text:
Thank you, Canada
By Jenny Uechi | July 18th 2016
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Youth speaker at Syrian refugees event in Langley, B C June 09 2016
Video of Youth speaker at Syrian refugees event in Langley, B C June 09 2016
Seham Alomar speaks at thank-you event in Langley, B.C. Video by Jenny Uechi
"I would like to thank everyone for being here today," thirteen-year-old Syrian refugee Seham Alomar says, giving her first big speech in English. "I've been in Langley for three months. I feel safe now, and I'm happy with the school system in Langley...." She looks down, struggling.
Unable to hold back the tears, she buries her face in her small hands and weeps. Her mother walks up to the podium and embraces her, while the interpreter translates her words from English to Arabic for the crowd of Syrian refugees gathered at the 'Thank You Canada' event organized by the Langley Community Services Society in B.C.
Seham left behind her older sister, Yaman, in Lebanon. The family received a phone call from the UN Refugee Agency at 9:30 p.m. — hours before a morning flight to Canada. They were told told Yaman could not travel with them because she had recently married, and needed to re-do her application.
"My happiness would have been complete if I had my sister," Seham continues, composing herself. "She is far away. This makes it hard for my family. I hope for the day that my sister can share this moment with us...Thank you, Canada."
Stepping away from the podium, Seham is met with hugs and applause. She's been very busy over the last five months helping her mother care for her disabled siblings.
She's struggling to learn a new language and adjust to Canadian society. It's a lot for a 13-year-old to handle. And when you listen to her speak, there are unmistakable hints of high hopes and anxiety that you can hear in her voice. They are the same sentiments shared by many of the refugees who have arrived from Syria this year.
Scars and resilience
Syrian refugee children sing "O, Canada"
Video of Syrian refugee children sing "O, Canada"
Syrian children standing for Canada's national anthem in Langley, B.C. on July 9, 2016. Video by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud
The event is cheerful and festive, with Arabic dance music pumping from speakers. To date, 1,600 government-sponsored Syrian refugees have settled in B.C.'s Lower Mainland since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau opened Canada's doors to 25,000 people fleeing Syria's civil war.
The new arrivals from Syria come dressed for celebration. Headscarves in sky blue and salmon pink dot the scene. Dark suits and leather jackets defy the summer heat.
The children are decked out, too: a handful of girls romp in fairy princess gowns, while boys run around the yard in blazers, dress pants and button-up shirts.
Parents take endless videos and snapshots of the children with their cellphones. The kids greet Canadian volunteers and media who wander into the scene, eager to practice their English.
"Hi! How are you?"
"Hello. Take my photo?"
Friends wrap their arms around each other to pose for pictures, shouting "thank you!" as they scatter off.
"Wait — one more, please..." a boy in a grey blazer mumbles, digging a hand in his pocket. He whips out a pair of sunglasses, perches them on his face and strikes a pose. "Okay, now!"
Photos by Jenny Uechi
Looking over the jubilant scene, it's hard to believe these families were fleeing a violent, chaotic war in Syria. Every single person in the crowd has lost a family member due to war or kidnapping and torture, parents attending the event say. In total, 11.5 per cent of the population — over one in 10 people — have been killed or kidnapped to date, according to a report by the Syrian Centre for Policy Research released in February.
And the signs of the conflict they've escaped are written on many of their faces. Some children have scars and stitch marks on their foreheads, possibly residual injuries from war or life in the camps.
Then there are the wounds that can't be seen on the surface—parents say their children have trouble sleeping or are afraid of loud noises. Some children seem to be mature beyond their years, animated bright smiles dissolving into bottomless stares the moment their parents' cameras aim elsewhere.
Syrian refugee thank you event in Langley, B.C., on June 9, 2016 by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud
Earlier this year, United Way of the Lower Mainland invested in mental health programs for Syrian refugees, to be delivered by DIVERSEcity Community Resources Society and MOSAIC. Some young refugees tackled traumas through these programs with activities like painting small wooden boxes filled with items that made them feel emotionally secure.
Box decorated by recent Syrian refugee teens at Surrey's DIVERSECity. Photo by Jenny Uechi
Canadian refugee coordinators often worry about newly arrived Syrians being wary of police due to the situation back home, where police routinely jail civilians without cause. But many have warmed to the RCMP. Some even climb into the driver's seat of a police car, pretending to take it for a spin.
Photo by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud
"We get a lot of refugees from places where the role of police was very different," Langley RCMP Constable (R) Rob De Boersap says. "We're here to help them understand we're here to protect the public. They can come to us when they need to, whether it's about crime or lost property. We're pretty approachable."
RCMP Constable (R) Rob De Boersap with attendees. Photo by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud
At the ceremony, children gather for the national anthem, "O Canada." A smattering of older boys in the back rows do their best to sing along to the lyrics, but many of them stand awkwardly, not yet confident of the words. You get the feeling they will all know the anthem by heart long before next summer.
Shattered but not forever
barsan_family.jpg
Ali Barsan, center, with his two sons. Photo by Jenny Uechi.
Hazim Barsan photo by Jenny Uechi
Many of the newly-arrived Syrians are haunted by the war. They're heartbroken about being separated from family members who are stranded in refugee camps or in conflict zones.
Ali Barsan, a father of three from the city of Aleppo — a UNESCO world heritage site before the war — still remembers what life was like before the conflict began in 2011, while he was working in building construction.
"Things were good, before," he says through a translator. "You'd wake up in the morning, feel a beautiful breeze. You'd hear the sound of your mother cooking breakfast in the background. I lived in a big house, with our whole family. I'd see all my brothers. While going to work, the whole neighbourhood would say hello to me as I walked by. We had a really strong community. And after finishing work, I'd have time to sit with your family and friends, drinking coffee or tea, chatting and catching up."
Today, however, that life is a distant memory. Like Seham, he's consumed with dread for family members who couldn't make it to safety.
"It's been five years since I've seen my parents. My mother and father, as well as my disabled brother, are stranded in Syria and surrounded by IS (Islamic State)," he says. "My other brother reached Turkey, after 15 days of walking, climbing over mountains. He's homeless now, sleeping on the streets in Adana. Also, two brothers — Hassan and Yasser — went to work in Lebanon, and they simply disappeared. There's also my sister, and her child..."
Barsan says he left with his family in 2011, once it became clear he would have to choose sides in a violent civil war. There are a dizzying number of groups in Syria's multi-front war, and he didn't want to join any of them.
"Even though I'd already done my (mandatory) military service, the Syrian (government) army approached me and asked me to join again. But I didn't want to use weapons on my own countrymen. Right after that, the Syria Free Army also approached me to fight on their side. That's why I left."
Asked if he knows friends or neighbours who were forced to join the fight, Barsan covers his eyes and and walks away, excusing himself. Someone comforts him as he stands with his back turned, trying to collect himself. After half a minute, he returns.
"Since this war started, every family has at least one member captured, one killed," he says heavily.
Suddenly, Barsan pulls out printouts of photos from a folder. They're graphic photos of dead toddlers, limp and lifeless, babies covered in dust.
Translator/journalist Ahmed Najdat (left, in foreground dressed in black) and Ali Barsan (in grey suit). Photo by Jenny Uechi.
"These were children in Syria, killed during Eid," he says, referencing Eid al-Fitr — one of the most important holidays observed by Muslims, marking the end of Ramadan.
A Canadian resident extends her hand to prevent a nearby Syrian child from catching a glimpse of the photos, but it's soon evident that these images are nothing new for children who escaped the war.
Barsan's son, Hazim, takes one of the photos from the pile and holds it up. Barsan says his three children — two boys and a daughter — have trouble sleeping, and ask him what happened to their uncles. Barsan has worked with a translator to send letters to the Canadian government, pleading for them to approve applications for his siblings to come to Canada.
Like Seham Alomar, they feel fortunate for making it to Canada—they're among a tiny minority of applicants who cleared all the hurdles to get here.
But it is obvious they are only partly present for the celebration in Langley, preoccupied with thoughts of relatives who haven't been as lucky.
After her speech, young Seham looks distraught when asked about her sister.
"I can't describe her, because she's like an angel," she says, her whole body stiffening. "I feel I'm going to go crazy without her here."
Navigating a safe new home
hiba_and_ghaydaa.jpg
Alia Hurkus' daughters, Ghayda'a (left) and Hiba (right) at their residence in Surrey. Photo by Jenny Uechi
From left to right: Langley Community Services Society HR manager and Arabic translator Mary Tanielian, Ryad Zerwin, Fatima Sua'ifan, Alia Hurkus, Issa Al-Hamdan, Hazaa Abdulrazak. Photo by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud.
Alia Hurkus, a lively and outspoken woman in a vivid blue scarf, is a single mother to three disabled children, and one adult son who helps her care for them. She's happy that her children are getting the care they need.
"Back home, no one was even able to figure out what was wrong. Here, they've done tests to figure out what the problem is, one of them has had an operation in one of the eyes. They've been following up with appointments."
Hurkus says the challenge is in getting to the hospitals. Because there are few specialists in places like Surrey and Langley where many refugees have settled, families with disabled children sometimes take four-hour bus and train trips to Vancouver and back for medical appointments.
"We really want to thank the Canadian government — locally, federally, provincially. When we were in the refugee camps, we weren't really treated as human beings. Since we arrived, even strangers ask if we need help. We've never encountered this before."
As the adults introduce themselves, they mention fragments of their life before the war. All are ordinary civilians and parents, who were going about their daily lives when the war broke out.
Mahmoud, a bespectacled man in a wheelchair, used to own and operate a clothing factory. Hazaa used to work as an electrician at a gas company. Another man worked in real estate, yet another in PR and communications.
"Right now, I feel I should be speaking in English to you," Hazaa Abdulrazak tells National Observer through an interpreter. "Language is the hardest challenge. It's the key to integrating. It's just because the number of people was so huge — we hear Canada is used to taking in 8,000, not 25,000 — that this put a big strain on services. A lot of us, and some children, had to wait a long time before language lessons became available."
They share some of the difficulties they face, always mentioning in the same breath that they're grateful for the help they've received. Many have come with large families, and the Lower Mainland is an extremely difficult place to find housing on a tight budget. They're especially worried for women like Hurkus, who have developmentally disabled children. It's a problem faced by many in British Columbia, where the disabled and their families have seen a number of funding cuts in recent years affecting housing and public transit.
Circles of support
thank_you_canada.jpg
Photo of children posing with flag by Jenny Uechi
Nasrin Ajak. Photo by Jenny Uechi
Unlike privately-sponsored refugees, the government sponsored refugees at this event don't have a network of 'host' Canadian families to help them settle and adjust. Local volunteers and community groups work together to ensure the new arrivals have support and a receptive ear.
Nasrin Ajak, a Syrian student who came to Canada 18 years ago, knows firsthand the anxiety the refugees are going through.
"I have my family back there, of course," she says, in flawless English. "My three brothers are detained. The youngest...we were told he's dead. Under torture. I have my mom and dad, niece and nephew—those are my only family left. So many cousins were tortured to death. Uncles, too."
Asked if they were political, she firmly denies it. You didn't have to be, she says, for such things to happen.
Ajak is studying English at Kwantlen College. She's been volunteering tirelessly as a translator and providing moral support for the new arrivals ever since they started arriving on the West Coast.
For Canadians who want to help their new neighbours adjust to their new lives, she gives two pieces of advice.
"Please, just be patient with them. Give them a chance to get to know the society. They just need time. Speak with them and give them your smile. There's fear among a lot of Syrians that they're not welcome here. A smile would be enough."
B.C. MLA and environment minister Mary Polak, speaking at the event, extends a warm welcome to the attendees.
"I know that many times throughout that journey, you've been confronted by people who tell you they don't want you to come, and they want you to stay away. But I want to tell you, from my heart, as Canadians, as British Columbians, we're so happy you've found your way here," she says warmly, to loud applause.
Environment minister Mary Polak. Photo by Jenny Uechi
"I can't imagine the kinds of things you have struggled through, the tragedies you've seen. I can only hope to work together with my colleagues in government and my community to make Canada the most blessed home you can find."
United Way of Lower Mainland community and volunteer manager Gabriel Avelar encourages the refugees by sharing that he himself arrived from Brazil recently, and had managed to build a new life in his adopted home.
"Six years ago, I was a new resident of this community. I remember how hard it was to learn English," he says. "But do not be discouraged. This is a community that will embrace you every day. I know from my own experience, things will get better."
Photo of Gabriel Avelar by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud
"It's beautiful here."
mary_tanielian-eva-biko.jpg
Langley Community Services Society volunteers and staff. Photo by Jenny Uechi.
Fatima Sua'irak photo by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud
Fatima Sua'ifan arrived in Canada in February. It's only been five months, but she's already able to give a full interview in English. After escaping Syria, she taught herself how to read and write in English. She smiles brightly every time someone compliments her language skills, but she's quick to add that it was hard at first.
Arabic is ranked by the U.S. Department of Defence as category IV — the hardest category of languages to learn for native English speakers. It's not hard to imagine the difficulty goes both ways.
The 13-year-old says she's found great support at Riverdale Elementary in Surrey. "I like teachers here, people here," she said. "It's beautiful here."
The teenager beams thinking about joining her 15-year-old sister, Mariana, at Guildford Park secondary school. While many teens view school as a chore, Fatima couldn't be happier to go.
She still vividly remembers the day she left Syria. It was early morning, around 3 a.m. Fatima, four siblings, her mum and dad, her grandmother, and a few other relatives took a car and then they walked — all the way to the Jordan border. After they crossed, they were held in Za'atari refugee camp for nine months.
None of the children were able to attend any kind of schooling during that time, she says.
Fatima tried to continue educating herself, but says it was hard, with no teacher. She was finally allowed to go back to class when her family moved to Ramtha, in the northwest Jordan. "We had math, science, and English — but it wasn't very good," she remembers. Syrian children were usually taught in the afternoons, in shifts different from those of the local Jordanian kids.
Once the process to come to Canada started, her schooling was halted again. When they landed in B.C., the Sua'ifan family was placed in a hotel and their newborn baby had to be hospitalized for some 60 days. "He came to Canada being one month old. He stayed in the hospital for two months, because he was so sick and tired," she explains, relying on the words she'd recently learned.
Fatima says it's not an easy road ahead, but feels the challenges will be nothing compared to what her family has already been through. She still sorely misses her grandmother, who used to live with her but had to flee with her uncles to Saudi Arabia.
Still, the teenager remains upbeat, with only positive things to say about her new life.
"I don't need anything. I have everything here, and people from Canada like my family."
Photo by Jenny Uechi
Additional reporting and photography by Valentina Ruiz Leotaud. Arabic-English translation of interviews by Ahmed Najdat.
This article is part of a series on the Syrian refugees in Canada in partnership with United Way of Lower Mainland. National Observer has full editorial control and responsibility to ensure stories meet its editorial standards.
Back to National Observer
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Doctors urge government to respond to Syrian refugee crisis
Climate change opened "Gates of Hell," in Syria: Al Gore


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/ POLITICS
Cabinet of Ministers hosts 8th meeting of National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development
Baku, June 21, AZERTAC
The Cabinet of Ministers has hosted the eighth meeting of the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development.
Deputy Prime Minister, Chair of the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development Ali Ahmadov highlighted the issues on the agenda. He said that the main purpose of the meeting is to launch and approve the second Voluntary National Review to be submitted to the United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
Speaking about the preparation of the second Voluntary National Review, Deputy PM Ali Ahmadov said that Azerbaijan will be one of the 14 countries to submit the report on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Secretary of the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development Huseyn Huseynov presented the Voluntary National Review.
Following the presentation, members of the Council delivered speeches.
AZERTAG.AZ :Cabinet of Ministers hosts 8th meeting of National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development
Ilham Aliyev's success formula: Miracles attained by President-people unity
Fund of State Support for Development of Mass Media marks 10th anniversary
"Volunteers Parliament" held plenary session
President Ilham Aliyev signs order on 27th anniversary of Khojaly genocide

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Q: Bulk email prevent blocking We are going to send huge bulk emails (It's an invitation to our site). I setup an instance on Amazon and installed zimbra on that along with phplist which is configured. DKIM and Domain keys are setup.
I am afraid my IP will be blocked by spam blockers so is there any way that I can tell them my IP address and they do not block my ip. Our emails are not spam but it will be millions of emails and sender is also so huge so I can could not subscribe to mailchimp like service, its becomes very expensive.
Email will be also sent to gmail, yahoo, hotmail and AOL. I need some way to tell spamblockers service providers that they do not block my IP. for example to the following spam blockers.
AHBL
BACKSCATTERER
BARRACUDA
BURNT-TECH
CASA-CBL
CASA-CBLPLUS
CBL

A: There is no way that you can send millions of emails from an Amazon instance and not have a majority of them blocked by most email systems. Amazon IP ranges are perma-banned on many black lists as well as directly on many major email provider networks, inlcuding ISPs and the major webmail providers like Gmail and Yahoo.
You will be better served by using a service that is specifically set up to handle outbound bulk email, such as MailChimp or SendGrid. If you attempt to do this on your own, you'll need to get a clean IP address and you'll also better be served by an application or appliance that is intended to be sending out millions of messages safely. For example, the Cisco Ironport 370D.
TL;DR
You're doomed. Use {major outbound mail provider}

A: It's not your decision as to whether or not your emails get blocked as spam, because spammers would use the same mechanism to say "Our messages aren't spam either, honest, all these people asked for penis extension pill information, really they did, even that 11 year old boy and that 88 year old woman, honest!".
There are essentially 3 reasons why a message might get identified as spam, and you need to look into all of these if you're not using an established bulk email service:

*

*"It looks like spam" - some emails contain certain phrases that trigger anti-spam software that looks at the content of messages. You need to make sure your emails don't contain any (or at least, too many) of these triggers. Not that you'll find a published list anywhere. Also there are various things (DKIM, etc) that are important for senders of bulk email, and not having these or having them set up wrongly will increase your chances of having automated filters classing your emails as spam. You mention that you've taken care of the technology side of things here, which is great, but I think ultimately futile because of my 2nd reason.

*"It comes from a spam haven" - some IP addresses are listed either because of a past history of spam, or because the owner of those IP addresses doesn't have a good history when it comes to dealing with spammers, or because those email addresses shouldn't actually be sending email in the first place (e.g. dynamic IP ranges for ISPs, highly volatile ranges related to cloud providers whose providence its not possible to guarantee).

*"It tastes like spam" - Lots of people say "I didn't ask for this!" and click the spam button / move it to the junk mail folder on their client, leading their provider to block any further messages. This is a real issue if you send to end users who are using webmail providers, because that can represent a lot of users, especially as many ISPs buy cloud email services for their customers from the likes of gmail, hotmail or yahoo these days.
There's a reason why Mail Chimp and similar services are expensive, and it isn't just because their owners like lighting cigars with ten dollar bills.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Q: asyncStorage with ReactNative: JSON.parse doesn't when getting object back Hy everyone !
I've stored a simple object in Async Storage in a ReactNative app.
But when I get it back, it isn't correctly parsed : all keys still got the quotes marks (added by JSON.stringify() when storing it) ...
I store data like that:
    const storeData = () => {
        let myData = {
            title: 'Hummus',
            price: '6.90',
            id: '1'
        }
        AsyncStorage.setItem('@storage_Key', JSON.stringify(myData));
    }

and then access data like that:
    const getData= async () => {
        const jsonValue = await AsyncStorage.getItem('@storage_Key')
        console.log(jsonValue);
        return JSON.parse(jsonValue);
    }

and my object after parsing looks like that:
    {"title":"Hummus","price":"6.90","id":"1"}

Any idea why quotes aren't removed from keys ??

A: That's because JSON specification says the keys should be string. What you are using is the modern representation of JSON called JSON5 (https://json5.org/). JSON5 is a superset of JSON specification and it does not require keys to be surrounded by quotes in some cases. When you stringify, it returns the result in JSON format.
Both JSON and JSON5 are equally valid in modern browsers. So, you should not be worries about breaking anything programmatically just because they look different.
You can use JSON5 as shown below and it will give you your desired Stringified result.

let myData = {
  title: 'Hummus',
  price: '6.90',
  id: '1'
}
console.log(JSON5.stringify(myData));
console.log(JSON.stringify(myData));
<script src="https://unpkg.com/json5@^2.0.0/dist/index.min.js"></script>

Like this:
// JSON5.stringify
{title:'Hummus',price:'6.90',id:'1'}

// JSON.stringify
{"title":"Hummus","price":"6.90","id":"1"}


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It's a bear!
If Charles Leadbeater really does draw on the children's book We're Going on a Bear Hunt as inspiration for his vision of the Great Modernising Project, he is even further off the mark than Nick Cohen suggests (LRB, 28 October). The book does, indeed, tell the story of a family which determinedly overcomes all obstacles in search of a bear: 'We're going to catch a big one. What a beautiful day! We're not scared.' The point of the story, however, is that the hunters have not thought about the consequences of their actions. When they eventually track down their quarry in its cave it is, understandably, very annoyed: 'One shiny wet nose! Two big furry ears! Two big goggly eyes! it's A BEAR!!!' The angry bear chases the terrified family all the way home and disaster is only narrowly averted. Safe inside again, with the door bolted, they cower under the bedcovers and vow: 'We're not going on a bear hunt again!' Perhaps there is a useful lesson there for New Labour after all.
Tim Minogue
Lewes, East Sussex
After you, Jemadar sahib
Thomas Ingram says that the grade of jemadar is similar to that of lieutenant (Letters, 28 October). A jemadar was a VCO or Viceroy's Commission Officer. There were three ranks: jemadar, subadar and subadar-major. They wore respectively one, two and three small 'pips' on their shoulders. They ranked between NCOs and officers proper (King's Commission). They had no equivalent British Army rank. Posted as a gunner sergeant to a Sikh company in 1942, I was a complete anomaly. When travelling with the Jemadar and a number of soldiers in a truck the question as to who would sit in front with the driver always presented itself. With a slight bow I would say, 'After you, Jemadar sahib,' and he, dignified, grey-bearded, would say: 'No. After you, Sergeant sahib.' A little more politeness and then we would both uncomfortably squeeze in together. Incidentally, with my dinner I was always served 'jemadar chapatis', which were smaller and thinner than those prepared for the troops.
D.J. Richards
Unreliable Friend
In the debate as to whether Nelson Mandela was at any time a member of the South African Communist Party, I'm inclined to side with R.W. Johnson's surmise (that he was) rather than Anthony Sampson's (and Mandela's own) assertion that he wasn't.
From 1963 to 1967 I was a member of the SACP and worked closely in the SACP/ANC underground with Ruth First in Johannesburg, writing propaganda for the ANC military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. A leaflet written by me for First, distributed in May 1963, appeared in evidence against Mandela and his colleagues in the Rivonia Trial later that year. After First had left the country, I edited the underground journal of Umkhonto we Sizwe, Freedom Fighter, and during the Rivonia Trial, passed copy for typesetting to my Party contact, Hilda Bernstein, whose husband Lionel ('Rusty') was on trial alongside Mandela. Later I was on trial, and in prison, with the SACP chairman, Bram Fischer, and central committee members Ivan Schermbrucker and Eli Weinberg. The understanding I had from them was that Nelson Mandela was 'one of us'.
His transcription in 1962, in longhand, of a classic text of Stalinist Marxism ('How to Be a Good Communist', by the President of China, Liu Shao Chi) makes no other sense to me. Mandela's explanation for this in his autobiography – that he wrote it to prove a point to a black SACP leader, Moses Kotane – is unconvincing.
In a sense, however, the issue is irrelevant. The SACP and the ANC leadership were so closely identified with each other over this period and subsequently as to be virtually indistinguishable. Leading figures in the exile who were unable to stomach the relationship were expelled in the Gang of Eight episode in 1975. Lesser critics later disappeared into ANC prison camps in Central Africa, where some were killed.
I find it probable that Mandela was a member of the SACP at the time of the setting up of Umkhonto in 1961 and that he found it politic to resign formal membership after his return in secret to South Africa from his undercover support-raising trip in Africa and Britain in 1962. In practice, whether he was 'in' or 'out' by then did not make an iota of difference. Given the 'Africanist' concerns of newly independent African leaders impressed on him during this trip – in particular, by Kaunda in Zambia – it was to the advantage of the SACP as well as the ANC that by the time of his arrest in August 1962 he was 'out'. As he writes in his autobiography, his principal conclusion from his trip abroad was that the ANC 'had to appear more independent' of the SACP, and that resulting organisational changes were 'essentially cosmetic', in order to make the ANC more 'palatable' to allies in Africa. Certainly, in this period Mandela had no substantial strategic or programmatic differences with the SACP, or with the Soviet Union. Of course, this is not to gainsay his substantial independence of judgment, especially as a prison 'statesman', with a unique capacity for harmonising differences.
Paul Trewhela
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
David Brokensha (Letters, 28 October) is quite right that living in a country doesn't automatically mean you know more about it than those who don't (though it helps). My point was rather that some choose to leave South Africa and some, like me, love the place and choose to come back here – and that this should count for something. V.M. Hunt, in the same issue, is equally right to point out that Indians were heavily disadvantaged by apartheid – though less so than Africans. The only thing about which I'd disagree is their difficulty in learning English. Growing up in Durban, where around half of all South Africa's Indians live, I never met an Indian who wasn't fluent in English. The educational achievements of the Indian community – their pupils, with fewer advantages than whites, frequently top the exam lists in every subject – are quite remarkable.
Finally, I agree with Anthony Lewis that there have been a few occasions on which the Constitutional Court has not upheld the Government view. What he misses is that to date there have been only two major Constitutional issues on which the Court has had to rule. The first was the stipulation in the interim Constitution that the final draft should not in any way reduce the powers of the provinces to the advantage of central government. However, the list of areas of legislative competence reserved to the provinces was very much reduced in the final version of the Constitution, and a whole new doctrine of 'co-operative governance' was introduced, enjoining the provincial and central governments to work together – with the central government view prevailing where there was a conflict. Without any doubt this meant that the promise of no reduction in the power of the provinces was broken – yet the Court allowed it to go through.
The second concerned the law that registration to vote in the 1999 election should depend on having a bar-coded ID book. Because the bulk of Africans only got their ID books after 1990 most of them had the new kind, whereas most whites, Coloureds, Indians and Africans who had lived in the 'independent homelands' all tended to have old-fashioned IDs. The latter groups – who also tended to be Opposition voters – were effectively disenfranchised by this law: up to four million were unable to vote, as securing a new ID was no easy matter and in any case the old ID remained a perfectly valid legal document.
The remarkable thing about this law was that it made the exercise of a fundamental right (the franchise) dependent on the possession of a discretionary document: it was like making a driving licence essential to the vote. There were widespread protests and initially even the ANC caucus was dismayed, but the law was rammed through on a three-line whip. Given the centrality of the struggle for the franchise in South African history – the Afrikaner Nationalists had begun their rule by disqualifying black voters – this was a case where the Court absolutely had to stand up. It didn't.
I can only ask Anthony Lewis to imagine what would have happened in the US had a Federal promise not to reduce the powers of the states been broken – or millions of Opposition voters been disqualified from the exercise of the franchise. It was, after all, a proud and crucial part of the civil rights struggle that the US Supreme Court rejected all literacy tests and other artificial barriers to the exercise of the franchise. That said, these are early days for the Court here and even those limited and timorous assertions of judicial independence that we have seen are to be welcomed.
R.W. Johnson
Where's the carburettor?
Jerry Fodor's provocative dismissal of brain imaging (LRB, 30 September) scores some palpable hits, but misses the main target. Yes, the false colour images are marvellously seductive but by the time you see them they have been so massaged as to risk being thoroughly misleading. Yes, for most of their brief history the scanners have been either toys for physicists or tools for clinicians. For the former, the technology on its own has been sufficient. For the latter, the images are aids to diagnosis and surgery. For neither has it been necessary to ask the questions about meaning which Fodor properly proposes. However, for a proponent of the case for the modularity of mind to argue that understanding the dynamics of brain processes is an empirical irrelevancy is pretty cheeky, and my guess is that he knows this perfectly well. Modular minds are at best hypothetical and somewhat improbable, but evidence for the modularity of aspects of brain processes – vision is a good example – is strong. A theory which integrates brain and mind processes will be a major goal for neuroscientists, psychologists and philosophers in the coming decades. It will need to understand both the particularities of the micromechanisms of nerve cells and their interactions and the dynamics of the system as a whole. The scanners have a vital part to play in providing that understanding. But the first thing we need to do is to dismiss the idea that because a particular brain region is active when, to use Fodor's example, we think about teapots, this means we have located a teapot storage site in the brain. All we have done is found part of a system enabling us to think teapots. In their less gung-ho moments the scanner enthusiasts know this perfectly well, as in his less cynical mode does the rationalist Fodor. The rest of us trying to weld empirical data with satisfactory brain theory need both.
Steven Rose
Awed but Silly
I much regret that two misdatings appeared in my piece on Ivor Gurney (LRB, 14 October). First, Gurney's work on 'Rewards of Wonder' began in 1921, not 1919; second, his radically changing 'sense of war' is notable from 1923, not 1925, onwards. Neither misdating, I think, affected my awed view of the man but both are silly.
Arnold Rattenbury
Ffestiniog, Gwynedd
Don't go
Alan Myers


Cross your fingers for free biscuits!!
When an interception is returned for a touchdown, it's sometimes referred to as returning the "biscuit" to the "house," or a Pick 6. If either team pulls off a Pick 6 in the big game this Sunday, Hardee's will be give away free sausage biscuits!
DETAILS: If a player on one of the two professional football teams in the big game on Sunday, February 3, 2019 returns an interception for a touchdown, Hardee's will provide one (1) free Made From Scratch™ Sausage Biscuit* to any guest that visits a participating Hardee's location on Friday, February 8, 2019, during regular breakfast hours, from 7:00am to 10:00am local time.


This study was published on July 2 and comes from Italy. It also looks at a boy affected with Hunter Syndrome and cerebellar tonsil ectopia who developed a holocord syringomyelia at the age of six. The child underwent atlanto-occipital decompressive surgery with rapid clinical and neuroimaging improvement. To read MORE, please CLICK HERE.
This study was published on Thursday and comes from South Korea. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between the change of syrinx size and cervical alignment. Thirty patients who had Chiari I associated with syringomyelia and who underwent foramen magnum decompression, participated in this study. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.
This study was published on June 18 and comes from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Its objective is to evaluate nocturnal polysomnogram findings in children with suspected symptomatic Chiari I, correlate them with clinical and MRI data and to determine if this information has value in the clinical decision-making process. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.
This study was published on June 14 and comes from the University of Michigan. Prior attempts to define normal cerebellar tonsil position have been limited by small numbers of patients precluding analysis of normal distribution by age group. The objective of the researchers in the present study was to analyze cerebellar tonsil location in every age range. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
This case report was published on Thursday and comes from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, Indiana. Researchers describe a child with extensive Chiari II who also has cloacal exstrophy and a large myelocystocele. Cloacal exstrophy is a rare condition characterized by a defect in the abdominal wall with extrusion of malformed abdominal contents. CLICK HERE FOR MORE.
This study was published on May 30 and comes from Toronto, Canada. Diffusion-weighted imaging can be used to characterize brain maturation. An MRI of the fetus is used in cases of suspected Chiari II when further evaluation of the posterior fossa is required. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.
This study was published on May 24 and comes from Dallas, Texas. The optimal management of Chiari in the setting of craniosynostosis is not well established. In this report, the authors describe their outcomes with the combined technique of simultaneous suboccipital decompression during posterior cranial vault remodeling. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.
This study was published on Jan. 18 and comes from a team effort of Harvard Medical School and UC San Diego Medical Center. Researchers evaluate the use of fibrin sealant augmentation in combination with locally harvested autologous pericranium for duraplasty in adult Chiari I decompression surgeries. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.
This study was published on April 12 and comes from Switzerland. Researchers report a case of a preterm infant at 29 weeks of gestation who gradually developed a Chiari I with hydrocephalus due to a premature unilateral fusion of the posterior intraoccipital synchondrosis. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE.
This study was published on April 19 and comes from Duke University in North Carolina. Although multiple lines of evidence support a genetic contribution to Chiari I (CMI), no genes have been identified. Researchers therefore conducted the largest whole genome linkage screen to date using 367 individuals from 66 families with at least two individuals presenting with nonsyndromic CMI with or without syringomyelia. To read MORE, please CLICK HERE.


text:
Heart of a Husky
Humanitarian Engineering
Coppertunities
Once a President, Always a President
In the Driver's Seat
Family Takes Flight
Something's Brewing
From the Alumni Association
Michigan Tech News
Unscripted: Science and Engineering Research
Michigan Tech Magazine
2016 Michigan Tech Magazine: Issue 1
By Allison Mills
The glass is half full. Half is oil; half is water. A thin band, more a trick of the light, marks where the two clear liquids meet in the rounded chemistry flask. The oil and water, of course, don't mix.
Water and oil don't usually mix, but these interdisciplinary researchers at the Great Lakes Research Center have answers when they do.
Resting on a cork stand, the flask sits high on a shelf in Guy Meadows' office. Meadows, director of the Great Lakes Research Center (GLRC) at Michigan Tech, reaches up and pulls the flask down. The contents slosh; a narrow piece of pen cap surfs in the middle, trapped at the interface. With a delicate swirl, Meadows gets a small wave moving, much like the slop of water in a bathtub, several emulsified bubbles clinging to the tipping oil and water surface.
Watch Storm in a Bottle video
Storm in a Bottle
Contained in a flask, the movement is hypnotizing—beautiful even. But in the environment, we try very hard to keep oil and water separate. To date, the majority of oil spill research focuses on saltwater environments and little has been done in freshwater. Scientists at the GLRC are remedying that. Using high-tech equipment and extensive fieldwork, they are working to help prevent spills, monitor and assess at-risk locations, predict spill patterns with supercomputer models, and understand oil-eating microbial communities across the Great Lakes.
Oil floats on water. Usually. But as the complexity of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico showed researchers, understanding what happens below the waves is crucial to mitigating an oil spill.
Lakebottom sediments pile over a pipeline; researchers user remote operated vehicles and autonomous underwater vehicles to monitor nearby terrain.
Meadows uses the water-oil flask from his office, which he calls his ocean in a bottle, to explain underwater complexity. Specifically, how layers interact in stratified waters. As he swishes the flask, the oil and water interface in the center roils and storms. The top remains perfectly still.
"Currents and layers below the surface can be very complex," Meadows says, explaining that a better understanding of these dynamics can help predict how oil would migrate in water. "This is particularly important in places like the Straits of Mackinac where two large bodies of water are contending for equilibrium with each other—it creates complicated and constantly shifting current patterns."
Flows within the Straits could greatly affect a spill and what shores might be impacted. Meadows heads up a team at the GLRC that monitors these currents along with several field sites. They use buoys, remote operated vehicles (ROVs), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), and sonar. The field observations are complemented—and even driven by—cutting-edge modeling using the in-house supercomputer Superior.
Modeling Motion
For the GLRC team, work by Pengfei Xue, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, is the research's keystone. He studies coupled hydrodynamic and climate models to provide insight into potential oil spills.
"Basically, we are trying to understand the movement of microparticles in water," Xue explains. "If we look at continuous and varying water flow patterns through space and in time, then we can predict where the particles will move."
Crews work to deploy a buoy in the Straits of Mackinac.
The basis of hydrodynamic models is the set of mathematical equations that describe the motion of fluids with the conservation of water mass and momentum and energy. Using these numerical models, which are so intricate they require a supercomputer to run, Xue can address complex problems like oil spills.
To start, Xue inputs data on lake shoreline, water depth, wind field, wave height, temperature, and many other variables in the model. Then he makes meaning of the raw information using the Superior supercomputer and provides a 3-D simulation of water flow conditions. The end result is a visualization of the relationships of water flow, thermal structure, and wind, showing impacted area, duration, and strength if oil would disperse through an area. It's like a pointillist painting: the individual dots and data blur together, revealing a whole picture.
Since models are approximate mathematical descriptions of real phenomena, though, the challenge is getting enough dots of just the right color with just the right placement to blend into a realistic whole.
The Straits of Mackinac are one of the most heavily traveled parts of the Great Lakes and are affected by complex currents and water column mixing.
"Observational data is usually intermittent," Xue says. "Modeling helps us develop continuous data points to get a clearer picture of what's happening.
"Xue's hydrodynamic model for the Great Lakes is detailed. So detailed that it is more like a pixelated digital photograph than a pointillist painting. It adopts an unstructured-grid finite volume approach and has the capability of resolving the lakes' geometrical complexities with sufficient detail to determine the flow conditions at previously unprecedented resolution both horizontally and vertically. This level of hydrodynamic predictive capacity is critical for understanding hydrodynamics and its impact on our ecosystem.
In addition to microparticle modeling, another part of the GLRC's work focuses on the microscale.
Oil-Eating Microbes
At the interface of oil and water, a bunch of microbes serve up an unlikely meal. In an oil spill, bioremediation calls for the Alcanivorax, Neptunmonas, Oleispiras, and Oceanospirillales groups—except there aren't any of these ocean-dwellers in the Great Lakes. Biologist Steve Techtmann is on a mission to find local, freshwater oil-eating microbes and understand their preferred environments.
Oil eating microbes
"We need an ecosystem view on clean-up and mitigating oil spills is really an exercise in microbial ecology," Techtmann says, adding that knowing the type of oil involved, proximity to shore, current patterns, nutrient limitations as well as seasonal variations can all impact microbes' effectiveness.
However, he says there is no "magical spray" of oil-chompers that miraculously clears up a spill. Knowing how many oil-eating microbes are naturally present, how they interact with oil, and their potential side effects are crucial for successful mitigation.
"Oil is a complex contaminant—that's where the biology comes in," Techtmann says, adding that these microbes are difficult to grow and study in the lab. "Since no one has really looked at the freshwater species, we have the chance to figure out who are the dominant players in these systems."
Again, Xue's models can help predict and provide insight into the most likely locations of these oil-eating microbial communities. And the models depend on data validated by a vast network of buoys in the Great Lakes.
The buoys are bright yellow, about 16-feet tall from base to the top wind gauge, weigh about 600 pounds, and can manage 30-foot waves. These big buoys provide big data.
"We have more than 30 years of data and we are starting to see some preliminary trends," says Caryn Murray, an undergraduate research assistant who has spent the past year crunching data from the Great Lakes Research Center buoys as well as National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration buoys. "The experience has taught me the value of having lots and lots of data, covering many years.
Caryn Murray, Undergraduate Research Assistant at Great Lakes Research Center
Murray is digging back into buoy data starting in the 1980s, focusing on Lake Superior. Today, each buoy makes a cell phone call every 10 minutes, relaying data from May to October.
One particular buoy, deployed in the Straits of Mackinac, is a key data collector. In partnership with energy company Enbridge, the buoy monitors water quality and conditions in the Straits to provide safety alerts for boaters, environmental data, and to monitors the region near Enbridge's Line 5 pipeline. Below water, the collaboration continues with bottom sonar surveys of the pipeline and surrounding terrain. Companies are required to do pipeline inspections at least once every five years; with the buoys, ROVs, and AUVs, Enbridge and the GLRC team, led by Meadows, are able to gather observations every month.
"Any type of infrastructure needs monitoring," Meadows says. "No one wants an oil spill, but we need to prepare for a worse-case scenario—and we're leading the research to mitigate that risk."
Great Lakes Research Center
Most scientists have to go to the Arctic to study under-ice acoustics. Not here. With the Keweenaw Waterway on its doorstep, the GLRC provides year-round research opportunities. That includes RV Agassiz, other surface and underwater vehicles, teaching labs, specialized research facilities, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
The building itself is built to LEED silver standards—with several green roofs—and has an innovative design. The shape, building materials, and colors are all inspired by Lake Superior. Come check it out the next time you're in town.
Michigan Technological University is a public research university founded in 1885 in Houghton, Michigan, and is home to more than 7,000 students from 55 countries around the world. Consistently ranked among the best universities in the country for return on investment, Michigan's flagship technological university offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in science and technology, engineering, computing, forestry, business and economics, health professions, humanities, mathematics, social sciences, and the arts. The rural campus is situated just miles from Lake Superior in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, offering year-round opportunities for outdoor adventure.
Q&A with the Great Lakes Research Center's Timothy Havens
Michigan Tech Scientist and Students Collaborate in First Great Lakes Winter Grab
Predicting Great Lakes Meteotsunamis with Better Modeling
Michigan Tech Joins Great Lakes Research Collaborative
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Lindberg Galeria/Taller is a six room gallery located on the ground floor of a 25 room colonial residence in the San Roque neighborhood of the historic center of Quito. The house was built in the mid 1800's and was formerly owned by the famous wood carver and designer, Neptali Martinez.
The gallery area has recently been restored by Carole Lindberg and is home to a permanent collection of her work. Various adjoining studio areas are used by Carole as well as other artists.
The gallery is open to individuals and groups by appointment only. Carole gives tours of the gallery and house, explaining the development of the different genres of her artistic expression and the restoration process of a historic residence in Quito.


Taken from Jonas Karlsson's second volume of short stories Den perfekte vännen (The Perfect Friend, 2009), this is an intriguing and somewhat disconcerting tale of an artist who unwittingly unearths some murky secrets on the estate of the well-heeled family that has commissioned him. It is in many ways typical of the collection as a whole, showing everyday lives in juxtaposition with bizarre encounters and misunderstandings. Male friendships, loyalties and rivalries are often at the heart of the stories. We can find echoes in Karlsson's work of Raymond Carver and of Swedish short story writers like Jerker Virdborg and Robert Kangas. But Karlsson is his own man, with his own personal style, humorous, quirky and intelligent, and almost always with a twist. The collection's spookily memorable centrepiece is the Kafkaesque, almost novella-length 'Rummet' (The Room), set in a modern-day office where the neurotic narrator takes frequent refuge from the pressures of work in a disused room – which turns out to exist only in his head. Jonas Karlsson (b. 1971) is one of Sweden's busiest actors, working for TV, film and the theatre. He began his writing career as a dramatist before publishing his first story collection Det andra målet (The Second Goal, 2007). In his stories we readily detect an actor's ear for the pauses that endow dialogue with meaning. Karlsson joins the ranks of story writers in a nation where prowess in the shorter genre has traditionally been seen as a badge of real literary skill.
For Arvid, drawing meant taking decisions all the time. Which was something he needed practice at. For that reason, he made sure never to carry an eraser on him and preferred to work in ink. He saw an object and straight away he would make a dash, a line, a dot or whatever it was. And then another one, and then another one. Piece by piece, what he saw emerged on the page. Whether he was drawing something or just imagined it in his mind. Mostly he drew something. He drew what he experienced.
Afterwards he could assess which of the lines had been a little crooked. Thin, hesitant pencil strokes that created a kind of shadow effect, giving depth and space to the drawing. He could even appreciate pure mistakes, small accidents in a movement of the pen or where someone had jogged him and his hand had made an involuntary movement. Generally that didn't bother him. Quite the opposite.
On occasion he could quite intentionally not look at the paper, in order to rely totally on the feeling in his hand. A kind of direct contact between perception and movement. Without making any judgement on what was rational or even beautiful. Those lines, even if they were crooked or misplaced in terms of the perspective, always felt true.
There were other ones that sometimes annoyed him. Real, straight lines. Decisions taken without feeling. With no idea of what they were doing to him. Lines he had drawn, not always because he'd seen them, but because he thought he maybe ought to have seen them. Or, even worse, because he thought someone else had seen them. Those lines always made him think of the tale of the Emperor's new clothes. And each time he saw lines like that on one of his old drawings, even if several years had passed, he could immediately tell them apart from the real ones. They made him feel ill.
He realised that he was nothing without the decisiveness that had become something of a trademark for him, a kind of directness and doubtlessness that he only had in artistic matters and in no other aspect of his life, but whose involvement in the creative process was absolutely necessary. Without it he was nothing.
Arvid was afflicted with a sluggish character, lacking in will, which never knew what it wanted. Most things seemed ambiguous to him. He could listen to diametrically opposed opinions and find both of them equally reasonable. A strange feeling of rootlessness pursued him. And he knew it was only art which offered him a kind of weight he could lean against and get a sense of who he really was. He understood this was something that should be cultivated.
When Arvid got the commission he thought it was easy money. A job that wouldn't demand any special effort. He was to draw the Bjurholms' garden sculpture on their country estate in Målilla. How hard can that be, he thought as he took the bus out on a hot day in high summer, with all his things in his large blue work bag.
You could tell that he had prepared that sentence, thought Arvid, and thanked him for the praise. Immediately Arvid noticed how easy it was to feel superior to the man, despite the fact he was clearly an extremely wealthy person. Socially, too, Claes Bjurholm bowed down. 'This is a very beautiful garden', said Arvid.
Claes gave a proper bow, which almost made him topple over. Arvid felt a little uncomfortable in such company, being used to occupying the lowest position himself.
They walked slowly along a path of slate by a short, well-pruned whitebeam hedge. It must take many years, thought Arvid, to discipline a plant that unruly. Arvid smelt freshly cut grass while Claes walked just in front of him pointing things out.
Arvid walked around the statue, a woman and a dwarf. She was sculpted with pure, smooth lines. Long hair. Head bowed down in a pious movement. Her eyes closed and both hands resting on her stomach. The dwarf inclined towards her side. As though he were guarding her. Probably no older than a hundred and fifty years. It looked just like the kind of garden ornaments that were popular at the end of the nineteenth century. A calm, harmonious work. Beautiful in a simple way. He could well understand why they liked it so much.
'It's for my mother', Claes said.
Further off in the garden Arvid saw a small boy in a Superman costume sneaking around with a water pistol in one hand. Now and again his head popped up, and then disappeared again.
Arvid did, and when Claes had gone he began to unpack his sketch pad and pencils. He walked around the statue for a while to get an idea of it and finally decided that it would look best if drawn straight on, from the front. He couldn't decide if he'd made that decision for artistic reasons or because there was a bench in the comfortable leafy shade to sit and work on. He decided it was the former.
The woman was sculpted with simple lines and fun to draw. His pencil moved to and fro over the paper almost by itself. The dwarf wasn't as easy, and, moreover, it was difficult to get them to interact, to become the same picture. Each time he thought he'd succeeded with the woman, he couldn't get her to work with the dwarf.
He tried practising the dwarf separately and that worked better straight away, but as soon as he tried to combine them something went wrong. He stood up, thinking that he was seeing them `in the wrong way´. Maybe he would have to change the angle after all, place her slightly more in the background and let the dwarf dominate the picture, in a kind of worm's eye view. He walked around and made a couple of swift sketches. That felt better. Something happened to the picture and the two separate figures could come together.
He had a sketch he was fairly satisfied with when Claes came out with a glass of squash on an expensive designer tray.
Claes stood hesitating for a long time. Finally he held out the tray.
'Thanks', Arvid said, and drank.
The squash tasted of rhubarb and was presumably homemade. Arvid made an approving face at Claes, as he stood there with the tray under one arm. Like a servant, Arvid thought.
Arvid nodded. He turned the drawing round so that Claes could see it and understand that it was okay to comment. 'Marvellous, marvellous', Claes chuckled, bobbing his head up and down. He bent down to see and breathed right next to Arvid.
In the silence that followed Arvid could sense that something wasn't right. There was something Claes wanted to tell him. He thought he could help him out.
Arvid swallowed the last of the squash. He put the glass back on the tray and wiped his mouth.
'Thanks, that was good', he said.
'I'm quite sure', Arvid said.
Claes looked at the statue again, then at Arvid, and finally at the drawing.
'It does.' Claes excused himself and hurried away with the tray and glass.
The boy in the Superman costume suddenly jumped up from his shelter in the bushes, stretched out his arm and fired a round straight at Arvid. Arvid clutched at his chest and pretended to be wounded. The boy laughed and disappeared.
Arvid looked at his sketch again. Then he scrunched it into a ball and looked around. The whole garden was a strange mixture and the inside of the house was probably the same. A mishmash of different styles, which was usual on country estates at the end of the nineteenth century. He could see Claes rushing around the back corner of the main building, where a large oak gave a pleasant summer shade. They probably had some kind of outside seating area behind there. I would, thought Arvid. Then again, he wouldn't have the big swing which stood on one of the garden lawns. But maybe you couldn't choose such things, he thought, as the small boy again moved about amongst the undergrowth. All the time with his aim fixed on Arvid.
Would I have this statue, that's the question, he thought, beginning a new sketch of the strange artwork.
Claes came shuffling back again. This time he stood with his hands clasped in front of him, as if he'd been sent to deliver a message. He nodded and Arvid waited. Claes looked towards the main building.
'Did you think of something?' Arvid asked.
His gaze shifted sideways. He tried to concentrate on the statue.
'We all think it's a very beautiful child. Isn't it?' Arvid nodded. Claes fished a small checked handkerchief out of his pocket, and wiped it across his forehead. He leaned forward.
Arvid looked at the dwarf's face and the tufts of its beard. Claes stood with his eyes fixed on the statue all the time he was talking to Arvid. 'We like it very much.' Arvid let his pencil move over the paper. He made dashes and lines which had no significance for the picture but were nice to draw in Claes' company. He hoped that Claes would go away soon. 'Hmm', Claes said after a while and turned back to the house.
Shortly after that, Arvid heard someone clip-clopping along on the slate behind him. He turned the sketchpad upside down and looked over his shoulder. A woman was walking swiftly towards him. He assumed it was the lady of the house. Sure enough, she didn't introduce herself.
'Hello there', she simply said. 'Hello', said Arvid, standing up. 'How's it going then?' the woman asked, putting one arm on her waist to support the other one on. She placed two fingers on her chin and Arvid could see that she had alarmingly manicured nails. 'Not bad', Arvid said. The woman looked around. 'I don't see an easel', she said. 'No', Arvid said. 'I don't have one.' 'You don't have an easel?' the woman said. Arvid shook his head.
They stood looking at each other a while. The woman scrutinised him as only the truly affluent can. Arvid guessed she wanted to see something, but he didn't intend to show her. Finally she stretched out her hand.
Arvid nodded again. Did she make a mistake or did she really call her mother-in-law 'mother'? He turned the sketchpad round the right way and scrunched the next sheet of paper up into a ball, too. He put down his things beside the bench he was sitting on and rubbed his face with both hands.
The woman and the dwarf stood there in the shade and he felt as though they were staring at him. The dwarf was probably intended as some kind of symbol, he thought. Didn't dwarfs stand for the unconscious, amoral forces in nature? How would he ever be able to explain that to the Bjurholms? Did they seriously believe it was some kind of overgrown baby? You could clearly see small tufts of beard on the cheeks, even if the statue and particularly the dwarf had been worn away by the wind and rain.
The boy in the Superman costume appeared right behind the statue. He fired a few shots at Arvid with one of those plastic guns that make a noise. He still added his own sound effects, though. It was as though he wasn't really satisfied with sound the factory had provided. Or maybe feelings, regardless of the sound quality of the toy, always reside in our bodies? He wiped his mouth, stepped forward and stood beside Arvid. He lowered his weapon and let it flap against a pair of army green camouflage trousers that he'd simply pulled on on top of the Superman costume. Arvid didn't realise they came in such small sizes.
They both stood in silence for a long while and looked at the statue. Arvid moved the pencil over the sketchpad. Filled in a few shadows. Didn't make any decisions. Just let the pencil dance along, hardly touching the paper. The boy scraped his weapon absent-mindedly against the ground.
Arvid nodded and wondered who she liked best and if that meant that there was someone she liked less. Was the boy talking about the artist or the dwarf, or was the boy also assuming the dwarf to be a child? Arvid started to think about Bruegel's paintings of children who all had those adult proportions. He decided to ask.
He jumped down and swung his weapon about like a hockey stick or perhaps a golf club.
'Can you see the small spikes on his cheeks?' Arvid said. 'That must be a beard, mustn't it?' 'No, that came from when they put it there', the boy said. 'Put it there?' Arvid said, but the boy was already gone. He swung the gun over his head as he ran over the lawn towards the main building.
Arvid put down the sketchpad and pencil. He got up and went over to the statue. He examined it and the dwarf child fearlessly returned his gaze. He ran his finger along the top of its head and it came off with quite a thick layer of dirt.
Around the woman's legs and over her back there lay a film of, what would you call it, moss maybe? No, more a kind of oil. The dwarf had nothing like that.
Arvid went to his bag and fetched a piece of sheet that he used as a rag. When he wiped away the dirt from the statue he saw the join.
Between the arm and the head where both bodies were joined together there was a thin line, scarcely visible.
He knocked on the dwarf and touched it with his fingertips. Was it plaster?
Suddenly the boy jumped out from behind the statue. He shot at Arvid, who jumped for real this time. 'Christ, you scared me', he said. 'Were you frightened?' said the boy, pleased.
Arvid didn't answer, but continued to rub the cloth along the join and saw clearly that there were two different materials. Why hadn't he noticed until now?
'Aren't you finished yet?' said the boy, sitting on the bench. He sat quietly for a while, looking at the statue. The cape was stuffed inside his camouflage trousers. 'What did you mean when you said your grandmother liked him more?' Arvid said, feeling the statue. 'Grandmother liked him more than Dad', he said.
Arvid turned towards him, but the boy was already running across the lawn. He turned back towards the bench and sat down.
He sat still for a while, looking at this unholy alliance.
He turned his head slightly and thought he could glimpse Claes Bjurholm making his way around the corner of the main building and then immediately turning back.
He took a new sheet of paper and drew page after page with the intensity of inspiration in full flow, until he had captured the exact thing he had experienced in front of him. It looked good and turned into a good picture with expressive use of space, a little as if someone had put a Matisse next to, say, a Zorn. He looked at it and felt satisfied.
Then he lifted his big blue bag and put the drawing in it, picked up another pad and began the commission. He drew the pregnant woman with a child beside her. He drew the child straight from imagination and tried to make it resemble the boy in the garden as much as possible.


text:
<?php
/**
 * Выдача одной расчетки
 */

use \Psr\Http\Message\ServerRequestInterface as Request;
use \Psr\Http\Message\ResponseInterface as Response;

$app->get('/wages/[{id_wage}]', function(Request $request, Response $response, array $args){
    // Проверка прав. Разрешено всем кроме клиентов
    preg_match('/s-admin|admin|director|instructor/',$this->user_info->role, $matches);
    if (count($matches) == 0){
        return $response->withStatus(403)
            ->write('{"error":{"text":"Forbidden for: '.$this->user_info->role.'"}}');
    }

    $id_firm = $this->user_info->id_firm;
    $data = $request->getQueryParams();
    $id_instr = $this->user_info->id_instr;
    $db = $this->db;

   $this->logger->info($args['id_wage']);
    $json  = new stdclass;

    $sql = 'SELECT *, DATE_FORMAT(`dt`, "%d.%m.%Y %H:%i") AS `dt_format`, (SELECT `clients`.`name` FROM `clients` WHERE `wage_calc`.`id_client` = `clients`.`id_client`) AS `client_name`,
(SELECT `season_types`.`short_name` FROM `season_types` WHERE `wage_calc`.`id_stype` = `season_types`.`id_stype`) AS `season_short_name`
FROM `wage_calc` WHERE `id_wage`='. $args['id_wage'] . ' AND `id_firm`='. $id_firm;

    foreach ($db->query($sql) as $row) {
        $json->list[] = $row;
    }

    $sql = "SELECT `wages`.*, `invoices`.`id_invoice`, `invoices`.`summ` AS `invoice_summ` FROM `wages`
LEFT JOIN `invoices` ON `wages`.`id_wage` = `invoices`.`id_wage`
WHERE `wages`.`id_wage` = ". $args['id_wage'].' AND `wages`.`id_firm`='. $id_firm;

    $json->info = $db->query($sql)->fetch(PDO::FETCH_OBJ);

   // $row = $stmt->fetch(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);

    $db = null;

    return $response->write(json_encode($json, JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE ));
});

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: ng-repeat filter is not working for repeat variable assignments This JS Fiddle will give better information on the code.
The selected item  should filter other value and i shall have a button outside the list item what will reassign the selected value to null so all list items are displayed.
Clicking on the radio button it should hide the other elements.
CONTROLLER
var myApp = angular.module("repeat",["ngSanitize"]);

myApp.controller("repeatController", function($sce, $window, $scope){

$scope.test ="Controller is working fine";

$scope.lists=[{"name":"asdf","desc":"dummy text 1"},{"name":"wee","desc":"dummy text 2"},{"name":"fgs","desc":"dummy text 3"}]

});

HTML

        <input type="radio">
        {{list.name}}{{selected}}

A: If I correctly understood what you need here is the JSFiddle to hide the radio button not clicked:
HTML:

            <input type="radio" name="selector" />
            {{list.name}}-{{selected}}

JS:
var myApp = angular.module("repeat", []);

myApp.controller("repeatController", function($sce, $window, $scope){

    $scope.test ="Controller is working fine";

    $scope.lists=[{"name":"asdf","desc":"dummy text 1"},{"name":"wee","desc":"dummy text 2"},{"name":"fgs","desc":"dummy text 3"}]
});

As suggested, you also need to remove the ngSanitize from the Fiddle or add it as file too (for example adding this resource but for the purpose of the fiddle you don't need it https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/angular.js/1.4.1/angular-sanitize.min.js)

A: You have the problem with ngSanitize, Please remove the ngSanitize in your module then it's working good.
Your module should be like this below code
var myApp = angular.module("repeat",[]);

See this Working Demo


Before the advent of the camera, most painting was what we now call photo-realistic. It attempted to depict something in our everyday world as we might see it. An occasional Visionary appeared, like Bosch or Brueghel or Goya, and, of course, many painters did biblical interpretation which was often Visionary in nature.
About the time that the camera came along, a new kind of art arose that we might call "subjective." Under that heading, we could include most of what is referred to as impressionistic, expressionistic, pointillistic, cubist, and so on. The objects and scenes depicted were from the everyday world. They were known and familiar. But they were viewed through a distorted lens, which was the artist's subjective view of the material. Again, as in the photo-realistic era, an occasional Visionary appeared. Van Gogh in his last two years, for example. During both the photo-realistic era and the subjective era, what set the Visionary artists apart was that they were not depicting objects and scenes from the known world. They were depicting places, events, and creatures that had never been seen.
In more recent times, the search for new modes of "subjectivity" expanded, and the artist's lens became increasingly distorted, until the scenes and objects grew unrecognizable, and all that remained was a non-cognitive image, with whatever mental and emotional attributes we might intuitively ascribe to it. That's abstract expressionism—deconstructed art. There could be Visionary artists in the photo-realistic and subjective eras, but there aren't any Visionary abstract artists. Visionary art can't be abstract or deconstructed, because in order to envision an alternative world, the image has to be recognizable.
Is a fairy tale Visionary Art? What about paintings of "swords and sorcery"? Or a story about fantastic creatures told as a parable? No, none of these line up with my definition. They don't depict worlds more profound than our own. They are fictional creations, meant to entertain or educate. William Blake's "Jerusalem," on the other hand, reveals what the artist believed was an archetypal reality. In J. G. Ballard's The Crystal World, the characters believe that the transformed world is a fulfillment of desires unsatisfied by our everyday world, and the reader knows that the author agrees with them.
I've convinced myself that these same family relationships exist in other art forms. Like the modern song: Eddie Cochran's "Summertime Blues" is photo-realistic. Elvis' "Heartbreak Hotel" is subjective. Captain Beefheart's "Bat Chain Puller" is Visionary. Or theater. Shakespeare's Richard III is photo-realistic. Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is subjective. Ibsen's Peer Gynt is Visionary. Or film: Hawks' Red River is photo-realistic. Tourneur's Out of the Past is subjective. Tarkovsky's Solaris is Visionary.
How do Visionary artists get that way? They were undoubtedly born with the proclivity, but in poking into their early lives, I've noticed that most had a traumatic event that cut the ground out from under them. Typically, this occurs between the ages of four and seven, when the imagination engine is in high gear. Some had a near-fatal accident or illness. Some lost a parent. The attachment to reality is badly shaken, and the child seeks a firmer foundation elsewhere. EVB's mother died when he was seven.
scenes from the known world. They were depicting places, events, and creatures that had never been seen.


Every night before you go to sleep, to recharge and reset for the next day, you do this thing. We know you do, because we do it too. You scroll Instagram. Even when you tell yourself you're **NOT GONNA TOUCH THAT PHONE** somehow, it ends up in your sleepy hand. And it's destroying your slumber.
Studies prove that light is the most powerful cue for us when it comes to our circadian rhythms. And it is closely related to our melatonin production. Melatonin is present in low levels during the day, is released a few hours before bedtime, and peaks in the middle of the night (in other words, when it's darkest). Looking at light suppresses melatonin (terrible news for bedtime tech abusers who have a hard time self-motivating to turn their devices off). But OFF they MUST go! A day without good sleep is groggy, unfocused, and not nearly as productive as you'd like it to be.
So what are the steps you should take to ensure that you rise refreshed and ready to greet the workday? Our friends at it™ bed dished some of their best advice (and yes, it involves cookies). Read on weary workers!
Limit screen time. Instead of checking your emails before bed, or scrolling Instagram for inspiration, opt for something non-tech related. Read a book or do some light yoga to de-stress. You should likewise highly consider taking the television out of your bedroom. It's so easy to fall asleep binge-watching your favorite shows, but find a new way to get that brain to unwind. Your body will thank you.
Take a warm shower or bath before bed. Doing so forces your body to redouble efforts to get rid of heat, resulting in cooler skin when you snuggle into bed – easier to fall asleep!
Have an oatmeal raisin cookie: Yes, indulging a little bit will get your sleep on the right path. Oats contain both magnesium and calcium and are high in carbs, which means you'll get a lot of neurochemical serotonin to help make you sleepy. You'll get to bed much easier after this light snack, but keep it to one (maybe two!) to avoid trying to fall asleep on a full stomach.
Keep things cool: Use a small fan to lower the temperature and get good airflow around the room. Remember, cooler is better for sleep. But note: Studies show that going to bed with warm feet will help you fall into deeper sleep faster.
And remember: routines before bed teach your body to unwind (necessary for everyone, but especially busy, working women with full time jobs AND side hustles). So whatever your routine is, prioritize it.
Tell us! What screen-free activities do you include in your nightly routine?


Known only from Windsor Tableland, approximately 50km south-west of Cape Tribulation, northern Queensland. The area of occupancy of the species is approximately 300 km2.
Moist vine forest between 900m and 1300m asl. Calls from sticks, logs, low vegetation and from under leaves on forest floor. Eggs are believed to be terrestrial with no free-swimming tadpole stage as for other microhylids.
Extent of occurrence limited but > 101 km2 , similar area of occupancy. No evidence for decline, high density in area of occupancy.
Population is not in National Park and it only occurs in a small area of State Forest (McDonald 1992). Its persistence in areas selectively logged within the past 15 years suggests it is not as vulnerable to this type of disturbance.
Some habitat is protected in State Forest.
Species Account Citation: AmphibiaWeb 2008 Cophixalus bombiens: Buzzing Frog <http://amphibiaweb.org/species/2246> University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA. Accessed Apr 24, 2019.