text:
PM stresses need for comprehensive approach to tackling climate change
The rice-shrimp farming model in Mekong Delta Bạc Liêu Province proves effective to adapt to climate change. — VNA/ Photo
HÀ NỘI — Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính says there should be a comprehensive approach to tackling climate change, with the grassroots level as the foundation for delivering Việt Nam's commitment in the field.
Chairing the first meeting of the National Steering Committee for the Delivery of Việt Nam's Commitments at the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) held on Thursday, Chính, who is also the committee's head, said Việt Nam's commitments made at the COP26 to reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 and methane emission by 30 per cent by 2030 are in line with the national economic restructuring programme and the global trend of green, circular and digital economic development.
The Government leader emphasised that people and businesses should be the centre, the subject, the goal and driving force of climate change response.
He said climate change combat should be synchronously and effectively combined with green and digital transformation, and other transformations. The entire political system should engage in and all possible resources at home and abroad should be mobilised for the effort, which requires high determination and drastic actions.
He instructed that this year, the steering committee and relevant ministries and sectors should build a comprehensive programme detailing forecasts, goals and tasks for climate change response to submit to the competent authorities for consideration. Each ministry and sector should build its own plan for fulfilling climate change commitments.
The leader suggested focusing on switching to green and clean energy, reducing the use of vehicles using fossil fuel, developing forest coverage and green urban areas, stepping up digital transformation and encouraging the involvement of businesses and people in the effort, among others.
Chính asked members of the committee, ministries and agencies to meet partners, donors and scientists to acquire expertise, resources and experience, and choose qualified personnel with passion and dedication to realise the country's COP26 commitments. —
Source: https://vietnamnews.vn/environment/1114882/pm-stresses-need-for-comprehensive-approach-to-tackling-climate-change.html
Related Topics:adaptationclimateClimate changecopdisaster riskreductionwarming
Vietnamese e-commerce startup raises millions of US dollars
Mekong River's water flows at record low for third year in a row
US to further support Vietnam in climate change response
'Climate change affects everyone': Europe battles wildfires in intense heat
Vietnam refutes rumor that prize-winning environmentalist was jailed for climate-related activities
Support from other countries key to fighting climate change
Việt Nam confirms 866 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday
More needs to be done in Asia to fully unleash its renewable energy potential: MoNRE
TikTok Shop surpasses established players to become one of the top three e-commerce platforms in Vietnam, as the market grows rapidly with a forecast of $49 billion by 2025.
The report by Reputa shows that TikTok Shop has made a significant impact in the Vietnamese e-commerce market, surpassing established players like Tiki and Sendo to become one of the top three most popular e-commerce platforms on social networks, along with Shopee and Lazada.
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the scale of Vietnam's retail e-commerce market in 2022 was estimated at $16.4 billion, which accounted for 7.5% of the country's revenue of consumer goods and services. Shopee emerged as the most popular e-commerce platform with a total score three times higher than the second-ranked platform, Lazada.
Meanwhile, TikTok Shop made its debut in the ranking and came in third, with a total score of 13.56, surpassing Tiki. Reputa's report also ranked the most popular e-commerce companies and industries in Vietnam, with Meta Online Network Joint Stock Company being the most popular e-commerce company and the "Beauty – Health" industry being the leading industry in terms of discussion.
The e-commerce market in Vietnam is expected to grow rapidly, with the growth rate of e-commerce in Vietnam expected to increase rapidly in 2023 and the market forecasted to reach $49 billion by 2025.
Source: https://e.nhipcaudautu.vn/tech/tiktok-shop-emerges-as-top-e-commerce-platform-in-vietnam-3350510/
Vietnamese spends $1.1 billion on food delivery apps
In Vietnam, overall spending on food delivery services reached $1.1 billion in 2022. As of now, the most popular services are Grab and ShopeeFood.
According to Momentum Works, Southeast Asian nations' total expenditure (GMV) on food delivery services in 2022 reached $16.3 billion, up 5% following two years of a delivery boom due to Covid-19.
For the first time in three years, growth in the area was mostly driven by small-scale markets such as the Philippines (up $0.8 billion), Malaysia (up $0.6 billion), and Vietnam (up $0.3 billion).
As Covid-19 became an endemic illness and economies reopened, GMV in bigger markets such as Singapore (down $0.4 billion), Thailand (down $0.4 billion), and Indonesia (down $0.1 billion) dropped.
Grab and ShopeeFood are the two most popular applications in Vietnam, with 45% and 41% of the GMV market share, respectively. The remainder is split between Baemin (12%) and Gojek (2%).
As of the end of 2022 in Southeast Asia, Grab's GMV is estimated to reach $8.8 billion, accounting for 54% of overall GMV in the area and rising by 16% year on year.
Foodpanda is estimated to contribute $3.1 billion, accounting for 19% of the region's GMV and reflecting a 9% decrease; Gojek and ShopeeFood still maintain the same GMV level in 2021, reaching $2 billion and $0.9 billion respectively.
Source: ZingNews
Source: https://e.nhipcaudautu.vn/tech/vietnamese-spends-11-billion-on-food-delivery-apps-3350239/
Apple to begin producing MacBooks in Vietnam by the mid-2023: Nikkei Asia
The American tech giant Apple plans to shift some MacBook manufacturers to Vietnam for the first time in 2023 as tensions between Washington and Beijing over technology continue to rise.
According to Nikkei Asia, Apple has contracted with Taiwan's Foxconn to begin producing MacBooks in the country of Southeast Asia in May 2022.
For all of its key product lines, Apple has been seeking to build production facilities outside of China. Still, the final one, the MacBook, it has taken longer due to the intricate supply chain required for producing laptop computers.
Almost two years ago, the company has planned to move some MacBook manufacturers to Vietnam, where a trial production line has already been set up.
Apple produces between 20 and 24 million MacBooks annually, with factories situated in the Chinese cities of Chengdu, the Sichuan area, and Shanghai.
For China, the loss of control over MacBook manufacturing represents a general deterioration in its role as the world's factory.
Since former U.S. President Donald Trump began a trade war against China, major electronics manufacturers like Apple, HP, Dell, Google, and Meta have all announced at least some preparations to relocate production and sourcing away from the nation.
The majority of data center servers manufactured for companies with U.S. customers, including Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft, are now produced in Taiwan, Mexico, or Thailand.
Apple has regarded China as its most significant assembly base for many years, but in 2022, that successful formula ended.
Due to a lengthy COVID lockout in the spring, important MacBook and iPhone production facilities in Shanghai experienced significant interruptions.
Apple issued a warning in November on delays in the premium iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max's Christmas deliveries, citing labor shortages caused by the epidemic at its most significant production facility in Zhengzhou, Henan province.
AirPods, which began commercial manufacturing in Vietnam in 2020, served as the catalyst for Apple's expansion into that country. Nikkei Asia was the first to reveal that the business moved some of the production of Apple Watches and iPads there this year.
Source: Nikkei Asia
Source: https://e.nhipcaudautu.vn/tech/apple-to-begin-producing-macbooks-in-vietnam-by-the-mid-2023-nikkei-asia-3350198/
Business38 seconds ago


text:
SpaceX Crew-4 byl čtvrtý operační let kosmické lodi Crew Dragon od SpaceX. Start se uskutečnil 27. dubna 2022. Loď byla vynesena raketou Falcon 9 Block 5 z Kennedyho vesmírného střediska k Mezinárodní vesmírné stanici (ISS), kde se dva astronauti a dvě astronautky stali členy dlouhodobé Expedice 67. Loď s posádkou po necelých 170 dnech letu přistála 14. října 2022 při pobřeží Atlantského oceánu, nedaleko floridského města Jacksonville.

Kosmická loď Crew Dragon

 Crew Dragon je kosmická loď pro lety s posádkou navržená v rámci programu NASA CCDev, (Commercial Crew Development) společností SpaceX, především pro dopravu astronautů na Mezinárodní vesmírnou stanici. SpaceX ale loď používá i pro další účely mimo spolupráci s NASA (komerční programy Inspiration4, Axiom Space a Polaris).

Crew Dragon tvoří znovupoužitelná kabina kónického tvaru a nástavec v podobě dutého válce (tzv. trunk). V kabině je hermetizovaný prostor o objemu 9,3 m3, v němž lze umístit sedačky až pro sedm osob (NASA pro lety k ISS využívá 4 místa). Nástavec je možné využít pro dopravu nákladu, který nemusí být umístěn v hermetizovaném prostoru (např. zařízení určeného pro umístění na vnější straně ISS, tedy v otevřeném kosmickém prostoru. Sestava kabiny a nástavce ve startovní pozici měří na výšku 8,1 metru a v průměru má 4 metry.

Posádka
Hlavní posádka:

  Kjell Lindgren (2), NASA – velitel
  Robert Hines (astronaut) (1), NASA – pilot
  Samantha Cristoforettiová (2), ESA – letová specialistka
  Jessica Watkinsová (1), NASA – letová specialistka

V závorkách je uveden dosavadní počet letů do vesmíru včetně této mise.

Záložní posádka:

  Stephen Bowen, NASA
 další členové záložní posádky nebyli stanoveni

Příprava a průběh letu
Prvotní oznámený termín startu – 15. duben 2022 – se vlivem změn v programu (mj. přesuny letu Axiom MIssion 1 z původně plánovaného termínu během Expedice 66 na počátek Expedice 67 a zařazení třídenního testu kompletu rakety SLS a lodi Orion pro misi Artemis I) posunul nejprve na 19. dubna a poté postupně na 20. dubna 2022 v 10:37 UTC, 21. dubna a 23. dubna 2022 v 09:26 UTC. Kvůli posunu odletu Axiom Mission 1 od stanice kvůli počasí v možných místech přistání pak došlo k dalšímu odkladu mise Crew-4 na 26. dubna 2022, v 08:15 UTC, s případnými náhradními termíny 27. a 28. dubna, ale už 22. dubna byl kvůli vhodnějším podmínkám orbitální mechaniky zvolen první z nich – 27. duben v 07:52 UTC.

Bezproblémový start se v posledním stanoveném čase (přesně v 07:52:55 UTC) skutečně odehrál a loď se vydala na šestnáctihodinovou cestu ke stanici, kterou dokončila připojením k hornímu portu modulu Harmony v 23:37 UTC.

Návrat lodi s posádkou na Zemi byl původně plánován na počátek září 2022 – po příletu posádky pro Expedici 68 letem SpaceX Crew-5 s plánovaným startem 1. září 2022. V červenci však byl posunut nové posádky o 4 týdny kvůli nutnosti vyměnit některé díly lodi Crew Dragon Endurance před jejím druhým použitím. Podobně se proto – na začátek října – posunul také odlet lodi Crew-4 od ISS a přistání. Přesné datum odletu bylo později stanoveno na 12. října 2022 v 23:06 UTC. Odpojení od stanice pak dvakrát překazila meteorologická situace v plánovaných místech přistání, takže k němu nakonec došlo 14. října 2022 v 16:05 UTC. Loď pak po normálním průběhu letu přistála nedaleko Jacksonville na Floridě do Altlantského oceánu v 20:55:03 UTC.

Odkazy

Reference

Externí odkazy

 Video ze startu – 27. dubna 2022
 Videoprohlídka kabiny během letu k ISS – 27. dubna 2022
 Video ze vstupu posádky na palubu ISS – 28. dubna 2022
 Video z uvítacího ceremoniálu na ISS – 28, dubna 2022
 Video z odpojení la odletu lodi od stanice – 14. října 2022
 Video z přistání lodi  – 14. října 2022

 Video ze zachycení lodi po přistání a výstupu posádky – 14. října 2022

Kosmonautika v roce 2022
Lety Dragonu 2
Mezinárodní vesmírná stanice

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
SiZZmic Transmedia Enrolling Content Creators to a New Training Model in the Multi-Billion-Dollar Metaverse World
Sizzmic Transmedia
November 30, 2022, 08:15 GMT
Children Learning in the Metaverse.
Woman Learning in the Metaverse.
Robert Lanteigne Founder SiZZmic Transmedia
SiZZmic Transmedia has developed a new Metaverse Training Model and is welcoming content creators in the learning space to help resolve education shortfalls.
Our new Metaverse Training Model is the future way to learn anything!"
— Robert Lanteigne, Founder of SiZZmic Transmedia
CLEARWATER, FL, UNITED STATES, November 30, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ -- SiZZmic Transmedia, a family-friendly content creation Metaverse company, announces its new Metaverse Training Model called Entertraining for its Education Category. The name Entertraining is derived from combining two words that are the major parts of the new model, entertainment and training. The new Entertaining model brings a unique and effective way of delivering courses and improving learning, helping to solve some of the major problems with training.
Entertraining It's an easy and fun 4-step process:
-Choose the training
-Choose a trainer from the list of custom avatars
-Choose the environment you want to learn in
-Start to learn and earn
Vantage Market Research reports that the global Metaverse Education market was valued at USD 4.39 Billion in 2021 and is projected to reach a value of USD 32.39 Billion by 2028 at a CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) of 39.50% over the forecast period.
It is expected that the education category may bring with it the current major problems of online training:
-Low-level engagement
-Quantifying the training effectiveness
-Inadequate training material
-ROI (Return on Investment), meaning the value of the training for the trainee.
The new SiZZmic Transmedia Metaverse Training Model solves these problems in the following ways:
-Creating engaging content
-Measuring Trainee progress in real-time with their AI (Artificial Intelligence)
-Immersive Metaverse training
-Interaction with the content
"Our new Metaverse Training Model is the future way to learn anything! With its immersive aspect, trainees will have a more realistic experience learning their material, and adding the entertainment aspect will help make the learning fun and bring trainees back for more," said Robert Lanteigne, Founder of SiZZmic Transmedia.
They are starting with art and music courses, non-vocational courses, shorter programs, and lots of material for kids and seniors. Some examples of their courses are: "Make a Living with Art," "Metaverse Financial Literacy," "Intergenerational Skills," and "Helping People with Special Needs."
They will then be expanding into Corporate Training, Health Care, Media and Entertainment, and Simulations.
Content Creators in the education field are invited to email SiZmic Transmedia with their training content (course) proposal and learn how to enter this expanding arena.
For more information, visit their YouTube Channel, https://sizzmictransmedia.com, or email info@sizzmictransmedia.com.
About SiZZmic Transmedia
SiZZmic Transmedia, founded by Start-Up Entrepreneur Robert Lanteigne in January 2022, is at the forefront of WEB 3.0 as a metaverse company with its global headquarters in Clearwater, FL. They are uniquely creating safe, family-friendly content in three areas: education, sports, and entertainment. They offer cutting-edge, fully immersive virtual reality and semi-immersive augmented reality training with custom-made haptic devices for many industries and fields in the metaverse, such as glass blowing, welding, sailing, handyman, jewelry design, disaster response, and more. As certified metaverse developers, they are also hosting development meet-ups, workshops, and conferences and producing virtual trade shows. Creation is in their DNA.
Jeannine Dowdell
Orientation to SiZZmic Transmedia and the Metaverse
Distribution channels: Amusement, Gaming & Casino, Banking, Finance & Investment Industry, Education, International Organizations, Technology
SiZZmic Transmedia Opens India Office Increasing Their Digital Content Creative Team In Billion Dollar Metaverse Market
SiZZmic Transmedia is Privileged to Transport David Pomeranz to the Philippines in a Live Metaverse Concert

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Defence (Viva Voce)
Data Support Services
Qualitative Coding
Statistical Testing
Plagiarism Checking
In-Depth Workshops
Kerryn Warren (PhD)
Meet the always-smiling, ever-helpful Kerryn.
Having lectured and tutored students for over 10 years in subjects ranging from biology (a natural science) to archaeological heritage (a social science), Kerryn brings a unique blend of skills and perspectives to Grad Coach. She's a skilled researcher, published in multiple peer-reviewed journals, and she's even authored textbook chapters.
Methodologies: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods
Collection methods: Surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation
Analysis methods: Descriptive and inferential statistics, supervised and unsupervised machine learning, qualitative data analysis
Research interests: Education, communication, biological sciences, archaeology, anthropology, geology
Supported software: Word, Excel, R, SPSS, QGIS
Kerryn worked as a data scientist at the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON), updating and data-manipulating online geographic services. She then went on to undertake her postdoctoral research at the University of Cape Town, where she was involved in evolution education in South African schools, and evolutionary outreach among the broader public. Kerryn's work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals and presented at international conferences, and she has won several science communication competitions. Over the last 10 years, Kerryn has also lectured and tutored hundreds of students in a wide variety of subjects.
Simply put, Kerryn's passion for education and science communication, combined with strong research skills make her a dynamic, high impact coach.
Kerryn completed her BSc in Human Biology and Archaeology at the University of Cape Town. She then went on to complete her MSc in Archeology and, in 2017, her PhD in Archaeology and Human Evolution (awarded without corrections).
Kerryn's background blends natural science and social science, making her a dynamic member of the Grad Coach team – someone who can appreciate both the "hard" and "soft" aspects of any research topic.
Interested in working with Kerryn? Book a no-obligation consultation online today to discuss how you could work with Kerryn to fast-track your research project.
Book An Introductory Consultation
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text:
Home>Livestock>Cow-Calf
Introducing FEEDSTUFFS 365
COVID & calving — start your preparations ASAP
Cow Longevity Important, But Affected By Many Things
TAGS: Ranching Animal Health
While focusing on longevity is important for any commercial producer, it's also important to focus on the many traits that cause cows to be culled early.
Burt Rutherford | May 24, 2012
Longevity is one of the most economically important traits in the beef cow. It's also one of the hardest to nail down because it's interrelated with many other important traits. "Therefore, it's difficult to separate the importance of longevity itself from the importance of traits that are related to longevity," says Jim Sanders, a researcher in Texas A&M University's Animal Science Department.
Cows leave the herd for many reasons, and what may be important to one producer may not be as critical to another. Generally, though, Sanders says, in a commercial herd, a cow should be culled when she can no longer be expected to be profitable. In that sense, then, one way to define longevity is simply a lack of problems. Here's Sanders' look at some of the problems that can affect longevity:
• Age of cow – In some commercial herds, all cows are culled at a certain age. (Click here to learn how to identify the age of a cow.) This is usually because experience shows cows of that age have higher odds of losing their next calf, weaning too light of a calf, dying, or being too thin to have adequate value as a cull cow. "However, there are genetic differences that affect all these factors," Sanders says, and cows of another breed or crossbred cows may last longer under those conditions.
• Tooth wear and/or lost teeth – "Most people consider the problem with lost or badly worn teeth is that cows with bad mouths can't graze as effectively as those with mouths in better condition," Sanders says. "However, we've probably all seen cows that stayed productive after their mouths were smooth." As we've learned more about gum disease in both people and animals, though, it seems likely that bad mouths may lead to problems, even if the bad mouth does not affect a cow's ability to graze.
• Udder problems – "There are two very different types of udder problems," Sanders says. "One is the lack of milk; the other is the inability of the calf to nurse without assistance because of pendulous udders and/or large teats." Heavy-milking cows can have problems with pendulous udders.
"Feed conditions can also lead to udder problems," he says. "In many cases, a cow whose calves can nurse with no difficulty in the fall or winter will have problems if she calves under lush forage conditions in the spring."
• Eye problems – "Most of the eye problems that cause cows to leave the breeding herd are associated with cancer eye," he says. "Cancer eye is known to be more prevalent in cows with white pigment around their eyes and there are probably genetic differences in the susceptibility to cancer eye that are independent of pigmentation."
• Reproductive performance – It can be argued that this is the single most important economically relevant trait for commercial cowmen. "There are many different ways that reproductive performance can be evaluated and used as culling criteria," Sanders says. "As with longevity, high fertility is largely a lack of problems."
He says it's difficult to genetically improve reproductive performance by selection. "But for the environment in which the cattle are raised, this program combined with selection of bulls out of old cows probably places about as much emphasis on reproductive longevity as is possible with our current state of knowledge."
That brings us back to longevity. While longevity is affected by a lot of different traits, some of which are low in heritability, like reproductive performance, it's still possible to affect longevity in your cowherd. "However, both accuracy and intensity of selection for longevity requires that cows be given the opportunity to express their inherent ability for this trait. Selection of young bulls out of old cows, as a continuous process, seems to be a logical approach," Sanders says.
Cowherd Management, Pregnancy Exams, Selecting Cull Cows
Follow BQA Guidelines When Culling Cows
Identify, Cull Temperamental Heifers Early
Cow Prices Remain At Record Levels


My mojo isn't cooking as well as others lately, but hoping to get some time in tomorrow and Monday and Tuesday to get those creative juices flowing. Got lots of ideas for Christmas coming and all. In between driving here and there and everywhere trying to find that elusive Nintendo Wii Guitar Hero World Tour flippin' band kit!!! Saw one at ToysRUs this week but had the girls with so , hello, who buys Santa gifts in front of kids that still believe? So, no, I passed, went back later without them and, bam, gone. That's a whole different story.
Here's a layout of Lance and Avery on Father's Day fishing at the Andover park. I just love her tiny, little legs and her messy bun!!


text:
'Stop dumping mentally-challenged persons in Anambra'
Tony Okafor, Awka
The government of Anambra has frowned on the rate at which her neighbouring states allegedly dump mentally-challenged persons and other destitute people in the state.
The state Commissioner for Children and Women's Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mezue, stated this on Friday during an interview with Southern City News in Awka.
She said because some states had noticed that Anambra State had a rehabilitation programme for mentally-challenged persons and other destitute people, they have decided to dump them in the state with reckless abandon.
Mezue, who said the state had rehabilitated over 100 persons within a short while, stated that most of such people were from other states.
She said she personally participated in the raid of such persons for onward relocation to Nteje Home for the mentally challenged persons for management.
She said, "Most of the individuals who were picked up from different locations in Anambra State were people from neighbouring states, who were dropped off in Anambra State by unknown individuals.
"The ministry will do all it can to rid the streets of Anambra State of destitute and mentally-challenged people. The manner in which such people are brought into Anambra State to carry out illicit activities like begging and wandering is disgusting."
While thanking the wife of the state governor, Mrs Ebelechukwu Obiano, for supporting the activities of her ministry in that respect, Mezue said scores of people in such conditions had been rehabilitated and reunited with their kit and kin.
She said some of such people were given different types of skills at designated Skills Acquisition centres in the state before they were discharged.
The commissioner, who explained the excruciating pains in tracking people in such conditions, warned that after a moratorium period, the state would take drastic measures against those who had made it a routine to dump destitute persons in the state.
"It is not easy to manage such persons. One of the mentally challenged persons was tracked from the UNIZIK junction, Awka to Amawbia before the team were able to apprehend him. From the information gathered from the boy who is probably in his early twenties, it was revealed that he is from Edo State.
"The subsequent raid that was carried out under the Aroma flyover, Awka, netted an elderly mentally challenged woman, who explained that she is from Lagos State, and was dropped off in Anambra, by her uncle."
Do you crack your knuckles?
The male libido
Average salt consumption safe for your heart — Study
Onion, garlic, others can cause mouth odour –Dentist
Foster mothers unite against female genital mutilation
My PSA and I
Surgeons beg FG to include heart defects in NHIS
Painkiller, ibuprofen, heightens heart attack, stroke risks —Study


text:
module Cor

  def self.u=(v)
    @u = v
  end

  def self.u
    @u
  end
end

class Object
  @@inspect_table = {}
  alias :old_inspect :inspect
  def inspect
    unless @@inspect_table[self.object_id]
      @@inspect_table[self.object_id] = self
      r = self.old_inspect
      @@inspect_table.delete self.object_id
      r
    else
      "#<C:0x******** ...>"
    end
  end
end

class Hash
  @@inspect_table = {}
  alias :old_inspect :inspect
  def inspect
    unless @@inspect_table[self.object_id]
      @@inspect_table[self.object_id] = self
      r = self.old_inspect
      @@inspect_table.delete self.object_id
      r
    else
      "{...}"
    end
  end
end

class Array
  @@inspect_table = {}
  alias :old_inspect :inspect
  def inspect
    unless @@inspect_table[self.object_id]
      @@inspect_table[self.object_id] = self
      r = self.old_inspect
      @@inspect_table.delete self.object_id
      r
    else
      "[...]"
    end
  end
end

Rts = Cor

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Q: Multiple viewports interfering How can I achieve a clean separation between 2 viewports?
I have 2 viewports, one takes full screen length, the other one needs to be less or equal to a quarter of the screen size (I want it to be a map). The problem is they keep interfering, I get to see in the small viewport content from the big one.
Here's the display() function I'm using:
glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);

glEnable(GL_LIGHTING);

glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glLoadIdentity();
glViewport(0,0,newWidth,newHeight);
gluPerspective(45,(float)newWidth/(float)newHeight,0.2,500);
//setup view
glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);

glLoadIdentity();

camera.render(crntMode, radiusNew);

//ground
glColor3f(0.5,0.5,0.5);
draw_ground(50,50,2,2,-2);
...
...
...
glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION);
glLoadIdentity();
glViewport(newWidth / 2, newHeight / 2, newWidth / 2, newHeight / 2);
gluPerspective(45,(float)newWidth/(float)newHeight,0.2,500);

glMatrixMode(GL_MODELVIEW);
glLoadIdentity();

camera.render(mini_map, radiusNew);

//ground
glColor3f(0.5,0.5,0.5);
draw_ground(50,50,2,2,-2);
...
...
...
//swap buffers
glutSwapBuffers();

Both viewport cameras are following the character, one from a third person perspective, the other one from top up. It might be harder to see, but the background from the mini-map viewport is interfering with large one (the large on is acting almost as a background for the mini-map). Sometimes the large viewport covers the small viewport.

A: Viewports aren't mini-windows. The viewport is nothing more than a location in the main window where rendering takes place. All rendering still happens in the same framebuffer. The problem happens because both viewports are using the same depth buffer. OpenGL doesn't know that you want the depth in the larger scene to affect the rendering in the smaller one. It's all just one scene, one framebuffer, to OpenGL.
There are many ways to correct this, all with different performance implications/OpenGL requirements:

*

*Clear the depth buffer between rendering the two scenes with glClear(GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT);. This is the simplest, but the most costly in terms of performance. I only list it here for the sake of completeness; you should instead use:

*Draw your big scene first. Then set the viewport to the smaller scene. Turn off depth testing, but leave glDepthMask on. Then draw a screen-aligned quad who's Z is -1, where the extents of the quad are [-1, 1] in X and Y. The matrices should be identity for both the projection and modelview matrices. This will effectively clear the depth for a part of the scene.
Don't forget to turn depth testing on after drawing the quad. Also don't forget to repair your matrices if needed. This will only work if you're drawing to every pixel of the new viewport (unless you set the quad's color to the intended background color).

*Draw your big scene first. Then use glScissor to set the scissor box to the smaller scene, and use glEnable(GL_SCISSOR_TEST) to enable scissoring. After that, clear the depth buffer with glClear(GL_DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT). Then disable the scissor test and render the smaller scene.
This is like #2, except you don't have to draw a screen-aligned quad. glClear respects the scissor box when scissor testing is enabled, so it will only clear the scissored area.
I offer this as an alternative instead of the suggested mechanism because OpenGL implementations can get the glClear and glScissor behavior wrong. This should be the preferred mechanism.

*Employ the depth range. This can affect the quality of your scene, but it will likely be the fastest (note: you shouldn't care unless you have a real reason to care. That is, only do this if profiling shows that performance is a problem). For your main scene, use glDepthRange(0.1, 1.0); for your small scene, use glDepthRange(0.0, 0.1).
This effectively means that all of the depth values for the small scene will be in front of all of the depth values of the large scene. However, it also means that your large scene will have less depth precision, so z-fighting may be evident.
You can move the 0.1 around as you see fit; you can split the range in half with 0.5, but I personally advise against it. The small scene is less important and z-fighting is less important in the smaller resolution. So you should give more precision to the most important scene.

*Render the small scene to an FBO and blit it to the screen. This is the simplest to reason about. Just create some renderbuffers, one for color and one for depth. Stick them in a framebuffer object. Render your small scene there. And then use glBlitFramebuffer to draw it to the location you want in the default framebuffer.
There are other methods, like employing the stencil test, but these are the ones you could rely on.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Hymenocoleus neurodictyon är en måreväxtart som först beskrevs av Karl Moritz Schumann, och fick sitt nu gällande namn av Elmar Robbrecht. Hymenocoleus neurodictyon ingår i släktet Hymenocoleus och familjen måreväxter.

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text:
Guest Editor's Note: Alphabet Soup
Hal Halpin | 13 Oct 2009 07:52
Editor's Note - RSS 2.0
For this week's Issue of The Escapist, "Alphabet Soup," we could think of no industry insider more qualified to pen an editor's note than Hal Halpin, President of his own "alphabet," the ECA. -Ed.
I may be responsible for more than my fair share of the acronym problems 'round these here parts, but it's only because the organizations and business that I've been involved with were best served by blindly flowing the lead of others who had successfully blazed the trail.
The business-to-business publishing company that I ran, which only the old-timers will remember for brands like GameWeek, GameJobs, Game Over and GameDaily (sensing a theme?), was called CyberActive Publishing, Inc., ( CAPI) - "CyberActive" because it was a blend of two words that seemed to capture where the sector was moving, "cyberspace" and "interactive." Why "CAPI" and the intentional and equally unnecessary abbreviation? Because IDG (International Data Group) and ZD (Ziff Davis) already set the standard.
Names are an important thing in the print publishing business, and that likely translated to the software publishing industry. Take GameWeek, for instance, which was originally titled Video Game Advisor ... yup, VGA. It was immensely popular with its readership of retail buyers, but not so much with advertising agencies and media buyers. Back then, the industry was noticeably divided: In the one corner were the computer game developers and publishers, and in the opposite corner were the console guys. Showing up to a sales meeting with NovaLogic, Spectrum Holobyte or MicroProse pitching with a shiny new issue of Video Game Advisor, in retrospect, may have been a tad ambitious.
So we rebranded the magazine GameWeek, changed the format to tabloid size and gave it a distinctively newsy look and feel a la Variety or Billboard. We upped the frequency from monthly to twice monthly (and for a period of time, weekly), and the readership responded with even more love. Some of that translated into the PC guys admitting that the product was worthwhile and they quickly became steadfast supporters.
Over the next few years, as developers became more comfortable with multiple formats, from PCs to consoles to mobile and online platforms, I decided to try and stay ahead of the curve by slapping the words "interactive" and "entertainment" together and announcing to our staff that the magazine would henceforth be known as Interactive Entertainment (IE). That news went over like a lead balloon. One staffer even cried. I had no idea how much people loved the name GameWeek - to me it was always about the content, not the brand. I persisted, being the stubborn Irish bastard that I am, and Interactive Entertainment stuck.
Not long after, I was walking back from a lunch meeting with Doug Lowenstein, then head of the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA), which later became the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), when I inquired why there was a trade association for publishing companies (his), another for software developers (the Interactive Game Developer's Association, which later became the International Game Developers Association), but there wasn't an entity to represent the retailers. Doug replied that it had been considered before, but people interested in organizing them always had an ax to grind. With that devil-in-his-eye look that he was famous for, he offered me a challenge: "Hey Hal, the retailers all know you because of the magazine and their buyers trust the publication. Why don't you give it a shot?" I'm all but certain he was giving me a hard time, but on the flight back to New York I started thinking about it. "IDSA ... IGDA ... IEMA!" And so the "Interactive Entertainment Merchants Association" was born.
Almost a decade later, we successfully merged the IEMA with a parallel trade group that represented DVD and VHS retailers called the Video Software Dealers Association (VSDA). Post-merger, the combined group was renamed the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA), which made a lot of sense because the IDSA had since become the ESA, so the VSDA becoming the EMA follows naturally.
Finally, almost three years ago, after taking note of the great trade organizations representing developers, publishers and retailers, but not consumers, we embarked on a journey to fill that void. We gave its name a lot of consideration, actually. But you wouldn't think so after reading this story: We called it the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA). ESA = publishing companies; EMA = game retailers, and ECA = game consumers. Hey, at least we in the non-profit old-fart world make our acronyms easy to figure out - although I still have to Google half the messages on my Twitter feed just to understand them!
Hal Halpin is the President of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA), the non-profit membership organization which represents gamers in the U.S. and Canada.
hal halpinecaeditors noteemaesaigdaissue_223trade organization
Zero Punctuation: Video Game Voters Network Yahtzee Croshaw 294 Comments
E3 2008: Escape TV: Velvet Assassin Team Hollywood 24 Comments
TGC 2009: Hal Halpin Interview Team Hollywood 2 Comments
Features: Coding Clementines: Black Girls Make Games, Too Jordan Minor 70 Comments
Schwarzenegger vs. Interactivity Archon 94 Comments
M is for Massive Brendan Main 26 Comments
Letters to the Editor: Alphabet Soup The Escapist Staff 3 Comments


elements into some drinks. "Half an ounce of Coco Lopez coconut cream, one-quarter ounce St. Germaine, one ounce pineapple juice..." began Shawn Warren of the Downtown in Red Bank to describe his five-ingredient sweet entry, the Coco Razz.
The mixologists integrated food in critical ways, from house-smoked fresh grapefruit used by third-place winner Steve Fette of Fiddler's Elbow Country Club in Bedminster, to the homemade chocolate-malted marshmallow in one of Schafer's concoctions. Brown decorated his spicy entry with cold-smoked salami spread pushed into mini-ice cream cones.
from Sirena Ristorante in Long Branch.
Nevertheless, the optional food component did allow bartenders to reflect and highlight the complexities in some of the spirits. "This competition is a perfect opportunity for gin to come out of the closet," said Paula Congote of Phillips Distilling Company, maker of Prairie Organic Gin and Centinela Tequila. "Our gin complements all kinds of flavors. From smoky to citrusy to sugary," she added.
Rob Sorenson of Lefty's Tavern in Barnegat distinguished one of his drinks with mint from his garden.
Matt Brown of the Pig & Prince in Montclair added a dose of heat to his spicy cocktail for the fourth round.
72 December 2014 NJMONTHLY.COM For more cocktail recipes from the event, visit njmonthly.com.
Mix ingredients in a shaker and strain over ice with a coconut-shaving rim.


text:
Guagua, officially the Municipality of Guagua (; ), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Pampanga, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 128,893 people.

The town of Guagua belongs to the Second district of Pampanga, along with the towns in the south-western part of the province. It is  from the capital city of San Fernando,  from Angeles City, and  from Metro Manila. The town is bounded on the north by the towns of Bacolor and Santa Rita; on the south by the towns of Sasmuan and Lubao; on the east, Macabebe and Sasmuan; and on the west, Porac and Floridablanca.

History
Wawa (Lán-nâng: 偎岸, Hua-hua), which means "river mouth" (Kapampangan: alua or bukana), was the earliest recorded form of the town's name according to records dating back to 1590. The town is strategically located along a river which played a vital role in trade and transportation during the precolonial era.

Wawa was already a prosperous settlement when Spanish colonists took control of the town in the year 1561, from then on calling it Guagua, which is a Hispanised form of the original name. Indeed, archeological artifacts have been excavated in a nearby town which affirmed the existence of a prehistoric community in Guagua.

Early inhabitants opted to stay in the town because it was here that they could engage in barter trade with people from different islands, along with other means of livelihood like fishing and farming. The navigable river with which the town was endowed allowed shipping vessels to transport commodities to and from other chief localities, particularly the imperial Manila. The first cargo boat to arrive in Guagua was the Doña Dominga on May 7, 1884. Much later it was followed by the steamships Kaibigan and Kababayan, which anchored at the pier in Bgy Santo Niño, better known as the Yañgco Landing.

In 1892, when the Manila–Mabalacat railroad was inaugurated, Guagua was virtually the port of embarkation to and from Manila that served the province. Commerce was further improved when the San Fernando–Guagua line of the railroad was chartered on November 17, 1907.

The Chinese have long been part in Guagua's social and economic mainstream. In the 18th century, they sought refuge in the town to escape discrimination and persecution in Manila. After their near-total slaughter, the Chinese lived in relative peace while they freely practiced their craft and mingled hand-in-hand with the local residents. The Chinese residents were merchants, masons, woodcarvers, carpenters, agriculturists and labourers. Their influence on the cultural and economic life of Guagua cannot be overlooked. The town could not have prospered so well without the economic services provided by the Chinese.

The town took significant part in the revolutionary struggles against the foreign intruders. A house near a church was made a secret cell of the Katipuneros in August 1897. In March 1898, a massacre of all Spanish sympathisers in Guagua marked the end of Spanish colonialism and the outset of American rule. Moreover, during the Philippine–American War and the ensuing Second World War, Guagua became an important battleground.

At the turn of the twentieth century, a new system of education was introduced and made popular and available to the Filipinos.  The Guagua Elementary School in Bgy Santa Filomena, is believed to be the first to be established in the town in the year 1901.  Later in that year, an English teacher came to Betis district and opened a primary school which functioned on a regular basis. In 1908, Colegio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (now St Mary's Academy in Bgy San Roque) was established in a two-storey building donated by a charitable matron, in downtown Guagua. Later in 1918, Guagua National Institute (now Guagua National Colleges in Bgy Santa Filomena) was founded at the convent of the Catholic church. Further, in 1941, the then-parish priest felt the need for another high school in town, so he opened Saint Michael's College.

At the overthrow of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986, the local government carried out a sustainable development program to address the town's destitute state. From its income classification in 1986 as a third-class municipality, Guagua grew to a first-class one. Guagua garnered several outstanding citations for its achievement, including of several "Most Outstanding LGU" awards.

Guagua was severely devastated by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991.

Geography

Topography
The town is mostly flat and is suitable to any kind of development; agricultural, industrial, commercial and others.  It is only a meter above sea level.

Soil type
In general, the soils of Guagua are of recent alluvial origin consisting of fine sand, silt loam and hydrosol.  The average chemical analysis of its top soils is : nitrogen, 0.02 to 0.1; phosphorus, 0.06 to 0.28; potassium, 0.46 to 1.74; organic carbon, 0.41 to 3.02; and pH value (acidity and alkalinity), 5.61 to 6.99.

Flora and fauna
The climate and topographical features of the vast land of Guagua make it ideal for the growing of fruit trees and vegetables.  Among the fruit trees most fitting to be planted are mangoes, guavas, santol, star apples, and bananas.  For vegetables, sitao, upo, ampalaya, gabi and cucumber are the most commonly produced by farmers and which thrive best in the community.

Being void of forest areas, its fauna are mostly the domesticated ones like, chicken, ducks, cattle, and others.

Climate

Barangays
Guagua is divided into four (4) districts, subdivided into 31 barangays:

Poblacion district

Bancal
Plaza Burgos
San Nicolas 1st
San Pedro
San Rafael
San Roque
Santa Filomena
Santo Cristo
Santo Niño

Pangulo district

San Vicente (Ebus)
Lambac
Magsaysay
Maquiapo
Natividad
Pulungmasle
Rizal
Ascomo
Jose Abad Santos (Siran)

Locion district

San Pablo
San Juan 1st
San Jose
San Matias
San Isidro
San Antonio

Betis district

San Agustin
San Juan Bautista
San Juan Nepomuceno
San Miguel
San Nicolas 2nd
Santa Ines
Santa Ursula

San Rafael was constituted from Dock Island in 1956.

Demographics

In the 2020 census, the population of Guagua, Pampanga, was 128,893 people, with a density of .

Religion
Roman Catholic 88%, Iglesia ni Cristo 5%, Members Church of God International 3%, Seventh-day Adventists 2%, Others (Including Protestantism, Buddhism, Islam and Other Religionist) 2%.

Economy

Government

Like other towns in the Philippines, Guagua is governed by a mayor and vice mayor who are elected to three-year terms. The mayor is the executive head and leads the town's departments in executing the ordinances and improving public services. The vice mayor heads a legislative council (Sangguniang Bayan) consisting of councilors from the Barangays of Barrios.

1937 Heritage Town hall
The seat of Government is vested upon the Mayor and other elected officers who hold office at the Town hall. The Sangguniang Bayan is the center of legislation.

Education

For elementary and high school education, Guagua has numerous schools.

Public

Private
Natividad Adventist Elementary School
St. Mary's Academy of Guagua
Psalms Academy of Pampanga
EZEE Center for the Arts and School Inc.
Mary the Queen College (Pampanga), Inc.
Guagua National Colleges
Immaculate Conception Academy
St. Angela's Academy
Pulungmasle Ecumenical Learning Center

Landmarks and List of Cultural Properties
The town has interesting culture and heritage attractions and landmarks, including Rufino Santos Catholic Center, Capt. Ruben P. Sonco Freedom Square, Monument of Aurelio Tolentino (1867-1915). The Guagua National Colleges is also declared as a national historical landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines during the college's 75th Foundation anniversary in 1993.

|}

Santiago Apostol Parish Church

The 1607 Santiago Apostol Parish Church, commonly known as Betis Church is a Baroque (heritage) Church, located in Guagua, Pampanga (Betis Area). It is a Spanish-era church declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines and the NCCA (under R.A. 4896 as amended by P.D. 374 and R.A. 8492), on November 5, 2001 (one of only 26 churches in the country bestowed that honor). It is part of the Ecclesiastical Provinces of the Archdiocese of San Fernando. In 2009, the National Museum installed a marker of its 2005 Proclamation.

Immaculate Conception Parish Church

The first church edifice was constructed in 1587 but was unfortunately razed by fire. The current Church structure was constructed in 1772 under the administration of the Augustinians. The Church was greatly improved in 1862 until 1870. The interiors are simple and the centerpiece attraction is the main altar, a creation of noted local artist Willy Layug. While still simple, the exteriors on the other hand, are marked by massive strength. The Cathedral-type church is located immediately adjacent to the Guagua Municipal Building and houses the Cardinal Santos Catholic Center and the Immaculate Conception Parochial School.

References

External links

Guagua Profile at PhilAtlas.com

[ Philippine Standard Geographic Code]
Philippine Census Information
Local Governance Performance Management System

Municipalities of Pampanga


text:
Q: How do I call a php file with axios? I am doing a CRUD with vue.js and php. I installed the axios and I believe it is working. I just don't know how to call the php file that connects to the database and creates, read ...
The folder structure:

An excerpt from my script:
<script>
 import axios from 'axios';
 export default {
 name: "HelloWorld",
 data() {
   return{
     showAddModal: false,
     showEditModal: false,
     showDeleteModal: false,
     errorMsg: "",
     successMsg: "",
     projects: [],
     newProject: {
       title: "",
     },
     currentProject: {},
  }
},
created: function () {
  this.getAllProjects();
},
methods: {
  getAllProjects: function () {
    axios
      .get("../php/action.php?action=read")
      .then(function (response) {
        if (response.data.error) {
          this.errorMsg = response.data.message;
        } else {
          this.projects = response.data.projects;
        }
      });
  },

A: In axios you are referencing a file which will not work
methods: {
  getAllProjects: function () {
    axios
      .get("../php/action.php?action=read") // This will not work
      .then(function (response) {
        if (response.data.error) {
          this.errorMsg = response.data.message;
        } else {
          this.projects = response.data.projects;
        }
      });
  },

Axios makes http requests meaning it needs to be calling a server. You will need to have the PHP file running on some sort of server to be able to call it from axios
methods: {
  getAllProjects: function () {
    axios
      .get("http://localhost:8000/some-url") // This will work
      .then(function (response) {
        if (response.data.error) {
          this.errorMsg = response.data.message;
        } else {
          this.projects = response.data.projects;
        }
      });
  },

If working with windows, look into WAMP, if working in OSX look into MAMP
These are two simple PHP servers you can configure

A: Hey I think this is the best solution as it (for me) works locally and when running in production!
this.axios.get(`/thef_file_you_want_to_get/execute.php?, //query-params...
               function (req, res) {
                    // for testing cors...
                    // res.header("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*");
               }

              ).then(function (response) {
                console.log(response);
            })

By removing the origin, 'http(s)://localhost:3000' for example, the request will happen to the current domain. 'yourwebsite.com' => https://yourwebsite.com /thef_file_you_want_to_get/execute.php? for example.


text:
NahidAdmin2018-05-11T09:02:53+00:00
State Premiere | 2015
Ida Panahandeh was born in Tehran in 1979. She has an MFA in Directing, and a BFA in Film Photography. To date she has made many short films, TV movies and was awarded in different national TV festivals. She was a participate of Berlinale Talent Campus in 2009 with her short film "Cockscomb Flower". As a female filmmaker, she has always been interested in women's issues and has tried her best in improving the cultural views on women by making documentaries, the effort which is also reflected in her first feature film, "Nahid".
A young divorcee living with her son in a small northern city of Iran, wants to marry the man she has fallen in love with. According to the current rules, the father has the custody of children; however, her ex-husband has granted her that right on the condition that she doesn't remarry. Struggling to keep both of her beloved ones, she has to think about the third option: Temporary Marriage (Sighe). However, this will get her into a predicament, as despite its being legal, Sighe is not well-received by the society at all. Would temporary marriage be a good solution for her?
Winner of Un Certain Regard special jury prize for debut films at Cannes Film Festival
Ida Panahandeh
Sydney Premiere
Ida Panahandeh, Arsalan Amiri
Bijan Emkanian
Morteza Gheidi
Arsalan Amiri
Sareh Bayat, Pejman Bazeghi, Navid Mohammad Zadeh, Milad Hossein Pour, Pouria Rahimi, Nasrin Babaei
Othere Films


text:
By Rani Sheen
Soaking up the sun with Reese Witherspoon in Cabo
The third annual Los Cabos International Film Festival took place in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, last week—nice location if you can get it—and we were there in our resort-ready best to cover the action. With the sparkling seaside backdrop of Cannes and the intimate size of Sundance—not to mention a ton of buzzy gala films …
Soaking up the sun with Reese Witherspoon in Cabo Read More »
The third annual Los Cabos International Film Festival took place in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, last week—nice location if you can get it—and we were there in our resort-ready best to cover the action.
With the sparkling seaside backdrop of Cannes and the intimate size of Sundance—not to mention a ton of buzzy gala films like Reese Witherspoon's Wild, Richard Linklater's Boyhood, Xavier Dolan's Mommy and Atom Egoyan's The Captive, the festival is making celeb-favourite Cabo cooler.
A regular Cabo visitor, Witherspoon wore a resort-sweet coral and white sweater and skirt (seen above in her Instagram pic) by New York-based, Canadian designer Tanya Taylor to the press conference for Wild, the film she produced and starred in. It's based on the the memoir of Cheryl Strayed, who hiked 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border to Oregon at the age of 26 as a kind of emotional detox after the death of her mother, divorce and experimentation with heroin. Witherspoon talked about wanting to produce films that featured interesting roles for women, and developing the script independently so studios wouldn't say they didn't want her to be profane and do drugs onscreen, which she has encountered before.
As part of LCIFF's mandate to bring the Latin American, U.S. and Canadian film industries together, a whack of Canadians were present, including filmmakers Xavier Dolan (above, with Nancy Grant, producer of his latest, Mommy), Denys Arcand and Atom Egoyan; as well as TIFF director and LCIFF jury member Piers Handling and artistic director Cameron Bailey.
Egoyan's heavy-handedly disturbing The Captive screened and the director received a tribute award on closing night, presented fondly by his lead actress Rosario Dawson, in a flowing cobalt dress, whom he praised for her commitment to causes that fight violence against women.
One of the perks of holding a film festival in a sparkling seaside locale is the ability to hold outdoor movie screenings and ceremonies at the ampitheatre of an impressive modern building in Cabo San Lucas. A VIP cocktail took place on a luxury cruise circling the famous Arch of Cabo San Lucas (above), at the spot where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific. Mexican actor, filmmaker and festival juror Diego Luna played with his two kids on deck, while cool Mexican actresses like Tessa Ia (whose film After Lucia showed at Cannes in 2012) soaked up the sun in printed high-waisted shorts and on-trend round sunglasses.
Extra curricular mingling took place poolside at chic resorts including Hacienda Beach Club (where Witherspoon was staying) and at barefoot beach parties at midnight—Game of Thrones actress Natalia Tena (above) danced in the sand in a flowy floral cocktail dress. All the glitz and glamour was extra impressive given the region was hard hit by Hurrican Odile in September, destroying homes and up to 70 percent of the area's resorts, many of which have yet to reopen, cutting the peak tourism season short and leaving many locals out of work.
Using the slogan "Unstoppable," the festival was seen as a beacon of hope that things are on their way back to normal. The festival wasn't immune to the growing national protests demanding justice for the 43 teaching-college students who were murdered near Mexico City in September: protesters chanted and held signs at the foot of the red carpet (the tourism minister for Baja California Sur was in attendance, and lots of local and international media), and inside Mexican filmmakers and honorees spoke passionately about using the arts to pursue the same goal. A candle was lit on stage during the opening night gala, and on more than one occasion the audience counted aloud in Spanish to 43 to acknowledge the victims.
All in all, it proved there's a whole lot more to Cabo than lounging by the pool (though we did a bit of that, too).
For the latest in fashion and beauty, pick up a copy of The Kit's print edition found inside The Toronto Star on Thursdays, and The Vancouver Sun, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette on Saturdays.
Rani Sheen, Beauty Editor: Looking to the wider world and culture to make sense of beauty trends, Rani brings the newest innovations and most interesting stories (as well as obsession-worthy lip stains and game-changing beach sprays) to the pages of The Kit. An Australian/British transplant, Rani is a former Fashion and Wish magazine editor with an eye for the glorious and the absurd. Find Rani on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.
These Are the Top 2023 Travel Trends (Erotic Escape, Anyone?)
Plus, five buzzy destinations to check out this year


As the two beverage giants struggle with slow sales growth and a strong dollar, their valuations have become stretched.
The Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO) and Pepsico (NASDAQ:PEP) stock are both slumping this week after posting first-quarter earnings. It's a familiar theme: Both companies actually beat earnings estimates but still posted declining revenue in part because of the stronger dollar.
PepsiCo reported earnings Monday morning and, at the time of this writing, shares were down 3%. Pepsi posted a 3% increase in beverage sales volume -- its best in three years -- and a 3% increase in sales from its North American snacks division. Organic revenue (adjusted for currency affects) was up 3.5%, but reported revenue was down 3% because of the stronger dollar.
Coca-Cola saw its stock fall 5% on Wednesday after reporting earnings before the market opened that showed organic revenues were up 2% but reported sales down 4%. The market continues to be concerned with flat growth in soda volume, the company's main business. Despite efforts to diversify away from fizzy drinks, the company's fate will still be closely tied to the success of Coca-Cola brand sales.
Still, there's a bigger problem for Coke and Pepsi investors than the strong dollar and slow sales growth: valuation. As the broader market has become more volatile, investors have sought protection in defensive, dividend-paying stocks like Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Both are Dividend Aristocrats, meaning they've increased their dividends each year for at least 25 years in a row, and their businesses -- food and beverages -- are mostly unaffected by macroeconomic events like recessions.
Coke's dividend yields just over 3% at current prices, while Pepsi's dividend yield sits around 2.7%. But the payout ratios -- or the percentage of income that goes to paying dividends -- of the two stocks have gotten squeezed in recent years. Coke's payout ratio now stands at 83%, while Pepsi's is at 76%. Which means the companies will not be able to continue to hike dividends by 7% or so a year without a corresponding increase in earnings growth.
As you can see from the chart below, both beverage giants have outperformed the S&P 500 over the past year.
KO and PEP data by YCharts.
Both stocks have also gained steadily over a longer time frame despite the headwinds discussed above, and they now carry P/E ratios near 30 (the ratio of the price per share to earnings per share) which is higher than at any other time over the last 10 years. The current S&P 500 P/E ratio is around 24.
KO P/E Ratio (TTM) data by YCharts.
The P/E is the most commonly used measurement to assess the value of a stock. As it increases, expectations for growth tend to move higher, as well as chances of a sharp pullback. As you can see, the two stocks' valuations have increased substantially over the last five years, especially for Pepsi, whose valuation has nearly doubled in that time.
Coke and Pepsi have continued to increase their currency-neutral earnings per share through share buybacks and cost cuts in addition to a modest increase in organic sales. Pepsi reported core constant currency EPS up 11% in its most recent quarter, while Coca-Cola said its adjusted currency neutral EPS was up 9% as lower commodity costs also favored both companies.
Pepsi has been trimming expenses for several years with job cuts and sustainability initiatives. It has also targeted $5 billion in productivity gains by 2019, a goal CEO Indra Nooyi says is still within reach. Coke, meanwhile, has been selling off plants and making other moves in an attempt to trim costs by $3 billion. It hopes slimming down and focusing on brand and marketing will help drive sales and profits.
The cost-cutting for both companies has been effective, but efficiency has its limits. Eventually, the two beverage giants will need to deliver top-line growth of greater than 2% to 3%, or the stock picture will look much less appealing. Investors are counting on the steady dividend hikes to continue, slow growth and ballooning valuations only make that more difficult.
Coke's and Pepsi's valuations can't keep increasing forever. Eventually, profits will have to catch up, or the stalwarts could see a pullback.


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Trade Log In
Beer by Style
Beer by Package
UK Craft
The United States has a wonderful heritage of brewing which can be traced back to Dutch, English and German settlers, with India pale ale, brown ales, porters and stouts, as well as the more familiar pilsner-style lagers, being widely brewed. Because of the distinctive flavours of American hops, pale ale and IPAs are considered to be a type in their own right, not forgetting 'steam' beer, the first style of beer to originate from the USA.
View Beers
For centuries, brewing has been at the very heart of Belgium and forms a large part of the country's culture. Golden or blonde, dubbel or tripel, white or wheat, lambic or Flemish red to name just a few - with the scale of beer types in Belgium it is hardly surprising that when all specialist and one-off brews are included there are an estimated 8,700 different beers.
Beer is an essential element of German culture and is intrinsic to its national identity, however this is not to say that there is a beer 'monoculture' within the country. The country itself was only unified in 1871, turning 26 separate state kingdoms into a single nation. Each of these separate states had their own takes on beer culture, many of which survive to this day.
Where it all started for James Clay. The desire to source the best specialist beer in the world and deliver these drinking experiences to the UK has resulted in a collection of world beers second to none. From the award winning Hitachino Nest, through to Lindeboom, the first beer James Clay ever imported back in 1982.
Beers that are forging their own path, and telling their own story. Some loudly, some quietly. The world classics and iconic brews of the future, beginning to tickle the tastebuds of global drinkers once more. The British think they gave the world beer. And now the world has given it back.
Abbey & Trappist beers
Amber, Red & Brown ales
Blonde, Golden & Strong ales
Lagers, Pilsners & Kolsch
Low & Non Alcoholic beers
Saison & Farmhouse ales
Sodas & Fruit Juices
Sours, Lambics & Fruit
Stout & Porters
Wheat, White and Wit
To be allowed to use the Authentic Trappist Product logo, these beers must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, either by the monks themselves or under their supervision, on a not for profit basis. There are 14 Trappist monasteries producing beer worldwide, 11 of which are allowed to carry the official Authentic Trappist Product logo on their label. Abbey beers are brewed in the same styles as the classic Belgian Trappist beers but not within the monastery walls. Trappist however is not strictly a beer style or set of styles, it is literally, a way of life.
Although defined by their colour on a spectrum from fine copper through to deep mahogany there's a wide range of flavours in this category. Covering everything from the refined maltiness of a Düsseldorf Altibier all the way up to the chocolatey depths of Brown Ale, via the mouth watering acidity of Oud Bruin and Flanders Red.
These beers are closely related to tripels in terms of recipe and ingredients, but favour the expression of fruit fermentation aromas to spicy ones. Within this style we see a crossover between Belgian and British brewing heritage, as the yeast strain used to create duvel (the benchmark of the style), was originally propagated from McEwan's Scotch Ale shortly after the First World War.
Although beer is without a doubt our true focus, we take pride in careful curation of a range of ciders too. We apply the same quality first approach as we would with beer and seek out the finest producers that align with our core values. Apples are one of the UK's richest culinary treasures and we're proud to show them off through these Ciders. Our range of cider includes the award winning Hogans among others.
Globally renowned as the most consumed style of beer, yet also the trickiest to technically accomplish. Without adjuncts to hide behind, a flawless lager is a Brewer's magnum opus. It requires complete control over fermentation and patience in conditioning, with the one ingredient that can never be scrimped on, time. Herbaceous noble hops, crystalline clarity, and stunning drinkability.
With a growing number people choosing to monitor or temper their intake the low and no alcohol sector is booming. We've sought out the best in the world to provide a genuine beer experience packed full of flavour and a diverse range of options.
The history of the meteoric rise and success of craft beer in the USA is dominated by IPA, a style rebirthed in America borne out of disappointment and boredom with the status quo. This is a rapidly changing category with developments in hop utilisation and fashion affecting it almost immediately. In here you'll find everything from crystal clear West Coast pale ales and bitter Belgian pales through to fruited murky New England style IPAs.
A Belgian oddity that is tricky to simply define. Essentially a truly refreshing, bone dry beer, typically brewed with wheat and other common European cereals such as Spelt. Usually fermented with an array of yeast strains, including Brettanomyces, and in some cases lactobacillus too. In the past these were produced with whatever ignredients were to hand, something modern brewers have taken as a licence to run free with adjunct additions such as herbs and fruits.
In a category dominated by a tiny handful of enormous multinational brands we're fiercely proud to champion independent options. These brands are focused on producing delicious sodas and juices from natural ingredients and expanding the flavours available in the category as a whole.
A unique speciality of the Pajottenland region surrounding Brussels. An incredibly complex style involving a baffling mash schedule that creates cloudy protein rich wort, boiling with aged hops, and cooling in an open coolship to allow inoculation with wild yeasts and bacteria that will eventually develop complex sour flavours in the beer over years of fermentation. A confluence point between art, science, and faith. These are then often blended together, with fruits added for an even deeper flavour.
What James Clay does best. Speciality beers from innovative breweries across the world. Not all beer can be neatly put into a style based box. In here you'll find alternative fermentation, unheard of adjuncts, and truly pioneering processes.
The dark side of our beer spectrum, but filled with it's own array of flavours. Luxurious dark chocolate, bitter roasted coffee, and a dash of lactose sweetness are all available inside.
The immediately refreshing cloudy classic, wheat beer, filled with flavours and aromas of bananas and clove produced by the yeast during fermentation. Due to the Reinheitsgebot the commercial brewing of wheat beer was only allowed by being granted a licence by the Duke of Bavaria until 1872 when Georg Schneider was the first commoner to be granted a licence.
Beer packaged in bottles. Did you know, brown glass is predominately used as darker glass helps block harmful UV light that degrades hop aroma compounds in many beers. Bottles come in non-returnable and returnable cases - returnable cases are denoted 'Btls RB' and carry a deposit.
Beer packaged in kegs. Kegs come in returnable and non returnable formats and some carry a keg deposit (denoted 'Keg Dep'). We offer draught technical support for installations and servicing - please ask for further information.
Our selection of canned beers from around the world.
Berlin in eight glorious beery, drinky, foodie stops
If there's a better city to stumble happily from place to place, absorbing food and drink like a wobbly sponge than Berlin, I've not been there. Fortunately, not only have I recently been to the great German capital, but I've remembered enough about it to share a few personal recommendations: where to drink, where to eat, and even where to deposit those empty bottles for maximum social responsibility. So, here goes…
Späti
Location: Pretty much everywhere
If you find yourself waking up in Berlin, the chances are fairly high that you may feel a little tender from the night before. In this case you urgently need to find yourself a Katerfrühstück (quite literally a hangover breakfast). On the way, if you're in need of a bit of refreshment then you should make sure to swing by one of the many Späti's dotted around the city. These are genuine one-stop shops; charming beacons of social equality, serving anybody, any time, day or night. They're pokey little convenience stores that serve as a veritable Ali's Cave of snacks, beverages, and other late night accessories. To bring yourself even closer to recovery nab a Schofferhofer Grapefruit, or a Fritz Kola. And to be like a true Berliner don't forget to place your empty bottle under a bin to allow the homeless and poor of the city to collect and cash in the deposit return on the glass.
House of Small Wonders
Location: Johannisstraße 20, 10117 Berlin, Germany
A glorious representation of Berlin as the true multicultural capital of the Free World, House of Small Wonders is a little slice of Brooklyn infused with a Japanese twist. Operating in Williamsburg, Brooklyn since 2010, House of Small Wonders brought its mastery of brunch to Berlin soil in 2014. The interior is decked out like an urban greenhouse, completely filled with plants, with plenty of natural light flowing in through the windows and roof. The menu offers a delightfully simple all day brunch with only a handful of options, the pick of the bunch being the Japanese take on eggs Benedict, with a wasabi hollandaise. Just spicy enough to wake you up, balanced against a magnificently fresh Mediterranean salad.
Location: Schönhauser Allee 8, 10119 Berlin
Berlin is synonymous with 'Café Culture', and independent roasters The Barn have been as the heart of that. In the Schönhauser Allee site you can get as close to the process as possible, with the roastery visible in the back. The Barn achieved infamy through a strict policy of only allowing laptops at one small standing table, banning prams (due to the fumes from the roaster being harmful to children) and only allowing each coffee varietal to be presented in the style thought best suited to it (no sugar or soy-milk here). Despite these slightly intimidating policies, The Barn offers a pretty exceptional coffee experience.
Burgermeister
Location: U1 Schlesisches Tor, Oberbaumstraße 8, 10997 Berlin
Burgermeister is a now iconic little eatery situated in the ultra cool Kreuzberg neighbourhood. It's built in an old public toilet underneath the Schlesisches Tor U-Bahn station, on a traffic island in the middle of an extremely busy crossroads. Street food doesn't get any more street than this. Expect to queue for at least 20 minutes during peak times, but be rewarded with one of the best burgers in Europe. The true test for any burger joint is how its plain hamburger stacks up, and this paired with a Fritz Mischmasche comes in at €6. Take a perch on one of the railings and watch Berlin pulse around you.
Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens Berlin
Location: Im Marienpark 23, 12107 Berlin
People often throw around the term 'cathedral of beer' when referring to one of the world's many incredible beer destinations, but Stone Berlin is perhaps more accurately described as the Beer Vatican. You'll be rewarded for your brief jaunt on the S-Bahn by a 3,000 square meter bar filled with 75 lines of draught beer from Stone Berlin, Stone San Diego, and their many international friends. Despite being built inside an enormous former gas works, the taproom manages to still feel cosy and intimate, and is backed up by an enormous outdoor terrace. With an enormous food menu built to precisely match the beers brewed on site, it is impossible to conceive of a better place to experience Stone beers. Take a tour to check out one of Europe's most advanced brewhouses, and get a peek at their 10 hectolitre pilot plant that would leave any start-up brewery furious in envy. If you need further reason to visit there are a range of rare and aged beers available in bottle to takeaway (and an ace gift shop too).
Bear Pit Karaoke
Location: Czeminskystr 7 10829 Berlin
Embrace a true sense of Berliner escapism with a visit to Bear Pit Karaoke in Mauerpark. Found in the stone amphitheatre, and powered by a unqiue battery-powered sound system designed specifically for the acoustics of the amphitheatre. If you need something to wet your whistle and give you a bit of encouragement, grab a Berliner Pilsner from one of the many vendors wandering the park with crates. And if you don't feel like cracking out a tune, sit back and watch as Berlin legend Joe Hatchiban fires out criticism and/or encouragement to the willing performers.
Muted Horn
Location: Flughafenstraße 49, 12053 Berlin
Hidden away in Neukolln you'll find one of Europe's finest modern beer bars, hiding in plain sight with only a neon depiction of a trumpet to let you know it's there. The décor is recognisably 'craft' with minimalist bare white walls and a decent amount of exposed brickwork. Twenty-two keg lines showcase many of the huge names in the European and American craft scene, with Left Hand, Evil Twin, The Kernel, and Magic Rock all frequently available. Muted Horn is also one of the few bars within Europe deemed lucky enough to receive bottles from the hallowed and ever elusive lambic blender Bokkereyder. There's also a menu of English and German board games, and an infinite supply of complimentary pretzel sticks to sustain you long into the night.
Klunkerkranich
Location: Neukölln Arcaden, Karl-Marx-Straße 66, auf dem obersten Parkdeck, 12043 Berlin
One of the best things about travelling the world for beer is coming across experiences and bar concepts that could never be replicated at home for one reason or another. Klunkerkranich originally started out as an urban gardening and beekeeping project that approached the owners of the multi-storey car park to use their almost permanently empty top deck. Eventually the project developed and a bar was added. Take the lift to the top floor inside the Neukölln Arcade and follow the music to the roof deck. Grab a Schneider Weisse Tap 7, sit amongst the wooden flower beds and look out across one of the most unspoiled views of Berlin until at least 2am every night.
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No Slowing Down: Roberts Thrives in Role as Reporter
March 21, 2018 March 21, 2018 by Jason Randall - Comment is Closed
Isaiah Roberts visits the Stenograph home office in Elmhurst, IL.
Isaiah Roberts is a fast-rising star in the court reporting world, but that's no surprise to anyone who knows him. Truth is, a trajectory of this nature is not exactly new territory for the 23-year-old from Magnolia, Ill. But spend a few minutes with the youngest graduate in the history of Illinois State University (he did it when he was 19), and you'd be hard-pressed to detect any kind of an ego.
He's young, but not foolish. He's eager, but not brash. He aspires to be great, but he's not out of touch with reality. He's also just a normal guy with friends and interests like any other person in their early 20s.
Professionally, Roberts is doing what he loves, although becoming a court reporter wasn't in his plans from the beginning. It was always about law school — going the route of the lawyer — but before long, something clicked.
"Well, first, law school was just so expensive," Roberts said when he visited the Stenograph home office in Elmhurst, Ill., in mid-November to speak to a group of high school students who expressed interest in the field. "And when I looked at it, I started to see the oversaturation of new lawyers and decided I wanted to do something different."
That decision was perhaps made a little easier thanks to Roberts' mother Susan, a court reporter for nearly four decades. Isaiah Roberts knew he wanted to stay within the law realm, and becoming a reporter himself would allow him to do so without being just another lawyer — another number — lost in a sea of thousands of others cranked out by universities every year.
After graduating from his Houston-based court reporting school, Roberts is now an official court reporter at the McLean County Law and Justice Center in Bloomington, Ill. He enjoys the variety that comes with the role, and he's confident in the health of the industry despite persistent questioning from friends who ask if he's worried technology will make him obsolete.
"I hear it a lot from my friends who don't really understand what I do," Roberts said. "I don't believe we'll be replaced anytime soon. There's just so much more to it than being able to pick up audio."
And while Roberts admits the industry is evolving, it's those nuances he alludes to that separate a real-life court reporter from a robot.
"There's the squeaky chair, or someone coughs, or a witness has a thick accent. Even if you had (an automated) system that could transcribe all of that, I don't believe it would be accurate enough," Roberts said. "And then there's the whole other issue of knowing what's on the record and what isn't. There are so many elements involved, you can't replicate a court reporter, even with perfect audio recording."
And while he feels good about the state of court reporting from a technical standpoint, he does worry about the future when it comes to filling open court reporting positions.
"Honestly, I think the biggest problem is that there aren't enough people pursuing this as a career," Roberts said. "Either people don't realize it even exists, or they think it sounds boring."
Roberts discussed several open positions he's heard of going unfilled for quite some time, including positions in McLean County where he works.
"We've had listings out there for a long time," Roberts said. "We haven't had one person apply in seven months."
That's troublesome to Roberts, but he said he's seeing growth on the captioning side of the fence and believes the industry is recognizing the need to update its messaging about court reporting as a career.
He'll continue to carry the flag for court reporting as well, but he does have goals for his own professional development. Eventually, Roberts wants to work in Washington, D.C., as an official Congressional stenographer. Before that, however, he might set his sights on something a bit more sporting.
"Oh, yes," Roberts said with a grin and slightly squinted eyes that suggest he's already deep into his preparation. "I want to be a speed champion."
Introducing the Stenograph Blog!
Don't Get Burned by Your Backup


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Home Franchise Best Business Franchise
Every year Entrepreneur magazine puts out a list of the Best Business Fanchises in the United States. The list of Best Business Franchises to invest in for 2011 has been compiled and the list features many familiar names, mostly encompassing the fast food, convenience store, and hotel industries .
Ranked at number one in the Best Business Franchise is Hampton Hotels. Hampton Hotels operates over 1,700 hotels throughout the world. The franchise makes its name by offering free amenities that other hotel chains charge their customers for. A Hampton Hotels franchise will cost an entrepreneur between $3 million and $13 million. Hampton Hotels charges an initial franchise fee of $30 – $70 thousand with annual 6% royalty rate. A franchise with Hampton Hotels is good for 22 years and is renewable thereafter.
Ranked number two in the Best Business Frachise is ampm. Ampm is a convenience store franchise that operates more than 3,100 franchises throughout the United States. It is a relatively unknown franchise in most of the United States because it was originally found solely in 5 western states as the convenience wing of Arco gas stations. Recently BP, the heir to Arco, has been selling of the convenience store aspect and it has been one of the Best Business Franchises since. The cost of an ampm franchise can range from $1.85 million to $7.8 million. An initial franchise fee will cost between $30,000 and $70,000 with an annual royalty of 5%.
Ranked at number three in the Best Business Franchise is McDonalds. Since 1955 McDonald's franchises have popped up everywhere in the United States. A recent study showed that the farthest you will ever have to drive in the U.S. is 115 miles to find a McDonald's, and that is in the Nevada desert. The McDonald's franchise has hit its saturation point in the United States, with over 26,000 locations, but entrepreneurs looking to get into one of the best, and most consistent, business franchises can put down between $1 million and $1.8 million for a franchise. McDonald's is planning on expanding globally with over 600 new locations expected in India and China.
Ranked at number four for the Best Business Franchise is 7-Eleven convenience stores. 7-11 convenience stores have over 39,000 franchise locations worldwide, with 238 opening last year. It has been proven that a new 7-11 franchise opens every 6.5 hours and it is one of the most affordable franchises to own, with the cost of a franchise being between $30,000 and $604,000.
Ranked at number five for the is the Best Business Franchise is Supercuts. Supercuts is one of the few franchises not in the convenience store, fast food, or hotel chain industry to make the list. The hair cuttery bases its business model on affordable haircuts and is one of the few franchises to thrive off of the great recession. The Supercuts chain is looking to open 100 new locations in 2011 and another 200 in 2012. The franchise fee for a Supercuts franchise is between $112,000 and $243,000.
The Best Business Franchise list rounds out the top 10 with Days Inn, Vanguard Cleaning Services, Servpro, Subway and Denny's


Back to the GRAMMY Museum by popular demand! As seen on Bravo TV, you'll enjoy a night of non-stop laughter as you experience a variety of jaw-dropping vignettes inspired and torn straight from the pages of the most unforgettable music tell-alls and more. Originally created by Emmy-Award nominated writer-performer Eugene Pack and developed by Pack and Dayle Reyfel, Celebrity Autobiography has been profiled in virtually every major media outlet including Nightline, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, NPR's All Things Considered and The View. The national and international tours of the show garnered rave reviews across the board- from The New York Times to Rolling Stone to Time Magazine. For this special installment, outrageous and true music memoirs will be acted out live on stage by a starry cast of performers. Artists currently scheduled to appear include: Illeana Douglas, Florence Henderson, Laraine Newman, Lainie Kazan, Eugene Pack, Rob Reiner, Dayle Reyfel, Fred Willard, Rita Wilson and Weird Al Yankovic.


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The Bible Belt Extends Throughout the American South
Key Figures & Milestones
Humanities › Geography
First Use of "Bible Belt"
Defining The Bible Belt
History of the Bible Belt
The Bible Belt Today
The Un-Bible Belts
Politics and Society in the Bible Belt
Other Belts in America
by Matt Rosenberg
Matt Rosenberg is an award-winning geographer and the author of "The Handy Geography Answer Book" and "The Geography Bee Complete Preparation Handbook."
When American geographers map rates of religious belief and regular attendance at places of worship, a distinct region of religiosity appears on the map of the United States. This region is known as the Bible Belt, and while it can be measured in a variety of ways, it tends to include much of the American South.
The term Bible Belt was first used by the American writer and satirist H.L. Mencken in 1925 when he was reporting on the Scopes Monkey Trial which took place in Dayton, Tennessee. Mencken was writing for the Baltimore Sun and used the term in a derogatory way, referring to the region in subsequent pieces with such quotes as "the Bible and Hookworm Belt" and "Jackson, Mississippi in the heart of the Bible and Lynching Belt."
The term gained popularity and began to be used to name the region of the southern U.S. states in the popular media and in academia. In 1948, the "Saturday Evening Post" named Oklahoma City the capital of the Bible Belt. In 1961, geographer Wilbur Zelinsky, a student of Carl Sauer, defined the region of the Bible Belt as one in which Southern Baptists, Methodists, and evangelical Christians were the predominant religious group.
Thus, Zelinsky defined the Bible Belt as a region stretching from West Virginia and southern Virginia to southern Missouri in the north to Texas and northern Florida in the south. The region that Zelinsky outlined did not include Southern Louisiana due to its preponderance of Catholics, nor central and southern Florida due to its diverse demographics, nor South Texas with its large Hispanic (and thus Catholic or Protestant) population.
The region known as the Bible Belt today was in the 17th and 18th centuries a center of Anglican (or Episcopalian) beliefs. In the late 18th century and into the 19th century, Baptist denominations, especially Southern Baptist, began to gain in popularity. By the 20th century, evangelical Protestantism could be the defining belief system in the region known as the Bible Belt.
In 1978, geographer Stephen Tweedie of Oklahoma State University published the definitive article about the Bible Belt, "Viewing the Bible Belt," in the Journal of Popular Culture. In that article, Tweedie mapped Sunday television watching habits for five leading evangelical religious television programs. His map of the Bible Belt expanded the region defined by Zelinsky and included a region that encompassed the Dakotas, Nebraska, and Kansas. But his research also broke the Bible Belt into two core regions, a western region and an eastern region.
Tweedie's western Bible Belt was focused on a core that extended from Little Rock, Arkansas to Tulsa, Oklahoma. His eastern Bible Belt was focused on a core that included the major population centers of Virginia and North Carolina. Tweedie identified secondary core regions surrounding Dallas and Wichita Falls, Kansas to Lawton, Oklahoma.
Tweedie suggested that Oklahoma City was the buckle or capital of the Bible Belt but many other commentators and researchers have suggested other locations. It was H.L. Mencken who first suggested that Jackson, Mississippi was the capital of the Bible Belt. Other suggested capitals or buckles (in addition to the cores identified by Tweedie) include Abilene, Texas; Lynchburg, Virginia; Nashville, Tennessee; Memphis, Tennessee; Springfield, Missouri; and Charlotte, North Carolina.
Studies of religious identity in the United States continually point to the southern states as an enduring Bible Belt. In a 2011 survey by Gallup, the organization found Mississippi to be the state containing the highest percentage of "very religious" Americans. In Mississippi, 59 percent of residents were identified as being "very religious." With the exception of number two Utah, all of the states in the top ten are states commonly identified as being part of the Bible Belt. (The top 10 were: Mississippi, Utah, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Carolina, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, and Oklahoma.)
On the other hand, Gallup and others have pointed out that the opposite of the Bible Belt, perhaps an Unchurched Belt or a Secular Belt, exists in the Pacific Northwest and the northeastern United States. Gallup's survey found that a mere 23 percent of Vermont residents are considered to be "very religious."  The 11 states (due to the tie for tenth place) that are home for the least religious Americans are Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada, Washington, Connecticut, New York, and Rhode Island.
Many commentators have pointed out that while religious observance in the Bible Belt is high, it is a region of a variety of social issues. Educational attainment and college graduation rates in the Bible Belt are among the lowest in the United States. Cardiovascular and heart disease, obesity, homicide, teenage pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections are among the highest rates in the nation.
At the same time, the region is known for its conservative values, and the region is often considered to be a politically conservative region. The "red states" within the Bible Belt traditionally support Republican candidates for state and federal office. Alabama, Mississippi, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Texas have consistently pledged their electoral college votes to the Republican candidate for president in each presidential election since 1980. Other Bible Belt states usually vote Republican, but candidates such as Bill Clinton from Arkansas have sometimes swayed the votes in Bible Belt states.
In 2010, Matthew Zook and Mark Graham utilized online place name data to identify (among other things) the preponderance of the word "church" locally. What resulted is a map that is a good approximation of the Bible Belt as defined by Tweedie and extending into the Dakotas.
Other Bible Belt-style regions have been named in the United States. The Rust Belt of the former industrial heartland of America is one such region. Other belts include the Corn Belt, Snow Belt, and Sunbelt.
Zelinsky, Wilbur. "An Approach to the Religious Geography of the United States: Patterns of Church Membership in 1952." Annals of the Association of American Geographers, vol. 51, no. 2, 1961, pp. 139-193, doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1961.tb00372.x
Tweedie, Stephen W. "Viewing the Bible Belt." Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 11, no. 4, 1978, 865.
Newport, Frank. "Mississippi is Most Religious U.S. State." Gallup, March 27, 2012.
Graham, Mark, and Matthew Zook. "Visualizing Global Cyberscapes: Mapping User-Generated Placemarks." Journal of Urban Technology, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 115-132, doi:10.1080/10630732.2011.578412
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With Meg hitting theaters soon, Jon Bailey from Screen Junkies' "Honest Trailers" comedy series takes an unfiltered look at the 2018 Marvel superhero film, Avengers: Infinity War.
Marvel Entertainment just shared a second short compilation of gag and bloopers from the latest Marvel superhero film, Avengers: Infinity War.
Nina Dobrev teaches you Bulgarian slang words.