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Review: LEGO's 7,500-piece Millennium Falcon is the ultimate collector's item for Star Wars fans
Blair Altland	- Jan. 23rd 2018 4:43 pm PT Twitter icon @blairaltland
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The Millennium Falcon may just be the most well-known vehicle in all of science fiction and beyond. Making its big-screen debut in A New Hope just over 40 years ago, the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy has solidified itself as a cultural icon. And over the past few decades, has been commemorated through tons pop-culture references, collector's items and even LEGO kits.
In fact, just about all of LEGO's largest and display-worthy sets have come from a galaxy far, far away. So when it came time for LEGO to pay tribute to Star War's 40th anniversary, it only made sense to recreate the iconic starship in what is the largest kit ever produced. With over 7,500 pieces, 10 Minifigures and 4 feet of details, LEGO's UCS Millennium Falcon stacks up to be one of the most complex, well-designed and impressive sets ever released.
The Falcon's Brick-built Lineage |
LEGO launched its latest in the line of Ultimate Collector's sets, the Millennium Falcon, officially back in September. But for most of 2017, was one of the harder to find kits in the of those on store shelves. And despite its luxury $800 price tag, this kit is what many die-hard LEGO and Star Wars fans had been desiring.
The original UCS Falcon had become many LEGO collectors White Whale, and as costs continued to soar on the classic model, the 2007 version became harder and harder for fans to get their hands on. After being dethroned by 2008's Taj Mahal, the latest rendition of the Millennium Falcon has managed to reclaim its spot for largest LEGO set produced after nearly a decade.
Since debuting the Star Wars line of kits back in 1999, LEGO has introduced over 10 different Millennium Falcons over the years. From miniature models in advent calendars to 2007's first crack at a doing the iconic justice. Now just over a decade later, LEGO is trying its hand at the ionic ship with set 75192.
General Thoughts |
It's hard to explain just how grand of a LEGO kit the UCS Millennium Falcon really is. Comprised of 7,541 pieces, LEGO has clearly put a lot of love into its largest and most detailed kit to date.
Over the 30+ hours it took to assemble the massive model, I found myself marveling at such trivial parts of the model, from the internal frame and underside to the litany of greebles scattered throughout the ship. The 31 lb starfighter includes some of the most well thought out and ingenious techniques I've seen in my decade and a half with the hobby.
And even though the Falcon stacks up to over 7,500 bricks, the set designers have leveraged every piece one of the most detail-packed builds —LEGO or otherwise — I have ever had the pleasure of assembling. The question of whether or not the UCS Millennium Falcon is worthy of its $800 price tag lingered in my mind throughout the build, something that at the end of the day I find justified, but more on that later.
Unboxing the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy |
With just about any other LEGO kit review, taking an in-depth look to cover a set's packaging and unboxing would be fairly unnecessary. But just as with the other aspects of the UCS Millennium Falcon, the packaging is anything but the typical LEGO experience you may have come to expect.
As the largest LEGO set, the Falcon comes packed inside an absolutely massive 21 x 18 x 15-inch box. The box is in fact so large, that LEGO stores provide a cardboard dolly to make getting the model home a bit more manageable.
Alongside some wonderful art on the front, you'll find cutaways of the ship's interior, information on the Falcon itself and some other neat graphics covering the box.
Diving in, there are 4 smaller rectangular boxes which include the kit's 17 stages scattered across 66 bags. Just as with the exterior of the packaging, these interior boxes are covered in graphics as well. In this case, you'll find a blueprint-line image of the Falcon along with some Han Solo quotes about his famous starship.
Last but not least, you'll find the UCS Falcon's instruction book. The 6.4 lb ring-bound booklet packs 466 pages that encompass the set's 1,379 building steps. Just like the other UCS sets, there's also some background information on the Millennium including Ralph McQuarrie concept art, ship schematics and build info from its designers.
The Build: She's got it where it counts, kid |
For its second iteration of the UCS Millennium Falcon, LEGO has employed a fairly modular design, with each of the kit's 17 stages creating a different section which can be snapped onto the model. The Falcon itself can be broken down into 2 different types of builds; the frame and then all of the exterior shell and detail elements.
When first eyeing up the completed Falcon, odds are low that sturdy will be one of the first descriptors to enter your mind. But for any LEGO set, UCS or otherwise, LEGO designers have pulled off one incredible feat to create a build as solid as the Falcon. Especially when considering its monstrous size alongside all of the included details and interior sections.
Assembling the UCS Millennium Falcon begins by piecing together the ship's interior Technic frame. For this, bags 1 through 6 include the necessary elements and come together to create what is a fairly barebones structure. With a model of its size, this is an absolutely necessary design choice that is more distinctive than other UCS sets where the frame and exterior blur together.
The remaining 11 bags finish up fleshing out the build's interior and also contains the Falcon's detailed exterior. For the most part, the UCS Millennium Falcon is made up of mainly light grey pieces, which shows through in the final model. This is by no means a bad thing, as it gives the Falcon quite a bit of realism compared to its big-screen counterpart. There are also tons of variable colored detailed elements that give the build the Ultimate Collector's Series title it holds.
Equally impressive Elements |
The Falcon is more than its several thousand grey pieces though. As any UCS set should, the Millennium Falcon also includes its fair share of printed elements.
You'll find printed control panels, vents, chess boards and more throughout the ship, but most prominently is the Falcon's iconic radar dish. Although my personal favorites are the variety of transparent cockpit and window pieces, many of which are exclusive to this UCS set.
Overall, the kit doesn't rely on too many stickers. But like any modern Star Wars kit, it has a few to add in some extra details. This may be a drawback to some for a set of this size and cost, but the printed pieces included are great enough to overshadow any complaints in my book.
Features: More than a bucket of bolts |
As a LEGO set of this caliber, the Falcon's exterior packs a level of detail that's pretty unparalleled amongst any kit, UCS or not, released so far. All of the iconic details you'd expect to find are present and wonderfully executed. From the hyperdrive engine to the rear circular vents, the famous cockpit to the front mandibles and upper quad cannon, the details are amazing. And as a lifelong fan of Star Wars, this satisfies me on a level that no other collectible has.
The full experience of the UCS Falcon as a collector's item also requires you to take a look inside its battered exterior. Several exterior compartments open up to showcase 2 interior rooms full of details from the films. Both rooms are complete with arched doorways that give the appearance that they lead off into other areas of the Falcon, thanks to some intricate sticker placements.
Towards the front of the Falcon you'll find what is the more iconic of the two interior sections. Here you'll find detail elements like a training helmet, chair and most prominently the Holochess table. Not only does this room pull in quite a bit of references to the film, but also does a great job at adding further authenticity to the build.
The second of the two rooms is less screen-accurate than the first, but is still packed with details from the franchise. In what is effectively a combination of many rooms in the Falcon, the back portion packs the hyperdrive engine room, escape pods and more.
The Falcon can also be switched between its appearance in the Original Trilogy and the newer Sequel Trilogy to go along with the ship's 2 generations of pilots. However, not a whole lot changes, with the starship's iconic radar dish being the main alteration.
Minifigures |
Spanning over 35 years of adventures throughout the Star Wars saga, the Millennium Falcon has quite a diverse selection of pilots and crew members. As such, the UCS LEGO recreation of the ship includes 2 sets of Minifigures to coincide with the characters' respective films.
The first group is taken out of The Empire Strikes Back and includes Han, Leia, Chewbacca and C3PO. Both Han and Leia come wearing their winter regalia from Episode 5 and are exclusives to the set. Nothing is new with the designs of Chewy and C3PO, but are excellent figures none-the-less.
For The Force Awakens, the Falcon also includes Finn, Rey, BB-8 and an older Han Minifigure which is a set exclusive. Finn is the same figure we've seen in the other The Force Awakens kits and the same is true for Rey.
The Falcon is also the first LEGO set to feature The Last Jedi's lovable Porgs. Both sets of Minifigures also include reversible heads which feature calm expressions alongside more battle-ready faces.
Is it worth it? |
The UCS Millennium Falcon has the highest number of elements included in any set to date, but at the cost of being the most expensive kit released as well. $799.99 is a lot to shell out for a LEGO model, despite being the ultimate collector's item for Star Wars fans. That being said, the Falcon has been an extremely enjoyable build and an even better display piece that I find entirely worth its high price tag.
If your wallet can take the $800 hit, the next question that should be crossing your mind is where are you going to put the finished kit. The final model stacks up to over 33-inches long and 22-inches wide, meaning displaying the behemoth takes up more room than the average kit.
Some center their family rooms around the build with display coffee tables, while others have luck using wall-mounted stands. As of now, the Falcon is adorning my desk where I'll continue to marvel at it for some time.
All things considered, the UCS Millennium Falcon is one heck of a fun, challenging and overall wonderful build. I can't remember ever being this thrilled with a LEGO kit. The entire build is packed with some of the greatest feats of LEGO engineering and design, making it stand out for more than its massive part count.
So if you're a huge Star Wars and LEGO fan like myself, the UCS Millennium Falcon is surely a piece that your collection deserves.
Buy the UCS Millennium Falcon 75192 for $799.99
The hottest LEGO deals on Star Wars, Architecture, City, and more alongside coverage of the latest creations, in-depth reviews, and fan-made creation showcases.
Blair Altland
Twitter icon @blairaltland
Blair Altland is the Senior Editor of 9to5Toys. Having joined the team at the beginning of 2017, Blair has gone on to specialize in LEGO coverage and review, smart home tech, and home networking. Contact them directly at Blair@9to5mac.com.
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U.S.|Ohio State Gets $483 Million Bid for Parking Lease
https://nyti.ms/KGQECv
Ohio State Gets $483 Million Bid for Parking Lease
By Richard Pérez-Peña
As state universities try to fill in gaps left by shrinking government support, Ohio State University is taking steps to open a new financial frontier with its parking lots. University officials say that a private bidder has offered $483 million in a lump sum for a lease to operate university parking facilities for 50 years.
The deal, still tentative, appears to be the first of its kind at a large university, according to higher education groups, though Indiana University confirmed on Monday that it is in the early stages of exploring a long-term lease of its parking facilities.
The City of Chicago made a similar deal in 2009, granting a 75-year lease of its parking meters to a private company.
The Ohio State deal is one of several that the university is pursuing in a drive to build its financial reserves. The university recently sold 100-year bonds, a first for a public university, raising $500 million; it made a $25 million exclusive deal with a local bank for campus A.T.M.'s and other services and is looking into privatizing its airport.
Joseph A. Alutto, the provost, noted that state aid now accounted for only 7 percent of the university's $5 billion annual budget, and that the federal government's budget troubles could lead to even deeper cuts.
"We need to address an increasingly uncertain environment and set some money aside," he said. "We can't go on raising tuition forever. We're looking at all our assets and asking, 'If they're nonessential assets, how can we turn them into revenue?' "
The money will be used to maintain other transportation services, and for basic university functions like hiring faculty and awarding scholarships.
Colleges and universities have increasingly looked to deals with outside businesses to raise money, turning over parking lots or campus bookstores to private operators, typically in return for a stream of revenue. But a half-century deal with a huge upfront payment is another matter.
"This isn't a conversation that would have taken place 10 years ago," said Daniel J. Hurley, director of state relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. "But state disinvestment in higher education is spurring universities to be more entrepreneurial."
The university set a floor price of $375 million for the concession for its 35,000 parking spaces — including those at its medical center — and took bids last week. A person briefed on the process said the primary players were financial firms, though parking companies could be involved in the operations. Over the weekend, university officials revealed that the top bid was for $483 million.
The deal is expected to be formally recommended to the university trustees, who would vote on it on June 22.
The plan has stirred controversy on a campus where, according to the school, about 100,000 students and employees park each day. Responding to concerns, the university has included in the deal limits on price increases, and flexibility to increase parking supply.
Chicago's parking meter lease raised $1.15 billion for the city, but it has been widely criticized as leading to steep price increases and a chronic problem of malfunctioning meters.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


It is interesting that when I was doing research on safety when stacking drywall on a job site I mostly found information on avoiding injuries while lifting and carrying drywall. There was also a lot of concerns about structural tolerances with all the weight. However in my research I did find an article in :Constructions Dimensions Magazine- July 2002, about the potential hazards of drywall stacked on edge and the potential for tipping and falling. In addition I also found a statement from the gypsum industry which states:that delivered drywall must be protected from moisture and placed on the jobsite in a flat orientation. This prompted me to contact my friends at RockSteady (the makers of a drywall safety clip) to get their take on the stacking drywall issue. They told me to be careful because it is a very complicated topic filled with potential liability. So I will preface this Blog by stating that the safety of people on the jobsite should take priority over any other concerns. Yes even over productivity!!
Verify distance with a measuring tape, ruler, or measurement template to ensure proper lean. Placing drywall sheets against a wall with a lean of less than four inches creates a serious tipping hazard. Placing sheets with greater than a 6" lean can cause significant lateral pressure and cause structural failure. Failure to do so may result in serious harm or injury. If sheets are stacked less than four inches from the wall it takes less than 30 lbs of lateral force to topple 24 sheets of drywall. Four to five inches only 50 lbs of force is needed. Workers should be aware that drywall sheets vary by thickness and weight: Some sheets weigh less than 55 pounds and others weigh more than 120 pounds. Lighter weight drywall is now available, but a 4 by 12 ft sheet of ½" drywall still weights about 60 lbs. Personally,I would not want someone to throw something that weighs 60 lbs at my legs. I am not just talking about the weight of a few pieces of drywall and maybe the sheet you are working with falling. Now I am talking about the potential of the entire stack of drywall toppling and the force of the falling drywall, which is much higher than just the weight of the drywall.
As a residential drywall contractor I rarely see drywall stacked flat on a floor and like most contractors I prefer to have the drywall stacked on edge. One reason I like drywall stacked on edge against walls is because of the limited amount of space in a home under construction. Hanging drywall is a very productive phase of the construction. Stacking the drywall away from the areas being hung like in an attached garage for example would slow down production too much. Also end cutting, snapping, as well as ripping, and saw cutting the drywall panels must be done when the drywall is on edge.
But I have to admit that in many cases laying the drywall on the floor would work just fine when stacking, but it is not done because of old habits. A few sheets at a time could be stood on edge for measuring and cutting.
After work hours on many residential construction sites visitors such as the homeowners, other contractors stopping by to take measurements or drop off materials are at risk if they start climbing around or moving any drywall sheets. This is not to say that both invited and uninvited people can't enter a commercial job site as well, but there is often more security in place on commercial sites.
Harder to work with. Extra lifting and moving involved for each sheet.
A big concern is non- drywall contractors-employees working around the vertical stacks of drywall.
Drywall is flat which provides a flatter surface when hung. Flatter drywall makes flatter walls and ceilings.
Don't lean a different length against other drywall. A big concern for tipping is when a sheet is pulled out from behind the front stack.
Don't limit access to room by covering doorway.
A few sheets at a time can be stood on edge as needed so that cutting can be done from this position.
Don't have drywall delivered too much in advance of hanging.
The RockSteady® Clip prevents accidents by protecting jobsite visitors and contractors from the potential harm of falling drywall. It does this by securing sheets of drywall, leaned against a wall, into a stabilized stack. After installation, the clip offers round the clock protection for workers and visitors from the hazard of incidental or accidental stack tip-over.
All in all stacking drywall should be taken much more seriously. Stacking drywall flat is the most effective way to prevent injuries from toppling drywall. Personally I will be very careful when stacking drywall leaning against a wall and will use all the precautions outlined above.
What is the law/rules about the number of sheets against a house stud internal wall? Is it like 15-20 or an exact amount?
As mentioned in the blog leaning drywall against walls is dangerous so try and follow recommendations I outlined.
Besides the danger of the drywall tipping over there is the concern of weight both against the wall and on the floor. I have not been able to find a limit but I think 15 to 20 sheets is the limit. I would contact RockSteady for more information.
Is there no actual osha standard to this?
Couldn't find anything. Lots of good information on the rocksteadyclip site. Mostly what I could find in OSHA was about not stacking in unsafe locations or blocking off access paths. It is obvious that stacking flat on the floor is safest but is rarely done in residential construction. I like to be on site when the drywall is delivered to make sure stacks are located in safest locations.


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this issue of in style was a fun read, full of color and vibrance!
below are just a few of my favorite things from the mag.
Labels: beauty, benefit cosmetics, longchamp, makeup, nars, rachel roy, samandlavi, trend report.
Read it in one afternoon...so lovely!!


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filter your search All ContentAll JournalsNetwork Neuroscience
Author Summary
FUNCTIONAL ANTICORRELATIONS CONTAIN MEANINGFUL NEURAL ACTIVITY
NEURAL INHIBITION MEDIATES THE FORMULATION OF ANTICORRELATIONS
THE ANTICORRELATIONS' SIGNIFICANCE TO CONSCIOUSNESS
Functional network antagonism and consciousness
Athena Demertzi
Athena Demertzi *
Physiology of Cognition, GIGA Consciousness Research Unit, GIGA Institute (B34), Sart Tilman, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
Psychology and Neuroscience of Cognition (PsyNCog), Faculty of Psychology, Logopedics and Educational Sciences, Sart Tilman, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
GIGA-CRC In Vivo Imaging, Sart Tilman, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
Fund for Scientific Research, FNRS, Bruxelles, Belgium
* Corresponding Author: a.demertzi@uliege.be
Aaron Kucyi
Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
Adrián Ponce-Alvarez
Center for Brain and Cognition, Computational Neuroscience Group, Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
Georgios A. Keliris
Bio-Imaging Lab, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium
Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli,
Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli †
Northeastern University Biomedical Imaging Center (NUBIC), Northeastern University Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Complex (ISEC), Boston, MA, USA
Gustavo Deco
Gustavo Deco †
Institució Catalana de la Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain
Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, and Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Clayton, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Equal contribution.
Handling Editor: Olaf Sporns
Received: October 01 2021
Funding Group:
Award Group:
Funder(s):
Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS
Principal Award Recipient(s):
Demertzi
© 2022 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Network Neuroscience (2022) 6 (4): 998–1009.
https://doi.org/10.1162/netn_a_00244
Athena Demertzi, Aaron Kucyi, Adrián Ponce-Alvarez, Georgios A. Keliris, Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli, Gustavo Deco; Functional network antagonism and consciousness. Network Neuroscience 2022; 6 (4): 998–1009. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/netn_a_00244
Spontaneous brain activity changes across states of consciousness. A particular consciousness-mediated configuration is the anticorrelations between the default mode network and other brain regions. What this antagonistic organization implies about consciousness to date remains inconclusive. In this Perspective Article, we propose that anticorrelations are the physiological expression of the concept of segregation, namely the brain's capacity to show selectivity in the way areas will be functionally connected. We postulate that this effect is mediated by the process of neural inhibition, by regulating global and local inhibitory activity. While recognizing that this effect can also result from other mechanisms, neural inhibition helps the understanding of how network metastability is affected after disrupting local and global neural balance. In combination with relevant theories of consciousness, we suggest that anticorrelations are a physiological prior that can work as a marker of preserved consciousness. We predict that if the brain is not in a state to host anticorrelations, then most likely the individual does not entertain subjective experience. We believe that this link between anticorrelations and the underlying physiology will help not only to comprehend how consciousness happens, but also conceptualize effective interventions for treating consciousness disorders in which anticorrelations seem particularly affected.
The fMRI resting paradigm can quantify brain function by surpassing communication and sophisticated setups, hence helping to infer consciousness in individuals who are unable to communicate with their environment. A particular consciousness-mediated rsfMRI configuration is that of functional anticorrelations, that is, the antagonistic relationship between a specific set of brain regions. We suggest that anticorrelations are a key physiological prior, without which consciousness cannot be supported, because the brain cannot segregate how regions get connected. We postulate that segregation is possible thanks to neural inhibition, by regulating global and local inhibitory activity. We believe that the link between anticorrelations and the underlying physiology can help not only to comprehend how consciousness happens, but also conceptualize effective interventions for treating its disorders.
Anticorrelations, Integration, Segregation, Consciousness, Neural inhibition, Functional connectivity
Individuals during sleep, anesthesia, and in disorders of consciousness are unable to communicate intentionally with the environment. Consequently, their mental state needs to be inferred by means of meaningful proxies. The fMRI resting paradigm has been a great asset to that matter, as it quantifies brain function by surpassing the need for communication of experience or behavioral output (Zhang et al., 2021). Overall, studies in such states of consciousness point to lesser functional connectivity (FC) between regions that are within the same "network," in that they show positive FC during wakefulness (Heine et al., 2012). The positive coupling between brain regions, especially those of the default mode network (DMN), was shown to enable fast and accurate performance during higher order cognitive tasks concerning, for example, executive function (Shine et al., 2016) or working memory (Cohen & D'Esposito, 2016). Such integrative profiles reduce dramatically in states of unconsciousness—yet within-network FC persists and does not entirely disappear (Boveroux et al., 2010; Di Perri et al., 2016). Therefore, DMN correlations might be more about shaping connectivity interactions rather than reflecting conscious mental activity (Boly et al., 2008).
A rather consciousness-sensitive connectivity profile is that of functional anticorrelations, that is, the negative FC that some regions show with the DMN. Depending on the state of consciousness anticorrelations reduce in intensity, like after sleep deprivation (De Havas et al., 2012; Yeo et al., 2015), in slow wave sleep and REM (Chow et al., 2013), hypnosis (Demertzi et al., 2011), and deep sedation (Luppi et al., 2019). Or they are undetectable, like in deep anesthesia (Boveroux et al., 2010), and unresponsive brain-damaged patients (Di Perri et al., 2016; Threlkeld et al., 2018). Importantly, anticorrelations' FC recovers during the immediate postanesthetic period (Nir et al., 2020) and after emergence from a disorder of consciousness (Di Perri et al., 2016; Threlkeld et al., 2018). Within the state of typical wakefulness, the presence of anticorrelations was shown to contributes to cognitive function (J. B. Keller et al., 2015; Vanhaudenhuyse et al., 2011), with greater intensity leading to better within-subject (e.g., Kucyi et al., 2017) and between-subject performance (e.g., Spreng et al., 2010). Also, anticorrelations seem to contribute to life span, starting weak in children, strengthening during adolescence, ending up fully anticorrelated in young adulthood (Chai et al., 2014), and getting selectively decreased during healthy aging (J. B. Keller et al., 2015). Considering that anticorrelations are implicated in cognition and consciousness, an emerging question is what this antagonistic configuration implies about the brain's physiology and conscious experience. To our knowledge, no such formulation has been suggested yet. To address this, we discuss conceptual and methodological debates around anticorrelations, and, by tackling their physiological underpinnings, we postulate a mechanistic link between micro- and macrocircuitry, which may explain the function of anticorrelations in the context of conscious experience.
Anticorrelations refer to brain regions showing negative FC in contrast to the positive FC within intrinsic networks, such as the DMN. The regions showing negative FC with the DMN concern primarily the intraparietal sulcus, the frontal eye fields, and the middle temporal + area (Fox et al., 2005). Historically, the areas showing anticorrelations were coined as "task-positive" in contrast to a "task-negative" DMN (Fox et al., 2005). This connotation was given to highlight, respectively, activations and deactivations exhibited by these systems during task performance, initially measured with positron emission tomography, and later confirmed by fMRI (Raichle & Mintun, 2006). It has been proposed, however, that the dichotomization between "task-positive" and "task-negative" might be misleading because it insinuates that the DMN is not engaged actively in cognitive processes (Spreng, 2012). As the DMN indeed collaborates with other task-related areas (Elton & Gao, 2015) and networks (Spreng, 2012) to promote cognitive performance and mental flexibility (Spreng et al., 2014), we will here preferentially utilize the term anticorrelations.
The discussion about anticorrelations very often goes hand in hand with the methodological debate about correcting or not for the brain's global signal (GS) during fMRI data preprocessing. The GS can be obtained by averaging the resting-state time courses over the entire brain (Desjardins et al., 2001). This whole-brain averaging implies the possibility that nonneuronal sources can contribute to the GS along with neural signal. As most functional connectivity studies are interested in identifying the neural counterparts of a task or a condition, this implies that GS needs to be accounted for. GS correction can happen via linear regression, subtraction, or normalization (T. T. Liu et al., 2017). Such a process, however, can lead to systematically shifting the distribution of correlation values in the negative direction (Anderson et al., 2011; Murphy et al., 2009) and, so, anticorrelations emerge. This implies that anticorrelations are a matter of mathematical treatment, spurious, and not neuronally meaningful. To date, however, there is support both for the nonneuronal and the neuronal significance of the GS. On the one hand, the GS is shown to reflect fMRI nuisance sources such as motion, scanner artifacts, respiration (Power et al., 2017), cardiac rate (Chang & Glover, 2010), and vascular activity (Colenbier et al., 2020; Zhu et al., 2015). On the other hand, GS is considered to have a neuronal counterpart (Schölvinck et al., 2010) that promotes behavior (Li et al., 2019), it was shown to correlate with spontaneous fluctuations in the local field potentials as measured with implanted electrodes in monkeys (Schölvinck et al., 2010), and it was associated with vigilance (Wen & Liu, 2016; Wong et al., 2013) and arousal (X. Liu et al., 2018) as measured with EEG in humans. Together, the debate about whether to employ GS correction as a preprocessing step or not remains unresolved, while the choice can be driven by the research question at hand (Murphy & Fox, 2017; Uddin, 2017).
Generally, we align with the view that the spontaneous anticorrelations are not mere artifacts and that they actually reflect neural activity. This is after considering that GS correction does not preferentially affect only systems exhibiting positive correlations but also those which show anticorrelations in the first place (Fox et al., 2009). Anticorrelations between the DMN and the executive attention system can also be found using independent component analysis (without GS correction), suggesting that the anticorrelations are not merely a mathematical issue. Also, anticorrelations are shown to increase after caffeine intake, pointing to their physiological dynamism (Wong et al., 2013). The anticorrelations between networks homologous to DMN and the dorsal attention network (DAN) are also observed in rodents, dogs, and nonhuman primates, confirming interspecies consistency (Belloy et al., 2018a; Gozzi & Schwarz, 2016; Hutchison & Everling, 2012; Szabó et al., 2019). Furthermore, the strength of anticorrelations is shown to be predictive of disease phenotype (Adhikari et al., 2021; Belloy et al., 2018b; Sripada et al., 2014) and is able to change by means of sensory stimulation, attention, and neuromodulation (Hinz et al., 2019; Peeters et al., 2020). Finally, the existence of spontaneous anticorrelated networks is evidenced in computational simulations in monkey and human brains (Deco et al., 2009), as well as in neurophysiological studies. By means of simultaneous scalp EEG and fMRI in humans, a temporal relationship has been found between increased alpha power and greater DMN-DAN anticorrelations (Chang et al., 2013), highlighting their cognitive relevance. More direct evidence comes from intracranial recordings of local field potentials (LFPs). In cats, simultaneous recordings of unit activity and LFPs showed that, when attentional demands increased, LFP power in task-on (DAN-homologue) regions augmented and task-off (DMN-homologue) regions decreased (Popa et al., 2009). Further human intracranial EEG evidence suggests that during wakeful rest, areas of these networks exhibited anticorrelated slow fluctuations of high gamma power (C. J. Keller et al., 2013), which was correlated with neuronal firing rates (Manning et al., 2009). Also, high gamma power evoked by tasks had opposing patterns in the DMN and antagonistic networks as measured by intracranial EEG (Ossandón et al., 2011; Ramot et al., 2012). Finally, intracranial EEG supports that spontaneous, transient increases in high gamma (a proxy for neuronal spiking) regularly arose within major nodes of the DMN versus DAN/salience networks and were time-locked to cognitive and physiological events (Daitch & Parvizi, 2018; Kucyi & Parvizi, 2020). Collectively, observational and interventional studies in humans and animals support that anticorrelations have a physiological and neuronal importance.
We postulate that anticorrelations may be emerging thanks to the process of neural inhibition. Neural inhibition is a pivotal mechanism for the brain to sustain balanced cortical activity (Isaacson & Scanziani, 2011). This is done by the orchestrated coordination between excitatory pyramidal spiking neurons occupying 70%–80% of the cortex and the remaining inhibitory nonpyramidal cells (DeFelipe & Fariñas, 1992), such that for every five excitatory synapses there is approximately one inhibitory (Beaulieu & Colonnier, 1985). Excitation and inhibition happen in a balanced way, leaving it unlikely to observe an increase in one without observing an increase in the other; otherwise, no cell would reach firing threshold (Scannell & Young, 1999). The recruitment of GABAergic inhibitory interneurons via the thalamus, corticocortical, or other excitation pathways has been shown to assist cognition and motor behavior (Swanson & Maffei, 2019). Also, it is via this synchronous activation of excitatory and inhibitory activity that anticorrelated cortical network activity emerges (Arthurs & Boniface, 2002; Logothetis, 2008).
Considering this mechanism in relation to anticorrelations, we do not claim that neural inhibition directly promotes anticorrelated patterns, that is, by having networks straightly inhibiting one another (of note, most interareal connections are glutamatergic/excitatory). Nor do we claim that neural inhibition always leads to anticorrelated profiles. Rather, we suggest that neural inhibition mediates the rise of the anticorrelations indirectly, by breaking the local neural balance which affects network metastability and which eventually permits anticorrelations to appear. More particularly, current computational whole-brain models assume that distant brain regions establish connections between their corresponding excitatory neural populations (Figure 1, E-E blue solid line connectivity). The resulting local increase of excitation produces an increase of inhibition through the local E-I loop (feedback inhibition). Apart from the interareal excitatory activity, one brain region (A) can also effectively inhibit the activity of a distal brain region (B), by A targeting B's inhibitory interneurons (Figure 1, E-I blue dashed line connectivity), which in turn, locally connect to the pyramidal cells (Figure 1, I-E red connector; i.e., feedforward inhibition; Isaacson & Scanziani, 2011). However, little attention has been paid to this indirect long-range inhibition in modeling studies and how specifically feedforward inhibition interacts with the local excitation-inhibition (E/I) ratio. Although previous theoretical work has separately examined the effect of regulating the E/I ratio through feedback inhibition or feedforward inhibition in whole-brain models (Deco et al., 2014), a model that takes both effects into account has not been studied yet. Local heterogenous feedback inhibition, in particular, signifies that the excitability of local population activity is achieved by variably determining each region's gain response function. Recent studies using heterogeneous and homogeneous whole-brain modeling have mechanistically shown that, besides increasing the level of fitting of the empirical data, an increase in ignition was observed (Deco et al., 2021). Based on this evidence, one could speculate that ignition is related to the presence of regional heterogeneity. Although the type of heterogeneity that is the most relevant for ignition remains open, one can nevertheless say that thanks to heterogeneity in general, ignition-like dynamics may happen (Deco et al., 2021), which are thought to support conscious experience (see next section).
Functional anticorrelations might emerge as a result of local and long-range inhibitory activity. Brain regions are modeled by interconnected populations of excitatory (E) and inhibitory (I) neurons. Long-range excitatory connections from brain region A to brain region B can target the excitatory population (E → E, solid blue) or the inhibitory population (E → I, dashed blue). The level of inhibition in region B depends i) on the local E-I loop (local feedback inhibition) and ii) on the excitatory inputs from region A to the inhibitory neurons in region B, which in turn connect locally to the excitatory cells (long-range feedforward inhibition, gray highlighted path). With this model, we postulate that neural inhibition assists the emergence of the anticorrelations not by direct internetwork, interareal inhibition (of note, most interareal connections around the brain are glutamatergic). Rather, anticorrelations appear indirectly after disrupting both local and global balance between excitation and inhibition, eventually affecting network metastability.
Critically, it has been shown that, when feedback projections and randomization of the connectivity weights were removed, dynamic network behavior was abolished, suggesting that feedback connectivity and heterogeneity in connection strength gives rise to ignition-like activity (Joglekar et al., 2018). We here hypothesize that the generation of the anticorrelations can be a matter of both inhibitory effects (local feedback inhibition, long-range feedforward inhibition), which will eventually affect network metastability, allowing the emergence of the anticorrelations. To date, the behavior of this model remains to be theoretically studied and empirically supported.
On our quest to tackle the meaning of the anticorrelations to consciousness we lean toward theoretical frameworks in order to see how they embrace the mechanism of inhibition. We notice that especially the global neuronal workspace theory (GNWT; Dehaene et al., 2003) and the integrated information theory (IIT; Oizumi et al., 2014) are two such theories that utilize inhibition when accounting for consciousness in their models.
The GNWT describes how reportable experience happens. The theory proposes a model with various local processors that are all linked at a central executive. Its model suggests to view the local processors as specialized modular cortical areas that process specific perceptual, motor, memory, and evaluative information. The central executive (composed of widely distributed excitatory neurons) can be considered as a second computational space, which forms reciprocal connections to specific processor neurons. Based on this architecture, at any moment, a piece of information within one or several processors can be selected, amplified, and broadcasted to all other processors, thus rendering it consciously accessible and available for reporting. This global broadcasting happens thanks to ignition (Dehaene et al., 2003; Mashour et al., 2020). Ignition is characterized by the sudden, coherent, and exclusive activation of a subset of workspace neurons that codes the current conscious content, while the remainder of the workspace neurons remain inhibited. Regardless of how ignition may be triggered, simulations show that if feedforward connections are carefully balanced by local inhibitory influences, incoming stimuli elicit a stable cascade of activity characterized by a late and sudden ignition. In other words, ignition of a global neural state coding for particular conscious content leads to the active inhibition of other potential contents (as we also showed before; Vanhaudenhuyse et al., 2011).
The IIT begins the quest of consciousness by experience itself. The theory first identifies the experience's essential properties (axioms) and then infers what kind of properties a physical system must have in order to account for these properties (postulates). The postulates specify which conditions (such as neurons and their connections) must be satisfied by physical mechanisms to account for the phenomenology of experience. To generate consciousness, a physical system must be able to discriminate among a large repertoire of states (information), and it must be doing so as a single system, therefore not decomposable into a collection of causally independent parts (integration). For integrated information to be high, a system must be connected in such a way that information is generated by causal interactions among its parts, rather than within them. In balanced states, the corticothalamic system is a fine example of a functionally integrated and specialized network, able to generate high values of integrated information peaks that are characterized by a complex spatiotemporal pattern of signal propagations in different directions (feedforward, feedback, contralateral) and with variant weights, including inhibitory. In unbalanced states, like those of low arousal, the cortical neurons are inactivated due to the neuronal bistability of their membrane potential or active inhibition, and thus cannot specify a conceptual structure. In that case, the system then collapses, leading to low values of integrated information, and hence diminished conscious experience.
If we try to link the inhibitory mechanisms described in these models with functional anticorrelations, we can observe that these promote the notion of functional segregation. In that respect, anticorrelations can be considered as an FC segregated profile, which mediates various states of consciousness. In the past, Fox et al. (2005) similarly suggested that "while correlations may serve as an integrative role in combining neuronal activity subserving similar goals or representations, anticorrelations may serve as a differentiating role segregating neuronal processes, subserving opposite goals or competing representations" (Fox et al., 2005, p. 9677). This view on segregation refers to the ability of a system to distinguish information into distinct modules that can perform specialized local computations (Shannon, 1948). This definition may slightly deviate from how graph theory considers segregation, that is, close to the notion of modularity and as a measure of the relative strength between a graph's nodes (Sporns, 2013). In that respect, inhibition as described in the GNWT can be viewed as the segregative processes that hinder widespread FC, leading to negative functional correlations. Similarly, differentiation as described in the IIT can be similarly considered as parallel to the processes of segregation, also expressed as anticorrelated FC.
Taken together, our view is that anticorrelations are the physiological expression of segregation, and we propose that neural inhibition is the mediating link. Our stance, of course, does not prevent other measures from being linked to unconsciousness. Indeed, low values in sample entropy (which quantifies how unpredictable a signal is; Luppi et al., 2019) or "small-worldeness" (which allows for a cost-efficient network organization; Uehara et al., 2014) are also affected in reduced consciousness. We also remain mindful of the fact that anticorrelations can still result by fMRI preprocessing steps, as described above, or from changes in the hemodynamics in some regions or even from time delays that produce phase lags. The DAN, for instance, was found to precede DMN deactivation by up to hundreds of milliseconds (Kucyi et al., 2020; Raccah et al., 2018). One possible explanation for that is that the anticorrelations are driven by sequences of spontaneous neuronal population events across the DMN and antagonistic systems that involve interregional temporal delays (Kucyi et al., 2020). The observed zero-lag anticorrelations could therefore be due to "blurring" of such delays, meaning anticorrelations could be the result of transient events that are comprised of spontaneous activations that are systematically coupled to subsequent DMN deactivations, as observed in transient coactivation patterns at rest (Karahanoğlu & Van De Ville, 2015; X. Liu & Duyn, 2013). However, this hypothesis requires further investigation. These issues keep our hypothesis about anticorrelations being a metric of consciousness in check and call for experimental and mechanistic explanations.
Collectively, we consider that FC anticorrelations are an essential ingredient for conscious mental activity and might work as another marker of preserved consciousness. We, therefore, predict that if the brain is not in a state to host the physiological prior of inhibitory activity, then most likely the individual does not entertain subjective experience. This stance opens new avenues for the understating and treatment of clinical cases of consciousness alternations by targeting anticorrelations specifically as the outcome measure, like it has been shown using neurofeedback (Bauer et al., 2020) or meditation (Bauer et al., 2019) for psychiatric disorders. We think that the introduction of yet another metric is justified by the difference this metric makes and the pragmatic issues it addresses (Demertzi et al., 2017). Hence, we align with the view that, when searching for consciousness, accumulative evidence stemming from multiple nonoverlapping assessments with different modalities needs to be applied (Seth et al., 2008)—ideally, those that receive theoretical framing in order to account for the mechanistic explanations of the metric at hand. What this view of the anticorrelations essentially offers is a link between the level of neuronal microcircuitry and the computational level, which starts gaining support when attempting to describe how consciousness happens (Changeux, 2017).
We suggest that the FC anticorrelations emerge thanks to local and global neural inhibitory activity, which leads to variant spatiotemporal configurations. Such rich network organization was previously shown to characterize typical conscious conditions, while simpler interregional connectivity was most frequently seen in anesthetized states and states of low reportability (Barttfeld et al., 2014; Demertzi et al., 2019; Huang et al., 2020). We eventually invite researchers to view anticorrelations as the physiological expression of segregation via neural inhibition, which can help us not only comprehend how consciousness happens, but also conceptualize and design effective interventions for treating consciousness disorders in which anticorrelations seem particularly affected.
We would like to thank Mr. Fort Larry, M.A., for proofreading the manuscript for grammar and syntax.
Athena Demertzi: Conceptualization; Investigation; Project administration; Resources; Writing – original draft; Writing – review & editing. Aaron Kucyi: Investigation; Resources; Validation. Adrián Ponce-Alvarez: Methodology; Validation; Visualization; Writing – review & editing. Georgios A. Keliris: Investigation; Methodology; Resources; Validation. Susan Whitfield-Gabrieli: Resources; Supervision; Validation. Gustavo Deco: Methodology; Resources; Supervision; Validation; Visualization.
Athena Demertzi, Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique - FNRS (https://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002661).
Functional anticorrelations:
Negative functional connectivity that certain brain regions show with regard to the positive connectivity of other regions as observed in zero-lag correlations of BOLD activity.
Global signal:
BOLD signal time course averaged across all brain voxels.
Neural inhibition:
A physiological mechanism that helps sustain balanced cortical activity by orchestrating the coordination between excitatory pyramidal neurons and inhibitory nonpyramidal cells.
Network metastability:
The ability of network transitioning among variant functional states over time.
Gain response function:
A model parameter that can be set to different values across brain regions that impose various levels of excitability.
The ability of a given brain area to propagate feed-forward and recurrent neuronal activity to other regions.
Neuronal bistability:
The tendency of cortical neurons to fall into a silent period (down state) after an initial activation.
Segregation:
The brain's capacity to show selectivity in the way brain areas are functionally connected.
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There is so much to learn about the controversial life of Phoolan Devi.
Is having a squeaky clean past a requirement for potential world leaders? Perhaps in the past it was preferable to keep all your skeletons in your closet. However, in our current panorama it's highly unlikely. Hardship can help them evolve into a stronger and more confident person that can fight for the rights of others and their own. It can even make them empathetic to the plight of marginalized communities because they've have also been on the other side. This was certainly the case with Phoolan Devi, an Indian woman who found that the only way to be free was to become as a bandit until and later on was elected as a member of her country's parliament.
On August 10, 1963, Phoolan was born in a small village in Uttar Pradesh (northeast of India), a very unfortunate place for a woman. In this small village, girls were treated as prostitutes, and sadly, Devi was no exception to the rule. Destined to live the same fate as other low-caste children, there was not much hope for her future. When Phoolan was just eleven years old, she was forced to marry a thirty-something man, who constantly raped her. Phoolan somehow managed to run away from this hideous situation, just to end up in an even darker place. A gang of upper-caste criminals who abducted, raped and tortured her. These traumatizing experiences became reasons for her to take a stand, even if it meant getting her hands really dirty.
Once again, Phoolan was able to escape from her abusers and joined other gangs, from which she later became a leader. As a very skillful delinquent, Devi managed to return to her offenders' lair and kill 22 of them. This gory revenge turned into the biggest bloodbath by a hooligan in India's history, and eventually caught the Prime Minister's (Indira Gandhi) attention. Suddenly, both upper and lower castes began to fear Devi, to the point that she was even described as an incarnation of the warrior goddess Durga. The Indian federal government didn't know what to do with her, especially because she was seen as a symbol of resistance from the lower castes, so they negotiated some of Devi's demands in exchange of her surrender. Her requests included returning her father's land, providing a job for her sister, and freeing her fellow gang members from the death penalty by giving them 8 years in prison instead.
Certainly, Phoolan's luck didn't last forever. In 1983, she was accused of almost 50 criminal offenses like murder, arson, and kidnapping for ransom, leading to her receive an eleven-year sentence. In 1994, she was released on parole after intercession by a low caste preacher, Vishambhar Prasad Nishad. The government of Uttar Pradesh also withdrew all cases against her. One year later after Devi started to rebuild her life outside prison, she took a different turn on her beliefs and embraced Buddhism, but this wasn't the only significant change in her life.
In 1996, she also stood for election to the eleventh Lok Sabha (Lower house of India's bicameral Parliament) in Uttar Pradesh. She won the election and served as a Member of the Parliament from 1996 to 1998 and reelected in 1999. Sadly, this didn't last long. Phoolan Devi was assassinated just outside her home in 2001. Rumor has it that some of the gangs that she fought back in her youth were still looking for revenge and managed to find her years later.
Phoolan Devi had a life worth sharing. She was able to go through thick and thin for her own sake and managed to go further than she ever imagined. However, she remains as a controversial hero and role model in her country because of her past actions, which included murder, even if it was for revenge. No matter the approach to her life, Devi is an example of resilience and potential to achieve great things, even in the most detrimental conditions.


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Q: ODS PDF with sgplot: How to make one TOC bookmark per page (with two graphs per page) I am creating PDFs using ODS with two graphs per page. Both graphs have the same value for a type variable, 'month' below. I want to create a TOC bookmark for each page, which refers to the value of the highest-level variable ('year' below). There could be any number of values for 'year', but only two 'month' values per year. I don't want multiple levels of bookmarks, just one per page.
I looked at ODS document, but I don't know if it is possible to use that for this purpose if I have an indefinite number of graphs.
Here is what I have now:
data new;
do year = 1 to 5;
    do month = 1 to 2;
        do day = 1 to 10;
            emp = year*month*day;
            output;
        end;
    end;
end;
run;

ods pdf file='K:\brent\test_graphs_pages.pdf' startpage=never;
    proc sgplot data=new;
    by year month;
    series x = day y = emp;
    run;
ods pdf close;

It is giving me three levels of bookmarks, and two bookmarks per page. How can I get just one per page? Also, why does the bookmark for year 2 link to the page with year 1 on it?
Thanks

A: This definitely sounds like a PROC DOCUMENT problem.  You may need to use the macro language to generate the code, as some of this I don't think is fully automatable inside proc document (primarily the setlabel piece), but the broad strokes would be:

*

*ods document to generate the document

*proc document then to move with where the month=1 and month=2 entries to a single dir

*proc document with setlabel to use the #BYVAL(YEAR) to set the label correctly

*proc document replay to output the document.

This is the first part - you'd still want to customize the labels, and like I said you'd need to automate this with the macro language.
data new;
  do year = 1 to 5;
    do month = 1 to 2;
        do day = 1 to 10;
            emp = year*month*day;
            output;
        end;
    end;
  end;
run;

ods document name=TOCtest(write);
ods pdf file='h:\temp\test_graphs_pages_before.pdf' startpage=never;
    proc sgplot data=new;
    by year month;
    series x = day y = emp;
    run;
ods pdf close;
ods document close;

ods listing;
proc document name=TOCtest;
list / levels=all; run;
make \Year1;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup1#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year1#1;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup2#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year1#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup1#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup2#1;

make \Year2;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup3#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year2#1;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup4#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year2#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup3#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup4#1;

make \Year3;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup5#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year3#1;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup6#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year3#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup5#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup6#1;

make \Year4;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup7#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year4#1;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup8#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year4#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup7#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup8#1;

make \Year5;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup9#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year5#1;
move \SGPlot#1\ByGroup10#1\SGPlot#1  to \Year5#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup9#1;
delete \SGPlot#1\ByGroup10#1;
run;
list /details levels=all; run;

ods pdf file="h:\temp\test_graph_pages_after.pdf" startpage=never;
replay ^
run;
ods pdf close;

This still exhibits the "one off" issue you noticed before.  That seems to be unavoidable with the startpage=never - I'm not sure about a workaround there, that might be worth contacting support@sas.com as it might be a bug.  They had a similar bug in 9.4m1/m2 that was fixed, but is not identical.

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SYDNEY, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- With thousands of passengers trying to get home for Christmas, weather disruptions and a system outage, Australia's Sydney airport was under increased pressure and saw extended queues "out the door."
Heavy storms battered the city on Thursday leading to a number of flights being cancelled and passengers redirected to fly the next day.
Extra passengers, as well as the temporary malfunction of a passport processing system, meant long delays as services at the airport came under pressure.
Virgin Airlines Australia posted on their social media account that "it's incredibly busy at the airport -- we're doing our best to get everyone on their way as quickly as possible after last night's storm."
Passengers told the Herald that "lines were snaking outside the terminal" and that "everyone is looking a bit bored and irritated."
"It was the best and worst of humanity," one passenger said. "I saw people in tears, there were people pushing in and a very understaffed desk."
Given the time of the year, and the interruption of the storm, airport officials said delays were to be expected.
They are urging passengers to check with their airlines as to the ongoing status of their flights.


text:
What To Do If A Copyright Troll Sends You A Demand Letter
Has a copyright troll, more broadly referred to as an intellectual property troll, targeted you with a demand indicating that you will be sued if you refuse to pay up a sum of money? Has the copyright troll presented you with a link to some sophisticated software that will easily take your credit card number and offer a very limited release from liability for your former use of the content, which you immediately removed from your website as soon as you received the demand letter threatening copyright infringement?
If this sounds all too familiar, then feel free to contact us about your particular issue. We keep all communications confidential, pride ourselves on quick and active responses, and do not charge for initial consultations.
Copyright trolls seem to gain by the number every day, disseminating their demand letters far and wide and, occasionally, following through on their threat to initiate litigation if the letters are ignored.
Typically, these copyright trolls will seek to take advantage of the unrepresented individual and salivate when they see that they are armed with a valid copyright registration, entitling them to a minimum statutory award of $750 unless a valid defense such as fair use or de minimis use can be proven.
But courts across the country are beginning to recognize the tactics of these copyright trolls and are helping fight against their mission to enforce copyrights not to protect expression, but to extract payments through litigation. In fact, those precise words were recently used by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in a case that actually awarded relief to the defendants for having to defend against copyright trolls. In the case, the appellate court noted that the plaintiff had brought more than 100 copyright infringement lawsuits against defendants in recent years and that many defendants – "the targets of the settlement-extraction scheme" – were starting to push back.
The plaintiff held copyrights, but that was not enough to avoid scrutiny from the court for its trolling tactics. As stated by the appellate court, "Copyright law rewards original expression and innovation. It does not protect rent-seekers looking to score a quick settlement rather than compete." Setting aside the specific facts of that case, it was made abundantly clear that the court, and hopefully others across the country, are growing impatient with copyright troll plaintiffs and lawyers who are firing off as many demand letters as possible in a given day, hoping to extract as many quick settlements as possible.
In the appellate court case, the defendants were awarded their costs and fees in an amount of more than $518,000. The court highlighted that, in copyright infringement cases, there is a strong presumption that prevailing defendants may recover costs. It was held proper considering that plaintiffs should be discouraged from manipulating copyright laws to extract quick settlements.
A win for those who fight off copyright trolls. We love to see it.
Tags copyright, copyright law, copyright troll, demand letter
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Join us for breakfast as we discuss how you can use the current environment to the advantage of your business. You'll hear from Chase Commercial Banking's Head Economist, Jim Glassman, who will provide insight into the current economic environment and how it could affect your business in 2019.
**Qualifying Non-Member Senior Financial Executives: If you are the CFO or sit on the audit committee of an SEC-registered company, or are a Senior Financial Executive, you are eligible for FEI membership and may attend our programs.
As managing director and head economist for Commercial Banking, James Glassman provides market insights to help clients better understand the changing economy and its impact on their business. Mr. Glassman also works closely with the firm's Corporate Sector, including the Chief Investment Office and Investor Relations, as well as the Investment Bank and Government Relations groups, providing financial analysis and research.
A publisher of independent research on the principal forces shaping the economy and financial markets, Mr. Glassman is regularly cited in the financial media, where he is also a frequent commentator on economic policy issues. Additionally, he is a long-standing participant in the widely followed Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia Survey of Professional Forecasters and the National Association of Business Economists' panel of macroeconomic forecasters.


text:
Taking the MCAT to the Next Level
October 21, 2014 March 6, 2016 Zev Hurwitz
In light of pending changes to the MCAT, scheduled to begin in 2015, students who plan to apply to medical school next year must decide between the current, shorter exam and the new seven-hour test.
The new changes to the now seven hour long MCAT 2015 exam have lasting consequences for premeds planning to take the exam in 2015. Illustration by Rocio Plascencia.
The four-letter word that has haunted pre-medical students for ages is about to get even more frightening. All students with ambitions to enroll in medical school must sit for the Association of American Medical Colleges' Medical College Admission Test exam. AAMC recently announced an overhaul to the exam, adding nearly 100 questions and doubling the test length, expanding the testing materials to include three new disciplines and instilling more stress and panic in prospective medical students.
Until now, the exam had 144 questions covering general chemistry, biology, physics and organic chemistry. The new test, dubbed "MCAT 2015," won't begin until April of next year but will have 230 questions and will cover the current exam's material as well as biochemistry, psychology and sociology.
"The MCAT's change is aligned with a broad change in medical education," Eric Chiu, executive director of pre-medical programs at Kaplan Test Prep, said. "Medical schools are looking to bring in well-rounded, successful students and not just strong science students."
AAMC's current MCAT, which lasts roughly three-and-a-half hours, will continue to be offered until January 2015. The new exam, which will take over seven hours, including a 30-minute lunch break, leaves students hoping to apply to medical school next summer with a conundrum: Which test is best?
Chiu explained how in a recent Kaplan-administered survey of 78 medical schools, 44 percent say they have no preference for which test students take. Twenty-eight percent of medical schools surveyed said they recommended current juniors take the current exam, and 27 percent advised that students hold out for MCAT 2015.
All surveyed schools said they will still give equal weight to both exams and will assess applicants' scores against other takers of the same exam — forcing students to return to the same dilemma of which exam to take.
"There's no bias favoring a particular test," Bill Wingard, UCSD's lead advisor for professional and graduate school advising at the Career Services Center, said. "It's really a decision that's up to the individual."
UCSD School of Medicine Director of Admissions Brian Zeglen said that the campus' admissions policy would not change at all in response to the MCAT changes.
"Our policy is, and will always be, to accept MCAT scores within the previous three years," Zeglen said. "We have no preference to the new exam versus the old one."
Zeglen added that UCSD School of Medicine would evaluate applicant performance on the exam based on percentiles provided by AAMC and not by which exam a student sat for.
Chiu said Kaplan Test Prep recommends students who can still qualify to take the current exam should do so — only if they are ready to sit for the exam.
"Regardless of which exam students choose to take, it is most important that students are well-prepared for the exam they ultimately choose," Chiu said.
One factor that may impact a student's readiness for the test, or tests, is the amount of coursework completed before the test date. Introductory exposure to all of the current MCAT testing materials can be covered in eight semesters of chemistry, biology and physics. The new test will require an additional three semester courses in the new behavioral sciences categories for students to prepare to take the exam.
Wingard told the UCSD Guardian that 632 students applied to medical school in the last application cycle but that even more will sit for the MCAT exam this year; some students take the test for other purposes, and some will ultimately not apply to medical school.
To help students learn the specialized new materials, UCSD's sociology department will begin offering a new course, SOCI 70, which will cover introductory sociology materials on the new MCAT exam. The course is slated to be offered beginning in Winter Quarter 2015.
"We see this [class] as an opportunity to cover the basic sociological concepts that will be important to med-school-bound students in their future career paths, while at the same time giving them the information needed to help them on the MCAT," Sociology Department Undergraduate Advisor Shannon Goodison said.
The lecture will have 120 seats available in its inaugural year — far short of the total number of UCSD students slated to take the MCAT this year.
"We won't be ready to offer this class to 600 students just yet," Goodison said, adding that the class will be offered yearly in Winter Quarter.
Wingard said the Career Services Center will begin advising students to take SOCI 70 before sitting for the new MCAT.
"We're adding this course to our guidebook for pre-med students, but it won't be a requirement for any medical school," Wingard said.
Wingard added that while the psychology department won't be adding any new courses to help students prepare for the relevant sections on the new MCAT, he still recommends that all pre-med students take an introductory psychology course, such as PSYC 1 or PSYC 2.
Kaplan Test Prep, which has a facility on UCSD's campus in Price Center, will begin offering newly designed preparatory courses this fall that specifically aim to improve students' understanding of the behavioral sciences sections of the new MCAT exam.
As for the new biochemistry exam materials, Wingard suggests students take two courses in structural and metabolic biochemistry. Many medical schools, such as UC Irvine School of Medicine, already have biochemistry courses as prerequisites for admission.
"Students who study for the behavioral science materials for the new exam might be more prepared for medical ethics courses in medical school," Wingard said. "But for admissions, it really won't make any difference."
kaplan test prep mcatb 2015 premed ucsd school of medicine
Tritons Prepare for Season with Exhibition
Landing the Job


Lake Baikal is an ancient, massive lake in the mountainous Russian region of Siberia, north of the Mongolian border. It is considered the deepest lake in the world.
Russian photographer, Kristina Makeeva, spent three days at and on Baikal lake and shot these amazing photos.


You are here: Home / Blog / Remember, Remember the 5th of November!
The date of the 4th / 5th November 1944 is indeed remembered here at the Allied Air Forces Memorial, as it was the night of a heavy RAF Bomber Command raid on the German steel producing city of Bochum, which were of high importance to the Nazi war machine.
On this night, Bomber Command launched a raid of 749 aircraft from Nos. 1, 4,6 and 8 Groups, comprising of 384 Halifax bombers, 336 Lancaster's and 29 Mosquito fighter / bombers upon the city. RAF Elvington, part of 4 Group, put up 25 aircraft from the two French Squadrons of 346 Guyenne and 347 Tunisie. For Guyenne, Squadron, the night was to be particularly horrific, as, bringing up the final wave of the attack in the early hours of 5th November, their 16 Halifax bombers were the most vulnerable to attack by enemy fighters. Consequently, they lost 5 aircraft, each with seven aircrew aboard, amounting to 35 men, no, friends, on this fateful night.
It was the longest of nights for base Commander Puget, as he paced the floor of Elvington's Control Tower, which still exists today, until it was clear that these aircraft were not coming home. It was the worst night of losses that the French were to endure during their service with Bomber Command.
The Allied Air Forces Memorial & Yorkshire Air Museum will be represented at the annual Mass commemorating this fateful mission, which takes place at the cathedral of Les Invalides, the Military Museum in the heart of Paris on 4th November. Ian Reed, Museum Director, has made the journey to join members of Groupes Lourds, the French veterans association for the ceremony.
The memory of this raid is one of the factors that makes the annual Remembrance Sunday Service at the French Memorial, Elvington, so important and poignant, and draws a significant contingent from France every year, to join the hundreds of villagers, Yorkshire Air Museum Members and military personnel who gather to pay their respects to the fallen of all nations.
The Service takes place at 11:00am on Sunday 8th November, at the French Memorial, York Road, Elvington.


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Understanding is not something just happens. Clarity is not something that is magically arrived at. It is a process. I hate it when people, and particularly leaders, act as if there is a straight line to clarity.
Figuring anything out is not always a clear path. There are mistakes to be made. Depending on how we react to it, there is failure that muddles our feet on the journey.
The commitment to figuring is necessary for every leader's success. More than, leaders must love mess. No innovation ever takes place in perfect order.
Stuff has to be blown up. People's comfort gets messed up. Shattering the status quo is messy. Sometimes clarity is about reducing. It is about editing things, getting rid of the unnecessary or the clutter. That too is messy. There has to be unrest before tranquility.
This applies to both life and leadership.
Art is beauty created in a mess. It doesn't matter what you work on, if it is going to be beautiful it must come from a mess. No machine works beautifully without someone's hands getting dirty from time to time.
Epiphany is not as mystical and magical as people sometimes make it. It is a messy journey to clarity, beauty, to changing world. To changing the world.
Doing things that matter is not going to be perfect. Without imperfections there would be no appreciation of beauty. This is true both in what you ship and the processes of shipping whatever you do.
Leaders must give room to those they lead to be messy. To break stuff. To let chaos rule to some extent. Trying to restrict and control every aspect of every transition and innovation, is asking for more trouble than you can handle. It is also a stifling of innovation.
This also means that when you're solving problems you must face this fact: you might not get it right on the first attempt. You're not likely to be perfect out the gate.
This shouldn't stop you from pushing the boundaries of the status quo. It should not stop you from leading. It must not stop you from doing things that matter to change the world. Embrace the messy nature of doing things that matter. Be bold. Be /ˈherətik/.
wow!! powerful! nothing great can be build without a mess.