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← When Cocaine and Monsanto's Roundup Collide, War on Drugs Becomes a Genetically-Modified War on Science
China uses fear to hush up poisoned children →
Rightwing and anti-fascist protesters riot in London
Posted on September 17, 2009 by phillip
Police hit by bricks and bottles as they try to keep apart 1,000 rival demonstrators near Harrow mosque
Riot police were struggling to contain protests by anti-fascist demonstrators and rightwing organisations outside a mosque in north-west London tonight.
Officers were hit by bricks and bottles as they tried to keep about 1,000 rival demonstrators apart outside the partially completed mosque near the tube station in Harrow.
Seven people had been arrested and weapons, including bottles of bleach, a hammer and a chisel, were seized, a Metropolitan police spokeswoman said.
Police were braced for trouble after the rightwing English Defence League (EDL) and a group called Stop the Islamisation of Europe (SIOE) said they would converge on the area at 5pm for a rally to mark the eighth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Unite Against Facism called on its supporters to meet for a counter-demonstration.
At around 5pm demonstrators, some armed with weapons, broke through police ranks and ran through the streets.
The stand-off was still going at around 7pm, with groups of youths seperated by riot police.
The police spokeswoman said: "There have been a number of further movements by the crowd in large groups attempting to reach small numbers of other people.
"Throughout the afternoon police have identified and stopped a number of people believe to be heading to the original SIOE demonstration from getting to the protest area."
Witnesses said anti-fascist demonstrators outside the mosque burst through police lines in an attempt to reach groups of EDL supporters who were gathering in the surrounding streets.
One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It's terrifying. This group of men came running down the street towards us and we had to hide with a couple of young Muslim boys in a shop.
"It's really tense and we can still hear the police helicopters overhead. I've never felt this kind of tension in Harrow, it's horrific."
Before today's protests, Muslim community leaders had expressed frustration that their mosque had become the focal point for the rally and had urged demonstrators to protest peacefully.
The EDL has held several similar rallies throughout the summer. More than 30 people were arrested last weekend at a similar portest in Birmingham.
by: Aidan Jones
from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/sep/11/rightwing-anti-fascist-protesters-riot
This entry was posted in fascist attacks and tagged anti fascist action, religion, social tension, united kingdom. Bookmark the permalink.


- Presentation about 20th anniversary of Rice Lake sister cities. Author: Jeana Schieffer.
- Information bulettin from our sister city Rice Lake, 2009.
- Informative leaflet about exchange program in Rice Lake created by ex-exchange students.


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Register to access your municipal account online
Kouga's municipal accounts for April 2017 are in the mail and expected to reach residents and businesses during the course of the week.
Executive Mayor Elza van Lingen said the municipality wished to apologise for the delay in both the emailing and posting of accounts.
"The delay was caused by technical difficulties beyond our control and compounded by the many public holidays during the month of April," she said.
"As the accounts were sent out later than usual, the municipality will only be charging interest on outstanding amounts for this period from 1 June."
The Mayor said residents were also encouraged to register for the municipality's online service so as to receive their accounts via email or to view their accounts online through the "Ratepayers Info System" on the municipal website.
"The online service was introduced so as to enhance support to residents and ratepayers. Once registered, residents can access their municipal account no matter where they are, as long as they have access to email or our website," she explained.
The registration process is as follows:
Contact the municipality's Income Department at Jeffreys Bay to obtain an access key. Phone 042 200 2138 (Patrick), 042 200 2135 (Trevor) or 042 200 2263 (Centelle).
Go to the municipal website at www.kouga.gov.za.
Click on the "Ratepayers Info System" link on the home page.
Click on the "Register Here" option
Complete the info as requested. This will include a user name, password, the account holder's name, surname and ID number, the postal and physical addresses, at least one contact phone number and email address.
Once you have completed this section, your login name and password will be forwarded to the email address used during registration. You can use the link in the email to confirm registration and login to the Ratepayers Info System.
Once you have logged in, you can link your existing Kouga municipal account/s to your user profile. Do this by clicking on the "click here to link an account to your user ID" icon.
Fill in your account number and the access key supplied by the Income Department. Your account will now appear under the "My Accounts" section.
If you have more than one account, you do not have to register again. You can simply add a new account to your existing profile using the account number and access key. Please note that a different access key is required for each account.
Once this process has been completed, residents can view their account balances, meter readings and property information, as well as service and tariff information, online.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


JOHANNESBURG, March 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rhenus Group took over the South African freight forwarding and logistics specialist, World Net Logistics (WNL), which has its headquarters in Johannesburg, in March 2019. In addition to having a dense network of business sites in South Africa, the company also has several branches and partners in Asia and Germany. The takeover is still subject to approval by the relevant cartel authorities.
The World Net Logistics Group not only involves WNL in South Africa, but also the national companies known as WNL Germany with business sites in Bremen and Frankfurt/Main as well as WNL Asia with companies in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand and Singapore.
The core business activities of World Net Logistics involve air and sea freight operations. One major focus lies in providing air freight connections between South Africa and Germany as well as maritime links between South Africa and China, Germany and Great Britain. WNL also has its own vehicle fleet for overland services as well as warehouse capacity in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and East London. WNL's customers mainly come from the automotive, electronics, health care, FCMG and retail sectors.
"The takeover of World Net Logistics marks an important step for us in establishing a network in South Africa and other African countries. WNL's presence in Asia and Europe also strengthens our global network with additional intercontinental connections. We are confident that we will grow further together and that within the Rhenus Group, WNL will continue to develop sustainably," says Tobias Bartz, a Rhenus Board member.


Other Projects – Teater-Crocker, Inc.
Our decades of experience supporting school districts and state agencies through nearly every kind of challenge means that sometimes the projects we engage in don't easily fit into one of our primary categories. We pride ourselves in supporting districts and state agencies both deeply as well as broadly to achieve the best resolutions to messy and complex challenges. Below are examples of projects we have completed around the country that are not included in other categories.


Stout was engaged by a Washington D.C.-based real estate firm to assist with ASC 805 needs in conjunction with the acquisition of various assisted-living and independent-living developments in multiple states.
Our work included a review of both market-based and historical income streams, cash flow projections, closing statements, and other transaction due diligence. We projected cash flows for the properties, built out healthcare-specific cost models, and discreetly valued the underlying land. We valued real estate intangibles like in-place leases, and also opined on avoided lease-origination costs and favorable/unfavorable leasehold interests.
Our analysis was successfully reviewed by a national audit practice, and we were able to smoothly and efficiently assist our client with their purchase accounting requirements.
How to Review a Commercial Real Estate Appraisal Report: How Can an Attorney Ascertain the Merit of an Appraisal?


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Abelardo Luján Rodríguez, né le  à Sonora (Mexique) et mort le  en Californie (États-Unis). Il fut président du Mexique entre 1932 et 1934.

Biographie
Le , Plutarco Elías Calles (ancien président toujours très influent) obligea le président Pascual Ortiz Rubio à démissionner et Abelardo L. Rodríguez fut désigné comme nouveau président de la République. Pendant son mandat il modernisa le système financier en créant plusieurs institutions financières et développa l'éducation au Mexique. Il révisa aussi le mandat présidentiel qu'il fit passer de quatre à six ans. Après son mandat, il fut élu en 1934 gouverneur de l'État de Sonora. Il accorda une attention toute particulière à l'éducation et fonda l'Université du Sonora. En 1948 il se retira définitivement de la vie politique pour raison de santé. Il mourut aux États-Unis en 1967.

Il participa à la Révolution mexicaine en 1913 et gravit rapidement les échelons.
 En 1916 il fut nommé colonel.
 En 1921, chef militaire de la Basse Californie.
 De 1923 à 1929, dirigeant de la Basse Californie.
 En 1932 il devint ministre dans le gouvernement de Pascual Ortiz Rubio.

Bibliographie

Notes et références

Voir aussi

Liens externes
  Site de la Présidence du Mexique Liste des Gouvernants du Mexique
  Monografías Biographie des Présidents du Mexique
  Gobernantes de México Liste des Gouvernants du Mexique
  Bicentenario 2010 Galerie des Gouvernants
  Virtual American Biographies Biographies des Présidents du Mexique

Personnalité politique mexicaine
Président du Mexique
Naissance en mai 1889
Décès en février 1967
Secrétaire de la Guerre et de la Marine du Mexique
Secrétaire de l'Industrie et du Commerce du Mexique
Naissance dans l'État de Sonora
Décès à 77 ans
Personnalité masculine mexicaine

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Q: Sharing a git repository stored on dropbox Following the steps suggested in this answer, I managed to set a repository on my local machine, push it to the bare repository on the dropbox folder and clone it to another local location. That is, invoked git clone ~/Dropbox/git/project.git . in a directory ~/project-image. This means that it seem to work fine - at least for me alone.
However, I don't manage to clone it using https. From dropbox I obtained the URL of ~/Dropbox/git/project.git and then tried something like
git clone https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xxxxxxx/xxxxxxx .

in another directory ~/project/image2~. This didn't work... I got the following error:
warning: remote HEAD refers to nonexistent ref, unable to checkout.

In the answer I mentioned it seems like it is possible to share the bare repository from dropbox. How? It seems like the URL of the subdirectories changes for each subdirectory and thus git cannot clone. Is this the reason? Is there a way to overcome this? Note that I don't want to put the repository on the public part of my dropbox and I want to share a link if needed.

Edit - Verify the repository on dropbox: As per @Idx suggestion I ran, in ~/Dropbox/git the following: cat project.git/HEAD which returned ref: refs/heads/master.

A: For git to be able to clone or fetch from an http server that doesn't have support for git's smart http protocol (which would be the case for Dropbox), you need to run git update-server-info any time that you update a ref (branch or tag) in the repository being served in that way.
Depending upon how you are intending to do updates to that repository, you may be able to setup one or more hooks to do this for you automatically.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Facebook Videos Mobile: Facebook enables you to upload and also share videos, much like pictures. Posting videos rather than simply photos could help divide your business from as well as share more details than those that publish just images. While Facebook allows you to share a video when you submit it, discovering your videos later gives you the alternatives of re-sharing, taste or editing them in various methods. Your videos don't have an exclusive place, as they're organized with your images. Whether you have a Facebook web page or a personal account, you'll locate the videos in the exact same location.
2. Scroll down and also click the "Photos" link under your cover photo near the top of your timeline web page. Click "videos" in the leading left corner, alongside the Your Albums going. The Your videos section includes videos you have actually uploaded to Facebook.
2. Click a video to open it in a watching home window and also watch it. This new windows also reveals the video's sort and comments. Mouse over the reduced right edge of the video location to see the Options, Share as well as Like buttons.


text:
Home/Industry News/Appointment/Interpet appoints international sales manager
AppointmentIndustry News
Interpet appoints international sales manager
Laura McGuire Send an email Wednesday, 16 December 2020, 11:53
UK pet and aquatics business Interpet has appointed Lester Bunce as its international sales manager to help meet "ongoing demand" for its product.
Bunce, who will be working on sales outside the UK, has more than 28 years of experience in the pet industry, historically with Interpet and most recently at Mars Petcare.
As part of his new role, Bunce will be responsible for "expanding the global reach of its brands, including Kaytee and Nylabone".
Mark Hoskins, managing director at Interpet, said: "We're very excited to have Lester back in the Interpet team. His depth of experience, industry knowledge and sales management capabilities will complement our growing vision for Europe and beyond."
Bunce added: "I am really pleased to be back at Interpet and play my part in a great team. I can see all the pride, passion and drive for innovation and the 'can do' attitude remains at the heart of everything we do.
"With my background in the Pet and Aquatic trade I see a fantastic opportunity in my new role to further grow sales and distribution of our core brands across both current and new export market opportunities."


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Royal Pomp: U.K. tradition on display for Parliament opening
Gregory Katz	The Associated Press Published Monday, October 14, 2019 6:51AM EDT Last Updated Monday, October 14, 2019 7:59AM EDT
LONDON -- Brexit may have Britain's political system in turmoil, but the State Opening of Parliament Monday provided a return to reassuring rituals dating back centuries.
The new parliamentary session was opened by Queen Elizabeth II, the longest reigning monarch in British history, in the magnificent setting of the House of Lords.
The 93-year-old monarch was accompanied by her eldest son, Prince Charles, because her husband, Prince Philip, has largely retired from public life at the age of 98.
The state opening marks a rare convergence of the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and the monarch.
It includes a House of Lords official known as "Black Rod" -- for the first time, a role filled by a woman, Sarah Clarke -- who is rebuffed when she tries to enter the House of Commons to summon members to hear the queen.
The door is slammed in Black Rod's face to symbolize the House of Commons' independence from the monarch -- then opened after Black Rod knocks three times on the door with an ebony rod.
The queen's arrival at the Sovereign's Entrance in Parliament was carefully choreographed. She travels from Buckingham Palace in a horse-drawn state carriage, escorted by the Household Cavalry.
Before she arrived, the priceless Imperial State Crown and other regalia used in the ceremony was brought to Parliament in a separate heavily-guarded carriage.
The crown includes 2,868 diamonds, including the Second Star of Africa diamond, and many other gems. The crown was made for King George VI's coronation in 1937, based on a crown designed for Queen Victoria in 1838.
The heavy crown is a powerful symbol of the queen's authority, but Elizabeth chose not to wear it. It was instead placed on a cushion nearby.
Queen Elizabeth II travels in a carriage to parliament for the official State Opening of Parliament in London, on Oct. 14, 2019. (Alberto Pezzali / AP)
Yeoman warders take part in the traditional Ceremonial Search ceremony ahead of the official State Opening of Parliament in London, on Oct. 14, 2019. (Richard Pohle / Pool via AP)
3 EU nations say Brexit talks likely to go beyond summit
'There may be deaths': Dire no-deal Brexit warning from exiting U.K. medical officer
EU sees hope in Brexit talks; Irish leader sees wide gaps


Blake Lively displayed her curves on 'Gossip Girl' in this formfitting coral pencil dress.
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Gossip Girl Season 6, Episode 4 Chuck (Ed Westwick) finds himself attending an unexpected gathering as he tries to uncover the truth about Bart.


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Reno Gem & Mineral Society A nonprofit corporation organized for the purpose of creating, developing, and encouraging interest in the rock, gem, and mineral hobbies as well as locating and identifying various material through field trips.


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Report on Karangetang (Indonesia) — 12 July-18 July 2006
Smithsonian / US Geological Survey Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 12 July-18 July 2006
Global Volcanism Program, 2006. Report on Karangetang (Indonesia). In: Sennert, S K (ed.), Weekly Volcanic Activity Report, 12 July-18 July 2006. Smithsonian Institution and US Geological Survey.
Volcano Profile | Weekly Report (12 July-18 July 2006)
The Alert Status of Karangetang was raised on 13 July from 2 to 3 (on a scale of 1-4) due to increased eruptive activity. On 12 July, lava flows were observed moving E toward the Kahetang and Batu Awang rivers at a maximum distance of 2 km from the vent. White emissions reached a height of 600 m above the crater (7,800 ft a.s.l.).


text:
Q: How do you handle having hundreds of console workers? I am having trouble handling hundreds of console workers across different servers.
Defining a worker: It's a simple console app that processes some data and repeats its job infinitely.
But what to do when you have hundreds of console workers?
How do you manage them or check them if they are running?
Is there any term for this specific process or any kind of orchestration?


Condor Data Services is an onshore-offshore information management company based in California, with offshore operations in the Philippines. Condor Data offers electronic discovery and litigation document coding services to the legal community. Condor Data also offers non-legal document management services, real property services, lease abstraction services and software development.
We bring together the right people and the right technologies to help clients manage their data both efficiently and cost-effectively.
Content Copyright 2011. Condor Data Services. All rights reserved.


Moving toward the brink of war is about as serious as a geopolitical relationship can get — and that is where Moscow and Ankara found themselves after NATO member Turkey shot down a Russian fighter jet on the border with Syria on November 24 last year.
Diplomatic efforts succeeded in calming the immediate tensions, but nonetheless Moscow's reaction was a pledge to "seriously reevaluate" its relationship with Ankara.
As well as a raft of economic sanctions, part of the geopolitical rhetoric was a move by the Kremlin to halt all talks around the already complex negotiation process on the planned TurkStream gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey under the Black Sea.
The link — originally intended as a 63 Bcm/year South Stream replacement — had already been downgraded to a two-line 31.5 Bcm/year project, and talks were becoming increasingly protracted as Ankara insisted the pipeline's realization be linked to a gas discount on Russian gas imports.
But Moscow drew a line under TurkStream after the fighter jet incident (which Turkey initially refused to apologize for), suspending talks on further progress on the pipeline.
The result was speculation about what could replace it — Bulgaria looked to capitalize on the Russia-Turkey standoff by quietly promoting the idea of a new version of South Stream to Bulgarian shores.
But as quickly as TurkStream was written off, it rose again in September like a phoenix from the ashes of the downed jet following a July apology from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
And then in October, Moscow and Ankara signed an intergovernmental agreement on the construction of two 15.75 Bcm/year lines to Turkey, one for the domestic market and one to the Greek border for onward transit to southeast Europe.
The revival of TurkStream was complete.
Now, work is moving quickly with offshore construction permits already in place, while the pipe that had been earmarked for South Stream is expected to be easy to quickly lay. Eyes will be on the lay-barge market to see if any large-scale chartering takes place.
All this, of course, will help Moscow keep a hold over the gas markets not only in Turkey but also in the wider region.
The timing of the intergovernmental agreement was also notable, coming just a few weeks after Turkey imported a cargo of US LNG — the first time a European market traditionally supplied by Russia had purchased any US LNG.
Clearly, the finalization of the political accord on TurkStream was a signal to Europe and competing suppliers that Russia still means business in the region.
As part of the pipeline deal, Moscow and Ankara also reached an agreement on the price Turkey will pay for the gas it imports from Russia.
It was not immediately clear if it would be equivalent to the 10.25% discount on the existing price structure agreed last year but never implemented.
Sources told S&P Global Platts that a discount was part of the deal, but at a lower rate — anywhere from 5% to 7%.
Of course, a lot has changed since the discount was first agreed back in February 2015.
The main thing is that gas prices in Europe have plummeted, making it less urgent for Ankara to secure itself a contractual price discount.
Russia also has an incentive to lock Turkey in — new possible suppliers are emerging all the time.
As well as the startup in 2018 of gas flows to Turkey from Azerbaijan via the TANAP line, new gas could come to Turkey from the East Mediterranean, from the semi-autonomous northern Iraqi region of Kurdistan, and from a resurgent Iran.
Turkey is a growing market with demand set to exceed 50 Bcm/year. Russia last year sent 27 Bcm of gas to Turkey — more than half of the country's overall consumption — so Turkey is still very reliant on Russian gas.
And for Gazprom, Turkey remains its third biggest market, representing some 18% of the company's total exports.


text:
House Republicans consider high-skills immigration bill
GOP's tech visa bill copies, literally, Democrat's bill
A guide to H-1B, green card reform
GOP seeks to help high-tech firms with visas
GOP advances bill to help China, India tech grads
But is the 'Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act' really fair?
By Patrick Thibodeau
WASHINGTON - A key House committee this week approved a Republican-sponsored high-skill immigration bill intended to help advanced degree holders in India and China get green cards to work in the U.S.
The bill, advanced by the House Judiciary Committee, eliminates per-country limits without changing the overall cap. The limits have created long wait times for applicants in countries where the demand for green cards is high. The bill needs action by the full House and Senate before it can reach President Obama's desk.
The federal government sets a cap of 140,000 employment-based green cards a year, with no more than 7% from any single country. Because demand is highest for advanced degree holders from India and China, the per-country cap has meant delays for residents of those two nations of at least four years for a green card. By contrast, people from most other countries with advanced degrees have little wait.
The per-country caps will be eliminated if the bill, the "Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act" (H.R. 3012), becomes law. But what may be called fair by some, isn't seen as such by others.
In a letter for committee leaders, the Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association said the law would create a two-year wait for Koreans who get science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) degrees from universities in the U.S. It urged the committee "not to force engineers from Korea to wait [an] additional two years in their immigration process to get green cards."
The legislation was introduced by U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), and was backed by the committee chair, Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas).
"This legislation makes sense," Smith said in a statement Thursday. "Why should American employers who seek green cards for skilled foreign workers have to wait longer just because the workers are from India or China?"
Ron Hira, a public policy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, said that by relaxing the per-country limits, Congress is placing a priority on EB-2, or advanced degree-holder, green card applicants. "This especially helps those workers from India and China waiting in line," he said.
"This tilts the employment-based green card preferences towards higher-skilled workers, which is a good thing," said Hira of H.R. 3012. "There is of course, much more work that needs to be done. Hopefully, Congress will next turn to helping American high-tech workers by closing the obvious and enormous loopholes in the H-1B, L-1, B-1, and J-1 guest worker programs."
The IEEE-USA supports lifting per-country caps, but wants lawmakers to take a broader approach by giving green cards to students who graduate from U.S. universities with so-called STEM degrees.
"The country-cap only approach will have no net impact on the American economy at all," said the IEEE-USA, in a letter from its president, Ronald Jensen. "No American jobs or companies will be created. And the enormous economic potential found in a well-crafted reform bill will have been squandered."
There are two bills, one from U.S. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), and another, narrower, but similar bill from U.S. Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), that would grant green cards to U.S. STEM grads with job offers.
Proponents of that approach characterize it as a job-creation strategy, because it helps retains U.S.-trained foreign workers. Opponents warn that green cards in exchange for jobs could have unintended consequences and lead to diploma mills.
Backers estimate that green cards for STEM grads will lead to about 50,000 new green cards a year, about half for the STEM graduate and the remainder for family members. Opponents say that estimate may under count the actual impact.
On the elimination of the per-country cap, John Miano, the founder of the Programmers Guild, said the cap, established in 1965, set up a diversity system "to make immigration look like the world." By eliminating the cap, "we have an act that sets up a system to make immigration look like India and China."
Patrick Thibodeau covers cloud computing and enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @DCgov or subscribe to Patrick's RSS feed . His e-mail address is pthibodeau@computerworld.com.
Senior Editor Patrick Thibodeau covers Internet of Things, enterprise applications, outsourcing, government IT policies, data centers and IT workforce issues for Computerworld.


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At Glacier Vehicles we have a reputation for quality customer service, after-care, premium quality vehicles and great conversions; all at reasonable prices. With a team of highly knowledgeable sales consultants we can help you with a fantastic conversion, or to just choose the right van. Glacier will ensure that any conversion we do meets your operational requirements. At Glacier Vehicles, you can always ask for a demonstration to see how a refrigerated van solution can fit in with your business. Glacier Vehicles ensures that every vehicle arrives at the customer door in perfect condition, HPI checked and fully performance tested.
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Your opinion matters. Leave your review of Frisco's Family Services Center.
Description: Frisco's Family Services Center is a food pantry. Serves Frisco.
Food pantry service hours: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday: 9am-12pm and Wednesdays 9am-12pm. .
Do you have items to donate? Contact Frisco's Family Services Center at the phone number provided above to see if they can use any items you may have to donate.
If you are looking to volunteer for Thanksgiving or any other time, please contact Frisco's Family Services Center at the phone number provided above.


Zakład Etyki Instytutu Filozofii UMK oraz PTF o/Toruń zapraszają na wykład prof. Simone Pollo (Sapienza University of Rome) pt. Human Nature after Darwin: Science and Ethics.
Simone Pollo is PhD in Bioethics (Università di Genova 2001). From 2002 to 2005 he has participated to the research project Anim.Al.See ("Alternative methods in animal experimentation: evaluating scientific, ethical and social issues in the 3Rs context"), financed by the European Union. From 2006 to 2010 he has been temporary research fellow at the Faculty of Philosophy of Sapienza University of Rome. He has taught at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia ("Bioethics") at the University of Tuscia ("Bioethics") and at the University of Turin ("Ethics of human-animal relationships"). He is a member of the board of the Master in Practical Ethics and Bioethics, at Sapienza University of Rome. He serves as secretary of the Bioethics Commitee for Veterinary Surgeons and as a member of the scientific board of Politeia. His research interests are focused on applied ethics and bioethics (especially on the topics of reproductive ethics and human/non-human relationships). In the field of theoretical ethics he is interested in the topic of naturalism and he focuses on the contributions of neuroscience and ethology to philosophical ethics in the framework of Darwinism. He is the author of the books "Scegliere chi nasce. L'etica della riproduzione umana tra libertà e responsabilità" (Guerini, Milano 2003) and "La morale della natura" (Laterza, Roma-Bari 2008). He has also participated to E. Lecaldano "Dizionario di bioetica" (Laterza, Roma-Bari 2002) and he has edited (with M. Balistreri) "Bioetica e mass-media. Le questioni della privacy e della buona informazione" (Guerini, Milano 2004).
« Dr Adrian Wójcik został ekspertem Światowej Organizacji Zdrowia!


← Is your intranet breaking the law?
Do intranet banners work or are they just litter?
If I scatter web banners across the intranet to publicise my campaign, it will have a big impact and raise awareness among people.
No it won't! Web banners can become a check list item for every kind of initiative. Site owners can get several requests each week to publish banners on their sites. As they only have a limited number of slots for banners on their pages and they give priority to those relevant to their local audiences, most banners never see the light of day despite the time and effort put into creating them.
… and few people look at them.
Selective attention is a widely recognised behaviour on the web backed up by reams of usability evidence. Selective attention is what web users quickly develop from browsing around web pages – it basically means that they learn to ignore adverts and content that looks like adverts.
Take a look at these diagrams which are heat maps created from eye tracking software following what a sample group of users looked at on web pages. The red colour is where the users looked most … the grey is what they ignored. The adverts on these pages have been highlighted with green boxes … as you can see, users instinctively ignore them!
So, the lesson seems to be: unobtrusive and relevant adverts are OK … hold that thought.
aiming to have a maximum of three banners on a web page – more than three is litter!
This entry was posted in best practice, intranet, publishing, user testing and tagged best practice, bt intranet, content, intranet, research, usability. Bookmark the permalink.
I too have had the problem of too many requests for intranet banners and it is a pet hate of mine. So I ran some experiments using Google Website Optimiser to test different versions of adverts, including static images, animated GIFs and plain text adverts. The campaign was to encourage staff to update their staff directory records.
The results were conclusive for this particular campaign experiment: the plain text advert in the right hand column of the page, Google style, was the winner.
After further experiments and taking lessons from Google advertising, we don't allow header banner adverts on the intranet and only allow right hand tower adverts, preferably in text. We also encourage advertising on pages that are in context with the advert.
Thanks for your comments. I like your approach. People who want these banners forget the main purpose why users go to a site. They don't want to be distracted unless there is a good reason why.
* There are a fixed number of promotional boxes on the intranet homepage.
* These are placed so as not to impact on intranet usability.
* Projects or business areas can book a promotional box for a week.
* After that, the advert is replaced by the next booking.
* The link to the project/area/tool then goes into the main navigation of the intranet at the appropriate location, and not on the homepage.
This is a win-win: business areas get to promote their activities; user needs are still met.
b) thankfully that's what we do in BT for our intranet!
I think the real challenge for intranet teams is finding ways of saying "yes" rather than "no".
It's tempting for intranet teams to act as gatekeepers, "preventing" bad stuff from getting onto the intranet. This just isn't sustainable. No-one reports to the intranet team, and if the barriers are too high, then content goes elsewhere (such as onto wikis).


This guy should never have been given access to sensitive information in the first place.
POSTSCRIPT: We'll see whether the legacy media hyperventilates over this case they way they did over the allegation (ultimately proven false) that the Bush administration leaked a CIA agent's name to punish her husband. Ha ha. Just kidding.
This entry was posted on Sunday, October 30th, 2011 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Legal, National Security, Political.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.


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Q: Allowed memory size of bytes exhausted every 20 min | PDOStatement | Laravel | Live Server My laravel project recently started throwing this error every 20 min. for 2 days already. I have not done any updates.
[2022-11-23 09:40:04] production.ERROR: Allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted
(tried to allocate 1478656 bytes) {"exception":"[object]
(Symfony\\Component\\Debug\\Exception\\FatalErrorException(code: 1): Allowed memory size of
268435456 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 1478656 bytes) at
/usr/www/users/webuser/admin/Example-Admin-
PHP/vendor/doctrine/dbal/lib/Doctrine/DBAL/Driver/PDOStatement.php:129)
[stacktrace]
#0 {main}
"}

I cannot increase the memory_limit in the php.ini. Thats not a real solution. I don't know why every other thread recommends it.
The error occurs exactly every 20 min, but I do not have any cronjobs configured. Could it be something related to laravel? I use laravel 5.8. PHP version on the server is: 7.2
My stacktrace looks like this:
[stacktrace]
#0 {main}
"}

Any code I could add somewhere to improve the logs?
Also it seems that nothing is broken, eventhough I currently see the error every 20 min. Everything works find and fast on the live site, how is this possible?


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Michiguide.com 2010 News Archives
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West Michigan: Newsmakers Nov. 11, 2010
Mike Austerman
on November 11, 2010 11:28 PM | Permalink
Grand Rapids Press:
Join us live at noon Friday for an interview with Scott Winters and Michelle McKormick, former hosts of "Mouth 2 Mouth," which aired from 9 a.m. to noon weekdays on WOOD-AM (1300). The locally produced show was replaced this week by Glenn Beck's nationally syndicated talk show. Scott and Michelle have agreed to join us from noon to 1 p.m. Friday on MLive.com to address their fans and share what's next in their careers. Video of the interview will be streamed live here. Fans also will have an opportunity to ask questions and address the former radio talk show hosts in an online chat. .. Live interview: 'Mouth 2 Mouth' hosts Scott Winters and Michelle McKormick, formerly of WOOD radio, to address fans (Thu, 11/11)
Three years ago, longtime radio personality Sabrina Fairchild heard a clear message over divine airwaves. "I was in prayer, and I felt like God was preparing my heart for something different," said Fairchild, the former morning co-host with Steve Kelly on WOOD-FM (105.7) from 2005 to 2007 and on WSNX-FM (104.5) from 1993 to 2005. "Three weeks later, I lost my job. It was another phase of Clear Channel going private and downsizing." The broadcasting industry, turbulent at best, had cut loose one of the area's most beloved radio personalities, but Fairchild was not in turmoil over it... Former radio personality Sabrina Fairchild has new book (Thu, 11/11)
This page contains a single entry by Mike Austerman published on November 11, 2010 11:28 PM.
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About the site | Read our blog
SciCombinator
Discover the most talked about and latest scientific content & concepts.
Concept: Accuracy and precision
Convolutional networks for fast, energy-efficient neuromorphic computing
Published over 3 years ago
Deep networks are now able to achieve human-level performance on a broad spectrum of recognition tasks. Independently, neuromorphic computing has now demonstrated unprecedented energy-efficiency through a new chip architecture based on spiking neurons, low precision synapses, and a scalable communication network. Here, we demonstrate that neuromorphic computing, despite its novel architectural primitives, can implement deep convolution networks that (i) approach state-of-the-art classification accuracy across eight standard datasets encompassing vision and speech, (ii) perform inference while preserving the hardware's underlying energy-efficiency and high throughput, running on the aforementioned datasets at between 1,200 and 2,600 frames/s and using between 25 and 275 mW (effectively >6,000 frames/s per Watt), and (iii) can be specified and trained using backpropagation with the same ease-of-use as contemporary deep learning. This approach allows the algorithmic power of deep learning to be merged with the efficiency of neuromorphic processors, bringing the promise of embedded, intelligent, brain-inspired computing one step closer.
Concepts: Neuron, Action potential, Demonstration, Performance, Accuracy and precision, Intelligence, Architecture
Towards a Psychosis Risk Blood Diagnostic for Persons Experiencing High-Risk Symptoms: Preliminary Results From the NAPLS Project
Schizophrenia bulletin
A barrier to preventative treatments for psychosis is the absence of accurate identification of persons at highest risk. A blood test that could substantially increase diagnostic accuracy would enhance development of psychosis prevention interventions.
Concepts: Blood, Sample size, Measurement, Greek loanwords, Psychometrics, Reliability, Accuracy and precision, ANOVA Gauge R&R
External urethral sphincter pressure measurement: an accurate method for the diagnosis of detrusor external sphincter dyssynergia?
Combined pelvic floor electromyography (EMG) and videocystourethrography (VCUG) during urodynamic investigation are the most acceptable and widely agreed methods for diagnosing detrusor external sphincter dyssynergia (DESD). Theoretically, external urethral sphincter pressure (EUSP) measurement would provide enough information for the diagnosis of DESD and could simplify the urodynamic investigation replacing combined pelvic floor EMG and VCUG. Thus, we evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of EUSP measurement for DESD. PATIENTS #ENTITYSTARTX00026;
Concepts: Diagnosis, Measurement, Electromyography, Pelvic floor, Accuracy and precision, Urethral sphincter
Reliability and Validity of the KIPPPI: An Early Detection Tool for Psychosocial Problems in Toddlers.
Published about 7 years ago
The KIPPPI (Brief Instrument Psychological and Pedagogical Problem Inventory) is a Dutch questionnaire that measures psychosocial and pedagogical problems in 2-year olds and consists of a KIPPPI Total score, Wellbeing scale, Competence scale, and Autonomy scale. This study examined the reliability, validity, screening accuracy and clinical application of the KIPPPI.
Concepts: Psychometrics, Reliability, Clinical psychology, Accuracy and precision, Problem solving, Problem
Simultaneous determination of moxifloxacin and cefixime by first and ratio first derivative ultraviolet spectrophotometry.
Chemistry Central journal
BACKGROUND: The new combination of moxifloxacin HCl and cefixime trihydrate is approved for the treatments of lower respiratory tract infections in adults. At initial formulation development and screening stage a fast and reliable method for the dissolution and release testing of moxifloxacin and cefixime were highly desirable. The zero order overlaid UV spectra of moxifloxacin and cefixime showed >90% of spectra are overlapping. Hence, simple, accurate precise and validated two derivative spectrophotometric methods have been developed for the determination of moxifloxacin and cefixime. METHODS: In the first derivative spectrophotometric method varying concentration of moxifloxacin and cefixime were prepared and scanned in the range of 200 to 400 nm and first derivative spectra were calculated (n = 1). The zero crossing wavelengths 287 nm and 317.9 nm were selected for determination of moxifloxacin and cefixime, respectively. In the second method the first derivative of ratio spectra was calculated and used for the determination of moxifloxacin and cefixime by measuring the peak intensity at 359.3 nm and 269.6 nm respectively. RESULTS: Calibration graphs were established in the range of 1–16 mug /mL and 1–15 mug /mL for both the drugs by first and ratio first derivative spectroscopic methods respectively with good correlation coefficients. Average accuracy of assay of moxifloxacin and cefixime were found to be 100.68% and 98 93%, respectively. Relative standard deviations of both inter and intraday assays were less than 1.8%. Moreover, recovery of moxifloxacin and cefixime was more than 98.7% and 99.1%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The described derivative spectrophotometric methods are simple, rapid, accurate, precise and excellent alternative to sophisticated chromatographic techniques. Hence, the proposed methods can be used for the quality control of the cited drugs and can be extended for routine analysis of the drugs in formulations.
Concepts: Spectroscopy, Ultraviolet, Respiratory system, Upper respiratory tract, Accuracy and precision, Lower respiratory tract, Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, Spectrophotometry
Improving the Accuracy and Efficiency of Identity by Descent Detection in Population Data
Published almost 7 years ago
Segments of identity by descent (IBD) detected from high-density genetic data are useful for many applications, including long-range phase determination, phasing family data, imputation, IBD mapping and heritability analysis in founder populations. We present Refined IBD, a new method for IBD segment detection. Refined IBD achieves both computational efficiency and highly accurate IBD segment reporting by searching for IBD in two steps. The first step (identification) uses the GERMLINE algorithm to find shared haplotypes exceeding a length threshold. The second step (refinement), evaluates candidate segments with a probabilistic approach to assess the evidence for IBD. Like GERMLINE, Refined IBD allows for IBD reporting on a haplotype level, which facilitates determination of multi-individual IBD and allows for haplotype-based downstream analyses. To investigate the properties of Refined IBD, we simulate SNP data from a model with recent super-exponential population growth that is designed to match UK data. The simulation results show that Refined IBD achieves a better power/accuracy profile than fastIBD or GERMLINE. We find that a single run of Refined IBD achieves greater power than 10 runs of fastIBD. We also apply Refined IBD to SNP data for samples from the UK and from Northern Finland, and describe the IBD sharing in these data sets. Refined IBD is powerful, highly accurate, easy to use, and is implemented in Beagle version 4.
Concepts: Genetics, Demography, Population, Population ecology, Accuracy and precision, Segment, World population, Carrying capacity
A New extractive spectrophotometric method for determination of rizatriptan dosage forms using bromocresol green
Daru : journal of Faculty of Pharmacy, Tehran University of Medical Sciences
Background and the purpose of the study: Rizatriptan is used effectively for the treatment of migraine headache. In this study, a simple, rapid and low cost spectrophotometric method based on the ion-pair complexation is proposed for the determination of rizatriptan in raw material and dosage forms. METHODS: The ion-pair complexation using bromocresol green as reagent was performed in a buffer solution and the absorbance was measured by a spectrophotometer. The ion-pair formation conditions were optimized and the accuracy and precision of the method were calculated.Results and major conclusion: Best results were achieved by using 6 ml of the bromocresol green reagent in the presence of phosphate buffer (pH 3.0). The stoichiometry of the resulted complex was 1:1. The within-day and between-day precision values were lower than 2.9 and 1.8 percent for the calibration range of 0.5–50 and 10–100 mug/ml, respectively. The proposed method was successfully used for the determination of rizatriptan in dosage forms without any interference.
Concepts: Spectroscopy, Chemical equilibrium, PH, Phosphate buffered saline, Accuracy and precision, Buffer solution, Equilibrium chemistry, Spectrophotometry
Measures of Human Mobility Using Mobile Phone Records Enhanced with GIS Data
In the past decade, large scale mobile phone data have become available for the study of human movement patterns. These data hold an immense promise for understanding human behavior on a vast scale, and with a precision and accuracy never before possible with censuses, surveys or other existing data collection techniques. There is already a significant body of literature that has made key inroads into understanding human mobility using this exciting new data source, and there have been several different measures of mobility used. However, existing mobile phone based mobility measures are inconsistent, inaccurate, and confounded with social characteristics of local context. New measures would best be developed immediately as they will influence future studies of mobility using mobile phone data. In this article, we do exactly this. We discuss problems with existing mobile phone based measures of mobility and describe new methods for measuring mobility that address these concerns. Our measures of mobility, which incorporate both mobile phone records and detailed GIS data, are designed to address the spatial nature of human mobility, to remain independent of social characteristics of context, and to be comparable across geographic regions and time. We also contribute a discussion of the variety of uses for these new measures in developing a better understanding of how human mobility influences micro-level human behaviors and well-being, and macro-level social organization and change.
Concepts: Psychology, Geography, Geographic information system, Accuracy and precision, Behavior, Human behavior, Mobile phone, Cartography
Ultrasonic Multiple-Access Ranging System Using Spread Spectrum and MEMS Technology for Indoor Localization
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
Indoor localization of persons and objects poses a great engineering challenge. Previously developed localization systems demonstrate the use of wideband techniques in ultrasound ranging systems. Direct sequence and frequency hopping spread spectrum ultrasound signals have been proven to achieve a high level of accuracy. A novel ranging method using the frequency hopping spread spectrum with finite impulse response filtering will be investigated and compared against the direct sequence spread spectrum. In the first setup, distances are estimated in a single-access environment, while in the second setup, two senders and one receiver are used. During the experiments, the micro-electromechanical systems are used as ultrasonic sensors, while the senders were implemented using field programmable gate arrays. Results show that in a single-access environment, the direct sequence spread spectrum method offers slightly better accuracy and precision performance compared to the frequency hopping spread spectrum. When two senders are used, measurements point out that the frequency hopping spread spectrum is more robust to near-far effects than the direct sequence spread spectrum.
Concepts: Measurement, Ultrasound, Accuracy and precision, Digital signal processing, Finite set, Spread spectrum, Direct-sequence spread spectrum, Frequency-hopping spread spectrum
Discussions of Life Expectancy and Changes in Illness Understanding in Patients With Advanced Cancer
Accurate illness understanding enables patients to make informed decisions. Evidence of the influence of prognostic discussions on the accuracy of illness understanding by patients would demonstrate the value of discussions.
Concepts: Critical thinking, Medical terms, Accuracy and precision


Before taking over the program in 2016, I was an assistant coach for four years. I have been a part of Wolverine teams that have won 3 league championships, a National Championship and a CIF-SS Div 1 title.
I graduated from Fresno State with a BA in Health Science. As an athlete, I was able to help the Bulldogs win their first ever NCAA Div 1 National Baseball Championship.


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Diablo III pushed back to early 2012, beta phase extended
By Paul_Ryan 23 September 2011
Diableard Challenge participants are "officially" off the hook
Blizzard has become infamous for holding back the release of a game until it's "done," so this news should come as no surprise, even if it is a disappointment. Earlier today, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard Entertainment, Mike Morhaime, announced that the company would not be meeting its end-of-the-year goal for Diablo III. Morhaime said that he expects Diablo III to be finished sometime in early 2012. The upside of this news is that the beta phase will be extended. The downside is obvious.
"With every game we make, the temptation is always very strong to launch as soon as possible. However, we didn't put so many years of work into Diablo III to release a game that was almost ready," Morhaime wrote on the Diablo III blog. "The beta test is going very well, and we look forward to making the most of the extra time we're taking to deliver an experience that lives up to our vision for the game and the expectations of our players."
While we would have liked to play the game sooner, Morhaime is right: expectations are high, and we'd gladly trade a few more months of waiting for an experience that meets them. If you haven't already opted in for a chance to participate in the beta you still can. People with a active Battle.net accounts can do so through their account settings. If you don't have an account, you can get one on the beta FAQ page.
One last note is that the delay puts Diableard Challenge participants in terrible peril. Morhaime prudently anticipated this and offered to release people of their beardly burdens to avoid the inevitable tragedies. He wrote that the Diablo III team "hereby issue an official reprieve to all Diableard participants, including Blizzard employees, if you want to trim or otherwise manage the lower half of your face." In other words, you can shave again. We're thankful that Blizzard is allowing us to release our facial hair, even if our beards aren't quite done yet.


My husband and I will be traveling to Vancouver, Victoria, Duncan, and Ucluelet at the end of the month and I've been slacking on my preparation. Hoping some BC area Food52ers can recommend some can't miss restaurants and food-related things to do. Thank you.
I'm going to have to second (or third, or fourth) everyone that recommended Vij's in Vancouver - going there is a total experience.
- Refuel - A MUST. Best dining experience I had there. They use extremely fresh, local Vancouver ingredients and the atmosphere is both fun and extremely focused on food. If you ask, they'll give you some of their house-cured salamis to take home, too.
- Tojo's - If you're looking for sushi, this is a great place to go. It's the most famous sushi restaurant in Vancouver, and for good reason.
- The Elbow Room - Go for brunch and get pancakes.
Thanks everyone for the wealth of information. The information you have provided vastly exceeded by expectation. I will report back following our trip. Very excited to be visiting your neck of the woods.
Hi Melissa! So great to hear that you will be coming to my neck of the woods for a vacation! Late September should be lovely here.
I will also chime in with some recommendations. First, though I would suggest doing a search on The Globe and Mail website for Alexandra Gill: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/. She covers restaurants in the Vancouver area, and I think that she has really good judgement. I would also browse around Eat magazine, an excellent online and print publication that covers food and drink (mostly restaurants) in British Columbia. http://www.eatmagazine.ca/ They are based in Victoria, but they also write about Vancouver, Duncan, Tofino, the Cowichan Valley, etc. In my opinion, they do a much better job of covering the local food scene than the daily papers here, and will give you lots of good recommendations.
There are lots of fun foodie destinations in Vancouver. I too would suggest Granville Island for wonderfully eclectic food vendors. Also, Commercial Drive (the Italian neighborhood) is worth checking out.
Zambris: Wonderful husband and wife owned downtown Italian restaurant, consistently cited as one of the best restaurants in B.C. No reservations.
Brasserie L'Ecole: Fabulous, casual French food -- I love the steak and frites here. Located near Chinatown. Excellent wine list. No reservations.
Ulla: Fairly new restaurant near Chinatown by noted Vancouver chef, also serving delicious local ingredients with a modern twist. No reservations.
Pizzeria Prima Strada: Artisan brick oven gourmet pizzas in the Cook Street Village. Very popular, but for good reason. Try one of the special pizzas -- they are made with seasonal ingredients and are always amazing. Don't miss the homemade gelato. Mozzarella cheese used on the pizzas is from local Vancouver Island water buffaloes.
Relish: Newish downtown restaurant only open for lunch with yummy sandwiches and soups. The vegetarian sandwich featuring lentil pate is out of this world. All of the pork sandwiches I have tried here have also been wonderful.
Devour: Tiny downtown restaurant run by two women with lovely, fresh seasonal food. Menu changes daily. Open mostly for lunch and a few nights for dinner. Yummy muffins, soups, salads, and sandwiches.
Hernandez: Authentic, Family owned, Central American cocina, serving burritos and tacos in handmade tortillas. This hole-in-the-wall downtown restaurant has very little ambiance, but the food is wonderful.
White Heather Tea Room: If you are in Victoria, you must have afternoon tea at least once. The White Heather Tea Room in Oak Bay serves high tea with homemade scones and cream, lovely pastries and fun little sandwiches.
Stages: If you want to get a late night bite or just have a light dinner try Stages, a small plates wine bar in the trendy Fernwood neighborhood. Great wine list, lots of charcuterie and fabulous desserts.
Red Fish, Blue Fish: Upscale fish and chips and yummy fish sandwiches sold from a converted shipping container on the wharf (cross street is Fort). As striped beet says, this place is insanely popular and unless you get there early, you will wait in line. But it is well worth the wait. No table service -- you eat on makeshift stools outside on the wharf. We have had limited luck with calling in our orders ahead of time. Sometimes if they are too busy, they won't take orders. Also, if the weather is dicey, they will sometimes close w/o notice.
Definitely get your fill of Asian restaurants in Vancouver. Victoria's Asian options are somewhat limited and not that authentic.
If you are here on a Saturday, check out the Moss Street Market, perhaps Victoria's largest and best farmer's market. It takes place on Saturdays from 10-2 p.m. in the Fairfield neighborhood. Lots of farmers, artisan crafts, live music, food (grilled wild salmon burgers, homemade ice cream sandwiches, grilled sausages, and tamales). Don't miss B-Rad Bread. His chocolate croissants and brioche pastries are divine. There are many other outdoor markets in Victoria, including some that take place in the evening.
Here are some of my other favorite food destinations: Bakeries (Pure Vanilla -- lovely desserts, Wildfire -- yummy mini-tarts and delicious whole-grain breads, Fol Epi -- amazing breads); Cafes (Habit and Discovery make the best espresso drinks in town); Silk Road Teas (lovely, especially if you are a tea connoisseur), and Choux Choux Charcuterie (amazing deli -- great place to buy picnic foodstuffs).
If you are able to get to Sooke and really want to splurge, see if you can get a reservation at the Sooke Harbour House, one of the best restaurants in Canada. This high end restaurant grows much of the organic food on their menu and the setting is really out of this world. The Edge, also in Sooke, is a quirky, unpretentious restaurant that serves delicious local food.
Hope this is helpful, Melissa. Let me know if you have any questions!
I am not that familiar with Cowichan Valley however I would imagine one of the wineries would be your best bet for food and if they don't have restaurants they would most likely be able to recommend some.
Good luck! I know you will enjoy it! I you find a bottle of Hester Creek Cabernet Franc or even one of the white varietals including Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc or Chard/Sem or Trebbiano be sure to try....they wine is really really good! They are based out of the Okanagan. In that region they produce some pretty good wine.
Wow! Thank you for taking the time to make such great suggestions. We are most excited about the asian options in BC as the Asian pickings down here in Florida are slim to none. We'd love to experience a great sushi spot with an omakase offering, ramen, chinese, and izakaya. All the suggestions above have got me super excited about our trip.
Vancouver is my home town and I love the food scene there. Now I am excited about this question because there are so many noteworthy considerations when going to Vancouver....Here are a list of some of my all time fav's!
1. www.bao-bei.ca/ Amazing fusion Chinese Food - one of a kind...try their Daikon Cakes...they cannot be missed.
2. Vij's- Fusion Indian food done to perfection. You may have to wait as this place is popular but so good. You will have never eaten Indian food like nor will you ever go back. Lamb Popsicles will make your mouth drool.
3. Finest Italian in Vancouver hands down is Umberto's Il Giardino. He is a well known celebrity chef in Vancouver and for good reason. His food is out of this world. Don't' think Pasta...this place is so much more than pasta!
4. Le Crocodile for French. It has been around a long time and is outstanding.
5. For Ambience you can eat at Granville Island but don't expect anything too outstanding. Bridges by far has the nicest views.
6. Bishops for sure! Jon bishop is also an amazing chef and his restaurant and service are outstanding. Has has cooked some of the nicest scallops I have ever had.
7. If you are looking for quick and easy you cannot go wrong with Earls - their dry ribs are outstanding. This is not fancy fare but it is good and consistent food. Also, CACUTUS CLUB. There are many of these and the food and cocktails and service are all superb!
Other tips....There is a bread stand in Granville Island called Terra Breads - their fig and anise bread is something so special that when I go back to visit I buy two loaves, one to eat while I am meandering and the other to save for later. It is so good!
Granville Island will make you want to cook. If you like Pate they have a great stand for this there. YOu can't miss him!
Also, for coffee my favorite coffee place in vancouver is jjBean. It is so good. They make a great cup of coffee. As does Artigiano's. You will find jj bean in Granville Island and spotted around other areas such as Yaletown and East Van (Cambie and Main). Artigiano's has a many cafe's too including one just off of Robson and ? Google Map it....you will find it.
Hapa Izakaya (great Japanese) Order the Sake - it comes in Bamboo!
Victoria....don't miss REBAR! Great restaurant and great food.
Tofino - this goes without saying Wickaninnish Inn and The Pointe Restaurant is incredible not only for it's fresh take on food but also it's spectacular views!
For Ucluelet, look up Norwoods, also drive the few miles to Tofino for Sobo (local legend, casual, delicious) and the restaurant at the Wickininnish Inn (world class, killer view, somewhat pretentious) and Shelter.
I'm not that familiar with Victoria options except Red Fish Blue Fish, a shipping container converted to a fish taco and fish and chips take out spot on the wharf - it's amazing; call ahead and place your order if you can to avoid the 45min line up. Also, look up Zambri's. it has a great rep.
Duncan - the area of the Cowichan valley is bursting with farming and local products; i think it will be a beautiful drive and you'll find places to stop and sample.
For Vancouver, there are so many options, if you'd like to suggest what you're most interested in, i'll make more specific suggestions. Some of the highlights found in Vancouver are local, sustainable seafood, fantastic sushi (several options for omakase offerings), ramen, an entire suburb dedicated to authentic Chinese, a dedicated community of restaurants using local, seasonal products.
Gastown - a neighbourhood full of unique spots: Cork and Finn - oysters, seafood, great service, cocktails, atmosphere. Boneta - innovative menu, all delicious, big room, well designed. Salt - wine bar in an alley, menu of charcuterie, cheeses, condiments written on chalkboard. Chambar (on edge of this 'hood)- famous for its mussels variations and tagine, but whole menu is great; also great cocktails and interesting beer list. Try Medina next door for brunch.
Currently new and hot - Hawksworth and Ensemble (Ensemble owned by Canada Top Chef winner). both are downtown.
Sushi - everyone has their favourite and they tend to be neighbourhood places outside downtown - Shiro, Octopus Garden, Toshi, Kibune, Miko (Miko is downtown).
Another great japanese option Vancouver offers is Izakaya (japanese tapas) - there are several locations of Guu, also Hapa Izakaya. they're all delicious.
Outside downtown some great places are La Quercia (italian/amazing), Bishops (long standing/local/'special') Maenam (thai/contemporary).
There are weekend night markets in Chinatown and Richmond (suburb, accessible by sky train) with fun street food and several farmer's markets to walk through. a good source for what's happening can be the food section at www.straight.com.
But like i said, this is just a sampling - if you have some specific interests or want to see different areas of the city, there is so much more.
Feel free to ask more questions and enjoy your time!
Simba's in Vancouver. Spectacular East African food. Please, please get the pigeon pea dish. This place really is not to be missed. Open only for dinner I think, very casual and reasonably priced. http://www.simbasgrill.com/ You also can't throw a stone without hitting a great sushi place there. I ate very well when I was there early this spring. There's also a beautiful market and yummy food court at the Granville Island Public Market--a great way to spend a morning and lunchtime! Have fun.
What foods and utensils do you travel with?


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Home/World/Joe Biden assures US "ready to lead the world"
Joe Biden assures US "ready to lead the world"
William Shakespeare World
He also has his "determination»To fight climate change by hosting the diplomatic and national security team of its future government.
The United States is'ready to lead the world"Says U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who will lead the diplomatic and national security team of his future government on Tuesday, November 24 in Wilmington."It's a team that reflects that America is back, ready to lead the world, not back.He said, indicating the turnaround he intends to pursue in U.S. foreign policy.
Also read:Can Joe Biden's invisible campaign become a model?
The future US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, called for international cooperation to "solve the world's problems». «We can not solve the world's problems alone, we must work with other countries"Says the diplomat appointed by Joe Biden, emphasizing the need for"cooperation"and from"partnershipWith abroad.
Elected Vice President Kamala Harris warned that the task would be difficult. "It will require the regrouping and renewal of America's alliances, the national security and foreign policy institutions that keep us safe and defend, rebuild and strengthen our national interests, and address the existential threat of climate change that puts us all in touch. danger", she said.
«Diplomacy is back»
«Multilateralism is back, diplomacy is back", For her part, assures the future US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, and promises to return to the isolation of the Donald Trump administration."Today I think of the American people, my fellow diplomats, and civil servants around the world.», She stated. "I want to tell you America is back, multilateralism is back, diplomacy is back».
Joe Biden also has his "determination"To fight climate change, by hosting the future Special Envoy who oversees this"existential threat», John Kerry. «I want to be clear. I do not underestimate the difficulty of meeting my daring commitments to fight climate change. But at the same time, no one should underestimate my determination to do so for a moment.Says the Democrat.
The Paris Climate Agreement signed in 2015 "on its own is not enough"Says John Kerry, and calls on the participants of the UN COP26 Conference in November 2021 in Glasgow to"have more ambition together, otherwise we will all fail».
SEE ALSO – Joe Biden talks briefly about his future government
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Trump indictment process: When will the US president appear before the Senate?
Testing: Nitra and Banská Bystrica report numbers of testing
No evidence of a plan to assassinate elected officials on the Capitol
France says Iran is building nuclear weapons capability, which is urgently needed to revive the 2015 agreement


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Russia plans to tow a nuclear power station to the Arctic. Critics dub it a 'floating Chernobyl'
By ihealthblog June 30, 2019
Next month, a floating nuclear power plant called the Akademik Lomonosov will be towed via the Northern Sea Route to its final destination in the Far East, after almost two decades in construction.
It's part of Russia's ambition to bring electric power to a mineral-rich region. The 144-meter (472 feet) long platform painted in the colors of the Russian flag is going to float next to a small Arctic port town of Pevek, some 4,000 miles away from Moscow. It will supply electricity to settlements and companies extracting hydrocarbons and precious stones in the Chukotka region.
A larger agenda is at work too: aiding President Vladimir Putin's ambitious Arctic expansion plans, which have raised geopolitical concerns in the United States.
Woman who tripped on collapsed 'wet floor' sign at Jack Casino awarded $3 million by jury
Fawad Chaudhry appointed as head of COMSATS advisory board | The Express Tribune


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Don't Think Twice is a comedy about an improv troupe, written and directed by a very talented stand-up comic named Mike Birbiglia. His previous film, Sleepwalk With Me, was ripped right from a popular stand-up routine of his, but Don't Think Twice is really its own story, and while Birbiglia plays a role, he also shares screen time with a talented cast.
The improv troupe, who call themselves The Commune, consists of Matt (Birbiglia), Sam (Gillian Jacobs), Allison (Kate Micucci), Lindsay (Tami Sagher), Bill (Chris Gethard) , and Jack (Keegan-Michael Key). They're a really solid group who perform really well together, but their NYC theatre is struggling to stay open, and everyone's chasing their own dream of performing on Weekend Live (an exact replica of SNL).
The movie is quite smartly written. Sam and Jack, a couple, are chosen by Weekend Live's people to come in for an audition. Their friends, filled with achy jealousy, do their best to support and congratulate their luck. But how long can that tenuous brave face hold, especially if one of them is actually cast, and realizes the one thing that every one of them has been yearning for? Don't Think Twice is bittersweet. It's about pursuing your dreams, but also about the cost of actually having them come true.
The cast really sells this stuff. They trained in improv together (Gillian Jacobs was a complete noob) for weeks in order to then be filmed in front of audiences. The result is spontaneous and often quite funny. But the movie itself is not full of "jokes" but finds it laughs in the webbing of the characters.
Chris Gethard is an improv junkie, a member of the Upright Citizens Brigade since 2000, and as an offshoot of that, the host of his own show, aptly named The Chris Gethard Show, which is wildly chaotic and fun. He was a guest writer on SNL for one episode.
After performing with legendary improv troupe Second City (Chicago), Keegan-Michael Key appeared on MADtv, cast against Jordan Peele with the intention that FOX would choose between them and only have one (token) black cast member. Both were riotous and proved their worth, and so they both stayed on, creating a lasting partnership. They produced Key & Peele sketches for Comedy Central for 5 seasons, and wrote a movie together this year, called Keanu.
Tami Sagher was also a member of Chicago's Second City. She's been nominated for 4 Writers Guild of America Awards; 3 for MADtv, and 1 for 30 Rock. She's also written for Psych, How I Met Your Mother, and Inside Amy Schumer, and produced for Bored to Death, Girls, and The Michael J. Fox Show.
Kate Micucci you may recognize as one half of the musical-comedy duo Garfunkel and Oates (she's Oates, if that's not obvious). They perform everywhere, including regularly on your television (and on Netflix!), and the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in L.A. (beginning to see a theme here?). She's been on Scrubs and The Big Bang Theory.
Gillian Jacobs is along for the ride. You may have a softer spot for her if you watched her on Community, but I know her from the Netflix original series Love, where she played the world's most obnoxious character (or possibly the second most – the guy she plays opposite is just as bad and I could never decide who was worse), and I continue to hate her for it to this day.
Together though, they coalesce into a strong unit that makes this movie feel real. Birbiglia is showing aptitude in his direction, and the writing backs up a talented cast. There's an intimacy here that can't be faked, and a truth that elevates this film from just laugh-out-loud funny to heartfelt honesty at times, and biting satire at others. Don't Think Twice currently enjoys a 99% approval rating from Rotten Tomatoes, which makes this movie higher rated than La La Land (93%), Fences (95%), Manchester by the Sea (97%), or Moonlight (98%). Is it actually better than those movies? No. But it's well done, funnier than most big-release comedies this year, and it's made with a clear love of a uniquely American art form.
This entry was posted in Movie Reviews and tagged Chris Gethard, Gillian Jacobs, Kate Micucci, Keegan-Michael Key, Kick-ass!, Mike Birbiglia, offbeat comedies, shits and/or giggles, Tami Sagher on January 4, 2017 by Jay.
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11 thoughts on "Don't Think Twice"
Birgit January 4, 2017 at 12:41 am
I haven't heard of this at all and don't know the actors either but it sounds good from what you wrote
J. January 4, 2017 at 1:50 am
I like the sound of this one. I used to watch Whose Line Is It Anyway? when I was younger and really like improv comedy as a result. When it's done we'll, it's pretty tough to beat.
*well (autocorrect fail right there)
Jane Lurie January 4, 2017 at 2:06 am
Hi Jay, I liked it very much. Pretty surprised, though, by the Rotten Tomatoes ratings. Looking forward to seeing what unfolds at the Golden Globes. It's been a good movie year!
fragglerocking January 4, 2017 at 3:28 am
Good review Jay, though not my kind of movie, it's good to hear people can still do comedy well.
Brittani January 4, 2017 at 8:10 am
I've never heard of this until now, but I'm sold.
The only thing I know Gillian Jacobs from is a film called Gardens of the Night which was not very good, but it's not a comedy so this should be different. Great review!
indiefan20 January 4, 2017 at 6:08 pm
I've been seeing good reviews for this movie. I'm glad that even after the cancelation of their show, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele are enjoying success in the film industry. They're both funny as hell.
As I writer, I have experienced first hand the jealousy that comes with seeing other writers succeed. I'm not proud of it by a long shot, but I'm even jealous of my own mother because of my father's constant praise of her book and apparent apathy towards mine. People just have to realize that for artists jealousy is a part of life and like any other negative feeling, to just let it pass.
Liz A. January 4, 2017 at 11:20 pm
Ah, improv… I do love good improv. I'll probably see this at some point. (Of course, you've never really experienced improv until you've seen a middle school theater class attempt it 😉
Colane Conundrum January 8, 2017 at 2:23 pm
Awesome — this sounds really good! I've been looking for a decent comedy lately.
Lacey January 9, 2017 at 11:52 am
Thank you! Can't wait to watch this one.
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Pullens, 10.06.86, when voting Labour may have made a difference.
Likesay, I own my home. I exercised my right to buy my council flat at the turn of the Millennium, when Blair's government first capped the discount to long term tenants. Word went around our Pullens Buildings, Victorian tenements near the Elephant & Castle, to act now or forever lose the chance to betray one's principles. I duly qualified for the full 70% discount, thank you VERY much.
Our buildings were saved from demolition by squatters, following a legendary battle vs. bailiffs backed by cops in the Summer of '86, but now we're a Heritage Conservation area. South Wark recently valued my place at £430,000, but the more desirable flats regularly achieve £480+. I saw a Facebook post from two years ago, when the record stood at £365,000. Our flats have been earning leaseholders, like me, a grand a week!
According to one analysis, I should thank Thatcher for making me rich by bringing in the right to buy. I'm not going to apologise for having taken advantage of the circs. as they presented themselves, but I did not buy into the Tory mindset. Never say never, but I have yet to leverage the equity in my home to become another blooming property developer.
I have exploited my capital asset by travelling on its rental income. In late 2010, I found a reliable tenant and went to India for six months. Only I neglected to take out travel insurance and came home in four months, badly mangled, with bits blown off. It is quite a tale. Being able to recuperate in my very own home, surrounded by good neighbours, some of whom I've known for decades, has been a major factor in my recovery.
I've considered moving, but continue to live in my over-valued gaff because I like it here, #SarfLDN. The people are more tolerant, I speak their language, and the food is better. Besides, whatever my mission might be, I suspect that it's specific to this location. I'm not selling up because, if I had the money, I should like to buy a nice flat of my own, like the one in which I currently reside. I do not wish to re-mortgage to buy another flat, somewhere cheaper, and don't even talk to me about AirBnB!
Peoples' memories are short. Few remember the last significant property crash, 25 years ago. In London, the 2008 shenanigans arrested market growth for a couple of years, but the madness soon resumed. In South Wark, the Labour-led Council that was elected in 2010 initiated a massive programme of urban renewal that involved the social cleansing of local estates. Rents in the new developments, even those that are supposedly 'affordable', are sky high and there are next to no new 'social rents' (i.e.: Council flats).
The reason I got my gaff valued is because I face a bill for £13,117.27 (including fees of £375). The Council will lend me the money to pay its bill, secured against 3.05% of the equity in my flat; the interest is determined the amount its value increases before it is sold. However, although hardly anyone seems to believe it, even London property prices may tumble. By exercising the 'equity loan' option to pay this bill, I have entered into a game of property roulette with South Wark, praying for a crash.
Housing is such a massive problem in London because of the stinking thinking that surrounds it. More than a place to live, one's flat is an investment vehicle or a rung on some notional ladder. That's why the Elephant is being filled with residential towers that locals cannot afford to live in. Still, that situation can quickly turn around. Most of those new flats have been bought off plan by foreign speculators, who expect to see a profit before they pay the balance. When the market stalls, they will write off their deposits and precipitate an avalanche.
Maybe I'm mad, but I am playing a long game, gambling that by the time I come to repay South Wark, the loan will be worth considerably less than the sum I borrowed. If I'm wrong, 3.05% is not a bad interest rate. It may be that London property continues to defy the laws of nature indefinitely, but I've been forecasting an imminent collapse for years, now. Surely I can't go on being wrong forever?


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Tag: xenophobia
False context: Graphic videos, photos not of recent xenophobic attacks in South Africa
Foreign nationals living in South Africa are again fearful of attacks by locals. But widely shared images and videos falsely captioned as xenophobic violence only get in the way of solutions.
02:55 | 1 April 2019 (GMT)
image check
unproven
Videos supposedly showing 'carnage of foreigners' unlikely from SA
Two graphic, violent videos are being shared online as examples of xenophobic violence against foreigners in South Africa. However, online verification tools suggest their source lies elsewhere.
Blog post: ANALYSIS: Mapping, understanding & preventing xenophobic violence in SA
In an open letter to the South African president, one of the country's big labour unions and an organisation representing African migrant communities called for the identification of areas where xenophobic attacks might occur. Migration expert Alexandra Hiropoulos introduces Xenowatch, a project aiming to provide the building blocks to do that.
'Totally out of the question' that a third of Malawi's population live in SA
South African television programme Carte Blanche investigated the fraught journey to South Africa many Malawians experience. But their hard-hitting figure that "almost one-third of Malawi's population" live in South Africa is completely off-point.
Do 'vast numbers' of refugee and migrant children rely on SA social services?
With a large migrant community in South Africa, both documented and undocumented, do a "vast number" of the "refugee and migrant children end up at the door of our social services department" and have to be placed "in children's homes and foster care", as was claimed recently?
08:05 | 18 August 2016 (GMT)
Factsheet: FACTSHEET: Where do South Africa's international migrants come from?
Where do South Africa's migrants come from? This factsheet looks at the geography of migration in the country.
Is South Africa home to more than a million asylum seekers? The numbers don't add up
A recent report published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees claims that there are more than a million asylum seekers in South Africa, and that the country is home to the highest number of unresolved asylum cases in the world. But the figure is based on a flawed reading of the available data.
Factsheet: FACTSHEET: How many international migrants are there in SA?
There are a number of official-sounding figures about the number of foreign-born migrants in South Africa but many of them are exaggerated or based on unsound data. This factsheet presents the best available data sources.
Factsheet: FACTSHEET: Domestic migration in South Africa
Many reports on migration focus on international migration but the vast majority of migration that happens in South Africa happens within its borders. This factsheet explores the available data on the country's domestic migration.
Factsheet: FACTSHEET: Why is government proposing amendments to South Africa's Refugees Act and what are they?
The factsheet explains the significant amendments proposed to South Africa's Refugees Act 130 of 1998.


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The Dark Side of American Optimism
And the bright side of rising pessimism about the American Dream
Derek Thompson
Adrees Latif / Reuters
Updated at 3 p.m. ET
One of the hallmarks of America's supposed exceptionalism is its citizens' extraordinary optimism. A 2014 study found that Americans were more likely to describe their day as "particularly good" than any rich European country. Nothing reflects this sunniness like the enduring parable of the American Dream, the idea that, only in America, even the poorest can transform their fortunes through hard work.
But there is a dark and deeply ironic element to American dreaminess. Americans are "too optimistic" about the odds of poor citizens getting richer "relative to actual mobility in the U.S.," according to a new paper by the economists Alberto Alesina, Stefanie Stantcheva, and Edoardo Teso. As a result, Americans are less likely to support large federal anti-poverty programs—programs that would actually help the American Dream become reality for more people—since they believe that they are already living among throngs of Horatio Algers.
In Europe, the opposite is true. Citizens of France, Italy, and Sweden are far more pessimistic about social mobility, the study found, and those pessimists are far more supportive of welfare policies. Even within these countries, the "pessimistic respondents tend to favor more generous [welfare]." So, while Americans see their economy as a meritocracy, in which both rich and poor deserve their fates, Europeans see their economies more like lotteries, in which the poor are unlucky through little fault of their own. Poverty isn't what they deserve, but rather what they were born into. Instead, what they deserve is help.
Here, then, is the ultimate irony. Social mobility is actually higher in Europe than in America. The biggest difference between the U.S. and similar European countries is the intergenerational mobility of the very poor. In America, they are locked in a quasi-permanent state of poverty, unable to move into the middle class. The U.S.'s quasi-religious faith in social mobility makes many Americans allergic to welfare, even though welfare is essential to making a society more socially mobile. The American Dream's true believers, blinded by their own optimism, destroy the dream itself.
This dynamic—generous pessimists vs. laissez-faire optimists—is on display often in the news. Senator Bernie Sanders championed universal health care and education along with more cash assistance for the poor. He defended these views by arguing that the economic system was rigged by the plutocratic few against the public. On the other hand, one of the sunniest warriors on the right, Paul Ryan, is an advocate for smaller government, fewer regulations, less health care. He says welfare doesn't work and only smaller government will help the poor get ahead.
And then there is Donald Trump, scrambler of all ideological orthodoxies. Trump has been a fount of gloomy proclamations about economics, trade, work, and America's future. These warnings aren't always comprised of facts. For example, he recently said that nearly 100 million Americans are out of work, a figure composed mostly of retired people. The real figure is closer to 5 million.
But as Alesina and other economists have shown, there may be a surprising and positive side-effect of the pessimism channeled by Trump. When people stop thinking that they live in a natural meritocracy, they tend to support more welfare spending—which, ironically, has the effect of improving social mobility for the very poor. If Trump can persuade conservatives that the economy is inherently unfair, he may help break the fever dream of American optimism and the right-wing's faith that "getting government out of the way" is sufficient for helping the poorest.
Attitudes toward social mobility aren't the only factor that determines welfare policy. Something else that clearly constrains support for anti-poverty spending in America is race. America's historical skepticism of welfare is inseparable from its legacy of states rights and racism. As The Washington Post's Jeff Guo writes, it's possible that racial animosity drives attitudes toward both social mobility and welfare and "some may shelter in the idea of the 'American Dream' to justify their opposition to redistribution." Indeed, the Alesina paper found that, although liberals' support for welfare increased as they became more pessimistic about social mobility, right-wing respondents did not favor more welfare when they were told that social mobility was actually much lower than they expected. For some, "meritocracy" may be a cover for right-wingers who neither want to acknowledge persistent poverty among non-white citizens nor do anything to fix it.
The broader lesson is that social-mobility optimism is neither panacea nor poison but rather, like most medicine, something that requires a measured application. Ideally, Americans would maintain a culture of personal optimism—where each individual young person is motivated to work hard, believing that he or she can achieve their own definition of professional success—with a kind of public realism, which acknowledges that pure meritocracy is a myth, social mobility is not a natural state, and there is no shame in using government programs to correct the hardships life brings. But Americans will have to part with their uplifting overconfidence in their own nation's perfect meritocracy. If Americans want to live the dream, they have to wake up first.
Derek Thompson is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he writes about economics, technology, and the media. He is the author of Hit Makers and the host of the podcast Crazy/Genius.


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01/13/2013 10:51 pm ET Updated Jan 14, 2013
Matthew Davies' Wife Asks Obama To End Family's 'Nightmare,' Drop Medical Marijuana Case
By Ryan J. Reilly
WASHINGTON -- The wife of a California medical marijuana provider who is facing 10 years in prison after being indicted by federal authorities last year is appealing to President Barack Obama to end her family's "nightmare."
Matthew R. Davies, 34, is the former owner of a Sacramento medical marijuana dispensary known as Medizen. He was indicted last July for manufacturing marijuana, along with co-owner Lynn F. Smith and warehouse grow operation manager Robert Duncan, by federal prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California.
In a letter to be sent to Obama on Monday and obtained exclusively by The Huffington Post, Molly Davies writes that her family is "confused and absolutely terrified" at the prospect of her husband spending a decade behind bars. Davies referenced Obama's comment, made in an interview last month, that his administration wouldn't focus on prosecuting recreational marijuana users in Washington and Colorado because there were "bigger fish to fry." Her husband, Davies wrote, wasn't a big fish.
"Mr. President, my husband is not a criminal and shouldn't be treated like one. Matt is not a drug dealer or trafficker. He's not driving around in a fancy car and living in some plush mansion -- trust me," Davies wrote. "My husband is a regular guy, and we're a regular, middle-class family. Yet even though Matt took great pains to follow state and local law, he is currently facing a severe prison sentence. This all seems so surreal."
Both Davies and Smith are currently in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors, with their next court date scheduled for Jan. 18. Duncan reached a plea agreement with the feds in September, agreeing to cooperate with authorities in exchange for the government recommending a sentence of approximately three years.
Davies, on the other hand, is facing a much harsher sentence with a mandatory minimum of five years behind bars. Federal prosecutors have threatened to add additional charges, carrying a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence, unless he pleads guilty.
It's not entirely clear why federal authorities first began looking into Davies' operation. Federal prosecutors said the investigation began in September 2011, after Davies was pulled over by an officer with the California Highway Patrol for speeding. At the time, Davies disclosed to the officer that he was on his way to respond to an alarm at the warehouse where he stored his marijuana supply. It turned out to be a false alarm.
A few weeks later, Stockton Police Officers responded to a report of suspicious activity at the warehouse. There wasn't actually a break-in -- workers were simply repairing a broken window -- but federal authorities obtained a warrant and found 1,962 marijuana plants and 40 pounds of processed marijuana at the warehouse.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California did not respond to HuffPost's request for comment. One of Davies' lawyers said he was surprised by the approach U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner's office has taken in the case.
"It is shocking that the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District would choose to charge Matt with a mandatory minimum at all that would remove all discretion by the sentencing judge," attorney Steven Ragland told HuffPost. "And it's frankly obscene that they're telling him now to agree to spend seven years of his life in federal prison or face new charges that carry a ten year mandatory."
It especially didn't make sense given how quickly the national conversation about marijuana is developing, Ragland said.
"If Matt spent a decade in prison, during that decade you might have Phillip Morris selling medical marijuana," said Ragland. "During that decade, you could have it evolve into something that is not even arguably a federal crime."
Molly Davies wrote in her letter to Obama that his administration's approach to her husband's case didn't make any sense.
"What has my husband done that would justify the federal government forcing my young daughters to grow up without a father?" Davies wrote. "How can your Administration ignore the will of the California people and prosecute this good, law-abiding man for doing exactly what state law permits?"
Legal Marijuana Across The U.S.
Ryan J. Reilly
Senior Justice Reporter, HuffPost
Barack Obama Politics United States Department of Justice Matt Davies Matthew Davies
Legalized for medical use. Flickr: alana sise