text:
Exclusive - Sophie Ellis speaks to the Mail
After three operations the scars from the bullets are still visible on Sophie Ellis's arm but the wounds go much deeper for the 21-year-old who survived the New Year shootings.
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Time may have healed the three bullet holes in her chest and arm, but the pain of losing her sister and the guilt of surviving the attack will never go away.
"I'm angry that they are dead and I feel guilty about living," said Sophie.
"I've asked myself loads of times why did I survive? I got hit more than once like Charlene and Letisha, but they died and I lived. I don't understand it.
"It's the way that they went that gets me.
"If they were sick and had died, it would have been different.
"But they were taken away in a split second, without warning and for no reason.
"I'm really angry that I didn't get a chance to say goodbye."
Four men, including Sophie's half brother Marcus Ellis, were sentenced to a total of 132 years in jail for the double murder last month after a six-month trial at Leicester Crown Court.
The girls were innocent victims caught up in a bloody feud between notorious Birmingham street gangs, the Burger Bar Boys and the Johnson Crew.
Until today Sophie, who is studying an art and design access course at the University of Central England, has been unable to speak about the tragic events of January 2, 2003, to anyone, including her mum Beverley.
Instead of turning to each other, the pair, who are as much victims as the two dead girls, have had to deal with their loss separately.
"I just didn't want to talk about it, not even to my mum. This is the first time I have spoken about what happened. It's very hard."
"I will never get over what happened. To me it seems like it was only yesterday.
"Even now when I hear a loud bang I get scared and my arm starts to hurt. I have permanent nerve damage."
A talented artist who excels in Fine Art, Sophie admits she has accepted her sister's death but has not dealt with her grief properly.
"It's been really hard to accept that Charlene isn't here anymore.
"We did everything together. We lived together, ate together, went to the same college, worked at the same place, went out together.
"We were quite similar and got on really well. I would say certain things to her that only she would understand.
"Other people wouldn't know what we were talking about but we had an understanding, a connection.
"She was my best friend, as well as my sister. She was my other half. I'm doing things on my own now, it's such a dramatic change."
Sophie turned down the offer of counselling shortly after the shooting because she wasn't ready to talk about what had happened and so has been locked in her own world trying to deal with the demons and questions that plague her thoughts.
"I have accepted Charlene's death now but I don't think it has hit me properly.
"I didn't have counselling at the time, although I have started talking to someone now.
"Maybe one day I will just explode and then it will hit me properly and I'll have to deal with it."


Domaine de Montredon is a family-owned estate priducing Picpoul de Pinet in Castelnau de Gers.
Domaine de Montredon is a family-owned estate in Castelnau de Guers.
Domaine de Montredon is a family-owned estate in Castelnau de Gers, located beside the Thau lagoon, to the west of the Mediterranean's Golfe de Lyon.
Marion Alliès and her brother Guillaume have been making the regional speciality of AOP Picpoul de Pinet here for 5 generations.
The sunny south of France is perfect for producing healthy, ripe grapes without too much need for intervention. Despite its relatively high acidity this is fairly late ripening grape here and is harvested after some of the red varieties.
The vineyards are planted on clay and limestone soils in this Mediterranean climate where long, hot summers and relatively mild winters help to bring the Piquepoul (Picpoul de Pinet) grapes to full phenolic ripeness.
The 40 hectare estate has 18 hectares of Picpoul de Pinet in production. While Marion is dedicated to commercial activities, Guillaume is in charge of the vineyard and the cellar, where he makes a handcrafted Picpoul. He is a talented winemaker who pays great attention to details, with winemaking experience in the Maipo Valley in Chile, which helps him take the best out of both New and Old World know-how. Guillaume Alliès produces a complex, deep and lively example of this fresh, vibrant wine - a great alternative to Sauvignon Blanc.


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Home / North-east / IIT-Guwahati comes up with bamboo furniture for hospitals
IIT-Guwahati comes up with bamboo furniture for hospitals
Over 200 beds can be manufactured per day using the design
Bamboo hospital furniture developed by IIT Guwahati on display.
(PTI)
PTI | New Delhi | Published 30.04.20, 07:30 PM
A team at IIT-Guwahati has come up with a bamboo hospital furniture range, mass production of which will be quick and low cost, to aid the fight against Covid-19 and meet demands arising out of hospitalisation of more people if there is a spike in cases.
The team at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati's design department has pitched the idea to the authorities and highlighted that the furniture can be used at primary health centres and make shift isolation wards set up in places like indoor stadiums. It can be easily disposed of when the virus has been contained.
According to Ravi Mokashi Punekar, a professor at the institute's design department, over 200 beds can be manufactured per day using the design.
"Bamboo craft forms an important economic driver in the Northeast. However, for a craft that is so prevalent in the region, its effective utilisation for public community facilities like health centres in rural areas were limited and this particular project demonstrated the potential," Punekar said.
"The hospital furniture range that we have developed is an appropriate and sustainable solution to meet local infrastructure needs and concurrently creating job opportunities for crafts-persons using bamboo and cane available in the region," he said.
"Considering the pandemic scenario, where there is an urgency in improving the basic infrastructure facilities in our primary healthcare services, it offers scope for collaborative interaction amongst the various stakeholders for the improvement of health services in particular and the overall development and the well-being of the community," he added.
The institute is in touch with two local entrepreneurs who have agreed to undertake the manufacturing of the furniture and the designs have also been shared with Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.
"Given the current situation, if the situation arises, the bamboo furniture range will help. If there is a spike in number of cases and more infrastructure demand rises, then the furniture can be used in setting up makeshift isolation wards like in stadiums. The furniture can be used during that period and disposed of when the need is over," Punekar said.
The death toll due to Covid-19 rose to 824 and the number of cases climbed to 26,496 in India on Sunday, according to the Union health ministry.
The death toll increased by 45 and the number of cases by 1,554 since the ministry last updated its data on Saturday evening.
The number of active cases stood at 19,868 while 5,803 people were cured and discharged, and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.
Furniture Gauhati Medical College And Hospital (GMCH) IIT Guwahati Hospitals

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
#include <gtest/gtest.h>
#include <unordered_set>

#include <icc/threadpool/ThreadPool.hpp>

using namespace std::chrono_literals;

struct ThreadPoolTest : testing::Test
{
  void SetUp() override {
  };

  void TearDown() override {
  }

  const size_t hardware_concurrency_ = std::thread::hardware_concurrency();
};

TEST_F(ThreadPoolTest, HundredMoreJobs_DefaultThreadPool_Success)
{
  auto& threadPool = icc::threadpool::ThreadPool::getDefaultPool();
  std::unordered_set<std::thread::id> unique_threads;
  std::mutex mtx;
  std::condition_variable cond_var;
  const unsigned numJobs = 100 * hardware_concurrency_;
  unsigned numHandledJobs = 0;
  for (int i = 0; i < numJobs; ++i) {
    threadPool.push([&mtx, &cond_var, &numHandledJobs, &unique_threads] {
      std::this_thread::sleep_for(100ms);
      {
        std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock{mtx};
        numHandledJobs += 1;
        unique_threads.insert(std::this_thread::get_id());
      }
      cond_var.notify_one();
    });
  }
  std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock{mtx};
  cond_var.wait(lock, [&numHandledJobs, &numJobs] {
    return numHandledJobs == numJobs;
  });
  ASSERT_EQ(unique_threads.size(), hardware_concurrency_);
  ASSERT_EQ(numHandledJobs, numJobs);
}

TEST_F(ThreadPoolTest, HundredMoreJobs_ThreadPool_Success)
{
  auto threadPool = icc::threadpool::ThreadPool::createPool();
  std::unordered_set<std::thread::id> unique_threads;
  std::mutex mtx;
  std::condition_variable cond_var;
  const unsigned numJobs = 100 * hardware_concurrency_;
  unsigned numHandledJobs = 0;
  for (int i = 0; i < numJobs; ++i) {
    threadPool->push([&mtx, &cond_var, &numHandledJobs, &unique_threads] {
      std::this_thread::sleep_for(10ms);
      {
        std::lock_guard<std::mutex> lock{mtx};
        numHandledJobs += 1;
        unique_threads.insert(std::this_thread::get_id());
      }
      cond_var.notify_one();
    });
  }
  std::unique_lock<std::mutex> lock{mtx};
  cond_var.wait_for(lock, 110s, [&numHandledJobs, &numJobs] {
    return numHandledJobs == numJobs;
  });
  ASSERT_EQ(unique_threads.size(), hardware_concurrency_);
  ASSERT_EQ(numHandledJobs, numJobs);
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
How the pros thwart computer spies with James Bond tricks
Whether they're jamming crushed Altoids mints into screw holes or prepping themselves to swallow Micro SD cards, some travelers are now going to extreme lengths to defend against foreign snoops.
Elinor Mills
Sept. 4, 2012 10:01 a.m. PT
H.D. Moore wasn't taking chances.
During the spring of 2009, the information specialist traveled to Shanghai on a work trip. For a computer, though, he carried only a stripped down Netbook that he modified using a trick even James Bond would have admired. He sawed off the end of one of the laptop case screws and mashed a small bit of a crushed Altoids mint into the hole before putting the screw back in. After leaving it in his hotel room for a few hours, he came back to find that the powder had disappeared. Something had caused the battery to fail, and one of the three passwords protecting his machine had been wiped.
"More than likely it was tampered with," Moore, chief security officer at security firm Rapid7, said. While he concedes a "slim chance" that the battery just happened to die when he left the room, he notes that it's odd for dead batteries to start working again upon reboot, as his did. Not to mention the fact that the powder in the screwhole would have had to displace itself at the same time.
Welcome to the world of international corporate espionage, where USB sticks are a favored tools for spies and bribable hotel workers are a dime a dozen. The problem is rampant, particularly in China, where the secrets in laptops of U.S. officials and businessmen can reshape an industry or change the course of a war.
"All hotel rooms and offices are considered to be subject to onsite or remote technical monitoring at all times. ... All means of communication -- telephones, mobile phones, faxes, e-mails, text messages, etc. -- are likely monitored." <br />-- China 2012 Crime and Safety Report: Beijing
"Foreign Spies Stealing U.S. Economic Secrets in Cyberspace," a report issued last October by the U.S. Office of the National Counterintelligence Executive, warns of the dangers. "Whether traveling for business or personal reasons, U.S. travelers overseas -- businesspeople, U.S. government employees, and contractors -- are routinely targeted by foreign collectors, especially if they are assessed as having access to some sensitive information. Some U.S. allies engage in this practice, as do less friendly powers such as Russia and China. Targeting takes many forms: exploitation of electronic media and devices, surreptitious entry into hotel rooms, aggressive surveillance, and attempts to set up sexual or romantic entanglements."
Similarly, the report "China 2012 Crime and Safety Report: Beijing" warns: "All hotel rooms and offices are considered to be subject to onsite or remote technical monitoring at all times. Hotel rooms, residences, and offices may be accessed at any time without the occupants' consent or knowledge... All means of communication -- telephones, mobile phones, faxes, e-mails, text messages, etc. -- are likely monitored."
Sources within the U.S. government claim that during Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez' trip to Beijing in December 2007, an unattended laptop was snagged and relieved of data that was then used to try to hack into government computers in the U.S.
For Moore, the concern was that spies would get access to his corporate e-mail or pull schematics off his laptop related to the high-end network testing gear made by BreakingPoint Systems, where he worked at the time as security research director. He was in China specifically to show the equipment to government officials.
"I took a temporary laptop out for the trip," he said. "I wanted to make sure I had something I could destroy and set fire to later if I had to."
This is the underside of the laptop HD Moore used to set his spy trap on his trip to China. The trick screw hole is seen in the top left corner. HD Moore
Specifically, Moore was worried that someone would copy his data to an external drive or install a program that could be used to remotely spy on the computer. To keep snoops out, he set up a password on the BIOS (Basic Input/Output System), as well as for the hard drive and used a TrueCrypt boot password too.
"Even with that level of paranoia, I had to step out of the hotel in Shanghai (French Quarter business hotel, not Western style), left my Netbook in the room, and two hours later when I returned the BIOS password had been wiped and the powder was gone from the screw hole," he wrote in an e-mail. "I didn't turn it on again until I landed in South Korea and had some time to inspect the motherboard. As far as I can tell, the BIOS was reset through the CMOS (Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) jumper/battery short, but no other changes were made."
Kevin Mitnick, who spent five years in prison on computer hacking charges, believes his background made him a target for surveillance during a trip to Colombia in 2008. (He was also detained at the border coming back to the U.S. after that trip, but believes the spying incident is totally unrelated. Weird things just kind of happen to Mitnick.)
The 'aha' moment
Mitnick was in Bogota to give a speech to the newspaper El Tiempo and to visit his then-girlfriend. One night he had left his laptop in the room when he went out to dinner. When he came back his hotel room key wouldn't work. A yellow light appeared when he tried to open the door, which would indicate that it was locked from the inside. He didn't think too much about it, until this happened twice more following visits back down to the front desk to get new keys. The fourth key unlocked the door, finally.
But nothing seemed to be amiss with his computer, so Mitnick wasn't initially worried. Later, the laptop got dented on the flight back to the U.S. so he took it to an Apple store after he got home to get the chassis replaced. There he found that the screws were very loose and one was missing. He knew the screws had been tight because he'd installed a blank drive right before the trip as a security measure.
"That was the 'aha' moment," Mitnick said, referring to when he saw the loose screws and flashed back to the mystery hotel key failures. "I always suspected somebody cloned my hard drive... I highly suspect it happened but I have no proof. After that I was in paranoid mode."
Now he never leaves equipment in his room unattended. "I carry it with me wherever I go," said Mitnick, who is an author and security consultant. "I just put it in a book bag."
For people who absolutely can't take their computer with them for some reason, Mitnick suggests they put it in a "soft-cloth," untearable FedEx envelope, seal it, mark the closure with pen and put it in the hotel safe so if it is opened it will be noticeable. Spies can still get to it, but they'll find it difficult to tamper with it undetected, he said.
In one of the craziest tricks "spy hunter" James Atkinson has ever seen in his many years in the business, an executive took a micro SD card that contained sensitive data, wrapped it in plastic, and carried it inside his mouth between the gum and cheek.
"That's pretty extreme," said Atkinson, who is president of Granite Island Group and has taught counterintelligence to more three-letter U.S. government agencies than I care to name. "If they are in China and someone tries to take them into custody, they will swallow it and hope the government releases them before they have to go to the bathroom."
Spy versus spy
A common ploy to throw spies off is to store unimportant "decoy" encrypted data on a system, like song files or video, mixed in with some more interesting but still not sensitive files. The spies won't immediately know how important the files are until after they've wasted time and energy decrypting it. "Feed them garbage," Atkinson said.
There's also the old video recorder-in-the-clock technique. "That wind-up clock you had on your dresser (facing your laptop), every time it sensed movement it recorded it," he said. "Or the power supply for your laptop had a recording system built into it and you set it on your desk and it videotaped everybody who touches your computer."
The video recorder can be deactivated when the user lays a gold ring with a special triggering magnet on the power supply. When the user puts the ring on his finger the video recorder starts recording again.
Russia, China 'aggressive' cyberspies, U.S. report frets
Inside Huawei, the Chinese tech giant that's rattling nerves in DC
U.S. congressmen say computers compromised by Chinese
A who's who of Mideast targeted malware
"I've known people who have taken laptops outside the country, who set them up in their hotel room with a hidden video recorder in the room and put the computer out strictly as bait," and left the hotel room, Atkinson said. When they came back and checked the video they saw "two people coming in with a briefcase, plugging in (a data stealing device) and copying everything on the computer," he said. "That was in Europe."
Atkinson recommends that before and after people travel, they should weigh their computer without the battery, weigh the battery by itself, and weigh the power supply separately too. This way you can find out if someone managed to put a bug in any of the equipment.
"They may bug the power supply of a computer, bug a computer, suck everything off a computer, or just take the battery out, remove some cells from the battery and put a listening device in it," he said. "A good bug weighs no more than a fourth of a sugar cube, or a few paper clips."
He also suggests taking multiple power cords and batteries to confound eavesdroppers. "They put bugs in power cords, record the room audio, digitize it and slowly transmit it through the power lines, sneaking through (government) filters of classified areas," Atkinson said.
It's not only government officials and corporate executives who are at risk. Students from prestigious universities studying aeronautics, science, and other areas that may land them future government jobs are targets for blackmail by foreigners eager to recruit spies.
"As soon as you go through the airport and you have to show your passport to leave the United States, at that point in time you can trust nothing until you get back home," he said.
This is the screen that was displayed when Moore rebooted the laptop after he had left unattended in his hotel room. HD Moore
Discuss: How the pros thwart computer spies with James Bond tricks


text:
Podcast: Cheli Cresswell Sinclair | Conservation Optimism
When you think about wildlife and conservation efforts, do you feel overwhelmed by the challenges we face? Saddened by the state of the planet and the rate of biodiversity losses? Upset by the volumes of plastic in our oceans, that slaughter of migratory birds over Malta? Or the clearing of our rainforest for palm oil?
Or, do you feel hopeful? Do you feel we can still turn it all around, that conservationists know what needs to be done and that nature can bounce back quickly?
In these podcasts and on our website, we ask some of the most senior conservationists on the planet, what do we need to do more of to tackle biodiversity collapses? The vast majority of them see the challenge as one of communicating our messages more effectively. To attract new support, raise our profile, turn interest into action. But how do we do this?
Enter Conservation Optimism.
Conservation Optimism is a global community dedicated to sharing hopeful stories about conservation to inspire, educate, entertain and empower. Started at a conference just two years ago, it has grown rapidly and has attracted support from organisations and individuals the world over. And joining us for this Conservation Optimism podcast is their Director, Cheli Cresswell Sinclair.
You can listen and subscribe to the Conservation Careers Podcast on iTunes, Spotify or Stitcher using the following links, or search for 'conservation careers' and you'll find us!
Discuss Conservation Optimism Podcast
If you enjoy listening please leave us a rating and review on wherever you get your podcasts, it really helps us to get in front of more people! If you can share with your friends that would also be great. If you've got any questions or suggestions for the podcast please tweet them to @ConservCareers. We'd love to hear from you!
CHELI: Hi, I'm Cheli Cresswell Sinclair, I'm the Director of Conservation Optimism and I'm also the Engagement Strategist at Synchronicity Earth.
NICK: Right, so you wear two hats. And I guess we'd like to hear about both. Maybe we can start with Conservation Optimism because it's something that we at Conservation Careers have heard a lot about over the last few years, and it seems to be spreading this idea of sharing positive messages and sharing hope and inspiration. Can you tell us a little bit about Conservation Optimism, what is it and where did the idea come from?
CHELI: I came to Conservation Optimism when it was actually being first coalesced as a one-off conference that was scheduled for Earth Day of 2017 so I started with what's now the movement in the fall of 2016 in the lead up to that summit. So this had been kind of an idea that EJ Milner-Gulland, who's the Professor of Biodiversity at University of Oxford's Department of Zoology, had come up with. As it evolved from a lot of other conversations that were happening at the same time with Earth Optimism, Nancy Knowlton and Ocean Optimism and kind of an increasing awareness that we needed to change the narrative around conservation and environmental stories because the doom and gloom scenarios and framing that dominate this area are really disempowering and actually discouraging people from taking part in conservation, both within the sector and within the general public.
NICK: Well, I've got a few facts in front of me actually. Half of all native forests are gone. 76% of fisheries are exploited or over-fished. 40% of migratory birds are declining. These are the sorts of things that we hear in the news all the time; these are the sorts of messages that capture journalists' and people's attention. But you feel that wasn't a positive thing for the world, it wasn't encouraging change?
CHELI: Well the issue is that we do live in a very challenging time for the environment and for conservation, but only focusing on the negative and focusing on, you know, in 15 years there might not be any elephants, the coral reefs are all being bleached, all of these things that are true, or could be true, don't highlight the smaller successes that are happening and don't give people a reason to actually continue to strive to conserve what is left. And for people outside of conservation, it kind of makes people want to tune out and just not really engage with conservation whatsoever because if it's futile, then what's the point? And for people within the sector, it leads to a lot of burn-out, it leads to a lot of mental health crises. And so basically there was this growing awareness that we needed to have some kind of discussion to change this discourse and to not post kind of happy messages or slap slap – I don't want to sound discouraging but it's not upworthy for conservation. This is not just positive stories, but talk about real and replicable successes, talk about empowering and inspiring ideas, talk about different ways of communicating conservation to diverse audiences in a way that would both invigorate the conservation community but then also get people who are outside of the conservation community to start identifying as conservationists, to start realising that their actions have consequences and that they have real power, and trying to build up this much more inclusive, empowering, inspirational idea. And so that was where the first Conservation Optimism summit was born and that was held over three days, two of them at Dulwich College in London and one of the ZSL London Zoo. So I came on board with that team to help with the digital comms and we realised the community that we were building was much bigger than the community that actually came and gathered for those three days in London. And during the conference itself we had more people that were watching our plenaries by far than were actually in the room with us. Within a few days, we had so many people say, right what's next? You know, how do we take this forward? So we realised we didn't have a one-off conference on our hands, what we had was a movement that was just being born. Since then – that was in April of 2017 and now it's April of 2019 – the last two years, building up that movement, looking for ways to provide different kinds of resources, different kinds of communities, we're going to be having another summit this September but we're also kind of exploring a bunch of different options which I would be thrilled to tell you about in terms of ways that we can support the sector in a really ownerless but collaborative way, to try to provide that neutral meeting ground to share these empowering possibilities.
NICK: And it's amazing how quickly it's taken off then, in two years. We talk to a lot of conservationists and one of the questions we ask people are, you know, are you optimistic, are you hopeful for the future? You know, because actually when you look at the big picture, it is very easy to get disillusioned and scared and think actually, maybe it's all lost, you know, maybe, you know, we've tipped over the edge and there are all sorts of issues but actually overwhelmingly conservationists are a very, very positive bunch. Otherwise you wouldn't be doing it, right? We're in it because we believe in the power of change and movement. We've seen that with plastic pollution recently with David Attenborough. I'm lucky enough to be looking at right now red kites that are flying across the sky in front of me, and that's because conservation worked, we've been releasing them.
CHELI: And we wouldn't be doing our jobs if we didn't believe that conservation had the potential to work, you know. Not only is it working but if you're spending all of your time and effort working for something that you believe is a lost cause, that's not a very rational thing to do. So… but the challenge is that it is a very sobering and oftentimes depressing and challenging field to work in and so finding that balance, because we don't ever want to mitigate the real tragedies and the real severity of the issues, however one of the things that we always talk about is connecting people with action and connecting people with other people. So even in telling a really sad story about human wildlife conflict or poaching or degradation or loss or whatever kind of story that you need to tell, not stopping at 'this is the problem, now go and feel sad all day' but say 'and here's who's working on that and here's how you can get involved and here's a very real and practical step that can be taken' or 'here's an example of someone who has solved a similar challenge in a different situation' so that you're leaving the story on some kind of inspirational empowering note that isn't trying to make people feel better or pat themselves on the back, but is trying to inspire people to then take that forward and actually not stop fighting.
NICK: Can you give any examples of, you know, really good let's call them communications or messages that really did link to hope or something, you know, that inspired change amongst people?
CHELI: Yeah, there's so many different diverse stories that have come through the channels and now we're getting, you know, 20-30 different posts on average per day across our channels, so what we really focus on is amplifying diverse voices and diverse messages and not generating a whole lot of unique original content ourselves but trying to facilitate the community to tell their stories as much as possible. So we get a real range of stories of things where a success has been achieved in setting aside some new protected area, there's really creative stories, like I don't know if you saw the one about Romeo, the world's loneliest frog, where they were searching to find a mate for this frog that was the last known of his species and so they'd given him kind of a personality and talked about the whole search for this frog's hopeful mate. And then they did, they eventually found five more and one of them is a potential Juliette for his Romeo and so the potential for hopefully being able to further that species by captive breeding…
NICK: And what's nice about that is that it's actually, it's not just like a one-off piece of news, it's kind of building a story that engages people, and as you're talking about Romeo we're both smiling. You know, so it's a nice story and I want to hear more.
CHELI: Well one of the ones that really got everyone here at Synchronicity Earth excited just a couple of weeks ago was a White-Bellied Heron that is one of the world's rarest birds was captured in a camera trap in an area where we were hoping that we would find white-bellied herons but was possibly extinct in that area and it was found in a camera trap that had actually been set up for tigers. And so it was a really great story about how this species has managed to hang on, the value of the conservation work that's going on in the area, the value of what they call camera trap bycatch, so you know, being able to put a lot of money and effort and time into projects that actually can yield more than what you even hope for. And so I mean there's all kinds of inspiring stories because that story wasn't, you know, a one-off, that was years in the making of lots of different conservationists and communities and everything coming together to work in this area on a variety of species, and then you have this one camera trap that happens to capture a really amazing image because it's like very clear, very large, he's actively posing right there in front of the camera trap. It's the sort of thing that then gives everyone hope and goes, oh my gosh yes, what we're doing matters, what we're doing makes a difference and we can keep hoping for more successes to build on this one.
NICK: And now we know this we can do more. Two years have gone by, you're now planning another summit I can see, so it's September, 2nd-4th in Oxford, UK. What's planned for that one? What can people get involved with?
CHELI: We're actually still accepting submissions for different kinds of sessions up through April 30th. We've got four different tracks, four different themes and the themes are Conservation Works, Lessons Learned and Models for Success; Creative Conservation, Engaging Through Storytelling and the Arts; Optimism and Wellbeing, Living and Working in Conservation and 2020 and Beyond, a Tipping Point for Nature and People. So we had slightly different themes in the previous summit and we'd like to be able to modify this more as we go forward but what we're really interested in capturing is stories from the field and from around the world that can help inspire and engage and empower people. We're looking at those ways in which we tell the stories, because this is something that the conservation sector historically hasn't been as strong on, is ways of engaging the public in the scientific and practical work that's being done and telling those stories in a way that's really accessible and human-driven and creative. Another one is obviously the mental health, wellbeing, looking at both the benefits of conservation for human health and wellbeing, which are many because obviously they're very intrinsically linked. When you have healthy ecosystems and you have environments that are flourishing, that's better for people all around but it's also something that is very strongly linked with mental health. So we're looking at not only the challenges to people because of the very real, scary, depressing, doom and gloom side of conservation but then also looking at what are the benefits and what are the human reasons. Even if you want to take out everything about ecosystems and species and this is something that comes up a lot, I think, for people that work in conservation sector, is people saying, you know, why would you waste all of your time on animals or plants when there's people that are suffering around the world? And then so talking about what are the human benefits of conservation. And then the one that I'm probably the most personally excited about is 2020 and Beyond, Creating a Tipping Point for Nature and People. 2020 is really set up to be a year of immense possibility for conservation, there's a lot of different important meetings, including the Congress of Parties in Beijing in I think November, also the World Congress and everything. If we want to have a Paris-style moment for biodiversity, the way that Paris was for climate change, I think 2020 is going to be a really important year for trying to get the conservation sector to speak with one voice and to rally around some unifying messaging that can cut across the public sector, the business sector, governments, conservationists, academics and get everyone really pushing forward together.
NICK: In the lead-up to the 2020 targets and the kind of refocus and the messaging that you were talking about and changing messaging within conservation, are you looking to convene various conservation organisations together to try and get that movement working as a unit?
CHELI: Yes we are, so one of the things that we're working on and have been working on now for about a year but will be increasingly important in our focus, is what we're calling Conservation Now, the conservation network of optimists worldwide, which is our ownerless meeting space and alliance for the other conservation organisations, projects, all of the different conservation groups that are working in this similar spirit and ethos. Because Conservation Optimism isn't something that we came up with, this is something that we recognised was out there and are trying to facilitate as much as possible. So we've been trying to gather together as many different groups that are all working in the same space to try to help share resources, share messaging and framing and get people working together and collaborating.
NICK: Where do you hope Conservation Optimism will be, let's say – and maybe you don't know the answer to this, I don't know but let's say 10 years from now, 20, 30? 11 years? What do you hope for the future of it, what do you think that the impact might have been or the changes you might be making?
CHELI: What I would really like to see is along with this Conservation Now, one thing that we're hoping to start this summer in the lead-up to the second summit, is starting to spread regional hubs around the world. We're looking at starting one that will be based out of Bangalore in India this summer, and that will basically be the same structure idea that we have that's been based out of Oxford that kind of had to grow from here because of where the first summit was held but then what we're hoping to facilitate is these regional hubs that will be gathering organisations and groups and projects from their own physical region and helping to strengthen and support those groups there in that region, and then report back out in a more effective way to every other region. So that our ideal is to have regional hubs, 20 of them or more, around the world that are each able to have much closer relationships and communication with the multiple smaller partners that are in those areas and then feeding that information back kind of into a centralised node and then dispersing it back down all of the other hubs, kind of like multiple legs of an octopus feeding back and then having that information and all of those stories and all of those resources feed back down to the tip of every other octopus leg around the world. So that will be part of my vision for the next 5-10 years, is that we would have more support, more summits, more training opportunities for groups every size and also across different kind of groups. Currently in Conservation Now we have not only NGOs or small projects or large NGOs or… we've got some businesses that work specifically with these different kinds of communications challenges, there's a variety of different people that are all embracing this spirit and this ethos of conservation optimism, of empowered conservation and of trying to get everyone, whether they're a barista, a lawyer, a mum, you know, financial consultant, whatever, to identify themselves as conservationists and take an active role in protecting our planet.
NICK: And that's one of the big challenges that the conservation movement is facing, that you guys are tackling, which is how do we bring more people into the movement and make more people feel and be empowered to be a conservationist, to be able to make change, no matter what they are. Conservation isn't just this term, just for a few people who are, I don't know, specialist and highly trained and working as professionals, it's for anyone if you want to kind of tackle and make change, you know, in your own lives so I salute you in what you're doing. It's a really important movement and it'll be really interesting to see, you know, where it's gonna go as well.
CHELI: We've partnered with Key Conservation app, which will be coming out to people's phones this summer, which is something I would really encourage everyone that's interested in this to listen out for or keep your eyes peeled for. It's something that Conservation Optimism has supported as one of our key partners now and it allows you to do three different things – it allows you to follow conservation organisations that are small and on-the-ground and doing all of this work in real time and either give them micro donations if they have financial needs; to search for different groups that need volunteers using their geolocation feature, you can go out and actually volunteer either near where you live or if you're on holiday, you can see what's nearby and go and volunteer with them; or probably the most exciting one in my opinion is the skills sharing, which allows you that if you've got… let's say that you're multilingual and there's an organisations that needs help doing translation, or you are a graphic artist and there's a small group that doesn't have a logo yet and it needs help with their branding so that they can better tell their story, whatever your skills, if you don't have the money to donate and you don't have the time to physically go and volunteer, you can make a tangible difference for conservation using the things that you're the best at.
NICK: Gosh, that sounds amazing, I love it. Well when it's out let's chat again and we'll hopefully share that and get behind it ourselves, it sounds fantastic. So let's hear a little bit more about you then if we can. You have been working in conservation for a while, you're wearing two hats with Synchronicity Earth and Conservation Optimism, could you just provide like just a brief career history, what have you done to date to get you to where you are right now?
CHELI: I probably have a strange career path in many ways. When I first graduated from undergrad, I thought I wanted to work in the film industry and did, in fact, work in the film industry in Los Angeles, I worked for Disney in the visual effects department. And after a while, I was really unfulfilled, I felt like I was working on other people's creative visions, I felt like I wasn't really challenging myself and I wasn't contributing to the rest of the world in a way that I wanted to. It was really fun and I don't mean to disparage the film industry at all, but for me, I felt that something was missing. Around that same time I got involved with the Climate Project, which was Al Gore's initiative that was built on the back of Inconvenient Truth where he brought together a lot of different educators, some celebrities, different kinds of leaders from different communities, and trained them how to give that same slideshow that he was giving in the documentary. And so I was in the first cohort of that and got really involved, got really excited and realised that I wanted to go ahead and get my masters degree in sustainability. And so I decided to make a complete career change and go and pursue my masters degree in sustainability.
NICK: Back to school for a bit.
CHELI: Yup. And so during the course of that I ended up doing part of my studies at University of Oxford and fell in love with it, and realised I wanted to do a PhD but wasn't sure what to do. And didn't want to jump into it without having something I was really passionate about. And so I worked for the National Wildlife Federation in DC in the US as part of their campus ecology programme. So I worked there for a while and then was recruited back to the US university where I had done my masters degree to be an adjunct professor, and so taught some classes in sustainability and helped develop some online classes both at the graduate and undergraduate level. And then became inspired while I was doing that with what I wanted to do my PhD on actually because I had a semester where none of my classes that I was teaching were in person, they were all online. So I went to Thailand, as one does.
NICK: Yeah, why not!
CHELI: So I went to Thailand and I was working and volunteering and travelling and looking at different environmental and sustainability wildlife mostly related issues, but something I noticed while I was out in even really rural parts of Thailand was that when there were these human elephant conflict situations that were occurring, either elephants coming in and crop raiding or elephants traveling homes, elephants that had been used in logging or the tourist trade but then as there are increasing crack-downs don't actually have employment any more, so unemployed elephants are a problem because people turn them loose and they don't have their natural forests to retreat to because it's becoming an increasingly fragmented landscape. What I noticed was that even in the small villages that people were pulling out their cell phones and capturing images and videos of the incidents, but that those records weren't necessarily going anywhere. People might be sharing them with friends and family or they might just be leaving them on their phone, they might be posting them to social media but in terms of that entering any kind of centralised database that researchers, conservationists and planners could use, that just was not happening. And so I got the idea for what I wanted to do with my PhD based on that and the idea of citizen science, and the idea of these smartphones that we're all carrying around, and increasingly even in the developing world people are carrying around what would have been close to £40,000 worth of kit in the 1980s because if you include the altimeter and the video camera and the translation features and the… all the different things that your smartphone can do. So I got really interested in citizen science and how that's developed over the last 120 years and how we are currently taking advantage of technology and how we're not, and how we could be. So I started my PhD at University of Oxford and that has led me to my current positions through various channels, which I can elaborate on if you're interested.
NICK: So a really diverse, yeah as you say, sort of meandering career but I don't say that in a detrimental way, I think most people's career paths are meandering, certainly mine is too and most people that I speak to so, you know, each step kind of builds upon the last. What did you learn, just briefly, in your PhD, like what were the headlines? What would you kind of tell people that you kind of walked away with?
CHELI: So I'm not quite finished with it yet. I'm currently on maternity leave from my PhD and I'll be going on maternity leave from my job but the key take-away that I have learned over the last few years with my PhD is that technology has fundamentally changed the way in which the different actors in citizen science relate to one another. There has been citizen science, which is the use of non-traditional academics in the aggregation and analysis of scientific data, for conservation since 1900, if not before but since the first autobahn Christmas bird count there have been citizen science conservation projects. A lot of these have used citizens specifically as censors or data aggregators and that has fed back to centralised hubs where, you know, usually men in white coats doing Science, with a capital S, use this data and it's been a very unidirectional relationship. But what's interesting is as you look over the last 120 years and you see different kinds of technologies become available and then widely adopted and, you know, and different things from computing to now with smart phones you see different changes in that relationship and at first it's step changes of scale, so you can do things bigger and faster, but the relationships don't change but then what you see in the last particularly 10-15 years and really within the last five is that with the kinds of smartphone technology that we have, you see the relationship fundamentally starting to shift. Obviously there's pioneers that take this on at first and the rest of the sector is still doing things, and incredible things that I'm not diminishing at all, that you're also seeing citizens and members of the general public that are able to ask the scientific questions and that are able to lead part of the discussion or have more of a back-and-forth exchange with the scientists who are leading on the projects, but you're also able to see the outflow of information, not just going to a centralised academic institution that does things with hit but then that data being made available to the people that are actually working on the projects where they're empowered to then act on it themselves and actually be the conservationists and do something, you know, it really depends on which project you're talking about but I think that's part of what we really need and this, you know, ties right back in to Conservation Optimism and everyone identifying as a conservationist because I think it's really important that in this increasingly fragmented and threatened world that we live in, we don't just need academics and practitioners, we need a billion conservationists.
NICK: Absolutely, we need 8 billion conservationists. Thinking about careers advice then and hearing about your kind of potted career history so far, presumably people come to you now and again and say, I'd love to work in conservation, you know, how do I get a conservation job? What sort of answer would you give people maybe leaving university or maybe they're mid-career and switching like you did from Disney. What's that kind of sort of key things people should bear in mind when looking to start their professional career?
CHELI: It's funny because I've had this conversation with several people. When I get into conversations with people that have a really different background, one of the things I point out about myself is figuring out what it is the skillsets that you already have that are unique and the things that you are interested in, curious about and passionate about that are not conservation, that you can bring with you to the sector. Because some people, when they are looking to make a career change, want to get out in the field doing safaris and all of the, you know, trekking through the wilderness, which is amazing and I'm super jealous of those people. We can't all be those people and the skills that you have built up in a different career track actually have a lot of valuable currency within conservation and so for me, having had a lot of experience with digital technology, with social media, with some of these different kinds of communications channels, ranging from film but also education etc., this isn't something that I had intentionally not completely stepped away from but have brought with me so that I bring in that side of things to conservation, so with Conservation Optimism trying to build this movement, trying to bring people together has been a logical progression of skills and so I think that it's really important for people that are looking to make a change into conservation that before they completely throw the baby out with the bathwater, have a look at what they've built up to this point in their careers and think, how could the skills that I currently have be used to further benefit conservation?
NICK: Yeah and I think that's really great advice, particularly for career switchers, don't start from scratch. You've built up loads of skills and knowledge which is very much transferrable into the sector so if you understand the sector and what they're looking for, which is an awful lot of different types of jobs, and if you understand yourself, what you're really good at and what do you love doing, I think those two things are really important and that's what you've done so successfully.
CHELI: Oh thank you. I think there's two other things I would say. One is, to not wait for the perfect time or the perfect situation, so there's like two halves of this. On the one hand, don't wait around until the timing is right and everything is perfect and you've got it all figured out because you'll never have it all figured out, the timing will never be perfect. If you want to make a change, partly you have to commit and just do it. On the other hand, with my PhD and with my current positions, part of that has been realising that there is a value in making sure that what you've got in terms of a plan is really well thought through and well developed. And so I didn't jump into my PhD immediately, even though I wanted to, I waited until I had what I thought was a really good idea and a really clear vision for myself and my career and then took a little bit of time to go and do some other jobs and some other preparations and then took that next step. And I don't regret that at all, actually I think that was something that was really difficult to do at the time but was really beneficial in the long run.
NICK: Great advice, thank you. So just to finish off, I wouldn't mind asking you a question or two which are kind of much more open questions really, just to see how you kind of view the world, view the industry. If you could change one thing that would make a real impact on the planet, if I made you the conservation tsar for the day, you're not just a director of Conservation Optimism, you're the director of Planet Earth, and if you click your fingers and make one change, enact one law, whatever it might be – what would you like to see happen? What thing would you really like to kind of shift?
CHELI: Oh gosh, that's a really difficult question. Well as I've said a couple of times, I think the biggest challenge for conservation – it's not about knowing what to do, because we've got a lot of really good information, we've got a lot of really good models for success, we've got a lot of really amazing, talented, intelligent people around the world that are working really hard for conservation. I don't think the issue is knowing what to do, I think the issue is getting more people fully and passionately committed to making a difference, even if it's not their vocation, it's their avocation. They're working in some other field but they are also passionately identifying themselves as conservationists who are actively striving to make a difference. I guess this goes back to what I was saying about seeing the opportunities in 2020 for this tipping point for us to have a moment where we really start taking biodiversity as seriously as now most people are taking climate change. That wasn't an overnight change, a lot of people took a long time to realise the real and present danger that climate change is presenting. It's not 100% of everyone yet but most people have woken up and said, we have to do something, we're gonna put pressure on our governments, we're gonna put pressure on businesses, we're gonna change the way we live and in small ways, and hopefully building larger and larger constantly, people are really starting to act in different ways in response to the climate challenge and I think the number one thing that we need is for people to wake up to the biodiversity crisis and to see it not as this overwhelmingly negative, impossible, fatalistic, predetermined failure but to see it as a challenge that they have to rise to and to really become empowered to be, like I said, those billion, or 8 billion, as you said, conservationists.
NICK: Fabulous, great. Well look, thank you so much for jumping on the podcast and finding the time to chat today, I really appreciate it. If people want to kind of find out more and get involved in Conservation Optimism, where should they go, what should they do?
CHELI: If you want to get involved, the best place to go is probably our website, ConservationOptimism.org and you can find all of our different social media channels, you can register for a profile, you can find out about the summit. Our most active channel is our Twitter channel and so you can find that from the website which is just ConservationOptimism.org and come and share your stories, find out what other people are saying and hopefully apply to come and share at our summit in September, because we would love to have as much representation as possible and we're really looking forward to it.
NICK: That's great, fantastic. Thank you so much. Good luck with Conservation Optimism! Good luck with your maternity leave and take care. Thanks again for taking the time to chat.
CHELI: Thank you so much, Nick.
NICK: Ok well I hope you enjoyed that everyone, if you did then please do hit that 'subscribe' button to get notified when new episodes are live and also give us a rating as it really helps us to get in front of more people. If you enjoy the interviews we've collated the best advice from over 400 professional conservationists into a free e-book, which you can download from the bottom of our website. And finally, if you've got any questions or suggestions for the podcast, please tweet them to @ConserveCareers, we'd love to hear from you. Ok, till next time guys, this is Nick signing out.
Careers Advice, Podcast


Bonnie Stabile is a Research Assistant Professor in the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs at George Mason University, where she also serves as Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of International Medical Policies and Practices (CSIMPP). She is a core faculty member of the Health and Medical Policy Program, teaching courses in Policy Analysis, Policy and Program Evaluation, and Ethics. Professor Stabile serves as Deputy Editor of World Medical & Health Policy, a peer reviewed academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell, and has served as a manuscript reviewer for other journals including the Review of Policy Research and the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. Professor Stabile's research interests include the ethical and policy dilemmas posed by the use of advanced technologies at the beginning and end of life; and the potential of policy analysis and program evaluation to improve policy outcomes. Professor Stabile's federal government work experience includes acting as Installation Coordinator of a U.S. Army post in Amberg, Germany, and as a Program Analyst for the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. From 1989-1993 she was Program Coordinator of the Senior Managers in Government Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Stabile, Bonnie. 2014. "Cloning" in Science and Politics: An A to Z Guide to Issues and Controversies, Brent S. Steel, Editor, CQ Press/Sage Books.
Stabile, Bonnie. Editor. 2013. Conflicts in Health Policy: Regulation, Rhetoric, Theory and Practice. Washington, DC: Westphalia Press.
Stabile, Bonnie. 2013. "The Ethics of Regulating Reproductive Technologies: Women as Child Bearers, Rights Bearers and Objects of Paternalism." Public Integrity, Symposium on Gender and Ethics.
Stabile, Bonnie. 2009. "What's the Matter with Kansas? Legislative Debates Over Stem Cell Research in Kansas and Massachusetts." Politics and the Life Sciences 28 (1): 26-39.
Stabile, Bonnie. 2010. "Stem Cells, Cloning, and Political Liberalism." World Medical & Health Policy 2 (1): Article 17.
Stabile, Bonnie, and S. J. Tolchin. 2008. "Winning Over an Increasingly Cynical Public: Debate Over Stem Cell Research and Other Biotechnologies." In Routledge Handbook on Political Management, ed. Dennis Johnson. New York: Routledge. p. 564 - 577.


The untypical physician Dr. Mary Jane Guazon-Uy answers her own question in this novella acknowledging a debt to Gabriel Garcia-Marquez's and Jorge Luis Borges's magical realism, with Neil Gaiman hinting at how to let a magical tale tell itself.
It begins with a gripping portrait of a woman with an unusual gift when nature spirits still roamed 19th century Naga. Maestra Angge, a highly educated woman, holds her own alone among a conquered people. She would have been called a babaylan before the Spaniards came.
When the friars slandered born healers like her as "aswang," who fed on human entrails, the people knew better. They trusted her to diagnose their ailments with her third sight, heal them with herbs and restore balance between body and spirit with a few choice words.
She was also a single parent to an only child whose father sailed off years ago and never returned. A "throwback to ancient times, when women ruled Kabikolan and had equal freedom with the men," the Maestra headed a huge household staffed by Agta whose first home was the forested Mt. Isarog, with nature spirits abounding, looming over her ancestral home.
One day Maestra Angge brings home a very sick man. The man is writhing in pain, dying from a rare disease she cannot quite identify. Anita feels the moment like doomsday as hard rain starts to fall, immobilizing their kalesa from fetching a priest to administer the last sacraments just in case.
The patient is greenish now, his body undulating with a huge creature in his innards. The Maestra's hands tremble as she pounds herbs to kill the unknown monster. The man drinks her powerful potion and instantly vomits foul-smelling mucus, with a huge worm "like a gigantic newborn larva" wriggling out of his mouth.
This monster worm hisses, hurling itself at the Maestra's assistant Venancio who quickly slashes it in half. Just as quickly, the Maestra stabs one end with her surgical knife. Venancio pours holy water on now two "demon worms," which hurl themselves out the window. They're swallowed in a whirlpool of floodwater -- and the storm dies down.
Revelation comes the next morning. The man recovering from near death opens the huge book he dropped in the balcony the night before. Responding to inquisitive Anita, who brought him the book, he begins to tell her the story of his desperate quest. He could not die until he returned this ancient prayer book he stole three centuries ago.
=The owner is none other than the Spanish missionary Pedro Bautista, a fine musician and charismatic preacher who led his Franciscan community in 16th century Philippines. Bit by bit, the thief tells Anita how he followed this monk's trail -- from his prayer cave in San Francisco del Monte in Manila to a parish he founded and the healing hot springs he came upon in the province of Laguna, all through her own coastal Nueva Caceres.
But always he misses the monk and must follow him the way all to Japan. The Spanish governor general sent him there as ambassador of peace to the Shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi then casting a conqueror's eye on a Philippines wreathed in tales of gold.
Fray Bautista wins the tolerance of the temperamental shogun, who grants him permission to found a Christian community in Nagasaki. But in Nagasaki, too, is where he meets martyrdom when court intrigues and jealous Shinto and Buddhist priests poison the Shogun's mind on the danger of the growing influence of this foreigner from the Spanish empire.
Dr. Uy hews to witness accounts of Fray Bautista lanced to death on a cross with 25 Christian followers. Many said they saw him saying Mass in several places after death. Ships at sea attested to seeing lights shining on the hill of execution. After two months of exposure to the elements, all the martyrs' bodies were reported incorrupt.
Others noted carrion crows avoiding their dead flesh. Church tradition adds that believers cut their bodies and crosses into miraculous relics, erasing all the martyrs' traces on that hill.
As fate and the author would have it, the book thief arrives just after Fray Bautista's death. Totally unmoved by all the stories of miracles, he even kills the messenger Bautista sent him before he died, just to tell him he knew who stole his book and it would torment him until he made amends.
Indeed, the thief continues to suffer all manner of ailments, often at the brink of death. Weary of his growing legend in Japan as a man who could not die, he returns to his life at sea. This is how he finds his way to Naga where Maestra Angge finds him half-dead that ominous dusk.
Now begins the strangest twist. As innocent Anita asks the thief questions on who and what he really was, he slowly begins to feel like she was his own daughter. He tells her his name, Rafael – Señor Paeng, the Agta servants call him.
As her patient recovers his health, something strange begins to happen to Maestra Angge, too as Señor Paeng begins to sing in fine tenor, playing the piano untouched for years. She who frostily kept her many suitors at bay for years, suddenly takes to the kitchen, creating delicious dishes to dine on in elegant dinners with Anita and Señor Paeng.
She sings in the garden now while he helps manage the household, consults him on her business enterprise, laughingly gossips about their mutual acquaintances. The lady's in love and so is the gentleman with a dark past unexplainably losing the countless years marked on his face.
They've become a loving family. For one gloriously happy year, Anita and her mother choose to ignore charming Señor Paeng's frequent hints on how he would have to leave them one day.
On her way home from school, Anita glimpses Señor Paeng and chases after him, only to find it's a demon. Strangling her with his long claws, she's close to her last breath when he suddenly lets her go and vanishes down an alley. Running home trembling, she shows her mother and Señor Paeng wounds on her neck. The moment has come for the cursed to leave the only family he's ever known. Sparing them from sharing his fate, he leaves both mother and daughter in great sorrow.
Years pass. Anita grows with her city, studies abroad, returns to help her aging mother, gradually taking over both her livelihood and her mission. Señor Paeng sends presents wherever he was. When Maestra Angge dies, Anita buries her like an expectant bride. Señor Paeng sends a rare handsome wreath from out of nowhere.
More years pass. Two more conquerors invade the country then give back its freedom. One day a formally dressed emissary arrives for Doña Anita Arca, telling her that Señor Paeng has chosen her as his heir. His curiosity about this aging married woman's relationship with the "rich young man" he saw on his untimely death bed is all over his face.
Anita says nothing as she receives the last present from the only father she ever knew -- the title to their home in Naga and whatever remains after his generous donations to the Church and many charities. Now the sole repository of Señor Paeng's mysterious past, Anita is deeply gratified that he has finally earned his rest, happily acceding to an old rogue's written request for her prayers.
But the tale does not end there. When Naga's Holy Week procession comes around, Anita glimpses a Franciscan monk bowing to her, a heavy book in his hands, left ear freshly cut like Fray Bautista just before his martyrdom.
Now she remembers. She glimpsed him, too, at her mother's funeral and again, when Señor Paeng's messenger brought her glasses just when her eyesight was failing. Now she wonders if he was in that religious procession when the demon fled before she breathed her last.
"Few Filipinos know San Pedro Bautista, a saint who once walked our land. I just had to bring him back to life in fiction," says author Mary Jane Guazon-Uy. Now tell me if that's not magical realism.


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Q: how to write a ActiveRecord query in the controller using a db column I am doing the following:
@group_coach = GroupCoach.find("groups_count < '9'" )
I have a groups_count column in my db that is being updated by a counter_cache => true method in the Group model.
I know this isn't right.  Because the error it spits out: Couldn't find GroupCoach with ID=groups_count < '9'
I have reviewed the Rails Guides:
client = Client.find(10)
Client.where("orders_count = '2'")
The second option does run in the localhost but isn't actually returning a GroupCoach... It just returns groupcoach...
What is the proper syntax for this?

A: Have you tried:
@group_coach = GroupCoach.where("groups_count < 9")

To clarify: @group_coach will be a collection of records. So you can't call @group_coach.name because all that will do is give you "GroupCoach" (the name of the class). Instead, you would need to iterate over the items:
@group_coach.each do |group_coach|
  puts group_coach.name
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Moored in the peaceful calm of her builder's marina on the Columbia River in Vancouver, Washington, Chasseur stands in stark contrast to all but one of her predecessors built by Christensen Shipyards. As I walk into the main saloon, certain words spring to mind: light, sleek, clean. It is this last one that embeds itself.
Great contemporary design is unfettered by extraneous decoration. It draws the eye, holds it, invites us to think. It is the work of Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright. Chasseur has this quality, like the iconic Sir Norman Foster-designed yacht Izanami (now Ronin).
Tonya Lance, owner of Varo Interior Design and Chasseur's principal designer, says that it was the 48.77 metre Christensen Odessa, launched in 2009, that inspired the owner to commission a new build with his long-time friend and business associate Henry Luken, who has since become Christensen's majority shareholder.
Lance says that Chasseur's owner, telecoms entrepreneur Donald Burns, saw a template in Odessa. But Burns adds that getting from inspiration to launch day was not as direct as that sounds.
"A few years ago, [during] a very difficult financial time, Henry had contracted with the yard for the construction of three vessels," Burns says. "At that point Odessa had launched and I really thought she was one of the most attractive products that the yard had ever produced — a much more contemporary interior, and a very fresh look.
The time between the purchase of Hull 37 and the purchase of Hull 40 was put to good use, says Lance, giving client and designer time to tour, analyse and discuss several yachts to help clearly define Burns's vision for Chasseur.
"I had a very clear idea of what I wanted in the vessel," he says, "but I really relied heavily on Tonya to present things to me in a series of meetings. She had seen the recent examples of my home décor and I gave her some writings on the subject.
To attain this result, Chasseur's spaces strike a balance between minimalism and modernism that takes full advantage of the natural light streaming through vast expanses of glass on the main and bridge decks. Throughout the boat, the watchword is rectilinear. Lines are clean and spare, shapes geometric.
Bulkheads, doors and casings of what Lance refers to as "milk-glazed" sycamore meet contrasting soles of matte-finished teak and holly. Cupboards and drawers are executed in santos rosewood; bedside tables and dressers also feature ebonised oak.
Other pieces are adorned with natural materials: shagreen, woven leather, capiz shell. Furniture — a Hermès chair or Armani Casa table — is used as both accent and statement, taking pride of place where appropriate.
Burns "spared no expense to fulfil his luxurious vision", says Lance. That vision, as it happens, follows through to his residences as well. Speaking from his house in Nantucket, Burns says: "Well, broadly, my tastes have evolved over the years. [This house] is an extraordinarily contemporary home, and I'm in the process of trying to do the same thing in my home base of Palm Beach.
"Beyond that, boatyards around the world really weren't producing contemporary products, and that's true with very few exceptions. Boats are generally still quite heavy in appearance, the interiors are generously adorned.
The better lighting that Burns speaks of became a significant part of the overall design concept for Chasseur. "I really pressed the yard hard on technology and on lighting," he says, adding that he believes that many previous Christensen owners hadn't spent much time on either.
Orsman's lighting plan also plays an important part in the presentation of Chasseur's collection of art, a thoughtful assemblage that comprises nearly two dozen important photographs and several contemporary sculptural pieces. The direction, says Lance, took time, although, she admits, the search was quite enjoyable.
"It was really an evolution," says Burns, "because, again, some of the art on vessels tends to be quite heavy, and I wanted something that reflected Chasseur's character and level of light, and how I wanted to use and enjoy the vessel.
Having looked at a number of boats before deciding to sign a contract with Christensen, Burns felt that most of them, even many recent builds, would not please the new generation of yacht owners. He was greatly concerned that the aesthetic he envisioned for Chasseur would not become dated.
After enjoying his maiden trip to St Barths this autumn, Burns plans to offer Chasseur for charter, making the boat available in the Mediterranean during the summer season and the Caribbean during the winter. It was not a decision taken lightly.
Legendary interior designer Albert Hadley once said: "Decoration is really about creating a quality of life and a beauty in that life that nourishes the soul, that makes life beautiful." There is absolutely no doubt that Chasseur will accomplish that for Donald Burns.


Texas governor Rick Perry will reportedly signal his intention to run for President this weekend at the conservative RedState Gathering in South Carolin, a key early primary state.
Perry will make a speech at the conference, after which he'll travel to New Hampshire to meet with GOP party activists. The governor's appearance coincides with a straw poll of Republican candidates in Iowa and his remarks are likely to distract Americans from his GOP rivals competing in the event.
Today on American Morning, Erick Erickson, editor-in-chief for Redstate.com, joins Christine Romans to weigh on the possibility that Governor Perry will announce a presidential run.


The influence of the media on our perception of female beauty Defining beauty is not without its challenges: look up the definition of beauty in any english dictionary and one will be met with an ambiguous description similar to this:... 16/12/2018 · The effects of the media on perception can distort or change peoples' opinions on beauty, politics, and disease. For example, some people argue that the media has a much higher, sometimes unrealistic standard of beauty, which can lead viewers to have unrealistic expectations for themselves and others.
The following essay is about how the media portrays beauty and body image for women. I have chosen to write about the projected image that media places on women because this is a big controversy in which regards the amount of pressure society puts on people to be perfect and above standards. what is virtual reality in multimedia pdf The media has brought with it wonderful advantages in certain aspects of people's lives but it has also brought with it a very alarming detriment, and this is a change and influence in society's perception of beauty.
What Are the Effects of the Media on Perception?
Chantelle Winnie is a fashion model with a skin condition called vitiligo (the same disorder that made Michael Jackson's skin turn white). Winnie's Instagram account is chock full of photos from professional shoots, her skin on full display.
The media has brought with it wonderful advantages in certain aspects of people's lives but it has also brought with it a very alarming detriment, and this is a change and influence in society's perception of beauty.
Media influence on Beauty perceptions, recent article from Woman's Era Magazine August Second 2016. Fairness creams demand grows despite health hazards.


Joan Suzio is currently living in Manassas, Virginia, working as a Decorating Den Interiors - Joan Suzio in "Decorating Den Interiors - Joan Suzio".
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U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams posted and then deleted a tweet on Wednesday that said "no children should ever use marijuana," making way for a new tweet that recognized the therapeutic potential of cannabis for children.
But that tweet was deleted and, about two hours later, a new version surfaced: "No child should use #marijuana/products non medically." The rest of the original tweet was left mostly intact.
While far from an outright endorsement of medical cannabis, the revised tweet seems to acknowledge that children can benefit from marijuana products. It's why, for example, many families have flocked to legal cannabis states to treat rare forms of epilepsy in their children, among other serious conditions where traditional pharmaceuticals have fallen short.
A number of people reacted negatively to the original post, perhaps prompting the surgeon general's revision.
What about derivatives, for seizures? Against the effects of chemo? This is a short list, stop making grandiose overstatements, it does a disservice to actual medical uses that can and does help people. Even children. Thanks.
Also, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, no child should experience the trauma of criminal consequences for using marijuana.
MYTH: Marijuana is a safe & effective medicine. FACT: Some individual components of marijuana, like cannabidiol (or CBD) have therapeutic benefits. However, the whole plant is not an approved medicine, & @US_FDA -approved CBD based medicines can only be prescribed by a doctor.
"However, the whole plant is not an approved medicine, & [Food and Drug Administration]-approved CBD based medicines can only be prescribed by a doctor," he said.
That said, Adams has previously voiced criticism of cannabis current federal scheduling status.
"We need to look at the way we schedule different medications across the board, because one of the concerns that I have with marijuana is the difficulty that the folks have to do research on it, because of the scheduling system," he said in December.
The sentiment about removing barriers to scientific studies is apparently shared by officials in other federal health agencies, who convened for a workshop on cannabis research last month and expressed frustration about how federal marijuana laws have impeded such research.


text:
Vietnam provides US$1.3-billion relief package for corona-hit vulnerable people
Hai Yen - D.Tung
People out of work, self-employed people, or household businesses forced to suspend operation due to the Covid-19 pandemic could receive up to VND1 million (US$42.63) each per month.
The Vietnamese government plans to provide financial support worth up to VND30 trillion (US$1.28 billion) for vulnerable people directly affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, according to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the meeting. Source: VGP.
The pandemic is causing severe consequences to not only businesses and state revenue, but also people's lives, requiring urgent measures to ensure social security, particularly the poor, unemployed or vulnerable people, among others, Phuc said at a government meeting on March 31.
Under the plan, people out of work, self-employed people, and household businesses forced to suspend operation could receive up to VND1 million (US$42.63) per month, while social beneficiaries and revolutionary contributors are entitled to VND500,000 (US$21.32) per person per month.
In the short term, people could receive financial support in three months starting April while the government would continue to review the situation to adopt further measures.
Meanwhile, for workers having labor contracts with enterprises but are forced to take unpaid leave or face wage reduction, the support would be around VND1.8 million (US$76.74) per person per month in the next three months.
Phuc, however, urged such financial support should strictly target people directly affected by the pandemic, while those seek to take advantage of the policy for illegal gains would be punished.
Local authorities in provinces/cities are responsible to ensure the support is provided in a transparent and fair manner, Phuc requested.
Enterprises should ensure payment of at least 50% of the minimum wages for employees. In case they are unable to pay wages, enterprises could seek preferential loans from the Social Policy Bank of Vietnam, Phuc added.
TAG: financial support covid-19 coronavirus nCoV pandemic Nguyen Xuan Phuc vulnerable
Vietnam announces US$12-billion stimulus package for enterprises
Hanoi continues strong support for businesses affected by Covid-19
ADB president offers support for Vietnam's Covid-19 response


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Festival Diary: Arrow Video FrightFest Day 4 - THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT, HAMMER HORROR: THE WARNER BROS YEARS, TERRIFIED
It was the penultimate day of FrightFest and the incessant rain did nothing to deter horror fans and genre aficionados from swarming back to Leicester Square for a fourth helping of cinematic excess. Sunday witnessed the English Premiere of John McPhail's all-singing, all-dancing zombie high school musical Anna and the Apocalypse, while the wonderful Issa Lopez returned for an encore screening of her excellent Tigers are not Afraid. The singular talents of Joseph Khan were championed with the UK Premiere of his incendiary battle rap odyssey Bodied, while Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson put the willies up us once again with a special event screening of their excellent horror anthology, Ghost Stories.
But that was far from all…
The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot (Robert D. Krzykowski, USA) - European Premiere
Word had travelled across the pond following the world premiere of Krzykowski's debut feature, that it had failed to deliver on the promise of its schlocky, tongue-in-cheek. What that means, however, is that audiences were prepared to embrace the film on its own, rather than its perceived, merits.
Barely a horror film at all, The Man Who Killed Hitler and then the Bigfoot is instead a hugely ambitious, character-focused epic that ponders the meaning of heroism and the burden of mythology. Sam Elliott is a towering presence as the brooding, lonesome Calvin Barr, who - rumour has it - assassinated the Fuhrer back in 1942. Leading a quiet, anonymous life some 45 years later, Barr is suddenly called upon to undertake a new, even more bizarre mission to save his country from an all-together different kind of threat.
Playing out more like a revisionist western in the mould of The Searchers or Unforgiven, the film explores how a nation's heroes are built up, only to be discarded when no longer needed. It examines how ageing also plays its part in disarming a once accomplished man - and warrior - and how regret and loss gnaw away at us over time, and can only be silenced by our inevitable, final fate.
Undeniably, the film overreaches the confines of its budget, but the artificially created landscapes and details recall the intricate matte paintings so beloved by art historians. The supporting cast, which includes Caitlin FitzGerald (Masters of Sex), Ron Livingston and Aidan Turner as the young Barr, are immaculately turned out, while Alex Vendler's gorgeous cinematography and a sweeping score from Joe Kraemer only add to the elegiac grandeur of this beautiful, haunting film.
Read Josh's dissenting view here
Hammer Horror: The Warner Bros Years (dir. Marcus Hearn, UK) - World Premiere
Thanks to the recent efforts of Powerhouse Films, I have spent many an hour of late diving deep into the history of Hammer Films, often aided by the academic guidance of Kim Newman, Jonathan Rigby and more. Newman was on hand to introduce this new feature length documentary from official Hammer historian Marcus Hearn, which in turn features Rigby's musings prominently. Produced by Kat Ellinger of Diabolique magazine, this film is very much in keeping with the style of those Indicator supplemental features - packed full of incredible insight and information, but perhaps not ideally suited for big screen.
That is not to say that Hearn's latest offering was anything less that thoroughly entertaining - especially when seen with a roomful of similarly enthusiastic Hammer fans. The Warner Years sadly also coincided with the downturn in Hammer's fortunes. Ever dependent on overseas financing, Hammer were beholden to their American investors, who increasingly demanded little more than Christopher Lee Dracula films.
As the face of American horror evolved, thanks to Night of the Living Dead and WB's own The Exorcist, Hammer's low budget victorian gothic tales became increasingly out of step with current tastes. Their efforts to correct this, in Dracula AD 1972, reeked of a critical disconnect between the producers and the youth market. In their desperation, oddities like The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires - a co-production with Shaw Bros in Hong Kong - would emerge, but at the time still failed to find an audience. As Newman pointed out, it wouldn't be until the arrival of Blade and Underworld in the late 90s, that horror and action would be recognised as profitable bedfellows.
Terrified (dir. Demian Rugna, Argentina) - UK Premiere
Finally a scary movie at FrightFest! Rugna sent in a hilarious video intro of his new horror film, in which his endearing promise that "You will scared!" became something of a whispered mantra that rippled through the auditorium as we settled back for the only genuinely frightening film I've seen at the festival so far.
Incorporating an ensemble of characters, who congregate around the strange goings on in a quiet suburban neighbourhood, Terrified details the investigation of a young boy's accidental death, as well as the brutal murder of a neighbouring housewife at the hands of a fiercely malevolent supernatural force. As cops, scientists and civilians alike begin to hear bumps in the night and glimpse gangly spectral figures in the shadowy periphery, Rugna turns on the terror through a series of masterfully orchestrated jump scares and ghoulish reveals.
Often employing the same syntax as Asian horror, Terrified weaves an intricate web of timelines while remaining largely free of exposition. Evil forces have been unleashed, and little more explanation is necessary. What follows is a consistently breathless and unsettling exercise in good clean fear. Enjoy.
Read Mack's full review here
J Hurtado and Andrew Mack contributed to this story.
ArgentinaHammer HorrorMarcus HearnSam ElliottTerrifiedThe Man Who Killed Hitler and then the BigfootUKUSA
Official Arrow Video FrightFest 2018 website
More about The Man Who Killed Hitler and then The Bigfoot
Giveaway: Win THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT on DVD
THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT Interview: Robert D. Krzykowski on His Debut Feature
THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT Trailer
FrightFest 2018: Just For The Fest, a New THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT Poster
Fantasia 2018 Review: THE MAN WHO KILLED HITLER AND THEN THE BIGFOOT Falls Far Short Of Its Potential
More about Aterrados
TERRIFIED (ATERRADOS): Guillermo del Toro to Produce Argentine Remake of Paranormal Shocker?
Mumbai 2018 Dispatch: Strong Selections Prompt Insane Demand, Focus On Women Continues
Fantasia 2018: Final Wave! MANDY is Coming! New Films From Donnie Yen And Takashi Miike. And a Musical Treat From Goblin's Maurizio Guarini!
FANGES 2018: A Free Weekend of LatAm And Spanish Horror in Santiago Chile This Weekend


I am a service engineer specializing in access control and video surveillance technologies.
My favorite part of my job is learning new technologies because it allows me to implement them as solutions for our customers.
When I am not working on an installation or service call, I like to cook, go hiking, and spend time with family.


Whenever I give a talk about the history of pet keeping, people ask me to define "pet." I recently published an essay where I worked out a definition that encompassed the wide variety of ideas and behaviors that are associated with keeping animals as pets. I suggested that the concept of the "pet" is dynamic, changing with the species of animal involved, the motivations for keeping the animal, and the life circumstances of the pet owner. The human and the animal "live" the definition together through daily routines and behaviors. So the definition of the "pet" is not only in our minds, it is displayed through our actions..
1) The pet animal is chosen by one or more people, who take responsibility (however imperfect or inadequate their efforts may be) for its well-being and intervene routinely in its life course.
2) The pet animal is kept in close proximity to the people who care for it, including residing in and around a dwelling.
3) The pet animal is not required to "earn" its living except insofar as it contributes to in the emotional economy of private life.
4) The pet animal is kept as a companion or the object of emotional ties.
5) The pet animal may be kept at least in part or wholly for the pleasure its beauty provides. This may be either physical appearance or some other characteristic, as in the case of birdsong.
6) The animal may be a source of leisure activity, which may include development of substantial expertise, as in the case of caring for reptiles, saltwater aquaria, or parrots.
7) The animal may be a source or a signal of social status. These animals may be exotic, "purebred" (created from a closed genetic pool of similar individuals), or have other special characteristics, as when their status is associated with the potential danger associated with ownership.
8) The status of the pet is contingent. An animal can be raised into the status of the "pet" or lose that status through abandonment or other failures of care.
9) Not every pet meets all these characteristics or conditions, although items 1 and 2 are fundamental to this animal category.
Because I know a lot about the artifacts associated with pet keeping, I can see that elements of the definition are embedded in their design and their use. I'll try to share these observations with you in my blog postings. I'll also point out how the definition has changed over time, and how pet keeping in 18th, 19th and 20th centuries changed in America.