"GIS is an important tool - one that helps shape the world around us"
Geographic information systems (GIS) constitute a powerful technology that can address many of the information needs of decision makers in government and corporate.
A computer-based GIS provides an electronic process for managing, integrating, and analyzing massive amounts of geographic information by combining location information with descriptive data in a relational database management system. When deployed properly, GIS and related techniques can greatly facilitate the timely evaluation of issues and the comparison of alternatives for policy and business decisions.
Applications of this technology will be of growing national importance, improving effectiveness of organizations especially those responsible for water resource, Health & sanitation, environmental management, economic development, and public service delivery etc.
Most geographic database systems are self-contained islands of information that are difficult to cross access or integrate. Thus, the agency generating the data tends to be the only one that can use it, even though other agencies may need the information to address wider concerns. PERI GIS Practice specializes in helping clients navigate through their enterprise-wide Infrastructure, utilizing "Best Practices" to create a roadmap to realize the full benefits of their investment.
Since all governments are charged with matters within a specific geographic region, the associated data comes with a geographic component through which it can be organized, accessed and analyzed in a GIS. Understanding where things happen is often a key to delivering government services. Integrating information from diverse sources based on where things happen, or where things are, has proven to be a powerful way to plan and deliver public services more effectively and efficiently. GIS is of particular importance and concern to local governments, because virtually everything they do is tied to a place. Police, fire protection, ambulance dispatch, town and country planning, building permits, sewer and water pipes, schools, hospitals and primary health centres, recreational facilities, traffic management, street lighting, and property taxes are all inextricably linked to particular places and geographic service areas. Geographic information systems can be used, to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of each of these services. PERI GIS Practice team members work in tandem with clients to prioritize a GIS strategy focused on delivery of identified business and Policy objectives.
Custom maps, showing selected data layers, can be displayed on the computer or generated as a hard copy product. The user can define the scale and the area to be mapped. Data layers can be added or deleted to fit the user's requirements. PERI, GIS technology emphasizes analysis rather than plain map making. Analytical applications in GIS involve the integration of different data layers to solve a problem or answer a question faced by clients.
Where is the best location for a site landfill, a new school or hospital or restaurant, or a highway by-pass? The GIS user first defines the site selection criteria. The criteria may include the geology, soil-type, current land use, location of protected lands (parks or wildlife refuges) or environmentally sensitive areas (water supply watersheds), proximity to roads, the cost to purchase the land parcels, etc. The GIS permits the integration and evaluation of the geographic and demographic data to identify areas that meet the pre-defined criteria.
Setting up a retail network or managing a fleet. Administrators use GIS, analyzing factors such as traveling distance, locations to select routes that optimize the fleet strength and fuel costs.
What is the potential impact of a proposed new housing or industrial development on a community's drinking water supply? Which forest areas need to be preserved to prevent damage to economically important, recreational trout fishing streams? Is a proposed new drinking water supply located too close to an abandoned waste site? In each of these examples, GIS can be used to integrate and evaluate multiple data layers and attributes and then generate information that enables public officials and resource managers to make more informed decisions.
Many businesses are using GIS for demographic analysis, customer segmentation, target marketing, competitive analysis, risk management, route planning, expansion analysis etc.
In the health care industry GIS can be used for research and planning, facilities and resource management, marketing and promotion.
State and Central governments can use GIS for providing public service, welfare schemes implementation and monitoring, voter registration and administration, zoning and land use controls, and emergency response planning etc.
Organizations with delivery vehicles can use GIS for Transportation planning, routing and scheduling, facilities management, Traffic management, vehicle tracking, dispatch planning and warehouse operations.
GIS offers farmers various opportunities to increase production, reduce input costs, and manage the land in their care more efficiently. GIS is being used for crop production analysis, precision farming, regulatory compliance, Field data collection, Crop acreage estimation, Soil analysis and conservation, Land use mapping, Harvest scheduling, Pollution and erosion management, Irrigation management, soil disease management etc.
Telecommunications companies have implemented GIS for communication network routing, operations management, wireless engineering, target marketing, customer support, construction management etc.
Utilities like Gas and Electric companies use GIS for marketing, customer service, transmission and distribution system management, power generation and load management, meter reading, billing and collection, finance, operations, and engineering planning and design.
GIS is in use by the Petroleum Industry for retail network planning, distribution, facilities management, and exploration. Clients can use our GIS based decision support systems to decide where to drill a well, route a pipeline, build a refinery, set up a fuel station, reclaim a site etc.
GIS is an integral part of environmental management today. GIS can be used for site remediation, natural resource management, waste management, flood management, vegetation mapping, Ground and surface water management, watershed and hydrological modeling, well- head protection, water quality monitoring, pollution studies, water distribution master planning, population and demand projections, water flow analysis. forest resource management, environmental impact assessment, wasteland development, wetland conservation, endangered species mapping, environmental monitoring, endemic management etc.
GIS allows us to integrate a wide variety of data into one, common format - a map. Presenting our clients with a visual representation of all the information affecting the desirability and value of a property can give a far more accurate picture of a property's suitability to their needs.
GIS based asset management, geo-tagging, crime tracking and analysis, market assessment, facility optimization and management etc.
Our team members add tremendous value throughout the GIS initiative cycle. By first identifying and defining a business goal, we work together with clients' personnel members to leverage internal knowledge of the business processes. From there, PERI team members work with clients to identify opportunities for improvement.


There are over 16,000 living alumni all across the nation. Join the alumni nationawide by networking with local alumni. Find a complete list of all the alumni chapters and their contact information below. Click the event calender to find an event near you. If you would like to get in touch with a area chapter, email alumni@sdsmt.edu.


text:
The mysterious volcanic triangle off the coast of Vis and the most unusual apple in Croatia
Jabuka, Svetac and Brusnik
Boaters sailing the Croatian sea have a wonderful choice of almost a thousand islands. The islands of the Kvarner, Zadar, Šibenik, Split or Dubrovnik archipelago will satisfy all appetites and affinities in the search for the perfect bay, heavenly beach or hidden resting spot, but the Adriatic hides other uncut diamonds for ambitious boaters looking for an adventure. Visiting the so-called Vis volcanic triangle made of the islands Svetac, Brusnik and Jabuka is one of the greatest nautical adventures in Croatia and is definitely recommended to those looking for offshore sailing.
This original and unique tour is attractive in the summer months because the meteorological conditions and stable anticyclones make it possible to visit this seaside heaven known for its natural beauty covered in a veil of mystery and secrecy.
We will start from the furthest point - Jabuka, a unique islet in all the Croatian Adriatic. Some boaters say it looks like a shark's fin, others associate it with a broken tooth, while some see a conceptual work of art and old marine texts mention a pyramidal shape. Be that as it may, Jabuka is an isolated lady, which has attracted the interest of sailors since the 14th century, when it was drawn on maps for the first time. The impressive hundred-meter-high black cliff is made of volcanic rock full of magnetite. In fair weather it is visible from the seaside mountains, from a distance of 100 kilometres, due to its shape. Although it is out of the usual naval passages, the islet has become a sort of personal trophy for boaters who come to marvel at this piece of wild nature in its most creative phase. Like an art form, Jabuka can be observed only from a distance, as it has no bays, anchoring is difficult due to the deep seabed and not even the smallest boat can land on the smooth rocks. But you will feel palpable peace and quiet in its vicinity. A parallel universe worth sailing to. It is worth mentioning that the area around Jabuka is one of the richest in fish, especially dentex, in all the Adriatic.
The other end of the Vis triangle closest to Jabuka is the neighbouring islet Brusnik. It is almost 150 million years old and also made of volcanic rock rich in magnetite. Due to this phenomenon, a compass needle goes haywire when near the island. Boaters should access this 23-meter-tall island very carefully due to the numerous underwater rocks on the north-western side, near the small beach full of grey pebbles of all sizes, or try to moor off the south-eastern coast. After which a most beautiful vista will open up before you. The combination of sunshine, black rocks and turquoise sea is truly timeless. An endemic species of black lizards, known for being precise meteorologists, lives on the island. An old proverb says that the weather is about to change when the lizards hide between the rocks. After Brusnik, it is time to sail to the final part of the Vis triangle.
Svetac or Sveti Andrija (St. Andrew) was already settled in prehistory. The Illyrians and their queen Teuta, the Greeks and the Romans all had posts on the island on which, according to fishermen, the winds blow so strongly that even rocks fly. For the last 250 years, Svetac has been owned by the Zanki family. The Slatina, or Mundonova cove as the locals call it, is the safest cove in which it is possible to tie your ship to two shoreside bitts. From Slatina you can reach Pavlov bok with a dinghy. It is the only harbour on the island, in which boats are not moored or berthed, but dragged out onto land. Boaters looking for mystery and enigmatic history will enjoy a tour of Teuta's tower, from where, according to legend, the powerful Illyrian queen lived well on pirate plunder.
Just as Jabuka and Brusnik, Svetac is characterized by wild nature. The only sculptors, painters and architects are the powerful winds and the sea.
Which is why you should wait for the summer months, fair weather and a calm sea before sailing off into the world of secrets, mystery and beautiful nature.
Photo: Ivo Pervan / Geopark Viški arhipelag
The island of Vis and its surrounding islands of Biševo, Sveti Andrija, Brusnik, Jabuka and Palagruža form a single geographical area with various sites and landscapes, and are the second UNESCO geopark in Croatia, along with Papuk.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


David Ferrer's fitness and baseline power overwhelmed an injured Rafael Nadal.
The end of Rafael Nadal's quest for four consecutive major titles is being attributed to the injury he suffered early in his quarterfinal match against David Ferrer. But Nadal wasn't in his best form heading into the match, with his serve particularly weak. And Ferrer, long one of the tour's best returners, has been peaking in 2011.
When Ferrer said after the match, "If Nadal wasn't injured he would normally have won in three sets," he was selling himself short. It was understandable that he was disappointed, since Nadal is his friend and Davis Cup teammate. But Ferrer would have challenged serve from a healthy Nadal, too. He had beaten Nadal in two of their five previous hard-court meetings, including in the 2007 U.S. Open's fourth round, the only match Nadal has lost at a major after winning the first set. That came in Ferrer's best period as a pro, as he recalled after beating Nadal on Wednesday: He finished 2007 ranked fifth in the world and won his first four matches — including one over Nadal — at the year-end finals before losing to Roger Federer in the title match.


Rid society of nasty creeps as the world's top ethical hitman!
Rid society of nasty creeps as the world's top ethical hit man!
Use the mouse to shoot and kill your targets. Remember to carefully read the mission briefings to find out who your target is.
Demolition City Destroy towers and buildings with dynamite!


An application for reconnaissance permit shall be made to the State Government in Form 'A' through such officer or authority as the State Government may specify in this behalf.
Provided further that in case the applicant is a partnership firm or a private limited company, such certificate shall be furnished by all persons of the partnership firm or, as the case may be, all members of the private limited company.
paid the income-tax on the basis of his assessment as provided in the Income-Tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961).
Where an application for the grant of reconnaissance permit is delivered personally, its receipt shall be acknowledged forthwith.
Where such application is received by registered post, its receipt shall be acknowledged on the same day.
In any other case, the receipt of such application shall be acknowledged within three days of the receipt.
The State Government may after giving an opportunity of being heard and for reasons to be recorded in writing and communicated to the applicant, refuse to grant a reconnaissance permit over the whole or part of the area applied for.
Where it appears that the application is not complete in all material particulars or is not accompanied by the required documents, the State Government shall, by notice, require the applicant to supply the omission or, as the case may be, furnish the documents without delay and in any case not later than thirty days from the date of receipt of the said notice by the applicant.
(1) Where an applicant for the grant of a reconnaissance permit dies before the order granting him a reconnaissance permit is passed, the application for the grant of reconnaissance permit shall be deemed to have been made by his legal representative.
In the case of an applicant in respect of whom an order granting a reconnaissance permit is passed but who dies before the deed referred in sub rule(1) of rule 7A is executed, the order shall be deemed to have been passed in the name of the legal representative of the deceased.
The area would be further relinquished so that the permit holder is left with an area not more than twenty five square kilometers at the end of the third year.
The holder of the reconnaissance permit shall strictly adhere to the minimum expenditure commitment and specific physical targets specified in the order of grant of the permit failing which reconnaissance permit may be cancelled.
The holder of reconnaissance permit shall make available all data collected by him during the reconnaissance operations to the Geological Survey of India, Indian Bureau of Mines and the State Government which may be made available to any prospecting investor after a minimum period of two years of the completion of the period of reconnaissance permit.
The holder of reconnaissance permit shall not enter any forest land or any private land without obtaining permission of the Forest Department or the owner of the private land, as the case may be.
The holder of reconnaissance permit shall maintain accurate faithful account of all the expenses incurred by him on the reconnaissance operations.
The holder of reconnaissance permit shall submit to the State Government a six monthly report of the work done by him and the valuable data collected by him during the period. The report shall be submitted within three months of the close of the period to which it relates.
The permit holder shall also submit to the State Government within three months of the expiry of the permit, or abandonment of the operations or termination of the permit whichever is earlier, a full report of the work done by him and all information relevant to mineral resources acquired by him in the course of reconnaissance permit in the area covered by the permit.
While submitting reports under sub clause (vi) or (vii), the permit holder may specify that the whole or any part of the report or data submitted by him shall be kept confidential; and the State Government shall thereupon, keep the specified portions as confidential for a period of two years from the expiry of the permit, or abandonment of operations or termination of the permit, whichever is earlier.
The permit holder shall allow every officer authorised by the Central Government or the State Government in this behalf to examine at any time accounts maintained and furnish to the Central Government or the State Government or any other officer authorised by it in that behalf such information and returns.
The permit holder shall allow any officer authorised by the Central Government or the State Government in this behalf to inspect any reconnaissance operations carried on by him.
The permit holder shall pay such permit fee as may be fixed by the State Government, being not less than five rupees per square kilometer and not more than twenty rupees per square kilometer of land held by the permit holder for each year or part thereof.
The reconnaissance permit may contain such other conditions as may be imposed by the Central Government which inter-alia may include the condition that the representative of the Directorate General, Civil Aviation or Ministry of Defence shall be present during the aerial surveys.
The State Government may, with the approval of the Central Government, impose such further conditions in the permit as it may think necessary in the interest of mineral development and for compliance of various legal provisions.
Provided that no such order shall be made without giving the permit holder a reasonable opportunity of stating his case.
Where on any application for a reconnaissance permit an order has been made for the grant of such permit, a deed granting such permit shall be executed within ninety days of the date of the communication of the order or such further period as the State Government may allow in this behalf, and if no such deed is executed within such period due to any fault on the part of the applicant, the State Government may revoke the order granting the reconnaissance permit and in that event the fee paid shall be forfeited to the State Government.
The deed referred to in sub rule 1 shall be in Form F-1, or in a Form as near thereto as circumstances of each case may require.
The date of the commencement of the period for which a reconnaissance permit is granted shall be the date on which the deed is executed after all necessary clearances have been obtained.
An applicant for a reconnaissance permit shall, before deed referred to in sub rule (1) of rule 7A is executed, deposit as security for the observance of the terms and conditions of the permit a sum of twenty rupees in respect of every square kilometre or part thereof for which the permit is granted.
Any deposit made under sub clause (i) above if not forfeited under the rules shall be refunded to the applicant as soon as the report referred to in sub rule (1)(vii) of rule 7 is submitted.
7C. Prospecting Licences and Mining Leases of other minerals. -The applications received for grant of prospecting licences or mining leases within the area granted under reconnaissance permit for minerals other than those for which the permit has been granted, shall not be refused on the grounds that the area is not available for grant. The State Government shall dispose of such applications as per provisions of these rules.
Provided that if a prospecting licence or a mining lease for other mineral has been granted to some other applicant within the area granted for a reconnaissance permit and where the reconnaissance permit holder discovers availability of minerals covered under his permit within the area so granted subsequently for prospecting or mining of minerals other than those covered under the reconnaissance permit, he shall have the right to get such areas vacated from the licensee or the lessee, as the case may be and such licensee or lessee shall not hinder the reconnaissance operations being undertaken by the reconnaissance permit holder.
(1) A register of applications for reconnaissance permits shall be maintained by the State Government in Form G-1.
A register of reconnaissance permit shall be maintained by State Government in Form H-1.


With so much to discover in Argentina, from walking with penguins to scaling icy glaciers and exploring Andean deserts, it is essential that you plan your trip and decide when to visit depending on what you want to experience to get the most out of your time. As Argentina is in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are reversed for many international visitors from the northern hemisphere, but being such a vast country certain regions have their own individual climates that may make travel easier or more restrictive. The Cafayate region for example, being one of the driest places on the continent, can be enjoyed at any time of year, as can Mendoza, whilst some parts of Patagonia are inaccessible in winter.
It is essential for you to choose the time you want to go to Argentina based on the experience and wildlife you are looking for.
Year round – from the Andean Condor in Patagonia to tropical birds in the rainforests of northern Patagonia there is always something the whet the birder's appetite.
December to March – Commerson's and Peale's dolphins can be seen along the coast of Patagonia often found surfing in waves or in the wakes of boats.
Year round – The giants can be seen throughout the year but the best time to see them is from October through to April.
September to April – The orcas seen at Peninsula Valdes are famous for their breathtaking hunting techniques. Chances of seeing these unique attacks are at high tide and when sea lion pups are present.
September to March – the first Magellenic penguins begin to arrive in late September but chicks begin to be born after November and then start to leave their nests in March.
Mid May to December – The whales migrate along the Patagonian coast in search of warmer waters. The best sightings are generally in September and October.
The summer months are a popular time to visit, particularly between the peak season between Christmas and New Year which requires early booking to guarantee availability. Being so close to the Antarctic, the southernmost reaches of Argentina around Ushuaia are more suited to travel during this time, when the temperature can reach a comfortable 16°C or 60°F. The north of the country experiences the hottest weather during this time.
Autumn can be an ideal and temperate time to visit most of country. In Patagonia, it marks the onset of winter albeit before the coldest months set in. It is also a great time to visit Buenos Aires and the Lake District, which feels distinctly fresher outside of peak summer and winter.
During the winter months, many of Patagonia's key attractions are closed and the northern areas of the country are amongst the best to visit, such as Iguazu Falls or Salta, where you are likely to experience mild temperatures of around 12°C or 56°F.
As with autumn, the spring months can be an ideal time to visit most of the country the Lake District around Bariloche, as well as Patagonia and the capital of Buenos Aires, which can become unbearably hot in the height of the summer.
Year round – From September to October temperatures are more moderate. January and February are the hottest months and water levels are high.
October to April - when temperature are highest. It is possible to visit during winter but temperatures can often drop below zero.
September to April – although you can visit throughout the year, spring and summer are best for wildlife.
October to April – this is prime time for vineyard activities as it is planting season though to harvest. It also has warmest temperatures and least rainfall.
If you are hoping to see the spectacular Southern Right Whales off the Peninsula Valdes, you should plan to visit between the beginning of June and December. At the beginning of this season they congregate around the southern section of the peninsula before heading to the northern area of the bay from around September. The Magellanic Penguins in Punta Tombo, south of arrive in August to breed and leave for the warmer waters of Brazil in April.


Apple on September 9 is holding an event to launch iPhone 6S, iPad Pro and next gen Apple TV.
Everyone is definitely waiting for the upcoming iPhone and here we have some good news that Apple will launch their next flagship device in the second week of September. It's most likely that the event will be held on September 9, 2015 according to a report.
We believe that the upcoming iPhone will be iPhone 6S as iPhone 7 is still not in production and there were several leaks about the S variant of the iPhone 6 phone. Apart from that Cupertino based company will also launch iPad Pro too along with next generation of Apple TV.
iPhone 6S will feature Force Touch technology and comes with Series 7000 aluminum which makes iPhone 60% tougher than the current iPhone with aluminum alloy.


Independent security research, articles, and guides from the leaders in IT security. Subscribe now for early access to our security & breach reports, whitepapers, data sheets, and frameworks.
A total of 804 large breaches of protected health information (PHI) affecting over 29.2 million patient records have been reported to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) since the August 2009 interim final breach notification rule was issued as a part of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act.


text: PermissionsEx is supported on a variety of platforms, and is designed to be easy to port to others.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Dauphin's Wilson And Gators Dominate
Dauphin's Kiara Wilson hit the pool to take part in her final Manitoba Jr. Provincial Swim Championships over the weekend in Winnipeg for her current age group.
That's because the 12-year-old will move up an age group next year, and what a final few performances she put on.
She won three individual gold medals in the 50m breaststroke, 100m individual medley, and 100m breaststroke. Kiara also joined forces to dominate with her teammates, Kelton Amendt, Parker Beer, and Sophia Heschuk.
The four went on to win gold in the mixed 200m medley relay.
"It felt really good because that was my last swim meet in this age group," said Wilson. "I didn't expect to get that many gold medals, especially with the relay. It was a really great feeling to get a gold medal with my teammates."
"I've been practicing a lot and every time I practice, my goal is to get better," she added. "I'm really happy all of the hard work paid off."
Kiara wasn't the only one that had lots of success at the event. On top of winning gold in the relay with Kiara, Kelton Amendt won silver in the 100m IM and he joined Sammi Rea, Rhea Amendt, and Parker Beer in winning silver in the mixed 200m free relay.
Parker Beer also earned a trifecta of medals. He won a bronze medal in the 100m IM and he also won a gold and silver in both relay races.
Having success herself is always great, but something she also enjoys is watching her teammates have success.
"Yeah, it's really fun to go to provincials with all of my teammates and see how good they do," continued Wilson. "They always get medals and personal bests; it's really fun to be a part of."
Next up for Kiara and the Gators is the ManSask event next month.
When next year's swimming season rolls around, Kiara will have to adapt to competing at a new level. She will join the 13-14-year-old age group. That's a challenge that the 12-year-old will be ready for.
"It'll be a little bit tougher because I'm swimming against older people, but I'll try my hardest and we'll see how it goes," concluded Wilson.
Published: Jun 13, 2019 - 10:34 am


I've just started a Symphony Tour with Smokie, which will take in Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Latvia.
I'll arrive back home mid December when do doubt everyone will be in that lead up to Christmas - happy bubble.
So it's -7 here in Brno, but I do enjoy the cold weather, I like the seasons, but of course over this neck of the woods, I'm thinking I could do with my "Willy Warmer"
Usually when I pack to come away, I try to travel light, although I did make sure I had my scarf and gloves on this occasion . . . . and I'm glad I did!
So what's been happening? First and foremost Leeds are still up the top of the league . . . . . the wheels are still on the bus as they say!
It seems like the summer went into winter without taking a breath and before I knew it, I'd missed Bonfire night in the UK, I'd shopped online on Black Friday as well as Cyber Monday, and I'm now considering Christmas presents. Of course this all creeps up on the touring musician, but I'm fairly well organised, so no great Shakes!
It's been a tough few weeks in the Smokie calendar and for the first time in ages, I feel a little battle weary . . . . It's all the flying, I never seem to have my feet on terra firma for more than two days, before I'm checking in again.
I'm going to see Professor Brian Cox in the New Year, can you believe that a Professor is doing dates in the big Arena's in the UK, telling his followers about the world we live in and how the far reaches of our Cosmos will possibly effect us in years to come? . . . . . I'm really looking forward to that, I can well imagine that the graphics on stage will be amazing! . . . . . I've also got my eyes on the Steely Dan Tour . . . . I have a feeling it may be their last?
I must get on a get my tickets booked . . . . what was I saying about being organised????
On one of my first tours of Europe in 1983, I met a guy who would become a lifelong friend. Brian was working for the American Navy in Sicily when we first hooked up, I was a young crazy dude with not a care in the world, Brian maybe a little more sensible? Myself and Brian became inseparable cats and we became best buddies.
Our worlds would take different paths, but we always stayed in touch and we hooked up a couple of times in the States, when I was over there touring or recording.
Sadly a few years ago Brian was given the news that he had developed Colon Cancer, but his treatment was, for a good few years effective. When it was my 50th Birthday, I met up Brian and another great friend Tom and once again the Three Stooges from Sicily had good times!
We hit BB King's Blues Club in New York and I had my 50 chicken wings in Hooters!
I knew Brian wasn't getting any better and I said to Tom that I felt it might be the last time we are all together? . . . . . I was right.
Sadly, Brian passed away a couple of weeks ago in Arizona, at the tender age of just 55.
Brian once promised me that if I stick around with him long enough? He would find me the most gorgeous Italian babe, who would cook me pasta till I get into my old age! . . . . I always reminded him he was wrong and he never succeeded in his promise!
I am deeply saddened that in the space of just a few weeks, I've had two of my best buddies leave this world.
I continue to ask myself why can't we beat this disease? . . . . we've just sent a rover to Mars for God's sake, surely one day we can beat the big C that seems to effect us all, in one way or another at some point in our lives.
Of course these sad chapters in one's life makes you re-evaluate your own well being . . . . . I need to count my blessings from time to time!
It seems that every record store is now stocking vinyl and there seems to be a box set of some description released every other day, especially in the Rock genre! I'm pretty clued up when it comes to tech and despite my initial reservations a few years back, I really do enjoy the way I can listen to digital music on the go, at home, at the beach wherever I may be I can log into my premium music account and listen online or offline to any album of my choosing . . . . I never thought i would embrace this way of listening to music . . . . so there you have it . . . . "You can shove your vinyl up yer arse" . . . . My old Rotel deck can stay in the loft collecting dust!
The only real decision I had to make was . . . . . Bose or Sonos?
This post is very good Thanks for this...!!


"Yarnival", a special needlework-themed event, will be held at the Vacaville Cultural Center Library on Feb. 27 from 2 p.m. to 5p.m. Volunteers from the library's Knot Just Knitters program will be holding demonstrations of needlework techniques, and will be standing by to teach people how to knit and crochet. Knitting needles, crochet hooks, and yarn will be provided. Prize drawings will be held for a variety of needlework supplies. Individuals of all skill levels are welcome to attend the program.


text:
Q: What is the PDO equivalent of function mysql_real_escape_string? I am modifying my code from using mysql_* to PDO. In my code I had mysql_real_escape_string(). What is the equivalent of this in PDO?

A: Well No, there is none!
Technically there is PDO::quote() but it is rarely ever used and is not the equivalent of mysql_real_escape_string()
That's right! If you are already using PDO the proper way as documented using prepared statements, then it will protect you from MySQL injection.

# Example:
Below is an example of a safe database query using prepared statements (pdo)
  try {
     // first connect to database with the PDO object.
     $db = new \PDO("mysql:host=localhost;dbname=xxx;charset=utf8", "xxx", "xxx", [
       PDO::ATTR_EMULATE_PREPARES => false,
       PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION
     ]);
 } catch(\PDOException $e){
     // if connection fails, show PDO error.
   echo "Error connecting to mysql: " . $e->getMessage();
 }

And, now assuming the connection is established, you can execute your query like this.
if($_POST && isset($_POST['color'])){

    // preparing a statement
    $stmt = $db->prepare("SELECT id, name, color FROM Cars WHERE color = ?");

    // execute/run the statement.
    $stmt->execute(array($_POST['color']));

    // fetch the result.
    $cars = $stmt->fetchAll(\PDO::FETCH_ASSOC);
    var_dump($cars);
 }

Now, as you can probably tell, I haven't used anything to escape/sanitize the value of $_POST["color"]. And this code is secure from myql-injection thanks to  PDO and the power of prepared statements.

It is worth noting that you should pass a charset=utf8 as attribute, in your DSN as seen above, for security reasons, and always enable
PDO to show errors in the form of exceptions.
PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION

so errors from you database queries won't reveal sensitive data like your directory structure, database username etc.
Last but not least, there are moments when you should not trust PDO 100%, and will be bound to take some extra measures to prevent sql injection, one of those cases is, if you are using an outdated versions of mysql [ mysql =< 5.3.6 ] as described in this answer
But, using prepared statements as shown above will always be safer, than using any of the functions that start with mysql_
Good reads
PDO Tutorial for MySQL Developers

A: $v = '"'.mysql_real_escape_string($v).'"';

is the equivalent of $v = $this->db->quote($v);
be sure you have a PDO instance in $this->db so you can call the pdo method quote()

A: There is no need of mysql_real_escape_string in PDO.
PDO itself adjust special character in mysql query ,you only need to pass anonymous parameter and bind it run time.like this
Suppose you have user table with attribute name,email and password and you have to insert into this use prepare statement like this
you can pass name as => $name="Rajes'h ";
it should execute there is no need of equivalent of mysql_real_escape_string
$stmt="INSERT into user(name,email,password) VALUES(:name,:email,:password)";
try{
   $pstmt=$dbh->prepare($stmt);//$dbh database handler for executing mysql query
   $pstmt->bindParam(':name',$name,PDO::PARAM_STR);
   $pstmt->bindParam(':email',$email,PDO::PARAM_STR);
   $pstmt->bindParam(':password',$password,PDO::PARAM_STR);
   $status=$pstmt->execute();
   if($status){
    //next line of code
   }

}catch(PDOException $pdo){
     echo $pdo->getMessage();
}

A: There is none*! The object of PDO is that you don't have to escape anything; you just send it as data. For example:
$query = $link->prepare('SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = :name LIMIT 1;');
$query->execute([':name' => $username]); # No need to escape it!

As opposed to:
$safe_username = mysql_real_escape_string($username);
mysql_query("SELECT * FROM users WHERE username = '$safe_username' LIMIT 1;");

* Well, there is one, as Michael Berkowski said! But there are better ways.

A: The simplest solution I've found for porting to PDO is the replacement for mysql_real_escape_string() given at https://www.php.net/manual/en/mysqli.real-escape-string.php#121402.  This is by no means perfect, but it gets legacy code running with PDO quickly.
@samayo pointed out that PDO::quote() is similar but not equivalent to mysql_real_escape_string(), and I thought it might be preferred to a self-maintained escape function, but because quote() adds quotes around the string it is not a drop in replacement for mysql_real_escape_string(); using it would require more extensive changes.

A: If to answer the original question, then this is the PDO equivalent for mysql_real_escape_string:
function my_real_escape_string($value, $connection) {
    /*
    // this fails on: value="hello'";
    return trim ($connection->quote($value), "'");
    */
    return substr($connection->quote($value), 1, -1);
}

btw, the mysqli equivalent is:
function my_real_escape_string($value, $connection) {
    return mysqli_real_escape_string($connection, $value);
}

A: In response to a lot of people's comments on here, but I can't comment directly yet (not reached 50 points), there ARE ACTUALLY needs to use the $dbh->quote($value) EVEN when using PDO and they are perfectly justifiable reasons...

*

*If you are looping through many records building a "BULK INSERT" command, (I usually restart on 1000 records) due to exploiting InnoDb tables in MySQL/Maria Db.  Creating individual insert commands using prepared statements is neat, but highly inefficient when doing bulk tasks!

*PDO can't yet deal with dynamic IN(...) structures, so when you are building a list of IN strings from a list of user variables, YOU WILL NEED TO $dbh->quote($value) each value in the list!

So yes, there is a need for $dbh->quote($value) when using PDO and is probably WHY the command is available in the first place.
PS, you still don't need to put quotes around the command, the $dbh->quote($value) command also does that for you.
Out.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Gordelstaarthagedissen (Cordylidae) zijn een familie van hagedissen.

Naam en indeling
De groep werd voor het eerst wetenschappelijk beschreven door Leopold Fitzinger in 1826. De familie wordt vertegenwoordigd door 68 soorten die verdeeld zijn in tien geslachten.

Een aantal geslachten zijn recentelijk erkend, zoals het geslacht Smaug, waartoe de reuzengordelstaarthagedis (Smaug giganteus) toe behoort. Dit geslacht is vernoemd naar de draak Smaug uit de The Hobbit-merchandise. Over de genetische relaties binnen deze familie is nog veel onduidelijk. De genera Chamaesaura, Cordylus en Pseudocordylus bleken in een in 2001 uitgevoerd onderzoek één genetische geslachtengroep te vormen.

Uiterlijke kenmerken
Gordelstaarthagedissen zijn sterk bepantserde hagedissen die vaak gekielde en soms puntige schubben hebben. Veel soorten hebben ringvormige rijen doorns op de staart. Een kenmerkende verdedigingsmethode van deze dieren is zich in een hol terugtrekken en zich dan vol zuigen met lucht, waardoor ze vast komen te zitten in hun schuilplaats. Ze slaan hierbij wild met hun venijnige staart.

Veel soorten hebben een onopvallende grijze tot bruine kleur met lichtere strepen of vlekken. Van een aantal soorten is bekend dat de mannetjes in de voortplantingstijd felle kleuren vertonen. Sommige soorten hebben gedegenereerde poten zoals de pootjesslangen uit het geslacht Chamaesaura. Zij hebben een op een slang gelijkend lichaam met zeer kleine pootjes, ze bewegen zich ook slangachtig voort.

Levenswijze
Alle soorten bewonen het zuidelijke deel van Afrika. Veel soorten uit verschillende groepen komen endemisch voor in Zuid-Afrika. Alle soorten leven in droge streken, veel soorten leven in rotsige omgevingen zoals de echte gordelstaarthagedissen. Andere soorten komen voor in meer begroeide gebieden zoals graslanden waar ze op de bodem leven.

Verreweg de meeste soorten zijn eierlevendbarend en ontwikkelen geen eieren maar baren direct zelfstandige jongen. Een uitzondering vormen de rotshagedissen uit het geslacht Platysaurus die allemaal eieren afzetten.

Geslachten
Onderstaand een lijst van geslachten, zie voor een lijst van alle soorten ook de lijst van gordelstaarthagedissen. De geslachten Karusasaurus, Namazonurus en Smaug zijn beschreven door een groep van biologen: Edward L. Stanley, Aaron Matthew Bauer, Todd R. Jackman, William Roy Branch en Pieter Le Fras Nortier Mouton.

Bronvermelding

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


DOCOMO PACIFIC $178K contribution purchases over 200 laptops for CNMI school libraries to help bridge the homework gap, enhance learning experience through technology.
DOCOMO PACIFIC makes a donation to the Marianas Young Professionals to support relief campaign. Funds were raised from community members in Guam as part of a collection drive.


Webster-Kirkwood Real Estate Buzz : Spectacular Ranch with Incredible Baths!
The latest happenings in the Webster Groves and Kirkwood school districts!
Spectacular Ranch with Incredible Baths!
Specatular 3 bedroom 2 bath ranch!
Oakland, St. Louis County - This elegant ranch home was TOTALLY updated in 2009-10 including a new master suite with a to-die-for bath rarely found in homes at this price. Second bath is equally wonderful...both have double sinks, granite counters and the master has BOTH a walk-in shower AND soaking tub.
Nearly everthing is new including a lovely kitchen/breakfast room with cherry cabinets. Gleaming hardwoods and beautiful crown moldings/wainscotting are featured throughout. Three nice-sized private bedrooms will accommodate your family and a newly finished lower level family room is perfect as a game/media room or casual living space.
The outdoor areas are equaly wonderful with a new oversized deck, private patio, beautiful landscaping and large side yard all enclosed by iron style fencing and gates. There is a public park across the street (on Oakland) so the kids have plenty of room to play.
Other updates include new siding, new thermal windows, beautiful custom front door with sidelights, and stone veneer entrance. The kitchen has stainless appliances and granite counters. The flooring throughout is either new or refinished. A brand new 300 sq. ft cedar deck was just completed and opens to both the dining room and kitchen. Two new cement driveways were added including the large circle front drive and an oversized side driveway (off Oakland) leading to the garage. The master suite is new and so are both baths. Other updates include systems and a newly finished lower level with sump pump.
With a garage side drive and large circle drive for guests, visiting is a snap so no worries about the corner location! You simply must come inside to enjoy the privacy and fabulous features as nothing comes close at this price and you don't have to do a thing here. The yard is also much larger than it appears and has private hidden patios and a large level recreaction space. Easy access to Berry Rd (from Oakland) and Hwy 44!


Here are three shorter resources which you can use to carry on exploring the theme of the Unreconciled during your preparation for Easter. These resources are offered for the beginning of Holy Week to prepare for the events commemorated on Maundy Thursday (the Last Supper), Good Friday (the Crucifixion of Jesus), Holy Saturday (the time of watching and waiting after Jesus' death) and Easter (the Resurrection). To help you we offer three more themes from our book Unreconciled?
You might also like to return to the Prayer for the Unreconciled we have offered for reflection throughout Lent as a way of continuing to prepare for Easter.
patiently, lovingly, restoring all creation.
midwife of our journey to new birth.
dancing, delighting in the beauty of the earth.
waiting for adoption as neighbours and friends.
into enduring healing, peace, and freedom.
who do not know your joy, forgiveness, hope.
as we travel together in our pathways of faith.
to your task of reconciliation.
our hearts are restless till they rest in you.


The following ECG is from a 60 yr old male who presented with several weeks of diarrhoeal illness following foreign travel. He has a past medical history of ischaemic cardiomyopathy. His medications include warfarin, beta-blocker, PPI, ACE inhibitor and diuretics.
He was admitted for calcium replacement and following resolution of acute kidney injury his electrolytes normalised.


text:
Photography: An Honest Approach to Climate Change
Eleanor Pitcher 7 March 2019
Image Credit: Cristi B via Flickr
Donald Trump famously denounced climate change as a hoax invented by the Chinese. Despite being confronted with scientific evidence revealing the damage we have caused our planet, he still pulled out of the Paris International Climate Agreement, and has taken steps to cut back on environmental funding and protection. This begs the question: what do we do as a society when evidential truth is called into question?
Photographs in the news have the immense power to shape people's perceptions about politics, society, influential figures and climate change. A lot of the time, these photos simply function to reaffirm something we all already know: the refugee crisis is an inexorable humanitarian crisis that requires greater action; the popularity of wacky haute couture is both bemusing and yet, we all totally get it; and the Gilets Jaunes are as ferocious as ever. But often, photos remind us of matters that we perhaps haven't chosen to actively acknowledge, or indeed have even purposefully relegated to the back of our minds. Climate change is the perfect example of this.
Environmental concerns – plastic waste, forest fires, rising sea levels, the unstoppable temperature climb, among so many others – are some of the most critical issues faced by humanity today. In fact, they have been for a while, but we have continuously, and mindlessly, chosen to overlook them. Now living in an age scientists have named the Anthropocene – a geological age "defined by nuclear tests, plastic pollution and domesticated chicken" – climate action is needed more than ever, and in recent years we have seen an overwhelming response by artists and journalists who are embarking on projects to raise awareness for this unstoppable crisis.
Photojournalism has adopted a central position in the discussion surrounding climate change. And its recent involvement in the discourse can only really be put down to the fact that, having ignored the issues for so long, it is now that the photographic evidence is shocking enough to actually cause a stir.
Image Credit: Justin Hofman via Instagram
Let's recall Justin Hofman's disturbing photograph that captured the attention of world media: a seahorse clasping onto a cotton bud like it should seagrass. On Instagram, Hofman wrote: "This photo serves as an allegory for the current and future state of our oceans." And an allegory it certainly is. It powerfully represents the omnipresence of plastic in our environment which is choking our oceans, irreversibly damaging our ecological systems, and disrupting our wildlife. It elicited a widespread response from news platforms and environmental activists around the world. But this photograph is just one of many that is causing commotion and forcing us to get our sh*t together.
Image Credit: Rhiannon Adam (via British Journal of Photography)
In 2018, the British Journal of Photography announced 'Fractured Stories': a commission giving one photographer the opportunity to document issues of fracking in the UK. Rhiannon Adam, a London-based photographer, was chosen to embark upon this expedition to visually depict the effects of fracking on communities, shedding light on and re-opening a discussion about this contentious practice. Unlike other media, she refuses to sensationalise the issue, and she tapped into the essential crux of environmental photography: honesty. A genuine depiction of the crisis is necessary to truly elicit the desired response. And I think this is why Hofman's photograph received the reaction that it did. He accidentally snorkeled across this unstaged scene; its sincerity makes it all the more desperate, and hopefully provocative.
Image Credit: Jack Harries
Social media is a powerful tool to divulge environmental issues. Jack Harries is a documentary photographer, filmmaker and environmentalist who, after the success of a YouTube channel and blog, has utilised his platform, mainly on Instagram, to raise awareness surrounding climate change. He has launched a number of environmental projects, such as Somaliland's Nomads: The Human Face of Climate Change, a portrait series of those who survived Somaliland's drought and famine. Like Adam, Harries entered the communities of those who he was documenting, making this photo series a sort of ethnography and therefore maintaining the essential honesty at the heart of environmental photography.
Photography is a powerful artistic medium that transcends language and cultural barriers. Bruno Barbey, Moroccan war photographer, said, "Photography is the only language that can be understood anywhere in the world." It has evolved into a visual language, and photojournalism has been a consistent provider of transparency in obscure climates. It is only through our understanding of world issues that we can truly begin to tackle them head-on, and photography gives us this understanding better than any other medium. It gives a story credibility, an invaluable credential in our era of Post-Truth and Fake News.
Images spark interest and capture attention, making photography an invaluable tool for documenting climate change, a global issue that is only over recent years making news headlines. Photos on this subject educate and inspire, and with every rise in world temperatures, sea levels and the amount of plastic in natural habitats, we are more in need of them every day. In a society crippled by division caused by fake news about very real world issues, art, and specifically photography, has a crucial role to play in uniting and educating society and encouraging an active response to the disasters caused by climate change.


Local 2090, National Federation of Federal Employees (Union), filed a request for assistance with the Federal Service Impasses Panel (Panel) to consider a negotiation impasse under section 7119 of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (Statute) between it and the Department of the Air Force, Onizuka Air Force Base, Sunnyvale, California (Employer).
After investigation of the request for assistance, the Panel directed the parties to meet informally with Panel Chairman Roy M. Brewer for the purpose of resolving the issue at impasse. The parties were advised that if no settlement were reached, Mr. Brewer was to notify the Panel of the status of the dispute, including the parties' final offers and his recommendations for resolving the matter. After considering this information, the Panel would take whatever action it deemed appropriate to resolve the impasse.
Mr. Brewer met with the parties on May 24, 1990, but the impasse was not resolved. Accordingly, he reported to the Panel based on the record developed by the parties. The Panel has now considered the entire record, including his recommendations for settlement.
The mission of the Employer is to control a worldwide satellite tracking network for the Department of Defense, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and U.S. allies. The bargaining unit consists of approximately 160 employees, but this dispute involves only the 21 Wage Grade employees who work at the facility's power plant. The plant, the facility's sole source of power, is operated around the clock by three shifts of employees. The parties' collective bargaining agreement expires on February 24, 1991.
The sole issue in dispute is whether time clocks should be installed in the power plant.
The Employer proposes that it be permitted to install time clocks in the power plant to rectify problems which have arisen in the documentation of time and attendance. In this regard, the parties recently have retained an arbitrator to decide the issue of whether the Employer owes certain power plant employees backpay for alleged preshift and postshift overtime work. The Employer "has been unable to resolve these doubtful claims expeditiously" because of the lack of clear evidence of what hours each claimant has actually worked. While it has issued a new instruction addressing this "ambiguous overtime situation," the installation of time clocks is essential to guarantee that the timekeeping documentation problem does not recur. Hence, time clocks would ensure that: (1) the instruction is adhered to when supervisors are not present to enforce it; (2) shifts and lunch breaks begin and end in a timely manner; and (3) accurate records of authorized periods of overtime are kept. Moreover, "time clocks are commonly found in industrial settings throughout the United States" because they enable employers to adhere to Federal pay standards.
The Union opposes the installation of time clocks, viewing the Employer's attempts in this regard as "punishment" for its filing of the backpay claim. In fact, since the claim was filed management has "continuously harassed" employees regarding numerous working conditions. While it is true "to some extent" that the installation of time clocks would help power plant employees if future claims concerning overtime arise, negotiations over the Employer's new instruction have eliminated the underlying cause of the backpay claim, shift changeover, so similar disputes are unlikely to occur. Thus, there is no need for time clocks, and the Employer's attempt to install them reveals that its real concern is micromanagement and scrutinizing the employees in the power plant.
Having considered the evidence and arguments in this case, we conclude that the Employer's proposal should be adopted to resolve this dispute. The record indicates that the parties recently reached an agreement on a scheduling system which should eliminate their previous difficulties with overlapping shifts. The agreement, however, requires that utility operators be physically relieved on the hour, and, further, that shift leaders have the authority to order overtime. Thus, there are apt to be times when overtime occurs for which the Employer legally is bound to make payment. Accordingly, we are persuaded by the Employer's arguments that time clocks are warranted to establish its precise liability when the payment of overtime is required. We also note that the use of time clocks is not uncommon in such settings and, for these reasons, shall order the adoption of its proposal.


text:
Written by Hugo Mercier on 4 July 2011
Decision-making for a social world
Modularity and decision making
Modularity & Decision Making (paper here)
Robert Kurzban University of Pennsylvania & Chapman University
Mechanisms that are useful are often specialized because of the efficiency gains that derive from specialization. This principle is in evidence in the domain of tools, artificial computational devices, and across the natural biological world. Some have argued that human decision making is similarly the result of a substantial number of functionally specialized, or "modular" systems, brought to bear on particular decision making tasks. Which system is recruited for a given decision making task depends on the cues available to the decision maker. A number of research programs have advanced using these ideas, but the approach remains controversial.
Hugo Mercier	4 July 2011 (16:38)
Thanks for a very interesting paper. I'm going to have trouble commenting, since I agree with most of what you've said… A detail. In the information integration section, you only give a fairly shallow example of information integration. Being put in a different position activates different modules–or maybe provides different input to the same module. I'm not sure this is the type of situation that critics of modularity would think of when arguing from information integration. Mentioning metarepresentational modules may have been more convincing. Metarepresentational modules may look 'domain general' since they can take for representations of just about any representation one is able to hold. Yet they are arguably functionally specialized, each having a different function — such as theory of mind, pragmatics or reasoning. Moreover, they are also specialized in the sense of only attending to one particular type of objects: representations (as opposed to predators, food, mates, etc.). (see for instance Sperber, 2000) Sperber, D. (2000). Metarepresentations in an evolutionary perspective. In D. Sperber (Ed.), Metarepresentations: A Multidisciplinary Perspective (pp. 117-137). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dan Sperber	5 July 2011 (15:10)
A couple of remarks on this excellent paper: Thinking of decision in the light of modularity, highlights one of the least plausible of Fodor's criteria of modularity, viz., that the operations of a module are not only automatic (in the sense that no decision need be made for them to take place) but also mandatory (in the sense that, once an input for the module is present, the modular process will start and follow its course). This assumes that there are no energy constraints on the operations of modules, when in fact two kinds of such constraints are likely to be involved. Firstly, as a matter of efficient design, processing costs should be incurred only in proportion to expected cognitive benefit. So a stimulus with no expected relevance should be less likely to be processed. This is indeed the case when a stimulus is repeated with no new relevance and elicit a lower and lower cognitive response (what is called 'habituation'). Secondly, there may be too many inputs fitting the input conditions of diverse modules for each and every one of these modules to run its course. This is well illustrated with attentional blindness, as in the famous Simons & Chabris' experiment where a gorilla in full view is not seen by participants attending to the passing of a ball among players in a video. In such a case, modules are in competion with one another for brain resources. In a typical decision situation different decisions (e.g. fight or run?) drawing on different modular abilities are in competition, and, as suggested by Cosmides and Tooby cited in this paper, emotion can favour one module and inhibit another one. I would like to draw attention in this context to the work of George Ainslie and in particular his book [b]Breakdown of Will[/b] (see also the [url=http://picoeconomics.org/] picoeconomics site[/url]) where he argue for the view that human action results from an internal conflict of what he calls "interests". Ainslie is a behaviourist and not a modularist evolutionary psychologist, but his "interests" are very much like action-guiding module that enter on competition for the control of the organism, and I find his work highly relevant to the understanding of decision and action in a modularist perspective.
Robert Kurzban	6 July 2011 (18:20)
[b]Hugo[/b]: That's a very well taken point. This paper is for an edited volume, and I have a chance to revise it, and I will make changes to reflect this idea. Thanks much. [b]Dan[/b]: Thanks for the kind words. And I agree. The notion of "automaticity" might not be nearly as useful as other ways to talk about (modular) processes, including thinking in terms of which processes require – or do not require – the same computational resources to execute one or more steps. By a somewhat odd coincidence (or perhaps not), a colleague of mine recently drew my attention to Ainslie's work as well. This was in the context of issues surrounding "self control," which I believe has a convenient modular interpretation. (Modules designed to bring about immediate gains vs. modules designed to bring about gains extended in time.)
Judgments and decisions based on attempts to disambiguate the given information
Framing, defaults, trust


text:
Author Examines Adoption, Mother-Daughter Ties in Latest Novel
Mike O'Sullivan
Author Lisa See is learning how to "kill the green" -- cooking just-picked tea leaves over an outdoor wok. See's latest novel is "The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane."
LOS ANGELES —
Expanding ties between China and the United States form the backdrop of Lisa See's latest novel, The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, a book about China's growing prosperity, cross-cultural adoption and, the author says, the enduring bond between mothers and daughters.
See chronicled the Chinese experience in California in a 1995 book, On Gold Mountain, and she says the West Coast state remains a cultural crossroads. It is also the source of ideas for fictional stories like that in her new novel.
"My husband and I were walking to the movies," See said, "and we saw ahead of us an older white couple with their teenaged Chinese adopted daughter walking between them."
The image of a carefree family, with the daughter's long pony tail swaying back and forth, would lead to a tale of inter-cultural adoption amid growing commercial ties between the United States and China.
See is the author of such best-selling novels as Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and Shanghai Girls.
Author Lisa See conducts an interview in the mountains of China. See's latest novel is "The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane."
Precise research
Her books are all based on on-the-ground research. A tea-tasting demonstration in the United States would inspire her to visit Yunnan Province, China, a tea-growing region near the Burmese border, which also led to the writing of this novel.
"They have more varieties of plant life in that one province of China than all together in the rest of the northern hemisphere," she said. "They have more species of animals in that one province of China, which is only 4 percent of China's overall land mass."
The biodiversity also applies to human beings: Yunnan is home of half of China's 55 ethnic minorities, and includes a tea-growing hill tribe called the Akha. See met an Akha family whose daughter collected stories from village elders, and the writer was fascinated.
"She just told us these unbelievable stories about her family, about the neighbors, about her own experience," See said. By the end of one day, she knew that she wanted to write about the Akha.
Yunnan is home of half of China's 55 ethnic minorities, including a tea-growing hill tribe called the Akha. See met an Akha family whose daughter, Abhu, collected stories from village elders. See's latest novel is "The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane."
Not 'precious enough'
See's novel concerns an Akha woman named Li-yan who gives birth to a daughter out of wedlock. Defying a local custom that calls for the child's death, she takes the infant to an orphanage, and the girl, renamed Haley, is adopted and raised by an American family. Over time, Haley questions her identity, as do the real-life adoptees that See met in her research.
"There was one girl who summed it up for me when she said, 'I know I'm lucky and I know my parents love me and I know I'm the most precious person in our family, but I wasn't precious enough for my birth parents to keep.'"
The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane explores this tension as the story unfolds in both America and China, where Haley's birth mother rides a wave of prosperity when Chinese products, including a rare local tea, find a worldwide market.
Author Lisa See
The separate paths of mother and daughter bring both to Los Angeles, where See says she is inspired in her writing by her own family connections and her partial Chinese background.
"I have red hair and freckles," she said, "but I actually grew up in a very large Chinese American family here in Los Angeles. I have about 400 relatives here," she said, "about a dozen that look like me. The majority are still full Chinese."
See's books tell the stories of Chinese and Chinese Americans, and her fiction focuses on women. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane follows these themes as it looks at changes that prosperity has brought to one ethnic community in China.
More Art & Culture News
Olympics-IOC Rejects 'Defamatory' Criticism From Ukraine
Gregory Allen Howard Who Wrote 'Remember the Titans' Dies
Church Helps Mining Community Evolve in Dark, Warming Arctic


text:
Tag: Barcelona
Champions League 2019: Barcelona troll Manchester United with a nervy tweet after 3-0 win
What's the history?
Barcelona trolled Manchester United after their comfortable 3-0 win at the Nou Camp, which knocked out the Red Devils out of the Champions League.
In case you didn't know…
After enduring a 1-0 defeat in the primary leg of the Champions League quarter-finals at Old Trafford, the Red Devils were given little chance of a rebound because of Barcelona's staggering record at their home ground.
In the long run, the Catalan mammoths proved too a lot for the Red Devils, whose expectations of securing another comeback died when Lionel Messi scored twice in the span of five minutes in the first half. Two costly oversights from Ashley Young and David De Gea prompted the two goals, and United were everything except out soon after 20 minutes.
Messi was clearly happy with his brace.
"I was lucky [on the first goal]," he admitted.
"The second I had even more luck. But the important thing is that we achieved our goal of reaching the quarter-finals, which we hadn't for a long time."
"It was spectacular. This is who we are. We were cold and nervous for the first five minutes. I don't know why, but then we took control."
The Blaugrana captain presently remains the top scorer of the Champions League this season with 10 objectives and leads the race for European Golden Shoe with 33 alliance goals. The Argentine likewise finished in the Quarter Finals after numerous seasons.
The heart of the issue
Messi is head and shoulders over the rest in the present crusade and portrayed it by and by against Manchester United.
Minutes after their triumph the previous evening, the official Barcelona twitter account uploaded a picture of Lionel Messi alongside the caption 'Messi at the wheel'.
The post was a brassy endeavor of mocking Manchester United's serenade 'Ole's in the driver's seat', after the United boss rejuvenation since taking charge of Red Devils last December.
Manchester United will face Everton, Manchester City and Chelsea next in the Premier League. The Red Devils still have a lot to play this season as they fight to secure a top-four finish in the Premier League.
Tags Barcelona, Champions League 2019, Lionel Messi, Manchester United, nervy tweet after 3-0 win
Manchester United versus Barcelona: Five things we gained from Champions League thrashing to Luke Shaw own goal
United stay alive, but only just
"You can't leave United alive," Gerard Pique told journalists on the eve of this game but despite enjoying spells of near total control, a below-par Barcelona did just that. Manchester United are still in this tie, just.
That is amazing, given that a lot of the ball fell as low as the 10 percent imprint in the opening stages. Barcelona made as much as possible from their underlying strength, with Luis Suarezguiding an away goal in off Luke Shaw's arm.
Yet, this quarter-last should, in truth, have been put to bed. Rather, United were permitted to steadily discover their way once more into the game and Barcelona struggled to regain their early fluency.
It might at present not be sufficient. United will even now be unfancied in the Nou Camp one week from now. They have just a thin possibility ofprogression, but as Paris Saint-Germain know too well, that is all they need. need.
Solskjaer adopts safety-first approach again
In the beginning of his appointment, Solskjaer was proclaimed for returning United to assaulting rules that the club gladly connects itself with. But, at each chance to go out and press a kindred world class side, his methodology has constantly been traditionalist and safety-first.
This isn't really an analysis – Louis van Gaal was surely a little cruel when he depicted Solskjaer's style as "park the bus" – but there can now be no doubt that against the very best, the United manager sets his side out to play on the back foot.
Thus it was here, with a five-man defence utilized out of ownership, sat profound to ensure against Barcelona's sharp going in behind, and Marcus Rashford on the half-way line, ready and waiting to break at speed.
Lukaku's laboured showcase undermines United counters
As a methodology, it restricted Barcelona to only one goal and furnished United with a couple of brief snapshots of guarantee. The one thing undermining it was Romelu Lukaku, who after an ongoing spell of improved form, endured a night to forget partnering Rashford up front.
Many take a gander at the Belgian and see a strong, ungraceful nearness progressively fit to an ethereal style of play. In reasonableness, on his awful days, Lukaku goes unusually absent, as though unfit to adjust himself with the rest of United's attack.
In any case, this is the equivalent Lukaku whose knowledge and development at Everton earned him a move to Old Trafford; the equivalent Lukaku whose bait running delivered one of the goals of the tournament at the last World Cup.
He is unmistakably ready to play in a team built around breaking at speed however there are evenings when it essentially does not fall off. To what extent before a forward line of Rashford, Anthony Martial and Jesse Lingard turns into the favored alternative?
Suarez's long European drought goes on
To start with, it was the assistant referee, inaccurately hailing him offside in the wake of folding a header into David de Gea's net. Then it was Uefa's equivalent of the dubious goals panel, judging Shaw's touch on the ball to be decisive and awarding the own goal.
No matter what happens, Luis Suarez would be denied. It would have been his first Champions League goal of the season, his first far from home in this competition for almost four years and one to savour, given the occasion and his history in this country.
Suarez's long dry spell in Europe is interested for a player of his suffering quality, one who scored the definitive goal in the 2015 last no less, yet Ernesto Valverde won't be excessively concerned. There were sufficient signs here that it could end soon, not least in the Nou Camp next Tuesday.
McTominay's star continues to rise
Subsequent to being United's one splendid spot tragically to Wolverhampton Wanderers a week ago, Scott McTominay proceeded on his gradual ascent towards becoming a useful member of Solskjaer's first-team squad.
It was in this competition against opposition from Spain – in Seville in the last-16 last season – that he was pushed into the center of a political war between headliner and supervisor. His accreditations as a United first-cooperative person were addressed and tried.
His rise since then has been slow and gradual but since starting the draw against Liverpool in February, and that excellent display in Paris last month, McTominay has not looked back. He is starting to look at home in this team and at this level.
Tags Barcelona, Champions League, Luke Shaw, Manchester United, Manchester United versus Barcelona, own goal
This is reason of Barcelona are football's most mysterious and magical team
One of La Liga's most dramatic games at any point saw Barca lose a two-goal lead before scoring twice in the last minute to win a mind blowing 4-4 draw
Barcelona haven't generally been a winning team, but pure success is not the reason they are so revered.
Indeed, even before the Pep Guardiola era where the group's potential was completely bridled, thousands rushed to the Camp Nou, a temple of football, to watch amazing players feature in the red-and-blue stripes.
Furthermore, in an astonishing game of football on Spain's east coast, Barcelona proved once again they are football's most inspiring team, throwing away a 2-0 lead, before battling once again from 4-2 down to draw 4-4 against relegation-battling Villarreal. Are you not entertained?
Barca mentor Ernesto Valverde realized that Villarreal would play with a knife between their teeth.
Having seen the Yellow Submarine throw a two-goal lead against Celta Vigo in a transfer six-pointer at the end of the week, they were resolved to make amends.
"In the final games of the season the teams at the bottom always take a lot of points," explained Valverde. "They're all going to do everything they can and we must be prepared for these type of games."
But then, he turned intensely. Not as far as numbers, rather weight. Three players totally crucial to the team, Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Ivan Rakitic, started on the bench.
Might Barcelona have been better off playing a full-strength team, winning the game before rotating against Atletico at the weekend instead?
Presently they should contend energetically against Simeone's unforgiving side, exhausting themselves before the Champions League conflict with Manchester United one week from now.
That challenge might be Barcelona's prime goal however the league is the team's bread and butter and letting it slip from here would haunt them forever.
Be that as it may, despite the fact that Messi wasn't playing, viewers knew they were in for a rollercoaster ride.
At the point when Barcelona are off-balance, not at their controlling best, they are regularly unmistakably all the more engaging to watch. The matches are undeniably progressively open and this was a perfect example.
Villarreal saw the team sheet and smelt blood. The game started in a craze, with the hosts running at the champions-in-waiting, Samuel Chukwueze a consistent menace in yellow for the all-French central defensive partnership of Clement Lenglet and Samuel Umtiti.
Arouse, appreciating a fine season, looked always great by his absence as Villarreal stalled out into the Catalans. World Cup winner Umtiti looked every bit a player who has barely played in an injury-ravaged season.
But, Barcelona took a 2-0 lead, firmly against the run of play.
Malcom set up Philippe Coutinho, Barca's two troubled Brazilians combining, before Vidal teed up Malcom for the second goal.
The winger was Barca's greatest brilliant spot on the night. Each time he includes, in addition to the fact that he provides a contribution but he also looks a better fit for what the team are trying to do.
That is the indication of a player with a good attitude, somebody who doesn't sulk, adapting as opposed to tunnel further into themselves rationally.
It is getting progressively troublesome for Valverde to leave Malcom on the fringes and the Brazilian could end up being the team's secret weapon in the latter phases of the Champions League.
With their survival trusts on hold, the Yellow Submarine would not be sunk and strikes from Chukwueze, Karl Toko Ekambi, Vicente Iborra and Carlos Bacca turned the game completely on its head.
Coutinho hit the post toward one side, Ekambi at the other, in a rollicking clash which had nearly everything.
In fairness to Villarreal, there can't be a more worrying sight in football than Messi coming on, as he did just after the hour mark.
Bacca's fourth appeared to have torpedoed Barcelona and even a late red card for Alvaro Gonzalez shouldn't have caused the hosts such a large number of issues – yet the Messi factor still lurked.
And the Argentine carved open the hosts, setting up a clear chance for Malcom which went to waste, before taking his anger out with a brutal 90th minute free-kick which rocketed into the top corner.
With Villarreal quivering physically and mentally, Suarez was left to do the honours, ramming home a typically savage drive through a crowd of players and into the net. 4-4.
It was the last kick of a striking, exceptional game, with this one of the hardest earned points of Barcelona's season.
Ernesto Valverde said Barcelona needed to win six of their last nine games to win La Liga. That's now six from eight.
If second-place Atletico can win at Camp Nou on Saturday, where Diego Simeone's side will fight for their only chance of glory after Juventus came back to stun them in the Champions League, that gap becomes five points.
Still large enough, you feel, to keep Barca at the top of the table, but this result adds a spice to Saturday's clash.
Perhaps more importantly, though, it was a remarkable game of football which, with all context removed, was an art-form in itself. This is exactly why Barcelona are perhaps football's most magical team.
Tags 4-4 draw, Barcelona, Celta Vigo, football's, magical team, mysterious


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FASHION WRAP
HOOKED ON A LOOK
KUWTK
REVENGE BODY
LIFE/STYLE
Paul Marciano Steps Down From Guess
by Jess Cohen | Tue., Jun. 12, 2018 4:50 PM
UPDATE: Paul Marciano is stepping down from Guess. In a filing made by Guess on Tuesday, it's stated that after an investigation into misconduct allegations against Marciano it was "found that on certain occasions Mr. Marciano exercised poor judgment in his communications with models and photographers and in placing himself in situations in which plausible allegations of improper conduct could, and did, arise."
The findings of the investigation were presented to the company board on June 7 and June 11, the same day that Marciano notified the board of his decision to resign as executive chairman, though he will remain on the board.
The filing also states that the company and Marciano "entered into non-confidential settlement agreements resolving claims of five individuals arising out of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Mr. Paul Marciano for an aggregate total amount of $500,000."
You can read the complete filing HERE.
Paul Marciano is taking a step back from Guess as the company completes an investigation into the sexual misconduct allegations against him.
"I have pledged my full cooperation to the Company, and I have the utmost confidence in our CEO, Victor Herrero, to continue leading the Company during this time," Marciano, who has denied the claims, said in a statement on Tuesday.
"The Board of Directors and Mr. Marciano have agreed that Mr. Marciano will relinquish his day to day responsibilities at the Company, on an unpaid basis, pending the completion of the investigation," a statement from Guess reads. "The Company takes very seriously any allegations of sexual misconduct, is committed to maintaining a safe work environment, and looks forward to the completion of a thorough investigation of all the facts."
Kate Upton Details Sexual Misconduct Allegations Against Guess' Paul Marciano
It's disappointing that such an iconic women's brand @GUESS is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director #metoo
— Kate Upton (@KateUpton) January 31, 2018
On January 31, Kate Upton slammed Guess for employing Marciano in a #MeToo post.
"It's disappointing that such an iconic women's brand @GUESS is still empowering Paul Marciano as their creative director #metoo," Upton, who has modeled for the brand in the past, tweeted.
A week later, Upton detailed the alleged misconduct in an interview with Time.
"After the first day of shooting the Guess Lingerie campaign [on July 25, 2010], Paul Marciano said he wanted to meet with me. As soon as I walked in with photographer Yu Tsai, Paul came straight up to me, forcibly grabbed my breasts and started feeling them — playing with them actually. After I pushed him away, he said, 'I'm making sure they're real,'" Upton told the publication. "Despite doing everything I could physically do to avoid his touch throughout the meeting, he continued to touch me in a very dominating and aggressive way, grabbing my thighs, my arms to pull me closer, my shoulders to pull me closer, my neck, my breasts, and smelling me. He then told Yu Tsai to leave us alone."
Venturelli/Getty Images
Upton went on to allege that on her next shoot with Guess a month later, company co-founder Marciano called her asking to see her hotel room, which she told the publication she declined multiple times.
"The next day, I learned that I had been fired from the shoot. Someone had called my agency to say I had gotten fat and would not be needed on set [that day]," Upton claimed. "I was devastated, especially because at this point no one from Guess had even seen me."
She went on to tell of her final Guess shoot, "I had a final shoot [in May of 2011], and he was outwardly rude and degrading the entire time. He said I was 'disgusting' and started telling people how unprofessional I was by spreading rumors that I was drunk on set and partying every night, which of course I wasn't," Upton claimed. "I was then told to leave because Paul had said, 'Get that fat pig off my set.'"
Guess' Paul Marciano Denies Sexual Harassment Claims and Slams Kate Upton's Appearance
Upton told Time she came forward because, "Paul used his power to make me feel insecure and powerless, but I'm not going to let him intimidate me anymore. These men think they are untouchable, but times are changing."
In response to Upton's allegations, Marciano told Time, "I have never been alone with Kate Upton. I have never touched her inappropriately. Nor would I ever refer to a Guess model in such a derogatory manner. I fully support the #metoo movement. At the same time, I will not allow others to defame me and tarnish my reputation. I have pledged to Guess and its Board of Directors my full support and cooperation with a fair and impartial investigation."
Following Upton's tweet on January 31, Marciano also denied her claims to TMZ.
"If she has a claim, there's one place to tell the truth and that's in court or to the police," Marciano said.
This story was originally published on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 1:04 p.m.
TAGS/ Controversy , Kate Upton , Apple News , Top Stories
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