text:
'Art Attack SF' Prepares New Castro Gallery For April Debut
Photos: Alisa Scerrato/Hoodline
Fri. March 24, 2017, 1:36pm
by Alisa Scerrato
@editcatsf
Castro, Duboce Triangle
Art Attack SF will officially open to the public during the first weekend of April, starting on Saturday April 1st, from 11am-7pm.
Last July, we reported that this would be Art Attack's second location; however, in September, its Fisherman's Wharf location unexpectedly closed after four years of business in that neighborhood. They've been since running the gallery online while renovating the Castro space at 2358 Market St. Gallery Manager Alycia Piazza said that operating the business online during the interim was a bit of an adjustment, but that they took advantage of the time to redesign the site, optimize user experience and add some new artists and artwork.
The Market Street layout is about double the size of the former gallery in Fisherman's Wharf. Piazza says that the nice high ceiling "makes for a big blank canvas, perfect for me to fill with colorful artwork."
Artwork by Elliott C. Nathan (black and white).
The space, 1600 square feet, contains works from local Bay Area artists—some live in Berkeley in Oakland, while others live in the neighborhood, such as Elliott C. Nathan.
It will feature five new artists as well as new works from previous artists at their former gallery space.
Artwork by Jeremy Novy on right (spraypaint on wood).
"We have a group of about 20 artists on view," she said. "Keep an eye out for Seren Moran, Jeremy Novy, and Matthew Robertson—just to name a few." Piazza said the new location will feature some larger oil/acrylic paintings, and more ceramics.
Artwork by Seren Moran.
As far as the new Castro location, Piazza and owner James Capadona say the word "excited" doesn't even begin to describe their feeling about finally opening in the neighborhood. he said:
"The Castro is internationally recognized for its incredible community, freedom of expression, and vibrant culture. It's hard to put into words just what it means for Art Attack SF to become a part of that by offering a creative space and celebrating the Arts. Since we've been working on Market Street, the local community has been so welcoming; we get lots of visitors stopping by asking about the space and we cannot wait to finally share it with them."
Piazza and Capodana working on setting up the new gallery space.
While they are still working out their hours of operation, Piazza said that they'll be open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11am-7pm, in addition to events and workshops, for which they'll adjust their hours accordingly.
Visit ArtattackSF.com and follow them on Facebook and Instagram for updates and event announcements as the gallery gets going in its new space.


text:
package consulo.unity3d.shaderlab.lang.psi;

import com.intellij.codeInsight.lookup.LookupElement;
import com.intellij.codeInsight.lookup.LookupElementBuilder;
import com.intellij.icons.AllIcons;
import com.intellij.lang.ASTNode;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.TextRange;
import com.intellij.openapi.util.text.StringUtil;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiElement;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiFile;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiQualifiedReferenceElement;
import com.intellij.psi.PsiReference;
import com.intellij.psi.search.GlobalSearchScope;
import com.intellij.psi.tree.TokenSet;
import com.intellij.util.Consumer;
import com.intellij.util.IncorrectOperationException;
import com.intellij.util.SmartList;
import com.intellij.util.containers.ContainerUtil;
import consulo.annotation.access.RequiredReadAction;
import consulo.annotation.access.RequiredWriteAction;
import consulo.csharp.lang.psi.impl.msil.CSharpTransform;
import consulo.dotnet.psi.DotNetTypeDeclaration;
import consulo.dotnet.resolve.DotNetPsiSearcher;
import consulo.ui.image.Image;
import consulo.unity3d.shaderlab.ide.refactoring.ShaderRefactorUtil;
import consulo.unity3d.shaderlab.lang.ShaderMaterialAttribute;
import consulo.unity3d.shaderlab.lang.parser.roles.ShaderLabRole;
import consulo.unity3d.shaderlab.lang.parser.roles.ShaderLabRoles;
import consulo.unity3d.shaderlab.lang.psi.light.LightShaderDef;
import consulo.unity3d.shaderlab.lang.psi.stub.index.ShaderDefIndex;

import javax.annotation.Nonnull;
import javax.annotation.Nullable;
import java.util.Collection;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Objects;

/**
 * @author VISTALL
 * @since 08.05.2015
 */
public class ShaderReference extends ShaderLabElement implements PsiQualifiedReferenceElement
{
	public static enum ResolveKind
	{
		ATTRIBUTE,
		ANOTHER_SHADER,
		SHADER_GUI,
		PROPERTY,
	}

	private static final TokenSet ourTokens = TokenSet.create(ShaderLabTokens.IDENTIFIER, ShaderLabTokens.STRING_LITERAL);

	public ShaderReference(@Nonnull ASTNode node)
	{
		super(node);
	}

	@Nonnull
	public ResolveKind kind()
	{
		PsiElement parent = getParent();
		if(parent instanceof ShaderPropertyAttribute)
		{
			return ResolveKind.ATTRIBUTE;
		}
		else if(parent instanceof ShaderSetTexture)
		{
			return ResolveKind.PROPERTY;
		}
		else if(parent instanceof ShaderSimpleValue)
		{
			ShaderLabRole role = ((ShaderSimpleValue) parent).getRole();
			if(role == ShaderLabRoles.CustomEditor)
			{
				return ResolveKind.SHADER_GUI;
			}

			if(role == ShaderLabRoles.Fallback || role == ShaderLabRoles.UsePass)
			{
				return ResolveKind.ANOTHER_SHADER;
			}
		}
		return ResolveKind.PROPERTY;
	}

	@Override
	public PsiReference getReference()
	{
		return this;
	}

	@RequiredReadAction
	@Override
	public PsiElement getElement()
	{
		return this;
	}

	@Nonnull
	@RequiredReadAction
	public PsiElement getReferenceElement()
	{
		return findNotNullChildByType(ourTokens);
	}

	@Nonnull
	@RequiredReadAction
	@Override
	public TextRange getRangeInElement()
	{
		PsiElement referenceElement = getReferenceElement();
		return new TextRange(0, referenceElement.getTextLength());
	}

	@Nullable
	@Override
	@RequiredReadAction
	public PsiElement resolve()
	{
		GlobalSearchScope scope = GlobalSearchScope.allScope(getProject());
		ResolveKind kind = kind();
		String referenceName = getReferenceName();
		switch(kind)
		{
			case ATTRIBUTE:
				try
				{
					ShaderMaterialAttribute attribute = ShaderMaterialAttribute.valueOf(referenceName);
					DotNetTypeDeclaration type = DotNetPsiSearcher.getInstance(getProject()).findType(attribute.getType(), scope, CSharpTransform.INSTANCE);
					if(type != null)
					{
						return type;
					}
				}
				catch(IllegalArgumentException ignored)
				{
					//
				}
				break;
			case SHADER_GUI:
				DotNetTypeDeclaration type = DotNetPsiSearcher.getInstance(getProject()).findType(StringUtil.unquoteString(referenceName), scope, CSharpTransform.INSTANCE);
				if(type != null)
				{
					return type;
				}
				break;
			case ANOTHER_SHADER:
				ShaderDef shaderDef = LightShaderDef.getDefaultShaders(getProject()).get(referenceName);
				if(shaderDef != null)
				{
					return shaderDef;
				}
				Collection<ShaderDef> shaderDefs = ShaderDefIndex.getInstance().get(referenceName, getProject(), scope);
				return ContainerUtil.getFirstItem(shaderDefs);
			case PROPERTY:
				PsiFile containingFile = getContainingFile();
				if(!(containingFile instanceof ShaderLabFile))
				{
					return null;
				}
				for(ShaderProperty shaderProperty : ((ShaderLabFile) containingFile).getProperties())
				{
					if(Objects.equals(referenceName, shaderProperty.getName()))
					{
						return shaderProperty;
					}
				}
				break;
		}
		return null;
	}

	@RequiredReadAction
	@Nonnull
	@Override
	public String getCanonicalText()
	{
		return getText();
	}

	@RequiredWriteAction
	@Override
	public PsiElement handleElementRename(String newElementName) throws IncorrectOperationException
	{
		ShaderRefactorUtil.replaceIdentifier(getReferenceElement(), newElementName);
		return this;
	}

	@RequiredWriteAction
	@Override
	public PsiElement bindToElement(@Nonnull PsiElement element) throws IncorrectOperationException
	{
		return null;
	}

	@Override
	@RequiredReadAction
	public boolean isReferenceTo(PsiElement element)
	{
		return element.isEquivalentTo(resolve());
	}

	@RequiredReadAction
	@Nonnull
	@Override
	public Object[] getVariants()
	{
		ResolveKind kind = kind();
		final List<LookupElement> values = new SmartList<>();
		switch(kind)
		{
			case ATTRIBUTE:
				for(ShaderMaterialAttribute attribute : ShaderMaterialAttribute.values())
				{
					LookupElementBuilder builder = LookupElementBuilder.create(attribute.name());
					builder = builder.withIcon((Image) AllIcons.Nodes.Class);
					builder = builder.withTypeText(attribute.getType(), true);
					values.add(builder);
				}
				break;
			case PROPERTY:
				PsiFile containingFile = getContainingFile();
				if(containingFile instanceof ShaderLabFile)
				{
					consumeProperties((ShaderLabFile) containingFile, values::add);
				}
				break;
		}
		return values.toArray();
	}

	@RequiredReadAction
	public static void consumeProperties(@Nonnull ShaderLabFile file, @Nonnull Consumer<LookupElement> consumer)
	{
		for(ShaderProperty shaderProperty : file.getProperties())
		{
			String name = shaderProperty.getName();
			if(name == null)
			{
				continue;
			}
			LookupElementBuilder builder = LookupElementBuilder.create(name);
			builder = builder.withIcon((Image) AllIcons.Nodes.Property);
			ShaderPropertyType type = shaderProperty.getType();
			if(type != null)
			{
				builder = builder.withTypeText(type.getTargetText(), true);
			}
			consumer.consume(builder);
		}
	}

	@RequiredReadAction
	@Override
	public boolean isSoft()
	{
		return false;
	}

	@Override
	public void accept(SharpLabElementVisitor visitor)
	{
		visitor.visitReference(this);
	}

	@Nullable
	@Override
	public PsiElement getQualifier()
	{
		return findChildByClass(ShaderReference.class);
	}

	@Nullable
	@Override
	@RequiredReadAction
	public String getReferenceName()
	{
		PsiElement referenceElement = getReferenceElement();
		return referenceElement.getText();
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Our unique fruitcake cookies are perfect portions of our famous Texas Manor recipe. All the nuts, fruit, flavor, and tradition in each tasty morsel. They are also convenient and great for sharing. Just set them on your buffet and watch them disappear! 18 fruitcake cookies are included in this order.


text:
Hudson Reporter Archive
Our Digital Archive from 2000 – 2016
Posted on August 1, 2006 by Hudson Reporter
The lost cause Secaucus residents remember attempt to secede from Hudson County
The South tried to leave the North. Staten Island tried to leave New York City. Quebec tried to leave Canada. Secaucus tried to leave Hudson County.
Lost in the mists of time, Secaucus' serious late 60's secession attempt has been largely forgotten. However, the reasons for the secession attempt still resonate with local residents. In many ways, Secaucus still feels itself to be a town apart from Hudson County.
Separate identity confirmed by Bergen links
There are many ways in which an outside observer could confuse Secaucus with its more suburban western neighbor, Bergen County, rather than with densely urbanized Hudson County. Secaucus' streets are tree-lined, not skylined. Most people live in houses, not apartment buildings or two-family homes. Cars are parked in personal garages, not parking garages.
This suburban sensibility creeps into practical reality. Secaucus' scholastic sports teams, cable television channel system, and public library are all linked to Bergen County, not Hudson.
Paul Amico, Secaucus' mayor from 1964 to 1992, remembers the issues that led the town to try to make appearances reality.
"When you looked at the budget back in the mid-1960's, a very large portion went to the county," he said. "The budget situation was very tough. We weren't getting any new ratables right away, so homeowners would have to pick up the tab. We had to hunt around to see what we could do for the town."
One of the first things that the Amico administration tried to do for the town was file a lawsuit so that Secaucus would not have to pay funds to Hudson County to support the Margaret Hague Maternity Hospital in Jersey City.
"The county had no right to use county funds to supplement the hospital," Amico said. "We won a victory on that matter. It became no longer an allowable thing."
Encouraged by this success, Amico began to look across the Hackensack River.
"The makeup of Secaucus is very much unlike most of Hudson County," he said. "It's much more like Bergen County. We did some analysis about what taxes were like in other counties, and Bergen County had the lowest. Bergen County would have accepted us back in 1969. They liked the fact that we were predominantly independents at that time, and Bergen County was Republican. We had a non-binding resolution that approved secession by 90 percent. But looking back on the situation, it didn't take much for us to realize that it was never going to happen."
Bergen dream derailed
Amico detailed some of the reasons why Secaucus' secession attempt fizzled out.
"There were a lot of complications involved," he said. "We have a lot of county institutions along County Avenue. There were sewer lines and services to be split up. But if we decided that we were going to Bergen County, Jersey City, North Bergen or Kearny would have wanted to go there too, all for economic reasons. That's not going to happen. Nobody in the state Assembly was going to pick up the ball."
Florence Rainone, 77, was born and raised in Secaucus. She remembers Secaucus' famous pig and vegetable farms, as well as the demise of the farms following the construction of the New Jersey Turnpike in the late 1940's.
An influx of Hoboken natives into Secaucus in the 1960's led to further changes, including an infusion of Italian-Americans into what had been a primarily German and Polish town. For Rainone, development and demographic shifts aren't what led her to sit on a town secession committee after being appointed by Mayor Amico.
"It was Hudson County government that really got us going," she said. "We knew we were starting to have higher ratables, so therefore we were going to pay through the nose for everything. We got no break at all. In Secaucus, we felt that we had to get out of this county. Hudson County was the most corrupt county, and it still is. Our contributions to the Meadowlands Commission also played into it. We were getting no benefits, and Bergen County was right next door. Parts of Bergen County, like Carlstadt, Lodi, Lyndhurst, and North Arlington, are not even as nice as Secaucus."
Rainone was clear in her feelings as to why Secaucus was ultimately unable to walk out the door on Hudson County.
"The Democrats had enough votes in the Assembly to stop it, and the Hudson County Democrats had an awful lot of clout back then and even now. They deliver more votes."
Could it happen again?
One prominent Hudson County Democrat spoke about the chances of Secaucus ever trying to secede again in the future.
"In 2006, there is no reason for Secaucus to leave Hudson County," said Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell. "If you were to look at Secaucus' standing in the county with regard to ratables, our county tax rate has actually been going down. Also, rumors of secession have never led to results anywhere in the state of New Jersey. Communities from Essex County, Camden County, and even Bergen County would love to secede and go to a county with fewer problems, but this will never happen. More importantly, towns need to work with county government and attempt to control expenses and find ways to finance better services. Quite frankly, I'm not so sure that Secaucus would have a tax benefit by being in Bergen County anymore. Right now, taxes are lower in Secaucus than they are in Bergen County. I don't know what the advantage would be. After all, we can't pick up Secaucus and carry it across the river. I don't think that secession is a practical solution to problems."
However, former Mayor Amico wasn't so sure.
"Anything is possible," he said. "There is still a hold-over of anti-county feeling in Secaucus."
Florence Rainone agrees. Her role in the Secaucus secession movement led to her becoming interested and involved in local politics. She served for 12 years on the Secaucus school board and ran for town council. She seemed ready to jump into the fray once again.
"You might be able to get secession passed faster than getting rid of double-office holding in this state," she said. "I'm afraid that they're going to try to merge our fire department into the North Hudson Fire Department. I can't see that. We're too far away. I don't want anything to do with Hudson County, and I think that most people would feel that way. I'd like to see us try to secede again. We're either going to wind up like Hoboken, or going downhill. It could go either way. In the meantime, we don't want to share expenses with you. Leave us alone."
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
88 Problems But Dez Bryant Ain't 1
Jerry Bo
The 2018 NFL offseason has brought us plenty to chatter about with teams implicating their tactics to reinforce their rosters. In the Professional Sports universe, like many things in life, productivity is something we are measured by. If a person can't produce at an expected level at their job, are employers lining up to give promotions and raises?
Although we as fans feel like we grow closer to players on our respective teams, truth be these players aren't guaranteed always to be wearing the colors of the franchises we pull for. This week, we learned this more to be true as we saw a Dallas star and a fan favorite, leave the gates in his Black Bentley for the final time, but this certainly won't be the last time the 8th year pro will see "Jerry World"
Dez Bryant leaving The Star pic.twitter.com/gdBVlsv7n2
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) April 13, 2018
In the Dallas Cowboy record books, you can find Bryant at the top of the list in receiving touchdowns with 73. The former Oklahoma State wide receiver surpassed Bob " Bullet" Hayes 71 touchdowns, on a 4th quarter fade route from Dak Prescott helping the pass catcher cement his name atop the Dallas records. While the touchdown reception was celebrated by Bryant and teammates, it was much anticipated as No. 88 had tied Hayes record back on October 22nd, and it was five games later he finally broke it. A five-game stretch where Bryant failed to record a touchdown reception, was somewhat vindicated with the catch, but inconsistency was starting to become something fans in Big D were growing accustomed to.
A 113 game sample size, saw the prolific receiver accumulate 7,459 yards on 531 receptions. The "Prime" in his career can be categorized between the 2012-2014 seasons, where he had +1200 yards and double-digit touchdowns consecutively in those three years. In that time span, the young Bryant was healthy and didn't miss any games, in his early years he only missed five games in his first five seasons. After the three breakout years, Bryant was in line to sign a 5-year $70 million extension giving him optimism he would remain in Dallas for years to come. At the time, Bryant wanted to be the highest paid receiver in the NFL, but the contract designated him second behind Calvin Johnson who was making $16.2 million a year to Bryant's $14 million.
The last three years of his Cowboy tenure saw him deal with multiple injuries that kept him out of a combined 10 games, twice as much of his previous five seasons. A decline in all receiving categories, accompanied by what many say a lack of concentration, has the talented Bryant, looking at his success as a top receiver in the rearview.
What Now For Dez?
If I didn't have my edge I got it now… I'm sorry they got to feel me it's personal… it's very personal
— Dez Bryant (@DezBryant) April 13, 2018
Dez walked out saying I'll see guys twice this year, I'm told. So that's that.
— Mickey Spagnola (@Spags52) April 13, 2018
The Cowboy's former pass catcher has voiced his thoughts publicly after being handed the pink slip Friday.
Here are a few teams, that make sense as a landing spot for Bryant.
Out of the candidates in the NFC East, the Redskins have the most salary cap with $17.1 million available. The question is how much of a gamble would owner Dan Snyder take on a regressing career plagued by injuries as of late. Adding Bryant would add to the current receiving corp of Josh Doctson, Jamison Crowder, and newly acquired Paul Richardson.
While the sound of it is sexy, I'm not to sure this would be the best move for a franchise in need of "locker room" guy. Adding him as a No. 2 to compliment ODB, would be lethal, as Brandon Marshall failed to meet the expectations from when he was signed.
Dangerous, with a unit led by Alshon Jeffery and that lost Torrey Smith and tight end Trey Burton. But the truth is the Eagles have the least cap space available in the league, and to make this work, they would have to move some pieces around. Why would Philidelphia take a risk on such a gamble, knowing what they had last year worked? Changing the roster around for Bryant isn't ideal for a complete team.
Outside of the division, you get a few better options
With Jacksonville losing both of is top targets this offseason, they will be looking for someone to fill the void of Allen Robinson and Allen Hurns. The duo accounted for 144 receptions in 2015 and 108 in 2016. Last year Robinson went down in the first game, paving the way for Marquis Lee and Keelan Cole to lead the receiving corps with a combined 98 receptions. There will be plenty of action in Jacksonville for Dez to get in on, tacked on to the swagger the Jaguars carry, this might be a perfect fit. At least Blake Bortles hopes for.
All aboard the Jimmy Garoppolo hype train and San Francisco's golden boy will need some weapons to accommodate that $137.5 million contract. A receiving group led by breakout Marquise Goodwin and his 56/962/2 campaign, the Niners could surely use some help. While Garoppolo had much success in his little time, something he was lacking was the ability to finish drives, and much has to do with his pass catchers abilities. Goodwin, a speedster almost put up a 1,000-yard season, but only got into the end zone twice, one coming on an 83-yard catch and run. The leading pass catcher on the team in touchdowns was backup Tight end Garrett Celek, who reeled in only four scores. Pierre Garcon is there also and acts as the physical receiver, but Bryant can certainly boost the offense, giving the team some attitude and experience.
With quarterback Joe Flacco coming into his 11th year, the addition could revive the career of the descending veteran. Coming off one of his worst years in touchdowns and yards, the Ravens added Michael Crabtree in the offseason. Crabtree is coming off his second worse season in yards but still managed to score eight touchdowns.
Adding a physical receiver to the roster that isn't afraid to catch balls over the middle, would extend the role of Crabtree on the outside on deep balls, and work in progress Breshad Perriman could learn a ton from an experienced veteran like Bryant. The Ravens have made it no secret over the years that a reliable wideout is what they are seeking to complement Flacco. In the past six drafts, the Ravens have selected seven wide receivers, and in 2017, only two were still on the roster. The organization knows what it wants, but they have had bad luck of late with the position.
It will be interesting where Bryant ultimately lands, but one thing is for sure, a grit and fight type of attitude he will always bring with him.
Sports Writer for The Sports Gambling podcast| Host of Moneyline on ESPN 97.5 Houston/Houston SportsMap. An enthusiast of all things gambling. A sports degenerate: Man of the people: a DREAMER... "Follow me, I'll show you the way."
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Bill Burr Talking Rough N' Rowdy 3 (Ep. 561)
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When working out whether a worker is an employee or contractor, one factor to consider is whether the agreement or contract gives the worker the right to pay another person to do the work instead of them.
The agreement or contract your business has with the worker can be in writing or verbal.
the worker can't do the work themselves and they organise for another person to do it, but your business pays the other person – this is substitution, not delegation.
A commercial cleaning business has a contract to clean a number of small offices. The business has several cleaners who do the cleaning work, including Ann and Ben.
Ann can't do her shift and organises Ben to cover her. The business pays Ben for his extra cleaning shift.
As Ann only organised for Ben to complete her shift and did not pay him, she has not subcontracted/delegated the work.
A worker can subcontract/delegate the work if they are contractually not required to do the work personally and can pay another person to do the work.
A remedial massage therapist, Con, has a contract with an aged care facility to provide massage therapy to residents.
any suitably qualified massage therapist who has a current police clearance and the appropriate insurance can do the work.
Con pays the other therapist for their work.
As Con was contractually not required to do the work personally and could pay another person to do the work, he has subcontracted/delegated the work.
When working out whether a worker is an employee or contractor for tax and super purposes, one of the factors to consider is whether the agreement or contract gives the worker the right to pay another person to do the work instead of them.


The Application Coordinator works as part of the Radio Application team to deliver second line technical support to internal customers and users. The person will be dealing with hundreds of tickets a month relating to the Bauer Radio Sales applications. The candidate must be able to troubleshoot application issues, learn new skills quickly and possess a calm and professional telephone manner.
The post reports to the Sales Systems Development Manager. The role is currently based in Manchester. Training and coaching will be provided.
Reporting directly to the Charity Manager, you will be working in the lively and stimulating atmosphere of some of the most popular commercial radio stations in Northern Ireland.
Gold Key Media is currently recruiting for a Sales Support Coordinator to support existing teams and functional areas with a variety of administrative duties. Based in our Office in Oxford Circus, this opportunity is offered as a full time permanent position.
Opportunities to join a growing success story don't come along every day. However, this could be your chance to lead one of Northern Ireland's most prominent children's charities during its 10th year celebrations, as the new Charity Manager.
Classical + scheduling + music passion = a unique opportunity at Scala Radio!
The UK's most exciting new radio station, Scala Radio, is looking for a music scheduler to join the Scala team.
If you have BOTH first class music scheduling skills AND a genuine and deep passion for classical music then please read on!
Currently we are recruiting for Media Sales Executives to work across our specialist magazines and websites based within our Head Office in Peterborough. These markets could include – Angling, Automotive, Leisure, Lifestyle, Motorcycling, etc.
We are looking for an enthusiastic Marketing Executive to join our London Lifestyle Brand Marketing team, working across the following magazines – Closer, Bella, Simply You, Food to Love, that's life! and Take a Break, the UK's biggest-selling women's magazine.
Fleet News, the multi award-winning business title for fleet and mobility, is looking for a talented deputy editor to cover maternity leave for approximately nine months.
Campaign Managers are the people that make things happen digitally, if a campaign performs and delivers well it is down to the Campaign Mangers, conversely if the campaign fails to work or things go wrong it is down to the Campaign Manager. Their main goal is to ensure that the risk to revenue is eradicated or as low as possible. This role will be working with the National sales teams across display and audio advertising.
Want more information on The Academy?


Choices is a group for any individual, age 18+. The class is designed to break patterns and habits of abusive relationships. Participants will learn the dynamics of power and control, anger, conflict resolution and more to take personal responsibility for positive change, and to create happier and healthier relationships for themselves and their children.
Free to attend. Childcare is available at no charge.


could someone write a guide already, please?!
(Deep breath now.) Dress code.
It's a phrase that sounds deceptively like it's going to make your life easier. Going to an event of some sort and aren't sure what to wear? We'll give you a dress code and voilà – done!
Talk about a cosmic joke on women.
This would be a clear example of a time when men have it so freaking easy I could scream. I'm trying to find a generous way to look at this – they have to deal with hairy armpits, or it must bite to go through your teenage years sporting spontaneous boners – but I can't seem to find anything to balance out this inequity between the sexes when it comes to clothes.
Truly, getting dressed is pretty much a no-brainer for men.
Totally casual – They can get away with shorts or jeans, t-shirts (everything from graphic to "nice"), or collared shirts (if they feel like punching it up a little).
Casual – This steps things up to nice shorts or khakis with a nice shirt (those collared golf shirts still qualify here).
Business casual – Still straightforward. Wearing dress slacks and a dress shirt (no tie necessary) will get a guy by for this one.
Business dressy – Coat and tie. Bam.
And that's basically it. Four categories that pretty much cover all the bases. Let's just say that BrightSide almost never struggles with knowing what to wear.
The really ironic thing is that even knowing what BS is wearing doesn't actually help me. Because women get screwed when it comes to dress codes.
Totally casual – A state of dress that pretty much only occurs inside your home. The few times I've run out for something while "totally casual" I end up running into one of those women (you know the ones) who always look put together from head to toe. And that's enough to send you home to eat ice cream from the carton.
Casual – This can mean so many things it makes my head spin. If you're kicking around the house then it's dealer's choice (which only gets dicey when those Jehovah's Witnesses come calling); everything else is a big fat question mark. Casual can mean a nice shorts and shirt outfit, capris, a skirt and top, or a casual dress. And figuring out the shoes? Forget about it. Once you actually manage to choose what clothes you're wearing you still have to decide between cute tennis shoes, flats, or dressing things up with wedges.
Business casual – The word "casual" is rather deceptive here since there's nothing casual about business dress for women. It's the no-man's-land of a woman's dress code. Sometimes dress slacks and a nice blouse falls in this range, though you do have to choose your shoes carefully. A skirt will work, but it has to lean more toward dressy or you end up with a home-on-the-prairie vibe. And dresses…good grief. It's a fine line between summertime casual dresses, business-like dresses, or too-fancy-for-this-category dresses.
Business dressy – If business casual blows my mind, then business dressy just plain old pisses me off. You mean men get away with a simple coat and tie but I'm still faced with guessing which clothes might be a good fit for my event?! Dress slacks, silk blouse, nice jewelry, and heels? That might work. Or maybe we're talking a church dress kind of dressy. A cocktail dress with heels (stockings? or bare legs?). Or maybe you're looking at more of an evening cocktail dress, fancier and perhaps a bit flashier. You're not even home free once you choose slacks or a dress! There are still a dozen more decisions to make.
But men? Coat and tie. For the love.
So I've been thinking it would be really nice if someone could write a guide. Not a generic guide like Miss Manners, but a truly helpful set of suggestions for real people that would take some of the guesswork out of a girl's life when she's getting dressed. I don't want to spend an hour stressing over what to wear to an event, and I sure don't want to get there to find I've guessed completely wrong and face a half hour getting past my insecurities about it.
Anyone out there willing to take this one on?
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Totally Casual: Black yoga pants or leggings, clean white cotton shirt with sleeves rolled up, flip flops or Chucks.
Casual: White capris or jeans with a simple black knit long sleeve top (or gondola style striped top), black ballet flats or sandals.
Business casual: Black or white capris, Chanel-style jacket, or blazer, or silk top, scarf, black ballet flats or sandals.
Business dressy: Little black dress, pearls, black ballet flats or classic pumps.


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Luzonoparmena habei is een keversoort uit de familie van de boktorren (Cerambycidae). De wetenschappelijke naam van de soort werd voor het eerst geldig gepubliceerd in 1979 door M. Satô & N. Ohbayashi.

Boktorren

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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BMW Sales Went up by 4.2 Percent in April Thanks to SAV Popularity
Home » News » BMW Sales Went up by 4.2 Percent in April Thanks to SAV Popularity
May 1, 2018 / 2 minutes read
If anyone is still pondering whether BMW is right launching yet another crossover in this already crowded segment in 2018, the sales figures for the past month should provide a bit more insight into why the Germans went down this road. The April figures have just been published and the BMW Group apparently reported a 4.2 percent sales increase in April, most of it thanks to the increased popularity of its SAV line-up.
In case you don't speak fluent Bavarian, that's the acronym for Sports Activity Vehicle, or BMW's way of saying SUV. To be more precise, compared to the same month of 2017, BMW sold 28.9 percent more SAVs while on a year-to-date basis, the numbers have gone up by 6.3 percent already. Overall, the BMW Group sold a total of 27,213 vehicles in April, compared with 26,105 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago.
"The evidence of spring is all around us but for a car company there's no better sign than sales momentum as both BMW and MINI enter May with solid increases over a year ago," said Bernhard Kuhnt, president and CEO, BMW of North America. "The BMW X models, especially X1, X3 and X5, continue to lead the way with our Sports Activity Vehicles accounting for 51% of April sales." Understandably so, BMW is also expecting a further boost as soon as more and more owners start taking delivery of their brand new BMW X2 models.
Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 3.8 percent in April 2018 for a total of 23,482 compared to 22,624 vehicles sold in April 2017. Year-to-date, the BMW brand is up 3.2 percent on sales of 97,317 vehicles compared to 94,306 sold in the first four months of 2017. MINI vehicles showed even further growth, MINI USA reporting 3,731 vehicles sold, an increase of 7.2 percent from the 3,481 sold in the same month a year ago. The MINI Countryman continued its strong performance this month, rising 44 percent compared to April 2017 and contributing to a 73.6 percent year-to-date increase over Countryman sales in the first four months of 2017.
able 1: New Vehicle Sales BMW of North America, LLC, April 2018
BMW brand
BMW passenger cars
BMW light trucks
MINI brand
TOTAL Group
In April, BMW Certified Pre-Owned sold 10,507 vehicles, a decrease of 17.6 percent from April 2017.
Total BMW Pre-Owned sold 20,269 vehicles, a decrease of 1.6 percent from April 2017.
MINI Pre-Owned Vehicles
MINI Certified Pre-Owned sold 1,065 vehicles in April, an increase of 0.9 percent from April 2017.
Total MINI Pre-Owned sold 2,492 vehicles in April, a decrease of 15.2 percent from April 2017.
BMW USA
More from MINI
2 responses to "BMW Sales Went up by 4.2 Percent in April Thanks to SAV Popularity"
I finally got to see the X2 first time at my local BMW dealer, I really liked it. Though I had an X1 as a loaner, which reminded me why I like electrics so much.
David Komendanchik says:
First month that X3 sales have been greater in 2018 vs 2017.


Lincolnshire Co-op announced on Monday, July 10 that a consultation has begun with staff on the possible closures of the centres on Whisby Road and Pioneer Way from September.
The two Lincoln distribution centres supply ambient goods such as tins, packets and bottles to Lincolnshire Co-op's 83 food stores.
Mark Finn, chief retail officer for Lincolnshire, said: "The difficult decision to close our food distribution centres is not one we have embarked on lightly.
"However, we're confident that this is the right decision for the society because it will lead to significant savings, which we can invest elsewhere.
She added: "Following the announcement of the consultation I have arranged a meeting with Ursula Lidbetter, CEO of the Co-op Group, to discuss this move. I have also spoken to USDAW representatives to ensure that proper consultation and processes are in place.
A total of 111 distribution and office staff are at risk of redundancy, although Mr Finn stressed that the society aims to "redeploy as many of the staff as the company is able to.
Ed Leach, a spokesman for union Usdaw, said: "Staff at the distribution centres are shocked by the company's announcement and we are meeting with management to hear the rationale for their proposals and engage in meaningful consultation about the planned closures.


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John Fogerty Travels 'The Long Road Home' John Fogerty — once lead singer of Credence Clearwater Revival and now a solo artist — has buried the hatchet with his record label. The result is a new greatest hits CD called The Long Road Home.
John Fogerty Travels 'The Long Road Home'
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5055071/5055569" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
< John Fogerty Travels 'The Long Road Home'
December 16, 200512:00 AM ET
In the '60s, John Fogerty was the lead singer and creative force behind Creedence Clearwater Revival.
(Soundbite of "Up Around The Bend")
CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL: (Singing) Come on the risin' wind, we're goin' up around the bend. Ooh.
MONTAGNE: Fogerty also had a successful solo career, but he lost the rights to his music in a contract dispute that lasted 35 years, a suit not settled until 2004. Now John Fogerty has done something he's never been able to do before, release an album of his greatest hits. Music journalist Ashley Kahn spoke with the songwriter about his new CD "The Long Road Home" and what it means to be reunited with his music.
(Soundbite of "Born On The Bayou")
ASHLEY KAHN reporting:
In 1968, Richard Nixon was running for president, The Beatles were going strong, and psychedelia in music, in fashion and in substances was the flavor of the day.
KAHN: Against this backdrop, Creedence Clearwater Revival arrived.
KAHN: At first, they fit into the sound of the day, lots of reverb and trippy guitar solos. But soon their songs developed a no-frills rock 'n' roll edge.
Mr. JOHN FOGERTY: (Singing) When I was just a little boy, standing to my daddy's knee, my papa said, `Son, don't let the man get you and do what he done to me.'
KAHN: John Fogerty is one of the four founding members of Creedence, as the band became known to its fans.
Mr. FOGERTY: There were many parts of the so-called underground scene that I found too laid-back, you know, to say it in a diplomatic way.
KAHN: Fogerty was also the group's songwriter and lead singer, drawing inspiration from soul, country and a lot of Southern blues, and turning his band into a commercial juggernaut. Between 1968 and '71, Creedence notched five top-10 albums and 10 top-40 songs, outselling even The Beatles in 1970.
Mr. FOGERTY: I had dreamed my whole life about a career in music, and when the door finally opened, I went running through. I can remember thinking in terms of, `Well, The Beatles are number one. That's cool. It doesn't mean that number two will be all that bad.'
(Soundbite of "Proud Mary")
Mr. FOGERTY: (Singing) Big wheel, keep on turnin'. Proud Mary, keep on burnin'. Rollin', rollin', rollin' on the river.
KAHN: In 1971, Creedence came to a crashing halt. Friction between the band's members was only part of the story, as lawsuits with the group's record company soon revealed.
Mr. FOGERTY: Creedence Clearwater Revival was on top of the world, and so was Fantasy Records, but the Creedence music that was, let's say, paying all their bills was really treated like it was some sort of trash liner or something, you know.
KAHN: Fogerty found himself struggling to deal with the contract he had signed when he was only 18. To properly explain all the legal points would require--in fact, did require--a legion of lawyers.
(Soundbite of "Who'll Stop The Rain")
KAHN: For Fogerty, one of the stickiest issues was who controlled his songs and how they could be used.
Mr. FOGERTY: Folks will remember "Forrest Gump" and that was a great movie, but they don't remember all the really poor movies that Fantasy Records stuck Creedence music into: car commercials, tire commercials. I'm remembering a paint thinner ad at one point, the song "Who'll Stop The Rain." Oh, boy. That's clever, isn't it?
Mr. FOGERTY: (Singing) And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain?
KAHN: Another notorious lawsuit involved Fogerty's comeback solo album in 1985.
Mr. FOGERTY: It is weird. Without belaboring all of it, I'll just say I got sued for sounding like myself.
(Soundbite of "The Old Man Down The Road")
Mr. FOGERTY: The old record company, Fantasy Records, sued me for having a new song called "The Old Man Down The Road," which they contended sounded like an old song which Fantasy owned, and that old song was called "Run Through The Jungle."
Mr. FOGERTY: (Singing) You got to hidey-hidey-hide. The old man is down the road.
(Soundbite of "Run Through The Jungle")
Mr. FOGERTY: (Singing) Better run through the jungle. Better run through the jungle. Whoa, don't look back and see.
KAHN: For more than three decades, hardly a year went by when Fogerty and Fantasy were not locked in some legal tussle. Fantasy Records declined to comment for this story, but just last year the label was sold, and the clouds parted.
Mr. FOGERTY: What has turned out now, with Fantasy being under new ownership, is something quite wonderful, quite delightful even.
KAHN: Fantasy Records is now owned by the Concord Music Group. That's a fact that has made possible for the first time a collection of Creedence songs that includes many of Fogerty's hits as a solo artist.
(Soundbite of "Center Field")
Mr. FOGERTY: (Singing) Put me in, Coach. I'm ready to play today. Look at me. Gotta be center field. Yeah.
Now I'm actually connected, in a way that I have not been in 35 years or so, to my own songs and my own recordings. It's the greatest feeling you can imagine.
(Soundbite of "Lookin' Out My Back Door")
Mr. FOGERTY: (Singing) Just got home from Illinois...
KAHN: Lawsuits in the music business are as common as love songs, but what made the Creedence struggle so different was that it refused to end, even while their music continued to influence generations of musicians who were adding to the legacy of Americana and rock music.
Mr. FOGERTY: (Singing) Imagination sets in. Pretty soon I'm singing, doo, doo, doo, lookin' out my back door.
MONTAGNE: Ashley Kahn is a regular contributor to MORNING EDITION and author of the book "Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece." John Fogerty's new CD, "The Long Road Home," has just been released.
This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP (Host): And I'm Steve Inskeep.


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NGOs seek inclusion of PWDs in development
By Moyosore Salami, Ibadan
08 December 2022 | 3:06 am
A coalition of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) has urged Nigerians to help strengthen fundamental rights and contribute to development of all Persons Living With Disabilities (PLWDs) in the country.
The NGOs, at a media briefing to celebrate International Day for Persons with Disabilities in Ibadan organised by Star Children Development Initiative, in partnership with the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), said governments and all stakeholders need to carry along individuals with disabilities because they have special needs that require to be addressed in the country.
Chief Executive Officer of the Initiative, Grace Alexander, urged media to contribute to an effective change of persons with disabilities in all aspects of societal life and create awareness to fight stereotypes-related to persons with disabilities in a manner consistent with a respect for human rights.
Similarly, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Ibadan (UI), in his address, said media should play important role in presenting disability issues that will promote rights and dignity of PWDs to build a peaceful and inclusive society for all.
Also, Chairman of the NUJ, Adedamola Babalola, who was represented by his deputy, Oluseye Ojo, said the union would continue to support persons with disabilities, urging the government to put the right person in place for inclusive development.
Grace Alexander
Persons Living with Disabilities
PWDs
Tompolo's outfit averts protest by aggrieved youths
Members of Tantita Security Service, owned by former militant leader, Government Ekpemupolo (aka Tompolo), on Tuesday, averted a protest by some youths in Bayelsa State over non-inclusion
Nigeria's hunger level 'serious,' ranks 103 out of 121 countries
Every minute, more than six Nigerians enter the extreme poverty bracket as the number of poor persons in the country race towards the 95.1 million projected this year by the World Bank
Foundation to train persons with disabilities for next year's elections
The Albino Foundation and National Commission for Persons with Disabilities (NCPWD) have concluded plans to train over 6,000 members to participate in political and electoral processes ahead
Tinubu, Atiku absent as Obi, others unveil agenda for women
Presidential candidates have responded, in part, to the coalition of women groups, which demanded on Monday, that contestants running for next year's election should lay out their plans for women
'Why we trained 30 physically-challenged women in skills'
Disability Initiatives has said its programme in which it trained women and girls with hearing and speech impairment in Rivers State is aimed at creating employment opportunities for Persons With Disabilities (PWDs).
Coalition seeks disability-friendly airports, amenities
Coalition of Disability Organisations (CODO), in partnership with Centre for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD), Hope Alive for Possibilities Initiative (HAPI) and Spinal Cord Injury Association...


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Weekly Brief: Oct. 31st – Nov. 6th
Daniel Corks
choi soon-silcrackdowndemonstrationKorea weekly newsmigrant workersmigrantsnewsPark Geun-hyeprotestscandalSewolSouth Korea newsThaiweekly brief
No end in sight for Choi Soon-sil scandal
The Choi Soon-sil gate continues to grip South Koreans and the world abroad alike. Choi Soon-sil is president Park Geun-hye's confidante, accused of abusing her position to intervene in politics and embezzle money from government projects. Last week, prosecutors detained Choi for questioning and charged her with abuse of authority and attempted fraud. More high ranking officials were summoned for questioning, bringing the scandal closer to the president herself.
A second demonstration in downtown Seoul on Saturday drew a large crowd (estimates range from 45,000 to even 300,000). A third rally is planned for this coming Saturday. Organizers are hoping for a turnout of 1 million people.
Meanwhile, the president's approval rating dropped to 5%, but she shows no intention of stepping down. She's reshuffled her cabinet, nominated a new Prime Minister and made another televised apology, all in apparent efforts to hold on to power. There's debate over whether a resignation or impeachment, this close to the presidential election in December 2017, would do much good. More importantly, the business of the running the country isn't happening as the political process is at a standstill.
Korea Exposé's own Se-Woong Koo likened the events to a historical drama, a popular genre of TV soap opera. Other outlets have gravitated towards the "news of the weird" angle. Whatever the case, enjoy the political theater while it lasts. It's not too often that you see the New York Times writing daily stories on South Korean politics, especially with the U.S. election now mere hours away.
Undocumented Thai workers face a tough life in S. Korea
Life in South Korea is hard for migrant laborers, recruited through official channels. Things get worse if you've overstayed your visa to find under-the-table work. An estimated 52,000 Thai citizens are in that position, drawn to South Korea by the higher wages available here. That means undocumented Thai workers are nearly double the 24,000 documented Thais, who hold jobs approved by the government.
As with undocumented migrants in much of the world, they face terrible working conditions and abusive employers. Combine this with the looming threat of deportation and you have cases of deaths from stress and heart failure.
Gov't seeks 2 year sentence for peaceful demonstration
After a protracted judicial proceeding, the prosecution is seeking a 2 year prison term for Yong Hye-in. Yong participated in a demonstration in October 2014, related to the Sewol sinking in April of that year. The other demonstrators received fines, but Yong alone is facing jail time.
Yong was active in organizing demonstrations and meetings with families of the Sewol victims, including the "Stay where you are" ("가만히 있으라") silent protest movement. The court will decide on her sentence on Dec. 12.
A man accused of sexually assaulting an Australian woman was convicted on Tuesday. Seoul police arrested the suspect only after the victim started a social media campaign, accusing the police of misconduct and failing to collect evidence.
Cigarette prices nearly doubled to 4,500 KRW in September 2014 to curb smoking, and smoking rates have dropped to 40% among men. But guess what? drinking and obesity are on the rise.
10.4%: The portion of South Korea's GDP spent on social welfare. Among the 35 OECD countries, South Korea ranks the second lowest, well below the OECD average of 21%.
The coast guard used hand-operated guns against Chinese fishing boats for the first time. Authorities approved use of these guns after a Chinese boat rammed and sunk a coast guard vessel.
Two international NGOs have issued statements condemning the government's short-lived plan to toughen abortion laws. The statements make a no-nonsense argument against criminalization of abortion. The government put the plan on hold following a large demonstration in Seoul against the plan.
And that was the news from last week. We value your feedback. Send any questions, comments, errors, or omissions to weeklybrief@8d2.359.myftpupload.com.
Weekly Brief is a collection of the must-read articles regarding human rights and social issues in South Korea, produced in collaboration with the Korea Human Rights Foundation (KHRF / 한국인권재단). The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of KHRF.
Daniel Corks is Korea Exposé's human rights editor and a research fellow at Korea Human Rights Foundation.


Honda has released a preview of its new Everus EV concept, which will be its first mass-produced electric car sold in China. The new EV being developed by Honda and GAC for the new Everus brand.
The Everus EV will go on sale by the end of the year in China. Honda has also announced that the new electric car will be utilized as a "shared EV" through the Reachstar car sharing service that's based in China.
Honda hasn't revealed any details about the Everus EV concept, but it's obvious that it is based on the Honda HR-V crossover. The Everus EV concept shares the HR-V's body, with the biggest change being a new face.


26 Hairstyles That Would Make Anyone Question Why?
Come show support to @KeshaRose on 2/26 - tickets are open to the public #freeKesha https://t.co/bIQUC3Ripx"
Rae Morris releases her debut album Ungarded today (26 January). To get through the Blackpool singer's defences, we put five telling questions to her.


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HomeNewsAudit finds improvements in major mine oversight, with some exceptions
Audit finds improvements in major mine oversight, with some exceptions
By Ryley McCormack
Tuesday, Jun. 21st, 2022
The provincial government is asking for input on the proposed changes to the Mines Act. (Tom Fisk, Pexels)
An audit of policies implemented by B.C.'s Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation revealed some areas of improvement in the industry's oversight and others that could use more work.
According to B.C. government officials, the report on the Oversight of Major Mines points out a series of structural and regulatory changes made within the industry.
This includes establishing a new investigations unit, processes to write mine permits with more enforceable language, and enhancing compliance and enforcement procedures.
"The ministry has made progress since our 2016 audit," said Auditor General Michael Pickup. "Overall, the ministry's improved oversight means it's better equipped to address risks associated with the mining sector while the provincial economy receives benefits from mining activity."
According to the report, the ministry has established a consistent approach to address serious incidents, and an internal audit process to look into the effectiveness of the ministry's mining regulatory framework.
The ministry also set up a reclamation security policy for major mines, with a plan to better ensure reclamation obligations can be met.
The report also noted that the Abandoned Mines Branch was established to mitigate the risks to public safety and address environmental risks at abandoned sites.
Provincial officials said some shortcomings in mine oversight were also outlined.
"The audit finds a few areas for further improvement," said Pickup. "For example, the ministry needs written procedures for geotechnical inspections, a consistent approach to reviewing reports from mine operators throughout the year, and a risk-based approach to address environmental concerns at abandoned mines."
The report also makes five recommendations that focus on developing and implementing compliance and enforcement policies, historic permits, reclamation liabilities and abandoned mines.
B.C. Government officials said the ministry has accepted all of the recommendations.


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Katherine Timpf Reporter and Commentator at Fox News @kctimpf on Jul 21, 2014 at 2:55 PM EDT
The new policy was implemented this spring.
Policy calls for "proportional participation of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups...including...in the distribution of grades."
A new policy at the University of Wisconsin - Madison states that good grades should be distributed equally among students of different races.
The policy, named the "Framework for Diversity and Inclusive Excellence," calls for "proportional participation of historically underrepresented racial-ethnic groups at all levels of an institution, including high status special programs, high-demand majors, and in the distribution of grades."
UW - Madison professor W. Lee Hansen wrote about his concerns with the policy in a piece published Wednesday.
"Professors, instead of just awarding the grade that each student earns, would apparently have to adjust them so that academically weaker, 'historically underrepresented racial/ethnic' students perform at the same level and receive the same grades as academically stronger students," he wrote.
Lee's piece also points out that being concerned with how many students of each race select a particular major could keep students from picking the major they want.
"Suppose there were [sic] a surge of interest in a high demand field such as computer science," he wrote. "Under the 'equity' policy, it seems that some of those who want to study this field would be told that they'll have to choose another major because computer science already has "enough" students from their 'difference' group."
Via National Review.
UPDATE: Professor Patrick Sims, Chief Diversity Officer and interim vice provost for Diversity and Climate at the University of Wisconsin - Madison released a statement Wednesday clarifying news reports of race-based redistribution of grades.
"The idea that UW-Madison will begin to base student grading or the make-up of programs or majors on race or ethnicity has circulated on the Internet," Sims wrote, "[n]othing could be further from the truth."
"This proportional and equitable distribution of grades arises (without intervention at the time of grading) by fostering living and learning spaces that are inclusive of historically marginalized students so that they can do their best learning and earn better grades; not through the "redistribution" of artificially-enhanced grades."
The concern, originally addressed by Professor Hansen, originates from the UW System Inclusive Excellence framework, a separate document, adopted by the Board of Regents in 2009.


Its Fall and its colder out. My parents make a really yummy chicken – vegetable soup that is perfect for this time of year. Inspired by them, I decided to make a deviation of their soup. Its very basic but definitely tasty and hits the spot. And you know what is the best part? You can modify it almost anyway you want (add veggies, spices, etc).
Put a large pot of water to boil. Once the water starts to boil add chicken and reduce to medium heat so that it simmers and doesn't boil over. Boil the chicken for approximately 20 minutes, then remove the chicken from the water and let cool. Once the chicken's temperature is handle-able pull the chicken apart (like shown below).
In a large pot (like the kind you would use to make a big pot of soup) add the Mirepoix, garlic and olive oil. When you are about half way through pulling apart the chicken turn on the stove to medium high and put the pot with the Mirepoix on it to sautee for about 10 minutes. When you are done pulling the chicken apart toss it in to the pot with the Mirepoix for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth and water and bring to a boil, then reduce the stove to a low heat so the soup simmers for about 30 minutes.
When you put the soup to boil, in a separate pan bring water to boil for the orzo. Cook the orzo as directed. When the orzo is ready, drain and toss in the pan you cooked it in with some olive oil. You will add the orzo into the soup at the end.
The reason why I don't cook the orzo in the soup is because I have found that its easy to over cook it that way and it will disintegrate and make the soup thicker.
With all the sickness going around right now, we definitely need this soup!!!
Gotta love a good chicken soup! Looks like a tasty version.
This past week I had a cold and was craving chicken soup. Saving this for later.
Chicken soup is so comforting and perfect for this time of year.
I agree Gina! Thank you so much for commenting! Hope you enjoy it!


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Dirigible Drones Will Watch the World From 13 Miles Up
Posted by Seb in categories: drones, engineering, surveillance
Allen McDuffee — Wired
With UAVs crowding navigable airspace and plans underway to put giant mega-satellites into orbit, it was just a matter of time before a drone-satellite hybrid was developed to fit between the two spaces. StratoBus, a new project out of France, is conceptualized to do just that. Designed to be about the length of a football field and 25 yards in diameter, the blimp-shaped vehicle's shell will be made of carbon fiber.
Without a launcher, StratoBus floats to the lower stratosphere at an altitude of about 13 miles where developers say it will be in a perfect position to carry out a range of functions, including surveillance, border security monitoring, communications reinforcement and facilitating navigation — all from a stationary position with the help of two self-adjusting electric motors. The StratoBus will be able to endure missions of up to a year with a total lifetime of five years.


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« 2011 December 2012 February »
The Complexity Budget: Removing Repetition
2012, January 28th 10:35 AM
This is part two of this increasingly enormous writeup on complexity. I recommend reading Part One before we get started.
The concept behind this megapost really started about two years ago, when I played a pair of games that made unexpected but excellent design choices. Later, I found a third. In each case, the game removed an uninteresting mechanic that had become a staple of the genre, and in doing so, unearthed some new interesting mechanics that had gone unnoticed.
Just to warn you: two of these games don't really succeed. That's what happens when you try experimental things. But they're all intriguing games, and they all open up areas of game design that I think are worth analysis.
First off: Gyromancer.
Gyromancer is, at its core, a big-budget version of Puzzle Quest. Puzzle Quest is, itself, Bejeweled with an RPG grafted on. In the case of Gyromancer it's Bejeweled Twist, with a pile of surprisingly pretty art and a plotline that's . . . well, it's a plotline. We'll just go with that.
Most of the complexity of Gyromancer (yeah, we're back to complexity, you saw that coming) is tied up in your abilities, your opponent's abilities, and the effect of gems on the board. All of these have to be dealt with rather carefully. Spells can morph the board rapidly and only somewhat predictably, your opponent does quite a lot of damage when he attacks, and many of your abilities interact in complex ways.
And on top of this, you have to play Bejeweled.
Bejeweled Twist, at that, which is a more complicated variant – instead of the relatively simple block-swapping mechanic, you have to rotate a square of four blocks. It's a little harder to understand the side effects of a move and a little tougher to come up with long-term plans. Now, I'm sure Bejeweled experts will have no trouble with the mechanic, but I am not a Bejeweled expert, and I had trouble with it. The game has a lot of mechanics piled on top of each other and it was almost too much to handle.
I say "almost" because the developers made one little concession to crummy players like me. See, your cursor lights up when it's held over a valid rotation. This means that you figure out incorrect moves before you click and screw up. This also means that if you can't find the valid move, you can just skim over the entire board watching for your cursor to light up in order to find it.
In other words, they took out some of the complexity of "find possible next moves", and they moved that complexity into "choose the right ability or move to make". Being a Bejeweled expert is no longer as necessary, and training your eyes to detect valid Bejeweled moves isn't as needed. Instead, you can devote that time to choosing the right move to make.
But imagine what would have happened if they'd gone even further. Instead of telling you whether a chosen move is valid, they could simply show all valid moves. They could have removed all the difficulty of finding a move and simply left the player to figure out the best move. Even less player effort in the brute-force scanning, freeing up time and effort for the interesting decisions! I'm not going to claim this would have been a better game – I suspect I'm not the target audience – but it would have been a game I personally found more interesting. If I'd wanted to play Bejeweled, I would have played Bejeweled, but really I was most interested in the new mechanics, which Bejeweled masked.
Next up, we've got SquareLogic.
SquareLogic can be best described as Sudoku on acid. Sudoku takes place in a 9×9 grid, further divided into nine 3×3 boxes. You must fill each box with a number from 1 through 9. You can't use the same number twice in a row, or twice in a column, or twice in a 3×3 box.
SquareLogic, on the other hand, goes from 4×4 through 9×9. You're roughly limited to the same count of numbers – a 4×4 grid will take numbers 1 through 4, a 9×9 grid will take 1 through 9 – and you're still subject to the row/column restrictions. But it gets far weirder from there. First, while SquareLogic does have subcontainers, they aren't necessarily square. They might be rectangles. They might be strange bendy shapes. Worse, these containers don't care about uniqueness. They care about other things. For example, you might have a 24x container, which means that the product of the numbers within the container must be 24. Maybe that's 1*2*3*4. Maybe that's 1*1*4*6. You might think it could be 2*2*2*3, but you'd be wrong – remember, you can't have the same number duplicated in a row or a column, and there's no way to lay out 2*2*2*3 such that no two 2's share a row or column. But 1*1*4*6 would fit in an S-shape, with the two 1's on opposite ends.
That's not all, though! SquareLogic doesn't tell you where the containers are. You're given one square in each container, and the rest of the container locations have to be derived logically. Sometimes that's easy: if the container is "12x", you know it needs to be at least two squares large. Sometimes that's tougher, though: is "12x" two, three, or four squares?
And then, just when you feel confident in that, SquareLogic throws double-board puzzles at you. Two boards, the same solution on each board, but different containers. You'll have to solve them simultaneously to win, as neither board has enough detail to get a full solution.
All of this could easily become overwhelming. In fact, just the busywork could be overwhelming – Sudoku-style games require that you keep track of which numbers have been used in which rows or columns. But SquareLogic, after throwing an enormous amount of complexity in your face, quietly shuffles much of the busywork away and takes care of it for you. Each box contains, greyed-out and in small type, all possible numbers that could fit there. You can eliminate numbers manually by right-clicking them. But if you make a decision and place a number in its final location, SquareLogic instantly clears all instances of that number from that row and column, as you can guarantee the number won't show up in any other similar places. The busywork is boring, and the computer can do it, so why shouldn't it?
SquareLogic helps in other ways. If you mouseover a container, it will list all possibilities. Mousing over 12x will show 3*4, 1*2*6, 1*3*4, 2*2*3, 1*1*3*4, and 1*2*2*3. If you've determined that your 12x container is only three squares large, it will restrict that down to 1*2*6, 1*3*4, and 2*2*3. If you've shown that none of the squares can contain a 3, it will cross out 1*3*4 and 2*2*3, leaving you with just 1*2*6. Sure, you could do it by hand, but does anyone want to spend their life trying to factor numbers?
(Especially the larger numbers – multiplication containers can easily reach the thousands, as 6*7*8*9 = 3024. I don't want to factor 3024. That's why I own a computer.)
The end result is a horrendously complicated, but surprisingly manageable, puzzle. When you get stuck, it's usually because you missed something clever, not because you misclicked or forgot to cross out an option. Since the game keeps track of all the little mental details for you, your brainspace is available for the far more interesting logical derivation.
But it's worth noting what SquareLogic didn't automate. SquareLogic will never actually choose a number for you, even if you've eliminated all alternatives. SquareLogic will happily tell you that there's only one possibility for a container, but it will never narrow down the elements in that container without your explicit input. The automation is solely limited to removing row/column conflicts and informing you about container possibilities. If you go too far, you end up writing a game that plays itself. SquareLogic went further than most do, but not too much further, opting to stay back and leave the fun bits up to the player.
Last, though with unarguably the highest budget of any of these games: Final Fantasy 13, and specifically, FF13's combat system.
(Before I continue: no, it hasn't escaped my attention that all of these games either involve squares or are made by Square. I promise this is a coincidence.)
From Final Fantasy 1 all the way through Final Fantasy 10, the most fundamental assumptions of Final Fantasy's combat system remained unchanged. You controlled a party of characters, from one to four at a time. Each character had a number of abilities, generally including Attack, Magic, Item, and a special gimmicky thing. Each character attacked in some order – generally determined by the character's speed – and used a single command at a time to damage the enemies, heal friendlies, or cast helpful (or harmful) spells. The enemies did the same, interspersed with your units.
There were many variations, of course. Some games used an "active time battle" system where characters attacked somewhat in realtime, although this was essentially a realtime wrapper around a turnbased game. For a while, every Final Fantasy game came up with a new way to gain magic, from Espers to Materia to Guardian Forces to the Sphere Grid. In FF7, your characters' spells were highly customizable before battle. In FF10, your characters could be swapped out at a moment's notice in a fight. FF8 let you buff your characters by "attaching" spells to them. It got complicated. But the fundamental design didn't change – one character took their turn and did something, the next character took their turn and did something.
FF11 broke the pattern by virtue of a genre change. FF11 was a massively multiplayer game, where you controlled a single character, and your party fought as a cohesive, realtime group. The gameplay didn't surprise anyone, at least after the MMO layout was announced – MMOs don't work with the old Final Fantasy method. But FF11 heavily influenced FF12. In many ways, FF12 felt like a single-player MMO. Instead of controlling a party, you directed a party – you wrote general-purpose scripts to automate what you intended, then gave direct commands to your characters when you needed to override their behavior.
Which taught us some very curious things. It turns out that the old Final Fantasy combat style is, fundamentally, very repetitive. Classic Final Fantasy combat consists of three things: healing, buffing, and attacking. First, make sure nobody's about to die. Then, cast the spells that make your characters vastly better. Finally, kill the bad guys. Most of this can be automated. In fact, the only part that takes any thought is "attacking", as various monsters require different attack spells. For example, robots are vulnerable to lightning, so if you're fighting robots, hit them with lightning. That's all the thought you need to put into it, though – after you've figured that bit out, it tends to be quite formulaic.
When FF12 automated all the basic bits, they were able to use that freed-up gamespace and make the bosses more complicated.
Now, FF12 didn't do a great job of it, because in order to play the game efficiently you basically had to be a programmer. Your characters had little automated scripts that you had to design. If you weren't good at that kind of process design, you sucked at the game. But FF13 took this to another level altogether.
In FF13, you didn't really control your characters at all. Instead of telling them what to do, you told them how to behave. For example, you'd tell one character "be a healer", and that character would start lobbing heal spells around to keep everyone else alive. You'd tell another character "cast buffs", and that character would automatically choose appropriate buffs and keep your party fully augmented. At the same time, FF12 took the old three-role Final Fantasy system and split it into a whopping six roles. The "buff" role was joined by a "debuff" role. They picked up a fully functional tank role, able to absorb firepower and take minimal amounts of damage. And, in a rather uncommon twist, "damage the bad guys" was split into two separate roles – a Ravager that gradually knocked the enemy off-balance, and a Commando that did enormous amounts of damage, but only once the enemy was off-balance.
Now, you did have direct control over one character, but to be honest, most of the time you just mashed the "do whatever you would normally do" button. The AI was smart enough to prioritize buffs intelligently and it understood which debuffs worked on the enemy. The tank would do a good job of keeping damage contained, the healer would distribute healing spells appropriately, and the various damage roles would quickly figure out the right spells to use and . . . well . . . use them. Instead of spamming Lightning on the robots, you watched while your characters spammed Lightning on the robots.
And as you'd expect, this opened room for more complicated bosses. Bosses in FF13 are truly deadly – a few turns of the wrong actions will often result in a party wipe and a game-over. Your characters will respond quickly, and do an amazing job of efficient damage mitigation and recovery, leaving the only real in-battle decision to a moment-by-moment choice between party roles, deciding on the fly which combination of roles will prevent your party from dying and kill the boss.
Which is, in many ways, where FF13 fails. You simply don't have enough choices. I'm all for automating the repetitive parts, but it turns out that the Final Fantasy combat model is repetitive parts. When you take away all the repetition, and don't replace it with something new, you're left without a game. In the case of Final Fantasy, the "game" becomes recognizing the right response to half a dozen boss abilities. When boss does this, you mash Tank button. When boss does this, you have time to rebuff. When boss does this, you can go back to kill mode.
The problem is that the roles are very, very specialized. If you need a tank character – and you often do – that's a full third of your party's functionality tied up. If you need a healer as well, that's another third. That leaves you with one character left to do damage, and that's only if you don't need buffing or debuffing. The game stops being about fighting the monster and starts being about juggling role timings.
Which is admittedly an interesting mechanic. Perhaps not one that stands on its own, but one that could be used as part of a much better game. And a mechanic that simply wouldn't have been uncovered without automating all the boring parts of combat.
So, what's the conclusion to all this?
I've talked about three games that got rid of large parts of their complexity. In the case of SquareLogic, I think it was a clear win. In the case of Gyromancer and FF13, I think it was a bit more dubious as a game, but quite valuable as research. The real lesson is that removing obvious sources of complexity does not always result in a better game, but it does usually result in learning more about your game and finding unexpected deposits of fun deep inside your game's emergent behavior. Even if you don't want to do it in your final release, it may be worth trying it out as an experiment, just to see what you discover.
And that neatly segues into our third entry, in which I'll compare pairs of games to see how differences in complexity layout can result in vastly different gameplay. I'll see you again next time. :)
Posted in Design, Complexity | Comments (0)


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Leandro Corrieri de Macedo né le  à Porto Alegre en Rio Grande do Sul, est un triathlète brésilien, double champion panaméricain (1995 et 2002), il remporte la première coupe du monde en 1991.

Biographie

Leandro Macédo participe à la première épreuve olympique de triathlon en 2000 et finit  avec un temps de . Quatre ans plus tard il est de nouveau sélectionné et termine à la  avec un temps de .

Palmarès
Le tableau présente les résultats les plus significatifs (podium) obtenus sur le circuit international de triathlon depuis 1991.

Notes et références

Voir aussi

Liens externes

Triathlète brésilien
Champion panaméricain de triathlon
Triathlète aux Jeux olympiques d'été de 2000
Triathlète aux Jeux olympiques d'été de 2004
Naissance en mars 1968
Naissance à Porto Alegre


text:
Understanding the Coast
Visiting Ocean Shores' Coastal Interpretive Center reveals a treasure trove of oceanic details right on our coast.
Story and photos by Angelo Bruscas | Published: June 1, 2016
(Aaron Lavinsky | The Daily World)
Shorebirds take flight at sunset along the beach in Ocean Shores on Wednesday, April 30, 2014.
Finding the Coastal Interpretive Center is like finding a beach visitor's cornucopia of the treasures that inhabit the Central Washington Coast and wash up on its shores.
Rain or shine, inside and out, the Interpretive Center at the very southern end of the Ocean Shores peninsula has become a destination that under one roof preserves the essence of life at the beach like no other destination in the area.
Angelo Bruscas photo/Ocean Shores woodworker Dennis Hogan did all the new additions to Damon's Outpost book and gift shop and the entrance to the Coastal Interpretive Center.
For birders and wildlife enthusiasts, the Habitat Exhibit area features four main environments of Ocean Shores: the ocean, the near shore and dunes, marshes and waterways, and coastal forests. Exhibits include wildlife and bird displays featuring the species found in the coastal area. A display featuring bird flyway migration information has recently been moved into this area.
For beachcombers, there are collections of glass fishing floats, Japanese tsunami debris, agates galore, along with shells, sand dollars, stones, minerals and numerous artifacts from a history of shipwrecks and settlers.
For kids, there is a hands-on room. "You can open up the drawers there, there's lots of stuff to look at," advises Jim Nagan, president of the center board, as a family from Vancouver, B.C., stops by in early January.
For local history buffs, there is a section on the early days of Ocean Shores with celebrities like Pat Boone and Ginny Sims leading development in the 1960s. There is an expanding display on the Quinault Indian Nation and also a garden that includes some of the plants native to the beach area.
Newly renovated, with spectacular woodworking by local volunteer Dennis Hogan, the center is preparing for the spring and summer seasons with an emphasis on becoming a destination that stands on its own merit and is not just an afterthought for visitors who happen to stumble upon it.
A flock of shorebirds takes flight along the beach in Moclips in early May.
The biggest hurdle the Interpretive Center might face is the difficulty some visitors have in finding it in the first place. Located by driving Point Brown Avenue to the southern end of Ocean Shores, the center is found by turning on Discovery Avenue at the intersection with Catala. You can't miss the seahorse or the shipwreck artifacts in front, along with the newly painted whaling harpoon cannon and other displays neatly arranged around the building.
Angelo Bruscas photo/Jerry Mergler, a Coastal Interpretive Center volunteer, inspects the Coast Guard bell he helped to restore. The bell was used to warn the area in the event of a Japanese attack by sea during World War II.
In the past year, the center — a non-profit organization that doesn't charge an entry fee and relies on contributions and volunteers — was able to renovate its front entry and showcase some of its most valuable features, such as the bookstore, which has one of the best selection of books on coastal and Harbor wildlife, geology, lore and legend. You can even get a rock polisher and stock up on polishing supplies should you want to take beach collecting further.
Grants have come from the Home Depot Community Foundation, the Quinault Indian Nation and the Seabrook Foundation most recently. A $5,000 grant from the Quinault Nation will next allow the center to update all of its cultural exhibits, and the facility is looking for a curator as well. Funds from the city allow the center to now market itself outside of the area and hire a curator.
Nagan notes the center now is involved in much more than just displaying artifacts and treasures from the beach. Most recently, docents have helped identify rare species of sea turtles seen in local waters and have collected evidence of the impacts of ocean warming or of tsunami debris. The center has sponsored a popular annual lecture series, "Glimpses," which brings regional and local experts into a public forum through winter and early spring.
"I think the additional programs we have started to offer, including the evening lecture series, trying to be more than just a place, that all helps us become part of the community network," Nagan said of the center's new push to market itself as a full destination facility.
For the summer months and nicer days ahead, there are now picnic tables set out where families and groups can pack a lunch and enjoy the park-like atmosphere, then take a walk on the interpretive trial through the beach forest. The remodeled Damon's Outpost Bookstore has books on birds, animals, sea and marine life, Native American culture, history, gardening and recipes. An extensive collection of children's books fills the corner, dedicated to longtime volunteers Walter and Elone Weed. Gift items include postcards, handmade bookmarks, artwork from local artists, even some authentic glass floats.
Long-term goals are to partner with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Olympic National Marine Sanctuary, as well as other museums in the area such as the Museum of the North Beach in Moclips and the Polson Museum in Hoquiam. The center currently has a seismic monitor that provides earthquake data to a center at Stanford/U.C. Berkeley in California. It also has the most accurate rainfall totals on the North Beach.
To Nagan and the staff, the mission of the center is as clear as a light shined through a pure agate: "The Coastal Interpretive center is to educate the public concerning natural and man-made environments through presentation of the history and ecology of Washington State's coastal life."
That motto, Nagan says, tells the whole story of what the center strives to be.
Coastal Interpretive Center
Located: 1033 Catala Ave. SE in Ocean Shores, 360-289-4617
Online: www.interpretivecenter.org
Fall/Winter hours: The center is open to visitors on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Spring/Summer hours: In effect from April 1 through the week after Labor Day. The center is open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily.
Angelo Bruscas photo/A history of Ocean Shores greets vistors in the yard of the Coastal Interpretive Center.


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