But wait, it gets worse...
More details at Krebs on Security.
This at a company whose business is credit monitoring and financial security, for fox ache.
Labels: crime, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Via the Hmmm subreddit.
Labels: humor, photography
Bespoke porn
Bespoke: In sense "custom-made", 1755, from earlier bespoken (c. 1600), form of bespeak, in sense "arrange beforehand" (1580s). Primarily used for tailoring, now also used more generally, as fancier term for custom-made, notably for software, as in a "bespoke solution".
Most people are familiar at least with the concept of bespoke clothing custom-tailored to the individual. Most probably are not aware that the pornography industry offers bespoke products.
It is very unusual to find second cameramen on porn sets these days: the internet is killing porn-makers who take pride in production values. It's because the money is now in the pockets of the tech giants in faraway cities such as Montreal, owners of sites such as PornHub that are crammed with pirated content illegally uploaded by fans; PornHub is currently the world's 38th most popular site.
Over the past 18 months, I've been tracing the consequences of all that free porn. It's laying waste to the Valley, compelling some actors to take up escorting, and putting crews and production companies out of business. But... he explains that customs – bespoke porn – is a new growth industry in the Valley. In houses all around us, teams of professional porn-makers are staying afloat by conjuring into life entire films for just one viewer...
Dan plays me the flyswatter video. In it, a fully clothed woman becomes exasperated because there's a fly and, to make matters worse, she's misplaced her flyswatter. Eventually she finds it and spends the rest of the video swatting flies...
Next, Dan shows me a film commissioned by a client they call Condiments Man. A woman in a swimsuit sits in a paddling pool. Rhiannon stands above her, out of shot on a ladder, holding industrial-sized tubs of condiments. And she starts to pour them over her head: ketchup, relish...
Stamps Man, Dan says, is from Norway. He spent 40 years assiduously amassing a stamp collection, which he mailed to them for the purposes of the video.
Dan presses play. It fades in on a book of stamps lying on a living room floor. Three young women enter. They complain about it being hot outside and wonder if they should take a shower. But then they notice the stamp collection. They pick up the book and leaf through it.
"He would rather look at this stamp collection than have sex with me," one of the women says.
"All the more reason to get rid of it," her friend replies.
So the girls stomp on the stamps, twisting their heels into the pages. Stamps rip and tear. Then they throw the remaining stamps into the fire.
"Burn! Burn! Burn!" they chant. "This is so fucking awesome."
"In real life, the girls felt bad about it," Rhiannon says. "We kept trying to assure them, 'No, this is really what he wants.'" She pauses. "He's such a sweet guy. I'm very curious to know what he's like in real life."
Much more at The Guardian (safe for work). This was also the subject of a recent podcast on This American Life.
Labels: business, TYWKIWDBI
An interesting jigsaw puzzle.
"An 11-year-old Minnesota girl is recovering from bone-deep lacerations to her foot after being bitten, apparently by a large fish, on Island Lake north of Duluth. Island Lake is home to large muskies and northern pike."
Annoying floor tile.
"The coastal areas of the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska, are home to tens of millions of pounds of dumped munitions, said Niall Slowey, a professor at Texas A&M University who has more than a decade researching the topic. That number includes 30,000 tons of chemical agents like mustard, that were dumped following the World Wars."
Unlike wine, whisky does not mature in the bottle.
Romanian waterfall.
"The Queen's cousin Margaret Rhodes says that her drinking routine never deviates, remaining the same day after day.... prior to lunch she has a gin and Dubonnet, served with a slice of lemon and ice. During lunch she enjoys a glass of wine and, once evening arrives, the Queen sips on a dry martini, followed by a glass of Champagne."
Odd tattoo.
"Non Je Ne Regrette Rien" translated to English (video). Marginally safe for work.
"For gulls in Chilean Patagonia, seal pup poop laced with parasitic hookworms is a tasty treat. But the eager birds are snapping up their meals just a little too near to the pups, to the detriment of the seals' tender rear ends..."
ELI5: If we are running out of helium, why are we still selling canisters for balloons?
"Nearly every day for the past 25 years, Arakawa has been diving into the waters of Hasama Underwater Park in Tateyama, Japan, to visit Yoriko—an Asian sheepshead wrasse. (video)
The unexpected horrors of space medicine (especially space surgery).
Longread on a life well lived.
There seems to be no end to the problem of credit card skimmers at gas pumps: "... the first known example of a skimmer that used SMS messages to exfiltrate its stolen data. More usually, skimmers store their data, and then dump it over Bluetooth when a crook returns to the scene of the crime -- using SMS obviates this step and significantly reduces the criminal's risk."
"You don't need a parachute to skydive. You only need a parachute if you're going to skydive twice."
"Between 500 and 1,000 shipwrecks were recorded around Quebec's isolated Magdalen Islands."
(15-page photoessay at the link). Interesting.
A scary article for anyone planning to vacation in Mexico.
How to fill multiple watering cans.
Clever husband.
"You will be exactly half as old as your mother only once in your life, and that is when you are the same age she was when she gave birth to you."
A man meets a mother grizzly bear and her cubs walking toward him on a narrow trail. He films and narrates while he walks backwards...
Your facial blackheads may not be blackheads.
"No matter how much we love green energy, we have to admit that wind turbines completely destroy the picturesque landscape."
"How the CIA Came to Doubt the Official Story of JFK's Murder."
"Harris Hawks are attacking walkers and runners after escaping from falconries across the country, with experts warning that the predators are now breeding in Britain."
Runners World explains "What you need to know about plantar fasciitis."
"Usually bodies emerged from the ice at the top of the glacier, rather than its "tongue" at the bottom of the valley, Jackowski said. The extent to which bodies have been preserved by the ice depends on the circumstances of the person's demise, with some human remains having been mummified by sunshine and dry winds before being engulfed in ice, while others have been reduced to skeletons."
Annual Redhead Day in the Netherlands.
Young woman applies 100 coats of nail polish to her fingernails (video with 20 million views).
An example of how DNA testing can yield surprisingly unexpected results (longread, but interesting).
Webpage for the Democratic Socialists of America.
"Dressed in jeans, sneakers and a hoodie, the county mayor spent three days and two nights walking and sleeping among the homeless and drug-addicted in Salt Lake City's Rio Grande neighborhood. One night on the street. One night in the shelter. His experience was "shocking" on multiple levels, he said."
"Out of public view, corporations are cutting deals that give consumers little choice but to buy brand-name drugs — and sometimes pay more at the pharmacy counter than they would for generics."
"Telling patients to stop taking antibiotics when they feel better may be preferable to instructing them to finish the course, according to a group of experts who argue that the rule long embedded in the minds of doctors and the public is wrong and should be overturned."
"... copper should not come in in direct contact with food or drinks that have a pH below 6. The pH of a traditional Moscow mule, made with lime juice, ginger beer and vodka, is well below 6.
Power washed.
Some men consider it necessary to prove their manliness by punching a bear trap with their fist.
Excellent license plate for a Chevy Impala.
Embedded images from Le Livre des Miracles (The book of Miracles)(1552), via Elisandre - L'Oeuvre au Noir.
Via the Pics subreddit.
Labels: other
Worker shortage in Wisconsin
I first became aware of worker shortages in the Midwest earlier this summer when I was visiting the Minnesota north woods - an area whose economy is heavily dependent on tourist trade to fishing resorts. Owners of those resorts rely heavily on immigrant labor for what amounts to seasonal employment. The positions do not require skilled labor - waiting tables in restaurants, cleaning cabins, servicing the docks. Few Americans want such jobs for a six-month period, but lots of students in Scandinavia for example are (were) glad to come to northern Minnesota for a modestly-paying job in a pleasant and familiar environment. When immigration controls were tightened, many employers found such applicants less available.
The Wisconsin State Journal is now running a feature series entitled Workers Wanted: Wisconsin's Looming Crisis. Herewith some excerpts...
Employers from a broad range of industries are reporting difficulty finding workers — and not only for skilled professionals such as nurses, welders and computer programmers, who require a strong education and training system, but also for workers with a high school diploma and some additional training at restaurants, farms, construction sites, factories, senior care facilities, retailers and other businesses...
There are already many state and regional efforts afoot to address the problem, though much of the focus has been on a "skills gap" — the shortage of workers for the advanced-skill jobs of the future that often require years of technical training — even as employers and economic development officials grapple with a much broader people shortage...
Wisconsin's 3.2 percent unemployment rate in July is near a record low and down from a peak of 9.2 percent in January 2010. That's well below what economists consider to be "full employment" — the level at which everyone who is willing and able to work is employed, or about 4 or 5 percent...
Wisconsin also has an aging workforce. Between 2010 and 2025, the 65-and-older population is expected to have increased by two-thirds, while the working-age population is expected to remain flat... The baby boomer retirement has been on the horizon for more than a decade, but the recession delayed some of its impact as older workers stayed in the workforce...
When employers say they can't find workers, what they often mean is they can't find workers willing to work at the wages and benefits offered... More than half (51 percent) of the jobs that listed a low-end wage listed hourly pay levels below the United Way's survival wage for a single person. Even among the jobs that listed a top pay range, 16 percent were below the survival wage...
Many employers around the state express frustration about the quality of the available workforce. They complain about new hires lacking minimal "employability" traits such as showing up for work on time, dressing appropriately and basic communication. Some describe applicants who won't return phone calls yet continue to apply for jobs elsewhere, possibly to fulfill the state's new requirements for receiving unemployment benefits...
Other factors contributing to the worker shortage in Wisconsin may include national immigration policy — though the national immigrant workforce has continued to grow steadily — rising incarceration rates, the growing opiate drug epidemic and a geographic mismatch in where workers and jobs are located, particularly between Milwaukee and its suburbs.
Low-income workers might lack access to transportation and child care, making it harder to work or receive training. In some cases the potential loss of public benefits or garnished child support payments make working for $10 to $12 an hour less appealing...
To milk his 70 cows he's employed a few part- and full-time workers over the years. But hiring has become more challenging — there has been some decline in available immigrant labor and young workers too often spend time fixated on their phones, De Buhr said... In the past few years he raised hourly wages from $8 to $10 an hour, but workers are asking for as much as $14 an hour now, a sign of the tight labor market and the economic reality of how difficult it is to live on less... So in April, De Buhr cut out the need for two workers entirely by paying $200,000 for a robotic milker.. "It's milking 24/7 and I don't have to worry about somebody not showing up," De Buhr said. "You can mess a herd of cows up in a big hurry if they're not milked in a timely manner."..
He worries if nursing homes can't find quality workers "more and more seniors are going to be turned away from assisted living." "I hate to say it, but you're hiring the best of the worst," Ammons said. "The cream of the crop are genuinely taken. No matter who walks through your door there's one eye open about: 'Why are you not working?'"
Much more at the links.
Related: " An Ohio factory owner said Saturday that though she has blue-collar jobs available at her company, she struggles to fill positions because so many candidates fail drug tests.
Regina Mitchell, a co-owner of Warren Fabricating & Machining in Hubbard, Ohio, told The New York Times this week that four out of 10 applicants otherwise qualified to be welders, machinists and crane operators will fail a routine drug test... "We have a 150-ton crane in our machine shop. And we're moving 300,000 pounds of steel around in that building on a regular basis. So I cannot take the chance to have anyone impaired running that crane, or working 40 feet in the air." [according to the NYT, she solved the problem by taking unqualified people and training them]
Photo credit: John Hart, State Journal.
Labels: business, sociology
Failing the "robot test"
Labels: humor, politics
Abstract expressionism vs. Minimalism
You can place me in the category of people who think a lot of "art" is bunk, but having said that, I have to admit that in this video Elisabeth Sherman from the Whitney explains the opposite viewpoint quite lucidly and persuasively.
p.s. to other bloggers - in recent weeks, YouTube seems to have altered their "sharing" options. In particular, I seem to be unable to download videos at the greater (?650) width that was previously an option. The "embed" link now always defaults to 560x315.
Labels: art, video
Visitation stones
Photographed while walking past the historic Forest Hill Cemetery* in Madison, Wisconsin. I had to look up some background on the custom.
One of the most common Jewish cemetery customs is to leave a small stone at the gravesite of a loved one after saying Kaddish or visiting...
The origin of this custom began long ago, when... the body would be placed in the ground, covered with dirt and then large stones would be placed atop the gravesite, preventing wild animals from destroying the remains.
Over time, individuals would go back to the gravesite and continue to place stones, ensuring the security of the site and as a way to build up the "memory" of the loved one...
Another explanation of this custom is derived from the phrase often inscribed on a headstone that reads: t'hey nishmato tsurura b'tsor hachayim (may the soul be bound up in the bonds of eternal life). Interestingly, the word tsurura (bound) is related to the word tsur, a pebble kept by shepherds in their slings to keep track of the number of sheep in the herd.
More information at the Jewish Cemetery Association website.
Related: This morning while running errands I was listening to podcast #180 of No Such Thing As A Fish. They mentioned a headstone inscribed "You will always be remembered, never forgotten." It had been left behind at a Dublin airport...
* see also Confederate graveyard - in Wisconsin!
Labels: curiosities, TYWKIWDBI
Totally bizarre ice cream commercials
Via Reddit and Miss Cellania.
Labels: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Best summary of Hurricane Irma status
I don't know who this guy is, but he's good. This is not an official NWS presentation; he appears to be a well-informed enthusiast on tropical weather. His presentation is fast and concise.
That's in contrast to the national news media reporters who have to stand out in the wind and "fill airtime" with repetitive and worthless drivel. I was pleased to see a Hurricane Harvey victim talk back to a CNN reporter:
"Yeah, that's a lot of shit. But y'all sitting here, y'all trying to interview people during their worst times. Like, that's not the smartest thing to do." ("Sorry," began Flores.) "Like, people are really breaking down, and y'all sitting here with cameras and microphones trying to ask us, 'What the fuck is wrong with us?' ("I'm so sorry. . . . ") And you're really trying to understand with the microphone still in my face. When she's shivering cold and my kid's wet and you still putting a microphone in my face!"
Then a day or two ago a CBS reporter on the nationally-broadcast evening news covering Hurricane Irma in the Florida Keys asked a fisherman - and I quote -
"What would it do to your bottom line if you lost your boats?"
What would it do to "your bottom line" if you didn't have boats??? She asked this question of a commercial fisherman, for fox ache.
I've given up on television coverage. I found the above video in this tropical weather live thread.
And here is the Tropical Tidbits blog by Levi, who produced the video summary I embedded above.
Addendum: If you have family or friends on the Florida coast (or other coastline anywhere in the world apparently), you can look up their height above sea level by plugging their address into ElevationMap.
Labels: ephemera, science
Plastic-wrapped smoke detector
Photographed in a hotel room in Turkey. "I let the guy know and he was really apologetic and hadn't realised."
This explanatory observation from the discussion thread: "That's a dust cover. It's installed during construction to keep it clean and to not allow false alarms. Typically they are red or orange so it obvious it needs to be removed."
Labels: curiosities, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Getting out of Dodge
Labels: ephemera
"Airplane!" vs. "Zero Hour"
Celebrity geophagia
Many years ago I used to give lectures about geophagia (the consumption of clay). I saw the phenomenon mostly among urban impoverished women in the Dallas area. Now I'm a bit bemused to discover that it has become a celebrity activity:
"Shailene Woodley, star of "Divergent" and "The Fault in Our Stars," eats clay. Zoë Kravitz once lost 20 pounds eating clay. Juice Generation, the popular purveyor of liquid lunches that's partially owned by Salma Hayek, is introducing a one-ounce bentonite clay shot in September.
This Shilene Woodley is cited in a Guardian article as saying
"Clay binds to other materials in your body and helps your body excrete those materials that aren't necessarily the best for you."
What she doesn't cite are the reports I found in the medical literature of zinc deficiency causing serious medical problems in clay eaters.
There's more in the New York Times. All of this ultimately linked to the current passion for "detoxifying" the body of some imagined evils.
Ingestion of clay was in fact historically a useful (and biologically valid) deterrant to poisoning by heavy metals in Greek and Roman antiquity. Terra sigillata, if ingested before the ingestion of a poison, could bind the toxin (basically acting as an ion-exchange resin) to facilitate excretion from the bowels. That is the basis used by the modern charlatans to promote their quack concoctions.
For more, see Cup made of terra sigillata.
Reposted from 2015 to add a report about pagophagia in parrots, where the process serves as an essential source of sodium:
The parrots of Southeastern Peru crave an earthy delicacy: dirt. At the Colorado clay lick, a cliff face rising above the Tambopata River in the western Amazon Basin, parrots — often hundreds at a time from up to 18 species — gather each day to feast on sun-hardened clay...
Brightsmith previously showed, for example, that parrot geophagy is concentrated in moist tropical forests where sodium — critical for nerve function and muscle contraction — is quickly washed from the ecosystem, except where it's stored in hard clay. Amazonian clay lick soils typically contain levels of sodium 40 times greater than the parrots' plant foods.
More details at NPR. The equivalent behavior in butterflies is called "puddling."
Photo credit: Frans Lemmens/Getty Images
Labels: medicine, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot
Word lengths in crossword puzzles
I found this interesting because I keep an ongoing record of how long it takes me to solve the daily crossword puzzle (I use the free one in the Los Angeles Times).
Although the graph is entitled "Average word length for NYTimes Crossword answers, 1994-2017," it should more properly be described as "entry length," since quite a few of the answers on the late-in-the-week puzzles are multiple-word entries.
I found this graph at the Data Is Beautiful subreddit, where the discussion thread has some interesting observations about the software puzzlemakers use in their craft.
FWIW, my worst time on a Thursday puzzle this past year occurred in one this past December which required entering the following "words" -
sentildeor
becircumflexte
soupccedillaon
uumlautber
- which came from the following clues:
Terragona title, in detail?
Arles animal, in detail?
Toulouse trace, in detail?
Augsburg above, in detail?
Fiendish.
Labels: English language, puzzles
Halophilic bacteria on ancient parchments
The purple spots on the manuscript above can be blamed on halophilic marine organisms, even though the scroll had not been near the sea.
...the spots are similar to ones that mar parchments made of animal skins all over the world, said Luciana Migliore, an ecotoxicologist at the University of Rome Tor Vergata...
The goatskin scroll, which dates to A.D. 1244, has purple dots all along its margins, and the first and last pages are entirely obscured by the mystery pigment. Migliore's team sampled a few millimeter-size bits of the scroll that had already flaked off...
The genetics told a two-stage story of damage: First, salt-loving, or halophilic, bacteria colonized the parchment. Next, salt-tolerant microbes, particularly the Gammaproteobacteria, took over. What shocked Migliore is that so many of these microbes were marine or aquatic.
But when they took into account how skin scrolls were made, the discovery made sense, Migliore said. The first step after removing the hide from an animal was to bathe the skin in a sea-salt bath to help preserve it, she said. This bath would have killed off most microbes that eat away at flesh — but it also introduced salt-loving and salt-tolerant marine bacteria...
Eventually, though, those salt eaters would have seen their supply run out and died off. Their corpses, Migliore said, provided a whole new source of food for the next phase of bacterial colonization. The Gammaproteobacteria moved in and ate not only the dead halophilic bacteria but also the fine collagen matrix of the goatskin parchment. This caused parts of the parchment to flake off, lost forever.
Salt curing is one thing that skin parchments around the world have in common...
You learn something every day. More details about this at Live Science.
Photo credit: G. Vendittozzi .
Labels: history, science, TYWKIWDBI
"Tai-wiki-widbee" is an eclectic mix of trivialities, ephemera, curiosities, and exotica with a smattering of current events, social commentary, science, history, English language and literature, videos, and humor. We try to be the cyberequivalent of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities.
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text:
Saudi forum discount for IDA members
20 November 2011, source Desalination & Water Reuse
The International Desalination Association (IDA) announced on 17 November 2011 that its members would be eligible for a 10% discount on delegate fees for the 2011 Saudi Water & Power Forum (SWPF 2011), which will be held 4-6 December 2011 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
IDA secretary general Patricia Burke told members, "IDA is once again pleased to support this conference and to cooperate with Dr Adil Bushnak in organizing a session titled Focus on the Future of Green Desalination."
SWPF is endorsed by the Ministry of Water & Electricity and supported by the industry's leaders. All IDA members will receive a 10% discount on delegate fees to the conference by putting "IDA" in the promotional code box when booking.
In addition to key speakers at the SWPF 2011, three members of IDA's Board of Directors will speak at the event: Leon Awerbuch, president, Leading Edge Technologies (LET) and past president, IDA; Dr Adil Bushnak, chairman, Moya Bushnak and co-founder of Al-Aghar Group; and Dr Corrado Sommariva, managing director ILF and current president of IDA.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
ACCC raises competition concerns over proposed Asahi-CUB deal
Nancy Victor 1 month ago
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has raised competition concerns over Asahi Group Holdings' proposed acquisition of Carlton & United Breweries (CUB).
CUB is a subsidiary of Belgium-headquartered Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev). Headquartered in Victoria, Australia, CUB produces beers, ciders and spirits brands.
Asahi is a Japanese firm engaged in the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages, soft drinks and food products in Japan and overseas markets. In Australia, Asahi manufactures and supplies a wide range of beer, cider and spirits brands.
ACCC said that the proposed acquisition would lower the competition for cider and beer in the market.
Before raising its concerns, ACCC carried out consultations with several market participants, including licensed venues, alcohol retailers, competitors and industry groups.
Many have expressed concerns about the proposed deal, noted the regulator.
ACCC Chair Rod Sims said: "The proposed acquisition would combine the two largest suppliers of cider in a highly concentrated market.
"A combined Asahi-CUB would control the Somersby, Strongbow, Mercury and Bulmers cider brands, which account for about two-thirds of cider sales. We are concerned that the proposed acquisition may lead to higher cider prices.
"Our preliminary view is that having Asahi in the market as a competitor to the big two brewers may help to keep a lid on beer prices. This competitive presence and the threat of Asahi growing more in the future would be lost if this deal goes ahead."
In July, AB InBev agreed to sell its Australian subsidiary CUB for an enterprise value of A$16bn ($11.3bn) to Asahi Group Holdings.
Under the deal, Asahi will hold all the rights to commercialise the portfolio of AB InBev's global and international brands in Australia.


My last post, My rules for writing, was quite popular, so I got cocky and started thinking maybe I could actually help writers.
Here are a few tips about how to submit your work, because this seems to cause either agony or resentment, as your darlings are repeatedly rejected. These tips will work just as well for online and print journals, small press publishers and agents.
Just as with editing, you need to distance yourself from your manuscript when you're submitting, because your first-choice agent/journal is not obliged to accept your work. You have become a salesperson, they are your customer. If they don't want it, you can't force them, and it isn't personal. How many times have you said 'no thank you' to a cold-caller offering double glazing? When you submit, you are the cold-caller.
Follow the individual guidelines of each market – word counts, ms layout, and extra requirements might all be mentioned specifically.
Be professional. Check the name of the editor/agent, and begin your email 'Dear…' or if that feels too fusty, perhaps Good Morning… or Good Afternoon. Never Hi, or Hey or skip that part altogether. Your first approach should be formal; once you have a relationship (or even a second/third email) you can relax a little.
End your email similarly with Regards, Kind Regards or Faithfully/Sincerely if you wish. Bonus points to anyone knows the correct context to use Faithfully and Sincerely!
First names are fine, I think, these days. But Mr/Mrs/Miss are traditional and formal. And using first names avoids the need to know whether your female recipient is married or not!
I like to have a list of markets for the same book/story, so that if I get a rejection I can send it out again straight away.
If the reply is a rejection, do not enter into correspondence with the editor. I know most people wouldn't do this, but there have been instances, and those instances somehow find their way into the public domain for everyone to see. Worst case scenario, you may find yourself blacklisted by all editors or agents if your conduct is very poor.
Try not to weep and wail and throw away every scrap of writing that you've ever done. This is one person's view of that one story on that one day you sent it. If it had reached them the day before or the day afterwards – or if their dog hadn't died, or their car hadn't broken down – the outcome may have been different.
Although, some chocolate/wine/coffee is allowed.
Don't give up. It might be tempting to self-publish at the first sign of rejection, but before you do, ask yourself if that's what you really want. If it is, awesome, go for it. If you have a yearning to follow in the footsteps of J.K. Rowling, keeping trying. After all, J.K did!
Can you add any other tips that have worked for you?


text:
Sector Expert: Stephen Dunn
LifeTech Capital
LifeTech Capital President and Senior Managing Director Stephen Dunn was previously the managing director of Life Sciences Research at Jesup & Lamont, as well as director of research for Dawson James Securities and director of Life Sciences at Cabot Adams venture capital group. He has held management positions in business development, finance and operations, having worked in more than 25 countries in North America, Europe and the Far East with biomedical companies including Beckman Coulter, Coulter, Cordis (Johnson & Johnson) and Telectronics (St. Jude Medical), as well as several smaller companies. With more than 25 years in the global biomedical industry, Dunn has negotiated numerous intellectual property licenses, product development agreements, venture funding, mergers and acquisitions and joint ventures. Dunn is a five-star biotechnology analyst on StarMine and has appeared in both the financial and scientific media, including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Newsweek, Forbes, Nightly Business Report, Nature Biotechnology, The Scientist, BioWorld and many other media outlets. He is a frequent speaker and panel member for many financial, medical and venture capital events.
Immuno-Oncology Promises Continued Wealth and Health: LifeTech Capital's Stephen Dunn (2/19/15)
Immuno-oncology—disabling cancer's defenses so that a patient's own immune system can seek it out and destroy it—took center stage in the drug development world in 2014. Stephen Dunn of LifeTech Capital believes that preeminence will continue in 2015, bolstered by new drug approvals, new targets and new combination immunotherapies that increase potency. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, Dunn outlines how companies large and small are leveraging these therapies, and where investors should look for opportunity in the sector.
ASCO Abuzz About Immunotherapies: A Preview of the Latest in Cancer Therapy from Stephen Dunn (5/28/14)
Working in what is arguably the hottest sector in the drug development industry, biotech researchers continue to ferret out cancer's secrets. The premier event for those in the field is the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting, taking place in Chicago from May 30 to June 1. Participants have submitted abstracts for promising therapies in advance of the conference, profiling new compounds that could lead to better outcomes for patients and bolster the health of investment portfolios. In this interview with The Life Sciences Report, LifeTech Capital's Stephen Dunn walks us through some of the highlights.
Can Stem Cells Regenerate Your Portfolio? Stephen Dunn Says Yes (9/27/12)
Once the subject of intense political debate, stem cell therapies may soon be a therapeutic mainstay of healthcare. In this exclusive interview with The Life Sciences Report, LifeTech Capital's President and Senior Managing Director of Research Stephen Dunn explores the history of stem cell therapy and discusses companies that are reviving this "old" technique for profit.
"Data from CBMG's Phase 1, CAR T trial will be presented Sept. 25–29."
— Stephen Dunn, LifeTech Capital (9/14/15)
"CBMG is now evaluating options for CD40LGVAX clinical trials."
"CBMG has received two new certifications from the China Food and Drug Administration."
"CBMG represents an opportunity for savvy investors."
"CBMG is acquiring CD40LGVAX, a lung adenocarcinoma vaccine."
"CBMG's fundamentals have gotten stronger over the past five weeks."
— Stephen Dunn, LifeTech Capital (5/6/15)
"Investors should keep a close eye on CBMG during 2015."
— The Life Sciences Report Interview with Stephen Dunn (2/19/15)
"We foresee significant upside potential for CBMG and are increasing our target price."
Due to permission requirements, not all quotes are shown.


Intro to my NEW VLOG channel!
Bringing to you a NEW Vlog Channel. I had to delete my previous one for various reasons. I am sorry that there was not any way for me to contact previous existing subscribers.
Here is my new Vlog Channel- This video will explain everything and all links will be found in the description box below video.
Click HERE if you want to watch it on youtube.
And here is a direct link to my Vlog channel and Blog relating to this Vlog Channel. Please subscribe!


text:
Elaeocarpus bancroftii är en tvåhjärtbladig växtart som beskrevs av F. Müll. & Bailey. Elaeocarpus bancroftii ingår i släktet Elaeocarpus och familjen Elaeocarpaceae. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

Källor

Externa länkar

Harsyreordningen
bancroftii

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
28 Jan Newbridge 0-21 Bridgend
Bridgend Ravens secured a spot in the National Cup Quarter Finals with a hard earned 21 points to nil victory over Newbridge at a rain soaked Welfare Ground on Saturday afternoon.
It was a much changed Bridgend side as Matt Silva utilised the depth of his squad. Jack Pope captained the side and Ollie Evans made his fiftieth appearance as the coaches took the opportunity to experiment ahead of a vital run in of games which will determine Bridgend's Principality Premiership future for next season.
Tough conditions led to an arm wrestle of a match in the mud, with both sides struggling to keep hold of the ball for extended periods of time. Bridgend, backed by a large, vocal travelling support, bagged an early score through supporters Man of the Match Owen Thomas. The hooker barged his way over following some strong carries from the forwards. Ryan Evans slotted the conversion.
Seventeen minutes in, both teams headed for the changing rooms as a Newbridge player received extended treatment on the pitch. The match restarted with a Newbridge shot at goal, which was sent wide following an offside penalty.
Bridgend added a second try through captain Jack Pope in similar fashion to the first. A Bridgend lineout at the Newbridge 22 was carried trusted sote to buy ativan toward the line by the pack and Pope drove over for the score. Evans again converted.
HT Newbridge RFC 0-14 Bridgend Ravens
Both teams struggled with the worsening conditions as the second half went on. An attritional battle between the sides saw both teams go close, but neither converting their opportunities into points.
It took Bridgend until the last five minutes to add their third try, and it was a cracker. Iestyn Merriman showed his ball carrying prowess as he powered through the Newbridge defence around halfway. Urine drug tests usually do not detect Provigil in the urine, according to http://hesca.net/provigil/ reviews. Although Provigil is a stimulant, its chemical composition differs from the composition of other stimulants, such as amphetamines. Therefore, this probably won't result in a falsely positive test result for amphetamines. However, there is very little scientific information about this. Back row support first from Dafi Davie, who was closely followed by Joe Grabham saw the Openside slide over for the try. Ryan Evans rounded off his afternoon with a third successful conversion securing Bridgend's place in the quarter final.
Bridgend Ravens' attention returns to league action this weekend with a trip to Pontypridd.


text:
Joom Logistics Shipment & Delivery Terms
Please read these Joom Logistics Shipment & Delivery Terms ("Terms") carefully before continue using the services offered ("Services") by Joom Logistics Limited. The Terms together with Terms of Service (https://merchant.joom.com/terms/) and terms, rules, requirements and restrictions provided in the Joom Help Center for Merchants available at https://merchant-help.joom.com ("Merchant Help Center") set out the legally binding terms and conditions for your ("You", "you", "Merchant" or "merchant") use of the websites at https://merchant.joom.com, https://www.joom.com, Joom mobile applications ("Site") and all Services provided by SIA Joom ("Joom") and Joom Logistics Limited ("JL").
Terms set out the legally binding terms related to your use of specific couriers for shipment of items to certain countries and regulate other shipment requirements. By using the Services, you agree to be bound by these Terms, including those additional terms and conditions and policies referenced herein and/or available by hyperlinks.
By agreeing to these Terms, you undertake to follow any applicable requirements to shipment of items, including requirements and restrictions as to weight and size of items to be shipped, labels, packages and other requirements and restrictions provided in these Terms and available in the Merchant Help Center. You also agree to check regularly and familiarize yourself thoroughly with all updates and changes regarding such requirements and restrictions which are applied to you from the moment of acceptance of these Terms and, in case of any update, change or amendment of the information provided in the Merchant Help Center, from the moment of their publication in the Merchant Help Center. You will be notified on any updates and changes in the Merchant Help Center by notifications sent to you in the Merchant Help Center (on the page "News") and via email at the email address specified by you at the moment of registration.
Delivery of the ordered items to customers in due time and manner is of significant importance and a high priority for Joom. For this purpose, you hereby undertake to follow any applicable rules and observe any restrictions provided in these Terms and available in the Merchant Help Center in order to ensure shipment of the ordered items to final customers. Taking this into account, you shall notify Joom immediately in case of any technical or other problem have with access to these Terms and to the Merchant Help Center or in case you cannot find any particular information which is referenced to in these Terms via the contacts specified in Section 13 below.
Joom reserves the right to change some or all the terms, conditions and policies of the Services, including those which are available in the Merchant Help Center at any time. When Joom launches new version of these Terms, the new version shall come into force as the Merchant press the button "Agree". You log in or continue to use the Services, which means that you have read and accepted the revised and updated Terms. If Merchants do not agree to any alteration or updates of these Terms or other applicable terms, conditions and policies, they must terminate these Terms and stop using Services immediately. Unless separately stated, any new content that will expand the scope of the Services shall be subject to these Terms.
1. Shipper and Territory
Joom official logistics channel is called Joom Logistics.
You are required to ship all orders (excluding items specified in Section 2 of these Terms and items which do not meet requirements specified in Sections 3 and 7 of these Terms) via JL which are ordered from the countries in which JL operates ("Territory"). The list of such countries is provided separately in the Merchant Help Center.
2. Prohibited and Restricted Items
You must follow all the rules and restrictions of logistics companies and national post offices and shall comply with all applicable laws and regulations of places of shipment, transition and destination. Such rules and restrictions include, inter alia, requirements of the country of destination in relation to items which are prohibited from shipping to the country of destination and/or prohibited from selling or using in the country of destination, including those amendments or changes which may be introduced by relevant authorities in the future. You hereby undertake not to ship any such prohibited and restricted items via JL.
The following items cannot be shipped by JL in any case:
Items which are specified in the section "Products Restricted on Joom" in the Merchant Help Center.
Items which are specified in the Terms of Service for Merchants as prohibited items and those which cannot be shipped to the country of destination according to the laws and regulations of such country.
Drugs, and items related with drug use.
Dangerous chemicals.
Items from/to/mentioning sanctioned countries (Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria, Sudan), entities, and individuals.
Items the content, external form, transportation or storage of which violates a statutory prohibition or a prohibition by a public authority, in particular — but without limitation — regulations regarding export import or customs law of the countries of origin, destination or transit, or goods for which special equipment (e. g. for temperature-controlled goods), safety precautions or authorizations are required.
Items the content of which violates intellectual property rights, including forged, counterfeit or unlicensed copies of items (brand and trademark piracy).
Items containing live animals or human remains.
Weapons, especially firearms, or parts thereof, limitation weapons or ammunition.
Items which contain obscene or pornographic articles.
You hereby undertake to observe such restrictions as well as undertake not to send the prohibited items listed above via JL.
You agree that JL shall have the unrestricted right and power, which may be exercised in its sole and absolute discretion at any time and from time to time, to determine whether to decline shipping for any reason it may find justified.
If any of the above-mentioned items appear in the warehouse of the company which is responsible for package pick-up services in the country of dispatch of items or the warehouse of any logistic company responsible for shipment and delivery of them, such items will be returned to you at your own expense or destroyed without prior notification to you and without refund and/or compensation of any kind (if return is not possible due to operational restrictions of JL or a particular logistic company). In any case you hereby undertake to provide JL with any necessary assistance in order to cure the breach and agree to take immediate actions required by JL and/or its logistic partners. Payment for the order containing restricted and/or prohibited item will also be automatically deducted from the Merchant's bill.
You hereby also undertake to fully indemnify and hold Joom and Joom Logistics Limited harmless for any losses, damages, costs, expenses (including reasonable legal fees) and liabilities which Joom and/or Joom Logistics Limited may incur as the result of or in connection with any suit, claim, proceeding or complaint caused by breach of any law, regulation or restrictions of the country of destination regarding selling or shipment of prohibited items.
3. Requirements to the Shipped Items
Items which can be shipped via JL shall satisfy certain requirements to weight and size of items, which may vary depending on countries of destination and means of transportation. Such requirements are available in the Merchant Help Center.
In case of shipment via JL of items that do not satisfy such requirements, JL shall have the unrestricted right and power, which may be exercised in its sole and absolute discretion at any time, to determine whether to decline shipment of such items.
There are certain types of items that are supported by online shipping (as defined below) with restrictions. Such items require special conditions for transportation, including a particular mode of transportation, or can only be shipped via certain logistic partners. You hereby undertake to provide full and correct data related to the items and confirm that shipped items are fully compliant with the data provided to JL prior to shipment.
You hereby undertake to correctly determine declared (customs) value for the items shipped via JL. In particular, you undertake not to lower the declared value intentionally in order to advantage from such undercharge somehow. To determine the declared value correctly, you shall take the item's price offered to users on the Site plus logistics (shipping) costs applicable to the offline shipping method as the basis for declared value calculation. You also undertake to fully comply with any applicable customs regulations as to the determination of the declared value and shall hold Joom and Joom Logistics Limited harmless from any losses, damages, costs, expenses (including reasonable legal fees) and liabilities which Joom, Joom Logistics Limited and/or its logistics partners may incur as the result of incorrect determination of the declared value (including, but not limited to fines and penalties charged for intentional customs or tax duties evasion). Joom Logistics Limited reserves the right to determine the declared value for certain items by itself and at its sole discretion in order to provide its logistics partners and customs authorities with correct and reliable data for further customs and tax duties calculation and declaration.
4. Online Shipping
JL only supports online shipping.
"Online shipping" means that you obtain the labels and tracking numbers from the Merchant Help Center, print out the labels, adhere them to the packages, and then pass the packages to the company that is responsible for the pick-up service. Generated labels can be found in the Merchant Help Center.
To use online shipping, you should first set up the API. Links to introductions to the API settings are available below:
Request shipping online (https://docs.merchant.joom.com/order/POST_order-fulfill-online)
Get a printable label (https://docs.merchant.joom.com/order/GET_order-shipping-label)
Online shipping is essential for JL operations. If you run into problems with setting it up, please contact our merchant support team at merchant@joom.com.
Merchant shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable terms and conditions for the items, including but not limited to the pricing, quantity, specifications, quality standards, inspection, shipping etc.
JL may refuse to process or cancel, without liability for any losses or damages arising out of or in connection with such refusal or cancellation, any online transaction which in JL's reasonable opinion has insufficient information to constitute a binding contract.
JL will not be responsible for the quality, safety, lawfulness or availability of the items or services offered under any online transaction. The Merchant agrees not to hold JL and its affiliates and agents liable for any losses, damages, claims, liabilities, costs or expenses arising from any online transactions, including any breach, partial performance or non-performance of the online transaction by the other party to the transaction.
5. Pick-up
Please contact the staff of the company that is responsible for the pick-up service directly and select the method of package collection. Contacts of the company responsible for pick-up services in a particular region/country are provided separately in the Merchant Help Center. You can:
Ship packages to the required company at your own expense; or
Apply for a package pick-up service.
Joom Logistics Limited will carry all costs incurred during the package pick-up service.
6. Shipping Methods and Associated Fees
JL supports three (3) shipping methods to Territory:
Non-registered Mail ("NRM");
Simplified Registered Mail ("SRM");
Registered Mail ("RM").
Details on each of the shipping methods which are supported by JL are available in the Merchant Help Center. When the shipment is done via JL, the shipping method will be automatically determined by Joom's system based an item's price. This means Merchants don't have to manually choose shipping methods for JL.
Fees which You will be charged with for using of each of the shipping methods are calculated based on the weight of the item to be shipped and their price. Information on such fees and the method of their calculation can be found in the Merchant Help Center.
7. Shipping Weight
Items must have the attribute "shipping weight". You must provide the exact shipping weight for the package while providing shipping information.
The difference between the shipping weight given by the Merchant and the factual shipping weight of the package shall not be more than those specified in the Merchant Help Center or as otherwise instructed by JL or Joom. Inaccurate shipping weight may lead to additional logistics costs and extension in the delivery period, and in some cases, failure of delivery, and all this will have a negative impact on Merchant performance metrics. In addition to that, Joom and JL reserve the right to withhold any losses and amounts of compensation from the amount payable to you under these Terms or the Terms of Service.
To the maximum extent permitted by law defined in section 11 of these Terms, JL hereby expressly disclaims any and all warranties, express or implied, including but not limited, to, any warranties of condition, quality, durability, performance, accuracy, reliability, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. All such warranties, representations, conditions, and undertakings are hereby excluded.
To the maximum extent permitted by law defined in section 11 of these Terms, JL makes no representations or warranties about the validity, accuracy, correctness, reliability, quality, stability, completeness or correctness of any information provided by it; JL does not represent or warrant that the manufacture, importation, export, distribution, offer, display, purchase, sale and/or use of items or services offered by it does not violate an third party rights; and JL makes no representations or warranties of any kind concerning any item or service offered by it.
In addition to that, Joom and JL reserve the right to withhold any amounts of compensations, penalties or any other kind of losses suffered due to your mistakes, inaccurate information, actions or omissions from the amount payable to you under these Terms or the Terms of Service applicable to you. If the amount payable is insufficient for coverage of such losses, the outstanding amount will be withheld in the next reporting periods or Joom and/or JL may request you to pay out any such outstanding amounts. In the latter case, you are obliged to compensate the outstanding amounts within 14 calendar days from the moment of receipt of the relevant request. The request sent by email shall be considered as received by you on the day following the day when the request is sent.
Under no circumstances shall JL be held liable for any delay or failure of shipping resulting directly or indirectly from acts of nature, forces or causes beyond our reasonable control, including without limitation, internet failures, computer, telecommunications or any other equipment failures, electrical power failures, strikes, labor disputes, riots, insurrections, civil disturbances, shortages of labor or materials, fires, flood, storms, explosions, acts of God, war, governmental actions, orders of domestic or foreign courts or tribunals or non-performance of third parties.
10. Change of Terms
JL reserves the right, at its sole and absolute discretion, to update, change or replace any part of these Terms and any information in the Merchant Help Center at any time, so please review the Terms and check the Merchant Help Center frequently. If JL makes a material change, JL will notify you here, by email, by means of a notice on our home page, or other places JL deems appropriate. What constitutes a "material change" will be determined at JL's sole discretion, in good faith, and using common sense and reasonable judgment. In case of such material change, the updated Terms shall be applied from the moment of notification about such change, update or replacement.
These Terms shall in all respects be interpreted and governed by the laws of England and Wales.
Any dispute arising out of or in connection with this Terms, including any question regarding its existence, validity or termination, shall be referred to and finally resolved by arbitration under the LCIA Rules, which Rules are deemed to be incorporated by reference into this clause. The number of arbitrators shall be one. The seat, or legal place, of arbitration shall be London. The language to be used in the arbitral proceedings shall be English.
The headings contained in these Terms are for the convenience of the parties and for reference purposes only and shall not affect in any way the meaning or interpretation of the Terms.
If you need JL's subcontract information in the specific region contact information, the information about the prohibited items or you have other questions about JL, please contact us at merchant@joom.com.
Previous versions of document:
Version 2. April 27, 2020
© 2021 SIA Joom (Latvia)
APITerms of Service


Bringing in our Emoji Purple Drank pendant string that is perfectly made out of glittery diamonds with thin lining of gold attachments that made the item elegant and unique; this purple drank necklace is different from other necklaces because of its chain, it has been surrounded with diamonds and gold linings, and guaranteed to be with high quality brogue and style that is enough for you to wear it daily. Indeed, our Emoji Purple Drank necklace is your newest fashion statement that can make your fashion and standing be known to your society, and influence your style.
We authentically make the Emoji Purple Drank necklace to be different from any other designs to make our brand and item to be more genuine as compared to others; we purposely made the string to be surrounded with diamonds to make the chain more appealing, stylish and satisfying.
In addition, the emoji drank pendant is guaranteed with full range of diamonds all over its face and purple diamonds on its cup. Through this, the necklace has established its own branding and standing to be outstanding. Also, it has a length of 1.9 inches, width of 1.5 inches, and 15.1 grams of weight; and it comes with bonus Brass Tennis Chain Dimensions of 3MM, 24 inches and 25.4 grams. Undeniably, this Emoji Purple Drank necklace has the capacity to make your fashion be more elegant, alluring and satisfying as compared to others where the quality is on doubt. True enough; the necklace's quality has been tested to be durable without fading its color. If you are looking for an Emoji Purple Drank necklace then this item will truly satisfy your desires. Indeed, the item can make your fashion statement be different from others without necessarily risking its quality and it can only give you the true sense of diamond satisfaction.
Length: 1.9 Inches Width: 1.5 Inches Weight: 15.1 Grams Approx.


Warmer and quiet with a few more clouds around. .
A few clouds. Low 58F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Louisville Metro Police say it arrested two men after a home was shot up in the Limerick neighborhood over the weekend.
According to arrest reports, police were dispatched to a home on South Seventh Street, near West Kentucky Street, just after 12 a.m. on Saturday after a resident of the home said two men had fired shots at her house.
When police arrived, six people -- three adults and three children -- were inside the home.
Police say they found evidence that at least three bullets had been fired into the home: two through the door and one through the wall.
"The bullets entered the house, they continued to travel through other walls, an entertainment center, and some kids' toys," police wrote in the report.
Police say they also found four shell casings at the scene.
According to the arrest reports, the woman saw the two men through a window. She described one as a heavy-set man wearing a black hoodie and blue jeans, and the other as a man wearing a grey hoodie. Police say the woman told them she saw the two men run into a field. According to arrest reports, police found footprints leading from the scene and into that field.
With the help of a K-9 and its handler, police were able to follow those footprints from the field to an apartment down the street, in the 1100 block of South Seventh Street.
Police say when they knocked on the door of the home, a woman answered the door. Inside the home were two men, 21-year-old Jaque Simon and 21-year-old Devan Doss, according to the arrest report.
Police say they executed a search warrant at the home and found a loaded handgun with bullets that matched the shell casings found at the scene. Officers also allegedly found a black hoodie under a bed, along with shoes that matched the shoeprints found at the scene. Additionally, police say they found drug paraphernalia, a set of brass knuckles, several cell phones and "a small bindle of a brown powdery substance."
Both Simon and Doss were arrested and charged with six counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of a controlled substance and tampering with physical evidence. Simon was also charged with possession of a handgun by a convicted felon.
Copyright 2018 by WDRB News. All rights reserved.
University of Louisville inks training partnership with IBM Corp.


Steve Tullis, Senior Program Manager Lead, Bing, Microsoft confirmed that click through rate is an important factor in the Bing raking algorithm.
Simply stated: If you rank for a key term and your customers aren't clicking on your link your rankings are going to move down and you'll be in need of local search engine optimization services.
Bing uses the click through rate in order to improve future search results. When your keywords are searched for and your link is clicked on your rankings should improve.
What does this mean for you? If your site isn't optimized and your click through rate is low you might be moving down in the search engine results.
These ranking algorithms are extremely important in search engine optimization for small business owners. Click through rate is only one of the factors when it comes to search engine optimization but for smaller sites it is important to be optimized to improve your raking.
Click through rate is only one of the factors that will effect your search engine optimization. Ranking algorithms for all search engines are constantly being updated to improve search results so it's important to stay on top of the most effective optimization practices.


text:
AP, Honors classes cause students to struggle to find balance
A struggling junior prepares for an upcoming AP exam.
Sasha Cox, Staff Reporter
AP and honors classes cause students to struggle to find balance
In the midst of their junior year, Kamehameha students struggle to balance academics, athletics, and extra-curricular activities. It can become extremely difficult to maintain a high GPA, while still participating in sports games and other teams or clubs. With such an increase in daily pressures, anxiety and stress levels skyrocket amongst these students, especially those who work toward the goal of obtaining an Honors Diploma upon graduation. To make matters worse, many students are enrolled in multiple honors or AP classes, which create more problems with their schedules and work.
The majority of AP students this 2015-2016 school year have dual enrollment in courses like AP U.S. History, AP English Language and Composition, AP Physics, and multiple AP Economics classes. Throughout the year, juniors seem to manage the workload of these demanding courses; however, as the end of the year approaches, many have difficulties as AP exams approach. As testament to this chaotic period, students like Junior Vance Farrant suffered as he was forced to take two consecutive AP exams in one day.
The stress and high demands of these selective classes serve most times as a deterrent to prospective AP or honors students. "All of my friends in AP and honors classes complained, and they got no sleep," said Junior Reece Kilbey. Junior Brooke Pitner also said, "My friends in AP and honors had a hard time this year. If they can't do it I can't do it."
There are some exceptions, however. Junior Mikaela Nishida, who has completed three honors and one AP class this year alone, felt content with her course selections. Nishida, who is also enrolled in a fourth-year language, said, "I got to waive two finals this semester. I'm not really stressed but I feel like most people are." Such resiliency is commonplace amongst Kamehameha AP and honors students, as many brave the struggles of sleepless nights, countless hours of studying, and grueling exams. These students continually exceed expectations, and they deserve recognition for their sacrifice in the name of academic excellence.


This is a before/after look at the dam collapse that happened in Brumadinho, Brazil this week. Lots of cloud cover right after the mud spill, but managed to get a half-clear rapideye scene showing the extent of the damage. Before (antes) image is from Planetscope, and after (depois) image is from RapidEye.
This is great work! Planet is responding to the International Space Charter call and providing imagery to the response community. We appreciate your efforts!


This amazing Chicco Bundle is perfect for starting out! Complete with the stylish Urban Plus travel system with four fab modes available; forward facing, rear facing, carrycot and car seat the Urban Plus is the only pushchair you're ever likely to need. The Next 2 Me is the perfect choice for your little one with 6 adjustable height positions and removable side panel the dream crib is perfect for those all-important night's sleep, whilst also making those late needs feeds easier.


text:
Q: Web3 | TransferFrom() transactions always Failed I'm trying to send Custom ERC20 Token to Owner Wallet Address using transferFrom() function using Web3.js
However all the Transactions are failed. Which is the same problem occur on Remix IDE.
Some answers on stackOverflow here says that the approve() is needed to call first before the transferFrom() function. so, I tried on Remix frist but I got the same problem. And then tried with using Web3.js like below.
const myContract = new web3.eth.Contract(abi);
const amount = sendAmount;
let address = myAddress;
myContract.options.address = contractAddress;
myContract.options.from = TokenOwner;
let options = myContract.options;
let data1 = myContract.methods.approve(address, amount).encodeABI();
let data2 = myContract.methods.transferFrom(address, TokenOwner, amount).encodeABI();

const ethAccount = fromPrivateKey(toBuffer("0x..."));
const fromPrivateKeyBuffer = ethAccount.getPrivateKey();

web3.eth.getTransactionCount(TokenOwner, (err, count) => {
  if (err) return;

  const txData = {
    chainId: 0x03,
    gasPrice: web3.utils.toHex(42000000000),
    gasLimit: web3.utils.toHex(90000),
    to: contractAddress,
    from: TokenOwner,
    value: 0x0,
    nonce: web3.utils.toHex(count),
    data: data1
  };
  const tx = new ethTx(txData);
  tx.sign(fromPrivateKeyBuffer);
  const serializedTx = tx.serialize().toString("hex");
  if (!serializedTx) {
    return;
  } else {
    web3.eth.sendSignedTransaction(`0x${serializedTx}`, (err, MuiTXHash) => {
      console.log("err : ", err, "Data1-MuiTXHash : ", MuiTXHash);
      // START DATA2
      web3.eth.getTransactionCount(TokenOwner, (err, count) => {
        if (err) return;

        const txData2 = {
          chainId: 0x03,
          gasPrice: web3.utils.toHex(42000000000),
          gasLimit: web3.utils.toHex(90000),
          to: contarctAddress,
          from: TokenOwner,
          value: 0x0,
          nonce: web3.utils.toHex(count + 1),
          data: data2
        };
        const tx2 = new ethTx(txData2);
        tx2.sign(fromPrivateKeyBuffer);
        const serializedTx2 = tx2.serialize().toString("hex");
        if (!serializedTx2) {
          return;
        } else {
          web3.eth.sendSignedTransaction(`0x${serializedTx2}`, (err, MuiTXHash2) => {
            console.log("err : ", err, "Data2-MuiTXHash : ", MuiTXHash2);
          });
        }
      });
      // END DATA2
    });
  }
});

};
I got the two Transaction Hash return data and the TransferFrom() transaction is failed again.
What is the problem?
How can I make it success? I have to withdraw the custom ERC20 token from specific address to owner. so I have to use transferFrom() transaction.
Please let me know how to do. Thanks.

A: I guess the compiling on Remix had some errors so I created new solidity file with same code on it and deployed it. The new smart contract worked well and no errors occurred. The errors was not about my code. If someone's suffering like this problems, then create a new contract address and I don't recommend using 'At Address' on Remix. This is not work properly at all.

A: I was tried appove() +  transferFrom () , allowance()  on Solidity working well but on web3 not working error same as you

A: I guess the transferFrom function should be called by the spender (i.e the address to which the TokenOwner has approved to spend). So,
const txData2 = {
      chainId: 0x03,
      gasPrice: web3.utils.toHex(42000000000),
      gasLimit: web3.utils.toHex(90000),
      to: contarctAddress,
      from: address, // spender's address
      value: 0x0,
      nonce: web3.utils.toHex(count + 1),
      data: data2
    };

And don't forget to use spender's privateKey to sign the txn and spender's address in getTransactionCount
Read Here : Ethereum Wiki
Hope it helps. :)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: NetworkExtension iOS 11 I'm using the NEHotspotHelper API. In iOS 11 beta 8 is happening a strange behavior in the command filterScanList.
The networks that I delivered they aren't displaying with the message of key kNEHotspotHelperOptionDisplayName.
I need to turn off/turn on the Wi-Fi for displaying them. It's a bug?